I gave Isela the facts as tersely as I could. How we had lost the chase, discovered the pattern, guessed the source, dispatched Surs, and gone to find the enemy. I couldn't wait and asked her if the Fear had gone. Her simple "affirmative" was worth the rebuking "continue your report."
When I had told her all, she commanded us to not stray far, to preserve our assets, hold vox silence if possible, and above all not become decisively engaged. There were a hundred more things I wanted to ask. There was pain in her voice. And an hour ago, before the vox failed, she had spoken of taking fire. But she had duties more valuable than my desire to know, and no need to hear my wishes for what to do with our intelligence. She knew, and she would choose, and I must obey.
We consolidated, hid the vehicle under branches and leaves, and set a close perimeter. An hour passed with no contact. I set a two and two rotation so that we could each have a few hours of sleep if we were called to fight all day tomorrow, but Isela called us in before anyone could really rest. Not to a combat action, but to stand guard. The sect had vanished, disengaged, or died. Or simply never been—many units thought they were fighting the sect, when they were fighting each other, or civilians, or empty shapes in dust and smoke.
A later report would claim that three out of four of the combat deaths in Velgrad had been fratricide.
A full accounting of the civilian dead was never made, but it must have numbered thousands. Only a few from bullets, las, or bombs. People had crushed one another in masses trying to flee. Fires had spread and no one fought them. And there are things that people do to themselves and one another when they are under attack, unsure of truth, and filled with sudden certainty by every passing fear and twisted thought.
The moral wound was worse. The Fear, the thoughts it brought, the acts that came with them. The thoughts and fears and doubts it left behind. All men must die. To be made accursed is something else.
We had lost two. Sister Adara Euseb and Lieutenant Tamsyn Stone, one of our pilots. They had been with Isela when her Aquila Shuttle was shot down. I didn't really know Stone, but Adara was one of Gwen's close friends, so she was my friend, too.
We grieved in our way, but we stayed deployed. Every church and chapel in the city had become a shelter and place of comfort and guidance in a world made suddenly terrible. We were not for comfort, but a surety against the temptation of sin and the violence of despair. In the sayings of Saint Lucia it is written: The left hand may be gentle when the right hand holds a gun.
On the morning of the fifth day, we celebrated a funerary mass for our dead and all the slain, praying for mercy on their souls and a place at the Emperor's side in the war beyond the veil of worlds. Two skulls joined countless others in the endless witness of the dead.
❖ ❖ ❖
What follows is an account of the global battle of 198-199.738.M41. Battle is what the anonymous Guard captain who compiled it calls it, though I think perhaps it is the wrong word. It matches my own knowledge of events, and it confirms many things which I had only as second-hand stories at the time.
Note that shipboard standard time is not synchronized with Gaervalt local time because of the longer Gaervalt hour. On day 198, Velgrad was approximately five hours ahead of shipboard standard time.
❖ ❖ ❖
Pre-battle Disposition
(reconstructed from eyewitness reports, low confidence)
170.738—low level influence by non-aetherogenic psychosomatic phenomenon "Fear" begins in: Ardentis, Calvorn, Port Sile, Saint Irielle, Velgrad, Vasker.
173-177.738—influence begins in: Brindale Reach, Eirenth, Karsmire, Lumenhart, Merograd, Novant Keep, Ostvar, Renport, Solace Veld, Tarosk.
170-197.738.M41—insurgent forces designated ST-Heretic (ST-H) maneuver covert tactical units into above cities, and: Halcyra, Haldenmarch. Loyalist forces inactive and unaware.
Enemy forces committed: 300-1000 per city. Total enemy force: 10,000-20,000 irregular light infantry, mechanized via hardened civilian vehicles, technicals, crew-served weapons. 18 to 22 "Fear" psychosomatic projection units (PPU) mounted on crane trucks, tree-cutters, other truck-mobile construction equipment. Xenotech stealth capabilities suspected. May be concurrent with PPU or separate unit.
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Loyalist forces: 2000-30,000 per city: Enforcers, local Army personnel, limited Ecclesiarchy security assets. Total loyalist force: 215,000 initially.
Later joined by: 29,000 Imperial Guard air-mobile, air support, and rapid response armored personnel.
Battle Begins
198.738.M41. Times proceed using Shipboard Standard. Approximated to the nearest half hour.
14:00—ST-H forces initiate simultaneous worldwide attack with PPU effect. Imperial forces surprised and degraded.
14:30—ST-H have:
Halcyra: raided and partially destroyed Army arsenal.
Haldenmarch: stormed regional prison, killed guards, released prisoners.
Merograd: stormed regional prison, killed guards, released prisoners.
Novant Keep: stormed governor's palace. Killed Planetary Governor Naermund and immediate family.
Velgrad: raided and entirely destroyed Army arsenal. Shot down Sororitas Aquila (possible friendly fire).
Vasker: destroyed seven landed aircraft of regional Army air corps.
14:30—widespread reports of unknown vehicles indiscriminately firing on civilians, suspected mixed ST-H and PPU induced friendly fire as the cause.
14:30—Imperial Guard forces have been activated near Brindale Reach, Eirenth, Karsmire, Novant Keep, Renport, Saint Irielle, Solace Veld, Tarosk, Velgrad.
Karsmire: attack on Army arsenal repulsed by Army forces after air-mobile Guard force inserts behind enemy.
Novant Keep: governor's palace retaken by Guard forces.
Velgrad: partially successful air assault on suspected enemy vehicle column. Enemy infantry disperse on foot.
Guard ground forces elsewhere ineffective at assigned missions.
15:00—Guard and Army units ineffective. Command and control severely degraded. Civilians fleeing cities prevent personnel movement and disguise enemy maneuver elements.
Karsmire: Guard and Army positions begin firing on one another. Second attack by ST-H overruns both positions. Arsenal raided and destroyed.
16:00—"Fear" effects end asynchronously over period of ½ hour, starting in Velgrad.
16:30—"Fear" effects ended worldwide. ST-H forces retreating or retreated worldwide.
17:00—Command and control re-established. Widespread incidence of fratricide identified.
17:30—Tomas, Bishop of Velgrad, alerts staff of Col. Krayt, Guard, to source of "Fear". PPUs draw significant electromotive power and project a linear effect, which swings in an arc across a target region. Triangulating perceived effect permits targeting source. ST-H possesses stealth tech of possible xenos origin.
18:00—Friendly fire incidents largely ceased. Forces are deployed to possible PPU sites.
19:00—Loyalist units restored to operational effectiveness. PPU site assault elements report no enemy contact, no PPUs.
23:00—With approval of Alexander, Archbishop of Gaervalt: General Zahn, Army, appoints himself interim planetary governor until due succession can be arranged by Adeptus Terra.
02:00—Order restored.
Losses (approximate):
ST-H: 500-5000 men, 300-400 trucks and technicals, 1 PPU.
Enforcers: 2500 men, 50-100 wheeled vehicles.
Army: 1700 men, 3 urban arsenals with all supplies, 28 artillery pieces, 15 combat aircraft, 2 armored vehicles, 150 wheeled vehicles.
Guard: 1900 men, 2 combat aircraft, 11 transport/command aircraft, 1 truck.
Ecclesiarchy: 100 soldiers, 1 transport/command aircraft, 2 trucks.
Civilian fatalities:
100,000-120,000 end-of-day. 30,000-50,000 additional in following days.
❖ ❖ ❖
It was as bad as a full month during the worst of the Eldar raids the year before. Worse than any single day since the Ork war ended fourteen years ago.
And as I said. The moral wound was worse.
We returned to our normal rotation on 209.738. Once again the task of hunting the sect fell to others. We were a small force in one city on a vast world, with no expertise in investigation. But at least now I could rest knowing that the full fury of the Imperium was turned against the heretic threat. We understood the Fear, now. They couldn't catch us off our guard again. If my role would be small and ordinary, I thought, then I would pour my effort into being small and ordinary as best I possibly could. And send my prayers to the Emperor and the saints for those blessed with duties more significant than mine.