Mezoan Campaign - The Poisoned Chalice: Even as the wars of the Horus Heresy unfolded, the defiant Forge World still resisted every attempt at conquest by the Traitors. Words of Mezoa's continued defiance did not fail to reach Horus, and it is said that his wrath was terrifying to behold. Those records captured by the servants of the Emperor in the wake of the Warmaster's defeat attest of a vast armada gathering at Port Maw, where the fleets of those Legions loyal to Horus were refitted and repaired with the materials once intended to ensure the progress of the Great Crusade. It was here that Horus' latest proclamation was presented to his generals -- a formal order to destroy Mezoa. This order was so widely promulgated that several illuminated copies of this manuscript have survived to this day and are actually preserved in both the Imperial Archives of Terra and the Inquisitorial Archives on Tethys.The elimination of the threat posed by the Loyalist Forge World was a necessity. With his armies mustering for their final push towards the Segmentum Solar, the Warmaster could not allow any potential weakness in his rear, or risk exposing the Traitors' vulnerable supply lines. But however important the conquest of Mezoa, every Traitor commander present at Port Maw knew that victory would only be achieved at a tremendous cost in lives and materiel. As a result of Mezoa's tectonic instability, the powerful God-engines of the Collegia Titanica could not be deployed, dramatically increasing the cost of taking the defiant Forge World. With much glory to be won in the oncoming wars, Horus' commanders were loath to weaken their forces at such an early juncture. Yet, none were so foolish as to openly refuse or ignore the will of the Warmaster.Knowing that Horus' eyes rested upon them, a silent war of influence erupted between the commanders of the Traitor forces. Through veiled threats, outright lies and no few fatal confrontations, the officers of the Archtraitor's armies each sought to see the mission assigned to one of their rivals. For solar weeks this silent war went on, until the proverbial scapegoats presented themselves at Port Maw. Humbled by their defeat at the hands of the Shattered Legions during the Siege of Epsilon-Stranivar IX -- colloquially known as "Fortress Stranivar" -- the 78th Chapter of the Alpha Legion under their Consul-Delegatus Autilon Skorr and the depleted 114th Grand Battalion of the Iron Warriors arrived at Port Maw. In the absence of their respective Primarchs, both formations lacked influential patronage or an unified officer cadre that would have been able to oppose the alliance of previously established commanders. So it came to pass that these forces would have to take up the poisoned chalice and prosecute the Mezoan Campaign to its conclusion. In recognition of his rank, Autilon Skor was appointed as overall commander of the new taskforce and given access to Port Maw's vast stockpiles of arms and materiel.Even in the wake of his defeat on Stranivar, Autilon Skorr's ambition was undimmed. Being fully aware of the enmity borne for him by most of the command elements of the 114th Grand Battalion, Consul-Delegatus Skorr used his new position as commanding officer of the Mezoan taskforce to appropriate the lion's share of the available resources for his own 78th Chapter, leaving the Iron Warriors elements under Nârik Dreygur little chance to recover from their previous losses. With the bulk of the IV Legion and their volatile lord, the Primarch Perturabo, deployed far away, Dreygur's pleas for help or materiel fell on deaf ears, the other commanders seeing little interest or profit in aiding one they regarded as a failed officer. With no other choice left to them, Dreygur and his Iron Warriors had to make what repairs they could and tend to their wounds, their resentment against Skorr growing even deeper.Composed of a dozen capital class warships -- including a pair of the fearsome Mangonel-class Bombardment Cruisers, 9,000 Legiones Astartes, three full Taghmata from the Renegade Forge World of M'Pandex and 20,000 auxiliary troops, the Mezoa task force was one of the largest battlegroups assigned to an independent command that was not under the control of a Primarch. Knowing that victory in this particular theatre of war would ensure gaining the favour of the Warmaster, an invaluable commodity once Horus sat upon the Golden Throne, Autilon Skorr began his preparations. Departing in good order, the fleet entered the Warp, the Davinite Lodge Priests attached to the fleet's Navigator-contingent assuring Skorr that their passage would be swift and sure and cleared of all storms. In a few short solar days, the fleet entered the Mezoa System, but they soon discovered that they were not the first to arrive...