Disclaimer: Same drill as normal. Warhammer 40k and Code Geass not mine.
Chapter Twenty-One: The Bulge
Though certainly a welcome surprise, the sudden arrival of reinforcements from the Fleet meant little in the grand scheme of things. A single ship and one hundred twenty men were easily lost amidst the titanic struggle for Craftworld Altansar, where millions died daily and hundreds of ships clashed for supremacy. The Brittia, though a powerful warship, was designed to harass an enemy fleet's flanks rather than engage it directly. Highly-trained as the men and women of the 17th OPAW were, they could not possibly drive Fulgrim's armies off of Altansar in the four days before the Craftworld reached the Terra system. Such a herculean task would require at least an entire Theater Group, and preferably two of them.
At the very least, such would have been the situation mere hours before the Brittia's arrival.
Black Knights 10th and 17th OPAW Field Headquarters
Ten Hours After the Brittia's Arrival
Only twelve days had passed since the Caerleon first appeared over Altansar. Twelve days since the 10th OPAW became the first Black Knights to make a drop onto an Eldar Craftworld. Those twelve days felt like twelve years to the men and women of the 10th OPAW, having travelled from warzone to warzone since their feet touched the ground. The brutal nonstop fighting had taken its toll on the elite unit. Ground down to less than a third of their original numbers, their equipment scratched and caked with dirt, and their shoulders and backs slumped from exhaustion, they presented a sad sight next to their counterparts in the 17th.
Nearly one hundred and fifty Knightmare-equipped troopers packed the streets before the field headquarters, standing almost shoulder-to-shoulder. Several militiamen from the Brittia and the Caerleon scurried about at the front of the building hurriedly assembling a holographic projector in preparation for the briefing. Several Eldar Exarchs stood off to the sides, eyeing the Psychic Special Warfare operatives in the crowd with no small measure of unease. The OPAW troopers began to snap to attention and salute when a distinctive crimson Knightmare emerged from the headquarters.
"As you were!"
The holographic projector blazed to life as Kallen turned to face the crowd. Several of the OPAW troopers and the Exarchs flinched at such a realistic image of Fulgrim's hideous multi-armed form suddenly appearing in the sky above Aquova. They had all seen and fought daemons before, but seeing one was not something one ever got used to.
"Thanks to recent efforts by the Psychic Special Warfare department, we have positive identification of the enemy leader. This," Kallen gestured at the hologram, "is Fulgrim, one of the Traitor Primarchs and now a Daemon Prince."
The image shifted to a strategic map of Craftworld Altansar, partly composed of flyby scans conducted by the Caerleon and the gaps filled in with educated conjecture. Chaos red covered most of the chart, but the mass of Eldar green was rapidly growing as reports continued streaming in from the front. The map abruptly stopped rotating and began zooming in on a segment of the front line.
"Our intelligence indicates that he ultimately plans to capture Altansar's Infinity Circuit. We're not sure why, but he cannot be allowed to succeed regardless. However, the arrival of the Brittia and the 17th OPAW has forced him to move his plans up. Roughly eight hours ago, one hundred eighty thousand Chaos troops launched an offensive at Olmuanene. Eldar forces were able to repel the initial waves, but another enemy force of nearly one and a half million arrived two hours later and utterly crushed the defenders."
The strategic map showed a rapidly-expanding dent in the Eldar lines where Chaos forces had broken through. Neighboring allied units desperately attempted to fall back and reinforce the foundering defenses, but doing so only further highlighted the bulge on the display. The gap in friendly lines spanned nearly a hundred kilometers at its widest point, and its growth showed no signs of slowing down.
"Following the breakthrough, another force of approximately three million joined the assault. If Chaos forces continue advancing at their current rate, they will reach Parynor, and its passages into the Infinity Circuit, within twenty hours. However, there is reason to believe that Fulgrim assembled such a large force on such short notice by diverting troops from other fronts. Chaos offensives at neighboring portions of the lines have slackened, and units from those areas are currently forming up roughly fifty kilometers ahead of the Chaos advance and digging in. Additional forces from all over the Craftworld are marching towards Parynor, but it is estimated they can delay the enemy advance by twenty-eight hours at most."
The holographic projector blinked off, and the militiamen scrambled forward to hurriedly disassemble the rig as Kallen concluded the briefing.
"There aren't enough of us to make much of a different on the front lines. Instead, we will drop behind the enemy's main force and harass their flanks and rear. Hopefully, we can draw enough enemy fire to give allied forces a fighting chance," Kallen paused for a moment, "Now, regarding Fulgrim: should you encounter him, do not engage him! Fall back and radio in his position! If you can, keep his bodyguards' heads down while you await my arrival! Only the 17th Raiders, the Psychic Special Warfare units, and I are to engage Fulgrim under any circumstances! Any questions?"
When nobody moved after several seconds, Kallen turned towards the trio of Psychic Special Warfare operatives standing off to the side.
"Is there anything you wish to add?"
One of their number nodded and stepped to the front.
"There has been a spike in psychic activity from Chaos lines over the last few hours, giving us reason to believe that the enemy has committed a large number of daemons and sorcerers to this assault. From the sheer amount of activity, it is likely that Fulgrim's forces have summoned a number of greater daemons. They're much bigger and tougher than the small fry you've fought so far on this campaign, but if there is a daemon that doesn't find a FLEIJA to the face a severe inconvenience, I've yet to encounter it."
A few of the OPAW troopers in the crowd chuckled nervously. Others were struck speechless at the thought of a spook actually making a joke.
"Even if you don't encounter any greater daemons, the sheer number of lesser daemons makes monitoring your NBC seals' integrity even more important than normal."
The Psychic Special Warfare operative pivoted on his heel and turned to rejoin his comrades as Kallen retook center stage.
"We launch," the redheaded general paused as a trio of Sleipnir-class drop shuttles roared overhead and touched down in Aquova's central pavilion, "in fifteen minutes. Until then, dismissed!"
Eldar Defense Line, Surface of Craftworld Altansar
One Hour Later
"Focus fire on that Chaos sorcerer!"
His nerves deadened by a lifetime of mind-bending excess, Iyitebu paid little attention to the shurikens piercing and slicing his flesh. His arms wove intricate patterns in the air before him, writhing and undulating in a manner impossible for anyone with a normal bone structure. A maddening kaleidoscope of impossible colors burst forth, and the Eldar manning the trench before him collapsed to the ground, screaming and clawing at their eyes. The Slaaneshi sorcerer spread his arms wide and slowly rose into the air as a wave of cultists charged, screaming incoherent war cries as they wildly sprayed lasbolts in the Eldars' general direction.
The battle cries were cut off by screams of pain mixed with ecstasy as another squad of Eldar Guardians leapt out of cover and loosed a volley of shurikens. The cultists' return fire, as much as Iyitebu believed such a thing were impossible, proved even more scattered and inaccurate than before. Far more ammunition was used to vaporize dirt and singe the barricades than killing Eldar. Only through sheer luck did one shot find its mark. The unlucky Guardian's head snapped back, the lasbolt having pierced through one of her eyepieces and reduced her face to a bloody crater.
"Take down that Eldar!"
At the rear of the Eldar position, an Eldar Dire Avenger had vaulted over cover and made a mad dash for the forward barricades. Lasbolts and stubber rounds impacted the ground around his feet as he zigzagged between the cultists' lanes of fire. A lucky stubber round struck him in the middle of the chest, the bullet flattening and failing to penetrate but still staggering the Aspect Warrior. Before the cultists could exploit their good fortune, Guardians in neighboring positions noticed their comrade's plight and sprang out of cover, filling the air with shurikens. A horde of cultists that had charged ahead of the main body, brandishing their lasrifles like clubs, were cut down to a man and the survivors were forced into cover.
When the cultists finally recovered their nerve, the Dire Avenger had already reached the safety of the forward barricade. Many turned around and ran as the Aspect Warrior sprang back up and rested his Shuriken Catapult on the lip of the trench. Iyitebu's mouth distended to unnatural proportions and he unleashed an unearthly wail upon the unsuspecting Eldar. Several fell to the ground, their souls ripped straight out of their bodies. Death-screams filled the air as the tendrils of Warp-stuff bought forth settled into the trenches and rampaged amongst the Guardians within.
The wave of pleasure and pain and raw sensation that slammed into Iyitebu was enough to arouse even his deadened senses. The Prince of Pleasure was pleased, and the sorcerer could feel his flesh boiling and twisting, reshaping into a new and better form. He wept tears of joy and sang praises to his patron as he beheld his new limb. Attached to his shoulder blade, the new appendage writhed and swirled around the sorcerer's form. The sight of such generosity from the Lord of Dark Delights drove the surrounding cultists into a berserk frenzy, and they burst out of cover and charged the Eldar lines. All shouted battle cries, and some foamed at the mouth.
Still disoriented from the psychic attack and caught unaware by the sudden charge, the surviving Guardians broke and ran. The cultists showed no quarter, hounding them and pulling them to the ground before ripping them apart in a savage fury. Iyitebu swooped in for the kill, choosing an Eldar at random and tearing the soul from his body. Iyitebu savored the soul's final desperate cries as it was dragged into the Warp to be tortured for all eternity by the Prince of Pleasure.
Iyitebu's rampage was cut short when nearly two tons of Knightmare smashed into him, shattering every bone in his body.
"Battalion, form ranks!"
Irosa had first touched down on Altansar as a faceless rifleman, one of many in Warmaster Thoghona's legions. On the killing fields around Sprannano, they had nearly broken through the Eldar lines when the Black Knights arrived. The almost-certain victory suddenly turned into a disorganized rout, and his squad soon found themselves face-to-face with one of the enemy's dreaded metal titans. All but Irosa had perished, but a combination of desperation and sheer luck allowed them to severely wound their attacker. Noticing his followers flocking around the sudden hero, Thoghona promoted the former rifleman to a battalion commander.
Unlike the cultist rabble running and dying all around them, the soldiers under Irosa were well-trained and disciplined, almost all of them former Imperial Guard. As soon as the command was given, they used any measure up to and including bludgeoning through their own allies to reach their commander. Even as a half-dozen of the dreaded metal monsters ripped through allied forces, even as Eldar rockets and monofilament webs rained down from the skies, they remained calm and disciplined. With a silent speed and efficiency born out of countless hours on the drill ground, they formed up into a firing line five men deep and stood perfectly still as the slaughter raged around them.
The tactics were primitive, but bitter experience had taught Chaos forces that there were no shortcuts in taking down a Knightmare. They needed large quantities of firepower pointed downrange to even have a prayer at penetrating the enemy's thick armor. They needed to swarm the enemy and bring them down through sheer weight of numbers.
"Battalion, present arms!"
Lasguns shouldered and pointed straight ahead, the forward row knelt down to allow the soldiers behind them a clear shot over their heads. Even as the two-ton beasts drew closer and closer, the whirring of their exotic bladed weapons and the screams of the dead and dying growing ever louder, they took not a single step back. Irosa allowed them a moment longer to adjust their aim before giving the command.
"Battalion, volley fire!"
They fired with no regard for their allies, sending a wall of lasbolts downrange. Dozens of cultists were caught in the thick of it and simply ceased to exist above the knees, their flesh vaporized by the onslaught. Even those standing at the edges of the battalion's firing lane were flash-cooked by the sheer heat. The few bolts that did reach the Knightmares splashed harmlessly off of their armor.
"Battalion, adjust aim! Volley fire!"
A few cultists had dove towards the ground fast enough to avoid the first volley. Dozens more, either unknowing or uncaring of their allies' fates, ran out into the battalion's field of fire. The tidal wave of cherry-red bolts that followed Irosa's command cut down both groups alike. One of the Knightmares actually staggered, several deep gouges appearing in his armor.
"Battalion, volley fire!"
Irosa's soldiers stayed in their spots on the firing line even as the Black Knights turned their full attentions towards them. Hadron bolts riddled the formation, scything through their flak armor with ease and felling them by the dozen, and they still kept their lasguns shouldered and awaited the next command. When one man fell, the one behind him simply stepped up and took his place on the line. Several of the enemy had stowed their machine guns and drew their hadron sabers, leaning forward and charging the firing line at full tilt. They caught the brunt of the next volley. Not even rutalium carbide was proof against so many lasbolts from so close a range. One of the attacking Knightmares went limp and tipped forward, its momentum burying it deep into the soil.
"Battalion, fix bayonets!"
The soldiers of Chaos drew and fixed their bayonets with so fluid and quick a motion that an untrained observer would have missed it entirely. With the distance between them and the charging OPAW troopers now measurable in meters, they shifted their stances in perfect synchrony. Lasguns pointed out and at a slight upwards angle, torso leaning slightly forward, legs shoulder-width apart. The soldiers in front knelt down on one knee, and the ones behind them with one foot planted in front of them and the other digging into the ground behind them. Even the famed Death Riders of Kreig would hesitate to charge such a formation.
Unfortunately, they were facing troopers of the 10th Planetary Assault Wing, not the Death Riders of Kreig. Irosa drew his laspistol, watching in mute horror as the Knightmares crashed straight through his troops, smashing them aside and grinding them to paste beneath their landspinners. The sounds of bone snapping and flesh tearing, of the wounded and dying crying out, assailed his ears. The last thing Irosa ever saw was a crimson blade speeding towards him.
The flak armor-clad Chaos soldiers screamed in terror as Kallen landed amongst them, her claws sheathed in hadron fields and stained dark red with blood. Several threw down their lasguns and ran, while others stumbled backwards and started wildly spraying lasbolts in her general direction. The few that did not harmlessly splash against the Gurren-Seraph's defenses sailed past the Knightmare and ripped into the hordes of Chaos cultists surrounding the melee. Kallen decapitated several enemy soldiers with a single swing before unleashing a carefully-controlled burst from her Radiant Wave Surger. Dozens fell to the ground, screaming and clawing at their skin as their flesh boiled and burst.
An unearthly wail filled the air, and dozens of cultists beyond Kallen's range lifted into the air, their limbs contorting and their bodies twisting into unnatural angles. The sickening crack of bones breaking reached her ears, and the screams of agony died down to a pathetic keening. Kallen launched herself towards the unholy sight, the hadron fields around her claws taking on a slight blue tinge as she pumped a portion of her psychic power into them. The trio of Psychic Special Warfare operatives assigned to the mission seemed to have the same idea, flashing into existence amongst the transforming cultists and shredding them with rapid slashes of their monomolecular blades.
One of the Daemonettes launched itself at the closest operative, latching onto him and tearing off chunks of armor with its razor-sharp claws. To his credit, the operative stayed deadly calm, grabbed the unholy creature by the back of the neck and smashed its face against his knee. The screech of pain and rage was cut short when the Knightmare smashed its fist, now sheathed in psychic energy, into the Daemonette's stomach and then through it. The Slaaneshi daemon's body twisted and bubbled, then disintegrated.
The operatives moved with blinding speed, rapidly parrying the remaining Daemonettes' blows with their monomolecular blades before going in for the kill. One of the operatives apparently misjudged a swing with the lethal-but-fragile blades, and Kallen adjusted her course ever-so-slightly to avoid the flying blade tip. A screech of pain from behind caused Kallen to whirl around just in time to witness a previously-unnoticed daemon, the tip of a monomolecular blade buried in its forehead, turn to dust.
Kallen reached the melee just in time to ram her clawed hand through the final Daemonette's stomach. The beast screeched and struggled, clawing uselessly against the Guren's thick armor. With a burst of psychic energy from the Knightmare's wearer, the Daemonette exploded into a thousand chunks of Warp-stuff.
"Fan out! There's plenty more where those came from!"
Though they had disrupted one summoning, more had obviously taken place. A horde of daemons crashed into the Eldar forces, driving the defenders back inch by inch despite their best attempts to shore up their lines. Down below, Kallen could see several of her troopers circling a Keeper of Secrets, pumping hundreds of hadron bolts into the foul beast. The Slaaneshi greater daemon howled in rage, swinging its dual swords in every direction. Kallen cringed internally as she saw an OPAW trooper cleaved in half by a wild swipe.
Eldar Defense Line, Surface of Craftworld Altansar
Six Hours Later
The thought of a weapon controlled by a nearly-dead soldier permanently wired into a life-support coffin sent chills up many a Black Knights' spine, and Kallen was no exception. At the very least, Astartes Dreadnoughts possessed an air of calmness and wisdom when they were not trampling across the battlefield to crush the Emperor's enemies. Their corrupted brethren possessed no such quiet dignity.
As she faced down one of the massive war machines, Kallen found herself unnerved far more by the Chaos Dreadnought's pilot than its massive weapons. Living only to experience ever-greater levels of pain and pleasure, internment had driven the fallen Astartes to an even deeper level of insanity than his brethren. His tormenters even left the faceplate off, exposing his mutilated and insanity-contorted face. Even worse was the screaming. Not one of the thousands of campaigns she had personally lead—not Viradium's descent into the Warp, not the Dark Eldar citadel on Zanitini, not even the Necron fortress of Minerion—could drown out the memories of her first encounter with a Chaos Dreadnought.
Cut off from the sensations they so craved, Chaos Dreadnought pilots screamed nonstop until their throats gave out. The fact that he still could scream told Kallen that she currently faced a newly-interred victim. His sanity had yet to fully leave him, making him even more dangerous than a veteran Dreadnought. Upon spotting her, he had charged her at full tilt, trampling any Eldar unlucky enough to stand in his way and smashing aside several Knightmares to reach her.
With a far greater agility than the Guren's bulk would suggest, Kallen dodged the Chaos Dreadnought's Power Scourge swing. Twisting her body around, she slid around her opponent and into his blind spot. Her claws cut deep into the war machine's thick armor, exposing the delicate circuitry within. She rammed her other arm into the wound and unleashed several hadron blasts before jumping backwards to avoid the retaliatory blow. Her opponent's torso rotated one hundred and eighty degrees to face her, but the servos' tormented screeching told her that the attack had damaged something important.
An unholy wail filled the air, and Kallen threw herself to the side to avoid the enemy's sonic weaponry. His screams of rage joining those of his weapon, the entombed Astartes swiveled around in broad sweeps in a futile attempt to hit the fast-moving target. Kallen dove under the Power Scourge and gripped the Dreadnought's leg with her clawed hand. The armor plate bubbled and cracked before bursting into a thousand bits of shrapnel. Several pieces bypassed the Guren's hadron fields and embedded themselves into the Knightmare's armor, but Kallen pressed the attack, hacking away at the now-exposed circuitry.
With a roar of anger and desperation, the Dreadnought charged forward and rammed into the Guren, sending the Knightmare staggering back several steps. It lost no time in exploiting the opportunity, swinging its Power Scourge around. Kallen recovered just in time to duck below the swing and caught several strands, wrapping them around her forearm and severing them with her claws. As the Dreadnought reeled from the damage, the crimson Knightmare charged forward, Radiant Wave Surger at the ready.
Rolling under the sonic blasts, Kallen closed the remaining distance between them and gripped the axle attaching the Dreadnought's heavily-damaged leg to its body. As her Radiant Wave Surger dismantled the limb, her other arm reached upwards and grabbed the first handhold they could find. The screeching of tormented metal filled her ears as, with a mighty tug, she bought the lumbering titan down. As the pilot screamed all manner of foul curses at her, Kallen severed the wires that fed power to the Dreadnought's Dual Sonic Blaster. With a second bolt, she reduced his head to vapor. To make triply sure that her opponent would not get back up, she destroyed the control sarcophagus with a burst of her Radiant Wave Surger.
Sergeant Kerri Heroux zigzagged up the ridge, weaving in and out between the shells and sonic blasts the Emperor's Children Chaos Space Marines rained down on her squad. A squad of Eldar Guardians charging alongside them was shredded by a tidal wave of bolter shells, and only Kerri's quick reflexes kept her from sharing their fate. She tried her best not to wince as several Howling Banshees took a direct hit from a sonic blast. They collapsed, screaming in pain and likely bleeding from a number of orifices as their very souls were flayed apart.
Kerri grabbed the hadron saber that popped out of its shoulder-mounted holster as she finally crested over the ridge, ramping into the air and decapitating an enemy Space Marine as she landed. She skid to a halt and wheeled around, drawing another hadron saber and quartering another of the Emperor's Children as he tried to bull-rush her. Two more of the twisted Astartes wheeled around, their bolters at the ready. They would have no chance to fire the weapons as another OPAW trooper landed behind them and sliced both of them in half at the waist.
Though they held a definite advantage in bulk and brute strength, the power armor-clad servants of Chaos had little hope of keeping pace with the Knightmares that tormented them. The Black Knights wove in and out between them, their hadron weaponry penetrating ceramite plate with frightening ease. Bolter shells and sonic blasts filled the air as the enemy desperately tried to counter the Knightmares' agility with sheer volume of fire. A lucky shot would occasionally down an OPAW trooper, but the rounds would bounce from impacting at such shallow angles or miss entirely more often than not. Off-target weapons fire claimed as many enemy lives as hadron blade and bolt.
Kerri was vaguely aware of several large objects lumbering through the enemy horde. She noticed the massive form shoving aside one of the Chaos Space Marines and bringing its weapons to bear far too late. The close-range burst of Storm Bolter shells shredded through her Knightmare's armor as if it were tissue paper.
"This is 3rd Squad! We're pinned down by enemy fire! Requesting reinforcements!"
"The Sarge is down!"
"4th Squad, wheel around to the right! We'll try to catch 'em in a crossfire with 7th Squ-"
The ground shook as a hundred Chaos Terminators stormed down the ridge, crushing resistance beneath their massive feet. The surviving OPAW troopers put up a valiant fight, but even they could not stand long before the sheer volume of firepower arrayed against them. Kallen could only listen helplessly as casualty reports continued streaming in on every channel. Every squad she rushed to help was wiped out before she could reach them. Shoulders slumped in defeat, Kallen would have sounded the withdrawal if somebody had not beaten her to the punch
"2nd Squad, focus fire on the right flank! Cover 5th Squad as they fall back! 9th and 10th Squads, bounding overwatch! 12th Squ-"
"This is a restricted military channel!" Kallen angrily interrupted the voice, "Identify yourself!"
"Have you already forgotten my voice," was the reply after several tense moments, "Q-1?"
A/N: The moment you've long waited for! I can only hope it will live up to everyone's expectations!
Additionally, I'm not sure about you guys, but I like to listen to music when I write (and sometimes when I read as well), so I thought I'd give this a try.
Code Geass 50k Soundtrack:
Title Sequence/Black Knights Theme: Union - Sabaton
Insert Song (Beneath the Red Sands arc): Suicide Mission - Mass Effect 2 OST
Insert Song (Great War/Great Crusade arc): The Lion from the North - Sabaton
Insert Song (Craftworld Invasion arc)/Eldar Theme: Glorious Land - Sabaton
Lelouch's Theme: Carolus Rex - Sabaton