Castigation of Albia Prime

The Castigation of Albia Prime was an Imperial castigation campaign undertaken by the Corvus Legion Space Marine Chapter against the Forces of Chaos against this isolated Imperial hive world. This campaign was a part of the larger Indomitus Crusade being undertaken by the military forces of the Imperium throughout the Galaxy following the opening of the Cicatrix Maledictum after the destruction of the Imperial world of Cadia.

Background
In the aftermath of the Great Rift, thousands of worlds were plunged into darkness where heretics and other foul creatures ruled, only the intervention of a Son of the Emperor, a Primarch stemmed the flow. Roboute Guilliman's Indomitus Campaign swept across the Galaxy bringing hope to trillions, but even he could not be everywhere, tens of trillions more had to hope that someone took notice of their plight and came to their aid. The world of Albia Prime was unremarkable in many ways, a hive world located within the Solar Segmentum it's sole feature the vast amount of raw materials it exported but even this is a mere drop in the ocean compared to other worlds so when the Forces of Chaos invaded it barely registered in the Administratum.

The foul Heretics of the Night Lords and Alpha Legion took control of the world sometime in 105.M42, turning it into a nightmarish place where only fear and terror ruled. Only one message had escaped before the world fell, a message of hope, that someone, somewhere would help. That message was heard by the Corvus Legion and in 111.M42 with Rhargrimm Korax newly elevated to Chapter Master they set course Albia Prime. When they arrived at the beleaguered world, no Heretic vessels were in orbit or within the System itself and the only life forms registered were within the massive Hive Alpha, the Planetary Capital, these readings were the Night Lords and their Alpha Legion allies, the Heretics had killed everyone else but they had made a mistake, they had lingered too long an Korax was determined to punish this mistake.

The Corvus Legion landed in full force outside the walls of the massive hive where they found the Night Lords who had veiled the city in an unnatural gloom, darkness prevailed a there was not  scrap of light to be found, breaking their way into the city was soon accomplished and it was here the black and white-armoured Astartes fought a cat-and-mouse battle with vicious bands of Night Lords and cruel Alpha Legion, blood both loyal and heretic flowed in rivers as the 2 sides fought in the most brutal fighting imaginable. Korax was a thunderbolt, wherever he fought the heretic Astartes it was a though a tank shell had exploded amongst them, his every blow sending mutated corpses tumbling through the air.

The Traitors hurled themselves at the towering warriors in their midst yet they were laughably outmatched in every regard, heads were ripped from their shoulders, bones pulverised, gene-forged superhumans torn apart as if they were nothing, none could stand before him. For a night and a day the sides fought until finally the Heretics were banished and a mysterious blood ritual halted before it could come to fruition, though the entire Hive had subsequently to be levelled from orbit for fear of its Chaos taint. The Corvus Legion left with their Dead and Wounded leaving behind a dead world, perhaps in time it will be repopulated but the Heretics had suffered a defeat and for now that would have to be enough.