Editing The Crusaders (section)

==Beginnings==

When the sacred bands were united under Hektor’s command, the sixth had only recently entered service, among the last to emerge from the Emperor's gene-labs. Their gene-seed, while pure, was also slow to bond with an aspirant, meaning that they took nearly twice as long to become fully-fledged space marines. They had been drawn largely from across the planet, all from well-known martial cultures such as the Skandi and the Urallians. They became known for their use of swift-moving short-ranged rhino-mounted mobile strikes, often doing drive-byes from their Rhino transports. Several Rhinos were lost by the VI squad as they were destroyed in reckless strikes on enemy positions, and other Sacred Bands decried them for their waste of resources and their cavalier attitude. 

One of their greatest triumphs came during the '''Battle of Aedassa''', an enclave of Religious extremists guarding an ancient shrine who were bitterly opposed to the Emperor. Their elite Guard, known as the 'Canons of the Sepulcher' were armed with powerful Plasma Bladed Greatswords and fought with little regard for death. The Sacred Bands found their passage to the shrine blocked. However the VI Squad correctly deduced that with all the Canons out fighting the Sacred Band, the shrine itself was unguarded. Slipping away, the squad 'commandeered' a Land Raider and a copious amount of incendiary explosives with it drove a full day and a night around behind the shrine, slipping undetected past checkpoint after checkpoint. The rest of the Sacred Band believed the VIth had been captured or killed, and were surprised when in the third day of fighting, and finally having fought to within sight of the shrine it went up in flames before them. At that moment the Canons were seized by dread and their morale broke, with the Sacred Band cutting them down as they attempted to flee. Hektor himself investigated the shrine to find the VI squad slumped up beside the heavily damaged hulk of their Land Raider, not a single one unwounded. That Land Raider would be recovered and repaired and become the first permanent combat vehicle of the Legion, going on to see service on countless battlefields throughout the Crusade.

By the end of the Campaign they had gone through the Merica conflict with only a single casualty, the unfortunate '''Walter Blum''' and Hektor praised their courage and conviction, pressing for the squad to be quickly raised to Legion strength after the close of the Unification Wars.