Chapter 5 Part 7
Chapter 5: The Battle of Victory Bay
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Part 7
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While multiple armies fought for control of Kronus, calls for reinforcements raced throughout the galaxy. Captured records reveal that arguably, first to arrive was the call for help issued by Farseer Taldeer, however to her chagrin, Biel-Tan lacked available assets to dispatch to assist her without compromising the security of their Carftworld. At the time, Biel-Tan had been confirmed as engaged in multiple campaigns and raid across eight different sectors.
Second and third to reach their destinations were the messages sent by Captain Davian Thule and General Lucas Alexander. Those contained both calls for reinforcements considering the greater Xeno and Traitor opposition faced on Kronus, as well as clarification of orders issued to the two Imperial contingents that put them in direct opposition of each other. The content of those messages gained the attention of Sector and Segmentum Munitorum and Naval Command, as well as multiple Inquisitors. Two Inquisitors raced towards Kronus to investigate, backed by elements of the Sector fleet and eight Guard Regiments available as quick reaction force.
The Tau leadership planet-side had already called for help long before the various armies that fought for Kronus arrived or made their presence known – the arrival of General Alexander in system prompted them to scream for assistance and they were lucky that a Tau Battle fleet carrying Commander Kais has been close enough to respond.
The Necrons were perhaps the last army to manifest on Kronus. Once their leader figured out the situation and the crippled state of his assets, he sent an open call for help to any and all Necron forces that could come to his aid...
Tenuous Alliances: The Kronus Campaign
by Colonel Tonev, retired
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Bridge
Rogue Trader Vessel Lucre Foedis
It wasn't often that Amberley Vail carried herself as the experienced Inquisitor she was. Usually, it was much easier, and fun, to live as the mask of a whimsical young woman she preferred to show the world at large. Then there were moments when doing so would be decidedly out of place. In the span of a few short hours, Segmentum Command, and various Inquisitorial assets in the region received three Astropathic messages concerning Kronus, a mostly forgotten civilized world in Sector Lithesh, as Mott helpfully explained.
Two of those messages, while concerning, weren't too surprising. There were always places where multiple interests clashed, both Xeno and Imperial alike. Seeing all major enemies of Humanity descent on a single worlds fighting for control, it happened often enough, given the sheer size of the Imperium.
Now, the Imperial forces planet-side shooting at each other not due to heresy or treason, but because of conflicting orders? That has been happening lately and the Inquisitors within the whole Segmentum had standing orders to investigate and get to the bottom of it. That fact by itself would have gained Amberley's interest, and the presence of five Xeno armies on Kronus was like a siren song for an Ordo Xenos Inquisitor calling her there ASAP.
It was the third message, which in fact arrived first, that had her concerned. She was to make best possible speed to Kronus after gathering available quick reaction forces. She was to secure the planet and quietly investigate what the Blood Raven's were seeking down there. It came through the usual channels, it had the proper authorizations marking it as genuine and priority order, however it lacked a clear header explaining who actually sent it.
Amberley smelled politics on this one or worse, which was never a good thing, people on the sharp end like her tended to die as a collateral damage due to such games. Still, she had her orders, and as if not more importantly, she had a mystery on her hands to solve.
"How long until we're ready to depart, Captain?" Vail addressed the lord and master of her preferred transport, the Rogue Trader Orelius.
He was a middle aged man, who had a youthful appearance thanks to his access to the proper rejuvenation treatments, paid in no small part thanks to his richly rewarded service under Amberley in particular and the Inquisition in general.
"Six hours until we're fully resupplied and have the Guard regiment in place. Three more hours for the Navy Task Force to assemble, five for the transports to be fully loaded and ready to break orbit. Seventy two hours to reach a safe distance for Warp transition."
"That's too long. We're leaving once your ship is ready, the task force will have to follow us at the best possible speed."
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Stasis chambers
Necron Tomb Complex
Pyrrhia
He dreamed of warm sun bathing his face, of cool wind's touch upon his skin, a lovely, enticing voice calling for him. He lost himself in half-forgotten echoes of the good life he lived before the war, then the dreams turned into nightmares of shattered worlds, enemy armadas that blotted the stars themselves, of the great fall, the defeat that brought all surviving Necrothyr back to the all but forgotten home-world, where they were either left to rot on the surface or if lucky, to die stuck in stasis vaults within the merchant ships in orbit.
He remembered the C'tan, the fury of his people's leaders at being brought so low, the Silent King's own boundless rage at losing his Empire. He remembered the deal, remembered his own thirst of vengeance, he remembered the process, how he lost something as he walked into the great machine that stripped his flesh and soul away.
He remembered the "gifts" of the C'tan, the massive warmachine the newly minted Necrons built, their thirst of vengeance that even the bio-transference couldn't drown.
He remembered the war that followed, could still savour the despair of the Old Ones, he dreamed of their madness, of the Eldar, Krork, the abominations they unleashed during their final fall.
He remembered the great betrayer, when Necron turned upon Necron, when they shattered the few surviving C'tan… He remembered how low his people fell… Again and again, those dreams plagued him for eternity…
Then he awoke and wasn't sure if it was a dream, another nightmare, or the real thing. Status displays came to life, internal diagnostic tools activated, then a query came from the outside demanding to know his status.
Anrakyr finally awoke, still feeling the brush of soft lips on his cheek, something he hadn't experienced for eternity even before the Great Sleep. For a moment he stood frozen in place, trying to better recall the memory, or was it a dream?
The diagnostics completed themselves, showing that he was in a surprisingly good shape all things considered.
"Over sixty million years?" He exclaimed aloud once his internal system synchronized with those under control of the Caretaker Intelligence responsible for the Tomb World during the Great Sleep.
"Affirmative. Priority Alert available – request for all available support..."
Anrakyr paid no attention to the worlds and accessed the raw data. He was pleased to find out that the complex was in a great shape, especially considering it has been left to rot for an eternity and immediately figured out that he had been very lucky, either that or his counterpart had been extremely unlucky. A compromised and decayed Tomb World beset by multiple lesser species, the Aeldari, who were somehow still around the bastards, and to top it all, there were Abominations and their worshipers running around. That place just begged for proper purging… and the local Necron Lord was planning to ally himself with one of the lesser species there in order to survive. That was only going to end well…
"Do we have squatters on the surface as well and what's the status of our forces?" The Necron Lord asked aloud.
The galaxy had obviously went to ruin without proper overlords keeping things together, something that simply had to be addressed! Gaining the allegiance of the surviving forces upon that that Tomb World, not to mention actionable intelligence about potential threats and the overall status of the galaxy would be a good first step before establishing a firm plan for the future, the Necron concluded.
He received a data file from the Caretaker Intelligence, which confirmed that there was a lesser presence on the surface, though they weren't exactly squatters. Some kind of fluffy little local critter had evolved into a lesser species that was busy trying to figure proper farming. His late wife might have liked them, or not. It has been so long she has been gone, murdered during the "war" between the Necrothyr and the Old Ones, that these days, Anrakyr had trouble properly remembering her.
Deeming the locals of no interest, he turned his attention towards the status of his troops.