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Scourge of the Slave Lords

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The Scourge of the Slave Lords was a battle between the Mantis Warriors and Dark Eldar in 901.M40.[1]

Overview

Taking place in the Maelstrom Zone, Dark Eldar raiders in the region had been conducting raids for nearly two thousand years. At this time, it fell to the Mantis Warriors to protect the Imperial citizens of the Maelstrom. However the Mantis Warriors were thinly spread and utterly outnumbered, relying on hit-and-run and ambush tactics against not only the raiders, but also Ork forces, pirates, and cultists. For more than sixty years, the enigmatic Slave Lords ravaged the Maelstrom Zone. The Mantis Warriors had great difficulty identifying the swift raiders, who left with loot and slaves as quick as they appeared and preyed on ill-defended and isolated targets.[1]

After three-score Mantis Warriors had died in the failed defense of the Feudal World of Tranquility-II, the entire chapter turned their collective will to bringing about the demise of the Slave Lords. Turning to the Chapters Librarians, the Chapter hatched a plan to entrap their enemies by using tantalizing bait. Tranquility-II's entire remaining population was gathered into a single city, seemingly undefended but home to two forces of concealed Mantis Warriors. Soon enough, the Dark Eldar took the bait and began raiding the outlying world of Sigard. The Slave Lords hoped to draw away the Mantis Warriors from Tranquility-II so that they may claim its inhabitants for Commorragh.[1]

The Mantis Warriors fleet responded, deploying Strike Cruisers to Sigard. This show of force however was merely an illusion, for the Mantis Warriors Cruisers were manned only be skeleton crews. The Dark Eldar fleet over Sigard vanished, assuming that Tranquility-II now lay undefended. However when the raiders appeared over the planets single refugee camp, they were ambushed by nearly the entire Mantis Warriors chapter. Joining them were two Cobra Class Destroyers of the Imperial Navy, buried under the planets surface months previous and rising from Tranquility's sands. The Dark Eldar fleet was devastated by the destroyers Torpedo salvo, while the reavers who landed on the planets surfaced were annihilated by the Mantis Warriors. Many more raiders were ripped apart by angry humans seeking bloody vengeance for earlier raids. The surviving raider ships were forced to flee, only to be caught by the returning chapter Strike Cruisers. As planned, the Slave Lords were annihilated.[1]

But though the Mantis Warriors were victorious, Tranquility-II's refugee city had suffered greatly during the battle. Thousands of its citizens lay dead, but the Mantis Warriors took solace in the fact that thousands more had been saved.[1]

Sources