The forge world of Draconis IV dispatched 428-Sigma Skitarii Hunter Cohort, under the command of Archmagos Dominus Theta Rho, to join Battle Group Hephaestus in their advance into the Nephilim Sub-sector, to display their fealty to Mars and Archmagos Dominus Belisarius Cawl. More so to Cawl, for the Tech-priests and Magi of Draconis IV favor his doctrines and attitudes toward research more than the dogmatic approach of the broader Adeptus Mechanicus. His small fleet punched through the veil and deep into the Nephilim Sub-sector, reaching the Vertigus system and reestablishing connections with the fallen forge world of Kuroishi.
Having detected immense deposits of noctilith in Kuroishi, Theta Rho dispatched 428-Sigma Skitarii Hunter Cohort to the surface to secure the ruined manufactorums and facilities of the forge world, delegating combat command to Skitarii Marshal Sigma 44-Kariya. 44-Kariya was instructed to oversee the fabrication of excavation sites and defend them from any interlopers, xenos or heretic.
Sigma 44-Kariya's first maniple encountered an awakening Necron tomb buried beneath the surface of Kuroishi - the xenos automatons having eradicated the population in the forge world. The Necrons responded to the Skitarii's presence, awakening once more when servitors began drilling and digging through the planet's crust to get at the blackstone deposits. They responded in force, sending waves of Lokhust Destroyers, Skorpekh Destroyers and undying legions of Warriors and Immortals, led by a Destroyer Lord and technomancer. Reinforced by Sir Kanda's Cerastus Knight Lancer, the Skitarii Rangers, Onager Dunecrawler and a Sydnonian Dragoon squadron led by Delta Yari fought off the Necrons and buried their tomb complex, sealing them in the subterranean caverns.
With the Necrons defeated, the Mechanicus force could resume excavation of the noctilith.
Unfortunately, 428-Sigma Cohort didn't have much of a respite, for Blitzog and his SpeedWaaagh! descended upon Kuroishi shortly after the defeat of the Necrons. The Orks rode on haphazardly constructed buggies, ramshackle trukks and smoking warbikes, surging through the dust and wrecked husks of manufactorums before crashing into the lines of the Skitarii.
The Orks all but annihilated the Skitarii, and it was only thanks to the valiant efforts of Sir Kanda, his Knight suit standing strong after the catastrophe, that the Adeptus Mechanicus was able to hold a tenuous grip on the excavation site. Fortunately, Blitzog and his Waaagh! were distracted by a newly teleported phalanx of Necrons who had warped in to attempt to seize Kuroishi from the Humans, and the Knight scion wisely left the two xenos to duke it out with each other.
While the Orks and Necrons fought, the Adeptus Mechanicus repaired and rebuilt their defenses, as well as reactivated the idle Servitors who had survived the greenskin onslaught.
Fortunately, Kuroishi entered a brief moment of peace, with the Adeptus Mechanicus able to conduct their harvesting operations undisturbed. For over a month, it appeared that the forge world had slipped under the radar of both marauding Orks and insidious Necrons alike, and Archmagos Theta-Rho was able to extract tremendous amounts of backstone from the planet.
However, the Vertigus system entered a period of turmoil. With Vashtorr and Wyrmwood appearing in the Nephilim Sub-sector, the calamitous consequences of Myrmidominus Ghelf's reckless use of weapons from the Dark Age of Technology in the Skahren System, Chaos warbands had spread across the sub-sector to pursue their own nefarious objectives. One of the warbands - a Chaos Space Marine corsair fleet - descended upon Kuroishi with fire and fury, bringing an armored spearhead and heavy weaponry.
Swollen with the gifts of their new dark patrons, the recently fallen Renegade Chapter vastly underestimated the heavily dug-in Skitarii forces. Their first incursion was crushed, with Skitarii Marshal Rho 29-Tataki taking over command from the preoccupied Sigma 44-Kariya. Archmagos Theta-Rho had reshuffled his personnel upon receiving new supplies and orders from Archmagos Belisarius Cawl, and 44-Kariya had decided to delegate his command while swapping out an Onager Dunecrawler for a Skorpius Dunerider and more Skitarii infantry for a more mobile force.
Despite the humiliating defeat, the Renegade warband launched a new assault a week later, freshly reinforced with more tanks and heavy weaponry. Having learned their lesson from the previous loss, they ambushed the reeling Skitarii with savage fury, tearing open the Skorpius Dunerider and grievously wounding 29-Tataki before he could direct the maniple's retaliation.
Fortunately, the surviving Skitarii rallied around Sir Kanda, who once again led the Mechanicus forces to victory with his superb piloting skills. Despite the Renegades' immense firepower, Sir Kanda was somehow able to weather the onslaught before trampling them under his Knight's titanic feet. Unlike the previous battle, though, the carnage the Traitors had wrought was devastating. By the end of the conflict, only Sir Kanda and two of Delta Yari's Sydonian Dragoons were left standing.
The Drukhari, ever opportunistic, had watched Kuroishi greedily, seeking to abduct the cyborg warriors for sport. Paired with Corsairs who had just freshly expelled another Mechanicus force from a maiden world, the combined Eldar fleet swooped upon the Mechanicus dig site, eager for a fresh harvest of souls and pain. For the Corsairs, who made up the primary core of the army, they sought only vengeance, for they held a grudge against these men of metal for despoiling their maiden world.
Even though 428-Sigma Cohort wasn't involved in that whole debacle...
The Skitarii were taken entirely by surprise, their infantry wiped out by the xenos raiders. The Drukhari and Corsairs annihilated the maniple stationed around the dig site, with Sir Kanda the sole survivor as he alone fought against the increasing tide of Drukhari. Ultimately, the first clash ended in a stalemate, with the remaining Corsairs unable to do anything against the titanic Knight suit. The Mandrakes and Venoms were forced to retreat, unable to harvest any new souls or abductions, while the Mechanicus failed to defend the excavation site, which now lay in ruins.
The Archon, furious at the failure, launched a second consecutive raid, despite strong and vocal objections from his closest Corsair advisors. The ill-advised raid was crushed by Skitarii reinforcements, who had analyzed the combat data from the previous conflict, and put down skimmers and Dark Eldar alike with cold, calculated firing solutions. Sir Kanda's Knight once again stood strong in the middle, guarding the exacavation site like an indestructible sentinel.
Licking his wounds, the Archon pulled back for now, determined to return with more firepower in the future.
The Archon would get his revenge, launching a third raid that slew Skitarii Marshal Rho 29-Tataki and his Vanguard retinue, massacre the Skitarii infantry guarding the site, and even destroyed Sir Kanda's venerable Cerastus Knight Lancer. Rho 29-Tataki's maniple was so thoroughly annihilated that nothing remained of them. Skitarii Marshal Sigma 44-Kariya was forced to return and personally take command.
Fortunately, as if the Omnissiah had foreseen this, his cohort received fresh and new upgrades, including a slew of improved armaments on the Cohort's many Onager Dunecrawlers and Ironstrider Ballistarii, as well as improvements to the existing Imperative Doctrinas. The new maniple under Sigma 44-Kariya's personal command returned to Kuroishi to seize it back from the carvorting Dark Eldar and Corsairs that now occupied the conquered forge world. Though he had less infantry under his command than Rho 29-Tataki, 44-Kariya fielded a lot more walkers, relying more on armor and vehicles to drown his enemies in devastating volleys.
Along with Sato's Armiger Warglaive and Kaji's Armiger Moirax, which replaced the wrecked Cerastus Knight Lancer of Sir Kanda, 44-Kariya exacted vengeance upon the Drukhari and Corsairs, flushing out the Eldar and thoroughly eradicating them from the forge world's surface.
The disgruntled Archon, upon being reconstituted after his disgraceful death, gathered more reinforcements this time and pushed for another raid almost immediately.
This time, the Skitarii lost half their forces, but they dug in resiliently and slowly but surely overwhelmed the invading xenos with their immense firepower. Despite losing their Armigers, who fell bravely in the thick of charging Corsairs and their Dark Lances, the newly improved weapons of the Onager Dunecrawlers and Ironstrider Ballistarii were able to turn the tide. Between exotic neutron lasers, reliable cognis twin lascannons and voluminous Icarus array, they were able to wipe out the majority of the Drukhari-Corsair Skysplinter fleet and force them to retreat.
Kuroishi remains firmly in the hands of the Mechanicus for now, and excavation operations remain underway as Servitors continue to extract immense quantities of blackstone. Aside from the renegade warband, Vashtorr has yet to send any other forces to the Vertigus System - or to Kuroishi - and Skitarii Marshal Sigma 44-Kariya and his 428-Sigma Skitarii Hunter Cohort stand ready to defend it from any interlopers and raiders.
In time, Archmagos Theta-Rho intends to reestablish and rebuild this forge world, presumably as his private domain or perhaps as a fief of Draconis IV. However, with the intensifying presence of both Necrons and Chaos alike in the Nephilim Sub-sector, the cogitators are unable to calculate any solid estimations of his chances of success. Nonetheless, Theta-Rho vows to uphold his oaths to Archmagos Belisarius Cawl and contribute to the Prime Conduit's Great Work, whether it is to harvest noctilith or to seek a method of shutting down the Necrons' contra-immaterial nodal matrix or subverting the xenos mega-construct to their own uses.
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