Editing The 13th Black Crusade (section)

==Out of the Fire==

===No End in Sight===

A ragtag fleet escaped Cadia's orbit, their holds filled with what was left of Cadia's once proud defenders. These ships set course for the edge of the Cadian system, as the Eye of Terror spilled from its ancient boundaries all around them.

There was no celebration among the survivors. Even with Greyfax's evacuation orders, barely a fraction of a fraction managed to make it off-world. Of the 850 million Cadians on-world at the start of the 13th Black Crusade, only around 3 million remained distributed among the ships of the evacuation fleet. Cadia's legacy may still continue on another world, but at that point its proud bloodlines stood at the brink of annihilation

Even during the Siege of Cadia, warp travel was already unreliable, but with the Cadian Corridor collapsed on itself with the destruction of the Pylons, a warp jump now would be suicide. And so the plasma drives of all the ships were pushed to the upmost limit.

The [[Phalanx]] took the lead, and its big guns were enough of a threat to the traitor cruisers that loitered at the edges of the escape fleet's path. Imperial Navy warships and vulnerable civilian craft made up the middle of the fleet, while the remnants of Cawl's Mechanicus fleet took up the rear. For a few tense moments it was calm, but this ended the moment the last warship broke free of the edge of Cadia's gravity well.

Abaddon's more opportunistic captains led their corsairs into reckless pursuit, only to be atomized by the broadsides of the rearguard Mechanicus vessels. Despite this they still left marks on the vessels, and as the pursuit dragged into hours, gradually chipped away at their defenses. Twenty hours into the chase, a Dictator-class cruiser was crippled by enemy fire, and ten-thousand crew and passengers were lost when it finally exploded. Ten hours later, two frigates and a light cruiser met the same fate.

Cawl showed no emotion for these loses, as he considered these his penance for the massive hubris he had shown at Cadia. Regardless the Archmagos still urged the remainder of his fleet forward.

===Hunted by Wolves===

Some forty hours into the chase, engines suddenly failed on the agri-hauler ''Pride of St. Cerephos". Garadon chose not to stop, and only took what transports made it off the transport, but the captains of the ''Emperor's Wrath'' and ''Dominus Victor'' disagreed with the Brother-Captain's cold pragmatism, and turned around to aid it.

Their choice was admirable, but ultimately foolish. Barely half of the agri-hauler's cargo of Cadian refugees had boarded the two warships when the vanguard of the Black Fleet was upon them like ravenous wolves. ''The Emperor's Wrath'' didn't even have time to disengage its boarding tunnels when it was torn apart by a massive broadside. The ''Dominus Victor'' managed to disengage, but instead of trying to make for Cawl's convoy, an emergency warp jump was made by the captain's subordinate on his sudden death. It never re-emerged from the Warp.

More than a quarter million lives were lost in that brief encounter, doomed by misplaced compassion.

The ''Phalanx'' tried to slow its pace, and allowed the least-space worthy craft into its hangars, but afterward sealed their portals shut. Garadon didn't want to risk any undesirables from making it onboard the Fortress lest it be sabotaged, and it was only its massive guns that kept the Black Fleet from pouncing on the battered convoy.

The hours turned into days, and the mounting fatigue amongst the ships of the convoy took its own toll, as crew became careless. The destroyer ''Toxcra Clavius'' was set adrift after its gunnery crew made a costly error, while a [[Primaris Psyker]] on the ''Hades XII'' succumbed to possession, and allowed a [[Keeper of Secrets]] to run rampant through three decks before it was finally put down by Whiteshields of the Cadian 79th. For all their bravery, they were first quarantined from the rest of the fleet, before Cawl was ordered by Greyfax to put the destroyer to the sword lest it infect the rest of the convoy with possible heresy.

More than four days since the Fall of Cadia, the motley fleet managed to make it to the orbit of the Klaisus, an icy moon of Kasr Holn. The ''Phalanx's'' Navigators finally announced that the tides of the Warp were stable enough to allow translation. Only sixteen out of the twenty-nine ships that escaped Cadia remained by this point, with barely two and a half million Cadians spread among their holds.

The fleet fired up their Warp engines, ready to depart the benighted system, but it was then that the Black Fleet finally caught up with them.

===Fighting Tooth and Nail===

Ten of the Black Fleet's mightiest warships, led by the [[Vengeful Spirit]] itself, dropped out of the Warp just inside the range of the ''Phalanx's'' guns, apparently no longer afraid of their fury. A mix of battleships and grand cruisers drove hard into the flanks of the Adeptus Mechanicus rearguard, and as one by one the ragged flotilla escaped into the relative safety of the warp, Cawl's forces was soon left on its own to face the Chaos fleet's anger.

The Great Enemy's ships fired at extreme range, and it was only malign luck that one salvo managed to punch through the ''Iron Revenant's'' rear shields. Two plasma drives were damaged, but the worse news was that the Gellar Field generator was damaged as well.  For Cawl and all on the Ark Mechanicus, there was no escaping into the Warp now.

Fearful for the loss of his important cargo, Cawl ordered the Ark Mechanicus into an evasive heading, while the rest of the fleet tried to cover its escape. Interceptors sortied one last time from their hangars, as the return salvoes from the Mechanicus ships roared silently into the void. Realistically only the ''Iron Revenant'' had the firepower to match the incoming enemy ships, but its escorts gave their maximum effort anyway.

Salvos overloaded shields and buckled armor, and explosions blossomed in the space between the two fleets, while outnumbered interceptors fought off Heldrakes and Hell talons. For all their defiance, the approach of the Chaos fleet was inexorable, and had the Mechanicus twice the amount of warships it would still not be enough. One by one the remnants of Cawl's fleet met their ends amidst exploding plasma drives and desperate boarding actions.

As for Cawl, the Archmagos labored to get the damaged Gellar field generators back online, each precious minute bought with blood. It was not enough though, as the ''Vengeful Spirit'' was gaining ground on the damaged Ark Mechanicus. It was only a matter of time before that cursed vessel drew level with the limping warship, but once that happened it was the end. There was no way that the Ark would survive the broadside that would follow.

For the first time in millennia, Cawl despaired. He had failed, and once the Ark was destroyed, his important cargo was forfeit.

===Icy Deliverance===

It was then that Saint Celestine spoke up, and gave everyone a possible option. Over Greyfax's objections, Celestine suggested that their salvation lay on the surface of Klaisus itself. With nothing else to lose, both Cawl and Marshall Amalrich overrode the angry Inquisitor's complaints, and pledged to follow the Saint to whatever deliverance she saw in her visions.

And so the ''Iron Revenant'' changed course towards the icy moon, and in the process gave the Ark Mechanicus a chance to fire one uncontested broadside on its pursuer. The ''Vengeful Spirit'' took the salvo head on, taken unaware of its prey's sudden change in direction. Shields collapsed and cannons were torn off their housing as the shells and torpedoes struck, but the battleship had survived the Siege of Terra, and had lived through wounds far worse than what the Ark Mechanicus can deal.

The corrupted Gloriana-class struck back with a broadside from its starboard batteries. By this point there was no way that the ''Iron Revenant'' could outrun its pursuer, and retaliated in kind with its own broadsides. They pounded at each other for more than an hour, all the while Klaisus grew closer.

The Despoiler meant to claim the Ark himself, or see it burn in ruin in the moon's upper atmosphere. On his orders traitors boarded assault craft by the score, in preparation for an assault on the floundering Mechanicus warship. As the last of the ''Iron Revenant's'' defensive batteries was silenced, countless Dreadclaws screamed across the void.

Once Cawl was informed of the incoming boarders, Cawl made his move. The ship was doomed, but it had served its purpose, and it was now deep into Klaisus' orbit. While the remaining crew tried to keep Abaddon and his minions busy, Magos, Inquisitor, Living Saint, Sororitas and Black Templars alike streamed into the awaiting transports. These spiraled downward into the howling snowstorms below, escorted by the few fighter craft that the Ark had left.

By the time the Ark finally broke apart and the first Heldrakes streaked down to pursue the fleeing convoy, they had already disappeared beneath the protection of Klaisus' blinding blizzards.

===Snowbound Pursuit===

[[RAGE]] filled Abaddon's mind at the chance that his prey might escape ''again'', so he ordered every flight-worthy craft he had to search the surface of Klaisus.

As for the fleeing Imperials, it became a bad game of hide and seek as they took cover every time a Heldrake shrieked in the skies above them. They were lucky so far, but there was simply no concealing the Knights of House Taranis or Cawl's own [[Triaros Conveyor]] for long. It was just a matter of time.

Visibility was non-existent, and the temperature deathly cold, but despite this Saint Celestine continued to lead the Imperial survivors towards a destination only she could see. The Living Saint and the Sororitas took up the lead, and was followed by Cawl then Greyfax's Kappic Eagles, while the Black Templars and the Black Templars brought up the rear. Cawl himself was lost in thought, but had shaken off whatever despair he had initially felt. The Archmagos now saw everything since Eriad IV as a pilgrimage, a test to his purpose and conviction.

So of course the snowstorm had to stop.

A trio of Heldrakes screamed down on the convoy, and their strafing runs left trails of blood and the dying in their wake. Two were then blown out of the sky by krak missiles, while the remaining daemon-engine left bloody ruin among the Tempestus Scions it landed on before Cawl put it down himself.

From then there was no reprieve, as the Traitor forces converged on their location. Running battles broke out, as Raptors, Havocs, and Chaos bikers each tried to outdo each other in baiting the Imperial convoy. Every single one of these warbands perished to the defenders, as lasgun volleys cleared the skies of Raptors, while the cannons of the Knights of House Taranis disposed of the bikers, while Seraphim and cleared the cliffs of Havocs.  

It was becoming a battle of attrition however, and the Imperials were slowly losing, as many succumbed to their wounds or the cold, while the Chaos forces just seemed to keep on coming almost like an unending wave.

And yet Celestine led the tired procession on, deeper and deeper into the mountains. Against all reason they managed to lose their pursuers, but as Greyfax glumly observed, there was still a massive Black Legion column down somewhere waiting for them in the valley below.

Soon enough the Imperials beheld a sunken snow-filled bowl, with what looked like an ancient ''alien'' structure, all detail on it smoothed out by the moon's icy winds. They were not alone there though, as a bunch of sorcerers with their transports were camped in front of it. The Imperials cleared these squatters quickly enough, but the signs of the skirmish was quickly picked up by their Black Legion pursuers. The Imperials now they had nowhere to go, their backs against a gate to nowhere.

===One Last Effort===

Marshall Amalrich ordered half of his remaining Black Templars to buy them time to reach the gate, to hold the pass as long as possible for the convoy to make for the alien ruins. Garrein, the [[Emperor's Champion]], led this doomed holding action, and their battle echoed through the night while their compatriots hurried upward.

By dawn the snows came again, and shielded the Imperials from searching eyes, but at the same time slowed their progress to a crawl. They pressed on, but by noon the snows had cleared, and the sounds of pursuit came loudly once more.  

The Black Legion came upon them in force, and as the battle erupted across the bowl even Cawl thought that his luck had finally run out, and stood his ground as a [[Land Raider]] deployed Abaddon himself and his coterie of Terminator bodyguards.  

But it was not to be the end of the Archmagos, or the Imperials there, as jetbikes roared out of the now active gate, their underslung shuriken cannons raking the Black Legion forces, followed by [[Harlequin|laughing and dancing graceful figures in rainbow raiment]]. More lithe warriors followed, followed by massive walkers and war engines. These new arrivals fell upon the Black Legion in focused fury, and many Traitors met their final ends then and there.

The [[Eldar]]! The Eldar had come!

===Leap of Faith===

[[File:Klaisus_Webway.jpg|thumb|Out of the frying pan, eh?]]

The Warhost of Eldar had taken everyone by surprise, none more so than the Black Legion, who were torn apart and pushed back by waves of Eldar warriors. And it was a mixed grab-bag, even for the perfidious xenos, with a Strike Force from [[Ulthwe]] fighting with Wyches from Commoragh, while warriors in the colors of [[Biel-Tan]] and half a dozen other [[Craftworld]]s mixed together.  

Cawl even thought that he saw the infamous [[Farseer]] [[Eldrad]] among the throng, though his attention was soon caught as [[Sylandri Veilwalker]] made her appearance, and bade him to come parley with the leaders of the Eldar host -- [[Yvraine|a female warrior wearing what seemed to be an elaborate gown who directed the her forces with a war fan]], [[Visarch|and a male warrior wearing armor that even Cawl couldn't figure out the providence]], as it was made with styles reminiscent of both the Craftworlds and Commorragh.

Abaddon would have none of it, and tried to rally his forces against the Xenos war host. Those who did so fell under storms of blades or clouds of shuriken. Twice did the Despoiler try to lead a charge on Cawl's transport, and twice it was beaten back. All the while the surviving Imperials were escorted into the swirling and bright aurora that shone from the ruins, until they beheld the graceful spires of a [[Webway]] gate, with Celestine hovering above it.

And then they were through, [[Ultramar|to where Fate or the Emperor wanted them to go next]].