Nykona Sharrowkyn

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Nykona Sharrowkyn was one of the deadliest members of the Legiones Astartes to tread the battlefields of the early 31^st Millennium. Deployed with the first attack wave of the Raven Guard during the infamous Drop Site Massacre of Istvaan V, Sharrowkyn was able to survive the desperate battles of those dark days, but was unfortunately separated from his Legion with no mean to rejoin them. Determined to see the Warmaster's treachery punished, Sharrowkyn would later join other survivors from the Shattered Legions aboard the Iron Hands' Strike Cruiser Sisypheum to continue the fight against the Traitors. As part of the Sysipheum’s crew, Sharrowkyn's actions would prove instrumental in many battles, ensuring the continued survival of the almost legendary vessel and its valiant crew.

History

Whilst it is unknown if Nykona Sharrowkyn was born on the Raven Guard's homeworld of Kiavahr or on the prison-moon Lycaeus, Sharrowkyn grew up within the confines of the prison-moons cell-blocks. According to his own testimony, as soon as he was able to walk, he was used as a salt boy, one of the countless children to be sent down the narrow tunnels leading to Lycaeus' tidal pools to harvest the precious salt for the tool-making factories tempering waters. This was an inherently dangerous task, as many children died in these tunnels, surprised by the unannounced surge of water that filled a cave in minutes or killed by collapsing stone. Mortality rates amongst these children were in fact so high that the saying went that the best salt was the one harvested from the bones of the dead. Through skill and luck, Sharrowkyn survived the salt mines until he grew too big for the narrow tunnels and was transferred to the proper mines. Sharrowkyn was merely thirteen years old when this happened, leaving the deeper parts of the moon for its surface. Sharrowkyn nevertheless kept a fond memory of this transfer as it was the first time he ever saw the sun.

While visibly involved in the rebellion led by Corvus Corax to rid Lycaeus of the rule of the Tech-Guilds of Kiavahr and the cruel overseers that had been oppressing Lycaeus' population for centuries, it is unknown which role Sharrowkyn had within the rebel's army -- but his extensive knowledge on Corax's way of war seemed to indicate that Sharrowkyn must have been close to the Primarch, or at least he was utilised as one of the several decoys used to confuse the prison's guards. However, it is also quite possible that Sharoowkyn was too young to actively participate in the slaves' uprising and that he gained all the knowledge he possessed on that matter from other accounts or the testimonies of first-hand participants.

After the successful capture of the Black Tower, the same building that would become the famed Ravenspire, the liberation of Kiavahr and its inclusion within the Imperium of Mankind, Nykona Sharrowkyn was selected to become one of the Emperor's Legiones Astartes, a warrior of the XIX^th Legion -- the Raven Guard.

Great Crusade

As one of the most secretive of the Legiones Astartes, the Raven Guard have always valued their discretion and many of its greatest victory were only rendered public years after the enemy had been silenced. Sharrowkyn's participation in the Great Crusade is largely unknown. In fact, very few solid information on Sharrowkyn's career within the Raven Guard are readily available apart from his induction into the ranks of the 66^th Company. From later testimonies, it seems almost certain that Sharrowkyn was a member of the Mor Deythan, the Raven Guard's elite infiltration squads, although Sharrowkyn always publicly denied the fact that he indeed belonged to this august formation. Yet his natural discretion and his excellent marksmanship suggest otherwise. As only a true Mor Deythan would be able to, Nykona had been blessed with his Primarch's rare gift to shroud himself in shadows -- an art he allegedly studied amongst the greatest of the XIX^th Legion's Shadowmasters. Rumors have it that Sharrowkyn was also one of the selected few that had personally been trained in hand-to-hand combat by Corax himself -- his deadly prowess with the shortsword certainly giving credence to this tale. Yet his great autonomy in the field might also indicate that Sharrowyn, in fact, belonged to a previously unknown order of trained assassins and infiltrators, an alternative to the Legion's extensive cadre of Moritat.

While Sharrowkyn’s involvement in the Great Crusade will probably never be fully revealed, events placed him on the black sands of Istvaan V during the infamous Drop Site Massacre. A few months prior to this military disaster that almost saw the Raven Guard undone, as well as inflicting dire losses on both the Salamanders and Iron Hands Legions. The Emperor's chosen son, the Warmaster Horus Lupercal, Primarch of the recently renamed Sons of Horus, had announced his formal secession from the Imperium of Mankind and had rallied three of his brother Primarchs and their Legions to him, names now forever marked with the seal of infamy: Fulgrim of the Emperor's Children, Angron of the World Eaters and Mortarion of the Death Guard. In his first act of treachery, the Warmaster brutally purged those Legions sworn to him of any Loyalist elements during the Istvaan III Atrocity, before entrenching himself alongside the Death Guard, the Emperor’s Children and the World Eaters legions on the planet of Istvaan V, awaiting the punitive expedition that was bound to be sent by the Emperor. The Raven Guard were chosen alongside the Iron Hands and the Salamanders to form the first assault wave, with the Iron Warriors, Alpha Legion, Word Bearers and Night Lords forming the second wave. As for the other Legions involved, the Raven Guard would deploy almost its entire military strength, including the 66^th Company. As before, Sharrowkyn's actions on this most tragic of days are matter of pure conjuncture. What is known, with any certainty, is that the Raven Guard valiantly assailed the enemy positions, and that sometime during the the Loyalist attack, Sharrowkyn was wounded and brought back to a loyalist camp to be medically treated. He was still there when the Traitors of the second attack wave showed their true allegiance, by callously opening fire on the Iron Hands, Salamanders and Raven Guard.

To their credit, the Loyalist reacted quickly. Having been bloodied against fellow Legionaries and Legions they had in some cases served along during the Great Crusade, the retreating Salamanders and Raven Guard immediately returned fire. The Iron Hands were the still mostly battling the Emperor’s Children, fueled by the anger of their Primarch Ferrus Manus as he sought out his treacherous brother Fulgrim to face him in single combat. The full testimony of this dreadful day is told elsewhere, but for Sharrowkyn, the battle was already lost. Wounded and separated from his Legion - which already sought to escape the deadly trap that was now forming - Sharrowkyn followed his instincts. The XIX^th Legion did not breed common warriors or those Legionaries that would gladly choose to die weapon in hands, hurling insults at the enemy while fighting on till their dying breath, no, the Raven Guard only lived according to one motto: strike, fade and strike again. Despite the pandemonium that reigned in the loyalist camp, despite the bombardment unleashed by the Iron Warriors and even the Alpha Legion’s Headhunter squads assassinating the Loyalist Apothecaries within the camp, the wounded Sharrowkyn looked for any mean of escaping the camp alife. It was then most fortunate for him that he encountered Iron Father Sabik Wayland of the Iron Hands Legion.

Sisypheum

The reasons behind Wayland's presence in the camp are still unknown, but to all evidence Wayland had been wounded at the hand of Fulgrim himself and somehow escaped with his life were other Iron Hands had perished.Nevertheless, if it hadn't been for the Iron Father's presence, Sharrowkyn would likely have died that day on the black sands of Istvaan. As it was, Wayland dragged Sharrowkyn to the nearest Thunderhawk available -- by pure coincidence an Iron Hands gunship -- positioned himself in the pilot seat and started the engines. Iron Hands and Salamanders Legionaries, most of which were wounded, secured themselves in the Thunderhawk's troop compartment before take-off. Despite an impressive amount of ground-fire, Wayland's piloting skills saw the Thunderhawk safely reach the stratosphere, where the deadly void-battle between Loyalist and Traitors was as fierce as the combat on the ground. Wayland headed straight to his own vessel, the Sisypheum, which had survived thus far, encouraging the weak, feverish and bleeding Sharrowkyn not to give up on life. Sharrowkyn would later say that Wayland’s voice had carried so much authority that he hadn’t dared go against his orders to survive.

The Loyalists fared little better in the void as they did on the ground. Vastly outnumbered and outgunned, any Loyalist captain knew that to stay was to invite a swift death by broadside or a messy death at the hands of Traitor boarding parties. Despite these risks, many a captain stayed in orbit above Istvaan V in order to allow those survivors from the ground attack to dock. The Sisypheum did so and used the timely arrival of the Iron Hands Fleet to make good its escape. It was to be a close call as they relied on the combination of daring escape vectors, periods of silent running, masquerading as one of the drifting wrecks and a finally, a mad dash to the minimum safe distant to enter the Warp. By that point, the Sisypheum had taken a severe beating -- whole decks having been sealed against the void or ravaged by fire. Its command structure and crew were ad-hoc at best, but was still formed in its majority by serfs and Legionaries from the Iron Hands. There were a few Salamanders Legionaries, amongst them an Apothecary by the name of Atesh Tarsa, who had also been rescued from the blood-soaked soil of Istvaan as well as a single Raven Guard, Nykona Sharrowkyn. Despite the severe casualties taken, those that would soon be called the "Shattered Legions" were resolute to stay in the fight and to become a thorn in the Traitor's side and to avenge their fallen brothers.

Cavor Sarta

Six months had passed since the dreadful events of the Dropsite Massacre. Six months of nearly continuous fighting, conducting hit-and-run attacks, bleeding the Traitors one cut at a time. Most of the Sysipheum’s crew had been wounded : this wounds had now been mended. Though formed in times of desperation, the Sysipheum’s crew had become a tight-knit group of survivors and an efficient fighting force. In these early days of the Age of Darkness, the Sysipheum’s most notorious success was the infiltration of the Traitor dominated Forge World of Cavor Sarta. Located in the Thramas-Sector of the Ultima Segmentum, not far from the Imperial strongholds of Heroldar and Thramas, Cavor Sarta had been crippled at the outset of he Horus Heresy when the Night Lords Legion attacked it from their newly implanted base of Tsagualsa - which was then still kept secret. Yet the VIII^th Legion had not come as conquerors, leaving this task to their allies of the Word Bearers and more specifically to the billion thralls of the Chapter of the Venomous Thorns. Acting upon intelligence gathered by the I^st Legion, the Dark Angels, which was by then embroided in the Thramas Crusade, the Sysipheum came to Cavor Sarta in hope of taking possession of one of the Unlingual Cipher Hosts that made Traitor communications impervious to the efforts of Imperial Cipher Breakers. It was Sabik Wayland that first coined the designation of Kryptos for these entities, a name that quickly spread amongst loyalist forces.

On Cavor Sarta, Sharrowkyn and Wayland infiltrated the devastated continent-spanning assembly yards and manufactoria, mindful of the new degenerate skitarii and other aberrations spawned by the Dark Mechanicum. What loyalist magii still remained equipped Wayland with their rarest techno-arcana, for against the two infiltrators stood hundred of thousands of enemies, the most dangerous of these creatures being called "ferrovores". Sharrowkyn’s and Wayland’s skills were vastly different but eventually complementary. His own warplate having been destroyed in the escape from Istvaan, Sharrowkyn now bore a reconstituted suit of armour, a patchwork of marks and pieces that he mused would have seen him expelled from the training regimes or earned him a commendation back on Deliverance. The Raven Guard’s skills at stealth and infiltration would prove paramount in this mission, just as Wayland’s technical knowledge would be, but most importantly Sharrowkyn brought the tactical knowledge of the XIX^th Legion. The Iron Hands’ way of war was not a subtle one, and against this number of enemies brute force would not do the trick. Their target was being held inside a heavily fortified forge temple which was protected by defence towers with interlocking fields of fire, pict-scanners, motion detectors and pressure differentials that made every attempt to infiltrate this temple nearly suicidal. The temple’s garrison was likewisely unknown in numbers, but at least fifty ferrovores stalked in the near vicinity of the temple.

Unable to enter the temple, Wayland’s first reaction was to call down the Sysipheum’s company and bash their way through the enemy’s defences, but Sharrowkyn had another idea. The Raven Guard’s credo in this matter was simple: if the position was to heavily defended to infiltrate it, draw the enemy out of their stronghold. Cavor Sarta had been heavily damaged in the initial invasion, even unveiling the Forge World’s planetary network of data trunking in some places. It was one of these exposed sections of cable that Wayland used to commune with the temple’s Machine Spirit. Having studied on distant Mars, Wayland had studied Adept Zeth’s invention and was able to hack into Cavor Sarta’s noospheric communication network. Wayland’s ministrations brought the temple’s atomic reactor to go critical. Soon the temple’s klaxons sprang into life and panicked Imperial Army-units and Skitarii began to flee the complex. Only one group, led by a towering Astartes in crimson Power Armour and bedecked in wax-sealed scrolls maintained its cohesion. Identifying their target, Wayland and Sharrowkyn attacked. Wayland’s manipulations had not been confined to the temple complex, for he had also overwritten the trip-triggered mine fields to detonate simultaneously, thus causing pandemonium amongst the enemy. Driven mad by conflicting sensory inputs, the ferrovores attacked their allies, which was exactly what Wayland and Sharrowkyn had hoped for. With a little help from a repurposed ferrovore Wayland had been able to capture, the two infiltrators fought their way to the Kryptos, the temple’s reactor only minutes away from explosion.

As the ferrovores went beserker, the enemy Word Bearer, most likely one of the dangerous demagogues known as a Dark Apostle seized the Kryptos and tried to escape,leaving his mortal and Mechanicum troops to be slaughtered.Sharrowkyn could not let this happen, triggering his modified Jump Pack, he landed a short distance from the fleeing Word Bearer. Shooting on the move, Sharrowkyn clipped the enemy’s helmet and shoulder guard, causing him to stumble. Sliding his Needler Sniper Rifle around his shoulder and drawing his two gladii, Sharrowkyn made a second jump just as the Dark Apostle drew his own Bolter, but before he could pull the trigger, his weapon had been pierced by Sharrowkyn’s first gladius, the second one quickly finding its way through the enemy’s breastplate. Decapitating the enemy with a backhand stroke, Sharrowkyn sheated his weapons and took possession of his prize: the Kryptos. Racing back to Wayland with the Kryptos hefted at his shoulder, Sharrowkyn reached his ally just as the temple’s reactor core went critical. Just as they were about to be engulfed in nuclear fire, Wayland activated his stasis field generator. This rare device had the power to stop the flow of time and effectively premitted to create a pocket reality, entirely cut off from our own time flow. As the wave a roaring devastation rolled over Sharrowkyn, Wayland and the Kryptos, they were safe inside the stasis field. As the timer on the stasis field hit zero, time reassured its grip on the trio and they stood on a scorched plain of glass. Nothing remained of the forge-temple except a deep gouge in the earth and a kilometer high mushroom cloud. With all evidence and possible witnesses having been disposed of, Wayland activated his Teleport Homer, and he three of them were securely transported back onboard the Sysipheum, the enemy none the wiser.

To Kill a Primarch

Since the betrayal on Istvaan, the hearts of the Shattered Legions burnt with vengeance, but when it came to the Emperor’s Children, the heart of the Iron Tenth blazed high, for it had been Fulgrim, the Primarch of the III^rd Legion that had been responsible for Ferrus Manus defeat and ultimate death. On several occasions, the surviving sons of Ferrus Manus would put all caution aside and mount inherently dangerous and often unorthodox plans in the sole hope of inflicting damage or casualties on the Emperor’s Children, thereby expunging a small measure of their hate for those brothers they once proudly fought alonside with. So it came to be that when the Sysipheum got word of the conclave between Perturabo - the Primarch of the Iron Warriors’ Legion - and Fulgrim, the survivors onboard the lone Strike Cruiser would not sit idle. Bound to meet on the world of Hydra Cordatus, Sabik Wayland and Nykona Sharrowkyn would infiltrate the planet and spy on both Primarchs, and if somehow possible, attempt to kill them.

With typical arrogance, Fulgrim requested from his brother to build him a theater especially for their meeting. The imposing building - named the Thaliakron in deference of Olympia’s myths - had been completed in no less than two days. It was a magnificient building, a thing of beauty which offered many places to hide, an opportunity which the Iron Hands gladly took. Sharrowkyn and Wayland were hiding in the shadow cast by the Thaliakron’s imposing lightings, two towering statues of nymphs bearing bowls of burning fire. The Thaliakron’s accoustics were phenomenal, and even from their place of hiding, the Primarchs’ words reached them easily. With practices calm Sharrowkyn eyed the two Primarchs through the tragetting reticule of his Needler Sniper Rifle: both Primarchs were at the extreme range of his weapon. Wayland on the other hand was restless with rage, the mere sight of the killer of his genetic father infuriating him. Sharrowkyn tried to calm down his ally and friend, urging him to activate the device given to them by Frater Thamatica : a vox-thief, a small device capable of capturing and transcroping spoken words and sounds into highly compressed binaric cant. Balancing his humors to keep his Medusan anger in check, Wayland installed the device with barely enough time to capture the tale Fulgrim told, the myth of the Angel Exterminatus.

With consumate skill Fulgrim told this tale of ages never witnessed by man, for the Angel Exterminatus belonged to the legends of a far older race than Mankind: that of the Eldar. Essentially, it was a xenos weapon of terrifying power, alledgedly so powerful that the most powerful of the Eldar’s gods, Asuryan imprisoned it in great rift inside reality, the Eye of Terror. Realizing at once that Fulgrim wanted to gain Pertuarbo’s support in this venture, Sharrowkyn and Wayland decided to take actions to twart the Phoenician’s plans. Sharrowkyn took aim with his Needler Sniper Rifle, considering all variable while Sabik Wayland readied himself for a hasty and tumultuous extraction, disengaging and securing the vox-thief. Sharrowkyn eyed his target through his rifle’s reticule and took the shot - hitting Fulgrim exactly where he had planned it: in the Primarch’s eye. Without looking back, Sharrowkyn quickly picked up his rifle and made for the rapelling lines fixed at the Thaliakron’s outer walls. There was no time to check if he had killed his target, but his aim had been true. The high velocity dart had penetrated Fulrim's left eye, with just a little puff of blood. Unfortunately for the loyal sons of the Emperor, the Traitor Primarch would survive. Sharrowkyn and Wayland had no time to care about their lack of fortune for as soon as they had seized their rappelling lines, warriors of the IV^th Legion already rushed in pursuit of the two would-be assassins, wading through the panicked crowd of the Thaliakron. Concerned for their Primarch’s safety, most of the Emperor’s Children stayed within the theater. Sharrowkyn had not equipped himself with his Jump Pack, and therefor the rappelling lines had been necessary.

Despite having started his descent first, Wayland was unfamiliar with the Raven Guard's equipment and Sharrowkyn quickly caught up with the Iron Father. Sharrowkyn reached the ground first, having dropped the last twenty metres for rather unexpectedly, a trio of Iron Warriors had spotted them and were peppering the Thaliakron’s outside walls with shots from the Bolters. Readying his weapon while still in air, the Raven Guard returned fire, high precision tox-shots making short work of neck seals, visors and speaker grilles and the soft flesh beneath them. Prompted by the gunfire to drop the last metres as well, Wayland landed heavily and with a total lack of elegance which led Sharrowkyn to one of his acerb comments. By then the panicked crowd was fleeing the Thaliakron, the resulting commotion a most welcome distraction for the two Loyalists who fled south through the debris fiels, contruction engine parks and abandonned worker camps left in wake of the Thaliakron’s completion. The Iron Warriors, which had not been as changed by their betrayal as other Legions, quickly mounted an organized pursuit, bringing in reinforcements and committing them to a city-wide hunt. But however diligent and methodical, the Iron Warriors were ill-prepared for what came next.

Operating as a single ship and in small numbers had taught the Sysipheum’s crew some valuable lessons as for instance to leave nothing to chance and always have a contingency-plan to rely upon. This plan had taken the form of several cases worth of explosives, buried in strategical locations as to better secure Wayland’s and Sharrowkyn’s extraction corridor. The first charge caught a band of mortal followers, shattering their cooked and ripped bodies over a wide area, but still the enemy came on. Wayland and Sharrowkyn covered each other, one running, the other gunning down the closest ennemies. Against this mortal enemy, the roar of Wayland’s own Bolter proved more effective than Sharrowkyn’s silent projectiles, but still they were being chased. The sound of approaching engines warned them of incoming Land Raiders, the two war machines quickly appearing on the edge of a nearby pile of debris, bearing the purple and gold livery of the Emperor’s Children, prove if needed that the III^rd Legion had also committed its warriors to the capture of their father’s would-be assassins. The Land Raider’s colour sheme were a marked contrast to the utilitarian bluntness of the Iron Warriors, both tanks bearing confusing swirlsof purple and pink which had taken an almost organic aspect, as if the two heavy assault vehicules were scaled like the skin of a serpent. Even more confusing were the glistening banners carried on their topside and the hull-mounted incense burners or smoke dispensers that envelopped the tank’s hull in a swirl of brightly coloured fog. Their appearance was n fact so peculiar that Sharrowkyn stopped in his tracks, a hesitation that ultimately saved his life as the pile of rubble he had selected as his next cover was vaporized by one of the leading Land Raider’s twin-linked Lascannons. Thrown back by the might of the detonation, Sharrowkyn landed hard, but was quickly back on his feet. He had lost sight on Wayland, but the still approaching battle tanks left him no time to think about it. Sharrowkyn jumped inside a excavation trench and followed it, using the trenche’s depth as cover. More and more shots were zeroing on him, but fortunately for him, his armour’s inbuilt stealth systems were throwing of the aim of his pursuers. The trench ended in a circular material depot, dominated by sections of wide-mouthed pipe works that were more than a match for the barrels of a Titan’s weaponry. Just as he reached the circular area, Wayland’s voice manifested itself on Sharrowkyn’s voice-link, urging him to take cover. Wasting no time, Sharrowkyn dived for the nearest section of pipe as the earth shook under the might of multiple coordinated detonations. Wayland had just triggered the main and secondary charges. A heavy pall of smoke, dust and sand began to obscure the landscape, leaving Sharrowking a small moment of respite after he had dispatched a lone Emperor’s Children which had also saught refuge from the blast in the same section of pipe.

Using the confusion around him to assess his position, Sharrowkyn got a clear look on his pursuers: the kaki uniforms of the soldiers of the Selucid Thorakites, oath-bounded warriors of the IV^th Legion, led and directed by Iron Warriors Legionaries. The enemy was clever, trying to box him in, but they were notp rivy to the Raven Guard stealth and infiltration techniques, and so Sharrowkyn gradually made for his rendez-vous point. Attempts to raise Wayland on the vox all failed, leading the lone Raven Guard to wonder if his ally might have been caught, but he quickly dismissed the thought. Distracted by his own worries, Sharrowkyn realised too late that he was not alone in the ravine he had just ventured into: someone had followed him. On instinct, Sharrowkyn dived, narrowly escaping the blast of sonic waves that devasted the ravine’s wall instead. Rolling on his back he quickly emptied his Needler’s magazine on the lone enemy, transforming his breastplate into a bloody mess, but still the enemy warrior did not fall. Laughing hysterically the Emperor’s Children raised his exotic cannon - which was some kind of Sonic Weapon - but before he could fire again, Sharrowkyn had drawn his twin gladii and silenced the weapon for good. Even with Sharrowkyn second blade firmly embeded in its neck, the enemy Noise Marine still lived, letting out an earpiercing shriek before the Raven Guard could punch his first blade into his enemy’s brain. Now the enemy had a fix on his position.

Sheating his hand-to-hand weapons and shouldering his rifle, Sharrowkyn ran from the construction site. Enemy troops were inbound and he knew fully well that his chances of escaping were dwindling by the minute. In utter desperation, Sharrowkyn violated his Legions doctrines, climbing an earthly ridge to get a better view of his surroundings and possibly make out a path ahead, this however meant sky-lining himself and thus becoming an easily rekognizable target. The vision he gained was a grim on: he was surrounded. Nearly a thousand soldiers were converging on his position, some of them carrying heavy weapons such as small-calibre howitzers, quad-lasers or tunnelling mortars. Further out but rapidly closing he could see four Land Raiders and at least a dozen Rhinos throwing up dust, all wearing the dull-metal hulls of the Iron Warriors. Swearing, Sharrowkyn made his way back down as the first shots began to pepper around him. Some hit him, mostly laser-shots, but still enough to make his armour’s integrated damage identicatirs turn an angry red. The Raven Guard was down to his last magazine, mowing down a squad of Selucid Thorakrites as help arrived.

Descending on the wash of its powerful jet engines, a multi-spectrally camouflaged Storm Eagle descended on the battlefield, Sabik Wayland at it’s controls. Wasting no time, Sharrowkyn dropped flat as the Storm Eagle’s nose-mounted Heavy Bolters spat devastation. Straffing the ridge several times from left to right, the enemy infantry - both mortals and legionaires - perished under the deluge of fire that mowed them down where they stood. Thanks to their thick plating and front armour, the Land Raiders had weathered the storm, but Wayland was not finished. Locking unto his targets, the Storm Eagle’ missile launchers came to bear, four slender missiles detaching from its avian silhouette which caused the Land Raiders to explode or crash into their own troops. Using the short time they had won, Wayland opened the flyer’s assault bay and Sharrowkyn quickly jumped inside, before punching the control keys to close the hatch. Wayland did not wait for his friend and ally to join him in the cockpit to push the Storm Eagle’s engines further and leave the battlefield. Making their way back to the Sisypheum woul be a bumpy ride, but they were not flying in a conventionnal Legion craft but the only existing Nighthawk-pattern Storm Eagle, personnally designed and built by Wayland himself. Despite their best efforts, the Iron Warriors and Emperor’s Children would not be able to catch it.

The Folly of Frater Thamatica

Safely back on board the Sisypheum, Wayland took their intelligence straight to the Strike Cruiser’s nominal commander, Captain Cadmus Tyro which acted on behalf of the Sisypheum’s true master, Ulrach Branthan of the Iron Hands' 65^th Company. Branthan had been grieviously wounded on Istvaan V and had to be put into stasis to keep him alive at all. Whenever the need arose and important decisions to be made, Branthan was woken for short periods of time. This would be oneof these times. With Captain Branthan sanctionning every offensive measure to deny the Traitors the powerful weapons hidden in the Eye of Terror, the Sisypheum set out, led on the secret paths of the Eldar race by a secretive xenos guide. While the combined fleet of the Emperor’s Children and Iron Warriors travelled on a route known as the Paths Above, the Sisypheum would take an alternate route to which their guide referred to as the Paths Below. It was Tyro’s hope that by using this secret paths of the Eldar Webway, they would be able to reach their destination before the Traitors ad either destroy the weapon before the enemy could lay their hands on it, ambusg them or claim the weapon for themselves. However, the voyage to Iydris would not go unoticed.

While still travelling to Iydris, the Sisypheum’s senior Iron Father, Frater Thamatica, conducted a dangerous experiment whose eventual failure caused an enormous electromagnetic backwash which effectively crippled the ship and left the Sisypheum dead in the void. Worse yet, both enemy fleets and their flagships had picked up theelectromagnetic discharge and pinpointed the Strike Cruiser’s exact location.The Emperor’s Children, ever bound on getting their revenge on the Iron Hands that had tried to assassinate their Primarch on Hydra Cordatus quickly staged a boarding action. The III^rd Legion’s Strike Cruiser Andronicus soon came alongside the Sisypheum and launched a full boarding assault. Captain Tyro had called all hands to battlestation as soon as Thamatica’s folly had been noticed, which meant that when the Emperor’s Children came, the Iron Hands were ready to defend their ship, Sharrowkyn amongst them. While the first wave crashed against the defenders, the lone Raven Guard held back, reading the ebb and flow of the battle. As costumary in boarding actions, the enemy would try to enter through the Stike Cruiser’s landing bays, the sole place on a ship that allowed the concentrated deployment of troops. This would be where the fighting would be the fiercest. Two targets presented themselves and Sharrowkyn chose to engage the one he judged the most dangerous  : a swordman of infinite grace and speed which wielded two ornate blades - Lucius. Despite having the element of surprise on his side, Sharrowkyn’s first attack did not kill his target outright but merely succeeded in throwing his enemy on the decks’ floor. As further proof of his skill, the unknown warrior also parried or dodged the following blows, rolling on the floor and expertly blocking the Raven Guard’s strikes until he regained his footings. Having taken the measure of his opponent, Sharrowkyn attacked,lightning-fast, but this time the swordman was prepared for him and none of his blows were able to pierce his defence. As the duel progressed, the ennemy tried to goad him into an impromtune attack, but Sharrowkyn was too experienced to let himself be drawn into such an obvious trap. Like a mortal dance, both duellists circled each other, approaching and exchanging blows and blocks - both equally gifted. Lucius relished the moment, rejoicing at the very notion that he might have found someone who might actually beat him. Questions followed insults, the swordman wanting to know the name of his extraordinary opponent, but Sharrowkyn greeted these questions like Luciusbarbed’ comments ; with silence. This seemed to unnerve the Emperor’s Children. His enemy fighting bareheaded, Sharrowkyn exploited this momentary lapse in his opponent’s composure to strike at his face, the black gladius opening a deep gash on Lucius’ cheek. Astonished by this feat, Lucius took a step back, ecstatic of having been wounded, and thus did not see his "comrade" rushing at him from behind and knocking him over.

Intent on stealing Lucius’ kill, the newcomer threw himself at the Raven Guard, swinging both his swords in a beheading cut. Compared to Lucius’ skill this one’s bladework was clumsy at best and Sharrowkyn almost killed him without effort, instinctively ducking beneath he blow and ramming his lefthanded shortsword into the warrior’s midriff, right beneath where his backplate started. Before the Emperor’s Children could react, Sharrowkyn had already struck again, opening his opponent throat and skull at the same time. Seizing his chance, Sharrowkyn threw himself at Lucius, intent on finishing him while he was still lying on the floor, but before he could reach him, he was thrown back the air displacement of a teleportation strike: Perturabo and his Iron Circle had joined the attack on the Sisypheum. While the fight for the landing bay was changed by this new turn of events, some seperate elements of the Emperor’s Children’s assault had broken through the Iron Hands’ defensive positions. Led by Chief Apothecary Fabius Bile, one party consisting of a collection of Bile’s nightmarish creations, both Noise Marines and of severely altered, mutated and bestialic once-Astartes, broke into the Sisypheum’s Apothecarion, where they were met by the two valiant Morlocksthat had been standing guard over Ulrach Branthan’s body - Septus Thoic and Ignatus Numen - and Apothecary Atesh Tarsa. Realizing the danger they were in and the horros unleashed by this madman, Tarsa called for urgent reinforcements. Intercepting Tarsa’s vox-message, Sharrowkyn quickly rushed to his friends aid in a desperate effort to save the Sisypheum’s captain’s life.Sharrowkyn wraith-slipped into the Apothecarion, dropping right onto Fabius Bile and piercing his torso with his twin blades. Hurling one of his blade like a throwing knife, Sharrowkyn slew a Noise Marine outright, but before he could finsish Bile, the sole remaining abomination threw itself at Sharrowkyn. Rolling over Branthan’s casket, Sharrowkyn could only stare in horror as the things altered metabolism went into hyperdrive, its muscles and claws growing and its neck thickening under his very eyes. Fortunately, Sharrowkyn had called for aid himself. The backwall of the Apothecarion was suddenly ripped to shreds as the towering form of a Legiones Astartes Dreadnought entered the fray. Too big to fit through the door, Brother Bombastus, The Iron Thunder of Medusa had made his own doorway and answered Tarsa’s call. Seizing the frenzied beast in his Power Fist, the Dreadnought repeatedly bludgeonned the thing’s head into the wall and floor until it could move no further. To be sure of the thing’s ultimate death, Brother Bombastus activated his fist’s underslung Storm Bolter and blew its brains out. Captain Branthan and Apothecary Tarsa had been saved, but Fabius Bile had managed to escape.

While these dire events unfolded, Frater Thamatica had rushed to the Sisypheum’s Enginarium, the best-suited place from which to nurse some energy back into the Strike Cruiser. In this task, the Iron Father grew lucky : the emergency venting systems had kept the generators operational and these were still generating power. However the powerlevel were gradually overloading the Sisypheum’s systems. Diverting the available energy to whatever secondary systems were available, Thamatica let the power build up into the generators, simulating an intentionnal reactor overload. This did not go unnoticed for long and soon the Iron Warrior’s flagship, the Iron Blood, detected this energy spike and alerted Perturabo of it. While the Primarch himself did not believe that the Iron Hands would sacrifice themselves in such a manner, his Triarchs urged him to reconsider his position and take no risks. In the end, the Iron Warriors retreated without warning the Emperor’s Children of their impending doom. As soon as he got word of the Iron Warrior’s retreat, Thamatica rerouted the colossal amount of energy at his disposition to the propulsion systems. The engines flared white-hot, their output magnified by the amount of energy that was fed to them. At a moment’s notice, the Sisypheum lurched forward, akin to a missile taking flight from its launcher. With phenomenal velocity, it rammed the stationnary Andronicus, cleaving it in two drifting hull-portions the warships’ flanks offering no protection at all against the kinetic power of the Sisypheum’s mass launched at full-speed. Most of the Emperor’s Children still onboard where sucked out into space by the unexpected acceleration. Its thrusters burning at maximum capacity and even beyond, the Sisypheum made good its escape.

Iydris

Despite the losses inflicted by the Emperor’s Children and Iron Warriors, the Iron Hands would not relent. The Sisypheum made its way to the crone world of Iydris where Cadmus Tyro led the Cruiser’s entire complement of warriors to the surface, a few warriors short of 150 Astartes against the gathered might of two Legions. As the most experienced team of scouts, Wayland and Sharrowkyn led the way, spying on the Traitors which had already erected fortifications aroud the central tomb which alledgedly harboured the prize coveted by the two Primarchs. Following their guide’s directions, the Iron Hands were able to ambush the Traitors just as Fulgrim was conducting his foul ritual that would see him reborn as a Daemon Prince of Slaanesh. Benefitting from the confusion sown by the awakening of Iydris wraithbone contructs, the Iron Hands struck. Garuda, Captain Branthan mechanical eagle seized the so-called Maugetar Stone, an enchanted crystal that had gorged itself on Perturabo’s life force, and that was now coveted by Fulgrim and his Emperor’s Children. The swordman Lucius was able to clip one of Garuda’s wings by a well-placed shot of his Bolt Pistol, starting a desperate struggle for the possession of the Maugetar Stone. Sharrowkyn was also present, hiding in the shadows, covering the approach to the stone with his Needler Sniper Rifle. Acting on a hunch, Lucius send one of his subordinates to fetch the stone, the Legionary being promptly downed by two high precision shots that shattered trough his helmet’s eye-lenses and exploded in his skull. Opening fire with his Bolt Pistol, Lucius forced Sharrowkyn out of hiding. Diving forwards, he quickly seized the Maugetar Stone and unsheated his sword. Sharrowkyn did not wait long, firing his Jet Pack and opening fire on his descent. While every shot hit his mark, no needle was able to penetrate Lucius Power Armour. Lucius lashed out, cutting Sharrowkyn’s carbine in two. ’You bring a needle-carbine to a sword-fight?’ the swordman sneered while Sharrowkyn unsheated his own weapons. Both swordmen had longed to finish their interrupted duel, and as an act of respect, Sharrowkyn gave his opponent what he had denied him during their last encounter: his name. Sharrowkyn noticed at once that the sword man had changed his second sword for a viciously-looking barbed whip with which Lucius attacked first, grazing Sharrowkyn’s eye-lenses before following up with his sword. Aimed at his leg, the swordman diverted his cut at thelast moment, trnaforming it into a thrust at Sharrowkyn’s groin, but Sharrowkyn blocked the sword between his two gladii. Sharrowkyn tried to hammer his elbow into Lucius’ face, but the latter had let himself be carried by his momentum, ducking beneath Sharrowkyn’s swinging arm while striking out at the base of Sharrowkyn’s spine.

The Raven Guard had to use his Jump Pack to get himself out of harm’s way, interrupting their duel. The roles were now reversed, as this time Sharrowkyn tried to tempt Lucius into attacking him, but as during their first encounter no one took the bait, instead Sharrowkyn gunned his Jump Pack again, throwing himself on his opponent. Lucius whip, as filled with a malicious mind of its own lashed out and cracked around the Raven Guard’s neck, its sharp barbs piercing its collarseals and even drawing blood, but that did not stop Sharrowkyn. Still flying, Sharrowkyn parried Lucius’ sword with his gladii, the block just enough to let the swordtip graze his armour’s ceramite before impacting with his opponent. His enemy relished the clean and honourable kill of a duel, so Sharrowkyn turned their fight into a brawl. Too close for bladework, both warriors exchanged blows with their fists, rolling violently on the floor until Sharrowkyn made his decisive move. In typical arrogance, Lucius had removed his helmet, an error Sharrowkyn would not let go unpunished. Headbutting the swordman, Sharrowkyn broke the Emperor’s Children nose, blood flowing freely into Lucius’ eyes.

The swordman tried to anticipate the Raven Guard’s moves, thrusting and striking where he supposed his enemy would be to deliver the killing blow, but Sharrowkyn wraith-slipped and eluded all of Lucius attacks. Lucius relished the first wound inflicted on him by Sharrowkyn, a bladethrust into his flank, savouring the exquisite feeling of pain, but soon changed his attitude as Sharrowkyn’s second blade cut into his back. The next blow gave him a new scar on his cheek, one to mirror the one taken during their first duel as Sharrowkyn mercilessly continued to dance around Lucius. His strength slowly ebbing away, Lucius knew the end was near. Sharrowkyn appeared behind the swordman, pushing him to his knees, poised for the final strike. Both black blades were now on Lucius’ neck, their tip nestled into the hollows between collarbone and throat. ’It gives me no pleasure to do this,’ said Sharrowkyn. ’You are nothing to me, simply a rabid dog that needs to be put down.’ before thrusting both his blades into Lucius’ ribcage.

Allies Unlooked For

With the losses suffered on Iydris, the Sisypheum’s offensive capabilities had been severely reduced. The ship itself had not escaped unscathed, but as before, the dedication of its crew had allowed the Sisypheum to endure. The Strike Cruiser could still prove a deadly opponent as isolated enemy ships would soon find out. The Zeta Morgeld, a Strike Cruiser belonging to the XX^th Legion, was only the latest vessel to be cornered and boarded by the Sisypheum. While the Iron Hands conducted a more conventional boarding action, Sharrowkyn and his partner, Wayland, chose an alternate route -- running along the Morgeld’s exterior hull to reach the bridge. To gain access to the ship's interior, Wayland carried a lascutter, a high-powered cutting tool, which would allowed the pair to breach the Morgeld’s bridge and circumvent its extensive defensive measure. However, as the main attack was bogged down by a pair of Alpha Legion Terminators, Sharrowkyn and Wayland stepped in to save Captain Tyro's life. The first Terminator was sucked into the void and the second was no match for Sharrowkyn's deadly blade work. The Zeta Morgeld’s navigational logs held highly classified information -- the future location of the Alpha Legion's illusive Primarch, Alpharius. Though encrypted, Wayland and Frater Thamatica were able to crack the enemy codes thanks to the captured Kryptos. Having been stripped of anything useful, the Iron Hands were about to dispose of the Zeta Morgeld when the Sisypheum unexpectedly came under attack by the Theta Malquiant, another Alpha Legion Strike Cruiser, that had just appeared in-system. The Theta Malquiant did not come alone, however, for it had been followed by a Loyalist vessel, the Iron Heart, flagship of the famed Iron Hands Captain Shadrak Meduson.

While the Iron Hands rejoiced of the Iron Heart’s timely arrival and the prospect of joining forces with one of their Legion's greatest heroes, Sharrowkyn was more reserved. Ever suspicious, the Iron Heart’s miraculous arrival and timely rescue of the Sisypheum sat ill at ease with the Raven Guard. The XIX^th Legion had always been cautious, disliking sacrificing its warriors in often costly direct assaults when the same goal could be attained through other means. This same sense of caution lead Sharrowkyn to speak out against Tyro, urging the assembled command council of the Sisypheum to cut all vox-links to the Iron Heart and rapidly vacate the system. But the Sisypheum was still an Iron Hands' vessel and Sharrowkyn's warnings were easily dismissed by the eager Iron Hands. On a purely rational level, Sharrowkyn could understand the Iron Hands psychological need to fight together : the Iron Tenth was not used to guerilla warfare and while they would never openly admit to it, this style of covert operations gnawed at their resolve. Fully knowing that he was still perceived as an outsider, Sharrowkyn departed the bridge. Leaving the Iron Hands to their reunion the Raven Guard isolated himself on the Sisypheum’s forging decks. He was however not entirely alone as he was in company of another outsider to the X^th Legion: Atesh Tarsa of the Salamanders. Though their mutual appearance could not have been more different, an honest friendship had developed between the stealth expert and the Apothecary. To Tarsa, Sharrowkyn confessed his doubts on the course of action Cadmus Tyro had set them on: to join their meagre forces with those of Meduson and hunt down Alpharius. Sharrowkyn however did not trust Meduson and had decided to covertly infiltrate the Iron Heart on his own to ascertain that Meduson was truly who he pretended to be.

While the Sisypheum’s Kryptos was decrypting the data retrieved from the Zeta Morgeld, Sharrowkyn covertly attached himself to a lone shuttle, thus setting over to the Iron Heart. Gaining access inside the ship was simplicity itself as the Iron Heart was woefully undermanned. Prowling the Strike Cruiser's corridors, Sharrowkyn remarked that the ship had almost been entirely rebuilt from within, a testimony to the Iron Heart’s recent encounters with the enemy. Yet the lay-out of the new cursives and corridors was a far cry from the more common and ordinate structures of the STC-template used in the Imperium's shipyards. Contacting Wayland over a secure vox-channel, Sharrowkyn gained access to the Sisypheum’s extensive data-logs which contained the initial construction plans of the Iron Heart. What he had seen, thus far, was a far cry from the what he could see on the blueprints, however before he could investigate the matter any further, Sharrowkyn was discovered by Shadrak Meduson. Having acted without permission or even knowledge from Tyro, Sharrowkyn's presence on the Iron Heart might well have caused further tensions if Meduson had not conceded in revealing the presence of his own infiltrator aboard the Sisypheum. Scolding Tyro for his lack of precautions and inquisitive nature, Meduson let the case rest, but this entire incident only served to strengthen Sharrowkyn's misgivings toward the Iron Hands Captain. No warrior of the X^th Legion, however cautious and well-versed in the art of stealth, would have been able to fool the Raven Guard's senses, and yet Sharrowkyn had not perceived the presence of this infiltrator in their midst.

Eirene Septimus

Soon the Kryptos had deciphered the information retrieved from the Alpha Legion Strike Cruiser and what it told the Iron Hands was of a most sensitive nature -- the data indicated that the mysterious Primarch and elusive Primarch of the XX^th Legion was bound to meet with some of their troops in a nearby system. Thanks to the Kryptos, the Iron Hands now had the navigational logs of the Zeta Morgeld and the means to intercept Alpharius. As Meduson convened with Tyro, the Sisypheum and the Iron Heart readied themselves for a most dangerous venture -- to kill a Primarch. But before the Sisypheum could join the Iron Heart in this joint quest, they had to take the proposed mission to Captain Branthan. So it came to pass, that the wounded captain was awakened again from his stasis-slumber -- Branthan's words were still law as far as the Iron Hands were concerned, and his words were clear -- accept the mission, redeem the Iron Tenth's honour, and kill Alpharius.

The data of the Zeta Morgeld took the Iron Hands into an uninhabited and barely cartographed system at the edge of known space. It was then no surprise when the data-logs confirmed that the system had originally been discovered by the Alpha Legion. The navigational charts took the Sisypheum and its partner to the system's seventh world, designated Eirene Septimus. The world was a Death World, whose acidic oceans were utterly inimical to life. Yet it had a strategic value, for its precipitations consisted of pure Promethium, a precious resource in this time of civil war. The sole human structure present on Eirene Septimus was a gigantic hovering grav-plate which harboured almost fully automated refineries, all in service of the XX^th Legion. Designated Laerna 2-12, this gravitational plate was to be the place where Alpharius would talk to his Legion. Infiltrating this facility would have been next to impossible if the Iron Hands had not retrieved several suits of Alpha Legion Power Armour from the Zeta Morgeld. An advanced party from the Sisypheum would masquerade as Alpha Legionnaires to allow the landing parties from both the Sisypheum and the Iron Heart to enter Laerna 2-12. As was fairly common within the Iron Tenth, the Iron Hands’ commanders, Shadrak Meduson and Cadmus Tyro would personally lead their troops from the front although neither would be part of the infiltration team.

Acting on his own initiative, Nykona Sharrowkyn infiltrated the facility ahead of the infiltration team itself, using his modified jump pack to jump from the Storm Eagle’s rear ramp while it was still approaching Laerna 2-12. Touching "ground" amidst the refineries rooftops and skyways, Sharrowkyn promptly dispatched two sentinels to allow the Iron Hands’ Storm Eagle and escorting Thunderhawk to disembark their troops. Once the path was clear, Sharrowkyn wasted no time and promptly went in search of a good vantage point from which he would be able to cover the infiltration team’s progress. Lerna 2-12 was a massive gravitational plate, an entire city floating above the acid seas of Eirene Septimus, hovering at the very edge of the cloudline where the air was still breathable. As suspected with such a secret facility, much of Lerna 2-12 was automated, a discovery Sharrowkyn quickly relayed to the still approaching Iron Hands gunships. To inflict maximum damages on the Alpha Legion, the Sisypheum’s two Iron Fathers, Frater Thamatica and Sabik Wayland had developed a chemical compound that would ignite within the Alpha Legion’s vessels Promethium reservoirs, thus obliterating the ships, but to release the compound, the Iron Hands first needed to gain control of Lerna 2-12’s main control hub, which had been designated as the infiltration team’s first target. Led by Septus Thoic and Verdana Cybus, two survivors of the Avernii Clan, the infiltration team initially made good progress, as to the few Mechanicum priest they encountered, they seemed indistinguishable to real members of the XX^th Legion. It was only when the team encountered other Legionaries that matters became tense. The infiltration team encountered a couple of Alpha Legion Land Speeders, which were undoubtedly patrolling the the facility and were challenged by their crews. Having no knowledge of the XX^th Legion’s secret battle-cant and code-phrases, Cybus managed to approach one of the vehicles by faking a malfunctioning vox bead before Sharrowkyn intervened -- warning Cybus to shoot when he himself opened fire. A high precision shot from Sharrowkyn’s Needler Sniper Rifle took the second Land Speeder’s gunner in the eye before the follow-up shots killed its driver, thus giving Cybus the split-second he needed to kill the first skimmer’s crew. With the infiltration team’s true identity still safe, Sharrowkyn advanced towards the objective.

Lerna 2-12’s main control hub was located within a towering ziggurat whose architecture betrayed its affiliation to the Mechanicum rather than the Alpha Legion. Around the ziggurat a couple of Titans marched, but fortunately for the Iron Hands and the lone Raven Guard, these were not the mighty war-engines fielded by the Collegia Titanica, but workhorses of industrial might whose grappling limbs, fuel connector and lifter rigs were the only one powerful enough to wield the immense fuel lines gathering in the central refuelling column that dwarfed the main control hub as a mighty tree might a sapling. To gain access into the control hub, the infiltration team would not use brute force but more subtle ways: misdirection. Still clad in their stolen warplate, the infiltrators hastily staged a fake firefight, leading the ziggurat’s guards to let them in. Thanks in no small part to the code phrase they had been greeted with during their first encounter with the Traitors, the team convinced the guards that they were under assault by splinter-elements of the Raven Guard. Opening the door, the Alpha Legion let their "comrades" in, ready to repel the enemy when the Iron Hands turned on them. Sharrowkyn, of course placed the first shot, killing three guards in quick succession as the Iron Hands claimed the control room. The rest of the fight was a messy business, as the Loyalist used the captured Land Speeders to catch the surviving Alpha Legionnaires in a devastating cross-fire, shredding much of he far wall with their Heavy Bolters to ensure Cybus’ plan functioned. Sharrowkyn did not stay to watch this, knowing full well that a sniper needed to move as soon as his shot had been fired. Alpharius was almost there and that was a target Sharrowkyn would not let pass by so easily.

As Alpharius' ship slowly docked with Lerna 2-12, Sharrowkyn had found a perfect spot, with an unobstructed line of fire to the staging ground where his target would soon appear. Frater Taumatica was conducting the necessary rites to release the compound into Lerna’s main Prometheum tanks which would soon be used to refuel the Alpha Legion ships, thus turning them into gigantic flying bombs. The infiltration team had also reached the staging ground, Thoic and Cybus leading the party. All this, Sharrowkyn observed through the lense of his Needle Sniper Rifle, attentive to every motion or sign that they had been discovered. A true marksman needed absolute calm to make the perfect shot, and Sharrowkyn knew first hand of how difficult it truly was, for his first attempt had failed. Yet, he could not shake the ill-feeling that something was amiss. From his sniper’s nest some three hundred metres above the ground, Sharrowkyn had an eagle’s view on the control hub and the landing platform on which Alpharius’ Thunderhawk gunship was due to arrive any minute. Cybus and his infiltration team, now numbering only five warriors, advanced unopposed and were being covered by two squads of Iron Hands Legionaries from the Iron Heart -- Meduson’s men. They moved with far superior discretion and skill than the men of the Sisypheum, and Sharrowkyn found a new respect for these warriors and their commanding officer. Yet still doubts nagged at his otherwise perfect concentration. Fixing Thoic and Cybus through his rifle’s crosshairs, easily piercing the veil of heavy rain that had begun to fall, Sharrowkyn stared at his comrades-in-arms for a long moment. Fighting alongside someone for years bred a special kind of connection between warriors, and Sharrowkyn knew every quirk, every slight detail in the body language of the men he was now observing. Nothing seemed to warrant his misgivings. The rain was obviously washing away some of the blood from Cybus’ armour, and other members of his infiltration team had also suffered some wounds in the taking of the control hub. Was this what had tipped him off? A slight limp due to a ricocheting bolter round or a shallow knife cut? Before he had the opportunity to delve further on the matter, Sharrowkyn’s thought were interrupted by the screeching sound of a Thunderhawk’s engines, an unmarked gunship that was approaching the landing pad. Alpharius was inbound.

Once his transport had landed, Alpharius stepped from the Thunderhawk, quickly joining the waiting party led by Cybus and Thoic. From the moment he stepped out of the unmarked Thunderhawk, Sharrowkyn had the Primarch in his crosshairs but took no further action. As the sire of the XX^th Legion exchanged some words with Thoic, Sharrowkyn could only watch in horror as Thoic drew his gladius and slit Cybus’ throat in one deft stroke. As a fierce firefight erupted between the Iron Hands in disguise and Alpharius’ escort, Thoic jumped on Alpharius, battling the Primarch in hand-to-hand combat. Sharrowkyn followed the massacre through the scope of his Needler Sniper Rifle. Focusing on the duel between Thoic and Alpharius, Sharrowkyn realised the reason for his earlier disquiet -- the warrior fighting the Primarch was not Septus Thoic, but an imposter. Recalling Meduson’s earlier comment that he had infiltrated the Sisypheum, Sharrowkyn realised the full extent of the truth. Cursing Tyro’s gullibility, Sharrowkyn clutched his Needler Sniper Rifle tighter and focused on "Thoic" which was now sparring with Alpharius himself. To Sharrowkyn’s trained eye, their similar fighting style was testimony enough that both warriors were in fact members of the Alpha Legion. Reading the ebb and flow of the combat, trying to dismiss the fact that beneath him his battle-brothers were dying, Sharrowkyn fired, and Alpharius went down, his brain pulverised by a high precision shot. Sharrowkyn promptly switched targets, aiming for "Thoic" but the infiltrator was already diving for cover while "Meduson’s" men were flanking the remaining Alpha Legionnaires. However, before Sharrowkyn could take his next shot, two Fire Raptor gunships were closing in on his position, their central Avenger Gatling Cannons already cycling. Wondering how they had found him so quickly, Sharrowkyn sprinted towards the edge on the venting tower, jumping to escape the torrent of fire unleashed by approaching gunship.

Forewarned by a last transmission fromSabik Wayland, Cadmus Tyro realized how truly he had been betrayed, for his target had never been the Primarch of the XX^th Legion but a dissident from the Alpha Legion’s ranks. The man they had set out to kill and the crews and Legionnaries that would soon die on the sabotaged ships had all been loal soldiers of the Emperor. And Cadmus Tyro had killed them, manipulated by the Traitors. The true Alpharius had been much closer at hand, masquerading this entire time as Shadrak Meduson. Save for Frater Thamatica and Ignatius Numen, all Iron Hands present in the control hub were in truth Alpha Legionnaries in disguise, following their Primarch’s order. Hopelessly outnumbered and confronted with a Primarch, Tyro knew he had little to no chance of escaping but could still buy Thamatica some time to come up with a contingency plan. The Iron Father never failed to deliver and he did so this time when a massive manipulator claw smashed through the control hubs ceiling, causing the entire building to collapse: still connected with Lerna 2-12’s control grid, Thamatica had ordered the Titans to destroy the control hub, allowing the three of them to turn the tables on their enemies. It was not much and arrayed against a Primarch they had no true chance of victory, but it ultimately proved enough as Sharrowkyn was able to join the fight barely in time to save Numen and Thamatica.

Dropping directly into the fight, Sharrowkyn slammed into the Traitor named Ashur Maesan, a dreadfully agile, swift and vicious fighter that had already killed four of the Sisypheum’s Legionaries with his favoured weapon, the hiebmesser usually favoured by the dreaded Night Lords. Maesan recovered quickly, much quickly than Sharrowkyn had anticipated, lunging at Sharrowkyn before the Raven Guard had assumed his fighting stance. Using his jump pack with skill, Sharrowkyn put some distance between him and his opponent and their duel began in earnest. Soon Sharrowkyn was bleeding from two wounds on his neck and hip, disorientated by the Alpha Legionary’s fighting style. Feinting exhaustion, Sharrowkyn tricked Maesan into an all-out attack but rushed him by using his jump pack. Lightning-quick, Maesan ducked the onrushing Sharrowkyn, just as Sharrowkyn had anticipated. Letting go of one of his twin black swords to free his hand, Sharrowkyn used his free hand to grab Maesan’s shoulderguard. Using his momentum to swing himself around like a pendulum, Sharrowkyn triggered his jump pack again, reverting his motion and diving onto Maesan whom he stabbed right behind the collarbone, his black sword plunging deep into Maesan’s vital organs. Making sure his opponent was truly dead, Sharrowkyn readied himself for the next fight.

Retrieving his discarded sword, Nykona Sharrowkyn readied himself to face the most dangerous enemy he had ever encountered : one of the Emperor’s Primarchs. It was not the first time Sharrowkyn had seen one of the Emperor’s own flesh and blood, it was not even the first time he had tried to kill one of them, the events on Hydra Cordatus were a testimony to that, but it would be the first time he would face a Primarch in hand-to-hand combat. Alpharius slowly advanced, negligently tossing aside Frater Thamatica which landed close to where the deeply wounded Captain Tyro laid. Words passed between the Primarch of the XX^th Legion and the scion of the Raven Lord, Alpharius praising Sharrowkyn’s fighting skills. The Primarch bend over, retrieving Maesan’s hiebmesser and attaching it to his belt. Sharrowkyn tensed, expecting an attack despite the fact that the Primarch was not showing any sign of hostility. "Put your blades away, Nykona," said Alpharius, "I said you were good, but that shadow-slipping trick my brother taught you won’t work on me." "We’ll see" answered the defiant Raven Guard, gripping his swords tighter. "No, we won’t." said Alpharius turning around, adamant on not fighting Sharrowkyn for his brother Magnus had asked him not to. Puzzled, Sharrowkyn sheated his own swords knowing that he had nothing to fear, for despite his reputation, Alpharius was always true to his word. Sharrowkyn asked the Primarch what this had all been for, why he had entangled the Sysipheum in his plans and brought them to Lerna 2-12, but Alpharius simply answered he should ask Tyro. If he survived. Only now was the Raven Guard aware of Tyro’s true condition, his chest pierced by four mass-reactive shells and his skin even paler than his own. That he still lived at all was a testimony to the Iron Hands’ stubborness. Alpharius departed, saying : "I said I wouldn’t kill you, but I think that might." As on cue, the prow of one of the destroyed Alpha Legion Strike Cruisers fell down on Lerna 2-12, engulfing the refineries in another explosion. With the help of Thamatica, Sharrowkyn hefted Tyro’s body between them and tried to escape the grav-plate’s impeeding death.

Fortunately for Sharrowkyn, Sabik Wayland had survived his aerial duel against the "Meduson’s" Thunderhawk and despite having taken severe hits, the Iron Father’s Storm Eagle was still airborne. As the grav-plate was about to fall down into the planet‘s acid oceans, the remaining four survivors of the Sysipheum quickly embarked, Sharrowkyn rushing to the cockpit to assist Wayland as a co-pilot, for Eirene Septimus’ atmosphere was on the verge of igniting. Battling his gunship’s control to keep their Storm Eagle on course, they broke the atmosphere just as Lerna 2-12 was erased from existence by the fiery tornado unleashed by the Strike Cruiser’s destruction. Cadmus Tyro stubbornly clung to life, even managing to exchange a few words with the lone Raven Guard, regretting that he had not heeded Sharowkyn’s advice. Henceforth Sharrowkyn would be given a voice on the Sysipheum and be considered an equal in all matters.

Known Associates

• Apothecary Atesh Tarsa - Tarsa's obsidian skin and fiery eyes marked him out as a son of Vulkan, a Salamanders of the XIX^th Legion of the Legiones Astartes. Like Sharrowkyn, Tarsa was one of the few members of the crew that did not belong to the Iron Tenth. As former Apothecary of the 24^th Company of the Salamanders’ Legion, Tarsa was the most experienced medical authority onboard, which quickly left him in charge of the survival of the Sisypheum’s heavily wounded captain, Ulrach Branthan, and the numerous wounded of all kind. Yet, when not fighting to save the life of one of his patients, Atesh Tarsa and Nykona Sharrowkyn spend a lot of time together. They made an unlike pair, the pale-skinned son of Corax and the dark Salamanders but both of them valued their friendship, having both been spared the trauma of knowing their gene-father had been slain. Sharrowkyn had been surprised when Tarsa had spotted him directly while he wandering amongst the Sisypheum’s corridors, a feat he believed impossible to those untrained in the art of stealth. When their ship was boarded by the Emperor's Children during the Battle of Iydris, it was Sharrowkyn that saved Tarsa's life, engaging the enemy swordsman about to finish the job. Sharrowkyn also benefitted from Tarsa's friendship, having found more than a friend -- Tarsa taught Sharrowkyn a measure of his skill as a weaponsmith -- guiding Sharrowkyn as he forged his own shortsword to replace his twin Gladii.
• Iron Father Sabik Wayland -Sabik Wayland was an Iron Father of the Iron Hands Legion an responsible for saving Sharrowkyn’s life on the black sands of Istvaan V. As both a skilled pilot and a great inventor, Wayland was responsible for several powerful additions to the Iron Hands’ and indeed the Imperium’s arsenal. In the wake of the Drop Site Massacre, Wayland would play a key part in keeping the Sisypheum combat-worthy and become one of the Iron Hands’ most skilled infiltrators, for his skills in technological matters and contingency plans proved to be a powerful addition to Sharrowkyn’s own abilities. Wayland and Sharrowkyn would soon become the Sisypheum’s most skilled warriors and accomplished great deeds together.
• Cadmus Tyro - A line-officer of the Iron Hands, Cadmus Tyro had risen through the ranks of 65^th Company to become equerry to the illustrious Captain Ulrach Branthan. Following Branthan’s wounding on Istvaan V, Tyro became the nominal commander of the Sisypheum and the central figure for the survivors of the Shattered Legions to rally behind. A far more competent officer than everyone would have given him credit for, Tyro would orchestrate the first strikes against the Traitor Legions. Despite his considerable misgivings towards those survivors not originally from the Iron Tenth, Cadmus Tyro was able to forge a coherent fighting force from the disparate survivors of the Drop Site Massacre. A hard man to like, Sharrowkyn and Tyro did not get along very well until the events on Eirene Septimus.

Known Opponents

• Alpharius - As one of the Emperor’s own sons, the secretive and illusive Primarch of the XX^th Legion towers over the average Legionary as a member of the Legiones Astartes towers over the unaugmented human. More than for any other Primarch, Alpharius Omegon’s origins and history has always been shrouded in mysteries and half-truth. Sharrowkyn encountered Alpharius on the isolate planet of Eirene Septimus, the Primarch of the Alpha Legion having tricked the Sysipheum’s crew into assassinating an influential Alpha Legion dissident. As Alpharius revealed his true identity, Sharrowkyn readied himself to face the Primarch but Alpharius refused to attack him, making veiled revelations as to a prophecy of Magnus the Red, the Primarch of the Thousand Sons’. This deeply unsettled Sharrowkyn for he had never served alongside the XV^th Legion or met the Crimson King.
• Lucius the Eternal - Even before the world-shattering events of the Istvaan III Atrocity, the swordman known as Lucius, then mere Captain of the Emperor’s Children 13^th Company, was a greatly famed warrior with an impressive records of victories. Amongst the elite swordmen of the III^rd Legion known as the Palatine Blades, Lucius had no match, save for their own sire - Fulgrim, The Phoenician - which led him to issue challenges to the most gifted warriors of all the Legiones Astartes and defeat most of them in single combat. Only the very best of them were able to twart him : Azkaellon of the Blood Angels and Garviel Loken of the Sons of Horus managed to spoil his victory or even defeat him, but before his encounter with Nykona Sharrowkyn, none had been able to kill him. Unfortunately for the Imperium, the feared swordman would be revived by the ministrations of the equally dreaded Apothecary Fabius Bile before the dark gifts of his new patron, the Chaos God Slaanesh, made him near immortal.

Skills & Wargear

As the sole member of the XIX^th Legion onboard the Sysipheum, Nykona Sharrowkyn was mostly considered a loner, a lone wolve drawn from a parent Legion but with no affiliation to the majority of the survivors which were drawn from the Iron Hands. It came then as no surprise that Sharrowkyn mostly took to the field alone, often used as a stealth and infiltration specialist, a role he was supremely qualified for as Sharrowkyn was able to "Shadow-Walk" as only the member of the Mor Deythan could. Sharrowkyn shared many abilities with these elite-infiltration troops, including superior marksmanship with precision weapons such as Sniper Rifles. Sharrowkyn has been noted to prefer the less common Needler Sniper Rifle, valueing the weapon’s discretion as Needler-weapons do not create muzzle-flashes. At the same time, Sharrowkyn was expert in hand-to-hand combat, alledgedly trained by Corvus Corax himself, and he used his twin black swords with deadly efficiency.

As most Raven Guard Legionaries, Sharrowkyn was also an expert in the use of the Jump Pack, of which it was said he was one of the few to use the Jump Pack’s bulk and propulsion systems even in combat, which already increased the Raven Guard natural speed in hand-to-hand combat.

Sources

• Kryptos (Short Story) by Graham McNeill
• Angel Exterminatus (Novel) by Graham McNeill
• The Seventh Serpent (Novella) by Graham McNeill