บท 37: War Worlds Pt.3
Pari was the next stop where the 1st Fleet unleashed their wrath. Their defensive fleet was much smaller than that of the Welsh so there was no difficulty destroying it, even with them having fewer ships by leaving a fifth of them with Selene.
Pari was very different from the other planets in the system. The atmosphere of the planet was only 14% oxygen differing from the 20 and above that most livable planets had. This low percentage caused sickness and weakness in many individuals, which was why the Parisians built giant domes to live in.
This weakness would be the death of the planet when it came to Kharn's invasion force.
"Let's go!" Kharn cheered as he boarded one of the ships descending onto the surface of the planet.
Dragons, Drakes, and Drop pods descended onto the planet, surrounding the few cities with their numbers.
The Drop pods were the first to land outside the domes, killing all the guards and any of the initial forces that tried to exit the gates, buying time for the rest of the units and the tanks to deploy to the planet.
Defensive forces tried to deploy, but they were destroyed as soon as they appeared. The various bases located outside the domes were meant to be quick response units that distracted the enemy forces while their main groups deployed from the domes, but they lacked heavier firepower and numbers.
These small groups were able to be taken out with bombing runs and artillery fire from the concentrated units of Kharn's forces.
"Fire on the domes! Kill any who exit! Let them know the wrath of the War Hounds!" Kharn shouted. He had only deployed with his War Hounds and Imperium Soldiers, letting the Knights and Grey Knights stay with the other groups.
The Space Marine was planning on ending the fighting in a brutal and swift manner, not caring about created beachheads or defensive formations. Instead, he was going to attack in full force at all 4 domes, breaking open their domes and nearly suffocating the people.
Doing this wouldn't kill Parisians but it would severely weaken them which meant that conquering them would be even easier, if they didn't just surrender from the position that he was pushing them into.
"Do we surrender?" (I'm not about to fuck up French. I do not need those bastards that get involved in every war or the people killing gangsters in the street or the place with the 2nd best strip clubs in the world coming after me) one of the leaders of Parisians asked their fellow city leaders on the screen.
None answered immediately as they could see that the situation was dire. The war had never reached their land before, the closest being a ship the passed through their barricade before getting shot down by attack craft that were on its tail.
"Do we really have a choice? Our gates are blocked by the destroyed remains of our tanks. We can't deploy our forces, even if we want to. Our only choices are to wait for them to break down our walls and poison our people or to hope that they have mercy on us," another said, not wanting to surrender but figuring that they had no other choice.
With their backs against the wall, the Parisians had no choice but to surrender to Kharn's army.
---
During Kharn's short battle, the Grime Brothers and Spencer also deployed their forces on their planets. The Grimes taking the rest of the Knights and Imperial Knights with them while Spencer was left with just the Imperial Soldiers.
This was due to the last planet being infested with daemons.
Even though Baldur was confident in the training of his Knights, he couldn't ensure that they wouldn't fall to any corruption from the daemons or cultists on the planet. As for the Imperial Soldiers, he trusted them even less.
Luckily for Baldur, his Grey Knights had proved incorruptible even when facing armies of daemons while his Witches were trained specifically to fight against the corruption, less they lose themselves to their own powers.
So with only about 2,000 Grey Knights and 100 Witches, Baldur's forces approached the cursed planet. As they neared the location, each one could feel the sickening corruption of the Warp before they had even entered its atmosphere. That was how strong the presence of the Warp was on the planet.
"Sickening," Sabes commented, one of the strongest Witches under Selene. The woman's raven black hair and smokey eyes made her resemble what most would think of when they thought of a femme fatale witch. She wore the same silver armor as her leader, but had a badge that was white on the left side of her chest and one that was yellow on the other, denoting her two specialties.
Baldur nodded as he heard her words. He also hated the feeling of being around such daemonic corruption as well but he could tell that none of his other brothers, besides Magnus, were Psykers. Magnus's Gene-Seed also had its own issue which meant that Baldur's Grey Knights were the only one with potent anti-daemon abilities.
'I'll have to tell the Emperor to send me some of the Psykers from my brothers' Legions. I can at least train a few of them to help in case of emergencies,' Baldur thought to himself as his small fleet easily cut through the forces protecting the planet.
This was the least defended planet out of them all but this made Baldur even more concerned. If the fleet was so weak, that meant that the planet must have had something else in store that could help defend it from an invasion.
And his ships got closer and closer to the atmosphere, that was when Baldur and the others heard it.
Whispers in their minds.
The whispers spoke of betrayal, ambition, pleasure, lies. All things that would make lesser men and women turn on their allies or forget their duties.
"Hmm," Baldur grunted to himself as his eyes began to glow and his powers raged. A blast of blue energy exploded with him at the center, spreading out to cover all the ships in his small fleet until it formed a dome of energy.
With the dome formed, the daemons that had managed to sneak aboard his ships were exposed to the crew and troops aboard. Each daemon looked at the humans looking at them in confusion for a moment for a moment was all they had.
As soon as Baldur's forces saw them, they immediately sprung into action, cutting down or firing psychic attacks at the various creatures. The daemons were caught off guard and slain instantly, few having a chance to fight back. Only those that were in the areas where the Servitors roamed were able to survive the initial assault but they were also hunted down swiftly before they could do any significant damage to the ship.
"Long range summoning?" Kirk, one of the Sorcerers that were apart from Baldur's Paladins, said in confusion. "Such sorcerery can only be used by..."
"Greater Daemons," Sabes finished his thought while licking her lips. She only had the pleasure of hunting one of the Greater Daemons once before and thanks to Selene taking the lead, she was barely able to participate due to her leader's power.
"The Blood God, the Great Deceiver, and the Prince of Pleasure," Baldur spoke the nicknames for the three, not willing to give them more power by speaking their true names. "Each has their own force on the planet. Or even worse. A cult of Undivided sent them here."
Undivided referred to cultists or beings of the Warp that either served all 4 Chaos Gods equally or served none of them. Those that could serve Undivided were rare as Chaos Gods were finicky beings, not willing to share their worshipers.
The Gods actually acted much like the planet did, constantly fighting amongst one another and only uniting when there was a greater threat or delicious prey for them.
"So how are we to proceed?" Kirk asked
Baldur didn't answer but closed his eyes as his mind separated from his body into astral form. The others looked at the form in amazement, it being a near perfect replica of Baldur's true form.
Baldur's astral form flew out of his ship and towards the planet until he entered the atmosphere. Once he did, he sent out a wave of psychic energy that covered the entire surface of the planet. The wave hit 3 large pillars of energy that nearly negated it but Baldur was able to send his energy around those pillars an continue to scour the planet.
Once he was done, his astral form flew back to the ship and merged with his body once more before he opened his eyes.
Baldur pulled out a hologram of a basic planet, being nothing more than an orb before he began to enter information into it. He put down everything he sensed, from the various forests and mountains to small towns. But most importantly, he marked 3 fortresses where his energy could not penetrate.
"Here is the planet and these are where the enemies are located. Sabes, Kirk. You are to each lead half of the forces to take those fortresses and gather what information you can.
Sabes, I am leaving you with the Deceiver's while Kirk will handle the Prince of Pleasure. I will personally handle Undivided," Baldur told them the plan.
Both wanted to disagree with him but they knew better. If Greater Daemons were involved, that meant that the cultists had their normal humans as well as the lesser daemon armies. They needed as many forces as they could get in order to secure their locations.
But more importantly, Baldur was capable of handling a single fortress by himself. The difference between their Primarch and Dogan, who was regarded as the strongest Psyker amongst the Grey Knights besides Baldur, was immense, whether it came to their Psyker powers or their abilities as Astartes.
The pair were confident that even if Baldur wanted to take on all 3 fortresses by himself, he was capable of such a task.
"Yes, Lord Primarch/Your Majesty," was all the two said before heading off the the other ships where they would mobilize their forces and prepare for the upcoming battle
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