Editing Battle for Europa (section)

==Preparations==
Kleisthenes knew and accepted that this mission would likely end in the deaths of every Astartes under his command well before the first shuttle was boarded to Europa. The ports were far too massive to defend, even with 700 Legionaries against a dedicated attack from Hektor's host. Bearing this knowledge, he set about relocating all supplies to submarine storage on the moon of Europa proper. The commander of the Imperial Army charged with defending the moon was ordered to guard these caches against all but confirmed loyalist Primarchs.

Kleisthenes had learned much under Hektor's command, and understood the importance of picking the battleground and using your men to their greatest potential. He chose Europa's Gamma Port for both its strategic importance and the labyrinthine layout of its interior. He then set the Europan troops to the task of filling a majority of the landing bays within the 16 lesser ports with detritus to deny the traitors a complete foothold.

With the initial and hardest work underway he called his nine commanders and asked each of them candid advice on his plan to defend Gamma Port. Kleisthenes re-emerged after two days of discussion with a solid and detailed plan. Many of the orbital ports had every door and bulkhead sealed and the equipment sabotaged in methods that would be quick to fix but take time to find with the help of what techpriests remained. A long and detailed list of this work was sent to both Europa and Terra so that loyalists could rapidly bring the facilities back to full operation but the traitors would be mired for days locating and repairing faults.

With that work underway, Kleisthenes returned his focus on preparing Gamma Port itself. He and his task force went to work sealing and sabotaging bulkheads and doors to create more fixed corridors to fight in and deny their enemies the strength of their numbers, as well as stocking their ambush sites.

As they were finishing their work they received word that the traitor forces were mere days from Sol itself. Kleisthenes ordered the Imperial Army troops to either leave for Europa itself to protect its inhabitants or Terra itself as per their initial instructions. The 1st Battalion of the 17th Europan Foot Regiment surprised all by refusing this order. The unit volunteered in their entirety to stay and assist in the defense of Gamma Port. Kleisthenes reminded them that all were likely to die in the defense yet the men remained steadfast and Kleisthenes accepted their number into his defense.