Chapter Summaries

Adeptus Mechanicus Priest Vik investigated the transit device and recorded his suspicions about the Tyran System’s technology and Machine God faith. After warning Qin Mo that a formal Inquisitor could provoke a war, Vik asked to learn about the local Machine God, while Qin Mo asked where Lena usually stayed aboard her ship.

• Vik examined the transit device’s energy readings and concluded that they revealed little about how it worked.
• Vik secretly recorded his observations about Machine God worship, technological creations, and the Governor’s reluctance to explain their origins.
• Qin Mo told Vik that he could investigate but could not expect to learn the transit device’s principles.
• Vik warned Qin Mo that a formal Inquisitor might attack the Tyran System, and Qin Mo said the system would not let others decide whether it lived or died.
• Vik asked to learn about the planet’s Machine God faith, and Qin Mo asked where Lena usually stayed aboard her ship.

Lena briefed three Assassinorum operatives on a plan to infiltrate the Tyran System and assassinate Governor Qin Mo, whom she believed was an illegal Psyker and heretic. After preparing her weapon and leaving a record for a possible successor, she fell asleep and dreamed of an unfamiliar metal hall.

• Lena explained the assassination plan to three Assassinorum agents and asked them to help kill Qin Mo.
• A Callidus Assassin questioned Lena about her certainty that the governor was a heretic, and Lena attributed it to accurate premonitions.
• The assassins warned that the Tyran operation was more complicated than expected, and Lena agreed they should kill her if the mission failed and exposed them.
• The group set the assassination operation to begin in three days, and the assassins vanished.
• Lena coated her mentor’s power sword with a priest’s blessed fat and prepared a psychic recording device in case she did not survive.
• Lena dreamed of killing Qin Mo and parading his head through the Hive World, then dreamed of arriving in a vast metal hall filled with images of a young man among soldiers.

Lena encountered Qin Mo and his Custodians, mistook the meeting for a dream, and learned that Qin Mo knew about her planned infiltration and assassination. After her attempts to wake failed, she fled, only to find herself back in Qin Mo’s hall.

• Lena found a Custodian in the corridor, recovered her power sword and Bolter, and followed him to Qin Mo’s hall.
• Lena accused Qin Mo of heresy, and Qin Mo confronted her about her planned infiltration and assassination.
• Lena tried to escape what she believed was a dream, but her Psychic Power and spells failed.
• Qin Mo told Lena that she was not dreaming, so she fired at him and the Custodians before running away.
• Lena crossed a doorway expecting to reach the outside, but found herself back in Qin Mo’s hall.

Qin Mo’s group captured and killed Lena, then used her body and memories to create a controlled replacement. The replacement returned to the Inquisition ship to continue posing as Lena.

• Qin Mo ordered Yao En to capture Lena alive, and Yao En disabled her with a rapid attack after her Psychic Power failed.
• Qin Mo teleported Lena’s immobilized body, and Grey explained that he had infiltrated the Inquisition ship and brought her back under the protection of a teleportation device.
• Anreda warned Qin Mo that Lena’s death could provoke the Imperium, but Qin Mo dismissed the risk and took Lena’s soulless body beneath the fortress.
• Qin Mo implanted a chip in Lena’s brain and installed a Master Control Intelligence that learned to imitate her personality.
• Qin Mo instructed the replacement Lena to return to the ship, and she teleported there and walked toward her room acting hostile.

Chuck investigated Lena’s suspicious absence and discovered a hidden recording that suggested someone in Power Armor had entered her room. Vik ordered him to destroy the recording, and Chuck complied while warning Vik that the secret could cause serious trouble.

• Chuck read Vik’s report, watched the fortress construction, and learned from his servant that Lena had been seen at the hangar.
• Chuck challenged Lena’s suspicion that the Tyran System’s technology proved its people were heretics, and she left without answering him.
• Chuck searched Lena’s room, found a concealed listening device, and heard Lena sleep-talk before footsteps in Power Armor sounded on the recording.
• Chuck played the recording for Vik and suggested someone might have entered Lena’s room using teleportation.
• Vik ordered Chuck to destroy the device, and Chuck crushed it while addressing Vik as “Father” and warning him about the consequences.

Chuck learned that Vik had knowingly supported the Tyran System despite Inquisitor Lena’s likely misfortune, then discovered Vik had erased recordings from listening devices in his room. A week later, Klein returned to Hive City with cargo, including a group of Untouchables and the Astartes Fros, and Grey agreed to take him to the Governor.

• Vik told Chuck that his decision was calculated and that the Tyran System’s secrets mattered more than an STC.
• Vik said Lena had certainly met with misfortune at the hands of people from the Tyran System and ordered Chuck to conceal it and undermine his colleagues.
• Vik revealed he had erased recordings from eight listening devices, and Chuck began searching his room, recalling that he had found nine before.
• Klein arrived at the Hive City spaceport with Grey, an Ogryn, scarred guards, the Astartes Fros, and several transports of cargo.
• Grey inspected the transports and found that the last one carried more than fifty Untouchables who had endured severe hardship.
• Klein asked to meet the Governor, and Grey agreed to take him there immediately.

Qin Mo finished designing armor for Ogryns and began printing a stealth suit before visitors interrupted him. Klein introduced him to Fros, the former Chapter Master of the Weeping Legion, who recounted how he and ten battle-brothers had been stranded near Talon after a disaster and a Warp Storm; Qin Mo suspected Fros had come seeking help.

• Qin Mo inspected the completed Ogryn Armor and ordered the Logistics Machines to print Lightling Armor.
• Qin Mo left the laboratory after the fortress announced visitors and found Klein, Fros, Grey, and ten Astartes waiting in the hall.
• Klein introduced Fros as the former Chapter Master of the Weeping Legion, and Fros said he had been separated from most of his Legion for about eighty-five years.
• Klein explained that he had found Fros and ten battle-brothers on a planet while searching for Untouchables and Ogryns.
• Fros told Qin Mo that a disaster, a Warp Storm, and damage to his ship had left him and several subordinates stranded on a barren planet near Talon.
• Qin Mo concluded that Fros had probably come to ask for help.

Qin Mo agreed to resupply Fros and the Lamenters, quickly producing armor and weapons for them. In exchange, Fros pledged the Chapter’s future support and set out to investigate a plague in System Four.

• Qin Mo offered help to Fros and studied equipment provided by Fros and his ten surviving subordinates.
• Less than two days later, Qin Mo showed Fros twenty sets of standard Power Armor and twenty sets of Terminator Armor marked with the Weeping Legion’s insignia.
• Qin Mo asked Fros to travel to a plague-stricken planet in System Four, collect virus samples, and work with a regiment he would send.
• Fros agreed to the mission and promised that the Lamenters would support the Tyran System whenever it faced trouble.
• Fros ordered his subordinates to equip themselves and prepare to carry out Qin Mo’s assignment.

Fros and Grey led a Tyran System force to a plague-stricken settlement to assess conditions and test the Ogryns’ and Ratlings’ equipment. After spotting an armed figure inside, Fros ordered the team to enter rather than bombard the settlement because civilians might remain there.

• A warship arrived in System 4, and Fros and Grey discussed the Tyran System’s efficient deployment and the mission’s experimental purpose.
• The force landed in a canyon near a settlement built from scrap, where Fros saw corpses in a river and suspected the planet’s military had slaughtered the inhabitants.
• Grey explained that the plague affected other systems too and said the force would test the Ogryns’ and Ratlings’ weapons and equipment.
• The Regimental Commander sent five Ogryns and ten Ratlings forward as the team advanced toward the settlement under Fros’s command.
• Grey spotted an armed person inside the settlement, and Fros ordered the force to enter instead of bombarding it because civilians might be present.

Fros and his Astartes searched a settlement, killed its heretical defenders, and confirmed that no civilians remained. Grey then prepared the Ogryns and Ratlings to attack the settlement while he carried a biological tissue extractor.

• Grey agreed to stay outside while Fros led ten Astartes into the settlement to search for civilians.
• Fros and his subordinates fought through the buildings, killing the enemies and finding no survivors among the civilians.
• Fros reported that the defenders were likely corrupted Planetary Defense Force troops and that the central building was filled with civilian corpses.
• Fros warned Grey that equipment could not always be trusted to identify civilians, while Grey explained that his Power Armor had scanned the settlement.
• Grey ordered the Ogryns to fire on the settlement and the Ratlings to shoot any enemies attempting to flee.
• Loot clenched his gauntleted hand and declared that he knew how to fire.

Fros and the others wiped out a plague-ridden settlement and returned with biological samples for Qin Mo to study. While Qin Mo researched the plague, Chuck revealed that the Undying Inquisitor Horst was coming to the Tyran System, leaving Qin Mo wary of the formidable figure’s arrival.

• The Ogryns and Ratlings destroyed the settlement’s heretics, while Fros explained that plague zombies had to be destroyed with powerful weapons or fire.
• Grey showed Fros a large stock of collected biological tissue, and the team returned to the warship after completing the mission.
• Qin Mo began studying the samples with Vik and Grey as Chuck waited nearby and asked to receive the research data.
• Chuck told Grey and Qin Mo that Lord Horst would investigate the plague and might also be handling matters related to the Tyran System.
• Qin Mo recognized Horst as Aland Brant, a long-lived Inquisitor who knew many secrets, and called him a formidable figure.

Qin Mo prepared the Tyran System for Inquisitor Horst’s arrival while developing a plague-killing liquid and offering it to Chuck as an antidote. He then promised Vik a chance to pursue the Machine God by leading him to a hidden STC template in the underhive.

• Vik said the Archmagos had not predicted Horst’s arrival or learned what he would do, and Chuck praised the Tyran System’s unity.
• Qin Mo decided to put the Tyran System on a war footing when Horst arrived.
• Qin Mo tested a liquid that destroyed infected biological tissue, mass-produced it, and gave Chuck a tube to keep as an antidote.
• Vik asked Qin Mo to honor his promise to share information about the Machine God, explaining that he sought traces of the Omnissiah rather than STCs.
• Qin Mo offered to take Vik to a hidden STC template, suggesting Vik might find what he sought there, and Vik agreed to go.

Qin Mo led Vik and three Custodians to excavate an STC, where they encountered a turret and a powerful Iron Man guardian. Qin Mo tested Vik's determination to learn about the Machine God by sending him forward with a bomb, then admitted the test was staged.

• Qin Mo took Vik and three Custodians by transport to the buried STC, despite Vik's advice to establish a camp and inspect the site first.
• Qin Mo led the group into a tunnel, where a Custodian's Gravity Shield crushed incoming shells after a turret attacked them.
• The group found a floating white sphere, and an Iron Man rose from a pit when the floor opened between them and the chamber.
• The Iron Man's beam pierced the leading Custodian's abdomen, but the Custodian began rebuilding his damaged body.
• Qin Mo gave Vik a bomb and promised to tell him about the Machine God if he destroyed the Iron Man; Vik charged forward after naming Sevyn and the Forge World of the Agrippina System.
• Vik pressed the detonator, and the Iron Man lost power without exploding; Qin Mo admitted that he had arranged the test to gauge Vik's determination.

Qin Mo told Vik that the Machine God worshipped by the Servants might be him, then gave Vik a repaired STC that produced synthetic crystals. Vik accepted the gift and agreed to Qin Mo’s offer to help him become an Archmagos and assist when the Inquisition next came.

• Qin Mo handed Vik a spherical STC and instructed a Custodian on how to fight the Iron Man, explaining that the Custodians needed combat training.
• Vik recounted how the Servants had described their Machine God and its Logistics Machines, and Qin Mo said the god they worshipped might be him.
• Qin Mo explained that he had given Vik the STC because Vik had shown no hostility and had helped mediate with the Inquisitors.
• Vik activated the STC, but it stopped with a program error, so Qin Mo repaired it and explained that it produced synthetic crystals for Laser Rifles.
• Vik called the STC a miracle, and Qin Mo offered to help him become an Archmagos so he could pilot an Ark Mechanicus when the Inquisition returned.
• Vik accepted Qin Mo’s offer and saluted in the name of the Omnissiah.

Vik reported on the Talon System to Belisarius Cawl and Inquisitor Horst, omitting his discovery of an STC and his connection to Governor Qin Mo. Horst remained wary of the system but recognized its strength and arranged to meet Qin Mo with Vik the next day.

• Vik met Belisarius Cawl and Horst aboard the ship and gave Cawl his report, which claimed there were no STCs in the Hive City world.
• Cawl suggested that the Talon System's technology was heretical, while Horst said he would investigate before deciding whether its people were heretics.
• Horst reviewed records about Qin Mo and recalled how he had once overthrown a tyrant on his homeworld.
• Vik questioned Horst's condemnation of Qin Mo, and Horst admitted he admired the Governor while still objecting to his uncertified Psychic Power and unknown technology.
• Horst told Vik that humanity needed the Talon System's strength and ordered him to accompany him to meet Qin Mo the next day.

Horst inspected the Tyran System’s unusually powerful fleet and defenses while traveling to its Hive City world. There, Qin Mo admitted to Cawl that he used Abominable Intelligence and offered him cooling technology in exchange for helping Vik advance in the Adeptus Mechanicus.

• Horst and Vik surveyed Tyran’s fleet, and Vik explained that its ships had been built in just a year and a half using advanced production technology.
• Horst learned the Battleships’ names and criticized the Lord of Tyran’s personality cult, while Vik noted that Tyran’s Particle Lances could kill Karamazov.
• Horst saw machinery constructing a vast structure between two fortresses and judged that it could make Tyran nearly impregnable.
• Cawl arrived at the Hive City world, recognized that Qin Mo used Abominable Intelligence, and warned that the Imperium would destroy him if it were exposed.
• Qin Mo offered Cawl cooling technology if he stopped using Vik as an errand runner and helped him find a worthwhile role in the Adeptus Mechanicus.
• Cawl agreed to Qin Mo’s terms and asked to see the cooling technology.

Qin Mo demonstrated a cooling device for Dreadnoughts to Cawl and sold him its STC and the heat-absorbing metal it required. After Cawl agreed to help Vik, he learned that Horst had arrived at the Hive City and resolved to rescue Qin Mo if Horst threatened the Tyran System.

• Qin Mo showed Cawl a Dreadnought simulation in which prolonged combat overheated the machine and burned its mannequin pilot.
• Qin Mo printed a cooling device using heat-absorbing metal, and the Dreadnought completed the simulation without overheating.
• Cawl examined the device, learned it used metal modified from Adamantium, and agreed to buy the cooling STC and materials from Qin Mo.
• Qin Mo gave Cawl the STC, and Cawl promised to sever his ties with Vik and secure Vik a promising future within the order.
• Vik sent Cawl a coded message that Horst had arrived at the Hive City, and Cawl decided he would rescue Qin Mo if Horst threatened the Tyran System.

Qin Mo defied Inquisitor Horst’s threat, was cleared by the Inquisition and appointed Governor of the Talon System, then agreed to pay its Tithe in Dimension Engines. After Horst asked for help investigating a plague, Qin Mo recognized it as the Plague of Unbelief and warned that a crusade against the Cadian Gate was imminent.

• Horst confronted Qin Mo over resisting the Inquisition and used a loaded revolver to illustrate how each defiant act increased the danger to the Talon System.
• Qin Mo loaded the final bullet, put the revolver to his head, and pulled the trigger repeatedly, betting it would misfire; it never fired.
• Horst declared Qin Mo innocent and appointed him the Imperium’s Governor of the Talon System, then explained the Governor’s duties and the Tithe.
• Qin Mo offered Dimension Engines as the system’s Tithe, and Horst accepted the proposal while cautioning that distrust of the technology could slow its adoption.
• Horst gave Qin Mo his findings on a plague affecting Talon and the Misty Sector, and Qin Mo identified it as the Plague of Unbelief and predicted a crusade against the Cadian Gate.

Qin Mo warned Horst that the Thirteenth Black Crusade was approaching and outlined the dangers the Imperium might face beforehand. He then ordered a sector-wide plague reconnaissance and mobilization effort, preparing Talon for a possible Nurgle invasion.

• Qin Mo explained the Plague of Unbelief and warned Horst about the coming Thirteenth Black Crusade, including dangers around the Cadian Gate and Quaren’s fleet.
• Horst agreed to report Qin Mo’s warnings and investigate the plague while Qin Mo continued treating outbreaks around Talon.
• Qin Mo ordered Adam to plan reconnaissance across the nineteen systems he had designated as a sector and to treat plague sources, destroy Space Hulks, and recruit local adult men for training.
• Qin Mo prepared for a possible attack by Nurgle’s followers and ordered Leviathan to stand ready to destroy worlds that could not be saved.

Adam organized a survey of the nearby systems to identify and contain plague outbreaks. In System No. 12, Chapter Master Fros led the Weeping Legion and a Custodian underground to rescue civilians, where they paused behind sealed blast doors to recover.

• Adam stationed three Battleships at strategic points and divided the Cruisers into five fleets to survey the sector.
• The fleet found mild plague outbreaks in Systems No. 3 and No. 4, then deployed troops and sprayed medicine to contain them.
• Systems No. 12 and No. 15 had the worst outbreaks, and the cruiser captain planned to bombard a mostly underground world in System No. 12 after evacuating its civilians.
• Chapter Master Fros and ten Astartes entered the underground city with a Custodian, fighting Plague Zombies and rescuing civilians as they advanced.
• Fros sealed the corridor with blast doors, giving the group time to rest, and then gave a young girl his dagger to protect her family.