Following the invasion of the Palantir System in 08.019M42 the Imperium were expectinmg the Alliance's next move in the system. Unable to send a large fleet to contest the invasion from space, the Imperium turned to its elite forces, appealing to any astartes that could defend the innermost world of Bree from the alliance forces, led by the fearsome might of the Knightly House of Chardonnay.
Loyal to the federal forgeworld of Vornax, the Knightly house had shown no sign of fulfilling its oaths to the Emperor and continued to prosecute the war on behalf of the alliance. Claiming that the Imperial Truth had been abandoned by fanatics after the heresy, House Chardonnay maintained as did the Federacy, that their way was more in line with the Emperor's wishes than the acts of the Imperium of Mankind.
Political ideology was no longer debated however, as the Imperium had long since declared the Federal worlds Excommunicate Traitoris, and on 2808.019M42 House Chardonnay's powerful war engines deployed on Bree. The sparsely populated world could not put up a fight, but the Grey Knights and Hammers of the Emperor soon arrived to stop the Knights from simply overrunning the last Imperial holding in the system.
Battles raged for the next few days, with the Imperial forces taking severe casualties from the traitor knights. Both the leaders of the allied astartes chapters were killed, and the war engines proved difficult to bring down. However by 0409.019M42 the force realised that if it were to maintain control of Hobbiton and Dale, it could not sustain losses such as they were, and the invasion of Bree was postponed.
The Imperium had won an important victory, even if the strategic position was still very poor in the Hadron Expanse. Expecting a counter attack, the astartes oversaw the construction of significant defences, and requested additional garrison forces from General Percival.
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