Major Chaos Raid

While the Imperial bases in the Shadow Worlds were facing attacks from the resurgent Eldar menace, the last thing they expected was to face a renewed threat from the forces of Chaos. For months the Chaos forces had been absent in the Mabb nebula, chosing to consolidate their unquestioned domination of the Rim worlds and concentrating on their campaign on Alphe.

However in late 09.009M42 several convoys were attacked by Chaos raiders, and on 2809.009M42 Tyndareous reported a significant force of enemy troops landing on the far side of the planet. Admiral Dreyer immediately made for the Tyndareous system, but when he arrived the Chaos fleet had already disappeared. Scattered in the rocky terrain of Tyndareous’s far side, the fleet was unable to provide an effective bombardment, so Dreyer’s formidable war fleet set off in pursuit of the Chaos fleet. Meanwhile on the ground the Imperial commander knew he was facing a significant force of Chaos troops. Then some remarkably unexpected help arrived.

The Tau arrived on Tyndareous on 0310.009M42 and were welcomed by the Imperial forces. Higher up in the Imperial command structure, someone was turning a blind eye to this, while the Tau had no issues whatsoever with fighting the Imperium on Tarsis and helping them on Tyndareous. The Tau were suffering increasing losses to Chaos raiders and saw an opportunity to devastate their common enemy with an alliance. Besides, the Tau and Imperium had been operating an unofficial non aggression pact in the Mabb nebula for months.

The Tau commander was new to the Aleph sector, but was clearly a colleague of Elan Ro with his open and apparently honest demeanour. The combined force of Imperial and Tau troops then set out to defeat their enemy. Unfortunately for the alliance the Chaos forces on Tyndareous were even stronger than they had imagined, and the overwhelming force sent to deal with them turned out to be of only equal size.

Despite this the Imperial and Tau commanders considered their chances good, and launched their attack. The Chaos forces responded, attacking in force and summoning daemons into the lines of their enemies. This tactic was highly successful and following moderate losses the alliance withdrew to defence lines closer to the Imperial settlements.