Those early days were the peace before the storm. For one-hundred years the Palace’s underground facilities bred two million clones, divided by templates into twenty-five legions, with four legions added eight centuries later. Twenty-five families with eighty-thousand brothers or sisters and twenty-four families worth of cousins. My family was the Sixteenth, the Eternal Crusaders. The name came from our mother and master; Ceres. The first time I saw her in person was when she spoke to the entire legion, declaring that we would carry the empress’s enlightenment across the galaxy. On the 100th year of the 21M we left Terra for our crusade across the stars. We boarded our ships to the sound of cheering crowds. I saw a little boy that sat on the shoulders of his grandfather. I don’t know why I noticed him specifically in the crowd of millions, but he waved and I felt a sudden need to wave back with my power armoured gauntlet. To these mortals, we are angels, the holy crusaders of god.
Our legion’s flagship was the Citadel War Barge christened Sanctuary, and like any of the twenty-five original War Barges, it was a fortress of guns. It was a strange feeling to set foot on-board for the first time. We all knew that soon we’d see our first battle. The first Rexionis would die. I wondered what brother I would lose first.
Twenty-six. That’s the number of worlds we brought into the fold before we saw any action. Many human and alien populated planets seemed happy to join the new greater empire of mankind. That or they knew they couldn’t resist and complied instead of some illogical resistance. Our first real battle was in a system near Terra. It had been deep in negotiations with the empress’s diplomats for four months when it became clear that they were buying time to prepare to strike at Terra. The empress sent Ceres and the Sixteenth to crush them. The planet’s inhabitants called their home Larssterra or Lars’s Terra. Later it became known as Terra Secundus and was the headquarters planet for the Industria Manufactoricus. The Larsians worshipped a god in a dark religion where human sacrifices were of utmost importance. My company dropped in a forest near the largest industrial city, Megremoor. Despite lacking weapons to break our armour the Larsians fought fiercely. We slaughtered them with our boltguns. Tore them apart and painted the forest red with their blood. It was a bloodier affair than any of the simulations they fed us in the growth pods. Mortal soldiers would probably have lost their minds or at least their guts but we are engineered to not feel fear in battle. My first brother to die came from an artillery strike, Janus de Franke. A shell opened his armour up like a tin can and sprayed the ground in his blood.
After a few days, we’d crushed the ruling cult and dragged the leaders in front of Ceres on their hands and knees. They were all executed since it was easier to establish a new peaceful Imperial government with the old gone. Wise as she was, Ceres drew upon elements that had been oppressed by the cult to assist in establishing a compliant state. Larssterra was the twenty-seventh world we brought into the fold. We took our first casualties. Twenty-eight dead.
Centuries passed and all our legions grew and great victories were won across the eastern half of the galaxy. Great losses were also taken. Many died and those early casualties looked tiny in comparison. We fought alongside all the legions at some point. Worst was the Fighting Third. The Minotaur’s Sons of Apis. They were brutal and barely cared for tactics and strategies. They always ran straight in and their casualties reflected that. It was impossible to coordinates with them in joint battles. Let it not be said that they were not effective, however, as their brutal campaigns led many worlds to simply surrender when they heard which legion was on their doorstep.
Battle had become our natural state, peace and recovery had become almost unnatural, albeit necessary. Especially for the Third. After some campaigns, it was necessary since the reinforcements of clones and the trickle of recruited human children for augmentation were unable to keep up. Too many brothers and cousins killed. It was especially true for campaigns like that against the Urruk warlord Draktoof Flesh-Scorcha. The Minotaur’s Sons apparently lost sixty percent of their Rexionis. Many other legions lost tens of thousands and had to wait years to replenish the ranks. No one waited as long as the Minotaur’s Sons though. They had to wait thirty years to get their strength up to an acceptable size. Can’t say they hadn’t cause it themselves, though. When we had to wait and replenish we weren’t sitting and doing nothing. We patrolled the god-empress’s Imperium’s borders and kept hostiles xenos like the brutally cunning and vicious Urruks at bay. The Age of War was never short of war and armies and fleets of mortals served as well as they could. Supporting us and launching their own invasions and campaigns.
In 21M.800 all that waiting and aching for battle ended permanently. Ephraganos finally opened her new cloning facilities and the first year sent 600,000 clones to fill our ranks. It was like the beginning of a new age. The legions would all begin to grow rapidly. It felt like nothing could prevent galactic domination and beyond. What fools we were then. We had yet to see the light. Trapped in the empress’s false vision.
Ceres saw the truth in the 900s at some point and slowly the empress’s falsehoods and true weakness were revealed to the Eternal Crusaders all. Our legion began to understand the truth of our Galactic Imperium. It took decades before we all saw the truth. I was lucky, I was among the first to understand. Ceres asked us to trust in her and we did so already without a doubt. We spent the whole of the 10th century in the Outer Reaches at the far end of the Imperium, in peace and isolation. We readied ourselves for what we knew would one day come, as Ceres slowly brought other legions to the light when the time was right. And on that day blood will flow through the galaxy. 346Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQhLRncV1LI
