The Purge
By Mox Jet
It was a rare occasion that I was allowed to see how the LEA deals with an infested planet. Typically, they don’t allow Dominion Representatives anywhere near the planet, due to safety reasons, and I can now fully report why. It was frightening to actually see the organization in action. Every movement was flawless, every enemy slain, and casualties on their side very low.
My presence was allowed only after authorization of High Commander McKlane, himself. Why they are so secretive in their processes of extermination on an infested world is a mystery, and to this point, they may have still been hiding something, but that is not for this Inquisitor to know.
The world of Gratite IV had been inhabited for about two weeks by a Class B Lavoid before the attention of the LEA was drawn and they prepared for cleansing of the planet. Within two days of the order from central command to mobilize, three ships, the Justice, the Granada, and the famous Weatherlight, were in orbit about Gratite IV. Within another six hours, preliminary bombardment had begun.
Their methods for planetary bombardment consist of a few techniques, depending on the situation of the planet. As there was still life remaining on this planet, large scale assaults were not possible, and the fire was mainly used as a softener before the main attack force made planetfall. Fire came from a series of plasma discharge cannons, which struck at the main hibernation points of the settled Lavoid, as well as the smaller hives that were in development. As is usual with a Class B, they are able to project a defense shield against this assault. However, in clearing out zones out of the Lavoid’s range, the LEA assured they would know where the counter attack was coming from.
Sarah McKlane later gave me a preliminary casualty estimation of 120,000 Lavoid Energy based creatures. The main hive was clearly the settlement of the largest population of hive creatures, and that would seem to be the place where the heaviest fighting would ensue. Calling off the planetary bombardment, The Mission Commander (in this situation, High Commander McKlane, but typically the ranking officer out of all ships assembled), signaled for planetfall with CDMC (Chaos Destabilization Mine Cover) charges to prelude the landing. Within half an hour, the preliminary strike force of the Weatherlight and the Justice, numbering roughly 2000 Adepts, was launched, with a 750 Adept reserve force waited aboard the Granada.
They initial attack made planetfall in about twenty minutes. In only a few minutes more, the groups were assembled into their battle companies and the Mission Leader for the invasion made his presence apparent. Jack McKlane himself stepped forward to command the troops, giving them a readout of an expected 300,000 enemy troops in the main Lavoid Hive, which would be their first assault point. Their plan was to claim the hive, eradicate it, and then form a defensive anchor and clear out the rest. Again, Elosia’s Epitorum estimated the time for completion of the mission to be 48 hours and 17 minutes.
On command, I watched as the twenty battle companies (numbering about 100 Adepts each) took to the skies toward the main Lavoid force looming about five miles ahead. At about 100 meters from the central point, the companies split up and started forming a semi circle to attack the hive from.
The Hive itself was built into a large mountain side, riddled with caves which were being used to spawn new creatures. The mountain curved in a semicircular manner, and at the center of the circle was a large crater, marking the original landing point of the Lavoid and its Hive Ship. The presence of the remains of the bio-ship indicated that all that was intended was short term infestation. That, and the doubly spiked domed image of the Lavoid at the center of the crater indicated that there would be no burrowing. This was war.
As the Adeptus proceeded to surround the Lavoid Forces with cover fire coming from weapon emplacements on the dropships, I could hear the piercing cries of the Lavoids as they began their counter charge. Due to the actions of a Lavoid as a sort of ‘Mind’ for the rest of his forces, the time that would be lost in a command chain was practically nil.
The Lavoid force was quite varied. Already, I could see legions of Farilii formed from the people that once lived on the planet. They were once human, but now the only thing that could be done was put them out of their misery. Various other bio-creatures strewed out of the caves, four legged, six legged, two legged, and all vile. Razor sharp claws armed some, ingrained biological weapons armed yet others. Lavoid weaponry is a rather wide gamut of devices, and information regarding this can be found in a previous report.
The LEA assumed a halt as the Lavoids charged outward. I could see a hail of fire catapulting at the hovering LEA forces, but as it came closer, dim flashes of blue seemed to negate the fire as energy fields absorbed the attacks. Then the first LEA attack came. Over their com units, I could hear the words “Trimetra Rana” as a huge pillar of black light exploded upward from a point on the battlefield. The sky above the spell parted as anything within the pillar of light was instantly vaporized by the stream of Chaos energy. When the spell finally cleared, an entire section of the battlefield was gone, a crater roughly 300 feet deep remaining.
Then the Adeptus began their fire under the confusion that the spell had caused. A constant stream of black power streamed from the large rifles that a few Adepts in each company brandished. As they waved the streams from right to left, the charging line of creatures were destroyed before they came within a hundred yards of the hovering assault force. A few of the hovering squads landed, setting up more weapon emplacements that began to rain cover fire. The two companies on the left most fringe of the circle then made a sudden diving movement, each drawing two smaller ballistic weapons known as Reavers (see LEA Weaponry), and accelerating downward toward the Lavoid flank.
Not expecting the flank charge, the Lavoid line collapsed inward as more creatures poured from a seemingly endless source to meet them. All the units eventually landed on the ground, continuing to discharge fire until close combat became the inevitable next step. By the time the Lavoids had finally reached the Adeptus line, it looked as if their force still held strong, though their left flank had already been annihilated and their right most flank was beginning to collapse at the hands of the Adeptus now charging through that line.
As the creatures made it to the lines of Adepts, they cast aside their guns and drew close combat weapons. Swords, three and a half feet long, and cackling with bluish glow of a disrupting energy field, were now in the hands of the main line of Adepts as the prepared to deliver the final blows to the main Lavoid line in hand to hand combat. These weapons, called Astral Weapons, Power Weapons or Force Weapons, are already well known as one of the marks of an Exterminatorum Adeptus. Existing on two planes at once, the mortal plane and the spirit plane, they attack the physical body with their disrupting energy field, and attack the spiritual form, killing most living things with ease. It is an easy way to deal with the otherwise bothersome regenerative abilities of many Lavoid creatures, as if the spirit body is damaged or killed, the physical body cannot regenerate. It is also one of the few acceptable methods for killing Farilii.
I I> X O X <I I
I I I> X X X <I I I
I I X X X I I
V V V
__ __ __
__ __ __
O- Lavoid
X- LE based Unit
I or __ - LEA Unit
V - Charging Unit (direction)
To describe the motions of an Adept in combat is a difficult task. At this point, they typically lose their tightly nit formations and go into a whirlwind frenzy with bodies falling right and left around them. Their movements become more of a blur than anything else, with only the bluish glow of their weapons allowing an observer to see their actions. This brilliant light show would be considered beautiful, if the actual strength displayed weren’t so frightening.
It was as if they didn’t lose a single man. As the lines continued to collide together, the piles of dead forms began to pile up, but if there were any Adeptus among them, their bodies were completely covered by the corpses of their enemies. Or, even suspicions of unnatural activity remains, Adeptus instantly disappearing before hitting the ground. The fact remains, however, that should our own forces meet in combat with these warriors, our own survival rate would seem dismal. Even hopes of outnumbering them seem without founding, as the Lavoids outnumbered them nearly 150 to 1 and were in the process of being utterly decimated.
The mere combat potential of each Adeptus seems incredible. Their speed is inhuman, though we are still unsure of how it is amplified. It has been hypothesized that they have just become so fast from their training, but we suspect that their Tactical Indoctrination has some play in this. Also, vague reports of something they call Force Tech might lead us to the answer to this problem.
Also, another advantage of the LEA seems to lie in an individual spell caster for every unit. I could see their forms continuing to hover above the battlefield as their comrades clashed in hand to hand combat. Their movements brought down spells as powerful as a Burst Flare with ease, concentrating on eating away at the enemies behind the main lines. In this, simple manner, the enemy forces are basically chewed apart from both ends.
After about half an hour of thick fighting, the Lavoid lines began to run thin. From my vantage point, I could even see the Class B himself exit his shell to aid more formally in the combat. Within a minute of the appearance of his blue form from the opened eye pod, he was felled. The scream of the words “Lavoid Slave” could be heard in a reverberant echo, again making High Commander McKlane’s presence on the battlefield well known. The sky again seemed to part at his command as streaks of black energy shot through the air and the ground. The raw, amplified chaos energy spewed off streams of gold as it careened towards the now exposed Lavoid. All the blue beast could do was to look at the incoming blast and make a failed attempt at putting up a magical barrier. The chaos spell tore through the barrier and the Lavoid, leaving nothing of his original form. The only evidence of his existence was the shell that was behind him, a large whole cleaving it down the middle where the Lavoid Slave, the Blade of Chaos, had passed through.
Things seemed to ease up after the fall of the Lavoid. The chain of command began to fall apart and there were mass retreats on most of the front. The Farilii forces continued to battle towards the middle of the main line, but they were being cut down to the man by the unrelenting forces of the Exterminatorum Adeptus. Sheathing close combat weapons, they began to fire on the retreating troops. The Lavoid Exterminatorum Adeptus left no survivors, Lathain later told me.
I could see them charge forward toward the caves behind the main front after they had wiped out the line. Then the systematic process of extermination began. They would blanket fire into a cave, destroy anything that moved, and then move down the next one. A few carcasses of Farilii were crucified and placed on the top of the mountain on their crosses. Everything that was left was burned to the ground by an incinerator squad before they set up a fortification on the top of the mountain to prepare for the rest of the assaults. All evidence of the hive, on the surface or below the surface was destroyed. Anything that was deep down was annihilated by a few Trimetra Ranas, as their ‘digging’ ability was so strong. Again, Sarah gave me some battle statistics. The Lavoids had lost all, or nearly all of their estimated 300,000 troops. The Adeptus had a casualty count of 20.
What I was able to gather from this frightening show was that, again, the Lavoid Exterminatorum Adeptus remain powerful opponents, and advisories against aggravating them remain strong. We don’t even know at this point how many ships they have, or how many Adeptus fill their ranks, as they are spread throughout the Dominion portion of the galaxy. I would suspect that their exterminations extend well into the Planetary Union and possibly even the Mystician Empire. I worry with utmost fear that if they were ever gathered all in one place, they would probably be the strongest fighting force in the universe, save maybe the swarms of a Lavoid Queen.
In our current military state, our only real chance of combating them, should it come to that, would be to use technology to our advantage. If it be heresy to say, I must still affirm that we stand no chance against these warriors in close combat. They are simply to fast and to skilled to hope to combat. From long range, however, they may still be combatable. We could hope to attack their ships from orbit, because as powerful as their shields are, the energy that powers them would not be able to hold out forever, I believe. Our scientists are working on technology able to withstand assaults from their own ballistics. A full report on all examples of LEA weaponry, ballistic and close combat, can be found in my corresponding report.
On a closing note, I worry slightly that the main reason I was allowed to see this battle was to inspire fear. Jack is a warrior, but he is very clearly a politician, too. I wager that if they had brought a more complete force, they could have cleared the area out faster and with potentially (as amazing as it would seem) fewer casualties. He may be sending us the message of “stay out of our way.” It is this Inquisitor’s opinion that we listen to his message. Any force capable of decimating a Lavoid hive with merely 2000 men is one to be afraid of. I sense he wanted to show us this. It is almost as if he wishes to keep us in check. Absorb this information as you may, but be wary that entering a battle with the Lavoid Exterminatorum Adeptus merely because they do not acknowledge our rule would be a tragic mistake. They are, as horrible as it is to say, strong enough to afford to go without such acknowledgement. The Emperor of the Sol Dominion should fear no man or force, but in my most humble opinion, it would be wise for Him to respect them.