Editing The 13th Black Crusade (section)

==The Storm Breaks==

===Not Stopping For Nothing===

[[File:BFGA2_Black_Fleet_Arrives.JPG|thumb|right|Like a school of angry and evil space fish.]]

Abaddon's Black Fleet was as massive and implacable. It was made up of countless ships of all types, from Great Crusade-era survivors aligned to each of the Traitor Legions, mutated Daemon Ships, foetid Plague husks, Space Hulks, cargo and bulk haulers, with their holds filled to the brim with recent <s>conscripts</s> converts to Chaos. Each Chaos warlord had differing reasons for joining this massive armada, but they all had one goal: fuck Cadia.

Despite being devastated during the start of the Black Crusade, the remnants of the Imperial Navy tried another delaying action to hinder the passage of the Black Fleet [[awesome|''twice'']]. The first time was at '''Vigilatum''' by the ships of Battlefleets Scarus and Corona, while the second time was an ambush led by Admiral Dostov's Victory-class battleships at the Iron Graveyard. Both were brave, if fruitless attempts to buy time, as the ships of the Black Fleet plowed through barely without being slowed down.

Back at Cadia, the news of the Blackstone Fortress was inbound put Creed and his subordinates into a flurry of preparations. On its own, the Fortress could scour all life off the planet, but Cadia still had one more ace in its sleeve: Null-Arrays. In the wake of the [[Gothic War]], the Adeptus Mechanicus had worked to find a counter: a hybrid of a void shield and Gellar field large enough to cover Cadia itself. In theory, it would dissipate the energy weapon like a T'aus Fist on a terminator.

Cadia's network of null-array projectors were barely finished when the initial attacks of the Black Crusade began. Months later, none of them remained intact, having been strategically targeted during the initial landings. Tech-Priests tirelessly busy with restoring conventional defenses were told to get their Mechadendrites out of their ass and get the Null-Array back online. However, this process would take time, and Abbadon's fleet was closing fast.

===One Final Roll of the Dice===

[[File:BFGA2_Sven_Bloodhowl_volunteers.JPG|thumb|right|Yiff in defiance.]]

The Black Fleet was within a day's travel from Cadia, and the Null-Array was not even remotely close to ready, with even Magos Klarn morosely noting that even partial effective coverage was not possible in the time that they had left.

'''Sven Bloodhowl''' came forward with a bold suggestion: he and his Great Company, the '''Firehowlers''', would take the ''Firemane's Fang'' and use it to board the Blackstone Fortress, and do everything that they could to slow down its transit. The Firehowlers would not go on this suicide mission alone, and nearly two hundred Space Marines of the various Chapters already on-world joined them on the warship, along with the Cadian 13th regiment and a full maniple of [[Skitarii]]. The cheers of the defenders accompanied the daring raiders off, but these soon grew quiet when the battle barge finally broke orbit, and all communication was lost.

A day later, and Creed did his best to ease his soldiers' doubts and shore up their morale in every way that he could. However, even he had his doubts to the outcome of the coming battle.

The first ships of the Black Fleet arrived on schedule, the crippled fleet that held orbit around the planet opened up with whatever weapons they still had functioning, while planetary batteries threw up anything they could muster.

But this was merely the precursor, as the death glow of the last Imperial ship was destroyed, and the ''Will of Eternity'' moved into position to fire upon the planet. The fortress arrayed itself in orbit, and as its central eye glowed in the baleful energies of the Warp, it fired its ultimate weapon at the planet. A bright purple beam burst forth, promising ruin on the fortress world...

Except the beam dispersed harmlessly before it even hit the planet's atmosphere. The Null-Array had worked! The defenders cheered, but Magos Klarn was suspicious. Barely an hour ago, he had made a last-minute inspection of the projection grid, finding most of his adepts slain, and xenos technology buttressing the null-array's circuitry, which increased its efficiency to the point that a single projector could protect the whole planet. Cadia had been saved yes, but Klarn wondered who had been behind it.

After the clear evidence that the battle would not be won quickly, Abaddon and his forces ordered a second landing of the planet, with the objective being the Cadian Pylons, the Null-Array, and the Cadia in general.

===Business As Usual===

[[File:BFGA2_Steel_Rehn.JPG|thumb|right|We will fight in the shade!]]

The Black Fleet opened up first, with macro cannon and melta torpedo alike pouring down a deluge of fiery death upon Cadia's already ravaged earth and rock. Several fortresses were lost to the bombardment, because yeah, it was '''that''' intense.

The bastions of Kasr Kraf returned fire. While most blind-fired, accuracy didn't mean jack in this case, due to the skies being filled with what seemed to be an endless swarm of drop-ships and transports.

To the west the macro-cannons of Kasr Stark roared one last time, before disappearing in a massive explosion as its ammunition bunker was penetrated by a melta torpedo, while up North the ground Sword of Defiance sent up a broadside that raped an incoming drop-ship and sent its [[Helldrake]] escorts scrambling. [[Valkyrie]] gunships of '''Clavin Surekka''' 's Howling 119th rose up to hunt, and quickly picked off targets before they darted back to the safety of friendly covering fire. In spite of these efforts, the Chaos forces managed to gain a foothold on the planet surface.

During all this, the void shields of Martyr's Rampart finally gave out, and follow-up salvoes shattered its superstructure, dislodging the macrocannons and killing many defenders. Creed ordered the survivors back to Kasr Kraf, unwilling to waste lives in the wilderness when there were intact walls that needed defenders. 80 percent of those alive managed to return to Kasr Kraf, and they did so all while macroweapons and lances carved up craters all around them. The Black Templars stood their ground, determined to defend their positions to the last.

===Close And Personal===

[[File:BFGA2_Hordes_of_Chaos.JPG|thumb|right|It never ends.]]

Drop-ships closed the distance, and the defenders of Kasr Kraf were suddenly given something to worry about as [[Dreadclaw]] drop pods came shrieking down unto the ramparts. [[Word Bearers]] and [[Alpha Legion]] Traitor Astartes deployed and opened the engagement. Shock troopers were deployed to counter these incursions, but the Legionnaires raised blasphemous icons, summoning daemons to bolster their attack. What was an already tough fight became a battle for survival.

It was much the same everywhere, as redoubt and gun emplacements fell from within, their defenders overwhelmed by the tide of Daemonkin. Many fled, only to be cut down by hellblade and claw, but many more still fought to the last, their defiance spurred on by the fiery sermons of their Ministorum priests.

Nowhere was the fighting harder than at the Shrine of Saint Morrican, as the blazing faith of the Sisters of Battle goaded the Daemons into attacking that sacred ground time and again. The surviving sisters of the many Orders there never took a step back, and under the determined gazes of their '''Canonesses Eleanor and Genevieve''', threw back the ravening hordes with bolter and holy flame.

The first drop-ships to make it planetside landed on the East of Kasr Kraf, deploying Daemon-engines with the aim of reaching the eastern curtain wall. The Cadian 252nd was stationed nearby and ambushed them, sending the first wave straight to hell. The Chaos [[Baneblade]]s that followed however were not even slowed, and their counter-barrage brought down part of the curtain wall, which buried three squadrons of [[Leman Russ Battle Tank|Leman Russ tanks]] as veangence. Skull-decorated [[Rhino]] transports roared from behind the Baneblades and moved to exploit the new breach.

The remaining makeshift defenses of Kasr Jark came under Iron Warriors bombardment. Orven Highfell ordered his brothers into their transports to sally forth for an assault. [[Warsmith]] '''Krom Gat''' had anticipated this, and had fortified the approach to his location with drop-bastions and cursed aegis to slow down the furries. This did not deter the Sons of Russ, as they swept away all opposition in their way, [[Not As Planned|and used Krom's own trenches as cover against his artillery barrages]].