(Over the next two days, I'll post six extra chapters each day. I've mostly recovered from my illness. Thanks for your concern, and please consider leaving a tip.)
Several Terra standard hours earlier, at the Kork Asteroid Belt Defense Line on the outskirts of the Ullanor system.
Countless shattered celestial bodies of every size and shape hung silently in the eternal curtain of darkness like bones abandoned after a war, forming the natural belt of rubble known as Kork.
Now, this domain that should have been utterly silent was filled with far more violent sounds.
The roar of engines tore through the pretense of vacuum. Blazing lance trails flew like javelins hurled by gods, the heavy thunder of macro-cannons shook the thin stardust, and explosions blossomed continually against cold rock, briefly illuminating twisted, ugly steel constructs daubed with crude graffiti.
Behind the vast battle formations of the Imperial Navy, two Fleets of the Legiones Astartes, vastly different in style yet equally lethal, worked in concert like gears in a precision clock and arrows flying across a wild steppe, executing the tactical blueprint ordained by Horus and meticulously planned by Roboute Guilliman.
"Proceed according to plan. Clear sectors K-7 through N-12. Drive back and destroy all Ork forces attempting to cross the asteroid belt and gather at Ullanor's primary planet."
"The Ultramarines Legion will establish a defense-in-depth fire network and blockade anchor points. The White Scars will exploit their mobility to conduct high-speed raids, divide enemy forces, and destroy them. Ensure that no sizable enemy force can interfere with the decapitation strike along the main axis of attack."
Guilliman's calm, clear voice echoed through the tactical command center aboard his flagship, Macragge's Honour, while an encrypted data link relayed his instructions to the tactical screens aboard the White Scars flagship, Blade