Dark Angels prevent Warp Rift

With the threat of civil war averted for now and tensions returned to a low simmer, Captain Angelus redeployed his company in support of the invasion of Parthenope. The war was proceeding well. The Librian Guard had advanced deep into the Vregal Peninsula when forward reconnaissance reported a spatial distortion ahead. Conditions on the ground were too risky for mere guardsmen, many of the scouts had already gone insane and needed to be put down. Fearing daemonic incursion Ritchie requested the aid of the Dark Angels.

A task force was immediately dispatched. It was headed by the 4th's Company Chaplian, Azurath El'Ressius, to ensure the mental fortitude and purity of spirit of the expedition. The mechanised column deployed onto the planets surface some distance from the anomaly and advanced cautiously. This caution proved well founded – daemons began pouring out of the warp rift as soon as the task force had visual contact. Rather than the usual tide of lesser daemons Azurath counted not one but five greater daemons and princes of chaos, their bloated forms sustained by the unnatural energies of the portal. The task force opened fire but their weaponry, whilst accurate, seemed powerless against such terrible entities.

Azurath lead his brothers in prayer, calling forth the power of the Emperor to aid them against the dread forces arrayed against them. Lifted by the power of their faith and devotion to the god-emperor of mankind the Dark Angels raced forward, unleashing a torrent of firepower into the colossal daemons. Bolter rounds seemed to glow with a holy radiance and Azurath's Crosius crackled with arcane balefire. In a matter of moments all but one of the mighty daemons fell and scores of lesser minions were slaughtered. Only one dark champion remained and he bellowed his devotion to the blood god Khorne and charged into the Dark Angel's ranks. For a moment the battle hung in the balance as Khorne's champion set about an unholy slaughter, but its rampage was brought to an end when Brother Kaleal of the Ravenwing fearlessly skidded his bike between the daemons legs and hamstrung it with his power fist. The daemon fell.

The Dark Angels had carried the field but the remaining lesser daemons still had to be hunted down. The daemons were cunning and spiteful and it was dark before the last was banished. Many battle brothers lay dead or injured. Chaplain Azurath was heavily wounded in the fighting and Brother Kaleal of the Ravenwing fatally eviscerated by a Blood Letter's blade. His bravery had secured the Dark Angel's victory so his dying body was recovered to be interred in a mighty dreadnought. When the fighting finally ended a Thunderhawk brought down Librarian's Metatron and Bartharion who sealed the warp rift. The battered task force were carried back to the Strike Cruisers orbiting Parthenope.