Taskforce Onyx History Act Two

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+++CLEARANCE: Cobalt+++

+++DATE: Error: [Warp Transit]+++

+++RED NN. 468673-5+++

+++BY: Lord Inquisitor Sangfroid, Baine Amihan+++

+++SUBJECT: Renegade Warband, Astartes, Threat Uncertain+++

<ACCESS GRANTED>

"*Extracts from: ‘10,000 Swords, and other little known Expeditions’, by Eepious Pigeonwright.*"
—A little dry, but it'll get the job done: Comment, Arachus.

## Sardularis Xenocides

### **Location**

Sardularis, Ultima Segmentum Galactic North

# Act 2 (842-848.M30)

"*Bathed in the deaths of millions, guilty and innocent, they would be initiated and crown themselves the Kings of their Story.*"
—Ascribed to Remembrancer Genevisuse Pye.
The Expedition arrived at a number of frontier systems falling to aggressive invasions by a Xenos pirate race known as the Cysukar. The Escretan systems were the last vestige of the Rogue Trader’s attempt to colonise these territories, what was intended to be a springboard into the deeper reach of the Ghoul Stars, and the last bastion of the Imperium here. Instead they had found only death at the hands of vile and impertinent xenos. The Taskforce set about their work; These Cysukar were pushed back in quick order and the frontier worlds were stabilised. With their cartography records, and swiftly dispatched scouting sorties, the Taskforce mapped out three ‘Sub-Dominions’ of their target; Known as the Kythros Dominions. Further to this there was an independent human faction that had remained undiscovered in the earlier excursion, known as the Duploi Regency, and another Xenos race that was independent of the Dominions and Cysukar, known as the Ysar’Lurii. The Cysukar were themselves no ally of the Kythros Dominions, and therefore the Taskforce’s arrival to this sector of space remained unnoticed. Each Sub-Dominion contained between one and several systems, each supporting a number of planets or void facilities. They were known as the Asch'Theran, Eolosera & Magyra; The Magyra were currently at war with the Duploi in isolation. It was surmised at the time that if the Dominions traded and cooperated in their infrastructure they did not necessarily coordinate in war.

## Opening Conflicts, the Cysukar

"*‘They look like they are screaming, they are always screaming, but they are not making any noise. Their eyes are hollow, their skulls empty. Throne, won’t they speak? Won’t they think at all? The silence. It is suffocating.’*"
—A sanctioned Psyker’s babble, after prolonged combat against the Cysukar.
In quick order the Expedition secured a Non-Aggression pact with the Regency to secure their border and then led a purging operation against the asteroid fields that were home to the Cysukar. These Xenos were numerous, but had poor technology and strategies; They appeared to be a manic, near animalistic, entity. Their technology and even biology being a patchwork of others scavenged into working proxies, there was no individuality to them but perhaps some basic gestalt intelligence. There was no pleasure to be had in fighting and destroying them, anymore than defeating a virus. Within months it was done, with the frontier worlds anchoring their backs the Expedition was free to engage the Eolosera Dominion.

## Dominion Alpha Xenocide (842-846.M30)

### Eolosera

"*’Coils are hot and primed.’
’You may fire when ready.’
’Two away, releasing coolant!’
’Impact in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Confirmed hit!’
’The target shattered?’
’The pattern is too linear, and look they’re moving towards us.’
’How long until they reach us?’
’Thirty minutes, sir.’
’Scramble the alert teams, get our void craft ready to deploy. Have the reserve teams ready for the xenos arrival.’
’Sir! We have projectiles approaching at relativistic speeds, low mass!’
’Void shields up, pattern Alpha Primus! Get our point defense systems online, immediately!’
’Impact in two minutes’*"
—Bridge Transit, Destroyer ‘Exodus’.
The Dominions of this Xenos race was an array of Void Cities, giant and beautiful stations suspended around Gas Giants. While looking spindly, and indeed the race as a whole was fragile, they were deadly. Swarms of disposable escorts supported powerful dreadnoughts and carriers. Within the ships the Skeletal like Eolosera wielded deadly needle weapons and monomolecular blades. Several overconfident commanders suffered dreadful casualties against the deadly weaponry, especially in the void; Where the Eolosera were the most powerful. While the first of the two systems was a swift flashpoint conflict, the second would be drawn out. Unbeknownst to the Expedition Commanders, the normally Nomadic species had their home fleet gathered in this system, they had massive numbers but would be massacred still while in their flotilla. One portion assaulted the Expedition directly to buy time, while the other evacuated their stations and docks. The flanking efforts of the Taskforce magnified the Imperials' damage, but Xenaphi ordered that they rotate their ships out of the battles; As they quickly were worn down and damaged. The Eolosera would prove to be a continuous thorn during the Kythros Xenocides, in reflection Xenaphi considered the hesitation to commit to the attack and suffer the casualties to be an early failure.

### Ysar'Lurii

With the Eolosera routed the Expedition faced a decision between continuing against the Kythros Dominion and attacking Asch’Therans, or diverting to attack the Ysar’Lurii. While they were open to be flanked in either case, the continuous war between the Magyra and Duploi Regency was the more stable flank. As they approached the surrounding systems it was fleets of Aeldari Corsairs that struck out against the Expedition. Fleeting raids, volleys of pulsars at distance and cloaked boarding parties, harried with greater intensity each day. It was exhausting, especially as their attempts to counter these raids led into further ambushes. Their warp journey’s seemed to be hampered by the Ysar’Lurii; Who’s territory was an oasis within the warp. With each jump to their system the fleet dropped out short, and the journey was already slow. Their scouting fleets, particularly stressed by these raids, identified a sizable fleet awaiting them that included battleships. Throughout their brief excursion towards the Ysar'Lurii the Astropaths and Librarians had been assailed by visions of disaster and their own failure at this terminal battle; Their dreams had already saved countless hands against the lesser ambushes. While the Expeditions command would have regularly hand waived these panicky ideas, they were so off guard by the suffocating attacks that doubt won the day. The Asch'Therans would feel their wrath first.

### Asch'Therans

"*’Lord Commander, we have translated their message.’
’Which one adjutant, The first hail?’
’Yes Lord. "Turn back invader if you have nothing to offer but war, there is no sin between us, no sin that we have inflicted upon you. If war is the only trade that you bring us, then you will find us waiting and ready. If you are civilised enough to share words, then our ears are also ready."
’Understood. Keep this from the Praetor, and keep that order between us.’*"
—Conversation between Lord Commander Uresh and Xenobiologist Smambie.
Finally fighting a predominately ground centred faction was a morale boost to the Astartes, who had only fought within the void thus far. However, while the Eolosera were caught off guard, the Asch'Therans were prepared and fortified. Their technological power was between that of the 21st Century of Humanity and the techno barbarians of pre-unification Terra. The Asch'Therans were large and slightly avian creatures, recently sentient and new to the Dominion as a whole; boasting powerful tanks and heavy infantry. More importantly the Dominions had responded to their new threat and the destruction levied to the Eolosera. The Serathene, best compared as the Xenos’ equivalent to the Imperial Knights, along with the Voi’Fa Vies’Tang, the Dominions Psyker Caste, led an army of diverse mercenaries and subjugated warriors.

Quickly full scale war erupted, with greater numbers the Expedition struck at hundreds of targets and forced the Xenos to spread thin. Their fleet was also greater, and their Titans unmatched. Still the Kythros Dominions met them well, and the Serathene in particular were powerful foes; Greater than the Imperium knights they moved with greater speed and agility. The Serathene and Voi’Fa Vies’Tang were clearly experienced combat allies, the latter able to teleport and empower their allies and the former were much alike to the space marines in their full devotion to warfare. Both sides learned long lessons in the swift war, the Asch'Theran systems burned, and their people fled.

### Magyra

"*’It crawls like flesh, it writhes, it feels, and it rots. By the Emperor it is abominable, it is disgusting. What power is this? Technology? Something else? In the Emperor's Name, the destruction of this is an obligation.’*"
—A report of scouts of the condition of the Warp Tainted worlds of the Magyra.
One Dominion was left to conquer, although their war with the Asch’Therans showed clearly that the extent of the Dominions power stretched beyond these systems. Scouts were dispatched to trace and track them down, in the meantime the Expedition moved to the war zones between the Duploi Regency and the Magyra. The greater forces of the Dominions abstained from joining this conflict and left the Magyra to fight alone; The reason for this was soon discovered.

The Magyra were macro organisms composed of hundreds, even thousands, of small worm-like creatures. Each one was psychically active and worked in a harmonious hivemind. While they were not overly aggressive, their psychic presence was focused on a defensive field or similar auras. The Psykers that fought them simply found it difficult to direct their powers against them; Almost as if they rewrote the rules of combat. The Kythros Dominions, it seemed, used the Magyra as protective security to their component races. To 'farm' the species to suit their requirements, one that reproduced in a similar vein to parasitic insects. They needed bodies, and the Duploi Regency had proved a suitable source of them. Enraged by the industrial kidnappings and slaughter, invasions upon their peoples, the Regency had responded with a massive invasion into the Magyra. The Dominion had provided minimal support, as the Magyra were effectively holding their own position. For the humans it had degenerated into protracted and awful trench warfare. For the Magyra they simply relocated their birthing chambers to the frontlines.

"*However, the combination of the Trench Warfare and Magyra harvesting of bodies led the worlds to become wholly corrupted by the warp, becoming the early stage gardens of Nurgle. The Dominions observed this with worry and curiosity, quarantining these Magyra and starting fresh nests elsewhere.

 To the Astartes they simply assumed that these worlds were disgustingly transformed by the Xenos, and would not know of the significance until much later. The campaign was simple, but the Magyra needed to be understood. The Expedition lay waste to the worlds, executing orbital bombardments after the purging. They destroyed the remnants of the Regencies forces as well, many of which were falling prey to demonic corruption, and swiftly moved on to their territories.*"
—Comment, Arachus.

## Imperial Compliance: Duploi Regency (846.M30)

The standing objectives were clear, Xenocides and Imperial Compliance. The Duploi Regency were less technologically advanced, but the Praetor Xenaphi did not want to waste anymore time and leave their rearguard vulnerable. His own people’s protracted and debilitating subjugation still lingered in his mind, making his ears deaf to their plight, or eager to make the job clean. The Expedition cut swiftly and deeply into their territory and operated with a devastating headhunter campaign. Within a week the faction was brought to its knees and subjugated.

Outposts were already established on the habitable planets of the Dominion’s former territory, although these worlds mostly resided within the former holdings of the Asch’Therans. These systems, the reformed Duploi Regency, and Escretan System were made into a single entity; The Sardularis SubSector. It was time to return to the Ysar'Lurii, while the bulk of the colonisation efforts got underway.

## Campaign against the Ysar'Lunrii and Aeldari (847.M30)

This time the journey towards the Ysar’Lurii systems were ghostly, their warp journey was still impeded but no raiders assailed their fleet. Still the Aeldari had clearly not been idle. Imperial Army regiments had been garrisoned on every step of the first long journey. To a man they had been slaughtered, their bodies removed and the bases left empty of resources save the rockcrete of the structures. There were no visions either, clearly a ploy of the treacherous xenos, now dropped. There was only the fleet patiently waiting for them.

The Corsairs had a substantial fleet, in all there were just three battleships at the centre of it; with wings of destroyers, fighters and bombers, and a void station supporting them. The tension with the Imperial ranks was breaking their composure, but it was the component of the 1st Legion that moved ahead of the fleet; A shield of arrogance and superiority that drove on the rest. The Aeldari battleships scattered, the fleet dividing into four groups and engaging the Imperial flotilla at a distance. The Expedition massively outnumbered the xenos, and divided their fleet into four to attack each element in isolation. The voidstation could not run, and it valiantly held its ground in a clearly vainglorious defiance, and was burned down. Though as it was rapidly realised the station's sacrifice opened the way for a run of bombers from hidden positions. The squadron of ships, mostly belonging to the 1st Legion, were crippled before their fighters could return. Numerous escorts were burned outright and only the capital vessels limped on. Some of the Aeldari bombers escaped but most were caught out of position by the Imperial fighters as they greedily tried to take more kills. In the opening throes already one quarter of each fleet was knocked out of the rest of the battle.

The hunt for the battleships went no better either, as each group disappeared into the webway once they had suitably drawn the Imperials out of position. Xenaphi wasted no time in ordering the fleet to recombine at the Void Station's wreck - assuming the Aeldari would finish the kill. His own battlegroup was the closest, and it was the actual target of the Aeldari's attack; The three battleships and their escorts appearing from different flanks to strafe them, the odds much more even.

Xenaphi took no more chances and the battlegroup held in a defensive stance, inching their way back to the other groups. The battleships attempted to draw close and break their ranks, but the fragile Aeldari vessels could not stand the imperial fire for long; As their holoshields failed several of the battleships were crippled, but managed to escape. Xenaphi failed to capitalise on the kill, thanks to their holoshields their damaged state could not be cleanly verified, at the battle's end the three capital ships still survived. The Expedition repaired and held their place, their scouts harassed and routed. The Expedition continued to push through towards the Ysar’Lurii system remaining as a single cohesive formation. They were agonisingly just out of their reach, as they prepared to move again and finally engage the system directly, a Craftworld appeared at the edge of their senses and with it was their extensive defensive fleet. The Expedition withdrew, their second excursion against this Xenos had ended in another failure. Their withdrawal was harassed much as their first invasion had been.

## Departure (847.M30)

The Craftworld remained with the Ysar'Lurii, neither side willing to commit to the devastating potential of war. In the meantime Sardularis blossomed, Rogue Traders had swiftly seen the worlds populated, and the Expedition built them strong, especially as future was a concern. Identified as Craftworld Coarnaigh, it could well lay waste to everything they were building. Though for now it remained within the Ysar’Lurii space, with active hostile patrols against scouting sorties. It was not to be their concern. In the time since their departure campaigns had concluded, a sizable force of both the Space Wolves and Angels of Death were on their way to dispatch the Craftworld. The Expedition met and accommodated the venerated Legions to the new Sector, passing on what little intelligence they had gathered and refreshing their supplies; But it was not a harmonious meeting.

The scouting sorties returned detailed reports of three Dominions within the deeper reaches of the Ghoul Stars, one of which likely included the Capital systems of the Xenos and was the closest to the Sardularis Sector. This Dominion would be their second target, the Craftworld was engaged with the Legions Ist and VIth and sure to be destroyed, time would not be wasted. The Expedition set off afresh at the turn of 848.M30.

"*If you want to see how that campaign panned out, sir, I can forward you the relevant documentation: The Battle of the Two Craftworlds; Sardularis. It was not our finest hour.*"
—Comment, Arachus.

As they approached the Dominion, still within the warp, the sea of souls transformed. The fleet was left blind and unable to breach back into realspace, they ‘skated’ across a barrier of nothingness. The horrendous journey lasted years and tested the will of the stranded passengers, finally they reached something resembling the ocean currents of the natural warp and immediately they breached back into realspace.

## Significant Events

### Wolves and Angels

There was no love or respect to be had between the newly arriving Legions and the Taskforce. The 1st Legion for one viewed their detachment within the Taskforce with contempt, and also as foreign. In light of their particular failure and casualties against the Aeldari the Dark Angels gave a further Chapter of their own forces, ‘their original oath fulfilled’ implying that their original detachment were not true Angels of Death. Both they and the Space Wolves bonded over what they saw as a humiliating failure and lack of competency of the Taskforce, in the hindsight of how events had panned out. This was compounded by a coldness Xenaphi had given to the Space Wolves, as the Praetor venerated the Armarda Imperialis and wore the grievances between the two factions and that it was strong enough to prevent the Space Wolves contributing to the Taskforce at all. The Space Wolves for their part saw the Companions with some amusement, and discovering the reason for Xenaphi’s coldness they left one of their number behind when they left for the renewed attack on the Ysar’Lurii and Craftworld Coarnaigh. The marine they left was their singular contribution to the Expedition, and their representation to the Companions. They boasted ‘That would be their contribution, and would achieve more than any of the other Legions’. The truth behind this contribution was that it suited the Chapters to be rid of an outcast Legionary.

### Restorations

Along with the Space Wolves and 1st Legion were a number of restorative contributions to the Expedition, the bulk of which belonged to the Ultramarines; The Primarch Guillamen was not pleased with how the Praetor Clearchus had handled the change in command and sent the ‘obligated’ forces back to the Taskforce; Including the Praetor as a humbled Captain. Though Praetor Xenaphi was quick to promote Clearchus to command his Chapter once again. Outside of this of particular note was a force of the Sisters of Silence, a squad of ten, to support the Taskforce against further engagements against the psychic Magyra and Voi’Fa Vies’Tang. They were met with some trepidation, and from those Legionaries of the XVth Legion outright hostility. Xenaphi himself, having experienced a similar though weaker torment of his own Shield, was particularly fascinated by the Sisters and spent as much time as he could tolerate with them to learn of their abilities and perspective. As a reflex to the Taskforce’s reaction, Xenaphi had the Sisters work closely with each battalion in their drills and made each suffer them through the blood sports that had become practice; Particularly the XVth Legion. Their outright hatred eventually cooled, though it would take its time.

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