Most astonishing of all, Alpharius would often pause the workings of his superhuman brain to seriously consider this mortal's blunt, simplistic "sewer logic"-and actually weave it into his flawless tactical network, achieving unexpected results.
At first, the proud Space Marines of the Alpha Legion had looked down on these crude, noisy mortals who fought without the slightest trace of dignity.
That lasted until a desperate battle to hold back a xenos Tyranid Swarm. When an Alpha Legion squad became trapped in the Venom Swamp, Eli led his brothers through the pouring toxic rain, dug through the swamp with the most primitive entrenching tools, and formed a bridge with their bodies, carrying out the very Space Marines who had scorned them.
At that moment, every Space Marine of the Alpha Legion understood the Primarch's intent.
These mortals had no superpowers, no genetic enhancements, and even their tactical competence was an utter shambles.
But they possessed what the Alpha Legion lacked most: the warmth of those who, even while struggling through the mud, were still willing to reach out to the comrades beside them.
After years of drifting among the stars and ceaselessly infiltrating intelligence networks, the Alpha Legion's tangled web of information-so vast that even they occasionally shuddered at it-finally caught an almost imperceptible ripple at a set of deathly coordinates somewhere on the Galactic Edge.
When Alpharius's superhuman brain finally deciphered that string of garbled data, the star map pointed to a remote planet that even the Imperium's Astropaths were unwilling to look upon.
It was a death world wholly occupied by the Slaugth xenos. The Slaugth were horrific beings shaped like enormous maggots, feeding on the brains and suffering of intelligent creatures. Wherever they gathered, even Orks felt an instinctive revulsion.
And Alpharius's twin brother, Omegon, missing for so