Forces begin exploring the Rifts of Hecate

With the Hecate pass now stable in the Hadron Expanse, 10.021M42 saw the first expeditions to the Rifts of Hecate by several, as yet small, expeditions. The Imperium set up a crusade force that was nominally under the central control of general Percival, but in reality the astartes, adeptus mechanicus and imperial guard forces each had their own agendas. A small force of Imperial Fists were the first to make planetfall at the Calthingum system, as they had been following intelligence that the Thousand Sons were engaging in some activity on the single inhabitable world there. What they were up to was not known, and not relevant, as the Fists were only interested in disrupting them. In this however they were unsuccessful and after heavy casualties during that engagement, the astartes chapter had to re-evaluate whether pursuing the Thousand Sons into the Rifts was worth the risk.

The main engagements in the Rifts of Hecate began in the Ferrosium system, which had two habitable worlds. The larger one appeared to be an abandoned ex-human world, which was resource rich, especially in old technology and artefacts. The Imperium set up a base on Ferrosium II, the smaller, colder world, and began to send expeditions to the larger planet's surface.

Unfortunately they were not alone. Already there was a strange tribe of orks that seemed physically different from most orks previously encountered, identifying themselves as the "Hobgrobbos of Grunk Prime". Led by the strange looking but terrifyingly powerful "Areez the great green gobbo, god of the waagh!", the Ultramarines were the first to encounter this particular band of greenskins. Interupting what appeared to be a salvage mission by the orks, the Ultramarines were narrowly beaten and forced to withdraw, but the Imperial Guard special forces of the Lycanon regiment were able to successfully raid the "Hobgobbos" and determine their intentions before withdrawing to Ferrosium II. It appeared the greenskins (or yellowskins, such was the pallor of this new strain of orks), were salvaging as much scrap as possible, which posed a threat to the small imperial task force. If left unchecked, they would multiply and create giant war engines, and possibly be able to seed a new ork waagh! within the Rifts.

The imperium were not the only forces investigating the ruins of Ferrosium to encounter the orks either. A small warband of chaos astartes known as "Disciples of the red path" also encountered and were defeated by the greenskins on the world, before retreating to their lair in the Mendrus Mundi system, while the House of Eschar - a faction of the Death Guard, were also seen off by the angry orks, as Areez "the great" personally took down and banished the daemon prince "Gavinus" in hand to hand combat, confirming to the orks at least, his divinity.

The Death Guard, experimenting and researching new pathogens to unleash on the Aleph Sector, withdrew from Ferrosium following this defeat, setting up a base on Pyrrho Zeta, while the Imperium continued to establish a much larger facility within the Ferrosium system itself. Knowing the intent of the orks now, the Adeptus Mechanicus of forgeworld Stygies 8, keen to learn all they could about this ork strain and to obtain for themselves the valuable archeotech on Ferrosium I, launched their own raid against the Hobgobbos a few days later. Once again however the power of Areez was demonstrated, and the Mechanicum force was repulsed, allowing the orks to continue their asset stripping of the abandoned settlements on the larger world.

As 10.021M42 came to an end, several forces had set up bases in the Rifts of Hecate, but the Hobgobbos of Grunk Prime were proving to be the most immediate threat to the other task forces as they continued to extract resources from the Ferrosium system.