The Imperium of Taraak
Chapter Three
The Imperial Guard deployed in gunships. They were dropped off and instructed to begin fortifying. The 203rd Cadian regiment was newly founded, but that did not mean the men in it were inexperienced. The 203rd was created with the combination of multiple understrength regiments, each man was a veteran of the siege of Cadia. The engineers set up bunkers and deployable cover made of plasteel and rockcrete Heavy weapons teams set up kill-zones, everyone else dug trenches. The artillery was set into place and armour was prepared. The men went about their business with grim silence. Knowing full well that the man beside them may very well not be there once the fighting had ended. The men were glad to be off ship. While Man's Conviction was an impressive ship it wasn't designed as a troop carrier, the men had been put into cramped quarters with very little privacy, well, less privacy than usual anyway.
The female security teams were assigned to help the men wherever they could. They had decided to not wear their regular space suits.
"Do you really want to be an image of terror and fear to the men while surrounded by five thousand armed and nervus male soldiers?" BC asked them when they protested. The answer was obvious.
After five hours the fortifications were going along surprisingly fast. The men had set up at trench system in circular layers, like an onion, though the men seemed confused at the metaphor. The trench system had a radius of half a kilometer. The most inner layer was constructed of rockcrete and plasteel. Bunkers and pillboxes were set us as well as deployable cover. Artillery Pieces were set in place, including Basilisks, Earthshaker Cannons, Heavy Siege Mortars, Manticores, and numerous kinds siege tanks were set up, anti-air Hydra platforms were set up to protect the base, artillery, and trenches from enemy air and space-craft. Medical stations were set up. Duelo had joined the rest of the male medics, Paiway had decided to accompany him. The next layer out was almost exactly the same as the layer before it with the exception of Artillery positions. Pillboxes and bunkers were set up extensively with heavy weapon teams positioned in key areas. The trenches were set up with kill zones and chokepoints. There were five more trench layers after that, the most outer trenches were no more than ditches for troops to take cover in, but it would serve it's purpose. Man's Conviction floated in orbit, its mighty cannons charged and it's fighter squadrons ready for launch. There would be no point in trying to signal for reinforcements, the signal would take years to reach Cadia, the closest occupied planet, even at light speed. The Nirvana and it's sister ship floated near by.
BC looked at the multiple officers gathered before her. Brigadier General Calik, Lord Commissar Lendik, Colonel Alinet, Major Polik, Colonel Dertard, Colonel Terutred, Captain Kelas. Those were the Imperial Officers gathered before her. As for female officers there was herself, and Renie Lara, the recently promoted Security team leader. Bc sighed, this was going to be difficult, she could tell.
"Alright everyone listen up!" Bc ordered. A holo-map appeared on the table they were centered around. "The basic plan is to maintain our defensive perimeter for as long as we can, while we do that our space assets deal with their fleet and their ground forces. Hopefully, we can convince them that we are too tough a nut to crack and ruin their moral and they'll pull back." BC explained.
"That won't work." Calik said shaking his head. "I fought the Harvest for three months while I was on Cadia. Harvest ground troops don't fall back. It appears they are controlled remotely by a hive-mind, with the exception of the cultists. The don't pull out unless ordered to by the hive-mind. The only way to deal with them is extermination."
"Then what would you suggest we do?" BC asked Calik.
"Reinforcements is out of the question, all of our ships that are capable of FTL are need here. What we need to do is maintain our defensive perimeter, as Uragasumi suggested." Calik said now addressing the other officers. "However, once air superiority is firmly ours well will go on the offensive. We shall cleanse them as sin is cleansed from a soul, there shall be nothing left but bodies and the victorious war cries of the Imperium of Man!" Calik proclaimed.
"AVE IMPERATOR" Shouted the male officers. Their backs stiffening.
"Um… where should I deploy the security teams?" Renie asked shily.
"You will deploy your troops in support and keep them in reserve." Lord Commissar Lendik told her. The aura of fear surrounding him kept Renie from protesting.
"With our Hydra platforms in place they will be forced to deploy on open ground with little cover. This works to our advantage. Artillery and bombing runs will be most effective at long range, once they get close enough our infantry and armour will open fire. From that point on it will be trench warfare. With the Emperor's blessing we will hold the Harvest back and we shall cleanse them from the Emperor's gaze." Calik reported. There was a round of approving sounds from the male officers.
"Lord Commissar Lendik, I presume your men are spread through the guardsmen's ranks to ensure order?" Calik asked the Lord Commissar. Lendik nodded.
"Very good, now lets go over the plan in more detail shall we." Calik suggested.
Twenty Minutes Later
"Sir!" A radar operator on Man's Conviction called to the OOW (Officer Of the Watch).
"What is it?" the OOW demanded.
"Harvest forces increasing speed for deployment, their in range of our main batteries!" the radar operator answered him.
"Understood, alert the bridge." the OOW said
"Yes sir."
Captain Runch watched as the Harvest fleet approached his position.
"Sir, enemy ships in range of long distance and main cannons." A gunnery officer reported.
"Very good, begin preparing firing solutions and bring the ship to combat level." Runch ordered. Combat alarms began to sound and deep in the belly of the ship gun crew began preparing their cannon's. Taraak naval cannons were a combination of conventional artillery and Mass Acceleration technology. A shell that had roughly the same powder charge of a Demolisher round was loaded into the cannon, then when fired the charge would get the round to supersonic speeds, it would then have its velocity further increased with the powerful propulsion of the Mass Accelerators integrated through the two dozen meter long barrel making the round have a velocity of 15,000 kilometers per second. The gunnery crews had to wear helmets with special designed hearing protection. No one, third class or High Lord could enter the gun chambers where the cannons were loaded without hearing protection. Man's Conviction had sixty of these Cannons on its sides, on the ships front there were two long distance Cannons, they were basically the main broadside cannons but with the specs doubled.
The long distance MAC cannons were loaded with disrupter rounds, on impact or a timer the rounds would explode, disrupting enemy electronics, E.M.P. rounds essentially. The two MAC cannons fired, Runch felt the recoil even from his command Throne. After a few seconds two bright flashes signaled the E.M.P. activation.
"So it begins." Runch mused.
When the alarms sounded the men were ready. They deployed quickly and professionally. Magazines were loaded, safeties were turned off, and eyes looked onward to the horizon.
The Harvest approached the moon with surprising speed. Man's Conviction had turned to present its broadside and it had launched it's fighters. The Nirvana and its sistership launched there dreads and added their own weapons to the fray.
"Target their troop carriers." Runch ordered.
"Aye sir."
The ship maneuvered a small amount and then fired its tracking torpedoes. The troop carriers of the Harvest descended onto the moon a short distance away from the base.
"Enemy dropships incoming, get ready", that was the message that sounded through the com. Seconds later the Hydra platforms began firing. Guardsmen looked up to Harvest gunships and dropships. The alien aircraft were quickly chased away by the Hydras.
"Enemy troop ships landing two kilometers away from the defense." a console operator told Calik.
"Signal the artillery, purge them." Calik ordered. Moments later, the guns of the Imperium open fired. The ground shook with the fury of the emperor.
Two kilometers away, the ground exploded with the fury and anger of a god. Many of the Harvest troops were obliterated before they even knew that they were under fire. The survivors headed towards the position of those to be harvested.
"Adjust aim! -18.3!" An artillery sergeant bellowed over the noise of the guns into his gun-crew-wide com. The roar of the guns so loud that even with his voice transmitting directly to the gun crews ears he still had to shout at the top of his lungs.
"Load EarthShaker round!"
The crew swiftly loaded the massive round into the Earthshaker Cannon.
"FIRE!" The sergeant felt the ground shift under his feet. The Earthshaker round had been ordered by command. Whatever it was that they told his gun to aim it they wanted it sent to oblivion.
Sergeant Sokolov of the Kasrkin 183rd company 3rd platoon's grin grew as he heard the Earthshaker round fly through the air.
Artillery boys are really going to town aren't they? He thought. He heard the Artillery fire get closer and closer.
"Get ready here they come!" He warned his men. Sokolov readied his rifle.
"Come on, bring on the hell." He said quietly to himself. He saw the glowing blue head of a human husk peaked itself over the horizon.
"Hold fire until they're in range." Sokolov ordered. They waited, and waited, and waited. Until finally,
"Open fire, cleanse the bastards." Sokolov ordered. Hs squad open fired. The Husks came first, they always come first. Human corpses repurposed by the Harvest. They were little more than a distraction, but they screened the rest of the Harvest troops behind them, protecting them from small arms fire. Behind them came the Marauders, repurposed humans like the husks, but still retained enough cognitive ability to fire a rifle and take cover and at times would be wearing armour, telling the soldiers facing them what might have happened to their fallen comrades. Then there were the crazies, the cultists, the madmen who joined the Harvest, they mutilated themselves and became something less human, something… other. There were the brutes, things from an alien race harvested and repurposed by the Harvest. Sokolov had seen men ripped in half from the waist by the brutes. They were massive, three to four meters tall. There was also the Ravagers, they looked like they were from an insectoid alien race. They had small scale artillery mounted on their backs. They had large egg sacks that carried smaller mechanical insects, about the size of a frag grenade and exploded just like one. They were small and could get under lines of fire, sneak up to enemy lines and them boom, down goes three more men.
Sokolov's squad unloaded round after round into the enemies bodies. But they just kept coming.
"Signal for support and reinforcements." Sokolov ordered.
"Major sir, Sergeant Sokolov of the Kasrkin 183rd Company 3rd platoon is requesting reinforcements and support." a trooper said to Major Polik.
"Send in a second platoon and a squad of females. And get them armour support as well." Major Polik ordered.
"Yes sir." The trooper saluted and sent the major's orders through the com.
Lieutenant Alex Webb of the 2nd Company 2nd platoon heard his orders through the com. He immediately got his platoon moving. Sergeant Sokolov was positioned on the east side of the trench network. A squad of females had joined Webb's platoon. When he first heard that females would be joining him he was slightly uneased. There was simply no telling what females would do. But when he saw them he relaxed. They weren't even wearing armour and their fresh faces spoke of inexperience. His men could handle them if they decided to turn. His men hurried through the trench system. If Webb didn't have the map he had he and his men would likely become lost.
"Coxi, signal Sergeant Sokolov, ETA to his position six minutes." Webb ordered his com-trooper.
"Reinforcements incoming, ETA six minutes, lets see if there will be any left for them." Sokolov said jokingly to his squad.
"Fix bayonets." He ordered. There was the sound of war knives being attached to gun barrels.
A Husk leaped into the trench. Sokolov skewered him in the chest with his bayonet. A cultist followed, knocking Sokolov over. Sokolov landed hard on his back. He grabbed the cultists head and slammed it into his armoured knee. There was a sickening crunch and the cultists nose broke in a spectacular and bloody fashion. Sokolov then grabbed the mad mans throat and slammed the cultists head against the side of the trench. Sokolov squeezed. The cultist struggled furiously, clawing at Sokolov's arm and hand. Sokolov put his left hand on the cultists cheek and pushed, snapping the spinal cord. Sokolov was knocked to the ground. Looking up he saw a marauder aiming its rifle at him. Sokolov snapped his legs at the marauders ankles. The marauder fell to the ground. Sokolov rolled on top of the marauder, trying to pin it down. Struggling Sokolov drew his pistol. The marauder made a grab for the weapon. Using his superior strength Sokolov pivoted the pistol towards the marauder. Sokolov pulled the trigger, the round put a fist sized hole in the marauders head. With the marauder dead Sokolov reached for his rifle. He checked his surroundings. His men were fighting off the enemy with an animal like furocity. But it wasn't enough. If they didn't do something quick they would be overrun. But they were Kasrkin, no mercy and no retreat. They would hold.
"Stand brothers! Stand to the last, for the Emperor, for the Imperium of Man!" Sokolov shouted. Switching his weapon to semi-auto so he wouldn't hit any of his men. He fired a round into cultist. The armour piercing round tore through the cultist and into the marauder in front of him. A Husk tried to tackle Sokolov to the ground. Swinging his rifle around the Kasrkin split the Husk's skull open.
It continued on like that. Details were lost and it all just blended together. Sokolov had no idea how much time had passed. His entire existence consisted of the grey ground, the blood of the enemy, and the sound all consuming violence. He had gained countless minor wounds during the fray. In his mind, he hoped reinforcements would be arriving soon.
Jeannine Caryn struggled to keep up with the men as they moved through the trench system. Jeannine wasn't fat, quite the opposite, she was thin and had a light build. The result of careful dieting. Her chest heaved as she ran after the men. Soon she heard shouting, explosions, and gunfire.
"Come on! Move move move!" Someone shouted. The men surged forwards, eager for battle. Jeannine followed after them.
Sokolov was thrown against the trench wall painfully from the blast of a grenade. His wind was thoroughly knocked out of him. A cultist jumped onto his prone body. Reacting on instinct Sokolov punched the madman in the throat, crushing it with his augmented strength. The cultist clutched his throat as he tried to breath. Drawing his secondary warknife Sokolov stabbed him in the skull, twisted, and cut his head open. Blood and brain matter rained on his armour. He paid it no mind.
"Come on! Move move move!" Sokolov heard someone shout. Looking up, he saw his reinforcements. A medic rushed up to him.
"Sir, just stay down and let me look at that." the medic told him.
"I'm fine, it's not my blood." Sokolov told him. Trying to stand.
"Sir you're shot. As a medic I am ordering you to lie still." the medic ordered him.
"What are you-?" Sokolov asked, looking down at his armour he realized he was indeed shot. He didn't even feel it.
"Very well." He grunted. The medic nodded.
"Get a stretcher over here!" He shouted, just before sokolov bled out.
All Across the battlefield similar scenes played out. The men put up a valiant defense, but they were slowly being pushed back. Inch by bloody inch.
Authors Note: Sorry for the long wait, I've just had a lot going on. So this is one of my few battle scenes. What do you think, criticism is always welcome?