Pacification of the Harakien Sector

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Pacification of the Harakien Sector
Date	973-976.M30
Scale	Sector-wide
Theatre	Harakien Sector
Status	Imperial victory
Belligerents
The Imperium of Mankind	The Harakien Eldar Empire
Commanders and Leaders
Gaspard Lumey	Ku'Motsk, the Void King
Strength
Substantial forces from the Fifth Legion supported by the Imperial Army
Losses
Outcome

In the eighteenth decade of the Great Crusade, the Imperium launched a massive attack on the Harakien Eldar Empire.

Background

The Harakiens' first encounter with the Imperium was on the Feral World of Destino in 964.M30. Winged Victory had just departed the newly-pacified world, leaving behind a garrison of Imperial Army troops. Much of the garrison was second- or third-line regiments, but among their number was the 38th Regiment of the Auron Infantries. Unbeknownst to the Imperium of man, the 6th Division of the Harakien Fleet drifted toward the planet. The expedition was headed by the sixth's inexperienced captain, Ju'Rhin, and was the first wave of a planned expansion of the Harakien Empire's sphere.

The information that the Harakiens had on Destino spoke of a lush and untamed world, but the Eldar were greeted by an unexpectedly organized force of soldiers bearing unknown markings. Ju'Rhin, eager to make a name for himself, sent the full force of his aerial division against the Imperial camps, devastating them with vicious bombardments. The swiftness of the assault was such that the Imperials had no time to respond, the surviving infantrymen were only mustering when the next phase of the Harakien attack began. The second wave was low assault craft and the Eldar swiftly put their enemies to flight, taking large numbers of captives. Word was sent to the Sovereign Fleet of the startling new discovery of an apparently organized space-faring human empire.

While the militia and PDF formations disintegrated, many of the Aurrie troops escaped capture and fled into the thick jungles of Destino. Within that forbidding growth, bands of the 38th regrouped and prepared guerilla raids on their enemies. Captain Ju'Rhin ordered the forests cleared away. He would rout their foe through any means, but the 6th Division were unprepared for the nigh insurmountable task before them. Although they suffered great deprivation and heavy casualties, the courageous Aurries held up the Harakiens until the arrival of Lieutenant Uli Dreier's Squadron of Winged Victory Space Marines and several Demi-brigades of Ciban Chasseurs. The assault was like nothing that the Harakiens had ever seen, the power-armored foes before them astounding to behold. They were human in shape only, they moved faster and endured far more. Even the ordinary soldiers accompanying them were more heavily-armed than expected, with powerful armoured vehicles, artillery, and aircraft. Out-numbered and out-gunned by the startling new Imperial reinforcements, the Eldar withdrew from Destino.

Dreier linked up with the surviving men of the 38th and debriefed them. His report back to the Fifth Legion was answered promptly with the dispatch of further reinforcements, including sappers recruited from the Markian Pact. These specialists were under instructions to fortify Destino. In the meantime, Dreier and his expanded command would probe the surrounding systems to assess the Xeno threat.

Early Exchanges

A series of raids and counter-raids ensued. Although both sides built up their forces in this period, the Space Marines were largely absent from the initial phases of battle. Uli Dreier's squadron of one hundred space marines remained based at Destino, taking on key missions, but the bulk of the fighting in this phase was done by newly arrived first-line Imperial Army formations. The most decisive clash was in 968.M30 on the Desert World of Suferenta, where a mixed corps of Ciban Chasseurs and Markian troopers clashed with the Harakien 6th Advance Detatchment of the 3rd Division.

Both sides arrived at Suferenta without detecting the other, intending to scout the world and perhaps seize what opportunities they found. Only once the troops had debarked did the Harakien and Imperial naval forces engage briefly, then withdraw from the system thinking that the priority was to protect their transport vessels. On the ground, the opposing commanders quickly made contact near the world's main settlements. An early Harakien breakthrough resulted in the over-running of the Imperial Headquarters and the death of General Phillipe Anjours at the blade of the detachment commander, Zhir Nerantu. The Harakiens slaughtered the Imperial command company with swift and brutal efficiency. The detachment settled in to watch the results of their decapitation of the enemy.

To their shock, the human forces remained mobile and coordinated despite the loss of its headquarters. The breakthrough forces were quickly encircled and destroyed, before the Imperial army launched a rapid counter-attack, capitalising on their superior airpower. An airborne company of Ciban Chasseurs, led by the young Captain Jeanne d'Orléans, dropped in behind the Harakien lines and wreaked havoc in their rear area. As scores of tanks, skimmers, and flyers whipped sand into the atmosphere, visibility dropped to next to nothing. In the haze of this sentient-made sandstorm, the towering Captain d'Orléans and her elite drop-troopers took a bloody toll in hand-to-hand combat. The frenzied enemy commander, Nerantu led a desperate counterattack. Though he stood longer than the others, he was no match for the prowess of d'Orleans.

The Harakiens fought furiously, but their fate was sealed. If Jeanne d'Orléans claimed not to have made a count of the Eldar ended by her power sword, it was soon rumoured among the Imperial troops that the Captain had killed too many enemies to know their number. On the front at large, the terrible conditions were on the side of the army with the larger numbers and the greater armour. Despite the courage and skill of the Harakiens, they could not change the shape of the battlefield that had entrapped them. To their lasting credit, they fought to the last and no prisoners were taken.

Naval clashes

The naval fighting in this period was at first dominated by inconclusive skirmishes. Harakien forces were reluctant to closely engage the heavy ships of the Imperium, and their superior mobility made it difficult for Imperial captains to force the issue. A clash in the Malavaro system during 970.M30 saw the Winged Victory strike cruiser Persévérance heavily damaged by mines. In response to this incident, the Imperial Army dispatched Commander Isidora Lobo at the helm of the Grand Cruiser Repulse, leading a full cruiser squadron. During 972.M30, Lobo launched a long-distance probe deep into Harakien space.

4th Captain Sisyk Alovar met the Imperials at the Kurassan System in the north of the Harakien Sector. Alovar's fleet was the largest in the entire empire, besides that of the Void King himself, and the old captain was renowned throughout Harakien space for his skill in space combat. His battleship Talon led the strike, the entire fleet flying toward the cruiser squadron with unbelievable speed. The Imperials brought their weapons to bear, but the Eldar vessels seemed to vanish in a shimmer of light, leaving Lobo's ships to fire uselessly into empty space. A moment later, the Harakien fleet returned to reality directly above their foes. The Talon hung over the Repulse menacingly, then blasted it out of reality with a concentrated beam of darklight. The other ships in the Harakien fleet followed suit, cutting Lobo's squadron to pieces. Only the light cruiser Hunting Hawk, positioned to guard the underbelly of the Imperial fleet, limped away from the fight to report to Destino.

Arrival of Fifth Legion

In 970.M30, Marshal Louis-Davide de Lattre of the Markian Grand Corps had arrived on Destino and established an Army Group headquarters to coordinate the efforts of hundreds of Imperial regiments along the northern border of the Harakien sector. Along with his own staff, de Lattre was accompanied by Antoine Antonelle, the redoubtable second-in-command of Winged Victory. Although de Lattre's task of commanding the Imperial Army forces active against the Harakien was a real one, he was also under secret orders to cooperate with Antonelle in preparing for the arrival of a vast force of Space Marines and auxilia from the Fifth Legion.

Antoine Antonelle was renowned as a patient man. He spent eighteen solar months preparing for the arrival of his master and battle brothers. Finally, in 972.M30, Gaspard Lumey's Expeditionary Fleet warped into the Destino system.