NationStates Jolt Archive

From the depths of the inky blackness of space came the crashing storm of noise as several large bulk cruisers and large transport ships came out of the Warp. Scout fighters and patrol craft launched from the belly of larger ships and spread out around as sensors checked for enemy activity. It was the first step in a long journey.

~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~
Three months earlier the Emperor of the Thrashian Sector had called together his Imperial Guard generals and heads of the Administrate and Adeptus Mechanicus, as well as the Supply Munitorum for a grand council upon the Plant Julian VI, the throne-world from where he ruled his Empire.

The history of the Julian Sector is rather hazy. It was once part of the Imperium of Man, yet in the events of the great Crusades and the ripping apart of the Imperium during the Horus Heresy, the sector fell out of thought and mind of the Departmento Munitorum (D.M.) and the Immortal Emperor’s Holy Inquisition. At that time the Julian sector had been a highly developed heavy industry world. The Imperial tithe that was placed upon the sector by the D.M. was usually around 20 Imperial Guard regiments. The sector being made of so many hive worlds and heavy industrial ones that the sector could help provide such extensive military support for the Imperial Armies fighting against Chaos and Xenos.

But with the astropath ways cut off by massive warp-storms and the Heresy, the ambitious autocracy of some wealthy governor families took power. Thus ensued a long civil war which lasted for the better part of a century before finally the royal house of Dorn took control, taking up the Dorn House Banner he declared himself Emperor and took control of the entire Sector.

To secure his power base and to defend the sector Emperor Dorn took it upon to indoctrinate his Planetary Defense Forces into a professional Imperial Guard army. Because the sector had been of such importance to the Imperium before the Heresy, the Imperial Guard had placed a Militant Scholarum where officers were trained and the prided Julian Storm Troopers came from. Dorn was quick to convince the commandant of the Scholarum and the other garrison Imperial Guard commanders that he should become the ruler of the Sector. In return he gave them positions within his new army.


And now was the time when the now 600 year old Emperor had sent forth his own legions in a new Crusade to conquer more and add to his glory and Empire.

~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~

Lord General Marius stood upon his command cruiser the Emperor's Light staring down at the blue-green orb that was, according to old data slates and holos the planet Phanor. It was the first place positioned for the 1st Imperial Thrashian Crusade. Emperor Dorn, may his name be praised, had picked it from ancient archives found deep in the recesses of the once destroyed buildings of the Departmento Munitorum.

Marius shifted in his uniform; black pants and shirt, knee-high jack boots, carapace armor, golden epilates upon his shoulder and the long purple cape that hung from his shoulders. It had been a long and uneasy trip in the newly outfitted, but old, ships of the Administrate. The captain assured that the machine gods were fairing well for this trip, but Marius would rather have been sure. Things like this made him uneasy. He liked it better when he had an enemy and a position, and only had to destroy the enemy. Unknowns on a battlefield besides, the unknowns of the Warp were even worse.

Several servitors and their tech-priests nearby worked the controls of the bridge of the great behemoth vessel. Captain Margar, fat and almost spilling out of his Navy uniform, walked in through the rear command door. Spotting Marius by the viewing panel and the Chart desk he waddled over.

“Well Lord General, it seems we have made it safe and sound just as I predicted. Praise be to the machine gods!” Margar said heartily. His belly shook with each syllable. Marius was slightly sickened by this man. Being in the Imperial Guard and now the Julian Imperial Guard Army made him think that anything in excess such as body fat was an affront to everything basic training had taught him. He very basically did just not like fat men.

“Indeed Captain Margar. Praise be to the Emperor,” replied Marius.

“Bless his name, yes,” said Margar almost as if it was an after-thought. The man did not seem to catch Marius’s eyebrow raising in a questioning glance. Instead the fat naval captain pointed to something appearing on the holo.

“What is that approaching from grid 5, mark A?” Margar asked the sensory servitor. The augmented half-computer worked its controls and then turned to the captain.

“Patrol craft declare it as an enemy vessel. It came up from the surface of the planet Pharos II. Our sensors have detected it and found that its technological level is that of late pre-HH times,” said the servitor in a toneless voice. Both Marius and Margar perked up at that. For them to find a sector that had technology on par with what the Julian Sector had had since before the Horus Heresy (HH) was indeed a surprising event.

“Tell our patrol craft to engage that ship,” said Marius to the Captain Margar. He turned to the vox operator. “Alert all commands, all regiments are to be ready for landing. Tell High Commissar Varus that he is to see me in my command chambers as soon as possible.”

“Yes Lord General,” replied the vox servitor. The half-man half-machine went to work operating its equipment sending the Lord General’s message out amongst the fleet.

“So it’s a real war after all…” said Captain Margar. The fat naval captain was standing there looking at the holo, watching as their patrol craft engaged the unknown ship. Marius turned to him.

“Yes it is Captain. It is for the Emperor, glory for the Emperor, for which we fight,” said Marius.

“Indeed Lord General. Indeed.”

Bup-idy.

bump

OOC: Guess I can jump in here

IC: The small Patrol Craft dodged and shook enemy blasts and fired a couple of it's own in a space event that was more or less like Lethal Interpretive Dance. The abttle went on for about 15 minutes until the patrol ship frm the large craft fired a shot straight dead-end into the Pattrol Crafts hull. It rocked and than was hit again causing it to fall to the planet's surface from which it came.

OOC: Guess I can jump in here

IC: The small Patrol Craft dodged and shook enemy blasts and fired a couple of it's own in a space event that was more or less like Lethal Interpretive Dance. The abttle went on for about 15 minutes until the patrol ship frm the large craft fired a shot straight dead-end into the Pattrol Crafts hull. It rocked and than was hit again causing it to fall to the planet's surface from which it came.

ooc:
...I'm really kinda waiting for Chronosia...but...w/e I'll reply in full later.

With the local enemy patrol ship destroyed or left to flee the real battle began. Of the 30 Imperial Guard regiments that were part of this crusade, Lord General Marius saw fit to land 7 of them on the large and only planet with life on it in the system. From what his observers on the Emperor’s Light could tell the planet was a rudimentary green fielded planet with no large bodies of water except for one large lake near the planet’s largest city. And it was the city that posed a problem.

~-~-~-~-~

“Move, move, move! Get your gakking ass into action guardsmen!” screamed a sergeant, he stood near the open door of the troop carrier and was pressing more guardsmen out of the drop ship. A dozen such drop ships had smashed to the surface of Pharos II outside the large and as their officers said ‘intricate’ capitol city: New Harmony.

The city itself consisted of a city central of huge megalith sized black rockcrete buildings. To the east was a large sports stadium that could seat thousands. To the north, where the main Thrashian thrust would come, was a large industrial district, thick with large factories and slums of the workers.

The local PDF had withdrawn from the country side where their earlier attempts to fight off the Thrashian’s had resulted in their transports and soldiers to be killed by bombers passes and artillery concentrations. Not to mention large mass charges by the 3rd Penal Regiment and the 42nd Argoni Janissaries.

Chimera transports wheeled off the ramps of their drop pods and men ran down with sergeants yelling at them. Leman Russ tanks and sentinels formed into their respective squadrons and tried to form up. A single command pattern Salamander transport wheeled off and a man with a fringed colonels cap was in the top hatch.

“Lieutenant Fuller, get your platoon forward and see what’s on the other side of that hill! I don’t want a frakking massacre of a landing zone,” said the colonel. The vox crackled for a moment.

“Affirmative colonel, we can see the city now. Thus far we’re not getting any type of incoming mail. I think we scared off the PDF,” replied Lieutenant Fuller.

“Hard-luck that is lieutenant. Report in once you’re in position. Have Sergeant Qwade bring his Sentinels up to support you.”

“Yes sir, Fuller out.” The vox went silent and the colonel took his hand off the vox caster. All around him the 9th Thrashian Grenadiers regiment got formation. Several chimeras and a group sentinels were moving up the large hill that the colonel had indicated. Suddenly the vox rumbled. The colonel picked up the receiver.

“Colonel Screll here.”

“Screll, this is Lord General Marius.”

“Lord General, to what do I owe the honor?” asked Screll humorously.

“Ah, frak that crap for now Colonel. I have to know how your landing is going. The Janissaries ran into some sporadic missile fire from a nearby hospital when they landed in the east and Colonel Max’s Penal boys were plowed through with an advance of transports and armored PDF. We beat them back, but they will be out of position for the time being and probably won’t be able to take position before dawn tomorrow. Now tell me some good news,” said Lord General Marius. As a Lord General he was still up in space aboard the Emperor’s Light, but Screll was sure that would change whenever the Lord General got a chance. Screll liked the Lord General because he always liked leading from the front.

“Well sir, we’ve not been harassed so I guess we can judge that the local boys aren’t in the kind of numbers to cover all fronts of this big gakking city.” The city of New Harmony itself was several hundred square kloms in size.

“Indeed. Move into position Colonel, then report back..”

“Yes sir Lord General. Colonel Screll out.”

The great ship shook and buckled under enemy fire, before the great guns lashed out; hammering at those who assailed them. Upon the great hull, there was imprinted the mark of Chaos; the grand eight pointed sigil, signifying the wonders of possibility. It billowed upon banners that fluttered in ethereal winds; yet even as the shields hissed and screeched, and the hull twisted and writhed; the great figure upon the bridge did not falter.

"My lord, we-"

"Should I require a status report, I shall ask for it."

"Yes...Yes Lord" The impetuous officer who had spoken slunk back as the General looked towards the holographic projections. "Our enemies would appear to be some foul vestige of the old Imperium; heretical fiends in the eyes of the Emperor. We shall not allow these abominations to continue their machinations.

"They encroach upon worlds that by right should belong to the Imperium; they defile lands with their presence, and as such they must be punished"

"Aye" The General mused; he was General Mathias Caine; a veteran of the Azahan Campaigns, of Black Crusade and countless Imperial campaigns; he who had endured war and conflict for an age; his face and body proudly displaying the scars and marks of bloody war and conquest. "We are a race skilled in war, bloodshed and madness; a race skilled singularly in conflict, destruction and Chaos. And we shall bring it to our foes."

"Aye my Lord. Your Orders?"

"Deploy fighters and bombers to cover our attack run; prepare the transports; this day, we take our fight to our enemies! Each and every man upon this vessel is ready to fight and die for the glory of the Imperium! Ave Imperator!"

Another explosion rocked the earth as Basilisk shells fell among the city streets. Dust and debris flew in all directions. Las-gun fire erupted from windows and foxholes as the PDF struggled to hold back the assault of the combined regiments of the 3rd Penal Regiment and the 42nd Argoni Janissaries.

“Charge! For the Emperor!” screamed a red uniformed commissar, waving his chain blade and sending on guardsmen. The brown-gray uniformed Penal legionaries, wearing their re-breathers, charged forward with bayonets raised. Suddenly a big part of the stadium wall fell in and revealed a series of heavy weapons. PDF soldiers arming them fired bursts into the side of the advancing legionaries and shredded the attack. The guardsmen fell back in confusion.

A lieutenant not far away sat next to his vox caster yelling out coordinates. “Grid alpha-charlie-8-8-9-2…grid alpha-foxtrot-9-8-0-1…”

A series of shells smashed into the area of the stadium, obliterating the heavy weapons PDF teams. More Penal Legionaries charged in, stepping over their own dead and those of the enemy. They rushed into the remnants of the weapons teams and bayoneted them. Screams echoed and several of the PDF shot themselves before the horror filling Legionaries got to them with their long blood-slick bayonets.

Suddenly a crazed PDF trooper ran into the midst of the legionaries, holding to his chest a large package. “Die!” he screamed in an insane voice. A mix of krak and frag grenades blew every guardsman and PDF trooper within 7 feet into a red mist. The entire little cubby where the weapons team had been was coated with blood. More PDF troopers came through rear doors and brought up more fire.

A transport rumbled down the street from the PDF held side and start firing with its hull mounted bolter into the exposed flank of the Penal legion. It looked for a moment that the Legionaries would fall back in disarray, when suddenly the transport disappeared into a cloud of flame. Janissaries holding a missile launcher appeared, more of the bright blue uniformed guardsmen of the regiment rushed forward making firing lines. They sent sharply accurate las-fire into the PDF troopers holding the position.

Then a Leman Russ rumbled up from behind the Penal legion and the turret swiveled. “Fire!” yelled its commander. The tank’s main gun boomed a shell was launched into the space where the PDF had once been, but were now blown to oblivion.

“Alright, move!” yelled a lieutenant. Guardsmen charged forward and entered the stadium.


Lord General Marius watched from the inside of his specially made Baneblade command tank. He had it positioned just outside the city. His men had thus far pushed into the city as far as the stadium in the eastern thrust, to the North Colonel Screll’s 9th Grenadiers were advancing through the slums and factories of the industrial section. Vox reports said that the battle was going fairly well. This mostly due to the artillery that Marius was able to bring to bear, but he wasn’t sure if the stadium could be taken just yet. He had sent more men to reinforce the attack of the 3rd Penal Legion regiment.

When he had first landed from the Emperor’s Light he had brought with him the rest of his crusading army. All 30 regiments, spread out and surrounding the large towns and areas, taking easy control of everything but the capitol, which was the only place where the PDF had tried to contest and thus far they were doing a damn good job of it.

Marius suddenly was shaken when he had his vox bead go high pitched in his ear. “Lord General! Lord General! We’ve enemy units in space!” cried the voice of Captain Magar.

“Calm down you idiot! What do you mean that there are enemy units in space?”

“A large bulk cruiser, bearing heretical markings, came through the warp. Our patrol craft had no affect. I believe that they are making landings,” said Magar. He sounded more nervous even than Marius already was.

“Have your battleships and heavier cruisers move in to engage that enemy ship. But give me the coordinates of these landings.”

“I can’t! All I can tell you is that they are landing some 40 kloms south of the city New Harmony, at a town named…Augsburgen.” Marius nodded. He had Colonel Wyverns regiment near there. If they could hold the enemy for a short time, allowing Marius to take the city, he could then use closer regiments to counter this new enemy development.

“Very well Captain, destroy that ship! And keep your bombers coming.”

“Yes Lord General, Magar out.” The vox line went dead. Marius leaned back and tried to stretch in the confined space of the command place of the Baneblade. It was considerably safer than outside, but it wasn’t near as comfortable. Marius clicked on the vox and spoke to his adjutant.

“Lieutenant Pomer, take us up nearer to the front, and contact Colonel Wyverns, I have a mission for him.”

“Yes sir,” came the reply. The Baneblade rumbled loudly and the massive behemoth rumbled forward through the streets, guardsmen marching beside it and cheering as they recognized the Lord General’s command vehicle.

Colonel Wyvern stood on the steps of the Augsburgen town hall. It was a small town, home to some 700 citizens of Pharos II. Colonel Wyvern's men had been sent to the area to garrison the town since it commanded the surrounding area. The town itself sat on the River Yelts, a large wooden bridge expanding over it, with a few of the cities out buildings on the southern bank.

Wyvern shook his head as he stood there a starred at the corpses of five rebels who had tried to sabatoge some of the regiment's tanks. They lay in the open in front of a rockcrete wall where they had been shot by a commissariate firing squad.

"Fools will never learn," murmered Colonel Wyvern. He turned on his hill and marched into the town hall. It was the largest building in the city, commanding the tallest point for nearly 30 kloms in all directions. His sniper teams had already set up command posts in its roof.

Wyvern marched past his command staff and went into his office. This job of being a small town commandant was getting boring.

Suddenly the doors of his office burst open and his vox operator ran inside. The trooper stopped in front of the desk and came to attention. "Urgent message from the Lord General sir!"

"Report," said Wyvern sullenly. Probably another small revolt from the country side, not like all the real fighting in the city.

"Enemy ship has been detected in-system. The said ship has launched landers and is landing troops as I speak. They are landing some 8 kloms south of Augsburgen. Lord General Marius commands that you contain the enemy south of the River Yelts for as long as possible."

"Enemy strenght?" asked Wyvern, he was quite serious now. His luck had changed for the better.

"Unknown, sir."

Wyvern smiled. "Have all platoons report in and have Captain Migar start sending patrols south. Have the Hydra tanks go with them. If they're landing, it means they're still in the air, and if they're still in the air, the Hydras can finally unload some pay-loads."

"Yes sir!" said the vox operator. The man saluted and ran out of the room. Wyvern stood and buckled on his ammo belt and bolter side arm. Today was turning out to be quite enjoyable.


OOC: Heres a map of the city that you'll encounter as you march north Chron. Map (http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b184/Upum/CityMap.jpg) I made it in a hurry so try not to make fun of my MS Paint skills. :p