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==The Battle==
=== Infiltration ===
Night Lords' invasion of Sothan System consisted of two main phases. In first phase, wreck of [[strike cruiser]] Nycton was brought on collision course with [[Sotha]]{{Fn|3a}}. The drifting wreck was intercepted by Venom-class destroyer ''[[Probity]]'' commanded by sergeant Lethicus and after short investigation it was destroyed by repeated torpedo strikes from the [[Probity]]. After destruction of Nycton, sergeant Lethicus decided to inform company and system command about the interception and destruction and ordered [[Probity]] to set course for Relay Station Seven, one of the vox-relay stations seeded throughout the system. Aboard this station, there was however force of thirty-two [[Night Lords]] legionaries under Skraivok's command that boarded the station fourteen days prior to Nycton's destruction{{Fn|3b}}. Short but intense close-quarters fight erupted when sergeant Lethicus begun to suspect there was enemy presence aboard the vox-relay station and led fifteen warriors of his squad in counter attack against the Night Lords{{Fn|3c}}. He was however ambushed and Skraivok and his force, even after sustaining significant losses, captured [[Probity]].{{Fn|3d}}.
=== Battle of Aegida Platform ===
The second phase of Sothan System invasion consisted of use of the captured destroyer [[Probity]] to neutralize [[Ultramarines]] legion forces aboard orbital station called Aegida Platform. [[Probity]] approached the station and after vox contact was established one of crew members was under torture forced to mislead Captain Adallus into allowing [[Probity]] to dock with Aegida Platform. Once boarding force, again under command of [[Gendor Skraivok]], gained entry to Aegida Platform, presence of the [[Night Lords]] fleet was revealed. The boarding force managed to quickly overwhelm defences of [[Ultramarines]] aboard the orbital station and managed to capture captain Adallus and kill or capture half of 199th Company{{Fn|3g}}. Only one [[Neophyte]] [[Scout squad]], the 55th, of 199th Company's Scout Cohort managed to escape Aegida Platform{{Fn|3e}} using [[Thunderhawk]] gunship and land on Sotha where they started to harrass [[Night Lords]] forces.{{Fn|3i}}.
=== Planetary Assault and Fight for Planetary Supremacy ===
While battle raged aboard Aegida Platform, the remaining forces under Krukesh's command performed a combat landing on Sotha without much opposition: the [[Night Lords]] deployed the majority of 20,000 legionaries in at least seven companies with siege tanks and support vehicles.{{Fn|3g}} This force quickly overran 199th Company's planetside castellum and killed all but approximately hundred [[Ultramarines]] of the 199th.{{Fn|3g}} Their second target was the city of Sothopolis, where individual warriors or whole squads of [[Night Lords]] either massacred city's population or captured civilians and subjected them to torture. Some of the city's inhabitants were evacuated into safety of [[Mount Pharos]] by soldiers of Sothan First Auxilia.{{Fn|3f}}.
After subjecting Sothan population to torture, at least seven companies (7th, 19th, 23rd, 45th, 89th, 103rd and 104th){{Fn|3j}} launched an all out attack on Mount Pharos. Pharos facility's defence was designed by warsmith [[Dantioch]] and commanded by captain [[Alexis Polux]]. Polux had at his disposal one hundred and twenty legionaries, survivors of the 199th Company and members of Polux's own Lightkeepers.{{Fn|3g}} Defenders used several blind caves to lure [[Night Lords]] attackers into launching assaults on these defended positions, inflicting heavy losses,{{Fn|3h}} while the Sothan First Auxilia units and Aegida Company's Scouts conducted reconnaissance patrols and launched ambushes from more concealed positions higher on the slopes of the mountain.{{Fn|3i}}
=== Relief Force and Conclusion of Battle ===
Once primarch [[Guilliman]] was made aware of the situation via Pharos' communication beam, he ordered [[Dantioch]] to contact captain [[Lucretius Corvo]], hero of Astagar and commander of 90th 'Nova' Company, who was nearby in the Beremin system with two and half [[Ultramarines]] companies and [[Dark Angels]] demi-company, to move with his squadron and companies to Sotha. Per Guilliman's orders he was to launch diversionary attacks to slow down [[Night Lords]] advance. Corvo's diversionary attacks were to provide more time to Mount Pharos' defenders and also to allow larger relief force under Guilliman's personal command to arrive to Sothan system and defeat the traitors{{Fn|3g}}. Corvo and his squadron left Beremin system immediately after receiving his orders and set course for Sothan System using the Pharos beam to guide his course through the [[Ruinstorm]]. At the time when Pharos was captured by [[Night Lords]] final assault, Corvo's squadron experienced sudden drop of speed and he ordered immediate activation of immaterium drive to enact emergency translation into realspace. All of his vessels were damaged by the emergency re-entry into realspace and one ship, [[Spear of Hermia]], was destroyed after her reactor detonated. The squadron was however only nine hours of flight from Sotha.{{Fn|3k}}.Corvo ordered his ships to launch a salvo of torpedoes and missiles that preceeded them. Thanks to having translated out of immaterium with high residual velocity, it caught the [[Night Lords]] fleet by surprise. Several [[Night Lords]] vessels were damaged and other were provoked into pursuit of [[Ultramarines]] vessels. This created window of opportunity for Corvo's flagship, the [[Glorius Nova]], and for [[Dark Angels]] vessel, the [[Watcher]]. While [[Watcher]] engaged remaining [[Night Lords]] vessels and was destroyed in the process, Corvo led a strike force of hundred and twenty-six legionaries of his company to relieve defenders of Mount Pharos. On the surface of Sotha, Corvo's strike force linked up with Sothan First Auxilia soldiers and Scouts of 199th Company. Scouts led the strike force into caverns under Mount Pharos while soldiers of Sothan First Auxilia engaged [[Night Lords]] pursuit force and delayed them before they were destroyed .{{Fn|3l}}.
Not knowing that the relief force is only few hours from rescuing him, warsmith [[Dantioch]] located the [[Nightfall]], flagship of the [[Night Lords]] legion after being tortured and blackmailed by threats to [[Polux]]. Krukesh knowing that his forces above the planet were engaged by [[Ultramarines]] vessels decided to use Pharos and transport himself and Skraivok aboard the [[Nightfall]]. [[Dantioch]] used this to tune the Pharos beacon into overpower that killed most of the [[Night Lords]] legionaries in Primary Location Alpha, transported blinded Krukesh and Skraivok to [[Nightfall]] and disabled majority of shipboard systems and power armour systems on planet and in orbit above it. This way, he turned the tide against the traitors and enabled [[Ultramarines]] victory costing [[Dantioch]] his life .{{Fn|3m}}.
== Aftermath ==
The last light of Pharos beacon enabled second relief force led by [[primarch]] [[Guilliman]] to translate directly into Sothan System. This second fleet reinforced Corvo's vessels and hunted down disabled [[Night Lords]] vessels in the system. [[Guilliman]] posthumously awarded [[Dantioch]] the title Hero of Imperium, inducted the neophytes who survived the battle into legion and promoting their leader to the rank of [[Reconnaissance Squad]] [[Sergeant]]. Under [[Polux]]'s guidance a partial functionality of Pharos beacon was restored and [[Guilliman]] announced construction of larger fortress to guard Mount Pharos. The 199th Aegida Company of the Ultramarines was awarded by Guilliman with an emblem of two crossed scythes, which would eventually form their basis to become the [[Scythes of the Emperor]] after the implementation of the [[Codex Astartes]].{{Fn|3n}}
Unknown to all involved, the Battle of Sotha would have grave consequences for the galaxy, as the overloading of the Pharos alerted the [[Tyranids]], then drifting in the intergalactic void, to our galaxy.{{Fn|3p}} Ten thousand years later, Sotha would later be invaded by a splinter of [[Hive Fleet Leviathan]], resulting in the destruction of the world and the near-annihilation of the [[Scythes of the Emperor]] [[Space Marine Chapter]], which had made Sotha its [[Adeptus Astartes Homeworld|homeworld]].{{Fn|4}}.
== Sources ==
**{{Endn|3p}}: Epilogue
*{{Endn|4}}: ''[[Orphans of the Kraken (Short Story)]]'' by [[Richard Williams]]
{{HHBattles}}
[[Category:Battles (Horus Heresy)]]