Chapter 59
Battle of Sluis Van
Forlorn Hope
Sergeant Chevron snapped his neck to the right, and then the left, dodging the beak like maw of the Fury as it tried snapping at his exposed head. He hit his head as he fell from the wrecked starfighter, causing his vision to swim and his strength to leave him. As his vision returned he found his bolter lying several feet out of his reach, his combat knife still sheathed to the small holster on his waist, also just out of reach. His battle brothers were running to him, unable to get off a clear shot for fear of hitting him. They weren't going to make it in time, his brothers knew it and he knew it.
There was a snap and a blade of light cut through the daemons back, piercing straight through where a human's heart would be. The beast shivered before vanishing to crimson mist. With a wave of nausea the Fist slowly sat up and watched as the ice blue blade which he just recognised as a lightsabre shot past him and into the waiting hand of the alien pilot, who was leaning heavily against the area where the canopy once was. She looked at him as she slipped the lightsabre hilt into a holster on her side and managed a weak smile before losing consciousness.
The Crimson Fist snarled, once he could write off as luck but she had saved him twice now. He had to save her, his pride and honour as a Space Marine, an immortal warrior of the Emperor would call for no less. He forced himself up to his feet, hoping that his heavily modified immune system would cope with his possible concussion. He pulled the slender female out of the cockpit, slinging her over his shoulder and took off towards his battle brothers, who were firing at a group of Traitor Guards.
"Withdraw brothers" Chevron ordered as he moved to their side, holding the unconscious xeno with one arm and a bolter in the other, squeezing off shots at any Chaos traitor which reared its ugly face as he issued the order. His brothers nodded and began pulling back, firing off rounds as they went.
Finally they reached the second line of defence. A makeshift barrier of turned over cars and dug up concrete. Imperial Guardsmen, Alliance Marines, Stormtroopers and Space Marines had retreated behind the wall of debris. Mortar teams and tanks were positioned a little further back to supply artillery fire for the line. Other contingents of troops were positioned in the surrounding buildings. Snipers and heavy weapon crews hauling blast cannons and stubbers were positioned at windows while more snipers, machine gun nests and shock squads armed with anti-tank weapons were on the rooftops. Chevron and his two battle brothers clambered over the five meter high barrier before slipping back down. He found his squad along with squads of Blood Ravens and Imperial Scythes either on the barrier or within buildings preparing for the coming assault.
"Medic" Chevron called and waited as a duo of medics bearing the insignias of the Alliance ran up to them. They were both human women, one tall and lean with long black hair tied up in a ponytail while the other was petite with shoulder length blonde hair. He handed them the unconscious pilot, seeing with some amusement as they set her down on the ground, unable to hold up her weight even though she was as light as a feather to the huge marine.
The two medics carefully removed the alien's helmet, causing two long head tails to be released. The Sergeant took a closer look at the xeno who saved him and was saved in return. She had a remarkably human face. Her features sharp and beautiful, her skin, if not charred would have been a deep oceanic blue. The medics checked her vitals before calling for a stretcher to take the Jedi away. He turned to the blonde medic and said "When she wakes up tell her we're even!"
The petite medic, obviously nervous of the massive bioengineered super soldier nodded timidly before turning to help her fellows carry the unconscious Jedi away. The heretical chanting of the approaching Chaos hordes was just barely visible by now, gunfire sounded and artillery fired as they approached. Pushing his thoughts away from his mind Sergeant Chevron of the Crimson Fists reloaded his bolter, pushing an engraved rune to let the empty magazine fall to the ground before slamming a new one in and running to his squad, who were positioning themselves on the barrier. There was a battle which still needed to be fought.
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Tanneth Blake was one of the lesser Chaos Lords in Abaddons Crusade of the galaxy. A lord of the dreaded blood soaked World Eaters legion, the legion of the blood god himself, the legion of Khorne. He wore the red power armour, with engraved gold of the Blood Legion, a power sword sheathed at his waist and a chain sword slung to his back. He stalked through the city streets completely unafraid of the crimson lasfire and bolter shells, hordes of bony cultists running past him with their crude lasguns and arcane melee weapons, the look in their eyes one of insanity and bloodlust. These shells of men had lost their humanity long ago, just like him.
The Chaos Lord saw the defensive line now and with a grin of wicked insanity drew his power-sword and pointed it at the wall. That was the signal. The Cultists wailed and cried out their devotion to the dark gods as they began running. Traitor Guard broke from their columns and approached more cautiously, making sure that there was some cover near them. The Berserkers had no such concern, they just ran, their war axes held over their heads, mumbling mantras and yelling their allegiances.
"For the Dark Go-" the lead Berserker screamed before a bolter shell struck him in the helm, disintegrating his face. The body just fell forward, vanishing in the advancing swarms of Chaos cannon fodder a few moments later. The other four Berserkers ran on regardless of the death of their comrade. They ran on regardless of the lines of mutants and cultists which were being mowed down all around them. Mortar fire struck the depleting fodder, killing more in explosions of fire, weapons and bloodied bodies. Snipers aimed for the leaders including Champions and Berserkers which were difficult to bring down even with their armour piercing rounds.
Finally the first line reached the base of the barrier and began to climb, none of that wave made it too the top as they were mowed down by suppressing fire from not just the soldiers on the top of the barrier but the machine guns and laser cannons on the rooftops of surrounding buildings. With a roar Blake began running forward within the rapidly dwindling numbers of cannon fodder, as he reached the base he bent his knees and jumped, his superior strength, enhanced by the powers of Chaos allowed him to ascend higher than any regular mortal and land perfectly on the barrier.
The Imperial Guardsmen around him could only look up baffled at the towering immortal in power armour. Tanneth looked down, grinned and decapitated one with a swing of his power sword. He then stabbed the blade through the face of another guard, cleaving it in two like a melon. A stormtrooper came running at him then, his blaster firing sporadically, the crimson bolts ricocheting his armour. Blake's grin did not diminish. He reached back with his free hand and grabbed the hilt of the slung chain sword. The Lord pulled the trigger on the hilt, allowing the chainsaw blade to come to life, he then swung it, the blade grinding through the white armour, splitting bone and splattering blood.
He stood there power sword in one hand, chain sword in the other, both blades covered in oozing layers of crimson blood. Khorne Berserkers chose that moment to clamber over the wall, chanting and laughing as they quenched their thirst for blood by cleaving Imperial Guard and other soldiers into bloodied chunks with chain axes. As the Berserkers jumped down the other side of the barrier to continue the assault on the defenders the lord descended more slowly, more deliberately. There was reason behind this, he was scanning the defenders, Imperial Guardsmen, Remnant Stormtroopers, Alliance marines and to his glee three squads of Space Marines, Imperial Scythes, Crimson Fists and Blood Raven's.
He jumped towards the reorganising line of defenders and stuck his power sword into the chest of another Imperial Guard, using his booted foot to force the dead man off his blade. He swung with his chain sword then, watching with glee as blood spurted and bones were shattered by the contact. He began walking again, watching with excitement as the remaining few soldiers began to back away from him. He crossed his blades, using them as shields against the incoming las and blaster fire.
"Blood for the Blood God" he whispered with a grin "Blood for the blood god, blood for the blood god, blood for the blood god!!!"
"For the great father and the emperor!" a voice replied.
Blake spun in time to block a power sword intent of running him through. Its wielder, a Blood Raven Space Marine brought all of his weight forward and forced him to stumble backwards. The Chaos lord steadied himself and swung with his free chain sword, aiming to cleave the Marine in two. The Blood Raven ducked the decapitating blow and stabbed his sword forward, aiming to pierce through the lord's chest. Tanneth sidestepped, watching with a snarl as the blade skidded across the left side of his armour, sparking as it ricocheted. He then brought his power sword up, aiming to take the Marines sword arm away from him. The Marine sidestepped him this time, spinning on his heel and swinging his sword, aiming towards Blake's head.
As the lesser lord back stepped to dodge the decapitating blow a lightsabre blade ignited to life. Its wielder throwing it in an attempt to cleave through his armoured form and cut him in half. With a roar of annoyance the Chaos lord fell backwards to the ground, dodging the swinging power sword of the Blood Raven and just missing the thrown lightsabre from the Jedi behind him. He rolled away, coming up in a crouch and launched himself at the surprised Blood Raven, bringing down his chain sword and cleaving him in two from his right shoulder all the way down to his right waist. The Marine screamed as he fell to his knees, his arm and a chunk of his side a few feet away from him.
Grinning Blake turned his attention from the dying Marine to the Jedi, a human male wearing brown robes and desperately trying to call his lightsabre back to him. With a roar of anger Blake surged forward, thrusting his power sword into the Jedi's chest before his lightsabre could return to him. He then swung with his chain sword. Taking off the small mans head in a single, bloody swing. Watching the blood ooze from the blades of his weapons Blake threw back his head and laughed, an insane maniacal laugh before bringing his attention back to the battle playing out around him.
"Blood, blood, blood" he cried into the maelstrom "Spill more blood for the blood god, his thirst will be quenched this day!!!"
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Far away from the battle, within the bleeding confines of the eye of terror the dark entities of the warp watched as the decisive battle between their forces and the combined armies of the Coalition continued battering each other. This battle meant everything. Victory meant a clear path into the core worlds, the central holdings of the galaxy spanning Galactic Alliance. Defeat meant the shattering of one of the biggest Black Crusades ever assembled, a crusade which matched the thirteenth in sheer size and battle strength.
The dark gods continued to watch from the darkest depths of the warp, surrounded by masses of daemons and greater daemons that flew and skirted around them. They watched from their thrones as small armadas of Imperial and Alliance vessels converged on the contested star system, alone they wouldn't be enough to drive the Chaos armada back, but together they could annihilate them. This could not happen. They could not allow these separate fleets to combine. They may not be able to do much to the Alliance fleet who was traversing through hyperspace, at a speed which they just could not match. But the Imperial fleet was another matter. They were still travelling through the warp, their territory.
Slowly the five gods gathered a mass of warp energy around them and released it, sending the powerful shockwave speeding through the bottomless, endless sea of tainted warp energy and countless daemons. The swarms of daemons and greater daemons surrounding their masters were caught in the wave and exploded, their corrupting energy added.
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Imperial Battle-Group
Three hours from Sluis Van
The first thing that Admiral Northland felt was the hairs on the back of his neck rise, then a cold sweat proliferated his body, instinctively Northland wiped the sweet away from his forehead before noticing the glass of ale on his desk shake slightly. The glass was only the beginning, fore suddenly the desk began to shake, then the wardrobes and weapon cases on the walls, the power blades and racks of guns within clanking.
It suddenly stopped. The admiral slowly stood up from his immaculately decorated chair and just as cautiously walked into the centre of his study chamber. That was when it hit. A shockwave struck the ship, sending anything not bolted down clattering onto the oak floor. Guns, swords, axes and halberds fell from their racks, his chair and desk were uplifted and slammed into the back bulkhead and after a moment he too was lifted and thrown, his entire form slamming into the same metal bulkhead.
He regained consciousness slowly, his hand reaching to the back of his head and feeling the slickness of blood. The feeling of blood was enough to sharpen his senses. He forced himself to his feet and grabbing his jacket, sash and cap ran out of his living chambers, down the central corridors and into the bridge of his battleship. Several consoles had exploded during his absence; their operators lying unmoving on the deck, thankfully all of the main systems, ordnance, fleet communications and helm were all still active.
"Status report" he shouted as he stalked onto his command deck and fell into the worn leather of his command chair before looking out too the main view ports of the bridge, which had been closed by twenty inch thick adimanium shutters.
"Massive energy outburst from the warp milord" his sensory officer reported from his station "Gellar fields holding steady at seventy percent, outer armour holding steady, no warp apparitions within ship"
"Open the shutters" Northland ordered, gaining several fearful looks from his bridge crew, even the armsmen standing at the exists with their bulky shotguns looked at each other with fear in their eyes, the admiral silenced them all with a murder ridden glare "Intensify Gellar fields with power from the secondary systems and…open…the…shutters"
Finally the shielding officer complied and intensified the daemon repelling fields surrounding the command ship. Then the helmsman hit several runes on a side console, causing the monolithic shutters covering the view ports to open with a shriek. Warp space stretched out before them, an endless sea of thousands of colours and shapes too numerous for a mortals eye to comprehend, many of the shapes were writhing and moving. But the long blade of energy which stretched from one side of the main view port to the other was what caught the admirals attention, it was getting bigger.
"What in the name of the god emperor is that" Northland growled before jumping out of his command throne and taking several shaky steps forward, it was a wave of warp energy, a big one "Helm, down seventy degrees, full throttle!"
"Down seventy degrees" the helmsman repeated as he pulled up on the large levers, bringing the gargantuan titan of the space ways into s steep dive. They weren't going to make it, the wave was approaching too fast, and the admiral knew it "Sensors what is that!!!"
"Targeting" the servitor manning the sensor station said emotionlessly, as he waited the admiral saw the massive sensor nodes on the vessels hull rotating into scanning position for the incoming wave of power. Suddenly the sensory console sparked and exploded, throwing the cyborg from his place in several pieces.
"By the emperor"
"Divert all nonessential power to the Gellar fields" Northland shouted to his shielding officer "Every scrape…navigator prepare for emergency exit!"
"But sir we don't know where we'll be when we return to real-" his helm retorted before being silenced by a glare.
"If we don't resurface the entire crusade will be destroyed by that thing!" Northland nearly screamed "Take us out of the warp now!!!"
Northland was suddenly thrown back against his command chair, his hands gripping the leather arms so tightly that his knuckles turned bone white. The ship went into a set of tremors as it went to exit the warp. Those tremors slowly began to increase in intensity until it felt like the battleship was a living thing going into convulsions. Slowly it started to rise up from the warps depths towards the surface, the other warships following his flagships lead.
Smaller waves of warp energy assaulted the Gellar fields, the strain causing them to flicker. A hundred kilometres to port the frigate Ascension exploded as a small wave of warp energy pierced its Gellar field. Another ship of the line, the heavy cruiser Lady McIntyre followed the escort vessel as another slice of warp energy pierced her Gellar field, cutting through the capital ships hull and tearing it into two separate pieces.
Finally the tip of the Infinitas Imperialus pierced the layer of energy separating warpspace and realspace, sending a massive set of ripples echoing across the sheet of energy separating the two dimensions. Over two thirds of the Imperial crusade escaped the shockwave of warp energy. The others weren't nearly as lucky.
The convulsions died down, only to be replaced by the deafening claxons of proximity alarms. Quickly the admiral starred out of the portside viewports, noticing a soft orange glow, a gas giant filled up the screens, and it was a little too close for comfort. Immediately he began barking orders to the bridge crew, ordering them to bank the flagship hard to starboard. The battleship swung around, its mighty engines at maximum thrust in an attempt to clear the monolithic planets orbit. Cruisers, battlecruisers and their escorts who were likewise dangerously close to the gas giant also began pulling away.
"Status on the fleet" Northland ordered sharply, waiting impatiently for the ship masters, the leaders of the numerous fleet squadrons which made up the crusade to report in.
"Masters reporting in" the communications officer stated from his station, his hands dancing across the keyboards and his eyes reflecting the light of the computer screens in the dim red light of the bridge "Over two thousand two hundred and eighty five ships of war have reported in…their spread across the system my lord, some are reporting major damage to their main systems…we're getting distress calls from fleet squadron leaders Galactic Light, Imperial Might and the Lady Osiris"
"Get them back into some type of formation" Northland shouted "Order the fleet to begin search and rescue manoeuvres, dispatch techpriests to all damaged ships and prepare to evacuate all vessels beyond repair. All ship masters and captains gather in their respective taskforces and meet us in deep space"
"Yes sir"
"Damage report on the Infinitas Imperialus"
"Gellar fields are down to thirty percent, void shields down to sixty. Main engine number three and side engines two, four, nine and eleven have shut down. Hull armour is still intact, no hull breaches reported"
"Can we still make the jump back into the warp?"
"Yes sir but-"
"I will give the crusade one hour to mobilise" Northland growled "Order the 90th, 108th, 212th and 301st escort squadrons in system to deal with the evacuation of all seriously damaged ships" he looked at each of the members of his bridge crew, making sure that they returned to their stations before falling into his command throne, cursing under his breath as he realised that the Alliance fleet was going to beat them to Sluis Van.
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Alliance Battle-Group
One hour from Sluis Van
The combined fleet of the Galactic Alliance flew through the void of hyperspace. An armada whose ships numbered in the thousands, massive lumbering star dreadnoughts lead the armada, followed closely by star cruisers, star carriers and star destroyers of many different types and sizes, swarms of smaller escort craft were among them, each capital ship being protected by an escort squadron of at least three vessels and at most nine.
Forefront of the armada was four vessels in particular, three matt black Eclipse-class star dreadnoughts, dwarfing the smaller Executers by at least five kilometres. Their sleek hull covered in strategic positions by gun ports and main weapon batteries, including the long barrels of superlasers. Leading them was a smaller Executer, but a star dreadnought which was one of the most well known and legendary vessels in the galaxy, the vessel which the entire class was named after, Darth Vader's command ship, the Executer.
Within this old vessel a meeting was taking place, the meeting chamber was a large cylindrical hall at least thirty meters from one grey durasteel wall to the other. A round meeting table was positioned at its centre, its high backed chairs all taken by high ranking grand admirals, admirals and generals. Sitting on one of these chairs was Anakin Skywalker, fully dressed in the armour of his alter ego. His son Luke and several other high ranking Jedi including Obi-Wan and Mace Windu stood behind him.
The other chairs were taken by holographic projections of the other high ranking individuals in the fleet. Han Solo, who as a recently commissioned General sat on one of these chairs, although he was really sitting on the command throne of his own vessel, one of the new Decisive-class star cruisers, his wife Leia sat on the chair to his left. Others included the supreme commander Gilad Pallaeon as well as grand admirals Joseph Halos and Garm Bel Ablis, admiral Shiro of the Chiss as well as lord admiral Hunt and inquisitors Robyn Vallace and William Silvermaine.
At the moment the room was filled with shouting and cursing, it reminded Anakin of the old republic senate. Many wanted an explanation as to why Jedi who were supposed to have died well over fifty years ago were suddenly up and walking around. Even the inquisitors who were no strangers to such phenomenon (Daemons and all that) were demanding answers.
With a sigh of annoyance Anakin slammed his gauntleted right fist into the table, the resulting clash loud enough to make all present jump in surprise. He slowly stood up from his chair, his hands pressed on the cool surface and his eyes starring solemnly at each man and woman in turn.
"We do not know how we got here" Anakin bellowed angrily "And I quite frankly don't give a flying Bantha! I do know why we are here and that is to rid the galaxy of these traitors and tainted beings that represent the forces of Chaos. You can all debate and judge us after this is over but for right now we have a war to win!!!"
"And how do you suppose we break the back of this monolithic force" a Bothan general whose name Anakin did not know spoke up heatedly "The defence forces will be on the edge of defeat by then, if they are not already!"
"The Planet Killer" Luke spoke up, drawing the attention of all in the room "It is more than just a flagship, it is a symbol of they're Warmaster, it gives them courage and belief that they're dark god will not fail them…destroy that, or better yet capture it and the rest of their armada will scatter and flee"
"And how do we destroy one of the biggest vessels in two galaxies" lord inquisitor Silvermaine retorted "We have tried to destroy that monster for nearly ten thousand years. It has annihilated every fleet arrayed against it whether Alliance or Imperial, by the golden throne not even a Necron tombship can stand against it"
"You never had three star dreadnoughts armed with planet destroying super weapons" Anakin pointed out.
"That vessel didn't survive for so long just because of conventional armaments and mass" Hunt snapped "It's Armageddon gun has been known to decimate entire fleets, the Alliance saw it at work during Bakura"
"Nothing has been known to survive an attack by a superlaser" Halos growled "Check the records lord admiral, every target that has utilised a superlaser has been completely destroyed. Heck it has destroyed worlds, what's a 50km long warship?"
"The difference grand admiral is that this vessel was built in the warp" Hunt replied dryly "And to date it is impregnable and undefeated in ship to ship combat"
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Sluis Van
Orbit
The planetary shields were finally buckling to the Planet Killers steady barrage, its rippling blue surface flickering and sparking as the lance batteries and plasma cannons of the super battleship continued to rain fire and death upon it. From his command throne Abaddon grinned as the shield which had kept his force from landing a full scale invasion finally succumbed and died.
Several lance beams shattered through the disintegrating force field and hit the rocky surface with the power to level entire cities. Huge explosions racked the surface, kicking up dust clouds which were slowly forming into the shapes of giant mushrooms, completely annihilating everything at their impact zones and sending out shockwaves of fire and death in all directions, killing everything within a few dozen kilometres.
The planets last major defence gone the Despoiler gave the signal and clusters of troop transports 700m long began making runs for the surface, punching through the atmosphere in bright displays of fire. Surviving ground defences opened up on the transports only to be silenced by a monumental barrage from the armada's gun batteries. Within minutes the last few surface turbolaser batteries had been destroyed.
"I want all resistance squashed" Abaddon bellowed "I want every enemy soldier dead and put on display. I want every warship turned into lifeless husks and burning debris. I want this planet cleansed of xeno, alien lover and corpse emperor filth for the glory of Chaos, for the glory of the dark gods!!!"
He then looked towards the distance lasfire and blooms which symbolised the last few pockets of coalition resistance. A few thousand warships who had clustered around the planets shipyards and were even now defending it too the last, he grinned and turning to the helmsmen ordered them to change his flagships course. It was time to finish the last space hindrance once and for all.
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"Grand admiral the Planet Killer has changed course"
"What" Wedge said in disbelief before hitting a few runes on his command throne bringing up holograph screens of the Chaos flagships location. It was turning, bringing its massive guns to bear, the most noticeable one being the long barrelled Armageddon gun "Evasive action!!!"
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"Order all ships to take evasive measures immediately" Visnik shouted from his command throne "Get away from the shipyards now. That's got to be their target!!!"
The bridge crew carried out the Warmaster's orders with professional speed and precision, the helmsman pulling on the monolithic steering levers, bringing the battleship into a steep climb away from the doomed shipyards, the fleets of Hapan, Imperial and Alliance vessels scattering as it did. The Warmaster continued to watch the massive warp spawned monstrosity as its Armageddon gun began to glow.
Grand Admiral Antilles star cruiser was performing a steep banking to port, a formation of Hapan battle-dragons and Alliance star destroyers following suit. The Hapan flagship, the Song of War was quickly banking to port to try and catch up with the grand admiral. All across the shipyards warships and escorts were breaking away. Many wouldn't be able to get away in time. Little did the Coalition know that the Planet Killers target wasn't the shipyards at all.
The Armageddon gun fired its fleet destroying, planet annihilating beam of energy, the entire barrel discharging violently from the incredible force utilised to fire. The beam soared through space, destroying several fleet squadrons of Chaos ships who were unlucky enough to get in the way.
Its target wasn't the shipyards.
Its target was the Tempestus Solaria which vanished as the planet destroying beam flew through it. Warmaster Visnik didn't even have time to register what had happened before he and his entire crew were compassed in fire. The battleship exploded, as did the squadrons of capital ships and escorts that tried to flee with her. Their deaths catalogued as a mass of flaming blossoms in the distance. The beam continued on as if unhindered by the several dozen ships it had just destroyed and passed by the shipyards, just a graze, but enough to destroy several dry and builder docks.
On the bridge of the Crimson Lady Frostman fell into his command throne, his eyes refusing to leave the holo-screens which were showing the aftermath. The ships caught in the Armageddon guns path were nothing more than unrecognisable clumps of debris. Secondary explosions racked the shipyards as wreckage from destroyed docks floated and collided with other docks and space stations. All while the Planet Killer made a steady approach towards them. On the Song of War the Queen Mother of the Hapan Consortium looked out at the destruction, her usually stone like features broken in sadness and disbelief.
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As the explosions of the Armageddon guns shot died away a Hapan Battle-dragon dived like a bird towards the massive girth of an approaching light cruiser, its form shaped like two discs welded together with a box of engine nacelles at its back, turbolaser batteries were strategically placed along the edges of the discs, which rotated as one of the guns opened up, allowing another to be moved into position. Small at only 600 meters long the Hapan vessels were fast and packed a great deal of firepower for their size.
Diving with the battle-dragon was a small squad of three Nova-class battlecruisers. Shaped like long necked birds in full flight they were smaller at 400 meters in length but like their larger brethren packed a surprising punch. The capital ship and her pickets pulled up sharply as they came within a hundred meters of the charred and scarred hull, their turbolaser and laser cannons firing streams of energy at near point blanc range. The combined fire shattered its void shields and struck its hull, melting away the heavy armour and opening up several decks. As the squadron pulled away the limping cruiser recovered, twisting to its port and bringing its monumental guns to bear. It fired, lancing through the slender hull of one of the battlecruisers, tearing it to three pieces, flying in different directions.
The Chaotic vessels may have been slow and cumbersome but their heavy armour and powerful weapons more than made up for it. The Hapans were hardy fighters, their vessels may be swift and surprising but they were taking heavy losses. The Queen Mother knew it well, she watched from the throne of her own personal warships as it led a force of hastily regrouped battle-dragons and star destroyers to the fray. She had witnessed the horrific effects of the Armageddon gun and even though her face was still set in stone it had paled. She had felt the deaths of millions through the force, both on the ground and just recently like a spear in the gut with the discharge of the Armageddon gun. She felt sick and nauseas.
Tenel Ka continued to watch the battle, her eyes not leaving the mass of black shadows which represented the Chaos armada. For every vessel destroyed whether it be frigate, destroyer, cruiser, battlecruiser or even battleship another five would come from the blackness to take their place on the line. In orbit across from her scattered allied positions she saw dozens of charred and battle scarred troop transports ranging from small haulers at 200 meters to 700 meter long giants carrying entire regiments of traitors to the front. Much smaller bullet shaped assault pods swarmed past them, each one carrying small squads of Chaos Space Marines, Predator tanks and Dreadnoughts to the lands below. She could only imagine the hell that the Coalition armies on the ground were being put through.
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On the ground the forces of Chaos were pushing their way through the capital city. Tank brigades and corps of stolen or salvaged ex-alliance battle walkers grinded their way through the defences of the Coalition. Hordes of traitors and mutants crowded the city streets, throwing themselves at barriers lined with Imperial Guard and Alliance soldiers, in many cases climbing over mounds of their own dead to reach the line.
In the northern section of the city, at the steps of an ancient museum a squad of Ultramarines stood their ground against an incoming horde, firing continuously with bolters. A swath of empty magazine clips and expended bolter shells littering the steps at their feet. Fifty meters away stood a war-band of over a hundred cultists, led by the intimidating form of one of their fallen brethren. The ground between the two forces littered with the bodies of fifty cultists and two crumpled forms of their fallen brothers.
Three blocks away a host of regrouping Imperial Guard from a decimated regiment and three squads of crack stormtroopers took cover from an approaching air strike from Chaos airfighters. Running and diving into craters and behind wrecked vehicles, a few fired sporadically at the incoming aircraft but it was futile. They dropped their bombs, creating a blanket of fire below and killing all of the opposing forces. A single guardsman clambered out from his trench, disoriented. He was shot in the face from a Chaos sniper.
A trio of Lemon Russ tanks took up positions at a crossroad, aiming and firing their cannons at approaching forces when they were able. A basilisk artillery tank was positioned behind them, constantly rotating and firing one of its highly explosive shells into the oncoming ranks. Two platoons of Imperial Guard took up positions around them, armed with lasguns, plasma guns, las-cannons and grenade launchers.
Deep behind the Chaos advance a line of five predator tanks filed down one of the debris ridden main roads. Squads of Traitor Guard marching at their sides as they made their way to the front, little did they know that squads of Imperial Kasrkins, ARC troopers and Remnant shock troopers waited for them within the buildings. When they were in sight the ambush was sprung and the front predator's front exploded as a trio of anti-tank missiles collided with it. Soldiers who were too close were thrown aside, riddled with shrapnel.
Above the city the skies were covered with trails of slick black smoke as Coalition X-wings, A-wings, Tie fighters and Thunderbolts engaged Switdeaths, Doomfires and a swarm of atmospheric craft in an immense aerial dogfight for supremacy over the skies. Mixed in with the skirmishes were the large silhouettes of recently arrived corvettes and frigates, adding their considerable firepower to try and tip the scales. With the failing of the planetary shields occasional streaks of turbolaser and lance fire burned away the clouds and levelled city blocks, killing hundreds of Coalition and Chaos warriors in a single moment.
At the moment the battle could go either way, where one side was gaining ground in one area they were losing it in another and with the steady reinforcements Abaddon was sending in with the loss of the planetary shields it didn't look good for the Coalition. They're only hope lay in the reinforcements who were even now flying through the cosmos as fast as they possibly could.
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The burning carcase cracked in two like an egg as the Planet Killer brought her mighty lance batteries upon it. Within a handful of seconds the once proud Executer star dreadnought Nightshade had been turned into a burning lump of scrape metal. Her escort star destroyers and cruisers tried to initiate a tactical withdrawal but were quickly obliterated by the thousands of armaments the warp borne battleship possessed.
From his skull throne Abaddon laughed with barely contained glee, the battle was going well for them. The loss of the corpse emperor's flagship had demoralised the Imperial forces leaving the Galactic Alliance to temporarily fend for them selves. Their star dreadnoughts were indeed powerful craft, an equal for most battleships but against the Planet Killer they fell like all the others.
By now the Chaos armada had properly amassed to deal with the last of the Coalition fleet, squadrons of cruisers lumbered into the fight, surrounded by escort clusters of frigates and destroyers. They continued to pound the Coalition again and again. More and more of the Alliances sleek vessels and the Imperiums mighty warships succumbed to the unstoppable advance, the endless sea of Chaos warships.
But something was wrong, he could feel it, something was coming.
"Warmaster" one of the serfs called in the usual deadpan voice "Incoming ships"
"Identify"
Several old view screens, suspended by black chains lowered into position around his throne. They flickered to life, the ten meter wide and five meter high screens showing static before clearing, showing an impressive view of open space. A moment passed. Hundreds, maybe thousands of sleek ships of war flashed into existence, a few dozen at first but quickly more flashes symbolised the arrival of yet more ships. Finally four large vessels flashed into existence at the front of the recently arrived armada. One was an Executer-class star dreadnought. But the others were vessels which surpassed even its size, at least 17 kilometres long and coloured a matt black. The Warmaster did not know what they were but he knew they were trouble.
The three matt black behemoths came to life in plasma green light, power level sensors across the bridge began to spike as readings of the warships were taken. Long lances of green fire streaked across the stars towards his fleet. There was no time to take evasive action. The lances struck three targets, two battleships and the Planet Killer herself. The battleships were pierced from one end of their heavily armoured hulls to the other, sparked and then vanished in a blanket of atomising fire. Then the third lance hit its target and the entire superstructure of his flagship began to shake uncontrollably.
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At the very edge of the star system, just outside of sensor range a fleet of sleek warships hovered in the darkness, waiting too see if they would be needed in the raging battle for control of the galaxy.
"The Mon'Kiegh appear to be handling the situation"
"In their usual barbaric way yes"
"Perhaps we were not needed in this monumental bloodbath after"
"The battle is not over yet"
"We will see"
Well how was that? Hope ya all enjoyed that little bloodbath. Next chapter all the factions in this war come in, surprise nations arrive and a few last monumental characters from both galaxies return to the maelstrom, guess who…come on guess