Lukas Alexander

General Lukas Alexander was initially sent to Kronus by Segmentum Command to track down and capture Farseer Taldeer after her actions on Lorn V (as shown in Winter Assault). His forces landed in the abandoned city of Ironworks Bay, and found traces of ancient relics scattered across the planet, including the "Hellstorm Cannon", a weaponry from a Horus Heresy-era Imperator Titan, Aquila Ignis. The city was renamed "Victory Bay", and techpriests began excavating the massive Titan cannon. The Imperium then gave Lukas Alexander the title of "Governor-Militant" of Kronus, and tasked him with (re)conquering the planet for the Imperium from the Tau.

Alexander formed the 1st Kronus Regiment, naming them "The Liberators", since his soldiers were fighting to free the humans who were living under the rule of the Tau. Unfortunately, his goals soon put him at direct odds with a Blood Ravens task force that arrived on Kronus soon after "The Liberators", trying to uncover mysteries about the chapter's past. The Blood Ravens are then ordered to purge the planet in order to ensure their findings remain secret. They warn Alexander to leave, but he is determined to follow through with his orders and push the other factions off Kronus. Alexander is initially equipped with power claws and a wrist-mounted bolter. As his campaign progresses, he eventually obtains a wrist-mounted plasma pistol and power fists, as well as a full suit of carapace armour along with his Symbols of Office and optical implants.

Should the Governor-Militant be successful in his task, he will become one of the most powerful men in the sector with an entire planet at his command. Most of the 1st Kronus Regiment are subsequently sent off to other nearby worlds as reinforcements, while the Governor-Militant himself remains on Kronus to oversee the administration of Kronus and the creation of the Planetary Defense Force. With the ancient Titan cannon safely secured, the Adeptus Mechanicus were able to better study it, eternally grateful to Alexander. With the loss of Tau control on Kronus, the human population, with little encouragement, proceeded to massacre any Tau (or Tau-aligned humans) who did not evacuate along with Shas'O Kais. Finally, with the defeat of the Blood Raven taskforce, incriminating documents and artifacts from their Castellum Incorruptus was found and handed over to the Inquisition, calling into question the history and the "true nature" of the Blood Ravens.

Should the city of "Victory Bay" be captured, after the death of Lukas Alexander, the last of the 1st Kronus Regiment make a futile last stand near the Hellstorm cannon. To prevent the fall of the Titan cannon to the attackers, the last surviving NCO orders a Techpriest to "overload it". The Titan cannon begins to overload and explode, the blasts taking out the nearby combatants. However, if Chaos were the victors, it implies that pieces of the Titan cannon still remain, as Eliphas' sorcerers released a daemon of rot and plague (which means it belongs to the Chaos god, Nurgle) from the cannon through a ritual of sacrificing the corpses from the attack. How the daemon was trapped in the cannon was not stated, but by doing so, Eliphas gained the favour of that particular god. Also, if Eldar attacked Victory Bay and won, implications of pieces remaining of the Titan cannon are evident as the narrator states that the Farseer ordered warp bombs to be placed on what was left of the Titan cannon and denonated, disallowing the Imperial Guard the chance to salvage anything of the formidable Titan cannon.

It is uncertain why the Imperial Guard would destroy the cannon in such desperation if defeated by the Space Marines, although perhaps Alexander's desperate last shout to his men "(These marines) fight against the Emperor's holy will!" indicates that the Governor-Militant is taking no chances regarding the cannon possibly coming into the hands of traitors. It is most likely after what we see in the introduction of the Space Marines where Davian Thule orders Lukas Alexander to step down while the Space Marines purged Kronus, and Lukas bluntly refused, causing a war between the Space Marines and the Imperial Guard. In the introduction the narrator says: "Captain Thule ordered the withdrawal of the Imperial Guard forces stationed in Victory Bay, but Governor Alexander flatly refused to pull his men back. Thule judged the Governor a good man, but had little choice but to send his Space Marines to battle the Governor's troops along with all the other powers on Kronus. The Blood Ravens' willingness to fight soldiers of the Imperium did not go unnoticed."

References

(November 2004) "Index Astartes � Blood Ravens". White Dwarf: Australian Edition (298). ISSN 0265-8712.

The same information can be found in "Index Astartes � Blood Ravens". White Dwarf: UK Edition (305). ISSN 0265-8712.

Goto, Cassern (2004). Dawn of War. Nottingham: Black Library. ISBN 1-84416-152-8.

Goto, Cassern (2005). Dawn of War: Ascension. Nottingham: Black Library. ISBN 1-84416-285-0.