"Control!" Harkis bellowed into the vox as a dull rumble reverberated through the Divine Conveyance with enough force to rattle the massive Devourer dropship against it's docking cradle. "What in the Eye of Terror is going on out there!"

"Throne..." a familiar voice responded, the normally throaty contralto of the Divine Conveyance's pilot tightened with stress as another series of dull thuds rocked the Cetaceus-class Transport, shaking the rows of docked transports like a schola progenium infant rattle. "Bridge reports Iconoclasts. They're..." her voice briefly trailed off and Captain Harkis Jackson sensed the fear that flowed unchecked even across the tinny static laden vox. "They're amongst the transports."

As some of the smallest warships in service to the Archenemy, the diminutive Iconoclast-class destroyers were often being likened to a bug to be swatted aside in a fleet engagement and posed little threat to an Imperial Warship. A flotilla of them loose amongst a row of helpless Imperial troop transports burning for atmosphere was a different story altogether - tightly packed and unable to manoeuvre, the smaller warships could savage the entire formation like a pack of wolves falling upon a flock of sheep, long before the transports could reach a holding position to disgorge their dropships.

"Launch now." His voice was a sullen whisper.

"Captain. We are barely halfway loaded. You do not have authori..." He cut her off.

"Pilot..." he paused, steeling his soul for his next words. "Throne have mercy, those are my men but I know what I'm doing. Launch now." The ache in the depths of his soul didn't make it any easier - these were men and women who had battled with him across a dozen battlefields in the Emperor's name and he was leaving them to die, not amidst the roar of the battlefield as was their right, but in the icy void between the stars.

The trembling throughout the hull had turned from a dull roar to a scream of explosions and even cocooned within the Devourer's armoured hull, he could hear the shriek of twisted metal buckling beneath the enemy onslaught as the Cetaceus transport died all around him.

He let the insignificance wash over him. He was a leader of men, yet in this moment, his participation had been reduced to that of a helpless bystander in a dance of colossal forces far beyond his control - life, mission and purpose left solely in the hands of another.

"... Acknowledged." The voice on the vox was distant now, almost as if she recognised his sense of loss.

He forced the sign of the Aquila, consigning his survival to the Emperor's hand as the lurch of acceleration slammed him back against his grav-couch as Devourer's engines sprang to life, tearing the Divine Conveyance free of the dying Cetaceus as the looming world of Dyroch's Reach sprang forward in the viewscreen as if to embrace him.

He never saw the Cetaceus explode, but the impact of the shockwave sweeping outwards to thud against the aft of the Devourer like a giant fist was more than enough confirmation of the transport ship's violent demise. A patina of debris rattled across the transport's aft impact barriers as it sped away and by habit the words of the Canticle of Divine Protection sprang to his lips. Strapped into a grav-couch on the dropship's command deck, in the flickering light of the Devourer's hold, he prayed.

Captain Harkis 'Heavy Duty' Jackson had fought and bled upon a dozen worlds in service to the God Emperor of Mankind. He commanded a battle company of hardened Astra Militarum veterans and the Crater Cobras had crossed blade and bullet with Xenos and Heretic alike and seen them crushed beneath the footfalls of countless boots and the rumble of armoured treads. No stranger to death, they had faced it and overcome across endless battlefields and countless skirmishes.

That meant nothing to him now.

"They die in the Emperor's service."

At my hand - the words came to him unbidden.

Cpt. ‘Heavy Duty’ Jackson
Company Commander (2)
- Power Fist
- Plasma Pistol
- Refractor Field
Voice of Command, Senior Officer
Imperium, Astra Militarum, Catachan
Character, Infantry, Officer, Company Commander

Like most Catachan officers, Captain Harkis Jackson earned his rank in the bloody fields of conflict, working his way up from a common Guardsman to the commanding Captain of the Catachan CXIII, 3rd Company, assuming the position of 'acting-Captain' during the bloody Calixtarius Insurrection. Deployed to the mining world of Calixtarius VI as part of a rotating deployment intended to keep an eye on the planetary leadership and ensure they maintained their mineral tithes, danger would ironically arise not from secession led by the independent-minded Hetman who oversaw the Delver Hives but from a menial led uprising festering in the mines below.

The bomb that ripped through the Crater Cobra's command center came as a complete surprise to the Imperial troops and the well-planned decapitation strike left the battle company reeling and ill-prepared for what followed as xenos-tainted rabble surged to the surface seeking to end the yoke of what they saw as unjust Imperial oppression. Only the assumption of command by then Sergeant Major Harkis Jackson prevented the Catachans from being overrun. Jackson would go on to wage a brutal year-long campaign against the insurrectionists, fighting with only the resources available as events elsewhere threw the munitorium into chaos.

Harkis Jackson would subsequently earn his nom de guerre from the bionics he earned leading the brutal tunnel fighting that breached the maze of delver tunnels that served as the hunting down of the Xenos Patriarch. Harkis personally led the decapitation strike that slew the Xenos monstrosity and despite sustaining brutal wounds as the creature threw itself into the fight, the grim faced Catachan was able to blow the creature's head off with a desperate shot from his trusty plasma pistol before passing from the blood loss even after having an arm torn off in the fighting.

Rebuilt with life-saving Bionics, Captain 'Heavy Duty' now commands the Catachan CXIII through a mix of crude banter and gung-ho enthusiasm, always willing to suffer through the same hardships as the troops under his command. His near inhuman-strength as a result of his bionic arm has earned the square jawed officer the endearing nickname 'Budget Straken' among the troops under his command, though none will say it to his face.

1Lt. 'Tin Pot' Tyrian
'Canned Heat' - Engineering Support Tank
Tank Commander (12)
- Battle Cannon
- Hull Lascannon
- Sponson Plasma Cannon
- Sponson Plasma Cannon
- Pintle Heavy Stubber

Grinding Advance, Explodes, Smoke Launcher, Emergency Plasma Vents, Tank Orders
Imperium, Astra Militarum, Catachan
Character, Vehicle, Leman Russ, Officer, Tank Commander