Phantine - The Phantine Liberation: In the seventh century of the 41st Millennium, the Imperium of Mankind launched the Sabbat Worlds Crusade to take back several important star systems that had previously fallen to Chaos in that sector. After the Warmaster Macaroth's successful gambit in the Cabal System, Phantine became the target of the notorious Blood Pact, a highly disciplined Khorne-worshipping warband that successfully gained a foothold on Phantine by conquering several of its cities, including Cirenholm and great Ouranberg. Hessenville resisted long enough for large-scale Imperial reinforcements to turn the tide, as with the cutoff of its supply lines, the Crusade desperately needed Phantine's hydrocarbon reserves and energy production capabilities. This victorious counterattack, known as "The Phantine Liberation," was the sole major conflict to have troubled this world.The Phantine Planetary Defence Force had proved insufficient to hold back the battle-hardened troops of the Blood Pact, led by one of Urlock Gaur's most trusted lieutenants: a Chaos Space Marine named Sagittar Slaith. Slaith himself was present on Phantine and had established his headquarters in the city of Ouranberg when the Imperium finally counterattacked. This was only possible because the Phantine had succeeded in maintaining control over most of their flotilla of aerostats, thus maintaining the advantage of mobility over the Forces of Chaos. Yet despite the phenomenal range of the aerostats, Ouranberg remained out of reach of the Imperial forces. Warmaster Macaroth had despatched one of his most trusted commanders, Lord General Barthol Van Voytz, to Phantine to take command of the liberation effort. Assisted by Admiral Ornoff, the head of the Phantine PDF, Van Voytz carefully planned his first move in the reconquest of Phantine. Unable to strike directly at Slaith, Van Voytz chose to assail the city of Cirenholm instead, as its capture would serve as a necessary stepping stone on the way to Ouranberg.In the great holds of the aerostats Nimbus and Boreas, three regiments of the Imperial Guard would take the fight to the enemy at Cirenholm. The city's Blood Pact garrison was still several thousand strong, but Imperial intelligence had discovered that none of Gaur's dreaded xenos mercenaries, the Loxatl, were present at Cirenholm, thus making it a "softer" target. Supported by the wings of the Phantine PDF, the 7th Urdesh Storm Troopers and the Tanith First and Only, the Guardsmen would land at Cirenholm, supported by a modest regiment of Phantine Skyborne -- merely 600 troops. However, the preparations for the assault on Cirenholm were slowed by several incidents. Most notoriously, the Departmento Munitorum failed to provide the Tanith First and Only with adequate ammunition, meaning most of its troopers could only carry three power cells into combat. Furthermore, despite the loss of an entire Wing of Marauder bombers of the Phantine Air Force, Admiral Ornoff, Lord General Van Voytz and their respective staffs failed to anticipate that the enemy deployed his interceptors at the precise moment of the Imperial attack. If it had not been for the brave actions of the Phantine Commander Bree Jagdea, the landing operations at Cirenholm would have turned into a massacre. Despite being shot down herself, Jagdea's fighter wing protected the vulnerable transports from enemy flyers.Cirenholm fell after a mere seven solar hours of brutal fighting. The 7th Urdesh Storm Troopers suffered heavy casualties, including the loss of its commanding officer, Colonel Zythe, when the Blood Pact trapped the Imperial forces against a wall of energy-shields and the exterior perimeter. Fortunately for the Imperials, a small detachment of the Tanith First and Only successfully circumvented enemy lines and captured Cirenholm's main power plant intact, shutting down the enemy shields. As was later discovered, several cells of Blood Pact resistance fighters and supporters continued to operate after the city's first liberation on 214.771.M41.Pleased with the actions of the Tanith First and Only, General Van Voytz and the regiment's commander, Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt, devised a highly unorthodox plan to eliminate the enemy general, Sagittar Slaith, before the Imperium's main attack on Ouranberg. Dubbed "Operation Larisel," this covert action called for a joint force of Tanith and Phantine Guardsmen to infiltrate Ouranberg and slay the enemy commander. To that effect, four independent five-man teams were formed, each composed of one Phantine Drop Trooper, one Tanith Sniper, one team-leader, one infiltration specialist and one average trooper. Many of the Tanith's best troopers were selected to be part of this operation, such as Master Sniper Hllaine Larkin, Chief Scout Oan Mkoll and Brin Milo.Despite initial losses, Operation Larisel proved a huge success, eliminating Slaith as the Imperial invasion swept over Ouranberg and finally liberated Phantine from the dark hold of the Blood Pact.