Cestis was an Imperial Mountain World located in the south-eastern Chalnath Expanse of the northern Ultima Segmentum in the Imperium Nihilus. It came under assault from the forces of the T'au Empire's Fifth Sphere Expansion during the Chalnath Expanse Campaign of the Era Indomitus.
History[]
On the mountainous and barren world of Cestis, in the south-east quadrant of the Chalnath Expanse, T'au pioneers of the Fifth Sphere Expansion had already gained a foothold. Their Earth Caste engineers had erected a research station, while their Water Caste envoys bribed Human black marketeers to keep its presence hidden.
Watch Captain Seraphus of the watch fortress Mortguard, who had overseen the interrogation of one such pirate, knew from his Ordo Xenos data-inloads that these sites were the T'au's common means of eventual invasion. Either built piecemeal inside such stations by a veritable army of the aliens' robotic drones, or snuck in under a stealth field projected by its domed surface, these structures could amass huge military presences under a charade of "scientific research."
Attacking with all haste, the Deathwatch deployed air superiority squadrons and heavy ground forces supported by Land Raider armoured transports. The tanks advanced through valley floors, converging along routes established by a preceding Spectrus Kill-team. Drone-controlled turrets bearing T'au heavy weaponry studded the valley walls firing towards the Imperial force as swarms of drones poured from hidden boreholes. The Deathwatch's snipers felled dozens of the skimming drones, while heavier fire carved into the turrets that lined the scree.
Portals opened in the research station's curved surfaces and T'au Battlesuits jetted out. Their weapons immobilised one Land Raider, blocking the route for those behind. In response, Deathwatch armoured battle groups joined sniper fire squads and set up lethal kill zones.
What should have been a single hammer blow would drag on in a battle of attrition, spreading across the mountains of Cestis as both sides continued to pour larger forces into it.
Sources[]
- Codex Supplement: Deathwatch (9th Edition), pp. 18-19