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Battle of the Phalanx

Battle of the Phalanx
Conflict Long War
Date 999999.M41
Location The Phalanx
Outcome Imperial victory
Combatants
Imperial Fists Chaos
Commanders
Captain Tor Garadon
Sergeant Furan
Warsmith Shon'tu (KIA)
Daemon Prince Be'lakor
Strength
Imperial Fists 3rd Company
Legion of the Damned
Sons of the Forge
Daemons
Casualties
Unknown Unknown

The Battle of the Phalanx was a conflict aboard the Phalanx, the mobile Fortress-Monastery of the Imperial Fists.[1]


Overview

While defending the world of Hydra Cordatus from the Iron Warriors, the Imperial Fists 3rd Company was slain to a man. Determined to rebuild his old company, Captain Tor Garadon received permission to leave the 2nd Company to work with the 3rd. While Garadon and a unit of veterans worked to rebuild the company at the Phalanx, Darnath Lysander and Vorn Hagan took five companies of the Chapter to worlds near the Eye of Terror in a Crusade against Chaos.[1]

However the 3rd Company did not remain idle for long. In 999.M41 Warsmith Shon'tu, having survived the Fall of Malodrax, returned to exact vengeance against the Imperial Fists. Looking to upstage Abaddon the Despoiler's 13th Black Crusade, Shon'tu allied with the Daemon Be'lakor and planned to launch an attack on Holy Terra itself by hijacking the Phalanx's enormous firepower to unleash a bombardment on the Imperial Palace. Shon'tu and Be'lakor's forces succeed in boarding the Phalanx in a surprise assault. Under Garadon's direction the newly formed 3rd Company fought with determination despite their inexperience, fighting off attacks by Daemonic hordes. Ultimately, Garadon delayed the incursion long enough for the Phalanx to rouse its engines and enter the Warp, thus ending the immediate threat to Terra. With the ship hurtling across the Immaterium, neither side was able to contact their allies. As the Imperial Fists made their last stand, the Legion of the Damned materialized out of fire and joined the battle. Though the Legion prevented total Chaos victory, the battle's outcome was still far from certain.[1]

Be'lakor was eventually able to summon a Warp Rift inside the Phalanx itself as part of a goal to capture the vessel. The few remaining Imperial Fists defenders were by this point massively outnumbered by the traitors and slowly losing control of the vessel to Iron Warriors machine-curses. In desperation, Garadon used the guns of the Phalanx to blast off the "infected" parts of the station, losing 10% of its total mass in the process. Ultimately, however, the Imperial defenders seemed doomed by a final Chaos assault until the Legion of the Damned arrived to save the Imperial fists, defeating Be'lakor. Imperial Fists Terminator Sergeant Furan was ultimately able to slay Shon'tu and win the day.[2a] Afterwards, the Imperial Fists and Legion forces decided to move to Cadia to aid the Imperial defenders in the 13th Black Crusade.[2]

Sources