Mezoan Campaign - Devils from the Outer Dark: As one of the few bastions of Imperial resistance, the Forge World of Mezoa had been reinforced by splinter forces of the Shattered Legions and even Loyalist survivors of the Armada Imperialis which had been present at the Treachery at Port Maw. While welcome, these reinforcements failed to considerably alter the balance of strength. The mighty Forge World, a glowing ember encircled by a dense ring of orbital defence stations and kill-satellites, could not hope to match the Traitors' numbers. Even worse, Autilon Skorr had learned his lessons from the fiasco at the Siege of Epsilon-Stranivar IX and ensured that all his voidships' captains would obey his word, while the Loyalists' command -- even though united by a common goal -- was fractured. Nevertheless, the rag-tag Loyalist fleet bravely opposed Skorr's attempts to gain local space superiority. Soon, a chaotic void battle developed where the vessels of the Iron Warriors and Alpha Legion -- numbering more heavy Cruisers -- started to gain the ascendancy. It was then that a new force emerged unheralded from the Warp at the very edge of the Mezoan System. Unsure as to which side the newly arrived ship would declare its allegiance, the battle ebbed, no new explosions illuminating the void as both sides turned their powerful Augur banks toward the unidentified warship that had emerged behind the Traitors' battleline.On the bridge of the lone Legiones Astartes Strike Cruiser, the sensor and Vox-operators strove to make sense of the myriad jumbled identification markers and hails broadcast by the combatants. Several tense solar seconds passed while the ship's command crew tried to distinguish friend from foe, a period of time that could have seen the lone Cruiser quickly crippled had its arrival not plunged the Traitors' fleet into total disarray. With the situation now clear, the crew of the Salamanders Strike Cruiser Ebon Drake unleashed its batteries at the closest Traitor vessel, trying to manoeuver its way to join the Loyalist fleet standing sentinel over Mezoa.Even with the arrival of the Ebon Drake, the Loyalists remained at a serious disadvantage in terms of both numbers and tonnage, but the Salamanders' arrival had disrupted the enemy advance and so the void-battle raged on for more than nine solar hours, both sides locked in a bloody stalemate. In the end, Skorr's unified command broke the balance, the Loyalists' fractious nature causing some ships to retreat and thus leaving their allies unsupported. Rather than face annihilation, the combined Loyalist fleet had to abandon the orbital space around Mezoa, regrouping at the system's outer planets. Several vessels, amongst them the Ebon Drake, chose to dare the enemy fleets' guns one last time and close with the Forge World, risking being crippled to release fights of landing craft and Drop Pods intended to reinforce the defenders on the ground. Of the half dozen Legion and Armada Imperialis vessels to attempt the manoeuvre, only three rose again, the rest were annihilated by the Traitors' guns. With the Loyalist fleet in full retreat, no one could stop the great Mangonel-class Bombardment Cruisers and wallowing troop barges from closing with the Forge World, as Mezoa's orbital defences were soon swept clear by the combined fire of the Alpha Legion and Iron Warriors. The final invasion of Mezoa had begun.