"The Lower Deck has been breached! Repeat! The Lower Deck has been breached!"
Shrill alarms mingled with hoarse shouts over the communications channel, tearing through every corridor of the Macragge's Honour like an electric current.
On the bridge, the Tactical Display flashed with glaring red warning symbols as Signals from the Sensors on the lower decks went dark one after another.
Across the ship, the lights began to flicker in a steady rhythm, and the Emergency Lighting washed the corridors in deep blood-red.
"What are those things? Are they xenos?" A mortal soldier's voice erupted over the channel, filled with unmistakable terror.
A string of footsteps and crashes sounded behind him, followed by the roar of bolter fire.
"Fire! Fire! Drive them back!" another officer shouted immediately afterward, clear cracks already showing in his composure.
Gunfire echoed like thunder through the cramped compartments. The shriek of metal striking metal flooded the communications channel, only to be drowned out by eerie laughter.
Hordes of Chaos Daemons had invaded the Macragge's Honour.
Having never fought daemons before, the Ultramarines Legion and the Macragge Mortal Soldiers suffered a devastating setback.
The Tzeentch daemons pouring from the rifts were like flowing phantoms, obeying no known tactical principles.
Their forms constantly shifted, becoming twisted serpents one moment, enormous maws bristling with sharp teeth the next, then whirling clouds of luminous mist.
Bolter shots often passed straight through their bodies and struck the walls behind them without inflicting any real damage.
Yet when the daemons drew close, they became solid again, their claws slicing through armor and flesh as though through butter.
Countless mortals never even saw a Tzeentch daemon before the low chanting drove them to slaughter one another.
Those voices poured from every corner of the corridors, bypassing the ears to burrow straight into