Chapter 2: Old enemies

Gorag the Beautiful was in a fit of rage for a while now. During a retaliation raid against a planet hold by the hated followers of Tzeentch he learned that the leader of the forces of the even more hated Khorne were led by the one who destroyed his dominion all those years ago. It took Gorag a great many battles to regain even a fraction of his former power and become the leader of the forces of his master when the forces of Chaos spilled into this sector.

Gorag knew that the information was fed to him on purpose but he didn't care. He swore to take his revenge on the individual who did it and nothing short of Slaanesh himself would stop him from doing it, no matter the cost.

And with this thoughts in his head he calmed himself and called his war council together.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Personal log of Rear Admiral Maximilian Macharius, Captain of the Apocalypse class battleship Inexorable Justice. Two years ago I was ordered to the Phyrias sector, specifically the Adumbria system on the edge of the Omalgon subsector. I was told that a crusade was staged to free the four subsectors that had fallen into the hands of chaos. I'm here for two years now and the crusade is still in the process of building the forces to do it.

I was also told that I work directly under the leader of the crusade, Lord General Hugo van Buyten. So far I haven't met him. Me and my former command, the Resilient, made several patrols in the nearby systems, scouting and hunting for lone chaos ships or lightly guarded convoys. So far we managed to destroy two cruisers and five transport ships.

Upon my inquiries I learned that the build-up for the crusade could take another three years. I wonder if we can still free something after that time or if we find only dead worlds after letting chaos reign for a decade or more.

Maxim closed his log and leaned back in his chair. The boredom was slowly but surely taking its toll on his readiness. He had times with no actions before, like the three months of patrol around the area where the fallos belt had been but then he knew that it was only for a short time. Or the hunt for the ork boss Grakhal Skullbiter which took almost a year before he himself was able to lure the complete ork fleet into an ambush and completely annihilating it.

But now he felt he was loosing his edge. He barely was able to sleep a night through. He needed some action and fast. If he had to do this boring stuff for three more years, he knew he would go crazy. A chime of the doorbell swept these thoughts away.

"Enter" he said, knowing that it was already 3 o'clock in the morning. Normally he had adjutants to keep visitors off his back at this time of night. He would have to have a long talk with them.

As the door opened, every word of reprimand and anger died in his throat as he saw the person standing in the door frame.

"Hello Maxim." he said.

Maxim as suspicious about this camaraderie immediately.

"Good morning, Inquisitor Khornat. What gives me the . . . pleasure of your visit?"

"Ah, come on Maxim, irony doesn't suit you. Can't I visit an old friend?" Khornat asked with a slight smile.

Maxim only stared at him.

"Ok, I'm here because I need you for a special mission" he said.

"Do I have to save the galaxy again like last time you needed me for a special mission?" Maxim asked.

"No, not the galaxy this time, but this crusade and by the extension, the whole sector."

"Ah, no pressure then."

The Inquisitor laughed at that and sat down on one of the armchairs.

"As you might already know, the chaos incursion here began after a warp gate opened in the Lantanda sub. It's like a miniature eye of terror with a diameter of about 10 kilometers. Big enough to let any kind of ship passing through.

"When the incursion began, I was here in the Omalon sub. After receiving the first reports, I dispatched several units of my retinue to different planets around the four sub sectors to build resistance cells and keep me informed. My cell on Lantanda reported, that the chaos forces are constantly reinforced via the warp gate. Sometimes fights break out between followers of different chaos powers but usually they come through the gate and immediately head towards their respective sectors.

"I plan to close that gate before the crusade starts and I need you for it. Or better, I need your peculiar gift."

Gift. Maxim was a blank, a psychic untouchable with a very large field of influence. To prevent that talent to disturb astropathic messages and warp travel, he wore a masterfully crafted limiter in the shape of the God Emperor of mankind with two gold glowing eyes that indicated that it was active. A little button in the back turned it off when Maxim pressed it three times in quick succession to prevent an accidental deactivation.

"You think that the warp gate will close when I deactivate my limiter close to it?" Maxim asked.

"I certainly hope so. I informed Lord General van Buyten about my plan and he gave me his blessing."

"Ok, how do you propose we get to the gate? We will have to travel through Omalgon and Lantanda to get there. How will we do that unnoticed with an Apocalypse battleship?"

"We don't. I have acquired a . . . special ship for that. The mission starts in two 33 hours. Your ship will stay in dry dock here at Adumbria for that time for a little overhaul. I will send one if my men to pick you up."

With that, the Inquisitor got up and turned to leave.

"Alright then. See you then."

Maxim sighed. The old saying, 'Remember what you wish for' came to mind. Part of him wanted to go on a boring month long patrol. The other part was anxious to begin the mission with the Inquisitor.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Victor Harras dispatched the last gibbering enemy soldier in his vicinity and looked around. Overall on the battlefield, his forces were routing up the last enemies that dared to raid his headquarters. The brands on their heads indicated them to be followers of the hated sorcerer god.

The Why of the raid was a mystery to Victor. While he relished a good fight and bloodshed he couldn't understand why the warlord of the forces of Tzeentch would attack in such small force where it could never be successful. He was about to kill another gurgling enemy that was laying before him with both legs blown off when it started giggling and almost singing.

"Victor Harras, don't be happy

here it will decide your fate.

Your nemesis is very snappy

and will close the entry gate.

Again he will be your undoing

not by burning this planet here.

He will follow where you're going

And you will learn the meaning of fear."

Victor beheaded the creature with one sweep of his chainblade. An insane fury gripped him when he thought about the words he just heard. He surely had more than one enemy but only one spoiled his plans by burning a planet. That would mean that the individual responsible for the interference of his ascend to demonhood was with the weak imperials who were massing in Adumbria.

Victor Harras gave a cry of rage that cowed even his fellow chaos marines. He swore a long time ago that he would take revenge. Now this revenge seemed closer than ever. He ran back to his command bunker to make plans for an all-out assault on Adumbria to destroy every imperial ship he could find. It took him great efforts to regain his status and become warlord of this expeditiion. Not again would some imperial commander spoil his plans for demonhood.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Aemos was pleased with himself. He had antagonized the warlord of Slaanesh to attack the forces of Khorne. And while this attack was already on its way, he incensed the warlord of Khorne to attack the imperial forces.

Aemos knew that the forces of the slaaneshi warlord were too weak for the khornate forces and though they couldn't beat them they would weaken them. And what remained of the khornate forces wouldn't be enough to do much against the imperial forces that were already assembled at Adumbria.

That left only the forces of Nurgle. He started making plans for the imperials to believe that they had to destroy these forces before his own. After all the followers of the other powers were defeated he would call his forces back with almost no losses. This balance of power would give him great advantages in his defense against Harkanos.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Lord General Hugo van Buyten checked his data slates. So far the process of building up the forces of the crusade was making good progress. He had aquired the support of six different chapters of the Adeptus Astartes instead of the planned four. That would greatly help him with the crusade in the Kyron subsector where the planets were believed to be hellholes of pestilence and decay.

The foundings of regiments was making slower process than expected but he should get every unit he demanded. Only the Adeptus Mechanicus was being reluctant to lent its forces to the crusade.

A knock on the door took the thoughts of the Mechanicus away momentarily. An adjutant of his entered and handed him another data slate. Van Buyten took it sighing and was about to fling it on the pile to the others when the sight of an inquisitorial rosette on its top caught his eye.

He dismissed his adjutant and uncoded the slate. What he read there brought a smile on his face as he looked upon the solution for his titan problems. If not this, nothing would bring the Adeptus Mechanicus to arms faster. Not if they got the chance of fighting traitor titan legions. Lord General Hugo van Buyten read the slate again and saw the names of the legions that were lending their strength to the chaos forces.

Legio Vulcanum. Flaming Skulls.

Two days later, he got the astropathic message that the Mechanicus was sending the War Griffons and Fire Wasps titan legions to his aid.

To be continued...

End of chapter 2.

Addendum: Lord General Hugo van Buyten

Hugo van Buyten was born into a noble family and descended from a long line of guard officers. After graduating the academy he began his career as a platoon commander, caring for his men and losing only 22 of the original 50 in 5 years of service. Knowing almost instinctively how to use the given terrain to his advantage his forces were often used as rearguard to stall the enemy while their comrades pulled back. Given these circumstances the loss rate of his unit is quite remarkable.

After rising through the ranks to regimental commander he came to despise several Lord Generals he served under. He spent two days in solitary confinement after knocking down Lord General Grafe for sending his men on an unimportant suicidal mission. He was released by Commissar-General Kauder who shot Grafe for treasonous behavior.

After rising to the rank of Lord General himself, he successfully commanded several large scale battles, winning them all by placing his units in the right spots. After his homeworld of Lantanda was taken over by a chaos incursion he put his strength into building up a crusade to free it. He got his wish and is now planning the strategies to end the crusade with as little casualties as possible.