Recaps

After Lox and Dantioch stabilized Dorn and Perturabo’s temporal disorder, Dantioch declared that the Steel of Nirvana had severed its ties to Perturabo and the Iron Warriors. Lox proposed accelerating Perturabo’s temporal punishment to send him and Dorn back toward the War in Heaven era, and the group prepared to attempt the journey.

• Guilliman reunited with the time-lost Dorn and child-sized Perturabo, while Sigismund and Dantioch greeted their gene-fathers.
• Lox and Dantioch used their powers to suppress Dorn and Perturabo’s unstable temporal states.
• Dantioch rejected Perturabo and introduced himself as the first Legion Master of the Steel of Nirvana, leaving Perturabo devastated.
• Dorn explained that the Imperium had survived the Ork Emperor’s war and defended Perturabo’s chance at redemption.
• Lox explained that Perturabo’s accumulated temporal punishment could be exhausted by triggering a massive time jump, potentially reaching the War in Heaven era.
• Lox chose Dorn, Perturabo, Dantioch, and Trazyn to make the journey, while Guilliman stayed behind to await their return.

Lox and his companions traveled through time to the War in Heaven, where they witnessed the Ancient Ones’ allies preparing for battle and were brought before an Old One. Qua welcomed them as humans from the future timeline.

• Lox, Dantioch, Perturabo, Dorn, and Trazyn used Perturabo’s spacetime distortion and the ancient Ork remains as an anchor to travel back to the War in Heaven.
• The group arrived on a planet in a galaxy far richer in stars than their own era, and Trazyn described the war’s immense scale and the eventual fates of the Ancient Ones, C’tan, Necrons, and Aeldari.
• Lox and the others watched ancient Aeldari and Krorks build a Blackstone network that removed the veil between the Warp and the material universe.
• Lance and his Aeldari companions found the concealed travelers with a compass and invited them to meet their Sage.
• Lox accepted the invitation, and the group was teleported to a palace where the Old One Qua greeted them as humans from the future timeline.

Lox and his companions met the Old One Qua, who explained the ancient war, treated Perturabo, and answered Trazyn’s questions about the Necrontyr’s origins and the Old Ones’ refusal to help them. As Qua began offering the travelers gifts, a Necron fleet led by a World Engine arrived, and Qua ordered the Orks to prepare for battle.

• Qua welcomed Lox and his companions, explained how both sides used prophecy during the war, and said the future held many possible outcomes.
• Qua recognized Perturabo’s injuries from the Hrud and healed the damage caused by their entropic rays.
• Qua reacted with alarm when Lox showed him the Emperor, then took away the ancient Krork remains and accepted Trazyn’s account of the AllSpark.
• Qua told Lox that the Old Ones had visited another universe and explained why they had refused the Necrontyr’s request for help, blaming them for unleashing the C’tan and worsening the galaxy’s plight.
• Qua said the Primarchs’ time-anchor problem had been mostly resolved and offered the travelers gifts, but Necron warships and a World Engine appeared in the system.
• Qua went to the command center and ordered an Ork commander to prepare for war.

Lox and Dorn witnessed a devastating War in Heaven battle as the Necrons and the Old Ones’ Aeldari and Krork forces fought across a star system. After Khaine drove back the C’tan Ashudra and the system was destroyed, Qua explained why the Old Ones remained to resist the Necrons and Chaos, then offered Lox help with the Webway.

• The Necrons attacked an Old Ones system, and the allied Aeldari and Krork used a stellar psychic array to destroy repeated fleets before the Necrons finally destroyed the array.
• The battle shifted to the World Engine, where Krork infiltrated its surface and Aeldari attacked its facilities, but the C’tan Ashudra arrived and overwhelmed the allied forces.
• The Aeldari summoned Khaine, who drove Ashudra away and split the World Engine, though the system was left devastated and Qua evacuated his surviving forces.
• Qua brought Lox and the other visitors to another system and explained that the Old Ones fought to keep the Warp from consuming the universe, despite expecting to lose the war.
• Lance warned Lox to be wary of future Eldar allies, and Qua offered to teach him methods for constructing and repairing the Webway.

Lox and his companions returned from the War in Heaven carrying the Old One Qua’s Webway knowledge and a crystal that could let humanity control Orks. Back in their own era, Dorn reunited with Guilliman and Vulkan, while Lox called for a discussion about the Imperium’s future.

• Qua gave Lox the knowledge needed to construct and maintain the Webway, urging humanity to continue the fight against Chaos.
• Qua gave Lox a waaagh-energy crystal that could help control the Ork Emperor or let a human command Orks, and explained that Gork and Mork might support the plan.
• Qua sent Lox, Dorn, Perturabo, and their companions back to their own timeline as he reflected on humanity’s possible role in fate.
• Lox and the others returned to the Ork palace, where the Ultramarines and Black Templars gathered around them.
• Guilliman and Vulkan welcomed Dorn back, and Dorn asked them to give Perturabo a chance to atone.
• Lox interrupted the reunion and announced that he had obtained something important to discuss for the Imperium and humanity’s future.

Lox revealed that the Old Ones had given humanity Webway repair knowledge and a potential way to control the Orks, prompting the primarchs to consider Vulkan as the best candidate to wield Waaagh energy. The discussion was interrupted by Malcador’s sudden return, and Guilliman confronted him before allowing him to explain the Emperor’s mission aboard the Emperor's Wrath.

• Dorn ordered the Black Templars to withdraw and rebuked them for ignoring Guilliman’s commands.
• Lox told Guilliman, Vulkan, and the others that the Old Ones had granted humanity Webway repair technology and explained that the Tuchulcha Engine, Ouroboros, and Plagueheart could form a Webway tunneling machine.
• Lox revealed that the Old Ones had given them a way to control the Greenskin Orks, and the primarchs weighed the risks of making an Ork Emperor or using a primarch as the vessel for Waaagh energy.
• Dorn, Perturabo, and Lox agreed that Vulkan was the safest candidate to control the Orks, though Vulkan hesitated to accept the responsibility.
• Lox sensed a Warp fluctuation and attacked the hidden figure in the Ork palace, revealing Malcador beneath a psychic shield.
• Guilliman attacked Malcador in anger, but Lox calmed him, and the group returned to the Emperor's Wrath to hear Malcador explain his absence and the Emperor’s mission.

Malcador revealed that the Emperor had tasked him with recovering Draconyen, a daemon capable of grievously wounding the Emperor, as part of a plan to free the Emperor from the Golden Throne and keep the Dark King contained by creating a God-Emperor. He then joined Lox and the Primarchs in addressing the Imperium’s internal crisis, while Valdor’s mission remained unknown.

• Malcador explained that the Emperor had given his closest agents secret missions to oppose the Dark King, while keeping the Primarchs uninformed because their loyalty could be exploited.
• Malcador summoned a projection of Draconyen, described how it had wounded the Emperor during the Webway War, and revealed that he had recovered it so he could kill the Emperor if necessary.
• Malcador outlined the plan to use the Emperor’s death to gather humanity’s faith into a God-Emperor, balancing the Emperor and the Dark King and allowing the Emperor to leave the Golden Throne.
• Malcador said Valdor’s mission was independent and unknown to him, and explained that he had revealed himself after Lox and the Primarchs defeated the Ghoul Ork Empire.
• Guilliman and Malcador discussed removing Elfreda and curbing the High Lords’ power, while Malcador’s gaze made Guilliman suspect that he might be pushed toward becoming Imperial Regent.

After the Ork Empire’s defeat, Lox and the Primarchs established the Deathwatch and traveled to Macragge, where Guilliman returned to a jubilant welcome. His reunion with his adoptive mother, Lady Tarasha Euten, ended with her noticing his white hair.

• Malcador mourned the failed Webway Project, while Lox argued that knowledge from the Old Ones could help humanity attempt it again.
• Guilliman took responsibility for the Ork homeworld, and the Primarchs approved a campaign to cleanse the Ghoul Stars and let the Ashen Claws remain as its guardians.
• Guilliman placed a thousand Ultramarines under Zoey Shrike and proposed founding the Deathwatch, which the Legions supported with troops of their own.
• Lox, Malcador, Guilliman, and the returning forces traveled to Macragge, where Guilliman arranged a grand victory celebration for the gathered Primarchs and citizens.
• Guilliman reunited with Lady Tarasha Euten, who welcomed him home, placed a victory wreath on him, and remarked that his hair had turned white.

At Macragge’s triumphal ceremony, Guilliman and Lox revealed the captured Beast and chose to preserve it because Vulkan might wield Waaagh energy and become a new Ork Emperor. Qile then presented the Imperial Cult’s crisis to the primarchs and Legion representatives, seeking their support for the Alliance of Light against Alfreda.

• Lady Yvonn reunited with Guilliman and welcomed Lox, then embraced Dorn, Vulkan, and Perturabo during the ceremony.
• Lox and Dantioch displayed the crippled Beast to Macragge’s citizens, while Lox and Guilliman decided not to execute it because it might be useful if Vulkan controlled Waaagh energy.
• The week-long triumphal ceremony spread across Ultramar’s Five Hundred Worlds, and Guilliman’s primarchs prepared to address the Ecclesiarchy’s internal conflict.
• Guilliman and the assembled primarchs and Legion representatives received Qile at the Fortress of Hera, where she described Alfreda’s coup, purges, and persecution of believers.
• Dorn demanded an explanation from Sigismund for neglecting Terra while searching for him, and Lox intervened to defend Sigismund.
• Qile explained that she had formed the Alliance of Light and asked the primarchs and Legion representatives to support it against Alfreda.

Qile won public support from ten loyal legions and the returned Malcador for her Alliance of Light, while warning that war with Terra’s Ecclesiarchy was unavoidable. On Mustafar, Vulkan began fusing with a Waaagh! energy crystal and found himself battling Gork and Mork in their divine realm as the experiment continued.

• Qile revealed the Ecclesiarchy’s oppressive religious taxes, corruption, and brutal practices, persuading the primarchs and legion representatives to publicly support the Alliance of Light.
• Malcador appeared at the Macragge conference and added his support, helping the Alliance’s influence spread across the Imperium as Qile predicted a civil war.
• Lox and the others began the Waaagh! energy fusion experiment on Mustafar, with Vulkan volunteering to bear the crystal despite the risks.
• The crystal overwhelmed Vulkan’s body and drew his consciousness into a boundless green realm where he encountered Gork and Mork.
• Vulkan wrestled with the Ork gods, then tricked Gork into attacking Mork, buying time for the fusion to accelerate.

Vulkan survived fusing with the Old One WAAAGH energy crystal after Gork and Mork tested and blessed him in the Ork divine realm, awakening his Warp essence and a reality-altering power. Back on Mustafar, his presence summoned imprisoned Orks, who recognized him as their Emperor.

• Gork and Mork pursued Vulkan through the Ork divine realm, then poured their WAAAGH power into him after sensing his potential to become a god.
• Vulkan resisted the flood of Ork faith by clinging to his identity as the Emperor’s son and the genetic father of the Salamanders.
• Vulkan awoke in Mustafar’s ruined laboratory with dark-green skin and demonstrated that he could use Orkish “I reckon” power to assemble a working device from scrap.
• Guilliman and the others brought the Beast Warlord and imprisoned Orks to a testing ground, where Vulkan’s summons stirred the Orks’ dormant WAAAGH energy.
• The Beast Warlord and the assembled Orks recognized Vulkan as their Emperor and bowed before him.

Vulkan became the new Ork Emperor after the Beast and the Orks accepted his authority, allowing humanity to turn the Greenskins into allies and a potential weapon. Vulkan agreed to gather the scattered Ork tribes across the galaxy, despite the heavy responsibility and the possibility that Chaos would raise a rival emperor.

• Vulkan's WAAAGH energy altered the Orks' perceptions, and Gork and Mork appeared to the Beast and chose Vulkan as their new emperor.
• The Beast recovered his severed limbs and submitted to Vulkan, while the surrounding Orks also knelt and pledged loyalty.
• Lox persuaded the Beast that humanity could ally with the Orks, and Vulkan promised them weapons, fuel, and ammunition so they could fight endlessly.
• The Beast resisted Lox's arguments before finally kneeling and agreeing to obey Vulkan and live peacefully with humanity.
• Guilliman, Dorn, and Perturabo urged Vulkan to gather the scattered Ork tribes quickly, warning that the Chaos Gods might raise a rival Ork Emperor.
• Vulkan accepted the task of uniting the Ork tribes and forging them into a weapon for humanity.

Lox, Madam Euten, and Malcador discussed Guilliman’s devotion to Ultramar and Madam Euten’s mortal lifespan, then resolved to seek the Cabal’s technology to make her a Perpetual. Guilliman arrived, panicked at the thought of losing his mother, and vowed to search the galaxy for the Cabal.

• Lox and Madam Euten drank wine and discussed Guilliman’s love of governing Ultramar, while Malcador pretended not to hear them as he fished.
• Malcador caught a huge fish and explained that Vulkan had left Macragge to gather the Orks, whose strength could aid humanity.
• Madam Euten told Lox she wanted to face death naturally and asked him not to extend her life with further surgeries when the time came.
• Malcador revealed that the Cabal had used its technology to turn agents into Perpetuals, and Lox and Malcador decided to find the Cabal and use its technology for Madam Euten.
• Guilliman arrived, learned they might be able to prolong Madam Euten’s life, and begged Lox to help her.
• Guilliman promised to mobilize the Ultramarines and Ultramar’s Five Hundred Worlds to find the Cabal by negotiation or force.

Guilliman and Lox summoned Ferrus to meet the Iron Hands and explain why he had not returned to them. Ferrus revealed that his sons had taken his teachings in the wrong direction, leaving the Legion shaken and unsure whether they could change.

• Guilliman asked Malcador to summon Ferrus so he could address the Iron Hands in person, and Malcador used a ritual to call the Bound Legion to Macragge.
• Ferrus appeared before the Iron Hands, who learned that their gene-father still existed in the Bound Legion and knelt in joy at seeing him.
• Ferrus warned his sons that they could not join him by deliberately seeking death, after many of them considered dying as a way to follow him.
• Mel Ayan defended the Iron Hands’ doctrines of competition and mechanization, but Ferrus admitted he had planned to correct those beliefs before his death.
• The Iron Hands realized that the path they had followed for centuries was misguided, and Mel cried out in despair as they wondered whether they could return to flesh.

Ferrus confronted the Iron Hands over their extreme reliance on machinery and ordered them to limit further mechanization, while Lox proposed a compromise using engineered metal cells. Lox tested his new approach on Mel Ahn, whose body began transforming into a living fusion of flesh and metal.

• Mel Aen challenged Ferrus, defending the Iron Hands’ belief that machinery could overcome the weaknesses of human nature.
• Ferrus argued that spirit mattered more than metal or flesh and ordered new recruits to keep their left hands while veterans stopped further mechanical replacement.
• Lox proposed using engineered metal cells to let Iron Hands transform their bodies into metal without abandoning living tissue, and Trazyn supported the idea that neither flesh nor metal was inherently superior.
• Lox developed modified metal cells in Macragge City’s laboratory and Mel Ahn volunteered as the first test subject.
• Lox injected the cells into Mel Ahn, whose damaged body began rebuilding itself with living tissues that combined biological function and metallic strength.

Lox’s metal cells restored Mel Ayan and offered the Iron Hands a path beyond their self-destructive reliance on mechanical augmentation. A month later, Valdor returned to Macragge with the Emperor’s true names, revealing his role in the plan to kill the Emperor and awaken the human selves he had scattered through time.

• Lox’s metal cells regenerated Mel Ayan’s body and organs, letting him reshape his flesh and merge directly with his power armor.
• Ferrus and Mel thanked Lox, and the Iron Hands pledged to answer his call as the Legion reunited around its new path.
• Ferrus returned to the Warp, while the Legions departed Macragge using Ultramar’s space-bridge network; Lox and Guilliman discussed how the Terran Ecclesiarchy was delaying construction.
• Malcador summoned Lox, Guilliman, and Dorn after sending Lox the message that Valdor had returned, and Valdor told them he had completed his secret mission.
• Valdor revealed that he had collected the Emperor’s true names to use against the Dark King and, if the plan succeeded, to awaken the Emperor’s human selves scattered through time.

Malcador revealed that he had trapped Drach'nyen in a Haemonculus and planned to make Abaddon wield it as a weakened daemon sword, while Lox and the others prepared to free the Emperor. As the Ecclesiarchy's witch-hunt spread across the Imperium, Elfreda and the Living Saint decided that Mortarion should be burned as a sacrifice.

• Malcador showed Valdor and Lox Drach'nyen imprisoned inside a Haemonculus and explained that Abaddon would wield it as a daemon sword.
• Perturabo recalled how he had manipulated Abaddon into the Saturnine Wall ambush, convincing the others that Abaddon would be an ineffective master for Drach'nyen.
• Lox declared that the Alliance of Light and the Terran Ecclesiarchy would draw attention into a war of faith while the conspirators returned to Terra to free the Emperor.
• Elfreda's call to purify the faithful escalated into a witch-hunt, with Ecclesiarchy followers burning suspected heretics and illegal Psykers across human worlds.
• The Living Saint told Elfreda that the Emperor wanted Mortarion, a Primarch held in the Shadow Prison, burned as a sacrifice and redeemed through death.

Christine used a revelation from the Emperor to persuade Decian and the Custodians to hand Mortarion over to the Ecclesiarchy. Mortarion was removed from the Shadow Prison and delivered to Christine, who planned to burn her publicly on Terra.

• Elfreda approved Christine's plan to seize Mortarion, burn her as a traitor, and use the ritual to create a loyal Primarch for the Ecclesiarchy.
• Christine demanded that Decian release Mortarion, then entered the Throne Room and received an apparent command from the Emperor, convincing the Custodians to comply.
• Decian led the Custodians and Sisters of Silence to Mortarion's cell, subdued her with null fields and anesthetic, and locked her in a restrained adamantium coffin.
• The Custodians delivered Mortarion to Christine in a religious hall, and Christine announced that the Ecclesiarchy would publicly burn her on Terra.

Mortarion was handed over to the Ecclesiarchy, whose Living Saint Christine and Pontiff Alfreda publicly burned her as part of a ritual serving the Dark King. As the corrupting flames began to consume her, Uslan contacted Mortarion and offered to rescue her through the Webway if she agreed to become the Aeldari’s primarch; Mortarion accepted just before losing consciousness.

• The Custodian Tribune transferred Mortarion to Alfreda and Christine, while he returned to his post and left the Ecclesiarchy’s conflict to the mortals.
• Christine’s presence terrified Mortarion, and her despair stirred Nurgle, who sent daemons against the Dark King as Tzeentch, Khorne, and Slaanesh joined the unfolding conflict.
• Alfreda’s Ecclesiarchy displayed Mortarion in public and burned her before Terra’s High Lords and a vast audience, while Christine channeled believers’ faith into the Dark King.
• Christine’s golden flames turned black and began corrupting Mortarion, prompting Uslan to contact her through Isha’s power and offer a Webway escape.
• Uslan demanded that Mortarion become the Aeldari’s primarch, and Mortarion agreed as the corruption threatened to overwhelm her.

Mortarion escaped the Ecclesiarchy’s trial after the Laughing God and Uslan helped her deceive Living Saint Christine into believing she had been corrupted. She agreed to travel with the Aeldari and asked to see their Black Library.

• Mortarion swore an oath to cooperate with Ulthran, while the Laughing God and Ulthran planned to fake her corruption and rescue her during the trial.
• Mortarion stopped resisting the ritual, convincing Christine that she had been fully converted to the God-Emperor’s cause.
• After Christine released Mortarion, Mortarion’s apparent body crumbled into ash, revealing that she had escaped underground with Uslan.
• Christine pursued Mortarion through Terra’s pipelines, but the Laughing God opened a Webway rift and carried Mortarion and Uslan to safety.
• Mortarion recovered in the Webway, thanked Cegorach, and agreed to visit the Aeldari, asking to see the Black Library.

Qile’s Alliance of Light reached Dimarmal, where Missionary Sebastian Sol’s humble, egalitarian community pledged to resist the Terran Ecclesiarchy. As Terra’s crusade arrived, Qile and Living Saint Kristin prepared to fight for control of the system.

• Inquisitor Carter reported that Mortarion had escaped his execution on Terra, and Qile confirmed the news through intelligence from Loken and Garro.
• Qile called for the Ecclesiarchy’s corrupt leadership to be overthrown, while Alfrida ordered Christine to lead a crusade against the Alliance of Light.
• Qile’s fleet arrived at Dimarmal, where she discovered that its missionary, Sebastian Sol, had built a modest community without slums or extravagant religious displays.
• Qile and Sol agreed to defend Dimarmal together, and the Alliance prepared the system’s defenses while planning to win over reluctant Imperial troops.
• The Terran crusade arrived, and Qile ordered Garro to lead a boarding strike against its flagship after detecting Living Saint Kristin aboard.
• Kristin ordered the crusade fleet to engage the Alliance and personally led the Sisters of Battle toward Dimarmal’s surface to capture Qile.

The Alliance of Light and Terra Ecclesiarchy fleets began a deliberately restrained battle, but mutiny erupted among the requisitioned Imperial Navy crews as Grey Knights led by Loken teleported aboard Christine’s flagship. After Loken’s squad confronted Christine, they teleported to Dimarmar, where Qile fought the Living Saint and overcame her with Sebastian Thor’s power; Christine then sacrificed herself, unleashing a system-wide Warp storm.

• Qile ordered the Alliance of Light to engage the Terra Ecclesiarchy fleet, while Inquisitor Carter instructed its captains to target only ships that truly fought.
• An Ecclesiarchy priest shot an Imperial Navy captain, sparking a mutiny that spread through the requisitioned fleet.
• Loken and Garro led Grey Knights in a teleport assault on Christine’s flagship, where they fought through crusaders and Battle Sisters before confronting Christine.
• Loken identified Christine as the Living Saint of the Dark King and teleported the Grey Knights, Christine, and surviving Sisters to Dimarmar’s cathedral ruins.
• Qile transformed and battled Christine, while Sebastian Thor empowered her; Qile overwhelmed Christine, but Christine sacrificed herself and unleashed a Warp storm across the system.
• The Warp storm engulfed Dimarmar, forcing both fleets to cease fire and race toward the planet for shelter.

After Christine’s death unleashed a devastating Warp storm, Qile rallied Dimarmar’s frightened people and refused to evacuate without them. She led the united fleet into the storm and used the Emperor’s power to part it, opening a safe route toward Terra.

• Qile ordered warships to shelter near Dimarmar as the Warp storm corrupted vessels and plunged the system into darkness.
• Qile and Missionary Sol rallied millions of believers, while Loken and the Grey Knights joined them in resisting the Black King’s influence.
• Qile rejected Loken and Inquisitor Carter’s proposal to evacuate her alone and ordered all mortals on Dimarmar to board the ships.
• Sebastian Sol organized the evacuation, and most of Christine’s former forces joined Qile’s Alliance of Light as the fleet prepared to leave.
• Qile led the Emperor’s Light and the assembled fleet into the Warp storm, unleashing golden power that carved a safe passage toward Terra.

Qile led the Alliance of Light’s fleet through the Warp storm and safely toward Terra, though the ordeal left her near collapse. Meanwhile, Lox and Malcador prepared to lure Abaddon to Terra with Draconien so the Emperor could be freed from the Golden Throne.

• Qile used the Emperor’s power and the faith of millions to open a golden passage through the Warp storm, guiding the fleet out as Loken and Sol helped support her.
• After the final ship escaped, Qile’s light vanished and she collapsed into Loken’s arms; Sol ordered the fleet to continue toward Terra.
• Lox told Malcador, Guilliman, Dorn, and Perturabo that Qile’s pilgrimage was clear, while they secretly traveled from Macragge toward Terra disguised within a rogue trader fleet.
• Malcador explained that Abaddon had to obtain Draconien and try to kill the Emperor, but first needed to be lured to Terra.
• Malcador revealed that Grand Sage Ezekiel secretly supplied information to the Dark Mechanicum, and planned to plant clues that would lead him to believe Draconien was hidden in the Solar System.
• Lox and Malcador expected Ezekiel to pass the bait to Abaddon, who would bring his strongest forces to Terra and create the opening needed to free the Emperor.

Malcador’s Assassinorum planted encrypted references to Draconyen in Mars’s data networks to lure Magos Ezekiel into revealing the secret. After Ezekiel passed the information to Vashtorr, Vashtorr told Abaddon, who chose to gamble on an attack toward the Sol System and ordered a war council and preparations to find Draconyen.

• Malcador activated the Assassinorum’s Callidus and Vanus agents on Mars, and they secretly seeded encrypted Draconyen-related terms in the data network.
• Ezekiel discovered the anomalous data, solved its encryption, and recovered fragments identifying Draconyen as a threat to the Imperium whose containment involved the Sigillite.
• Ezekiel sent Vashtorr a concealed message saying the blade that could bring down the Emperor lay beneath the Golden Nest and that the key was already in their hands.
• Vashtorr possessed a Dark Mechanicum priest aboard the Vengeful Spirit and told Abaddon that Ezekiel had uncovered information about Draconyen.
• Abaddon weighed the possibility that the news was a trap against the chance to strike the Imperium, then decided to gamble on pursuing Draconyen.
• Abaddon ordered a war council, summoned Vashtorr to activate his hidden pawn on Mars, and demanded daemon engines at Vashtorr’s expense.