Libria IV: Alliance follow up

With the Dark eldar strikes opening gaps in the loyalist defences, the tau and federal forces now took the opportunity to push into the centre of the town. The Imperial Fists tried their best to halt the advance of Skyfall's forces, but the elite tau formations easily dealt with the armour of the astartes, forcing the loyalists to pull back. The Imperial Fists hoped that Skyfall would have to pause to recover his strength, but more forces lay in reserve for the alliance, forces not seen in the system for some time. Those of the feared commander Shadowstrike.

Once spearheading the Tau expansion in the sector there had been no confirmed sightings of Shadowstrike or his Ksi'm'yen Sept cadres for some time. In their absence overall command seemed to have devolved to other commanders and the bulk of the fighting conducted by Cadres from their own Septs. The attacks on the centre of Porthaven represented the first re-appearance of warriors of the Ksi'm'yen Sept in the Aleph sector and long range surveillance showed them being deployed to various staging posts in large quantities. They appeared to be freshly equipped and Imperial Intelligence speculated they were withdrawn after years of fighting in order to be re-organised and re-supplied with new recruits and the latest technology. These new Cadres seemed to be the first to integrate Federal forces as embedded auxiliaries rather than as separate formations. One such Cadre was thrown directly into the fighting on Libria IV in order to continue the breakthrough started by the established forces there. The Federal forces appeared to be well practised and trained in Tau military doctrine, acting as bait to draw the Imperial Fists into a counter attack against what they thought was an isolated Federal reserve force, only to be ambushed and surrounded in a kill zone by hidden Tau forces. Not one of the Federal troops fell, laying down a withering hail of fire before teleporting out as the Imperial Forces finally reached their position and leaving them to the mercy of the Tau.

In addition to the forces of the Ksi'm'yen Sept, the alliance also forced a breakthrough in the south with rebel Librian forces, well equipped with the latest vehicles and armaments leading some in the loyalist camp to speculate that the rebels were now being supplied by the Federacy itself. Their performance against the Volscian loyalist forces was brutal, with the Librian armoured companies ripping through thr Volscian infantry with massed firepower. The alliance were now within a few kilometres of the main imperial supply base.