Life in the Imperial Navy is difficult, demanding, and lethal. At any moment a rogue missile, asteroid, or anomaly could bring about your death. The oxygen scrubbers could fail, or the demons of the Warp could take over the minds of the weakest on the ship, starting a mutiny. Navy personnel remain on edge at all times, fearing being sucked out into space and dying a cold death, or being trapped in an escape pod forever. They have so much stress in their lives, fighting aliens, demons and living murderous machines, that they rarely ever have the chance for love beyond a one night fling. So whenever the chance for true love does finally appear, it feels all the more
precious. And they value it as much as they do their faith in the God Emperor.
There were many among the Emperor’s navy that had made a name for themselves with meritorious service, and
Commodore Anashula Nazzal (YC) was one of them. She was a hard but fair woman, known for not tolerating the politics or bureaucracy of other officers , rewarding her crews based on merit rather than the circumstances of birth. She was also renowned for her faith and decisiveness in punishing even the slightest of Heretical speech in her presence with a fury that would match even the infamous Commissars. But these things were fairly common traits amongst the Imperial Navy. Her true source of recognition lay in her ability of carving out victories against Chaos and the Orks in battles that should have ended in her death.
Time and time again in the face of defeat and utter annihilation, she had held the line, killed the enemy and accomplished her operational objectives. Most who knew of her, knew her by the name "
Anashula The Animal" for her
ferocity in dealing with a heretical uprising as her first mission. In the orbital campaign she waged with the heretics, she accepted no quarter for those who would dare
betray Humanity to disgusting aliens. While the events of that day still haunt her in part, it assured her loyalty to the Imperium, and the Emperor, could
never be questioned. She would give her life for the Emperor, and the Imperium of Mankind, in a heartbeat.
Her sun kissed skin hinted that her ancestors had at some point come from the harsh desert world of Tallarn, as well as from the world of Kojabi. Which was infamous for its highly venomous snake like beasts, but the people had dealt with them for so many generations that they had actually developed a slight immunity to them. The Kojabi snake was a large as ancient Earth's Boa Constrictors and ruthless as a Falcon, with a single crimson fin that would rise p in the center of the head to frighten off predators. Their poison was among one of the more lethal varieties, but those from Kojabi were better evolved to handle it. Anashula herself had been bitten three times when killing the snakes in order to get the leather for her boots, which she still wore to this day.
With her
Ratling assistant (Who despises when people call him a 'Halfling') that she had acquired from a Rogue Trader as a slave, and freed him from his contract. Anashula had a rather famed reputation in the Imrahm system, as an Ork hunter. Even within their lesser evolved brains, those Alien pirates would sometimes reconsider their raids on transport and civilian vessels if they knew Anashula's ship, "
The Emperor's Hammer" was in the zone. But to some it served as a challenge, enough so to divert from their main goal and test their metal against The Animal, and Anashula's more recent battle was nearly her last.
Nearly
1/3rd of the ships under her command were destroyed as they tried to buy time for the message to go out, and warn the nearby systems of the impending invasion. In the heavy fighting that ensued, her
second in command had been sucked out through a hull breach, and her Ratling had been so injured that he was now being forced to stay in the infirmary to recover from the fighting. The Damnable Orks had boarded the ship and even Anashula herself had been forced to fight them hand to hand. She was just thankful her assistant had the foresight to place a Laser Pistol in her Captain's chair for emergency use in just such a case.
Her left eye had been lost in the fighting, going up against multiple Ork Choppas that rushed the bridge, and she had suffered several cracked ribs. It was only by the God Emperor's infallible will that she survived. Obviously her duty in this mortal coil had not yet been finished. But despite the pain she suffered, Anashula had been abel to rally what remained of her fleet and continue firing right into the enemie's flank. That one act turned the tide of the battle, with the Ork ships turning around for only a few Human ships, buying enough time for a Quick Reaction Force to join in and begin cutting the orks down piece by piece. And all it cost her was an eye and a good friend. A cheap price for Victory in the name of the Holy God Emperor. Plus it would show many of the newcomers and higher ups who never once fought, that to win, we must sometimes sacrifice even ourselves.
The end result though was worse than she had expected. The Orks continued to push into the system, and most of her fleet was being chopped up and spread about o other commands to be able to provide a better defense. The mere mention of Orks sent people into a panic, and rather than have one larger fleet meet the bastards head on, the Planetary Governors and Sector Command would rather have multiple smaller fleets protecting each planet. Fools, they didn't know the Orks like she did. They needed to hit them hard and fast before they had a chance to dig in. But instead her fleet was being cut down to only about 4 ships. At the very least her own battlecruiser was to be fully repaired and another ship was assigned to join her group, with a green as grass officer running it.
'The Emperor Works in mysterious ways.' She told herself over and over again, as she sat on her ass at port, waiting with depleted patience for the new ship to arrive. When it did, it brought with it the new Officer.
This new Naval officer was
Caroline Dahler (MC), the daughter of a noble family of some distant world that had probably earned their weralth off the backs of the working man while they never went hungry once in a thousand years. Caroline's family was the type to wave some money in the direction of the military as a way to pay off tithes or avoid Drafts while happily allowing many others to fight and die for them. But not Caroline, she defied the traditions of her family, and when she was old enough she snuck out and signed her life away into the Imperial Navy. To say her family was upset was an understatement. They were livid to the point their shouts could be heard all the way in the next skyscraper.
But now that she was in the system, she was with the Navy now, their influence was nothing compared to those of the Emperor's sword and shield. Caroline was unlike most nobles, she wanted to work for the benefit of Humanity, fighting the aliens over there before being forced to fight them when they invade. She felt helpless hearing the news constantly of planets falling to the enemies or ships being raided and destroyed. So she planned over time to enlist, and pushed herself past everything to eventually have her own ship. It may be a small destroyer that she commands, but she will still do her part to work and fight for the Imperium. To prove to herself she is worthy of living in the Imperium, of defending her people's way of life.
Anashula made sure to meet the newest member of her small fleet. To appraise this noble born silver spoon, and to tell Caroline that she doesn't need more aristocrats, she needed
soldiers. And that she would find no favors here, among her fleet all were rewarded by their duty and effort, not the circumstances of their birth. To which Caroline broke the stereotype by saluting and giving a crisp.
'Yes Ma'am' . Any other noble would have whined and complained about their lineage, but not her. Fascinating.
Within a week of their unification new orders arrived. Not only were the Orks on the move, but a new force had come into the system. The Tau were a new race in the galaxy. They had only been a space faring civilization for two centuries, and yet had already caused the Imperium much trouble. They were now on the offensive, taking advantage of the Ork invasion to push into Imperial space and conquer Human worlds, and indoctrinate its peoples.
Anashula knew the reputation of the Tau, filthy xenos that falsely promised a better life to all those who would join them and worship their
'Greater Good.' that is until you lost your useful ness to them, or began to notice they treated you like a second class citizen. Or when their promise of religious freedom meant until they no longer enjoyed you having your Human religion in their territory. Then they would either forcefully
sterilize and permanently neuter you (so as not to pass on your
'defective genes') or simply send you to a
reeducation camp.
To her they were just as bad as Chaos. Spreading their lies and forcing others to convert to their ways, and forget the Holy Emperor. When the call comes to her, to engage in naval combat against the Tau, she was more than happy. And it would serve ass good training for the new arrival when they engaged the Orks. At this point in the invasion, most of the fighting occurred in the void of space, Just how Ana liked it.
Her Mars class Battlecruiser, and Caroline's smaller Cobra Destroyer would be the main heavy hitters against the enemy. With most of the fleet busy holding off the remnants of the Orks, it was up to Anashula and her small fleet (Caroline included) to remind the Tau that Humanity was not one to be subjugated.
