106th Expedition Fleet
The 106th Expedition Fleet was a Great Crusade Expedition Fleet.[1]
History
The 106th was the largest of all of the Expeditionary fleets maintained by the Blood Angels at the time of the Great Crusade and were not recalled to join Sanguinius and the rest of the Legion after the Kayvas Initiative. The 106th included five companies of the Blood Angels as well as a similar force of Word Bearers. Since the expedition was on campaign far to the galactic west, the 106th played no part in the initial fighting of the Horus Heresy, and many in the Loyalist camp assumed that the Word Bearers had betrayed and destroyed the Blood Angels attached to the fleet, a tragedy made unremarkable by the grim necessity of those years. Yet in 010.M31, the Word Bearers’ outposts on Sarcossa and nearby worlds that guarded the approach to Colchis began to fail and go dark, signalling the return of the lost 106th expeditionary Fleet.[2]
Following the vengeful return of the Blood Angels of the 106th Expeditionary Fleet and their short but brutal campaign of retribution against the Word Bearers enclaves in the galactic west, remnants of the original constituent companies joined with a contingent of Iron Hands in order to strike the Traitor strongholds in a series of disruptive raids. Across the Xibana Reaches both Loyalist Legions unleashed their wrath upon the Sons of Horus outposts. Now numbering barely half of their original complement, the Blood Angels fought their way to the nearby enclave of Medusa and took refuge with the Iron Hands, becoming a thorn in the side of the traitor armies that held the far western satraps of the Imperium in thrall.[1][2]
Later on, the expedition would answer the call of Rogal Dorn and join The Great Muster to fight in the coming Battle of Beta-Garmon at the Garmon Cluster. Three full Chapters of the IXth Legion would arrive from Medusa in early 012.M31 alongside the 3rd and 5th companies of the Iron Hands 19th Reserve Chapter while the main force of the Iron Council was unable to respond since they were already waging their Bitter War against the Word Bearers of Colchis.[3]
Although the survivors of the 106th had experienced heavy fighting throughout the Heresy, their numbers were not depleted as expected, arriving at Beta-Garmon II fully 8,000 strong. Once composed almost entirely of Terran veterans, the warriors of the fleet had fallen back on old tactics and traditions in the wake of Horus’ betrayal and, in the absence of Sanguinius, had grown strong from the spoils of conquest and the scions of the defeated. The strategists of the Imperial Fists garrison labelled the newly-arrived Legionaries as Inductii, though they displayed a savage skill in the field of battle. These warriors were commanded by a man named Ennam Khorba, an individual known to have fought in the last days of the war of Unity on Terra, sometimes called ‘The Undying’, though he matched no previous pict-record of that ancient Space Marine.[3]
During the battle, the Blood Angels were divided into three loose hosts, each of several thousand warriors, the vast majority of these warriors were equipped for close assault and hand-to-hand combat. Two of these formations bore only the insignia of a screaming skull, one host in gold and another in silver, while the third ad-hoc bore the sign of a winged skull, and were outfitted with a variety of combat bikes, jetbikes and land speeders. All of these forces operated with an informal command structure that proved troublesome for the Imperial Fists centurions that attempted to direct the defence, using an ancient code-form to pass orders and often entirely ignoring pre-set plans.[3]
Sources
- 1: Campaigns of the Age of Darkness: The Siege of Cthonia, pg. 8 - Battles in the Years of Darkness and Blood: The Reaving of the Xibana Reaches
- 2: The Horus Heresy Book Eight - Malevolence, pg. 111
- 3: Legions Imperialis: The Great Slaughter, pgs. 58-59
