Editing The 13th Black Crusade (section)

===An Imperial Fisting, Done Dry===

[[File:BFGA2_The_Phalanx_Arrives.JPG|thumb|Heeeeeeeere's Dorn's Boys]]

Abaddon had planned many things, but he certainly [[Not As Planned|did not foresee the Phalanx suddenly thundering into the midst of the gathered might of his fleet]]. The venerable battle-fortress' guns roared to life, while its ancient shield generators held firm despite soaking multiple broadsides from the ships around it.

[[Tor Garadon]] had witnessed wonders and horrors in the last few hours to last a lifetime, from the arrival of the Legion of the Damnned, followed by the Living Saint Celestine guiding a time-lost Sororitas transport to the Phalanx's care. There were so many questions he didn't have any immediate answers to, but the sight of the gathered might of the Black Legion was something he was very familiar with.

The battle fortress was alone amongst a multitude of foes, but it didn't matter; something needed to ''die'', and the Phalanx would be the one to do it.

The ''Will of Eternity'' was the greatest threat, so the Phalanx turned toward the Blackstone Fortress' direction. As its flank batteries hammered the Traitor ships trying to surround it, Garadon held the powerful bow guns of the fortress ready -- because of all the damage it had experienced prior to arriving at Cadia, it had to make that first planet-cracking volley count.

Any other vessel would have been reduced to scrap by the sheer amount of fire it had received, but the Phalanx was made of sterner stuff, and even without an escort fleet it was still more than a match against the rabble that was facing it. But it could not hold on forever, as the heavy hitters of Abaddon's fleet left their moorings around Cadia and headed in its direction. Garadon didn't care though -- if this was to be the Phalanx's last battle, so be it, but not before the Blackstone Fortress was destroyed.

Unknown to all, Sven Bloodhowl and the remnants of his volunteer strike force still fought on in the depths of the Blackstone Fortress. They were pinned down, just short of a vital interchange that powered a section of the ''Will of Eternity'''s shields. The arrival of the Phalanx, viewed through one viewport, reinvigorated the raiders, and as the [[Legion of the Damned]] began to manifest all around them, Sven led the last of his Firehowlers to glory.

An explosion flared on one of the Blackstone's flanks, and along the whole lower port quadrant of the ''Will of Eternity'' the shields sputtered and died. That was the chance that Garadon and Trevaux were hoping for, and as one the main batteries of the Phalanx focused-fired on that area with the fury worthy of Dorn himself.

Traitor ships desperately battered themselves against the ''Phalanx'' 's onrushing mass, and while this silenced some of the battle fortress' guns, the rest still pounded on the Blackstone's now-cracked hide. In the strategium, hull breach klaxons and damage reports kept on being heard, but Garadon paid it no heed. The ''Will of Eternity'' was going to '''die''', no ifs or buts about it.

After what seemed to be countless salvos, something within the Blackstone Fortress just... shattered. Massive fissures appeared on its surface, and lurid purple light bled through the cracks. As the Phalanx limped away as fast as its engines could muster, a silent scream echoed across every living being in the Cadian Gate as the Blackstone Fortress broke up in a blinding flare of warp energy. By the time the glare faded away, a full third of the Black Fleet was gone, snatched back by the tides of the Warp, while more had burned out and crashed on Cadia's south pole.

As for the fortress itself, its ruined husk remained in orbit, a brand new and lifeless moon overlooking its former quarry.