Geratomran Reconquest



The Geratomran Reconquest was but one of a series of brushfire wars the Imperium of Man fought in the wake of the Macharian Crusade. With the great crusade of Lord Commander Solar Macharius drawing in the military resources of virtually all the Segmentum Pacificus and half the Segmentum Tempestus, several worlds turned from the Emperor's light. One was the Industrial World of Geratomro, which entered a state of open rebellion after being unable to meet the required Imperial Tithe fixed by the Adeptus Administratum.

Faced with the resistance of Geratomro's remaining Planetary Defence Forces, and with several other worlds on the brink of open revolt, the Segmentum authorities decided that a show of force was necessary. The options of Exterminatus and orbital bombardment were considered and then dismissed, for Geratomro was a promising Industrial World whose resources might one day again benefit the Imperium.

As isolating the Gerat System through the use of a naval blockade would take too long to bring the rebels to their knees, it was decided that a planetary assault using ground forces was the only realistic option. Several preexisting Battlegroups of the Astra Militarum were redirected to Geratomro and after their initial successes they were forced to face not only Heretic Astartes of the traitorous Emperor's Children Legion, but also elements of an unidentified Traitor Titan Legion.

The Carefully laid plans to bring Geratomro back into the Imperial fold with as little planetary damage as possible had to be dismissed once the Imperial forces needed to ensure that the servants of Chaos could not unleash their most terrible allies into realspace -- the daemonic legions of the Chaos Gods.

Thanks to the actions of a small contingent of Black Templars Space Marines of the Michaelus Crusade and the heroic contribution of Honoured Lieutenant Colaron Artem Lo Bannick of the 7th Paragonian Super Heavy Company, the daemonic incursion was prevented and Geratomro was not transformed into a new Daemon World in service to the Ruinous Powers.

Prelude
When Lord Commander Solar Macharius secured the High Lords of Terra's support to launch the Macharian Crusade in the early 41st Millennium, the Lord Solar turned to the Adeptus Administratum, and more specifically the Departmento Munitorum, to assemble the countless regiments of Astra Militarum that would be needed to reconquer the Halo Zone in the name of the Emperor.

All across the Segmentum Pacificus and the Segmentum Tempestus, Departmento Munitorum Assessor Teams began to exact the Imperial Tithe, claiming men and materiel for the new Imperial Crusade. However, due to the setbacks later encountered by the Lord Solar's armies, the tithes expected from the worlds supplyign the Crusade steadily increased.

The Devil's Choice
In 394.M41, a new Munitorum delegation under the authority of both Senior Assessor Borowik and Tithemaster Querol was dispatched to Geratomro. The world's ruler, Planetary Governatrice Missrine Huratal I, was reluctant to welcome the envoys for it was the ninth time in only seven Terran years that the Departmento Munitorum had demanded that Geratomro provide more troops for the Macharian Crusade.

While Geratomro had readily complied with all the prior requests, this time the planetary government of Geratomro intended to refuse the Imperial envoys: the previous tithes had bled Geratomro dry of manpower. Women and children now worked in the fields and in Geratomro's manufactoria. Most of the world's men had been drafted into the Planetary Defence Forces, a necessary measure since some of the moons of Gerat V had already been attacked by xenos raiders. Any further loss of manpower would render Geratomro unable to meet the requirements of the Exacta, the Imperial Tithe of economic resources gathered by another division of the Adeptus Administratum.

Vainly, Missrine Huratal I pleaded for the Administratum-envoys to simply turn back and leave Geratomro in peace. Her arguments were that if they were to leave, the Macharian Crusade would merely be short 50'000 men while letting Geratomro able to fulfill its engagement towards the Departmento Exacta. Even the Xenos  -- while posing a threat -- could be held at bay with what she currently had at her disposal. In contrary, the human cost of an invasion would doubtlessly be far higher.

This message was continuously relayed to the approaching Tithe Fleet, first through astropathic message and once they had reached Geratomro's orbit, through hololitic communication, but still Senior Assessor Borowik and Tithemaster Querol could not be swayed. A confrontation was inevitable.

Source
[[Category:G]]
 * Shadowsword (Novel) by Guy Haley