Battle of Vorlese
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The Battle of Vorlese was a battle fought by the Imperium and Black Legion shortly after the Destruction of Cadia.[1]
Overview
Following the Thirteenth Black Crusade, Roboute Guilliman had been resurrected and subsequently reached Terra to assume regency of the Imperium. The Chaos Gods became determined to halt Guilliman's upcoming crusade and in the Second Battle of Terra had displayed their willingness to assault Humanity's throneworld. However Guilliman did not take the bait, and rather than stay on Terra to consolidate his defenses as the Ruinous Powers had hoped he became determined to reclaim worlds under assault by the newly formed Great Rift.[1]
Meanwhile, the Black Legion was active in the aftermath of destruction of Cadia. Using an unusual map of Warp routes, Abaddon planned to forcibly trap Guilliman on Terra. The eight primary warp routes to access Terra from greater Segmentum Solar were assailed by Abaddon's forces. At the nexus of each warp route, Abaddon's forces assaulted an Imperial world and deployed a massive shard of a Cadian Pylon. Once entrenched into a planet's surface, the Pylon's null energies would spread outwards, closing the Warp Route and leaving Terra isolated. The Black Legion succeeded in this in seven of the eight routes to Terra, and only the route centered on Vorlese remained.[1]
Acting on their own accord, the Custodes Valerian and the Sister of Silence Tanau Aleya led an expedition to Vorlese with a meager force of 34 Sisters and 10 Custodes from the Custodes ship Chelandion. When they arrived at Vorlese, the world was already under assault from the Black Legion in dozens of warzones. The center of the Chaos assault was the Executor Class Grand Cruiser Heartspite. The Chelandion charged at the Black Legion vessel and unleashed its advanced weaponry to quickly drop its Void Shields before speeding away.[1][2]
As soon as the void shields on the Heartspite dropped, the grand cruiser was boarded by the 40 Imperial warriors. Valerian and Aleya led a desperate assault to the center of the cruiser, assailed by hundreds of Black Legionaries and their mortal slaves along the way. At the ships center they discovered the massive Pylon shard, waiting to be dropped onto Vorlese at any moment. The Imperials took control of the chamber and waged a desperate last stand, holding off the Black Legion to prevent them from dropping the shard. Surrounded on all sides and needing to defend the sabotaged chain preventing the pylon from dropping, the Imperials were gradually slaughted.[1]
It was then that a large Imperial fleet from Terra led by Guilliman arrived. After destroying its Escorts the Executor was boarded, with Guilliman himself leading the assault. The Black Legion forces were quickly swept aside by the power of the Primarch and his entourage of Space Marines. When Guilliman and his Remembrancer Lev Tieron reached the central chamber, the only surviving warriors were Valerian, Aleya, and Ujoma. All three were badly wounded and unconscious, and rushed into medical care. Nonetheless, their delaying effort had prevented the shard from being dropped onto Vorlese. With the Grand Cruiser under his control, Guilliman's forces landed across Vorlese to secure it from the Black Legion.[1][2]
Thanks to the Imperial victory at Vorlese, the Black Legion plot to close the Warp routes to Terra had failed. One remained, and it became the way from which the coming Indomitus Crusade would be launched.[1]
Sources
- 1: Watchers of the Throne: The Emperor's Legion (Novel) — Chapters 25-29
- 2: Watchers of the Throne: The Regent's Shadow (Novel) — Chapter 2
