The 13th Black Crusade

[Gree]

Though the Imperial Navy is in control of the inter-system space lanes, Chaos rules the skies above Cadia since the orbital defences fell in the opening days of the Black Crusade. - Final Newsletter

 

Cadian (sector) - Initial Control = 85% ........... Final Control = 100% .......... Status = Faithful

Cadian (system) - Initial Control = 92% ...........Final Control = 29.4% .......... Status = Unreliable

 

That is helpful, but that still doesn't really answer every other planet. That was kinda my point.

 

Ahriman was trying to reach the Black Library.

 

Again, if they can just teleport anywhere then why bother with the Cadian Gate at all?

[Eetion]

I do agree with you on the teleporting. Chaos surely has the capacity to teleprt but not in any mass capacity.

Chaos has always been able to leave the eye, the cadian gate can be bypassed however, a ship here and there. But for a mass invasion the gate is only the way through.

 

I referenced manufactorums being smashed due to mordax prime and mechanucus facilites being under control of the green kroosade. The agri worlds were wrecked as pretty much all og them were under chaos control in the Agripaa sector.

 

I agree the imeprial navy does give imeprium an edge but there are things and places just too valuable to destroy. If they are all just glassed from orbit, the imperium has virtually no chance of long term holding of the sectors as they would have no supplies, arms or food. The imeprial navy would be thrown onto convoy defence or assault.

 

The imerium if they want any shot at holding the cadian gate on a long term basis need to get boots on the ground.

[Lay]

That is helpful, but that still doesn't really answer every other planet. That was kinda my point.

Lemme see:

With Imperial Navy reinforcements bolstering the defence of the Cadian Gate, Abaddon has unveiled the next phase of his plan to bring the region to its knees. The Word Bearers Legion, led by the Dark Apostle and arch blasphemer Erebus, has enacted a terrible ritual upon the worlds it has captured, sacrificing the lives of innocents by the million.

 

The raw stuff of the Warp has been unleashed, pouring through the rents in the thin skein of reality created by their incantations, and calling up vast Warp storms across the region. Many outlying sectors such as Scelus and Caliban are now engulfed in raging tempests, some simply cut off from aid, others reduced to shifting realms of madness as the denizens of the Empyrean run riot across entire worlds. Ibrium is amongst the worst affected worlds; where once proud Ecclesiarchy Cathedrals stood, now blasphemous monuments to the powers of the Warp proclaim the dominion of Chaos. Across the sector, where kilometre-high Hive cities once pieced the clouds, now gargantuan charnel houses dominate worlds forever lost to Man.

[...]

Solar Flares

This card affects the planets of the Cadia system in favor of Both Sides.

The increase in Warp Flare activity has an effect on all the stars in proximity to the Eye of Terror. Solar flares begin to occur in a dangerously unpredictable fashion presenting a hazard to shipping and communications

The diabolical magicks enacted by Erebus of the Word Bearers Legion so many weeks past have now come to fruition. Through the sacrifice of a million innocents, the very Warp has vomited through the thin skein of reality, to burst across the domains of Man. The entire region is wracked by Warp storms so intense that inter-system travel is now impossible. As the last reinforcements gather in those sectors not cut off- Cadia, Agripinaa, Belis Corona, Scarus and Chinchare, it is clear to every defender of the Cadian Gate that the war has entered its final stages. Exactly what the future holds, no man can see, but none can deny that a terrible time of reckoning is upon the Imperium.

With that in mind, the Final Newsletter might make more sense:

The Thirteenth Black Crusade has broken the Imperium’s hold upon the Cadian Gate- perhaps forever. The raging tempest of the Eye of Terror has surged forth, engulfing those worlds lost to Chaos. The Imperium no longer bars the gate to the Eye, only a small channel remains through which Imperial Navy vessels may pass to bring aid to the desperate forces upon Cadia.

 

At the close of the Thirteenth Black Crusade, Cadia still stands. But she stands alone, a failing beacon flickering against the encroaching night. Total war is come to Segmentum Obscurus, and all hopes of repelling the invaders are dashed. The Imperium must now consolidate its grip upon those worlds it still holds, and prepare to fight a war that will not end within the lifetime of any of its combatants.

So right now, there's 5 sectors the Imperium could reclaim. The rest is blocked by warp storms.

[Gree]

That is helpful, but that still doesn't really answer every other planet. That was kinda my point.

Lemme see:

With Imperial Navy reinforcements bolstering the defence of the Cadian Gate, Abaddon has unveiled the next phase of his plan to bring the region to its knees. The Word Bearers Legion, led by the Dark Apostle and arch blasphemer Erebus, has enacted a terrible ritual upon the worlds it has captured, sacrificing the lives of innocents by the million.

 

The raw stuff of the Warp has been unleashed, pouring through the rents in the thin skein of reality created by their incantations, and calling up vast Warp storms across the region. Many outlying sectors such as Scelus and Caliban are now engulfed in raging tempests, some simply cut off from aid, others reduced to shifting realms of madness as the denizens of the Empyrean run riot across entire worlds. Ibrium is amongst the worst affected worlds; where once proud Ecclesiarchy Cathedrals stood, now blasphemous monuments to the powers of the Warp proclaim the dominion of Chaos. Across the sector, where kilometre-high Hive cities once pieced the clouds, now gargantuan charnel houses dominate worlds forever lost to Man.

[...]

Solar Flares

This card affects the planets of the Cadia system in favor of Both Sides.

The increase in Warp Flare activity has an effect on all the stars in proximity to the Eye of Terror. Solar flares begin to occur in a dangerously unpredictable fashion presenting a hazard to shipping and communications

The diabolical magicks enacted by Erebus of the Word Bearers Legion so many weeks past have now come to fruition. Through the sacrifice of a million innocents, the very Warp has vomited through the thin skein of reality, to burst across the domains of Man. The entire region is wracked by Warp storms so intense that inter-system travel is now impossible. As the last reinforcements gather in those sectors not cut off- Cadia, Agripinaa, Belis Corona, Scarus and Chinchare, it is clear to every defender of the Cadian Gate that the war has entered its final stages. Exactly what the future holds, no man can see, but none can deny that a terrible time of reckoning is upon the Imperium.

With that in mind, the Final Newsletter might make more sense:

The Thirteenth Black Crusade has broken the Imperium’s hold upon the Cadian Gate- perhaps forever. The raging tempest of the Eye of Terror has surged forth, engulfing those worlds lost to Chaos. The Imperium no longer bars the gate to the Eye, only a small channel remains through which Imperial Navy vessels may pass to bring aid to the desperate forces upon Cadia.

 

At the close of the Thirteenth Black Crusade, Cadia still stands. But she stands alone, a failing beacon flickering against the encroaching night. Total war is come to Segmentum Obscurus, and all hopes of repelling the invaders are dashed. The Imperium must now consolidate its grip upon those worlds it still holds, and prepare to fight a war that will not end within the lifetime of any of its combatants.

So right now, there's 5 sectors the Imperium could reclaim. The rest is blocked by warp storms.

 

Ah, I stand corrected. Very well, I concede the point.

[Gree]

*snip*

 

Actually I'm not quite done. What about this?

 

"Tiny patrols, at first hopelessly outnumbered and often overwhelmed by Abaddon's invasion, mustered together into battlefleets numbering hundreds of vessels. Space Marine Chapiers committed their own fleets to the war in space and soon the Imperial Navy stood as an unbreakable circle of iron around Abaddon's forces. Where they had once failed to contain Abaddon's fleets as they emerged from the Eye. they now did just that to Abaddon's forces across Cadia. Agnpmaa and a dozen other sectors, isolating them completely from one another. Abaddon's conquest of the worlds outlying the Eye of Terror may be almost complete, but by the grace of the Imperial Navy, few reinforcements were able to bolster his forces toward the end of the campaign. Some have said that it is for this reason alone Cadia still belongs in the material realm."

 

That's from the ''Death by a thousand cuts'' White Dwarf.

[Lay]

Huh, good point.

 

The only example of the Black Crusade advancing beyond this point has been retconned, so I got nothing. Still, the Imperium can only secure those planets not isolated by the warp.

[Eetion]

That does suggest that my interpretation is correct. That they don't control orbit of cadia, blockading the systems and worlds threatened, abaddons fleets and armies blockaded.

[Darog]

http://i1066.photobucket.com/albums/u404/Max_Golovanov/13_zps92df1b64.jpg
 

WARHAMMER 40,000 WORLDWIDE CAMPAIGN

THE FINAL HOURS By Graham McNeill

 

 

I

The lance beam tore through the mid-deck of the Bastion of Light,

vaporising its plasma reactor in a heartbeat. The rear quarter of the

ship heaved as the colossal energies released tore her apart in an explosion

that lit up the darkness of space above Cadia with oxygen-rich flames.

Admiral Quarren watched its demise through the viewing bay of his

battle-scarred flagship, Gathalamor, and felt what little chance of victory

they had had in this battle slip away. Over a dozen Imperial vessels were

little more than blazing hulks drifting in space and they had barely

scratched the surface of the corrupted Blackstone Fortress. The Eldar ships

had taken a savage beating, their alien magicks unable to protect them from

the horrendous amount of firepower directed against them. Two listed

drunkenly, their curved foresails sagging and broken across their

ripped hulls and a third blazed from prow to stern. But the fourth…

whoever its captain was, Quarren had to admit he was a master of

manoeuvre, slipping through the deadly barrages from the Chaos fleet

like liquid. Men and ships of the Imperial Navy were dying to give the

Eldar ship the opportunity to close with the Blackstone Fortress, and

Quarren just hoped their sacrifice would not be in vain.



II

Eldrad Ulthran, Farseer of Ulthwй, felt utterly blind, senses attuned to

the whispers of futures not yet born rendered mute by the encroaching

darkness. He could sense nothing of the future and his sudden impotence

left him feeling cold and alone. Was this how the Mon-Keigh felt all the

time? How could they stand to live in such blindness, stumbling towards

the future with no possible idea of what awaited them? For a brief

second he was moved to pity this sightless, upstart race, before

remembering the injustices they had inflicted on his race; the unthinking

xenocidal massacres, the theft of Eldar Maiden worlds and the

arrogance to believe that the galaxy was theirs to do with as they wished.

The Isha’ra rocked with nearby explosions from ordnance launched by

the Chaos fleet, but Craftmaster Kaelisar was the best ship’s captain of

Ulthwй and he deftly
piloted his vessel through the storm of fire

unscathed. The corrupted Talisman of Vaul loomed before them, its twisted

spires warped beyond the subtle grace crafted long ago by Eldar hands.

Hundreds of explosions burst around it as the combined Eldar and Imperial

ships fought desperately to reach the Talisman.

Behind Eldrad, a cabal of Warlocks surrounded a swirling blue

nimbus of light, weaving their psychic powers into one powerful

lance of energy that sought to unlock the ancient seals holding the

wraithgate aboard the Talisman closed.

Powerful wards held it shut, but now the Warlocks sought to undo those

wards and allow their Farseer to travel through the webway and board

the Talisman. Even as he watched, a dazzlingly bright light flared beneath

the Talisman, a blazing column that speared towards the surface of the

planet below.

”Hurry,” said Eldrad. ”We are running out of time.”



III

Lieutenant Escarno slumped against the rockcrete parapet of the Kasr’s

bastion, feeling blood pouring from the gaping wounds in his side. He

felt dizzy from blood loss and fatigue. On any normal engagement,

he and his men would have been rotated away from the front line, but

this was no normal engagement. There were simply no more men to feed

the war machine and any man capable of holding a gun stood before the

enemy. The soldiers of the Imperial Guard had fought beyond the limits

of endurance and only their determination to do their duty to the

God-Emperor kept them fighting.

Thudding booms marched through the ruins of the outer Kasr,

its bastions reduced to rubble by constant bombardment from daemonic

artillery. All that remained was the inner keep, its high adamantine walls

proof against anything the enemy could throw at it. The fighting

around him raged with undiminished ferocity as he collapsed to his knees,

though the sounds seemed tinny and far away. He saw comrades and foe

alike, struggling atop blood-slick ramparts, bullets and lasbolts

ricocheting around him as the rockcrete of the firing step rushed

up to meet him and slammed into his face. He rolled onto his back,

realising he was lying on the ground as he felt warm blood pool beneath

him – though he could feel no pain.

Through the shattered parapet, he could see tens of thousands – more

even? – of the warriors of the enemy massing before the walls. They

stretched as far as the eye could see and even as his vision blurred, he

knew there was no way they could stand before such a monstrous horde.

But then he saw a miracle, a shining light piercing the heavens that lit up

the clouds with a pure brilliance that could only be the fury of the

Emperor come to punish these traitors that dared to defile His

world. He smiled and watched as a rippling cascade of blazing light

dropped from the skies and touched the surface of Cadia, setting its

surface alight. White-hot fires leapt from the ground, a thousand metre

high pillar of light that incinerated everything in its path. Distant screams

echoed from far off and Escarno wept tears of joy as the kilometres-wide

curtain of fire scorched the Chaos filth from the surface of his world.

They had held for long enough and he smiled as he died, content to

know that he had done his duty.



IV

”We’re finished…” said one of

Creed’s advisors, watching the

incandescent curtain of fire searing

its way towards the inner keep.

Though tens of thousands of the

enemy were dying, the lethal energy

was slowly, but inexorably, moving

towards them. It would kill those

opposing them, but it would destroy

them also, and with them, the last

Cadian bastion of the east.

Ursarkar Creed rounded on his

advisor and snarled, ”I won’t hear

that kind of talk, damn it. Anyone

else voices an opinion like that and

I’ll shoot him myself.”

”Sir,” said Jarran Kell, softly.

”He may be right. If the xenos do

not succeed soon, there will be

nothing left of Kasr Partox. The

lexmechanics calculate the energy

beam will reach the walls of the

keep within the hour.”

Creed said nothing, his face set

in an expression of grim resolve as

he stared across the blasted wasteland

towards the deadly beam that reached

from space to destroy his world.

”Come on,” he whispered, raising

his head skyward. ”Do not fail us…”



V

An explosion of psychic energy

lashed around the bridge of the

Isha’ra, crackling arcs of lightning

leaping from the cabal of Warlocks

and felling them with powerful

psychic backlash. Eldrad clutched his

head, gritting his teeth in pain as

the screaming darkness of the longsealed

webway portal rushed free in

a wash of shrieking souls. A

howling gale of warp-spawned

energies rippled from the rent in

space, smashing delicate wraithbone

columns and tearing gracefully

curved panels free from the walls.

Eldrad picked himself up as the

screeching subsided and saw a dark

edged ripple of energy gently

spinning in a circle of dazed

Warlocks. Some, he saw, were

already dead, their spirit stones

cracked and dark and he felt a great

sadness at the thought of their souls

devoured by the Great Enemy.

He glanced over his shoulder,

seeing the Talisman’s deadly beam

still blazing in space, a column of

unimaginable power that would scour

the surface of the Mon-Keigh planet

bare of life. He limped across the

buckled deck of the Isha’ra,

shouting, ”Warlocks! With me!”

before plunging into the newly

reopened wraithgate.



VI

The walls were abandoned, the

stonework first vitrifying, then

melting as the fiery beam swept

slowly onwards. Where it had passed,

the ground was nothing more than

molten slag, smoking and dead,

barren forever more. The outer walls

of the keep were gone, its proud

towers and barbicans sliding from

the walls like wax from a candle,

and Ursarkar Creed knew he had

failed. They could not hold Kasr

Partox and the only option left to

them was retreat. The Commissars

talked of dying to a man, but Creed

knew that while there was still a

chance to resist, they would not be

needlessly sacrificing themselves. The

order to pull out had been given

and the soldiers of the Guard and

the Space Marines were pulling back

to the docks and loading bays at the

shores of the Caducades Sea, ready

to make for Kasr Gallan to stand

once more.

Crushing disappointment settled

over him like a shroud and he

cursed the name of the Despoiler.

He cursed the Eldar seer for giving

them hope and, most of all, he

cursed himself for his own failure

to defeat the Emperor’s enemies.



VII

Eldrad felt his soul smothered with

darkness as he set foot on the

perverted Talisman of Vaul. He

retched, feeling the corrupted heart

of the Talisman thirst for his essence.

Like a dark mirror of the spirit

stone he wore around his neck, it

hungered to drink his very soul and

torment it forever within its

crystalline depths. A handful of

Warlocks had managed to join him,

two fighting to hold the wraithgate

open that they might escape. Wasted

effort, knew Eldrad, but he could not

bring himself to tell them that.

He limped towards the centre of

the chamber, a Warlock collapsing

before him as his soul was drained

from his body by the corrupted,

thirsting heart of the Talisman. He

passed the corpse, little more than a

shrivelled sack of bones, making his

way to where a great basalt wall

displayed the furious battle raging

outside. The Imperial ships were

taking a heavy beating and it would

not be long before they were

annihilated. He squatted in the centre

of the chamber, slowing his breathing

as he entered a trance-like state that

would allow him to commune with

the Talisman’s heart – the corrupted

spirit stone at its centre. If he could

somehow reach the part of it that

remembered the glory it had once

possessed, then there was a chance. A

chance, nothing more than that, but

it was all he had.



VIII

Admiral Quarren clutched the brass

rail of his command lectern as

another impact slammed into the side

of the Gathalamor, red warning runes

flashing and the sacristy bell chiming

in alarm. Flames and smoke spewed

from cracked vents and he could tell

his vessel was dying. Through the

viewing bay, he could see predatory

Chaos battleships closing with his

vessel and knew that this was the

end. A shark-nosed enemy cruiser

turned its prow towards the

Gathalamor and Quarren knew that a

salvo of torpedoes was seconds away

from being launched.

But then a series of rippling

explosions blossomed along the flanks

of the Chaos ship and portions of its

hull were ripped from its structure as

flaring bolts of lightning enveloped it.

Confused, Quarren shouted, ”Wide

aperture on viewing bay!”

Seconds later, he saw a sight

that he had never expected to see in

all his years with the Imperial Navy.

Huge, silvered ships, shaped like

crescent moons swooped across the

Chaos battle line, crackling bolts of

energy hammering the Chaos vessels

with devastating close-range firepower

as they raced towards the Blackstone.

Quarren’s heart skipped a beat as he

saw enemy ship after enemy ship

reduced to wreckage by the

unexpected arrivals. Quarren

recognised the alien ships from the

briefings he had attended at Cypria

Mundi. Necrontyr. He knew them

for the deadliest enemies, yet here

they were attacking the Chaos ships!



IX

Centuries of malice and hatred filled

Eldrad’s mind. Centuries of pain,

torment and anguish. The heart of

the Talisman burned with rage at

what had been done to it, and as he

opened his mind to its pain, he

knew that he had made a grave

mistake in attempting to reach out to

what had once made this ancient

Talisman Eldar. The anguished

remnants of the Talisman’s

consciousness had long since died,

replaced with a vile, hateful core of

ever-thirsting darkness, and as it

reached out to claim him, he realised

in horror that it was no random

power of the Dark Gods that had

corrupted the Talisman. It was the

power of She Who Thirsts, The

Great Enemy… Slaanesh.

Eldrad tried to free his spirit

from the Talisman, but it was already

too late. The darkness reached out to

swallow him and his soul was

dragged screaming into the depthless

heart of the Blackstone Fortress for

all eternity.



X

Ursarkar Creed stood on the shores

of the Caducades Sea. He had

watched with heavy heart as the

dazzling beam of light from the

heavens destroyed the last remnants

of Kasr Partox. Its proud walls had

collapsed in a blazing pyre, smoke

billowing into the sky from the

destruction of the fortress as

intolerable heat advanced towards the

shoreline. Though the beam had since

vanished, the day here was lost, any

fool could see that. All that was left

to them was vengeance. The Eldar

had been obliterated and the alien

ships that had unexpectedly come to

their aid were gone; wiped out in an

instant by the Blackstone’s terrifying

defences. Admiral Quarren had

informed him that victorious Imperial

ships from other sectors were even

now converging on Cadia, forcing the

Blackstone to disengage – though the

damage it had inflicted before

departing was incalculable.

”Sir,” called Jarran Kell, from

the open hatch of a Valkyrie flyer.

”We have to go.”

”We lost…” said Creed, his voice

hollow and flat.

”This time,” replied Kell, ”but

there will be other times, sir. Kasr

Gallan still stands and while we live,

we have hope. The Emperor

protects.”

”Aye,” agreed Creed. ‘The

Emperor protects…”

Creed took one last look at the

ruins of his fortress and turned to

join his soldiers.

 

[*Furyou Miko]

Oh, dark gods, the formatting... THE FORMATTING!

[Kol Saresk]

 

 

I

 

The lance beam tore through the mid-deck of the Bastion of Light, vaporising its plasma reactor in a heartbeat. The rear quarter of the ship heaved as the colossal energies released tore her apart in an explosion that lit up the darkness of space above Cadia with oxygen-rich flames. Admiral Quarren watched its demise through the viewing bay of his battle-scarred flagship, Gathalamor, and felt what little chance of victory they had had in this battle slip away. Over a dozen Imperial vessels were little more than blazing hulks drifting in space and they had barely scratched the surface of the corrupted Blackstone Fortress. The Eldar ships had taken a savage beating, their alien magicks unable to protect them from the horrendous amount of firepower directed against them. Two listed drunkenly, their curved foresails sagging and broken across their ripped hulls and a third blazed from prow to stern. But the fourth… whoever its captain was, Quarren had to admit he was a master of manoeuvre, slipping through the deadly barrages from the Chaos fleet like liquid. Men and ships of the Imperial Navy were dying to give the Eldar ship the opportunity to close with the Blackstone Fortress, and Quarren just hoped their sacrifice would not be in vain.

 

II

 

Eldrad Ulthran, Farseer of Ulthwй, felt utterly blind, senses attuned to the whispers of futures not yet born rendered mute by the encroaching darkness. He could sense nothing of the future and his sudden impotence left him feeling cold and alone. Was this how the Mon-Keigh felt all the time? How could they stand to live in such blindness, stumbling towards the future with no possible idea of what awaited them? For a brief second he was moved to pity this sightless, upstart race, before remembering the injustices they had inflicted on his race; the unthinking xenocidal massacres, the theft of Eldar Maiden worlds and the arrogance to believe that the galaxy was theirs to do with as they wished. The Isha’ra rocked with nearby explosions from ordnance launched by the Chaos fleet, but Craftmaster Kaelisar was the best ship’s captain of Ulthwй and he deftly piloted his vessel through the storm of fire unscathed.

 

The corrupted Talisman of Vaul loomed before them, its twisted spires warped beyond the subtle grace crafted long ago by Eldar hands. Hundreds of explosions burst around it as the combined Eldar and Imperial ships fought desperately to reach the Talisman. Behind Eldrad, a cabal of Warlocks surrounded a swirling blue nimbus of light, weaving their psychic powers into one powerful lance of energy that sought to unlock the ancient seals holding the wraithgate aboard the Talisman closed. Powerful wards held it shut, but now the Warlocks sought to undo those wards and allow their Farseer to travel through the webway and board the Talisman. Even as he watched, a dazzlingly bright light flared beneath the Talisman, a blazing column that speared towards the surface of the planet below.

 

”Hurry,” said Eldrad. ”We are running out of time.”

 

III

 

Lieutenant Escarno slumped against the rockcrete parapet of the Kasr’s bastion, feeling blood pouring from the gaping wounds in his side. He felt dizzy from blood loss and fatigue. On any normal engagement, he and his men would have been rotated away from the front line, but this was no normal engagement. There were simply no more men to feed the war machine and any man capable of holding a gun stood before the enemy. The soldiers of the Imperial Guard had fought beyond the limits of endurance and only their determination to do their duty to the God-Emperor kept them fighting. Thudding booms marched through the ruins of the outer Kasr, its bastions reduced to rubble by constant bombardment from daemonic artillery. All that remained was the inner keep, its high adamantine walls proof against anything the enemy could throw at it. The fighting around him raged with undiminished ferocity as he collapsed to his knees, though the sounds seemed tinny and far away. He saw comrades and foe alike, struggling atop blood-slick ramparts, bullets and lasbolts ricocheting around him as the rockcrete of the firing step rushed up to meet him and slammed into his face. He rolled onto his back, realising he was lying on the ground as he felt warm blood pool beneath him – though he could feel no pain. Through the shattered parapet, he could see tens of thousands – more even? – of the warriors of the enemy massing before the walls. They stretched as far as the eye could see and even as his vision blurred, he knew there was no way they could stand before such a monstrous horde. But then he saw a miracle, a shining light piercing the heavens that lit up the clouds with a pure brilliance that could only be the fury of the Emperor come to punish these traitors that dared to defile His world. He smiled and watched as a rippling cascade of blazing light dropped from the skies and touched the surface of Cadia, setting its surface alight. White-hot fires leapt from the ground, a thousand metre high pillar of light that incinerated everything in its path. Distant screams echoed from far off and Escarno wept tears of joy as the kilometres-wide curtain of fire scorched the Chaos filth from the surface of his world. They had held for long enough and he smiled as he died, content to know that he had done his duty.

 

IV

 

”We’re finished…” said one of Creed’s advisors, watching the incandescent curtain of fire searing its way towards the inner keep. Though tens of thousands of the enemy were dying, the lethal energy was slowly, but inexorably, moving towards them. It would kill those opposing them, but it would destroy them also, and with them, the last Cadian bastion of the east. Ursarkar Creed rounded on his advisor and snarled, ”I won’t hear that kind of talk, damn it. Anyone else voices an opinion like that and I’ll shoot him myself.”

 

”Sir,” said Jarran Kell, softly.

 

”He may be right. If the xenos do not succeed soon, there will be nothing left of Kasr Partox. The lexmechanics calculate the energy beam will reach the walls of the keep within the hour.”

 

Creed said nothing, his face set in an expression of grim resolve as he stared across the blasted wasteland towards the deadly beam that reached from space to destroy his world. ”Come on,” he whispered, raising his head skyward. ”Do not fail us…”

 

V

 

An explosion of psychic energy lashed around the bridge of the Isha’ra, crackling arcs of lightning leaping from the cabal of Warlocks and felling them with powerful psychic backlash. Eldrad clutched his head, gritting his teeth in pain as the screaming darkness of the longsealed webway portal rushed free in a wash of shrieking souls. A howling gale of warp-spawned energies rippled from the rent in space, smashing delicate wraithbone columns and tearing gracefully curved panels free from the walls. Eldrad picked himself up as the screeching subsided and saw a dark edged ripple of energy gently spinning in a circle of dazed Warlocks. Some, he saw, were already dead, their spirit stones cracked and dark and he felt a great sadness at the thought of their souls devoured by the Great Enemy. He glanced over his shoulder, seeing the Talisman’s deadly beam still blazing in space, a column of unimaginable power that would scour the surface of the Mon-Keigh planet bare of life. He limped across the buckled deck of the Isha’ra, shouting, ”Warlocks! With me!” before plunging into the newly reopened wraithgate.

 

VI

 

The walls were abandoned, the stonework first vitrifying, then melting as the fiery beam swept slowly onwards. Where it had passed, the ground was nothing more than molten slag, smoking and dead, barren forever more. The outer walls of the keep were gone, its proud towers and barbicans sliding from the walls like wax from a candle, and Ursarkar Creed knew he had failed. They could not hold Kasr Partox and the only option left to them was retreat. The Commissars talked of dying to a man, but Creed knew that while there was still a chance to resist, they would not be needlessly sacrificing themselves. The order to pull out had been given and the soldiers of the Guard and the Space Marines were pulling back to the docks and loading bays at the shores of the Caducades Sea, ready to make for Kasr Gallan to stand once more.

 

Crushing disappointment settled over him like a shroud and he cursed the name of the Despoiler. He cursed the Eldar seer for giving them hope and, most of all, he cursed himself for his own failure to defeat the Emperor’s enemies.

 

VII

 

Eldrad felt his soul smothered with darkness as he set foot on the perverted Talisman of Vaul. He retched, feeling the corrupted heart of the Talisman thirst for his essence. Like a dark mirror of the spirit stone he wore around his neck, it hungered to drink his very soul and torment it forever within its crystalline depths. A handful of Warlocks had managed to join him, two fighting to hold the wraithgate open that they might escape. Wasted effort, knew Eldrad, but he could not bring himself to tell them that. He limped towards the centre of the chamber, a Warlock collapsing before him as his soul was drained from his body by the corrupted, thirsting heart of the Talisman. He passed the corpse, little more than a shrivelled sack of bones, making his way to where a great basalt wall displayed the furious battle raging outside. The Imperial ships were taking a heavy beating and it would not be long before they were annihilated. He squatted in the centre of the chamber, slowing his breathing as he entered a trance-like state that would allow him to commune with the Talisman’s heart – the corrupted spirit stone at its centre. If he could somehow reach the part of it that remembered the glory it had once possessed, then there was a chance. A chance, nothing more than that, but it was all he had.

 

VIII

 

Admiral Quarren clutched the brass rail of his command lectern as another impact slammed into the side of the Gathalamor, red warning runes flashing and the sacristy bell chiming in alarm. Flames and smoke spewed from cracked vents and he could tell his vessel was dying. Through the viewing bay, he could see predatory Chaos battleships closing with his vessel and knew that this was the end. A shark-nosed enemy cruiser turned its prow towards the Gathalamor and Quarren knew that a salvo of torpedoes was seconds away from being launched. But then a series of rippling explosions blossomed along the flanks of the Chaos ship and portions of its hull were ripped from its structure as flaring bolts of lightning enveloped it. Confused, Quarren shouted, ”Wide aperture on viewing bay!”

 

Seconds later, he saw a sight that he had never expected to see in all his years with the Imperial Navy. Huge, silvered ships, shaped like crescent moons swooped across the Chaos battle line, crackling bolts of energy hammering the Chaos vessels with devastating close-range firepower as they raced towards the Blackstone. Quarren’s heart skipped a beat as he saw enemy ship after enemy ship reduced to wreckage by the unexpected arrivals. Quarren recognised the alien ships from the briefings he had attended at Cypria Mundi. Necrontyr. He knew them for the deadliest enemies, yet here they were attacking the Chaos ships!

 

IX

 

Centuries of malice and hatred filled Eldrad’s mind. Centuries of pain, torment and anguish. The heart of the Talisman burned with rage at what had been done to it, and as he opened his mind to its pain, he knew that he had made a grave mistake in attempting to reach out to what had once made this ancient Talisman Eldar. The anguished remnants of the Talisman’s consciousness had long since died, replaced with a vile, hateful core of ever-thirsting darkness, and as it reached out to claim him, he realised in horror that it was no random power of the Dark Gods that had corrupted the Talisman. It was the power of She Who Thirsts, The Great Enemy… Slaanesh.

 

Eldrad tried to free his spirit from the Talisman, but it was already too late. The darkness reached out to swallow him and his soul was dragged screaming into the depthless heart of the Blackstone Fortress for all eternity.

 

X

 

Ursarkar Creed stood on the shores of the Caducades Sea. He had watched with heavy heart as the dazzling beam of light from the heavens destroyed the last remnants of Kasr Partox. Its proud walls had collapsed in a blazing pyre, smoke billowing into the sky from the destruction of the fortress as intolerable heat advanced towards the shoreline. Though the beam had since vanished, the day here was lost, any fool could see that. All that was left to them was vengeance. The Eldar had been obliterated and the alien ships that had unexpectedly come to their aid were gone; wiped out in an instant by the Blackstone’s terrifying defences. Admiral Quarren had informed him that victorious Imperial ships from other sectors were even now converging on Cadia, forcing the Blackstone to disengage – though the damage it had inflicted before departing was incalculable.

 

”Sir,” called Jarran Kell, from the open hatch of a Valkyrie flyer.

 

”We have to go.”

 

”We lost…” said Creed, his voice hollow and flat.

 

”This time,” replied Kell, ”but there will be other times, sir. Kasr Gallan still stands and while we live, we have hope. The Emperor protects.”

 

”Aye,” agreed Creed. ‘The Emperor protects…” Creed took one last look at the ruins of his fortress and turned to join his soldiers.

 

 

 

 

 

Okay, it's all reformatted for the viewing pleasure of everyone else and I. Now, I will take some advil for the headache and then I will read this latest act of threadomancy.

[*Furyou Miko]

I'd forgotten about the Necrons appearing. Actually, the version I remember ended with Eldrad dying...

[Iron Father Ferrum]

I'd forgotten about the Necrons appearing. Actually, the version I remember ended with Eldrad dying...

 

 Eh. . . . maybe.  His soul was sucked into the Blackstone, but some of his soul-infused waystones are still active, so some Eldar think that he's still "alive" somehow, somewhere, and can be retrieved.

 

Personally, I hope not.  This is supposed to be grimdark, not Marvel Comics where every dead character gets resurrected at least three times.

[*Furyou Miko]

Well, he was already resurrected by reverse timejump, so...