Chapter 2

Two years had passed since Charctus had been sentenced to death by the lords of the Imperium. Those two years had not gone idly by, preparations for the campaign had been under way for much of that time and a wast Army had been raised. Raised for the purpose of executing that sentence. And now after two years the fleet was ready and on its way towards its final destination.

The army consisted of a mixture of regiments from different worlds. The main task for the army was thought to be the besieging of the hives in a slow war of attrition and so much of the force consisted of infantry and siege regiments. Imperial high command estimated that the military garrisons of Charctus would be insufficient to engage the army in a pitched battle and that imperial forces would only have to fight the enemy in emplaced positions so the need for more mobile forces wasn't thought of as a big necessity. Still it was decided that it would be better with some more mobile elements to support the rest of the army and so the army counted 2 Tallarn tank regiments amongst its forces.

The Lord General appointed too be in command of the newly designated 147th Imperial guard siege Army, with much protest from the non Krieg regiments, was Marshal 198-254 of the 8th Line korps 198th siege regiment. Concerns where raised that having a Krieg officer in command would negatively effect the non Krieg regiments as their culture and way of fighting would conflict to much. Those concerns where though brushed aside with the argument that the marshals expertise on the matter of siege warfare and siege campaigns outweighed the cost of his style of command and strategy conflicting with the other regiments.

The Imperial guard forces where also bolstered by Astartes forces in the way of 100 Battle brothers of the Steel angels 2nd company who had pledged their support to the campaign to destroy the orbital defenses. But they where going to depart afterwards for other war zones deemed more in need of their support.

This combined fleet had been traveling through the warp towards its destination for a couple months now and was due to arrive soon. The regiments where hauled up in massive bulk transports whilst the astartes where traveling on theirs own vessel. The krieg regiments had been separated on one transport whilst the non Krieg regiments shared one transport to avoid the difficulties that would arise by having them interact and so close together.

One of those none Krieg troops was Sargent Williams of the cadian 173rd. He and the rest of his regiment where packed up in the cargo holds of the transport hauler Fleudelir Delusia. He and the rest of his squad had just completed their daily exercises and where now making their way towards the mess hall. He walked along the vast corridors that made up the ancient vessels internal layout. They where dressed in the standard green Cadian uniform, boots on and webbings on. The only thing they where not carrying where the flack west's and helmets often associated with the soldiers of Cadia.

News of their imminent arrival had made its way around the men and morale was high. Manny a conversation could be heard about hopes for the coming campaign. Manny hoped to maybe get a nice trophy of maybe a promotion when it was all over. Some of the excitement hade even found its way into his heart and he was looking forward to the war. He wanted to make the rebels pay for their rebellion. "…and maybe get a nice promotion and a little bit of fame along the way" he thought with a smirk. 'Sargent Williams, the hero who returned Charctus into the imperial fold' sounded nice in his head.

As they walked along they came by a group of Tallarn soldiers, distinguished from his own cadian troops by their kaki uniforms and the tone of their skin. Being a few shades darker than his own. He offered them to come with them and eat but they declined, explaining that they where just heading from the mess and had already eaten. They said that they had an upcoming exercise. Nods where exchanged and the cadians continued towards the mess.

As they entered the mess hall they found it stuffed with eating soldiers, as was expected around this time. But even with it densely packed he still managed to find an empty table for him and his squad. They took their rations of inedible sludge and sat down.

"Hey sarge, you know why the higher ups decided to separate the regiments from each other?" One of the soldiers from another table asked in between shoving the grey paste they called food in his mouth and chewing

"I mean there is enough room on this ship alone to house over 20 regiments worth of troops but they still put the other regiments on a different ship. Isn't that strange?" The rest of his squad nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I heard it had something to doo with the other regiments, something about them being around being bad fore morale" he explained. "The other regiments are regiments of the infamous 'death korps of Krieg" another trooper answered. That statement only drew more eyes and ears towards him. "We are going to fight alongside the death korps?!" One solder asked with a concerned look on his face.

Quiet mumblings started to spread through the hall, no one was eating anymore. "wait, what do you mean with ' the death korps are here?" Someone from Williams squad asked. He turned to look who had asked, it was Micky. He was a fresh recruit from Cadia who only just joined the regiment as they where to depart and got assigned to his squad. As a green recruit he would probably never have heard of other regiments from other worlds. Of course he would be confused when it came to of world regiments.

"Have you never heard of the death korps boy?" One soldier from another table asked. He had a more aged and grizzled look on his face. "probably be a veteran of some kind" Williams thought.

"No" responded Micky and shook his head.

"Son, the men of krieg are probably some of the more famous soldiers out there in the galaxy. Right next to us, the Cadian shock troops." He took a sip from his mug before going on."They are said to be the most stubborn soldiers out there, they never retreat and never surrender, usually fighting to the death against any odds."

"So shouldn't we be happy that we have them by our side for the war?" Mickys face clearly showed his confusion." Aren't those good things to have on your side?" "No, you shouldn't be happy about having those guys with you. They are suicidal idiots who only bring extremely high casualties for everyone involved with them to the battle field" the veteran shoot back.

Micky probably felt stupid for asking and only replied with a distant "oh, okay" before turning back to his plate. It's content having turned cold already. An awkward silence settled in the hall and everybody turned back to the food in front of them.

The rest of the dinner was silent for the most part with some people trying to strike up conversations here and there to lighten the mood. But realizations for what the war would hold in store for them where sinking in and keeping the mood down.

All of the regimental commanders had been called to his office to go through the plans for the coming war by Marhsal 198-254. The office was as spartan as any office could be. No decorations or ornamentation hung on the walls. No marks of honor or medals either. This was a bit of a surprise to the Cadian and Tallarn officers who had decorated their quarters as much as possible to show of all of their achievements and honors. Some even began to think that the Marshal hadn't even earned any such things and was a complete newcomer to the role of officer. None of them knew that such blatant boasting of ones own achievements was looked down on by the people of Krieg and considered inappropriate for officers. Doing ones duty was expected and no medals where handed out as rewards.

The final strategy chosen for the war had one of the Tallarn tank regiments, the 198th, along with the 41st Krieg tank regiment deploy first at an alternate landing site far to the east from the actual landing side. Their mission would be to launch armored assaults against the closest hive and draw the enemy's attention away from the actual landing site, giving the rest of the Army time to deploy and set up a base of operations from where the campaign could be launched.

Losses to the Tank regiments where expected to be high but that was deemed acceptable by Marshal 198-254 as their deaths would serve to minimize the resistance against the rest of the army as it was deploying and setting up. This plan found much opposition from the Commanders of the 198th who where not ready to send their troops to die so recklessly for so little.

Amongst the most vocal officers of the 198th was colonel Fiora Ah'mulad, she was in command of the regiment and she was not happy about having to act as bait for the enemy to concentrate on whilst everyone else got away scot free.

She slammed her fist down on the desk of the marshal in anger and clenched her teeth. The clinging of her countless medals on her chest, clinging against each other thanks to her sudden movement, filled the room. Her eyes where directed towards the person who was telling her to send her brave men to their deaths in suicidal attacks.

No, not man. This thing in front of her could no longer be considered a person, with his face hidden behind that infuriating rebreather with the the the cold glass eye pieces that met her stare showing no hesitation to se her and her men to their deaths. This man no longer held the right to be considered a man in her eyes.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm herself. Softening up the grip of her clenched fist and opened her eyes again. "Why must it be my regiment that has to be sent out against the enemy on such a suicide mission. Why can't it just be your damned regiments who are sent out on this mission. You guys always seem so eager to die so why not let your own regiments have a go at it" she tried to argue but it was like talking to a deaf Mukaali.

"Neither the 81st or the 224th line korps include any other tank regiments and neither dose the Cadian detachment" came the blunt reply, muffled by the mask on the marshals face but clearly audible. "Your Armoured force was chosen because it was one of the only 2 other regiments available that are able to deal enough damage to the enemy whilst withstanding great amounts of punishment. Sending one regiment alone also wouldn't suffice for the mission so two had to be chosen. For the matter of why 'your' regiment was chosen, it is simple. Your regiment is bigger and more capable than the 232nd"

She felt her heart sink in her chest a little."But the casualties, won't they be to high and effect our performance in the later stages of the campaign?" She tried again to argue against the decision, hoping that the marshal might change his opinion.

"We have calculated that the estimated casualties that the regiments will be suffering will be within acceptable boundaries and that your regiments won't be reduced under acceptable fighting strength. If you happen to suffer higher casualties then expected then your regiment will be folded into the 232nd" came the dreaded reply, this time from a second Krieg officer standing next to Marshal 198-254, this one clad in the brown great coat of the 41st regiment.

"So that's it? You have calculated that we won't be entirely wiped out and that makes it okay to send us of on a suicide mission?" She just couldn't believe it, how could one see the loss of so many human lives as simple calculations? It boggled her mind.

"Yes it dose. Your frustration is misplaced though, you and your men should be proud that you will be able to sacrifice your lives to the emperor and this campaign. Colonel 41 of the 41st even volunteered his regiment to lead the mission " Marshal 198-254 replied whilst motioning towards the colonel before changing the subject to the rest of the campaign. "Of course he volunteered, why wouldn't he volunteer for a suicide mission." Fiora thought.

A holographic map of the northern hemisphere of the planet came up. Showing of the 2 hive cities of the world and the location for where the landing zone would be. One of the marshals aids used a small staff to point at the landing zone which showed up as a red dot on the map. From there he drew lines across the map showing the planned movements of each regiment from the landing zone out towards the hives.

"After the decoy force has bought us the time to set up the rest of our forces they will head back to the landing zone and rendezvous with us" Explained the marshal whilst his aid drew lines on the map in accordance with what he said. "

From there our forces will be split into two forces, each one will focus on one hive city. The 81st line Korps along with the Cadian 67th infantry regiment will head towards the Eastern hive and surround it" The aid drew one red line from the landing zone and around one of the hives.

"Whilst at the same time the 244th line korps along with the Cadian 173rd infantry regiment and the Tallarn regiments will head towards the western hive and surround it as well" the aid drew another red line mirroring the first one from the LZ and around the other hive.

"This should effectively cut of each hive from the other, eliminating the possession of the hives sending support to and from and making it possible for our forces to keep the enemy pinned down in the same location whilst artilery can be moved in to finish the campaign swiftly" the aid put the staff down, signaling that the briefing was over.

With that each one of the regimental commanders made their leave one after the other until all of them had left. The hall fell into silence except for the the sounds of the marshals aids and servitors who where clearing away all of the equipment to later be put up in the HQ on the planet surface.

2 hours had passed since the imperial fleet had re entered real space in the outskirts of the system and was detected by augur scans from Hive Stahrau. The acting governor of the hive had immediately called for an emergency meeting with all of the high ranking officials and commanders of the PDF to discuss the plans for the hives defenses.

Right now all of them where gathered in the senate, arguing with each other over what would be the best course of action from now on. The representatives for the Ministorium where arguing that it would be best to show the imperial fleet their purity and devotion to the emperor and by doing so convince them not to launch an invasion of the planet. All the while the commanders of the PDF where trying to convince the priests of the Ministorum hat the best option was to pull back all of their forces into the hives and wait for the imperial army to land and then strike whilst they where still deploying. Hoping that that would be enough to break the imperial forces early on and avoid a costly war of attrition against overwhelming odds.

After much back and forth and with neither side willing to go along with the others proposition the acting governor had to step in and make the decision. 05:30 the next day the decision had been made. The Governor had decided that the plan of the PDF was the better of the two. He issued a decree that martial law was now in effect across the entire world and that immediate conscription of all able bodied should begin immediately.

The hives went on total lockdown. A mandatory curfew was instated and no one was allowed outside after 6 PM. Arbites started to patrol the streets and skyways regularly and anybody found outside their designated areas or after curfew faced severe punishment. PDF units, so called "Conscription squads", started to go out into the hives and took every young, able bodied man they could get. Families where broken apart as fathers and sons suddenly had to leave after soldiers showed up at their doors.

Sams father and mother had been lucky so far and had been able to prepare for the possibility of a conscription squad showing up. They had gathered up a few make shift weapons made out of wrenches and pipes and started to block the doe at night. But it was all in futility. As the soldiers had appeared in front of their door they had simply shot the lock with their autoguns and then kicked their way through the barricade.

Sams mother screamed with tears streaming down her face as the soldiers knocked him and his father down and grabbed them. "NO! Not my boy! Please, anything but my boy!" She cried out as one soldier held her down to the floor with rough hands whilst Sam and his father where being dragged out of the small apartment. "Where sorry mam but we got orders to collect all men who are able to fight. That includes these two." The one pushing her down tried, and failed, to calm the sobbing women down. "But why my son! He is just a kid, not even 17 yet!" She tried desperately to free herself whilst Sam and his dad struggled against the soldiers dragging them of. "Darling! Don't worry, we will return before you can even notice that we where gone. I promise! I Promise that we will return alive and safe, I will keep Sam safe!" His father cried out as the soldiers forced them out into the hallway and down the stairs.

They where pushed down the stairs and into the street below where a truck was waiting for them. Sam could make out the faces of many people that he knew in the back of the truck. Many of them where his friends. He could se that many of them where either crying or sending resentful glares at their captors. One of the troopers knocked on the floor of the truck with the but of his gun. "Hop hop! Onto the truck, we don't have all night!" He barked at them. Sam jumped on first, squeezing in between two people already sitting down on one of the benches. His father went after him but thanks to there not being any more seats left he had to sit on the floor. When they had all sat down the back hatch of the truck swung shut and the truck started moving.

Due to the lack of any light source in the back of the truck they all sat there in complete darkness as they where taken of to who knows where. The compartment shook violently as they went over a bump on the road. Someone at the back was mumbling curses at the soldiers whilst some other started to feverishly pray to the God Emperor to protect them or save them. Sam was in no better condition. Scared of what would await him and his father, he also clutched his hands and started praying for the Emperor to protect them.

Sorry for the slow updates. I accidentaly deleted the chapter i was working on and i realised that i had to redoo this chapter as well, pluss life has been geting in the way of me writing so...

(hope you like it and feel free to give critisism about my writing and about the story so far)