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Chapter 2: Dawn of war

=ATBS=

Part 7


Broadsword 1-1

Kronus 51st Lightning Interceptor squadron

Kronus

"Broadsword Actual, Overwatch Wilco. Intercept a bomber flight vectoring towards friendly convoy. Coordinates..." Flight Leftenant Erica Astra pulled her control stick and banked to the east. Her agile fighter obeyed like an eager puppy and easily settled into a new course. Behind her, the rest of the squadron followed suit, forming into a wedge formation.

"Broadsword Two, Broadsword Actual, confirm orders." Erica's XO – Leftenant Korolev asked over the vox.

It wasn't like the Victory Bay's local to question orders – any orders. Yet, the Flight Leftenant could understand his concern – she shared it. The new orders carried them to the east – straight at the source of the Chaos sorcery that dominated the skies in the form of a purple wound in reality itself. The Emperor damned thing was connected to the ground via pulsing tentacle made of wriggling energy that made it painful to look in that direction.

The warp storm in orbit above that location – an abomination made of unspeakable things, didn't help either. Yet, the 51st had their orders – to disobey was treason and that had only one outcome.

"Broadsword Actual, Broadsword Two, orders confirmed. We're to intercept enemy bombers and provide CAP for a ground convoy." Erica repeated the orders, which came straight from the general.

"May the Emperor watch over our souls." Broadsword Three – Leftenant Orlin Kovac – muttered a prayer over the vox.

"The Emperor protects." Erica answered just as quietly. She looked at her instruments, at the side of the cockpit, just so she didn't have to stare at the purple tendrils of energy undulating over the horizon.

"Broadsword flight – don't look straight at whatever is happening over the Deimos Peninsula." The Flight Leftenant ordered. She didn't think that her men were dumb enough to stare into that madness, but she wanted to make sure.

Erica started muttering prayers to soothe her nerves and keep her mind off what was happening to her world, while her eyes never left the instruments.

It didn't really help.

Until just a few years ago the Tau were little more than peaceful traders – before they started shipping more and more hardware and troops. About the same time, more people began to adopt their culture and views – something that the Imperial authorities saw as what it was – an attempt to subvert the Emperor's rule.

That's when everything started going to hell. The unrest started growing, a few PDF units sided with the Tau – which would have sparkled a war if it wasn't for an Ork Rock crashing near the blue skin's settlements and focusing everyone's attention on the green menace.

Then things went weird – disappearances, traces of cult activity, rumors of Eldar sightings – if all that wasn't enough, the Imperial Guard shortly followed by the Adeptus Astartes arrived and that sparkled the conflict everyone knew it was coming.

Now there was Chaos too – threatening not only body but soul.

The flight was just a few minutes of the target area, when the sensor suite of the Lightning whined, announcing high energy disturbance that made it hard to detect anything.

"Broadsword Flight, Broadsword Actual. Are you experiencing auspex disturbances?"

"Broadsword Two – detection range is at fifty percent and rapidly decreasing."

"Broadsword Three – mine just fell to twenty five percent and it's not moving from there."

"Broadsword Actual, Overwatch. Be advised – we're experiencing interference. Auspex detection range just fell to one third. Please advise on enemy location." Erica informed command

"Overwatch, Broadsword Actual. Be advised – we're detecting four boogies vectoring on the convoy. Course..."

As command gave her the vector and distance of the enemy, Erica typed it into the flight cogitator. Four blinking red dots appeared on her sensor screen showing the estimated locations of the enemy.

"Flight profile and sensor sweeps estimate four Marauder Bombers." Overwatch declared.

"Affirmative. Target is four Marauders." Erica answered.

"Good hunting, Broadsword Actual. Overwatch out."

A few minutes and multiple small course corrections later, Erica finally got the enemy on sensors. The bomber's targets too – the later were hard to miss when they were the only moving thing on the ground.

"All Broadswords, hit the afterburners and engage at will." Erica ordered as her flight screamed far above the guard convoy. The bombers were almost in effective range – they would have had a clear shot even earlier if it wasn't for the disturbance that all but guaranteed a visual range dogfight.

At least that wasn't too big a problem this time – Broadsword flight had already expended their missiles while dueling with Tau fighters for air superiority in the vicinity of Victory Bay.

The enemy detected them almost at the same time and split – two bombers dived, while the rest pulled up.

"Broadsword Flight, Broadsword Actual. I'm taking the low pair. Eliminate the rest and reinforce."

"Affirmative."

"Willco. The Emperor Protects."

The Flight Leftenant put her fighter into a sharp dive. This was going to be tricky – ideally she would be able to take out both bombers on the first pass, however that wasn't something she could count on. If even one of the traitors managed to lock on the convoy, they would be able to kill it.

Erica grit her teeth when her flight suit tightened around her as she sped down and the gravities affecting her started mounting. Soon enough, the targeting cogitator gave a pleased beep as it locked on the leading bomber. Erica smiled viciously and pressed the trigger. Her wingtip mounted lanscannons spoke and a pair of blinding beams of coherent light bore through the air.

"One down." The Flight Leftenant muttered after her target vanished from the sensors.

She looked up from the instruments at the fast approaching bomber she was flying at. The enemy craft lit up as it's auto-canons and bolters opened up in an attempt to swat her out of the sky. Erica answered with a burst of her own auto-canon, which unfortunately went wide.

The enemy's return fire became more accurate and bolter rounds pinged off her armored wings – the tiny explosions making her plane shake.

Erica glanced at the charge – just a few more seconds and she could fire her primary weapon again. She sent another burst of shells at the bomber, missing again as it banked right.

A ping announced that lanscanons were up and Erica pressed the trigger. The ponderous bomber had no prayer of evading this salvo – not at practically point blank range. Two lances of boiling energy speared the enemy craft just in front of the left wing, slicing it open as its own momentum drove it through the beams.

Then the ordnance cooked off and the bomber disappeared in the middle of a colossal explosion.

"Broadsword Flight, Broadsword One. Sound up." Erica ordered and pushed her Lighting into a steep climb.

"Broadsword Two, scratch one boogie."

"Broadsword Three, the heretics are dead."

"Good. We're on CAP until the convoy is in friendly territory. Broadsword Actual, Overwatch. Enemy bombers killed. Broadsword Flight is providing escort for the convoy. Over."

"Overwatch, Broadsword Actual. Well done. Carry on. We'll keep an eye for enemy fliers. Over."

Erica glanced at the convoy speeding on the highway below. She hoped that it carried something important enough to justify pulling her squadron out of the furball above the capital. To her utter astonishment and confusion, the convoy braked and started turning around. What in the Emperor's name…

"Broadsword Actual, Overwatch. The convoy is turning around, please advise." Erica hissed into the vox.

"Overwatch, Broadsword Actual, wait one."

Erica was left fuming as the convoy of chimeras sped back towards the Deimos peninsula.

"Overwatch, Broadsword Actual. The convoy is going back to retrieve a pair of stranded Adeptus Astartes. Provide CAP. We'll vector support when available. Over."

Why did the guardsmen went back to retrieve the same maniacs who had been "accidentally" killing them for the better part of two weeks? What did she do – offend the Emperor himself or something to deserve dealing with this?!


=ATBS=

Part 8

=ATBS=

Command Center

Imperial Guard base "Final Liberation"
Victory Bay
Kronus

The dimly lit room buzzed with chatter coming from all over the jagged front-lines surrounding the capital. Most of the light came from a pair of small hololiths courtesy to the Magos in charge of all things Mechanicus attached to General Alexander's command and multiple screens attached to portable consoles.

"Orks massing all across the line. Large armour formations screened by mobs of infantry..."

"Eldar units skirmishing with the Astartes in sectors…"

"Tau armoured elements signed..."

"All contact with the Thur'Ablis Plateau has been lost along with the surrounded areas. Scout units report fog and green lighting in the distance. Those regions reported people vanishing too we lost communications..."

The General remained outwardly impassive – he had to project the proper image of calm and control to all his subordinates after all. Inside, however, he was deeply concerned. The clashes with the Adeptus Astartes caused a lot of damage, though admittedly it was more morale than material. Even now, all his people found it very had to trust the Emperor's Angels of Death – when by all means it should have been the opposite, the Space Marines should have been their salvation. Instead, it was only because that suicidal mission to retrieve the Inquisitor that the Imperial forces planet-side finally ceased shooting at each other to concentrate on the real enemy, and there was no lack of bastards ready to despoil this world.

"General," A new figure silently entered the command post. "We're done – both the Librarians and I agree – there is no trace of corruption. They won't taste the Emperor's Mercy today." The Chief Psyker attached to his army, reported.

"You have my thanks, Geordin."

"I merely did my duty, General." The Consecrated Psyker shrugged lightly and moved to lean on a nearby wall. "You should expect company soon."

"The Inquisitor?"

"And the Librarian. He seems determined to shadow our new Inquisitor for the foreseeable future." A hint of approval sneaked in the Psyker's voice.

"Did you see something?" Alexander's piercing eyes focused on Geordin.

"The Tarrot hints at possibilities, General. He might be important, or perhaps he already did what he was meant to when he stopped the… regrettable misunderstanding."

"Not too soon." If the Imperial Forces were still busy shooting at each other, Alexander wouldn't bet on them being able to withstand the coming storm. There were over three hundred thousand Orks expected to hit the defensive lines in force shortly after dawn. The Eldar were wreaking havoc behind the lines with Astartes kill teams hunting them down, who knew what the other Xenos intended to do right now and if all that wasn't bad enough, there was confirmed Chaos incursion and that unknown phenomena at the plateau…

"Colonel Amundsen, concentrate our artillery units against the Orks. I want them covered – both from the air and against Xeno deep strikes. We will deploy a third of our special forces on overwatch there. Colonel Nicholas – half the armour reserve is to prepare to plug any holes the Orks manage to punch in the front – we can't afford to deploy more infantry on that front, not when I need the rest of the army to keep the capital secure and watch for Chaos incursions. It will fall to the Blood Ravens to act as a hammer with us being the anvil. The plan is simple – create as big a cauldron as possible for the Orks – they will flock where the fighting is fiercest. Once they commit their armour formations, I want them hammered – artillery, airstrikes, even orbital support if available without killing us as well. The primary objective is to use the battle as a bait for the Warboss – we need to kill the bastard. At the very least that will shatter the Orks as a coherent force and buy us time to deal with the larger threats before eradicating as many of the green menace as practical."

A commotion came from the entrance, one that very soon revealed itself to be the Lord Inquisitor and his Librarian companion. It was clear that the elite soldiers guarding the CP weren't too keen on letting the Astartes in, however, thankfully they didn't irritate the Inquisitor too much.

"General Alexander." The young Inquisitor looked like a death warmed over but otherwise intact.

"Lord Inquisitor." The General bowed – it never paid to antagonize their kind, even if this one appeared to be unusually amiable.

"I trust that there will be no more misunderstandings? For what is worth, Brother-Captain Thule promised there will be no more friendly fire accidents. It will be up to higher authority to determine who will take custody of Kronus once we've secured it."

The Inquisitor was an optimist then – something they all would need in the days and weeks to come.

"I heard the same thing. From your mouth to the Emperor's ears." Alexander made the sign of the Aquila.

"So say we all. Can someone bring me up to speed on the strategic situation?"

The General left one of his aides to summarize it briefly while he continued deploying his reserve units in the face of the confirmed Chaos presence.

"That's less than ideal." The Inquisitor scowled. While and understatement of their current predicament, the statement was to the point.

"You're right, General. We need to shatter the Orks as soon as possible – with them swarming, we can't afford to focus properly on the nastier threats. Their Warboss needs to die."

"My thoughts exactly, my Lord." The General nodded.

"Atheas, can your battle barge be on station above the capital tomorrow at noon? By then we should be fully engaged with the Orks." The Lord Inquisitor asked.

"It should be possible." The Blood Raven tilted his head, obviously thinking.

"Once we've confirmed the Warboss presence on the front, we should request orbital support – burn as many of the Orks rear lines as practical without taking us out as well. That should cut off the Warboss from immediate reinforcements and allow us to counter-attack, encircle and eliminate him. Ideally, we'll take it from orbit, however if we aren't that lucky, a series or precise orbital strikes should give us a window of opportunity that won't require to break a large part of the General's army in the process. It would be appreciated if your Brothers can deep strike a kill team from orbit to assist us as well. We'll lead the operation – to reassure everyone that we're all one big happy family fighting in the Emperor's name."

That was actually prudent – while his people were professional and there were Commissars around to ensure they stayed that way, General Alexander knew that even the red menaces were shaken over the Blood Ravens' actions over the past weeks. If this was to work, they would need to work together, properly, instead of being busy watching each other backs for an expected back-stab. Alexander had intended to personally lead the fight against the Ork Warboss, however an Inquisitor should be able to do so as well and he would have better leverage against the Astartes.

"If it is all right, I will join you for this morning's excitement, my Lord." Better safe than sorry after all.

"I'll appreciate it, General. Now lets make this outline into a proper plan."