Under this Sign (40K-Maladar)

[LadyTevar]

He's back! And soon to be in possession of a juicy piece of archaeotech, perhaps?

I think the Eyes are psychers.

[Darmalus]

Just found this and I think it's awesome! But a question, I understand the awesomeness of watch millions of people in WW1 type armies fighting it out, but isn't this a bit much (population wise) for the tech level? A billion people under arms? Or is the entire planet on non-stop war footing? Maybe I'm just misreading the scale.

[White Haven]

Eh, it's 40k. This universe is like that, more often than not.

[Imperial Overlord]

Just found this and I think it's awesome! But a question, I understand the awesomeness of watch millions of people in WW1 type armies fighting it out, but isn't this a bit much (population wise) for the tech level? A billion people under arms? Or is the entire planet on non-stop war footing? Maybe I'm just misreading the scale.

1) There are high tech remnants, including nuke factories and several hive cities.

2) The Shazu Empire covers most of three continents, including some heavily populated cities and regions with advanced agriculture and fairly advanced medicine. Their military isn't actually a billion men strong, they just like to call it that and it is damn huge.

[Imperial Overlord]

Sentendar Hren bowed to his liege. "My autarch," said the elderly chamberlain, "the petitioners have arrived and await your pleasure."

Damien Varys, Autarch of the Northern Domains, Sovereign Master of the Lands of Urth, Warmaster of the Realms of Men, looked up from polished wood of the massive desk in front of him. Before him were a slim stack of reports, notices sent by his legates and tribunes and attached to them were the reports by his spies about the activities of said legates and tribunes. Next to the reports was the crystal slab of a cogitator screen. Four warriors in gold chased power armour stood as immobile as statues in the corners of the room.

"Send them in," he said at last. Hren bowed and departed. The Lady-Countess was as handsome as always, her fading beauty buttressed with cosmetics, jewels, and fine clothes. Her manner, as always, suggested she could stare down an enemy legion. Her current husband was nearly twenty years her junior and a fine soldier, if the reports were true. The reports also said she loved him.

The other woman was a non-entity until a very short time ago when she had married Maladar. Her finery wasn't half as grand and she lacked the Lady-Countess's unflappable presence, but firm determination showed on her face. "Please be seated," said Varys.

Both women sat on the chairs provided. "This conversation did not occur," said the autarch. Both women nodded in understanding.

"I have seen your petition and the names upon it." Far too many prominent nobles had signed it for him to ignore. I understand your passion, but you are not to do this again. Men and women can count and seeing the Billion Men of the Shazu is enough to make the weak lose their nerve. That leads to betrayal and treason and secrets would should remain secrets are revealed to the enemy."

"Yes autarch," said Zsanett and dropped her head.

"Communication takes time," said Van Der Lakk, unfazed by her autarch's chastisement. "It will do the enemy no good if you send the Eyes of Fire now."

"Do you hear me countess?" said Varys dangerously.

"I hear and obey, as always autarch. We bring this petition out of loyalty. You must give Maladar the means to win. However dangerous he becomes, he will always be less a danger to you than the Shazu. Crush the Shazu, then worry about Maladar."

"As it happens," said Damien slowly, "I agree. I sent them last week. Rails will have taken them to the passes and field cars will have nearly delivered them to the siege."

"Autarch-" began Zsanett.

"Silence," said the autarch. "I understand and appreciate your loyalty to your husbands and your concern for the victory of my armies, but you will not do this again. If you have concerns, you will bring them to me privately. My chamberlains will schedule appointments as necessary. You are dismissed."

Both women rose, bowed, and then backed slowly away out the door. A hidden door by a bookshelf swung open. Out stepped one of the Eyes of Fire and a handsome woman who wore the same unaccented black as the autarch. Crows feet marked her eyes and her long blond hair was dyed to hide the traces of grey and bound up in an elaborate network of braids. "Your thoughts?" asked Damien.

"The Mazenjar woman is a nascent talent," said the psyker. Her voice was harsh. "No attempt was made at influencing your mind."

"They are loyal to their husbands and in her case, her tribe," said Karys. "Not such a strange thing."

"We need the Hellforges if we are to survive," said the autarch. "That and all the north, as well as the industries of at least one of the Belt Cities. Maladar's planes will not last forever. We need atomics and we need the ability to meet the Shazu in the air. I am not such a fool as to kill the only hope of attaining those."

"Not everyone has your vision beloved. More than one fool has killed a general because they feared he would become a threat to him. Perhaps the Overking will oblige us by killing the rest of his talented generals."

"Perhaps, but we cannot count on it."

[Garlak]

Hmm... this has a Isaac Asimov Foundation-series sort of vibe... Probably the use of the word "atomics" heh.

[Skyfox120]

Is there any way to find links to his old Maladar stories? As opposed to just shifting htrough all of Imperial Overlords old posts looking for them?

[Vehrec]

Out stepped one of the Eyes of Fire stepped out beside a handsome woman who wore the same unaccented black as the autarch.

That line is painfully repetative. I gather that we have some dedicated battle-psykers here, raised in secret and with great care as the northern Ace in the hole?

[Imperial Overlord]

Maladar is a reoccuring character in In Memoria and the protagonist of In the Image of His Father.

[Chris OFarrell]

It's awesome to see this alive again, even if this was little more then a bite sized teaser.

I'm still holding out for Maladar finally eliminating the last enemies of the Emperor on this world and cementing Imperial rule, JUST in time for Glix to arrive with a couple companies of Marines and a Strike Cruiser, fly down and comment that 'Oh, so THIS is where you've been kicking back on vacation all this time?"

And have Maladar punch him across the room.

[Imperial Overlord]

The air in the tent was rank with the smell of old sweat and machine oil. The canvas was patched and repatched, but served its purpose and for Maladar that was enough. The thunder of guns was required him to speak loudly in order to be heard. For five full days his artillery had been engaging the defences of the Hellforge.

"Tribune Dressler," he rumbled. "When the attack begins you will advance your tanks and begin directly firing on the enemy guns and positions to cover the advance. Zoltan, your cavalry will lead the charge. Satchel charges and rocket tubes will secure the breaches against enemy heavy infantry until reinforcements arrive." His gaze swept over his infantry tribunes. "Do not tarry."

Fists slammed against breastplates in response. "Questions?" No one spoke. "Remember, we need the tech priests alive. The secrets of the Hellforge must by the autarch's. May the Emperor be with you." He gave the sign of the Aquila, his thumbs locking together as his hands crossed to form wings. Several returned it.

Maladar exited the command tent with his various generals. They split up, each heading toward their commands. He moved passed the masses of aids and bodyguards and staff towards another large tent marked only with the lightning bolts of the autarch. Soldiers in the finest local power armour guarded the tent. One struck a fist to a hanging brass gong. Neither of them looked inclined to let him pass. A voice came from within and they parted.

Two dozen men and women wearing heavy robes of red silk sat on folding stools within. One, who wore a heavy gold medallion, spoke. "Is it time brother?"

"It is," said Maladar. The Eyes of Fire were a dangerous weapon to employ. Casualties among their ranks from using their own powers were common and stable psykers were rare. Collateral damage and friendly fire casualties always occurred when they unleashed their abilities. They were not popular with the men, but they were too powerful not to use when the times demanded it.

"Assemble yourselves," said Maladar. "I shall lead you."

As the rest of the great host prepared for the attack the Eyes of Fire assembled in a line outside of artillery range. In front of the psykers and guarding their flanks were infantry giants in full armour carrying massive blast shields made from armour plate. To their rear were baseline humans in grey painted ceramite body armour and face masks. They held large caliber carbines in their hands. Executioners for those who succumbed to warp madness or attacks from warp entities. Beside them stood Maladar. He checked his armour's chronometer. It was almost time.

"Sound off," he ordered over his vox. The various commands did so, indicating their readiness. "Commence," Maladar ordered the Eyes of Fire. They pulled back their hoods revealing shaved heads. They began to hum softly, attuning themselves to their colleagues. The warp began to stir.

Their eyes glowed softly and their humming grew louder. At once white light poured from their eyes. A great tide stirred in the warp, tide emanating from them. They began to walk and their bodyguards walked with them. The warp seethed around them and the air itself began to glow, wrapping their whole party in a cocoon of protective energies. As one the Eyes of Fire and their protectors advanced. Maladar and their executioners followed with them.

They crested the ridge line of a hill were huge guns lurked in pits to protect them from counter battery fire. The earth was torn and broken from enemy shells, as was one of the great guns. Before them stretched the Kataru Valley and the massive fortress/dam that held the Hellforges and sorcerers who commanded the might of the atom.

Towers and gun emplacements studded the Kataru Dam and a line of war engines covered the top. Three separate fortress-bastions, squat and ugly mounds of concrete ringed with gun ports, protected the approach through the valley, the only passage large enough to allow substantial number of troops. Another two bastions protected the approaches from the side and were in position to rain down fire on attackers coming up through the valley.

The center bastion was a smoldering ruin. The face of the dam was marked and scared with shell impacts. Two towers and a score of guns and war machines had been reduced to ruin by the artillery bombardment. Parts of the earth looked as if a god had beaten it with a gigantic flail. The dead numbered in the thousands.

A soft moaning sounded as the Eyes of Fire began to walk down the hill. The air in the valley seemed to quiver. Hair stood on end. A hot wind blew. Blue-white fire shot thirty meters into the air over the bastion on the right, engulfing it completely. Concrete and stoned blackened and then exploded in a fountain of debris.

A shell struck the cocoon of white light and exploded harmless, fire and shrapnel shooting away from the psykers. The artillery duel continued as the psykers refocused their powers. The bastion on the left began to shake. Cracks, visible at this range to Maladar's autosenses, ripped through the walls. The ground beneath the bastion quivered. The fortress crumbled into ruin.

One of the Eyes of Fire started shaking and fell convulsing. One of the executioners dispassionately shot him in the head as the psykers continued their advance. Violet lightning crawled up into the sky from the war machines positioned on the crown of the dam as they exploded one by one. Maladar activated his vox. "All units advance."

A protruding gun-tower crumbled and fell away from the dam. Ice covered guns and gun ports alike as stone and concrete fell away the the dam. The earth shook again, not with the power of the warp, but with the beat of countless hooves and the advance of a metal leviathans. The cavalry and tanks had begun their advance.

They swept into the valley, going as fast they could. "Form breaches in the dam wall," ordered Maladar. The guns no longer matter." Not with so many of them destroyed or put out of action.

Chunks of the dam wall being to fall away, ripped out by the power of the warp. Cyclopean blocks tumbled over the ground, leaving dark holes in the walls where they had once lain. Another breach was torn open and then another. The tanks rolled into the valley and began to take up firing positions. The thunder of their guns split the air as they opened up on the remaining enemy positions. Heavy cannons and stubber fire raked the fortress.

As the cavalry raced across battered ground and through the shallow waters of the Kataru river they approached the enemy lines. "Continue firing in support of the advance," Maladar ordered his artillery commanders over the vox. He turned to the Eyes of Fire. "You have done enough. Retreat." The giant Inquisitor passed through their ranks as he advanced onto the field of battle.

Huge gaps had been blown in the enemy lines, but rubble, razor wire, and trenches remained. Shazu soldiers, although few in number, fought tenaciously. Shells sent huge geysers of earth into the sky and bullets whizzed through the air, striking the foolish and the unlucky. The northern cavalry shot the defenders with rifles, fired tube rockets at their bunkers, and tossed satchel charges at their strong points as they forced their horses through the rough ground or dismounted when that was impossible. Their leaders had impressed upon them the importance of speed and they had overwhelming numbers and firepower. The Shazu didn't sell their lives cheaply, but they didn't buy much time. The Northerners rolled over them like the tide and left them in their impromptu graves.

Andru, Zoltan's cousin, lead the first party to reach one of the breaches. His own sides guns were still working to suppress the enemy's remaining batteries, but bullets and shells were still flying towards his men. A rocket slug missed from inside the breach missed his head by an inch. "Tube rockets!" he yelled as he dismounted, pulling two ceramic tubes off his saddle as he did so. The next bolt struck his horse and exploded his heart, killing it instantly.

Andru crouched behind his dead horse and extended the tube. "Firing," he roared, to give any that were too close behind him a chance to dive out of the way. Three rockets flashed into the darkness and detonated with a roar. He tossed the empty tube aside and grabbed the other. "Firing!"

Dust and thunder blew out from the hole. He grabbed a satchel charge. "Cover me!" he yelled and advanced. Two of his men followed as others fired a hail of bullets into the breach. A bolt struck him in the head and his skull exploded in a rain of gory brain and bone matter. His headless corpse fell.

"Andru!" Zoltan yelled. Another satchel carrier died, but the third made it. A moment later an explosion cleared the hole. Dismounted cavalry men poured in, armed with guns and grenades to deal with mere mortal men and rockets and satchel charges for heavy infantry and strong points.

Zoltan turned to his vox operator. "Signal Maladar that we are advancing through a breach." Over his vox operator's shoulder he could see a huge mass of heavy infantry advancing towards his position. They were perhaps a kilometer away. "And tell the arty boys to stop. I don't need them killing any more of my men."

[Quetzalcoatl]

Balls to the wall awesome. I still remember how awesome this fic seemed when I first started reading it as a lurker back in '07.

[Imperial Overlord]

Maladar watched as thousands of men struggled to reach the breaches in the Hellforges. Tanks and heavy guns fired on weapon emplacements and thousands upon thousands of men sent bullets into the air to suppress the enemy's fire. Smoke rose from the fortress-forge and the battlefield and the dead were beyond easy counting.

Colonel Massed approached Maladar. "We have five entry breaches in the fortress, my lord. Their fire continues to slacken. Reports indicate that we have partial control of three levels and are making progress in two others. The main gates are ours. By tonight we should have control of the majority of the fortress."

"That is secondary," said Maladar. "Send officers and senior noncoms into the fortress to remind the troops that the hellpriests and their workshops and foundry temples must be captured intact. Intact. At all costs. Kill those who disobey."

"Yes, my lord. My lord?"

"Yes?" replied Maladar.

"I understand the importance of gaining control of the atomics. Everyone does. The hellpriests surrendered to the Shazu and they'll surrender to us, well enough. But we bled heavy to get them and the Autarch, may heaven shine on him eternally, hasn't given you the bulk of his army. The Shazu will strike at us to retrieve them and the Eyes of Fire are leaving us."

"The Shazu might attack us," said Maladar, "but they will have other problems."

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Legate Maximus Trothild Krane surveyed the assembled host of tribunes, generals, marshals, emirs, warlords, voivodes, and other senior officers that served directly under him. They were arrayed in a variety of uniforms ranging from brilliant fabrics festooned with medals and decorations to severe field uniforms to simple robes. The Northern Domain had once been a patchwork of estates before they had all been incorporated by treaty or by conquest under the rule of the autarch and they retained many of their traditions and idiosyncrasies. One of which was the myriad system of ranks and titles that could be found among the autarch's many vassal peoples.

A slim junior officer tapped the map on the board with a pointer. "Maladar," began Krane, "has breached the Hellforges. Their atomics will no longer feed the Shazu arsenal and instead arm the forces of our glorious Autarch, which is to say us." He smiled broadly.

"The Shazu are still in possession of whatever weapons remain in their arsenal, as well as the facilities at Sin-Wei-Zi, near their capital. Now we know they've been using a large number of weapons in their conquests across the sea, which also has seen their decimation of their witches and the deployment of the majority of their air units. They are unsure of the reliability of their northern and overseas conquests. This makes them hesitant to withdraw garrison troops to mass against us and gives us an unparalleled opportunity." He nodded to his aid. The pointer slid over the mass of industrialized territory north of the Isthmus of Swords.

"The Belt Cities, the heart of Shazu's industrial might. Here their flyers and their battle wagons and their armour and their guns are produced in numbers to serve the Billion Men. From here ammunition is sent north and across the seas and to here are sent endless numbers of prisoners of war to work in the factory-plexes."

"The Shazu have other holdings," said a tribal voivode wearing a fringed leather trench coat. "This will hurt them, but not stop them."

"That is true," said Krane, "but it doesn't just hurt them, it helps us. His glory, our beloved Autarch, has withheld the lion's share of his army from Maladar not out of distrust, but so this thrust is struck surely. The Shazu cannot allow the Belt Cities to fall. They will come at us and we will break the teeth of their field army. In the time between that defeat and when they can transport and assemble a new army, we will have acquired the spoils of the Belt Cities and levies from our new territories. And the atomics of the Hellforges." He smiled at his officers. "So we had better win, heh?"

A wordless shout of approval answered him. He had left out a few details of course. The Eyes of Fire would arrive shortly to help break the Shazu's overwhelming numbers. And then there was Maladar, of course. The Shazu had grown to used to their own power and overextended themselves. For the first time in generations they were vulnerable. Trothild Krane intended to use the opportunity to ground them into the dust.

[Hawkwings]

I have to say, I started re-reading your old works, and then seeing this new chapter in Maladar's life being put up is, well, very exciting to say the least, and predictably awesome.

Oh, also, you may want to see about getting In Memoria put into the cleaned up fanfics section. It certainly deserves to be there.

[gunldesnapper]

Anything IO finishes needs to be put in there. Top notch stuff imo!

[Satori]

Anything IO finishes needs to be put in there. Top notch stuff imo!

IO has finished stuff? almost everything i've read by him seems to be on a continuing basis. Well, except the FR stuff, but I haven't read them.

[Hawkwings]

The aformentioned In Memoria is finished, as is one of his Maladar stories. Can't remember if there's anything else.

[Imperial Overlord]

Off the top of my head, not counting the Nalifan stories or In Memoria, some finished ones are:

First, Best Destiny

In the Image of His Father

Sarcophagus

Ravens Among Crows

Necessary Acts

Murder is For Amateurs

Apotheosis

The Long Road to Damascus

Rebirth

Among the Naked Stars

The Land of the Falling Wall

The Iron Kingdoms stories

The Black Company stories

[Hawkwings]

Looks like I need to get reading!

[Imperial Overlord]

The army of the Nothern Domain marched south with a front five hundred kilometers wide. It passed through orchards and fields, confiscating supplies and food stuffs and conscripting able bodied men and women to serve it. It overran plantations and set up new masters. Supply depots and garrisons were taken and cities fell. The army sprouted tentacles that swept up valuable prizes close to its path of advance. It's march forward was as slow as it was inevitable.

Behind it a steady stream of convoys fed supplies to the army and set up new governors in its wake. Shazu banners were burnt and those of the new overlord erected. Endless lines of captives were sent north to labour in the autarch's fields and factories, freeing up manpower for military service. Ancient treasures and fabulous art works were sent north as tribute to the northerners' almighty liege lord.

Legate Krane endured the snail's pace of his advance. It was a truism that the larger the army the slower the march and he had a lot of territory to cover. Gazing south from the deck of his command howdah he could see the haze of smoke that eternally cloaked the Belt Cities. With the Hellforges having fallen to Maladar and the Belt Cities under siege, the Shazu's industrial might would be halved. They had to fall.

He raised the joined brass tubes of his oculars and peered forward. There was dust on the horizon. Not just the smoke and smog, but a great pall of dust lying close to the ground. Only one thing could produce such a haze. Beneath him he saw outriders returning to the army. He downed his occulars and returned to the inside of the howdah. He could guess what news the outriders brought. "Assemble my generals," he commanded one of his aides. The Shazu had assembled an army to meet him.

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The red robed priest wore a leather and rubber hostile environment survival mask that would provide a modicum of protection from the hellish energies he worshiped. Were they some twisted descendant of the Adeptus Mechanicus, mindlessly imitating their forefathers or was this a case of parallel evolution? Gix and Kyra would care about the answer. Maladar simply discarded the question as irrelevant. "We exist to serve the power of the Hellforge," said the priest. "Secular concerns are not ours."

Maladar gazed down at the envoy. In the pipe laden interior of the Hellforge Dam he loomed over the small man, an armoured giant treating with peasants. "You served the Shazu. You will serve me."

"The Shazu wished the bounty of the Hellforge and provided for the forge and its servants and so they were blessed with its power."

"You will serve the autarch. You will continue to receive raw materials, supplies, and the luxuries you crave. You will provide energy for the autarch's works and atomics for his arsenal. Or this place will vanish from the earth." That wasn't quite a bluff. Maladar would destroy them utterly if he could not bring them to heel.

"You would not dare."

"I would not dare leave you alive and disloyal. Your powers are too great. Obedience is rewarded. Obstinacy will be exterminated. Tell your masters to choose. Go."

"They mislike your words," said Zoltan, "but in the end they will kneel."

"They can kneel or stand as they see fit," replied Maladar, "as long as they provide me with nuclear weapons. Why are you here?"

"I came as quickly as I could. The engineering brigades have arrived."

"Good," replied Maladar. "Have them get to work immediately. If the Shazu managed to attack this place after we've left, I want them to break their teeth on it."

"My lord, with respect, their army will have to go through us."

"Their navy gives them too much mobility," said Maladar.

"It's tied up supporting their expedition on the western continent."

"For how long? How many defeats before they start moving forces back here? No, I will not assume that because things are this way now, they will always be that way. The Shazu are far from finished."

[LadyTevar]

A very short chapter, but it does answer a few questions.

[Imperial Overlord]

Samu-Khan's army rolled forward like the tide. At the forefront and guarding the flanks were the fierce horsemen of the Salibaz. Behind them came regiment after regiment of Nazimbur Fusiliers, janissary soldiers from across the ocean that had become Shazu prisoners of war and now fought its battles in a land far from that of their birth. Behind them and beside them marched the genetically engineered super soldiers in their powered armour of ceramic and steel. They were the Stone Men, on whose shoulders the might of the Shazu rested.

Behind them came the battle wagons and the horse and oxen drawn artillery pieces as well as the army of slaves that served as forced labour and the even larger army of camp followers that trailed in their wake. Overhead balloons floated, filled with observers and complicated instruments of glass and brass. Wires allowed them to communicate instantly with their gunners. One such balloon housed Samu-Khan and several of his aides.

Armies of this size were too vast for a single man to command. Not even the great Samu-Khan could manage such a feat. Instead the commanding general gave orders and direction for his subordinates and waited as a battle was fought on a front so vast that even from a balloon it was barely possible to see one end to the other. At some point, when victory or defeat seemed near, the general would commit his reserves at a likely seeming point and hope that he was right. It was as if the power of a god was given to a peasant. The only consolation was that the enemy was equally ignorant.

Orders were given. The Shazu cavalry advanced and spread out, seeking to engage the enemy flanks and the front of the Northerners for weakness. The Salibaz were widely famed as fierce and capable horsemen and there was much justice in this. Only by employing their men as warriors had the Shazu finally been able to pacify their hills and valleys. These men, however, were not the strong young warriors and leather-tough veterans that typically made up the regiments of the Salibaz. Most of them, and all of their best, was fighting and dying across the ocean to secure new lands for the overking. Most of their ranks were filled with untried boys and men nearing the age of retirement.

They hurled themselves against Krane's troops. Some among the Northern cavalry had the new autoguns and most of them were proven warriors. They did not possess the rashness or skittishness of fresh troops nor were they hindered by the excessive caution of those whose fires have dim. They were bold, but not reckless, fierce, and cunning. They met their foes in a hundred engagements, large and small, all the way along the line.

Bullets whizzed by, deflected of armour, and shredded flesh. Blood and brains were spilled upon the hard, dry earth. The bodies of horses and men lay intermingled with the wounded as ghastly carnage was wrecked. Swift hit and run raids and hastily engineered defences and strong points marked the fighting. Gradually it became clear that the Northerners would yield the front and were weak on the left. The left flank was greatly outnumbered, but they had dug in swiftly and brought crew served weapons. The defended their ground fiercely and broke assaults with few loses. The covered the ground with the Shazu dead. The left would hold.

On their right the Northerners were strong and they drove the Shazu before them. Samu-Khan had ordered Nazimbur regiments to guard the flanks and the rear. Their helmets and breastplates gave them some protection from rifle fire and their own long rifles, although slow firing, were long range and hard hitting. The Northerners had autoguns, sniper rifles and crew served heavy stubbers. They settled in hastily dug fox holes and gun pits for a bloody slugging match.

In the front the cavalry gave way to the Northern battle wagons as they drew up in between the blocks of their heavy infantry formations. Heavy stubbers, antipersonal shells, and rocket guns tore down the bold and they wheeled and retreated. The artillery began to fire its first shots as the big guns were grounded and loaded.

The first shots were horribly inaccurate. The Shazu responded in kind, but they had fewer guns. The Northerners corrected their aim swiftly while the Shazu struggled to do so. Soon fragmenting shells filled with high explosive were falling on the Shazu lines as the main force of both bodies clashed.

The Nazimbur died in droves. Their armour could only stop a rocket slug under the most fortuitous of circumstances and most were not that lucky. Bolts that struck unarmoured limbs blew them off completely. The battle wagons heavy stubbers slaughtered them where they stood. Powered armour stopped most rockets or stubber slugs, especially at range. The fusiliers weapons, except in unusual circumstances, could not penetrate the heavy armour plates so only the shots that found lightly protected flesh would bite.

The battle wagons concentrated their fire at each other. Their numbers were roughly equal, but the Northern forces were veterans of a skirmishes and punitive expeditions as well as the campaign of conquest. Three out of four of the Shazu crewmen were green. The difference in quality showed. Horse drawn guns, towed alongside infantry formations as anti armour fire support, contributed their own firepower to the havoc. Despite their gunshields and positioning, they were swiftly targeted and destroyed, but they made their presence felt. The Shazu battle wagons suffered terrible casualties and the Northern survivors pressed forward.

The Shazu had actually brought more heavy infantry to the field than Krane had, but the superior performance of the Northern Domain's artillery and battle wagons was helping to even out that number. Samu-Khan's fusiliers were doing a good job of keeping the Northern Domain's cavalry at bay, but they were withering like leaves in a forge when it came to the heavy fighting.

The heavy infantry relentless closed with each other. The burning hulks of destroyed battle wagons and the mobile, lead spewing fortresses of the active ones dominated the field, providing cover and bulwarks against the enemy. Shells streaked over head and burst when they struck the ground. Shrapnel banged off armour plate or slipped through gaps to strike leather clad flesh. Rockets flared from guns at medium or close range. Often armour turned a slug, sometimes it did not. A few Northerners were armed with rocket tubes and they sent high explosive death, when the rocket worked and flew true, against clusters of their enemies or battle wagons. Magazines were emptied and reloaded as the ranks drew close.

Empty guns were slung and crude chain blades or massive axes and mauls drawn. The size and cost of the projectiles imposed severe limitations on how much ammunition could be carried. Others continued firing until it the quarters were too close to do so. As artillery screamed through the air and wounded men howled, more than a thousand men pushed themselves forward. They didn't carry rocket guns, but instead carried strange tube like weapons connected to tanks on their backs. Krane had been one of those to see in the use in Maladar's innovations.

In a hundred engagements the dragons exhaled. Fire rushed into the gaps between pieces of armour and roasted men alive. Others became almost completely coated and roasted alive. It was horrifiying. Many of Samu-Khan's men were green. They hesitated. Krane's men hit them like a tsunami. Armour augmented strength brought heavy weapons down like avalanches. Chain swords screamed against plate like damned souls as they spat out sparks and fragments before rending flesh and bone. Mauls deformed plate and pulverized flesh. In a score of places Northern wedges pushed in deep and kept pushing. They left a trail of the dead behind them.

The Shazu buckled and fell against the onslaught. The hard Northern veterans had the momentum on their side and they hacked down the panicking young men without mercy. Battle wagons drove forward, guns blaring, cutting down men while their air horns blasted slogans. The Shazu gave ground.

Ten kilometers away Legate Krane could not tell if his forces were winning or losing, only that the battle had reached the stage of close quarters combat. His aide were receiving wireless reports from field rank officers who in turn were receiving news from their men. They would attempt to use this data to construct a report that was more accurate than not. They would generally succeed, but such data was useful, but old by the time that Krane would receive it. It would be older still by the time his orders reached anyone and they were able to act on his instructions. A wise general knew that the reports were useful, but not to obsess over them or the illusion of knowledge and control that they could give.

"Order the Eyes of Fire that they are to make the Shazu fear," said Krane. It was a gamble. If his troops were winning, like he assumed they were, then it would make the Shazu break earlier and save innumerable lives and kill countless Shazu. If the Shazu were winning, it was likely that it would do little but waste his psykers power and precious time.

Krane had no doubt that his men were winning. They were too good and too well equipped and the Shazu had too many of their best troops overseas. What he had learned from the cavalry and artillery engagements only confirmed it, as did the presence of so many janissaries in the Shazu ranks and comparatively few battle wagons. He looked out into the distance and saw endless plumes of black smoke.

They began to run. First the Nazimbur in a stream and then a torrent. Their panic was infectious. Stone Men formations began to erode away as Krane's soldiers relentless killed their way forward. Those that stood were overwhelmed and hack, shot, or burned down. The panic spread to those at the flanks and the rear. The Northern cavalry pressed forward, striking at the flank, as the heavy infantry advanced. Stone Men formations began to flee, rather than advance to meet them. The battle had become a rout. Battle wagons rumbled forward as horsemen chased the broken men, swooping in to seal their fate.

Legate Maximus Trothild Krane had just won the largest battle in the history of the Northern Domain and beaten one of the best Shazu generals of his generation. No one would ever question whether or not he deserved his rank. The Belt Cities lay before him. "My name will live forever," he whispered as he surveyed the carnage, "and the blood of my blood will be archon of the world."

[Imperial Overlord]

Stone Men in gilded armour escorted Samu-Khan through the halls of the Overking's palace. He did not recognize the route. They were not going to the audience hall. Perhaps he was to be taken to the dungeons beneath the palace or perhaps he was going to be strangled in an out of the way room and his body fed into the palace furnaces.

The Men of Stone took him to a pair of double doors carved from a wood that was almost black and covered with images of dragons. There were a pair of palace guards by the doors. They opened to admit them. Inside was the Overking and most of his senior warlords. Or at least those who remained behind on the continent.

Samu-Khan bowed low to his sovereign. "Divine Majesty, this old fool apologizes for his failure. I request permission to pass along what I have learned before committing suicide."

"We are not at court," said Teryaki, "and I cannot afford to lose my father's finest warlord. How did this dog manage to defeat you?"

Samu-Khan raised his head. "He is no fool," he began. "He had the heart of the north's strength with them and very many fine weapons. More battle wagons as well as firethrowers and repeater rifles. His cavalry flanked me, but the westerners held them off. He used the Eyes of Fire to weaken my line and fire throwers and battle wagons to break it. After that I was beaten."

The Overking frowned. "Does not this foreigner Maladar command the strength of the north?"

"No," said Samu-Khan. "These eyes don't see as well as they used to, but my observers are sharp eyed and have fine instruments. This means Maladar's power comes from the strength of his leadership and the new weapons of the north. Both armies will grow stronger with time. The Autarch's brother-in-law is no one's fool."

The other warlords muttered softly among themselves. "What do you advise?" said Teryaku.

"Forget conquests in the west for a time," said Samu-Khan. "Pull the armies back to the Sharada line."

"And abandon all our conquests in Alzora?" shouted a grey-haired warlord who was short and whip lean. "Do you have any idea how much they cost us in blood and treasure? How much more allowing Alzora to rebuild will cost us?"

"The plains cannot be held by the garrisons we will leave behind," said Samu-Khan mildly. "The strength of Alzora is in its machines and in its operators. We have bled them white and broken their army. They will rebuild yes, and retrain, but they will be a ghost of themselves. They won't have the strength to conduct successful offenses against the Sharada. Everything east of the Sharada we can hold and squeeze. And we need to squeeze.

"The cities of the north where not much of a loss, but the loss of Midnorthern Agricultural Plains does hurt. Our enemy will not lack for food and our logistics have become more complicated when our supply systems are already stressed to the limit."

"We lost the Hellforges and the Belt Cities," said another warlord, a huge Man of Stone. He was shaved balled except for a pony tail. His left cheekbone had been crushed and then incompletely repaired.

"Exactly," said Samu-Khan. "How can we fight two wars with our industry under siege."

"The Belt Cities have been stripped of fortifications so they could not entertain thoughts of resisting His Divine Majesty," said the small warlord. Estien Tien-Shen would always be a pain in the arse, Samu-Khan thought to himself.

"That is true, but they are many and subduing them will be difficult because of their size and ability to arm themselves. They cannot be left at the army's back. No, subduing them will take great amounts of time and blood. Time we can use."

"And the devil Maladar?" rumbled the Man of Stone.

"He will be busy and he will make us suffer," said Samu-Khan. "But we are huge and can survive many wounds. They cannot survive defeats. We must ship the heart of our western army back across the sea."

"The Northern Domain has only a few parts of the coast suitable for a large scale invasion and they all are protected by mines and shore batteries," said Tien-Shen. "Then there is their home guard and supplying the army will almost be impossible. There is no easy road to victory there."

"We do not attack north of the mountains," said Samu-Khan. "We attack south of them. Our own, captured coast. We then march on their line of supply while advancing another army up from the Isthmus of Swords. This time we will have the heart of the Billion Men's strength, including our flyers, with us. We grind them up and destroy them."

Teryaku said nothing. Moments became eons as the warlords waited for a sign from their sovereigns. Then Teryaku nodded. "Samu-Khan, you will command the southern army. Ashogi will command the western one. Come back with victory or not at all."

[Imperial Overlord]

Soldiers marched. From the Hellforges Maladar's army turned south and east, striking at the great coastal cities and bringing them to their knees. Brenoma and Charun resisted only to be hammered into flaming ruins by artillery and then to be sacked without pity and mercy for three days. The rest capitulated to the van of his army,

In the West the Belt cities came under siege. Without supplies from the north, from the sea, and the railway lines from the south there were far more mouths to feed than greenhouses could provide. Storehouses began to empty as hastily armed city militias attended improvised defences. The Belt Cities had been left naked and defenceless after their conquest in order to prevent their untrustworthy and intransigent populace from defying their new masters. Now the same measures that left them naked before the might of the Shazu armies made them vulnerable to Trothild Krane.

Soldiers marched.

In the north prisoners of war were sent into the fields and orchards of the great plantations to harvest food while young men were sent into armies and young women into the factories. Freshly trained soldiers travelled by foot and by rail south to reinforce garrisons and add their strength to the great armies. Draftees and volunteers from the newly conquered territories and contingents from vassal-allies added to the autarch's strength. Munitions and supplies flooded south in quantities almost great enough to satisfy the appetite's of the siege guns.

Trothild Krane did not need the Belt Cities intact and he needed every soldier he could muster. He did not storm walls, invade, or fight street to street. Instead he enclosed a recalcitrant metropolis in lines of iron, cutting off all support. On those who did not surrender he rained down barrage after barrage of high explosives, shrapnel shells, incendiaries, and poison gas until the city was shrouded in smoke and poison fog and lit by the very fires of hell. The Belt crumbled.

Across the waters came an endless line of steam ships belching black smoke from multiple stacks. There were more of them than there had been in the past, but this time their bellies were only half full. On the docks of a half dozen ports ships jockeyed for one of too few spots so groaning cranes could unload supplies and legions of soldiers could come on board. Bars and brothels were overflowing with sailors and soldiers trying to get squeeze in moments of pleasure before going back to sea.

Clerks and staff officers struggled with an unmanageable mass of paperwork as they were inundated with endless supply orders and transfers. As was inevitable, things were ending up nowhere close to their supposed destination or missing all together. Important information was buried under trivia or drowned in a sea of misfiled copies. On the ground excess supplies of one good were traded for another, superior rank brought to bear to expedite matters, and outright theft and bribery employed when necessary. Slowly, the movements of great armies began to take shape and the war ground on.

[gunldesnapper]

Glad to see your writing on this one. Keep it up IO!