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 turn back and leave Geratomro in peace. She argued that if they were to leave, the Macharian Crusade would merely be short 50,000 troops while Geratomro would still be able to fulfill the requirements of its tithe to the Departmento Exacta. Even the xenos  -- while posing a threat -- could be held at bay with the forces the governor had at her disposal. In short, the human cost of an invasion of Geratomro to enforce compliance would doubtlessly be far higher than the number of troops the Administratum wanted to raise from the world.

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.

The Envoys of Terra
As soon as the Tithe Fleet arrived in low orbit around Geratomro, the Administratum delegation pushed for a meeting with the Planetary Governatrice. A delegation numbering several hundred individuals was assembled and brought planetside to the planetary capital of Magor's Seat. Almost immediately, Senior Assessor Borowik demanded to be received by Missrine Huratal I, a meeting she delayed for several solar hours.

This show of resistance by the Planetary Governatrice only served to further unnerve the senior Administratum envoys. Finally, the Governatrice's personal armsmen, the Yellow Guard, opened the towering doors to the great Hall of Magor, Missrine Huratal's throne room. A wave of incense preceded the Administratum delegation as it proceeded towards the throne accompanied by the augmented, droning chants of several hundred Priests of the Adeptus Ministorum. To the sound of hymns to the Emperor's glory and magnificence, the vast retinue advanced behind its master, Senior Assessor Borowik.

The senior Adept of the Administratum was a tall, slender man, his almost corpse-like thinness revealing that he had been born on a low gravity world. On Geratomro where the gravity was at best average, the Senior Assessor had to rely on a piston-assisted, medical exo-skeleton called an Ambulator Frame to move at all, a stark contrast to the mountains of flesh and fat that constituted the gathered Geratomran nobility. But despite his physical frailty, the Senior Assessor advanced without fear along the great Hall of Magor, betraying a confidence the Planetary Governatrice mistook for the arrogance of a conquering general.

having expected a difficult audience, Borowisk's retinue fielded a great number of armed guards, anonymous men in the black uniforms of the Administratum's own battalions rather than soldiers of any particular regiment of the Astra Militarum. But the majority of the advancing column went unarmed: ecclesiastical Priests, robed Adepts bearing Data-Slates, Lexmechanics detailing the events on great strips of parchment, Servo-Skulls measuring everything from the hall's dimensions to the circumference of the ornate hats the noblemen wore and other Servitors whose back-mounted generators filled the air with a continuous hum once the hymns had stopped.

"Lady Governatrice, your tithe is overdue! You flout the primary and only rule of planetary governership. Release the military assets owed or pay the consequences. This is your only warning," Borowisk said with a powerful voice. It was a requirement of his position, a show of strength and determination that the Departmento Munitorum would not and could not allow one world to go unpunished for withholding the Emperor's Harvest.

Quite incongruously, Missrine Huratal I did not answer the Senior Assessor but began to tell the gathered assembly a fairy tale well-known on her world -- the story of the Devil-in-the-Bush. It was a cautionary story intended to teach Imperial citizens never to accept a gift from the baleful denizens of the Warp. The tale concerned the notion of "a devil's choice," a choice where both options invariably led to the same tragic outcome, be it death, ruin or devastation. It was a deveil's choice that the Administratum was forcing upon Geratomro: refuse the Departmento Munitorum and be punished or refuse the Departmento Exacta and be punished nonetheless. Faced with such an impossible choice, Missrine Huratal I decided on an alternative: refuse both demands and hope that the Imperium of Mankind currently lacked the strength of arms to mete out the promised retribution.

In response, at Borowisk's signal, the Administratum guards leveled their Lasguns at the Planetary Governatrice and opened fire. But Missrine Huratal I barely flinched. Her personal Conversion Field flickered brightly, absorbing the first shots before her Yellow Guard -- who had taken up perfect firing positions during her story-telling -- cut the emissaries down in volleys of disciplined lasfire. A few noblemen and noblewomen died in the cross-fire, but the Administratum delegation was slaughtered to the last Adept. Geratomro was now in rebellion against the Imperium.

Within a single solar hour of the insurrection's start, Geratomro's main Adeptus Arbites precinct had been leveled by concentrated artillery fire while the Tithe Fleet was attacked by Geratomro's Defence Lasers. With their Void Shields lowered, the Departmento Munitorum's fleet suffered heavy losses and chose to retreat rather than face the planet's garrison on its own. Thus began the campaign remembered as the Geratomran Reconquest.

Imperial Response
With the initial Recovery Force having suffered heavily under the traitor's guns, it was clear that Geratomro's resistance needed to be broken unless it sparkled a new wave of revolts all across the Agritha Sub-sector -- and possibly beyond. In truth the Imperium only has four options to deal with rebellious worlds: Exterminatus, orbital bombardment, isolation and counter-invasion.

The first two options were quickly dismissed for the Imperium is loathe to sacrifice an inhabitable planet without a good reason, likewise, since Geratomro's orbital defences were still operational it was reluctant to risk the ships of the Imperial Navy. While isolating Geratomro and leaving it over to neglect would have been a viable option, the time-frame of several decades or even centuries for this kind of venture would take far too long to have any positive influence on the Macharian Crusade's supply lines. In order to reestablish Imperial Law and cull any other world into submission a great show of strength would be necessary, a display of power which would let every seditious-minded Imperial Governor in the Sub-sector reconsider his opinions and submit to the will of the Lords of Terra.

To show the rebellious world the true strength of the Imperium's armed forces, much consideration was given to the composition of the final battlegroup, with great care going into ensuring that every major Adepta of the Imperium would be represented. Fortunately for the senior adepts of the Departmento Munitorum, such forces were already close by. Having fought alongside Battlegroup Kalidar in the Kalidar War, a small Crusade of Black Templars Space Marines was still available and with the typical eagerness of this crusading Chapter was more than willing to lend their strength to the Geratomran Reconquest. Likewise, the Adeptus Mechanicus had previously deployed a single Maniple of Battle Titans from the Legio Crucis to the Sub-sector capital of Agritha to ward it from the baleful intentions of the Eldar. Only a small measure of negotiations would be necessary for it to be seconded to the Geratomran Reconquest.

In the end, no less than three full-fledged Battlegroups of the Astra Militarum were rerouted to Geratomro, a mighty show of force destined to deny the rumors of the Imperium's weakness.

Imperial Order of Battle
The reclamation of Geratomro was only rendered possible through the combined efforts of no less then three previously independent Astra Militarum battlegroups and their respective reinforcements. Below is the Imperial order of battle for the Geratomran Reconquest with its nominal fighting strength at the beginning of the campaign in 398.M41.

Battlegroup Geratomro
Battlegroup Geratomro was formed to accompany Senior Assessor Borowisk to Geratomro. Intended more as a show of force to impress Planetary Governatrice Missrine Huratal I, the initial reclamation force was ill-prepared for the sudden violent actions undertaken by the Renegade Geratomran Planetary Defence Forces and suffered heavily while the Tithe Fleet was still in orbit. The battlegroup's core was comprised of experienced but severely depleted regiments of Cadian Shock Troops.

Designated Commanding Officer : General Jonatan Hern

Astra Militarum Regiments

 * 415th Cadian Infantry Regiment (strength at 18%)
 * 754th Cadian Armoured Regiment (strength at 28%)
 * 89th Cadian Artillery Regiment (strengthat 76%)
 * Fourth Jupian Ironlords (strength at 17%) - The Ironlords are officially designated infantry regiments, however the low technological base of their homeworld means that the Ironlords do not meet the Departmento Munitorum's requirements for frontline service and need to be reequipped with more advanced weapons befitting the battlefields of the 41st Millennium. While petitioned to do so, the Departmento Munitorum had yet to reequip the regiment at the beginning of the Geratomran Reconquest.
 * First Drani New-Pledged (Infantry) (strength at 56%)
 * Second Drani New-Pledged (Rough Riders) (strength at 72%)
 * 36th Ogryn Auxilia (strength at 63%)

Battlegroup Kalidar
Battlegroup Kalidar doubtlessly fielded the most experienced troops of the entire campaign, as some of its regiments were veterans of the Dentares Suppression. By the time of the Geratomran Reconquest, the battlegroup had successfully concluded the Kalidar War and the follow-up actions on the sub-sector capital world of Agritha. Only the second wave of reinforcements raised from Bosovar was still unblooded. While mostly comprised of Paragonian Regiments, command was given to an Atraxian general.

Designated Commanding Officer : Captain-General Iskhandrian, advised by Grand Captain Olgau (Cc/ref Atraxian Command Protocols, Sibellius' Guide to Imperial Guard Regiments of the Segmentum Tempestus)

Astra Militarum Regiments

 * 121st Atraxian Mechanised Infantry (heavy infantry) (strength at 37%)
 * 122nd Atraxian Artillery (strength at 90%)
 * 18th Atraxian Super Heavy Tank Company (generalised) (full strength)
 * Atraxian Guard Paramount (Tempestus Scions)
 * 31st Bosovar Levy (strength at 99%) - The four regiments of Bosovar Levies were raised in 396.M41 on the Feral World of Artemis V.
 * 32nd Bosovar Levy (strength at 99%)
 * 33rd Bosovar Levy (strength at 100%)
 * 34rd Bosovar Levy (strength at 100%)
 * 23rd Paragonian Foot (strength at 50%)
 * 62nd/84th Mechanised Infantry (strength at 83%) - The 62nd/84th Mechanised Infantry Regiment was created by the fusion of the severely depleted 62nd Mechanised Infantry Regiment, a veteran of the Dentares Suppression and the 84th Paragonian Foot Regiment in the wake of the Kalidar War. The Paragonians, with their natural affinity for mechanised warfare, adapted quickly and performed well despite serving under mostly foreign officers.
 * 63rd Paragonian Mechanised (strength at 26%)
 * 42nd Paragonian Armoured (strength at 54%) - The 42nd Paragonian Armoured Regiment was officially disbanded at the end of the Kalidar War and its numbers reassigned for a future founding of a new regiment. The remains of the old 42nd remained with the battlegroup.
 * 322nd Paragonian Armoured Veterans (strength at 29%)
 * Seventh Paragonian Super Heavy Tank Company (multirole) (strength at 100%)
 * 12th Savlar Light Infantry (strength at 72%)
 * 13th Savlar Light Infantry (strength at 57%)

Adeptus Astartes
Having also fought on Kalidar, the battlegroup's association with the Space Marines of the Black Templars Chapter continued throughout the Geratomran Reconquest. Led by the visions of their newly appointed Emperor's Champion, the members of the Black Templars' Michaelus Crusade would distinguish themselves on Geratomro by slaying Lord Damien Bastoon of the Emperor's Children and the Herald of Slaanesh and closing the Warp Rift that threatened to unleash a full-fledged daemonic incursion across the sector.

Designated Commanding Officer: Marshall Michaelus
 * 90 Battle-Brothers and associated support elements

Adeptus Mechanicus
Having fought alongside Battlegroup Kalidar on Agritha, Battlegroup Geratomro would benefit from the presence of the remainder of one maniple of Battle Titans of the Collegia Titanica, their unparalleled capacity for destruction enough to cow the rebellious Geratomrans into submission. While already depleted, the presence of these Titans proved instrumental in vanquishing the enemy's own Titan support.

Designated Commanding Officer: Princeps Yolandesh of the Legio Crucis
 * Ultimate Sanction (Reaver-class Titan)
 * War's Gift (Warhound-class Titan)

Battlegroup Genthus
Battlegroup Genthus was mainly comprised of the Paragonian Regiments of the 2nd Gulem Recovery Force which since its inception in 395.M41 had exclusively fought human insurrectionists and secessionists.

Designated Commanding Officer : General Maden Heldor Lo Basteen

Astra Militarum Regiments

 * 477th Paragonian Foot - The 477th Paragonian Foot was a double-size regiment.
 * Paragonian Black Suns (Tempestus Scions)
 * 109th Paragonian Artillery
 * 84th Pargonian Armoured Regiment
 * 8th Paragonian Super Heavy Tank Company (assault) (at 100% strength)