Disclaimer: Yeah, this Code Geass and Warhammer 40k thing? Don't own 'em.
A/N: Bit of a longer delay than usual, but here we go! Also, special thanks to Setokaiva, who pointed out numerous spelling, grammatical, and continuity errors throughout. I'll be updating the previous chapters over time, so look out for those!
Chapter Twenty-Four: Home Soil
Black Knights Dreadnought Pendragon
Edge of the Terra System
Captain Lamont Maciver stood at the rear of the bridge, hands folded neatly behind his back as he passively started at the main tactical display. The sudden Chaos assault on their left flank had left the 17th Fleet confused and disoriented, and the enemy gave them no chance to recover. Cut off from its escorts, the Pendragon weathered salvo after unrelenting salvo from its foes, kept in the fight only by the speed and efficiency of its veteran damage control teams. Even many days after the battle, the dreadnought remained far behind the allied skirmish line, its crew working double shifts to restore it to fighting condition.
"Sir," one of the bridge officers reported, "Engineering reports that they've done all they can for the Number Three drive. They advise not running it beyond twenty-three percent capacity."
Even with their millennia of combined experience, the Pendragon's repair and damage control teams could only do so much. Though a steady stream of spare parts and additional technicians flowed from the fleet, many of the dreadnought's systems needed replacement of the type only a lengthy stay in drydock could provide. With the estimated time remaining until the main Chaos fleet's arrival now measured in mere hours, the Black Knights could ill-afford such a luxury.
"Repair teams have done all they can for the guns in Battery D," another officer spoke up, "The preliminary focus coils have actually fused with some of the internal circuitry. They've already submitted a requisition for new turrets, pending your approval."
"Tell them request approved," Lamont nodded.
"Repair teams report limited functionality restored to…"
A series of shrill, fast-paced beeps drowned out the rest of the message. The officer trailed off as the bridge exploded in activity. Orders and counter-orders and all manner of reports were shouted across the Pendragon's bridge as communications technicians scrambled to verify the signal. Alarm klaxons blared as the crew hurriedly secured the dreadnought for jump.
"Emergency flash from the Ikaruga: all units beyond the fourth defense zone are to fall back and await redeployment instructions!"
"Plot a course," Lamont grimly ordered, "Start the countdown."
Combat Information Center
Space Station Ikaruga
Lelouch placed the communicator down, wide-eyed and mentally reeling. A thousand possibilities and battle plans, each more hopeless than the last, raced through his mind. The combat information center was almost completely still, the unspoken question hanging heavily in the air. The silence cracked with the report that the defense line was slowly drawing back. It finally shattered as an avalanche of communications from Black Knights and Imperial warships alike, all asking for status updates, came crashing down. Lelouch stepped away from the tactical map display and joined his fellow immortals at the rear of the room. He kept his eyes planted firmly at the cold metal floor, but he could feel the questioning gazes on him.
"How could I have been so blind?" Lelouch asked nobody in particular, grabbing fistfuls of his hair.
"Onii-san?" Nunnally slowly stepped forward.
"Abaddon's objective wasn't the Infinity Circuit," the Emperor of Mankind announced, "It never was. He sacrificed millions of his soldiers, thousands of his ships, even Fulgrim, to maintain the charade."
"You don't mean…" comprehension dawned upon CC's face.
Lelouch nodded once. Sensing the others' confusion, Lelouch took a deep breath and began slowly explaining.
"At the center of each Craftworld is an enormous Primary Webway Nexus, large enough to pass a fleet through. With a small cadre of powerful Psykers and sufficient sacrifices…"
"It would be fairly trivial to sever the Webway connection…" Nunnally interrupted, her eyes going wide.
"And use the gate to open a Warp rift," Suzaku finished.
"Yes," Lelouch nodded grimly, "The ritual probably took place when Kallen and the others were fighting to defend the Infinity Circuit."
"What's the projected arrival point of Craftworld Altansar?" Nunnally whirled around and demanded of the closest technician.
The Knightmare-clad trooper stepped back slightly, obviously unaccustomed to such behavior from the normally-taciturn governor. After a seconds' pause, he tilted his head slightly to the right as he pulled the relevant information up on his heads-up display.
"Approximately five hundred thousand kilometers out from Mars orbit, ma'am."
"All ships in that area are to load limiter-deactivated FLEIJA warheads immediately. Get me a channel with," Lelouch paused momentarily as Nunnally whispered the name to him, "Farseer Elehdibn."
?
The Warp
Kallen's eyes shot open, the maddening geometries and impossible colors of the Immaterium immediately assaulting her senses. Gasping for air out of reflex, she bolted upright. Her gaze darted left and right, on alert for any daemons looking for an easy morsel. Shakily, she staggered to her feet, only to fall down again.
"Kallen," a voice whispered from behind and a delicate hand landed on her shoulder.
Well-trained muscles exploded into action as the redhead grabbed the hand and flipped its owner over her shoulder. A Force Knife appeared in her hands, and she bought the familiar blade down before she realized the identity of her assailant. Kallen stood up and backed away, the weapon falling from her hands, as Euphemia coughed and sat up. The blood disappeared and the wound sealed itself as she gingerly rose to her feet.
"I supposed I should have known better than to sneak up on you like that," the Guardian conceded.
"This is the Warp," Kallen numbly stated the obvious, "Am I dead?"
"Yes and no," Euphemia cryptically stated, "Your body took grievous injuries in your battle with Fulgrim. To protect itself, your soul separated from your corporeal form and found refuge in the Warp. Whether or not your soul returns is up to you."
"Is what Fulgrim told me," Kallen swallowed, her throat suddenly constricting, "true?"
"Yes," Euphemia nodded, "Twenty Primarchs. Nine of them created with eggs taken from you and frozen during the Age of Technology. Another nine from the one you know as CC. The remaining two were taken from Section Five of the Himalaya Gene Vault."
Despite the situation, Kallen laughed, "The Inquisition would throw a fit if they found out."
"Indeed," the Guardian nodded.
Before Kallen could ask any further questions, the pink-haired being tapped her staff once against the ground, turned around, and began walking.
"Come, Kallen Kozuki. There is something here you must see."
Combat Information Center
Space Station Ikaruga
"What you ask is completely out of the question!" the holographic Farseer slammed his fist onto the equally-holographic table.
"Farseer Elehdibn," Lelouch's face remained calm and composed in the face of the Eldar's anger, "I would rather it never came to this, but you have to face the facts-"
"The facts?" the Farseer angrily cut Lelouch off, "The facts? You propose to sentence millions of Eldar to their deaths? After they had fought so hard and sacrificed so much to save their home? It is a wonder your species has survived for so long, bombing everything to dust when you have so much as an inkling of Chaos! This goes beyond typical mon-keigh barbarism."
"Farseer Elehdibn," Lelouch's gaze hardened and his voice took on a lethal calm, "Even if we were able to spare the troops to prosecute a full-blown ground campaign, landing them would be difficult, if not outright impossible. Our attack broke the Chaos forces' back, but they still have millions of troops and daemons on Altansar's surface and hundreds of ships above. Despite the defenses you boasted so much about, the enemy managed to infiltrate and hijack your Primary Webway Nexus. How many troops do you think it would take to break through those defenses from the other side and face down the hordes of daemons undoubtedly pouring through right now?"
For the first time in millennia, Elehdibn was at a loss for words.
"Your Primary Webway Nexus allowed Chaos to bypass most of our defenses and strike Mars directly," Lelouch continued, "Mars falls, Earth falls. After that happens, who do you think Abbadon will come after next, Farseer? Your species has spent millennia running. How much longer do you think you can run in an entire galaxy bent on sacrificing your souls to Slaanesh?"
The Farseer visibly flinched upon mention of She Who Thirsts' name. The arrogance and anger slowly melted off his face, and his shoulders sagged in defeat.
"I will inform the Farseer Council."
"Thank you, Eledibn. I assure you, we will exhaust every practicality before even thinking of firing the warheads."
"May the gods have mercy on my soul," the Farseer muttered as he closed the channel.
?
The Warp
Time held little meaning in the Warp. Though mere hours had passed in the Materium, the two mighty souls looked as if they had fought without rest for years. One of them, a twisted and serpentine daemon of Slaanesh, fought with a brutal savagery. Its enormous swords swung in wide arcs, scything through the swirling psychic energies and any lesser daemons unfortunate enough to pass by. Trading blows and clashing blades with the foul daemon was the noble form of Fulgrim, freed from his imprisonment. Neither side could gain the advantage: every blow one could land was immediately returned, and every inch of ground gained was followed by an inch lost.
"The FLEIJA blast and the shock of losing its corporeal form weakened the daemon considerably," Euphemia explained, "Fulgrim seized the opportunity to break free and bind the daemon's essence to his soul."
Kallen could only mutely nod.
"Unfortunately, the blast weakened him as well. He lacks the strength to destroy the daemon—and by extension, himself—before it is fully restored. He has resolved to battle the daemon in the Warp for all eternity, to ensure it can never trick another soul as it did him."
"Why show me this?" the redhead angrily demanded.
"In the battle to come, you will face the fallen Primarchs in combat. Half of them are your flesh and blood, if nothing else. You must make a choice, Kallen. The same choice Lelouch made all those millennia ago on the Vengeful Spirit. Can you bring yourself to kill them?"
Black Knights Dreadnought Pendragon
Vicinity of Mars
The kilometer-long warship came screaming out of the Warp, tearing through the weakened veil of reality with little trouble. Only the helmsman's quick reflexes prevented the dreadnought from running head-on into a stray lance shot. The Pendragon inverted itself, blowing a Chaos Pestilaan-class Light Cruiser in two with a spread of FLEIJA warheads before joining the melee.
"IFF information decoded! Updating tactical map!"
"Viper Squadron launched and joining engagement!"
Even within the Pendragon's comparatively-nonexistent visual range, hundreds of pinpricks of light appeared as more Black Knights ships jumped in. Thousands of slab-sided warships—Imperial, Chaos, and Mechanicum alike—slugged it out in every conceivable angle and orientation. Even the remnants of the Eldar fleet in-system joined in, harassing the enemy with hard-hitting lightning-fast attack runs.
When a rapidly-growing blob of red suddenly appeared on the tactical, Captain Maciver at first thought that the device had malfunctioned. When he had the display transmitted to his heads-up display, Lamont briefly wondered if a malfunction would have been preferable. He saw hundreds of red triangles packed so closely together that differentiating individual signatures proved near-impossible. Several Imperial ships broke away to engage the new Chaos fleet, but their readings disappeared long before they could have fired.
"This is Fleet Admiral Jez to all allied units! Keep the enemy off our dreadnoughts! We'll take care of the enemy reinforcements!"
"Sir," one of the communications technicians ran up to him, "Message from Fleet Admiral Seghers!"
Lamont nodded, opening the message and skimming the contents before uploading the coordinates to the navigators.
"Tactical jump to these coordinates. Start the countdown."
Combat Information Center
Space Station Ikaruga
Almost as soon as the recall order went out, the Combat Information Center exploded into activity. Situation reports streamed in by the dozen, and even aided by computers, the dozens of technicians worked frantically to isolate the most critical updates.
"We have confirmation of daemonships joining the battle."
"Have Fleet Admiral Koch bring the 18th Fleet around. Try and catch them in a pincer movement with the 19th Fleet," Lelouch ordered without a seconds' delay.
"New Chaos fleet entering the system! Estimated strength at five hundred ships, but they're so tightly packed that it's hard to tell!"
Even Lelouch was impressed by the speed at which Fleet Admiral Janeka Lucine Jez analyzed the situation and redistributed her forces. Several Chaos squadrons broke away to attack the dreadnoughts, but only succeeded in drawing the escorts' fire. Strategically-placed FLEIJA volleys routed the attack force, and Excalibur-class attack craft relentlessly hounded the survivors.
"This is Admiral Finnin to all 20th Fleet ships: tighten your lines and weapons free! Don't let the enemy get close to our dreadnoughts!"
Black Knights Dreadnought Pendragon
Vicinity of Mars
"All operational FLEIJA batteries report loaded and ready!"
"Beam Cannon Battery C reports still charging, seventy-four seconds left!"
"Firing solution uploaded!"
Though dwarfed even by Imperial corvettes, the Black Knights' Yggdrasil-class dreadnoughts had quickly acquired a fearsome reputation amongst friend and foe alike. Despite the brutal melee raging around them, the dreadnoughts' movements did not go unnoticed by the Chaos fleet. As nearly forty of the kilometer-long warships fell into formation, their bows glowing an ominous dull red, the Imperial lines began parting to allow them a clear firing arc. Chaos ships rushed through the newly-opened gaps in a desperate attempt to stop the dreadnoughts' attacks but were quickly blown apart by surrounding escorts.
"Beam Cannon Battery C reports charged and ready to fire!"
"This is Fleet Admiral Jez to all dreadnoughts: fire on my mark! Three! Two! One! Mark!"
The onslaught that followed shattered the pitch blackness of space for hundreds of millions of kilometers in every direction. In the following days, Imperial and Black Knights crews alike would joke that Abaddon himself saw the blast. Thousands of FLEIJA warheads detonated amongst the Chaos fleet, wreaking massive havoc amongst the tightly-packed warships. The expanding pink-and-purple spheres pulled ships to their dooms, smashing them together in the intense gravitational riptides. Entire battleships vanished into the glow.
Their forward lines suddenly annihilated, the remaining Chaos ships frantically tried to disengage, ramming into one another in a vain attempt to reach illusory safety. Sensing the impending rout, the enemy reinforcements turned around. In the face of overwhelming firepower, the surviving daemonships quietly retreated, leaving the 18th and 19th Fleets directly in the enemy's path. Caught in a crossfire of FLEIJA warheads and hadron beams, they were completely annihilated.
The few lucky or skilled enough to survive the two FLEIJA bombardments could not breathe easy just yet. The ominous red glows continued building up for several moments more before discharging all at once. Thousands upon thousands of anti-capital ship hadron beams merged into a solid wall of destruction. Ships caught in the center simply ceased to exist, and even those at the edges lost big chunks of hull. The sheer amount of energy flying across the battlefield blinded Imperial sensors as far away as Terra.
The Imperial and Eldar fleets lost no time in exploiting the opening. Their faster warships mercilessly hounded the panicked Chaos forces while the capital ships launched salvo after salvo of lances and torpedoes. The few able to outrun their pursuers and escape the engagement area met the waiting gun barrels of the 15th Fleet.
Chaos Battleship Chaos Ascendant
?
"My lord," the Chaos Champion knelt before Abaddon's command throne, shivering slightly as he felt the Despoiler's eyes settle on him.
"What is it?" the Champion of Chaos Undivided hissed impatiently.
"The first attack wave failed to penetrate the Imperial defenses," the messenger bowed lower in a vain attempt to avoid his master's gaze, "They were completely annihilated."
Much to the cowering Champion's surprise, Abaddon laughed.
"I expected as much. Eteer was always a glory hound, though he lacked the ability to back up his ambitions," the Despoiler turned towards the communications station, "Signal the second wave to begin their attack. A double allotment of slaves and loot to the first one to bring me a head: preferably an enemy's, but I'll also settle for a coward's."
?
The Warp
Her mind still numbed by the fact that nearly half the Primarchs could call her "mother," Kallen mutely took a step towards the battle. Euphemia, sensing the redhead reaching a crossroads, took a single step back and raised a barrier around the trio. Recovering some of her wits, Kallen took a second step towards the dueling pair, then another. Neither combatant paid her any mind. Her hands closed around a familiar hard object, and she raised the weapon to her face. Despite the situation, she failed to suppress a chuckle: it had been thousands of years since the pocketbook disguise could fool anybody, yet she still retained it.
As Kallen squeezed the trigger and extended the blade, the daemon finally took notice and turned to face her. Whatever taunt or attack he had planned became moot when Fulgrim exploited the sudden opening and blindsided his opponent. The daemon staggered, and Kallen was upon him in moments. Her punishing blows attacked the creature's very essence, and the shockwaves of impact sent lesser daemons scurrying away. Euphemia silently watched as Kallen slammed her serpentine opponent into the ground and smashed his ribcage-equivalent with a crushing elbow-drop. Though the daemon frantically redirected its powers to reinforcing its skin, Kallen's blade still tore great gashes in its being.
With catlike grace, Kallen scurried along the daemon's body and straddled its neck, sinking her blade repeatedly into its face. So focused was she on causing as much damage as possible that she failed to notice the massive tail arcing towards her. The redhead flew through the air, slamming into the barrier with a crack that made even Euphemia wince in sympathy. The daemon rushed forward as Kallen staggered to her feet, still dazed by the impact. He had little time to enjoy his momentary advantage as Fulgrim recovered his senses and, throwing his sword down, rushed forward and grabbed the daemon from behind.
"Mother," Fulgrim called out "I can't hold him for very long! Please, destroy us both!"
With a wet crack, the daemon's elbow found Fulgrim's face. Blinking through the tears, the Primarch tightened his grip. A second elbow sunk into his stomach, knocking the wind out of his lungs. Still, Fulgrim held on.
"Please!" Fulgrim urged.
Kallen tightened her grip around her knife and lowered her body. With a savage battle cry, she charged forward. A soft blue glow slowly engulfed the blade starting from the tip. Crackling energy swirled around it, its intensity growing as Kallen channeled more and more of her psychic might into it. The daemon screamed and redoubled his struggles to no avail as the blade effortlessly slipped through his defenses. With a final roar, Kallen discharged the built-up energy.
"Thank you…" Fulgrim whispered in the final fractions of a second before the psychic explosion utterly annihilated him.
Medical Center
Space Station Ikaruga
"I think she's waking up…"
"Get the doc in here, quick!"
With a gasp, Kallen bolted upright in her hospital bed. Her chest heaved as she greedily breathed in the Ikaruga's recycled air. Her eyes darted to the half-dozen drip feeds in her arm, then to the steadily-beeping monitoring equipment clustered around her bed.
"How long was I out?" Kallen demanded from a nearby nurse.
"About a day, ma'am," he replied matter-of-factly.
"I need to get back to my men," Kallen started to stand up, "Is the Guren-Seraph operational?"
"Ma'am…" several nurses moved in to restrain her, but Kallen batted their hands aside.
"I feel fine! Anything else can wait!" the redhead angrily insisted.
"General Kozuki, you took several serious injuries—several to the head—in the last battle," a soothing voice informed her, "Your psychic signature was wildly fluctuating for nearly the past fourteen hours."
Though Kallen could have easily overpowered the other woman and walked out, she allowed the head doctor to wrestle her back into bed.
"General of the Special Forces Division or no, as long as you're a patient at this hospital, you will abide by my rules! You're not taking a step out of bed, much less towards your Knightmare, unless I give you a completely clean bill of health!"
Combat Information Center, Space Station Ikaruga
Fourteen Hours Later
Though news of Kallen regaining consciousness buoyed their spirits temporarily, the atmosphere quickly turned somber again upon detection of the next Chaos attack wave. Any notions that Abaddon had expected the first attack to seriously damage Imperial lines were dispelled as initial telemetry data began streaming in. The current enemy wave was easily triple the size of the previous one, and reinforcements still streamed in.
"17th Fleet strength severely depleted! They can't hold much longer!"
Any friendly colors on the tactical map were quickly lost in the sea of crimson. Clouds of attack craft and escorts engaged in close-range dogfights as cruisers and battleships slugged it out at extreme ranges. Any opening focused FLEIJA and hadron volleys could open promptly flowed shut again under the sheer volume of warships.
"Draw the 17th Fleet back. Start collapsing the left flank."
"New incoming signature! This one's massive!"
Black Knights Dreadnought Pendragon
Vicinity of Mars
"New incoming signature! Confirmed as Craftworld Altansar!"
"Incoming message from Fleet Admiral Seghers! Authorized to prep delimited FLEIJA warheads!"
"Authorization to prep delimited FLEIJA warheads," Lamont thoroughly scanned the message on his heads-up display, "verified."
Perhaps the most devastating weapon in the Black Knights' arsenal, delimited FLEIJA warheads were deployed only as a matter of last resort. Used solely for massive indiscriminate destruction, such warheads were stripped of the highly-precise control software of their more conventional cousins. A few volleys could strip off a planet's crust, a capability that attracted a great deal of interest from the Inquisition. To guard against a breakthrough, Lelouch ordered enough delimited FLEIJA warheads aimed at Craftworld Altansar to strip an entire star system's worth of planets down to their cores.
"We have visual data from forward scouts! Patching it through now!"
Though the Black Knights had no official contact with the Eldar before, Lamont had served long enough to recognize a Craftworld. His instincts screamed at the inherent wrongness of the sight before him. Kaleidoscopic colors swirled around the thing's massive hull and several anomalous jagged structures rose up from the surface. Chaos warships swarmed around it and more poured from a great rent in the ship's side.
"Additional Eldar ships incoming. They managed to evacuate some survivors, but not many."
Attentions snapped back to the battle at hand when a new swarm of Chaos warships joined the current fleet, lending the attack much-needed momentum. The Imperial lines folded distressingly quickly, and the Eldar were more concerned about escorting the transports than with beating back the enemy charge.
"Tighten your lines and focus fire! Don't let a single ship get through!"
Combat Information Center
Space Station Ikaruga
"18th, 19th, and 20th Fleets have taken severe casualties and are requesting permissions to withdraw!"
"Start collapsing back to the third defense zone," Lelouch ordered without hesitation, "Get 15th Fleet to run harassment on the Chaos advance."
Lelouch gritted his teeth in frustration as he watched the tactical map. The fleets followed his orders to the letter, but the Chaos fleet simply numbered too many. Even with the relatively-fresh 15th Fleet launching salvo after salvo into their rear, they could focus crippling amounts of firepower on the four withdrawing fleets in front of them. Even when the Imperial and Eldar fleets rallied and hit the Chaos fleet with a surprise flanking attack, Black Knights signatures still vanished at an alarming rate.
"Fleet Admiral Jez reports that the Sydney has sustained extreme damage and is no longer combat-effective. She is scuttling the ship and transferring the colors to the Melbourne."
"New report from the front lines: the Chaos fleet is backing off…" the communications technician trailed off, clearly confused.
"We're detecting new energy signatures at the rear of the Chaos fleet," another technician reported, "We're triangulating the exact point of origin now."
"Signatures are consistent with repeated railgun and ion blaster discharges. Judging from the volume of readings, it looks like we're dealing with a sizable fleet."
"Triangulation complete!" the first technician announced.
A pulsing triangle appeared on the tactical map, located behind and above the Chaos fleet on the system plane. A cluster of grey triangles appeared within. Then, much to everyone's surprise, a number of blue triangles appeared as well.
"FLEIJA detonations detected!"
"Receiving new IFF data! Cross-referencing with ship rosters!"
"IFF codes verified! They all correspond to ships that were part of the 'Lost Expedition.'"
Lelouch looked around confusedly as the room fell silent.
"'Lost Expedition?'" he mouthed to CC.
"Dispatched five years ago," CC mouthed back, "Disappeared without a trace in the Damocles Gulf."
A/N: And there we have it! As the forces of Chaos march upon Mars itself, a new ally joins the fray!