Editing Battle for Europa (section)

==The Assault Begins==

As the enemy host arrived several fragments split from the main force to take secondary objectives within the Sol system. One of the much larger fleets centered on Europa. As they descended on their target, landing craft were launched to find and take a multitude of smaller docking bays only to find them unable to be landed upon. Frigates, Cruisers, and the handful of Battleships began to dock with the various ports only to find the doors sealed. The boarding crews began taking the time to painstakingly cut through bulkhead after bulkhead to clear their respective objectives.

Gamma Port stood out quickly as different from the rest. Almost as soon as the traitors cut the first bulkhead they were fired upon by Astartes of the V Legion. As the enemy began to charge, the loyalist host retreated and sealed the bulkheads behind them. This pattern repeated a multitude of times, with men and Astartes alike charging into the fray while those at the back ever pushed forward in mindless pursuit of combat. The early hallways filled quickly with a press of bodies. Men were crushed underfoot whenever a bulkhead was opened with the sheer pressure and rush of a charge. Cutting the next bulkhead open was increasingly difficult as the force of the push from the rear caused whatever poor soul operating the fusion cutter less and less room to maneuver. Eventually they reached a point where the force could advance no more on Dock 5. The fusion cutters were either lost underfoot or could not be brought to the front. As the mass pressed and slammed fruitlessly into the bulkhead of Dock 5 Gamma Port was rocked with explosions.

The traitor forces were too concerned with attacking their quarry and overlooked properly searching their surroundings. During the preparatory stages, Kleisthenes had lined the hallways with antipersonnel explosive devices. They went off in corridors packed with personnel as shrapnel tore through flesh and bone alike. This attack was not able to entirely end their enemies yet created a devastating blow to the traitor forces. Unfortunately it was not without cost. Dock 1 was horribly damaged in the explosion and rapidly venting atmosphere while Dock 3 was nearly destroyed outright and would have to be completely rebuilt. The traitor Army host took the brunt of the casualties and nearly 95 out of 100 men were killed in the blasts. The Astartes took far fewer losses and are estimated to have lost only a few dozen from lucky hits of metal fragments though the trap still wounded many more.

The traitors learned their lesson and proceeded more slowly and with much more caution after they regrouped. Once clear of the dedicated docking areas they found the loyalists waiting for them in the form of Kleisthenes and the men of the I Legion. They were vastly outnumbered yet fought in tight corridors where the enemy could not flank Kleisthenes' formations. As the enemy charged they found themselves pressing through a wall of bolter fire and into a second wall of plasteel, ceramite, and spearpoints. As the Astartes of the I Legion began to be pushed back from the shock of the assault the traitors found themselves caught in crossfires as Astartes from other Legions began to open fire from upper level walkways, side rooms, and intersecting hallways. Three days on Terra passed as the Traitors attacked time and again. Every inch they gained cost them in a heavy toll of blood. However they did advance. Each successful push would lose the Loyalist one or two casualties and put the Traitors into another crossfire.

The Battalion of Europan Army troops did not merely sit idly by during this time. Gamma Port featured a convoluted jungle of servitor access tunnels and crawlspaces to move equipment, cargo, and supplies separate from the common-use pathways. Gaining access to these tunnels would allow the traitors freedom of movement throughout the port. Holding them allowed Kleisthenes' Astartes to quickly move throughout the Port and was used to allow his Astartes to move from one firing point to another unhindered. Kleisthenes ordered his mortal allies to hold the tunnels at all costs. Working in his favor was a safety measure where the tunnels would be sealed to prevent pedestrian traffic and controls were all located either at the Port's central command station or inside the tunnels themselves.