Editing Lyster Larrey (section)

===The New Breed===
His star ascendant, Larrey planned another raid on Luna to test his new weapon and recover yet more material for study. Troops has already been mobilized and the assault was mere weeks away when the news came that Luna had fallen to the Emperor’s armies, armies spearheaded by a new type of gene-modified warrior, the Astartes. The news of the existence of Astartes did no shock Larrey, on the contrary knowing that Thunder Warriors were highly unstable their replacement by a superior model was only a matter of time. But he had hoped that Mars could respond to terra before the new breed of super-soldiers could be rolled out. Larrey did not know how these Astartes differed from the Thunder Warriors, and feared his weapon would not be rendered useless.

His fears were proven when Martian forces returned to Terra under Fabricator General Valran Burija. Larrey was not present for the battle, remaining with the Martian Warfleet in orbit. But his Nerve-Gas proved utterly useless against the Astartes and he could only look on in horror as rank after rank of Skitarii and Tech-Thralls were overrun and the ancient and honoured Imperator Titan ''Martialis Hyaenidae'' was scuttled to avoid capture.

Larrey was fortunate in one aspect. A number of dead Astartes had been captured by the retreating Martian forces and were turned over to Larrey for study. Larrey vowed that he would uncover the secrets to their creation and find a way to defeat them, a common call in the wake of such a humiliating defeat.

Larrey’s initial findings were not good. These new warriors were light years ahead of the old Thunder Warriors. Their implants were almost seamlessly integrated into their biology. They were not as strong as the Thunder Warriors, but they were faster, smarter and more deadly by far. Larrey promised results to the Martian Parliament, but he could not guarantee an effective counter before the Emperor’s armies arrived over the red planet. Worse, he soon exhausted his samples and had no way to get more. He could do little to help should the Emperor invade Mars. Fortunately this never came to pass, and Larrey found himself working with Astartes in a far different way.