Chương 90: Chapter Twenty-Eight: Death in Calixis (Part I)
Date: 893.M30
Mankind was at war. A statement which is unfortunately applicable for the species' entire history. Proven even more true by the Great Crusade. Across the galaxy, a thousand battles were waged as the Imperium fought to reclaim humanity's birthright. Bolter rounds, ships, human lives, and every other resource of war flowed out of the Segmentum Solar. They fed the Imperial war machine as it slowly but steadily brought the galaxy to heel. Across the Imperium a sense of hope and new beginnings was palpable. News of victory after victory fed the people a steady stream of propaganda. After centuries of fear, mankind was starting to look up to the stars with something other than horror and trepidation. The old human spirit, the indomitable desire to conquer the cosmos, to understand its secrets and forge a better future, was returning. Something that had almost been stamped out of the species by Old Night.
For all its glorious purpose and benevolent tyranny, the Imperium used many of the tools reserved for cruel regimes. The control of information between systems a key example. Astropaths gave the Adeptus Administratum a near-total monopoly on communication. Information passed only between necessary hands, and any leak was squashed by the electrified cudgels of the Arbities. However, a particularly intelligent and observant citizen might be able to get a sense of the whole truth through what was missing. What were the Iterator Corps and Remembrancers recordings leaving out? An avid enjoyer of Imperial vox-casts might hear reports about battles and peaceful compliances from all across the Galaxy. From all areas except for one. Nobody talked about the far Galactic North. To an Imperial Citizen, it would be understandable to assume the Great Crusade had not reached that far-off region of space. An incorrect assumption, and one encouraged by the Imperium's propaganda apparatus.
A secret war was being waged in the haunted reaches of the Halo Stars. A war not meant for the histories or to be commemorated through art. The Imperium of Mankind and the Rangda Kindred were at War. Two great civilizations of equal power, both struggling to claim ownership of the Galaxy. Unlike the great battles against the Beasts of Ullanor, which exemplified powerful heroes driving back Xeno barbarians and making the Galaxy safe for humanity, the Rangda War was something much darker and fouler. A conflict that earned the title of Xenocide.
The Imperium had struck first against the Rangda Kindred a several solar years ago. The IX Legion, colloquially known as the Dawn Angels had reduced a major feeding world to ash and then pushed deeper into the Galactic North. Soon the VIII Legion, the Night Lords, joined the conflict. Both legions were known for their psychic foresight and brutality. They had been given a critical task by the Emperor. Buy time for the Imperium. With every world brought under the Aegis of Imperial rule, its war machine grew exponentially. Soon humanity would have the resources to fight two great wars simultaneously, crushing the two rival contenders for Galactic dominance. But 'soon', was not enough. Entire worlds were going dark as the Rangdan infection spread while millions of Astartes and mortal troops fought to secure Imperial Conquests and claim the Ullanor Beasts' heads.
It would take time for the Imperium to gather the needed strength and redirect its forces to face the Rangda as well as the Orks. Entire Legions were already committed to the Golgothan campaign, hoping to burn away the Orkish infestation before the Greenskins reached the next stage of their broken evolution. The necessity of fighting two galactic campaigns left the VIII and IX Legions with the difficult task of buying time for the Imperium to send them support. It was a task the sons of Dante and Konrad approached in different but related ways. The two Legions rampaged through the Halo Stars, attacking undefended Xeno worlds with a mixture of righteous fury and sadistic pragmatism. They left mauled worlds and wounded fleets in their wake by using their Primarch's and Astartes' precognitive talents to evade the Rangda's response. It was an incredibly risky strategy, committing nearly a tenth of the Imperiums Astartes to a series of raids in deep enemy territory.
This method of waging war to remind the Xeno what it was like to be afraid suited both Legions perfectly. Years of study into the biology, culture and psychology of the Rangda Kindred had produced mild results. The Xenobreed were profoundly Alien, even by Imperial standards. They were an Empire of symbiotic species descending from a common ancestor. An ancestor that is more closely aligned with Viruses than the multi-celled bacteria Terran life descended from, resulting in an entire Domain of organisms that existed beyond the already exotic norms of galactic life. The Rangda without exception followed their distant progenitor in many ways, chief among them their Parasitic nature.
It was poetic in a twisted way. Most every form of life across the Galaxy had spent their entire evolutionary history fighting Viruses. Fittingly the species capable of enslaving and exterminating all multicellular life was the ultimate product of some parody of life born of a Virus. This parasitic existence was what made the Rangda conflict unsuitable for propaganda or even public awareness. The Rangda Kindred did not have the decency to kill or conquer like other monstrous species. They infected and subverted with a level of skill only matched by the Dark Gods.
Entire worlds of peaceful humans, descendants of long-lost colonists existed in the Halo Stars. Left alone to exist and grow like Crops in a field. Completely unaware their existence was permitted only to provide fodder for hungry aliens. Aliens whose influence reached down into even the cellular and genetic level. Every world in the Halo Stars was suspect, every man, woman, child was infected. Existing as livestock cultivated over centuries. Ready to be consumed when the Rangda Empires worms burrowed out of the Warp and into their meal.
The Imperium would be forced to purge these populations, exterminate millions, perhaps billions in bio-pogroms. A terrible prospect that proved only part of the Rangda's horror. The Kindred gleefully unleashed terrors that combined the worst of organic, psionic and mechanical technologies. Even with the raiding tactics of the Night Lords and Dawn Angels, casualties had been heavy and every battle was difficult. While successful, the offense against the Rangda could not continue without resupply. It would still be years before the other five legions tasked with wiping out the Rangda would arrive in force. Years the VIII and IX had to put to good use, and more importantly survive.
So an Imperial forward presence had been established in Rangda space. Within a sector the old Maps and Navigator lore called Calixis. Its isolated nature and swaths of nebulas made it perfect for Imperial uses. Fast-moving supply convoys would enter a pre-arraigned system and make dead drops of equipment. That could be picked up by the VIII and IX Crusader Fleets surreptitiously. Unfortunately, not all tools of war could be trusted to such methods of transportation. Heavy armor, new Troops and ships required a proper rendezvous. Something dangerous both for the supply fleet and Crusader Fleet.
Stopping for even an isolated and short resupply would rob the Crusader Fleets of their chief advantage. The power of psychic foresight and the superior mobility of Imperial warp-drives granted the Legions a level of unpredictability and more importantly the ability to pick their battles wisely. If ambushed or cornered during a supply mission it would be disastrous for the Imperial forces.
Location: The Vindication, Night Lord Strike Cruiser in Expedition Fleet 89
Date: 893.M30
Expedition Fleet 89 had earned a reputation for pragmatism and efficiency in the face of extreme danger. Having braved the Corpse Spheres of Caotal, survived an encounter with Slaugth Feeder Ships and made contact with the besieged Knight World of Dark Haven. This history of surviving in the face of unexpected threats earned the Expedition Fleet the dubious honor of escorting needed supplies into the Calixis Sector. The Fleet was under orders to rendezvous with Crusader Fleet IX in the Dyatlov-Rho System. A young system near the spinward periphery of Calixis. Product of the nearby Nebulas. The Dyatlov-Rho System is infested with proto-planets and subject to powerful electromagnetic activity. Perfect for an Expedition Fleet to hide in while awaiting the IX.
After weeks of running dark, the Expedition Fleet arrived into the infant star system. Small by Fleet standards. EF-89 was stripped down to the bare necessities. A full military contingent and little else. Astartes and Armada ships protecting a flock of reinforcements for Crusader Fleet IX. A flock capable of protecting itself, considering its members included ships flying the Dawn Angel's flag and half a dozen Auxillia regiments. Even so, the Expedition Fleet's job was to ensure the reinforcements were fresh and accounted for when they joined up with the IX Legion.
The duty of organizing and commanding the overall fleet fell to Expedition Captain Vinnius-Gamma. A competent if unremarkable officer, who differed in many matters to his Astartes equivalent. Master Tiberiu Fenj of the Night Lords. A decorated veteran who earned the respect and fear of the Expedition Fleet a dozen times over. The Heavily scarred Terran native was considered largely responsible for EF-89 surviving its duel with Slaught vessels at the edge of the Gothic Sector. Officially Fenj was the commanding officer of the three thousand Astartes assigned to the Expedition Fleet.. Unofficially in matters of war and mobility the fleet;s officers listened to Fenj.
Master Fenj had originally only been in command of a single Chapter of Night Lord Astartes. The initial Astartes contingent for the Expedition Fleet The early mixed chapters of Expedition Fleets were becoming less common as the Great Crusade wore on. Difference in recruitment and the stretching logistics made the idealized balanced forces impractical. Still when the assignment to the Calixis sector came, so did Astartes reinforcements. By the time EF-89 departed Imperial space, three thousand Astartes served as the fleet's Space Marines. Two thousand Night Lords, three hundred Dawn Angels, and seven piecemeal companies assembled from the other eighteen legions.
Under the Chapter Master's command the swollen Expedition Fleet had made a series of Deep-void jumps when entering the Calixis sector. Entering realspace in the gaps between star-systems. Using the outer-dark to hide a steady methodical approach. Warp travel in space with Rangda influence was difficult. Spiritual currents shifted randomly and occasionally stopped. Forcing shorter dives into the Sea of Souls. But after months of cautious travel the Fleet arrived in Dyatlov-Rho.
Fenj and his inner circle stood aboard the bridge of The Vindication. Watching the mammoth warp-shutters open. Exposing the bloody void of the Dyatlov-Rho. The primordial forces of creation at work in the system colored the normal blackness of space. The guts of broken proto-planets melded with wispy clouds of cosmic gas. Creating an unsettling but beautiful painting of reds, yellows, and oranges.
Scanning the void for an immediate threat the Nightlord Master growled "Status of Fleet? Did we lose anyone in that jump?"
After a moment a mortal comms officer piped up "All clear my lord. The Subtle Knife, and Blackwood are both out of formation from the jump but realigning themselves as we speak"
Nodding curtly the Astartes continued to growl out orders and request information: "I want a full Auger sweep of the system. Release a double complement of probes. This Star is stirring up a gale and I don't want any gaps in our sight. Keep our Plasma drives at low burn but make sure the Fleet is ready for a quick Warp jump if need be."
If you asked any Imperial citizen what they imagined a son of Konrad Cruze is like. The image they would paint for you would match up startlingly well with the reality of Tiberiu Fenj. Corpse-pale skin, haunting black eyes, features so sharp they seemed cruel, and a disturbing predatory air. The VIII Primarchs geneseed is strong and announces the purpose of the Night Lord Legion to all. To add to this image of a Lord of the Night, Fenj was one of the rare Astartes with old scars. A Slaugth necrotic blister had torn off part of the Fenj's face. The eldritch weapon burned off his left cheek, leaving his jaw and cheekbone exposed. Completing the picture of a officer in the Legion nicknamed "The Sons of Murder"
Turning away from the many-hued void, Fenj addressed one of the Astartes accompanying him aboard the bridge. "Brother-Librarian Nestor, what do you see?"
Slightly hunched over, with an apparent facial tick. The Librarian Nestoroi had the privilege and curse of inheriting their Genefathers gift for prophecy. While the ability to get flickers of precognitive insight is near-universal among the Night Lords. Some brothers hold a special talent in using this power. These Solomonari see into the future, at a cost to their body and mind.
Nestoroi peered out into the void, his oil-black eyes defocusing and a palsy flowed across his body. After a few moments of subtle twitching Nestoroi let out a hissing growl and frowned. Looking to his commander, the Solomonari spoke in a hushed whisper. "We must not tarry in this system, Fenj. This is a place of death and suffering. A battle will be fought here and much blood will be split into the crimson void. I cannot tell when the battle will occur, or even the victor. But in the future mankind and our enemies will clash here."
Fenj frowned and asked "Should we leave? We can hide in a nearby system and leave an encrypted nav buoy here. The Dawn Angels could find us and we might avoid whatever fate this system holds."
A moment of uncertainty and something darker appeared on Nestoroi's face. After a pause the Solomonari spoke: "No we must stay here but leave as soon as possible. The longer we hide in this ruptured womb of a Star system the more likely we meet a cruel fate. If we leave and hide in another system that will set other events into motion. Our Fleet might avoid the battle in this system. If the Dawn Angels arrive and must search to find us they will not"
Gritting his teeth, the Astartes Master flicked through the information being transmitted to his suits cogitator. Dyatlov-Rho was a maze of Proto-Planets, the last remnants of an Accretion Disk and a myriad of other stellar obstacles. The system would be a nightmare to conduct Void warfare in. Perfect for the Night Lords. Skulking about in the shadows, striking at weakness and running from the foe. This was the type of war the Night Lords had been built to wage. And why the Legion had been assigned alongside their more beatific cousins to prosecute this Shadow Crusade against the Rangda.
Weighing his options Fenj made his decision. He trusted Nestoroi's sight and he had his orders. They would stay in Dyatlov-Rho and await the Dawn Angels. Expedition Fleet 89 was on schedule and it should not be more than a few terran weeks before the IX Legion made its appearance. Even if the Rangda made an appearance, they would have time to escape the Xenos.
Data was sparse but Imperial Records had already documented Rangda Worm-Ships on numerous occasions. Horrible techno-organic vessels with the diameter of a moon, and stretching to lengths that defied physics. A Worm-Ship could punch its head into the Warp and burrow through the Sea of Souls before rentering the Materium at a desired location. With its tail end still floating in the realspace it started, the Worm-ship could "open up" turning itself into a tunnel through the Warp that provided fast and easy transport between two systems. Thankfully the process of worming between both sides of existence was time consuming and not exactly subtle.
If Imperial warp-drives could be compared to ships from the age of sail. Braving the Warps currents with the Astronomicon as their north-star. Then the Rangda Worm-Ships were bridges built in the Warp. Slower with a more limited range, but with the ability to move colossal fleets and objects with ease. Thankfully these bridges could not exist indefinitely. For once the madness of the Warp worked in mankind's favor. The churning tides of the Immaterium battering away at the Worm Bridges and eventually rupturing them with enough time and effort.
After a brief discussion with the Expedition Captain, and other pertinent officers, both Mortal and Astartes. Expedition Fleet 89 had a plan. They would wait for the IX Legion and fulfill their duty, but they would not wait ideally. The majority of the Fleet moved into the elemental murk surrounding a malformed planet near a Mandeville point. Hiding in the mess of gases, metals, lava, and electromagnetic interference. Meanwhile the Night Lords would do what they did best. Scouting the Dyatlov-Rho system and finding every possible way to use the star system to their advantage. Now came the part that had been tormenting soldiers since the oldest days of Ancient Terra. The waiting.
Location: The Vindication, Night Lord Strike Cruiser in the Dyatlov-Rho system.
Date: 893.M30 (Four Solar Months Later)
They had been cut off from the rest of the galaxy for four months. No Astropathic messages had arrived and there had been no response to any they sent. Which in itself was unusual but not terribly. This far away from the Segmentum Solar and the heart of the Imperium, the Astropathic network became frustratingly vague and unreliable. Mass soul-bindings were occurring nearly daily and it was still not enough to provide sufficient Choirs for mankind's growing empire. Even in the 30th millenia the Fog of War reigns supreme.
What was worrying and kept the men and women of Expedition Fleet 89 on edge was the fate of Crusader fleet IX. The Dawn Angels had not arrived and they had received no word or sign. The official Iterator line was the Warps Currents or a battle were delaying the Emperor's true Angels. An official position that became increasingly doubted as the weeks wore on. Astartes, Auxilia and other such beings of action were not meant to hide in the shadows awaiting what may come. It ran counter to the entire ethos of the Great Crusade. Striving out to face the galaxy and conquer it in humanity's name.
This existence of watching and waiting suited the Night Lords well. The Emperor had not designed them as soldiers, warriors or even beasts. The VIII were predators, and they knew it. Like any skilled predator they were content to wait for their prey and not make stupid choices. Especially when that predator senses something even more dangerous than itself. The Warps currents were proving unpredictable and increasingly erratic. Nestoroi and his fellow Librarians had spent much of the four solar months in careful observation. Working in consultation with the fleets most skilled Navigators to understand the strange eddies of the Immaterium.
It was a young Navigator of House Tordith who finally cracked the problem and nearly went mad in the process. The Navigator had peered into the Immaterium and tried to make sense of the rapidly changing currents. Going from terrible heights that threatened to form Warp Storms to unsettling calmness the likes of which only found beyond the galactic plane. The Expedition Fleets experienced Psykers had been looking for a pattern or point of context within the frame of the Warps natural movement. In his inexperience the Navigator of House Tordith took a different approach and stumbled onto a terrible insight.
He looked at the changing currents not as if they were shifting tides or disrupted formation, but if they were the wakes of Immaterial vessels. A skill all young Navigators were trained in and taught to focus on. The Warp's shifting was not the result of some Alien ritual, bizarre natural phenomenon or even the whims of Dark Gods. It was the effects of passing Leviathans. Truly massive things were moving through the Warp around them with disturbing regularity. Things of such presence in either mind or matter that the Warp bowed to their movements. Entire planets traveling through Worming tunnels like a Swine through a serpents belly. Godlings that could kill just by focusing their attention on petty human minds. Incomprehensible Alien things swam across the Halo Stars.
With this dreadful information it became painfully clear to Master Fenj that his options were limited. Whatever horrors waited in the Rangda's territory were not the sort of things mortal men could face. This was the realm of Gods and Monsters. A place where even a being like an Astartes was little more than a common soldier. So under his orders the Expedition Fleet would wait. Follow their orders and avoid the attention of whatever horrors drifted about in the Halo Stars. This decision had provoked arguments and actions that toed the line of insubordination. Almost daily a different representative of the Imperiums myriad institutions would come before Fenj. Arguing for different courses of action. To reach the rank of Chapter Master, Fenj had some experience and skill in these political games. Still he was no rhetorician son of Augustio and the XIII Legion. More used to debate halls than the battlefield. It distracted Fenj from his duties and it threatened Fleet cohesion.
The most recent petitioner to come before the Chapter Master was a Magos requesting permission to start a temporary extraction site on a mineral-rich moon on the far side of the system. Fenj listened to the Tech-Priest but found his mind wandering. He mentally took apart the heavily augmented Martian. Wondering what injuries would summon forth pain. Planning how he would break the mind and spirit of a being that had replaced most of its body with steel and plastic. It proved a pleasant distraction, a bad habit he had picked up to help with these meetings. He of course never acted on these little mental tangents. The officials who came before him rarely deserved the attention of the Emperors' Judge, Jury, and Executioners. On some level, the subject of this mentally simulated dissection could usually sense the predatory weight behind Fenj's eyes. It helped speed things along. An unsubtle tactic but an effective one still.
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