Faith & Empire: Book One of The Holy Terran Empire

4. The Battle Begins

"Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for battle, my fingers for war," Chaplain Prata recited the Imperial battle prayer which began with the opening verses of the 143rd Psalm, prayed by Christian soldiers down the ages. His raspy tenor came through my helmet's comm link crisp and clear. "My refuge and my fortress, my stronghold, my deliverer, my shield, in whom I trust, who subdues peoples under me."

Our briefing ended nearly two hours ago. The mission clock counted down to zero soon after. The invasion was a go!

I was aboard the Santo Torquemada, down on my right knee with the rest of 5th Battalion's C Company. We suited up and lined up by squads, twelve abreast, sixteen deep. Our plasteel plate armor was gray with red fluting, our breastplates stamped with the Imperial Marines' emblem of gold, sword-shaped cross and red omega. Our hauberks were black.

A squad of the Knights of Saint James Matamoros knelt in the row ahead of us. They were in their bulky power armor, white with red highlights. Their breastplates were stamped with their order's namesake cross.

Behind us knelt a squad of Hospitallers, minus Chaplain Prata who was up front, leading us in prayer. These warrior-priests also wore plate and chain, all black but for the simple, white cross that emblazoned their breast plates.

Behind the Hospitallers were two squads of squires, in red and white checkered plasteel plate. The crysteel hauberks they wore beneath the plate were red

A dozen hulking, five-meter tall, silver and gold mechanized knights stood in trios behind our columns. Their breastplates were also emblazoned with the red Saint James Cross. The knights who operated the mechs were on the deck in pressurized gambesons and helmets, kneeling beneath their "walking tanks."

A formidable fighting force as could be found anywhere in the galaxy, our voices rose as one as we all joined Chaplain Prata in praying verses derived from ancient Byzantine and Russian liturgies, "O Lord, judge those who offend Thee. Smite those who set themselves against Thee. Come to our aid with arms and shields."

Knights, squires and marines then fell silent as Chaplain Prata and his fellow Hospitallers continued, "Make Thy faithful soldiers glad in Thy strength, O Lord. May Thy cross, invincible weapon of peace, assist us in battle and grant us victory over the enemies of our True Faith and our glorious Empire."

One man in each marine squad had an aether generator strapped to his back which powered a formidable Mark IV Plasma Rifle. Izzy was our squad's Burner. The rest of us wielded all-purpose HAW 3Ks. The bulky Heavy Assault Weapons weren't pretty to look at, but their power and versatility had won them standard issue status in the corps.

The 3K designation was derived from its three thousand bead drum, but the weapon also housed a twelve-grenade cartridge and it had a variable pulse fire capacity which could do anything from stunning opponents to burning fist-sized holes through them. Pulse pistols were holstered at our hips.

The Hospitallers and Knights of Saint James carried power swords instead of pistols for sidearms.

The towering mechanized knights were armed with oversized HAW 12Ks which had a maximum effective range of 1,200 meters compared to the 500 meter range of the man-sized HAWs. The mechs carried power swords with blades as tall as men at their sides. These battle hulks could also fire twenty-four megawatt lasers from apertures molded into their armor behind and above their wrists. Additionally, each mech sported a six rocket rack across their backs.

The entire assembly joined for the closing lines of the antiphonal war prayer, "Grant victory to Your people for Your glory, O Lord, for You are our strength and protection and we sing praises to Your glory, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen."