Chapter 24:

Fredrick stood watching as a squadrons of bombers covered one of the remaining chaos escorts in buzz droids, which began to cut their way deepering into the vessel. It had proven a highly effective tactic against similar sized vessels during the Clone Wars. An initial wave of proton bombs to put holes in the ship's armor, followed by scores of missiles carrying buzz droids to disable the ship.

The CIS fleet had been devastated, the remaining frigates and light destroyers all bore serious battle damage. The Confederate was heavily damaged and only one of the two Providence Destroyers had survived. Only the Star Hammer had remained in a combat ready state, the hectic nature of the fighting and its reinforced shields, protecting the flagship from damage.

Facing them was the enemy armada, its flagship was in similar state to the Star Hammer, however many of its escorts had been destroyed in battles with the CIS.

The Confederate was limping from the pummeling it had received and internal damages from boarding actions. The enemy marines had been accompanied by massive armored figures, who had destroyed many of its critical systems in their rampage. One group of them had to be destroyed using a pair of tanks, when they attempted to sabotage the hanger bays.

"Lord, we have enough orbital defenses to over match our foes if we can lure them in close to the planet, we'll have to abandon our asteroid belt mining positions but it can be done."

"HK-217, order a fighting withdrawal towards Kursk Three, send them a transmission to bring online the theater shields and all ground based batteries, order all ground based forces mobilized and readied for action.

A new buzz of activity from the droid staff sounded as they rushed to fulfill Fredrick's orders.

A shock went through the hull as the battleship turned, its batteries rotating to maintain firing solutions upon the enemy vessels. The fleet began withdrawing, its fighter craft assuming defensive positions in order to intercept ordinance, or returning to their hangar bays for rearmament.

Tactical droids continued their buzzing of orders, while OOM droids or lower ranking tactical droids carried out their work.

"Report on the extent of damage inflicted to the Confederate, I need to know how long it will take to get it operational again."

"Admiral, we have begun processing the first reports, it suffered several penetrating lance strikes, areas of the hull have been sealed and power flows have been heavily disrupted along its port side arm. Action reports given to us show the presence of several enemy infantry units that are beyond anything we've seen before in capacity. Five such soldiers were responsible for immense interior damage to its sub systems and other acts of sabotage, several hundred battle droids were lost in direct action against these marines, while several dozen were lost in actions against the rabble they brought along with them.

"Get me a list of battle droid models employed against them, and their effectiveness."

The communications officer sent a burst of static in acknowledgement and HK-217 returned to his duties directing the withdrawal.

Fredrick was glaring into the holographic representation of the enemy fleet, relative to their fleet, his lens casting a reddish tint onto the image. A grouping of Resculants and the Providence destroyer were purposely hanging back from the main fleet, to guard against pursuit, but the Chaos fleet wasn't advancing. Numerous holes marked the less grotesquely deformed of the two cruisers, its less numerous main batteries showing signs of heavy wear from turbo laser fire. One of its jutting strike craft hangers had been badly mauled during one intense close range pass against the Confederate and the Providence class destroyers.

B7782 had sent a transmission, detailing how long they would need before a proper capital shipyard could be established given their limited, but quickly growing industrial capacity. Fredrick had placed an order for a pair new Lucrehulk battleships, in addition to a quartet of Providence class Dreadnoughts, and flotillas of the destroyer model. It would take time for the foundries to produce enough durasteel to build them, and the presence of a hostile fleet would complicate matters.

They had begun to near the asteroid belt that ringed the inner planets of the Kursk system, when the enemy vessels surged forward, and a pulsing signal came over the communications, a blaring harsh noise, full of guttural roars and screams rendered into clanking canopany, as if a infernal, iron torture device was being broadcasted in the middle of its normal operation.

"Shut down that noise!" Fredrick shouted, his voice synthesizer rendering it much louder and machine than normal.

A group of droids began hitting switches and data flooded through the communications section when a Tactical Droid turned an addressed the bridge staff.

"They are jamming all of our frequencies with that device, we cannot communicate with the other ships in the fleet and our Vulture droid squadrons are losing coordination."

HK-217 let out a sharp machine noise and began ordering gunnery officers to draw up firing solutions and a group of other droids began to plot possible interception courses to prevent any sudden attacks from taking the ship off guard.

The steady thrum of engines changed in pitch and then a sudden forward lurch as the Star Hammer entered into a turn.

"Bring the fleet to orbit positions, losing the shipyards is an unacceptable loss."

"Commander, we risk losing our battleships and we lack the capacity to construct new warships on their scale."

"HK, we lucked out when we captured the orbital facilities, without them providing a pre existing foundation it could take ten years to construct shipyards capable of building warships on any meaningful scale, I have invested a year into building up that station. Losing it is strategically unacceptable."

The Super Tactical droid pulled away from his station and faced Fredrick, dwarfed as he was by the sheer bulk of Fredrick's life support armor, his green eyes boring into the red lens covering Fredrick's eyes.

"Losing a single Lurcehulk is unacceptable, it would render our battlefleet incapable engaging patrols without catastrophic losses. The fleet will obey, but do not cause unneeded losses."

The pair of Magnaguards behind Fredrick were watching the Super Tactical Droid, this was the first time one had openly argued with Commander Fredrick. While OOM bridge staff wouldn't be swayed, the other tactical droids, which had increasingly become the managing class in the Droid Order would take note.

...

Thus the CIS fleet withdrew, abandoning the asteroid field which supplied it with the ore needed to build new vessels. Mining Vessels and ore haulers trailed behind the battlefleet, carrying whatever they had in their holds with them. Such raw material would be the last batch for the various foundries and furnaces until the blockade could be broken.

"HK-217, have an order transmission sent to B7782, order a mass conscription ordered in order to bolster the planet's defenses against a ground assault. Place orders for starfighter construction at all factories tooled for this purpose, we will need every gun for this war."

The Super tactical droid compiled and Fredrick watched the projection of the enemy fleet pushing closer to his world, shadowing them in the void of space, like a massive sledgehammer ready to fall upon his world.

"Enemy landings on undefended sectors are expected within two months, we cannot defend the entirety of orbit without putting our orbital facility at risk of assault."

A young man watched as functionaries bustled around the fortress, the shield that protected the city had been raised and the immense guns that would fire at invaders had been seen being raised to point at the same patch of sky. Volos watched as Battle Droids poured out of one of the gates where their new lord had made his home, followed by floating vehicles bearing large crates. At their head walked a boxy shaped officer droid who began speaking through a pair of speakers mounted on the sides of one haulers.

"All able bodied citizens are to report for service defending the planet, an enemy is poised in orbit to despoil our home, all are called to defend your homes."

The battle droids began to go door to door, and people were brought out. It was one of the first acts of droid interference in their lives during the year since Kursk fell to Fredrick's invasion, or liberation as it was known officially.

One of the larger silver bodied droids walked up to Volos. He recognized it when the droids had first made planet fall near the town he lived in.

"Come with us, all must do their parts to defend Doma Hive."

He followed the droid into a crowd of men and women being readied for conscription into the service. A group of officer droids were arranging things while arming centers and depots were being prepared for deployment.

More floating vehicles arrived, what he would come to know as Platoon Attack Craft were their to take them away to training.

...

Weeks went by and they were prepared, critical locations had been identified, Hive Doma, the primary planet side droid foundry and the star port.

Volos had been made aware of this during a briefing given to his company by their droid captain, one of the B1 models with yellow markings. He and the rest of his company had been entrusted with holding onto a piece of frontline near the Droid foundry, it was protected by potent Turbo Laser batteries and a theater shield which had been raised to defend from orbital bombardment.

They prepared dug in positions, waiting for the moment when the enemy would make planet fall, Bunkers armed with laser cannons and repeating blasters were common. His company of infantry were part of several of the new infantry divisions raised in Hive Doma. They were guarding a town where several roads connected bringing in fresh supplies to the Foundry. Twp companies of AATs and a droid infantry brigade had been attached to the division in order to stiffen it against the veteran enemy troops.

The discipline of the droid army had been instilled into them, however the rushed training was incomplete and many of these men were still coming up to speed. Volos was a fast learner and had been made squad leader. They had been equipped with Lasguns left over from the old PDF and the guard regiments that had been recuperating on this world.

Their armor was a mix of flak armor and plates of durasteel that had been designed to replace it. His was of the latter type and had been stamped with the octangonal symbol of the CIS in a dark blue.

Things had been quiet and they were drilling in battle tactics which suited them as "organics" according to one of their droid officers. Lacking the sheer durability and individual firepower of heavy battle droids they were being instructed in more flexible tactics.

It had been during one of these drills that high above them in orbit a warship exploded, the death of its reactor stunningly bright even during the day time. They could see it when the frigate or destroyer died, chunks of it had rained down in a nearby area and salvage crews had been dispatched to bring back valuable materials.

Every day evacuations of civilians from outlaying settlements poured in, repeating, in far larger scale, the displacement from the first war.

A convoy being carried on impressed civilian vehicles was making its way through the check points when the first enemy dropships broke atmosphere. An air raid siren screamed and vulture droids could be seen streaking towards bulk landers descending near them.

Comms channels were flooded as reports of enemy contact spread.

Their droid commanders confirmed what they had feared, the enemy was encroaching upon them. Expected first combat was within two days.

The first attack had come at dawn on the second day, a raid by enemy troops on Volos position. They had been lightly armed and in many cases, unarmored. Some had bombs strapped to themselves, sprinting at firing points to detonate against. They had been repulsed easily enough, repeating blasters cutting the light infantry to ribbons.

The kill zones that had been prepared, all had bodies in them before the first day ended.

Volos had himself shot two of the enemy soldiers when they had been sneaking up on his position during a lull in the action.

This assault proved to be only the first and the least potent. At steady intervals more enemy troops would attack, often times with heavy weapons when infiltration didn't work.

They had stopped trying night infiltrations when a squad of Rollers had repulsed them, the bronze droids could see even in pitch darkness and made a mess of the cultists.

"Zolos, I think I can see something ahead. Something big."

He looked up and watched something the size of a tank moved.

"Find the Comms trooper, have him pass it up that we are facing armor."

The trooper rushed off, dodging between pieces of cover to minimize the chances of being shot.

"Sergeant, have your rocket team ready themselves. I want to get the drop on this thing." Zolos ordered, turning back to watch the thing again, smaller shapes were moving off the dark, some larger than men, but most appeared to be much the same as before.

Just as the anti tank team got into position, one of the Turbo Lasers a few miles behind them fired at an enemy ship, the massive bolt lighting the battlefield like a flare, and Zolos knew the game was up.

Yet before he could give the order to fire, he caught a full glimpse of the monster of metal and flesh approaching them, a massive four legged beast with long barbed tendrils of metal flared when it saw the turbolaser shot. Surrounding it were giants in red and gray armor.

In that crystal moment, both sides opened fire, bolts and rockets speeding into their targets. Repeating blaster fire scouring the area. The beast took several hits from the rockets and shook off its handlers, and the suppression of its wrath they were attempting. Fonts of unnatural fire breathed forth from vents along its back. It smash aside the Chaos marine who attempted to reassert control over the daemon engine and charged at them.

Utter mayhem ensued as it smashed into a gun position, men screamed as they were eviscerated, burned and crushed by the beast. The Marines swept Zolos unit from their positions, gouts of fire clearing dearly held defenses and bolter shots tearing men asunder.

Zolos fired his lasgun at full capacity into the group of lesser men who seemed to swell up in the wake of the armor clad giants. He knew their only hope lay in reinforcements reaching them, and they needed to hold until such a time.

He fired until his power pack was spent and watched as a group of cultists came rushing him and the remains of his squad, firing pistols and waving clubs, axes and other crude weapons.

"Fix Bayonets, we will hold our ground, hold until our brothers of steel can arrive." Zolos yelled, drawing a vibro sword, and activating its energy field.

In the light of the fires and flares he could make out some of the enemy's faces, the sheer fervour in their eyes.

They were on them moments later, and in the darkness it was difficult to tell his men from the enemy, only the blocky shape of their armor and the ragged flak armors rounded appearance aiding them.

He ran his sword through one of the screaming fanatics as he rushed him. This had little in common with what the droids had taught him of tactics, but those were the tactics that worked on sane men.

They fought the insane, the mad and the damned.

One of them wielding a chainsword, their leader came for him.

"Your skull belongs to Khorne!" the fanatic screamed.

The roars of the daemon engine drowned out the rest of the champions challenge as it came by them, its rampaging slowing as anti tank weapons began taking their toll. An AAT finally ended the beast, its cannon blasting out too much of its internal machinery for even the daemon to sustain its binding in the material world.

Volos caught the chain sword on the blade of his vibro sword. The impact of the chain sword staggered him, the man was a hulking brute, and swung it again. They dueled matching aggression and rage against the need to live.

Shells began raining down, mortars coughed and explosions shook the area.

Volos staggered when one landed nearby and slipped on a body. The champion seeing his victory brought down his chain sword, its teeth digging into the armor of Volos chest.

Volos slashed at the man, leaving a deep cut on his arm.

The man roared and brought his chain sword down again, in a series of blows which knocked Volo's sword out of his hand and sent back into the dirt.

Laughing now the man advanced, staring down at him. Intent enough that he didn't notice the bayonet which caught him from behind.

"Sergeant, I take it the Captain knows now." Volos said, a wry smile on his face.

"We need to hold this position, reinforcements are enroute, and air support will be arriving soon."

Just as Sergeant Ludov finished his statement he exploded into gore, shrapnel from the bolt and his bones cutting bloody gashes on Fredrick's face and the explosion causing his ears to ring.

Turning around he watched as an enemy tank rumbled forward, its sponson guns chugging a stream of heavy bolter fire into his fellow soldiers while the twisted angels of chaos made their assault.

Volos threw himself to the ground and opened fire along with other men into the giants, their massed las fire managing to down one or two, but more often than not, the giant would rise again and more men would explode into chunks of gore.

The AAT opened fire on the Predator, its Laser Cannon destroying one of its sponson guns, the poor aim of the battle droids allowing the Predator to bring its auto cannon to bear. Chunks of armor came apart under its barrage.

Volos ran, ducking into shell craters and behind cover grabbing his squad members and in one case almost dragging the man out of his fighting position. He was almost gunned down by one of the Chaos Space Marines, until a pair of Droideka distracted him with a flurry of blaster fire, the bronze droids saving his life while an anti tank team scored a direct hit on the space marine with a rocket launcher.

More tanks began to appear, along with armored transports, spearheaded by a pair of land raiders, and more daemon engines. The twin las cannons of one of the Land Raiders detonating an AAT

"We have to withdraw, we can't stand in the face of this onslaught!"

"You, get command on the line and tell them we cannot hold this position. The 532nd is withdrawing, where is our air support?"

Volos noticed who he had run by, the Captain's command post was several hundred meters behind the front line, then above the sound of war he heard the roar of engines, a flight of HMPs began firing their rockets into the fray, spraying ordinance at the enemy. Others dropping B2 units into the fight, while laying down a withering spray of blaster bolts, scouring cultists from the landing sites and causing the Astartes to seek cover.

One of the gun ships was struck by las cannon fire from a Predator, and it spiraled forward, half of its droid cargo still aboard when it crashed.

The 532nd company withdrew under this assault, suffering eighty six KIA and WIA in action. They were picked up by medivac PACs. Staff Sergeant Volos watched as their captain tallied all their losses, whole platoons wiped out. A tactical droid took the report from the captain.

"You are no longer a combat effective formation, you and your company will be brought back to strength and redeployed once new soldiers are available."

Other human soldiers came in, their units redeployed to defend the immense droid foundry, while more mobile droid units were beginning counter attacks in adjacent sectors to disrupt this thrust.

Hundreds of tanks counter attacked enemy spear head units while Droid Fighters engaged enemy air support. Whole Squadrons were destroyed in the first day of fighting, yet more than one thunderhawk fell from the sky. Droids were destroyed in the thousands, and human lives were ended in similar quantities as the Word Bearer's descended.

Fighting was fiercest around the Droid Foundry, its massive orbital defense Turbo laser batteries, kept the enemy warships from being able to engage the Orbital and its protective fleet.

Thousands of aircraft were facing off in the skies of Kursk, while many more fought in battles in the area around the Orbital, immense ground based turbo lasers vented their energies towards enemy starships.

Fredrick watched this carnage unfold from his command throne onboard the Star Hammer. Periodically he'd rain down turbolaser barrages on top of targets of opportunity. The sheer destruction being unleashed in the opening days of the Second War for Kursk was unlike any but the largest battles Fredrick had witnessed. Yet in none of those battles had Fredrick ever been in a weaker position.

"Kursk is my planet, I will not let them have it."