When Sejanus, captain of the Fourth Company, arrived at the scene with a dozen of his most elite Astartes Space Marine guards, what he saw was more or less the same as what his fellow captain of the Second Company, Taric Torgaddon, had seen.
At that moment, the smoke from the chaos, explosions, and fires at their rear supply camp had yet to fully clear.
The camp, which had just been raided, looked as though it had suffered an apocalyptic calamity. Many of the neat rows of tents, supply crates, and fortifications had become blackened ruins, some still burning.
The air was thick with choking smoke and the smell of scorched earth. Flames danced among the rubble, illuminating the faces of the Imperialis Militia soldiers clearing the scene—some frightened, some bewildered, and others grief-stricken and furious.
And then there were the countless Astartes Space Marines and Imperialis Militia who lay scattered across the ground, dead or wounded.
Some of them had been frozen in this moment forever.
Farther from the camp, explosions and gunfire echoed from the ruins of another town. When Sejanus and the others hurried over, all they saw were Imperialis Militia sprawled across the ground and several Astartes Space Marine patrol members groaning, gravely wounded and unable to stand. They saw nothing else.
Even farther away, explosions continued to sound, mingled with the Imperialis Militia's shouts as they chased the enemy, along with the intense report of Bolters. It seemed the infiltrating attackers had been driven off?
But Captain Sejanus knew something was wrong. Even if most of the enemy had indeed fled, he was certain that at least one of his main targets was still here.
Because...
He could feel it. A faint, elusive connection at the genetic level told him that the woman he and