Chapter 7 Part 4

Chapter 7: Chaotic complications

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Part 4

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General Alexander's HQ

Victory Bay

Kronus

The list of assets the Necrons promised for Operation Nemesis – the cleansing of the Deimos Peninsula was both eye-opening and unsettling. While in raw numbers they were inferior to the Imperial contribution, in practice it was large enough force to give the surviving Guard and Astartes units on Kronus run for their money. Said force wasn't everything these Xenos had on the planet, just the already active portion minus what they felt comfortable with leaving to protect their facilities. Those reinforcements General Alexander and the Inquisition requested better arrive soon, otherwise, the planet might either find itself with new owners of blasted to bits by the navy when it deigned to appear in force, Weber thought.

"Drone swarms offered us a good picture of the enemy's defenses." The Xeno said. It waved a metal hand an a crisp, green hologram materialized above the tactical table.

The projection was rather bland and stylized, however, that was certainly better than live feed from a Chaos infested area. Best case scenario about that operation – everyone who lived through it would be looked hard and long by the Inquisition and Ecclesiarchy. Worst case, well it was a one-way mission no matter who killed you, with any survivors receiving the Emperor's Mercy just in case.

Needless to say, anyone going there would be wearing a fully environmentally sealed armors, for all the good it was going to do. At least there was no shortage of those, in part thanks to the industrial capacity of Victory Bay augmenting what the General's regiments brought with themselves.

"At this point," The Xeno was saying, "the enemy is still in the process of setting up outer perimeter defenses. We're detecting multiple locations with increased trans-dimensional bleed-through beyond the portal. Drone observation points at energy discharge fueled by sacrifices, which we estimate are going to be deadly for you squishies. In this case, the recommendation is that those areas are purged with indirect fire if practical, close assault by heavy infantry if not – both ours and your Astartes."

Two rings of six blinking purple pints appeared on the map, looking like pulsing tumors.

"We'll need more data on those locations." The Astartes often seen with Inquisitor Veil spoke after silently observing the meeting so far.

"We'll provide a filtered recording, live feed if necessary, though viewing it by you humans will be dangerous." The Xeno stated in a voice holding a hint of what might have been droll sarcasm.

Was the thing capable of something like that?

"Continuing, there are four locations of concentrated trans-dimensional energies on the main roads leading to the targets. Those are staging grounds for extra-dimensional entities. Sacrificing altars and pools of blood help them remain stable in our dimension while their numbers increase enough for a decisive action we believe." With those words, four blinking red circles appeared on the map. "Further, there are artillery positions at these points…" The Xeno continued and triangular symbols appeared on multiple locations, generally, hills which would offer better range and firing lanes.

"Those need to be silenced before we can launch a proper armored assault in order to kick the door to the portal open." Colonel Roval concluded. "My crews will appreciate if any anti-tank infantry infestations are removed in front of our advance. We don't have enough armored units to waste them against such opposition."

"In twelve hours we'll have units disrupting the construction of the enemy's outer defenses." The Xeno said. "We'll be using our teleportation technology to insert in strike units, which will hunt down for artillery and heavy infantry as well."

"Our Assault Marines and light units will be ideal for this part of the operation." Captain Thule added. "We'll have the capacity to deep strike Terminator and Dreadnought units for head-hunter missions, however first we'll have to confirm that our armor and ward can protect us from the suspected warp discharges if not, they have to be neutralized first. Can't you just insert a unit at the portal and neutralize it, thus buying us time for a better prepared and methodical assault?"

"There is too much trans-dimensional interference and the area of effect is slowly increasing. At projected rates, it will cover the whole peninsula within two weeks. While we can protect our units which will take part in the assault from it's corrupting effect, long-range teleportation is out of the question. The same goes for air or orbital strikes." The Xeno explained.

"That damn Warp dome above the portal." The Lord Inquisitor grumbled. "We'll have to do it the old fashioned way."

"Inquisitor Veil is right." General Alexander nodded grimly. "Make no mistake, this is going to be a tough, bloody fight against some of the nastiest things this galaxy has had the misfortune to ever see." He glared at the assembled people. "That said, we will cleanse this infestation from the face of Kronus in the Emperor's name before it can kill us all or worse." As he said that, the General made the sign of the Aquila and every single Imperial, even the Mechanicus Adepts, followed suit.

The Xeno? They simply looked around with what might have been curiosity.

"Regarding morale, dealing with possible corruption and contamination, while everyone committed to the operation should be on the lookout, dealing with said dangers will be the primary responsibility of the Commissars, junior officers, and the Ecclesiarchy cadre we either brought with us or can draw on locally. After the battle, everyone who takes part will be quarantined until a determination on their status could be done by proper authorities."

Which meant the reinforcements, the Inquisition in particular. Well, that couldn't be helped.

"We'll do our part, sir!" Weber spoke aloud in a voice leaving no doubt about his conviction, a sentiment echoed by his fellow Commissars among the gathered officers.

"I expect nothing less." General Alexander said before changing the topic. "We can't count on the enemy sitting behind their defenses and waiting for us to come for them. We need to be on the lookout for either infiltration and sabotage attempts or perhaps even an all-out assault on our positions. Further, we'll need to establish forward operation bases and supply dumps closer to the target zone in order to make our logistics easier during Operation Nemesis. In particular, that is one of the constraints delaying the launch of the assault. Some of the areas between us and the Deimos Peninsula are currently no-mans-land, which needs to bee secured…"

"Air and orbital support is and will be available in those areas…" The Xeno motioned at the map and it shifted, zooming out changing into a crisp orbital image, which had the Deimos Peninsula hazed out, likely as a precaution. Multiple amber bands superimposed themselves between the target area and Victory Bay, showing zones complete with flight time for air assets – Aeronautica, Astartes, and Necron alike.

That was going to be useful information, yet it was disturbing because as far as Weber could determine, the flight times for the Imperial fighters and bombers were about right. Any Xeno having this much data about the Imperial war machine was always an unpleasant proposition, then again, some of the most dangerous of Humanity's foes knew the Guard and Astartes capabilities almost as well as the Guard Regiments and Astartes Chapters themselves.

However, Weber didn't have to like that fact, damn it!

"Let us not forget that while all those details and smaller components of Operation Nemesis are vital, they are only supporting elements that will allow us to achieve our primary objective." The Lord Inquisitor got the meeting back on track.

"The Warp Portal." General Alexander's mouth twisted in distaste.

"Precisely. To put it bluntly, if we fail to seal it, we're all fucked, both literally and figuratively." Inquisitor Veil stated. He looked at the Astartes looming beside him. "Options, Anteas?"

"Depending on the portal, direct application of firepower upon whatever supports it might be enough." The Astartes grimaced. "Or it might do nothing at all. I can't say for certain before seeing the damned thing myself."

"We'll provide relevant long-range images."

"If we can secure the immediate area and keep enemy reinforcements coming through contained, we should be able to build the necessary infrastructure to strengthen real space in the area, weakening the breach and eventually seal it. However, doing so will take time and resources, which we might not necessarily have." The Xeno explained.

The implications of the Necrons having such capabilities were staggering and needless to say, Weber was sure that the Mechanicus Adepts would be drooling at the idea of having such tech if it could be properly developed by humans. If he was even more cynical, and if he was suicidal, the Commissar might have wondered, perhaps even aloud, if some of the Machine God disciples might not care about the origin of such technology if they could get their mechadendrites on them….