The Bridge of the Destruction Storm was bathed in an icy blue glow.
This mobile fortress belonged to the Iron Warriors Legion's 77th Camp—an Apocalypse-class Battleship, hanging silently at the edge of an unfamiliar Star System like a metal leviathan lurking in the dark depths of an ocean, waiting for its moment.
The Bridge was exceptionally spacious, built in the Iron Warriors' signature utilitarian style, stripped of all unnecessary ornamentation. Thick pipes lay exposed, cables coiled like blood vessels, and instrument displays shone with a steady light.
The air carried a distinctive mixture of machine oil, Ozone, metal coolant, and the cleaning agents built into Space Marine power armour.
On one side stood more than a hundred Space Marines from the Iron Warriors Legion's 77th Camp.
On the other were two hundred "exchange students" from the Word Bearers Legion, led by Company Captain Dexter.
Their armour retained the Word Bearers' classic grey, but their left pauldrons prominently bore the spray-painted emblem of the Iron Warriors Legion: a starkly outlined relief of a warrior's head enclosed in a full-face Helmet.
It symbolized both their submission to the joint operation's command and their status during this period of "study abroad."
On their right pauldrons, their own legion Insignia still gleamed, proclaiming their unshakable roots.
Over several years of joint operations, these Word Bearers had hungrily studied and absorbed the near-artistic siegecraft and systematic philosophy of warfare mastered by the Iron Warriors, trying to integrate those coldly efficient techniques with their own legion's understanding of armoured warfare tactics.
Now, every gaze was fixed on the enormous, slowly rotating holographic star chart on the Bridge's main screen.
The chart glowed a cold blue, outlining the rough structure of this unfamiliar Star System.
Standing before it like an anvil was the commander of the 77th