Betalis III Campaign - Fire From the Hills: Watched intently on the pict-screens of Port Ryira, the wave of over two hundred Mymeara Jetbikes, Vypers and Falcons that had earlier bypassed the battle against Company Vengeance flew on to the Tarundor Peninsula. The armada did not turn immediately north to Port Ryira as expected but continued directly eastwards towards the large mining complex of Aresta IV.The facility was home to over nine hundred Imperial workers and their families, and as air raid sirens blared through the hab block shanty town that stretched across its eastern side, the workers' militia were already charging into position, manning the bunker sited heavy weapons that were the core of Aresta IV's defences.Joining them were the few elements of Battle Group Odon not fighting out on the Alacian Plains, mainly support staff and the first of the injured Guardsmen that had been brought back behind the battle lines.Regardless of injury or rank, all who were capable of fighting picked up a Lasgun and prepared to defend themselves as the Asuryani strike force launched itself upon the mining complex, Jetbikes and Vypers breaking formation diving down upon the defenders in a hail of shuriken discs and starcannon fire.In return shots from the heavy weapons bunkers and weapons batteries on the upper platforms of the complex pounded the skies. The assault from the air was swiftly followed by sniper fire from the hillsides surrounding the complex where Mymeara's Guardian squads and Rangers had moved into position during the opening attack. The Asuryani, it seemed, were intent on removing whatever threat those at Aresta IV posed to them.Had they believed the facility to be poorly defended, then the commanders of the Asuryani strike force were sorely mistaken. Ordered to move immediately into the path of this new Aeldari force by the Ordo Xenos Inquisitor Lord Hestaphus Danzk, Elysian Drop Troop squads had already deployed in the hills above Aresta IV.Laying low, the Elysians, near invisible in their camouflaged uniforms, rose up and ambushed the unsuspecting Guardian squads as they passed by.The presence of the Elysians on the hillsides slowed the Asuryani attack but it could do little to stop it. Pouring through the most vulnerable point of the facility, the hab block shanty town, Aspect Warrior squads descended upon the militia.Howling Banshees haunted the area where the bunkers had been set up, their psychosonic battle screams paralysing all who opposed them so that there was little resistance from the Guardsmen and workers militia as they were cut down by the graceful xenos warriors.But it was at the entrance to the mines that the worst atrocities were committed by the Asuryani. Massive mining vehicles had been driven in front of the entrance to protect the workers who sought shelter within.The vehicles were melted into little more than slag by the fusion guns of Mymearan Fire Dragons squads, leaving those sheltering within undefended as the Aeldari advanced.The nightmare unfolding at the Aresta IV facility would be short-lived though. As the Asuryani flyers made for another pass at the heavy weapons teams in the bunkers, Imperial Navy Fury Interceptors from the now orbiting fleet dived down through the clearing storm clouds, just as the troop transports of the Battle Group Vlaar appeared on the horizon.Perhaps realising that the odds were soon to turn against them, the survivors at Aresta IV watched the Craftworld Aeldari flee.