Sisters of Quartz savaged by Emerald Serpent

In the raging battles of Hexis, the Sisters of Quartz had certainly been inconsistent. Their forces were inexperienced, yet eager, and a passion for preventing the activation of the necron device was both a blessing and a curse. The Rose Quartz and Amethyt divisions had been fighting in elite teams for some time, throwing themselves at almost any foe within reach. Whilst this had lead to progress, their harlequin arrogance more often than not got the better of them, and any progress made was soon lost as they pushed too far and were defeated by the more experienced powers clashing on the planet.

The Crystal Empress had been overseeing the operation from afar, and was growing concerned at the progress her soldiers, and the Alliance as a whole, were finding themselves in. Instead of a strong Alliance foothold on the planet, Chaos controlled a large amount of the territory around the device, the Imperium were suddenly also a threat, and both had defeated the Sisters on multiple occasions. The harlequin agenda was no longer to gain territory with the thought of emerging as their own power who could keep the device firmly closed, but rather just cling to survival and ensure the lesser races didn't open it and wreak havoc.

Kill teams were no longer enough, the Empress realised; the forces needed to unite and they needed to be reinforced. Utilising the webway portal newly opened by their allies, the Crystal Empress herself emerged, flanked by her Solitaire, Jester, a small unit of the Sapphire Skyweavers and more soldiers of Amethyst and Rose. The areas they were interested in claiming were small, she thought; these troops would be enough, they would be ready.

Combat did not take its time in finding the Sisters, manifesting itself through the appearance of the Emerald Serpent; a Daemon Prince and his horde of plaguewalkers. The harlequin force had barely secured their formation before it became apparent that this battle was unlikely to end in victory. Both the jetbikers and the Solitaire rushed in, confident in their abilities, but were soon isolated from their comrades and lost to the demonic horde. The remaining Sisters banded together in a desparate seeking of strength, but the Empress and her Jester were forced to watch from above as the horde, despite losing some soldiers to the deadly acrobatics of the harlequins, overwhelmed them one by one.

Still too proud to flee, the two that remained jumped from their watching post to the ground and charged the Prince, attempting to take down as many walkers as they could in their wake. Some psychic potential in the Empress did eventually awaken, causing some damage to the Prince, but her luck had run out - she was hoisted in the air by the demon and cast aside to the jagged city ruins, her Jester soon to follow. The Emerald Serpent demons were left with relatively minor casualties, but the territory of the new Alliance bases that had been fought over with great difficulty.

Ashamed, those who managed to escape back into the webway had learned a harsh lesson on the nature of larger battles on Hexis, and that elite combat skills did not counteract sheer numbers. The Empress was distraught at the harm she had caused her sisters and daughters and ordered a formal retreat - there would be no battles larger than the previous elite kill teams to be fought by the Sisters of Quartz until a strategical overhaul took place.