A vast soul storm swept across the Ultramarines' Five Hundred Worlds, cutting off all communications.
If you asked how we knew, that brought us to the "T'au" method of communication: courier ships racing through realspace to deliver messages.
The Great Thousand World made no response. Evan judged that the enemy wanted to force Guilliman, who was organizing a crusade on Terra, to return, then infiltrate the Departmento Munitorum to disrupt the crusade or intercept and kill Guilliman en route.
Evan believed that the champion Felix, stationed in the Five Hundred Worlds, could handle the enemy, so he ordered the troops to keep watching and stick to the original expansion plan.
Then we learned that Felix had fallen in battle.
Too few Ultramarines remained in the Five Hundred Worlds. Calgar had taken the main force to Terra, and the remaining Ultramarines activated their reserve program, immediately producing two hundred neophytes. But the Chaos warlord's veterans routed them with ease.
When Evan learned this, he suddenly realized that the Imperium probably could not provide support in time. They likely had not even received the news yet. The Emperor might send Guilliman a dream, but mobilizing the army would take too long.
The reconnaissance troops had brought no word of which faction the Chaos Warriors belonged to, but Evan still prepared to lend support.
The main forces of the Ten Chapters were all in the Calixis Sector. The Great Thousand World had only a little over six thousand warriors from four Chapters.
If they were to preserve the original plan, at least three thousand warriors had to remain to ensure the Great Thousand World could fight the monsters lurking in the dark regions.
That was also what Evan wanted. He left Vlorus in command of the garrison, the Light of Redemption Chapter, and