Chapter Summaries

William prepared to lead Umbrella and most of the UNSC on an expedition to Hozette-4 while leaving forces behind to protect the Solar System. Before departing, he reorganized the Astartes and named John's legion the Praetorian Guard, as the losses caused by the UNSC's civil war made him reconsider Umbrella's role and ambitions.

• William declared himself supreme commander of the expedition and ordered the UNSC's Twenty-Seventh Fleet to remain in the Solar System while the other fleets went to Hozette-4.
• William assigned Andre's Containment Fleet and Mike's First Fleet to stay behind with the Twenty-Seventh Fleet, and arranged for Athena to join Fleet Zero.
• William left Yelena with Andre and Mike and said Ivan was ready to gain experience with the expeditionary force.
• Serena reported that the Astartes had been reorganized into legions, with 1,200 under John's, Carl's, and Mylon's genes, 7,000 under Robert's, and 1,600 under Kolax's.
• William kept the names Ultramarines and Raven Guard for Robert's and Kolax's legions and renamed John's legion the Praetorian Guard.
• William reflected on the deaths in the Beacon, Xenomorph, and civil-war incidents, which had led him to make the UNSC sign the Confidentiality Agreement.

William reflected on humanity’s betrayals and resolved that making the UNSC sign Confidentiality Agreements was the surest way to protect lives, despite the loss of its freedom. He approved Constantine Terra’s request to board the Infinity and met the powerful psionic operative in Hangar Bay Four.

• William recalled how Chief Mining’s research into the Beacon caused more than two thousand deaths and how corruption worsened the Sirius-4 disaster.
• William considered using Confidentiality Agreements to control the UNSC and protect humanity from abnormal phenomena and compromised officials.
• Serena informed William that Constantine Terra had arrived, and William approved his request to board the Infinity.
• William’s Pelican and Constantine’s yacht entered the Infinity’s hangar, where William and Serena waited for Constantine to disembark.
• Constantine arrived with ten bodyguards, and William recognized his resemblance to a ruthless man known for killing with a pencil.

William met Constantine, who explained that Lord Russell had ordered a marriage alliance between the Russell and Terra families, but William refused to consider it while Ivan was still young and the expedition was imminent. After Constantine reunited with Nova, the Vengeance Expedition fleet entered warp channels bound for Hozette-4, where it would remain isolated for at least seven days.

• Constantine told William that Lord Russell had ordered the Terra and Russell families to form a marriage alliance, and offered Nova as a match for Ivan.
• William said he would not arrange marriages for his children and postponed the discussion because Ivan was only fifteen and the expedition was about to begin.
• Constantine said Nova's help would be needed against Yuri Marin, and William summoned her to Hangar Bay Four to reunite with her father.
• Constantine returned to his yacht, while William sent Serena to oversee the fleet and went to ask Halsey and Rebecca about their progress deciphering Yuri's technology.
• Two hours later, the thousand-ship Vengeance Expedition fleet entered warp channels and departed for the Hozette-4 star system.

Halsey warned William that Yuri might have used the captured Astartes corpses and his advanced cloning technology to create his own super soldiers. As the fleet approached Hozette-4d, she feared Yuri could give those Astartes psychic abilities and replicate the God-Body.

• Rebecca told William that Umbrella had reconstructed the Berserker mutation technology but had failed to reproduce psychic abilities or Yuri's independent clones.
• Halsey privately told William that Yuri's attack on an Astartes company may have been intended to obtain 120 Astartes bodies for experiments.
• Halsey warned that Yuri could clone Astartes and possibly awaken psychic abilities in them.
• Halsey said she was also concerned Yuri might replicate a giant biological mecha like the God-Body.

William discussed Halsey’s analysis of Yuri’s Berserker serum and dismissed the threat of God Body Mechs, then inspected Umbrella’s Xenomorph incubation facility aboard the Infinity. He left the drones due to hatch within hours and instructed 049 to have Elizabeth Green keep them under control during the voyage to Hozette-4d.

• Halsey explained that the Berserker serum was an unfinished genetic modification that could potentially produce giants if Yuri perfected it with Astartes surgical technology.
• William argued that Umbrella’s Xenomorph army and the UNSC’s Confidentiality Agreement left Yuri with little leverage, then went to check on 049’s preparations.
• William entered the Infinity’s four-level incubation facility, where Umbrella was growing Xenomorphs in cloned D-class bodies using Facehuggers cultivated with Elizabeth Green’s blood.
• 049 told William that the drones would hatch within hours and could be deployed in less than a day after receiving nutrients.
• William told 049 to warn Green to keep watch over the newly hatched Xenomorphs so they would not infest the Infinity-class warships.

After seven days in Warp Space, William prepared Umbrella’s fleets for the Vengeance Expedition’s arrival near Hozette-4d and ordered his forces to capture Yuri Marin. The fleet neared the Warp Space exit as William entered his Divine Body with Serena ready to fight alongside him.

• Elizabeth Green confirmed that her Hive Mind could communicate through Warp Space, and William planned to use specialized New Reverse Strain Aliens to keep fleets connected during future warp travel.
• Five minutes before the fleet’s arrival near Hozette-4d, William rallied more than a thousand officers and nearly ten thousand Astartes in Infinity’s Hangar Bay Four and ordered them to overwhelm the enemy and capture Yuri Marin.
• The officers boarded Drop Pods, Pelicans, and landing craft, while the Astartes headed for their specially built drop preparation zone.
• William took the Orbit Train to Hangar Bay One, entered his Divine Body, and inserted Serena’s chip into the control console.
• The Infinity approached the Warp Space exit, and the cosmic space beyond it came into view.

The Umbrella and UNSC Expeditionary Force arrived at Hozette-4d and began a naval battle against Yuri’s fleet. William’s forces gained a decisive advantage, but Yuri’s mind-controlled ships kept fighting as they faced destruction.

• Yuri’s covert forces held Hozette-4d with hundreds of warships and orbital defenses, while Umbrella had already quelled a rebellion at Reach.
• The Expeditionary Force emerged from Warp Space, and four Infinity-class warships fired tungsten projectiles at Yuri’s fleet and Hozette-4d’s orbital defenses.
• William ordered the fleet to seize near-Earth orbit, destroy Yuri’s navy and defenses, and launch its fighters, MS units, and God Bodies.
• William, John, Carl, Ivan, Shiya, and the other pilots deployed as the two fleets entered cannon range.
• William and Ivan used Limit Movement with the other God Bodies and the fleet to destroy more than half of Yuri’s warships, including all four Super Battleships.
• Yuri’s mind-controlled warships continued fighting despite nearing annihilation.

William’s Expeditionary Force destroyed Yuri’s orbital navy and electromagnetic defense cannons, then began its invasion of Hozette-4d by dropping alien troops near City Five. The pods came under fire from the city’s defenses, but surviving aliens landed and shrieked as Yuri’s forces prepared to investigate.

• William ordered the Expeditionary Force to clear the orbital defenses, drop aliens to scout Hozette-4d, and support the later landing.
• The Expeditionary Force and God Body Squad destroyed the orbital Electromagnetic Defense Cannons and seized low orbit.
• The fleet gathered above City Five, identified it as a major population and military center, and targeted its southeastern outskirts for the first landing.
• Infinity-class warships released tens of thousands of Large Drop Pods carrying aliens toward the city.
• Yuri’s fixed defenses and Gatling Cannons shot down some pods, but many crashed onto the southeastern beach and nearby forests.
• Terrifying alien shrieks rang out across the landing zone as Yuri’s forces prepared to investigate.

Elizabeth Green's alien swarm assaulted Yuri's southeastern defenses, overwhelming bunkers and troops while taking heavy losses. The aliens reached the rooftops in City Five and began destroying the Gatling Cannons.

• Yuri soldiers and defenses opened fire on the alien swarm advancing from the beach, but Messenger Aliens slipped into bunkers and slaughtered their defenders.
• Beast Forms rampaged through Yuri's forces, and a Tiger Form defeated a Brute by evading its attack and tearing into its neck.
• After overrunning a position, the aliens received Elizabeth Green's orders to destroy the southeastern front's fixed defenses.
• Yuri sent reinforcements and armed mind-controlled civilians, but the aliens ignored the civilians and climbed buildings toward their rooftop Gatling Cannons.
• The civilians fired at the climbing aliens, suffering casualties from their corrosive blood, as the swarm reached the rooftops and began destroying the Gatling Cannons.

Elizabeth Green’s Alien swarm disabled City Five’s southeastern defenses before retreating, allowing William to begin an airborne invasion with Umbrella and UNSC forces. Drop Pods landed on the front line, where Astartes emerged and attacked the stunned defenders.

• The Alien swarm destroyed the fixed defenses in City Five’s southeastern district, then the surviving Reverse Types and Praetorians withdrew into the jungle.
• William ordered Umbrella warships to deploy Helljumpers, Heavy Soldiers, and Astartes, with God Bodies providing escort and artillery support, followed by UNSC airborne divisions and ground forces.
• Drop Pods carrying Umbrella troops descended toward the southeastern front as Yuri’s soldiers discussed their loss of orbital control and faltering prospects.
• A Large Drop Pod crushed two Yuri Recruits, and Astartes of the Limit Legion emerged and charged the stunned UNSC Army soldiers in Umbrella’s name.

Umbrella's forces overwhelmed Yuri's army and drove the surviving troops back toward the palace in City Five. When mind-controlled civilians blocked the advance, William arrived with nearly two hundred God Bodies and released a nonlethal gas that knocked them unconscious.

• Astartes, Helljumpers, Heavy Soldiers, and UNSC airborne troops broke Yuri's forces with overwhelming firepower, destroying more than half of the armored units.
• Mylon swept Yuri's troops with an Ultra-Heavy Bolter while Robert and Kolax led the attack against soldiers and Berserkers.
• Yuri's remaining forces retreated toward the city palace as mind-controlled civilians armed with Pulse Rifles advanced on the Primarchs.
• William arrived overhead with Ivan and nearly two hundred God Bodies, and ordered the airborne forces to check their equipment seals.
• The God Bodies fired shells that spread nonlethal gas across the city, knocking the approaching civilians unconscious.

William’s forces scanned City Five and discovered roughly seventy thousand Astartes-like Super Soldiers guarding Yuri’s palace, but no evidence of God Body mechs. William ordered the Endless into the atmosphere and prepared to lead the Primarchs and Astartes in an assault on the palace, while the troops advancing through the city came under attack.

• Serena detected approximately seventy thousand armored Super Soldiers around Yuri’s palace, with the number inside still unknown.
• Serena’s fleetwide scan found no facilities capable of producing God Bodies and identified a vast underground complex beneath City Five, leading her to conclude Yuri had focused on creating Astartes clones.
• William ordered the Endless to enter the atmosphere and told Mylon, Robert, and Kolax to hold their positions while he prepared to attack Yuri’s palace with the Primarchs and Astartes Legion.
• Mylon’s troops carefully advanced through streets filled with unconscious citizens, avoiding stepping on them.
• A Berserker Orc ambushed Mylon, who killed it with his Heavy Bolter; Yuri’s Recruits, Virus Snipers, and controlled UNSC soldiers then opened fire from nearby buildings.

As Yuri's forces fought the Astartes, William ordered the airborne troops to hold their positions and clear civilians from the streets. After returning to Infinity with John and Carl, he summoned Dr. Luo Halsey, Dr. Chamboss Rebecca, Nova, and Keisha to the equipment room to prepare for their specially developed Power Armor.

• Serena relayed William's order for the airborne troops to hold position, clear unconscious civilians from the streets, and wait for reinforcements.
• Mylon complained about stopping near Yuri's palace but ordered his troops to stay put after Serena warned him of the consequences of disobedience.
• Infinity and its escort ships descended over the sea southeast of City Five, and William, John, and Carl returned aboard in their Divine Bodies.
• William, John, and Carl left the hangar's changing rooms and headed toward the equipment room together.
• William ordered Dr. Luo Halsey and Dr. Chamboss Rebecca to bring their latest creation to the equipment room and summoned Nova and Keisha.

William, Carl, and John equipped themselves with personalized Power Armor, including Carl’s costly electromagnetic sniper rifle, Slayer. Halsey and Rebecca then introduced Nova to a lightweight Hostile Environment Suit designed to suit her abilities.

• William, Carl, and John donned their customized Power Armor, including John’s Thor’s Hammer and Carl’s Slayer electromagnetic sniper rifle.
• Nova and Jane arrived in combat suits, followed by Halsey and Rebecca with equipment cases carried by four Helljumpers.
• Halsey introduced Nova’s custom Hostile Environment Suit, explaining that it was designed to make better use of Nova’s abilities than Biochemical Power Armor.
• Technicians assembled the HEU and revealed its layered alloy armor, enhanced defenses, and optical camouflage.

Nova and Keisha received custom armor before William led them and the Spartan Primarchs toward City Five, ordering a bombardment and sweep of Yuri’s remaining strongholds. They arrived over the city’s southeast outskirts, where Mylon’s Astartes were fighting Yuri troops.

• Halsey explained that Nova’s HEU suit enhanced her psionic abilities, and Nova thanked her before technicians fitted it.
• Rebecca presented Keisha with ornate Power Armor designed to make her look like a mythic figure, and Keisha put it on.
• William ordered Serena to bombard and sweep Yuri’s remaining strongholds on Hozette-4d, assigned Ivan and Athena to guard City Five, and positioned Hia nearby.
• William, John, Carl, Nova, and Keisha boarded a Pelican and flew from the Indomitable toward City Five.
• Mylon fired his bolter at Yuri Recruit attackers in a city street and complained that William had not yet arrived.

William and the Astartes advanced toward Yuri's unfinished palace, fighting through Yuri's forces while Keisha protected them with her Bio-Shield. The chapter ended as they reached the palace plaza and confronted the Astartes defending it.

• William arrived with John, Carl, Nova, and Keisha, then ordered Mylon to lead the charge.
• William sent the non-Astartes troops to evacuate unconscious civilians and led the Astartes toward Yuri's palace.
• Mylon charged ahead and cut through Yuri Recruits with his Heavy Bolter as William and the others fought alongside him.
• Keisha shielded the advancing forces from a barrage of Bolter Rounds.
• The smoke cleared to reveal Yuri's unfinished palace and the Astartes gathered in its plaza.

William and the Umbrella force confronted Yuri’s nearly seventy thousand mutated Chaos Astartes outside his pyramid palace, while Nova sensed Yuri’s true body hidden deep underground. The chapter left William weighing how to overcome Yuri’s psychic forces as Kaisha admitted she was unsure whether she could withstand or crush them.

• Mylon joked about Yuri’s pyramid palace while Carl and William prepared for battle against the mutated Astartes.
• William identified the mutated soldiers as Chaos after Serena asked what Yuri had done to them, and Nova sensed powerful psychic abilities among them and Yuri’s true body ninety kilometers below the palace.
• Robert criticized Yuri for hiding underground, and Yuri revealed that the Chaos Astartes were cloned experimental subjects and obedient slaves that could survive four months without supplies.
• Serena explained that the fleet lacked the weapons needed to disrupt the planet and reach Yuri’s bunker, while Nova used her psychic power to block Yuri from listening to their conversation.
• William asked Kaisha whether her Biological Field could protect her from psychic attacks or crush the Chaos, and Kaisha said she could not be sure.

William ordered a close-range electromagnetic bombardment of Yuri’s palace, relying on Keisha’s Bio-Shield to protect his group. The strike destroyed the palace and its Chaos defenders but exposed Yuri’s underground fortress, and William hinted that he had another way to reach it.

• William ordered Hia to isolate the area and the Second Fleet to bombard Yuri’s palace while Keisha strengthened her Bio-Shield.
• The Dutchman fired a 30-ton tungsten projectile, and Keisha’s shield protected William, Nova, the Primarchs, and the Astartes from the blast.
• The electromagnetic strike destroyed the palace, killed the Chaos forces, and devastated the surrounding city center.
• William’s group approached the crater and saw Yuri’s green AT Shield and the metal structure of his underground fortress.
• William lifted Nova’s psychic blockade and spoke to Yuri, who revealed that he had built a self-sufficient underground base with Umbrella technology.
• William told Yuri that he could alter the planet’s geology by means other than the Mag Electromagnetic Cannon.

William refused Yuri’s offer to join forces and ordered a retreat while Nova confronted Yuri’s psychic powers. The group escaped the city center under Xiya’s psychic-resistant barrier, with William carrying the unconscious Keisha.

• Yuri realized Umbrella could use hydrogen bombs to trigger a planet-wide geological upheaval and threaten his Underground Fortress.
• William rejected Yuri’s offer to share his cloning and psychic-potential technology and insisted that capturing Yuri came first.
• Yuri raised the sand and soil around them as Nova confronted him, and William ordered everyone to retreat.
• William told Serena to have Xiya create psychic-resistant Defense Barriers and arranged for Ivan’s divine body to retrieve Nova.
• Yuri’s psychic lightning disabled Keisha’s Bio-Shield and knocked her unconscious, and William caught her as she fell.
• Xiya’s White Light Barrier withstood Yuri’s psychic storm, allowing William and the Primarchs and Astartes Legion to escape the city center.

Ivan piloted his god body into Yuri Marin’s Psionic storm and rescued Nova, allowing her to rejoin William’s forces as the storm dissipated. After Serena confirmed that Keisha was alive and recovering, William ordered the troops to withdraw and the palace’s Underground Facility entrance to be bombarded.

• Serena relayed William’s order for Ivan to enter the Psionic storm and rescue Nova after William’s troops reached Hya’s White Light Barrier.
• Ivan piloted his god body through Yuri’s lightning, endured a psionic attack, and carried Nova out of the storm.
• Nova warned William that Yuri could generate another Psionic storm, and Ivan returned her safely to the main force.
• William removed Keisha’s helmet, and Serena confirmed that Keisha was slowly healing and should recover within two days.
• William ordered the transport fleet to prepare for evacuation, Hya to reinforce the city-center barrier, and the warships to bombard the palace’s Underground Facility entrance.