Chaos make progress at Pyrrho Zeta

 In the Rifts of Hecate the forces of chaos had not been making as much progress as they would have liked by early 022M42. They had sent only small forces into the Rifts to persue their own factional objectives. The Emerald Serpent were seeking ancient scrolls to help with their ongoing cataclysmic war in the Perseus Deeps, while the forces of Nurgle had been researching plague secrets. Other factions were generally no more than roving warbands looking for opportunities, and this had allowed the Imperium and the orks to get a major foothold, while the increase in activity had stirred up the dangerous and predatory nature of the hive mind.

As 03.022M42 began the Emerald Serpent struck back - pooling their resources with a small warband of Iron Warriors in order to gain a proper foothold in the Pyrrho Zeta system. Here, the Iron warriors dealt with an emerging tyranid threat, while the Thousand Sons were deployed to "discourage" the Imperium from its expansion beyond Ferrosiun. The Imperium had a strong base of operations in the Ferrosiun system and were in conflict with the Tyranids on Helos Majoris. They continued to send out scouting expeditions to other worlds and had established small bases on Lodax and Mezria, and the Thousand Sons were aware of an Adeptus Mechanicus exploration at Pyrrho Zeta.

In the ensuing engagement the Adeptus Mechanicus forces were comprehensively beaten, as the Emerald Serpent conducted near simultaneous operations against the forces of mankind and the emerging ork threat. The orks they dealt with in similar fashion, though more forces were required to complete this operation and chaos losses were not insignificant. However by the middle of 03.022M42 the worshippers of the dark gods had established control over half the sparsely populated world.