Curis-4 Compliance
 This article is about a battle in the /tg/ Heresy project, a fan re-working of the Warhammer 40k universe. |
| Curis-4 Compliance | |
| |
| Date | 868.M30 |
| Scale | planetary |
| Theatre | Curis-4 |
| Status | Decisive Imperial Victory |
| Belligerents | |
| 25th Expedition Fleet Compliance Groups V-22 & V-63 |
the Fanz, Huks, and Wari nations |
| Commanders and Leaders | |
| Gaspard Lumey | |
| Strength | |
| 2 Corps Fifth Legion Astartes 2 Army Groups Imperial Army irregular forces |
estimated between twelve and fifteen Army Groups |
| Losses | |
| many Astartes injured but only 38 deaths Imperial Army suffered much heavier losses |
catastrophic |
| Outcome | |
| Curis-4 brought into compliance with the Imperial Truth. | |
The Curis-4 Compliance was a military campaign of the Emperor's Great Crusade. The 25th Expedition Fleet, under the command of the Primarch Gaspard Lumey, subdued an advanced, warlike culture through a combination of superior military tactics and political terror.
Situation Report
My dealings with the Orvar were highly profitable, but I believe that they were only the beginning of something much greater.
- Visant Le Gall, report to Fifth Legion
Late in 867.M30, the Rogue Trader Visant Le Gall contacted his handlers in the Victualary of the Fifth Legion. Le Gall was scheduled for a routine report, but Sergeant Mai Dac Kien noted that the Trader seemed particularly smug. The data retrieved showed that Le Gall was not merely happy to have made a fat profit - though clearly he had enriched himself in his journeys. Mai's keen eyes were quickly drawn to information regarding Curis-4, a technologically advanced but socially peculiar world in the newly-mapped Propice Sector. By careful analysis of Le Gall's reports, together with supporting information from other Rogue Traders, Mai was able to draw up a substantial picture of Curis-4 and pass it up to his superiors.
Curis-4 possessed a substantial industrial base and significant manpower. Population estimates varied between eight and ten billion. Technology was unevenly preserved, but military hardware was a particular strongpoint. Soldiers on Curis-4 went to war in sophisticated vehicles, wearing excellent armour and wielding deadly las weapons. And they went to war often. The planet was divided between four hostile "nations": the Fanz, Huks, Orvar, and Wari. Le Gall's contact had been exclusively with the Orvar, who had paid him handsomely for medical supplies. The Rogue Trader had observed a sharp caste divide between the "citz" who earned political rights by military service and "pacs" who lived as civilians but were barely regarded as people by their social superiors. According to Le Gall, there was little social mobility among the Orvar, with the military recruiting almost exclusively from the children of the citz. Antoine d'Orléans' unsuccessful trading mission had involved brief talks with all four nations of Curis-4 and his brief contacts suggested that the Fanz, Huks, and Wari had similar social systems. Particularly notable was that representatives of the four nations spoke of endlessly warring with their neighbours.
Mai's report quickly became the basis for operational planning. Antoine Antonelle's signature went below the initial assessment that the still-small Fifth Legion could fairly quickly subdue a world like Curis-4 if either Ghalhal or Al-Sherar would lend the support of their Titans. In discussion aboard the newly-commissioned Resolve, Gaspard Lumey and Fabrice Diallo differed. The Primarch and his operational commander believed that the political situation was so favourable that going to the Forge Worlds was unnecessary. Rani Stolarz of the Ciban Chasseurs, despite her reputation for aggressiveness, was inclined to support the conservative course. As a compromise, the Fifth Legion's commanders decided to press ahead with the forces of the Twenty-Fifth Expeditionary Fleet supplemented by Imperial Army formations from nearby Compliance Groups, and to request that the Markian Pact raise a new Grand Corps and dispatch these troops to Curis-4. If Lumey and Diallo were correct, the Markian Corpsmen, organised as Compliance Group V-63, would garrison the new-won planet. Otherwise, the Legion would at least have fresh troops if a negative situation developed.
Lumey's conception of the battle for Curis-4 centered on breaking the citz class. Rather than approach the campaign in conventional military terms and focus on material objectives, the Primarch laid out a military-political operation intended to give the defending soldiers every reason to stop resisting and disassociate themselves from their leaders. To open the campaign, he turned to Visant Le Gall.
The invasion
The ruling council of the Orvar were surprised and excited by the reappearance of Le Gall's cruiser, The Weatherman above Curis-4 in early 868.M30. Though the man from the stars had asked a high price for his goods, the medical equipment he had provided on his last visit promised to extend the lives of the Orvar citz by many years, if not decades. However, Le Gall's message dampened the ruling council's mood. He explained that he had not come to trade again, but to offer his services as an intermediary with the coming Imperial Expedition Fleet, claiming that if the Orvar did not employ him as an agent they would be ruthlessly subjugated. As proof of the level of threat, the Rogue Trader produced grainy vid footage of the Fifth Legion in action against the Amatteir during the Al-Sherar Sector War. Le Gall had a way of persuading people into even the worst deals, and he convinced the council of the Orvar to pay him a nation's ransom in return for his advocacy. The Rogue Trader then reported back to Fifth Legion that he had successfully secured a foothold for their invasion, resulting in another big payday.
"Break the yoke"
You might wonder why there is no trial. There is no trial because we did not come to bring these people justice. We came to take the yoke from your backs and break it. You will never be slaves again.
Firing squad, take aim - fire!
- Gaspard Lumey, excerpt from the propaganda-vid "Break the Yoke"
The Orvar had reason to think that their riches were well-spent when the Twenty-Fifth Expedition Fleet began operations. While Rani Stolarz's Auxilia forces debarked in Orvar territory, Gaspard Lumey led Jalal Samaha's 2nd Corps of Astartes in a combat drop on the Huks capital. With complete surprise on their side, the Space Marines slaughtered the disorganised defenders and captured almost the entire Huks Committee for Military Affairs (HCfMA) - the de facto national government. Transitioning from military leader to politician, Lumey made a speech to vid in which he explained his purposes on Curis-4 to its people. The rule of the citz was almost at an end and the Fifth Legion would liquidate any petty tyrants that they found, so that the pacs of Curis-4 could live as free Imperial citizens. To prove his sincerity, the Primarch concluded his propaganda piece with the execution of the Huks government.
Those few representatives of the HCfMA that had escaped, along with local leaders, quickly organised a counter-stroke aimed at the 2nd Corps. The vaunted combat skills of the Adeptus Astartes were sufficient to beat back the initial, feeble efforts, but Lumey's men began to be stretched as the Huks forces besieging their own capital grew to Army strength. The Primarch counseled calm in the face of the odds, for he knew that the 25th Expedition Fleet's Auxilia were about to commence their own offensive in conjunction with Fabrice Diallo's 1st Corps.
Imperial Order of Battle
- 25th Expedition Fleet - Primarch Gaspard Lumey
- Naval Task Force - Senator Kesh Kanak
- 1st Corps Fifth Legion - Force Commander Fabrice Diallo
- 2nd Corps Fifth Legion - Force Commander Jalal Samaha
- 5th Army of Ciban - Force Commander Rani Stolarz
- 9th Army of Ciban - Force Commander Ignace Blanchard
- 3rd Markian Grand Corps - Marshal Etienne Latourelle
- 1st Auxilia Army - Force Commander Jérôme Coudert
- Compliance Group V-22 (8th Expeditionary Front of the Kondrus Aeroguard) - Marshal Joseph Kolesnikov
- Compliance Group V-63 (7th Markian Grand Corps) - Marshal Millard Gamelin
Note: 1st Auxilia was a mixed force, made up of Regiments drawn primarily from the Ciban Chassuers, Fischetti Numeri, Kerstes Dragoons, and the Morlachs of Sinji.