Tyranids appear in Alphe system

It had been months since anything had been heard from the Betor system. Psykers still reporting nothing but a thick all encompassing psychic fog emanating from the region, and to attempt to penetrate it caused seizures and even death. The Imperial defenders on the world had been left to their fate, but it wasn't until 06.011M42 that the final fate of Betor became apparent.

The tyranid warp shadow began to wane in late 05.011M42, but when astropaths tried to contact Betor, they got no response. They sensed nothing from the world and the Inquisition and Imperial High Command had to accept the total destruction of one of the emperor's worlds. As the warp impression died however, the Imperium lost track of the tyranid menace as the vast hive fleet was swallowed up by the even more vast blackness of the void.

Then, in mid 06.011M42 the Peraph asteroid base in the Alphe system sent a garbled and unintelligable message before falling silent. Five thousand Imperial workers had gone quiet and no one from the base could be raised. Responding to the distress call a half company of Blood Martyrs diverted to the area and set down two squads near the base to investigate.

On landing they found the base a wreck, but couldn't find a single shred of biological matter to confirm what had happened to the Imperial workers. Then, a firefight broke out and within minutes contact with the Blood Martyrs had also been lost. A single word from the sergeant leading the expedition brought fear to the Alphe system "tyranids".

The Blood Martyrs were anguished that their gene seed had been lost and was now available to the monstrous alien menace, but were unable to send in more troops quickly. Fortunately by now a small force of Space Wolves had arrived and quickly recovered much of the precious gene seed before too many tyranids appeared.

Alerted to the two Astartes chapters however, the hive mind of Nemesis began to mount stronger and stronger responses, and very soon the small force of Blood Martyrs and Space Wolves found themselves hemmed in. A bitter and bloody struggle followed while the space marines made plans to evacuate the four squads of marines.

No quarter was given and both chapters slaughtered more than their fair share of xenos abominations. after hours of valiant fighting the tyranids were almost exhausted, the blood of their kind soaking the soil of the former Imperial base, corpses piled high. Time however ran out for the marines, and the last man standing, a Blood Martyr caught in the full flood of the blood rage, was mind shrieked to death by a Zoanthrope as he attempted to charge it down in single combat. The Asteroid base had fallen but the Imperium now knew where Nemesis would strike next.