31. Of sea mist and wolves (Part 1)

Aeoran sat in meditation, wearing only a simple white robe, he was surrounded by the most senior librarians of his legion, he sat in the centre of a crystal pyramid with them arrayed around him. The pyramid had been given to Aeoran by his brother Magnus and the positioning shown to him by the skilled librarians of the Thousand sons, it was all supposed to amplify his great precognitive ability, instead of randomly getting insights in to the future he could now reliably see what was about to happen.

Over the centuries of crusading the Mist walkers legion had gained a reputation for their quick and skilful execution of compliances, Aeoran was an orator and general whose only equal was Horus, he knew just where to strike both verbally and militarily and this allowed him to stack up compliances at a record rate. The second primarch currently sat inside his sanctuary aboard his flagship, the Eternal mist, his fleet was travelling through the warp alongside the 16th legion fleet and he was trying to peer in to the future to determine what kind of world was to greet them at the end of their journey.

The two legions had been fighting together for months to bring low an alien empire, their enemy had relied heavily on deception, drawing Imperial forces to worlds that seemed important only to attack weakened forces that had been drawn from to bolster other forces. Horus and his legion had initial fought the conflict alone but after it became clear that the trickery was a pattern he had requested aid from Aeoran, the mist king put an end to the xenos' tricks for good. Aeoran knew exactly where the xenos would strike, he would pretend to draw forces away and when they took the bait he would quickly return and crush the alien army or fleet, without their tricks and under the weight of two legions the alien realm quickly shrank until now they were on the doorstep of their homeworld.

Visions of the void filled Aeoran's mind; he saw ships torn apart by overlapping fields of xenos fire, millions of voidsmen flung out in to the void or consumed by fire as their ships fell under the weight of fire but Aeoran looked past all the death and destruction the Imperium suffered and focused on what caused it, he noted each ship and defensive position as well as their capabilities. His visions then went to the planet itself; he saw every individual xenos being handed a weapon, most crude and cobbled together but still billions of individuals ready to oppose them, their cities were protected by strong shielding and layered defences had been dug surrounding them.

Aeoran opened his eyes as he broke his meditation, he rose along with his psychic sons and filed out of the psychic amplifier. His chief librarian, Urdiel, approached him, the librarians surrounding him would only catch glimpses of the whole future he saw and it was up to the primarch to make them privy to it.

"What did you see my lord?" Urdiel approached his primarch as he took a seat, slightly exhausted from the divination

"Strong defences, thousands of ships and orbital defences, it will be a meat grinder" he had seen their ships fighting through the alien's capital system, he knew they could and would reach their homeworld but the sacrifice would be great, the xenos had drawn on every ship and military asset they could, thousands of ships and millions of sailors would die to get the astartes and imperial army to the ground

Urdiel listened closely as his primarch gave specifics, such as positions of orbital defences and formation of fleets, "And ground forces?"

"They have mobilised their entire population, they have entrenched positions and stores to last years" Aeoran remembered his visions of his sons fighting in trenches and buildings, "Void shielded cities and strong air defences make exterminatus useless, an invasion will have to take place, I will go talk with my brother now"

Urdiel followed his primarch as he stood and moved to his private sanctum, Aeoran kneeled and disrobed as several senior members of the legion picked up the massive plates that made up his armour. The primarch put on his under armour himself and then allowed his sons to meticulously place each armoured plate on him, the astartes treating each piece of his armour with the upmost reverence, after the final plate had been bolted in to place Casis Thal came forward with his axe. The former legion master, now 1st captain and equerry, knelt before his primarch as he offered him his axe, Aeoran rose and took the axe from Thal.

The primarch and his inner circle made their way to the bridge of the Eternal mist, the doors of the spacious strategium opening up to allow the legion's command in. Each member of the legion's high command took a place around the hololith; Aeoran, Casis Thal, Urdiel, master of the fleet Sanin Hal, the most senior techmarine Rolis Ormal, Commander of the primarch's personal guard Oradean and the rest of the Mist guard and a few other veteran astartes.

Aeoran activated the hololith and a projection of his brother, Horus, appeared wearing his large master crafted terminator armour with a large animal pelt draped across his shoulders.

"What did you see?" Horus asked

"An armada that will do everything they can to stop us and reap a heavy toll" Aeoran informed his brother of his visions

Horus looked at a hologram of the proposed battle plan created by Aeoran, they would incur heavy losses and that was before they even made it to the planet, ferrying the army to the surface would cause even more and the attritional fighting would just push the numbers even higher.

Horus sighed, he didn't like having to sacrifice so many souls but he understood better than any other primarch the reason for it, "These numbers are high but there is little to be done about it"

"I'm more concerned about the ships lost" Aeoran admitted, "Armies can be replenished quite quickly but it will take decades to replace the naval losses"

"I know what you mean, perhaps we should send warning to the shipyards in advance" Horus gave an unenthusiastic chuckle

The two primarchs were silent for a second as they considered the lives they were about to sacrifice to the Great crusade, they had both fought dozens of campaigns and had billions die under there command but still it was not easy to knowingly send loyal men in to a meat grinder.

"I have a suggestion" Hastur Sejanus stepped forward and a hologram of him appeared next to his gene-father, who nodded at him to continue, "I have heard the 11th legion is nearby"

"The 11th?" Urdiel looked at the mournival brother in confusion, "They have few psykers, nothing the librarius can't handle"

"We don't need them to combat the xenos psykers but we could use their aid in combating the xenos navy" Sejanus clarified his suggestion

Horus thought about it for a second, "I had heard the 11th primarch was found recently and he has completed several compliances with impressive speed"

"What have you heard about him?" Aeoran asked

"A brute and a savage that makes Russ look like Fulgrim but he is a naval commander that surpasses even the Emperor"

"Sounds wonderful" Aeoran's voice dripped with sarcasm, "But he could be just the person we need here"

"Then I will have an astropathic message sent immediately" Horus' hologram flickered out and the hololith went dark

Urdiel turned to his primarch, "I would prefer if we didn't call on the assistance of the 11th legion"

Casis Thal replied before Aeoran could, "We know why you would be opposed to this but if this can save even a handful of vessels, that is a handful that we don't have to replace"

"And besides I should try to get along with my brothers and their legions, we're all fighting for the same cause" Aeoran put his chief librarian at ease, "besides I think it would be better if you stayed in the sanctum while I meet him"

Aeoran stood in the launch bay of the Vengeful spirit, behind him was his 1st captain and guard and at his side was his brother, behind Horus stood his mournival and in front of the two stood a corridor of marines, Mist walkers on the left and Luna wolves on the right holding up legion standards and Imperial aquilas.

A black and gold stormbird flew in to the launch bay and hovered for a few moments before lowering itself at one end of the astartes corridor, the landing ramp lowered and out stepped the primarch of the 11th legion. He stood as tall as any of his brothers with sharp and symmetrical features, his chin was covered in stubble and his black hair grew to his shoulders with gold, silver and platinum threat woven in to it along with precious stones. He wore no armour only a regular fabric shirt and trousers with a long black scale coat, the only obvious armour he had was he plated left arm that ended in a massive lightning claw.

Behind the 11th primarch came two warriors of his legion, wearing the black and gold power armour of the legion, the warrior on his left seemed like a perfectly normal astartes but the one on his right was massive even by astartes standards, he stood the same height as his primarch and was just as broad, his armour clearly custom made to be able to fit him.

"Throne alive!" Tarik Torgaddon exclaimed under his breath as he leaned over to Sejanus, "Were they always that big?"

"Not from what I remember" Sejanus replied

Horus and Aeoran watched their 11th brother carefully as he approached them, preparing themselves for his null aura but as soon as they fell in to his area of effect instead of feeling their souls being repelled they could feel a strong force pulling at their very souls, attempting to tear them from their bodies, the primarchs easily resisted it but their gene-sons seemed to be struggling slightly under his aura. Ezekyle Abaddon had always considered himself extraordinary even for an astartes but even he could feel his knees weakening under him as all his strength went to keeping his soul tethered to his body.

"You must be my brothers" the 11th primarch held out his hand, "I'm Ovis, Emperor of Krake and lord of the World beasts legion"

Horus took his hand and firmly shook it, "Horus of the Luna wolves"

"Aeoran, lord of the Mist walkers"

As the three primarch introduced themselves the oppressive aura that pulled at all the souls around Ovis lessened, weakening to the point that it was barely noticeable. Horus led the way as the three made their way to the ships bridge with their gene-sons right behind them.

Abaddon and the rest of the mournival trailed behind the primarchs along with Casis Thal and the two warriors Ovis had bought with him. The Luna wolves 1st captain couldn't take his eyes from the massive warrior of the World beasts legion, his puldron identifying him as the legion's 1st captain.

"You shouldn't stare Ezekyle" Tarik Torgaddon elbowed his battle brother

"Look at him, he's bigger than a dreadnought" Abaddon continued to stare at the World beast

"I think his armour is from a dreadnought" Tarik commented

"I didn't know astartes got so big" little Horus Aximand was also staring at the massive warrior

"I'm not an astartes" the giant spoke in a deep bone rattling voice, finally acknowledging that he had noticed them staring

The mournival brothers looked at him with a confused look, if he wasn't an astartes then what could he be, the answer eventually came from the other World beast warrior.

"He's just a genetic abomination our father decided to create" the other warrior had a strangely high-pitched voice and a clearly sarcastic tone, "Why? I'll never have any idea"

"If either of us are the genetic abomination sister, it is you" the 1st captain turned to his fellow legionary

"Sister?" Casis Thal immediately picked up on the noun used, the members of the mournival also quickly picked up on it as well

"Is it really not obvious?" the warrior pulled off their helmet and revealed their face

Their hair was long and pinned up to keep it in the helmet, their features were soft and rounded, clearly feminine, and if astartes had any real concept of feminine beauty they would say she was beautiful. The astartes captains were shocked by the revelation of a woman serving in one of the legions, as far as they knew it was impossible.

"I was not aware women could undergo the gene-seed implantation procedure" Sejanus was the first recover

She just scoffed, "As my brother said I'm not an astartes, I never underwent any procedure as far as I know it still is impossible for my gender"

Casis and the mournival looked at the two warriors strangely as tried to figure out what exactly they were, their size and obvious power suggested they were astartes but they denied that.

"So what are you exactly?" Torgaddon asked

"I'm Asla, I'm simply my father's equerry and his eldest daughter, nothing more" Alsa left her answer at that, clearly not willing to elaborate

The astartes looked instead to the giant 1st captain for answers, he simply shrugged, "If my sister wishes to remain a mystery what can I do? She's just like that with men she likes"

Asla glared at her brother, "Mysterious, really? I'm not the one who's kept his helmet on, I've even told them my name, if anyone is mysterious it is you"

"I am the eldest son of Ovis, the 1st captain of the World beasts, Atris" he removed his helmet and revealed a likeness identical to his father's

Ahead of the captains the three primarchs walked together, their combined bulk taking up most of the large corridors of the Vengeful spirit and forcing the ships surfs to hug the wall in order to let them by.

Aeoran listened back to the conversation behind them, "Strange legion you have, although the 11th was always the odd one out" the mist king tried to get a gauge on his new brother, he hadn't said much since his arrival, instead he seemed to be assessing the Vengeful spirit and her personnel, his focus more on the ship around him than the brothers beside him

"So who is she? I'm sure father would have told us if we had doubled our recruitment pool" Horus shared his 2nd captain's curiosity

"She already said, she's my daughter" the two primarchs thought on his words for a few seconds before they figured out he wasn't using the word as they did when they were referring to their astartes

"Do you mean…?" Horus didn't finish his sentence

"Yes, now on to real business, why have you begged me to come here?" Ovis asked

"We asked you to join us, we didn't beg" Ovis was starting to sour to Aeoran, the way he carried himself reminded him of Radiel and Ovis natural negative warp presence supressing Aeoran's precognisance didn't help

"Well considering this war is almost over, you must be pretty desperate to call on me" Ovis easily figured out what was going on, "Considering my expertise, either their system defences are too strong or they have psychic commanders, either way I'll save you so just make sure I get a nice chunk of the loot"

Aeoran let out a low growl, "We shouldn't have to bribe you to get you to fight for the Imperium, you and your legion are servants of the Emperor and should be proud to build his empire"

Ovis rounded on Aeoran, the comment clearly striking a nerve, "Unlike you I'm not a slave to your Emperor, I will be compensated for my work here"

Aeoran glared at his brother, the two squaring up, "So you're just as much of a thug as I heard, concerned only with material gain and not the higher goal of the ascendance of our species"

Ovis laughed in Aeoran's face, "You think the Emperor isn't concerned with material gain, the man who struts around in golden armour, I love gold as much as the next man but even I'm not so ostentatious"

Horus got between the two, "Let's calm down, we called you here for a reason, to fight the enemies of man not its defenders"

Ovis pulled away and turned from Aeoran, "He's the one who questioned my character"

The three primarchs entered the Vengeful spirit's large strategium overlooking the ships bustling bridge, as soon as Horus entered all movement stopped and every human and astartes present came to attention until Horus simply raised his hand and waved them back to their duties. The three primarchs and their captains took up places around the hololith in the middle of the strategium, Horus activated it and a projection of the alien home system appeared along with the defences that had been divined by Aeoran.

"These are the defences we'll be facing when we enter the system, there is only one stable warp route in and the xenos have placed heavily armed fortresses right on top of it with a large fleet supplementing them, they have a heavy first line of defence that will force us to spend many of our ships destroying it and give them time to reinforce their second line" Horus explained the alien's battleplan before turning to look at Ovis, "According to Aeoran by the time we destroy the first line upwards of 80% of our ships will be heavily damaged or lost, so that is why we brought you here, you are supposed to be a naval genius that surpasses even our father"

Ovis looked at the holographic battle plan, analysing the alien force and its strength, "This is a really good defence most wouldn't be able to break through it, you'll never be able to gain any momentum and you'll only get through thanks to sheer numbers" Ovis praised his enemy before turning to his children, "Do you two see the weakness?"

Atris scanned the projection for a second before he nodded, "It's obvious, do you need more time Asla or do you want me to tell you?"

Asla simply rolled her eyes, "Unlike you I don't need to be told to pay attention, I noticed it immediately"

"So what are you going to do father?" Atris asked

"Funny, I was going to ask you that"

"We could do a razortail manoeuvre" Alsa suggested

"Given the strength of the first defence line it is not wise to split our forces" Atris critiqued

"It would draw forces away and weaken their defensive lines" Asla countered

"Only the back defensive lines, the first one will remain intact and still be an obstacle that will need to be overcome or the secondary force could be overwhelmed" Ovis watched the two siblings argue, Horus was about to get between the two but Ovis stopped him

"Then what is your idea?" Asla asked clearly frustrated

"The shield of Sotris" the primarchs and their captains wished to stop the two and have them explain what they were discussing but Ovis kept them from speaking up and simply watched

"That will be a pretty big shield, are there enough of them?"

"There are always enough, besides several squadrons are aiding an expedition fleet nearby we can draw from them if need be" Atris was confident in his suggestion

"Railed or lanced?"

"Since their ships will be shielded, I would suggest a double layered lanced then railed shield"

The twins turned to their father expecting him to pick which of their plans he would implement, Horus could see that Ovis had likely done this many times before, pitting the two of them against each other to get them to come up with better ideas.

"Your idea is sound Asla but the timing would be difficult to get right with their crews and the first defence line would most likely remain intact, it could only really be used to get the army transports to the surface, which could force a surrender" the primarch's equerry seemed annoyed but accepted the criticism, "Atris has the right idea, the shield would work and we do have enough with us but you like that manoeuvre too much, think of something else next time"

The three of them seemed to come to an agreement on what course of action will be taken but the other primarchs and their captains were thoroughly out of the loop.

"I am pleased that you seem to have come up with a strategy but we still need to know it" Horus was the one who requested clarification

Ovis pressed a few buttons on the hololith, "The main strength of their defence is the first line, it will wear you down and allow them to properly organise a second line based on intel gathered from the first line, the only way to counter this is an overwhelmingly powerful first strike" Ovis drew a large arrow smashing through the alien's first defensive line, "A strike to instantaneously destroy the first line and leave the other line unorganised and without any idea what is coming for them"

"And how are we supposed to do that?" Aeoran asked, already sceptical of Ovis' plan, "Our opening slavos will barely take down their shields and their hulls are strong"

"You may not have the ships for it but I do" Ovis brought up a projection of a ship

It wasn't one of Imperial design looking something like a crab claw, the front half of the ship had a large section missing in the middle, the ship was also missing a significant superstructure with the bridge jutting out of the top slightly but the most unusual thing about the ship was the obvious lack of offensive weapons, there were hundreds of flak batteries across the surface of the ship but not one weapon larger than that.

"What is that?" Horus asked as he analysed the ship

"It's the key to victory, the Sotris-class destroyer, it was designed by my brother and it will break through the first line with ease" Ovis had an excited smile on his face as he already played the coming battle in his head

"How? The ship only has defensive weapons" Aeoran looked at the ship and failed to see it as useful for anything more than screening fighters and bombers

"That's one of the best things about this ship" Ovis zoomed in on the ships bow and the section cut out of it, "It seems to only have defensive weapons, most of the time it works to screen fighters and bombers for larger ships, but it packs the punch of a battleship or greater"

Horus took a closer look at the ship, focusing on the bow section, and he finally realised what the cut-out section was, "How large is the shell?" he asked, amazed that someone would actually produce an idea so crazy

Aoeran quickly followed his brother in realisation and soon their captains followed. The destroyer itself was the weapon battery, the front section of the ship was the barrel and would fire large shells that were certain to tear through even the thickest armour, it used the electromotive force to fire rounds at many times the speed of sound, it was slow to fire but if utilised properly it could be deadly in battle.

"At least the size of a small freight ship" Ovis pulled up a hologram of another ship, similar to the Sotris-class but instead of the rails in the bow section it was a cluster of lance batteries, clearly packed as densely as could be, "using both the railed and lanced variations we'll be able to destroy the first line with ease"

Ovis went on to explain the plan, the shield of Sotris was a manoeuvre that was basically just a concentrated and disciplined volley from dozens of the destroyers, there would first be a lance volley to take down the shields then immediately after there would be a volley of explosive shells that would easily tear through the unshielded ships. Horus and Aeoran listened to the plan and found there were few flaws in it, if things went to plan then they could drastically reduce the losses.

"If I've solved the problem to your satisfaction then I'll be going back to my ship, I'll be sending one of my sons to each of you, they'll help you coordinate with the ships" Ovis walked out of the stategium with his 1st captain and equerry right behind him

Horus looked to Aeoran as the doors closed, "So what do you think about our new brother?"

"He's too full of himself" Aeoran looked at the battle plan Ovis had brought them, "But it seems that he can back up that confidence"

Aeoran sat in his private sanctum aboard the Eternal mist, he had stripped off his armour and only wore a lightly armoured body glove, he sat in meditation as he tried to pierce the vail of the future, he tried to focus on his newly met brother. Usually Aeoran only saw his own future or the future that would directly affect him but if he focused his mind and meditated on a specific person he could see their future even if it was separate from his but no matter how much he tried Aeoran could not see a single thing about Ovis' future, he couldn't even see his brother in his own future.

As Aeoran tried to break through this apparent block he heard the door to his sanctum open, he didn't need to open his eyes to figure out who it was, there was only one person who could walk in so causally and who his guards would let past them. The primarch opened his eyes to see his mother sitting across from him, she hadn't aged a day since leaving Solaero, her hair was still slightly grey and her face had a few early wrinkles, Imperial technology could make her look younger but Aeoran knew his mother didn't want to look too young.

"I hear you met another one of your brothers" his mother could always sense when something was wrong with Aeoran even when he couldn't

"He's arrogant and too sure of his own superiority, he reminds me of that fat old king"

"He's your brother you should make an effort to get along" Aeoran's mother had acted as his conscious since the beginning of the crusade, if he ever doubted himself he would go to her and she would set him on the right path

"I don't think that will be possible, we are far too different"

Elia sighed, "I should have given you some siblings, if you had grown up with some then you would understand, I never got along with my sister and your father and his brothers fought all the time but you still have to find a way to get along with them no matter how different they are, they are the only ones you can truly rely on"

"I suppose you are right, he is sending one of his sons to help direct the fleet for the coming battle"

"See, he might be trying to extend an olive branch at least in his own way, you may never truly like or fully understand your brother but at least do your best not to antagonise him"

Aeoran thought on his mother's words and as he did the vox bead he wore beeped and the voice of his 1st captain informed him that the delegation sent by Ovis had arrived and would be waiting for him on the observation deck.

Thousands of ships swam around the Eternal mist, from small escort craft to massive battleships that almost rivalled the Gloriana-class battleship. Aeoran and his mist guard exited the elevator that took people to the observation deck. It was a large domed room that sat just below the ship's bridge and hugged close to the superstructure, it was made completely out of reinforced armoured glass and allowed anyone a wide view of the infinite blackness of the void.

The observation deck was already occupied when the primarch arrived, several marines wearing the colours of the World beasts stood guard while a single individual looked out in to space. He was almost as tall as Aeoran, his armour clearly having been modified to fit him better, he had the same dark skin and silver eyes his father, the influence of Ovis' genes clear but this son kept his head shaven and had most of his face covered by a thick beard.

"You must be the one Ovis sent to help direct the fleet" Aeoran approached his nephew

"Yes, I'm Sotris" he stuck out his hand and Aeoran took it

"So you're the one those ships are named after?"

"No, we're named after the same person, my uncle" Sotris turned back to the void of space, watching all the ship flying around them

Aeoran stood next to him, they stood in silence for a few seconds before Sotris pointed to one of the ships passing by, "The Razor claw, that's the ship that will be leading the combined squadron assigned to your fleet" it was one of the Sotris-class destroyers and close behind it were a couple dozen more of the same class, "You've been fully briefed on the plan?"

The plan was relatively simple the Imperial vanguard would consist of the Sotris-class destroyers, they would use their heavy cannon to decimate the xenos' first defensive line and allow the rest of the fleet to easily sweep them up, the fleet and the destroyers would then split in to 3 forces and force the disorganised xenos to split their forces up, making them easy prey.

"I have, I may not be a fan of your father but he has a talent for this beyond being a primarch"

"Well my father isn't for everyone" Sotris chuckled

"Despite that he has helped us end this war with fewer losses, that's all that I really care about"

"Try not to take his attitude to seriously, it is common on Krake to challenge authority, we need to know that our leaders are worthy of their position, it was how his father was and it is how he is"

Aeoran's interest was piqued, "What was his father like?"

"I never met him but both my father and grandmother spoke of him, he was a lot like my father, a capable commander who liked to have fun with battle when he could"

"What happened to him?"

"He was betrayed, by his own right hand, my father went on a vengeance fuelled crusade across Krake to capture all the traitors, it was how he met my mother"

"Good to know" Aeoran was reminded of his own father and the circumstances of his death, he turned from the void of space and started towards the elevator, "we should get to the bridge and prepare for the warp jump"

Next time: Of sea mist and wolves (Part 2)