The Cleansing of Calverna

The Cleansing of Calverna
Date	c. 776.M30
Scale	regional
Theatre	Calverna Techropolis
Status	Decisive Imperial Victory
Belligerents
Imperium of Mankind	Defence System Sigma-8
Commanders and Leaders
Orend Ymoro	The Arch-maniac of Calverna
Strength
Second Legion supported by elements of the Imperial Army
Losses
Outcome

The Cleansing of Calverna was a battle of the Unification Wars fought by the Second Legion against the automated defences of the Calverna Techropolis. This battle marked a high point for the Second, as their next engagement would see their strength devastated by nuclear weapons.

Background

The origins of the Techropolis of Calverna are wrapped in mystery. Fragmentary references to the complex can be found in surviving documents from the Unification War era, but the usual problems with this source persist. Even the Imperial situation report, preserved in the archives of the War Scribes with their customary fastidiousness, is lacking in significant historical perspective. What is known is that Calverna had become a heavily fortified outpost, held by but a single man. If it seems surprising that the Emperor would commit his Adeptus Astartes to fight a lone recluse, it must be mentioned that the Arch-Maniac of Calverna was far from an ordinary man. Whether by accident or design, the Arch-Maniac had been transformed into the central intelligence of the Techropolis. His brain and nervous system no longer addressed the needs of his body, but instead controlled a small army of mechanical soldiers backed up by automated turrets and other defences. For centuries, the Techropolis had claimed victim after victim as unwary men entered its nightmarish halls in pursuit of ancient technology.

But now, Calverna's secrets would be sought by warriors who were far more than men. After their combat trial in the Pacification of the Merican Hives, the Sacred Band was dissolved into the nascent Space Marine Legions. Hektor Cincinnatus's First Legion were the first to be brought up to combat strength and committed to battle, but Orend Ymoro's men followed close on the Primarch's heels. The Second displayed a considerable knack for fighting in the mayhem of hive and tunnel actions - a talent that would be tested in the machine-haunted labyrinths of Calverna.

This article or section has been selected for Exterminatus by the Ordo Editant. The Emperor Corrects.

The Arch-Maniac of Calverna

The Second Legion dropped directly into the citadel whilst the Martians cleared away the outer walls of Orkish filth. If a decisive blow could be struck at the cancer's heart, the Orks within the main Forge could be pinned between the walls and cut down en masse. Resistance was intense, but sporadic. One minute the Orks would be striking randomly, even shooting their own allies, and the next they would form into an iron wall of cannons and lay waste to all before them. The battle lines shifted a dozen times over the course of two days as more and more Orks came boiling out of secret passages invisible to auspexes. A thousand Marines lay dead, cut off and isolated from their brethren, yet thousands more fought on.

The Magi authorized orbital fire on the third day, no longer caring much about damaging the already ruined manufactoria of Calverna further. It was horrifyingly obvious that virtually everything had been corrupted or destroyed by the savage xenos. If any machine spirits yet lived, better to put them out of their misery with a clean deathblow than to let them endure in agony. Brilliant lances from space boiled away Ork and metal alike, with only the central citadel remaining untouched. As uncountable Orks vanished into dust, what little coordination they had vanished. Taking advantage of the enemy's confusion, the Marines pressed forward with lightning speed, just as they had learned from mighty Hektor, and the enemy's sanctum lay bare before them.

At last the monster whose mind guided the horde was visible, wired into the endless rows of cogitators left from long-dead Martian technology. The Ork was a colossal, tortured wretch, his brain long since overwhelmed from the torrent of data pouring into his half-mechanical brain. Control over the Forge he had, and all its mighty guns, but no one mind could effectively direct the power. The devastation wreaked outside had shattered what little intelligence the Ork had left, as the surging damage reports cooked his brain from inside out. For all his might, for all his armies, a wounded beast chained to a throne was easily killed. A lone Sergeant rushed to the throne, dodging electrical arcs and insane Grots to end the green demon with a single Krak missile round. Though hundreds had fallen around him, the Sergeant endured where no others could, clawing his way over the bodies of the slain to reach the target. For his heroism in the final action, Second Company Sergeant Tel Bernos became Commander Tel Bernos, riding the Fellblade Fungicidal.

Though devastated and battered by Ork and Imperium alike, it was a joyous day when the Forge World of Magnos Majoris finally shed its Orkish burden and stood alongside humanity again. An enormous task of purging the remaining Orks and rebuilding the ancient forges lay ahead, but the task was gratefully accepted by the Mechanicus, and the Second Legion earned much gratitude for their assistance in the planet's recovery. Within five years, Magnos Majoris would begin tithing its production to the Second Legion. Within a decade, it became a primary Imperial Forge World fueling multiple assaults into Segmentum Tempestus and Pacificus.

While the Second Legion was justly proud of its achievement, the toll had been heavy. Supplies of gene-seed had run critically low during the protracted urban combat, and there was a very real risk that the Legion would bleed itself dry before ever leaving Segmentum Solar. Their salvation lay with the Mechanicus, who in gratitude for liberating a major Forge World stepped in to support the Legion in their time of need. The gene-seed tithes were temporarily cut to 10% of normal, and the Legion received an emergency reserve of heavy equipment, largely aircraft. With these tools, the Legion was able to husband its biological reserves behind sheets of adamantium until such time as manpower rose.