Battle of Phall - Desperate Gambit: When Tyr informed Fleet Master Alexis Polux of Perturabo's flagship leading the enemy fleet, the captain did not expect the response that he received; Polux immediately placed 50 ships under Tyr's command. The Iron Warriors fleet was pulling itself apart as it tried to engage the Imperial Fists, and it bled at every turn. But that was not enough. Not enough for Polux, not enough for his lost battle-brothers, not enough of a blood price for betrayal.Tyr's objective was the Iron Blood. He was to execute Perturabo. Captain Tyr led an assault force of 53 Terminator Armour-clad Veterans to assault the Lord of Iron's flagship. They were going to go into battle against another Legion, against a primarch. It was a battle none of them had ever thought they would fight, but there was no doubt or hesitancy amongst them.Polux had ordered this strike against Perturabo. That had surprised Tyr; he had thought that his brother lacked the boldness for such a gambit. That this mission might be his last did not matter. That was the nature of war, and the Imperial Fists knew that death was often the price of victory.The Imperial Fists concentrated their fire at the leading ships of Perturabo's fleet. The impact of this was devastating to the Traitors as their lead ships were torn apart in the firestorm. As the lead ships were battered the following ships of Perturabo's fleet broke off their attack to regroup. This gave the Loyalists the chance to go on the offensive but before they did so, the fleet's astropaths relayed a critical message to the loyal commanders.The Retribution Fleet had finally succeeded in making contact with Terra and the Imperial Fists had urgent orders to return there, by the will of their primarch, Rogal Dorn. These orders came with the highest priority. They Imperial Fists were not to let anything delay them. Coincidentally, a passage seemed to have somehow opened up in the Warp Storms surrounding the Isstvan System, though the Imperial Fists were not sure how long it would last.If they were to obey their primarch's orders, they had to withdraw while there was a chance of making it through the storms. Embattled against the Traitors of Perturabo and his Iron Warriors Legion the Loyalists had an opportunity to force the issue and launch a counterattack against Perturabo's fleet, perhaps dealing a wound to the enemy so severe that the Iron Warriors might never recover. But they had their orders; it was the will of Rogal Dorn that they return post-haste.When it came, the order to withdraw spread like poison through the Imperial Fists fleet. The first to run were the smaller craft, the frigates, gunboats and strike cruisers. Alone or in small squadrons, a hundred and thirty of the proudest warships of the Imperium fled the sphere of battle. Every Imperial Fist on every ship knew what the fleet master was doing, and why; it was a judgement of who was most likely to survive. It was also a death sentence for those that remained.Behind the fleeing ships their heavier cousins fired on the enemy with renewed fury. Rolling fire hit every Iron Warriors ship within range, clouding their sensors with a haze of energy as munitions detonated against void shields. It worked for a while, until the first of the Imperial Fists dropped into the Warp.For a moment nothing changed. Then more of the fleeing ships vanished, and the Iron Warriors realised what was happening. They fell on the breaking Imperial Fists like starved jackals on wounded lions. A second wave of Imperial Fists craft began to run for the system's edge and the Warp's embrace.The Lacedaemon, the ship that had carried the first Imperial Fists beyond the Sol System, was the first to break away. Its captain, the obedient Iago, pushed his ship until its engines bled raw plasma.Twelve Iron Warriors ships ran him down, raking the Lacedaemon with constant fire. Its hull blasted to a twisted ruin, the Lacedaemon fired back on its killers until the last inch of its hull integrity gave out. Of the rest of the second wave of retreat, a handful made it to clear space and jumped to the Warp. Most followed the Lacedaemon to death.The battle had become a slaughter. The Imperial Fists were running. Squadrons of ships tried to keep the Iron Warriors at bay while the others made for clear space and the possibility of escape. Freed of the pressure of attacks, the Iron Warriors fell on them. Every passing instant saw another ship die under Iron Warriors guns. They simply hammered them into twisted metal and cooling slag.There was an abandon to it, a wasteful brutality that required no skill. But the Imperial Fists died just the same. The Contrador and Polux's command ship, the Tribune, met in an embrace of fire and punctured metal. The Tribune fired every remaining weapon at the closing Iron Warriors ship.Macro-shells, Lance beams and plasma jets flicked across the narrowing distance and broke over the Contrador's shields. The return fire blew out the Tribune 's gun decks and gouged a long wound in its side. The Contrador closed until it was drifting alongside the Tribune’s wounded flank.Assault pods and boarding torpedoes slid across the gap. A weak flurry of turret fire reached out to meet the swarm of assault craft and hammered a handful into wreckage.The rest came on, unconcerned and undeterred. They hit in a wave, punching through gold-plated armour and disgorging their cargo into the guts of the Tribune.