Vandrax 1: Grey knights assault loyalists

Following the successful capture of Vandrax 3 the Grey Knights agreed to join Vorushko's crusade, citing the meny dubious acts by Hathek and citing the ageing inquisitor as having lost much of his credibility in not dealing with those Guard regiemtns exposed to daemonic taint. In addition, the Grey Knights saw the logic in Vorushko's plan to destroy one of the Foramen pathways, to deny the Imperium's Xenos enemies but also to prevent an imperial Vandrax from becoming an accessway for daemonic incursion. Despite the Foramen, the power of the warp was still strong on Vandrax, and the daemon hunter astartes feared an Imperial base in the Foramen Majoris would soon lead to massive daemonic invasion.

Their goals agreed, the Astartes sent word to Titus Luthor on Vastrid, declaring Hathek a danger, and planning their invasion of Vandrax 1. Vorushko was still short on troops, so her forces would concentrate on Vandrax 4. The Grey Knights would assault "loyalist" forces on the inner planet, destroying them and laying the ground work for a subsequent invasion.

The initial assault on the Lycaon regiments stationed on Vandrax 1 went well. Taken completely off guard, the Militarum forces were all but wiped out as the Grey Knights made landfall. However, the veteran Guard regiments were nothing if not resourceful, and immediately counter attacked, decimating the Grey Knights force and forcing them to retreat to their landing site. Crucially however, the Mechanicum bases on Cybixx alpha and Beta allowed a quick response from the Mechanicum fleet, while Jellicoe's loyalist Naval vessels were forced to stand off in the outer reaches of the system. By 2811.017M42 the situation was finely balanced. The crusade had a foothold but only just.