Fredrick stood at the bridge of the Star Hammer as the Retribution Crusade prepare to set off for its destination. HK-217 stood at his right hand, seated in the captain's chair, while Fredrick observed from his seat aboard the Flagship. It had been installed at his request, as he had relinquished direct control over his old battleship following his ascension to Sovereign.
They were moving in the battle formations outlined by HK-217. Their troops holds were filled with battle droids. Star Hammer and Confederate began to approach the jump point and the view of the starfield disappeared and was replaced with the swirl of Hyperspace.
Fredrick drank from a small flask of water, using a small port in his army to get a straw to his mouth. He technically could leave the armor, but he often choose not too. It had become comfortable for him.
It took some time but they arrived. The HyperDrive would only allow short jumps, followed by long sublight maneuvers into the path which would take them into the net hyperlane. The Rear Admiral's squadrons would peel off and begin securing these systems. Holonet relay stations would be established to replace the buoys that currently served that purpose, along with small resupply stations, which were planned to be installed to service the various escorts. The planetary invasion would take several years by B7782's estimate.
The Vanguard squadrons had already secured the system by the time that the main battlegroup arrived. No enemy vessels had arisen to fight them. No defense monitors, and no patrolling enemy escorts. Phase 1 had gone off without opposition.
"Lord Fredrick, we are ready to conduct Phase 2 of the naval portion of the Retribution Crusade. Our battleships will soon began launching landing craft to carry out army to the surface."
Fredrick watched the green, blue and tan planet grow larger and larger on the view screen. Then a red beam came streaking towards the Star Hammer.
Red lights replaced the calm glow of the command center and a warning klaxon blarred.
"Scramble bomber squadrons for planet strike," came the voice of HK-217, his machine voice cutting through the low chatter of the bridge like a whip.
The thermal shields of the Star Hammer flared with green light as the beam struck.
"Admiral we are reading a substantial drop in shield strength, we are tracing the exact coordinates of this battery." came from the Tactical droid who headed the damage control section.
"Our turbo laser batteries are armed and ready to begin bombardment of these defenses" Said another droid from the fire control section.
HK-217 was processing this and more information as he reacted to this development, how had they hidden these gun batteries from his scouts… never mind, now that they were revealing themselves they would be reduced.
"Commence planet strike, blacken their skies with droids."
Landing craft and Vulture droid starfighters began to deploy from the hangers of the battleships. From the two escorting Providence destroyer squadrons came a similar torrent of fighters and bombers, joining the swarm that came from the Lucrehulk.
They descended into the atmosphere of "Malagor" like iron hail. Red streaks visible from the surface as the landers came in fast, not with the leisurely pace of a secured drop zone, but with thunderbolt speed of a combat drop.
Drop pods bearing D-100 droids sped past the slower landers, following the same arc the defense laser's shot had taken.
Streaking past even these missiles were bright scarlet bolts of energy, the fury of the Star Hammer's battery answering the enemy's challenge.
AD-00076 was held in place along with four other D-100 Assault Droids in their drop pod, the metal shell which would deliver them to their next battle. Aggression programs began calculating possible reactions to various forms of expected defense of the planet side batteries to their approach. They were the Vanguard of Lord Fredrick, his legion of steel and they would not fail.
Their pod rocked as shells began exploding around it, the roar of its fiery descent shaking it.
Their internal clocks counted down to impact. Soon they would fulfill their purpose, and none would stop the expansion of the Confederacy, not this world's defenders, or any other.
Their retrorocket flared at the last possible instant, their reinforced Durasteel bodies proof against forces that would pulp the internal organs of any organic, or shatter the lesser internals of a weaker battle droid.
With a grinding impact they made landfall and the doors dropped.
They were greeted to the sounds of explosions and cannon fire, the roars of lasers discharging and the screams of diving Hyena bombers.
The immense defense laser was several hundred meters ahead of them, it had been camouflaged from orbital sites by being embedded in a mountain side, a large section of which had been cleared away to allow it to retract into the cliff face to prevent discovery.
Autoguns and las rifles began to pock mark his armor, and he let out a machine bellow and charged.
Heavier weapons opened fire, multi lasers and heavy bolters began to fire on the landing zones, their sectors of fire would've been murder for any lesser droid, but not for a D-100. Still however, many fell in that initial charge, but more would arrive to replace them.
More drop pods began crashing to the surface with impact shudders that sound like the steps of some immense creature.
AD-00076 could pick out the flights of Vulture Droids cutting their way through the atmosphere as they streaked towards their targets.
Heavy stubber began chattering and he watched as a las cannon cut down one his fellows. He began making a bee line for that position, joined by more D-100s.
Torrents of blaster fire were keeping heads down but several heavy weapons, shielded from their lighter armaments were throwing rounds into them. That was, until Hyena bombers obliterated several with direct proton torpedo strikes.
A volley of turbo laser bolts began walking a path among enemy positions and the droids had to shield their photoreceptors from the blinding lights. That is when the screams started.
A harsh raw throated cry sounded.
"For the Dark Gods, mark yourselves for greatness and slaughter them all!"
Word Bearer's cultist hordes came boiling out of prepared positions. They came screaming and with them came shrieking abominations. They came extolling their faith in their masters, and in their gods. They came as a human tide.
A voice came again over the loud speakers.
"Smite the invaders, drive them forth, rend their bodies and you will know the GOD's FAVOR, blessed are those who kill, blessed are those who carry the faith into the enemy's guns, today you are the teeth that bite and tear, the lash that shall scourge them."
It said more by AD-00076 caught nothing through the onslaught that came. He could see several dozen crazed humans throw themselves onto one of the D-100s ahead of him, beating it with crude maces, and clubs, attempting to pry open parts of its shell with knives, hold down power limbs with their bodies. The Droid struggled and started crushing them in its fist. It grabbed on who was attempting to pry out its photo receptor and caved in his rib cage.
AD-00076 shot another off with his disruptor cannon, causing the man to drop a blackened skeleton. The droids reacted to this shock and soon the battlefield became red with blood.
Then artillery shells started landing amongst the throngs. Droids were blasted apart, as were the crazed humans attacking them, yet on the enemy came. AD-00076's shield flared as fragments glanced off them, they had to keep pushing through the entrenchments. He tore through several cultists attempting to bar his way with their bodies, and continued his charge. Many other droids followed his example, and continued their charge. They had been joined by packs of Grapple Droids, the berzerker Droids having been sent as part of a second wave of drop pods by the orbiting battleships.
He made it to the entrenched positions, and began clearing them, the soldiers inside while fanatical lacked the good sense to retreat and fall back in the face of a superior opponent. They died in their bunkers, ripped apart by machine might.
He pulped a man against a wall, the ruin of his chest collapsing around his fist.
"Destroy the defense laser, push onwards."
The first wave of landers would be settling down soon and they had to get the various lesser guns disabled or they would shoot them down. Winding corridors, themselves just large enough to permit their use cut through the rock. It was a fortress.
They split, one section moving towards the magazines of the lesser weapons to allow the bulk of the Droid armies to land, while AD-00076 lead his group deeper towards the area where they estimated the Defense Laser's capacitors would be.
As they went down a hallway, they were greeted with rapid laser fire. A gun crew had set up shielded multilaser emplacement and was hosing the assault droids down with it. Alongside the gun were several Chaos soldiers, firing lasguns and one hastily loading a rocket launcher.
They wouldn't get the chance to fire it. AD-00076 gave the order and the assault droids barreled through the fire, ignoring the one droid whose armor was compromised by prolonged fire and falling on the humans like wolves on sheep.
The human body was never intended to stand up to enemies which outmatched them by two thousand pounds. This disadvantage was heightened when their heavy weaponry couldn't be brought to bear in close quarters.
He punched his electro fist through a door and suddenly the area opened up. They were in the fortress's center.
The ceiling shook as proton bombs impacted nearby. Cultists, tech menials and several Dark Adepts were administering the immense laser cannon.
"Liquidate them!" Shouted AD-00076.
He vaulted a safety rail and timing his fall correctly, landed on one of the unfortunate menials, crushing the wretch.
It was the shock that the enemy needed to get them into action, the various cultists giving their lives to buy the Adepts time to escape.
One of the cultists was missed one the D-100s and hit one of the generators for the Laser.
"Kill them all, capture those Tech Priests!" pulsed AD-00076 to several of the closer D-100s.
When one of those droids charged, mere flesh could not stop them. The Adepts fled and soon all of this rabble was slaughtered or cowed into a corner, disarmed. Two hulking Assault Droids stood guard, their shield projectors flared.
"Send a transmission, our shock assault has prevailed, this anti orbital cannon is no longer operational. As for those organics. Standing policy to turn them over to the IG units."
AD-00076 was pleased, if he continued to succeed the tactical droids would reward him by using his personality matrix as a template for future models. He would lead a sweep of the rest of the fortress. Hopefully landers with bulk troops would be arriving soon. They lack sufficient droids to properly secure the gun emplacement.
….
Aboard the Star Hammer, B7782 was monitoring the success of their planet strike. Bombardments had completely destroy one of the laser batteries. Another one had fallen to swift ground strikes, which had deveasted token garrisons. The enemy it seemed, had been caught in the initial phases of a mobilization. Forces were gathering near population centers, but the elite Space Marine Legionaries had not been spotted yet. Nor any sign of them being present in great numbers was noted yet.
Initial landfall had been made and once secure bridge heads had been established he would join the fighting personally to direct the vast droid armies. The Confederate war machine was being drawn up. POW stations were being mapped in areas that would be easy to secure. The thoughts of indiscriminate civilian slaughter troubled the droid.
The former Imperials insisted that the only way to deal with the planet's population was extermination but safeguards in his programming warned that this would embolden resistance and would be committing an intentional war crime. While he was as a Super Tactical Droid capable to disobeying orders, Fredrick could simply issue the order himself and his orders carried priority over his and HK-217's. The Fredrick he knew would not issue such an order. It had landed him in trouble but he wouldn't condone the executions of non combatants.
"General, we will make planetfall soon, there we will ensure that our Lord's will is made manifest."
The cloaked figure of IG-105 stood behind him. As head of Security forces and Fredrick's chief enforcer, bodyguard and technical second the Droid was one of the most powerful figures in the Confederacy in Exile's forces.
"IG-105, I am awaiting confirmation from ground commanders that we have a safe landing site for a command post. Once that is established we will begin to conduct operations at that point."
"Your input is noted, General if I may. The Flagship is not a place we should have the all the top echelons of our military and governance. I suspect that enemy naval assets will within some time make their presence felt."
"How can you be certain, we cannot detect their FTL Drives and it appears they cannot detect ours. Only once we both switch to sub light maneuvers do either of our naval forces appear on sensors. I have this from reliable sources."
"You are the General, I will leave this matter to your judgement, but we must be swift in this assault. Our enemy is dangerous and if my data is accurate to all Chaos taint, then the longer this conflict draws out, the more, less quantifiable actors will be able to influence its outcome."
"Mysticism from a droid, you surprise me."
"Not mysticism, rather a broadening of inputs and expansion of my comprehension. But no matter, I will personally make planetfall within the day and lead my cadres against the enemy, we must prevent the formation of their slave armies."
With that IG-105 left, and B7782 had no doubts about what methods that droid would employ. While Tactical droids could be blunt and inconsiderate in their actions, these new developments from the IG series were often excessive in their execution of their duties.
In fact it had been IG-105 who had suggested the complete internment of Fredrick's human body within his armor. B7782 and HK-217 had gotten enough of Fredrick's original human components into the suit to not make it permanent but IG-105 had favored making him as machine as possible.
He had his suspicions about the droid but he had no logical basis. IG-105 would sacrifice his body, and mind for Fredrick if it would secure his master another hour of life. His prime directive was to keep Fredrick alive, no matter what it cost.
He turned back to the task at hand. A tank army was deploying for operations south of the primary city, while several mechanized corps were being deployed to guard its flanks and make for the three other major settlements on this planet. It was sparsely populated compared to Kursk, or at least, the population was concentrated in fewer settlements.
The Droid Tanks would sweep the plains clean then they would occupy all population centers. Food production areas would be captured to starve them out, then he would begin his other tasks.
"Perhaps it would be better for HK-217 to burn the poor humans from orbit by this warship's cannons."
But his voice was low, and he would carry onwards. He was efficient and would overcome this enemy, that was his purpose. That is what separated him from men, he was made for a purpose. There's was a life of chaos, but his, his was a life of purpose.
And so, deploying of the Confederate Army continued in earnest.
It took fourteen days but a large enough force was deployed that true offensives would commence. B7782 had a prefabricated bunker in which he watched as his subordinates moved towards "The City of the Faithful Masses" or simply "Faithful Mass" as he had learned from interrogation reports.
Standing between them was a slave army. It was centered around the professional core that they had encounter amongst the enemy's human troops on Kursk. They had numerous armored units and other entrenchments. Yet B7782 would give them battle.
The initial probing engagements were primarily conducted by light forces. STAPs and GATs often engaged enemy Chimera based tanks, these were often fitted with autocannons, along fast moving troops, which often resulted in HMP gunships being called in to assist and drop off Super Battle Droids as quick reaction forces. Their commonalities with Imperial Vehicles were interesting, often the same vehicle but outfitted with different weapons and employed differently. Several such swift battles occurred while they advance across the arid terrain. Occasional flare ups occurred but they made an advance of four hundred kilometers into Word Bearer Territory before encountering fierce resistance.
Much of the ground they covered was admittedly useless, massive arid plains, it would be in the more temperate areas where the large populations needed to sustain large scale conflict would be found.
Aside from the far flung recon elements, the army's advance was headed by several armored regiments. They were filled with the needed droids to overwhelm most defenses. The majority the army, concentrated in infantry droids was marching towards the enemy, their tireless nature allowing them to travel further and faster than human soldiers, of which they had also brought thousands of. There had been no shortage of volunteers when the nature of what the Great Armament was aimed at.
Their advance had been almost uncontested, but eventually the enemy shrugs off his shock and fights back.
Within the hour, reports of heavy fighting reached B7782.
…
The armored formation passed the wrecks of several destroyed GATs, the light scout tanks no match for the Leman Russ tanks so commonly employed by both Imperial and Chaos armored regiments.
They were moving forward in a wedge formation, ten AATs strong and they were only a small part of the advance, several hundred tanks were descending upon the enemy position, several B1 Droids clinging to hand holds welded to the tanks for this very purpose. Platoon attack craft waited several hundred meters behind the fast moving repulsor lift tanks, ready to deploy infantry in the event it was required.
OKY-20098 was monitoring the the ridge line ahead of them on a pair of macro binoculars when the first shot came screaming towards them. It impacted and a great cloud of earth rose with its impact. They were being shelled.
"Third Platoon, full speed forwards, scan for targets." The OOM Droid ordered while it continued to scan the ridge line. Several Leman Russ tanks could be seen, in positions which left their hull Lascannons exposed by offered some cover to the rest of the tank.
"Gunner, at 25 degrees off our 12 is an enemy tank."
The turret adjusted and the laser cannon elevated to engage. While they were moving and in the open they were easier targets than the Russ Tanks which could rely upon the advantage or pre planned fields of fire and sighted ranges.
The first battle cannon shells began to rain down. Several AATs were struck, some were destroyed, others farther away had the shells ricochet off their armor. Moving in from behind were Hailfire Droids, which had been following in the tanks' wake ready to offer fire support against enemy armor assets.
AAT's were well armored tanks but they were not invincible and several more were destroyed by enemy fire. Yet onward the droids came.
Suddenly a large tank crested the ridge that the Leman Russes had stationed themselves on. It was larger than them and carried twin side by side cannons which it began firing at the AATs.
Several others arose. Their armor withstood the Laser Cannons on the AATs and they were capable of a much higher rate of fire than the Russes around them.
OKY-20098 spoke into its radio.
"Heavy enemy assets are appearing at the point of engagement, requesting aerial support and super heavy reinforcement."
The droid did not get a chance to process the request when a Vanquisher Cannon shell detonated the tank's magazine for its ordinance launchers. The Cultist's position had been well chosen.
They had dug into these hills and installed numerous AA batteries and had begun rolling out tanks to respond to the massive droid armies being deployed across the planet.
They had two companies of Macharius Tanks respond to this particular thrust, alongside them were six battalions of Leman Russes and Infantry.
More tanks were deploying. They had a large supply of vehicles and as the droid were about to discover, were not the push over they had been portrayed themselves as.
The first Heavy Assault Tanks began arriving on the scene of this battle a full day after the first engagement occurred.
They were accompanied by Super Tanks and the numerous lesser AATs.
B7782 was personally watching this battle, and several flights of droid fighters and bombers had been earmarked for this engagement.
He had sent six divisions to move out far and come down hard on the enemy, fast moving mechanized infantry and armor formation, lacking heavy equipment that would slow them down.
A fixing force of reinforced heavy units was being deployed and the assault would coincide with air insertions into the enemy's rear, using HMP gunships to carry Super Battle Droids and Crab Droids to enable them to disrupt rear echelon activities.
It began with turbo laser bombardment from HAGs, green bolts of tremendous energy raining down on the enemy's positions. Battle Droids began to march forward, the leading elements of the 121st Heavy Mechanized Division spearheading the assault. The barrage began to patter out and the tanks began to advance.
Dozens of MTTs, Heavy Assault Tanks and Super Tanks rumbled forward. They were joined by both Hailfire tanks and AATs.
The battle droids moved apart to let the tanks past them, enemy fire tearing holes in the charging droids, yet they came on heedless of their losses. Diving Hyena Bombers were delivering Proton Bombs onto the enemy artillery and enemy aircraft were dueling Vulture and Tri-Fighter squadrons above the battlefield.
Hidden trench lines sheltered cultists who opened fire upon the droids as they advanced. Several in forward positions would wait till the droid tanks came close then leap out, laden with melta charges to detonate themselves under or against the tanks.
The Macharius tanks emerged again, and began reaping their toll from the forces of B7782 but not without their own losses this time.
HATs were made to fight Baneblades on even terms back on Kursk and they were more than a match for regular Macharius Tanks, easily shedding battle cannon fire from their armored hides.
Yet against the massed Vanquisher Cannons of the 3rd Company even these behemoths could be brought low from sustained fire wearing down their shields then penetrating even their thick hides at moderate range.
Many more of these battles would rage as the Droid offensive ground against the seemingly inexhaustible supply Word Bearer Fodder soldiers.
…
"We have located the main sources of enemy reinforcements Sir."
A hologram map was projected in the field command post. The droid armies had pushed back the Word Bearer's troops but their progress was slow.
"The enemy is boiling out several sections of this city here, and here." B7782 said gesturing to a pair of rifts in the city, one a kilometer in length.
"I estimate that a large underground population exists and that the enemy's cannon fodder is being drawn from that population. Analysis of prisoner accounts confirms this."
IG-105 stood watching the briefing, he was there officially as Fredrick's hand to oversee this action while the Lord was busy with his other duties.
"We are facing large scale assaults, which are being pushed back with defoliator tanks, their blasts are the only weapons currently capable of breaking enemy morale. As it stands we have killed in these past months, over six hundred thousand cultists, we have taken six thousand four hundred and eighty three prisoners. As it stands, the enemy is fanatical and will not surrender save in those few who are less indoctrinated."
"B7782, given your statements regarding the enemy's subterranean cities, would it not wise to simply destroy those exit points with orbital fire?"
"IG-105, we would have, save for an enemy energy shield. It is not being projected into the atmosphere but rather into the planet's surface in the area where it shields the subterranean cities. We only managed to detect it through a series of ground probes near one of the lesser cities."
"Perhaps a covert strike force could be sent to disrupt the field?"
IG-105 began analysing the possibilities of such an endeavour, he would need to select IG units capable of discretion, along with several commando droid squads. Production of those units had been low priority, Fredrick's favor had lain with the programs dealing with far larger assault droids.
"We are not in a position in which such a raid is feasible, currently the enemy is conducting a skillful mobile defense in the areas surrounding their primary city and industrial areas, in addition we are making a substantial impact upon their food supplies. Analysis of captured soldiers shows no nutrient deficiencies outside the norm of their kind. The handful of officers who were taken, are quite well fed."
"Then we should change that, Defoliator Bombardments of their agricultural areas, or poison gas attacks into their underground areas would make short work of this problem. You surprise me B7782, these weapons would prove highly effective against the humans."
"IG-105 I will exhaust the conventional armaments of my arsenal before turning to those methods. They are emergency methods, not standard ones."
The stubborn refusal of these methods always surprised with IG-105, particularly following their deployment on Kursk in defense of the planet. They had devastated the vast Cultist Hordes of the Word Bearers. While the tanks and most of their vehicles were unaffected, the corpse fields spoke to their efficiency. Fredrick has personal authorized their deployment, and while he was wavering on the issue of exterminating the human population of this world, he had authorized deployment of these devices.
"I will leave strategic deployments to you B7782, but I will be sending in my own forces to assist in this offensive."
This time, the Super Tactical Droid seemed surprised. IG-105 rarely did take to the field and most often acted as commander of a bodyguard unit for their leader. But IG-105 had expanded his power base during the Great Armament, the policies of which had allowed him to form an incipient third branch of the Confederate Military. They would prove their worth on this planet.
IG-105 left the command center, heading to his own headquarters. There he was greeted by several other White colored IG-100 and 200 series droids. A pair of human generals were also present. They wore white uniforms, marked by the same red patterns which distinguished the droids based upon their specific units and a shortened variant of their serial number to distinguish them from their peers.
"Prepare the Ivory Legion, I want them ready to move out and engage Word Bearer's forces. Prepare for our baptism by fire."
The others raised their fists to their chest, their arm crossed over their chest. The glowing eye lens of the droids and the humans helmets casting a wan light in the darkness of the night.
They were a collection of the various part of the Confederate Army which were deemed often pushed to the periphery by B7782. He had been establishing his power base among their organic compatriots and in doing so had learned a great deal about the threat of the tainted population mingling with the untainted Confederate Civilians.
"Today we will begin the cleansing of this planet, we will cut out this tumor before it can bring ruin to the greater whole. We will join up with the main body of B7782's offensives on the major cities and bring to bare our own firepower to force an opening, from that point onwards we will deal with the Cultists."
Assent was quickly confirmed, the other Magnaguards and Super Magnaguards assenting to his decision and the humans having been given a briefing about their own organic division's role in the assaults.
The liquidation would begin.
