Editing The 13th Black Crusade (section)

===Frantic Flight===

And so the Cadian Exodus began. From across the planet survivors boarded landing craft and transport vessels of all shape, size, and maintenance level, and these thundered hard into the atmosphere toward the [[Phalanx]] and the remnants of the Imperial Navy that huddled in its shadow. Many didn't make it, as their overburdened engines failed, dooming their living cargo, or were ripped apart by flying Daemons, or simply crashed as their pilots succumbed to warp madness.

Flights of Helldrakes and Harbingers risked being left behind by the Black Fleet to get more kills for the Dark Gods, and dogfights erupted between them and the few remaining [[Imperial Fists]] Stormhawk Interceptors that were determined to keep the skies above the Elysion Fields secure.

Everywhere else the evacuation of Cadia proceeded with varying levels of success, as the surviving population was overcome with panic and terror. Whole regiments struggled to maintain order, or became disorderly mobs in their rush to board overloaded transports. In places where the Kasrkin had to fire into the crowds to quell disorder, full-blown riots erupted instead.

At the Elysion Fields the evacuation soon turned into a fighting retreat, as Daemons began to swarm the transports still intact on that battlefield. In the North, Celestine and the Sisters slowly gave ground, while in the south it was the same, but with lines of Guardsmen and women reinforced by the remaining Imperial Fists and Black Templars under Tor Garadon's leadership. For all this heroism, even Greyfax could see that the Imperials and their transports were in danger of being overrun. If any of them were to survive, some will have to stay behind and hold the landing field.