13th Black Crusade - Buried Secrets: Far from Cadia, amidst the dust-blown wastes of the world of Eriad VI, a fifty-year labour teetered on the brink of disaster.For thousands of standard years, the Eriad System had been considered worthless. Bathed in the radioactive grip of an angry star, its planets had little in the way of resources to make human colonisation worthwhile. Strategically, it had been judged expendable. In the early 32nd Millennium, the Imperial Navy established an orbital outpost at Eriad VI. For a time, the world was used as a staging area, only to be abandoned when Abaddon the Despoiler's 4th Black Crusade swept through the Eriad System in the 34th Millennium. With the great citadel of Kromarch under threat from Abaddon's forces, naval high command had no desire to squander limited resources on an outpost with so little value. The defence of Eriad VI ended almost with the first salvo, and Abaddon's crusade swept onwards.Eriad went unremarked upon by the scribes of the Administratum for nearly six standard millennia, until Warp Storm Storael forced the Explorator vessel Wayward Eye to make an emergency re-entry into realspace. Locked within the Eriad System by the vagaries of Storael, the Wayward Eye's captain took it upon himself to perform a detailed survey of the system. In the process, he discovered that the surface of Eriad VI had been subjected to massive bombardments in the distant past. Subsequent investigations revealed technological fragments of unknown origin scattered across the northern continent, with the suggestion of further secrets sealed deeper beneath the surface. It was unclear how such treasures could have gone unnoticed during the Imperium's prior presence in the system, but the Wayward Eye's captain surmised that the bombardment itself must have revealed Eriad VI's secrets.Before the captain could complete his investigations, the Warp Storm at last cleared. Long overdue, the Wayward Eye submitted a report of its findings and left the Eriad System behind, as uninhabited as the day the Explorator ship had arrived. It would not remain so for long.In the years that followed, two fleets arrived at Eriad. The first was the Conclave Acquisitorius of Archmagos Belisarius Cawl. Having received the Wayward Eye's report en route to his original destination, Cawl waylaid the fleet's mission to make orbit, hungry to learn the secrets hidden beneath Eriad VI's cratered skin. The ancient Tech-priest had spent the better part of ten millennia engaged in his repetitive labours on Mars, and the temptation of new discoveries was too strong to deny. Establishing a compound in the artefact-rich fields of the northern continent, Cawl began the delicate business of retrieval and investigation. The recovered artefacts varied massively in size. Some were no larger than a Servo-skull, while others dwarfed the Kataphron Battle Servitors who stood silent sentry upon the dig site's perimeter. All were fused and cracked, giving few clues to their original purpose. But the mysteries tantalised Cawl, and he resolved to bore deeper into Eriad's crust to find his answers.It was then that the second fleet arrived in the system.Cawl's ships had been drawn to Eriad by the lure of hidden knowledge. The newcomers -- an Ork fleet under the brutish dominion of Big Mek Gangrek -- were drawn by the engine-signatures of Cawl's own vessels. Gangrek had visions of seizing the Mechanicus ships, swelling his own fleet to match his ambitions. In this, his reach badly exceeded his grasp. Gangrek's ramshackle vessels were obliterated in a savage near-orbit battle, his crews escaping fiery demise only through a last minute tellyporta evacuation. Cawl, satisfied that the victory had fallen well within calculated parameters, returned his attention to his excavations.Gangrek's Boyz quickly adapted to Eriad VI's high-rad environment -- more than that, they thrived. Spared the fury of orbital bombardment by roiling dust storms, they harried Cawl's compound. Each raid garnered wrecks and stolen technology to be pressed into service alongside the Kill Kroozer debris still raining down upon the Eriadan badlands.Cawl's Adepts saw only the sporadic nature of the raids, and did not recognise the larger plan -- chiefly because Gangrek had no fixed goal. The Mek was unpredictable even by Ork standards. This was anathema to the rigorous, methodical warriors of the Omnissiah -- what they could not anticipate they could not defeat. Time and again, Skitarii patrols found themselves ambushed and overrun. Ironstriders braved the dust storms to close in on Gangrek's outposts, only to discover that the lean-to buildings had been mined, and that their own staging bastions were under fire.Finally, Cawl ripped his attention from his studies, taking direct command of the incipient disaster. Recognising the need to set Gangrek an irresistible lure, he ordered the next supply drop to occur on the very edge of the compound. The Mek's hunger for looted materiel had been the only constant in his inconstant war, and Cawl was determined to take whatever advantage he could.Thus, when Gangrek's Boyz stormed the landing fields, they discovered transport craft not bursting with supplies, but with waiting Skitarii. The ensuing battle lasted well into the frozen Eriadan night, Shoota-fire and bellowed battle cries vying with the methodical volleys of Skitarii rifles and the machine-argot of Electro-Priests.Under Cawl's direct leadership, the warriors of the Adeptus Mechanicus won their first real victory since the Greenskins had come to Eriad VI. The Mechanicus compound held, though only by the slimmest of measures. The turning point came with Gangrek's fiery demise in the rays of Cawl's Solar Atomiser. But though the Orks withdrew, thousands more remained beyond the arc-fences. It was clear to the Archmagos that his hold on Eriad VI was slipping. Weighing the probabilities, he regretfully decided to abandon his studies and return to the original mission that had brought him from Mars. He had indulged his curiosities for too long, imperilled the valuable cargo aboard his ship and forgotten his obligations. Giving the evacuation order, Cawl descended into the tunnels one last time.Cawl ran a hand across the smooth, black shard. If only he had more time! They deeper they delved into Eriad VI, the more complete were the fragments. Discovery could be mere solar days -- hours -- away."No." Impatience would gain him nothing. Whatever treasures this planet held, they could wait. He could not risk leaving the relic aboard his Ark Mechanicus any longer. "I will return."Now they would collapse the tunnels, seal the Greenskins away from their prize. And on that glorious day of return, the Orks would quail before the Omnissiah's fury.Cawl turned to leave, but halted, uncertain. He swept his gaze around the cavern, eye lenses clicking and whirring as they scoured the shadows. He was alone. And yet, instinct told him otherwise. More than instinct. Was that the ghost of laughter?"Reveal yourself."A shadow shifted. Cawl had the sense of a hooded woman, a featureless mask swirling like smoke.The recalibration came without conscious direction. Implants slid smoothly into war mode. Power ﬂooded the circuits of the Atomiser, the sensation like blood-ﬂow returning to a numbed limb. Binharic data ﬂooded the empty tiers of Cawl's mind, divine algorithms seeking out the intruder's weaknesses.The intruder leaned closer. "Do you not remember me, Belisarius?"Cawl scoured the jumbled bibelots archived in his third consciousness. Fragments of memory, and a name. Veilwalker.A data-burst suddenly lit up his mind. She had come to him in his forge on Mars, where he had laboured so long at his sacred task. She had compelled him to venture forth, to take his precious cargo to its long-intended destination. The time is now, she had whispered, and he had been unable to resist. How strange that, until now, he had forgotten that meeting.The Shadowseer's mask settled, forming a countenance that Cawl hadn't seen for millennia. The likeness lingered for a moment, then dissolved into a vortex of dancing light."If you are here to remind me once again of old promises, xenos, then you have come too late. My ships are already preparing to depart as we speak," Cawl said.Veilwalker laughed. "The music of destiny is changing. The dancers must learn new steps, or perish in the fading notes."Cawl stared at her blankly."I am here to tell you to keep digging," said Sylandri Veilwalker. Then, in a ﬂicker of light, she was gone.