Chapter Summaries

Commander Qingxi, possessing Shadowsun’s body, launched the first phase of her trap against Admiral Yanis’s fleet inside the nebula. Electromagnetic attacks crippled Imperial sensors, communications, and shields, leaving the fleet in chaos as Yanis tried to restore control.

• Aun'Ve and Shadowsun watched the Imperial fleet halt from Viola Academy’s tactical simulation core.
• Shadowsun began phase one of the operation.
• Millions of T'au smart mines and suicide drones emerged from the nebula and detonated against the fleet’s Void Shields, unleashing electromagnetic pulses.
• The pulses disabled Imperial auspex arrays and communications and overloaded the fleet’s shields.
• Imperial ships fired blindly, drifted, and collided as Admiral Yanis ordered them to restart backup power and switch to manual control.

Shadowsun’s second phase unleashed a stellar plasma torrent against the Imperial Fleet, devastating its ships until Saul shielded the Blade of Sorrow and the Lamenters’ inner battle group. The fleet survived the three-minute coronal mass ejection, and Admiral Yanis recognized Saul as a Living Saint.

• Shadowsun ordered phase two, and hundreds of Orbital Mirrors focused starlight on an unstable sunspot in the Viola Star.
• The focused energy triggered a massive coronal mass ejection that swept toward the Imperial Fleet.
• The plasma torrent vaporized outer Imperial ships and overwhelmed the shields and armor of the fleet’s larger vessels.
• As the Blade of Sorrow faced destruction, Saul raised a golden psychic shield around it and the Lamenters’ principal warships.
• Saul held the shield against the stellar torrent for three minutes as Cardinal Geni proclaimed a miracle and Admiral Yanis called him a Living Saint.

Saul’s golden shield saved part of the Imperial Fleet from the coronal storm, but Shadowsun launched a suicide fleet that destroyed many damaged Imperial ships and formed a debris belt around Viola Prime. Saul ordered an assault through the debris, and the surviving transports began a suicidal landing wave to clear a path for the Adeptus Astartes.

• Saul held back the coronal storm with a golden shield, leaving him exhausted while much of the Imperial Fleet was destroyed or crippled.
• Shadowsun ordered phase three, sending thousands of explosive-laden T'au ships to ram the immobilized Imperial warships.
• The suicide attacks created a debris belt around Viola Prime that blocked safe orbits, precision bombardment, and ordinary landings.
• Saul declared that the Imperials would descend to the planet and ordered an all-out assault.
• Lord General Gage ordered the surviving transports to form the first landing wave and carve a path for the Adeptus Astartes.

Saul and tens of thousands of Space Marines descended onto Viola while Astra Militarum transports were destroyed by the planet’s air defenses. After establishing a beachhead, Saul and his forces prepared to face an approaching T'au army whose equipment was unexpectedly bizarre.

• Viola’s air defenses destroyed many transports, costing General Gage more than thirty percent of his mortal airborne forces.
• Saul ended the transports’ sacrifice and led tens of thousands of Space Marines in an anti-gravity descent through the barrage.
• The Space Marines landed across Viola, crushing anti-air defenses and launching assaults on T'au positions.
• Saul ordered his forces to establish a beachhead, sending the White Scars to scout and leading the Black Templars as the spearhead.
• A mass of unusually equipped T'au soldiers emerged from a fortress city, surprising the waiting Space Marines.

Viola’s Fire Warriors launched a close-range assault on the Imperial lines with overclocked Pulse Shotguns, explosive grenades, and bayonets, killing Space Marines in the trenches. A young Lamenter avenged his fallen instructor, but more Fire Warriors kept flooding out of the city ruins as the battle became a brutal meat grinder.

• Viola’s Fire Warriors charged the Space Marines with modified Pulse Shotguns and killed a Black Templars battle-brother with a plasma blast.
• The Fire Warriors threw explosive grenades into the Imperial trenches, knocking Space Marines down with the blasts.
• Viola’s Fire Warriors stabbed fallen Space Marines through gaps in their armour and overwhelmed a Lamenter with repeated bayonet strikes.
• A young Lamenter saw his instructor die, then leapt from cover and blasted the Fire Warriors attacking the corpse.
• More Viola Fire Warriors poured from the city ruins, and the fighting continued without a probing phase.

Imperial forces fought their way through Viola’s fortress city, where the defenders used the ruins and relentless suicide attacks to inflict heavy casualties. As the advance neared the military academy, Malakai’s Boltgun jammed and a T’au sniper shot him through a gap in his armor.

• Iron Hands and Lamenters troops suffered deadly ambushes from concealed plasma guns and mines as they cleared the city’s ruins.
• Viola’s Fire Warriors repeatedly detonated explosives strapped to themselves, killing Imperial troops even when wounded or out of ammunition.
• The Imperial advance approached the military academy, and Malakai led his squad through a bombed commercial district.
• Malakai aimed at a T’au sniper, but his Boltgun jammed when he pulled the trigger.
• The T’au sniper shot Malakai through the gap between his helmet and neck armor, and his squad shouted in alarm.

The Lamenters’ extraordinary luck vanished across the battlefield as a hidden T’au device neutralized the force behind their miracles. Aun'Ve activated the Ancient Amplifier at maximum power, and its wave began oppressing every Space Marine nearby.

• Lion El'Jonson shielded the wounded Malakai and injected him with coagulant and combat stimulant as Malakai realized his luck had left him.
• A Lamenters assault trooper’s Jump Pack malfunctioned, sending him into a hidden mine that blasted off both his legs.
• A Lamenters Dreadnought’s Assault Cannon missed repeatedly, allowing a T'au Broadside Battlesuit to destroy it with a Railgun shot.
• A Lamenters Librarian’s psychic shield faltered and shattered, while battlefield accidents spread through the Lamenters and panic took hold.
• Aun'Ve explained that the Ancient Amplifier’s Stasis Stone could suppress luck, miracles, and divine favour, then ordered it to maximum power.
• The activated device sent an icy wave across the battlefield, making Space Marines from several Chapters feel oppressed and sick.

With the Warp stagnant and the Emperor’s protection absent, Imperial forces suffered mounting casualties as three Tau Riptide Battlesuits devastated an assault squad. Company Captain Augustus died shielding a Crimson Fists recruit, and Saul’s wrath began to fill the command centre.

• The Librarians and Chaplains found their powers ineffective as Imperial defensive lines faltered.
• Three Riptide Battlesuits rose above Butcher's Path and destroyed dozens of Space Marines and their vehicles with ion fire.
• Company Captain Augustus tackled a young Crimson Fists recruit into a crater and shielded him from the Riptides’ second volley.
• Augustus was killed, and the surviving recruit howled in grief as the battlefield recording reached the command centre.
• Saul watched Augustus’s death in silence as a suffocating pressure spread through the command centre, while Gareth saw the casualty figures rise.

Saul left command to confront the enemy’s anti-psychic device and struck the plaza above the academy. Shadowsun prepared to trap and kill him with the Blackstone Device and her final Mont'ka phase.

• Gareth reported that the enemy’s anti-psychic field suppressed psychic support and distorted probability, inflicting heavy casualties.
• Saul put Klaest in command and ordered a withdrawal into a circular defensive perimeter while he went to destroy the device.
• Saul flew to the academy plaza and landed with enough force to pulverize everything nearby, then located the energy source beneath the academy.
• Aun'Ve panicked at Saul’s arrival, but Shadowsun said his anger had made him predictable and vulnerable.
• Shadowsun ordered the Blackstone Device to full power, deployed her forces, and activated the Godslayer phase of the Mont'ka.

Saul destroyed the attacking Ghostkeel Battlesuits with a devastating psychic burst, but Commander Shadowsun used their deaths to create a brief opening for Viola Fortress City's hidden railgun array to fire. As hundreds of beams converged on Saul, the Ethereal Aun'Ve's voice broke across every communications channel.

• Modified Ghostkeel Battlesuits emerged from camouflage and targeted the Sons of Sorrow warriors behind Saul.
• Saul unleashed a golden psychic shock wave that destroyed the Ghostkeels and devastated several blocks around the military academy.
• Commander Shadowsun ordered the Over-the-Horizon Heavy Railgun Array to fire while Saul's psychic shield was weakened.
• Hundreds of railgun beams converged on Saul as Aun'Ve's voice broadcast across Viola.

Aun'Ve’s mind-altering broadcast drove Viola’s defenders and civilians into a suicidal frenzy as a massive combined strike hit Saul. Saul survived the blast but emerged badly wounded, proving that the T'au had hurt him for the first time.

• Aun'Ve urged Viola’s people to fight for the greater good, using a broadcast that overwhelmed their reason and fear of death.
• Defenders and civilians charged the advancing Astartes with improvised weapons, sacrificing themselves to slow the attack.
• Hundreds of high-energy beams converged on Saul in the military academy’s square, creating a vast crater and a destructive shock wave.
• Aun'Ve wondered whether the strike had killed Saul while Shadowsun watched the thermal imager.
• Saul remained alive in the crater, but his armour and warhammer were cracked, and golden blood ran from his severe wounds.

Saul unleashed the full force of his golden psychic power, destroying the battlefield and the Military Academy’s Blackstone Device in a devastating blast. As Aun'Ve ordered Shadowsun to activate Viola’s Scorched Earth Protocol, the planet’s Core Energy Wells began to destabilize and magma erupted from deep fissures.

• Saul saw Augustus and the Lamenters die amid the T'au attack and decided to abandon conventional warfare.
• Saul released his psychic power, obliterating the Blackstone Device, the Military Academy, and tens of thousands of T'au soldiers.
• Aun'Ve survived the blast beneath his Ethereal bodyguards and ordered Shadowsun to initiate the Core Energy Wells' overload sequence.
• Shadowsun activated the Scorched Earth Protocol and began evacuating with high-value targets as the Core Energy Wells’ stabilizers shut down.
• Viola’s crust split open, and towering magma eruptions began to engulf the planet.

Saul suppressed most of Viola’s erupting energy wells and shielded the surviving Imperial soldiers, but the explosion destroyed Viola Fortress City and devastated the Imperial forces. With Aun'Ve escaping and casualties overwhelming, Saul halted the advance and requested urgent aid from Terra and the Imperium.

• Saul used his remaining power to suppress the planet’s energy wells, but three wells collapsed and destroyed Viola Fortress City and the surrounding region.
• Saul shielded the surviving Imperial soldiers from the explosion while Aun'Ve escaped aboard a cloaked shuttle.
• After the blast, Gareth reported heavy Space Marine and Astra Militarum casualties to Saul.
• Saul judged that continuing the campaign would bleed the Expeditionary Force dry and ordered all forces to halt, regroup, and establish defensive lines.
• Saul requested aid from Terra and the Imperium as the Imperial Fleet began recovering survivors and preparing for a prolonged standoff.

Lord General Gage announced that Saul would return to Dal'yth Prime to oversee logistics ahead of massive reinforcements, but Saul diverted the Swift Spear to the exterminatus-scarred planet XR-734. Saul landed alone amid its mountains of wreckage, seeing the dead world as a source of hope.

• Gage announced that Saul would leave for Dal'yth Prime aboard the Swift Spear, and Imperial soldiers celebrated the promised reinforcements.
• Saul ordered the Swift Spear to abandon its planned route and jump to forbidden planet XR-734.
• The Swift Spear emerged from the warp at XR-734, where its crew saw a lifeless surface buried beneath wreckage.
• Saul refused an Honor Guard, descended from orbit alone, and landed on the planet's metal wasteland.
• Saul regarded XR-734, a dumping ground of ruined ships and machinery, as an incubator of hope.

Saul summoned the Ember Legion, the elite Gretchin army he had fought beside, and reunited with its leaders Sharpfang and Ghazghk. After showing them the T'au Empire's heartland, he revealed that the T'au had sacrificed a planet and countless lives to slow him down.

• Saul used his voice and golden psychic power to awaken the Ember Legion from the lights in his soul world.
• Sharpfang and Ghazghk appeared before Saul, greeted him as the Big Boss, and called the Ember Praetorian Guard to assemble.
• Hundreds of thousands of elite Gretchin formed orderly ranks and saluted Saul.
• Saul welcomed Sharpfang and Ghazghk, and Ghazghk noticed the damage to Saul's armour and asked who had hurt him.
• Saul identified the attackers as blue-skinned xenos and conjured a star map pointing to the T'au Empire's heartland.

Saul ordered Ghazghk and Sharpfang to build a fleet from the wreckage on XR-734 and sabotage the T'au Empire’s defenses. As the T'au completed a heavily fortified border system, something twitched in a sensor blind spot.

• Saul told Ghazghk and Sharpfang to use the scrapyard’s wrecks to build a fleet and infiltrate the T'au Empire with the Dimensional Engine.
• Ghazghk directed hundreds of thousands of Gretchin as they turned wreckage into bizarre warships fitted with Jump-Jump Engines.
• The T'au Empire completed a dense sensor network, minefield, and orbital defenses in the Strong Shield-01 system.
• Space twitched in a sensor array’s blind spot, which the T'au had dismissed as background radiation noise.

Ghazghk discovered the T'au Empire’s heavily automated Iron Wall and devised a plan to defeat its AI by overwhelming it with contradictory, noisy signals. He assembled the Brain Massager-Type I and prepared the Gretchin to begin the attack.

• Snot scanned the Strong Shield-01 system and sent the images to Ghazghk.
• Ghazghk studied the T'au defenses and explained to Sharpfang how their AI could be overloaded with meaningless data.
• Ghazghk gathered strange components, cosmic noise, a Water Caste report, and an Ork war song for his signal weapon.
• Ghazghk and his crew built the Brain Massager-Type I and prepared to broadcast it at the T'au.

Commander Kais oversaw the T'au defenses in Strong Shield-01 when a diplomatic-key transmission proved to contain absurd space-seaweed trade data. A second, Ork-like signal then disrupted the command center, leaving Pure Thought unable to identify its source.

• Commander Kais inspected the T'au defenses and trusted their technological superiority to repel any enemy.
• A Fire Caste communications officer reported a large transmission encrypted with a supreme Water Caste diplomatic key.
• Pure Thought decrypted the packet and found audio files about space-seaweed texture and interstellar trade.
• The communications officer detected an unidentifiable signal resembling an irregular Ork WAAAGH!, filled with banging and howling.
• Commander Kais ordered increased processing power and activated the defense matrices as Pure Thought's analysis failed.

Ghazghk’s absurd, high-priority transmissions overloaded the T’au AI Pure Thought, crippling the Border System’s defenses for several hours. With the sensors blind, Ghazghk and Sharpfang prepared to exploit the opening by attacking the minefield.

• Pure Thought reported a third emergency signal that sounded like a rubber duck quacking twenty times per second across all communications bands.
• Pure Thought failed to reconcile the three contradictory signals, overloaded its core, and suffered a complete hardware failure.
• The T’au Border System’s sensors, fire-control network, and unfinished orbital platforms went offline, leaving Commander Kais and his forces blind.
• Aboard the Gretchin flagship Big Wrench, Ghazghk laughed at Pure Thought’s collapse and declared that the fun had only begun.
• Sharpfang asked whether they would now play with the mines, and Ghazghk agreed.

Ghazghk devised Logic Blenders to overwhelm the T'au smart mines with contradictory signals, and Gretchin infiltration teams planted them throughout the Repulsor-Minefield. When the devices activated, the mines’ sensors were flooded with conflicting data, and an asteroid suddenly registered as a terrifying threat.

• Ghazghk explained that his Logic Blender broadcast a high-priority hostile signal and a high-priority Divine Procession signal at the same time.
• Ghazghk ordered Sharpfang to distribute the devices to Gretchin infiltration squads for a surprise attack on the T'au minefield.
• Snot and other Gretchin used stealth boats to attach Logic Blenders to asteroids, wreckage, and a T'au engineering drone.
• Snot activated the detonator after counting to three, and thousands of Logic Blenders began broadcasting at once.
• The signals overwhelmed the Repulsor-Minefield’s Watcher AIs, causing an asteroid previously marked harmless to register as a terrifying monster.