Mordecai ebb and flow continues

The war on Mordecai Secundus had been going on for years with no side prepared to give any ground. The mining world was key to the supply of the system's major world of Mordecai Primaris, the Imperium's ultimate goal. With the arcane technology available to them on Mordecai Primaris, it was likely that the Imperium would be able to establish a direct warp link between the Perseus Deeps and the Vastrid subsector, something badly needed for the prosecution of the Imperium's campaigns in the Imperium Nihilis.

The forces of chaos were more than keen to avoid this happening, and the Mordecai system had been critical to the continued chaos presence in the Deeps. Along with Kendrenec, these two worlds were the strongest of the chaos holdings in the region, as they had lost Bastien and Parthenope and previous campaigns, and Calliden, a previous stronghold, had been ravaged by the Harakhty dynasty of necrons, prior to their unexpected re-hibernation in 016M42.

The other worlds in the Perseus Deeps were of lesser value, and the loss of Mordecai would bisect chaos power in the region, cutting off the Rim Worlds from their power base in the Cicatrix Maledictum. In order to prevent the Imperium from gaining Mordecai, the Emerald Serpent - dedicated to the God Tzeentch and with the patronage of Magnus the Red and the Thousand Sons, had summoned the daemon world Astralis into the system. This gave the forces of chaos relief from the imperial naval blockade without having to risk their own fleets, as supplies and forces could be moved around via the arcane energy of the warp, but this was to no avail if the crucial mining complexes themselves fell into imperial hands.

Set against this background the forces of the Emerald Serpent and their elite legion astartes were always found deployed near the crucial strategic assets, and as the Hammers of the Emperor prepared to strike at the remaining chaos presence in the Sathugar mines, the Thousand Sons managed to launch their own unexpected attack in the north, against the Abrax mines. This northern sector had been quiet for months, but using the power of Astralis the Emerald Serpent quickly mustered and army and launched an offensive on 1010.021M42 against the Adeptus Mechanicus defences.

Relatively inexperienced with the battle tactics of the Thousand Sons, the Mechanicum force fought well, but were unable to prevent the forces of chaos from overrunning the northern mines. In the south however, the veteran Hammers of the Emperor struck almost simultaneously, overwhelming the chaos armies in the southern sector and reclaiming the remaining Sathugar mining complexes. By the end of 1310.021M42 both sides had managed to gain and lose sections of these critical mines.