Betrayal at Ithraca
The Betrayal at Ithraca was a battle of the Horus Heresy.[1]
Contents
Overview
Waged during the Battle of Calth, the battle saw the Word Bearers and their Legio Suturvora allies under Princeps Horgoth Nyr launch a surprise attack on the Legio Praesagius as they moved aboard the transport Arutan above Ithraca. The Arutan was shot down by traitor fire, and many loyalist Titans were lost. On the outskirts of the port city of Ithraca, thousands of Ultramarines looked up to the sky in horror as the colossal transport vessel Arutan came under fire from Word Bearers warships in orbit. Lances of killing energy took the Arutan apart and as the great vessel began to fall towards Ithraca, swarms of Word Bearers aircraft descended to rain fire among the closely packed ranks of the Loyalists. The Traitors were met by the Ultramarines 85th Company's air assets, the 'Legatine Raptors', causing aerial combat to erupt among the debris of destroyed warships raining down from orbit. The pilots of the Ultramarines shot down dozens of enemy aircraft but ultimately it was a futile attempt to hold back the tide of darkness descending on Calth and almost all of the Legatine Raptors perish in the skies over Ithraca. As the survivors of the Legio Praesagius gathered on the other side of the Arutan the Legio Suturvora swept aside masses of loyal Imperial Army. The Legio Praesagius was joined by the Knights of House Orhlacc and Princeps Rhiko Trieste led a counterattack. Trieste led nine Warlord Titans in a delaying action, allowing their allies to reach the streets of Ithraca but losing all their engines in the process.[1][2]
Elsewhere, a surviving maniple of the Legio Praesagius known as Battlegroup Argentus sought out the wreck of the Arutan. There, the Titans of Argentus sacrificed themselves to free their brothers held within the hull, freeing allies including the Warmonger Titan under Princeps Maximus Arutis. As Ithraca burned all around them, the survivors of the Legio Praesagius spread out into the city to extract their revenge. Yet the traitor titans were already in retreat, not a full-fledged rout but rather withdrawing under a careful plan. For a brief moment the loyalists though they had won, but the skies overhead darkened and all hell broke loose.[1]
See also
Sources
- 1: Adeptus Titanicus: Shadow and Iron, pg. 7
- 2: Horus Heresy: Aeronautica Imperialis, pg. 6
Uncited