The Crimson Tide warriors over in T'au territory had yet to realize that the Emperor's Astronomican had once again lit up the galaxy.
T'au territory had always been beyond the Emperor's Astronomican. The Imperium had no time to administer the Crimson Tide's territory, either.
The Provisional Second Segmentum Pacificus was an exclave.
During more than a century of war, the regions near the Great Rift and the parts of Segmentum Pacificus bordering our territory had all fallen.
And vast swathes of them had fallen, at that.
Between the territory we controlled and the territory held by the Imperium lay a tangled patchwork of rebel worlds, Ork planets, worlds overrun by Chaos, worlds that had regressed after extensive Drukhari raids...
For the Imperium to reconquer those worlds and regain control of fringe worlds like ours would take a conservative estimate of two hundred years, just like the Indomitus Crusade.
Without being conservative, the Imperium would never fight its way here at all.
The Three Hundred Worlds on the T'au side were somewhat better off. Although huge numbers of Orks, Tyranids, and Necrons had stalled the Astartes' advance, a small part of T'au territory here lay in the northern reaches of the ancient Ultramarines' Five Hundred Worlds.
The home of our great Lord Regent Guilliman, the very heart of his power base.
Though he currently had no time to deal with it.
Langjuxu... no one had bothered with it for who knew how many years anyway.
For the time being, the Chapter was still safe...
Pah! We were Astartes fighting where the Imperium could not reach! We were loyal guardians of humanity, the Light of Humanity in the darkest regions!
(Jaghatai Khan: Mm, my boys were as outstanding as ever. Floor it!)
Tell me loud and clear! What was our goal?
**Liberate