Home coming Caliban was a magnificent sight when seen from outer space. A large green and blue planet eight times the size of Old terra it was the only planet capable of supporting life in its system. When Jonson left Caliban on the Great Crusade great defensive works had already been commenced. As the populace of caliban had yet to venture in to space, imperial technology and adeptus astartes innovation intervened to create and establish planetary defenses. Eighteen orbital defense stations surrounded the planet in three separate altitudes, allowing mutual support and cross fire against any intruders. Armed with a vast array of missile launchers, bombardment cannons and laser mega cannons these automated stations were veritable fortresses in their own right. Two orbital docking stations were positioned at opposite poles beneath the second layer of defense stations, named after their two greatest heroes, Jonson and Luther. How appropriate that these two had been placed at opposite poles. The true nature of the heroes would be revealed all too soon. All incoming ships would normally dock here and their content transported planet-side in shuttles. The Caliban being a self sufficient planet most main material that was transported was of war like nature or people from imperial planets. A single spaceport resided close to the largest fortress monastery of the order from where Jonson had set out to cleanse Caliban of its blight. The jungles of Caliban gleamed green with beauty as ever. Gone was the threat of the chaos creatures which had terrorized the populace until their demise. The rivers ran freely and the oceans blue. The teutonic might of Caliban's knightly order provided the new recruiting ground for the future Spacemarines of the Dark Angel legion. But unknown, jealousy, envy and personal ambition clouded the judgment of some. The threat of betrayal ran under a thin skin of normalcy. Without warning the space near Caliban rippled with the tide of the empyrean. Within moments monitors on the orbital stations had isolated the exact position of the riptide and aimed scanning and targeting matrices towards that region. Data from their ancient receivers was instantaneously transmitted to the command cubicle deep within the command fortress of the Order. Messages were relayed. Communiqué's flashed. Klaxons sounded. Something stirred menacingly in the warp. The ripple in space expanded in to large whirlpool and like a monster regurgitating its latest meal three strike cruisers leapt out of the opening in the warp. Gliding majestically behind them, with an aristocratic arrogance acquired from many centuries of conflict, came the behemoth "Angelus Lionus" A single signal was constantly repeated in all frequencies. "Behold! The Lion!" The battleship glided with practiced ease, firing retro thrusters and linking in with the telemetry of the automated docking system of the Orbital Docking Station. It took nearly an hour four the mammoth ship to position itself in the correct approach angle due to unexplained interference in telemetry. The three escort strike cruisers had positioned to the rear of the battleship as an honour guard. The first inclination of something amiss was when an alert operator on the command deck of the "Angelus Lionus" detected energy spikes in a number of the orbital defense stations. Suddenly there was a flurry of reports of sensor sweeps emanating from the defense stations followed by multiple energy spikes. Klaxons blared on the battleship as the Admiral of the Fleet demanded explanation from the ground control. A single statement was beamed from the ground stations to the four ships now plodding slowly towards the docking station "Death to the betrayer!" Frantic alerts sounded over the communications channels within the four ships. Grandmaster Lamoroch looked on impassively. As the commander of the Lion's bodyguard, it was his duty to anticipate treachery. He had prepared for this moment countless times, and until this day, those preparations had not been needed. Even as the Lord Admiral Llacheu ordered the void shields raised Lamoroch knew that his own spacemarines would have activated them instantaneously. The spacemarine and servitor crews responded rapidly and one by one the shields started powering up. The strike cruisers, being somewhat smaller and faster were already maneuvering backwards as the danger became apparent. The eighteen orbital defense stations were layered in at three altitudes, allowing six stations to cover the planet at each level. Such was their disposition that any given point around the planet would be visible from twelve of the eighteen stations. Ripples of long range missiles and torpedoes fired in volleys from the twelve orbital stations with line-of-sight to the "Angelus Lionus" and its escorts. Macro cannon and bombardment projectiles flew thick towards the helplessly slow spacecraft. The crew of the "Angelus Lionus" had reacted with remarkable speed due to lamorochs foresight and three void shields had already encompassed the ship, providing some measure of protection. Weapons batteries on the ships began to track the orbital stations while close in systems targeted oncoming ordnance. Initial impact by the missiles and torpedoes was against the void shields! Systems overloaded within the battleship. One of the void shields flickered and died, but yet another one powered up in time to cover its place. A huge barrage of missiles overloaded the shields of the closest strike cruiser and a massive broadside of macro cannon ripped through the heart of the unfortunate cruiser. As the plasma core over-heated and all steering was lost the crippled vessel spun out of control, a deadly fireball, and smashed in to the rear of the "Angelus Lionus". The exemplary courage and proficiency of the gunners of the Angelus Lionus had already destroyed three of the orbital stations, but the battle was one sided. Unable to maneuver, boxed in on three sides by the enemy and surprise adding to the carnage, the battleship wallowed in space. Its rear had been caved in by the collision of the escort cruiser. Lord admiral Llendau could just see the other two escorts rapidly disappear in a mushroom cloud of exploding munitions. The effect of the constant barrage of eight surviving stations which were firing at point blank range was devastating on the battleship. The decks were awash with blood and oil. Whole sections caved in and entire subsections vented in to the vacuum of space. Casualties were horrendous, yet the crew fought on. Llendau looked around his highly protected command center. Communications were completely jammed. Astropathic transmission were attempted only to have the astropaths die screaming as warp spawned demons assaulted their minds. He looked at around and assessed the situation quickly. He made eye contact with Lamoroch. In an instant they realized the gravity of the situation. Lamoroch's specialized assault parties had been unable to depart the hangar bays as the exit doors had been caved in by the massive close range bombardment. With all options running out fast, and their destruction all but assured, a rapid order was issued to jettison a message buoy. A second command ordered the plasma cores to be vented and demolition charges fired. They had survived the betrayal at terra only to suffer treason at home. He will not allow this treason to escape unpunished. He punched to runes of self destruction even as a hard-tipped penetrator torpedo exploded outside the command room. A finite second later the entire "Angelus Lionus" blossomed in to a gigantic explosion. To the people of Caliban on the planet below, unaware of the treachery afoot, it was as if a new star had been born in the sky. As the vented plasma superheated to critical levels by the self destruct explosion, a massive shockwave rippled through the surrounding space, engulfing the eight orbital defense stations and the docking station in single gargantuan fiery grave. A millisecond before the last defense station disintegrated a thin beam of laser energy stabbed out in to the darkness, vapourising the message buoy ejected so desperately from the "Angelus Lionus". Then there was silence! |
CHAPTER V THE DAMNATION OF CALIBAN Chronicled By ( Shadow Guard ) |
APOCRYPHA CALIBAN |
This entire section is one attempt to describe the long history of the Dark Angels in a linear form. Every known piece of history and event based on GW publications has been written in my own words and linked together in a reasonably plausible manner by additional fiction. This is in no way the official GW version nor is it in anyway an attempt to infringe on their IP. There are many versions of imperial history buried within the sands of time and this is but just one of them. Read on if you dare! |
