Taros Campaign - Planning: The Avenging Sons responded swiftly to the Administratum’s request for punitive action to be taken against Taros. After receiving the Administratum delegation, the Chapter Master summoned his company commanders and explained the mission. It was to fall to Captain Armaros to do the Chapter’s duty, and the second Company readied itself for battle. Boltguns and Power Armour were anointed and blessed by the company Chaplain, whilst Brothers Hakael and Caim were awoken from their slumbers. Their Dreadnought systems were checked and declared fully functioning by the Chapter Techmarines. For twenty four hours the Chapter-Monastery was a bustle of activity as the second company, assisted by a squad of the veteran first company and Scouts of the tenth, mustered its full strength.Captain Armaros and his men embarked onto the Strike Cruiser Proxima Justus and, accompanied by a single escort vessel, made best speed out of the system before engaging its Warp-Drives. There would be time enough on the month-long journey for briefing and training. The Taros Intervention Force was on its way to battle.Whilst bound for the Taros system, Captain Armaros began planning his attack and briefing his fellow officers and squad sergeants. The mission objective was straightforward – locate and eliminate Planetary Governor Aulis. In the process, the operation should be a strong show of force. The attack should be swift, ruthless and brutal. All opposition was to be destroyed. It was the kind of mission Space Marine strike forces excelled at. Armed with all the intelligence the Administratum and Auditor-Prime Dree could provide, the Captain planned the assault in detail. First he would need to locate the Planetary Governor. The first and most obvious target would be the Governor's Palace, his residence. Armaros had detailed layouts of the large building to plan the assault. If the Governor escaped or was not present, then the attack would move into a second phase; a search and destroy operation. This would involve moving heavier equipment and vehicles onto the ground and beginning a sweep through the city. Other likely hiding places were earmarked for immediate follow-up raids. During the second phase of the operation Armaros would also need the aid of the Proxima Justus in low orbit, utilizing its powerful surveillance and sensor equipment, and should resistance require it, the Strike Cruiser's weapons for orbital bombardment. As a show of force, the willingness to flatten Tarokeen would send a strong message, as well as help subdue the local population. If the population began to feel that they were all suffering for their Governor's crimes then they might turn against him and inform on his hiding place. It was a brutal tactic, but Captain Armaros was a Space Marine, with a lifetime of indoctrination and hypo-suggestion that meant he cared not one bit. His duty to the Emperor was all that mattered. To his mind, there were no innocents on Taros anymore.Rather than a single building, the Governor's Palace was a complex of government buildings, but Aulis' private residence would be the first target. For speed and surprise Armaros planned a Drop Pod assault. All of the 2nd Company's manpower, aided by the teleporting Terminator veterans of First Company, would play their parts. First, four of the six Tactical squads were assigned their roles. Using darkness for cover, each squad would establish a blocking position. Landing close to their target location they would move to form a roadblock, holding the key locations to prevent reinforcements from reaching the Governor's Palace quickly. This part of the mission would be under the subcommand of Veteran Sergeant Einem of the first squad. He would be responsible for holding these locations, moving men between them as he saw fit to reinforce if one position came under heavy enemy attack. Armaros, briefing Sergeant Einem, felt this was unlikely as the entire mission was planned as a swift strike. The Captain did not intend to be waiting around long enough for the enemy to react and gather a large force.Isolated by the four blocking squads, the Battle Company's two Assault squads, supported by the two remaining Tactical squads, would land within the palace complex itself, directly on the heels of a Deathwind Drop Pod, which would be the first to impact, before unloading its lethal cargo of missiles indiscriminately. The assault units would overcome any resistance at the palatial residence before sweeping through it to locate Lord Aulis. Captain Armaros himself would lead this assault along with Chaplain Baraqel. The First Company's Terminators would be the ultimate instrument of justice. Once his force had located the Governor within the palace, Captain Armaros would use his Teleport Homer to summon the waiting Terminators. Arriving via a teleporter, the Terminators would appear at the location and use their massive close range firepower to eliminate the target.Immediately upon success the code word 'Justice' would be given and the operation could move into the evacuation phase. Should the code word not be received after one hour, or the override code 'Malevolent' be issued, this would mean that the target was not present or had escaped. 'Malevolent' would mean everybody moving to phase two - search and destroy. During the first phase attack there would be a small reserve force consisting of both Devastator squads, the two Dreadnoughts and the Scout squad. Their primary mission would be to cover the company's withdrawal and then form the backbone of a secure perimeter about the Governor's Palace whilst an evacuation was conducted by Thunderhawk gunship. This force would also be relied upon to counter any stronger-than-expected enemy resistance. At Captain Armaros' call they would move to intercept and engage. With their heavy weapons fire they should be able to inflict serious damage rapidly, buying the company enough time for the other squads to complete the mission and either withdraw or move to phase two.Captain Armaros' plan had three things to its advantage, even though he would be attacking into the heart of enemy territory with only 120 battle brothers, no heavy support or armoured vehicles and no preparatory bombardment to soften up the target. Firstly, and most importantly, was surprise. The enemy may have been expecting an attack, but they did not know when, where or how. Secondly, the defenders were only local Planetary Defence Forces, low-quality troops with little discipline and, by Space Marine standards, poorly equipped. Their morale would also be poor, and Armaros expected that after a sudden, swift blow organized resistance would crumble. Thirdly, overwhelming concentration of forces. The Avenging Sons strike force would be close together and fighting as one unit. The enemy would need to call in reinforcements from other defensive positions: if these could be delayed, it would give him time to complete the job. Success would require courage, precision and speed, and the Space Marines had all three.