Hunt for Voldorius - The Raven and the Khan: As dropships deployed the White Scars' support vehicles, the two Astartes captains held a council of war. Neither entirely trusted the other. The rivalry between the White Scars and the Raven Guard Chapters went back many thousands of standard years, but both Shrike and Kor'sarro knew that they had little choice but to set aside their inherited differences, weighty though they were. The Alpha Legion and their treacherous Quintan vassals were simply too numerous for one company to defeat without the other's aid, and so the Space Marines' battleplans had to be drawn accordingly.The following morning before dawn, Shrike led his company in a surprise assault against the Traitors garrisoned in an orbital defence battery some leagues west of Mankarra. This was the method of war Shrike and his battle-brothers had perfected against the forces of WAAAGH! Skullkrak, and within moments of the assault's beginning, the Traitor forces were in disarray.A good portion of the complex was already in the Astartes hands when Kernax Voldorius, seeing the danger, despatched half of his Alpha Legion Traitor Marines and much of Mankarra's garrison as reinforcements. But Shrike had drawn his plans well. As the Raven Guard captain led Assault Squads into the heart of the complex, his remaining forces entrenched themselves on the perimeter.So it was that Voldorius' tide of reinforcements crashed upon the bastions of the defence complex's outer fortifications like the sea upon distant shores. The Alpha Legion Aspiring Chaos Champion directing the assault was a canny foe, and held his deadliest troops back from the slaughter.Instead he sent wave after wave of Chaos Cultists and Traitor PDF troops into the guns of the Raven Guard, casually expending their worthless lives in search of a weakness to exploit. Such a weakness offered itself up when one of the bastions cracked asunder, broken by fire from Ironsoul, a massive Baneblade tank manned by a traitorous Quintan crew. Seizing his opportunity, the Aspiring Champion led his reserves forwards.Over 300 Chaos Space Marines of the Alpha Legion and the Night Lords flung themselves at that single point in the defences. The Raven Guard stood their ground, pouring bolter fire into the oncoming horde, but their numbers were thin and the enemy ferocious. Kayvaan Shrike emerged from the depths of the complex to lead a counterattack and the enemy fell back wherever the Shadow Captain trod but, little by little, the Raven Guard began to give ground. The Alpha Legion Aspiring Champion roared his praise to the Ruinous Powers and drove his men forwards over the dead and dying. It was then that the White Scars struck.Before Shrike had led the assault on the orbital defence complex, the White Scars had concealed themselves in the caves to the south. Now, with the bulk of the Chaos force strung out, the White Scars launched their attack. With a throaty roar of engines, Rhinos and Assault Bikes broke from the shadows and spurred towards the fray. The Ironsoul was the first to feel the White Scars' wrath. Though the Baneblade's commander bellowed at his crew, the massive tank could not turn swiftly enough to engage the new threat.Kor'sarro's vanguard, skilled bikers all, tore through the Traitors that protected the Ironsoul 's flanks. Never once slowing their breakneck charge, the White Scars bikers swarmed about the adamantium monster's flanks, targeting its sponsons with Melta-fire and its vision slits with Flamers. One by one, the Ironsoul 's guns were silenced and the bikers spurred on towards the embattled Raven Guard, leaving only a crippled tank and slain Traitors to their rear.Dismayed by the unforeseen assault to their flank and the swift demise of the Ironsoul, the Traitors fled. The Alpha Legion fought on to the last, but the White Scars were upon them. Squads of bikers swept through the ranks of Chaos Space Marine, blades and lances flashing. More White Scars disgorged from Rhinos, Bolters coughing death at the foe. By the time Kayvaan Shrike led the Raven Guard over the defences and into the fray, the outcome of the battle was no longer in doubt.