Current Tarsis Map

Nazhghat Changes Tack

Bothorion had been fairly quiet for months, with the Eldar having ensured the Orks stayed away from their sacred sites and the Orks content to leave the Eldar in peace, given their numbers and the high cost of prosecuting a war on Tarsis Major. However on 0912.008M42 Warlord Nazghat returned, angry and determined, and ordered the Eldar to be removed from Bothorion so that the world could be geared up as a base of operations for the upcoming war in the Mabb Nebula.

The Orks were galvanised into action, and with Nazghat leading them a mighty Waagh! fell upon the sparsely defended Eldar positions. Surprised, the Eldar fell back but to their credit were able to respond with a meaningful counter attack late on 1012.008M42. However luck was with the newly enthused Orks and nothing the Eldar tried seemed to pay off, the Orks could not be stopped. Rather than continue the bloodbath the Eldar vanished via thier webway network, allowing Nazghat to begin construction on his new prize.

Tau Assault Orbital Docks

While Montyr' Shi was suffering at the hands of Axtes in space, the remainder of the Tau fleet were supporting the latest Tau plan to gain the upper hand in the Tarsis system. Elan Ro and the recently arrived Commander Fastblade were given the task of taking the Tarsis Orbital docks, a vast construct able to house thousands of men and home to the facilities which once kept the Tarsis trading fleet in working order.

The Docks were defended by several companies of Adeptus Sororitas, who had prudently turned the entrance ways into mini fortresses, meaning that any attack would have to blast its way in. The Imperium hoped that the Docks were too unimportant to assault directly, but too valuable to destroy out of hand . So far this had proved true, as the Tau had not attempted to take possession of the Docks nor had they turned the big guns of their fleet upon it.

On 0312.008M42 the attack began, with scouts dropped on the facility followed by swarms of manta-borne crisis suits and skimmers. However access to the Docks would prove difficult as the Sisters of Battle refused to give any ground, and forced a battle in the near vacuum low gravity environment on the surface of the facility. Here the battle was deadly, as any breach in the suits worn by tau and human alike meant certain death. Infantry units found it difficult to maintain their footing and many tau vehicles were destroyed by small arms, the slightest breach causing catastrophic decompression.

After several hours of fighting and at huge cost the Tau forces finally managed to get a foothold inside the station, forcing a slow and bloody street battle through the inner complexes of the station. Though they had succeeded in breaking in, it would be many more days before the complex was fully under Tau control, and once again concerns were raised of too much cost for too little gain.

Commodore Axtes raids Tau fleet

The Tau had enjoyed relative space superiority in the Tarsis system ever since their landings, and since 10.008M42 the Tau commander had been unmolested by attacks from any of the main powers' fleets. However, Admiral Jellicoe, aware that the Tau fleet had just been raided by a force of cruisers belonging to the renegade Admiral Thok, became aware on 0312.008M42 of a glittering opportunity to rob the Tau of their dominant position in space.

Jellicoe immediately contacted Commodore Axtes, who commanded a substantial force of cruisers and whose battlegroup had been shadowing the Tau in the Tarsis system, wainting for an opportunity. Commanding from the bridge of the mars class heavy cruiser Illustrious, Axtes also had the dictator class Redoubtable and newly refit dauntless class Ajax under his command, along with an escort squadron. This powerful carrier force was now ordered to raid and destroy as much of the Tau fleet as possible, since the Tau heavy carrier Vigilence had taken heavy damage against Thok's fleet and was unavaiable.Axtes travelled immediately to the inner biosphere region where his forec quickly located a force of three Protectors and three escorts on an intercept course. Axtes slowed his fleet, launched a defensive fighter screen and engaged with Illustrious's Nova Cannon. Meanwhile the Tau began frantically launching waves of Mantas and torpedoes, while closing the range.

However in the ensuing engagement the Nova Cannon won the day. Excellent shooting from Illustrious first crippled one protector, then another, forcing the enemy fleet to disengage before they were even in range with their main weapons. Worse was to follow for the Tau as one of the Protectors, badly damaged, could not flee, and another precision shot from Illustrious blew her apart. Only Ajax suffered minor damage from torpedoes and manta waves, the fighters from Illustrious and Redoubtable doing their job protecting the big ships.

At the end of the engagement, wary of Shadowstrike's fleet intercepting them, Axtes retreated once more to the outer reaches while his message was received to much rejoicing at Caitlen Station, home of Imperial Navy High Command, and on the bridge of the Vanguard. Axtes received news of his promotion to Rear Admiral on 0912.008M42.

Orks annihilated by Catechism

While on Tuva Chaos forces were retreating ate breakneck speed, and Maybourne was being liberated, the Catechism was concentrating on the Orks. Its best units were thrown against Nazghat's remaining forces, forcing the front line back towards the Ork landing zones. Then, at the appointed moment the daemons were released. The gibbering, capering monstrosities tore through the Ork lines before materialising amongst or even behind the greenskins' defences. In a very short period, less than a day, the Ork line, which had held strong for weeks against the best of the Catechism's troops, collpased catastrophically once they realised their leader and his best Nobz had "skarpered" to invade elsewhere.

By the end of 1212.008M42 the Orks had fallen back to their crashed Rok's which made up their landing zone, and were desperately trying to work out how to get off the planet!

Orks renew offensive

Following the catastrophic defeat of Snazteef's Orks in late 11.008M42, the Orks in the north of Tuva were still not beaten. Recently arrived Praetorian units soon found this out when a renewed assault by Snazteef fell upon them on the early hours of 0612.008M42. Despite a valiant defence they found themselves outgunned and outnumbered, and the front fell back some fifty miles, much to General Jennings irritation. The planned celebrations of victory over the Orks had to be put on hold.

Intercepted Ork “Press release”
“Following the cowardly withdrawal of Warlord Nazghat from Tarsis major, Warboss Snazzteef has declared himself Kaptain Snazzteef, Grand Bastard of Tarsis Mayja. Despite a succession of knockbacks in the fighting recently, Snazzteef remains in the face of the humies re-occupation of his territory. With his sights firmly set upon Tarsis Prime and orkuppying the Mars Pattern Command there to built more warmachines for the Evil Sun WAAAGH! All other warbosses on the planet are ordered at pain of gettin' their runty 'eads kicked in to stop playing hide n' seek wiv da fish'eads and spiky chaos gits and start bashing the guard and marine forces in da norff.”

Chaos driven from Tuva

On 0511.008M42 General Cunningham launched his much expected major assault against Chaos forces on the southern tip of Tuva. With the recent arrival of strong Daemonhunters and Dark Angels units, Cunningham now felt he had the tools he needed to attack on a broad front, utilising the Dark Angels and other elite forces to crack the difficult nuts in the Chaos defence, while his own Guard forces would engage the weaker and less well equipped cultist legions.

The Catechism was off balance fighting Orks in the east, and the Night Lords had just recovered from the Tau attack on their base on Typhon, and significant resources had gone into their counter invasion of Rhesisus. Cunningham, Lord General Du Prez and the senior Commander of the Dark Angels all agreed that now was the ideal time to strike.

The Chaos forces on Tuva actually struck first, with Iron Warriors making progress on the north eastern end of the Barrier Mountains, before the major advance by Cunningham's army began. Then, as Guard units swept down to the sea, the Dark Angels encircled an entire Chaos army in Maybourne and wholesale slaughter began. The Daemonhunters too went straight for the city, intent on ridding it of the Chaos taint, and the two elite Imperial forces, their enemy surrounded them, hunted them like prey. By 1012.008M42 the defensive axis of Chaos on southern Tuva had been broken and the Imperial Guard had forced cultist forces back to the entrance to Sapphire Harbour.

Meanwhile in Maybourne the last elements of Chaos forces, both traitor marine and traitor guard units, had been annihilated. Then the ugly spectre of "cleansing" by the Inquisition began. Maybourne had been a city with a population of 10 million before the invasion, and the 4 million who had managed to survive the Chaos occupation soon wish they hadn't, as a further 2 million were executed at the merest suspicion of being tainted. Even so the Imperium hailed the offensive as a great victory and the bells of Tarsis Prime were rang for the first time since the invasion.

Current Tarsis Map

Rhesius falls as Tau gambit backfires

The plan devised by Shadowstrike to topple the Night Lords in the Rim Worlds had a sound foundation. It was only since their domination in this part of space that the forces of Chaos were able to launch their assault on Tarsis. Additionally the presence of strong Chaos garrisons on Typhon, Priam and Daedalon threatened the recent Tau gains of New Sparta, Rhesius and Aornis.

With this in mind a fleet of Tau warships exited the warp near to the planet of Typhon on 1711.008M42 and made their way to the Night Lords' base. Upon landing however it seemed as if somehow the defenders were expecting the attack, and soon after Commanders Hawkeye and Ores Kais had landed their Cadres, the Night Lords seized the initiative, advancing immediately on the Tau at their landing zone. Very soon the Tau found themselves pinned down in their beachead, and the bold plan became unstuck.

After several days of fighting on Typhon the Night Lords launched their final murderous assault, causing horrific casualties in the Tau defenders. Hawkeye and Kais, unable to manouvre and surrounded realised their task had become hopeless and began to evacuate. Less than half those who had landed returned, though casualties had also been high amongst their enemy's troops.
Late on 2711.008M42, as the battered armies returned to Tau space they received a worrying transmission. Without their normal defending strength and with the fleet away. a Night Lords Strike cruiser had penetrated the defences around Rhesius. There were fewer than 30,000 Tau on the planet's newly constructed base, and these were all slaughtered in a matter of hours by the marauding Chaos Marines. Changing course for New Sparta Hawkeye knew this was a bitter blow to Tau aspirations in the Rim Worlds, on Tarsis, and in the wider sector.

Catechism forced to shore up defences as Daemonhunters sweep in

During late 11.008M42 the battle lines in southern Tuva moved a number of times as General Cunningham's diverse forces fought a range of units employed by the Chaos forces along the southern coast. In the previous week the Night Lords had extricated themselves from a tricky situation by devastating Cunningham's Librian units around Maybourne, but Cunningham, in consultation with the commander of some freshly arrived forces in the area, agreed that a swift counter attack would undo the Night Lords' recent work.

Imperial intelligence realised that the Chaos forces, their eyes fixed on Merrin and the more dangerous Orks of Nazghat, had left weaker forces in the region of Maybourne. On 2711.008M42 a force of Daemonhunters spearheaded an assault into Chaos territory, brushing aside weak cultist forces and only meeting real resistance in the form of a company of Nurgle Marines. These were similarly destroyed, but at a higher cost. Even so the move brought Cunningham's army to the south coast once more and cut off the city for the second time since the invasion. Upon hearing the news Moonface knew he would have to sort the situation personally.
On 2911.008M42 the Catechism launched their attack. Towards Maybourne the assault was lead by the daemonic hordes the Catechism were now routinely summoning for battle, though for the second time their handlers lost control and much of the region descended into anarchy as the daemons feasted upon any soul they came across. Very little of eastern Maybourne was left by the end of the month.

Meanwhile Moonface's most trusted troops led the assault against the Librians defending the newly liberated territory further to the east of the city. The Guard units had been unable to dig in, but the Catechism still found the going tough as they were ambushed heading west. Several troop transports were immediately destroyed, forcing the Traitor marines to advance on foot into a withering hail of fire. Many veteran marines were cut down but eventually the genetically enhanced warriors reached the Imperial lines and ripped the guardsmen apart in ferocious hand to hand fighting.

Skirmished like this continued as Cunningham fought a bitter fighting withdrawal north west, making the Catechism pay in blood for every mile. By the end of 3011.008M42 the chaos forces had been halted before they had taken back all the recent gains.

Snazteef’s hordes blunder into trap

The continuing southward push by Snazteef's Orks became concerning in 11.008M42, and by the end of the month General Jamieson, commander of Tuva North, had consulted with overall commander General Du Prez to devise a strategy to push back the orks. The plan was as brutal as it was simple. As Snazteef broke out into the plains of Tuva and out of the bottleneck of the Northern Peninsular, his forces would have to spread out, allowing small, rapid forces to find and exploit any weakness.

On 2311.008M42 Snazteef's attacks were unceasing. For weeks now the Imperial Guard had tried in vain to slow his advance but now the Ultramarines waited patiently to make their move. Subordinate commanders in the Imperial Guard were not informed and the Librian 34th Regiment in particular took heavy casualties on the 27th as Snazteef's main force bludgeoned its way through their lines, led by unstoppable Mega Armoured Nobz.

However later on the same day the ultramarines found a gap in the widening Ork lines and, combining a frontal assault with an orbital drop, neatly cut the Orks supply lines and opened a gap over one hundred kilometres wide in the Ork front line.

Jamieson immediately ordered his armoured units, including the 17th Librian heavy tank division, to exploit the gap and hundreds of tanks rushed north before deviating east to cut off the Ork line of retreat. With no supplies and communications the Orks in the pocket began to lose their co-ordination, but still fought savagely. It would be many days before the pocket was mopped up but once it had the orks had been pushed right back to the Tuva Bay where they had landed.

Montgate falls despite heroic defence

The final nail in the coffin at Montgate came on 2711.008M42 when the final battle for the city began. The Catechism employed their elite Legions as well as summoning another horde of daemons to complete the destruction of Corchorans North Merrin Army.

The combined power of the Traitor Legions and their daemonic allies soon swept aside any lingering resistance from the shattered remnants of Corchoran's Librian, Zadocian and Tarsisian divisions, but the real fighting erupted as a large force of Daemonhunters, recently arrived having heard of the daemonic incursions on Merrin, engaged with the main force of the Catechism's strength.

Once engaged the second part of the Imperial plan came into play as once again the Ultramarines utilised their drop pod capability, arriving right at the heart of the action. As 2811.008M42 began ans the Catechsims' cultists prepared to move into the city proper, on the outskirts the violent battle between the Daemonhunters and the Catechism continued without pause. The Ultramarines were initially successful following their drop, but gradually the Traitor Legions and the daemonic horde began to gain the upper hand. Late on 3011.008M42, just minutes before the daemons faded back into the work, the Imperial resolve fell and the Catechism's troops managed to outflank the Imperial positions, forcing the Daemonhunters, minus several good men including an inquisitor, and the Ultramarines, similarly battered, to abandon the city of Montgate to its fate.

Thousands of Guard died and those that were captured quickly wished they had too.

More on the Night Lords...

Brother Pravis Caedo The Apostate.

Imperial files on the leadership of state that the company has always been under the command of Brother Captain Pravis Caedo. Pre-Heresy files are scant, as always, but what can be derived from these records suggests that Pravis was originally a Terran, drawn from the first innates into the original Legions. No further pre-heresy files exist and therefore any further information regarding his pre-heresy activities would be pure conjecture, although the lack of files may suggest he was not a high ranking member within the Legion.

During the Heresy it seems that he had risen to a notifiable rank; leading a sizable band of renegades from, the Legion. It would seem that he did not take part in the Siege of Terra, rather chose to rampage across Mars, presumably taking part in the slaughter of tech adepts and civilians across the planet. After the fall of Horus files suggest he followed the Legion into it’s genocidal rampage across the galaxy. The Port Maw atrocities can be attributed to his specific band of renegades, as there was no attempt to remove the data crystals after the incident. The surviving attendants on the station are reported to have developed serious psychological problems following the incident and had to be liquidated by the Inquisition pending further investigation into the reasons pertaining these changes to a humans mental psyche.

Files suggest that the polar ice caps incident on Jhanna was also attributed to Pravis Caedo. During the Age of Apostasy Lord Vandrie ordered orbital gun batteries to melt sections of the polar ice ring on his planet, resulting in the deaths of 4 billion people. Inquisition files claim that Vandries actions were under the influence of Caedo’s marines. Supposedly where Caedo acquired the name ’The Apostate’ after the ruling caste of Jhanna was found to be corrupted beyond redemtion. The planet was censed by the Ordo Hereticus after Imperial order had been restored. The **Department of Intelligence** has deemed that the intruding force in this case used this opportunity to incite a culture of free thinking into Vandrie before others were corrupted, then, as more of the ruling caste was brought on side, playing them off against each other to create an atmosphere of fear within the bureaucracy.

5th Company Night Lords Legion

How Caedo came to command an entire company of Renegades is unknown, although his exploits at Port Maw won him much, albeit unwanted, credit in the eyes of the Gods. The company itself lost it’s master in the age of apostasy, his cruiser crippled then boarded by dark angels while enroute to Rignat, near the Maelstorm in the Gates of Varl. After replenishing their umbers back to company size, by stealing gene seed from captured red corsairs and pacts with Bile, the 5th has been making it’s way slowly towards the Eastern fringe and reputably the largest contingent of Night Lords outside of the Eye. Currently the 5th has been involved in massacres in and around the Corinthe system, capturing a sizable force of imperial star ships by boarding action and long range lance exchanges, most notably the battleship Magistrate which has been sighted refitted for chaos use and now serves as the mobile base from which the company operates.

After the capture of the Magistrate Caedo was forced to initiate a larger number of non-marine adepts to crew the captured ships. These support sections usually form from the remnants of corrupted guard regiments or cruisers. Undoubtedly loyalist prisoners are also conscripted into service for much of the manual labour onboard these ships.

The 5th company was never stained by the murderers recruited from Nostramo Quintus to a significant extent and have kept to the original Night Lords tenants of Atheism and disdain from religion in general. Pravis Caedo also conforms to this standard and ruthlessly enforces this on his company and their attendants.

Stalemate on two fronts

The Catechism had left some of their elite forces in the south to help out their Night Lord “allies”, but also in order to ensure their continued“alliance”, as much as meaningfully helping out their military campaigns. However when the Orks of Waagh! Nazghat attacked they were in the forefront of the fighting, taking heavy casualties in Nazghat’s second concerted effort to rid the continent of Sartano of the Chaos presence. Once again Nazghat proved himself to be a competent Ork general, inflicting harsh casualties on the Chaos forces of Moonface and forcing the Catechism to withdraw. Unfortunately for the Ork warboss, other Ork forces on the same front found themselves in difficulty against the Marines of the Plaguelord and between 2011.008M42 and 2811.008M42 the net gains to the Orks were minimal and the stalemate continued on Sartano.

Snazteef continues south

In the north the Orks under Snazteef ground inexorably and seemingly unstoppably southward. Fierce and bloody battles continued to rage between 20-29.11.008M42, and the Imperial Guard forces, made up mostly of Librians, Zadocians and Tarsisians were unable to halt the Ork advance. General Du Pres wondered to himself just how the Orks were able to keep up the pace as no new reinforcements had been landed since the initial invasion. Even the steady retreat of his forces were surely inflicting enough casualties on the Orks to ensure the attack would inevitable flounder.

Chaos relieve Maybourne

Since the battles which pushed back the Night Lords away from the city of Maybourne General Cunningham had been shoring up defences in the south. Those defences were tested suddenly and without warning when the Night Lords went on the attack once more. In a combined anc co-ordinated frontal assault the Nurgle Marines attacked first towards the north of the sector, in the mountains of the Border Heights. This acheived its primary objective, pinning in place several Imperial Guard regiments and forcing the hand of the locally based Marine and Daemonhunter forces.

With Cunningham's elite forces now fully engaged in a bitter struggle, the Night Lords assaulted the southern defences, mostly Librian Guard regiments who were more concerned with the remaining Night lord garrison in Maybourne. Here the Librians were caught off guard, and at night the Traitor Marines were able to close to within a very short range of their enemy before attacking. The result was carnage. Between 2311.008M42 and 27.008M42 the Librian forces around the southern city were reduced by half, with two regiments losing their entire force of armoured vehicles. It was clear the Night Lords were attacking Imperial assets rather than attempting to hold ground, and this policy proved effective. By the 28th General Cunningham had ordered a withdrawal to the safety of the mountain defences and the forces of Chaos had successfully relieved their city of Maybourne.

Catechism encircles Montgate

On 2411.008M42 General Corchoran's intelligence identified that the "Catechism proper", a mix of ancient and threatening Traitor Legions, had arrived on Merrin and were moving against his forces defending the beleagured city of Montgate. This was a new twist. Up till now the elite cadre of marines making up the core of the Catechism had been absent, but evidently Moonface wanted to move the war on and was not happy simply using indentured troops and summoned daemons to do his dirty work.

Corchoran new he would be hard pressed to hold the Traitor Marines but was lucky enough to have the Captain of the Ultramarines 1st company on hand. The Ultramarines had arrived at the beginning of the crisis and had lent nearly half the chapter to the defence of Tarsis, since the planet lay on a direct route to Ultramar itself. With Corchoran's consent the Ultramarine captain agreed a moderately ambitious plan to use the Marine Strike cruiser to drop troops to the rear of the Catechism, catching them between the Adeptus Astartes and Corchoran's troops.

From the start things started to go wrong. The Ultramarine Strike cruiser which had been evading detection from the Tau fleet was spotted in the inner asteroids and was forced to put the plan into action immediately. Upon approaching the planet the crusier came under attack from Manta bombers, launched from a Tau Carrier, and was forced to release her drop pods early. This haste meant that instead of landing some fifty miles behind the Traitor Marine forces, they practically landed on top of them.

A violent firefight immediately erupted before devolving into a swirling close quarters melee. Loyal and traitor superhumans were loked in vicious hand to hand fighting so confused, that Corchoran's Guard units realised they could do nothing to help for fear of shelling their own side. Late on 2411.008M42 it became apparent that the Ultramarines had lost the brutal fight, and the Catechism were underway again. Seeing that the plan had come to nothing Corchoran began to retreat some 150 miles to the outskirts of Montgate, and prepared for a siege.

Worse was to follow. Overnight on the 27th Catechism troops were observed performing a strange and disturbing ritual to the south and west of the city. the next day more daemons than had previously been encountered assaulted and massacred the Imperial defenders. Space Marine forces were called in and held the creatures of the warp off for several hours but mounting casualties forced even the superhumans to retreat.

The resulting carnage only grew in intensity as the day wore on. This time, the Catechsim forces, due to take up positions in recently assaulted sectors, were unable to take their stations as marauding daemons rampaged entirely out of control. Suburban areas to the south-east of Montgate suffered appallingly and were set ablaze by uncontrolled energies. Walls melted and boiled and other aberrant obsceneties were observed taking place.

The Inquisition even considered ordering an exterminatus on the entire world, such was the depravity and unnatural wanton desctruction in the area.Fortunately the carnage only continued for one day and the daemons vanished. What they left behind this time however was no territory to be taken. The entire region of South East Montgate was gone, razed to the ground and rendered to a cloying stinking ash blowing in the wind. For the first time the full horror of a daemonic incursion had been witnessed and a new word passed into the lexicon of the people of Merrin. "Burnanated".

Elan Ro unable to hold Catechism’s Daemonic allies

While Star Fire was making progress against Ork and Imperial forces, the unenviable task of defending the Tau from the Catechism fell to Elan Ro, who had landed significant forces on Tarsis Major and left the running of Tarsis Minor in the hands of a trusted ubordinate. It was a quiet admission that the Tau position on the main planet had become grim.

The Catechism arrived a few days after Elan Ro had got his troops into position. As ever the cultist troops arrived first, with light armoured and a few heavy armoured vehicles. Bearing the icon of Moonface, and broadcasting an incessant and insidious chant, the Chaos army advanced towards the Tau positions with a complete disregard for their safety.

When in range the Tau opened fire, causing massive casualties, but retreated before the forces of the Catechism could get fully engaged. Elan Ro was hoping this would prevent them from being trapped, like so many others, with a daemon horde materialising amongst them. However they could only retreat so far and after a few days of sporadic engagements the Tau were forced to give battle with the same predictable, awful conclusion. The sky was rent with the sound of tearing as the daemonic horde leapt fro the warp, massacring the Tau and allowing Catechism armoured units to exploit the breakthrough. Another section of Tau held Tarsis had fallen to Chaos.

Current Tarsis Positions

Operation Deliverance

Although the Tau still had significant holdings on Tarsis they had not made the gains predicted during the planning stages of the campaign. After the prolonged attritional campaign of Melberg there was little will amongst the ruling caste for another protracted blood bath. With other commanders overseeing the Tarsis theatre beginning to voice doubts Shadowstrike formulated a plan to regain the initiative, Operation Deliverance.

The first step would be to significantly expand the Tau’s beachhead on Tarsis. Rather than drive the Tau’s limited forces against the elite Traitor Marines and their daemon allies the Tau would instead target the much softer Guard and Ork forces to the east. In this way the Tau could make significant gains in land without sustaining serious casualties, giving the Tau room to employ their traditional mobile approach to warfare, rather than be forced to stand and fight against the inexorable advance of chaos. The second step was already being prepared. A Tau fleet was assembling at Rhesius ready to strike at the Nightlords sector base at Typhon. Such a strike, if successful, would cut off the Night Lord’s supply route to Tarsis and give the Tau dominance in the Rim Worlds, allowing them to ship re-enforcements by a more direct route. The orbital docks at Tarsis were also earmarked as a priority target for a rapid strike. With these missions completed the Tau would find themselves in a much stronger strategic position to launch their own counter attack against the forces of Chaos.

Commander Star Fire was given the task of completing step one of the plan. Attacking at dawn two spearheads struck out to the east, one driving into the meandering and disorganised Ork hordes and the other into the lines of the Trebbian 9th, where intelligence indicated their were poorly supported with tanks and heavy equipment. In both areas the elite, mobile and well equipped Tau Cadres found opposition week. Employing the aggressive and stealthy tactics renowned of the Ksi‘m‘yen Sept the Tau struck from hiding, mowing down the enemy infantry with opportunist strikes by their Stealth Suites and Hammerhead formations and giving the enemy no chance to reply. The Tau quickly met all their pre-determined objectives and within the space of a single day the Tau all but annihilated the Ork presence on Merrin and claimed huge swathes of land from the Imperium. The Tau now had the breathing space they needed. Meanwhile the Tau invasion fleet had reached the edge of the Rhesius system and was preparing for its first warp jump…