Chapter 26: Flesh and Steel
"Everyone wants to be at the top, until the target that comes with it drops upon them." Said Fredrick, as he sat in a room filled with clamoring voices, some human, others the dull tones of annoyed Super Tactical Droids.
A pair of Magna guards stood behind his chair as the heated arguments involving the disaster at the Atlasov badlands continued. Not ever had his army suffered the magnitude of losses in one day as it had facing down the so called "Word Bearers".
"You need to allow us to bring our full might to bear against them, Lord Fredrick or we will not be able to face off against this invasion, we are already hard pressed in the orbit of Kursk, the last thing we need is the enemy holding a major beach head on the ground."
"HK-217's gamble brought only mixed results, we managed to overwhelm a handful of escort vessels through boarding actions but the larger vessels are too well armed for such a tactic to be worthwhile twice. We also lost several dozen Hardcells in the approach, along with their entire complements of battle droids, and we don't have the industrial capacity to replace those transport, particularly WITH AN ENEMY FLEET IN ORBIT!"
The man shouting this was one of those entrusted with overseeing the manufacturing of Void craft, he had been the highest ranking official aboard the orbital when it had fallen and had readily turned to the cause of the CIS when the promise of his passion for ship building would be not only tolerated outside the stifiling strictures of the Adeptus Mechanicus but encouraged by Fredrick.
B7782 rose from its chair pointing a metal finger at droid responsible for coordinating major intelligence operations.
"Your negligence at discovering the hidden reserves of the enemy's most potent weapons has nearly cost the Confederacy an entire Shock Army, you should be reprogrammed into a janitorial droid, would save on power expenditures for a more worthwhile function, how could you not find towering war engines 12 meters tall!"
This was the first time Fredrick had ever seen the Super Tactical Droid show any major emotion at all, it was shocking, as he was normally the calmer of his two Lieutenants.
"You don't know half the difficulties we've had General, they have next to agents willing to talk to any intelligence agents we deploy and capturing a regular human is near useless, most know nothing of operations beyond the platoon level which is useless when planning grand offensives."
"We can only rely upon sensor, and scouting parties to find their disposition and forces but the Astartes units are difficult to pin down, in fact we track them by observing which scout units suddenly go silent."
"We lose immense losses everytime Astartes are engaged, it is inefficient to engage them with anything less than our own super heavy infantry or with armored units should we catch them in the open."
They continued arguing back and forth, some stating relaties of war, others expressing concerns for enemy pushes that were reaching towards industrial areas, others into heavily populated areas, a handful addressing naval concerns as the two void fleets continued to face off, occasional harassments being fought, particularly of shuttle craft to the surface, no flight was launched without fighter craft launching intercept missions.
HK-217 had chosen to try and starve the enemy ground forces, and had proven somewhat successful as at first the shuttles had been lightly guarded, as the enemy has assumed that they wouldn't risk attacks upon the shuttles, as they would have to engage the fleet before reaching them. Hyena bombers and Vulture droids fortunately did not require a return trip, nor did they care if they were sent on suicide missions.
Fredrick watched as his generals fought with each other, at first giving blame and then reaching a consensus, before talks of tactical and strategic operations to combat the enemy. He was partially at fault for the disunity amongst the Super Tactical Droids, many programed with varying points of interest and had been given noted preset things to focus on, in order to maintain command flexibility. The issue lay in that when they became too fixated upon a course of action, deviation from it would make them disagreeable and could lead to animosity, and potential infighting. Which was why the CIS prefered organic leaders, but he lacked the luxery of a large trusted officer pool.
In fact he had heard that many of his people away from his center of power were joining the ranks of the Word Bearers, lured away by the charm and oratary power of the Sons of Lorgar.
Fredrick rose, the need for direction apparent.
"We will launch another offensive, I5562, you will gather all available information upon the enemy Astartes as possible, we will ready specialist formations to engage Astartes units, B7782, ready your armies and form a cordon around the enemy's territory, our advance will have to be slow, methodical, to rapid and the enemy can exploit mistakes and inefficiencies in timing, as they just demonstrated."
"Lord Fredrick, we are being made aware of concentrations of enemy troops, they appear to be ready to launch a counter offensive into our forces which are still recovering from their first assault."
"Can this be disrupted?"
"We don't know."
"Well, we are rapidly exhausting our naval assets buying time for you to find a new way to defeat this threat, bring me a solution, we are running out of time."
Events were spiralling ever since the Astartes had launched an assault upon their outpost, they had been increasingly derailed from Fredrick's goals. They take maybe a decade to develop enough to build proper capital ships on the scale needed to engage this place's Cruisers and he feared to even get a glimpse of what they considered Battleships. HK-217 had promised a new Star Dreadnought was in the works but they lacked even the dockyard to construct such a leviathan.
Hundreds of battle droids were required to engage even one of these Astartes, unless they brought out some of their rarest and most potent units.
They could fight men, cloned or natural borne but these things, these things were beyond reckoning, some possessing diabolic and unnatural power. But he two had become more than a mere man, and too many of the people of his world, he was simply the Lord of Steel, a tyrant of metal with a heart of wires. Sealed as he had become in this armor, in some ways no different from Grievous if far greater, how could he blame them.
"Prepare a broadcast, uncoded, I want them to hear this."
Fredrick left, B7782 had his grand encirclement to prepare, and many of the tactical droids left, they would need to attend to their duties.
He was flanked by his Magna guard, two of them accompanied him wherever he went, along side his own personal guard battalion, all given the distinctive white armor that he himself wore.
He walked through the hallways of his citadel-foundry. It had grown comfortable to him, and so he walked its halls, and in his passage Fredrick reflected, for the last six years he had known nothing but war, and the man who had volunteered for the Confederate Army was gone with the giving the promise of a better life to his family, free from such an oppressive system. He had followed with a willing heart as he saw the Republic for what it had been, a corrupt uncaring conglomerate but while he had fought against it, he did not grow to hate the Republic, to truly hate them, until a Republic fleet had darkened the skies over his homeworld.
The past came rushing back, as real to Fredrick as the day he lived it.
He could remember the last transmission, a call for help, and when arrived he had seen the aftermath. In a matter of expediency they had simply conducted a Base Delta Zero upon the planet, judging by the level of fortifications that it would upset their time tables too much. He had shattered that fleet, catching its flagship and battering until it could barely maintain life support then had it boarded. The rest of the fleet fell beneath the guns of the Star Hammer's sister vessels, along with two other battle groups that had responded to Deshi's distress call.
"This is the Admiral Bathurst of the Guardian, we are dead in space, we surrender."
That transmission went unanswered and shuttle craft along with other boarding vessels began to swarm the Praetor 2. It had been a mighty vessel but no match for the Armada which had brought it low.
Fredrick had the executions of the Republic Officers broadcast upon the holonet, each one holding a placard reading off their guilt.
The executions were broadcast and with it Fredrick would ensure that the name of Deshi would be a rallying call for the Confederacy.
Fredrick felt that fire again, he was facing down evil once again, however instead of an oppressive boot stamping down upon his people, it was a much more personal type of evil.
"Make sure this signal is sent as widely as possible, I want the Word Bearers to hear."
He faced the camera, the flag of the Confederacy framing him and two Magnaguards with electro-staffs in flanking positions.
"My people, today we challenge the invader. They have come to take from us everything we hold dear. .They have despoiling and polluting our world. Even now they stretch out fingers to steal your future from you. We shall cast them against the unbreakable wall of our collective will, join those who already stand against them. We shall cast these murderers back into the abyss, no weapon is too terrible to wield in this struggle. We are united in this purpose and together flesh and steel we shall overcome them."
Fredrick paused, considering for a moment.
"To the enemy I issue this challenge, this planet is mine, its people are my subjects and under my protection, I will personally send you, charred and broken back to whatever daemon you call master. I will wipe your stain from my iron heel and ensure that your memory dies as you will, cowering, alone and terrified."
He clenched his immense fist, purple energy crackling along its length and raised it pointing it at the camera.
"To whatever creature leads this cancerous, cowardly band of pillagers and degenerates. Nothing will save you from me, you will be driven forth."
The broadcast cut off. Fredrick wanted their leader, this First Acolyte. He wanted his skull mounted into his throne, he would see the enemy shattered, and Kursk, his world would be clean again.
….
Fredrick's challenge had been broadcast across Kursk, signals had even been beamed to the Chaos Warships in orbit and speakers had announced it across to the enemy's army.
They had sent Commando Droids to capture several of the enemy. While Astartes were to dangerous a quarry, the cultists and slaves were not, particularly when taken unawares. It was they who transported the ammunition, carried replacement parts and did much of the menial labor required to keep the Astartes and the bulk of their forces operating and in fighting shape.
In turn reports had filtered up to Fredrick of non insignificant parts of the population defecting, particularly in areas from the center of CIS power. This was an issue that he had no answer too but he suspected that one did.
"Bring me the commissar. I will consult with her upon this foe."
….
Fredrick's heavy clanking steps preceded him down the corridor, it had been some time since anyone had needed to consult Commissar Sulvani, but still she had been kept imprisoned as no orders had come down in regards to her fate.
She had not fared well, a series of ugly scars were visible upon her face, arms and more presumably underneath the shift she wore. It was dark in this section of the Fortress, the droid guardians not needing light to see and watch their charges, and Fredrick could simply walk the paths without fear, his armor offering the same ability to him.
"Who is that?" She asked evidently clued into his presence by the sounds of his armor.
Fredrick walked closer, the sounds of his respirator a soft noise in the oppressive silence.
The door opened for him and walked into the cell, his guards waiting outside, completely silent with their specially constructed bodies.
"What do you want droid, I know you're here."
Fredrick stood towering over her and watched in mild curiosity as she fixed her gaze upon the small glowing red dot on his chest which served primarily as an ID marker.
With a gesture, the cell's lights turned on, causing Sulvani to step back, shielding her eyes against the sudden light with her arms.
"Commissar, I am Lord Fredrick, ruler of this world. Last we spoke was aboard the Battleship Star Hammer. You will provide me information about a enemy who has threatened this world."
It took her a moment but she recovered from the sudden light and faced Fredrick.
"You've grown."
"I gained improvements, courtesy of your Sisters of Battle, but Commissar I am not here to bring torment, instead you will give me information. The fallen angels of your God have come to Kursk, you will give me information on them."
She looked surprised, then shock turned to horror.
"Traitor Astartes are here?"
She paled and took a step back.
"Word Bearers, has your nerve finally broken Commissar. Even as we speak my armies do battle across this world and in the void above it. I'm told your task was to ensure loyalty of your soldiers and to ensure morale remained high amongst the troops. You will serve and train successors to ensure that the tricks of these Chaos Space Marines do not ensnare more of my people, too many of them do not know the danger of these salesmen of damnation."
Even as removed from humanity as Fredrick had become he could see the incredulity upon her face.
"Its simply commissar, I will grant you freedom, and all I ask is that you ensure the people of Kursk do not fall to chaos. I…"
"I will not serve a machine, my loyalty is to him on Terra and to humanity not a Xenos machine."
Fredrick moved, swinging his arm with its Electro fist and grabbed her in its three fingers, bringing her level with his face.
Fredrick spoke in a low growl, his vocalizer biting off each word.
"I am not a DROID, I am just as human as you, you will serve or I will have you disposed of, you are derelict in your duty, and by your inaction you damn souls to eternal torment and your own people to the gentle mercies of these traitor Astartes. Are you not a shepard of their thoughts, a paragon of humanity, or are you no better than the monsters that I am holding at bay."
Fredrick raised her even higher, the strength he had gained making the woman light as a feather.
"I will serve humanity but know this, Fredrick, you are simply a lesser evil then the Sons of the Archtraitor Lorgar and I will see the worlds of the Emperor brought back into his embrace."
Fredrick's faceplate gave nothing away but he was enraged, how could these people not join together with him against the darkness that threatened to consume them all.
"You will try."
He turned and left while a group of droids went into the cell, he had summoned them to prepare her for new service.
"Task IG-105 to her as an overseer, I want updates the moment she commits a seditious act."
"Now we must safeguard ourselves from the threat within."
