Evan stood in a shattered corridor, surrounded by several sons of the Luna Wolves who watched the walls warily.
The Astral Claws veterans were formidable. They had fought in the Warp for nearly eight hundred years, and as Lufgt Huron's most trusted troops, they were all equipped as Chaos Terminators.
Huron was now a Chaos Lord second only to Abaddon, with vast numbers of troops and commanders under him. There were drawbacks, too. To Abaddon, Huron was merely the leader of a rabble.
A multitude of renegade Chapters and scattered defectors from various Legions had formed a bloated organization that put self-interest above everything.
In plain English, aside from the twenty-three Astral Claws veterans who had boarded, the other nearly four hundred attackers were comparatively weak.
As it happened, our Chapter's combat strength was pretty lousy, too. Most of its warriors were Primaris neophytes who still belonged to the Eleventh Company.
And so the battle gradually devolved into a brawl between amateurs, giving Evan a headache.
Our esteemed Chapter Master guarded the Engine Node in Heavy Armour, but soon lost patience and charged at the enemies appearing on the perimeter.
Getting a son of the White Scars to stand still on a battlefield was no easy task.
An Astral Claws Terminator led several renegade Sons of Guilliman in an assault on the Communications Node ahead. Mortals were mercilessly torn apart, and the neophytes rushing to their aid were disemboweled by the Terminator. Only when our own First Company veterans arrived did the situation begin to turn around.
Evan suddenly appeared behind the enemy with a huge shield on his back and tore a Chaos Sorcerer apart in a single strike. The enemy leader turned and began casting.
He was a son of the Word Bearers, a Librarian. That was not