Historical Account
Summary
This is a historical account of the reclamation of the Kataan System for population and mining purposes.
[External References: Hive Fleet Kraken, Ork Threat, Astronimicon Rating Alpha-Phi]
Discovery
The
Kataan System was first discovered approximately 10 decades ago by
FreeCaptain Archimel Pyryte. Whilst on long distance sublight haulage
of sensitive chemical ores he happened upon an unmarked system. A quick
scan of all 5 planets showed them to be uninhabitable. As per
regulations he reported this finding to the nearest Administratum
official.
The system was officially explored 5 years later
when resources could be freed. Indepth analysis of all five planets
revealed two to be of value for mining operations. However none of the
planets were hospitable to human life.
Terraforming
The
System was designated as a test and development subject for the latest
terraforming technique, Meteorological Acceleration. Rather than adding
anything to the planet that wasn’t previously there, this technique
allows the planets ecosystem to be plunged forward a predetermined time
into it’s evolutionary future. It has been theorised that use on
inhabited worlds could produce disasterous results, the nature fauna
mutating at such a rate death is assured. However on uninhabited
planets this technique can be used to change barren rocks into
inhabitable worlds.
Terraforming began 45years after initial
discovery. The entire system was set off limits during the process,
partially due to fear of the technology falling into unpure hands,
partially because of the severe atmospherical and gravitational storms
involved. There are over 12dozen reports of small ships being destroyed
by security satellites and cruisers during this period. Whether they
stumbled into the system unaware, or whether they were there with
malicious intent was deemed inconsequential.
After half a
decade the gravitational fields settled and the Adepts were able to
sample the atmosphere from orbit. It was found to be breathable and the
process was labelled a complete success.
The Great Storms
Two
days after the first teams of explorers had landed on the planet, The
Great Storms began. Of the thirty five men who landed, only one made it
back off the planet. He gave reports of hail and sleet, rocks the size
of an Ogryns head falling from the sky. Hurricanes and tornados were
rampant, ripping up all the newly created vegetation, engulfing almost
the entire planet in one giant natural disaster.
The storms raged for twenty years, all the time the plant being monitored from orbit. On the 124th day of the 21st year, the storms subsided. The planet, though deeply ravaged and torn, was left inhabitable.
Again
explorers set down on the surface, and all the reports they sent back
told of arid, fallow land covering the entire Northern Hemisphere.
However the Southern Hemisphere, though devoid of life, had retained
it’s ability to support life.
Water System
Immediately
an encampment was set up in the centre of the Southern Hemisphere and
teams of geological Adepti began work on setting up a self sustaining
vegetation system. Using genetic strains from the planet soil mutated
plants were cultivated and began growing at an incredible rate.
Large
deposists of water were found under the Southern Pole. It was believed
that the off-spherical shape of the planet, combined with it’s complex
orbit, had pulled all the flood waters from the Great Storms to the
Southern most tip, where they had gathered and seeped into deep
underground caverns.
Within weeks the encampment had been
established as the access point to the sole planetary water supply, and
was marked as the future site of one of the planets larger cities.
The First Arrivals
Once
a water supply was assured and vegetation was established recruitment
for the mining operations on the other two planets of the system began.
It is unclear what methods were used by planetary governors to
influence certain members of their populations to relocate, but it is
rumoured they were offered tithe discounts for each 100 men they
dispatched to Kataan.
The first arrivals set foot on Kataan
IV just as the first city STC was delivered. It was decided that the
first city should be placed in the narrow belt between the desert
wastes and the area already abundant with local flora. Over the next 6
months the outer shell of the city was constructed, providing
protection from the sandstorms that occasionaly swept out of the
desert, and the new emerging life forms in the now fully grown jungle.
As
the final wall section was being placed the new planetary governor,
Diocyes Brast arrived on the planet. As is tradition the most senoir
Administratum representative on the planet was given the privilege of
naming the first city. And so Brast named the city, Katul.
By now a steady stream of immigrants was flowing and the
small shelters were quickly being erected around the inner perimeter of
Katul. Orders were placed for large blocks, capable of house 150,000
people. Over the next two years these arrived one by one until finally
Katul was complete, and almost fully inhabited.
Civil Unrest
As
time passed many of the miners grew dissatisfied, and this turned to
anger. They protested the way in which they were drafted into their
contracts and that the poor working conditions and excessive
commutation were hazardous to their health.
Brast was a pompous self-righteous man and he believed he
could quell the unrest by force. He requested a larger security
contingent from the regional centre, and once they arrived he invoked
curfews on pain of imprisonment and corporal punishment. He believed
that if he could stop the miners gathering he could stop any plotting
before it began.
Within six months the simple unrest and dissatisfaction
turned into small-scale rebellion. The miners, very aware of how the
Imperium treated rebellious workers were very careful in their means.
In the following six months of civil action, not one gun was raised in
anger or any harm inflicted. They simply downed tools, and through a
strict scheme of passive resistance they slowly drove Brast insane.
When his security troops wouldn’t carry out orders to fire
on unarmed, unthreatening civilians, he took matters into his own
hands. Running through the streets of the capital, he killed over 17
men and women before his own security troops shot him dead.
The local Officio Administratum realised the urgency of the
Kataan mining situation. Though even the leanest estimates gave them a
5decade cushion to mine the planets before Veyga collapsed, they did
not want future delays to put this in jeopardy. In what many regard as
a stroke of genius, Governor Jenx was withdrawn from the nearby Pegdra
system and placed in charge of Kataan IV. Jenx was not only an
intelligent man with a great deal of experience, but he was also
compassionate toward his civilians and a reputed swordsman.
With Jenx’ arrival working conditions improved vastly, the
workers returned to their duties and migration rates doubled. Within a
year of his taking the Governor’s seat, five of the current ten cities
were built and inhabited.
Hive Fleet Kraken
A few years
passed with a steady influx of civilians and an increasing export of
mined goods, when Hive Fleet Kraken struck the sector. After many
furious battles and deeds of great courage, the tendril near Kataan was
pushed back, before being destroyed. However as the Tyranids retreated
they placed within close proximity to the Kataan system.
As a cautionary act Imperial Guard troops were dispatched
to sweep every planet in the Fleets fall back corridor. Due to Kataan
IV’s unique status in the system, and vast jungle, two companies of
guardsmen were assigned there.
The first company consisted of desert specialists and
jungle fighters, both more suited to their unique terrain than the
standard guardsmen. The second company was all armoured, dispatched to
give greater mobility over the vast desert.
Captains Prakkarm and Reyjik were charged with the 1st and
2nd companies, respectively, whilst Colonel Jay B. Schneiss oversaw the
entire operation. Also amongst their number was Commissar Yensk,
deputed with ensuring every man fulfilled his duty to the Imperium.
For the next 8 months they scoured the planets surface for
alien threats. Prakkarm leading his men on foot into the Southern
jungles, Reyjik riding his tanks across the Northern deserts. Even
after prolonged and thorough searches there was no sign of the
Tyranids.
When Schneiss was satisfied the planet was clean he
transmitted his findings to the nearest HQ and began preparing his men
for departure, ready to take on their new orders. But they did not
come, and so they waited. Schneiss, not wanting to see his men idle,
set them to searching the planet once again, this time at night, as
reports of nocturnal Tyranids were beginning to come in.
After another two months Yensk left Kataan IV in his
personal cruiser, headed for the local HQ to investigate the delay. As
he left the atmosphere his ship came under heavy fire from short-range
craft. Gaudy, noisy fighters, more suited to strafing runs than space
flight, swooped and dived around his ship, letting off sharp bursts of
projectile and energy fire. Under enormous bombardment Yensk was forced
to return to the surface.
Greenskins
Even as Yensk made
his way to Katul from the site of his emergency landing, the Orks
attacked. For two days and two nights they bombed and strafed the
capital in their flying machines. Flak guns succeeded in taking out a
large number, but still they came. Yensk arrived back inside the city
walls just as the first wave of land faring Orks arrived.
The Orks rode a mass of varied and unique vehicles; each
modified to suit it riders needs. Prakkarm and his company, by sheer
fortune, were inside the capital resting up after two weeks night
scouting. Within minutes of the attack the city had defenders on the
wall.
The battle raged for two whole weeks. The Orks charged and
the defenders repelled, forcing them back. Then they simply upped camp
and left. On the morning of the 16th day of the battle they mounted
their vehicles and headed west from the city. The city had taken heavy
damage to its outer walls, and soldiers had died in the collapsing
rubble, but the gates had held strong and the thousands of civilians
were safe.
Schneiss, getting anxious waiting for the 2nd company,
still on route from the far side of the planet, dispatched a number of
his cavalry, mounted on native reptiles, after the Orks, keen to know
their destination. After 7days without word from his trackers, the 2nd
company arrived.
The Future
Since the
disappearance of the initial scouting party Schneiss has sent out many
more, with varied weaponry and transports. Some have returned, but all
on foot, delirious with heat stroke, they ramble about thousands more
Orks than were involved in the initial confrontation.
Schneiss has since put in a request for additional troops,
and unwilling to separate his companies, he has kept the entire force
at Katul. If the tales of massed Ork ranks are true, then holding the
capital, the source of communications with the rest of the galaxy, is
vital. When the Orks come again, and they will, it is not certain that
the defenders will succeed.
Combine the Orkish troubles with the almost complete halt
to mining operations due to the continued attacks by Ork ships, and the
growing number of rumours of mutated corpses appearing each dawn in the
outlying farms and the situation on Kataan IV is growing ever more
desperate.