As previously described, Daniel Horpan
(“Danny Bloodcoat” to his men) is the product of the same military machine as
the leadership of 72AG (and indeed, almost all of the Imperial Guard within the
sphere of influence of Cadia).
Daniel Horpan joined the Devos IV PDF as an
officer cadet seventeen years ago. He
spent eight years within the 99th (“the Bloodcoats”) Regiment before
becoming company commander. From there
he moved to Maj Gen Firth’s staff as a planning officer. Firth, recognising his talent, despatched him
to Agripinaa to serve in the Imperial Guard for a few years. Six years later Colonel Horpan returned to
command the 99th.
In the last three years, Horpan has been
courted personally by Chaux Na Mrr’see herself.
She obviously thought that she might need an able military commander on
her side. Horpan is staunchly loyal to
his birthworld. Colonel-Commandant
Welbhann, the commander of the 902 Inf Bde knew Horpan on Agripinaa. Despite being from quite different
backgrounds (Welbhann is from Armageddon), Welbhann believes that Horpan has
somehow deluded himself that his following the creed of Chaux Na Mrr’see is in
line with his loyalties as former officer of the IG and senior figure in the
Devos IV PDF.
The 99th Regt were delighted to
find themselves commanded by Horpan.
“Danny Bloodcoat” he is known as.
They are encouraged by his elevation to (as they see it) strategic
commander of the PDF. The creed of Chaux
Na Mrr’see has become all the more popular thereby. Such is his reputation that the 13th
Mech and other formations within the PDF, as well as the militia, have ‘bought
in’ to his campaign.
The leadership of the Devos IV PDF, up
until four years ago, would have been described by Klestor sub sector command
as professional, honourable and efficient.
The decision of General Horpan and his staff to side with heretics is
difficult for outsiders to understand.
However, it is known that Chaux Na M’rrsee demanded an oath of loyalty
from the PDF when she became the duly elected head of state. Gen
Horpan and his staff have simply followed their militaristic code of honour in
not changing sides.
The refusal of the appointed off world
Planetary Governor, Maj Gen (retd) Marcus Firth (Cadia), to accede to transfer
of power to the people’s elected representative, has to be seen in the light of
what was happening on Devos IV at the time.
Governor Firth quite rightly refused to relinquish power on the grounds
that the High Lords had appointed him and that he had no largess to step down
without their permission. The gradual
migration of power from the appointed executive to the people had been
happening for years, in the end, the people simply voted for what they wanted;
As Devos IV had given no cause for any alarm at all for hundreds of years,
Governor Firth had no significant internal security apparatus with which to
rectify the situation; as it stood, the personnel of the PDF, members of
society as a whole, are as culpable as the rest of them and either largely on
the side of (or most apathetic to) “progress”.
Eventually one of the Adeptas Sororitas sponsored
shrines realised that the events happening were tantamount to heresy. They astrapathically asked for assistance
just before Governor Firth was deposed by Chaux Na M’rrsee. The Cadian 144th Long Range Recce
Regt was travelling though the system (from Hydraphur back to Cadia to recruit
and refit) and deployed to the surface[1]. The Cadians soon found themselves corralled
in the Wizelvard area by the PDF on the orders of Chaux Na M’rrsee. Their reaction was to send out clandestine
Kill Teams into Xyphonica to force resolution by direct means.
The attempts on the head of state by a
(supposedly) allied military unit were perceived by the PDF as treachery. This was a fundamental breaking of the military
code of honour (albeit by off-worlders) as they saw it. They responded by arresting the former
Governor as an enemy of the state[2]. The Cadian 144th were attacked and
scattered. Nothing could now be allowed
to sully the honour of the Devos IV PDF; they would remain loyal to their home
world and its elected government.
Chaux Na M’rrsee seized her moment and
chose that moment to cast off the Imperial yoke, the foodstuffs that were the
bedrock of Devos IV’s economy would continue to be sold to the Departmento
Munitorium, but on a basis that would ensure improving standards of living
across the planet. The PDF was renamed
the PLA[3]
and Chaux Na M’rrsee promised Gen Horpan reinforcements for any likely military
actions.
The Devos IV PDF (now PLA) had been
redesigned by Gen Horpan over the last decade to fight a guerrilla war against
an occupying force. He had always
assumed that this would be Xenos or a strike from either the Eye of Terror or
Sabbat Worlds (both almost equidistant).
Military and civilian infrastructure projects had been carried out and
tactics and positions prepared. Within
its idiom, the PLA is prepared. The only
concern that Gen Horpan has is that there is no exit strategy for the PLA, they
are simply planning to (and are expected to) hang on until relieved. Gen
Horpan had always expected to be relieved by an Army from Agripinaa, not
defending against one. Having held
posts on Agripinaa and Cadia, he knows what is coming.
So far, Gen Horpan is not impressed with
the reinforcements that Chaux Na M’rrsee
as arranged; Orks and mutants from the San Cantor Ash Wastes may indeed be
children of Devos IV, they may well be good in a fight, there may well be
mutual respect and understanding between them and some of the PLA units from the
same region. But by engaging Scavvies
and Ork mercenaries, Chaux Na M’rrsee has crossed a line that incontrovertibly
puts her, her government and the PLA, beyond the mercy of the Imperium.
The Astartes Intervention is presented to the population of Benq as just that; Three or more Chapters of the Adpetus Astartes support the government of Chaux Na M’rrsee as legitimate, after all, the demands of Chaux Na M’rrsee’s government amount to no more than fair and adequate recompense for goods that they fully intend to continue to supply. The PLA and the population are encouraged and emboldened by the arrival by allies[4] who some see as evidence of the Emperor’s favour.
One of the first events to occur after
these allies landed was an attack by the perfidious Eldar. Scarlet jetbikes and their supporting units
attacked the capital city and were fought off by the Space Marines.[5] Already the legendary levels of protection
afforded the common folk of the Imperium by the Astartes were being
demonstrated. Remembering the attack by
these same Eldar on the Preatorian Garrison of the system defences on Devos
XII; this event immediately becomes a huge boost to morale for both the PLA and
the civilian population.
General Horpan and those of his staff who
have also previously served on Cadia, however, recognise the scions of the
third, twelfth and seventeenth legions[6]. But they are now busy conducting a fighting withdrawal
across Benq. They are damned by their
leadership’s consorting with Xenos and Heretics. They have little choice but to carry on.
[1] At the time of its deployment in support of the Ordo Hereticus on
Devos IV, the Cadian 144th had been on campaign for seven years and
had an overall strength of approximately seven hundred.
[2] On the orders of Apochrypha Quinelle, a known heretic (Beta level
psyker) and Chaux Na M’rrsee’s deputy.
[3] People’s Libertine Army – a reference to the increase in civil
freedom allowed by Chaux Na M’rrsee’s administration.
[4] These forces were almost certainly landed by the Hexognome (before its destruction) and
the Tyrant’s Claw whilst the bulk of
the Imperial Fleet was out of system.
[5] Inquisitorial agents report that the Eldar were attacking the
purple space marines exclusively, not the city or any of the scarlet or burgundy
space marines.
[6] The Emperor’s Children, World Eaters and Word Bearers. Aside from Danny Bloodcoat and half a dozen
officers on his staff, no-one else has ever seen a Space Marine in the flesh
before. Here the great enemy’s main
weapon is not so much deliberate deception as just letting people make their
own assumptions and not correcting them.
