In orbit above Prospero, Constantin Valdor, commander of the Adeptus Custodes, stared at the holographic display.
The Auger Matrix scan results flickered between light and dark, runes flashing rapidly.
The Aetheric Reader readings climbed steadily. The Thousand Sons had unleashed sorcery, interfering with the entire battlefield.
Nearly imperceptible red runes kept appearing along the Wolves' flanks and rear.
"My lord." The communications officer's voice trembled.
"The communications array is operating at full power, but we still haven't been able to re-establish contact with Lord Russ."
"Keep trying." Valdor watched the iron-gray spearhead, stalled as though mired in a swamp. Although Leman Russ, supreme commander of the Punishment Fleet, did not want them interfering in the civil war between Astartes Legions, believing Valdor had no authority to judge Primarchs or Astartes, and had ordered him to remain in orbit.
But he carried the Emperor's own judicial seal—the Seal of Supreme Authority. It was a sacred duty bestowed upon him by his sovereign, above all orders.
Valdor issued orders to Krole, commander of the Sisters of Silence's Order of the Vigil at his side, as well as the Third Terra Auxilia and eight rotating garrison formations from the Throneworld—the Vitellian Auxilia.
"Raid the orbital transfer field. Launch a full assault."
He did not directly provide support to the Wolves, avoiding any implication that the Wolf King's offensive had met with setbacks and thus provoking the Primarch.
As the Third Terra Auxilia's Swordtail Interceptors and the Adeptus Custodes' Dusk-Dawn Interceptors screamed through several Lightning Fighters, Boros Kuhn, commander of the Sons of Horus, led five thousand Warriors and Auxilia down into the pacified old quarter north of Tizca.
He issued an order over a high-frequency communications channel. "Carry out the Warmaster's command. Establish containment zones and drive in the refugees."
Kuhn immediately led