Federacy contest Dnatha after bloody battle

While the rest of House Eagleclaw and the battlefleet of Enkvist headed to Palantir, and Barham remained at Vanir, the alliance took the opportunity to make their move. Escorted by the Federal battlegroup headed by Hand of Freedom, the Federacy made landfall on Dnatha Prime, the small colony and outpost set up by the Imperium after Barham had moved through to discover Vanir and the Tau defeat to Legio Dominus. Believing the base to be relatively undefended, the federacy led the assault, with the Librian Guard supported by their super heavy battle tank division.

Unfortunately for the alliance, the Imperium had left considerable strength behind on Dnatha, as not only was there a garrison of Lycaon Guard, but a significant force belonging to House Eagleclaw, which the Imperial Expedition had added to their force following the detente between the Crusade and Loyalist factions in the Hadron Expanse.

Now acting as a somewhat unified force, the Imperial defenders soon arrived to prevent the federal tanks from crossing the river between their landing zone and the small city-base. A bloody battle ensued, and although two of the giant war engines were taken out by the Librian Shadowsword, they were unable to stop the largest Knight, a Valiant, from getting to the federal lines.

The awesome close combat weaponry of the Imperial construct - something the Federacy had no access to, now tore through the Librian tanks, wrecking even the baneblade that tried to smash into the giant walker. Desperation set in, as the Librian infantry ran for cover, until at the last second the general stepped forward. Yelling "for freedom" at the top of his lungs, General Chamberlain ran to the base of the towering monstrosity, using his ancient heirloom power sword to hack away at the cables around the base of the Knight. Almost unbelievably the attack worked, as the loss of power to one of the war engines titanic feet caused the Valiant to topple over, crashing into the almost wrecked baneblade, detonating both of their plasma reactors in an explosion rivalling a nuclear blast.

Not surprisingly Chamberlain did not survive. However his sacrifice destroyed the remaining heavy unit defending the base, and despite having no vehicles left of their own, federal reinforcements quickly surrounded the imperial base, leading to its surrender. Although the Librian losses were immense, shocking the alliance planners, they now had a base at Dnatha, and at least one captured Knight pilot. The controller of a Crusader was quickly put into a coma before he could commit suicide, while the heretic tech-adepts of Tallax began trying to unravel the technological mystery of the war engine and its MIU.

In orbit the federal fleet could not remain however, as they received news that Admiral Barham, having dropped off a force at Ceti, was now inbound to the Echo Cluster. Uncertain of his intentions, the Hand of Freedom was forced to return to the Federal base at Mimir, leaving a small garrison on the newly won base at Dnatha Prime. Whether the Librian Sacrifice had been worth it would remain to be seen.