13th Black Crusade (Original) - Saint Josmane's Hope: The first of the inner worlds of the Cadian System to fall was the Prison World of Saint Josmane's Hope, whose inmates were believed to have thrown their lot in with the invaders in the vain hope of being granted freedom following an insurrection stirred up by an organisation known as the Correction Rehabilitation Movement (CRM) -- a possible Chaos front. They were granted only eternal damnation, for their liberators turned out to be the Renegade Space Marines of the Violators warband, devoted servants of Slaanesh, the Prince of Pleasure. Brutal, close-quarters fighting erupted all across the continent-sized prison and many of the guards kept a last bullet for themselves rather than allow themselves to be taken by the frenzied inmates. Welcoming the Traitor forces as liberators, the inmates were to be horrifyingly disabused of this notion as those allowed to live through the "pleasures" inflicted upon them by the Slaaneshi Astartes were instead taken as slaves for the Chaos warfleet or conscripted into its armies of Traitor Guard.Many officers within Cadian High Command had not heard of the Violators until they had been invited to a closed session briefing along with Lord Castellan Creed, where a representative of the Inquisition imparted to them the awful truth concerning these hedonistic Heretics, so that Imperial forces would be better prepared to combat them. What they were told about the Violators' activities filled even hardened veterans with horror, for no man, no matter his crime, deserved to have the attentions of such vile creatures visited upon him. Soon the defences of every one of the worlds in the Cadian System were sorely tested, and despite the efforts of the Commissariat to maintain Imperial morale through censorship of news, word spread of the atrocities being committed upon Saint Josmane's Hope.Following a solar week of disastrous events upon the penal world, the Lord Castellan issued an order the like of which many believed they would never be required to enact. The world of Saint Josmane's Hope was to be subjected to Exterminatus and destroyed utterly. The enaction of an Exterminatus was beyond the resources available to the Imperial forces present in the system; the agents of the Inquisition confirmed this and said that their own ships that carried the needed weapons of mass destruction were many solar weeks distant. Logan Grimnar, the Great Wolf (Chapter Master) of the Space Wolves, also confirmed that none of the available vessels of his Chapter fleet carried Cyclonic Torpedoes, and neither did any Astartes warship within range. The Imperial Navy put forward the plan of instigating a massive bombardment of the world using Nova Cannons, in the hope of causing a degree of tectonic instability, but all available intelligence suggested that the Chaotic fleets blockading Saint Josmane's Hope's orbital space were too strong. The bombardment vessels would not survive to launch a single shell, let alone the hundred or more required to complete the task.Finally, it was put forth by the Adeptus Mechanicus' representative that tectonic instability could be created by overloading the generatorium grid of the planet's main prison complex. The resulting explosion would pierce the world's crust, thereby causing a meltdown to "sing" through the planet's outer crust and into its mantle. This would cause the crust, followed by the planetary mantle, to tear itself apart. The only drawback to this plan was that such an objective would need to be completed by a team of operatives on the ground, for it could not be attempted remotely. A special team was assembled in short order and given the moniker "Strike Force Herald." It was composed of an unlikely mix which included Astartes from the Space Wolves, Howling Griffons, Subjugators and Iron Knights Chapters, three squads from three different Imperial Guard regiments, a Death Cult Assassin, five Tech-priests and a number of additional support personnel, in addition to an unnamed pair of Inquisitors. This small force was assembled in under a solar hour after the Cadian High Command approved the plan, and it immediately left for Saint Josmane's Hope. Twenty-four solar hours before this strike force was due to achieve its objective, the evacuation order was issued to those few forces the Imperium still commanded on the surface of Saint Josmane's Hope. The order was given after Strike Force Herald made planetfall.Following the issue of the evacuation order, Imperial forces upon the planet began a fighting withdrawal worthy of the greatest of commanders. Never had anyone heard or read of such heroism as was displayed during the desperate rearguard actions of that day. Regiments laid down their lives so that entire armies could escape to their transports. Even as those transports departed, men stood their ground at the overrun landing areas and fought to the death rather than board the escape vessels, so determined were they that their comrades should live to fight another day. The Imperial force's plan was ultimately successful and Saint Josmane's Hope was destroyed. Unfortunately, none of the operatives of Strike Force Herald survived to return to Cadia after carrying out this desperate mission to tell the tale of their own heroics.