Alliance invade Libria II: Space Wolves annihilated

The response by the alliance to the crusade raid was swift, but not directly against the crusade. The policy of the alliance had always been to divide and conquer, and now they put this firmly into action. Aware that the crusade were still unable to respond in a meaningful way against the alliance hold over the central planets of the system, the tau and federal forces brought forward their planned incasion of Libria II. If they could secure the second planet of the Libria system this would leave the loyalists confined to Libria I, where they were already at war with the crusade, and the crusade holding the solitary outer planet of Libria V.

The invasion was led by the human forces of the alliance. The Council felt that the "liberation" of the population would be better led by rebel forces, and the Lycaon rebels were selected to be the vanguard. Discussions over the inclusion of Libria into the Federacy or the Tau empire would wait for now. United the alliance forces landed uncontested, enjoying total superiority in space and quickly estabklishing a bridgehead. The loyalists however had not left their only base undefended, and the Space Wolves responded to the invasion while General Zhukov continued the offensive on Libria I.

The battle itself went badly for the Space Wolves. Surprised by the strength of the forces involved in the invasion, and initially believing the alliance attack to be an exploratory raid, the astartes found themselves overwhelmed and outflanked. In hours the Space Wolves were routed, allowing the alliance to secure their landing site and taking the settlement of Macdonald without difficulty.