The opening invasion of Laeran had started with a cunning gambit. Rather than focus the entire expedition fleet in one area, the nature of warfare on Laeran due to the fact that it was largely an ocean world with pockets of land masses and artificial floating cities that dotted the surface and risking a single landing zone being overrun before it could be properly set up, the fleet was instead split up in order to cover three landing zones. The ruse was that the Night Watch only intended to take and hold one of the landing zones. Rather than split the invasion force between all three drop sites, the drop pods of two of the sites had been crammed full of heavily armed and armored combat servitors whose sole purpose was to reap chaos and havoc while forcing the Laer to have to commit forces to contend with them. The third site on one of the Laer’s floating cities likewise had a number of pods that were intentionally landed on the edges of the ‘landing zone’ packed full of combat servitors to make it appear that the site had been like the other two, while the pods inside of the servitor ring instead contained marines. Using the servitors as cover for their operations and movements, the marines moved to seize control of the floating cities outward defenses and the areas that were vital towards keeping the city floating. With these key locations secured, the true invasion of this city and the purge of all Laer living in it began. Through resistance was heavy and casualties were high among both marine and Imperial Army elements, the purge of the city was successful and the cities usage as a foothold on Laeran secured before the Laer were able to muster a coordinated counter attack. However while the opening invasion had been successful, the cold hard fact was that the numbers of those who had died or been injured to the point where they could simply no longer fight without intense cybernetics (and thus time to adjust to said cybernetics) had far exceeded predictions. Likewise, while the naval elements had withdrawn to secure and cover the corridor above the imperial foothold, the Laeran orbital defenses had proven much more deadly than expected, damaging many ships and outright destroying more than the Primarch was personally comfortable with. Victory on Laeran was possible with the current forces at his beck and call, but doing so would easily result in so much of the Night Watch legion being lost that it would likely remove them from playing an active role in pushing the Imperium’s broaders for the rest of the Crusade. Such an outcome was clearly not acceptable to the Primarch… and thus he called for reinforcements. The war of course continued while reinforcements were rounded up and sent. While the Night Watch and the Imperial Army spent most of their efforts maintaining their foothold and repelling the near daily assaults on their defenses, the real war lay in the shadows of Laeran; Night Watch squads dedicated themselves to covert operations in order to undermine the Laer’s ability to wage the war, dedicating themselves to acts of sabotage, assassinating Laer leaders.. As well as abducting Laer engineers and masters of bioengineering in order to gather as much information about both fields of Laer technology as possible directly from the living source itself. While a regrettable number of these squads died in failure or success, their actions had proven key to preventing the Laer from being able to defeat the Imperial foothold. In fact, the Laer had lost ground; An absolutely heroic effort from a number of infiltrator squads had managed to cripple enough the anti-grav technology of a Laer city that was being used as a primary rallying point to assault the Imperial foothold, causing it to plummet into the ocean waters below. With the arrival of reinforcements from other legions however, the war of Laeran was about to shift. [center][b]……………………………………………………………………………….[/b][/center] [center][h1][b]High Command: Laeran[/b][/h1][/center] Micholi had seen fit to welcome the new arrivals in person, giving a brief speech welcoming his fellow Imperials to Laeran and requesting that the leaders of these forces come with him to the Imperial High Command center of Laeran while leaving the task of showing the rest of the new arrivals around to Colonel Wojtyla, the tech marine assigned to him and his attendants from the auxiliaries. The colonel's dreadnaught was still undergoing some repairs from the last major Laer assault, but Wojtyla insisted on going for a walk in order to give himself a break from either looking at the intel of the war or the walls of the area that the tech priests had converted into a repair bay. Having taken a seat in the thunderhawk that was flying them to the landing pad for his command post on Laeran, Micholi looked at the leading figures of the legions that had arrived to his aid with a look of professionalism; Not unkind, but driven by a desire to end this war as quickly as possible. “Before we arrive at our command center and start our war council proper, I must ask what each of you has brought to this engagement.” The two figures on the other side of the vehicle, clad in dark blue, gave the merest motion in acknowledgement of the question. The one on the right had sat silent and motionless as a statue all throughout, the softly glowing eye-slits of his helmet gazing straight ahead of himself. There was something unnerving to his stillness, made only more sinister by the bizarre shape of his armour. Fragments of bestial carapace had been affixed all throughout over its surface and welded in place by an additional thin, closely fitting layer of ceramite, giving his whole figure the air of something malformed, yet at the same time inhuman from its very birth. Besides his Legion’s clawed and many-legged emblem on one shoulder, nothing denoted his allegiance, for the only sign on his other pauldron was a black circle surrounding a stylized broken skull. His companion, though more restless, had been until then equally unresponsive. What his equipment lacked in ornament, it made up for in utilitarian elaborateness. From his upper leg plates to his wrists, his armour was constellated with veritable bandoliers of reinforced stasis vials akin to those of a narthecium, though of various shapes and sizes. As if in reminder of such receptacles’ original purpose, an apothecary’s tool did indeed adorn his left arm, bristling with a variety of spikes, blades and syringes outlandish even among its kind. Four servo-arms radiated from his back, flaunting their own wealth of drills and bone-saws. His fingers, irregularly lengthened by an array of slender needle-like tips, quietly and dissonantly tapped against each other. Finally bringing his arrhythmic clicking to a stop, he turned to look up at Micholi from the odd spectacle that was his modified Maximus visor. The asymmetrical clusters of diagnostor eyes - if indeed they were just that - and the thick tube running from his faceplate to his power pack gave him an uncannily insect-like mien. “Elder Fleshweaver Ormis and Grand Herald Veryan of the Ninth, to serve you,” he rasped through his mechanical proboscis, followed by a raucous wheeze, “The Second and Fifth Tempests are the most versed of our brethren in the tactics of the [i]proelium demersum[/i], the combat, as you might say, in conditions of high density, and they stand ready to deploy. Further, I have personally selected a cadre of my subordinates most skilled in the -” he wheezed again and expressively tapped his spiked fingertips together, “- expropriation of inhuman organic devices, living or not, and my worthy brother has assembled his hardiest acolytes to combat those aberrant psy-active constructs we were told of.” Ever as silently, Veryan slightly inclined his head in what might have been a nod of assent. Micholi offered the Elder Fleshweaver and Grand Herald a respectful nod of his head in acknowledgement. “It is a pleasure to have both of you here. All things considered, the Abyssal Lurkers will be playing a key role in this campaign going forward.” Clearing his throat, he turned his head to let the other representatives have a chance to speak up. Sitting as far away from the Abyssal Lurkers as the Thunderhawk allowed, the larger of the two Golden Spears spoke next. His terminator provided a stark contrast to the Abyssal Lurker’s own powered armor. Perfectly standard and gleaming, there wasn’t a single aberration on the gold and black. He inclined his head to acknowledge the Primarch, as much of a bow as he could give from a seating position. When he spoke it was with careful articulation, never rushed or in an improper tone for the situation. “I am Captain of the Golden Spears First Company, Chandrian. We possess the most Psykers out of all of the Companies of the Spears, and bring that considerable might to aid in securing the floating islands and destroying the non-compliant xenos within. We have two squads of battle automata to aid in this endeavour, though I would ask that they be used sparingly. From the reports we have received the Laer are going to be quickly targeting them, and the mechanicum is loath to send us more to be ‘violated’ as they put it.” A hint of amusement echoed through his helmet. The smaller of the two Spears spoke next. His armor was not as meticulously perfect as Chandrian’s was, but a standard Astartes set up for an Apothecary. “I am Varot, Captain of the Third Company. My Company possesses the most experienced Apothecaries the Golden Spears have to offer. Primarch Kaldun, upon reading the report entailed your request for aid, decided that the two best ways to help would be Psykers to help seize the cities of the xenos and Apothecaries to minimize the losses as best we can.” Neither of the two acknowledged the presence of the Abyssal Lurkers. It was not lost on the Primarch that the representatives of the Golden Spears were not acknowledging the presence of the Lurkers. Politics at its most basic really… Still, there were ways to work around it. “My brother Kaldun was always rather perspective when it came to the requirements of a campaign. Your efforts will be highly welcomed for the battles ahead. As for your automata, I will try to use them wisely but if some are lost I will take accountability for it when it comes to the Mechanicum.” Having willingly put his neck on the political chopping block as fair as the Cult Mechanicus and his sibling Augor was concerned, Micholi turned towards the last representative to share this ride with him. Though his armor shine almost indistinguishable from the Golden Spears the towering Legate Maurinius was a sight in itself. Reaching nearly to the Primarch’s shoulders he was the second tallest figure aboard. Former Phoenix Guard and now the representative of Hyperion himself his aura is incomparable to the average Astartes..Not to mention that his presence alone already signifies how seriously the Lions Illustris must take the Laeran threat. Even though Vesta is bordering orkish invasion the Lions generously provide Mich with 5 entire Chapters. Forming the Grand Chapter Laeriae this temporary formation is under Maurinius’ command. “Your Majesty, I am Legate Maurinius Acciai of the Lions Illustris. Our lord Hyperion is currently preoccupied at Ullanor so allow me to take his place. My Grand Chapter is composed of my personal retinue and aquatic specialists. Humble it may be but we shall prove our worth!” There was a respectful bow of his head towards Maurinius from the Primarch as he answered “Glad to have any of Hyperion’s sons on this grim task. I know that there is always a demand for any legion, so for him to donate so many of his forces to this one planet will not be forgotten, through I do hope it does not leave the Lions too stretched out.” Before he could continue, a brief call came over Micholi’s private vox channel. Offering a simple “Understood.” in reply, he turned his attention back to the marines in the thunderhawk with him. “The Asteral Hawks spotted the remains of the Laer fleet and are moving to finish it off. Like the Stargrazers, they will be joining us later.” A moment passed… but it seemed to be enough for Micholi to come to a decision. Leaning forward, he started talking with the confidence of someone who knew he was going to be listened to. “Alright. We’ll go over the full tactical detail of the situation and how we plan to destroy the Laer once we get to High Command. However, we can quickly go over the objectives of this campaign.” “First and foremost, this is a xenocide. Our main objective is when we leave this planet, the Laer are nothing more than an interesting footnote in the grand history of the Imperiums Grim Crusade. All other objectives are secondary to this; If you can complete the secondary objectives great, but do not hesitate to disregard them if the situation calls for it. Enough Imperial blood is going to be spilled on this wretched world as is.” Pausing a moment to let that sink in, he pushed on trusting that they understood. “Our secondary objectives are simple. We are here to capture and secure as much of the Laer’s bio-engineering, medical and gravitational tech as possible. If you find any other technology that the Mechanicus can tear apart to see what insights into improving human technology can be gleamed, it’s the call of whomever found it if it is worth trying to claim or not.” “While samples of their technology itself is the primary goal of the second objective, sources of information are also welcomed. Libraires, schools, places where they will store the written data of how all their technology works. If possible, try to take medical and engineering personale captive. I will make it clear, I do not expect this to happen either because you will not be able to tell the difference or the situation will not arise for captives to be taken, but I fully intend for the final screams of the Laer as a race to be in a Mechanicus interrogation cell.” “Any questions?”