Kel Sandros invade Destino

The long, grinding war on Hexis had cost the Alliance dear and Farseer Tarquil realised a change in direction was needed. The Tau and Federacy could not yet muster the bulk of forces in the Imperium Nihilus to fight such a major campaign and it represented an inefficient use of scarce assets. The strategic outlook was still good for the Alliance and Tarquil advised the Tau and Federacy to expand their influence amongst smaller and less well defended worlds whilst the massed legions of the Imperium and the Primordial Annihilator bled each other on the barren planes of Hexis. Meanwhile the Eldar of Kel Sandros had other plans, for which they would need new allies.

Kel Sandros had been lending aid to the Imperial traitor Cybixx for some time, permitting safe passage for his supply ships through the Foramen Interdictum even while they mercilessly ambushed and harassed Imperial convoys. The time had now come for Kel Sandros to make a direct intervention. The ground work for the invasion of Destino had been meticulously prepared, with Alliance operatives disabling the planetary defences whilst Cybixx's Skitarii kill teams gathered intelligence data on Imperial bases and troop positions. When Kel Sandros launched its Warhosts against the planet they knew exactly when and where to strike for maximum effect.

Aspect hosts hit ammo dumps, supply bases, listening posts and troop barracks in rapid succession, throwing the Imperial defenders into panic and confusion. Realising that to cower behind fortress walls would doom the world a company of Astartes of the Sky Lords chapter sallied forth to offer battle to the Eldar. The Eldar accepted the challenge and drew up their own forces, recognising that it was in this moment the fate of Destino lay.

Fierce fighting erupted amidst the dense rocky outcrops of the planet's central mountain range. The Sky Lords fought in disciplined, tightly ordered groupings able to cover all angles with volleys of precisely directed bolter fire. Into this fire the Eldar pressed without fear and casualties on both sides were heavy. Although the fighting was even and bloody for both sides the Eldar were able to make their greater mobility count amidst the rocky terrain, focusing their forces against parts of the Sky Lord's battle line whilst denying others and securing vital objectives ahead of their slower adversaries. Recognising that the backbone of both their current adversary and the planetary defences as a whole stemmed from the might and charisma of the Astartes’ heroic leaders the Eldar made a particular point of singling them out whenever possible, often calling in precisely targeted air strikes whenever the position of a marine leader became known.

With casualty levels becoming unsustainable and Chapter Master Potitus himself badly wounded in the fighting the Sky Lords were left with no choice but to withdraw to their battle barge and abandon the planet to its fate. Leaderless and bereft of their transhuman protectors the remaining defenders were overcome within hours and butchered without mercy. The cost had been high but Tarquil was thankful that a long and drawn out campaign had been averted.

Alliance destroy defences on Destino

The next stage of the alliance plan began at Destino, as tau insertion forces joined the Eldar Harlequins of the Sisters of Quartz in a joint expedition against the imperial defence lasers on Destino 1. Still recovering from the huge space battle just weeks before, the Carcharadons and Adeptus Mechanicus teams sent to investigate reports of intruders in the defensive positions were surprised to encounter alliance forces. Destino was a long way from the alliance sphere of interest, so the attack was all the more unsettling.

 The Carcharadons led the Ad Mech into the underground laser silos as the tau began to prep their demolition charges. However, the Sisters of Quartz charged, cutting down a number of the imperial astartes before the Mechanicum team retreated from the compound. Having secured the installation, the explosives detonated, rendering the Destino 1 defences inoperable.  The alliance insertion team withdrew leaving the imperium confused and suspicious over the sabotage mission. Who were they laying the ground for?

Hexis and strategic sector positions

Huge battles rage on Hexis

Background 

For weeks the forces of Chaos had been planning a major assault on the imperium on Hexis. Led by O’Tek Ra, the leader of the Emerald Serpent, this was a chance for Chaos to assert their domination over the world - and system. The Emerald Serpent were motivated by their difficult relationship with Warsmith Stahl, not helped by their defeat to the imperium in the space battle above Destino. However to make certain of victory, O’Tek Ra decided to enlist some help. 

Vlokarion, Dark Eldar Archon of the Crimson Blade kabal, was approached by an emissary of the Emerald Serpent in early 02.019M42. Of the drucharii would lend their aid to chaos on Hexis, they stood to profit handsomely, or so the tzeentch sorcerer claimed. Vlokarion considered the words of the foul agent of tzeentch and for once agreed. The Dark Eldar had a vested interest in the victory of chaos - or at least not the imperium - at Hexis. Imperial victory world strengthen the hand of mankind in the Hadron Expanse, putting in jeopardy the carefully constructed hunting grounds the kabal has prepared, threatening Vlokarion’s influence in Commorragh. The Dark Eldar would aid the Emerald Serpent in this venture. 

Farseer Cassandros became aware of the dark eldar involvement in the chaos offensive long before the imperium. However he did not inform his counterpart from the Kel Sandros Craftworld. Instead the eldar warhost began preparing for war, seeing that the drucharii would just as likely attack alliance forces as the imperial lines, and potentially gain access to the webway portals on the planet. Cassandros resolved to aid the imperium in their defence against the impending chaos and dark eldar attack. 

The Battle

The combined chaos and Dark Eldar force met the allied Imperial and Eldar force just to the west of the city of Praxis, in the ruined high ground near Kaeleth. Here the combined forces made their stand as the Dark Eldar raced into battle, ahead of a host of Aether Striders Knights and chaos daemons. Barring their way into Imperial and alliance territory, the Space Wolves, Imperial Knights and Eldar of Cassandross were backed up by regiments of Imperial Guard.

The battle was intensely violent, with the chaos Knight Titan's Hand quickly striking down a loyalist knight while a second imperial war engine was pulled apart by the daemon prince Andreos Cain. Then the Space Wolves quickly lost their air support, as a thermal cannon shot destroyed not only their flying war engines, but several of the wulfen deployed within.

 As the battle raged, the chaos forces gradually pushed the imperial force back, while the dark eldar rushed forward, intent on taking down the imperial and eldar leaders. This they did with great efficiency, killing all the enemy commanders and streaking into the back of the imperial and eldar positions. This was then followed up with a precision teleport attack by the Thousand Sons, which took the vital objectives behind the enemy lines, effectively breaking the allied defence and allowing the chaos forces to advance through the gap in the defence lines. When victory seemed clear, Titan's Hand decided to advance into the centre of the battlefield, only to be immediately obliterated by a Shadowdword and the imperial guard that had previously seen off the initial Dark Eldar advances.

 This last success was a pyrrhic victory however, as the imperial and eldar forces watched in dismay as thousands of chaos troops poured through the breach in the allied defences. By 1702.019M42 it was clear that despite the eldar support, General Ivanovich's 1st army had been routed, and now Randolph's forces further west struggled to keep in contact. The situation was even worse in the alliance held territory, as the tau forces were ordered to abandon their positions and retreat to the Akrash Pass and Helmases mountains. In Praxis, Imperial positions in the north were surrounded and destroyed, while the regions in the south of Praxis were cut off and quickly annihilated by the Emerald Serpent. Only a small force of Imperial soldiers now held out in the west of Praxis city centre, and the entirety of western Hexis, apart from a small area on the Haknur Plateau now belonged in the hands of the enemy.

Aftermath

The Imperium had taken a heavy blow, but Konev's preparation for the inevitable assault had reduced the damage somewhat. The imperium may have lost Praxis - for now - but they still had a good hold on the planet with well defended HQ and secure supply lines. Konev suffered a further blow later however, as it became clear the Iron Warriors were fortifying the underground catacombs against an imperial subterranean attack.

For the alliance, the battle for Praxis was the end of the campaign. Farseet Tarquil was furious, his anger directed at Cassandros for going "off script" without consulting him and wrecking his plan to wait out the big push from chaos, see who lost out and negotiate transfer of territory to them in exchange for holdings in the Hadron Expanse. This in itself angered Cassandros, as the Kel Sandros farseer had never bothered to tell his counterpart "the script", nor had he made it clear that the craftworld eldar were already making plans to abandon the Hadron Campaign. 

The loss of so much territory simply brought forward Tarquil's plans and removed the possibly difficult conversation with the tau over abandoning the campaign. It was clear the tau were in no position to reclaim the lost territory and as the eldar simply abandoned Hexis, the tau were left in the Akrash Pass, banned from utilising the webway to escape. This soured relations within the alliance, but the tau were eventually picked up by the federal fleet that had arrived to replace Swiftstar. Now the tau and federal forces would have to run the imperial blockade of Lysis to return to the Hadron Exapanse and prepare for the new alliance strategic plan, something which was already being drawn up between the leaders of the tau, eldar and federal forces.

For chaos this was a major victory which gave the traitors a clear dominating position on the planet. They had secured Praxis and created fortifications, although strategically the overall position of the traitors remained weaker than that of the Imperium. Now the chaos forces, with O'Tek Ra's Emerald Serpent having scored a major victory, decided to consolidate their position before moving forward towards finally crushing Imperial resistance. The forces on Hexis on both sides now paused to regroup.

Hexis - Current Positions

Teal'c leads disastrous Necron uprising

Teal’c, lord of the Ha’Tek dynasty that once ruled much of what the humans now called the Hadron Expanse, had been stirred into action once more following the chance discovery of slumbering necron forces by Stahl’s slaves. Since his previous defeats, the necron lord had been exiled to the shifting wastes of the planet, far from the capital and the necron device the lower order animals were now fighting over. Rats fighting over the scraps of a far superior race and intellect. 

Teal’c always intended to return to Praxis and Menthoteph, but he had not yet found sufficient force to do so. More searching of the old tombs was necessary, and that’s what the necrons has been doing. The new phalanx discovered by chaos, Teal’c reasoned, must be from the ruined tomb of Chiral, believed destroyed once the necron lord saw that where Chiral once stood was nothing more than wind blown sand. 

With these new forces, Teal’c launched his new offensive to rid the planet of the infestation that the device had attracted. The battle against the chaos forces had been an ad hoc affair. The imperium of mankind would face the necrons in their full battle mode. 

The necrons were met by the Novgorod Guard in the Deserts of Calth, but Andreyevich’s army was supremely confident, having fought these abominations before and been victorious. Once battle was joined the Guard quickly cut down many of the machine warriors, and confidently advanced into positions they thought they had cleared. However, the phalanx of necrons led by Teal’c himself was fully operational, and many guardsmen were lost as the undying warriors resurrected and cut down their enemy in turn. 

The necron force was not infinite however, and although the Novgorod Guard took savage casualties, Konev by now was aware that Andreyevich was in trouble, and committed the imperial reserve. This level of manpower Teal’c could not compete with, and before long the necrons were running low on warriors. It was clear to the necron lord that he would run out of immortals before the enemy would run out of guardsmen, so the necrons called off the attack, phasing out once more into the deserted wastelands of Hexis’ “dark side”. Andreyevich was criticised for the losses sustained, but the necrons had been defeated. Now General Konev resumed work on the fortifications against the chaos positions, aware that a large offensive by the traitors was imminent. 

Eldar prevent Imperium from uncovering their plans

The Sky Lords were not only beset by the forces of chaos in the catacombs under Hexis. Conducting their own secret mission the eldar stumbled upon the astartes as they were forced deeper into the underground labyrinth as they retreated from the World Eaters. 

The eldar and space marine forces met in an underground generatorium, still active after millennia, and in the tight confines of the installation the eldar used their speed to outmanoeuvre the imperial force, although they took heavy casualties from the astartes wherever the marines could pin their foe down. Sergeant Alexandro led by example, charging three of the xenos interlopers and cutting them down with his chainsword. 

Eventually the eldar decided enough was enough and fled the field, but their delaying action had prevented the Sky Lords from stumbling across extremely important work. Although the space marines believed they had triumphed over the xenos, in reality they had missed an opportunity to deal the eldar a painful blow. 

Chaos expand Praxis domination

By mid 02.019M42 the central section of Praxis, though fortified, was becoming surrounded by imperial forces. The Grey Knights had taken the surface levels in the east and south of the city and underground imperial forces were beginning to fortify the catacombs. Realising the risk of encirclement, small chaos forces began probing the imperial defences close to the centre of Praxis in order to stop the imperium from surrounding the vital location. 

The main actions were led by the World Eaters, who began by infiltrating the subterranean levels of the city with cultists backed up by traitor astartes. In the main underground complex they came into contact with the Dark Angels who put up a stubborn defence. However the Loyalist Astartes, often referring to the cultists as “potatoes”, underestimated the chaos forces and were eventually surrounded and defeated after a protracted skirmish that lasted hours. 

Meanwhile on the surface the Death Guard, leading a horde of poxwalkers fell upon an unsuspecting Skitarii force who were consolidating imperial defences around the central region, in preparation for a later assault on the chaos fortress. Shocked by the sheer number of the plague infected, and unable to stand before the power of the few traitor astartes driving their host forward, the adeptus Mechanicus force was driven back, yielding the north of Praxis centre to the traitors. Now only the Sky Lords held the western quarter, holding open a narrow supply route between the forces in southern Praxis and the imperial lines to the north. 

The World Eaters quickly used their success in the catacombs to surprise the astartes, who were caught from behind by cultists and traitor marines. A furious fight erupted in the city streets and underground vaults of the city, with the traitors overcoming the Sky Lords defences and pushing the imperium out of the city centre. By 1702.019M42 the imperium has lost the underground catacombs and the west of central Praxis, cutting off Konev’s forces in the court of the city. Chaos has reestablished dominance over the city and the device chamber, and the Loyalist positions in the city were becoming perilous. 

Iron Warriors awaken Necron Threat

DIG!”

The crack of a whip from the Thorakitai taskmaster followed by a scream of a slave, normal noises to Trunculo now. He had been a tank gunner in the Last of Sycorax regiment within Hexis city, or whatever they called that Xenos shit hole. He had never asked questions in the Guard, maybe he should have.

“DIG!” The boom came out again, another scream, Trunculo thought that was Trooper Hayes, he’d come from another regiment, never thought to ask which one.

“Obedience. Labour. Fidelity.” That’s what the Thorakitai drummed into the slaves, “Obedience. Labour. Fidelity and you will survive, even prosper” they said, Trunculo didn’t think he wanted to prosper in their ranks, something was off about them, there was no obvious mutation, but they never showed their faces.

“DIG!”

The labour continued, each dig he heard some slaves reciting the words drilled into them, punctuated  by the ‘crunk’ of spades cutting into the earth. It was something, they tortured those who made any reference to the God Emperor. Maybe it would help.

“Obedience”, CRUNK, “Labour”, CRUNK, “Fidelity”, CRUNK, “Obedience”, CRUNK, “Labour”, CRUNK, “Fidelity”, CLANG!

Trunculo stopped and looked down at the dirt he was digging into, an alien metal skull stared back at him, its eyes glowing as it rose from the ground and stepped to full height. Panic erupted from around him the Thorakitai sounded the alarm, other slaves fleeing as fast as they could away from the Xenos monster. Trunculo stood stock still, frozen at the rapidly looming sight of the monstrous Necron. As it levelled its gun barrel to his face he sighed a sigh of relief, “Oh, it’s finally over, thank the Emperor”, and Trunculo was no more.

In mid 02.019M42 the Iron Warriors had sought to dig in and heavily fortify their position on Hexis. “Fortress Einsenkunst” was the goal, an interlacing series of fortifications, trench works and supply points. Each point was planned to build on redundancies, with choke points, kill zones and traps throughout, every step an enemy force took into Iron Warrior held territory would be steeped in blood. That was the plan, however the Necron slumbering beneath the world had other intentions.

In 1602.019M42 the slave workers digging trenches at the northern border of the Shifting Sands were beset by Necrons of Nemesor Teal’cs dynasty. Zorisch rushed a Dekathla of Iron Warriors and daemon engines to respond to the unexpected threat. 

Luckily for Zorisch, the Necrons were slow to move forward into attack and his Havoc squads and Defilers launched shot after shot into the Immortals, destroying a phalanx of them. The Necrons began their slow march forward but continued to be outmaneuvered by the faster Iron Warriors who saw the intended attack and blocked with expendable Thorakitai while the Chosen setup to charge. A second fusilade of was unleashed from the Iron Warrior line, followed by a deadly charge from the Chosen who fired plasma into one unit of Immortals while charging into another. On the flank the two Maulerfiends charged into the Lychguard. The Necrons while outnumbering the Chosen and Maulerfiends were boxed in. The Thorakitai secured the mid field as the Havocs secured the backfield. The Destroyers wrecked the only target they meaningfully could - the Defiler who crumbled despite the the repairs of the Warpsmith.

The Necron attack was realised as futile as Obliterators tore into reality, ripping through more Necron machines, the Wraiths, already damaged by concentrated fire, attacked the obliterators who simply withdrew to a safe distance while the Havoc squads caught them in the crossfire. Zorisch’s Chosen warriors, despite taking casualties facing down triple their number, still stood, cutting down yet more under the direction of the squad leader Petridis’. The Necrons were slowly surrounded, staccato fire continuing to blast machine bodies to pieces. The end came when a Maulerfiend broke through the Necron lines and grabbed the Necron leader in its great clawed fist and smashed it to the ground over and over and over until the whole Necron force teleported away, as shattered as the body of their leader.

The Iron Warriors completed their vast fortifications in Old Town, the Shifting Sands and the Great Sand Sea. The prime fortress and Stahl’s base of operations on the Shifting sands was decorated with an enormous grinning iron skull of the Iron Warriors. If the Emerald Serpents intended push ended disastrously, the fortress Eisenkunst would be needed sooner than intended.

Grey Knights assault south Praxis

Following the success of the titan legions in the far east of Hexis and the completion of the "left hook" that Konev had planned, the grey Knights took the opportunity to deal with the daemonic forces in the centre of Praxis. The Emerald Serpent were known to be harbouring daemon worshippers and were preparing rituals in the southern and eastern parts of Praxis. Concerned that this would lead to a daemonic incursion in Praxis, and the loss of valuable imperial assets, the Grey Knights struck first, assaulting the city sectors of Marateph and Girishtar, destroying cultist forces and securing the ground for the Imperial Guard to follow up. In addition, the Ordo Malleus astartes found part of what they were looking for, blasphemous rites and other paraphernalia regarding the summoning of warp creatures.

 As the astartes consolidated their positions and destroyed the daemonic artefacts, the Emerald Serpent counter attacked, employing a host of daemonic entities against the loyalist space marines. Plaguebearers lead the attack, supported by daemons of tzeentch, and the terminators were particularly hard pressed as they were assaulted by a storm of psychic energy. They thought they had inflicted a major blow to the daemons, when the plaguebearers were cut down by withering fire, only to see the host of daemons rise once more by the power of the warp. Outnumbered, the elite astartes withdrew, but were destroyed when a sudden manifestation of khorne bloodletters surrounded them and cut them to pieces.

 Despite the trials of the Grey Knights' terminators, the rest of the astartes faired better. Their bolter discipline and air support from gunships kept the bulk of the daemonic horde at arms length, preventing a breakthrough. By the end of 1401.019M42 the remaining daemons had become unstable and disappeared back to the immaterium, and imperial guard forces were able to follow up into the astartes positions, all but surrounding the central region of the device chamber. 

Legio Skyphos

Leader: Princeps Majoris Venedicta Kantharos

Strength: Unknown

Alternative Name: The King Slayers

Colours: Violet/Cerulean Blue Marble.

Forgeworld: Unknown

Founded: Pre-Great Crusade.

Known Engines:

• Lapis Infernus
• Engine type: Warlord
• Princeps: Venedicta Kantharos
• Status: Active
• Location: Hexis
• Ostrum Inberius
• Engine Type: Reaver
• Princeps: Barek Purilias
• Status: Active
• Location: Hexis
• Phobos Alpha
• Engine type: Warhound
• Priceps: Valda Calsonica
• Status: Active
• Location: Hexis
• Phobos Beta
• Engine type: Warhound
• Priceps: Kalderas Katsophis
• Status: Wrecked
• Location: Hexis

History

Legio Skyphos were an unknown force until their appearance in the Aleph sector. Records of them are none existent after the Horus Heresy. However, recent events had shed light upon their appearance and allegiance.

Legio Skyphos were believed to be a sister Legio, or rival to Legio Krytos, who were a renowned Legio that fought alongside the Iron Warriors during the Horus Heresy, notably at Tallarn. Legio Skyphos fought in a number of campaigns alongside the IV during the Heresy but were lost in the warp after attempting an emergency translation at Schindlengeist before the assault on Terra. It was believed that the Traitor Legio transport fleet were lost with all hands. That was until 019.M42, when the repeated use of the Necron Device upon Hexis, lashing to the Enceladus Sector, the Tau Empire, to Macragge and back to the Enceladus sector swept up what was initially believed to be debris, but was later found to be powered down transport ships of Legio Skyphos. The fleet of Admiral Thok initially attempted to claim the fleet as salvage for their own purpose, the Iron Warrior Commander at Charybdis ordered Thok stand down. Naturally, Thok had no intention of listening to the upstart Commander and proceeded to attempt the claim anyway. Thoks fleet was heavily damaged from his extended battle with Admiral Cardale, and was only able to spare 3 Idolator Raiders for initial salvage, while his fleet remained at anchor. The Iron Warrior Commander did not want to risk the ire of either the Warsmith or risk the loss of Thoks fleet, so was paralysed with indecision. As the three Raiders approached 2 of the lead vessels from the drifting fleet powered up and launched a blistering barrage far greater than their transport vessels would be expected to have. The Raiders were raked with fire stripping them of their shields leaving them exposed to lances charged and ready to fire. The Vox crackled to life as the voice Princeps Majoris Venedicta Kantharos echoed through all channels:

“This is Princeps Majoris Venedicta Kantharos of the Legio Skyphos! Declare your allegiance, Warmaster or False Emperor. Fail to comply and my Legio will burn your fleet and world to ash.”

The dead silence through the varied command chambers were deafening. Admiral Thok had no idea how to respond to this turn of events, his ships were were at anchor, undergoing repairs. Ship after transport ship was showing powering up showing energy signatures far in excess of what a transport ship should be capable of, unless.of course, it was a Titan Legio like they said. Luckily for Thok, and the Charybdis system, the Iron Warriors Commander responded first.

“Princeps Majoris Venedicta Kantharos, you will know me as Legionary Aegeus, 7th Storm Squad, 23rd Grand Company, IV Legion. I fought with you at this systems compliance, check your records, my name will be there. This is the Enceladus system, it belongs to the IV Legion. Your Legio was oathsworn to fight with my Legion in the war. We thought you were dead?”

Venedicta Kantharos was renowned, she had fought alongside the Iron Warriors for decades and was respected by a number of high ranking officers within the Legion. Aegeus explained to her all that had happened, the Heresy, Horus’ lies, the Scouring, the saviour Lycurgus Stahl and his ambitions for salvation from the treachery that had damned the Legion. Venedicta had seen some of the degeneration of the legions such as the III, VIII and XII had fallen to madness and corruption. She had not expected the IV to succumb. Nevertheless, rather than revel in corruption, the Iron Warriors sought to conquer all, and that was the Legion Legio Skyphos had always remembered; unbreakable, they were tainted, but unbroken. Moreover, the history of the long war had been laid bare, the hypocrisy of the Imperium of the 42nd Millenium. The Federacy had been a momentary temptation, but their long cooperation with Xenos was nothing more than subjugation by creatures that had no right to exist in humanities galaxy. The IV were tainted by the Warp creatures, but warriors bore many scars. The IV were unbroken and so Legio Skyphos’ oaths to them would remain the same.

Battle Doctrine

Legio Skyphos battle strategy is largely unknown, though from recent engagements it appears to circle around a combined approach to combat with each engine performing a role complementing the next. Perhaps, unsurprisingly, they specialise in focussed fire, which will bring down other titans with alarming speed. Their engines are well maintained, however it appears their princeps are easily provoked.

Hexis Current Positions

Imperium win Battle of Destino

Prelude to battle 

The battle of Destino had been coming for months. Before the end of 018M42 three imperial fleets had arrived in the system, led by admiral Hughes, to counter the threat of Cybixx’s new super weapon and to prevent the collapse and surrender of the loyalists at Destino I. However, Hughes, with his sub commanders Dreyer and Craddock, veterans themselves, did not aggressively force the issue, despite apparently having superior forces. Wary of blundering into a trap the imperial fleet stood off and blockaded the system, waiting to see if Cybixx would make a mistake. 

This stance changed in 02.019M42 with the arrival of the Dark Angels fleet. The astartes were highly critical of Hughes stating “the enemy is in front of you. Fight him in the Emperor’s name”. Hughes took this as personal criticism, which it may have been, but with three imperial battlegroups and the arrival of the Dark Angels, the imperial loyalists surely had enough strength now to risk an attack. 

The arrival of the Dark Angels was indeed fortunate, as Cybixx had spent his time looking for allies with which he might defeat the imperial forces now arrayed against him. His heresy now out in the open, the renegade arch Magos cast his eye far and wide in search of aid, and found many wishing to give the imperium a bloody nose. The orks known as the “Bork” readily agreed to lend their support for the excuse of a good fight, and had been fashioning their distinctive roks from asteroids for months since the arrival of their hulk. The Emerald Serpent arrived soon after, covertly, having secured a division of chaos vessels once loyal to Lorek himself. Finally, Cybixx managed to convince Vlokarion of the profit he could find in an alliance, and the Dark Eldar Archon detached one of his fleets to lie in ambush should any of Hughes’ divisions attempt to force an action. 

Main action

The combined Imperial fleet approached the enemy fleet, still unaware of the strength of the newly formed Coalition until within a million miles of the invading force. Then, augur returns from picket ships detected the chaos and ork signatures, and admiral Hughes now knew he was facing more than the threat of just Cybixx and his heretical space station. The imperial fleet formed up with the agile space marines and escorts approaching the Coalition vessels in the centre, behind the cover of an asteroid field, while the Imperial fleet split into two major divisions, with the Dreyer's nova cannon focussed battlegroup on the right, and the rest of the Imperial heavy ships on the left. Then they surveyed the enemy deployment, and Hughes and the Dark Angel's commander smiled to each other over hololithic display. If all went to plan, victory was theirs.

 

The Imperium noted that the enemy force had deployed in a way they could exploit. The ork roks approached in a broad line in front of their hulk, with the ominous outline of the Mallem Cybixxem looming behind them. the dark eldar were detected on the ork left flank, but the chaos fleet were still some distance away, disconnected from the main Coalition force and moving in two divisions towards the flanks. This put the nova cannon division under no pressure, enabling them to fire with impunity, while on the left, Hughes' main battlegroup would be able to charge and deal with the inferior chaos force before the orks and dark eldar could react - so long as the Dark Angels were able to sufficiently delay the two xenos fleets without being destroyed.

 

At 13:40 the two fleets engaged, but the Mallem Cybixxem had the opening success, destroying six imperial escorts in one salvo and sending a wave of doubt through the imperial lines. However, as the battle progressed, the dark eldar ambush from behind the central asteroid field was effectively countered by the highly manoeuvrable astartes escorts, and by 14:30 a dark eldar cruiser had been destroyed. The furious battle in the centre of the battle saw thew xenos score their own successes, destroying the imperial swords of Craddock's battlegroup, but the Dark Angels were able to keep the xenos at arm’s length, while Dreyer's battlegroup poured in fire from the flank. Before long, Vlokarion decided to cut his losses and disengage.

 

Despite the loss of the dark eldar force, all was not yet lost for the Coalition, but at 16:20 Hughes delivered his aggressive strike against the chaos right wing. The imperial fleet ordered all ahead full, ramming the chaos cruisers and boarding one of the adeptus mechanicus vessels. In this action Phoenix was hulked at 16:47, and Firedrake crippled, but the blow by the imperium shattered the Coalition right flank, forcing the Emerald Serpent to flee. Now outnumbered, Cybixx similarly disengaged, leaving the Imperium to mop up any roks foolish enough to give away their presence by opening fire. The rest, and the space hulk, simply melted into the blackness of Destino's interplanetary space, and by 17:30 the battlefield was left in the hands of the Imperium.

 

Aftermath

The Imperium had achieved a decisive victory in the battle of Destino, but the Mallem Cybixxem had escaped. Cybixx had lost one capital ship, a mechanicum cruiser, which although a blow did not seriously reduce Cybixx's capabilities to conduct naval warfare. The ork losses were moderate, but the hulk had also not been destroyed. The rok fleet would be easily rebuilt. The Dark eldar had lost one cruiser - painful for a force which had such limited numbers at its disposal, but hardly a crushing defeat. Only the Emerald Serpent had suffered significant losses, losing three cruisers and several damaged. The chaos fleet lost by far the most of all the Coalition partners, in large part to their distant and separated deployment prior to the action.

 

Even so, the declaration of a "crushing victory" by Imperial propaganda was not entirely accurate. It was true that the combined imperial fleet had lost only one cruiser, the dauntless class light cruiser Phoenix. After the battle her hulk was taken in tow for salvage. Her sister, Firedrake, had also suffered heavy damage, but otherwise Hughes' capital ships were still in full fighting condition. However, over a dozen escorts had been lost, including a number of astartes vessels. The imperial fleet had not sustained serious losses, but the idea that the imperial fleet had escaped damage altogether was plainly false.

 

The Emerald Serpent had been the clear loser in the engagement, although the action itself meant the coalition fleet was broken up, and Cybixx had to abandon the Destino system in its entirety, leaving Hughes and the Imperium in a commanding position in the Foramen Minoris. Vandrax was still safe from attack, but many in the Imperium already began to consider Destino as the Coalition's "high tide", only weeks after its inception. This of course, was over confidence and hubris of a dangerous kind, and despite the fact the Imperial Fleet had met all its main objectives, the fact it had not delivered a fatal blow to the ability of the Coalition to wage war weighed heavily on Admiral Hughes' mind.

Coalition Losses

3 chaos cruisers 

1 Ad Mech cruiser 

1 Dark Eldar cruiser 

Imperium Losses 

1 Dauntless light cruiser 

Over a dozen escorts 

Stahl repulses Emerald Serpent rescue mission

Stahl’s attention was focussed upon Hexis, while he cared little for the world itself he had recognised its strategic value in future campaigns. So determined he was to secure the planet he ordered the flask containing Marcus to be shipped to Hexis so his essence could be syphoned for further fortifications.

This was of course scryed by the Emerald Serpent, though it was not the worshippers of Tzeentch that had responded, but rather the Daemons of Nurgle. The Grandfather of plagues had been pleased with his pets in the Emerald Serpent and had been loathe to see them come to harm. Like a dutiful parent he sent his hordes to recapture their beloved Marcus, even though the shrivelled soul was not one that belonged to the lord of plagues.

In late 0902.019M42 the Iron Warriors under Line Captain Zhorisch were overseeing new supply lines, using the flask of Marcus to speed up progress. The Sorcerer Itharion wove a ritual the soul of Marcus shrieking as it was stretched, malformed and syphoned into Daemonic engines.

The thinning of the veil required to weave the ritual gave the hordes of Nurgle the chance to tear into the Material realm. The Iron Warriors quickly pulled into a tight defensive formation, with Autocannons, Missile Launchers and Heavy Bolters all trained upon the pestilent horde. The daemonic horde was accompanied by a greasy yellow fog and buzzing flies that obfuscated them. Despite the miasma clouding their aim, the Iron Warriors unleashed so many shells that many daemons were cut down, though more tore into reality. Zhorisch knew that it was hopeless to hold the supply points in the short term, so surrendered them without a fight, allowing more time for his Warriors to take a successful firing solution. The Thorakitai fanned out into a defensive perimeter, baiting the Plague Bearers to attack, which they obligingly did so.

The Decimator war engine, Contemptor and Havoc teams focussing on the Plaguebearers furthest from his defensive line on the right flank,  the Thorakitai withdrew from the Plague Bearers on the left. The Daemons had been drawn into the Iron Warriors kill zone. Zhorisch’s Chosen warriors, armed with flamers and combi flamers, moved forward and unleashed a torrent of promethium on the plague bearers. The Chosen burned the plaguebearers and dispersed the greasy yellow fog and cloud of fat flies. Rank after rank fell to the Plague Bearers. What's more, the Havoc teams had a clear bead on the Plague Bearers and hammered home shell after shell. To their credit even after this fusilade, a third of the plague bearers still stood. The Chosen charged supported by the Thorakitai, cutting down the bloated bodies till their grasp on reality faded.

The Nurgle Daemons pulled back keen to avoid the Iron Warrior counter attack and hold onto the warp tears. The Chosen raced forward to immolate one of the Daemon Princes leading the attack while the Havoc Team and walkers obliterated the other unit of plague bearers. The lead Daemon Prince realising they had drastically underestimated the defensive capabilities of the Iron Warriors made to retreat but was halted by a furious assault by the Chosen. Though the Daemon Prince manage to put down the veteran astartes, the ancient Contemptor was hot on their heels crushing the Prince and sending its essence back to the warp.

The Iron Warriors completed their new supply lines on Hexis and once again asserted their dominance of the Chaos forces. This episode had made Stahl note that the presence of the soul of Marcus destabilised the Emerald Serpent and so used the device to return the shrivelled and tortured soul to Mordecai shortly thereafter.

Imperial Titans aid decisive push in the east

In mid 02.019M42 general Konev began drawing up his strategic plan for overall victory on Hexis. The imperium has a strong position on the north, but were unable to shift the chaos forces out of their positions in the city of Praxis. Repeated assaults on the city centre and encircling moves between Praxis and Menthoteph had all been reversed, so Konev decided to shift his focus and attempt a more far reaching encirclement. The plan would take longer, but ought to ensure final victory. 

The first stage of this plan would be to breakthrough the eastern front and drive south towards the chaos forces in the Shifting Sands. This would end the encirclement of Menthoteph and relieve pressure on the left flank of Konev’s armies. 

In order to secure Andreyevich’s armies’ flanks during the advance, the titans of Legion Dominus would be employed for the first time. The open ground to the east of Menthoteph would be ideal terrain for the titans, while the conventional ground forces would be vulnerable to any sortie from ancient fort region. 

The advance started well for the imperium, as the armies of O’Tek Ra had moved away from the front lines, apparently on a mission of their own design. This meant the imperial armies swiftly cleared their starting lines and surged south. Expecting no real resistance against the titans, Legio Dominus were alarmed when they detected the energy signatures of engines. Analysing the data, the Adeptus Mechanicus were shocked to find an equal force of titans from the crusade era Legio Skyphos, traitors to the imperium presumed lost in the warp. 

History was irrelevant however, the traitors were intent on attacking and the loyalist Titan force, made up of a warlord, reaver and two warhounds, could not allow the powerful enemy force to break through and cause carnage in Andreyevich’s army. Legio Dominus faced off against Skyphos and took the worst of the early fire. A warhound was quickly forced to shut down after sustaining damage to its reactor, only to be knocked over by a follow up shot from the enemy Warlord. The Dominus Reaver also took heavy damage while attempting to finish off the enemy warhounds, who had taken the brunt of imperial firepower, before disappearing in a violent explosion. Nothing was left of the Titan except a smoking crater. 

Reeling from this loss, the princeps of the warlord knew he had to stop the traitors from breaking through. Rushing forward with the remaining warhound, the imperial titans surprised the enemy by advancing when they had taken heavier losses. Legio Skyphos had lost one warhound, it’s leg taking critical damage and the war engine topping, its Vulcan megabolters firing wildly and catching its squadron mate in a storm of fire. Fortunately for the traitors, the damage from the friendly fire incident was minimal, and Legio Skyphos still had a 3-2 advantage. This they pressed, going after the warhound and subjecting it to a storm of fire. This however had been the loyalist’s plan. 

The remaining two titans of the Legio Dominus maniple then fled north, inviting the chaos force to follow. By the time Stahl heard of the engagement and realised the ruse, it was too late. Andreyevich’s army had slipped past the enemy Titan force and dug in to the east of the chaos base, crossing the great sand sea and taking up positions in the Shifting Sands. Konev’s plan had worked, as Legio Skyphos were forced to withdraw to the ground east of Menthoteph. With a well dug in army now entrenched on the chaos flank, Stahl’s commanding position over the eastern desert had been compromised, and Konev’s grand strategy now had a solid foundation 

Skirmishes in central Praxis indecisive

Following the creation of a heavily fortified zone in the centre of Praxis by Chaos forces, the imperium were at somewhat of a loss as to how to proceed. General Konev needed intelligence about the strength and dispositions of enemy forces in the centre of the city, but the imperial cult militia forces were exhausted. Konev turned to the astartes to undertake a series of raids against the traitors in the city, and the Dark Angels jumped at the chance. 

Their first encounter with the chaos forces indicated that rather than regiments and astartes legions defending Praxis, Stahl and the Emerald Serpent has seen how effective the imperial militia forces had been and had similarly employed irregular fanatical units in the city. Encountering cultists and only a few traitor marines, the Dark Angels were unable to gain meaningful information, and in the firefight found the cultists overrunning imperial defences. 

Not giving up, the Loyalist Astartes made a second strike against the enemy, holding back the cultist horde and bolstering imperial defences in north Praxis. It appeared that the central zone of the city was heavily defended and Konev would not be able to risk an immediate attritional frontal assault. Armed with this new information general Konev began plans to encircle the city, cutting it off from supply before eventually assaulting the shattered defenders. 

Chaos Forces secure new headquarters

After the destruction of Stahl’s chaos base by the imperial fleet the imperial fists had information that the forces of chaos were well on their way in constructing a new one. This in itself wasn’t surprising, but intelligence reports suggested thousand sons in the region of the base. Live ones. Realising the importance of this information and without informing high command, the imperial fists immediately launched an assault against this new traitor force. 

No sooner had they landed and deployed in attack formation, the astartes warriors soon realised the alarm had been raised. In the distance armoured vehicles and grav bikes were bearing down on the imperial force, signifying the presence of an army more than ten millennia old. An army of Thousand Sons from the heresy era were here, on Hexis. Traitor marines not affected by the Rubric of Ahriman once again marched against the loyalists of Dorn. 

Reporting their findings to Inquisitor Vorushko could wait as the Imperial Fists charged their enemy. The loyalists fought well but were unable to land a telling blow on the traitor forces. After a brief and violent battle in the shifting sands the imperial marines withdrew, their seek and destroy mission ending in failure, but the knowledge that heresy era marines were once again active in the Aleph Sector caused grave concern within the ranks of the imperial fists. Clearly the warp anomaly that had been active previously in returning forces from the heresy was active once more. Perhaps reactivated once again by the shifting of the Foramen Ignotum, the astartes now had to decide how much of this information, if any, to divulge to the inquisition. 

Hexis current positions

Ork forces run amok south of Menthoteph

While Stahl had commanders on three fronts on Hexis, and the Emerald Serpent nominally controlled the sprawling Eastern Front, Zorisch's southern front saw the largest concentration of piratical and mercenary ork formations infront of the chaos fortified lines. Seen as a secondary theatre, the orks had been employed mostly as a distraction, so the forces of chaos could concentrate on the important Praxis sector of the battlezone. Over time these ork forces had seen reinforcements arrive, or crash down on makeshift spacecraft and roks, the dull thuds in the wilderness now becoming almost routine for the imperial forces in Menthoteph.

Zorisch had been unwilling and likely unable to monitor exactly what the ork forces were up to or even fathom out their bizarre yet utterly simplistic command structure. The forces of chaos recognised that using the orks as allies is much like using a virus to do your work, just rather large, green, loud and violent viruses wielding oversized melee weapons and firing ramshackle yet brutal "gunz".

On 0501.019M42 some of these orks, of unknown origin, began an "offenziv" of their own. True to ork logic this assault had no real objective other than to cause mayhem, bloodshed and explosions, and it wasn't particularly aimed at any particular side. The ork warbands spread out to the south of Menthoteph, first encountering Stahl's own allies, a force of Thousand Sons not part of the Emerald Serpent. Unaware of the plans of Zorisch to allow the orks free reign in front of Hexis' second city, the Thousand Sons were simply in the wrong place, and soon found themselves overwhelmed by the green tide. Stahl wasn't even informed.

Later on the same day, the orks began to wheel round to the east, and the Sisters of Quartz harlequins realised there was a real risk of them finding a secret entrance to the catacombs. If the orks got below in strength, alliance plans to take back the device room against hordes of greenskins would become impossible, requiring the tau and eldar forces to conduct overland assaults against prepared enemy positions. This meant that when the harlequins, testing their new skyweavers on a patrol near Menthoteph, stumbled across the orks in open country, they did not withdraw.

The harlequins took terrible punishment from the orks as the horde turned gleefully to meet this new challenge. the eldar lost priceless lives and equipment and were forced away out into the deserts, leaving the orks in control of the southern slopes of Menthoteph. However, the barbarous xenos had not found or didnt' care about entrances to the catacombs, so alliance fears were not realised. Now Zorisch had to wonder if his ork "help" would remain more of a help than a hindrance.

Hexis Current Positions

Chaos forces consolidate positions

Entering 0202.019M42 the forces of Chaos were in a precarious position on Hexis, the reinforcements of the Imperium and the Tau had made planet fall. Though they controlled most of the planet, the Chaos line was over extended and precarious.

Warsmith Stahl of the Iron Warriors, the master of the Chaos forces, took the only option the IV Legion took in these circumstances - dig in.

Though many of the Chaos warbands rankled at this decidedly Iron Warrior approach, recent history has taught them not to cross the Warsmith.

The Black Legion, took the initiative, looting supplies from within the city, raiding the most vulnerable enemy forces. The Dark Angels, having a small force within the city for unexplained reasons, moved to intercept.

The Dark Angels had setup a superior firing position, overlooking the a ruined chapel. As the Black Legion moved into the area, the Dark Angels launched their trap, cutting down a number of cultists. The Black Legion were forced to rush into the kill zone, enduring the fire. The Dark Angels fire became telling as Astartes started to fall. The moment of change came, as if cursed Brother Berneal’s plasma gun overloaded in his hands, robbing the Dark Angels of their advantage. Though the Black Legion had lost twice as many than the Dark Angels, they pushed on, retrieving their bounty and making good their escape.

Unprepared to wait for an attack, the Skitarii launched their own probing raid into the Chaos held city. Honourable Horozkha shadowed the Skitarii force, intent of facing them over a ruined causeway. As the Skitarii moved into position, Anibal heft his heavy bolter, sighting a Skitarii sniper and sent a stream of bolt shells into the bionic form, ripping it to pieces. The Skitarii were thrown by this attack, as they had expected to use the sniper to great effect while the remaining warriors pressed on. The Iron Warriors, hugged the terrain, with Horozhka launching a blistering charge accompanied by cover fire into the Skitarii line, 3 falling to bolt and blade. The Skitarii refused to yield as they attempted to shoot their way free. However they were outclassed, all save one of the kill team cut down, the final one fled. On examination of their bionic engrams and consumption of their bionics, the Iron Warriors learned of a near undefended supply cache the Skitarii had identified, within hours, it lay in the hands of the forces of Chaos.

Tau force Charion Gate

In early 02.019M42 the alliance forces were still outnumbered by their opponents and were holding on to a very long front. To the west, the forces of Randolf's second army were an ever present threat, while all along the north and east of their sector, a long and winding front lay between the tau and eldar forces and the forces under Iron Warriors' commander Greghaz and his "West Front".

The Tau would have preferred to pull back from Old Town to shorten their lines, but at this location they held an important warp beacon, helping to guide in reinforcements from Tau space, and while this could be relocated, it would have to be de-activated. In addition, the alliance were more concerned than ever with the dominion of chaos over the device chamber, and started laying covert multilayered plans to eventually wrestle the device, and then the entire planet, into alliance hands.

The strategy focused first on taking the device room and changing its alignment. Chaos having fortified the chamber was a setback, but the alliance began sending small teams of tau and eldar into the city in order to scout out ways to get into the device room without having to fight a long and bloody street war against both the imperium and the forces of chaos. To do this they needed to get into the catacombs under the city, and to do that, they needed control of one of the city's main gates.

The Charion Gate was the closest and easiest to take, and in early 02.019M42 tau pathfinder and stealth teams moved into the city, encountering little resistance until one of the pathfinder teams was located by an adeptus mechanicus skitarii patrol. A short but brutal firefight developed, in which the tau managed to drive off the imperial force. This gave the alliance time to consolidate their hold on the Charion Gate and begin investigating ways into the underground chambers of the vast city.

Emerald Serpent see off Omsk assault

The immediate priority for the forces of chaos on Hexis following the loss of their base was consolidation. General Konev was aware of the perilous state of the traitor armies however, and demanded an all out offensive to finish them off and drive them from Praxis. However, the Imperial armies had also been suffering from supply and reinforcement problems, and had only just recovered in the west from the unfortunate events that the fleet action had caused in the previous month.

Nevertheless Lycaon general Randolf commanding 2nd army was ordered to attack and drive out the chaos forces from west Praxis. To do this Randolf was less than keen to use maximum effort, knowing that any significant movement of forces would be detected by the alliance and could spell catastrophe. Instead, the Omsk cavalry division under his command was sent in to charge the enemy in the ruins of the ancient city.

Unfortunately for the Imperium the Emerald Serpent had significantly reinforced Greghaz's ailing West Front armies, and now held strong positions in the central ruins. The Omsk cavalrymen charged through a hail of accurate fire, many cut down before even reaching the enemy lines. Those that did, failed to make a dent in the chaos defences, and their charges crumpled on the steel resolve of traitor astartes and armour. The assault was a shambles and called off very soon after it had begun, allowing the Emerald Serpent to continue overseeing their more important matters, fortifying their positions in the centre of Praxis around the all important device chamber.