On [[Drucilla Majoris]], a [[Hive World]] of six billion, all contact was soon lost and the powerful [[Ramilies Class Star Fort]] ''Fortress Tarris'' came under attack by a mysterious but malicious foe before it to ceased all contacts with the outside world. Through all this, Governor Laan refused to take aggressive action and instead waited in his bunker as millions of men and thousands of warships amassed around him, waiting. This Imperial inaction allowed the attackers to take systems around Amarah one-by-one until soon the entire Orpheus Sector had been cut in half.{{Fn|1a}}

Laan's inaction's allowed the attackers, now identified as [[Necrons]], to slowly choke off Amarah, but rather then making a swift move on the sector capital the mysterious foe simply halted their advance. This allowed Laan to bring in reinforcements from out-of-sector as well as build up the defenses of Amarah itself. The forces on Amarah had grown to colossal proportions: over 19 million [[Imperial Guard]], with ten times that number of [[PDF]] and militia. Foremost among the Imperial Guard forces were 2 million guardsmen of the [[Death Korps of Krieg]], spearheaded by the 17th Line Korps under command of [[Marshal]] [[Karis Venner]]. In addition, several [[Space Marine]] [[Chapter]]'s had answered the Orphean call to arms, including the entirety of the [[Minotaurs]] and elements of the [[Marauders]], [[Red Seraph]]s, and [[Nemesis Chapter]] which were en-route. The naval armada around Amarah included hundreds of [[escort]]-class vessels, over sixty [[Imperial Navy]] [[Cruiser]]s and Capital Ships (including seven [[Battleship]]s), and four [[Space Marine]] [[Battle Barge]]s. Seldom in the history of the Imperium had such a force been massed to defend a single star system.{{Fn|1b}}

The machine overlord slew all in his path and even defeated the Dreadnought [[Geryon]], but the distraction posed by the duel allowed Moloc to plunge his relic-weapon deep into the Necron Lords back. Soon the ships hull gave way from all the combat, and both Moloc and the Necron Overlord were sucked into the void of space. Outside, the dying Minotaur Battle Barge ''Fedelitas Lambda'' plunged itself into the Tomb Ship, gravely damaging it and forcing it to flee from battle. With the rout of one of their capital ships, the rest of the Necron fleet broke off and retreated. With the fleeing of the Necron fleet, the attackers on the ground vanished with them. The Battle of Amarah was over, but it was a hollow victory as the planet had been completely devastated{{Fn|1b}}

After the Battle of Amarah, any surviving defenders (of which there were few) were evacuated from the planet as quickly as possible and pulled back to the outer worlds of Laymon and Calama to pull back and regroup while whatever surviving civilian population remained was left to their own fate. As of 995.[[M41]], the Orphean War had reached a point of stalemate. Imperial Forces remaining in the Amarah and Hydroghast systems have been cut off, and the current rate of attrition losses have reached 60%. Taking advantage of the carnage, the Chemarium System have fallen under the control of the [[Ruinous Powers]] and the [[Chaos]] forces have begun to engage both Imperial and Necron positions.{{Fn|1b}}