Chapter 55: Battle of Cadia: Part One

Warmaster Darkstorm entered the command section of the Planet Killer, and the crew at once turned and thumped their rights fists to their chests and bowed. "Long live Darkstorm!"

The Warmaster took his place in the command throne and activated the viewer, showing the thousands of ships gathered. According to the most recent reports Cadia's defenses had been heavily upgraded, so Darkstorm would strike with his full force and overwhelm the servants of the False Emperor. The Thousand Sons vessels were spread throughout the fleet and would spell the minds of the defenders. The other vessels, ranging from tiny Infidel raiders to monstrous Despoiler class battleships, filled space with enough men and metal to overwhelm any enemy. Countless Switdeaths and Doomfires buzzed between the ships, the flaring energy storms of the Eye making them glint like drops of crystallized blood. "Order the fleet to move," Darkstorm called out, his voice echoing across the command deck. The vibration in the floor increased as the massive engines of the Planet Killer activated, pushing the vessel ponderously forward. The fleet's lighter ships took point as the fleet entered the Warp. Very soon, the Cadian Gate would be broken, and the entire galaxy would fall to Chaos.

High Orbit: Kasr Partox:

Admiral Victor Jestine stared the viewscreen of his flagship as the second of the new battle stations came online. Massive amounts of war materials had been shipped to the Cadian system in recent weeks. Astropaths across the sector were reporting visions of blood and death. The Eye of Terror was opening, and this time what emerged would be the greatest Chaos host seen since the Heresy ten thousand years ago. Cadia was prepared. It had met and defeated thirteen Black Crusades, and this one would be no different.

As a minelayer vessel passed by, the Admiral heard someone entering the command deck. He turned and saw Inquisitor Vail stepping onto the bridge nave, her cloak billowing slightly as she moved.

"Inquisitor, what brings you up here?" Admiral Jestine asked. Vail smiled.

"I finished my work early today and thought I'd check the status of the orbital deployment," Vail replied.

"Everything is on schedule. The second Bastion fortress just came on-line and the defense platforms are being deployed as we speak."

"Good," Inquisitor Vail replied. "The fleet from Port Maw should be here inside three days depending on Warp conditions. Most of their vessels have yet to be fitted with Transwarp, but they do have one surprise the Chaos forces won't soon forget."

"We can hold of any Chaos attack until they get here," Jestine replied. He had commanded in the Cadian defense fleet for over a century and knew every meter of the system. "If Chaos shows its ugly head, we'll be right there to chop it off."

Ensign Nellvis ran his tricorder along the surface of one of the Cadian Pylons, but the readings were very confusing. The Pylon appeared to be putting out a massive amount of sub harmonic energy, but it was barely registering on most of his scans. "This doesn't make any sense."

"Something wrong?" Lt. McBright asked.

"It's these readings sir. This thing's putting out a massive amount of energy, but something's masking most of the readings. It's like some kind of stealth field."

"Try a quantum resonance scan," McBright suggested. Suddenly his head exploded, showering Nellvis with blood and bone chips. He screamed and drew his phaser. A man with four arms, each holding a bolt pistol, leapt at him, cackling madly. His five eyes each glinted with red light and his mouth opened impossibly wide, displaying rows of needle sharp teeth. The phaser bolt caught him in the neck and vaporized him, though his laugh echoed for a long time after.

"Ensign Nellvis to the Fair Country! We're under attack! Lt. McBright's dead!"

"Hang on, we're beaming you up," Captain Maynard's voice replied and a moment later Nellvis felt the immensely welcome tingle of the transporter. He vanished just as a small wave of Chaos cultists emerged from their underground hideout. They could sense that their masters were coming, and they had work to do.

Governor Primus Ghenma was going through battle readiness reports when his aid entered and bowed.

"My Lord, the Chaos spiders are coming out of the woodwork," the aid reported, using the old phrase which meant the survivors from the last Chaos attack were coming out of hiding. "More than usual this time, though our defenses are holding.

"If they are moving now, that can only mean their fleet isn't war away. Instruct all personnel to go to full battle alert, and bring the planetary batteries on-line."

"Yes sir!" The aid saluted and marched out. Ghenma stood and strode over to the large window which looked out over the assembly grounds for the local regiments. Already tens of thousands of men and women were drilling and preparing for transportation to the walls of the city. Dust kicked up by a company of Leman Russ tanks swirled around the feet of the troops as the boarded a sea of Chimeras, whose combined engine noise truly made them sound like their namesake. The men and women of Cadia were proud warriors who had held the line against Chaos for ten thousand years. This time would be no different. No matter what the cost, Chaos would be driven back.

Solar Mariatus: Orbital Defense Command:

Commander Pellor was in the middle of sending a status report to Cadia when the sensors detected the formation of multiple warp points. "All crew to combat stations! Repeat all crew to combat stations! We have multiple warp points forming. Weapons hot and stand by to repel boarders!"

As the weapons of the refitted Ramilies Starfort came on-line hundreds of Chaos ships came in, weapons firing. A wave of Infidel raiders swept in first, firing torpedoes into the shields, and the return volley swatted nearly half of them out of space. Then larger vessels began emerging. Murder class cruisers, Styx heavy cruisers and several large battleships. The few dozen orbital weapon platforms deployed savaged the frontal shields of several Murders and drilled deep into the bow armor of the Despoiler battleship Death Knell. Debris and atmosphere gushed from within as the Starfort fired again, killing the battleship and finishing off a Murder cruiser.

In the main generarium, engineers and sweating laborers hauled power cables and barrels of coolant for overheating relays. Suddenly dozens of winged creatures appeared and hurled themselves at the crewmen, who screamed as the daemons passed through them, necrotizing flesh wherever they touched. Several began clawing at control consoles, ripping apart paneling and slashing coolant lines. Soon the reactor temperature began climbing.

On the command deck Commander Pellor slashed another Chaos abomination with his power sword, reducing it to dust. "Keep the weapons firing, and get someone down to the generarium to repair the coolant system!"

"Working on it sir," one of the ratings replied just before he was cut in two by a daemon. Outside more and more Chaos ships continued to transit, and with each salvo the fort's weapons killed less and less.

"Keep firing, it we die we shall die serving the Emperor!"

"Excellent my servants," Chaos sorcerer Derethrax hissed through his sharpened teeth. His minions had disrupted the crew and systems of the station long enough for the Chaos fleet to transit, and now it was being steadily picked apart until with a blinding flash its reactor breached and the station blew apart, taking three ships with it. Even in death its crew did their duty. As the last of the Chaos ships translated into realspace, the Planet Killer itself followed. On board, Warmaster Darkstorm watched as the last orbital platforms were destroyed. They had taken several vessels with them, and he had learned that their size had little to do with their power.

"Begin landing operations immediately. That world has resources that will fuel our siege," Darkstorm ordered. Thousands of drop ships, most carrying slaves and beastmen, made up the first wave. They would pave the way with their bodies for the more valuable Chaos Marines and Traitor Guardsmen that would follow. As the first drop ships were destroyed by ground based missiles and lasers, the rest continued descending. Nothing could stop them all.

"Come on; move you're lazy asses before I kick 'em into gear for you!" Colonel Kelnor shouted to his troops. Hydra batteries were unloading a thousand rounds a minute into the swarm of drop pods, killing many, but never enough. A squadron of Swiftdeaths roared overhead, strafing the trenches before Hydra batteries took four of them down and sent the others packing. By now the first wave of drop pods and transports had hit the ground and disgorged a wave of vile beastmen, human mutants and disgusting chaos spawn. They advanced with a sickening sound of dark prayers and unidentifiable noises from the chaos spawn.

"Open fire!" A torrent of precision las fire washed over the advancing Chaos force, joined by many of the new plasma weapons just entering production at the war factories behind the lines. The enemy walked right into the storm of fire, their own ramshackle weapons firing back, dropping troops here and there, but the fortifications meant far more Chaos troops than Cadians were felled. The line was holding, so far.

"Sir, we've got reports of enemy troops teleporting in all over the place!" Kelnor's XO called to him over the vox. Kelnor turned as a whine behind him solidified into a five man squad of World Eater Chaos Marines. Before Kelnor could fire a shot the closest marine bisected him with a chain axe. More marines were transported behind the Cadian lines. Many were killed by the quick witted soldiers, but fighting on two fronts allowed the wave of mutants and chaos spawn to overrun the forward trenches. The surviving troopers fell back to the next line around the next line and detonated several small nuclear warheads placed there in case of a breech. The detonations killed most of the Chaos cannon fodder and strangely, the teleport attacks stopped.

"Why have the teleporters ceased functioning!" Darkstorm demanded. The teleporter technology installed by Ironhelm had allowed the Chaos forces to beam troops behind the Cadian lines with incredible accuracy and turn the tide far more quickly that Darkstorm had anticipated.

"Radiation from the nuclear detonations is clouding the targeting scanners my Lord," an officer replied.

"Fix it," Darkstorm said.

"We can't. We'll have to wait for the radia-" the officer was interrupted as Darkstorm severed his head with Drauch'nyun.

"Double the drops. I want this world crushed TODAY!" Darkstorm commanded. He did not enjoy setbacks, but this one merely required him to go back to his original plan. He sent the signal for the second wave of his fleet to move forward. All they had to do was get deep enough into the Cadian system to engage their transwarp engines. This time Cadia didn't matter, only the space it occupied.

Warp space: 37 hours out from Cadia:

Admiral Jerus paced the length of the command deck as was his habit in stressful situations. His fleet was on its way to reinforce the defenders at Cadia, which was already under heavy attack. Ship's Commissar Dern entered and stalked over to the Admiral.

"All stations report ready Admiral," Dern said in his usual flat tone. He only showed emotion in the heat of battle, otherwise he could seem as stonehearted as a tech priest.

"Good, once we enter the system we'll show Chaos what the Imperial Navy is all about," Jerus replied, moving over to the tactical station. Dern followed, his black uniformed body seeming to glide across the deck like a shadow. A single new control adorned the ancient console, a rune that simply read: Deploy.

So, the attack on Cadia has begun. Will Ironhelm's technology and Darkstorm's tactics break Cadia, or will Admiral Jerus and his ace in the hole stop him. Also, an ancient legend of Cadia will soon be reborn and decide the fate of trillions. Don't miss Battle of Cadia: Part Two. See ya all then, and don't forget to review! The Emperor protects.

ENTILZA