With the bulk of the Imperial and chaos attention focussed on the Perseus Deeps, the orks took the opportunity to continue their expansion into the Vastrid sector, and both Thrugnik and Da Verminator landed vanguard forces on Gabriel's world. Not finding any defenders, the forces of the two warbosses inevitably decided to see who was "da best", and fighting broke out between them. Victory went to Da Verminator and although the battle was a comparatively small affair, the slight to Thrugnik's honour would not go unnoticed.
A few days later, on 0412.011M42, Thrugnik's orks found themselves raided once more by the dark eldar, although they were able to fight their enemy to a standstill. The dark eldar had been watching the orks fight amongst themselves and had decided to take the opportunity to raid a weakened Thrugnik. The orks however were not as weakened as the dark eldar had hoped, and they went back to Commorragh empty handed.
++++++Transmitted: Light Cruiser Serendipity
+++++++++Received: Astropath Selanor
++++++Destination: Inquisitor Lord Hathek
+++++Mission Time: 2811.011M42
++Telepathic Duct: Terminus Furdinand
++++++++++++++Ref: OrdoXenos/4623832643/ST
+++++++++++Author: Inquisitor Darell Yintard
Thought for the Day: My mind is a fortress, no false thought shall tresspass
+++SECURITY LEVEL ALPHA PRIMARIS+++
+++RECIPIENTS EYES ONLY+++
My Lord Hathek, as per your instructions I have been investigating the origins of the Tyranid Hive Fleet codenamed “Nemesis”. My enquiries on Alphe were fruitful and I obtained many samples. Lab tests reveal Nemesis to be a highly evolved strain derived from Hive Fleet Gorgon. However, the gene strain appears to show evidence of artificial tampering, with many sequences atypical of Tyranid DNA and demonstrating signs of viral insertion. I cannot conduct a full analysis with the equipment and personnel available to me so I have dispatched stasis-locked samples to you via a courier escort.
After leaving Alphe I traced Nemesis' route back along its extrapolated course. It appears to have consumed a number of life bearing planets within the Hadron Expanse. This region is sparsely utilised by the Imperium, with only a small mining colony marked on the astrological charts. This world has been consumed and yielded no valuable information.
I shall continue to trace Nemesis' path and I will report my findings to you. The Emperor protects.
In late 11.011M42 the Tau colony of Parataea came under attack from the Shattered Silence kabal of the Dark Eldar. Until now, the Tau had been relatively free of Dark Eldar raids as they were not considered "good sport" or useful as slaves. More to the point, Tau were decidedly less valuable. However the raid on 2611.011M42 was particularly savage, with the Tau suffering heavy losses. Many of the colonists began to think twice about their continued presence in the Perseus Deeps. Something would have to be done.
The Tau holdings in the Perseus Deeps had been suffering ever more frequent raids from Dark Eldar, Necrons and Chaos forces alike. Shadowstrike was aware of the need to consolidate the Tau's grip on the region and proposed a program of fortification and colonisation to establish a string of new Sept worlds. He was aware that some of the minor worlds that could not be defended might have to be abandoned in the process, but the new colonies would be proof against anything short of a major crusade and provide a suitable staging point for future expansion.
One obstacle to these plans were Chaos pirates launching out of bases in the rim worlds. They had been preying on supply convoys carrying the materials and troops needed to establish the new Septs, so when intelligence assets discovered the base of a pirate clan on Aornis the Tau were quick to retaliate. A small battle group managed to approach the planet undetected and deploy an air wing of Barracudas and AX-1-0 Tiger Sharks into the atmosphere. Clouds of hellblades hurriedly scrambled to intercept them. Despite being badly outnumbered the Tau pilots had the edge over the poorly trained and disciplined pirates. In a short space of time the hellblades were all destroyed or driven off. Meanwhile, whilst the main attack had distracted the bases defences a second strike force of barracudas equipped with air to ground missiles had evaded the fighter screens and strafed the base unchallenged, destroying it utterly. The pirates on Aornis had been utterly neutralised and the Tau convoys were once more able to reach Parius unmolested.
The war on Blight between the Necrons and Chaos forces had been going on for several months with neither side making much headway. The world was never heavily populated, and its conversion to chaos in 009M42 hadn't done anything to improve things. At first the Necrons had come in small bands, harassing the population and providing a distraction to the forces of chaos in the Deeps. This all changed on 2211.011M42.
The Necron fleet arrived in the system without warning, finding Lorek's fleet stationed above the world. The chaos fleet moved to intercept the invasion, but carnage followed. For the loss of just a few escorts, the Necron fleet obliterated Lorek's fleet, destroying five capital class vessels. The remaining ships fled, allowing the Necrons to land thousands of warriors on the surface.
Warbands of the Conquerers of Gorgoroth attempted to stop the tide of invading forces, but despite a tenacious defence, the Necrons eventually overwhelmed the traitor astartes forces, pushing them back and expanding their own bridghead. Days later the hills of Blight erupted with more Necron warriors, and it became apparent that the new arrivals had awakened a sleeping tomb world. By 2911.011M42 the chaos forces were holding on to a tiny scrap of the world, defending a perimeter against hopeless odds.
As the Chaos held section of the world continued to shrink, the Catechism intervened, sending a fleet to the Blight system to challenge the supremacy of the Necron vessels. The Necrons formed up their fleet formation once again and engaged in a fierce battle. This time the result was not so one sided, as the chaos admiral inflicted serious damage on at least one of the Necron capital ships. Never-the-less the Necrons prevailed once again, maintaining their blockade of the system and continuing their ruthless prosecution of the ground campaign. It would only be a matter of time before the planet became the sixth world to fall to the Necron menace since their appearance three years earlier.
It was apparent to all now that the Necrons were awakening on a number of worlds across the Deeps. Privately Inquisitor Hathek feared the number of worlds in the sector could be dozens or even hundreds. If they were all to awaken, the whole sector could be doomed. On the plus side the fleets of the Catechism and the Claws of Lorek had been severely damaged, and there had never been a better time to launch an all out assault against the chaos naval forces. In addition, intelligence suggested that the vessels of Shaidar Haran had been divided between the Catechism and the Conquerors of Gorgoroth. This left, so Admiral Jellicoe reckoned, just Lorek's battered fleet, Admiral Thok and Admiral Tragean to deal with. Jellicoe began to muster the fleet at Corticant and sent long range Cobra patrols into the Deeps to seek out the main bulk of the Chaos fleet.
With the conquest of Trian, general Pollack was preparing an assault against Aspaster and Hogan's Fall, when intelligence came in of movements of troops and warships to the galactic south. Orks and Chaos forces were reported moving in on the strategically important minor worlds of Spinitis and Gabriel's world, and this needed countering. Pollack knew his forces would not be able to react quickly enough, so the space marines of Aurora Angels chapter offered to deal with the threat.
At the same time, the Dark Angels fleet became available for use in the assault on Hogan's Fall which Pollack had been planning. This allowed the Imperial General to redirect the bulk of the fleet to search for the chaos vessels, while the Dark Angels dealt with the massive Rok fleet in orbit around the minor world.
The Dark Angels successfully defeated the haphazard fleet of asteroids, but took heavy damage in the process. They would now be unable to support Jellicoe's planned attack on Chaos, and returned to Corticant for repairs. They did manage to scatter the orks however, and the Ork forces on Hogan's Fall sound found themselves surrounded and destroyed by the Imperial troops landed while the Ork Roks were being dealt with. The planet was, for the third time in as many months, back in Imperial hands.
Meanwhile on Spinitus the Aurora Angels landed, securing a base on the planet before finding that forces of the Covenant of Damnation had got there some days before. The Astartes attacked and drove off the Chaos forces, expanding their zone of control and taking over the main outpost on the world.
The Covenant had also landed on Gabriel's world, but here the Orks had already appeared, creating their own ramshackle fortresses and setting up great workshops to build their war engines. Many of these were put immediately into use, attacking the Covenant forces, and no matter how hard they tried, the cultist forces couldn't seem to destroy the infernal Ork walkers, and were scattered into the wastelands of the planet, leaving the orks to consolidate their hold on the world.
With the Hive Fleet in orbit Nemesis showed none of the lethargy it had during the early days of its infestation of Valboris. Driven by the imperative of the Hive Mind and freed from the need to grow re-enforcements in planetside reclamation pools hordes of Tyranids swept across the planes and skies of Valboris.
Long after other traitor legions had abandoned the planet to its inevitable fate the Conquerors of Gorgoroth tried to stem the tide. Taking up positions across a narrow isthmus they hoped to negate the Tyranids overwhelming advantage in numbers. Their efforts were in vain. Creeping forward under cover of darkness the Tyranids erupted from the ruins of Buffalo Crossing with alarming speed. As the ground was blanketed with writhing gaunts, the skies were filled with gargoyles, unhindered by the constricting terrain. Crazed with blood lust the berserkers of Khorne charged headlong into the wall of living bodies and disappeared under it without trace. Seeing their fate and realising their cause was hopeless the remaining traitor marines withdrew to Coyote Creek where drop ships waited to evacuate them.
No such salvation awaited the hundreds of thousands of cultists that made up the bulk of Valboris' defences. They were left with no choice but to make a last, desperate stand. Under the brutal control of their officers they managed to cut down the first waves of Tyranids with disciplined volleys of fire. Even the lowest of the Tyranids proved unusually difficult to put down, their will totally dominated by the overriding imperative of the Hive Mind, driven to achieve total victory regardless of injury. Suddenly, more Tyranids erupted into the defenders flanks and rear and the remaining organised resistance, already stretched to breaking point, collapsed completely. Nemesis fell on the remaining scattered pockets and devoured them voraciously. Soon, all was silent except for the thrum of ripper swarms stripping the dead and the planet itself of its biomass. With nothing left to resist the Hive Ships descended and began to feed.
By the end of 011M42 the war on Tyndareous had been going on for months without the swift resolution both sides were looking for. For every gain there there had been a reverse, and every initiative had been countered. Now as 12.011M42 approached, the Tau and the Imperium were both planning their new offensives.
On 2411.011M42 both sides began their offensives at dawn, and the two forces ran headlong into each other on the outskirts of Garrett. The Tau, commanded by Moonshine, had planned on taking the city, and were quite unprepared for the sudden appearance of a regiment of Zadocian Guard moving towards their lines. They reacted slowly to the situation, and by the time they had mobilised their reserves, Ranier Pass had fallen to the Imperium. Moonshine had no option but to withdraw from Garrett.
Just 24 hours later, the Tau attacked again, this time coming round the Imperial defences from the north, an area held by the Red Angels. After a protracted fight, Moonshine turned the Imperial flank, undoing their earlier gains and retaking Ranier Pass. The Imperial forces had to then pull back to straighten their lines, surrendering much of Garrett in the process. Then the swing of battle changed again.
The Imperial commander identified a weakness in the Tau assault, and drove home a new push by the Zadocians in the south of Garett. Here the Tau were inexperienced and less well equipped, as Shadowstrike's elite Cadre's had still not been employed. The new attack went in well, and the Tau had to give ground. By 3011.011M42 the front line was back where it started, with thousands dead on both sides.
The Imperium and Tau were both frustrated, but the Imperium were happier. Eventually the Tau would tire of the war of attrition - they expected - and either withdraw or overcommit their forces to Tyndareous, weakening them elswhere. This would also play into Xanthus hands. However, on 0212.011M42 the Dark Eldar suddenly attacked, massacring the Red Angels and completely cutting off the Zadocian Guard in Garrett. The Imperial regiment collapsed, soldiers either fleeing into the hills, surrendering to the Tau or being enslaved by the Dark Eldar, and thanks to this intervention, the city fell to the Tau without a further shot being fired. Now the Tau dominated the east of the colony, and had cut the Imperium in two. The war on Tyndareous seemed far closer to a conclusion than it had in weeks.
While Inquisitor Huron continued to try to raise a force to chase after the eldar, his options were becoming limited. Now the Orks had taken Hogan's Fall his initial plan had to be scrapped, and as 11.011M42 progressed, it seemed his quarry had returned once more to the Perseus Deeps, perhaps just to spite him.
The eldar now known to Huron as the Rillietan conducted two major raids as the end of 11.011M42 approached. Both times the eldar attacked in concert with the dark eldar kabal known as the Shattered Silence, so there could now be no denying that the two were working together on something, a fact both unusual and disturbing. The first raid was conducted against the forces of chaos on Carnage, with the Rillietan obliterating the Conquerers of Gorgoroth in open battle, before sacking settlements and blasphemous places of worship. The eldar then vanished back into the webway before reinforcements could strike back against them, the Shattered Silence appeared on the other side of the Conqueror's territory and soundly beat them, taking advantage of the confusion wrought by the Rillietan.
Two days later on 2211.011M42 the pair of forces appeared once again, this time on Zog, where the Imperial forces sheltered behind their garrison base walls waiting for the Necrons to attack. They were more than surprised when they received intelligence from their agents that the dark eldar and eldar had combined to attack their enemy. This time the Shattered Silence faired well, defeating the Necron army and sacking at least two tomb complexes, but the eldar of the Rillietan came unstuck when they themselves were ambushed by their Necron enemies en-route to their target. The Necrons beat off this second attack, but the damage had been done - giving the Imperial defenders some breathing space to prepare their defences.
Huron was still completely in the dark. The pattern of raids seemed random, almost arbitrary, and yet at the same time their seemed meaning and purpose behind them. Perhaps it was simply too complex for one human mind - even a great one - to unravel, especially as the lord Inquisitor was not in possession of all of the facts. Even some facts would be nice. Lord Huron worried that the rest of the races in the sector were merely puppets. dancing to an eldar tune.
While the Imperium retook Trian from the forces of chaos, the Orks, under their more successful warboss, Thrugnik, arrived on Hogan's Fall. It isn't known if this was deliberate, fate, or accidental, but the Orks found the world deserted, with only the remains of an Imperial base to show that it had recently been an outpost of Man. After setting up an initial base, the Orks began building, excavating the rocky hills for the metal to make their warmachines, and as they did so, encountered strange objects. Eventually the leader of the Orks on Hogan's Fall ordered a "propa" investigation, and very soon the Orks had excavated an enormous tomb complex.
As they dug, they became aware that they were being watched. A small squad of shadowy individuals was observing their every move, and apparently making notes. Annoyed by this the warboss sent out an army against the small squad. The Orks advanced whooping and firing their guns in the air, each wanting to be the first to get to their enemy or miss out on the fun. Very soon the Orks had more than they bargained for however, as a host of daemons appeared between them and their prey. Rather than be put off by this however, this only encouraged the Orks, and even more joined the ad-hoc expedition. After a protracted battle, the daemons were banished, leaving the strange squad just ebough time to make good their escape.
Later, on 2211.011M42 the excavations soon bore fruit. Unfortunately the fruit was the mass activation of the Necron tomb complex they had unknowingly been excavating. The Orks however had numbers on their side, and the tomb complex was still waking up - the necrons appearing unfamiliar with their weapons and not fully awake. Despite losing hundreds of boyz to the mechanoid aliend, eventually the tomb complex was cleared and mercilessly pillaged of everything of worth.
When news of this event reached Inquisitor Huron, the lord Inquisitor began making connections. Twice the Imperium had tried to regain the world of Hogan's Fall. small and barely inhabited, and twice they had been removed from the world by the eldar. And yet the Orks had been allowed to stay. Huron thought of what would have happened had the Imperium, not the Orks been present when the Necrons roused from their long slumber. Perhaps the Imperial garrison, unlike the orks, would have fled, or been wiped out. Perhaps the Necrons would have awoken fully and roused more from sleep. Perhaps allowing the orks to take Hogan's Fall had been the design of the eldar all along, or perhaps the old Inquisitor was letting his mind run away with him.
With the successful landings conducted by the Praetorian Guard consolidated, General Pollack brought together his military aids and subordinates to discuss the next phase of the campaign on Trian. However, just as the council got underway on 1711.011M42, they were interrupted by the arrival of none other than Erik Morkai himself. Stunned by this arrival, the Imperial Guardsmen listened in silence as he informed them that he had arrived with more than a hundred battle brothers, and he had a plan to take the world in just two days. None on the council dared to contradict the great astartes warrior, and they all nodded their assent to his plan when he presented it to them. Two swift strikes on the largest Chaos bases would, he said, destroy the hold the enemy had over the world and their following would crumble, leavin the Vastrid sector free once again of the taint of chaos.
The council agreed and drew up plans to deploy their guardsmen "if needed". Many were excited by the possibility of taking Trian so quickly while others doubted even the Space Wolves could pull off such a feat. One man was privately seething, and hoping Morkai's men would fail. General Pollack was silently furious. If the Space Wolves succeeded they would take Trian and all the glory - away from him.
The Space Wolves' plan went like clockwork. Just two days after arriving the astartes forces arrived without warning at the largest settlement occupied by forces loyal to Lorek. At once the cultist followers broke before the ferocity of the Space Wolves' charge, summoning daemons to do their fighting. Expecting this, the Space Wolves countered by using immediate drop pod reinforcement, and the daemonhost crumbled before their firepower. Meanwhile over three hundred kilometres away another force was attacking the Conqueror's of Gorgoroth. Taken off guard and by surprise the Chaos forces were unable to stop the Space Wolves' assault which thrust like a dagger at the command structure of their forces on Trian. After just one day of fighting, half the time Morkai had predicted, all organised resistance on Trian collapsed and the remaining defenders fled or laid down their arms as the Imperial Guard finally got the order to move out.
Trian had fallen, and the forces of chaos had been routed from the sector. Bells were rung in honour of the Space Wolves for the deliverance of the Cerrack Nebula, and celebrations took place across the subsector as the news spread across the void. Through gritted teeth General Pollack stood for propaganda vidpicts alongside the squad leaders of the astartes. Sidelined, slighted, and with a lust for glory re-ignited, Pollack began planning his next move against the Orks.
After a promising start the Tau invasion of Tyndareous had foundered. Many Cadres, veterans of the campaigns on Tarsis and Melberg, had been rotated out for much needed refits and re-enforcement. In place had been drafted in new Cadres under a fresh Shas'O and they had lost ground under the pressure of repeated Imperial counter attacks.
Shadowstrike implored the Ethereals to allow him to take command of the campaign. He explained that if Xanthus' faction were allowed to claim a victory on Tyndareous it would mean not only the loss of the campaign but also the imperilment of Tau colonies throughout the subsector as Xanthus' cause gained in credibility and support. Eventually the Ethereals assented and Shadowstrike began redeploying his Cadres to the beleaguered war zone.
The Tau position was fragile and Shadowstrike expected a concerted Imperial drive to remove the Tau base on Tyndareous once and for all. Sure enough, Stealth teams and aerial surveillance soon detected signs of large troop movements and the Tau prepared for the inevitable onslaught.
The assault was two pronged. Airborne Guard regiments swooped into Vallarender. Unsure where exactly the Imperials would strike the Tau were spread thin and an escalating engagement soon broke out in the suburbs of the city. The Valkyries and Vendettas of the Guard made repeated strafing runs of the Tau positions but each time they were met with disciplined and concentrated volleys of fire that forced them to break off and circle for another opportunity. With time running out and Tau re-enforcements arriving from all directions the Guard were forced to make ever more reckless attacks and paid the price. One by one the attack craft were shot down or crippled and the survivors broke off and returned to base, low on fuel and with little to show for their efforts.
Meanwhile a second attack targeted the main Tau base itself. The Tau easily picked up the armoured column of Space Wolf vehicles heading towards their perimeter and prepared a defence in depth, prepared to give ground and drain the attack of its strength with a withering onslaught of fire. They didn't notice the Strike Cruiser silently orbiting the planet until it unleashed its payload of drop pods. The attack was both audacious and risky. The combined orbital drop, mechanised assault and rear attack by infiltrating Wolf Scouts was impossible to co-ordinate with total precision but the brutality and surprise of the attack threatened to annihilate the Tau base. A less disciplined foe would have broken before the terror tactics of the Astartes, but hardened by years of constant campaigning Shadowstrike's Cadres displaying near perfect fire discipline. Not giving the Space Wolves time to consolidate and form a co-ordinated attacked they isolated each facet of the attack in turn. Astartes emerged from their drop pods, only to be gunned down without mercy by overwhelming firepower. The Space Wolves fire support succeeding in inflicting heavy casualties amongst the Tau and bringing down many of their armoured vehicles. Despite this the drop pod assault had failed and the Space Wolves had no way of holding the ground they were taking. Reluctantly they withdrew, saving their remaining strength for future fighting.
With the Imperial offensive blunted and their forces thrown into disarray Shadowstrike launched his own offensive. Airborne Cadres succeeded in securing Rainier Pass and Pardle Junction unopposed before Mechanised Cadres streamed into Tyndareous Base, destroying the aircraft based there and surrounding the Tyndar Plateau. Now the Tau had the advantage on Tyndareous and Shadowstrike intended to press it and finish this campaign quickly.
On 0811.011M42 the Imperial battlegroup under Clinton-Baker had arrived at Caitlen Station, taking up position around an outer planet while all manner of resupply ships from the station itself brought much needed spares and crew to the waiting vessel. However, just days after their arrival strange surveyor reading readings should have alerted the Commodore to an imminent threat, but the readings were vague and unrecognised. Then without warning a mass of vessels appeared, strange living vessels bearing bioweaponry and vicious looking claws. Hive fleet Nemesis had arrived.
The appearance of the tyranids at Caitlen station was a complete surprise. The hive mind had acted with great and unexpected strategic planning. Instead of waiting above Alphe to be attacked by Commodore Clinton-Baker's battlegroup, the tyranids had ambushed their attackers in a situation favourable to them.
The hive fleet attacked directly, and despite the Imperial vessels coming to full alertness almost immediately, Clinton-Bakers ships were not in an ideal tactical formation and were far too close to their enemy. A violent battle erupted, with Nemesis losing a vast number of their smaller ships. Early on in the battle the light cruisers Arethusa and Galatea were overwhelmed and destroyed, but as the battle progressed the victory of the alien fleet was by no means certain. However Nemesis triumphed at last when the Oberon class battleship Hercules, stuck at the rear of a hastily deployed formation, faced the full fury of the tyranid battlefleet. Hercules' shields were overwhelmed and the mighty vessel was pummelled from bow to stern. The ancient battleship blew up with all hands and the rest of the fleet was forced to retreat back to the safety of Caitlen Station's Ramilles class starfort. Nemesis did not pursue, but the planned mission to Alphe was cancelled, the planet and its defenders left to their fate until more forces could be spared.
Meanwhile on Alphe, listening posts and orbital surveillance satellites on Alphe had been maintaining a status of high alert ever since the discovery of Tyranid bioforms on the western archipelagos. Imperial intelligence believed the infestation was merely an advanced tendril of nemesis, sent to gather information and secure a beachhead for a full invasion. General Percival had ordered that all anomalous sightings were to be investigated, so when a meteor shower was sighted over the Alpmaadow Downs a company of Guard was dispatched to investigate. The sighting was far from the infested zone and the Pryford Meadows region was considered a rear echelon area. It was garrisoned only by the 24th Islandawandas, a large but poorly equipped regiment of light infantry almost entirely without vehicle and artillery support.
It was only when the company investigating the impact site failed to report in or answer hails that concerns were first raised at High Command and Percival ordered a surveillance satellite to be hastily repositioned to overfly the 24ths last known co-ordinates. What was shown on the orbital feed horrified him. Infra-red imagining showed millions of teaming xenoforms swarming around an impact site that was already obscured by an extensive hive node. The images barely had time to sink in before the satellites sensors detected an unidentified craft nearby and the feed went dead.
One by one the command post lost contact with all its satellites and orbital installations. The Hive Fleet had at long last arrived. Hours later all contact was lost with Pryford. A last panicked vox transmission reported a sea of Tyranids coating the plains in a heaving mass of chitin. Percival immediately ordered the redeployment of Guard regiments to contain the invasion and prayed that it would be enough.
Inquisitor Huron arrived in the Vastrid sector with his entourage in early 011M42, but was unable to sequester any forces to carry out anything other than observations. Inquisitor Lord Hathek was unwilling to lend Huron any of his own indentured forces with Xanthus still at large in the Mabb Nebula, and Lord General Roover was prevaricating with Huron's request. Roover still had wars to fight in the Perseus Deeps, Alphe and Cerrack Nebula, not to mention the unwelcome sideshow of the war on Tyndareous thanks to Xanthus' xenophobia.
While Huron watched and waited, more raids were conducted by the eldar in the Vastrid subsector. First the Conqueror's of Gorgoroth were massacred by Dark Eldar forces on Trian, but in complete contrast to the raid the previous week, this raid only helped the Imperial invasion, but Huron was unwilling to believe the timing was mere co-incidence. This was followed by a smaller raid on the ork world of Aspaster, but the main raid came on 1711.011M42, when the Rillietan mounted a large assault on the Red Angels at their base on Quim.
The Red Angels were unprepared for the raid and their response to the lightning raid was unco-ordinated and haphazard. Once again the Marines suffered with lack of equipment, and General Pollack began to worry about the effectiveness of the Astarted force, although he was unable to voice these concerns. Huron meanwhile was still in the dark as to whether the Dark Eldar and Rillietan attacks were part of a wider strategy. The Shattered Silence attack on Hogan's Fall was more evidence, but evidence of what? Huron resolved to raise a force and go to Hogan's Fall, to bait the eldar into attacking. Maybe if he could capture a prisoner or two the meaning behind these raids would become clear.
With the failure of the first invasion of Trian, General Pollack wasn't about to give up on his plan of making safe all the worlds of the Cerrack Nebula. Only a week after his initial invasion Trian was assaulted again, this time with better preparation and intelligence gathering. The groundwork paid off, and following heavy fighting with the Conquerers of Gorgoroth, two Imperial bridgeheads were established by the Praetorian Guard, led by the veteran 42nd regiment.
General Pollack also sent a regiment of Islandawandan Guardsmen, considered "expendable" by the Administratum, to investigate the loss of contact with Hogan's Fall. The poorly equipped Guardsmen landed without incident, but soon suffered the same fate as the previous occupiers of the outpost. The Dark Eldar of the Shattered Silence attacked the Islandawandans with a furious assault, but found to their frustration that the Imperial Guard were stubborn in their defence. However, after over a day of fighting the commander on the ground decided he was outmatched, and with Pollack's agreement the invasion was cancelled, although no consideration was given to the remaining defenders on Hogan's Fall. It was considered an unacceptable risk of valuable assets to extract the Islandawandans, and the entire force was wiped out. This setback didn't concern Pollack, such regiments were easy to replace. Learning his lesson, Pollack put plans to retake Hogan's Fall to one side and concentrated on planning the next offensive on Trian.
Following the success on Quim, General Pollack hoped to capitalise on the Imperial victory by immediately moving against the Chaos positions on Trian. His Cerberex Guard were exhausted, so could not be sent into another battle immediately, but Pollack still had three regiments of Librian Guard and a company of Red Angels to call on.
The Imperial fleet, led by the battleship Vanguard, met no resistance when it arrived at the Trian system, and Pollack was able to unload one regiment of Guardsmen and establish a bridgehead. However, within hours of creating this base, the Imperial forces came under attack from the forces of Chaos, who were far more numerous, organised and well equipped than Imperial intelligence had let on.
The first attack came from the little known Conquerers of Gorgoroth, who were able to deploy several land raiders, each filled with murderous Khorne bezerkers. The Librians, regiments largely untested in battle, suffered greatly as their tanks failed to deal with the enemy armour. Overall gunnery was poor, and the Conquerers managed to charge the Imperial infantry without too much trouble. The battle was bloody, but the Imperial Guardsmen stood little chance against the ruthless traitor marines, and before long the entire Imperial perimeter was compromised.
Facing a massacre, Pollack, still safely aboard the Vanguard, called for aid from the Red Angels, who duly deployed in order to buy the General more time to gather reinforcements. As they deployed, a second force appeared, taking the Imperial forces off guard. Traitor Marines belonging to the "Enraptured" warband, attacked the Red Angels, who were all on foot, with tanks and infantry. The result was a massacre, and the Red Angels took heavy punishment, The forces of the Enraptured and the Conquerers of Gorgoroth then completted the rout, meeting in the middle of the Imperial bridgehead and slaughtering the remaining defenders to a man.
Pollack ordered in more regiments, but with the bridgehead overrun and the forces of Chaos fully alerted, his sub commanders pleaded with him to abandon the invasion. Frustrated, the General assented, and the Imperial fleet returned to Quim, minus a complete regiment of Guardsmen and half a company of Marines. The Chaos presence in the Cerrack Nebula remained, and Pollack faced difficult questions from his commanding officer, Lord General Roover.
The Tau position in the Perseus Deeps had become increasingly desperate during the latter part of 011M42 with the loss of the Skera colony, and despite the protestations of Shadowstrike that the war on Tyndareous was unfinished, the Ethereals decided to reinforce their positions in the Deeps, particularly the main bases of Lucardium and Cernunnos.
Admiral Swiftstar was given the task of moving his considerable fleet from the Mabb Nebula to the Perseus Deeps, as quickly as possible. This meant travelling near to the Rim Worlds, the home of the Catechism. Recent fleet actions convinced the Tau admiral that the Catechism fleet, although formidable, might ignore the Tau fleet passing through their territory, given their recent losses against the Imperium.
Unfortunately for Swiftstar, whoever was commanding the Catechism clearly objected to the large Tau fleet lumbering its way through the Rim Worlds, and before long the Tau found themselves with a large Chaos fleet on their tail. Only able to make short warp hops, the Tau admiral knew he would have to give battle eventually, and the superior speed of the Chaos warships ensured the battle took place in the confusing mercurial zone of a solitary star near to Aornis, once a Tau base.
The Chaos fleet split into two divisions, with the greater part led by a Desolator class battleship, passing down the port wing of Swiftstar's "box" formation. This allowed Swiftstar to turn his fleet to starboard, lining up the smaller battlegroup of three cruisers in his formidable gunsights. Unfortunately in the difficult environment of the sun's radiation belt, the shooting on both sides suffered, and while the chaos fleet lost one devastation class vessel and had two more cruisers crippled, Swiftstar was frustrated that the damage wasn't more significant. He was more annoyed by the fact the two crippled cruisers managed to escape within the sensor baffling radiaton belts and plasma filaments.
Swiftstar then manouvered his fleet in a wide arc to face the remaining chaos vessels, suffering severe damage to two of his protector class cruisers and the loss of his escorts. The battle continued spasmodically for another hour, before both sides withdrew, neither side able to claim victory despite the greater material losses of the chaos fleet. By 1211.011M42, Swiftstar had made it to Cernunnos, significantly strengthening the Tau position in the Perseus Deeps, but the damage to two capital ships was an unwelcome setback.
While the assault on Trian raged, there was fighting on two other worlds within the Vastrid subsector. On 0311.011M42 the Dark Eldar of the Shattered Silence fell upon the Imperial base on Hogan's fall. The base had only recently been wrestled back from the Orks, and the Imperial Guard at the base were entirely wiped out or captured before the Grey Knights, using the world as their base of operations within the subsector, could counter the alien raid.
The Grey Knights moved quickly to stop the Dark Eldar from entirely destroying the base, but the Shattered Silence brought murderous firepower to bear on the small Imperial force. Before long the Grey Knights were in retreat and were forced to ask for assistance.
The Dark Angels responded to the call but deployed straight into a Dark Eldar ambush. They lost many brave astartes warriors before aborting their mission, leaving the Grey Knights to fight off the aliens alone. Unlike their other raids, the Shattered Silence continued their pursuit against the Grey Knights until they were forced to completely abandon the world. The Dark Eldar Kabal had already taken a huge haul of slaves, so this action perplexed the Imperial forces and drew the attention of Inquisitor Huron, who in response moved his base of operations to the subsector.
By 1011.011M42 the Grey Knights had evacuated Hogan's Fall, leaving any remaining Imperial citizens, military or civilian, to an unpleasant fate at the hands of the Dark Eldar. Hogan's Fall had been destroyed as an Imperial base, at least for the time being.
The slow death of Valboris continued as 11.011M42 began, with a determined assault by the Tyranids for the rest of Purgatory. Despite the impossible position the Chaos forces found themselves in, they still eagerly leapt to the defence of their world, and new warbands threw themselves enthusiastically at the alien foe. For some it had become an insane battle of honour, with various factions trying their forces out, almost always suicidally, against the Tyranid menace. There would be no evacuation, every man on Valboris would fight to the last.
The latest force to "try their hand" against the Tyranids were the new arrivals to the subsector, the Conquerers of Gorgoroth. This force was virtually unknown to Imperial intelligence, but it seems while the majority of the force travelled to the Vastrid subsector, a small force evaded the Nemesis scout biovessels above the world of Valboris and landed near Coyote Creek. Within hours of their arrival the crazed Khorne bezerkers were in combat, charging the Tyranid horde overrunning Purgatory...With predictable results. Nemesis accepted the biomass thrust before it, and moved impacably onwards towards Buffalo Crossing and Erin Bay. Analysts now reckoned Purgatory would be overrun by the end of the year, unless Nemesis chose to take even more time over its conquest of the outlaw world.
11.011M42 began as 10.011M42 had ended, with more Eldar and Dark Eldar raids. The main focus of these raids seemed to have shifted to the Vastrid subsector, one of the main reasons why Inquisitor Huron moved his base of operations to the subsector. Huron was intent on knowing why the raids had increased during the year, to a far higher level than seen in the last century.
The latest raids on 0211.011M42 and 04.011M42 took place on Aspaster and Trian in the Cerrack Nebula. The first was conducted, as Huron managed to find out, by the Rillietan, the strange Eldar force led by the warriors of the Laughing God. The raid destroyed several Ork installations, and enraged the greenskins, whipping them into a frenzy which saw them launch their abortive attack on the neighbouring system of Quim a few days later. Huron couldn't help but draw a correlation. Were the Eldar deliberately goading the Orks?
The second raid took place on the Chaos world of Trian, days before the Imperium launched their abortive landings on the world. The attack saw a force of traitor marines wiped out, and the Dark Eldar take many prized astartes captives, but the real effect was to put the Chaos forces on full alert, just in time to defeat the Imperial landings. Huron grew more and more concerned. Were these raids linked? Were the Dark Eldar working in concert with the Rillietan? For them? Huron made plans to sequester a force of Guard and draw up a mission to find out.
The Necron threat in the perseus Deeps increased in magnitude as 10.011M42 drew to a close with increased activity on two worlds. The first, Blight, a chaos daemonworld once called Sullidaan, saw an upsurge in fighting as Necrons began to advance ever closer to the world's capital on the western hemisphere. The Necrons were determined to retake their old empire, and this world they considered their own, no matter what daemonic entity now claimed it.
The Necrons faced mostly daemonic armies loyal to the faction known as the Covenant of Damnation, but some astartes warbands were also present. After initial gains the Necrons suffered a determined counter attack, buying the forces of Chaos at least time to deal with the threat, but with Chaos on the back-foot on all fronts across the region, losses in men and equipment were hard to replace. Again and again they were forced to rely on daemonic summonings to do their bidding, and these were often risky and capricious, and couldn't hold territory for long. This was made worse as the Necrons advanced, the daemonic grip on Blight loosening with every Necron gain.
While events played out on Blight, the weakened tau colony of Skera soon came under unexpected attack. Only weeks before the Tau had suffered at the hands of Dark Eldar raiders, and were ill-prepared to meet this latest invasion, which came in great strength. Bravely the Tau sacrificed themselves for the greater good, giving ground where they could and attacking ferociously where they could not. However the Tau found the Necrons particularly hard to deal with, noting in horror how the mechanoid race simply withstood firepower which would shatter the advance of other races.
Reading the transcripts of the commander of Skera's call for aid, Commander Shadowstrike realised that the commander with responsibility for the Tau colony world was out of his depth. Shadowstrike immediately dispatched a veteran commander and his hunter cadre to deal with the situation, but when they arrived the situation was dire. The Tau landed their forces amidst scenes of near panic as the colonists of Skera scrambled to get off-world as soon as possible. Advancing straight into battle Shadowstrike's cadre soon found itself on the end of withering firepower from the Necron invaders, and could do no more than delay the inevitable. They held on long enough for the colonists to escape, then enacted a fighting withdrawal, engaging in desperate firefights as the last of the Tau dropships made for orbit. Skera was beyond hope. Which world would be next?
Raids by Eldar and Dark Eldar continued, even intensified in the last week of 10.011M42, as the Vastrid subsector saw a number of small actions involving most factions vying for control of the Cerrack Nebula. A new Kabal, as yet unseen in the Perseus Deeps carried out three separate incursions with mixed results. One against Thrugnik's Orks on Aspaster was unsuccessful, but another, as well as a raid on Chaos held Trian, yielded better results and a healthy tally of captives.
Meanwhile in the Deeps the Lamenters found themselves under attack by the Shattered Silence while investigating the remains of a Necron civilisation on an unimportant world near Corticant. The Shattered Silence did not seem to want captives, so why they attacked the Lamenters remains a mystery, although speculation hints that there was something there the Dark Eldar didn't want the imperium to find.
Never-the-less the Dark Eldar raid was easily beaten of by the Astartes forces and the Kabal withdrew to lick its wounds in the webway, allowing the Lamenters to continue their reconnaissance unmolested.
Later in the month the forces of Chaos found themselves on the wrong end of a raid by the Rillietan on Calliden. This was the first time the Eldar of the Harlequin faction had raided a major Chaos world, and the action was quite unexpected and without apparent motive. Several Chaos installations were destroyed and the Chaos legion guarding them took heavy casualties.
The slow but unstoppable advance of the Tyranid horde on the Chaos world of Valboris continued in 10.011M42, with the hive mind apparently willing to take its time in digesting its current meal. No new hiveships appeared, but there was no need, as long as they kept pushing the defenders back.
After taking Main Crossing and Mount Silston in the previous month, despite a momentary setback, Nemesis was on the move again in 10.011M42. By the middle of the month reports of Tyranid activity had reached the settlement of Purgatory, and fighting resumed. The Chaos forces deployed all they had against the invader, which in truth wasn't much in terms of men and equipment, but for a time dogged resistance held up the Tyranid advance. It was a forlorn hope however, and by the end of the month half the settlement had been infested.
The defenders of Valboris now faced certain death. Without massive reinforcement from Chaos forces - which were in retreat across the sector - Nemesis would have its prize. But the worshippers of the dark gods refused to go quietly and without a fight, and the doomed struggle on Valboris continued.
In the last week of 10.011M42, the Cerberex Guard under General Pollack began preparations for their final assault against the last Chaos stronghold on Quim. The Chaos defenders had only a handful of traitor astartes and fewer than a few thousand cultists, and Pollack was assured of an easy victory.
Unlike other Imperial commanders, Pollack was not so arrogant or dull witted to believe the forces of Chaos would give up the world so easily. Born and raised on Cerberex before its invasion by Moonface and the UFP, Pollack had seen what Chaos could unleash and had been trained to expect the worst from his enemies. He was right.
As his forces advanced the Covenant of Damnation unleashed a daemonic horde against the attackers, but because of his careful attention to detail and deep experience of his enemy, the General's advance was not slowed. Over a thousand guardsmen perished in the Cerberex regiments sent to extinguish the Chaos presence on Quim, but before the month was out, Quim was safely back in Imperial hands, thanks to a well co-ordinated and executed effort from all parts of the mighty Imperium of mankind.
As Quim fell to the Imperium, the forces of Chaos avoided being wiped out in the Vastrid subsector as they successfully saw off wave after wave of Ork infantry attacks on their base on Trian. The war here had been going on sporadically for months, but in late 10.011M42 the Ork leaders decided to bring the fighting to a conclusion.
Believing the Chaos forces to be fatally weakened the Orks launched an all out attack, throwing in all their reserves and overwhelming the Chaos lines. Forced back the small band of Chaos marines tried desperately to halt the green tide, but just as it seemed the Orks were about to wipe their enemy from the face of the world, the Ork horde broke. Their leaders, or Nobz, had led the charge, but a small band of astartes had stubbornly refused to yield. In addition the Ork shooting was even more woeful than usual, the greenskins too eager to celebrate victory than aiming their shots.
Suddenly realising the Chaos Marines would not break, the Nobz fled, and that was the catalyst for a general collapse in greenskin morale. By 0111.011M42 the orks had fled into the hills or been wiped out, and Trian and its small bases was now back under the control of Chaos, their last foothold in the Vastrid subsector.
In mid to late 10.011M42 the raiding forces of the Aleph sector broadened their scope to the Vastrid subsector, and the Dark Eldar in particular launched a concerted operation on the Ork-Chaos contested world of Trian. Speculation suggests that Commoragh had initiatied a "tournament" or some kind of competition, challenging each Kabal operating in the region to take as many slaves as possible from the war-torn world.
The Shattered Silence Kabal began the operation, launching a small raid against a chaos warband deep behind the front lines. The skirmish resulted in a minor victory for the Dark Eldar, although the Shattered Silence were unable to take any slaves as the stubborn Chaos Marines refused to give up even when utterly surrounded, enabling the forces of Chaos to evacuate non combatant personell - or their own slaves - to areas far from the raiders grasp.
Another Kabal attempted to conduct a small raid against the Ork held portion of the planet, but found the area they chose for their assault guarded by Thrugnik's elite guard. The force was seen off, again with no slaves taken. The Shattered Silence were more successful later on however, taking a great haul of Orks as play-things following a much larger raid on the Ork encampments. They had chosen a softer target, far from Thrugnik's camp, and the Kabal emerged as the winner of the competition of Trian. What happened to the slaves taken in the raids no-one can say.
The Rillietan were also in action on Trian in the same month. Following a minor daemonic uprising in Chaos held territory, the full force of the eldar harlequins was unleashed on daemons loyal to the Covenant of Damnation, who were utterly massacred just before their planned attack on the Orks. Why the eldar intervened, essentially on the Ork side, remains a mystery, as the Rillietan continued to pursue their own and apparently unfathomable objectives across the sector.
Thanks to the victories of the Adeptus Mechanicus fleet in the Quim system, annihilating the Claws of Lorek and deterring the Catechism from becoming involved, General Pollack was now able to launch his latest offensive on the two Chaos strongholds still left on the ground. Pollack now decided to throw in his reserves, mostly consisting of Cerberex regiments, against his enemy, in an attempt to regain the initiative on the surface of the now battle scarred minor world.
On 1810.011M42 the attack began, Pollack using his superior numbers to attack on the widest front possible, and initial gains were swift. Soon after the attack had started however, the Covenant of Damnation summoned a daemonhost, and the fighting became particularly intense. Having faced such enemies before however, without suffering an inquisition purge thanks to Lord Inquisitor Hathek's personal intervention, the Cerberex regiments were not phased by this turn of events. Relying on superior firepower and support from the Mechanicus fleet now in orbit, the first Chaos bastien was overrun in three days. Casualties were heavy, but the daemonhost was banished back to its other-worldly realm. Now Pollack had just one Chaos stronghold to deal with, and Quim would be his.
The war on Tyndareous, which had fallen into sporadic fighting during 10.011M42, took a bizarre twist on 2110.011M42, when the main Tau base between Cranburg and Vallerander, came under unexpected attack from the Rillietan faction of the eldar.
Led by the avatar of the laughing god, backed up by eldar skimmer vehicles, the Rillietan appeared from nowehere and moved swiftly towards the Tau positions. They had already done significant damage to the Tau installation before the Tau responded, and when Fastblades Cadre deployed to counter the eldar attackers, the situation didn't really improve.
Despite the Tau being armed with broadsides and plenty of Hammerhead gunships, the Tau faired badly against their enemy. Eldar Fire Prisms took their toll on the broadsides, and inaccurate railgun fire didn't help. Fastblade was forced to give ground, allowing the Eldar to sabotage more of their equipment, and a last ditch effort by deep striking crisis suits was little more than a disaster. The leader of the Cadre, inexperienced at dropping from Orca, missed his drop zone by a wide margin, and then proceeded to fire wildly at the Eldar, doing little damage. He then fled the harlequins who attempted to engage him and his bodyguard in close combat, before being obliterated by the Eldar farseer himself.
The Tau now had nothing left to throw at the Eldar and were forced to abandon much of their base and withdraw to the safety of the inner compound. After several hours of wanton and apparently meaningless destruction, the Rillietan withdrew, leaving the Tau baffled as to the purpose of the attack. Why would they interfere on the side of the Imperium, and why were they interfering at all? The questions remained unanswerable, and Shadowstrike was urged to return to re-organise the Tau war on Tyndareous, which was fast becoming a fiasco.
With Imperial resources slowly being swung into action against the increasing threat of Nemesis, and the downsizing of the Imperial crusade against chaos, an area missed by the Imperial planners appeared to be defence against raiders. Already Veers' forces in the Deeps had suffered numerous dark eldar raids, and on 1810.011M42 the Rillietan, most mysterious of all eldar, once again came for Corticant.
This time the target was the Space Wolves, who took significant casualties but were able to avoid defeat and prevent the dark eldar from getting past their defensive perimeter. Their losses were heavy however, and among non-astartes forces morale continued to steadily drop. Questions were asked more and more about the security of Imperial bases, as the raiders seemed to appear with no warning and disappeared just as quickly.
Meanwhile the Necrons were making steady progress on Zog, defeating the Red Angels to claim more than half of the settlements on the small, but strategically important world. As Zog fell ever more under the thrall of the ancient race, Thrugnik was having more success against the Necrons in the Vastrid sector. On 2110.011M42 a force of Necrons appeared on Aspaster, but Thrugniks massive army was preparing for invasion of new worlds, and easily crushed the alien incursion. This action whipped the Orks into a frenzy and very soon it became obvious that the green tide, so recently cleared from Glossop V and ???, would likely soon be making a return...
The Claws of Lorek, not content with their victories on Quim, moved to consolidate their hold upon the planet by dispatching substantial raiding fleets to secure the resource rich planets in the inner system. A battlegroup of seven cruisers led by the Acheron class Messiah of Pain was deployed to clear the meager planetary defenses under the cover of a particularly violent solar storm. Able to approach undetected they unexpectedly stumbled upon the Adeptus Mechanicus battleship Magos Vaspasian and her attendant cruiser escort, dispatched to the sector to test a newly found STC archeotech flare shield. The Chaos fleet rushed the Mechanicus, trying to capitalize on their surprise appearance, but were unprepared for the ferocity of the solar storm.
Radiation waves wracked the Chaos fleet, and tentacles of photospheric matter grasped the heavily ionized hulls of cruisers, disrupting communications and torturing the corrupted machine spirits. The Claw’s battlegroup was thrown into disarray and flew into a salvo of nova cannon fire, immediately losing a significant portion of their carrier strength, as the carriers Defiler and Fury of Chaos were crippled. Unable to communicate with his fleet, and prevented from ordering a general disengage, the Warmaster proceeded with the assault forcing his fleet forward into the waiting Mechanicus battlecruisers. The Mechanicus capitalized on this disarray and swept into the chaos formation. The Magos Vaspasian led the wedge into the center of the chaos fleet, magazines and lances blazing as her augmented weapons found their mark on chaos cruisers at her broadsides. Assault craft bays, engines and power relays were shattered in the initial assault before the chaos crews had properly braced them for battle. Following the lead of the battleship, the Mechanicus cruisers Esto Perpetua and Scienta drove straight into the crippled chaos cruisers expending ordnance, lance energy and batteries at a prodigious rate and taking full advantage of the enemy’s inability to react to the rapidly deteriorating tactical situation.
Haloed by the titanic solar emmissions from the Querros Star, the chaos fleet was unable to disengage and was rapidly dismantled by the radiation hardened Mechanicus cruisers. The Heavy cruiser Messiah of Pain managed to effect her escape using the rapidly expanding debris cloud left of her sister ships, but left the rest of the chaos fleet hulked and waiting for the Mechanicus ships, eager to explore the lost archeotech bounty left for them. The Chaos fleet faced a painful butcher’s bill as the cruisers Iron Juggernaut, The Defiler, Fury of Chaos, Prince of Murder, Harbinger of Pain, Black Wolf were lost to the Mechanicus salvage teams and towed for refit, for little battle damage on the part of the Mechanicus fleet.
The planet Quim was soon to be assaulted again however, as the Catechism fleet engaged the Adeptus Mechanicus on what was to be a far fairer field of battle. The Chaos Fleet was led by a Desolator class Battleship and was much better gunned than the previous raider fleet the Adeptus had faced. Two Acheron class heavy cruisers were escorted by two carnage class, whilst two devastation class carriers provided strike craft support to the battlegroup.
The body of the Adeptus Mechanicus fleet concealed their advance under the cover of a dense asteroid field whilst the cruisers Valente Deo and Gothic class Potentia drew the attention of the chaos fleet with Nova cannon fire at a stand off range, scoring a lucky hit on a devestation class and nearly crippling the chaos cruiser. The chaos warmaster was forced to close quickly with the cruisers to negate their range advantage, but left his fleet strung out with an opening for the Magos Vaspasian, Esto Perpetua and Scienta to drive through his center, unloading both broadsides into the staggered elements of the fleet. The Desolator launched a crippling salvo of torpedoes into the armoured prow of the dictator class Valente Deo, whose uprated turrets were unable to cope with the onslaught, collapsing her shields and forcing the cruiser to hide in the center of the Mechanicus Formation, where she managed to cripple another Catechism heavy cruiser with a lucky Nova Cannon shot before disengaging.
The Gothic class Potentia fared no better as a tentative shot from the devastation class vessel crippled the cruiser and inactivated her nova cannon. Potentia was forced to disengage as were three Chaos vessels, a devastation, acheron and carnage class, whilst the remaining chaos vessels focused fire on the Scienta and crippled her drives.
The Magos Vaspasian used her monstrous broadsides to cripple the leading desolator and another Acheron class vessel resulting in both the Acheron and the Scienta disengaging; leaving the Catechism fleet with an undamaged carrier, crippled battleship and a carnage limping its way around the system. The engagement devolved into a slugfest as the Esto Perpetua disengaged undamaged and left the heavier armoured and gunned Retribution class Magos Vaspasian to chase off the remnants of the chaos fleet.
Following the raid on the Drk Angels by the Space Wolves in early 10.011M42, Inquisitor Xanthus was keen to uncover the slightest hint of heresy or treason within the ranks of Erik Morkai's company. To do this he employed the Red Angels, who were loyal Astartes and had fortunately had little contact with Inquistor Hathek in the preceding months. Citing possible heresy and deviation from the Codex Astartes, the Inquisitor Lord eventually managed to convince a very skeptical captain of the Red Angels to conduct a reconaissance against the Space Wolves on Hogan's Fall.
The Red Angels arrived on 1910.011 and began their investigation. However on the 21st they were discovered and forced to retreat from the Space Wolves' base. Suspecting enemies, and having had no communication with the intruders, the Space Wolves sent out a military force to track them down. Due to lack of communication and pride, ince again two Astartes forces clashed, with the Red Angels coming off much worse in the short engagement. After evacuating the Red Angels reported back no issues with the Space Wolves, and their skepticism quickly became cynicism. They did however blame the Space Wolves for opening the engagement, and enmity persisted between the two marine chapters for some time.
The war in the Vastrid subsector continued on in 10.011M42, for most a distant war in the far flung reaches of the Cerrack Nebula on worlds of little importance. Few of the teeming billions of the Imperium were aware of the war, and even the major worlds close to the war-torn region were generally unconcerned by the ongoing fighting.
Overall command for the Cerrack Nebula fell to General Pollack, a subordinate to the military commander of all forces in the Vastrid subsector, Lord Commander Foche. This status was equivalent, in principle, to a garrison commander of a major imperial world, but the resources at Pollack's disposal remained meagre. However in 10.011M42 another company of Space Marines arrived, this time from the Blood Angels chapter, and their presence was immediately felt as they took the fight to the Orks on Glossop V. Leaderless and unco-ordinated, the remaining orks on Glossop were savagely dealt with, and within days of their arrival the Blood Angels had brought an end to the campaign on the minor world. Now Pollack needed to build up its defences in case of retaliatory attack from the nearby orks on Aspaster.
On Quim however the Claws of Lorek launched a major new offensive, determined to secure a permanent and uncontested base of operations in the Vastrid subsector. Lorek's two pronged attack came up against the Blood Angels in the south, while in the north Lorek's larger force ran into the Space Wolves of Erik Morkai, who had just redeployed from Glossop. In a savage battle the Space Wolves held their positions tenaciously, and the forces of Chaos found it impossible to secure their objectives. Further south however the Imperial line broke after the Blood Angels were defeated and forced to retreat. Both Astartes forces and a few thousand Imperial Guardsmen now held a small scrap of land on the world. Pollack now scrambled to move his resources from Glossop V to Quim to prevent a total defeat there, hoping that the Claws of Lorek fleet would not arrive in force.
The ancient races of the galaxy continued to plague the Imperium in 10.011M42, and each other, as it became increasingly clear to General Veers, leader of the Perseus Deeps campaign, that just holding on to his recent gains would be a challenge, let alone push further into the great dark and largely unknown void of the region. In early 10.011M42 further Dark Eldar raids plagued Imperial possessions on Corticant, while the Dark Angels, based on Sentinel, were inexplicably attacked without warning by the mysterious harlequin led eldar of the Rillietann. The eldar did significant damage to installations on Sentinel, but Inquisitor Xanthus believed he had discovered the meaning behind the alien attack. The eldar had been looking for something which apparently he possessed, a suspicion further enhanced by the strange data crystal left behind, apparently by mistake, by the aliens. It would take Xanthus weeks to decode the xenos information, but then he would have his answer.
Meanwhile the Necrons were pushing the Imperium back on Zog. The Dark Angels were called in by a panicked Imperial commander, whose Imperial guard were woefully ill-equipped to deal with the skeletal warriors. The Astartes arrived soon after, since Zog was just a few days travel from Sentinel. However their attack was abortive and the Necrons continued their implacable advance across the world which was once theirs.
It wasn't only Inquisitor Xanthus that came under alien attack either. Uncaring of the petty internal Imperial squabbles, the Dark Eldar launched another raid on Inquisitor Hathek's base of Corticant on 0810.011M42, and although the Space Wolves attempted to intervene the Dark Eldar managed to hold them off long enough to complete their slave raid, capturing a significant proportion of the inhabitants of Shadowshore and Lochford. Fearful, the population of Corticant began to move to the well protected cities, adding a refugee problem to Veers' already faltering crusade. Even with a fleet of ten capital ships and millions of men under arms, Veers appeared powerless to defend even his own base.
On Gamador meanwhile, the aeons old war between eldar and necrons continued, with a successful raid by the Shattered Silence Kabal on the necron tomb world of Gamador. Whether this second raid in as many weeks was a deliberate act of war on the necrons or an act of internal one-upmanship remains unknown.
After weeks of quiescence the Inquisitorial dispute between Xanthus & Hathek flared once again in 10.011M42, culinating in an unfortunate engagement between the Space Wolves and Dark Angels. Hathek had been concentrating on shoring up the Perseus Deeps crusade, while Xanthus was now deeply mired in the campaign on Tyndareous. He had his war with the Tau and it wasn't going all that well. Even so, the Tau-Imperial truce held in the Perseus Deeps, and wider conflagoration of the kind Xanthus was looking for, failed to materialise.
Lacking Inquisitor Lord Hathek's significant naval and Imperial Guard resources, Xanthus was always looking for ways to improve his situation. He still coveted the mysterious Catechism "device", called the "soul hole" by Moonface's demented followers, after his close encounter with it in 007M42 on Myrentas II. For months he had been gathering information on the device, and seeking the components which, he hoped, would allow him to construct one of his own.
Few knew what the Inquisitor Lord was up to. Many, including the Adeptus Mechanicus, would consider his "work" heresy, and Hathek considered such investigations as extremely dangerous and another reason Xanthus needed removing from the Inquisition in general. In 10.011M42 Hathek received word that Xanthus was building a heretical device, and asked the Space Wolves to investigate. They agreed and deployed a force to Sentinel, Xanthus' base. Sentinel was however also the main base of the Dark Angels, and when the Space Wolves arrived they were not welcomed. The Dark Angels considered the investigation of an Inquisitor Lord as inappropriate and an unlawful operation to carry out, even if another inquisitor lord had requested it. In addition, the Dark Angels considered Hathek a traitor for entreating with Aliens.
Pride and suspicion then ensured combat followed. The Space Wolves attacked the Dark Angels and, after putting up a determined resistance, gave way to their fellow Astartes. The Space Wolves found nothing however, as the delay had allowed Xanthus to flee the world. Hathek bitterly regretted his request. Now Xanthus was missing, somewhere aboard his Inquisition vessel in the depths of the void, and two space marine chapters had again come to blows, though neither actually sustained any fatalities. The Dark Angels and Space Wolves managed to reconcile their differences following a martial tournament of arms, and both now became extremely cynical of the behaviour of both Inquisitors. Even the actions of the third Inquisitor Lord in the sector, Huron, was now viewed with skepticism.
On Valboris the Tyranid infestation had long been lethargic, expanding its control of the planet only sporadically to exploit weaknesses discovered in the Chaos battle lines. A series of co-ordinated attacks had repulsed the Tyranids from Mount Silston and cleansed much of Batertown. When there was no reprisal the defenders began to speculate that the infestation on Valboris had already reached its zenith, that exhausted and expended the threat posed by this tendril of Hive Fleet Nemesis was finally over.
Such hopes proved false. Without warning the Tyranids on Valboris suddenly went into full offensive. Swarms of bio-killers flowed out of the central Appolooso Mountains in unending waves to crash into the prepared positions of the Chaos defenders. The fighting was fiercest in Batertown, where determined not to give up their hard won gains Traitor Marines of the Claws of Lorek dismounted from their transports to entrench themselves in the still smoking ruins of the city.
The fighting was bloody and brief. The forward positions of the Claws of Lorek barely had time to realise they were under attack before swarms of gargoyles lead by a massive winged Tyrant landed amongst their positions. The fire support they had been expecting failed to materialise, their covering Havock teams suddenly assailed from behind by genestealers. These were repulsed with minimal casualties but it was already too late. Despite a desperate counter attack that slaughtered many of the aliens the Chaos defences collapsed completely and the Tyranids began rampaging through the Claws of Lorek's positions.
Soon the reason for the sudden Tyranid onslaught became apparent. Fresh from completing its consumption of Betor a large Hive fleet had appeared in the Valboris system. As they took up positions in orbit millions of Tyranid spores began to rain down on Valboris, blanketing the western continent. What had begun as an orderly retreat became a route. The highly mobile and well equipped traitor marines loyal to Lorek managed to escape into the east but thousands of cultists were cut off and slaughtered as the skies turned black. Batertown fell first, then Mount Silston and Main Crossing. With a space of a day all of western Valboris lay under the control of the Hive Mind. The situation looked grim for Valboris' defenders, but all was not yet lost. One of the Hive Ships had been crippled in a space battle in the system's outer reaches and the orbital blockade of the planet was incomplete. Re-enforcements could yet arrive from off world.
Only a week after the Space Wolves had regained the initiative on Tyndareous, the Cerberex Gaurd, Inquisitor Xanthus' elite loyal force, were sent in to make good the gains won by the Astartes forces.
The difficulties in maintaining the level of equipment supplied to the Cerberex regiments following their exile from their homeworld had by now become apparent. Losses in the field meant that the organisation's use of Vendettas and heavy tanks was now restricted to a few veteran regiments, while the rest made do with whatever could be scavenged from the scant resources Xanthus could put their way.
This fact saw the division which went into the Ranier Pass equipped with a host of equipment. While the regiment could still call upon heavy tank support and the use of flame tanks, cavalry were also employed, and most men, unlike in other Cerberex formations, went into battle on foot. Despite this the initial attack by the Cerberex men caught the Tau off guard, and succeeded in destroying a number of the defenders' infantry carrying skimmers, thanks in part to a very well placed initial artillery bombardment.
The Tau then put up a stiff defence, destroying the enemy tanks with accurate railgun fire, and using crisis suits to deep strike behind the enemy positions. At one point it looked like the attack had been beaten off, but the Cerberex Guard continued their offensive without pause until late on 0210.011M42 the pressure finally told and the Tau line broke. This was mainly due to the massive casualties sustained in the centre of their line and the Imperium had their victory, if the end result flattered a little.
The Tau were barely able to scramble back to defensible positions in the mountains, and their hold on the western portion of the Tyndareous starport and military base became untenable. Now the Imperium and Inquisitor Xanthus had the upper hand. One more concerted push would see the Tau assault on Tyndareous end in defeat.
In early 10.011M42, following the raid by the Shattered Silence, more Dark Eldar raids followed, and this time they were reported much further afield, as far as the Vastrid subsector as political intruiging and the desire for power in Commorragh drove the amoral aliens to ever more frequent assaults.
The Shattered Silence Cabal led the assaults, attacking Ork settlements in the Cerrack nebula, who were woefully unprepared for the sudden and lethal attacks launched from the webway. Following these successful raids, and apparently not wishing to be outdone, another Cabal launched its own series of raids, one of which resulted in an unfortunate encounter with the Necrons on Gamador. Unfortunate for the necrons that is, whose force was forced to retire after receiving a heavy mauling from the Dark Eldar.
Meanwhile the Claws of Lorek found themselves under concerted attack from the strange and capricious Rillietann eldar or "harlequins", who themselves appeared to bear some resemblance, or were using the equipment of the dark kin of the eldar.
The eldar attack was initially held, but the Rillietann quickly regained the upper hand in the raid on Blight, and by 0710.011M42 the unusually sustained eldar attack forced Lorek's forces to abandon several settlements to their fate. A week later they were able to return, the Rillietann having vanished as quickly as they had come. Three settlements were now completely devoid of their population, and an important library on Blight, containing thousands of arcane books, had been completely stripped of its contents.
With the bulk of the Imperial and chaos attention focussed on the Perseus Deeps, the orks took the opportunity to continue their expansion into the Vastrid sector, and both Thrugnik and Da Verminator landed vanguard forces on Gabriel's world. Not finding any defenders, the forces of the two warbosses inevitably decided to see who was "da best", and fighting broke out between them. Victory went to Da Verminator and although the battle was a comparatively small affair, the slight to Thrugnik's honour would not go unnoticed.
