Battle of the Whisperhead Mountains
From Lexicanum
The Battle of the Whisperhead Mountains was the last battle that took place during the compliance of Sixty-Three Nineteen (63-19). Taking place at the end of the Great Crusade, it is chiefly worthy of notice due to the accidental release of a malignant Chaotic force by Adeptus Astartes before they were familiar with such enemies.
Contents |
Prelude
The 63rd Expeditionary Fleet had begun pacification of the world known as 63-19 some months previously, with the initial strike carried out by Astartes of the Luna Wolves Space Marine Legion. Subsequent military actions were carried out by the Byzant Janizars Imperial Army regiment attached to the Expedition, who proved successful in quelling resistance in all locations except one; the Whisperhead Mountains. The rebels, sallying forth from the mountain range, had initially managed to stip up the local inhabitants, causing violent unrest in the nearby town of Kasheri. The Imperial Army had managed to throw them back into their mountain fastness and put down the rebellion, but found themselves unable to successfully root out the rebels, spending six weeks fruitlessly throwing themselves against their positons.1
The Janizars therefore respectfully asked the aid of the Astartes in dealing with the holdouts, and were gratified to receive the voluntary assigning of Captain Garviel Loken and his entire Company to the theatre.1
Battle
10th Company deployed in one dozen Stormbird assault craft, landing on a great plateau near to the rebels' location. The rebels were holed up in a fortifed mountain peak reachable only by narrow causeways and bridges well-covered by gunnery positions. These bridges had proved impossible to cross due to the severity of the rebel's fire. Loken ordered his Terminator squad, led by Sergeant Rassek, to brave the enemy fire and neutralise their gun-nests. This achieved, 1st and 3rd squads followed up on the advance of the Terminators immediately, with the rest of 10th company methodically making their way in and fanning out to cleanse the mountain-complex. The Astartes, operating at close-quarters, took advantage of their superior arms and armour and brutally and systematically put down the rebellion, eliminating all resistance in a space of 68 minutes and with no loss. The losses of the rebels were estimated at 972, minimum.1
Remembrancers were allowed to be present at this battle, and were allowed access to the mountain fastness immediately afterwords.1
Samus
During the Whisperhead campaign, vox-communication proved unreliable, regularly being washed out by a mysterious, repeated transmission apparently made by a man called 'Samus', who issued a general - and somewhat spooky - threat. Some in the Byzant Janizars eventually began to gossip that the Whisperheads were haunted by this Samus, but when talk of this reached the ears of Astartes and other Imperial representatives, they scotched such superstitious nonsense. The Samus transmission was derided as an attempt to unnerve the besieging Imperials.1
During the cleansing of the complex, several squads of Astartes reported discovering what were termed 'fanes' or crude shrines. Over 30 of these 'meltwater-shrines' were discovered, each being a pool cut into the rocky floor underneath a trickling or dripping of melting ice. Each pool contained a seemingly random assortment of bottles, coins, lizard-skulls and the like. Judging these to be objects of worship for the rebels, Loken ordered them all destroyed. It was conjectured later that these fanes were part of a system relating to Samus, a monster who, according to local legend, had been defeated and imprisoned in the mountains by an ancient king. Whether the rebels were indeed worshiping Samus or in fact guarding his prison is unknown. What is clear is that, shortly after the fanes began to be destroyed, Loken recieved a communication from Sergeant Xayver Jubal of his 1st squad telling him that "Samus is here."1
Leading his 7th squad to the location of Jubal and the 1st, Loken discovered his Sergeant all alone beside a stone well set inside a cavern cleft with a great drop to one side. Jubal, appearing ill in some way, would not respond to Loken's commands. Ordering him restrained, the Captain of the 10th company was stunned when Jubal responded by raising his weapon and opening fire. In the ensuing melee, Jubal managed to kill 7 members of the 7th Squad, including its leader, Sergeant Udon before being put down by the combat blade of his Captain. Unable to understand what had transpired, Loken summoned his second-in-command, Sergeant Nero Vipus, and the embedded iterator, Kyril Sindermann to his location. Their conference about Jubal's unbelievable behaviour was interrupted when the dead Astartes' body rose, mutating and transforming into a dog-faced beast. This monstrous creature sprang forth, and was able to murder several nearby remembrancers before Loken and Vipus were able to put it down, piercing and bursting it apart with over ninety bolt-rounds and incinerating the remains with a flamer.1
No sign of the rest of the 1st squad was found.1
Aftermath
The Whisperhead action was treated as a great success. The Samus incident was hushed up, never making its way into official Imperial records. Many of those present were psychologically troubled by what they had experienced, especially Garviel Loken, Kyril Sindermann and Euphrati Keeler, an imagist who barely escaped from the Samus/Jubal-beast with her life. Loken was debriefed by the Warmaster Horus personally, who revealed to him the restricted knowledge that the Warp was thought to possess inhabitants who were able to manifest in realspace, and that it was likely Samus was one of these. Horus' explanation of this demonstrated a 'scientific' approach to this knowledge, comparing the warp-inhabitants to aliens, and leaving out any serious reference to supernatural powers. It is unknown whether this was what Horus truly believed (or had been taught) or was a story designed to placate his subordinate.
It is unknown whether this was the first incidence of Astartes killing Astartes. Loken certainly could not previously comprehend such an occurrence and still had trouble believing it despite seeing it with his own eyes. However, due to the incident being officially made secret, it is possible that there are other, also-secret but earlier incidents that are currently unknown. Similarly, it is also unknown if this was the first incidence of a daemon possessing a Space Marine.
Consequences
- Garviel Loken took it upon himself to dispose of the deceased Jubal's effects personally. This led to him discovering a lodge-medal and his subsequent attendance at a meeting of the Luna Wolves' warrior-lodge.
- Euphrati Keeler began a descent into deep depression, initiating the path that would eventually lead her towards religious prominence.
- Kyril Sindermann began an almost obsessive search of Imperial records for information related to similar occurrences to the Samus incident.
