First Battle of Paramar - The Coils of the Hydra: Of all the weapons in Horus' arsenal, none were obviously more suited to the invasion of Paramar than the Alpha Legion. The task required a degree of subtlety and control that few of the Space Marine Legions that had sided with Horus could readily muster, save for his own Sons of Horus perhaps -- certainly not Angron's savages (the World Eaters) or Konrad Curze's own flock of murderers (the Night Lords Legion).Perhaps Fulgrim's vaunted warriors (the Emperor's Children) would have once fit the bill, but already stark and terrible changes were befalling the IIIrd Legion that were rendering them quixotic and alien to what had come before. It has been suggested, also by some apocryphal sources, including testimony gathered from the supposition of others within the Traitor faction, that there was another motive for the Warmaster's selection of the Alpha Legion alone of his Space Marine forces for this task.That reason was as a demonstration of their loyalty and as an overt blooding of their hands in his cause. It had been noted in diverse sources and conjectures that of all those who cast their lot in with Horus, the motivations and fealty of Alpharius and his Legion were, from the beginning, the most uncertain and the most obscure. Although it is indicated in many extant sources from the late Great Crusade era that Horus maintained perhaps the best relationship with the sinister and mysterious Primarch of the Alpha Legion, it was true that even here there was little true trust or fellowship between them.In short, no-one trusted the Alpha Legion, not even the Warmaster who had wielded them often as a weapon in the final campaigns of the Great Crusade and knew their uses well. It is also the case that many believe the Alpha Legion's involvement in the Drop Site Massacre to have been -- if not guarded -- then certainly on their own terms, and their commitment to the attack limited to victims purely of their own choosing, and seldom at risk to themselves. At Paramar, the Alpha Legion would have to prove their commitment to Horus, not simply with the blood of his enemies but, inevitably, with blood of their own.It is not known with what grace or eagerness Alpharius and his Legion received their orders to take Paramar, but the serpent-sly Primarch no doubt well knew their import, the risks of the deadly mission and Horus' motives in steering the Alpha Legion for the task. Even as the last Loyalist voidships were fighting desperately for their survival in the wreckage-strewn void around Istvaan V and fires raged on the blasted dropsite below, the azure and smoke-hulled warships of the Alpha Legion began to depart the system in large numbers, leaving only a token force to bear witness to the triumphs of the Warmaster in the Drop Site Massacre's aftermath.While numerous vessels departed alone on missions unknown and inscrutable—some to raise havoc on far-flung Imperial worlds, others to carry discord and falsehood to far corners of the Imperium—a powerful core of warships, perhaps fully a half of the Alpha Legion's fleet, made speed for Paramar. Following in their wake came a second armada of Dark Mechanicum barques and mass-arks drawn from forces loyal to Horus.