By the end of 06.018M42 the situation in the Hadron Expanse was complex. Chaos forces were attempting to dominate all the inhabited systems, while the Imperium - both loyalist and crusade - looked for human worlds cut off for Millenia. the crusade had fortuitously encountered two heavily industrialised worlds and added them to their cause, but Barham's expedition, even with the arrival of Admiral Enkvist, had struggled to find any systems of value.
The Tau and Federacy had secured Echo Reach, while the alliance managed to convince New Titania in the Mimir system to be part of the expanding Empire, thought nominally part of the Federacy. This however was now coming under attack from chaos factions and remained largely beseiged.
on 2206.018M42 Barham's scouting forces relayed an astropathic message that the system of Vanir harboured a significant human population willing to rejoin the Imperium, and the loyalist fleets slipped their moorings at Vespae in order to secure the loyalty of their new system. Bouyed up by news from Spinward, the loyalists set off with morale at a new high.
The eldar however were less keen on the Imperium from reclaiming their worlds in the Expanse. For Tarquil of the Kel Sandros Craftworld the unification of the Imperium, and much worse its expansion, would only feed the chaos gods for millenia. In order to pursue his destruction of the chaos gods, Tarquil "arranged" for the news of the imperial movements to reach the alliance. However, the eldar underplayed the loyalist strength, ensuring the correct alliance response - an expedition to intercept and claim the Vanir system for themselves.
Upon arriving at the Vanir system the Tau set down and created a beachhead, unaware that they had actually arrived first. While they were expanding this perimeter and surveying the planet for resources, the Imperium arrived, driving off the smaller Tau fleet and leaving the Tau hunter cadre on the ground having to fend for itself. Admiral Enkvist landed one Novgorod regiment to hunt down the tau, while meeting with the planetary leaders to sign the official treaty of reunion.
Once they had encountered the Tau, the Novgorod guard advanced straight up the centre of the battlefield on mass with hundreds of infantry. There was a brief firefight between them and a Tau Huntre Cadre which advanced to meet them before the heavily outnumbered and outgunned Tau were overwhelmed. Rather than continue to fight on decidedly unequal terms. the Tau then changed to hit and run tactics, picking off the Novgarod's supporting vehicles and drawing the bulk of the attackers off in different directions. This was successful in blunting and eventually stalling the main attack by the Imperium but the Tau suffered heavy casualties and were unable to stop the Guard from taking their key objectives or mount a meaningful counter attack against them. As more imperial forces landed on the world, the remaining Tau fled into the hinterlands of the planet, and awaited an uncertain fate. Either they would be rescued by stealth missions to retrieve them or die in the wilderness.
The addition of the prosperous colony to the loyalist Imperium was a significant triumph for the Imperium and especially for Lord Hathek. The loss of Paradorn or Barham's expedition would have almost certainly have seen his total fall from grace, but the Imperium had endured and overcome. The discovery of Vanir was also a blow to Vorushko, who now had temporarily at least lost the focussed aid of the Grey Knights, as both Crusade and Loyalists pulled together to prevent catastrophe in the Foramen Interdictum. Seeing this success, many on the loyalist and crusade side wondered if the time for squabbling between Inquisitors would now be at an end.
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