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THE DOOM OF MYMEARA

1
 PRODUCED BY THE FORGE WORLD STUDIO
First edition published in 2011. Second edition published in Great Britain in 2015 by Forge World, Games Workshop, Willow Road, Lenton,
Nottingham, NG7 2WS.
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ISBN: 978-1-78253-970-4
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 CONTENTS

THE DOOM OF MYMEARA

Prologue................................................................................................................................... 4

Chapter One: Ghosts in the Shadows.....................................................................................11

Chapter Two: The Silence Ends............................................................................................. 22

Chapter Three: Dark Times.................................................................................................... 33

Chapter Four: The Tide Turns................................................................................................ 45

Epilogue................................................................................................................................. 59
The countless wars fought in the name of the God- families who oversaw production on the ice world; the
Emperor and the galaxy-spanning Imperium of Mankind planet was of little strategic importance and of only minor
rarely begin with the deafening roar of a massed Imperial economic worth to the sub-sector.
Guard artillery barrage or the earth-shaking footfalls of
world-striding Titans. Most are simply heralded by the Aside from the sixty-two million citizen-workers and their
sound of a single shot or a desperate cry for help in the families living in settlements clustered around the planet’s
darkness of an uncaring galaxy. ore mines and refineries, and the fifteen thousand
Administratum support staff based at Port Ryira, the planet
The war for Betalis III began with silence. was a desolate wasteland devoid of life. One of only two
planets fit for habitation in the system, it was a stark
OPENING MOVES contrast to the neighbouring industrial world of Betalis IV.
024894.M41 Even the aristocratic families granted mining charters on
Located deep within the glacial fields of Betalis III’s eastern Betalis III generations before by the Administratum rarely
continent, Relay Station NX87-04 formed part of the global visited their distant dominion. Instead their will was
surveillance network that kept permanent watch over the imposed by hundreds of petty bureaucrats, prefects and
ice world’s vast uninhabitable wastelands. That it had stewards charged with meeting the planet’s annual
functioned without issue for centuries in such harsh Administratum tithes and ensuring that every last bit of
conditions was a testament to the consummate skills of the profit possible after that was ground from the planet’s
Adeptus Mechanicus Tech-Priests who had seeded the bedrock and the unfortunate souls who lived upon it.
planet with scores of such installations during its
transformation into an Imperium mining colony. On the eve The escalating raids were quickly attributed to the Eldar
of its four hundred and fifth year of perfect operation, the Corsairs that the system’s Imperial Navy fleet had
relay station abruptly ceased transmitting. previously encountered in the Betalis system’s outer
asteroid belt and the Karina Nebula beyond it. The
The logis-adept monitoring the relay station thousands of Corsairs, identified as being aligned to the Void Dragons
kilometres away at the planet’s spaceport, Port Ryira, cadre, had posed a serious threat in the past to the
instantly went into cerebral shock and let out a soul- colonists of Betalis III, launching attacks upon isolated
piercing scream; the sudden loss of data collapsing its communities whenever the opportunity had presented
higher brain functions which had been exclusively devoted itself. Regular patrols by the system’s fleet had kept them
to processing NX87-04’s constant stream of tech-scripts in check in recent years, but it was now obvious from the
and binary ciphers its entire life. Its death cry sent a shock increasing sightings reported by the crews of cargo
wave through the living, breathing bio-processor it was transports travelling to and from the system that those
physically and mentally connected to, rendering five other circumstances had changed.
adepts catatonic and leaving vast tracts of the planet’s
eastern-most continent unmonitored until repairs could be Meanwhile, on Betalis III, as the profile of the raids on the
affected and the damaged bio-components replaced. ice world differed little from the Corsairs’ modus operandi,
Planetary Governor Escava dispatched his forces as he
On a world where temperatures had been sub-zero for had done previously. Now, though, these were joined by
millennia and lethal ice storms whipped up with little men from the Cadian 6th Armoured Regiment, elements of
warning, the malfunction of NX87-04 was initially blamed which had been recently transferred to the planet to
on local conditions, and it was left to the trans-mechanic undergo hostile environment training. With their skills and
specialists of the Adeptus Mechanicus on-site to resolve experience, Planetary Governor Escava desperately hoped
the issue and revive the relay station’s machine spirit. It that maybe the fighting men of Cadia would put an end to
was only when a Sentinel patrol from a nearby garrison this persistent problem once and for all.
was ordered to investigate the still silent facility two days
later that the isolated relay station was found to have been Even with the aid of the vastly more experienced Cadian
attacked and destroyed; the frozen bodies of its massacred squads, hunting down the raiders was not as simple a
trans-mechanics were lain scattered throughout the matter as Planetary Governor Escava thought. As soon as
station’s charred remains, their horrific injuries consistent a report of a raid was received, the Guardsmen were
with those caused by monofilament projectile weapons. A dispatched in squadrons of Arvus Lighters across the
report of the patrol’s grisly discovery was immediately frozen landscape. Of the raiding party though there would
dispatched to Port Ryira and as alarms blared throughout be no sign, only the destruction it had wrought upon yet
the facility, the planet’s defence forces steeled themselves another relay station or isolated outpost an indication of its
for further attacks. passing. On the rare occasion, there were survivors, they
rarely provided intelligence of any use. Those who lived
Over the weeks that followed, the ice world’s global long enough to speak of their ordeal were terrified beyond
surveillance network was targeted by more raids; each rational sense, babbling incoherently about ʽlights in the
facility being attacked under the cover of darkness and darkness� before mercifully succumbing to their wounds.
with little, if any, warning. The motive for the attacks
completely eluded Betalis III’s Planetary Governor, Jamuel
Escava, and the representatives of the noble mining

13
 General Odon’s long years of tactical training and battlefield
THE CADIAN 6TH ARMOURED REGIMENT experience had led him to conclude that the seemingly
Betalis III’s defence forces during the Eldar incursion indiscriminate attacks were neither random nor the actions
were centred around the Cadian 6th Armoured of opportunists taking advantage of what the general saw
Regiment. It comprised good quality Guardsmen, both as a woefully defended system; an abomination he would
battle hardened and well trained, drawn from the be taking up with the commanders of its Imperial Navy fleet
strong martial traditions of its home world. forthwith. Each attack had been planned by minds infinitely
greater than those they had been toying with and were
Prior to its transfer to the Betalis system, the Cadian undoubtedly, in his opinion, part of a much wider initiative.
6th had been a part of Army Group Pious, created to Although none of the facilities attacked were directly
halt the predations of Waaagh! Ugblitz. The Ork connected, by plotting the raids and then projecting where
warlord and its five-year rampage through the Saras the next one would most likely occur, General Odon had
sector was finally defeated in a battle lasting nearly realised that a tipping point would soon be reached where
two years. It saw millions of Guardsmen valiantly Betalis III’s entire global surveillance network would be
sacrificing their lives against the massive Ork horde rendered inoperative with the removal of just four more
that had been drawn to the war zone by the notorious relay stations thousands of kilometres apart from each
warlord’s previous victories. The Cadian 6th itself had other. With the planet unmonitored, and units from the 6th
been reduced to less than a half of its original strength Cadian Armoured Regiment and planetary defence forces
during the conflict; a loss it was still recovering from spread too thin across its surface chasing ghosts, the world
when redeployed to Betalis III. would be utterly unprepared for the much larger invasion
General Odon believed the attacks were a prelude to.
Betalis III’s custodians had been foolishly dancing to
This horrific game of cat and mouse was to go on for someone else’s tune and General Odon had arrived to put
weeks; the planet’s overseers and stewards voicing their a stop to it.
concerns ever louder with each attack, fearful that the
situation would soon hamper their ability to meet the Knowing that time was a precious commodity he could now
mining cartels’ Administratum obligations. And so it might ill afford to waste and with not enough men or armament to
have continued had not greater military minds been protect the entire planet, General Odon ordered that all
watching events unfold on Betalis III from afar. Imperial Guard and planetary defence forces be recalled
from the less populated southern and western continents
THE RETURN OF A WARRIOR with immediate effect. This raised a heated storm of
032894.M41 protests from the cartels’ representatives who feared what
A month after the attack on Relay Station NX87-04, a would happen if they lost the total control they currently
shuttlecraft set down on the primary landing strip at Port exerted over the belligerent population, still bitter over what
Ryira. Onboard was General Myndoras Odon, commander they saw as the ‘twisted’ promises made to their ancestors
of the 6th Cadian Armoured Regiment and a decorated centuries before. If the workers were not kept in check it
veteran of over thirty campaigns fought in the name of the was feared that riots would soon break out, affecting
Emperor. Recovering from injuries he’d received whilst production rates and preventing the cartels from meeting
commanding the regiment in its successful defence of the the planet’s stringent Administratum tithe.
agri-world, Saras VII, the general had abruptly cut short
his rehabilitation, giving only two hours notice of his But during times of war rarely do the priorities of the
impending arrival to the now nervously waiting Planetary common man, their Imperial overseers and the might of the
Governor Escava. military concur, and whilst the cartels petitioned furiously for
him to rescind his order, the general had far greater
Striding past the fawning diplomats from the mining cartels concerns. He believed that what they would all soon face
who had hastily gathered to greet him, the general’s first was far worse than a barely restrained militant population or
action was to reassume command of all divisions of the the Administratum’s vast chapters of auditors and
Cadian 6th garrisoned on the planet. Bowing to the general’s bureaucrats. General Odon suspected that whoever was
superior military expertise, some might suggest almost too behind the raids was already massing their forces in the
eagerly, Planetary Governor Escava put the planet’s defence unmonitored glacial wastelands, and should they gain a
forces at the Imperial Guard commander’s disposal. foothold on Betalis III, then the infinitely more valuable
industrial world and staging point of Betalis IV would be
Only a few hours behind the general’s ship but already their next target. Betalis III was nothing more than a
filling long-range pict-screens at Port Ryira was an armada stepping stone, in his eyes, to the indispensable strategic
of vessels, onboard which was the remainder of the Cadian gem that hung in its heavens.
6th Armoured Regiment. Their headquarters had been
temporarily based on the system’s primary planet, Betalis THE DIE IS CAST
IV, and the general had issued orders whilst en-route that 040894.M41
they were to redeploy to Betalis III; his assessment of the The decision to recall the Imperial Guard squads from the
situation was that events unfolding on the planet were southern and western continents achieved far more than a
serious enough to warrant their immediate relocation. storm of protests from the planet’s prefects, it also

15
provoked the enemy into action, something General Odon regiment delivered in terms of experience and ability, it
had been counting on. lacked in equipment. It was sorely in need of tanks and had
only half of its usual complement available. The remainder
As the last Guardsmen were shuttled back to Port Ryira, a had not yet been replaced after they were destroyed in the
cargo vessel flying supplies between the mining facilities war against the Orks on Saras VII.
on the southern ice plains of the continent was attacked
and destroyed. Before his ship disappeared from Port The Cadian 6th Regiment’s officers first scoured Betalis III
Ryira’s screens, the pilot relayed back a single pict-image for anything with tracks and armour they could use. All of
of his pursuers. It showed two sleek craft clearly of Eldar Betalis III’s heavy armour, what little there was of it, was
origin, each with their weapons illuminated with an immediately stripped from the planetary defence force and
unearthly glow as they powered up to blast the cargo ship added to that of the Cadian regiment, along with its
from the skies. squadrons of Malcador ‘Infernus’ flamer tanks and Crassus
armoured assault transports.
The message from the planet’s assailants was loud and
clear. The war for Betalis III had begun. General Odon’s next action was to gain consensus from
the system’s Imperial Navy commander that all non-
THE SEARCH FOR ARMS AND ARMOUR essential flights be grounded on the planet to protect what
Even with thousands of Astra Militarum regiments in a little air support he would have to call upon during the
constant state of readiness, the wheels of bureaucracy conflict. The Imperial Navy’s small defensive air fleet
within the Departmento Munitorum grind monumentally comprised little more than a squadron of Marauder
slowly. The order for the Hammer of the Emperor to strike Destroyers and another of Thunderbolts, with the majority
may not be issued for weeks, months or even years once of its ‘civilian’ craft being Arvus cargo shuttles and bulk
a request for aid is first received as it makes its way transports. General Odon knew that the Eldar would first
through the seemingly endless chain of command. Those and foremost seek superiority in the skies before
seeking assistance are therefore wise to look to their own committing any ground troops. With little to match their
defence in case they do not receive reinforcements in craft in terms of speed or manoeuvrability, this would be a
time or at all. Therefore, invoking his full powers as hard battle for the Betalis system fleet, but one it would
Consul Militant of the Betalis system, a position granted participate in regardless.
to him upon his return to active service, General Odon
first issued a system wide decree that all resources, both Then the general’s staff turned their attention to the
military and otherwise, were now part of the building war colonists of the ice world. The planetary governor had
effort. Attached to this decree was notice that anyone been in the process of building up and training recruits to
who dared to object would be swiftly transferred to the meet the planet’s Departmento Munitorum manpower
ranks of the Arbites penal battalion, charged as traitors tithes. The recruits, men and women mostly drawn from
for supporting the Eldar cause. the planetary defence force and workers militia, had been
given the temporary title of the 28th Betalis Rifles. They had
As the superior military force on the planet, the Cadian 6th virtually no equipment or heavy weapons, but had already
Regiment would form the core of the army, but what the undergone training with the Cadian 6th and were

16
considered battle ready. General Odon gave the order for was well-equipped with Chimeras and Leman Russ. It
their reassignment. These near-raw recruits had little also had a heavy tank company of ageing but fully-
experience but he needed the manpower. If nothing else, functional Macharius battle tanks. These would be
they would free up more experienced Guardsmen from essential, especially as the Cadians had little in the
garrison and security duties. Their commander, Colonel way of truly heavy armament, just a few surviving
Empteda, was a capable and loyal officer who had battle-worn squadrons of Baneblades, Stormblades
achieved good results in training the conscripts, and and Shadowswords.
General Odon saw no need to replace him.
A flotilla of vessels used by the mining cartels had already
The search for more troops also led directly to the cells of been prepared for the regiment’s immediate transfer when
the Adeptus Arbites. The life of the common man of the its young colonel, in command of the regiment through
Imperium is rarely an easy one. War and disease take all nothing but sheer fluke of birthright, sent his response.
too many from the Emperor’s Light too soon and those Although he sympathised with the predicament that
who survive will likely endure such hardships that each General Odon faced, he would not deviate from his original
day is a constant struggle with little reward or comfort orders until sector command sent new instructions. The
other than what they can take, whether willingly or Vaust 14th would stay on Betalis IV. A skirmish on some
otherwise, from another. backwater planet was not part of the Vaustian colonel’s
current concerns.
On Betalis III, the descendants of the original colonists
survived their grim existence with their ancestors’ bitter THE INTERVENTION
hatred for their overseers bred deep into their psyche. With 048894.M41
absolute control over their lives, the cartels’ enforcers The defiance of the Vaust 14th’s commander ended with
made sure there was little time between work shifts for the arrival of Inquisitor-lord Hestaphus Danzk at Port
them to dwell upon their discontentment. Still though, Ryira. The Inquisitor-lord, an agent of the great institution
tempers regularly ran high and even minor scuffles or of the Ordo Xenos, swept into General Odon’s command
disagreements frequently escalated into riots among the room unannounced and unchallenged. Accompanying the
general populace, and the swift, harsh penalties dealt out Inquisitor-lord was his retinue: three Cadian Guardsmen,
for even the smallest infraction meant there was rarely a an Adeptus Mechanicus Tech-Priest upon whose arm
cell empty in the many Arbites compounds on the world. It perched a huge black bird, cables from the implants upon
was to these that the general’s staff turned next, and each its skull linking it with its creator, and two Ogryns.
prisoner, regardless of his or her crime or sentence, was Dragged between the two megalithic thugs was the pitiful
armed and given the chance to redeem themselves. sight of the disgraced young Vaustian colonel, all
evidence of his former rank ripped unceremoniously from
The final addition to the burgeoning defence force was the his soiled uniform.
primary mining cartel family’s personal guard. The absent
cartel family’s representative on the planet, Lord-steward Ordered by his superiors to investigate the growing reports
Vlaar, was a practical man, who recognised that the sooner of Eldar in the system, Inquisitor-lord Danzk had been
the Eldar threat was removed from Betalis III, the quicker enroute to Betalis III when he had intercepted the young
normal operations would resume. The cartel’s personal colonel’s complaints to his commanders regarding General
guard consisted of a thousand troops granted for Odon’s orders. Diverting to Betalis IV, Danzk had arrested
ceremonial duties and protection should the members of the colonel and his entire command staff, and sentenced
the noble mining family who owned the Administratum them to serve in the newly formed Arbites penal battalion
mandate ever visit. The guard looked smart on the parade until the end of the war.
ground and had their own squadrons of Leman Russ and
Chimeras, but like the Betalis 28th had never seen any The Vaust 14th Armoured Regiment was immediately
combat action. The general’s staff took them anyway. In redeployed to Betalis III and within days their Leman Russ,
return, Lord-steward Vlaar lobbied for and, to the surprise Chimeras, Macharius and Ogryn Auxilia Company were
of many of the rival cartel families’ representatives, was reassigned to reinforce the Cadian squads. Some of the
given the rank of colonel. Cadian 6th Regiment’s officers were also distributed
throughout the new regiment’s ranks, replacing the
Having exhausted what little Betalis III could offer, the inexperienced officers drawn from the hive world’s ruling
general’s staff then turned to other sources of families with much more experienced Cadian sergeants
manpower. Neighbouring Betalis IV, also now on high and veterans. Commissars were also posted amongst the
alert, was currently the staging point of the Vaust 14th platoons to quash any dissent with their customary finality.
Armoured Regiment. The Vaustian commander was
ordered to turn control of the regiment over to the As well as providing a solution to the army’s lack of ground
Cadians; theirs was the senior force and the needs of troops, the Inquisitor-lord had also called upon other
the Betalis system overrode his previous orders. The resources, some even the new Consul Militant did not have
regiment comprised men conscripted from Vaust’s hive access to. Also in the vicinity of the Betalis system was a
gangs and workers, and although they lacked the convoy destined for the Yarant system, containing a Titan
Cadians’ tradition of service and sacrifice, the regiment transport of the Legio Gryphonicus – the War Griffons.

17
 D aetalus Astara, first son of the 321st House of Vaust and
Colonel of the 14th Vaust Armoured Regiment, looked
down disapprovingly from the balcony of his temporary
the Betalis system map that hung on the wall there, pointing out
features upon it to another, hunched and half his height and
dressed in a rough, brown cloak and robe. Daetalus Astara, first
headquarters as his regiment lined itself up on the make-shift son of the 321st House of Vaust and Colonel of the 14th Vaust
landing strip parade ground. Already amongst them he could Armoured Regiment, had seen enough.
make out his new ‘advisors’ poking around. Recently posted to
the regiment, they had done nothing but criticise and lecture him “Who in the name of the Sk...” Astara began, the unmistakable
since their arrival, babbling on about the need to better train his sound of lasguns preparing to fire on either side of him instantly
men and follow the tenets of the Tactica Imperialis. He had silencing him. Astara paused and risked turning his head first
considered their comments to be both insulting to one of such one way and then the other, finding himself staring down the
noble birth as he and also a complete waste of his time. No, he wrong end of a lasgun on either side. A subtle flick of the second
would not listen to these ‘advisors’, nor would he listen to that gun barrel indicated he should return his gaze forwards.
old fool who had just begged him to bring his army to Betalis
III. Colonel Daetalus had decided to follow his original orders. The man, an ancient figure with skin the colour of grox-leather,
They sounded more interesting than fighting against some race was staring straight at him. As he dismissed his companion,
called the Eldar he’d never heard of. who scurried out the far door, it suddenly dawned on Astara who
the old man was and more importantly what he represented. He
It was then he saw that damned mang y bird again. The wore a floor length robe unmistakably decorated with symbols
evil-looking creature had been flying around the regiment’s that Astara had only seen in the highly classified briefings on the
temporary barracks all morning, and he was beginning to feel Tyrannic Wars his regiment were due to be shipped off to. The
like it was following him. It reminded him of the spire-vultures man was of the Ordo Xenos; he was an Inquisitor-lord.
back on his home world of Vaust. Black as night and a nuisance
to all and sundry, he had attended many hunts to rid his family’s It was his eyes though that then gained Astara’s full attention as
territories of their disgusting presence. Now here was some the venerable man strode towards him. They were not the rheumy
degenerate blood-cousin of theirs picking and fidgeting at eyes of the old, instead they were a metallic silver and like the
something in its feathers at the far end of the balcony, but keeping bird’s, his irises were a brilliant green which flicked to black and
one beady, bright green eye fixed on him, although Daetalus back again when he blinked. Only once he was standing directly
could have just sworn that it momentarily switched to black as it before Daetalus, did the Inquisitor-lord finally speak.
blinked. Suddenly, the bird stretched out its massive wings and
flew straight at him. ‘Daetalus Astara. First son of the 321st House of Vaust and
Colonel of the 14th Vaust Armoured Regiment, I am Lord
In a blur its talons slashed and clawed at his face and it was all Hestaphus Danzk, Inquisitor of the Ordo Xenos.
he could do to protect himself. Dashing for the door, Daetalus
slammed it behind him. The nightmare though was far from You are charged with disobeying the direct orders of a senior
over. Against the far wall of the room knelt his command staff, officer and purposefully withholding a regiment of the Emperor.
hands on their heads and gazes focussed intently on anywhere I have found you guilty on all counts. You will now atone for
but the lasguns trained on them by men Astara did not recognise your sins.’
as his own. Across the office stood an old man intently studying

General Odon forwarded an astropathic request to the War Colonel Empteda would take command of the first. His
Griffons� home world requesting its temporary battle group was ordered to immediately head to the
reassignment. The request was approved and, in addition, Bregan Glacier. The glacier loomed over the entrance to
a strike force of Elysian Drop Troops accompanying the the Tarundor Peninsula, and if it were to fall into enemy
convoy was also diverted. The Elysians, under the hands then movement on and off the peninsula, where the
command of a Captain Isarta, would provide their own Imperium’s forces were based, would be severely
airborne transports and form a mobile reserve for the restricted. It was essential that it was in Imperial hands
defence force. Enroute to the system, Inquisitor-lord before the war began.
Danzk had also petitioned the Space Wolves Chapter for
aid. There had been reports of their presence in a Meanwhile, the two other battle groups would remain on
neighbouring system, and if the Space Marines heeded alert at Port Ryira. Only when the full scale of the enemy’s
the call for reinforcements, then their added might would forces and its intentions were absolutely clear would the
see a formidable force assembled for the defence of largest battle group, led by General Myndoras Odon,
the planet. deploy. The last of the three battle groups, commanded by
Colonel Vlaar, would remain at the space port unless the
With all available options exhausted and the Eldar deployment of its reserve forces was deemed absolutely
Corsairs now openly mounting daylight raids on the other necessary.
two continents, their populations left to fend for
themselves by the order of the general, the Betalis III Until that time, the defenders of the ice world of Betalis III
defence force was split into three battle groups. prepared for war.

18
 Ryza Pattern Leman Russ Battle Tank. This vehicle is typical of
the Imperial Guard armoured support units attached to Company
Retribution during their deployment to the Tormus Delta.

Modified Ryza Pattern Leman Russ Exterminator of the Vaust

14th Regiment. The Exterminators’ primary autocannon
armament proved particularly effective against fast-moving
Eldar skimmers.

19
20
Minotaur Super-heavy Artillery Tank. Several ancient vehicles of this type were
stored within the Betalis System’s defence armouries and diverted to the use of the
Cadian 6th Armoured Regiment for the duration of the conflict.
 31953

File: 99874322/x3 – EPN31953

Date: 475748.M41
Author: Adept Fortunas, 3rd rank Xenos-cartographer
Jurisdiction: Pious system
Title: The Karina Nebula – Fable, Folly and Foolishness

The Karina Nebula has presented a perplexing mystery to those of our Order since its discovery. It is a
celestial anomaly, one that few scholars would dare risk their reputations on and for which only one theory
for its existence has ever been officially submitted. Unfortunately, very little of the Logistician-general
Alberas Karina’s work has survived and we are unable to validate his hypothesis due to his untimely demise,
brought about by agents of the Ecclesiarchy.

Once a celebrated logistician-general of the Galactica Collegae, Karina’s previous work on nebulae had
brought eminent prestige to the institution. However, when he began his analysis of the Betalis Dust Cloud,
the scholar developed a near-fanatical obsession with the folklore of its surrounding civilisations. This
affected his mind so greatly that he retreated within his study cell and appeared so rarely that some of his
peers began to consider him dead. When he finally did reappear, the scholar declared that he had solved the
mystery of the Betalis Dust Cloud, proclaiming to all who would listen that within it was a colossal alien
craft drawing forth the star’s celestial matter to shroud and mask its location and identity.

When challenged by his horrified colleagues, concerned that he was risking not just his reputation but also
perhaps his life and theirs having already drawn the Ecclesiarchy’s attention with his wild claims, Alberas
explained that the answer laid in the region’s mythologies. Some, he had found, mentioned a time when the
constellations had disappeared one after the other from their heavens, only for them to return again days
later as if something immense had passed in front of them. They were not alone and there were many similar
tales amongst other civilisations in planetary systems for light years around them. But it was the apocalyptic
mythology he stumbled upon in a series of ancient Imperium trader logs regarding five civilisations in the
same solar system which had confirmed his suspicions. Their populations feared that one day what they
referred to as the ‘City of the Sky Gods’ would return; a heaven-borne vessel so large it had blocked out their
sun and caused massive earthquakes which had threatened to wipe out their primitive societies.

Believing that the texts he had found described the voyage of a massive xenos star-vessel, Alberas plotted
its segmentum-long route and found that it led to the exact centre of the Betalis Dust Cloud. On the
verge of potentially one of the greatest discoveries of his career, it was then that Alberas made his fatal
error. Presenting his theory to the Collegae’s faculty, the logistician-general compared the technological
achievement of the alien race to the miracles performed by the greatest saints of the Imperium and even the
Emperor himself. Enraged at what they considered absolute blasphemy, Ecclesiarchal representatives present
at the meeting seized Alberas and charged the entire Galactica Collegae faculty with sedition for harbouring
a heretic.

Determining that only the Emperor’s holy fire would cleanse the Collegae of its crimes, they burned its
hundreds of buildings to the ground. Twelve days later when the last embers from the fire storm had died,
of its hallowed halls and wise scholars only ash remained with Alberas Karina just one amongst the missing
hundreds of thousands.

Without his research, we are therefore unable to verify whether Karina’s claims were those of a genius or a
madman. The few explorator teams who have attempted to explore the nebula have been unable to penetrate
far within its hazy layers, most being forced to retreat due to their vessels experiencing systems failures once
within the toxic cloud. Others have simply never returned at all.

See also File ref 3847923495/xdf – Interrogation of Heretic Karina. Intercepted mid-transmission,
Artemus Relay Facility, Martyrs Drift.

21
 CHAPTER TWO
The Silence Ends
053894.M41 space for millennia before it converged together again in a
The colossal blue star of the Betalis system was an ancient vast cloud of star dust nearly a light year away.
traveller. It had passed across the western spiral arms of
the galaxy for billions of years trailed by a ghostly shroud, Known as the Karina Nebula, the Betalis Dust Cloud or
and had figured in the myths and legends of the region in simply EPN31953 by Imperial xeno-cartographers, to the
many guises. To the worlds of the Pashek Consortium, it Eldar the hazy expanse was the Maiden’s Veil. Nothing
was the all-seeing eye of a terrifying cyclopean god that more than an insignificant smudge on the star charts of
constantly watched and judged their every move. But to the the Imperial Navy, to the fathomless minds of the Eldar it
Bad Moon Ork Warlord Gobteef Fangmaw, it had been a was a place avoided by those few who lived upon the
huge sparkling jewel dropped by the Ork god Gork (or Craftworlds who were privy to its terrible secret. But for
possibly Mork) himself. Driven by his insatiable greed to the young Eldar who sought a life free of the restrictions
possess the star-sized gem, the Ork warlord had swept and constraints of the Eldar star palaces, it held no such
across the sector at the head of a gargantuan Waaagh! fear. Instead for millennia it drew them like moths to a
millions of Orks strong; his murderous rampage only being flame to join other such outcasts of their slowly dying race
halted when he was slain by a rival Goff Ork warlord. within its gossamer veil, and where now a massive
Corsair fleet was massing in preparation for its assault
To the Imperium, the Betalis star was none of these things. upon the Betalis system.
What they found instead when their survey ships examined
and catalogued it was just another seething ball of plasma EYES WIDE IN THE WILDERNESS
and radiation like so many others within the Emperor’s The destruction of Betalis III’s global surveillance network
domain. The star was nothing more than a minor sun that by the Eldar Corsairs put General Odon’s forces at a
had been spewing its stellar matter out into the voids of serious disadvantage. Without it, vast stretches of the

22
eastern continent could not be monitored, nor could they scores of surveillance servitors, mostly static devices but
rely on assistance from the orbiting Imperial Navy defence some even capable of low level flight. These were then
platforms. The platforms’ sensors had been designed to distributed to key locations across the eastern continent by
penetrate the highly reflective stellar matter that poured the Inquisitor’s retinue; the three Cadians and Tech-Priest
through the system from the Betalis sun. It would require facing the very real risk of discovery at any moment by the
many days of delicate recalibration by tech-adepts before increasing patrols mounted by Eldar jetbike squadrons.
they could be refocused on the planet, let alone provide
images of sufficient quality for the battle groups’ Within hours of the last of the devices being activated, the
commanders to use. full scale of the Eldar incursion was realised. Monitoring
the feeds from the servitors on the banks of pict-screens in
Again Inquisitor-lord Danzk provided the solution. Amongst his command Chimera, Inquisitor-lord Danzk informed
his retinue was an Adeptus Mechanicus Tech-Priest, General Odon that the defenders of Betalis III faced not
Mydeaus, whom the Inquisitor-lord had rescued over thirty one but two massive Eldar battle hosts.
years before from a Chaos cultist uprising on the hive
world of Hemisphere. With the relay stations and power THE BATTLE FOR THE BETALIS SYSTEM
systems of the surveillance network damaged too far The early warning systems on the Watchful Saviour, Betalis
beyond even the Tech-Priest’s ability to repair by the Eldar III’s primary orbiting defence platform, burst into life as the
raids, he set to work on an alternative. Working without rest Corsair armada crossed into the system’s outer reaches.
for two days and nights, the Tech-Priest put the now As one, the dour robed figures of its choir rose up from
redundant monitoring system at Port Ryira to a new their ornately carved wooden stalls and began to chant the
purpose. From its bio-mechanical components he created Canticle of the Observant Son – the low droning call to
arms a sombre contrast to the shrieking sirens that had The Holy Retribution, one of the few system ships
also been triggered by the approach of the enemy ships. assigned to the Betalis fleet, was the first to suffer their
attentions. Weapons battery after weapons battery was
Far above them in the Watchful Saviour’s towering spires, fired by the Holy Retribution’s gun crews; the ratings and
its gun crews prepared for battle. Scores of Imperial Navy indentured workers inside the ship preparing the next
indentured workers heaved the platform’s massive macro volley the instant their weapons were discharged. Then,
cannon and lance weapons forward into their firing as the ship’s trajectory curved past the moon, the long
positions; the bundles of chains they hauled them along range lance fire of the Watchful Saviour joined its salvos.
with cutting deep into their hands and shoulders as they Caught within the firestorm, dozens of Corsair craft were
strained with the mammoth effort required of their task. laid to waste; their blasted remains soon drifting amongst
those of the Fury interceptors that had been destroyed
Many levels below, deep in the core of the platform, minutes before.
Adeptus Mechanicus adepts blessed the workings of the
station’s plasma generator, the long black filaments of their For almost an hour, the battle raged. First, the Corsairs
electro-brushes smearing holy oils and unguents thickly edged ever closer towards the ship and in return would be
upon its age-stained cogs and arcane gears. Then, only caught up in its intense gunfire or trapped within the
when they were satisfied they had bestowed upon them lancing beams of the Watchful Saviour. But as time wore
sufficient blessings and anointments, did the worshippers on, the Eldar�s weapons fire took its toll upon the Holy
of the Omnissiah each take hold of one of the generator’s Retribution. With insufficient Fury squadrons to protect it,
primary valves and, with a softly whispered prayer, awaken the agile and powerful Eldar Darkstar fighters inflicted
the dormant machine spirit within. enough damage to overload its shield generators, and
dove in to strafe its gun decks and command spire the
Two hours after its sensors had detected the approaching moment they failed.
Corsair ships, the gun crews of the Watchful Saviour
opened fire at maximum range, their blinding beams of With external bulkheads compromised and the fractured
light slicing deep into the flight path of the oncoming fleet. metres-thick panels of armour-glas surrounding the
Their efforts went unrewarded though as the beams command deck threatening to breach any moment, the
harmlessly dissipated beyond the swarming ships. Again Holy Retribution’s commander, Flag-Captain Mevuen, gave
and again the crews fired but to little effect, the defence the order for his dying vessel to be turned towards the one
lasers glowing red hot as their crews laboured to track and area of the system’s outer reaches that all Imperial vessels
hit the elusive targets whose holo-fields redirected and had so far given a wide berth. Entering the region with the
dispersed the shots with ease. Corsairs still strafing his vessel, Flag-Captain Mevuen
opened up the ship wide vox-network and started to recite
Then, from behind the second moon of the ice world, the the Common Prayer of the Fleet, the sound of the centuries
system’s Imperial Naval fleet joined the battle – dozens of old ship tearing apart clearly audible around him. The
Fury interceptors, defence monitors and system ships, venerable flag-captain had not gotten far through his
their numbers pitifully few in comparison to the massed sombre liturgy when an Eldar Darkstar fighter, its alien
Eldar craft. The Fury interceptors accelerated once they identity not recognised by the remnants of the minefield
were clear of the moon, the fastest in the small fleet their seeded in the Betalis system centuries before by the Divine
orders were to lure the Eldar off their current course and Unification, triggered one of the abandoned mines. As the
onto the guns of the slower but better armed and armoured power generation crystals on the Eldar craft shattered and
system ships. In response, the first wave of Corsairs its hull fragmented, its debris field set off further mines,
immediately engaged them. critically damaging the Holy Retribution and scores of other
Corsair vessels that had swarmed around the dying ship.
Twisting and spiralling through space, the Eldar craft flew
directly at the oncoming formation, paying scant regard to The explosions tore through the Holy Retribution, causing
the barrage of lascannon shots and missiles the its shields to fail and its bulkheads to be ripped apart,
Imperium’s interceptors fired as they closed the range. sending thousands of Imperial Navy crewmen into the cold
Then, each turning their sleek vessels through near vacuum of space. In the few areas of the vast ship where
impossible angles, they arced back round upon the flanks the crew were not immediately ejected into the void, the
of their prey; the xenos pilots obliterating most of the men fought amongst themselves for places in the few
Imperial Navy squadrons in a synchronous attack that was undamaged salvation pods. Those fortunate to escape
as perfect in its coordinated execution as it was deadly. were either immediately targeted and destroyed by Eldar
With the first wave devoted to destroying the remnants of Corsair vessels or slowly drifted through the system where
the Fury squadrons, the second Corsair wave of Darkstars either death or salvation found them.
and squadrons of Aconite and Hellebore frigates advanced
to engage the Imperium’s system ships and defence Whilst the destruction of the Holy Retribution played out
monitors; the long elegant xenos escort ships studded with across the edge of the Betalis system, the rest of the
pulsar lances and torpedo launchers. Corsair fleet maintained its course towards the Watchful
Saviour and the last few remaining Fury squadrons and
system ships that now stood guard over it.

24
Virtually unopposed, the first wave of Darkstars scored THE BATTLE AT ALNITAC PRIME
multiple direct hits, their shots punching through its shields 055894.M41
and critically damaging the platform’s gravitic-stabilisers. The first major land offensive of the Betalis III war took
With a sickening motion, the massive platform began to place at Alnitac Prime, a vast facility that refined chemicals
list, and anything not securely fixed down began to roll and used in the production of promethium, and that stretched
slide across the decks, crushing all in its way as the for over fifty kilometres across and through the Bregan
Watchful Saviour tilted and began to drift out of its geo- Glacier. Flowing down from the Escarta mountain range at
stationary orbit. the infinitesimal speed of less than half a metre a century,
the glacier, its ice marbled with the dark grey ash that
The effects were devastating. Gun crews and ratings were constantly fell like snow from the refinery’s forest of
drowned as the huge vats of chemicals that hung over the chimneys and cooling towers, loomed ominously over the
defence lasers, their toxic contents used to prevent the eastern edge of the Alacian Plains.
weapons from overheating, broke free from their
mountings, engulfing the frantically fleeing men in an acidic The plains were little more than an icy wilderness but
tidal wave. In its apothecarium, the Watchful Saviour’s across them lay the entrance to the Isthmus of Tarundor,
surgeon-master was near-fatally maimed when shelves the land bridge which connected the north-eastern
storing surgical implements tipped over him mid-operation, peninsula, and ultimately Port Ryira, to the rest of the
their razor-sharp blades slicing him from head to toe with eastern continent. The two Eldar forces, that of Alaitoc in
scores of incisions. A worse fate though was to befall the the south of the continent and the other from Mymeara
crews who worked in the bays permanently exposed to the speeding eastwards from its portal near the western coast,
outer void. As soon as the Watchful Saviour had begun to were expected to converge on the Alacian Plains. General
list, the bulkhead doors leading to the open sections of the Odon was preparing his battle group to oppose them there,
platform automatically sealed shut. With their escape and whoever controlled the glacier would hold an
routes cut off, hundreds died when the protective energy advantage in the battle to come.
field between the crew and space fluctuated for a few
seconds, exposing them to the intense radiation of the Dispatched in a fast moving convoy of Leman Russ,
Betalis System’s star. Malcador, Praetors and Crassus armoured assault
transports, and taking advantage of the road networks that
Volleys from a third Corsair wave finished off the stricken fed the facility’s insatiable appetite for Betalis III’s raw
platform, its return fire slackening as pyres raged within it materials, Battle Group Empteda deployed on the glacier
and its compartments flooded with toxic smoke. With on the evening of the third day of its departure from Port
defeat imminent and his guns falling silent one by one, Ryira. As Colonel Empteda watched over the battle group’s
Flag-Captain Basas, the Watchful Saviour’s commander, preparations, already thousands of workers and their
ordered the platform’s evacuation. Salvation pods were families had left their hab blocks behind and set out on the
frantically loaded with the wounded and the lucky few perilous trek to seek shelter elsewhere, heading either for
unscathed survivors and then ejected towards the the northern and eastern highway tunnels or the networks
planet below. of canyons and caves in the surrounding mountains. Each
man, woman and child knew the enemy was coming; the
The few Imperial Navy ships that had survived the first only question was when would it arrive?
assaults then retreated into the outer regions of the Betalis
star, its radiation shielding them from the sensors of the True to form, the Eldar did not keep the defenders waiting
Corsair fleet that now dominated the Betalis System. long. In the pre-dawn hours of the fourth day, as the battle
group’s Sentinel forward reconnaissance squads patrolled
Having won the battle for the skies above Betalis III, the Eldar the southern-most regions of the glacier, they came under
immediately turned their attention to the planet below. fire from squadrons of Eldar Grav-tanks and Vyper
Jetbikes that had flown ahead of the main Mymeara force,
skimming low across the Alacian Plains and up over the
leading edge of the ice wall. Near-invisible in the darkness,
“O Eternal God Emperor; who alone spreadest out the they registered as little more than faint smudges on the
heavens and rulest the raging of the Warp; Sentinels’ sensors as one by one the walker squadrons
Who hast compassed the void with bounds until day were annihilated; Eldar Rangers already concealed in the
and night come to an end; surrounding ice canyons expertly guiding their air-borne
Be pleased to receive in Thy Almighty and most brethren in.
gracious...”
Joining the Mymeara craft shortly after, the first wave of
Corsair vessels began their attack run on the facility. The
Last transmission of the Holy Retribution
battle group was ready and waiting for them though. As the
All eight thousand and thirty-two souls
Nightwings, Phoenix and Vampires soared down, they
consigned to the Emperor’s grace
at the Battle for the Betalis System
were met with a tremendous firestorm of las shot and
artillery shell from what little heavy armour Odonʼs
command staff could muster, but he had not sent the

25
young colonel into battle empty handed. Prior to leaving enough time to reload, the Guardsmen soon spotted
their base on the neighbouring industrial world, the officers scores of white contrails on the horizon which augured the
of the Cadian 6th had ordered their men to completely strip approach of a second Corsair wave.
its resupply depots of all the guns, ordnance and
ammunition they could lay their hands on. Little remained The Guardsmen manning the defence platforms unleashed
by the time the final Cadian squad left for the ice world. another booming volley as the enemy came within range.
Each ship in the fleet had been stacked to the gunnels with Shell after shot swept the sky as the crews swung their
enough armament to defend the planet for months, and heavy weapons round to follow the flight paths of the sleek,
amongst this huge arsenal had been a consignment of darting ships before they too rose up above the facility at
defence platforms due to be distributed to wars elsewhere break-neck speed and out of range. The second attack had
in the sector. Now, a large stretch of the glacier bristled lasted no longer than the first and although both enemy
with the barrels of those guns as they unleashed salvo forces had given their all, neither had inflicted a death blow
upon salvo into the oncoming Eldar attack formation. upon the other.

The thunder of Battle Group Empteda’s heavy weapons As silence descended once more upon Alnitac Prime, the
shook the surrounding mountain ranges to their core, gun crews reloaded and scanned the horizon, waiting for
triggering avalanches and rock falls that roared down their the tell-tale signs of contrails to appear once again. The
slopes, burying hundreds of refugees who had gambled next attack came swiftly, although not from the air but
that safety lay in the cave systems rather than heading instead from the surrounding mountains as sniper fire
east to risk the long walk across the sub-zero tundra. ripped through the heavy weapons platforms. The Corsairs
Undeterred by the firestorm they had flown into, the Eldar had been little more than a diversion, a feint to buy time for
flyers soared over the facility and once their attack run was the Eldar Rangers to move up so that their guns were
complete, raced upwards into the heavens. With barely within range of the battle group. Those Guardsmen who

26
survived the opening volley were immediately pinned Teams of Jetbike riders skimmed across the surface of the
down, using what little cover their weapons platforms glacier behind the Corsairs, following up on the attacks of
provided or lying motionless amongst the bodies of their the larger craft. The slow lumbering Imperial force
fallen comrades as sniper fire ricocheted along the continued to roll stubbornly forwards; each driver trusting
platforms’ metalwork. his safety to his armoured vehicle and its guns, and
remaining within the formation. Fight together and live,
Watching the battle back at Alnitac Prime, Colonel stand alone and die. The choice was simple. However,
Empteda initiated the next part of his plan. On his gaps were starting to appear and even originally fully
command the heavily armoured Leman Russ, Chimera and loaded, the ammunition supplies were running low through
Praetor armoured assault launcher squadrons waiting the near-constant rate of fire.
there sprang into action, their exhausts belching black oily
fumes into the freezing cold air as they accelerated At Alnitac Prime, Colonel Empteda watched on solemnly
towards the besieged lines of heavy weapon platforms. as the brave Guardsmen under his command fought on.
With no chance of locating the Eldar hidden amongst the Had they been given more time and resources they might
vast network of ravines surrounding them, Colonel have succeeded but the young colonel knew such hope
Empteda had turned to one of the few weapons in the for the folly it was. It was clear that the Eldar’s air
Imperial Guard arsenal he had in abundance – superiority and increasing numbers would have eventually
overwhelming firepower. The tanks’ gunners sent round swept away the battle group regardless. His men had
after round into the mountains, the shells setting off a done well to last this long. Already he’d had word from
lethal hailstorm of shrapnel as rocks and ice exploded with Odon’s command staff that the main forces of the
deadly effect. Mymeara host were deploying onto the Alacian Plains. If
he didn’t act now, then the Eldar would gain the higher
As the tanks prowled the battlefield and the sniper fire ground and Battle Group Odon wouldn’t stand a chance.
ceased, the survivors from the Vaust 14th and Betalis 28th
regiments on the platforms began to celebrate, believing Whispering a brief prayer for the Emperor’s forgiveness,
the Eldar had been destroyed. They had done it. They had Colonel Empteda turned to the men behind him who
seen off two attacks and lived. The more experienced controlled the Cyclops demolition vehicles now positioned
Cadians amongst them remained grimly silent. They knew throughout the depths of the facility, and with one word
the Eldar were not so easily beaten and would soon be ended the Battle at Alnitac Prime.
back. This was something Colonel Empteda was more
than ready to face, and in the few minutes when the pace ‘Detonate.’
of the battle briefly paused, he gave the order for the next
part of his plan to commence. A PRAYER FOR THE FALLEN
Kilometres away from the glacier, Inquisitor-lord Danzk
Speeding down the glacier from Alnitac Prime came the recited the Prayer for the Fallen as he watched the
last of the vehicles Empteda had at his disposal. As they destruction of Battle Group Empteda and its attackers
raced along, their tracks rumbled over the facility’s massive through the eyes of a hovering servitor. The detonation of
air vents that were interspersed along the glacier. Only a the Cyclops demolition vehicles deployed through the
day before, these vital lifelines had supplied precious clean facility during the battle had set off a catastrophic chain
air to dilute the toxic fumes that spewed from the furnaces reaction amongst its furnaces and huge chemical storage
in the facility below, preventing the suffocation of the vats. The blast that immediately followed liquefied the ice
thousands who toiled at them day and night. Hastily field above it, launching the battle group and billions of
abandoned by the workers, those furnaces still burned tonnes of melted ice and molten rock straight up into the
fiercely and where once men and women had laboured, vast flock of Eldar craft circling above.
something else now moved in their place, transported to
the glacier within the holds of the Crassus. Battle Group Empteda could never have held the glacier or
facility against the arrayed might of the Eldar, and its young
The two waves of Imperial vehicles soon joined together colonel had known that as soon as he’d received his
and reformed into three huge blocks as they picked up orders. But despite that, Colonel Empteda had performed
speed, creating a new front line a kilometre down the his duty without question and through his selfless sacrifice
glacier. Now at the rear, the static heavy weapons and that of his men, he had succeeded in denying the
platforms then took on the role of artillery. Once more the Eldar the advantage of the higher ground and bought
Corsair pilots swooped down, and in return the tank crews Battle Group Odon the time it so desperately needed.
opened fire as the heavily armoured blocks rumbled
forwards. Shuriken cannon and star cannon traded shots His sombre liturgy complete, Inquisitor-lord Danzk severed
with heavy bolters and autocannon as the graceful craft his connection with the servitor and looked out with his
strafed the battleline and the range was so close between own eyes upon the impressive sight of the massed ranks of
the two sides that holo-fields and armour mattered little. In Battle Group Odon arrayed across the westward entrance
the furious fire fight, the tight Imperial formation and its to the Tarundor Isthmus below him.
near constant bombardment evened the odds.

28
29
Shadowsword Super-heavy Tank Destroyer. Cadian 6th Armoured Regiment.
Suffered critical damage in the battles of the Alacian Plains.
 Leman Russ Vanquisher tank. The Vanquisher is fitted with a high velocity
cannon for anti-armour use. However, owing to the speed of the Eldar skimmers
they faced on Betalis III, this proved relatively ineffective against the foe.

Armageddon Pattern Basilisk, Cadian 6th Armoured Regiment.

The Basilisk is the most commonplace Imperial Guard field support unit
and was a mainstay of the Cadian 6th.

30
This is Dire Avenger Aspect Warrior
Alshyra of the Shrine of Asurmen’s
Heart, Alaitoc Craftworld. He was
wounded and taken as a prisoner of
war during the assault upon the
Tarundor Gate.
DIRE AVENGER
1. Aspect Armour
This suit is constructed using the same techniques as those used
on all Eldar personal armour. It is a lightweight synthetic bodysuit,
reinforced with plates of psycho-sensitive bio-plastics that will
instantly harden to resist impacts. As well as absorbing blows,
these plates can morph their shape in accordance with the wearer’s
movements, meaning the armour does not encumber the wearer in
the slightest, affording good protection with excellent mobility.

The reinforced breastplate of the Aspect Warrior’s armour bears his

waystone, a precious item for all Eldar. This psycho-receptive gem
is attuned to the individual so that when, at the moment of death,
the Eldar’s psychic spirit is released, it is captured within the stone
– otherwise, it is believed, it would be released into the Warp where
the Chaos god Slaanesh awaits to consume it. These stones are
the most precious items the Eldar possess, literally encapsulating
the consciousness, identity and memories of a departed warrior, The shuriken catapult is an all-purpose assault weapon. Its main body
and securing it for transportation back to their Craftworld. is a high-powered linear gravitic accelerator, which rapidly ‘fires’ a
series of flat, razor-sharp, monomolecular spinning shuriken disks. The
Contrary to some reports, the small domes and blisters on the disk can have different shapes, barbs and serrations, with different
armour are not extra gems. Most are small compartments that forms being adopted by different shrines.
contain the suit’s technical systems.
The ammunition is stored as a solid core, allowing for the high-velocity
The Dire Avenger’s tabard is a common addition to Aspect armour. ammunition feed required. Each disk is sliced from the core by the
Its runic inscriptions name the shrine for which the Aspect Warrior gravitic energy stream as it is projected down the barrel.
is fighting and identifies the shrine’s allegiance to its Craftworld, in
this case Alaitoc. Regardless of a shrine’s location, the Aspect’s The accelerator and ammunition feeds allow for a very high rate of fire
colour scheme is always blue and white. of up to 1,500 rounds per minute – though a Dire Avenger’s training
conditions them never to waste their precious ammunition, instead
Before donning his armour, the Aspect Warrior will have been using their potentially overwhelming firepower with accuracy and
through a rigorous ritual of purification and meditation. Overseen by precision. Commonly, the weapon is used for aimed semi-automatic
the shrine’s Exarchs, each warrior must prepare himself for the ordeal fire but in the heat of an assault or a close range firefight, the weapon’s
ahead, achieving the correct psychological state to become a full automatic function can empty its magazine in just four seconds.
Dire Avenger.
Like most Eldar technology the weapon is psychically activated, its
2. Aspect Helmet resonant wraithbone construction being sensitive to the Eldar’s innate
Each Aspect has its own distinctive helmet, and within each shrine psychic mind. A Dire Avenger’s shuriken catapult is linked to its
the helmets may vary in form slightly, with correspondingly more targeter via the handle.
elaborate versions for the shrine’s Exarchs. As a standard Dire
Avenger, this warriorʼs helmet is distinctively tall with a long top 4. Targeter/Rangefinder
crest of exotic animal hair, often dyed to match the parent In battle, each Dire Avenger is assisted by an advanced targeting
Craftworld’s colours. By custom, it is this helmet that marks the device. Worn over the shoulder and plugged into the weapon via the
Aspect Warriors as the protectors and avengers of their Craftworld, armoured suit, this pan-spectral targeter operates independently of the
and in this case it bears the Aspect’s rune, the mark of Asurmen, user, finding and tracking multiple targets and feeding target
traced upon its forehead. information directly to the helmet display. It is likely that it can also
differentiate between enemy and ally. Other functions are unknown.
3. Shuriken Catapult, ‘Avenger’ pattern
To all Eldar, the mastering of the shuriken catapult is regarded as an 5. Other Equipment
art form and most Eldar will, at least for a period of their life, learn In general, Aspect Warriors carry no extra equipment, although this
the art, even if only to serve with the Guardian bands. The Dire Dire Avenger does carry a ceremonial knife from his shrine. Whilst no
Avengers are regarded as the weapon’s supreme masters. doubt employed as a hand-to-hand combat weapon of last resort, its
primary purpose will be for use during the shrine’s pre- and post-battle
The shuriken catapult is a weapon that has become synonymous ceremonies. Although not their primary function, hand-to-hand fighting
with the Eldar race. Many variants of the standard weapon have techniques are studied by the Dire Avengers, but only by accepting
been encountered but this longer version, designated as the their calling to become an Exarch can such skills become the warrior’s
‘Avenger’ pattern, is unique to the Dire Avenger shrines. It has a main focus.
greater effective range and more sophisticated targeting systems,
as befits high status troops.
 CHAPTER THREE
Dark Times
055894.M41 As at Alnitac, the Imperial Guardsmen met the attack with
The full might of Battle Group Odon dominated the a barrage of devastating firepower, Chimeras, Praetors,
approach to the Tarundor Isthmus. Tanks, armoured Baneblades, Stormblades, Shadowswords, Macharius and
vehicles, heavy artillery and Guardsmen stood arrayed on Leman Russ lending their fury to the heavy artillery
the Alacian Plains ready to meet the Eldar assault head- onslaught. The Corsair ships soared in undeterred, their
on. As dense black smoke billowed up from the Bregan agile pilots weaving and threading their craft through the
Glacier, the wreckage from the explosion there still burning air, their shuriken cannon and missile launchers returning
fiercely, reports were received that the host of Mymeara fire as all around them shells and missiles exploded.
had swept on to the western Alacian Plains and begun its
approach. Heralding their arrival, and first to come within First blood went to Betalis III’s defenders as a Void Dragon
range of the massed guns of the Imperial Guard, were their Nightwing, its swept-wing hull adorned with the symbol of
Corsair allies, an armada of Phoenix, Hornets and its cadre, was ripped from the sky; its destroyer was a
Nightwings that dived down through the gathering storm Hydra Flak tank, one of the precious few deployed with the
clouds at break-neck speed. battle group. With its systems trained on the horizon, the
Hydra’s logic-spirit had swung the tank’s autocannon into

33
 G uardsman Ayra sat half-dazed in the rumbling, pitching hold of the
ore transport; the stench and sounds of vomiting of those around him
with less of a stomach for the violently rocking motion of the vessel doing
them painfully tight against the hold’s walls. The engines of the transport
screamed in protest as somewhere up front the pilot wrestled with the
ship’s controls, desperately trying to level it out and prevent it from
little to stave off the fatigue caused by hours of waiting on a freezing crashing, but the terrifying moment passed quickly and to the relief of all
airstrip to embark. The commandeered transports moving Battle Group inside the hold, the transport settled down again.
Odon to its deployment zone were never designed to hold human cargo,
but now there were thousands of Guardsmen travelling in them in a As soon as the transport’s hatch was opened at the landing zone, any
massive flotilla heading south-west from Port Ryira to the Tarundor Guardsman still able ran out at full pelt, grateful to be back on solid
Isthmus, their Chimeras and Crassus armoured assault transports either ground. Guardsman Ayra was one of the last of his squad to leave,
slung under the ships or transported by other more expedient means. Once hauling his badly concussed sergeant, struck across the head by equipment
deployed, the battle group would move out on to the Alacian Plains and flung around the compartment, between himself and the squad’s
finally face the xenos foe that had invaded this Emperor-forsaken world. commissar. The horror which greeted the young Guardsman in the early
Meanwhile, as the Imperium’s ships made their slow, ponderous dawn light nearly stopped him dead in his tracks. Only the commissar
approach across the isthmus, the Eldar were closing in from two shouting at him to keep moving prevented Ayra from being barrelled into
directions, one war host from the west of the continent and the other from by the stream of Guardsmen tearing off the transport behind him.
the south-east.
Ablaze on the horizon barely two kilometres away was the Bregan
Seconds, perhaps minutes, later, Ayra was jolted awake as the Glacier, or what was left of it, the centuries of pollution that had seeped
unmistakable sound of heavy weapons fire hit the side of the transport into it from the Alnitac Prime chemical facility fuelling fiercely burning
and a loud boom reverberated through the hold. Another explosion swiftly pyres in its blasted remains. Littered around the glacier’s former location,
followed and then another, the vessel shuddering violently each time. The reaching even as far as Battle Group Odon’s makeshift deployment zone
young Guardsman realised with mounting horror that the Eldar were kilometres away, were the remains of Battle Group Empteda and its
attacking the convoy. Eldar attackers.

Then... all hell broke loose. Anything that had not been immediately atomised in the blast lay strewn
around the ice field. Most of the debris was nothing but charred, twisted
A massive explosion thundered through the air. Guardsman Ayra, metal, but some sections of the more heavily armoured Imperial tanks
stunned near-senseless by the deafening boom, instinctively crossed his were still partly intact, the thick armoured hull sections of the Crassus
arms and tucked his head into his chest just as a shockwave punched into and Praetors recognisable but beyond use, having smashed apart upon
the transport. The front of the vessel began to suddenly rise upwards as impact. Nothing else had survived, and of the hundreds of Guardsmen
pressure waves slammed across it and the webbing straps holding Ayra from Battle Group Empteda and the Eldar they had been fighting,
and the other Guardsmen in place on hastily installed benches gripped nothing remained.

action as soon as it had detected movement, tearing With the forces of Mymeara on the plains and reports
through one of the Nightwing’s curved wings and sending it coming in of the host of Craftworld Alaitoc now
spiralling into a terminal dive that not even the superior approaching from the south, General Odon gave the order
skills of its Eldar pilot could recover from. for the battle group to separate into two companies. It was
a bold move, and one those Imperial Guard commanders
The Nightwing’s destruction lifted the morale of the who religiously followed the doctrines of the Tactica
Guardsmen more than any rousing speech the Ministorum Imperialis would have considered foolhardy and reckless.
priests could deliver. In that one moment they were raised However, as each Eldar Craftworld’s force outnumbered
up from the depths of despair they had fallen into upon the battle group many times over, if it remained in a single
seeing the destruction of Battle Group Empteda. The rate block it would be quickly overwhelmed and destroyed.
of attrition intensified as more Corsairs came within range
of the heavy guns, weapons fire from both sides causing The first company, Vengeance, comprised the tank
death and unparalleled carnage at such close quarters. squadrons: Leman Russ, Hydras and Chimeras. The
Amidst the furious assault, Leman Russ were hit and second company, designated Retribution, was mainly
damaged as the Corsairs found their marks, and in return infantry, deployed in Crassus armoured assault transports
the xenos ships were blasted from the skies, straying with what little General Odon could spare in terms of
too close to the battle group’s many guns. Soon though, Leman Russ and Praetors acting as an escort. Company
even the most battle-thirsty Corsair pilots saw that to Vengeance had orders to head west. It was to lure in as
continue would ultimately mean their death so they broke many Eldar craft as it could and take the inevitable first hit.
off, speeding up through the gathering storm clouds and This would give Company Retribution the chance to
beyond to regroup and tend to their wounds. intercept the approaching Alaitoc land forces in the south.
Joining Retribution and Vengeance on the Alacian Plains
The opening moves of the battle had been played out and would be the Titans of the Legio Gryphonicus – four
the Alacian Plains were littered with its casualties. Reavers and four Warhounds – which had just reached the
war zone from Port Ryira.

34
The original plan had been for the Legio Gryphonicus oblivious to anything else that crossed their path. Then, as
Titans to lend their much needed support to Vengeance’s the Jetbikes, Hornets and Vypers came round again for a
tank squadrons. Now they had a different objective. The second attack run, the Eldar Wasps would propel
surveillance network set up by Inquisitor-lord Danzk’s themselves swiftly out of range as the Eldar craft nimbly cut
retinue around the eastern continent had relayed back yet another swathe of destruction through Vengeance’s
images of at least eight Eldar Titans emerging from the lines, adding to the steadily growing numbers of burning
Mymeara portal. Amongst them and now somewhere on tanks littering the battlefield.
the northern edge of the Alacian Plains were two massive
Eldar Phantom Titans, and the princeps of the colossal war With the benefit of General Odon’s years of experience
machines of the Imperium had orders to destroy them. though, the Imperial Guard force was nothing if not
adaptable. The veteran tank commander ordered the
THE ASSAULT ON VENGEANCE Cadian crews to split up their squadrons; one tank from
Deployed directly in the path of the Mymeara host, each was to separate off, presenting itself as the vulnerable
Company Vengeance, with General Odon leading from the target the Eldar pilots were prowling the battlefield for.
fore, clashed with the Eldar force as the last rays of the Once it had secured their attentions, it was to speed off
system’s cold blue sun were smothered by snow clouds as fast as it could, luring the xenos flyers straight onto the
pouring in from the north. Skimming ahead of Mymeara’s waiting guns of the rest of its squadron. It was not a
infantry was a vast armada, hundreds of squadrons of precise or reliable tactic and casualties were high, but when
Jetbikes, Hornets and Vypers. In stark contrast to their it did work, it was devastatingly effective.
Corsair brethren, Mymeara’s pilots demonstrated no desire
to dive down upon their Imperial foe and satisfy a barely THE GODS OF WAR
checked thirst for battle. Instead they came in low, in tight Out on the ice plains, the Reaver and Warhound Titans of
surgical formations, forcing the rear ranks of Vengeance to the Legio Gryphonicus were closing upon Sector 45-3,
hold fast their fire lest their shells impact among their own where the last sighting of the Eldar Phantom Titans had
front lines. The change in tactics served the Eldar well. been reported. To search the vast wasteland more
efficiently, they had split into two. The first group, the
The wake of that devastating first sortie was strewn with the demi-maniple Invictus, was moving across the north of the
hulls of over seventy Leman Russ and Chimera, their thick Alacian Plains, a single Reaver Battle Titan flanked by a
armour plating scored by shuriken fire or the crew killed as pair of Warhounds. The larger of the two, the Exaro
pulse laser and prism cannon fire penetrated their tank’s maniple, was sweeping up from the south and comprised
armour. But such losses were expected. Against the more three Reaver Titans and a pair of Warhounds. Both groups
chaotic attacks of the Corsair pilots, standard tank tactics were shadowed by the heavy armour of Battle Group Odon,
had sufficed, but to maintain such tight formations when the few squadrons of Baneblades, Shadowswords and
faced with the main body of the Eldar assault would have Stormblades that the Cadian 6th Regiment’s command staff
proved suicidal – their more disciplined pilots would simply could secure in the short time they’d had to assemble the
have stayed out of range of Vengeance’s guns and attacked response force.
from afar. Once the battle was underway, Vengeance’s
numbers would be too few to repeat that manoeuvre. As the Eldar Wasp squadrons launched their assault on
Instead, they would engage the aircraft in smaller groups, Vengeance, the Reaver Battle Titan Invictus Nova and the
the experienced tank crews of the Cadian 6th fighting the Warhound Titans Tempus Prima and Magna Canis strode
battle on their own terms. onto the frozen landscape of the northern Alacian Plains,
the footfalls of the mechanical behemoths sinking metres
The plan worked, but not as effectively as Odon had hoped. deep into the permafrost as they searched for their foe.
Having recently fought the Ork horde on Saras VII, a force Without warning, five pulsar blasts slammed into the right
barely kept in check at the best of times by its Blood Axe flank of the Magna Canis from the mountains that edged
warlord, the Cadian officers reverted to the tactics which the north of the Alacian Plains. The Warhound Titan
had worked there. These had to be quickly countermanded staggered under the assault, waves of actinic energy
and replaced with more effective manoeuvres to use flickering and sparking across its overloading void shields.
against the disciplined Eldar army. As if the attack from the
air wasn’t enough for the Imperial forces to contend with, With a command born of instinct rather than conscious
the first of the Eldar land forces arrived. thought, the princeps of the Nova and Tempus instantly
returned fire. With their target hidden, both saturated the
Deploying swiftly from the Mymeara portal far off in the mountains with lancing plasma bolts, setting off avalanches
west, squadrons of Wasps, the Eldar’s long-legged assault that roared down their sides. The Magna Canis, damaged
walkers, launched themselves into the heart of the battle, but still functioning, quickly recovered and added its own
their pilots using a combination of the Wasps’ speed and awesome might to the bombardment; its plasma blastgun
the manoeuvrability afforded by their jump jets to land had been disabled and so the Canis’ princeps ordered his
amongst Company Vengeance’s squadrons. The tactic moderatii to switch to its turbo-laser.
soon found some of the less experienced sponson gunners
from the Vaust 14th blasting away at tanks from their own An explosion from the super-heavy vehicle squadron
side as they became fixated on the target in their sights, buffeted the demi-maniple. A Shadowsword had flipped

35
over, smoke and flames pouring out of its ruptured hull. Not The princeps of the other two Titans watched in absolute
waiting to suffer the same fate, the rest of its squadron split horror as sections of the massive war machine
apart as another fusillade flashed between them, knocking momentarily vanished into the rift between realspace and
out the tracks of one super-heavy and barely missing the Immaterium and then reappeared moments later as
another. With inhuman speed, the machine spirit of the nothing more than a twisted mass of darkly glowing metal.
Invictus Nova calculated the fusillade’s origin point and Unable to cope with the massive stress placed upon its
located their attacker, although the Eldar giant was barely systems, the Canis’ plasma reactor detonated. The blast
visible, so effective were its holo-fields. It was one of the shook the northern Alacian Plains, its deafening boom
Eldar Phantom Titans, and before the demi-maniple had heard as far away as the Tormus Delta in the south where
time to react, it unleashed another savage volley, the the first Guardsmen of Company Retribution were
energy bolts from its pulsar stitching along the ice only preparing to deploy.
metres behind another swerving Baneblade.
Still kilometres south of the battle, the princeps of Titan
In thunderous concert, the three Titans of the Legio Group Exaro desperately tried to make contact with the
Gryphonicus opened fire, but only the Nova’s five demi-maniple, but their repeated hails met with silence.
apocalypse missiles had the range to reach their mark and Too far away to immediately come to their aid, the Exaro
they slammed into the Eldar Phantom’s left shoulder, its maniple could only pray that when they arrived, the other
holo-fields shimmering and flickering as they temporarily two Legio Gryphonicus Titans had somehow survived.
failed. Before the Imperium’s Titans could follow up with a
second barrage, a high-pitched shriek emanated from the THE DARKEST HOURS
mountains behind them. With an almighty scream, the first With no Imperial Navy support to provide air cover and
Eldar Phantom’s distortion cannon discharged a seething Vengeance’s heavy armour already fully engaged in the
bolt of black warp energy into the heart of the demi- north, the Guardsmen of Company Retribution faced near
maniple. It hit the Magna Canis, passing cleanly through its impossible odds in their race to engage the Alaitoc host.
void shields and wreathing its torso in a shroud of But Retribution had two crucial factors in its favour – time
impenetrable darkness. and the unforgiving landscape of the ice world. The Alaitoc

36
37
Reaver Battle Titans and elements of
Battle Group Odon, western Alacian Plains
portal was significantly further away from the Alacian Company Retribution’s headlong charge to reach Tormus
Plains than that of the Mymeara Craftworld’s by thousands unopposed nearly succeeded, but just as the lead vehicles
of kilometres, and directly in the path of its land forces lay of its transport convoy were less than a kilometre away, the
the Tormus Delta. first of Alaitoc’s Hornets, Falcons and Vypers, sleek and
deadly craft emblazoned with its emblem of the sword of
Stretching across the entire southern edge of the Alacian Khaine bisecting a red moon, shot over the northern edge
Plains, the Tormus Delta was the result of millions of years of the Delta. The moment they were spotted, the order to
of water erosion, a massive labyrinth of narrow canyons and accelerate whip-lashed through Retribution’s convoy.
gorges created at the confluence of two rivers that had Unlike at Alnitac, there was no time to organise a rolling
frozen over millennia before. For Retribution to stand any defence and all the men of Retribution could do was hold
chance against the Alaitoc host, it had to reach the Tormus tight and pray for the Emperor’s protection.
Delta before the Eldar Craftworld’s airborne armada crested
its northern edge. General Odon planned to use Tormus to Alaitoc’s shuriken weapons and pulse lasers strafed the
shield Retribution from the worst that Alaitoc’s pilots could Imperium’s convoy, but to little effect. The heavily plated
unleash upon it, but this move was not without its hulls of the Crassus armoured assault transports ably
consequences. For Vengeance this almost certainly meant protected the Guardsmen inside, with only a few vehicles
it would soon be fighting on a second front as Alaitoc’s pilots being damaged by shots hitting their exposed tracks.
turned northwards in search of more accessible targets. The Guardsmen though could not stay within them forever

P rinceps Ephraim’s first concern upon regaining consciousness was

that his connection to the Reaver Titan Invictus Nova’s systems
had not been damaged. Nothing else mattered. He tentatively reached
out of the dissolving mist – it was the Phantom Titan, the same
behemoth the Nova had hit earlier with its apocalypse missile strike.
The Eldar Titan’s left arm now hung lifelessly by its side. Its right
behind his head to check that the mind-link cables were still attached weapon arm, however, was functioning perfectly. Ephraim could
to his own augments and was reassured all was in order. Only then already see the energ y haze beginning to form again around the tip of
did he look around to check on the rest of the Titanʼs crew. its weapon, and the low pitched howl of the building force within the
xenos weapon made for a ferocious war cry.
The weapons moderatii, Nathaniel, was undoubtedly dead, his head
bent at an unnatural angle. Moderatii Tarvas had fared better and Princeps Ephraim immediately ordered the Nova to fire. Its guns,
was already performing a status check on his console. As to the third however, remained frustratingly silent. Ephraim frantically searched
member of their party, Magos Riemann, he had not yet made contact its logis-banks for the problem but Magos Riemann was one step
from his chamber at the Titan’s apex but the princeps could sense his ahead of him. The weapons tracking systems had been damaged and
presence darting through the Reaver’s systems, checking for damage still hadn’t re-engaged. Until Magos Riemann could restore them,
caused by the explosion of the Magnus Canis’ plasma reactor. there was little the Invictus Nova could do to assist the Warhound and
its crew.
As for the Invictus Nova itself, Ephraim could feel very little. Its
failsafes had automatically powered down its systems to shield them The Phantom Titan’s pulsar punched heavily into the Tempus Prima,
from the blast. They were all that had saved the Titan but now they which had to take a step back to brace itself. Then, with one last blast
could prove to be its undoing, because somewhere, probably close by, from the Phantom’s weapon, the Warhound’s void shields flickered
there was at least one Eldar Phantom Titan that had been out of and failed. The Invictus Nova’s princeps raged with frustration as the
range of the massive explosion. weapons systems of the Nova remained dark and unresponsive.
Already, the haze of energ y was building again around the Phantom
The thought sparked something within the dormant Titan and its Titan’s weapon as it prepared to fire once more.
systems flickered back into life, scrolling with data which quickly
confirmed visually what Ephraim was already receiving through his Suddenly, streams of smoke and fire shot past either side of the
mind-impulse link. The landscape outside the Nova had completely Invictus Nova at supersonic speed. Thinking for a moment that the
changed. Gone was the open vista of the ice field; now he could see other Phantom had rejoined the fight, Princeps Ephraim’s spirit soared
nothing but a dense bank of smoke. The Titan’s sensors were affected as he realised it was a barrage of apocalypse missiles. The Exaro
too, an impenetrable wall of radiation making them next to useless, the Titan maniple had arrived.
same probably having prevented the Phantom Titan from locating the
Nova sooner. However, all that was about to change. The Nova’s Little could have survived such an onslaught, but the Eldar war god
systems were registering a strong wind coursing down from the north defiantly stood its ground as it was impacted repeatedly by the
that was already dissipating their protective shroud, finally unveiling missiles. At that same moment, the weapons systems of the Invictus
the devastation that surrounded the Titan. Nova finally powered up, the green flashing icons on Ephraim’s console
a welcome addition to the ident symbols of the second Legio
Before Ephraim could fully take in the nightmarish sight of the Gryphonicus maniple it was now displaying. Not waiting for the other
charred and mangled metal that had once been the Magnus Canis, Gryphonicus Titans to catch up, the Reaver Battle Titan Invictus
bright flashes lit up the retreating smoky haze. Striding backwards out Nova and the badly damaged but still functioning Warhound Titan,
of the murk came the Warhound Titan Tempus Prima, its blast gun Tempus Prima, set off for the mountains after the now rapidly
and turbo-laser blazing with each step it took. Its target followed it retreating Phantom Titan.

38
and when they reached the Delta, their deployment was advanced into the ice labyrinth, tearing through its winding
more of a mad dash for the shelter of its icy canyons than passages with unnatural speed before agilely scaling
a carefully orchestrated manoeuvre. As Alaitoc’s pilots sheer-sided ice walls, seeking any advantage they could
banked round again for another aerial attack, the first gain against the oncoming Imperial force. Hidden under
Imperial Guard squads to reach the Tormus Delta their long, flowing cameleoline cloaks, scores of Rangers
barrelled out of their vehicles as fast as they could, quickly were now positioned throughout the Delta, coordinating
followed by thousands more Guardsmen following close on Alaitoc’s advance with lethal precision.
their heels.
They had been joined by hundreds of Eldar Corsair troops
Soon, a sea of deserted vehicles began to stretch back who mounted hit and run attacks upon the Imperial Guard
across the Alacian Plains until those travelling at the rear of squads as they worked their way further into the Delta.
the convoy were forced either to ditch their own transports Using the element of surprise to their advantage, the bands
there and make their way through the labyrinth of of Corsairs stealthily worked their way along the tops of the
abandoned Crassus on foot, or break away and enter it via canyon walls, then either fired directly down into the
one of its many other entrances further to the east or west. squads below them or dropped down and wreaked
By the time the last troops had entered the interior of carnage in their midst. Unable to alert each other to the
Tormus, the landscape around it was littered with threat of ambush from above, dozens of Retribution’s
smouldering wreckage and hundreds of dead and squads were completely wiped out by the vicious assaults
wounded Guardsmen. In contrast, Alaitoc’s pilots had of the Eldar outcasts. As Alaitoc’s warriors joined in with
survived the assault virtually unscathed, and as General the battle, the atrocities escalated. The most horrific
Odon predicted, they immediately turned north to add their fighting occurred in the north-west of the canyons. Eight
firepower to that of their Mymearan brethren. squads of Guardsmen moving together were pinned down
by sniper fire the moment they entered a large gorge.
DEATH WITHIN Firing at them from the overhanging cliffs, the Rangers
Company Retribution advanced warily into the Tormus forced the squads to seek what little shelter there was,
Delta, its squads scattered amongst the tangled pathways. their accurate shots hitting anyone who dared to break
With medium to long range vox-transmissions absorbed by cover to fire at them. Hunkered down, there was little the
the high walls of ice and rock, it was impossible to locate, Guardsmen could do but pray that their frantic requests for
let alone coordinate all the disparate bands of Guardsmen assistance over the static-filled vox-net would be
dispersed within the Delta’s midst. Barely having escaped answered. What came though did not wear the uniform
the airborne assault and with no way to contact anyone not of the Cadian 6th or any of the other hastily assembled
within line of sight, their officers followed the last order they regiments from the system; instead, one of the most
had received – locate and destroy the enemy. terrifying facets of the Eldar army unleashed itself
upon them.
The Eldar had taken full advantage of their earlier airborne
attack to disperse their forces within the Delta. Alaitoc’s The Guardsmen watched with disbelieving eyes as tendrils
Rangers, dropped in by the Eldar Falcons now making of bright white energy clawed into realspace, quickly
their way north towards Company Vengeance, had already coalescing into pools of retina-blinding light. Before the

T he defence of Betalis III flickered on the banks of

pict-screens within Inquisitor-lord Danzk’s command
Chimera, his augmented eyes flashing with inhuman speed
Alacian Plains. A new wave of craft from the Mymeara portal
had been picked up by one of his servitors, and instead of
joining the battle against Vengeance, they had taken great
from one image to the next. In the north-west of the Alacian pains to circumvent it. Now they were headed directly
Plains, the Leman Russ and Chimera squadrons of Company eastwards and moving across the Tarundor Isthmus. This was
Vengeance were holding their ground against Mymeara’s exactly what Inquisitor-lord Danzk had been waiting for, the
armada, the battlefield strewn with the wrecked hulls of moment when the Eldar finally showed their true intentions on
Imperial tanks and burning Eldar craft. But with Alaitoc’s Betalis III.
squadrons almost upon them, Vengeance faced odds it was
unlikely to survive, and in the south, at the Tormus Delta, the Given the resources they had deployed upon it, something on
battle was just as equally brutal where the thousands of this world was clearly considered of such high importance, that
Guardsmen of Company Retribution faced the wrath of they were willing to risk outright war with the Imperium to
Craftworld Alaitoc’s troops. acquire it. The break-away force he was watching on his
pict-screen now confirmed what he had suspected all along; the
To Inquisitor-lord Danzk these matters though were of little battles being fought by Vengeance and Retribution were
concern. Millions died each day defending the Imperium in nothing more than a distraction.
such battles; that was the price the citizens of the Imperium
paid in return for the protection the Emperor bestowed upon The Inquisitor-lord ordered for a vox link to be opened to
their worlds and their families. What courted his attention Colonel Vlaar at Port Ryira. Whatever the Eldar’s plans
instead were the events unfolding in the east, just beyond the were, now was the time for him to act.

39
Guardsmen could react, a lethal cloud of monomolecular With battle joined, the forces of Alaitoc and Retribution
wire spewed from each portal. The razor-sharp threads clashed throughout the Tormus Delta, thousands on both
scattered through the gorge, effortlessly penetrating any sides fighting for their lives within its icy labyrinth.
environment suit they came into contact with. Within Guardians, having already seeded crossing points
seconds the canyon was echoing with hideous screams between the canyons with heavy weapons platforms, fired
as the victims of the lethal strands were eviscerated, the at any Guardsman who passed within their sights. The
only evidence of the carnage wrought within their bodies troopers mounted their own ambushes in return, risking the
a spray of blood splattered across the snow as the slippery ascent up the canyon walls to stake out the upper
filaments retracted. pathways. From there they threw frag grenades down into
the paths of war walkers who had been restricted to single
As each of the coruscating warp-lights faded, the Warp file in the tighter confines of the Delta. Then, as the Eldar
Spiders that had manifested within them leapt into action, war walkers returned fire, the squads melted away, taking
wielding their powerblades in great sweeping arcs which advantage of their lofty positions to leap out of danger and
sliced cleanly through torsos, severing limbs and heads into the adjoining canyons. Death stalked the Tormus
from bodies with consummate skill. Then, with their first Delta, and who would win and who would survive would be
strike complete, the Aspect Warriors faded back into the determined over the next few murderous hours.
Warp, the afterglow of their departure dazzling all whose
eyes were hypnotically drawn to it, etching their sight with FRACTURE
chaotic, leering faces that gazed hungrily at their souls The earlier defeat of the Phantom Titan was a victory the
from the Immaterium. forces of Battle Group Odon desperately needed. In the
west the battle was quickly turning against Vengeance and
The gorge soon became little more than a charnel house a new wave of Eldar craft had been reported appearing
as the massacre was repeated, despite the fierce from the direction of the Mymearan portal. All who watched
resistance put up by those Guardsmen who had recovered expected this second wave to reinforce the Mymeara
the wit to do so. The Warp Spiders expertly traversed attack, but instead they carried on heading west directly
between realspace and warp space until their objective towards the Tarundor Isthmus. The actions of this
was achieved, then vanished completely. It had taken them breakaway Eldar force were a complete mystery to the
less than three minutes to kill over eighty Guardsmen and veteran general, but with Battle Group Odon’s infantry and
there was no evidence that the Aspect Warriors had vehicles wholly committed on the Alacian Plains and in
suffered any injury in return. the Tormus Delta, there was little he could do to prevent
its advance.

Eldar ‘Falcon’ type Grav-tank. One of the most common Eldar armoured units,
this example is shown with the panoply of the Mymeara Craftworld.

41
 Eldar ‘Cobra’ Super-heavy Tank. This large skimmer tank possesses a deadly
warp distortion-based weapon classified as a high-level threat to all Imperial armoured units and Titans.
This example is one of several identified in the service of the Mymearan Craftworld.

42
Eldar Phantom Titan. Several of these rare war machines, equivalent in
power to an Imperial Battle Titan, were engaged in combat by the
Legio Gryphonicus during the Betalis Campaign.

43
Eldar ‘Lynx’ Heavy Grav-tank. Rarely encountered compared to other Eldar heavy units,
this Mymearan Lynx is configured with a sonic lance armament. The recovery of battle
wreckage of this type was deemed a high priority by the Adeptus Mechanicus.

44
 CHAPTER FOUR
The Tide Turns
War raged upon Betalis III, and in the heavens above it the full by the planets and Imperial Navy bases of neighbouring
few remaining Imperial Navy vessels in the Betalis system systems. Thousands of the Emperor’s own were enroute to
had retreated to the one place even the Corsairs would not relieve the besieged defenders, and at the very point of the
dare venture – the corona of the crystal-blue Betalis star. speartip were the strike cruisers of the Space Wolves
Amongst its gaseous outer regions, the flotilla of Imperial Great Company of Bran Redmaw.
Navy ships was almost invisible to the keen-sighted
outcast pilots and their sensors, but there was a high price The Space Wolves’ battlefleet was first to appear at the
to pay for the star’s protection. Already its radiation was system’s outer boundaries, and tore a path straight through
leeching through the outer hulls of the smaller craft and the Corsairs’ Aconites, Nightshades and Hemlocks.
reports of fatalities were increasing by the hour. The risks Without stopping it continued towards Betalis III, the Eldar
of remaining near to the star though were far outweighed fleet soon realising why it had not turned to follow up on its
by those they’d face from what waited for them beyond it. initial strike. A second wave of Imperial ships had
The Corsair fleet of the Void Dragons now roamed the appeared in-system closely behind the Space Marines,
voids between the Betalis System’s worlds unchallenged, and the Corsairs were soon outflanked as the massive
easily picking off the few Imperial Navy vessels that had Imperial Navy armada rounded on them.
been unable to reach the safety of the star’s corona in
time. The Eldar stranglehold on the Betalis System though The Eldar outcasts at first held the advantage in terms of
was to prove short-lived. speed and agility, and wove a deadly path through the
squadrons of Imperial fighter craft as they launched. Soon
The first indication those fighting for survival on Betalis III though, the Void Dragons were faced with overwhelming
had that reinforcements were on their way was when the odds and for each of the Emperor’s vessels they
Corsair armada that had joined in the assault on Company destroyed, the Corsairs found themselves evading the
Vengeance turned their vessels starwards and deserted guns of two more.
their Craftworld brethren. With billions of men and
machines of war at its disposal, all that the galaxy-spanning As well as coming to the aid of Betalis III, sector command
Imperium of Mankind had needed was time, and General had determined that its system was to finally be scoured of
Odon’s request for reinforcements had been answered in the Eldar pirates that had plagued it for centuries.

45
As the Imperial Navy engaged with the Void Dragons, Bran explosive charges to the thin barriers of ice and rock
Redmaw’s fleet continued towards Betalis III in a furious between them, discharging a lethal hail of shrapnel into the
blaze of destruction. In all that time only once did it break Guardians’ positions as squads of Guardsmen, waiting just
its own counsel and contact those fighting on the planet out of harm’s way, stormed through the settling dust and
below. The short message was broadcast by its Wolf Lord, eradicated any Eldar who had survived.
Bran Redmaw himself, and was sent directly to Inquisitor-
lord Danzk’s command Chimera, the bitter hatred the In the south-west of the Delta, where both sides had seen
Space Wolves Chapter reserved for the Inquisition still some of their fiercest encounters, Retribution’s officers
burning from their clash over the massacre at Armageddon moved in their most experienced troops. Following a
centuries before. barrage of heavy weapons fire guided in by vox teams and
Guardsmen acting as spotters, veteran Cadian squads
“We fight for the Allfather, Inquisitor. Do not cross our path.” stormed the Eldar battle lines en masse. In response to
Retribution’s new offensive, Alaitoc’s Farseers moved in
CARNAGE WITHIN THE DELTA squads of Dire Avengers and their lightning fast assault
The Space Wolves wasted little time in deploying onto soon cut into the Guardsmen’s gains. The men and women
Betalis III. The skies above the Tormus Delta, where the of Retribution died in droves, whole squads being cut down
men and women of Retribution were fighting a furious by shuriken catapult fire or upon the blades wielded by the
defence against Craftworld Alaitoc’s forces, were slashed expert Eldar swordsmen. This, though, was where the
with over a score of fiery contrails as the Chapter’s drop Sons of Russ came into their own.
pods plummeted from the heavens, the Claws of Russ
digging deep into the ice world as close to two hundred The Space Wolves of Bran Redmaw’s Company charged
Space Wolves made planetfall. The instant the through the network of canyons and gorges, obliterating
disembarkation ramps unfolded, each drop pod any resistance they met. Packs of Grey Hunters prowled
unleashed its deadly cargo, and with fire in their hearts the maze and the canyons echoed with the shriek and roar
and bolters at the ready, the Space Wolves stormed of shuriken fire and bolter rounds as they unleashed their
towards the icy labyrinth. wrath upon the Eldar. Then, bloodied, their ceramite
armour scored in numerous places, they would emerge
Company Retribution had already begun to re-establish triumphant and move on implacably to their next objective.
communications even before the Space Wolves’ drop pods
had landed. As the Eldar Rangers and Corsairs had done Of all the bloody conflicts the Space Wolves were involved
before them, teams of vox operators had climbed above in within the Tormus Delta, the most daring were initiated
the transmission-deadening icy passageways and were by Space Wolves Swiftclaw packs. Able to move at speed
now able to relay orders between the scattered forces. through the narrow, twisting passageways, the biker
Sniper fire from the Eldar Rangers was taking a squads sowed havoc and confusion. The first an Eldar
tremendous toll on their numbers, but enough were able to squad would know of their approach would be the roar of
evade them for Retribution to finally start fighting as one attack bike engines, followed by the thunder of bolter fire
coordinated force. The effects of this were soon felt by the as they tore through their ranks, leaving nothing but
Eldar. Where once the support platforms manned by pairs carnage and death in their wake. The impatience of youth
of Eldar Guardians had cut a swathe through the frozen though usually comes with a lesson to learn, and in the
passageways and dominated large sections of the Tormus heat of battle this rarely ends well for even those as
Delta, Retribution’s squads now set to work in a two- powerful as the super-human warriors of Mankind.
pronged assault. Moving through adjacent canyons, strike Bolstered by their victories, it did not take long for the
teams would fire mortars over the canyon walls or fix headstrong Swiftclaw packs to attempt to outdo each

B ran Redmaw breathed slowly and deeply, his lungs filling with the
crisp, sharp air of Betalis III. It was a simple act, but one which
would have suffocated an ordinary human as the lining of his lungs froze
Redmaw to make. Ever since Logan Grimnar had ordered him to bring
his Company to the defence of this world, his mind had been plagued with
visions of his body and soul finally succumbing to the curse of the Wulfen,
and alveoli burst in the sub-zero conditions. The Wolf Lord’s gene- transformed into a ferocious wild animal, more beast than man, that
enhanced respiratory system could easily cope with atmospheres far colder would stop at nothing to tear its prey apart and feast upon their bloody
than this, and as the breath flowed through him, his neuroglottis set to entrails.
work filtering out the scents of battle that hung upon it.
Bran Redmaw had believed these visions to be long-buried memories from
Standing on a snow-capped tor, three black-maned wolves prowling the time when he had drunk from the Cup of the Wulfen many centuries
around him, Wolf Lord Bran Redmaw watched his battle-brothers head before as part of his initiation into the ranks of the Space Wolves. He had
off into the Tormus Delta. In the hundreds of battles he had fought as also thought the icy realm he had prowled upon to have been Fenris
commander of the Great Company, he had always been accompanied by a during his long and dangerous trek back to the Citadel of the Fang. But
squad of the most venerable of his wolf brothers, but not this time; instead, now, standing here, looking out upon the ice world of Betalis III, he knew
the honour of leading them now fell to the Great Company’s second-in- different. This was the world he had seen and it would be where he
command, Wolf Guard Skallagrim. It was not an easy decision for Bran would have to defeat the curse that haunted him or be lost to it forever.

46
other’s achievements, boasting over their vox comms of Once an Eldar warlock who had died long ago, its spirit
how far they had moved behind enemy lines and the tally now once again directed the actions of its kin. Rather than
of their kills. trying to take out all the Wraithguard, if the Space Wolves
could injure or kill it, they stood a greater chance of
For one Swiftclaw pack, their bravado was to prove their surviving their encounter with these ancient Eldar warriors.
undoing. Speeding through the south-east of the Tormus Snarling their rage, the Swiftclaws gunned their engines to
Delta chasing a small squadron of Eldar war walkers, the full speed and circled round the wide gorge to attack the
pack blindly drove into an ambush. Luring them into a large Wraithseer, the Wraithguard raising their wraithcannon to
gorge, the war walkers quickly accelerated into the fire again. It was then that the Wolf Guard pack leader
canyons beyond, leaving the slower Swiftclaws in their noticed that the Swiftclaws had made a tactical error.
wake. The Space Wolves were not alone though, for They had naturally closed formation as they had circled
standing like tall marble statues within the gorge were five round. Given their proximity to each other, one hit on
Eldar Wraithguard, led by their Wraithseer, and as one the target by their enemy would see them all torn apart.
eerie wraithbone constructs opened fire.
Their deaths were prevented by the arrival of one of the
Like the much larger versions wielded by Mymeara’s Great Company’s few Dreadnoughts. A steady stream
Phantom Titans, their wraithcannon created rifts between of bolter casings tumbled to the ground as it fired into the
the Warp and realspace in the path of the bikers, instantly gorge from the passage it had arrived from. The
tearing apart one of the Space Wolves pack and throwing Dreadnought’s rounds tore into the Wraithguards’ position,
their Wolf Guard leader from his speeding vehicle as critically damaging one of the five, its spirit stones and
tendrils of the dark energy lashed out at it. Dazed but still armour shattering like ice. In response to this new threat,
conscious, the pack’s Wolf Guard leader voxed an the Wraithseer turned into one swift motion and, with an
immediate request for reinforcements, knowing that his unnatural strength, threw its wraithblade at the Dreadnought.
pack would not last long against such a foe. All Space
Wolves in the vicinity not already engaged in combat would The faintly glowing blade dove deep into the sarcophagus
immediately come to their assistance, but in the meantime containing the warrior within. The Wolf Guard raged as he
the Swiftclaws would have to deal with the implacable witnessed the death of the Dreadnought’s occupant.
advance of the Wraithguard and Wraithseer on their own. Powerless to help, he howled out his fury.

Those still mounted on their bikes roared towards the The Wolf Guard’s battle call did not go unanswered.
ethereal warriors, blasting bolter round after bolter round
into them. Guided by the spirit stones of long dead Eldar, FIRE FROM THE HILLS
the towering Wraithguard showed no fear as they Watched intently on the pict-screens of Port Ryira, the
weathered the fire storm and fired once more upon the wave of over two hundred Mymeara Jetbikes, Vypers and
bikes, killing another Swiftclaw as the Space Wolves jinked Falcons that had earlier bypassed the battle against
and weaved to avoid them. Lying injured beneath his bike Company Vengeance flew on to the Tarundor Peninsula.
and unable to move, the Wolf Guard pack leader ordered The armada did not turn immediately north to Port Ryira as
his battle-brothers to reform and concentrate their fire upon expected but continued directly eastwards towards the
the leader of the Wraithguard, its Wraithseer. large mining complex of Aresta IV. The facility was home to

47
 H earing the cries of one of his pack, the snarling Redmaw
raised his head and replied with a terrifying howl that echoed
deep into the snow clouds above. In the last few hours, the Wolf
down upon the guardian of the ghostly warriors. Focussing its
attentions on the beast before it, the Wraithseer was unprepared to
rebuff the sudden, deadly assault. Its wraithbone body was
Lord had been transformed, succumbing at last to the Curse of the bombarded by a storm of razor sharp ice shards that struck it from
Wulfen as each battle he had fought fed the bestial rage within him. the swirling clouds above. Unable to defend itself against such a
There was little left of the Space Marine and what remained deadly force, the Wraithseer’s surface began to pit and fracture as the
human after that; now he was a snarling creature consumed by rage shards drove cracks into it. Drawing deep upon his physical and
and fury. mental reserves, Finnbjörn increased the icy barrage, splitting the
Wraithseer’s body into a thousand pieces.
The Redmaw raced through the maze of passageways, the last of the
surviving black-maned wolves following close on his heels, his The destruction of the Wraithseer immediately broke the
wolf-brothers having died in the earlier battles against the Eldar. Wraithguards’ focus upon the mortal realm. As their minds drifted
They tore into the canyon where the Swiftclaws fought. The once more back to the spiritual plane from which they had been
Redmaw no longer recognised the men he had commanded, just their called, the Eldar wraithbone constructs they had briefly existed in
scents. To him they were simply part of his pack, and as alpha male slowed and stilled, now nothing more than monolithic statues
he was driven by the urge to kill what threatened them. Without standing watch over the devastation they had wrought upon the
pause, the Redmaw charged and pounced upon what his instincts Swiftclaw pack.
told him was his rival for this territory.
The creature that Bran Redmaw had become howled in fury that
Fighting against the instinct to reel at the touch of its unnaturally his prey had been taken by another, his piercing red eyes focussing on
cold skin and lack of scent, the Redmaw opened his jaw wide, the new challenger to his status. The Redmaw’s instincts urged him
briefly tasting the now steadily falling snow, and bit down hard to attack and as his senses swiftly worked upon a way to reach it,
upon the back of its neck. There was no flesh for him to rip apart something from deep within made him pause. His wolf-spirit had
there though. Instead there was just a feeling he knew too well, that sensed something familiar in the eyes of this new creature, something
of death. The Redmaw increased his efforts, determined to taste its that had stilled his fury for the briefest of moments. The desire to rip
blood upon his lips, but his prey showed no sign of feeling pain or its throat out quickly faded and hearing the sounds of the enemy off
fear. Instead it reached round over its head and seized him by the in the distance, the Redmaw bolted off in search of new prey.
scruff of his neck. The Redmaw roared with agony as the creature in
one swift motion smashed his body down upon a nearby boulder. Finnbjörn watched the creature he knew to be his battle-brother
Immediately charging to the defence of its pack leader, the black- leave. The Wolf Lord was limping from his injuries but already his
maned wolf leapt at his assailant, only to be caught in a flash of gene-enhanced body was beginning to heal him, the Larraman cells
light that dazzled the Redmaw as he hazily watched its efforts. clotting his blood and sealing his many wounds. In the brief moment
Another of the strange pack of creatures had come to the aid of its the Rune Priest had looked directly into the eyes of the creature the
leader, but his wolf-brother’s sacrifice had given the Redmaw the Great Wolf had become, Finnbjörn had seen the merest hint of the
time his body needed to recover. As he tensed his muscles to attack warrior-brother he had fought alongside in battle many times.
his prey again, he sensed the presence of something new, up on the
walls that towered high above them. Once he had overseen the recovery of the injured and dead
Swiftclaws from the gorge below him, Finnbjörn would report what
*** he had seen back to Brother Ulrik, the High Wolf Priest of the
Space Wolves Chapter, the oldest and most respected of their kind.
Raising his staff towards the sky, the Space Wolves rune priest, The Wolf Lord had won his battle against the beast that raged
Finnbjörn Runeforger, called the full fury of the growing blizzard within him and would soon return again to the great halls of Fenris.

over nine hundred workers and their families, and as air the heavy weapons bunkers and weapons batteries on the
raid sirens blared through the hab block shanty town that upper platforms of the complex pounded the skies. The
stretched across its eastern side, the workers’ militia were assault from the air was swiftly followed by sniper fire from
already charging into position, manning the bunker-sited the hillsides where Mymeara’s Guardian squads and
heavy weapons that were the core of Aresta IV’s defences. Rangers had moved into position during the opening
Joining them were the few elements of Battle Group Odon attack. The Eldar, it seemed, were intent on removing
not fighting out on the Alacian Plains, mainly support staff whatever threat those at Aresta IV posed to them.
and the first of the injured Guardsmen that had been
brought back behind the battle lines. Had they believed the facility to be poorly defended, then
the commanders of the Eldar strike force were sorely
Regardless of injury or rank, all who were capable of mistaken. Ordered to move immediately into the path of
fighting picked up a lasgun and prepared to defend this new Eldar force by the Ordo Xenos Inquisitor-lord
themselves as the Eldar strike force launched itself upon Danzk, Elysian Drop Troop squads had already deployed
the mining complex, Jetbikes and Vypers breaking in the hills above Aresta IV. Laying low, the Elysians,
formation and diving down upon the defenders in a hail of near-invisible in their camouflaged uniforms, ambushed the
shuriken discs and starcannon fire. In return, shots from unsuspecting Guardian squads as they passed by.

48
The presence of the Elysians on the hillsides slowed the WRATH OF TITANS
Eldar attack but it could do little to stop it. Pouring through As the Imperium’s waves of reinforcements began to
the most vulnerable point of the facility, the hab block spread out across the besieged eastern continent of
shanty town, Aspect Warrior squads descended upon the Betalis III, the Legio Gryphonicus had already engaged
militia. Howling Banshees haunted the area where the once more with the Titans of the Mymearan Craftworld.
bunkers had been set up, their psycho-sonic battle Still following their original orders, given to them by
screams paralysing all who opposed them so that there Inquisitor-lord Danzk earlier that day, the princeps of the
was little resistance from the Guardsmen and workers Titan maniples had tracked one of their foe to a region just
militia as they were cut down by the graceful warriors. north of where the battle between the Eldar and Company
Vengeance was being fought on the Alacian Plains.
But it was at the entrance to the mines that the worst Enroute the Phantom Titan had also been joined by three
atrocities were committed by the Eldar. Massive mining Mymearan Revenant Titans. The second Phantom Titan,
vehicles had been driven in front of the entrance to protect damaged earlier by the demi-maniple, had been observed
the workers who sought shelter within. The vehicles and by the Inquisitor-lord’s servitors entering the coastal region
the militia behind them lasted seconds as the vehicles of the Mymearan portal to the west, and was believed to
were melted into little more than slag by the fusion guns of have either journeyed back through it to the Craftworld or
Mymeara Fire Dragons squads, leaving those sheltering was now standing watch over the portal itself.
within undefended as the Eldar advanced.
Knowing that the presence of the remaining Eldar Titans
The nightmare unfolding at the Aresta IV facility would be could tip the balance against Company Vengeance, the
short-lived though. As the Eldar flyers made for another princeps of the Invictus Nova had ordered his fellow Titan
pass at the heavy weapons teams in the bunkers, Imperial princeps to engage with the Eldar war striders before they
Navy Fury interceptors from the now-orbiting fleet dived got any nearer. Facing an enemy half its number but
down through the clearing storm clouds, just as the troop significantly superior in terms of armament and speed, the
transports of Battle Group Vlaar appeared on the horizon. Imperial Titan princeps knew that the odds were against
Perhaps realising that the odds were soon to turn against them as they stepped into battle once more.
them, the survivors at Aresta IV watched the Eldar flee.
The Legio Gryphonicus Titans split again into their two The battle was not without further casualties. The first was
original groups. The demi-maniple Nova, now a Titan suffered by the Eldar. One of its Revenant Titans was
down after the destruction of the Warhound Magnus destroyed as it attempted to break away and circle back
Canis, first attacked the Eldar Titans and then drew away around onto the flanks of the Exaro maniple. Spotting its
eastwards into the heart of an ice storm. Their plan ruse, the maniple’s princeps ordered his three Reaver
worked and the lead Eldar steersman led his Titan host in Titans and two Warhounds to fire upon its position. Their
pursuit after them. In a series of bitterly fought skirmishes combined might overloaded the Revenant Titan’s holo-
and assaults that ran over almost half of the length of the fields and severed the power mechanisms within its leg
continent, the two groups of Titans fought. Moving through casings. Unable to move, and with its lone crewman
terrain much more in their favour than the rocky battlefield probably severely injured or dead already, the Eldar Titan
further west, the demi-maniple worked its way north-east self-detonated, denying certain elements of the Imperium
via a two kilometre section of the highway that wound the rare opportunity to later study such advanced xenos
through and over the mountains. Meanwhile, the Exaro technology first-hand. The Legio Gryphonicus did not
maniple headed west and then north again across another escape unscathed either, its Warhound Titans suffering
part of the highway. As the Eldar Titans followed demi- the worst attentions of their foes. Two from the Exaro
maniple Nova out on to the ice fields beyond, the Exaro maniple received direct hits from the twin pulse lasers of
maniple charged in behind them to cut off their exit point. the Revenants, one being critically damaged and forced to
retreat from the battlefield.
Over the next hour, the gods of war of both races fought a
furious battle. With little shelter save for the vision The Phantom Titan was to wreak the most devastation
obscuring blizzard, the Imperium’s princeps resorted to a with its distortion cannon. At the height of the battle, it
pattern of feints and strikes to protect themselves from the came close to destroying the Exaro itself when a shot from
Eldar’s distortion cannons and pulsars. First the demi- its arcane weapon glanced off the shields of the Battle
maniple Nova would close within range of the Eldar and Titan. Had the remaining Imperial Titans not come to its
fire upon them. Then, as soon as the Nova’s shots were aid whilst the Titan and its crew recovered from the power
away, the Exaro maniple would attack, striding forwards to surge that had temporarily crippled it, then it may have
harry the Eldar Titans, attempting to prevent them from then been destroyed completely.
returning fire upon the Nova and its Warhound escort.
 F or what must have been the hundredth time, Princeps
Ephraim checked the two dials on his console. The first
dial had just reached zero as he looked down again, meaning
Three... Just a few hundred metres behind the two Revenants,
the Phantom Titan emerged. A faint dark haze was already
wreathing its distortion cannon, just as it had before the
that the next part of his plan was in position. Immediately, Phantom had blasted the Magnus Canis into oblivion.
Ephraim ordered the Exaro maniple to open fire. He needed to
be sure that the Eldar Titans took the bait and did not attempt Two... Ephraim pushed the Invictus Nova harder than he had
to circle round him as they had tried to earlier. From out of the ever done before.
west, just as the hurricane-force winds that blew across the open
ice field dropped slightly, came a new storm, one of holy wrath One... The Invictus Nova reached the designated coordinates
as las fire and hard rounds streamed past the Nova, a sudden just as Ephraim received a message from the captain of the Legio
blossom of light off in the distance indicating they had hit at Gryphonicus ship, The Lithore’s Vengeance, now orbiting
least one of the following Eldar Revenant Titans. thousands of kilometres directly above him.

There was no time to celebrate the skills of the Exaro maniple’s “Orbital strike initiated.” Seven massive torpedoes descended
weapons moderatii though. The needle on the second gauge was like blazing comets from the heavens and impacted with the
rapidly approaching zero. He needed to move now and move Eldar Titans’ position.
fast. Pushing deep into his link with the Invictus, he searched its
already punished systems for any remaining untapped power, the When the thunderous explosions had ceased, a thick bank of
lights in the crew compartment dimming as he took it from smoke hung in the air. Ephraim waited as it gradually faded
anywhere he could. There were barely metres to go before the away, ready to move if he caught even the faintest glimpse of an
second countdown reached zero and failing to reach the Eldar Titan heading out of it towards the Nova. But instead
coordinates was not an option. The Invictus Nova closed the last the dissipating smoke revealed that the landscape seaward had
few dozen metres with barely seconds to spare on the gauge. been altered completely. Gone were the kilometres of ice that had
Princeps Ephraim watched the final numbers count down and stretched out before the Reaver Titan and instead there was now
prayed that time was on their side. a wide gulf which dropped straight into the deep waters below.
Beyond it on the horizon, Ephraim could just about see the
Four... The air cleared quickly as the fury of the blizzard Phantom Titan retreating west back towards the Mymearan
that had earlier engulfed the region was finally spent, revealing portal. Its annihilation had eluded the princeps once again but
two of Invictus’ pursuers only five hundred metres away and he doubted it would play any further part in the war. The two
closing fast. Revenants of its cadre though would make one more appearance,
listed in the great honour rolls of the Legio Gryphonicus as
missing, presumed destroyed upon the rocks below.

Although most of the Imperium’s Titans suffered from The joint Mymeara-Alaitoc war host had also taken a
serious battle damage in the engagement, they were to severe battering. Proving once again his reputation as an
emerge victorious. With the threat of the Mymearan expert tank commander, General Odon had organised
Craftworld Titans removed from Betalis III, the Legio Vengeance into mobile blocks of tanks that bristled with
Gryphonicus for the final hours of the war joined with guns, and for every Leman Russ or Chimera destroyed,
mobile elements of Bran Redmaw’s Company that had four Eldar craft took serious damage or were blown out of
been set down by Thunderhawk gunships to assist the skies. It was the general’s tactical experience that had
Company Vengeance. The small force of Space Wolves enabled Vengeance to hold out for so long and as the
Land Raiders and other vehicles, plus the Legio advancing Imperial Navy battle wing began to move within
Gryphonicus Titans, then outflanked part of Alaitoc’s range, the Eldar craft broke formation and turned back in
armada, blunting its fury and preventing it from fully the direction of the portal that had gained them access to
engaging with Company Vengeance. the Emperor’s world.

THE TIDE TURNS At that same moment in the Tormus Delta, Retribution’s
With the hillsides around Aresta IV reinforced by the vox-network was flooded with reports that Alaitoc’s land
Elysian Drop Troops and forward sections of Battle Group forces had also broken from battle. Minutes before their
Vlaar, the Imperial Navy squadrons turned west towards war cries had echoed through the canyons, but now the icy
Company Vengeance. As the pilots approached the maze was near-silent. Hundreds of kilometres above the
combat zone, they were met with an apocalyptic scene of Delta, the pict-screens of the Imperial Navy fleet confirmed
devastation. Gone were the military-precise squadron what all below already knew, the Eldar were retreating.
formations, and instead remained a few tight pockets of
resistance focused upon nothing but the utter annihilation The forces of the great Imperium of Mankind had won the
of their foe. Out of the hundreds of Imperial tanks and other Battle for Betalis III.
heavy armour deployed there, less than a third was left.

51
Craftworld Mymeara’s forces move out across Betalis III.

52
 Space Wolves Chapter, Blood Claws Rhino Transport.
Bran Redmaw’s Great Company.

Space Wolves Chapter, Predator Tank (Annihilator

configuration). Bran Redmaw’s Great Company.

53
 Ancient Skarrag. Interred in Mk V Dreadnought in fealty to
the Redmaw. Fell in glory on Betalis III.

Space Wolves Whirlwind Launcher. Note that the vehicle

shown here was of relatively new manufacture by the forges of
Fenris, and lacked further designation or graven sagas.

54
 The ‘Tempus Prima’
Legio Gryphonicus Warhound Titan,
Invictus Nova Battle Maniple, the Incursion of Betalis III.

55
 Leman Russ Exterminator ‘Kasr’s Sabre’ – 9th vehicle,
special detachment, 6th Cadian Armoured Regiment. This
unit distinguished itself in the Betalis Campaign, with five
confirmed kills against enemy skimmers. Later awarded the
Iron Laurel commendation, 2nd Class.

Macharius Heavy Tank. Cadian 6th Armoured Regiment, 2nd Company

Command Vehicle ‘Traitor’s Bane’. Vehicle immobilised during the retreat
from Sector IV-D, but fought on until destroyed, its crew posthumously
entered onto the regiment’s Roll of Martyrdom.

56
57
Space Wolves Land Raider Helios ‘Widowmaker’. A relic of
the Chapter, this Land Raider had been part of Redmaw’s
Great Company since 940.M41.
 Space Wolves Chapter Land Speeder Tempest.
The Tempest is a low level attack craft and interceptor
used to support the Great Company’s attacks.

Space Wolves Chapter Razorback. The Razorback offers

increased firepower over the Rhino, at the cost of troop capacity.

58
 77.832.0912/x

[Classification – Ordo Xenos Extremis]

[Account of subject 77.832.0912/x – Inquisitor-lord Hestaphus Danzk]

[Betalis III. Sector 936]

[Transcript – Servitor Remptor – Biologos resource alpha-m2]

Inquisitor-lord Danzk sat in the darkened confines of his command Chimera studying the dozens
of images on his pict-screens, his augmented eyes flicking rapidly from one to the next. Some
he barely paid notice to, such as those showing the celebrating miners and Imperial Guardsmen
of Battle Group Odon outside the Aresta VI mining complex, each face being automatically
scanned, measured, assessed and compared against Ordo Xenos files for any sign of heretical
xenos deviancy. If he did consider them at all, it was only to acknowledge that they had
completed their part in the battle for this world, and Danzk would not begrudge them this brief
moment of triumph. Life was short and brutal for them. Soon they would board Imperial Navy
transport ships and head off to another war zone and celebrations such as these were necessary
for maintaining morale.

A bright flash on the top bank of images attracted his gaze briefly. Considering the land war
on Betalis III over with the retreat of the Eldar war hosts of Alaitoc and Mymeara, the Space
Wolves were taking the battle to those in the skies above. There had been unconfirmed reports
of larger Eldar vessels skulking in its system’s outer reaches and in the Karina Nebula beyond.
Inquisitor-lord Danzk would join in their hunt soon enough, but his part in the land war was
not yet over. There were too many unanswered questions, too many loose ends to tie up, and he
had just found the key to unlock them all.

It was a minuscule event in the grand scheme of things, an incident that had happened long
before the first shots had been fired by either side, but was now the key to everything. Danzk
flicked a switch on his console and patched a link into the vox network. The final battle for
Betalis III was about to begin.

[Servitor Remptor …File on screen - Odon 86759874/kl section 12.7…]

Having moved deep within the mining facility and now located within a vast forge chamber,
Inquisitor-lord Danzk barely glanced at the reports from his retinue and the lieutenant he’d put
in charge of the two hundred Guardsmen and militia men from the Aresta IV facility that were
now under his command. The men had spent the past hour scouting out the immense hall where
Danzk had determined they would make their stand. The reports told him what he already
knew – it was clear of their foe. The Inquisitor-lord had expected nothing different. The Eldar
would be in the tunnels below, probably not a large group but of a size sufficient to complete
its task and also small enough to elude the search parties that had earlier been scouring the
mines for any Eldar who had got past their defences during the earlier battle. Having had
at least five hours undisturbed in the tunnels that led off from the hall, they would have the
advantage, and he was not about to step blindly into their lair. Here was where the Imperium
would make its stand – on its own ground and on its own terms.

With a boom that shook the whole chamber, the colossal blast doors leading back up to the
surface slammed shut. Then twenty bolts, the size of massive tree trunks, slid into position
within them, and with a sinister primal hiss the forge chamber was sealed off from the rest
of the planet. The door was designed to withstand the force of the thirty-storey high forge
machine exploding and should the Imperial defence force be defeated, this was the final barrier

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the Eldar would have to break through to get back up to the planet’s surface. Inquisitor-lord
Danzk, never a man to go into battle without a back-up plan, reinforced the door further.
Now deep within the forge’s structure, swaddled amongst its countless valves and pipes, and
the dozens of shrines to its machine spirit, was Tech-Priest Mydeaus, connected directly
into the mechanical leviathan’s systems. From there he had sole control of the door, Danzk
having ordered his men to destroy any of the other access points to it. They were locked in:
Inquisitor-lord Danzk, his retinue, the Guardsmen and the militia. But, more importantly, so
too were the Eldar.

Once connected, Mydeaus had begun to put the resources of the forge to a new purpose.
Attached to a huge rail system on top of it were four massive cranes, normally used to feed
the five storey-high smelting crucibles with the ore dug from the mines below. The Tech-Priest
was using them to lift tonnes of metal rails and heavy equipment into position as barricades in
front of the mine network entrance. So totally connected was Mydeaus with the forge machine’s
systems that rail and vehicle alike were placed exactly where directed by the Guardsmen, barely
disturbing the ash that fell like black snow from the monstrous bubbling crucibles above.

As for everyone else, they were crawling through the winding maze of walkways and gantries,
picking out their own positions from where to play their part in the battle to come. The forge
chamber was not where most of them would have chosen to be at that moment. The militia
men in the ad hoc defence force were accustomed to the almost unbearable heat and choking
fumes, but within minutes of being locked off from the outside world, the Guardsmen and
his retinue were suffering the effects of the temperature. Despite this, no one though removed
their environment suits.

Satisfied that his plan was progressing as instructed, Danzk turned his attention once again
to the images on his pict-screens showing the progress of the swarm of servitors he had sent
into the tunnels. These were more of the Tech-Priest’s tinkerings – nightmarish bio-mechanical
constructs with metal bodies and multiple pairs of legs, and like a spider sitting at the centre
of its web, Danzk’s dozens of pairs of eyes now watched the whole of the north-west cave
system below.

The Inquisitor-lord methodically scrolled through the images from each servitor in turn, every
single one showing an almost identical view of the dusty rock walls, floor or ceiling of the
tunnels as they scrambled their way forwards. The hunt didn’t last long though, nor had he
expected it to. The Eldar were ready and waiting to deal with such prying eyes and one of the
servitors had just paused, its sensors picking up something in the darkness. Danzk checked its
location. It was one of those closest to where the mining accident had been. He focused on its
connection to the console in front of him, blinked and watched events unfold through its eyes.

[Servitor Pious7-x53] The servitor paused and scanned the tunnel ahead. Its sensors had picked
up movement, but Danzk could see nothing in the artificial glow its enhanced visual feeds were
sending back to him. In a blur of movement, the servitor suddenly shifted its ocular ports to
look up at a point to its left, half-way up the rock wall, and Danzk finally saw what had caught
its attention. On the tunnel’s surface a few metres away was a faint patch of light moving
swiftly towards the servitor. Without warning, the image suddenly brightened and the feed
cut out.

Danzk found himself looking once again at the pict screens in his command Chimera, a
stabbing pain just behind his eyes from the optic shock he’d just received. He quickly checked
the rest of the pict-screens. The images from four more servitors at different points in the
same tunnel had also gone blank. That could mean only one thing – the Eldar knew they were
being hunted again, but where exactly were they?

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He got his answer soon enough. Spotting a change in the feed from another of the servitors, he
blinked again.

[Servitor – Artus352-n] The area the servitor was moving through was rubble-strewn rather than
the clear boulder-free approach of the transit tunnels. Unlike its now lifeless companions, it had
managed to slip past whatever was guarding the tunnels and had made it to the coordinates of
the cave-in which had killed over forty miners at the facility several weeks before. There was no
evidence of a cave-in here now though. Instead the servitor was passing through the entrance to
a massive cavern, the huge fallen rocks at its entrance having been cleared by the Eldar. As it
moved, the servitor articulated its multiple pairs of legs quickly over and around objects scattered
on the cavern floor.

Danzk paused the feed to get a better look. Littered around the servitor were masses of bones, a
fine layer of corpse-dust upon them disturbed by the passing of the servitor where skin and flesh
had once been. The bodies, and not one of them looked human, must have been lying unburied in
the cavern for hundreds if not thousands of years judging by the lack of flesh upon them. Danzk’s
normally cold analytical mind raced at the possibilities – this must have been the site of a
massive battle once, and judging by the state of the remains, it had been fought centuries before
the colonisation of Betalis III.

Even now the systems in his Chimera were churning through the images, cataloguing and
attempting to cross reference them with the billions of records held within its data core. They
had already confirmed Eldar bones lying amongst the mass grave and a lot of their decomposed
remains had injuries consistent with the effects of brutally intense hand-to-hand combat. Score
marks criss-crossed where blades had cut through skin to slash at the bone below. Other bones
were cracked and shattered, particularly skulls, where heavier weapons had impacted, perhaps
hammers or mauls judging by the damage.

As for the Eldar host’s foe, each bone analysed was accompanied by the same frustrating
response, ‘Unidentified’. Whatever race it was, there was nothing to match it in his extensive
records. Their injuries were consistent with those caused by Eldar weapons though. The cuts
to the limb bones were cleaner than those caused by their own weapons, and skulls had been
penetrated by neat holes consistent with the plasma weapons Eldar Aspect Warriors favoured.
There was also no mistaking the tell-tale lattice marks scored deep into many of the bones, the
result of becoming entangled in the more exotic weapons used by the Eldar�s warrior elite.

Inquisitor-lord Danzk could have spent years just looking over that one image but now was not
the time. He reconnected back to the live feed from the servitor. It had travelled further into the
cavern and located the Eldar contingent, and was now positioned on a ledge slightly back from
them but still with a clear enough view for Danzk to observe what was going on.

[Servitor – Artus352-n] There were five Eldar clearly in view and behind them hovered flickering
pale lights the same as those the servitors had encountered earlier in the tunnels.

This time though, within each of the lights Danzk could clearly see the faint spectral form of an
Eldar warrior, of a type he had never come across before. They appeared to be standing as guards
for the group of five Eldar in front: a Farseer, what he took to be three Eldar priests of high
rank judging from their attire, and a single Eldar warrior who was the sole focus of the ritual
they were performing.

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[Servitor Remptor – Biologos resource alpha-m2 …Speculation of identity of xenos group by

Inquisitor-lord Danzk unconfirmed. Data forwarded to Inquisitor Samaeal Kayvus for further
analysis…]

The warrior was stood in the centre of the group. On the floor next to him was the body of
another Eldar warrior. It must have been dead for thousands of years, but unlike the others who
had fought within the chamber, its remains were still preserved to some degree, as if it had held
on to life far longer than anyone else had managed to. Two of the Eldar priests were removing
pieces of ornately decorated armour from its mummified remains and placing each one in turn
upon the living Eldar warrior.

‘Was this what the Eldar had come to Betalis III for?’ he thought, ‘Had thousands on both sides
died for this?’ Danzk commanded the servitor to focus in on the armour.

The Inquisitor-lord was amazed at the intricacy of its decoration – the craftsmanship on it was
far superior to anything he had seen in his decades of study of Eldar war panoply. In the many
files written about the Eldar race he had studied, there were accounts of them launching raids
against planets which possessed artefacts considered important to them. But to start a war on
such a scale meant that this must be something truly precious to them.

[Servitor Remptor – Biologos resource alpha-m2 …Analysis of prior Xenos-Eldar behaviour

indicates 89% probability that retrieval of the artefact was the objective of the Eldar invasion of
Betalis III…]

Their task complete, the Eldar priests stepped back, positioning themselves on either side and
behind their charge. Then the Farseer stepped forward and raised his staff into the air, holding
it above the warrior with both hands. The Farseer then released it and the staff floated up until
it was hovering a short distance vertically above the warrior’s helm. The instant it was in place,
the cavern was filled with a bright actinic light as what must have been a tremendous amount
of psychic energy surged upwards from the outstretched arms of the Farseer and the priests
and channelled itself down through the staff and across the warrior’s armour – who was soon
surrounded with a rapidly growing aura of ice-white light.

Within a few seconds Danzk could no longer see the warrior; the corona of light had completely
engulfed him and was rapidly expanding outwards. An unearthly wind blew from the eye of the
psychic storm, whipping around the robes of the Farseer and priests, and blowing the shroud of
corpse-dust from the field of bones that lay beyond the ritual. Tendrils of light suddenly leapt out
from the psychic inferno. First they randomly skittered along the cavern floor, but as the circle
of light grew, harmlessly enveloping the Farseer and his cadre, Danzk realized the tendrils were
leaping from bone to skull to bone, as if they were feasting hungrily upon whatever echoes of life
were still contained within them. As they moved on to another bone they left nothing behind but
crumbling dust, but Danzk didn’t have time to dwell on his escalating horror at the destruction as
one of tendrils latched directly on to the servitor.

The Inquisitor-lord screamed out in agony as the same brilliant light that bathed the cavern tore
through his optic nerves, and slumped unconscious onto his console.

Some time later Danzk woke to the unmistakable sounds of battle outside his Chimera’s now
near-pitch black observation compartment. What he had taken first to be nightmares of slaughter
and destruction as he was awakening had been images feeding directly into his mind from his
retinue as they had failed to hold back the Eldar onslaught.

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His body felt as if a great hand had picked him up and thrown him about, and as he moved to
sit up, the Inquisitor-lord almost passed out again with the pain. His left leg wasn’t broken, but
it had taken a severe battering, and reaching up he could feel the unwelcome presence of a large
lump on the side of his head where it had come in contact with what he could only assume was
the console. Danzk disconnected himself from what few feeds his implants were still plugged
into and painfully dragged his body upright. It was then he hazily realized that the Chimera was
now lying on its side.

Reaching outwards, the stench of smouldering flesh assaulted his senses as he struggled to push
the heavy outer hatch open, its unbalanced weight sapping his failing strength as he wrestled
with it. As he took a few moments to recover, Danzk took in the sight of the bodies of dozens
of the defence force scattered around the entrance to the tunnels. It was as if a hurricane had
torn straight through the forge chamber, picked the men up and then dropped them back down
again without a care. The motley collection of rails and heavy equipment used as barricades in
front of the tunnels had been tossed aside like children’s toys; the blast holes that punctured
them displayed the unmistakable signs of Eldar weaponry, their edges still glowing faintly
orange from the intense heat. The defence force had been hit hard and fast with little chance to
retaliate, judging by the lack of Eldar bodies amongst the dead and wounded.

Danzk dragged himself from the vehicle and fell more than climbed down its side, his numb
leg useless in his descent. He lay against the upturned underside of the Chimera, catching his
breath, a tightness in his chest suggesting he’d suffered some internal injuries when the vehicle
had rolled. Once the sound of pounding drums in his head ceased, he used his augmented senses
to begin to analyse the storm of battle raging above and around him. Focusing hard, Inquisitor-
lord Danzk picked out the staccato bursts of two pistols firing from amongst the maze of pipes
and cables, distinct from the steady sounds of the Cadian Guardsmen’s lasguns. Taron, the
Cadian sniper, was still alive, but if he was using his pistols rather than his favoured rifle, then
whatever part of the battle he was a part of was not going well for him. Danzk blinked, praying
that the blow to his head had not caused him to lose connection with at least one of his retinue.

[Taron Metgar – Subject 287. Critica VII] The moment the Inquisitor-lord connected with the
Cadian, he could tell that the man was absolutely terrified, something the normally calm, and,
some of the others in the retinue would say, emotionally bereft sniper had never been in the
time Danzk had known him.

Taron’s eyes were wide open with fear. He looked left then right and then left again. The sniper
was frantically trying to watch two directions at the same time and when that failed suddenly
began to fire wildly with his pistols, first one way then another and then straight out into the
open air ahead. His weapons were soon emptied and Taron risked a glance down to reload them
again, his hands slick with sweat as he frantically fumbled with the ammunition clips attached
to his webbing. Then, with the pistols finally loaded, Taron looked up ahead again and swore.
Hovering directly in front of him, ten levels up, was one of the ‘ghosts’ he had been tracking,
the same spectral Eldar warrior Danzk had seen guarding the group in the bone chamber.

At the first sound of the Eldar’s screaming weapon being discharged, Taron dived over the back
of the gantry onto a metal platform a short distance below. He had avoided being hit twice so
far but now his luck had run out. Designed for taking out heavy armour rather than being fired
at such close quarters, the blast of energy rippled through the gantry, collapsing sections of it
upon Taron and crushing him under a pile of heavy smouldering metal.

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Chimera Armoured Personal Carrier. Inquisitorial detachment,
Betalis III conflict. Autocannon turret variant armament.
 77.832.0912/x

The mind-link was instantly severed at the moment of Taron’s death and Danzk found himself
once more looking around the forge chamber through his own eyes. He was no longer alone
though. Like a faithful hound returning to its master, he had been rejoined by one of the
servitors he’d sent off earlier into the tunnels, one of its legs twitching redundantly where its
lower section had been sheared off by Eldar weapons fire. Programmed to return to the Chimera
if damaged, the servitor was now awaiting repair or its next instruction. Danzk reconnected
with it and via his own augment-link sent it limping off to where the fighting sounded fiercest.
Unable to move his own legs now, the servitor would have to act as his eyes and ears within the
forge chamber.

[Servitor 1-x-3757] The feed from the servitor was erratic as it scurried along the floor,
flickering occasionally with grainy static. The sound of weapons fire was coming from both
sides of the hall now as the few remaining Guardsmen and militia fought desperately for their
survival. The servitor raised its head as a burst of las fire arced over the side of a platform four
levels up. In response, Danzk heard eerie screams erupting nearby. Five Guardsmen firing from
the gantry were launched through the air from the force of the Eldar weapons, landing in a
tangle of crumpled metal and broken bodies on the ground of the forge chamber below. Where
the shots had come from, the spectral Eldar warriors appeared. They strode brazenly through the
hall, their weapons unleashing another devastating volley upon a terrified group of militia men
scattering in all directions from them before once more fading from view into the pale flickering
lights that Danzk had witnessed earlier.

Through the eyes of the servitor, Danzk watched as the Eldar worked their way up through the
hall, striking in surgical fashion. First there would be nothing, perhaps just a shimmering aura,
and anyone firing at the dancing motes of ethereal light would find their shots bouncing off
the pipes and conduits behind them, deflected by a holo-field that bent a las shot’s trajectory as
easily as it did light. Then, with eye watering shifts in reality, their enemy would slip back into
the visual spectrum and show themselves once again in their true terrifying form.

At the head of the Eldar force was a ghostly figure who moved with an air of authority over all
who followed him. He advanced fearlessly amongst the hail of bullets and las shots, wearing the
same ornate armour Danzk had seen worn by the Eldar warrior in the cavern earlier. But if this
was the same Eldar then he had been completely transformed. There was only one thing Danzk
could think of to compare it to and two words slipped unconsciously from his lips: “Phoenix
Lord”.

[Servitor Remptor – Biologus resource alpha-m2 ... References by subject regarding designation
“Phoenix Lord” pending validation…]

The servitor focused in on the Phoenix Lord’s weapon, streams of data being relayed directly
to Danzk as the machine analysed it. It was a long thin lance that blurred the air as it moved
through it. Following immediately behind and above it was the cadre of the spectral Eldar,
wearing the same long flowing, gossamer robes as their ethereal leader. Phasing in and out of
reality at speed, they were a sight from the nightmares of madmen. With reactions faster than
any man’s, they unleashed their screaming weapons then faded away before reappearing to let
loose another ear-drum piercing volley, taking out more of the hastily built defences and the
men taking cover behind them, before withdrawing into the flame-lit darkness once again.

The Phoenix Lord appeared before a group of twelve heavy-set militia men wielding the huge
hammers and picks they used to break up ore before feeding it to the ever-hungry forge-
machine. They had been joined by Gorn and Throge, the cyber-augmented Ogryns that Tech-
Priest Mydeaus had ‘adapted’ when they had become part of the Inquisitor-lord’s retinue.

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Normally they would stick close to the Tech-Priest, but now that he was encased within the
narrow confines below the forge where they could not go, they had joined the group of militia
men, probably feeling some kind of connection to them because of their similar build.

With lightning speed the ethereal spectre whirled around them, dancing and feinting in elegant
motion as the thug-militia and Ogryns clumsily swung their weapons at nothing but thin air.
Twirling its long blade round, the Phoenix Lord lunged straight at one opponent and then
another, indiscriminately killing them as the molecule-thin edge of the blade sliced through
into their flesh. As quickly as the carnage had begun, it was over. The Phoenix Lord’s parting
gesture before fading away once more was to look straight at the servitor Danzk was watching
it through. Then, raising its lance, it shot a bolt of pure energy at it that completely obliterated
Danzk’s means of observation.

The echoing sound of weapons fire coming from a nearby tunnel caught Danzk’s attention before
he’d had a chance to recover from the violent break in his connection with the servitor. Two
more of his retinue, Hastu and his ever present compatriot-in-arms Plecidus, sped out of one of
the side tunnels near Danzk’s downed Chimera, their Tauros Venator driven at full speed as they
tried desperately to gain some distance from their pursuers. Hastu was driving whilst Plecidus
was behind him, clinging to the now backwards facing multi-laser as he fired at more of the
spectral Eldar warriors closing in behind them. Danzk focused on Plecidus and blinked.

[Plecidus - classified Novus Tarnam/Daidalus Minor] The flickering lights and heat of the forge
chamber were once again replaced by gloom as the Tauros sped back into the tunnels. It was
only the Venator’s speed and Hastu’s skill at its controls that had kept them alive so far. Again
Hastu abruptly weaved the vehicle, feinting for the left tunnel at an approaching junction and
then immediately swerving at the final moment into the right hand one. There was an explosion
in the other tunnel behind them as the Eldar fired their weapons in anticipation, thinking they
would turn left. Plecidus jeered mockingly at their Eldar pursuers, using a gesture not found in
any copy of the Tactica Imperialis, but universally understood.

A burst of chatter broke through on the vox network. Hastu was talking again to Mydeaus the
Tech-Priest. They had been arguing about something for the last few minutes. It sounded as if
they were hatching a plan. The conversation ended abruptly with Hastu swinging the Venator
round wildly to face it in the opposite direction, the tunnel barely wide enough to accommodate
the near-suicidal manoeuvre. Plecidus hung on for dear life, his whitened knuckles gripping the
multi-laser tightly.

The Venator jinked left and started to curve round a much wider tunnel as it climbed up through
the complex. Occasionally, Plecidus glimpsed through access points in the rock face of the forge
chamber on the other side as the Tauros drove endlessly round and upwards; Hastu all the time
shouting at Mydeaus through his vox-bead. There appeared to be some disagreement about a
plan, but the time to discuss it had run out. After launching another volley of las fire at the still
pursuing Eldar behind them, Plecidus risked a look back over his shoulder; the wide gaping maw
of an entrance leading back into forge chamber was rapidly approaching.

Like a shot from a cannon, Hastu launched the speeding Venator out of the tunnel. Danzk,
watching through Plecidus’ eyes, felt a gut-twisting sense of falling as it soared through the
air on a trajectory high above the forge machine, the ground far below them. Visible once
more as they prepared to fire, the Eldar spectres shot out of the tunnel and orientated their
bodies downwards to follow the rapidly descending vehicle. Plecidus flinched instinctively as
a huge dark shadow passed directly over him. He looked up again just as the long arm of one
of the cranes on top of the forge swung over him. The two Eldar didn’t stand a chance as they

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 Elysian Tauros Rapid Assault Vehicle in standard configuration. Vehicles such as this saw
extensive use by the Elysian 226th Drop Troop Regiment during their operations on Betalis III,
seeing action in the Tormus Delta. The spear and sunburst iconography of Elysia is featured on
this vehicle’s armour plating.

Elysian Tauros ‘Venator’. This variant is equipped with lascannon

and hunter-killer missiles as a dedicated tank destroyer.

67
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impacted straight into the solid metal wall of the crane arm, their shattered bodies rebounding
against the rock face before dropping like rag dolls lifeless to the ground.

Plecidus began to cheer and then abruptly stopped when he remembered again where he was.
The Venator was still soaring through the air, its momentum carrying it over the roof of the
forge below, the engine being gunned by Hastu who himself was screaming at the top of his
lungs. The driver sounded as if he was enjoying the ride of his life. There was a sudden jolt and
the Venator landed upon what looked like a hastily erected metal platform with a massive clang.
Hastu hit the brakes and swerved to prevent the vehicle going off the rapidly approaching edge
of the platform. Plecidus screwed his eyes shut as Hastu wrestled the sliding Venator to a halt,
the two Guardsmen cheering and congratulating each other on their survival as they clambered
out of the stationary vehicle, relieved to somehow still be alive.

The haunting scream of the Spectres’ weaponry sliced through their all too premature
celebrations, the make-shift platform exploding apart in a blast of brilliant light. The last thing
Inquisitor-lord Danzk saw through Plecidus’ eyes was the Eldar Phoenix Lord rising gracefully
above the lip of the roof’s edge, firing shot after shot after shot at them, obliterating all traces
of the platform and the Venator, the wreckage tumbling over the roof before dropping off the
other side.

Danzk blinked, the connection with Plecidus entirely lost. Only Mydeaus was left now, still
buried deep within the forge machine’s core. Danzk immediately linked with him. Mydeaus was
now all that stood between the Eldar and their way out of the sealed chamber. As the link
formed, his mind was instantly flooded by datascript and images from the hundreds of individual
sensors located throughout the forge machine. The Inquisitor-lord had to fight with all his failing
strength not to lose himself amongst the almost overwhelming flood of data, but it was too much
for him and all he could do to not go insane was allow his consciousness to merge with that of
Mydeaus’. For the briefest of moments in the background of Mydeaus’ mind was the presence of
another, the machine spirit of the forge, and Danzk could feel them both seething with fury at
the deaths of Hastu and Plecidus.

The colossal forge machine erupted into life. Its four cranes swung themselves at the Phoenix
Lord, who instantly returned fire, flying swiftly backwards out of reach of the gigantic claws and
hooks which lashed out at it. The Eldar warrior flipped over in one graceful motion and sped
head-long down the side of the forge. Mydeaus was not about to let it escape though. Machinery
and equipment exploded into its path as the Phoenix Lord spun round and soared through the
forge’s open sides, firing into the innards of the Mydeaus-possessed behemoth. In return the
Tech-Priest created weapons of his own and the forge’s power cables uncoupled from their
connections and spat sparks at suddenly ruptured gas pipes, sending searing walls of fire into the
Phoenix Lord’s path.

Danzk was astounded at the abilities of the Tech-Priest. Using his own augments Danzk
could only keep track of one or maybe two feeds at a time but here was Mydeaus effortlessly
controlling hundreds of the forge’s systems as the Phoenix Lord, now joined by its brethren,
darted and dived amongst the forge machine’s metal viscera. The chase continued through the
structure, the Eldar flying through the open platforms and dodging avalanches of metal before
shooting out the side, arcing over the top and disappearing back in through the other side again.

Danzk suddenly realised what they were doing: they were searching for the dozens of men they
believed were controlling the actions of the goliath. But what they did not know was that there
was only one man in there. More machine than flesh, he was connected to the heart of the forge’s
systems, intent on delivering their destruction.

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The Inquisitor-lord then sensed, rather than felt, a slight movement near his own body. Mustering
his strength, he regained some semblance of mental control and severed the link with Mydeaus.

Above him stood the Craftworld Mymeara Farseer; it was looking down at him. Although its face
was hidden behind the emotionless mask of its helm, Danzk knew he was being studied intently.
Then, before he could even think of stopping it, the leader of the Eldar war host reached down
and placed a hand upon the side of his head. The old man’s already battered body involuntarily
spasmed and arched as the Farseer connected psychically with him and images of the last few
weeks began to flash through Danzk’s mind.

First he saw himself sitting in his quarters reading the briefing on events in the Betalis system
prior to his arrival there. Then he saw again the destruction of Battle Group Empteda as the
armies clashed on the Alacian Plains below the burning Bregan Glacier. The Farseer searched
through all his recent memories so fast that Danzk screamed out in agony as he felt his mind
begin to burn. But then his memories of the last few days and weeks were joined with others,
memories that were completely alien to him and decades, perhaps even centuries old. Whether
they were intentionally exchanged or unavoidably transferred as the two minds merged, the Eldar
Farseer’s own memories flowed and swirled with Danzk’s own so seamlessly that the Inquisitor-
lord soon grew unsure of where his mind ended and the Farseer’s began.

As he was swept along upon the Farseer’s rapidly flowing consciousness, he caught the briefest
fragment of a memory. He was looking, or rather the Farseer was, down onto a vast, ornately
decorated hall. Within its bounds marched an Eldar host of massive proportions headed for the
warp portal at its far end, all arrayed in Mymeara’s panoply of war. The Inquisitor-lord felt for
an instant the same sense of thrill and anticipation he himself had experienced at the start of his
service to the Emperor. This must have been an early event in the Farseer’s life, perhaps even
his first battle as a warrior, long before he became the Eldar Craftworld’s leader.

The next fragment of memory was a scene of complete contrast. The young Eldar warrior was
firing from the top of a ridge, the barrel of his shuriken catapult rapidly discharging minuscule
razor-thin discs, barely visible even to the Eldar warrior’s keen eyesight. They were shredding
the flesh of a mob of snarling Orks that were charging headlong at him. The memory was so
intense that the Inquisitor-lord felt the same gut-wrenching disgust the young warrior had at
its attackers, their stench and the sight of the spittle drooling from fanged maws turning his
stomach. With this memory though the sense of anticipation he had felt before was replaced by
a feeling of such intensity that the Inquisitor-lord struggled to make sense of it. It felt as if the
young Farseer was barely in control of himself, as if some inner conflict were raging within him
which, if he could not bring it under control, he would lose himself to completely.

The scenes of devastation were replaced by a much more terrifying aspect. The warrior was now
staring in awe at a massive daemon-like Eldar that was standing victorious over the corpse of
the Ork horde’s huge warlord. Its body was wreathed in flame as if its blood vessels flowed with
red-hot magma and its flesh was made from molten iron. The young Farseer had watched as it
had raised its arms in triumph and Danzk heard its soul-piercing victory cry as the remnants
of the Ork horde fled before it. The Inquisitor-lord sensed great pride in that moment but also
undeniable sadness. The victory had been hard won by the Eldar of the Mymeara Craftworld and
paid for dearly with the lives of so many of the young warrior’s kin.

The Farseer’s memories came thick and fast, as if some barrier which had been holding them
back had been dropped. Danzk was overwhelmed as the Farseer’s life became little more than
a blur of the many battles the warrior had fought in and things he had seen and experienced.

Malko [Hexical j5]

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Overlapping them all consistently was that same growing sensation of sadness regardless of
whether the battles were won or lost. Each defeat and each victory meant the loss of yet more
of the Farseer’s Craftworld kin and Danzk began to feel the grief gnawing away at him too
until it threatened to break his mind completely.

With each decade the Farseer aged, the halls of the Craftworld had grown quieter as fewer
warriors returned from war alive or others simply grew too old and died. The stream of
thoughts then shifted slightly, and Danzk realised that he was seeing more recent events from
the Farseer’s perspective.

First there was what the Inquisitor-lord could only think of as hope. The young warrior, now
the ancient Eldar Farseer, was standing within a chamber on his Craftworld. On an altar at its
heart was a large gem that was glowing faintly, something Danzk sensed had not happened for
a long while during the Farseer’s lifetime. Then he realised he was watching the Mymearan
host preparing for the battle on Betalis III. The vast hall he had seen before filled with Eldar
warriors now contained an army only one tenth of what it had been and soon it was replaced
with a constant stream of troops and vessels returning back through the portal carrying
their dead and wounded as the Farseer watched from where he had first stood so many
centuries before.

Then the Farseer was looking down from inside an Eldar Falcon, watching as it soared across
the Alacian Plains and past the fighting at the entrance to the Aresta IV mines, the battle
there and across the rest of the eastern continent merely a diversion to allow the Farseer and
his cadre to reach the mines and recover the remains of the Phoenix Lord. The Inquisitor-lord
gasped desperately for breath; he could barely make sense any more of what he was seeing.

He felt the pressure increase upon his mind and there was a sudden flash of light as he
saw, through the Farseer’s eyes, the young Eldar warrior transform into the Phoenix Lord
and, joined by its entourage of Shadow Spectres, they flew out of the cavern and into the
darkness of the mines. There Danzk knew they would destroy everyone – the militia men, the
Guardsmen and even his own retinue. He would have to watch all of them die again. Taron in
his fall from the ledge, the Ogryns Gorn and Throge in their battle against the Phoenix Lord,
Hastu and Plecidus on top of the great forge itself and even, Danzk felt the tiniest of mental
pushes, Mydeaus still hidden deep within the heart of the colossal forge. But the Tech-Priest
was not dead yet. Danzk’s mind railed and he desperately tried to bury that thought but knew
it was too late. The Farseer had tricked him into revealing what it had been searching for.

The flashing stream of memories abruptly stopped and Danzk felt the presence of the Eldar
Farseer retreat from his mind, but not before he sensed it touch upon another, the Phoenix
Lord’s. The final thought he’d provided was that of Mydeaus cocooned deep within the core of
the forge machine. The Farseer had found what the Phoenix Lord was pulling the forge apart
one piece at a time for.

[Servitor Remptor – Biologus resource alpha-m2 …Evidence of unsanctioned heretical psychic

link between subject and xenos…]

Now free of the Farseer’s mental assault, Danzk tried to reconnect with Mydeaus in an
attempt to warn him of the impending danger he was in. Whether Mydeaus was too focused on
destroying the Phoenix Lord or the mental link had been damaged by the Farseer, Danzk could
no longer transmit anything to the Tech-Priest. It was now purely one way and all Danzk could
do was watch Mydeaus’ destruction.

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Remptor [alpha-m2]

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The Phoenix Lord and his followers had already vacated the internal areas of the massive
superstructure and were up on its roof, systematically destroying the forge-creature’s main means
of attack, its cranes. First one fell then another, Mydeaus screaming as he shared each moment of
the great mechanical leviathan’s pain. Severed from their moorings by the devastating weapons of
what Danzk now came to think of as Shadow Spectres, the massive twisted metal arms crashed to
the floor.

The roof now clear of the flailing limbs, four of the Shadow Spectres swooped upwards into the
heavens of the chamber. As they hovered directly above the centre of the forge, the Phoenix
Lord joined his cadre and was the first to fire its unearthly weapon down towards the heart of
the machine-giant. The bright white energy of the Phoenix Lord’s lance broke through the metal
detritus scattered on the roof and punched a hole down into the next levels. The energy then
dissipated along the structure, decreasing in intensity as it earthed along the metal spars.

Undaunted, the Phoenix Lord continued firing. Then the first of the Shadow Spectres fired at
exactly the same point, the beam flowing into that of its twin. Another Shadow Spectre joined
in and then another; each time the coruscating beam extending downwards a few more levels
towards the Tech-Priest’s position. The last Shadow Spectre joined his weapon’s power with the
rest of the cadre’s, and the balance was tipped. The beam of blinding white light sliced through
the rest of the forge and straight down into the heart of its core.

Massive explosions ripped through the forge as its key systems were terminally damaged.
Throughout the chamber, one by one, the dozens of enormous crucibles of boiling ore crashed
down as the claws holding them in place unlocked, the power controlling them failing. Their
contents cascaded through the chamber, drowning everything in their path in a tidal wave of
red-hot molten metal before flowing down into the bowels of the forge below.

The connection severed abruptly. Mydeaus was undoubtedly dead. The seething molten ore and
discharge from the Eldar’s energy weapons reaching him simultaneously. As the last moments
of Danzk’s life faded away too, off in the distance he heard the unmistakable hiss as the doors
sealing off the forge from the rest of Betalis III began to open. The Eldar of the Mymeara
Craftworld had won.

Testimony of Inquisitor-lord Hestaphus Emperator Danzk – extracted post mortem via augmetic
visual implants. Estimated 78% accuracy due to injuries sustained.

The subject has been judged guilty of 172 crimes against the Emperor and his blessed citizens,
including failure to retain xenos artefacts for further examination.

Ref file Ev-189c/134.bn. The mortal remains of the heretic have been sentenced to 2,533
consecutive years’ service in the Archival Cremea Servitor Corps – restricted to level B3
enhancement only.

May the Emperor have mercy on his soul.

Malko [Hexical j5]

Remptor [alpha-m2]

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