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The '''Battle of Sotha''' was a minor battle of the [[Horus Heresy]], in which the forces of the [[Night Lords]] [[Traitor Legion]] attempted to assume control of the [[Pharos (Device)|Pharos]] beacon on the planet [[Sotha]]. As the Pharos beacon was the key instrument in maintaining the cohesion of [[Imperium Secundus]], the battle on the periphery of [[Ultima Segmentum]] turned into a strategically important struggle for the future of [[Imperium Secundus]].

The planet [[Sotha]] was discovered by exploration fleets from [[Ultramar]] during the [[Great Crusade]]. After its discovery, it was planned to colonize it but these plans were put on hold; instead, a small agri-colony was established together with a survey expedition of archaeologists and xenoculturists. One company of the [[Ultramarines]] [[Space Marine Legion|Legion]], the [[199th Company (Ultramarines Legion)|199th]], was assigned permanently to Sotha as a protective detail.{{Fn|1a}}

Unbeknownst to Dantioch, Polux, or 199th company's commander, Captain Adallus, a blind spot near a local [[Mandeville Point]] was designated as the rendezvous for [[Night Lords]] fleet elements during the [[Thramas Crusade]]. After their fleet was scattered following their defeat by the [[Dark Angels]], several vessels (including the ''[[Umber Prince]]'', ''[[Dominus Noctem]]'' and ''[[Shadow Blow]]'') used this rendezvous point to regroup and repair battle damage. At the time of the Pharos' activation, only ''Umber Prince'' under command of Claw-master [[Gendor Skraivok]] of the [[45th Company (Night Lords)|45th Company]] remained on station, but some time later a Night Lords fleet translated into the Sothan System. This fleet was commanded by Captain [[Krukesh]] of [[103rd Company (Night Lords)|103rd Company]], a member of the [[Kyroptera]]. Witnessing the activation of the beacon, Krukesh decided to invade the system in order to secure it and determine its function.{{Fn|2}}

The Night Lords' invasion of the Sothan System consisted of two main phases. In the first phase, the wreckage of [[strike cruiser]] ''[[Nycton]]'' was sent on a collision course with [[Sotha]].{{Fn|3a}} The drifting wreck was intercepted by the [[Venom Destroyer|Venom-class destroyer]] ''[[Probity]]'' commanded by [[Space Marine Sergeant|Sergeant]] [[Lethicus]] and, after a short investigation, it was destroyed by repeated [[torpedo]] strikes. Following this, Lethicus decided to inform system command about the interception and ordered ''Probity'' to set a course for '''Relay Station Seven'''. However, aboard this station, there was a force of thirty-two [[Night Lords]] legionaries under Skraivok's command that had boarded two weeks prior.{{Fn|3b}} A short but intense close-quarters fight erupted when Lethicus began to suspect there was an enemy presence aboard the vox-relay station and led fifteen warriors of his squad in a counter-attack against the Night Lords.{{Fn|3c}} However, he was ambushed and Skraivok's troops, even after sustaining significant losses, captured the ''Probity''.{{Fn|3d}}

The second phase of the invasion consisted of the use of the captured destroyer to neutralize Ultramarine forces aboard an orbital station called ''[[Aegida]]'' Platform. ''Probity'' approached the station; after vox contact was established one of its crew members, under torture, was forced to mislead Captain Adallus into allowing ''Probity'' to dock. Once a boarding force, again under the command of Skraivok, gained entry to Aegida Platform, the presence of the Night Lords fleet was revealed. Skraivok managed to quickly overwhelm the defences aboard the orbital station, captured Adallus, and killed or captured half of the 199th Company.{{Fn|3g}} Only the 55th [[Neophyte]] [[Scout Squad]] of 199th Company's Scout Cohort managed to escape{{Fn|3e}} using a [[Thunderhawk]] gunship, landing on Sotha where they started to harass Night Lords forces.{{Fn|3i}}

While the 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 from at least seven companies with siege tanks and support vehicles.{{Fn|3g}} This force quickly overran the 199th Company's planetside castellum and killed all but approximately a hundred Ultramarines.{{Fn|3g}} Their second target was the city of [[Sothopolis]], where the Night Lords massacred much of the city's population, capturing some civilians and subjecting them to torture. Some of the city's inhabitants were evacuated into the safety of [[Mount Pharos]] by soldiers of the [[Sothan First Auxilia]].{{Fn|3f}}

Without revealing the source of his information, Skraivok shared this knowledge with Krukesh, who decided to lead an immediate teleportation assault accompanied by his company's [[Chaos Terminator|Terminator Claw]]. Simultaneously, Skraivok rejoined the ground assault that finally succeeded in gaining access inside the Mount Pharos facility, capturing both Dantioch and Polux in the process.{{Fn|3k}}

[[File:Atramentar vs UM 2.jpeg|thumb|Night Lords [[Atramentar]] engage the Ultramarines{{fn|5b}}]]

The Night Lords also struck at Sotha's main city of Sothopolis. The initial attack was led by the [[Space Marine Captain|Claw Master]] [[Zaar Siakaar]], whose forces overwhelmed the [[Space Marine Company|Aegida Company]]. [[Centurion (Rank)|Centurion]] [[Vieron Ekarr]] then found himself to be the last [[Ultramarine]] officer left in the city and he rallied any surviving Ultramarines to his side. The Centurion sought to give those who escaped as much time as he could to reach the Legion's [[Castellum]] and made his stand in front of a statue of the Ultramarines' [[Primarch]] [[Guilliman]]. The Ultramarines' disciplined shieldwall, along with the [[Deredeo Dreadnought]]s [[Menarrio]] and [[Argan]], met the brawling and murderess attacks of the Night Lords. Once the his forces superior numbers had weakened the Ultramarines enough, though, Claw Master Siakaar decided it was time for him to strike and claim an easy victory. He ordered his [[Spartan]] to crash through the Ultramarines, where it killed both the [[Loyalist]]s and his own forces, who Siakaar considered to be expendable. The Claw Master's attack created an opening that allowed the Night Lords to pour past the Ultramarines' shieldwall and they began to overwhelm the Loyalists. One of Siakaar's [[Atramentar]] then attacked Centurion Ekarr and as they duelled, the Claw Master stabbed the Ultramarine from behind with his [[Lightning Claws]]. The attack destroyed Ekarr's hearts, which then allowed the Atramentar to behead the Centurion with his [[Nostraman Chainglaive]]. The now leaderless Ultramarines were all killed soon afterwards.{{Fn|5a}}

Once Guilliman was made aware of the situation via Pharos' communication beam, he ordered Dantioch to contact Captain [[Lucretius Corvo]], the hero of [[Astagar]] and commander of [[90th Company (Ultramarines Legion)|90th 'Nova' Company]], who was nearby in the [[Beremin system]] with two and a half Ultramarines companies and a [[Dark Angels]] demi-company, to move with his forces to Sotha. Per Guilliman's orders, he was to launch diversionary attacks to slow down the Night Lords' advance, to buy more time to Mount Pharos' defenders, and also to allow a larger relief force under Guilliman's personal command to arrive.{{Fn|3g}} Corvo and his squadron left the Beremin system immediately after receiving his orders and set a course for the Sothan System using the Pharos beam to guide his course through the [[Ruinstorm]]. When Pharos was captured by Night Lords' final assault, Corvo's squadron experienced a sudden drop of speed and he ordered immediate activation of their [[warp 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. However, the squadron was only nine hours from Sotha.{{Fn|3k}}

Not knowing that the relief force was only a few hours from rescuing him, Dantioch located the [[Gloriana Battleship|Gloriana-class battleship]] ''[[Nightfall]]'', the flagship of the Night Lords legion, after being tortured and blackmailed by threats against Polux. Krukesh, knowing that his forces above the planet were hopelessly outgunned by Ultramarines vessels, decided to use Pharos and transport himself and Skraivok aboard the ''Nightfall''. Dantioch used this opportunity to overload the Pharos beacon, killing most of the Night Lords legionaries in Primary Location Alpha and disabled the majority of shipboard systems and power armour on the planet and in orbit above it. Thus he turned the tide against the traitors and enabled an Ultramarines victory with the sacrifice of his life.{{Fn|3m}}

The last light of Pharos' beacon enabled Guilliman's relief force to translate directly into the Sothan System. This fleet reinforced Corvo's forces and hunted down the last of the Night Lords vessels in the system. Guilliman himself posthumously awarded Dantioch the title of "Hero of the Imperium," inducted the neophytes who survived the battle into the Ultramarines legion, and promoting their leader to the rank of [[Reconnaissance Squad]] [[Space Marine Sergeant|Sergeant]]. Under Polux's guidance, the Pharos beacon was partially restored and Guilliman announced the construction of a larger fortress to guard Mount Pharos. The 199th Aegida Company was awarded an emblem of two crossed scythes, which would eventually form their basis to become the [[Scythes of the Emperor]] chapter 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 the [[galaxy]].{{Fn|3p}} Ten thousand years later, Sotha would later be invaded by a splinter of [[Hive Fleet Kraken]], 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}}

*[[Battles of the Horus Heresy (List)]]