Changes

A [[hive world]] that had onceboasted vast oceans teeming with life, Bromoch had been torn asunder when a vastmechanized tomb complex awoke beneath its surface, draining trillions of gallons of water draining away in a matter of days to leave a stinking quagmire of saltmud and rotting biomatter that covered half the world. From this awful wasteland rose legions of [[Necrons|mechanised warriors]]. It would be over a century before the [[Imperium]] officially recognisedand put a name to these terrible beings. They marched upon the hive cities in ranks many hundreds of thousands strong, and the outmatched [[Planetary Defense Force]] levies rushed to oppose them. Only weeks later, the ships of [[Iron Hands]] [[Clan Company]] [[Raukaan]] made orbit over Bromoch, accompanied by [[Kardan Stronos]] himself. [[Lydriik]] and [[Shulgaar]] still led the clan company, their command now shared with [[Iron Captain]] [[Grolvoch]] and the [[Master of the Forge]] [[Feirros]]. As these five inspected a holomap of Bromoch on thebridge of the [[Strike Cruiser]] ''Solemn Silence'', it became clear that the planet was alreadylost. The PDF regiments had fought bravely, but they were outnumbered and hopelesslyoutclassed by their deathless foes. One [[hive]] city after another had fallen, their streetsswarming with metallic horrors, until only the Hive Primus remained. There thedefenders still held out against impossible odds, fighting tooth and nail to hold theirbarricades while bulk lifters.{{Fn|1}}

Once, the Iron Hands might have dismissed the people of Bromoch as weak andunworthy of their aid, but no more in the aftermath of the [[Gaudinian Heresy]]. However instead of saving as many citizens as possible, [[Tactical Squad]] Taloch were dispatched in a [[Stormraven Gunship]], accompanied by [[Iron Chaplain]][[Shulgaar]] to assist the evacuation. Meanwhile, the rest of Clan Raukaan prepared for an immediate combat drop. Telltale energy signatures had been detected emanating from one of the great oceanic rifts, signatures that matchedthose given off by the machines seized centuries earlier on [[Dawnbreak]]. The Iron Handsdid not recognise these monstrous mechanical aliens, yet they knew their works. Thistime, however, Kardan Stronos led Raukaan not to claim the engines of the past but todestroy them. The great trench ran almost eighty miles end to end, gaping over one hundred metres wide and surrounded by hard-baked mud and teetering, desiccated drifts of what had oncebeen thriving coral. From its depths leaked a leprous green glow, and it was into thisshimmering corona that the warriors of Clan Raukaan plunged by [[Drop Pod]] into the waters below. A good three thousand feet below the planet’s crust, the cavewas enormous in scale, dominated by immense ziggurats of glassy black stone thatswarmed with robotic alien workers and warriors. The Drop Pods crashed down in a tightgrouping between these mighty edifices, Iron Hands and [[Dreadnought]]s bursting free toengage the foe that surrounded them.{{Fn|1}}

Stronos led the charge at the head of Squad Kuurvan, while a trio of Dreadnoughts led by Venerable [[Furnous]] began to carve a path through the machines. The strange, deathless creatures were reacting now, slowly but surely bringingwaves of floating metal constructs to bear against the invading Iron Hands, and ClanRaukaan’s [[Techmarine]]s stalked in the Dreadnoughts’ wake, ready to tend to their ancientcharges should they fall to enemy fire. Suddenly, the foes ranks were torn by fresh blasts as a wing of Stormraven Gunships roared overhead, flanking the mighty form of the [[Thunderhawk]] ''Forgestar'', delivering [[Centurion]]s and [[Thunderfire Cannon]]s to the fight. Though the foe’s numbers were vast, most of their leaderswere far above, coordinating the final battle against Hive Primus – soulless machines,they could not compete with the vital, crushing force of Clan Raukaan’s offensive.{{Fn|1}}

Finally, at the base of the largest ziggurat, Feirros summoned a pair of [[servitor]]sbearing a heavy iron chest covered in panels and dials. As the device was slammed downinto the dirt, Feirros busied himself with its activation while the warriors of ClanRaukaan formed an impenetrable wall around him. All the while, Kardan Stronosremained vox-linked to Iron Captain Grolvoch, ignoring his subconscious protocols asthey balked at the rising casualty rate. Finally, Iron Captain Grolvoch voxed through – the chance of recovering further refugees from Hive Primus now stood at less than 20%, the Iron Hands’ agreed cut-off point. With a curt command, Stronos ordered Clan Raukaan’s aircraft down, Iron Father Lydriik directing furious covering fire from the [[Devastator Squad]]s as the battle-brothers scrambled back aboard their craft In their wake they left the iron chest, andeven as the airborne Clan Raukaan burst from the rift and into the open sky, theirordnance detonated. Servo-bonded chains of crystalline prisms shattered, releasinghowling swarms of insane [[machine spirit]]s bent only on destruction. The spirits flowedoutward in a tide, corroding and devouring every mechanical system in their path.Nothing was safe, the bodies and weapons of the [[xeno]]s burned along with the weaponsand systems of those few defenders who remained. Behind them – as the various craft ofthe Iron Hands pushed hard for the upper atmosphere and their waiting cruisers –Bromoch plunged helplessly into a new dark age, the planet’s orbital silos detonatingspontaneously and filling the skies with drifting, radioactive clouds. In orbit, a raggedflotilla of refugee ships gathered to watch the planet die. The Iron Hands, inscrutable asever, denied the existence of any mechanical foe in the wake of the disaster, carefullydiscrediting those wild tales told by the refugees. Though the Chapter might still keeptheir secrets, millions of Imperial lives had been saved thanks to the strength anddetermination of Clan Company Raukaan.{{Fn|1}}

*{{Endn|1}}: [[Clan Raukaan - A Codex: Space Marines Supplement]] - — A New Resolve{{DEFAULTSORT:Bromoch, Fall of}}