Serpent's Harrow

[Chmur]

Dear reader, 

 

this thread will contain the story and lore behind Serpent's Harrow. If you think you find some motifs familiar or too cheesy or Mary Sueish, you're probably right. While my aspiration is to write quality stories, I am certain those stories sound far better in my head, imagining those glorious characters than my skill of putting them to the paper gives them justice.

 

 

~ DRAMATIS PERSONAE ~

 

Adeptus Astartes

Cassander Kyros, Harrowmaster of the Serpent's Harrow, XX Legion

Thias, Leader of Assymetrical cell, Serpent's Harrow, XX Legion

Zyphos Maiev, Master of Ordnance of Omicron-Theta, Serpent’s Harrow, XX Legion; Kyros‘ 2nd in command

Dynat „Steelgasp“, Techmarine, Serpent’s Harrow, XX Legion

Spaze Omegon, Quartermaster and temporary Master of Signal, Serpent’s Harrow, XX Legion

 

Others

Gaellan Copernicus, Helmsmaster of Omicron-Theta, agent of the Serpent’s Harrow

Fowl Cherubiam, High-Serpent of the Thrice-Cursed Serpentae, cultist, agent of the Serpent’s Harrow

 

 

 

[Chmur]

The counter-compliance of Eleasier I begun not more than 6 months ago. Eleasier I, in reality nothing more than a trading outpost the size of a small planet in the middle of the vast nowheres of the Eastern Fringe, was important for one thing and one thing only – it contained the most important astropathic beacon in it’s sector. With the Cicatrix Maledictum splitting the universe, worlds being cut off from Terra, opportunity presented to Cassander Kyros and his Harrow to continue their campaign in meaningful and purposeful way.

 

The campaign begun as many other conducted recently by The Serpent Harrow – by inserting the cultists of the Thrice-cursed Serpentaes onto the surface of Elasier I. Fortune favours the bold, they say, but in the case of Cassander Kyros and his Harrow, their success and survival rate has not been a matter of luck. It has been the matter of planning, Legion upbringing and many other qualities inferred to them from their Primarch’s genseed. Therefore, when contemplating the best insertion plan with his Command cadre, he did not hesitate when the short-range immaterium scanners picked up a warp translation traces of small vessel into the system. As it often is with warp travel, ending up exactly where you intended to can prove... troublesome. The control deck alarms of Cassander Kyros‘ vessel – Omicron Theta – started blaring as soon as the scanners picked up the traces of incoming warp translation. Some would think that having a ship translate close to the position of your hidden and almost powered-down vessel would be a bad omen and reason for panic, but Cassander Kyros and his Command cadre were veterans of the long war, together they have lived through many campaigns, skirmishes and most importantly, they were legionnaries of the XXth.  Before he could even start issuing orders, his Command Cadre disassembled, either readying themselves at their stations on the command deck or moving out of the chamber to prepare the ship and it’s crew for battle.

 

„Cell-leader Thias, all hands to battle stations. Prepare for boarding and repel actions. All strike elements stand-by for fire orders. Helmsmaster Gaellan, power-up our lady and start manouvering us into position for broadside attack. Ordnance master!“,Cassander Kyros did not wait for sound off or acknowledgement of his orders, he knew this is not necessary. As always, he could already see his orders being carried out as he turned to the fire command interfaces where Ordnance Master Zyphos was awaiting his orders. „Prime all batteries and lances. Torpedoes on standby. Establish target vectors based on initial scans of the ship. The goal is to have it crippled and vulnerable, unable to bite back. Not destroyed. I repeat – enemy vessel termination only in extremis.“

 

„Understood, Master!“ came quick reply as he turned to his consoles and team of servitors.

 

All of this did not take more than minute, from the initial alarm sound in to the last word of the issued order. Cassander Kyros could already see the hostile ship outlines forming, the warp glow concentrating around them. It was too early to fully identify what level of threat the hostile ship could pose to their Dauntless Class cruiser Omicron-Theta, but Cassander was not taking any chances. He was hiding in this part of the system for too long to be discovered by random chance, and he would be damned if he allowed such chance to cause the destruction of his vessel.

 

But today was another day of Emperor’s grace it seemed. The ship was definitely some sort of freight cruiser, that much was evident. The bulky cargo holds of the midsection were unmistakable. Not that such ship could not pose danger to Omicron-Theta, but the threat level was minimal, even if it would be refitted for rogue trader use, with hidden gun platforms. A freight cruiser, however, in any shape or form, was exactly what the mission at hand needed. Cassander Kyros made his decision in split second.

 

„Cell-leader Thias, engage boarding procedure, signature vermilion-nada. Your main targets are command deck and port bow engine room of hostile vessel. Boarding pods launch immediate, vector – serpentis. Ordnance master, weapons primed, targets – starboard bow engines and communication array – secondary target to be eliminated only after a distress call is detected. All elements - cripple her, but make sure she remains operational. Helmsmaster Gaellan, take us closer, in compliance with Ordnance master requests. Zyphos, you have the conn!“ Cassander Kyros spit the last words hastily over his shoulder as he was exiting the bridge, making his way to the boarding pods launch bays.

 

The execution of his orders would be a prime example for Imperial navy textbooks, if it weren’t executed by Legion marked as traitors or if there were any survivors to tell the tale. As the heavy freight cruiser established itself after warp translation a hail came from the bridge of the Dvorak class freight cruiser, from it’s captain, someone named Krobot Primus. To give credit where credit is due, captain Krobot quickly understood the situation, dropped the whole idea of hailing what was clearly Adeptus Astartes vessel and realized the gravity of situation. The last sounds that echoed through the bridge of Omicron-Theta were panicked shouts to find firing solutions for Omicron-Theta and to shoot down the approaching crafts. However, before the defence batteries could be primed and brought to bear, the boarding pods reached the freight cruiser surface and their cutters started fulfilling their purpose of cutting entry holes for boarding parties.

 

The mission to subdue the freight cruiser has been completed under sixty minutes. Not the best time, thought later Cassander Kyros, but good enough for the hasty execution and no planning. Standing on the command deck of Omicron-Theta again, with his Cadre surrounding him again to plan their next steps, he was quickly revising the status of their mission.

 

The freight cruiser has been hauling corn to another planet in the system, but as usual for many ships, it had planned a docking run to Elasier I to resupply and rest the crew after the long warp jump and before it’s final leg. As the opportunity to infiltrate Elasier I pretty much presented itself to them now, Cassander did not waste time in explaining the how’s and why’s of their next steps, rather just collecting more information from his team. They were all veterans, all masters in the Alpha Legion warcraft. His first look was to Cell-leader Thias. He made quick hissing noise, using the old legio crypto language, indicating the request for Thias to make his report.

 

„Master, the freight cruiser Sabbaticus Prime has been fully subdued and is in our control. Imperial authorities and some crew have been executed, total life loss count at four-zero, including boarding action repelers. One-zero-six captives is being transfered to Omicron-Theta for brief investigation and assimilation training for inclusion into Thrice-cursed Serpentaes.“ With these words Thias looked at Fowl Cherubiam, the leader of Thrice-cursed Serpentae. Fowl Cherubiam – which Cassander knew was not his real name – was weird figure. He was fat and bold headed, with constant complacent expression on his face and strangely enough, if removed from his cultist robes and with has serpent tatoos masked and some make up applied, could actually resemble a cherub – at least the one that often could’ve been seen on picts from old Terran temples. Holding the rank of High-Serpent, a cult leader of the Thrice-Cursed serpents, he was one of the only two Legio outsiders participating in this meeting. He coughed quickly to clear his throat and continued with his high-pitched voice which was suspected to be the result of his castration in prison colony before enlisting into the services of the Legion.

„The captives are well received in the hands of the Serpentae, m’lord. We’re beginning preliminary scans and test for indoctrination ingrain in their hearts. I shall have the report ready in six hours, m’lord. Three hundred Serpentae has been relocated to the freight cruiser, including the more technical savy of my brethren to assist the venerable cogmaster to make the ship functional and grasp any idea about piloting it safely to target designation Elasier I. We are as well scouring the living quarters of the crew for suitable disguises. These operations should be fully conducted within five hour mark, m’lord, after which we will leave only skeleton crew behind under my command and initiate infiltration protocol Omega.“

 

Cassander Krytos nodded slightly and turned his attention to the vox unit in the middle of the projector-slab on Omicron-Theta bridge.

 

„Brothers, report! Dynat?“

 

Gruff voice crackled back over the vox, the unmistakable metallic modulation conferred to Tech-brother Dynat’s voice by the prosthetics replacing most of his neck after certain less-than-friendly Orc warboss attempted to take his head for a trophy.

 

„As expected, m’lord, your planning and foresight has been like always, spotless“ parodied Dynat the voice of the High-serpent, but decided to continue in his usual, matter-of-factly way. „The crew managed to send a distress call. Hopefully it reached Elasier I without any problems and planetary forces are aware that it came under attack. I was unable to retreieve the full message for it’s complete contents due to the communication array destruction, but with probability factor nine-five we are good to proceed with the plan, as it is unlikely our identity has been revealed fully. The ship will be operational within three hours, Harrowmaster. Dynat, out.“

 

With these words the vox link clicked and Dynat dropped out to move on with his tasks. Cassander towards the vox unit again.

 

„Spaze, report.“

 

Young voice came back over the vox.

 

„Cassander, we will need to set up a shuttle service to get everything out in time. While none of the equipment is directly made for Legio use, I am of firm belief Dynat will be able to repurpose it to fit our specifications. Restocking of supplies for the Serpentae is possible as well,“

 

„Timeframe?“ asked Cassander Kyron

 

„One to one zero hours. Depends on how much do you want to take.“

 

„Maximum limit too long. Corellation optimus?“

 

„Four hours, Cassander.“ Spaze informed his Harrowmaster. „One hour to sort out the necessary stuff for Legio repurpose, another two to three to haul some of the cargo away. We can safely store it in one of our landing bays and we can blow up the cargo bay to simulate battle damage for maximum credibility – Zyphos?“

 

Ordnance master Zyphos looked at Cassander who gave impercetible nod.

 

„Possible.“ Said, Zyphos. „I will confer with Helmsmaster to set course for best fire vector. Minimum structural damage to target expected, controlled destruction.“

 

„Agreed“ said Cassander. „Spaze, signal Zyphos once the transfer is done and you are clear from the blast zone. Maximum limit, four hour mark.“

 

„Comply. Spaze out.“

 

With this the vox link clicked and Cassander looked at Fowl Cherubiam. The High-Serpent has already started tapping his data-pad.

 

„Operation expedtion underway, m’lord. Ready to dispatch in three point five hours. Permission to leave and participate.“

 

Cassander released the High-Serpent with a nod. And turned his attention to the remainder of his Cadre.

 

„Any remarks or suggestions, brothers?“

 

Hissing negatives confirmed what he already knew. Not at this time, there weren’t.

 

„Dismissed. Reconcile in three hours to final briefing. Helmsman, minimum power to the systems, we go cold effective immediately. Power-up only on Zyphos‘ order to execute fire protocol.“

 

With this, members of the command cadre with no immediate business on the bridge of Omicron-Theta left and went about their own duties to prepare for the operation.