Heresy and Rebellion

"What would you have done with shore leave anyway?  Gotten drunk?" asked Trooper Daly, obviously annoyed.

"No way!  I would have just slept for three days straight." stammered Trooper Byrne.  "Besides, it doesn't matter.  The whole ruddy planet is on leave and we're stuck up here in this damn boat."

The troopers were standing watch in one of the many docking bays on board the Imperial Cruiser Warspite, orbiting high above the planet Vendoland.  The huge bay was filled to capacity with two massive ground force drop ships, three much smaller Arvus Lighter transports and two Valkyrie Assault Carriers.  The cruiser was the main interstellar transport for the 1st Vendoland Expeditionary Force.

"What the hell does the colonel have against holidays anyways?  Any other commander would be down there having a good ol' time away from all of us,"  Byrne whined.

"Psh.  The whole damn expedition is up here, Byrne, not just the 101st.  It wasn't the colonel's call," Daly retorted.  "And there's a bright side to all this, yanno."

"Yeah?  What?" Bryne asked, rolling his eyes.

"You don't have to walk in a bloody parade."

***

It was Settlers Day on Vendoland.
Everyone in the massive capital city of Venlin was out for the festivities.  There were carnivals and celebrations going on all over the city.  Streets were crowded with people going to and from parties and get-togethers.  Nobody stayed inside on Settlers Day. 


The main event, however, was about to occur: The military parade.  The one time a year Vendoland showed off its might to the public.  Nearly every unit in the planetary defense force and expeditionary forces was lined up in perfect formation on main street, marching in perfect formation and rhythm.  Some of the units were dressed in the standard dark green on light green uniform of  the Vendoland defense force.   Others were dressed in the different fatigues of their expeditions.   Thousands of armored vehicles thundered down the streets behind the infantry formations.  Leman Russ battle tanks, Basilisk artillery batteries, Chimera APC's and even Sentinel walkers lined the street.  The sound was enourmous.  Through the cheers of the massive crowd, the stomping of millions of marching feet and the roar of engines, one could barely hear their own thinking. 


Lord Governor Marcus Sato sat and watched his military lumber on from a large balcony on the side of one of the many skyscrapers along the parade route.  His personal staff had set up a small command point on the balcony, taking and sending out vox calls to various personnel throughout the city.

"Magnificent, isn't it, mi'lord?" one of the Governor's aides said, proudly.

"Indeed it is," Sato replied, nodding.  "This is might truly worthy to heed the Emperor's call."

"Truly, mi'lord," the aide affirmed.  "Nobody dares to challenge the might of Vendoland.  The sector is safe now and will always be safe with forces like these."

Sato turned to the aide and said, sternly,  "One can only hope the universe shares your optimism."

"What do you mean, mi'lord?  Look at this might layed before us.  Who would dare to challenge this?"  the aide questioned, raising his voice slightly.

"Do you know why I keep Vendoland's conscription rates so high, even though there hasn't been major conflict in the region in centuries?" Sato inquired.

"To show your power throughout the sector, mi'lord?" the aide answered, puzzled.

Sato chuckled.  "I'm not that concerned with 'showing off my power' to our little sector, no."

"Then what?"

"Because this sector is too damn quiet.  Call it paranoia if you like, but I know something is going to happen, sometime.  Every neighboring sector is plagued by war, rebellion, or something of the sort.  Why should our sector be any different?" Sato said sternly, turning back to look at the parade below them.

"Perhaps we are just being watched over by the Emperor, mi'lord," the aide replied, raising his eyebrows.

Sato chuckled again.  "The Emperor watches over all of humanity.  That doesn't mean bad things don't happen."

The aide frowned, "I don't--" 

He was cut off as dozens of Valkyrie assault carriers and Vendetta gunships screamed overhead in their flyby formation. 

"Oh, I love this part," the aide said, turning his attention to the flyover.  Suddenly, one of the Vendettas broke formation, spinning wildly out of control and smashing into a nearby Valkyrie.  Several more aircraft followed suit, breaking formation and either slamming into other nearby aircraft or just falling from the sky. 


"By the throne, they're dropping like flies!"

Then everything went to hell.  Two Vendettas dropped right onto a formation of Basilisk artillery tanks, forming a massive fireball and sending debris everywhere.  Explosions erupted out of buildings all along the parade route, showering citizens and guardsmen alike with flame and debris.  One of the formations of guardsmen un-slung their weapons and began firing randomly into the nearby crowds.  People screamed madly, trying to get away from the barrage of fire.  Citizens were cut down by the hundreds.  Two other formations followed suit, catching the nearby marching formations off-guard and slaughtering them to the last man before they could even un-sling their weapons.  

The crowds began to disprese in every direction as fast as they could.  People were crushed as they fell underneath the feet of the crazed mobs.  More men with weapons were pouring out of other buildings, firing randomly into whatever was near them.  There was blood and flames everywhere along the parade route. It was sheer chaos.

Lord Governor Sato jumped to his feet and turned to his stunned staff.  "Vox operator, contact the Warspite in orbit.  Tell the 1st Expedition I want them planet-side, now!"

Planets of the Cyris Sector

Vendoland - Seat of Power
Civilized World
Population: ~10,000,000,000
Terra-like climate
Military Force: PDF and Expeditionary
Capital City: Venlin
Vendoland is the largest planet and the most populated in the Cyris sector.  It also boasts the largest military in the sector, with a full planetary defense force and expeditionary forces.  Because of nearby warp activity, Vendoland has a larger number of warp-attuned citizens than most planets in the Imperium.  The citizens of the planet pride themselves in being staunch followers of the Imperial Creed and see themselves as being very modern and elite.  Because of this, the rest of the sector sees the Vendolish as being arrogant.  Lord Governor Marcus Sato leads not only the planetary government, but also the sector government here as well.

Cyris
Civilized Mining World
Population: ~7,000,000,000
Terra-like climate, moderate pollution
Military Force: PDF and Expeditionary
Capital City: Venlin
Cyris is the second most populated planet of the sector, and is known for its vast mining operations planet wide.  The Cyrisians are very superstitious and put a strong emphasis on religion, and as such have strong ties to the Ecclesiarchy, Inquisition and Adeptus Mechanicus.  They are also seen as backwards and rustic, especially by the Vendolish.  Cyris was the original seat of power of the sector, before it was moved to Vendoland after it was surpassed in population.

Serpentus
Forge World
Population: ~1,000,000,000
Very arid climate, heavy pollution
Military force: PDF only
Center of manufacturing in the sector.  Also contains the Cyrisian shipyards in its orbit.

Cyrea
Agri World
Population: ~150,000
Warm, humid climate
Military force: none
Though it was the second planet settled in the sector, Cyrea only has a small population of farmers.  It provides food and livestock to the rest of the sector.

Outrenacht 
Civilized Ice World
Population: ~7,500,000
Cold, dry climate.  Most of planet inhospitable.
Capital City: Einfrieren
One large city in one of the only hospitable parts of the planet houses the bulk of the population.  It is rumored that the Legion of Night Space Marine chapter are based somewhere on the planet, though the location is unknown.

Falevah
Jungle Death World
Population: Unknown / Orbital Station: ~750
Hot, tropical climate
An unforgiving climate, dangerous flora and fauna and an unchecked Ork population make the planet currently inhabitable.  Expeditions to the planet surface quickly fall out of contact and do not return.  Scans do show expansive promethium reserves, making the planet an invaluable asset.

((All Round Defence))

The Black Templars and Blood Angels were just hanging out in some ruins, minding their own business when out of nowhere, an army of Chaos Space Marines and renegade Guardsmen (trololol) surrounded them, demanding control of the ruins.

They didn't stand a chance.

Off the bat, my (borrowed) Blood Angels Whirlwind artillery tank laid down a barrage of Holy Fire upon the heads of Shane's veteran guardsmen, wiping out all but one, and taking down a couple of stragglers from a nearby squad.  The Death Company assault marines valiantly charged directly into a group of Mat's Chaos terminators, losing the bulk of their squad before the Blood Angels dreadnought charged in to join the fight.  The Death Company still died, but that's what they do.  They die.  After killing lots of stuff.

Shane and Mat managed to wreck my Black Templars Predator Destructor tank, as well as the Blood Angels Razorback transport, forcing the Librarian and attached squad to disembark.  A well placed Leman Russ battle cannon blast annihilated an entire Crusader Squad and the nearby Rhino transport, which exploded, taking out a couple other troops in the vicinity.

The Black Templars Emperor's Champion and his Sword Brethren took down one squad of Chaos terminators, and then, en route to more killing, all of the Sword Bros died, leaving Gaius to stand alone against a half-squad of Khorne Berzerkers (which he eradicated in a single turn).

Anyway, those are the main details that I can recollect.  Shane may want to add more.
All told, the Black Templars and the Blood Angels Space Marines pushed back the tide of heretics, holding their ground with a few lucky dice rolls.  For what it's worth, I really did expect to be smeared across the map.  Such is the nature of the beast.

((Chaos Vs. Imperium Skirmish))

Doug was tired of getting shot up by my IG so we decided to team up against a combined force of Mat's Chaos Space Marines and his Daemons.  (No hard feelings Doug.)  The scenario was an "invasion" style game with Mat's forces pouring out of a portal in the middle and doing the whole Daemon's deep strike thing.

After Doug and I setup, Mat brought in half his forces, most of the Daemons in flanking positions and all of his marines pouring out through the middle.

Mat came off strong with a quick assault from his jump-infantry Chaos lord into my Storm Troopers, killing half of them and tying them up in close combat for the next two turns.  Thankfully, Doug had assault marines nearby to handle them.  In our first turn, we were able to take out Mat's Predator and his Soul Grinder.  That was kind of the theme of the battle.  I was able to shoot daemon squads up until Doug closed on them and finished them in close combat.  Some of my key units were my platoon command squad, which flamed an entire bloodletters squad to death in one turn and of course my Leman Russ, which was dishing out pie-plates of pain all throughout the game with decent accuracy.  My sentinels were able to kill the soul grinder early on, but performed rather poorly afterwords.  That's two bad games in a row for them.   My rank-and-file squads did better than I expected racking up a good amount of kills and staying alive to boot.

Mat was trying out Daemons for only the 2nd time and, I'd have to agree with his assessment that the deep strike rules he has to use almost hinder his melee centric army more than they help.  Because they can't assault for that first turn, I can just chew them up with shooting before they can do much good.  It was still a great game, though.  It's nice to have something other than Marines to fight every now and then, so the Daemons are a welcome sight.  I know Doug was certainly happy, seeing as how Nevarre finally got to do something.  In fact, Nevarre saved a couple of my squads' butts, which is always appreciated.  

Final result was the Imperium holding two objectives and Chaos holding none, with something like 95% of their forces destroyed.

Another fight tomorrow, and my Guard are 3-0 for the week.  Hopefully I can keep it up.

((Black Templars/101st Vendoland Rematch))

Defeated again.  Those Imperial Guardsmen sure know how to tear 'em up before they can get in close to really hurt 'em.  I will say, my Templars put up a much better fight this time round.  I still lost, though.

My MVPs had to be my predator and my dreadnought, with an honorable mention going to my assault marines.  The predator managed to keep Shane's devildog and sentinels busy for the entirety of the game, eventually destroying the devildog as well as the Valkyrie which had swooped in to take it from its flank, finally being felled by an ordnance blast from Shane's Leman Russ tank hitting the rear armour.  As for the dreadnought, it managed to cause quite a bit of damage to Shane's infantry, as well as causing the Valkyrie some problems.

My infantry, aside from my fast-moving assault squad, pretty much all managed to get shot to bits before they could close for close-combat (with the exception of one or two single marines).  Castellan Navarre was the last man standing, being valiantly shot down by three autocannon platforms, having accomplished absolutely nothing.  Huzzah.

Such is the might of the Imperial Guard, in the right hands.  Doubters beware.

(This may be a little lax, but I'm friggin tired.  Shane can add whatever he would like.)

Shane's edit:

All I wanna add is that I love how we sat there and fought over the right flank when there were absolutely no objectives there.  Seriously, a good 3/4 of our armies were packed on that right side.  It was glorious.

Also, damn that predator.  My sentinels should have had it down, turn one.

((Skirmish between the 101st and the Black Templars))*

*(( )) = post not related to the fiction.

Let's just say it didn't go well for Doug.  I elected to go first and infiltrated my storm troopers right in front of Doug's left flank.  On the first turn, my Chimera immobilized his Rhino (filled with a Crusader squad) with its multi-laser and my Sentinels blew up his predator with their lascannons.  My storm troopers attempted to halt his assault squad's inevitable advance with their infiltrate and "first shots pin" rule, but only managed to knock down one and Doug passed his leadership checks.  Finally, my Leman Russ nailed one of his crusader squads, taking down 6 initiates/neophytes.

With his right flank anti-armor units either a smoking hole in the ground or not in decent position to counter, my Leman Russ pretty much ruled the left side.  The game was pretty much won for me.  Doug's assault marines managed to avenge their fallen brother and kill off my storm troopers, but that was about it.  My leman russ had an astonishing kill count: Six Templars in the crusader squad, Castellan Nevarre and his retinue and another three marines in Doug's ranged crusader squad.  In addition, my sentinels performed beautifully, as usual.  With a couple assault marines and a predator added to their ever increasing kill tally.

You can't help but feel sorry for Doug, though.  He had some pretty bad luck, especially when it came to Reclusiarch Matellus deep striking in and landing right on my Leman Russ.  He rolled a 2 for his deep strike mishap, destroying Matellus.  Ouch.

Regardless of the luck, I felt like the 101st did very well.  I was worried about their survivability without their usual marine meat shields, but apparently the old adage of "The best defense is a good gunline that fills marines full of holes" is just as true as it ever was.

In other news, my parts have been pouring in from Ebay and Games Workshop, and my army is finally coming together with some semblance of order.  Hopefully before the week is out, I'll be at full strength with 100% of my models ready for my 1850 point list.


GG

Psy out.

The Castellan and the Champion

Navarre stalked up the length of the bridge of the massive battle barge Shield of Terra, a small escort of Initiates, each clad in bulky power armour—painted black and emblazoned with the insignia of the Black Templars Space Marine Chapter—and cradling a Holy Bolter flanking him to either side. Directly ahead of him stood a man dressed in standard Black Templar non-combat dress, hands clasped at the small of his back as he stared out the forward view port of the warship.

“Castellan Navarre,” the man's voice was a crisp baritone, carrying clearly throughout the bridge. He broke his gaze from the view of the planet below—Vendoland, the most heavily populated planet in the Cyris Sector, seconded only by planet Cyris itself. Turning toward Navarre, the stern scowl of his scarred visage bored into the Castellan.

“Marshal Baltar,” Navarre responded, undaunted by Baltar's glare. “You requested my presence? I have preparations for the coming Crusade to see to.” He met the Marshal's gaze with his own steel-blue eye—his left eye having been replaced by a bionic lens after it was torn out of its socket by an ork shot during the Third War for Armageddon (the ork having fared far worse). Navarre's features, despite the optic replacement, were not harsh. His face was weathered and scarred from centuries of battle during the Unending Crusade of the Black Templars, topped with a short crop of black hair cresting his head. Spidering out from his implant was a thick mass of scar tissue, trailing across that side of his face.

“We have received a distress call from the planet Vendoland,” he gestured to the view port and the planet below. “I am tasking you with responding to that call. I imagine, with their already formidable standing military, they will not require much aid—though the message certainly leads me to think the cowards truly believe they are pitted against the Dark Gods themselves.” With a snort and a sneer of contempt, Baltar turned back toward the view port. “That is all, Navarre.”

“Yes, Marshal,” the Castellan bowed stiffly, his jaw tightening. Certainly, a simple radio transmission would have been too easy. Standing to his full height, Navarre spun on his heel, briskly marching back along the bridge's walk. His preparations would have to be hastened. Baltar may have no faith in either the courage nor the military prowess of the Imperial Guard, but Navarre's instincts told him that such an urgent distress call should not be taken lightly.

* * *

“Reclusiarch Matellus,” the voice intoned from the threshold of the Chaplain's quarters. Looking up from the tome on his neatly-kept desk, Matellus nodded to the Initiate addressing him. He recognized Brother Gaius, a skilled and courageous Space Marine having served under Navarre for more than five decades. 

 

Without hesitation, the Initiate delivered his message: “I have received the Vision.” Closing the book before him and sitting up in his chair, Matellus gestured Gaius to enter and close the hatch behind him.

“Tell me,” the Chaplain demanded. As the Initiate began the recollection of his vision, Matellus softly chanted a prayer to the Emperor under his breath, his attention hanging on Gaius' every word.

I am at the gates of the Imperial Palace—Primarch Rogal Dorn has chosen me to be the Champion of the Emperor, to challenge the leaders of the traitorous forces besieging the Palace to single combat. I know that I am sharing the the feelings, the thoughts, the fury of First Captain Sigismund as he faces his enemies and vanquishes them one by one. In this moment, I am Sigismund.

I am surrounded by the dead—heretic, Space Marine, and guardsman alike—and I am alone. A thick veil hangs over the field of battle, and from the lingering dust and smoke I see a shadow approach. It bears great wings, a horned visage, and wields great claws on either hand, crackling with unholy energy.

I brandish my sword—runed and black and shining with the Light of the Emperor—and, as Sigismund did those ten millenia ago, I charge my enemy, invoking the Emperor's Name as our weapons clash.

Matellus could feel the power of his Faith flowing through his body, connecting him to this blessed Initiate, and he knew that what the man said was true. He had received the Vision from the Emperor. Gaius was to be His Champion in the coming campaign.