CH3: Apathy of War…

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AN: Let there be death, war, misery, pain, welcome to the grim darkness of the 26th century, where war is aplenty and death is just as common, there's no end to what is to come is but a taste of what is to come. Eldar and such are also going to get involved sooner or later.

XXXXXX

Nova Stratus- Clarity and Reverence

The tides were shifting, endlessly and restlessly, the universe's tides rose and receded like the oceans, it called with crashing roars when it grew restless and brought calm when it was tired, but it was unending. Something that seemed to stretch onwards into the oblivion and beyond its depths immeasurable, yet it was the source of life, and meaning.

Here in the tides of the universe the rhythm pulsed as a heart did calling out binding the universe into existence, quantum harmony a thing that cannot and will never fade. At least not until the end of all things in creation, in dimensions and ever beyond, it was unending. And then the calm of the universe finally ended as it reached out.

He could see it all, the sun baking the earth below him; he could feel it all the living world, everything calling to him, there was something significant of this world. It was peaceful, but as he wandered amongst the earth, he felt the presences of others, he soon found himself in the midst of a city of thousands who bustled about going about their daily lives.

He could feel it all, life, and yet death…

He closed his eyes and felt his heart dread as he reopened them, he was greeted by the screams of the inhabitants, the people of this world, their shouts of fear and horrors seemed to be silenced as a torrent of fire engulfed their world from the skies above. Unlike that of an exterminatus or a UCAF orbital bombardment this was archaic in method, bombs and shells raining from the skies landing sporadic waves.

And then a final burst of light as all was consumed in a vibrant blast of energy, he could see it, but he couldn't feel it. And then as he sat alone in this tide he was brought back to a sense of familiarity, a touch on his shoulder. His mind was brought back, to the waking universe, and to the arms of his child.

He opened his eyes and relaxed his meditative stance; he felt the gentle pressure of his daughter's hand recede. "Meryl?" He said as he turned his body to face her.

Meryl, half eldar-forerunner/human, she looked much like her mother aside from having his own eyes, and soft brown hair, the elegance of her figure a veritable comparison to her mother. Her eyes glimmered ever so often with energy, inherited from him. Meryl was about 20 being born years ago during the human covenant war, when the eldar had been fully involved in helping the UCAF deal with the covenant.

And Heartslayer the ever thirsting, the demon who took form of an elite and launched a war against the eldar with everything he could muster, the eldar thanked the UCAF for expending so many lives in protecting Kher-ys and the newly founded eldar territory from the onslaught. It eventually led the eldar to consent to the marriage between him and farseer Macha.

The story between him and Macha got back to their first encounter on the world of Krugis and goes ever further after then, he was liaison to the eldar as rep of the UCAF and the Forerunners, and then as time progressed he grew into a relationship. Of course the eldar seer council wasn't happy about it at all; at first their relationship was forbidden.

And then eventually after he personally helped repel Heartslayer and kill the demon himself, they saw need for a forerunner blood line of their own. Their marriage was permitted even though Macha and he knew it was only of convenience. But even so they pursued their relationship; he only regretted that now the eldar councillors were busy discussing policies of isolation from the UCAF.

Only half blood eldar were to ever be welcomed and that of highly recognised members, Meryl was one of those for being the daughter of a farseer. Other families would be soon split apart due to this action, nearly 18,000 eldar half-bloods or part bloods had been given limited time to depart from eldar territory and eldar traders were being registered.

It was becoming a social disaster for the eldar, especially Macha having to put up with the traditionalist members of the eldar refusing to accept any other blood into the ranks of the eldar people. Taldeer wasn't having it easier nor was the master seers who had given their respects to the UCAF for such sacrifice in protecting the eldar soul sanctums on Kher-ys.

Now over 20 years of hard work seemed to be thrown out the window, but still it had yet to result in anything serious which was good, the last thing the UCAF had to be thrown into was civil war with having to separate eldar territory. Keith honestly hoped that no such path ever took the eldar; he had already seen the result of such a thing through his mind.

His attention was refocused on Meryl who said to him warmly.
"You shouldn't meditate when mum calls dad, she's been asking for you on com line 4." She said as she handed him his com unit.

He picked it up and checked it; Macha was indeed on the com line.
"Ah thank you Meryl, I really should pay more attention." He smiled as he put it to his ear.

Meryl told him.
"Tell mum I said hi." She said as she headed off up to her room.

He smiled and answered the call.
"Macha?"

Macha was rather clear with her response.
"Keith, it's been a while hasn't it?" She replied in her tuneful tone.

"Yes it has, I have been wondering when you might call me back. I thought we agreed we'd talk tomorrow." He stated.

"I was, however I was contacted by the council, they wish to inform you something has happened." She said gravely.

He felt his body quake, had his visions come true? Was the age of chaos again to rise in the cosmos? He inquired immediately.
"What has happened?"

"There's been an attack on the UCAF, a border colony has been confirmed to be under siege by the UCAF's ONI section I, there's been little news of what is occurring, however a confirmed incursion was reported 3 hours ago. The UCAF had no means to contact you sooner, they wish for Meryl to deploy with her force as soon as tomorrow. They want you to oversee the situation with the advent order." She explained.

He felt as if a weight had been lifted but a dozen more had been burdened; his mind was now sure it was the path he foresaw, but it added to the fact that his own daughter was to deploy with the UCAF fleet here at Aiden's Light, it was the most remote outpost even though being in the depths of UCAF space.

But if she was being deployed then it meant the situation was escalating, he would have to speak with Vincent of the Light and the council of 7, they rarely acted but this case was serious enough, the advents may be deployed once more as they had during the human covenant war. Of course this was assuming they knew the outcome like he did, or the consequences that would follow.

He said to Macha.
"I'll go see the council and see Vincent himself, however I don't know how long the order may take to respond. UCAF command will simply have to do without my aid for now, tell them I have only so much influence."

Macha understood.
"Very well, I shall relay that to the UCAF command, however they urge a response. As for the eldar council, they're determined to remove themselves from the conflict; however some forces are threatening to abandon their posts to help. Our debts to the UCAF have not been forgotten."

Keith was pleased to hear that some people still had honour.
"Thank them for me Macha, I fear I won't have time." He finished with.
"Meryl wanted to tell you she said hello."

He finished the call and sat up as he looked for his court uniform; he hadn't imagined he'd be wearing the mantle again as herald for the UCAF to the other advents again. He just honestly hoped that this was not going to lead to another covenant like war; the UCAF was barely recovering as it was. He also feared for his daughter's life, her life was mired in mystery shrouded by the future, her own path was to be made and he couldn't interfere.

As he left he didn't see Meryl above of his meditation chamber looking down on the man who was her father, she listened to what had been said and honestly wondered herself, what was to come.

XXXXX

Aboard the 'Acclaimed Strength', the captain swore as his left flank suddenly vanished, 5 ships were blasted to shreds in a single flash of light from what he could call a flash of lightning, it had taken out 2 cruisers and 3 frigates, he gawked at the sudden loss of the ships, but he shouted in reaction.
"All ships scatter formation, don't let them cluster you."

His orders were heard, but they didn't need to be clustered to be destroyed, 6 more ships went down only shortly after as various weapons opened up from the UCAF, MAC guns and rail strikers and batteries torn to shreds the turian vessels like paper. The captain swore as the ships broke and attempted to overwhelm the UCAF lines.

Swarms of fighters were launched to engage, but it seemed quite apparent that they were of little match to the squadrons of UCAF Lancer fighter bombers, Long Lance and Short Lance fighters and bombers lashed out in diamond formations carving through the turian fighters. In all honest analysis the UCAF fighters were the size of corvettes to the turians.

As fighters desperately attempted to break through the UCAF lines it quickly became a fight of survival as the turians were hunted by the various sized killing machines. But still the sheer volume of the turian vessels was the reason they managed to get close to the UCAF fleet, the frigates were nimble enough to avoid a few shots from the MAC guns, but as soon as they reached range of the rail batteries then it was a very different story.

Aboard the flagship, the turian captain watched the whole mess unfold before him; it was turning into a bloody graveyard. But that didn't deter him, he yelled orders.
"Form up the cruisers alongside the Acclaimed, we shall break through their primary defence platform and deploy our troops, have the frigates keep them occupied till we're through and send a message to the Hierarchy, we shall proceed with the attack. However we require assistance, send any vessel in range of the relay and send them through ASAP." He directed.

The com officer acknowledged and did as he ordered, the turian officer looked at the sight before him, this was a mess, more than a mess it was as if a varren had chewed it swallowed it and digested it before throwing it all up in a pile at his feet. He slammed his hand into his command chair and swore.

The whole battle was turning into a disaster before it was even on the ground, this was an unexpected turn of events, but he was sure, if this was the human homeworld then it would end here with this single campaign, he had to ensure it succeeded. There was no backing out now. He watched as another cruiser suddenly exploded a massive gaping hole where the middle of the ship had been and everything behind it was also gone.

He directed his sight at the floating gun platform, the monstrosity that was costing him his troop's lives, he had to disable it before the rest of the turian forces arrived or it would be a massacre. He ordered. "Have two frigates deployed to engage the orbital platform, I don't care how they disable that damned thing, but I want it down as quickly as possible." He ordered furiously.

He felt his reputation on shaky grounds, the first engagement at the relay was a walk down a road compared to this. The captain swore he would not fail, he couldn't fail, his name in the history books would not be the arrogant captain who led a fleet to its death, and he refused to be disgraced so soon.

XXXXX

2555/4/26

Time: 13:42

Elis- Orbit Defence Platform- 'Tip of the Blade'

"Sir, multiple hostile vessels on approach." Noi informed Burton.

The greying officer's eyes narrowed as he looked at the tactical display. "Boarding craft?" He asked.

"No sir, it seems as if they're throwing their corvettes right at us, I count 3 corvettes on approach to the station docks, main defensive batteries are firing at them, however the station defences aren't capable of destroying more than one before the others land, any attempt to do so would-." He knew the drill.

They were too close to engage, and at the current speed they were travelling at they could easily reach the front of the docking ports by the time they redirected fire. Blowing up a ship locked onto the station was suicide. But still this was suicide ordering ships to directly enact boarding action, whoever the commander was, either he was bold or just reckless.

"Have the marines prepare for boarding action, have defenders take up a Magnus defensive formation across the station. Don't let the boarders reach the primary sections of the station, and if need be prepare the primary fusion drive for self-destruct." He ordered.

Noi nodded and did so. The orders blared across the station as the marines prepared for a boarding from these hostile aliens, many of these troopers were a mix of veterans and freshly recruited marines, the advantage however was on the UCAF as the marines knew the station like the back side of their hands.

But as an insurance from anything.
"Noi, contact colonel Duran, tell him I need some help assistance from Lima Squad, helldivers would be an appreciated sight."

The AI responded and began to relay the message to the colonel.

XXXXX

Inside the station, the marines rushed to their defensive posts, they began pulling up barricades and sealing the blast doors inside the station, the choke points were quickly established on the inside of the station. The massive station had multiple levels and sections making it a nightmare to navigate for anyone who tried to board.

There were also the numerous internal defences emplaced to mow down anyone who came aboard thinking of getting through, and then there were various traps placed inside the station, sections which would empty out into space and others that would dump condensed carbon foam, the whole station had been improved during the war.

As the turians approached the main loading bays of the station, the UCAF marines got into their defensive position overlooking the bays. On approach the 3 turian vessels closed distance, aside from one of the vessels being pummelled the others gradually reached the minimum docking distance to the bay.

The third vessel was rendered nearly useless and within the last few hundred meters the ship exploded from the damage it had taken scattering the others with dangerous amount of debris and shrapnel as it was vaporised. The shields of the ODP held, however the 2 remaining vessels managed to latch onto the bays of the station.

Inside the marines waited in anticipation, they knew this was going to be a rough fight, 400 marines and 800 station personnel was all that was aboard, this sadly wasn't a Titus Class ODP or this would have been a very different story. The bay of the hostile vessel penetrated the containment field and then burst open.

The turians who first stepped out didn't make it a foot before their heads were burst open, the sharp cracks of .45cal DMRs letting loose a lethal volley of HEAP rounds the mass drivers powering the rounds at hyper sonic speeds. The turians fell in piles as they attempted to push on, as brave as they were they weren't exactly prepared for this sort of combat

There was a mass of screams as the next wave poured forth attempting to bring some other tools to bear, walking drones and machines began to rush forward to engage the UCAF. The marine's responded all the same just letting loose as much fire at every target until it stops moving. A turian desperately attempted to bring to bear a rocket launcher only succeeding in being gunned down by the turrets above.

It was then things got creative, the turian commander of the boarding force began to throw out large mechs, the walking train wreck was what the marines considered them, but they were rather tough to bring down. The machines had a sort of self-repairing program, even as the marine's unloaded rounds into the mech it got back down and repaired, unless someone managed to blow its head off.

The battle steadily wore on as the turians poured into the stations bays, eventually they got a grip in the bays with numbers, the marines abandoned the first line of defence, but not without leaving the turians a little present to remember them by. As the marines departed from the bay the bay was filled with particle thermite and ignited.

Needless to say the turians were going to have to spend time to recover before they could pursue.

XXXXX

Noi chimed in as she announced.
"First defensive perimeter has been breached, all personnel to secondary defensive stations, prepare for CQC."

Burton nodded that this was going to be a rigorous battle ahead, the hostiles were on a slow approach, but he'd give them something to remember the admiral of the UCAF fleet. He'd fight them to protect all humanity, he done before at Callistan and he'd do it again here.

"Noi, what's the status of ground forces?" He asked.

"They're on their way sir. All primary shield generators around all cities have been established, Voros has secured the orbital elevator. However the primary orbital link remains under defended; it is possible they may attempt to access the orbital link to get to the surface." She reported.

"Who do we have to defend that orbital link?" He asked.

"A few of the youth cadets from the academy, they're currently holding position inside the link, they intend to hold out as long as possible." She replied.

Burton hated to leave the kids inside the orbital bridge, but there wasn't much of an option most of the marines were on the ground preparing for the incoming siege, there wasn't enough time to reassign any troopers to help them out. He just hoped they could hold out until a unit could be freed up.

But then a thought did occur.
"Noi, has Lima Squad arrived at the kill zone yet?" He asked.

"No sir, they're just finishing up with an enemy corvette now, and were about to come to us." She replied.

"Good, tell them to redirect themselves to the orbital link, tell them to help out the marine cadets there and hold that position I don't want any hostiles from taking that link to the inside of the city." He ordered.

XXXXX

Ken fired another burst from his dual Striker SMGs blasting another split face to pieces and leaving him in a pile of liquefied meat, ken smiled he loved this part of getting dirty. He had just planted the explosives and they were about to exit, but it seems like the stealth part of their mission had just ended, they were on a timer.

"Sir, bomb's been planted, what's the eta on dust off?" He asked over the coms as he exited the engine room.

"In 3 minutes get to any exit, we're out of here now." Hoffman ordered as he dropped another pair of turians in quick bursts of his AR.

They had boarded this unlucky vessel as it attempted to go head to head with the frigate they were on, it didn't take very long to board the ship in the chaos and begin wrecking hell on the inhabitants of this ship. Hoffman smiled at the surprise the split faced bastards were going to get when the whole thing blows up in their faces.

The team had split off, with Ken dealing with the enemy's engines while the others led the ship's troops in circles on their own vessel. It was now time to leave, the marines rushed to their exit points, Ken exited near the aft of the ship, the others exited wherever they could. David found his exit conveniently on the crew level; he jumped over tables as he reached the large window in the cafeteria.

He shot the window and jumped into it, his body's force and the decompression was enough and the whole section of the ship burst as the explosive decompression vacated the occupants of that section into open space. David felt the weightlessness of space as he reorientated himself, he could see the turian vessel at a distance, and he checked his time…

As 23 seconds passed the ship's rear ruptured and burst in a vibrant display of light, the ship exploded, David smiled as he hit his beacon. The signal contacted Anderson's pelican to his whereabouts. He didn't need to wait long, aside from watching the battles continue around him, Anderson reached him rather quickly.

The rear hatch of the pelican opened and Reece greeted him.
"Welcome back sir."

"Don't start with that Reece, we've got plenty more shit to blow up." He replied.

Anderson then came over the line.
"Sir, I've got a message from the admiral."

"We're on our way to the ODP." David replied.

"No it's not that, he wants you to deploy elsewhere sir. The ODP can be held, however there is some difficulty holding the orbital link, he wants you to oversee defending it from further attacks." Anderson relayed.

"What the honest fuck?" Greg swore.

"Stow it Greg, it's the admiral's call, we go by it whether we like it or not." He grilled the marine.

"Tell him we're on our way." David replied.

"Very well, changing course to orbital relay." Anderson stated as he pulled the gunship through the mess of debris and fire.

David knew that Greg wanted a proper fight, heck he wanted one, but still there was a time for selfish self-indulgence and now wasn't the time, especially if the admiral makes the orders clear. It seemed to him that it was probably the years of combat thrill that was starting to get to them, but they seemed edgier to get into a fight now.

He just hoped that it didn't become a problem. On the other hand he wondered what the ground forces were doing.

XXXXX

Elis- Voros

Turian forces had encountered little to no resistance outside the city limits, but it wasn't until they got closer they found it rather obvious that this wasn't something they wanted to get close to, the city was a virtual fortress laden with plenty of defensive batteries and platforms, and a large shield as well.

It was the first time they could actually see the clear outline of the shield, unlike in space UCAF barrier fields didn't seem as visible unless you were attacking a city which was what the turians were doing. The shield dome was massive, bigger than even a dreadnought, heck it seemed nearly impenetrable from the fire the cruisers attempted to unleash.

The turian captain found himself in a very bad situation; the primary port that had access to the planet was the most heavily defended city he had seen. More turrets and batteries lined the walls of the city than all of his cruisers combined; they'd never out gun this monstrosity of a city. He was weighing his options.

The problem was that he was still trying to overcome the primary shield of the city and do it with efficiency, but the damn scale of the city was the trouble. The captain was having difficulty trying to break the defences of the city. At the moment he was holding his forces outside the city. Their approach would be a fairly open one; there were 4 large mountains and plateaus nearby that they could attack by.

It was a risky move, but he could throw his ships at it, 5 cruisers and 9 frigates of his entire force was all that he had left, he swore at the luck he had. But it didn't dull his stubborn decision, he wanted to take the damn place and secure it, which meant he had to overcome the defences. His decisions were running low, but then a thought came to him.

"Patch me in with the commanders of 3 of our frigates; I'd like to try something that will secure the walls." He began.

XXXXX

The marines and PDF at the walls of the city watched as the alien vessels came into view and then disappeared again, it was an uncertain feeling that the battle was about to erupt fairly soon. Gunners prepared their stations, it was until a marker swept the area with his scanners that he soon found movement.

The gunners brought batteries to bear on those locations, waiting in anticipation they weren't disappointed, 3 enemy vessels appeared, and rising over the mountain they rose upwards and speared forwards. The gunners began to fire at the hostile vessels; batteries lining the wall unleashed as much fire as they could.

The concentrated fire of 6 mass driver batteries brought one down quickly obliterating it with ease, the next one wasn't as easy, the batteries had gutted most of it, but it continued onwards even with the batteries. It reached close enough that the missile teams let loose their hellfire HEAT missiles and brought the second vessel down.

But the third in the middle of the 3 had a clear shot, the batteries fired everything they could at the approaching vessel, but they didn't manage to drop it in time. The frigate managed to wedge itself exactly in between the shield and the gap to the wall. It exploded in a vibrant flash and before they knew it the section of the wall was vaporised.

A massive gaping hole was no in the side of the city's wall, it had managed to bring one section down, but not all of it, the super structure of the wall was meant to withstand everything up to orbital bombardment from a covenant fleet. That frigate was more or less a direct hit from a plasma projector.

But still it hadn't brought the wall down, but it did cripple the defences, the marines soon found the walls batteries had suffered extensive damage where the ship had rammed. And there was the fact that the damage done to the wall had crippled a section of the shield barrier. As they attempted to recover the turians pressed the attack.

The fleet of vessels appeared and began to fire everything into the collapsed section; mass accelerator fire blew through the hole and devastated the already crippled buildings. The UCAF troops scattered from the disabled weapons and began to regroup elsewhere, meanwhile the turians began their first spearhead into Voros.

XXXXX

Ulic watched from the UCAF city base as the wall collapsed, he felt concerned but also ready, his brothers had been outfitted for this battle, and it was merely a matter of how to deploy his battle brothers to face the oncoming forces of the xeno. Behind him, 115 of his brothers geared up, ready in their new armaments and armour.

The vehicles ready to get going, and the dreadnoughts testing their new attachments, brother Isos had gotten his own personal attachments to a few plasma weapons and a power staff; he was intending to lead the heaviest of the brothers against the xeno. While Ulic was to take a few squads to engage the xeno at the breach, he was also bringing along his strongest of his brothers, Hurin terminator sergeant was bringing his own squad to bear with their new weapons.

The approach was a direct approach break through the xeno's defences and hold against anything they attempt to throw at them, grind the living flesh of the xeno to nothing. He called to his brothers.
"Brothers, this is our time once more, to arms we are needed, we shall deliver justice for those who have fallen, and stride onwards with honour and resilience."

"For honour, for Faust!" They chanted.

They deployed in their squads, rushing to their transports, they boarded and began their march to the xeno's lines. Ulic took point on the rhino behind the predator-defender, the newly upgraded version of the predator tank. The new upgrades yielded a much larger amount of firepower. 2 210mm rail batteries, 2 .50cal triple barrel mini-guns, side armaments of dual twin-linked plasma juggernauts, large plasma turrets designed to destroy vehicles and also fire plasma mortars to deal with enemy squads.

The predator took point driving through the streets of Voros, as the Sons of Faust approached the breach they found the PDF and UCAF marines bogged down fighting the xenos, it was a mess of a battle, xeno attempting to swarm the defenders as they broke through. The UCAF was putting up a sure fight though, even the PDF was getting more kills, however the sheer overwhelming skill of the xeno was more than they could handle.

The marines eventually got pushed back as a transport arrived with more xeno reinforcements, Ulic didn't need to say a word, the predator opened up as it crushed vehicles and rubble below it, the forward 210mm guns let out a furious blast as they propelled the lethal shells into the transport.

The turian drop-ship didn't have a chance to even dodge as the rounds blew chunks and dropped it to the ground in a pile of metal and fire. Marines turned to see the space marines arrive on the scene, they rejoiced if only for a bit before they renewed their counter against the xeno forces.

Ulic had been waiting for a new fight, as the predator cleared the way he jumped from his rhino with his brothers and charged forwards. The turians didn't have a chance when they saw the tremendous figure of the space marine force commander bring his gauss repeater to bear, the triple barrel let loose death.

The turians bodies blew apart within moments and covered the ground in their own blood, only the screams of panic took hold as the turians saw the space marines; they considered them demons, monsters which seemed to be unstoppable.

XXXXX

The turian captain sat at his command chair watching the battle progress, the breach had worked and his troops were slowly breaking sections through. There was almost enough space for one frigate to break through and once that had been accomplished they could break the remaining shield projectors and begin aerial deployment against these humans.

Of course that wasn't a major advantage, but it was enough to relieve pressure for his troops on the ground. He was feeling the tides of the battle changing in his favour. The rest of his fleet had arrived from orbit, he had over a dozen vessels now here on the planet, and he had lost practically over half of his fleet. But this decisive battle on the ground may just save him his reputation.

He ordered all available troops to engage, as he did so he received some good news.
"Sir, there's been a contact from the hierarchy, they have 3 fleets on approach, along with support, nearest vessels are to arrive in 2 days."

He was relieved, if only for the moment, soon he could salvage this whole thing. There was more to add to the report.
"There is an unconfirmed report however we have encountered very heavy resistance in the area." The officer reported.

"What sort of resistance?" He asked.

"Unknown, the troops that have engaged report of walking mechs with massive weapons ripping their way through the lines, it's difficult to confirm but the commander on field is requesting to redirect armoured vehicles to aid them." The officer reported.

"Mechs?" He said to himself in complete confusion. What kind of mechs did these beings have that were grinding his troops down? He replied.
"Send in the rovers and a few gunships."

The battle wasn't over yet, he was sure of it.

XXXXX

In orbit- - Redemption of the Will

The Redemption had finally arrived, and in time, Avix stood at the bridge of the ship watching as the battle barge arrived in the midst of this mess, he could see the dozens of ships still engaged in battle, but it seemed almost all of them had been crippled or destroyed. The UCAF vessels numbered only 5 with the orbital defence platform still in orbit.

Lucien appeared hefting his soul lance, a massive weapon that stood at a full body's length and a half, it was a light weapon though forged by the UCAF to help battle in close combat against the covenant. The weapon was able to amplify the psychic abilities of librarians in battle; only to the extent they could inflict more damage with their physical attacks.

Of course it didn't limit just physical, however it wasn't something that could be taken everywhere with the space marines. Lucien believed this was the best time to bring his strength to bear on the enemies of man. It was a show of force, but he wished to try his strength once more, he hadn't had a chance in the past year since the war effectively ended.

Avix, patiently watched the world below and greeted Lucien.
"I see you're prepared?"

"Yes, I have brother, what is our deployment against these enemies?" He asked.

"Simple, I wish to bring our brothers to bear at their advance; we shall aid in halting them and then bring the Redemption on their rear lines and sever their escape route." Avix replied.

"Is the Contemptor prepared for deployment?" Lucien inquired.

"Brother Remes has been prepared, he is waiting alongside the thunderhawk, and I intend to lead the attack, where shall you deploy?" Avix asked.

"I shall take the devastators and flank upon deployment." He replied.

They nodded and they headed down to the hangar, meanwhile the battle outside slowly began to die down. Lucien arrived at his drop pod, the large hexagonal pod with his squad armed and ready, Brother Alexander Trajan greeted him.
"So I see you plan to lead us in battle?" Alex asked.

"My skills have needed a challenge for a while. Alex, how is your squad?" He replied.

"Fine Lucien, we are ready when you are." He stated aptly.

"Good, we're deploying now." Lucien stated.

Nearby the others stepped into their drop pods, and in the hangar the thunderhawks began to lift from the bay and into the void. However there was one thing that stood out, the large POD, a UCAF deployment pod that was designed to drop bases in the field, the massive orbital rig was prepared to drop the Contemptor.

As the engineseers and tech-priests finished the rites of activation the pod lifted from the hangar bay and into the void carrying its lethal cargo into the hold of the planet's gravity. Down below, the battle was soon to turn into a grinding mess.

XXXXX

Ulic found his mark with his repeater as he tore his way through another squad of xenos, his chainsword carving through the body of two of the aliens with ease. The battle had been going for at least 3 hours now. But it seemed that the xeno had decided to get serious, they had released armoured vehicles and tanks as well as what he could tell were gunships.

They now clogged the streets of Voros desperately attempting to hold this bridgehead they had made; of course Ulic wasn't going to let them get their way. He and his brothers were still pressing the attack; however they had to be cautious on their attack. The tanks had proven dangerous; if it landed a hit their MKVII armour wouldn't be able to withstand the impact. It might take one brother down, however it wouldn't stop all of them.

The missiles the xenos used weren't effective in penetrating their armour, but it did tend to wear their shields down. Ulic regrouped with his brother's advance, Sargent Baros was leading the squad alongside him.
"We're pressing these xenos down, however they're determined to hold."

"I admire their spirit, but I am disgusted by their arrogance." Ulic replied.

The squad pressed onwards, his battle brothers laying down fire as UCAF marines and PDF engaged, the regular UCAF troops seemed capable of dealing with these xenos. They had been fighting them since they breached the walls. UCAF rifles however had some problems, most PDF were still using unaugmented rifles. And the marines had limited ammo as they unloaded most of it trying to suppress the xeno advance.

It wasn't until they heard something over the coms.
"Hold fire on approaching friendlies from orbit, drop locations breach point. Keep your fire from them." Isabelle called over the channels.

Ulic looked above and focused on the approaching fireballs from orbit, he grinned, their reinforcements had arrived. He wondered when they might have been able to make it, but there was also something else, the large incoming object with a humanoid looking machine attached underneath it.

"Isos shall be truly excited." Baros commented as he unloaded his gauss bolter into a few unlucky xeno grunts.

A sharp whistle and a large roar followed as the object descended to the ground, the massive orbital rig holding the dreadnought released it a from a few meters above letting it loose on the xeno lines. The massive dreadnought crushed the ground below; the xenos froze in place in surprise, but were soon firing as the machine began to come to life.

The contemptor rose at its full height, its arms stretching out with its weapons. Its eyes glowing as it awoke, its black and gold armour with the shield of a golden wreath on its shoulder. It shouted aloud.
"Even in death I serve, I serve judgement upon the enemies of man, fear me for I am your end!"

Its searchlights and sensory equipment locked onto the xeno in front of it, and it brought its weapons to bear, it had two arms instead of one arm and a heavy weapon. Its left arm was armed with a power fist and inbuilt gauss bolters, the other was a normal mechanised arm, however it was armoured and held a large pair of twin linked plasma cannons.

It brought its plasma gun to bear on the nearest xeno and obliterate their position, the xenos screaming as the plasma engulfed them, and then it brought left arm to bear with the bolters, and the other xenos broke and ran but not before the dreadnought blew them from limb to limb. The sight was a horrifying sight to the turians unable to fight the machine they began to break and run.

Ulic watched with grim satisfaction, the xenos had finally broken. The battle was almost finally turning in their favour, not to mention if the Knights of Retribution had arrived, then there were likely the other chapters to follow along with the UCAFs reinforcements. He shouted through the coms.

"Now is our change brothers, we press the attack again, we shall make these xeno rue the day they ever saw the warriors of man!" He shouted.

"For the Emperor, for Man!" The battle brothers chanted as they pressed again.

Across the battlefield the xeno felt the might of the space marines. The lines broke apart as the space marines pushed through, the Knights and the Faust broke through relatively quickly. And then came the space marine's vessels, from the city the strike cruiser made its appearance, while the battle barge above descended to engage the turians from their rear.

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Aboard the Acclaimed the turian captain watched the battle turn into a disaster within minutes, where his troops had spilt blood for, they found themselves had been forced back to the breach, not only that but he could see walking monstrosities ripping their way through the lines of his troops.

He didn't know if these walking tanks were a tell-tale sign that the spirits had just left him to die, or that this war had just escalated very badly, he cursed that his forces hadn't even managed to secure one city. And he damned the fact that reinforcements were over a day out from arriving. General Varric would be leading the next fleet; he just hoped the general had better troops than him.

It was then that a cruiser exploded, its side gutted by the weapons wielded by the massive dreadnought that was now attacking, but it wasn't the only dreadnought, another appeared as the shields of the city shut down. It seemed that his troops had finally reached the primary generators, but it wasn't so, the defenders had shut it down to let loose their ships on their remaining vessels.

The whole thing was turning into a massacre, half of his troops dead, and most of his fleet now destroyed, the only help over a day away, it might as well never come, by the time they did, they'd find a graveyard packed with the remains of his forces. He gritted his teeth and flared his mandibles in aggravation, this was the end as it seemed.

The enemy's deadly orbital weapon was still active only crippled by the sacrifice of over 600 of his own troops; the primary gun was offline for now. Above the orbital relay was still active, from what he had been able to determine, the attack on the relay was just as expensive as the station. The numbers he had lost were devastating.

In this attack alone over 33,000 troops lost in hours, and only a standing force of 27,000 was all that he had left, and that figure was dropping at an alarming rate. If their help arrived, there would be nothing left to look at, the captain just sat there and watched as a frigate exploded from a direct hit to it bow.

The energy weapons that these beings used were far in excess to anything the council had a chance to even create, as for that matter there was no military that had been able to make anything these beings had. If only there was something to salvage from this it would be a warning, to tell them to seal down the relay before any of these beings escaped to wage war on the council.

"Damn it, so many good lives wasted for this dirt ball." He hissed at himself.
"My reputation will be worse than failure, but disgrace."

His train of thought was interrupted. "Sir I have a strange energy reading appearing around us."

"What?" He said startled.

A bright flash and before he knew it there were alarms of breaches in multiple sections of the ship.
"What's happened?" He demanded.

"Hostiles have managed to deploy through the kinetic barriers, no visible sign of entry, they teleported in." The ensign replied.

That definitely caught him off guard, they teleported inside the ship, what in damned galaxy was he fighting against? He barked orders.
"Stop them from reaching the bridge, and begin to dump all tactical data, every star chart everything aside from primary systems." He ordered.

The crewman did seem startled but began to dump the data as quickly as he could. It was likely that these beings haven't managed to exit into council space, and he wouldn't let them know of what awaited them, he couldn't let it happen. Disastrous as the fight had been, there was consequences he couldn't allow to worsen.

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Terminators hadn't lost their touch that was for sure, Lucien had admittedly taken things into his own hands, as the xeno lines fell apart and his squad tore through the armour of the aliens. They managed to reach UCAF troops pinned by their base, they managed to break the deadlock and provide support.

It was then that he linked up with his brothers and Avix at the base as the battle turned, Avix decided to allow for him to attempt to break through using a deep strike, the UCAF at the base had short ranged teleporters used by the ONI for special training missions. They had them set up for whoever needed them.

Avix decided that Lucien was to lead the attack while he went and led the primary assault, Lucien and 4 squads would be able to breach the enemy command vessel and eliminate the commander, and also procure the information of these xenos from the commander in charge of the attack. This was slightly risky, but the risks were worth taking to break these aliens hold on the ground.

The Sons of Faust joined the attack while Lucien and the squads headed in, he was being accompanied by the terminators from the Sons of Faust, and they had more experience in being teleported by the UCAFs technology. Upon arriving they found themselves inside the cargo bay of the ship.

The first being that they surprised was an unfortunate xeno who was carrying mechanical parts; Lucien crushed his throat and dropped his body as they began their attack. The whole ship was turned into a cacophony of death as the terminators and the squads began their cleansing of the alien vessel.

Lucien led the terminators through the corridors of the ship, which proved somewhat difficult, the height of the ship was much smaller for people his size, the terminators scrapped the top of the ceiling constantly and Lucien found it arduous turning around corners as his body was very broad.

He took fire the whole way through, however his lance quickly silenced most of the xenos in the corridors. He had his plasma pistol as well; blasting away the xeno with ease, one shot accidently punched a hole through the hull of the vessel which caused a small explosion of decompression to occur.

He treaded onwards until he picked out a xeno officer and used his mind link to drain away whatever he needed.
"Follow me brothers." He gestured to a nearby lift.

They arrived on the CIC level from the lift which had proven longer than normal, possibly thanks to the sheer weight of the terminators and himself, they went up each individually, once they regrouped on the CIC level. Lucien located the bridge's doors; he split forces having half on one door and him leading the others through this door.

Once in position he let loose a blast from his plasma pistol and rushed through, before him a dozen startled xenos who had been waiting, they let loose a volley of fire. Lucien gave them 3 seconds before his lance speared the first two and crushed the third with his body's force. The terminators obliterated most of the remaining xeno personnel.

There were only 2 left, and Lucien identified the last one, a turian captain and his first in command.
"So captain Rious, I believe its time you tell me what you know." Lucien said in turian.

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The recreation of all he could remember as he recalled the first battles on Voros when he personally led his forces to their deaths against the human military. The chamber was quiet aside from the council members looking at each other nervously.

"Captain Rious, your actions have violated your boundaries of command, and have openly evoked conflict with another species or even more, what have you to say for your actions?" Tevos angrily addressed the turian officer who now sat before the council hearing.

Rious had been recovered only days after the fabled 'first contact massacre', the captain smiled madly and replied.
"My actions? Ha ha, HA AHAHHHAA!"

The turian captain calmed down after his disturbing display.
"My actions are of no consequence you fool, don't you see? I did it because what these humans were capable of, they're scheming monsters, decisive in genocide, and they don't want peace. And you should know, you've seen the reports, the statements of what was left of our force, 123,459 dead only 653 survivors of the total forces who engaged the humans for a month. And that toll is piling up."

The turian councillor interjected.
"Those reports are unconfirmed as everyone knows these 'demons' are merely a figment of your imagination captain, there has been no evidence to prove the existence of such supernatural delusions you faced on the human homeworld."

"Spirits? Who said spirits? They're monsters made from flesh and metal, they spare none, they kill without mercy, they spared me because they wanted me alive, to deliver this message." He smiled as he began to dribble blood.

"Reap what you sow." He finished as his head suddenly exploded.

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Codex: Advents

Advents are by definition entities who are much powerful than the average human or even Spartan, their minds are linked by what is known as the quantum inversion, their minds are able to use quantum fields to manipulate the universe around them. However there has been some disambiguation between that and the warp.

The first difference is that the quantum universe is nothing like the warp; it is pure unimaginable amount of energy, something that is bounded in all creation. Advents are beings able to manipulate this thanks to their lineage, before the end of the forerunners; the forerunners saved remaining humans from the human-forerunner war.

Using these humans they intended to save their race in memory, granting them access to their ability to manipulate quantum waves, they never knew of the results, however this act created the first advents. Following the centuries that went by, the first advents appeared in the ruins of forerunner worlds.

Their abilities soon made them able masters of various abilities, and created the first order of Light. Led by the first advent Vincent of Truesight, the advents soon secured their position as the leadership of the various quantum users. The younger version of an advent is an adept, only learning to master the abilities of quantum manipulation; they were the weakest members of the quantum users.

From there came the advents, and then the Ascendants. Ascendants are a rarity amongst the ranks of the Advents, being the final stage of their evolution; Ascendants are considered by definition as powerful as any Advent. Their power is near limitless, however Ascendants are forbidden from acting against the will of the universe.

Ascendants are capable for existing for eternity; however they can depart if they lose stability, such as letting their emotions take control they would then vanish into quantum realm. As for Ascendants only Vincent has ever truly remained in the universe.

There are various denominations of the Advents, Tempests, Enlightened and Guardians are a few of their classes. The Advents however have one primary rule to themselves; they cannot interfere without consent from the order of light. For they are able to see things within the universe, through time and space and it is a taboo to break these laws, and so the Advents have only played a moderate role during the human covenant war, knowing what the outcome was.

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AN: There are a few other things I was supposed to add, but this will have to do…

Sorry guys my net's been capped at the maximum limit of 120gbs and I cannot load the other things fast enough also my access to WH wiki wasn't working so I had to scrape through with whatever I could. But still I do hope the next upcoming chapter will be more to your tastes. The war hasn't ended.