Task Force Cetus — Tabletop Time Lore Library

Name: Task Force Cetus
Leader: Alpharius Omegon
Homeworld: Kharybdis Omega, Kharibdis System

Colours: Metallic Indigo and Emerald with Silver Trim

Specialty: Relic and Exotic Technology, Raids, Infiltration

Chaos Dedication: Alpha Legion, Chaos Undivided

Strength: Unknown number of Legionnaires, at least chapter strength, two companies of Cybernetica Auxilla

Allies: Kharibdis Dark Mechanicum, Titan Legio Scylla, Knight House Atrax, Alpha Legion

The following is a work of Fan Fiction - This is unofficial homebrew lore for the universes of Warhammer, a Games Workshop IP.

TASK FORCE CETUS

Task Force Cetus is a powerful splinter warband of Alpha Legion operatives. Operating deep in Imperium Nihilus, Cetus takes advantage of the Dark Forge it has aligned itself with, often entering battle with weapons and wargear considered relics by the Imperium. Headed by a mysterious new commander, the Task Force has left its dormant status and began conquering and influencing desperate worlds in the darkened realm, offering the salvation of the Emperors angels or the threat of massacre to all, depending on which approach has the most favorable odds.

Heresy Era:

As the first blows of the heresy were struck, Cetus safeguarded the supply chain of Kharibdis, and primarily engaged in operations on behalf of the legion and the forgeworld to capture or steal critical designs vital to the war effort for exclusive use of the Alpha Legion. Developments in weapons or technology thought bespoke or unique to the Legions often found their way to Kharibdis’ forges due to the clandestine operations of Task Force Cetus. These supplies were fundamental to several legion operations and modes of warfare, and it was from the Dark Forges of Kharybdis that many replica patterns of equipment were produced, with a preference to the more esoteric and advanced, such as the Dark Angels presumed secret “Plasma Incinerators”

When called to direct war, units drafted into other harrows or cohorts from Task Force Cetus specialized in fielding the legions more esoteric equipment, from advanced Volkite weapons, to new prototype marks of vehicles, Conversion Beamers or Darkfire Lances. The specialists became well known for their questionable tactics, often coming off as more interested in field testing equipment than following operational protocols to other legions.

Like much of the Alpha Legion, at the close of the heresy Task Force Cetus seemingly disappeared, however they were fundamental in infiltrating the scouring crusades, and their intelligence reports were what ultimately saved Legio Scylla from devastation when they were eventually discovered as Traitors to the Imperium.

Origins

It is unknown exactly when Task Force Cetus began operating fully independently of the Alpha Legion, or if it ever truly did, but the name has origins going back to the dark days of the Horus Heresy. Task Force Cetus was first established to ensure compliance of the newly rediscovered Forge World Kharybdis in the late Great Crusade. Assigned as a task force, not an expedition fleet,Cetus assembled the strength of an entire Harrow to ensure their operation could be completed in secret and without Imperial support. Cetus did not find conflict at Kharybdis however, instead a firm ally with a mutual respect for each other's tactics and combat doctrine. Cetus was reassigned to operations in the area and to establish a secret hub base in the dark systems second planet, which was redesignated Kharybdis Omega. Years would pass before the discovery of Kharibdis and its subsequent compliance was reported or recorded, and many bonds and oaths had been sworn in secret before the first Iterators and Martian Tech Adepts arrived in the system as envoys.

41st Millennium:

Following the scrap-code data-purges of Mars and the deliberate application of misdirection and targeted data erasure, the location of the sunless Kharybdis system was lost to the Imperium. While much of the Alpha Legion had been harried to secret bases or to shelter in Warp Storms, the garrison at Kharybdis that made up the bulk of Task Force Cetus had a far different fate. Distant and ignored, but without contact from the wider legion, the operatives followed protocol and became an independent cell, focusing on continuing the work they had been tasked with. For thousands of years, Cetus would launch clandestine missions, daring raids, false flag operations and counter espionage, all from the blackened home of Kharybdis. Supporting their now Dark Mechanicum allies, operations to ensure a steady supply of new materials, and now unbound even their final holdout reservations, new technologies, including those previously forbidden.

Managing to maintain as low a profile as possible while conducting raiding operations, Task Force Cetus had seemingly been in a holding pattern for an impossibly long time, but they have been tirelessly working on their long term goals. Recruiting and rehabilitating ‘lost’ brothers who from shattered warbands, establishing discrete recruiting worlds on the imperial fringes, and stoking the forges of Kharybdis to build ever more eccentric war machines, their war was a quiet one, but all of that changed when Cadia fell.

With the opening of the great rift, everything changed. At first, the Legion was cut off, thrown into disarray with all others who found themselves on the dark side of the rift, in Imperium Nihilus. However Task Force Cetus had thousands of years experience operating in the black, with limited resources and complicated mission parameters. They rapidly changed tactics, for the first time acting more overtly, becoming the Emperor's loyal angels once more to save local worlds, delivering them from the night, ensuring bonds of fealty and tithes paid directly to them, instead of transport fleets that would never arrive. Even this was difficult, the task force held little favor with the gods of chaos, and warp travel would prove impossible beyond short treks. This too, changed.

Months after the Astronomicon went dark, Archmagi from Kharybdis presented a solution to the problem. An enigmatic warp entity seemingly well aligned with their affinity for technology had appeared to them and offered an arrangement of sorts - He would provide them the tools needed to navigate the churning seas of Nihilus, in exchange for their assistance gathering specific esoteric information and items for him. After much debate it was agreed - No pacts were demanded, no bonding to warp entities - This was a trade with terms Cetus could agree too. With a new sponsor, Task Force Cetus and their allies, Kharybdis and Legio Scylla, set about carving a small empire out for themselves in this chaotic realm. Turning hopeless worlds of survivors from the Imperium’s light, and adding more fuel, recruits and raw resources to their growing arsenal. It seemed the Imperium was on the brink of collapse, and Cetus would finally see to their long held mission, and ensure it did.

Despite their gains in local sectors, and their powerful allies, Cetus still treads are careful line, numerous though they are, they could not survive the hateful attention of a significant player, such as the Black Legion or an imperial crusade fleet, so they play their cards, keep their core world secret, and grow as many heads as the hydra can sustain.

Combat Doctrine:

In the 41st Millenium, Task Force Cetus operates similarly to most Alpha Legion cells, with a focus on infiltration, ranged combat, and the application of the perfect tool for the job. Task Force Cetus utilizes a much higher than average level of advanced weaponry and ‘relic’ wargear, maintaining the capacity to produce older more venerable patterns of heresy era equipment, such as the rapid strike “Sicaran” and “Kratos” tanks, now rarely seen in the Imperium.
This doctrine serves them well, as they lack many of the strengths other chaos warbands have now embraced. With no major patrons, their warriors are typically unaugmented by warp power, and lack the ferocious capability in close combat or the preternatural resilience of some of their cousins.

Despite this, the task force is resourceful, and while true blooded sons of Alpharius within their ranks are forbidden from worshiping the pantheon, recruits from other warbands are permitted such eccentricities, as it serves the greater whole. As such, a handful of disgraced, fleeing or disagreeing Thousand Sons aspiring sorcerers have brought their attendant Rubricae to join with Cetus. A small cabal of pleasure seeking Noise Marines also have residency on Kharybdis Omega, agreeing to fight in exchange for the peace of their own fortress to explore the depths of their madness within. Many more stragglers from failed warbands who agree with the ideals of the Alpha Legion have found their way to Cetus, each with their own reasons for joining, not least of which the simple promise of new and maintained wargear from Kharibdis’ forges.

While such arrangements and banner swaps have ensured tactical flexibility in new and novel ways, it is rare for Cetus to fight with more openly demonic allies. Occasionally rites and sacrifices are used, but more as a foil or strategic weapon than a mutually agreeable war pact.

Appearance:

The emblem of Task Force Cetus reflects their millenia of service with their Mechanicum allies, and incorporates the Alpha and Omega symbols, overlaid and resting atop a half cog. This simplified iconography is often embellished with Tentacles squirming from below the cog, sometimes each tentacle tipped with a hydra's head, other times more resembling the arms of Scylla.

On the battlefield, Warriors in task force Cetus are usually found in either one of two extremes. Clean, functional and unremarkable battleplate, as befits false flag operations or covert operations as the imperiums loyal sons, or the opposite - Baroque and tailored warplate befitting the expected sightings of terrifying Chaos Space Marines, festooned with gems, talons, bones and other dark objects. To Cetus, this is merely cosplay, dressing the part expected of them by their newly joined, darker inclined ‘recruits’, a deception within a deception.

Either way, unless painted in the colors of their enemies, their battleplate is typically closer to a much older Alpha Legion pattern, a metallic indigo that shines emerald in the light. When covered in trim, dark green-gold and silver trim embellishes the plates. Shoulder panels are picked out black, while weapon casings are a luxurious purple, a creators mark of forge world Kharibdis.

Notable Operatives

41st Millennium:

Alpharius Omegon - While most within the legion proclaim their name as Alpharius, the current leader of Task Force Cetus is an enigmatic one, they came to lead the task force not long after the great rift formed. They seemingly appeared out of nowhere, yet were unquestioningly accounted for, with intact records that nobody remembered writing.This figure has never referred to themselves as anything other than Alpharius Omegon. Their battleplate is ornate, and the two forked spear they wield is reminiscent of relics long forgotten to the legions history. The final oddity is their size, this huge warleader standing as tall as the largest warriors in the legion. While the truth behind their origins is unknown, their tactical and strategic acumen are the best Task Force Cetus has seen in Millenia, and their focus and determination are ironclad. It is this mind that has led Cetus from hiding in the shadows to carving out a micro empire, and this mind that has somehow convinced wayward warriors or multiple legions to bend the knee.

“In every suspicious gaze, every ear pressed to a door, every hand reaching for knowledge, there is a Hydra waiting to be born” - Indelacio Anwir - Master of Recruits