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Battle of Cardrim

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Battle of Cardrim
Date 925.M41
Location Cardrim
Outcome Imperial victory
Combatants
Imperium Orks Necrons
Commanders
Captain Joghaten Khan Warboss Skullkrumpa(KIA) Overlord Tarekh(KIA)
Strength
White Scars 4th Company
PDF
Waaagh! Nihilakh Dynasty
Losses/Survivors
Unknown Annihilated Annihilated


The Battle of Cardrim was a three-way conflict in 925.M41 between the White Scars Space Marines, an Ork Waaagh! under Warboss Skullkrumpa, and the Necron Nihilakh Dynasty.[1]


Initial Actions

After breaking off from Waaagh! Grax, Warboss Skullkrumpa's first target was the Imperial world of Cardrim for no other reason than it was the closest nearby world. Though a barren and lightly populated world, it was a key staging area in the defense of the Forge World Ryza from another Ork horde under Grax himself. When it came under attack, the White Scars 4th Company under Joghaten Khan was the first to respond. Within moments of entering orbit, Joghaten's Strike Cruiser launched a wing of Thunderhawks and Stormtalons. Initially quietly descending into the atmosphere, the White Scars aircraft soon came under attack from a swarm of Ork aircraft under Skullkrumpa's right-hand Ork Da Krimson Barun. Da Krimson Baron, piloting a Dakkajet, ripped through the Space Marine Stormtalons and a vicious aerial battle erupted which forced one Thunderhawk, the White Crow, to make an emergency landing. Joghaten ordered his remaining Thunderhawk to continue on target.[1]

Upon crashing, the White Crow was immediately assailed by bands of Ork Speed Freaks on the ground but were given covering fire from Stormtalons. As the White Scars were evacuating the downed craft, a lone Ork jet, laden with bombs, plowed directly into the White Crow, blowing it to pieces. The explosion killed many of the White Scars as well as destroying the overhead Stormtalons. Nonetheless, the surviving White Scars dug themselves in and prepared to meet the incoming Ork horde.[1]

The Necrons Rise

But unbeknownst to either side, Cadrim was also a Necron Tomb World of the Nihilakh Dynasty. The world's Overlord, Tarekh, was in the final stages of activating a millennia-old superweapon for a campaign of expansion and could ill-afford distractions. Nonetheless, he set about a plan to wipe out both the Space Marines and Orks on the world in one stroke. Allowing both sides to exhaust themselves fighting each other, Tarekh first struck at the Orks when he felt the time was right. A fleet of Doom Scythes and Night Scythes ambushed the Ork aerial fleet at Blueguard, and Da Krimson Burna himself was shot down after he managed to destroy four Necron craft. After neutralizing the Ork aerial forces, Necron Warriors emerged from the ground and engaged the Ork Boyz. The result was a systematic massacre of the Orks.[1]

Meanwhile, Joghaten Khan's reeling forces took advantage of the confusion caused by the Necron intervention and attempted to break out of the encircling Ork forces, leaving the Orks alone to face the Necron onslaught. Witnessing this from his personal Catacomb Command Barge, Tarekh was frustrated at this development and was to determined to not let a single White Scar escape now that the Orks were being neutralized. The White Scars, realizing they were outnumbered and outmatched by the Necrons, took to the hills and began a series of hit-and-run and guerrilla attacks on the Necrons. Necron jammers had rendered attempts to communicate with their orbiting Strike Cruiser useless, leaving the White Scars on Cardrim on their own. Joghaten's only course of action lay in escape, and this could be accomplished by retaking Fellstorm Airfield from Warboss Skullkrumpa, now the final bastion of Ork defense against the Necrons. The airfield was home to a powerful communications array capable of breaking through the Necron jamming. The Khan ordered his Marines into action to take the airfield before it fell into Necron hands.[1]

Fellstorm Airfield

The Space Marine attack began with a wave of Bikes and Trikes, behind them the Battle Brothers of the 4th Company under Joghaten himself. A vicious battle erupted, the Space Marine bikers attempting to storm the Ork fortifications despite constant attack by overhead Deffkoptas and Burna-Bommers. The pilot of the Ork Bommer launched his incendiary rockets at the Space Marine bikers, but at the last minute the Marines sent their bikes into a sideways skid and leapt off their vehicles. The Ork rockets slammed into their own fortifications, incinerating the Ork defenders along the barricades. The path was cleared for the White Scars, and a vicious melee battle erupted at the landing pads of the airfield while the Techmarine Vor'Torro attempted to activate the communications array. Skullkrumpa and Joghaten engaged in personal battle, and the White Scars captain suffered grievous injuries. As he was about to finish off Joghaten, a squad of Terminators teleported directly into the fray. Kortal had been successful in calling for aid, and the newly arrived Terminators tore through the Ork forces. Distracted, Skullkrumpa was impaled by the Power Sword of Joghaten. The White Scars quickly took Fellstorm Airfield, but the real battle had just begun.[1]

The Necrons soon arrived after the Space Marine victory and began to besiege the airfield. Vor'Torro activated the automated defense weapons of the Airfield while Joghaten sent commands to his orbiting Strike Cruiser, ordering it for immediate pickup. However before they could be rescued by Thunderhawks, the Necron aircraft had to be cleared from the sky. As the Necron Doom Scythes began to strafe the Airfield, Da Krimson Barun (in a newly acquired Dakkajet) and a squadron of his best Flyboyz arrived to wreak vengeance on the Necrons. The Ork aircraft engaged the surprised Necron air and ground forces in a vicious battle. However the White Scars did not sit idly by during this mayhem. Vor'Torro succeeded in activating the automated Heavy Bolter and Autocannon anti-aircraft batteries of the Airfield, and fire ripped through the dueling Ork and Necron aircraft. Da Krimson Barun was again shot down, this time by the Missile Launcher of a White Scars Devastator. The Ork forces again were either destroyed or thrown into disarray.[1]

Though the Ork aircraft had badly mauled the advancing Necrons, they still vastly outnumbered the White Scars. As anti-aircraft artillery batteries continue to hammer the Necron aircraft, the White Scars manned the captured Ork barricades and fired on the Necron ground forces. But the White Scars knew it was a hopeless endeavor, they were too outnumbered. However at this point the White Scars Thunderhawk finally arrived to evacuate the Marines. Realizing his prey was escapring, Overlord Tarekh launched an all-out assault on the Airfield. Tarekh's personal Command Barge closed into the landed Thunderhawk, but as Tarekh aimed his Tachyon Arrow at the craft a Dreadnought emerged from its rear, blasting Tarekh and his Command Barge to bits with a Multi-Melta. The White Scars left the airfield from their Thunderhawk, Joghaten ordered the orbiting Strike Cruiser to fire a volley of Melta Torpedoes into the Necron ranks. As Tarekh was self-repairing, the Torpedoes made a direct hit on the Overlord. Everything on the ground within five miles was obliterated by the blast, and the Necron hordes were decimated.

It had taken months longer than expected by the Khan, but Cardrim was finally cleansed of xenos and returned to the Imperium's fold.[1]

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