The First
Captain Aurelian went to bed the previous night expecting a relatively standard day. When the Legion returned to Terra, they usually had refit, maintenance cycles, time to go down to Terra and see the work being done to bring it back to its former glory. Training and discussion of the previous years campaigns, compliance rates, time to bicker with their cousins in the other Legions, the occasional duel and simply a release of stress from the frantic pace of the Great Crusade. This day, did not start in a standard way. Instead Captain Aurelian woke to the sound of the battle station alarms.
He quickly picked up his helmet, and after the quick emergency donning rite to the Machine Spirit of his armor, got on the Vox while getting the rest of his armor together. "This is Captain Aurelian, status report!" He was met with nothing but static, and a chill of cold dread went down his spine. That was not supposed to happen, especially while still on the ship. He immediately started trying other frequencies, but nothing worked, all that he could hear was static, and the sound of the alarm. In a rush, he finished equipping his armor and weapons, ready to face whatever foe had dared attack his Legion. Though, who could possibly manage it, they were deep within the Sol system, surely they should have had some kind of warning.
As he left his sleeping quarters, he looked up and down the hall, seeing no one. Something that just should not be so under battle stations, at the least there should be guards for the intersection with it being the quarters of some of the Captains of the Legion. He quickly opened each door, with the emergency override code, and found all of them empty. Growing ever more concerned, Aurelian ran for the bridge. A place that must still be staffed else the ship would no longer be functional. Thankfully when he entered he found his Brothers, but they had a grim air about them. Turning to see who had entered, they pulled out their rifles and aimed at him, demanding he identify himself, and stand-by to be searched with detection runes. Surprised, Aurelian complied, adopting a relaxed posture and keeping his hands free of his weapons. When his Brothers had finished their search, taking the time even to remove his armor, scour every inch of his skin, and rearm him. He was finally let in on what had occurred. There was a warp storm, and from throughout the Legion, the Lost revealed themselves, more than half the Legion had been turned, some last bit of corruption from Gehenna station following them, twisting them as they returned only to now bring ruin to the Legion at this opportunity. They were cut off from the rest of Sol, with but a few thousand still loyal Battle Brothers, working to keep the vital functions of the ship intact, and free from the hands of the Lost.
They needed direction, they needed leadership, and yet, crushing news. Oriacarius and Kesar Dorlin were two of the first to fall. Caught off guard by those they thought still their brothers, they found themselves attacked by wave after wave of the Lost, howling in rage. Eventually even they could not hold back the tide, and they fell. Slaughtering hundreds of the Lost in the process, and giving the rest of the loyal Brothers a chance of holding this ship, and if not retaking the rest of the Fleet, at least escaping to warn Terra and the Emperor of this dire loss. Hearing all this Aurelian was frozen in shock, despair, horror, and a burning rage at the Daemon and the Lost. For several tense heartbeats he did nothing but process this tragedy. Eventually eternal seconds later he took a deep breath, blew it out, and began giving orders.
He had a Legion to save, and he would not fail the memory of his Father. He quickly gathered status reports, learning which sections of the ship were still under Eternal Warden control. He was glad to find that the vast majority of his own company were free of the taint of the Lost, working with what few brothers from outside his company still remained loyal to the Legion and the Eternal Sovereign.
The Gellar Field Generator, which other than perhaps the bridge was the most important single thing on the ship with this Warp Storm surrounding it, was being held by well over a thousand marines of the Eternal Wardens, with many of the Cult Mechanicus there to help ensure its safety, including Magos Averenth. Apparently many of his Battle Brothers also recognized the importance of the Field Generator and so made their way to it when everything went to hell.
The Plasma Generator at the heart of the ship had the next largest collection of loyal Legionaires protecting it. With nearly a thousand marines. These were closest to the generator when the worst happened and they decided to make sure it could not fall into the hands of the Lost, or fail, and leave the ship adrift in the warp without power for the Gellar Field, leaving them to a fate worse than death. Even as he spoke to them, it was under heavy attack. He had schematics of the area brought up and proceeded to give orders based on the many contingencies Oriacarius had drilled into his mind to make, but they were constantly under threat, and the situation ever changing, so the process of giving the commands often took to long for them to be helpful. Frustrated he defaulted to some basic strategic principles for the defenders to stick to and moved on, knowing other locations were likely in danger as well. He had to keep up!
The Warp Engines, likely their only hope of escape from this storm, assuming it did not end on its own, were being held by 800 marines. So far it seemed things had been disturbingly quiet, as if the Lost completely ignored this entire section of the ship. Still Aurelian laid out plans, and ensured they would be ready for any outside threat.
The Plasma Engines, the main real-world means of locomotion, and another part of the ship that would likely prove of incredible importance were they to survive this first terrible wave, had a mere 500 Marines to defend it. Here they had occasional probes and attacks. Thankfully consisting of just the Lost, no daemons making their way there yet, though how long that would last Aurelian had no idea. Still he made plans with the defenders there to ensure they could handle themselves, getting counts of ammunition and medical supplies as they had limited Mechanicus support here, and would likely need resupply soon.
The Apothecarion was last, with only a hundred Brothers left, mostly consisting of Apothecaries. Here they stubbornly defended the vaults of gene-seed, ready to be implanted into Neophytes. Already 200 Brothers had fallen defending the future of the Legion. They were under constant assault and would undoubtedly need support lest they fall, giving the Lost the chance to corrupt the gene-seed, or far worse, use it to reproduce. The very idea made him gag with disgust, and red with rage. Yet he must face this potentiality, even as he fought to defy it.
He ordered scouts out from the Gellar Field Generator section, to map out which corridors were defended by the Lost, to check the less well known passages of the ship. All to find some way to move support between the locations. Another force he sent from the Warp Engines, to check on the condition of the main armories, hopefully locked down and merely out of communication with the jamming that was blocking the personal Vox channels.
Before long it became apparent that all but the most skilled scouts stood no chance of getting through the Lost, they had multiple patrols set up throughout the ship, and while one of the Main Armories was being held by still loyal Eternal Wardens, all the rest were being held by the Lost. This meant that the Lost had far more firepower, ammo, and the ship started to vent oxygen. Apparently they had also taken control of the life support systems. Blasted wretches! This would make caring for any of the wounded significantly more difficult.
Aurelian began setting up raids against Lost held territory within the ship, hoping to spread out from the areas he controlled to take back at least one more major Armory, and the life support systems, in the hopes of keeping more of this Brothers alive. Without personal Vox communications however, he was limited in what he could accomplish in this way, and yet he had to maintain control of the entire situation, to leave the bridge in order to handle some of these tasks himself would lead to a lack of senior leadership elsewhere. Still he persisted. He would not fail. Not when the cost was so high.
Reports came back slowly, as Eternal Warden raid squads made progress throughout the ship, utilizing hard-wired ship Vox systems to communicate. But even as progress was made there, though with grevious loss of life, the Warp Engines which had been quiet for so long, finally came under attack. And in devastating force. It seemed they had been massing for a brutal charge, without regards to sanity or any remorse for their prior brothers the Lost flooded in, a horde of screaming mindless rage. Some twisted abominations covered in blood and viscera likely of Eternal Wardens caught when this catastrophe first occurred. Thankfully these Lost seemed to nearly forget about the ranged armaments they had instead rushing in with chain and powerswod raised high. They were scythed down with impunity, but more kept coming user the bodies of their dead as cover. Eventually they made it into the lines, and Aurelian began to assign Brothers from other strongpoints to help against this attack. Scouts that were sent to take control over Armories, others making their way to the Apothecarion. Even with this support, it was a close run thing, and as the bodies of the Lost piled up, so to did the bodies of his still loyal Brothers, for the Lost were exceptional at melee combat in their rage and bloodlust, so even as they were reaped by the tactical fire of the defenders, so too were the defenders cut down like wheat by the melee skill of the Lost. By the time support arrived hundred were dead on both sides of the conflict, and even as support arrived, some of the Lost began to attack the Warp Drives.
Even as that battle occurred, near the Gellar fields a different battle was beginning. It seems the Lost had managed to conduct some foul rituals as daemons of carnage appeared, and began harassing the defenders there. All throughout the ship the sounds of battles echoed through, and Captain Aurelian last Captain of the XIth commanded what few forces remained. It was a bloody slog, but through it all he persevered, after the major attack on the Warp Engines was finally defeated, he sent Brothers to help support the Gellar Field contingent. All throughout the ship, small fires flared up, as new Lost attempts to take control of critical systems occurred, or his Brothers instead attacked the Lost to take control of important sections of the ship. It was with great relief he ordered the final clearing of the Life Support Systems, quickly ordering it turned back on to save those Brothers with their armors systems damaged, left without air as the ship voided its atmosphere, yet that relief turned to horror as he received reports that the new air being pumped in had been tainted by corrupted blood, that was even now turning his wounded Brothers into more Lost all throughout the ship.
This disaster was nearly his undoing as hundreds of wounded Brothers joined the Lost. All due to his own negligence. He should have been more cautious, he should have checked! No! He mustn't fall to despair, he WOULD see his Legion through this. He quickly gave new orders, shut down the life support, and voided the ship again. This time he had an Apothecary ensure it was fully cleansed, no further corruption within the systems, alongside Tech-Priests specialized in its use. Together they managed to get it working properly again, this time sending clean air through the ship.
With all of this happening however, he had not been nearly sufficiently diligent about scouting around the Bridge, where there had been no attacks since he had shown up. While he had deployed a few squads to provide a hefty defense with their heavy weapons, from the vents came sounds of rage and bloodlust. He immediately called for reinforcements, as it sounded like hundreds were on their way through somehow. He had not made sufficient plans for the defense of the Bridge he realized, traps could have been set up, scouts positioned, sensors placed. Still, while the reinforcements would likely not get here in time, he would sell his life dearly. As the first of the abominations were seeming to reach the Vent, and Captain Aurelian stood ready to defend the bridge with his dying breath. The lights all throughout the bridge turned off, the diagnostics that before showed a ship in the warp alone, now showed the ship in peaceful anchor within its proper place in the Sol system. The sounds from the vents stopped, and to his immense surprise his Father, and the First Captain strode into the bridge.
"Well Oriacarius, you were right. This seems to have worked quite well. Seeing Aurelian here, I believe this is a lesson that will stick with him for years to come." Kesar, his gene-father, his Lord, his Primarch said to the First Captain, surely a ghost, and yet so clearly not.
"Indeed Lord, this was a difficult test, but we must be ready for anything, and clearly Captain Aurelian was not. Not yet anyways. We will change that in future. We'll probably have to run more of these simulations however." First Captain Oriacarius replied, looking back up at Kesar Dorlin, who had been killed, he'd seen the recordings of the remains... and yet. Here he was, it had been a simulation, a test. His father was not dead. His legion not reduced to fraction of a fraction. There was hope yet. But he had failed this test. While tears of joy at his deliverance fell down his face, in his heart he burned with the determination never to fail his Legion like this in truth. This grim determination settled into him, as he was addressed by the First Captain. "Captain Aurelian, join us! The other Captains have their own simulations coming up, and I would have your input on them. Walk us through your thought processes here, so that we can better prepare for the others. We wanted you to go first, as we suspected you would do the best of the group, which means the rest of them need more stringent lessons yet."
And so the two Captains, and the Primarch got to discussing how they would mold their fellow Captains and Sons into a Legion prepared for even the most dire of threats, the most devastating of circumstances, and push on through all the universe and the daemonic could throw at them. They would not falter, they would not fail, and they would test themselves to the utmost to ensure it. For Those They Cherish...
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