Necrons make major move on Blight

The war on Blight between the Necrons and Chaos forces had been going on for several months with neither side making much headway. The world was never heavily populated, and its conversion to chaos in 009M42 hadn't done anything to improve things. At first the Necrons had come in small bands, harassing the population and providing a distraction to the forces of chaos in the Deeps. This all changed on 2211.011M42.

The Necron fleet arrived in the system without warning, finding Lorek's fleet stationed above the world. The chaos fleet moved to intercept the invasion, but carnage followed. For the loss of just a few escorts, the Necron fleet obliterated Lorek's fleet, destroying five capital class vessels. The remaining ships fled, allowing the Necrons to land thousands of warriors on the surface.

Warbands of the Conquerers of Gorgoroth attempted to stop the tide of invading forces, but despite a tenacious defence, the Necrons eventually overwhelmed the traitor astartes forces, pushing them back and expanding their own bridghead. Days later the hills of Blight erupted with more Necron warriors, and it became apparent that the new arrivals had awakened a sleeping tomb world. By 2911.011M42 the chaos forces were holding on to a tiny scrap of the world, defending a perimeter against hopeless odds.

As the Chaos held section of the world continued to shrink, the Catechism intervened, sending a fleet to the Blight system to challenge the supremacy of the Necron vessels. The Necrons formed up their fleet formation once again and engaged in a fierce battle. This time the result was not so one sided, as the chaos admiral inflicted serious damage on at least one of the Necron capital ships. Never-the-less the Necrons prevailed once again, maintaining their blockade of the system and continuing their ruthless prosecution of the ground campaign. It would only be a matter of time before the planet became the sixth world to fall to the Necron menace since their appearance three years earlier.

It was apparent to all now that the Necrons were awakening on a number of worlds across the Deeps. Privately Inquisitor Hathek feared the number of worlds in the sector could be dozens or even hundreds. If they were all to awaken, the whole sector could be doomed. On the plus side the fleets of the Catechism and the Claws of Lorek had been severely damaged, and there had never been a better time to launch an all out assault against the chaos naval forces. In addition, intelligence suggested that the vessels of Shaidar Haran had been divided between the Catechism and the Conquerors of Gorgoroth. This left, so Admiral Jellicoe reckoned, just Lorek's battered fleet, Admiral Thok and Admiral Tragean to deal with. Jellicoe began to muster the fleet at Corticant and sent long range Cobra patrols into the Deeps to seek out the main bulk of the Chaos fleet.