Siege of Vraks - A Test of Loyalty: On 756.827.M41 the 88th Siege Army headquarters was issued Directive 4007-72-09 by the Departmento Munitorum. It ordered 88th siege army to withdraw from the frontline and prepare for transportation a dozen Krieg regiments from Vraks. The Departmento Munitorum had reviewed troop allocations across the Scarus sector and had found that the current force strength on Vraks was no longer sustainable or required. Logistical and transportation resources would likewise have to be reduced. The Siege of Vraks was being downgraded in priority, and with the protections of damage inflicted to the enemy the Departmento’s logis calculations meant that the forces left would be sufficient to finish the Vraksiann war with an acceptable loss of time and the resulting extra casualties.The directive was immediately transmitted to inquisitor Lord Rex’s forward headquarters on Vraks itself. The inquisitor`s staff recognised the directive instantly for what it was. Here was the madding hand of the Ordo Hereticus and their Ecclesiarchy allies. Thwarted in their efforts to seize control of the war themselves they had been working behind the scenes to hamper the Ordo Malleus efforts and secure some of the force allocation on Vraks for their own ends. What had the Synod of Cardinals-Astra promised in return for the use of the Imperial Guard regiments that were now lo be taken from Vraks? No doubt their future support and votes in other political issues of great importance.Angered at the directive, Lord Rex dispatched his own emissaries to Terra. In response to the directive he would bypass the Departmento Munitorum’s hierarchy and seek the ais of the Inquisitorial Representative. The Inquisitorial Representative was a High Lord, one of the twelve grand masters of Mankind that interpreted the Emperor’s will. He had the power to countermand the directive or at least press inquisitor Lord Rex’s case with the Master of the Departmento Munitorum or, if needs must, the Master of the Administratum herself; the single most powerful Lord of Terra. The Departmento Munitorum was responsible for the deployment and support of all Imperial Guard regiments, but the 88th siege regiment was now under the official command of the Ordo Malleus; the Departmento Munitorum had surely overstepped their authority by ordering a reduction of troop numbers without reference to Lord Rex.The Inquisitorial emissaries travelled to Terra and became just another group of the many petitioners that gathered daily outside the meeting chamber of the Inquisitorial Representative. All were seeking an audience and aid for some injustice. Once each petitioner had been heard, the High Lord would pronounce his judgment and set his own officials to the task of righting the wrongs. It would not happen quickly, but backed by a High Lord's authority anything could be fixed, only the other eleven High Lords could block the pronouncements of the Inquisitorial Representative. It would take time for the bureaucracy at the heart of the Imperium to process the judgment, but in the end it would be done. In the meantime. Inquisitor Lord Rex could only get on with fighting the war - such political distractions were only counter-productive to the Emperor 's cause on Vraks.When it finally came, the news from Terra was not good. The Inquisitorial Representative had petitioned the Master of the Departmento Munitorum to overrule directive 4887-72-09, but the Departmento Munitorum's master had sought the support of the Master of the Admmistratum. In turn, during the debate the Admmistratum had also been backed by the High Ecclesiarch. It was a powerful political concord. Other High Lords, such as the Fabricator- General of the Adeptus Mechanicus and the Lord Militant Solar had abstained. The official word came that Directive 4887-72-09 must stand, although the overall troop reductions had been modified slightly in Lord Rex’s favour. Still, the 88th siege army must shrink as required; the High Lords of Terra endorsed the decision. Lord Hector Rex could do nothing about it. His own inquisitorial Mandate was being overruled by the highest judgement in the Imperium; and their word was law.Of course he could choose not to act, to defy the Directive, but that would be quickly pounced upon as an act of rebellion by the Ordo Hereticus and surely see him arrested and the war on Vraks handed over to their control. With a powerful army at his command, Lord Rex could always resist any attempts of arrest him, perhaps long enough to win the war on Vraks, but such was the par to rebellion, which led only to excommunication and another war, this time against the Ordo Hereticus forces. Many had allowed their pride to temp them down that path before, including the Warmaster Horus himself. Did Inquisitor Lord Rex really think he knew better than the High Lords of Terra what was best tor the Imperium? There was a title for such men: traitoris.Lord Hector Rex was no traitor, and never would be. He was feted and honoured as a champion of the Emperor. He was Auditorii Imperator. He had passed into the Emperor’s throne room on Terra and communed with the Divine Lord of Mankind himself. Then he had been made fully aware that at stake in the endless war with Chaos was the future of the entirety of Mankind. Such was his appointed role and political points scoring could not stand in his way. Lord Rex gave the necessary orders for the required regiments to withdraw.At 253828 M41 the 1st line korps three remaining regiments would all be withdrawn from Vraks, along with the 19th bombardment korps’ three artillery regiments - halving the army’s heavy firepower from its largest guns. The 8th assault korps was also being withdraw but his arguments had at least saved 11th tank regiment, which would now be moved into the 11th assault korps. Half the independent artillery companies, used to bolster the firepower of regiments at the cutting edge of offensives, would also go. Go where? Lord Rex did not know. Most of the units would probably find their way to the Eastern Fringes where the Tyrannic Wars seemed to eat up Imperial Guard regiments as fast as they could be deployed. Once the orders were dispatched those Krieg regiments were no longer Rex’s concern; his duty was to complete the Vraksian war with the regiments he still had.The news from Terra did not get any better for Lord Rex when he learned that during his emissaries' return journey, they had all been killed - assassinated in their state rooms, their heads removed by the swift strike of phase-weapons. The assassins were never identified or caught, but no doubt the brutal attack had been a thinly veiled message to him. The Ordo Hereticus were watching and judging him. His loyalty had been tested, and he had passed.Internal diversions within the Imperium could not stop the siege. Now Lord Rex had fewer guardsmen, tanks and shells at his disposal, but the enemy were at last showing signs of cracking. The remaining line korps were reassigned new positions along the front. The mission of taking the sector 579-459 gate was now handed to the 12th line korps, who were ordered to make one full strength regiment available for the operation. They provided the 143rd regiment, who moved into position and began the preliminary arrangements for an assault upon the curtain wall. It took time, weeks to get all the artillery into place, and even more weeks for the engineer companies to dig their sap trenches, but by 412.828.M41 the regiment was ready to begin.