Tanya Russ
828.M30
I smiled as I held down the trigger of the rifle, the rocket-propelled grenades flying from the barrel and crashing into the tree line before completely obliterating said trees as they exploded. It was a cold day, snow was not drifting down yet but that would soon change. And I was standing about a quarter-mile from Castle Russ with several of the commanders of the formerly Sixth Legion, now the Wolves of Fenris.
I had only come out here to test a few of the weapons that my legion would be using, to get a better understanding of what I would be expecting the men to fight with, but I must admit the explosive power of the weapons was quite impressive. Enough that I was having a bit of fun.
Then a bit of a memory flashed, coming with a headache, to remind me that apparently I had fired explosive weapons before and had a similar joy in their destructive capabilities. It was a minor thing, barely worth mentioning. Most headaches tended to be that way now, not the massive brain-ripping ones that came when I first started tearing at the wall.
Smiling, I stopped firing the rifle and addressed the former Chapter Master turned praetorate Enoch Rathvin. "This bolter is a mighty fine weapon," I said, marveling at its capabilities before handing it to him.
"Yes, my Primach. They've served the Legions well for the last 30 years and their variants keep on increasing as years go by; Heavy bolters, combi bolters, twin bolters and so on."
"Going to have to try them," I noted, taking a step away from the firing line before walking towards the makeshift area that several Space Marines had set up for their camp. Most had returned to the Gloriana battleship in orbit. I would have to come up with an official name for it since it was still just denoted as the Sixth's Legion's battleship but that was something that would come soon enough, right now I was more interested in getting to know the command structure of the legion.
Finding a tree that had been felled to form a set of seats near a fire I took one. Nodding to one of my personal guards, she moved over to a set of alcohol barrels that I had given to the Space Marines camped in front of my castle and poured us a set of drinks before bringing them over. She arrived just in time as Enoch Rathvin took a seat across from me and she handed him one after I took mine.
"So, let us talk of the legion's command structure," I said. "I want to get to know about it as is before I make any judgments on what needs to be changed."
Enoch Rathvin nodded before saying "As it stands the structure is rather simple. Primarch at the top of the organization and they have access to all resources within their legion. We're talking just military resources that can vary, since Primarchs can have control over non-Space Marine forces such as units of the Imperial Army. It's expected that you'll put together more praetorates to help with the running of the legion, and a personal honor guard of a number of your choosing."
I drank deeply from my cup before nodding my head. "That was about what I was expecting. So I have control over a general staff and a force I deem to be my personal guard in the field. What's this about Chapters I've heard about?"
Enoch Rathvin explained, "Chapters are a group of 1,000 Astartes. There can be more per Chapter but that's generally the accepted minimum to form a Chapter. Currently the Wolves of Fenris have six Chapters, though this can expand once recruitment picks up now that we have a stable source of Geneseed.
I nodded and wondered how much it would pick up. I already had multiple requests from hundreds if not thousands of my Housecarls asking to join. Not to mention similar amounts of volunteers for my personal guard so I couldn't even think about giving them approval without possibly ticking off Dad. Yeah, a desperate situation that might be worth considering right now. I'm sure there were plenty of other opportunities.
It was so bad that I was taking his notes on the continuation of the human population on this planet into consideration and I was possibly going to make it a rule that anyone who wished to volunteer for the legion must already have three children. That should help keep the population stable. If it was possible for Astartes to reproduce with normal humans it would make sure that genetic diversity was still a thing, considering from my understanding my genetics would affect the future Wolves of Fenris in some way. Plus I understood there was a chance that people would die during the implementation process. Not a high chance but not a low one either, so making sure that those who were volunteering had at least done their civic duty to keep the population stable was important… It would ensure continued recruitment from Fenris.
"Each Chapter has a Chapter Master but most of the command staff is at the battalion level. Each Chapter has two battalions led by lieutenant commanders, they have their own command staff and command bodyguards. Battalions are usually made up of five companies, each with 100 legionaries, and are led by a company captain with their own command staff and bodyguards. Finally the companies are made up of tactical squads, usually 10 to 20 Marines, with one lieutenant for every two tactical squads. The remaining legionaries are broken up into support squads of some type, usually dependent on whatever the lieutenant prefers.
I nodded, the system didn't seem too bad. A good chain of command running down, along with support for the chain of command. Though I did have one question.
"I've heard about this Disciplinary Corp that is used because some troops would lose control. Where does that fit into the legion?"
Enoch Rathvin moved up his arm to rub the back of his head before saying "Technically speaking they fall under your honor guard, it was where I could best fit them for this situation. It was needed since they had to be able to give commands and orders across all Chapters."
I hummed. "Meaning that the Disciplinary Corp could be turned into my personal Chapter, meant to keep the other Chapters in line if they ever went too far. Or a reserve Chapter, if it were made up of the veterans of many campaigns?"
He nodded slowly, "Basically yes, and that would make the most sense. Space Marine psychology will generally make them want to fight at the front by your side. If your Honor Guard is made up of the most disciplined troops, those capable of being both savage and in control… That would present a model to which every other Space Marine can attempt to stand up to."
Smiling, I said, "Exactly," before taking a sip of my drink. "Sometimes disciplinary action is not required, sometimes you just need to have something to hold up as a standard."
"I have to change the name, of course," I said matter of factly, "We need to exactly project the appearance we want. A name like the Disciplinary Corp sounds more like they need discipline than asserts that they're going to be giving it, if you ask me. How many men do we have in the Disciplinary corp so far?"
"One hundred, some of the best and most legal-minded soldiers I could find amongst the legion."
I nodded, 100 was not much but it was a start, before I said, "We'll find 400 others amongst the original legion, that'll get this honor guard up to half a Chapter strength. We'll fill it out with similar men of insight from the new recruits coming in from Fenris, there should be more than enough there. That way it will also appear to be a way to show respect between the old guard and the new."
"Excellent thinking, my Primarch," He said, drinking deeply of his cup before asking.
"Any other things to take into consideration, about changes to the operations of the legion?"
I shook my head, "Until we field the legion I won't really know how effective our unit structure will be. From a simple perusal of the information you've given me, I think it could be quite effective but I won't know until I see a display of our tactics. Once I have an idea we can make changes as necessary. If I have to make definite statements about what can be expected of my preferences in battle, I favor quick and devastating strikes on the enemy and avoid sieges if possible. So, simple question. How would you judge our legions' mobility?
Enoch Rathvin thought for a few instants "At the moment we have a collection of land raiders, armored troop assault platforms, to cross over dangerous terrain. We've also got plenty of air assets, Stormeagles and Stormbirds, allowing us to move forces across the battlefield quickly enough. We haven't been given the opportunity to expand our assets in those categories as we've only been used in short sieges so far. And we haven't had the opportunity in a while for an open battle that would require large scale movements. Once we have our recruitment up and running I suspect we'll have an easier time of getting assets from the Mechanicum, they tend to give more of those assets to legions that are at the front lines. The Lunar Wolves have quite a large stockpile of resources due to their long campaigns."
I nodded before saying "well then we'll need to invest heavily in getting those numbers up. Armored assault units are going to be necessary for any sieges we end up in, as well as something fast to allow us to chase any forces that try and run from us on land. Some sort of scout unit that could actually range quite a distance away too…" I thought for a moment, trying to remember the World Wars and how they dealt with ranging scouts. Calvary was always useful in those situations, be it horse or bike. Though I doubted many Space Marines could ride any horses on this planet but…. maybe some Thunder Wolves? The size was about right. It would be an experiment to check this out but if it worked I could have a troop that could be deployed without need for a major logistic train. That would be an effective unit for scouting, not to mention a wolf would be more combat effective than a horse in that category so if they met heavy contact they would at least do quite a bit of damage before either giving up their life or retreating. Preferably retreating, losing a veteran scout was a terrible waste.
Looking to Enoch Rathvin I asked, "Are there any motorcycles or bikes? Something that one or two men can use to move around."
He nodded before saying "Yeah, I believe some of the legions are experimenting with motorcycles. We haven't been able to get any of those assets because we've not had opportunities to. If you want I can put out the paperwork together so we could send a request back to the Mechanicum, they might be able to ship us a cargo or two."
"Yes, that would be good. With bikes we could range a bit further, keep contact with the enemy… heck if used in a dragoon role bikers could get around the enemy and take up the defensive positions on a major road, allowing us to stall them for the main force to catch up."
Enoch Rathvin agreed, "Makes sense, I think some of the bikes actually do have weapons on them so they can engage without dismounting."
"Interesting, though I imagine that platform is not the greatest for accuracy or stability. But if you're just shooting at retreating men or mne in good order that would break that good order. We'll have to see what these bikes look like and modify them for our needs once we get them." I finished my drink before getting up and said, "Now about that Heavy Bolter, do you have one around here? I would like to give it a try.
He nodded before standing up himself and finishing his own drink, "Yes, my Primarch. I'll have one brought over to give you a test run.".
I smiled. By the end of the day I'd have tested every single one of these weapons that the legion used. Hopefully that would give me an idea of how things worked in the future. I wanted to be ready for tomorrow and I had to go back up to the Gloriana battleship to meet with several other subcommanders. Those that handled the parts of the legion's operation that were not about fighting the wars directly but about maintenance and the other important duties that kept the legion running.
Tanya Russ
I had originally signed on to this military campaign in order to improve Fenris and make the planet more livable for myself and the people there and my wolves. This was my overarching and end goal; when all this was over I would return to Fenris and live in happy retirement, only poking my head out every once in a while in case someone did something stupid.
Those are my plans and they are very final. But I do admit… When presented with opportunities to expand those plans and improve things in other ways, I would not say no.
As a Primarch and controller of a Space Marine legion I had complete control of the planet Fenris, as well as the system and the system was not just Fenris.
My homeworld had an orbiting body, Vladrmani, not too different from the Moon that orbited Earth. A dead ball of dust so you'd think that there was nothing that could be used on the surface but according to my understanding of what had happened to Earth's moon… Well, Terra's Moon had been turned into a livable rock. Another mega-project that could be useful in the continuation of civilization for Fenris. To my thinking in the short term it would make a good support planet for the network of military equipment that would need to be moving into Fenris for training the Space Marines. That short-term goal would allow for a long-term switch from that cold training into a livable planet that could donate forces to… I don't know, maybe I would call it the Fenris Guard. I knew that I would most likely be working with many auxiliary organizations within the Imperial Army but I would like to have some sort of formation of regular people I could trust to be trained to my standards.
The next closest planet was Midgardia. Unlike Fenris it was not a cold planet however it was similar to Fenris in that it was a death world. The planet was covered in toxic jungles that produced lethal gases. Now assuming that no human population could live there would be wrong. Just like how my assumption that Fenris was locked in a 12th century middle age had been wrong as it would seem the masters of the Iron Isle had been trading with various interstellar trade companies even as the rest of the planet had degraded to the dark ages. That's how the story about my conquering the planet got out. And by that same trade network did the jungle planet survive, the people there lived in underground cities of course but they had something that allowed them to trade for what they needed because of that poisonous jungle? Well the trees there produced a chemical solution that, once refined, was used to produce powerful medicines that they would sell to traders who came to the system.
How humanity had come to survive on that world I was not sure but perhaps... considering how geologically active the planet was I would have to assume humanity was settled there simply for the medicine. This was good as it gave me another recruitment pool at least for the Fenrisian guard but I wanted more. So I took note of what other resources the planet held and in summary it was a very warm planet that plant life could grow easily on. Of course humans couldn't walk around very easily but if they settled farms to produce food for other planets in the system… It was something that might work, I marked it down as something to look into.
The final planet was Frostheim or Fenris Two as it was basically the exact same environment as Fenris. So much that I wondered if perhaps some of the people from the Preserve project had accidentally landed there near the start of the Old Night. The only real major difference was that I wasn't sure if there was actual landmasses as the water never thawed out. Improving on that planet could only improve the sector. Considering it was far enough out that it was actually stable compared to Fenris I could possibly build large greenhouses to farm food and warehouses to store equipment that needed to be kept cold.
There was one other moon around that planet, Svellgard. I made note of it however I wasn't sure how to use it yet. It was dead like Fenris's own Moon but was not exactly going to supply a lot of resources and not exactly in a position to be strategically or logistically useful like Fenris's moon. I wondered if I could sell it to the Mechanicum? They were after all supposed to supply our legion with their equipment. If they had some sort of outpost in my system they might set up some construction factories here. I wanted to protect Fenris from being too polluted but a world that was dead didn't even count as a world, any life on it would improve its situation.. Why not sell it to those mechanical boys then? At least I would have an easy way to contact them while in system.
Besides that I was looking into the creation of an orbital ring for Fenris, to maybe block out some of the Sun during the Time of Fire. Making the planet a bit more stable was at the top of my plans.
But of course I realized I'd probably not see a lot of them carried out myself, I could make as many plans as I wanted but unless I created a system of government to make sure those plans were carried out in my absence they probably never would happen. Which was why I had scheduled a meeting with several of these subcommanders of the legion, those would be staying behind to oversee recruitment and construction of the planet's defenses during the times when I had to go out and campaign.
Today was my first meeting so I decided to meet them in, well, the office I've been given aboard the Gloriana. Still needed to come up with a better name but it worked. I, of course, was early and going over things like the plans for the future and looking over statistics provided by looking at the recruitment efforts after the Lunar Wolves took up their homeworld. I was adding what I could from my own time and life on Fenris, and a bit of that second life that I somewhat remembered at this point.
The first meeting I had today was with someone called a Frater Astrotechnicus or, as what had been helpfully shortened for me by Taethios Polurus, a Tech Marine. They were apparently a unit of dual loyalty supposedly. Tech Marines, Enoch had informed me, served the legion and Mechanicum. I had found it interesting that we were allowing that sort of situation to happen but it was not a major issue. I simply asked what exactly they did for the legion.
And I had been informed that they were in charge of overseeing maintenance of our gear, as well as production in a few cases. This was useful as I would like to have redundancy in production methods. From what I understood the Old Night had come about because redundancies had not been as secure as they should have been. So I had informed him about my current plans for the system on improving the ability of the legion to produce for itself in case of an emergency. He had seemed to agree with most of my ideas, and was even interested in the possibility of bringing the Mechanicus to that one Moon but, well, he wasn't really sure about the official stance on that idea.
Which was to be expected. He was a frontline soldier engineer, not the person running the Mechanicus or anyone in charge of any of its subdivisions however they did that. To expect him to have an answer for my question of 'Will the Mechanicus buy this planet no one cares about?' would have been silly.
Otherwise he came to me with concerns about the population beneath as he had heard that the planet was mostly trapped in the 12th century and was worried about where he was going to get the recruits for his division within the legion. Thankfully I had the answer and I quickly pointed him towards the Iron Priests and the Isle of the Iron Masters. Both of them were rather mechanical in nature so bringing them into the fold within the Tech Marines made sense. He generally agreed and quickly asked for permission to go planetside to meet with the Iron Priests. I nodded, giving it to him, and told him to check out their massive forge that I had constructed a few years back. Perhaps they could use it for the baseline of a construction or a facility for manufacturing equipment.
Once our meeting had ended I had to wait for the next officer of rank for about a minute or two, apparently they were a bit flighty. I'd be keeping a time schedule to keep an eye on this. Ulrur Stonemaw was a psyker, the only psyker in the legion as it was apparently a rare genetic ability. This was interesting as I had figured that, being based on my genetics, the chances that they would gain psychic power would be a little bit higher. Then again I didn't know how this whole thing worked. It was very well possible that genetics had nothing to do with it and it was something else that I didn't understand. Still I would have figured it'd be similar to mages.
Anyways he was simply interested in where he could find recruits for his own potential order. According to him a lot of legions were experimenting with psykers but nothing definitive had been created yet. It was assumed that, sooner or later, the matter of psykers would be settled by an official Imperial stance.
Well thankfully I had the exact people he should talk to and I mentioned the Rune Priests were an order of psykers on the planet below who used their powers to help people. Perhaps they could be used for the legion, I suggested This was exactly what he was looking for and he had thanked me profusely, putting on a bit of a performance on the matter of how much he was going to enjoy having conversations about the matters of psychic powers with his potential recruits into the legion.
I had seen an issue right then and there so I made it clear that I quite respected the methods of the Rune Priests and that he should do the same. Runes were a very powerful tool in maintaining control over the Warp, something that as far as I could tell was dangerous right now to use. So if he was going to do experimentation he was going to go by the Rune Priest method of runes. He seemed disappointed at that but frankly I was the legion leader and I didn't want my ship blowing up because someone decided to try casting explosive spells without safety mechanisms. So I wasn't going to be moved on this subject and once that became clear to the psyker he relented and we left amicably enough.
Considering I probably had the ability to just say no and prevent any psykery going on, no doubt the psyker was of the opinion that he got a win. And I was going to let him feel like he got it, a motivated employee sometimes needed to feel like he had got one over on his boss.
With those two meetings going rather quickly and easily all that was left was the last meeting of the day, the most important one really. Though psykers were interesting and maintenance was important, recruitment of the new legionaries was top priority. Especially considering my condition…
How exactly my DNA worked to be converted into Geneseed I wasn't sure. All I knew is that in the last month and a half I had been poked and prodded with what felt like every needle in the galaxy. And when I had not been busy getting a needle into the bone marrow, I had to deal with various fires from an increasing number of people volunteering. It would not be that big of a problem if I had not been told that the best candidates for the surgical creation of a Space Marine were actually in the 10 years old range. Not a big fan of creating child soldiers but then again after 10 years of training they would not exactly be child soldiers anymore.
Thankfully I found various ways to deal with that situation. The first way was what I had decided a while ago regarding dealing with adults who wanted to take on Space Marine training to join the legion. I codified the rule that they must have three children at minimum if they were over the age of 20. They were going to risk their lives taking on dangerous surgeries but they were going to do it after leaving a generation behind, one that could take up for them after they were gone.
The other rule was simple: children could volunteer. I wasn't happy about it but I knew that the reality was that children would have a better chance of surviving the surgeries. However I made a couple rules to try and make sure we didn't somehow take the entire child population of the planet, leaving… well, no one to carry on the population. I knew I was probably being a bit too careful but being careful was probably the best way to make sure things worked out.
So I'd made rules about children. They could not be forced to join, they had to volunteer for it without duress. Now granted orphans are going to be in a situation that made their life a general situation of duress but to be frank if you are an orphan on Fenris your chances of survival were pretty minimal anyway. I'd also set a ruling that a family line could not be wiped out by sending every child that volunteered to the Space Marines. Granted it simply meant one child was always going to be denied and it also might create a bit of a situation where families had more kids than they could really support. But I was hoping that most people would not go too overboard…
This was why I was also looking into getting food production from the jungle planet ramping up. If they did go overboard we would need that food.
With those rules in place I thought I wouldn't get many volunteers with that many hoops to jump through but with the end of the standard Terran year coming up there were already 10,000 recruits waiting for opportunities and Geneseed. The first hundred were being implemented today and so I was waiting for the apothecary to come to my office and give me a report on how well things were going.
As I sat in my office, looking into the space beyond my window, the doors to my office opened and in walked Norast Ray of the apothecaries of the Wolves of Fenris. Turning to face him fully I nodded a welcome before saying, "So then today was the day. How did the implantation go?"
Looking a bit run down the apothecary shook his head as he took a seat across from me, seeming to be unsure how to begin. Hrfinally said, "It went incredibly well, my Primrch. Today was the first day and we decided to go with a hundred of the adult warriors that have helped keep this planet stable. Of the hundred warriors, 79 of them are perfectly fine. We implemented the concoctions of hormones and chemicals that are meant to prepare their bodies in such a way that they will not reject the later organ transplantations and gave them their first dose of Geneseed. At current status 49 of those who took it will move on to the next phase without issue and, by my calculations, they'll be ready for war within a year and a half. Frankly I'll be clear on this: I think Fenris is possibly the best planet for our legion to recruit on."
"What do you mean?" I asked out of curiosity, wanting to know why he would think such a thing. Technically, as far as I knew, there were only two planets other than Terra being recruited from.
"To be clear our old Geneseed stock is almost out so we had to use yours. As far as we can tell yours works perfectly fine. There's a small issue but we're not concerned about it too greatly yet since it seems to be a fluke of a thing that happened. But the genetics of the humans of this world are rather… elastic, in a way? I'm not sure why. Some ancient biology project, maybe? I don't know but this elasticity in their genetics makes it easier for the Geneseed to take. Frankly if we had attempted this style of Space Marine creation on any other planet I have a feeling we'd be dealing with 70 or more percent death rates instead of what we got which is an 80% survival rate. What we hoped for was 50% death rate, which would not have been bad at all, as legion success rates for survival of adults ranges from 10 to 50%. Being at the 50% mark would already have been good for the legion's long-term survival."
I leaned back as I factored in the numbers being presented. So 100 Marine hopefuls had gone in with an expected 70% loss rate and instead 80 of them had survived but only 49 of them would be able to go on?
"So what you're saying," I finally summarised, "is that we have a planet that will allow us to get up and running as an official legion within a couple years, unless this is some massive fluke in success rates? That would allow us to replenish our legion rather quickly whenever we get into a conflict."
"Frankly, yes. Assuming your Geneseed continues its current trajectories and this wasn't a massive fluke as you suggested… Yeah, we could have new recruits for the legion ready at a full 10,000 in 3 years. Assuming of course that the other issue is not… well… more apparent than this first trial showed us."
I nodded before saying "Well, we put it off long enough. What is the other issue? What happened to that one man out of the 100? The one you did not count amongst the dead."
"Here, my Primach," The apothecary looked uncomfortable but he pressed some buttons on his armored suit and a message appeared on the computer screen on my desk. I accepted it, bringing up a holographic video of what appeared to be a cell somewhere in the apothecary area of the ship.
Inside the cell was a wolf… Or was it a man? It stood on two legs like a man but it definitely looked more hirsute and had a wolf-like head. Then… "Werewolfism?" I muttered in surprise, causing the apothecary to look over at me in obvious confusion.
"Have you seen something like this before?" He sounded like he was hoping for an answer to satisfy some great mental disturbance he was under.
"No, only in legends. There was a belief that some humans could become half human half wolf creatures. If memory serves they tend to be murderers and the such, though again these are legends."
The apothecary nodded before saying, "This was Jarl Erik Wulfen . He volunteered to take the Geneseed and was one of the first to do so in fact. While, as you can see, something went wrong and induced massive mutations throughout his body his mental state is completely corrupted into that of a predatory animal. One could barely call him human anymore."
"Do we know what caused this rapid devolution from human to beast?" I asked, watching the former man tear at the walls and try to find a way out of his cell.
"If I had to take a guess, whatever makes the humans of this planet such good candidates for Space Marine training… The same chemicals we used to make it easier to take the Geneseed are most likely making it easier for it to go into overdrive."
"So, basically, in order for adults to become Space Marines you have to severely increase the chances that they become a beast," I said, rubbing my chin as I continued to watch the screen. "This is definitely going to be a reason to recruit amongst the younger population more. If we lower the doses of the chemicals needed for the implantation of the Geneseed that should lower the chances of what happened to Wulfen happening to others."
"Possibly. There are other possible reasons that this could have happened but that would technically do the job, though it may increase the death rate."
"Hmm… damn, either we have a larger death rate or we create monsters," I said, thinking about what was in front of me. "Tell me about your hypothesis on other possible reasons for this to have happened."
"It's possible that the genetic fluidity of the Geneseed is mixing with whatever is in the people on the planet below and it requires a strong mind or mindset in order to control yourself to prevent such a massive transformation from happening. But if that's true that means… Well, we're seeing the end results for the humans of this planet, sooner or later they will devolve into these creatures."
Looking at the screen I had a strange thought. If genetics were being screwed with by a mindset… what mindset would he have had? Well, that's quite simple: my speech on the matter to the people who wanted to join up emphasized the glory of combat, since that seemed to be a major key focus of the people of Fenris. That and the chance to die fighting which I found was a small religious issue but I wasn't particularly interested in getting into it. It was useful to me since it meant people were interested in joining the legion simply for the chance to die fighting in order to get to, well, their version of heaven. Whether it exists or not, though I would assume not.
"So if I understand you and I'm extrapolating that a possible answer in order to stave off problems like this from happening we need to make sure the candidates are in the right mindset. If we continue to use that particular variance of the starting process we're going to have to accept the possibility of candidates dying."
Norast Ray nodded his head. "That's basically the situation we're in, my Primarch."
"Well then I say we offer both options. We need to create a system to get people in the right mindset before they receive the chemical cocktail to become Space Marines. This will have to be tested and would probably delay the process, I imagine maybe 2 years? Hopefully this should cut down on occurrences of this werewolf form. If they're not willing to take the time to reach the right mindset we can give them the other method though they're taking their lives into their own hands."
The Apothecary nodded his agreement before saying, "As you wish, my Primarch. What should we do with Wulfen here?"
Looking at the screen I shook my head "I'm not sure. Is there no way to undo what's been done to him?"
Norast Ray shook his head before saying "Unless you have some method to do it, he is beyond the grace of the science of genetics."
Passing the buck, I thought. Finally, I said, " Sedate him and have him transported to Fenris. I might have something."
Tanya Russ
I did have a plan. Not a great plan, but a plan. Holding on to one of the overhead bars aboard the Stormhawk I looked down the hall of the ship's cargo area at Jarl Wulfen. Three Astartes were using long poles with loops at the end to hold the deranged creature at a distance as it snapped at anything that got too close.
I wondered why he had degraded so terribly mentally. Considering that some of the wolves I'd met in my time were almost as intelligent as humans seeing a human lose their intelligence and fall back to something even most of the wolves were not was a bit disconcerting.
Perhaps there was some applied pressure we couldn't see to a part of the brain and causing overactive aggression. It might make sense assuming that this was similar to what the emperor had implied had happened to some of the prisoners that had been dropped off on this planet. The difference might be explained simply by time. It was generations between the first creation of the wolves of this planet and this creature, any damage being caused by the transformation would have been genetically removed as the creatures' brains were forced to adapt to the new shape of the skull. Of course for all I knew the man simply had a flood of terror and aggression running through his system right now and all he could see was red.
I ordered as many genetic samples taken as possible before we came down here. In case my plan didn't work we would need to research this outcome in the Astartes process so that we could prevent it from happening again, or at least limit it greatly.
Part of me thought I probably should clue in dad on the situation but he had already departed a week ago. As far as he was concerned, according to him, I was perfectly able to do the job required of me and, still according to him, he would come back to finish out his year-long sentence in a bit as he had received rumors of his next son's location.
I could have been a bit of a stickler on the rules there but I could understand the reason he needed to get off the planet. If another one of his sons had been discovered he needed to be there first in order to better introduce them to the Imperium. Although I would laugh quite hard if it turned out to be another daughter.
But either way you looked at it he was not here anymore and went off to do the job of running the Imperium and reuniting his children with the crusade. He left the finances and associated problems in my capable hands. If I were to call for his aid in this situation I would look, well… I would look bad, in my opinion. He put a lot of trust in his employee and I was not about to break that trust. So I'd deal with the situation myself.
With the thump-thump of our landing gear touching down the ship came to a stop, signaling we had arrived. Looking to the apothecary Ray, I nodded and said "Open the door." Carefully the door was opened and the three space Marines holding the former human warrior turned Beastman guided the creature out into the light of the day.
I and the apothecary soon followed, standing around and looking at a sight fairly familiar to me. It was the valley where I first arrived in, all those decades ago. It hadn't changed much though it was still quite a pleasant place. As an added bonus this particular location was miles away from any human civilization and well within the territory of the Thunder Wolves.
A perfect place to leave such a creature if it could not be saved, as it would not be found by the humans of this planet and would most likely be dealt with by the wolves if it could not find itself again and control itself.
Nodding, I said, "This will do, this will do perfectly," before walking over to a nearby tree and ripping a branch off. It wasn't exactly a rolled-up paper but it would do. Walking over to the fallen warrior I indicated the Space Marines to let him go. They looked a bit unsure about that but I simply said, "I can handle this creature, do not worry for my safety."
With those words of assurance they pressed buttons, releasing the loops which allowed them to back up as the creature fell to all fours. It looked around, snarling and growling at us. With much effort to be careful and friendly I walked towards it. Of course, being nothing but a beast, it took that as a threat and immediately leaped at me. So I smacked it in the face with the branch.
"Jarl Wulfen, get a hold of yourself!" My plan was frankly simple: I was going to beat the shit out of it until he gained control. I was hoping he was still in there and if he gained control maybe he could reverse the changes himself. If he couldn't, well… again, leaving him in control out here would still be as good as leaving him out here out of control. With the proximity of the underground tunnels and the underground cities it was very likely he might find his way down there and hunt those creatures, which could be beneficial in the long run.
The beast was sent flying a few feet to the left of me but quickly rebounded, getting on all fours and ready to come at me again. "Control yourself, Wulfen." I ordered, trying to reach for a bit of psychic energy as I ended up having to smash his head to the right with the branch.
"You signed up to go to the stars, not be a drain on this society," I said as the creature rounded itself back towards me. As it went to jump at me another time I simply stepped around it, got my arm around its neck, and pinned it to the ground.
"Control your aggression. You're a warrior of Fenris, not a savage beast." I put a little bit more pressure on the throat, trying to relieve it of some oxygen in hope of giving him some control. Just like the old days when I had to tame a wolf that had gone too far. It did seem to work as it stopped struggling after a while. Letting up I waited to see if it would go back to trying to tear everything apart. When it didn't I let go and got up to look down at it.
The creature was thoroughly beaten and wasn't trying to bite anyone anymore, just trying to catch its breath by the look of it. Taking a knee in front of it, I said, "There are three choices ahead of you, Wulfen. If you can remember who you are perhaps you can find some way to come back to being what you're meant to be, a civilized human. If you can find some way to do that we'll welcome you back to our ranks with open arms. If you can't you can live in this valley for the rest of your life, as long as you stay in this valley and never leave. I lived here for almost a year and survived off the many bountiful resources of this valley. If I can do it you can do it. And finally, if you can't gain control and you lose yourself to the beast again… Well you can leave the valley but if you start terrorizing the human population we will hunt you down like the beast you are. Those are your choices, those are your options. Do you understand them?"
I was half expecting the creature to not even respond, so lost in its own bestial madness it had seemed, but it looked like there was something still left of Wulfen in there as the creature nodded its head which brought a smile to my lips. Leaning forward I petted him on the forehead and said "Struggle to come back to us then. We'll be waiting for you when you gain control."
Getting up I looked to the four Space Marines and said "Load back up in the craft."
They nodded and followed me back aboard the Stormhawk. The ship quickly took back off, heading back to the Gloriana. Taking a seat that wasn't much good I leaned back against the wall, feeling the coldness of space through the metal.
The Apothecary sat down next to me and asked 'Do you think Wulfen will actually be able to gain control of himself?"
I shrugged. "No idea but it would be a waste of resources just to kill him. If he can do it that's a boon. If he can't, well, there are things in that valley that'll take care of him eventually either for good or ill. If he leaves the valley we will hunt him down, as I said. We are giving him a chance, it's up to him if he actually manages to make something of it."
The apothecary nodded his head before inquiring, "Did you really live a year in that valley when you first arrived?"
"Yes, why?" I asked, not really thinking much of the question.
"Getting the Aspirants in the right frame of mind may help with the creation of Space Marines, as we discussed. Perhaps dropping them off in the wild with a destination to reach would help them get in your frame of mind, allowing them to better accept the changes and prevent, well, Wulfen from happening again."
"I think it does make some sense, even if there's a risk considering the creatures out there. Well we need to figure out what works and what doesn't. You want to run a test like that? That's perfectly fine with me."
"Thank you, my Primarch," he said with a nod before looking at the front of the ship in thought.
Not having much thought on the matter myself I just simply laid back and tried to think of what was next on my list of situations to deal with.
Tanya Russ
835.M30
It always amazed me what could be accomplished in a few years of dedicated work. 7 years ago Emperor had shown up on my planet to recruit me to his campaign and over those 7 years I had worked hard to create a situation that would allow that campaign to happen.
From what I understood it was expected that normally I would operate out of Fenris and just bring the planets nearby into the empire as it were but the emperor told me about a bit of an issue at the back lines of the empire in the 'Wheel of Fire' sector in the Segmentum Ultima. Now he was already preparing a campaign using two space Marine legions to bring the sector into compliance. So theoretically it was already a sure thing that this sector would be brought in but I saw an opportunity there.
If two legions were already enough to bring the sector in, three would do the job better. Not only that it was a chance to get bloody and create a esprit de corps with my legion. Currently the men were Space Marines, yes, but they had never fought in a real war yet. This conflict presented the opportunity to turn them into real soldiers.
The only major concern I had when I looked over the report was apparently the Mechanicus. I had already run the numbers on how long it would take to conquer the wheel of fire. 10 years. 10 years where I would not be near Fenris nor able to help if anything were to go wrong. That was a bit concerning but it was a necessary loss of time.
In my mind that was a long war, any war over a year was a long war in my mind. To fight for 10 years over a sector seemed ridiculous. But the fact of the matter was that times had changed from the quick wars that I understood more and turned to this. And who knows how the aliens that controlled that sector operated.
The sector, this wheel of fire, regularly got cut off every couple thousand years from what I understood, supposedly due to changes in galactic weather. It had a large human population and a few alien populations but the big problem was it was all ruled over by an Ork empire. This empire was a threat to the Imperium as with the wheel of fire currently open they could strike out and were not too far away from hitting Terra itself.
That's why no matter what this empire had to be brought down. On the plus side from what I understood humanity was well entrenched in that factor and might be willing to rebel if an option was presented to do so. Coming in as the heroic liberators could possibly bring down the years needed to bring the sector into compliance.
There were a couple other benefits for taking my legion out like this, besides getting them battle-tested. It would also put an end to a bit of an issue I was having as some of the more bloodthirsty types were asking a bit too many questions about how long it was going to be before they saw combat. So far it was just minor talk but I always worried that one of them was going to try and take his new and enhanced physique and try to murder me to take control of the legion. I doubt it would be successful but better for it to not happen at all.
Currently there was roughly 26,000 Space Marines in the legion, broken up amongst 12 companies with a thousand being part of my honor guard. The last thousand were going to be staying here on Fenris to continue the process of Space Marines creation. If all things went well we would still be receiving shipments of new Marines to join the ones who were already in combat in the sector. Considering how things could go we'd probably need it.
We had stockpiled gear, tanks, armor, ammunition, everything needed for the campaign but I had not announced the launching of the campaign yet. That would happen later today as I was having the legion gathered for the announcement. I didn't know how they would react though I suspected it would be general applause, maybe a few howls from a few of the people who had taken the whole Wolves of Fenris thing a bit too literally.
26,000 soldiers was not a lot but then again they were Space Marines and they would not be the only forces in the sector. Besides the Imperial Army and the Imperial Navy which would be supporting any actions we took it would also be two other legion elements in-sector, the Iron Warriors and the Star Hunters.
Seeing that I had lived on Fenris for the last four decades at this point I had no idea how these particular legions worked or operated so I had asked the former legion Master to give me a, understanding of these legions. Unfortunately he wasn't aware of the Star Hunter's career besides a known use as Pathfinders and scouts for any force that needed them. However he was very helpful when it came to the Iron Warriors, informing me that they were good at mechanical stuff and considered some of the best siege troops in the legions.
So a force that was good at siege warfare and a force that was good at scouting? Not a bad set of operational doctrines for this campaign and I could see our legion could fit in. With its emphasis on crushing enemies that tried to break having perfect scouts give us the location of the enemies would ensure there would be no want of enemy forces to break. And a legion that was known for being good on sieges could always use more hands to fill in the holes. Both legions were currently Primarchless so they had limited numbers to call upon while, with the current growth rate of my legion, we could fill in and take the losses those legions would have taken. I preferred to take as few losses as possible but if there was going to be losses it would need to be from my legion. Because we were the only ones capable of recovering from said losses.
The tactics of the coming fighting were all but decided, the supply routes all but drawn up. Really the only thing holding back the legion from moving out was the feast I was going to throw tonight to celebrate our first campaign launch. According to Mechanicus statistics any legion that was at the front would take 50% losses. It was possible they were wrong but in the case they weren't I wanted to make sure the men had good memories of the launch at the very minimum, even if the campaign came to be known as the worst campaign in our history.
Letting out a deep breath I looked at my watch, a digital thing brought in as part of the modernization programs that I was attempting to implement on Fenris. There were already some power stations going up across the planet in secure and safe locations and powered lighting was finally starting to take over for torches. Which had surprisingly revealed that there was a mural on the roof of the ceiling. I was going to have someone look into cleaning that up to find out what was up there as it was covered in soot and other fire debris.
When I was sitting back at the head of the main table in the Great Hall. I had somehow managed to grow another foot in the time it had taken for the legion to grow to a proper size and I mean somewhere around… 9ft tall now, I believe.
As a result I had to have the legion armorers start constructing a set of armor for my use in the coming fight. They were currently going over my measurements and sending them off to Mars to have a custom suit created. I wasn't sure yet of what it would look like but I was hoping for something not too gaudy. Until then I was making do with my old armors and some more cleaner fabrics that came in through the imperial trade network that had finally established itself on Fenris.
The only thing I had prepared so far was a massive sword constructed for me by one of the armorers. A former member of the Iron priesthood, Fergus Forgrim, had fixed himself a goal of creating weapons for me apparently. He had made a massive sword that… well, it was rather nice in my hand and was well balanced. It even had some of the trademark Eastern influences that I had brought in with my blades over the years. He also created a hand ax that was rather useful and had asked if I would give him the Ice Kraken's iron I had acquired all those years ago. He even promised he'd create me some of the best weapons possible if I did. I mean, well… it was nice as it was as a mantelpiece in my room but it was still just a slightly glowing piece of metal in the shape of a tooth. So if he could turn it into a weapon it might be more useful. As I understood it no one had been able to correctly forge that material into working metal so if he managed to do it the weapon would be quite strong and wouldn't break like some of my older equipment. So I let him have it and he was going to be staying here on Fenris to create it though so I wouldn't find out what it looked like or what it was for 10 years probably. Unless he came to the front lines to bring it to me.
Not an impossibility, considering the way the people of interest did things. Shaking my head I got up from my seat and cracked my neck. It was about time to see how much of the legion had gathered around the castle and give a speech about the coming campaign. Walking over to a window I cracked it and looked outside, seeing that… well by the amount of gray and blue armor out there at least 15,000 were here already. I probably should give it another hour before making my speech.