Title: Task Force 14: A Harrowing Journey to the Tra System (Part 1)
The tale of Task Force 14’s perilous journey through the warp to the Tra system is one of the most gripping chronicles in Warhammer 40,000 lore. It’s a story of courage, determination, and unyielding faith in the face of overwhelming odds.
When the contingent reached the Tra system, they had already paid a hefty toll, having lost a ship to the warp’s silencing tides. The journey was further marred by skirmishes with relentless Necron forces. Yet, the Task Force, undeterred, plunged into their mission without hesitation.
Their strategy was carefully orchestrated. Marshall CTS of the Black Templars led a diversionary raid on Treda DEA, a world whose significance would soon become apparent. Simultaneously, a combined strike force of Battle Sisters and Tempestus Scions targeted the Xenos platforms orbiting Tra. This two-pronged attack served to distract the Necron warships and defensive phalanxes, allowing Inquisitor Draxus to lead her own force in a daring strike at the heart of the enemy’s territory.
The target was Treda Araxis, a once-prosperous Hive world that had become the largest of the three planets enslaved by the Necrons’ Void Obelisk. It was no coincidence that this world, now pulsating with strange energy signatures, had been chosen. This was the planet from which the enslaved Scions had previously escaped.
The Necrons had twisted the thriving Hive world into a nightmarish landscape. Its atmosphere was choked with ash and smoke from countless volcanic eruptions, while its once-majestic hives now lay in ruins, transformed into mass graves. Three immense pylons rose from the planet’s surface, marking the scars left by the Necrons’ destructive presence.
Inquisitor Draxus, aboard the cruiser Paladin’s Shadow, navigated towards the largest pylon. Despite the planet being monitored by orbiting Necron ships, the cruiser, shrouded by unusual Eldar-shield technology, slipped past unnoticed. Draxus seized this opportunity, and prepared her force for what was to come.
With the cruiser in orbit, attack ships, shielded by the same barriers as their mother ship, descended towards the base of the pylon. As they neared the tomb structures, a sight awaited them that ignited a burning rage within each warrior. The Necron construction had emerged from the shattered remnants of the Hive City, a brutal testament to the atrocities committed by the Necrons on this world.
Their arrival did not go unchallenged for long. As the gunships landed and the Imperial forces disembarked, the Necrons sprang their trap. Green Dolmen Gates opened, spewing flights of Doomsythes and Nightscythes. The ensuing battle was fierce and costly, but Draxus refused to yield, employing her knowledge of the Necron teleportation gates to stage a daring counterattack.
The Imperial forces fought their way to the nearest teleportation gate, dispersing the Necron ambush. Despite heavy losses, they reached the energy-shrouded portal. As the Tech Priests hurried to subdue the alien machine spirit of the gates, the Deathwatch and Battle Sisters launched a ferocious defensive barrage.
Just when it seemed the Necrons might overwhelm them, the Tech Priests prevailed, enveloping the portal in a burst of energy. Draxus and her warriors vanished, leaving the Necron commander Zeras seething in frustrated rage. His pursuit was thwarted as charges set by the Death Watch exploded, securing the Imperial forces’ escape.
When Draxus and her warriors reappeared, they found themselves deep within the labyrinthine structures at the base of the pylon. The real battle was just beginning…
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