Commanders debriefing
ID: 4238007.M42
Daniel D’Angelo
Commander, 4th Company
Guardian Angels Astartes Chapter. |
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Upon our arrival
at Bios, the capital city of Enigma 42, we found that the place
was already in ruins.
There was no sign of civilians; neither in surface scans of
the Genesis Vale, made from planetary orbit, or in observations
made by ground personnel.
It is presumed that these poor souls perished in the attacks
made upon them by the Imperium’s enemies. – I am
grateful that this was such a small community, mostly consisting
of traitors to Imperial law. – Still, it is painful for
me to imagine the horrors these humans must have gone through.
Much
like the civilians, there was little sign of the Planetary Defence
Forces (PDF) upon our arrival, other than a few vehicles and
scattered guerrilla forces out in the jungle. – These
men where quick to side with us during the initial phases of
our landing, and we where also pleased to find that we where
to enjoy the fine company of warriors from the Blood Angels
as well.
The
leader of the Planetary Defence Forces was a honourable, if
inexperienced leader by the name of Nicolai; but unfortunately
he was suffering from a xenos originated respiratory disease
and soon his immune-system was no longer able to effectively
fend of the xenos spores saturating the air. – He
died shortly after our arrival and another, even less experienced
man by the name of Schteiner took over command of the PDF.
– My first impression of this man was that he was a hothead,
and indeed my fears where soon realised.
Although
our presence at E42 was felt by the enemy for three days and
two nights, it was all settled in one last titanic show down,
beginning during a jungle based battle against Orks in the far
northern reaches of Genesis Vale.
During this battle, we where soon abandoned by the PDF who had
received a radio transmission from one of their observation
posts at Bios City.
Apparently the xenos had begun a major attack upon Bios and
the nearby jungle region, and so Captain Schteiner ordered the
PDF to relocate to that position immediately; leaving the Guardian
Angels and the Blood Angels to fend of a large Ork Waaagh alone.
By
the time we had defeated the Orks to the north, and relocated
to the outer reaches of Bios City by Thunderhawk dropship, the
PDF had disappeared and all that remained of them where a handful
of ruined vehicles in the southern part of the city.
Later
interrogations of their former leader (the radical Inquisitor
Faynor), seems to indicate that the PDF bombed the Tyranid menace
in the city into retreat and then followed them into the tunnels
of their hive in order to eradicate them.
According to Faynor there was a set of massive sub-terrainian
explosions shortly before our arrival, indicating that Schteiner
and his men sacrificed themselves in order to destroy the last
of the Tyranids, or in the very least to trap them under ground.
– A honourable if somewhat foolish
manoeuvre.
I am positive we would have had better success at the Battle
of Genesis Vale if we had retained the advantage of Imperial
Guard Artillery-Bombardment.
Upon
our arrival at Bios, we set up a safety perimeter in the middle
of the city, where two Thunderhawks where held ready for dust-off.
We then continued on ground to the denser south-eastern part
of the city, as our orbital scans showed a strong possibility
that this place would hold the hideout of the wayward Inquisitor
and his men. – And indeed one of our scouting patrols
lead by Chief of Special Operations “Rex Auceps”
soon located the building and positively identified it as holding
the radical Inquisitor. – Rex attempted to persuade Inquisitor
Faynor into returning with us peacefully, but our honourable
Scout Commander received an answer undeniably steeped in violence.
As
soon as I received word of this, I mobilized our men to retrieve
the Inquisitor by force, but upon our arrival to aid the scouts,
we were unprepared for the unimaginable sight that confronted
us.
From our elevated position in the city, we where able to catch
a glimpse of the majesty of the Genesis Vale, but also of the
enormous number of enemies gathered there for battle.
As far as the eye could see, the jungle was lined with Orks
and the glinting metallic bodies of Necrons. As if this was
not bad enough, we could also glimpse Chaos forces in the vale,
and two monstrous Defilers walking among the thick tree lines;
one of them quickly moving on our position alongside other Chaos
forces.
At
that moment we also received reports on the arrival of the Blood
Angels to the north, at the outskirts of the jungles near Bios
City.
We could see a large group of Eldar already battling the Orks
and Necrons in the valley, and soon battle was joined for us
as well.
From
the pict captures available to us from the battle of the Genesis
Vale, it would seem that the Eldar involved hailed from the
clan known as Saim-Hann. Strangely enough however, they did
not seem to fight in the way we have recorded as customary for
this specific clan of Eldar. – Very few bikes and fast
vehicles where present and instead we saw an unusually large
assembly of Eldar Guardians upon the battlefield.
It
would appear throughout the battle that the Eldar’s mission
was to decimate the Necron forces present, but between Necron
fire, Orks charging and Chaos artillery, things did not fare
well for them.
I must admit that had it not been for the presence of the Eldar
we would have been totally overwhelmed, and luckily their numbers
drew the attention of the Chaos artillery, allowing us to carry
out our mission in relative peace from such attacks.
We did lose a Land Raider Crusader and our only Whirlwind-artillery-support
to Necron-Flux-Archs, but compared to the losses the Eldar suffered
due to artillery, this was next to nothing.
To
the north, the Blood Angels put up a valiant effort in drawing
the attention of the enemy and destroying much of their force,
buying us time to bring the battle to the forces of Inquisitor
Faynor, so we could retrieve him and his data for further processing.
– But capturing the radical Inquisitor proved to take
longer than expected as he and his men put up a commendably
strong defence.
We
soon found the streets of Bios filled with daemons and other
minions of Chaos as well, and seemingly they where all after
the Inquisitor.
I personally defeated the last of Faynor’s men, disarmed
the Inquisitor and lead him back towards the Thunderhawk-safety-perimeter
under the steady guard of my men who held back the archenemy
with their very lives.
By
the time fifty minutes had passed, we had secured the Inquisitor.
– For us, this meant that we had completed our mission,
but it was apparent that our side could not hope to win the
war. – Genesis Vale would be lost under the sheer swarm
of enemies…
My Captain, “Maximus Ensis”, had already been forced
to join the battle via drop pod deep strike and had successfully
been able to draw the attention of many daemons long enough
for us to complete our mission, but he was himself gravely wounded.
– Had it not been for the nearby presence of our Company’s
Master-Apothecary “Joshua Iasthai Wells”, he may
well have died.
The
fact that we had lost much of our vehicle-based fire-support
early on and that our Land-Speeder-support did not arrive due
to technical difficulties, was not good; still, by the end of
the battle, the streets of Bios had been pretty much cleared
of enemy forces and we had succeeded with our mission of capturing
Faynor. But to the north, the Blood Angels had been decimated
to a man, and only due to last minute reserves where they able
to pull out their dead and wounded for extraction.
– I
must question the wisdom of going toe to toe with superior numbers
of Khorn Berserkers and Ork Nobs, but I must also admit that
their effort was valiant, and their leader was particularly
fierce in battle, killing more Orks and Chaos warriors than
can be remembered. – Only through a force of Berserkers
and Nobs far superior in numbers was the enemy able to overcome
his diligent skill and ferocious bravery in battle; and by the
end, only a single man from their company was left unwounded,
even though he fought to the last. – True
Heroes all of them!
Of
the Eldar’s final fate I know little other than that they
poured considerable resources and manpower into this battle,
but if their objective was to stop the Necrons, they did not
succeed. – But the ways of the Eldar are strange, and
who knows, perhaps their true intent was to aid us in retrieving
Inquisitor Faynor for some as of yet unrevealed play in the
greater scheme of things.
At
one time it seemed as if though the Eldar may have brought the
Necron Lord low, but the Lord simply disappeared in a shroud
of darkness. – To reappear somewhere else no doubt.
The last thing I saw on the battlefield before dragging Inquisitor
Faynor back to the waiting Thunderhawks was the Eldar Farseer
take a direct hit from a Necron gauss weapon. – I can
only presume he lost his life and with it, his soul.
More importantly
however:
What the Eldar Chieftain told us
is of great importance to the Chapter.
Before the battle, the Eldar Farseer indicated that he had seen
Space Marines in the same colours and markings as the Guardian
Angels, in the sector his Saim-Hann clan hails from. –
If imperial records are even remotely accurate, this could mean
that our lost Eighth Company may be located in or near Segmentum
Pasificus, bordering to Segmentum Obscurus. – So far we
have been concentrating our searches on the western region of
Ultima Segmentum and east of Segmentum Solar, but I now strongly
recommend that we expand our communication-searches to include
Segmentums Pasificus and parts of Obscurus in hopes of relocating
Eighth Company.
Back
to the issue of the Battle:
By the end of an hour, we had secured Inquisitor Faynor and
where puling out to our Thunderhawks in force. – The Blood
Angels where already gone and the Eldar where disappearing one
by one.
The Orks upon the battlefield numbered in the thousands and
with no more Imperial enemies to battle they fell upon the metallic
warriors of the Necrons.
I could see no traces of the archenemy, other than the occasional
red dot indicating the armour of a lone Khorn Berserker.
I
swear that in all my years, I have never laid eyes upon such
a massive horde of enemies as could be seen in that vale.
– Even while battling the Great Devourer
Finally, the battlefield disappeared as we moved through the
thick cloud layer covering the valley, and moved into the star-filled
vacuum of space.
By
the time we had returned to our Battle Barge, we had received
word that a Chaos Cruiser had been spotted in low orbit and
that it had been engaged by the Blood Angels’ Strike Cruiser
“Tychos' Revenge”.
The Chaos Cruiser was moving away from the planet with the Blood
Angels hard in pursuit.
Once
back on my bridge I could see the deteriorating situation on
the ground more clearly:
The Orks and Necrons where battling eachother; one side with
a wild barbaric frenzy and the other with cold, calculated resolve.
– But despite far superior numbers, the Orks seemed to
be losing.
I do not know what eventually happened to the forces of the
Eldar. – In all likelihood they where whisked away by
their “magic” or where killed and decimated to the
last soul.
– Whatever their fate, it is
of no consequence to us.
Trusting that the Blood Angels
would deal with the Chaos Cruiser I steeled my resolve and ordered
an orbital purging of the Vale.
We let fly four scattered mass drivers to open the crust of
the planet, followed by a Virii missile that detonated in the
midst of the vale
The
fires burned kilometres high, bleeding into the very atmosphere
itself.
The biomass on E42 was not enough to fuel the complete destructive
process of the planet, but it was enough to consume all the
vale’s organic life.
Finally, when the fires had died down, the heat had totally
melted the glaciers and surrounding arctic regions of the Genesis
Vale, filling it like a watery grave that has since turned into
a solid ice crust, slowly being concealed by snow. – It
would seem all traces of the Genesis Vale have now been erased.
As
for the sub-terran tunnels of the Necrons, I can only summarize
that they where burned to a crisp, shook to their core, filled
with water and that they where frozen like the rest of the planet.
If what the Eldar told us about the Necrons’ life reading
sensors is true and any such abominations remain down there,
I believe I can safely say that they will not re-emerge, having
no life remaining to fuel their efforts upon the planet.
Even should they choose to re-emerge, I am sure it would take
them eons to carve their way through the thick ice-shield that
now encapsulates E42.
It
is my greatest regret in all this that we did not carry Cyclonic
Exterminatus Missiles allowing us to tear the planet apart and
wipe out all traces of the enemy. – It is my recommendation
that we apply to the Imperium for leave to return here and bring
Exterminatus to the planet once and for all; despite that it
no longer seems to pose any immediate threat to the Imperium
at large.
That is all.
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Orks Charging in the jungles of E42.
Rex Auceps tries to convince Inquisitor Faynor to come
back peacefully, a suggestion that is harshly revoked.
The Blood Angels Advancing on enemy positions.
Saim-Hann Eldar on the move (as always).
Lead by their Chaplain, the Blood Angels Charge into Combat.
Guardian Angels battle daemonic creatures in the city ruins,
while making a tactical withdrawal with the captive Inquisitor.
Having arrived via Drop-Pod, the Angels quickly get involved
in a
Deadly battle against daemonettes to win time for a tactical
retreat
Having set up the Company's Nest in a ruin covered by the
rear-echelon, the Company Apothecary “Joshua Iasthai Wells”
stands by to receive wounded at the casualty-collection-point.
The Eldar continue to battle the Necrons while withdrawing.
The Orks battle the Necrons to the bitter end.
In the end, the Necrons rule the battlefield
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