The vast fleet of the Alliance of Light crossed half the galaxy and broke through the barriers of devastating Warp storms before finally reaching the orbit of humanity's most sacred Throne World—Terra.
No matter how vast the Imperium of Man was or how long its history endured, Terra would always remain its most important origin.
After the postwar governance of Malcador and Guilliman, Terra had become even more prosperous than it had been before the Horus Heresy. Yet after the rise of the Terran Ecclesiarchy, that prosperity had gradually begun to change in nature.
Euphrati Keeler stood upon the bridge deck of the Emperor's Light, gazing through the enormous observation window at the homeworld below, shrouded in the clouds of war.
Her gaze pierced the void, as though she could sense the frenzied yet stubborn will to resist upon Terra's surface.
"Alfreda still chose to resist to the bitter end. She ordered all her guards to retreat into the Ecclesiarchy palaces on Terra, as well as several defense bases she can control."
"She has set her heart on fighting us in a positional war, using those modified fortresses and strongholds to delay our advance."
"They know we do not dare bombard Terra. If we did, the Imperial Fists and the Solar Auxilia defending Terra could not possibly remain indifferent. That would be the foolish act of driving them to the opposing side."
Keeler sighed mournfully. She grieved for those humans being used.
"Then we will crush their delusions with strength. It is merely a positional war. They do not have enough qualified soldiers, so they can only arm vast numbers of fanatical Ecclesiarchy believers and use them as cannon fodder to fill their defensive lines."
Loken looked at Terra with a complicated expression before speaking to Keeler.
A century ago,