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The Battle of the Kalium Gate was a battle during the Horus Heresy.[1]
Overview
Waged four years after the Second Battle of Prospero that had seen the White Scars introduction in the Horus Heresy, the Scars had waged a vicious attrition campaign of hit-and-run attacks on traitor supply lines deep in the void. However while initially devastating, these raids grew less effective as traitor forces adjusted to the Scars tactics. After a particularly devastating ambush by Iron Warriors at Iluvuin, Jaghatai Khan became determined to return to Terra and bolster the Emperor's defenses. However thanks to galaxy-wide Warp Storms and blockades of major Warp routes by traitor forces, the Scars were effectively trapped and slowly being boxed in behind enemy lines.[1]
An opportunity for the Scars to escape to Terra presented itself with the Kalium Gate, an ancient Warp Gate dating back to the Dark Age of Technology. In the weeks leading up to the Scars' move on the Gate, they conducted multiple smaller diversionary raids. However Lord Commander Eidolon of the Emperor's Children correctly predicted the pattern and met the Scars at Kalium. The Emperor's Children force was outnumbered, but had the advantage of taking the Kalium Gate's defenses for their own. When the White Scars fleet led by the Battleship Lance of Heaven arrived, they found a ruined gate closed to them, teeming with enemy forces.[1]
In an attempt to disable the enemy defensive batteries, the Scars landed forces throughout the Gate and engaged in infantry and armored battles with the Emperor's Children. The Scars were led by Stormseers and an armored giant in Power Armor that appeared to be Jaghatai Khan himself. The deadliest weapons in the Traitor arsenal proved to be their Kakaphoni, led by Eidolon himself. The sonic attacks of the Kakaphoni were only blocked thanks to the effort of the Stormseers, but in the end the armored giant was slain by Eidolon and the battered Scars forces fled. It was revealed that the warrior in Jaghatai's armor had been Keshig Master Qin Xa, who later died aboard the Lance of Heaven.[1]
However while the traitors seemingly were victorious, in truth the push at Kalium had been yet another feint by the Khan, who instead struck towards Herevail for information on the notorious Navigator Pieter Helian Achelieux.[Needs Citation]
See also
Sources
- 1: The Path of Heaven (Novel), Chapters 3-5
