57 Rangdan Xenocides Pt.5
Baldur was flying through space, fire massive blasts of ice and energy at enemy ships, focused on crippling them instead of destruction to save some energy.
"Lord Baldur. You are needed at the coordinates E3," Spencer informed Baldur through his headset
"Got it. How is the rest of the battlefield progressing?" Baldur asked as his wings began to glow brighter and he flew toward the coordinates that Spencer had given him, seeing several of his vessels surrounded by nearly 20 Rangda ships.
Baldur created 20 massive lances of energy around him before firing them at the enemy ships. Each lance pierced through their shields and detonated, created massive holes that started sucking the crew on them out into the void of space.
"Thanks to the Psykers, we are holding up. They keep trying to overwhelm us with numbers but the Sorcerers and Witches are making this an even battle by crippling enemy ships or taking out the Rangda and slaves on them."
Spencer was glad that they had the Psykers on their side and that the Rangda had none but it was very worrying. They were attracting more and more of the Rangda to their fleet and taking the pressure off the others but this would seriously damage them for the near future.
It had been nearly over 2 years since Baldur had led the first wave of the invasion. After a week of the first 3 fleets taking the lead and distracting the majority of the Rangda defenses, the other 3 fleets came in at different points and began to wreak havoc behind enemy lines.
The King of the Rangda had focused the entirety of their military on the three fleets, believing that it was the most the Imperium could spare at once and that more reinforcements would not arrive for years, so he was caught completely off guard. The fact that the 3 Generals that Baldur put in charge were so good at shock attacks increased the effectiveness of their surprise attack, allowing them to decimate more than half of the planets in the system before they were finally met with a proper defense.
The battle was divided onto 6 fronts, each one with a different level of resistance.
The 1st Fleet that Baldur commanded was at the heart of all the fighting and usually fought about 5 times the number of any other fleet. Since they had Baldur and the most Psykers which were basically weapons that decimated the rules of numbers, the Rangda had no choice but to send so many Rangda forces in order to try and slay Baldur.
Ferrus's 3rd Fleet and Horus's 2nd Fleet had the next level of resistance. False Baldur was able to tell that these two were the next hardest hitters. The 3rd Fleet destroyed the most Muns out of all the fleets while the 2nd Fleet had destroyed the most planets.
Ferrus was able to complete the task that Baldur had entrusted him with and get the schematic of the battle stations, allowing for all the fleets to destroy these structures with ease but he was the most accomplished at this, taking down all this battle stations before the rest of his fleet even finished off the Rangda fleet they would be engaged in battle with.
Horus was different. He was skilled in shock tactics and was able to successfully navigate through the Rangda defenses and strike at weak points he figured out just by his intuition and experience. It took several attempts for the Rangda to finally pin down his fleet with one of their own.
This created the scenario where the two fleets were attacked with the second largest fleets of the Rangda, after the one that was engaged with the 1st Fleet.
The remaining few fleets had the least resistance as they engaged in battle but they did not have an easy time. They each fought a fleet that was larger than theirs with ships piloted by slaves were used to absorb the firepower of the Imperium Fleets while theirs would unleash hell on both sides, not caring about friendly fire. It was a strategy that no normal enemy would employ but the Rangda could employ without worry due to the numerous slaves they had under them.
With the element of surprise over, it had turned into a true war between the two forces that were constantly wearing down the numbers of the opposing side.
"How long till Imperium reinforcements arrive?" Baldur asked while creating a barrier around himself, protecting him from a barrage of missiles. When another round was fired at him, he caught them with his mind and sent them back at the ships firing upon him
"13 days, 12 hours, 16 minutes, and 4 seconds. They are taking their time," Spencer joked. It was the only way he could cope with the pressure that they were under.
"Tch," all Baldur could do was click his tongue at the situation as he moved from ship to ship, firing upon as many as he could that didn't have any of his men on board
The naval battles had turned from normal naval battles of firing from ships into a mix between boarding battles and long-range fire. The only way that the Imperium could make up for the overwhelming numbers and make their men useful instead of sitting targets was to attack the enemy vessels directly.
Grey Knights and Knights fought side by side on the corridors of the enemy vessels, taking out the Rangda using the full wrath of the Grey Knights armory. The Grand Masters were given the hardest battles, forced to lead their men on the largest enemy ships that held their commanders in order to try and break down their leadership.
Jelan, Grand Master of the 2nd Chapter, was engaged in a duel with one of the Rangdan commanders that had chosen to take on his form. The pair battles with their blades, accidentally killing any who got too close to their battle.
One wielded a silver blade that was made of the best materials known to man. It was glowing with blue energy surrounding it as the Power Weapon pulsed with a desire to slay. The other held a jagged black and green blade that was leaking some type of liquid. As the liquid dripped on the floor, it created small holes, showing just how corrosive the material was.
"False one. Fall and soak in the blood of all your men. For that is the fate that awaits you all," False Jelan taunted, mentioning all the dead Grey Knights and Knights that covered the floors of the ships
"Knights never fall for the living carry them on!" Jelan countered, while slashing hard and braking the guard of the false him. He then stabbed forward and plunged his sword into the creature's chest before adjusting the blade's frequency and causing it to ignite. The creature was burned alive for several seconds before the blade powered off from being used improperly.
Jelan sighed as he saw the creature return back to its original form before jumping over to assist his fellow Knights in killing more of the Rangda on the ship.
Similar scenes played out across all the ships. Even with their enemies copying their looks, none were able to beat the Grand Masters in combat due to all of them receiving personal lessons from their Primarch. They were the greatest fighters of the Legion and would not fall until the rest of their men did.
The battle continued to rage as the Grey Knights finished off their targets and took over the enemy ships, firing upon the Rangda fleet.
