The Anchorage system
Gungnir, the terrifying weapon personally forged by the traitorous Fabricator-General Utio, now floated within the sector, quietly awaiting its test firing.
Guarding it were some of the few remaining warriors of the Raven Guard Legion, the Sons of Horus Legion, and the Iron Hands Legion who had undergone no mutations.
They came from three different Legions, with different beliefs and loyalties, yet Utio had gathered them here with a secret order from the Warmaster.
The order declared that they were the final safeguard for a top-secret weapons project. All participants had to swear themselves to secrecy and were forbidden from contacting the outside world before its activation.
Those Raven Guard were elites personally selected by Corax in the past, loyal and silent. Utio had chosen them because they were the least likely to question orders.
The Sons of Horus obeyed because of the Warmaster's prestige. Utio needed their firepower to suppress any internal unrest that might arise.
The Iron Hands handled mechanical engineering and weapons maintenance. In truth, none of these groups trusted one another, but Legion discipline barely held them together in a dangerous coexistence.
They did not know that the Imperium outside had already plunged into the abyss of civil war, but they knew Horus had raised the banner of rebellion.
Leading these Raven Guard was Zorge, a member of the Alpha Legion who had infiltrated the site in disguise.
The Alpha Legion was a Legion with no creed, only a mission.
Zorge had spent years becoming someone else.
During those years, he had learned the Raven Guard's distinctive gait: short, swift steps.
He imitated the habitual coldness of the Raven Guard veterans' voices, speaking in slow, low tones.
He had also undergone a series of painful surgeries to make his face somewhat resemble that