Terra Orbit, after the Imperium fleet set out
The shadow of the Imperium of Man expeditionary fleet had barely vanished when alarms from the Solar System's defense network once again shrieked through the void.
Inside the Imperial Palace command center, Regent Guilliman's brow instantly furrowed.
On the holographic star map, an unfamiliar fleet had abruptly appeared at the edge of the Solar System's early-warning perimeter.
Their forms were sharp and menacing, carrying the cold, deathly stillness of metal. Their hulls were covered in conspicuous battle damage, as though they had only just escaped an extraordinarily brutal war and arrived in haste.
"Necrons!"
All defensive forces of the Imperium of Man immediately entered maximum combat readiness. Countless weapon arrays turned as one, locking their destructive energy focus tightly onto the battered fleet.
At a single command from Guilliman, they could unleash firepower sufficient to tear apart the stars.
Yet this Necron fleet, which looked to be on the verge of collapse, made no hostile or defensive move.
They simply hovered silently in the void.
Just as the tense standoff was nearly frozen solid, Guilliman received a communication from Liang Bing.
"Hey, Smurf," Liang Bing's lazy voice came through the communicator. "Relax. Don't be so tense. That Necron fleet is on our side. Silent King Szarekh is here. He's already settled the trouble back home and unified those iron lumps. Now he's here to fulfill the agreement and revive his people."
At her words, Guilliman's taut nerves eased slightly, but the caution expected of the Imperial Regent kept him from lifting the alarm at once.
He swiftly issued an order. "Monitor them closely! If they make any unusual move, eliminate them immediately."
Liang Bing's laboratory
The laboratory's specialized alloy doors slid open without a sound. Silent King Szarekh, the last supreme