Chapter 9: At the entrance to hell

Personal log of Maximilian Macharius, Captain of the Battlecruiser Resilient. We're a few minutes away from emerging into our staging zone. We received more reports from the Firestorm squadron I sent to our target and they tell me that the pirates still don't move out. Quite the opposite, during the last 2 days more escort ships arrived along with 2 cruiser sized vessels in that system. According to Captain Kuller, there are now at least three different pirate groups present. I don't exactly know what makes him assume that but since he has a two decade long experience of pirate hunting, I trust his judgment in this matter. These circumstances however open up new possibilities. A strike against three separate pirate groups would be a heavy blow against piracy in general in this sector. I already made a request for fleet reinforcements since a battle now would be in the pirates favor.

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

"Ar we there yet?" Gragrok Bonecrusher asked impatiently for the 100th time. He always had to resist the urge to pound the mek in front of him to a bloody stump because without them, the massive hulks his Waaagh! was on its way on would fall apart. They were also the ones who immediately after their departure began to strip the internal materials of the hulks to build warships.

Gragok's horde was immense. On 12 hulks that miraculously appeared in his system millions of orks traveled to their unknown destination the warp was bringing them. His weirboyz assured him of a "megagigantic battle" once they were there. And that was the only thing that kept his Waaagh together. The bosses of the participating clans already had to quell several brawls but at least no revolt broke out yet. To say it in the words of his weirdboyz: 'Dschust a liddl more teim'

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

On the bridge of the Interminable Fear Victor Harras watched the debris and bodies float in the warp. The entities that were home here already began devouring the souls of the still alive crews that floated there. This was the latest uprising due to the bloodlust that overtook his armada. 7 cruisers, one grand cruiser and 22 escorts had to be destroyed for order to come back. If they couldn't get out of this warpstorm and kill something real soon, his army would be gone in a matter of days.

That thought was just finished when the demon that was enslaved to the sensor station spoke up.

"Lord, the warp storm opens."

"Is it abating?" Victor Harras asked.

"No, there is a tunnel opening for us to get through." the demon replied.

"I smell a trap. But we have no choice. Bring us through."

And so the Armada went through the hole Kalathael created after Aemos' order towards their, to Victor Harras unknown, destination. And Aemos smiled.

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

"We're about to re-enter the materium, Captain." Anastasius was saying.

Maxim snapped out of his daydreams. God-Emperor, he was tired. He could barely sleep during warp travel. He thought about getting some stimulants or soporifics and decided for soporifics the next time. Better an artificial sleep than being awake on drugs during a battle.

The final gong sounded. Shortly thereafter the fleet embarked from the warp into the Anaxes system. The sight that greeted Maxim put a smile on his face even though it seemed to freak out the rest of his crew apart from the sensor tech who made his report first.

"Captain, we have the rest of the fleet on the sensors plus another Battlecruiser, the Watchfulness, 3 cruisers and 12 escorts. And . . . two Space Marine attack cruisers. Pictograms on the hull indicate them to be from the Relictors Chapter."

Seeing Maxim's broad smile most of his crew frowned.

"Captain, is that your doing?" Urag asked.

"As a matter of fact, yes." Maxim said. "That's the help I need to take the Ramilies fort in one piece, so the Navy can put it on a threatened planet. I'm going to the conference room for the tactical meeting."

Maxim went to the conference room and greeted the other captains via hololith.

"Greetings fellow Captains. And a special greeting to you, Captain Virgo. I thank you for your presence and I deeply appreciate your willingness to assist us in this mission."

The Space Marine Captain nodded curtly. Even though he was only transmitted via hololith, he still was an impressive being. Maxim continued.

"As you know from the data you received from our scouts our target is a system at the outer fringes of this subsector. It's lying directly next to the Fallos Belt. So some might wonder why a Ramilies Fort is located there. Although they are able to travel through the warp it's not an easy thing to do. But the fact that it is possible is the reason I planned to get it in one piece.

"For further and more detailed orders I plan a strategic meeting in two hours here on my ship. I request every Captain and Escort squad leader to attend. I would be glad if you would attend as well, Captain Virgo."

"I will attend" the Space Marine simply said.

Maxim dismissed the others and walked back to the bridge with a sigh. He had two hours to come up with details to his plan.

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

Victor Harras brooded silently on his bridge. His armada was on its way through the warp tunnel that miraculously opened. Where were they going? He didn't care. No matter the destination, he would kill anything he encountered. The thirst for blood and killing was almost unbearable.

"We're about to exit the warp" the sensor demon growled. Victor Harras watched the ships of his vanguard fleet disappear into the material universe. Suddenly he felt a dreadful sense of foreboding. The last time they did that, they were ambushed. This time however that didn't happen. As his ship exited the warp he saw what awaited him here.

The defense force of his prey was lined up in high orbit around the planet. Two massive orbital fortresses and numerous smaller defense satellites were also visible.

"Numbers!" Victor barked. The sensor demon paused. Although his ship was filled with the essence of the warp, the demons enslaved in his ship systems reacted always a fraction slower than inside the immaterium.

"Two orbital fortresses, shape resembling imperial Ramilies class. 236 laser satellites. A Desolator battleship, 5 cruisers of various variants and 40 escort ships. Marks on their hulls indicate followers of the pleasure prince."

Inwardly Victor smiled. The hated followers of Slaanesh would fight similar to his forces. But while he fought for blood, they simply fought for the pleasure of fighting. He measured their numbers. No match whatsoever for his armada. But if they cut headlong into them, the star forts could rip his capital ships apart, while the laser sats could destroy his escorts with concentrated fire. Luckily his ships captains, who followed Khorne but rarely got into close combat so the blood lust wouldn't let them mindless to tactics.

He quickly ordered his armada into four groups. One, consisting mostly of fast light cruisers and escorts, accompanied by six heavy cruisers and two battleships would take on the enemy ships. He would command this battle group himself.

The second and third, consisting of 4 battleships each, accompanied by his battlecruisers and the remaining heavy, normal and light cruisers and escorts would take on the fortresses. The masses of torpedoes his armada was able to unleash would quickly take out one of them while they pounded on the other with their enormous broadsides while the fortresses could only fire at fewer targets at once.

The third group, consisting of his remaining two battleships and eight cruisers would take out the satellites. The battleships' void shields were able to take a lot of firepower from such small satellites while being able to destroy a lot of them in return. The cruisers were to lend them their firepower to quicken the destruction of the satellites to enable a mass landing of his ground forces.

His transports were to wait way outside firing range, guarded by two escort squadrons.

With a war cry that was transmitted to every ship in his armada, he ordered them to attack.

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

"Let me all welcome you personally" Maxim said to the assembled captains and the three Space Marines sitting at the table. He had his flight commander with him as well as Anastasius. "For you who don't know, this is Space Marine Captain Lemarius" Maxim said, pointing at the Marine in the middle. "This meeting is meant to clear out the details before the attack. Let me summarize what we already know based on the latest details we got from our scouts only 30 minutes ago."

Maxim's voice was firm and full of authority although he was nervous as hell. But his father as well as his grandfather, may the Emperor rest his soul, thought him at a young age that a good voice combined with a good speech helps in convincing people to do even impossible things.

"According to Captain Kuller, 4 separate and known Pirate groups are assembled in the target system. He has 20 years experience of pirate hunting so I trust his word in this matter. My plan, apart from destroying them all of course, is to take over the Lunar Cruiser and the Ramilies fortress."

Apart from his own crew and the Space Marines, no one else had heard of Maxim's plan before. Therefore the gasps were quite understandable. Nevertheless, Maxim continued.

"The enemy's fleet strength is reported to be the following: The before mentioned Ramilies fortress and the Lunar cruiser which we will board as well as a cruiser sized vessel of unknown class. Two of the other groups have cruiser sized vessels although the type is not known either. Captain Kuller estimates they are patched together from pieces of other ships. Every group has its escort class vessels and transports. We'll face a total of nine cobras, five Sword class frigates and 26 transports, some of them armed."

Maxim watched the others swallow the information. He could see the minds of them moving with numbers and chances. Always the good sign in captains. Only the Space Marines remained passive, betraying nothing of their thoughts.

"This is my plan" Maxim continued. "Since we don't know if the pirates have fighter wings at their disposal, we'll start every fighter we have. One of the cruisers, the Executioner, has 4 squadrons on her own, giving us 8 squadrons to use. Mr. Urag, Mr. Carter, you will hail the Executioner and work out a plan for our fighter and bomber wings with the Executioners Flight Commander. Dismissed."

Urag and Anastasius saluted and went out of the room. In leaving Anastasius winked at Maxim in a try of encouragement. Maxim smiled and moved his concentration back on the meeting.

"Now to the approach. We hope we can stay undetected as long as possible but we shouldn't count on it. That's why I'm choosing the direct route. We will use the block formation After we come out of the warp, the Resilient and the Watchfulness will be at the front with two cruisers on each flank. The Novatis and the Starhawk will flank us while the Omicron and the Orca will flank the Watchfulness. Thanks to sector command, we have two Overlords to our disposal which gives us two more Nova cannons to use. That's why they will be over and under the block to give them more space to maneuver. Captain Roslin and Captain Boderick, you will use them to destroy the smaller ships so we can concentrate on their big ones."

Both men nodded, eager to prove their marksmanship. Maxim knew they were good. Although he trained with the Nova gun, it was still a fine piece of technology and Maxim still had problems estimating the range to a target.

"I will use the Resilient's nova gun to fire at the Ramilies fort. I will target the active part to eliminate some of their weapons. Our escort wings will surround us. I will give each of them explicit target solutions for their torpedoes. I saw the effects of multiple torpedo hits so I know what I'm talking about."

A light chuckle went around the table. Every man in the room, maybe except for the Marines, whose faces still were passive, knew about Maxim's young career and his presence in the battle of Accamar.

"In the meantime" he continued "the attack cruiser, the Vengeance and Righteous, will follow us in close proximity. Our overlapping void shields will hopefully block any fire on them. When we are as close as possible, they will divert and target the star fort. Then they will attack with boarding torpedoes. Once they are in, we will focus our energy on their fleets. Their Lunar cruiser is not to be destroyed. Our bomber wings are ordered to disable most of their weapons. Once that is done, the Resilient will pull up alongside for boarding actions. My ships commissar trained my security units for such a task. If any of you have some units with experience in boarding, they are highly welcome."

"I will give you some" a deep, sonorous voice spoke. Maxim almost startled. It was the first time he heard the Space Marine Captain speak in person.

"Pardon me?" was the only the Maxim could say. He was still dumbstruck by the Space Marines voice.

"I said, I will give you some. Some troops. I have 200 Marines with me. It doesn't matter if I go with all of them into that star fort or not. That's why I give you three squads. 30 Marines, each one with at least five decades experience of close combat fighting and boarding action under the command of Brother Veteran Sergeant Lokar."

"Thank you. Thank you very much. The offer is highly appreciated and accepted. I will place my troops under the command of Veteran Sergeant Lokar. His esperience outranks any of us."

"I will tell him and order him on your ship." The Captain said.

After a moment, Maxim turned back to the others. "Now you have time to comment and ask question."

The rest of the meeting went smooth, with only minor comments on his plan. Maxim led out a sigh of relief. Not only was his plan wildly approved and unanimously accepted, he even got 30 Space Marines for his own boarding action. Could things turn out better?

Less than five ours later, the fleet dropped out of the warp. Captain Kuller and his squadron lines themselves up with the rest of the fleet and a massive block of adamantium and firepower swept towards unprepared pirates while blocking sight to two small cruisers filled with the deadliest weapon in their arsenal.

End of Chapter 9

To be continued

Bonus profile #4

Name: Lars Khelben

Age: 83 years

Height: 9'3''

Weight: 630 lbs

Present rank: Commissar on the Navy Battlecruiser Resilient

Lars Khelben was born on a low gravity planet where a person easily becomes 7 feet tall. But even with this standard, Lars is a big man. The planets conditions favour slim but tall bodies so his natural muscularity was not normal. He made body building to enhance his already big stature. After his parents were killed in an accident, the commissariat took and trained him.

He graduated with best results and became commissar in several Guard units over his career. Every unit he was attached to became an exemplar of discipline and combat efficiency.

After saving the life of a Lord Admiral during a rebel uprising, he was transferred to the navy and the Admirals flagship. After he survived its destruction he was transferred to a new Battlecruiser called Resilient, commanded by a young captain named Maximilian Macharius. Despite his young age, this man already proved to be a firm but sometimes bold man but up to now, Lars had no reason to shoot him.