Parthenope Secured

General Veers' Crusade in the Perseus Deeps received an unexpected boost from the Blood Angels in late 05.011M2 when they arrived in orbit around Parthenope. Veers met with their commander, and although their quest was unrelated to the cleansing of the planet, the forces of the Astartes agreed to co-ordinate their strikes with an all out offensive planned by Veers to take the Vregal peninsular.

The Blood Angels dropped from orbit on 2905.011M42, landing near Gand and on the Lone Isles. Searching for ancient artefacts it is believed the Blood Angels were successful, but for the Imperial high command the real good news was the destruction of Anticross and Shadow Suns traitor Astartes forces.With the elite soldiers of chaos smashed apart by the fury of the Blood Angel's attacks, the door to Gelanath and Torradi now lay open. Veers assembled his best regiments of Librian Guard and deployed the feared Cerberex mechanised regiment he was keeping in reserve for the final push. The Imperial guard advanced on a narrow front, the tanks of Libria and New Cerberex punching deep behind enemy lines and by 0106.011M42 the remaining chaos forces prepared for their final stand.

Just east of the settlement of Cayal the forces of chaos played their last card, summoning a huge gibbering mass of other-worldly daemons in the path of the advancing troops, aiming to blunt the spearhead and allow the traitor marines units to recover from their defeat at the hands of the Blood Angels, and drive into the flanks of the Imperial advance.

The daemons appeared in a concentrated mass, right in front of the Librian main firepower, and were punished severely. Leman Russ tanks and massed multilaser fire proved devastating to the daemonic host, and the Punisher variant of the Librians' main battle tanks proved particularly adept at blowing apart the warp-beasts.

While the Librian regiments bottled up the daemonic horde, the Cerberex mechanised force managed to drive forward through the chaos lines and deliver a decisive blow. Too late the chaos commanders realised this had left the Cerberex right flank almost undefended, but the forces summoned to exploit this weakness were insufficient to prevent a decisive Imperial victory.

The battle lost, the daemons disappeared back to their blasphemous realm, leaving the Imperium to mop up the final defenders of Parthenope. Thousands of cultists were put to the sword, but few traitor marines were ever discovered, most having used their daemonic pacts to depart from Parthenope when it became clear all was lost.

Veers had another victory and finally secured the Farport region of the Perseus Deeps. Now however the crusade faced a crisis. What now? Where next? The council soon fell into argument. Many suggested redirecting troops to the Cerrack Nebula to respond to the activity there while others were more bullish, recommending an all out attack on Mordecai or Calliden. Some in the military ranks preferred the Rim worlds to be the next focus of the campaign, while others felt it was time to draw a line under the Perseus Deeps crusade. This against the backdrop of simmering discontent within the Inquisition made General Veers far more downcast than a conquerer of worlds had any right to be as 06.011M42 progressed.