13th Black Crusade (Original) - Battle of Kasr Gehr: The skies above warzones burned with the falling of orbital ordnance, and the chants of a billion lunatics resounded. The tread of mighty Battle Titans shook the earth, and Imperial Navy fighter craft screamed overhead. The last days of the conflict had come upon the Imperium of Man. The Imperial forces could only pray that no servant of the Emperor faltered in his duties to the Master of Mankind, for to do so was to surrender Humanity itself on the eternal pyre of damnation and ruin. The final stage of the 13th Black Crusade was fought across the Cadian, Agripinaa, Belis Corona, Scarus and Chinchare Sectors of the Segmentum Obscurus.On Cadia, the strongholds of the Emperor fell one by one. The Viklas and Cadus lines of battle buckled beneath the relentless hammering of uncounted enemy troops. The Imperial forces on Cadia had been engaged upon a mobile defence, with Lord Castellan Creed marshalling the Astra Militarum regiments under his command to meet each enemy and cut it off before an unstoppable assault developed. But such were the numbers of the Archenemy's forces that this strategy quickly proved to be increasingly untenable, forcing the Cadian defenders onto the defensive, as they began to fall back to Kasr Partox. An entire Traitor Titan Legion marched in line across the horizon, framed against the blazing sky as millions of tons of ordnance fell from orbit. Hordes of mutants swarmed under the Titan's feet, sacrificing themselves to the twisted God-machines. Living artillery stalked the battlefield, spewing shells the size of tanks. The chanting of a million madmen could be heard from the ramparts of Kasr Gehr.But the Cadian 8th Regiment stood arrayed in companies across Kasr Gehr's parade ground; proud, courageous and resolute, honour writ large upon the faces of each and every trooper. The Lord Castellan knew he was consigning many within his beloved regiment to their inevitable deaths. Furthermore, the troopers knew it, and were proud to know it. They cared not, for they would uphold the pride of the "Lord Castellan's Own", Cadia and their sacred duty to the God-Emperor. That evening, the enemy launched their assault upon the citadel. It was presaged by a terrible, chilling wailing that bit deep into each man's sanity, but none wavered. Then a thunderous artillery barrage rained death and destruction upon the walls, but still the 8th Cadian refused to falter. Then came the first waves, and the men and women of the 8th Cadian opened fire upon them. A blazing wall of lasfire sprang across the rapidly closing gap before the walls, and the enemy fell by the thousands. Many exhausted their Lasguns' charges in what seemed mere moments, and reached for a second charge when the regimental standard bearer, Jarran Kell, bellowed the Castellan's orders for every second company to stand down from the walls. The rearguard would assemble, and so the retreat of the Imperial forces towards Kasr Partox began.Some ten companies had held to the last to allow the remainder of the 8th Cadian time to fall back. These brave 3,000 troops were to abandon their positions at the last possible moment, but something went wrong. They were encircled, cut off and eventually overrun and captured. A solar day later, the Imperial forces learned of the fate of the men captured at Kasr Gehr. They were ritually disembowelled before the Imperial positions on the Viklas line. The effect upon Imperial morale was utterly devastating, and it was all the Commissars could do to contain the air of defeat that soon settled over many units. As the battle for Cadia reached towards its climax, the will of its defenders hung on a knife's edge.