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Viktor Hark

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Viktor Hark was a Commissar[1a][2a] who served on Lord General Lugo's staff during the Sabbat Worlds Crusade.[1a][1d] He was attached to the Tanith First and Only regiment of the Astra Militarum for their seemingly final mission on Hagia[1a], and remained with them following their unexpected success on that world.[1f][2a][2b]


Biography

Hagia

For some time, the General Staff of the Sabbat Crusade had been considering appointing a Commissar to the Tanith First and Only; the regiment's commanding officer, Ibram Gaunt, held the unusual rank of Colonel-Commissar, bestowed on him by Warmaster Slaydo, and many in Crusade command believed that Gaunt was not capable of handling the conflicting duties of a Colonel and Commissar. This concern was brought to the forefront in the Hagia campaign.[1a]

The reconquest of Hagia, which had been subjugated by Pater Sin and his Infardi, was a morally important theatre of the Crusade, as Hagia was both the birth- and burial place of Saint Sabbat herself. Gaunt had command of the Imperial forces committed to the recapture of Hagia's capital but Lord General Lugo, impatient and eager for victory, pressured Gaunt into taking the city quickly, not caring for collateral damage or caution in the face of the Archenemy. Lugo ordered Gaunt to abandon his infantry-based approach in favour of an armoured assault by the Eighth Pardus Armoured, which led to Imperial forces triggering a psychic booby trap that not only killed a large number of Brevian guardsmen, but also acted as an astropathic beacon summoning Chaos reinforcements to Hagia.[1a]

Lugo was left no choice but to order the evacuation of Hagia, abandoning the planet to the forces of Chaos.[1a] Hark, however, both admired Gaunt and realised that the Lord General was trying to find a scapegoat to cover up his own failures. He suggested to Lugo that Gaunt and the Tanith First should be charged with a final mission - to travel to the Shrinehold of Saint Sabbat and retrieve the Saint's bones for transport offworld.[1a][1d] Hark was attached to the regiment for this operation, charged with keeping Gaunt in line and ensuring that he did not fail in this task.[1a][1b]

When Gaunt and his honour guard reached the Shrinehold, however, Gaunt decided not to remove the Saint's remains. Instead he chose to hold position and defend the shrine against the attacking Chaos forces - partly due to Sabbat's deathbed prophecy, which predicted disaster if her bones were ever taken from Hagia, and also because there was little chance of breaking through the Infardi army that had pursued them into the mountains. Hark protested this decision and threatened to detain or execute Gaunt, as it went against explicit orders, but backed down after some of the other officers in the honour guard threatened to shoot him.[1d] In the battle to defend the shrine, Hark managed to save the life of Major Rawne by taking out a SteG 4 with his plasma pistol.[1e]

Tanith First and Only

After the actions at Hagia Hark became the second commissar of the Tanith First, dealing more with the day to day commissariat duties while Colonel-Commissar Gaunt dealt with the command duties of running the regiment.[2b][2c]

Fighting with the Tanith through actions at Phantine, Herodor and Aexe Cardinal, he became an integral part of the regiment. During the Battle of Herodor he lost part of his arm to a Loxatl flechette blaster round and had it replaced by a bionic.[Needs Citation]

When Ibram Gaunt went on the mission to Gereon Hark was the head Commissar for the Tanith. But during the time between Gaunt's mission on Gereon and his return the Tanith First had been mixed with the Belladon 81st Recon Regiment and became the 81st/1st Recon. After the campaign during "His Last Command", the Tanith First was reformed and was back under the command of Gaunt, with Hark returning to his role as the chief political commissar while Gaunt commanded the regiment.

Wargear

Hark is known to have used an antique plasma pistol.[1c] He was also the only combatant in the regiment not to own a Tanith warknife, instead preferring a standard-issue pugio dagger with a broad blade and a golden aquila crest.[2c]

See also

Sources