Leonas
'Last' Leonas is a Deathwatch member of Watch Station Picket's Watch and believes himself to be the soul survivor of the Black Consuls Chapter.
History
This occurred after the Siege of Goddeth Hive, which annihilated the Black Consuls - save for Leonas and six others, who were elsewhere when the battle took place. The seven believed themselves to be the only surviving Black Consuls left and, though, they briefly discussed rebuilding their Chapter, they ultimately decided against doing so. Instead all seven vowed to permanently join the Deathwatch and Leonas served aboard Picket's Watch. As the centuries passed, however, his surviving battle brothers fell in combat, until in 999.M41 only Leonas remained. It was at that time he began to refer to himself as the 'Last' and swore an oath to survive no matter the odds that were against him in battle - as with his death, the Black Consuls would die as well. He would frequently inform his fellow Death Watch Battle Brothers of this as well, and they too began to refer to Leonas as the Last[1a]. However, he would come close to breaking his oath, when Leonas and his Kill-Team Orion were charged with raiding one of the Tau Empire's traveling emissary crafts in space[1b]. In doing so, Picket's Watch hoped some of the craft's technology would hold information, on where the newly created Stormsurge Battlesuits, being used in the Agrellan Campaign, were coming from[1a]. Using the Strike Cruiser Robidoux[1b], they boarded the Tau craft with a Thunderhawk, and expected an easy mission, but they were unaware that an Ethereal was aboard the craft. This caused the Ethereal Fire Warrior bodyguards to fight fiercely to protect the Tau leader and though the Kill-Team was successful in their mission, the Xenos shot down their Thunderhawk before they could escape. With no chance now of returning to their Strike Cruiser, the Kill-Team vowed to take down as many of the Tau as they could before dying. They would go on to take a heavy toll on the Fire Warriors, but the Kill-Team was killed one by one, until only Leonas remained. He would fight on, but was soon hit by a massive explosion and was embraced by darkness...[1c]
Leonas had thought he had died, but instead he was surprised to wake up imprisoned by the Tau, though he was left heavily wounded by the battle. The Tau then had Human Gue'vesa members of their forces talk to Leonas and try to convince him to embrace the Greater Good and join the Tau Empire. He would refuse, however, and a series of Gue'vesa would then try to mentally break him down, with psychological verbal attacks and threats of physical violence. Leonas would whether it all, though, until the Tau sent in one final Gue'vesa, named Roboute, who told the Black Consul, that this was his last chance and he would be jettisoned out of an air-lock into space, if he did not join the Tau Empire. Leonas did not hesitate to refuse once again, but before the Tau could carry out their threat, the emissary craft was attacked[1c] by the Deathwatch. Luckily for Leonas, the Strike Cruiser Robidoux had been able to send a message, that his Kill-Team had been stranded aboard the Tau craft, to the Watch Station Picket's Watch, before contact was lost with the ship. Picket's Watch would receive the message and this allowed Watch Captain Nergui[1b] to track the Tau craft down and attack it with his Strike Cruiser Nemesis. As Nergui's Kill-Team then boarded the Tau craft[1d], Leonas freed himself during the attack and killed Roboute[1c], before then joining up with Nergui's forces. After informing them that the rest of his Kill-Team was dead[1d], Leonas and the Deathwatch marines made their escape back to the Nemesis with some of the Tau's technology they had captured[1a]. The information they gathered from the Tau's tech, informed them that the Stormsurges were coming from the abandoned Imperial world Proth and the Death Watch began planning to attack it[1e]. Leonas would be among the Death Watch's forces, that later successfully destroyed the Tau Empire's M'Yan'Ral Stormsurge facility, on Proth.[1f]
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