Yuctan Incident

The Yuctan Incident in 666.M41 represented the both the first known naval engagement between Imperial forces and the Necrons, as well as the first recorded instance of a Necron "harvest" of the entire population of a human planet. The Yuctan System was a sparsely inhabited Imperial star system close to the Eastern Fringe, and the site of the first naval encounter between the Necrons and the Imperial Navy in 666.M40. A minor Imperial fleet of 6 Escort ships and 1 Light Cruiser were destroyed, with the only survivor being a single Cobra-class Destroyer. By the time a full Imperial fleet could be dispatched to the region to deal with what is now called the "Yuctan Incident," the Necrons had disappeared, and the system was found devoid of all human life. Although similar and unexplained events had taken place up to this time, the incident at Yuctan was the first fully documented account of a Necron "harvest" of a populated world, as they sought fresh subjects for their research into "apotheosis," the restoration of their consciousness to organic bodies.