Inquisitor Constantine arrives at Paradorn

Following their deadly encounter with the Daemon Primarch Magnus the Dark Angels had lodged a full report and begun preparations to mount an all out crusade against the emerging Chaos threat. It was as they made ready to break orbit around a frozen rogue planet in the depths of deep space that the Dark Angels strike force was approached and hailed by an Inquisitorial ship. With poorly disguised ill grace Captain El'Zahariel agreed to receive the Inqusitor aboard his flag ship. 

Brandishing her Inquisitorial seal Inquisitor Constantine informed him that the Dark Angels 4th Company was hereby requisitioned into the service of the Emperor's holy Inquisition with immediate effect. Captain El'Zahariel's irritation at the upstart Inquisitor's arrogance turned to fury when he learned that the proposed target was not the dread forces of Chaos but a newly established Federal bridgehead on Paradorn's fourth world.

Even an agent of so powerful an organisation as the Inquisition would be well advised to be cautious when making demands of the Adeptus Astartes, especially a chapter as proud, secretive and independent as the Emperor's 1st Legion. It is almost certain that without her letters of authorisation signed by the Inquisitorial representative to the High Lords of Terra Inquisitor Constantine would have met with an unfortunate accident involving a faulty airlock.

The proposed target was to be a newly established Federal staging post on Paradorn's uninhabited rocky outer world. With a Federal fleet in orbit above the planet the operation was high risk and of little strategic importance since the Federation had not even begun transferring the bulk of its logistical materials to the planet's surface. El'Zahariel expressed in blunt terms that he considered the operation to be militarily irrelevant and a pointless risk of resources but Inquisitor Constantine was insistent.

The objective was to retrieve an Inquisitorial asset that had been operating within the Federacy for some time and was believed to have invaluable intelligence on the Federacy's intentions along with information on the loyalty of its new Librian regiments. Not considering the matter worthy of his further attentions El'Zahariel left the operation under the command of the company's Chaplain with clear instructions that the priority was to minimise casualties and that if her interference were to jepordise this then Inquisitor Constantine was to be executed as discretely as possible.

What they lacked in enthusiasm the Dark Angels made up for in experience and competence. Stealthily inserting their forces using Thunderhawk Gunships the Dark Angels launched a ferocious surprise attack on the staging post. The experienced Librian troops reacted with admirable professionalism and immediately counter attacked with what forces they could but such was the speed and aggression of the Dark Angels assault that the troops guarding the base were devastated within minutes. The Librian's fate was further sealed by sabotage from within as their communications systems failed in the opening seconds of the engagement.

Smashing through the Librian lines the Dark Angels quickly devastated what little of the base had been established and recovered Inquisitor Constantine's asset - a polymorphined assassin who had begun running rampant through the Librain's artillery once the engagement begun.

Rather than try to re-enforce their already devastated base the Librians were making gains elsewhere, making an armoured thrust towards the Dark Angel's own assembly point. If the idling gunships were driven off there was a risk the strike force could be trapped on the planet. With their core objectives achieved the Dark Angels simply withdrew. If Inquisitor Constantine noticed the manner in which the Dark Angels failed to press their overwhelming advantage or further engage the Federal forces she was wise enough to say nothing.