Chapter 38

The Chaos Wars Begin

I decided to add a list of all of the factions that will be in this story from both the Star Wars and Warhammer 40K galaxies. I am also going to put them in terms of Alliances that they would be in at this chapter; I may update this as the story goes along.

The Coalition

Galactic Federation of Free Alliances: Members include the New Republic, The Jedi Order, Dathomir, Imperial Remnant, Hapes Consortium, Bothan Space, Corporate Sector and Bakura

Imperium of Mankind: Members include the Imperium and the Adeptus Mechanicus

Forces of Chaos

Legions of the Dark Gods: Members include the World Eaters of Khorne, Emperors Children of Slaanesh, Death Guard of Nurgle, Thousand Sons of Tzeentch and the Night Lords of Shingai

Chaos Undivided: Other Chaos legions including the Word Bearers, Iron Warriors, Black Legion and the Alpha Legion

Independent Nations

Eldar Craftworlds: Members include the known Craftworlds of Alaitoc, Altansar, Biel-Tan, Il-Kaithe, Lyanden, Iybraesil, Kaelor, Lugganath, Saim-Hann, Ulthwe and Yme-Loc. Possibly more.

Chiss Ascendancy

Tau Empire

Mandalorian Sector

Ork Empires

Yuuzhan Vong Nation

Tyranid Hive-Fleets

Alliance of Zonama Sekot: An Alliance of Yuuzhan Vong and Feorrians on the living planet of Zonama Sekot

Necron

Hutt Space

Dark Eldar Raiders

Dissolved Empires

Ssi-Ruuvi Imperium

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Lord Inquisitor Silvermaine stood on the command deck of the Imperium diplomatic cruiser, a Lunar-class cruiser named the Emperor's Hand watching the bluish swirls and movements of the wormhole as it continued its usual cycle. All around it was a mass of old platforms retrofitted with special equipment to keep the anomaly safe and stable.

A little further out from the wormhole was a cluster of old freighters, guarded over by three Imperial-class star destroyers, ready to make their jump to his home galaxy with their precious cargo, hundreds of metric tonnes of bacta. It took months to secure the trading agreements between the two empires and Silvermaine just hoped that the High Lords understood just how difficult it was.

After six months of negotiating with the Galactic Senate he came to the conclusion that the day he re-entered the mushroom shaped senate building again would be a day to soon. All they did was quarrel amongst themselves, a hundred thousand voices calling out at once to be heard within the maelstrom. Silvermaine participated during the 13th black crusade, he had been in the thick of battle, gunfire had screamed past his ears, he had heard the near deafening booms of artillery and orbital fire and he could safely say that the senate gave him a headache.

"They are on their way my lord"

"Yes admiral they are"

Begin Flashback

"Honourable representatives of the Galactic Alliance" Silvermaine boomed from his hover-platform within the great chamber of the Alliance senate "I come before you today as a representative from the great Imperium of Mankind to give you a warning. The forces of chaos are on your doorstep, even now they are gathering their armies and armadas for all-out war against your Alliance, these murderers have been responsible for a number of unforgivable acts from genocide to the destruction of entire worlds in our home galaxy. They cannot be reasoned with" as he spoke he heard the senators begin to murmur amongst themselves, all had seen the evidence and knew exactly what the vile traitors were capable of "But I also come here today with an offer of help. We of the Imperium of Mankind have, Emperor willing, fought these monsters for over ten thousand years, we know how they fight, we know how they plan and we know how to beat them. I come here today with an offer of alliance between our two galaxy-spanning empires to that we…WE, can join forces and rid the universe of these monsters once and for all!!!"

A near deafening round of applause sounded from the entire senate, every senator had risen from their chairs on they're hover-platforms and clapped their hands. Confident the Lord Inquisitor sat back down on his chair and conversed with his fellow representatives, along with him was the aging, half mechanical form of Admiral Julius, Inquisitor Vallace and the intimidating forms of two space marines from the dreaded Ultramarines flanking them with their bolters held tightly against their chests.

He looked out over the senators present and suppressed a shudder of revulsion; many of the platforms were taken up by xeno's. Some like the tail-headed Twi'lek and pink-skinned Zeltron representatives were not so bad to look at but others like the Rodians and the Bith made him feel physically sick. If he was in his home galaxy he knew that his marines would have raised their bolters and happily opened fire. Such actions would be suicidal in this situation however, for both himself and the Imperium. He knew that even though they would probably win in a war of aggression they would take almost crippling casualties.

"If I may step forward Chief of State Omas?" a soft, feminine yet firm voice echoed through the chamber, demanding the attention of all present, including the Imperium officials.

"The chair recognises the representative from the sovereign nation of Naboo" Omas stated with a nod from his central podium.

There was the snap of a clamp being released and another platform hovered up into position alongside the Imperium's. Standing on the platform was the slender form of a woman, human, with long chocolate brown hair tied up in an elaborate hairstyle, dressed in flowing robes of purple. Her skin was unblemished and her eyes were a deep dark brown, when she spoke her voice was like the finest silk.

"Lord Inquisitor" she said, locking her deep brown orbs with his "I have done extensive researching into the history of your Imperium and have to ask this simple question. Your empire has been known to be xenophobic, militaristic, highly religious and has a reputation for being expansionist. How do we now that once this war with the forces of Chaos is finished that you will not spin around and stab us in the back?"

There were sudden murmurs of agreement which echoed throughout the entire senate chamber. The Inquisitor felt the Admiral and marines tense and instinctively tighten their grips on their pistols and bolters. He silently cursed them, the Jedi representatives were present and they were notorious for sensing the feelings of individuals.

"You do your homework senator" Silvermaine said, gaining a group of murderous glares from his fellows "But if you truly researched you will find that when we make a promise we keep it. If we say that we will back you and the Alliance in this fight then we will back you. If we say that we wish an alliance then we will not as you say 'stab you in the back'…we are a people who prize honour above most else"

The Inquisitor said that while keeping his eyes locked with the senators, neither one backing down. Finally after several moments of tense silence she closed her eyes and smiled, her features softening "Thank you my lord" she said "That is all that I wanted to hear"

End Flashback

The rest of the session passed by with the Inquisitor answering the senates questions on how this trading and military alliance would effect them as a whole and in part. A month later the alliance was signed by the Chief of State, the High Lords, the GA supreme commander and an Imperium warmaster.

The name of this new alliance was known as the Coalition.

As Lord Inquisitor Silvermaine stood on the command deck of the Imperium diplomatic cruiser watching the cluster of freighters vanish into the wormhole he found himself thinking about that young senator from Naboo and considering that if she had been born in the Imperium she would have become a fine Inquisitor, the reason, not afraid to ask difficult questions.

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The star destroyer escorts came through the wormhole first, three Imperial star destroyers formed up in a V, they were followed by a cluster of freighters, each carrying a precious cargo of bacta from one galaxy to the other. Meeting them at the other side were hundreds of warships and weapons platforms, their massive gun barrels and torpedo launchers aimed at the new arrivals. The crews of the Alliance ships were very tense, even though they were told that it was only standard procedure the amount of firepower aimed at them was enough to completely disintegrate a planet.

The star destroyers hovered to a stop in orbit, allowing the smaller freighters to descend to the surface, from orbit an honour flight of over a hundred Thunderbolt starfighters launched from nearby space stations and fell into formation around the clumsy freighters, creating a protective blanket against any threat. The Imperium had worked on getting this cargo for far too long, they would not allow anyone to threaten it.

As the freighters finally passed by the atmosphere they descended further, through the clouds and early morning mist towards their assigned landing point, a swath of towers and spires on the outskirts of the Imperial Palace with landing pads attached big enough for an Executer Star Dreadnought to comfortably land on. As the freighters landed their great rampways opened, allowing the teams of waiting Tech-priests and servitors to unload the precious cargo. Surrounding the landing pads was an entire Imperial Guard regiment and two companies of the Imperial Fists space marine chapter. The presence of so many soldiers made the Alliance crews nervous but thankfully the exchange was made without any problems, four hours after they landed the freighters were unloaded and were making preparations to take to the air once more.

Within the great Imperial Palace were the high lords meeting chamber, a massive room at least a mile long and a mile high, the walls were decorated with a great tapestry depicting events that took place during the Great Crusade, statues of great warriors and Imperial heroes stood against the walls once every six meters, their weapons held high in salute to the Imperium they fought and died for. In the centre of the great meeting hall was the twelve High Lords of Terra, the leaders of the Imperium in the emperor's absence, each one representing a major organisation within the Imperium of Humanity.

"The Alliance has stayed true to their word" the Lord of the Administratum, decked out in his green and black robes said "The bacta has arrived and been exchanged without incident"

"If it wasn't for they're pathetic bureaucracy it would have been done in half the time" the Master Inquisitor murmured, just loud enough for the others to hear.

"It cannot be helped" the Fabricator General replied "That is just the way they do things, remember Master Inquisitor that the Alliance is not the Imperium"

"No if they were the Imperium they wouldn't ally themselves with foul xenos or use heretical AI" the Grand Provost Marshal shot "They are nothing but heretics and xeno-lovers, why must we ally ourselves with them when we should be pounding them into the ground?"

"Although the Alliance may look like nothing more than a bureaucracy they are similar to us in that they control much of their own galaxy, their technology and military power is similar to ours plus going to war against them would put a high strain on already thin resources"

"What heretical nonsense are you spattering" the Lord of the Astronomicon growled "We could crush them with a single crusade fleet"

"And where my dear lord would we find this crusade fleet" the Fabricator General shot back heatedly "In terms of territory and military power they are our equal, they do not have enemies on all sides so their forces are not stretched thin like ours are"

"He speaks the truth" the Master Inquisitor added, if hesitantly "Do you truly believe that we can afford to make an enemy out of the alliance in our currant state?"

"The emperor is with us" the Astronomicon lord replied "He will not allow us to be defeated"

"That may be" the Inquisitor replied "But consider this, the Cadian Gate is still recovering from the great enemies last crusade, the eastern fringe is being battered by Tyranid splinter fleets and Tau incursions, the Orks have massed a fresh invasion into the Armageddon sector. If we launch a crusade into the Alliance galaxy and it fails then we will have made an enemy who can strike us right at our very heart"

"Once the emperor is revived then we will let him decide on a course of action against the Galactic Alliance" the General intervened "Until then we will work with them to ensure that the forces of Chaos do not get anymore powerful"

"Agreed"

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The emperor lay suspended within the healing liquids of the golden throne, his psychic senses forever scouring across the length and breadth of the galaxy, watching over the million odd worlds that were part of the galaxy-spanning Imperium of Mankind. There was one event that had his full attention, that event was the masses of bacta being shipped from the other galaxy.

It would not all happen at once; he would not be healed overnight, not with the wounds that his lost son Horus had inflicted upon him. It would happen slowly, perhaps taking a few years worth of treatments before his wounds could be properly healed, his strength would slowly increase and once he was strong enough his body would begin to heal itself, then he would be ready to take the mantel of emperor once more.

A sudden series of psychic shockwaves brought his attention to the tainted swirls of the eye of terror. He strengthened his gaze tenfold, shooting through the swirling multicoloured clouds of the eye. He saw nothing, but the feeling remained, he strengthened his sight again, his gaze flying past the new gateway between the two eyes in the other galaxy. He saw a fleet of warships rivalling the size of the fleet Abaddon assembled for the 13th Black Crusade, thousands of warships ranging in size from simple escort gunships and frigates to massive cruisers and battlecruisers, there were even several Despoiler and Desolator-class battleships.

At the lead of this impressive armada was the massive armoured form of a super battleship at least fifty kilometres in length, a mass of weapon emplacements set upon layer upon layer of armoured platting, the entire warship was built around the massive barrel of an energy weapon of immeasurable power, powerful enough to crack the crust of a planet. The name of this abomination of this destruction is known with fear and hatred throughout the galaxy, The Planet Killer.

As his eyes continued to survey the immense war-fleet he saw several front waves of warships vanish into warp tears towards the recently made fortress world of Bakura where the Alliance's combined sector fleets and Imperium battle-fleets were converging. The first battle between the Alliance and the forces of Chaos was about to begin.

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Bakura had become a fortress world rivalling the likes of the Cadian gate. The beautiful world was now protected behind line upon line of thousands of weapon and missile platforms, massive orbital space stations, armed with powerful weapons and holding hundreds of starfighters were strategically positioned around the inner planets and moons. On the surrounding moons were recently built ion cannons and energy batteries, specially created to destroy orbiting capital-ships, underground bases and refuelling stations were built into the crust of the moons where hundreds of starfighters and bombers were situated. Ground based turbolaser batteries and ion cannons, built into bunkers and at the mouths of hangers stretched out across the surface, turning the orbiting planetoids into deadly fortresses.

On Bakura itself lines of trenches, gun turrets, pill boxes and minefields surrounded the major cities and bases. Anti-air and anti-space batteries had been strategically placed everywhere and many of the civilian population had volunteered for the planets defence forces. Tens of thousands of soldiers from stormtrooper legions and GA rifle brigades had assembled from across the Alliance along with five regiments of Imperial Guard and at least three groundside space marine companies. Teams of Jedi had been dispatched with the Imperium psykers to protect the key military personnel.

From the main balcony of the Bakuran senate General Valers watched as columns of white armoured stormtroopers stood at attention in the city centre of Salis D'aar, the city centre had become a staging ground where groups of Acclamator-class Assault ships were setting down and unloading their compliments of troops, supplies and munitions.

Standing with the general were fellow generals from both the Alliance and the Imperium including Brother-captain Gabriel Angelos, general Wedge Antilles and Jedi senior general Kyp Durron.

Behind them were the brown robed forms of the six Jedi that were sent from Ossus with Durron to act as their protectors, all veterans of the Yuuzhan Vong wars the general felt safe just knowing that they were present. Along with the Jedi were a company of veteran Imperial Guards, another company of the Empires dreaded red-robed Royal Guards and two squads of the Blood Ravens veteran 1st company.

The interior of the senate had been turned into an operations and coordination centre with the walls of the chambers covered with communications and early warning computer consoles. Along with normal operators and technicians were groups of Imperium astropaths, lounging in their chairs against ancient consoles, wires with parchment markers and purity seals connected their implants to the main core of the organisation systems. Several rooms were converted into coordination and radar operating centres with massive holo-tables specially brought in too oversee the entire system including the planets, defence lines and even the clusters of warships.

Alarms sounded from several consoles and every astropath straightened in sudden alertness, their archaic consoles lighting up and sending off alarms along with the Alliance consoles.

"They are here" they shouted in unison "They've come!"

Sorry this took so long but with the next chapter the Chaos Wars will officially begin with the next chapter, not sure what to call it yet.