The taking of Lutemis (a letter from a soldier of Ordo Celestia)

[Kaede45]

A foreword from the Grand Archivist:

This is a communique from a certain Private Barnabus to his wife back home. It is however to be committed to the archives as a record of the events of the Lutemis campaign from the Lucis Adventus crusade of Ordo Celestia. Our history is important & its preservation is willed by the Lord himself.

Glory to God in the highest! Amen!

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My dearest Elisa,

 

I am writing to let you know that I have survived the “battle” for the world of Lutemis in the Joran star system! By the grace of our Lord, we have all survived! We won without firing a single shot & took no casualties! Only He could have done such a thing as to grant us this world without the need for violence, though I know that many others will not be so lucky.

 

We arrived here with just over 500 soldiers from our regiment as was decreed by the council. Our leader was Reclusiarch Cornelius, a chaplain of the Golden Order. He attempted to entreat with the planetary governors, as was dictated, yet they refused to comply. Worse for us, they had an army of several thousand guardsmen ready to drive us away. Our small force would not survive, but we had orders to take this world. The Reclusiarch prayed before coming to us with the words of God. He declared that we would meet the enemy on the field of battle, but not to fight. We were to march in formation, not charge or run, but march as though we were in a parade, while singing hymns to our lord! We all thought him mad! Our faith was not strong. We bickered & argued until he agreed to send a communique to Eden to get confirmation from the arch prophet himself! He obliged, but commanded that in return, we must fast & pray for three days while he was entreating with the Lord.

 

After three days we received confirmation that the Reclusiarch’s vision was true, yet for our questioning of the will of the Lord, we had new orders: we would do what the Reclusiarch had told us, but now we were to march forth with NO WEAPONS! Punishment for our disbelief, but we agreed nonetheless. When the time came, we did as we were told. We left our weapons aboard the drop ship & marched in formation, unarmed against an army of thousands! Even worse, they received reinforcements from a chapter of Astartes! We had to push out the thoughts that we would die & bolster our faith! We continued to march, singing our hymns with the Reclusiarch, & you, my dearest Elisa, are well aware that my singing voice is as sweet & soothing as that of a dying pig, yet still I sang, joining my voice with everyone else’s in our cacophonous choir. Others had brought instruments — drums, harps, guitars, trumpets & more — while I for my part held one of many banners.

 

We must’ve looked like fools, marching into battle with no weapons, singing our songs. They must’ve thought us mad. But as we came into range of their many artillery cannons, not a single explosion rang out. As we drew closer to them, no shots came from Bolters or lasrifles! Perhaps our singing drowned it out, but I did not hear any orders being shouted from them, no “fire at will!” no “Stand your ground!” nothing. We continued our march unabated, our songs uninterrupted as we did. As their faces came into view, I saw the distinct look of fear plastered on every face! Every Astartes, every guardsman, every commissar! Their weapons were trained on us, ready to be fired, yet not a single one could pull their triggers or swing their swords!

 

I tell you, Elisa, the Lord himself was with us for I could feel a courage burning inside me that I had never felt before! A courage that drove me to keep marching & sing louder & as we drew closer the enemy began to back away! Not turn & run, but back away, weapons still trained on us, as if they were afraid that we would strike as soon as they turned around or trying to intimidate us! We continued our march until they were backed against the walls of their fortress city, the capitol of Lutemis. When that happened, we were ordered to halt our advance, but continue our song. We must’ve sung for hours, yet it felt all too short when the planetary governors finally entreated with the Reclusiarch.

 

When they did, they claimed that they had entreated with four individuals, yet it was only the Reclusiarch himself who spoke with the governors. A sign that our Lord Himself was truly with us! Lutemis was dedicated to the Golden Kingdom shortly thereafter! Many converted to our Lord & those who didn’t were sent on their way. I pray that they may find the light. The governors have been sent to Eden to receive spiritual guidance & an inquisitor has been sent to take their place until new governors are appointed.

 

I had hoped to see you soon, but alas, I’ve been called to action on another world in the system & it sounds like things may not go as easily as they did here. I’m going to aid my fellow soldiers fight an Ork invasion on Joran Aleph, a death world. Pray for my safety, my love. Kiss our child for me. I know we shall see each other again, either in this life or in the presence of our God in his Golden Kingdom.

 

Glory to God in the highest! Amen!

 

Love, Barnabus Galahad, Private of the 3rd Regiment

 

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A story I’ve been mulling around for a while now. I was going to write it more as an actual story, especially to give more context to what the Imperial soldiers saw that made them so terrified & the planetary governor unwittingly speaking with Jesus on what to do about the “threat” he was facing, but ultimately, I decided to write it as a letter from a soldier on the battlefield. This limited what I could put in, but that might be a good thing as I do tend to get lost in descriptions. I know this story isn’t very “grimdark” & it may make my fan faction come off as OP, but I intend for miracles like this to be limited, but present, as they do still suffer losses & can’t win every battle. Their overwhelming victories during the Lucis Adventus crusade are followed by a little over a year of peace before they suffer great defeats during a period I call “the Great Upheaval” where they lose much of what they conquered & they have to fight overwhelming odds to reclaim it whilst dealing with a war with the Imperium caused by manipulations. Additionally, I plan to eventually write another story (possibly as a series of memoirs) detailing a particular battle from Lucis Adventus where the soldier had to engage in urban warfare & witness some horrible things, but who knows when I’ll sit down & write that. I have a lot of ideas in my head, I just don’t always put them to paper… Anyway, let me know what you think of my story, thank you very much for your time &, of course, God bless!

Edited Wednesday at 10:48 PM by Kaede45

[Brother Hellion]

Its rare for someone to put to pen a story like this as a personal letter. Detailing how a small army marched to reconquerer a world with no weapons but singing (I imagine a chapter of Raven Guard operating behind the semes). Even though it does get a lot of terminology wrong like naming the emperor as lord, one could say this can be explained away by the perspective of the writer. Good work.

[kabaakaba]

Well, I feel this like the Reclusiarch and the fellow guardsmen who march and singing are heretics, cause here is astartes chapter, and at least one regiment with officio Prefectus commissars on defenders side. They don't call The Emperor Emperor but Lord, which can mean anything to be honest. Any of the Four can be called this name or their slave like some chaos lord or sorcerer.

Edited 22 hours ago by kabaakaba