Authors note: I would like some help in writing Space Marine parts as I find that difficult.
Disclaimer: This story "The Dragon Wars" is a figment of my imagination. All characters portrayed in this story, are fictional and do not reflect actual people, either living or deceased.
Warhammer 40k its characters and certain technological devices and/or references to such, from the television shows and movies, may be or are registered trademarks of, and may be or are copyrighted by Games workshop and whatever Corporation it may or may not be owned by.
Only certain characters in this story and the 'Sycorian Empire' are mine and these are my own creations. Noone other than myself is responsible for the content of this story.
The Dragon Wars
Chapter 1: A breach of the peace
The art of war is of vital importance to the State. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected.
- Sun Tzu, Ancient Terran Strategist
The Imperium of Man-
A massive empire spanning many thousands of worlds the Imperium of Man owes its existence to the 'God-Emperor' whose lifeless body resides in a stasis field at the heart of their capital. The Imperium is ruled by the nine High Lords of Terra, the leaders of the Imperium's greatest institutions. The Imperial governments contain very strong Theoretic elements and are otherwise dystopian in nature.
The Imperium has a massive standing military force. Many billions of soldiers, making up the Imperial Guard (the main ground based imperial military force); The space forces of the Imperium are similarly massive, although no clear approximation of their total strength has been made at this time, it is known that the Fleet is split into 5 main segmenta and then sub divided into multiple battle fleets responsible for a sector each; The Adeptus Astartes (Space Marines) are genetically engineered supermen, who make up another large section of the Imperial military machine-
"Computer, pause readout." Admiral Nemanor Grant rubbed his tired eyes as he looked away from the vid screen and out into the deep black of interstellar space. He keyed his com-link "Captain Yar, what is our current ETA to the Imperial border?"
"Admiral, this is Navigator Werhad; we are currently seven hours away at maximum speed. The captain has retired and asked to be woken in four hours time."
"Very good. Are we detecting any Imperial ships in the area? Or any signs of the 2nd Affiliated?"
"Negative Admiral, we have picked up the signal from one of the relay satellites the 2nd dropped though, so we know were on the right track."
"Thank you Navigator, notify both myself and the Captain at the first sign of trouble. And notify me when we are one hour from the rendevous point."
"As you command Admiral."
The Second Sycorian affiliated exploration fleet. A small fleet of civilian and military ships sent out to find any uninhabited planets suitable for mining or colonization, of which records had been lost. They had never been meant to venture this close to Imperium space; the peace was fragile enough already without provoking the Imperials with a fleet skirting their borders.
It was generally accepted by the ruling council, that the Imperium would wipe them out without a second thought if they could spare enough ships to do so. It was only the fact that the majority of the Imperial forces were busy fighting against Abbadon's newest black Crusade at Cadia and the against other chaos forces in the Sabbat worlds that had allowed diplomatic communications to be opened to begin with.
Admiral Grant sighed, the new children of Terra cast the universe in a whole new light. "Computer, resume overview of the Imperium of Man, I'd better get this over with."
The Space marines are split into so called Chapters of 1000 warriors plus several times that of support staff...
Six hours later
It had taken Admiral Grant four hours to finish looking over the information available on the Imperium; he had then only managed just less than two hours of sleep before being called to the bridge.
"Status report Captain?" Grant asked Captain Yar.
"We are just under an hour from transition to normal space Admiral. We have detected no unusual energy readings, but that doesn't really mean a great deal." Replied the captain "for all we actually know, there could well be Imperium forces waiting for us... or even a Necron fleet, we know we're close to one of their death worlds."
"Let us hope that there is nothing waiting for us then Captain. We may be a combat group but there isn't even the possibility that we could destroy a Necron tomb-ship."
"I know Admiral, I was just voicing the worst case scenario, I didn't mean-"
"All hands brace for impact! Warp flare detected! Repeat warp flare detected! All hands prepare for emergency transition to normal space! 5...4...3...2...1...transition" Came the soft artificial voice of the greatest secret of the Sycorian empire.
The Sycorian recon/battle fleet transitioned from warp space in the complete middle of nowhere, the closest planet was 50 LY distant, and sensors confirmed it to be the Imperial world of Calth. They were in the centre of the Ultramarines territory!
"Sir, we have confirmed our position. We have travelled nearly 4000LY off course in that transition! We are in the centre of Ultramarine territory!" reported a fearful ensign at the navigation station.
"4000LY! How in the name of the Warp did we travel that far?" Thundered Captain Yar "Regulus, you had better give me a damned answer very soon, or I swear I will have you reduced to scrap metal!"
"Captain, please try to remain calm, we have experienced a malfunction with our warp drives, brought on by a sudden and violent warp storm. The damage to the engines will be repaired within two hours. However, the navigational array has been fried, and we have no backups that function this far away from our territory.
We have no choice but to contact the Ultramarines of the Imperium and request their assistance to return to our space." Came the calm voice broadcast over the ships intercom. "Although on the brighter side, I believe I have located the Second Affiliated Fleet."
"How can you have found them Regulus? We are 4000LY from their last known location. They could never have-"
"Captain if you will please look at the view screen before you deride me and my equipment."
The view screen was showing something that almost the entire command staff had feared; a cloud of debris, orbiting the damaged and lifeless hulk of a Sycorian Command vessel. As the hulk rotated, its name, scorched and damaged angled towards the watching fleet; RSCS Tach--- the rest of the name was lost, lost to the plasma burns covering a great deal of the ships hull.
"The RSCS Tachyon, flagship of the Second Affiliated fleet. The Weapon signatures suggest either Eldar or Tau weapons, not Imperials, Necrons, or Orks. I cannot rule out the ruinous powers however."
"Regulus, will you please be quiet for a minute! We need to find out if whoever attacked them, managed to capture any prisoners, or if they discovered our secrets.
Captain, organize a strike team to secure the Tachyon and search for any survivors. Oh and Regulus; figure out who attacked them! I want to know who we're at war with."
The captain began barking orders to the troop ship RSAS Beffta, a force of 500 navy marines, some of the Empire's finest combat troops, sped towards the Tachyon in 25 of their modified 'Fenris' class assault shuttles.
End of Chapter 1. Please review. I want to know if anyone actually likes this story or not. Also I would welcome constructive critisisms.
Chapter 2 will be up in a couple of weeks, (probably around March 20).
