The war on Corticant continued throughout 04.013M42, with the first half being dominated by necron successes in the same vein as on a succession of worlds during the Harakhty Dynasty expansion. Initially General Veers was loathe to take the Necron invasion in the far west of the world's inhabited strip seriously. Surely it was a raid testing out the imperial defences? It couldn't be a full scale invasion as the invasion fleet itself could not be found. With this reasoning Veers and his staff remained resolutely in Fort Bastion and tasked Librian Colonel Bryers to contain the situation and analyse the threat posed by the necron "incursion".
Unfortunately for Veers he was quite wrong in his assessment of the necron mission on Corticant. The Harakhty dynasty fully intended to overrun Corticant but were unwilling to risk their fleet against the Imperial starbase and attendent warfleets stationed in the system. This was in fact the reason behind their invasion so far away from the centre of power on the Imperial world. The necrons had used an old webway portal to establish a landing force and now were using the same portal to continually reinforce their position on the world. This did mean the Imperium would be free to reinforce from space, but the necron lord by now had a very low opinion of his enemies, and barely considered that a risk to his plans.
His confidence in his troops appeared to be well founded as the Librian Guard forces sent to "contain" the necrons ran straight into trouble on the Blackhollow to Fairmont road. Attacking across the broad plains of Corticant the necrons made their attack at dawn, catching the Librians off guard in an abandonned mining complex. Very quickly the necrons neutralised the most serious threats to their forces, and by daybreak the shattered Librian forces were in full retreat, abandonning Blackhollow and calling for immediate reinforcement.
The Blood Angels and Red Angels responded, with the severely under-equipped Red Angels taking up a defensive stance in the settlement of Lochford, while the Blood Angels launched an aggressive assault to slow down the necrons. However the Blood Angels once again proved to be difficult allies, refusing to attempt to retake Fairmont of Blackhollow and immediately embarking on an apparently random and punitive raid on their enemy in the scrubby hills to the north of the main settlements. Why they chose this strategy the Blood Angels did not reveal to Colonel Bryers, as it was a selfish one. By now the Blood Angels were close to recovering their ancient suit of Sanguinary armour lost in the Deeps several centuries before. It just so happened they were looking on Corticant, and the necrons got in the way. In fact the Blood Angels had deliberately changed their plans to search on the world before it was lost to necrons, though this they did not share with any outside their own brethren.
Despite gaining the element of tactical surprise the Blood Angels found the necrons well prepared for counter attack, and despite making initial gains were unable to dislodge the aliens from their positions. Cutting their losses the Blood Angels withdrew, having done nothing to halt the advance of the necrons on the next settlement, Lochford.
The Red Angels fought bitterly for every street and house as the Harakhty dynasty advanced implaccably on the Imperial settlement, but lacking in equipment and any support the space marines once again found themselves fighting a lost cause. By 1804.013M42 the Imperium had lost three settlements and effectively control of Corticant west of Lake Hartford. The Librians were now cut off at Violetwind Coast, their armoured units unable to cross the marshy ground to the north and east and the necrons blocking all other excape routes. General Veers now scrambled to arrange a defence line on the southern shore of Lake Hartford, in order to halt the necron advance before his own base was overrun. Meanwhile he contacted his superior, General Roover, for permission to evacuate his command and all its staff to the space station in the Corticant system.
As the early part of 013M42 continuted, renewed necron offensives in the Deeps proved they were still more than capable of conducting a multi-front war, and their strategic position within the Perseus Deeps remained superior to the other factions. During 03.013M42 the Harakhty dynasty had established a foothold on Corticant, and the war on Parataea against the alliance of Tau and Eldar continued. With necron resources already committed to two warzones it seemed unlikely the emergent empire would commit to another invasion while the other two were in progress. This is however exactly what the necrons did.
On 0504.013M42 the defenders of Mordecai Tersius, fresh from having defeated the Imperial invasion, received a nasty shock. Reports soon came in of massacres near Crassen from forces which had almost literally appeared from nowehere. Chaos scout forces soon found a necron army waiting for them on the slopes of Mount Harender, poised to move south to strike at the city. The Iron Warriors, unable to redeploy swiftly enough from the scorched lands after recent fighting there, turned to Lorek.
The chaos champion was able to respond to the part request, part challenge thrown down to him by his ally and hated rival Warsmith Stahl of the Iron Warriors. Despite having only limited forces in the region while he pursued his own ends on Tyranteous, Lorek promised the support of his daemonic patrons. The daemons of Lorek appeared north of Crassen itself and pushed up the slopes of the mountain, only to find accurate anti aircraft fire hampering their aerial assault. One daemon prince was immediately banished back to the warp and another injured. Then, with the remaining horde of daemons rushing forward as fast as they could, the battlefield echoed to the screeching engine noise of night scythes, who soon shot down another of the larger daemons. Another of the larger monsters was finished off by the necron forces firmly dug in on the mountain slopes, leaving the daemon host effectively decapitated.
There was but one hope left for Lorek's force as a great unclean one strode into the midst of the necron lines. realising the danger the necron lord himself charged the giant abomination, and soon the other-worldly beast became enraged at the attentions of the mind shackle scarabs. With the great unclean one effectively neutralised, the rest of the necron army began the task of banishing the lesser daemons. This they managed with ruthless efficiency, and within a day it was clear the daemonic attack had petered out. Lorek's host evaporated back to the warp, allowing the necrons to march triumphantly through Crassen, their lord waving to the hastily assembled crowds (on pain of death), who cheered him loudly (also on pain of death).
The necron dynasty now had a foothold on both Mordecai and Corticant, and they underlined their strategic superiority by launching another attack on the tau colony of Parataea. The tau had fortified the Ak'ra isthmus heavily, so the necrons decided to assault Kau'tra to reach the eastern shore of the Soilent Sea. The tau however were ready for this manouevre as well, and managed to ambush the advancing necron forces. The sudden tau assault neutralised much of the necron mobility, and the advance slowed. Gradually however, and at great cost, the forces of the Harakhty dynasty managed to stubbornly inch their way forward. By 0904.013M42 although they hadn't taken the small tau settlement, they had reached the eastern shore of the Soilent Sea, and were able to launch striked to the rear of the tau lines on the Ak'ra isthmus, threatening the tau city of Ak'ra itself.
ALEPH SECTOR: Lord General Thaddeus Roover
ZADOC SUBSECTOR: General Brooke
Hylas: A strategic backwater in the Zadoc subsector, the imperium are none-the-less keen not to let the orks overrun one of their bases in the Mabb Nebula. This is a battle between the orks and imperium, and one where the strategic situation (modifiers) is very unfavourable for the imperium. General Van Dorn presides over the Imperial defence.
Tyranteous: Of more importance is the agri world of Tyranteous. It is the last agri world left in the Zadoc subsector following the consumption of Alphe and Betor by Nemesis, and the subsector capital Zadoc is wholly dependent on Tyranteous for its survival. It has been simultaneously invaded by the Tau and chaos (led by Lorek), and the two enemies of the imperium briefly put their differences aside to force the imperium onto the back foot. The strategic position favours the tau, but only just. General Denham faces an uphill struggle to defend the rest of the imperial world.
Grimlock: The major world Grimlock has been invaded by Nemesis and the forces of chaos are struggling to defend their only major world in the Zadoc subsector. The strategic situation is balanced, so it looks like the tyranids will have a long war to fight.
Fort Sparcos: On the once imperial base of Fort Sparcos, the orks continue to frustrate Nemesis in the Zadoc subsector. The tyranids need to defeat the orks here before they can mount an invasion of nearby Kallack, but the more the attack the more orks flood into the system somehow.
New Cerberex: The tyranids have been sighted around the Imperial held New Cerberex system in the Mabb Nebula but so far no landing has been made by the aliens. Many feel it is only a matter of time.
PERSEUS DEEPS: General Veers
Ares: In the Perseus Deeps the war on Ares goes on as the eldar stubbornly refuse to leave despite having been ejected by the Imperium once already. Slowly the eldar are grinding down the imperium using hit and run tactics, and they now hold much of the strategic eastern portions of the inhabited sector, including the capital.
Parataea: The small tau colony of Parataea continues to hold out against the growing necron empire, but the Harakhty dynasty is slowly winning the war, despite the alliance between the tau and eldar. An alliance which has become all the more strained following the actions of the Shattered Silence kabal, who still hold a tau ethereal captive.
Minos: Imperial agents on Mordecai have determined that following the disastrous imperial attempt to invade Mordecai and the subsequent failed counter attack at Corticant, the master of Chaos, warmaster Stahl of the Iron Warriors, intends to lead his forces against Minos, the smallest and least well defended planet the imperium control in the Perseus Deeps. This plan is not certain however, as Corticant, though almost a fortres, would be a greater proze to the warmaster, and one which would unhinge Veers' defence strategy in the Deeps.
ENCELADUS SUBSECTOR: None
Zoggot: All that is known about Zoggot in the "perdita" Enceladus subsector is that it is currently ork controlled ant the catechism, showing their ability to reach great distances through the use of the chaos "device", have invaded.
At the beginning of 03.013M42 the forces of chaos finally tried to take advantage of the imperial weakness in the Perseus Deeps and a large warfleet led by Admiral Traegan of Kendrenec arrived in the Corticant system on 0403.013M42. Over the next week the chaos fleet closed rapidly with the imperial world itself, and the ground commanders prepared for an invasion.
While General Veers prepared for an imminent attack, Admiral Jellicoe put into action his plan for Corticant's defence. Despite having had to divert several battlegroups to the Zadoc subsector, Jellicoe still had three left to defend imperial assets in the Deeps. Two of these the imperial admiral now directed to Corticant, although neither would arrive quickly enough to prevent a landing by chaos forces. Admiral Hector's battlegroup, lead by the mighty Oberon class battleship Apollo, and Admiral Somerville's force, led by Royal Sovereign, also an Oberon class, now raced from their patrol stations in the Perseus Deeps to the Corticant system.
Tragaen's force of fourteen capital vessels headed on into the heart of the Corticant system. Consisting of two battlegroups led by two large battleships, the force would overwhelm any of Jellicoe's battlegroups alone, and now Corticant seemed doomed. On 0703.013M42 the battlegroups split, with Tragaen himself leading Irredeemable Apostate and six cruisers back out into the outer reaches of the system, while the remaining battlegroup continued towards Corticant itself. Admiral Hector's imperial battlegroup had arrived and Tragaen was eager to give battle.
Tragaen's splitting of his forces appeared to be a tactical stroke of genius as Hector's battlegroup found itself split up after its short warp journey. Now Tragaen split his forces, and the engagement which followed began when the dauntless class Hippocampi and Helios were cornered by the more powerful Dark Omen and Unnatural Permutation. Rather than flee the dauntless class cruisers attempted a suicidal charge, but the arrival of the heavy cruiser Doombringer sealed their fate, and both were quickly knocked out of action.
Meanwhile the Dominator Morpheus found itself too far away to help, and looked on in horror as Erebos and Medusa were soon found by the chaos cruisers. Worse still the Irredeemable Apostate, Tragaen's flagship, now arrived on the scene anticipating another massacre. Fortunately for the remaining two dauntless class vessels, the timely arrival of Haphaestus and Hermes off the chaos battleship's starboard quarter led to a duel of giants, and the light cruisers quickly made their escape, although Erebos took some damage.
Hector's grand cruisers were soon in trouble however, as a squadron of Slaughter class vessels appeared directly behind them, and combined with accurate fire from the chaos battleship, both were crippled, then reduced to hulks, the chaos firepower proving accurate and deadly. The final destruction of the imperial grand cruisers was delivered by Doombringer and her carnage consorts, who now joined the fray.
The arrival of the Hades class vessel and the two carnage class vessels should never have happened. Mid way through the engagement the Apollo arrived, powering up her engines suddenly and taking Dark Omen and Unnatural Permutation completely by surprise. At frighteningly closs range the mighty Oberon class battleship fired left and right, but somehow the carnage class cruisers managed to take last minute evasive action, and they both appeared relatively unscathed from the storm of fire.
Worse was to follow for the Apollo. Just minutes later, a volley of long range fire from Doombringer, fired speculatively from her dorsal lance turrets, detonated the battleship's starboard ordnance fuel stores, causing a flash explosion which knocked out more than half the veteran battleship's power relays. This effectively crippled the imperial flagship, and she was forced to withdraw, leaving the grand cruisers to their fate.
The Morpheus, seeing the carnage, quickly reversed course. Tragaen had decisively beaten the imperial fleet and now looked certain to take Corticant, or at least land a significant army. Even if Somerville managed to arrive in good time, he faced a force twice his size, as Tragaen's forces had taken no significant damage in the engagement with Hector, while the imperium had lost four capital ships.
Tragaen's second battlegroup, commanded by admiral Hellbore, prepared to complete the landings on Corticant, but suddenly, appearing from behind an asteroid field, a force of Space Wolves, led by an astartes battlebarge, closed with the planet. Rather than give battle directly Erik Morkai was keen to get his forces on the ground. This his fleet did, but at the expense of tactical position in space. Hellbore was able to pour murderous fire on his enemy, and soon three strike cruisers were hulked and burning, while two others were badly damaged. The Space Wolves destroyed a large number of chaos escorts, but all Hellbore's cruisers remained intact. The Space Wolves however managed to unload three companies onto Corticant before rapidly fleeing. When Hellbore moved in to unload his own cargo, his generals soon realised their forces were now woefully inadequate to effect a meaningful landing. A small unit of Khorne bezerkers caused some damage on the ground, but the invasion of Corticant had been defeated.
By 0903.013M42 the imperial fleet had lost seven capital ships to none in return. They had effectively lost an imperial battlegroup and had an astartes fleet badly mauled. However the chaos fleet, intact and powerful, now realised it didn't carry enough troops to carry out an invasion. Use of the Catechism device was out of the question, as Moonface was still recharging it after operations on Zoggot, and Tragaen found himself attracting the ire of both the Iron Warriors and Lorek for his failure.7
Worse was to follow for Tragaen, as Hellbore's squadron was ambushed by the late arriving Admiral Somerville on 1103.013M42, as the chaos fleet attempted to make a crossing of the Corticant shoals, an area of dense asteroid fields and debris. Hellbore closed with the imperial battlegroup, but Somerville was able to cross Hellbore's "T", raking the chaos fleet with murderous broadside fire from Royal Sovereign, supported by Glorious, Warspite and Implacable, while the Conquerer and Aboukir provided support from the flank. During the battle the chaos battleship was crippled, as was the acheron class heavy cruiser. These early blows meant the chaos fleet was unable to return fire effectively, although Aboukir was heavily damaged in the engagement. Two chaos cruisers were destroyed before Hellbore disengaged, his fleet ravaged and scattered. These would make their way back to Kendrenec individually over the coming weeks.
Somerville's action left his fleet largely intact, and with the remaining space marine vessels and Morpheus, the admiral now heade after Tragaen's battlegroup. Now the chaos admiral was outnumbered and outgunned, and the veteran commander quickly made his escape, using his vessels' faster acceleration to reach the jump point and head back to Kendrenec.
The Corticant invasion had been prevented by the imperium, but at great cost. The loss of seven capital ships was a tremendous blow to the imperial fleet. It also meant that on 1303.013M42, when a sizeable necron fleet arrived in the system, they were powerless to do anything about it. The aliens landed a sizeable force in the west of inhabited zone, and after a sizeable battle with the defending Corellian Storm Guard, the city of Fairmoor fell to the enemy. It seemed that the imperial losses to prevent the chaos invasion had been in vain, and a far more powerful enemy had taken advantage of the struggle in space to make their own bid for Corticant.
<< Hector takes on Tragaen
Imperial losses: - 7 capital ships destroyed, 5 crippled
3 Strike cruisers destroyed
Hermes, Hephaestus, Hippocampi, Helios destroyed
2 Strike cruisers crippled
Aboukir, Apollo, Erebos crippled
Chaos losses: - 2 capital ships destroyed, 2 crippled
The chaos tau "alliance" on Tyranteous was never likely to hold for very long, and Lorek knew full well that as soon as the tau, particularly commander Shadowstrike, sensed the moment was optimal, they would launch a surprise attack on his forces with the aim of total dominance over Tyranteous and the expulsion of chaos forces. This much was obvious, so in mid 03.013M42 Lorek struck first.
The tau may have been expecting such an attack, but not so soon, while the chaos and tau zones on Tyranteous were still small and vulnerable to an imperial counter attack. However, Lorek outwitted the tau. Instead of launching a conventional assault on the ground, Lorek instead summoned a force of daemons by secretly infiltrating small bands of cultists onto the moon base on Tyranteous Minoris.
Tyranteous Minoris represented the major logistics site for the tau invasion of the imperial world. With (thus far) total dominance in space, the base, although defended, did not expect outside attack and was not held by front line hunter cadres. In the end the attack came from within.
Shocked by the appearance of daemonic hosts the tau fell back, surrendering many areas of the base before the line was straightened and the tau began to vigorously fight back. Lorek then landed conventional troops - hardened veterans of previous campaigns both cultist and astartes, into the breaches made by the daemonic host. After two days of destruction the daemons vanished, sucked back into the warp, but their task was done. Lorek's forces now had a foothold on the minor world, preventing the tau from effectively using their logistics base and forcing them to deploy troops badly needed on the surface to the base just to prevent it from being overrun by chaos. The forces of chaos now had the upper hand on Tyranteous.
Soon after this shock came another, even more bruising blow to the tau in the Zadoc subsector. Just days after the chaos attack, a force of dark eldar raiders identified as belonging to the Shattered Silence kabal appeared without warning on Tyranteous Minoris and systematically ransacked much of the rest of the base. Tau forces responded but found it difficult to pin down the fast moving aliens or understand their objective. This became clear when to the horror of the tau they found their ethereal, visiting the base that same day, had been captured. The dark eldar force then conducted a skillful withdrawal leaving the tau in total shock in the ruins of their installation.
The shock soon turned to anger, and the tau vowed to rescue their revered ethereal. This event also seriously strained the alliance between the tau and eldar forces in the Perseus Deeps, where the eldar were told the tau would not accept the Shattered Silence faction as allies any longer, and that their presence, even if sent as an ally, would be fiercely resisted. They also asked for an explanation for the act, but the eldar, short of explaining that there were "unfortunate elements with undesirable tendencies" in their race, were unwilling to explain the full story behind the differences between the various eldar forces - themselves held in tenuous alliance by the power of the Rillietan. The tau were assured however that "everything possible" would be done by the eldar to return their ethereal and this "rogue faction" would be dealt with.
General Van Dorn continued to try to hold on to the imperial bridgehead on Mordecai Tersius as 02.013M42 came to an end, but he was facing an uphill task. The reduced imperial forces were finding it ever more difficult to hold the line as the forces of chaos, led by the Iron Warriors, continued to probe every section of Van Dorn's line, knowing that they now had overwhelming superiority in numbers.
By 0303.013M42 the situation had become desparate, as the chaos fleet, aware that admiral Jellicoe's battlegroup had been called away to regroup before heading to the Zadoc subsector, bore down on the agri world. At the same time warlord Stahl continued to throw in wave after wave of poorly equipped but numerous fanatical cultists while holding back his elite formations, waiting for any astartes intervention.
This intervention came swiftly on 0403.013M42, as Erik Morkai's grand company dropped into the system and immediately intervened to halt the progress of the chaos tide. Initially this was successful, but once the Space Wolves were committed, Stahl committed his Iron Warriors reserves.
Savage fighting followed, and the Iron Warriors took heavy casualties, however the Space Wolves were totally unable to match the enemy's threat from the air, and chaos heldrakes caused havoc among the astartes troops while hellblades kept the air clear of imperial navy fighters. The loyalist space marines realised they had got themselves into more than they had bargained for, and immediately tried to extricate themselves from their dreadful tactical position.
Meanwhile Van Dorn, aware of the Space Wolves' failure, requested a withdrawal. reluctantly Lord General Veers agreed, and the remaining surviving regiments on Mordecai Tersius were evacuated in just two days. Van Dorn kept his job, and his life, as the imperial high command realised he had been given an impossible task. However, Veers now saw his crusade in dire trouble. With losses on Mordecai, in a campaign lasting just 33 days, adding to the forces lost to the Zadoc subsector crisis.
During 03.013M42 the inquisition discovered through its network of spies and deep space missions the alarming reach and scope of two of the Aleph Sectors most worrysome enemies. The events which took place in the region once known as the Endceladus subsector demonstrated that the imperium had underestimated the power projection of both the chaos entity known as "Moonface" and the ork warlord "Da Verminator". The forces of both were reported fighting each other for control of the minor world of "Zoggot", in the ork controlled domain close to the Aurelis Deeps.
Da Verminator
Prior to the observed battles on Zoggot, Da Verminator was considered a minor threat. A petty warlord who had seen little success, losing most of the ork domains in the Perseus Deeps and failing to have much impact in the Zadoc subsector, although his forces had joined with the other orks invading Hylas. Now his forces' ramshackle vehicles and infantry were seen alongside gargants on Zoggot, suggesting that Da Verminator's following was not a localised ork gathering, but that the warlord had forces scattered across the entire sector. It remained to be seen whether this was because his forces had become scattered following the orks' ejection from the Perseus Deeps, or whether Da Verminator's armies were deliberately deployed across the sector. Either way the sheer numbers of orks calling him leader was a cause for concern.
The Catechism
After the Catechism left Cerberex in 009M42, the forces of Moonface had some success in the Rim Worlds before the failed invasion of Tarsis Major put all the forces of chaos on the back foot. The invasion of the Zadoc subsector by hive fleet Nemesis and the imperial crusade against chaos critically weakened the traitor forces in the subsector, and the Catechism were enountered less and less in the imperial sectors. Some in imperial high command believed the Catechism to be a spent force, but their reappearance in 012M42 in greater numbers suggested the followers of Moonface had not been destroyed.
The inquisition well knew that as well as a moderately sized warfleet, the Catechism possessed the arcane and heretical item simply known as "the device", which enabled warp portals to be opened between two locations. In 013M42 the presence of the Cateshism in the Enceladus region suggested, alarmingly, that the reach of the device was far greater, or had been improved over that which was previously believed. In early 013M42 the inqusition submitted a report on the Catechism, suggesting the faction was present across the sector, in the Rim Worlds, the Perseus Deeps and more importantly in the largely non imperial Enceladus and Aurelis Deeps regions. Therefore they were unable to accurately assess the forces at Moonface's disposal, but the presence of large forces and even titans on Mordecai in the Perseus Deeps and Zoggot in the Aurelis Deeps was worrying indeed.
The Battle for Zoggot
The battle for Zoggot itself was a violent affair. Catechism forces appeared without warning amidst the ork settlements which clustered around ancient imperial constructions, a reminder that once the entire sector had been under the dominion of the emperor's armies. Utilising the device, the forces of chaos circumvented the ork orbital defences, and fell upon the orks. Both sides employed heavy equipment, and the battle saw direct combat between one of Da Verminator's gargants and a titan of the "pale forge". The battle almost turned on this titanic engagement, as the orks, who had been penned back by weight of fire, roared their approval as the mighty gargant in one swift move ripped off the titan's head with its chainsaw. Fortunately for the Catechism the weight of chaos artillery fire took a heavy toll on the massed orks and the clans broke, leaving only the gargant on the field. The orks having retreated, after one day of savage fighting the Catechism now controlled half the minor world of Zoggot.
The breakout of a major war on Tyranteous had an almost immediate effect on the strategically less important world of Hylas as 02.013M42 drew to a close. General Gault was stripped of several imperial guard regiments as well as two companies of space marines from the Raven Guard and Salamanders chapters, and secretly wondered how long it would be before his defences crumbled.
The ork breakout happened on 0203.013M42, with warlord Uzfangs elite "nobz" leading the charge against the imperial guard defenders of Berkeley. The dawn attack, led by fanatical boar riding orks, infiltrated the outskirts of the city during the dark, with a significant number of ork "kommandos" managing to slip through the imperial lines overnight, which cost the Librian regiments dearly in the following day's battle. Despite being well equipped with chimeras, hellhounds and Leman Russ battle tanks, the Librian defenders found the boarboyz a difficult and tough nut to crack, and they were unable to deal the orks a decisive blow before the greenskins closed the range and charged the librian lines.
Brutal hand to hand fighting engulfed the city, with the kommandos assaulting from behind. Eventually the infiltrators would take horrendous casualties, but by then they had already neutralised the imperial mobile infantry. As the day wore on the Librian casualties mounted, and even a precision air strike by imperial navy thunderbolts was unable to turn the tide. By now Uzfang's nobz were in amongst the Librians, and only the ork supporting units could be targetted by the imperial aircraft.
General Gault tried to stabilise the situation but soon reports were coming in of waves of greenskins moving north around the eastern portion of the city. Where the Salamanders and Legio Griffonicus had saved the situation before, there was now just Hylan PDF, and these fled before Uzfang's offensive. Rapidly the imperial general ordered the Librians to abandon Berkeley, and by 0503.013M42 the Imperial line was in full retreat. Much of West Coast had now fallen and the imperium was in danger of being cut in two in the north.
Further west however the imperium was advancing. Just as Uzfang broke through the "Berkeley Gap", between the Sump Sea and the central massif of the Hylan plateau, a full four companies of Dark Angels arrived in the system. To take the pressure off the imperial defenders they immediately launched a swift assault against Da Verminator outside Tennyson. The fast moving Dark Angels force immediately put an end to the siege of Tennyson and the front became mobile once more. Da Verminator's forces inflicted casualties on the astartes, but soon found their trenchworks and defensive positions around the city untenable, and were forced to retreat hundreds of miles across the Birego plains, with the astartes in hot pursuit. Just as the orks had made one breakthrough they had suffered a setback. Despite the lack of imperial war resources, the war was not over and opposition to a greenskin dominated Hylas would continue.
After months of lessened activity the necron threat in the Perseus Deeps once again burst into life in the latter part of 02.013M42. On Parataea the necrons began to move south towards the populous Tau colonies, but were swiftly intercepted by the Shattered Silence kabal who effectively fought the Harakhty Dynasty to a standstill in a series of brutal actions taking place over a series of days. By 2702.013M42 the necrons had been halted but at terrible cost to the dark eldar, who evacuated their remaining forces. They had bought the tau some time at least.
On Gamordal the Dark Angels tried to emulate the Space Wolves by expanding the imperial bridgehead remaining on the world. Almost out of supplies the remaining guard formations would be unable to function unless the spaceport was liberated and a safe corridor opened for imperial landing craft to make deliveries. Despite a determined assault by the Dark Angels, they were unable to shift the necrons from their positions, and then faced a counter attack which appalled the commander of the astartes chapter. Cursing the aliens as abominations the captain of the Dark Angels withdrew his battered forces, ordering in as many transports as possible to rescue the remaining imperial guard troops. More than half of these were shot down with great loss of life, but a few companies of guardsmen were rescued, leaving Gamordal to its fate.
SPACE WOLVES
There are currently three Space Wolf companies active in the Aleph Sector. The great companies present as of 013M42 include those of Bran Redmaw and Erik Morkai, and the chapter are involved in operations across the Perseus Deeps and Zadoc subsector. They have been instrumental in the Imperial successes of the crusade against chaos, but have suffered losses of late. Never-the-less the Space Wolves are arguably the strongest astartes faction in the sector.
DARK ANGELS
The Dark Angels have also committed a sizeable force to the Aleph Sector, with at least three companies usually available for operations. They are also active in both the Perseus Deeps and Zadoc subsectors, but they tend to lend their forces to imperial generals more sparsely and with less consultation than the Space Wolves. The Dark Angels fleet was severely damaged in battles against the tau in 008-011M42, and has not been seen in strength for quite a while. In addition it is believed the chapter have their own agenda for being so active in the sector, one not shared with the high command.
BLOOD ANGELS
The Blood Angels have two companies in the Aleph Sector, but the chapter are very rarely involved directly aiding imperial campaigns. Instead the Blood Angels perform lightning raids or ally themselves with other forces with little warning, then tend to leave after an unspecified period of time. It is believed the chapter is searching for something in the sector, something of great importance to them.
APOCALYPSE RIDERS
The small force of Apocalypse Riders have only recently arrived in the Aleph Sector, but since their arrival they have worked closely with imperial commanders to make the most of their high speed lightning assaults. The Riders prefer to raid and destroy rather than take objectives, and they are most often seen cutting lines of supply or performing vital missions to reduce the capacity of the enemy to make war on the Emperor's armies.
SALAMANDERS
The Salamanders have a significant commitment to the Aleph Sector including three companies, two of which are currently involved in bitter fighting on Hylas against the orks. The third company is also in the Zadoc subsector after a brief tour of duty in the Perseus Deeps. Their leader Fafnir was seriously hurt in the battle for North Vale by friendly fire, which has soured relations between the chapter and the rest of the imperial forces in the subsector.
RED ANGELS
The Red Angels have not disclosed their force distribution in the sector, but it is known that it must have been at one time almost half the chapter. Relatively lacking in heavy equipment, the largely foot soldier astartes chapter have suffered heavy casualties at the hands of all the emperor's enemies, mostly in battles in the Perseus Deeps. They Red Angels offer themselves for missions no matter the odds, something which may have contributed to their losses over the last few years.
RAVEN GUARD
The Raven Guard have only been active in the sector in recent months, but their appearance after sweeping the eastern rim has significantly bolstered the imperial defence of the Zadoc subsector where they are most active. The 5th Shadow Company is assigned to the sector, under Shadow Captain Corvane Valar.
ULTRAMARINES
Despite being close to the eastern fringe and within striking distance of Ultramar, the Ultramarines have never provided more than a company of marines at any one time, although Marneus Calgar did briefly intervene in the Melberg campaign in 008M42. The Ultramarines are almost fully engaged fighting further rimward, and have currently less than a company in the sector.
SONS OF ULTRAMAR
Much like their progenitors, the Sons of Ultramar have also been recalled to the Ultramarine domain to protect it from tyranid attack. They briefly fought the tau in 006M42 at the time of the Protogonus crisis
BLOOD MARTYRS
The Blood Martyrs, a successor chapter to the Blood Angels, were once heavily deployed in the Aleph sector, particularly around the time of the formation of the Federacy. The highly mechanised and mobile companies of the Blood Martyrs took heavy casualties at the hands of the Tau at the beginning of the Perseus Deeps crusade and have currently withdrawn from front line duties.
Since late 012M42 both the tyranids of hive fleet Nemesis and the orks had been building up their forces on Fort Sparcos. By mid 02.013M42 the former Imperial base had become a sprawling ork metropoplis now home to millions of greenskins, while all around the base in the badlands Nemesis was gathering an equivalent number of violent and savage beasts which simply existed to make war. Sparcos had been reinforced from space by the orks, travelling in all kinds of ships, hulks and harnessed asteroids, all of which had to make the short and relatively easy warp hop from Kallack. Nemesis' hive fleet stood guard over the world and over the preceding months several desparate void actions had taken place within the Sparcos system, but the ork reinforcement "schedule" was far too haphazard for Nemesis to stop even a meaningful fraction of the greenskins from joining their brethren on the planet.
Nemesis decided that before more ork infestations appeared behind their lines that the fort had to be taken soon. The hive mind gathered its forces and launched an all out massive assault on the outer defences of the fort on 2202.013M42, deploying hundreds of thousands of creatures and utilising their largest bio constracts - massive titan like creatures able to physically step over all but the highest fortress walls.
At first the ork defences held, and the greenskins poured forward to meet the alien assault. Employing their own massive war engines it appeared that the orks, lead by Da Verminator, would easily repulse this latest tyranid assault on their outer defences, but at a critical point in the battle the ork left wing unexpectedly broke under the onslaught of the alien tide. This was followed by the destruction of the orks's greatest war machine, a mighty gargant fashioned in the image of the ork gods themselves. This enormous beast dominated the ork battle line, and its explosive demise also wiped out much of the Death Skull clan who were advancing in its shadow.
The ork line decisively broken, Da Verminator ordered a general withdrawal to the second line of defences, and Nemesis pushed forward. Even so final victory for the tyranids still looked some time away, this advance being the first of many bloody battles which would be needed to overcome the entrenched greenskins.
Following the abandonment of Grimlock by Imperial and eldar/tau alliance forces, the forces of chaos and Nemesis moved quickly to occupy the territory vacated by the two forces. This took some considerable time, and by 02.013M42 neither side had resumed serious offensive operations against each other. That all changed late in that month.
Nemesis launched a huge assault against Catechism forces in the north of Grimlock in the region of Sumadon. Strategically the area was not of major importance, but the area was known to be a marshalling ground for the vast numbers of troops being shipped to Grimlock by Moonface. The tyranid assault was savage and vicious, and saw for the first time Nemesis employing enormous bio-titans in their inventory of vicious beasts. Rather than face a prolonged battle the Catechism forces of the "pale forge" withdrew to more defensible positions, surrendering the region to the tyranids.
Following the disastrous defeat on Tyranteous in mid-02.013M42, it wasn't long before the strain on imperial resources was keenly felt elsewhere. General Van Dorn was obliged by Veers to surrender nearly a quarter of his forces, as Lord General Roover had decided that the loss of Tyranteous was more important than taking Mordecai quickly. HoweverRoover still expected Veers and Van Dorn to successfully prosecute the war on the agri-world with their reduced resources.
Van Dorn re-arranged his defences and eagerly welcomed the arrival of a Dark Angels company. No sooner had the new astartes forces arrived however than news came of a new offensive on the ground by the Iron Warriors. This faction had been noticeably absent from the assualt in the Zadoc subsector, and now the reason became all to clear. The Iron Warriors forces smashed through Van Dorn's line south of Skrime and tore across the southern plains. Before the Dark Angels could react Danythe had been recaptured by chaos forces and Skrime itself was relieved.
The Dark Angels then dropped into the battlezone from their orbitting strike cruiser, attempting to retake the city. In a bitter firefight the Dark Angels proved a much tougher enemy than Van Dorn's guard regiments, and the shock of their arrival clearly gave the Iron Warriors cause for concern. The battle raged for many hours in Danythe before mounting losses convinced the Dark Angels' commander to evacuate and regroup. Van Dorn had lost his most valuable prize to date and had been pushed back to his day 1 gains. The invasion of Mordecai now hung by a thread.
Like his namesake, the power of Moonface waxes and wanes. The Imperium counted themselves fortunate that the Catechism had not been seen in great force for a long time. This ended on 0502.012M42 when guard forces encountered tank regiments arrayed against them on Mordercai Tersisus. The Imperial advance halted and General Van Dorn demanded to know where these armoured legions had come from.
A worrying answer from a report by the Adeptus Psykanum. One unfortunate scryer of their order had opened his mind to the warp just as Moonface's tanks were transported onto the battlefield using the mysterious device. The scryer's fevered ravings were hard to comprehend, but in his more lucid state he reported a great forge, as pale as death, in which imperial war engines are constructed in a mockery of the Adeptus Mechanicus' factorums. Thousands of men go willing to their deaths in the forge, all the time chanting the catechism of Moonface. As they are slaughtered their souls are allowed no release and are instead bound into the tanks themselves.
All over the sector reports are arriving of the ghostly pale war machines lumbering across warzones, spreading terror into the hearts of good Imperial men. Supported by local troopers swayed to the cause of Moonface, the tanks and titans march on, crewed only by screaming souls.
By mid 02.013M42 the war on Tyranteous had again scaled back to a watching brief by general Denham. The Death Guard still held Weybridge crossing, but showed no signs of breaking out. The plague was taking its toll on front line units, and as General Brooke, with the whole subsector to think about, was unwilling to divert much in the way of reinforcements to the agri world, despite its continuing importance to the survival of Zadoc, and the imperial position in the subsector as a whole.
In the north there was a known tau base, but astartes forces had forced the aliens back into the frozen wastes, and at some point the tau would have to leave or break out once again, and Denham was content that his forces were in good defensive positions to intercept any southern thrust. On 1202.013M42 Inquisitor Huron arrived on the world, and discussed the situation with Denham and the planetary governor, Diana Selken. He believed a new attack would come soon, but the imperial commander remained confident of his defences.
Unfortunately for General Denham, the enemy were already planning something audacious. Lorek, once master of chaos in the sector, was keen to destroy the imperial hold on the Zadoc subsector and take the sector capital for himself. To do this he needed to destroy Tyranteous, and starve Zadoc itself to the point of submission. His attempts to incite heresy and treason had not gone all that well, as the response from the astartes in the region had been overwhelming, but with the tau now in the system, Lorek sensed a rare opportunity. Over time during 013M42 the Tau and forces of chaos entered into a dialogue, and by mid 02.013M42 they had agreed on a combined operation to push back the imperial forces on Tyranteous.
For the tau the logic of such a temporary alliance was overwhleming. Together the tau and chaos forces would be able to gain a secure foothold on the agri world, taking the imperium by surprise. Once the imperium had been broken, the tau were sure they would be able to establish space superiority, land reinforcements, then wipe out the chaos forces in turn. For Lorek, his reasoning was similar. Use the tau to gain ground, then remove them once his logistics had been improved. Even if the tau were to eventually defeat his own forces in turn, the imperium would be obliged to divert forces away from other areas to defend against the tau, allowing Lorek to consolidate what was left of his empire elsewhere. Imperial intelligence had very little idea of what was about to fall upon them. On 1502.013M42 scouts reported tau forces moving west in the far north, away from inhabited areas, so Denham took little action. Then on 1602.013M42, the hammerblow fell.
A huge force of chaos cultists, rebel guard and traitor marines suddenly began rolling east from the cost of North vale. The army had appeared from nowhere and the small imperial garrisons quickly fled or were overrun. Unkown to the imperium, the device had been used once again, landing a well equipped and large chaos army on the shores of the continent before the warp tunnel collapsed drained. Even so this use of the device would not be enough. As Denham reviewed the reports as they came in he quickly judged that if he deployed his full forces in the north against the chaos threat, they would be annihilated. With this in mind he called a war council, inviting the commanders of the four astartes forces on the world, as well as the adeptus mechanicus, who had recently landed an entire titan legion on Tyranteous.
The Space Wolves, Salamanders and Blood Angels all agreed to be part of the forthcoming battle, relishing the chance to destroy such a large chaos army. The Apocalypse Riders however could add little to the fight since their losses incurred in earlier battles, Never the less they stood ready to lend what support they could should it be needed. To this elite force was added a single Warhound titan, the rest of the legio titanicus being ready to ship to Hylas to support the war efforts against the orks. However just one titan could make the difference, and Denham accepted the offer. Supporting the titan and space marines were three full regiments of Librian guard, as well as Zadocian and Tyrantean units on the flanks of the imperial army. Denham wheeled this massive formation across the plains of North Vale to face the chaos threat west of Fallenvale. On 1702.013M42 the two armies met, and General Denham got the nastiest shock of his military career.
Instead of facing just the force of chaos, it was quickly realised that the enemy had united, and now the army ranged against them matched them for size and firepower. The tau had joined the traitors in common cause and the imperium now had a real fight on their hands. Cursing the alien and the heretic, Denham ordered the attack.
Denham's forces were organised with the Librian armoured regiment on his right flank in mostly open country, with the Librian infantry deployed in the centre of his line, opposite the undustrial complexes of Fallenvale. Between them a strong force of Salamanders stood ready to take the fight to the enemy. On his left flank (to the south) the bulk of the marine forces were deployed, with the Space Wolves holding significant forces back ready to drop from orbit where they would most be needed. The warhound was kept as a mobile reserve, while two super heavy tanks marked the very centre of Denham's line. Behind them all the ranks of basilisks and manticores were waiting to bombard the enemy positions. The enemy had deployed their army with much of the tau kept well back, but the traitor guard had also deployed large armoured units in the open country to the north of the settlement. Crucially the allied forces had planned in detail together, and intended to deal the imperium a knockout blow once the battle was joined.
With no choice but to fight, Denham's army moved forward. Initially the imperial army gained ground. On the right the librian tanks were less than succesful in their duel with the traitor forces, but were at least making forward progress, while the Salamanders raced towards their enemy taking little meaningful casualties. The super heavy tanks caused appalling casualties in the tau/chaos centre, and body parts and the remains of tau tanks soon littered the ground infront of Fallenvale. The space wolves too made rapid progress and soon there was fighting in the enemy held city itself, as drop pods delivered the emperor's finest to the heart of the enemy positions.
This initial advance was the high water mark of the imperial counter attack. After several hours the fighting bogged down. On the right the warhound titan had to be deployed from reserve as the librian tanks were decisively beaten in the armoured tank battle in the plains to the north. The Salamanders reached the enemy positions, but tragedy struck as captain Fafnir was taken out of the fight by a stray round from a librian Baneblade, an event which caused much acrimony after the battle. Meanwhile furthest advanced, the space marines involved in clsoe quarter fighting with the enemy were eventually overpowered by superior numbers, their supporting armour knocked out by two super heavy tanks, one of which managed to ravage the Space Wolves 1st company.
As darkness fell on 1602.013M42 the chaos and tau forces threw in their own reserves. Deep striking crisis suits and teleporting obliterators suddenly appeared behind the imperial lines, and although the imperial general had planned for this, the strike was still devastating. In one stroke the enemy destroyed almost all the imperial artillery, the one arm of the army which had been inflicting real damage to the tau and chaos forces. In addition the super heavy tanks were knocked out, and precious resources had to be redeployed to counter this new threat.
The strike itself proved to be suicidal, and none of the units taking part survived as chimera borne librian veterans armed with plasma and melta weaponry made short work of the intruders, supported by astartes elite units. However the damage had been done and the imperial advance had stalled. On the right flank the combined weight of fire from the traitor tank regiment overcame the Warhound's void shields and it was reduced to a hulk. On the right the line buckled, then broke as the kroot arrived, shattering the space wolves' hold on the settlement.
Angered, Denham began to lose his control, of the battle and of himself. Increasingly enraged the thin wiry imperial general began shouting at his subordinate commanders. He ordered Colonel Piper, commander of the tanks, to sweep around the enemy's right flank and support the salamanders, despite the fact they had lost all their vehicles. Becoming hysterical he vented his fury at colonel Potter of the librian infantry. Dutifully the unsupported infantry advanced on their objective, only to be cut down by railgun, plasma rifle and heavy bolter fire. Finally General Denham admitted defeat, cursing the astartes and his subordinates he ordered a withdrawal, but not before reserves had been called up from the eastern province of Odinvale.
This move made the defeat even more catastrophic. The tau immediately took full advantage, launching a new attack in the east. By 1802.013M42 Smallgrove had fallen before the line stabilised. At the same time the tau extracted themselves from Fallenvale, establishing a closely watched front line between the aliens and the traitors. Almost a quarter of the planet had fallen with heavy losses and General Denham now found himself having to answer a number of difficult questions. His position as overall command was becoming more and more vulnerable.
Strategically the decisive defeat was a huge blow to the imperium. The tau and forces of chaos were correct in their assumption that the imperium could not afford to lose Tyranteous. Almost immediately more forces were diverted to the region. The defences of Hylas were scaled back, resources due to be sent to Veers' crusade on Mordecai were diverted to the Zadoc subsector, and fleets and armies were hurridly mustered. This one battle had severely threatened the Imperium across the sector, and would prove a turning point in the aleph sector campaign.
in mid 02.013M42 the unity of the imperium in the alpeh sector, tenuous at the best of time, started outwardly fraying at the edges once more. The inqusition war which had erupted some years earlier had largely quietened down with the arrival of hive fleet nemesis, especially since inquisitor Hathek had travelled into the Hadron Expanse to investigate the origin of the alien menace.
This left the inquisitors of the sector largely free of the original cause of the schism, but Hathek's followers grew within the inquisition as the threats of the eastern rim became more and more apparent. With the imperium beset by aliens on all sides it made more and more sense to try to come to an agreement with the practically "benign" tau empire.
To inquisitor Xanthus and his monodominant followers this was of course abject heresy. In 01.013M42 word reached the Inquisitor lord on Bastien that an imperial force, probably led by the inquisition had been seen operating alongside a tau hunter cadre. Incensed, Xanthus demanded that the alien fraternisation be investigated. Deciding to test the Space Wolves, with whom he had never been entirely happy since arriving in the sector, he requested the chapter send their own forces to New Cerberex to destroy any aliens there.
reluctantly the space wolves of Erik Morkai accepted, but when they arrived on New Cerberex they found not only tau, but a force of grey knights in the service of an unknown inquisitor. Unfortunately the space wolves found this out only after they had engaged the tau in battle, and inevitably astartes ended up shedding brother astartes blood. Worse still, a force of Apocalypse Riders, responding to requests for support from the Grey Knights also became embroiled in some of the worst imperial in-fighting for years.
Finally the inquisitor managed to call a halt to the fighting, explaining his loyalty to the imperium and to the ordo malleus. He claimed no affiliation with Inquisitor Lord Hathek, and explained that tau physiogeny and their lack of presence in the warp made them ideal daemonhunters. Distrustful but satisfied all was in order, the Space Wolves retired, angering Xanthus by refusing to lift a further hand to destroy the tau. This was an inqusition affair, and one the Space Wolves no longer wanted any part in.
General Van Dorn was considering his next move on Mordecai Tersius following the Catechism's key victory at Danythe. In early 02.013M42 this major battle had checked Van Dorn's advance on the chaos agri world, and now, though fully deployed, his army was stuck north of the city in the badlands, bottled up by superior forces holding Skrime and the Skayloss plains.
The general had three companies of marines nominally detatched for the Mordecai operation, and the respective company commanders of the Red Angels, Raven Guard and Apocalypse Riders chapters discussed moving the war on in several meetings with the general and his aids. THe three chapters suggested different courses of action, but eventually it was agreed that the astartes forces would ensure the imperial war effort got underway once more by executing a devastating three pronges strike, carried out simultaneously. This would daze the chaos forces and allow Van Dorn's guard regiments to roll over them in short order.
The main objective of the offensive was the key city of Skrime. If taken, the chaos forces would be denied a critical supply base in the west, and the capital itself would be threatened. The Skayloss plains would be taken and the imperial bridgehead made all but secure.
The operation saw the Apocalypse riders attack the Iron Warriors in the south, while the Raven Guard attacked the Claws of Lorek holding the northern portion of the chaos line. The Red Angels held the centre and were in position to ensure that should anything go wrong in the south, Skrime would still fall.
The attack on the Claws of Lorek went well, and the devastating Raven Guard attack broke the chaos army in the north, and the heretic forces abandoned their city early on on 1002.013M42. Meanwhile the Iron Warriors came under attack, the Apocalypse Riders speeding to battle on their familiar bikes. And then it went wrong.
The Iron Warriors, adapting to the imperial forces on Mordecai Tersius, successfully ambushed the fast moving loyalist astartes, catching them in an unfavourable position. This was mostly down to ruthless use of the enslaved population of the system, who the Iron Warriors uncaringly used as a human "speedbump", slowing down the Apocalypse Riders and causing them to arrive at the elite units behind in a haphazard fashion.
The result was a disaster, as any squad managing to hack and slash its way through madly capering cultists was ruthlessly shot to pieces by the Iron Warriors behind. After a few hours the imperial attack was first blunted, then annihilated. Just as the Raven Guard were taking Skrime itself, the Iron Warriors had turned north and were soon engaged in a furious battle with the Red Angels.
As darkness fell on the first day the Red Angels found themselves struggling to identify let alone shoot their enemy. Once again the shufflinf cultists were used to distract and divert the attention of their enemy, and the Red Angels struggled to engage the Iron Warriors in the darkness. In the end the battle degenerated into a large brawl, and one the Iron Warriors dictated on their turns. The Red Angels soon found themselves hopelessly outclassed, then surrounded, by the chaos legion. Very little was left of the Red Angels force by morning, and learning of the disaster to their south the Raven Guard hastily removed themselves from Skrime, which was re-occupied by chaos forces on the morning of the 1302.012M42.
The assault had not gone well. With superior strategic advantages the imperial front line had moved forward, but the main objective of Skrime remained in chaos hands, and the occupation of the Skayloss plains was small gain for the lives lost. Worse still Van Dorn had lost the initiative, and his armies were forced to go over to the defensive while the general requested reinforcements to replace the two badly mauled astartes companies.
Having lost Ares City on 0702.013M42, General Vasilevsky immediately organised a powerful counter attack. This time two Librian regiments supported by Praetorians and two massive war titans, one reaver and one warhound, moved against the now ruined city on 0902.013M42. At first their progress was unimpeded, and the massed infantry of the imperial guard, supported by tanks and artillery, made good progress into the hab zones around the city. Then without warning, an enormous eldar warhost appeared from the city centre, attacking out of the haze and smog which now almost permanantly hung over the heart of the settlement.
Reports from front line units were initially discounted, as they contained frantic pleas for aid and descrptions of eldar formations far larger than was believed possible. Various enemy titan sightings were assumed to be different units describing the same war engine, but as the fighting continued it became clear that the imperial attack was facing no fewer than five eldar titans, including three of the largest phantom class war machines.
Vasilevsky was determined not to retreat, and threw in his reserves. On the right flank of the imperial advance the open ground was telling, and despite heavy shelling of the enemy positions, superior firepower and the aid of a phantom titan overwhelmed the librian infantry and armoured formations, and after taking heavy casualties the imperial forces began to retreat.
On the imperial left wing Vasilevsky had more success. One by one the enemy titans were taken down, but at heavy cost. The warhound was the most fortunate unit on the battlefield, somehow destroying a much larger phantom titan in close combat without suffering any damage. The reaver titan was less lucky, being almost completely gutted by shot after shot from the eldar lines. Rarely seen eldar "knights" were also present, though these suffered badly at the hands of the reaver titan before it was crippled. By the end of over six hours fighting the imperium had established dominance on the left flank of the battle.
The one remaining eldar titan was still a concern however, as the collapse of the imperial right wing allowed the monstrous war engine to break through the imperial frontal positions to the more vulnerable artillery units to the rear of Vasilevsky's lines. However a lucky shot from the basilisks prevented it firing accurately, and without enough firepower to break the imperial army, the titan retreated.
By the end of the day both sides had fought each other to a standstill. The eldar had suffered crippling casualties, but Vasilevsky's army was in no fit state to pursue the eldar. The imperium had lost half its infantry, had a reaver titan crippled and lost all of its tanks. The remaining imperial forces dug in where they stood, some three miles further forward than when the attack had started and waited for the next battle...
Following their disastrous intervention on Ares some days previously, the Grey Knights now proceeded to Gamordal, where once again they informed the local defences, still beseiged and beleagured, that they would be carrying out their own mission against the "daemonic" activity of the necrons. This of course made no sense, but no one in the chain of command had any reason to suspect the agents of the ordo malleus, and the Grey Knights force dropped directly into combat against the enemy forces, some distance behind the enemy lines.
Why the Grey Knights were on Gamordal at all was never established. The inquisition denied all knowledge or simply refused to answer the questions put to them by the military or civilian hierarchy. Whatever the reason the mission was unsuccessful, with the imperial force suffering heavy casualties for apparently little gain.
During 02.013M42 the tyranid menace continued to plague the native species of the galaxy in the Aleph Sector. In the most distant regions rimward of the Aleph subsector on the very edge of the Aurelis Deeps, it was found that Hive Fleet Triton was not quite dead. The Raven Guard encountered a splinter force on an uninhabited world while they were attempting to verify the reach of the ork menace spreading out from the Vork Ork Expanse, while the forces of Nemesis also made contact with the older hive fleet. There was no brotherly recognition between the two hive fleets, and the tendril of Nemesis quickly put their cousins to death, consuming their biomass for themselves. How many more remnants of Triton remained in the wilderness zone of the Aurelis Deeps no one could estimate.
Nemesis also continued the pressure on the Imperium and eldar forces in the Zadoc subsector, raiding New Cerberex once more and weakening the imperial defences. Even the alliance between the tau and imperium, a rarity in itself and not something officially sanctioned by either side, couldn't prevent the aliens from establishing a foothold on the colony, which now waited with a sense of dread for the rest of the hive fleet to follow in the vanguard force.
After being forced back into two small pockets of resistance in Ares city, the eldar were widely expected to withdraw once more. However to General Vasilevsky's displeasure the eldar seemed to be determined to hang on to the world, despite this invasion heading towards the same stalemate as the last one.
In late 01.013M42 after over a month of relative quiet, strange emanations were intercepted from the eldar controlled areas of the city.These were reported to the inquisition, and in early 02.013M42 a force of Grey Knights arrived on the world, stating that they had been monitoring the ongoing conflict for some time, and that they had evidence to suggest daemonic energies behind the forces the eldar were using.
The evidence was not presented or shared with the imperial guard general, but he was expected to give up control of the campaign while the Grey Knights were present. Vasilesvsky therefore had no authority to prevent the Grey Knights from charging into Ares City intent on banishing the eldar daemonic presence. The result was predictable, and avoidable if only the inqusition's own astartes had bothered to consult the imperial general. As expected when they sensed they were under attack the eldar countered swiftly and viciously, inflicting horrific casualties on the Grey Knights and their supporting units, which precipitated a general withdrawal from Ares prime by 0702.013M42.
Meanwhile further north the Red Angels continued to probe the eldar defences in the hills believed to contain a major webway portal, but the skirmishes which devloped were inconclusive. Vasilevsky, once he had control returned to him, now had a capital and a space port to retake.
By late 012M42 the greenskin assault on Tennyson had petered out on Hylas, and the war once again settled into a familiar pattern of minor probing attacks and skirmishes. For over a month the front line moved very little, and all the while more reinforcements arrived to bolster Gault's men.The imperial general called a war council consisting of the Salamanders, Raven Gaurd, Legio Gryphonicus senior princeps, and the colonels commanding his principle guard units. Together they agreed a plan which would be led by the astartes and titan forces, which would see a massive hammerblow of force applied to the heavily defended ork sector near Berkeley.
Sitting in a narrow strip of flat land between the steep sides of mount Flynn and the marshy brackish waters of the Sump Sea, the settlement of Berkeley had already been the scene of many battles since the orks invaded. Unable to take the city, warboss Uzfang had erected "fortifikayshunz" to the south and east of the city, blocking easy access too the plains of Beng and preventing an imperial breakout which would threaten the ork territory in Birego further east. If Gault could force a passage here, he could cut off the orks threatening Tennyson and bottle up the greenskins into Beng and West Hallen.
The new offensive started on 0102.013M42, as the Raven Guard mounted a fast moving assault against the fortifications. Uzfangs forces were present in large numbers, but the flexibly armed astartes were more than a match for the greenskin defenders. Within a day the line of ramshackle forts and gun emplacements had been torn down, and the lay way open for the next phase of the plan, the breakout to the south.
The titan legions led the way, followed by the Salamanders space marines. Together these elite forces attempted to drive a decisive wedge between Uzfangs boyz and the massed forces of Da Verminator, the only significant force now standing between the imperium and the settlement of Benger, some two hundred miles south east. Once this force was defeated, the elite forces would drive on to Benger, while the Imperial Guard surrounded Uzfangs forces, trapping them against the highland plateau which dominated the centre of the world.
Da Verminator's forces however proved stubborn to shift. The more firepower and forces the Salamanders and Adeptus Mechanicus poured into the crucible of war which had erupted in the south of the once populous city, the more the orks seemed to reinforce it. For hours the line barely moved as both sides took increasingly horrific casualties. As the hours became days it became obvious by 0302.013M42 that the meatgrinder which had developed would surely rob Gault of his most precious forces, so the attack was scaled down. Uzfang had lost his fortress and Berkeley had been made secure, but the much wished for breakout had failed to materialise. Both sides had taken staggeringly high casualties, but the front line had barely moved.
Since 11.012M42 the battle for Gamordal had settled down into a siege. The necrons, having taken Gamordal city and the last remaining spaceport, simply had to wait for the surviving regiments of guard trapped in the Ventrax enclave to simply die of starvation. The imperium had lost control of the entire planet except for a small strip of land including the city of Ventrax itself and the Ventar peninsular. Here the population gathered while the imperial guard tried to hold back the advancing aliens.
Several times the necron lords attempted to offer the commander of the beleagured garisson terms of surrender, but each offer was met with stony silence, General Potter needing little reminder from the commissariat that merely communicating with the enemy xenos was a capital offense.
The forces under Potter's command, resigned to their fate, expected to meet a swift end at the hands of the invaders, despite their efforts to build a ring of defences around their remaining territory, but on 0202.013M42, the Space Wolves suddenly dropped from orbit, sowing confusion in the enemy ranks. The astartes force quickly established a perimeter around the Eastwier farming collective, and the imperial soldiers needed little encouragement to break out of their defences.
Caught between the sudden appearance of the space wolves and Potter's new offensive, the necrons, for once, fell back, giving ground and allowing the imperium to retake the vital food stocks of Eastweir. This turn of events brought much cheer to the imperium in the Perseus Deeps, showing that the necrons could be beaten on the field of battle. It also boosted the morale of the defenders on Gamordal, and although they were still almost certainly doomed, they made it their holy mission to hold out for as long as possible on Gamordal, making the necrons pay an ever increasing price for each metre of the Emperor's soil.
With the bridgehead established on Mordecai Lord General Veers appointed General Van Dorn to co-ordinate the push on the small agri world. Van Dorn set about the task with the required sense of urgency and began to push east with five regiments of Librian and Praetorian Guard, with a further five in reserve. The remainder defended the bridgehead the Imperium had created, while reinforcements began the relatively short warp jump from Corticant.
By 0402.012M42 the main advance had raced some fifty miles east, enlarging imperial held territory, and there had been no sign of a further chaos battlegroup leaving the heavily fortified docks at Mordecai Primaris. This was a surprise, as the imperial navy had assumed Thok and Lorek would put up a vigorous defence of the outer reaches of their own system, but it seemed that after an initial foray they had returned to port or dispersed into the outer reaches of the system. The latter was a worry for Admiral Beattie, whose ships would be vulnerable when arriving in the Mordecai system after exiting the warp. Reinforcing Van Dorn on the ground would become very difficult if the imperial vessels were ambushed on arrival.
However, this did mean the imperial forces already landed ought to face a weakened defence. Unfortunately this turned out not to be the case. On 0502.012M42 the imperial advance ran into extremely stiff resistance from forces observed to be Catechism in loyalty. The array of forces apparently available to Moonface was staggering. Although not there in person the chaos force comprised of regiments of Catechism troops, led by an impressive number of Leman Russ battle tanks and super heavy tanks. Surprised by this highly mechanised force the Librian infantry regiments suffered badly, picked apart after their armoured support was badly mauled by high velocity tank rounds and an array of shells fired from a devastating battery of artillery.
For once the Librians found themselves outgunned, and even a Reaver titan was not enough to tip the tide of the battle, as its void shields failed under the onslaught of massed battle cannon fire. Its loss was felt keenly to the campaign, but even more so by the Adeptus Mechanicus.
Moonface's forces halted the imperial advance in its tracks and wrestled the initiative back from the Imperium. Once again his forces had utilised the mysterious device to transport their forces from far and wide, and the knowledge stolen from the forges on Cerberex had been put to good use in the manufacture of high quality imperial vehicled for use by the Catechism's own armies. For several years these forces had been husbanded, only now unleached on the Imperium. Now the Catechism had the numbers as well as the elite units of traitor marines, and on Mordecai Tersius this was in evidence. Van Dorn halted the offensive as the losses mounted, and dug in awaiting reinforcements. The forces of chaos would not give this world up lightly.
With Moonface defeated on Corticant General Veers was aware that the Imperium once again had the initiative over the forces of chaos in the Perseus Deeps. Veers hastily assembled a task force of fifteen Guard regiments, led by Librian and Praetorian contingents, and convinced the Imperial Navy to send a battlegroup to the outer reaches of the Mordecai system.
The target was Mordecai Tersius, a sparsely inhabited agri world on the fringe of the Mordecai system, outside the orbit of Mordecai Primaris and Secundus, which boasted formidable defences. The forces of chaos didn't regard Tersius as worth defending, as although it provided much of the systems food, a foothold on the outer world would be easily shifted once its presence were known.
However, with chaos suffering serious defeats the imperial lord General reasoned that he could overcome a counter attack and remain firmly lodged on the agri world. Once the world had fallen, he would use it as a springboard to launch a further invasion of the inner fortified worlds. The Imperial battlegroup arrived in late 01.013M42 and made landfall on the west of the main continent. For two days the imperial forces managed to land without incident, and quickly established a perimeter. Then. on 1801.013M42 the battlefleet in orbit messaged the commander on the ground, informing him of a rapidly approaching fleet of vessels. As per his standing orders, admiral Beattie withdrew his forces to deep space, leaving the guard on the ground to fend for themselves.
True to their battle plan the forces of chaos landed in strength to repulse the imperial invaders. Led by the Iron Warriors, hundreds of thousands of cultists joined the fray, and Lorek added to the chaos host by summoning a force of daemons to use as shock troops. The plan was to pound the imperial front lines, driving a hole in them, linking up with the daemons of Lorek and splitting the invasion in two. The drop site could then be taken, sealing the doom of the imperial foothold.
As the two sides met the battles raged with higher and higher intensity. In the middle of the imperial line the Librian mechanised and armoured regiments were furiously assaulted by the finest elite troops the Iron Warriors could spare, but the traitor marines found the going difficult against so much imperial armour. Unable to cope with the sheer weight of tanks, the chaos assualt began to flounder. It almost turned into a rout when their reinforcement arrived in a piecemeal and unco-ordinated fashion, the chaos terminators notably failing in their mission to destroy the Librian artillery batteries. Facing so much firepower the Iron Warriors were first stopped, then forced to retreat.
This left the daemonic assault to the rear of the imperial lines in extreme peril. Soon after they had materialised the malign warp intelligence behind Lorek's forces knew they were cut off with no hope of rescue. The plan was in disarray but in their fury the daemons attacked anyway. They turned east, assaulting the Praetorian 42nd regiment who had been assigned to guard against such an attack. The fighting was bitter as Lorek's daemons fought tooth and claw to get past the Praetorians and into the rear areas of the imperial defences. However the stoic Praetorians held fast, and they barred the way despite their casualties until finally, three days after the chaos counter-attack had began, the daemons winked out of existance and the offensive fizzled out.
Veers now had his bridgehead on Mordecai Tersius. Now the race was on to reinforce. The imperial general wanted to take the planet quickly, build it up as a base and move the war forward to Mordecai Primaris. The chaos forces, though defeated, now raced to gather reinforcements and hold the imperium on Mordecai Tersius. Even a stalemate would suit their plans. The most difficult part of the campaign for Mordecai now began.
