Tanya Russ
So, I do have a sister. I did not expect to hear of one of my brothers today, much less a sister.
I had several questions, such as why was she female? The Emperor himself had said that he had created men to be primarchs, so why was she a woman? The reason I ended up female made sense; my soul had been somewhat tempered by my experiences in my last life, resulting in this form and appearance, but why had Lion taken a female form?
Perhaps it was as simple as them being female in their past life, or that their soul had a strong preference towards the female form—although according to the Emperor, that seemed unlikely. Supposedly, souls did not work that way, as memories would typically be wiped.
If that were true, though, then there should not be a sister in front of me, but here one was, so I had to consider the possible ramifications of her existence. There was one possibility I considered right off the bat. It seemed unlikely, but perhaps it was Mary. If it was, Lion showed no elements of Mary. From what I've seen, she wasn't trying to strangle me right now, so at the very least, if Mary was the soul that was the basis of this, then I was safe from her attempts to murder me, as she appeared to have not recovered her memories of her past life… But if that was true, it could mean she would eventually remember her memories, and if she was still feeling a bit pained about the loss of her father, she might try and choke me to death.
I could try and poke at it, see if there was any mention in this Lion's memories of a possible life existing before this, or I could do the smart thing and not talk about it.
Assuming Mary was somewhere in there would probably be the best way to handle this situation, and the best thing to do was to make as good a friend as possible with Mary while she didn't know who I was, so if she ever gained her memories, well, she wouldn't strangle me.
Two primarchs fighting each other seems like a recipe for disaster, so best to make nice.
Sipping my drink again, I rolled around the thoughts on how to continue this conversation before finally deciding to go with the more direct route.
"So, sister, what brings you and the First Legion to the conflict zone?"
Lion looked at her drink again in a thoughtful manner, though thoughtful wasn't the correct term; it seemed like more of an evaluating manner. She sipped again before saying, "The hole in the line they created here would eventually take them in the direction of my home world if they veered to the left at any point. I have a special interest in making sure that this attack fails, so I thought I would set sail for this front in particular."
"Then I received word about your assault on the bulge, and I wanted to make sure that you had everything under control. After all, the Emperor has charged me with overseeing this front until he arrives, and I must meet his expectations."
Oh...oh no! I raised an eyebrow at that. I did not like the sound of what I had just heard. Lion El'Jonson had apparently taken overall command of the front, which meant they were essentially my commanding officer on this operation, and here I had gone and moved without their permission.
I had not, of course, received this information until today, which probably meant that the Emperor had sent out a messenger to get this information out to the last location he knew I was at. However, I wasn't there because I had already begun my assault.
This was not the best first impression. Essentially, I looked like I had gone out for glory instead of waiting for command. As far as my new boss was concerned, that meant I was unreliable. Oh, I did wonder how Lion El'Jonson had managed to swing it so that they were the boss of this operation.
I wasn't jealous or anything so foolish. If the Emperor thought that Lion should have command of this overall war, then so be it. However, I was curious about what they had managed to do to be given this position.
Shaking my head, I focused on the enemy in front of me instead of the enemy of the future. I needed to make sure that the relationship between Primarchs worked out for the best. Clearing my throat, I said, "Well, I wasn't aware of this development. It must be an honor to be granted the title of commander of this campaign."
"Yes, I imagine you were not aware of that. I was unaware that you would be coming to this campaign when I asked for the title in order to make this crusade as efficient as possible. I imagined you probably would have asked for the command yourself based on what I've read of your exploits."
Oh no, she's a go-getter! I mean, at least we had started to get to exactly what the problem was, and how we might have a bit of a strained relationship if I wasn't careful.
Essentially, my sister and I were two employees at a company. I was an older hand at the job and had many accolades, while my sister was somewhat new and had lesser accolades. However, they understood something that I didn't; that there was a chance for promotion.
I hadn't even considered there would be a possibility of a leadership rank above Primarch. As far as I was concerned, we were all colleagues working together for a greater good. El'Jonson, on the other hand, was apparently of the mind that there must be some sort of leadership dynamic and was making that clear by seeking command of a campaign.
I needed to tread carefully around my sister until she felt assured of her position. Any action I took that made her feel like I was trying to undermine her could be the source of a long-standing grudge.
Hmm, I would need to play this carefully, a lot more carefully than I'd played with the other siblings. I couldn't rely on being gregarious and a little bit of alcohol to get them to do what I wanted.
What did I want? Well, considering the position I was in, I wanted to secure my ability to prosecute the war in my region as I preferred.
This Lion would probably want the majority of the accolades for this campaign to go to her, while she requested leadership until the Emperor arrives. So, in order to do that, I would need to carefully maneuver this conversation the way I wanted it to go.
Smiling, I said, "No, I would not like to take command of the overall forces. I have plenty of forces to command here. If anything, I believe that having complete control over the entire legions dedicated to this front is a risk of overwork. Generally, it is better for the commanders to have a bit of control on how they prosecute a war underneath a Central command than to have it all dedicated to one authority. It's better for a commander in the front to be able to spot something the enemy's doing than an overall commander who might miss something on that particular front for something else."
"Hmm, that may be true, but still, an overall command must be in place. Running off to assault a position without alerting your fellow Primarchs of what you were up to is a rather serious break in the decorum of the Crusade I wish to command."
The warm side originally seen in those green eyes when they first stepped in and saw that I was female was completely gone now. Now, there was just an authoritative cunning to them still evaluating me, the drink all but forgotten in her hands.
I was not off to a good start, that I could tell for sure. They liked to have full command of whatever they were in charge of, and I, well, I would follow the rules that would give it to me. But I did prefer having some freedom. Taking a breath, I simply nodded and said, "If you wish to have full command, you will have full command. I have no problem following your orders, sister."
Annoying, but better to let their hunger for command of a situation get them in trouble and not get me in trouble because they want to be petty. If it worked out fine, if it didn't, well, I wouldn't have to deal with their attempts to control me in the future.
My thoughts were interrupted as the tent flap opened, and another Space Marine entered, his helmet off, revealing some rather high cheek boned, cold, aristocratic features. He must be a member of the Dark Angels, as he was too well-kept compared to the other Marines on this planet.
"Primarch El'Jonson, we've deployed our Marines to join several sections of the Sixth Legions' line and..." Whatever he was about to say, he seemed to die on his tongue as he looked between Johnson and me before muttering, "There are two of them now," with a slightly humorous tone to it.
"Brother Luther, that's good news. I just met the Primarch of the sixth legion. Allow me to introduce my sister, Tanya Russ," Lion said, indicating me with a wave of her hand.
"Good to meet you, Miss Russ," the Marine said with a nod before adding, "I am Luther, second in command of the First Legion."
"Welcome, Luther," I said, indicating a chair meant for a space Marine and said, "Take a seat. We're just having a little bit of conversation. I'm sure the conflict outside is handled well enough. With two Space Marine legions deployed, the situation should be easy enough to finish off without even our interference."
"Of course," he said with a nod before taking a seat next to Lion. He gave her an odd look, as if trying to evaluate her in some way. The reason, I couldn't tell yet. Probably with more conversation, I would understand what was going on there.
"Anyways, sister, since you have already sprung into action and have committed to an assault on this bulge, why don't you give me an up-to-date report on what exactly is going on? What have you learned about our enemy Rangdan and what do you believe they were attempting to do with this assault into imperial space?" My sister said with a very down-to-the-information take that I could respect.
Smiling, I said, "Well, I believe their assault was to try and target potential planets that had great importance to the Imperium. You have almost confirmed my suspicions on that with your mention of your own planet being somewhat in the same direction as my home world of Fenris. They probably were aware of that and trying to strike both at the same time."
"That would imply a rather well-built intelligence network, I believe," Luther said, getting a nod from his Primarch.
"I believe it's probably true. I have been asking around local command structures and have found out that even though we haven't had an official connection to the Rangdan, we did seem to have some sort of trade going on between us and them. Rogue traders either actually being part of the Imperial system or literally rogue traders apparently go between our space and theirs, trading goods and raw materials from them for more advanced tools from us. It would seem that some loose lips were spreading information about our disposition and important pillars of our Imperium."
"Traders. Then, that explains why, even though I believe they had a handle on the situation, they were able to spring this assault so excellently and push my forces back from the border." The Primarch of the First said with a nod. "With that in mind, I will have to hunt down these traders at a later date. For now, we will deal with these monsters. How does the assault go?"
Leaning back, I said, "For them, poorly. But I think they realized it was not going to be a success pretty deep into their campaign. I'm not sure they understood the exact size of the Imperium and the forces we could bring to bear. They seemed to have thought they could pull some lightning runs on us, and we would just collapse inwards. We believe that they've withdrawn their elite troops, any Rangdan forces, as well as humans and orcs under their employ into another zone. But they left behind a bit of a mess. Every planet seems to have been turned into a hive for these bioforms. Hopefully, they don't have the capability to construct anything. So, if we can confirm that, we can abandon these planets until we have the war under control. But if they do have that ability, then…"
"We risk them building a fleet behind us. I can see the problem there," the First Primarch nodded before adding, "How long do you think it'll take to clear these worlds of their bioform infection?"
Thinking for a moment, I said, "With my forces here, I could clear out the bigger hives within the next three weeks, possibly a bit longer, at 3 months. But that doesn't stop the possibility of there being survivors. We'll start over. Frankly, the best option would be to drop a force that could keep the bioforms from being able to build up forces behind us."
"What kind of force will be able to do that?" Luther asked, to which I responded quite quickly.
"I secured the allegiance of several primitive Ork planets. These planets have no interest for us; there's no human population on them, and they have no strategic value except the population of Orks on them. Load them up on some ships, drop them off on these planets, and just let them fight the bioforms for an eternity until we are ready to deal with them ourselves."
"Your answer to clear the infection of the bioforms is to simply infect the planet with another problem. That still leaves the planet a beast-infested mess that will need to be cleared out sooner or later."
"Yes, but it gives us the time to do it at our leisure. Sending forces that are needed at the front to the back lines to clear out these invasions simply guarantees that we don't have the forces we need at the front."
"She has a point, my Primarch," Luther said with a nod.
My sister was evaluating it as she leaned back in her own chair, seeming to have decided that they would be the judge and jury on how plans would go out. Finally, she said, "I will leave that decision to the Emperor for now. Dedicate some forces for a quick eradication, and then be prepared to seal up this line so we can start figuring out how we will commence the invasion forward into their space."
Yep, Sister was going to take command of this whole front and try to seize control. The wise move would be to go with my Ork versus bioform plan. In my opinion, the fact that they weren't jumping on it simply indicated that because I was the one who had come up with the plan first and the resources would be coming from my stockpile of Imperial forces that had been gathered, they weren't interested in executing it.
Probably the only reason they weren't saying that out loud is that Luther appeared to have a bit of control over her. Not exactly full control, but more like a tempering control, like a trusted advisor. I wondered what the story was behind those two.
Nodding my agreement to the First Primarch's position, I said, "All right, we'll clean up the planets as best we can and reform the line and wait for an official order to move forward before we make any other actions."
"Thank you," she said, seeming to have lost a bit of the edge she'd had for a while now. Perhaps a confirmation that I would follow her commands was enough to diffuse a bit of the temper she had. Hmm, if that was the case, then our relationship would be a very foolish one.
She needed to lighten up. Being serious all the time was simply going to drive a wedge between her and the other legions and their officers. Not to mention, trying to seize command over the others would not do well on that front either.
Of course, when you have someone who is, let's say, as prideful as they appear to be about gaining control over such conflicts, telling them that outright didn't work. All that would do would foster bad relations between the two of us. And, well, if she was going to want to be the commanding officer of large campaigns, that would not be in my favor. That's how you end up being sent on a suicide march.
Smiling, I simply sat back and decided to try and foster that good relationship by simply starting with a simple question.
"So, second in command. That's a high up rank. How did your officer here attain such a postion?"
The Primarch of the First Legion smiled before saying, "Luther was the man who found me when I first arrived at my home world of Caliban. He helped me get accustomed to humanity and has always been by my side ever since. You could almost say he raised me."
I nodded my head, understanding. "An adopted father, eh? Well, that makes sense. I was surprised we hadn't run into more situations like that yet. I had conversations with Vulcan, and he'd never mentioned his family. Neither had Horus. Khan had mentioned he had a family at one point, though he did not look happy about that, so probably something bad had happened to said family member. And Perturabo also made comments about a family as well, though he was a very private man and hadn't told me more about it. Since then, I wasn't in the business of pushing on a relationship that was just fine.
Clearing my throat, I said, "I had a father figure like that as well. Unfortunately, he died of old age a good 20 years before the Emperor arrived, but he helped me get settled and start my conquest of my homeworld. Through his actions, I jump-started the unification, and I owe him a lot. That's why I still bear his name, Russ."
El'Jonson nodded her head, seeming to understand the possibility of finding some sort of core connection between us, which was the whole point of me revealing that information.
"Yes, Luther helped me in a similar way. I wanted to remove the beast from our world, the creatures that had hunted humanity for generations. There were factions that were against that for various reasons, but through his expertise in diplomacy, I was able to unify the knights of my homeworld against the creatures of the night and destroy them."
Ah, so it's like that then. The indication to me was that my sister was more of a warrior than a diplomat, and her closest ally Luther was the diplomat that allowed her to make her dreams a reality. He probably also kept her in line to some extent, allowing her to keep alliances going.
It made sense then why he was now a space Marine, even though by my own calculations, he probably didn't start off that way. If he had been a father figure at any step in this story, he must have been older than her at some point, which meant he was too old to take up the space Marine mantle without specialty drugs and a lot of work, such as my first batch of warriors from Fenris.
Nodding my head, I said, "Well, if those beasts were anything like the ones on Fenris, I imagine it was a hell of a fight. But still, fighting monsters on her own homeworld."
That seemed to have had an effect I didn't plan for. I had meant to say that in a way to align unification between us, something we could agree on. The look I got from her seemed to be annoyed, and she said, "You have yet to exterminate the creatures of your world that would threaten humanity."
I blinked before saying, "I mean we've exterminated the ones that are actually a threat. There are things on our planet that we can't really get to, monsters under the sea that live too far down for anything to reach, creatures that live in the mountains that we have no issue with because they stay up there. We have removed many of the creatures that live in the lowlands, except for those that are loyal and can work for us."
"The warp-tainted beasts of Caliban are not something that can be worked with. And if there are beasts on your homeworld that are like those on Caliban, you should seek to have them removed before they become a problem."
"Warp-tainted?" I said, raising an eyebrow. I could understand the meaning behind the word, but I don't think I'd ever run into a warp-tainted beast.
"Yes, creatures of unusual size and coloration often host powers beyond our understanding."
"Oh, oh, I've killed one of those things," I said as I recalled the black wolf that still hung from my cloak to this day. I had to renew it every once in a while by hunting down other wild wolves that had not been brought into the fold, filling in the patches and burn marks, but still, the majority coat of that monster I'd killed all those years before.
"If there's one, there are more. You should have killed all its kin and children to make sure it is completely eliminated from the gene pool, and the species never rises again."
Just casually talking about the genocide of an animal population, complete extermination. Okay, there was thorough, and then there was my sister who was apparently unaware of how killing an entire species from a biome could affect the biome if not properly controlled.
"If you kill all the great beasts, what will be left to kill the deer and prevent them from overgrazing?" I asked, trying to determine if they were aware of the theory around ecology.
"The humans, of course," my sister said, confirming that they were not aware because, yes, humans could hunt quite a bit of food, but they also got some of their food from growing things, which meant they would never be as dedicated to hunting the deer as a dedicated predator.
Shaking my head, I said, "That's a bit foolish. Don't you think humanity is able to do some of that job but not all of it? The environment of your world could be in danger without the proper mix of herbivores to meat eaters."
"It'll be solved in time. Humanity will deal with the herbivores, and we won't need a beast like those lions that roamed my homeworld."
I shrugged my shoulders before saying, "Well, if that's what you believe, all I know is wolves of my world are not all warp-tainted, and many of them have fought against the creatures. But I've been called warp-tainted. They are a check on not only the herbivores but the creation of these warp-tainted beasts, as you referred to."
"Wolves," the first Primarch to ask, which got me to whistle, and Freki and Geri slipped out of the shadows where they've been this entire time, each coming to either side of me and sitting down like properly trained they were.
Without much thought, I moved my hands to scratch the tops of their heads and said, "Yes, wolves. They're both the primary predator of Fenris and the closest ally to humanity on Fenris."
That comment didn't get to finish as I noted that El'Jonson immediately leaned away from the wolves. As they sat there, they weren't doing anything but sniffing the air and looking at her. They were maybe even a bit confused, possibly because they recognized elements of my face and hers, but weren't doing anything overly aggressive towards her. If anything, Cunning, who was close, looked like he was ready to lean forward and smell her hand, a good sign of possible friendship.
Lion El'Jonson seems to lean away even further at the simple notion that he might do that, looking at the creature with no discussion but fear. No, that couldn't be it.
"Interesting," Luther said, saying, "The Knights of Lupine believed something similar to you. They were more conservative about the animals of our homeworld. They believed that they were an important part of the natural cycle of our planet and wanted to spare some of the less-tainted creatures. They did not side with us during the crusade and are no longer an order in repute on our homeworld."
"Hmm, I'd say your Knights Lupine had a good understanding of ecology, at the very least, though I don't know what reasons they did have, so if I'm off-base, don't take it as an insult. From it, I could be wrong about their methods."
Luther shrugged before saying, "Many orders had their own secrets and reasons why they would not side or would side with El'Jonson when we began our crusade. Many of those secrets are still secret. Perhaps they knew, perhaps they had their own goals. Whatever the matter is, they fought against us during the crusade, and they lost for the most part, being exterminated. Though there are a few elderly gentlemen still around living out in the wild that are now secure from the monsters that lived out there."
"Hmm, well if you ever decide that you need an apex predator to replace the one that was exterminated, I'm sure the mechanicus will be willing to come up with something. I understand they have a bit of a habit of looking into bringing back extinct species, and I'm sure they wouldn't mind creating something to fit the standards of your home world. And if you need something to keep that in check, the Fenrisian wolves are a good, trustworthy species," I said, raising my right hand and scratching the ear of my faithful companion.
"I will keep that in mind," El'Jonson said, sounding very annoyed for some reason. Perhaps she really did not like my wolves, or perhaps she just simply didn't trust any creature that she didn't have control over.
Whatever the reason, I ignored her efforts to move away from me and asked, "So once we've cleaned up the lines, I had a plan to launch a small expedition into enemy space. There's a planet not too far from our current border that used to be somewhat Imperial-leaning. Would you care to join me on an assault so we may learn more about the enemy and their efforts to take control of this region?"
Johnson's eyes never left the wolf before saying, "I would rather wait for more forces. Though a small expedition into their lines, maybe a raid, I would be willing to sign off on that. It would give us a chance to learn more about the Rangdan, and the more we have on them, the more we can deal with them properly."
"My thoughts exactly, sister. It will take us about three weeks to stabilize the front. Maybe if things go well in three weeks, you would be willing to accompany me on that expedition?"
"Yes," she said, seeming to be more grinding it out than wanting to say it. Then she got up and brushed herself off, saying, "I think I have an understanding of you now, sister, and I believe we can work together on this operation. I was a bit concerned when I heard you'd run off and start an assault right away, but now I see how you think to some extent, and we should be able to work together."
"Wonderful," I said with a smile, reaching out my hand which had just been petting the top of Cunning's head.
Lion looked at that hand as if it was the most unsightly thing they'd ever seen before reaching out and taking it. We gave each other a shake before she turned away and apparently tried to hide that she cleaned her hand off on her robes. It would have worked too, except I could see a reflection on a screen just past her of what she did.
"Have at the enemy, my sister. I will prepare forces to help you on this expedition and see you in a few days when we talk again on how we will handle this expedition."
"Wonderful," I said as Luther got up and nodded in my direction as if trying to console me on something. Then the two of them walked out of my tent, leaving me alone with my wolves and my thoughts.
This was going to be a bit harder to establish a good relationship with my sister. But it was a challenge I was willing to face. After all, you couldn't have a good relationship with everyone off the bat. It would be an impressive act if I needed to build up a bit of trust between her and me. Then I would do it. It shouldn't be that hard.
Lion El'Jonson
Standing on a cliffside, I looked across the fields of battle, watching my "sister's" legion at work. They were engaged in a conflict that could best be described as brutal and slow.
There are many ways to handle these bioforms. My preferred method was to hit them hard and hit them fast, keeping them off their feet so that they would expose openings for other smaller forces to separate their lines and chew them up.
My sister's forces apparently preferred a little bit of a more methodical method. They were slowly pushing into the enemy forces, digging in wherever they needed a moment's break for a bit, killing anything that tried to charge their position before launching assaults, often closing range to a rather uncomfortable degree with the creatures. They seemed to have no fear of melee combat, which I could find respectable. Though I did wonder if that method would work against the other forces.
I had heard of my sister's exploits for a good long time, but I'd never known she was, well, as she. If I had, maybe I would have been a little bit more interested in finding out more about Russ. However, I had not had much interest in the Wolf King from what I had heard.
They seemed to represent a darker element needed for the crusade, but not exactly a stable mind as portrayed by the propaganda. A barbarian king, something I had never really run across on my home world of Caliban, but I'd read enough about them in the histories of humanity I'd been given access to in the libraries aboard my Gloriana battleship.
They tended to burn up rather quickly in those stories. The true king should try to seek a more enlightened calling when not engaged in the violence that is necessary to protect their people. Like poetry and civil engineering, useful things for humanity. Not become a drunkard, not become nothing but bloodshed and murder, and not become whatever the King of Russ was thinking of by letting those warp beasts walk around as if they were simple pets.
Maybe those creatures were not warpies, but it didn't help the fact that I didn't trust them. Nonetheless, they reminded me of some of the creatures that had been lower on the threat level on Caliban, well below the Lions. However, those particular monstrosities my "sister" kept as pets were more along the size of the Lions, so I had to evaluate them as higher up. I couldn't help but notice that as I looked out across the fields of battle, I saw here and there more of these warp beasts playing at being pets, following their Wolves of Fenris into battle.
It was sickening. Well, I will give them this. From the fighting I was seeing, they were proving to be rather confident warriors, so some of the tales I heard were not wrong. They knew how to fight, and if the Emperor was willing to allow such creatures it wasn't my place to say otherwise.
"Well, that was a nice surprise, Brother Johnson," came the voice of Luther as he came up to stand next to me. "I was starting to wonder, after we met Horus, if you had no sisters."
I let a smile grace my lips for a moment before stamping it down. "It is nice to have another female companion, I guess, but I don't see how it will affect things to come."
I was not exactly interested in meeting many of my siblings. It was good to know they existed, but they were not really people who meant much to me. They were supposedly like me, but I hadn't seen much in the few I had met.
I had met a few other Primarchs to this point, and it kept me to myself. I doubt Perturabo and Dorn even knew that I was female. I kept my distance, my hood up, wanting to keep people focused on the campaign we were in and not worried about little silly things such as gender.
The only people who knew that I was not as I appeared from a distance would probably be Horus, who had figured it out rather quickly, and maybe Fulgrim, who dropped hints that they figured it out but had not made it quite clear if they knew or were just having a laugh at my fashion sense. They claimed that wearing my knightly robes, or as he had called them, 'a bag' was unsightly.
It annoyed me slightly, but I was not exactly one to fly off the handle under such little prodding, and from what I remember of that campaign, the leader of the Emperor's Children had not been terrible at his work, so I let it slide.
"Well, I think it's good for you to have a sister," Luther spoke up, interrupting my thoughts. "After all, you have plenty of brothers already amongst the people of Caliban, but not many sisters, not many female touches to your life. Having someone to speak to about things that your brothers can't talk about will be good for you, I would think."
I nodded after that before saying, "Brother Luther, my gender may be female, but I don't believe that simply because we are of the same gender, that my sister and I will get along enough for there to be some sort of covenant between us."
"Why is that?" Brother Luther said, doing his duty, by being a sounding board for my own thoughts."
"They're like a dark mirror, from what I understand, to my own existence. You came and took me from the wilds soon after my arrival. From what I understand, they lived in the wild and never truly left. They gained permission to allow such creatures as these warp-touched beasts to work for them, while I did the duty I was meant to do and exterminated such creatures from my home world."
We may share a few things like the similarity in facial structure of our father and gender, but that is really all there is. She's a barbarian king who runs with wolves, and I'm a noble Knight who slays the big cats," I replied to Luther.
"Trying some more of your poetry, I see," Luther said, getting a bit of a smile on my lips again before I stamped it down.
"Well, it may be true that you two have several distinct differences, but I would say those differences may be what makes you two closer than you think."
"I doubt that, brother."
Luther struggled before seeming to have taken my continued denial as an end of the conversation on that matter before bringing up another thought.
"Well, be better than me. How do you plan to execute this war now that we have an understanding of the assets available to us?"
I looked out across the fields before listing off the resources that had so far officially been put under my control until the Emperor arrived.
"We have some good blocker forces in the form of Mortarion's Death Guard, Perturabo's Iron Warriors, and Dorn's Imperial Fists. Those three will serve well, and I aim to block any position, helping to keep our line stable. My own forces will probably run wild, trying to hit them where it hurts. Where it hurts is still unbeknownst to us. We need to find their homeworld this time and exterminate it." Internally, I continued to make up for the mistake of my former chapter master of my legion. He had reported that they killed the Rangdan after the first war. It would appear he was wrong, and as a result, that was a stain on my legion's honor that they had failed to do the job. So I would put everything into making sure the job was done this time.
"What about Brother Nobunaga and Sister Tanya?" Luther asked.
"Nobunaga and Tanya's forces are somewhat similar in their operation style from what I'm seeing. Well, my forces and Jaghatai Khans tried to exploit any weaknesses in their formations. I believe they should be given some ability to move on their own, get weaker targets, and try to force the enemy to come to arms there, which with any luck, will expose openings that we can use for our own efforts."
"Well, they're not in before asking. What about the rumors of other Primarchs going to be deployed to this front? Do we have any confirmation on who's coming?"
"Only thing I have is confirmation on who's not coming. The 16th and the 13th are currently busy fighting conflicts in the Segmentum Ultima,"
"The 15th is reportedly nearby if we need it, so is the 9th. The 18th is somewhere, same with the 8th, third, and the 10th. They are nearby as a possible counterforce if something were to go terribly wrong, but they also have orders to slowly move further into the Segmentum Ultima."
"The 17th and the 11th are also rumored to be possible units on the way."
"Nearly half of the legions are being rallied; the Emperor must be really taking these Rangdanas as a serious threat. I wonder why that is? I would think three or four legions would be enough for what we have seen so far."
"I have had communication with the Emperor that sort of explains his belief on why this threat should be dealt with so harshly. He calls it the 'historical rivals' narrative.' Apparently, from his experience, whenever one force begins to rise, another one will rise to meet it. If it is not dealt with harshly, one of those forces will eventually be destroyed. He's not taking a chance that it'll be the empire."
"Narrative? That's a… queer choice of words. It kind of implies that there's someone writing a story."
"Yes, it is queer." I said with a nod, not sure exactly why it was unsettling. But the notion that something may be writing the tale of our lives and influencing events beyond our control was not exactly comforting, especially since I didn't know much about the warp creatures that Father fought against with his Imperial Truth.
Shaking my head, I said, "Well, be that as it may, for my understanding, I will have control of this front for the next 5 years before the Emperor arrives with reinforcements, as well as his Imperial Custodians."
"Finally going to see The Golden Brotherhood in combat. That'll be worth it. At the very least, they keep saying that they are the best, but I've never seen them actually fight." He finished the sentence with a shrug.
I nodded in agreement. It was a common thing amongst my people. Just because someone claimed they were a great warrior, we didn't believe it until we saw it. The Custodians could claim they were great warriors, but we had never seen them in combat.
A headache appeared in my head at that moment, causing me to reach up and massage my temple, and Luther to look at me curiously.
"Are you okay, Brother?" he said, sounding concerned.
"Yes, yes, just that headache again. Ever since that last campaign, I've been getting them."
Luther nodded before saying, "Hopefully, they'll go away with time. Those foul sorcerers really did a number on the legions that were involved in that war."
"Yes, damn them," I muttered as the pain slowly faded away. Straightening up, I turned to look at the camp of the so-called "sisters" before saying, "I guess we should be on our way then, brother. This war zone is under control and we have other places that need our attention."
"Yes, perhaps it is time we'd be on our way, brother," Luther said. before adding, "If you wish to speak with her again before you move out, I don't think anyone would say anything against it."
I smiled before saying, "Brother Luther, I was raised as a brother of the Order. I do not need a sister, especially one who is a drunkard."
Luther drank before saying, "Perhaps that's exactly what you need," causing me to look at him confused.
He sighed before saying, "I sometimes wonder if I should not have brought you into the Order? Yes, you had many talents, and yes, I do believe you have done much good for humanity. But perhaps you could have done more if you had had a chance to be raised by others who were not in the Order?"
"Self-doubt is a terrible thing, brother Luther," I said, resting my hand on his shoulder with a smile. "Though I must say, you should not have any doubts in what you did. Your actions led me on a course that saved the humanity of Caliban and will eventually save the humanity of the Galaxy. Do not forget that. As long as we are together, we will do great things for humanity, my brother."
"Yes, Johnson, I'm sure they will," he said, still looking a bit conflicted. So I cut him off.
"No buts, brother. We work together for the betterment of humanity, and that's all that matters."
He nodded, seeming to finally let what I was saying sink in, and I brought my hand from his shoulder, turning in the direction of a Dark Angels transport ship that we had used to get down to the planet.
"Now let's get going. We have much work to do in little time. These Rangdan weren't going to stay pinned up in their section of space long. I'm sure they are either already planning their assault or planning their defense, and we must do something about it now while the chance is still good," I said as I walked across the fields of mud that were turned up by the hundreds of Space Marine boots and other implements of war that had been tramping back and forth through this camp for the last few days.
"Of course, brother," Luther said as he followed me towards the transport.
We quickly loaded up into the transport vehicle, and there we sat back and let the flight crew do its work, taking us up to my Gloriana. Although I did not like my new sister, today had been a good day for finding how best to use them in the coming conflict. That's what was important; understanding how to use the assets you're given. I knew how to use Lorgar, Perturabo, and Jaghatai Khan. I was not very familiar with how to use Mortarion or Nobunaga, but I would figure it out soon enough.
Kori Bretakollrsson
Emapus
"The fighting seems to get more and more intense as the days go on," I say to myself. "As we keep killing more and more bioforms, I thought they would lose the mass they had, but no, they seem to be a very stubborn species to exterminate. They often come out of the ground using their own dug tunnels and tunnels dug by the humans that once ruled this world as transport routes."
It has been three weeks since we landed on this planet. Although we have exterminated what I believed to be 80% of these creatures, they just didn't seem to give a damn. They keep coming in more and more waves. I guess that was one of the bonuses about being able to eat your own kind to produce more. These creatures just seem to produce asexually.
Although the original nest seems to suggest differently, how these creatures are created would probably be some biologist's long-sought goal for the next hundred years unless we found exact evidence of how it was done.
Either way, we were coming up on the next closest objective in our never-ending attempts to retake this city. The majority of Emapus surface was already retaken, but there were three points of interest still left. The central plaza was believed to be the largest nest of these monsters on the planet. The Hightower spaceport was a spaceport for the rich and famous of this world, designed to help them in their efforts to get across the planet. And the governor's mansion, a fortified complex that apparently was not as abandoned as everywhere else. About a week ago, as it became clear that we were going to win, someone had sent a message out from there over radio transmission, claiming that there were survivors inside the building and they were holdouts. According to them, the beasts had ignored them and seemed to go after the lesser population that did not have homes to hide in.
I don't know if that can be trusted. I've seen these beasts go after people through solid walls. They seem to have the ability to sniff them out as if it were nothing, but perhaps they were far enough away from these beasts that they had never really smelled the humans inside the building.
That was the goal of today's march, the governor's mansion. We have been pushing through the city with several of the Valkyrie detachments and other Fenrisian guard units, murdering every creature as we go. It was a rather simple execution, really, kind of reminding me of home. Except instead of hunting creatures in the wilderness, we were hunting creatures in the tall skyscrapers of a modern city.
One part that did not remind me of home was not seeing the sky. At least in the forest, there were openings here and there. The city, however, the deeper we got into it, the taller the buildings got, and the less sunlight made it through to the ground below. There was some light from the day down here. Most of the walls of the city were reflective and would reflect the light back and forth downwards to the streets, but it was not as natural as real sunlight.
We were making good time towards the governor's mansion and should be there rather quickly. The monsters, though fierce in close combat, didn't fare well against armored columns.
There was, of course, the one problem that if we were not fast enough, they could swarm us over, which is why we were somewhat worried about this operation.
We had broken through the natural lines that had developed instead of waiting to possibly take the position with the civilians. Simply because, the way this conflict goes, it was very likely that the bioforms would overrun the civilian position if they were left to their own devices. Or, if things went really bad, our artillery could possibly fall down on their housing, so instead of waiting for our front lines to reach the mansion, this operation had been put together: a charge of a company of space Marines, some Valkyrie and Fenris guard, aboard armor transports with enough room to carry away 200 to 300 civilians, which is what we believed was inside from the reports of the house guard who were in control of the home.
With all good luck, we should be able to get them out of there within a safe and stable time frame so that we weren't overrun, but just in case, as we had punched through their lines, an assault had gone up on every area away from this current operation in hopes of drawing the bioforms in that direction, away from this assault.
It was a risky move, but it was one that needed to be done, as there was really no other option for saving these people at this point. If they could be saved, it would only be through this method, and that's what we would do.
However, things were starting to go a bit sideways. The bioforms were digging in as we passed corners, and a few of them apparently had figured out how to operate Imperial weaponry that had been left behind by the former guards of the city. Getting a lasgun shot at you was not exactly a fun experience, especially when it was from an alien that shouldn't be able to use human equipment.
That was a bit of a problem. These creatures could learn how to use human equipment the longer they were alive; it probably meant that they could teach more of their species the same tools.
It was already hell fighting these creatures. They didn't need to learn how to use weapons, was all I was saying. Hopefully, this would be a thing we only discovered amongst this Hive, but time would tell on that. I guess there were already reports that we would be linking up with several of the units for an attack into space once this conflict was over, and we would have to find out what was going on then.
"Commander Bretakollrsson, we're coming up on the Mansion," called the driver from the head of the column, as he rode on the back of a modified Russ so that it could carry more weapons.
I personally was riding on a Rhino. The streets weren't exactly the biggest, so we weren't bringing the heaviest equipment we could. The weightier tanks simply would not be able to execute the turns we needed them to do as fast as we needed, so lighter vehicles were being used than were probably expected in such an operation.
Giving a soldier a thumbs up, I hit the side of my helmet, activating the radio, and started giving orders, preparing for the assault. This was going to be a hell of a thing. I thought that there was a good chance that we were running into enemy forces around the Mansion, even though they said they were leaving them alone. I suspected that we would find something different.
My thoughts were interrupted as we broke through the last bit of Hive City towers into an open plaza. Towers streaked up into the sky around us, but it was large enough that sunlight could pierce through, with the reflecting buildings in a more natural way, showing the mansion that was obviously the oldest structure around, with gardens around it and a walled area.
It was rather unnatural, considering most of the city in this part of the area was gray metal and cement, but here we had greenery. Perhaps that was what upset the bioforms enough that they kept their distance. Maybe they didn't like the look of it, as it was unnatural compared to the rest of the area they had probably existed in for their entire lives.
Giving a signal, I called in the vehicles that began to drive around the mansion territory, quickly forming a square. The guns pointed outwards to ward off any potential assault on the position, giving us a secure loading and unloading zone.
The Valkyrie and Marines got to work setting up their own defenses as they unloaded from the vehicles, finding areas that were already somewhat damaged from missiles that had flown through the city or artillery rounds that had gone too high, and building them up with debris or vehicles that had been abandoned.
Soon enough, the complex was secured so that we could hold if we needed to, but hopefully that would not be necessary.
Nodding my head, I got off the vehicle and moved towards the front gate.
The said gate was damaged, but not too badly. Obviously, something had tried to get in at some point but had failed. I even tried the intercom, but until I gave it a press, I couldn't tell if the survivors were willing to talk.
"Hello, who's out there? Are you one of those bugs fucking around with the system again?" A female voice came from inside the complex's radio.
"The Emperor's Marines are here, ma'am," I said, sounding as secure in that knowledge as possible. "We're here to evacuate you safely away from these creatures and into secure safe zones outside the city."
"Oh, thank God! Let me press the button to unlock the gate."
There was a clicking noise, but the gate didn't move. I reached out and touched it and saw the joint was damaged just enough that it was preventing itself from opening. I signaled to the Marines to force it the rest of the way and they quickly got to work, causing the gates to swing open with the screech of metal on metal.
Turning back to the communicator, I said, "The gates are open. We'll be inside in a moment. Get everyone ready to leave."
Oddly enough, either they were in a hurry to get everyone out or didn't hear me. No one responded, with a shrug, I moved towards the building with about half a dozen Marines, including Bjorn, and several Valkyrie flanking our sides as they watched the gardens for any problems.
Strolling up to the front door, I gave it a good hard knock, but nothing came as a response. So I did it again, sharing a look with Born. He gave a shrug before he went to give it a good knock as well.
At that exact moment, the entire front door was ripped off its hinges as one of the bioforms revealed its existence inside the building and threw itself at Bjorn.
He was pushed out of the way and into the garden as the Valkyries opened up with their last guns, dedicating fire directly into the creature, forcing it back. I drew my blade and quickly caught its claws before I sliced deeply into its face and shoved it deeper into its skull.
It stumbled before falling, and I was left there with a body and a very confused look because a moment ago, there was definitely not a bioform inside that building.
"I thought we had a person inside. What the hell was this?" Bjorn said, getting up as he brushed himself off, looking at the monstrosity with a tilt in his head, coming closer to give it a kick to make sure it was dead before crushing a part of its snout for surety.
"I don't know. I was sure we had communication with survivors. They talked to us through the communication device," I said before I heard more screaming from inside the building, and not human screaming but bioform screaming.
Pulling up my gun from my hip and wielding my sword in one hand, I said, "Perhaps there are some survivors still in here, and this is a recent development. We must clear this building out before we can leave. Either way, come, brothers and sisters, to war for Fenris!"
With a battle cry, we charged into the place, searching for these bioforms and eliminating them one by one. The building was well-lit, so it seemed that the power lines were not destroyed, or there was a personal generator on the property. Only again, there was more evidence of this being a more recent attack as I would assume there would be a lot more damage if this was a bioform hive and maybe a lot of their wax. That's an example of strange things though. As we cleared out the place, the most interesting one was what appeared to be a pool hall. There seemed to have been a game in progress, and there was warm food on the counter nearby, a drink half-drunk, but no signs of anyone here or a panic.
Moving on, I decided to make my way as deep into the facility as possible, trying to find the radio communication center, which I knew had a person, but it was hard. Valkyries and more space marines joined us in the facility, and we quickly had to resort to hauling the whole fighting, clearing out rooms and murdering as much as possible, hoping that we would prevent these things from spreading outside the building or finding any of the survivors.
After about an hour of clearing, we found nothing, not a survivor in the entire facility, and I was standing outside the radio room, at least according to the sensor equipment on my helmet, and I was somewhere along the lines being Bjorn and linked back up, as well as a few other Valkyries, and we were watching the area just in case there are any more.
Turning to Bjorn, I asked, "Do you have any tally on how many of these things we've run into so far?"
He shrugged before saying, "I asked around. It seems like around two to three hundred of them."
"Huh, well, that's odd. How many of these things got inside the facility? It seems like this place is pretty secure, and even the areas I've searched, I haven't seen any evidence that they used undermining to get inside."
"You think that's weird, you should see the grand hall. There's some wacky shit in there."
"What's in there?"
"I don't know. It looks like someone was having a party, though, and got a little bit too rowdy."
I raised an eyebrow before signing and kicked in the communication room door, looking around quickly to see if there was a survivor and quickly spotting that there was not.
Shaking my head, I was about to leave before I noticed there was something odd about the room, mainly that the floor of it was covered in remnants of fabric. I stepped in there and noticed that said fabric was also covered in a layer of vile liquid, a peach color.
"What the hell is this?" I said, kicking the fabric enough that I noticed that there were military patches on it, indicating it had once been a uniform.
"Hey, that's kind of like what we saw in the main hall," Bjorn said as he looked down at piles of fabric covered in a weird fluid.
I blinked for a moment before saying, "Get the men outside. Tell the Mechanicum they need to have men on standby to explore this place and find out what the hell this liquid is."
Bjorn looked at me confused before I said, "Now." We united, and we all beat a hasty retreat from the facility, quickly loading up into the convoy we brought and telling the drivers to drive as fast as possible back to our lines.
If I wasn't worried about the possibility of some sort of biological agent, I may have taken samples, but at the moment, we didn't have the ability to do that, and I would leave that to the Mechanicum. For now, there was definitely something weird going on in that place, confirming some of the theories that people have been throwing around. I was afraid.