A large fleet lay hidden within a vast artificial asteroid belt and clouds of stellar mist. Its supplies were disguised as asteroids; spherical transports more than ten kilometers across could carry considerable amounts of materiel.
The defining trait of the Alpha Legion rebels' main fleet was patience-extreme patience. Agents embedded in the Deathwatch and various Chapters supplied them with a steady stream of intelligence.
"They still haven't received word about the Nightveil?"
"The expeditionary fleet hasn't changed course at all. Should we send it again?"
"At this distance, their Astropaths should be able to receive that psychic signal... Send it again, just to be safe."
Was the Psyker's prophecy wrong?
Decades earlier, their Psykers had foreseen another Great Crusade by the Imperium. They had begun planning while the Imperium was still busy dealing with the aftermath of Abaddon's Fourteenth Crusade.
Everything had gone smoothly.
What they had not anticipated was that the army led by the Raven Guard would not come.
The forces led by Omega had sabotaged the Raptor Project. From then on, the Raven Guard and the Alpha Legion had been mortal enemies. The Raven Guard pursued them more ruthlessly than anyone else, and years of war had driven the Alpha Legion rebels to seek every opportunity to destroy them.
The Alpha Legion committed fully to its deception. It dispatched a "plausible" prospecting ship from a plausible colony world. The Psyker aboard discovered this place, then transmitted a signal before being killed by the "Night Lords."
The Nightveil was still here, though a few strange ships had appeared to repair the Gloriana-class Battleship.
The unpredictable Warp had failed to deliver that message to the Light of the People. Everyone had prepared for the possibility that the enemy had already left.
The Night Lords were, in fact, the Legion