The Challenge Issued by First Company Commander Abaddon

Three months after Howard Fender landed on Drun, he stood inside the command base, listening to the report from the Librarian before him.

"Arbites Lord, we've confirmed that Kalchin Hive City is one of the Enslavers' many psychic nodes, and one close to the center."

"Once this node is destroyed, the other subsidiary psychic nodes in the neighboring area will be cut off from the Enslavers' network and suffer psychic attenuation."

"We will achieve a breakthrough across one-tenth of Drun's territory. This will greatly shorten the course of the war."

Howard gave a slight nod. "Target locked on Kalchin. Move out."

When Howard arrived in eastern Kalchin Hive City, the tactical interface inside the Vostonian Rhino command vehicle surged with dense pearl-white wolf-head Runes. He knew the Luna Wolves were launching an attack on this node.

He looked at the holographic display. The diving aircraft left dazzling tail flames behind them, and the missiles mounted beneath their bellies poured down.

The first missile detonated almost at the midpoint of Kalchin's gleaming white spire. The second detonated one centimeter lower.

The astonishingly massive fireball from the explosions pressed the Protective Field downward.

Howard knew the Protective Field was being released by the Enslavers' psychic puppets.

After being enslaved, while they became portals, food, and puppets, their connection to the Warp had also grown tighter.

The Black Emperor had described it this way: "In the past, they were water pumps. Now they themselves are part of the Great Ocean."

Although many Psykers "possessed" power comparable to a Legion Library, and some powerful individuals were even stronger than Librarians, Howard believed no one would envy these puppets.

Howard's fingers tapped rapidly across the screen, calling up the contact logs to make sure he had not missed any information.

Kalchin was not a target