Chapter Summaries

Russ led an Assault Squad through the Coloniser mothership, fighting off the creatures while searching for the Brain Bug controlling the fleet. The squad pressed deeper as the main force drew the mothership’s counterattack, leaving the nine Assault Squads racing to find the Brain Bug before the main force ran out of ammunition.

• The Coloniser creatures charged Russ’s Assault Squad and fired bone spikes, but the squad dodged and destroyed the spike-shooters with concentrated fire.
• A paratrooper launched sixteen Small Missiles into the advancing creatures, blasting them apart and splattering the squad with their blood and flesh.
• Russ led his Assault Squad deeper into the mothership to search for the Brain Bug, while Wolf used his tracking skills to help hunt it.
• The main force, including the Spear of Olympus and Charon, continued advancing and drew the Brain Beasts’ counterattack.
• The nine Assault Squads had to kill the Brain Bug before the main force exhausted its ammunition, while Celtic joined the main force with Chris.

Mikhail Victor’s main force fought off the Colonisers while Russ’s Assault Squad pursued and killed the Brain Bug inside the mothership. The Colonisers froze after the Brain Bug died, and the main force realized the Assault Squad had succeeded.

• A wounded MTF was treated by a medic, then returned to the fight after Mikhail Victor reprimanded him and urged him to keep fighting.
• Victor learned that Russ’s Assault Squad had located the Brain Bug and ordered the main force to hold the line.
• Russ, Wolf, and twenty-four paratroopers entered the mothership’s hatchery and bombarded the Brain Bug and its Mantis Guards with missiles.
• Russ sensed the Brain Bug’s fading life and shot it, killing it.
• The Colonisers stopped moving, and the wounded MTF recognized that the Assault Squad had killed the Brain Bug.

After Umbrella's fleet killed the Brain Bug and secured victory over the Colonisers' scout fleet, Sui Bian called off the evacuation plan and set new preparations in motion for humanity's future. He recognized that greater threats still awaited Earth and reaffirmed his commitment to humanity.

• Sui Bian learned from the system that Russ had killed the Brain Bug, the scout fleet's destruction was imminent, and Wolf had survived.
• An employee reported Captain Jacob Keyes's confirmation that the Assault Squad had killed the Brain Bug, prompting cheers in the Command Center.
• Sui Bian ordered Captain Keyes to finish destroying the fleet and insisted on decontamination, casualty reports, and medical examinations.
• Sui Bian told the White Queen to resume normal routines, screen promising candidates, expand the Prehistoric Planet base, build civilian shipyards, guide public opinion, and sell retired weapons and equipment to allied countries.
• Sui Bian reflected that humanity still faced the Colonisers' main force, other alien threats, and Earth's anomalies, and reaffirmed his resolve to act for humanity.

On Christmas night in 2006, Sergeant Joel Miller led Oxnard officers toward Ojai after a blackout and reports of arson. The convoy reached the outskirts of town as the blizzard eased and fires came into view.

• An Oxnard Police Department dispatcher reported a major power outage and numerous arson cases in Ojai, and Joel arranged for units to assist.
• Joel ordered Muller, George, and Const to remain at the station while he led the other officers toward Ojai.
• An Oxnard police convoy drove north through heavy snow and joined a Ventura City police convoy on the way.
• Near Ojai, the snow eased and the officers saw flames rising over the town.
• Joel spoke with the worried young blond officer, who had told his family he might be late home.

A joint police convoy arrived in Ojai Town and discovered that armed attackers had seized the shopping mall and taken residents hostage. Undercover agent Leon S. Kennedy treated a wounded officer and revealed his identity to the local police.

• The joint police convoy reached Ojai Town and saw fires spreading as residents fled and local officers struggled to evacuate them.
• Sergeant Joel Miller contacted Sheriff Marvins Nester, who reported that armed attackers had seized the mall and taken residents hostage.
• The convoy arrived at the mall and joined local officers pinned down by gunfire outside the building.
• The blond officer used Bio-foam to stop a wounded officer's bleeding.
• The blond officer showed his credentials and identified himself as Department of Homeland Security undercover agent Leon S. Kennedy.

Leon identified the gang occupying the mall as members of the Spider Mastermind cult and urged the officers to investigate before their ritual could be completed. The police launched a two-pronged assault, allowing Leon and Joel’s team to enter the mall.

• Leon showed his credentials, and Joel accepted that he was a covert agent and offered police assistance.
• Marvins explained that a gang had seized the mall during a blackout, taken hostages, and announced a ritual without making demands.
• Leon connected the gang to the Spider Mastermind cult and suspected they planned to sacrifice the hostages to summon their deity.
• Leon called for armed security and the Mobile Task Force, then recommended entering the mall before backup arrived.
• Joel led Leon and the Oxnard officers toward the mall through a grove while Marvins and the Ventura officers drew the cultists’ fire from the south entrance.
• Leon, Joel, and their team reached the mall and entered its first floor.

Leon and Joel’s officers fought their way through the mall against mutated cultists trying to protect their ritual. They reached the second floor, where the battle continued and Hans was gravely wounded.

• Leon spotted blood-written symbols in the dark mall as his team advanced toward the escalators.
• Leon warned the officers that the cultists were no longer human and helped defeat seven attackers in a brief firefight.
• Leon and three officers climbed to the second floor, where they found torches and glowing blood symbols before Joel’s team joined them.
• The cultists counterattacked, and Hans lost his left hand and half his forearm to gunfire.
• Leon treated Hans’s wound with Bio-foam and promised to make it up to him.

Leon and Joel’s officers held their position against the cultists while waiting for reinforcements, as the cultists’ mutations made them stronger. The Honor Fist arrived by forced landing, and four Astartes wiped out the remaining cultists.

• Leon persuaded Joel to stop advancing and defend their position until reinforcements arrived.
• The cultists mutated further, and Joel ran out of ammunition and urged a retreat.
• Roger, captain of the Honor Fist, warned Leon over the police radios that they were about to make a forced landing.
• A drop pod crashed through the mall, crushing most of the cultists and forcing Leon, Joel, and the officers to take cover.
• Four Astartes emerged from the breach and killed the surviving cultists with Bolters.

Umbrella’s Astartes and Primarchs completed their transformation into super-soldiers, and Primarch Roger led the Honor Fist into the mall to confront the cultists. Roger ordered Leon and the officers to evacuate while his squad advanced toward the third-floor ritual site.

• Umbrella turned forty Astartes Aspirants into Astartes after two years of training and surgical modifications, while the Primarchs also completed their transformations.
• Roger, Primarch of the Honor Fist, arrived at the mall in a drop pod and descended to the second floor in his Primarch Power Armor.
• Roger used his helmet’s Pulse Radar to locate Leon, the officers, and the surviving cultists, then ordered Leon to evacuate the building.
• Leon urged Joel to leave before the mall collapsed or they were caught in the crossfire, and Joel led the group out with the wounded officers.
• Roger led the four other Iron Fists toward the third floor, where cultists had cleared a seating area for their summoning ritual.

Roger and the Honor Fist stopped a demonic ritual at the mall and captured the woman intended as a vessel for the spider mastermind. Umbrella contained the anomalous organism and sent it to Rockfort Island for the Plague Doctor to examine.

• Sixteen demonized cultists charged the approaching Honor Fist, but Roger and his squad killed them and reached the blood sigil.
• Roger sensed a hostile presence in the woman in white, then grabbed her before she could finish claiming humans could never match her.
• Roger reported the captured woman to Red Queen and requested technical personnel to secure and transport her.
• Leon calmed the officers as Spear of Olympus soldiers secured the parking lot, while technical staff treated the wounded and entered the mall.
• Umbrella's leader learned that the contained organism was being escorted to Rockfort Island for the Plague Doctor to study.

At Luna Base, Sui Bian ordered the Red Queen to investigate the woman in white and the Spider Brain while increasing surveillance of religions, and assigned the White Queen to recruit officers and care for the wounded. The Cassowary carrying the woman in white, Iron Fist Glory, and a tactical platoon arrived at Rockfort Island.

• Sui Bian reviewed footage of the Spider Brain and considered its resemblance to demons from DOOM.
• Sui Bian ordered the Red Queen to arrange research into the woman in white and the Spider Brain and to expand surveillance of religions around the world.
• Sui Bian tasked the White Queen with recruiting promising officers and providing free treatment to the wounded, including an advanced prosthetic for the man who had lost his left arm.
• The Cassowary carried technicians, Iron Fist Glory, an MTF tactical platoon, and the woman in white to Rockfort Island.
• The Cassowary landed at the airport in the center of Rockfort Island.

Roger and the support team brought the captured white-clad woman to Umbrella’s anomalous phenomena control center on Rockfort Island. They entered the heavily secured containment area, where Roger reviewed the files of the entities held there.

• The Cassowary landed on Rockfort Island, and Astartes soldiers, technicians, and Roger’s Honor Fist squad escorted the Humanoid Entity Containment Box underground.
• Jack Krauser introduced himself as head of security and led the group through the control center’s Elimination Corridor.
• Krauser authenticated himself at the containment area’s metal gate, and the group entered as it sealed behind them.
• Roger passed through the guarded complex and scanned the numbered cells, reviewing files such as the one for the Six-Tailed Red Fox.

Roger brought the white-clad woman possessed by the Spider Mastermind to the Plague Doctor, who identified her as a Hell-like variant of the Plague and prepared to examine her. The Plague Doctor silenced her and threatened to test whether destroying her body would harm the entity.

• Krauser opened the Plague Doctor’s specially equipped cell after completing security checks.
• Roger and the Iron Fists entered the cell and presented the bound, ranting white-clad woman in a control box.
• Roger explained that the woman kept talking about Hell and demons, and the Plague Doctor said she resembled a variant of the Plague.
• The Plague Doctor touched the woman to silence her and asked Roger to fetch his black bag.
• The Plague Doctor pulled an enormous bone saw from the bag and approached the trapped Spider Mastermind to test its claim that destroying the woman’s body would not hurt it.

In 2007, Sui Bian reviewed Umbrella’s progress toward extraterrestrial colonization and learned that Hell would eventually target Earth and humanity. He spent nearly all his accumulated points to redeem the Gryphon stealth warship, gaining its technology for Umbrella as well.

• The system awarded Sui Bian 2,000 points after the Plague Doctor sent the Spider Overmind back to Hell, bringing his total to 61,500.
• Sui Bian reflected on Umbrella’s advances, including fusion power, improved civilian technology, military equipment, and plans for lunar colonization.
• Red Queen reported that Hell would turn its attention to Earth and humanity after finishing its invasion of other universes, though the Plague Doctor could not estimate when.
• Sui Bian told White Queen to have William Birkin select candidates for the next Astartes batch and told Red Queen to add information about Hell to the Spider Overmind’s dossier.
• Sui Bian redeemed the Gryphon stealth warship for 58,500 points, and the system began uploading its technology and altering Umbrella employees’ memories.

Sui Bian reviewed the Gryphon’s capabilities and Umbrella’s armed forces before asking the White Queen to assess the newly developed CMC-400 Power Armor. The analysis found the CMC-400 more protective than the TPS but heavier and less agile, leaving the suits suited to different roles.

• The system told Sui Bian that the Gryphon was docked at Luna Base and listed its advanced engines, stealth technologies, troops, and vehicles.
• Sui Bian reviewed Umbrella’s armed forces, including its roughly seventy thousand combat personnel, three Goshawk-class frigates, and stationed MTF units.
• Sui Bian asked the White Queen to analyze the CMC-400, and she projected it alongside the TPS and Mjolnir III armor.
• The White Queen explained that the CMC-400’s cold fusion reactor could not power energy shields and required regular maintenance, though its protection and life support surpassed the TPS.
• The White Queen contrasted the CMC-400’s heavier protection with the TPS’s lightness and agility, noting that specialized TPS suits could perform solo atmospheric drops that the CMC-400 could not.

Sui Bian ordered tests of the CMC-400 Power Armor and the company’s new vehicles, then arranged to bring thirty-seven Psyker orphans to Minos Island. He traveled to the hangar with Lion and the Dark Angels to see the Gryphon.

• Sui Bian ordered the Raccoon City Arsenal to build two CMC-400 suits for testing and told Director Wang Zhaofeng’s research team to master Umbrella’s latest ground and air vehicles.
• Sui Bian learned that Umbrella had identified thirty-seven Psyker orphans and ordered intelligence agents to bring them to Minos Island so he could meet them.
• Sui Bian left his office with the Red and White Queens and met Lion and four Dark Angels at the Central Plaza.
• Lion and the Dark Angels escorted Sui Bian and the two AIs by elevator and private train to Luna Base’s central area.
• Sui Bian and his companions reached the hangar walkway and saw the Gryphon parked in the central hangar.

Sui Bian inspected Luna Base’s Starport and ordered the Gryphon’s laser cannons replaced with Plasma Cannons before taking a private shuttle back to Earth. The story then shifted to crowded London on Boxing Day, where an Umbrella car was driving through the city.

• Sui Bian viewed the Gryphon’s laser cannons from the skybridge and judged them less reliable than Plasma Cannons.
• Sui Bian ordered White Queen to accelerate production of three Warp Engines for the Goshawk-class ships and replace the Gryphon’s laser cannons with Plasma Cannons and Pulse CIWS Arrays.
• Sui Bian and the others boarded a private shuttle, which left Luna Base and used a gravity assist to travel toward Earth.
• On December 26, London’s streets were crowded with holiday shoppers, and an Umbrella car drove among the traffic.

Aya Brea visited Plaistow Church and adopted Nova, a withdrawn orphan whose parents had died in a fire. Hours later, Sui Bian reviewed files on thirty-seven orphans at Umbrella’s expanded Minos Island base.

• Brea and her deputy arrived at Plaistow Church and told a nun that Brea wanted to adopt Nova.
• The nun brought Brea and her deputy to meet Nova, who was surprised to learn she would have a mother.
• The priest confirmed Brea’s adoption application had been approved and explained the remaining paperwork.
• Nova packed her belongings and left the church with Brea and her deputy.
• At Minos Island, Sui Bian reviewed files on thirty-seven orphans that the White Queen had compiled.

Sui Bian welcomed thirty-seven orphaned Psykers to Minos Island after Umbrella brought them there, and spent points to shield them from the Warp. He told the children that he would adopt them and teach them to use their abilities.

• While reviewing Nova Iverson’s file, Sui Bian learned that she had survived a fire that killed her parents when she was six.
• Lion alerted Sui Bian to the arrival of a convoy carrying thirty-seven children suspected of having psychic abilities, including Nova.
• The system confirmed that all thirty-seven children had psychic potential and that Nova’s was exceptionally high.
• Sui Bian spent 2,650 points to shelter the children from the dangers of the Warp, leaving him with 350 points.
• Sui Bian introduced himself to the children as Umbrella’s true leader, said he was adopting them, and promised to teach them to use their abilities.

Sui Bian adopted Nova and the other orphans, planned to train them in Psionic Power as Ghost Operatives, and reflected with Lion on how much the Primarchs had changed. The chapter then shifted to 2007, where five Oxford students reached the ruins of an ancient Greek temple beside a lake.

• Sui Bian asked the Red Queen and White Queen to show the children around Minos Island and arrange their accommodations.
• Sui Bian reminisced with Lion about the Primarchs’ childhood and told him he had adopted the children despite their lack of eligibility for G-Gland implantation.
• Sui Bian planned to bring Roger, Robert, and John to Minos to share their experience fighting anomalies with the children.
• Sui Bian decided to train Nova and the other orphans as Ghost Operatives to replace the USS in black operations and internal security.
• On July 21, 2007, five Oxford students hiked through a forest near the Bulgarian-Greek border and arrived at a lake facing the ruins of a Doric Greek temple.