Cleansing of the Imperium's Bane

Cleansing of the Imperium's Bane was a Space Hulk Purge that occurred in the Elysian System, which saved it from certain destruction. Thanks to the combined forces of 4 chapters of Astartes supported by the Crescent Elites Imperial Guard Regiment the Imperium's Bane was destroyed and a large relic Battleship was salvaged from its remains. 
The main reason behind this campaign was to destroy a Space Hulk that entered Segmentum Solar, however, later on the reason evolved to capturing a relic within the Hulk which was presumed to be hidden deep within its structures. The Relic was known as the Map of Vulkan and it was thought to contain information detailing the route to each artifact Vulkan had left as a test for his chapter and therefore a key to the Primach's location.
The "Map of Vulkan", however, turned out to be a lure laid during the end of the Horus Heresy, containing several Daemons of Chaos. within The map was deemed destroyed by the Wardens Cosmic. In truth, however, they kept the artifact for themselves 
==History==
===Prelude===
The entire campaign started with the appearance of a Space Hulk dubbed the "Imperium's Bane" in the far fringes of the Elysian System. Not possessing any knowledge of this Hulk and the treasures within, the Turquoise Protectors hastily mobilized a small strike force from the 10th Scout Company to analyze the Imperium's Bane. 
All that survived was a recording transmitted back to Elysia. The last scout reporting of a mysterious object deemed the "Map of Vulkan", a somewhat intact engine system, and the Hulk was crawling with Tyranids. After investigating this record Turquoise Protectors immediately mobilized all of their chapter and immediately sent word to their allied chapters. 
The Wardens Cosmic, a crusading chapter that was leaving Segmentum Solar after Imperial parades for their newly founded Crusade, intercepted the recording and recognized the glory that could be earned from such a enterprise. After the careful consideration of Warmaster Damollius Cordatanus, the 2nd and 8th companies of Wardens Cosmic were ordered to break from their Crusade Fleet and investigate the Space Hulk 
====Alliance of the Four====
Unlike some of the other allies of the Turquoise Protectors, the Salamanders were stretched thin and unable to send aid, even though these news were of great importance to them. On the other hand, two other chapters caught note of this message. The first one was Blazing Warriors, whom were chasing the Chaos Lord Pugnator that entered the Imperium's Bane and the second was the Green Wolves whom Salamanders contacted as they were their closest successor chapter that could reach the Space Hulk in time. 
As the Wardens Cosmic arrived, the other 2 chapters had already joined Turquoise Protectors, all mobilized to total strength by the order of their respective Chapter Masters, and were surprised to see the arrival of an entirely new chapter. Getting the formalities to a bare minimum, the four Chapter Masters agreed to unify their forces under one assault team to achieve their individual objectives. 
===The Plan===
The plan was centered around the arrival of the Wardens Cosmic, who were granted the position of being the vanguard. According to plan, the Wardens Cosmic dreadnoughts would lead an assault supported by the entire 4th Marauder company of Turquoise Protectors, while the Green Wolves secured the rear and ensured clear egress from the forward operating positions.
The Blazing Warriors would utilize their flamethrowers to sanitize locations where Tyranid infestation proved to be too thick. The Turquoise Protectors chose to coordinate the assault and secure more critical locations in the Space Hulk, diverting their efforts of cleansing on vital areas and key choke-points. The battle to save Elysia had begun.
===The First Phase===
The Wardens Cosmic successfully secured several landing zones around the massive Space Hulk and almost immediately began their assault to cleanse the many enemies of the Imperiun that haunted the vessel.
The first phase was a total success; However, before the remaining forces could land, an unknown field surrounded the Space Hulk and trapped the entire strike force inside. At that same moment, the Thousand Sons and the Emperor's Children made their grand appearance on the Space Hulk.
Led by Lord Pugnator, Seed of Rot, Death Guard forces utilized the Nurgle's Rot on the bulk of the genestealer horde, who were on one of the larger bridges. The result was a chaotic genestealer army ready to do Lord Pugnator's bidding. Thousand Sons sorcerers, on the other hand, powered the barrier while the Emperors Children ferociously attacked the assault team.
Forces of Turquoise Protectors and Green Wolves outside ferociously bombarded the barrier, but it was to no avail. They deemed it very possible the forces that where inside would be completely obliterated. The librarians tried desperately to deactivate the barrier; however, a great psychic energy destroyed their entire hopes as they all knew who that psychic presence was. The Chaos Sorcerer Laimernian had revealed himself, conducting a massive chaotic ritual to protect the barrier separating the assault group from the rest of the force.
Unbeknownst to even the Wardens Cosmic amongst the Strike team, however, they were being led by the Lord-Warden himself, Caldisias Virircus the dreaded leader of Black Wardens; An exorcised group of Wardens Cosmic devoted to fighting Chaos wherever it may appear. The Astartes of the strike team were ordered to hunker down and fortify their positions. The massacre planned by the forces of Chaos, while still effective, did not live up to their expectations as the Astartes began overpowering the assaults of their traitorous brethren.
====The Crescent Fleet Appears====
The arrival of the Space Hulk was received by Lune Crackham quite early on and he was already busy securing political support when the Turquoise Protectors sent calls for aid. Finally securing the necessary political approval for deployment of his regiment, Lune was en route to Elysia with a hastily assembled, a very rag-tag fleet of the Imperial Navy, dubbed the "Crescent Task Force".
The Fleet was under the command of Captain Draconus, an old associate of Lune as well as a decorated Captain of the Imperial Navy who used his political clout to secure permission for this troop transfer. In addition, the rogue trader known as "Aurelios" also lent Lune his mercenaries. This particular person is not known by many but his influence spans all over the Imperium and he is usually known as a coordinator, managing assets and fleets instead of fighting on the front lines. A great ally of Lune Crackham, he has nonetheless gone to great lengths to maintain his anonymity and made sure that his identity remains unknown to all but a select few.
Arriving at the scene just as the trap was closed, Lune's arrival somewhat surprised Laimernian, but he wrote it away as one more nuisance. Sensing his meager presence, he decided to learn this new enemy. Attacking Lune's mind, he was puzzled to see that Lune, a mere Colonel of the Imperial Guard, actually managed to resist his psychic assaults.
Busy maintaining the barrier and coordinating his sorcerers, Laimernian realized that he would be unable to seize Lune's mind as long as he focused on the colossal barrier that shielded an entire space hulk. Realizing that he had underestimated the mortal, he focused his attention back to the matter at hand, while still craving for more information. 
Glimpses of information he saw while he was infiltrating Lune's mind showed him the greatest weakness of his adversary. Miri, without a single word, fell to the ground, having fallen to Laimernian's influence right after the Sorcerer seized her mind. Laimernian searched the Mind of the great apothecary and learned all he could about the Acting Commander. Deeply intrigued by Lune's survival from "The Artifact", he decided to use a different strategy and finally came to the conclusion that it was best to imprison the Acting Commander and acquire the knowledge he wanted by any means necessary.
===The Barrier Broken===
Lowering the barrier, he had placed, Laimernian plotted to lure the Crackham siblings to his hands. While he ordered the Death Guard and Emperor's Children to exterminate the arriving Space Marines; albeit failing to realize how badly the combined Chaos forces had been exhausted. He and his Thousand Sons would open the so called "map" and capture Lune Crackham with its trap. This however came into conflict with Lord Pugnator's plans, who was in favor of destroying the Green Wolves as per his agreement with Laimernian.
Minutes after their arrival, The Crescent Elites were added immediately to the defensive plan. Their small fleet would prevent the enemy from escaping while their soldiers would garrison the already captured areas, acting as guards and supplying the advancing team with ammunition and fodder for the assault waves against the forces of Chaos.
===The Offensive Resumes===
The strike team, mostly intact despite the horrendous trap it beset had apon them. The strike team consisting of the Wardens Cosmic and Blazing Warriors regrouped at the breach zone and were notified of the new plan set about by the Turquoise Protectors, however, they directly clashed with Caldisias Viricus's plan of actions. The initial strike force, now fervently loyal to Caldisias and bolstered by reinforcements, came up with their own plan and a compromise was reached upon. The strike team, now consisting of the Wardens Cosmic and Blazing Warriors, bolstered by the arrival of the Wardens Cosmic allied World Enders from the Ideumim Crusade fleet alongside Lune's Crescent Elites; Designated the "Spear," continued their push as Caldisias had planned.
On the other hand, the cleanup team consisting of Turquoise Protectors and Green Wolves, designated the "Hilt," defended the positions behind the Spearhead to progress unimpeded by threats from their rear. Turquoise Protectors, renaming their command team the "Brain Trust", also set up a command center within the Space Hulk and Kür-Shad assigned one Brother-Protector to every squad in the "Hilt" to better coordinate the assault. The Crescent Elites attached to the "Hilt" quickly secured and made a watch schedule to defend their positions better and, alongside Aurelios' mercenaries, deployed over 35 Shells to secure the positions cleared by the Adeptus Astartes. An uneventful job, it still saved the Astartes great time and put the soldiers of the regiment to some good use.
A shell also discovered a secret arms depot and the 2nd Termination Company of Turquoise Protectors successfully secured the path to it. The shell also discovered a trove of pre-heresy heavy armor in a nearby depot and the shell that found the depot was granted the right to wear them by Lune Crackham, thus completely donning the doomed shell with this rare armor. The shell was renamed the "Crescent Bodyguard" and tasked with guarding Lune Crackham and the command squad of The Crescent Elites. Ultimately, his shell would be completely wiped out during the conflict.
====The Quadruple Alliance Breaks====
The Cleansing was progressing, even as the leaders of the Quadruple Alliance continued quarreling over the best route of action for continuing the Cleansing. However, Laimernian, now no longer focusing on the ritual that trapped the Astartes, was gaining much momentum within Lune's mind, feeding the Colonel thoughts to assault the main bridge and thus, walk into the hands of the Thousand Sons. Lune was a mere mortal, and nothing compared to Laimernian, yet progress was slower than Laimernian had initially planned.
This curious mortal was making Laimernian pay for every inch of ground he was seizing in his mind, slightly delaying the process. Laimernian finally decided that Lune would follow the mission and if the objective was within Laimernian's palm, he would score two birds with a single stone. He realized that the mortal would need a reason to arrive at the bridge, which meant Laimernian would focus on the actual objective to drive Lune towards him. Therefore, he decided to manipulate those around the Colonel instead, in order to cause mass confusion amongst the Crescent Elites and ultimately made the Quadruple Alliance split due to rising tensions. His brilliant strategy worked, causing mass paranoia among the Crescent Elites and the Turquoise Protectors. 
Finally, the Quadruple Alliance was officially dissolved when the Wardens Cosmic, undeterred from completing their initial objective of destroying the space hulk altogether, refused to assault on the bridge and instead focused on the purge with their allies the World Enders in tow. The Blazing Warriors, who intended to secure the Map of Vulkan, decided to cast their lot with the Wardens Cosmic as they believed that scouring through the Space Hulk would help them locate the Map of Vulkan easier. Green Wolves, dead focused on getting Pugnator joined the Turquoise Protectors while the Turquoise Protectors themselves were more focused on Laimernian and stopping the space hulk instead of destroying it and so decided to support the Green Wolves with one half by assaulting on the bridge while the other half would secure the engine room and stop the space hulk.
====Lune's Suicide Mission====
The Crescent Elites were in a very odd and yet quite precarious situation. While some agreed that they were vital in securing the cleaned positions, some within the Astartes were pressing them to leave. Lune, however, exhausted from Laimernian's constant assaults, decided to press on. Finally, using his favors with the Turquoise Protectors, he was able to maintain his position among the newly formed alliance leadership. They finally agreed on a non-intervention policy with each other as well as a divided strategy; the Green Wolves maintained their strong desire to assault the bridge while the Turquoise Protectors would focus on the engine room. Lune, at the personal behest of the Lord-Protector Kür-Shad, was included as a part of the assault on the bridge. 
However, fearing for the safety of his sister, Lune specifically ordered Miri to be kept under tight guard and be transferred to the fleet in orbit if needed. He tasked the Crescent Bodyguard to complete this vital mission and departed with the rest of the main force even though Miri seriously protested this action. She was angry about Lune's decision, but his brother sure knew how to convince people, so she had little to no support from the rest of the regiment. As a result, she decided to channel her hatred to improving her work instead, and immediately began her efforts to help the wounded. 
The second attack force successfully captured the engine room but reported that the forces of chaos had already abandoned the location and transferred the control of the engines to the main bridge instead. Sabotaged and tainted by tech-heresy, there was little the Engine Room could do to prevent the collision. The strike at the bridge now meant life or death for Elysia itself. However, a portion of every chapter, especially that of the initial strike force that got trapped with the Wardens Cosmic, favored the destructive approach of the Wardens now and, in order to conserve the general effort and not to devolve into an all-out civil war, these Astartes were granted permission to join the destruction force. 
The scouts Lune sent also reported that the map was taken to the main bridge, however, this secret relocation was not known by Laimernian, since Lord Pugnator did this change covertly and at the last minute in order to get his chance and betray Laimernian by using the map on the Green Wolves instead. This revelation of the Map's true location alerted the Blazing Warriors as most of them abandoned or postponed their initial desire to scour the space hulk and launched a surprise assault on the main bridge. The attackers couldn't delay as they both risked the destruction of the map and that of Elysia at the same time. As they rushed to the main bridge, Laimernian's laughter could be heard in Lune's ears.
=== A Bridge Destroyed ===
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===Endgame===
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===Map of Vulkan===
In conjunction with the assault on the bridge, forces under the command of Lord-Warden Viricus continued their press into the bowels of the Space Hulk in search of the reactor core. 
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=== Aftermath ===
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== The Repairs ==
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=== Assistance From Salamanders ===
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== Trivia ==
* "One dies, a thousand rises!" is a famous quote used by the Turkish Armed Forces.
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Category:History