[Julius Firefocht]

Prologue Part II

In the pursuit of this lofty goal, the armies of the Empress would search for and rediscover the lost colonies of humanity, and embrace the citizens within as long lost brothers and sisters. At the same time, any alien civilizations would be forcibly integrated, or failing that, exterminated, by the direct and express orders of the Empress. As the first step towards the objective, a treaty was signed between the Empress and the Adeptus Mechanicus of Mars to allow the Empress access to the vast production capabilities of the Martian Empire, with which she upgraded Her armies and built vast starships. With that done, the Age of the Imperium was at hand.

The 20 Astartes Legions, led by the Empress and their respective Primarchs, began the war of conquest, boarding their ships and sailing out into the sea of stars for the war that eventually came to be known as the Great Crusade. Countless human worlds were illuminated, the sufferings of the populations making the divine light of the Empress a welcome change from the darkness of wars that had been fought for so long, that the combatants had all but forgotten the reasons for fighting. Certain worlds were peaceful and stable, and most of these worlds readily submitted to the Empress’ undeniable authority. A number of worlds refused to entertain the prospect of joining the Empress’ Imperium of Mankind, and took up arms against the Astartes, whom they perceived as invaders. Such worlds were conquered and subjugated in short order, the Astartes’ horrifying efficiency in war making mincemeat out of any and all opposition.

Alien races, both benign and hostile, were discovered as the Great Crusade pushed ever outwards beyond known space. The Astartes went to work on the openly hostile races, pushing these aliens back across galactic space, and reclaiming planet after alien planet in the name of the Empress and their Primarchs. However, it was at the Joker system campaign, against a whole sector of rebellious colonies, that the Imperium acquired one of its greatest victory.

Joker was a huge system comprising of roughly forty worlds, all held by colonists who preferred their independence and their heretical religion to the guiding beacon of the Empress and the Imperium. Attempts to peacefully contact them were met with outright hostility, prompting the Empress to declare all out war on the system and its inhabitants. Intelligence acquired by Lord Koizumi had indicated that the amount of opposition in the system was truly astronomical, thanks to the amount of soldiers and war material available to the resource rich worlds in the system. The Joker system had been peaceful throughout the centuries, thus allowing the colonies to build a superb defense against any invaders, human or alien. The very same defenses would be turned against the forces of the Empress, who would now have to fight through a daunting network of orbital and ground based weapons. Never in the Crusade had such a powerful obstacle been placed in the path of the Astartes Legions, and led by their Primarchs, they rose to the challenge.

The demands of that campaign were such that out of 20 Legions, six Legions and at least 4 million soldiers of Lord Kyon’s Imperial Army were called upon to cleanse the system of the faithless heretics. To coordinate the effort of so many assets, the Empress personally chose Primarch Lelouch of the Luna Wolves to take overall command of the campaign, while She and Lord Kyon supervised the campaign from Her orbiting flagship.

Primarch Lelouch was a commander who had proven himself to be a genius at military tactics and strategies. Indeed, Lelouch had the highest victory tally out of all the Primarchs, with only Primarchs Sawatari Makoto of the Space Foxes and Yagami Hayate of the Dark Angels approaching his victory count. The other five Primarchs, namely Fate Testarossa of the Blood Angels, Sagara Sousuke of the Crossed Scars, Izumi Konata of the Ultramarines, Takamachi Nanoha of the Empress’ Children and Tsukimiya Ayu of the White Wings, naturally deferred to his judgement, especially after the Empress’ orders to that effect. Outwardly pleased at the honor bestowed upon him, Lelouch began planning his moves carefully and soon enough started the vast assault against the Joker system.

The White Wings, led by Ayu, began a series of hit and run attacks that Primarch and Legion were so famous for, scattering and diverging the heretics from the system’s main planet of Joker. The Ultramarines, led by Konata, performed with their trademark efficiency and precision, striking at multiple weak points in the heretics’ defense simultaneously. While the main bulk of the enemy army was disoriented and in disarray, the Blood Angels, Crossed Scars, Empress’ Children and Lelouch’s own Luna Wolves mounted a daring drop-pod assault upon Joker itself, utilizing Lelouch’s practiced strategy of ripping the throat out of the enemy before the rest of their forces could respond. The strategy was successful, and the four Legions, led by their Primarchs, began the grisly work of killing their way through a seemingly endless tide of fanatical soldiers who died screaming the names of their gods.

The Imperium eventually emerged victorious after weeks of non-stop combat. Lelouch, accompanied by his elite 1st company, personally killed the arch-leader of the heretics in a climatic battle that marked the end of the campaign. With the conclusion of the campaign, several events happened that shifted the balance of power and the political landscape of the Imperium. First of all, the Empress announced Her intention to return to Terra with Lord Kyon, for reasons unknown to all. In Her absence, Lelouch would have overall strategic control of the Astartes Legions and all other military assets, as well as being honoured with the new rank of Warmaster. The other Primarchs and their Legions were to obey his orders as they obeyed the word of the Empress, a fact that caused unhappiness among some of the Primarchs. Finally, along with a long list of citations and honours presented to the Luna Wolves, the Empress allowed the Legion to change its name to the Sons of Lelouch Legion, to better reflect Lelouch’s new authority and power.