News that the Alpha Legion had mobilized in force alarmed not only the Officio Assassinorum and the Inquisition. Evan also found it troublesome.
Evan had no idea whether these Alpha Legion forces were loyalists or traitors. His instincts told him this was no small raid to exploit the chaos, but a major, Legion-scale offensive.
Had one of their Librarians gone off the rails and foreseen Guilliman's movements?
Impossible. Tzeentch couldn't read the thoughts of the other Dark Gods' Greater Daemons. Otherwise, he wouldn't have failed to predict Skarbrand's movements, and all sorts of "Greater Daemons" wouldn't have kept disrupting his plans.
The Twentieth Legion had appeared in a highly suspicious location. Seizing the moment when the First Expeditionary Force could not turn back, they drove deep into Imperial territory, straight toward a Forge World.
The Crimson Tide Main Battlefield had seen seven consecutive defeats. The First Expeditionary Force encountered fewer and fewer "damaged ships," while Evan increased his forces and reduced their visible footprint, gradually misleading his opponents.
Evan feared that the Alpha Legion's reported route was false. They excelled at spreading disinformation. If their real objective was to outflank the Dark Angels, the First Expeditionary Force's retreat would be cut off.
That made things difficult. Evan had to inflict what appeared to be devastating losses on the First Expeditionary Force, while leaving it fully capable of turning around and charging straight at the Alpha Legion to give them a beating.
He immediately ordered warships to lie in ambush at the next battlefield. Their concealment had to be carefully balanced: half were to be discovered by the First Expeditionary Force, while the other half remained hidden.
After months of continuous fighting, several doubts had surfaced within the Dark Angels. Many suspected an ambush lay ahead, but Warp travel through Ghoul