Editing The 13th Black Crusade (section)

===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.