Betalis III Campaign - Opening Moves 024.894.M41: Located deep within the glacial fields of Betalis III's eastern continent, Relay Station NX87-04 formed part of the global surveillance network that kept permanent watch over the Ice world's vast uninhabitable wastelands.That it had functioned without issue for centuries in such harsh conditions was a testament to the consummate skills of the Adeptus Mechanicus tech-priests who had seeded the planet with scores of such installations during its transformation into an Imperium mining colony. On the eve of its four hundred and fifth standard year of perfect operation the relay station abruptly ceased transmitting.The Logis-adept monitoring the relay station thousands of kilometres away at the planet's spaceport, Port Ryira, instantly went into cerebral shock and let out a soul-piercing scream; the sudden loss of data collapsing its higher brain functions which had exclusively devoted to processing NX87-04's constant stream of tech-scripts and binary ciphers its entire life.Its death cry sent a shock wave through the living, breathing bio-processor it was physically and mentally connected to, rendering five other adepts catatonic and leaving vast tracts of the planet's eastern-most continent unmonitored until repairs could be affected and the damaged bio-components replaced.On a world where temperatures had been sub-zero for millennia and lethal ice storms whipped up with little warning, the malfunction of NX87-04 was initially blamed on local conditions, and it was left to the trans-mechanic specialists of the Adeptus Mechanicus on-site to resolve the issue and revive the relay station's Machine Spirit (artificial intelligence).It was only when a Sentinel patrol from a nearby garrison was ordered to investigate the still-silent facility two solar days later that the isolated relay station was found to have been attacked and destroyed.The frozen bodies of its massacred trans-mechanics were lain scattered throughout the station's charred remains, the horrific injuries consistent with those caused by monofilament projectile weapons. A report of the patrol's grisly discovery was immediately dispatched to Port Ryira and as alarms blared throughout the facility, the planet's defence forces steeled themselves for further attacks.Over the solar weeks that followed the Ice World's global surveillance network was targeted by more raids; each facility being attacked under cover of darkness and with little, if any, warning.The motive for the attacks completely eluded Betalis III's planetary governor, Jamuel Escava, and the representatives of the noble mining families who oversaw production on the Ice World. The planet was of little strategic importance and of only minor economic worth to the sub-sector.Aside from the sixty-two million citizen-workers and their families living in settlements clustered around the planet's ore mines and refineries, and the fifteen thousand Administratum support staff based at Port Ryira, the planet was a desolate wasteland devoid of life. One of only two planets fit for habitation in the system, it was a stark contrast to the neighbouring Industrial World of Betalis IV.Even the aristocratic families granted mining charters on Betalis III generations before by the Administratum rarely visited their distant dominion. Instead their will was imposed by hundreds of petty bureaucrats, prefects and stewards charged with meeting the planet's annual Administratum tithes and ensuring that every last bit of profit possible after that was ground from the planet's bedrock and the unfortunate souls who lived upon it.The escalating raids were quickly attributed to the Aeldari Corsairs that the system's Imperial Navy fleet had previously encountered in the Betalis System's outer asteroid belt and the Karina Nebula beyond it. The Corsairs, identified as being aligned to the Void Dragons cadre, had posed a serious threat in the past to the Human colonists of Betalis III, launching attacks upon isolated communities whenever the opportunity had presented itself.Regular patrols by the system's fleet had kept them in check in recent years, but it was now obvious from the increasing sightings reported by the crews of cargo transports travelling to and from the system that those circumstances had changed.Meanwhile, on Betalis III, as the profile of the raids on the Ice World differed little from the Corsairs' modus operandi, Planetary Governor Escava dispatched his forces as he had done previously.Now though these were joined by troops from the Cadian 6th Armoured Regiment, elements of which had been recently transferred to the planet to undergo hostile environment training. With their skills and experience, Planetary Governor Escava desperately hoped that, maybe, the fighting forces of Cadia would put an end to this persistent problem once and for all.Even with the aid of the vastly more experienced Cadian squads, hunting down the raiders was not as simple a matter as Planetary Governor Escava thought. As soon as a report of a raid was received, the Guardsmen were immediately dispatched in squadrons of Arvus Lighters across the frozen landscape.Of the raiding party though there would be no sign, only the destruction it had wrought upon yet another relay station or isolated outpost and indication of its passing. On the rare occasion there were terrified beyond rational sense, babbling incoherently about lights in the darkness before mercifully succumbing to their wounds.The horrific game of cat and mouse was to go on for solar weeks; the planet's overseers and stewards voicing their concerns ever louder with each attack, fearful that the situation would soon hamper their ability to meet the mining cartels' Administratum obligations.And so it might have continued had not greater military minds been watching events unfold on Betalis III from afar.