Battle of Aralest
The Battle of Aralest was a battle between the Imperium and Black Legion sometime after the 13th Black Crusade.[1]
After a months-long battle in the Aralest System, the Imperial Navy were all but wiped out by a massive war fleet comprising several Black Legion warbands. The few remaining Imperial forces retreated to Everwatch Stanchion, the heavily fortified orbital docking platform above Aralest VII. Meanwhile, on the planet’s surface, Governor Melachron Indis mustered his planetary defense forces and prepared for invasion.[1]
As the Black Legion ships approached, dozens of Chaos cults emerged from amongst the indentured populace of Aralest VII. These corrupted fanatics did not see the Chaos Space Marines as invaders, but rather as saviours. Indis was forced to expend his troops in bloody fights deep inside the hive cities to prevent the planet from falling to the cultists before the Black Legion even arrive. These battles did not go in the Imperium's favor, for with each passing hour, more and more members of the planet joined in the uprising.[1]
Eventually, Indis and the remainder of his army barricaded themselves inside the spire of Aralest VII's capital hive and hoped that the naval garrison on Everwatch would soon be able to send them aid. Meanwhile, the Black Legion, having captured Everwatch Stanchion days earlier, dislodged the platform from its orbit and sent it plummeting down to the planet's surface. The explosion created by the impact left only a crater where the hive city once stood.[1]
