Chapter Summaries

Omega learned that Utio planned to fire the Gungnir at Holy Terra within twenty-four hours and resolved to destroy its reactor by luring Russ there. As Russ fought through the Gungnir’s defenses, Omega arrived alone to confront him.

• Utio ordered the Gungnir’s second shot prepared despite a fifty percent chance of failure, and the Archmagos began charging it toward Holy Terra.
• Omega decided to make Russ believe he was a traitor and draw him through the Gungnir to its reactor so Russ would destroy it.
• Omega teleported to the boarding action as Russ and the Space Wolves fought through Iron Hands and Raven Guard defenders.
• Russ entered a vast hangar hall, where Omega faced him alone with his power spear lowered.

Leman Russ attacked Omega after accusing him of betraying their brothers, and Omega fled toward the reactor to lure Russ away from the charging Warp Engine. Utio promised to send Battle Automatons to help kill Russ as the pursuit continued through the ship.

• Russ asked whether Omega was Alpha or Omega, then attacked him with the Winter's Axe and the Devourer of Souls.
• Omega blocked Russ's axe but suffered a slash across his breastplate from the chainsword.
• Omega decided he could not keep fighting in the hall and fled toward the reactor to draw Russ away from the Warp Engine.
• Russ ordered the Space Wolves Legion warriors to seal the passages and then pursued Omega.
• Utio questioned Omega's retreat and promised to send Battle Automatons to assist him.
• Omega continued toward the reactor while Russ's footsteps echoed behind him.

Omega lured Russ into Gungnir’s reactor, where Russ fought the daemon-infused Battle Automatons and realized a deeper power was behind the rebellion. The chapter left Russ understanding that Omega had brought him there to reveal the conspiracy, though Omega remained silent.

• Omega entered Gungnir’s reactor and waited as Russ tore through the airtight door to follow him.
• Russ questioned why Omega had lured him there, but Omega discarded his communicator and gave no answer.
• Utio’s daemon-infused Battle Automatons arrived, and Omega declared that they would settle things there.
• Russ destroyed the automatons, discovering that they kept moving until their bodies and cores were thoroughly smashed.
• Russ concluded that a vast Warp-linked conspiracy was behind the rebellion and recognized that Omega had brought him there to show him the truth.

Omega and Russ fought inside Gungnir’s reactor while secretly working to destroy its critical systems. Utio ordered the backup reactor activated and redirected energy toward the firing array, keeping Gungnir’s weapon operational.

• Russ realized Omega had lured him into the reactor to destroy its control systems, and he silently agreed to trust him.
• Omega struck the control console with his spear, while making the attack appear to target Russ.
• Russ and Omega began a fierce battle that devastated the reactor and disabled its monitoring, cooling, and energy conduits.
• Utio learned that the reactor systems were failing and ordered the backup reactor and energy lines activated to complete the firing.

Abaddon led the Black Legion in a boarding assault on the Gungnir, ramming a battleship-carrier into its port side and pouring through the breach. He confronted Hobart and overwhelmed him, leaving the battle for the Gungnir ongoing.

• Abaddon ordered the Black Legion to board the Gungnir at any cost, and their battleship-carrier rammed into its port side.
• Tens of thousands of Black Legion Space Marines launched into the breach, and Abaddon led them through the ship, killing Sons of Horus defenders.
• A Sons of Horus commander from the 254th Company accused Abaddon of turning against the Warmaster, and Abaddon said he had come to end the Legion's mistake.
• Abaddon killed a nearby Sons of Horus warrior with his Power Klaw as Hobart charged him with a Power Fist.
• Hobart struck Abaddon in the face, but Abaddon seized his wrist and hurled him into a wall, mocking his strength.

Abaddon killed Hobart and led the Black Legion through the Sons of Horus, then turned away from the clash between two Primarchs. In the reactor chamber, Omega used Russ’s attack and a staged explosion to disappear, leaving Russ alone amid the wreckage.

• Hobart cursed Abaddon before Abaddon crushed his skull with his Warhammer.
• Abaddon and the Black Legion slaughtered the Sons of Horus warriors in the passage.
• Abaddon sensed the powers of two Primarchs colliding and chose to pursue other targets rather than intervene.
• Russ and Omega fought in the ruined reactor chamber as Omega prepared to vanish from Utio’s surveillance.
• Omega took Russ’s axe blow, triggered an explosion, and disappeared in the flames, leaving Russ bewildered.

After Russ believed Omega had vanished in the reactor battle, Gungnir’s damaged core began melting down, forcing Russ and the Space Wolves to evacuate. In the command room, Utio ordered the Tech-Priests to keep charging the weapon despite the reactor’s imminent collapse.

• Russ waited for Omega to emerge from the flames, then turned to leave when the figure did not return.
• The battle-damaged reactor lost its cooling and containment, began overheating, and triggered alarms throughout Gungnir.
• Russ sensed the impending disaster, ordered everyone to evacuate, and led the Space Wolves toward the nearest passages.
• Tech-Priests warned Utio that the reactor was disintegrating, but Utio ordered them to maintain power until Gungnir finished charging.
• The Tech-Priests continued drawing energy from the failing reactor as Gungnir’s charging progress rose.

Utio prepared Gungnir to fire its Warp-powered weapon at Terra, while Abaddon and the trapped Imperial fleet realized they had to stop the launch. Abaddon asked Russ to cover his fleet and revealed that they still had one last option.

• Utio targeted Terra with Gungnir and prepared to fire within one Terran hour.
• Utio readied his consciousness transfer system, expecting to survive Gungnir's detonation in another body.
• Russ warned Abaddon that Gungnir had to be stopped before it destroyed Terra or the fleet.
• Loken told Abaddon that Warp tides had disabled the warships' Warp transit systems, trapping them near Gungnir.
• Abaddon asked Russ's fleet to cover them and said they still had one last option.

Abaddon called on his fleet to sacrifice ships by ramming Gungnir’s warp vortex and disrupting its power, and volunteers began lining up. Aboard the Fidelitas Lex, Kais chose to stay and die with the ship as Captain Strahn prepared its engines for the attack.

• Abaddon told the fleet that ships would have to overload their engines and ram the vortex, and said he would lead the attack if no one volunteered.
• The Holy Light, Hand of Lorgar, Philogus, and other ships volunteered, and Abaddon ordered them to prepare and await his signal.
• Captain Strahn urged Kais to leave the Fidelitas Lex, but Kais explained that he had chosen to remain and sacrifice himself.
• Strahn accepted Kais’s choice and went to order the ship’s engines to full power while Kais waited for the ramming order.

Strahn, Kais, and the crew of their warship sacrificed themselves by overloading its Warp Engine inside the black vortex before Gungnir, weakening the gathered Warp energy. Abaddon announced that the tactic worked, and the fleet began sending more ships to strike the vortex.

• Strahn ordered the crew to overload the Warp Engine and charge the warship into the black vortex as Kais stood beside him.
• The ship vanished into the vortex, and its overloaded Warp Engine exploded, tearing a bright fissure through the darkness and briefly dimming the gathered Warp energy.
• Abaddon told the fleet that overloading Warp Engines worked, and the captains argued over who would make the next sacrificial attack.
• A veteran captain was chosen to lead the Cleveland into the vortex, where its destruction weakened the Warp energy further.
• More fleet commanders clamored over the Communications Channel to send their ships next.

Utio increased Gungnir’s energy output, forcing the loyalists to sacrifice more warships to neutralize its power. After the final ship plunged into the darkness, the accumulated energy collapsed, leaving Abaddon to witness Utio’s defeat.

• Utio learned that fifty warships would need to overload their Warp Engines to completely neutralize Gungnir’s power.
• Utio increased Gungnir’s energy transfer, replenishing the darkness as the loyalist warships sacrificed themselves one by one.
• Abaddon watched the crews’ final transmissions and grieved as their ships vanished into the darkness.
• The last warship plunged into the black light, and the unstable sphere began to contract and disintegrate.
• Abaddon saw the darkness collapse, confirming that Utio had lost his gamble.

Utio accepted that Gungnir had been disabled by the Imperial fleet and ordered its data preserved before evacuating its crew’s consciousnesses. Reawakened on Mars, he began planning an uprising there to help the Warmaster capture Terra.

• Hundreds of millions of Imperial crew sacrificed themselves to disable Gungnir, and Utio recorded their courage as a factor missing from his calculations.
• Utio ordered Gungnir’s data and construction records transferred for a Gungnir II project, then began consciousness transfer and had the Tech-Priests destroy records they could not take.
• Russ and Abaddon announced Gungnir’s defeat, and Imperial ships turned back to destroy the Rebel Forces’ wrecks and dismantle the weapon.
• Utio’s consciousness returned to his body on Mars, where he saw that the rebellion had not yet reached Segmentum Solar.
• Utio planned to exploit unrest on Mars to blockade Terra’s shipping lanes, cut off loyalist reinforcements, and coordinate with the Warmaster’s arriving fleet.

On Holy Terra, the Emperor learned that Orks led by Lorgar were attacking daemons in the Webway and easing pressure on the Imperial defenses. A fragmented message from Lorgar then revealed a rebellion forming on Mars, leaving the Emperor to reconsider the wider conflict.

• Valdor reported that more than ten billion mortal troops had held the Webway line and that an Ork army was attacking the daemons.
• Valdor told the Emperor that the Orks and their leaders were shouting Lorgar’s name, suggesting Lorgar had guided and commanded them.
• The Emperor said he did not know how long the uneasy balance would last and foresaw the War of the Webway as the end of one great drama and the beginning of another.
• A Custodian delivered Lorgar’s fragmented message, reporting that the Fabricator-General of the Adeptus Mechanicus was organizing a rebellion on Mars.
• The Emperor withdrew into thought and recalculated the conflict after hearing of the rebellion.

The Emperor ordered Valdor to lead Custodes and Imperial Fists to Mars to investigate Lorgar’s warning of a possible rebellion. Dorn then reported that Garro had been detained at Terra’s starport and accused Horus of treason, leaving the Emperor and his court awaiting judgment.

• The Emperor ordered Valdor to take two thousand Adeptus Custodes and the Imperial Fists to Mars, prepare for a possible rebellion, and ready controlled weapons from the Imperial Palace Black Cells.
• Valdor departed the Throne Room as the Custodes and Imperial Fists began assembling and marching out.
• Dorn arrived and told the Emperor that Terra’s Defense Fleet had intercepted a Death Guard warship trying to enter without authorization.
• Dorn reported that the detained ship’s commander was Garro of the Death Guard’s Seventh Company.
• Dorn revealed that Garro had claimed the Warmaster had turned traitor, and the Emperor remained silent as the Throne Room awaited his judgment.

Garro arrived in the Solar System aboard the Eisenstein and told Sigismund that Horus had rebelled. Rogal Dorn ordered Garro to board the Phalanx alone and unarmed, leaving Garro to surrender his power sword.

• Garro brought the Eisenstein into the Solar System and was challenged by Sigismund for lacking authorization to approach Terra.
• Garro told Sigismund that Horus and the Sons of Horus had betrayed the Imperium and were hunting Loyalist legions.
• Garro asked Sigismund to relay the news to Dorn and said he needed to report to the Emperor in person.
• As the Eisenstein neared Terra's starport, Imperial Fists battleships surrounded it and aimed their macro-cannons at the ship.
• Rogal Dorn ordered Garro to dock alongside the Phalanx and come aboard alone without weapons, threatening to treat him as a traitor if he disobeyed.
• Garro unfastened the power sword at his waist.

Garro told Rogal Dorn that Horus Lupercal would rebel, but Dorn refused to believe that the Warmaster could betray the Emperor. The chapter ended with Dorn pinning Garro against a wall with a running Chainsword and demanding to know what should be done with him.

• Imperial Fists guards escorted Garro, stripped of his weapons, into the Phalanx's Command Room before Rogal Dorn.
• Dorn considered Garro's warning an insult to Horus and the Primarchs' brotherhood, but questioned him before acting.
• Dorn gave Garro another chance to reconsider and asked who intended to rebel.
• Garro repeated that Horus Lupercal, lord of the XVI Legion, would rebel.
• Dorn roared that the Warmaster would not betray, then drew his Chainsword and drove Garro against a wall.
• Dorn demanded to know what he should do with Garro while Garro stood trapped beneath the weapon.

Dorn attacked Garro for accusing Horus of betrayal, then ordered Sigismund to impound the Eisenstein and said he would report the matter to Father. Alone afterward, Dorn admitted he had wanted to kill Garro but suppressed the impulse and left to tell Father what had happened.

• Dorn pinned Garro against the Command Room wall and crushed his breastplate while condemning him for slandering Horus.
• Dorn released Garro and ordered Sigismund to impound the Eisenstein, leaving Father to decide Garro's fate.
• Sigismund handcuffed Garro and escorted him from the Command Room.
• Alone, Dorn reflected that he had genuinely wanted to kill Garro but had restrained himself.
• Dorn left to tell Father about the confrontation.

Dorn reported Garro’s warning to the Emperor, who revealed that Horus was not the only Primarch to rebel. The Emperor ordered Dorn to prepare for war, and Dorn left to carry out the command.

• Dorn told the Emperor everything Garro had said and stated that he did not believe Horus would betray them.
• The Emperor warned Dorn that his admiration for Horus had clouded his judgment.
• The Emperor connected Fabricator-General Utio’s rebellion on Mars to a wider conspiracy and led Dorn to realize that multiple Primarchs had rebelled.
• The Emperor ordered Dorn to prepare for war, and Dorn left the Throne Room to act.
• Malcador watched Dorn depart, then followed him out through a side door.

Malcador told Dorn he would use the Officio Assassinorum alongside the Adeptus Custodes to eliminate Utio and limit damage on Mars. He then tested Dorn’s loyalty to the Imperium and, satisfied by his answer, withdrew the hidden forces watching him.

• Malcador offered Dorn a contingent from the Officio Assassinorum to support a precise operation against the rebellion on Mars.
• Dorn understood that the plan was to kill Utio and keep the conflict from becoming a large-scale war.
• Malcador asked Dorn whether Horus had been right to rebel, and Dorn vowed to defend Terra regardless.
• Malcador’s concealed Officio Assassinorum and Adeptus Custodes withdrew their weapons and traps after Dorn passed the test.

Garro was released from the dungeon and reunited with the rearmed warriors of the Death Guard's Seventh Company as Sigismund told him they were going to Mars on a secret mission. The chapter left Garro awaiting the assault on Fabricator-General Utio's stronghold at Olympus Mons, where the Imperium planned a three-tiered attack led by assassins, Custodes, and Imperial Fists.

• An Imperial Fists warrior freed Garro from his cell and escorted him to the assembly area.
• Sigismund told Garro that the rearmed Death Guard warriors were preparing to go to Mars on a secret mission.
• The Imperium's plan identified Fabricator-General Utio at Olympus Mons and aimed to eliminate the rebellion's command structure while preserving Mars's industry.
• The Officio Assassinorum were assigned to infiltrate Olympus Mons and assassinate Utio before he could mobilize his forces.
• If the assassination failed, Valdor would lead two thousand Adeptus Custodes in an assault, with the Imperial Fists reserved to intervene if that also failed.