Defiance of Ephraim

Splinterfleet Baphomet's appearance in the Starfire sub-sector was sudden, absolute and unexpected. Caught completely unprepared, and with the bulk of the Antona Fleet deployed against the Orks of Waaagh! Bighead, evacuation and denial was the grim conclusion reached by Inquisitor Unfortunus Veck.

It was fortunate for the Imperium that the tendrils of the splinter fleet had been detected in a virtually uninhabited area of space, dotted mainly with dead worlds.

On detection, the Ephraim system was judged to be too close to the vanguard organisms to risk evacuation – the dense asteroid belts made warp jumps impossible and extraction unviable. Fortunately for the sparsely-populated desert world, the Lamb's World XXVII had been deployed to the main planet to subdue a minor rebel insurgence.

Stranded on the planet, their commanding officer Caef Dresden ordered a withdraw to the Psrystal Monoliths, an area of religious significance to the inhabitants of Ephraim. This was a fortunate decision, as the resonation of the psy-reactive crystals proved to disrupt certain synaptic signals – resulting in the division and defeat of the splinter fleet, though at a terrible cost to the rest of the planet.

The Lamb's Worlders were later retrieved, reduced to five per cent of fighting strength. Of the remaining men, over half were rendered unfit for duty by the psy-crystals, and quarter were later killed by infiltration of tyranid microphage organisms during their extensive decontamination programme.