Lorgar sat upright on the throne on the bridge of the Law of Faith, his fingertips unconsciously tapping the cold metal armrest.
On the display below, images of Murder Star's thoroughly purged, blackened surface slowly rotated across the enormous tactical holoscreen.
The Imperium had secured firm control of the planet, and the wounds of orbital bombardment marked the land like enormous scars.
Yet half a month had passed, and the anticipated diplomatic contact—the envoys who should have arrived from the human federation called Intres—had never appeared.
This left him with an unprecedented sense of bewilderment, and even a trace of offended irritation.
According to the "script" he had shared with Hercules, the Intres Federation should have intervened while the Imperium was fighting the Giant Spider Xenos, making contact with the Imperium and even forming an alliance.
But...
"Why?" Lorgar murmured, his voice echoing across the empty bridge with a barely perceptible chill. "Why has no one come yet?"
No matter how he puzzled over it, he could find no explanation.
Had the Intres Federation been so devastated by xenos attacks that it could no longer dispatch envoys? Or were they foolish enough to turn a blind eye to the Imperium's power?
Unable to reach an answer for now, Lorgar set his doubts aside and issued new orders.
Lorgar instructed Hercules to remain on Murder Star's surface, assisting Tarvitz with the final cleansing and reconstruction efforts, and wait another month.
If there was still no word by then, they would have to reassess the entire situation.
He did not know, and would never learn.
The Intres Federation, the ally he believed he needed to win over, the player that should have appeared in the script, had already been utterly erased.
Not by xenos, but devoured by a far older, far more