Push along the coast

Elan Ro’s forces were exhausted. His Fire Warriors needed rest and the vehicles of his mechanised forces were in dire need of repair. Only his elite suits remained active. He wasn’t about to let this take him off the front line however. A study of intelligence reports indicated that prior to their capture the Porphyrians had had repeated success against Chaos forces. Upon discovering this Elan Ro devised a plan.

The single Porphyrian regiment remaining under Tau control was placed directly under his command. He ordered a complete overhaul of the regiment. Squads were reassigned, deliberately mixing old ones to give improve the men’s skills at integrating with new allies. Each squad leader was issued with a pulse rifle, and so was the best marksman among each squad. Elan Ro issued each pulse rifle personally, impressing upon the men the honour that went with the weapon. The ratling snipers had their weapons replaced with rail rifles, and stealth field generators were issued to them in place of their camo cloaks. Finally, one of the regiments few remaining Leman Russ went under a partial rebuild, improving weapons, targeting systems and communications.

After a week of training to familiarise the men with their new squad mates and equipment Elan Ro deemed them ready. Along with the Porphyrians would be a large contingent of suits. All of Elan Ro’s elite units had volunteered to support the Porphyrians in their first battle against Chaos under their new organisation.On the battle field the Porphyrians set up a battle line, with Tau units in support position. At first things looked grim as the Chaos mechanised advance weathered the opening storm of fire from the Tau. However, upon disembarking the Chaos units inflicted minimal damage on Drone and Porphyrian units before being annihilated. Elan Ro was both surprised and impressed that the Porphyrian lasguns succeeded where advanced Tau weaponry had failed. The intelligence reports were true, these Gue’vesa really knew how to fight Chaos. There appeared to be a teleport malfunction as a large contingent of Chaos Terminators along with the Chaos Lord appeared well behind Chaos lines, far from the action.

With their first wave repulsed with minimal losses Elan Ro ordered the front line units that had borne the brunt of the assault to fall back, while his suits moved forward to mop up. The Chaos lost their long range support, leaving the Lord and roughly half the Terminators to withdraw. With the Chaos forces pushed back into the mountains Elan Ro advanced along the coast, claiming all of the lowlands south of the Mertock Mountains. His forces were within striking distance of the Chaos base. Plans were being drawn up with the aid of the Porphyrian commander to remove the Chaos presence in the north once and for all.