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While the discussions were continuing, Gray considered how he could use the moon's lava for the battle. Perhaps firing at it with his weapon's full power all at once? It was unlikely to break the thick crust enough for large amounts of lava to come out, unless he fired directly down which didn't sound like a great idea to him.

He looked over towards the weapons boxes, within which were a variety of grenades: Frag, Krak, and some of his own, including attempts at an EMP and even the highly unstable astartes-killers. Those wouldn't be worth using on guardsmen though; as soon as you pulled the pin out there was a 90% chance of it exploding in your hand and taking out your whole squad, and then even if you survived that the timer mechanism was far too random for anyone's liking.

Perhaps the krak though, with an entire squad of cultists firing his upgraded weapons at it and the surrounding rock? There was a chance, at least. And if it could take out a platoon or two of the guardsmen, it would be worthwhile.

(OOC: ihatenids, if ya needs my help I'm all willing)

Rygar would spit if he wasn't wearing his helmet. He address the comments aimed at the Sorcerer "what would be the use of infiltrating men of that number if they were not skilled in Espionage and sabotage?" he felt the tremor of impatience radiate from his heavy bolter, it's spirit's temperament worse than his own when caught in a battle of words instead of a hail of bolter fire.
He looked toward the Sorcerer once more, by design he was sure the Sorcerer had felt the same taint the insignificant flesh he could eye all across the room had. Rygar had served many sorcerers in the past and despite their lack of words always had something of a plan and despite this particular sorcerers taint he was still a Night-lord. "sandman"

p_gray, the crust is rather thin. Only like a meter thick.

OOC: Roughly how large is our warband? It is just those of us here? Or are we at least a hundred strong or so?

OOC: As I understood it, our forces would probably be a small army, but rather ragtag, not very organized, and with non-standard weapons.

"The point of infiltrating is not the number of men, but what they can do. Sure it matters who has the biggest gun, but it makes a hell of a lot more whos shooting it."
He looked at Kain for a moment, then back to the Rygar.
"The 4 of you Havocs can do a lot of damage from an elevated, fortified position, because you will be able to take out the areas of most resistance without fighting your way through."
He looked back to Kain.
"30 guys, whilst talking in a vacuum, will accomplish absolutely nothing. However, 30 guys in the right place can do almost anything. Especially considering they will follow my orders. "
He looked over at the Dreadnought.
"They will be able to do anything, provided the mojority of the Imperials are away. Need some artillery, they'll kill the crews as soon as I tell them to. Want to remove any chance of escape, get them to kill their old allies as they run away. Anything can be done."
He then turned back to the room at large.
"Another thing you all seem to be missing is the fact none of this is going to happen to a fully armed Invasion army, as I am sure we will not leave a lot of them alive when they attack us."

OOC: As far as I know I'm the only one in command of a warp capable ship, But I doubt it would be the only ship.

My forces would be about 30 Marines, a dreadnought, and various serfs and menials.

I'd say our space forces would probably be a couple of frigates, Cruisers escorts etc. Nothing like an Imperial battlefleet, but can still hold its own.

What say ye?

OOC: In my Bio I have the Echo of Damnation, so there is that as well

OOC: Cato brought a Rouge trader with him (Near useless in battle), and about fifty/sixty Serfs from the Fractured sons. They're all on the main world, setting up defenses on the primary hive.

Kain chuckled lightly as the sorcerer as he clasped his hands together, almost growling under his breath as he stared down the sorcerer;

"Your relying on thirty men to accomplish an objective they cannot. Magic has clouded your mind and I lack time for such men."

Kain turned from the Sand Man, dragging his Auto-cannon along the floor as he moved towards the door.

"Every strategy spoken here is good, up untill the Imperials are on our doorstep. We are outnumbered and outgunned, frontal assaults are out of the question. Somewhat dishonorable tactics are required here. I'll leave the battle plan to whomever thinks themselves leader of this rabble, they have my pity." spoke the voice at Bronsks side. Captain Ilissus voice surprisingly was clear and authoritative, considering her company.

Each astratus stiffened at being commanded by a human, as she turned and left the room Bronsk smiled, it was a sinister thing, a curving of the scar where his mouth used to be.

"This one isn't intimidated so easily, a reason I have brought her here." he growled as he followed her.

Rygars eyes glare at backs of those who marched out the room both slightly impressed and annoyed with the little human "yes Sandman, my men itch at the opportunity to support the offensive"
his eyes looked across the room once more scanning the room at those still present. "the infiltrators be few but they still offer possible advantage we once didn't have.. Be that served as sabotage or distraction to our enemies"
His loud steps echoing threw the still room, the towering form of the dreadnought in it's worn steel stood statuesque against the chaos adorned Back drop. It gave him pause as such weapons of destruction only could between battles.
"tell me dreadnought what say have you?"

Looking down at the Night Lord, "I would find the best defensible position we could have, something with expansive firing lines for us, while remaining relatively safe. A former Administratum building, or monastary. From there we should be able to place the heaviest weapons upon the top of the building where they will be harder to hit, but have the greatest opportunity to fire upon the imperials as they land and move to surround us as they most likely will try to do."

Kal'urek moved, his metallic feet scraping across the floor as he shuffled towards the remnants of the hololith in the center. "Though knowing the worshipers of the False Emperor, they will most likely attempt to destroy any sort of height advantage we have, and thus I would avoid such tall towers. Take to the tunnels and avoid the initial bombardment, and head for fire points 1, 2, or 3." He said, pointing to three easily defensible positions on the map. "From there I would force them to come towards me through this open area, where they could easily be picked off by our larger battery of weapons. At the same time, Sorcerer, alert your men to take over any artillery they can, and jam any level of communications they can besides our own. Tell them to shell this position when we tell them to. It will disorient them, coupled with the additional lack of communications we should have little trouble mopping up any sort of initial resistance.... Unless they send Astartes after us. Then we might be in for a longer fight."

Counting on his centuries of experiencing, and having served under the Perturabo during the Great Crusade, Kal'urek sought to give some direction to the warband.

"Well, I will not involve myself further in this.. planning. When there is fighting to be done, I will be prepared."

Archiaros strode out and down outside the walls of the small fortress of the tower. His Arvus Lighter was there, everything he owned rested within it. His small supply of ammunition and grenades, He hung his scythe and bolter on the wall, and sat down. The transport, modified with a single nose autocannon, sat, he knew his 2 serf and single servitor crew would be back soon, with whatever meager supplies they could purchase. This was his life now, no Battle Brothers or companions.

He awaited his next battle.

Kain looked up at the ancient Dreadnought, which bore the colours of his own legion, the Iron Warriors. Being that he was encased in venerable Contemptor Pattern armour, something far too rare to be gifted to weaklings. He must have been a veteran of the Legion, someone deserving of respect. Kain strode forward and bowed before Kal'urek; "My greetings warrior of the legion."

He nodded his head in agreement with the assessment given by the lumbering dreadnought "I agree" he turned to the Sorcerer giving him a bow of respect speaking to him in Nostraman "I will ready my unit for battle, seek me if you are of need" he slings his heavy bolter around and Makes his way toward and threw the massive enforced doors.

Despite his insignia and pride in his chapter he had long been thrusted into the service of others. Watching his battle brothers used as common fodder by the undeserving until his hatred for the other war bands nearly rivaled his hatred for the cattle of the false emperor. Almost everyone of them who sat in that room made his blood boil and Heavy bolter bark for blood.. Soon he would have something to kill, have a chance to rain death on his bitter enemies. He pushed his thoughts to the back of his head.. He Refocusing to his surrounding. The sight of the cultist that had gathered under the flags of chaos gave him little assurance that if things did turn in the imperiums favor, that much could be done by such unskilled meat.

BlapBlapBlap wrote:p_gray, the crust is rather thin. Only like a meter thick.

OOC: Yeah, but I imagine the rock's fairly hard and you could probably do with a decent-sized hole to kill the most IG/cultists possible.

BIC: Apparently they were readying for war. Gray had no idea what the battleplan was, but it was almost certainly going to involve cultists being a meatshield. Fine by him, so long as his best cultists could stay a little further back, not get killed, and try out his awesome weaponry. He checked he had plenty of spare ammo and power for the forcefield, then ordered the cultists around as best he could until their leader came back with orders. Not long now until most of them die.

Looking down at the Iron Warrior bowing in front of him, "Rise Brother, formalities and pleasantries can be shared later. For the moment we are at war." His voice boomed, as the dreadnought looked back at the hololith, figured out the best location for him. Looking at an enclosed building, he saw a place that would serve as a good firebase for him and his assault cannon.

Turning towards the lone human remaining in the room (Gray), the Dreadnought asked, "Human, would it be possible is some of your men could help me hold this position here." Kal'urek pointed at the building he was looking to reside in during the fight. "I would require at least one attendant to help me keep my ammo reserves up should we be able to hold it for some time. If you are worried about your men, there is a tunnel underneath the building that we would use to fall back. It is large enough for me to get through, no vehicles could follow us, and it would provide a deadly area for which we could fire at anything chasing us." While he had long turned from the False Emperor, he learned millennia ago that Astartes still needed humans to aid them, but he could not be responsible for any human aid he could get. This was to be a battle for the warband, and survival for a majority of the warband, himself included seemed unlikely.

Turning back to Kain, he asked, "When did you join the legion brother?"

Kain rose from the bow, speaking to the vaunted Dreadnought; "I have been with the Legion since the days of the Heresy, brother, but the brotherhood as been splintered with the rivalries of those leading the Companies. It has been some time since I have met another of the legion, but it is good to be with another at last."

OOC: Cool, wasn't sure if Kain had been brought into the legion after the heresy.

IC: "Agreed, it is good to see the colors of the IV Legion, it has been many decades since I was last awakened. During that time my body and sarcophagus were under under care of a warband that had the unfortunate duty of serving a foolhardy Lord that wished to increase his warband at the most recent Skull Harvest, run by that renegade Huron Blackheart. The only thing he won was a swift trip for his soul to the Warp. Blackheart's champion removed his head like Lord Fulgrim removed the Primarch of the tenth."

The metallic voice stopped for a moment, almost as if Kal'urek was reminiscing of his time as a living Astartes, "Perhaps one of these days I will be greeted with the sight of our Primarch once more, should the Ruinous Powers deem me worth."

"As do I, though I hear of Medrengard's countless civil wars have fractured the legion. I hope one day, the Primarch will return the legion to it's former glory, and remove fools from the control of the Fourth. But now these Imperials require us to show them how a siege should be conducted, as how a defense should be."

Gray looked at the dreadnought and bowed, honored to be spoken to by a creature so mighty as this. "I would be honored to serve you wherever possible, sir. As for your ammo, I'm sure that I can tweak it for maximum efficiency if you wish."

He stepped from the shuttle, sharp salutes from a group of men and women in black skinsuits. They had travelled to the planet as he spoke to the rest fo the commanders on the moon. One or two dropped to their knees as he stepped past, their strange religious fervor for the Fractured Sons present even here, a sign of the sheer power the renegade marines held over them. A short man, half his head augmetic and a gold pip at his throat stepped forwards, bowing to Cato as he made his report.

"We have, after several hours of reveiw, discovered that automated defenses are still in place across the world, Hive Primaris, here, is in good condition. Severl anti-ship torpedo silos occupy the surrounding hills, ready to open fire on any orbiting vessels. We have slaved their control to the Akiron" The Akiron, the rouge trader that had brought them here. It hung in geostationairy orbit above Hive Primaris.

The ship wasn't that big, having only just squeezed the Fractured Sons contingent into its holds. The Shipmistress, Lady Alucia Le'Franie had clung ceaselessly to Cato's arm through transit. They had been friends for many years, and making the various serfs and other marines that accompanied Cato across the galaxy think they were, as she put it, 'an item' was a running joke between them. She connected to his suit vox even as he began walking towards the huge adminadstratum structure they had claimed for their own.

"Cato, darling" She said, with a theatrical flourish. She was always like that around the Renegade Marine.
"Yes, madam?" He smiled as he spoke, a rare expression for the old warrior.
"My darling ship is so quiet without you and your people, when will you be returning?"
"When I get bored"
The call was as long and simple as that, the caprace armoured and autogun armed serfs dispersing throughout the structure they had chosen as their fortress to set up final defenses and tactical stations. They would be collaborating with various cultist leaders they'd found across the city, and the world.

This would be a hard battle.

But fun.

Rygar finally made his way to one of the docking areas where his thunderhawk had settled, his presence met with the salutes of his men. They were once a mighty talon capable of delivering devastation upon the limbs of the Imperium, their actions spreading terror like a plague across the battlefields.. Until those treacherous bastards left them planet side.. Now all that was left of them was 'this'.. One havoc squad and the bare bones crew needed for the thunder hawk made up of servitors and human slaves. A pale imitation of what once was.

"Sergeant" the men greeted him, their voices a collective.
"Talks went as well as one could expect from such rabble. Our purpose here is as it always was, prepare the Thunderhawk for launch at a moments notice and ready your weapons.." he motions to two of his men with a gesture, they step forward ready for command "make haste and ready missile launchers, take both krak and frag for the coming battle" the men give a slight bow and do as their told. 

One of his men walks closer to him, his winged helmet off being held under his arm. "Sergeant Rygar, how fared-" Rygar answered his question before he could finish asking "again Jorgan, as well as one could expect. You were correct that their were others of our Legion who rallied.. Our best chance of gathering resources and refilling our ranks rest with a Sorcerer named Sandman"
The other nightlord's face twists Showing his distaste "but Sergeant he is a psyker and even worse a slave to the ruinous powers" 
Rygar stared at his most loyal marine, the horns on the sergeants helmet curved looking demonic in it's own right "we must do what we must do.. We have had dealings with Sorcerers and their kind before and unlike them he is our brother. Our talons all drenched in the blood of the imperium"
The marine stood silent in response understanding Rygars sentiment. His faith in what those who called themselves night lords should be.
"he has offered the assistance of his own remaining Havoc squad..we will handle complications as they present themselves, understood"  Rygar saw a couple of marines approaching from behind his man "now go and inform the others of the situation" 

Rygar walked forward to meet these men, these new recruits into his strained leadership. He never wanted to lead but would not relinquish leadership to anyone who was unworthy and as things seemed to be progressing he would be leading for some time.
The gap between them and himself quickly closed and their shapes could be plainly seen. One Astartes stood tall, his battle worn armor unlike his own men had white streaks of lightning ornamenting the sides of his armor and the shaft of his Autocannon. He wore no helmet revealing his pale marble like skin and deep black eyes, his grimace revealing fangs.
The other stood gripping his Autocannon  in mark 5 heresy armor, the studs on his shoulder pads parted To reveal the chaos symbol of tzeentch. The sight of it normally would of ignited a response and inquiry of what sort of taint he might carry but now wasn't the time for such things.
The pale helmet less marine speaks "I am Tolbac and the mute is Trofen, we and these attendants have been sent here by Lord Sandman"
'lord?' Rygar found that amusing, a slight smirk hidden behind his helmet "to follow my command and massacre the sheep of the false emperor"
A slight grunt of glee escaped Trofen in response to his words, Rygar looked past them and saw the 'attendants' they spoke of. Four human males robbed in blue with patchwork plate armor, thick goggles over their eyes. Perhaps not yet adjusted to the well lit interior of the fortress when compared to the pitch black of a night lord's ship. "welcome my battle brothers, rally to my Thunderhawk 'trespasser' and join our other brothers in midnight clad"


(OOC: forgot to clarify what I had at my disposal, one havoc squad of four  with 4x heavy  bolters and 2x missile launchers in available war gear. sandman gave me 2x havocs with reaper cannons and 4x cultist. The crew are servitors with melee weapon claws  and even fewer human slaves. My Thunderhawk 'trespasser'  has standard troop insertion armaments. )

Deliphas stud at the Hive's wall looking out on the the wasteland that these fools called their 'home', cracks in the crust let out glows of light from the magma below it's shine light certain areas of the land. Howls began to echo through the sky and a low rumble along with it, Deliphas turn and looked to the sky seeing 9 strange lights shooting through the sky.
"Ah there they are." The Raptor said to himself. Suddenly the lights began to fall and the Howls turned into screams until they finally smashed to the ground forcing a dust cloud, when the cloud cleared 9 warriors in Dark blue armour and streaks of lightning stud infront of Deliphas.
"Welcome brothers are yo ready?" The Raptor chuckled.
"Brother Deliphas are we joining their battle?" One spoke out gripping a chainaxe.
"Yes we are! LET THEIR BLOOD COVER THIS LAND!" Deliphas roared and his fellow warriors cheered and screamed. Deliphas had knew that his warrior are ready for battle but they needed time to work out a perfect striking position along with transport.
"I must speak with one of the other warriors. We need to get a ship!" Deliphas growled as his Jump pack roared sending him shooting towards a tower, from there he will see if one of them owns a ship.

Sandman was walking back toward his pick up point. He was mulling over tactics in his head about how best to order his Guardsmen to gain control of the Artillery Batteries the Imperial dogs would be guaranteed to bring. He was also considering the viability of dropping his own Troops into the centre if the Imperiums Battleline during the advance. The damage that could be inflicted would be catastrophic, but so would casualties taken from the assault. He wondered if there would be anything left.
"Sandman to Echo, bring me home" he said down the Vox to his cruiser in the Moon's Orbit, signalling them to Teleport him up. The flash of light lit up the whole section of the street he was walking down, and he reappeared on the ship's bridge.

He walked up to the ship's captain, and told him to move the Damnation into Orbit on the Far side of the Planet, only stopping en route long enough to drop the Troops.
"Why there Sorceror?"
"So that once the Imperials have landed, you can move into position and eradicate them*" Also, if needs be, the Ship could turn its formidable weaponry on the Imperial dogs below, should they bring too many of their Heavy Tanks"
"You do know that the moment the ship is detected, Im as good as dead?"
Sandman smiled behind his helmet.
"This is the Echo of Damnation, it will not be destroyed by some measly Imperial battleships, we learnt that during the Heresey"
"True enough"

Sandman walked into the main hanger, where his forces were readying the Weaponry. the colossal space echoed with the clicks and scrapes of Bolters being primed, the Whir of Chainswords being spun up, and the usual pre-battle chit chat. The newest addition to this noise was the Metallic growling coming from the latest addition to his forces: a Forgefiend found abandoned on Raniihs VI, only hanging on thanks to one stubbrn Deamon refusing to give up his body. By the looks of it at that time, it had been on the wrong end of one of those Tau Railguns. Sandman had taken it in and had the ships Warpsmith fix it up, like the gift it was, due to the fact it had been left for him to find for a reason. Thank Tzeentch, as his warband was a little lacking in the Heavy Weapons department, his only AT being those two trigger-happy morons he had given over to Rygar. He went straight to his second in command, a Raptor by the name Presc.
"How are preparations coming?"
Presc turned to his leader.
"They are coming well. We will be ready for a drop in ten minutes."
"Good. I think Blood will be spilt before this week is out."
The Raptor grinned at that news.

 IHateNids wrote:

Spoiler:

*something like this will happen to the Imperium Ships



Can I also fave a Forgefiend please?

OOC: I worry thats getting a wee bit OP, especially if that is supposed to be a psy attack. I also doubt two-four ships could really stand against more than an equal number of impie ships, and that is only if they're the same tonnage.

OOC: No, thats just supposed to be a weapon of sorts, im just using that as an example. Its actually a beam of Plasma, but 40k dosent have that, so itll be something a little less OTT. Also, I figue if the Cruisers are landed as per the cover of C:IG, their main weapons wont be able to point upwards

OOC: The Imperials have landers for a reason, their battle ships, corevettes and cruisers can't land very easily, not touching the ground, without damaging themselves and nearly everything around them. They can take low orbit, but thats still in the startosphere region.

OOC: Still low enough for me to get above.