Crusade Forge ahead

The fall of Vandrax 4 left the loyalists in a perilous position in the Vandrax system. The Lycaon Guard were in no fit state to fight a further crusade attack, which left Hathek's forces consisting of two regiments of Novgorod and a small force of loyalist mechanicum forces. Vorushko offered assistance to the Grey Knights, but they assured her that they would need no such help. The Astartes would settle the matter as they had promised.

First the Knights assaulted the strongest force, the Novgorod Guard. Once again the Militarum forces fought doggedly, and the Grey Knights found the engagement hard going. There was no surrender on Vandrax 1, for these Novgorod forces were those who has only recently fought forces of daemons, and defeat meant extermination. However, assisted by total control of air and space the guard forces were outmanoeuvred by the Ordo Malleus Astartes, and eventually succumbed to the pressure. The ugly business of "cleansing" now began.

Shortly after defeating the Imperial Guard, the Grey Knights prepared for their final assault. All the loyalist positions on the sparsely inhabited world had now been neutralised, so the remaining force, of Adeptus Mechanicus loyal to Hathek, were found in the wilderness. They didn't stand a chance. In a lightning strike the Grey Knights landed right next to the Mechanicus forces, wiping them out swiftly. By 0212.017M42 only New Gregoria held out against the Crusade on Vandrax 2. Against orders from Hathek, Admiral Jellicoe ordered Pendragon to move his battlefleet towards the jump point.