Mordecai Secundus: East Front collapse

Having broken the back of the chaos defences on the East Front, and taking the Teleor mines, the Imperium knew it had to continue the pressure and not give the forces of the enemy any time to regroup. The rush across the Howl and the taking of the mines had been such a spectacular success, but by 1605.023M42 the Librian armoured regiments were in no position to continue the push, there were no astartes on hand, and the Novgorod Guard were fully committed against the elite forces of the Emerald Serpent on the Central, Southern and Northern sectors. General Kutuzov conducted many meetings looking for any available force, and eventually managed to persuade the Adeptus Mechanicus to force a passage to Malnath, and down the broken coast into the Jurukai mines.

As the Adeptus Mechanicus force deployed directly to the Teleor mines area from orbit, without any threat of aerial interdiction, intelligence came in that nurgle forces were reinforcing the tzeentch forces around Malnath. The Mechanicum responded by diverting a significant force in the shape of a Mechanicum Knights Household to Malnath to cover their other forces who moved south with little opposition into the Jurukai mines.

The main fighting erupted around the city itself, with tzeentch and nurgle daemons attempting to defend the city from the Mechanicum knights. Early success by the beasts of nurgle wiping out a Helverin was soon reversed, as an explosive chain reaction laid low a Soul Grinder, a Lord of Change and a Warglaive around the centre of the main fighting, allowing a Questoris Knight Styrix known as "Dreadnought" to break the chaos lines, banishing a horde of flamers of tzeentch and slaying a Great Unclean One in single combat.

With their main daemon leaders slain, the remaining lesser daemons became unstable and vanished from the area, leaving the battlefield, and the city of Malnath in the hands of the Imperium, the Knight Crusader named "Warspite" marching triumphantly into the city on 1705_023M42. With the East Front now completely in disarray, only the city Talo'Khar remained in chaos hands, and the chaos forces on the other fronts now found themselves almost completely out of supply. If Talo'khar fell, the war on Mordecai Secundus would be over.

Imperial Breakthrough on Mordecai Secundus

Following on from the advance in the central sector on Mordecai Secundus, led by the Hammers of the Emperor, the forces of chaos rushed to shore up their defences to prevent a headlong rush by the Imperium across the Mekken Plateau, which would threaten the last area of strategic worth currently under chaos control. The Jurukai and Teleor mine complexes, along with the major settlements of Malnath and Talo'khar, represented the last great centres of chaos control, and were clearly now the target for the imperial offensive.

Imperial high command expected this move, and had prepared an alternative. Disguising their build up as much as they could, the Dark Angels were assigned a breakthrough mission in the north east, smashing through the chaos lines in order to let the newly arrived and significantly reinforced Librian mechanised regiments to push through in an unexpected and rapid advance across the Northern Howl, then turning south the take the Te'leor mines.

The Dark Angels quickly smashed the chaos front lines on 1305.023M42, creating a hole in the enemy defences over 50 kilometres wide. In response the forces of the dark gods raised an army of daemons in their path, but the Dark Angels cut them down, banishing the horde back to the warp. The Librian armoured forces now rolled through the gap as infantry from multiple regiments surrounded pockets of chaos defenders in the rear areas, gradually degrading them and wiping them out.

In the path of the main advance the cultists defending this sector, unprepared for the Librian armour now rolling inexorably in their direction, summoned yet another daemonhost and charged into the imperial tanks. The imperial armour of the Librians however proved to be too much for even the greater daemons of the warp to stop, as a Keeper of Secrets found its other worldly powers no match for the adamantium reinforced hull of the Librian Leman Russ, and even fiends of Slaanesh found themselves unable to break through the armour of the imperial tanks. 

Knowing the enemy well after their previous battles agains daemonic forces, the Librians concentrated their firepower first on the more numerous daemonettes, leaving the larger entities with no support, before focussing their firepower on the greatest threat, a lord of Change. With this great entity banished back to the warp, the armoured force rolled over the remaining daemonic forces, and by 1605.023M42 the Teleor mines were now in imperial hands. The war on Mordecai Secundus had entered the end game.

Fighting in the Hadron Expanse

Fighting in the Rifts of Hecate continued as 05.023M42 progressed. On Calthingum the Death Guard finally turned the static war against the greenskins decisively in their favour, destroying the remaining ork cohesion and effectively clearing the world from the greenskin threat. Meanwhile the tyranids, fresh from their consumption of the resources on Mezria IV, moved ever forwards, tendrils of the hive fleets now reaching Ferrosiun. Lacking in any meaningful fleet protection while both the Orks and Imperium geared up for their final showdown at Haven in the Hecate Gap, small bioships and pods were able to get through to the surface of both Ferrosiun Prime and Secundus. On Ferrosiun Prime inconclusive fighting did little to shake the greenskin grip on the planet, and on Ferrosiun Secundus, the site of a sizeable imperial base, the tyranid incursion was dealt with decisively by the Novgorod Guard. These were but the first tendrils however, and the other factions fighting in the Rifts of Hecate waited nervously to find out where the hive fleet would strike next.

The Aleph Sector 0705_023M42

Tau Launch Operation Zephyr

With the T'au presence on New Cerberex now revealed Dawn Strike knew that they needed to press their advantage to the maximum before the Imperium could begin to redirect forces back to the Zadoc subsector. The full strength of the T'au fleet moved into orbit around New Cerberex and the battleships began full orbital deployment of forces whilst the cruisers took up geostationary positions so as to be available for bombardment missions.

The biggest problem facing the T'au was what to do with the Dark Angels base on the world. More reckless sub-commanders argued for the adoption of Mont'ka in order to knock out the elite warriors at the start of the campaign but Dawn Strike respected the human Astartes too much to believe it would be an easy victory. With the element of surprise now gone Dawnstrike instead opted to dispatch a hunter cardre under Commander Bright Moon to pin down Dark Angels whilst his other forces spread out from the beach head with the intent of crushing the scattered and weaker Militarum formations whilst they were still scrambling to organise themselves.

In the south battle was soon joined with the remaining Librian mechanised formations as a hunter cadre under Commander Sure Strike attempted to move into the planet's vital space port. Once again the Librians put up a fierce fight and initially had the advantage over their T'au opponents. The Librians faced the T'au with a wall of armoured fighting vehicles and tanks, and a vigorous exchange of fire forces the T'au to close and try to silence the big guns in close combat. Although they were successful and caused major casualties amongst the supporting infantry, outflanking Hellhounds backed by Chimera transport vehicles caused carnage amongst the T'au and kroot infantry, with only the T'au Ghost Keels proving a difficult challenge for the Librian armoured regiment.

With all his cunning and patience, Sure Strike maintained the pressure and as night fell the fighting finally died off. The T'au had made no progress but the Librian's stocks of ammunition and fuel were exhausted and they were given no choice but to fall back into the city of New Feducia and dig in for a final stand whilst the T'au claimed the port facilities and surrounded the city.

Meanwhile Dawn Strike's own cadres sped across the northern lowlands and down into the western coastal region. To their surprise they met little opposition and began to fear a trap had been set for them. The cadres broke up into smaller forces so they could cover more ground and a small hunter cadre finally located the enemy in the beautific coastal village of Laurier. Realising that only a small enemy force opposed him the fireblade commanding the cadre chose to attack immediately rather than wait for re-enforcment and risk the possibility his enemy might dig in or slip away.

It proved to be a sound decision. A hammerhead tank formed the bait of the Kauyon as it exchanged fire with a large and hitherto unknown class of Imperial tank. As the two vehicles duelled a lone ghostkeel slipped around the flank and destroyed the formidable heavy tank that was the linchpin of the Imperial position. T'au fire warriors advanced whilst laying down disciplined volleys of fire and the Imperial defences began to crumble before collapsing entirely. The T'au encountered no further opposition and they continued to sweep south down the coast. Either the Imperials had concentrated all their forces in the capital or they had chosen to withdraw to avoid being cut off and surrounded by their more mobile enemy.

The attack on the Dark Angel's base under Commander Bright Moon was repulsed with heavy losses, with the T'au commander succumbing bizarrely to a random psychic event that neither side were able to explain. Dawn Strike hadn't allowed himself to hope they would destroy the elite Astartes but the casualties had proved more costly than he had feared, the post human warrior's having prepared their own Kauyon. Rather than break out the Dark Angels dug in and strengthened their position. Their numbers were few and it was clear they believed the defence of rest of the planet to be untenable in the face of the T'aus overwhelming advantage in mobility, logistics and momentum. They would make their stand at the base of Mount Bone until re-enforcements could reach them or else die gloriously for their corpse emperor. Either way the T'au would have to deal with them before they could claim control of the planet. 

In Imperial High command there was significant consternation at the T'au progress and the slowness of the Imperial response. Lord Admiral Jellicoe had for weeks been concerned at the lack of fleet presence in the Zadoc subsector, and at the initial invasion had ordered Admiral Craddock to the area from the Hadron Expanse. Now the battleship Vanguard and four other capital ships had arrived at Hylas, and prepared to make the warp jump to the New Cerberex system. Meanwhile General Gort was appointed by Lord Commander Baran Price, to immediately prepare an army to reinforce the New Cerberex system, or if necessary, reinvade.

Battles in the Rifts of Hecate

As 05.023M42 began the fighting in the Rifts of Hecate continued. The Imperium and Tau were less active as they fought their other wars in the Perseus Deeps and Zadoc subsector, but the other factions were no less active in their quest for domination over the key worlds near the Hecate Gap. 

On Mezria IV the orks landed, presumably with the intention of finding another world to plunder, but ran straight into a horde of xenos creatures. The tyranids had not been inactive in the Rifts and had been preparing the world for consumption by the Hive Mind. The orks battled furiously but where quickly overwhelmed by the tyranids and destroyed. This action raised the alarm amongst the necrons who realised that significant necron artefacts would be lost were the planet to be consumed by the alien menace. Launching a raid into the Mezria IV system the necrons attempted to obtain their ancient artefacts before the tyranids destroyed the world for good, but they were unsuccessful in the face of overwhelming tyranid force. Having dealt with the orks and necrons the tyranids proceeded with their plan, and by mid 05.023M42 the worlds of Mezria IV had been utterly consumed, their biomass and surface crust turned into building blocks for more tyranid life forms.

Mezria IV wasn't the only world to suffer raids as the necrons became increasingly concerned by the lower races' activity in the region. Lacking the strength to simply push their enemies aside the lords of the necron race decided on a strategy of search and retrieval, and another force was sent to the chaos controlled world of Calthingum to rescue more tomb secrets from a world that had once been part of their mighty empire in ages past. This time the necrons were successful, forcing aside an Iron Warriors army that had been investigating the ruins of the necron civilisation. One tomb at least had been saved from the predations of the lesser races.

the necron raid presented the Drukhari with an opportunity, or so they thought. With the main armed forces of chaos distracted by the necrons, the chaos settlements clustering around the tomb complex on Calthinghum's southern hemispheres ought to be easy pickings for a slave raid. However the dark eldar had miscalculated, and as soon as their raiders left Commorragh and appeared on the world, they found the cultists were not as defenceless as they had believed. A host of daemons was summoned to oppose the raiding Drukhari, and despite taking down a Keeper of Secrets, the host of other worldly beings devastated the dark eldar raiders, and few escaped back into the webway.

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.

Tau invade New Cerberex - Zadoc subsector

The T'au Empire had been patiently watching and waiting as the Imperium became more and more overstretched. With the Imperium sinking most of its resources into the Hecate Gap crusade and the grinding war of attrition on Mordecai, and what little strength was left busy fighting fires across an entire sector, the Zadoc subsector was left virtually undefended. Any re-enforcements would have to be withdrawn from other critical warzones. Plans to initiate a new expansion sphere were already well underway when Farseer Tarquil from Kel Sandros arrived to pledge his craftworld's full military and diplomatic assistance to such an endeavor provided the Tau would agree to avoid certain areas of nearby space the Aeldari had proscribed as off limits.

With the last Imperial fleet suddenly being withdrawn and dispatched to the Valitane sub-sector the T'au knew there would never have a better opportunity to attack. A fleet entered the New Cerberex system and took advantage of gaps in the Imperial sensor net to build up a considerable bridgehead in the unpopulated wilderness areas of the planet. The first Imperial forces knew of the Tau presence was when a vital power relay station came under orbital bombardment from a cloaked Tau battleship. Astra Militarum defenders began rushing to defend the station only to find Tau ground forces already there.

Commander Dawnstrike, living up to his moniker, attacked out of the morning mists with a sizeable force of armoured vehicles and battlesuits. His intention was to ensure the destruction of the hardened power substations which mostly lay buried beneath the surface. His mont'ka was perfectly executed and the lead Leman Russ tanks detonated as they were ambushed at point blank range by crisis teams and enfiladed by Hammerhead tanks.

Despite the initial success things soon started to go wrong for the Tau as Imperial resistance proved unexpectedly effective. The Librian regiments stationed at the plant, thought to be poor quality rear-echelon units, instead showed a high level of training and co-ordination despite the dire circumstances and re-enforcements began arriving from all directions. Soon it was the Tau that were surrounded and fighting for their lives.

Casualties began to mount and Dawnstrike himself was surrounded and pounded by small arms until he was forced to burn his thrusters and disengage by launching his coldstar battlesuit like a ballistic missile into the skies. After hours of fighting the battered remnants of the hunter cadre fell back and ceded the field to the Librians, but they had completed their task. The relay stations were smoking ruins and much of New Cerberex's defence infrastructure now lacked power.

As Dawnstrike floated in his convalescence tank he made a note to upgrade his assessment of the planet's defenders, but also noted that for all their competence the Librians had exhibited poor morale and seemed little inclined to die in the cause of an Imperium which treated them with hatred and suspicion following their worlds defection to the Federacy. Maybe words could achieve the Tau aims more cleanly than force?

The Battle of Primaris Run - Decisive Imperial Victory

Prelude to Battle

Admiral Stark was quick to attempt to capitalise on the success of defeat of the two chaos cruisers that had tried to disupt the convoy route, and sent his plans by astropathic message to Jellicoe back at Vastrid. The Lord Admiral sent back a response approving of Stark's next action, aware that if anything went wrong it would be Jellicoe, not his subordinate who would shoulder any blame directed at battlefleet Aleph. Many in battlefleet Ultima were still not impressed at the unexpected removal of the late Lord Admiral Bova Magnus, and the mysterious reappearance of the presumed dead Jellicoe, so he reasoned that Stark could be protected from the political machinations of the Imperial Navy, leaving his admirals to get on with the job of fighting the enemy.

Stark's hunch was that the enemy would not have sortied with only one or two cruisers, but that the appearance of chaos heavy ships attacking the convoy was aimed to provoke an imperial response, such as a cruiser force to protect the convoys, as he had discerned that the enemy's plan was likely to pick off portions of the imperial fleet piecemeal, until the numbers were less unfavourable to the forces of chaos. Stark however, planned a surprise for this fleet. The ships had been positively identified as those loyal to Tragean, or rather traitor admiral Khazia, and the imperial admiral knew that this likely meant the rest of his fleet would be loose in the system, but not, probably, those of the Emerald Serpent. It was a risk, but one Stark thought worth taking. He took his own battlegroup headed by the battleship Kirov, and headed in system, attempting to bring the faster chaos fleet to battle under favourable circumstances, if there was in fact any fleet at all.

What then followed for Stark on 1604.023M42, was a series of events that were part providence, and part tactical brilliance by the imperial admiral, not just because of his masterful knowledge of imperial tactics, but because he read his opponent correctly. His experienced crew then provided the final edge which put the chaos fleet at an appalling disadvantage before the first shot had even been fired. As soon as long range augur probes detected the enemy fleet, admiral Stark recognised the characteristic cross formation, indicating the chaos forces would try to envelop him. Quickly he ordered the imperial fleet to form into a protective sphere, but as the chaos fleet moved towards him, now obviously accepting battle, the admiral changed his plan again, outmanoeuvring admiral Khazia to end up enveloping the chaos fleet.

This, was risky. As the two fleets approached the imperial fleet detached Tannenberg and Tsushima, leaving them facing the chaos fleet with their powerful prow nova cannons, while the rest of his fleet now moved up the chaos left flank, putting Kirov and the rest of the imperial battlefleet prow on and ready to strike. This was a dangerous ploy, as if the chaos fleet detected the imperial vessels as they moved amongst the gas clouds and asteroid belts cluttering the space between Mordecai Primaris and Secundus, he would be facing the entire enemy fleet's broadsides before Stark could charge in with a torpedo strike. Now he had to hold his nerve and trust in the frontal armour of his ships.

The Battle

The opening salvoes of the battle of Primaris Run took place at 15:20 local system time, and it was the imperial fleet that fired first. The chaos fleet of admiral Khazia had finally become aware of the enemy's plans but were slow in powering up weapons systems, and before they had managed to come to full readiness, the imperial fleet was opening fire and had loosed their first wave of torpedoes. The battle of Primaris Run had started.

Imperial report excerpt follows:

15:24 - Torpedoes launched from Narva, Eagle, Viper squadron and Kirov towards van of enemy fleet. Narva and Eagle detached to move round enemy's rear, firing macro batteries and lances at enemy from their port quarter. Enemy fleet seen to take evasive manoeuvres. 

15:50 - Nova cannon fire from Tsushima, Izmail and Tannenberg is accurate. Decisive shot believed from Tsushima. Enemy grand cruiser Pestilent Miasma heavily damaged and seen breaking off action.

15:51 - Torpedo wave arrives at chaos fleet. Enemy hades class Doombringer seen on fire and crippled by mass torpedo salvoes.

15:53 - Chaos fleet returns fire but believed hampered by clouds of gas, radiation and debris from imperial fire. Various chaos vessels taking evasive action from torpedoes. Chaos fleet focusses flagship but return fire is poor and largely inaccurate due to our surprise strike. Kirov focussed but damage is not critical.

15:56 - Report all ships reloaded torpedoes. Eagle preparing to send bomber wave to chaos fleet. Flagship will be target.

15:59 - Enemy flagship Mutable Transfiguration focussed with torpedoes, bombers and weapons batteries from our van. Kirov recovering from damage. Chaos flagship confirmed heavily damaged as a result of our actions. Enemy heavy cruiser Doombringer out of control and on fire.

16:10 - Enemy flagship Mutable Transfiguration has lost shields and is trying to disengage.

16:12 - Confirm enemy flagship on fire and out of control. Suspect total power failure. Doombringer confirmed out of action and drifting.

16:14 - Tannenberg and Tsushima closing with enemy fleet from the port bow.

16:16 - Tannenberg rammed by enemy cruiser Unbridled Depravity, Captain of Tannenberg reporting minimal damage but under heavy fire from chaos fleet. Enemy wave of assault boats seen inbound on Tannenberg's position.

16:18 - Tannenberg reporting loss of all weapons to enemy assault boat attacks. Have given permission for disengagement. Rapturous Agony duelling with Eagle and Narva.

16:19 - Narva reports Rapturous Agony heavily damaged and disengaging. By the Emperor I think we may be in for a stunning victory.

16:20 - Tsushima reports accurate nova cannon shot. Devastation class cruiser Unbridled Depravity disengages from battle.

16:25 - Tannenberg reports successful disengagement from battle.

16:30 - Doomblade only chaos ship remaining hostile. Have regrouped fleet to give her full broadside. Viper squadron ordered to torpedo her.

16:41 - Viper squadron torpedo run successful. Enemy carnage vessel Doomblade suffers plasma drive overload. No damage to imperial vessels.

16:45 - Confirm no enemy hostile vessels remain. Receiving damage reports. We have secured tremendous success here today.

Aftermath

The final result of the battle of Primaris Run could not be described as anything other than a stunning imperial victory. For the price of light damage to the battleship Kirov, and the heavily damaged Tannenberg, admiral Stark had secured the loss of three enemy capital ships including a heavy cruiser and a battleship, as well as heavy damage to a grand cruiser and two more cruisers. The Imperium celebrated this success with sector wide broadcasts, and Lord Admiral Jellicoe publicly announced admiral Stark's promotion to High Admiral, along with the highest campaign medal he was able to bestow on his subordinate, the Star of Ultima.

The fate of Khazia the Schemer was less glorious, as, on his drifting and battered ship the Mutable Transfiguration, the millennia old worshipper of the dark gods found to his cost, the price of failure. His body writhing in agony as the chaos gods withdrew their patronage, mutations running wild, Khazia the Schemer became Khazia, the cursed, chaos spawn of Tzeentch.

In the Mordecai system the strategic value of this victory was immense and immediate. The crippled chaos ships not only fled, but Tragean withdrew his remaining vessels from the entire system, leaving only the Emerald Serpent now to oppose the imperial vessels and supply train. Even more significant, the diminishing threat from chaos raiders allowed Stark to send Admiral Hughes' powerful fleet, with many squadrons of fighters and bombers, to provide air support and bombardments to Kutuzov's army. For the first time, the Imperium now looked in a strong position to actually finish the campaign on Mordecai Secundus.

Order of Battle

Imperial Fleet (Admiral Stark)

Kirov - Retribution class battleship - light damage

Narva - Gothic class cruiser

Tsushima - Dominator class cruiser

Tannenberg - Dominator class cruiser - crippled

Izmail - Dominator class cruiser

Eagle - Dictator class cruiser (attached from admiral Dreyer)

3 Viper class escorts

Chaos Fleet (Khazkia the Schemer)

Mutable Transfiguration - Despoiler class battleship - hulked

Pestilent Miasma - Repulsive class grand cruiser - crippled

Doombringer - Hades class heavy cruiser - hulked

Doomblade - Carnage class cruiser - exploded

Rapturous Agony - Carnage class cruiser - crippled

Unbridled Depravity - Devastation class cruiser - crippled

Imperial convoys attacked at Mordecai

For many months the chaos fleet had been holed up in their base at Mordecai docks. The docks themselves were too powerful and too close to Astralis for the imperial fleets to challenge, but the fleet "in being" was making almost no contribution to the war in the Mordecai system. At the docks two fleets remained, those of the Emerald Serpent but also two battlegroups who pledged allegience to Lord Tragean, lord of Kendrenec. Tragean himself had grown tired of the war on Mordecai, and although his two fleets remained in situ in the system, he gave overall command to the fleets to the chaos lord Khazia the Schemer, while Tragean himself pursued his pursuit of power with the dark god Tzeentch, uninterested in the fate of Mordecai or that of the Emerald Serpent. Mad admiral Thok had also not been seen for many years, and Warsmith Stahl hadn't been seen since the debacle at Hexis, having apparently returned to the Enceladus subsector to brood, and imperial intelligence were now confident that the forces they had deployed in the system would be difficult to challenge.

The Imperium was not without its own difficulties, as Admiral Hector had been withdrawn from the sector, and Jellicoe had to ensure the entire remit of his domain was adequately protected, which given the reach of the extended campaigns was a serious challenge, but by 04.023M42 the admiral was reasonably confident that the Imperium had a three to two advantage in capital ships in the system, though the power of Astralis and the actual fleet numbers at the disposal of the Emerald Serpent was difficult to accurately assess. Jellicoe also had confidence in the overall command of the four battlegroups at Mordecai, which he gave to Admiral Stark. Stark was a bold and confident admiral, something Jellicoe admired, and the lord Admiral had good reason to be confident as his subordinate had regularly delivered decisive imperial victories.

Admiral Stark, with his flag aboard the Kirov, a mighty retribution class battleship, had three other battlegroups under his command, making four in total. His own personal command was reinforced by admiral Dreyer's and that of admiral Hughes, while his own protégé admiral Gorshkov commanded another force, which had now been tasked with escorting the vital convoys from the system's jump point to the warzone at Mordecai Secundus. Stark himlelf along with Dreyer, stood guard against any sortie by the chaos fleets from their anchorage, while admiral Hughes was assigned to patrol the outer reaches of the system and crucially the jump points into the system.

In mid 04.023M42 the change in chaos posture within the system became evident with multiple contacts being picked up by a convoy as it transferred men and materiel to the armies of Kutuzov. The cruisers Narva, a gothic class and the Eagle, a dictator class on loan from admiral Dreyer's fleet moved in swiftly to investigate while ordering the transports to form up into a single squadron for mutual defence. Soon attack waves of bombers appeared to harass the convoy, but these were easily dealt with. More worryingly, no sooner had the chaos attack craft been dealt with than the augurs detected what appeared to be two capital class chaos vessels.

The commodore aboard the Narva ordered battle stations, and soon engaged in a duel with a carnage class vessel that did not appear to be loyal to the Emerald Serpent. The Narva joined battle quickly, but not before the enemy vessel had taken down two of the eight transports. Then, a squadron of chaos escorts materialised in front of the Eagle, with yet another contact appearing off the dictator class's bow. The captain of the Eagle wasted no time for confirmation of the contacts and launched all bomber waves against the escorts, while issuing orders for a full broadside. Meanwhile, taking a risk, he ordered the torpedoing of the unknown contract off the bow, before setting all ahead full to deal with this new unidentified enemy.

The Eagle's bold move took the chaos escorts completely off guard, and they were quickly destroyed. Meanwhile the duel between the carnage class and the Narva reached a crescendo, with the chaos vessel concentrating on the transports the Narva was unmolested as it patiently took aim with its massive lance batteries. The Narva's accuracy was creditible, and although the chaos cruiser managed to take out a third transport, the enemy vessel was driven off, heavily damaged by Narva's guns and a torpedo strike. While the Narva duelled the carnage class, the Eagle now saw what the enemy contact was, as the hasty torpedo salvo detonated against the thick hull plating of a hades class heavy cruiser. Not expecting the sudden appearance of torpedoes while still apparently hidden from the imperial vessel, the hades barely made any move to avoid the torpedoes, and the damage was severe. With one salvo the eagle had crippled the enemy heavy cruiser, and to add insult to injury the captain of the imperial ship moved in, silencing the enemy ships guns and boarding the vessel. 

Having dealt with the two cruisers and escorts, the engagement then turned to mopping up. A few more attack waves were spotted and dealt with, and the remaining five transports, who themselves had acted creditably in the action using their limited gun batteries to aid the Narva, made it safely to Mordecai Secundus. As a bonus, the Eagle sent the now captured badly damaged hades class back to the imperial docks as a prize of war, while messaging admiral Stark. Stark immediately judged that this meant lord Tragean's subordinate, Khazia the Schemer, was probably at large in force, and sent Dreyer to Mordecai Tersius in case of a sneak attack, while he ordered Eagle and Narva to rendezvous with him near Mordecai Secundus, where a sudden strike by one chaos battlefleet would be the most damaging.

Orks eliminate Ferrosiun Prime Bridgehead

As 04.023M42 began, the decisive battles for the Hecate Gap worlds had still not taken place. The Tau prepared for the imperial assault on Ergura's Fall, while the Imperium continued to prepare to take on the Orks at Haven. In the meantime the war for the Rifts of Hecate worlds continued as Inquisitor Huron urged general Maximus to pursue an "all fronts" strategy and not to wait until success in the Hecate Gap.

This strategy suffered a setback in the Ferosiun system however in early 04.023M42, as the imperial bridgehead won by the astartes on Ferosiun Prime, came under unexpected attack from the greenskins as the imperial guard were deploying to take the offensive to the orks.

unexpected, because instead of their larger brethren, the greenskin attack was led by the diminutive "grots", who attacked in overwhelming numbers. Imperial intelligence had clearly underestimated the combat strength of this force as it became known to general Maximus that they had known about the grot horde, but merely considered it a non combat formation. This error would cost many imperial lives as well as the future prospects of the imperial intelligence cadre working for the crusade general.

Wave after wave of greenskins overwhelmed the imperial defensive lines, and each time their lines were cleared there were fewer defenders, and with the orbital landers unable to reinforce to make good these losses, it was only a matter of time before those imperial defenders left on Ferosiun Prime were overrun and the imperial bridgehead lost. Unwilling to reinforce failure and cost more lives, the imperial battlegroup retreated away from the inner planet, leaving it to the greenskins for now, and consigning any imperial prisoners to a short brutal life as a slave to the greenskin race.

Mordecai Secundus: Hammers of the Emperor Breakthrough

By late 03.023M42 the forces of chaos were decidedly on the back foot following victories by the Imperial Guard and the ever increasing supplies now reaching the system thanks to the protection of no fewer than four imperial battlegroups in the system. The power of Astralis maintained the chaos logistics but the inactivity or inability of the chaos warfleets to oppose the imperial fleets had ensured that as the armies of general Kutuzov expanded their control over the vital resources of Mordecai Secundus, the gap between the chaos forces reinforcements and those of the Imperium of Mankind continued to widen.

To capitalise on this Kutuzov asked his council of war for new plans for a breakthrough, and the Hammers of the Emperor, having fully recovered from their losses in previous actions offered to decisively break the chaos lines and drive deep into enemy territory, on two fronts simultaneously, in three carefully planned operations.

In the central sector the Hammers drove swiftly west, hoping to take the chaos forts of Parganath just north of the Sarkar Traps, and fort Mekken, guarding the high ground of the Mekken plateau. In the east, a smaller operation would drive the chaos forces out of the Abrax mines once and for all, and in both cases the Imperial Guard would follow up behind and dig into new defences.

The success of these operations would break the chaos forces in the central sector, while shoring up the east front. If the astartes achieved their objectives, the way would be open for a grand offensive over the Mekken plateau and down into the Jurukai mines, all but ensuring victory for the Imperium on Mordecai Secundus.

In all three operations the Hammers quickly overwhelmed the light forces holding the front lines, but were opposed rapidly by elite chaos knight formations that threatened to block the astartes advance and undo the whole operation. At fort Parganath, the astartes faced two blocks of enemy war machines, but were able to utilise their speed and mobility to focus down one flank, then turn their attention to the other. Fort Parganath fell in hours and the Imperial Guard began moving up behind.

On the east front, the marines were also successful, although the battle was far less one sided. The knights took a terrible toll on the marines but were forced to withdraw having lost all but one of their mighty war engines. The sacrifice of many marines was worth it however, as the Abrax mines were retaken and the east front shored up.

Fort Mekken was a different story however. Once again the chaos knights deployed in two supporting echelons, but this time the Hammers were unable to separate them as they supported one another. The fighting bogged down into violent close range melee, and the marines found themselves now surrounded and in desperate straits. The Guard, realising the fort would not fall dug in where they were, in case of a breakthrough, though the Hammers and chaos logistics prevented this from happening. A company of astartes was all but wiped out however, and fort Mekken stayed in chaos hands, stubbornly holding out and preventing any massive imperial breakthrough.

Despite the setback at Mekken, the Imperium had made good, if not spectacular progress, and while the chaos central sector hadn't completely collapsed, fort Mekken was now the last bastion of chaos force preventing the Imperium from driving west in strength.

Rifts of Hecate update

By 04.023M42 the Imperium had gone on the offensive once again in the Rifts of Hecate. Encouraged by Inquisitor Huron general Maximus saw an opportunity to enhance his flagging career having been demoted by the newly appointed overall commander of astra militarum forces in the sector - Baran Price. However as this news filtered back to the sector capital on Vastrid this caused some disquiet. Supply lines to the Hadron Expanse remained overstretched, the war on Mordecai was far from won and the Imperial Navy did not have enough forces or reliable warp lanes to adequately provide the logistics for a proper campaign, and protect the Imperial interests in the Hadron Expanse.

Worse, the Imperium hadn't yet achieved victory in the Hecate Gap. Granted recent battles had seen the forces of chaos, the tyranids and necrons abandon the attempt to gain control over the gap, at least for now, but the Tau and orks remained entrenched, and the eldar were increasingly worried that an overstretched Imperium was not aligned to its overall goals. While the Imperium kept winning this didn't seem to be an imminent threat, but Sector Cardinal Valentina Schumadz sent an urgent message to general Maximus, demanding he secure the gap and that all further offensive operations on new world must first be cleared with high command on Vastrid.

Mordecai: Central Sector Advance

In 03.023M42 the Imperium opened a new offensive on Mordecai Secundus with the help of the Dark Angels. Their supply lines now in much better shape compared to their enemy on the planet, major operations could once again be resumed, and the new offensive targeted the forts opposing the imperial lines of the central sector. The plan by general Kutuzov was to take at least one of these forts using the astartes, before following up with the imperial guard, and in time perhaps cut off, or force the withdrawal of, chaos forces occupying the narrow strip of land west of Nazurgal and fort Pargenath.

The operation went well, although the fighting between the Dark Angels and Night Lords for the chaos forts was intense and brutal. Neither side were in the mood for giving any quarter, and for the Dark Angels it was also a matter of pride, their forces having suffered a defeat at the hands of their traitorous brethren in recent months. After a hard fight however, the Night Lords force was eliminated, opening up the chaos defensive line next to the northern Sarkar Traps and allowing the other imperial forces to exploit the gap. By the beginning of 04.023M42 the chaos forces in the narrow land strip to the south were now at risk of encirclement, and the advantage on Mordecai continued to slip gradually in favour of the Imperium.

Ferrosiun Prime invaded

As the beachhead on Pyrrho Zeta was first secured then expanded, general Maximus detailed a task force supported by Admiral Sommerville's fleet to land a force on Ferrosiun Prime. The Imperium by 03.023M42 had built a significant base of operations on Ferrosiun Secundus, and with at least one Inquisitor giving approval to recommence offensive operations, clearing the orks from Ferrosiun Prime was the obvious next step.

With the majority of the Blood Fang orks engaged at Haven, the imperial forces landing on Ferrosiun Prime knew they would like not immediately face the strongest opposition, and this assumption proved correct as the Novgorod Guard were able to land and build up significant strength before being challenged by the greenskins. The greenskins that attacked were known to be from the "hobbgobbos of Grunk Prime" and still posed a significant threat however, and the Novgorod Guard deployed to meet them.

On the imperial left flank the mobile infantry in chimeras were able to set up heavy weapons teams armed with lascannons that dominated the main firing lines, taking out much of the enemy ork armour. Meanwhile the novgorod tanks led the advance into the main ork throng, blowing significant holes in the mass of greenskins facing them. Many of the tanks were lost, especially on the right flank, where they rolled into well equipped elite ork forces and their HQ formations, including a big mek and an unidentified "big ork on a squig". The ork counter charge into the imperial armour however put the greenskins in range of the imperial cavalry, who performed their own counter charge that broke the ork resistance. Having destroyed the initial resistance the imperial forces now fanned out to extend their control over the junk ridden wastelands of the main continent.

Pyrrho Zeta: Imperial Advances

During 03.023M42 the battles for Haven and Ergura's Fall had briefly paused, as many of the factions consolidated or withdrew their forces on those two worlds, and the remaining combatants prepared for an inevitable showdown. On Haven the Imperium were building up their forces to conduct an all out offensive against the orks, while on Ergura's Fall general Maximus was organising his forces to take on the Tau, who were themselves preparing for the imperial onslaught.

Within the Rifts themselves the Imperium - despite being told by Inquisitor Esquerra to withdraw, were building up their forces and going on the offensive, in line with Inquisitor Huron's instructions. Huron was confident of victory in the Hecate Gap, and saw no reason to wait for this success before continuing the crusade into the Rifts. In his view, the pessimistic assessment by his colleague was incorrect, and the combined threats from the necrons, tyranids and orks had not materialised into the sector threatening combination that Esquerra apparently feared.

With the order given to continue into the Rifts, crusade general Maximus wasted no time in assembling strike forces to push forward in two systems he had established bases at already. On Pyrho Zeta the initial garrison was first made aware they would soon be evacuated, then had that order cancelled and were told that they would soon be reinforced. In mid 03.023M42 the Unnumbered Sons astartes chapter arrived on the world delivering a surgical strike against the necron forces that had been keeping an eye on the imperial garrison. This decisive victory then paved the way for Imperial Guard reinforcement, but not before the Drukhari decided to intervene.

Either for their own profit or because the dark eldar feared the Imperium would find secrets the xenos would rather stay hidden, the drukhari launched a raid against the newly arrived imperial forces on Pyrrho Zeta. The xenos were unpleasantly surprised however by a force of Adeptus Custodes that had deployed with the imperial invasion force to counter such unexpected eventualities. The elite imperial force battered the dark eldar, forcing them to retreat back into the webway. With the imperial beachhead on Pyrrho Zeta now secure, the Imperium moved forward in a more deliberate fashion, employing units of the Imperial Guard from the Novgorod regiments.

On 2803.02342 the Guard forces moved out into the plains of Pyrrho Zeta to be immediately met by a large necron force. The Necron army surged forward only to have their front line annihilated by a massed cavalry charged which decimated the massed infantry wave under the impact of exploding lances. The imperial tanks engaged the Necron fire support in an unequal duel which they quickly won, and in a desperate attempt to reclaim the initiative the Necrons then brought down a monolith and counter charged. The nightbringer materialised in the middle of the militarum lines and slew the marshal directing the attack but the counter attack, whilst inflicting some damage and killing most of the cavalry, failed to blunt the Novgarod's momentum and the Necron lines rapidly collapsed as the tanks pushed forward.

By the end of 03.023M42 the necron presence on Pyrrho Zeta had been neutralised, the imperial perimeter secured, and fresh waves of reinforcements and supplies were now arriving on the world. Now the Imperium only needed to deal with the chaos occupation of the southern hemisphere and the system would be controlled by Maximus' crusade.

Rifts of Hecate battles continue

While the battle in the Hecate Gap raged with the Imperium getting the upper hand, battles in the Rifts of Hecate proper reignited. If the Imperium did secure the Gap, it would become all the more important for the other factions to secure bases in the Rifts to avoid being steam-rollered by the Imperial Crusade. At the same time the factions of heretics and xenos sought to undermine the positions already held in the region by imperial garrisons. 

The first of the renewed conflicts in the Rifts of Hecate flared up on Helos Majoris, the main imperial base in the Rifts themselves. With most of general Maximus' armies now engaged on Ergura's Fall and Haven, the Drukhari thought they would opportunistically raid the world, sending a force to obtain slaves and equipment while also damaging as much imperial infrastructure as they could.

Unfortunately for the Dark Eldar, a company of the Unnumbered Sons, not seen before in the sector, had quietly arrived in the area and responded quickly to the imperial garrison's distress calls. The astartes caught the xenos raiding force by surprise and quickly annihilated them, freeing the slaves and minimising the damage to imperial infrastructure.

On Pyrrho Zeta the Night Lords were pursuing their own aims for their dark gods, which mostly included raiding necron tombs for artefacts and supplies. Not realising the necrons were not in fact in suspended animation the Night Lords blundered into one such tomb and quickly found themselves in a violent firefight. The guns of the necron force overwhelmed the traitor astartes and this particular mission had to be aborted.

On Calthingum the chaos held bases found themselves assaulted by ork forces in early 03.023M42, as the continued violence in the area brought more and more greenskins flocking to the fight. This particular band of Bloodfang orks may have been part of a wider strategic operation by the greenskins, were destined for Haven and got lost, or had decided to make a detour to fight some chaos forces. In any event the brutal xenos race landed in force, and the chaos garrison on Calthingum resorted to summoning a horde of Khorne daemons to oppose the invader.

The appearance of greater daemons seemed to energise the orks however, and a violent and disorganised melee erupted around a major chaos held installation. Despite killing the ork Warboss, the appearance of another - or the same ork Stompa as the one seen elsewhere (the random spatial-temporal nature of ork tellyporta technology not precluding the possibility of the Stompa effectively being in two places at once) turned the tide for the greenskins as it bludgeoned a blood thirster from existence. Seeing this the ork boyz rallied once more and overwhelmed the rest of the chaos army, securing more than a foothold on the chaos held world.

Imperium bludgeon their way forward on Mordecai

While the war for the Hecate Gap raged in the galactic East, the ongoing attritional conflict on Mordecai Secundus did not take a back seat. Both sides were somewhat exhausted and although the Imperium held a slight advantage in terms of supply, having bottled up the chaos fleet in their anchorage, Kutuzov's armies were unable to take full advantage, lacking a safe passage across the Cicatrix Maledictum, and with Army Group Perseus still competing with Army Group Hadron for the precious reinforcements of personnel and equipment.

By late 02.023M42 Kutuzov had received new regiments of Librian Guard, even though their homeworld was now part of the secessionist Federacy. He was assured by the Commissariat that their loyalty was not in question, though their fighting ability had not been tested for some time. With this in mind the general assigned the 51st Mechanised Regiment the task of retaking the Abrax mines, knowing that should they fail, the strategic situation on the Eastern Front wouldn't likely be too detrimental.

The Librian force rolled into the now chaos held western reaches of the mine complex without meeting much resistance, but were soon opposed by an elite force of Emperor's Children. The mechanised troops forced their way forward, supported by Leman Russ, and although the traitor astartes were able to move into close combat with the armoured formations, the Librians proved extremely stubborn. Casualties soon mounted on both sides, but the chaos forces found it difficult to take down the heavily armoured imperial tanks, and after several hours of hard inconclusive fighting, were forced to withdraw due to worsening supply issues.

The battle hadn't been a stunning victory for the newly arrived Librians, but the inconclusive engagement ended up favouring the Imperium, and the guard regiment was able to hold on to a small section of the mining complex. Satisfied with the performance of the Librian regiments, Kutuzov drew up plans for his next offensive.

Tau suffer major setback on Ergura's Fall

While major fighting continued on Haven, the Imperium were still keen to advance on Ergura's Fall. the world had become a conflict between the Tau, Imperium and forces of chaos, but as the tide turned against the worshippers of the dark gods strategically, imperial command judged that a general withdrawal of chaos forces was now likely. The necrons continued to be a problem around their tomb worlds, but the Tau were the major force that needed to be dealt with.

General Maximus was unable to allocate any fresh troops to operations on Ergura's Fall, so Inquisitor Huron, having been rescued from his excursions on Haven, turned to his own contacts to defeat the Tau, securing the assistance of a force of Grey Knights, who deployed onto the world and immediately planned a shock assault against Tau positions.

The Tau were taken completely by surprise by the appearance of the elite forces of the Inquisition, and although they put up a strong fight, the battle in the rolling plains that characterised the system's only habitable world was extremely one sided. The Tau forces who engaged the Grey Knights were obliterated, and the xenos force lost an entire Hunter Cadre and were forced to retreat. The Tau forces on Ergura's Fall had now lost a third of their strength, and the Imperium now had breathing space to finish off the orks on Haven before turning their full strength to securing the second system vital to controlling the Hecate Gap.

Violent Escalation on Haven

In early 023M42 Inquisitor Esquerra had issued an edict for the Imperium to secure the Hecate Gap by taking the worlds of Ergura's Fall and Haven, while preparing to evacuate the Rifts of Hecate, closing the gap in the warp storms once and for all. In an agreement with Inquisitor Huron, also working in the Hadron Expanse, Huron would seek the remaining necron Nexus Arrangement in the Rifts of Hecate, oversee the withdrawal of imperial forces from the region, secure the necron Tomb complex on Haven where another Nexus Arrangement was holding the Hecate Gap open, and close the Gap.

The rationale for closing the Gap was clear. Although the Rifts of Hecate were rich in resources, the combined threats of tyranids, necrons and lately a powerful greenskin infestation put the Imperium at risk. Imperial forces were already overstretched and at the end of a tenuous supply line in 023M42, and Esquerra wanted to secure the Imperium's logistics before attempting a crusade into new or in this case long lost territories. Inquisitor Esquerra had left on urgent business elsewhere, leaving Huron to oversee events in the Hadron Expanse, but Huron had other ideas.

The tomb complex containing the Nexus Arrangement holding the Hecate Gap open had fallen into ork hands, but the orks as yet hadn't figured out the importance of their find. With the Imperial armies actually doing rather well on both Haven and Ergura's Fall, despite the supply situation, Huron made the unilateral decision to change Esquerra's edict, conquer both systems in the Hecate Gap, and move forward with the Crusade in the Rifts of Hecate.

To do this Huron, with one Nexus Arrangement in his possession, moved to Haven in order to scout out personally the situation around the necron tomb complex now in the hands of the orks. He didn't bother to tell any military personnel of the importance or even existence of the ancient xenos artefacts, reasoning that ignorance was the best defence. Unfortunately on this scouting mission, the Inquisitor and his retinue found themselves surrounded by orks of the Bloodfang tribe, who were now within touching distance of two of the most powerful artefacts in the sector. Huron called for immediate extraction, and forces were scrambled to his location in order to hold a perimeter long enough to rescue him and his important artefact.

Many imperial units rushed to his aid including the Sisters of Battle, Dark Angels (including what appeared to be the chapter master himself) as well as hastily diverted Leman Russ battle tanks from a Librian mechanised regiment. Fierce and confused fighting erupted with the Imperium calling in bombardments as the orks swarmed the location, while even the tau, surprised by the commotion, sent their own air force to inspect the action. A number of quite baffling events characterised this engagement, including the unexpected behaviour of the ork Shokk Attack Gun, which at one point managed to replace an entire Leman Russ crew with snotlings. This initial success was somewhat damped from the ork perspective as the snotlings then began operating the tank for the Imperium. Later, the ork warboss was infected with a "madboy" virus, confusing him long enough for him to be slain in combat, while Inquisitor Huron's attempt to use Xenos technology in the form of a man portable railgun was less than effective.

Fortunately for the Imperium, the perimeter held long enough to see the extraction of all important personnel, and critically the evacuation of the Nexus Arrangement in the Inquisitor's possession. 

With the ork strength now understood, Huron immediately convened a council with General Maximus. The focus was the Greenskins and the necron tomb complex. All available forces including the reserves were deployed at Haven with one aim, to force the orks back. If they failed, Haven and Huron's mission would lie in tatters, as would control over and access to the Nexus arrangement holding open the Gap. Success would put the Imperium in pole position to fully conquer both worlds and continue the Crusade both Huron and Maximus dearly wanted.

Against the horde of orks including the mighty war engine "Hope Killa" were arrayed the forces of the Novgorod Guard, an entire Knight Lance and a force of Adeptus Custodes. The battle raged over the southern plains of Haven as the Imperium pushed north from their second bridgehead. Casualties on both sides were vast and the orks, having numerical superiority were able to systematically wear down the imperial left flank, where desparate fighting took place to hold off an ork counter attack. This imperial flank eventually gave way, but the time bought by this valiant stand allowed the Knights and Adeptus Custodes to throw themselves into the middle of the ork horde in the centre of the front the imperial mission had created. Most of the Knights were lost in the melee, but on the right flank the Imperium secured their objectives, and in the centre the sacrifice of the imperial war engines was not in vain. the orks were gradually exhausted to the point where the Bloodfang tribe retreated to avoid being encircled and annihilated.

With the main action over both sides counted the cost. The Imperium were now in control of nearly 40% of the world and were now the preeminent faction on Haven. One more push against the greenskins and Haven would fall to the Imperium.