Near Terra, the heart of the Imperium.
A Warp-route resupply station that had existed for ten thousand years suddenly split open.
It was a rift created as a warship opened a passage between the Warp and realspace. From within the Warp passage, a colossal battleship slowly emerged from the tear, larger than an ordinary Lunar-class battleship—larger even than the Imperium's standard deep-space strike vessels.
Its prow was hung with the corpses of Chaos creatures.
As it passed through the Warp rift, the watchtower maintenance station nearby could even see Imperial Space Marines and Imperial Guard soldiers fighting and slaughtering enemies across the battleship's deck.
"An enemy has appeared!"
"Not an enemy. That ship bears the markings of the Iron Hands Chapter."
"The Iron Hands? What are they doing on Terra? Every time these Chapters come to Terra, they bring a heap of trouble. Order them to turn back at once, or our planetary orbital guns will target their fleet."
"This is bad, Inquisitor Decia. They have refused to communicate with us!"
A female Inquisitor walked over, her face cold as she stared at the signal display before her. "Refusing communication? Have the Iron Hands aboard that ship betrayed the Imperium? The Iron Hands have never submitted to the Codex Astartes and accepted restrictions upon their Chapter. It seems they truly have betrayed us."
The watchtower housed representatives from every branch of the Imperium: Administratum officials, senior archbishops from the Mechanicus, and Inquisitors from the Inquisition.
They held the authority to inspect every warship entering the Imperium.
No one could refuse their inspection demands. This was not merely a duty bestowed upon them by The Emperor, but a duty entrusted to them by humanity across the galaxy. Inquisitor Decia's gaze was filled with scrutiny toward Chaos, heretics, and traitors.
They had