Chapter 10: Crusade Continues
Reviewing the after-action reports Hoeth is happy. All but one planet has fallen after the first week of the crusade. Hoeth has sent three squads of the Knights of Storm to deal with the hold outs. They have strict orders to keep any xeno who surrenders alive. Senior Magos Tyr, who Horus has promoted to the Fabricator General, has impressed upon me the importance of creating a forge world. They found a resource rich system that is close to a major naval base of Port Maw. The Magos named it the Hephaestus System. To create a proper Forge World though he needs servitors, in great numbers. Hoeth has decreed that all xenos and humans that do not bend the knee to the Emperor are to be sentenced to Servitude Imperpituis. That should solve his manpower problem.
As he finishes going over the last of the briefing reports, a messenger interrupts his train of thoughts, "Lord Solar, we have received word from the Deus ex Aquila. You are to break off from the crusade and be ready to deploy at a moment's notice in accordance with the Warmaster's desire."
"Very well, tell the helm to plot a course back to Port Maw and then to the border of Imperium space," replies Hoeth from the Strategium. As the Asgardia leaves the crusade Hoeth wonders if the xeno Ignis has the fortitude and faith to command his devout servants of the Emperor. Once again his ship, an ancient battleship of the Imperium and a testament to the power of humanity, is being relegated to a sideshow in Lord Solars' mind.
Planet Ospore: The first of the next set of planets scheduled for invasion and making compliant to Imperial Rule.
Primary Invading forces:
2nd Company, 2nd Battalion Cadian Shock Troopers of the 501st
First Platoon, 1st Company of Kasrkin of the 501st
3rd and 4th Companies, 8th Battalion Elysium Drop Troopers of the 501st
Secondary Forces:
The 35th Imperial Guard Regiment: Size 500,000 active combatants
Mixed Species locally raised unit
A destroyer in low orbit does a high speed flyby as it releases eight drop pods. Normally no average human can survive the plunge from orbit and the bone shattering impact so the drop pod is the hallmark of the space marines. These pods however hold the sixty men of the first Kasrkin platoon attached to this mission. Mass effect fields allow the unaugmented humans to survive the descent. As the pods flaming trail announces the commencement of the invasion several warships in orbit let loose a suppression barrage. Cities, strong points, other military targets are flattened as the multi-kiloton yield rounds slam into the earth. The pods twist and turn in the debris coked air.
Slamming down in the gutted ruins of the planets principle city, the Kasrkin fan out from their landing zone. The sixty men are spread out and isolated due to the wreckage. Scattered fire fights break out as militia and mercs run into the gathering Kasrkin. Mass effect propelled rail gun rounds and thick red beams of hell-gun fire are traded down broken corridors. The militia are completely overmatched as the Kasrkin's carapace armor cannot be pierced and their hell-guns burn clean through the ablative armor that clads the defenders. Those that survive the volley of laser fire are quickly dispatched with the swift savage thrusts of a power sword. They continue downward into the underground sections searching for the planetary rulers.
As the Kasrkin continue with their decapitation strike the two companies of drop troopers clear two LZs on the outskirts of the main settlements. The open fields are swept clear by a flight of punisher cannon armed vulture gunships. Those few brave foolish souls who choose to defy the hammer of the Emperor were shredded in the storm of lead. As the vultures peel off a high level marauder bomber flattens the surrounding area with a bombing run. With the shock and awe completed several flights of Valkyries and sky talons enter the combat zone and deploy their troopers. The Elysium's dig in and get ready to fight off the expected counter attacks as militia rushes to the spot in semi-organized waves of mech infantry.
As the thin screen of Taurus vehicles make slashing attacks at the approaching convoys, flights of landers were bringing in the heavy mech infantry of the Cadian Shock Troopers. The screening elements of the light buggies slowly drawl the attacking groups of grizzly and mako combat vehicles parallel to the drop sites. They were hit in the flank by massed artillery and air strikes. The groups scattered right into the wide net of dug in drop troopers. Missiles, bolts, and deadly las beams flicker throughout the night. The blue white rail fire stabs through the hazy darkness seeking out the dug in infantry, with little success. With the Cadians fully deployed the drop troopers are pulled out and sent on long seek and destroy missions throughout the combat zone.
The armored columns form a thin screen of plasma and melta armed sentinels that push ahead of the main force, calling out points of heavy resistance for the basilisks to pummel into oblivion. As the leman Russ battle tanks move forward the infantry pile on the large tanks as well as ride shotgun in the chimera transports. With the net totally thrown around the city, all that is needed is for the Kasrkin to locate the planetary rulers and kill or capture them.
The Kasrkin squads move into the bowels of the city. A labyrinth of twisted and collapsed passages shrouded in darkness greet them. The forty men that have gathered fix their repel lines and descend several hundred meters into the natural cave system that the city was built upon. At different depths the squads break off, each hunting the target. The lead squad hits the bottom and their built in targeting sensors quickly highlight the terrain. As one they move with quick power that has been honed over the countless campaigns for the Emperor. As they enter the tunnels heavily armed mercs and militia gather to meet them.
While the Special Forces play their deadly game of cat and mouse the armored battle groups begin to engage the remaining armed forces of the capitals defense force. The stillness of the light woodland is broken by the concentrated volleys of battle cannons. Groups of grizzly tanks are wiped out as the heavy shells tear through their thin armor. Chimeras dart forward with their multi-lasers and hunter killer missiles pushing back the defenders APCs. Once the Imperial transports find a good spot the back ramp drops and out pours the harden shock troopers onto the battlefield. Under the stern eyes of their officers the guards leap frog across the battlefield, enemy infantry are swept away in hailstorms of las beams. Strong points and heavy weapons emplacements are targeted by the mortars of the heavy weapons squads and vehicles hunted by melta armed veterans. The hammer of the Emperor lands heavy blow after blow that sends the defenders running. The infantry remount and the pursuit formations adopted as Officers of the Fleet called down deadly airstrikes on the routing army. Vendettas and Vultures range far ahead of the main force wiping out the fastest units as the lumbering leman Russ tanks catch the slowest. Throughout this slaughter the skies were covered in the vapor trails of earth shaker cannon rounds as the basilisk artillery units lay down hellish barrages of divine judgment.
The lead Kasrkin squad push through harden defensive points with the application of flamers and their holy fire and the liberal use of grenades. The elite guards of the planetary rulers lay in blackened piles, bodies burned by the liquid promethium turned them to screaming torches that were quickly silenced by hot-shot beams. Upon reaching their objective, the large armored doors of the command bunker emerges from the inky blackness. The team forms up and places a melta charge on the center of the door. The sergeant thumbs the detonator and there is a red flash and a wave of heat as the door is liquidized. The unfortunate guards on the other side are liquidized as well as. From the smoking hole pour in the Kasrkin, their rapid-fire hot-shot guns cleave through armor and melt flesh. It is over in seconds, the bunker is cleared of hostiles. The sergeant walks over to the closest console and inserts a data crystal, the entire battle-net has now been hacked into by Imperial forces. As the smoke clears one of the Kasrkin is laying on the floor, blood seeping from his visor. One round found the kink in their armor, that sand sized pellet shattered the glass of his helmet, pierced his skull, and killed him instantly. The Sargent walks over and says, "You will be remember as one of the Emperors finest." The team gathers their fallen brother and make for the RV point.
As the Cadians defeat the rest of the capitals army more Imperial guardsmen are being deployed from the ships hovering in the void above. With their battle-net compromised the fighting is over in weeks and the planet is rendered compliant, at the cost of several hundred of guardsmen killed and wounded.