Hexis: Tau forces found in Valkaim

The arrival of new tau forces on Hexis had not gone unnoticed by the imperium, but attempts to locate and eradicate them initially proved difficult. The new xenos units seemed difficult to pin down and general Konev had very little information on them. Then on 1912.018M42 sporadic firefights developed in northern Praxis indicating the presence of new forces infiltrating the imperial positions. 

Realising the danger of being cut off in the centre of the ruined city, Konev requested help from the astartes. The mission - to find the tau and eliminate their leaders, specifically the tau commander. Konev hoped that a surgical strike against the new tau would disrupt their operations and secure the imperial hold on Praxis centre. 

The Sky Lords selected their elite forces for the raid, their scouts having located the tau leader and his bodyguard in the ruinous Valkaim quarter of Praxis. Their terminators homed in on the tau commander, devastating the xenos bodyguard. The tau commander himself was assaulted by the Sky Lords’ scouts, but his armour held against the astartes attacks. Surrounded by astartes forces, the leader of the tau seemed doomed, but suddenly the xenos warrior ignited powerful jet engines and rose swiftly into the sky. 

The Sky Lords could only watch as the tau commander fled the scene, although their accompanying stormhawk interceptor was able to follow the fleeing tau as he swept over the ruined landscape, but soon tau forces began to converge on his position, shooting down the astartes flyer and rescuing their leader. The main astartes force now began to come under sustained attack from isolated tau units. But as the tau converged, it was the space marines that became separated, as their heavily armoured troops while durable, could not match the tau for speed and manoeuvrability. Unable to complete their mission, the Sky Lords conducted a fighting retreat back to the outskirts of Praxis, losing several terminators in the process. The imperial forces in Praxis city were now surrounded by enemy forces for the first time.