Editing Battle of Phall (section)

==The Battle of Phall==
Following the flight of the Eisenstein, Lord [[Rogal Dorn]] heard about [[Battle of Isstvan III|Horus' plan to crash the Imperium with no survivors]] and dispatched a third of his Legion and a bigger part of his war fleet to take Horus to task. This Retribution fleet was sent ahead of the Raven Guard, Iron Hands and Salamanders who followed shortly after. Unfortunately, the Retribution Fleet was marooned in the Phall system since the Chaos Gods thought that odds of [[Drop Site Massacre|8:3]] weren't stacked enough in their favour.

Yonnad unfortunately died during the warpstorms and command was thrust on one [[Alexis Polux]]. Polux was suspicious of the calm around the Phall system when everywhere else was fucked as far as the [[Navigator|third eye]] could see and began rigorously drilling and training the men under his command, which turned out to be a very good thing when the fleet of the [[Iron Warriors|traitor IVth]] turn up.

===Engagement===
Maintaining a defensive position near a planet, the Imperial Fists ship groups began looping around a point in space to form a sphere of guns. Polux was right about the suspicious nature of the system, and sure enough after months of waiting the main Iron Warriors fleet showed up to kill them.

Unfortunately for the Iron Warriors, Perturabo thought that Sigismund would be in command of the Retribution Fleet. Sigismund was expected to do two things: land on the planet and build a fortress and charge at the Iron Warriors fleet guns blazing with the remaining ships. However, Sigismund decided to listen to a witch instead of his Primarch and was disowned and stripped of command. Polux's fleet maneuverability and powers of [[Plot Armor|narrative favoritism]] evened the odds and gave the Iron Warriors a much harder time than they were expecting.

As the conflict moved past the initial surprise stages and into a more pitched battle, Polux was able to note a vulnerability in the Iron Warriors' defenses. Exploiting the opportunity was going to be costly, but considered worth the risks. An Imperial Fists boarding party of Terminators boarded the Iron Warriors's flagship, with successive waves of warships supporting the assault preventing the traitors from rallying their forces and supporting their Primarch. The assault force fought through the flagship searching for Perturabo and some survived just long enough to reach his quarters [[Rape|only to be told to bend over]]. One of them survived, a plot hook which was wasted in ''Angel Exterminatus'' as the character was a detail of a subplot and overshadowed by another Fist introduced at the start of that book. Because of this attempt on his life, Perturabo became rather paranoid and constructed a group of Legio Cybernetica bodyguards called the Iron Circle.

===Turning Point===
In the middle of the battle, Pollux recieved a call with orders to withdraw ASAP. Since the [[Dropsite Massacre]] Rogal Dorn had been calling to all available Imperial forces to return to Terra.

It should also be pointed out that ALL sources on the battle stress how the Imperial Fists had no information other than the Iron Warriors had joined Horus' rebellion. Given that the Retribution Fleet was ''supposed'' to have been in the Isstvan system and had instead spent months floating in the void, the message could have been sent much earlier and the Imperial Fists had the unfortunate timing of recieving it when so close to victory.

Polux was faced with a dilemma only a soldier could face - follow orders and turn your back on the enemy, or disobey orders and potentially emerge victorious. Bear in mind that real life soldiers do not have the luxury of choosing ''when'' to follow orders just because they are busy with something else nor do they have the option of disobeying them when they disagree with the tactical wisdom; to do otherwise opens a soldier up to charges of insubordination or dereliction by failing to perform their duties and following orders. In this case, the Imperial Fists were hamstrung by their own discipline and obedience. Polux ordered his ships to break away and run for it. In the end, the Imperial Fists paid for showing their backs, leaving the battle a strategic draw.