Armies of Orion-89 Zeta

Charon Hive 

Charon had long had to fight to preserve its independence and this gave the was the most militarily prepared Hive. 

Although the 300 year old High Master of Charon, Dreen Charon IVth, did not take the field, both his grandson, Reelan Charon and his half brother, Uter Charon, both made their names leading the forces of the Charon Hive in battle. 

 

Charon Guard

The elite forces of Charon, as soon as the scale of attack on the Hive was known, High Master Dreen sent half his household guard to his grandson, in order to stiffen the resolve of the majority of troops.  The Charon Guard - a mechanised force well supplied with the best armour the Hive could by were by far the strongest force on the planet.  It was rumoured that they even had managed to exhort a trio of baneblades from the Adeptus Ministorum, intended for use against the TAPs: but which would prove instrumental in the war ahead.

Charon 7th

Uter Charon had been the High Commander of the Charon forces in all the recent conflicts with Eris Hive.  His favourite troops were the Charon 7th, and these were quickly mobilised and strengthened with indentured ogryns from the promethium mines. 

While Dreen Charon wheeled his armoured columns around the flank of the hive, the Charon 7th dug in for a vicious fight at the gates of the outer hab zones. 

TAPs

At first disorganised and disaffected, the forces of the TAPs were uncertain where to march, or indeed who or what to fight, as many thought that the  Xenos attacks were surrepticious attacks from the warmasters of Charon Hive.  

Eris Hive TAPs

The TAPs forces started the war with far less effective forces than Charon.  Eris Hive had traditionally maintained a light and fast force, and these were far from the hive when the war broke out performing exercises with the forces of Sedna. 
These forces attempted to take the Orax Point spaceport in order to board the transports back to their homes.
They were led by a wily old IG veteran, the septuagenarian rejuvenat, General Blasser.  

TAPs Brigade

A lightly armoured brigade commanded by Marshal Trallen of Qua Ooa, this unit was a mixed bunch with prospectors, and the mismatched units of the TAPs.
Lightly armed, low on ammunition, it seemed at first that their position was doomed.  If anyone other than Marshal Trallen had been in command, then perhaps this would have been true.  However, the veteran warrior had seen tighter squeezes than this.  

Charon Hive

Charon Hive

The Kildin Sami Tundra is a vast waste of ice and rocks, blasted by the raging winds that whip across the empty landscape.  For hundreds of miles, there is nothing to slow the wind, except the mile high towers of Charon Hive that are continually buffeted by the gales.  Indeed, there is no obvious reason why Charon Hive should be located in this bleak wilderness, until one goes deep underground and finds the vast amounts of promethium that are found there.  

It is no surprise that the folk of Charon are something of a individual lot.  Unlike the other Hives, the Charon Hive are ruled by a hereditary governor selected from House Charon, the last of the great founding families of Orion 89-Zeta, to still retain the original warrant from the Adeptus Ministratum.

The isolated nature of Charon Hive has led to something of a siege mentality, not entirely unwarranted given the repeated intrusions on the North Sedna Fields, by units of TAPs.  The High Lords of Charon began arming for expected war against the TAPs almost a decade ago, and began expanding their household guard into a force that could take the field.  Their fears became almost fanatical following the vast and unexplained explosion in the Central Deserts.  

This Household Guard would prove critical in strengthening the Hive forces in the war that came in 939M40. 

Tripartite Alliance PDF: TAPs

Ever since the earliest mining settlements on Orion 89-Zeta were established in the Draco System, it was decided that these settlements should be able to protect themselves from possible Xenos intrusion.

The earliest members of the pdf were largely formed from mining staff and settlers, with their officers supplied by men and women enlisted from retired and disbanded Imperial Guard regiments. Due to the economic constraints of the mining cartels, who were hostile to the idea of a standing force, which would detract from their production units, the pdf was organised into three musters: which meant that if there was a serious threat to security, then the planet could quickly scale up forces available to the hive commanders. These were named Primary, Secondary and Tertiary.

This early and archaic system has survived in the pdf forces raised from the Tripartate Alliance of QuoOar, Eris and Sedna. Their official name of the Tripartite Alliance PDF is locally shortened to TAPs.

 Although there was initial resistance from the Mine Maesters, the TAPs regiments were quickly assembled, though they were quickly taken over by the military masters of Charon Hive.

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