War in the Mabb Nebula

In the Mabb Nebula the orks suffered setbacks as 10.013M42 came to a close. In deep space the tau fleet finally encountered the mighty "bork" - a fleet of ork Rok's and a space hulk led by the same ork warlord as that now orbiting Hylas. The tau engaged the orks, though less than willingly, but the tau admiral had little choice, since the fleet now posed a significant threat to Tyndareous, which if invaded, would cause even more issues for the tau in the Mabb nebula.

The tau closed in an oblique line, attempting to maximise their firepower on the ork right flank. Although this achieved some success, with a number or roks destroyed, before long the tau vessels had been badly damaged by massed ork firepower, and withdrew for repairs. No tau vessel had been lost, but the orks still posed a threat to tau posessions in the region, causing more headaches for the tau command, facing war on two fronts already, and planning a third on Zadoc.

On Hylas Na'Porkleon's run of advances was brought to an abrupt end when the Ultramarines 6th company moved into Berkeley overnight on 2410.013M42, catching the troops stationed there by surprise. Na'Porkleon ordered a counter attack which took place in the early hours. The Ultramarines however had expected this move, and swiftly blunted the assault, taking out the ork battlewagons in the darkness. They followed this up with a rolling withdrawal, rarely allowing the orks to close while pounding them with vindicator fire. Eventually the orks were able to deal with the vindicators, but the losses in the footslog across the open ground rendered the ork charge ineffective against the marines, who counter attacked with elite terminators in land raider assault vehicles.

By 2810.013M42 the ork assault had run out of steam, and the imperium had Berkeley back again, at least for the time being.