Chaos battle on in Rifts of Hecate

While the Imperium made progress in the Perseus Deeps, and the Tau started a new axis of offensives in the Zadoc subsector, the forces of chaos were still battling in the Rifts of Hecate. The ruinous powers appeared to have no overall command or plan for the campaign in this region, rather individual chaos warbands were fighting for their own goals. The Emerald Serpent and the Death Guard - the two largest organised chaos factions in the sector, had withdrawn their support from the Hadron Expanse, making no attempt to contest the Hecate Gap. However the individual warbands still represented a significant force and posed difficult obstacles for the other powers in the region.

On Calthingum, nominally a chaos controlled world, the cultists that held sway over the meagre settlements had been disrupted by an ork invasion, and in early 05.042M42 raised a host of daemons to counter the greenskin threat. Despite wielding giant war engine contraptions, the daemons battered the orks into submission, driving them away from important locations on the northern hemisphere of the sparsely populated world.

Elsewhere the tendrils of the hive fleet once again started to launch small exploratory missions to a number of worlds. One nest of Tyranids was discovered on Calthingum and eliminated, before the night lords then launched their own investigation mission to Mezria VI. Finding the world all but overrun by the xenos hive mind creatures, a fierce battle erupted. Both sides engaged in a closely fought engagement before the Night Lords, having realised the extent of the tyranid invasion, reasoned that they had successfully scouted the world, and tactically withdrew. The tyranids had only suffered minor damage overall, and the engagement led to no useful gains for either side.