Lord Commander Victor Antioch maintained his vigil staring intently through the armour glass of his flagships bridge Achilles, towards the planet below, as if he could discern what was happening ground side through his eyesight alone. The cacophony of sound from the bridge crew behind him was half heard to him as he was completely lost in thought, this was due to the fact that he and his expeditionary forces had absolutely no idea how things had gone so horribly wrong.

 

The entire affair was a damnable nightmare in the last two months since they entered this system they had lost twenty thousand soldiers, an entire armoured brigade of tanks and a Warhound Titan! Worse still the only explanation the adepts of the Mechanicus Explorator Fleet they were seconded to could come up with was localised seismic activity. The entire debacle didn't sit well with the Lord Commander, nothing about this campaign made sense since they entered this system.

 

The Lord Commander was the leader of the 393rd Expeditionary Fleet, in terms of size it was a modest force, aside from being honoured with the presence of a Titan battle group of the Legio Astorum. The remainder being entirely comprised of human personnel hailing from the Hive world of Myrmidon in the regions bordering the Ultima and Obscurus Segmentum.

 

Being the commander of any force would be stressful enough, but for Lord Antioch there was also knowing the fact that he led the first founding Imperial forces from his beloved home world. That every action here and now of the 393rd Expeditionary fleet would echo in the histories of each and every subsequent founding. Plus if the Lord Commander did not get this debacle under control not only would their expedition be the first, it might also be the last.

 

The world which they were now trying to subjugate belonged to a system of planets at the very edge of a newly discovered sector in the Segmentum Obscurus. This region was not yet formally named by the Mechanicus scout fleet whom happened upon it, such things being beneath their scope of interest. As for the world the Lord Commander was staring at and the system in which it belonged, the men and women of the 393rd Expeditionary Fleet, they called it Paradise.

 

It was a verdant and bountiful planet it truly deserved its moniker, but right now for Lord Commander Antioch it might be a Paradise lost. Even though the Lord Commander was loath to admit it, this campaign should have been an easy one, their orders from the War Council was merely to escort the Mechanicus fleet while they explored this region –the scout echelons reported no civilisations xenos or human anywhere for hundreds of lightyears around.

 

The Lord Commander ran his fingers through his closely cropped hair, showing the first outward sign of stress in front of his personnel since they first started losing troops. The Paradise system only had one world which held four moons in its embrace, they orbited a gigantic yellow sun. The planet or its system didn't interest the Mechanicus fleet one jot, what interested them was the fact that a colonisation vessel as well as escorts hung at high anchor above Paradise.

 

When they happened across the vessel, Lord Commander Antioch enquired with Explorator Magos Zule why the scout ships hadn't detected this fleet. The Magos explained that all these vessels were powered down therefore the scout ships auspex scanners would not have been picked up, as the scouts searched for signs of civilisation before moving on.

 

The Magos declared this find providential as the Mechanicus and Myrmidon fleets had only translated into this system as this was the just one jump in a series of warp jumps further in this sector –the Mechanicus simply wished to complete a detailed auspex scan of potential resources locked within the system before moving on.

 

The colonisation vessel and escorts interested the Mechanicus so much as they were most definitely of human design, but the Mechanicus fleets monumental cogitators and databanks could not find a match with known build patterns of vessels therefore Magos Zule was confident that they did not belong to the Great Crusade, meaning that they may belong to the Age of Strife or perhaps even the Dark Age of Technology.

 

For the moment the colonisation vessel remained unmolested, the adepts of the Mechanicus were in conclave –and had been for a month- furiously debating how best to investigate the ship for it was an ancient time capsule potentially containing a treasure trove of archeotech. They daren't risk causing even the minimum amount of damage to such a relic in order to unlock its secrets.

 

The Lord Commander pressed his right hand against the armour glass thinking back to when he first sent his forces to the surface of Paradise. After a week in orbit it quickly became apparent to the Lord Commander that the Magos had no plans for the planet's surface, therefore Antioch took it upon himself to kill two birds with one stone. The 393rd Expeditionary Fleet would conduct a mock combat drop on a new world, whilst also effecting their first compliance. Paradise was to become three-hundred-ninety-three one, being the first planet that they would bring into compliance.

 

First Lord Antioch dispatched scout forces to the surface in order to establish a beach head. Within moments of entering the planet's atmosphere the scouts began to pick up phantom encrypted vox traffic emanating from the planet's surface. Which were deemed by adepts to be too weak to have been detected from orbit, especially over the constant din of the Myrmidon and Mechanicus own vox casters. The vox signals were intermittent and nothing like the monumental vox casters used in star ships, more reminiscent of squad to squad equipment. Which was a head scratcher as there was no sign of a civilisation on the planet's surface. Surely if an indigenous species or a lost strand of humanity had vox capability there would be some sign of civilisation on the planet?

 

After a few days on the surface of Paradise the scouts reported that they couldn't trace the phantom vox traffic, but they confirmed that aside from some indigenous flora and fauna the region they scouted was safe. Perhaps in hindsight the Lord Commanders next actions may well have been premature, but he authorised a substantial landing force to make planet fall.

 

The Myrmidon armed forces made planet fall in a vast region dominated by a series of plateaus, buttressed east and west by vast mountain ranges, running centrally through the area was a gently sloping valley. The Myrmidon forces set up a central command post on the valley floor as well as perimeter of operating bases across the plateaus east and west. To the north and south guarding the entrances to the valley floor were two substantial bases, with armoured brigades stationed throughout.

 

Less than three hours after the mobilisation was complete, the northern base on the valley floor went silent. There was no warning of attack, there were also no vox signals from the base, it simply ceased to be. The only sign that something was amiss were violent tremors being felt across the plateaus as well as on the valley floor. Fearing an attack of unidentified aggressors, an armoured brigade of tanks as well as a regiment of Myrmidon Lancers were dispatched to investigate –Magos Zule ordered that the Legio Astorum dispatch a Warhound Titan to the surface to scout out the terrain ahead of the general advance.

 

The Legio utilized their unique ability and teleported the Warhound Titan, Spectral Hound, directly to the surface of Paradise a few dozen kilometres ahead of the Myrmidon war host. It was then that the Imperial forces in orbit got their first and last appraisal of what was happening groundside. The report came from Princeps Vernum, the commander of the Spectral Hound, his voice betrayed nothing but cold clarity typical of Mechanicus forces, 'We will not survive this, the ground has come to claim us…' the rest of the transmission was lost to the hiss of static and the tortured shriek of metal upon metal.

 

With the loss of the Titan, Lord Antioch ordered the full evacuation from the surface of Paradise, if something could extinguish the Spectral Hound before it could teleport to safety, he knew his forces would fair no better. The order to evacuate did not come quick enough for the war host which was now in full flight, their panicked cries for rescue as well as their dying screams of pain when the ground came to claim them too, rung out from every vox caster across the entire Myrmidon fleet.

 

Lord Antioch knew that most commanders would have silenced the vox traffic for sake of moral, but to him the men and women dying on the surface were their brothers and sisters so their last moments should be listened to and remembered. After the war host was slaughtered the central command base and the southernmost operations base were wiped from the surface of Paradise –thankfully losses in these areas were light as they had plenty of warning, personnel fled to the landing fields and evacuated the world's surface.

 

When the last Myrmidon left the planet's surface, Lord Antioch placed an embargo banning movement to the world's surface, he then took a Valkyrie assault carrier to complete a flyover where the attacks took place. Moving north to south the Lord Commander noticed something that he couldn't appreciate from orbit. Not only was the northern, southern and central bases completely missing from the surface as if they had never been there, the earth completely lacked greenery as if it were freshly tilled. This phenomenon of ploughed terra firma could be seen in vast seemingly erratic patterns across the surface of Paradise as far as the eyes could see.

 

The configurations of the soil coupled with the late Princeps Vernum's final transmission pointed to the fact that their enemy was striking from underground. Perhaps the indigenous inhabitants had burrowing assault vehicles or they may have vast underground cities, whichever scenario seemed more likely was lost on him. What the Lord Commander did know was that his beloved Myrmidon regiments lacked the knowledge and experience to combat such a foe, therefore he ordered his Astropathic Choir to request reinforcement from any Imperials engaged in the Segmentum Obscuras.

 

Since then it had been a waiting game, the entire expeditionary fleet sat idle licking their wounds from the beating they had taken from an unknown quarter. Those whom had made it from the surface wore defeat like a shroud, the Lord Commander had them as well as every other regiment run through regular combat drills to keep their minds sharp. But now it had been just over two months since they entered this system and there still had been no word of reinforcement.

 

Lord Antioch had resigned himself to the fact that he should enjoy these last days of command as he was sure that they would be his last, he was expecting to be stripped of command as soon as reinforcements arrived. Although Lord Antioch wouldn't be surprised if they ordered his execution, he certainly felt like his prosecution of this campaign bordered on criminal. After such a dark though struck him another did Why wait for them to execute me?

 

The Lord Commander turned from the armour glass to look around the grand expanse of his bridge closest to him was his second in command the Master of the Fleet, Tobias Brunel. Magos Zule was not present on the bridge of the Achilles, he had resumed conclave with his senior adepts, the loss of even the Spectral Hound seemed to pale in comparison of what to do with the ancient colonisation vessel. The thought occurred to him again Why wait for them to kill me?

 

Lord Antioch turned back to look out to the vista of Paradise mocking him for his failure, he took in a deep breath, then closing his eyes he slowly made to grasp the bolt pistol holstered at his side. Whether the Lord Commander would have actually committed suicide in front of his bridge crew he would never be known for the Achilles auspex officer cried out startling warning.

 

'My Lord, contacts translating in system!'

 

Lord Commander Antioch shook his head as if freeing himself from a haze, he removed his hand from the bolt pistol, and he steeled himself for whatever was to come next. He was the commander of this expedition and he would do those under his command proud until he learnt his fate.

 

The Lord Commander began barking orders. 'I want a hololithic projection of Paradises Mandeville point, I want to know whether they are Imperial or xenos. None of our fleet are to change formation until I give the word. Also get a communique over to Magos Zule, he may wish to be present.'

 

At the Lord Commanders orders the bridge crew were whipped into a frenzy, walking towards Lord Antioch was Master Brunel, he had a great hooked nose which was a common trait of Myrmidon aristocracy, throughout the campaign he kept his own council showing a united front as a good officer should.

 

After closing with his Lord they both faced the armour glass, he leant in and whispered. 'Now you weren't going to use that thing were you?'

 

Lord Antioch met Master Brunel's steely stare, he then shook his head. 'No, I don't think I would have, perhaps now I won't have to.'

 

The Master of the Fleet guffawed before responding. 'You still hold yourself responsible, there was no way you could have known that we would be attacked from underground, Throne, we still don't know what they are or if they are even underground. This is not your fault, my Lord.'

 

'Whether I could have seen this coming or not.' Countered Lord Antioch. 'That is immaterial, there was no need for me to send forces to the surface at all we could have just stayed in orbit. I went beyond my remit of escorting the Mechanicus forces and attempted to bring this world into compliance and for what to get my name into Imperial history? I got our brave brothers and sisters killed, whether my decision to make planet fall was the correct one or not does not matter to me, their blood is on my hands.'

 

Master Tobias felt his chest swell with pride at his Lord Commanders words, he truly loved the men and women under his command. Tobias understood the harsh stand his superior was taking but he truly believed that not of this could have been foreseen and that they would have inevitably went to the surface to find any signs of what happened to the colonisation fleets personnel, but he kept his own council, instead he turned to look at the hololith display and changed the subject. 'Who do you think they are?

 

Lord Antioch turned around also, the hololith showed dozens of vessels translating in system every few moments, they seemed to be forming around a monster of a vessel that was easily three times the size of the Achilles. 'I don't know, but I hope that they're Imperial, we have enough unknown foes as it is.'

 

The Lord Commander forced a smile then turned to his bridge crew. 'Auspex?'

 

'I can confirm they are Imperial, my Lord.' Replied the officer, his fingers dancing over the controls of his terminal trying to discern any more information about the newcomer's identity. 'The vessels match known profiles of Strike Cruisers, Battle Barges, Battleships of various classes…' the Auspex officer paused and made eye contact with his Lord Commander before continuing. '…the largest vessel matches the build pattern of a Glorianna-class Battleship.'

 

There was an instant hush settle across the bridge, at the mention of a Glorianna-class battle ship signified.

 

'Astartes.' Stated Master Tobias, followed by a long low whistle. 'But which Legion?

 

'We shall have to find out.' The Lord Commander turned to his vox officer and indicated for her to open a channel with the lead vessel. 'This is Lord Commander Victor Antioch of the 393rd Expeditionary Fleet, hailing from the Hive world of Myrmidon. We are currently engaging in hostilities with an unknown foe striking from an unknown quarter. Please state your identity and intensions. I repeat please state your identity and intensions.'

 

'This is Lord Commander Tiberius commanding officer of the First Great Order of the XI Legio Astartes the Emperors Judgement. We are well aware of your plight and your request for reinforcement is now formally acknowledged we will be with you presently.'