Shattered Silence land on Corticant

With the end almost certain on Ares, the alliance quickly moved to their next target, identifying the Imperial base on Corticant. The world was already at war, with the Imperium barely holding the line against the necrons on the west of the world. The Shattered Silence , in agreement with the Rillietan, made the first move to capture the world, seeing in the invasion a chance to please the Harlequins, a chance to defeat their ancient enemy and a chance for profit.

The Dark Eldar force appeared on Corticant without any warning, cutting off the settlement of Ironhaven before systematically looting the city and enslaving its population. Alarmed at the sudden loss of contact with the southern city, General Veers quickly diverted his reserve force of Novgorod guard towards Ironhaven, meeting a determined resistance from the kabal on the Wildegate road.

The Novgorod regiment threw wave after wave of men at the dark eldar, to the point where even the depraved aliens grew bored of the killing, but were unable to break through to the city. On 2011.013M42 the offensive was cancelled as the regiment had become somewhat less than battle worthy.

Meanwhile a smaller force, led by the Inquisition, attempted to discover the aliens intent and force a passage via the Iron Road from Shadowshore. The dark eldar reacted nimbly to this threat, ambushing and wiping out the imperial column on the mountain passes through the arid plateau.

By 2211.013M42 the dark eldar had a secure foothold on Corticant, and Veers found himself fighting a war on two fronts against two implacable foes. Desperately the general called for more support from his superiors, since Corticant remained the lynchpin of the Crusade's gains, but with the Zadoc subsector almost lost, there were few troops to spare.