Recaps

Dominic accepted Lynn’s advice to pause and refit at Carl II before launching a full offensive against Dorito, and the two formed a genuine alliance. As preparations began, Dominic grew preoccupied with the mysterious silver-haired Inquisitor who had saved him and hoped to meet her again.

• A Tech-Priest showed Dominic simulations that gave a hasty pursuit an 8.6% chance of victory and a planned offensive after resupply an 89.2% chance.
• Dominic abandoned the pursuit, ordered the fleet to rest and refit at Carl II, and planned an all-out offensive against Dorito once supplies and repairs were ready.
• Dominic clasped Lynn’s hand, and Lynn’s system announced that Dominic’s positive bond had unlocked.
• Lynn helped Dominic coordinate supplies, fleet rotations, and defenses while Carl II underwent extensive repairs and military preparations.
• Dominic repeatedly examined the black mask left by the silver-haired Inquisitor, wondered why she had saved him, and sought news of her in hopes of meeting again.

After his defeat at Carl II, Ragnar returned toward Dorito with a battered fleet and weakening authority. Three Nurgle-corrupted space hulks ambushed the Orks, but the fight revived their spirits and began a brutal battle in Dorito’s orbit.

• Ragnar struggled to control his discontented clan bosses while the Stew God remained dormant and his wounds healed slowly.
• Three plague-covered space hulks emerged near Dorito, and a damaged Ork assault ship crashed into the first one.
• Rotting corpses and mutated monsters poured from the hulk and attacked the Orks, whose weapons struggled to kill them.
• Ragnar rallied the fleet to attack, reigniting the Orks’ enthusiasm for battle.
• The Ork clans charged the three hulks, beginning a fierce battle against Nurgle’s plague-mutated creatures above Dorito.

Rust Phelps abandoned Abaddon's orders to seize the Life Shard on Brevis, but a Warp Storm destroyed most of his plague hulks. After the remaining fleet encountered Orks, Phelps ordered it to bypass the battle and sneak toward Brevis so he could infect the planet by other means.

• Rust Phelps recalled how he had defied Abaddon’s orders and diverted the Pale Hand to Brevis after receiving a revelation about the Life Shard.
• A Warp Storm destroyed twenty-seven of Phelps’s thirty plague hulks, leaving three to carry his fleet toward the Calixis System.
• The Death Guard ships encountered Orks, whose natural resistance made Phelps’s plagues ineffective and whose fleet attacked the hulks.
• Phelps refused to waste forces fighting the Orks and ordered his ships to shut down their engines and scans.
• Phelps led the fleet along the nebula’s western side toward Brevis, planning to spread plagues through infiltration or other attacks.

Ragnar and the Orks destroyed Nurgle’s Blight Arks above Dorito, restoring much of their Waaagh Field. Luna then adjusted her plans to exploit Lynn’s attention turning toward the Orks, ordering her followers to stay hidden and wait for another opportunity.

• Ragnar led the Orks in a three-day battle, boarding the Blight Arks and growing stronger as the Waaagh Field recovered.
• The Orks destroyed the last Blight Ark, and Ragnar celebrated their victory with the Boyz.
• Luna saw the defeat of Nurgle’s vanguard in her crystal ball and learned that the expected disorder had been delayed.
• Luna reasoned that Lynn would focus on the Orks and lower his guard, so she told her sorcerer to make no changes and leave no traces.
• Luna ordered her followers to monitor Lynn and the Orks, then declared that they would wait for the next tide.

Ragnar returned to Dorito and discovered that walking corpses had devastated his mushroom fields and Squig farms. After learning that the Gretchin Toothy devised the plan that stopped the outbreak, Ragnar summoned him, while Toothy secretly prepared to meet the Warboss.

• Ragnar arrived on Dorito and found the mushroom fields trampled and the Squig farms wrecked.
• Ragnar summoned the Warbosses, and a scar-faced boss told him that walking corpses had spread across the planet and ruined the farms.
• Ragnar recognized the three space hulks as the likely source and ordered his Orks to destroy anything marked with three circles and three arrows.
• The scar-faced boss explained that Toothy had stopped the outbreak by burning buried corpses and trapping the walking corpses behind a firebreak.
• Ragnar praised Toothy and sent a bodyguard to fetch him, while Toothy watched from an encampment and strode toward Ragnar with his bark notebook.

Dominic oversaw the final preparations for the Imperial assault on Dorito while privately judging Lynn’s close relationship with Ailei. The chapter ended with Lynn and Ailei sitting together at the orbital port, unaware of Dominic’s thoughts.

• Dominic received word that the seventh supply convoy was nearing Carl II and ordered the ammunition distributed, with repair parts prioritized for the Gemstone.
• Dominic credited Kerry Von and Lynn with helping secure victory at Carl II, while reflecting on his first independent command of a war across star systems.
• Dominic reviewed Lynn’s marriage to Isolde and suspected that Ailei was more than Lynn’s personal assistant, but decided not to interfere.
• Dominic said he would attack Dorito once the remaining supplies arrived and vowed to kill Ragnar in revenge for Ralfa and the fallen soldiers.
• Lynn and Ailei sat together on a shipping container, unaware that Dominic had begun to view Lynn as a playboy.

Lynn and Rena discussed their growing suspicion that the smooth campaign on Carl II concealed a Death Guard plot against Brevis. They prepared to monitor the planet and system for plague or enemy ships, while Lynn remained focused on defeating the Orks and taking Dorito.

• Rena told Lynn she sensed a danger approaching Brevis and that the three Blight Arks had been only the beginning.
• Lynn concluded that a Death Guard warband had deliberately sent the Blight Arks to spread plague and prepare for an attack on the Calixis System.
• Rena warned Lynn that the Death Guard would likely unleash a plague before bringing in their main force.
• Lynn explained that Butcher's people were monitoring Hive City's water and food supplies and that an epidemic reporting system had been established.
• Lynn asked Rena to send scout bio-ships to patrol the Brevis System's outskirts while he continued preparations for the attack on Dorito.
• Rena's worry eased as Lynn reassured her, and she promised to stay by his side.

Rena told Lynn she regretted that they could not have a child together, explaining that she wanted to experience human-style family and create a unique life with him. Lynn reassured her that he loved her regardless and said the swarm they had built together could be considered their child.

• Lynn noticed Rena growing lonely again and asked what was wrong, but she said she regretted not being able to give him a son or daughter.
• Rena explained that she wanted to bear a child with Lynn because humans learned and developed as individuals, unlike Tyranids, who were created according to the Hive Mind’s genetic designs.
• Lynn said he would do his part if Rena wanted a child, but the coming attack on Dorito and the biological differences between them made it impossible for them to have one.
• Rena admitted she had been fanciful, and Lynn comforted her by saying children did not prove their love and that the swarm they had shaped together was, in a sense, their child.

Rena accepted Lynn’s reassurance that the swarm was their shared child, and they held each other while hoping for the future. On Dorito, Toothy explained how observing humans had taught him to understand enemies, impressing Ragnar and earning the Warbosses’ resentment and silence.

• Lynn told Rena that the swarm was their child, and Rena agreed before they embraced.
• Ragnar recovered much of his strength at the Deffskull Clan’s camp in Cauldron City while the Warbosses stood around him.
• Toothy entered Ragnar’s camp and greeted him with a respectful bow, drawing mockery and suspicion from the Warbosses.
• Ragnar suspected Toothy of contacting humans, but Toothy said he had learned from observing them in battle and studying discarded documents.
• Ragnar praised Toothy’s advice to understand an enemy and berated the Warbosses for relying only on force.

Ragnar promoted Toothy to chief adviser and gave him command of part of the Blood Axe Clan. After hearing about the humie fleet’s attack on Carl II, Toothy devised a defense of Dorito and identified Dominic’s arrogance as a weakness, impressing Ragnar while privately anticipating a reunion with Seven-Smasha.

• Ragnar named Toothy his chief adviser and assigned him tens of thousands of Blood Axe Clan Boyz, three thousand battlewagons, and five hundred fighters.
• Ragnar told Toothy how the humie fleet had driven him from Carl II and described its one-armed noble, the fighter in a purple trench coat, and the powerful bug.
• Ragnar asked Toothy how to defend Dorito from the humies’ expected attack.
• Toothy argued that Dorito’s five billion Boyz and plentiful supplies made it difficult to invade, and that the humie noble’s confidence revealed his arrogance.
• Ragnar praised Toothy’s analysis, while Toothy quietly thought that he would meet Seven-Smasha again soon.

Toothy assured Ragnar and the other Warbosses that he had devised a plan to counter the Imperial fleet, then secretly shared its key details with Ragnar. After Dominic built up and launched his fleet toward Dorito, Lynn and Rena worried that Toothy had prepared the Orks for the coming attack.

• Toothy explained that the Orks should evacuate important supplies and facilities, then whispered the most important part of his plan to Ragnar.
• Ragnar praised Toothy’s plan, and the Warbosses cheered without knowing what it involved.
• Dominic forced Brevis’s nobles to provide funds, supplies, troops, and warships, while repairs to Carl II’s defenses and the Gemstone were completed.
• Dominic ordered the Imperial Fleet to depart Carl II Space Station for Dorito.
• Lynn and Rena suspected Toothy had warned Ragnar and worried that the Gretchin was unusually capable.

As the Imperial Fleet approached Planet Dorito, Dominic planned a concentrated assault on the dispersed Ork fleet, and Lynn and Rena judged it viable while warning him to guard the retreat route. Dominic ordered the attack and tightened security around Carl II as the fleet advanced.

• The Imperial Fleet reached the outskirts of the Dorito System and detected about two hundred Ork warships spread around the planet.
• Dominic proposed concentrating the main force to break through the Ork line and destroy important ground facilities.
• Rena assessed the plan as viable, estimating ten percent ship losses and an eighty-nine percent chance of success.
• Lynn endorsed the assault but warned Dominic to withdraw after hitting the ground targets and to watch for an Ork ambush against the route to Carl II.
• Dominic ordered patrols along the Carl II supply route and told the stationed troops to avoid getting bogged down in combat.
• Dominic ordered all warships to form an assault formation and advance at full speed.

Dominic led the Imperial Fleet through the Ork defenses and ordered a bombardment of Dorito, destroying Cauldron City. Ragnar blamed Toothy for the failed defense, but Toothy claimed to have a backup plan that would kill the humans.

• Dominic concentrated the Imperial Fleet's firepower and charged through the Ork defensive line, breaking through its orbital defenses in less than two hours.
• Dominic ordered the fleet to bombard Dorito, prioritizing Cauldron City, starports, Mekboy workshops, and mushroom fields.
• Ragnar and the Warbosses learned that the Imperial Fleet had reached Dorito and begun bombing the surface.
• Ragnar attacked Toothy, furious that his prediction about the spread-out Ork formation had failed.
• Toothy evaded Ragnar and insisted he had anticipated the breakthrough and prepared a backup plan.
• Ragnar agreed to hear Toothy's backup plan.

Toothy persuaded Ragnar that the Orks’ apparent defeat was a trap, with an elite fleet sent to seize Carl II Space Station while the Boyz hid underground. As the Imperial Fleet finished bombarding Dorito and began firing missiles designed to hit underground targets, Dominic ordered his ships to withdraw to Carl II.

• Toothy explained that Red Raven was leading eighty elite Ork warships toward Carl II Space Station to cut off Imperial supplies.
• Ragnar accepted Toothy’s plan and ordered all Boyz to hide underground until the Imperial landing troops arrived.
• The Imperial Fleet continued bombarding Dorito, burning mushroom fields and destroying its designated targets.
• Dominic ordered a final attack with Mole missiles aimed at possible Ork forces underground, then instructed the warships to withdraw to Carl II.

Ragnar and the Orks suffered devastating losses when Imperial bunker-buster missiles destroyed their underground command center, but Toothy urged him to keep fighting. As Dominic’s fleet prepared to withdraw from Dorito, the regrouped Ork fleet surrounded it, leaving the Imperial ships trapped.

• Bunker-buster missiles collapsed the underground command room, burying Orks and badly injuring Ragnar while Toothy survived inside an iron pot.
• Toothy reminded Ragnar that the Orks still had their main force and that Red Raven’s fleet was nearing Carl II, restoring Ragnar’s resolve to retaliate.
• Above Duolidi, Dominic ordered the Imperial Fleet to return to Carl II after its bombardment killed an estimated five hundred million Orks.
• As the Imperial Fleet tried to leave Dorito’s orbit, detectors reported about one hundred and fifty approaching warships, and Dominic realized the Ork fleet had surrounded them.
• Lynn’s transmission suddenly came through to the surrounded Imperial Fleet.

Lynn recognized that the Ork fleet at Duolidi was a feint for an attack on Carl II and sent Gus to intercept it with the Brevis Expeditionary Fleet. While Red Raven led the Orks into battle against Gus, Dominic steadily fought the Tithe Fleet through the encirclement above Duolidi, where the Ork fleet finally buckled after twelve hours.

• Lynn learned that about forty Ork warships from the Evil Sunz and Blood Axe Clans were approaching Carl II, recognized Toothy's plan, and ordered Dominic to focus on breaking through.
• Lynn told Gus to take the Brevis Expeditionary Fleet to Carl II and destroy the Ork attackers.
• Gus led dozens of Brevis warships toward the Ork fleet, and Red Raven ordered his ships to charge rather than retreat.
• Dominic directed the Tithe Fleet to advance in formation, repeatedly breaking the disorganized Ork attacks above Duolidi.
• After twelve hours of fighting, the Ork fleet above Duolidi buckled.

Dominic’s fleet defeated the Orks at Dorito, reinforced the Brevis fleet at Carl II, and returned to bombard the planet. Ragnar confronted Toothy over the failed raid as the Orks’ defenses collapsed.

• The Orks retreated from Dominic’s fleet, which then set course for Carl II to support the Brevis Expeditionary Fleet.
• Dominic arrived to find Gus’s forces had destroyed Red Raven’s flagship and nearly all the Ork raiders, then ordered a salvo that eliminated the survivors.
• Two days later, Ragnar learned that Dominic’s fleet had returned to Dorito and broken through the Orks’ orbital defenses.
• Dominic ordered another bombardment, destroying Dorito’s remaining mushroom fields and Mekboy workshops while Ragnar watched helplessly.
• Ragnar summoned Toothy and blamed him for the failed raid, but Toothy insisted the humies had anticipated the ambush.

The Imperium continued its relentless bombardment of Dorito while Lynn learned that a Necron pyramid had emerged on Dead World A. Lynn ordered Rena to keep her swarm away from it and monitor it, then suggested the discovery might not be entirely bad news.

• Dominic extended the fleet’s supply line to Dorito, enabling uninterrupted bombardment that starved and weakened the Orks while destroying the mushrooms they relied on.
• Dominic rejected biological and chemical weapons to preserve Dorito’s land and water, and planned to continue conventional bombardment before landing to kill Ragnar.
• Rena told Lynn that an earthquake on Dead World A had revealed a black pyramid surrounded by a growing radiation field and an energy barrier.
• Lynn recognized the pyramid as a Necron structure and ordered Rena to withdraw the swarm, avoid approaching it, and report any changes.
• Lynn watched the image of the pyramid and said the discovery might not be entirely bad news.

Lynn found Toothy tortured and offered him the chance to become king of the Orks in the Calixis System in exchange for swearing loyalty. Toothy accepted, and Lynn unlocked a permanent King and Subject bond that began their binding.

• Ragnar kept Toothy alive through four days of torture as punishment for his failure.
• Lynn visited the mutilated Toothy, who recognized him as Seven-Smasha and wept with shame.
• Lynn offered Toothy rule over the Orks of the Calixis System if Toothy and his people became his vassals.
• Toothy eagerly accepted Lynn's offer and resolved to swear eternal loyalty to him.
• Lynn's system unlocked the King and Subject route and began binding him to Toothy.

Lynn bound Toothy to his will and used the King's Gift system to transform him into a powerful Ork leader. Toothy emerged as a three-meter-tall Mad Scientist and Musician, and Lynn appointed him king of the Orks in the Calixis System as the Imperial Fleet’s bombardment continued.

• Lynn completed the psychic binding with Toothy, unlocking the King's Gift system and finding Toothy's loyalty at 60.
• Lynn spent six gift points to raise Toothy's Personal and Tactical paths to level 3, choosing Mad Scientist and Musician.
• Toothy emerged from the cocoon transformed, with greatly increased strength, a mechanical eye, and the Song of the Charge ability.
• Toothy knelt before Lynn and pledged his service, and Lynn named him king of the Orks in the Calixis System.

Lynn ordered Toothy to rally Orks against Ragnar and eventually lead his followers to Dead World A. After Toothy built weapons and gear powered by rock music, he fought his way to the surface with several hundred Ork Boyz following him.

• Lynn explained his plan for Toothy to win over Orks dissatisfied with Ragnar, defeat Ragnar, and relocate his followers to Dead World A.
• Toothy scavenged dungeon wreckage to make spiked armor, a loudspeaker backpack with flamethrowers, and an axe-bladed guitar.
• Toothy used his music and weapons to kill the Ork Boyz guarding the dungeon corridor while Lynn followed as his lackey.
• Toothy gathered scattered Orks as he fought out of the underground, reaching the surface with several hundred Boyz following him.

Toothy built a rock-and-roll battlewagon, toured Dorito with the Fang Band, and grew into a powerful rival to Ragnar. After learning that Toothy was leading millions of Orks, Ragnar ordered his remaining fighters to march out and kill him.

• Toothy used Lynn’s bombardment schedule to travel safely, then built a battlewagon from scrap and formed the Fang Band.
• Toothy toured Dorito, performing songs that condemned Ragnar and attracted Orks dissatisfied with his rule.
• Warbosses loyal to Ragnar tried to destroy Toothy, but his music drove his followers into battle and he defeated them.
• Toothy became known as Soundboss Fang, and his forces grew to tens of millions, making him Dorito’s second-largest power.
• Ragnar learned that Soundboss Fang was Toothy and, despite warnings about the Imperial bombardment, ordered his fighters to attack him.

Lynn arranged for Toothy to lure Ragnar and his five-million-strong army into Horseshoe Mountain Valley with a public duel challenge. As Ragnar entered the valley, the Imperial Fleet unleashed a massive bombardment, leaving him and his forces trapped in a sea of fire.

• Lynn told Toothy to challenge Ragnar to a duel at Horseshoe Mountain Valley and draw him there.
• Toothy spread his challenge through an insulting song, and Orks across Dorito flocked toward the valley to witness the duel.
• Despite a Deffskull Ork's warnings that the valley could be an ambush, Ragnar led five million troops toward it to defend his reputation and rule.
• Ragnar arrived at the empty valley and found Toothy waiting alone, apparently confirming the duel was one-on-one.
• As Ragnar prepared to attack Toothy, shells from the Imperial Fleet rained into the valley and engulfed it in explosions and fire.

Lynn lured Ragnar into Horseshoe Mountain Valley and persuaded Dominic to unleash the Tithe Fleet’s firepower there. The bombardment killed Ragnar and shattered Dorito’s Waaagh Field, though Dominic ordered the attack to continue to ensure nothing of Ragnar remained.

• Lynn told Dominic that Ragnar was heading to Horseshoe Mountain Valley and convinced him to deploy the fleet for a bombardment.
• Dominic ordered the Tithe Fleet to assemble above Horseshoe Mountain Valley and prepare its full firepower.
• Ragnar approached a decoy Toothy, and Lynn signaled the fleet to begin its attack.
• The bombardment destroyed Ragnar’s mech and overwhelmed his regeneration, while the God of Menzi could not save or resurrect him.
• A lance vaporized Ragnar, and the Waaagh Field around Dorito collapsed.
• Dominic learned the Waaagh Field was gone but ordered another half hour of bombardment to ensure Ragnar was completely destroyed.

Dominic waited until Ragnar was confirmed dead before launching a ground assault on Dorito, while Lynn and Toothy used the ensuing chaos to prepare an escape. Toothy’s five stealth transports slipped through the Brevis fleet toward Dead World A, and Lynn’s Ork companion turned to ash.

• Dominic ordered the Imperial Fleet to land and cleanse Dorito after reconnaissance showed the Orks fighting among themselves.
• Lynn told Toothy that Ragnar was dead, and Toothy led his Boyz to defeat rival bosses and gather three hundred million Orks.
• Toothy halted his campaign and ordered the Mekboys to build ten transports, including five purple-painted stealth ships and five green-painted decoys.
• Lynn brought the Brevis Expeditionary Fleet into the cleanup operation as the Imperial Army drove the remaining Orks back.
• Toothy launched the transports toward Dead World A, sending the decoys toward Dominic’s fleet and the stealth ships through the Brevis fleet’s open defensive line.
• Lynn watched the stealth transports disappear into space and said goodbye to Toothy as his Ork companion’s flesh turned to ash.