M. K. Jones
M. K. 'Ironside' Jones was a Guardsman of the Ventrillian Nobles 118th ‘Opal Raptors’ Regiment.[1]
History
His Regiment was among the Imperial forces that took part in Vigilus' War of Beasts and the Opal Raptors were charged with defending Mortwald Hivesprawl's Deinos Trench Network. They did so alongside a contingent of the Imperial Fists and Jones is credited with killing 117 Orks during the Xenos repeated attacks on the Trench Network. They next defended from Heretic forces, but then suffered 80-90% casualty rate from an artillery barrage from the Iron Warriors. Jones survived this attack, but fled with the remnants of his Regiment afterwards. However this brought them directly into the path of a Black Legion strike force, as it landed miles behind the Trench Network. In the battle that followed, Jones fought the strike force's Chaos Lord, Thorosgar Bear-fist and survivors from his Regiment claimed he nearly overwhelmed the Chaos Space Marine with repeated strikes from his bayonet. The blade would break though, after Jones stabbed the gorget of the Chaos Lord's Terminator Armour and Bear-fist retaliated by striking the Guardsman down. By the time additional Imperial forces arrived to aid the Opal Raptors against the Black Legion, Jones lay dead amidst the battlefield. However it said that his bayonet still remains stuck within Bear-fist's gorget to this day.[1]
Imperial Propaganda
For his actions, Jones was named as one of The Regimental Standard's Guardsman of the Week and for the 14,547th consecutive time, it was awarded posthumously. For propagandist purposes though, the Standard made Jones' actions more heroic, while also denying anything that would make him undeserving of the award. Such instances include the killing of the 117 Orks, which were claimed to on the ground already suffering from bolt wounds. Next was Jones fleeing with the remnants of his Regiment after being attacked by an Iron Warriors' artillery barrage. Instead it was claimed that Jones was aware that Thorosgar Bear-fist was leading an attack behind the Deinos Trench Network's lines and he led the Opal Raptors to attack the Chaos Space Marines. While survivors of the Regiment did say that Jones nearly overwhelmed the Chaos Lord before being killed, its not known how true their accounts are or if the Standard is playing them up.[1]
Sources
- 1: Regimental Standard: Your Guardsman of the Week (posted on 10/04/2019) (last accessed on 02/02/2023)
