Crusade establish important bases

The Crusade entered the Hadron Expanse via the northern warp channel, led by the Inquisition battleship Lord of Light, and accompanied by a Sky Lords Strike Cruiser, several Adeptus mechanicus vessels and a Grey Knights contingent. Very soon after entering wilderness space they were joined by the Dark Angels, who had now joined Vorushko's battlegroup in earnest.

The Grey Knights and the Dark Angels both had scores to settle. Following events in the Foramen campaign, both chapters had come to the decision that Inquisitor Hathek was wildly exceeding his remit, and that several Imperial Guard regiments had come into "unacceptable contact" with the forces of Chaos. Since those regiments had also been recycled to some extent, Vorushko and her Astartes allies both felt that the Lycaon and Novgorod regiments, some of whom were now part of Barham's battlegroup, were running an unacceptable risk of chaos contagion which would be disastrous if "loyalist" forces were able to establish a foothold in the newly declared "Hadron subsector".

The first system the Crusade arrived at was Arawath, where they found an Imperial world still loyal to the emperor after centuries of isolation, and still of value to the Imperium. With a population of several million and abundant resources, Vorushko was keen to exploit the system, but found that the Novgorod Guard had already landed and were in the midst of negotiating with the Arawathians. Immediately the Dark Angels launched their attack, stunning the Novgorod but eventually having to commit to a hard fight as the loyalists refused to surrender. While the Astartes took the fight to the imperial guard, Vorushko and her agents met with the planetary leaders, explaining the situation (or at least her version) and declaring the other imperial battlegroup heretical and at the mercy of a renegade Inquisitor. Faced with the Inquisition seal after nearly one thousand years of myth and legend, and seeing the fabled space marines smash a well equipped army, the Awarathians declared their allegiance to the Imperium - and to the Crusade. The remaining Novgorod forces were summarily rounded up and imprisoned. The Dark Angels suggested execution, but Vorushko instead placed the loyalists under guard with her Adeptus Mechanicus and Inquisition agents, to assess the depth of any chaos taint.

Meanwhile the Sky Lords and Grey Knights arrived at Hussaria, another world still loyal to the Emperor and in contact with Awarath. Here in the Echo Cluster, it seemed the values of the Imperium had remained, and there was a great deal of faith still to be found in the civilisation. Hussaria, governed by a planetary lord with a population of nearly a billion, had its seat of power at Örebro, and Vorushko's agents had already been negotiating for some days when news of the arrival of Novgorod forces on the outer world of Hussaria Minoris was delivered by the orbitting fleet.

The Sky Lords reacted first, but underestimated the mounted regiment they faced on the ice planet. The Novgorod mounted force, from the Novgorod world of Omsk, tore into the Space Marines, and despite suffering heavy casualties all but wiped out the astartes force. Their confidence raised by this victory, loyalist agents then arrived at Hussaria, but were immediately imprisoned by the Hussarian military. Vorushko's Inquisition seal had once again swayed the local governor.

The Grey Knights then assaulted the Novgorod Guard on Hussaria Minoris, and delivered a much needed victory. Hussaria became part of the crusade but Vorushko's forces were unable to immediately unseat the loyalists who remained, battered and somewhat marooned on the minor world. For the crusade the addition of the systems of Awarath and Hussaria was a significant boon, as now Vorushko had a strong base from which to penetrate deeper into the expanse. The loyalists meanwhile had been diplomatically outmanoeuvred by the agents of the Inquisition, losing two potentially vital systems.