Salvation Crusade

The Salvation Crusade is the first recorded campaign conducted by the Ardent Shields Space Marine Chapter to free the forge world of Annhilation from the yoke of Orks. It was during this Crusade where the Chapter first began to gain its reputation for it extensive collaboration with Astra Militarum forces.

Background
Refounded around the end of the 35th Millennium by a Rogue Trader who was investigating a faint and ancient Imperial distress beacon from a lost sub-sector in the Armageddon Sector. The Rogue Trader was forced away soon after entering the sub-sector by the appearance of a massive Battleship of Imperial design, painted all over, with metal welded over holes, clear indications of Ork looting, as well as it’s many ramshackle escorts, but not before getting a partial scan done, revealing the once Imperial desert planets there. With the chance that the sub sector may be infested with enough Orks to create a WAAAGH! big enough to attack other nearby lightly defended Agricultural worlds or cause major trouble along supply lines, plans for a minor Crusade began to come together.

Ultramarines and Astra Militarum forces were requested, along with two battlefleets, combined to a total of nearly 100 ships to deal with the situation. When the request was finally met some years later, the minor crusade began to purge the sector of the Orks. The initial attack on the sector went horribly as the reclaimed Imperial Battleship, identified as the Salvation, seemed to be near indestructible as it rammed though Escorts and Light Cruisers, taking full broadsides from ships, but seeming to take very little damage. The Ultramarines that were with the fleet came up with the plan to knock it out from the inside using the teleportarium. This attack was successful, killing the Ork captain on the bridge, the ship now floating dead as the Tech-Priests aboard the remaining vessels seemed abuzz, sending the news of this ancient ship to the nearest forge world, detecting one right in the sector, making them even more curious as to what the world was doing here, and what secrets could it hold as the fleet continued with it’s crusade.

When the fleet had originally approached the forge world, the fleet was met with a automated greeting by a orbital station that was still operational, recognizing the Imperial codes. The station’s weapons were found to be all non-functional due to lack of power through the ship, and ammo banks used up centuries ago. The area around the station made it clear the Ork’s had tried getting aboard many a times, to little effect from the debris of ships around it, clearly having slammed into the void shields. With this new staging ground aboard the station, a new supply line was opened to rage the crusade on the forge world below as tech-priests and servitor’s went about the then-named station Resurgence, fixing broken down systems and helping to relieve the machine spirit of the stations stress from operating for so long in such a state.

The crusade on the forge world would last nearly 10 years with millions of Guardsmen dying in the battles, fighting Orks that numbered in the hundreds of thousands on the forge world alone, having to request additional Imperial Guard and Titan support to fight off the many things the Orks had created to fight each other having made many Knight class and several Titan class machines along with looted Baneblades, earning the forge world the name of Annihilation. The hive worlds were another story. Most buildings had been left standing, but had clearly seen battle damage, or just lack of maintenance from being left alone with the Orks. During this decade long battle, the Astartes that were deployed grew to respect their Imperial Guard brothers, watching how they would stand and face the enemy in the worst of the fighting.

Far away from any of the hive cities and surrounded by one of the biggest Ork Klanz on the planet, a bunker miles below the planet’s desert crust sat a tech-priest reliquary, filled with ancient books, ranging from warfare tactics to, how to bake a double decker cake. They found very little in the way of ancient STC's, but the they did find 6 relics, and they put the rest of what they had found to shame. A sword, hammer, two daggers, a lance, a massive gun with a sword on the bottom, and a cannon. All were well kept inside of a secured section of the bunker with no signs of any STC's or anything about them, besides some lists detailing some basics on the weapon. After 4 more years of fighting, the system had been as cleansed as it could be of the Ork’s, allowing the Imperium to begin to restore the sector to functionality.

The Ultramarines decided that they did not have enough Marines near the sub-sector to protect or partake in crusades so after consulting the High Lord of Terra, they founded a new chapter there, leaving half a company's worth of Astartes. Over the next 6 millennia, they adopted new tactics into their previous ones from the books they had found from ancient times, even before the Golden age. As they learned from those books, they were forced to take up a more Shock Trooper role as a Chapter, now going by the name, Ardent Shields, in honor of the knowledge that they had gained from a ancient war force known as 'United States Marines Corp' and the 'Spartans', adopting a black, brown, and sandy color scheme. They only possess 6 Companies - the 1st Honor Company, 2nd Tactical Company and 3rd Assault Company are almost never at full Company strength due to them almost always being head long in nearby crusades and defenses.