With a significant Tau presence now confirmed on Tyndareous, the forces of Inquisitor Lord Xanthus now had to ensure that other Imperial forces on the world remained loyal to him, and carried the fight to the Tau. Almost immediately after the Tau launched their assault the Librian 271st mechanised infantry regiment sent messengers to the Tau to try to halt the fighting. Xanthus moved swiftly, declaring the Librians traitors from a traitors' world and asking the Lamenters to eliminate them from the Tyndareous battlefield.
The Lamenters launched an immediate attack on the Librian positions at dawn on 1607.011M42. As the sun rose the mechanised marine forces of the Adeptus Astartes moved into range of the Librian guns, but the Imperial Guard opening barrage was woefully inaccurate, and the Lamenters were able to get within murderous close range before the Librian fire began to take its toll. In the end the Librians gave a good account of themselves, but virtually all the infantry were slaughtered by the Astartes or fled the field, while the armoured units took heavy damage.
By 1807.011M42 the Librian forces on Tyndareous had been broken, with all their equipment lost and their soldiers either captured or fled, some to the Tau. The Lamenters had taken out the Librians as a threat to Xanthus' war, but at great cost to themselves. With much reduced forces on Tyndareous, many now wondered if the Tau invasion could be stopped.
The governor of Tyndareous was outraged at the events, and the people of the world also began to look ever more suspiciously at Xanthus and his "loyalist" forces. Xanthus had broken the treaty Hathek had negotiated, at least in the Mabb Nebula, but appeared as isolated as ever within his own Imperium.
No comments:
Post a Comment