Death Strike Team

Death Strike Team is a specialist Kill-Team unit within the Ordo Xenos chamber militant, known as the Deathwatch. The marines in the team are considered the best of the best and show a good example of teamwork between marines from different chapters. They are summoned to deal with the most dangerous of xeno threats and all members are considered veterans in their own rights.

History
The formation of this team was during around sometime after the Ordo is serves was founded. Originally it was just a regular Kill-Team of marines led by an Inquisitor. They had landed on an unknown world where they were attacked by dangerous xenos species. They were soon pinned down and trapped there for an entire year. The marines during that time were believed to have been from the loyalist 1st founding chapters and the Second Founding chapter. They did not get along with each other due to chapter differences and the Inquisitor did his best to keep them in line.

But during the year they spent trapped there, they begun to form strong bonds of friendship and were able to work in sync. When they chance for freedom came, they worked as one and escaped, though a few were not as lucky and the survivors swore to never forget them.

After the Inquisitor made his report of this, the Death Strike team was form, a large Kill-Team unit to deal with only the most dangerous of alien threats and joining it is considered a great honor then joining the Deathwatch itself.

Organization
The command structure of the Death Strike Team is the same with the rest of Deathwatch. Inquisitors, Brother-Captains and Librarians. If the Inquisitor is killed or some other problem, then the Brother-Captain takes command and is same with the Librarian.

It is actually common for several Brother-Captains to be part of the team at once. But the one with the most experience in both alien threats and commanding is given the position of 2nd in command. The others are given the roles of a sergeant.

The team usually consists of bother Tactical marines and Devastator marines. Assault marines, Terminator marines and Scout Marines are rare and they usually allow one or two dreadnoughts to join.

Besides alien threats as well as the recovery and study of alien technology that could be use for the Imperium, they also deal with abhuman and mutant threats. Despite having human ancestry, they are still considered aliens and there have been times when there have been serious situations dealing with them.

Also unlike the rest of Deathwatch, Death Strike captures and interrogates aliens as well, in order to learn more info about their kind and how it could be used for the Imperium. The chances of the alien being let go are very slim.

The team is usually called for the most extreme alien threats or the sabotaging of alien invaders or other large risks like ancient alien technology that has been located. Members seem to be more comfortable in using alien tech then the rest of the Deathwatch is.

Inquisitors in the team rarely call for aid of other forces, as to the fact that the Death Strike team's missions are completely classified and might even be considered to have its members considered of heresy. Only when the situation is to large or already out of control does he call in aid. There can also be one Inquisitor, and an interrogator if he has one, in the team as he his designated the leader.

Joining
Like how Space Marines who are chosen to join Deathwatch train with their chapter, those chosen to join the Death Strike team train for it while in Deathwatch.

Inquisitors of the Ordo Xeno would read the files of a marine about to join Deathwatch, most particularly their engagement with xenos, best experience in close combat with small or solo teams, and good relationship with other battle-brothers, within their own chapter or in other chapters. Once they have found those with acceptable records, that marine is informed after he has joined Deathwatch.

He is then trained by senior member of the team and to work with other marines on practice missions, in order to improve teamwork and friendship when going into battle. A couple of marines to join have been marines from the chapters that are part of the Brotherhood of the Faithful, despite their bad relationship with the Inquisition as a whole. This may be because of their excellence teamwork with one another or so the Inquisition can somehow learn more about them.

Many marines who join the team are always permanent members of it even after they leave Deathwatch. There are times when a marine who was in the team may be recalled back into while he is with his chapter. The members are sworn to an oath of secrecy, can neither tell their brothers of their own chapter what they had seen or marines in Deathwatch but outside of the Death Strike Team.

There have been many times when the team consists of enough marines to form several Kill-Teams so are usually dispatch to serve as a larger force, small squads or solo. The highest number ever so far has been 50.

Inquisitors who are selected to lead this team see it as an honor and great responsibility as they must form bonds of friendship with the marines as well.

There are rumors that some of the members may be marines exiled from their own chapter and believe that by fighting against the most dangerous threats to the Imperium will allow them to redeem themselves to the Emperor.

Notable Members
Many of these members are either still active in the team, their chapter, dead, rogue or unknown:


 * Inquisitor Sam Eretos: He was once the leader of the Death Strike Team and was noted to be very strict when going into combat. He hardly talked to the other members and this made him disliked by the marines under his command. Same was killed when alien slaves revolted and killed their masters and him when he tried to kill them off.
 * Interrogator Theo: Theo was Sam's student and saw it as an honor to be part of the team. After his rise to Inquisitor Lord and his master's death, Theo left the team and the Ordo Xeno and joined the Ordo Hereticus, but only to join the Ordo Malleus later on. When he formed the Knight Hunters, a team of Grey Knights to hunt and learn about the Sensei, he ran into the Death Strike Team a few times. Theo was killed on Gail by his own student, the secret Sensei, Grim Doris.
 * Perso Byras: An Inquisitor and the team's current leader. He seems to get along better with other team members and possess a large hatred for Xeno scum. Sometimes his anger gets the better of him but he has managed to control it when faced with dangerous situations. He wields two power swords and a bolter attached to his shoulder.
 * Hars Irotis: Hars was an Ultramarine Captain and was 2nd in command during Sam's time. He was soon put back into command of his company after Sam's death. In the year 879.M41 while battling Necrons he met up with the team once again. But since he was now serving in his chapter and assisting the Deathwatch, even a specialist team, was against the Codex, Hars couldn't help them. Ironically, he met them again on the planet when a Necron managed to destroy both of his legs. With his last breaths he managed to give them cover fire as they made their escape. After the campaign they made sure to tell his company where his body was.
 * Luciar: Luciar was a Librarian of the Ultramarines and a veteran of the Battle of Maccrage. He became part of the Death Strike Team for that reason, as his psychic powers and experience with the new threat. He died during the team's mission infiltration of an underground Genestealer cult and was killed while burning the mind of the leader of the cult.
 * Cravis: Cravis is from the Shadow Lords chapter and still serves in the Death Strike Team. He does not appear to possess the 'Curse' that the chapter has and is very capable of working solo. He helped greatly in eliminating a Chaos cult within a Squat colony, using only his bolter. He also helped with the poisoning of a Hive Fleet that was believed heading towards Terra.
 * Argoch: A sergeant of the Raven Guard, Argoch was actually part of Shrike's Wing and fought beside him on Targus VIII, thus resulting in a hatred of Orks for him as two of his closes battle brothers were killed by them. Though no longer wearing jump pack and lightning claws, Argoch is still a good stealth fighter. He is more of a loner then the rest of the team and prefers working by himself, though he won't stop to accept help. Armed with only a bolter and stealth equipment Argoch managed to destroy an entire xeno fleet by overloading the ships's engine and stopped them from invading a Hive World. He seems to get along well with Cravis the best.
 * Yurand: Yurand is from the Ultramarine chapter and is the team's current librarian. Wielding a power hammer and bolt pistol, Yurand, with the assistance of Inquisitor storm troopers, managed to recover several xeno tech from an Ork stronghold as well as stop a Hive Fleet from invading a sub-sector as well as recover a container of gene-seeds belonging to his chapter.
 * Cyrus: A scout sergeant from the Blood Ravens, he helped the Death Strike Team in eliminating several Ork warbosses, thus resulting in a civil ork war and allowing imperial forces to eliminate them easier. Cyrus's time with the team was short as he was recalled back to sub-sector Aurellia to help deal with Ork warbands.
 * Uro: A Dreadnought of the Imperial Fists, Uro had joined the team after he was integrated into a Dreadnought. His new form and experience has helped the team greatly during difficult moments. His greatest moment was helping guard a beacon on the planet of Set VII when its Hive City was overrun with chaos marines of the Word Bearer. Uro's lightning claw was covered in blood by the time Imperial Forces arrived. Many of the marines with Uro died, so in order to honor their memory Uro has stayed with the team.
 * Purtosis: The teams former apothecary, Purtosis was from the Ultramarines. Though he did not participate in the battle, the marine knew much of the horrible Tyranids. He assisted with the creation of a poison toxin to destroy a part of a massive hive fleet actually heading towards Ultramar. He died on one of the Hive ships while putting in the poison. The team had managed to save his body and it was picked up the by the Ultramarine's 2nd Company.
 * Botius: A Black Templar and Apothecary, he took Purtosis's place after his death. Other team members have described him as reliable and faithful comrade as he fights valiantly to recover the gene-seeds of fallen marines. He was suppose to return to his chapter after a mission on Romulus Omega, but after failing to save the remains of two of his teammates, he asked to stay with the team longer to atone for his failure.
 * Agmoor: Agmoor resides from the Titanium Fists chapter and thus had good relationship with the other marines of the brotherhood. Carrying a thunder hammer, Agmoor assisted Ceros on the planet Tervan, eliminating a Xeno leader and rogue Inquisitor who planned on destroying their chapters. Though they were victorious, Ceros had to go on self-imposed exile due to his deal with an Eldar Farseer. Agmoor did not tell anyone of this except sent a secret message to the Gamma Dragons.
 * Ceros: A Scar Scale of the Gamma Dragons 4th Den, Ceros known for using only two bolt pistols during missions. Due to his rank he was given command of some of the team members to go to Tervan, to stop a Xeno race who was apparently planning to destroy several chapters in order to begin an invasion on the Imperium. He soon discovered that the aliens were being assisted by a rogue Inquisitor, who planned to use a fallen Eldar Craftworld to destroy his chapter and the other eight of the brotherhood. Having his team scattered and half of them dead, Ceros had no other choice but to team up with an Eldar Farseer and her war host who came to recover the Eldar soul stones. In return for helping them they would help him. They both kept their promise and stopped the Xeno's and killed their leader and the Inquisitor. Taken full responsibility for working with the Eldar, Ceros sent himself in exile and left the planet on the Inquisitors ship. Only Agmoor knows what happened and thus sent a secret message to Ceros's chapter of what happened. Understanding what was at stake at the time, the Gamma Dragons now search for him, hoping to bring him back into service of the chapter and Emperor, though secretly.
 * Tortis LowFang: A Blood Claw from the Space Wolves, Tortis was very excited to learn he would serve in the Death Strike Team. He along with Raghal, another Blood Claw helped on Uras during a recovery of an ancient Xeno Tech when they were assaulted by Orks of the Iron Chomperz. Both Wolves managed to survive the attack though some of their teammates were killed. Both Wolves are currently back with their chapter, gloating to their brothers of ork heads they collected.
 * Eurbos: Eurbos was a Blood Angels captain and was Perso's first 2nd in command. His first mission was to a planet ruled by a species of the Vralgazi, who, unbeknown to the team, worshiped chaos. The Death Strike team had been sent to recover their xenos-tech to see if it could be used for the Imperium. Unfortunately, the aliens had sense them and attacked. Only Perso, Eurbos and Haro, a marine from the Iron Hand chapter, survived and did not talk of the fate of the other teammates. The only thing revealed was that Eurbos was separated from the team temporally but managed to escape, though he never said how. It turned out that the Vralgazi put a daemon into his body, taking over him slowly. It was revealed until later when another member of the team, Ohap, noticed his actions during a mission on an Eldar Maiden world. Eurbos killed him but was attacked by Haro before he could leave. Both were seriously wounded but Haro managed to escape before the Eldar arrived. It is unknown what became of Eurbos but he may have escaped as the Eldar could not find him.
 * Felix Aral: A captain of the Revenant Tigers, Felix served with the Death Strike Team a few years after his promotion. He participated in a mission in recovering xeno tech believed to have been built by the Old Ones. It was surrounded by dangerous wildlife which killed half of the team and they had engaged Eldar who also came to retrieve it. Felix and another marine from the Knights of Lupercal, Gertu FangSteel, held them off as their techmarine teammate managed to retrieve the item and all three escaped by Thunderhawk. He soon returned back to his chapter, where only three years later, were declared traitors. He is now the leader of the Revenant survivors and other renegade marines of the renegade group, Shadow Claws.
 * Karx: Karx was part of the White Scars chapter and was a sergeant when he was put into Deathwatch and then Death Strike. He participated in dealing with the deaths of several high rank Dark Eldars on the planet Ion, which he took great pleasure. Later on he and some of his brothers were requested by another member of the Ordo Xeno, Inquisitor Clerfaz, to join him and Inquisitor Grim Doris and his retinue, in investigating an Space Hulk that has attacked several worlds. Though whoever was controlling it was unknown to Karx, but he was killed by Grim. But Karx and his team were betrayed and abandoned by Clerfaz during the time and were surrounded by Tyranids. They would have been killed if Grim had not come in time. He and his brothers are now part of the Shadow Claws
 * Tivo: Tivo is a Captain of the Storm Wardens. During the second war for Armageddon, he was sent commanding a squad of members of Death Strike to eliminate the Ork Warboss Ghazghkull. The attempt was a failure as the Ork Warboss was protected by several Ork bodyguards and resulted in the death of three members of his squad. He and other members of the team were sent to deal with rogue tech-priest and their status is currently unknown.
 * Haro: Haro is a marine sergeant of the Iron Hands chapter. He already had several bionic upgrades including a heat vision eye and half of his face. He was with Eurbos and Perso when they fled a mob of Vralgazi and became suspicious of the Blood Angel Captain after his 'miraculous' escape.