Gs bt hue) eae eu=s sees .4 ere ee PND : p | ea Dan Abrett eS Se Tae eta A ; éAuthors: Dan Abnett and Andy Hoare Editor: Nick Kyme Graphic Design: Darius Hinks Producer: Marc Gascoigne A Black Library Publication Illustrators: Alex Boyd, Christian Byrne, Paul Dainton, Wayne England, David Gallagher, Mark Gibbons, Paul Jeacock, Dave Kendall, Karl Kopinski, Stefan Kopinski, Clint Langley, lan Peterson, Philip Sibbering, Adrian Smith, Jobn Wigley and Richard Wright. With thanks to: Sabertooth, Forge World and Relic Entertainment, ISON 18:078-+24416-4209 IGN 10: 104616420-0 GY Precuct code 6008 181 011 ‘Ala Library pbicaton. Fst gubehed in tho UX in 2007 by ‘BL Publshing, Cares Viokshop Li, Witan Road, Neng NG 2078, Uk. ‘2GGames Workshop Litea 2007. At ight ressved, Blok Libra, th Black Liner ego, Bick Flame, BL Pubiting, Gres Worksop, he Games Woreshop lope, Armageddon, Space Nao, Warhammer, Ylathommer 4000, the Wathen 0.000 logo and af associated marks, names, chatacters, ustatons and images tom the Warhammar and Warhanmel 40,00 universes are ther ©, TM end © Gurney Workshop it 2000-2007, vataay fegstered in the UX and oer counties round to wor Art reve, Find out move abou the Black Library a www Scan cem Fig out more. sbout ‘Games Workehep and fe wor Wattammor st wrk games wodshop.eom Atoms, OM Gut mall order Patines on O115- 916 40 00D (UK) or 1-800 04GAME (Us) Prrted ne UK aMANY AND GLORIOUS ARE THE DEEDS OF MAN, AND THERE 1S NOT A CITY OR STATION ANYWHERE IN THE VAST REALM OF IMPERIAL SPACE THAT DOES NOT CONTAIN SOME MONUMENT, SHRINE OR CITATION TO THE (COURAGE, TENACITY AND SACRIFICE OF THE WARRIORS OF MANKIND. WITHOUT THE (CEASELESS, SELFLESS EFFORTS OF MILITARY PERSONNEL. IN THEATRES OF WAR RANGING ACKOSS OUR GALACTIC TERRITORY, THE IMPERIUM WOULD NOT HAVE ENDURED DOWN THROUGH THE MILLENNIS. THE IMPERIUM IS FOUNDED UPON THE BLOOD, SWEAT AND MUSCLE OF THE WARRIOR CLASSES, HIGH CoMMAND, AND THE OFFICIO TACTICA, TAKE PRIDE IN RECORDING ALL INDIVIDUAL ACTIONS WITH AS MUCH ACCURACY AND DETAIL AS IS POSSIBLE, THE ARCHIVAL BODY OF MATERIAL HELD ON VARIOUS SECTOR CAPITAL WORLDS, AND IN THE ENGRAM VAULTS OF HOLY TERRA ITSELE, IS AN EXTRAORDINARY AND VAST RESOURCE, A TREASURE IN WHICH THE SCHOLAR OR AFICIONADO MAY FIND EXTRAORDINARY ACCOUNTS OF HEROISM AND FORTITUDE THESE RECORDS ARE KEPT, PRIMARILY, SO THAT THE DEEDS OF THE PAST MAY NOT BE FORGOTTEN. WHILE THE ANCHIVE REMAINS, THE NAMES AND ROLES OF THE ILLUSTRIOUS DEAD MAY BE HONOURED, AND GRATITUDE OFFERED IN THEIR MEMORY ‘THUS WILL THE DEEDS OF MAN PERSIST BUT THE ARCHIVE 1S ALSO A WEAPON. FROM IT, WE MAY DISCERN NOT JUST THAT A PARTICULAR VICTORY WAS ACCOMPLISHED, BUT HOW A PARTICULAR VICTORY WAS ACCOMPLISHED. WE MAY ANALYSE AND STUDY THE TACTICAL DECISIONS MADE BY THE [WARRIORS OF THE PAST. THEIR IDEAS, THEI INSPIRAFIONS, THEIR INSIGHTS CAN BE LEARNED, AND HANDED ON TO EAGH NEW GENERATION OF FIGHTING MEN. THE ARCHIVE ALLOWS US 10 PRESERVE BOTH HEROISM AND THE MEANS OF HEROISM. ‘To PROMOTE THIS ASSET, THE OFFICIO TACTICA HAS SELECTED CERTAIN ACTIONS [FROM ITS VAST RECORDS TO USE AS EXAMPLES FOR MILITARY HISTORIANS AND (OFFICERS IN TRAINING. THE AGIIONS HAVE BEEN CHOSEN BECAUSE THEY ILLUSTRATE [ESPECIALLY WELL A PARTICLIAR KIND OF WARFARE OR TACTICAL APPLICATION. THE EXEMPLARS, TOGETHER WITH ILLUMINATING DISCOURSE AND SUPPORTING ANALYSIS, ARE PUBLISHED IN A MULTI-VOLUME SEQUENCE KNOWN AS THE TACTICA IMPERIAL, AND ARE CONSIDERED TO BE ESSENTIAL READING FOR ALL TRAINEES, OPERATIONAL SUPPLICANTS, NEOPHYTES AND CADETS, THE EXEMPLARS VARY IN ORIGIN AND TONE AND ARE DRAWN FROM MANY DIFFERENT AGES. ‘THE, CORE REPORTS ON WHICH THEY ARE BASED ARE DRAWN HOM A WIDE VARIETY OF PLACES AND DISPLAY SOME VARIANCE IN AUTHORIAL VOICE AND AUTHORIAL SUBJECTIVITY, HOWEVER, EACH ONE CONTAINS ABASIC AND ESSENTIAL LESSON IN THE AR OF WAR, STUDY THE TEXTS WISELY AND LEARN, FOR THOUGH THE EMPEROR PROTECTS, IF 1S ‘THE DUTY OF US ALL TO STAND READY AND FIGHT WHEN THE HOUR DEMANDS,Naxos The Reef Stars, 811.M41. ‘LYUBOV The Sabbat Worlds, 778.M41. ROPHANON The Reef Stars, 990.M41. THE BLACK CRUSADE OF JIHAR THE LACERATOR 599.M37.THE Mib-, GULF AND COREWARD REGIONS OF THE REEF STARS HAD LONG surrE “PRIM 1D PAITIGULAR PREDATION FROM HE SO-CALLED DARK ELDAR, INDEED, HAD BECOME ONE OF r pS DEFINING CHARACTERISTICS. DARK ELDAR RAIDS HAPPENED IN 'SEASONAL’ CYCLES, THE RHYTHMS OF WHICH WERE INSCRUTABLE TO IMPERIAL EXPERTS, WHETHER DRIVEN BY FLEMENTAL OR ECONOMIC FACTORS, RITUAL INFLUENCES OR MIGRATORY HABITS, THE C¥C WOULD BEGIN WITH LITTLE ADVANCE WARNING AFTER LONG PERIODS OF DORMANCY, AND THE REGION WOULD BE SUBJECT TO BLOODY RAIDS, WHICH. OFTEN CEASED WITHOUT EXPLANATION, DUE TO THE SMALL AND AGILE NATURE (OF THE DARK ELDAR RAIDING FORCE PHIE CYCLES COULD SELDOM BE STEMMED BBY DECISIVE MILITARY EFFORT. HOWEVER, THE EXAMPLE OF Naxos 1N 811 18.4 From A History of the Later Imperial Crusades The acount of the Naxos action (B11.MA1) was ‘assmpbled from a variety of contemporary documents and reports by Colonel jan “Huliers 856, as part of an oversight traaise om the tactical considerations Of the Ref Stars commissioned by the Governor Subsector Joacbin Valens ‘a the time of bis assumption of office. An Imperial Tactician assigned to the House of the Governor, Hulvers (778 1 880) was 4 particularly insightful, no non sense observer of strategte Distory can Bis analysis of the Lego Astaptes as much as the dark eldar that makes ths report ofsucb value to taciteal officers: Ibe account ts repro duced bere with only minor editorial changesis a non-virile, mineral-wealthy world, one of the outer planets cling the star 88 Beta Naxos in the Coreward region of the Reef Stars (Tarsal/Scorpis 347-23), proximal to the Mandeville Point at 46 Gemos. First identified in M37 during the sixteenth voyage of the rogue trader Benefico Lazale, the system was recom: mended by him for mineral exploitation, ut such development only began in 561.M38, under the authority and bene- fit of the Governor Subsector at Tarsal. At this time, speculative prospector out psis were established on four of the sfstem's worlds, but within a decade the ‘world now known as Naxos had been revealed as the most resource rich, the ‘other outposts shut down, and all devel- ‘opment work concentrated on Naxos ftself, I was then that Naxos adopted its ‘same from its local star, being the most Prominent in the planetary group. Naxos is abundant in several rare inner transition metals, including Xygnite, from which the adamantium analogue Temperine can be alloyed, and Phiogesthene, a vital component in the manufacture of heat sinks and the igni tion rings of plasma weapons. By 589.M38, the prospector outpost on Naxos had beca uprated to a mining sta- tion (Grade B1- [a]), in which capacity it continued to develop and prosper until 217.M39, when it was awarded a colonial charter and the mining station received the designation Naxos Colony One. Despite its remote location, Naxos Colony One fared well for many cen- turies, and proved to be one of the Subsectors most lucrative outholdings. ‘Twice ~ in 580.M39 and 341.M40 ~ the colony’s governor petitioned for a sec. ond colonial charter to be issued, as the ‘workforce influx drawn by the expand: ing mining operations threatened to ‘outstrip available habitat development. Indeed, around 580.M39, work began to prepare a second colony site a thousand kilometres west of Naxos Colony One. However, in both instances, the charter ‘was denied due to fluctuating economic pressures in the region. At its height -4 340. M40, Naxos Colony One’s pop- ulation approached three and a half million Imperial citizens, but this figure hhad declined, by the time of the action in ‘question, to around four hundred thou- nd. In the five decades ledding up to the events under consideration in this account, the prosperity of Naxos had begun to fall off due to dropping pro- ductivity. Mineral reserves were worked ut, and the commercial production of Xygnite had effectively ceased by 785.M41, Furthermore, the vast mineral reserves in the Quardes Belt (Tarsal/Opus 960-47) opened up in 690. M41 had swiftly become the region's peincipal provider ofthe ores and metals that had made Naxos viable for so long, By 81LMA1, Naxos was a colony in a slump. The remote nature of Naxos’s location had also worked against it over the years, as the colony lay vu dark eldar raids, The entire region was prone to such hitand-run attacks, and ‘on occasion whole colonies in the zone hhad been wiped out (cf. Gaudae 9, 55 ‘Trieste, Sycor Outflung). During its com paratively long, robust history, Naxos Colony One suffered thirty-nine rai the most 476.M40, when et and citizens died in a four-week campaign, and 520.M41, when the colony was besieged and two of the mining complexes destroyed. Estimates vary, but it is possi- ble that as many as a hundred thousand Imperial subjects have been kailled on, or abducted from, Naxos since records began. In 811.M41, there had been no dark eldar predation in thirty years raid tation. The nerable to periodic (Opposite) Naxos Colony One, atthe raids «ones being in Continental Nas ‘circa 811M, Tove Layers Colonial Defence I was on the morning of the eighth shift day, close to first sh cin vs abort my business on the sing Ste Wal, Betawen the Bight Sixty habs and the old Temper Smelt worke, The hove night ‘harlone seas atom the Rising Hila, but twas clear enighs T sexs walking the route to check 475 when I aew a man on the wal Teatk hon nf me. I tected I wavuld krone his Pusinese, because tt that hour there shouldn't have been no ouher up there except ane ant my watch, T came to Bi, thinking hie to be a haber aiminer on the wander after a drink too many. We sometioes Got thom up tere, the emokeheads and the nelggers. I aepped wp 10 alto his, aid him vith is back tarned to me, long ent at the hill, There was something wrong about Nim, and the, Feurse ‘moneth [dit not take seriously. He eas dark. Tal, Ci ar, ‘lark man on the wall, his hase fluttering i these, ser ‘gui, is has was very black, ike sole. reached out to pul ch hi, coud Trae very preier demic of hie Disinets, aM ‘harmed, end he looked at me, and he laughed, dnd haste MOb ‘man at alt. He grate one ut seth one gesture, threw me off the soa teed) tthe yards bling, tetteh enon Troe my lag (aed my hak. ds Ila there, T heard the sound of enginen, fete the lark machines, sharp as Knives, come wiping ‘the top ofthe seal above me, notorious job a principle insirument of lighning attack. (Opposite — derathy ‘of Nass Colony One Are accourt writen by sergeant in the Nason toe of te dare eldar 9)hours. A force of approximately four hundred enemy war- riors, mostly conveyed on light grav-capable fighting = ‘machines, swept in from the mountains on the Rising (west) side of the colony location. As is the habit of these creatures, the assault was fast- moving hit-and-run, The Colonial Defence Force, under the command of Major Gyorgi Fodor, had maintained a programme of strenuously rehearsed attack protocols over the years for just such an eventuality, and responded with admirable speed, However, the cnemy moved with shocking swiftness, using the colony's ore processing. trenches. and transit channels to stay below the fire fields of the defence batteries. Fierce fighting broke out in Mass Residential Habs 12 and 13, and in the auxiliary processor plants at the Rising Three Mine. Fighty-nine members of the CDF were killed or injured in these battles, along with over a hundred citizens. A fur- ther two hundred and seventy-three citizens perished in the fires that swept through Mass Residence Hab 13 in the aftermath of the raid. This loss was initial- ly blamed on inadequate evacuation mechanisms, but later studies showed that the attackers had deliberately seeded the Hab area with slow bum incendiary devices, and had disabled the fire preven- tion systems. Only the stalwart efforts of the Falling Firewatch di the fire from spreading into adjoining ‘Mass Residence structures, an effort for which they were later recog: nised with citations, In the immediate afier- math, or Fodor made it plain that the enemy had not been driven off, nor even ‘withheld’. ‘The CDE had been fighting for survival. The ‘enemy, as ever operating accord ing to the rhythm of some great and secret tide, had simply ons prevented, et chosen to remove themselves from conflict There was little doubt they would Prectons litle ts ken of te senotype Jonoun as the dark elda, though thetr rapa. ‘ious habits have plagued certain regions of the Impertum since caries times. Culturally ‘they area blank with ew potters fo sug igs what ambitions and strategtes might drive them on, except perbaps the basest tuges of plunder and blood. Of all Mankind’ principal enemies, sey seem 0 ‘umber the leat, or atleast show them: ‘solves in the fewest mumbers, and biologically they sent toe related to the enobype oda. c similarity tat bas ves Coin to their most usual epithe. tn the Ree Stars, they are also known, from folklore, as “he primus’ or also as the snokeriders What ca be sid with certainty ts they practise violence against mankind, in swift ‘shock attacks, and display astontsbing ae els oferuelty and depravity in dome so. Thetr technology ts advanced, dnd abmost entirely, 0 i appears, predicated on pain ‘and wounding, During the couree of thelr raiding stribes, they often tale human cap- ‘ves — presumably for saves. fn both bysicality and weaponry, a primul warrior ts eacily a match for a Guardeman oF armed buiman. There is also no doubt at all that they are possessed of een intelligence, ‘but sai intelligence ts focused completely ‘on cumming and malice. Some expert ‘observers ave seen, in their ritual marks land decorations, certain similarities tothe abhorrent symbology ofthe Archenem Is tt [possible they conjecture, thatthe prémuls fare an offbot of Ube ela race that bas, “lee our own shameful trattor kin, fallen pray to the influence of Chaos and the warp? Wich their fast, agile erat and powerful texan, the dark lar were sailed at Divan run tacticsA dark eldar raider both armour and ‘squipment, the fare depicted Bee is ofthe raters that assaulted Naso Colony.Plercapiare ofthe first dark eldar raid Tobin Clauser, issued an immedi ate state of emergency and placed the colony under conditions of 12 operations in all suspended, and extended mine work- ings were closed down and sealed on the recommendation of Major Fodor. All leave was cancelled, and defence force reserves armed and mobil from the worker masses, career politician who had risen to power seventeen years before on the back of a process of reforms designed to bring the colony back to previous levels of prosperity. He firmly believed. ~abelief based mainly on the strength of recent metallurgic assays conducted in the Rising Mountains ~ that Naxos had a great measure of previously unrecognised mineral wealth. He had been campaigning hard to have the colony’s mining charter extended, and to attract new wealth and investment tial law, Mini facilities except South Prim: to Naxos, Clauser, who had not seen a primul raid during his office, realised that the day's events ~ and its probable sequels ~ might bury the colony's rep- utation for viability forever, He sent an immediate request for aid to the Governor Subsector on Tarsé ‘Two days later, via astropathic chan. nels, Clausen received a response. His request had been refused ‘The reasons cited by the Governor Subsector for his refusal — a decision nade ‘vith regret = wena oa Of mobilisation. ‘The fvelecade 10H dynastic wars in the Carllon GIOnp were still raging, and a hot war had recently broken out with the separa The standiag serves of the Imperial Gul aaa full steich and none could be ome falted for atleast ten mans sticrea ies possible hac other iAles areal ed the decision, Rumours had beg jercaice a0 cus aa diplomatic back channels, that, Lad Milleant Bowers. teed nei MA seneschalship of the Petal. Worlds ven to him affer the Ondurlae Campaign, was petitioning to raise‘ cnusade against the greenstins (al tary operation later famously curtailed atthe cleventh hour after Bower's sud den deat). Bower was alguien influence, and those. WhO tracked his erusade call with promises of manpower and support Senda themselves in favour #1 che Seagal est levels, Ie would bea pardonab lel fencers co in the expectacon of lendiag thei Bower's bulld up. In the face of suei an enterprise, the fate of a siogtl jal) semote colony oan thing tis also possible that Naxos wa considercil/te be 2s, soNneenam already. However, meMeoe ame Subsector's message concluded. Wit the curlous suggestion tia eam examining other options’. I diaries, we lear that Glausert this final phrase as an Coenen ees movement on Bracchia Governor,But it proved w have more weight than thar. Two weeks after the primul ick, a starship wanslated into geo- “ syche orbit above the colony. © © ension in the colony was running high, There had been no farther raids hy the dark cldar, but rumour and alarm had spawned a thousand stories: ‘of figures in the hills beyond the colony Of spectses haunting the habs at night, aand of children taken from their cots. While itis entirely possible that some of these tales had a basis in genuine dark cldar activity, most of them were the product of overheated, over-stressed imaginations, Though unpredictable in almost every measure, dark eldar raids fre ofien notable for the length of time Between assaults, as if the enemy Gelights in waiting to appear again long past the endurance of any patience or courage. Itis as if they attack once, and then leave the victims to stew in their own fearful apprehension, tearing themselves apart with panic and ghastly possibilities. Certainly, in that two-week period, eighteen men deserted, another five were executed for desertion, and twenty-nine citizens were killed or injured in outbursts of rioting or street violence. The arsival of the starship briefly brought the simmering mood ia the colony to boiling point. Many believed that this was the arrival ofa fresh primul ‘aid. Civil unrest, greater than any seen before, broke out and the CDF had 10 ‘Work hard to contain it “lwo orbital landers, in formation, left the orbiting ship and descended towards the colony. They made no request for landing rights or descent data. They set down in a'slag zone north of the gas separation facility. ‘They were Imperial vessels. They were Astartes Thunderhawhs, Thunderbawks sot down on a sta orth ofthe gas tpl ration faciyetal shouler plate Bae, ron Snates b caper. The Chapter Bot ofthe doubt Bape serpent derives forty bate brothers, Space Marines of the Legio ——_Astartes Chapter the Iron Snakes had arrived ‘on Naxos. They were led by Brother Captain Trokus, Captain Trokus immedi rely met with Clauser, Major Fodor and other seniors of the colony. He explained that routine strategic monitor- ing of the region had brought the plight of Naxos to the Chapter's attention, and they had decided to mobilise a force and step in when it became apparent that no Imperial Guard force was available to reinforce. ‘Trokus would not confirm if the Governor Subsector had contacted the Iron Snakes Chapter house or not In his own private journal, Fodor specu- lated that the Iron Snakes had been monitoring astropathic traffic, and had learned of the situation by intercepting the encrypted communiqués between Clauser and the Governor Subsector. This notion, which Fodor sensibly kept to himself, was later cast into doubt by another, perhaps more sinister, possibil: ity Governor Clauser was at once delight. ed and dismayed. No governor, his colony in peril, would ever refuse the help of Mankind’s greatest warriors (though it is pertinent co reflect that Trokus offered no choice in the matter and how does a mortal man begin 10 tefuse a brother of the Astartes?) However, there were misgivings. The first, shared by Fodor and the other off cers, was that their ow ind and ion would be diluted at best, dissolved at worst. The Legio Astartes were autonomous and would answer to no master except their own. Inall but the largest engagements, Sp. Marines operated by their own authority. Whilst respectful of Governor Clauser’s status, Trokus's Iron Snakes would expect full coopera tion from the colony, and full dispersal. com: mand of the F and the levies. ‘The second concern ~ and perhaps Clauser's greatest control of the sit that the Tron Snakes were not the sa son he had petitioned for. Clauser's simple desire had been for a large, strong garrisoning force that could remain on station at the colony for the duration, for months or even years f necessary, safeguarding the site against any recurrence of the dark eldar activity. Fodor, an experienced and rational man, had advised the governor that any cam: paign against the primul threat had to be waged using time and patience. The Iron Snakes, like the Astartes of all Chapters, were battle warriors. ‘Their role was to engage and fight in swift, decisive operations. They were too rare, to0 few, too powerful to be ‘wasted’ on efforts of fortification ‘The Iron Snakes were not likely to stay ‘on Naxos beyond any immediate fas point. The socalled Iron Snakes are an ancient anid ‘lustrous Chapter tbat traces tte ‘ortgins back tothe Second Founding They ‘ke rete Chapter bouse on the fortrest ‘moon Karybdis, which orbits the tempestuous water world lak, a planet _from woic they draw most ifnot al oftheir neophye recruits Part ofan Ion Sale’ ite of passage i to bunt and kill one of the gargantuan seater uoyrms of baka. I from ‘eve near motbical beasts thatthe Iron Sake tale their name and their Deraldry. Together with the archerspat swceapons of bolter and blade, the Iron Snakes sometimes carry battle modified versions of Toei serra eat Sources characterise the Irom Sales as stot, ascetic and courageons but te Chapters also marked by a bistory of cunning and battlefield guile. Perbape more than some other Chapiers the ron Saks ‘admire ingenuity and tactical flare, ad _pride themselves tn rewarding wisdom and Inspiration. They bay especial heed to their Ibrarians, and mato an aro studying acca sciences As much as any cadre of warriors cam be sald to be, they are inkers ‘and planners, and many ofthetr most Jumous victories bave been soundly won on Ihe campaign's chart table long before any ‘bate commences ike all Astartes Chapters, they revere sraduton and ritual. Since records began, they bave taken 1 upon themselves to be the particular protectors ofthe Ref Stars, although they undertae this protection in ‘heir own, autonomous manner Ther ale DDomours include many great tne ‘aginst the forces of Chas nd the _greenshins, ough they have always == considered the special enomy ofthe ReefThe signature uaa’ ts presumed forepresent the name ofthe Chapter estes Iron Grates A Study of other ean relics of bron Sale docomentation ‘confirms thatthe Chapter masier tr: tionally styled birsei tn his way tt fs presumed that the ‘asnurance's author twas tn fact ‘Great Sepdon, the ancient “and celebrated mac ler ofthe Chapter. though knowledge of (be Chapter self “go scant tt bs impos: Ble 10 prove this 10 be ‘the work of Seydon. He may no longer Ihave been aioe at he time of the Naxos undertaking and this may bave been the barn of an aon ‘he massie com Imenorative painting fomassioned rom the toted artist Bele Danger by tbe Doople of Naso efebrate te ro Spas action I ie iced ta the OF glrtied nature of records tellus, Governor Clauser held a formal ban- uet to welcome his visitors. Captain Trokus attended, along with his squad ders, though it is recorded tha they ate litle of the feast and drank noth- ing except water. They attended in full armour. It is impossible to underplay the cffect of the Iron Sakes arrival on the pop- uulace of Naxos. None of the colonists had seen a Space Marine hefore, and many of rem 10 be mythical crea: tures; such was the inirequency of their appearances. Now they were solid, palpa- ble fact and, moreover, they were terrifying: armoured like giants, each one fully a third larger than the largest man, ‘Their accents were strange, even the smell of them was strange. In a report, Sergeant Victor Temprence of the CDF wrote: I have seen a thing today, which 1 knew only from the storybooks of my childhood. A snake of iron. Oh, so mighty and so broad and so old that it might have been a statue on the Colonnade of the Emperor come to life, I call it “it because it was not a “he” nor either a “she”, but a thing like a god. Its armour glowed like the moon guametal them believed bright, and it smelled of sweet ois ‘sacred lotions. In its fist, five times the size of my fist, it clenched a spear twice the length of my body. I think we will live, if these gods are with us now ‘Temprence was not alone in his awe: ‘The people of the colony came out to gar- land the Iron Snakes and laud them, Young boys painted the mark of their her- aldry on their cheeks and forcheads, But there was fear 100. For all their splendour and physical size, there were only forty of the Astartes. Would that, could that be enough? Others in the pop- ulation feared the reverse. They were so. dismayed at the physicality of the Iron Snakes; they began to panic as to wh threat really faced them. If such beings were needed, what was coming? As if sensing Clauser’s misgivings at their arrival, Trokus presented him with a etter of assurance during the state ban quet. Its mattcr is reproduced below, from a copy held at the Imperial Archive, Tarsal 1 the colontss of Naxos, and to their governor tbo is named Tobin Clanser sreetings 1 name ney brother, Boks, to be my proxy ‘tbe matter of your deliverance from the smokeriders T would ask that you tt bien 25,you would trust me, ad as you would rust the eternal benediction ofthe Emperor Dimself Alert to your crcuntstanee, aoare of our pain, Ihave charged my brother Tokus, and the hale brothers who accom: ‘pany bim, to quit the Chapter bouse fn full ‘war barness, armed an anwited fr bat te, and come to your side tks my bled, ts solemn as any I ave giver thatthe Chaprer iron Snakes will champion the interests of Naxos and the colony thereon "his pledge 1 mabe withthe water of Moa, Domevcorld. May the Emperor ude andl ‘protect us al. ~ tan 00 On receipt of the assurance, Clauser was far from reassured. He spoke with Captain Trokus, laying out his concerns, but the captain reportedly said that he did not expect the ‘war on Naxos’ to be all drawn out’, Later that night, Clauser sent an encrypted missal to the Governor Subsector, pleading for him £0. reconsider his decision and Senge Imperial Guard reinforcement, odweek following the arrival of ‘rokus's force, defensive works were set in motion of the Iron tirokus made his command HQ duralite-a at the behest noured basements of the Central Refinery, and there gathered has officers, his librarian and also ~ in a gesture that seemed at best palliative Major Fodor and his s journal tells us tha specifi derail or men. Fc apart from c phy and layout, \d the opinions of his staff, were seldom asked for Apparently anticipating the west, from whene: previous attack, ‘ondary line of defence built along Rising Side Wall (1 around the span of the Nine Seventy Habs and the Ris and also around the South Ore Pens (2). He ordered that defence batteries be moved from inner colony positions and spaced in the open country south of Rising Iwo Mine (3), and also in the hinterland (an indust waste) north of Rising Central Refinery (4). He ordered two of his'squads to take of geogs his opinion, a had come the Trokus ordered a and alsc 1g Two Mine osition in the lower access ways of Hab 10 (5), another in Rising Three Mine (6), and the fourth at the station at the southern, end of the Main Generation Facility (7). Trokus then instructed the CDE to man Sicle Wall and Seventy Habs (1 and 2), bu the new det the Nine also positioned a significant number of the levy reserves around the Falling Store Domes (8) and South Secondary Mine (9) Fodor races at Risin himself fronted Trokus and demande¢ fon what basis the Iron Snake captain believed the enemy would assault from the same side The Falling (east) side was woel protected and vulnerable ‘opinion, the Refinery Interchar was beside He con- to know -olony’s ly under as before, xe (10) but brooked no dissent’ (according to 2 CDF He told Fodor plainly that ay to protect the interests Trokus was ‘polite eyewitness) this was the of Naxos His. insteu against Fodor's obj ions were carried out tions. Two days later, they were put to the test And were found wi ervtew ofve secon ac eldar raid began twenty: three days after the frst, to the hour That was the only thing that marked itin come son with the ini assault. AS Major Fodor had predicted, the foe directed thei ea | . gether. : the dark eldar had at some six hundred plus ~ if theileep anyons east of the colony, the so-eulk Falling’ side. There, below the reach| auspex, they had massed their across the cdges of the land sh struck at South Secondary Mis, Primary (che only mine Unie gt and the Falling Side ensued. The massed lene @ of them miners and rc At Falling. Side inet of them valindy defeng their Exmiles and frend n was all confusion. Terble Cons rere had been told the im Shale and neighbours, good aaa apart by blade and blast. Th all upon their bikes, cackling as they fired Heenas Talby, another of themalta leva sitio CO f et sense Py tea were lilied by savage explosions: found a hand was all =x Crawling in the dust, [Say Secondary explode Benint be confirmed, ine hundred colonists dead OF dace born binaore, Fodor called frantically for CDE Tiowghns by eas t0 pull back across the eBlh force the levies on the Falling sie He ao called 10 i afer the assault Hal Bea Secondary Mine was ablaze, and nearly three thousand colonists had been killed. The Iron Snakes had not moved from their positions, 3The Zs-infirmaries were working to Gipacity to deal with the influx of “injured, and labour crews worked in dangerous conditions to bring the blaz jing mine at South Secondary under © Gontrol. The entire colony zone was blanketed in thick, black smoke The Iron Snakes were held. directly # responsible for the grave wounds Naxos by their tactical incompetence © and their inexplicable decision not to even show themselves during the raid But_no one dared confront them Demonstrations gathered in public Places, and at the square at the north €hd of the Colonnade of the Emperor, Members of the levy reserves ceremoni ally cast down their weapons and fefused 10 fight any further, Beclesiarches were summoned to speak to the dissenters and renew their vigour Berated from all sides by citizens and officials who had nowhere else 0 direct their anger, Governor Clauser went to speak with Caprain Trokus at the Central Refinery. In the gloom of the lumin-lit hase ments, rokus scemed far more He cut the Governor short before he could iterate his objections, and curly presented him With alist of troop deployments that he expected the governor to implement immediately (see following, page) Clauser was dumbfounded by the arro- ance of the Space Marine commander One of the Governor's aides, Marten Uirken, later wrote of his disbelief ‘that ‘my lord the Governor should find the ‘courage t0 raise his voice to the Space Marine, My lord the Governor shouted his angry denouncement of the lon Snakes, daring the wrath of the mon strous warrior I expected, in my true heart, that the grear captain would turn and strike my lord the Govemor down With the fat of his hand for his imps dence. I say that my lord the Governor is after that one moment, quite the bravest man Ihave ever seen.” threatening than before ‘Trokus did not strike Clausér down, for even react in any provoked way. He simply, witheringly, told the Governor ‘you have your assurance.” Clauser was dismissed, Governor Clauser called an emergeney session of the Colonial Office, and took advice from his senior men, including the ecclesiarchy, the CDF and the Munitorium. All felt the same dismay as Clauser, the same feeling of wretched helplessness. As Clauses had feared from the moment the Iron Snakes had arrived, here was a bad situation now slipping rapidly out of his control At length it was, perhaps surprisingly, Major Fodor who spoke with the coolest head. Fodor had been openly dubious of the Iron Snakes’ schemes all along, but he was at heart a military man, who understood that plans for warfare were often composed from elements that appeared incomprehensible to the sol die on the ground. From the recorded minutes of the mecting, we learn Fodor said: “From the start of this, we knew we would be passengers in the Astartes war, ‘our voices and opinions ignored. We knew we wouldn't like it, From what I've seen of the captain’s strategy, I don’t like ther. It cost us dear last night. But I have to believe that there's some hid: some greater policy of ‘see or understand. In this, we are the common soldiers on the field. So, loathe as | am to suggest this, 1 think we must go along with it, come what may. We must trust that the Iron Snakes know what they're about, Clauser noted this reasoning, adding “What choice have we? Cooperate with a plan that we dislike but which might save Us... of refuse to cooperate and have no plan at all’ The motion was carried. Fodor and hi officers immediately began to implement Trokus's scheme. It was not a moment too soon, As if suddenly eager for the blood they had tasted the day before, the dark eldar struck again that night Standardised, old: pattera bab blocks such as this formed. much ofthe colony ste, and wore unerable bath to missles and firePARABLE to the day before dark 1 out of the dying light eldar from the eastern canyons. They struck at Falling Side Wall North, and for the sec ond day running, the site became-a place of terrible bloodshed and combat. A sec- ‘ond prong of the dark eldar attack drove in hard against the South Primary Wall while a third ran the smoke wash com: ing off the burning and sliced in between it and the Falling Side Domes storage area, where it 15 met by heavy sand CDE forces dug in across the transit roads and load. ing aprons. ‘The fight along the South Primary Wall was intense, and damage was suffered by the adjacent hab blocks, but it lasted less than twenty Breat_ number of the dark eldar U withdrew; and were lost from sight in the dying light ‘The savage fighting ra Side Wall North and thi three hours. The situation became so © that Fox red further CDF eserves 10 move forward in support of wing these the Main resistance from lev nutes. A d along Falling storage area for oF ord the storage area forces, d from the perimeter of on Facility One of Fodor's senior = ‘Lhad not seen an equal to that care in a long life of soldicring. The id was spongy with the blood that Everything was lit by “aa the leaping flames. One blessing we had) | itis not madness to say it, was the bestial lust of the enemy. If they had simply driven at_us wholesale, apons and the speed of the ichines would have short order. But these murderous beings thrill to strike deathblows hy hand, to involve themselves in the melee, as if it So they came ‘amongst us, with close quarter weapons, in the fire and smoke. And this gave us a chance to match them, blow for blow. Even then, we did not stand a living chance, but our resist ance ~ and the life of the colony was prolonged. Fodor sent several messages to Trokus, demanding he engage the foe. Teokus did not reply: For the second time, the Astartes forces had remained conspieu- ously absent from the field The battle for the Falling side ground: on into the night. Just as Fodor began to just as he began to hope that the dark eldar might, as before, sim: ply pull out and quit, an urgent message came through the vo In large numbers, the dark eldar — per haps the very ones who had pulled back from the South Primary Wall earlie evening, had encircled the co began an assault of the Rising. side. ing exchanged fire with the defend: ore the Nine Seventy and Rising ‘Two Mine, they had t force, at the Refinery the power of their vile w is some sport or game. diabolie shadow self - hope for relic ers positioned beMajor Fodor's fears had been realised. By breaching the outer line at Refinery Tpferchange (1) the dark eldar had pene- ‘ated the inner zones of the colony. = Griicial objectives such as the Central | Refinery (@) and the Main Gen Facility () now lay in their sights. The Faiders took some losses to the batteries ranged on the hinterland behind the Interchange complex (4), but with little over available these batteries were quickly overwhelmed or became the sites of fierce close quarter fighting as the faiders dismounted and set about E the CDF personnel. 5 Jor, at that time positioned to the Separation facility, imm West to take personal command of the Initial estimate hat had pen: hundred, ficursion zone batt ‘Put the number of raiders trated the breach at thre By the time Fodor arrived, these num bers had risen 10 almost five hundred. More were arriving at every moment Apparently summoned by their brethre that had made entry, the raiding bands attacking the Falling side of the colony round the were withdrawing to swing and enter the breach, Fodor resasked as many of the CDF and levy elements that he could to close into th hinterland area and meet the invasion. Within forty-five minutes of the initial incursion, it becam to those on the ground that the raiders were focu: ing their attack on the Central Refinery Ringed by zoned shielding, revetments and bladewire, the Refiner the colony's most secure facilities this evidently piqued the appetite, They swept in across the hin- terland district and began an assault of the Refinery defences and approach tracks. Intense pockets of hand to hand fighting brok track, and was one of and raider out along the principal ; around the gates to the Refinery compound Eyewitnesses reported the scene as The entire was lit red with flame light, and the dense smoke had rendered the night's darkness solid and opaque Just before midnight, with the raiders some ten minutes away from engullfir the Captain Trokus_ finally deployed the Astartes. hellish’ and “infernal areaDEK TROKES'S FSON- their own reinforcements 10 ouRWeight AL leadership, the the Space Marine force. But almost allob two squads of fron their raiding strength was. already Snakcs positioned in deployed onto the hinterland. theiy the lower access- charging impetus gone and their unit ways of Hab 10 (1) cohesion lost in the confusion, All tol broke from cover perhaps six hundred dark eldat warriors and assaulted the had entered the colony area to be met by falder’s main ineur- the ferocity of an Astartes resistance sion. The sudden appearance of Space supported in full by the eager colonial Marine f ned to fill the raiders forces with both dismay and dark glee. They Like a pack dog secdoning offa herd of ad litle option but to tum and engage. livestock, ‘rokus: drove his two. squads In a thirty minute set piece battle, the north-east and decapitated the dak seh twenty Space Marines cut a swathe main force infront ofthe Central Refinery through the enemy mass and left over a About ninety dark eldar were marsonel hundred of them dead or dying. Rallied on the Refinery approaches, while the bulk by the sight, the CDF and levies threw of the raiding force recoiled and began themselves into the fray and fol. Three Mine (2) lowed the cutting edge of w clear, had planned Space Marines this trap manoeuvre with intricate skill and confidence, using his limited nume bers to startling and devastating effect. He wheeled his two squads west and begin to pursue the dark eldar main section counting towards Rising Three Mine, swith large on sections of the CDF in support, A running battle broke out. Simultaneously, his third squad, concealed in the water cook ing station at the southern end of the Main Generation Facility (3) stormed out of concealment and attacked the remain der of the dark eldar force on the Main = Refinery approach, These raiders w the space of twenty minutes, ansihil hetween the Iron Snakes third squi levy strengths that had remained Gn) station, weer?The industrial and manufacturing infra srcture of Naxos Colony declined in the years following trate Some mining “Facltes were con: verted to chemical processing work t0 ference rovenue, but the provisions were tuadequate (Above right) Tactical of phase 100 of the Iron Smates'assaul SUMMARY I SENG of the dark eldar attack force sought cover in the Rising Three Mine complex (1) intending to turn, dig in and take the fight back onto the numerically inferior Iron Snakes. But ‘Trokus’s fourth and final squad was wait ing there for them, patiently. At Trokus's order, the fourth squad engaged, and ter: rible slaughter was done on the enemy as they were caught in the open between two opposed fronts of Iron Snake power: Seventy or eighty saiders were slain in that intense exchange The surviving mass wheeled east and attempted a dramatic and hasty flight from the colony zone via the Refinery Interchange (2), the way they had entered. ‘Trokus had prepared for this by secretly mining the entire Interchange ‘complex. At this point, he detonated the killing many of the fleeing raiders and forcing the rest wo turn ina flight that ‘was litle short of panic, Once again, Trokus herded his foe like livestock, now turning them south in dark dara be paeeieneas een sho previ upon the Gone they hn thatthe dar ee Marines might te present. For this reas, the Hon dtc Resf Star They reed a nly tht ws he Fon Ses thera a fied incerta he ey be rere 1 0 ig eats ae el anid ws the destin of oe owe eect Marines can be, an fe flight using his own two squads, with third on his right flank, to channel the raiders against the barrier formed by the Nine Seventy Habs (3). The raiders, now ‘numbering less than wo hundred, took shelter in the Rising Two Mine (4). They intended to use this structure to their advantage the way they had hoped to do with the other Rising side mine, This time, no hidden squad of Space Marines awaited them, Inside, they clug in. The massive rock: crete superstructure of the Mine complex offered them ideal fortress cover. With the Astartes and colonial forces in the open hinterland before them, the advantage was momentarily theirs once more. Captain Trokus had also laid charges in the Rising Two Mine. Once the dark eldar were inside, he detonated the charges, triggering a huge explosion magnified by igniting gasses. The mine was levelled, In short and swift order, the Iron Snakes had annihilated a dark eldar raid« ing force that vastly outnumbered them, ‘Naxos Colony One had suffered miser- ably in the course of the undertaking, The death toll had been high, the prop- erty damage immense, and two of the colony's main mining structures had been destroyed, one by deliberate sacri- fice. Governor Clau led several formal complaints at the way his colony hhad been used as ‘bait and trap’, but he was generally ignored or overruled, Some reparation was offered in the form of financial aid by the Governor Subsector eight months later, but it was just a fraction of the commercial value that had been lost. The damage and loss of productivity accelerated the colony's decline, At the time of writing, though: still functioning, Naxos Colony One teeters on the edge of unviability. rot beer Aer Tite bey Kose ee to Troken’s ews, but ruthless tv. F go of the Imprin, Space Marines ma fees ein the ral comps ate Ci ays Se tia or ell, 11 is wo be considered tha the Bon Snakes rom bo eli tha the Iron Shes ing 10 the Conta Refinery eis to preserve the vial ‘pecs, But we mst ko the vi sacrifice, and understand what i it ted, did ot se The Sane er aar fe wei ie ace en‘of FTS ‘TWENT-THIRD VEAR, THE MONUMENTAL SaBBAT WORLDS CRUSADE WAS [EVTERING A DEFINING PHASE UNDER THE MERCURIAL COMMAND OF THE WARMASTER, MACAROML, THE MAIN ARMIES OF THE CRUSADE HAD SUCCESSEULLY ADVANCED INTO THE SINAGELY DISPUTED TERRITORIES OF THE CABAL SYSTEMS, A DENSELY FORTIFIED ‘CANCARADON CUSTER, A TRACT GENERALLY REGARDED AS THE HEARTLAND HOLDINGS (OF THE ARCHENEMY, MANY BELIEVED THAT OVERALL DMPERIAL VICTORY WAS IN SIGHT, DPERHIAPS NO MORE THAN FIVE YEARS Ort, HOWEVER, OTHERS FEARED THAT A NUMBER (OF FACTORS COULD UNSETTLE THE IMPERIAL CONFIDENCE, POSSIBLY WITH DISASTROUS ECT, MORE THAN ONCE, THE FORTUNES OF THE CRUSADE HAD SWITCHED DRASTICALLY AGAINST THE IMPERIAL SIDE, THERE WERE TWO KEY CONSIDERATIONS: FRSTIS, THE FIGHTING IN THE CABAL AND CARCARADON REGIONS WAS ON A SCALE PREVIOUSLY UNSEEN, EVEN IN A LONG CRUSADE THAT HAD WITNESSED MASSIVE SET PIECE RATTLES. SECONDIY, AND MORE INSIDIOUSLY, THERE WAS “UNFINISHED BUSINESS” IN MACAROTH'S WAKE. THE KHAN GHOUR, TRAILWARD OF THE CABAL SYSTEMS, WAS STILL BESET BY ENEMY FORCES, MANY OF ‘HIEM ATTEMPTING 0 AF A COUNTER ATTACK, IN HIS EFFORT 10 RACE AHEAD, MACAROTH HAD LEFT MANY LUNRESOIVED CONFLICTS TO BE DEALT WITH RY HIS SECOND FRONT, CONFLICTS THAT, A THE GRUSADING FORCES FROM BEHIND. From A History of the Later Imperial Crusades iad igh Command /Sabbat_ Worlds Crusade was a mas- sive endeavour to liberate over one hundred inhabited systems along the edge of the Segementum Pacificus from the forces of Chaos. An ancient and feudally held region, the Sabbat Worlds has an Imperial history dating back many thou. sands of years, and in that time has been severally threatened and invaded b cs of mankind, most so-called Sanguinary Worlds spinward of the inhabited sectors. Liherated carly in their formal existence during a crusade led by Saint Sabbat (from whom the stars take their name), the worlds were exten- sively retaken by the enemy during the ‘Sabbat Incursions’ that began a century and a half prior to the Crusade. Though many worlds held out during this trou. bled and dangerous period, by 740.M41, it was clear the region no longer retained any semblance of central Imperial control, and a crusade-scale mobilisation was prepared to retake them, Initially generated and led by the inspired command of Warmaster Slaydo, the crusade enjoyed vigourous early suc. cesses, despite savage opposition, and this first phase culminated in the eritical battle at Balhaut, considered a turning Point in the opening decade of the endeavour. However, great Slaydo per. ished in the Balhaut conflict. His named successor as Warmaster was the young, unproven but brilliant Macaroth, who galvanised Imperial interests with his Positive ~ some might say impetuous leadership. For the second ten years of the Crusade, Macaroth drove his forces on through a remarkable series of engagements, eventually puncturing the monumental enemy defences at the Cabal System, which opened up the vital Carearadon Cluster and paved the way for the Crusade’s third principle phase. when the Imperial armies confronted the archenemy forces in their own heart land. However, in the years immediately fol lowing 773.Mdi, the _archenemy attempted a considerable counter attack, pincering behind the advancing Imperial front at Macaroth’s over stretched lines of supply and communication. ‘The focus of this counter attack was the Khan Stars, a knot of old Imperial worlds and colonies adjacent to the Cabal Syste where Imperial governance of the region had once been situated Action on this ‘Second Front’ raged for many years, and many times Imperial for tunes hung. in the balance. It was fara that Macaroth’s muscular gains t0 spite vrard would be for nothing if the coumter ack succeeded in its objecives and bisected his advance at the Khan Stas Tactical scholars believed that if Macaroth’s main force was ‘decapitated im this way, nothing could prevent it from being surrounded, overwhelmed and obliterated Several of Macaroth's senior command ers were charged with the prosecution of the Second From, including. Generals Van Voytz, Kelso, Bulledin and Lusehiein, Lords Militant Cybon and Humel, and Marshal Blackwood. For the most pa was 10 block ‘and. defead against the counter attack, but this offen meant they had to retake strongly held enemy worlds that Macaroth had bypassed on his way to glory Left untae lested, these worlds could form powerful beachheads and staging posts for the counterattacking foc. One of these Worlds was Lyubor First settled in the early historical pen od ofthe region (circa M36), Byubow had grown to bea hive world of considerable Power and manufacturing capacity, With 2 large population and significant Guard and PDF garrisons ithad been one ofthe last to fall to the archenemy during the Sabbat incursions. Ellecively conquered in 750.MA1, tyubov had suffered under archenemy occupation for two and a hal decades, though several hive cities had remained under Imperial ‘onteol for good portions of that time, and major land wars had been waged 36a result Strategically useful due tits location ‘on one of the main jump routes, bok was abo believed 0 be & Source of fick munitions. and other consumables. fof the archenemy forces in the Khan Group late in 77.M41, Lord Miliant Gybon ordered it t© be retaken, and gave the bility “to General their ta| ee Rostra Cardinal Orn @ Pha Linn Per (Death: World) @ Unida Lacoste z Seog a Or ery Ce erre is SUR or Rts EC Pattes cris Sesriem vcr hes) iw he ed SB Cel Seared cs @ Acxe Cardifal 7 renin | @ Tunusk Cay Cary et OR‘Garmbide's career was Yong end distinguished. F These are just some of bethe Battle Honours be as earned, veteran Guard com- mander with a long and — respectable military career that pre-dated the start of the Crusade, He had served under Slaydo during the Khulan Wars (752-754), and had thus become one of the Warmaster’s chosen ‘command echelon at the start of hostil- ities. Prior t0 Lyubov, however, his service in the Crusade had been unspectacular, as circumstances foi him most often in command of deploy- ment garrisons or transit forces, After Balhaut, and Slaydo's death, Carnhide suffered the same fate as many of his contemporaries when he found himself out of favour with the new Warmaster. Macaroth, with characteristic petu- lance, took it upon himself to give operational preferment to those he felt were ‘his own’, which is to say the new blood: the younger, often untested off cers, who had risen with him on the skirts of Slaydo’s command. Many estimable yetcran commanders, with nothing to prove in terms of loyalty and ability, were relegated unceremo. niously to secondary roles. AS a result, 4 great number of them were saddled with the onerous chores of Second Front Command. was consequently a capable officer who had never been given the opportunity to truly shine. He was well liked by the rank and file, and had an easy nature that seemed relaxed and could often be mistaken, by detractors, for timidity and indecisiveness, It must be said that his selection for the theatre command at Lyubov was not made on merit. Over stretched and beset by three significant conflicts in the immediate Khan Group, Lord Militant Cybon had tasked the job of liberating Lyubov to the only senior officer he felt he could spare. Similarly, Carnhide was not blessed with control of a well-formulated, well-ordered mis- sion force. Though of decent size, liberation army was thrown together at the last minute from disparate units, ‘most of whom had not served alongside one another operationally, and many of which had been on front line service for excessive duration and urgently required retirement and restating, It may be that Cybon considered Carnhide and his force expendable, or Lyubov to be less of a threat than it actually proved to be, Most likely, he regarded Carnhide’s taskforce to be a stopgap ~ a competent but unexcep- tional commander with a tired, unstructured army, wha would keep Iyubov busy until such time as Cybon was clear of his immediate problems and could come to claim victory for himself,awaited Carnhide on Lyuboy, especially in the so-called “Transcontinental Nexus’ where the bulk of the planet's most viable hives and manufactory cen: tres lay. Cult armies and levies of prodigious size occupied the zones, ‘many of them drawn from the indige- nous population, polluted by the caustic touch of the warp. ‘Those Imperial citizens who had not suc cumbed to the taint of Chaos were cruclly employed as slave labour in the industrial belt. The archenemy forces Were further supplemented by war machines, armour, aircrait and battle- ficld titans, as well as some considerable numbers of traitor Marines. Usually such archenemy are stratified and uncoordinated = united by a common cause but unharmonised in terms of com- ‘mand and control. Cohesion in archenemy armies is often weak or flawed, and rivalry, feuds and internecine power strug- gles often erupt. What had begun to make the enemy so dangerous in the Sabbat Worlds was a new unity of command, ‘Though still clan- and cule centric in nature, the enemy forces recognised ‘one senior overlord or ‘Archon’, who was the equivalent of the Imperial Warmaster. ‘The Archon, named i, had evi- dently claimed, by right of combat or rit. (Opposite) An rtisc's impression of Avaek Etogacr A trooper’ etch of a Dlood ut culist feral dans and fa tions, Other clan leaders, many ‘monstrous pot tates in their own rights, had become his lieutenants or ‘magisters', For the first time, the archenemy was operating with one uni fied purpose — as much as any army of the Ruinous Powers can be said to do so. ~Gentral 10 Gaus's har- Sinonising efforts was. the cal soldieting would win more for Chaos than the rampant zealotry of berserk cultists, Gaur had initiated the develop. ‘ment of a personal clan army called the Blood Pact, which he modelled, sardon- ically, on the Imperial Guard. Indeed, ‘many of those who took the ‘Blood Pact with Gaur found themselves equipped with weapons, kit and uniform procured from dead or captured Imperial Guardsmen. This bastardised, almost Parodic, reflection of the Imperium’s ‘army proved to be highly successful once it had mastered the principles of proper, disciplined warfare and tactics. The Blood Pact, and a comparable institution. amed the Sons of Sek (after one of Gaur’s most notorious magisters), was able to compete with the Guard on equal terms, (0 understand its methodology, and turn it against the Imperial ground troops. The archenemy forces on Lyubov were commanded by a being known as Araek: Etogaur, a capable and charismatic leader. Imperial scholars believe that Btogaur’ is an honorific rank, meaning ‘sub’ of “demi-Gaur’, denoting perhaps a colonel or general analogue. Araek Btogau had forged the disparate parts of the archenemy occupation force into onc, coherent structure, The new breed of Chaos army awaited Carnhide’s force. Long rumoured 10 ext, the Blood Bact frst ‘manifested inthe years directly after Bathaut, atthe time Crlock Gaur eas achieving bis ascendancy amongst the Chaos clans of the Sanguiiary Worlds Ie speculated, in fact, that bis supremacy was ensured by the fact that be commanded the ‘most elective fighting force ofall the ‘magsters vying 10 be crowned Archon 1 was the use ofthe Blood Pact in ‘the Khan Group counter offensive, however, ‘hat truly proved thetr worth, Masked in ‘tual tron visors known as grotesques, and lad inthe bood-dyed relies of inpertal uniforms, the Blo Pact are suporbly trained and drilled by archenenty standards, and understand ail the base fenets of tnantry war, including the tse Of support weapons. Well ed and well ‘organised, they bave bmperat leeks of communication technology, and speak Yocie= wn ‘bate tongue’ or connbar-based dialeg The only parts of thems that remain ‘their bands, which display the cui iad scars ther roceivewiben the ake the uct» eee col RN gt 8 ce a el i alnON of Lyubov had to focus. on the ‘Transcontinental Nexus’, the vast and balkanised heartland Of hives and industri- al regions that ‘occupied the southern half of the main landmass. Nineteen separate fronts for mass drop assault were considered and rejected by Cambide and his planners, including the Srady Bay, Zine Hill and Kazenburg, Principal assault of Lyubovhive was deemed unfeasible so long as the outer hives of the Nexus remained and defensible. yewimess: Poe Officer Gregor Hells, 33rd Caltion Air Wing eben we came up on [lyuboubive) we teore dropping in from about thirty thousand metres ina flat diamond ormation of twenty-five macbines. We bad ‘the main sn right bebnd us, Vsblity eas geod, and we gota decent impression ofthe sheer scale ofthe main bive. The enemy tas up, and tn force I counted ahout six bundred machines, mostly in do fits with (29 and 672 squadrons), Iwasa massive cir duel Planes from 451 (Squadron, Colonial Xerxes} piled tn right pas us ome Stesp dive, moving much faster and steeper than ws, 50 we turned in, stood om our wings, and pected out to attack. The blessing ofthe Emperor was upon 1s! Thad my guns ‘om two before I bad to turn up out of tbe doe, and erossed with a third that Iam retry certain I ent to bell. It was deadly work Bvery curve and turn, every banking ‘move or rol ished a collision with anoxber raf friend oF foe. 1 was like shoals of fish racing ana lapping around one amotber The was intense on every tar, a fie tines, ‘as many asthe digits om my right band, 1 vueled a faa clash bya hasr's reat. 1 ‘made 00 more good bills, both confirmed, (on my way out, then stuck 10.4 trio of enemy Fighter bombers turning low al west, and sent one of them down. Then I fotund myself {na knife ight witb an archenemy macbine, 4 devi ofa pilot who rolled me around the ‘ey until most of my nuenition load tas some. Iwas fow on fuel and Fido fis: ir. "ost bio over the western transi I thine ‘be may bave been bounced by some Thunderbolis out of 29, but I didn't ce it Then I turned back fori carter om the last dregs of ney reserves Most objections to the various drop point plans were made by Camhide’s infantry commanders. Intelligencers had procured a great deal of useful data sug- Resting the Nexus zone enjoyed ‘considerable air cover from the archenenty interceptor squadrons. Based for the most art on mobile land carriers, these hunter: kaller squadrons were hard to track and kill from orbit. Infantry force commanders reasoned that the fighter screen would render any troop drop practically suicidal, while the dense formations of enemy stoop-bombers would swiftly annihilate any forces that made it to the surfice intact, This was especially rue of the Srady Bay landing zones that were Camhide’s particular preference, Camhide bounced the problem 10 his Navy officers, initially with requests to bring the landing fleet into a much tighter, lower orbit, from which the carrier machines could be more accurately target ed. Unwilling to risk their line ships and troop conveyances against the range of the archenemy huge anti-orbital batteries, the Navy officers devised a scheme of their own, realising that a flat refusal 10 Camhide might result in them being ordered into close orbit anyway Flight Marshal Karel Hydun presented an attack plan to General Carnhide where by the Navy fighter squadrons would be deployed into the atmosphere in advance of the troop drop, 10 engage the enemy aircraft head to head for air superiority, Such a bold tactic was ordinarily disliked by most Commanders of the Fleet, who resented ‘wasting’ fighter craft by sending. them in without orbital barrage support However, the individual pilot officers, whose views were offen overlooked, rel ished the notion of such a challenge, and in this theatre, the commanders of the major vessels preferred to gamble their fighters rather than their main ships. ‘The plan was agreed. Fight massed waves of Imperial fighters predominately Thunderbolts but also some wings of Lightnings — began the assault at zero hour on day one. Almost thirty thousand machines were sent in, and were matched, at the height of the ‘engagement, by almost forty-five thousand. enemy warplanes. Over all, sixty-three thousand Imperial warplanes were com mitted to the campaign. The total number of archenemy machines is not known, but is estimated 10 be around one hundred and forty thousand. The principal attack zones were the Srady Bay area, Balk Cliff Hive and the Zine Hill regions. The most intense of these ini- tial air battles were fought at Srady Bayon the first and third days of operation, a Zine Hill on day four, As the: neta cote Sebo ck ‘engagement, lasting nine hours, engulfedthe coastal zone at Balk Cliff Hive, Later in the second week, more air battles cut Bpfoss the coast at Srady Bay North, and third week (Day 15), ment took place south | West of Lyubovhive itself By chat stage, archenemy air power had jen arthe start of th been reduced to about a thied of its start ing power. Its wings clipped, Lyubov could. no longer protect itself comprehensively from the air, It was now vulnerable to fall scale land assault But aller over two weeks of air combat, the archenemy knew what was coming, yuo, the Tbunderbolis oftheseg- ment of the campaign, Carnhide had been required to mediate between the interests of the Imperial Guard and the Imperial Navy, | Many of his command elite saw these diffi © ailics as symptomatic of the unaltoyed Tunfocuscd nature of the taskforce Cybon Trad bequeathed to Carnhide and, further- more, regarded their commander's ‘handling of the problems as weak However, we may sce in hindsight th: “Carnhide was a skilful manipulator, who eOnccaled his guile well behind a veneer of nile conviviality. A warrior of the old lool, Camhide had enough experience Know that the Guard and the Navy were Abgust and rival schools of warfare, and that a lack of co-operation between them was as traditional as it was endemic. He ‘orchestrated the air war simply by showing, both partes what they didn't want to do, and then standing back and allowing them 10.conjure their own sokution. Now the land war had to commence. | Though the skies were clear enough for a fullscale drop, the Guard was once again sistant. The air war had given the enemy plenty of time to make ready for an fnevitable orbital invasion. Carmhide understood the reservations. A Weaker of, perhaps, less flexible com- mander might well have ordered the Guard in anyway, damning the conse- quences, but Camhide believed that the answer lay with the Mechanicus. Another thomy web of negotiation faced him, © Wf the Guard and the Navy could be famously uncooperative, the Mechanicus Was another thing entirely. The Mechanicus priesthood had entered into the Crusade through co-operative pacts ‘Carefully formed by Slaydo in the early years, and their war machines had proven fnvaluable ~ not to say decisive — in a great number of cases. But they were still autonomous power, no more willingly Subject to the command of a regular Crusade general than the Adeptus Astartes, and it was widely understood that the Priests of Mars were growing increasingly dissatisfied with the progress of the Grusade. It had endured longer than they had been led to expect by Slayelo, and they Were being required to provide ever © greater quantities of battlefield vehicles. Macaroth had done little to placate them, and these sections of the Mechanicus that Inad been assigned to the Second Front greatly resented nor being used for the glory of the primary campaign. IFthey were to be used at all, they declared, then, in the Emperor's name, they would be used where the true glory lay. (Carmhide had a reserve of over one birt dred and thirty titans in his taskforce, the majority of them warhound variants, He believed that the titans had the power and fortitude to break open the ground defences and open a way for the Guard and its nhide spent hours in patient, respx fl talks with the Priests of the Mechanicus Eventually, he reduced his argument to a very simple piece of persuasive logic. He reasoned that Warmaster Macaroth, boldly secking triumph and glory, would most likely summon to the front line those units that had shown the greatest zeal and appetite for war, the very hunger for victo- ry that he himself exhibited and which he looked for in others. If the Mechanicus Wished t0 quit the Second Front and be realigned at the front, then an active dis play of military ambition would be needed. He promised that ifthe Mechanicus led the ground attack on Lyubov, he woul per- sonally see to it that the reports of that action were sent directly to the Warmaster’s attention. It is important t0 note that Camhide made no other promis- cs, nor any claim that he could bring to bear influence that was not in his remit. He simply seeded the idea in the minds of the priests that they could get what they want- ‘ed by demonstrating their desire to meet the enemy ‘The titans of the Mechanicus led the assault the next day. ‘Three key target zones were selected: Srady Bay, Balk Cliff Hive and Zine Hil The Titan landings were achieved with the support of long-range orbital bombard. ment and carpechombing, At each location, the Mechanicus tactic was to land and then radiate its forces out from the landing zone, rather than to drop, and then advance on a target. Large areas Of territory were cleared at Zine Hill and Sradhive in this fashion, Ground assauls, wave ‘one (tbe Mechantes.Satellite view of Zone Hil, overlaid ‘wub tactical schematics after the titan oper tional deployment with all signs from the surface good, the Imperial Guard at last mobilised ina _mass drop of troops and armour. Two point six million troops went in with the first wave, targeting the three ‘main zones where the titans were already opening the defences, However, a fourth drop force directly targeted Kazenb ‘The drop troopers, predomi Camelian Light Foot, stormed the inner towers of the hive and wrested control of the hive's automatic defences from the uchenemy. Though the second largest hive on the planct, Kazenburg fell by far the fastest and most easily, with the mini ‘mum of collateral damage. Later, during restoration work, the manufacturing and. generating plants of the generally intact Kazenburg were swiftly brought back into uuse by the Imperial Occupation force, which greatly aided early recovery. ine Hill, a tertiary sized industrial hive in the heart ofthe southern Nexus, proved Cee rte — ‘conquer. It had been the most resistant £0 the Mechanicus assault, and still retained some air cover, which it used to devastat- ing effect. Additional, ‘second wa Imperial Guard elements were dropped close to it and advanced under armour support A vast battle then erupted along the western wall of the main hive structure as the Imperial forces attempted to storm the hive. The archenemy deployed many © engines of destruction including, mobile wall-top hardpoints and mecha nised heavy mortars, which spat, by means Uunknown to the Imperial tech-priests, gey- sers of high velocity razor chaff. ‘These latter weapons were able to shred both men and body armour, even at compara tively long range. However, their mechanisms were delicate, and heavy bombardment from Imperial Guard field batteries eventually broke thei line, Alter three days of constant warfare, the westem wall was breached, and Imperial s successfully penetrated the outer ring of the hive. In the broad agroponic zones inside the wall, the Imperial forces found themselves facing an, enemy concealed in a ditch-work of trenches and foxholes. Vicious trench war- fare persisted for a further two days until the titan Vainglory Tumultus was brought in to clear the way, Ground troop losses Were high. Once the inner hive had been breached, the Imperial Guard was harried by hosts of poorly armed cul zealots, who attacked down the hive streets and stacks with suicidal disregard for theit own safe= ty. Camhide rendered ficld command 10 the discretion of his officers on the ground Zinc Hill, allowing them to deal with the fluctuating and chaotic street fighting on a minuce-by-minute basis, sather than issue blanket commands from a distance, Wisely he recognised that by the time he had made any command decisions based of the data flow, the situation would have already changed. Later investigation revealed why Zine Hill had been so hard a target. Arack Brogaur had made his base at Zinc Hill rather than, as many would have pre sumed, at the major hive, Zine Hill bad cvidently become a site of keen ritual or sacred importance for the archenemy forces and was therefore defended with special vigour, It is also entirely possible = that Arack Etogaur was in residence at Zine Hill at the time of the time of the in and the staunch defence was, in: paisa cover to allow him time to escape andiflee see Guard elem 10 Lyubovhive,[sao Jas: Assrevirn, rie Burren Aquicus, 1xe Avpras Aqusizi0s, ree Boris Azzpnton, ne Topo Bann, rae GoRaN Brasn, ser FULVo BYARNTK, 1xP Caro Brannre, tee | GRecor Canz, ree Basit CHENKO, SGT ELK CHENKYOVITCH, TRE. IREGOR'GTRCO, TRE. JAN CZACH, TRE WDOLF CZACH, TRP A DENVOL, TRP A Romantic renderig “fone ofthe many, bontating the deed on puto Wistsiyiyscr,tar © SoromusGrreian Tae Winitii Desueannycrr > Hans Crunstan tae Juncen EcKs, 112 4 JAN Gurevemace mi Haver Brapox, Te JORDY Grerrmnacny3ne BECKMAN ETERHART, TRY Ante GirtiesacH pin? Winston Faris, 1x2 Linen Gacriag ane Gokey ELExen, re Tans GosraLiisiagRy JORAN ENEPPERSTEIN, TRE JOACHEM Googimht ame WaLbo Forr, rnp DEV GRADDIE Ke Guipo Frarerinimus scx 4 HOKAN Gomegqune Strvas FRETEL, TRE JExKOHAAE IG Dey Furz, Re Lay Furz, TRB y Eric FyZantis, TRE EDERICUS EZAK, TRE IWAN HERKMAN, TRE FYDOR GARGARYKUS, TRE —- DrNst1 HERIEMAN TR JosHEeM GARNEK, TRE XKAVIER HICKMAN, RE Pour GERTZ, TRESERVERS AND ci Rapes -scribe ‘nhide’s demeanour during the campaign as alm and affable’ this reputation did him no favours later. idenced paign journal, he cognoscent of the demands placed upon him, and the difficulties presented by Lyubov as a target. He wrote: *..grateful as Iam for the chani nd, could have wished for better than this hive-place. The land uncompromising, and the foe bedded in. There is no time for thorough work to be done by intelligencers, such is the pressure set upon my shoulders by the Lord Militant, and Tam given an army to use that, while large, is far from codified ot had time to get ar of it, or to understand its par- ticular tits However, as is ¢ his cam- to take an active comm day and all night, the merits of the posal. ‘Once the hour of attack was imminent, hiis tone became darker: “1 fret for this now, in the Emperor's name. May he ‘avyand the Guard are review! All just to scan and learn en T have at my dis bickering at staff level, and the fleet wi not move as I dispose them. As for the hallowed priests [of the Mechanicus) 1 have not even contemplated their sour visages yet daily scans of the su fesbolts will Tam sh Perhaps Thu open this for us, I have not seen such entrenched fortifications since Balhaut Men will burn and dic Men will burn and die he at I can see as much as on any field of wa Following his su the Adeptus Mechanicus to deploy, Carnhide’s tone was lifted, so contem: But again, his journals show the lie of it, “The titans are in this morn ork to be seen, Pict after Tye seen walls s in convincing porary accounts run. Good » coming back by overwatch pict, clear transmissi fall and fortresses begin to burn, Such is the wrath of Mars. But I have stood in the cargo bays, at the foot of a giant titan, and gazed up at it as if it was a god, Now they seem like specks on just specks an ‘There are walls down nifier scope blooms of fire. there that nothing may shake apa even a god. Perhaps most tellingly, he wrot have been given an army of pieces and I n expected to make a whole ouvert. Better pieces that work, rather thats whole that does not...$* Light Sancon 9 Light Sancon 11 Light Sancon, arset Lancers (Mechanised) 301* Cadian (recon) 77° Salizar Pike “The s 21* Heavy Krassian 982" Hallowmas “The Scythes 51" Chenovian, 51 Chenovian (armoured support) 676" Darrague ¥ Karrack 19* Phantine (airborne) 82" Carnelian Light Foot 88" Carnelian Light Foot 97 Carnelian Light Foot 101" Carnelian Light Foot 161" Vitrian Heavy Support 34 Pardus (armoured) Ht ttt Ht 4 tt « itt it ra Ps tit it itt itt ttt itt Pa Pd Shenk Auxiliaries (XA7) 5 Fortis Binars 22" Kolstec 29" Kolstec '86X Kasrkin Special Operational 43 326 organ 500" “The Golden Caps’ 142 Shehunid Raiders 9° Clovis “The Indomitables! 11® Clovis Heavy Support 23" Armoured Tollinbraders 58" Rarkonin Las Company Bekulian Levy Reserves 3241) 6 Mako 56" Rygol Centurions 112" Falslav 333 & 244 FéMe 55" Arnaud Fast Attack (motorised)Te price of disiods. ing the archenemy forces was ravaged land decimate bives. Transcontinental Nexus were cleared ‘or in the process of being pacified. Carnhide's atte tion turned to the main hive, the gigantic sprawl of Lyubovhive, to which the majority of all extant enemy resistance had retreated, As a tactical objective, Lyubovhive rep- resented four major discrete strategi problems. First and foremost was the main hive itself. As Carnhide wrote: 4 force commander, unless he is insane, takes a deep breath before commencing It on a major hive. In many cases, even the insane ones do too,” In their years of occupation, the enemy forces had turned Lyubovhive into a veritable fortress, armouring the hive’s outer structure and festooning it with gun ‘emplacements and malicious antiperson- nel devices, But there were secondary problems. To the west of Lyubovhive lay the ancillary hives Zenic and Zevin, both of which were still in enemy hands, Via these two hives, primary power reserves were fed into Lyubovhive from the power farn fon the western seaboard. To the south ind south west of the main hive, an over- lapping system of defensive trenches, dykes and armour traps had been con. structed in a wide crescent. many hundreds of kilometres long. Parts of this area had also been mined. Tt would be a battle just getting to the main hive, Carnhide’s officers offered many con- flicting schemes of how best to take Lyubovhive. Some recommended a ‘movement to the east, others still a cross country drive to smash and cut off the ancillary hives before turning on the ‘main hive itself ihide, showing remarkable fuidigy king (though it was seen as wool Jy indecision by his peers), elected to try all of the plans simultaneously. In his journal, he reasoned: “Two concepts strike me with equal merit. One is that no single ploy will bring Lyubovhive to its knees. The other is that an officer ust ally strives the hardest to accomplish a plan, if it's his plan. He hates to be proved wrong, Carnhide divided his considerable forces into six ‘armies’, The first, under Major General Arcol, who had recom: mended a slow siege to wait the enemy. ‘out, was to maintain the solid and fism. Occupation of the areas already taken, standing in reserve if necessary. The see: ond, under Colonel Hjak, who had supported Arcol’s plans, was to be Kept ina reserve and support position outside Sradhive ready for fast deployment, Hjak’s army was mostly motorised light infantry. The third army, which Camhide would command himself, was the largest, and would commence the frontal assault on Tyubovhive, cutting a path through the defensive system, The fourth army, under General Doshen, was to encircle Lyubovhive round the castern fringe and attack from the north-east sector. Doshen had recom mended such a plan. The fifth and sixth armies, both smaller and motorised, with extensive armour, would be commanded by Colonel Paquin and Colonel Varnsetter-€) SORTS ot respectively: They would drive at the liny hives, with the fifth army severing the ‘communication links with Lyubovhive ‘while the sixth struck ar Zevin and Zenic themselves. Asafinal touch, Cambide brought in the Navy and the Mechanicus again, Privately praising their actions thus far, he told them that the war was almost won and her of them robbed of their share of the climactic: by the Imperial Guard. The Mechanicus that he would hate 10 see ei immediately lent its war machines and titans to the third and fourth army Sirengihs, while the Navy agreed to con- duct precision air strikes on the coastal power farms, and then move in to provide Air cover for the fith and sixth armies. After ovo weeks of preparation, rearma- ‘ment and deployment, the main assault began The fast, mobile armies of Paquin and Vamsetter struck deep at the southern side of the ancillary hives, Paquin’s forces succeeded in destroying all the mass tran- sit and cable links with the main hive in the space of about a single day, and then fumed west on the approaches of Zenic By then, ferocious navy air strikes had reduced the power firms to a molten (rater, lifting a twenty kilometre wide pall iafblack smoke into the atmosphere. Vamsetter's sixth army broke into the Southern side of Zevin, and then ground to a halt as it encountered formidable For the first time since the start of the the Imperial Guard was face to face with significant numbers of the Blood Pact. Doshen's large fourth army had been on the move for the better part of three days, nd swung around to assault the north eastern periphery of the main hive. Before they were within shelling range of the hive itself, they were met by enemy armour in huge numbers, Again, these forces were principally units of the notorious Blood Pact, armed with captured and customised Imperial battle tanks. An enormous armour baitle began on the north-eastern plains. Meanwhile, the third army, the largest was digging a path for itself up through the crude but lethal defence sys tem erected by the archenemy south-west of the hive. They had been under fire and shelling from the moment they began, but the strengths of the Mei served them well. The giant fighting ines would destroy and clear the kind of defences that would stop a tank or an armoured carrier. Ivo titans were lost in this phase during the huge, set piece onslaught, but by the end of the first da Carnhide had the outer walls of the main hive in sight ‘Then he that, in Varnsetter’s men were being fought to a standstill by the merciless Blood Ps Worse was to come, North-east of the main hive, Doshen’s fourth army was being pushed back and slaughtered Both commanders pleaded with Carhide for support from the reserves. He refused, force: heard Zevin, ihn puto: playing bate gromp aponionsThe Censortwn, Lyuboubve, where Aber Progaur mate Carnhide’s ‘cold and heartless’ refusal of aid, but the matter has been overegged He clearly wanted to pport the efforts of 0 his beleaguered offi ‘cers, but it was a matter of commitment Carnhide knew well that the reserves represented by the first and, more partic ularly, the second army groups, would be vital to reinforce his main assault within. a day or two, He could not spare them, or redirect them away from this role, or risk losing the entire war, Carnhide also still had faith in the notion that ‘an offi- cer usually strives the hardest to accomplish a plan, ifi’s his plan’. He had confidence in both Doshen and Varnsetter, They had claimed to be capa- ble of accomplishing their individual objectives, He had to trust them at theit In less than twenty-four hours, his confidence was rewarded. Varnsetter managed to manoeuvre the larger part of his sixth army into an attacking lunge that drove the Blood Pact back about three Paquin, skimming the hive at Zevin, had moved with admirable speed to support the sixth in a counter strike, and brought the fifth army in to close like a pincer on the Blood Pact’s left flank. The fifth and sixth armies were then heavily sup- ported by the Navy wings, which attacked both the Blood Pact in Zevin and strategic targets in Zemic hive. It would be a further nine days before the fierce warfare in the ancillary hives kilometres into Zevin resulted in a conclusive Imperial victo- ty, and losses were high (including Varnsetter himself), But the word was Fuelled by the news that the Blood Pact was not as invincible as their repu tation and demeanour suggested, Doshen redoubled his efforts on the north ‘cast front, and ran the heavy armour and titans in his command in a Jong, tight angle of attack across the hhydroelectrie valleys of the East Lyub se River. Simultaneously, he directed talions of light support and anti units around to the north in a ceding manoeuvre. A second, hellish tank hae tle developed, blotting out the sunlight with its smoke and dust, but DoshenS gambit was successful. Battered by the advancing barrage of the armour andl Mechanicus machines, the formidable host of Blood Pact war machines recoiled north of the hydroelectric val leys and attempted to reform in squadron strength, Many became east targets for the advancing anti-tank units | and were destroyed hefore they could reassemble. The Blood Pact armout broke into two distinct elements, both forced to retreat towards the flanks of § the main hive. Outside the main eas gate, one clement was overtaken bya pidly advancing force of wachounds and tank destroyers and systematically annihilated. ‘The element fempted to push out against the | encircling light support battalions, ‘which punished it severely and broke its cohesion. As Doshen’s main fore advanced to assault the outer defences Of Lyubovhive proper, his fight suppor | and. tank destroyers prowled the | charred hinterland, picking off the last 7 of the Blood Pact's struggling machines, cut off and rogue like wild animals By that time, as word that Doshen's fiest proper assaults on the main hive ad begun in eamest reached him, nihide had broken the third army past the defence systems and crossed the outer road networks into the shad ow of the hive itself Trooper Enric infantryman with other Garsh, a Kolstee the third army recorded this chilling and articulate account of what confronted them then | the hive itself, Lyubovhive as it ib named, appeared to us like a black cliff rising from the cracked grey ground. It was plated in giant sections like a beetle, like the lustrous wing cases of 4 great beetle, and stacks and spires rose like spines above that towering plating high into the sky, where the smoke and. cloud fogged them. The wind was cold and sharp, and there were all sorts of scents on that wind: blood and ditt and oil and ash. We were ascending along the road network that once had led intofire, batteries, las, flamers. They @i the flamers closest too, where the eoffire burnt men off the roadways id blistered the surfaces of the bridges bubbled and blistered. The r with sparks and + darts offire, dense as sleet. We were told fo advance, but we dared not, as to advance was to advance into death, and lked atthe id shots and shells dropped and blew us bone from one. So we charged the hive. And it ayas not death. Ir was very like it, and it fas death for many, but it was not death © fr me, for 1am here writing of it. It was D fist like death. Very like it. General Carnhide’s third army pene ffated the south-western perimeter of Bjubovhive in the early hours of the cam- Diaign’s seventieth day. Intense block warfare began, as the Imperial invaders poured in and up through the hive’s | shelved stacks. Wellorchestrated resist ance met them every step of the way, and {Garmhide was quickly forced to call in the Second army to support him, as he had anticipated ‘The fighting continued unabated for eighty hours. Forty-six hours into that period, news came that Doshen's force Tad also breached the main hive perime- fer in the northeast, and was also driving in towards the hive’s core, Carnhide’s spirits lifted, but were quickly dashed again. As other force commanders had iscovered before him, and as many ‘would again afterwards, Camhide found jn the Blood Pact a and respectable foe that understands with curiously human insight the scalding fighting. 1 find 1 could fot section and rout the foe as 1 would against a confederacy of mindless cultist The Blood Pact — how 1 am coming to foathe that name! — lay traps, set ambush 6, mine tenements and, even, entire stacks as they retreat, They fight cleverly and with stealth and guile, employing snipers and booby.traps and even suicide attacks. A chamber i cleared, then the Guardsmen within are slain by Blood Pact lurking in wait on the other side of the wall. Thave lost many good men. Too. many. And too many of them, I would fave shaken by the hand and thanked © before death claimed them. Afier eighty hours, Carnhide called a llowed the frontline to retire and be replaced. Fighting dulled for a 7 while, though all at the main assault line could hear the distant Doshen’s northeastern attack. At hour eighty-five, Carnhide pressed. on again, with a sudden, farious lunge through multiple levels of the wounded hive, causing a suclden, stung withdrawal on the part of the enemy. They were encountering fewer Blood Pact at this stage, and more and more levies and cultists. A great fire, possibly the result of stray munitions but most probably due to enemy sabotage, broke out in the main hive's. nos sectors and burned unchecked. It would later claim and destroy approximately one fifth of the hive. Camhide’s mind was now focused on ‘one goal: to locate and destroy Arack Etogaur, the charismatic focus of the Lyubov resistance. On several ocea Tumours circulated that the Etogaur hi id slain, but each one was false, Carnhide drove his forces into the heart of the hive, relentlessly, realising that victory, however painful, was now thump of ‘Tactical overlay of ta ‘Consortium battle eer ‘LyUBOvHIVEday of the Iyubov campaign, three fireteams of specialists from the 82" Camelian Light Foot, commanded by Lt Victor Gonfal,final- ly ran the Etogaur to ground The fireteams comprised eighteen infantrymen with two crews of light mor. tar support, and specialised in city block clearance. Gon Driving ahe: through the now buming habs of northern Lyubovhive, Gonfal’s men encountered lunexpected resistance from a squad of Blood Pact warriors. The firefight was inconclusive, though it drove the enemy back down a stack way into a vandalised ‘Censorium, and left three of the foe dead! on the causeway outside Checking the bodies for life signs (Cambide's men had learned, to their Cost, that wounded Blood Pact often played dead whilst palming grenades), Gonfal's medic noticed that the corpses wore ‘black garlands and had gold leat rubbed upon their masks’. Gonfal was at ‘once alert to the notion that these troop- ‘ers were somehow special or ‘raised up’ He sent signals t0 general command for supp Before any support could arrive, Gonfal’s squads found themselves under renewed fire from the precincts of the old Censorium. Gonfal elected to move, and ordered his mortar teams to shell the facade and the inner yards. After twenty minutes of sustained bombing, which expended most of the group's shell muni: tions, Gonfal ran his troopers forward through the shelled out ruins of the Censorium front They met fierce resistance, Blood Pact troopers came out of all cover, ammo spent, using their bayonets, trench axes and hands (0 repel the attackers, Gonfal Killed six of them personally and, in his memoirs, suggests that many of his men accomplished a similar feat, The Imperials had charged las rifles at theie disposal, and made slaughter of the feral brethren of the Pact, Fighting continued deep into the Censorium quad, and beyond into the holy sepulchre, which Gonfil relates as being ‘heinously spoiled and smeared about in all treason,” By this time, a squad of Kasrkin special fists had closed on the area to support Gonfal. However, Gonfal himself had sighted an enemy he believed to be the rogue Etogaur. With two of his mea pursued him through the lower quad an out towards the west door of the sorium, Turing, as if cornered, the enemy drew a barbed chainsword an snarled into the attack. Both of Gon men died in terrible ways, Gontal hind fired twice and missed. He had one list charge left in his power pack and he ‘expended it into the enemy’s snarling fice Aker Etogaur was dead 1 later transpired that Gonfal had missed and the headshot was claimed by fone of the Kasrkin marksmen in an adj cent building But, in spirit, the work was done Though sporadic fighting continued for weeks afterwards, Lyubov was taken and Carhide was victorious Camhide expected glory for his achieve ‘ment. He did not get it, Doubts were eat” ‘on his sirength of character and even his ability to command, Deeply wounded by criticism, he published his account of the action at Lyubov and retired fom the ™ Crusade, Eighteen months later, he Wis dead from a selfinflicted gunshot wound Camhide’s actions on Lyubox, and the nature of his disgrace and death, is an ‘object lesson to all scholars of Imperial ats tics. Though he achieved his goals Camhide was accused of wavering and indecision, and of muddling his focus. Cybon himself berated Carnhide for ‘allowing the parts of your command to do. as they will” Only history, and! the persuasive voice of the Tactica Imperialis can amend that slight. Andreas Carnhide understood his duty and his function. Poorly supplied and equipped, he accomplished what his sen- iors did not believe to be feasible. They accused him of ill focus against a focused foe, but he understood the true nature the crusade animal, and all its varie Parts, and allowed them to function at their best, in concert, rather than in eohe= sion. Ironic then, that against mankind's newest and most united foe, Cambide chose to play to the strengths of the Imperial Guard, Navy and Mechanicus at its most divided, and make that an asset. Even with his officers, with their disparate plans and schemes, he sought triumph, allowing each one his head. a ‘Though driven to suicide in disgrice by | his contemporaries, Camhide remains an ‘example to all commanders who find the divided wings of the aquila at his oF her ~_ disposal. Camhide saw strength and cess in disunity just as the realised the opposite.IN THE YEAR OF OUR Gtontous Empron’s Most BENEFICENT Rute 990.M40, THE Domain OF ROPHANON DID REJECT THE RULE OF THE ADEPTUS Tena. Wor UNTO THE SOULS OF THOSE WHO TURNED FROM ‘THE LIGHT OF THE MASTER OF MANKIND, FOR TRULY THEY RESIDE NOW WITH THE RESTLESS SHADES OF OUTER NiGHt, Tre BATTLES FOUGHT TO CAST OUT THE TRAITORS AND TO RESTORE THE Pax IMPERIALIS RAGED FOR THREE LOCAL YEARS AND A MULTITUDE OF LOYAL WARRIORS MAKIYIED THEMSELVES ON THE ACCURSED BULLETS AND BAYONETS OF THOSE THAT SHOULD HAVE CALLED THEM BROTHER, ROPHANON PROVED ONLY THE OFENING ENGAGEMENT IN A SERIES OF COSTLY WARS THT DEVOURED THE ENTIRE LENGTH OF THE PROTEAN EDB. THE SORRY ERA SAW ‘THE DEATH OF SAINT KASSIUS LOE, THE SUNDERING OF THE THIRD CONVOCATION (OF NEFHILM, AND "HE TOTAL DESTRUCTION OF TASK FORCE 1293, It WAS ONLY ‘THE INTERVENTION OF LORD AU/SALABAD AND HIS DISCIPLES ‘THAT SAVED THE ENTIRE REGION FROM SLIPPING FOR ALL TIME BEYOND THE LIGHT OF THE EMPEROR HEED THOUGH, UNTO THE LESSONS THOSE BOLD SERVANTS MIGHT TrACIT US. FoR SOME, DUTY DOES NOT END IN DEATH, AND THOUGH THEY RES NOW AT THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE EMPEROR, THEIR ACTIONS ECHO DOWN THE AGES, ENRICHING AND. ENIIGHTENING THOSE WHO WOULD LISTEN, UNTIL THE END OF ALL THINGS. ~ From A History of the Later Imperial Crusades Much as been written on the wars that ‘engulfed the Protean Ebb, but the ‘account that follows ts the only noun description ofthe fate of the Kopbanon system. Otber autbors ave focused on the dramatic death of Saint Loe, to the detri- ‘ment, some feel of the wider Picture, To date then, this text, penned by the personal Historatirix of the Lord General Byltbe is the only version in circu: lation. It bas been put forward hy many of Blythe's contemporaries as the definitive account of the Lord General's most celebrated actionDoe fam crest of te Paling Bouse of ‘Ropbanon thiry-ninth millenni tum, Rophanon was a world ruled directly by the Adept Administratum. A ‘world under charter, the planet was ‘entirely given over to the servicing of the vast, sprawling bureaueracy known ay the Priesthood of ‘Terra, Its cities were home to a million dusty archives and its skies were pierced by the soaring silicon spires of its kilometre-high data reposito- ries. But Rophanon was more than this, for the planct had long been classed a Garden World, a place of exceptional beauty that had been preserved, unusu- ally in a galaxy so shattered by war, for its ‘own sake. The most highly ranked of the Adeptus ‘Terra would come to Rophanon to see out their days. These were the favoured few who were allowed to die not tethered to data-station or amalga- mated into an archivum retsieval point. ‘They were allowed the staggeringly rare privilege of seeing out their days with the sun upon their face, walking the para- disiacal gardens and conversing with peers who had served, like them, at the very highest echelons of the Imperium. It ‘was said that three High Lords had seen ‘out their days thus, strolling the vine- lined arboreums of Rophanon having walked the vaulted corridors of the Imperial Palace for so long. The population of Rophanon were divided into two classes. The Administratum and their servants consti- tuted one third of the population, w the planet's indigenous people account: ed for the remainder. Millions scraped and bowed, seeing to the every whim of their masters, or served them indirectly, maintaining the weaving green lanes, labousing at the docks or any one ofa bik: lion other tasks below the masters’ notice. The indigenous Rophanors ~ for so they called themselves — were invisible to the world’s masters, having no rights, fo claims to the land and little hope of ever beitering themselves. So it was for the vast majority of the Imperium. But upon Rophanon it was ot always so. ‘Once known as Oris, Ropbanon City was the ‘hat of the Auraiistrattn' poner upon the Planet. Ie ws situated atthe point of the Isthmus Libratis, and was surrounded on {bre points ofthe compas by ancent delicate gades, and by the tranquil Artum Sa and ts coral forests tothe north The ety ‘was visible jrom many kilometres around towering data stacks pltering in the vile Lnged sky, ts roe Hinad walleways crowded eth basting scribes, hose gifted the privilege oftheir own sleeping ell rater tain a space beneath ther workstation Iurryne abot the rspsttoies ad arches all bours of the day. The city vas bome to five milion scribe and fly tee as many ‘menial In addition, a planetary defence force garvisaned the region jrom ts barracks ‘around the city, ad a furtbor million oF ‘more servants ofthe Administratum might be ‘passing through at any one time, engaged "upon errands of the utmost import 10 the Prtestbood of Terraas pee reeas erry pera) ° &< a mers ¥ © Drresrtr j a ere ed fered ee Day oa pr ; es eee 2s f = come ee P Soret ROPHANON(Opposite) Format portrait of Artemis Bythe always an Admit stratum fiefom. The Priesthood of Terra had not always ruled it, and its peo- ple had not always served the servants tum. Its people were ‘once free, masters of their own world, ‘with their own rulers who reigned in the name of the Emperor. ‘As with all the major worlds along the Protean Ebb, Rophanon had been settled during the dark times long before the Age of the Imperium. When the colonists had first set foot upon the world’s sur face, they had looked upon the beauty of the world and determined that they would settle there for all time. But as they explored their new world, they dis- covered towering silcate spires clustered together at numerous points across ity surface. They had no inkling who might have built these strange structures, and found no other sign of intelligent life sharing their world. The settlers, so Rophanon’s sagas told, resolved to avoid the spire-cities, seeking to make th homes instead beneath the delic ‘canopies of the low-growing trees that covered vast tracts of the world’s land- And so it was throughout the centuries. Rophanon prospered, taking its place in. the Imperium when the Great Crusade reached the Ebb. Its sons and daughters ‘went offto fight in the Emperor's armies, and many great servants of the Imperium. of Man were birthed there, ‘That was until the last decades of the thiny-eighth millenniue rum of the Administration declared Rophanon under charter, Strategic planning ins gated many centuries before had identified Rophanon as the ideal location for a massive data processing andl archiv ing operation required to assimilate and to act upon the vast amount of informa- tion generated by the every day tasks of the Administratum. Every day, billions upon billions of reports, messages patches, and communiqués must be received, processed, eventually filed away. Rophanon was 10 provide the archival facilities for a seg mentum's worth of data, Its data ‘would process a sea of information, 2 surging ocean of data that had been acted upon, sometimes centuries before and was required no more, But n was ever discarded, and so when a quo- High Masters of acted upon and I resting place for the galaxy’s ated data, The Administratum shipped millions of seribes, serfs and menials to Rophanon, n the space a single generation, completely transforming its society. The indigenous population were declared subjects of the Priesthood of Terra, and their hereditary governors relegated to leaders in name only. The so-called High Council of Rophanon, chaired by the hereditary Imperial Commander, pro- vides the visible face of governance, But it holds no real power. The Administratum rule supreme upon. Rophanon, and every man women and. child upon the world’s surface is, ulti ately, subjugated to its will ‘The Lord General Artemis Blythe, the so called bero ofthe aylanrt Massaeres was @ proud servant ofthe Administratuns. Hacing ‘sen trough the ranks ofthe Officio Munitorum’s Staff Corps, be took a commana rank at the Battle of Aristachus X lebere be was Cbte of Operations t0 the {infamous Lond Militant Ufa Berk, Wen Berk was sat by ae Ini traitor sent by bis ‘Heal Lord Havaldur ‘the Unsane’, it eas Liytbe that tock control ofthe Army 17 and averted disaster in the face of overvbeiming ‘onemy forces Blythe wont on to load Army tirnatly securing the entire expanse ofthe ‘Dragan Reach and scouring i's sstems of rebels and pirates ina series of pogroms for tubich be was bighty decorated, Artemis Bly i a tactturnindivtduat, not } _lven tothe ts of bisriontes for whic bis ormer commander Ufak Bere was well noun. His manner betrays bis background ‘asa staff oficer—be ts methodical and ‘meticulous in bts approach to war, but be is {noun to disay «spark of genius when otbers ura fallback on rigid doctrine, He requires of those officers under him the same (painstaking approach to sear beliring that ‘one only bas the right to innovate when one ‘has a thorough grounding in doctrine Bibthe iso Rophanon recovering from wounds suffered when bis command vessel, the Pride of Fastight was ambushed atthe ‘eight of the Dragan Reach campaign, espue bis wounds, Blyibe refused to stand = down until the campatyy was declared 9) complete, Iweraly collapsing with ceshaustion atthe potnt of bis(Opposite) the bead Of the Counc! of Rophanon, Kruber ‘of Rophanon main- fained a public face of coexistence and cooperation with the Administratum it fostered dissent : within its ranks, ‘Made up as it was by individuals who were proud to trace their family roots fo pre-Imperium. times, the Council became a secret hotbed of recidivism. Its members sat in open congress by day, debating the matters of import with their peers. But by night they met in ones and twos, and spoke of a ti before the Administratum reduced them to mere puppets. And they were not alone, for the indigenous people of Rophanon longed for the time when they laboured not under the yoke of the Administratum, but were masters of their own fate, servants of the Large, not slaves to a petty bureaucracy. The council members went amongst their erstwhile subjects, planting the seeds of rebellion amongst them. Hooded figures whis. pered of freedom, of casting off the shackles of the priesthood, of Rophanon taking its place once more amongst the Imperium of Man. Surely they reasoned, the Emperor would will it thus? The roots of heresy took many years to spread, but spread they did, until the indigenous people of Rophanon nurtured treason in. secret. Though they maintained the illusion of faceless drudge, bowing and scraping to their superiors, the Rophanors grew to hate their lot. And it was the agents of the Council that steered this hatred, con- trolling it from afar. With a serf in every bureau, archive and officio, the Council knew every secret of its enemy, until one day, it enacted its long-prepared for plan. It issued the order to its followers forth ‘... Arise! Cast off the shackles of the Priesthood of Terra and take back that which is yours.’ The chatr of the Council of Ropranon, Kruker Voor can trace bis ancestry back ‘many millennia. 1s line includes over one ‘nundeed imperial Commanders of Rophanon, and be t, secret utterly consumed with hatred forthe Adminisiratum that robbed bis family of ts ‘bosttion as rulers of the worl {In bis youth, Voor served inthe armies of ‘the imperium, commanding the Ropbanon 3 in a series of minor wars agatnstorkish {incursions along the northern reach ofthe Protean Ebb. I was only when be returned 10th world of bis birth that bis batred really began to blossom, for though be was Allowed to return, thanks to bis position on the council of his homeworld, wane of bis ‘men wore permited to return to the planet ‘of tbetr birth, Despite the fact thatthe war ‘against the orks was won, with bonour, the Ropbanor units wore shipped out to serve land wo die whatever confit required them first. Voor was disgusted, for be bad Seon bis fellow Rophanors fight and die for the Imperius, and when they thought their task done they were allowed no rest He saw that no amount of sacrifice or eotrage ‘or glory would satiate the Imperium's unending thirst for Blood. Upon bis return to Ropbanor. Voor assumed the position of Chair ofthe Connell of ophanon, and from bi very first day be determined to east ofthe rule of the Adeptus Terra. He knew of course that even thinking sch a thought made bim traitor, but be reasoned to bine that bis was melther a treachery against the Emperor, nor Mankind or the Impertumn. He focussed bis hatred enuirey upon the administratunn, and thelr exalted governors who ruled bis world. And so, Yoor nurtured similar notions bel by bis peers and by bis people. He plotted ‘and planned. and bis influence gre: st ‘one, long planned for day, be brent ‘rebellion and war tothe world of bs Dirt, in order be believed, 10 mals tf(Opposite) One of Lord Blythe many makeshift command Dosis employed ‘throughout ibe bostilties on Repbanon Despite tbe efforts of ‘he Arbtes suas on Ropar, they wore tnable 0 prevent the planewide rebelion Garey orchestrate! (5 Kruker Voor The Arbite eniployed tide variety of ‘metho 10 root ont sedition. including Clandestine inter ion practices to goto information and more tert itidaton and brutal tactics Arbites patrols on Rophanon were often plone in urbanted brie in Ropbanon i, checkin cand learing habitation Bulings iherefore ringing thom ino uprising upon the world of Rophanon, he put into action a lan several decades in the making. For years, the Council had been insinuat- ing its agents into every workplace and every dormitory on the planet, spread- ing its sedition and preparing’ covertly for the day when the Rophanors would rise up as one and slaughter their mas- ters, taking power for themselves and forcefully reclaiming theie world. These agents were primed with their tasks, though each was allowed to know only a fraction of the overall plan lest they be suspected by their masters and dragged off to the interrogation cells of the Arbites. At sunrise on what would become known as the Day of Returning, these agents received the word, and led their fellows in rebellion, ‘The first that many Administeatum offi cials knew of the rebellion was when their former servants, previously docile and faceless, turned upon them Thousands of Administratum. officials were killed in their sleep as housemen and menials slit the throats of their despised masters. Many more had pr ious little more warning than that, the last thing they saw their servants ‘massacring entire halls of scribes, The rebellion soon spread from the first, key, locations in which it had been instigated. Soon, the Rophanors required no goading to tise up against their masters. The archives and libraria were put to the torch by bay mobs, the sun scarcely having risen before it was ‘obscured by choking ash, fragments of burning Parchment falling from the skies and touching off secondary fires all over the city: An hour after sunrise, a rebel placed a melta charge against the base ofone of the sileate towers of Rophanor within seconds it was burning with @ white light so intense that ten thousand Were incinerated in its heat and one hundred thousand more blinded by the very sight of it. With anarchy reigning all over their formally idyllic world, the Administratum was thrown into a blind Panic. Many senior governors had been, Jost in the opening phase of the upris- ing, and the remainder were paralysed with indecision and outright. shock Nothing had prepared the administra tors for such an occurrence, and th rebellion looked like it would succee entirely within those first few hours of bloodshed Fortunately, one man had the experi ence and the courage to step forward and to take control. Artemis Blythe burst in upon the conclave of the surviving administrators as they screamed and argued ineffectively. With a voice made ly by all he had witnessed that morning, Lord Blythe declared him: self the acting commanderin«chief ofall Surviving military assets, and invited any in the chamber to disagree with, bigs. None did, and Blythe went abotlé business of imposing some form, tol over the rapidly degen situation,Posted. He saw that he did not even hue time to establish the full scope of hisown forces, and so he simply ordered Hail units to converge upon a Gbjectives, and waited to sce ‘obeyed. an It soon P became apparent that only third of Rophanor's defence militia B remained loyal, and these | esublished, were those whose person- fEworld series of which which did nor around a it was soon nel were entirely made up of séribes, judged surplus to requirements ‘ormentally unfit o serve as such, Having Been ejected from the archives and work faces, these men and women had been Packed off to the PDF garrisons, where they would contribute to the world's defence by providing a paper strength fargreater than their real, military worth, ‘Iwo thirds of the PDF, those drawn from the indigenous population, had rebelled, Having established what forces he could draw upon, Blythe almost despaired of the task ahead of him, He Sects s DATA-PLANTS “, reed eta brava ig Roviianon Sree saw within hours that he had no choice bur to call for aid from off world. He would use his rank and his connections to instigate a massive counter attack In such Imperial Commanders or, as in this case, their proxies are required to issue pathic plea, transmitted in increasingly wide cireles until a response is received Bither a taskforce from an existing unit will be diverted, or an entirely new reg: oeld cipher car- iment will be raised from the first to receive the plea. Blythe's ried geeat weight with those receiving his transmissions, and soa response was forthcoming within days, A crusade fleet three months out offered to detach an elen ind forces for Blythe’s use units would muste at Algenon, neighbouring system, and its members would form the cade of a larger force nt of its The: to be raised from that world’s Planetary Defence Within twenty days, a stagger- ingly short period of time and one only possible given Blythe's rank, a substan tial force und to begin the arduous task of re-establishing order on Rophanon. Forces, was inb Data-MiLLS A cs ee ety feces! Oo Sentor SCRIBE ree Aumistratum's rude the data-nil’s and(rotouing ped ord ‘i Ap! Cran tere nef a cin Ornella con Sonora sof ofernte a eee =e Litas fh Roginentl countenance, but i the ti of interdependence at levels higher Spe those davs,rebelion and reason split than the Regiment, an indeperience ABA Bytom atetve students wil have the glacysuunde, and full al of thar ean only come frm loyal ae Disa ajor divereence between a the Impeial Ary turned from the ants of the Munro Were, fo Newbee dsfnce force and an iho the Mow Beneficent Emer Comyit ‘en Ariiiey’ Repreect. Fnprl Guard Regiment PDF and tursed upon the Imperim of Larne the Ine hath ot Heals, BE ace amon an, Man, Ee th ere ha and able out conid rears where they ol ne th id of fllows In the end, the ttre were roweht ice sls af communication to bes, si he Army as sl sn panitve assault by a Drop oop ‘Grotard oversaw the

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