The Chariot of Retribution, In Transit, 999.M41 Five days after 'The Saint's awakening'
Harry Potter, Master of Death
"Fascinating… though you say they use maintenance rituals of all things?" Hermione was dashing from one side of her portrait to another as Harry walked through the halls of The Chariot of Retribution, doing her best to take in every sight of the new universe they were now in.
He hadn't brought her out while they had been guests on Solemnace, Harry got the feeling Trazyn would have been most insistent about obtaining the portrait, one way or another.
"Yeah, even for simple things like gun maintenance from what I can tell. The Guardsmen do it because it's what they've been taught and it's the only thing they've known. Not sure why Octus and the other tech-specialists do it though, and it's hardly like I know enough to stand up and say 'you guys are idiots, this is how you do it'…" Unfortunately technology was not an area Harry could really claim competence, he knew how to use many kitchen tools and do basic DIY tasks, but things like electronics and programming were areas he'd never even thought about in detail.
Stepping to the side as another group of Guardsmen patrolled through the halls, his notice-me-not spell wouldn't make them avoid him and Hermione physically after all, Harry noted this was the third patrol in the last half an hour.
"They definitely don't have much faith in this Warp travel as a safe mode of transport, most of the Guardsmen look more worried now than they did on Solemnace…" Everyone refused to discuss much about what Warp Travel entailed, most of the Guardsmen just making protective signs and muttering about vigilance and faith.
"Given what you were saying about the feeling of the magic in this universe, and the various traps hidden in the universe's magic, I'm not surprised that FTL travel is a dangerous concept. It also concerns me with this talk of Chaos Gods and the corruption of magic they can cause. It's not something we've had to really deal with before."
Hermione had managed to bring the conversation to the exact point Harry had wanted to talk to her about, as he was feeling more than a little apprehensive himself.
"Any ideas, some kind of charm I can put on my clothing? A rune scheme?" He already had several enchantments on his robes, including a rather complicated bubblehead charm enchantment that should activate if it detected airborne poisons or a lack of oxygen.
He wouldn't say he was an expert in either subject, but 10 years of very little social interaction left a lot of time for studying in its various forms.
"Let me think about it, maybe something based off the Nordic burial rituals overlaid with a Sumerian focussing rite?" As Hermione's voice faded, the woman no doubt was off in her own little world as she sought out the knowledge from the repository she had paid to be painted into the painting, Harry knew he was surplus to requirements for now.
Looking around, Harry realised in his wanderings he had reached the area of the ship that served as the quarters for any Imperial Guard The Chariot of Retribution was transporting. The bunk areas for the rank and file Guardsmen was fairly basic, but the area included a full shooting range and exercise area, which from what Harry had managed to gather was not exactly common.
He had been rather impressed with the endurance and general level of fitness the Guardsmen were trying to instill while on Solemnace, and given how fast the Crimson Astartes had been when he had tried to attack him, it was clear relying on his Seeker reflexes wasn't going to make the cut anymore.
Besides, what better way to humanise himself to the other Guardsmen further than getting involved in their exercise regime?
Planetary Shelter Ap-329 Surface Access Point Beta-2, Urthwart, 7 Days after Harry's Arrival
Letty Cudan, Kasrkin Corporal and Weapons Specialist , 9th squad, 1st Company, 129th Cadian Regiment
"Back to the Chimeras!"
"Lieutenant Coombs is down! By the Emperor, where are our reinforcements?"
"The Ogryns can't hold… There are so many of them!"
As the Storm Troopers of the 14th Valixan army group panicked and filled the comms channel with dozens of garbled messages of panic and disorder, the newly graduated troops folding under the weight of enemies shambling towards them, Letty couldn't help but scoff dismissively.
When the task force for investigating the presence of Traitorous Astartes, as well as establishing a forward base to use to detect any further excursions from the Eye of Terror, the 'Glory Boys' of the Imperium had not only insisted on being part of the task force but that they take command.
Cadian High Command hadn't fought too hard on that point, using it to increase the size of the Storm Trooper detachment to three companies worth, and it wasn't as if the Kasrkin were planning on following orders outside of their own chain of command.
"Lieutenant Gratus, 3rd through 7th squads to advance and bolster the Storm Trooper line, fall back in good order if they break and run. Sergeants on the flanks, maintain disciplined fire and minimise use of ordinance. Second Company are preparing our vehicles for withdrawal." Even as Captain Lennox's calm and uncompromising voice gave orders over the comms, the different Kasrkin squads were already moving to repel the mass of plague zombies.
Their arrival on Urthwart had been met with silence from the Planetary Defence Forces, though there had been garbled distress calls from more than one of the underground shelters the entire population lived in due to the Eye of Terror's corruptive influence on anyone who stayed on the surface for any period of time. Said corruption was the reason they had landed so close to the main surface entry point, rather than following the standard Doctrine for the 129th, something they may end up regretting given the seemingly unending tide of enemies before them.
Stowing her flamer for now, Letty grabbed her lasgun from the mag-lock on the rear of her carapace armour, raising it with practised ease even as she altered the firing mechanism to single shot. Unlike the rapid fire of the Storm Troopers in the centre of the causeway, which was wide enough for three Chimera tanks to traverse if required, the controlled fire of the Kasrkin forces on the left and right flanks was intended to ensure the longevity of their defence.
"Targeting Centre mass ineffective with small arms, all units, headshots advised for maximum effect. Auxiliary forces down to approximately eleven effectives, attached Commissar overwhelmed." The report, highlighted on her HUD as coming from a member of the 5th Squad, was accompanied by the sound of shotgun fire as they moved to the giant Hab Access door the Storm Troopers had managed to open.
Given the distress calls, Storm Trooper Colonel Straub had shown competence in the marching order he had set up his forces in, as the underground nature of their location meant that there would be a focus on close quarter combat. He placed the Task force detachment of 30 Ogryn directly behind the scouting line of Guardsmen as they had entered the first of the hab areas this shelter used for housing it's population.
Proof of a heretical presence, if any was needed, was that the zombie wave had laid in waiting inside the numerous hab structures. It had only been when the Scout teams had cleared the first dozen and the rest of the Storm Troopers moved up that the trap had been sprung, most of the scouts barely having time to scream or discharge their weapons before they were overwhelmed by a tide of putrid flesh and teeth.
It took several minutes for the size and nature of the opposition force to become clear, during which time Colonel Straub had led a counter-attack to 'break the will of the heretics' and drive them back. The last report from his command squad had been a mixture of incoherent shouts for reinforcements and screams of the dying.
Lining up her lasgun, the first lasbolt missed her intended target as it shambled forward, instead vaporising the temple of one of the plague zombies behind it. The second and third were more accurate, though the fact that the zombie continued walking after the second bolt had removed it's jaw was more than a little disconcerting.
"Forty and ten, first, third, second." The instructions of Sergeant Nesin came over the Squad only channel, even as the Storm Troopers in the centre began a disorderly retreat from where they had been trying to support the remaining Ogryns.
Similar orders were no doubt being spread through the other Kasrkin squads even as Captain Lennox deployed the 1st and 2nd squads forward to prevent the Storm Trooper retreat turning into a rout.
The next several minutes became akin to a live fire exercise on the shooting range, the zombies shambling pace meaning that each of the 3 sections of her squad could fall back in good order and then cover the other sections in turn. However, such were the numbers of the enemy that even such disciplined fire wasn't making much of an impact other than draining their ammunition.
As a weapons specialist, Letty only carried five laspacks as part of her combat webbing, and with most of the company committed to holding back the horde there wasn't anyone dedicated to retrieving supplies. And two hundred and forty 'shots' was a surprisingly small amount even when used sparingly as she had been trying too.
Even as she reached for her last magazine, having taken the extra second to stow the used magazine which many 'normal' Guardsmen would have merely discarded, Letty felt the first undertone of fear enter her system as the lights, built into either side of the access passage, suddenly went out.
It took a couple of frantic seconds for the various shoulder mounted glo-lamps to kick in, and suddenly the horde was a lot closer than it should have been, several of the foremost Kasrkin forced into melee even as the others resumed firing in an attempt to let them retreat.
"Captain, request permission to release ordinance." Sergeant's Nesin's request was repeated by several other Sergeants, the dull *Krump* of several frag grenades a moment later indicating that some of the Kasrkin were taking the approach of 'kill first, be reprimanded later'.
Sniping a Plague Zombie that tried to grab one of the retreating Kasrkin, Letty was already thinking about the most efficient method of stowing her lasgun and readying her flamer when the comms burst into life once more, though the first words had her blood freeze in her veins.
"Ambushed by Traitor Astartes, Captain Lennox is down! Command position holding, but command passed to Squad Level… By the Emperor, die Heretiargh!" Even as the loss of command registered with the Kasrkin, their training meant they didn't panic, even if the enemy behind them was now potentially even more dangerous than the enemy in front.
"Grenades in order, danger close, mark!" Even as her right hand kept hold of her lasgun, firing somewhat indiscriminately into the horde as she lost some stability, Letty grabbed a frag grenade and primed it.
There was no special tactic here, the remaining Kasrkin of the first line dropping the grenades behind them as they turned and ran, two of them unable to break away and activating as many grenades on their webbing as they could before they were dragged down. The grenades went off a moment later, a wave of force and shrapnel scything down the first ranks of plague zombies even as Letty threw her grenade before joining the first line as they sprinted past.
This was why the Kasrkin hadn't been using their ordinance freely, even if it would have done more damage when the enemy had been packed into the floor of the hab area. The strategic use of the grenades in cases like now far outstripped their utility on a tactical level.
"All squads, I am taking command. Flanks to reinforce the rear, make a path to the transports! We will hold the centre for now." The order from Lieutenant Gratis came through as Letty reached the third line of Kasrkin, and it meant that she didn't stop running to turn and fire as she had originally intended.
Instead, almost as one, the third line threw their grenades as the ones thrown by the second line went off, and the entire squad broke ranks and headed up the access ramp. Given the hab unit was almost three hundred metres below the surface, the accessway was visible in the distance up the long and inclined slope.
Barely halfway up the slope, Letty could make out the flashes of lasgun fire, though the sharp cracks of boltguns was far more concerning, illuminating towering figures whose armour seemed to be covered in spikes and wing like appendages.
The closest of these figures was facing away from them, and remembering her training on fighting foes in power armour, Letty readied her lasgun and switched the weapons setting to overcharge.
It would use more power, reducing the number of shots per laspack, but against a foe that was reputed to be able to take multi-laser fire and laugh it off, the extra penetrative power would be necessary. Letty aimed for the centre mass of the armour, even as the Astartes laughed in a bone chilling manner as he discharged his weapon on some fleeing Storm Troopers.
"Now!" Lasgun fire, or as some disparagingly called it 'flashlight beams' were by themselves not particularly good at piercing armour.
But a dozen overcharged las-bolts, fired in sync with Sergeant Nesin's order, could do more damage to a single target than the average Guardsmen would expect. Especially when fired into the more lightly armoured power pack of the Astartes' power armour, which exploded in a conflagration that consumed the Astartes and several of his former victims as she and her squad closed the distance.
Normally Guardsmen would advise to maintain distance when facing an Astartes, given their superhuman strength and training in close quarter firing, but Kasrkin took a different approach. An Astartes was as dangerous at medium range, with their bolters and other weapons as they were up close, and their armour allowed them to shrug off most small arms fire.
Lasguns however were more powerful the closer they were to the target, and unfortunately the main way to kill an Astartes was brave guardsmen using Krak grenades at point blank range. Seeing a plasma gun lying on the ground nearby, and doing her best to ignore the disembodied Guardsman arm still gripping the base of it as blood squirted from the torn off elbow, Letty moved over to the weapon even as she tried to catch sight of more of the ambushing Astartes.
"No visual on remaining Traitor Astartes, Company Command confirmed overrun." Several seconds of frantic scanning seemed to validate the call from one of the other Kasrkin squads, though it was clear that the Astartes had been efficient in their brief assault.
There were easily forty dead Kasrkin and Storm Troopers that Letty could see, with the remaining Storm Troopers having continued to 'fall back' up the slope towards the entrance, and only one other Astartes corpse almost buried under the corpses of the Command Squad.
"Understood, Immediate withdrawal to the surface authorised. Flank units to provide cover, as these fething bastards seem to be getting faster." It was a sign of how badly the engagement was going that Lieutenant Gratis was letting his professionalism fray somewhat.
As her squad moved to one side of the accessway, remnants of two other squads joining them as the machine spirits of their comms system identified Sergeant Nesin as the highest ranking surviving officer, Letty tossed the plasma gun to her squadmate Private Jones and spent a moment checking one of the nearby Kasrkin corpses for laspacks. While Jones wasn't a weapons specialist, and therefore wouldn't be able to use the plasma gun effectively, he would be able to carry it for her until it was needed without it weighing her down.
"Fire at will, grenadiers volley on my mark… mark." Three grenades flew overhead as Letty took her place at the front of the ragtag formation, and looking down she could see why the free fire order had been issued.
The formerly shambling zombies were now almost running, trampling over their 'comrades' and the dead Kasrkin in an uncaring manner as their arms stretched towards the living hungrily. More concerning though, and Letty never thought she'd say that about thousands of diseased corpses, was the signs of something moving up through the zombies toward them… something big and fast.
"Grossch, get up to the access gate and prepare the closing sequence, take five and secure it against anyone who tries to close it early." The steady fzzt sound of discharging lasguns built a steadily rising crescendo as Sergeant Nesin's words infused Letty's mind with the horrible thought of them being left trapped underground against this horde.
Thankfully as she felt the tap on her shoulder of being chosen, Letty unloaded the rest of her laspack into the encroaching horde before stowing her lasgun, grabbing the plasma gun from the floor where Jones had placed it almost as an afterthought.
It wouldn't be particularly useful against a Storm Trooper or other Kasrkin, but the slumped form of the Astartes they'd just killed made the decision in her mind all the easier. Still, the extra weight was telling and her lungs were screaming in agony as she reached the top of the slope, the other Kasrkin having gained a slight lead on her given the awkward way she was having to hold a lasgun and plasma gun.
"Corporal, a little help!" Unfortunately it seemed the Astartes had either entered or exited through the access way, exacting a bloody toll on the Guardsmen stationed on guard.
The command Chimera used by the Storm Troopers had been knocked onto its side, three others burning wrecks as Kasrkin troops tried to tend to dozens of wounded. There were less than twenty dead, mostly officers as far as Letty could tell at a glance, though the number of wounded was perhaps a sadistic and cruel move on the Astartes part.
With the plague zombies approaching at pace, even if they started to close the doors now they wouldn't completely shut in time to prevent the first zombies making it through. Looking over to where Grossch was working frantically at the door controls, Letty made a decision.
Grabbing a Kasrkin as he sprinted out of the tunnel, Letty didn't even give him time to think as she pointed at one of their Gecko reconnaissance vehicles in her best commanding manner.
"Get that thing into firing position down the accessway, move!" In this instance, training overcame fear, the Kasrkin's subconscious making him follow the order even as his mind struggled between fear and duty.
Geckos were often overlooked by the Imperial Guard, given the light armour of the four wheeled vehicle and the fact the turret gunner had very little in the way of protection. But in terms of fast reconnaissance over rough terrain, Geckos could run circles around even the Salamander recon tanks in the hands of the right driver, and a squad of 16 could man four of the vehicles each if required.
Even as she grabbed the next two Kasrkin nearby, as the accessway was large enough for at least five of the Geckos to fit comfortably in the entrance way, it seemed one of the few remaining Sergeants in Second Company seemed to realise what she was doing.
"5th and 9th, get the Geckos into firing positions, 3rd and 8th, overwatch in case those heretic bastards double back!" The first two Geckos were just about in position when the first of the remaining Kasrkin broke the ridge line of the accessway, twenty or thirty metres from the door.
"Close the fething gate!" None of the Kasrkin were retreating in an orderly manner now, seventy odd elites of the Imperial Guard full on sprinting towards them even as the gate began to close with an audible screeching sound.
The first zombie to appear wasn't all that far behind them, nor was it human in form. It was an Ogryn, possibly one that had fought with them less than an hour before, though the signs of this plague were already clear to see in its gaping wounds and blistering flesh. One of its hands had morphed into a bone like claw, snatching one of the slower Kasrkin in its grasp and raising him into the air like a toy, before cutting him in half with a simple grasping motion.
"By the Emperor, FIRE!" Even as the heavy bolters on the back of the Geckos opened up on the mutated Ogryn, more of the Plague zombies crested the rise like a veritable wave of death and decay.
"Geckos, focus fire on the Ogryn, rifles on the flanks. Grenadiers, low volley range forty on my mark, mark!" The orders were shouted from her lips caused as much by adrenaline and fear as much as any tactical plan. All she knew was that if they focussed fire on the Ogryn the other zombies would break through before the gate closed.
It also prevented any accidental friendly fire as the retreating 1st company survivors made it through the gate, many of them clearly running on fumes even as they made it to the slowly developing semi-circle of Geckos. The wave of grenades bought them a second as the horde poured forwards, the gate barely half closed as the zombies reached twenty metres from the entrance.
"Flamers with me! The Emperor protects!" Dropping the plasma gun once more, her mind belatedly remembering that such treatment of the temperamental weapon was ill advised to say the least, Letty swallowed her fear and charged forward while prepping her flamer.
Normally, her training would have her use the flamer in small bursts, optimising the ammo capacity of her canister of promethium for prolonged combat operations. Now didn't call for caution though, the torrent of flame spouting forth like the breath of a wrathful drake, enveloping the nearest zombies as well as the ground leading to the gate in a glorious inferno.
More flames joined the conflagration from either side of her, even as the lasgun fire intensified from behind, scything down the burning zombies trying to make it through the fires. They'd done it, they'd survived the heretical trap…
Even as she thought that, something burst through the flames directly in front of her, the grotesque body of the Plague Ogryn pitted and mauled by the Heavy Bolter fire even as the flames charred its flesh. She turned her flamer on it even as it collapsed into a slide under the closing door, only for her finger to jerk the trigger and nothing happen, the weapon's fury spent in a few frantic seconds of purgation.
She did her best to dodge to the side at the last second, another bout of adrenaline flooding her exhausted senses in an attempt to react quickly, but the edge of the bone claw caught her in the side and sent her careening to the floor.
Her carapace armour had rent like paper, and the foul green slime that almost oozed from the claw was embedded into the deep cut in her side that was almost an inch deep.
The mutated Ogryn was almost entirely obliterated under the fire of the other Kasrkin in the next few seconds as the pain of her wound made it through the numbness of her mind's fight or flight response, nearly causing her to pass out as she tried to grab her first aid kit from her combat webbing...
"How's she doing Corpsman?" Suddenly the scenery changed, the thunder of a chimera engine and the shaking of the floor registering with her brain several seconds before it connected the dots and realised she was now lying in the back of a transport.
"Feverish and the wounds gone a horrible shade of green, we need to get her up to an actual med-bay!" Even as she struggled to maintain consciousness, the voice of Lieutenant Gratis echoed dissonantly in her ears.
"With the escort fleet under attack, she'd better hope the Emperor is looking down on us, otherwise none of us are leaving this hell hole…"
Command Deck of The Planet Killer, Outer Edges of Urthwart Solar System, 7 Days after Harry's Arrival
Khabas Dra'khen, Black Legion Warlord and Warmaster of the Planet Killer Defence Armada
"Glorious slaughter, the Dark Gods will be pleased this day!" Even as the bridge crew of The Planet Killer rejoiced at the reports of the battle taking place over Urthwart, where he had dispatched two light cruiser squadrons and four escort ship wolf packs to overwhelm the Imperial ships as quickly and silently as possible, Khabas was not going to let such a minor conflict let him take leave of the duty his Lord had imposed on him.
It was hard not to be a little concerned with the 'honour' of the position, given the head of Malefica Arkham, former Warmaster of The Planet Killer, was impaled on the tip of the 8 pointed star to his right. The man's face still contorted with pain and fear occasionally, as it mirrored the torture that was being exacted on his soul by 13 handpicked Demons even now, 800 years after his death at Abaddon's hand.
Shaking off the morbid thoughts of his predecessor's fate, Khabas turned his focus back to the battle occurring at the edge of their scanner's range, a level of caution that had caused no small amount of consternation amongst the warships that made up The Planet Killer's escort. Many of them were baying for the chance to prove themselves on the battlefield in the name of the Chaos gods, particularly those that worshipped Khorne or Slaanesh and felt that Nurgle was being favoured in this Black Crusade with Typhon's early attacks to spread his latest plagues amongst the nearest Imperium sectors.
But unlike the disparate and rag-tag warbands that made up his armada, Khabas was of the Black Legion, the Chosen of Abaddon. They were not focussed on trying to balance the favour of the Chaos Gods in their Eternal Game, it was the fall of the False Emperor and the corrupt morbiund Imperium that was their one and goal.
And the Planet Killer was both a vital piece in obliterating the forces that stood for them, but also a vulnerable target if the Imperium were able to attack it in sufficient force while its defenders were distracted.
And given the raid fleets outnumbered the Imperial dogs two to one even with their transport ships, the battle was going well even with the lack of unity amongst his ships allowing his foe a tactical advantage. No need to overcommit his forces as The Planet Killer finished priming it's weapons, otherwise some of the warbands might get a little too enthu… Wait, what was that.
The sensor readouts at this range were more than a little muddled, the vagaries of the Eye of Terror as well as the asteroids and other space detritus made accurate real time readouts impossible. But Khabas knew that one of the Chaos Escort Vessels, he didn't know it's name and didn't care to find out, had not been under fire from the panicking Imperial forces when it suddenly vanished from his tactical map.
"Ferax, that Escort Ship, what happened?" Ferax was one of the other Black Legion members that had been transferred to The Planet Killer, though he was barely 40 years into his ascension as a Black Legion Space Marine, and it took him several seconds to focus on his own data screens and answer.
"It is unclear Warmaster, there are no particular reports about the destruction of The Glory of Carnage from the other ships, and our sensors do not have a strong enough reading at this range." Even as he reported his lack of information, Ferax was instructing his minions with gestures and growls, the much younger Black Legionnaire not even questioning Khabas' focus on one of their own ships in the middle of what was a clear if bloody slaughter.
Two of the Imperial Light Cruisers were badly damaged already, and four of their escorts burned their last dying gasps as the other Chaos Escort Ships battered the transport ships with the furore that came upon those anticipating the bloodletting to come. The Imperial dogs were actually making a somewhat impressive defence despite their poor position and lack of numbers, six of the Chaos escort vessels were either crippled or outright destroyed, and one of his light cruisers was venting its atmosphere.
Still, those numbers mattered nothing now that the Chaos ships had closed the range, Khabas already getting reports of boarding parties falling upon the Imperial crews of several of the transport vessels, in a manner that made it clear the Escorts were committing a large number of their own crews to the assaults.
Three of the Escort ships still guarding The Planet Killer were ordered forward, though the fact they were ordered to maintain an effective distance from the battle over Urthwart was met with more than a little mutinous grumbling from the ship captains. Khabas couldn't prove it with his focus on the still evolving battle, but he suspected the Escort Vessels slow speed to get into position was almost definitely a sign of treacherous mutiny.
He would have to remember to make an example of one of those Captains when the battle was over, to get the idea of what authority truly meant in a fleet like this. It was almost twenty agonising minutes before the Escort Vessels were close enough that their sensors added clarity to what his own readings were telling him, and Khabas' feeling of unease was growing with every passing minute.
One of the Imperial Light Cruisers had shattered along its spine from the impact of a brace of torpedoes to its mid decks, and two more of the escorts were limping away from the battle as six chaos ships bore down on them, four more of their own reduced to little more than scrapped hulls. But the Chaos ship captains weren't paying attention to the larger battle in their pursuit for personal glory, and as a third Chaos Light Cruiser flickered and disappeared without a clear reason why, Khabas realised that there was something going on here that he wasn't seeing… or something that was being missed through incompetence of those under him.
Almost throwing himself from his seat, Khabas was across the command deck before Ferax probably realised he had moved, battering the aspiring Legionnaire aside with a dismissive contempt that he felt for anyone who claimed the title without fighting in at least one of Lord Abaddon's Black Crusades.
"Move aside fool, clearly there is something you are missing, and I will not have your incompetence endanger this battle's success." None of the minions working on the various work stations did anything more than flinch in the face of his fury, which given he had been prepared to crush the skull of the first one to speak up was a sign of their above average intelligence.
Even as Khabas manipulated the sensor arrays, calibrating them when it became clear one of them was out of sync with the others, another Chaos escort vessel was destroyed. This one's death was easy to determine at least, one of the transport vessels had rammed into its midship area at full engine power, the transport vessel disappearing from his readouts a moment later as two other escort ships pounded it into nothingness for it's defiance.
This left him with only two light cruisers and ten escort ships, six of which were still chasing down the fleeing Imperial escorts and transports. What should have been an easy victory was starting to look like a costly slaughter, even if the Imperials were down to a single functional Light Cruiser and three Frigate Class escorts that could only be classed as 'combat effective' if you squint hard at their readouts.
But as much as he tried to find fault with the readings, Khabas couldn't find what he had assumed was a fourth Imperial Light Cruiser, or more worryingly an actual Cruiser, and found himself having to decide what to do next. His pride demanded he send forward a significant portion of his forces and crush these upstarts utterly, even just one of the three battleships under his command would be enough to finish this farce swiftly.
The Imperial forces weren't running in the face of his overwhelming forces however, and the Captains of the Imperial Light Cruisers had to know this wasn't a battle they could win. In fact, it was the sort of stubbornness that came with knowing you were bait in a trap…
"Signal all ships, I want Escort vessels to move to maximum envelopment positions around the Planet Killer and focus sensors outwards, The Hand of Cruelty, Glorious Slaughter and Fate's Rapier are to move into covering positions in the planes above, below and behind us. Tell Kyrobax he can unleash his Cruiser squadron forward, but they are to maintain formation regardless of the weakness of the enemy."
As if to emphasise his point, another Escort Vessel in close orbit over Urthwart vanished, though before Khabas' fury could overwhelm his strategic sense, he started issuing ship specific instructions to the remaining ships in the fight. Over the next few minutes, as the Chaos ships around The Planet Killer followed his orders with various levels of enthusiasm, one of the Light Cruisers flickered on the screen as it followed his orders to move to the area of the last Escort Ship's destruction.
The sensors registered it's Prow weapon batteries suddenly activating, firing at something his sensors couldn't make out, but it was the proof he needed that there was something else out there, before the Light Cruiser shattered into three separate pieces and became part of the detritus impairing his readouts.
"All remaining ships, focus on the last Imperial Light Cruiser and then form a defensive formation! Contact Kyrobax and tell him if he doesn't move his ships faster, I will personally string him from his flagship's prow!" Such was his rage, it took Khabas a couple of moments to register the voice of Legionnaire Larian, who was one of his actual brethren in charge of manning the comms relays.
"Warmaster, the last ship sent a communication before it was destroyed, we are doing our best to clean it up now." Turning away from the sensor station, Khabas noted with some amusement the glare Ferax was sending in his direction, like a wolf pup eying up the pack leader and thinking it could surprise it and take control of the pack.
Returning to his command chair, as Khabas felt no need to micromanage someone who was actually competent, the audio began to play on the Command Deck speakers a moment later.
"Warmaster, there are small transport craft travelling from the planet's surface! We cannot see where they are going, all we have on sensors are several large asteroi… Weapons fire detected, Slaanesh's bountiful tits, fire all weapons and ready the boarding torpedoes!" There was a pause for several seconds as a strange interference clouded the content of the communication, before the sound became comprehensible once more.
"Significant damage to Decks 3 and 4, though we now have their location! Torpedoes to fire on my… Second contact to the Stern! How is this possible!" The communication cut off at that point, but had provided him more than enough information for Khabas to feel vindicated in his decision to be cautious.
"Weapons report!" Despite the temptation to sate his rage, Khabas reminded himself that he had been tasked with two tasks, and the destruction of the Imperial ships wasn't one of them.
"87% charge Warmaster, ready in just over ten minutes." Urthwart would burn, and no mystery Imperial Stealth ships would be able to prevent that…
The Deliverance embarkation ramp, Urthwart Surface, 999.M41 Twenty minutes before
Velex Martanis, Lieutenant of the 17th Indigan Praefects Imperial Guardsmen Regiment
"Maintain your spacing and conserve your ammo! We are here to secure our fellow Guardsmen, not exact the Emperor's deliverance on these poor souls!" Commissar Hawke's orders were almost delivered in the manner of an Ecclesiarchy priest, but given his bolt pistol was one of the weapons that they had next to no ammunition for, it wasn't like he could do a lot in this particular instance.
Indeed, given the defences that had been created around the small Destroyer class Escort ship turned transport courtesy of Lord Potter, there actually wasn't too much any of them needed to do right now. Fifty metres from the ship's exit ramp, a series of earthen walls and ditches had shifted into existence violently as the Psyker waved his strange stick, turning the previously flat terrain into a small fortress.
Originally, the 50 Guardsmen they had brought down with them had actually struggled to effectively man the walls as the first enemies appeared. Thankfully, Octus had been able to break into the Kasrkin communication system before they landed. That hadn't exactly been appreciated by the Kasrkin Lieutenant who seemed to be the senior surviving officer, but from what Octus had relayed his tone had changed considerably with the news of their arrival to provide evac for him and his troops.
Even as the space battle had raged above, the details of which Velex was only interested in terms of when they would have to withdraw, it became clear as the Imperial forces began to reach them exactly why the strange Astartes had insisted they needed to come to Urthwart in the first place. At first it was squad remnants and survivors from ambushes, all on the squat and rugged bike vehicles that Velex had never seen before.
Rather than the odd three wheeled bikes the Squats seemed to prefer, the two wheels were the same size as each other. The frame was sturdy but lightweight, barring the armour plating that extended either side of the front wheel and handlebars to protect the rider, with space for equipment or extra promethium tanks on either side of the back wheel.
The main reason Velex was interested in the strange bikes was the fact that each of them had a pair of lasguns attached to the handlebars in a manner that made their barrels point in the direction of travel. Given the Kasrkin dismounted at least one of these lasguns when they dismounted, each one connected to the bike's engine, it was clear this allowed them to act both as assault weapons and recharging stations at the same time.
Then the remnants of an entire company of Kasrkin and some Storm Trooper squads had turned up on a mixture of Chimeras and Light Recon Vehicles, and suddenly there were more than three hundred extra bodies to man the walls or ride out to rescue the scattered distress calls they were still getting from other survivors.
"Recon 3 reporting. Enemy contingent, two clicks out North-North-West and closing, numbers in the low hundreds. Engaging to disrupt formation before returning to ship." The voice in her ear was from one of the Kasrkin patrols, who had barely stopped at the ship to drop their wounded and double up on their bikes before heading back out into the desert like expanse that made up most of Urthwart's surface.
She had heard stories of the Cadian Regiments, many of them more like legend than fact, but so far everything was living up to the myths.
"Acknowledged Recon 3, be aware we will dust off soon, 2nd Company and the civilian survivors will probably appreciate an additional escort." It was always a little jarring to find your view of a professional Guardsman was being superseded in such a blatant manner, as there were three short beeps to signify the team's understanding of her polite order.
There was no wasted words or cries of faith in their reports, and each task performed with a level of resolve that definitely put her Indigans to shame. Something she would be looking into instilling when she had a chance to talk things through with the Kasrkin officers, the dust cloud that was starting to become distinct vehicle shapes rather than a single dark mass hopefully containing some more of their command personnel.
"Another one incoming, stand back!" This call came, not over the radio comms, but from the ramp of The Deliverance.
Here was where The Saint and Lord Potter carried out probably the most difficult of tasks facing the Imperial forces, the two of them doing their best to aid the wounded and infected amongst the Kasrkin survivors along with the half a dozen surviving Kasrkin medics.
Their efforts were more brute force and psyker spells than actual medicine, and watching Lord Potter telekinetically drag a small demon made of infected blood and pus from the wound in the side of Kasrkin woman he was treating was both slightly fascinating and terrifying all at once. The thing thrashed and did it's best to fling parts of its body at the nearby medics, though all of it remained inside a small cube of space Lord Potter was somehow maintaining around it as The Saint sent a bolt of his golden power to eradicate the demon from this plane of existence entirely.
They were losing people at a rate of 30-40%, this affliction ravaging the body of the infected with brutal efficiency the moment The Saint or Lord Potter started 'treatment', but at least none of those that died had come back from the dead like those Plague Zombies slowly swarming outside. It was a grim solace that had the other Kasrkin loading the dead aboard The Deliverance showing some clear if cautious respect for Lord Potter, though The Saint was still inspiring muted awe whenever he talked to someone.
That was the last of the injured, for this batch at least, which was good because the treatment was clearly taking a toll on both men. It seemed especially hard on Lord Potter, who seemed unused to being in a full set of sealed Light Power armour in a combat setting.
"Lieutenant, incoming communication from The Chariot!" Given The Chariot of Deliverance was equipped with some kind of stealth technology that prevented the enemy from being able to get an accurate reading of it's location, Octus and his crew couldn't send a direct communication to them.
Instead, a series of buoys and sensor drones were used. They would move into high orbit above the planet, which would mask their presence when they sent their signals to the planet, though this meant the communication could only pass one way.
Moving to the rough hewn ramp back to the surface of Urthwart at a light run, Velex nodded approvingly as one of the Kasrkin that had been helping to bring vehicles and supplies aboard The Deliverance moved to take her post automatically.
She could get used to working with this kind of professionalism.
The Comms station was a much more advanced version than the Indigans were used to, Octus having provided it and one of his lesser Tech-priests to use it for them, given none of her men had known what to do with it. It was still on The Deliverance, so it took a couple of minutes for her to make her way through the rather packed set of vehicles and equipment the Kasrkin had brought aboard.
The Deliverance was about 400 metres long and most of that length was occupied by the two tiered deck space that could easily hold the massive Leviathan class command vehicle Lord Potter had secured from that Xenos robot. But when you put more than a dozen Chimeras and easily double that number of Geckos and dozens of bikes, that available floor space got used up remarkably quickly.
"Thanks Borax. Play the message please Tech-priest Serus." The tech-priest was one of the more… human looking Tech-priests she had met, with only an augmented arm and a series of cranial implants that she had seen.
"Playing message." But just because he was human looking didn't mean he acted any less of a robot than the other Mechanicus members.
"Lieutenant Velex, 67% chance you are the one listening. Our energy readings of the massive ship on the outskirts of the system indicate that it will soon be reaching its maximum capacity. Given it is a vessel of Heretics and worshippers of the Dark Gods, the fact its main weapons are pointed at the planet's predicted position are not a good sign for their intent. Based on the orientation of the ship… You have about 8 minutes and 33.127 seconds. Lifting off soon is… logical."
Not the worst case scenario, which was that the rest of the fleet had moved to engage or The Chariot of Retribution had been discovered and was under assault. But it was definitely not a morale inspiring message.
Still, they had known they would need to be lifting off in a hurry, which is why she had instructed the patrol units to maintain a tight patrol pattern rather than allowing a more roving system as they had originally instructed.
"Rather specific timing, better make sure we keep to it…" The joke made Borax and the other Guardsmen in range chuckle slightly, while Serus merely nodded as if what she had said was merely factual assessment of their situation.
"Give me an open line to all our units." Grabbing the comms mike from the station, Velex waited for a moment while Serus plugged one of his fingers into a port on the comms station before nodding that she could begin.
"All Imperial units, this is Lieutenant Martanis. The enemy are readying their fleet to begin some kind of orbital bombardment weapon, and I don't particularly want to sit around and see the results of that particular flare show. All units are to return to The Deliverance, we leave in five minutes. The Emperor protects."
Hopefully they would all make it back in time…
A/N: This should have been two chapters… probably. Could have split it at the end of the Kasrkin PoV and given you all a bit more of a cliff-hanger, but I was on a roll and didn't want to unintentionally shoot myself in the foot by stopping part way through.
Still, between a zombie fight, space battle and a showcase of 'psychic powers as healing tools' I like to think I've given you all something to enjoy.
I tried to show that Chaos aren't just 'charge screaming towards the enemy', and that they realise even meat shields like plague zombies have tactical and strategic uses, even if that use is primarily a fear factor and a way to make their enemies run out of bullets. And yes, those were Night Lords Space Marines that ambushed the Company Command unit, showing that you only need half a dozen Space Marines to completely ruin the Imperial Guards day. These weren't 'true' Chaos Space Marines, before everyone complains about two of them dying to Guardsmen. Even the Chaos Space Marines recruit new members, and blooding them on this kind of operation is a good way to weed out the weak/unlucky.
The 129th are my own creation, when I read that Imperial Command were stupid enough to send troops INTO the Eye of Terror. Based around the SAS in WW2, these are intended to be the Imperial Guard answer to the Astartes Chapters like the White Scars, but focussed more on scouting and recon than blunt force trauma.
Regarding Warmaster Khabas and his defensive nature, remember he had two jobs. First and ultimately key objective, keep the Planet Killer safe and ready to use. It is one of those ships that is as useful hidden away as a threat as it is when it is actually killing planets. His second objective was to destroy Urthwart, which he can still do without getting involved in what should have been an easy space battle.
You don't want to be the one who has to tell Abaddon that you've lost his favourite toy...
And before people ask, the 'Give me Glory, F**K the others!' approach of the Chaos ship captains is exactly how they would act, rather than how they act in BFG. Everyone is out to please the Dark Gods and gain their favour, which is much easier to do when your rivals are dead around you.
I've been asked to give a summary of the forces that have joined with Harry/Saint Gerstahl, so please be aware there will be a bit of an info- dump below. If you don't care, you can finish up here and review on your way out!
Defias Out!
The Forces of Saint Gerstahl:
Ground Forces:
Imperial Guard:
17th Indigan Praefects-
Commander: Lieutenant Velex Martanis
Notable Characters: Commissar Hawke, Sergeant Poranix, Conscript Mattis
Combat Strength: 317 Guardsmen, mixed regiments. 4 Modified Chimera Transports, 2 Griffon Combat Vehicles.
129th Cadian Regiment 'The Emperor's Eyes'
Commander: Lieutenant Gratis
Notable Characters: Sergeant Nesin, Corporal Letty
Combat Strength: 3 understrength Companies and 6 squads of 4th Company remnants, 835 Kasrkin including wounded and crippled. 21 Chimeras, 51 Gecko CRVs and 132 Thumper Recon Bikes.
17th Valixan Storm Trooper Regiment
Commander: Currently none (Command at Squad Level)
Notable Characters: None
Combat Strength: 3 decimated Companies, 127 Storm Troopers including wounded and crippled. 3 Chimeras, 2 Hellhounds.
Abhumans:
Squats-
Commander: Ragni Ivarsson
Notable Characters: None
Combat Strength: 1044 Squat Troopers and vehicle operators, 32 Living Ancestor class Psykers. 73 Combat Trikes, Land Train combat vehicle (8 sections), Leviathan Command Vehicle.
Astartes-
Commander: Deathwatch Brother Cassiel of the Blood Angels Chapter
Notable Characters: None
Combat Strength: 2 Blood Angel Tactical Marines, 4 other Astartes of Mixed Chapters.
Naval Forces:
The Chariot of Retribution- Cruiser Class Carrier/Recon Ship
The Deliverance- Retrofitted Imperial Transport (No Warp Capability)
The Omnissiah's Will- Retrofitted Imperial Cobra class Destroyer (No Warp Capability)
The Last Word- Retrofitted Imperial Firestorm Frigate (No Warp Capability)
By His Grace- Endeavour Class Light Cruiser (Damaged)
2 x Sword Class Escort Frigates (Damaged)