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From Warhammer 40k - Lexicanum
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The '''Battle of Akamakar''' occurred roughly a century after 999.[[M41]]{{Fn|1a}} as part of a larger civil war on [[Kouris]] where [[traitor|traitorous]] forces on the world sought to join a [[Chaos]] warhost known as the [[Exilarchy]].{{XVII}} The [[Emperor's Spears]] [[Chapter]] planned the seizure of the planetary capital of Akamakar to quickly and decisively end the war, as well as to reduce mortal [[Adeptus Vaelarii]] casualties.{{X}}
==Overview==
===Prelude===
The planetary civil war preceding the Battle of Akamakar was, in the eyes of the traitorous [[Governor|Lord-Governor]] of Kouris, the result of the Adeptus Vaelarii's inability to defend the world from the forces of the Exilarchy. The Chaos warband had raided their shipping lanes and seeded their cities with cults while the weakened [[Celestial Lions]] were unable to defend this planet on the edge of their protectorate.[[X]] Unlike many forces of Chaos, the Exilarchy were conquerors rather than raiders. They did not only want blood and souls as sacrifice to the [[Dark Gods]], they wanted territory and the entirety of Elara's Veil.[[XVII]] Under the stress of the pressure they were under, the planet's leaders eventually wished to join their invaders. While the Exilarchy warned them that they were not yet ready, Kouris' traitorous forces staged a rebellion against the Adeptus Vaelarii and [[Imperium]]{{XVII}}. At least half of the armed forces, including elements of the local Imperial Guard, [[noble house]] militia, and [[Planetary Defence Forces]] rose up in support of the traitors before a shot had been fired.[[X]]
The conflict raged on for two years until loyalist forces were finally massing for an offensive that would take both continents back from the Archenemy, albeit at a high cost in Imperial lives. Such losses were unacceptable to Brêac, Lord of the Emperor's Spears Third Warhost. The estimated millions of soldiers that would be lost over five more months of fighting were needed elsewhere; the Spears intended to win the conflict in a week. On the first day of the Battle of Akamakar, [[Imperial Guard]] commanders were gathered aboard the Spears' [[Strike Cruiser]] ''[[Hex]]'' to assess the situation on the ground. When a full picture of the conflict was gathered by the Space Marines, the Warhost’s Lord made his decision: Brêac’s force of eighty-five Spears would begin their assault that night with a first wave of drop pods and gunships. The attached [[Lieutenant Commander]] [[Amadeus Kaias Incarius]] of the [[Mentors]] Chapter also resolved to participate in the battle. Amadeus’ expertise laid with aiding mortal forces and so he elected to be deployed alongside the Guard were possible. For five days Amadeus fought alongside regiments of the Novaskyr Adamants, Kouris’ planetary defence force, and the hosts of the Bellonan Skitarii Legion. He had yet to fight alongside the Spears, but that changed on the sixth day with the Battle of Akamakar.
===Battle===
The planetary capital of Akamakar remained as one of the remaining principal bastions of Exilarchy strength on the world; taking it would break the traitors’ hold on Kouris. The capital was protected by a decaying but still active [[void shield]] that prevented either an orbital bombardment or direct Astartes deployment from the ''Hex'', forcing the Spears and Amadeus to advance alongside the mortal soldiers. Brêac ordered that the regency palace - the stronghold of the planetary leaders of the rebellion - be taken by sunset of the sixth day. With the traitorous regent and his supporters in the aristocracy defeated, the Exilarchy’s hold on Kouris would bleed out.
Blinded from orbit with the city-battlefield obscured by the dust of collapsed buildings, Amadeus’ three [[chapter serf|helots]] crewed the [[Astartes|Astartes’]] modified [[Damocles Command Rhino]] to gather scanning data for the attacking forces, both of enemy positions and the state of the ruined battleground. They advanced with the 89th [[Novaskyr Adamants]] regiment; the Rhino and other tanks pushed forward alongside armoured personnel carriers filled with mechanized infantry and gunships carrying Guard soldiers to link up with loyalist forces already in the city. This column was one of several but it braced for the sternest of resistance. Loyalist units were required to move through the ruined city, reach projected markers and hold ground until support could reach them. Most of the urban fighting was to be fought by the Novaskyr Adamants and [[skitarii]] of [[Bellona]], with the Spears held back to break unexpected bastions of enemy strength or reinforce broken elements of advancing forces.[[X]]
After pushing deep into the heart of the city, the 89th drove the Exilarchy’s militia back but was eventually broken when the enemy received reinforcements including gunships that strafed the roadways and pinned down the Novaskyr’s forward platoons. At the processional avenues leading to the palace, tanks fought, fire-teams exchanged shots, and the soldiers of the 89th realized that most of their officers were dead. Leadership was almost reduced to a squad-level. Amadeus had been fighting on the ground, having saved broken units from annihilation when they had been almost overrun and allowed them to advance when they had lost momentum. Helot [[Tyberia Volos]] informed her master of the condition of the 89th and Amadeus soon arrived in an [[Overlord Gunship|Overlord gunship]] alongside twenty Emperor’s Spears commanded by Brêac himself, including a squad known as the Immortals, before a second Overlord deployed two [[Repulsor|Repulsor tanks]]. Seeing what had appeared to them as victory quickly turning to defeat, the Exilarchy deployed more soldiers and tanks to combat the Astartes that were trying to give the 89th time to regroup.[[X]]
While Amadeus suggested falling back and provided coordinates for a tactical regrouping - a [[Codex Astartes|Codex]]-approved manoeuvre given the situation - the Warhost Lord, knowing that falling back might lead to being overrun before they could regroup, instead signaled a charge to his Spears brethren. With a growl from twenty Astartes Warriors that mimicked the thunder of [[Nemeton]], and a chant in Nemetese of “skovakarah uhl zarûn” - redden the earth - the Spears pushed forward. While Amadeus stayed back with a platoon of the 89th, the Immortals and the three other Spears squads supporting them advanced up Emykarus Avenue. Mirroring Brêac and his [[Space Marine Lieutenant|battleguards]] Morcant and Faelan, the sub-officers had two brothers fighting at their side at the vanguard of each squad as they met and cut down heretic forces.[[X]]
In less than two hours the Emperor’s Spears had taken the regent’s palace. The reigning traitor Lord-Governor of Kouris, a grave and serious man clad in custom armour imitating [[auramite]], armed with his ancient [[power sword]] of office and already wounded from defending the palace, demanded trial by single combat from a representative of the Adeptus Vaelarii. He claimed that the [[God-Emperor]] was dead, accused the Vaelarii of failing to aid Kouris when the Exilarchy raided their shipping lanes and seeded cults on the planet, and cursed the absent Celestial Lions for failing their oath to defend their protectorate against the advances of that same Exilarchy. The Astartes reminded the regent that the Vaelarii were stretched across the Veil and that all of its planets require their aid, refusing the traitor his wish for an honourable death. With a gesture from Brêac, Battleguard [[Morcant]] bisected the man with a single shot from his weapon before crushing his skull with a power-armored boot.[[X]]
==Source==
*1: [[Spear of the Emperor (Novel)]]:
**{{Endn|1a}}: Chapter II
==Overview==
===Prelude===
The planetary civil war preceding the Battle of Akamakar was, in the eyes of the traitorous [[Governor|Lord-Governor]] of Kouris, the result of the Adeptus Vaelarii's inability to defend the world from the forces of the Exilarchy. The Chaos warband had raided their shipping lanes and seeded their cities with cults while the weakened [[Celestial Lions]] were unable to defend this planet on the edge of their protectorate.[[X]] Unlike many forces of Chaos, the Exilarchy were conquerors rather than raiders. They did not only want blood and souls as sacrifice to the [[Dark Gods]], they wanted territory and the entirety of Elara's Veil.[[XVII]] Under the stress of the pressure they were under, the planet's leaders eventually wished to join their invaders. While the Exilarchy warned them that they were not yet ready, Kouris' traitorous forces staged a rebellion against the Adeptus Vaelarii and [[Imperium]]{{XVII}}. At least half of the armed forces, including elements of the local Imperial Guard, [[noble house]] militia, and [[Planetary Defence Forces]] rose up in support of the traitors before a shot had been fired.[[X]]
The conflict raged on for two years until loyalist forces were finally massing for an offensive that would take both continents back from the Archenemy, albeit at a high cost in Imperial lives. Such losses were unacceptable to Brêac, Lord of the Emperor's Spears Third Warhost. The estimated millions of soldiers that would be lost over five more months of fighting were needed elsewhere; the Spears intended to win the conflict in a week. On the first day of the Battle of Akamakar, [[Imperial Guard]] commanders were gathered aboard the Spears' [[Strike Cruiser]] ''[[Hex]]'' to assess the situation on the ground. When a full picture of the conflict was gathered by the Space Marines, the Warhost’s Lord made his decision: Brêac’s force of eighty-five Spears would begin their assault that night with a first wave of drop pods and gunships. The attached [[Lieutenant Commander]] [[Amadeus Kaias Incarius]] of the [[Mentors]] Chapter also resolved to participate in the battle. Amadeus’ expertise laid with aiding mortal forces and so he elected to be deployed alongside the Guard were possible. For five days Amadeus fought alongside regiments of the Novaskyr Adamants, Kouris’ planetary defence force, and the hosts of the Bellonan Skitarii Legion. He had yet to fight alongside the Spears, but that changed on the sixth day with the Battle of Akamakar.
===Battle===
The planetary capital of Akamakar remained as one of the remaining principal bastions of Exilarchy strength on the world; taking it would break the traitors’ hold on Kouris. The capital was protected by a decaying but still active [[void shield]] that prevented either an orbital bombardment or direct Astartes deployment from the ''Hex'', forcing the Spears and Amadeus to advance alongside the mortal soldiers. Brêac ordered that the regency palace - the stronghold of the planetary leaders of the rebellion - be taken by sunset of the sixth day. With the traitorous regent and his supporters in the aristocracy defeated, the Exilarchy’s hold on Kouris would bleed out.
Blinded from orbit with the city-battlefield obscured by the dust of collapsed buildings, Amadeus’ three [[chapter serf|helots]] crewed the [[Astartes|Astartes’]] modified [[Damocles Command Rhino]] to gather scanning data for the attacking forces, both of enemy positions and the state of the ruined battleground. They advanced with the 89th [[Novaskyr Adamants]] regiment; the Rhino and other tanks pushed forward alongside armoured personnel carriers filled with mechanized infantry and gunships carrying Guard soldiers to link up with loyalist forces already in the city. This column was one of several but it braced for the sternest of resistance. Loyalist units were required to move through the ruined city, reach projected markers and hold ground until support could reach them. Most of the urban fighting was to be fought by the Novaskyr Adamants and [[skitarii]] of [[Bellona]], with the Spears held back to break unexpected bastions of enemy strength or reinforce broken elements of advancing forces.[[X]]
After pushing deep into the heart of the city, the 89th drove the Exilarchy’s militia back but was eventually broken when the enemy received reinforcements including gunships that strafed the roadways and pinned down the Novaskyr’s forward platoons. At the processional avenues leading to the palace, tanks fought, fire-teams exchanged shots, and the soldiers of the 89th realized that most of their officers were dead. Leadership was almost reduced to a squad-level. Amadeus had been fighting on the ground, having saved broken units from annihilation when they had been almost overrun and allowed them to advance when they had lost momentum. Helot [[Tyberia Volos]] informed her master of the condition of the 89th and Amadeus soon arrived in an [[Overlord Gunship|Overlord gunship]] alongside twenty Emperor’s Spears commanded by Brêac himself, including a squad known as the Immortals, before a second Overlord deployed two [[Repulsor|Repulsor tanks]]. Seeing what had appeared to them as victory quickly turning to defeat, the Exilarchy deployed more soldiers and tanks to combat the Astartes that were trying to give the 89th time to regroup.[[X]]
While Amadeus suggested falling back and provided coordinates for a tactical regrouping - a [[Codex Astartes|Codex]]-approved manoeuvre given the situation - the Warhost Lord, knowing that falling back might lead to being overrun before they could regroup, instead signaled a charge to his Spears brethren. With a growl from twenty Astartes Warriors that mimicked the thunder of [[Nemeton]], and a chant in Nemetese of “skovakarah uhl zarûn” - redden the earth - the Spears pushed forward. While Amadeus stayed back with a platoon of the 89th, the Immortals and the three other Spears squads supporting them advanced up Emykarus Avenue. Mirroring Brêac and his [[Space Marine Lieutenant|battleguards]] Morcant and Faelan, the sub-officers had two brothers fighting at their side at the vanguard of each squad as they met and cut down heretic forces.[[X]]
In less than two hours the Emperor’s Spears had taken the regent’s palace. The reigning traitor Lord-Governor of Kouris, a grave and serious man clad in custom armour imitating [[auramite]], armed with his ancient [[power sword]] of office and already wounded from defending the palace, demanded trial by single combat from a representative of the Adeptus Vaelarii. He claimed that the [[God-Emperor]] was dead, accused the Vaelarii of failing to aid Kouris when the Exilarchy raided their shipping lanes and seeded cults on the planet, and cursed the absent Celestial Lions for failing their oath to defend their protectorate against the advances of that same Exilarchy. The Astartes reminded the regent that the Vaelarii were stretched across the Veil and that all of its planets require their aid, refusing the traitor his wish for an honourable death. With a gesture from Brêac, Battleguard [[Morcant]] bisected the man with a single shot from his weapon before crushing his skull with a power-armored boot.[[X]]
==Source==
*1: [[Spear of the Emperor (Novel)]]:
**{{Endn|1a}}: Chapter II
