[b]The Office of the Lord-General, The Imperial Palace, Eshunna XII[/b]

The Lord-General Titus Maxim looked at the faces that surrounded him. His right hand men during the coup were now his most trusted and powerful advisors. Each was responsible for a planet in the Initiative and they were bringing in the usual reports on the current on goings and any reasons for worry. The general feeling was that after years of hard work and investment the Terran Initiative was finally pulling itself out of the troubles that the coup had put them in. Public opinion was at normal levels, riots and protests were beginning to cease and areas that had been decimated in fighting were coming to the end of their repairs allowing for more money to be invested in public spending. After the usual reports, came the time for matters of urgency that required the Lord-General’s approval. The first order of business was the expansion of the Terran Initiative. Colonel Francois Taske had been tasked with ensuring that the Initiative continued to grow and become more powerful.

“Men of the Initiative, in recent weeks I have been conducting the deployment of small probes onto surrounding planets, in an attempt to find other planets with the natural resources to supply the growing industry of our worlds, as well as locations to begin furthering our research tasks. Recent findings have shown that there is a number of nearby planets perfect for such colonisation. Lord-General I require access to the TIAF to create an expeditionary force to explore said planets and find out whether or not they are worth our time or resources.”

There were a few murmurs around the table as the other men present commented on the proposal, most supported the idea. These were silenced as Titus Maxim nodded his head and signed a holographic page that had appeared. The paper work needed his signature before anything was done. The second man to speak was Fredrick Stom, the colonel in charge of Pireaus V. He spoke of the recent message from Sigmus Prime. Raising a hologram of the planet from the memory banks of the Initiative he highlighted key parts of the planet as he addressed the men. 

“In the early hours of the morning, Eshunna time, I received word of an Ork assault on the forge world of Sigmus Prime. The message is short and has been sent Segmentum wide; we will not be the only ones to know of this by a long shot. Early reports indicate that we will not have nearly the man power required to have a hope at halting the advance and that whilst some of the foundries still hold a lot of the Titans and other war machines are already being salvaged by the green skins. My recommendation is that we send in strike teams to salvage what we can whilst the planet still holds out. In regards to tech of this level we are in our infancy and this is the perfect opportunity to grow. Lord-General I have tried to get into contact with the planet however my attempts have been fruitless as of yet. As far as I know there are a number of important targets that we should extract as soon as possible. If you wish I can bring up a list on the holo now?”

Again Titus only responded with a nod, he was a man of few words but it suited the fearsome sight he was. A few swift key strokes and a file opened revealing a number of profiles and lines pointing to different locations on the planet. Clicking through a number of messages a final message that the colonel was after arrived. The list was of a number of important tech priests and engineers as well as data banks, the location of still safe war machines and the position of STCs across the planet. The murmurs returned more ferociously now as the men came close to almost arguing with one another.

“Enough!” The Lord-General boomed. “The Terran Initiative will be intervening in this conflict. We have not the man power to fight a planet of Orks however any of the technology we can save and utilise will be a boon to all. I shall head this conflict myself and take a fleet into orbit of Sigmus Prime. This will be followed by tactical strikes into the planet to recover what we can, next we shall coordinate with planetary forces on what aid we can offer. If the situation looks to become hopeless then we will fall back, towing what resources we can back here, to the Initiative. Until I return then you will work as my council. There will be no further projects until this crisis has been dealt with, you must work to keep the status quo and keep the people of our worlds safe. I will be taking the Lance, Behemoth, Jackhammer, 2 Luna Class Cruisers, 1 Dauntless Class Cruiser and 5 Sword Frigates. What we lack on the ground we will make up with in space. With them I will bring all 500 regiments of the Terran’s Angels, 100 regiments of the Terran’s Eyes ad 250 regiments of Terran Guard. This will leave each planet with more than half of its garrison as well as the PDFs.”

With that the Lord-General stood, the colonels doing the same though they bowed first before standing to attention.

“Gentlemen, I shall return as soon as I can. Until I do prepare the people for a long fight, I need all factories outputting as much as they can as well as upping recruitment.”