[Cafe] 116 – A Space Marine Part 1

[A/N:: Got into the grove as I started writing this chapter, got it done in like two hours, music blasting in my ears to make my heart race]

As soon as the simulation started, Joshua began to back away.

"Your objective? Conquer the Dam," Joshua informed the Space Marine before being whisked away to a simulation of Caeser's Camp where Joshua could watch the battle unfold through a holographic screen that appeared before him, show casing the Marine as he appeared in the middle of Caeser's camp, specifically in Caser's camp.

Giving the room a brief glance, the towering giant looked around the room through his helmet with a sneer. He had to work with these Heretics, these Barbarians? No. For this, he would do it himself.

Ignoring the people at the table, the Space Marine turned around and stepped outside of the tent and into the camp; the Space Marine's already superhuman senses, combined with his advanced helmet, let him see far more than what any human could ever hope to see. In moments, he counted the number of men in the camp, their gear, their weapons, what sort of firepower they had, and in the far distance, the objective itself.

Turning around, he stepped back into the tent and stomped forward, drawing the attention of the men at the table, including a strangely familiar man that the Space Marine interacted with not even minutes ago, Joshua Graham, general of Caeser, and in his prime, before he was destined to be covered in pitch and set on fire, and kicked down into the deep chasm that was the grand canyon.

The sheer Aura of the towering Chapter Master silenced everyone in the tent as the Space Marine focused on the map filled with possible strategies that lay on the wooden table, with a dozen men in strange yet poor armor leaning over it.

"I am taking charge of this operation," Artor's voice echoed out across the room, making the Prateoreans and Centurions in the room nervous as they held their weapons while 'Prime' Joshua held his ground, staring at the towering soldier from the Future.

"You may be the special operative Caeser has given me for this siege, but I am in command here, do you understand, gentile?" Joshua's voice responded just as firmly.

While Artor's eyes looked at everyone else within the tent as if they were fodder for the coming battle, he looked upon Joshua with a glare that bordered on respect for the guts of the mere human before him.

"Come," Artor demanded, turning around and stepping outside of the tent.

Standing outside the tent, Artor only had to wait for a few moments before Joshua stepped out of the tent.

"Look," Artor told Joshua, his eyes not leaving the distant Dam, "What do you see?"

"False shepherds, boasting about the glory of the old world, corrupt and sinful," Joshua spoke.

Not calling out the hypocrisy of Joshua's words, Artor shook his head and answered, "No. Look."

Growling, Joshua reached for a pair of binoculars and peeked through them, setting his gaze down to the Dam below.

Already, Joshua could see the beginnings of the NCR's reinforcement of the dam, setting up as many sandbags, wooden pallicades, and whatever else they had available to make a frontal assault as difficult as possible, then Joshua noted the howitzers at the back of the fortifications, four of them, maned by NCR soldiers and the elite Desert Rangers.

"You are setting yourself up for failure. I do not tolerate failure, not for this. By the end of this day, you will have that dam, but only if you do this strategically. Those men down there have better armaments, better gear, and a better defensive position from which to wipe out your force before you even make it halfway down that road. Your force may have more men and a few artillery for this siege as well, but your men seemed trained for close-quarters, half of them not even having a decent firearm, let alone any range options," Artor spoke up, his posture rigid, and his grasp on his mighty axe was as big as Joshua remained tight.

"And what would you have me do? This is what Caeser has given me command of," Joshua growled out, already seemingly having known of the problem he faced.

"You have me. We attack at night when most of their men are tired and when they have trouble seeing in the dark. I will advance first, taking out their artillery before striking their tanks and aerial vehicles, crippling them before the battle even beings. You send half of your force down the river, where they can cross and attack from the other side, while your main force attacks from this side of the river, a pincer attack. Trap them on the Dam and use your artillery to take out their fortifications. They have two camps down the road, Camp Forlorn Hope and a ranger station, take those out first, crippling their supply lines and preventing the dam from receiving reinforcement, and focus on those targets, going for this 'boulder city' or any of the other camps further inland will only result in easy picking for their snipers, understand?" Artor spoke in one breath, having made a plan that should work if they get enough of the army onto the other side of the river.

"What's stopping them from routing us after we take the dam?" Joshua asked the obvious question.

"Nothing, which is why after you conquer this dam, have your men scout out every inch of this dam for weak points for future attacks. If needed, in the future, you could prepare a dedicated infiltration team to sneak into that dam through the lake, as there will likely be drainage pipes, maintenance tunnels, and entrances along the entire dam that your force could make use of," Artor explained, already expecting that this force he was to aid was destined to lose this simple 'Dam' not long after they take it.

"You have six thousand men; they have two thousand. If we do this correctly, your casualties should be minimal, and if we are lucky, we can capture the enemy leadership and interrogate them for vital information and plans," Artor continued.

"Caeser said you would be the force to turn the tide of this battle, but I need proof," Joshua spoke up after a few moments of thinking.

Artor didn't reply. Instead, he drew his axe and marched over to the sparing ring in the center of the camp.

"We do not have time to waste. Bring me the best of your men, and I will fight them all," Artor told Joshua, already beginning to strip himself of his armor, revealing a great many scars, both surgical and earned from combat, his eyes gaining a hard edge to them as if he was fighting for his very honor in the coming battle.

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[#1] - I can't find much on the Astral Knights as a chapter, but what I did find is that the Astral Knights have serious Honor issues like they take it very, very seriously and fight one another over and over over the slightest of jabs to what they perceive to be their honor. Other than that, the Astral Knights are a successor chapter to the Imperial Fists, who specialize in defensive warfare, siege warfare, and urban combat. Also, the Astral Knights have essentially ceased to exist after they lost most of their chapter in the battle to destroy the World Engine, a weapon employed by the Necrons, when our very same Arnor rammed his ship into the planetary weapon to destroy it, which they successfully destroyed.