.13 Months Since the Fall of Usamilplatz.
Operation Gray Jewel was wildly successful, routing Ork forces around Behras and sending the majority of Greenskins in the central combat zone scrambling back north to the safety of the mountain ranges. Its role finished in the larger offensive, the Mechanicus begins to prepare for a campaign of its own, in the mountains around its central operations facility on Jornath, Prima Jama. The Skitarii Cohorts had withdrawn from the mountain towns and villages early in the invasion to protect areas of key infrastructure or spiritual primacy to the Cult Mechanicus, leaving many of its lay-adepts and their families to fend for themselves. After all, the hand that pulls the lever can be replaced, but the machine the lever services may never see its like again.
In some cities, the civilian population had the enormous benefit of the Crater Cohort, a sizeable contingent of Jornathii Mustermen that have sworn fealty to the Magos of Prima Jama, and which benefit from the relationship with more advanced equipment. But the vast majority of towns were forced to rely on a volunteer militia for their defense.
The Mechanicus began its operation to liberate Usamilplatz, by dispatching units of Sydonian Dragoons and Sicarian Infiltrators to act as forward reconnaissance, scouting out the forests around the major highway's, eliminating Ork encampments as quietly as possible to maximize surprise when the main force began its push towards the city.
These units met with limited success, the Orks in Usmilplatz had grown large on a steady diet of fighting against the local partisans and had adopted good small-unit tactics to deal with fighting these forces as part of their counter-insurgency. On top of the veteran opposition, Mechanicus' command and control tethers, allowing Dominus' to give real-time orders to units in the field were being disrupted by unusual energy spikes, causing Skitarii assets to disappear from the control auspex entirely.
Reconnaissance Asset T86-01 was one such unit, a five-man team of Ruststalkers, tracking north along Ancillary Highway 18-UM, to eliminate a Xenos firebase when they vanished from the Auspex suddenly in Anesl Hollow, a long-abandoned iron minehead.
Combat Asset C67-02 is dispatched to the location to search for the wayward recon team. When they arrive, their search yields no obvious explanation, about to descend into the mine itself the Skitarii are interrupted by the sudden arrival of an Ork Raiding party.
The Ork raiders, striking with surprise on their side, catch the Skitarii in a state of rare disorganization, forcing the combat unit back off the mountain, leaving the fate of T86-01 still shrouded in mystery for the time being.
Across the field, much of the early stage objectives for Mechanicus scout teams are not met on schedule. It is of no consequence to the Magos' of Prima Jama, if infiltration and sabotage cannot win the day, then massed superior firepower surely will...
-Your Favorite Madman-
The Mechanicus forces might have done better if they adopted a field camouflage rather than their typical urban obfuscation gear.
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