Beyar Kedron
Beyar Kedron was a Raven Guard Centurion of the Legion's 11th Chapter, the "Pale Nomads", during the Horus Heresy.[1]
History
He was among the Raven Guards' forces that aided their Primarch Corax in striking back at the Traitors after the Dropsite Massacre. Among the battles Kedron subsequently took part in was the attack on the Perfect Fortress on Narsis. As the battle began, with their allies the Therion Cohort leading the attack on the Fortress, Kedron was stationed aboard the Scout Cruiser Fane of Shadow and commanded nearly a full Company of the 11th Chapter's Deliverers detachment. These brutal Terminator Armoured warriors were ill-favoured by their Primarch and so had been ordered to not take part in the battle by Corax. However, as the Raven Guard prepared to join the attack, the Fane's augury scanners suddenly detected a secondary array of flak batteries, scattered across the Fortress, which had not been revealed by the Cohort's attack. They were all slaved to a control room deep beneath one of the Fortress' central towers and, with Corax having ordered the Raven Guard to maintain vox-silence before they attacked, Kedron knew there was no way to warn his Primarch about this new threat.[1]
Despite the disregard his Primarch had shown him, as a member of the Deliverers, Kedron did not hesitate it leading his Terminators to attack the hidden flak batteries. The Fane of Shadow weathered the Perfect Fortress' fire to bring the Centurion and his Deliverers to tower's location in Hab-block Delta-19. It came close enough for them to teleport to their target, but the Demi-Company of Emperor's Children defending the tower saw the auspex flare that preceded such manoeuvres. As such, when the Deliverers' teleportation completed, they were welcomed by the Traitors' deadly firepower. They weathered it indifferently, however, and only a dozen fell to the Emperor's Children's initial ambush. Kedron then lead the attack on the hab-block, with the Delivers eager to avenge their fallen and prove their worth to their Primarch. They quickly forced the Emperor's Children to retreat, but the survivors sounded the alarm and more of the Traitor Legion's forces made ready to attack the Deliverers as they made their way to their target. With time running out before the flak batteries became active, Kedron ordered his forces to split into smaller formations. This allowed the Deliverers to draw the Emperor's Children to them, while Kedron successfully led his Command Squad beneath the tower.[1]
As the rest of his forces gave their lives above them, the command squad fought its way through the Traitors' defences and finally reached the flak batteries' control room. However it was protected by a cadre of the Emperor's Children's Phoenix Guard, who were led by the Warden Daric Ashmoune. Only a dozen of Kedron's Deliverers remained to face the Traitors, who had almost twice their number, as the Phoenix Guard began to charge at his Command Squad. Had Kedron ordered his forces to meet the Phoenix Guard's attack, the Deliverers would have been defeated, so he instead ordered them to retreat into the tunnels that led into the control room. He then had his command squad split into pairs or trios and had them hide within the tunnels' darkness, hoping their retreat would draw the Phoenix Guard to them. Kedron's plan worked, as Ashmoune's pride would not allow him to hold his ground at such a sign of disrespect. The Phoenix Guard soon charged after the Deliverers, who used the darkness and the tower's fortifications against them. The Traitors were all killed in the brutal battle that followed and soon only Ashmoune remained alive. The Phoenix Warden, who had been left untouched by the Deliverers, still felt he could turn the tide of the battle by killing Kedron and repeatedly challenged the Centurion to a duel. However Kedron had little intention of doing so and had the surviving members of his Command Squad tear the Traitor apart. After Ashmoune's death, Kedron had the flak batteries' control room destroyed, rendering them inert, and the Raven Guard went on to defeat the Emperor's Children and sack the Perfect Fortress.[1]
While the Legion suffered few losses overall, the same could not be said of the Therion Cohort and Kedron's Deliverers. More than two-thirds gave their lives to stop the flak batteries and were left in a mausoleum within the Perfect Fortress as the Raven Guard left Narsis behind them. Corax is not known to have offered a word of praise or criticism for their actions, nor would the Deliverers' Legion honour them in any way. In the wake of the battle, Kedron and a number of the Cohort's commanders began to criticise the Primarch's plan, which had caused them to suffer such severe losses. This would reach Corax and in the months that followed the Fortress' fall, they were gathered into a separate battlegroup and ordered to seize the isolated world of Galaspar.[1]
