Sergeant Rhy'Kar

Herald of the flames

Sergeant Rhy'kar held the honour of carrying his company's standard into battle and was one of the legionaries who bore the body of his leader, Venerable Sergeant Callus Hekarn, from the battlefield on the chaplain's great dragonscale shield.

Immediately after retiring from the field, imperial army units stationed in an adjactent sector began calling for aid. After a sustained bombardment, Iron warrior storm companies had began forcing their way through loyalist lines, hoping to crack open the defences and widen the breach into the heart of the installation.

Without a clear successor to Hekarn, the 18th were in disarray and it was Sergeant Rhy'kar who took decisive action. Carrying forward the great drake hide banner and with a squad of veteran warriors in tow, he set out for the nearest army position, trusting that his legion brothers would follow the banner without hesitation.

Understrength and still weary from the days fighting, the astartes took to fighting in lockstep with the local defense battalion. Enduring punishing volleys from the olympian shrapnel bolters and heavy weapons of the traitors, the salamanders did their best to weather the incoming fire, allowing the greater numbers and firepower of the mortal troopers to weigh in against the iron warriors.

The iron warriors, no longer loyal sons, still knew their craft and exacted a heavy toll on the defenders, especially the tactical squads sent to bolster imperial army positions. Seige cataphracti, of a pattern unfamiliar to the smiths of the 18th, proved near inviolate in their heavy armour and the gun lines of the traitors were reinforced by strange automata, their large shields and hammers seemingly a giantesque parody of vulkan's own firedrakes.

After a series of bloody close range firefights and assaults, the salamanders once again managed to push back the invaders. Settling in to help the local defense forces strengthen their positions, the drakeskin banner flies proudly next to the imperial standard and the battle flag of the local defenders.

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Addendum 1 - Sergeant Rhy'kar, thought lost in an Bastion 5-5 - Western Hab Approachesengagement with the Iron Warriors and Emperor's Children  , was recovered during a lull in the fighting and, having been fitted with crude augmetics by the Warsmith Ajastus following their Parley in the ruins of an EmpireCouncil of War  , would continue to bear proudly the banner of his legion.

Addendum 2 - Unconfirmed field reports and sighting claim to have seen Sergeant Rhy'kar leading the warband as part of a triumverate of officers, including a librarian and a chaplain matching the description of Callus Hekarn KIA. Sector Command have been unable to verify these reports with hard data, see Biomonitor report, D45-H1 By Magos Biologis Maximilian Generatus Kappa-Ohmn

Notable Allied Formations - Battle of Semita IV

Auxilia Cohort 'Dragon's Anvil' - Prior Service and unit cognomen unknown, these Auxilaries arrived with the disciples of the flame from out-system and appear to have been recruited from a disparate collection of imperial army units in the aftermath of the istvaan system massacres and the wars waged by the shattered legions early to mid heresy. Observed fighting in close coordination with the salamanders and enaging in some promethean rites, requests for debrief by intelligence and prefectus divisions have gone unanswered.
Static Defence Battalion, Polar 44th. - A local PDF battalion, mobilised to defend the orbital defence batteries. Known to have fought with the 18th during at least one engagement at installation delta, uniforms recovered from casualties in Hive Hephestus indicate that at least some of these soldiers remained with the warband following the great rout and withdrawal south.
142nd Artillery Regiment, 'Steel Slingers' - One of the many 'Pals Battalions' raised from amongst the habbers and work crews of Hive Hephestus. Indeed, given the proximity of this unit to the heavy foundries of the Ganemede forge thane, it is likely that many of men had a hand in the production of the heavy earthshaker barrels they now used to lob high explosive at the traitors. Aided in the defence of Bastion 5-5 by the salamanders and the ultramarines, it is unclear whether this unit managed to evacuate the hive before its eventual destruction or if sadly, like many of the hive militia, they were still inside the blast range when the reactor overload occured.

Related Historical Events

• Loyalist Victory
  Raid on Docking Bay Gamma
• Draw
  Defence of uplink station 14
• Loyalist Victory
  Rad Wastes, Sector 17, Day 45
• Loyalist Victory
  Parley in the ruins of an Empire
• Loyalist Victory
  Bastion 5-5 - Western Hab Approaches