Initialising…..
Year: 3002 AD
Month: April
Day: 4th
Hour: 05:30
Position: Galactic North (Segmentus Arcticus, Sector 1.000.001, Planetary System (PS): Steinlichten, planet Alpheim Secundus – forward mustering planet for northern exploration.
“Good morning, Sir, today’s weather will be as gloomy as your general disposition toward cats” stated the AI embedded in the biochip in Albert’s head.
Albert rubbed his eyes, and chided the AI “Hey Otto, your finesse with words is as meticulous as that of a barbarous gurgle of a Orkus Fungus”.
-“with all due respect Sir, you will be late for your morning Battalion meeting if you do not get up.” Sounded Otto.
As Albert was getting up, he flicked a button by his bed side that turned on the room light. The room was minimalistic. Besides the one-person bed, there was a nightstand with a lamp, a classical hardwood armoire, a window on the far corner of the room as well as a pair of doors that connected to the Study and bathroom. In the Study there was a hardwood desk with a chair, positioned in front of a two-winged window, next to which was a bookcase filled with leatherback books, that seemed older than they had the right to be in this modern age. Opposite of the desk was a coffee table with two two-person couches on either side. Facing the coffee table from the far side of the room was a door leading to the hallway of the officer building. To the right of that door, was the small aforementioned bedroom. Alfred stretched his back and moved with a leisurely pace into the bathroom. After washing his face, he looked up, to see his reflection in the mirror. White-gold hair, blue eyes, and handsome features, like that of a young 19th century noble. Well, besides the scar that ran down the left side of his face. Focusing on it, he reminisced about how he got it… “I don’t have time for this”, he exclaimed. He quickly finished up and got dressed. He put on a woodland digital patterned body-dress-uniform, officer cap, military boots and adjusted his service belt carrying a type of plasma handgun and force sabre. To finish it off he put on a half cape over his right shoulder, bearing the coat of arms of his Noble House and battalion. “Otto, what’s the time”, asked Albert mentally. –“Sir, it is 6:00”, please make your way to the battalion HQ.
Exiting his room, he walked down the corridor, that was designed in a neo-classical way, and brightly lit. He approached the lift strategically placed in the middle of the hallway, where both wings of the building converged, and pressed a button. He entered the lift, and descended to the ground floor, letting Otto brief him on his daily tasks and agenda. –“Sir, after you are finished inspecting the soldiers, you have a meeting with Oberst von Lehmann, and his staff, to discuss the military exercises planned for today. According to the schedule, provided by the Oberst von Lehman’s staff, the exercises should last at least 2-5 days, followed by a debriefing, and paperwork.”. Thank you for emphasising the paperwork, Otto, thought Albert. He swore he could feel the AI smirking. As the lift arrived on the ground floor, Albert walked out, and was greeted by his aide, Walter. Walter was of average height, had short brown hair, and intelligent and piercing green eyes. Walter saluted and wished Albert good morning. –“Good morning Oberstleutnant Rhein-Krupp.” Albert returned the salute and greeted his aide. –“good morning Feldwebel Fuchs.” Do you have anything to report? Has there been any changes to the Battalion? –“No sir”, besides them being eager about the surprise exercises rumoured being thrown our way.” replied Walter. They made their way down to their Battalion “Lilith’s Chosen”. As they exited the Officer building, Albert took the time to take in the rising sun. After a moment of pause, they proceeded to briskly walk towards the Battalion HQ.
As they were walking, Albert said to Walter. –“you know Walter, for someone who was sent here against his will, I am thoroughly enjoying it. It The life here may seem harsh, but it offers adventures that cannot be matched by sitting behind a desk on Jupiter in Sol.” Walter thought for a moment, dryly laughed, and added: “It still escapes me how you managed to gather a battalion's worth of volunteers, to join you on said forced adventure.”
-Albert smiled at Walter and said: “Well there is a lot of people stilly dilly-dallying around without a goal or purpose in life. As an heir to the Rhein-Krupp corporation, I set out to recruit said individuals, and you were one of them. As far as i remember, Lieutenant general Armin Schütze was quite amused when I did not show up alone. We have been put through hell, and as upon the completion of our training, we were granted the right to name our Battalion, a feat, very few achieve. We have to protect this right by striving to overcome all challenges thrown our way."
Walter asked: "I presume the military equipment that you have donated to the army has played a role in smoothing things over with the Lieutenant General Schütze?"
Albert had a bemused smile on his face and replied: "Well it is for the mutual benefit of all parties. You must always keep in mind that it is easier to persuade individuals to work with you, if you show them tangible benefits over empty words."
They continued their friendly banter, as they slowly approached the Battalion HQ. The respective Company majors and some of their staff were already present in front of entrance to the battalion HQ. As Albert and Walter approached, the total of 10 Soldiers saluted Albert and Walter. They returned the salute and greeting. Albert added: “Gentlemen, thank you for meeting us here, let us continue talking inside.” Albert and Walter walked into the building first, followed by the battalion officers. The building itself, if it can be called that, was a type of module that can be transported with an aircraft. Lilith’s Chosen belonged to a combined arms shock-troop corps. Put together there were 1000 men under the command of Albert, besides hover infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs), the battalion included hover main battle tank Panzer 105 (MBTs) elements, recon and versatile battle-suits Jäger and Sturm, with associated recon and heavy drones, command-and-control unit, self propelled artillery units as well as a supporting heavy lifter aircraft, that could move the battalion to a different theatre of war in a matter of minutes. Making this Army extremely agile, flexible, and deadly.
As he entered the command-and-control room, the staff manning it stood up and saluted Albert and Walter. They returned the salute and took place at the top of a table displaying a 3D replica of the Army base of operations, as well as the Battalion and its elements.
The rest of the officers walked in a moment later and positioned themselves around the table. With a little pause to organise his thoughts and wait for everyone to take their place around the table, Albert spoke: “Gentlemen, today marks the first day of our Battalion rumoured surprise exercises. Our troops do possess impeccable intuition to sniff out interesting developments. Is there anything you wish to report, how are your respective units faring?”.
A man with an unusual short and bulky build, brown eyes, short reddish hair, and stern face features replied. This was Major Herbert Dachs, of the 2nd company responsible for the battalion recon battlesuits i.e. Jägers and scouts. - ”Sir, the men are ready, yet there have been some delays in the logistics departments. We are lacking some energy packs for the battle suits, and energy packs for rifles for the infantry. Additionally, there have been wagers placed between our battalion's troops and the troops of the battalions belonging to other divisions. Would you like us to act and restrain the wagers?"
Albert responded: “Major, please make sure we have the necessary supplies for a prolonged battle, you never know what surprises lurk in the fog of war. We cannot crack down on our own troops, wagers will be made regardless of rank. I am quite sure, that these surprise exercises were a manifestation of one such wager far above our pay grades. Anyway, make sure our soldiers do not squander all of their money completely, but do not interfere more than that. As far as strategic postulations go, I think we will be facing the enemy that is dug in. One of the battalions belonging to Generalmajor Tobias von Baarstadt, have left the military base proper a few days ago, and have been sighted digging in. I have something in mind, and if my calculations are to be correct, division command will attach some aerial forces to the fray, insofar the nary agrees, to make it a true combined arms exercise. Whether or not this is the case, I will find out at the Battalion HQ meeting from Brigadier General von Lehmann in". Otto chimed in in Albert’s mind, “In about 40 minutes Sir”. Albert forwarded the note from Otto and gave out orders: "fix the supply issue regarding energy packs and provisions, and visit the Rhein-Krupp warehouse, here's the card Major Dachs, please gather enough Alferrus shells that each Panzer can fire two of them. That will be all."
Albert then prompted the officers to follow him out to the battalion mustering ground. They walked forward to the neatly arranged camp of the Lilith’s chosen. There, NCOs that were not present at the meeting were arranging the troops to stand at parade rest, together with their respective equipment and vehicles. As they approached, the 40 is superior officers took their respective places beside the podium, whereas Albert and Walter walked up the podium. Albert took in the size and beauty of the battalion. To the far left was the 1st company, or rather the command-and-control center of the battalion, with a designated command aircraft codename Eule. This aircraft was sleek, its shape was reminiscent of a stingray, dotted with sensory equipment across its body. The front profile was low, allowing the space for the cockpit, two pilots and a dedicated nose gun, and an all-weather camera and radar. The two fins on the side provided the triangular frame that enclosed one turbine-rotors each. Both could shift their position in all degrees independently of the frame. Providing the aircraft with pitch and yaw abilities, allowing it to hover in place, but also pick up speed. the middle section of the aircraft housed the strategical centre of the battalion commander and the aides that manned the communication and monitoring equipment on the sides of the plane. In the middle of this somewhat cramped space, was a chair dubbed "tube", with a dedicated holo-screen spanning in 180 degrees around the chair. At the back side of the aircraft there were some passenger seats bolted to the side-hull of the plane, after those came the ramp.
Two small scout aircraft codename Raabe were standing by next to the Eule. This aircraft looked like a raven. It had sharp features, and its wings were folded whilst on the ground. This was a technological marvel, as the wings were made of an anti-gravitic material that was held-together by nano robots. It defied the laws of physics. The propulsion system was built into the wings themselves, and would function as those of a raven, with less wing-flapping. The beak was sharp and began with a sensory array of various flavours, infra red, ultra violet, radar, sonar etc, all the bells and whistles a technological marvel could have. The cockpit was a little cramped, and had the space for a pilot and co-pilot.
The line up of the command and control company ended with a heavy transporter aircraft codename Storch. It resembled a crane in flight. Whilst grounded it had its wings folded diagonally and parallel to the main body of the plane. This aircraft had many uses and models, but the one used here was a Module transporter, with its middle section hollow, making it look quite comical. The HQ module in which Albert met his officers previously would be hooked into this middle section of the aircraft and thereupon lifted into the air. Other variants of Storch had a dedicated loading bay with a ramp in which various vehicles and staff could be transported.
The 1st Company was under the direct control of Albert, going further down the line was a scout company, containing versatile medium battlesuits - Sturms and long-range sniper lightweight battlesuits - Jäger. Next to them were two armoured companies of MBTs hover-tanks codename Panzer-105 alongside a few versatile hover Armoured personnel carriers codename Wiesel (APCs) containing the armour support staff and equipment for tank maintenance. The heart of the battalion was next, sporting, 3 companies with their hover infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) codename Leopard. Next to it was an artillery company with 20 self propelled artillery pieces codename Kreuzritter" and their APCs Finally, one large support and transport company could be seen on the far right, containing 30 heavy transporter aircraft codename Storch, and heavy-duty utility hover-vehicles codename Stier. Albert mentally ordered Otto to engage the designated encrypted battalion channel, and spoke: ”Meine Herren, it is 6:30, I take it you are well rested and prepared for the challenges ahead of us. You are to double check your vehicles, equipment, ammunition, rations, and supplies. Be prepared to leave as soon as the meeting with the regimental command is finished. We have beaten every battalion within our Division.” He put on a practiced cheeky smirk and continued: “which probably prompted Generalmajor von Chaushewitz of our Division-command to a hefty wager with Generalmajor General von Baarstadt of the 2nd Division. Gentlemen let us take this challenge in stride and wipe the floor with the units the second division throws at us. I do not issue orders that are ludicrous or impossible, but I expect of every soldier of the Lilith’s chosen to follow orders and perform to the best of their ability. Our Battalion has yet to lose in these exercises, and Hell will freeze over before our Battalion loses to the Ruperts of the other division. Für Gott und Kaiser”. The soldiers and officers of the battalion responded in unison, “Für Gott und Kaiser.”
45th Expeditionary Army Info:
Army armed with the latest and experimental technology the military industry of the IPS could muster. It consists of fully Mechanised combined arms battalions that can easily be moved across the theatre of war by their heavy duty air lifters. Rhein-Krupp is the largest defence and arms producing corporation in the Imperium based on Planet Jupiter.
