Recaps

Bulon presented the Chapter Masters with limited supplies of powerful weapons and armour from Mars, then led them in planning a campaign against the heretics. The Chapters left to prepare for a coordinated effort to rescue invaded worlds before striking the heretics’ headquarters, Star Sea World.

• Bulon described the weapons and armour each Chapter could receive, and Tyberos praised the generous supplies.
• The Chapter Masters welcomed the equipment and became more willing to cooperate with Bulon.
• Bulon and the Chapter Masters agreed to split their forces, destroy heretic outposts and invading troops, then unite to attack Star Sea World.
• Bulon rallied the Chapter Masters to fight for the Emperor, and they left the bridge to prepare their Chapters for the campaign.
• Belisarius Cawl told Bulon he would arrange delivery of the supplies, and Bulon thanked him before Cawl departed.

After swiftly reclaiming Manda World, Nack and Lilith received word that the Sunset cruiser was fighting the False Emperor’s forces, including Astartes Space Marines. They began checking the other fleets’ status and preparing defenses as Anrida returned to the bridge.

• Nack asked Lilith about the patrol fleet while the Third Fleet secured Manda World.
• Lilith told Nack that Anrida had gone to inspect the Defense Force on the planet.
• The bridge received an urgent message that the Sunset cruiser had engaged the False Emperor’s forces.
• Lilith reported that Astartes Space Marines were among the enemy, and Nack ordered her to check whether they had appeared elsewhere.
• Nack contacted forces in the star system to arrange defenses, and Anrida teleported back to the bridge to help plan them.

Lilith, Anrida, and Nack responded to coordinated attacks by the False Emperor's forces by sending limited reinforcements to the Sunset Fleet while preparing Manda Galaxy's defenses. As a powerful energy source appeared at the Mandeville Point, Lilith led the fleet to meet the incoming enemy.

• Lilith told Anrida and Nack that detachments from every fleet had encountered attacks by the False Emperor's lackeys, and the three debated whether to reinforce the Sunset Fleet.
• Anrida proposed sending a small patrol fleet to support the Sunset Fleet while strengthening rear-system defenses, and Lilith dispatched one frigate and four destroyers.
• The bridge alarm detected a powerful, rapidly spreading energy source at the Mandeville Point, and Nack vowed to destroy the attackers while Anrida took charge of the planetary defenses.
• Anrida ordered civilians into underground bunkers as the Defense Force prepared to defend the planets from invasion.
• Lilith ordered the fleet to sortie, and twenty-two main warships escorted the Emperor-class Battleship toward the Mandeville Point with their weapons charging.

Lilith’s Star Navy ambushed Imperial warships as they emerged from the Warp at the Mandeville Point, destroying them before they could activate their Void Shields. After learning that the ambush had killed a company of his brothers, Gabriel ordered the combined fleet to drop its Gellar Fields and enter realspace under Void Shields.

• Lilith ordered the Star Navy to attack an Imperial Cobra-class Destroyer as it emerged from the Warp, and the ship was destroyed before it could raise its Void Shields.
• The Star Navy continued destroying Imperial warships arriving at the Mandeville Point, following Lilith’s order to attack each ship immediately.
• Gabriel halted the remaining fleet’s Warp jumps after a cruiser’s transmission broke off, and the captain confirmed that heretics were ambushing ships as they emerged.
• Gabriel learned that all the brothers of one of his companies had perished and ordered the combined fleet to deactivate its Gellar Fields, activate its Void Shields, and enter realspace.

Gabriel led the Imperial Combined Fleet out of the Warp into a prepared Star Navy ambush, and both fleets exchanged fire. Lilith and Gabriel deployed their fighter forces, which moved into range as the battle intensified.

• At Gabriel's command, the Imperial Combined Fleet shut down its Gellar Field and entered realspace, where the daemons aboard vanished.
• Lilith's Star Navy fleet opened fire as the Imperial Combined Fleet emerged, but its Void Shields stopped the opening barrage.
• Gabriel ordered the Imperial warships to return fire, and both fleets exchanged lance and macro-cannon volleys in a standoff.
• Lilith launched one hundred Aerospace Fighters and a thousand Intelligent Wingmen toward the Imperial fleet.
• Gabriel sent Space Marines, Astra Militarum soldiers, and Combat Servitors aboard aircraft to intercept the incoming Aerospace Fighters.
• When the Imperial assault boats and fighters entered firing range, the Aerospace Fighter squadron commander ordered the attack.

The Imperium’s assault craft and fighters were destroyed by the Aerospace Fighters and Intelligent Wingmen, prompting Gabriel to order a ground invasion of Manda Planet. Anrida persuaded Lilith to let six Imperial cruisers carry the Astra Militarum to the planet while the Star Navy Fleet concentrated on defeating the weakened Imperial fleet.

• The Aerospace Fighters and Intelligent Wingmen overwhelmed and destroyed the Imperial assault craft and fighters.
• Gabriel ordered five cruisers and a Space Marines strike cruiser to withdraw and prepare to land the Astra Militarum on Manda Planet.
• Anrida stopped Lilith from intercepting the six cruisers, arguing that the Defense Force could defeat the Astra Militarum after the Imperial fleet was destroyed.
• Lilith ordered her forces to ignore the departing cruisers and continue attacking the Imperial combined fleet.
• The Aerospace Fighters dodged incoming fire as they closed in on the Imperial fleet.

Ato's Aerospace Fighter destroyed an Imperium Cobra-class Destroyer with a Three-Phase Torpedo after an Intelligent Wingman sacrificed itself to shield him. Ato and the other pilots continued attacking the Imperium joint fleet as Lilith praised his success.

• Ato flew through the destroyer's Void Shield defenses while an Intelligent Wingman blocked an attack and was destroyed.
• Ato launched a Three-Phase Torpedo at the Cobra-class Destroyer and escaped beyond the blast range.
• The torpedo destroyed the Cobra-class Destroyer, and Ato resumed searching for another target.
• The other Aerospace Fighter pilots praised Ato and set off to attack the Imperium joint fleet.
• Lilith praised Ato, who promised to keep fighting.

Ato and the Aerospace Fighter force destroyed six Imperial warships while suffering heavy fighter losses, with all pilots safely teleported back when their craft were in danger. Gabriel could not find a way to stop the fighters or teleport directly to the Star Navy flagship, so he ordered the Imperial fleet to advance through the attacks until Ivar could teleport an assault team aboard.

• Ato destroyed an Imperial destroyer, and the Aerospace Fighter pilots destroyed four more as nearly half their fighters and wingmen were lost.
• The fighter force's AI teleported endangered pilots back to their warship, keeping every pilot alive.
• Gabriel watched the fighters' attacks bring the Imperial Combined Fleet's total losses to sixteen warships.
• Gabriel asked Ivar to teleport an assault squad to the Emperor-class Battleship, but Ivar said the distance was too great.
• Ivar said he could teleport Gabriel and an assault squad aboard once the fleet drew closer, so Gabriel ordered the Imperial Navy to advance through the attacks.

The naval fleet commander ordered the Imperial Navy Fleet to charge the Star Navy Fleet, pushing the flagship forward under heavy fire. A lance struck during a Void Shield changeover, badly damaging the flagship, but the commander sealed the damaged compartments and continued the charge.

• The naval fleet commander ordered all warships to charge and commanded the Warp engine crews to raise output to maximum.
• The Star Navy Fleet's fire overwhelmed the flagship's Void Shields, and the commander ordered the crew to activate the final shield layer without slowing down.
• A lance struck the flagship during the shield changeover, piercing compartments and killing crewmen and Servitors exposed to space.
• Servitors reported destroyed weapon compartments and other damage as the commander ordered all compartments sealed.
• The naval fleet commander ordered the flagship to continue charging toward the Star Navy Fleet.

The Imperial Navy fleet commander led his damaged flagship through the Star Navy Fleet’s barrage, sacrificing the other ships’ advance to bring the flagship close enough to aid the Emperor’s angels. With its Void Shields nearing overload, he prepared to destroy the Warp engines once they failed.

• Lilith ordered the Star Navy Fleet to focus fire on the damaged Imperial flagship, and three more Imperial warships were destroyed.
• The Imperial flagship commander prayed to the Emperor and judged that the fleet had advanced close enough to open a path for the Emperor’s angels.
• The commander ordered the other Imperial warships to halt while the flagship continued forward under maximum Void Shield output.
• The commander ordered the crew to prepare the Warp engines for self-destruction once the Void Shields completely overloaded.

An Imperial Navy flagship overloaded its Warp engine, tearing open a rift that disrupted systems across both fleets before vanishing. With the opening created, Gabriel ordered Ivar to teleport the Flesh Tearers aboard the heretics’ flagship for a decapitation strike, and the Space Marines disappeared in a flash of blue light.

• After the Void Shield failed, the Imperial Navy commander ordered the flagship’s Warp engine to self-destruct, and the crew answered with cries of loyalty to the Emperor.
• The flagship’s explosion opened a Warp rift, sending chaotic energy across the star system and causing widespread mechanical failures in the Star Navy Fleet and the Imperium’s combined fleet.
• Captain Lilith learned that thirty percent of electronic equipment had failed while the Void Shields remained functional and the thrusters needed three minutes of repairs.
• Ivar told Gabriel that the Warp rift created an opportunity to teleport, and Gabriel ordered him to proceed.
• Ivar enveloped more than four hundred Flesh Tearers Space Marines in psychic energy, and they vanished from the Battle Barge in a flash of blue light.

Gabriel and the Flesh Tearers teleported aboard the Star Navy Fleet’s Emperor-class Battleship, but Librarian Ivar died from the psychic backlash. Gabriel sent the Black Rage-afflicted Space Marines charging ahead while he led the remaining warriors toward the bridge, as combat robots moved to intercept the invaders.

• More than four hundred Flesh Tearers appeared inside the battleship, and Gabriel found that Ivar had died after the mass teleportation shattered his skull.
• Gabriel urged the Space Marines to set aside their grief and avenge Ivar, then surveyed the armory and the dead warriors embedded in its walls.
• At the First Company Captain’s command, the restrained Space Marines afflicted by the Black Rage were armed and released.
• The Black Rage-afflicted warriors smashed through the armory door and charged toward Horus while Gabriel led the three hundred sane Space Marines toward the bridge.
• Combat robots detected the invaders and hurried toward the armory.

Blood Angels consumed by the Black Rage fought battle robots in a corridor, charging through lethal Gauss fire. A Chaplain broke into the robots’ ranks and cut them apart, allowing the other Blood Angels to surge forward as the robots called for reinforcements.

• The Blood Angels and battle robots exchanged Bolt rounds and Gauss beams, with casualties on both sides.
• A Blood Angels Chaplain charged through the barrage, dodged the Gauss beams, and destroyed a battle robot with his Chainsword.
• The Chaplain’s attack threw the robots into confusion, and the Black Rage-consumed Blood Angels rushed into their ranks and cut them down.
• The battle robots repeatedly requested reinforcements from the bridge to delay the Blood Angels until the main force assembled.

Nack and Lilith learned that the Flesh Tearers had used a Warp rift to teleport aboard the warship, and Nack led his Space Marines to stop them from reaching the bridge. Gabriel’s veteran companies cut through the ship’s defenders and continued their assault toward the bridge.

• A warship intelligence officer reported that the Astartes had teleported into the lower storage bays through the Warp rift created by the cruiser’s destruction.
• Nack and Lilith agreed that Nack would lead the Space Marines against the intruders while Lilith continued commanding the fleet battle.
• The intelligence officer reported that Gabriel and the Blood Angels were heading toward the bridge, and Nack summoned First Company reinforcements as he moved to intercept them.
• Gabriel’s veteran companies encountered naval crew and combat robots, but Gabriel blocked their Gauss fire with a steel door and destroyed the defenders.
• Gabriel ordered his warriors to continue, and the Blood Angels killed the forces blocking their path as they advanced toward the bridge.

Gabriel led the Blood Angels through the warship’s middle decks, where an Earth Dreadnought’s overwhelming firepower killed seventy of them before they destroyed it. With 230 survivors remaining, Gabriel ordered the assault to continue toward their decapitation mission.

• Gabriel ordered the Blood Angels to use meltabombs to blast through walls and avoid wasting time fighting endless combat robots.
• The Blood Angels entered a training ground, where an Earth Dreadnought’s anti-aircraft gun killed the vanguard and pinned down the survivors.
• Blood Angels in Centurion Armor attacked the Earth Dreadnought with missiles, but it destroyed them with its guns.
• Gabriel, three company captains, and a company champion rushed the Earth Dreadnought and threw meltabombs at it.
• The Earth Dreadnought teleported away with its pilot just before the meltabombs exploded and destroyed its empty chassis.
• Gabriel learned that seventy Blood Angels had died, then ordered the 230 survivors to continue the attack.

Gabriel and the Blood Angels fought to break through the Star Space Marines’ fire, then charged into their ranks after Gabriel rallied them. Gabriel killed several enemies before becoming locked in a duel with Captain Nack, while Nack’s Guard blocked the Blood Angels’ officers from reaching him.

• Five hundred Star Space Marines surrounded the surviving Blood Angels and pinned them down with heavy fire.
• Gabriel urged his battle-brothers to honor Sanguinius, drew his Power Sword, and led a charge against the Star Space Marines.
• Gabriel and the Blood Angels’ officers fought through the enemy ranks, with Gabriel killing more than a dozen Star Space Marines.
• A golden-armoured Star Space Marine engaged Gabriel in a contest of strength, while more than twenty members of Nack’s Guard intercepted the Blood Angels’ captains, Chaplains, and Company Champion.
• The Blood Angels’ officers and Nack’s Guard charged at each other as Gabriel’s duel with Captain Nack continued.

Nack and Gabriel fought a fierce duel while the outnumbered Flesh Tearers were overwhelmed by the Star Space Marines. The chapter ended with Doss slain and the First Company chaplain crying out in grief as Gabriel remained locked in battle with Nack.

• Nack demanded Gabriel's name, and Gabriel identified himself as Chapter Master of the Flesh Tearers and asked who Nack's primarch was.
• Nack mocked Sanguinius, enraging Gabriel, then struck Gabriel's Power Sword with his Power Fist and forced him backward.
• Nack pressed his attack, and Gabriel struggled to block his powerful sword blows before charging back with a shout of defiance.
• The Flesh Tearers were overwhelmed by the more numerous and better-equipped Star Space Marines.
• Doss tried to break through and rescue Gabriel, but more than a dozen Star Space Marines surrounded and killed him.
• The First Company chaplain cried out in grief as Gabriel continued fighting Nack.

The Flesh Tearers Chapter First Company Chaplain refused to surrender and was killed by one of Nack’s guards, leaving Gabriel grief-stricken and surrounded by Star Space Marines. Nack challenged Gabriel to a duel, and their first exchange ended with Gabriel severing Nack’s left arm as Nack’s Power Sword swept toward Gabriel’s neck.

• A Star Space Marine offered the First Company Chaplain a chance to surrender, but the Chaplain rejected the offer and charged.
• The Star Space Marine dodged the Chaplain’s attack and killed him with a shot from his Plasma Pistol.
• Gabriel saw the Chaplain and the other Blood Angels dead, while more than four hundred Star Space Marines surrounded him and Nack.
• Nack ordered his troops not to interfere and challenged Gabriel to a duel to the death; Gabriel accepted.
• Gabriel evaded Nack’s Power Fist and severed his left arm, as Nack’s Power Sword swept toward Gabriel’s neck.

Nack killed Gabriel in their duel but lost an arm, then ordered the battlefield cleared and Gabriel given a proper burial before heading for treatment. As Lilith commanded the fleet, the Star Navy Fleet continued to withstand the Imperial Combined Fleet’s desperate attacks and destroy its warships.

• Nack’s power armor stopped the bleeding from his severed arm, and he ordered the Star Space Marines to clear the battlefield and leave no infiltrators alive.
• Nack told his troops to give Gabriel a proper burial, then went with guards to the medical bay.
• Lilith contacted Nack to ask about his injury, and he assured her he was fine before asking about the fleet battle.
• Lilith reported that the Imperial Combined Fleet was attacking desperately, and Nack concluded that its attempt to distract them had failed.
• Nack entered the medical bay to have his arm reattached while Lilith continued commanding the Star Navy Fleet.
• The Star Navy Fleet resisted the Imperial Combined Fleet’s attacks and destroyed its warships.

As the Imperial Combined Fleet entered the Manda Galaxy, Dok ordered the civilians who refused to evacuate to be left behind, while the Defense Force opened fire on six approaching Imperial cruisers. The spaceport’s defenses held the attackers at a distance, and the Flesh Tearers’ Chaplain warned Spike that the standoff was hurting their advance.

• A company commander told Dok that former nobles and merchants refused to enter shelters or evacuate from Manda Planet.
• Dok rejected the company commander’s suggestion to kill them and ordered that anyone refusing evacuation be left to fend for themselves.
• Six Imperial cruisers, including a strike cruiser of the Flesh Tearers Chapter, approached Manda Planet’s spaceport.
• A Defense Force company commander ordered the defenders to attack, and soldiers and combat robots fired the spaceport’s weapons at the cruisers.
• The cruisers’ Void Shields endured the barrage, but the spaceport’s firepower prevented them from advancing.
• The Fifth Company Chaplain told Spike that continuing the exchange of fire would delay breaking the deadlock and relieving pressure on the fleet.

The Chaplain led fifty Blood Angels in five Torpedo Assault Boats toward the spaceport to break the stalemate, while Spike stayed behind to command the fleet. The Defense Force captain ordered the soldiers to evacuate and the combat robots to hold off the assault boats, leaving the Blood Angels without access to the teleportation platforms.

• Spike decided to send a boarding force and, after the Chaplain insisted, let him lead the operation.
• The Chaplain took fifty Blood Angels aboard five Torpedo Assault Boats and headed for the spaceport.
• The Defense Force captain ordered the spaceport’s weapons to target the approaching boats, but their outdated systems failed to hit them.
• The captain ordered the Defense Force soldiers to evacuate and told one hundred thousand combat robots to keep fighting and self-destruct if the Blood Angels reached the Void Shield.
• The Defense Force soldiers escaped to Manda Planet’s underground fortresses and destroyed the teleportation platforms with Meltabombs.

The Blood Angels breached the spaceport walls and charged inside, only to be ambushed by thousands of combat robots wielding deadly Gauss beams. The trapped squad suffered casualties as they fought to survive in the exposed corridor.

• The Blood Angels used their torpedo assault craft’s Melta Cannons to blast a breach in the spaceport wall and crash through it.
• Priest Kazaen ordered the squad to secure positions and seize the spaceport after the craft came to a halt.
• A Blood Angel warned his battle-brothers that Gauss beams could disintegrate their craft’s armor as the squad opened fire on the combat robots.
• Thousands of combat robots trapped the fifty Blood Angels in a narrow corridor, and Brother Ivan was disintegrated by a Gauss beam.
• A Blood Angel shoved a comrade out of a beam’s path, then severed his own struck left arm with a Chainsword to keep the disintegration from spreading.

The Blood Angels fought through the spaceport toward its Void Shield engine, suffering catastrophic losses as they advanced. Just as Chaplain Kazaen prepared to lead the final assault, the heretics detonated the spaceport, killing him and burying the boarding force in the void, while Spike struggled to contain his rage.

• Xia'er and the Blood Angels held off battle robots, and a wounded brother used a Meltabomb to blast through a wall so they could withdraw.
• Chaplain Kazaen led the survivors toward the Void Shield engine, where resistance intensified and the fifty-man boarding force dwindled to fewer than twenty.
• Kazaen encouraged the remaining Blood Angels as they prepared to charge the engine, but the spaceport suddenly exploded.
• Spike watched the spaceport become a fireball and smashed the console in fury over Kazaen and the lost brothers.
• The explosion cost the Fifth Company two-thirds of its elite strength, and Spike fought to keep from falling into the Black Rage.

After the spaceport was destroyed, Spike ordered the Astra Militarum to prepare for deployment to Manda Planet while fighters flew ahead to scout and attack its defenses. At Defensive Position 032, Regiment Commander Dok’s forces opened fire on the approaching Imperial fighters, whose pilots struggled to evade the barrage.

• Spike contacted the other five cruiser captains and announced that the Astra Militarum should be deployed into the planet’s interior.
• The cruiser captains ordered transports to move the soldiers and sent fighter squadrons ahead to scout and destroy heretic defenses.
• Regiment Commander Dok detected the approaching Imperial fighters and ordered the anti-aircraft units to engage them.
• Defense Force autocannons unleashed a dense barrage as the Imperial fighters entered range.
• The Imperial pilots received an enemy-attack warning and began evasive maneuvers under heavy fire.

Astra Militarum forces landed on Manda Planet under heavy fire and rapidly established a defensive position. Colonel Tim and Commissar Kam decided to seize the apparently abandoned city ahead, leaving the regiment poised to attack.

• Autocannon fire destroyed the fighters, forcing the transport ship to descend and land away from the Defense Force positions.
• The transport ship's pilot ordered the Astra Militarum soldiers to disembark, and Colonel Tim directed them to unload their equipment and secure the area.
• After the transport ship fled, the soldiers built defensive positions while Commissar Kam studied the distant city and judged that the heretics' defenses were concealed behind it.
• Commissar Kam recommended capturing the city as a forward base, and Colonel Tim agreed to send three companies to probe the city while three others remained in reserve.
• The company commanders acknowledged Tim's orders and began preparing their forces for the attack.