Echbar

"God-throne, they’re tough-ass bastards," Nayl muttered to me as I passed him coming out of the bay." "Impressed?" "Scared is more like it. Regular Cadian is soldier enough for me. These are elite. The elite of the elite. The Kasrkin." "The what?" It wasn’t like an experienced fighter to show deference to other fighting men." "The Kasrkin. The Cadian best, and you can imagine what that means. Holy Terra, they’re stone-killers!" "How do you know?" "Oh, please... look at their necks. The Caducades sea-eagle brand. Come to that, just look at their necks. I’ve seen slimmer trees!" "Good thing they’re on our side," I said." "I bloody hope so..."

- Inquisitor Eisenhorn and Harlon Nayl, discussing Captain Echbar and his Kasrkin

Captain Echbar was one of the Cadian Shock Troops' famed Kasrkin, who led a squad of his fellow elites against the Chaos Cult known as the Sons of Bael.

History
When a mysterious group took up residence at the Kasr Gesh Pylon, Inquisitors Eisenhorn and Neve mustered a small strike-team and set forth to investigate their activity.

A cruel winter surrounded the region, causing the gun-cutter that carried the strike-team to battle against powerful ice storms. Captain Echbar led a squad of Cadian Elite Shock, impassive troopers in winter camo armour, who spent the journey prepping matt-white lasrifles and stubbers in the crew-bay.

Echbar and his men had been requisitioned from nearby Kasr Grem by Neve, who knew of the Kasrkin's fearsome abilities. They quickly earned the respect of Eisenhorn's own retinue, with his chief bodyguard Harlon Nayl expressing outright deference, even fear, towards them.

Sons of Bael
Upon reaching the Pylon, Echbar readied his men. At Eisenhorn's command, they had logged the bio-spoors of the Inquisitors and their company into their sighting auspexes, ensuring that friendly-fire was all but impossible.

As expected, the mysterious group was a Chaos Cult, led by a powerful Daemonhost known as Prophaniti. Soon, the Inquisitors were fighting for their lives, surrounded by a horde of robed figures. More cultists moved out, pulling weapons and firing wildly into the night. The place lit up with shooting.

Las-fire came from behind the Inquisitors, startlingly close, whipping past their elbows and shoulders. Cultists crumpled, smashing over some of the erected floodlights. Echbar and his Kasrkin charged in past them to engage the enemy.

Eisenhorn would later claim that, in truth, the Kasrkin were somehow more terrifying than the daemonhost. For Prophaniti was a supernatural thing, and one expected it to be horrifying. The Kasrkin were just men, yet it made their actions all the more astonishing. Six white blurs, they fell upon the cultists, lasguns barking at close range. They wasted no shots. One shot, one kill.

As Echbar's squad massacred the Sons of Bael, Eisenhorn, Neve and their retinue closed in on the Daemonhost. Prophaniti proved too powerful, however, and quickly whittled down its attackers until only Eisenhorn remained.

Though the Inquisitor fought bravely, he too was quickly overwhelmed by the daemon. Having struck out with his sword, Prophaniti had gripped hold of its blade. Smoke rose from the creature's clamped fist as the holy blade became white-hot, forcing Eisenhorn to let it go with a howl of pain. The daemon tossed the buckled, molten steel aside, and reached out to slay its injured foe.

Sacrifice
The next few seconds would be burned into Eisenhorn's memory forever. Indeed, he would later claim that he would never see such heroism again.

Captain Echbar and two of his Kasrkin troopers assaulted Prophaniti from the rear. Their lasguns could not fire because the Inquisitor and his fallen retinue were in their range-field.

Echbar body-tackled the Daemonhost, smashing it away from the stricken Eisenhorn. Prophaniti hurled him aside, and then incinerated the second Kasrkin mid-leap with its eyes. The third jammed his Cadian bayonet up to the hilt in Prophaniti’s breastbone. Fire exploded back from the wound, down the trooper’s arm and engulfed him.

As his comrade fell, Echbar came in again, a ragged hole in his cheek and throat. His knife, clenched double-handed, split Prophaniti open down the backbone. Alas, the warp-energies that boiled out blew Echbar apart. Screaming in agony, Prophaniti writhed away through the air.

The Cadian elite had given the Inquisitor an opening by sacrificing their lives. They had fallen in the service of the God-Emperor, which is what every Cadian is born to do.

With a single command from the stricken Inquisitor, help arrived. Lights blazing, a gun-cutter surged in overhead in a killing run. The ship trained its wing and chin turrets on the charging Daemonhost. When they opened up, their firepower was so monumental, that Prophaniti's mortal form was completely vaporised.

By the end of the battle, the surrounding area was littered with dead. Most were the hooded corpses of the Sons of Bael.

Source

 * Eisenhorn (Omnibus) - Malleus, Chapter 14

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