Navar Hef - Fearless: Whereas the Raven Guard had operated almost at one, never striking more than two or three targets simultaneously, Corax decided to send out isolated vessels on deep-patrol and sabotage runs, tasked with striking at targets of opportunity. This reduced deployments, often numbering a lone ship and its complement of Legionaries were the pure expression of the Raven Guard’s way of warfare: small units, operating in the shadows and striking where the enemy least expected them. Lieutenant Navar Hef was charged with the command of just such a task-force. Embarking upon the Fearless, a Light Cruiser, Hef and his warriors were despatched into an isolated region of space. With the Raven Guard having discovered - and destroyed - several hidden facilities dedicated in the creation of new weapons for the Traitors, it has been suggested that the Fearless may have been despatched to investigate upon several isolated segments of space to discover if indeed the enemy was conducting similar experiments in other locations.More by luck than by intent, the Fearless encountered a drifting ship which soon revealed itself as a Legiones Astartes Strike Cruiser. The hull indicated no damage and the ship seemed in prime condition, merely powered down and drifting in some abandoned quadrant of space. Puzzled by this encounter, Hef decided to approach the vessel and resolve its mystery. If possible, the ship could be salvaged and added to the Raven Guard’s fleet. As the Fearless closed in on its target, its crew was able to ascertain the vessel’s origin: the Strike Cruiser belonged to the Emperor’s VIth Legion, it belonged to the Space Wolves. Acting with caution, Navar Hef decided to personally lead his full-complement of warriors onboard the Strike Cruiser, wary of any possible enemy presence aboard the ship. To their surprise they found no sign of carnage. The ship’s logs indicated that none of its weapon had been fired in a long time, that no ship had been encountered and that both generatoria and propulsion systems were fully operational, so why abandon a fully combat-ready ship out there in the void? One of the search-parties then reported their findings: three bodies, obviously Space Marines in stature and of Space Wolf-origin, but with no squad or rank insignia and their faces disfigured. The three bodies had been found outside of one of the ship’s armouries, having seemingly been forced to blow their way out from it with Melta Bombs. Hef’s first guess was that they had been imprisoned there, but by whom? And where had these mysterious captors vanished to? As further mysteries were unveiled, one answer presented itself to Hef and his Raptors: the ship’s last point of origin, an uninhabited moon in an otherwise desert system. Adamant upon resolving this mystery, Navar Hef ordered his men to reembark upon the Fearless and to set course for the coordinates retrieved from the Strike Cruiser’s logs.Running silently thanks to the Kiavahrian Reflex Shield Technology, the Fearless approached the retrieved coordinates only to encounter the enemy: a vessel of the Sons of Horus. As the use of the Reflex Shields necessitates vast quantities of energy, the Fearless could not properly identify its target, having to gauge the enemy only by their energy signature which either indicated a Battle Barge on silent running or a Strike Cruiser at half-power. Obviously outgunned, Nef congratulated himself for his caution for ’the Warmaster’s own scum’ - as he had referred to them - seemed not to have noticed the Raven Guard-vessel entering the system. Picking up on the enemy ship’s vox-traffic, it became quickly evident that much of the Sons of Horus had been sent to the surface, no doubt confronting or hunting down the remaining Space Wolves. Unwilling to lose the element of surprise by turning the Fearless’ sensoria to full power, Navar Hef decided to personally lead a recon mission on the moon’s surface with the Fearless to remain hidden and ready to strike at its prey once the situation on the ground had been properly established. Power and heat signatures also showed the Sons of Horus surrounding some kind of unknown facility which was obviously powered by its own Plasma Generator.Having landed some distance from the heat signatures as to avoid detection, the Raptors around Hef advanced on foot, quickly establishing that the Sons of Horus had built earthworks and were truly laying siege to the facility. With the enemy’s attention focused on the fortified compound, it was easy for Hef and his men to infiltrate the Traitors’ position and dispose of those sentinels that stood in their path. Hef theorized that the Space Wolves were likely holed up within the compound and doing their best to repel the Sons of Horus but were too few to be able to win this battle in a conventional way. Their ship had been a message in a bottle, a call for help let loose amongst the infinity of the universe. Resolute to come to the aid of their Loyalist brethren, Hef decided to go on, traversing the enemy lines and if possible make contact with the beleaguered Space Wolves. The Raven Guard’s innate talents for stealth served them well as Hef and his companions reached the compounds outer reaches unnoticed and unopposed.Hef successfully raised the Space Wolves commander on the vox, which at first thought of an enemy trick and bluntly requested of Hef to go away. It was only when Hef had declined his identity and to what Legion he belonged that the officer’s tone and attitude changed, sounding pleased at this sudden change of events. The conversation was still ongoing when Hef’s spotters reported enemy armour and troop carriers closing in on the Lieutenant’s position: having broadcasted on an unsecured frequency, the Sons of Horus had picked up the exchange and despatched troops accordingly. Cursing at the Space Wolves’ negligence, Hef readied himself for combat as a Rhino APC came around and closed in on the Raptors. Using his abilities and the low gravity of the moon, Hef jumped on the troop carrier and killed its gunners before throwing grenades down the hatch to deal with its complement of Sons of Horus. As the first threat was dealt with, a second one emerged closely behind in the form of a Predator Tank. With no heavy weapons to return fire, the Raptors had no other choice than to cover behind the burning wreckage of the previously destroyed Rhino and to wait for their inevitable death. Fortunately for Hef and his men, the Space Wolves had acted promptly and led a sortie to help their new-found allies. As the Predator exploded under a precise shot of a Lascannon, both Raptors and Space Wolves quickly returned to the security of the compound’s walls.