In the months of 10–11.025M42, the long-dormant void-colossus of Caitlen Station once again became the stage upon which the rival powers of the Aleph Sector declared their competing ambitions. Of these, the forces of Chaos were the first to make their intentions unmistakably clear. The arrival of several small but elite warbands—primarily elements of the Night Lords and Death Guard—marked the beginning of a renewed and methodical Chaos attempt to assert dominance over the fractured installation.
Night Lords Incursions
The Night Lords, ever preferring terror over subtlety, announced their presence with a vicious strike against a T’au scouting element. A lightly armed cadre of T’au Pathfinders, attempting to map one of the station’s derelict container warrens, was ambushed and eradicated. Despite the full application of T’au ranged discipline—markerlights, pulse volleys, and supporting drones—the VIII Legion warriors pressed through the fusillade with murderous purpose. The Pathfinders were annihilated in close combat, their final transmissions little more than screams and static.
Death Guard Advances
Elsewhere, a contingent of Leagues of Votann Hearthkyn, operating under Federacy sanction, attempted to probe deeper into the station’s lower armoury tiers. They encountered entrenched Death Guard elements, whose noxious resilience and inexorable advance quickly turned the engagement into a mire of attrition. The Votann, though well-equipped and disciplined, were eventually overrun, their position choked with corrosive fumes and plague-ridden munitions.
Tyranid Predation
At roughly the same time, General Van Dorn, seeking to reassess Imperial claims to the station, dispatched a small fireteam of Krieg Guardsmen. They progressed no further than the outer vent-shafts before the resident Tyranid infestation descended upon them. The Guardsmen fought with characteristic stoicism, but were swiftly overwhelmed and consumed. Their vox-logs ended abruptly, offering one more grim reminder that the biomass corruption of Caitlen Station remained very much alive.
Dark Eldar Misfortune
A separate Drukhari raiding party—believed to be a strike cell of Kabalite agents supported by Mandrake shadow-killers—attempted to exploit the chaos and plunder an abandoned weapons store. They instead crossed paths with a Night Lords kill-clade. The VIII Legion warriors surged into melee with savage delight, cutting down the Mandrakes before their shadow-tricks could avail them. The Drukhari force was destroyed almost to the last, their souls added to the terror-legion’s grim trophies.
Harlequins and the Votann
On the far side of Caitlen Station Primary, a Hearthkyn expeditionary team stumbled into an enclave of Aeldari Harlequins. Any attempt at diplomacy proved futile; the Harlequins dismissed the Votann with uncanny laughter and drew weapons in the same gesture. What followed was a bewildering whirlwind of motion. Even the formidable firepower of Votann auto-missile arrays could not pin down the capering xenos. A single Death Jester, dancing through the storm of rockets, accounted for multiple Hearthkyn casualties before the survivors disengaged.
By the end of 11.025M42, the status of Caitlen Station had deteriorated into a shadow war of unending skirmishes. No faction held clear control; all sought advantage. Yet the sudden, coordinated aggression of Chaos warbands had made one fact clear: Caitlen Station would soon become the next major battleground of the Aleph Sector’s ever-expanding wars.
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