ISD 16797 - Battle of Comum

One of LORD MARLOWE's many battles. Battle for the fate of the Comum system.

My likeness was sure to be displayed on every holograph plate in the refinery, black and red. Even in places where my message would not be heard, my face—my mask—would be seen. I had fought the Cielcin for hundreds of years on dozens of worlds, battled them from the far Expanse of Norma and up and down the Centaurine provinces: Aptucca and Oxiana, Berenike and Mettina, Comum and Senuessa.

My face and mask were known.

Kingdoms of Death, Chapter 2: Truth

The other men had already donned their helmets, and stood in five ranks twenty deep along the aisles Sharp’s men had arranged in the supply crates. Those crates had been emptied in the interim. Lances assembled, disruptors holstered, bandoleers strapped into place. Each and every one of Sharp’s Dragonslayers wore a repulsor harness—I wore one myself—buckled over the shoulders and about the waist. The devices permitted us to control our descent, to float out of the sky, not fall, relying on the same technology that lifted ships without wing or engine and allowed chariots and cargo floats to operate.

“We’re ready, my lord!” Sharp exclaimed, shouting over the screaming vessel. I glanced up at the signal light to the right of the ramp. It glowed red, as I expected it to. It would cycle blue when we were over the target. Sharp alone of the men in the hold had not donned his helmet, and he eyed me with concern. “You’ve done this before?”

I realized only haltingly that the centurion meant his words as a question. “Four times!” I shouted back. The last had been at the Battle of Comum. I did not tell him that, or that I had been more than a hundred years younger at the time.

Ashes of Man, Chapter 22: The Hidden Fortress

“I have heard of you,” Sachin said, “if, of course, you are Lorian Aristedes. You know, I was at Comum, I served aboard the battleship Acheron, in the defense of Malki Station.”

Some half-forgotten part of him stirred, and Lorian struck his breast with a fist, raised an open hand in salute. He had served at Comum himself, on and around the planet. Malki Station had been out on the fringes of the system, a Legion refueling station for the Imperial navy. “I recall the Acheron.”

“And I the Tamerlane,” Sachin said. “Were it not for your people, we would have been lost.”

The Cielcin had overrun the system, descended upon Comum with two of their worldships, vast as moons. They had bombarded the planet, bombed the capital to rubble, killed the Count and his family, and carried off millions of the natives for meat and slaves. Only the timely arrival of the Red Company at the head of an Imperial fleet for what was meant to be a chance patrol had delivered the system from disaster.

The Dregs of Empire, Chapter 13: The Subterrane