To everyone's surprise, the final war came much sooner than even Ali had expected!
Perhaps Horus and the others feared that the longer they waited, the more likely their conspiracy would be exposed?
Or perhaps there was some other reason?
Whatever the case!
The next day, while six elite Astartes Space Marines from Loken's Tenth Company stood guard outside her quarters, watching her every move and forbidding her from taking even one step outside, the pacification campaign on Isstvan III suddenly began.
They said that more than a hundred full companies of Astartes Space Marines drawn from various Legions were taking part in the battle, numbering nearly a hundred thousand in total. And, supposedly, countless Imperial Army regiments of ordinary humans were accompanying them?
Ordinary Imperial Army troops were one thing, but this was a hundred thousand Astartes Space Marines! So, the moment Ali heard the news, she knew Horus had finally dropped all pretense.
The entire XVI Legion, the Sons of Horus, had only a little over a hundred thousand Astartes Space Marines. Some of the smaller Legions had only thirty or fifty thousand, or perhaps a little more. Yet now, to deal with a mere uprising of ordinary people on Isstvan III, Horus had sent a hundred thousand Astartes. What an extravagantly oversized force!
Calling the disparity in strength between the two sides "using a cannon to kill a mosquito" would have been an understatement, especially with countless Imperial Army troops there to assist them.
The whole battle reeked of conspiracy from the very start.
Unfortunately, certain people—or, rather, the vast majority of the loyalist officers—hadn't noticed a thing. They cheerfully led their troops aboard the orbital drop pods, which couldn't return to orbit, then launched a lightly equipped assault on the rebels' positions and cities across Isstvan