Battle for K'pyin orbital 3

A.N. free use is limited time  if wishing to contribute please contact me i am more than likely to accept... Author has little knowledge of Eldar and has very little talent creating imperial forces anyone willing to fill the rolls of the eldar or imperial navy is welcome
Following shortly after the campaign for the K'pyin system had ended, the battle for K'pyin orbital three is a turning mark in the history of the Ca'tu sector marking the first major battle to take place before the crusade for the system had purged it of the major powers threatening the imperial worlds.
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==From victory on K'pyin==
The battle for K'pyin orbital 3, otherwise known as both the battle of shattered moon (locally) and the awakening or the Tan'Sobkh dynasty, followed immidiately on the coattails of imperial victory against the forces of both the Tyranid splinter fleet (error records lost please replace) and the Orkoid's of Waaagh squiqmooth. Imperial victory over these forces would cause the tyranid fleet to disperse seeking other easier prey and loosing a good amount of it's bio-mass, the Ork waaagh following the victory of imperial forces found itself dispersed requiring a entire five years before the Orks would try any major campaigns in the sector.
However what would be the greatest event taken from the Imperial victory would not be these but the discovery of Eldar involvement in the xenos offensives against mankind. Using the confusion of two separate enemies of man fighting each-other on one of the emperor's worlds, the Eldar war-host had uncovered a small Necron facility taking whatever they had come for and disappearing before the sacrifice of six Winter Knights Space Marines could be repaid in the foul Xenos blood. However it is believed that it was this uncovering which would lead the Eldar and ultimately the entire Ca'tu sector to face the threat of a Necron fleet the likes of which has scarcely been encountered by any species.
==Gathering fleets==
Imperial forces in the K'pyin system were now in the process of purging any remaining tyranid and Orkish strongholds still active when the battleship 'Blessings of the machine' ,a Mechanicus vessal which had joined with the fleet to remove the threats to the machine cult's several local research facilities as the campaign on K'pyin ragged, received a signal from a deep space station labeled as the K'pyin orbital three Adeptus Mechanicus outpost.  A facility far outside the system researching the extremely distant orbit of a small planetoid which has, despite being outside the local star's gravity field, remained in geosynchronous orbit with K'pyin since before man has colonized the Ca'tu sector. The signal contained a single simple message, 'The Eldar have come.'  Immediately the captain of the 'Blessings of the machine' demanded that the Imperial navy take action even as his own ship accelerated toward the beleaguered facility.
Admeral %&*#(@!#, feeling that he owed the Adeptus Mechanicus vessel a debt of honor after it's own actions during the K'pyin campaign responded in kind taking a task-force consisting of his flag-ship the 'Emperor's Touch'  and thirteen Overlord class cruisers including the 'Blessings by fire', 'Shield of ageus', and 'Titan-hand' along with thirty Lunar-class cruisers and seventy escort class vessels. A force totaling over half the fleet under his command, one which he hoped would keep the Imperial Navy's good standing with the Tech-priests.
Meanwhile in orbit over the distant moon Eldar forces prepared to storm the Mechanicus facility and prepared their fleets weaponry for the task their farseer had brought them to preform.
==Clash with the Eldar==
===Alpha facility skirmish===
It would take the Imperial floatilla nearly half a day before their forces would reach the besieged Techpriests, by the Emperor's blessing alone did the outnumbered, non-combatant techpriests of the outpost survive the violent attacks by the Eldar raiders who invaded their facility seeking to make off with the most holy of cogitators of the Adeptus Mechanicus. By fortune of the design the facility was easily defended, now with a entire fleet of imperial ships racing to defend it, the facility proved beyond the Eldar's grasp. The Eldar only remained long enough for the Imperial fleet to send an opening volly towards their raider ships, and as with the nature of the Eldar they confounded conventional naval understanding by skirting around the volley only remaining long enough to fire their own return volley before retreating. Now with the Orbital facilities secured the might of the Imperium holding the Eldar raiders at bay, the xenos turned their focus to the surface of the moon. Forgotten or overlooked by Adeptus Administratum in records concerning the surface of the moon contained a beta facility one which the Eldar fell upon like like hermagaunt upon meat. This facility would become the focal point of the Imperial forces battle with the Eldar.
===Battle over Beta facility===
With their attempts to claim the treasures of the Alpha facility thwarted the Eldar redirected their efforts to the small beta facility located on the moons surface. forewarned of the Eldar's new target with only enough time send ships to defend the facility the Imperial Admiral found himself hard pressed to defend the two facilities effectively as now the full might of the Eldar fleet made it's presence known. Often nearly the entirety of the force he had sent to secure the sight would be forced back, only the Adeptus Machanicus vessel 'Blessings of the Machine' remaining steadfast as time and time again the raiders would attack from a new quarter forcing the vast majority of imperial vessels sent to withdraw or risk destruction. Whilst these raids wore at the defenders of the Beta facility the Alpha facility defenders found themselves trapped unable to disengage to join their beleaguered brethren or least they lose the alpha facility to the Eldar, and any small force that tried to break off on it's own to reinforce the beta flotilla soon found themselves destroyed. At this time the only solace the Admiral could take was that so far he had only lost 5 Lunar class ships and ten escorts, though the Eldar had by far suffered fewer casualties only having lost two ships in the duration of the engagement.
The truth of these attacks by the Eldar above were also not lost on the Imperials of the fleet. With their guns focused on the Eldar ships above, and only the Skitarii Preatorians allowed to engage on the surface some captains feared that the Beta facility would fall to the Eldar before the space battle would end.
==Lunar Detonation==
It would be a full day latter and immediately before the ninth clash over the Beta facility, a total loss of eight Lunar class ships plus fifteen escorts in exchange for four Eldar ships, that the battle would suddenly change. As the Eldar forces gathered to skim the side of the planetoid striking below the firing arcs of many of the ships broadsides a massive planetquake erupted. Scarcely a minute of the Planetquake had passed before the surface of the moon under the Eldar fleet erupted. Several hundreds of tons of stone flew like a shot out of a cannon into the massed Eldar force, In a single moment more Eldar died by directionless stones than at the advanced guns of the Imperium.  Now with over half their fleet brought to ruin by a wave of stone the Eldar raiders pulled back to regroup their fleet now hanging above the eighteen kilometer wide hole in the planetoid.
At the edge of the explosion the Beta facility and defense floatilla were relatively unharmed losing no ships but suffering immense damage to void shielding on many of the escort vessels. Sensing an opportunity the Imperial Admiral left only a token force of Escorts and a Lunar class to defend the Alpha facility as he rushed the rest of his forces forward to regroup with the Beta flotilla and hopefully catch the Eldar before they could recover from the shock of this fortuitous event. Those in the Beta flotilla ,particularly those who now had a view into the internal structure of the planet, however were only overcome by a sense of foreboding unable as they were to even detect a point where the hole ended and the inside of the world began.
==Eldar defeated==
With the two halves of his fleet slowly converging, Admiral ^&*$#@ knew that it would be several minutes before his fleet could reorganize and bring weapons they knew the Eldar could not so easily evade to bare against the Xeno-raiders. Now was for all intent the riskiest portion of his battle with the Eldar, if the Eldar could reorganize before his fleet got close enough to gun them down then the xeno-filth could skirt his fleet. attacking the Alpha facility or even escaping altogether and attacking elsewhere or simply returning once his own fleet had left. No he needed a certain victory now while he still could.
However the Admiral would not be able to consolidate his forces in time. Already the Eldar fleet had reorganized itself and was pulling away from the planetoid, only to seemingly stop as a new surge of energy came from within. Slowly and with deliberate motion a vessel came out from the eighteen kilometer hole in the moon's crust, it's width leaving scarcely a kilometer on either side. nearly every hand aboard every ship took note of the vessel's massive crescent shape coming to point with a pyramid at the center. A Cairn Tomb-ship had emerged from within the moon, already a fleet of lesser Jackal ships and lumbering Scythe ships followed in it's wake.
With the unknown ships pouring from the chasm in the moon the imperial fleet was momentarily stunned into inaction, this inaction granted the Necron fleet enough of an opening to race ahead and strike at the Eldar vessels. Partial whips and Lightning arcs tore into the battered Eldar fleet. The swift raiders whom once had confounded the imperials, making children of their aged captains, and proving the advanced algorithms of the Mechanicus useless, were now unable to escape their punishment. Living lightning sought out the wraithbone vessels with a thirst for destruction. It took the Necron only seven volleys to break the fleet of the proudest race in the galaxy. soon the remains of the Eldar fleet turned and fled only their Dragonship remaining to fight the Necron fleet giving much needed time to the Eldar so they could escape into the webway. Alone against a fleet many times it's number lead by a vessel a great many times its size the Eldar ship could not last long, however the ship gave a grand showing of itself nevertheless the lone vessel before finally being broken into numberless fragments managed to destroy three of the pursuing Jackal raiders, and prevented the others from giving chase to the Eldar fleet as it silently slipped away...slipped away leaving the Imperials alone to stand against a fleet that now counted one tomb ship, five scythe ships and more than thirty jackal raiders.
==First volleys==
Left to their own devices the Imperial fleet found themselves trapped, bound as they were to the defense of the Adeptus facility the fleet orbited.  Instead of falling back or regrouping as many of them would have preferred to do instead the fleet stood, the Admiral ordered the ships together into a defensive posture while frantically calling to the captain of the 'Blessings of the machine' to see if the evacuation of the beta facility had been completed yet. 
The future of his fleet was decided they would hold. whomever it was that had driven back and destroyed the Eldar fleet only so much was certain they weren't human. It was uncertain how these Xenos had defeated the Eldar but as there had been no doubt in his mind about his fleets eventual defeat of the Eldar so to did the Admiral hold complete faith in his men that they would be able to weather anything these Xeno dared to try and throw at his fleet. As the opposing fleet gathered it's attentions divided by the steady trickle of reinforcements still occasionally emerging from within the gaping wound in the moon below, and the display of imperial might presented before their smaller less numerous ships.
With that the unknown xenos was now identified as the Tan'Sobkh, a name the Admiral had never heard before thus indicating a small and relatively ignorant species whom much have appeared and defeated the Eldar by coincidence a unlikely but often enough reported event. And with the Tan'Sobkh's intention to attempt to foul the blessed ships of the Emperor's Imperial navy stated, the Admiral ordered the first volley fired in full confidence that the Xenos would be crushed by blessed steal and plasma. The Admiral sent another request to be allowed to dispatch forces to assist with the evacuation however, and perhaps most fortuitously his offer was refused.
==closing lines==
When the first volley of the imperial fleet crashed into the Necron fleet shields flared to life for the first time in eons many either do to the weight of the imperial fire or most likely due to millenniums of maintenance by unskilled drones failed, and great sprouts of flame bloomed from the Necron vessels one Jackal class even giving into the will of its attackers and dying in a great plume of ethereal flame. Despite the immense fire that struck the Necron fleet though a great many more ships simply shrugged of their damages. Living metal hulls stitched themselves back together as the vessels they belonged to simply proceeded forward as if completely unaware of the grievous wounds to their structure. Soon recently repaired and well tended void-shields were tested as living lightning crossed the immense distances of space seeking to cause as much damage as possible to the fleet. The damages were immense however the losses few, as the two fleets exchanged fire time and time again until on the tenth exchange the two fleets were in amongst one another. Now in the aria of expertise in which the Imperial navy considers itself second only ever to the Orks the Imperial ships began to unleash fire against the enemy in Ernest. However the Necron never sacrifice a tactical advantage without a plan of their own in place.
==Boarders==
===Necron aboard the 'Emperor's touch'===
Nearly two hours had passed since the two fleets had collided. The Tan'Sobkh now receiving a fresh supply of reinforcing ships began to slowly cycle their heavier (and thus more targeted) Scythe class vessels through the combat allowing their hull time to repair. The Imperial ships while unable to repair as fully or even able to cycle their ships in the same manner as the Xeno counterparts were able to put forward significantly more damage at the 'point-blank' ranges, and as the fourth Scythe-class broke apart under heavy Imperial bombardment before it could retreat back behind the shielding body of the xeno-fleet's flagship the crews of the Imperial ships felt confident that they would be able to wear down the durable vessels and eventually exhaust the the foul aliens repair crews.
It was at the fifth half-hour mark since the two fleet had clashed when the Admiral noticed a slight decline in the rate of fire from the broadside guns of his vessel and noted that the forward torpedo launchers of 'Blessing's of the machine' had gone completely silent. Reaching forward to pick up the vox-caster, so as to encourage the senior armsmen to whip the labor gangs into action, an Alarm rang out across the ship. The one alarm quickly grew into two, two into five, five into thirty...soon the entire port side of the ship was reporting enemy boarders. When the Admiral learned the nature of both the boarding parties aboard his flagship, and their apparent means of entry, glowing holes in the air, he ordered the man who had reported beaten for perjury. However as more of the same report came flooding to the bridge by more and more trusted sources and in locations more and more vital to the ship the reality of the situation struck the Admiral. By now the entire port side of his ship had fallen silent and refused to answer to the enemies advance, the ship's forward most launch tubes also refused to fire despite the demands of the command crew.
Within the halls of the 'Emperor's touch' crew and Armsmen took arms against cold lifeless foes. machines stalked the hallways of the ship marching in tight phalanxes, wielding pike-like weapons which fired bursts of green energy like a slug from a heavier weapon. entire defensive lines would break under just three volleys from these weapons, and the powerful blades allowed the machines to cut men in half if they closed into reach. Indeed it seemed the only way to hold a hall was to set a heavy weapon from the Imperial guard armaments held in the cargo bays at one end and hope it could keep the enemy from crossing close enough to use their strange staves. However this was before the next of the boarders came, with seemingly heavier armor and firing massive guns that threw what seemed like lightning with it's own malicious will, suddenly halls became killing grounds and the living crew of the ship were the only things that seemed able to die.
===Within the 'Blessing's of the machine'===
Within the confines of the vessel 'Blessing's of the machine' the battle was much more frantic and uncertain. The Adeptus Mechanicus aware of the threats posed by Necron warriors, prepared their ship defenses accordingly, in turn though the Necron after the failure of their first wave's infiltration launched boarding parties with full abandon into the vessel instead intending to overwhelm the defenders, over whelm them and prevent them from sending warning to the other ships of the fleet. So the Necron assault upon the mighty Ark Mechanicus class transformed from a careful disabling of the ships weapon batteries to a full battle with entire phalanxes of warriors and immortals throwing themselves against defenses manned by the technologically advanced Skitarii guards of the crew. After the massive Necron force lead by several lords claimed the weapons along the forward prow of the ship they were locked into a stalemate as warriors with weaponry more specifically chosen to pierce the Necron's living Metal and detonate within fought against the specialized weaponry of the Tan'Sobkh Dynasty. Indeed battles that put the heroism entire companies of space marines to shame were fought almost in entire silence as both sides, the calculations of machines directing them, sacrificed themselves for statistical gains over the enemy. Gains which would mean next to nothing as the ship was trapped, locked into half functionality but with a force significantly large and dedicated enough that the Necron could not simply destroy the vessel and move on. the only consolidation for Karr'an'sho's Necron was that the ship had yet to warn it's fellows of the enemy now slipping aboard their ships.
===Holding the Bridge===
With the situation on all decks of the ship becoming more desperate and more of the fleets cruisers reporting enemy boarders. The Admiral was now faced with the reality of the enemy quite possibly destroying his fleet without the greatest of it's ships even able to put forth a fight. It was this moment that the Admiral threw away all pretenses he held before the battle had begun. he immediately ordered all the ships armsmen to rearm taking weapons from stockpiles meant for the Imperial guard regiments the fleet had been desperately trying to transport and supply during the K'pyin campaign less than a week before.
Now armed with meltas, flamers, and plasma weaponry which before the armsmen would not have been permitted to use aboard their own ship, let alone in arias of the ship containing vital circuitry or close to the hull, the armsmen now stood a fighting chance against the invaders. Phalanxes of the metal monsters who had before plowed through them were being bogged down and destroyed from outside their firing range by the armsmen. The heavily armored enemy masters of the lightning guns could be matched by lucky or talented personnel, and nightmares which slipped in and out of reality were pulled into the realm of the living only to be blasted apart.
Despite the powerful boon of the imperial guard weapons, there were simply not enough to go around, and the damage had already been wrought by the enemy. Strike teams of metal men appeared within deep portions of the ship damaging the engines, weapons stockpiles had been sabotaged, and a powerful force lead by a commander, or dark champion of some kind, made a steady practically unstoppable advance towards the bridge of the ship. Now nearly thirty-nine hours since entering entering orbit over this rock, with only the intent of scarring off some Eldar ship, an enemy was knocking on the door of the admiral.
With not only his own life endangered but also the nerve center of the entire ship, and the brain of the fleet brought under threat by the silent invaders, the Admiral ordered all the plasma and melta weapons available to be brought to the defense of the bridge. A full three checkpoints and nearly a hundred men stood between the commander of the machine men who dared come aboard his ship, and what is arguably the most important part of any fleet. They would not be enough...but the Admiral at least held out hope that they would buy the fleet enough time, enough time to finally win or escape to warn the sector.
====effects on the fleet====
With the fleets two Battleships rendered silent and left dead in space it was up to the rest of the beleaguered fleet to withstand the might of the Necron fleet. Yet the numbers of the enemy had already increased drastically since the engagement had begun. the Impberial fleet which was now left defending their two battleships also had five Overlord class cruisers facing boarders had lost another four to enemy fire, and another six Lunar class vessels had also been destroyed. Leaving the escort ships of the fleet to both contend with their own boarders, mere handfuls of the necron but a devastating force nevertheless, and to maintain the pressure upon the enemy to deny them the opportunity to crush the heart of the fleet.
Losses were already staggering at the rate the battle was proceeding nearly half the crew of every ship would be lost before the enemy boarders were done away with, and seeing no end to the tide of enemy reinforcements coming from within the moon it was unlikely they would be able to endure after they had done so.
==The Winter Knights enter==
The Winter Knights Under the command of Champion of the bear, Argustas had joined the K'pyin campaign shortly before the final battles that would take place on the world. The company's large complement of marines had proven themselves instrumental in breaking the xenos hold on the imperial world going so far as to engage the Eldar within a dormant Necron facility, and participating in the death of Warboss Squigmooth. Even as a sizable force of the Imperial fleet left the world to parts unknown the remaining citizens of the world took heart with a battle-barge full of space marines watching over them, this reassuring presence would lead the remaining citizens to rename their first rebuilt city Argustown. Having remained behind to further put down the remaining Tyranid and Orks the company of the bear would not learn of the Eldar raiders battle with the imperial fleet until late into the battle.
Learning that the xeno-filth that had stolen the deaths of five of his own were so close and dedicated to battle with the imperial fleet the Champion of the Bear ordered the company's battle-barge and it's small escort force of six ships to move full speed in order to catch the Eldar by surprise. It would not be the delicate, cowardly Eldar's vessels that would great the battle-barge however. Instead Argustas found that the Eldar had fled long ago, leaving humanity to fend off the Necron they had awakened.
Frantic calls begging the Winter Knights to save them, flooded from the Imperial fleet to the Battle-barge. The fleet flagship the 'Emperor's touch' had been boarded, it's bridge about to fall to the enemy, The 'Blessing's of the Machine' was rendered ineffective in space, and now with two Tomb-ships in it's fleet the Necron had dedicated their own flagship to the melee it's guns threatening to tear apart the fleet around it.
To the Winter Knights their task, though a large and difficult one, was clear. to rescue the 'Emperor's touch' was to save the heart of the fleet, and to destroy the enemy battle-ship was to break the arm of the enemy. The Champion of the Bear divided his marines, half would secure 'Emperor's touch' the other half, lead by himself would destroy the enemy ship from within while the company battle-barge would suppress the rest of the enemy fleet.
===Reclaiming the 'Emperor's touch'===
the full record of the space-marine counter-boarding actions against the Necron can be found in the Littony of the Ca'tu heroes, Captain Argustas the bear savior of the sector -book two in overly praise heavy, blindly faithful yet surprisingly accurate detail
However to understate the importance of the marines actions would be unjust. Aboard the flagship 'Emperor's touch' by the time the hundred and eighteen marines of the Winter Knights Bear company breached the hull and dedicated themselves to the battle the bridge had nearly already fallen. The final checkpoint now held valiantly by over fifty armsmen was hard pressed as enemy warriors whittled down the defenses leaving the brave mariners with little cover and even less reprieve.
The counter-boarding space-marines found themselves hard pressed to advance as quickly as they desired, mobs of the Necron were armed with weapons of great close ranged power, while kill teams armed with Tesla repeaters stalked the halls. A full twelve battle brothers lost their lives before they could reach the nearly exterminated defenders. Motivated by Santiarch Brother-Maltildus the marines descended upon the Necron siege-layers with all the furry and hate of a bear whose cub was threatened. Within moments the Necron force was beset with defeat as even the Necron lord, driving the force ever onwards, when faced with the Santiarch's furious charge collapsed, it's skull receiving critical damage.
The Marines would then divide themselves, having saved the heart and mind of the Imperial fleet, amongst the tasks of safeguarding the bridge, rescuing the ships engines, and seeing the enemy turned into garbage upon the ships guns. their actions that hour would allow the 'Emperor's touch' to rejoin the battle turning it's fire against the enemy in a heartening display for the weary defenders. From that point on the Marines would hold the 'emperor's touch' even against the final surge of the Necron.
===Those within the tomb===
Champion of the Bear, would be a fitting title for Argustas that day as he and his marines forced their way through the Necron vessel. they had boarded with one intent and one only. To see this ship and the power it granted the Necron fleet destroyed. Winter Knights broke through doors that had remained intact for ages uncounted, silenced weapons of the enemy even as they celebrated being used again after so long, Broke bodies that had never known an enemy strong enough to do so.
The Marines would force through odds that even for another chapter would prove troublesome as they continued searching for the ship's core, the heart of the enemy vessel. However the heroic actions of the space-marines would draw eyes that had never seen man-kind before, eyes that judged and weighed our worth by every swing of the chain-sword and bolt unleashed. And if it wasn't for the heroic deeds of the Champion of the Bear himself, the Necron fleet may have still claimed the ultimate victory that day.
===Winter in space===
Throughout the Imperial fleet the presence of the space marine battle barge was felt. It's guns normally used to silence worlds now cracked hulls and and sundered metal. The Necron having never seen a ship of this design before quickly turned their weaponry against the Barge, but with the 'emperor's touch' joining the fight once more the lone tomb-ship could not break the space-marine vessel even with another of it's kind joining it. However the crew of the battle barge knew they would have to act quickly for the advantage they had given the fleet was slowly being consumed by Necron endurance and calculations. If the now emerging third cairn-class vessel could add it's weaponry to the battle before the imperials could claim the victory then the fleet would be as doomed as it was before.
==Frantic final==
With victory within grasp the Winter Knights Bear company lead the rest of the Imperial fleet to press hard against the Necron fleet. Their leadership and actions providing a resolute point for which the rest of the fleet to take heart and strike against the Necron. But the fleets advantage was still tedious, and the masters of the Necron now both were willing to take any action for victory.
===fall of the 'Blessing's of the machine'===
Over the course of the battle, even with the Winter Knights reinforcing the fleet, the 'Blessing's of the machine' remained contested. Necron and Skitarii fought hall by hall and room by room. The ship's sacred engines now were threatened as the Necron forces aboard changed from mere boarders to a full army committed to the deaths of the Tech-priests. What had been a simple action now was a full assault lead by several lords of high position and their personal troops.
Wraiths under Karr'an'sho's command stalked the halls of the vessel, walls and barriers meaning nothing to the ethereal war-machines. As such, when the command from their master came the hall-stalking wraiths found no opposition as they, bypassing all enemies by passing through the hull, found the great ships void-shield generators and destroyed them all. Without shielding, and with only potential enemies aboard, the 'Blessing's of the Machine' was a simple target for the two Cairn-class battleships in Karr'an'sho's command to devastate and within moments the barrage of power from the two crescent ships destroyed the bridge and split the hull spilling the unfortunates inside out to the void of space.
=== Banne'en'sho boards 'Emperor's touch'===
When 'Blessing's of the machine' found it's hull sundered and frame split, the fleet found themselves beset again by Necron Boarders. Only these were not simple teams or surviving remnants of destroyed ships. It was at this point the command codes of Banne'en'sho were broadcast across the fleet. Thousands of Necron teleporting within the confines of the ships turned once familiar halls into nightmare realms. In some ships the only reason for the survival and continued participation in the battle was that the crews chose to hide, loading the ship weapons and firing only when the Necron hunting them were not immediately around.
Aboard the 'Emperor's touch' itself the greatest contingent of the Dark Machines had come, the Necron nearly numbered as many as the crew. At the lead of these was the personal court of Banne'en'sho the highest Overlord currently within the dynasty. At his side were the destroyer lord Kane'ne'sho, and the Cryptek Varn'ra'sho along with a whole retinue of lesser lords. Standing against him were the Winter Knights under the command of Santiarch Maltildus, indeed the two forces clashed in the sacred engine room of the 'Emperor's touch' more than fifty marines drew the line against the Necron hoard. Now both humanity and the cold machines would throw their greatest against one another seeking to claim the 'Emperor's touch' for their own.
===Karr'an'sho's trap===
Within the Necron flagship Argustas lead his men forward, few Necron could slow the progress of the Winter Knights. The knights now stood deep within the vessel passage after passage of Necron remains lay behind them as they emerged into one final chamber a massive throne-room, beyond lay the foul engines which powered the in-human vessel. The throne itself sat empty and only a small guard stood about it, a force that was easily cast down. soon the marines moved forward their objective meager yards away.
Yet such a distance might had well still been kilometers. A Necron lord, cold calculated laughter echoing, came forward. as the shadows of the chamber withered and changed. An army of Wraiths and death-marks coming from the far sides of the hall. the passage the marines had gone through before filling with Necron warriors. A slowly closing Iris stealing the target away. There the Necron lord stood placing itself between the space-marines and the distancing target. Yet in this one moment the machine made one miscalculation. It took the time to boast, it taunted the marines, comparing them to the beasts of the warp, and elaborating on it's own cowardly tactics...a feat which would motivate the Champion of the Bear, Argustas into action. He tackled the Necron as the Iris closed sealing the two alone in the generator chamber, and so the battle between the Space-marine boarders and their would be killers began.
===sacrifice of the 'Tempest'===
As Lord and Champion clashed within the tomb, as Battle-Brother gave his all against invading steel. The 'Tempest' continued to fight in the battle with all the power expected of the battle barge belonging to Bear company. Necron vessels fled the wrath of it's guns and Cairn battleships were forced to weather fire meant to lay low civilizations.
Despite the continued power put forth by the Barge, the vessel was dying. The Initiates and chapter serfs still aboard fought desperately as Necron did all in their power to end the life of the ship. Eventually the ship would die, already weapon-stores were detonating in their stocks, the engines were tested the maximum as thrusters were lost and shields pressured. recognizing the coming end the Battle-brother left behind to captain the vessel did the only thing he could before his ship died. With a single order the marine sent his vessel crashing into the lead Cairn ship, detonating the weapons aboard his own vessel he transformed his ship into a torpedo which crippled the enemy fleet and shook the enemy flagship greatly enough to cause a Necron Lord to stumble giving a champion opening to win the day, a feat which in turn shocked the Necron causing them to eventually flee as their leadership disjointed as it was could no longer agree to fight this battle ad instead found escape preferable.
The battle-barge was the second of the chapter to be lost and would always be a sour blow to the bear company. But to the imperial ##th fleet it's death would be a flash of inspiration for years to come, and a debt to be repaid.
===Necron divide and retreat===
Given a minute chance Argustas defeated the Necron Lord with the use of a melta-bomb the same melta causing critical damage to the Necron tomb-ship. The damage would feed back to the vessel destroying half the systems before it would be repaired. now with an opportunity the Champion of the bear reunited with his men and made a desperate advance towards the boarding torpedoes and escape. Only he and five marines would survive.
Upon 'Emperor's touch Banne'en'sho found even his best hard-pressed to kill the stubborn Winter Knights. Now with the Necron fleet stunned by his arch-rival's sudden defeat and many of it's ships pulling away the Necron Overlord ,still unable to claim command of the full dynasty, enacted his own plans to escape. As suddenly and quietly as they had beset the defenders they left. however not without exacting their terrible toll less than 10% of the ship's original crew survived the battle and a great many Winter Knights lay lifeless in the halls and worse still the survivors would learn of the loss of the 'Tempest' and the deaths of all but six brothers from the enemy flagship.
Within the bridge of 'Emperor's touch' the Admiral relieved to watch the lead Necron ship limp away as the rest of it's fleet withdrew slowly consolidating it's losses, was due for a horrifying sight. entire segments of the moon without warning erupted much like the first, allowing multiple Cairn tomb-ships to escape. Within moments the enemy fleet tripled in size. As the Admiral wavered between calling a retreat or testing the endurance of his men and fighting on the enemy fled into FTL the haze that for a moment obscured the stars disappearing in a moment. However his final count placed the fleet as having over twenty of the main battleship, and nearly a hundred of the cruisers.  Numbers which when combined with the power of those ships, placed the entire sector...perhaps if those numbers grew would place the entire segmentum at risk.
==!ALERT! Inquisitorial authority required to access these files! !ALERT!==
===Processing... processing....authority recognized welcome Inquisitor===
As to better assist with understand the actions of Inquisitor ###### (information redacted), and to assist in your own swift education on the affairs of the Xenos in Ca'tu secor and surrounding sub-sectors we have divided his reports on this battle into three segments the first concerning his battle with the Eldar, the second the Adeptus Mechanicus defence against the Necron invaders, the third concerning the Necron civil war waged in the facility.
====The Imperium holds the Eldar====
The Eldar attack upon Beta facility was a precise operation conducted the aspect warriors of the craftworld. As the ships in orbit proceeded to silence the Alpha facility strike teams below would infiltrate the beta facility killing all within and then destroying the treasure trove of knowledge contained within. Reports from Inquisitor ####### also indicate that the Eldar presence triggered a reaction from the facilities catacombs the dormant machinery activating. The presence of the raiders both a blessing and a curse. Inquisitor ###### with his retinue of twenty armed acolytes combined with a force of nearly forty battle ready combat servators took to the defense of the facility. As the battle above dragged out over the day so to did the combat with the raiders below. Each time the Eldar fleet above struck in the skies over Beta facility so to did the raiders with a fresh wave of attackers.
On the third such exchange the Eldar farseer joined the attackers, giving it's leadership and encouragement to the xeno filth the defenders found the strikes of the war-host attack more precise and damaging. On the sixth surge the energies of the catacombs below the facility exploded. The defenses which long ago had been circumvented by the Adeptus Mechanicus as they together with Ordo Xenos researched the treasure, returned to life and redoubled. the defenders found themselves beset upon from all sides, and if the Skitarii forces had not been able to break the xeno encirclement by the seventh raid then surely all within would have died.
However relief would not come to the Inquisitor and the defenders until the ninth surge of the Eldar when the rapidly increasing activity in the catacomb below reached out to the planetoid itself causing kilometers of stone to explode into the sky and stunning the attacking Eldar.
 
====The Adeptus Mechanicus against the machine====
Following the destruction wrought be the explosion the Adeptus faciltiy found itself in ruin. The Planetshakes, the barrage of several hundred pound boulders and secondary expoasions redesigned the facility. Only the underground Catacomb remained unchanged...Unchanged save for a growing army of Necron warriors now using the Dolman gate to teleport in. To their own credit the Skitarii were as efficient as a well maintained machine could ever hope to be. Sending warning back to 'Blessing's of the machine' and requesting the deliverance of precise numbers of reinforcements and supply, the number they thought to be the most likely to aid them without putting their own vessel's security at risk.
With the Eldar retreating it was left to the imperial defenders to turn the tide of machines coming from within the catacomb below. Strangely enough at the head of this defense was the Eldar farseer. While not commanding the humans nor even aligned with them, the Eldar courageously faced waves of Necron warriors holding the machines back in their underground fortress. For hours on end the Necron were held, powerful weaponry and skill proving to be beyond that of the living metal of the basic Necron.
It would all come for naught, soon new Necron joined the battle, not simple Necron warriors nor Immortals came from the tomb. Now marching ahead of the dark forces where the Tan'Sobkh Lychguards, their Dispersion shields deflecting las-round and bolt alike. As these elite forces advanced they were lead by a fearsome Necron lord. Against such force the Adeptus line buckled. faced with the duel possibilities of losing the treasure-trove of knowledge the Adeptus Mechanicus priests had gathered and losing their lives the Skitarii pressed hard into the enemy hoping against all else that they might stunt the enemy advance. However as the day drew on even the farseer was dragged down by cold mechanical hands and disappeared under the tide of machines lost to the will of it's enemy, while the humans fared little better the enemies endurance persisting well beyond that of the combined flesh and metal of humanities most technological of soldiers. By the time relief came to the fleet above, every skitarii on the planet below had been slain, the surviving tech-priests scattered to the wind or hidden away hoping to not be found even as they would be pulled from their hiding places one after another.
====The enemy against itself====
If a sudden cuepe could be considered organized by the standards of man, the cuepe played out by the necron the most civilized endeavor performed. Both sides of the Necron after thoroughly eliminating any resistance gathered into two groups. On one side, as the imperial holo-footage showed, stood a force of Lychguards with Immortals and Canoptek units. On the other, Necron lords, Crypteks, and various warriors. After a short time with both sides arranging their forces, the first side gathering around the complex's Dolmen Gate, the second arrayed to destroy the first, the leaders of these forces stepped forward each issuing challenge to the other.
After this proceeding both forces engaged in battle. engaging each-other with the full tactical array of battle stratagems within their leaders minds. the first side while comprising many greater warriors of the necron's array of fighters the other was lead by actual lords and had a wider array of soldiers and weaponry at it's disposal. As the day wore on soon only one side remained. The Necron lords finding themselves victorious set about the task they came to complete. Soon the dimensions of the chamber began to change allowing larger and larger weapons of the Dynasty to pass through. Soon the chamber was large enough for several monoliths to pass through as the Lords began evacuating warriors of all kinds through the Dolmen gate. Soon the Necron would swarm though the gate a powerful lord at their lead, as if undergoing some great migration.
==Eye of the storm==
The Fleet returned to K'pyin battered, bruised, under-manned, and in-shock. Men who had known their entire lives serving aboard one ship were suddenly tasked with crewing the vessels that remained, eger and interested they'd make their move only to come aboard to find ships with empty halls and the remaining crew looking as if they were already dead. No more so was the horror they had by fortune missed made apparent than it was for those who came onto the 'Emperor's touch' where these men were welcomed with the task of hunting down the bodies of fallen space-marines and helping the remaining chapter serfs carry the bodies back to awaiting Thunderhawks.
While Argustas gathered his remaining marines, to return to Noskira to both report their victory and horrible losses to Electus Rex. He continplated the final Necron lord he had killed, as of yet he had never faced any xeno as difficult as that machine, and he was glad that he would never need face it again. Meanwhile Brother-Maltildus took stock of what remained of their fallen battle-brothers, of those who had gone aboard the enemy vessel only a dozen bodies had been returned costing the company a total of one-hundred and eleven samples of gene-seed, though without a living Apothicary the bodies would have to be preserved until they could remove the gene-seed on Noskira so the total loss of the chapters most precious resource could not yet be fully counted.
Elsewhere the Admiral contenplated the future of the Ca'tu sector as already reports showed unusual happenings, splinter-fleets of Tyranids changed their estimated paths towards Ca'tu, Orks were already amassing, rebellions doubled in number in the surrounding sectors, and if the fleet he had seen was indication soon not only would the sector but the all the sub-sectors surrounding it would fall into violence unlike what this stretch of space had yet to  ever see.
Category:Necrons
Category:Battles
Category:Imperial Navy