Chapter 8

Harry stood on a lush jungle planet with a full regiment of guardsmen behind him awaiting his orders.

He was soon going to be heading to Hogwarts in a few months but he needed to get this planet colonized and get it done quickly.

With the help of his new regiment he knew he would have control of this planet with little time or difficulty. After all the Grinning Moon was ruthless and effective at what they do and since this is their home planet before the warp storm they should have little difficulty colonizing it.

Harry still remembers the reaction of the normal imperial soldiers when the announcement was made that the grinning moon would be his personal regiment.

Flashback begin

Horus had assembled the entire guardsmen force to announce who would be helping their lord colonize his first planet.

Even in the assembly hall a clear divide was established with the normal guardsmen on one side and the grinning moon with the Catachan seemingly uncaring what anyone thought and being as close as they could with the grinning moon on the other.

It would seem that the Catachan had become close friends with the grinning moon soldiers since like them they too came from a death world.

They also showed that they didn't care about them choosing to be silent and picked up the grinning moons version of sign language so they could trade stories.

Of course out of all the regiments there the death Korps of Krieg stood in between the two groups as a sort of buffer since they seemingly belonged to neither group.

Horus hated to see the men so divided but knew that even he couldn't force camaraderie between soldiers and he shouldn't try. But he knew this announcement might cause an even bigger rift to grow but it could also help to heal it as well it would just take time.

He strode to the podium set in the center of the raised platform gaining the attention of all in attendance.

"Soldiers of the Imperium today it prides me to announce that our lord has chosen one of you to become his personal guard regiment and to facilitate his new base of operations."

At these words the Cadians seemed to inflate with pride as if it was a forgone conclusion who their lord would chose. Horus simply motioned to Harry stood slightly behind and to the left of him to come forward while stepping off to the side and giving the podium to him.

As Harry stood at the podium and looked down at the guardsmen assembled before him he couldn't help but notice the differences of each regiment.

The Cadians stood tall and proud in their pressed and cleaned uniforms at perfect attention, the Catachan seemed almost blasé in their stance with no shirt and face paints. The Krieg simply stood at attention impassive and inscrutable behind their masks, but the grinning moon was the most telling.

They stood at attention but seemed more laxed and unconcerned as if they knew what was going to happen and that they weren't really needed here.

It almost caused Harry to grin at the fact he was about to shake everyone's expectations of who he had chosen and he was more then willing to burst their bubbles.

"My personal regiment, my imperial guard, and my new home world was chosen based on what I have seen of these soldiers and what I have read about them from the data slates." At each word the Cadians seemed to swell even more with pride as if they were the ones he was speaking of and no one else was an option.

"This regiment displays many qualities I find to be crucial to what I need and so I am honored to announce the grinning moon regiment as my personal regiment."

The silence in the room was almost a physical thing and if it wasn't for the discipline drilled into the soldiers of Cadia the discontent would have been very vocal.

This however did not stop the Catachan from needling the Cadians once this gathering was done nor did it stop the grumbles or mutterings of the Cadians about how the grinning moon must have tricked their way into their current position.

Flashback end

After that announcement Harry officially had them become registered as his personal regiment and his new base of operations.

He quickly began to read every data slate he could get his hands on to learn as much as he could about their past rather then the current news he had of them.

He also began to open dialogues with his officers to learn the full extent of his forces and what was at his immediate command. The sign language was easy to pick up but the types of soldiers he had at his command was numerous to say the least.

Outside of the standard guardsmen of this regiment their Ogryn where vastly different as well in comparison to their normal counterparts.

They had much more muscle and strength then even a normal Ogryn plus the fact they are normal human level intelligent instead of their subhuman level.

They also where imbued with different elements to grant them advantages in hand to hand combat against foul daemons and warp abominations. Plus they seemed to have a minor healing factor was a great point in the entire regiments favor since Ogryn take the brunt of the fire.

Then their was the Fel, members of the regiment that had become more animalistic then others of the planet and thus had changed more drastically.

Seemingly like the Wulfen of the Space Wolves these guardsmen had been changed so much by the warp they were less men and more beast that had to be caged until needed.

Resembling the great ursine or felines of ancient Terra, they could some how tell the difference between imperial troops and enemies enough to be pointed in the right direction. Then their was the Twisted Ones, soldiers that had instead of being enhanced physically by the warp had been enhanced mentally by it instead.

Their forms resembled a normal human except for the large hump on their backs that houses a secondary larger brain and a larger cranium to house their increased brain size.

These soldiers where kept alive for the simple reason that they could negate warp attacks and where essential in hunting down daemons and stronger and faster still then normal humans.

Finally the last ones under his immediate command was the Sightless Ones, these looked like normal soldiers from a distance. But where their eyes should be was nothing but smooth blank skin as if they had never had eyes in the first place.

These soldiers used the very earth beneath their feet and the plant life was their eyes, as if they were apart of the very planet itself they could see anything with such clarity they are crucial for information gathering and the only ones of they entire regiment that used speech.

Harry was surprised to learn that they had five other types of soldiers for this regiment but not apart of his immediate command since they are needed else where.

But even so he still had command of twelve million soldiers and only six million where normal troops for this regiment.

Harry would eventually come to know these soldiers and this planet very well but first he had to colonize it for the Imperium. But considering this was the home planet for these soldiers and the troops he had it will be quick work to colonize it again and with enough time to get back for Hogwarts.

Meanwhile with the war master

Horus still has to stop a smirk from appearing on his face from the looks on the faces of the generals at his lord's announcement.

It truly was amusing but he still has work to do and doesn't have time to dwell on such thoughts, his brothers had just sent reports of the effort to colonize the worlds that they once called home.

And wasn't that a headache trying to explain that it wasn't recolonization since they at this point in time hadn't even colonized them yet.

Not that many seemed to understand that, but the news appeared to be in favor of the imperium, no sign of Xenos or warp taint. The colonization efforts where going smoothly and with minimal effort on all fronts with Rogal, Guilliiman, and Perturabo working together.

Even if Rogal and Perturabo had minor spats during the entire operation but Horus made sure to play mediator between his brothers as necessary.

But with their lord about to retire from the expansion effort the effect on moral may plummet but with the 'holidays' that these ancient terrans seem to celebrate they will see their lord plenty.

If not as long as they all wished but it shouldn't be to hard to push the men past it once the real front of the mission starts. Soon they will come across the Eldar that seemed to infest their portion of space along with these Drukhari that he has heard of.

Yes soon enough war will return to the galaxy but this time the imperium will be ahead of the Xenos that comes clawing at their gates and see them either subservient or broken.

Hope you all enjoyed that chapter sorry it took so long but I hope it was worth it, please leave a comment and review and have a nice day.