Relief of Stonekraal

The Relief of Stonekraal was an Imperial action conducted by the Exorcists Space Marine Chapter in the defence of the Frontier World of Stonekraal from the predations of the Tyranids of Hive Fleet Behemoth in 740.M41. This was the first Tyranid Hive Fleet encountered by the Imperium of Man, and was also the first contact the Imperium had with the Tyranids as a race. Before the full extent of the Tyranid threat was realised, Hive Fleet Behemoth slashed a murderous wound deep into the Imperium before finally being halted at Maccragge in 745.M41. In the years prior to this as the Ultramarines fell back to their Chapter world, much of the defence of the domains of Ultramar was left in tatters and helplessly exposed before the hunger of the beast. Many worlds fell, their cries for aid unheard or ignored, while a scant few were fortunate enough to escape by blind fortune or outside help. The bleak and often overlooked minor frontier world of Stonekraal, located on the north-easter edge of Ultramar was one such world.

In 740.M41, a scheduled trader vessel, the Nostros Vex appeared three weeks overdue and drifting, seemingly lifeless on the edge of the system. This heralded the beginning of a nightmare for the colonists of Stonekraal. Soon a rapidly multiplying infestation of Genestealers broke out, and in an ever-growing plague, the horrific creatures hacked through the scattered, hardscrabble settlements of Stonekrall like a butcher's cleaver through raw meat. Alone, and realising their distress calls were unlikely to be un answered, the remaining colonists did their best to gather their few weapons together and mount a defence, determined to sell their lives dearly if they could. When all seemed lost and only the last major settlements remained, all that was left was for the terrified nen and women cowering behind futile barricades to pray for deliverance, and deliverance came as deep crimson Thunderhawk gunships descended on plumes of fire above them. The Exorcists 3rd Company driven off course by the Tyranids' shadow in the Warp, had heard the colony's cries for help. Their Strike Cruiser Hand of Glory, having already slain two encroaching void kraken in the outer system, now unshipped its complement of Space Marines to make a stand on Stonekraal's broken ground.

The battles that followed were swift but furious; the Genestealers first seeking to infiltrate by stealth only to be met by the firepower of Exorcists waiting for them. The broods quickly shifted tactics and sought to overwhelm their foes in a whirlwind of fang and claw. Inured as they were to the terrors of the Warp, even these nightmarish xenos, although deadly beyond measure, held little fear for the Exorcists Space Marines. With near clinical efficiency the Space Marines set up interlocking fields of fire to trap their attackers into pre-prepared killing zones in order to blunt the Genestealers' advantage in speed and numbers. meanwhile the Exorcists' potent Librarian, Castor Machen, sought out the masters of the brood and scourged them to ashes with coruscating soulfire. Stonekraal survived thanks to the Exorcists' efforts; a small victory perhaps in the grand scheme of the battle against the Hive Fleets, but a victory none the less. After-action testimony taken by Ordo Xenos investigators record clearly the fearful awe the surviving colonists fe~t for their saviours, and many still spoke of the sounds of the baleful litanies of the chanting Exorcists echoing in their dreams.