Chapter Summaries

Three SWAT officers returned to the Metro shelter and warned that Blood Cross could find them, but the survivors chose to defend their refuge rather than evacuate. As they prepared for a siege, Tyrant broke through the blast door, leaving them facing an enemy their weapons could not harm.

• Three SWAT officers returned to the maintenance-room shelter, and the old officer learned that most of their comrades had been lost.
• The SWAT officers proposed evacuating or using themselves as bait, but the survivors chose to stay and defend the shelter together.
• The SWAT officers and the old officer prepared the shelter as a fortress and took aim when heavy footsteps approached the blast door.
• A high-energy laser cut through the blast door, and the survivors opened fire when it fell.
• Tyrant, a heavily armored Bio-Organic Weapon created by the Imperium of Man, emerged unharmed as the survivors faced the monstrous figure.

Clone forces of the Imperium of Man rescued survivors in Toronto, screened them for the Blood Cross Virus, and brought them above ground to witness the Empire’s overwhelming military presence. The chapter then shifted to Earth’s Imperial Palace, where Sui Yang sat upon the Golden Throne at the heart of the Imperium.

• A red-helmeted Clone Soldier identified his forces as the Imperium of Man and said they had come to rescue the shelter’s survivors.
• Clone medics scanned the survivors, found no Blood Cross infections, and treated several feverish children with Nanorobot medicine.
• Clone Soldiers led the survivors out of the shelter, where they saw a Valiant-class Super-heavy Cruiser hovering above Toronto and Imperial forces clearing the streets.
• The scene shifted to Earth, where the Imperial Palace and its Space Gates formed the center of the Imperium of Man.
• Apu and Melissa stood in the Meditation Hall as Sui Yang sat on the Golden Throne, radiating Psychic Power that protected the Empire.

Sui Yang monitored the Imperium’s campaign to bring Earth 19 under its rule and ordered Malakim Phoros and Lei Ruoya to protect survivors as well as defeat the Blood Cross. After confirming that Chaos had no influence on the world, he resolved to open another Space Gate once the threat was ended.

• Sui Yang reviewed the Imperium’s fighting in Toronto, where the Lamenters Company and Clone Soldiers battled Blood Cross Infected and escorted survivors to safety.
• Sui Yang recalled the Infected’s intelligence and brutality, then summoned Malakim Phoros and Lei Ruoya to discuss the campaign.
• Sui Yang ordered Phoros and Lei Ruoya to defeat Blood Cross and help Earth 19’s survivors see the dawn again.
• Sui Yang searched Earth 19 with his Psychic Power and found no sign of Chaos.
• Sui Yang concluded the Imperium could end the Blood Cross threat within weeks or days and decided to open another Space Gate afterward.

New City and the Frontline Base showed Earth 19’s recovery under Imperial rule as refugees settled into an orderly life. A burly man visited the SWAT captain recovering in hospital, and the chapter ended with the city’s unification and rebuilding nearing completion.

• The Empire completed the Frontline Base and began restoring the surrounding towns, villages, and ecosystems.
• Refugees traveled through New City on public transit as Imperial aid and services supported their recovery.
• A burly man carried fresh fruit to District Two Central Hospital to visit the SWAT captain who had defended the rear at Toronto Metro Station.
• The captain described his regrown right arm and its ongoing nerve recovery, while the burly man told him former SWAT officers might become New City police.
• The captain looked toward the flourishing city as Earth 19’s unification operation entered its final stage.

Earth 19 completed its reconstruction and integration into the Empire while Sui Meng reunited with Athena at the Imperial Palace. Athena told him that the Emperor planned to open a new Space Gate and that Sui Meng and his Legion might be tasked with unification.

• The Glory Legion and Lamenters Company cleared most Blood Cross Infected territory on Earth 19 as the Empire began rebuilding cities and transport networks.
• The Empire registered survivors, provided essential services, established interim governance, and integrated Earth 19 into its Credits system.
• Sui Meng entered Athena's temple and greeted her respectfully as his mother.
• Sui Meng reported that his Legion in Universe 18 was developing well and could wage war independently.
• Athena told Sui Meng that the Emperor intended to open a new Space Gate the next day and might assign his Legion the task of unification.

Hera presented Sui Meng with three purified Artifacts once belonging to Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades as the Greek Gods’ blessing, and he entrusted them to Athena for safekeeping. The next morning, Sui Yang’s twentieth Space Gate formed, and a reconnaissance force entered it.

• Hera met Sui Meng and wished that he would avoid the tragic fate of the past.
• Hera revealed Zeus’s Thunder Scepter, Poseidon’s Trident, and Hades’s Underworld Helmet as gifts representing the Greek Gods’ trust and blessings.
• Sui Meng sought Athena’s approval, accepted the Artifacts, and asked her to keep them in his bedroom.
• Athena stored the three Artifacts in a secure dimensional space.
• The twentieth Space Gate formed at the Empire’s core, and Sui Yang ordered a reconnaissance force to enter it.

Gary "Roach" Sanderson led the Empire’s Reconnaissance Forces through the Space Gate onto a toxic, unstable planet consumed by magma. Drone scans revealed a damaged ship holding the shattered planet together with energy beams, which Roach suspected belonged to the Universe 20 Humans and had been abandoned after a catastrophic accident.

• Cerberus bio-organic weapons, Recon Terminators, and more than a thousand Reconnaissance Forces crossed the Space Gate after technicians confirmed the connection was stable.
• Gary "Roach" Sanderson led the vanguard onto the volcanic planet and ordered his troops to secure the gateway with shield generators, watchtowers, sensor arrays, and drones.
• Roach and his adjutant surveyed a vast magma lake, and the adjutant warned that building a Frontline Base would require stabilizing the planet or using a low-orbit Space Station.
• Reconnaissance drones revealed that magma covered the planet and that huge fragments of its sunward side hung suspended in space, restrained by blue-green energy beams.
• The drones traced the beams to a damaged seventeen-hundred-meter ship, and Roach judged that it looked abandoned after an uncontrollable accident during a major operation.

Roach’s reconnaissance force found a silent human engineering vessel holding a shattered planet together beyond the Universe 20 Space Gate, and Sui Yang approved sending a Planetary-class engineering vessel to stabilize it. Recognizing the ship as the Ishimura and the planet as Aegis VII, Sui Yang identified the world as the setting of Dead Space and summoned Sui Meng.

• Roach ordered drones to scan the vessel for signs of life and residual energy.
• Apu and Melissa reported the planet’s condition and relayed Gary Sanderson’s proposal to stabilize it with a Planetary-class engineering vessel.
• Sui Yang approved the deployment to prevent the Space Gate’s transmission node from losing its anchor.
• Sui Yang recognized the vessel as the Ishimura and suspected the planet was Aegis VII, recalling the Marker, Necromorphs, and the Ishimura Incident.
• Sui Yang ordered Apu to summon Sui Meng into the Meditation Hall.

Sui Meng received command of the Empire’s integration mission in Universe 20, and Athena arranged for War Maidens to support his Legion against psychic threats. His fleet arrived at Aegis VII and began stabilizing the collapsing planet with an orbital Energy Matrix.

• Sui Yang ordered Sui Meng to lead his Legion into Universe 20 and integrate its human forces into the Empire.
• Sui Yang advised Sui Meng to study the available intelligence and request help from the Greek Demigods if needed.
• Athena warned Sui Meng about possible Heretics and sent Psychic Power-trained War Maidens to accompany his expedition.
• Sui Meng’s fleet emerged through the Universe 20 Space Gate and assembled in low orbit around Aegis VII.
• The fleet’s engineering vessel deployed Metal Pillars that formed an Energy Matrix and began stabilizing Aegis VII.

Sui Meng sent the First Company to destroy the awakened Necromorph Hive Mind on Aegis VII while he and his honor guard teleported to the Ishimura to secure the Red Marker. On Aegis VII, the Imperial Martial Soldiers encountered waves of Necromorphs, and their advance faltered when transformed infants appeared.

• Sui Meng ordered the First Company to attack the colony on Aegis VII and teleported to the Ishimura with his honor guard.
• The First Company landed Thunderhawk Gunships outside the colony, encircled its approaches, and began sweeping the ruins.
• Necromorphs emerged from the colony's shadows and attacked the advancing Imperial Martial Soldiers.
• The soldiers fought back with Boltguns, Power Swords, and Power Spears, cutting down successive waves of Necromorphs.
• Transformed infants appeared among the enemies, making the Imperial Martial Soldiers pause.

Imperial Martial Soldiers destroyed the colony’s Necromorph horde and Glassed the Hive Mind, while Sui Meng and the Formation Breakers fought their way through Ishimura’s cargo hold. When the Red Marker began its psychic assault, Sui Meng identified its location and the whispers abruptly stopped.

• The Imperial Martial Soldiers killed the infant Necromorphs and advanced through the colony as the Hive Mind emerged.
• The Imperial Martial Soldiers and Thunderhawk Gunships severed and bombarded the Hive Mind until the Valiant-class Super-heavy Cruiser incinerated its remains.
• Sui Meng and the thirty Formation Breakers arrived in Ishimura’s cargo hold and began cutting down the Necromorphs.
• The Formation Breakers continued fighting through the Marker’s psychic whispers without faltering.
• Sui Meng turned toward the Red Marker’s location, and the whispers suddenly ceased.

Sui Meng resisted the Red Marker's psychic assault, destroyed its enhanced Necromorphs, and sealed it aboard the Ishimura. Afterward, Imperial forces took custody of the Marker, began disabling the program threatening Aegis VII, and searched the ship for survivors.

• The Red Marker intensified its psychic assault and summoned Special Necromorphs, but Sui Meng remained unaffected and destroyed them with a psychic shockwave.
• Sui Meng advanced through the cargo hold as the Honor Guard and Formation Breakers cleared the remaining Necromorphs.
• Sui Meng bound the Red Marker with Pure Psychic Energy and sealed it, causing the Necromorphs to become inert and the Ishimura to fall silent.
• Sui Meng ordered the Legion's Techmarines to take custody of the Marker and had engineers remove the Planetary Disassembly Program targeting Aegis VII.
• Sui Meng sent Auxilia squads through the Ishimura to search for survivors as the Empire restored order aboard the ship.

Tychus Findlay led Imperial Auxilia through the Ishimura to search for survivors and found Alissa Vincent and a small group hiding aboard the ship. After command warned that the Kellion was approaching and might be intercepted, Tychus ordered the survivors to follow Imperial rules.

• Tychus Findlay led more than fifty Auxilia soldiers from the Luna Transport onto the Ishimura and ordered them to search for survivors.
• The Auxilia searched the silent ship as its repaired power systems restored the lights, revealing widespread death and destruction.
• Tychus and a team of ten Auxilia opened a locked compartment and came under fire from survivors inside.
• Alissa Vincent identified herself as the Ishimura's security chief and explained that she and the survivors had been trapped among the monsters.
• An engineer reported that the Kellion was approaching, and Imperial command prepared to intercept it if it continued toward the Ishimura.
• Tychus told Alissa and the survivors that they now answered to the Empire and had to follow its rules.

The Kellion arrived near Aegis VII and encountered two warships belonging to the Imperium of Man, which ordered the rescue crew to disarm and submit to retrieval. After Hammond chose to cooperate, the Imperium captured the ship and surrounded its crew with armored warriors, leaving them facing an unknown power.

• The Kellion failed to contact the Ishimura and detected two unidentified warships blocking its approach.
• The warships identified themselves as the Imperial Warriors Legion of the Imperium of Man and ordered the Kellion to disarm and wait for retrieval.
• Zach Hammond judged that resistance or escape would be fatal, and Kendra Daniels told the Imperium that the crew would cooperate.
• A cargo shuttle used a tractor beam to tow the Kellion into a cruiser’s hangar.
• Hammond led the crew out of the ship, where they saw rows of towering armored warriors and found the hatch surrounded by Imperial Martial Soldiers.

Tychus Findlay interrogated Elisa Vincent about the Ishimura Incident and showed her the vast scale of the Imperium of Man. Elsewhere aboard the ship, two War Maidens approached the isolation chamber holding the disturbed survivors.

• An Astartes sergeant escorted Hammond, Isaac, Kendra, and the other Kellion crew members into the hangar.
• Tychus questioned Elisa about the Ishimura, and she explained that a Marker found on Aegis VII had driven people mad and brought the dead back to life.
• Tychus showed Elisa footage of two survivors displaying different mental abnormalities, and she suspected the moving corpses had caused their infection or assimilation.
• Tychus revealed images of the Imperium's fleets, starports, worlds, and Imperial Palace to answer Elisa's questions.
• Two War Maidens arrived at the isolation chamber, where the two restrained survivors continued to scream and pray.

Sui Meng considered how to confront the corrupt Earth Federation and Church of Unitology as the Empire prepared for an imminent clash near Aegis VII. After the War Maidens confirmed that Psychic Power could purify some Marker corruption but not the deeper trauma caused by Necromorph attacks, Sui Meng focused on Isaac Clarke, whom his father had singled out for observation.

• The War Maidens purified two survivors, then confirmed that Psychic Power could dispel Marker corrosion but not the lasting distortions caused by Necromorph attacks.
• Sui Meng weighed the Federation’s corruption and the Church of Unitology’s role in exploiting ordinary people, and resolved to target the cult’s leaders while guiding its believers.
• Sui Meng concluded that Federation vessels would soon reach Aegis VII and that the Empire’s forces would likely face the Federation military.
• Sui Meng reviewed the Kellion crew files and considered his father’s instruction to observe Isaac Clarke, the engineer.

The Kellion crew questioned their captivity and the Imperium of Man while Tychus Findlay moved them to temporary quarters. A War Maiden exposed Kendra Daniels as a spy seeking the Red Marker, and an Earth Federation fleet entered the Aegis System, putting the ship on combat alert.

• Zach Hammond told the detained crew he knew little about the Imperium and urged them to stay calm as Kendra Daniels warned that the Federation would likely clash with it.
• Tychus Findlay ordered Isaac Clarke, Hammond, Daniels, and the other crew members to gather their belongings and follow him out of the detention chamber.
• Two War Maidens used their psychic power to examine the crew and identified Daniels as a spy assigned to seize the Red Marker.
• Heavy Auxilia restrained Daniels and took her away, while Tychus led the remaining crew to temporary sleeping quarters.
• A shipwide broadcast announced that Earth Federation armed vessels had entered the Aegis System and ordered all personnel to prepare for the first engagement.

The EDF destroyer Courage arrived at Aegis VII on a secret mission involving the Ishimura and the Marker, but the Imperial Warriors Legion surrounded and disabled it. Lieutenant Colonel F. Cadigan led a futile defense against an Imperial Martial Soldiers Thunderhawk assault, and the chapter ended with the Courage's soldiers defeated and the Federation facing an overwhelming force.

• Lieutenant Colonel F. Cadigan tried to contact the Ishimura, but the Imperial Warriors Legion ordered the Courage to disarm and await recovery.
• Cadigan ordered the crew to attempt an FTL escape and send a warning to the Federation, but outside electronic interference disabled key systems.
• Cadigan prepared the crew for a boarding action while engineers restored limited sensors and launched remote distress beacons.
• An Imperial Martial Soldiers Thunderhawk breached the Courage's storage bay, and its Astartes repelled the EDF soldiers with nonlethal Bolt Rounds.
• Cadigan remained kneeling with his weapon as the soldiers were incapacitated, recognizing that the Courage and the Federation had no chance of victory.

Sui Meng ordered the Imperial Martial Soldiers to begin conquering the Dead Space universe, sending the main fleet toward Earth while other companies moved to seize colonial systems. Human Might Eternal and thousands of warships passed through a gate to the Solar System, leaving the remaining fleet to advance on its assigned targets.

• Imperial engineers repaired Aegis VII and began restoring its environment while the Legion established a fortified base and concentrated more than three thousand ships in orbit.
• Sui Meng considered the Earth Federation's probes and the danger of Markers, concluding that he needed to seize Earth and the Solar System before the Imperium's presence was exposed.
• Sui Meng ordered Companies One through Fourteen to accompany Human Might Eternal to the Solar System and Companies Fifteen through Twenty-Five to take their assigned colonial systems.
• The helmsman opened a gate to Earth, and Human Might Eternal led thousands of warships through it.
• After the gate closed, the remaining fleet activated its Jump Drives and departed for its assigned colonies.

Sui Meng’s Imperial Warriors Legion arrived through a massive Space Gate above Earth, terrifying the Earth Federation and inspiring Unitology believers. He demanded the Federation and Earth Defense Force surrender within forty-eight hours, leaving humanity facing a turning point.

• Human civilization’s prosperity and technological power contrasted with worsening inequality and hardship on Earth.
• A Space Gate opened above Earth, and the Human Might Eternal and the Imperial Martial Soldiers' 1st through 14th Companies emerged into orbit.
• Unitology believers welcomed the arriving Fleet as a divine sign, while Earth Federation officials and the Earth Defense Force struggled to understand the threat.
• Sui Meng appeared on communication screens worldwide, identified himself as the Primarch of the Imperial Warriors Legion, and demanded Earth’s surrender within forty-eight hours.
• Sui Meng promised to end poverty and oppression, and Earth and the Solar System fell silent as the Fleet’s arrival marked a turning point.