Chapter Summaries

Gardinal mobilized its entire fleet, including discarded personnel, and proposed negotiations to buy time against Shadow of Order. Nimrod saw through the plan and prepared to destroy Gardinal’s Void forces before locating and targeting every High Lord at once.

• Gardinal’s High Caste commander mobilized more than a million people marked as expired and reported that the system’s defenses could hold for only three days.
• The commander proposed that Gardinal send the Consul Caste to negotiate while its industry prepared the world for war.
• Gardinal’s High Lords accepted negotiations within Shadow of Order’s deadline, and Nimrod mocked their attempt to stall.
• Malena Scala and the Primarch’s Attendant agreed with Nimrod that Gardinal intended to use negotiations to prepare for battle.
• Nimrod decided to crush Gardinal’s Void forces first, then have his allies locate every High Lord for a simultaneous strike.

Nimrod’s Legion crushed Gardinal’s void forces and captured its Star Ring, while Flamini’s precognition helped his squad overcome the station’s defenders and stop a plan to destroy its power core. The Archaeologist then reported that the Star Ring’s control system contained a new STC that could unite the stations.

• Gardinal’s High Caste commander watched the Legion destroy his interception network and overwhelm the system’s defenses.
• Nimrod led the boarding assault on Gardinal’s Star Ring after the Ramillies-class Star Fortress reached Head of Gardinal.
• Flamini used precognition to lead the Shadows of Order through Station Twenty, where they fought off the Void Caste and eliminated a Psyker Caste who had planted a psionic bomb.
• Nimrod’s guards captured the Star Ring within five days.
• The Archaeologist told Nimrod that the Star Ring’s control system contained a new STC capable of linking all the stations together.

Nimrod sent the Shadow of Order’s fighters to seize air superiority over the Head of Gardinal, while the High Lords tried to buy time with an air battle. Nelson used a Swordtail Interceptor to exploit the Gardinal fighters’ weakness when switching between atmosphere and space, and the Shadow of Order took control of the skies.

• Nimrod ordered Arsena Dunn to launch the fighters and begin an infiltration operation once they had air superiority.
• Nelson launched in a Swordtail Interceptor as the Shadow of Order’s fighters clashed with Gardinal’s aircraft.
• Nelson switched between atmospheric and void propulsion, shooting down Gardinal fighters as they struggled to adapt to each environment.
• Nelson returned to rearm and refuel, then flew more than a thousand sorties before the Shadow of Order gained control of the skies.
• Stormbirds and other atmospheric aircraft replaced the Swordtail Interceptors as the main force in the air battle.

After becoming a "Machine," Flamini used his expanded perception and calculations to command three Sixth Legion squads against Gardinal’s castes on the eleventh planet. As Shadow of Order forces secured air superiority, Stormbirds landed troops to attack the Orbital Elevator while Beyonders began their missions.

• Flamini traced the rift’s history to an Ork invasion two and a half thousand years earlier, then surveyed the battlefield and foresaw parts of the assault.
• Flamini deployed the Gatherman, Taravanis, and Manachia Squads, ordered Hunters to set traps, and directed them to open fire on the approaching Warrior caste.
• The Warrior caste and vast numbers of Lower Caste fighters attacked, while Flamini coordinated the line’s defenses and called for Stormbird resupplies.
• The Shadow of Order won air superiority over the Head of Gardinal as Stormbirds battled heavy fighters and landed troops to attack the Orbital Elevator installation.
• Arsena Dunn, Malena Scala, Maria Kournikova, and Tierney led their teams from the Stormbirds to carry out their missions.

Maria Kournikova incited Gardinal’s Lower Caste to resist the High Caste by exposing their deprivation and leading them against the Enforcers and Transport Consul. After killing the Consul, she watched the Lower Caste seize weapons, while she felt parts of her body beginning to melt.

• Maria used the destruction of food factories and water plants to persuade the Lower Caste that the Consul Caste had taken their food.
• Maria killed an Enforcer squad and its captain, breaking the Lower Caste’s fear-induced paralysis and stirring belief in resistance.
• Maria led the Lower Caste by train to the Transport Consul’s residence and killed the guards while using Invisibility.
• Maria fought the Psyker Caste inside the residence, escaped his self-destruction blast, and killed the Transport Consul in front of the Lower Caste.
• The Lower Caste rushed to the dining hall and seized weapons as Maria felt sensations of melting within her body.

Nimrod sent Per Koschelny to negotiate with Gardinal while Arsena Dunn coordinated the search for the High Lords across the capital. The chapter ended with Arsena directing his allies to target biochemical laboratories, investigate a restricted ancient building, and draw Gardinal forces toward the riots.

• Nimrod assigned Per Koschelny to represent him in negotiations with Gardinal's diplomatic delegation.
• Per rejected Gardinal's demand to halt military actions and began talks to buy time for the search for the High Lords.
• Arsena reviewed reports from Malena Scala, Maria Kournikova, Tierney, and others about attacks, infiltrations, and unrest across Gardinal.
• As the Knowledge Keeper, Arsena traced the High Lords' origins and consciousness transfers to caste records, biochemical laboratories, and ancient buildings.
• Arsena directed Malena to attack Papu biochemical laboratories, sent Tierney coordinates for a restricted ancient building, and ordered Maria to draw Gardinal forces toward the riots.
• Arsena called Fularin, the only Psyker among his attendants, to accompany him.

Arsena Dunn investigated the abandoned Gardinal transport substation and concluded that an Alfi attack on the Mathis caste may have targeted a High Lord candidate. Meanwhile, Malena Scala and a Lower Caste force attacked the biochemical laboratory, where Catachan Warriors blasted a breach in the building.

• Arsena Dunn took Fularin to the sealed transport substation and used his abilities to search for evidence.
• Arsena and Fularin found battle traces and Mathis and Alfi emblems, then reconstructed an image of a luxury sedan being attacked.
• Fularin deduced that an Alfi candidate had attacked a Mathis High Lord candidate, and Arsena ordered an investigation of both castes' young members.
• Malena Scala summoned rats with seeds as Warriors and Lower Caste members attacked the biochemical laboratory.
• A Catachan Warrior captain killed the guard captain and ordered Demolitionists to fire three missiles at the laboratory building.

Malena Scala launched an assault on the Papu caste's biochemistry laboratory while Tierney led the "Marauders" into a guarded Gardinal tower. Beneath the tower, they discovered a vast shipwreck that might contain the High Lord's Consciousness Matrix technology.

• Malena Scala sent controlled rats carrying Catachan vine seeds into the laboratory, then released venomous snakes to kill its guards.
• Maria ordered the Catachan Banshees to attack, and they breached the laboratory's Adamantium walls with melta bombs as Malena charged inside.
• Tierney led the "Marauders" in Yeld-type Hunt-Master Suits past Mechanical Guards and used Gardinal runes to enter an ancient tower.
• The "Marauders" searched the tower's galleries and hidden chambers but found no information about the High Lord.
• Tierney activated a rune beneath a statue, fought off alerted Mechanical Guards, and opened a passage underground.
• Tierney and the "Marauders" followed the passage to a platform and found a huge shipwreck that might contain the colonists' Consciousness Matrix technology.

After identifying Gardinal’s secret High Lords, Nimrod rejected the drawn-out approach associated with Ferrus Manus and ordered a direct assault to force the colony’s surrender. The orbital bombardment ended and the Third Legion began landing, where Oleksandr faced a mass charge by Gardinal’s gray-armored defenders.

• Arsena Dunn reported that investigators had identified five secret High Lords in addition to Stelacon, Gardinal’s public military commander.
• Nimrod ordered the legion to attack, assigned himself to confront Stelacon, and directed Arsena to capture or control the other High Lords.
• Rosicky Czech reported that he had seized the Star Ring’s weapons systems and revoked the surface Control Spire’s authority.
• After Gardinal refused to surrender within the final hour, Nimrod ordered the Shadow of Order’s warbands and orbital defenses to bombard military targets for fifteen hours.
• The Third Legion deployed drop pods far from the military fortresses, and Oleksandr ordered his troops to clear the landing zone as Gardinal’s gray-armored forces charged them.

Oleksandr’s First Company seized Gardinal’s defensive gun towers and used them to stall a massive armored assault while awaiting reinforcements and landing forces. As the Gardinalians pressed forward, the company destroyed another gun tower and black Gunships and landing craft began descending through the rust-red clouds.

• Oleksandr sent Door Opening Squads through illusory doorways to capture the intact defensive gun towers.
• After spotting Gardinal’s tanks and Titan-rivaling walkers, Oleksandr called the Void Walker Titan Legions for support and prepared a defense.
• Oleksandr used the captured towers and orbital fire from Nightmare to destroy tanks and devastate the Gardinalian formation.
• Gardinal’s Military Vice-Consul rallied the warrior castes and ordered them to attack the defensive positions.
• Oleksandr checked the landing schedule as his troops abandoned one overheating gun tower and destroyed another with Melta Bombs.
• Black Gunships and landing craft descended as the First Company continued to hold the landing zone.

Oleksandr’s Shadows of Order used Shield-Weave and a psychic ambush to defeat Gardinal’s armored forces, then joined the arriving Void Walkers against the Tripod Walkers. As the Third Legion secured a foothold at the Head of Gardinal, Maria Kornikova’s team began moving through the capital to assassinate Mathis.

• Gabriel Predators and Shield-Weave-equipped Rhinos routed Gardinal’s Warrior Caste soldiers and armored force by attacking unseen from the flanks.
• Oleksandr ordered his troops to abandon the defensive turrets, concealed his Rhino with Shield-Weave, and approached the Tripod Walkers.
• Oleksandr put a Tripod Walker’s crew to sleep in a dream, and his adjutant directed the Rhinos and Predators to destroy it before hiding.
• The Void Walkers arrived and their Warlord-class Titan destroyed two Tripod Walkers with its Volcano Cannons.
• Maria Kornikova and Dementyeva led separate teams into the capital to assassinate Mathis, while their Assassins cleared patrolling Warrior Caste soldiers.

Maria Kournikova’s and Dementyeva’s Makadon-clad forces stormed Gardinal’s administrative building, crushed the High Lord’s defenses, and captured Mathis. Tierney’s Treasure Hunting Squad then began infiltrating the capital’s Iron Fortress to steal another person.

• Maria Kournikova’s “assassins” used their Hunt-Master Suits’ Spider Silk to reach the administrative building, defeat its guards, and lead the Lower Castes into an uprising.
• High Lord Mathis ordered an evacuation as his guards formed a shield perimeter around him.
• Dementyeva and her poison-whip fighters ambushed the evacuation party, killed the Guard Commander, and captured Mathis in a Steel Wire Cage.
• Tierney led more than a hundred Marauders onto the Iron Fortress’s roof and searched for an entrance.

Tierney's Treasure Hunting Squad infiltrated the Steel Fortress to capture Ismail, the High Lord overseeing Gardinal's industry. Tierney cracked the control-room lock and escaped with Ismail, leaving the Guard Commander to discover the High Lord was missing.

• Tierney found a recessed seam in the fortress dome, and a Marauder used a Yeld-type Laser Weapon to cut a quiet entrance.
• Ismail reviewed the damage to Gardinal's industrial output and ordered technicians to repair the breach in the dome.
• The Treasure Hunting Squad found Ismail's control room, and Tierney deduced how to open its dial lock before the maintenance elevator passed.
• Tierney struck Ismail unconscious, wrapped his metal body in his wings, and carried him out as the Swindlers helped transport him.
• The repair workers raised the alarm, and the Guard Commander entered the control room and discovered Ismail had vanished.

Wilshire attacked the bio-reclamation center after the Tiger Eye Titans destroyed its three-legged Walker defenders. As Wilshire entered the center, he realized Selhi had used the expired people and Psykers to create a psychic array, which began to stir.

• Wilshire summoned the Tiger Eye Titans after hundreds of three-legged Walkers emerged from the bio-reclamation center.
• Anger ordered the Tiger Eye Titans to prepare for battle, and Anton led the Hira-Gal in an attack on the Walkers.
• The Tiger Eye Titans broke through the Walker line and destroyed the defense turrets, opening the way to the center.
• Wilshire led his Cataphractii guards and Vostonian Rhino vehicles toward the center while its turrets destroyed a Rhino and its Shadow of Order crew.
• Wilshire used Spirit Sight and Warp Vision to recognize that Selhi had used Psykers and the expired people to create a psychic array.
• A shrill scream rang out, and the bio-reclamation center began to tremble.

Wilshire led the guard underground to destroy Gardinal's psychic array and discovered that Selhi had used biochemical technology and bound souls to create undead creatures. Wilshire defeated Selhi, and the battle left him convinced he had become a true Sun Priest.

• Wilshire identified the array's energy convergence point underground and led the guard into the gray spire.
• The Librarian recognized a combined psychic array, and the Sun Priest used holy light and Sun Holy Water to destroy the undead creatures guarding the way.
• Wilshire and the Librarian reached the array's heart, where Selhi revealed his plan to transform himself into a powerhouse like Stelacon.
• Selhi attacked the guard, killing one member and knocking others aside, but the Sun Priest engulfed him in sacred flames and struck him with the Thunder Hammer.
• Selhi's body shattered, and Wilshire felt the stars within him break apart as he realized he had become a true Sun Priest.

Sylvin Deka interrogated Shadow of Order but abandoned the attempt when Gardinal came under attack. Malena Scala defeated Deka with mutant organisms and escaped with Uria and the injured Librarian as Arsena Dunn attacked High Lord Beliso.

• Sylvin Deka tried to break through Shadow of Order's mental defenses and make him reveal what he was, but the Librarian resisted by recalling his Primarch and Father.
• A Mediator warned Deka that the guards had been defeated, and Deka found Malena Scala amid vines filling the building.
• Deka breached Malena's mental defenses, but she unleashed hybrid snake-worm creatures that poisoned him and implanted larvae in his body.
• The larvae overwhelmed Deka, and Malena struck Uria with lightning before retreating with the captured High Lord and the severely injured Librarian.
• Arsena Dunn attacked High Lord Beliso, who controlled the Psyker Caste.

Arsena Dunn led the Shadows of Order in using a Blackstone device to suppress the psyker caste and capture four High Lords. After reporting the mission’s success, Arsena became a true Knowledge Keeper, while Nimrod watched Stelacon from afar.

• Arsena ordered the Deduction Cadet to execute the procedure as he used Gate of Infinity to approach his target.
• The Shadows of Order dropped the Blackstone device onto the gray building, suppressing psionic powers within a one-kilometer radius and giving them an advantage over the psyker caste.
• Arsena pursued Beliso beyond the device’s range, endured his returning psychic attacks, shattered his shield, and captured him with the Osiris Mind-Control Staff.
• Laurent shielded Theo from the bird-shaped monster while Theo wounded it with repeated attacks.
• Arsena received reports that four High Lords had been captured and told the Black Emperor the operation had succeeded.
• Nimrod confirmed the mission’s success, and Arsena became a true Knowledge Keeper; Nimrod then looked toward Stelacon.

Nimrod and Gios led the Knight Mechs against the Tripod Walkers, with Gios's God-Eater spearheading the Veroni charge. After the High Sacred Maintainer detected damage to God-Eater's Ion Curtain, a sudden enemy attack erased more than twenty green runes, leaving Gios stunned by what he saw.

• Nimrod destroyed a Tripod Walker and charged into battle alongside Gios, whose God-Eater was a custom Nemesis-class Cruise Knight with an upgraded reactor.
• Gios ordered saturation fire, then led God-Eater into the Tripod Walkers' formation and rallied the Veroni Knights to fight for Veroni and the Monarch.
• The Veroni Knights formed a spearhead around God-Eater and pushed through the enemy, while the High Sacred Maintainer monitored the battle and God-Eater's systems.
• The High Sacred Maintainer detected damage to God-Eater's Ion Curtain and warned Gios to stop and restart it as the mech's auto-repair system activated.
• An abnormal situation caused more than twenty green runes to vanish at once, and Gios saw a Tripod Walker on his Auspex and asked what it was.

Nimrod defeated Stelacon, Gardinal’s most powerful warrior, by overpowering and disabling his Reliquary Armor before cutting off his head. With four High Lords captured and two killed, Gardinal’s remaining resistance collapsed and its people surrendered.

• Stelacon destroyed God-Eater’s Ion Curtain and charged Gios Veroni, but Nimrod intervened and turned to fight the Reliquary Armor.
• Nimrod shattered Stelacon’s weapons and used metal threads transformed through Concept Substitution to clog the armor’s systems.
• Nimrod struck through Stelacon’s energy field, tore away part of the armor, and disabled its remaining weapons with Machine Influence.
• Nimrod cut off Stelacon’s head, and the surviving warrior caste members dropped their weapons.
• After broadcasts reported four High Lords captured and two killed, Gardinal surrendered completely within two hours.

Diana interviewed Gardinal’s industrial caste to learn their needs and prepare them to serve Nimrod’s rule, while Arsena reported that the planet’s population and facilities had survived. Nimrod ordered Gardinal’s true population concealed from the War Council, despite Arsena warning that the deception would diminish Nimrod’s standing as a candidate to lead the expedition.

• Diana used her Psychiatrist abilities and a calming floral distillate to interview Lafa, an industrial caste member who wanted better living conditions and a home in a Hab-Tower.
• Diana recorded Lafa’s demands and encouraged him to work hard for Lord Nimrod, intending him to become an example for others.
• Arsena reported to Nimrod that Gardinal’s industrial facilities were intact and that more than seventy-five billion people were accepting the new era.
• Nimrod ordered Arsena to report that Gardinal had only one habitable world and a population of ten million.
• Arsena warned that concealing Gardinal’s value would weaken Nimrod’s accomplishments and his chances of becoming commander of the expedition.