Artura Brenken
Artura Brenken was the Colonel of the 252nd Armageddon Steel Legion Regiment and a close associate of Commissar Sebastian Yarrick, working alongside him for more than seventy years.[1a] Her actions during the Second War for Armageddon would eventually lead her to become the de facto Commander of all the native military forces of Armageddon.[1r]
Biography
Early Career
At one point, Brenken was a Sergeant serving in the 252nd Regiment's Sixth Company. She received an unexpected field promotion to Captain following the action to capture the frigate Castellan Belasco; she and her forces successfully completed their mission, whereas her commanding officer, the previous Captain of Sixth Company, was found wanting and executed by Commissar Yarrick.[2]
In her first action as Captain, Brenken led the Sixth Company when they responded to a distress call sent from the Imperial world of Molossus. The world's main settlement, Hive Pyrrhus, was suffering from a mass revolt. The company descended into the underhive intent on crushing the uprising, only to find that the violent mobs they faced were not, in fact, a mass rebellion, but a terrified response to the true threat on the world - an outbreak of Plague Zombies. Brenken and the 252nd successfully held the line while Commissar Yarrick set off a melta bomb within Pyrrhus' gigantic promethium refinery, purging the underhive with flame and eliminating the taint.[2]
Prelude to Armageddon
Years later, Brenken was eventually promoted to Colonel and given command of the 252nd Steel Legion. She commanded the regiment in the defence of the Agri World of Basquit from an Ork horde. Although she regarded the Imperial victory on Basquit as satisfactory, Commissar Yarrick believed the presence of the Orks, far away from any known Ork World and close to the strategically crucial world of Armageddon, was an ill omen. This was compounded by the emergence of a severe Warp Storm that threatened to isolate the Armageddon System from the rest of the Imperium.[1a]
Second War for Armageddon
On returning to Armageddon, Yarrick shared his concerns with Overlord Herman von Strab. Von Strab, however, dismissed the threat and told Yarrick not to take action.[1a] When Yarrick's worst fears were confirmed and Armageddon was invaded by an army of Orks led by the Warlord Ghazghkull Thraka, Brenken proved to be one of Yarrick's main allies in the conflict, alongside Princeps Kurtiz Mannheim of the Legio Metalica and Setheno the Canoness-Errant[1b]; the Imperial forces on Armageddon had to struggle against not only the invading xenos, but the incompetence, insanity and paranoia of von Strab.[1a][1b][1c]
When the Orks reached Armageddon, they made planetfall via a massive Space Hulk codified as the Claw of Desolation, landing in Armageddon Prime near Hive Tempestora and Hive Volcanus.[1d] Von Strab deployed the 252nd Regiment to Armageddon Prime to investigate while the majority of Armageddon's armed forces were held in reserve in Armageddon Secundus, east of the Equatorial Jungle that separated the two continents.[1c][1d] As there were two major hives close to the Orks' landing site, Brenken chose to divide the 252nd Regiment's forces into two; she took half of the 252nd to reinforce Volcanus while the remainder, led by Captain Stahl and including Commissar Yarrick, reconnoitred Tempestora.[1d]
Stahl's half of the regiment immediately ran into stiff resistance, with the bulk of the regiment's transports being shot down by Ork artillery.[1d] Yarrick, however, convinced Stahl to press on to Tempestora and take the fight to the Orks, hoping to distract the xenos so that Brenken would have more time to prepare Volcanus.[1d][1e] However, despite the extensive defences of Volcanus[1e][1f], Ghazghkull was able to outmanoeuvre the Imperial defenders and overwhelm the hive.[1g][1h][1i][1j] Yarrick and Brenken were forced to flee Volcanus, travelling by Chimera to the abandoned settlement of Irkalla[1j][1k] and extracting by Valkyrie to Hive Infernus.[1l]
On returning to Infernus, Brenken and Mannheim agreed to distract Overlord von Strab while Yarrick went to Armageddon's main Astropath choir to send a call for help from the Adeptus Astartes.[1m][1n][1o][1p]
Von Strab, furious at Yarrick for broadcasting a distress call without his authorisation, reassigned him to Hades Hive.[1p][1q] Brenken remained in Hive Infernus. Although she was no longer working directly with Yarrick, she continued working against von Strab. Not long afterwards, she, Setheno, and a number of other Armageddon officers confronted General Andechs, commander of the Steel Legion forces on Armageddon.[1r] Andechs, although a seasoned commander, was beholden to Overlord von Strab and was therefore unwilling to countermand him despite the Overlord's lack of military sense.[1c][1r] Brenken urged him to allow the Steel Legion to support the deployment of the Legio Metalica, which had been ordered to engage the Ork advance alone. Andechs refused and so Brenken, acting with Yarrick's authority, executed Andechs and assumed command of the Steel Legions.[1r]
See also
Sources
- 1: The Pyres of Armageddon (Novel) — Yarrick: The Omnibus:
- 1a: Chapter 1, Section 1
- 1b: Chapter 1, Section 3
- 1c: Chapter 3, Section 4
- 1d: Chapter 4, Section 1
- 1e: Chapter 5, Section 2
- 1f: Chapter 7, Section 1
- 1g: Chapter 8, Section 7
- 1h: Chapter 9, Section 1
- 1i: Chapter 9, Section 3
- 1j: Chapter 11, Section 1
- 1k: Chapter 11, Section 4
- 1l: Chapter 12, Section 2
- 1m: Chapter 13, Section 1
- 1n: Chapter 13, Section 2
- 1o: Chapter 13, Section 3
- 1p: Chapter 13, Section 4
- 1q: Chapter 14, Section 1
- 1r: Chapter 15, Section 2
