Assaults
(at almost exactly the same time)
The greeting party was unwelcome but completely expected. Inquisitors made people nervous. It was part and parcel to who and what they were and often made their work of ferreting out secrets easier. If Thrax had wanted to sneak in, avoid Imperial attention, he could have easily. He didn't. What he wanted in this system was only accessible through the Governor General. Kaurava IV had been quarantined so thoroughly that even Thrax's heavily stealthed ship wouldn't have been able to get past the sensors and weapon platforms without being blown to pieces. So, he decided to pay a visit to Kaurava I and the Governor. As always, he was prepared for trouble, Inquisitors never knew where or when enemies would pop up. But he wasn't overly worried about that. He wasn't alone.
As soon as he stepped onto the ramp of his ship, Thrax picked out the form of the Governor General among the babbling throng. But it wasn't until his companion stepped out of the ship that everyone suddenly fell silent. Few Inquisitors had the sheer physical presence of an Adeptas Asartes. Then again, this Space Marine had his helmet on, was fully armed with boltgun, bolt pistol and chainsword. Few would notice the other weapon slung across his back as well. The fact that he did not seem hostile was little comfort. In this case though, it wasn't the armor or weapons that silenced everyone. It was the heraldry on said armor. And the fact that his Godwyn pattern boltgun was in hand and ready.
"Inquisitor." The Governor General sounded calm, but his eyes were flashing. "Your visit is unexpected."
"It is a poor excuse for an Inquisitor who is expected to show up when and where others wish." Thrax nodded as he stepped towards the man. Several guards moved to ready their weapons and Thrax paused. "I cannot recommend that anyone shoot at the Commander here. It would be a very bad idea. Probably a terminal one."
"You bring a Blood Raven here?" The Governor General said flatly. "Do you know what they did?"
"Oh? What did they do to incite such... hostility in your men?" Thrax inquired idly. "From what I understand, they destroyed a force of Chaos Space Marines and then you killed half their chapter here." The Governor General paused in whatever he was going to say and the Inquisitor forged ahead. "After of course, the Tau did most of the work for you. Very efficient, I have to say." He shook his head, ignoring the hostile looked that many were sending his way. "I am honestly curious. Did anyone from Segmentum Command even bother to check your report? Or did they just file it under 'forget'?" His smile might have given a shark goosebumps.
"My report was perfectly clear." The Governor General replied without a touch of heat. His eyes were cold though.
"Oh yes." Thrax admitted. "You were attacked. You responded. Simple. Funny thing though, you didn't list any casualties in that 'attack' on your palace." His eyes were cold pits of darkness. "Odd that Adeptas Asartes, who specialize in decapitation strikes, failed to kill a single one of your men in trying to kill you." He shook his head. "The Commander and I are not here to revisit old choices. We need to get to Kaurava IV. I need to get your permission to do that, hence why I am here. The only reason I am here."
"And if I refuse your permission?" The Governor General asked, to all appearances openly curious. Until you looked at his eyes.
"Well, maintaining the quarantine is your responsibility." Thrax replied. "I am sure the Guard will do so much better this time that the last time at stopping the Ruinous Powers in their tracks."
It was totally deadpan, but it was a zinger. No one knew for sure what had brought the Warp Storm to Kaurava and all of the associated powers that fought over the four worlds but historically speaking, it was almost always a human doing something stupid with the Warp that caused such and the humans on Kaurava IV had almost all been Guard. By the time the dust had settled, thousands of beings, including Chaos Space Marines, Dark Eldar, Eldar, Orks, Adeptas Sororitas, Adeptas Asartes, and Tau had fallen. The Guard's casualties were close to a million. The damage was still being repaired. The Guard had lost almost three quarters of its fighting forces in the initial Chaos onslaught. It was a miracle to some that they had managed to recover so quickly and retake the system from so many disparate forces. Many in the Inquisition suspected worse things, but that was their job.
"We maintain the quarantine." The Governor General actually growled. "On the Inquisition's orders."
"And I am sure you are managing that as well as you managed the moon base of Kaurava II." The apparent non-sequitor had the Governor pausing and Thrax shook his head. "Or did you not know that a force of Tau just reclaimed that?" His tone was not -quite- snide.
"What?" The Governor General actually blanched. He spun to a uniformed subordinate and snarled at the man. "Contact the base. Now!" The man nodded jerkily and ran to a comconsole set against one pillar. "You had better not be playing with me, Inquisitor."
"Governor General..." Thrax heaved a sigh. "I have far larger concerns than your ambitions. I don't care if you picked a fight with a chapter of Adeptas Asartes. I think it is stupid in the extreme. But hey, it was your choice. The Commander and I have business on Kaurava IV and that does not concern you. If you deny my permission, that is your right. If so, I will take my request to Segmentum Command."
Unsaid was that if he did so, Segmentum Command might just take a close, hard look at the goings on in Kaurava again. Inquisitors or other agents of the Imperium might descend in droves to seek out anything and everything out of the ordinary they could find. To say it would be messy would be an understatement.
"And if I refuse to let you leave?" The Governor General froze as a click sounded. A boltgun being taken off safe. Every eye turned to the Blood Raven who was aiming at the Governor General now.
"That would make a hell of a mess." Thrax didn't flinch as several of the Governor's guards readied their own weapons. "If anyone fires, this will end badly for you, Governor General. You and most of your retinue will die here. Your Rosarius might stop his bolts, but it won't stop the bolts in this." His hand came up with an oddly shaped weapon. A bolt pistol that had a crossbow attached to the top, one designed to cut through any defenses.
"Governor General, Sir!" The officer at the com called. "Moon base is not responding. Long range detection picks up unknown power sources."
"Emperor!" The Governor General said with a growled epithet. "Stand down!" He commanded. The guard hesitated and he put his hand on his holster. "I said stand down. We have Tau to kill. Commissar Brenn!"
"Yes, Governor General." The sinister form of a commissar stepped from a shadow nearby. He had an ornate laspistol in hand. "Orders?"
"Ready the men." The human in charge of the Kaurava system said flatly. "We are going to Kaurava II." He spun back to Thrax and the Blood Raven. "You are coming."
"Am I?" Thrax, to all appearances looked bored.
"You want to go to Kaurava IV? Fine. I will take you after we deal with this." The human paused as the Inquisitor shook his head. "It wasn't a request, Inquisitor."
"You seem to forget that I am not under your command, Governor General." Thrax's voice was soft, dangerous. He opened his mouth again only to pause as light flashed around him. He sighed even as the Blood Raven spun, aimed and fired in one sinuous motion. "That was dumb. Of course I am shielded."
The rapid crak-crak-crak of the Blood Raven's boltgun split the hangar and a scream sounded in the distance. One that cut off suddenly.
"No!" The Governor General bellowed as his men took aim and the Blood Raven spun to aim at him again. "Blood Raven, stand down! That was not at my orders!"
"You do not command me." The massive armored form said flatly. He did pause as Thrax raised a hand. "Inquisitor?"
"We came here to see the residue of the Warp on Kaurava IV first hand. We came to conduct an experiment that should have no repercussions at all beyond the planet. That is why we came here, because of the strict quarantine." Thrax said with another sigh. "We have neither the time nor the inclination to cater to your whims, Governor General. Tell us to leave and we will. Try to kill us and this will get very bad, very quickly." He shook his head. "If you do manage to kill us, I am sure there are many within the Imperium and without who would applaud you, just as they applauded you when you killed the Order of the Sacred Rose and the Blood Ravens." At that, the whole hangar was suddenly still. "But this time, there will be other people questioning. Not just Astra Militarum who you can bribe, coerce or blackmail." The silence before had been complete. Now it was deafening. "Gabriel Angelos now leads the Blood Ravens. I think you know his reputation."
Understatement. Few who knew of the Blood Ravens did not know the name Gabriel Angelos. A more staunch defender of the Imperium was hard to find. But also, someone who did not take wrongs done to himself and his chapter lightly. If he had been here instead of Indrick Boreale, things might have been very different. At the very least, the Guard wouldn't have had it nearly so easy.
"We beat the Blood Ravens before." One of the uniformed flunkies behind the Governor General said firmly. "We can do it again!"
"You?" The Blood Raven standing there did not bother to hide his derision. "Really?" He didn't bother to shift his aim from the Governor General.
"You cannot talk to me-" Whatever else the flunky was going to say as he clawed for his holster was cut off as the Governor General spun and backhanded him.
"Shut up, Colonel." The human in charge of the Kaurava System said in a cold voice and the man froze, his hand halfway to his mouth were blood fell from a broken lip. "You were not there. I was. We had numbers, we had firepower, we had surprise and it still cost us. I made the choice I did. I have no regrets about it." He said to the Space Marine with no fear.
"Good for you." The Blood Raven relaxed just a little. His boltgun tracked away from the Governor General but no one relaxed. He did not put its safety on. "You know what you owe. Sooner or later the debt will be called in, one way or another. By my chapter or others, it matters not. I will not be calling in the debt unless you choose for me to. I am bound to another cause. Be glad."
"Sir!" The officer at the com called. "Detection reports new contacts! Chaos Raiders!"
"Heading for Kaurava IV?" Thrax demanded. The Governor General looked at him and the Inquisitor snarled. "They may seek what we do. Governor General, we must go to Kaurava IV before the day is out. There is a rare conjunction in the Warp that will focus there. The experiment I wish to try is to seal a known rift in the Warp there. If they open it..." The Governor General blanched and nodded.
"Then we have a Chaos incursion on top of the Tau one." The Governor General said with a growl. "Right... Inquisitor, head to Kaurava IV. You are cleared through the quarantine. I will send the fleet to buy you what time we can and provide fire support if needed. The Tau can wait. The big gun there was disabled."
"Let's hope it stays that way." Thrax said with a growl of his own as he turned to go back into his ship. "Commander." He said quietly when the Blood Raven did not move.
The Blood Raven and human Governor General locked eyes for a long moment. Then the Governor General nodded once. He turned and left, his retinue following him as he started to bark orders.
"What was that about?" Thrax asked as they entered the ship.
"A promise to a comrade. He is not for me to kill."
Orbit over Kaurava I
It was an age old conflict that was being acted out for the millionth time at least. The forces of Chaos had always striven to undermine and destroy the Imperium of Man. They had come very close ten thousand years previous with the corruption of Horus and the ignition of the Horus Heresy. The Emperor had been mortally wounded, kept alive only by the arcane workings of his Golden Throne and the daily sacrifice of thousands of psykers. Time and time again since, the Imperium had been beset by Chaos. So many times, it had nearly fallen. It would have but for the heroes who protected it.
Chaos raiders were fast and powerful with extremely long range weapons. The Imperial Navy forces opposing them were not as fast, but heavily armored and armed. In many ways, it was a classic running engagement. However, the Imperial forces were between where the Chaos ships were and where they wanted to go, so despite the vastness of space, the Chaos ships had to through them. That suited the Imperials just fine.
It began as it always did. Four Chaos cruisers with over a dozen escorts ran towards the massed Imperial fleet surrouunding Kaurava IV that was shaking itself into from stillness to battle readiness. The flagship, a modern Overlord Class battlecruiser called Lance of Terra was the first Imperial ship to start moving, her crew stoked to a frenzy by the Governor General's commands. She was followed by the Gothic class cruiser Inferno Exuberant, two Lunar cruisers, Decision Courageous and Doom Of Flame. The Stone of Sabre, an ancient Grand Cruiser that really should have been decommissioned and scrapped centuries before was slow to get going, but lit her drive to full to catch up even as shoals of escorts moved out and around. Dauntless class light cruisers, Cobra, Widowmaker and Firestorm escorts all flew at their ancient enemies. Such a mismatch should have spelled certain victory for the Imperials. But then, things changed as more ships appeared just behind the Chaos cruisers, jumping out of the warp far too close to the gravity wells for safety. Then again, most Chaos captains didn't really care for such. That didn't even count the ones who were not sane..
More than one person in the Imperial fleet felt a touch of fear as the ships were identified. A Despoiler Class Battleship that looked to be the Fortress of Agony. It hadn't been seen since the Gothic war. Or no one had survived to report seeing it. Another large Chaos ship was beside it, a Desolator class battleship that no one could see the name of. The postulant boils and icky looking stuff all over it made it hard to see any of the ship. No one sane would board that ship, not with Nurgle's touch all over it. Four more Chaos cruisers and an even dozen escorts followed the battlewagons out of the Warp. Two of the cruisers seemed to be damaged and one of the escorts simply blew up. Exiting the Warp so close to a gravity well had its dangers.
"Pity neither of the big ones blew up."
Fleet Admiral Geralt Simms was not a happy man as he stared at the display. He had more escorts than the Chaos fleet did. From his readings, he had more fighters and bombers if he added those based on the four habitable planets and myriad stations. He sent orders to scramble them all. He would need them. The orbital weapon platforms would add a significant chunk of firepower as well, but they were immobile. Easy to outflank and destroy from a distance if his mobile forces were lost.
"Kaurava IV is the target." The chief astropath reported to no one's surprise. "Their trajectory puts them..."
"Over the Peninsula of Iseult." Geralt said quietly and the astropath stared at him, his inhuman eyes wide. "That is where the Chaos had their fortress. Figures that is where they are going."
"Can we stop them, sir?" A young ensign asked. Geralt turned to him, face blank and the young human froze.
"Whether we can or not, ensign Koris, we are going to do our duty." The Admiral said quietly. "Yes, they are fearsome. But so are we! We are the Imperial Navy! We are the line in the stars! We take no crap from anybody!" A cheer sounded, with ensign Koris snapping a sharp salute. "All ships, engage the enemy! We hold this line and none of the Chaos filth gets through!"
A priority message chimed and he stepped to his console which darkened to give him privacy. The audio would feed into his implants and no one else could hear except maybe the ship's commissar, who wouldn't talk. The admiral was not surprised to see the Governor General on the screen.
"Admiral?" The commander of the Kaurava System said quietly. "How bad?"
"They have two battlewagons, sir. The correlation of force is adverse. We have a chance as long as I can get the fighters and bombers here in time." Geralt said quietly. "Our ships are good. I checked the readiness just last week. But the numbers don't lie. We might be able to hold them of the planet, sir, but it will cost. Orders?"
"I am releasing the planetary defenses for the quarantine to your control, Admiral." The Governor General said quietly. "If they land, you are cleared to use anything and everything." Geralt stiffened and the Governor General nodded. "Everything."
"We have personnel on Kaurava IV, sir." The Admiral wasn't arguing, just making sure. Many had been caught out by the quarantine and never allowed to leave. Supplies were dropped for outposts and a small science facility, nothing major, but several thousand military personnel in addition to their material. A number of civilian settlements had managed to survive the various incursions somehow and had expanded since the war. He didn't have numbers for them. Less than a million in all likelihood.
"If the Ruinous Powers get there, they may try to open what the Blood Ravens closed." The Admiral stiffened at that. He hadn't been here when the war for Kaurava had occurred, but he had heard stories, Everyone had. "If they bring the Warp Storm back, we haven't seen bad."
"No, sir." The Admiral swallowed and nodded. "Understood sir. If needed, I will fire it."
"For what it is worth, you acting under my authorization of the quarantine." The old human on the screen suddenly looked tired. "If they land..."
"You are cleared to Exterminatus Kaurava IV."
