Chapter Summaries

Gray and the twelve Star Space Marines killed Crooked Mouth inside the Gargant, breaking the Greenskins’ morale and turning the battle into a rout. Gray’s forces pursued the fleeing Greenskins while rival bosses fought over who would become the strongest.

• Crooked Mouth charged Gray, but Gray and the twelve Space Marines surrounded him and attacked together.
• Mo Tuo severed Crooked Mouth’s leg, and the Space Marines cut off his remaining limbs before Gray beheaded him.
• Gray displayed Crooked Mouth’s head from atop the Gargant and announced that the war was won.
• The Greenskins panicked after learning Crooked Mouth was dead, and many fled while the robots destroyed those who stayed to fight.
• Crooked Mouth’s bodyguard bosses fled with their followers as rival Greenskin bosses battled for supremacy.
• Robots, soldiers, Apocalypse Tanks, and Space Marines pursued the fleeing Greenskins and killed them in large numbers.

Nack’s Star Space Marine squad pursued fleeing Greenskins and encountered a Defenders Chapter squad, which mistook them for heretics. The two sides fought, and Nack cut down the enemy squad captain as the battle continued.

• An Apocalypse Tank and a five-man Star Space Marine squad slaughtered fleeing Orks and Greenskins.
• Nack noticed that the unfamiliar gunfire came from figures whose height and equipment did not match Space Marines.
• Nack and the Defenders Chapter squad captain identified each other as enemies and opened fire.
• The Star Space Marines and Defenders Chapter Marines charged through the street, trading gunfire before drawing their melee weapons.
• Nack severed the Defenders Chapter captain’s Chainsword and cut him in two, then charged into the enemy ranks.

Nack’s Star Space Marines defeated two squads of Astartes and reported the Imperium’s arrival to Gray. After learning that an Imperial fleet was driving back the Orks, Art Student ordered his forces to abandon the planet and prepare to leave.

• Nack and his four teammates killed fifteen Astartes Space Marines from the Defenders Chapter, suffering no casualties.
• David reported that his squad had also fought Astartes, killing ten while one of his men was seriously wounded.
• Gray halted the pursuit of the Orks and ordered the Star Space Marines to pause operations after learning that an entire Astartes Chapter had arrived.
• Art Student asked Gaia about the Imperial reinforcements and learned that the Imperium had sent a battle barge, a battleship, three cruisers, and five frigates.
• After seeing that the Imperial Navy was defeating the Ork fleet, Art Student ordered Gray to cover the retreat and told Anrida and Mendeleev to prepare their forces to depart.

The Defenders Chapter discovered heretics in the Underhive and redirected its forces to destroy them. Kosoz teleported Third Company toward Bartos, but severed limbs bearing the Chapter’s insignia appeared beside the Chapter Master, leaving him demanding answers.

• After learning Imperial reinforcements had arrived, Anrida and Mendeleev recalled their troops to the warships to prepare to leave the planet.
• Odyn told Bartos that battle-brothers had encountered powerful heretics in the Underhive and sent him their combat recordings.
• Bartos ordered Kosoz to lead the Chapter’s remaining forces against the heretics, setting aside the investigation into what had blocked Kosoz’s psychic power.
• Kosoz gathered Third Company and teleported them toward Bartos while other company captains prepared orbital deployments.
• Severed limbs bearing the Defenders Chapter’s insignia appeared beside Bartos, who demanded to know what had happened.

Bartos led the surviving Astartes Space Marines toward the heretics’ base, believing them responsible for the losses and the piles of Ork corpses. Gray’s Star Space Marines ambushed them with artillery and charged under Void Shield cover, leaving both sides’ heavy infantry advancing toward a close-quarters clash.

• Odyn urged Bartos to avenge the fallen, and Bartos ordered the surviving Astartes Space Marines to continue pursuing the heretics.
• A Star Space Marine reported that the Astartes were approaching the base, and Gray ordered his forces to remain hidden and attack from behind once battle began.
• Odyn and Bartos interpreted the Ork corpses as evidence of a heretical ritual as the Astartes approached Art Student’s base.
• Bartos warned the Astartes of danger, and they took cover as artillery shells struck their route.
• Gray led more than a hundred Star Space Marines in a charge protected by Void Shields, and Odyn sent fifty First Company veterans forward to meet them.

Gray and the Star Space Marines fought Bartos’s Astartes Space Marines in the Underhive, killing most of them and ultimately defeating their Chapter Master. The surviving Astartes launched a desperate final assault, but the Star Space Marines killed them all, suffering minor injuries among half their number.

• Gray dodged a Cataphractii-armoured Astartes’s fire and killed him with a Plasma Pistol, while the Star Space Marines cut down about half of the first fifty attackers.
• Bartos led more than a hundred Astartes out of cover, and both forces engaged in close combat.
• Gray and Bartos exchanged accusations about the planet’s defense before resuming their duel.
• Gray cut Bartos in half, prompting the surviving Astartes to charge the Star Space Marines in a suicidal bid to avenge Bartos and Chief Librarian Kosoz.
• The Star Space Marines killed all the pursuing Astartes, and half their own number sustained minor injuries.

Gray and the Star Space Marines defeated the pursuing Astartes and prepared to leave Hive World Two, while robots and the remaining Orks continued fighting across the planet. As the warship readied for warp travel, Nack was left mortified after his comrades discovered he read romance stories.

• Gray told David that he would send Nack on similar missions next time, and Nack reluctantly accepted.
• The Star Space Marines gathered samples from the fallen Astartes, celebrated their victory, and Gray ordered the engineering robots to keep fighting the Defenders Chapter and surviving Orks.
• Gray led the Star Space Marines back to the base, where they found that the administrative department had already evacuated everyone to the warship.
• Gray teased Nack about reading romance stories, and David, Mo Tuo, and the other Star Space Marines joined in, leaving Nack embarrassed.
• Gray called Nack to the warship, and Nack hurried aboard as its hatches sealed and it prepared for warp travel.

Art Student prepared the warship and its passengers to leave the Hive World, then ordered a spatial teleportation after Gray and Mo Tuo returned with the Star Space Marines. The warship appeared three light-years from the Teda Galaxy, leaving the Imperium unable to pursue it quickly without Warp travel.

• Hogood arranged for the civilians in the base to board the warship, and Mendeleev confirmed that the teleportation beacon had found a safe destination.
• Gray and Mo Tuo returned with the Star Space Marines and reported that they had killed all the pursuing Astartes Space Marines.
• Gray presented Art Student with biological samples collected from the Astartes, and Art Student praised the Star Space Marines and promised them rewards.
• Art Student ordered Mendeleev to depart, and the operators activated the warship's energy tower, gravity field, and shields.
• Mendeleev initiated spatial teleportation, sending the warship from the underground base to deep space three light-years from the Teda Galaxy.

Art Student led the battleship from the Halo Stars into Segmentum Pacificus, where he chose to build up their forces before attacking a nearby Imperial star system. The crew began preparing to gather asteroid materials and construct more warships so they could seize and hold the system safely.

• Gray and the bridge managers marveled at deep space as Art Student reflected that humanity deserved freedom among the stars rather than life under the Imperium’s rule.
• Art Student told Mendeleev to take the battleship from the Halo Stars toward Segmentum Pacificus, and Mendeleev began the voyage using cautious spatial jumps.
• After more than two months of travel, the battleship arrived near an unfamiliar Imperial-controlled star system, with over a dozen other systems within a hundred light-years.
• Gray and Anrida eagerly volunteered to attack, but Art Student said they should first gather materials from nearby asteroid fields and build more warships.
• Art Student planned to capture the star system only after they had enough ships to hold it and control Mandeville Point against Imperial reinforcements.

Art Student ordered his subordinates to train recruits, cultivate administrators, and learn warship construction while Gaia began building a vast space dock. Gaia produced a million 3D-printing robots to gather materials and assemble the dock as Art Student returned to researching a spatial-folding magazine.

• Art Student told Gray and Anrida to train new recruits and promised them stronger equipment, while he directed Mendeleev to train more naval personnel.
• Art Student ordered Hogood and Anglie to cultivate administrators and told Anglie to learn warship construction with Gaia’s space dock project.
• Art Student instructed Gaia to begin constructing a 100-kilometer space dock, which Gaia estimated would take three years.
• Art Student returned to his laboratory to continue work on the Spatial-Folding Magazine.
• Gaia created 10,000 printing robots, which gathered asteroid materials and supplied Gaia with resources to make more robots.
• After their numbers reached one million, the printing robots began constructing the space dock.

Art Student developed and tested a Spatial-Folding Magazine that held 100,000 rounds without increasing its weight. After confirming the technology worked with different ammunition, he ordered Gaia to mass-produce the magazines.

• The warship's management staff trained recruits and newcomers as Lord of the Stars's forces prepared for further expansion.
• Art Student finished a Spatial-Folding Magazine that held exactly 100,000 bullets while remaining as heavy as an empty magazine.
• Art Student fired a Heavy Ripper Rifle at a small Void Shield and nearly overloaded it in less than half a minute.
• Art Student concluded that the magazines could let Star Space Marines overwhelm Terminator Armour's Void Shields with concentrated fire.
• Art Student tested enlarged magazines with other bullets and shells, then instructed Gaia to mass-produce them.

In 941.M41, the Art Student’s faction continued building a fleet and tested its Earth-class Dreadnoughts against replicated Ork war machines. The Dreadnoughts won, though one sustained minor damage.

• The Art Student’s space dock began constructing an Emperor-class Battleship, four cruisers, eight frigates, and sixteen destroyers, with completion expected in three years.
• Four Star Space Marines piloted Earth-class Dreadnoughts across an asteroid planet, testing their weapons and defenses by destroying 3D-printed fortresses.
• The Earth Dreadnoughts charged a force of replicated Ork Deff Dreads and Gorkanauts, using their shields to withstand the incoming fire.
• The Earth Dreadnoughts tore apart the Deff Dreads with their claws, Melta Cannons, anti-aircraft guns, and plasma cannons.
• A Star Space Marine’s Earth Dreadnought defeated a Gorkanaut after gradually breaking its defenses, sustaining minor damage in the fight.

The Art Student and the officers watched the Aerospace Fighter test after discussing their shortage of trained pilots and personnel. Eight fighters demonstrated their weapons by destroying asteroids with Three-Phase Torpedoes.

• Gray praised the Dreadnoughts but lamented that few qualified pilots could operate them.
• Anrida explained that powerful weapons needed skilled operators and admitted that only sixteen pilots could fly eight Aerospace Fighters.
• Mendeleev revealed that he lacked enough Navy personnel to crew the twenty-nine warships expected to enter service in three years.
• The Art Student redirected the officers to the Aerospace Fighter test, and Anrida ordered the squadron to begin.
• Eight Aerospace Fighters launched from the Lord of the Stars flagship and fired lances at small asteroids.
• The fighters launched Three-Phase Torpedoes at massive asteroids, and the warheads destroyed them in violent explosions.

Art Student’s fleet completed its preparations and studied the civil war on Star Sea I World, where nobles and the planetary governor fought over resources and taxes. After hearing the intelligence, Art Student decided to intervene and save the people caught in the conflict.

• Art Student praised Gray and Anrida for their forces’ performance in the weapons test and ordered them to keep selecting talented pilots.
• Three years later, all twenty-nine warships were completed and gathered around the Lord of the Stars Flagship.
• Milos briefed Art Student’s managers on the Star Sea Galaxy and the civil war between the nobles and the governor on Star Sea I World.
• Milos explained that the nobles had rebelled over the governor’s attempt to seize the planet’s resources, while the nobles’ anti-tax promises drew support from the poor.
• Mendeleev explained that the nobles saw their remaining resources as their last dignity, and Art Student declared that they would go save the people of Star Sea I World.

Gray and the officers prepared to conquer the Star Sea Galaxy, deciding to first seek its surrender while readying an assault if negotiations failed. The fleet prepared to depart under orders from Mendeleev.

• Art Student approved the deployment, and Gray, Anrida, and Mendeleev assembled the officers aboard the Radiance of the Stars.
• Gray shared Milos's intelligence about the Star Sea Galaxy and asked the officers whether to attack or seek surrender.
• Anrida proposed offering surrender first to secure the galaxy's population, with an assault as a fallback, and Mendeleev agreed.
• Gray said surrendered nobles would not regain their privileges, and the officers supported his position.
• Mendeleev ordered the officers to return to their stations and prepare to depart.

Mendeleev’s fleet entered the Star Sea Galaxy and prepared to announce its arrival to the two worlds there. On Star Sea I, nobles used a psionic slave to drive commoners into suicidal attacks against Governor Dol’s defenses, while Duke-backed Viscount Kadir agreed to send in more people.

• Mendeleev led thirty warships through two space jumps into the Star Sea Galaxy and asked Milos to broadcast their arrival across both worlds.
• Milos ordered his staff to connect to every communications device in the Star Sea Galaxy and announce the fleet’s presence.
• A short rebel rallied commoners to charge Governor Dol’s defensive line, where the governor’s firepower killed many of them.
• Kadir and another noble watched the attacks and discussed how Kadir’s psionic slave had made the commoners willing to charge.
• A messenger told Viscount Kadir that the Duke wanted more lowborn sent against the defenses and promised to raise Kadir’s title by two ranks.
• Kadir agreed to make his psionic slave recruit more commoners.

A broadcast from the Lord of the Stars demanded that the Star Sea Galaxy surrender within three days, claiming overwhelming forces and promising relief from Imperial tithes. Governor Dol, the Ecclesiarchy, and the people of both worlds faced the ultimatum as the bishop discovered that a powerful fleet had arrived.

• Governor Dol raged over the nobles’ rebellion, while Rodick reassured him that he would protect him and defeat the rebels.
• An announcer broadcast the Lord of the Stars’ demand for surrender, threatening to kill anyone bearing arms after three days and boasting of a fleet and more than fifteen hundred Astartes Space Marines.
• The broadcast halted the fighting on World One and threw the populations of both habitable planets into panic.
• The bishop condemned the newcomers as heretics and used psychic powers to search for them.
• The bishop found two massive cruisers and more than a dozen smaller warships near Mandeville Point, while a larger force remained beyond his psychic perception.

Bishop Zakli coordinated with Bishop Yifu to prepare their worlds for the heretics' invasion and requested reinforcements from the Imperium and Ecclesiarchy. He summoned Governor Dol and Grand Duke Willy's noble coalition to discuss the defense of World One, but left the decision to them.

• Zakli contacted Yifu psychically, explained the heretics' strength, and persuaded him to defend World Two while awaiting reinforcements.
• Zakli sent requests for aid to the Imperium and Ecclesiarchy, then ordered the Skitarii to summon Governor Dol and the noble coalition.
• Governor Dol and Grand Duke Willy's nobles met outside the church, where Dol insulted them and Willy stopped Viscount Kadir from retaliating.
• The governor and nobles joined Zakli in the prayer hall and knelt before the Emperor's statue.
• Zakli asked Governor Dol, Grand Duke Willy, and the noble house heads what they thought should be done about the heretics' invasion.

Governor Dol and Grand Duke Willy pledged to follow Bishop Zakli’s orders against the invading forces, while Gray and his allies prepared to take the two worlds of the Star Sea Galaxy. The chapter ended as Zakli discovered four frigates in orbit that his psychic power had not detected.

• Governor Dol pledged allegiance to Bishop Zakli and agreed to help destroy the heretics.
• Grand Duke Willy also accepted Zakli’s arrangements, and Zakli began outlining his plan.
• Gray, Anrida, and Mendeleev agreed on a plan for the Space Marines to attack the two worlds while the fleet guarded the system.
• Three days later, Gray and Mo Tuo led their forces toward the planets, where four frigates entered orbit.
• Zakli was stunned to find the four frigates, which had appeared without his psychic power detecting them.

Gray led the Star Space Marines in a drop assault on Star Sea I World, while York brought the Defense Force in to support them. The attackers breached the city wall, leaving the assault poised to enter the city.

• Gray placed a teleportation beacon in a secure location, then led the Star Space Marines down to the planet in drop pods as anti-aircraft guns fired unsuccessfully at them.
• Gray ordered more than seven hundred Star Space Marines to charge the city, and York led over five thousand Apocalypse Tanks and more than a hundred thousand troops to cover them.
• Viscount Kadir rallied the defenders on the city walls, whose gunfire failed to penetrate the Space Marines' shields.
• An Earth Dreadnought charged ahead and used its Ripper Rifle and a full-power Melta Cannon blast to tear a tank-wide breach in the city wall.