Recaps

Lorne stalked three Worm Men through the pipe maze, using stealth and deception to disrupt their defensive formation instead of confronting them directly. He had begun to control the hunt, but the Worm Men remained dangerous and the fight continued.

• The three Worm Men stopped transforming the slave laborer and formed a rotating defensive triangle as they sensed a threat.
• Lorne hid in the shadows and used his scanner to assess the Worm Men, identifying different patterns in their behavior and possible vulnerabilities.
• Lorne tossed a rusted Metal Shard to draw the most alert Worm Man's attention away.
• Lorne fired a Bolt into a puddle beside the quiet Worm Man, startling it and briefly disrupting the trio's coordination.
• Lorne slipped back into the shadows and repositioned above the Worm Men to continue manipulating their suspicions.

Lorne isolated and destroyed one Worm Man, then appeared wounded and fled to lure the two remaining creatures into a prepared corridor. The Worm Men pursued him into the pipe maze and entered the branching passage where he had disappeared.

• Lorne used a cable, a stun grenade, and a prepared blind corner to isolate the wounded Worm Man from its companions.
• Lorne drove his Lightning Claw into the Worm Man’s earlier wound, planted two Melta Bombs inside it, and escaped as the bombs vaporized the creature.
• The two remaining Worm Men searched the area, and one intercepted Lorne’s green beam attack, leaving his right shoulder armour damaged.
• Lorne pretended to be injured and fled deeper into the pipe maze, drawing both Worm Men away from their cautious formation.
• Lorne led the pursuing Worm Men down a corridor and disappeared into a branching passage piled with damaged pipes.

Lorne lured the two Worm Men into a vast Hall, where concealed snipers ambushed them with incendiary Bolts. After the attack crippled both creatures, Lorne finished the last one with a Plasma Grenade, ending the hunt.

• Lorne stood motionless in the center of the Hall as the two Worm Men searched for traps and hesitated to attack.
• The stronger Worm Man charged Lorne while its companion raised a psychic shield to protect them from hidden gunfire.
• A concealed sniper struck the charging Worm Man with an incendiary Bolt, and at least six sniper positions opened coordinated fire on both creatures.
• Lorne directed the snipers as incendiary rounds burned the attacker and weakened the other Worm Man’s shield.
• Lorne threw a Plasma Grenade above the last Worm Man and remotely detonated it, engulfing the creature in an expanding sphere of azure plasma.

Primarch Saladin and Commander Biberus led the Second Legion Fleet into a Rangdan ambush and struck the enemy's flank to aid the Imperial Fists and Ultramarines. Saladin spotted a concealed Rangdan capital ship and ordered the Fleet to concentrate its attack on the target.

• Saladin ordered the Second Legion Fleet to prepare for an ambush as it emerged from the warp, with Biberus commanding the vanguard.
• The Fleet emerged into a battlefield where the Imperial Fists and Ultramarines were fighting a Rangdan ambush.
• Saladin ordered the Second Legion to execute the Severance plan and attack the Rangdan Fleet's flank and rear.
• Biberus led the Fleet's crescent formation into battle, and its torpedoes destroyed a Rangdan assault ship.
• The Imperial Fists and Ultramarines warned Saladin about a powerful Rangdan capital ship hidden among the wreckage.
• Saladin identified the concealed ship and ordered Biberus to redirect the Fleet's spearhead and concentrate fire on it.

The Second Legion’s Scimitar fighters launched a missile attack on a Rangdan capital ship, but its resilient shields absorbed the assault and its magenta lightning weapons devastated the squadron. Claw attack bombers arrived with Tornado escorts and began a coordinated dive-bombing run as the surviving Scimitars drew the enemy’s fire.

• Scimitar One ordered the Lightning fighters to attack the Rangdan capital ship’s shields, weapons arrays, and sensors with Hellstrike missiles.
• The missile barrage failed to breach the ship’s rapidly recovering shield or significantly damage its hull.
• The Rangdan ship fired unpredictable magenta lightning beams, destroying more than fifteen Scimitar fighters and forcing the survivors into evasive maneuvers.
• Claw squadron arrived with Tornado escorts and coordinated a bombing attack while the remaining Scimitars harassed the Rangdan ship.
• Claw’s Marauders climbed to altitude and began near-vertical dive-bombing runs toward the Rangdan vessel.

Saladin led the Second Legion’s boarding assault on the Rangdan capital ship, where Company Captain Muras and his squad were overwhelmed by Rangdan Elite. Saladin arrived just as Muras faced a killing blow, and the chapter left the battle poised to turn.

• Saladin ordered the Fleet and Battle Barges to breach the Rangdan ship’s shields and launch Drop Pods.
• Muras led the boarding party through the ship, cutting down Rangdan slaves before Rangdan Elite emerged and killed two Space Marines.
• Muras killed one Rangdan Elite, then rallied the surviving Space Marines into a defensive circle as more Elite surrounded them.
• The boarding party suffered mounting losses while Muras, wounded and surrounded, fought off five Rangdan Elite.
• Saladin blasted through a bulkhead and appeared with his Power Scimitar glowing with Golden Psychic Energy, making the Elite hesitate as Muras called out to him.

Saladin joined the boarding party and slaughtered more than five hundred Rangdan Elite warriors with his Power Scimitar. He helped the wounded Muras to his feet and led the survivors onward to find and kill the blasphemous behemoth’s heart.

• Saladin entered the corridor, drawing the Rangdan Elite warriors’ attention away from the boarding party.
• Saladin stopped Takidin and the Primarch Guard from shielding him, then fought through the attackers alone.
• Saladin cut down more than five hundred Rangdan Elite warriors and deflected their ranged attacks.
• Saladin helped the wounded Muras stand and ordered the survivors to follow him to the behemoth’s heart.

Saladin and his warriors reached the Rangdan warship’s Bridge, where its Commander challenged him to single combat. Saladin refused and ordered concentrated bolter fire, leaving the Commander and its ancient sword destroyed.

• Saladin led Takidin, Muras, and the regrouped Second Legion through the bloodied passage to the Bridge.
• Takidin’s guards melted through the alloy gate with melta bombs and forced it open.
• The Rangdan Commander raised its ancient sword and challenged Saladin to single combat.
• Saladin refused the duel and signaled the Primarch Guard to fire on the Commander.
• The bolter barrage shattered the Commander, its sword, and part of the Bridge, after which Saladin quietly wondered if that was all.

After destroying the Rangdan Warship’s ancient sword, Saladin felt an unexplained unease and sought clarity through meditation. He recognized a dangerous premonition that humanity might turn on itself after the Great Crusade, then chose to bury the thought and return to his duties.

• Saladin sensed something wrong in the remains of the ancient sword but suppressed his doubts and ordered Takidin to oversee the Warship’s cleanup and data extraction.
• Saladin returned to the Soul of the Sea of Sand and entered his private Meditation Chamber to calm his unsettled mind.
• During his devotions, Saladin wondered what humanity would do after the Great Crusade ended and sensed that hidden shadows might follow victory.
• Saladin concluded that humanity might turn on itself after the Great Crusade and decided to seal the premonition away until the future forced it to resurface.
• Saladin left the Meditation Chamber with his usual composure restored.

Saladin received Lorgar aboard his ship, where Lorgar investigated whether Chaos had tainted him while concealing his questions about the Second Legion’s erasure. The Primarchs discussed a plan to attack the enemy’s encirclement, but the chapter ended before their strategy was carried out.

• Saladin composed himself after leaving the Meditation Chamber and went to meet Lorgar in the reception room.
• Lorgar examined the ship’s reception room and tasted its mint tea before Saladin arrived.
• Lorgar questioned Saladin’s condition and considered why the Second Legion might have been erased from history.
• Lorgar searched Saladin and those around him for signs of Chaos but found none.
• Lorgar proposed an eastern attack with Mortarion, while Saladin described joining Lion El'Jonson to capture the Forge World of Xana.
• Lorgar outlined an elastic-defense strategy with the Death Guard to encircle and destroy the enemy’s foremost forces.

Lorgar left the Second Legion after ordering Saolis to watch over Saladin and prepare to protect or rescue him if needed. He traveled to the Death Guard flagship, the Endurance, where Mortarion received him in the command chamber.

• Lorgar told Saolis to monitor Saladin, report any trouble, and either leave the Second Legion or rescue its Primarch if danger arose.
• Lorgar traveled aboard a Word Bearers transport to the Death Guard flagship, the Endurance.
• Garro, a Company Captain of the Seventh Company, welcomed Lorgar and led him through the ship toward Mortarion.
• Lorgar entered the central command chamber and saw Mortarion surrounded by thirteen Deathshroud bodyguards.
• Mortarion turned toward Lorgar and asked if he had come.

Lorgar confronted Mortarion in the Death Guard command chamber and used his overwhelming presence to punish Calas Typhon for speaking out of turn. Mortarion intervened to shield Typhon and rejected Lorgar’s authority over his Legion.

• Lorgar entered the command chamber and addressed Mortarion, while Calas Typhon stepped forward to guard his Primarch.
• When Typhon tried to greet Lorgar, Lorgar demanded to know who had given him permission to speak.
• Lorgar’s crushing pressure forced Typhon to his knees, and Typhon braced himself with his Power Scythe until the pressure lifted.
• Lorgar turned back to Mortarion and told him to teach his warriors manners, comparing them unfavorably to Angron.
• Mortarion shielded Calas behind him and told Lorgar that his sons were not his to lecture.

Lorgar confronted Mortarion aboard the Endurance, then proposed a joint assault on the Rangdan from the Sathus Jump Point. Mortarion agreed to consider bringing the Death Guard into the operation.

• Lorgar demanded that Mortarion discipline Calas Typhon for interrupting their conversation.
• Mortarion let the confrontation subside and asked Lorgar to explain why he had come aboard the Endurance.
• Lorgar proposed that the Word Bearers and War Hounds attack the Rangdan blockade from the east near the Sathus Jump Point.
• Lorgar said he wanted Perturabo's Iron Warriors to establish a forward bastion and asked Mortarion's Death Guard to anchor and protect the assault.
• Mortarion said he would consider the proposal.

Sergeant Leki reflected on the immense losses suffered during the fighting on Shina and the 48th Colchis Auxiliary Army’s costly victory over a Rangdan formation. After finishing his last cigarette, he picked up a Lasgun and headed toward the fighting still raging nearby.

• Leki smoked his final cigarette beside a destroyed Leman Russ and surveyed the fallen Imperial Warlord Titan, the Holy Hammer.
• He considered how the Mortals had suffered catastrophic casualties and how urban warfare let them counter the Rangdan’s technological advantage.
• The remnants of the 48th Colchis Auxiliary Army distinguished themselves by holding the Eastern Seventh District and destroying an entire Rangdan tactical formation at terrible cost.
• Leki checked a Lasgun’s power pack, stood among his fallen comrades, and walked toward the distant explosions and gunfire.

Doram promoted Leki Emil directly from sergeant to major and assigned him command of the depleted 13th Armoured Grenadier Regiment. At Shina's joint command headquarters, General Sechter called for a counterattack as the planet's leaders gathered to discuss the defense.

• Doram told Leki Emil that Major Enns had been killed and handed him Enns's insignia, promoting him to major.
• Doram assigned Leki command of the 13th Armoured Grenadier Regiment, which had only around fifty combat personnel remaining, and ordered him to catch a transport to the front.
• Leki accepted the promotion, pinned on the major's insignia, and saluted Doram.
• At Shina's Joint Command Headquarters, General Sechter declared that the defenders needed to organize a counterattack.
• Ling Huang and Ding Xiu attended the strategy meeting while Chapter Master Korolia was away observing the forward battle lines.

General Sechter and Ling Huang proposed a risky lightning counteroffensive, but Fabricator-General Kott refused to commit the Skitarii. Major Leki arrived at the 13th Armoured Grenadier Regiment’s quarters in the ruins.

• Kott challenged Sechter to explain why he wanted to abandon the defensive strategy for a counteroffensive.
• Sechter argued that his soldiers needed a tangible victory and that the Skitarii were better suited to defend the factories.
• Ling Huang proposed a lightning assault using every available armored vehicle, motorcycle infantry, and Titan to break through the enemy lines.
• Kott calculated a 17.3 percent chance of success and said the Skitarii would remain on defense, leaving Sechter’s forces to carry out the attack alone.
• Major Leki rode through the ruined streets in a Chimera and arrived at the 13th Regiment’s underground quarters.

Major Leki arrived at the underground position of the 13th Armoured Grenadier Regiment and found only fifty exhausted survivors remaining from its registered strength of twelve thousand eight hundred and fifty-five. After Captain Solas reported their losses, weapons, and lack of supplies, Leki was left responsible for the regiment’s survival in the ruins.

• Leki entered the Underground Chamber and found about fifty battered soldiers of the 13th Armoured Grenadier Regiment.
• Captain Solas identified himself as acting commander and reported that the regiment’s registered strength was 12,855, while only fifty personnel remained.
• Solas listed the recent deaths and disappearance of the regiment’s other officers, including Major Prass, Captain Burden, Second Lieutenant Rossen, and Second Lieutenant Scallers.
• Solas reported that only forty unreliable firearms remained usable, with no heavy weapons or anti-vehicle equipment.
• Solas told Leki that the survivors had no remaining food or water, had received no standard supplies for seventy-two hours, and had little contact with higher command.

On Forge World Shina, the Hand of Flame awakened after emergency repairs and led a Titan Legion strike group out of the foundry. As the Imperialis Militia watched in awe, a Colchis Auxiliary Army Chaplain urged the soldiers to follow the Titans in a counterattack.

• Tech-Priests and Servitors sang a hymn as the Hand of Flame, an Emperor-class Titan, powered up and took its first step.
• Four more Emperor-class Titans, accompanied by Warlord Titans and ground support units, assembled into a strike group.
• The Hand of Flame's commander and crew vowed to burn away the enemy as the Titans marched through the opening foundry doors.
• Officers cleared the Marching Avenue, and gathered Imperialis Militia troops watched the Titan group pass.
• A Colchis Auxiliary Army Chaplain called on the soldiers to take up their weapons and launch a counterattack.

The Imperial Titan Legion and artillery unleashed devastating firepower against the Rangdan army, while antiaircraft defenses and a protective shield stopped an enemy bombing run. The shield held over the artillery positions, leaving the battle raging.

• Hand of Flame and the other Emperor-class Titans opened fire, blasting apart the Rangdan ground army.
• Hand of Flame carved a vast canyon through millions of Rangdan troops with its plasma cannon, and the Titans advanced while firing their secondary weapons.
• The artillery commander ordered thousands of guns to bombard enemy reserves and likely counterattack routes.
• More than thirty Rangdan aircraft attacked the artillery positions with biochemical bombs, while Hydra guns and missiles shot down several.
• A spherical energy shield covered the artillery positions and withstood the bombs' corrosive explosions.

Ding Xiu charged Rangdan infantry on his customized Hover Bike, using his Power Scimitar to kill their leader and two more xenos. He sped onward through the battle after decapitating the three attackers.

• The White Scars and more than a million Imperialis Militia troops launched an assault through the gaps in the enemy lines.
• Ding Xiu spotted three Rangdan infantry behind a damaged bunker and shot two of them with his bike’s Storm Bolter, but they survived.
• Ding Xiu drew his Power Scimitar and charged the Rangdan leader, evading its Power Sword before cutting off its head.
• The two remaining Rangdan raised their weapons, but Ding Xiu accelerated past their shots and killed both with quick cuts to their necks.

Death Guard and Word Bearers forces boarded a Rangdan space station and fought through its corridors. The Death Guard advanced under heavy fire while Thorns and the Word Bearers met a dangerous Rangdan Elite squad in close combat.

• Garro led the Death Guard through the station, cutting down Rangdan attackers as his warriors cleared the corridors with heavy weapons.
• Thorns led the Word Bearers in a shield-wall advance, then ordered them to charge enemies in an open junction.
• Around thirty Rangdan Elite guards confronted the Word Bearers with energy blades that cut through their armour and shields, inflicting heavy casualties.
• A Rangdan Elite sliced Thorns's boarding shield in half and prepared to strike him.
• Thorns charged into the attack and killed the Rangdan Elite with an upward Chainaxe slash, then lunged at another enemy.

Mortarion insisted that his supernatural abilities were numerology rather than psychic energy, while warning Lorgar that enemy forces were preparing a counterattack. Lorgar accepted the warning and planned to set a trap for the attack on Lion El'Jonson's and Saladin's fleets.

• Mortarion told Lorgar he would not operate alongside him again and said he despised the psychic energy surrounding him.
• Mortarion argued that his abilities were numerology, a precise science, while Lorgar called them psychic energy.
• Mortarion reported a 73.8% chance of a large enemy counterattack within forty-seven to sixty-two standard hours.
• Mortarion identified Lion El'Jonson's and Saladin's fleets as the likely target and gave Lorgar coordinates and estimates of enemy strength.
• Lorgar thanked Mortarion and said he would tell the fleets to set a trap on the flank.

In the Endurance’s preparation bay, Garro lent Thorns his scythe after the Word Bearer’s Chainaxe broke. Garro then described Mortarion’s bond with the Death Guard, leaving Paulus and Thorns with a portrait of their Primarch as a comrade and liberator.

• Paulus sharpened his Dagger while Thorns arrived with a badly damaged Chainaxe and explained that no compatible replacement was available.
• Garro offered Thorns his personal scythe, and Thorns accepted it after Paulus encouraged him to trust in their battlefield brotherhood.
• Paulus asked Garro what it was like to serve under Mortarion, prompting Thorns to listen closely.
• Garro recalled Mortarion’s hardships and leadership on Barbarus, explaining that the Primarch understood his warriors’ suffering and cared for them personally.

Lorgar and Mortarion’s fleet ambushed the Rangdan, but a mysterious Khrave fleet emerged from another dimension during the bombardment. As Lorgar ordered the defenses prepared, twenty figures appeared inside the Endurance’s command center.

• Lorgar and Mortarion’s fleets opened fire on the Rangdan fleet as it emerged from the Warp, devastating the vanguard with a massive bombardment.
• Lorgar and Mortarion sensed an ancient presence approaching beyond the explosions and prepared to face it.
• A fleet of strange geometric constructs emerged from silver-gray ripples, and Anastasia identified them as the Khrave.
• Lorgar ordered contact with Mortarion and defensive preparations, but twenty figures suddenly appeared in the Endurance’s command center.

Elite Khraves boarded Mortarion’s flagship and attacked the Bridge, killing two Deathshroud before Mortarion fought back. He killed several attackers and left another crushed into the Bridge floor as he ordered the noncombatants to evacuate.

• Twenty Khraves appeared around the Bridge hololith, and an Elite Khrave killed two Deathshroud with precise energy cuts.
• Mortarion ordered the noncombatants to evacuate and severed an ordinary Khrave’s arm before it could strike a Tech-Priest.
• Mortarion shot one attacking Khrave in the face with his plasma pistol and split its body with Silence.
• Mortarion caught a second Khrave by the ankle as it tried to retreat and smashed it into the Bridge floor.