The invasion of Corticant: The crusade

Vorushko's plan for the invasion of Corticant was not without risk. She lacked the forces to take the entire planet and hold it against the loyalists, let alone the forces she now knew were en route to the planet to make their own bid to control. She knew the necron device under the surface of the world was the key to imense power, and her Mechanicus colleagues needed to hold the world long enough to understand its secrets. With this in mind her small force of Minotaurs, Angels Repentant and a regiment of Death Korps made their way unnoticed into orbit around Corticant, aided by arcane technologies awarded to the Lord of Light by the Mechanicus and prepared to assault the loyalist world.

The attack was simple. Land in force on the shores of Lake Hartford, cut imperial forces in two and take the capital. With the loyalist forces split and in disarray her forces would then move on the excavation site, her real target. However, as soon as her forces landed they made contact with the alliance landing force, and heretic Mechanicus forces moved to intercept the Minotaurs' first drop. The astartes, full of anger and hate, furiously assaulted the traitorous Ad Mech, but in their fury they managed to lose sight of the objectives, and despite doing overwhelming damage, were forced to withdraw lest the Death Korps landing site be overrun.

The plan fell apart shortly after, as the Death Korps, far from tying the Lycannon down, were instead massacred on the shores of Lake Hartford. Now Vorushko only had her Astartes forces left. The Minotaurs made a successful drop on 1005.017M42, defeating the Lycannon at Bymarsh and taking the settlement, and the Angels Repentant took Shadowshore, crushing the remnants of the tyranid infestation sent fleeing from the Ultramarines. However, the main prize, the excavation site, was now defended by the Librian Guard. Vorushko would not be able to assault their positions without risking a counter from the north, and there was no way of holding the site long enough to perform the much needed analysis, as the site was remote and she would need to hold both the settlement of Bymarsh as well as the archeological objective. Without the Death Korps, this would be impossible. Despite holding both sides of Lake Hartford, Vorushko's forces could go no further.