Menshilo Gulf----
The fighting here had ended completely. Even the enormous Battle Planet Asdenak had departed.
Only a few salvage crews were still at work, searching for potentially valuable objects and remains. The occasional fighting was merely warships hunting down pirates.
Yes, word of the battle at Menshilo Gulf had spread long ago. Once the Great Devourer lost control, everything connected to the Tyranids in the star system began appearing on the black market.
For instance, Imperial Nobles wanted to buy a few Genestealers, which no one had previously dared touch, or Tyranid Warriors and the like, to keep for their amusement.
Where there was demand, there was a market. Pirates began appearing frequently, and the pressure on Dawn Army patrols suddenly surged.
Now they could only ensure that the wreck of the Ancient Ship would not be casually plundered. The Tyranid bioships around its perimeter had all but become a feast for marauding pirates.
However, scans by the Adeptus Mechanicus and reports from patrol soldiers revealed that Aeldari had begun sneaking into the Ancient Ship. These Aeldari clearly wanted no trouble. They had not killed any human soldiers they encountered, merely knocking them unconscious or using psyker power to slip past them.
Investigations by the Inquisitors, however, found that these Aeldari were not acting on orders from the Craftworld Aeldari. They had been dispatched by the Imperium's Rogue Traders.
Had the Dawn Army not still commanded respect after crushing the Tyranids, those Rogue Traders would probably have sent troops in to loot the place outright.
Yet the most furious party was not the Thunderhawk Empire, but the Inquisition on Terra.
Thunderhawk's longstanding openness toward technology had already made its reputation known throughout the Imperium's various Adeptus Mechanicus orders.
Since the Horus Heresy, the "Adeptus Mechanicus" in the broader sense