Segmentum Pacificus, as its name suggested, was anything but pacific.
It lay too close to the Solar Sanctum. The Imperium's finest forces could reach it very quickly.
That did not mean humanity was in its element here. For human habitation, Segmentum Pacificus had far too many death worlds. Vast stretches of dead space left the region divided into scattered pockets.
Humans being unable to live there did not mean xenos could not survive in those dead regions. Even the Inquisition probably had no idea what enemies lurked in those death zones, where few exploration teams ever ventured.
To the Imperium, Segmentum Pacificus was a patchwork of small colonial enclaves.
Those near the Solar Sanctum occasionally rebelled over exorbitant taxes, while those farther away enjoyed considerable autonomy. Rebellion followed them like a shadow all the same.
Lian Leilo operated at the farthest reach of the Astronomican's light in this region, practically on the Galaxy's outer rim. His campaigns were as sweeping and tumultuous as those of the Great Crusade.
Lian Leilo did not imitate Evan the way Anthony did, nor was he a "Chapter Master" of William's grand vision and strategic genius. He was a man of ambition.
Compared with the other leaders of the Crimson Tide, he seemed rather obscure, tasked as he was with guarding their "home." But that certainly did not mean he was any less capable.
After the Great Rift disappeared, Lian Leilo surveyed his surroundings and found powerful enemies on every side. Xenos strongholds held a stranglehold on the Dead Planet's bastion of despair and the strategic choke points of the Warp routes. His war was difficult, his progress slow.
When that unfamiliar Forge World began trading with Lian Leilo, the surrounding powers believed he had become another piece on this great chessboard. Instead, he flipped