At the orders issued from Terra, the heart of the Imperium, countless Imperial fleets began withdrawing from worlds that had fallen and become lairs for Chaos Daemons.
The orders were soon carried to Segmentum Tempestus and Segmentum Obscurus by the Inquisition's tithe fleets.
Across the Ultima Segmentum, large numbers of Ultramarines had already reinforced more than sixty percent of its worlds.
Under the leadership of the Four Champions, most of the deceived Imperial administrators and numerous Planetary Lords had been rescued from those fallen worlds.
Meanwhile, in the portions of the Ultima Segmentum and the Eastern Fringe within the dark side, the fleets of the Men of Iron purging the Orks had not yet departed, so the disaster was largely contained within days of its outbreak.
The planets in the Ultima Segmentum that had yet to receive aid had almost all been completely occupied by daemons. In Calgar's judgment, even without orders from the Imperium, exterminatus was the only fate left for them.
As Chapter Master of the Ultramarines, Calgar had never lacked judgment.
Meanwhile, in the dark side, Dante of the Blood Angels had barely had time to react before the countless astropathic pleas for aid flooding the region fell completely silent within a few short days.
Only the Segmentum Departmento Munitorum offices in Segmentum Tempestus and Segmentum Obscurus expressed doubts about the order.
But faced with a document bearing the authority of numerous High Lords, Imperial Regent Guilliman, and the High Lord of the Inquisition, they still decided to carry out this brutally harsh directive.
Large numbers of troops still in transit were forcibly recalled to their garrisons.
They then began dealing with the various cult activities erupting on these worlds, which were of greater value to the Imperium.
The most rampant among them were the numerous Khorne