THE GUARDIAN ANGELS AT MEDUSA V
CHAPTER ONE - ARRIVAL.
The Eighteen jet black ships of the Guardian Angels First, Fourth and Seventh Companies spat out of the Warp as if the Immaterium itself was repulsed by their presence.
Lightning licks of warp energy danced across the ships hulls, sparking of their Gellar fields as the Warp breach opened by their warp engines closed behind them and the ships continued their silent glide towards Medusa V.
Among the many ships was the might of two Battle Barges and three Strike Cruisers; all of them accompanied by a full contingent of escort ships.
The Flagship of the Chapter's Medusa V Task Force was Fourth Company's Battle Barge, the "Shadow Guard".
The "Shadow Guard" was in no way the Chapter's largest ship, but it was the most technologically advanced, enjoying access to technology most of the Imperium’s Forces could only dream about attaining, and the Chapter's love of such revered and ancient technology had cost them dearly, not only in time and resources, but also in manpower; for in the past they had found themselves in a harsh, defensive war against the forces of the Adeptus Mechanicus, and for many years a terrible rivalry had blossomed between the two Imperial fractions.
Eventually the Inquisition and the High lords of Terra had intervened, and only now, many, many years later had the Chapter once more begun to trust the members of the Adeptus Mechanicus.
And now it was here in the Medusa v system. - The Chapter's most advanced ship was sailing towards doom, the doom of a planet, the Death of Medusa V.
The bridge of the "Shadow Guard" was relatively silent, yet the atmosphere concealed the stress of the frantic work done here at the moment.
Data streams rolled onto the screens of the ship's serf and servitor operators as the Gellar fields where lifted, and sensor arrays came online.
Seconds later the ships view shields, protecting those inside from looking upon the horrors of the warp, started retracting, as the ship's sensors and void shields came online.
Throughout the Task Force, all ships went through the same procedure as they came out of the warp and prepared for combat.
Standing at the center of the "Shadow Guard's" large, globular glass bridge, Commander D'Angelo felt excited at finally getting out of the turbulent warp and at the prospect of facing the enemies of mankind once more. - Still, the Commander couldn’t help but feel slightly irritated.
The turbulent warp storm near Medusa v had thrown the Task Force of course, and they where already more than a week late in relation to their scheduled plan.
During their transit to Medusa V, a sudden warp flair had burst at the Task Force, and the void shields of several ships had been breached.
All across the fleet, violent fighting had erupted as demonic entities found their way through the momentary breach in the ships Gellar Fields.
Commander D'Angelo had been wounded in the fighting himself, and for the last week the heightened metabolism of his super-human physique had been battling a disease caused by an infected daemon educed wound.
Several members of the Task Force had died in the conflict, the worst of it falling on the Companies supporting staff that did not have the super-human healing abilities of the Angels.
The Ships Medicae facilities where still holding some of the men wounded in the incident, but with the Chapter's considerable medical resources, they where sure to make it; and all of the Marines that had been wounded in the Battle where already fully healed.
Commander D'Angelo still felt weak at the thought of the fact that the Warp Flair had thrown them a full week of course though, and his blue eyes twinkled at the thought of finally being out of the turbulent Warp Storm. - He was sure the return trip would be even worse though, and for a moment his eyes sank to the floor at the thought.
At the Commander's feet, the glass floor that cut through the mid of the globular bridge was filled with the projected light of the Chapter's insignia, as well as the words "Capitulus Patria Nostra" - The Chapter, our Father Land. The words where a constant reminder that wherever the Chapter went, they would always be part of Humanity, and as such, part of the Imperium.
Seeing it this way, Medusa V was the Chapter's home. It was their father, the Emperor's land.
Medusa V belonged to Humanity, and the Chapter would make damn sure to persuade anyone who thought differently on this fact otherwise. - For this purpose, Commander D'Angelo found that violence was often the best persuasor.
His head snapped back up from the floor and with two words, the Commander of the Guardian Angel Chapter's Task Force to Medusa V began his war.
"On Screen!". His words where deep and filled with power.
Immediately the holographic Chapter logo on the bridge floor disappeared and the outer walls of the globular bridge sprang to life along with hundreds of holographic projectors spread out across the bridge walls, roof, floor and general room, where the projectors hang suspended in mid air.
The bridge darkened and the overall effect was that the Commander and his crew where floating free in space, with full access to move around and see everything outside the ship in a 360 degree projection.
To each side of the "Shadow Guard", eight other ships glided silently, while a last ship made up the rear guard.
In front of the fleet, directly in their flight path was a huge ship to ship battle evident for all to see.
Torpedoes where speeding along, and the bright flashes of lance weapons and explosions could be gleamed at a distance.
The battle was massive, with Imperial Ships engaging several enemy ships that appeared to be of both Dark Eldar and Chaos origin.
Behind the battle the faint red light of Medusa V's dark side was clearly seen, and there was no doubt about that in order for the Guardian Angels Task Force to arrive at it's designated target, they would have to plough straight through the battle up ahead. - Commander D'Angelo would have had it no other way!
He smiled as the prospect of a full on fleet conflict came into his mind.
Ship to ship conflict was one of the Commander's favoured ways to conduct battle and he had developed many ship manoeuvres throughout his years as an officer with the Guardian Angels. - Much to the dismay of his Company's true fleet master, who often found himself sitting out many of the bigger battles.
Fleet Commander Raynor Jules looked upon his Supreme Commander now and knew this might just be one of those days.
Commander D'Angelo could be said to be bold in more ways than one.
His scalp may be free of hair and polished to a sheen, but there was another sort of boldness, or madness that had to take hold of a man to bring his forces head on into a battle of such magnitude as surrounded Medusa V at the moment, yet that is precisely what Commander D'Angelo intended to do.
The Shadow Guard's internal gravitic dampeners where almost as advanced as those used in Eldar ships, allowing it to carry out manoeuvres that where truly spectacular for such a large ship. - To the great envy of the Chapter's other ships Captains, as well as to the Imperial Navy.
The technology existed within the Imperium, but it was hard to come by and far to resource demanding to be a viable choice for regular ships, usually reserved for special institutions such as the Inquisitions warring arm and certain experimental rogue trader ships.
Right now the "Shadow Guard" was making all due haste towards the battle ahead and in it's wake came the rest of the Task Force in an arrow head formation.
Some of the larger enemy ships had spotted them and desperately manoeuvred to disengage from their current fights in order to turn about and get ready for this new enemy.
Onboard the Shadow Guard, frantic preparations for war was being made.
The massive torpedo bays' automated systems where loading up the torpedo tubes as energizer batteries where sizzling to life.
In the kilometre long launch bay, Thunderhawks where firing up their engines while others where being fueled or loaded with weapons.
Lifters roared as they fitted the Hawks with the necessary missiles for fleet conflict.
Marines where going over their Battle Gear once more before boarding the Thunderhawks and Boarding Torpedoes, and a general chaos of bodies and loader vehicles swarmed around the deck as final preparations where being made.
In the Ship's teleporter rooms, generators where humming with energy and tech-adepts where making rapid calculation shifts as they prepared to send Marines in Tactical Dreadnought Armour into battle.
The same preparations where being made within the other ship's of the Task Force as well, but they where already slowing down and lagging of as the Shadow Guard made it's attack run like a spear-tip driven straight into the side of the enemy. - Fourth Company was called the Spear Head by the rest of the Chapter, and Commander D'Angelo was determined to show the enemy how they had earned their name.
One of the enemy ships was coming about to port in an attempt to get its exposed aft section out of the incoming enemies' way and was almost certain to make it when D'Angelo executed his unexpected manoeuvre.
It suddenly became clear why the rest of the fleet had lagged behind as the massive bulk of the Shadow Guard came about to starboard, swinging over with all its might to make the turn in time to launch a full broadside at the enemy ship's exposed rear half. - It was an impossible turn, but then D'Angelo hadn’t intended for his ship to make the manoeuvre under it's own engines anyway.
On the star-filled command deck of the Shadow Guard, relative silence and order was still in effect. - For all intents it may have seemed like the Commander of Fourth Company was enjoying a quiet star filled evening planet-side where he stood posed in his Terminator armour, steaming teacup in hand.
Slowly he turned his head to the starboard gunnery commander and gave the slightest of nods.
The gesture was repaid by a volley of booms that shook the ship, and every crewman onboard could hear the singing of metal as the ships rear starboard torpedo chambers fired their payload in one mighty burst.
The torpedoes flew free, with no target in sight, but had the rest of the Shadow guard's support fleet kept up, they would surely have been hit by the sudden salvo.
Instead, the deck of the Shadow guard hived and rolled as the ship was forced into an impossible turn by the backlash of the torpedoes. - Had a regular ship attempted such a manoeuvre it would most likely have been torn apart, but onboard the Shadow Guard, the advanced gravitic dampeners kicked in instead, and the ships mighty super-structure followed painfully through the sharp and sudden turn.
Commander D'Angelo looked down at the cup of tea in his un-armoured hand. - Not a single drop had been spilt as his mighty ship made the sharp turn and came about to show her fully armed and ready port battery to the enemy's still exposed rear side.
"Fire!" D'Angelo's voice was filled with anticipation and was quickly followed by a wild set of booms as his ship released it's full payload at the enemy cruiser. At the same time, the ship's control thrusters steadied her again just as the torpedo salvo hit home, imploding the mighty enemy warship in a series of successive explosions.
Shortly after Thunderhawks where launched, followed by Boarding Torpedoes. Then the rest of the Guardian Angels M5 Task Force followed suit, tearing at the enemy like a wild lion raging against it's surprised prey.
The battle went on for little over fourty minutes, with spectacular manoeuvres and deadly salvoes from both sides.
When it finally ended, most of the enemy was destroyed or to damaged to move; the rest where rapidly fleeing the area.
The "Shadow Guard's" battle status returned to state two, the standard ship state for active War Zones, and the light on the bridge brightened, as its walls returned to the customay pristine white of non activity and the rooms holographic projectors shut down while the floor was filled with the Chapter logo once more.
Daniel D'Angelo moved over to his command chair for a debrief on his fleets status and the status of the rest of the Imperial fleet in the vicinity.
Reading the incoming messages, it seemed all his ship's had survived, but four of his escorts, as well as 7th Company's Battle Barge "Sword of the Heavens" had received some breaches to structural integrity.
The Shadow Guard had also received minour damage, but in reality it was not unexpected.
All in all, 173 of the Strike Force's supporting personnel had been killed in the conflict, another 93 had been injured, and nineteen Marines had been wounded in differing degrees.
Even now the Fleets Thunderhawks and boarding torpedoes where returning to their mother ships, while small Bumblebee class worker ships where being launched to further assess the damage to the fleet.
D'Angelo was just about to hail his fleet Captains when one of the bridge Serfs intruded upon his thoughts.
"There is an incoming message sir, we are being hailed with Imperial High Command coding." The serf's voice sounded urgent and somewhat stressed, and when Commander D'Angelo looked over at him, he could see the beads of sweat upon the serfs face.
He looked over at Fleet Commander Jules and realized with some amusement that even the Marine Officer looked a bit stressed.
"You have all done an excellent job in this battle." he said, his voice firm. "Lets keep it that way!"
"Now, patch the hail through to the helm main screen please."
A second later, a holographic screen appeared in front of D'Angelo and the familiar face of an Ultramarine Officer came online.
Commander D'Angelo was mildly surprised and quickly got up from his Command Chair to face the holographic image directly.
"Good day to you Daniel!" Came the pleasant voice of the Ultramarine.
"I see you wasted no time in throwing your boys into the thick of war. - Glad you arrived when you did, even if you are almost a week later than expected."
D'Angelo gave a slight, seemingly amused nod in greeting to the Ultramarine.
"Verus Caeruleus! Glad to see you to old friend!" D'Angelo smiled and took a single step towards the image.
"What has it been, 10 years, 12? - They must have made you a Captain by now."
The Ultramarine smiled in return. "Indeed they have, and I've also been put under the command of Commander Sicarius who asked me to greet you once you arrived.
I must apologize for him not greeting you in person Commander D'Angelo! Your contribution is greatly appreciated and we cherish the close ties our Chapters have developed in the past, but Commander Sicarius is, as you can well imagine, very busy these days; and on top of that he has gone and gotten himself hurt in a mission to evacuate the Imperial Governor".
D'Angelo raised an eyebrow in wonderment, but did not press the matter.
"Besides", the Ultramarine Captain continued; "He thought it would be a good idea for you to see a familiar face one you arrived here".
D'Angelo only nodded in return, understanding the situation Commander Sicarius was in and appreciating this uncommon social gesture.
"Well!", he finally said; "Maybe we should cut through all the pleasantries and get down to business?"
Captain Verus nodded in reply and cleared his throat as the image shock, making it seem as if though the Ultramarine Captain was shuffling his feet for a moment.
"Well", he began. "As you can see, you are not the first to arrive.
Medusa V's orbit is already cramped for space and we try to keep most ships in order and a bit away from the planet as they patrol the far reaches of the Star System.
This system is plagued by all sorts of alien pirates and traitor scum, and we do our best to keep them away from the evacuation ships of the Navy. For that reason, occasionally major fleet battles like the one we where just engaged in become necessary.
Commander Sicarius has designated your fleet as force 65a and has arranged for your ships to go into secure orbit long enough for you to deploy your forces. - After that he has arranged for you to have three spots reserved for your ships to stay in geo-synchronical orbit over Telosia Sector. - Consider yourself lucky Daniel! Few Commanders get the privilege of having three ships in orbit, but Commander Sicarius has asked to use your high-tech ship as a common staging ground for secret operations carried out by the Adeptus Astartes Alliance at Medusa V", and thus saw it as appropriate to offer something in return.
Daniel nodded his head in agreement. "Of course. It will be an honour!"
Captain Verus nodded in return, making a slight gesture to someone outside the image, then returned his attention back to D'Angelo.
"Continuing your brief Commander; Telosia in need of reinforcements.
The powers of Chaos have been attacking the sector with abandon while the Dark Eldar have carried out ruthless raids against civilians, abducting thousands, and the Imperial Guard has so far been helpless to stop them.
In addition to this, Orks have been running amok along the country-side and Hive Machavius has been put under siege by the Necrontyr.
The other Space Marine Forces here are already tied up defending key locations like Hive Machavius and it's fuel relay.
In addition to that, both they and the Imperial Guard are working hard to defend Deimos Space Port and the Imperial Staging Ground.
It is imperative that these areas are held, as the Space Port is the only true way for civilians to be evacuated in large numbers and
the Staging ground is where we assemble and deploy many of the Imperial Forces, so I’m sure you can imagine the Chaos that would erupt should it fall into enemy hands. - We would be hard pressed to administrate and delegate our forces properly any more".
Captain Verus locked eyes with Commander D'Angelo and suddenly seemed very serious. "Commander Sicarius feels your Chapter's specific talents would be well employed assisting in guarding Hive Machavius and Deimos Space Port. What say you?"
Commander D'Angelo stretched to his full height, looking very proud and full of power.
"It shall be our honour to fight for Telosia!" he slowly said, nodding to the Captain.
"We shall employ our full force to drive the enemy back and secure these valuable installations along with the lives of the Imperium’s citizens" - I will deploy the full force of Fourth Company at Deimos and that of Seventh Company at Hive Machavius.
Captain Verus smiled in return. "Good!", he simply said, seeming pleased at the reply.
"I shall inform Commander Sicarius of your arrival and status immediately".
Captain Verus seemed to be fiddling with a data slate for a moment, then he looked back up at Commander D'Angelo.
"I'm sending you all mission specifics and authorization codes along with Imperial procedures for your arrival in orbit Commander, beyond that you are free to dispatch your forces as you see fit".
Captain Verus' attention was drawn away by someone of screen for a moment again. - He nodded, said something and then once more returned his attentions to Commander D'Angelo.
"The specifics of your mission is sent and I've been asked to inform you that the honourable Lord Inquisitor Gorgon will come onboard your ship once you are in orbit. - He wishes to inspect your ship and crew personally before Sicarius takes it into use as an Orbital Command Centre for the Adeptus Astartes Alliance.
That is all Commander!"
Captain Verus moved to terminate the communication link, then seemed to hesitate for a moment before he added; "It is good to have the presence of the Guardian Angels here Daniel. We are happy to have you!" Then the screen went blank and Commander D'Angelo was left with mixed feelings about the conversation.
He was glad to see his old friend again, and he was very happy that the Guardian Angels had been greeted so warmly, but his eyebrows furrowed at the thought of having an Inquisitor Lord onboard. - After all, the Chapter had little trust in psychers, and an Inquisitor Lord was sure to be one of the most powerful psychers around.
Lord Inquisitor Gorgon, he thought. The name leaving a slight distaste flowing through his mind; But then he took a deep breath and returned his attention to the situation at hand.
Grabbing the attention of his communications officer, he asked about the data transfer.
"It has arrived in full my Lord" came the serf's reply.
"Good, transfer it to a data slate and hand it to me once it is ready. - Also ensure that the other ship Captains are aware of our current situation and ask them to hold their position until further notice".
The large Commander didn't bother to wait for a reply, confident that his orders would be carried out, turned to the bridge helm and opened a communication channel to all his commanding officers.
"Strategic meeting for all Commanding officers in my briefing chambers in thirty minutes" he simply said, then waited untill the display on the helm chair showed a positive reply from all recipients.
He turned once more towards Fleet Commander Raynor, then nodded at the Commander and relayed a simple command before walking out of the room. "Jules, You have the Bridge!"
Chapter 02 >
