Editing The Markian Corps (section)

===The Nightkill Sector Campaign===
''"Here, there, everywhere. In front, behind. To the left, to the right. We are surrounded and outnumbered ten to one. We have caught the enemy in our grasp!"
--Marshal Judas Ranc on Inkan''

An empire of hive-mind arthropods known as the Arakan made itself known in the Nightkill Sector, consuming neighboring worlds to expand their dominion. With the Fifth Legion sent to the edge of the galaxy and no other Astartes available, it was up to the Markian Corps to purge this threat to the Imperium. The Sky Marshal of the Markian Pact, military leader of all Markian forces, organized the largest army of Markians ever assembled under the direct command of Grand Marshal Caieton, with the goal of neutralizing the Arakan at all costs. With the assistance of Mechanicum forces under Archmagos Khazal ibn Tekhalla, discoverer of the mountain gun STC, the Markian 31st Army set out for the Nightkill Sector.

====Opening Battles on Pahoehoe====
Grand Marshal Caieton decided to make his first strike on planet Pahoehoe, a recently-conquered periphery world of the Arakan Empire. Though it was only freshly colonized, the world was already crawling with Arakan warriors. While the initial landing forces were able to secure solid ground, the 95th Shrike Division found itself divided, isolated, and unable to complete its mission to discover the enemy base. Caieton was quick to respond, and ordered his subordinate, decorated soldier General Judas Ranc of the 984th Division, to enact a rescue operation. The 984th abandoned their heavy armor and artillery for the sake of mobility, and rushed quickly through the enemy lines, relieving whatever elements of the 95th Shrike Division they could find. In the end, 70% of the 95th survived to fight another day, but the Markians were still unaware of the location of the Arakan base.

The Mechanicum had better luck finding the Arakan headquarters; or rather, knowing the nature of the Arakan's command structure. Using seismographic data gathered from sensors planted by forward scouts, Archmagos Khazal located dozens of seismic concentrations where the subterranean bases of the Arakan were located, but lines connecting the bases were nowhere to be found. Regardless, they now knew locations of the enemy, and the 31st Army immediately directed actions against the Arakan. The Markians prepared for several subterranean operations led by the Lemartian Sappers.

As expected, penetration of the enemy hives was difficult. Many tunnels were simply too narrow, and armor and artillery supper was useless. To end this battle quickly, Marshal Ranc proposed use of nuclear weapons place precisely in the hives to destroy all enemy resistance, an idea Caieton was reluctant to swallow. Unfortunately, Caieton yielded, and the Markians conducted operations to place nuclear bombs in the hives; one of such was led by Ranc himself, so that another commander would not risk his life in such a perilous and immoral mission. But despite the dangers, Ranc survived the mission where others fell, and was commended once again. After the Purge of Pahoehoe, Khazal deduced that the Arakan were not a monolithic power that initial research on their hive-mind suggested, suggesting there were multiple hive-minds based on the autonomy of Pahoehoe's bases. The campaign in the Nightkill Sector would be much more difficult than expected.

====Inkan====
Following Pahoehoe, there was the battle for the water world Inkan's sole continent. Unlike Pahoehoe, Inkan was heavily colonized, and Arakan lived above ground in massive cities populated by billions. Worse, is the system was defended by the Arakan fleet, complicating the naval forces' support. On the ground, nothing was as simple as on Pahoehoe; the Arakan were relentless, and only the strategic intervention of the Shrike Division and L'Infanterie de Marine saved the 31st Army from destruction early on. Once again, the 984th distinguished themselves by chasing the routed xenos. However, Marshal Ranc discovered too late that Arakan do not flee without reason, and the 984th Division found itself surrounded by Arakan. Ranc was neither perturbed nor shocked, and simply stated,"Here, there, everywhere. In front, behind. To the left, to the right. We are surrounded and outnumbered ten to one. We have caught the enemy in our grasp!"

The 984th fought its way back to friendly lines with only moderate casualties for an encirclement, inflicting heavy losses on the enemy. Meanwhile, the navy finished its battle with the Arakan, in the void, and proceeded to assist the ground forces with bombardment of the Arakan cities, only to find the cities to be defended by void shields. Grand Marshal Caieton hatched a plan: elite rangers of the 95th Shrike Divisions would drop directly into the Arakan cities, deactivate the shield generators, and extract before naval forces opened fire. The operation completed without any problems, and the rangers were gone long before the navy started their bombardment from orbit.

====Final Battle for Culainn====
As deduced by the Archmagos, the Arakan were not completely unified. In fact, Arakan society resembled a feudal empire, where the hive-mind nobles sacrificed the mindless bodies of the Arakan to further their goals, united under the massive Hive-Emperor solely by fear. However, the Imperial forces were proving greater than any horde of bugs, and many hive-minds feared for their own existence. To continue living, several hive-minds cracked a struck a deal with Grand Marshal Caieton to continue living, in exchange for the location of the Hive-Emperor on the world of Culainn. The Imperial Army mobilized, and gave special passage for the traitor hive-minds' fleets. 

The battle for Culainn was a difficult one. The Mechanicum deployed its titans, Thallaxi of the Ordo Reductor, whatever forces it brought from the forges of Ghalhal on that burning hive world. However, even with the full might of the Mechanicum backing them, the Markian Corps found themselves outnumbered by the Arakan a hundred times over; numbers only the Legiones Astartes could face. Still, the Markian Corps had a trump card: Ghalhallan void missiles. Utilizing these ancient weaponry, the Mechanicum vaporized the cities of the world, shattering the psyche of the Hive-Emperor by destroying the cognitive brain-caste that sustained its thought processes. The Markian Corps and Skitarii finished off the disoriented rabble with ease, and took the world in the name of the Emperor. Meanwhile, the hive-minds that betrayed the Hive-Emperor set course for the outer fringe of the galaxy, settling in a sector that was next in line for an invasion by the Legiones Astartes. Following the conclusion of the war, Ranc was promoted to Marshal and assigned to the 78th Grand Corps for the coming campaign in the Mortekaiser Sector.