On Hexis the forces of chaos had made massive gains on their western flank, with the Emerald Serpent's forces transitioning from holding the east to striking in the west, along with their Dark Eldar allies. Keen to regain the initiative General Konev called a council of war of his generals and commanders of the astartes, proposing a significant probe of the chaos defences in the east, with a view to following up with a breakthrough should those defences turn out to be weak. The Imperial Fists immediately requested or demanded the honour of this mission, which raised a few eyebrows, but the Fists had received intelligence that heresy era Thousand Sons, still living, that they had encountered previously, were deployed in force in the east of Hexis.
The astartes drew up their objectives and showed them to Konev. The astartes would assess the defences and attempt to break them down, but any follow up and breakthrough would be down to the Guard of Legio Dominus. neither however were in a position to exploit any breach in the chaos defences, but Konev reasoned that breaking them down would none-the-less be of strategic worth. The mission went ahead.
the Imperial Fists marched on the eastern chaos defences, finding them well prepared and difficult to break down. Recognising the work of the sons of Perturabo, the Imperial Fists instead carried out harrying raids until eventually the Thousand Sons were goaded into facing the loyalists in open battle. Once joined, both sides fought with bitter hatred, but the Imperial force maintained their discipline, using the blind hatred of the traitors to manipulate the course of the battle. Eventually the Imperial Fists turned the Thousand Sons' flank, compromising the end of the Iron Warriors' defence line and surrounding the recently built fortress. The Thousand Sons retreated behind the secondary chaos defence lines manned by legions of Stahl's troops, and the Imperial Fists knew they would not be able to effect a breach. However, they had learnt more about the enemy astartes force, and forced the chaos forces off their primary defence lines. As the Imperial 3rd Army moved into their new positions, the Imperial Fists oversaw the destruction of the heretical defences erected by the Iron Warriors, and Konev's men dug in ready for the next offensive.
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