Retaking of Luna
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The Retaking of Luna,[1a] also known as the Great Conquest of Luna,[1h] was the first battle of the Great Scouring.[1a]
History
The battle was waged almost immediately after the Siege of Terra had been lifted by Roboute Guilliman's massive relief fleet and the Throneworld and surrounding space had been largely cleared. It was the first topic of the Grand Council of Reconstruction, with Guilliman arguing that the securing of Luna should come before anything else while more aggressive and vengeful voices such as Rogal Dorn, Leman Russ and Lion El'Jonson wished to lay the moon to siege with a limited flotilla and instead concentrate on pursing the Chaos Space Marine Traitor hordes fleeing the Sol System. Guilliman's position was supported by the High Lords of the Council, in particular Fabricator-General Zagreus Kane and Lord High Admiral Niora Su-Kassen. They argued that the securing of Luna and eventually Mars should be the priority as their infrastructure would be necessary for any extended offensive against the Traitors.[1a] Moreover, they required Luna's Somnus Citadel in order to reactivate the League of Black Ships and power the Golden Throne.[1b]
Despite the overall Traitor retreat from the Sol System, Luna was still defended by a motley horde of Sons of Horus, crazed gene-loomed Simulacra Astartes, Dark Mechanicum, Selenar, and Lost and the Damned servants which were well-prepared and heavily dug-into Luna's formidable defensive network. Under the overall command of Sons of Horus Chief Apothecary Vardesh Kraiya and Heliosa-78, the Traitors sought to hold out and inflict as many casualties among the invaders as possible. With the Imperial Fists, Blood Angels, and White Scars shattered from the siege, only newly arrived forces were largely capable of launching offensive operations. The Dark Angels were tasked with clearing Terra's remaining Traitor holdouts, while the Space Wolves oversaw pursuits across the wider Sol System and began the Siege of Mars. This left the Ultramarines to conduct the retaking of Luna, though small contingents of warriors would be sent from the other legions for the sake of public optics in participating in the reconquest. Though these were both numerically and strategically insignificant to the campaign. Among these were included a small band of Salamanders led by Siege veteran Atok Abidemi and a group of Blood Angels under Captain Morovain.[1b][1g]
The Ultramarines invasion was led by Tetrach Eikos Lamiad, acting First Captain Verus Caspean, and newly appointed Chief Librarian Titus Prayto. After a massive orbital bombardment, fighting was characterized by brutal close-quarters fighting as the Ultramarines were forced to move through deep trench and bunker networks across Luna's labyrinthine surface and interior and clear out undisciplined but fanatical foes. Chief Apothecary Kraiya unleashed his remnant of Legio Vulturum Titans in a desperate bid to prevent the loyalists from gaining a stronghold, but they were too few and maddened to stand before the determined Loyalist invasion.[1c] With the death of Sanguinius and horrors of the Siege, the shell-shocked Blood Angels contingent showed a degree of reluctance and perhaps even fear during the battle, shocking those Loyalists freshly arrived to the Sol System.[1d]
After days of fighting, the Traitor lines collapsed in the face of the overwhelming assault, Prayto oversaw the core Loyalist push to the Somnus Citadel. As the Loyalists overran the damaged and undermanned citadel, Prayto engaged Kraiya in a duel. Before being killed, Kraiya mocked that the Loyalists has doomed themselves despite their victory and that the High Lords would discard them once the war was over.[1e] The Selenar also made their last stand at the Somnus Citadel, taking up arms to face extinction alongside the remaining Sons of Horus. Heliosa-78, for her part, would remain in the Citadel observation tower, waiting for the loyalists to inevitably find and kill her.[1f] When the Loyalists fully secured the citadel, they discovered a buried fleet of Black Ships ready to gather Psykers. After the battle, a triumphal parade was held by Guilliman and the victory was broadcast across ruined Terra as propaganda to rejuvenate the war effort. Luna’s infrastructure would swiftly be repaired and its depleted cities repopulated by hundreds of thousands of Terrans.[1e]
