CHAPTER FOUR
In the grim lighting of my thunderhawk I leave the surface of Tarth behind. Gravity pulls at me in my restraint throne, tugging at the blood that sloshes through my veins. I was still, mind working upon the unexpected visit.
Had I gone too far with the dealing of the Agri-world Governor? Should I have sided with him and thrown out the usurpers? I discarded the thought a moment later, knowing I had made the right choice. It was an Inquisitors duty to seek out incompetence among the Planetary lords, perhaps I had done their job for them, and they sought to know why.
The Inquisition loved their authority, and would hurt any who dared to challenge it.
Too many loyal Chapters had suffered under that persecution.
I do not allow the Inquisitor on the planet, instead meeting him in the main hangar of the Emperor's Light. The farther away he was from Aragorn, the better. The leviathan lays above Ildrain, a silent protector and guardian.
His vox officer had sent his agreement, and within a few hours his lander was settling down on the deck. The air smelt of ozone from the shields keeping space at bay and the scrubbers that thrummed to keep the chamber filling with oxygen. The warmth of engines exhaust riling the air. With a hiss the transport ramp lowered and the agent walked down, followed by four aids.
I stood alone, hand resting on my blade. This Inquisitor was young, perhaps a newly minted one at that. His fine tunic and clothing was covered in well made carapace armor, the symbol of his office stamped over its chest. A bolt pistol sat on his hip, a chainsword on the other.
From his belt sat a worn and thick grimoire, pouches and ammo clips, all enveloped in engraved chains, purity seals stamped on their studs. Cold brown eyes peered out from a narrow but youthful face. I could not tell what Ordo he was from at a glance.
"Greetings lord Astartes, I am Inquisitor Micheal," He gave me a small bow. "I've come to partition your Chapter in helping me put down a Chaos Cult that has sprung up on the world of Rivia." The name caught my attention, the same world I was to visit to secure my deal with the Forge-world.
"I fear that I may not be as helpful as you desire Inquisitor. I have few men, and no Space Marines but myself to offer." A flash of surprise crosses his face, a momentary shifting of otherwise blank features, as if a fear had been confirmed.
"I see the rumors are true then, you are a new Chapter?" I nodded once. More than one of his kind had tried to leverage their power over weakened Astartes. It would not happen to mine.
"That is, unfortunate, but I must ask for your assistance all the same." He smiled a bit then, something that surprised me. It was not a graceful thing.
"I am a new Inquisitor myself, I must admit. It has only been two years since I finished my tuitatlage under my master. I do not have a wide network of support or power either." The mask returned.
"But I must ask for your help regardless. This cult has sprung up in the Capital, almost half of the PDF in the city have gone rogue. Some other Governors have even seen it as a chance to dispose of a rival and refuse to lend proper aid. I fear we do not have the time to seek help from the wider Imperium before the situation on the planet falls farther. The enemy are employing a kind of virus that turns the dead into walking monsters that feast on human flesh." I grimaced at the thought but didn't miss the way he was already saying 'we' as if I was a part of it already.
"What of the Mechanicus? Will they lend a hand to take back the world?" I asked. Micheal shook his head.
"They do not see the severity of the situation, they say ancient treaties keeps them from the planet, even if it is under siege. Perhaps they wish for it to fall so they can claim it for themselves once and for all." He mused quietly.
"Why do you not conduct a localized exterminatus?" The Inquisitor looked surprised at my question.
"Because there are still people inside. The loyalists PDF war against their traitorous fellows to secure it." I pondered his response, wondering if it was truth or falsehoods that fell from his lips.
"I will help you, but understand that I will only be able to do so much in my current position. Even my soldiers are untested, inexperienced without more than a few months training." Another minute frown, but he pushed forward regardless.
"The people of Rivia will be appreciative of whatever kind of assistance you may offer." Behind him, his servants shared glances. This meeting was not being as helpful as they had hoped.
"And I will not be able to mobilize for two weeks, at the least. I was not expecting to go to war so soon." The Inquisitor took it all in stride.
"That is quick compared to some, I will be there waiting for you in the system.." I stopped him once more as he turned to leave.
"Why did you not send an Astropathic communication instead of coming in person Inquisitor? If you are needed on the planet? You have taken valuable time to come and see me." He paused for a moment, pondering.
"Because it is better to ask much of someone face to face, my lord." I watched him as he leaves, transport rising, its powerful engines sending the craft roaring out into the black.
I wondered what truth there was to his words. Or, if he had simply seen the chance to judge me himself. An Astartes Chapter starting up within an Inquisitors sector of patrolled space wasn't something they could ignore. It tipped the balance of power, added a block to carefully weighed scales. I hadn't done my best to keep from making waves.
While I stood there mulling over my talk with the Inquisitor my thunderhawk was prepared for travel, its engines checked over and promethium tanks filled. Honesty, what a rare quality that was among Inquisitors
Was it even about Rivia? Or was this about the future after the conflict, did he seek to drag the only member of the Iron Drakesinto a conflict that would see me killed? My Chapter snuffed out before it even started. I ground my teeth at the thought of it.
I didn't trust Inquisitors, having met some that were far too willing to shoot first and investigate late, but, given the stress of their offices without the gene enhancement I had undergone myself, I supposed it was not surprising. If anything I had to respect them, keeping their sanity besides only being mortal.
With my craft readied I climbed aboard, ceramite boots thudding on the adamantium hull as the hydraulics hissed closed, the cabin pressurizing. We lifted off the hanger floor, moving slightly as the jets stabilized before we tore forward into space.
The thunderhawk came down through the sparse clouds above the military zone inside the capitol. It was here the headquarters of my guardsman was being structured. A structural strongpoint in the case of any kind of siege, as well as a good centralized zone for all planetary operations to be conducted from. A military base built within the city, with all the defences I could bring to bear within it.
The sky over head was filled with heavy clouds of gray, painting the land under its watch in somber tones. I passed soldiers performing duties and officers chatting with their fellows. I wondered how many would return home. Leaving the sad sky behind, I travel underground to the strategium built into the bunkers below the city.
Sosa and Monzn were soon standing with me, having answered my summons from whatever other duties they had been attending.
The strategium was nothing impressive, a single holotable sat in the center of the room, screens upon the walls augmenting the data from the protected sensors and augers running scans constantly. The city pulsed and moved with each sweep. It also contained information on our current numbers of soldiers, munitions and all that was needed to run an army.
Octavian had been instrumental in setting up the datalooms.
"I bring poor news from the Inquisitor." Both men slightly paled, the mention of the figure caused fear in the heart of any sensible soul.
"The planet of Rivia is under attack from a chaos cult that has sprung up inside its capital. We are mobilizing to lend what little assistance we can." The population of Ildrian had just started to reach twenty thousand. Major influxes of people who had started to hear about the Chapter Homeworld that was accepting colonists. We had to limit the amount we took every few months. Out of that number, three thousand had joined the guard.
It was my hope to build a militaristic culture on Tarth. Like that of Ultramar perhaps. Honored military service to promote strength and unity in the population. If it would come to pass I had yet to know, but those who served were given a good stipend for their service. Sosa stood from his seat fire in his eyes.
"What kind of enemies will be facing?" The old Captain asked, eager to get a start on planning.
"Traitors, Sosa, enemy PDF that have turned from the Emperor's grace. As well as, flesh eating abominations. Horrors wrought upon us by heretics." He considered this for a few seconds before standing and saluting.
"I will get the men together my lord, as soon as we are ready, I will inform you." I nodded my thanks to him as the pair left to organize their soldiers.
I was not sure how so few men would turn the tide, but I did want not to sell their lives without reason. How much support I would give and how many lives I would spend in the defence of their world, I would decide upon our arrival. It would be shattering to the moral of the infant guardsman army I was creating for the soldiers I carried with me to get wiped out.
I did not know how long I would be gone, but the city council that ran the day to day logistics of Ildrian had proven faithful, and as useful as I had hoped. I knew they would continue to do their jobs as they had since placed in office. I spent the two weeks at the Ferrum Montem. The Iron Mountain, as Aragorn had named the Fortress. It had come to him while staring at it from steppe one day, remarking about the gray stone. The name had stuck ever since.
In the year since beginning its construction it was manned by an ever increasing amount of Chapter serfs, now numbered in the hundreds. Generators and carefully carved ventilation pushed heat through the otherwise cold rock. Such ventilation was well protected, more than one group of defenders had been killed in a sealed bunker from inside by releasing toxins into the vents that sucked in precious air.
With this in mind I had Octavian and his Tech-priest build a complex system of air scrubbers and filtration systems. The vents themselves were placed near the top of the mountain, added security in the form of the drakes who lived there. A powerful deterrent to any who would attempt to poison my Fortress.
Aragorn lived inside the Monastery alongside the serfs, he had grown more over the year, now standing above my belt in height. His rate of growth and powerful intellect drew many questions from the serfs. When I started to train actual Neophytes I knew the lie would fall apart, but it was a lie that I hoped to hold onto for as long as I could. What would people say when a larger giant than I walked among them? Could I claim he was a mutated Space Marine?
I had brought the entire library of the Emperor's Light into the Monastery, some scribes, those who had decent literacy, were copying them in the very start of a Librarium, to fill the shelves with knowledge. He had already read them all.
Another question gnawed at me. Should I bring him with me? I looked across at the boy, a training sword in one hand as he practiced a series of combat drills against servitors that Octavian had made for him. They were not clumsy things, having come from the Techs own stock of combat servitors,they swung their sharpened claws and metal limbs with the intent to kill. His movements were fast, faster than a mortal could have comfortably comprehended. It would be a massive risk, any word of him spreading could be disastrous, but if he was truly a Primarch, then he needed to know what was coming before him.
Aragorn became a blur for a moment as he brought the unsharpened blade down upon the last of the servetors, it didn't cut, so much as tear through the drone, the sword itself dented, his grip bending the steel. He looked down at the weapon in his hand and then to me.
"I'm sorry." I waved away his concern. It was not the first time and it would not likely be the last. Below, manufactorums and forges were hammering things into existence. Few, but some. The vents for these were placed in different sections of the mountain, but no less protected or hidden.
"It will be repaired. You are progressing well in the forms." He nodded, the tiniest bit of perspiration clinging to his skin.
"Will I be coming with you?" He suddenly asked and I frowned, I had tried to keep news of the coming conflict kept from him.
"Who told you of that?" Aragorn shrugged.
"I overheard some of the serfs talking about it." Of course he had. Sometimes I forgot that his senses were better than all my armors put together, or so it felt.
"I do not know." He was silent, those gray eyes boring into my own. I held his gaze, feeling my second heart start to pick up. It was staring into her eyes again, a force beyond yourself about to pass sentence.
"The Imperium is a complex place Aragorn." He draped the blade across his right shoulder, holding the bent steel with two loose fingers.
"I know. I've read the books in the library. Am I, a Primarch?" The question stopped me, and I sighed before I spoke again.
"I believe so, but how you came to be here is a mystery. The warp is an impossible place to understand, it moves in many strange ways, time flows differently there than here. It, may be possible that you are in fact a Primarch. But if you are, then it will shift the balance of the Imperium greatly." Golden flecked and red lined orbs continued to bore into my soul.
"That would be bad, it seems the Imperium fights many foes. Some from within." I almost let a smile come to face, that was putting it mildly.
"So you understand why I am hesitant to bring you along. If word of a Primarch being found again spread, it could bring hope to many. But," I looked up for a moment, into the lumens that shined above us.
"You are, unknown. Besides the fact the Emperor created only eighteen sons. The fact you are here now brings into question thousands of years of known history. You are an impossibility many could think you are a trick of our greatest enemy, sent to destroy us from the inside. It has been attempted before." Aragorn cocked his head to one side in thought.
"So, I would have to be well known to be recognized as a son of the Emperor?" I shook my head.
"Even if every soul on every planet knew your name, it may not matter. The loyal sons of the Emperor are figures of great reverence because they walked beside him, spoke with him, their names are second only to his. Even if you are known, there are thousands of years of history that do not include you." He frowned, looking down for a long moment before shrugging uncaring.
"As long as I can protect what is mine, I am content." I frowned at that.
"And what is yours?" He looked up at me with a smile, fangs flashing in the light.
"This world, the people here."
"It's not your world Aragorn. Not yet." He smiled again, wider this time, more predatory.
"Yes it is, it just doesn't know it yet." I had the sudden remembrance that, this being in front of me, while vastly intelligent, was only a year old. A genetically created son of the Emperor. He had his own ideas of what was right and wrong. I needed to take greater steps into shaping those ideas into ones that benefited the Imperium.
"All of the people of the Imperium are ours to protect Aragorn. All of them look to the Emperor for safety, to your loyal brothers' sons and the thousands of guardsmen that die every hour to ensure our continued survival." I dropped to one knee, coming to look him in the eye.
"I want you to promise me something, Aragorn. To swear on your honor as a Drake." His face hardened for a moment, good. It means I struck something within him.
"Promise me that you will protect the people of the Imperium, all of them. Not just those that are yours." He was silent for a long moment before he nodded.
"The Imperium is the Emperor's. I'll protect what is his like I will my own." I smiled, it was a start.
"That is all I ask of you." I rose from my crouch.
"You will remain here while I am gone. Help Octavian with the building here. He is interested in knowing your thoughts on the lift system he is putting into the dormitories." Aragorn's eyes lit up and he stowed his training blade before quickly leaving the room. I watched him go for a moment before striding out myself. There was one more bit of bad news I needed to tell.
I found Despair outside the Monastery, our link together, little I understood it, let me see glimpses of images and emotions. I saw him basking in the sun outside the gates, laying on the edge to the drop off. There was no fear from such a height, and I soon stood beside him, gazing down at a fall that could kill even me without so much as a skipped beat in my twin hearts.
A single reptilian eye flickered open, the end of his tail shifting slightly. I wasn't concerned, to give him this news, but I wasn't sure how he would react.
"I cannot take you with me." Both eyes opened, and he rolled from his side to sit up, scales grinding on stone. He wasn't yet as tall as I was, the crown of his skull coming to about the same height as an average mortal. I could still look down at him, but I had a feeling that would change by the time I returned. There was annoyance in our bond, I had promised his mother war, battles for her children to wage.
"The enemy we face. They have diseases, toxins that could harm you. I do not know enough about your biology to know if you could survive coming in contact with such things. I won't risk your safety." A rumble came from his chest, causing light vibrations in the stone under us as he broadcasted his irritation. I said nothing more and his teeth pulled back, the first time he had ever done so towards me.
"I won't change my mind on this." He growled again, more angry this time and his tail thumped on the ground. A few nearby serfs looked over with concern, hurrying about their duties.
"There will be more wars to wage in the future, you will have your fair share of spilt blood. You must be patient." I projected my own steadfastness in this decision through our connection and after a minute of his eyes narrowed, his tail went slack and he turned away, walking off into the mountains. I wasn't aware till that moment Drakes could brood, but he was still young yet.
In the meantime, I had a war to wage.
Upon the muster fields inside the wide walls of the city's military zone, two thousand soldiers stood in ranks. They were organized into a singular Regiment, standing in their platoons. Sosa gave a rousing speech, reminding the men that they were the first of Tarth's regiments, the first to add to its honor and prestige. As the men cheered squads departed for landers and thunderhawks what would carry them into orbit.
It took hours for all the men to leave the surface, standing in rank until they were called. A thousand soldiers would remain to safeguard the Capital. I hoped it would not be needed.
Once again, the Strike Cruiser left the orbit of Tarth. On the bridge of the Emperor's Light I stood beside Alexander, who watched as data scrolled in front of his vision on his command throne.
With our engines roaring we entered the Immaterium, geller field coaxed to life once more. Our Navigator plotting a course to the besieged world. After we were underway my Captain turned to me with a question on his lips.
"I don't suppose the Inquisitor gave you any information if any fleet assets have turned?" I shook my head. Our meeting had been short and to the point.
"I can only assume not. As far as I know, the heretics are contained to a single city, the Capital at that." The filtraited air of the bridge swirled around us stronger for a moment, its fans kicking on and off for a few moments. It is a constant on every ship, a stale taste.
According to the Navigator it was going to take us a few weeks in warp to reach our destination. The immaterium around Tarth was fairly calm, peaceful even, if the mumblings of the psykers were to be believed. I could only hope it would stay that way for a long time.
I spent this time the same way I had spent much of my time aboard the Emperor's Light. Planning, training, ensuring my skills and mind remained sharp. For too long had I disregarded the regimens I had set for myself years before. I had pushed more ink across paper in the last year than I had spilt blood. It was not a realization I enjoyed.
As I trained my thoughts turned to Despair, the gnawing feeling of being beyond our connections range.
The drake had spent much of the last year among his own kind, seeking out kinship and combat. I could always tell what kind of mood he was in while fighting or hunting, the joy that would fill him in those times would often cause a smile to come to my face. Images of stalking through the wider mountain ranges and the darkest parts of the forests came to me often. It was an experience unlike any, to see a world through the eyes of its top predator.
Then, I thought of Aragorn.
Finding the Primarch had changed every plan I had in place. What would I tell the others? Would cousins of mine be as understanding as I was? These thoughts dominated my waking hours. There were also coincidences that I could not ignore.
Aragorn's arrival, the drakes. The fact he thought he was one. Things larger than myself swirled around Tarth, that much I could tell. Every Primarch was a figure of myth and legend, things often happened around them that could not be explained. I felt the need to understand it, to find out how he had managed to come to this world just as I had.
More than once Aragorn had snubbed a serf, his childishness showing in those moments. He often thought he knew better, his mind consumed everything, yet practical sometimes won out, and he was humbled. He and Richard had many verbal spars over the year, Aragorn winning more and more as the days passed. Still, Richard was an older man, and levied his experience against the demigod to tip the scales.
"It seems to be a habit of mine nowadays, getting lost in thought." I mumbled to the empty room and turned over a page, looking over at the list of names of the leaders under my command.
Another alarm sounded as our ship left the warp, one bellowing claxon as deamons howled their rage at another missed meal. I was on the bridge, our shields raised and gundecks ready to fire. The system that Rivia was a part of was a small one, only one other orbital spun around the golden sun, a gas giant, its resources never capitalized. As we approached the planet the vox officer looked up from his station.
"We are being hailed my lord, its identification names it as Witches Penitence." I looked to the holotable and the small rune that signified the ship.
"That would be the Inquisitor I believe, open the channel." A moment later and Micheal's voice came across the line.
"Greetings Chapter Master, I am pleased to see you have arrived so quickly." Above me on his throne Alexander leaned forward, hands resting on his chin.
"We came with all the haste we could Inquisitor, tell me how the situation has developed."
"Poorly. A stalemate. Some of my soldiers help hold back the waves of enemies, but their forces grow everyday. We are fighting larger and larger hordes of undead as more fall. The PDF does not have the proper gear to resist the enemies they face."
My own force didn't either. It was not something produced on Tarth of yet. I would have to change that to be better prepared in the future. Prepared for everything.
"We will make do with what we can. The Emperor's Light will function as my base of operations for the conflict. Send the coordinates of the capital to my ship, we will hang above and deal out judgment." A databurst later and the holotable zoomed to the Capital, filling with runes and sigils of locations and army positions. The bulk of the allied forces sat at the palace of the Capital, or in other mountain top castles, sending in what men they must to keep the enemy at bay.
"And the evacuation efforts? How are they undergoing?" Micheal's voice took on a more tired tone.
"Equally poorly, we have no idea how many people are left in the city, but reports say more are falling to our enemies every day. Those that can be saved are slowly making their way to safety, if at all, and there is more. The Planetary Governor is alive, somewhere in the city, captured by the heretics before they were forced from the palace gates." That posed its own problem. Dislike nobles as I did, they often made up a structural necessity inside the fabric of a planet's structure. Losing so many would cause its own power vacuum, as others raced to snatch up thier assests. Even among war.
"I will be on the surface soon and speak to the commanders there, after I have a full picture of their capabilities, I will make a plan of action. What are the other forces on the planet?"
"In total, the PDF of the planet number forty thousand. But many are stationed in far off cities. The Governor used them more for suppressing workers and his rivals. There is almost nothing in the way of transportation from city to city besides massive industrial haulers and land luxury vehicles of the nobility. They wouldn't be able to make it to the capital for a month or more, any decent size of them anyways." That would make our job far harder.
"I am not surprised." I said accusingly, worlds that were far removed from war let themselves become disillusioned to the need to be ready for it.
"A world like this hasn't seen conflict in any living memory, I'm sure they were bartered off long ago, if there were ever any at all." The Inquisitor's voice was heavy with his own annoyance of that fact.
"I will contact you again if the situation develops. What will you be doing in the meanwhile?"
"Putting down cults before they spring up in other cities, my agents are monitoring them closely. There have been four such that I have eradicated already." My respect of the Inquisitor grew again.
"Emperor protects." The vox call ended and I turned to Alexander, the Emperor's Light slowing as we started to enter orbit. We were the only vessels above the planet, no defence platforms, no ships laiden with cargo.
"Keep the gunships ready, I may need you soon." He nodded once and let his gaze become consumed with data once more. I strode to the hangers. Crewmen making their way through the dense hallways, moving supplies and weapons to where they may be needed. Aircraft were primed, last minute checks by incense waving Enginseers before they greenlighted operations.
My own thunderhawk sat ready, engines growling as its turbines sucked at the stale air. The crew inside turned from their open cockpit and gave me quick nods, lifting even as I locked my harness in place.
We tore away from the Strike Cruiser and fell towards the planet. The capital of Rivia was a sprawing thing, kilometers of flat city that grew out of a mountain range, spilling like water from its peaks. It was in these mountains that the nobility made their homes, massive castles cut from the tops of the squat mountains.
Farther out from the city massive pit mines kilometers wide and deep dotted the land like reversed anthills, strip mining the earth for all it was worth. Communities of people lived and died there, entire generations burrowing deep into the darkness for taskmasters and quotas that had to be filled.
My thunderhawk flew over it all, over the city and its plagued people. The transport set down in a large garden courtyard, a half circle formed within the palace walls. A group of soldiers quickly approached as I descended from the ramp. Their leader was a shorter man, with a clean shaven face and dead eyes. He saluted as I neared them, the awe there that every mortal held upon their first sighting of an Astartes.
"Greetings Chapter Master, I am Vovek Qerka, leader of the PDF in the city, we received word from the Inquisitor that you were coming." I observed him for a moment, a Colonel by what I could tell. I wondered for a moment if the PDF general had died, or if the planet had one at all.
I didn't miss how flat his voice carried, how all of them looked so defeated. I wouldn't dwell on it, instead moving towards what could be done.
"Tell me of the conflict." Many flinched as my vox grill barked. I tried to keep my movements slow so as not to frighten them.
"We are fighting heretics and abominations, my lord. Reanimated dead that consumes human flesh, as I'm sure you were told." He took a moment to blink away memories before he continued.
"We control parts of the main road that leads to the palace and parts of the closest districts, but it gets harder every day as the enemy numbers swell." All of their gear showed some kind of damage, scratches from human hands or blacked from lasfire.
"How about true numbers? How many soldiers do you have?"
"Around, six thousand remaining my lord. This planet has never seen attack, we have been used to put down uppity miners more than fighting any kind of foe." He paused to spit thick white flem to the side.
"The Planetary Governor, God-Emperor rest his soul should he be dead, was never one for maintaining a large force around the Capital. We got little funding compared to his palace parties." There was a bit of discontent there and my eyes traveled to the gear the men wore. Even these officers had the most basic flack armor, aged lasguns.
"We will make it work Colonel. And the enemy?" A grimace.
"Around the same number. We both took casualties fighting over the palace. But we have wrecked a bloody vengeance on them every time they try to get part of the city back from us. That bit that we hold." We had made it to the walls by now, overlooking the city below. Lasgun fire and autogun discharge mixed with distant screams carried over the dead city.
"You have held out where others would have failed Vovek, you have done all the Emperor would have asked of you. But now I must ask even more." His slightly hunched back straightened, motivated by the praise.
"Take me to your strategium, from there, we will work on a plan to take back your city." Vovek was quick to comply, taking me along the wall and into the palace. Its left wing was given over to more military matters now. But I would struggle to call the chamber I stepped into a strategium at all. A worn and aged looking holotable sat in the center of the room, thick cables pulsing with power, the image itself was faded, whatever sensors the city did have, they were not powerful. Every dozen or so seconds the image updated, several servetors slaved to the task of presenting data. Runes symbolizing squads and known enemy positions pulsed in red and blue.
There were a few other officers inside, relaying information to men in the field in deteriorating vox equipment. They all looked up as we entered, many giving quick salutes and standing. Vovek's voice gathered them to him, pulling the dimming fire back from the brink.
"This is the Chapter Master of the Iron Drakes, he is going to help us take back our city." He turned to me, vengeance in his soul. "We are at your disposal my lord." I nodded and stepped up to the holotable, eyeing the cityscape, pressing several runes to link my armor's own systems with the machine.
In moments the device spun and whirled as I looked through the city at a dozen locations. The men were arrayed in defensive positions, dozens of individual squads holding just as many alleyways and streets. The bit of city that the PDF did hold was cast in a light blue, the rest, red. Areas of suspected surviving civilians, green. Three larger runes pulsed on the main road, vehicles.
"What are these?" I asked, the runes didn't specify.
"Taurox my lord. They are turreted vehicles, this pattern has autocannons. They are a large reason we have held the road at all." Taurox, that was the largest warmachine they fielded.
"We will have to put them to good use then." I looked at the display for a few moments longer, thought running through my mind.
"Move these squads." A dozen runes were highlighted. "To these positions, it will allow for greater fields of fire and less of a chance of collapse." The Colonel frowned.
"But, that will mean giving up ground." I looked at him, and he almost stepped back in fear.
"I am aware Colonel, but as reinforcement from your fellow PDF will be slow in coming, I am prioritizing your lives over ground." There were a few looks of surprise at that.
"What about the civilians." Another officer spoke up.
"We will have to push through enemy points in key locations to open paths to them, and hold long enough to see them back to the palace, or airlift them from there if possible." I turned to the Colonel.
"What is the population of the city?" He had to think about it for a few seconds.
"Around, two million my lord, by the last census. There are other larger cities, closer to the richer mineral veins of the planet." Two million, each a possible number added to the enemy ranks, if what the Inquisitor said about the plague was true.
"We will prioritize getting what civilians we can out over ground gains. Inquisitor Micheal is seeking to get the other Governors to open their gates to them." A few of the men got dark looks. About the Inquisitor or the lords I could not tell.
A sudden whirring sound came from one of the servitors, its mouth opening and closing in silence before it spat out its message.
"Enemies engagement reported in city sector nine-five-five." The holotable zoomed the location, new runes appearing to life. I looked to Vovek.
"I need to see this enemy upclose before I can formulate a response to the threat. I will return soon." The Colonel was quick to follow.
"Take some of my command squad with you my lord, they are the most experienced soldiers I have." I shook my head, not stopping.
"I will not need their assistance. Stay here, coordinate with your men." He saluted to my back, the doors opening to the sound of lasfire.
I descend the half kilometer walkway that forms a grand procession from the front walls of the palace to the city below. My boots pounding on rockcrete I run towards the enemy position, a waypoint on my helmet's feed guiding me.
It was here, near the arches and statues that the deterioration of the city started in earnest. Bodies in their hundreds sat decaying in the open road, littering the alleyways I traveled across. Flies gathered in such masses they blocked sight, their children wiggling and feasting, fat and green they swarmed over the corpses. The smell of it putrid and heavy, a physical haze over the mounds of the dead.
I was growing nearer, the sounds of fighting growing in their ferocity. I rounded the corner of an administrative building, burned out and charred, to see the squad that had reported the initial attack.
They were crouched behind a ground vehicle used for transporting people or cargo through the city. It was smashed into a shop, the remains of the driver still in his seat. At the sound of my heavy footfalls they turned, one young man, scrambling out of cover as he screamed at my approach.
He died for his mistake, a lasbolt catching him in his exposed back. I ignored him and the others, shellshocked and wasting valuable moments to fire several bolt shells down range.
The enemy, their own armor and fatigues filthy parodies of the men and women who stood beside me whooped and hollered at killing one of their foes, fell back in terror as three of their number exploded into a shower of guts.
"Don't turn you back on the enemy." I growled at them, but they could not hear me. My bolt pistol had stolen their hearing. In realization I pointed at the enemy, shouting louder.
"Return fire!" They heard, or guessed my orders, and with the realization that one of the Emperor's Angels was there with them, rounded on the enemy. I moved up to their line following the target locks of my suit's cogitators, firing single bolts at every cultist who dared to show their diseased forms.
I claimed five more, the squad one, when a new sound reached my hearing. Footsteps, thousand of them in a rumbling mass. The enemy soldiers retreated and from their positions came the undead, poured out of connecting streets, seeming to appear from everywhere at once. Plague zombies. I could smell the fear waft from the soldiers around me.
. These infected were disgusting things, rotted flesh hung off their bodies, guts bloated and some tangled themselves on spilling intestines, their fingernails had grown, shaping into mockery of claws. Each of them gnashed blacked teeth and peered out into the world with eyes of murky yellow. They groaned a hollow dirge, but my teeth clenched my mind recounted their gurgling speech. Their song was a seven count beat.
"Emperor preserve us, here they come again." The Sergeant muttered to himself.
"You and your men will survive this, hold the line and fire on my command." I spoke loudly and he turned back long enough to give me a nod. I gave it a few heartbeats, letting them have precious seconds to collect themselves.
"Fire." The eight remaining lasguns flared into life, beams of light impacted the enemy, flesh exploded as it superheated, tore through some to blacken others. My bolts killed several every time I fired, the explosion damaging several more. So weak was their flesh it hardly triggered the reactive shell. But still they came. Vox chatter filled my ears for a moment, it was the Colonel.
"How do you fair Chapter Master? We are getting more and more reports of enemy contact across the city, we are moving in reinforcements but they will take time." I responded while placing a new magazine in my weapon.
"My position is holding Colonel, direct soldiers to more needed fronts." The man confirmed and cut the line, the infected were still coming, endlessly pouring from down the street. The piling up bodies made themselves trip, but then they would crawl, others stepped on or over them, uncaring, never stopping.
Then I heard it, a trooper had been firing his lasgun too much, the weapon starting to hiss in a deadly way as he held down the trigger, red beams blasting out its end in abandon.
"Control your fire." I ordered, bolt pistol roaring in my hands. My hand fell to a grenade at my side and I tossed it into the center of the horde. Some twenty meters away.
"Down." I told the men and they hit the dirt just as the grenade exploded, taking out dozens in a shower flesh. Some bits splattered over the transport in wet thunks, but none got on the soldiers.
Still they came, and I glanced at the map on my display and cursed, we couldn't fall back from this position without exposing two other squads from behind. I had underestimated these walking corpses, even those blown apart continued to crawl, to push forward. I looked to the Sargent beside me.
"The buildings here, they are cleared of civilians?" He nodded once and kept firing.
"Yes my lord, there nobody is inside!" I opened a link to my waiting thunderhawk.
"Lock onto my location and comence a strafing run on the nearby streets, the enemy will be hard to miss." David confirmed and I grasped my last grenade, tossing it at the feet of the horde ten meters from us. Again the men crouched, rotted flesh and blood spraying across the streets buildings as the explosive detonated.
The horde was unyielding, snapping black teeth and raising their arms in preparation for feasting. The front line never got the chance, a roar came from overhead, my thunderhawk holding above our location for a few moments and letting loose its heavy bolters. A line of red metal cut through the ranks of infected, reducing their numbers in mass. The thunderhawk tilted forward and its battle cannon boomed, blasting apart part of the buildings thirty meters back, eviscerating more of the horde.
"Break off. Support other squads, we'll be fine here." The craft boosted away, sowing death as it went over other nearby squads. Through the dust thrown up by the firing thunderhawk they came, uncaring of the numbers we had slain.
"We only need to hold a bit more!" The Sargent yelled out beside me. I wasn't sure how he knew that so assuredly, but the soldiers pressed hard, running the risk of overheating their lasguns again in an effort to lay the enemy low. Beams of light continued to race into the enemy, more dead flesh falling silent.
More came from our left, cutting through a tiny gap in buildings. Through the far side I could see more red lasfire, the screaming of men being consumed. I drew my sword and struck down the few that got close. Their blood fizzed as it was sundered by the energies of my blade.
"They are all around us!" A young soldiers cried desperation threatening his resolve, and his sergeant thunked him on the shoulder.
"And we will all die if you don't keep shooting!" The young mortal fought through his fear. Looking to me as a supplement for his own failing courage.
Other squads in our area fell back, the horde shambling on, David streaking across the skies to bestow death. The rattle of other heavy weapons sounded as other gunships entered the fray, tearing the streets to rubble.
Still, they ambled forward, crawling over the mounds of dead and ruined flesh. I spent the last of my bolt shells, maglocking the weapon to my side and drawing my second blade. Just as I readied myself to strike into the horde, shield the mortal soldiers, their lines thinned, the unyielding press of bodies slacked until only one shambling corpse fell over the mound.
It was cut down, its pained groaning silent at last. I stood ready for a few seconds longer, expecting more. When none came, I looked down at the Sargent beside me.
"What was that?" He could only shake his head, heart pounding inside his chest.
"We don't know my lord. They always do this, they come, take out a few squads that can't contain them, then fall back. The traitors come and pick up the slack, hold any ground the infected have bought for them." That was strange. It was normal for attackers to break, kill enough of them and their courage would waver. Or if they didn't have enough manpower to complete the attack, a commander would order them back, get more men, and try again.
But that was not a problem for these monsters, they didn't break, didn't feel fear. Their yellow eyes held only hunger, anger at the living. Something such as moral was, impossible for such creatures to experience, there was no reason for them to have fallen back. There was only one real possibility then.
"Somebody is controlling them." The Sargent looked revolted by the idea.
"I truly hope not my lord, what kind of sick mind could ever desire control over such, such abominations?" I could only shake my head in my own wonder as a fresh squad of soldiers came to relieve the ones I had fought alongside. Less from fatigue, and more for ammunition purposes. The powerpacks of the men were running dry. Weapons still hot from firing unendingly.
Together we made our way to the palace, the squad saying goodbye and thanking me for fighting alongside them. Others hadn't been so lucky even with thunderhawk support, it had been one craft for too long, and many had been in need. I made my way back to the strategium, black blood and gore still splattered across my armor. Vovek was there, giving me a nod before he spoke.
"My lord, encountered the enemy then? You see what we face." I nodded, and pointed to the map once again.
"I will need to change my strategy, is there something keeping the infected from swarming your men in totatally, a time limit?" Vovek brought a hand to his chin, leaning on the table, the glow from the table lighting his face.
"Perhaps my lord, the infected come in mass in seemingly random patterns. Sometimes they will launch several attacks a day, other times, we will have some peace. In greater or lesser numbers, but the duration of their attacks is often between ten or fifteen minutes, but often no longer." Fifteen minutes. I had seen far worse odds.
"Vovek." The man snapped to attention.
"I must go and greet my men, but you have done well holding this long. We will speak more soon." The Colonel brightened under the praise and got to work, just as my own soldiers landed in the courtyard.
I went to greet them, both Sosa and Monzn stepping out from the first thunderhawk. Both gave different salutes before I updated them on the situation, informing them of the strange foe we faced.
As the soldiers walked down the ramps in their squads my sensorium informed me of movement behind me. I turned, expecting Vovek coming to greet the new arrivals but was surprised to see a man in fine clothing hesitating a few meters away.
Not the gaudiness of a noble, but more so than any simple servant.
I ignored him for a few minutes, finishing giving my orders to my officers to set up camps and begin unloading the equipment that sat stacked in the Strike Cruiser above.
Only after I had finished addressing them did I give my attention to the messenger, guardsman giving him side looks as they went to set up tents and bedrools among the largely abandoned palace. He didn't seem annoyed by this, instead bowing and holding out the scroll.
"Greetings Chapter Master, my lord and master, the head of the most noble house of Irvecido, requests your presence at your next convenience." I had not even been on the planet for a day and already the churning wheels of Imperial politicking tried to pull me into its web.
"I must refuse, I have forces to organize, your master can wait until the situation here has stabilized." The courier paused, as if wondering if he should press his goal, but he relented after a moment longer, bowing once and leaving. I knew that it was not the last I would see him.
I lead my officers to the strategium, the small room becoming crowded with the dozen soldiers of my command staff. Sosa had overall command, while Monzn and others led small detachments.
We spent the next few hours overviewing strategies for combating our foe, moving the runes on the holotable and running simulations based on the information we currently held.
Alongside this was food supplies and munitions the PDF currently had. Micheal, with his own ships transports, had kept a supply coming to them, so at least we didn't have to worry about running out during the war.
"Do we have any idea on the location of the enemy commander?" Sosa asked, leaning on the table and looking towards the red lines that covered much of the city. Vokek shook his head.
"He went to ground right after he fled the palace with the Planetary Governor and others. We haven't been able to truly push out or send scouting parties. The infected that fill the city stop such actions. Every squad we send out has been lost."
I pondered that, knowing that cutting off the head of this snake would ensure at the very least an end to the massive pushes of zombies. To clear them all out would take its own time, but that was not something to concern myself with now.
"Do you know their identity?" Vovek paused, shame crossing his face.
"He was a fellow Colonel, who I thought was a good man, until he went mad and started this entire mess." There was underlying anger in his voice, the two had been friends, of that I was sure. I didn't press him for more, instead turning back to the holotable.
"What area of the city has the largest concentration of infected? Based on your reports?" Vovek leant down to the table and moved the map towards a new location, farther from the palace. A habitation district, homes of the masses who worked in the city's ore recycling centers.
"This place was the first to fall when the infection started. We were unable to stop it from spreading, most of our forces had to fall back to the palace to defend it." There was guilt there, mixed with bits of anger. That so many civilians had died so that they would rush to the protection of their Imperial lord.
"Then we will have to concentrate scouting out these areas and finding the enemy leader. Striking against bases of the traitors will be of equal importance." We discussed the finer details of our plans until the sun started to set, casting the city into shadow.
I left the strategium and went out to the courtyard, now devoid of my soldiers. They had been shown where they could stay inside the palace during the siege. It was a sprawling complex, and with the nobility gone, the hallways and chambers were filled with soldiers and their gear, bedrolls laid out on hard stone or thick carpets.
I went back up to the walls as the orange star above painted the sky in violet light. A few squads left for the front lines below me, one or two wearing the patch of the Inquisitor.
I pondered the enemy for long minutes, these infected, a slow foe but their raw weight in numbers had seen a dozen positions overrun today alone. Not to mention the traitorous PDF that stalked about them. My eyes scanned the city, catching the last bits of light and seeing the hordes that roamed between the streets. Where was this enemy commander, how did he control the undead?
Night fell in earnest, a curtain covering the land in a blanket of black. Burst of gunfire far off in the city caught my eyes, a squad? Cut off and trying to make it back to the safety of the walls? Civilians who had holed up against the worst of the enemy?
I looked up at the stars then, Rivia held a few clouds, and while some smoke from burnt buildings wafted across the sky, it wasn't enough to block out the lights that shined through the heavens. For just a moment, I let myself miss my brothers. I hadn't thought of it much, but waging a war again, fighting alongside guardsmen, made me realize how much I missed having Astartes at my side.
It would not last forever, I would hopefully soon be raising Space Marines of my own, molding them into a Chapter worthy of legend among the others, but it was a time coming. There was Aragorn, but he was both a child, and a demigod, removed from myself and above me in many aspects. I had no equal here, only those who served me, and the one I would most likely end up serving.
I hoped those who would to assist in building the Iron Drakes came soon, no matter what Chapter they may have hailed from.
AN. The plague war has been reworked a bit, as you have read. Enjoying the changes, hopefully you will as well. Cheers.
