Chapter 7: ~The In Between~
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Leman Russ knew he needed to get to the Sol Sector in order to get any form of victory over the Imperium. But he also knew he had to hamper the Imperium's efforts to stop him before then. Thus began a section of the heresy that was simply known as the In Between. Where various battles were fought, and defenses planned. It was pure and utter chaos. But it had to be done.
The fate of the Imperium, and the Galaxy as a whole, depended on who won this grand civil war.
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The Invasion of Olympia was more of a slaughter than an invasion. Once again, now empowered by the power of Nurgle, the Imperial Fists led by Rogal Dorn attacked the homeworld of the Iron Warriors, while Perturabo was away on Terra helping lead the Imperium. The Imperial Fists were aided by the Word Bearers and Raven Guard, all intent on eliminating the largest threat to their attack on Holy Terra.
What they found was a large Iron Warrior, Iron Hand, and World Eater fleet, rearmed and ready to defend Olympia from the traitors. The two forces engaged each other, and the true slaughter began. One may have thought the might of the traitors, empowered by Chaos, would have made the tides tip in their favor, but in the end, it was not to be.
Nothing is compared to the rage of those that have been betrayed by those they thought to be their allies and family. While the traitors were able to kill many, the Iron Warriors and their allies killed many more. In the end, a very bitter Rogal ordered a retreat, as not a single drop pod or shuttle had made it to the surface.
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The Defense of Posbero was, while bloody, not at all what Leman Russ had wanted. Leman had ordered three of his Great Companies, four of companies of the Ultramarines, and the entirety of the Sons of Horus to Posbero to eliminate Leman Russ's greatest enemy… Magnus the Red.
The traitor force arrived and decimated the cruisers above, dropping loads of their drop pods and transports to the surface of the planet. They rushed forward, destroying all that they could and killed anyone in their way. It was a great tragedy, later gaining the name the Pyscher Butchery.
But all of that was halted when the traitors arrived at the capitol, Magnus's fortress. There, Iron Warrior defenses waited, manned by Death Guard, Night Lord, and Thousand Sons defenders, all ready to push back the traitor attackers.
And push back they did. The traitor forces weren't able to break through the defenses, much less survive the attack from the defenders. Any traitor that somehow got past the defenses were met with three angry primarchs. In the end, the traitors left, with a large portion of the Sons of Horus being purged.
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The Shadow Crusade was an attempt to stop the Ultramarines at their core, with the World Eaters and remaining Emperor's Children entering the 500 World empire, led by Fulgrim and Angron personally. But it was all to Guilliman and Leman's plan. The Ultramarine sorcerers had gathered entire planet populations and sacrificed them to the Chaos Gods to trap the two legions.
Without warning a great warp storm swallowed both the loyalists and traitor forces within Ultramar. The World Eaters and Emperor's Children both hurried to gather together so that they wouldn't be separated and thus easily picked off. During their time there, the loyalists would fight waves of daemons and Ultramarines, all intent on abolishing the two great legions. Angron himself would slay the daemon Samus and a Changer of Ways. Fulgrim would also take down a Changer of Ways, bringing in a new wave of good morale for the troops.
Despite this, it would take a long time for the two legions to escape the Ruinstorm, and they would continuously lose many more men against the traitors. But their saviors would be from a surprising source…
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Fulgrim and Angron sat in their thrones, built by Peturabo as a sign of trust and friendship, on board the Emperor's Children's flag ship, the Incorruptible . In front of them was a large platoon of Ultramarines, all of them scarred, wounded, and bloodied. But despite all the efforts by the Librarians and Apothecaries, no corruption was found within them.
Angron leaned forward, medical servitors analyzing a wound he had gained fighting a wave of daemons on board their ship.
"Why have you come to us, traitors? What do you hope to gain from this interaction?" Angron glared at the weathered warriors in front of him. The leader of the Ultramarines stepped forward, his armor the most damaged out of all his brothers. He looked dead on at Fulgrim and Angron, no fear or nervousness as he spoke.
"I came to you to aid in your escape."
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The unlikely saviors were Ultramarines who had been left behind during all the early events of the Heresy, unaware of what had happened to their legion. When the Ruinstorm began, they had protected the population of the planet they were stationed on, but only one small attack cruiser was ever able to leave with survivors. This ship hailed the loyalist ships, and the two forces met.
The Ultramarines revealed that they had learned of a period of openings that the traitors used to leave the storm, and they knew where one such opening was. Led by their new allies, the loyalists absolutely devastated the traitors there, while losing plenty of their own. Upon escaping, the World Eaters and Emperor's Children, with the loyalist element of Ultramarines, would leave for Terra, just in time for the Siege that was about to come.
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After the Dropsite Massacre, the Salamander Raids began. Assisted by the Night Lords, the Salamanders began to attack the traitor's flank. Every attack, every invasion, every raid, and every restock had Salamanders with their Night Lord allies flying in and damaging essential ships, if not outright eliminating them. Leman Russ never saw the Salamanders as a threat, and even then he did not. He viewed their attacks as futile and useless in the grand scheme of things. Much to the distraught of Logar, who had personally lost more assets than any other traitor legion, even losing his flagship to the Salamanders.
Eventually Logar had had enough and sent a large detachment of Word Bearers and Imperial Fists to fight off the Salamanders. The battle that would proceed would lead all the way back to Nocturne, where the traitors found an enraged Vulkan. Without Logar or Rogal Dorn, the traitors should have pulled back. But their arrogance proved mightier, and the drop pods were launched.
The battle was brutal on both sides, but the traitors were slowly getting an idea of what they would face on Terra, and Logar would later state just how much the future had been tainted by their arrogance.
"The Salamander Raids should have been one of many alarms for us. Our fools of brothers had tactics they had never used before, weapons were built to fight us specifically, and above all else… They were angry. Combined they would forever overshadow the rage of the Sons of Khorne. A pure and holy rage to drive us all to our knees." -Logar within the Eye of Terror, telling his sons of the Salamander Raids.
Vulkan himself led the Salamanders and Night Lords in fighting off the traitors. And did so he did. The traitors weren't prepared for Nocturne's violent habitats and volcanic nature. The Salamanders were. Again and again the traitors would fall into pits of lava, be devoured by native wildlife, and slaughtered by the locals, who had placed their own traps. Soon, despite exacting a deadly toll of lives, the traitors were forced to leave.
And the Salamander Raids continued.
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The Defense of Nostramo was a series of underground battles that sadly no records have been recovered from. Despite this, one record was found later on by a Night Lord librarian. It detailed Raven Guard and Alpha Legion warriors landing near a city close to the Night Lords' main fortress. Night Lords would defend the area with an intensity matched only by World Eaters. No traitor left the planet.
Notes:
Yeah this is relatively short, but this is the section of the Heresy that I have VERY little knowledge of, so I just added little things that I enjoyed. But still was very fun to write and experiment with!