Chapter Summaries

After the Orks took a Genestealer position on Milzhi Planet, their boss sent them toward a larger battle while Xavier launched an aerial bombardment against xenos camps. The first strike destroyed a Greenskin camp, and Xavier's forces began their attack on the planet.

• The Greenskin leader received orders from his boss to move on to a larger battle, and he led the Orks away from the destroyed Genestealer position.
• Xavier assembled one hundred Aerospace Fighters and one thousand Intelligent Wingmen to attack xenos camps on Milzhi Planet.
• York urged Xavier to avoid bombing areas where humans remained, and Xavier promised the strikes would target Orks and Genestealers instead.
• Xavier ordered the pilots to attack, and the fighter formation descended into Milzhi Planet's atmosphere.
• A Mekboy spotted an approaching fighter and tried to warn the Greenskins, but torpedoes struck the camp and engulfed it in explosions.

Aerospace Fighters bombed the Orks and Genestealers on Milzhi Planet, then encountered Ork fighters as they headed back toward the warship. The aerial battle ended with the Greenskin planes being shot down one by one.

• The bombardment destroyed Ork camps and Genestealer gathering places, and the Ork Boss survived the blasts and demanded to know who had attacked.
• After completing the bombing mission, an Aerospace Fighter pilot and ten Intelligent Wingmen headed toward the edge of the atmosphere.
• The pilot detected battered Ork fighters approaching and ordered the formation to shoot them down.
• The Ork pilots attacked eagerly, hoping to seize the larger Aerospace Fighters, while their bullets failed to penetrate the fighters' shields.
• The Aerospace Fighters and Intelligent Wingmen returned fire, destroying the Greenskin planes and filling the sky with burning wreckage.

After the Aerospace Fighters finished their bombardment, York and Dorak led the ground forces onto Milzhi Planet to eliminate the surviving Orks and Genestealers. Captain Kus’s Space Marines encountered a group of wounded Orks, and the two sides opened fire.

• An Aerospace Fighter returned to the fleet after destroying Greenskin aircraft, where Xavier watched the strike force return successfully.
• York told Xavier the army would clear the remaining Orks and Genestealers, and Dorak and York left to lead the ground assault.
• The Space Marines and York’s million-strong Defense Force teleported onto Milzhi Planet using beacons dropped during the bombardment.
• Captain Kus warned his squad that Orks could survive the scorched terrain and become stronger through brutal wars.
• The Space Marines detected a group of wounded Orks, and Captain Kus ordered his squad to attack as the Orks fired back.

Kus and his Space Marines cleared out a group of Orks and continued hunting xenos across Milzhi Planet. When they learned that Orks were attacking a newly discovered human survivor settlement, Kus led his squad to help.

• Kus's Space Marines killed the charging Orks, checked the battlefield for survivors, and left the corpses for the logistics department to handle.
• Kus led his squad toward another target as Defense Force soldiers and Space Marines continued clearing Orks and Genestealers across the planet.
• Kus's squad heard a large group of Orks roaring nearby, and a combat squad leader reported that they were attacking a human survivor settlement.
• After reviewing the newly updated fleet information, Kus ordered his Space Marines to hurry to the settlement's aid.

Shino led more than a hundred thousand survivors in an underground fortress on Milzhi Planet, where scarce food and water threatened them as explosions shook the surface. He planned to take an elite squad above ground once the bombardment ended to determine whether Imperial reinforcements had arrived and, if necessary, search for food.

• A gang leader reported that the underground fortress had food and water for no more than two days, despite severe ration cuts.
• Shino suspected Imperial reinforcements were attacking the Orks, but acknowledged that Imperial forces often arrived slowly.
• The gang leader condemned the nobles who had fled Milzhi Planet, and Shino stayed silent rather than discuss them.
• Shino told the gang leader he would lead an elite squad to the surface after the bombardment to inspect the situation and search for food if needed.
• Shino accepted the risk because he felt responsible for the survivors who had trusted him.

Shino led an elite squad out of the underground fortress to check for Imperium reinforcements and search for food and water, while Yazha Fei stayed behind to protect the survivors. Their route toward the surface was repeatedly blocked by cave-ins, forcing Shino to lead the squad along a longer path.

• Shino asked Yazha Fei and his brothers to stay behind and protect the fortress while he took an elite squad outside.
• Shino briefed the squad on its goals of checking for Imperium reinforcements and finding supplies, then led them out as the fortress guards watched with hope.
• Shino guided the squad through the underground passages, but they found their first route blocked by rubble and took a detour.
• After encountering three collapsed passages and spending one Terra hour underground, the squad asked Shino what had caused the damage.
• Shino said the surface explosions might have been more powerful than they had imagined, and continued searching for another route to the surface.

Shino led his elite squad out of the underground pipes to scout the ruined city for intelligence and food, but a chance encounter with an Ork exposed their position. The squad retreated to the pipe entrance, where Shino opened fire on the pursuing Orks.

• Shino guided the squad through the underground pipes and urged them to continue their mission after they escaped.
• Shino spotted an Ork and killed it with a precise shot after it fired its Big Shootas.
• The gunfire alerted the nearby Orks, and Shino ordered the squad to retreat without returning fire.
• The squad evaded Orks shooting at them from a side street and ran back toward the pipe entrance.
• Shino reached the pipe entrance and fired his Logging Gun at the pursuing Orks, bringing several down.

Shino led his team through a series of underground defensive positions to hold back the Orks and buy time for the fortress to prepare. With the Orks attacking in endless waves, Shino ordered another retreat deeper into the passage.

• Shino ordered his team to withdraw into the underground passage while firing at the approaching Orks, then sent a member to warn the fortress.
• Shino's team killed Orks entering the pipe, and an Ork grenade blast widened the entrance and killed dozens of Orks.
• Shino ordered a retreat when the Orks used a flamethrower, whose flames stopped short of his team after they had fallen back.
• Shino's team repelled more Orks as explosions destroyed the pipe, using the narrow passage to blunt their numbers.
• After holding their position for several minutes, Shino ordered the team to retreat several hundred meters and establish another defensive line.

Kus led his Space Marine combat squad in an attack on the Orks surrounding a passage where humans were fighting for their lives. As the Ork numbers grew, Kus called for reinforcements, and five Earth Dreadnoughts arrived by teleportation and opened fire.

• Kus ordered his Space Marines to attack the Orks gathered around the passage.
• The Space Marines advanced under cover, killing many Orks with Blast Guns and Ripper Rifles as the Orks charged back.
• More Orks joined the battle, so Kus requested reinforcements from Dorak and activated a teleportation beacon.
• Five Earth Dreadnoughts emerged through the teleportation passage and fired their rotary guns into the Ork horde.

Five Earth Dreadnoughts and Captain Magras’s reinforcements helped Kus’s Space Marines wipe out the Orks above ground. Magras then led most of the force into the underground passage to support Shino’s squad, where fighting was still underway.

• Five Earth Dreadnoughts attacked the Orks, and seventy-five Space Marines arrived under Captain Magras’s command.
• Kus learned that Magras had quickly cleared a Genestealer camp after it was bombed, and they continued fighting together.
• The Space Marines and Earth Dreadnoughts killed all the Orks above ground, and Magras ordered their corpses burned.
• Magras left twenty-five Space Marines on watch and led the other seventy-five into the Orks’ underground passage.
• After hearing gunfire and roars underground, Magras charged toward the fighting, with Kus and the others following to support Shino’s squad.

Shino's elite squad retreated through the underground passages to lure the pursuing Orks away from the human survivors' fortress, but their ammunition dwindled and they became trapped by a collapsed passage. Shino reached the rubble with no clear way forward as the Orks continued to chase them.

• Shino's squad fought the Orks in the cramped passages, using the terrain to slow their advance while retreating away from the underground fortress.
• The squad ran low on ammunition, and Shino told them to keep moving so the Orks would not discover the fortress.
• The Orks pursued Shino's group through the passages, abandoning their Big Shootas when they could not get a clear shot.
• Shino's group found the passage ahead blocked by a collapse, and Shino saw that the rubble could not be cleared by ordinary means.

Shino and his companions accepted that the Orks had trapped them and chose to fight rather than surrender. They stood together and attacked the charging Orks, with Shino killing the first foes as the battle began.

• Shino blamed himself for leading the group into danger and knelt to apologize, but the others knelt too and thanked him for saving their lives.
• Shino asked whether they hated him, and the group declared their loyalty and willingness to fight the Orks to the death.
• Shino and the others drew their melee weapons and faced the approaching Orks at the passage entrance.
• The first Ork charged, and Shino dodged its chopper, stabbed it in the abdomen, and cut its throat.
• Shino and the others fought the oncoming Orks with their weapons, striking back despite being outnumbered.

Magras and the Space Marines joined a fierce melee in an underground passage and slaughtered the Orks attacking the humans. With no Ork Boss directing them, the Orks fell into chaos and were trapped with no way to escape.

• Magras and his companions arrived at the passage and saw humans fighting Orks while more Orks crowded outside.
• Magras charged into the Orks, severing one Ork's choppa and killing it with his Power Axes.
• The Space Marines joined Magras and formed a line against the Ork horde, cutting down the attackers.
• Kus and Magras realized the Orks had gathered in response to the battle and lacked an Ork Boss to command them.
• The Space Marines killed Orks until the survivors tried to flee, but the Marines blocked their retreat.

Magras’s company rescued Shino and the surviving members of his elite squad after they fought their way through the Orks. Shino explained that his people had left their underground settlement to find food and water and investigate the bombardment, while the survivors regarded the Space Marines as the Emperor’s Angels.

• Shino noticed that fewer Orks were entering the passage and urged his squad to hold on because help had arrived.
• Magras’s company reached the passage and killed the remaining Orks, rescuing Shino and fewer than ten surviving squad members.
• Shino and the other survivors knelt to thank the Space Marines, and Magras ordered them to rise and praised their bravery.
• Magras asked why Shino’s people had emerged from their underground hiding place, and Shino said they needed supplies and wanted to see whether an Imperium fleet had come.
• Shino and the survivors looked upon the Star Space Marines as sacred figures and their hope of survival.

Magras told Shino and the others that his Space Marines served the Lord of the Stars, not the Imperium, and sought to bring the galaxy under that lord’s rule. He claimed they had destroyed an Imperial punitive fleet and promised that accepting their rule would bring the planet clean air, safe water, food, and health.

• Magras and the Space Marines laughed when Shino and the others mistook them for the Emperor’s Angels, then Magras declared they served the Lord of the Stars and had come to conquer the galaxy.
• Magras reassured the kneeling locals that those who accepted the Lord of the Stars would live safely and happily under his protection.
• Shino asked whether Magras intended to betray the Imperium and feared its punitive fleet, so Magras revealed that an Imperial force had attacked more than two years earlier.
• Magras said his forces had annihilated four Astartes Chapters, tens of millions of Astra Militarum soldiers, dozens of naval warships, and the Adeptus Mechanicus contingent.
• Magras promised that the locals could live on a restored planet with drinkable rain and a visible starry sky if they followed the Lord of the Stars.
• Magras described further benefits, including sufficient food and supplies and the recovery of their polluted bodies.

Shino and the survivors accepted Magras’s offer of protection and a better life, then guided his group through the tunnels to their underground fortress. At the fortress gates, Shino asked to explain the situation to the people inside before they opened them.

• Shino and the survivors trusted Magras’s promises and bowed in gratitude, and Magras told them to reserve their worship for the Lord of the Stars.
• Magras asked Shino to lead the group to the survivor camp, and Shino guided them past Ork corpses killed with melee weapons.
• Magras introduced himself as Captain Magras and praised Shino for leading survivors against the Orks; Shino adopted his new form of address.
• Shino led Magras’s group through the maze-like tunnels to the underground fortress, which lay over fifteen thousand meters below the surface.
• Shino asked Magras for permission to explain their arrival to the fortress residents before they opened the gates, and Magras agreed.

Shino returned to the underground fortress and passed Yazha Fei’s code-word test before the gate was opened. Yazha Fei mistook Magras and his armored group for a threat, but Shino stopped him and explained that they had saved his life.

• Shino knocked a secret rhythm at the fortress gate, and Yazha Fei checked his identity with the code-word question.
• Shino told Yazha Fei that most of the hundred men who had left with him had died, and praised Yazha Fei for keeping the fortress fighters inside.
• Yazha Fei ordered the gate opened and rushed out to check Shino for injuries.
• Yazha Fei raised his firearm when Magras and his armored group emerged behind Shino, but Shino lowered the weapon and explained that they had rescued him.
• Magras said he would not blame Yazha Fei, and Yazha Fei quietly asked Shino who the newcomers were.

Shino told Yazha Fei that the planet had turned from the Imperium to the Lord of the Stars, then welcomed Captain Magras and his group into the fortress. Magras discovered Genestealers among the starving survivors and exposed Liek as a nonhuman infiltrator, leaving Shino stunned as Liek’s dagger failed to damage Magras’s armor.

• Shino declared that the planet belonged to the Lord of the Stars, and Yazha Fei pledged to follow Shino’s lead.
• Shino led Magras and his group into the fortress, where the survivors greeted them with an Aquila salute.
• Magras and Kus detected Genestealers among the survivors through their helmets.
• Magras asked Liek to repeat that the Four-Armed Emperor was an idiot, and Liek attacked him with a dagger.
• Kus restrained Liek and told Shino that Liek was an alien, while the dagger bounced harmlessly off Magras’s armor.

Magras interrogated a bald survivor, provoking the Genestealer Bishop and hundreds of believers to attack. Kus proved immune to their psychic powers, defeated the Bishop, and left her in his grasp.

• Magras lifted the bald brute and squeezed his skull while demanding to know how many believers were hiding in the settlement.
• The Genestealer Bishop called the bald believers to attack Magras and his group in the name of the Four-Armed Emperor.
• Kus charged the Bishop, and her compressed air and psychic lightning vanished before they could reach him.
• The Space Marines fired on the attacking Genestealers, killing many as Kus closed in on the Bishop.
• The Bishop tried to flee with a psychic barrier and teleportation, but her powers failed near Kus, who grabbed her by the neck and yanked hard.

Magras explained that the disguised aliens had planned to transform the survivors, then arranged for food and water to be teleported to the underground fortress. The chapter ended with Defense Force soldiers and combat robots arriving with supplies for the survivors.

• Magras crushed the bald man's skull after the man threatened him in the name of the Four-Armed Emperor.
• Magras told Shino and Yazha Fei that the aliens had hidden among the survivors to turn them into creatures like themselves.
• Magras reassured Shino that the threat was gone and offered to solve the survivors' food shortage.
• Magras sent Kus and his squad to inspect the fortress, then requested supplies from the fleet's Defense Force.
• A Space Marine placed a teleportation beacon outside the fortress, and Defense Force soldiers and combat robots arrived with food and drinking water.
• Magras told Shino to organize the survivors into a line to collect supplies, and Shino sent Yazha Fei to arrange it.