Herald of the Stars: Chapter Seventy-Five (Patreon)

Thank you, the3face, Hazza Vanderbyl, Aidan, nightly, Ethan Hand Casel002, brett thomas, and Tyler Gibbs for offering the fruits of your labours to my own.

Daithí continues his report, “There are forty five armoured companies. Thirty contain three tank squadrons of eight tanks each for a total of twenty-four tanks per company. That’s seven hundred and twenty tanks between thirty companies. The other fifteen armoured companies have ten artillery batteries and five mobile anti-air batteries, also with three squadrons at eight vehicles per company.

“All armoured companies have the standard three hundred and thirty six heralds per unit. They swap their special weapon teams for thirty tech-adepts and the two tech-adepts in the command squad that line companies have are replaced with tech-priests. That puts them at slightly over ten squads of heavy infantry per armour company in addition to their vehicles.

“They also have the standard eight IFVs per company as well as two crassus armoured transports. Armoured companies are the only companies that can transport their entire complement of personnel simultaneously without D-POT support, though it does get a little cramped for the battery squadrons as basilisks and hydra are only supposed to fit two crew each, rather than the six that a leman russ does.”

“Any problems with the armour companies?”

“Leman russ and basilisks are horribly slow at thirty-five kilometres per hour on road, and twenty one kilometres per hour off road. Hydras and Crasus match at fifty and thirty kilometres per hour on and off road and are much closer to matching a chimera seventy and fifty-five kilometres per hour on and off road.

“Once again, Commander Muire has put in a research request to find out what we can do to even out the speed of our armoured companies and provide an enclosed chassis for the basilisk crews. She suggests that we borrow from the hydra design for the basilisks and increase the crew and secondary armaments for both hydras and basilisks from two to six. Oh, and give the basilisk crews auto-loaders.”

“That’s reasonable. I’ll add the alterations to the projects list I’m compiling. I doubt she’s the first to mention it, there may already be solutions somewhere in our databases.”

Daithí takes a deep breath, “Finally, we have one strategic command company, one reconnaissance company, one cyber mastiff assault company, three engineering companies and nine construction servitor companies.

“Strategic command company is organised in an identical fashion to the battalion level command companies, with command chimeras, thirty tech-adepts, and two tech-priests. Unlike battalion command companies, our strategic command company also has a flight of D-POTs assigned to them, all of whom are configured for command as well.

“Initially, there were no cyber mastiffs assigned to them as they never march cross country. However, there were complaints and the standard one mastiff per line squad equivalent was applied, giving them twenty dogs.

“They’d rather walk dogs than carry their own stuff, eh? Can’t say I’m surprised.”

Daithí huffs, “That’s not it, Magos. Working with cyber mastiffs is considered a rewarding, or punishment task as it usually isn’t stressful but takes a lot of time. It’s like getting paid time off if you like them and a punishment detail if you don’t, so the officers like using them for unofficial discipline.”

“Good. I approve.”

“I’ll pass that on, Magos. Moving on to our three engineering companies, like the command companies, they also have a flight of D-POTs assigned to them. Additionally, five of every fifteen heralds per squad is a tech-adept and the special weapon teams are replaced with five tech-adepts and a tech priest while the command squad has four tech-adepts and two tech-priests.

“Engineering companies have additional infantry fighting vehicles like the logistics companies, totalling thirty-six. They also have three construction servitors companies assigned to them.

“Once again, dogs had to be assigned after an initial refusal by Purser Brigid Mac'Ille na Brataich, but she didn’t object that fiercely.”

I sigh, “I’m sure she’ll be delighted to inform me how much this conflict is costing us. How are the attached construction servitor companies arranged?”

“Construction servitor companies have construction servitors for their line infantry equivalent, kataphrons for their special weapon squads, and their command squads are four tech-adepts and two tech-priests.”

“Nice and simple. What’s next?”

“The reconnaissance company, our only light infantry. They wear flak instead of MOA carapace void armour, though they still have hyperweave undersuits. They use Kalibrax V-1 pattern lasrifles, from the solar auxilia wargear STCs, rather than the mark one Marwolv pattern lasguns, and lack the continuous fire feature of the Marwolv pattern, but don’t need to be paired to the MOA void armour either.

“The reconnaissance company has one flight of D-POTs assigned to them, outfitted with command equipment and an additional twenty-four infantry fighting vehicles like the logistic companies, though eight of those are command chimeras instead of the normal ones. Unlike almost every other company, they do not have two crassus armoured transports. Their special weapon teams only have direct energy weapons, like lascannons and plasma guns.”

I nod, “They emphasise speed, mobility, and power. It’s a shame I don’t have the appropriate stealth tech for them as well. Alright, tell me about our dogs of war.”

“The experimental, mastiff special assault company was established after Operation Sea Mither. Rather than twenty squads of fifteen heralds, it has fifty special assault squads with four dogs and six heralds per squad, a total of two hundred dogs and three hundred heralds.

“The special weapon squads are replaced with tech-adepts in power armour and the command squad has four tech-adepts and two tech-priests, rather than two tech-adepts and four heralds. They are the only company with no infantry fighting vehicles assigned to them and they are our most expensive company to field and took the longest to train too.”

“Thank you, Daithí. I am going to summarise what you told me. Let me know if I get anything wrong.”

“Yes, Magos.”

“We have a total of three hundred and sixty five companies: two- hundred and twenty-five line companies, forty logistics companies, forty command companies, forty-five armoured squads and batteries, three engineering companies, nine construction servitor companies, one strategic command company, one reconnaissance company, and one experimental cyber mastiff assault company.

“These are organised into thirty seven battalions, three full regiments and one partial regiment. We don’t have enough personnel for a division, or a full corps.”

“Ah, hold up, Magos. I forgot to mention that there is an additional squadron of D-POTs assigned to each regiment, that’s another four squadrons, totalling nineteen D-POT squadrons.”

I nod and recalculate my numbers, “To continue, at full strength, the Stella Corps has a total of one hundred and nineteen thousand, six-hundred and seventy personnel and two thousand, nine hundred seventy servitors. Of those personnel, one hundred and fourteen thousand six hundred and ninety are heralds, four thousand, six hundred and eighty seven are tech-adepts, and two hundred and ninety three are tech-priests.

“There are eight thousand four hundred and ninety cyber mastiffs, two hundred of which are assault dogs. The remainder are logistics dogs, though they are still quite vicious.

“There are seven hundred and twenty tanks, two hundred and forty basilisks, one hundred and twenty hydras, and three thousand, nine hundred and sixty four chimeras and seven hundred crassus armoured transports.”

“That’s correct, Magos. Should I cover our air and water forces?”

“Absolutely.”

For a moment I am reminded of my son, Jamie, and his endless love of discussing army lists at the dinner table. Perfect memory is both a blessing and a curse. A small smile, hidden by my helmet, flashes across my face; I’ve totally blown the points budget.

“In the aeronautica, there are three flights of five D-POTs per squadron, with four class ones and one class two per flight, totaling ninety-six heralds per squadron.

“Each class two D-POT can hold three hundred and thirty-six infantry, their equipment, and sixteen, leman russ sized vehicles split between two, variable height decks, and lift one thousand four hundred and forty tonnes into orbit. Crassus, because of their large chassis, can only fit two per deck, though you can squeeze in extra supplies and mastiffs on either side of them.

“Each class one D-POT holds fifty-six infantry, their equipment, and two leman russ sized vehicles and lift three hundred and sixty tonnes into orbit.”

I smile in wonder, “I still find that lift capacity ridiculous. You can’t max it when carrying personnel, fuel, equipment, or vehicles. You have to half fill the cargo hold with iron ingots.”

“I think that’s intentional, Magos, as D-POTs can lose half their thrust and get people safely to their destination. Heavy cargo is less of a concern as it can be jettisoned in an emergency so we can afford to use the weight.”

“Good point. I know I’ve built a lot of them but what else can you tell me about D-POTs?”

“A single line or command company can be deployed in one, class two D-POT. Usually though, they spread out a bit more, and every scrap of equipment and fuel they can requisition, filling at least two more class one D-POTs.

“Armour and logistics and reconnaissance companies always require the lift capacity of a full flight as they have more vehicles and need to bring a lot more equipment, ordinance, and fuel.

“Finally, one engineering company and three logistic, six line, and four armoured companies are dedicated to caring for the D-POTs assigned to the heralds. The rest of the aeronautica is serviced by the shipyard and Distant Sun.

“That’s it, Magos. I can pilot, or load one, like all the other tech-priests, but I’m a logis, not an artisan, and while following the correct rites I could maintain one, unlike you, I certainly wouldn’t fly any I’d built from scratch!”

I chuckle, “Let’s hope that never happens then Daithí. I’ll check how many crew hours the Aeronautica is consuming. We may need to give them a battalion or two of their own.”

“I only have the high-level details at hand, Magos.”

“That’s fine, Daithí. That’s all I asked for. Finish the Aeronautica summary please.”

“Yes, Magos. The aeronautica on Marwolv has eighteen squadrons based at Dimpsy Fortress and has thirty-six squadrons split between the other two continents. Eighteen squadrons have been grounded by exceptionally poor environmental conditions from the rok strike and a near miss.”

“Expand on that please. What did the Marwolv rok strike cost us?”

“Of the three continents on Marwolv, Brisgean, Dôl, and Llannerch, Dôl was the one that was hit. There is too much dust in the air to get a good picture of what is going on just yet. We have one base, called Drumbledrone, three kilometres off the west coast of Dôl. Drumbledrone, like Dimpsy Fortress, acts as a combined land, sea, and air base, though nowhere near as large.

“The rok struck right in the centre of Dôl, between the Monadh Republic and Pailt Empire, wrecking the Backalong River. Simulations suggest it is going to turn the centre of Dôl into a vast swamp.

“Drumbledrone is currently subject to a lightning storm severe enough to ground all craft and some personnel have been blinded or are suffering from minor skin burns. It does not bode well for the Monahd Republic and the Pailt Empire.

“Additionally, Drumbledrone was subject to an air assault of strike craft and stormboyz. They caused minor casualties and kept us down just long enough that the weather became too bad for us to reconnoitre their base.”

“How frustrating!” I say, “They almost certainly attacked immediately, just for the fun of it, yet it ended up being an almost prescient move in its effectiveness.”

Daithí nods, “There’s a lot of chatter on the vox requesting use of our kinetic strike weapons once we have the shipyard back in a sustainable orbit, with little understanding that they are precision weapons, with little hope of striking through the debris cloud, or causing meaningful damage to a metallic asteroid. It will take between four and six weeks before there is enough visibility for either us, or the orks to really do much, aside from try and build defences.”

I fold my arms, “It will be some time before they find out their boss is dead too. I would be surprised if they have better coms than us. Until they get a message through, they’ll be working diligently.” I grimace, “Bola might be getting a payday sooner than he thought. I bet he’d love to spread a rumour or two.”

Daithí frowns, “Who’s Bola?”

“A gretchin on board the Green Tick who is open to trade.”

“Is that unusual, Magos?”

“That he survived so long and made it here is a miracle. Orks, in general, are loyal only to themselves and will cooperate with their clan and boss so long as it benefits them. This means they will also trade with anyone if you are significantly stronger than them, though they’ll probably try and steal it back immediately. Let’s get back on track. I’ll summarise what you’ve told me about the aeronautica.”