Legends of the Smoke Jaguars Chapter 156
A dawning sun revealed the armies of Terra, vast beyond measure and inexorable in advance. From horizon to horizon they swarmed, a plague of locusts devouring the good earth with rapacious hunger. From warzones across the planet they had been drawn, abandoning many other fronts to concentrate their might into one sledgehammer blow. They were certain of victory, and well they should be.
Tracks churned grassy plains into sucking mud, Chimeras, Leman Russ variants and Superheavies by the thousand rolling forward in long columns. Between them galloped Knight Engines, unfurled banners flapping in the breeze. Overhead circled Marauder bombers and Thunderbolt fighters, waiting for the order to pounce. A score of Titans strode in their midst, long shadows casting the army into shade, Warhounds, Reavers and Warlords, hungry to taste the carnage of war. At the fore drove Land Raiders and Rhinos in shades of red and gold, Fire Lords, ten companies worth, an entire Chapter assembled for one battle. The stuff of legends indeed.
Set against them the Novan armies seemed laughable. Hundreds of Wardsmen regiments, sitting in their own Chimeras, with barely half as many fighter planes for cover and a scattering of Schismatic Titans. It seemed a fool's errand to engage at all, but that did not account for Nu Zantium itself. The mobile capital rolled forward, dwarfing the tallest Titan as a tree does a stick insect. The ground behind was torn by deep canyons where tracks had compressed the earth and the air was made opaque by the shimmer of void shields. No single war machine in the galaxy could match Nu Zantium, even an orbital starship could not target accurately enough to break those shields. A city on the move, unbreakable as the walls of a Hive, but able to advance and meet the foe head-on.
Von Tor looked down from the front of the mid-tier, taking in the defences. With a few days to prepare the city had been fortified, its guns added to and fine embellishments clad in Ferrocrete. Archmagos Zobatten had outdone himself, converting apartments into redoubts and positioning heavy weapons in every window and doorway that faced the outside world. The population had been added to, Wardsmen packed into every building and the population had been armed, lasguns pressed into the hands of shocked nobles and weeping women. Von Tor was especially pleased with that last part.
"Let them do their own fighting for a change," he chortled.
"You seem amused," Chapter Master Empex noted.
"Why shouldn't I be?" Von Tor scoffed, "The triumph of Nova Terra is at hand."
"Just the small matter of winning first," Empex noted.
"Nu Zantium is a war machine as much as a city. The Ur-Council failed to see the power at their fingertips, wasting our best chance by running from trouble and ignoring problems. These fops you see were the same, pampered and soft, blind to the reality of the galaxy. Now at last the falsehood of peace is stripped away and the truth made plain. War and death are the immutable facts of the galaxy. Those who embrace that truth will prosper, those who cannot will be trampled underfoot."
Empex said nothing, merely strolling along the line of hastily erected gun nests lining the perimeter. That Von Tor walked with a Marine who'd been trying to overthrow his civilisation seemed odd at first, but the Disquisitor was quickly learning that Empex was flexible. Their goals aligned and he was straightforward with his ambitions, Von Tor could work with that. The Novan population seemed less assured, casting worried eyes at the towering giants dotted along the perimeter, confused and resentful. Space Marines had ever been the enemy of the Novans and these seemed stranger than legend told. Kazial made sure none of them got any ideas as they walked past, hands restless on his bolt pistols, making it clear resistance would earn swift punishment.
Von Tor had assumed direct command of Nu Zantium, with a little help from his suddenly helpful conspirators. He'd delegated the day-to-day operations to his lackeys, concentrating on readying a defence, and putting his face on the public-vox net so all knew who was giving the commands. Few truly understood what was happening, but nobody was brave enough to challenge him, averting their gazes in respect as he passed through the halls of power. Von Tor enjoyed seeing those who'd formerly snubbed him put in their place, the Terran-born now lord and master of all Novans.
A flash of midnight armour told that Vorshaan was loitering ahead, standing on a protruding statue for a better view. He seemed confident, wings fluttering in the breeze, ignoring the terrified mortals cowering about his feet. Von Tor didn't trust Vorshaan at all, the marine was surely plotting a betrayal, but his warriors would be essential to the coming battle. Von Tor would be keeping a close eye on him though.
"I wonder if this is how Rogal Dorn felt?" Vorshaan mused.
"Excuse me?" Von Tor blinked as they closed.
"Plating over a city, pulling down its fine works and replacing them with gun turrets and Donjons. Terra was ruined long before Horus' troops set foot upon it, the lapdogs destroyed their hope for a better future with their own hands, rather than let us do it for him. Rogal was a famously hard believer, it must have wounded him deeply to destroy that which he was trying to save."
"You grow sentimental in your old age," Empex snorted.
"I like suffering," Vorshaan retorted as he hopped down, "There are many flavours of fear, not all of them about what lurks in the night. Fear of failure, fear of success, fear losing yourself. Dorn plated over a planet for fear of what Horus might do, it must have been exquisite to witness."
"This is irrelevant," Von Tor dismissed, "The time has come." A chirp in his ear from a vox-bead told him that the ranges were closing. Soon the long-range barrage would begin. Von Tor trusted the void shields would prove inviolable, but the true danger was infantry storming the city. The mobile nature of Nu Zantium was challenging, the furious rain of fire would reap hundreds of thousands of Terran lives, but if one was willing to sacrifice enough soldiers it was possible. Von Tor did not doubt for a moment that the Terrans were willing to shed any amount of blood to achieve their goal, which is why The Night Lords and Dark Tusks would act as a flying reserve, to thwart any incursions and throw them back.
Von Tor touched a button on his vox-bead and spoke to the whole city, "My friends, you behold the hosts closing upon our walls and tremble at the sight. The Terrans hate us, they hate what we represent. They have sent their worst against us, to extinguish the bright future that Novans offer to the galaxy. They think we are weak, but they shall be taught how wrong they are! Our walls are inviolate, our weapons unbeatable. We have the power of Nu Zantium at our command and the vision to wield it! All we require to win is that you be brave, stand your ground and the galaxy shall be yours. From the decaying ruins of the Imperium a new civilisation will rise, in a greater and better form!"
No cheers rang at his words, trembling civilian and jaded Wardsmen clinging to their guns and waiting for the first shot to be fired. It began with the aerial conflict, jets and bombers surging forward, crossing the kilometres in moments. Novan aircraft raced to meet them, filling the blue skies with crisscrossing contrails as pilots began to die. Von Tor ignored them, a mere sideshow, any bomber that did make it through would find their ordnance useless against these shields. Now the true firepower of Nu Zantium was about to be revealed.
On the highest tiers the twin Imperators shifted their stance, sighting upon the endless horde. Vengeance cannons lined up, as artillery batteries on their spinal bastions lifted their barrels. Vermillion Retribution took the first shot, far beyond the range of the heaviest Terran gun. Void Shields flickered to allow the beam to pass through and the air spilt over Von Tor's head as an energy lance of prodigious power crossed the distance, slashing into the distant army. A sweep of the hand and the Titan carved a deep trench into the horde, incinerating thousands of men before they even knew they were under attack. Vermillion Death fired an instant later, obliterating thousands more. Two great furrows were made in the Terran army, but their numbers were endless and they washed over the wound like the tide around a sandcastle. Yet Nu Zantium was far from finished.
Far below Von Tor's feet the Capitol Imperialis readied their mightiest of weapons. Behemoth cannons, fitting enormous shells and firing in sequence. Von Tor's feet felt the discharges despite hundreds of thousands of tonnes of stone separating them, plus archeotech suppressors more advanced than even the priests of Mars could dream. Thunderclaps rolled over the city, deafening those on the lowest levels but the brilliant explosions of the shells deep in the Terran army drowned it out with stunning violence.
World-shaking detonations erupted in the middle of the Terran army, machines overturned and shrapnel punched armour thick enough to shrug off battlecannon shells. Von Tor squinted into the burning horizon, trying to make out what was happening, as a hot wind battered at his face. When the enormity of the detonations faded somewhat he saw a forty-five-degree slice of the enemy had been wiped from the face of Nova Terra, the closing army burned away in a vast sweep of some god's hand. He could not guess how many had died, tens of thousands surely, hundreds of thousands perhaps, and yet impossibly the Terran army just kept coming, trundling forward in endless numbers. For all the destruction piled upon them they stretched to the horizon and beyond, swarming in numbers to make an Ork Waaagh pale in comparison. Truly they were throwing everything they had at Nu Zantium.
At last the invaders were in range and they returned fire, cannons elevating high to target Nu Zantium's streets. There was a narrow slice where the void shields met the walls left unprotected and the rain of shells stuck hard. Explosions ringed the lower levels, tearing down gun nests and gouging at bastions. Men and women died, lashed by debris or thrown clear to plummet to the distant ground. Return fire struck at the circling Terrans, but it was not enough to stem the tide. Then from the rear surged the Novan regiments, pouring out of Chimeras as Leman Russ tanks let rip. Brave men, throwing themselves at the enemy with courage and pride, giving their lives to thwart the invaders will. It would not work, they could not stop the numbers coming at them, but with their lives they bought time for Nu Zantium to reap a fearful tally.
On every level artillery thundered as gun nests hammered downwards and far below the Capitol Imperialis swept men and machines away with defensive sponsons. Streams of fire clawing at the ground far below, every defender firing blind but knowing they'd hit something. All was noise and bedlam, like Von Tor had never known, but nothing compared to the violence unleashed by the Imperators. Spinal bastions blazed, flinging shells far and wide, decimating Terrans with contemptuous disdain. Vermillion Death swept its Vengeance Cannon along a tank column, leaving ashes where scores of machines had been seconds earlier. Vermillion Retribution reduced a Baneblade to slag with a single shot, a machine that could withstand the worst Xenos weapons ever encountered, smashed into nothing.
Terrible was the violence but then a Maniple of Terran Titans closed, weapons thundering. A pair of Warlords, a Reaver and two Warhounds, accompanied by an entire lance of Knights. War horns sounded as they challenged Nu Zantium, Volcano Cannons and Turbolasers flashing, Plasma Annihilators blasting shots and missiles streaming away. It caught the attention of the Imperators and they turned their waists about to rain down fire. Vermillion Death put a shot through the Reaver, punching through its shields and armour like they weren't even there, leaving a perfect hole bored through the reactor that gushed plasma like heartblood. Vermillion Retribution targeted a Warlord, smashing its shields down with a sustained blast, allowing its spinal batteries to target the lesser God-Engine. Shells detonated over its shoulders, tearing at armour, till a lucky hit blew its cockpit clean off, leaving it slumped headless as Nu Zantium rolled on.
The Titan maniple veered right, trying to get behind the city, but Vermillion Death wasn't done. Torrents of ordnance battered the fleeing Titans, tearing their shield down, leaving them vulnerable. Vermillion Death brought its other arm up and a Doomstrike missile flew free. It caught the remaining Warlord dead on, and the explosion annihilated the Titan from the waist up. Powerful beyond belief, the kind of weapon normally reserved for a dedicated Deathstrike platform, the missiles' blastwave crashed into the remaining Titans, making them bow. One Warhound toppled over, smashing down on its side, left unable to rise. Meanwhile Knights were scattered like ninepins, tumbling over and over as they rolled in the mud. One Warhound survived, limping on a mangled leg, till a simple ordinary artillery shell hit its torn knee and blew it clean off, sending the last Titan crashing to the dirt. God-Engines mighty enough to break armies and burn cities, swept aside with contemptuous ease.
"They cannot stand against us!" Von Tor exulted.
"So many deaths please the gods," Empex purred.
"No amount of numbers can breach these walls," Von Tor agreed.
"Don't get cocky just yet," Vorshaan growled, "Here come the Fire Lords."
While the death toll among mortals was breathtaking, and even Titans proved insufficient, the Astartes were not dismayed. Red and gold Land Raiders rode over the charred ruins of tanks and ground scorched skeletons into powder, as Rhinos raced along in their wake. The city towered over them, but they drove dauntlessly forward, braving the storm of lascannons shots and shells detonating all around. To the base of the trundling Capitol Imperialis they drove, then screeched to a halt, disgorging Fire Lords by the hundred. A thousand Space Marines closed on Nu Zantium, hearts aflame with the fervour of the zealot.
"If they take out our Capitol Imperialis then we'll ground to a halt," Empex warned.
"They do that and they can just batter us down for days on end," Vorshaan growled.
Von Tor knew the critical hour had come and drew his sword, "Summon your Marines and tell them to show no mercy. These invaders must die and we will be the ones to end them!"