Characters
Helikian Guardsmen
Colonel Moonsun (36), Robert- Regiment Commander of The 5th Tarthian Regiment "Pathfinders"
1st Lieutenant Fell, Yzir (42) - Company Commander of Ferrus Company, 1st Battalion 3rd Tarthian Regiment "Volunteers"
Platoon Sergeant Zhell (37), Darius- Platoon Sergeant of Astra Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Tarthian Regiment "Pathfinders"
Supply Sergeant Sage (32), Dak- Supply Sergeant of Headquarters Element of The 5th Tarthian Regiment "Pathfinders"
Corporal Aster (26), Jag- Guidon bearer of 1st Battalion, 3rd Tarthian Regiment "Volunteers"
Trooper Münsz, Weber(25) - Trooper serving in the 5th Tarthian Regiment "Pathfinders
Imperial Navy
Admiral Alexander "Ship Master"- Admiral of all ships under the Tarth banner
Captain David- Wing Commander of the Iron Drake Chapter
Tarthian Guardsmen
General Sosa, Sakaar (67)- Commanding General of the Tarth Imperial Guard Regiments
Colonel Hilko, Dak (38)- Regiment Commander of the 3rd Tarthian Regiment "Volunteers"
Iron Drakes
The Chapter Master (?) - Unnamed Chapter Master of the Iron Drakes frequently referred to as "The Drake" or "The Great Drake"
Order of Battle for Betram
First Wave
Helikian 1st Line Infantry Regiment "Fighting First"
Mixed 3rd Line Infantry Regiment "Volunteers"
Tarthian 9th Armored Regiment "Wyverns"
Rivian 11th Artillery Regiment "Rolling Thunder"
2nd Wave
Helikian 2nd Line Infantry Regiment "Phantoms"
Mixed 4th Line Infantry Regiment "Hunters"
Tarthian 12th Mechanized Infantry Regiment "Rough Riders"
Tarthian 15th Artillery Regiment "Steel Rain"
Tactical Reserves
Helikian 5th Light Infantry Regiment "Pathfinders"
Helikian 7th Line Infantry Regiment "Xule Bane"
Ten years had quickly passed for the service members under the Iron Drakes careful watch. For most, the moment their enlistment ended, they went immediately to the factories, farms and other such jobs enjoying the fruits of their service and their newfound homeworld. Many Tarthian guardsmen enjoyed the prosperity of this new world. Their mirror image of the Helikian guardsmen, on the other hand, remained in service. Their contracts explicitly stating they were "indentured servants" of the Iron Drakes until 20 years of service in which they would be immediately retired unless they swear an oath of service again.
For many Helikians, their families remained close to any military installation enjoying the few moments they could steal with one another. Some Helikian colonists would go months without seeing their sons, brothers or fathers. More than one marriage fell into ruin with adultery or said family members disappearing into the night with all they could carry. They would be impossible to track down as they fled to the spaceport leaving only an empty habit unit.
Fortunately, many of the Helikians found a fresh world to be explored and exploited for personal gain and a distant hope one day their children would live a life with a full belly and a 12-hour workday. Many found their children surpassing those expectations and enjoying the fruits of a prosperous new colony whose economic bubble had yet to pop.
Although, a new world and a new chance always meant one thing. Change. It was unavoidable. A change came to the guard in an unprecedented and unexpected way beginning with the very foundation of the Helikian Guard. By doctrine, Helikia used an 800 man "regiment" system. The reason being that they were usually used to supplement badly mauled regiments or forced onto smaller transport ships. This led to a Helikia developing the Battalion system in truth. 8 companies 4 of which were infantry 1 for the HQ element and 3 more "open" companies to be specialized dependent on what type of regiment they were. This of course was flexible enough to allow 3 or even 4 battalions to combine to a standard and recognizable 3,000 man regiment commonly seen deployed.
This made Helikians catch the eye of man local clusters. The Imperium found a guard unit uniquely organized to specialize in plugging manpower gaps. The guardsmen from Helikia while not top tier performers like Stormtroopers or as vicious as Catachans could easily fall into a Cadian regiment or PDF units. The 800 man structure guaranteed to any officer that they would be subservient to the "father" regiment with men that could keep up almost immediately with whatever unit they were assigned to. Unfortunately, Records showed time and time again that these Battalions stuck to themselves. Battle after battle, Helikian formations remained Helikian making a point to never synergize with any regiment instead of always sticking out like a sore thumb. While this was a perk especially around more rogue guard elements. The Helikians unknowingly had a flag placed to prevent them from leaving the sector out of fear that such an inflexible group of guardsmen would cause problems in great numbers for crusades or other such larger endeavors as their ultranationalist beliefs had caused a few… incidents resulting in decimated regiments before the void ships had even left the atmosphere.
On Tarth to no surprise, this style of thinking had taken over as the original guardsmen were mostly made up of Helikians. General Sorsa took command and immediately called for the end of the Helikian system seeing it as what it truly was. An organizational structure that alienated battalions from one another that would be expected to fight together. He tried his best to create a shared identity, but he only caused further divide as Tarth itself had yet to become its being as colonists all over the sector flooded in with their own beliefs. Some regiments remained mostly Helikian, but General Sosa did his best to ensure some type of mixture in every regiment. Unfortunately, the 9th regiment would always be a Rivian Regiment and 5th Regiment a distinctly Helikian Regiment.
General Sosa was then given the lofty goal to reorganize the guard by the Iron Drakes with little to no oversight with only the loose goals of the future. General Sorsa took to the task with a zeal never before seen in the older commander. He decided the Tarthian Regiment had 3 missions to fulfill. First and foremost be the basic building block for himself in creating a front line. Secondly, they needed to be small and large enough to support an Astarte operation and lastly large enough to foster a unit pride that would carry on for generations. The optimal number was decided to be 3,000 with an upper limit of 5,000 when placed on garrison duty or with the expectation regiments would need a loophole for when they would need to combine to prevent Tarth regiments being absorbed by other foreign regiments and lost forever due to a logistical nightmare.
This in effect led to the new regimental system for Tarth. The regiment was divided into 3 battalions of 900 would form the core of the regiment led by a Colonel. An additional 300 man "support company" would be reserved for the logistical support and for the headquarters element for the battalion who were all technically under the Regiment's Executive Officer to allow the Regiment Commander the freedom to execute his duties with regimental tasks. At the Regimental level, any air assets, heavy artillery or other "battle" altering equipment was kept under lock and key.
The battalion was further divided up into 6 companies of 150 men led by a Battalion Commander with the rank of Major. Who of course had a command squad of 5 made up of his senior-most NCO, Color bearer, VTO, and medic. One company would be designated the Headquarters company and given any assets deemed necessary to support the other companies. This usually left the HQ element currently with supportable to change the course of an "assault" leaving them with heavy bolters, mortars and other specialized equipment. The first two battalions were expected to serve as the front line of the regiment with the third battalion being tasked with acting as the maneuver element or tactical reserve with many of its members being seasoned veterans or those who showed great promise.
Tarthian regiments seemed to find merit in the Sosa idea of giving the third battalion every scrap of additional equipment and turning the battalion into a "Weapons" battalion even at the cost of the first two battalions. The squads within such a battalion found themselves uniquely outfitted with much more gear, better equipment and in many cases better training. This, of course, made them uniquely placed to begin the war games to determine how to implement tanks into their units and other such mechanized units.
The Helikian regiments tended to find the Tarthian doctrine wasteful betting on the weapons battalion to do the heavy lifting at the cost of the other battalions. Helikian regiments followed the "Helikian" template. The third battalion was seen as the shock element meant to break the back of any foe. Lightly armed purposely to allow rapid redeployment this battalion had an unusual amount of voxes in it for the specific purpose of calling in artillery or airstrikes. The theory was when the battalion struck any resistance they would simply go around it while an artillery strike would obliterate the hardpoint. This, of course, led to Helikian regiments running to David and Admiral Alexander to scrap any air asset they could beg, steal or trade for. This was in the eyes of the Helikians a worthy trade 900 lives for precision airstrikes on a superior foe whilst the original 2 battalions remained well equipped and armed.
The Companies had only 3 platoons of 50 led by a Captain with a "command squad" of 10 made up of mostly bodyguards directly sent from the Regiment HQ element as many Company Commanders found it more useful to actively participate on the front lines instead of the strong recommendation to have their command tent behind friendly lines. The solution was to purposely create a command detachment of bodyguards for any higher-ups to draw from.
A platoon was led by a Lieutenant with a "Command squad" usually nothing more than whatever the senior NCO in the company decided to give to the officer, or they just fell into a squad ordered to babysit the new officer. The platoons were unchanged from typical guard strategy with the first 2 platoons acting as the front line and the 3rd platoon being led by the least experienced officers and NCOs as a tactical reserve.
A platoon was made up of 5 squads. One squad, of course, is reserved for the officer which didn't receive any additional gear due to the fact they held the officer among them. A squad was typically led by a Sergeant with no special perks aside from being the luckiest bastard among his peers. A squad could further be split into a fireteam of 5. This was done as the urban war games showed a squad being able to quickly set a base of the fire and send out a flanking element was met with success 54% of the time a rather high number as opposed to simply staying put usually resulting in the squad dying 47% of the time.
The first 2 squads were typically the assault squads holding the more experienced men that would be expected to take the fight to the enemy. The third squad acted as the weapons squad. Any additional arms were given to them as they would support their fellows under accurate deadly fire. The fourth squad acted as the security squad to protect the flanks of all the squads usually placed by doctrine next to thirds squad. Lastly, the fifth squad was simply the officer's squad meant to act as a reserve force or flanking force whatever the officer deemed necessary.
The fire team would be lead by a junior NCO such as a Corporal or in times of great need a specialist. He would if lucky have a weapons specialist to handle the team's weapon usually a stubber, flamer or if the Emperor's light had shone on him a heavy bolter. For most weapon specialists, a Tarth pattern lasgun was the usual armament. The fire team was also authorized unofficially "Grenadier". A senior guardsman who simply carried the lion's share of explosives and rudimentary knowledge on explosives to clear a treeline or made a hasty foxhole not that the guardsmen would ever admit to a commissar they would waste a trio of Krak grenades to do such a thing. Lastly, two riflemen were expected in a fire team. The least experienced and usually called pack mules. They carried extra ammo, water, food, and luxury goods at the expense of their backs.
This was the first of many changes to the guard. At the platoon level to even the company level, men felt little of the change just seeing the irregular formations recombined and reassigned. The officers, on the other hand, felt a weight of change. Where once an Infantry Officer needed to politics inside the regiment for any form of support he found himself with a guaranteed selection of material from air support, artillery, and armor for some of the Tarthian regiments. The cutting of red tape breathed life into a flexible and well-balanced regiment. The only sacrifice truly made was the regiments didn't excel in any form of combat traditional of a guard regiment while at the same time lacking the same inherent weaknesses of a guard regiment.
General Sosa didn't stop there as he began to clear up the lines of promotion. Helikians had a nasty habit of promoting men based on battlefield experience creating a good old boy system. Meanwhile, the Tarthians promoted based on "legitimacy" with those of noble birth, money or education were the main factors creating "paper officers" that looked good on paper but lacked the field time to effectively navigate the military. The result was for men or women to be promoted one needed to participate in the Tarthian war games held by the Iron Drakes in the position they were up for to be promoted.
A new rank of specialist was officially recognized for the Tarthian units as it had always been a distinctly Helikian rank recognized by few other regiments in the local sector. Any guardsman able to pass testing on any number of weapon systems would receive the promotion excusing them from manual labor. After the first thousand guardsmen said they specialized in "love", General Sosa was forced to put his foot down and made 5 dedicated "schools" with a cadre of older guardsmen to man them.
The School for medics was simple. Every guardsman was required to learn 3 things medically. One how to triage a soldier which was simple as it was 2 categories dying or walking wounded, Two how-to stuff a wound with the medkit found on every soldier, Third was how to apply, create or improvise a tourniquet to stop major bleeding. Those found with an unusual aptitude for such things were sent to the school for 5 weeks where they learned everything from broken bones to rudimentary surgery if one was unable to breathe. Their final test to earn the rank of specialist was to keep an animal alive after it had survived the initial blast of a frag grenade for only an hour. Medical Specialists tended to have sick dark humor as they worked on their patients. Many guardsmen had learned to buy medics drinks and bear the brunt of poor jokes so they wouldn't be abandoned on the battlefield in favor of a patient with lesser wounds.
The School for vox transmission operators was extreme with the lessons learned from the siege. 9 weeks of grueling labor learning everything there was with some cross-training being forced to learn from a tech priest basic prayers, maintenance and such. The vox operator would also learn how to speak on the vox from artillery strikes to orbital bombardment. The final class would be 4 hours which the instructor would shoot, hit or sabotage a vox and if the student would be required to fix it or deem it irreparable. If it was repairable the would be kicked out of the school and told to never return. VTOs soon became an odd subclass of guardsmen who would frequently go on to become officers after their enlistment expired as many VTOs had the mental agility to transition to the officer corp rather smoothly. Many an NCO tended to fall in with these guardsmen seeing them as a nice perk to have in their hip pocket in case a battle would go wrong and an artillery strike was needed immediately.
The School for operators was a lengthy one lasting 12 weeks. The operator would learn everything about their chosen vehicle from how to do operator level repairs to vehicle positioning during a long halt on the road. This school was highly sought as there was no final test as any additional knowledge would be gained in the armored detachments. The operators always seemed to take pride in their chosen or assigned vehicle causing many to take liberties on the "camouflage" of their modern-day steeds with suspicious-looking patterns that would leave more than one female with a less than fond view of said operators.
The School for a simple weapons expert was simple. Four weeks in a class to learn said weapon system from flamer to mortars. They scrubbed them down, built them back up or stared at them for a month learning how to be one with their weapon. The final test could hardly be called a test as they simply had to attend a war game lugging a combat load plus additional gear. The students were embarrassingly enough oddballs. Some named their weapons with feminine names others were merely meatheads and all of them were trademarked by some tattoo of a poorly drawn weapon of choice on their bicep.
Of course, after much politicking and threats, a final school was finished run by the 5th Regiment. It was simply titled "Basic Assault Course" or "The Crucible" by the graduates. Many of the students spent years in the guard before attending the course. Many more would go out of their way to avoid the death trap with a few guardsmen deserting when ordered to attend the course. The course was 1 day long for 101 sunrises and sunsets. Many graduates describe it as a single long day with little to no memory of sleep or food, but plenty of forced hydration, intentionally given broken equipment, long marches, ambushes, mock battles, injuries and sadistic instructors humiliating and breaking soldiers. The intention was to provide training that scholas provided storm troopers within 101 days which of course was impossible, but those students who survived would quickly agree is exactly what the training provided. There was no Helikian or Tarthian soldier within the confines of this training as per General Sosa's orders. They were simply candidates with a shared name of "cadet". The warriors that emerged were almost always absorbed into the regiment for recruitment purposes which isn't much of a surprise as the 5th Regiment sent most of their recruits there immediately or they were immediately reassigned to some lackluster regiment. Some of course were sent back to their unit where they created waves helping to develop, train and lead their old units. The graduates varied from borderline sociopaths to some of the rocks that help platoons together.
The result overall was the slow construction of the Imperial Guard as a force to support the Iron Drakes without their leadership or marines to bolster the lines as General Sosa ordered. They were finally independent force they were ordered to be.
The end goal was obvious for the guard even upon becoming a suitable force. Getting there was the question, this led to General Sosa being so lenient with Colonel Moonsun's eccentricities in promoting Helikian Enclaves, Helikian culture, and general avoidance anything, not Helikian. What he got in return was the 5th Regiment. The closest thing to Tempestus Scions which or Imperial Guard Grenadiers, or as Colonel Moonsun called them, Rangers. The constant politicking almost led to Iron Drake intervention until General Sosa and Colonel Moonsun reached an agreement. Helikians could keep their uniform standards rolled sleeves and berets, they could run their training and as long as Colonel Moonsun maintained order. General Sosa would turn a blind eye in exchange for the Helikian Regiments were no longer stationed in the capital due to the frequent bar fights and other embarrassing situations that occurred when Helikians were around. This left General Sosa with the Helikian problem a small pinprick of annoyance, and the Helikians to enjoy their newfound paradise without surrendering their identities.
The reorganization worked well for them. Companies of infantrymen found themselves better supported by internal fire support as they hunted for the surviving Xule in the forests or various Xenos as they were assigned on expeditionary duty. Regiments found themselves self-reliant able to plan out broad strokes of an assault without the constant bickering and politicking required to get the tanks needed for a spearhead or artillery for a frontal assault. This, in turn, led to new innovative thinking for high command as they discovered what worked and didn't work and having the ability to immediately resolve any issues such as artillery and air wings working within the same air space.
The tempering of steel would come in the war games against the Iron Drakes. Frequently, officers would experiment with bold thought like willingly exposing flanks to concentrate men on a push with only the rotating coordinated airstrikes, artillery barrages, and mortar fire to allow a company holds what a battalion would normally need to hold. The first attempts resulted in the "fratricide" of a battalion. Now, the Iron Drake had learned the art of a well-dug foxhole amid a "Talon storm" as the younger officers called it. The guard also learned much to the horror the fine art known as drop pods causing the guard to become more and more innovative trying to hide fortified positions and artillery emplacements. The two military forces were learning the dangerous capability of their counterpart and affect their future foes.
The Iron Drakes while no great generals or logisticians only understanding the required knowledge on how to lead their guard counterparts found themselves praised behind closed doors for their small unit tactics. An Iron Drake scout knew more about setting up crossing lanes of fire than he would ever know about Imperial Guard rules and regulations within the sector, but the knowledge required to train the squads and platoons of the Imperial Guard was absorbed as quickly as possible as the Guard listened intensively to the scouts begging them to write books, manuals and essays for the officers to read of the hidden gems of knowledge worth years of study for the guard. That was simply an afternoon class to the space marines.
The guard while receiving some of the finest training in the local sector paled in comparison to the renowned Cadian Shock Troopers, The Death Corp and other in/famous regiments. They were no longer the sector renown PDF regiments used to plug manpower shortages, but a guard unit in its might that quickly drew the attention of the commissars. The Iron Drakes cared little to fill the role and soon commissars came flooding in. 22 commissars were issued to each regiment as a regimental asset. This allowed the guard to avoid having any Commissar holding a higher rank within the regiment as a detachment officer could only ever be a captain. This of course was masterfully handled with the help of Lady Amber who managed to prevent the commissars jostling for higher more... impressive ranks to dazzle their families back home with clever words and better manipulation with the help of General Sosa.
Their pride stroked by these two political figures. The guardsmen expected commissars like the great Dellatt or Continue for they were to come from scholas named after these heroes of the Imperium. The skull caps nonetheless seemed to be of lesser quality. Commissars with leadership abilities even at the end of a bolt pistol went to better guard units. Tarth received the commissars with a chip on their shoulders and went out of their way to prove how capable they were with more than one occasion in which a guardsman was killed to establish their authority. The Iron Drakes while rulers of the planet seemed content to allow this to take its course. They had already earned the ire of the Inquisition once. They didn't need more problems from an issue that held little to no real effect at the grand scale of the guard.
The wealth of Tarth was enormous compared to the early days. Once lasguns were a tall order for the planet imported from faraway planets. Now supply lines were cleared for specialization. Helikia brought the mass of troops cautiously imported by The Great Drake. The Adeptus Mechanicus sent the lion's share of military hardware despite the growing tension between the Astartes and eggheads. Rivia began sending small portions of young men to Tarth as workers. Both Helikian and Tarthians welcomed them with open arms. Rumors had it Rivia would soon be joining those under the Iron Drake banner. The guard for the first time in its existence found itself ready for war.
Nowadays, each regiment was arguing over the new artillery pieces or who would be the first mechanized regiment. For the Helikians, they wanted the carapace armor first and traded their tanks to the Tarthian forces for the honor of being the first with plans to make the first air assault element after promising their heavy artillery detachment away for a wing of Valkyries.
Day in and day out the bickering would go on. Rumors of a specific type of MRE* being of unusual quality and taste would send officers in blood frenzies trying to secure those supplies. Guardsmen were frequently caught trading civilians gear for a similar piece and a nice pile of coinage. This was put to an abrupt end when the Lord of Drakes put in not so gentle words that this corruption would end immediately or the guard would once again see Iron Drake oversight to the extreme.
Supplies were then decided upon by two men General Sosa and Colonel Moonsun. The pair representing their side of the ethnic story that was the Tarth Guard units. General Sosa had the final say, but Helikian blood still made up a majority of the guard. If Colonel Moonsun dug in his heels, he could easily create problems for General Sosa. The most terrifying being purposely making regiments disappear with just a word to Helikia cutting off the lifeline of manpower that flooded the Tarthian guard.
If the pair were both born on the same planet. They would find the other a dependable friend to call upon. Life, war and experiences caused the two to see the other as a fool for not embracing their chosen format of war. General Sosa wanted a slower pursuit of war with less risk-taking and meticulous planning. Robert, of course, wanted quick and dirty fighting taking the risks as they came. The Iron Drakes wanted to win their battles but with little in the matters of leading regiments. The Iron Drakes simply let this rivalry fester seeing the Helikian Regiments as mobile vicious attackers and the Tarthian Regiments as well as coordinated supporting elements that could accomplish any given task if given enough time.
This of course left the pair arguing well into the night about which regiment got what. Robert fought tooth and nail for air assets while General Sosa wanted every tank he could scrap together. The two never seeing the irony of the situation and simply just trading decided this was a statement the two never fully surrendering their bargaining chip out of pride or spite only historians would know.
The Tarthians and Helikians found each other disagreeing on how war should be fought in not just combat doctrine but in their gear. The Helikians focusing on their mobility and the Tarthians focusing on their protection.
The Helikians found themselves frequently sweating in the deep forests of Tarth. The Xule tribe while nonexistent had given birth to renegade tribes who fought allied tribals. Out of a sense of honor, or what the 5th learned quickly the fear that the Iron Drakes and guard units were the harbingers of the end of days. The civilians didn't enjoy hearing the genocide taking place, so General Sosa politely called it a swift relocation to a better place. The tribesmen summoned monsters seen only in books came to life in the sweltering heat of Tarth more man than beasts, but they were beasts all the same. The Helikians took to the task of throwing the wilderness back with reckless abandon as larger and larger swathes of land were taken by the Iron Drakes.
Eventually, a problem arose, the typical flak jacket was too bulky, cumbersome and useless in this fighting. While no spear could pierce it, it still left much exposed and speed was seen more essential than a few more inches of protection. Some more experienced men did away with their jackets entirely instead of roaming the wilderness with only their lasgun as protection.
Recognizing this problem, a young specialist went to his mother's house and had the first Helikian Plate Carrier invented. It was rather primitive with a cloth vest covering his "kill box" and his flak shoulder pads thrust into the front of the vest for protection. Originally laughed at, the design evolved when an officer saw the merit in such an idea and spoke to the Adeptus Mechanicus about the design.
Days later the Helikian Plate Carrier was created. A plate perhaps a foot long and across that covered the user's torso from the waist up was shoved into a vest that left the shoulders free. The vest could be unclipped from the shoulders or the sides of the guardsmen. The design also incorporated 6 magazine pouches for easy access for the guardsman and various other pouches that could be added if the guardsmen desired such as a laspistol holster or knife sheath to be placed above the sternum leaving the guardsman able to grab almost anything he needed for battle within his chest area instead of dozens of inconvenient places while on the march. The idea was the vest could sustain a guardsman in a battle for a day without the heavy rucksacks used on patrols.
A belt was also created to augment the vest. At his belly line, a dump pouch was created so a guardsman could reload his lasgun and "dump" his empty magazine for storage. The belt offered a place to shove grenades or additional ammo for a laspistol or a single pouch for the rifle. The idea being a guardsman would take off his vest at the earliest convenience but a belt would only be taken off if nature called. This guaranteed on paper enough ammunition for the guardsman to reach his vest and maximize combat efficiency in the ambush haven of the jungle.
Their helmets went under a similar change. The helmet still protected the forehead, but the protection for the ears was seen as disadvantageous as officers noticed scouts wore no helmets as it reduced their hearing ability. The guardsmen also began painting their helmets with all types of designed and placing a netting on top to help distort the fine lines it created to better keep themselves hidden from view.
The result was tribesmen whispering about the ghosts of Tarth. The souls of those slain in the siege coming back to life to take vengeance on those who opposed Imperial rule. Their lasguns were always full and their speed was as fast as the whispering wind. They were feared and respected. The new flak armor also had the unintended effect of reducing production requirements. Two plates were all the forged needed to create before sending them off to textile factories to create the ballistic weaved cloth that created the vest itself that carried the plates which resulted in a booming textile industry on Tarth. Vests while not durable were designed in such a way that the textile factories simply created the vest and pouches and the guardsmen would assemble the vests themselves while off duty. The Helikian vest reached Iron Drake ears which only merited a raised eyebrow and interest in the new thriving industry.
On the other hand, the Tarthian Regiments found themselves with the opposite problem. They fought as armament in the void protecting the Tarthian navy or the trade ships from pirates. A fine line of breaching Imperial edict was resolved by permanently assigning a battalion tota ship which could be disbanded and then reabsorbed into a regiment as "fresh recruits" a practice that wouldn't survive the scrutiny of any paper pusher, but it was good enough to keep most eyes off of them along with a plethora of more excuses. The majority who remained on land also found themselves carrying less than their Helikian counterparts always riding on vehicles or garrisoning dangerous areas.
This gave guardsmen the chance to have regular schedules. A few hours on and then back to the barracks. This meant guardsmen were much more willing to stand guard in full gear as relief was only a shift away. Many of their deaths, unfortunately, were due to their guard duties as they found that whenever they were attacked their foes already knew their schedules and improvised explosives easily killed those unsuspecting guardsmen.
These regiments found themselves needing a better flak armor. The chest plate and shoulder pads did little against unexpected explosions or surprise attacks leaving large areas unprotected. The Tarthian officers simply looked at carapace armor and substituted the carapace with flak. Forearm guards that worked in tandem with heavy gloves. Thigh guards that bled into shin guards with the side of elbow and knee pads. The new armor only left joints exposed. The negatives were 15-20 lbs of additional armor. The solution, of course, was the guardsmen shouldn't be too far from resources to keep them in battle so any additional gear was allocated to vehicles and such.
The armor wasn't without its flaws. The cloth under the armor was still the same leaving the necks and joints with the same degree of protection as before. The armor itself was just flak meaning a foe with a sufficiently powerful weapon found those in breacher plate as slower targets. This armor lacked all the internal perks of the carapace armor they aspired to be. There was no environmental seal off or heat regulation resulting in many to fall unconscious due to heat exhaustion.
Some guardsmen who were designated breachers also received a simple helmet of heavier design. A helmet that looked closer to a green bucket was placed on their heads. A small slit was created to give the breached just enough vision to fire his weapon at his hip. Two "ear holes" were drilled onto opposite ends, and this rounded out the new Tarthian Pattern Breacher Plate.
Unlike the Helikian Plate Carrier, this threw the military factories in a frenzy to fulfill such a tall order. Few Tarthian Regiments received a crateful of this new flak armor with most only able to equip the protection details for its commanding officer. The armor did increase morale for those around it as it was the closest to carapace armor the guard had. Many a time guardsmen watched the users take shots to the chest or watch the user go flying to a grenade to only pick themselves afterward and reach the infirmary hours later.
One innovation the Helikians and Tarthians focused together on was the Tarthian lasgun. 30 rounds a magazine with higher stopping power and a rate of fire determined by a soldier's trigger pull. The lasgun had an intuitive set of iron sights and a slightly decreased weight. It beat most lasguns in all aspects but struggled especially in one area. That being decreased reliability requiring daily wipe downs to thrive which was the main reason it wasn't fully implemented by the guard. If one lacked cleaning oils or tools the lasguns wouldn't jam but instead cause a build-up that would result in the lasgun exploding with the force of a grenade. Until that issue was resolved, it was only used by the fire team's weapon specialist or an especially bold guardsman who understood the risks.
The guard also saw improvements in their mortar systems. Mortars usually were seen as useless on the modern battlefield. The heavy, cumbersome, crew operated and lacking the firepower of similar crew artillery. The mortars were seen as a solution to send smoke screens or quick artillery support for a fireteam element that didn't need the barrage of a basilisk, but they needed support all the same. In the war games, they were also found to be especially useful if they were in high enough concentration to fire at such a speed and volume that it could be used as a firewall as the larger guns reloaded.
The rate of fire was as quick as the mortar team so little to no improvement was made, but the focus went to the tube itself. A new composite of plasteel, ceramite, and other material was used to make the tube more heat resistant allowing more rounds to be slung before needing to cool down. New shells were created to explode in the air or penetrate through pillboxes. A new bipod was created to be sturdier with the expectation the number of rounds going through the tube would cripple any other bipod.
Without a real war, additional innovations were lackluster with a few other ideas that fell out of favor as finding a way for them to fit into conventional forces was less than effective and in some cases like the new vox casters being too sensitive, or the new mines exploding when a leaf too many touched their pressure plates. New ideas were in short supply as the Helikians found their vests giving them easy victories or the Tarthian Breacher Plate in too short supply for any meaningful usage. This would all change with the simple order to mobilize.
The orders came down swiftly. The Iron Drakes had sounded the horn of war. Men mustered quickly on Tarth. Helikian arms rooms were filled to the brim turning a large warehouse into an empty building forcing weapons, ammo, and explosives into the hands of each guardsman. Tarthian engines sang in the wind as they were awakened like the great Drakes of Tarth. Before the order came down to explain this was an exercise or an operation. The 13 regiments toed the line standing in their respective fields waiting for field inspections. By the time officers prowled the ranks with commissars daring a soldier to forget the list of items he was expected to bring the final orders came down.
Ten regiments would be deploying. Only the 6th Line and the 8th Mechanized would be staying home and amongst vassal planets alongside the militia. Everyone else would see combat. For some men, this was an eventuality to be accepted with heartfelt goodbyes and regret that they found themselves in such a situation. A few rarer breeds found themselves in a mass grave for attempted desertion. Most found their ways to their respective transport. A few were blessed with the honor of going onto Iron Drake vessels. The 5th Regiment found itself in the newer transports. Their deployment hangars housed the 3 wings assigned to them along with enough space to theoretically fit all the guardsmen if they were preparing to board and willing to get quite comfortable with their fellows. 5th regiment, upon learning from the Captain Commissar Danzig, remained in the hanger to prevent having to hand over their rifles to the Armsmen. Their pride refused to bow to the armsmen who sat fat in the local bars with the local girls while they spend weeks in the field praying the armsmen didn't leave the bar with their women.
The shipmaster was lenient and allowed the guardsmen to remain in the hanger cramped and armed. The logic being the ship's master could vent the atmosphere and kill them if they decided to rebel. The 5th Regiment refused to bend over for the shipmaster and soon found itself dying from hunger within the day as the shipmaster refused to send food runners to the guardsmen. Eventually, the guardsmen relented and handed over their rifles in exchange for a warm cot, warm meals, and shower habs. It was the worst trade deal of Colonel Moonsun's life but a necessary one.
Despite being the Iron Drake's fleet homegrown and all came united in purpose to serve their Astarte masters for a greater ideal, the trust on both sides seemed paper-thin. The implementation of wings of Valkyries being under guard command instead of naval command sat ill with the blues as some of the guardsmen called them as the crew members of many ships wore uniforms with a distinct blue somewhere on the uniform. The Imperial Guard Regiments saw most of the boon from the Iron Drakes and the navy felt sore for it often petitioning more merits, positions, and funding being given to them. Unfortunately, their expansions in space were far too much to justify when the same amount could arm a regiment with tanks and fighters.
It was a tale as old as the animosity felt between their ancient forefathers in the land of double arches between similar branches of the old empires of old who bickered about dangers and workloads. Today the only difference was the actors playing the part and the truth of which service member had the worst deal of the pair. Objectively decided by outrageously false anecdotes and threats of bodily harm if anything was called into question.
The fleet headed to Betram was one held together from the iron chains of command strung together by the Iron Drakes. A few sections on board the ship found their lives pleasantly eased as arms men found young guardsmen joining them going to lower and lower decks instilling order to pass time by beating rowdy serfs. The pilots also found the guardsmen waiting like loyal dogs to assist them and for some regiments with the deployment orders coming down. Their regiments found themselves in a relaxed environment. Regiments could only train 4 hours a day to prevent training accidents and give the men respite from their hellish regimes. An order given by General Sosa and questioned by none of lower rank than Corporal and slandered by those above the rank sergeant.
The free time was welcomed as they drank, slept and relaxed free from rules and regulations. Tarthian guardsmen instilled order patrolling deep into the lower decks earning more than a few bruises, but the favor of their naval complement. The Rivian guardsmen found themselves debating the finer points of joining the Iron Drakes banner as they had yet to truly bend the knee as their planet still felt the pains of the Plague War. A few of the tribal and Taspapus members organized something closer to knightly duels using sticks of various makes to fight. The armsmen enjoyed these guardsmen the most for it naturally created a betting pool that any armsman worth his salt took advantage of. The Helikians were found in their "caves" of huge barracks with every conceivable light blocked and men asleep in their bunks. This caused a false sense of mystery for the regiment with few knowing that this was the closest these men would receive on vacation before they were thrown into the flames of war or worst. Being thrown to the dreaded training regimes enforced by psychotic NCOs and commissars.
Eventually, purgatory had to draw to a close as Betram called for help, and the first Ork vessel was spotted and the ship was put on battle standby. The marines would move into their series of drop pods or Thunderhawks. The guard would mount Valkyries and cumbersome landing craft. Only 4 regiments would land and fight the Orks at full strength. The rest would be placed on standby until the Iron Drakes orders the second wave to take positions to strengthen their hold on the main continent. They were to fight on a world few knew existed and fewer could recall their main tithe. Officers ran around their ships looking for any auspex data or maps. Guardsmen said their prayers and reported to their transport and a lucky few had the chance to see the Astarte walk by guaranteeing them good luck.
A/N
A very short chapter to chronicle the advancements of the guard. I plan on the War for Betram lasting 3-4 chapters. It'll continue to chronicle Robert at the strategic level and down to the battlefield. I don't know exactly how I want to switch between Robert politicking and the grunts pounding the ground. We will see unless those few readers that read this have a different desire to see the guard at work. I also plan on reworking the grammar of earlier chapters and eventually changing them to fit a more independent narrative from the Iron Drakes to get a better feel for the early colonist days and such, but that won't happen for months if not years. I definitely took liberties with the lore eg. Commissars, mortar systems and such. I just felt like it would be a better touch to add to this story. By all means, if you love it hate it just tell me it goes a far way with finding where my left and right limits are. Either way, expect another chapter sometime mid-February.