WARHAMMER 40K LORE: The Taros Campaign (TAU V IMPERIUM) Part 1

for the glory [Music] campaign the road to war the imperium of man is vast consisting of over a million worlds scattered the length and breadth of the galaxy it is the greatest empire in human history and as a great empire the casual observer might think that the imperium is strong strong enough to resist and defeat any threat but it is not so in truth the imperium is failing the galaxy is a dark and terrible place filled with bloodthirsty aliens malign powers and horrors too terrible to name beset by external wars and internal divisions the imperium of man must constantly fight for survival the continued maintenance and protection of the imperium is governed by the adeptus administratum a vast and labyrinthine bureaucracy centered on terror from which every segment sector sub sector and solar system is run the task is vast and complex so complex that the administration cannot control every aspect of it within the administrative sub organizations have their own areas of responsibility one of the largest of these organizations is the departmento munitorium which oversees the supply of men and materiel to the imperium's largest armed force the imperial guard in itself this is a task of epic proportions the imperial guard is a fighting force consisting of billions of men and millions of fighting vehicles it is deployed to war zones and garrisons across the galaxy at any one time the imperial guard might be engaged in thousands maybe tens of thousands of conflicts all of which need supplying as a departmento munitorium labors to meet these demands the threat to the imperium's continued existence is growing as the end of the 41st millennium grew closer the omens of a new and terrible threat to the imperium began to grow also within the eye of terror where warp space and real space overlap and the worshippers of the chaos gods rule the war master of chaos abaddon the arch traitor destroyer of worlds was making his plans and gathering his strength for a new assault upon the imperium and its false emperor driven by the bloody desires of his insane gods and a first for vengeance which had not been quenched by ten thousand years of war abaddon's thirteenth black crusade was mastering its forces secure within the eye of terror when abaddon's storm broke it would be the largest black crusade yet abaddon would unleash his diabolical forces from within the eye with the objective of capturing the acadian gate the canadian gate is the only stable passage from the eye of terror and the most direct route between the eye and the center of the imperium holy terror aberon's ultimate objective like that of horus his master before him is the overthrowing of the emperor's rule and the destruction of the imperium to do this he must eventually assault terror the capture of the canadian gate would be a large step towards that ultimate goal but the acadian gate is a linchpin in the strategic defense of holy terror kdir is a bastion world the most militaristic in the imperium a hugely strong fortress world protected by fleets of the imperial navy orbited by powerful battle stations and defended by the strongest bastions garrisoned by regiments of hardy canadian shock troops the surrounding worlds are also well protected and garrisoned the capture of the acadian gates would require a huge assault and plunge the imperium into its largest single war since the arrival of high fleet kraken on the distant eastern fringe when abaddon's crusade struck it would be a war that required the full weight of the imperium's resources to win it would be a battle of titanic proportions war on such a scale does not come secretly or by surprise the imperium is not completely blind to events within the eye of terror sages and seers were forecasting dire warnings long before abaddon launched his crusade romans taken from the emperor's tarot predicted the threat raids were increasing around the eye of terror the adaptus mechanicus exploratus launched null ships deep into the eye of terror to send back information about events inside what they found sent shock waves through the upper echelons of the imperium the twelve high lords of terror the council that rules the imperium in the emperor's name long debated what course of action to take it was clear that the defenses must be strengthened reserves must be found weapons ammunition and supplies stockpiled on armory worlds across segmentum obscurus space marine chapters must be readied and positioned to respond to attack wherever the hammer blow fell the imperial guard must first hold and then drive back the followers of chaos every fighting force at the imperium's disposal must be ready to fight to the last shell and last man to protect acadian gate if the high lords of terror decree it then so it shall be for they speak with the authority of the emperor their word is law the administration set about the task of preparing the imperium for another great war stages eight forge world abaddon's 13th black crusade would indirectly affect every part of the imperium whether it was demands for new imperial guard regiments increased tithes or higher production from the forge worlds to meet supply demands abaddon's ambition could be likened to throwing stone into a pond where the ripple stretched out to the far corners of the galaxy in ultimate segmentum the largest of the five great segmentums that divide the imperium the effects would also be felt even as far away as the eastern fringe stygis 8 is one of ultima segmentum's greatest forge worlds and one of the adeptus mechanicus's largest research and production facilities in productivity stygi 8 stands in the second tier of forge worlds with mars alone on the top tier situated in the volcano system and covering the entire surface of the eighth moon of the ringed gas giant stages the forge world is one of the most productive and ultimate segmentum and of great importance to the imperium's war efforts as a forge world it does not pay tithes to the administratum instead it is bound to supply arms munitions and equipment to the departmento munitorum for use by the imperial guard this is a very important task productivity is carefully monitored to meet demand forecasts itself something of arcane art and practice by the adeptus mechanicus is loges should the forge world fall behind it might have serious consequences in the future when in some far-off war zone the ammunition or replacement weapons begin to run out the departmento munitorum spends a lot of its time and resources making sure this does not happen carrying the authority of the master of the administration departmento munitorum officials arrived on stages eight with a new set of production figures and targets the forecasts of a coming black crusade meant many new imperial guard regiments were being raised and these fighting men needed equipping the rulers of the forge world and a high prefect of the departmento munitorium held long councils to discuss the new requirements at this council stygis 8 argued that if production was to be increased then a more refined and raw materials would need to be found the lifeblood of any forge world is the material it consumes for production on the scale of stages eight vast amounts of minerals and chemicals are required mining planets across the imperium supply these demands the task of finding new materials was a big one and the departmento officials returned to terra to begin it administratum auditors set about finding where reserves had been located and catalogued and where planetary audits suggested that extra productivity might be squeezed from refineries it was during this process of evaluation and cross-referencing that the planet of taros first came to administrative bureaucrats attention taros was a small mining planet deep in ultima segmentum it was unremarkable except for two things the estimated size of the planet's untapped mineral wealth and secondly it's rather too close for comfort proximity to the expanding borders of the alien tau empire the department of munitor and briefed a delegation to visit this backwater planet armed with an ancient audit report compiled in the 38th millennium by officials collecting data for just such circumstances auditor prime nimus dree and his team of scribes and archivists were dispatched to inform the planetary governor of taros of his new increased production targets and to help organize how the targets could best be met dree was authorized to use the department of ultimate sanction under the conditions of the pax imperialis if the planetary governor could not or would not meet the increased targets then he would be replaced by a new governor one who could the department of munitorum delegation the man chosen to lead the delegation to taros was auditor prime nimus dree the functionary from the upper ranks of the department of munitorum he was accompanied by a team of record scribes and messenger ciphers on leaving terror his first port of call was stages eight to collect representatives from the forge world including a high magus metallurgicus an expert in the study of metals dri also needed to confirm his own figures and calculations with the needs of the forge world before moving on to taros given the location of taros an imperial naval escort was requested and granted for the delegation's transport ship the first tarous's rulers knew about the delegation from terror and the forge world was when a transport and two imperial naval frigates unexpectedly arrived in system this was a deliberate policy by dre not to forewarn the planetary governor and thus give the delegation the best chance of seeing how efficiently the mining operation was currently being run after a long and arduous warp journey the free ship safely entered orbit around tarous dries delegation boarded a flight of aquila shuttles and transferred down to the spaceport at tarou city known locally as tarokin the planetary governor with his advisers and officials awaited the delegation's arrival and greeted them with jew ceremony the entire entourage transferred to the governor's palace where an official meeting was scheduled for dree to inform the planetary governor of the administration's revised plans after the meeting dree began a tour of the mining works to see for himself how the operations were conducted and interview the mine owners in person meanwhile the adeptus mechanicus representatives will begin to assess the quality and purity of the ore currently being supplied from taros taros planetary survey imperial records do not detail the early colonization of taros most likely the planet was discovered in the early years of the dark age of technology no records specifically refer to the system but it is known that many systems on the eastern fringe of the galaxy were first being explored at this time on first discovery taros must have been a dead world briefed of any life just a hot desert world of sand and rock if life ever tried to evolve there it never progressed beyond the level of microorganisms the planet had no groundwater and very little atmospheric moisture the atmosphere was not breathable to humans conditions were just too harsh to foster life but early explorers must have noted that although lifeless now the planet's ecosystem was not far from being life-sustaining temperatures were high in the great desert very high but not to the point of making the world uninhabitable there were some atmospheric moistures and better still the planet was rich in mineral wealth huge quantities of useful oars were present much a bit close to the surface and easily accessible there was a stable atmosphere which could be manipulated taros was not beyond hope for colonization the draw of the ore deposits made the planet a viable prospect for terraforming back in the dark age of technology mankind had the technology and knowledge to alter planetary atmospheres and ecosystems to create a place capable of habitation by humans the transformation would not have to be miraculous they did not need to create a garden world of flowing streams and lush vegetation but a climate where colonists could survive and mine did by long forgotten advanced science and technology they set about terraforming the lifeless desert world into something humankind could survive on it did not happen overnight in fact it may well have taken over five thousand years of work but water was introduced to the planet's surface in the form of seas especially genetically engineered plants and algae also contributed to the ecosystem creating oxygen careful management and nurturing slowly change the atmosphere now this was done is a mystery but some life now exists on taros the first mention of taros in imperial archives is in m30 after the age of strife the planet was rediscovered by the armies of the new imperium as they spread out from earth reconquering the galaxy and reuniting the scattered human colonies that had been sundered by warp storms and wars mankind had barely survived on taras degenerating into a savage stone age tribal living the population probably never large had dwindled to less than one million in another thousand years human life on the planet would have been extinct rediscovery of the planet's mineral wealth resulted in the imperium recolonizing taros the regressed colonists were exterminated and new colonists moved in establishing mining stations and a star port over the past ten thousand years of the imperiums raw taros's population has steadily grown to its current level of approximately 12 million souls one major city has developed around the star port metal ore mining is still the planet's main function departmental munitorium records show that in the last 10 000 years of history and it should be born in mind that records are incomplete and taros has raised only eight imperial guard regiments the tyronian first was annihilated during the third black crusade the tyronian second and third served as part of saint saeon's crusade and would eventually disbanded with survivors being folded into another imperial guard regiment the fate of the tyronian fourth and fifth are unknown records do not tell what happened the turonian sixth regiment was heavily engaged against orcs during war badon and later was disbanded with the surviving manpower being turned over to the 15th canadian regiment as replacements the seventh regiment was lost as part of rogue trader foul way tours third expedition into the eastern fringes and the eighth regiment is currently active as part of the garrison force of helion 6. climate taros is divided into four principal climactic regions mountains arid deserts semi-arid deserts and seas shifting sands and bare rock cover 95 of the planet's surface the largest region is the mountains low mountainous highlands cover 40 percent of the planet's surface heavily eroded they are not tall but are extremely rugged there are no major routes through the mountain regions and no settlements they remain an unexplored wilderness the second largest regions are the arid deserts the great sand seas are uninhabitable and whilst there may be vast mineral resources buried beneath the logistics of working in such a hostile environment with high temperatures and no water supply high winds and the threat of large sandstorms make it impractical most of the deserts remain unexplored wilderness semi-arid regions concentrated around the coasts are mostly barren rocky badlands at ground level strong filled winds are common the seas help to mediate taros's extreme temperatures surrounding the small seas are the inhabited areas of semi-arid desert these regions are home to the planet's hydro farmers there are two main seas on taros called axay and emisei these small land-bound seas are taros's only source of surface water and were probably artificially created as part of the planet's terraforming during the dark age of technology today the seas are highly alkaline but provide two-thirds of the population's water supply from hydro processing hot air rising from the deep deserts collides with the cool air from over the polar highland mountainous regions the pressure difference causes a high speed river of air in the upper atmosphere this airstream can reach incredible speeds up to 400 miles per hour this dominates the climate of taros as the small amounts of water in the air condenses to form the wispy clouds common to the skies of taros in the hottest areas these begin to form a localized storm clouds heavily laden with water vapor the storm clouds rise on hot thermals if they meet one of the air streams the top of the cloud begins to rotate in the fast moving winds this spinning force radiates down through the cloud spinning faster and faster to form a hurricane these hurricanes can be huge and blow for days on the surface of taros sucking up huge amounts of sand these become sand devils as the locals call them most blow themselves out in the deep deserts but occasionally sand devils destroy water farms or mining facilities taras has no native flora or fauna genetically engineered flora has been imported and survives in the semi-arid zones as scrub and cactus-like plants the sea contains toxic algae which generates most of the planet's oxygen there is no other record of native fauna the economy almost 12 million souls inhabit taros mostly in or around taros city known locally as tarokin and the semi-arid regions surrounding the small seas taro city is situated in the eastest region where several small land-bound seas are taros's only surface water the water is highly alkaline but hydro processing plants situated on the shores turn it into drinkable water this process is aided by the scattered water farms which gather moisture from the air water farmers sell their produce to the planetary governor via exclusive contracts the governor and his officials control all water on taros and therefore all life tarokine is the single largest urban area with the planet's only spaceport facility most workers are miners working long hours at the strip mines and quarries out in the desert other major industries are water processing and hydro farming hydroponics workers grow food in atmospheric-controlled hydroponic plants wall transportation is another large industry moving all from the desert mines to collection points in the city before transportation off world short distance transportation uses manpower literally laborers carrying a sack each or tractors towing trains of ore carts long distance transportation uses large cargo aircraft in m38 as part of the then planetary governor's drive to improve productivity he imported off-world labor in the form of ogrins from the colonies of joe pal several thousand of the big ab humans were shipped on mars to taros to work in the mines in the most inhospitable desert areas very strong and hardy the ogrins are well adapted to the physical work of loading unloading and hauling ore carts on taros the ogrens are still used by many minds as part of the workforce the last census carried out by the administration some 400 years ago estimated a population of 10 000 ogre scattered across the planet the population mostly consists of poor mine workers and laborers operating in work gangs there is a high level of technology maintained with many tasks automated ministorum galaxia missionaries report little in the way of genetic mutation due to the extreme aridity of the planet water is a major resource on taros hydrofarming is an important industry as is hydro processing from the alkaline seas sea water is processed to make it fit for human consumption all water trade is centrally controlled by the planetary governor through his official water agents processing plants are situated on the coast and purify the water via a free stage process hydro farms are widely scattered across the aestis region mineral laws for ferro alloys lead vandium uranium and manganese are the main principal exports of taros from its mining facilities some of these oars are more rare than others but for the imperium's war effort all will be essential taros's food supply is mostly grown under cover in large atmospheric controlled hydroponic plants many buildings have their own hydroponic plants attached but the largest are situated around tarakin and in the coastal regions this provides the population with 80 percent of their food supply the other 20 being imported from surrounding worlds principal crops are variants of the militant sorghum plants members of the grass family providing highly nutritious grain ground nuts related to the soya bean are a growing source of protein and provide many varied foodstuffs some exotic off-world fruits are grown also all crops have evolved to survive on a minimal water supply which is heavily recycled by the hydroponic plants to prevent wastage others sources of vitamins and protein come from algae and marine microorganisms harvested from the seas and chemically processed to make an edible gruel called cremel by the natives this is a staple diet of the miners and workers other foodstuffs meats and dairy products as well as luxury items must be imported and are the preserve of the top of the social order officials mine owners etc etc only one major city exists tarot city war in the local dialect tarot keen it has a population of approximately four million it acts as an all collection point the center of the planet administration distribution center of water and food supplies and other smaller industries the surrounding hinterland has the highest density of hydro farms and water processing plants and mines but there are a few other large settlements those that do exist are towns built around the largest strip mining and quarrying operations the hinterland of tarakin and the populated area around the sea is called the aestes and is home to approximately six million of taros's population living on scattered hydro farms and temporary mining settlements around the mining facilities such as tungusta station fornax tyndales station daokalian and erebus this area has the most temperate climate on the planet due to the proximity of the seas and the prevailing wind conditions hence most people reside here first investigations planetary governor lord alice accepted that with the minotaurum's aid that current productivity levels could be increased and that the new targets required to keep the forge world operating at its increased capacity were achievable he promised to do all in his power to meet the targets and in all respects was the loyal and convivial host to the imperium's officials to begin with he aroused no suspicion within the delegation it was not until auditor prime dre started to visit the outlying mining sites that he started to wonder about certain aspects of the mining operation on tarous firstly there were many abandoned mining sites scarring the deserts evidence of much activity each time he was told that the load or or seem had been mined out and the operation had moved on to the mine owners this was evidence of industrious hard work but to an auditor it was the physical evidence that the planet's estimated reserves were being eaten into or not as large as had been originally claimed in the m38 audit dries tour continued and each mining operation seemed to be working hard finding new loads and blasting them out in huge strip mining operations the oar was being separated and shipped in large quantities to the spaceport at taroukin these stockpiles at tarakeen were now large awaiting the arrival of empty transports to carried away to refineries on the surface all was well but auditory started to look deeper each mine was requested to hand over productivity statements going back for 10 or 20 years several mine owners could not their records were incomplete but most responded and from them dri began to get an overall picture of how much oar had recently been exported off taros next he looked into survey and geological reports about new loads and the size of these fines from his information he gained a good idea of how much mineral wealth remained these figures did not tally with how much the ancient audit report claimed at the current rates of extraction using figures collected from refineries and stages there should have been more left than current estimates stated there was a disparity between the different sources figures which concerned had taros been over mining in which case where were the stockpiles those in storage in tarakin did not cover the disparity morehead stages eight got it wrong in which case the forecast figures might also be mistaken and the far-reaching effects of this could result in future lack of supplies for now the auditor kept his suspicions to himself it took dree several weeks to gather all the information he needed from taros by the end of his investigations he had a good idea of what had been happening here the mines had been over producing for years they had been stripping out ordered a greater rate than was required or needed all this all had been shipped to tarakin and although quotas for refineries and stages eight itself had been met the rest of the valuable ore had vanished because there was now let up in the supply the mistake had never been noticed the bookkeeping trail ended here where had the missing ore gone before leaving taros adri decided to confront the planetary governor about the disparity and seek an explanation although it was likely that the governor himself had no idea about the problem governor owles did indeed claim ignorance as far as he was concerned quotas had been met and shipments have been made on time he didn't concern himself with the day-to-day running of mines that was the job of the owners governor alice's advice was to ask them so dre did just that requesting that the largest mine owners each attend a hearing to explain the figures they had no explanation they just dug and blasted and dug some more they found loads and stripped them out as fast as they could with the workforce available to them ignorance was their defense getting nowhere and suspecting a conspiracy of silence dree decided more drastic action was needed conspiracy on taros unknown to auditor prime dree he was starting to scratch the surface of events which had been developing over the past two decades on tarot the arrival of his delegation had to the casual observer being gracefully received in fact his presence had caused widespread concern throughout the ruling elite of taros the tao had a long time interest in the planet of taros as that empire had expanded systems had been systematically scouted for possible colonization many had been identified one such planet was taros it had a breathable atmosphere and although it was a harsh desert planet the tower themselves are better adapted to hot climates than coal it had some water and was capable of sustaining life best of all it had abundant mineral wealth it was noted as a good prospect for future expansion and swift colonization but there was one major drawback taras was the imperium's world and that meant capturing it would be difficult since first contact with the imperium at devlan when a scout ship had been destroyed the tao had learned that the imperium would not easily give up worlds claimed in their emperor's name any military attack would bring a swift response capturing tariffs would involve a major war and the israels on tau did not believe the gains outweighed the risks for now there were other easier targets any initial plans for a quick invasion was shelved but taros was not forgotten instead of calling upon the fire cast to capture taros the council first turned to the water cast diplomatic moves might bring results if the watercast played a quiet patient game the imperium's worlds usually refused all contact with aliens and the watercaster learned that many planetary governors could not be seen to be in negotiations with aliens for fear of their own rulers finding out however deals and small trading could be negotiated if everything was kept secret merchant guild masters and the leaders of trading cartels were rich greedy men and a chance to trade with the dynamic tau empire offered them riches they could not find anywhere else on the eastern fringe the delegation of the most experienced and cunning watercast diplomats was sent to taras to seek a meeting with its rulers this team included human representatives from other worlds already working with the tao armed with assurances that the tao empire had no ambitions to expand in this area and the taros was completely safe from attack the diplomats were only to seek small trading contracts in return for very small amounts of manganese ore the tao could offer water purification and recycling technology as well as hydroponic equipment for growing food and luxury goods these items could make a harsh life on taros that much easier for its social elite at first the planetary governor bought at the watercast's approaches he knew farewell that trading with aliens was strictly forbidden but taros was just one planet in a million and small amounts of ore would not be missed governor owles talked to the mine owners and merchants and in turn they saw a chance to make extra money on wealth the imperium's quotas had not been changed in generations the mining operations were working efficiently the administration was content who would know or care if some extra manganese or vanadium ore was blasted out and sold to these tau other human worlds had grown rich doing it the alien delegates had brought the proof with them and in the long run a good relations might keep tau expansionism at bay negotiations were completed some 20 years ago and the tao got their first foot in the door on tarou's the agreement started very small no more than one shipment of manganese and vanitium a year but gradually as the planetary governor and his mine owners got away with it the amounts being shipped increased the tires set by the administration were still being met but the mines were expanded to exploit new fines over the next ten years the tower gained more and more say in the mining operations several earth-cast delegations visited to offer aid and advice the tao paid for the awe in technology and luxury goods such as precious stones from tashva and exotic fruits from ao tal high society of tariffs began to grow wealthy on the illicit trade for almost two decades the administration's bureaucrats remained ignorant whilst the tower's influence grew the unexpected arrival of the adaptus munitorium delegation caused much concern in the inner circle of taros's ruling elite those mine owners who were profiting by dealing became very nervous governor owles urged calm he argued that they could bluff it out claim ignorance lie cover up anything he believed the delegation would do its duty the increased tithes could still be met and nothing need ever be found out back to hastily and the conspiracy would be uncovered and they would all be arrested however the planetary governor did not reckon on the thoroughness of order to prime tree soon cracks in the cover-up and the lies were being found and suspicions aroused as tree the deeper concern grew for the conspirators the situation was becoming desperate some mine owners even advocated assassinating the entire delegation and blaming the tao the planetary governor forbade it if the delegation were armed it will only be worse for them all in the long term maybe he could find some way of discrediting order to dries report lord alice continued to try and bluff it out until the delegation left unknown to him events far away and beyond his control in the danab system would reveal all the tao empire the imperium has known about the alien race called the tao since the 35th millennium five thousand years ago an explorative vessel discovered and categorized their homeworld located far from terror on the eastern fringe of the galaxy tahu was originally recorded as a dry world but with areas of lush vegetation and a high population of terrestrial xenomorphs the most advanced of the xenomorph only just developed primitive weapons and mastered fire they were regarded as no threat to the imperium the world was scheduled for routine cleansing and then recolonization daru's fledgling inhabitants were saved when the imperium's fleet dispatched a clear and colonized tau was destroyed in a freak and violent warp storm which cut off the world from further human contact unable to proceed the imperium moved on forgetting about the new but minor alien race it had discovered for many many years saved from eradication by luck or fate the tower developed rapidly over the course of just a few thousand years the tower evolved and developed a sophisticated culture and caste system based off dynamic expansion and a holistic philosophy of all working together towards one end driven by their ideal of the greater good the tower made huge and rapid strides in science and technology by the 41st millennium they had become a space-faring race with a small but burgeoning empire given the taos ambitious desires to expand further into the cosmos it was inevitable that they would eventually come into contact with the imperium of man in their quiet backwater on the eastern fringe of the galaxy the tao finally encountered the imperium again when one of their spacecraft probably innocently entered the devlin system disregarding or misunderstanding all warnings the tau vessel was attacked by devlin's system defense ships and was unable to make an escape before being destroyed by the imperial navy news of the incident caused alarm within the imperial navy hierarchy who was this alien race which had suddenly appeared in devlin as if out of nowhere with advanced spacecraft adeptus mechanicus genitals investigating dna material taken from the destroyed ship discovered that the genetic material was the same as that originally found on tau six millennia ago it appeared the primitive alien race that had so narrowly escaped extinction had rapidly grown up rogue traders and merchant captains were dispatched to the eastern fringe to investigate further only to discover that the tower had already expanded from their home world and started to colonize other worlds throughout the small but densely packed cluster of star systems around their home world several other minor races had been inducted into this small but growing empire worse still several of the imperiums worlds had also started trading with the aliens whose negotiators had learned human languages and customs and busied themselves making diplomatic contact with the surrounding worlds it was a threat that could not be ignored and the imperium fearful of alien contamination and the threat the new race posed to the emperor's safe rule prepared an attack to destroy the tao in 742 m41 the damocles gulf crusade was launched it failed several tau colony worlds were successfully captured but a combination of the towers advanced military technology their ferocious alien allies and an unshakable belief in the cause of the greater good as well as the threat of tyranid invasion from the eastern fringe eventually halted the imperium's crusade after bloody fighting the tao empire survived its first great threat and in the subsequent years continue to expand town society is very homogenous and characterized by an ethos of togetherness this is one of the race's greatest strengths they always work together for the good of all tao their society is divided into five castes each cast has its own broad area of specialization and responsibility the watercast are generally diplomats politicians and administrators the earth cast are artisans constructors and libras the air cast are pilots messengers and spaceship crew the fire cast are warriors and protectors selective breeding within this caste system has developed members which are slightly larger and stronger than other tao the final and smallest cast are the ethereals the ethereals are a group of councillors and advisors who seem to have a strong almost religious hold over other tao they are regarded with awe and veneration by members of other castes the ethereals act as guides to all the other caste's leaders unlike many of the alien races encountered by mankind the tower not naturally hostile or aggressive the towers dynamic young and energetic society means that their rapid expansion has brought them into contact with other alien races it is now in the town military forces have fought and defeated several large orc attacks they've also recently encountered the tyranid high fleets which are starting to threaten borders of their empire since first contact with the imperium the relationship has never been good the imperium sees the tower empire as a threat albeit not its greatest threat and the imperium's authorities will not stand by and let aliens take over the emperor's worlds or see its citizens forced to submit to alien domination the imperium has vowed to fight all tao expansion no doubt in time the 12 high lords of terror would like to see this minor but irritating alien threat quashed altogether a xenocidal crusade to exterminate the tower would be welcomed indeed the ecclesiarchy of the adeptus ministorum has already drafted several sermons on this very subject currently such a crusade is just not possible the tao empire although small by the imperium standards still consists of some hundred worlds the forces needed to conquer them all would be immense the town military have already proven themselves a match for the imperial guard and there are too many other more urgent wars not least the threat of the tyranid high fleets which are a huge drain on the imperium's manpower lately there is also the threat of abaddon's 13th black crusade in response the tower were quite willing to match fire with fire when diplomatic means fail they are becoming well-versed and more confident in the use of military power to obtain their own ends raiding bushfire wars invasions and counter invasions are becoming increasingly common currency along the borders of tao space the tao are roughly humanoid bipedal alien race they are generally smaller in stature than humans shorter and with less body weight and muscle mass their skin has a grayish green or blue coloring they have two eyes and a mouth but no obvious olfactory or auditory organs each hand has three digits and a single opposable thumb a major difference between humans is the bone structure of their lower legs ankle and foot tao have a far shorter tibia and phobia bones but their feet have elongated talos and uniform bones and two large central weight-bearing toes the tau have evolved to stand and move without the use of their heels tau fire warrior soldiers seem to possess many qualities broadly similar to human norms such as endurance levels and pain tolerances the dinab incident meanwhile unrelated to any events around the eye of terror or taros the imperial navy's patrol group ravenour was conducting a routine anti-pirate sweep through the danabe system an area of wilderness space on the edge of the damocles gulf the five-ship patrol were operating under standing orders to attack and seize suspected pirate vessels or conduct hurrying grades against tau targets of opportunity was under the command of captain darulian of the dauntless light cruiser lord ravenour the patrol had been out for several months with little success and captain derelion was preparing to return to base and report that pirate activity in the area was minimal when the sword-class frigate vcs6 of scadian squadron positioned well ahead of the main line reported sensor contact with free unidentified transport vessels suspecting these may be the pirate ships he was hunting captain derelion began a cautious pursuit patrol group ravenour carefully stalked the free vessels through the danab asteroid belt maintaining a distance that would not reveal their presence and making maximum use of the asteroid belt's cover for free days they maintained the standoff pursuit hoping the free vessels would lead them to a pirate base or a rendezvous point and a far greater prize it seemed captain derilian was correct the convoy was making for a small deep space facility on the edge of the danabe belt as the ships approached it was revealed to be no pirate base instead scanner readings from his leading ship revealed the presence of a tau weigh station captain derilian had experience operating around the damocles gulf and had encountered such facilities before scattered in remote locations why would free transport phrases be render viewing with an alien way station positioning a single escort vessel to maintain the surveillance the captain withdrew and reported the curious events to fleet command whilst the lord ravenour was away the frigate vcs6 observed the free transports dock at the weigh station and a single tower vessel of the emissary class left shortly afterwards hidden within the asteroid belt vcs6 watched and waited meanwhile captain derilian's astropathic message reached imperial high command who were equally in the dark about these events inquiries about these free ships revealed nothing whoever these ships belonged to they were obviously consorting with aliens new orders were issued to patrol group ravenor destroy the tower way station captured the transport prisoners were to be taken for further interrogation the lord ravenor returned to rendezvous with vcs6 and prepared to attack the crews were roused to battle stations and the escort captains briefed the group would slowly approach the station through the asteroid belt and then attack at all ahead full and giving the rogue transports the minimum of time to effect an escape the lord ravenor would engage the way station whilst the escorts prevented any escape or pursued any transports that tried to flee after crippling the weigh station the lord ravenor would then grapple alongside a transport and board her to take her as a prize and capture the crew captain derelion issued his final order on my command go straight at them all ahead full no mercy may the emperor rot their treacherous hearts with that order the great plasma reactors of the five imperial navy ships ward into life accelerating them out of the asteroid belt in line a stern and directly at the weigh station with surprise on their side the patrol group raced past the weigh station unleashing a full broadside at short range lance batteries and macro cannons roared into the void impacting upon the weigh station with shuddering explosions the station attempted to return fire as best she could with little effect one transport was immediately hit and crippled as it lay at birth the others has predicted attempted to disengage and flee scadian squadron was immediately in rapid pursuit it seemed his surprise attack had worked except captain durian was about to get a surprise himself his bridge survey controllers urgently reported more tau vessels approaching a second convoy of transports and an escort of light warships identified as of the castilian class had appeared on scanner screens the tower were closing fast suddenly from a one-sided ambush patrol group ravenour had a real fight on its hands reacting to the new situation the captain recalled his escorts from their pursuit and set a new cause to intercept the approaching tower vessels helm lay us alongside at spitting distance we'll match shot with these dogs and our wager we outmatch them the gruffal captain ordered a new attack calculating that he had enough firepower to see the tau convoy of or destroy it entirely with her four escorts closing in behind her the lord ravenor plowed in amongst the alien convoy broadsides blazing from both starboard and port batteries in return the tau vessels peppered her back shields flaring and decks quaking under the impacts of railguns and ion cannons it was bitter and hard fought at close range with both sides inflicting heavy damage during the engagement the sword-class frigate vs6 and seven were both crippled and the lord ravenor was limping with engine damage and fires on several decks but the tau convoy was scattered leaving one drifting transport as a wreck and both castellans the targets of the lord ravenour's heaviest guns as burning hulks to the cheers of her gun crews patrol group ravenor had had the best of it and decisively won the skirmish in the process two of the rogue transports had escaped captain turillion gathered his battered but victorious officers and issued new orders for post-battle operations boarding parties were to be ready to board the way station and crippled transport all prisoners were to be brought directly to him a second party was to board the tower transport and seize her cargo meanwhile vs 8 and 9 were to rescue surviving crew from the patrol group's two crippled escorts after completion of operations they would make course out of the danab system and home battle scarred but victorious aboard the tower transport the boarding party found only empty holes the way station had been badly damaged in a final bombardment before departing would destroy it beyond salvage crewmen from the crippled row transport were captured after a brief skirmish with survivors it seemed they had no knowledge of the ship's cargo but the ship's log recorded that their last port of call had been taros the crewmen claimed not to know why they were here or why their cargo was being unloaded by the tao they were just following orders but orders from whom the prisoners would be turned over to inquisitorial interrogators once the lord ravenor returned to port and then lying tongues would loosen on his return captain derilian was awarded the order of the knights of damocles and promoted to captain the cruiser hammer of thrace for his part in winning the engagement he filed a full report about the dhanab incident but the truth behind the events remained a mystery to the imperial navy the truth remained a mystery only until the danab incident report was discovered by auditor prime tree during his research into the missing minerals on taros for three patrol group ravenous discovery was evidence of treachery dre suspicions were confirmed the free transports had been carrying a cargo of manganese vanadium and uranium ore loaded at taros and originally destined for refineries which in turn supplied stages eight but the convoy had been diverted and then ordered to unload some of their cargo at the tailway station from where it would be transferred to town vessels and transported back into the tao empire for their own use this would not have been the first time valuable resources had been given or more likely sold to the aliens the patrol group's luck in stumbling across the convoy and way station had given the department of munitorium official the damning evidence he needed there was a conspiracy on tarous a secret deal with the tao empire to siphon off mineral resources which belonged to the imperium dree was sure that the planetary governor must be at the heart of the conspiracy lord owless might be all industrious loyalty on the outside but within beat the black heart of a traitor to the imperium the planetary governor had broken the sacred pax imperialis and swift retribution would be his reward swift retribution auditor prime tree presented his report to the office of the master of the adeptus munitorium on terror for consideration of action to be taken dree had completed the investigation but it was now out of his hands he had no power to decide what to do about taros only to present his findings only an inquisitor would have the sweeping powers to intervene and dree was a mere bureaucrat the office of the master of the adeptus munitorum on terror is in itself vast ever seeing much of the work of the department of many sub-departments it would take several months for the bureaucracy to process dri's report and for anybody with real authority to eventually see it his report was just one amongst thousands dree returned to his day-to-day functions the wheels of the administration's bureaucracy do not turn fast but slowly events on tarou's came to the attention of the master of the adeptus munitorium's office a report claiming serious breaches of the pax imperialis and conspiring with aliens was to be taken seriously dree was summoned to a hearing to explain his findings which he did things on tarou's were rotten dree said and the planetary governor was at the heart of the conspiracy action needed to be taken swift action to end the problem amongst the upper ranks of the adaptive terror it was decided that the planetary governor should be removed and replaced with a more trustworthy candidate the administrative started to consider its options the first and most obvious option was to contact the officio assassinorum and secretly dispatch one of the imperium's most lethal weapons to taros maybe a servant of the vindicate temple to execute the governor for his crime with a single well-placed sniper shot to the head or a servant of the calendar's temple could infiltrate his organization and get close enough for a silent knife in the dark but the simple death of the planetary governor would not solve the problem daras was close to the tao empire an obvious prospect for tau expansionist ambitions the imperium needed to send the aliens a strong message the tao interference on tarot would not be tolerated the problem was not just the planetary governor it was also the tau simply assassinating lord owless would not deter their ambitions the official assassinorum was ruled out in favor of a bolder larger plan a coup d'etat a strike force would target the planetary governor and his supporters using maximum force they would demonstrate to tau observers the emperor's will to hold on to taros once the operation was complete the strikeforce would become a temporary garrison to deter any tau counter attacks there was one force capable of such a mission at short notice the adeptus astartes the space marines would be the emperor's instrument of divine justice on tarous during the damocles golf campaign the tao had learned to fear mankind's finest warriors and a strike force on the ground would send an unmistakable message the imperium will do everything he can to hold taros if the tower wanted the planet they must first face the space marines the space marine chapter was quickly identified for the coup d'etat mission and a high-level delegation with the relevant intelligence information was immediately dispatched to the chapter monastery of the avenging sons along with a well-worded request signed by the master of the administration's office asking the chapter master for his assistance official records would later name the operation the first tarous taros intervention the first taros intervention the avenging sons responded swiftly to the administration's request for punitive action to be taken against taros after receiving the administration's delegation the chapter master summoned his company commanders and explained the mission now hear these words news has come to us that the governor of the tarot system has foresworn the sacred oats of the pax imperialis he has colluded with aliens and put the safe and good rule of our emperor in jeopardy for these crimes it is judged that his punishment shall be death the avenging sons have been chosen to be the instruments of that sentence we are honored to accept it shall fall to second company and captain ameros to do the chapter's duty prepare your brethren brother captain but no you are not alone in this mission the master of forge shall ready the machine spirits of the armory to assist you the brothers of the first and tenth shall also aid you the master of the fleet shall ready the strike cruiser proxima justice and by sundown on the second day you shall be embarked may the tides of the warp see you safely to taros and may the emperor watch over your souls in the coming battle you are to unleash his divine wrath upon this miscreant quash all resistance leave none that stands against us living send out a message from tariffs for all to hear the emperor stands here and shall not be moved let us all say the second prayer of vengeance together before our brethren depart second company readied themselves for battle bolt guns and power armor were anointed and blessed by the company chaplin whilst brothers hackial and kame were awoken from their slumbers their dreadnought systems were checked and declared fully functional by tech marines for 24 hours the chapter monastery was a bustle of activity as the second company assisted by a squad of the veteran first company and scouts of the 10th mustered its full strength captain ameros and his men embarked onto the chapter strike cruiser proxima justus and accompanied by a single escort vessel made best speed out of the system before engaging warp engines there would be time enough on the month-long journey for briefing and training the taros intervention force was on its way to battle whilst bound for the tarot system captain amerus began planning his attack and briefing his fellow officers and squad sergeants the mission objective was straightforward locate and eliminate planetary governor owles in the process the operation should be a strong show of force the attack should be swift ruthless and brutal all opposition was to be destroyed it was the kind of mission space marine strike forces excel at armed with all the intelligence the administrative and order to prime tree could provide the captain planned the assault in detail first he would need to locate the planetary governor the first and most obvious target should be the governor's palace his residence amros had detailed layouts of the large building to plan the assault if the governor escaped or was not present then the attack would move into a second phase a search and destroy operation this would involve moving the heavier equipment and vessels onto the ground and beginning a sweep through the city other likely hiding places were earmarked for immediate follow-up raids during the second phase of the operation amoros would also need the aid of the proxima justice in all their orbit utilizing its powerful surveillance and sensor equipment and should resistance require it the strike cruises weapons for orbital bombardment as a show of force the willingness to flatten turrican would send a strong message as well as help subdue the local population if the population began to feel that they were all suffering for their governor's crimes then they might turn against him and inform on his hiding place it was a brutal tactic but captain ameros was a space marine with a lifetime of indoctrination and hypo suggestion that meant he cared not one bit his duty to the emperor was all that mattered to his mind there were no innocence on taros anymore rather than a single building the governor's palace was a complex of government buildings but alice's private residence would be the first target for speed and surprise amoris planned a drop pod assault all of second companies manpower aided by the teleporting terminator veterans of first company would play their part first four of the six tactical squads were assigned to their roles using darkness for cover they would establish a blocking position landing close to their targets location they would move to form a roadblock holding the key locations to prevent reinforcements from reaching the governor's palace quickly this part of the mission would be under the subcommand of veteran sergeant ian of first squad he would be responsible for holding these locations moving men between them as he saw fit to reinforce if one position came under heavy enemy attack amaros briefing sergeant in him felt this was unlikely as the entire mission was planned as a swift strike the captain did not intend to be waiting around long enough for the enemy to react and gather a large force isolated by the four blocking squads the battle company's two assault squads are supported by the two remaining tactical squads would land within the palace complex itself directly on the heels of the death wind drop pod which would be the first to impact before unloading its lethal cargo of missiles indiscriminately the assault units would overcome any resistance at the palatial residence before sweeping through it to locate lord alice captain ameros himself would lead the assault along with chaplin barack hill first company terminators would be the ultimate instrument of justice once his force had located the governor within the palace captain ameros would use his teleport homer to summon the waiting terminators arriving via teleporter the terminators would appear at the location and use their massive close range firepower to eliminate the target immediately upon success the code word justice would be given and the operation could move into the evacuation phase should the code would not be received after one hour will the override code malevolent be issued this would mean that the target was not present or had escaped malevolent would mean everybody moving to phase two search and destroy during the first phase attack there would be a small reserve force consisting of both devastator squads the two dreadnoughts and the scout squad their primary mission would be to cover the company's withdrawal and then form the backbone of a secure perimeter about the governor's palace whilst an evacuation was conducted by thunderhawk gunship this force would also be relied upon to counter any stronger than expected enemy resistance at captain amerus's call they would move to intercept and engage with their heavy weapons fire they should be able to inflict serious damage rapidly buying the company enough time for the other squads to complete the mission and evil withdraw or move to phase two captain amorous plan had three things to its advantage even though he would be attacking into the heart of enemy territory with only 120 battle brothers now heavy support or armored vehicles and no preparatory bombardment to soften up the target firstly and most importantly was surprise the enemy may have been expecting an attack but they did not know when where or how secondly the defenders were only local planetary defense forces low quality troops with little discipline and by space marine standards poorly equipped the morale would also be poor and amaros expected after a sudden swift blow organized resistance would crumble thirdly overwhelming concentration of forces the avenging sun strike force would be close together and fighting as one unit the enemy would need to call in reinforcements from other defensive positions if these could be delayed that would give him time to complete the job success would require courage precision and speed but the space marines had all three battle for the governor's palace the avenging sun strike cruiser proxima justice disengaged its warp drives and plunged back into real space just beyond the terrorist system it immediately came to battle stations and made best calls for taros too most imperial planets have some form of systems defense and taros was no different it could call upon its network of surface-to-orbit missiles and a single squadron of free system defense monitors it was air force incapable of matching a heavily armed and armored space marine strike cruiser and although the monitors were given orders to engage the approaching space marines all three ship crews refused the order and mutinied rather than face almost certain destruction the space marine's reputation traveled before them proxima justice's approach to taros was unimpeded once in orbit the only threat to proxima justice would be the missile silos the ease would take some time to target prepare and launch upon arrival in orbit the avenging suns would already be ready to launch drop pods after launching the planet 4 the strike cruiser and her escort would withdraw to stand off taros at a safer distance whilst the ground assault was completed it would only move in again when required the proxima justice swept into position in low orbit and captain amorous gave the order to launch the first drop pod wave before boarding his own drop pod to lead the second wave which followed close behind the first obviously the launch operation went like clockwork one after another the drop pod sped away from the strike cruiser and burned through the atmosphere and plunged down retro thrusters reorientating each pod towards its pre-programmed landing coordinates the first pod to land was the death wind aimed directly at the governor's residence and loaded with a lethal cargo of missiles to sweep the area with indiscriminate fire as an open fire the four blocking tactical squads would be landing and disembarking to take up their defensive positions from the inner courtyard in front of governor aulis's residence the sky above was streaked with fiery comet trails as the drop pods burnt through the atmosphere the distant roar of engines and rushing wind grew louder then came the sudden hissing roar as retro jets went into full burn to slow the final descent of the rapidly approaching drop pods next came a ground shaking impact which shattered nearby windows and created a rising plume of thick dust through the dust the distinctive shape of the drop pod sitting upright in the courtyard could just be made out a brief moment's silence and stillness followed before the electronic servo wine of the locking bolts disengaging and the ramps starting to fall stunned on lockers watched as the dust cleared to reveal the death wind drop pod's lethal contents the courtyard became an inferno as rapid-firing missiles sprayed out in all directions a cacophony of explosions shook the palace one after another pulverizing masonry and sending on luck as fleeing for cover the bombardment was brief but intense turning the courtyard into a smoking hell of shrapnel and flames this was only the beginning amidst the sudden missile attack the fiery contrails of the second wave of drop pods had not been noticed by anyone having discharged its missiles the death wind pod fell silent but the roar of retro engines again filled the sky with a crashing jarring impact the drop pods landed one after another split open like petals of a deadly flower to discourage squads of power armored giants moving with purpose through the dust smoke and flames the battle for the governor's palace had begun in earnest the initial attack stunned the defenders the residence building was guarded by a single squad on century duty and they had borne the brunt of the firepower several of those caught in the open have been killed their bodies tossed through the air like ragged dolls to lie broken upon the courtyards now rubble strewn floor the palace garrison was already responding to attack gathering weapons and running from their barracks building to meet the attackers head-on captain ameros issued commands over his helmet comlink and moved towards the target building ahead of him the assault squads were running bulk pistols drawn chainsaws and frag grenades held ready to assault the building entrance the distinctive bark and thunderclap explosion of bulk gun shells could already be heard the sentry squad survivors attempted to return fire last guns flashing with little effect those guards that stood their ground to defend the entrance to the palace residents died screaming as the avenging sons assault squads mercilessly tore through them leaving their victims as little more than bloody awful melter charges destroyed the armored doors and through the explosion left the assault squads after viewing the scenes outside nobody inside had the metal to stand and fight all fled rather than face the notorious angels of death captain amirus and his squad swept through the governor's residence room by room throwing fragmentation grenades and clearing rooms with bursts of bulk pistol fire the training doctrines were second nature any who did not escape fast enough were cut down eventually the lead squad crashed into an inner council chamber where a group of officials and guards had sought sanctuary the guards opened fire more in desperation and self-defense than in any hope of victory this was it governor owles must be amongst them the rest of the building had been cleared from outside the chamber doorway as laz gunfire flashed by armorus activated his teleport homer the signal was received on board the proxima justice in the onboard teleport chamber five heavily armoured terminators awaited the summons each was armed with a storm bolter and power fist except for one man carrying the assault cannon and veteran sergeant forest with the squad chain fist a power weapon capable of cutting through just about any material the titanic energies of the teleporter made the room throb with power lightning flashed and arced across the room as the tech priests made the final adjustments and issued fervent prayers to the spirit of the ancient machine the prayers did not fail in a blinding flash of white light the terminator squad vanished briefly being cast across the warp before reappearing amidst the crackling lightning in the council chamber far below the firefight was over in a fraction of a second the assault cannon word into life racking the room with a storm of shells that tore up the desks and walls storm bolterfire joined the slaughter blazing their own explosive rounds into the officials and guards as the smoke cleared none were left standing the planetary governor was dead captain amerus ordered apothecary actium to cross-check dna samples from the party with the order fabulous records of the house owless genetic codes it was information the administrator had provided at the beginning of the mission the test would confirm the mission was complete meanwhile the assault squads and terminators deployed into holding positions and began to engage the barracks troops who were arriving too late to save their commander apothecary action set about his task using his nethercarium and checking the ragged bloody bodies one by one all failed the genetic matching test that him informed his captain the planetary governor alice was not amongst the dead he must have escaped or by some ill fortune never been here at all captain amorous cursed and issued the code word malevolent over the comnet mission objective failed prepare to go to phase two meanwhile beyond the palace walls the four blocking positions had been formed veteran sergeant enem had the squads under his command well organized upon landing resistance had been zero but it did not remain so for long after a quiet couple of minutes the sound of jet engines could be heard approaching overhead the dark swept wing outline of a tau manta swooping over the city like a great shadow skimming low over the rooftops the battle brothers at each position braced their bolt guns tight and tuck aim up the street they did not have long to wait tau manta super heavy drop ship the manta is the tau super heavy drop ship it is so large that it is actually a small spacecraft the manta is the tower's closest equivalent of the imperium's titans or all gargons and carries comparable firepower it is well armed and armored for use in frontline combat where it is expected to deploy and fight as an attack craft a manta carries a fearsome amount of firepower its main weapons are twin heavy railguns these guns fire a thin stabilized round for extra lift and therefore extra range whilst in an atmosphere their heavy railgun submunition shell is equipped with a drone processor which is programmed to direct the shell to its target this is mostly used during spaceship combat to find weak points in the armor of enemy ships submunitions lacking the penetrating power of the standard round but is also useful in ground combat as backup to the main weapons the manta mounts twin ion cannon batteries and its wings these provide short range saturation fire when in the thick of battle the rest of the mantas arsenal consist of prowl mounted launch pods for up to 10 seeker missiles these can be controlled by the crew or by other mark light operators on the ground the manta's last weapons are its 16 drone controlled burst cannon turrets these are positioned all around the mantis hull for close defense whilst landing and as anti-aircraft weapons when in flight the turrets are positioned so that all angles of approach are covered by multiple burst cannons the manta is the tower's smallest interstellar capable spacecraft it has limited ether drive capacity but because of its size a manta can only make very short hops restricting its use for longer trips it must be transported inside the far larger carriers as a spacecraft mantas are entirely crewed by members of the air cast as well as its firepower the manta has a large transport capacity the ship's main body is split into two transport decks the upper deck holds troops or battle suits whilst the cavernous lower deck can hold up to four fully loaded devil fish or hammer heads the entire lower transport deck has an elevator which is lowered to allow access it can also be fitted to carry extra troops battle suits or croot more just about any vehicle or equipment operated by the fire cast as well as its own cockpit each manta also contains a sophisticated command breach from here a tower commander can oversee a battlefield operations this allows a manta to act as a forward command post fire control and communications hub on taros mantas were widely used to transport the hunter cadres and their heavy equipment into the deserts positioning the troops for counter-attacks and quickly extracting them afterwards their fleet of mantas gave the tao forces superior strategic mobility of the ground-based imperial guard this allowed the outnumbered tau hunter cadres to match the imperial guard in equal force for local counter-attacks and battles captain arminus had expected some attempt to break through to the governor's palace by exterior forces but not so swiftly and he had not expected to encounter well-equipped tau forces the first the avenging sons knew of any tau forces on taros was the arrival of the manta over the night darkened city soon hammerhead gunships followed by crisis battle suits and devil fish mounted fire warriors would be closing in on blocking position three an entire hunter cadre was bearing down on the space marines moving at speed to reinforce the governor's palace at blocking position free the streets were suddenly crisscrossed by bulk gun and pulse rifle fire the smokey contrail of the squad's missile launcher screamed up the street impacting upon the front of the hammerhead in a bright explosion which buckled and scorched the armor but did not stop the approaching grav tank it opened fire in return punching through the buildings with its long rail gun sending masonry crashing to the street the opening skirmish was a one-sided affair but the avenging sons stood their ground and hammered out round after round refusing to fall back sergeant enemy ordered the squad at position two the next closest to position free to move and reinforce their battle brothers the tactical squad moved out pounding down the streets towards the sound of fighting now echoing off the buildings of tarakeen at position three the situation was deteriorating rapidly with heavy support and weight of numbers on their side the tower would advance down the street fire warriors dodged from doorway to doorway under the covering fire of battle suits and hammerheads it was fierce and intense but the remaining avenging sons knew they must hold the longer they fought the more time they brought their captain to complete his mission already several brothers had been killed by heavy weapons fire others were badly wounded but fighting on regardless sergeant andorra our third tactical squad was amongst the dead his broken body lying half buried under fallen masonry after a railgun round impacted next to him the arrival of tactical squad 2 did little to help the situation the tao hunter cadre was too strong their firepower swept the roads clear forcing the space marines into the cover of the buildings the crisis battle suits led the final assault leaping down the street on jet packs to rake the buildings with flamer and fusion cannon fire unable to win a one-sided contest the survivors of squad two and three were ordered to disengage and fall back to the governor's palace the remaining tactile squads at position one and four were also recalled to the palace as captain ameros regrouped his full strength ten out of the twenty battle brothers involved in the fighting of position three had been killed in the firefight six more were wounded these were heavy losses for enemy's force the tower had broken through the cordon and leaving a few units to secure the area moved on towards their objective the governor's palace defense of the governor's palace day one pre-warned of the approaching tau hunter cadre by reports of the firefighter blocking position three captain ameros set about reorganizing his forces for a defense governor alice had not been found and time was running out the presence of strong tau forces on tarous had been unexpected and unplanned for their swift counter-attack had seized the initiative off the space marines and put them on the defensive the avenging suns were now reacting to tau moves captain ameros's immediate task was clear repel and counter attack with the forces he had at his disposal phase two of his mission and his hunt for the planetary governor would now have to wait the tower's next attack was again presarged by the roar of jet engines barracudas raced low over tarakin to launch rockets into the governor's palace already battle scarred from the space marine attack the once elegant buildings were rapidly becoming ragged ruins masonry and support beams collapsed under the repeated impacts fires were burning out of control and spreading rapidly smoke billowing high into the sky through the wreckage stalked the armored bulk of the space marines finding positions from which to repel the coming attack the tao barracuda the barracuda air superiority fighter is the tower's most common atmospheric aircraft faster than the imperial navy's marauder bomber but lacking the flat out top speed of the thunderbolt or lightning fighter it makes up for this due to its sophisticated electronic systems and the pilot's natural talents in a dogfight thunderbolts and barracuda are very closely matched with the thunderbolt having the edge in speed and the barracuda having the maneuverability the imperium's pilots often have a hard edge of combat experience that the tao fire cast find hard to match all tau pilots come from the air cast air cast members live almost exclusively off-world in orbital stations and habitats over time their long-term exposure to lower gravity has affected their physiogrammy this means that even when operating in a gravity well the air cast have developed superior three-dimensional awareness and marginally better acceleration and gravitational tolerances than their human opponents physically this makes a tau pilot naturally better suited to the rigors of air-to-air combat than a human one able to make tighter turns and hold them longer and push the gravity envelope further utilizing these advantages the barracuda excels in air-to-air combat but this is only part of its role ground attack is the second part flying in direct support of hunter cadres a barracuda is armed with a nose-mounted pilot aimed ion cannon this is the aircraft's primary weapon for use in dogfights backed up by two drone controlled burst cannons in the wings for ground attacks it is primarily armed with wing mounted missile pods when used in a ground attack rail a barracuda can carry additional armaments of up to four seeker missiles these are not controlled by the pilot but by a mark light operator on the ground all barracudas are equipped with escape pods in the event that the aircraft sustains serious damage the pilot can eject the entire cockpit capsule disconnects and has limited gravity mobility to return the pilot safely to earth once on the ground the pilot must make his own escape different air cast seps have been identified operating slightly different versions of the barracuda some are equipped with night fighting filters whilst others utilize disruption pods and decoy launchers for additional protection montaros the tao coalition included a large air cast contingent which formed an integral part of their strategy winning the air war was vital to the tower's plans and barracudas and thunderbolts fought daily for control of the skies flying from well-concealed desert air bases on the erakunda isthmus the barracudas eventually won the battle as well as engaging in dogfights the barracudas also targeted the imperial guards supply columns operating in unison with infiltrating pathfinder teams to destroy trojans and the supplies vital to keeping the imperial guard fighting they played a major role in this part of the taos strategy captain amras had few illusions this would be a stern test of his men he was now heavily outgunned by the tao when it hit the attack would be powerful and concentrated it would be deadly close quarter combat building to building room to room but this would be to his battle brothers advantage any space marine was easily a match for the aliens at close quarters the ground fighting followed close behind the tower's airstrike tau ground forces were infiltrating through the buildings and rail rifle armed marksmen had moved into position at high points overlooking the palace courtyards firefights started to break out as perimeter squads were engaged by pulse rifle fire along the surrounding streets came devil fish transports disembarking fire warrior units who attempted to root out the space marines with photon grenades and burst cannon fire it seemed each squad was fighting its own small but deadly battle as the tower attempted to press forwards the space marines stood firm and threw them back inflicting heavy losses in the close quarter combat the terminators and assault squads were busiest stalking from room to room through the now empty and burning barracks building they repeatedly charge the enemy chain swords whirring and storm bolters barking against such fierce counter-attacks the tau gained no headway and eventually retreated leaving their dead and dying scattered through the buildings last night fell amaros and his men were still holding their positions but casualties were mounting and the supply situation was becoming a problem amaros took stock ammunition especially frag and crack grenades was running low but he had some 81 men still battle-worthy including all the terminators and both dreadnoughts the tower must also be feeling the strain of battle the hunter cardre had been mauled by the space marine's stoic defense after a day of fighting there was finally a pause for the first time since the drop pods had landed tarakine did not reverberate to the sound of gunfire and explosions it was as if both sides were taking a deep breath before resuming the second night did not pass without combat the tao sent out small teams to infiltrate into good firing positions using the darkness as cover but the space marines had their own roving patrols moving through the rubble in pairs or freeze in the darkness short fire fights would suddenly erupt when two patrols clashed only for the tower to quickly withdraw it was now that the space marines began to share their true worth for a second night they did not need to sleep like imperial guardsmen their power armor continued to supply them with nutrition and liquid they needed to keep fighting at peak efficiency their endurance and superior powers of recovery meant that after a day and a night they were still as ready for the fight as the moment they landed many bore wounds that would have killed mere men but still fought on regardless day two the second day dawned with the red haze of fires illuminating the smoke blackened sky over tarakin except for the sporadic patrol clashes the night had been quiet dawn would see that change that infantry-led attack had been repulsed yesterday the tower now moved their heavy weapons into position to lead the second attack with jet engines whirring the tower hammerheads devil fish and battle suits slowly moved through the streets drone controlled burst cannons covering the buildings as they maneuvered into position to bombard the governor's palace it seemed that if the tau could not drive the space marines out they would pound them with destructive fire for the avenging suns the battle for the governor's palace was now a bitter struggle for survival but their mission was not complete so captain ameros was determined to fight on to do so he needed assistance and called on the proxima justice aboard the strike cruiser the hangar decks were full with thunderhawk gunships and transporters loaded with armored fighting vehicles all waiting for the order to launch but with only a small secure perimeter to land in sending the transporters was judged to be too risky the thunderhawks armed for a ground attack mission would be of great assistance but with tau barracudas already over the combat zone they risked a dogfight for now the thunderhawks must be kept safely in reserve in case an evacuation mission was required only if amaros situation became critical would the thunderhawks be called upon the first day of the battle had been fierce day two would see the intensity increase again the tower had used the nighttime lull to reinforce their mauled hunter cadre now they would throw everything they had the space marines to destroy them at first light the barracudas were ready for new strikes on the governor's palace then the ground assault would resume attacks would commence from all directions but the main weight of today's attack would be aimed at the gate crash resistance here and the space marine force could be broken into small pockets to be mopped up later but the battle would be won as with day one the tower attack was presaged by a flight of barracudas whose missiles and burst cannons strafe the space marine's position amongst the rubble lacking any form of anti-aircraft defense the space marines could do little against the barracudas except stay low in their cover and wait for the attack to end after several low passes the barracudas departed to rearm and the tao ground bombardment began with their distinctive whip-crack sound railgun rounds slammed into the buildings burst cannon pulses ricocheted off walls and rubble a phalanx of heavy fire hammered the palace round after round relentless and merciless the tower were blasting the space marines out from a distance building after building was targeted roofs collapsed walls cracked rounds punch through masonry to explode within the noise was deafening as the buildings of the governor's palace were systematically destroyed a cloaking cloud of dust rose to blanket the battleground opposite the main gate two hammerheads slowly maneuvered through the streets constantly firing on the move the impact of round after round eventually caused the gatehouse to collapse the devastators squad within returned fire with their missile launchers and last cannons but the weight of fire kept them pinned down it was punishment not even the mighty space marines could withstand for long it seemed the tower were attempting to match their enemies brutality the bombardment lasted all morning and well into the afternoon captain amerus had little to respond with except his own man portable heavy weapons it was an uneven match with no other option open to him the captain contacted the proxima justice to request air support the thunderhawks were still prepared and ready to launch it was a risk but the situation on the ground was deteriorating an airstrike by the thunderhawks bombs and missiles was quickly planned the barracudas were still in the sky overhead but the thunderhawks would have to run the risk to assist their embattled brothers on the ground all five thunderhawk gunships on board the strike cruiser launched and made for the governor's palace it was a powerful strike force enough to keep the tower at bay but first it must run the gauntlet of the barracuda fighters as the squadron vectored in on tarakin descending rapidly weapons primed the barracudas climbed to intercept the thunderhawks dove through the fighter screen heavy bolters blasting as the barracudas opened fire with burst cannons despite the repeated impact of pulse rounds the formation did not waver keeping their formation tight and on course entrusting to their thick ceramide armor plating the barracuda fire was ineffective calmly the space marine pilots kept their aircraft on course until over the city whilst the gunners located targets and prepared to open fire with their main weaponry the flight of thunderhawks roared down onto the city strafing it with battle cannons turbo lasers and heavy bolters before releasing their bombs the guided bombs ripped into the palace surroundings explosions rippled through the buildings tearing great holes in roofs and walls flames and shrapnel engulfing whole blocks buildings across the city were rocked by the concussion of the bombing now the destruction was radiating outwards from the palace the airstrike must have caused the tau command a serious concern as in the aftermath their attack died down to sporadic sniping and skirmishing what damage it actually caused was unknown but as the roar of the thunderhawks faded the tower withdrew again it was a brief lull in the battle that did not last long but it had broad captain amerus's men precious time to reorganize their defenses it was at the gate that the hammer blow eventually fell hammerheads and battle suits led the way attacking a full speed they crashed through the rubble of the gatehouse the lead hammerhead was immediately hit by last cannon fire and exploded in a blossoming orange fireball fire from the second grav tank killed the last cannon gunner in return a crack missile destroyed a broadside battle suit but after the brief firefight only three remaining devastator squad members withdrew devil fish mounted infantry closed in behind the arm at vanguard captain amorous realized that he was losing his hole and his perimeter was in danger of breaking face with no of a choice he committed the terminator squad to the fight wading through fire and smoke the veterans met the crisis battle suits in a head-on exchange of fire both sides suffered heavy losses the space marines fought for every inch but the tower's heavy weapons could not be matched three of the veteran terminators died in the fighting as did four battle suits brothers hakiel and kame joined the battle destroying the second hammerhead with their heavy weapons before brother came sustained a hit which tore off his left leg toppling the dreadnought to the ground and leaving it stranded and a sitting duck for following shots for an hour the fight at the gate raged led by chaplin barakil the defenders fought heroically pressure was intense and with the commitment of the dreadnoughts and terminators there were no more reinforcements to give bolt arounds and missiles wind through the air holding the fire warriors at bay meanwhile the tower continued to launch secondary attacks all around the perimeter pinning space marine squads in position units that could otherwise be used to bolster the defense of the gatehouse captain amorous knew that his position was hopeless the tower had bled his force and now heavy casualties and a lack of ammunition were forcing him to accept that withdrawal was the only course open to him if he wanted to save his company it galled him but resistance here was now greater than his company can match he had no idea of the enemy's total strength he knew that his men might hold out for days only to eventually be overwhelmed by their numbers and for what game the governor of taros was now beyond his reach and the avenging sons were facing annihilation amaros needed to evacuate the survivors and rescue what he could from the mission after a brief command meeting in the ruins of the governor's residence amaros informed proxima justice of his decision to evacuate at nightfall the thunderhawks were to be launched for an extraction mission orders were given to all the squad leaders or stand-in leaders in those squads that had lost their sergeants at nightfall there would be a staggered withdrawal to the inner courtyard there one by one the thunderhawks would land load up and carry them back to their strike cruiser it was an operation fraught with difficulty it must be done swiftly so as to give the encircling tau forces the minimum time to respond captain amorous himself would lead the rear guard and be last to board a thunderhawk adapters are bities operations on taros every world under the rule of the imperium has its own adeptus are bitey's precinct house or fortified courthouse the arbitrators are the imperiums police and enforcers tasked with combating and punishing crimes against the imperium prior to the avenging sun's attack the manchester commanding the adopters are bytes precinct in tarakin received a secure astro telepathy communication warning him of events about to unfold it also instructed his precinct house to carry out a simultaneous operation to arrest the wealthiest mine owners these men belonged to the hereditary noble class which had run the mines for generations they had been found guilty of colluding with the planetary governor and tao and must also face justice they were to be arrested and imprisoned in the precinct house and then turned over to the space marine commander in retrospect questions must be asked about how the activities of the planetary governor went so long without being noticed by such a large presence of arbitrators after receiving his instructions magister skalker knew that his precinct house was in great danger if the planetary governor was planning on rebelling against the imperium then as the most obvious representatives of imperial authority the arbeitis would have to be disposed of he could expect to be attacked any time the albates commander did not know when the space marine attack would come were prepared to act quickly when it did as the space marines fought around the governor's palace the arbitrators moved against the mine owners away from the city in the surrounding deserts fearsome arbeitis arrest units clad in their black carapace armor and armed with shotguns riot malls and suppression shields moved in to surround and rest the mine owners upon arrival at the mines the arbeitis found themselves confronted by gangs of angry mine workers the confrontations rapidly became riots as the mobs refused all orders to disperse the work gangs were very loyal to their mind their fellow team members and their masters at each mine the attempted arrest became a pitch battle against the crudely armed miners as more and more work teams joined the fighting the arbitrators were forced to withdraw protected by their workers the owners were safe from imperial justice for now most of the battle-scarred arrest units it did not return to the precinct house in tarakin until after the space marines had evacuated the planet leaving magister skulker's men trapped on the rebellious planet and now heavily outnumbered by tau forces they had little hope but to stand firm in the emperor's name and await relief the turrican precinct house was attacked and destroyed three days after the avenging sun's evacuation there were no known survivors and again how is it possible for collusion with xenos to have gone so long without being noticed by the arbitees thankfully they appear to have fought to the last in the emperor's name small comfort evacuation as night fell over the battlefield the space marine commander again took stock of his situation the force had been reduced to approximately 40 battle-worthy brothers and one dreadnought merely enough men to need only two thunderhall gunships for the extraction the other gunships would fly as cover to those required to make the landings rearmed and refueled the thunderhawks set about their new mission apothecary actium started recovering the progenite glands from all of the fallen battle brothers he could some were already buried deep under the ruins it was an important task if the chapter's heavy losses were to be made good chaplin baroque said prayers for the dead standing over the lifeless form of brother keem once a proud war machine and a hero of the chapter now nothing more than a smoking wreck of twisted metal and wires amongst all the losses this was the most grievous for the second company captain amorous took command of an understand tactical squad and the remaining scouts as the rear guard and gave orders to the first squads including brother hakil apothecary actium and chaplin barakil to stand ready to withdraw to the first thunderhawk when it touched down after they blasted off the second wave was then to abandon their positions covered by the rear guard and make for the landing zone in all the evacuation operations should take no more than 10 minutes not enough time for the tower to react in force the distant sound of thunderhawk engines approached when the evacuation began moving slowly through the darkness crunching over rubble and broken glass battle scarred scorched and wounded the survivors loaded into the waiting thunderhawks hole overhead four other gunships circled brother hakiel was the last to climb the ramp and it closed behind him the last underhawk blasted off for orbit accelerating away from the battlefield alerted by the engine noise the tower patrols cautiously crept forwards to investigate where once space marines had barred their advance with bulk gun fire now there was nothing meanwhile a second transport had landed and the remaining squads quickly embarked captain ameros fell back to the landing zone bringing up the rear of his squad a bulk gun in hand he ran up the ramp and hit the close button the triple engines boomed into life and thrust the thunderhawks skywards again the battle was over but the mission had failed so that was actually the last thunderhawk to leave sorry about that aftermath the first tarous intervention had been a heavy reverse for the imperium the tower had inflicted serious damage on the avenging suns in two days of intense fighting the damage inflicted on the aliens was unknown but must also have been significant there had been many confirmed kills and the battlefield was littered with the wrecks of tau grav tanks and battle suits the avenging sons took the defeat badly space marine chapters enjoy a glorious reputation as the shield of humanity and defeat by an alien invader was not to be taken lightly the death of brother cain was to be avenged the chapters fortress monastery mourn the dead and the great bell tolled once for each of the brothers lost on taros events on tarous the failure of the intervention force and the confirmed report of strong tau forces fighting in the defense of the planetary governor forced a change in attitude by the officials of the administratum towards the taros problem news of defeat was bad enough but it seemed the tao had already staked acclaim to one of the emperor's worlds what have been a border skirmish was now a serious threat events around the eye of terror might be demanding many of the imperium's resources but taros could not be ignored taras was officially declared ex-imperius rebellis a system in rebellion against the emperor's divine rule the sacred pax imperialis had been torn up by the planetary governor aulis his actions now made him not just a criminal but a traitor the tower were already on tarou's in force and they must be ejected the master of the administratum signed a document stating just this as well as listing the planetary governor's crimes over 100 in all mostly punishable by death the document called the terroneon declaration was a licence to action a new larger attack against the rebel world next time the attack would not be a surgical strike by a single strike force of space marines it would require the involvement of all those fighting arms of the imperium willing to commit forces to repel the alien aggression the invasion of taros was now in motion planning the invasion the adeptus administratum's decision that the recapture of the tarot system was instrumental to the continued effective operations of stages eight forge world and to a lesser extent other dependent forge worlds meant it was now the duty of all servants loyal to the emperor to help bring these misguided subjects back under the imperium's rule and protection the first step was to appoint a command staff to organize and oversee the planning of the operation the man chosen to lead the staff and take command of the entire invasion operation was lord high commander otto ivan gustavus a man with a long military record who had risen from the officer ranks of the imperial guard into the upper levels of the imperium's military hierarchy gustavus's first task was to appoint his own command staff and prepare for the invasion he was given two major questions to answer when could he be ready to invade taros and then where should that attack fall his instructions made the mata clear the invasion should come as soon as possible by the adeptus administratum standards this could mean anything in the next five years gustavus intended to begin within a standard terran year appointing his staff was no simple matter the upper echelons of the imperium's military hierarchy is rife with politics intriguing favors owed debts to repay and self-interest gustavus had not risen this high without making a few enemies or without calling on a few favors that he was now in a position to repay selecting his command staff took several weeks of hard work and hard negotiations the first position to be filled was not of gustavus's own choosing commissar general madrid van hawkick would be gustavus shadow and right hand man for the duration of the campaign the high ranking commissar was tasked with making sure all the officers of gustavus's force did their duty or face the consequences a powerful man in his own right van hawkick had the power of life and death over many of the imperial servants involved in the campaign whether by choice or coercion over the subsequent weeks gustavus made the following appointments not all were men he liked or even trusted many were decisions forced upon him by other political factors it was gustavus's job to bring all these factions together and make them work together towards ultimate victory the high command staff would involve venerated high magus zadoken volta a high ranking adeptus mechanicus representative of stages eight forge world fleet admiral koto appointed by the authorities on car dunes to command the invasion fleet lord marshall de stale the overall commander of all imperial guard regiments who would bear the brunt of the invasion fighting provisioner prime nimus dree a bureaucrat from the department of munitorum who had only been granted a place on the high command staff after his initial investigation into events on tarous others included air marshal denvert staff colonel sheila deacon goths the appointed representative of cardinal astra valas and curator adept scale many others would follow including any space marine commanders or titan legion princeps to be involved in the campaign high command staff would be required to organize and plan the invasion each member would have his own area of responsibility and each would have their own staff aids or renew to assist them in all the high command staff for the invasion including all sub departments and functionaries would number approximately 3 000 souls the imperial commanders being a brief summarization of the most high-ranking imperial commanders during the campaign lord high commander otto ivan gustavus a large barrel-chested walrus of a man originally hailing from valhalla gustavus was granted supreme command of the tarous invasion after his successful command during the voust schism he had had a long and steady rise through the upper ranks of the imperial guard in his youth the gustavus first served as a lieutenant commanding an armored fist blazoon eventually rising to command his regiment and then being promoted beyond field command into the ranks of the high command itself wounded in action several times and still proudly bearing the scars his personal experience and bravery is undoubted gustavus is the head of the entire operation he commands no actual forces but he has the power to sanction or veto any plans his staff make gustavus rotund appearance and loud bellicose nature had to raise a keen political mind these are the skills he will have to draw upon heavily in a combined operation such as this invasion with a full entourage of aid to camps staff officers commissars adeptus mechanicus advisors bureaucrats etc he will have to juggle their competing demands for supplies and favor as well as making strategic decisions that will send thousands of men into battle commissioner general madrid van gaal kik a gustavus's shadow and right hand man von hawkick is tasked with making sure all the officers of gustavus army do their duty or face summary justice in this he is aided by a large cadre of commissars attached to every imperial guard regiment an imperial navy vessel van hawking is a fearful figure mutilated by a melter blast whilst leading an offensive in the hellblade mountains on rindsworld he now relies on bionics to keep him alive vann hawking is the ultimate arbitrator of justice amongst the invasion force and has the power of life and death over many imperial servants except the space marines and adapters mechanicus of course as a commissioner general van gaal kik is empowered to take over command of any imperial guard regiment that is deemed to be failing and appoint a new commander or lead it personally all commissars in the invasion force reporter van gaal who in turn reports to and advises lord high commander gustavus venerated hi magus zadakine sits upon the ruling council of stages eight and is the highest ranking adeptus mechanicus representative on gustavus staff he is the supreme commander of all the technical support for the invasion volta is the staff's main liaison between its commander and the rulers of stygi's eight forge world volta has his own large entourage of logists room priests lexa mechanics and servitors fleet admiral koto commander of the taros invasion fleet fleet admiral koto is the overall commander of the imperial invasion fleet for the duration of the taros campaign he has sanction over any operations that take place outside of tarou's atmosphere koto is a product of the ultima segmentum naval academy on car dunes noble born and groomed for command since birth he has risen steadily through the navy ranks commanding escorts light cruisers and cruisers before being promoted to fleet admiral he is a veteran of campaigns against orc pirates tyranids on the eastern rim and chaos raiders this will be his first command against the tao as well as overall command of the fleet in action koto and his staff are charged with organizing mastering and supplying the invasion fleet ships for the duration of the campaign a major problem for koto is the number of assault transports and landing craft available to him to get lord marshall to steal's forces from orbit to the planet's surface during the planning stage the kotem and his staff struggle to get enough landing craft to simultaneously transport free imperial guard regiments the minimum required by the stills invasion plan they're confident that his fleet aided by the space marine vessels had enough firepower to fight their way into orbit against any defenses that taros or the tao could muster the landings and subsequent flow of supplies are koto's primary concern when planning fleet operations once imperial guard troops are on the ground reinforcing them and keeping all the forces supplied especially with water becomes cotto's top priority lord marshall destiel chief of arms commander of the 4621st imperial guard army the overall commander of all imperial guard ground forces on tarous all the generals and colonels of the imperial guard regiments report to de still and his staff although small in stature destiel has a keen strategic mind born of past experience and detailed study of the tactica imperialis a quiet studious man with an eye for detail destiel likes to plan carefully before committing any troops his meticulous somewhat say cautious approach to campaigns and battles has caused frustration with more aggressive commanders in the past destiel realizes it is far easier to commit troops to battle than it is to disengage them behind his back other commanders have nicknamed him the clerk but the still studious manner hides an inner ruthless streak and iron resolve he is devoted to serving the emperor de still is responsible for putting gustavus war plan into action on the ground he is in overall command of the 4621st imperial guard army constituting all of the imperial guard ground forces for the invasion of tarous space marine chapters and the legio ignitum forces are not part of the steel's command and do not report to him although it is his overall plan that other fighting arms will be aiding captain aurelius third company raptors chapter the highest ranking space marine officer in the invasion force aurelius is a long time servant of his chapter having fought in wars and crusades for the past 100 years his entire company and support units have been committed to the invasion by his chapter master although gustavus is the supreme commander in actuality he has little control over the actions of aurelius and his men still aurelius experience and the reputation of the adaptive societies make him a valued member of the command staff when planning operations his forces will not be involved in a protracted ground campaign once their mission is complete the space marines will be withdrawn to their battle barge to prepare for their next deployment as commander of the third company and the more experienced man aurelius holds seniority over captain cadas although they share the same rank as befits his chapter's heritage aurelius is an aggressive commander who always seeks to take the battle to the enemy and leads from the front captain cady's sixth company rator's chapter katie's role is to provide support and battlefield replacements to aurelius his third company as such he is a subordinate to aurelius shadow really has become a casualty kidas is fully able to step in and lead the raptors battle brothers on the battlefield whilst not as experienced as aurelius he is still a space marine captain and has all the respect that rank demands within gustavus's staff staff colonel skida director of intelligence the brilliant colonel skija has been seconded from his regiment to the valhalla 28th to act as the top intelligence officer in gustavus high command staff his own staff officers study and collate information from all sources imperial guard regiments in the field imperial navy reports scouting titans any and every source the imperium has he has an overview of the wider strategic situation not just the fighting on the ground on taros he is gustavus spy master a secretive individual operating in the shadows with a greater degree of independence than other commanders skija has previously worked with inquisitor hector rex as part of his personal retinue during the judgment of helenus an operation which made the colonel's reputation and catapulted him from a mere prospect as the regimental commander of the valhalla 28th into the upper ranks of the imperial guard's command structure despite still being only a colonel provision of prime nimus dree master of the victuals a high-ranking bureaucrat from the department of munitorum tree's job is to supply the invasion force with everything it needs from replacement men tanks and shells to water food tents etc he has a small army of departmento functionaries clerks and prefects to assist him he was granted his position on the staff after he requested it following his investigation into events on tarous which have led up to this war although he commands no fighting forces dri is a vital member of gustavus's staff cardinal astral velaz it is cardinal astral velazis whose diocese taros lies in along with many other scattered planets and systems on the eastern fringe although his worshipfulness can by rights commander place on the high command staff in fact after the first staff meeting he returned to his cardinal world and left a representative to deal with his responsibilities for the coming war the cardinals envoy on the command staff is deacon gotts who is the highest ranking adeptus ministorum official involved in the campaign confessors and priests attached to imperial guard and imperial navy units report to their cardinal via deacon gods hi marshall denvert the supreme commander of all imperial navy fighter bomber and tactical squadrons and their operations inside tarou's atmosphere he is in charge of planning fighter cover bomber strikes transport missions and maintaining the imperial navy's logistical situation princeps john a adeptus mechanicus division militarist commander in the field a servant of legio ignitum and commander of the warhound titan advances primaris reporting to magus volta john a is actually a servant of the lords of mars and as such would be under their orders in any clash of interest creating a problem in the command structure with the titans not actually being directly controlled by high command staff the curator adept skel the high-ranking administrative official scale is the commander staff's link to the administration's extensive archives and all their ancient records about taros pre-invasion preparations before any military plans could be put in place first gustavus and his staff needed to know what they were facing nobody on his staff except dree had ever even heard of taros until now let alone knew anything about the planet or system gustavus wanted information about the planet climate population industrial capacity rulers topography history anything it was a huge research task to be undertaken by the adepts of the administration in charge of the information gathering would be curator adept scale an administrative official promoted from the archive historicus creator adept skel had access to thousands of archives throughout the segment and across the imperium including the great archives on terror itself in those archives thousands of curators prefects archivists and menial workers went to work finding out anything about taros from ancient records a picture of the planet and its population was slowly compiled from tithe levels and tax records a picture of the planet's mining industry was built old censuses revealed the planet's population growth no piece of data about taros was to be considered too trivial a team of lex mechanic and logis under the command of magus volta was also assigned to the information gathering task they worked with computer speed to compile all the data scale was producing the adeptus mechanicus is part human part machine servants the forecast of the planet's population growth weather patterns climate volcanic activity atmospheric conditions orbital cycles information stretching back as far as the great crusade was found even a scrap of the original exploratis report on the planet's suitability for terraforming and colonization were found in all millions of fragments of information were gathered to create a complete picture satellite survey images language studies missionary reports journals of long dead servants who had visited or been stationed on there were old genetic studies on the population and the ruling households carried out by the order fabulous seeking evidence of genetic deviation or mutation adapters are bitey he's crime rate reports geological and seismic surveys no detail could be ignored anything that might inform gustavus's staff decisions was included in all it took six months to compile all the information the high command staff needed before the invasion planning could get started after six months of work gustavus had as good a picture of what was facing him as the adept as terror could provide he knew what the planet was like how big the population was and how this might translate into the planetary defense force's military strength given the equipment that had been supplied to taros down the years he knew how the planet might be able to re-equip or resupply its forces or create new units he even had a forecast of what the criminal population of taros was likely to be often the first supply of manpower to be used as replacement troops what he didn't know was anything about the tower's strength on tarous finding information about what the tao might be planning was far harder and not a task the adopters terror could help with the man on the lord high commander's staff assigned to this task was staff colonel skija gustavus's director of intelligence a secretive individual skija was a spy master with former experience of working with the inquisition the tao with their philosophy of the greater good were a difficult prospect there were few informers or spies on the inside of the tao empire there were a few humans mostly merchants or mercenaries whose loyalty could be brought by the imperium but most humans within the tao empire were simply traitors who had abandoned the emperor by assessing information from other planets along the borders of the tao empire studying previous estimates of tau military strength and historical precedence the colonel skija could himself make an educated guess at how strong tau forces might be on taros but without people on the ground he had no confirmation whilst the information gathering was going on the other members of the high command staff were not idle the department of united officials on the staff began the long process of finding the fighting forces and supplies needed for the invasion imperial guard regiments needed to be raised trained and transported across the imperium this was no easy task the demand for troops and the build up around acadian gate was vast particularly now as the plague of unbelief around the eye of terror continued to spread the imperial guard might be huge but still demand for regiments is always far greater than supply to counter the effects of increased demand gustavus devised a scheme to overestimate the troops strengths needed he knew all along that he would not get all the forces he requested but this way he might get close to his actual requirements as yet he could give no definitive numbers but he set the logis to work making an initial statistical analysis and this gave him a starting point over the coming months the numbers would be modified and gradually evolve into a final figure but for now it was enough to have a figure with which the department of munitorum could base its work on and so get the slow turning wheels of the departmento's bureaucracy rolling the 4621st imperial guard army the imperial guard force needed for the invasion of tarous was founded as the 4621st imperial guard army and this large unit would be under the command of lord marshall de stale bearing the honorific title chief of arms distill would be in overall command of all imperial guard ground forces on tarous all the generals and colonels of the imperial guard regiments constituting the 4621st army would reported to steele and his staff gustavus in consultation with the steele began to draw up detailed orders for the forces he would need for a successful war the imperial guard might be vast but with demand for regiments currently so high it was not infinite no commander ever has enough troops and gustavus and destiel were no different distills initial request to gustavus for 21 regiments was turned down as over cautious that size of force could not be found in the tight time scales that gustavus had devised for the invasion gustavus himself was under pressure to speed up the invasion each day the past was lost production that had to be found elsewhere to steal rebuked how to think again and revise his figures the lord marshall returned with a more moderate 12 regiment request which gustavus accepted taking it in turn to the departmento munitorum however they refused offering an absolute maximum of 10 regiments even then it took much bartering with the munitorium officials to get them to agree to find ten regiments gustavus only agreed to attempt the invasion with ten regiments after receiving an oaf from high magus volta that at least one titan legion would be committed to the invasion force consoled by this promise gustavus informed to steal that the 4621st army would consist of 10 regiments and for ease of administration the army should be divided into two cores designated tenth core and eleventh core after the prolonged arguments over the size of the imperial guard force gustavus and steele got down to the specifics of building it the first regiments gustavus requested were those recruited from tallahan given taros's desert climate the men of tilan itself a desert world would quickly adapt to the conditions they would make the most effective soldiers when it came to important skills like desert survival techniques and water discipline fighting men are fighting men and any imperial guardsmen could be made to adapt to the conditions but the famed desert raiders of tillan would be the logical choice but tallahan is only a single world with a limited supply of men most of its existing regiments were already committed to other war zones and ten new regiments could not simply be raised the times on the planet did not allow for such a sudden massive drain a single new recruitment could be ordered from tillan and that process was instigated the talan 331st regiment would be raised equipped and shipped to taros to see its first action three other talan regiments could be withdrawn from their current commitments and embarked for taros although all had recently been engaged in battles and they also needed replacement men and equipment finding a fifth regiment the talon third armored was currently on garrison duty on bali prime if a replacement garrison force could be found it too would join the invasion force in all half the imperial guard regiments destined for taros would be from tallahan these would be combined to form tenth corps elevor would be composed of the other imperial guard regiments that the adeptus munatorum could commit to the tarous campaign five more regiments still needed to be found the first was the 23rd elysian drop troop regiment this regiment was unlike any other in the 4621st army's order of battle being an air mobile unit equipped with valkyrie airborne assault carriers against the tau mobility would be important tau forces with their mantas and preponderance of grav tanks drones and battle suits are fast and highly immobile conventional imperial guard infantry and armoured regiments could not hope to match their speed and because of this they would be continually forced to fight on the aliens terms a drop troop regiment although lightly equipped for airborne operations would help redress the balance and give the lord martial the chance to match the tower's mobility on a strategic level the second unit was one of distill's own request the serenian assault engineers were in his opinion some of the most useful troops in the segment they were equipped for close quarters combat and for assaulting fortified positions clearing minefields and breaching defense lines few in number the saranians would not be required to fight as one regiment but and before the invasion began be divided into platoons and companies and attached to all the other regiments of the 4621st army this way they would provide a cord of assault troops when as predicted the time for hard street fighting in taroukin arrived other regiments scheduled to join the army antaros with the 114th acadian shock troop regiment and entirely mechanized unit under the command of colonel stransky then would come the eighth brimlock dragoons a regiment with experience of fighting tau raids around the damocles gulf the final regiment was harder to find several were considered and either rejected or found him no longer exist the 12th maninian rangers regiment was transported but on arrival turned out to be only the strength of a reinforced company mon commissar general van gaal orders the regiment was disbanded and the survivors enrolled with the talons the 42nd mordian regiment was also embarked for taros only to be diverted to face highfleet kraken on the eastern fringe gustavus's deadline for the invasion was closing and the 10th regiment remained elusive eventually the 19th krieg armoured regiment was requested but it would take time to find their current location get new orders to them and embark them for taros they would not be available for the initial invasion tenth court would also be reinforced by two companies of stormtroopers these troops were the elites of the imperial guard well trained and equipped they will provide a useful strengthening of the front line regiments like the serenians the two companies would be divided as squads amongst the other imperial guard regiments into steel strategic plan for the campaign eleventh corps would act as support for tenth corps the tallahan regiments would be required to do the bulk of the initial fighting and would also lead the landings eleventh court would follow on and be fed into the ground campaign once it was started the actual invasion fleet would only be carrying tenth corps when it arrived in the tarot system it would be the tallahan's job to get a secure lodgment area established on the planet for 11th court to reinforce once the entirety of 10th corps was established the next priority would be to get the 23rd elysians in country to give the army the ability to strike just about anywhere anytime behind them would come the canadians the brimlock dragoons and eventually the men of krieg other forces the imperial guard were not the only fighting force in the imperium when the adopters administrator committed itself to an invasion of taros it also sent requests throughout the other fighting arms of the imperium it would provide the imperial guard forces the backbone of the mission but the imperium has many fighting forces and each might be expected to do its duty firstly the adaptive societies the avenging sons chapter had already been engaged on taros but they were now rebuilding their strength after their heavy losses they would have to wait to avenge their defeat on the tao the other chapter to make forces available was the rat tours a strike force of two companies and a battle barge from the raptors chapter would contribute significantly to the imperium's combat power both on the ground and with the fleet next jaimagus volta had already promised the aid of a titan legion but delivering on the earth proved more difficult stygi 8 was the natural forge world to provide the aid of legio honorium but the legion was already fully committed there was no battle group available to lend assistance to fulfill his oath volta had the difficult task of finding replacements in the end he turned to the rulers of mars traveling to the heart of the cult of the machine to personally request the aid of the fabricated general he had only limited success titan battle groups were already being committed to the canadian gate the need for the imperium's greatest fighting machines was pressing if the tide of chaos was to be stemmed volta argued that he had sworn the aid of a legion and the adeptus mechanicus stood to gain much from the recapture of taros in the end the intervention of the fabricated general secured volta a small battle group from legio ignatum under the command of princeps jarnay the battle group consisted of just four warham titans hardly the force he had hoped for but enough to satisfy volta's oath to gustavus the department of munitorum as well as raising and transporting regiments could also provide assistance in the form of indentured engineering and labour cores these were not combat troops but units for the rear area to dig and build it is valuable work that helps release imperial guard infantry from such arduous and time-consuming duties the ministorum could also provide assistance but not in the form of combat troops cardinal astral velaz was not inclined to lend military aid to the taros invasion force he only attended the first high command meeting in person after that he left a representative to speak for him one deacon gots the cardinal made it clear he was not in favor of this expedition to him it was a waste of resources that could be put to better use fighting heresy elsewhere in his diocese etaros was a dustbowl planet of just 12 million souls there were still wars to be fought on hive worlds to save the souls of billions the cardinal felt it was only the malign influence of the adeptus mechanicus lobby that had forced the adeptus terror into sanctioning this attack and he did not trust the cult of the machine in their mysterious ways the cardinal would survive no fighting forces but would do the duty required of him priests and confessors would be found for each of the imperial guard regiments to guard the souls of the men of the imperial guard the orders dialogues would supply useful support in the form of tao language experts the order hospital would provide some medical care for the injured but the contribution was in truth small power politics within the upper ranks of the ecclesia probably had much to do with the cardinal astral's reticence a powerful man in his own right in shadowy corners it was spoken that valos was not a supporter of the current declagiac the to be lending aid to the invasion might be seen to be a response to the ecclesias recent anti-alien sermons the cardinal like to think of himself as his own man with far greater concerns than 12 million wretched miners he might also be seeking favor with those factions within the minastorum that had their own plans for the succession to the ecclesial throne on terror gustavus's command had spent almost a year in pre-invasion information gathering and mustering the forces required now it came to planning the actual attack how would they commit the troops they had requested and how would they keep them supplied once on the ground one immediate consideration for gustavus was the longer he spent planning and mustering the more likely it was that information might leak out a traitor from within his ranks with access to classified information might sell it to the tao for the vast price or the promise of safety within their empire pre-warned the tao would be in a far better position to defeat his attack security around the planning needed to be tight colonel skija whose effort so far to infiltrate a spy on to taros had come to north was given the task of maintaining internal security he would establish a network of informers and spies within the high command and imperial guard regiments people paid by skija the two keep their eyes and ears open and report to him to aid with the internal security gustavus ordered the gathering invasion force should not be concentrated just yet the men would be scattered about surrounding sectors that way it would seem many other small war zones were being reinforced hopefully the build-up would go unnoticed until it was too late imperial guard regimental commanders would not be informed of their actual destination until the last moment drawing on the good work of the previous year the high command began the invasion planning process in order to satisfy the demands of the imperial guard regimental commanders and lord marshall the steel three key objectives had to be considered firstly the invasion would need to quickly capture an operational spaceport if not in the initial assault then in the following few days of ground operations a large spaceport would be vital in maintaining the flow of supplies needed by the forces on the ground once the battle was joined secondly the invasion should be undertaken by at least three regiments simultaneously this would be a force large enough to overwhelm all but the very strongest resistance and would mean a firm bridgehead could be established between the orbit and the planet's surface strong enough to resist all immediate enemy counter attacks at least without a secure lodgment area the invasion could be defeated in its first few days thirdly was the water supply issue on a desert world like taros water was a valuable commodity water was supplied from hydro plants and recycling the ground forces would need a secure supply of water rapidly or the fighting men would be unable to operate effectively these three reasonable objectives contributed much to the planning process firstly taras had only one spaceport in tarakin hence a direct assault on the city was considered in some detail tarakin was also the center of the planet's industry and administration if the war was to be won then tarakin would have to be captured whilst the traitors or the tao held the city the war would go on and the mineral resources would be unable to leave the planet the enemy also knew this tarakeen and its immediate hinterland the irakander isthmus would be the strongest defended part of the entire planet a direct assault under the guns defending the city would invite disaster too many enemy ground forces would be waiting for them too many orbital defenses could threaten the invasion fleet the direct approach was disregarded as too risky the landing zone would have to be close enough to the ultimate objective to keep supply lines short but not so close as to risk too much enemy resistance the practicalities of landing on the far side of the planet and then transporting every man gun and shell around the world were impossible to overcome with the invasion fleet in orbit it was only prudent to get as close to the final objective as possible as for the spaceport it would be the priority once landed in the meantime an entire engineer corps would be tasked with constructing a landing site suitable for the delivery of supply ships secondly the main restriction on the initial attack would be the number of drop ships and assault transports available fleet admiral kotep had the task of organizing the imperial fleet's role in the invasion he had to find the landing craft needed this was no easy task and it was unlikely that enough could be found to simultaneously land free regiments anyhow the gustavus wasn't convinced it was needed three regiments would give the invasion force the flexibility to attack several locations at once the steele argued for this plan but gustavus overruled him to split his forces would be to give up their biggest advantage as attackers even if taros was expecting an attack a reasonable assumption they would have to defend every possible location an invasion might fall this would cause taros and the tau to spread their forces thinly gustavus plan would allow their forces to concentrate at a single point in overwhelming numbers if the landing was to succeed then they had to hit one place so hard it could not be repulsed although it might be a tempting option even if only used as a diversion to draw away enemy forces splitting the ground forces over several landing zones would mean each regiment risked becoming isolated from support and destroyed in detail in subsequent battles in the end a single landing zone strategy was settled on it would include as many troops as fleet admiral koto could find transports for the invasion location still needed to be considered somewhere within the astus either north or south of the city was the best option north would mean increased exposure to the high temperatures and violent storms of the great sand sea south would be slightly cooler and more stable but the enemy also knew this and they may well be better prepared there in the end gustavus preferred the latter option thirdly the water supply situation an unopposed landing in the uninhabited and undefended deep deserts with their high temperatures and lack of any water supply as well as the risk of desert storms and the huge distance to the objective rapidly ruled the option out wherever the landings eventually occurred water would have to be supplied from off-world shipped in on the heavy tankers in vast quantities at least until sufficient supplies could be captured standing orders were to be issued to all imperial guard regiments that any moisture extraction equipment or hydro plants captured during the course of the campaign were to be undamaged and turned over to high command in this way the advance could help meet some of its own water requirements there was no easy answer to this tricky problem life on taros was harsh because water was so scarce they would have to be very careful distributing it and make sure to secure supply line from off-world provided enough for the ground troops extra water evaporation equipment would also be loaded the invasion at two three nine two nine nine eight m41 the taros invasion fleet officially came into existence under the command of fleet admiral koto who raised his flag on board the overlord class battle cruiser righteous power the six ships of the line their escort squadrons and the troop transports began assembling the holds of the transports were loaded with imperial guardsmen artillery pieces vehicles tanks and vast supplies of fuel food ammunition and most vitally water the fleet rendezvoused over the course of three days each transport and its escorts arriving from different systems and forming up into line of stern to create the invasion armada each imperial guard regiment had been embarked on its assigned transport to a carefully devised time scale so as to bring all the transports together at the rendezvous point at the same time as the fleet readied only 10th corps was present the regiments of 11th court would follow behind as a second wave after the fleet had fought its way in system launched the invasion forces and established a secure lodgment area on the surface also not yet present was the legio ignitum titan battle group but the fleet could not wait for stragglers already waiting at the rendezvous point and forming the head of the column where the armada's two largest ships the battlecruiser righteous power and the rat tours chapter battle barge war talon these two ships and their close escorts would be the first to arrive in the tarous system they would be the spearhead of the invasion force fighting their way in system towards the objective the three other cruisers of the line would be following close behind forming a potent battle group in the vanguard of the invasion force behind them would come the flotilla of transports with an escort of light cruisers and frigates for close defense admiral koto was in supreme command of all the imperial fleet aspects of the invasion plan he did not know what resistance to expect within the taro system but from the formation of his fleet he was preparing to meet tau ships in a fleet action and to use his largest ships as a shield for the smaller vulnerable transports the astro-telepathic signal was sent to the bridge of the righteous power instructing the fleet to get underway ship after ship engaged its main thrusters and began to follow the lead vessels towards taros the long planned invasion had begun after three weeks navigating the fickle tides of warp space the righteous power disengaged its warp engines and fell back through the mantle of reality out of the immaterium the crew ran to battle stations as klaxons blared through the decks immediately behind the righteous power was the war talon the vanguard of the invasion had arrived it found no enemy fleet waiting admiral koto said calls directly for taros but sensor readings showed no enemy ships in the vicinity the space marines verified this their powerful scanners could find no targets admiral koto's approach was cautious maintaining his alert status and expecting a surprise attack but none came in the vanguard's wake followed the cruiser group the mainstay of koto's fighting force as the star of sophia and black duke and the hammer of thrace powered towards their target as they were unemployed the tower fleet was nowhere to be found several of the escort squadrons were detached to begin wider patrolling for enemy vessels but they found nothing maybe the tower had abandoned the system to its fate fearing to face the might of the imperial navy maybe it was a trap admiral koto proceeded towards taros with due caution against zero enemy resistance the invasion transports could approach unhindered the expected fight to gain low orbit and allow the invasion forces to disembark never materialized the imperial fleet moved steadily onwards it seemed there would be no attempt to halt the invasion in space with each passing minute it became clearer that there was no tau fleet here free from defensive duties the war talon powered up and raced ahead the raptors commanders keen to begin their planetfall operations the war talon and her escorts were the first to arrive in low orbit the rest of the fleet keeping a safe distance until the space marines had completed their mission for the landings on tarous the raptors chapter had pledged its third and sixth companies to the invasion force under the command of captain aurelius the strike force would also be supported by elements of the chapter's armory and fleet including the power of the battle barge war talon the mission assigned to and accepted by the raptors was of critical importance to the landings they were to make sure that the planetary defense missile silo the only one identified in a position to threaten the invasion fleet in geostationary orbit above the landing zone was destroyed the silo codenamed decima for the operation was targeted for destruction missile base decima was part of a network of such facilities built by the imperium as taros's main defense against hostile aliens if left unhindered the silos could engage the vulnerable troop transports in orbit the loss of a single transport would cause massive loss of life amongst the imperial guard units aboard and could drastically affect the outcome of the landings or the following campaign it was a risk that could not be taken xylodecima must be neutralized before the main imperial guard landings could commence the target area was to be subjected to a very heavy bombardment by 250 rounds from the war talons bombardment cannons but the danger of even a single operational silos surviving and then scoring a successful hit on a troop transport meant that a unit had to be assigned to making sure no silos were able to fire on the invasion fleet if the silos were destroyed by the shelling then all well and good but there was no guarantee of success unless there were troops on the ground the underground silos were designed to withstand the heaviest bombardments even the fearsome weaponry of the war talon might not be able to destroy the missiles within high command deemed december to be the single greatest threat to the invasion forces it fell to the raptors battle brothers to lead the way and destroy it the commanders decided decimate would have to be taken by ground assault the raptors would be the first imperial troops to land on tarous the third company of the raptors chapter led by captain aurelius and later reinforced by the sith company would be responsible for this vital mission only when decimal was eliminated could the landings start the operation was to be a swift surgical strike directly from orbit there would be no supporting armored vehicles the objective was simple to destroy the missile silos at all costs once destroyed the objective achieved signal would summon the chapter's remaining landing craft to reinforce the ground forces with the safe company and heavier armor once landed the space marines would be ready to strike over land or counter-attack enemy moves against the landing zone once this invasion mission was confirmed captain aurelia set about gathering all the information he could about the target and its defenses from the high command's earlier work there was some relevant information to aid the space marine's attack one of the documents unearthed was a departmental munitorium construction report almost a thousand years old and it described the construction of a missile site by a penal labor corps it gave details of what the site contained two underground missile silos a command bunker two personal shelters enough for 100 strong silo crew and security staff external defense works including a minefield ditch and razor wire and an anti-aircraft position equipped with a hydra turret as well as other vehicle shelters and stores most of these would be below ground making them very difficult to destroy with conventional artillery even the war talon's bombardment cannon might not reach deep enough amongst the data recovered there were also free faded vid slate images of an inspection made by the then planetary governor of the site after he came into service from these images in the construction report a map could be created of the target attacking the site based on only second-hand information was risky what if the regime or the tao had upgraded the defenses or increased the size or number of silos it was not unreasonable to assume that given the planet's renegade status the planetary governor would seek to increase his defenses against an outside attack captain aurelius needed some firsthand information he could rely on before any of his battle brothers were committed to the assault he would send the available scouts to the surface to reconnoiter the site and relay their findings his strike force was supported by only one scout squad they would be the first to deploy before any bombardment of the target began the scout's mission would be to survey the site from a distance and relay that information back to the war talon for final adjustments to the attack plan on board the war talent aurelius and his senior battle brothers prepared for the coming battle this assault was the sort of mission his brothers trained for all their lives but it still needed detailed planning specific refresher training in the use of melted bombs and demolition charges as well as fire and movement routines and thunderhawk disembarkation drills were practiced time and again on board the battle barge aurelius was well aware that the initial threat to any planetary assault would be the anti-aircraft defenses these would be high priority targets because the loss of a thunderhall gunship full of 30 battle brothers could put the whole mission in jeopardy before the main force could attack the silo the hydra turret would need to be eliminated the third battle company being of a standard codex starting organization contained two assault squads trained to use jump packs for deep strike operations from high or low altitude a single assault squad would be committed to attack the hydra emplacement they would be the first wave led by veteran sergeant iggys and deploying from thunderhawk gunships at high altitude such deployments are usually made from low altitude to avoid the worst effects of any ground fire but given the nature of the target aurelius commanded that the thunderhawks stay above the maximum range of the hydra's auto cannons this way the thunderhawk carrying the assault squad would be totally safe the risk of brothers being hit whilst in freefall was judged far less than that of a thunderhawk being destroyed also badly damaged it would be forced to abandon its mission the assault squad was to land as close to their target as possible rapidly overcome any resistance and said melter charges on the hydra turrets the time the assault squad jumped from their thunderhawk would be designated as zed hour all other timing for the operation would be taken from zed hour as the base the scouts would launch in drop pods at zed hour minus 105 and land at zed hour 102 giving them 53 minutes after landing to get into position observe the target and report back their findings the second wave was scheduled to attack at zed hour plus six giving veteran sergeant iggis and his nine space marines just six minutes to knock out the aa turret the second wave would consist of the main strike forces two thunderhawk gunships carrying two tactical squads and a devastator squad designated as strike force b and c the thunderhawks would land their cargos inside the battery perimeter the squads would then disembark to attack the missile silos themselves the third thunderhawk would land just behind them carrying captain aurelius and his command squad along with other vital support apothecary tech marines etc and a reserve force of third companies remaining two tactical squads this was designated as strike force d these reserve units had a flexible role to reinforce either of the attacks should they meet with stiff resistance if all went to plan they would not be needed for the main assault and could be saved to establish a secure perimeter on the ground after the silos were destroyed the final squad of his company the second assault squad was to remain on the war talon to deploy with the sixth company the plan for strike forces b and c was simple two tactical squads would advance on the silo under the dedicated covering fire from their supporting devastator squads once close enough they would set the demolition charges on the silo roofs they would then fall back to a safe distance and the squad sergeants would detonate the charges collapsing the silo roof to prevent missile launch their primary objective complete third company would then sweep through the rest of the silo site eliminate any resistance and secure a perimeter before reinforcements and vehicles from safe company could land in all it was estimated the entire operation would take just 30 minutes from zed hour to all objectives being complete and secure with the vanguard of the invasion fleet now approaching taros the war talon quickly maneuvered into its bombardment position in a geostationary low orbit its target location already locked in the bombardment cannons and lance turrets prepared to open fire as the planet's rotation slowly brought the target area into the battle barges line of fire if the gun crew's mission was successful then the subsequent attack would be a simple mopping up operation with luck the demolition charges would not be needed at all and the war talon's big guns would knock out the missile silos with direct hits this was unlikely though ever such long distances destroying a small armored target would be difficult and confirmation would still be needed on the ground once the gunners prepared the flight decks and launch bays of the war talon were a massive activity thunderhawk gunships prepared to take off fuel tanks full every system checked and double checked four rat tours thunderhawks stud ready to begin the invasion of tarous each individual space marine was also prepared for battle his power armor suit was calibrated for desert environments 99 efficient water recycling and maximum heat dissipation bolters and heavy weapons were test fired on the ship's range before being issued extra ammunition grenades knives chain swords and bolt pistols were handed out to the files of armored battle brothers lastly each tactical squad was issued two bulky demolition charges and the squad sergeants were given the detonators before embarkation the entire third company stood shoulder to shoulder in ranks as captain aurelius addressed his brothers he advised them that they would bring the emperor's justice to those that chose to turn away from his divine light theirs was the honor of striking the first blow in life or death each brother would do the chapter of great honor this day then they all knelt before they accompany chaplin as he led them in the ritual pre-battle prayers the company rose as one as the war talons bombardment cannons opened fire the concussion reverberated through the decks the first shells to fall upon taros itself were presage the beginning of the invasion the raptors space marines efficiently filed into position within their thunderhawk gunships to await launch planet fall before their bombardment started operations had already begun the scout squad in their drop pod had already launched the pod made planet fall safely and the scouts moved out across the sun's scorched surface disguised by their chameleon cloaks and carrying heavy surveillance equipment as well as their sniper rifles once in position the squad set up their equipment and began beaming a secure transmission back to the war talents operations room initial intelligence was correct the site contained two silos and an aaa turret but the other ring of defenses had been improved with the addition of turret gun emplacements these heavy weapons might be a major threat to landed thunderhawks so as captain aurelius watched the relays aboard the war talon he made some adjustments to his plans strike force b was to abandon its target silo and instead use their heavy weapons to engage and destroy the turret emplacements the free reserve tactical squads would take over strike force b's part of the mission this left aurelius with no flexible reserve on the ground to counter unexpected enemy moves so he quickly contacted captain cades of sixth company cadence's company was already on standby to reinforce the assault instead of waiting for third company to secure the landing zone aurelius requested two tactical squads immediately prepare for a drop pod launch and stand by should he need reinforcements at short notice last-minute adjustments to the plan complete aurelius boarded his own thunderhawk the ramp closing behind him the planning was over now it was time to fight down on the surface the scout squads watched from a safe distance as the orbital bombardment began to impact on the surface huge clouds of smoke and dust were thrown up in the desert as the flashes of lance beams and great explosions rent taros's surface it lasted exactly 30 minutes as an area for five kilometers around the site was smothered in heavy explosions what damage had actually been done to the silo site was impossible to tell through the thick dust on board the water talon the four thunderhawks received clearance to launch rocket engines blasted into life as one after the other the gunships sped from the launch bay and headed for the surface the first thunderhawk to pass through the heat of atmospheric entry was that carrying strikeforce a inside ten heavily armored assault troops each with a jump pack chainsaw holstered bob pistol and a bandolier of melter bombs stud ready following instructions from the cockpit each brother awaited in silence for the order to jump it's no still red hot from the stress of atmospheric entry the forward holds rear ramp was lowered blasting all inside with a rush of air the first squad member stepped forwards to the edge each powering up his jump pack system when the order to jump was received through the helmet comms there was no hesitation two by two the assault troops stepped over the edge into the void instantly each space marine was flicked into the thunderhawk slipstream the torrent of fast-moving air created by the gunship's own forward motion the impact of the wall of air was severe and each man fought to avoid being flipped and tumbled uncontrollably by it as the forces of gravity pulled the assault troops downwards their jump pack motors began to work and a mere 100 meters above the ground the thrusters ignited to slow the plunging descent the breaking power of the jump pack exerted huge gravitational pressure on the troops pressure that could crush a normal man but protected within their power armor and by his genetically enhanced physique each assault trooper could overcome the lethal g's orientate himself to the landing zone and control the direction of his descent using the jump packs thruster controls he could guide himself directly onto the target to a safe landing from jump to planetfall the descent took no more than 60 seconds as strike force a hit the ground they came under sustained fire from a hydra emplacement explosive auto cannon rounds began to kick up the dust and tracers flashed past the assault troops unable to hit its attackers in the sky the aea gunners had waited and now laid down a hail of shells all four barrels of the quad mount thundering despite the heavy orbital shelling it seemed most of the defenses had remained intact as had the silos the area was scarred with smoking impact craters but the bombardment had scored no direct hits the craters would be vital cover for following the assault and veteran sergeant iggis found himself in one such crater one landing two of his squad had already been seriously wounded there was no time to waste the crater offered cover but his assault troops must silence that gun before the other thunderhawks arrived gathering the men immediately around him sergeant iggis ordered them to move forwards before launching himself over the crater rim the heavy fire was intense the big auto cannons barking as its grazing fire flashed across the desert as the assault marines rushed forwards several more were hit the force of the rounds knocking each man clean off his feet sergeant was first to arrive at the target dodging through the fire bolt pistol in one hand melt a bomb in the other in one mighty power armored leap he cleared the emplacement parapet ducked under the red-hot gun barrels and rolled to the base of the turret he was quickly joined by two of his men iggis activated his melter bombs and slapped the magnetic disc to the turret six seconds he warned over the com as the others placed their charges and rolled away within the turret the gun crew knew what to expect and heard the metallic clang of the melter charges being fixed outside the commander threw up in the hatch and left clear as the melter charges detonated in sequence a triple explosion that turned the hydra turret into an inferno molten metal sprayed the compartment within killing the remaining crew before igniting the ammunition store fragments of the gun turret were thrown high into the air as it was ripped apart from the inside igis and his men rolled away their power armor peppered with flames and shrapnel but most of the lethal blast clearing them the first part of the mission was complete in all free assault brothers had been seriously wounded in the headlong attack the others who had been hit were not seriously wounded each had been saved by the adamantium shell of his armor they would continue the fight now the distant sound of thunderhawk jets could be heard growing louder the silos security platoon who had survived the orbital bombardment in their underground shelter began to emerge at first they faced little fire only the bulk pistol rounds of iges survivors who were now clustered around the brightly burning wreckage of the aaa turret then as the triple jet roar grew closer heavy baltifire began to sweep the area it was a deluge of fire raining from above as the thunderhawks raced in slowed hydraulic landing gear lowered and the aircraft flared back its nose before touching down the landing ramp was already opening crashing down to reveal the space marines within the tactical squads rushed down the ramp and into the battle bolt guns leveled at the hip bolt arounds slashing across the silo compound the planetary defense force security squads had seen enough several broke rather than face the wrath of the infamous space marines as explosive rounds detonated all around them they sought cover or fled the tactical squads advanced steadily upon their targets whilst the devastator squads tuck up their firing positions only seconds after landing the thunderhawk behind them powered skywards again leaving a thickening pole of dust swirling in its wake underground in the silo command bunker the controllers were frantically trying to arm and prepare the missiles for launch news from the battle above was confused and unclear it was a race against time the command bunker had a clear target the war talon stationed in low orbit above but could they get their missiles launched before the silos were destroyed ever coming resistance on the ground was simple enough the security platoon had offered little fight after the first uneven exchange of fire the attacking tactile squads had little to fear from laz gunfire the perimeter turret emplacements were a different matter these weapons were cited to defend the base against a ground attack but they could also sweep the silo in sight with fire captain aurelius had diverted strike force b to engage them hoping to use the devastator's heavy weapons to destroy the well-armored guns they were now engaged in a heavy exchange of fire meanwhile against only light resistance strike force c had reached its target silo having cut through the encircling razor wire with their combat knives these squads were planting and fusing demolition charges the first silo was doomed the second silo was holding out due to the fire of the turret emplacements but as the devastator squad began to win the engagement destroying the turrets with crack missiles and last cannon hits the assault unit was closing in on it too the desert shook to the sound of the first silo being destroyed the shaped explosions of the demolition charges splintered the reinforced plas creed silo roofs causing it to collapse the missile launcher tube within was choked with rubble any attempt to launch now would be a catastrophe causing the missile to explode inside realizing they had lost the race the command bunker crew abandoned their posts and fled soon the raptors space marines would be blasting in the bunker doors and sweeping the interior with bulk and fire the command crew fled rather than face said than death target decimal had been taken the second silo was destroyed soon after the first the last remnants of resistance surrendered or fled it had been a frantic battle but raptor casualties had been light one dead five serious wounded twelve lightly wounded captain aurelia surveyed the smoke black and seen the dead lying scattered in the sand where they had fallen his space marines moving quickly into new positions to defend the site's perimeter upon hearing each squad report in and declare their area of the perimeter secure he contacted the war talon with instructions to launch sixth company the raptors sixth company arrived in a flight of thunderhall gun ships and transporters setting down inside the silo site perimeter to unload men vehicles and fresh ammunition supplies they have run the same operation countless times in the past quickly smoothly and without a hitch the space marines prepared for the invasion following behind them they had cleared the way with a ruthless efficiency only the adapter societies could provide even as the custodians of the strikeforce's vehicles climbed aboard their charges and awake the machine spirits within to life the taros invasion fleet was moving into orbit captain aurelius and cadiz awaited new orders their task now was to sit tight and showed enemy enemy force threatened to attack the landing site launch a fast armored counter attack into them they had cleared the way for the imperial guard transports now they must act as a security shield around the landing zone the mission objective complete signal from captain aurelius was a cue for the rest of the invasion transports to move into low orbit and begin their own landings the first imperial guard troops to land on enemy territory ontarios were to be the infantry companies of the 17th tallahan regiment many felt the elite stormtrooper companies especially trained to spearhead the invasion should be deployed but this faction in distilled staff was overruled lord marshall the still wanted a rapid buildup more men more heavy weapons more vehicles and tanks a stormtrooper company offered gut infantry but could not provide the heavier equipment general barim abbas of the 17th felt that his men had the experience training and equipment to perform the mission admirably the original plan had required enough landing craft to put down free entire imperial guard regiments in the first wave fleet admiral koto had been unable to supply the vast numbers of landing craft required to fulfill that plan instead the fleet had enough landing craft for just one regiment the others would simply have to wait their turns on board the sister transports imperius javelin gauntlet and anvil in excess of ten thousand men of the seventeenth talan regiment were being transferred from their births to the landing craft as well as the men came vehicles equipment and supplies the men destined for the first wave were equipped with full combat loads armor grenades extra ammunition rations and water supplies had been issued to the leading infantry companies the men filed into the bellies of the big landing craft packed in shoulder to shoulder in the darkness the last man on board for each company was the company commander on landing he would also be the first man off at the back of each assault company was a commissar bringing up the rear to force any malingers out of the landing craft and into battle whilst the free transports moved into low orbit the fleet's escort ships tuck up patrol stations and the larger cruisers picketed the surrounding space to defend the waiting transports against sudden attack the righteous power herself stayed in low orbit with the lead transports ready to provide orbital bombardment aboard several of the landing craft were imperial navy shore parties led by navy officers from the righteous power they were there to act as liaison between the imperial guard and the fleet and as fire control teams should resistance be strong enough for the righteous powers guns to be needed also on board the battle cruiser was lord marshalled the steel in place to ever see landing operations until he could transfer his headquarters to the surface after a bumpy descent through the atmosphere it seemed the still had chosen his southern landing ground well in the deserts of tarous's asters there was no resistance the landing craft each packed with men and materials were not fired on when the great loading doors opened and the ramps fell crashing into the desert sand the men of the talon 17th marched out into the scorching temperatures and bright sunlight to find there was no battle the enemy was nowhere to be seen as the landings proceeded not a shot was fired filed by a file the lead companies of imperial guardsmen marched down the ramps and into the savage dry heat of taros with their officers shouting orders the disembarkation was orderly and quick immediately upon landing the companies began to move forward to begin forming a defensive perimeter following the lead infantry came the first tanks one after another lehman russ rumbled down the ramps and followed the men to form strong points in their new perimeter to still listen to the reports from the surface of an unopposed landing so far so good but the enemy might already be reacting and mustering a counter-attack force he needed to seize the opportunity and reinforce as rapidly as possible he didn't know how long it might last company by company the seventeenth tallahan landed disembarked and marched away from the landing zone once unloaded the landing craft blasted off and returned to dock with the other transports now moving into low orbit to begin the process again the 89 for talan would be the next regiment to land the transports repeated the process of the 17th the invasion force had its foothold now they needed the extra forces and extra supplies to make it stick once the regiments of tenth corps began the long process of transferring everything from orbit to the landing zones the raptors chapter had already completed its landings the entirety of the third and sixth companies and all their vehicles were in position surrounding decimal silo captain aurelius and cagey's placed themselves next to the task force's damocles rhino and listened to the incoming reports the invasion was progressing as planned no enemy contact had been reported yet as it turned out the raptor's assault on decimal was the only combat on the first day of the taros invasion it seemed the enemy had been caught by surprise by the landings and had no forces positioned for an immediate counter-attack the second day might see the expected attack materialize but the longer the enemy left it the stronger the imperium's forces would become and the harder it would become to remove them days went by and nothing was seen of the enemy the 17th talan regiment now dug in behind sandbag positions was ordered to begin reconnaissance operations their sentinel companies and selected infantry squads were to launch long-range patrols out into the surrounding desert to see if they could find any evidence of enemy activity or buildup the main effort was to be concentrated northwards the direction the eventual advance would come as well as reporting enemy sightings the patrols will also provide useful information about the terrain the regiments faced and possible routes of advance meanwhile behind the seventeen front lines the landing zone was a hive of activity landing craft were constantly touching down or taking off sentinel power lifters were stomping to and fro carrying ammunition crates and fuel drums trojans were dragging fuel and water bowsers between the ships and the supply dumps through all this marched columns of men mostly talon infantry or storm trooper platoons heavily laid him with their own fighting kit or wretched departmento labor squads dressed in rags and carrying shovels and picks tanks and chimera squadrons rumbled through the desert in neat lines the steel's buildup was now in full flow on day four the first of the munitorum labor corps was landed and immediately set to work constructing an aircraft landing field the first of the imperial navy fighter squadrons the 386th was waiting on board the hammer of thrace for an air base and supplies to be put in place before they could transfer to the surface this was a priority task the addition of an imperial navy fighter squadron would add greatly to the invasion forces reconnaissance assets able to range far and wide over the desert they could seek out enemy forces at far greater ranges than the sentinels or armored fist squads already operating in the surrounding desert but to still the landing was a triumph of organization the feared tower counter-attack had never come the force build-up was going well of course there were problems to be solved congestion in the landing zone men or landing aircraft becoming lost or arriving at the wrong location already water supplies were a problem but the tanker empress of svedeg was now in orbit and unloading 1 000 tons of water a day at this rate it would still take 20 days to fully unload the men on the ground needed more and transporting water was taking more space in the landing craft than expected slowing the whole landing process down there was a shortage of power lifters for unloading and the steel requisitioned many from the tilan regiment on the perimeter to aid at the landing zone the knock-on effect of this was that the talon regiments had to use their own manpower to move supplies to the front guardsmen were used as pack animals to carry shells to the artillery guns or water cans to the trenches platoons given supply duty labored in the hot sun carrying crate after crate in the first week it became the most hated of duties but whilst the enemy didn't attack this inefficient use of combat manpower was not a problem for the 4621st army supplies of all kinds were now pouring onto taros fuel food medical supplies communications equipment sandbags by the thousand replacement vehicles feed for the rough rider squadrons tents small medium and large power cells of all kinds spare track links spades pickaxes jerry cans by the pallet load razor wire by the mile mine fuses right down to boxes of shiny new medals the supply depots grew and grew everything being carefully recorded logged and stored despite valiant attempts to impose order the landing zone was in chaos one stormtrooper company requested new vox casters but on opening the crates found they have been delivered brand new horse saddles the landing operation was vast but even with his first three regiments now in position distill was in no hurry to start offensive operations on the ground the more men and supplies he got in place the better his ultimate chance of success in all it took nearly two weeks to move everything down to the planet's surface it was two weeks of intense unloading activity two weeks in which the enemy made no sign of attacking for the men on the front line it was two weeks of waiting the men started referring to the tarous invasion as the clerk's war both her comment on destiel's nickname and the fact that the supply clerks were the busiest men in the army after being on standby for three days the raptors space marines were withdrawn back to their battle barge they had completed their mission and enough imperial guard forces were now in place to resist any attack long enough for the raptors to redeploy if needed the only space marine unit to remain on the surface was the lone scout squad they were to assist in the pre-offensive intelligence gathering the imperiums force was now secure on tarous and amazingly barely a shot had been fired reconnaissance reports indicated some enemy activity in the deserts traces of tower movement or occupation were found but as yet there were no sightings if the tower were out there in the desert then they were playing a patient waiting game it was to steals next task to find them and bring them to battle continues in part two thanks to everybody supporting the channel you can see your name scrolling by here you absolute legends you you legends if you'd like to join this list of heroes and support my work and the channel then please do consider becoming a youtube member by clicking the button below or you can go and visit patreon and become a patron or unsubscribe star you can use that as well i cannot say how much this helps because it really really does all right thank you very much i will be back again soon with the next one it's going to be coming soon soon soon so please do like the video remember to subscribe if you're not subscribed hit that bell because for some reason that helps and sometimes it doesn't i don't know and also let me know in the comments what you think as i say the next one will be coming within days see you later bye

Channel: ABORDER PRINCE

Views: 957,203

Keywords: taros campaign, tau empire lore, tallarn lore, 40k campaign, warhammer, forgeworld, tallarn desert raiders, tau empire explained, warhammer campaigns, warhammer imperium of man, warhammer narration, warhammer audio drama, warhammer audiobook, warhammer audio, 40k audio, imperial guard lore, space marine lore, 40k space marine lore, astartes lore, high lords of terra lore, how the imperium works, emperor of mankind, tau manta, warhammer 40k, warhammer 40000, fire warriors

Id: CNixOZ0gCUw

Length: 186min 26sec (11186 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 17 2020