Chapter 10
Personal log of Maxim Macharius, Captain of the Mars Battlecruiser Resilient. We entered the system of the enemy and are right now on route to him. The star fort is looming threateningly in the background, the ships a few miles in front of it. Right now we're still undetected but I don't think this will last long.
Maxim stood at the Nova cannon targeting station with the targeting device strapped over his head. In his last simulation, he hit 95 out of 100 targets so he was sure to hit this one as well. He had a clear shot at his target. One of the cruiser sized abominations two clans seemed to use as their flagships. Maxim had the bridge right in his cross but still he didn't shoot. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, opening them again after breathing out. His aim slipped a few millimeters, which meant several dozen meters in space. He corrected it.
He repeated the breathing process two times, then his aim stayed true. He still wondered why the pirates haven't spotted them yet. A fleet the size he was leading would have been seen even after descent from warp not to mention during the approach. He thought about a trap and for a fraction of a second he wondered if he should order the fleet from its course to make a different approach. But he quickly dismissed it. He absently took the icon of the emperor that was hanging around his neck and kissed it while never losing his aim. Offering a silent prayer to the emperor, he winked his free hand to his comm and weapons officers and squeezed the trigger.
His shot couldn't have been more perfect. It hit the bridge section of the abomination squarely, ripping its unprepared and therefore unshielded control center apart in a blast of violent energies. When the bridge was consumed the rest of the plasma ball danced around the sip, melting armor and destroying every blast windows it hit. Not shortly after the abomination began venting oxygen and bodies. Then all hell broke loose.
The wink Maxim gave his subordinates was the signal for the fleet to fire their torpedoes on their designated targets. The torpedo swarm tactic that Maxim began to love during the clash with the Orcs in the Accamar system again proved its worth despite its cost in valuable torpedoes. The second abomination and several escorts were utterly destroyed in a moment.
The pirates lost their shock at the right time to see two more Nova cannon shots from the Overlord cruisers hitting a frigate and ripping it in two pieces.
Maxim opened a channel to the rest of his fleet. "Macharius to all. You have your targets. Fire at will. Orca and Omicron, you guard the Vengeance and Righteous. Macharius out."
When they got closer to the station it began to fire as well. Due to the distance most of its shots went wide, the few that hit broke on the void shields of the ship. The pirates came closer, the Lunar cruiser that was Maxim's price at their front. The forces came at each other like a pack of wild wolves. Maxim scored one last hit with his Nova cannon, ripping apart a Cobra destroyer. In the same time he was nearly blinded by a flash when a lance beam hit his forward void shields. He quickly set down the targeting helmet and strapped himself into the command chair.
The pirates were between them. What they lacked in numbers they made up with ferocity. They knew they couldn't win this fight so they were anxious to cause as much damage as possible. But they didn't know one thing. Maxim planned that. Due to his fleets course they soon got out of the firing distance of the star fort, leaving the remainder of the pirates to fight for themselves. In that moment, the Righteous left the protection of the Orca and Omicron and set course on a predetermined path.
Maxim's fleet had the pirats surrounded so a breakout was impossible. And with a signal, every ship concentrated their fire on the escorts, leaving the crew of the Lunar cruiser wondering why they suddenly ignored them.
Not long though. Not a minute later, three boarding torpedoes from the Vengeance shot to the Lunar accompanied by 12 shuttles from the Resilient. The Lunar's crew was way too distracted to see them coming. The torpedoes struck home, the marines pouring into the shuttle landing bay, quickly securing it by killing anything that was moving inside. Not long after the shuttles landed and the storm troops came out, with Commissar Khelben at the front.
Khelben, even bigger than a Space Marine in power armor, walked to Sergeant Lokar, saluting him.
"Sergeant, my men are under your command. Everyone has memorized the layout of the ship."
Lokar simply nodded. His plan was rather simple. 10 Marines and a third of the storm troops would use an alternate route to the bridge while the rest would take a more direct route in hope to bind the ships security forces. And with a simple "Go", men and Space Marines went off.
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Victor Harras could feel his anticipation rising. His battlegroups were on their way to their designated targets. Some ships already shot but with them being way out of range, they did nothing but put on a good light show.
His helmet was connected with the Auspex so he was able to view everything that was going on around his ship. While he was on his way to the Slaaneshi ships, his other three battle groups closed on their targets. The two groups assigned to the Star Forts shot their torpedoes at the first one. Several hundred warheads were on their way towards the fort, its crew realizing what was happening and thus opening fire with everything they had. For a short period of time the light from the station was rivaling the systems sun.
Even in his worst nightmare he couldn't have imagined the result. Instead of dozens of torpedoes impacting on the star fort as he predicted, only three hit. The fort shot everything else out of space. It seemed as if the forts had been equipped with additional armament. Before he could relay new orders, his forces reached weapon range of the star forts.
His battleships and battlecruisers started shooting at extreme range while the return fire extended theirs by a large margin. Already a light cruiser exploded. Victor growled. The first blood was spilled on his side. From each ship capable, fighters and bombers started. The same happened at the forts.
"Victor Harras to groups two and three. Combine your firepower on each station. No split. Encircle each station and stick close together for shield and sensor cover. Hammer it until it explodes. Then to the next station."
He couldn't wait for a reply since his own battle group finally reached its target. Lance fire was exchanged and torpedoes went to and fro, finding targets or getting blown out of space. The enemy was well positioned making Victor feel as if someone forewarned them.
"Victor Harras to group one. Focus fire on the biggest ships. Ignore the escorts for the time being."
Following his orders, every ships in range opened fire on the enemy's battleship. It got hammered from all sides. Its void shields flashed up before collapsing. The next macro cannon shells impacted right on the hull, ripping great chunks of adamantium armor out of it.
"MORE!" Victor Harras yelled to his crew. As more shots poured into the enemy, it began venting bodies and oxygen. Still more shots poured into it, reducing it into a slag of metallic rubble. "THE NEXT ONE" cired Victor Harras. His ships started shooting the next biggest ship, a Styx class heavy cruiser.
While it got the same punishment, Victor Harras put the auspex feed into his helmet once more. What he saw was only half satisfying. His battle groups assigned to the stations managed to destroy the first star fort and were circling the second this moment they'd taken more losses than he expected.
More than fifty ships had been destroyed and the massive amount of fire coming from the second star fort was taking its toll again. The flagship of group three was already a burning wreck and another battleship didn't fare better. Several cruisers and a grand cruiser were venting bodies into space, and dozens of escorts had been destroyed.
Only the success of group four filled his heart with joy. They were destroying the last few satellites in that very moment and suffered no casualties. "Victor Harras to group four" Victor said as he opened a channel to them. "Come back and support groups two and three. Make a torpedo attack while the station is busy with the others. Target weapon cores and outside void shield generators."
Group 4 was hurrying to obey his orders. Victor turned his attention back to his own battle. The two Styx heavy cruiser were already wrecks. As were three of his cruisers and ten destroyers and frigates. The rest of the enemy consisted of three cruisers and twenty two escort class ships. Despite taking another casualties of five escorts and two cruisers, the enemy was obliterated.
"Get us back to the star fort." He ordered. He connected his helmet to the auspex again to see how his other groups were faring. The torpedoes of group 4 struck home right when he started watching. Three hit the void shield generator they were targeting, destroying it with an enormous explosion. The forts void shields flickered and died away, giving his fleet clear lines of shooting on armor and weapon pods.
While more and more laser shots and solid shells impacted on the hull it became obvious that the enemy was hell bent to take as much of his armada with them as possible. Victor could see the build up of heat inside the station. They seemed to be overloading the reactor. "ALL SHIPS, DISENGAGE IMMEDIATELY" he shouted. Despite their lust for battle, the captains followed his orders.
The escorts had no problems getting away quickly. But once again, his tactic of circling the stations proved to be a good one. The capital ships used their momentum around the station for a slingshot maneuver, catapulting themselves out of its range. Then the station exploded.
Most of his armada was already out of the blast range but some weren't that lucky. His damaged ships couldn't away fast enough and were consumed in the explosion. After the station was gone, it became quiet. No hostiles were in sight, all that was left was a planet full of enemies. He quickly ordered his transports close to begin the planetary invasion. And licked is teeth.
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"Fire." On his command, all of his task force capable to fired another torpedo salvo at the star fort. In the same moment, the Space Marine cruiser righteous fired its boarding torpedoes. They were filled with the deadliest weapon in their arsenal. 170 Space Marines, ready to take over one of the normally best defended installations the Imperial Navy could muster.
Maxim held his breath as the scene unfolded. The few functioning weapons of the star fort, still at least four dozen towers, fired everything they had at the closing torpedoes. In their effort to save themselves from the 62 torpedoes coming at them, they completely ignored the eight slow moving objects that came from another direction.
Maxim breathed a sigh of relief. Although only one of the torpedoes impacted harmlessly at the stations void shields, the boarding torpedoes struck home unhindered. Maxim smiled as he imagined 170 Space Marines pouring into the station, obliterating any resistance.
"Macharius to all. Disengage and head out of the stations weapon range. Now we wait."
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Lars Khelben grunted slightly as he rammed his basketball-sized fist into the face of a pirate, smashing the poor guys face into mush. The original plan was to sneak as far as possible to the bridge while the rest of the forces diverted the ships security forces. But, as holy and powerful as they are, the Space Marines were too eager to fight and shot the first persons the little group met instead of letting them pass and move on to the main objective.
In another part of the ship, the human troops could only stare in awe and horror as the other 20 Space Marines hacked and slashed themselves through the enemy.
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"Captain, we received a report from Captain Lemarius. They met little resistance up to now and are proceeding to the command deck and enginarium. They estimated one hour at the most before completing their task."
Maxim listened to these words with great interest. Maybe an hour? Without those Marines it might have taken days. If they had been able to board this station anyway. What Maxim concerned was the lack of communication from his Commissar and the Marines from the Lunar cruiser. Were they still alive?
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"They're jamming us. I can't get a signal through." Lars Khelben said as he shot the last pirate that was about to flee. "But on the good side, they seem to jam themselves as well" the Space Marine replied. Lars was almost impressed with this guy. For a Space Marine he seemed almost conversational.
"Yeah, you're right. But we shouldn't wait here any longer. According to the maps, we're less than 500 meters away from the bridge." Lars said, pointing in the direction the pirate had been about to run. The Space Marine nodded and the Squad moved forward, stopping at turns to check for ambushes.
Less than two minutes later, they stood before a blast door, marked with an emblem indicating it as command deck. Lars nodded to the Space Marines who pulled their grenades out of their suits. Lars hit the open button and the door slid right open. The Marines threw their Grenades into the room, not waiting for the explosion but heading straight in behind them.
The grenades went off with several lout booms, creating an ear-hurting sonic wave and enough smoke to hide in. The human troops under Khelbens command used that cover to rush into the room, taking cover behind consoles and any other cover they could find. Khelben himself ducked behind a set of chairs, his frame too big to be covered by anything in the room. Solid rounds and laser blast winced past him, impacting harmlessly into the walls.
The Marines were on their feet, blasting through the smoke, occasionally being hit by a laser blast that did nothing but leave a small mark in their power armor. Khelben wondered how they could see, but remembered their helmets had enhancing devices build into them. Screams of pain answered each shot, proving the accuracy of the emperors finest warriors. Before the smoke cleared enough for the human forces to do something the shooting stopped.
The conversational Marine suddenly stood before Lars, offering a hand to help him up. Lars took it and rose to his feet. It was clear that the Marine wasn't used to speak to someone bigger than him the way he craned his head backwards in an awkward manner. "Commissar the bridge is secure. We also deactivated the jammer. Brother-Sergeant Lokar reported that the pirates surrendered once the jammer was offline. You have the honor of reporting the success of the mission to your commanding officer."
"Thank you" Lars said, just realizing that he didn't even know the name of the Marine he was talking to. Instead, he walked to a still functioning communication console and hailed his ship. "Captain Macharius, the Lunar is secured. Their might be a few pockets of resistance left, but we'll search the ship before we leave." The Space Marine nodded at these words and spoke something into his helmet microphone. Then the Space Marines moved out of the bridge, no doubt reuniting with their Brothers to make a sweep as Khelben said.
"Very good Commissar" came the reply. "After the sweep is conducted, hail me again and we will send over a skeleton crew to bring this ship to the closest naval base for a complete refit." "Understood Captain. I'
ll now send you the casualty list." Lars said, closing the line. He quickly assigned half of his units to secure the bridge and headed to the Marines to support the sweep.
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Maxim allowed himself a moment of pride and self-satisfaction. His plans worked perfectly. A few seconds after Commissar Khelbens success report, Space Marine Captain Lemarius reported his own success as well. He had conquered a fully functional Lunar class cruiser, a partially functional Ramilies star fort and destroyed four of the largest and most notorious pirate groups in the whole sector.
On the other hand he only lost 23 men, a frigate and a cobra destroyer and had slight damage on two of his Lunar cruisers. If that's not successful, than Maxim didn't know what to do else. As his subordinated did their parts, he went into his private cabin and started to write his own report to the sector command.
Bonus profile #5
Name: Roald Lemarius
Age: 145 years
Height: 7'5'' (armored)
Weight: 575 lbs (armored)
Present rank: Captain of 2nd Company, Relictors chapter
Captain Lemarius started his career with the age of 8 years. He was chosen to become a Space Marine. After surviving the rigorous training and the surgeries, he was a Scout Marine for forty years. In this time he killed two Orc bosses, a Chaos general and a cabal leader of the notorious Dark Eldar with his sniper gun.
The successes earned him the right to become a full Space Marine in record time. He was transferred to 2nd company to replace their losses in a boarding action against a Genestealer infested space hulk. During his service, Lemarius has seen many battlefields, from open plains with millions of soldiers to claustrophobic spaces with only his own squad brothers.
His ascend to captaincy came during the 13th Black Crusade. In a mission to secure a titan depot until the posthaste shipped in crews started them up, the former captain and two of the most experienced squad leaders fell against a combined unit of the Black Legion and Emperors Children. Lemarius took his Captains blessed rune sword and managed to kill the Chaos Champion as well as twenty other Chaos Space Marines with it, buying enough time for the crew of one titan to start it up and bring its weapons to bear.
This accomplishment convinced the Chapter Master to promote Lemarius to Captain of the 2nd company and until now, he had no reason to regret his decision.
Lemarius' latest mission brought him into a rim system of a little sub-sector close to a space anomaly known as the Fallos belt. The commander of a strike force assigned to destroy a pirate group came up with a bold plan to take over a Ramilies star fort. Although nobody in their right mind would consider a suicide mission like that, something made Lemarius sure, that this time it would pay off. And he was right, as this young upstart made a good plan which led to a conquered Ramilies star fort, a conquered Lunar cruiser and the destruction of four separate pirate groups in one strike with no losses to his battle brothers.
One thing Lemarius knows now for sure. If that Captain ever calls him again for a mission, he will happily comply.