War reaches the Vastrid Sector

While the Perseus Deeps campaign continued, there were alarming reports emanating from the Vastrid sector as 03.011M42 drew to a close. The Vastrid sector had been saved from Chaos invasion after the campaign on Farport and the subsequent supression of Bastien, but the minor worlds of the Cerrack Nebula, less well defended backwaters nominally under Imperial control, found themselves suddenly vulnerable to hostile alien forces General Veers was unwittingly forcing in their direction.

Lorek and his chaos followers had lost much ground to the Imperial advance across the Perseus Deeps, and in an attempt to re-establish his power base Lorek had already begun sizing up the Cerrack Nebula systems as likely new forward bases from which to launch raids on the Imperium. Attacking systems far from the main crusade he reasoned that the Imperium would have to pull back, easing the pressure on the hard pressed defenders of the chaos domain in the Deeps.

lorek had already failed once to land a force in the Cerrack Nebula, thwarted by hostile ork warbands coming from the many ork infested worlds in the region, but the Catechism, notably followers drawn from the Cerberex Guard who had turned traitor, found more success.

The traitorous Guard regiments were transported to the system of Trian by conventional means, arriving in the lone chaos cruiser Unforgivable from Lord Tragean's fleet. Jellicoes forces were still dealing with the Tau on Tarsis and protecting the crusade, and the sudden arrival of chaos forces around Triam came as a complete shock.

The 2 million inhabitants of the world were defended by a mere regiment of Imperial Guardsman, drawn from the Praetorian Guard, and the Cerberex units fell upon them in the major settlement of Gudran on the world's main continent. Despite a heroic defence of the city, Gudran fell, leaving the Cerberex Guard with an open route to the capital, Triasica. The defenders could expect little in the way of help however as Triam was considered strategically insignificant by the Imperium. Time would tell if that analysis would prove to be a costly mistake.

In fact, on 1803.011M42 the Imperium did send forces to the region in order to shore up the defences. A company of Space Wolves arrived on Glossop V to set up a forward command post, but their arrival had the opposite effect than intended.

Seeing a force of the Emperor's finest landing within striking distance was too much of a temptation for the Greenskins and a horde of Orks soon landed, or crashed on the surface of Glossop V. Their attacks, though ferocious, were however unco-ordinated and the ad-hoc invasion force was beaten off by the Astartes chapter.

Never-the-less the Imperial commander of the Vastrid sector now wondered whether the arrival of the Space Wolves had in fact stirred the usually divided orks of Aspaster into a more organised enemy.