For Abaddon, the Dark Templars boarding his ships had been something of a surprise, but it had still fallen within his expectations. Even if the boarders had not been Dark Templars, they might have been Astartes from the Deathwatch, the Dark Angels, or some other Chapter.
And the ever-victorious Warmaster had no fear of such petty tricks.
The Dark Angels fleet that had been tracking him all along was far more troublesome.
Yet just as the Plague Fleet was about to reach its first rendezvous point, more unexpected news reached Abaddon's flagship.
The Arks of Omen that had taken a Warp Route ahead to set an ambush had encountered an unexpected enemy.
They had come under heavy attack from the Necrons.
Worse still, these Necrons were far more troublesome than those found elsewhere.
The Thokt Dynasty here had suffered a collective aberration during its long slumber. Its members had contracted a strange plague known as the flayer virus.
This virus originated from a C'tan named C'tan the Flayer Llandu'gor. During an act of betrayal by the Necrons, they had mistakenly increased their weapons' energy output too far, causing Llandu'gor to die outright rather than shatter into fragments.
The resentment and curse born of that death had ultimately become the flayer virus.
In the end, the Necrons here had succumbed completely to the flayer virus. They constantly craved to strip the skin from other species and adorn themselves with it, and were therefore also known as the "Bone Kingdom."
Thokt's overlord, Valgûl, was the only being immune to infection by the flayer virus. He was known as the "King of the Flayed" and the "Lord of the Lost."
Moreover, the Ghoul Stars had been a place of exile for the Necrons since ancient times.
They had accepted Necron rebels and dissidents