Dark Angels stubbornly defend New Cerberex

The initial phase of Operation Zephyr had gone well despite spirited resistance. The Tau had been highly successful in locating, engaging and destroying Imperial formations and those that remained had fallen back into defensive positions and began to dig in. This left the initiative completely in the hands of the Tau and in time victory would surely be assured.

Despite this there remained a risk. If Imperial forces could continue to hold out they might buy sufficient time for re-enforcements to arrive and turn the conflict into a bloody war of attrition. Dawnstrike wanted to prevent this at all costs, Tau hopes in the sub-sector rested on securing a swift series of victories whilst their enemies were distracted.

The key to breaking the Imperial defence lay in destroying the Astartes base near Mount Bone. If the Space Marines could be removed as an effective fighting force Dawnstrike was confident resistance on New Cerberex would collapse entirely. Under cover of darkness hunter cadres made up of Mu'Gulath Bay veterans moved in on the base from multiple directions with the aim of staging a decisive Mont'ka. The plan was sound and carried out almost to perfection but despite this they had underestimated their post-human opponents. The Dark Angels were well versed in the Tau methodology of war and had been expecting exactly this move.

As the lead mechanised elements of the Tau entered the outskirts of the settlement they found themselves ambushed by infiltrators. Before they could fan out to deal with the unexpected threat the swift moving forces of the Ravenwing launched their own assault, bottling up the Tau and pinning them in place. In time the Tau could have dealt with this nuisance, but time was something they did not have. Reconnaissance drones spotted the lumbering forms of bone armoured terminators pushed out of the buildings in a long skirmish screen. By the time the Tau had extricated themselves from the ambush it would be too late.

Realising that there could be no victory here Dawnstrike ordered his forces to retreat. They could inflict some damage on the humans, but the cost would be the total loss of the cadres committed to the operation and the Tau could not countenance such a poor exchange. With the Astartes proving an intractable obstacle for the time being Dawnstrike knew they would have to find a different approach to regain the momentum on New Cerberex.