With Malkaor's Expedition now becoming established at Echo Reach, the second T'au fleet, led by Skyfall, arrived at the Echo Cluster in mid 04.018M42. Rather than jumping straight to aid Malkaor however, Skyfall decided that to protect T'au lines of supply, establishing a waystation in the Palantir system would be crucial, as that system stood at a Nexus of warp lanes and stood in the way of easy passage to the new colony at Echo Reach.
Skyfall's cadres however were unaware of the significant Imperial presence, and upon landing on Dale faced an immediate counter assault from the Novogorod guard, who had arrived recently to pacify the local populace into righteous veneration of the Emperor. Stunned by the size of the loyalist force, the T'au fought a fighting retreat, attempting to halt the Imperial forces and establish a perimeter. Skyfall was willing to fight for Dale, but he needed a secure landing site.
Unfortunately for the T'au, the Novgorod advance did not falter, and by 2304.018M42 the invading xenos forces were eradicated. Many escaped, but the landscape of Dale was now scarred with the wreckage of the aborted T'au invasion. Disappointed, Skyfall prepared to jump to Echo Reach, fearing now for the isolation of his brethren at the T'au colony.
At roughly the same time, the Crusade fleet headed to Echo Reach from Hussaria, as they attempted to spread Vorushko's influence to the neighbouring systems. Sitting at the end of the nearest warp lane from the Crusade major world, Echo Reach soon faced the Dark Angels and Grey Knights as they poured in from the jump point.
With the least warning, the outer planet of Echo III, with only a small T'au force garrisoning the world, was ill prepared for the Dark Angel's assault. Nevertheless, the battle that erupted was extremely bloody, and both sides wrought devastation on each other. However, the base on Echo 3 was soon overrun by the astartes, and the remaining T'au were forced to surrender by the Dark Angels. Immediately the crusade forces began following up, and base construction began in earnest, complete with defence lasers, fortifications and the beginning of a space port.
On Echo II, the Grey Knights attempted a similar lightning assault on the T'au, but here, closer to the T'au fleet at Echo Reach itself, and given more warning than those at Echo II, the xenos were more prepared. The Grey Knights dropped from orbit into a storm of fire, and soon their advance on the enemy positions stalled, then bogged down completely. The battle had become a static firefight with the Ordo Malleus pinned down and taking heavy casualties. A contributing factor had to be that the Grey Knights were unable to perform their trademark "close drop", as their enemies had become wise to this tactic, and now the astartes were forced to make a landing further away, then advance over land. This soon led to unacceptable casualties and on 3004.018M42 the Grey Knights abandoned the invasion, with the T'au fleet moving in on the second world.
Echo Reach had been saved, and the Crusade prevented from expanding their influence for now. However Malkaor's expedition was isolated and at the nexus of warp lanes leading to loyalist, Crusade, and Chaos controlled worlds
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