Balhaut
| Map | Basic Data | Planetary Image | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Name: | Balhaut | 
|
| Segmentum: | Segmentum Pacificus | ||
| Sector: | Sabbat Worlds | ||
| Subsector: | Unknown | ||
| System: | Unknown | ||
| Population: | Unknown | ||
| Affiliation: | Imperium | ||
| Class: | Unknown | ||
| Tithe Grade: | Unknown | ||
Balhaut was a planet in the Sabbat Worlds cluster.[1]
History
Balhaut was one of the key objectives set by Warmaster Slaydo at the start of the Sabbat Worlds Crusade. Operation Redrake and Operation Newfound were both prosecuted with the end-goal of Balhaut in mind, and its liberation from the forces of Chaos was the ultimate culmination of ten years of fighting. The Battle of Balhaut in M41.765 was the most significant Imperial victory of the early Sabbat Worlds Crusade and saw the death of Archenemy Archon Nadzybar, but it came at a heavy cost, and Slaydo died of wounds suffered in single combat with the Archon. On his deathbed, Slaydo made the recently promoted Marshal Macaroth the new crusade Warmaster.[1a]
Balhaut itself suffered badly during the battle, and an extensive programme of repairs was barely underway in M41.780 when the Tanith First and Only Astra Militarum regiment were rotated there for convalescence away from the front lines. The Tanith First's commander, Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt, had fought on Balhaut while attached to the Hyrkan Regiments and achieved recognition for breaching the Oligarchy Gate and bringing down the Tower of the Plutocrat during the climax of the fighting at Balopolis. Incidentally, he was also known to a high-level enemy prisoner being held at Section, Balhaut's Commissariat HQ, who refused to speak to anyone but Gaunt.[1b][2]
Raid on Balopolis
The high-level prisoner held at Section was Mabbon Etogaur, a former Imperial soldier who defected to the Blood Pact and then again to the newly-made Sons of Sek. Though the two had never met, Mabbon had been in charge of the search for Gaunt's team on Gereon, and he refused to divulge his information to anyone else. However, unbeknownst to the Imperials, a Blood Pact strike-team led by Eyl Damogaur had infiltrated Balhaut in order to execute Mabbon before he could surrender his secrets.[2a]
The Blood Pact warriors struck at Section, causing havoc, but were stopped from killing Mabbon by Gaunt, who escaped the building along with the prisoner and made a getaway in a staff car driven by Tanith Scout-Trooper Wes Maggs. Cut off from help by a sorcerous snow-storm conjured by Eyl Damogaur's sister, a Chaos witch, Gaunt and Maggs went to ground at the house of a local doctor, Auden Kolding, who stablised the wounded Etogaur (Mabbon had been shot in the shoulder during the escape). They were joined at the house by Tanith Sergeant Tona Criid, who had been caught up in events whilst out for a run. Hunted down by the Blood Pact, the three Tanith and Kolding moved Mabbon to an abandoned building, where the witch possessed Maggs and almost forced him to kill to the prisoner before Gaunt intervened.[2b]
Their location revealed to the Blood Pact, Gaunt, Maggs, Criid and Kolding took the unconscious etogaur to the house of a local portraitist known to Gaunt, which an awakened Mabbon was able to conceal from the witch with arcane sigils. Meanwhile, Inquisitorial forces led by Handro Rime had arrived on the hunt for Mabbon. Rime, convinced that Gaunt was colluding with the etogaur, initiated a hunt for both men, but was convinced by Commissar Usain Edur to co-opt the Tanith as scouts. All forces eventually converged on the memorial buildings built over the ruins of the Oligarchy Gate, where the Blood Pact attack was foiled by the Tanith, Eyl Damogaur assassinated by Hlaine Larkin, and Rime outed as an agent of Anakwanar Sek and executed by Major Rawne.[2c]
In the aftermath of the raid, information given by Mabbon Etogaur was used to plan a secret mission to Salvation's Reach.[2d]
See also
Sources
