Alphe Current

Tyranids make progress on Alphe

After the Tyranid breakout from their landing site at Pryford Meadows Imperial forces on Alphe were kept on high alert. Regiments of Guardsmen were moved to defend the choke points of The Neck and the crossing to Oldmere Island. No sooner was this movement of troops completed when Nemesis launched its second major assault, this time attacking not from the east but from the west.

The original infestation of Alphe had consisted mostly of Genestealers and Lictors which silently infiltrated the island cities of Linshore and Springbay before spreading to gain a foothold on the mainland. Just like the infestation around the Hive's main landing site in the east, here too the planet's own biomass had been stripped to construct an overwhelming army. When this erupted out of the ruined ghost city of Moorden few Guard regiments were in a position to oppose it. The Ultramarines quickly deployed a company to stem the tide and they made a heroic stand, trying to keep the Tyranids bottled up in the peninsula around Moorden.

At first they gave ground before the sheer size of the approaching swarm but as the Tyranids threatened to spill out into Hulme Island they counter attacked, charging into the swarm shouting benedictions to the Emperor. Inspired by their captain they fought bravely and almost to the last man. Many Ultramarines died to buy the Emperor's servants more time, but despite the cost they had succeeded in slowing the Tyranid advance to a crawl.

Unfortunately for the Imperium the respite was brief. Nemesis now had an overwhelming numerical and strategic advantage and the Hive Fleet began raining re-enforcements onto the planets surface from orbit. As the advance once more gathered pace the regiments of the Imperial Guard finally organised a cohesive defence. The mobile mechanised divisions of the Librians succeeded in extracting a harsh toll on the swarm and it seemed as if the Guard would win an historic victory, but even gutted the attack still pressed home with an inhuman fury that was totally without fear or instinct for survival. Against such single mindedness the Librian resolve broke and they gave ground. They succeeded in retreating with much of their force still intact but in doing so sacrificed the cities of Westlake and Wheathaven and with them the whole of the north. Nemesis now seemed unstoppable whilst the Hive Fleet remained in orbit.

Sentinel 3103.012M42

Sentinel: Chaos boxed in

As 03.012M42 came to an end, the Eldar on Sentinel changed their axis of attack, swinging out east from their positions near the Sentinel Prime Compound and assaulting the forces of Chaos in their last bastion at the Scrap Recycling Facility, some 200km away.

The Eldar found more than they bargained for however, as the expected weakened forces of the Iron Warriors and Enraptured had been replaced in complete surprise by the elite forces of the Moonface Catechism. The Catechism had moved in in secret, using their arcane device to ship their new found allies to the Rim Worlds.

Imperial intelligence postulated that the Catechism was in fact intent on removing as many forces as possible from the planet, to re-inforce the Chaos worlds in the Zadoc subsector prior to the expected invasion by Nemesis. Even so, the Catechism deployed their own forces into the Sentinel theatre, and a bloody battle erupted between the forces of Chaos and the Eldar.

After several hours of brutal fighting, the result was a stalemate. However, the Catechism had taken a battering from the arcane weaponry of the ancient aliens, and were forced to fall back. Unfortunately, they didn’t have anywhere to fall back to.

Instead of retreating off world through the Device portal, the remaining traitor legionaries instead launched a violent assault on the Sentinel spaceport, taking the Ultramarines who had recently arrived via strike cruiser completely by surprise. The Ultramarines chapter had agreed to replace the battered remnants of the Red Angels in the defence of the Imperial world, but no sooner had they arrived than they found themselves in battle against an old foe.

The ferocity of the attack caught the Ultramarines on the back foot, the knowledge that there was nowhere to retreat spurring on the half-crazed Chaos marines. After several hours of bitter fighting the Catechism took several of the eastern installations of the vast spaceport, forcing the Ultramarines and Imperial guard regiments into an ever tightening perimeter around the landing strip. With the Eldar on one side and the forces of Chaos on the other, General Ritchie began to consider abandoning the spaceport by airlift, but knowing the strategic value of the installation, he elected to follow the Astartes plan to dig in with his remaining forces and launch a rescue mission from the Alenia hills as soon as was possible.

Sentinel 2603.012M42

Va Doran Landing

War in the Mabb Nebula

Battles in the Mabb Nebula

General Alexander, returned once more to high command following Inquisitor Xanthus' restarting of the war with the Tau in the Mabb Nebula, was keen to take the offensive in the Shadow Worlds theatre as 03.012M42 approached its end. Alexander had commanded a battlegroup in the Nebula previously, but had seen his forces stripped away to bolster the glittering successes of Veers' crusade in the Perseus Deeps. With Veers' push petering out and Alphe invaded by the Tyranids following the fall of Betor, the focus of Thaddeus Roover turned once again to the Zadoc subsector. This was much to General Alexander's liking.

Alexander's initial plan for the campaign called for simultaneous landings against the Orks on Fort Aerin and Fort Sparcos, as well as an assault against the Tau colony of Va Doran. The Tau had conquered Tyndareous, but that would all be for nought if Va Doran and Memnon, their other two supply bases, fell to a concerted Imperial attack.

The General was hampered as ever by fewer forces than he wanted. Although the Mabb Nebula was once again a major theatre, equipment and men were slow to arrive, so by 2003.012M42 Alexander could only call on a few regiments of Guard, one naval battlegroup and a company of Space Wolves. Even so, he modified his plan to use these to their maximum effectiveness. He dropped the idea of a simultaneous assault against the forts, and instead chose to concentrate on Fort Aerin, while sending the Space Wolves against Va Doran.

On 2603.012M42 the Imperial battlegroup arrived at Fort Aerin. They were opposed, as Alexander expected, by the Ork fleet of Da Verminator, but on the bridge of the Oberon class Royal Sovereign, was the extremely capable and experienced rear admiral Dreyer. The orks were brushed aside by Dreyer's strange battlegroup, an experimental formation comprising of two Oberon class battleships with a flotilla of Dauntless light cruisers. Aided by superior naval firepower, the Imperial guard regiments then succeeded in establishing a bridgehead on the fortress world.

This good news was followed quickly by the Space Wolf invasion of Va Doran. Despite being outnumbered by the Tau, the Astartes took them by complete surprise, and naive tactics by the aliens quickly lead to the Tau being routed wherever the Space Wolves attacked. By the end of 03.012M42 the Imperium had a respectable foothold on Va Doran and Alexander's new campaign had got off to an auspicious start.

The Imperium were further aided against the Orks on 2803.012M42, when the Rillietan arrived unexpectedly, raiding the Ork held fort Sparcos, something they had helped the Orks take from the Imperium in previous campaigns. Now however it seemed the Ork infestation no longer suited their needs, and after a brutal fight, the Eldar withdrew, having inflicted grevious damage on Waagh! Thrugnik.

War in the Perseus Deeps

While the Imperial campaign got off to a good start in the Mabb nebula, fortunes in the Perseus Deeps were more mixed for all the races contesting the largely barren area of space. On Sentinel the three way war continued, despite the Conquerers of Gorgoroth losing both the Caverns of Aargash and the Bastern Mountains to a well timed advance from the Space Wolves.

While the Imperium advanced on their northern front against the forces of chaos, they suffered a serious reversal on their western perimeter. Attacking from their enclave near the governors palace, the Red Angels defending the Sentinel Prime compound were annihilated, allowing the eldar to once again occupy key installations near the Spaceport, rendering it useless to the Imperium until they were removed. Once again the Red Angels had lost a key battle, and the remaining marines were quickly removed from active duty on Sentinel.

Meanwhile the Iron Warriors were in action on Calliden and Paratea. On the major world they were instrumental in rebuffing an invasion by Necrons, while on Paratea their own invasion was similarly defeated by a re-energised Tau defence.

On Zog, the Necrons finally achieved victory against the embattled imperial defenders when Admiral Jellicoe sent through a relief force led by the Iron Duke. The battlegroup immediately ran into a well timed and well executed Necron ambush, leading to the near destruction of the Imperial flagship, and the loss of the Indomitable and Cressy. Implacable was also crippled, for the loss of very few necron craft. The Imperial ships fled for their lives against a superior foe, allowing the necrons to claim thier prize, the extra warriors on the tombship soon making short work of the remaining half regiment of Imperial Guard.

the Rillietan were also active in the Perseus Deeps, devastating a dark eldar raid. These were not the same dark eldar who had helped the harlequins in the past, but even so, the willingness the Rillietan showed in slaughtering what were in effect their own kin, was alarming to Inquisitor Huron, who was, as ever, left with more questions than answers.

Nemesis reaches Bothorion

Whilst the main Hive Fleet still lay in orbit around Alphe small splinter forces were forging ahead to scout out rich sources of biomass to serve as the next targets for Nemesis. One such probe reached the system of Kallack and disgorged a small force onto the planets surface to test its defences.

This invasion was immediately spotted by a local Ork warlord, who knew full well what the firey trail in the sky signified. He immediately roused “the boyz”, bellowing “wez goin' on safari!” as they raced from their settlements in battle wagons and buggies. With only a minimal Hive Mind influence guiding them the Tyranids seemed confused and poorly co-ordinated and the Orks drove through them, shouting and shooting with wild abandon. Even when confused the Tyranids were still dangerous predators and it seemed for a moment that the overconfident warlord leading the attack would be surroundedd and cut down, his bodyguard already dead, but with a bellow he ripped the head off a wounded Tervigon and suddenly the remaining Tyranids melted away. Their synapse creatures were all dead and their already weak with the Hive Mind totally severed.

Nemesis noted this new rich source of biomass, just as it noted that Kallack was well defended and that it would require the full attentions of the Hive Fleet to invade.

Tau defend outposts

News of the Iron Warriors incursion on Paratea reached Shadowstrike's battle fleet whilst it was docked for repair and resupply work at Calabris, the Tau's primary way station in the Aurelis Deeps. Realising that urgent action must be taken if the Tau were not to lose another minor colony a task force was immediately dispatched. Comprised of whatever ships and troops could be mobilised at such short notice the task force was limited in scope, so rather than engage the Iron Warriors in a bloody frontal assault the Tau employed the subterfuge and cunning that the Ksi'm'yen sept were rightly renowned for. Using Paratea's moon to hide the fleet's approach a hunter cadre was deployed covertly to the planets surface.

The first the Iron Warriors knew of this renewed Tau presence on Paratea was when their convoy came under fire. Caught on a road amidst wide open terrain the Iron Warriors lost all of their rhino transports in short order. Forced to dismount they initially pressed forwards despite being unable to identify the Tau positions which were heavily cloaked by stealth technology. As they advanced into the cauldron of fire they finally caught site of an enemy – crisis suites on their flanks, leaping from cover to cover and laying down a withering hail of missiles and plasma bolts. As the suites closed the range the Iron Warrior commander realised that his force was a sitting duck and that he would suffer heavy casualties for little gain if he continued to advance into the Tau's ambush. The Iron Warriors withdrew from Paratea and abandoned their beachhead on the Tau world.

Meanwhile Shadowstrike had succeeded in mobilising the rest of his fleet. Proceeding at full speed to Paratea they received the transmission informing them of the advanced parties success whilst they were still traversing the Aurelis Crossing. With scouting parties reporting signs of Ork pirates amidst the asteroid fields of a remote star Shadowstrike ordered the fleet to divert and deal with the menace to Tau shipping. Despite suffering early attrition to their advance escorts the Tau battle fleet succeeded in bringing their capital ships to bare and the Orks were annihilated, unable to muster any kind of defence against the Tau's torpedo and bomber waves. With the Aurelis Crossing secured for the time being the Tau were able to re-enforce Paratea and build up the Tau colony there to protect it from any future aggression.

As 03.012M42 approached its end however, not everything was going the way of the Ethereals in charge of the Tau expansion. They had held on to Paratea in the Perseus Deeps, but just as this victory was being celebrated, news of the abject failure of the garison of Va Doran to successfully contest the Space Wolf landing reached Cernunnos.

Alphe Strategic

Tyranid resurgence on Alphe

Since their initial invasion the Tyranid infestation of Alphe had been curiously passive. The Hive Fleet still hung menacingly in orbit, surrounding the planet and cutting off attempts to re-enforce. Attempts to infiltrate the infested regions were met with an aggressive response but a few probes did surivive long enough to report the area totally denuded of life except for countless millions of tyranid xenomorphs. The Imperial defenders of Alphe drew little solace from the respite – Nemesis was merely biding its time until it could unleash an unstoppable assault, using Alphe's own biomass to construct its ground forces rather than depleting the reserves of the Hive Fleet itself.

As scouts reported increased activity Imperial Command knew the waiting was at an end. Sure enough the first assault came boiling out of the infested city of Pryford. It was barely checked by the Space Wolves, both sides suffering massive casualties in the fighting. They did succeed in recapturing the outskirts of Pryford but then immediately had to call in Thunderhawks and extract to avoid being cut off by a second assault which bypassed their position.

The Tyranid attack seemed unstoppable but the Imperium received help from an unexpected quarter. Materialising out of their webway gates a host of Iyandan Ghost Warriors appeared, determined to join the fight against their most bitter enemies. The reason for the Eldar intervention was unclear but as the Hive Mine suddenly became aware of the incursion in its midst the Tyranid hordes contracted, seeking to crush the Eldar before they could establish a beachhead. As yet too few in number to hold back the vaste hordes the surviving Eldar withdrew through their webway portals to seek another point of entry to the planet.

With the Eldar gone only the Dark Angels could now hope to stem the tide, barring the landing onto Oldmere Island. When the Tyranid assault came it was so sudden the Dark Angel's position was overwhelmed before the task force could mount an effective response. In one titanic assault the Tyranids had succeeding in overrunning all of the cities in the east. Unless an effective counter attack could be mounted the Tyranids would consume these cities populations and add their biomass to their next assault.

War on Sentinel

The war on Sentinel ramped up significantly as 03.012M42 progressed. General Veers had finally convinced his superiors that the Iron Warrior/Enraptured, and now eldar threat were significant, and Veers was given two regiments of Librian Guard on top of the Cerberex regiments he already had deployed. Also concerned by the alien intervention, the Space Wolves committed a battleforce, while the Dark Angels were appalled by the re-appearance of the Iron Warriors, and matched the Space Wolf commitment.

No sooner had the new Imperial forces landed than the eldar struck. From the Vaderim mountains a mobile force of eldar swept into the plain of Nireen, outflanking the Dark Angels who were moving towards the Ning'bo tomb complex. The Dark Eldar moved to counter this threat, but were unable to prevent the aliens from taking the complex and forcing the Dark Angels into full retreat.

General Ritchie, a veteran of Imperial successes on Bastien and Parthenope, was sent to command the Imperial Guard forces on Sentinel. His first act was to deploy the well equipped 41st Librian mechanised regiment to the spaceport, while keeping the 386th Infantry close to the Governor's Palace out of fear of attack from the Iron Warriors to the north. The 41st regiment, aided by the heavy guns of Leman Russ, and boasting full transport capacity, were well able to deal the eldar a heavy blow if they attacked the spaceport. On 1703.012M42, the eldar did attack, but instead of facing the all too familiar yellow of the craftworld eldar operating in the Perseus Deeps, the purple and black garb worn by their enemy identified them as the much feared Rillietan. Ritchie now had a real fight on his hands.

The Imperial guard defending the spaceport were aided by the dense terrain they were defending, as the eldar had to cross open ground to make their assault. They paid dearly in blood for this first assault, as raiders and smaller vehicles were swatted from the sky by accurate Leman Russ fire and massed multilaser s which lit up the dawn sky with their fiery glow. However, as the Rillietan reached the now ruined infrastructure around the spaceport, the extra cover protected them from the worst of the Imperial fire, despite some imaginative use of windows by at least one Leman Russ tank commander.

As the battle wore on, the Librians found they could not deal the killing blow they needed to against the eldar, and at close range the Librian tanks began to suffer. Several were destroyed and Ritchie was forced to order a retreat from the southern end of the spaceport. He realised that to lose the spaceport would be to invite disaster on Sentinel as it would render supply all but impossible. The veteran general immediately began plans to retake the vital installation.

While Ritchie prepared a counter attack, the Rillietan had moved north and west, striking swiftly and without warning at the key objective of the Sentinel Prime compound, held by the forces of chaos. Here they found the way barred by the Iron Warriors, who doggedly gave battle in the ruined streets of the city. However it was on the plains to the west of the city that the key battle took place, and the Iron Warriors were barely able to halt the advance of the eldar. By 2003.012M42, much of the compound had fallen to the aliens, and the Iron Warriors were retreating back towards the scrap recycling facility.

Further east the Iron Warriors enjoyed more success. The Space Wolves had arrived intent on dealing with the eldar, but upon deploying at the Caverns of Aargash, they found the forces of chaos already infiltrating the vast underground chambers and overground warren of tangled hills and valleys. Here the Space Wolves attacked, but the Iron Warriors were well equipped and stubborn. In a few days fighting the commander of the Space Wolves realised he was losing the battle of attrition, and retreat to more defensible positions was the only viable option. By 2003.012M42 the caverns were in the hands of chaos.

Ritchie's counter-attack took place on 2103.012M42, led by the mobile elements of the 41st mechanised regiment which he had kept back in the Alenia hills. This armoured assault across the rolling plains to the south west of the Alenia hills represented Ritchie's only mobile reserve. Victory was essential. Ritchies armoured spearhead soon encountered a fully mechanised eldar force defending the open ground to the south of the spaceport. A furious tank battle ensued, but the highly manouverable eldar tanks proved difficult targets for the Imperial gunners, and their holofield technology confounded all but the most dogged and persistant shots.

Although the eldar proved difficult to pin down, they in turn found it difficult to overcome the thick armour defending the Imperial tanks, and as the battle wore on it became evident that neither side was achieving any great success. In a calculated gamble, the eldar threw in their infantry anti tank teams, hoping to smash the chimeras carrying the Imperial infantry, depriving the Leman Russ of their support and massacring the guardsmen inside. It didn't work. For some reason the Fire Dragons failed utterly in their mission, not managing to destroy even one enemy vehicle, and just immobilising one. Imperial hellhounds made short work of the eldar infantry, and the action brought the eldar tanks into short range for the Librian heavy armour. Finally Ritchie's tanks began hitting their mark, and one by one the eldar vehicles were reduced to wrecks. Seeing the battle had turned against them, the eldar used their superior speed to withdraw from the field, yielding the spaceport and the Ning'bo road to the Librians.

By 2203.012M42 the situation on Sentinel was confused. The Imperium had crucially held on to the Spaceport, but the eldar now controlled the majority of the Sentinel Prime compound, and the Ning'bo Tomb Complex. Chaos still held the Scrap recycling facility and the Caverns of Aargash, but the front lines were tangled and unclear. The Imperium had the upper hand, but the three way war was far from over.

Eldar assault Sentinel

Only a week after an abortive raid on Ares, the eldar returned to plague General Veers crusade. On 0703.012M42 Veers had deployed a regiment of Cerberex Guard to Sentinel to shore up the wavering Imperial defences, but their first battle wasn't against the forces of Chaos which controlled over half the minor world, but against the eldar. On 1203.012M42 the Eldar arrived in force, sweeping down from the hills in the south to attack the Ningbo Tomb complex. This area was held by the Red Angels, who were still short handed after their battering from Chaos in previous weeks.

Striking swiftly, the eldar were led by wraithlords and a mighty avatar, and the aliens rapidly forced the unprepared Astartes to abandon the complex and retreat towards the central plains of Sentinel. Unlike earlier battles however the eldar did not withdraw. Instead they consolidated their position, and seemed intent on taking the world.

The next target was the Imperial Stronghold around the governor's palace, across the central Sentinel lowlands. the distance of some three hundred kilometres was covered in an alarmingly short time by the eldar, but the Cerberex Guard defending the palace area were more than prepared for the alien onslaught. After a protracted battle, Imperial armour and resilience proved stronger than eldar skill and courage, and the alien force retreated. They did not abandon the world however, and the Veers now found himself with two enemies on the planet.

Iron Warriors land on Parataea, Tau raids on Hylas disastrous

In mid 03.012M42 the Iron Warriors expanded their territorial ambitions by landing a sizeable force on the small Tau colony of Parataea. It had become apparent that far from a remnant force, these Iron Warriors were a new faction in their own right, and seemed to have ambitions of empire. While the true purpose of the Iron Warriors became the object of intense scrutiny for Inquisitor Hathek, the chaos force smashed the Tau defenders of Parataea, taking almost half of the Tau colony within days of arriving.

While the Tau were on the back foot in the Perseus Deeps, the commander in the Mabb Nebula was trying different tactics against the Imperium. During 03.012M42 the Tau sent in several covert teams to Hylas with the intent to sabotage and hinder the rapid expansion of the Imperial base on the world. Defended by Zadocian Guard and a contingent of Space Wolves, the Hylas nut proved difficult to crack, and by 1603.012M42 both covert teams sent in by the tau had been uncovered and slaughtered with little gain. All the tau had managed to do was stoke the fires of the Imperial will to resist the tau expansion in the Zadoc subsector.

Shattered Silence move on Gabriel's World

While the eldar were increasing their activity in the Perseus Deeps, the Shattered silence turned their attentions in full to the Radeon Cluster, where they were still intent on defeating the Necrons and taking Drfit for their own. This was proving to be difficult, as following an inconclusive action in 02.012M42, the Necrons had barricaded themselves into their defences and the Dark Eldar did not have enough firepower to take the battle to their enemy.

To resolve this, the kabal determined to shore up their supply lines. Webway travel was all well and good, but not everything could be transported in this way, and the Shattered Silence needed to make sure their enterprise on Drift was not going to be interfered with. To further this aim, the Dark Eldar resolved to take Gabriel's world, removing the ork threat, and to destroy the Imperial fleet in the subsector, removing the threat from the Imperium.

The first part of this plan went well, with the orks easily brushed aside on Gabriel's world, and good progress made towards the securing of the minor world. However, the raid on the Imperial base at Achreom did not end well. Unbeknownst to the Dark Eldar, a significant portion of the Dark Angels fleet had recently replaced Jellicoe's Vastrid battlegroup, who were returning to the fleet base at Farport for refits and repairs. The Dark Eldar were outclassed by the veteran Dark Angels, and came of much the worse in the ensuing engagement. Despite this setback the Shattered Silence's ambition to set up their own realspace domain in the Radeon Cluster was undiminished.

Perseus Deeps: Iron Warriors arrive on Sentinel

As 03.012M42 began, the Imperium could be forgiven for thinking the war on Sentinel all but won. The Dark Angels had seen off Tragean's fleet and cleared the forces of chaos from a large swathe of Sentinel's useful inhabited territories. However, no sooner had the Dark Angels taken the Spaceport for the Imperium, they left, along with their fleet, off to troubleshoot at another location on behalf of the Imperium of Man. Once again the Aurora Angels and Red Angels were left with the task of finishing the job.

Unfortunately the Dark Angels' departure had not gone unnoticed. On 0303.012M42 a large force of Iron Warriors arrived in system, adding their strength to the chaos force on Sentinel. Their arrival was tracked by the Aurora Angels, who notified General Veers and immediately moved in on the enemy landing zone. The Iron Warriors struck quickly however, and the fight went very badly for the Imperial Astartes warriors, who lost almost a company to the chaos assault. As Veers received the message from Sentinel, the Iron Warriors had already taken the mountains overlooking the Caverns of Aargash and were preparing for an attack on the Imperial held Governor's compound. Veers raged at his thinly spread forces, but found himself as powerless as ever to prosecute his campaign.

Eldar attack Ares

While General Veers was trying to re-mobilise his campaign with a decisive action on Sentinel, alarming news from Ares on 0103.012M42 threatened to permanently put an end to his plans of conquering the remainder of the Perseus Deeps. Without warning, a huge Eldar Warhost attacked the Imperial base on Ares, massacring the primary Imperial base and almost overwhelming the remaining defenders. Only by sheer luck was a reaver titan of the legio titanicus present, and this powerful war engine was able to hold the eldar forces for a time, before sucumbing to the alien firepower. In full retreat, the commander of Ares appealled for aid.

Fortunately the Space Wolves were on hand to deal a counter stroke, as half their fleet remained as a rapid reaction force operating out of Corticant. Ares was only days away with good conditions in the warp, and on 0603.012M42 the Space Wolves task force arrived in the system, dropping directly into the heat of the action. Fighting was intense, but the stalwart defenders of the Imperium overcame the highly mechanised eldar forces, and by 1003.012M42 the situation had been stabilised. Then, just as suddenly, the eldar pulled out overnight, melting away and retreating into the webway, the entrance to which remained stubbornly invisible to the agents of the Imperium. Ares had been saved, for now.

Dark Eldar raids intensify

+++INQUISITION MESSAGE INTERCEPT+++
++++++Transmitted: Astropathic beacon Alpha 2231_4x
+++++++++Received: Astropath Callek
++++++Destination: Inquisitor Lord Ballus
+++++Mission Time: 0803.012M42
++Telepathic Duct: Terminus Estevan
++++++++++++++Ref: Xenos/AS122_DE
+++++++++++Author: Inquisitor Lord Huron

Thought for the Day: Study the alien, better to kill it

+++SECURITY LEVEL ALPHA PRIMARIS+++
+++RECIPIENTS EYES ONLY+++

My Lord Ballus,

I apologise for my lack of regular contact these past few months, but the machinations of my esteemed colleagues have deflected my works of late. Would that this squabble between Hathek and Xanthus be ended, one way or another, but I digress.

I write to you now with some urgency. Earlier in the year I wrote to you of the increasing Dark Eldar activity in an otherwise quiet sector. This past month those incursions have grown ever more daring, violent, and regular. They seem to be completely random attacks, made for the sheer joy of wanton destruction, but I intend to divine their greater purpose.

This past week there have been five separate raids by the dark kin of the eldar. The faction we know of as the Rillietan struck out of nowhere against the Dark Angels in the Mabb Nebula, utterly destroying one of their primary bases on New Cerberex. Another faction which we know little about, was recorded attacking orks on Aspaster, before appearing suddenly on Corticant, badly damaging a supply base of our own Aurora Angels. However it is the Shattered Silence who have once again been the most active, and most deadly.

We already know they have been attempting to claim the world of Drift in the Radeon Cluster, as their own, but on 0403.012M42 they themselves attacked the Aurora Angels at their secondary base on Eris, utterly destroying that base. Days later we received reports of fighting between the Dark Eldar and Eldar on Drift itself, but it appears the Dark Eldar were victorious.

If there is a motive, a plan, I will divine it, as General Veers and General Pollack have both warned me that continuing raids on their supply lines are hampering their ability to successfully prosecute their campaigns. If you would permit me the forces, I would track down these factions one by one, and bring them to heel, although I feel the forces I need will not be meagre. I have my Munitorium adept calculating the requirements based on the latest actions.

It is my intention to continue to observe events until such time as I can put together a counter-strategy to these increasing raids, or have divined an underlying purpose behind these attacks. I will of course keep you informed.

Your loyal servant

Inquisitor Lord Huron

+++END OF MESSAGE+++

Necrons attack Gabriel's World

Orks v Necrons - Draw