Just as Dorn boarded the Titan Ship to begin studying those ancient technologies.
The war between the Men of Iron and the Necrons was reaching fever pitch.
The Milky Way, once a brilliant sea of stars, was now being torn apart by an older, colder light.
Inside the observation dome of an Imperial outpost on the edge of the Ultima Segmentum, a Tech-Priest's bionic eyes flashed a dangerous red under the overload of data.
The screen showed neither Chaos warbands nor tides of Orks, but a terrifying sight beyond mortal comprehension.
An ever-expanding "living shadow" that devoured starlight was using billions of slender metallic tendrils to tear a Necron warship apart as brutally as ripping paper. The erupting energy streams warped the fabric of nearby reality, making the stars' positions jump wildly across the observation screen.
Several light-years away, a dying star was crushed by an invisible giant hand. Its remains were fashioned into a cold tombstone and hurled into deep space with devastating kinetic force—the Star Eater was roaring.
The alerts received by the Departmento Munitorum on Terra recorded still more terrifying disasters.
In a short span of time, more than seventeen hundred brief, violent flashes erupted across the Milky Way. Each meant the complete annihilation of a planet, or even information itself. Their energy readings rivalled supernova explosions, yet contained pure artificial intent.
"Omnissiah preserve us..."
The Priest's binary prayers trembled.
They called this war the "Ironbone Era."
An all-out war sparked by the Men of Iron confronting the Necrons.
The Imperium? In this struggle between ancient behemoths, it was nothing more than an ant beneath their feet.
Unease spread through the hearts of every high-ranking Imperial official who knew the truth.
At the edge of the Sautekh Dynasty's territory.
A vast armada consisting of thirty Glorious Conqueror-class