Segmentum Solar was in utter chaos. With so many of Terra's administrators conscripted into the militia, the processing of official business had slowed considerably.
Those actually in power struggled to keep abreast of events within the Solar Sanctum.
No one knew that Alpharius had teleported aboard the Krieg transport. The Astropaths had sent no message.
The Primarch was outrageously brazen now. However superhuman a Primarch might be, he could never withstand warship-grade attacks; a single Macro-cannon hit really could kill him. But after imitating the Lion's warp essence... Ha! I can hide in the misty forest.
He wasn't afraid in the slightest.
The ships were nearly ready to deploy their troops by then. There were no Escort Ships at all; they had already begun providing suppressive fire against the surface.
He whisked the ship away.
The identification code he transmitted carried a terrifyingly high rank.
Alpharius guided the Navigator into the Warp, giving her quite a fright.
She was already panicking because she could no longer sense the God-Emperor's light. Then a son of God personally directed her navigation. Was he trying to get her killed?
Navigating for a Primarch-where were they going? What sort of battlefield awaited them? Would she ever come back?
The Navigator nearly suffered a mental breakdown.
Several weeks later, the ship passed through a succession of destroyed checkpoints and entered the Solar System.
Almost as soon as it entered, debris nearly punched through the transport. The Mandeville Point was littered with shattered Ork ships, along with shells fired over ten days, or even several months, earlier.
They drifted through the Solar System, while gunfire from the directions of Mars and Jupiter severely disrupted the reinforcement fleets arriving behind them.
Nearby, Pluto's fortress lay silent. Its moon Charon had vanished entirely, and the surrounding battle