A Short Peace I

The winds blew and the day grew colder as the star that was the sun of Falmart slowly went into the horizon with night taking its place. This area was one under Empire control though it was no area to be proud of.

Wounded men as pools of their blood surrounded them as physicians and healers did their best to use both their scientific and magical knowledge to heal them yet the horror and carnage that which they saw in Alnus was, in their words, beyond anything they could have ever imagined.

Weapons that used magic so powerful that the greatest mages paled in comparison; contraptions and chariots made entirely of steel as it roared a terrifying noise that defied any that dared to go against it.

This is an encampment, one of numerous others, where from all soldiers and warriors who 'survived' the battle, or slaughter, of Alnus were treated and rested. Those who resided in the encampment varied from the levies who came from farmers to villagers taken from their home to be enlisted into the army to the 'professional' Imperial soldiers of the Imperial Legion to the highest of the martial hierarchy: the officers and noblemen.

One such noble was not just a noble but a king: King Duran of of the Imperial Protectorate of Elbe, was the one who oversaw the entirety of the Imperial Forces in Alnus; his status led him to be treated in a church. Yet now, now King Duran was lying upon a bed, his left arm and leg amputated with bloodied medical cloths upon them.

His image of a king of martial prowess and tactical ingenuity like no other but now the Great King of Elbe was nothing but a shell of himself, a 'Corpse clinging on to life' like some nobles would say if they ever saw the king's current image.

In the room, there stood Princess Pina, her information gathering on Alnus and the 'newcomers' to Falmart led her to where she was now. The shock that came to her at seeing the man who she came to know as a great man was now nothing.

Her shock overcame her as her voice left her mouth.

"King Duran... "

Her voice, in a shocked tone yet not one of loud frequencies, took the attention of the king. He turned his head as he took a look at the princess with his remaining eye.

"Princess Pina? What brings you here?"

His voice was raspy and slow as the energy in him was focused on his recovery.

"When I was searching for information on Alnus, there were some who said there was a man of high birth in this encampment."

"Information? Do you not know what happened at Alnus?"

At that, Pina's expression changed from shock to worry.

"Have you not heard of anything? About what utter carnage and horror that was brought down on the allied nations' armies?

The Imperial Army was defeated before we even fought, yes? The emperor knew that, yet he called upon the armies of the allied nations anyway. We were always a potential threat to the Empire, so he used Alnus as the perfect way to get rid of us."

Pina then went to the side of the king and kneeled.

"I-I'm aware that the Imperial Army was defeated beforehand, but... " She was cut off.

"Princess, the allied nations fought bravely and utterly till the end. Yet our combined forces were incapable of seeing our true enemies from the rear."

"Your rear?"

"Don't you understand? The Empire! They are our true enemies!"

Complete and utter shock came to the princess.

"Your Highness, at least tell me what you know of the enemy!" Her hands now upon the hand of the king, a plea to him.

Yet such a thing did not phase the king but merely annoyed him, he swatted her hands away, the quick movement pained his still recovering body as he now put his hand on his paining shoulder.

"If you want to know, go to Alnus Hill yourself!"

The Princess, now had a complete look of defeat in her eyes as she got up and left the king to recover.

...

Outside, there stood and waited one of the Knights of the Rose-Order and the page of the Princess, Hamilton Uno Ror. She took care of her steed until she heard the incoming footsteps of the princess.

"Princess... "

At the other side of her steed stood both Grey Co Aldo and Norma Co Igloo; Grey was an Imperial Knight designated to protecting the princess while Norma was a follower and fellow Knight of the Rose-Order.

"Please don't tell me you're gonna force us to charge Alnus Hill." Hamilton made a small jest.

"I am not that stupid but either way, we need to visit Alnus." Hamilton was in some form of shock as her mouth was agape.

"Norma, give the order to the main unit to move out." Pina gave the order.

"It will be done." He said with a small nod.

"Grey."

"Yes?"

"Have you found the soldier from Amarkun?"

"Unfortunately not but I've heard from the healers and priest that a man from the southwest came here and has moved closer to Italica, he's most likely on the road to the city."

"Then we must go now."

...

Novum Domum, the name the Astartes of the fifth Cohor has given upon the city they created for the Falmartians they took in as native Imperial Citizens. Progress into their integration to Imperial Culture was steady as the influx of civilian assets from the Provincia helped as the civilians were great boons to create a bond between the natives and the Imperium.

The greatest of these boons was a civilian who shared a name with the Astartes' father, it was ironic to many in the Cohor that their greatest civilian asset was one who had their father's name.

Artur Orenteai: son of Jibril Orenteai, head of the merchant organization of Oriental Assets. His time in the various home planets of the nineteen Legions gave him an insight into the differing cultures and customs of the Legions as well as their philosophies and beliefs.

A handy thing he learned while living in Chogoris, home of the White Scars Legion and the Primarch Jaghatai Khan, was their dialect. A form of the eastern languages that originated from the ancient human nations of Nihon and Zhong.

Having the language barrier between normal Imperial Citizens and the natives of Falmart be removed made Artur such a great teacher to both children and adult natives.

Many of the native inhabitants of Novum Domum knew of Artur as the 'Man of Many Tongues' as he taught them many languages with those who had the time and focus were there for his lectures on ancient Terran languages such as Jerman (German), Frank (French), Arabi (Arabic) Low Gothic (British English), High Gothic (Latin), and many, many more.

Polyglot. That was the word that Artur used to describe himself but most of the natives had difficulties on what a polyglot was and how to pronounce the word so majority of them stuck with his latter title of the Man of Many Tongues.

Yet not all things were flying smoothly in Fort Amarkun as in the Chambers of Command, the various officers of the different sections of Cohor V were still debating on who and what Honor Guard would be sent to the Japanese as stipulated by the Treaty of Two Humanities.

Majority of the officers had requested three centurions to be sent as the Honor Guard but the immediate importance and value of the centurions were taken into account which was an immediate rejection by Johann. Then the Techtites suggested a squad of the Canes Metallum, metal robots in the form of a hound that had an intelligence far greater than a standard human's with weapons capable of manipulating gravity, electricity, and fire.

For a few days the idea was taken into account but then the possibility of the Japanese reverse engineering their valued canines had come into the minds of the Techtites and immediately threw their suggestion out of the metaphorical window.

Finally, a report came to the Cohor and what it contained had solved the predicament the Cohor found themselves in for a few days. A division of the Excercitus named the 'Tonitrua Vis' or the 'Thundering Force', a division of the Excercitus who specialize in lightning strike like force through the use of specialized bikes and vehicles the likes of which are mistaken for the White Scars' own equipment. Though it is their unusual kindness and care for both civilians and prisoners of war under their command that made them stick out compared to the near two thousand divisions that make up the bulk of the Excercitus.

This was a golden opportunity for both Cohors and Imperium. Immediately, Johann filed a letter which stated that the Tonitrua would be given a special position, though a diplomatic position, an important one nonetheless.

Over the short, yet also long, three days that the Cohors had waited for the Tonitrua to arrive, they came. From the portal did they arrive with their Levitronix vehicles, motorcycles that use powerful magnets to float in air, as well as the Swiftshield APC vehicle, an extremely fast yet powerful APC.

Though the original design of the swiftshields had quiet engines with mufflers close to them to lessen the noise, the Swiftshield-Behemoth variant was made to be focused on both speed and versatility which made the mufflers be discarded for a more powerful, and louder, engine that sounds like a thousand shouting voices.

The levitronixes on the other hand were near silent in their power as the usage of fusion reactors and powerful magnets gives it an advantage over the swiftshield-behemoths, although only capable of carrying no more than two passengers, the levitronixes are powerful gadgets for deep reconnaissance and hit-run operations as enemies have no equipment to know where the incoming Tonitrua are.

The NDSF (Novum Domum Security Force), the police-militia of the city created by both the Cohor and the immigrating Imperial/Serpen civilians, were forced to use their forces to calm the native citizens of the city as their fears of the Swiftshield-Behemoths' engines had made them think a demonic invasion had arrived; thankfully the NDSF were successful in keeping the populace calm and collected.

While the NDSF were keeping the city's peace, the assigned Portes Custos, four Marines tasked with guarding and maintaining the portal, went over the Tonitrua.

"You."

One Portes Custos said to a soldier on a levitronix as he walked over with his three fratres closely behind him.

"Yes, my lord?"

The soldier replied, his eyes were nervous and the marines could feel the anxiety on him.

"Who is your commanding officer?"

The Custos said in a lighter and better way so as to alleviate the soldier's rising inner tension.

"T-That would be Chief-Colonel von Brandt."

His voice now had less tension and fear then before as the soldier straightened his body.

"Hm... if you would soldier, please call Chief-Colonel von Brandt."

"Immediately, lord."

The soldier then drove to the location of his commanding officer. The marines could see him going further near the back of the division to a large extremely armoured vehicle. This is the Scutum Praesidium, the Shield Fortress, a vehicle in the design of a super-heavy tank though with no canon or compartment for one as the Scutum was created as a sort of moving fortress and headquarters/communications array.

A few moments later and the soldier would return but this time with a group of eight heavily armoured and armed soldiers surrounding a woman. These soldiers were the highly skilled and disciplined Praefecti Praesides, the Chief Overseers, who are a group of eight soldiers formed in every division of the Excercitus to protect the Chief-Colonel; their armours resembled that of the infamous Lucifer Blacks of the Imperial Army though the differences were that the Praefecti wore slate grey armour compared to the void black of the Lucifers though another added detail of the Praefecti are their energy packs on their backs to power the energy shields they would use to both protect themselves and the Chief-Colonels under their watch.

As the group neared the Custos, the woman went forward in front of the soldiers and knelt with the soldiers following suit in her actions.

"Lord-Astartes."

"Chief-Colonel von Kirman?"

"Caitlyn von Kirman, Lord."

"Hm... stand, Chief-Colonel Caitlyn."

Brandt did as she was told with her soldiers following suit.

"Have you received the letter from the Dux?"

"Yes, Lord. I am tasked to relocate to the P.O.I. (Point Of Interest): Alnus; it is there that my division shall be an Honor Guard to our new allies in Gaea."

"You know which direction and area you are to arrive at?"

"The Lord-Astartes was generous enough to give us the coordinates as well as direct land directions to the POI."

"And you know of the great importance you and your soldiers will have upon the relationship between the Imperium and our new allies?"

"Yes, my Lord."

A few seconds of silence passed by; the background was laced with the low hissing of the Swiftshield-Behemoths until the deep voice of the Custos came.

"Welcome to Falmart, Chief-Colonel."