Unknown Enemy

As the Fleet entered the Odesol Star System, the crew fell into silence. The entire system seemed to have been swallowed by an unknown force, leaving nothing but endless desolation and emptiness.

Lorgar called up the records on the Odesol Star System and began to read.

Odesol Star System

Primary star: Stars Hios

Classification: Red giant

Status: According to observations by an Adeptus Mechanicus exploration Fleet, Hios is nearing the end of its life cycle. It has exhausted the hydrogen fuel in its core, expanded, and cooled. It emits a great deal of dim, reddish light. Its visible-light output is low, but its infrared radiation is exceptionally strong.

First planet: Kanos

A molten rocky Planet whose atmosphere has been completely stripped away by Hios's stellar wind. Its surface is covered in solidified lava flows and vast impact craters, and it is constantly bombarded by intense stellar radiation.

The Adeptus Mechanicus deemed the Planet worthless. It has not been colonized.

Second planet: Otheros

Type: Hot, humid greenhouse Planet. Gravity is approximately 1.2 times standard.

Designation: Colonizable

The Planet's Atmosphere is extremely dense, filled with methane, carbon dioxide, water vapor, and organic spores and aerosols unique to its biosphere.

After a brief review, Lorgar confirmed that the distress signal had come from the Otheros Colony. Just then, a Tech-Priest aboard the ship reported a huge, unidentified wreck off the Warship's port side.

"It's the Sacred Vanguard!"

From the Warship's appearance and a search of its records, the Adeptus Mechanicus personnel quickly identified it as the Sacred Vanguard, a Battle Barge belonging to the Ultramarines Legion.

But the Warship looked as though it had been eaten away by acid. Its armor had peeled off into the Void, and an unknown layer of flesh covered the golden Aquila on its hull.

"Sir! That Warship is closing on us!" a technical officer suddenly shouted.

"Impossible! That Warship looks like it can't even move!" Sebastian strode over to the officer, ready to reprimand him, only to see the Auspex showing the Warship approaching in a bizarre manner.

"That Warship... it looks alive."

The officer had barely finished speaking when a piercing alarm blared across the Bridge and red warning lights flashed.

"Sir! Life signs aboard the Warship!" an officer shouted excitedly.

But his excitement quickly turned to shock.

Red life-sign markers appeared across the screen at a terrifying pace, one after another, spreading like newly formed boils until they filled the display.

The harsh red glow lit up the Bridge. Millions of life signs now covered the entire Battle Barge.

"Fire!"

At Lorgar's command, the Words of Dread, the Emperor-class Battleship closest to the Sacred Vanguard, fired first.

The Emperor-class Battleship was a slow, cumbersome capital ship used by both the Imperial Navy and Adeptus Mechanicus Fleets.

It was more a combination of command Flagship and carrier than a conventional Battleship, and its design was among the oldest still used by the Imperium.

Rather than a traditional armored prow, it carried a multitude of sensor probes and forward-facing Turrets.

"Great Machine God, great Omnissiah! We beseech you to turn your merciful gaze upon this Warship, the Words of Dread."

"Let your burning power boil within its engines. Let your undying protection rest upon its shield generators and armored bulkheads."

"Let your mighty wrath unleash destruction and Revenge through the great mysteries of Laser, plasma, and Missile."

"Pour your spirit into this mighty armored shell, and breathe life into its power lines and conduits."

As the Adeptus Mechanicus Magos prayed, the first round of Bombardment slammed toward the Sacred Vanguard.

Mountain-sized shells smashed through the Sacred Vanguard's Bridge. The entire command center was blown apart, and the Warship's bow vanished into the explosion.

"Fire!"

Brilliant Lances of light tore through the darkness between the Stars like divine punishment. The Sacred Vanguard's armor disintegrated under the searing heat.

"Target destroyed! Repeat, target destroyed!"

The blinding explosion stood out against the Silence of the Star System like a stone dropped into stagnant water.

The shock wave from the Warship's destruction swept across the Star System in an instant. Lorgar sat in the command chair, pondering what he had seen.

He had never heard of an enemy like this. The life scanner had shown millions of life signs aboard that Battle Barge. Either the enemy had infiltrated his Warship's systems and fed them false readings,

or its power came from something unknown.

A Warship with no life signs had become crowded with them in a matter of breaths. Could the enemy enter a brief deathlike state to escape detection?

Lorgar had only begun to consider it when he glanced out the window and stopped.

For he had found the missing colonial Fleet.

More than a dozen Imperial Navy Cobra Destroyers, along with freighters and armed merchant ships used by Rogue Traders, floated at strange angles above Otheros's orbit.

Like the Sacred Vanguard, each ship carried tens of thousands of life signs. Every one of them also had skinlike flesh growing over its armor or engines.

It looked as though someone had stripped the skin from millions of people, sewn it all together, and draped it over the Warships until they were completely wrapped.

"Emperor above." Some of the Mortals crew trembled at the sight, but nearby officers soon barked them back to their duties.

"There are still people fighting on the surface. They may be survivors from the Ultramarines Legion." With his superhuman eyesight, Lorgar could make out the faint flashes of explosions on the Planet.

"Send a company ahead to join the fighting at once. Have the transports ready. Don't get drawn into a prolonged battle; once they've brought the Legion warriors back from the surface, they're to withdraw immediately," Lorgar continued.

"Understood!"

Paulus's company took the assignment. Under covering fire from more than a dozen battleships, Stormbird Gunships and Fire Raptor fighters raced toward the surface of Otheros.

Amid the ruins of the Planet's buildings, a bloody battle was underway.

Company Captain Sabrachi stood atop a barricade, the company standard in one hand and a Bolt Pistol in the other. Ultramarines armed with bolters provided covering fire from both sides.

Their enemies were a horde of Flesh Monsters.