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[[Image:PalaceMapHH.jpg|thumb|right|250px|The Dark Mechanicum siege camps around the Imperial Palace]]

The pattern of orbital attack, landings by traitor rabble, and aerial assault repeated itself for weeks before the [[Death Guard]] fleet under the now-corrupted [[Mortarion]] arrived at Terra. True to his earlier word to let Mortarion's legion be the first to set foot upon Terra, Horus prepared to use the Death Guard in the first Astartes-led assaults on the Palace.{{Fn|9d}} This caused Angron to rage, and to prevent him from destroying his own flagship ''[[The Conqueror]]'' he was teleported by [[World Eaters]] 8th Company [[Kharn]] into the ever-shifting labyrinth originally built for [[Vulkan]] aboard the [[Night Lords]] flagship ''[[Nightfall]]''.{{Fn|9f}} On the seventh of Quartus the first Death Guard [[Drop Pod]]s landed on Terra's soil as the [[Nine Disciples]] of [[Kelbor-Hal]] each beached one of their [[Ark Mechanicus]]-class [[Battleship]]s around the Palace. The Void Shields and bulk of the Ark Mechanicus vessels allowed for the traitors to establish their first real footholds around the Palace, and as the Death Guard unleashed gas and plagues upon the trenches around the walls the [[Dark Mechanicum]] set about their work of constructing siege engines.{{Fn|9e}} The Death Guard assault on the outermost trenches around the Palace was about to break the Imperial Army defenders until [[Jaghatai Khan]], defying Dorn's orders to remain in the palace, led a [[Jetbike]] charge by the [[White Scars]]. The Scars pushed past the traitor frontline into their siege camps before the Khan was finally forced from his Jetbike. Jaghatai slew dozens of Death Guard until he was wounded by a [[Warp]]-tainted poisoned blade. Ultimately [[Sanguinius]] had to sortie out of the Palace with his [[Sanguinary Guard]] to rescue Jaghatai, who recovered from his Warp sickness as soon as he began to move closer to the Sanctum Imperialis and the psychic might of the Emperor. The Khan's move was not reckless however, he also gathered valuable intelligence on the siege engines the traitors were constructing.{{Fn|9g}} Meanwhile aboard the ''[[Vengeful Spirit]]'', Horus finally allowed [[Perturabo]] to begin his preparations to clear landing zones around the Palace for their [[Titan]]s.{{Fn|9h}}

On the Fifteenth of Quartus, the traitors initiated their dual plan to break The Aegis and allow for the manifestation of Daemons upon Terra. A giant projected face of [[Zardu Layak]] appeared on an island of bones which descended from the sky, urging the commoners of Terra to rise up against the Emperor and ensuring them that if they turned to Horus now they would be spared. The Palace guns could not silence the corporeal island, and after his speech concluded it began to rain blood. The blood signaled that the traitors had finally undertaken their ritual to weaken the Emperor's psychic barrier, and the Mechanicum released their [[Daemon Engine]]s. Eight "Warp-Bane" guns constructed near the sites of the beached ''Ark Mechanicus'' vessels opened up on the Aegis Shield around the Palace, sapping it of its energies as the Death Guard deployed massive [[Nurgle Plague Tower|Towers of Nurgle]] at the walls. As the Aegis gave way the traitor bombardment finally was able to hit the Palace defenses directly, causing massive devastation and allowing for a [[Night Lords]] [[Chaos Raptor|Raptor]] assault on the Eternity Wall. The outermost trenches around the Palace Walls were now untenable, but Sanguinius opened up the Helios Gate and led a massive counterattack by the Blood Angels and Imperial Fists as well as Titans of the [[Legio Solaria]]. Sanguinius knew victory was impossible, but had his Astartes buy enough time to allow for the Imperial Army conscripts to make it inside the walls and allow for Titans to destroy the incoming Towers of Nurgle.{{Fn|9i}} On top of the Eternity Wall itself, Blood Angels First Captain [[Raldoron]] bested the acting Night Lords commander [[Gendor Skraivok]] and threw him from the Walls.{{Fn|9j}} It was in this maelstrom of destruction that [[Angron]] himself fell from the sky, having been released from the bowels of the ''[[Nightfall]]''. After massacring his way through friend and foe alike to the Eternity Wall Angron bellowed a challenge to Sanguinius, who saluted his fallen brother and stated that while they would battle one day, today was not that day. Angron raged, but could not proceed any further due to the lingering effects of the Emperor.{{Fn|9k}}

===Battle for Lion's Gate Spaceport===