Editing Gothic War (section)

===The Imperium Strikes Back===

Though the Chaos fleet outnumbered the ships of Battlefleet Gothic by sheer numbers, they were ''also'' spread out in smaller task forces across the sector. Seeing this as a weakness that could be exploited, Admiral Ravensburg decided to isolate each of these smaller fleets and hit each with the full might of all his available ships.

This plan was soon put to the test when a traitor flotilla was spotted on the way to the '''Gethsemane System'''. With [[Rape|seventeen ships of the line and twenty escorts]], Battlefleet Gothic tore through the Chaos fleet. The Chaos commander soon ordered his forces to retreat, only to be hit from behind by an [[Eldar]] fleet that came seemingly from [[Webway|nowhere]]. Pincered by these two forces, the Chaos ships were annihilated, giving the Imperium its first major victory of the war. The Imperium had even more good fortune as the warp storms that were isolating the Gothic Sector abated, allowing reinforcements from neighboring sectors to arrive. With victory suddenly put into doubt, Abaddon led his fleet to the Tarantis System. Once more he combined the might of the Blackstone Fortresses, but this time their wrath was directed at Tarantis' sun. The sun went supernova, and billions died as its heat washed over the worlds there.

The Imperial Navy and its Eldar allies were convinced that another attack was to follow. Thanks to the efforts of Eldar scouts, they deduced that Abaddon was going to make a grab for the Blackstone fortress in anchorage above '''Schindlegeist''' and so decided to set up a trap for the Despoiler there thanks to access to the Eldar Webway. [[Just As Planned|Abaddon fell for it hook, line, and sinker]], and for the first time in the war found his forces outnumbered and outmaneuvered. For three days the Imperials and Eldar hammered Abaddon's fleet, and in seeming desperation the Despoiler deployed his Blackstone Fortresses against Schindlegeist's star, seeking to repeat what had occured at Tarantis. In an act of supreme sacrifice, [[Awesome|Captain '''Abridal''' led his battleship to where the energy of the three fortresses converged]]. Though his ship was destroyed, the flow of energy was disrupted and it would take time for them to fire again.

Abaddon had enough. With two Fortresses in tow, the Despoiler beat a retreat back to the Eye of Terror. One Blackstone Fortress was left behind but as marines from the [[Angels of Redemption]] soon found it was empty. This Fortress eventually self-destructed along with all the other Blackstone Fortresses in the sector; the cause of this remains a mystery to this day.

Even with the Despoiler gone, peace didn't return to the sector immediately. The Imperial Navy and Eldar hounded the Chaos forces trying to escape back into the Eye of Terror. This took two whole years, but with the Chaos threat finally ended, the Imperium could once more focus its attention on freeing the worlds lost to opportunistic raiders and pirates.

The Gothic War lasted almost twenty years, and its legacy could still be felt more than nine hundred years later, when [[Gathering Storm|Abaddon's attention once more fell upon the holdings of the Emperor]]...