Date: D016. Y977. M31. Y60
The meeting with the council had only just concluded and Tathyan Hryphon High Priestess of Ynnead already felt the need to pay a special visit to her one of a kind wine collection.
"Those idiots must truly and foolishly believe they have any power here" said Meleth Lien the Phoenix Lord of the Temple of Ynnead "agreed I find it likely they cant even see who truly holds all the power even if it is right in front of them" High Farseer Turun Eldric said.
Levitating a glass of juice over to himself as they entered the comparatively small office that belonged to the Temple of Ynnead, and unlike Eldric the other two did not have fears of being so inebriated that they could be tempted by the forces of the Unborn God.
As such, they got themselves some of the strongest wine, so strong that it could kill any mortal of another species with just one sip, for a few moments they could relax and not have to worry for their futures.
Looking out of the window that took up much of the east facing wall they could all see where the true power lie in the sanctuary massive craft ships of all sizes from the largest Vaul class Void Stalkers to the medium sized Kurnous class Cruisers and the smallest Wraith ships and shadow hunters flouted slowly across the sky.
They would share the air space with thousands of Ghost ship transports carrying large numbers of troops, weapons, ammunition and all the other necessities for war not mention the hundreds of PAA (psychic Anti Air) defense batteries they could see from the window not to mention the tens of thousands more ships and gun emplacements they couldn't see at the moment.
All of these ships, transports and vessels barred the symbols of Isha, Kurnous and Vaul on their hulls, a few could even be seen with the rune of Cegorach there was even a large convoy line that belonged to the Temple of Ynnead.
However there were none with the symbol of Asuyan, Khaine or Morai-Heg, like themselves, they had only relatively recently been reestablished and had to focus much of their forces of their own worlds but that left all the true power in the Sanctuary to the Triumvirate and the Overseer Tuirad.
"This latest meeting the council has me most concerned" Tathyan began "that much is obvious, you should do better to conceal your intentions" Turun stated taking another sip of his orange juice,
"yes I know and i'm thankful to have that luxury among my closest friends" Tathyan came off as cold and calculating to most but her childhood friends were the exception.
"It is too soon to go to war with the Domain, I would hate to say it but that young fool Eldrad, is right we have a lot of resources but nowhere near enough, ever so we however-" "you need to focus on Ynnead yes and on yourselves correct?".
All three of them were stunned as in the seat across from all three of them sat the Goddess of Rebellion herself, Isha "now now there is no need to stare, I apologize for interrupting your private conversation but there are some important things we need to discuss as well as some things you would wish for me to explain".
The three Aeldari had by now recovered and had no need to turn to each other as they knew what they all wanted to know "yes if we do have questions but these topics must be important if you come to us directly" Tathyan led them as she always had.
"To begin you are correct it is not yet the time to fight the misguided ones but the young Eldrad and Luchin have a slightly more correct idea of what we are going to do, as of now Tuirad is meeting with the Phoenix Lords, High Farseers and High priests/Priestess of the Temples of Asuryan, Khaine and Morai-Heg" Isha said.
"During this meeting they will be sent on missions of great importance, while we also give them a… lesson in ancient history" Isha then paused as if she expected them to say something.
'She did allow us to ask questions' Meleth told them telepathically through their shared link and Turun quickly asked "if we can, could we know what these missions are?" Isha then appeared to think for a moment "I'm afraid not the Misguided ones have spies everywhere and I'm sure that thing is always watching for whatever it can get" Isha's voice took on a disgusted tone as she finished her sentence.
"However I will tell you what yours is" somehow sending a pulse through their shared link all three of them quickly understood what to do and who would oppose them but Isha would still explain the bare basics of it "as you know after the edict of Asuryan no gods could enter the material realm and with this edict being so ingrained in the Aeldari psyche it was impossible to revoke" Isha began.
"As such the pleasure cults soon rose and after the great war, overthrew the Temples, thus I had to do… some creative thinking using a certain planet in order to circumvent the edict and help found the Sanctuary, you will take on the goal of securing this planet while the founder Temples, my husband and I, mobilize the Sanctuary for a full war with the Domain" isha said.
However the three of them still had questions "if you can tell us what our mission is, why can't you tell us what the other's missions are?" Tathyan asked "the other three Temples believe themselves to be important and giving such an important task to what they would call 'Heretics' or 'traitors' would… upset them however that thing is watching you and very carefully I might add" Isha finished.
After answering his question, Isha turned to leave but Meleth asked one more question "that still doesn't answer why we can't be told" Meleth made a good point however Isha smiled and answered "there are a few things that must not be known to anyone else or the consequences would be… dire" and with that Isha would vanish in the blink of an eye.
Approximately 1 hour later TST (Terra Standard Time) Tathyan, Meleth and Turun all stood upon the large launch pad with in a massive hanger that contained all sorts of military hardware and space faring vessels the most important one to them being the Phoenix class Battlecrusier
'Ynneads voyage'.
Said Battlecrusier was currently being refueled and restocked of all necessities and with the crew having arrived just ten minutes ago they were going to take off soon, with Tathyan making the final checks alongside the ships A.I Aveen to make sure they were ready.
Meanwhile Meleth supervised the weapons systems and kept the readiness of the Exarchs and their squads of Aspect Warriors at full readiness, for the likely case of a fight at their destination or along the route they had to take.
This was because the webway was a little… dangerous, although the Sanctuary held a large majority of the webway itself there were still dozens of warlords, pirate fleets and raiders that inhabited the webway.
This was not the only problem they faced, the webway itself is beginning to slowly fall apart, by that Tathyan meant that certain sections of the webway had simply disappeared into a void, said void was named 'The Forsaken Abyss'.
It was named this because not even the gods could save you, if you entered the void, another… special quality about the void was that if you entered, you were erased from existence, from your family, friends and loved ones minds, with all records of your existence simply vanish.
All this meant that they would at some point have to exit the webway and travel through the warp, where Daemons would hound them, along with many inconceivable threats that were best left alone.
The Damned One came to mind as one of the top threats, although she trusted Turun to keep them safe, even now Turun was preparing the rest of the farseers in order to keep their path as clear and uneventful as possible, although the might as well be a fantasy, it was the effort the mattered, in order to minimize these dangerous encounters.
"Take off will begin soon" Aveen spoke to her through the ear bud in her helmet "yes thank you Aveen" Tathyan then moved on "you know it is surprising to me your not offended at the goddess rudely barging in on you" Aveen stated "she is a goddess I can forgive her for that reason alone" Tathyan said, she had a feeling where this was going.
Aveen would then appear as a 3D model inside the HUD of her helmet, "but if I recall correctly you once walked in on Turun during a sleep over while he was getting dressed, is that ok?" Tathyan could practically feel the amused smile Aveen put on at that moment as her cheeks were bright red as she glanced behind her, thankfully Turun had not noticed.
"I also recall you two avoiding each other for months, it got so bad your mothers forced you to, make up or else you were grounded!" Tathyan then shook it off and told her A.I "that was completely different, Aveen and now is not the time! Go… do something else" Tathyan told the A.I "As you command" Aveen then cut their link and Tathyan sighed it was not the first time she had brought that up and not the last.
It was then that Meleth entered the bridge with a data pad in his hand "Tathyan" he greeted as he gave her the data pad, she looked at the information displayed on it and nodded "good job Meleth, as always" she said, it was then Turun seemed to finish his preparations, and was now approaching them.
On the bridge stood the three leaders of the Temple of Ynnead now stood overlooking the solar system wide city that was Commorragh approaching the webway gate to the the planet of Biel-Tan and from there to the wider galaxy "our destination Molech" Tathyan proclaimed there they would find the key to waking Ynnead and they only knew it by one name 'The God Formula'.
Date: D031. Y977. M31. Y60
Cadia was under siege, its great hive cities plundered and ravaged by the invasion from the Domain of Terror, it was only the second week of the invasion and most of the initial assaults had been beaten back at tremendous cost, such as the Supreme General, Usiel Scarion having been killed.
Not only had the Supreme general been killed, much of the experienced leadership had also been lost, killed by assassins, thus throwing the Regular Cadian Army, including Cadia in general into chaos, while the Cadia Solar Defense Fleet had to withdraw due to heavy losses.
This forced them to wait for the rest of the United Confederacy to respond and to hopefully assist Cadia however, the High Commanders of Cadia ,who had fortunately survived, knew that with their war with the corrupt Federation still raging that may be unlikely, but The Cadian Shock Troops were not given the nickname "the Celeri" for nothing.
Due to their gene enhancements and advanced battlesuits as while as a training regiment that made other militaries look like they were children playing in a sandbox, they were fast, deadly and coordinated with an almost hive mind level of efficiency.
Because of this they were routinely sent across the galaxy as an army for hire for the extra revenue it would bring to the struggling economy of Cadia (being right next to the Domain of Terror will have that effect) this also gave the Cadian Shock Troops experience to deal with almost any situation.
Thats what was going through the mind of Platoon leader Clement Aruthur, being a platoon leader meant he had to look after four squads, with each squad having ten people, currently these forty people were hiding behind the Rockcreet of the buildings that made up the 71st junction A.K.A the 71st KZ (Kill Zone).
Supported by two platoons of the Regular Cadian Army, they were await in ambush for the enemy, the enslavers never made much of an attempt to hide or obscure their next move, it just didn't matter to them.
But Clement had a feeling… let's just say sixth sense that told him things were different this time so he had placed two squads of CST further back in reserve, he trusted the Judgment of his two subordinates to make the right call.
Now using the third person view his suits' cameras provided they were all waiting on Clements signal so he had to choose the exact right moment but the enslavers should have been here by now why they haven't come yet… not yet… now!.
The Enslavers were rolling down the street right into the kill zone seemingly unaware of the trap set for them, with this development he gave the signal to the vox carrier in the squad to relay his message to wait for the next ten seconds.
In those ten seconds he made sure the heavy gunner, sniper and the other CST's knew when to attack, this had to be perfect or else they wouldn't buy anywhere near enough time for the Capital Kasr, looking down the sights of his mako rifle he placed his crosshairs on the exposed head of an Enslaver, his finger on the trigger.
With his other hand upon the cross necklace his mother had given him, saying a quick prayer Clement prepared to fire, But just then he began to feel… loopy if he could describe it like a drug had been slipped in to his drink at the bar, like someone had just gotten their perfect opportunity to take advantage of him.
But just then he heard something unmistakable, the sound of dripping water in the corner that had been leaking into a bucket where they had placed the by the squads sniper had stopped, that could only mean it was now dripping onto the carpet which meant…
Turning around and bringing out his Maximillion Combat Knife swinging wildly in the air behind him, just in the nick of time too forcing the Enslaver behind him to back off, the knocked over bucket slipping in and out of his messed up vision "chemical imbalance detected injection of Panqueca due immediately" the D.A.I in his suit said 'finally' he thought.
As the Panqueca rushed through his system he could think clearly, only to be worried with what he saw, there were three Enslavers in the large room with the six of them out of those six, two were dead, the sniper Luke and the guard john, who was watching their backs.
With the others having followed his example the clearly frustrated Enslaver then spoke "foolish Mon-keigh I was about to give you a mercy" the Enslaver spat "then let me take it and shove it down your throat" Clement said as he flipped his knife in reverse grip, the other three Shock Troopers doing the same.
Clement quickly grabbed his Barracuda Pistol from his utility belt and squeezed off two shots, while the Enslaver blocked both with its bowstaff Clement had quickly charged the Enslaver.
He did this because while the Enslavers would always be faster once they got going and had unrivaled psychic might, countless millennium of indulgence and decadence did not make for great reaction time, in short the Enslavers were no real soldiers, just cruel opportunist who preyed on the weak.
This thought process would be proven true as Clement tackled the Enslaver into another room through a door, beginning a grapple for who could get control of the knife in Clements hand as the Enslaver had his weapon knocked away.
Kicking and punching each other in a vicious battle for survival something would go wrong as no plan survives contact with the enemy, Clement had planned for it to be a battle of strength the Enslaver quickly made it something he couldn't win a psychic duel.
Using its psychic powers the same it had used to confuse the pathetic Mon-Keigh before it messed with Clements head, resulting in Clement seemingly losing his grip on the Enslavers left hand resulting in the Enslaver taking a poisoned knife out of one of its many compartments of its armor and slashing Clement across the right side of his chest.
The Enslaver would then kick Clement off of him, Clement staggered but even with his injuries he was smirking "what are you smiling at Mon-Keigh how delusion are you?" the Enslaver glouted "look down asshole" clement said, taking a few steps back.
The enslaver did just that and paled, attached to his chest was a primitive explosive but an explosive none the less, the beeping and flashing red light suddenly becoming the only thing he focus on "fuck you" were the last words of the Enslaver would ever hear as Clement pushed the button with a smile and the building shook with the force.
After taking a small amount of pleasure in the sight of the burnt corpse of the Enslaver a buzz of static would suddenly fill his ear snapping him out of his daydreaming, a panicked voice would then replace the static "THIS IS SQUAD LEADER CHARLIE, THE ENSLAVERS HAVE OPENED FIRE, THAT RIPPER IS TEARING US APART!, WE NEED ORDERS, REPEAT-".
'The Ripper' Clement thought it referred to the Enslaver equivalent of a tank, it was called a Ripper due to how it rips apart anything it touches with its gravity based weaponry, ceasing his thoughts Clement would respond calmly "fall back to the rendezvous point and regroup with squad leaders Skylor and Timothy, the bastards knew we were here" he said, a flood of "affirmatives" and "yes sir" then filled his ear.
He would then cut contact as the building shook and it slightly tilted to the side 'they must be taking out the bottom floor' he concluded, it was just then that the voice of the D.A.I spoke again "fatal injury detected injection of Panqueca due immediately".
The relatively large injection of the Panqueca softened the growing pain in his chest and dealt with the poison, this thankfully allowed him to leave the room he was in without him having to worry about suddenly dropping dead from a burst lung.
Walking back to the room they had initially sat up in a thought crossed his mind 'how did they know we were here?' he thought, throughout the countless years of warfare with the Enslavers they had learned that even the most secure channels could be breached with regularity.
As such the High Commanders had given them this mission personally to ensure its success and keep it secret, could the Enslavers have captured some idiot who told them, maybe? But given that he as the overall commander had not been told of any missing soldiers it was unlikely.
Going through a few more possible explanations he crossed them out one by one, the Elsavers using their psychic powers to see the future? possible, but then again if the Enslavers were ,then the RCA would have had a total of zero successful military operations against them, and Cadia would be destroyed by now.
This process of elimination drew him to two conclusions, either A one of the High Commanders was a traitor or B someone in one of his four squads was a traitor, and then there was C, the traitor was hiding in one of the two platoons of the RCA that had been told and had been supporting them.
But that gave him an even larger problem as this meant there would be 8 more squads worth of potential suspects, thankfully logic told him that the spy would want to keep his life so everyone who was a dead casualty, was not a suspect.
However there was still so much he didn't know, so many factors that played into this, if the traitor was a member of the High Commanders then could that mean they gave the location of the Supreme General to the Enslavers, thus leading to the Supreme General's death and advancing their own power? So many possibilities and outcomes.
It was then he regrouped with the CST group Ray, in total there were six left as they had also dealt with the other Enslavers "where to sir" the squad leader Ray asked, Clement was the platoon leader after all "we move for the rendezvous point and then fall back to the Capital Kasr and report the mission objective to stop the Enslaver convoy has failed" Clement said.
They all looked disappointed in their failure and he wanted to keep their spirits high, but he could not rule them out as suspects as such he would not tell them what he himself had realized, plus if he told them that would break their unity, their cohesion and their trust in each other, each of these things were vital to survive in this war.
"After we reach the rendezvous point, an artillery and air strike will be called to hopefully slow the Enslavers down as per the fall back plan, we will then reintegrate with the command structure and prepare for a counter attack as said counter attack planned" Clement finished.
"So no rest, fuck" one of the squad members said "Fury aint gonna be happy about this" another chimed in to the agreement of everyone else "im sure you all be fine we've had worse, now follow me" Clement said silencing their chatter as they got moving.
They then moved out using the building as cover to keep the Enslavers from seeing them ducking in and out of windows and avoiding holes in the walls created from the war rampaging around them, however there was a strange feeling of emptiness that blanketed the entire area.
They had expected to meet up with other units or other squads but soon they had to come to terms that the others had made it out before them or everyone else were dead, although Clement didn't like thinking that his comrades deaths were a good thing, in this situation it would be as he could narrow down suspects.
As they continued their withdrawal, they soon came across a relatively small gap between the buildings, an alleyway, said alleyway did not slow them down much as they easily jumped the fifthteen foot gap and kept going, just in time too as the building they were posted in came crashing down.
It was then however one of the squad members looked up and stopped "holy shit!, what in the ever loving fuck is that" the squad member from before said in shock, Clement was about to yank her forward when he caught sight of it as well, now that the building had fallen they could see the middle of the 71st KZ and they saw what looked to be a… ritual? a ceremony?.
At the center of a mass of runes or symbols that were carved into the ground and the Enslavers that formed a circle around it was a large spike and tied on it via barbed wire were dozens of Cadian soldiers and many Shock Troopers all of them alive?.
They were writhing and squirming with discomfort and pain, this was evident by the thousands of cuts each person had covering the entirety of their bodies, Surrounding them dozens of Elslavers were looking to be having a great time, an orgy taking place around the large spike.
Just then an Enslaver appeared from the crowd scantily clad and with… a book?, It was then that the Enslaver began to read from the book, they could not make out the words, but it was then that Clement made up his mind, Whatever this was, Clement did not want to find out.
"Go" he told them "but sir" "we need to leave!" he nearly shouted at them but just then it seemed as though the Enslaver reading from the book had finished whatever unholy scripture he had been reading from and all of the Enslavers would then begin to writhe in… ecstasy? Or pleasure?.
It was then that the throats of all the soldiers were slit, or ripped out by a seemingly invisible force, Clement knew the Enslavers were depraved but this was just too much even for him, but just then a portal? Appeared, the colors were ones that he could never put a name to, along with it just looking… evil, and what then came out of the portal not only proved his thoughts correct but it was a nightmare in of itself.
The being was Humanoid, had a body like the Enslavers that surrounded it but had dark purple skin, with light and hot pink fur covering its back, it looked strangely beautiful as it had full breasts and a large rear, but aside from that it was hideous with its face being full of misshapen teeth.
Along with the two holes for where its nose should be, it had beady black eyes that seemed to stare into his very soul even though he could tell it was not looking at him "no way a damned Deamon" Ray said shocked "a what?! speak up!" Clement said hoping for any explanation for what they were seeing.
"Its said that long ago our ancestors fought in the twelfth demonic crusade over a million years ago" he paused letting that sink in "it devastated our world and its said that Deamons ran rampant consuming anybody's soul they could get" Ray then got a look of fear so all consuming that it scared Clement "we need to leave as long as it does not see us we should be fine".
However he may have jinxed that as it looked around having finished some speech it gave to the Enslavers, its eyes fell on him, a shiver went down his back as it smiled at him and at a speed no Enslaver or Shock Trooper could ever hope to reach, the thing appeared in front of him.
"OH FUCK!" Ray the squad leader shouted but that's all he had time to get out before the monster skewered him with its claws and took out a chunk of his head with a single bite before dropping him to the ground, its laughter sounded like nails on chalkboard.
"My my what do we have here some lost souls, perfect" it said, still half laughing, the rest of the squad quickly pulled out their weapons none the less and opened fire but Mako assault rifles and hellfire shotguns seemed to do no damage.
as the monster let out another laugh sending out a pulse of energy that sent them all against the wall and forcing them to drop their weapons "such useless weapons and you" it Pointed at clement and his cross necklace "drop that useless symbol find pleasure in the Unborn god in fact let me send you there" the thing said.
It then raised its clawed hand and shot it towards his throat however Clement brought his Maximillion Knife and slashed at its hand, hate and thoughts of survival flooded his mind and the monster screamed as two of its fingers were cut clean off "you will pay for that!, you pathetic life form!"
It then regenerated its fingers and leaped forward to skewer Clement, but just then a sword of light then pierced through the heavens and cut the arm off the monster, the new being who looked just like an angel from the Bible itself had just entered the picture it was a being the seemed to radiate warmth and comfort.
The angel wore a warrior's tunic and sandals, with a golden helmet that shielded both the sides of its face like a galea, on its forehead was a symbol of a man on a cross, its large four wings then emerged sending feathers across the room then the angel spoke.
"you have trespassed on the mortal plain Deamon leave before I destroy you across all of eternity" the angel spoke like it was fact, that it was a certainty "you must be a fool like you lord if you think you can defeat me or Slaanesh" the Deamon then regenerated its lost limb and the two beings charged each other.
The two beings seemed to dance around each other, a slash or chop here, and stab or brutal punch there, they traded blows for what seemed like forever however after the Daemon contorted its body unaturaly, bending its back at a 90 degree angle, causing the angel to miss a sword slash.
The Deamon then landed a hit, dragging its claws across the angels leg, causing the leg to bleed, angel then appeared to be in pain and dropped to one knee, now thinking it had won the Daemon gloated "just as I thought your just as weak as the Father, just as cowardice too" it said.
With that insult the Daemon approached the angel intent on finishing the fight, however Clement caught what must have been a smirk on the angels face before the angel then shot up plunging its sword into the Deamons chest finishing the fight with "tell your master that the last sensation it will feel is the fires of justice" and with that the Deamon dissolved into what appeared to be nothingness.
With the battle now over Clement felt like he could finally breathe and begin to take in the fact they were saved by an angel, but just then another angel flew down from the sky, this one taller, with a mace and shield but less armor instead of just a sword.
Clement went slack jawed, the being just seemed… greater more important, it had that type of aura, the two angels faced each other and talked in a language that none of them could hope to understand, to Clement it reminded him of the Enslavers language, just as elegant and musical but seemingly less alien and more recognizable.
Taking his gaze off the angels Clement then peered out from where he was sitting and saw something shocking, there were dozens of angels, below them, hundreds of Enslavers all scattered everywhere and very dead, with the Ripper the Enslavers had used appearing to have been sliced apart or ripped, Clement couldn't tell because it was in many pieces.
Just then the angels stopped talking, with the taller one turning to them and asking "I am archangel Micheal, the dispenser of Justice, just who is in charge around here?" Clement gulped it wasnt everyday you got to meet one of the four great angels of god.
His mother had read to him about almost every night, the bible had frequently spoke of archangel Micheal "I-I am archangel" Clement for almost the first time in his life felt nervous "ah good I am in need of directions to the leader of this world as The Father has a message to deliver" he said.
The archangel's eyes would only leave Clement when he had finished his sentence, the archangel Micheal then turned to speak with the other angel, however Clement would decide to tell the archangel what he had figured out.
As Clement spoke the archangels eye grew wider and when Clement had finished he thanked him "you have done a great service to the forces of order today Clement Aurther, thank you" he said, both of the angels then took off, with that Clement knew this was going to be a long day.
Date: D032. Y977. M31. Y60
The opportunity for a meeting between the High Commanders of Cadia had come not a moment too soon, as with the ongoing Enslaver offensive at the 71st KZ that had threatened to drive on the capital Kasr was stopped by what the troops could only describe as angels.
However High Commander Mikeal Aruther, or just McArther for short as he and his friends called him, had trouble believing the credibility of this 'Archangel' sure his wife had been a devout christian and a previous member of the United Religious Papacy before it left during the formation of the Confederacy and had always tried to get him and his son into the church.
But with him having a full time job of being one of his planets six High Commanders and with his son joining the military, as all Cadians did, as well as being selected for the CST and traveling the galaxy, that just didn't leave much time for religion or her for that matter, this lasted up until they ran out of time to spend together.
Smoking his large cigar pipe McArther would throw away that line of thought, he had definitely, totally moved on, so to occupy his time he looked around at the other five High commanders in attendance.
First was Dwight E. Eisenhower the High Commander of CST, a man with a shiny bald head, to go along with his rock solid poker face, he wore a green suit that had black shoulder pads that emphasized his badge that all High commanders wore, a square like house with a triangle inside that signified his rank, that was all McArther was willing to look at, as bending over to see what pants or shoes he had on didn't really seem appropriate.
Next was Ben Montgomery, the High Commander of the Marines was considered an older man, although with modern medicine he still had half of his life ahead of him, and so given that people with modern medicine could easily live to 1000 years old he wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.
With an average, green, camouflage pattern suit on he again looked average, but to complement the suit he had on a red cap and red shoulder pads, this made him stand out quite a bit, but McArthur suspected that, that was practically the point.
He suspected this because of the name the enemies of Cadia had given him during his almost five century long service to Cadia, the 'Zombie of Cadia' that name often struck fear into the enemy commanders.
So despite this blatant violation of dress code and obvious practical reasons as to why you shouldn't wear bright clothing on a battlefield, McAruther knew that it was foolish to doubt his intelligence as the saying goes 'fear the old man in the profession where men die young'.
Third was the foreigner Charlotte De Gaulle, (foreigners were generally not welcome on Cadia and even hated by a few but it was her merit that prevailed in the end or her fathers merit) High Commander of the Air Force.
She had purple eyes like a Cadian that went well with her red auburn hair that was cut in a bobs style haircut the dark blue suit contrasting with her hair well but beyond her looks she was also the daughter of Charlie De Gaulle who once was a general in the Federation Air Force and in charge of the air army called the 'Paris Eternals'.
The story on how he joined goes that Charlie had grown disgusted with the blatant corruption in the Federation, sure the Administratius remained relatively clean thanks to the Editor who was on the perpetual council, but anyway.
Supposedly at some point he and his air army were sent to and left stranded on a barren and dead no name planet by 'mistake' quote on quote, with no options other than to starve he joined the confederation.
But he would only join after learning he learned that he had been purposely abandoned by his peers after a rival paid off some people in power, even the most honorable people seemed to have a breaking point, it seemed.
And so Charles had sworn vengeance on the Federation after that, although it was not long after that he also rebelled against the Confederation for whatever reason and had been 'exiled' to Cadia as punishment, that grated on his gears, is that all the Confederation sees them as? Just an unpleasant place to dump their criminals and mistakes?.
Anyway Charles would then be brought into the fold as Cadia was in a very desperate situation, in return he was given a spot on the High Commander with a guarantee that the position would go to his eldest child upon his death, and it appeared that his daughter was determined to continue on his goal of kicking the Federations ass, although for now she remained relatively unproven and untrusted.
Fourthly was Gregory Zhukov High Commander of the Tank Corps and another foreigner, he had very little hair on his head instead of he had on a dark black cap, on his body he wore a dark green coat with a red sash on his shoulder.
This was all tied up in a mean bow by the serious look he had always had on, in terms of his history as always as far as McAruther knew Zhukov had risen high in the Cadian ranks as a foreigner, impressive considering he hailed all the way from the remote world of Valhalla.
McAruther didn't know much about it but from what he gleaned it was cold, barren and well cold, but the point was that Zhukov's family had arrived on Cadia some time in his youth and like everyone else foreign or not, he joined the military, from there he worked his way up the command structure, all the way to High Commander and the rest… well he wasn't so sure.
The Fifth Member of the High Commander was the man Ramiel, High Commander of the Psychic Militant he had on a dark gray suit with a dark gray hood that he wore on his head concealing his face.
He was apparently, by his own claim, the descendant of a notable and now extinct line of potent psykers, who had been stricken from history by the Editor, the leader of the Administratius Himself or Herself?.
Anyway the only thing they could find on the ancestors of Ramiel was that they had quote 'committed crimes against the human race' whatever that blacket term meant, but apart from that nothing.
But given it was the job of the Psychic Militant to investigate stuff like this and that Ramiel was its leader, it would be no surprise to McAurther if these claims were made up.
but then again that was the power of the Editor, he made you question everything you knew about your own history and could rewrite the history of entire regions, and who were the quadrillions of people to question that they had nothing concrete to prove these rewrites even occurred.
Upset him in any way, nobody will ever remember you after he drops you in a ditch, it also seemed as though Ramiel wanted to run down the path that the Editor had walked, which was concerning, all in MacArthur did not like Ramiel, his only concret fact about the mysterious man was that he wanted power, a lot of power.
Lastly was himself, the High Commander of the Army, his black glasses and large cigar pipe doing nothing to hide the expression of confidence he always put on, after all when you lead the largest military organization and held one of the most coveted position on the planet, you needed to act like it and show your rivals and potential rivals your balls of steel.
Not only that you need to show your willingness to do anything to keep your position that you worked for your entire life, apart from that he had on the standard military clothing a camouflage suit, however he spiced it up with a tan hat with a star on it and many more accessories.
With the entire High Commander counsel mentally cataloged McArthur would turn his attention back to the meeting, the entire council had been assembled to select a new Supreme General who would then lead Cadia.
They achieved this via a vote between them, with the only caveat being that it could not be anyone already on the counsel and that at least three High Commanders agreed to vote for one individual, however to even be considered you needed to have at least 80 years of experience in the military known as the Armed Forces of the Cadian Gate.
You needed to have occupied the position of general or field marshall for at least 15 years and be at least a century old, as to why the age was so low, well that was because most of the time Cadian generals and field marshalls would be killed or assassinated mostly by the Enslavers or Eldar during their numerous invasions of Cadia.
Now once elected, this new Supreme General would have complete authority over the navy (hence why there wasn't a High Commander of the Navy) and be the direct superior of the the High Commanders, as such they would need a competent ruler so they had assembled some of the most experienced and accomplished generals and field marshalls.
However with the Enslavers having killed much of the experienced leadership in one surprise attack (it was still pure luck they had managed to kill Usiel Scarion) the choice had come down to three of the ten possible candidates that survived the assassination attempts, looking at them as they entered the room McAruther mentally went over them one by one.
First there was Titan Williams the general of the 5th Marine Army the 'Mud Jumpers' an experienced general of 16 years and had served faithfully for 82 years, given that everyone joined the militant youth at 14 then the actual military at 18, he was barely eligible for the position.
Being so relatively young, he was considered an upstart by some of his peers and even shunned by a few of them for having ties to the United Religious Papacy, but McAruther personally felt like that was just an excuse to hate him for having foreign parents
As to what McAruther knew about Titan personally?, not much but he could easily see the ambitious look in Willams eyes so that was something, so in conclusion, with a navy blue camouflage outfit and red shoulder pads he was certainly attempting to stand out.
Next was Lucas Fury the Army field marshal of the Capital Kasr Front and a large reason why the fronts had not collapsed overnight he had earned many awards for his service the last two weeks, although he had yet to be given them, as a man of just about three centuries of age at 297 the man held the same look of sharp intelligence that Montgomery had.
Not only that but Fury was a previous rival of McArthur for the position of High Commander of the Army, in terms of history Lucas had served since he was 18 and becoming a general at 46 and holding it for 17 years before becoming a field marshall the position he still currently held.
He held a confident look in his eye, as he knew that they all knew the leverage the Lucas held as the field marshall if they didn't vote for him… lets just say that he may turn a blind eye to a few Enslavers getting passed the front lines and into the personal chambers of the High Commanders, a man like that simply thought of soldiers like numbers on a data pad.
Finally there was Victoria Nexus, a general of the Tank Corps, she was three centuries old but let's just say modern medicine was just that good, if McAurther had anything to say about her looks, however that would be highly unprofessional.
Victoria had been a tank commander for most of her career but had been promoted to a general leading the legendary 2nd tank army the 'Phantoms' due to their focus on the Blitzkrieg doctrine of warfare that saw them appear and disappear from the view of the enemy only to end up right behind them in their flank.
In total she was 302 years old, was a general for 24 years and had impressive accomplishments against the Federation such as the battle of Medusa in which she and the Phantoms had strategically encircled over a million Federation soldiers, although they eventually managed to break out.
Even so the damage she did to the Federation was often credited as to why they were able to eventually win the battle, as for personality she could be described as a no nonsense, cutthroat leader in a sense she would not take shit from anyone especially those under her in the chain of command.
The three candidates had been lined up and were now being questioned by the High Commanders, questions ranging from "why should we vote for you?" to "how would you deal with extreme situations X,Y or Z?" With the current and last question being a combined Ork, Rangden and Eslaver invasion everyone knew that would never happen but it was interesting, almost funny even to see them struggle.
"I would prioritize consolidating my forces and give the CST and the Marines more resources for large and precise strikes to attempt to take out their leadership and have them fight each other instead of us" Titan said.
"I would use the millions of soldiers we poses to hold each inch of ground, our hives are built for that after all and have the navy commence raids upon the enemy fleet that would certainly start fighting each other without our input" Lucas said.
"I would leave most of my forces within the cities, use my tank forces to kill off the leadership of the foul Xenos and utilize the navy to rain down destruction on large masses of enemy troops" Victoria said with the three of them done with questions the High Commanders not having much time in the first place quickly got to talking, quickly ushering the three candidates out they got to talking.
"They all have merits but I think we all know what we want" Eisenhower said getting straight to the point "da I agree we are pressed for time anyway" Zhukov said "exactly" McAruther said.
"The kid is someone we can push around get what we want that's what your saying" Charlotte concluded "pretty much" Eisenhower said "aren't you all a bunch of corrupt bastards" Charlotte said looking none to pleased with it "get used to it missy" Mcaruther said puffing his cigar pipe.
Charlotte would go to retort but was interrupted "let's just get this over with and have him deal with this 'angel' sound good?" Montgomery said, in the end they all nodded with exception to Ramiel.
The man stood as still as a statue and didn't say a word, as he abstained from the vote and disappeared in a portal, to where?, hell if they knew, but that didn't stop them from voting and just like that they had a new Supreme General.
Now in his new office Williams had no time to get used to or to settle into his new position and it was clear as to why he had been elected that reason upset him greatly but he did not want to think about that right now as he had a job to do.
Currently he was just waiting for this 'Archangel' to show itself, to spend his time he thought about Cadia, the confederacy and Cadia's position in the confederacy, the capital was the planet of Delaros, its leader the chancellor Redwaan al-Musa a muslim who ruled the planet in a sort of oligarchy/alliance with the other four largest religions on the planet.
Delaros itself was a rich and fertile world with many hive cities that provided a large industrial and manufacturing center, cupuling that with its advantages location on an intersection made of several warp lanes and that made it an economic and political powerhouse in the sector and the de facto capital of the confederacy.
Combine its location with its aforementioned advantages, its capability for power projection was very strong, many surrounding 'free' planets were puppets in all but name, but not Cadia, never Cadia.
That would not change under his leadership, they think him weak, they think him impatient and unable to see what's around him but he knew there were snakes inside Cadia and outside and he would deal with them but for now the Eldar invasion took precedence.
"I would dispose of those thoughts for now Williams" the angel said and Willaim whipped his head to the door and saw the nine foot tall angel standing in the doorway with no weapon in its hand or at its side "Archangel… Michael I presume?" William said "and that's Supreme General Williams thank you".
The angel did not change its expression as it approached Williams desk till it was standing about ten feet away "I have come to negotiate with you I hope that's not how you greet all guests" Michael said "it is not but I do know that you want something from me, from Cadia, state it now" William said.
"I do not know what you mean" Micheal said "everytime someone comes to 'negotiate' with Cadia they always want something that is reality and is just basic negotiations" Williams said.
The angel seemed to glare at Williams before speaking "the Father has made it clear that infighting between humans should cease, our true enemy is in the Domain, there are events that you cannot comprehend happening in the galaxy" Michael said.
"Thats sounds awfully convenient and why should we give up our goals?, Give me good reasons" Williams said "everyday you send your people to die in droves in pointless wars, these wars are soon going to be to much for a divided humanity to handle, you will not prepared for it, join us the gods will take control of the Federation we will ensure Humanity thrives where its self rule has not" Michael said.
Williams contemplated the offer and doubt creeped into his head as a soldier he had seen his fellow man be slain in droves partly by incompetent leadership in wars hundreds of lightyears away, he had seen the corruption that had taken root in Cadias leadership, as social standing was tied to your rank, did he have enough to change it?.
In truth he didn't know, but not trying would go against everything Cadia stood for, to fight for the ones you care for, to fight for your planet, so it may see one more day and to submit would go against the very reasons they rebelled against the Federation.
"No" Williams said "we will not join you, that is my decision our independence is worth more than some guarantees, we will forge our own path just as we have done for over a million years" the angels expression then changed to one of disappointment.
"I thought you would be willing to see the bigger picture however I thought wrong but know this Titan Williams" the angel's eyes looked at him with a coldness that rivaled the vacuum of space.
"When the seventh of the fourth month comes you and your planet will experience a rebirth and you will know what it is like to be laid low" Michael said and with that a portal opened behind him, Williams sat back as he watched the angel but the angel did not move.
"Well what are you waiting for?" William asked, the angel only smiled "you don't know do you?" the angel said, this unsettled him what did he not know? "And what do you know?" William replied the angel merely blinked before continuing.
"You have a small problem, a rat if you will, that man Aruthur I believe? Speak to his son he'll tell you everything" the angel said, William shifted in his seat in discomfort.
"And why are you telling me this?" William asked "well it wouldn't be any good for myself and the Father if our shared enemy destroyed you" the angel said, a frown would then appear on Willaims face as the angel then turned to the portal behind it "good day general" the angel said as it walked through the portal.
With that the angel left Williams alone in his office, 'what did he mean by all of that?' Williams asked himself, what the angel had told him was concerning.
If the enemy had a rat in their back pocket things were going to get much more complicated, but he also knew a threat when he heard it as such he resolved that he would prepare, for Cadia had never fallen to mortal armies.
God's armies would be no different.