Editing Badab War (section)

=== Phase Four: The Tyrant stands alone ===
The Novamarines, [[Raptors]], and Howling Griffons were dismissed, officially to combat an [[Ork]] invasion, but the truth was that the High Lords thought they were too nice to be trusted to kill off the Secessionists. The [[Salamanders]] refused, but the [[Inquisition]] kept arguing with them, knowing they were bros with the Executioners and the nicest chapter around. To fill the numbers left by the other chapters, the [[Exorcists]] were called in. The loyalists then launched an assault spearheaded by the [[Fire Angels]], [[Red Scorpions]] and Exorcists that managed to seize the lynchpin of the Maelstrom zone's warp routes, confining the Astral Claws to the Badab Sector and isolating them from their allies.

Then the [[Minotaurs]] arrived outta nowhere, and using their one and only advantage of numbers boarded the [[Lamenters]]' ships. They killed all but 300 Lamenters, who surrendered (their weapons were completely depleted) like the unlucky bad-asses they are. Nothing happened for a while until the [[Carcharodons]] showed up and defeated the [[Mantis Warriors]]. The [[Fire Angels]] withdrew due to heavy losses and hating having to serve with the sharky assholes. The Executioners learned that the Astral Claws were stealing the geneseed of the chapters they killed [[Red Corsairs|regardless of the source]], and became a rogue element, fighting both loyalist and secessionist. Eventually they found themselves in a standoff with the [[Salamanders]], who convinced them to surrender and bargained a pardon from the High Lords in exchange for having the Executioners undergo a penitent crusade, souring relations with the [[Sons of Medusa]] who had lost the [[Strike Cruiser]] ''Warspite'' with all hands and were demanding retribution. Huron, having fallen deeper into madness over the years, fully seceded from the Imperium and made the Imperial Cult illegal, as well as all Imperial iconography.

With these victories, the loyalists were now tied with Huron 3-3.