The Battle for Ichar IV

lchar IV is one of the principal hive worlds of the Ultima Segmentum. Its massive manufactories and mines contribute hugely to the lmperium's defence and so it was with considerable alarm that the lmperium's military commanders realised that one tendril-like swarm of Hive Fleet Kraken was heading straight for the planet. However, worse was to come. An insidious Genestealer cult attempted to overthrow the governor of lchar IV in a bloody rebellion and it was only when Space Marines of the Ultramarines Chapter were brought in to quell the insurgency that order was restored. However, the revolt had been costly, damaging many factories and weakening the already over-stretched defenders. And still Kraken came on, intent on devouring everything in its path, including lchar IV.

Every available force was rushed to the planet, arriving even as the first Hive Ships began entering the lchar system. The Eldar, particularly from lyanden Craftworld which had already fought off another swarm, sent warriors to aid their Imperial allies against the menace of the Great Devourer. The first assault waves poured towards the Adeptus Mechanicus facility called Nemesis, while other attacks were directed at the outlying hives of Diel, Oceanos and Babylon. At Nemesis, the Imperial and Eldar forces were led by Marneus Calgar who, with the aid of the valiant Admiral Rath, had defeated the earlier threat of Hive Fleet Behemoth at the Battle of Macragge.

The Eldar held the Granikus River which protected the southern approaches to Nemesis, while the Ultramarines and Imperial Guard stood watch over the hive itself. The first terrifying assault was horrendous to behold, as thousands upon thousands of Tyranid creatures, many of them new genotypes never before encountered, poured from the orbiting Hive Ships in mycetic spores. The Eldar held the Granikus crossing, but were almost wiped out doing so, assailed by monstrous Carnifexes and Genestealers. Meanwhile, the sheer volume of Tyranids attacking from the north almost overwhelmed the Space Marines under Calgar's direct command, yet somehow the Tyranids were held back allowing the Ultramarines enough time to regroup and form a second defensive perimeter which held against the oncoming swarm. Only the Imperial Guard fared well, using their massive cannons to blast apart the Tyranids across the open terrain of the ash wastes, staining the grey slopes with the purplish blood of the Tyranids.

With their initial attack halted, the remaining Tyranids plummeted to lchar IV, attacking the other hives. The space port of Midas managed to stem the flow of the attacking beasts, while the western hive of Cambria was almost overrun. There was bitter fighting across all three continents, yet somehow the Tyranids were held at bay, at a great cost to human and Eldar lives. After the sudden devastating assault had dissipated, the influence of the Hive Mind was weakened and hunt and destroy operations were begun, seeking out nests of Tyranid creatures surviving on their instincts in the wilds. lchar IV had been saved, but nearly a billion lives had been ended during the conflict. And only one swarm from the vast entity that is the Kraken was stopped. In the chilling vacuum of space, who can tell how many more swarms lurk in the darkness, ready to pour forth their terrifying warriors in its everlasting thirst for the living...