# A Lost Legion



## ckcrawford (Feb 4, 2009)

*A story of the lost 11th Legion*

_Hello, I am Crawford from the Emperor's eleventh and most glorious legion. The Regal Shields. You may know me as one of the heretics wondering around the heresy. But the universe as we know it has its funny sides to it, both in its brutality... and its mercy. 

I was a sergeant in the Regal Shields 9th Grand Company's Devastation Squad. Somehow, the universe has granted me its mercy and has put me in this 5'6 human body that I live in today. A fraction of my former glory. And for that, I shall forever suffer this Universes brutality. This is my story._



I guess I shall start where it all began. The mountanous world of Celtania. A beautiful world of mountains and ocean. It was these things of beauty that made my lord Pompus and our people go forward into the stars. I was a 12 year old boy at the time. A simple serf who cleaned up over our first captains wargear. Our lord Pompus took the only ship our world had to offer to sail off into the stars... forever. We had gone forth towards the stars in discovery of something beautiful and more meaningful. As though we had one mind in search of something great. And we found it.

We had been ambushed by four different fleets. We could tell the difference by the different colors on their ships. The one coming the closest to us was white. All of a sudden we all heard a god like voice burst in low gothic through our intercoms.

It had been a very long time since our people had felt fear. Our lord Pompus, a giant of men, had led us to victory against the vicious eldar. We could see a change in our master's mood as the voice came to us.


"This is the Emperor. Lord of the Imperium, and the Master of Terra. Disarm now and prepare for boarding, or else face the consequences of my wrath."


Lord Pompus did not move. Everyone aboard our ship did not move for many moments. the moments seemed like hours. And finally our Lord Pompus gave us the order to disarm and head towards the boarding decks for surrender.

As we awaited them, we could hear the clash of metal thumping on our ship's decks as we saw metal bulky monstrosities painted white with an emblem of a wolf's head over a half moon march in columns. They stormed the decks and made a square around our Lord Pompus. Soon a phalanx of the last warriors in even more bulkier armor surrounded our lord.

We were all there aboard the cargo bay as we saw our lord helpless and surrounded. Then two more even bigger monstrosities came forward towards our master. Neither of them wore a helmet. One of them wore the same armor as the rest of his men. He had a buzz cut and a chilling feeling to him. The biggest of them all, wore golden armor and long hair. He looked like a god as he towered over everyone. He was all; handsome, beautiful, yet terrifying at the same time.

Our Lord Pompus had tears rolling down his blue eyes, as he walked towards the two lords for parlay. Instead of accepting any terms, yet alone letting words come from the two visitors, he got on a knee. The Golden Figure looked upon our lord with happiness, and we could sense his appreciation. But the other giant looked upon him with envious eyes, arrogance, and igotism. As though our Lord Pompus was bowing to him, and him alone. It didn't matter, we would soon be accepted into something so great that we would finally find what we were looking for. A chance to conquer the stars. And it all started with the words:


"Rise my son... Primarch of the 11th Legion... the Regal Shields."


Well, you guys know the rest. The Great Crusade, and the birth of humanities' dominion over the galaxy. We were like gods and nothing could stop us.

It had been sometime after the discovery of Alpharius. And the Emperor had joined and left the crusade many times due to pressing matters back in Terra. What had become of my legion and I, is quite impressive at the very least. I had gone and joined the ranks of the scouts until I was worthy enough to join the ranks of the Space Marines. And the right to wear the armor of the Emperor's angels of death. I had quickly shown my abilities as a weapons expert and joined the devastaters as a Sergeant. 

The Regal Shields had created a legend of their own. No other legion could compare the success and speed of our legion's success. Except for perhaps Horus and his Luna Wolves. But we were glad that they had their share of success. After all, many would claim it was our legion that had pushed that legion to the excellence it had. In truth, both legions had pushed each other. Or else Dorn or perhaps the Lion would be the ones claiming that title of the most achieved legion. 

Despite Horus' success, and despite his close bond to the Emperor, the Emperor had decreed that the Primarch, and our beloved Lord Pompus be Warmaster of all the Imperium. General of all his armies. Horus had been enraged by this decision. Our Lord Pompus was not the strongest, nor was he the smartest. But he was great none the less. His greatest quality was his ability to reason with people. It was this quality that had helped our legion achieve all its success. Our Lord's ability to compromise and his presence was that of a great man. It was said that when one looked upon our lord, what they could see was what he truly was at heart. 

When a planet or system's leader refused to stand in greatness and greater quality for its people, then, and only then did our legion strike with swift justice. Without judgement or prejudice, we struck the blow that would make it so. 

Our Lord had just one more task until he could be accepted as Warmaster. He had to go through a crusade that the Legion had to complete. In order to obtain certain knowledge that our Emperor needed for the sake and future of the Imperium.

As such much of the mission's objective and elements had been kept away from our knowledge. We sailed across space towards the Eldar Craftworlds. In search of the "Blacklibrary." Or at least, thats what rumors told "us." "Us" meaning Sergeant Pepper Highway. Rumors that spread throughout the ranks, especially our Sergeant Ranks. Our legion, though a very successful one, was not that most secretive legion. Rumors spread like flies, and the truth had run through both heart and voice. 

It had been months, but we had set through a secret webway that only the Emperor had previous knowledge about. Within moments of seeing the eldar fleet protecting the Craftworld, we were met with the fierce and devastating weapons of mass destruction. The battle had lasted hours. And what had seemed like a small concentration from the Eldar fleet, started to expand, as more and more Eldar ships made their way to the battle. Different colored ships could be seen everywhere. It made the battle even more confusing. 

What had first seemed as one fleet fighting another, now seemed like one fleet facing the entire race of another. Lord Pompus looked devasted and looked from his decks with unbelief as he ordered the retreat. No force in the universe could withstand the might of an entire legion. But somehow this was not the day. By the time we had reached the way we entered the secret webway, we had lost nearly 60% of our total force. There was not a ship that was not burning as we made our retreat across space. The Eldar fleet did not follow persuit for long.

What would the Emperor do now that we had failed? His greatest legion had just been decimated by the Eldar. Xenos filth that had plagued our galaxy for thousands of years. Not only that, we had knowledge of certain elements for the Imperium and did not achieve our objective. The Imperium would look upon our defeat. Whole planets and systems would rebel and mistrust the ability of our Imperium. Our Lord Pompus had contacted Horus first. Thinking that perhaps the greatest of the Primarchs and the closest of the Emperor would sway the wrath of the Emperor. And he did... or at least... we thought he did.

We were to resupply on one of the moons by Fenris. When we go there, there was nothing but quite bitter sadness. We had thousands of wounded on our ships being brought off. The scene on the dark moon just highlighted our failure as a legion. Our Primarch still on the cargo bay, looking out into space. I wonder if he was thinking the same thing I was. A memory, of when our legion had just been born. When greatness had just draped over us like a blanket. Now, just mere shadows of the cold planet of Fenris. 

Ships from Fenris bringing supplies under the direct command of Leman Russ had just come in from orbit, as the ships cargo was being unloaded, we could see astartes marching forward towards our wounded. No supplies, no food, no medic, no servitors. Perhaps the Eldar had followed us here. Perhaps we were getting ready for attack. 

And then we saw him. The might Wolf Lord make his way to our Lord. I went closer to see what they were discussing...

What I heard and saw next was just exchanging of blows between the two mighty primarchs. And within moments the Wolves fired upon our wounded. Brother killing brother. Our brothers cried in panic and for mercy as they were butchered like cattle. Our legion still in confusion did not even put up a fight as they were all killed pleeing for a reason why. Arms reached forward towards the executioners as their limbs were either torn or shot to pieces. 

Russ a mighty primarch was winning this fight against my lord. No one dared to interevene, or they were just busy trying to retreat for the Wolves. As I saw my lord laying on the cargo bay and the Wolf King about to deliver the final death blow, I charged at the Wolf King to intervene and save my lord. My thunder hammer struck the Kings shoulder and moved him about five feet. He still stood still and looked at the ***** in his armor. Then he punched me in the stomach as I dropped my hammer by my lord as I went flying through the cargo bay. I had passed out. 

I woke up hours later as my Lord try to help me through the ship. And I saw my hammer upon his back.

I had been sent to the medic as my Lord dragged what was left of our force across space. We were running from a leaderless Wolves Fleet, as our Lord had used his last remaining strength to knockout the Mighty Wolf King. Those few seconds of my distraction saving his life. We made our way back where we came, back through the secret Webway, where the Wolves Fleet stopped. We would soon be dead. But at least we would buy a few moments before our death. 

I do not know what happened. I did not see my Lord after he took me back to the Medic. All I know is that our Lord agreed to let the Eldar board our ships. And they had agreed to save our Lord and our Lord Alone. He had taken my hammer with him. The hammer that had saved his life, in exchange our ship would be lost in space and sucked into the warp. As such, we were all consumed... but I wasn't... some of us were sucked through space and time. To different times, moments, and universes. My soul got sucked into this realm and swam through space were I was pulled into a human body. So now I am who I am. Forever saved from a terrible fate, but forever damned for not living my destiny as a Space Marine.


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## C'Tan Chimera (Aug 16, 2008)

Wow, that was something else. I can't pretend to know a huge fluffload of the Horus Heresy, but this was an intriguing look into it. There was the occasional typo, but hell, the story more than made up for it. Job well done!


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## ckcrawford (Feb 4, 2009)

Haha. I was there. So everything is true. 

And sorry about the typos. I do them so that you guys feel better about your grammar abilities. 

And by the way, I did some correcting. I put down the correct legion number. For some reason I was thinking about the Roman Ninth Legion instead of the lost Eleventh Legion of the Astartes. Anyway. Quick revision. Enjoy.


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## Dirge Eterna (Apr 30, 2007)

I will be absolutely flat and blunt with this, I liked this story, for pretty much everything. I liked the names, I liked the fact that Pompus is a Primarch of compromise, I liked the inclusion of the Eldar- don't see them much in fiction- I liked the narrative, I liked the language style. 

Lovely work!
-Dirge


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## Ambush Beast (Oct 31, 2010)

*Cool*

This story answered some questions for me. There were 2 lost legions as I recall, but they are not talked about. Who was the 2nd legion and what did they do to that caused them to be pushed aside? I enjoyed the story. Adrian :goodpost:


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## ckcrawford (Feb 4, 2009)

Thank you gentlemen. I had to do it differently. It was fun piece to make and I really enjoyed making it. So I'm glad you guys liked it too. 




Dirge Eterna said:


> I will be absolutely flat and blunt with this, I liked this story, for pretty much everything. I liked the names, I liked the fact that Pompus is a Primarch of compromise, I liked the inclusion of the Eldar- don't see them much in fiction- I liked the narrative, I liked the language style.
> 
> Lovely work!
> -Dirge


I made it the way it was because firstly, its done by basically, a regular astartes point of view. So that way it doesn't have to be very specific about the 40k fluff specifics. It made things a lot easier so I didn't have to explain the webway and other things.



Adrian said:


> This story answered some questions for me. There were 2 lost legions as I recall, but they are not talked about. Who was the 2nd legion and what did they do to that caused them to be pushed aside? I enjoyed the story. Adrian :goodpost:


Mind you, this is just a fiction piece done by me. Its not... well... its not real in the official 40k fluff sense.:laugh: But it did happen.

I really don't think GW will go to far in depth about the 2 legions. I'm thinking about making one on the 2nd legion. But we shall see. I think I enjoyed making this one compared to some of my other pieces because again, I didn't have to act like I knew everything about the 40k world.


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