Battle of Catallus

Battle of Catallus Jaghatai Khan battles the Daemons of Manushya-Rakshsasi aboard the Lance of Heaven during the Battle of Catallus[1] Conflict Horus Heresy[1] Date 011.M41[1] Location Catallus Rift[1] Outcome Loyalist Victory[1] Combatants Imperium[1] Traitor Legions[1] Commanders Primarch Jaghatai Khan Jubal Khan Shiban Khan Torghun Khan[1] Primarch Mortarion Lord Commander Primus Eidolon Marshal Gremus Kalgaro Consul Delegatus Azael Konenos (KIA) Prefector Ravasch Cario (KIA)[1] Strength 84% of White Scars Legion[1] Sizable portion of Death Guard Emperor's Children taskforce Slaaneshi Daemons[1] Casualties Heavy[1] Heavy[1]

The Battle of Catallus was a battle during the Horus Heresy.^[1]

Overview

The campaign was a continuation of the attempts by the White Scars to find a passage to Terra. After the Battle of the Kalium Gate, the Scars had managed to discover the location of the elusive Navigator Pieter Helian Achelieux. After a council of war where Jaghatai Khan proclaimed his intent to stand on Terra over fighting to the death against the traitor fleets pursuing them, the White Scars reformed in their entirety and moved on the Catallus Rift.^{[Needs Citation]}

At the Warp Rift over Catallus, they discovered that while Achelieux had long since died, his machine Dark Glass endured. While the White Scars explored the Dark Glass, a combined traitor fleet of Death Guard and Emperor's Children led by Mortarion and Eidolon arrived. The Scars sought to block the traitors with suicidal detachments of the Sagyar Mazan and a fleet led by the Kaljian under Shiban Khan. A vicious battle erupted across space as the two fleets dueled to the death.^[1] During the battle, a horde of Slaaneshi Daemons led by the Keeper of Secrets Manushya-Rakshsasi were summoned by the Emperor's Children Apothecary Von Kalda. The Daemons possessed the entire crew of the Emperor's Children warship Ravisher then set their sights upon Jaghatai Khan.^[1]

Seeking to settle the score with Mortarion that had begun on Prospero, Jaghatai became determined to charge his flagship, the Swordstorm, into Mortarion's Endurance for a final stand. However inside Dark Glass, Chief Stormseer Targutai Yesugei had failed to prevent an attempt by the Navis Nobilite agent Veil to destroy the device. Discovering the throne at the center of the Dark Glass, Yesugei sacrificed himself to open a portal into the Webway to Terra. Jaghatai, determined to prevent Yesugei's sacrifice from going to waste, instead chose escape over a last stand. The Swordstorm was abandoned, the only warriors left aboard consisting of the Sagyar Mazan led by Torghun Khan.^[1]

When Mortarion and his forces boarded the Swordstorm, they were ambushed by Torghun's forces who set the vessel to self-destruct as the Khan evacuated to the Lance of Heaven and led the remaining Scars fleet into the Webway portal opened by Yesugei. Mortarion and his Deathshroud managed to massacre Torghun and the Sagyar Mazan and escape the vessel before it was destroyed, but the delay had cost him dearly. The Scars were able to escape with only minimal pursuit, but Manushya-Rakshsasi's Daemons were among them. On the bridge of the Lance of Heaven, the White Scars and their mortal crew held off the Daemons as Revuel Arvida guided the fleet to Terra. The Khan slew Manushya-Rakshsasi, and ultimately Arvida was successful in navigating the fleet. The battered remains of the White Scars emerged over Terra, where they would later prove decisive during Horus' siege of the palace.^[1]

See also

• Battles of the Horus Heresy (List)

Sources

• 1: The Path of Heaven (Novel), Chapters 21-27