Editing Second Vetrovnak Incursion (section)

==The Invasion==

The Vetrovnak onslaught caught Imperial planners entirely by surprise.  Without warning, shadowy vessels began to attack Astropathic relay stations in a simultaneous effort that ranged across the two-third of the Galaxy.  Although in some cases the courage of Imperial troops - invariably, Adeptus Astartes - was sufficient to protect these critical installations, contact with almost the entire Ultima Segmentum was lost.  Pacificus, Tempestus and Obscurus also suffered communication problems, though messages could be re-routed through surviving stations.  Only Segmentum Solar escaped the initial attacks unscathed.   This omission that would cost the Vetrovnak in the days ahead, but did not deter the invader from their next target: the harvest of millions of Imperial citizens from near-defenseless Hive Worlds.

For a time, this onslaught seemed irresistible.  Ultima Segmentum had fallen into anarchy and its surviving astropaths flooded the warp with cries of distress and confusion.  Above this great psychic wail spiked the fearful cries of worlds falling to the Vetrovnak, and more substantial communication was hampered even in far-off Pacificus.  Isolated Imperial forces attempted to conduct counter-attacks or fell back to what they believed to be strategic targets.  Even the Space Marines seemed powerless to halt the invader.  The '''Benefactors''' were overwhelmed and utterly destroyed as they fought to protect the Hive World Taitov.  Their gene-brothers, [[The Puritans]] were lost in void battle in the Kiazuno system.  Other chapters took heavy losses when confronted by Vetrovnak.  The Infernals were driven collectively mad by their situation and reverted to a feral state. Some chapters even withdrew from Ultima Segmentum in disgrace.  As their champions were destroyed or fell back, Imperial Guardsmen and Navy vessels either meekly submitted to captivity or were subdued by the children of Hvar.

[[File:1456552561580.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Inquisitor Vera Vinter]]
Yet the nature of mankind is to struggle even when survival itself seems impossible.  Ancient [[Fabrice Diallo]], a Terran-born warrior who had once fought at the right hand of the Primarch [[Gaspard Lumey]] was summoned to Sol to lend his wisdom to the councils of war, but even as he travelled to humanity's cradle the depth of the crisis prompted more extreme measures.  Diallo was accorded the rank of ''Martial Primaris'', the first commander of the Imperium, and authorised to wield the full power of the Imperial war machine - a privilege that had not been accorded to any man since the days of the Primarchs.

Despite his advanced age, Diallo's response was energetic.  He rallied the Space Marines to lead the fight by example, with chapters based in the untouched regions of Imperial Space summoned to bolster the ordinary men and women of the Imperial Guard and Navy.  Fleet-based Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes were dispatched from the safety of Segmentum Solar to [[the Atalantos Worlds]], there to form the sharp edge of the great Imperial war-blade.  The first to arrive, [[Chapter Sigma]], were given secret instructions by Inquisitor Vera Vinter and set off on a desperate mission to gather intelligence.  Their valour at the Battle of Raman II went unknown for many years, but has since become an example to future generations.

'''Imperial counter-efforts'''

Thanks to the resourcefulness and self-sacrifice of Chapter Sigma, Vinter was able to counsel Fabrice Diallo on a method of counter-attack.  Although the Vetrovnak weapons were terrible and their presence unnerved many ordinary Imperial Citizens, they could be beaten - and more importantly, they could be anticipated.  Sigma's warriors had learned, at great cost, that the Vetrovnak's "folding drives" created minute distortions in the Warp, distortions that could be perceived by the Imperium's finest psykers.  Despite shortages of Astropaths, Vinter commandeered Astropathic Choirs to scour the Galaxy for Vetrovnak movements and directed Imperial task forces to bring the enemy to battle.  These efforts allowed Space Marines to begin moving against Vetrovnak Harvest Fleets and disrupting their activity.  Encounters of this kind produced the mutual disaster of the [[Halven Incident]], which was cheered by Imperials for at least causing the Vetrovnak some discomfort.

The Reformed Imperium did not intend for the Space Marines to fight alone.  Preparations were made to deploy mortal soldiers in support of humanity's champions.  But rather than dispatching a vast armada of Imperial Guard, the regiments of the Imperial centre were stripped of their elite formations to form so-called "Stormtrooper" detachments.  These hardened cadres, equipped with gas masks to shield them from the first effects of Vetrovnak gas weapons formed the body of the Imperial counter-stroke.  Joining these forces were a bold experiment.  Inquisitor Vinter had noticed a common element in battle reports sifted from the chaos.  Guard regiments raised from the Segmentum Obscurus, specifically those drawn from among [[Maria Vespa|Marian]] worlds had shown an astonishing resistance to Vetrovnak weaponry.  While their brother and sister guardsmen generally succumbed to the frightful aura of the invader, or were quickly overwhelmed by their sophisticated weaponry, Marian guardswomen invariably had to be disarmed and overpowered- and even then, there were reports of these regiments beating back the bewildered Vetrovnak with cold steel and weight of numbers.  Vinter couldn't explain the phenomena, but she believed that the Imperium needed to use it.  Marian guardswomen who might otherwise have been formed into Stormtrooper units were instead given the best equipment available and doled out to task forces a special corps of shock troops, soon dubbed the ''Sisters of Battle''.

Vinter's special forces would be blooded in the Second Vetrovnak Incursion, and performed admirably.  The nascent Sisters of Battle achieved beyond anyone's wildest dreams.   The Sisters proved to be not only a highly capable military force but one that was devastating to Vetrovnak morale.  Yet the Imperials had hardly won their first substantial victory, bringing down an enemy carrier, when the invaders simply vanished from whence they came.