Despite knowing that the Shattered Silence were aiding the strange Eldar of the Rillietan in their mission, Inquisitor Huron was not surprised to learn that during 04.012M42 the Dark Eldar turned against their own kindred, assaulting them on the embattled world of Sentinel.
The raid followed the pattern of previous raids, and now the sometime allies of the Eldar fighting the Imperium on Sentinel attacked their own kin, defeating them in open battle before taking hundreds of Eldar captives. Huron could only guess at the horrors which awaited them in Commorragh, but Huron was unaware that the Shattered Silence had begun building their own base of operations in the Radeon Cluster, a space station which once completed, would make the Dark Eldar kabal a persistent and dangerous threat to the Vastrid subsector.
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Responding to the fresh aggression of the Space Wolves Shadowstrike redeployed his fleet to Va'Doran. He would not allow any more colonies to be lost to the threacherous Imperium. Fresh hunter cadres were deployed to the planet's surface an an offensive planned against the Imperial landing zone. If this could be destroyed the Imperial invasion could be halted before it could gain momentum.
Things began to go wrong when the lead elements of the Tau attack encountered elite Librain mechanised formations, well experienced in war against the Tau from campaigns on Tarsis Major and Melberg. Knowing the Tau's preference for isolating and eliminating priority targets the veteran leaders of the Librian regiment concentrated their forces in well selected defensive positions. The Tau were unable to inflict significant casualties, their long range fire power causing only minor material damage to the Librian tank forces. A series of strikes into the heart of the Librian positions by Kroot and Fire Warrior teams met with more success but suffered heavier casualties than they were able to inflict. Recognising that the assault was achieving nothing and costing Tau lives the Tau fell back to plan a new offensive, surrendering part of Mesme Tol to the Librian advance.
As 04.012M42 progressed the Necron threat re-emerged with an intensity so far not seen in the sector. In three simultaneous attacks on 2104.012M42 the Necrons began invasions of three worlds, declaring their intentions and showing a strength they had until now not displayed.
The Necrons were first detected on the Imperial outpost of Gamordal, which had only been cleared of a Necron presence during 010M42. The Necrons had been unfocussed and tactically naive beings, and the Imperial forces on Gamordal had come to the conclusion that Necrons were a relic of ancient times and no threat to the Imperial presence in the Deeps. On 2104.012M42 his view changed.
The Necrons arrived without warning, bypassing Gamordal's defences by using a technology far in advance of anything the Imperium possessed. Upon landing the Necrons swiftly took three vital positions, the hills overlooking the main base, the secondary space port and the water processing facility of Kerash Optecia. Now the major settlement of Gamordal itself looked under threat, and the total annihilation of the Imperial garrison was only avoided by the timely arrival of the Space Wolves. The Astartes immediately counter-attacked the Necron positions on the high bluff overlooking the city, but in a savage battle they were unable to shift the alien warriors. Now all the Imperium could do was dig in and await the Necrons' next move.
On the major Chaos world of Calliden a very similar story was unfolding. The Necrons appeared on the far west of the Dubladen peninsular and quickly overran Prideholme, cutting off the oil refineries of Kalas'har and quickly establishing a very defensible bridgehead for the invasion. The Catechism, re-energised by the invasion of one of their home worlds immediately sent in a counter attack, led by elite mechanised formations which had once lain waste to swathes of Tarsis Major and Cerberex, as well as conquering the Rim worlds in 008M42.
The Necrons were once again an impacable enemy, and the Catechism forces found their defensive perimeter impossible to break down without taking unacceptable losses. After days of probing the Necrons for weakness the Catechism withdrew to the hinterlands, drawing up a defensive line to prevent a swift breakout by their enemy. Another world was awaiting the Necrons' next move.
Further to the galactic south, almost as soon as the Tau finished the defences for the colony of Parataea, the Tau's worst fears were recognised as the world once more came under attack, this time from the ancient Necrons. The Tau had been monitoring the awaking of the Necron tomb worlds in the Perseus Deeps for many months now and had long recognised that their new sept worlds were vulnerable to a Necron invasion. Analysts predicted a major war against the Necrons was inevitable. Whether by accident or design the recent Dark Eldar raid meant that the construction of the new colony on Paratea had been finished well ahead of schedule and its garrison massively enlarged, just in time for the Necron attack. Even so the Tau suffered badly in the initial Necron onslaught, taking massive and unsustainable casualties. Despite this the Fire Caste knew their duty and fought to the death to contain the Necrons. The result was that the Necrons were successfully contained to a relatively small initial beachhead although many hunter cadres were virtually annihilated in the process. Distress messages were sent to Shadowstrike's task force at Va'Doran and the Tau's nearby allies, the Federacy, who had as much to fear from the Necron menace as the Tau themselves.
Although the colonisation initiative was proceeding with some urgency Paratea remained the Tau Empire's most vulnerable outpost in the Perseus Deeps. Whilst the Earth Caste were absorbed in the task of transferring materials from the constant stream of transports making orbit the Fire Caste maintained a watchful eye. Their vigilance paid off – the newly installed planetary surveillance network detected a raiding party of Dark Eldar heading towards an incomplete settlement in the planet's southern hemisphere. A hunter cadre quickly moved to intercept and the Dark Eldar flew headlong into a storm of rail gun and missile fire that lit up the pre-dawn darkness.
Despite having lost the element of surprise and suffering heavy losses in the initial ambush the Dark Eldar pressed home their attack, leaping from their transports into the heart of Tau task force. Thrown off balance by the speed and ferocity of the close quarters attack the Tau managed to maintain their fire discipline. At some point the Aarchon leading the raiding party was gunned down in the confused fire fight and the Eldar raiders at last broke off. Wary of the possibility of follow up raids the Tau accelerated the construction of the colony and increased their military presence on the world.
The Dark Eldar continued to make a nuisance of themselves in the second half of 04.012M42. Their raid on the major Chaos world of Calliden was less than successful, as the Catechism were ready for them. Once again the Dark Eldar had chosen to attack a world which, days later, the Necrons invaded a pattern which became of interest to Inquisitor Huron. Why would they chose to weaken worlds which were about to be attacked by their mortal enemy? Or were they testing their defenses, seeing which worlds were weakest and likely to fall to the Necrons?
Huron was convinced that the Dark Eldar attacks were following this pattern, but he was cautioned by his superiors against jumping to conclusions. Members of the Ordo Xenos were already working on a theory involving a mysterious Eldar Craftworld, about which little was known. In any case, the next hammerblow fell on Corticant, Veers' former headquarters before the conquest of Bastien, but the forces deployed on the Imperial base were still significant, as the world was now being used as a major staging post for expeditions into the Deeps.
The Shattered Silence Kabal attacked Fort Bastion, heart of the Imperial defences, while another Kabal began reaving near the settlement of Ironhaven. The Shattered Silence were quickly intercepted by a company of Space Wolves, but the aliens appeared unperturbed, forcing the Astartes warriors to retreat before completing the sacking of Wildgate. Even so, the Space Wolves' intervention meant damage to fort Bastion was light.
Meanwhile the small garrison at Ironhaven had been destroyed, but not before they had sent a distress signal. Within minutes of hearing the call, the Prozan 9th Cavalry responded, charging into the fray mounted in Valkyries and Vendettas, sweeping over the Veers' Mound and launching a hail of fire into the Dark Eldar reavers, who were forced to cower behind what cover they could find.
The Dark Eldar, unused to fighting such a mobile and well equipped foe, found themselves pinned down and unable to engage in the way they would have liked. After initial success however, General Stonewall found his enemy difficult to root out of their hiding places, and he was forced to commit his troops to ground assault. Even fighting outside their comfort zone, the Prozans conducted themselves with bravery and enthusiasm, and vicious hand to hand fighting eventually led to the scattering of the final Dark Eldar defenders. The survivors scattered, slipping quietly back into the webway. The Prozans had proved themselves in battle against a new foe, and Ironhaven had been saved from total destruction. Meanwhile Inquisitor Huron requested access to the Ordo Xenos theories about the Dark Eldar actions in the Deeps.
After the Tyranid breakout from their landing site at Pryford Meadows Imperial forces on Alphe were kept on high alert. Regiments of Guardsmen were moved to defend the choke points of The Neck and the crossing to Oldmere Island. No sooner was this movement of troops completed when Nemesis launched its second major assault, this time attacking not from the east but from the west.
The original infestation of Alphe had consisted mostly of Genestealers and Lictors which silently infiltrated the island cities of Linshore and Springbay before spreading to gain a foothold on the mainland. Just like the infestation around the Hive's main landing site in the east, here too the planet's own biomass had been stripped to construct an overwhelming army. When this erupted out of the ruined ghost city of Moorden few Guard regiments were in a position to oppose it. The Ultramarines quickly deployed a company to stem the tide and they made a heroic stand, trying to keep the Tyranids bottled up in the peninsula around Moorden.
At first they gave ground before the sheer size of the approaching swarm but as the Tyranids threatened to spill out into Hulme Island they counter attacked, charging into the swarm shouting benedictions to the Emperor. Inspired by their captain they fought bravely and almost to the last man. Many Ultramarines died to buy the Emperor's servants more time, but despite the cost they had succeeded in slowing the Tyranid advance to a crawl.
Unfortunately for the Imperium the respite was brief. Nemesis now had an overwhelming numerical and strategic advantage and the Hive Fleet began raining re-enforcements onto the planets surface from orbit. As the advance once more gathered pace the regiments of the Imperial Guard finally organised a cohesive defence. The mobile mechanised divisions of the Librians succeeded in extracting a harsh toll on the swarm and it seemed as if the Guard would win an historic victory, but even gutted the attack still pressed home with an inhuman fury that was totally without fear or instinct for survival. Against such single mindedness the Librian resolve broke and they gave ground. They succeeded in retreating with much of their force still intact but in doing so sacrificed the cities of Westlake and Wheathaven and with them the whole of the north. Nemesis now seemed unstoppable whilst the Hive Fleet remained in orbit.
As 03.012M42 came to an end, the Eldar on Sentinel changed their axis of attack, swinging out east from their positions near the Sentinel Prime Compound and assaulting the forces of Chaos in their last bastion at the Scrap Recycling Facility, some 200km away.
The Eldar found more than they bargained for however, as the expected weakened forces of the Iron Warriors and Enraptured had been replaced in complete surprise by the elite forces of the Moonface Catechism. The Catechism had moved in in secret, using their arcane device to ship their new found allies to the Rim Worlds.
Imperial intelligence postulated that the Catechism was in fact intent on removing as many forces as possible from the planet, to re-inforce the Chaos worlds in the Zadoc subsector prior to the expected invasion by Nemesis. Even so, the Catechism deployed their own forces into the Sentinel theatre, and a bloody battle erupted between the forces of Chaos and the Eldar.
After several hours of brutal fighting, the result was a stalemate. However, the Catechism had taken a battering from the arcane weaponry of the ancient aliens, and were forced to fall back. Unfortunately, they didn’t have anywhere to fall back to.
Instead of retreating off world through the Device portal, the remaining traitor legionaries instead launched a violent assault on the Sentinel spaceport, taking the Ultramarines who had recently arrived via strike cruiser completely by surprise. The Ultramarines chapter had agreed to replace the battered remnants of the Red Angels in the defence of the Imperial world, but no sooner had they arrived than they found themselves in battle against an old foe.
The ferocity of the attack caught the Ultramarines on the back foot, the knowledge that there was nowhere to retreat spurring on the half-crazed Chaos marines. After several hours of bitter fighting the Catechism took several of the eastern installations of the vast spaceport, forcing the Ultramarines and Imperial guard regiments into an ever tightening perimeter around the landing strip. With the Eldar on one side and the forces of Chaos on the other, General Ritchie began to consider abandoning the spaceport by airlift, but knowing the strategic value of the installation, he elected to follow the Astartes plan to dig in with his remaining forces and launch a rescue mission from the Alenia hills as soon as was possible.
General Alexander, returned once more to high command following Inquisitor Xanthus' restarting of the war with the Tau in the Mabb Nebula, was keen to take the offensive in the Shadow Worlds theatre as 03.012M42 approached its end. Alexander had commanded a battlegroup in the Nebula previously, but had seen his forces stripped away to bolster the glittering successes of Veers' crusade in the Perseus Deeps. With Veers' push petering out and Alphe invaded by the Tyranids following the fall of Betor, the focus of Thaddeus Roover turned once again to the Zadoc subsector. This was much to General Alexander's liking.
Alexander's initial plan for the campaign called for simultaneous landings against the Orks on Fort Aerin and Fort Sparcos, as well as an assault against the Tau colony of Va Doran. The Tau had conquered Tyndareous, but that would all be for nought if Va Doran and Memnon, their other two supply bases, fell to a concerted Imperial attack.
The General was hampered as ever by fewer forces than he wanted. Although the Mabb Nebula was once again a major theatre, equipment and men were slow to arrive, so by 2003.012M42 Alexander could only call on a few regiments of Guard, one naval battlegroup and a company of Space Wolves. Even so, he modified his plan to use these to their maximum effectiveness. He dropped the idea of a simultaneous assault against the forts, and instead chose to concentrate on Fort Aerin, while sending the Space Wolves against Va Doran.
On 2603.012M42 the Imperial battlegroup arrived at Fort Aerin. They were opposed, as Alexander expected, by the Ork fleet of Da Verminator, but on the bridge of the Oberon class Royal Sovereign, was the extremely capable and experienced rear admiral Dreyer. The orks were brushed aside by Dreyer's strange battlegroup, an experimental formation comprising of two Oberon class battleships with a flotilla of Dauntless light cruisers. Aided by superior naval firepower, the Imperial guard regiments then succeeded in establishing a bridgehead on the fortress world.
This good news was followed quickly by the Space Wolf invasion of Va Doran. Despite being outnumbered by the Tau, the Astartes took them by complete surprise, and naive tactics by the aliens quickly lead to the Tau being routed wherever the Space Wolves attacked. By the end of 03.012M42 the Imperium had a respectable foothold on Va Doran and Alexander's new campaign had got off to an auspicious start.
The Imperium were further aided against the Orks on 2803.012M42, when the Rillietan arrived unexpectedly, raiding the Ork held fort Sparcos, something they had helped the Orks take from the Imperium in previous campaigns. Now however it seemed the Ork infestation no longer suited their needs, and after a brutal fight, the Eldar withdrew, having inflicted grevious damage on Waagh! Thrugnik.
While the Imperial campaign got off to a good start in the Mabb nebula, fortunes in the Perseus Deeps were more mixed for all the races contesting the largely barren area of space. On Sentinel the three way war continued, despite the Conquerers of Gorgoroth losing both the Caverns of Aargash and the Bastern Mountains to a well timed advance from the Space Wolves.
While the Imperium advanced on their northern front against the forces of chaos, they suffered a serious reversal on their western perimeter. Attacking from their enclave near the governors palace, the Red Angels defending the Sentinel Prime compound were annihilated, allowing the eldar to once again occupy key installations near the Spaceport, rendering it useless to the Imperium until they were removed. Once again the Red Angels had lost a key battle, and the remaining marines were quickly removed from active duty on Sentinel.
Meanwhile the Iron Warriors were in action on Calliden and Paratea. On the major world they were instrumental in rebuffing an invasion by Necrons, while on Paratea their own invasion was similarly defeated by a re-energised Tau defence.
On Zog, the Necrons finally achieved victory against the embattled imperial defenders when Admiral Jellicoe sent through a relief force led by the Iron Duke. The battlegroup immediately ran into a well timed and well executed Necron ambush, leading to the near destruction of the Imperial flagship, and the loss of the Indomitable and Cressy. Implacable was also crippled, for the loss of very few necron craft. The Imperial ships fled for their lives against a superior foe, allowing the necrons to claim thier prize, the extra warriors on the tombship soon making short work of the remaining half regiment of Imperial Guard.
the Rillietan were also active in the Perseus Deeps, devastating a dark eldar raid. These were not the same dark eldar who had helped the harlequins in the past, but even so, the willingness the Rillietan showed in slaughtering what were in effect their own kin, was alarming to Inquisitor Huron, who was, as ever, left with more questions than answers.
Whilst the main Hive Fleet still lay in orbit around Alphe small splinter forces were forging ahead to scout out rich sources of biomass to serve as the next targets for Nemesis. One such probe reached the system of Kallack and disgorged a small force onto the planets surface to test its defences.
This invasion was immediately spotted by a local Ork warlord, who knew full well what the firey trail in the sky signified. He immediately roused “the boyz”, bellowing “wez goin' on safari!” as they raced from their settlements in battle wagons and buggies. With only a minimal Hive Mind influence guiding them the Tyranids seemed confused and poorly co-ordinated and the Orks drove through them, shouting and shooting with wild abandon. Even when confused the Tyranids were still dangerous predators and it seemed for a moment that the overconfident warlord leading the attack would be surroundedd and cut down, his bodyguard already dead, but with a bellow he ripped the head off a wounded Tervigon and suddenly the remaining Tyranids melted away. Their synapse creatures were all dead and their already weak with the Hive Mind totally severed.
Nemesis noted this new rich source of biomass, just as it noted that Kallack was well defended and that it would require the full attentions of the Hive Fleet to invade.
News of the Iron Warriors incursion on Paratea reached Shadowstrike's battle fleet whilst it was docked for repair and resupply work at Calabris, the Tau's primary way station in the Aurelis Deeps. Realising that urgent action must be taken if the Tau were not to lose another minor colony a task force was immediately dispatched. Comprised of whatever ships and troops could be mobilised at such short notice the task force was limited in scope, so rather than engage the Iron Warriors in a bloody frontal assault the Tau employed the subterfuge and cunning that the Ksi'm'yen sept were rightly renowned for. Using Paratea's moon to hide the fleet's approach a hunter cadre was deployed covertly to the planets surface.
The first the Iron Warriors knew of this renewed Tau presence on Paratea was when their convoy came under fire. Caught on a road amidst wide open terrain the Iron Warriors lost all of their rhino transports in short order. Forced to dismount they initially pressed forwards despite being unable to identify the Tau positions which were heavily cloaked by stealth technology. As they advanced into the cauldron of fire they finally caught site of an enemy – crisis suites on their flanks, leaping from cover to cover and laying down a withering hail of missiles and plasma bolts. As the suites closed the range the Iron Warrior commander realised that his force was a sitting duck and that he would suffer heavy casualties for little gain if he continued to advance into the Tau's ambush. The Iron Warriors withdrew from Paratea and abandoned their beachhead on the Tau world.
Meanwhile Shadowstrike had succeeded in mobilising the rest of his fleet. Proceeding at full speed to Paratea they received the transmission informing them of the advanced parties success whilst they were still traversing the Aurelis Crossing. With scouting parties reporting signs of Ork pirates amidst the asteroid fields of a remote star Shadowstrike ordered the fleet to divert and deal with the menace to Tau shipping. Despite suffering early attrition to their advance escorts the Tau battle fleet succeeded in bringing their capital ships to bare and the Orks were annihilated, unable to muster any kind of defence against the Tau's torpedo and bomber waves. With the Aurelis Crossing secured for the time being the Tau were able to re-enforce Paratea and build up the Tau colony there to protect it from any future aggression.
As 03.012M42 approached its end however, not everything was going the way of the Ethereals in charge of the Tau expansion. They had held on to Paratea in the Perseus Deeps, but just as this victory was being celebrated, news of the abject failure of the garison of Va Doran to successfully contest the Space Wolf landing reached Cernunnos.
Since their initial invasion the Tyranid infestation of Alphe had been curiously passive. The Hive Fleet still hung menacingly in orbit, surrounding the planet and cutting off attempts to re-enforce. Attempts to infiltrate the infested regions were met with an aggressive response but a few probes did surivive long enough to report the area totally denuded of life except for countless millions of tyranid xenomorphs. The Imperial defenders of Alphe drew little solace from the respite – Nemesis was merely biding its time until it could unleash an unstoppable assault, using Alphe's own biomass to construct its ground forces rather than depleting the reserves of the Hive Fleet itself.
As scouts reported increased activity Imperial Command knew the waiting was at an end. Sure enough the first assault came boiling out of the infested city of Pryford. It was barely checked by the Space Wolves, both sides suffering massive casualties in the fighting. They did succeed in recapturing the outskirts of Pryford but then immediately had to call in Thunderhawks and extract to avoid being cut off by a second assault which bypassed their position.
The Tyranid attack seemed unstoppable but the Imperium received help from an unexpected quarter. Materialising out of their webway gates a host of Iyandan Ghost Warriors appeared, determined to join the fight against their most bitter enemies. The reason for the Eldar intervention was unclear but as the Hive Mine suddenly became aware of the incursion in its midst the Tyranid hordes contracted, seeking to crush the Eldar before they could establish a beachhead. As yet too few in number to hold back the vaste hordes the surviving Eldar withdrew through their webway portals to seek another point of entry to the planet.
With the Eldar gone only the Dark Angels could now hope to stem the tide, barring the landing onto Oldmere Island. When the Tyranid assault came it was so sudden the Dark Angel's position was overwhelmed before the task force could mount an effective response. In one titanic assault the Tyranids had succeeding in overrunning all of the cities in the east. Unless an effective counter attack could be mounted the Tyranids would consume these cities populations and add their biomass to their next assault.
The war on Sentinel ramped up significantly as 03.012M42 progressed. General Veers had finally convinced his superiors that the Iron Warrior/Enraptured, and now eldar threat were significant, and Veers was given two regiments of Librian Guard on top of the Cerberex regiments he already had deployed. Also concerned by the alien intervention, the Space Wolves committed a battleforce, while the Dark Angels were appalled by the re-appearance of the Iron Warriors, and matched the Space Wolf commitment.
No sooner had the new Imperial forces landed than the eldar struck. From the Vaderim mountains a mobile force of eldar swept into the plain of Nireen, outflanking the Dark Angels who were moving towards the Ning'bo tomb complex. The Dark Eldar moved to counter this threat, but were unable to prevent the aliens from taking the complex and forcing the Dark Angels into full retreat.
General Ritchie, a veteran of Imperial successes on Bastien and Parthenope, was sent to command the Imperial Guard forces on Sentinel. His first act was to deploy the well equipped 41st Librian mechanised regiment to the spaceport, while keeping the 386th Infantry close to the Governor's Palace out of fear of attack from the Iron Warriors to the north. The 41st regiment, aided by the heavy guns of Leman Russ, and boasting full transport capacity, were well able to deal the eldar a heavy blow if they attacked the spaceport. On 1703.012M42, the eldar did attack, but instead of facing the all too familiar yellow of the craftworld eldar operating in the Perseus Deeps, the purple and black garb worn by their enemy identified them as the much feared Rillietan. Ritchie now had a real fight on his hands.
The Imperial guard defending the spaceport were aided by the dense terrain they were defending, as the eldar had to cross open ground to make their assault. They paid dearly in blood for this first assault, as raiders and smaller vehicles were swatted from the sky by accurate Leman Russ fire and massed multilaser s which lit up the dawn sky with their fiery glow. However, as the Rillietan reached the now ruined infrastructure around the spaceport, the extra cover protected them from the worst of the Imperial fire, despite some imaginative use of windows by at least one Leman Russ tank commander.
As the battle wore on, the Librians found they could not deal the killing blow they needed to against the eldar, and at close range the Librian tanks began to suffer. Several were destroyed and Ritchie was forced to order a retreat from the southern end of the spaceport. He realised that to lose the spaceport would be to invite disaster on Sentinel as it would render supply all but impossible. The veteran general immediately began plans to retake the vital installation.
While Ritchie prepared a counter attack, the Rillietan had moved north and west, striking swiftly and without warning at the key objective of the Sentinel Prime compound, held by the forces of chaos. Here they found the way barred by the Iron Warriors, who doggedly gave battle in the ruined streets of the city. However it was on the plains to the west of the city that the key battle took place, and the Iron Warriors were barely able to halt the advance of the eldar. By 2003.012M42, much of the compound had fallen to the aliens, and the Iron Warriors were retreating back towards the scrap recycling facility.
Further east the Iron Warriors enjoyed more success. The Space Wolves had arrived intent on dealing with the eldar, but upon deploying at the Caverns of Aargash, they found the forces of chaos already infiltrating the vast underground chambers and overground warren of tangled hills and valleys. Here the Space Wolves attacked, but the Iron Warriors were well equipped and stubborn. In a few days fighting the commander of the Space Wolves realised he was losing the battle of attrition, and retreat to more defensible positions was the only viable option. By 2003.012M42 the caverns were in the hands of chaos.
Ritchie's counter-attack took place on 2103.012M42, led by the mobile elements of the 41st mechanised regiment which he had kept back in the Alenia hills. This armoured assault across the rolling plains to the south west of the Alenia hills represented Ritchie's only mobile reserve. Victory was essential. Ritchies armoured spearhead soon encountered a fully mechanised eldar force defending the open ground to the south of the spaceport. A furious tank battle ensued, but the highly manouverable eldar tanks proved difficult targets for the Imperial gunners, and their holofield technology confounded all but the most dogged and persistant shots.
Although the eldar proved difficult to pin down, they in turn found it difficult to overcome the thick armour defending the Imperial tanks, and as the battle wore on it became evident that neither side was achieving any great success. In a calculated gamble, the eldar threw in their infantry anti tank teams, hoping to smash the chimeras carrying the Imperial infantry, depriving the Leman Russ of their support and massacring the guardsmen inside. It didn't work. For some reason the Fire Dragons failed utterly in their mission, not managing to destroy even one enemy vehicle, and just immobilising one. Imperial hellhounds made short work of the eldar infantry, and the action brought the eldar tanks into short range for the Librian heavy armour. Finally Ritchie's tanks began hitting their mark, and one by one the eldar vehicles were reduced to wrecks. Seeing the battle had turned against them, the eldar used their superior speed to withdraw from the field, yielding the spaceport and the Ning'bo road to the Librians.
By 2203.012M42 the situation on Sentinel was confused. The Imperium had crucially held on to the Spaceport, but the eldar now controlled the majority of the Sentinel Prime compound, and the Ning'bo Tomb Complex. Chaos still held the Scrap recycling facility and the Caverns of Aargash, but the front lines were tangled and unclear. The Imperium had the upper hand, but the three way war was far from over.
Only a week after an abortive raid on Ares, the eldar returned to plague General Veers crusade. On 0703.012M42 Veers had deployed a regiment of Cerberex Guard to Sentinel to shore up the wavering Imperial defences, but their first battle wasn't against the forces of Chaos which controlled over half the minor world, but against the eldar. On 1203.012M42 the Eldar arrived in force, sweeping down from the hills in the south to attack the Ningbo Tomb complex. This area was held by the Red Angels, who were still short handed after their battering from Chaos in previous weeks.
Striking swiftly, the eldar were led by wraithlords and a mighty avatar, and the aliens rapidly forced the unprepared Astartes to abandon the complex and retreat towards the central plains of Sentinel. Unlike earlier battles however the eldar did not withdraw. Instead they consolidated their position, and seemed intent on taking the world.
The next target was the Imperial Stronghold around the governor's palace, across the central Sentinel lowlands. the distance of some three hundred kilometres was covered in an alarmingly short time by the eldar, but the Cerberex Guard defending the palace area were more than prepared for the alien onslaught. After a protracted battle, Imperial armour and resilience proved stronger than eldar skill and courage, and the alien force retreated. They did not abandon the world however, and the Veers now found himself with two enemies on the planet.
In mid 03.012M42 the Iron Warriors expanded their territorial ambitions by landing a sizeable force on the small Tau colony of Parataea. It had become apparent that far from a remnant force, these Iron Warriors were a new faction in their own right, and seemed to have ambitions of empire. While the true purpose of the Iron Warriors became the object of intense scrutiny for Inquisitor Hathek, the chaos force smashed the Tau defenders of Parataea, taking almost half of the Tau colony within days of arriving.
While the Tau were on the back foot in the Perseus Deeps, the commander in the Mabb Nebula was trying different tactics against the Imperium. During 03.012M42 the Tau sent in several covert teams to Hylas with the intent to sabotage and hinder the rapid expansion of the Imperial base on the world. Defended by Zadocian Guard and a contingent of Space Wolves, the Hylas nut proved difficult to crack, and by 1603.012M42 both covert teams sent in by the tau had been uncovered and slaughtered with little gain. All the tau had managed to do was stoke the fires of the Imperial will to resist the tau expansion in the Zadoc subsector.
While the eldar were increasing their activity in the Perseus Deeps, the Shattered silence turned their attentions in full to the Radeon Cluster, where they were still intent on defeating the Necrons and taking Drfit for their own. This was proving to be difficult, as following an inconclusive action in 02.012M42, the Necrons had barricaded themselves into their defences and the Dark Eldar did not have enough firepower to take the battle to their enemy.
To resolve this, the kabal determined to shore up their supply lines. Webway travel was all well and good, but not everything could be transported in this way, and the Shattered Silence needed to make sure their enterprise on Drift was not going to be interfered with. To further this aim, the Dark Eldar resolved to take Gabriel's world, removing the ork threat, and to destroy the Imperial fleet in the subsector, removing the threat from the Imperium.
The first part of this plan went well, with the orks easily brushed aside on Gabriel's world, and good progress made towards the securing of the minor world. However, the raid on the Imperial base at Achreom did not end well. Unbeknownst to the Dark Eldar, a significant portion of the Dark Angels fleet had recently replaced Jellicoe's Vastrid battlegroup, who were returning to the fleet base at Farport for refits and repairs. The Dark Eldar were outclassed by the veteran Dark Angels, and came of much the worse in the ensuing engagement. Despite this setback the Shattered Silence's ambition to set up their own realspace domain in the Radeon Cluster was undiminished.
As 03.012M42 began, the Imperium could be forgiven for thinking the war on Sentinel all but won. The Dark Angels had seen off Tragean's fleet and cleared the forces of chaos from a large swathe of Sentinel's useful inhabited territories. However, no sooner had the Dark Angels taken the Spaceport for the Imperium, they left, along with their fleet, off to troubleshoot at another location on behalf of the Imperium of Man. Once again the Aurora Angels and Red Angels were left with the task of finishing the job.
Unfortunately the Dark Angels' departure had not gone unnoticed. On 0303.012M42 a large force of Iron Warriors arrived in system, adding their strength to the chaos force on Sentinel. Their arrival was tracked by the Aurora Angels, who notified General Veers and immediately moved in on the enemy landing zone. The Iron Warriors struck quickly however, and the fight went very badly for the Imperial Astartes warriors, who lost almost a company to the chaos assault. As Veers received the message from Sentinel, the Iron Warriors had already taken the mountains overlooking the Caverns of Aargash and were preparing for an attack on the Imperial held Governor's compound. Veers raged at his thinly spread forces, but found himself as powerless as ever to prosecute his campaign.
While General Veers was trying to re-mobilise his campaign with a decisive action on Sentinel, alarming news from Ares on 0103.012M42 threatened to permanently put an end to his plans of conquering the remainder of the Perseus Deeps. Without warning, a huge Eldar Warhost attacked the Imperial base on Ares, massacring the primary Imperial base and almost overwhelming the remaining defenders. Only by sheer luck was a reaver titan of the legio titanicus present, and this powerful war engine was able to hold the eldar forces for a time, before sucumbing to the alien firepower. In full retreat, the commander of Ares appealled for aid.
Fortunately the Space Wolves were on hand to deal a counter stroke, as half their fleet remained as a rapid reaction force operating out of Corticant. Ares was only days away with good conditions in the warp, and on 0603.012M42 the Space Wolves task force arrived in the system, dropping directly into the heat of the action. Fighting was intense, but the stalwart defenders of the Imperium overcame the highly mechanised eldar forces, and by 1003.012M42 the situation had been stabilised. Then, just as suddenly, the eldar pulled out overnight, melting away and retreating into the webway, the entrance to which remained stubbornly invisible to the agents of the Imperium. Ares had been saved, for now.
+++INQUISITION MESSAGE INTERCEPT+++
++++++Transmitted: Astropathic beacon Alpha 2231_4x
+++++++++Received: Astropath Callek
++++++Destination: Inquisitor Lord Ballus
+++++Mission Time: 0803.012M42
++Telepathic Duct: Terminus Estevan
++++++++++++++Ref: Xenos/AS122_DE
+++++++++++Author: Inquisitor Lord Huron
Thought for the Day: Study the alien, better to kill it
+++SECURITY LEVEL ALPHA PRIMARIS+++
+++RECIPIENTS EYES ONLY+++
My Lord Ballus,
I apologise for my lack of regular contact these past few months, but the machinations of my esteemed colleagues have deflected my works of late. Would that this squabble between Hathek and Xanthus be ended, one way or another, but I digress.
I write to you now with some urgency. Earlier in the year I wrote to you of the increasing Dark Eldar activity in an otherwise quiet sector. This past month those incursions have grown ever more daring, violent, and regular. They seem to be completely random attacks, made for the sheer joy of wanton destruction, but I intend to divine their greater purpose.
This past week there have been five separate raids by the dark kin of the eldar. The faction we know of as the Rillietan struck out of nowhere against the Dark Angels in the Mabb Nebula, utterly destroying one of their primary bases on New Cerberex. Another faction which we know little about, was recorded attacking orks on Aspaster, before appearing suddenly on Corticant, badly damaging a supply base of our own Aurora Angels. However it is the Shattered Silence who have once again been the most active, and most deadly.
We already know they have been attempting to claim the world of Drift in the Radeon Cluster, as their own, but on 0403.012M42 they themselves attacked the Aurora Angels at their secondary base on Eris, utterly destroying that base. Days later we received reports of fighting between the Dark Eldar and Eldar on Drift itself, but it appears the Dark Eldar were victorious.
If there is a motive, a plan, I will divine it, as General Veers and General Pollack have both warned me that continuing raids on their supply lines are hampering their ability to successfully prosecute their campaigns. If you would permit me the forces, I would track down these factions one by one, and bring them to heel, although I feel the forces I need will not be meagre. I have my Munitorium adept calculating the requirements based on the latest actions.
It is my intention to continue to observe events until such time as I can put together a counter-strategy to these increasing raids, or have divined an underlying purpose behind these attacks. I will of course keep you informed.
Your loyal servant
Inquisitor Lord Huron
+++END OF MESSAGE+++
While the Vastrid sector saw the bulk of the fighting in late 02.012M42, there were still significant actions in the Perseus Deeps throughout this period, with the most significant action taking place over Sentinel.
The Enraptured had slowly gained the advantage on Sentinel following the demise of Lorek's forces, and by the middle of 02.012M42, had pushed the Imperium away from the Spaceport and central compound. Realising there was a risk that the Aurora Angels and Red Angels would be overwhelmed without support, General Veers summoned a meeting of his top generals and admiral Jellicoe to understand what he could spare for Sentinel.
The picture painted for Veers was not a good one. Almost one million guardsmen were still involved in anti-insurgency work on Parthenope and Bastien, and couldn't be spared lest the forces of Chaos gain a foothold in the population once again. Another 500,000 were on garrison duties on Eris, Corticant and other smaller worlds. None could be spared, and even then, the priority would be Zog, where the Imperial defenders were barely holding off the Necrons, or Alphe, where Hathek felt sure the Tyranids would resurface soon.
The Dark Angels came to the rescue. The commander of the second company entered the room, declaring that with Hylas retaken for the Imperium, there was no immediate need to prosecute the war against the Tau, and that the war on Chaos must take priority. Inquisitor Hathek rolled his eyes, as this was the very thing which had led to his falling out with Inquisitor Xanthus, but the help was well received.
On 2702.012M42 the Dark Angel fleet, including two battlebarges arrived over Sentinel to find the fleet of Lord Tragean waiting for them. Using the gravity well of a nearby terrestrial planet the Dark Angels closed on their enemy, noting that the chaos vessels had placed their battleship at the head of their battleline. The Dark Angels then rushed the rear of the Chaos line, causing a great deal of damage with their gun batteries and boarding torpedoes, while the Desolator class battleship was unable to mount an effective reply.
During the battle two chaos vessels were badly damaged, and the carnage class Unnatural Permutation was reduced to a dead hulk. Although the Space Marines lost a number of escorts, neither battle barge was damaged, and the chaos fleet fled, realising their position was hopeless. A few days later the Dark Angels arrived at the planet of Sentinel itself, swiftly taking the orbital docks before landing in force at the Space port. In one stroke the initative on Sentinel had been completely reversed.
The chaos forces had other problems during 02.012M42, as the Shattered Silence kabal launched a series of raids against the Enraptured on Blight and Carnage. Meanwhile on Zog, the forces of the Eldar tried to help the Imperium by attacking the Necron forces beseiging the Imperial compound. However, the swift mechanised attack met resolute defence and the effect on the Necron armies was negligible.
The action in the Vastrid subsector continued into the end of 02.012M42. By now all but one of the habitable systems in the Radeon Cluster had been secured by General Pollack and his Imperial forces. In the Cerrack Nebula only Aspaster held out, and Pollack's spies kept a close eye on Thrugnik's orks, watching for any threatening build up. Along with the major worlds of Keprok and Magark, Aspaster formed a trio of worlds held by the Orks, with Fort Ate and Fort Thrace protecting the major Imperial worlds from invasion, should an Ork Waagh! form.
In the Cerrack Nebula, rimward of the main Imperial worlds, Pollack had established Spinitus and Achreom as major fortified bases, but their proximity to the now war torn Sentinel and the Dark Eldar/Necron war on Drift, forced Pollack to deploy the majority of his strength on these two important worlds. While Pollack requested extra forces to defend Gabriel's World, the Orks arrived once again, landing in force on the small rocky world.
The Orks quickly overwhelmed several of the small Imperial bases on the world before Pollack could mobilise a response. When it came, it was in the form of the Space Wolves, who arrived in system on 2602.012M42, just four days after the Orks had landed.
Unfortunately the counter assault by the Space Wolves did not go well. the Astartes seemed unprepared for the ferociousness of the Orks under Thrugnik's command, and after bitter fighting they were forced to concede the bridgehead to the greenskins. With almost half of the inhabited zone on Gabriel's World now overrun, Pollack had to counter this new threat before turning his attention to Drift and Aspaster. Only after the suppression of these two worlds along with the others would Pollack's campaign be over.
Meanwhile the Dark Eldar were in action in the Nebula. On 2202.012M42, in an attempt to complete their occupation of Drift, they launched an offensive against the small necron tomb world which represented the last enemy resistance on the planet. Despite sending in their best troops. the Shattered Silence kabal were unable to oust the defending necrons from their positions, and the tomb world - although not fully awake - was able to put up a stalwart defence against the dark eldar. Exhausted, the forces of the Shattered Silence withdrew some days later to regroup and rethink their strategy for conquering Drift.
The Dark Eldar were also in action against Thrugnik's orks on Gabriel's World. realising the Orks posed a possible threat to their war on Drift, the Shattered Silence arranged for a lesser kabal to attack the Orks, as they had been doing at regular intervals for months. Although the Dark Eldar did some damage to Thrugnik's forces, they took heavy casualties themselves and failed to achieve their objectives.
Shadowstrike's fleet had repulsed the Space Wolf task force coming to support their battle brothers on Hylas before landing ground troops, retaking almost half of the planet. For weeks the Tau and Space Wolf task forces engaged in a game of cat and mouse, threatening to attack and then withdrawing when the other manoeuvred to counter them. It soon became apparent there could be no easy victory on Hylas – both sides were too canny, too experienced and too mobile to allow for a quick and total victory.
It was the Space Wolf commander who proposed a solution – that both forces meet on neutral ground and settle the matter in honourable combat. Although primarily governed by pragmatism the xenos Tau have a concept of honour of a sorts and had no more desire for a long and inconclusive campaign than the Space Wolves so they accepted the challenge.
The two armies met amidst an abandoned settlement at dawn and the battle began. The conflict unfolded much as the campaign had, with both sides launching a series of thrusts, parries and reposts. When one faction seemed to be gaining an advantage a sudden counter attack would reverse the situation. When the dust settled the battle had been fought to a stalemate with neither side seeming to have a clear advantage. The Tau however had lost much of their anti armour capability. They could hold the Space Wolves for weeks, perhaps months, but eventual defeat would be inevitable. Rather than waste further lives the Tau withdrew their forces. For now Hylas would be abandoned to the Imperium, a token victory to salve Imperial ego after the loss of Tyndareous, but the conflict had destroyed what little remained of the peace treaty drawn up between the Tau and Imperium. Further conflict between the two empires seemed inevitable.
The Vastrid subsector saw continued fighting between 1502.012M42 and 2102.012M4 as aliens and factionality within the Imperium saw attacks on the bases General Pollack had won in the Vastrid subsector.
The first attack came as a surprise when the Red Angels launched a punitive raid on the Space Wolves on Achreom. The raid failed badly and the Space Wolves easily defended themselves against their ill-equiped Astartes brethren. After the engagement the leader of the Space Wolves, Erik Morkai, was furious with the actions of the Red Angels and demanded Inquisitor Hathek excommunicate them. However, knowing this was another provocative move by Xanthus, Hathek declined, a move which provoked even more annoyance from the Space Wolf commander.
While the Imperium was fighting itself, the newly conquered world of Spinitus came under attack from two Dark Eldar factions. The first, identified as the Rillietan, smashed the base of the Aurora Angels space Marines, who had been brought in to aid Pollack's actions in the Cerrack Nebula. However the second attack was ill timed, and the Dark Eldar lacked the element of surprise, so when their attack came, the Librian Guard defending were perfectly prepared, launching their own counter move as soon as the aliens were in range.
The battle was a very one sided affair and the Dark Eldar were forced to abandon their assault. Even so the outcome of the Dark Eldar raids was Pollack moving several regiments of Guardsmen from the less important Gabriel's World to defend Spinitus, a move which didn't go unnoticed by his enemies.
Following the frantic action in late 011M42 to secure the Device, the world of Sentinel had not been a major focus for Imperial efforts. The Perseus Deeps campaign had effectively stalled, as resources were stripped from General Veers and redirected to other more pressing needs outside of the Aleph sector. The Imperium had made good gains, but now Lord General Roover ordered a defensive stance, knowing that somewhere in the void Nemesis was building its strength, even if it hadn't flexed its full muscles on Alphe, and that the Chaos forces in the sector had largely been dealt with. Or so he thought.
It was true that Lorek had been beaten, the Catechism had all but disintegrated with the disappearance of Moonface, and the Covenant of Damnation had been all but wiped out during Veers' crusade. No other faction had taken the role as the leader of all chaos, and Imperial high command now felt it was time for consolidation, not further war.
Veers however disagreed. It didn't help that the spat between the Inquisitors Xanthus and Hathek had plunged the Imperium back into a war with the Tau, and denied him even further resources. The General was powerless however, and could not even muster enough Imperial Guard to retake the shattered remains of Sentinel, which was still half occupied by those Chaos forces left behind by Lorek following his departure.
The Aurora Angels and Red Angels did agree to deploy to Sentinel to watch over events. It was expected that over time the unmarshalled and scattered forces of chaos on Sentinel would dwindle and be easy pickings, but there was always the risk that one faction would gain dominance and lead the war against the Imperium, In late 02.012M42 that's exactly what happened.
After Lorek left Sentinel having failed to acquire the Device, the faction known as "The Enraptured" had schemed, beguiled and blugeoned their way to become leaders of the chaos forces left on Sentinel. Now with their forces unified, they went on the offensive, taking the watching Astartes by complete surprise.
The Aurora Angels and Red Angels both found themselves facing a highly mobile mechanised force opposing them, and while the Aurora Angels were able to hold their ground for a while, the Red Angels found themselves ill-equipped to face the reinvigorated traitor legions. The Enraptured smashed through their lines, forcing the Imperial forces to retreat towards the space port. By 2202.012M42 the Imperial hold on Sentinel appeared in doubt, and Veers urgently requested more forces from Roover, citing he Enraptured as a new potential "Master of Chaos" in the Aleph Sector.
While the Space Wolves battled the Tau on Hylas, the other races in the Aleph sector were also making war with one another in the largest upsurge of violent conflict for more than two years. Da Verminator was sighted again, this time raiding several outposts in the Rim Worlds for reasons unknown. The chaotic leaders of the Rim Worlds called their brethen for aid, and within three weeks of the call the mighty warfleet of Grand Admiral Thok had docked at the rapidly growing Iron Warrior fortress world of Aornis.
Confident of victory against the Orks Thok formed his battle line on 1802.012M42, when Da Verminator arrived in strength in the Aornis system, eager for a fight against "real" opposition. The Ork constructs, only loosely resembling "vessels" rushed headlong into Thok's guns at a speed which the grand admiral was quite unprepared for. This shock was also felt on many of his capital ships' bridges, as fire from the chaos vessels proved sporadic and inaccurate as the orks approached. Da Verminator had gambled and won. Now at close range the ridiculously overpowered and cumbersome ork weapons came into their own, pummelling Thok's ships and forcing the grand admiral to flee, his battle line irreparably shattered and his fleet in disarray. The orks then plundered the space docks of Aornis before setting course for the Ork strongholds in the Mabb Nebula.
Some of the Orks landed on Aornis itself, spoiling for a fight "up close and personal". Some were identified as previously belonging to Thrugnik's warbands, raising the real possibility that the two Ork warlords were not enemies, or worse, were even working together. In any case the Iron Warriors managed to fend off the ferocious Ork assaults, holding their ground and after defeating the greenskins, reusing as much of what passed for equipment to shore up the defences of Aornis.
Prior to the Ork attack the Eldar had also attempted to raid the fortress world, but the stout defence of the Iron Warriors had prevented them from doing any real damage. This raid and the Ork invasion had taught the Iron Warriors just where their fortifications were lacking, and towards the end of 02.012M42 they were confident that Aornis was now as strong as it could be.
The Eldar did not confine their raids to the Iron Warriors on Aornis however. Just days after the engagements at Aornis, the Eldar appeared at Fort Sparcos in the Mabb Nebula. Quite why they were attacking the Orks was a mystery to the major powers in the region, as the last time the Eldar had attacked on Fort Sparcos was to aid the Orks in their defeat of the original Imperial defenders. None-the-less, the Orks were up to the task, defeating the Eldar raiders and sending them packing back into the webway. Just as with the Chaos raid the Orks capitalised, restrengthening their defences and increasing their forces on the world. Perhaps this had been the Eldar intention all along, although without the cost of so many Eldar lives...
General Pollack was still prosecuting his war in the Vastrid sector as 02.012M42 progressed. Already his battlegroup, with a lot of thanks to the Astartes chapters who lad lent him their strength, had made significant progress in the Cerrack Nebula and Radeon Cluster since operations had begun in 010M42.
Pollack had a relatively small force of only five capital ships, ten Imperial guard regiments and attached Astartes companies, who were a law unto themselves anyway. Even so Spinitus and Achreom had recently been fortified, while in the Cerrack Nebula only the orks prevented total Imperial domination. Pollack didn't have enough forces to realistically dislodge them from here for the time being at least.
In the Radeon Cluster Pollack new the Orks on Gabriel's World would be vulnerable. Da Verminator had got the ork fleet trashed in late 01,012M42, and the ork supply lines were looking almost non existant. On the arid scrubland of the planet, only a few warbands remained, often fighting with each other for control of the world.
Pollack decided to deal with the threat before they began multiplying or came under the control of a more powerful warlord. He requested an initial drop from the Space Wolves to be followed up by Imperial Guard landings. In the event the Guard weren't necessary. Although the orks put up a fight they had no way to contend with the Imperium's absolute aerial and space supremacy, and those orks who escaped the initial Space Wolf landings were gradually obliterated by the Space Wolf fleet from orbit.
By 1502.012M42 the Imperium had secured Gabriel's world and assigned a few thousand Imperial Guardsmen to hunt down any straggling orks, while the adeptus administratum went about rebuilding the planet's infrastructure.
While Pollack was successfully adding Gabriel's world to his list of conquests, Inquisitor Huron had secquestered a regiment of Librian Guard to help him in his investigations of Dark Eldar activity. Pollack had objected, but had no power to stop the Inquisitor Lord. And so on 0802.012M42 the cruiser Agincourt arrived at Drift and set down the Inquisitor and his guardsmen.
For two days the Imperial forces landed on the uninhabited world went about their business unmolested. An outpost was set up and Huron found intriguing evidence of Necron activity underground, although only indicated by faint energy signals. He kept this information to himself. perhaps thats why the Dark Eldar were being attracted to this world.
Then on 1002.012M42 Huron's Librian scouts made contact with a significant force of Dark Eldar and were obliterated while warning their comrades. Immediately the Librians formed up into an offensive line and began moving towards their enemy, the tanks kept in the open plains while the infantry, supported by chimeras and hellhounds, moved through the old settlement of Drift Prime, now reduced to an ashen ruin by previous wars.
The Librians moved towards their enemy to avoid being trapped at their bridgehead, and it almost worked. The small Dark Eldar craft sent against the Librian tanks were obliterated by Demolisher and Leman Russ fire, and the left flank of the Librian move cut through the Dark Eldar cleanly and efficiently. However, in the city the Librians faired far worse. Raiders with dark eldar warriors kept the Librian infantry pinned down while the Imperial gunfire was inaccurate and ineffective. The dark eldar then threw in their air support, the wings of the alien craft bearing witness to the fact they were of the Shattered Silence kabal.
the dark eldar air strikes were devastating to the Librian infantry, and after a day of fighting the Librians were forced back inch by inch, towards their landing zone. Inquisitor Huron delayed the order to evacuate but he finally relented once the tanks of the Librian 81st regiment were destroyed by dark lance fire, something which had eluded the Shattered Silence for much of the battle.
Despite losses the Shattered Silence had forced Huron's army to abandon their toehold on Drift, but the inquisitor had learnt a lot. There were necrons on Drift yes, but also dark eldar, and dark eldar who seemed not only to want to raid and pillage and steal, but to have Drift for themselves. They were far more interested in seeing off the Imperium this time than taking slaves. What did they want from Drift? Huron had to wonder as the Agincourt moved away from Drift along with its battle scarred human cargo.
The Tau needed to consolidate their gains before further expansion could be contemplated. Pirates and raiders were the most immediate threat but Shadowstrike was aware of the growing Necron menace in the region and feared it was only a matter of time before a major invasion occurred.
The colonisation effort was dependant on convoys of civilian freighters and carriers which needed to be protected from the multitude of alien raiders that infested space between the Tau Empire and the Purseus Deeps. Shadowstrike continued his policy of aggressive defence, using intelligence to hunt and target potential raiders at their source rather than wait for them to attack a convoy. The Ork pirates in the Mabb Nebula had been making a particular nuisance of themselves and plans were drawn up for a ground strike.
A veteran task force deployed to Bothorion with the objective of assassinating a particularly dangerous Ork warlord in a meticulously planned dawn strike. Things began to go wrong when the Orks sallied forth to meet the Tau attack. The element of suprise blown the veteran cadre heading the attack reacted with ruthless professionalism, systematically targeting high priority targets and falling back in a well practiced fire and manoevre drill. The horde of clanking Ork walkers and swarming boys proved surprisingly resilient to the Tau's high power weaponry but gradually the withering hail of fire took its toll.
It wasn't enough however and soon the horde threatened to overwhelm the cadre. Realising that further fighting would result in unacceptable losses the Tau commander reluctantly ordered the sacrifice of a small rear guard force so that the remainder might withdraw to their extraction point. The Orks had been disrupted sufficiently to curtail their activities and allow the colony at Lucardium to be completed without further harrassment, although the warboss hadn't been eliminated and was still at large.
The Dark Eldar, particularly the Shattered Silence, continued their raids in early 02.012M42, but it was clear their activity was becoming ever more focussed around the Cerrack nebula and the planet of Drift. Concerned by their continued raiding in the Vastrid subsector, the subsector commander requested more forces be directed to his region. Lord Roover agreed, and Jellicoe was commanded to send a force from the Perseus Deeps with two regiments of Imperial Guard.
Jellicoe detached four cruisers and a squadron of Firestorms from his battlegroup at Corticant, led by the Armaggedon class Valiant. At the same time, the Space Wolves detatched a strike cruiser with one company of marines which arrived at Drift on 0302.012M42, having landed their troops at the nearby Imperial base of Achreom.
The Imperial Navy battlegroup arrived shortly after, on 0502.012M42, but while inbound to the planet of Drift, the Shattered Silence kabal launched an organised assault on the Imperial forces in the system, attacking the Imperial navy with their fleet and appearing from nowhere on the ground, launching a violent raid against the Space Wolves.
On the ground, the Space Wolves found themselves in deep trouble, with the dark eldar attacking in mobile formations, completely outmanouevring the marines. Before long they were pulling back to their recently constructed bastion, and preparing to evacuate.
With success on the ground the dark eldar fleet only had to catch the Space Wolf strike cruiser in orbit over drift to score a significant victory. However, the four cruisers led by the Valiant had just arrived, and they would need dealing with first.
The two fleets approached each other warily, but the commander of the Valiant was pleased to note that his inexperienced dark eldar counterpart was approaching from his starboard quarter. This allowed the Imperial fleet to swing to port, locking on their full broadsides against the enemy. The single dark eldar cruiser qas quickly crippled and fled, and the Imperial vessels took their toll on the remaining escorts, destroying most of them. Never-the-less, three of the four Imperial ships were badly damaged, and the commodore of the battlegroup was forced to put in at Vastrid for repairs, ruling out any possibility of landing troops on Drift in the near future.
While the dark eldar grip on Drift grew ever tighter, the aliens were still active in the Perseus Deeps, taking particular interest in raiding the Tau on their lesser colonies. Between 3001.012M42 and 0602.012M42 Paratea suffered a series of raids from dark eldar forces deplyed by ship. To counter this, Admiral Shinobi moved his flag to the fleet based out of Cernunos, his other vessels being stuck at Tarsis Major undergoing repairs. With this fleet the Tau deployed in force at Parataea, hoping to stem the attacks, but on 0802.012M42 the dark eldar appeared in force, defeating the Tau and forcing them to abandon Parataea for the time being, while the dark eldar ran amok along the streets of the Tau colony.
The orks made a reappearance in early 02.012M42, attacking shipping between the Perseus Deeps and the Vastrid Sector. Raiders in ramshackle looking craft were encountered as far to the galactic fringe as Aganthus and in the other direction as far as Achreom. At first it was thought these forces were new and unrelated Ork warbands, but after one vessel was crippled and boarded, the crude sigil of Da Verminator was identified.
The Tau were the first to take any meaningful action against the Orks, as Shadowstrike dispatched a Tau force from Cernunnos to protect Aganthus. Predictable to a fault the Orks returned to their previously easy hunting grounds, only to encounter a fleet of brand new Tau vessels awaiting them.
The battle was horrificly one sided with the Tau making scrap metal out of Da Verminator's ungainly looking vessels. Shadowstrike was pleased with the new fleet, recently arrived at Cernunnos, and the Tau colonies in the Deeps were protected from Ork predation once more.
The battle near Aganthus forced the Orks in the opposite direction, and on 0902.012M42 Da Verminator's fleet arrived at Achreom in the Vastrid subsector, intent on raiding the Imperial outpost. Unfortunately, following heightened Dark Eldar activity in the area, the Dark Angels had recently arrived, and were well placed to ambush the large but lumbering Ork vessels. Once again the ork fleet was reduced to a floating mess of metal, but the Dark Angels knew that the orks would surely build more while Da Verminator lived.
Neither the Imperium nor the Tau were slow to react to the unexpected invasion of Hylas by the Space wolves at the end of 01.012M42. The Imperium, led by Inquisitor Xanthus, were keen to keep the pressure on the Tau and conquer Hylas quickly, while Shadowstrike, now in charge of all sector Tau forces, was desparate to counter attack as soon as possible. Meanwhile Inquisitor hathek, bitterly disappointed at events in the Mabb nebula, abandonned the Tau treaty, at least for the time being. In the Perseus Deeps, where Hathek held overall influence over events, he could ensure that Tau worlds were not targets of Veers' Crusade. However in the Mabb Nebula, he had no way of stopping Xanthus and his allies.
As it happened, the Tau already had one fleet in place to defend Hylas, commanded by Admiral Shinobi. However Xanthus was able to augment his forces by leveraging his contacts in the Adeptus Mechanicus. By 0302.012M42 he was able to assemble a force of three Imperial Guard regiments, escorted by a powerful Adeptus Mechanicus battlegroup, which arrived at Hylas only two days later.
Shinobi handled his fleet with more experience, using a nearby asteroid field as cover from the Imperial nova cannons. Unfortunately his fleet captains were inexperienced, and when they attempted to navigate the belt, several vessels were badly damaged. Rather than risk total annihilation, Shinobi withdrew, and the Imperial guard regiments were landed on Hylas, eliminating the remaining Tau defenders.
The Adeptus Mechanicus fleet then withdrew, their mission complete, while the Space Wolves awaited pick up by their fleet. The intention was to leave the 3 guard regiments behind to mop up any disorder and generally restore Imperial rule. Two days later however, Shadowstrike's fleet arrived.
Shadowstrike's modern Tau vessels quickly took up station above the world of Hylas before the Space Wolves arrived to pick up their ground troops. They were able to take the Imperial fleet by surprise, and the Astartes vessels found out to their horror that the new Tau vessels were much more effective than the older ships they had been used to fighting. Approaching each other head on the superior firepower of the Tau soon told, and the Space Wolves were sent packing without causing much damage to the Tau. Now the ground war began again, as Shadowstrike took back key installations from the Imperium before they had a chance to properly dig in. The war on Hylas went on and the Tau shelved the idea of a peace with the Imperium, who they had mistakenly believed spoke with one voice.
Following the Tau's conquest of Tyndareous a water caste delegation was sent to Inquisitor Hathek and the crusade council. With Tyndareous pacified and Xanthus' forces there destroyed or fled it was the Tau Empire's position that there was no need for further hostilities. No sooner had the ambassadors of both races shaken hands and mouthed platitudes of their hopes for continued peace and co-operation then new information came in: the Space Wolves were attacking the Tau world of Hylas. The Tau delegation registered its outrage at this fresh breach of the treaty and left in stony silence. Xanthus may have lost the war on Tyndareous but it looked as if he would succeed in destroying Hathek's plans for peace. The Tau no longer trusted in Hathek, believing him to be either duplicitous or totally unable to control his own forces and the treaty was left hanging by a thread.
At the end of 01.012M42 the eldar were once again encountered in the Vastrid subsector. Following their victory on Achreom a week previously, the Space Wolves had made the short hop to Drift and set up a base. Before long they were assualted by a much larger force of Dark Eldar, who clearly had an interest in the world. The Space wolves defended their positions stubbornly, but the Dark Eldar, identified as a faction of the Rillietan, were able to inflict significant damage on the Space Wolves' forces, preventing them from expanding their bridgehead.
Meanwhile, unknown to the Imperium, two other forces of eldar were in action on drift. A force of Eldar, possibly acting independantly of the Rillietan, was ambushed by the Shattered Silence Kabal while reconoitering the dark side of the orbitally locked planet. It appeared to be a simple slave raid, as the Dark Eldar prized eldar slaves above all others, but demonstrated the unfathomable factionality of the alien race, once the evidence of the battle was discovered by Inquisitor Huron. Huron renewed his efforts to understand the motives and objectives of the eldar, but by now it had become clear the xenos were not acting in any way as a coherent force.
At roughly the same time, on 3001.012M42, the Tau fleet managed to track down a Dark Eldar fleet of the Shattered Silence Kabal, after months of investigation and intelligence work following the ruthless scourging of Parius. The Tau got their revenge, massacring the Dark Eldar fleet and hopefully improving the security of the smaller Tau colonies in the Perseus Deeps. This was a setback for the Kabal, but by 0102.012M42 they had become the richest and most powerful Dark Eldar force acting in the Aleph Sector.
