Early 36th Millennium, dawn of the Plague of Unbelief
Habalus Cluster within the Abalatian Reach
Cassius 6 in the Cassius System

Bodies and pieces of bodies were strewn across the green grass on either side of the walkway, staining it red. But the living were present too. They were in scattered groups, methodically removing bodies from the walkway and tossing them to the side, in wait for an auto-hauler to arrive and cart them away. And down the center of the cleared walkway strolled a half-dozen armsmen of the Cassian Guard, men and who had fought in the Emperor's name as soldiers of the Frateris Templar only a year or so before, and had rebelled after their order's dissolution, but were shown the Light. They swore again to fight in His name. Swore to fight in His name at the direction of His hand-chosen surrogate in the Abalus Reach.

In the middle of the armsmen strode a short woman in green robes, Moneka Joku, Astropath and apprentice Inquisitor. "You did well men," she said as she strode along the walkway. "The traitors to His word came and you stood fast. Stood fast and sent them packing." She came to a stop and looked at the men surrounding her. "There is still much work to do. Order must be restored." She then glanced down the walkway.

Grass was torn and holes were scattered about from the mortars and grenades which had been shot or thrown into the area. But the spot right in front of her remained clear of debris, though covered in blood from the dead. Two great rockrete statues, each adorned with gold, lay ahead, one on each side of the walk and facing her. On the right was a great statue of the God Emperor and on His right, across the walk, was a statue of His hand-chosen surrogate in the Abalatian Reach, the golden-eyed Inquisitor, Basil Cadmus.

"Behold!" she bellowed, a great voice erupting from her short body. "The statues are untouched! This is a sign of favour!" The armsmen quickly dropped to their knees in obeisance. Moneka Joku smiled with great satisfaction. "We have won the battle here on Cassius 6, but other battles are brewing."

.

Early 36th Millennium, dawn of the Plague of Unbelief
Aelion Corridor within the Abalatian Reach
Orbit over unexplored world AR-AC-017
Adeptus Mechanicus escort vessel FWV-F03-EV03

The bridge was dark, save for numerous lights flashing from the various technological artefacts arrayed at various locations. A great mound rose from the center of the bridge, a mound that was both the vessel's command throne and its occupant, Magos Gutnik, a Tech-Priest so heavily modified with a Mechanicus Chassis and countless mechadendrites as to be indistinguishable from the throne itself. More than two score of ports were built into the throne's structure with half connected to the Gutnik through cabling and the others connected to various augurs and control cogitators of the vessel throughout the bridge. Unlike a typical Imperial vessel, no other humans occupied the bridge besides Gutnik. He was only accompanied by three repair servitors on hand to follow his commands if damage needed to be repaired.

The Magos simply absorbed the data his augurs acquired from the surface of AR-AC-017. His modified mind noted the wide variety of flora and fauna…and stored it in a memory bank. Noted the presence of structures that were manufactured rather than natural, and stored it as well. Not once did the chief aspect of the Exodite world, its natural and unspoiled beauty, enter into his mind. He received data from his augurs regarding the surrounding void and scanned it for danger. No signs were evident.

He mapped the planet's surface and compared it to the first coordinate set he had been given to fire upon. Laser batteries ineffective at orbital range, was the conclusion immediately produced by his cogitator enhanced mind. Arm torpedoes. Far away, the vessel's torpedo tubes answered his command and armed. Launch.

A torpedo launched from the vessel and descended to the surface below.

His augurs detected the torpedoes impact and resulting explosion upon the artificial structures, a menhir node of AR-AC-017's World Spirit. 45% Structural Integrity loss. Objective met. Gutnik commanded another torpedo to be armed and fired again, this time at his second set of target coordinates. Then a third, and a fourth.

WARNING, screamed an augur into his mind. Intermittent disturbance. Potential voidship. He quickly upgraded the scans surrounding his vessel only to receive no actionable data.

The battle over AR-AC-017 had been joined by the Tremeirchion, an Aeldari Hemlock destroyer of the Aelion Corsairs.

.

Early 36th Millennium, dawn of the Plague of Unbelief
Abalus
Palace District of Mancuso Hive
Estate of Governor Lars Makenna

With his back to the window, a tall man stood watch over the scene. The silver epaulets on his green coat marked him as an officer of the Palatial Guard while the gold eagle on his officer's cap marked him as the Captain of the Guard itself. He looked down at his feet.

A man, a woman, and three children were bound and on their bellies. The children, two blonde boys and one blonde girl, were dressed in fine green pants and shirts. They were all young, no older than six Terran standard years, and fear filled their faces while tears ran down their cheeks as they looked up at the Captain. The woman wore a great blue gown and her long blonde hair was wrapped into a bun that was held in place by a silver pin. Her lips were pressed tightly together. The man beside her was dressed in a silver suit of the highest fashion. Defiance filled his face as he looked up from his belly.

"You will die for this," spat the man in silver.

"Not today," answered the Captain with a smile.

"Execute the Governor, Captain Sedwick?" asked a voice in a manner looking more for affirmation of a known quantity rather than actually asking a question.

The Captain looked up to see his Sergeant, lasrifle over his shoulder, standing behind the man in silver. "Yes," he answered. An instant later, the Sergeant drew a slug pistol from his holster, the traditional execution weapon of Abalus nobility, and fired it into the back of the Governor's head. Blood, along with bits of bone and brain, scattered from the Governor's head. The Captain turned back to the window. "Kill them all," he calmly added without bothering to look over his shoulder at the Sergeant.

Outside, the beautiful gardens of the parade grounds had been replaced by carnage. Trees uprooted everywhere and the holes in the ground being the most obvious signs of the battle earlier in the day. Scattered bloody bodies no one had as yet bothered to pick up filled the parade grounds too. I need to get someone on that, he decided as he heard the scream of the Governor's wife before a bullet took her head. He pondered how many men of the Palatial Guard, now his Palatial Guard, had been lost in the Coup as he heard the children squirm on their bellies and cry as three more bullets snuffed their lives. He glanced back over his shoulder at the five bodies lying in a pool of their comingled blood. "Excellent work, Sergeant," he said and turned back to survey the scene beneath his window. He didn't hear the next shot the Sergeant fired.

.

Early 36th Millennium, dawn of the Plague of Unbelief
Orbit over Abalus
Onboard the Artemis, a vessel in the League of Black Ship

The Executioner's Blade passed through the Tech-Priest's head and into the bulkhead. Another blade may have become stuck, but the Executioner's Blade came free, effortlessly, and the heavily armoured woman danced away from the still moving arms of the Tech-Priest with her long blonde tail of hair dancing behind her. Silently danced into a swing that removed the arms of a lastorch wielding servitor, and then another arm, and then its head, with no grunts of exertion leaving her mouth. She glanced about the compartment. Two red tunic wearing bodies, dismembered of the many arms and mechadendrites they bore lay on the deck. Four more dismembered repair servitors were scattered about too. The Mechanicus has gone mad, she said in her mind. The alerts are dwindling, she told herself after considering the vox transmission she had received from the crew. My Sisters are on the planet below while we are outnumbered here and losing. Where to next? An idea came to mind born of hope and desperation. She left the compartment and ran down the passageway.

.

Early 36th Millennium, dawn of the Plague of Unbelief
The Deep Reach
Scholomance, Blackstone Fortress and the fabled nest of the Cosmic Serpent

An enormous ring large enough for a craftworld to easily pass through sat motionless in the cosmos and in front of it sat a great black structure, Scholomance, the nest of the Cosmic Serpent. The surface of Scholomance stretched mile after mile. Mile after mile of black, obsidian-like, material. The similarities between the structure and its cousins found in the Gothic Sector, ended with the material from which it was constructed. Rather than being a two-tiered structure with four arms radiating from each tier, the fabled nest of the Cosmic Serpent was that of a great irregular black block. From its surface grew countless 'towers' as well as a large number of ring-shaped structures, some lit and some not, which were large enough for even voidships to pass through. In some of the rings, the cosmos visible through did not match the cosmos on the other side, sometimes replaced by different arrays of stars and other times replaced by a black void. All depended upon from which side the ring was viewed. And there were countless holes in the structure too. Some were relatively small while others were so large that even a Gloriana-class battleship could have entered with room to spare. All entrances to burrows that led somewhere within the nest.

Within one such burrow moved The Resolute. It had entered through the active gate it reached in the Bennu Cloud and exited through one of the rings growing out of the surface of Scholomance and was inching alongside a smaller hole in the burrow's interior, preparing to dock.

Basil Cadmus stood at the docking bay hatch in blue power armour. Armour bearing the silver skull and tabard of the Void Spectres. The armour of Librarian Boyana. In his hands he held a halberd, but it was not any halberd. It contained arcane circuitry to create both a power field and work in conjunction with a wielder's mastery of the Warp. A Nemesis Force Halberd is what Fynn called it, Basil remined to himself as he stared at the blade. Part of Matthias' armoury he had bequeathed to Fynn before dying. Basil glanced over his shoulder. A psycannon too. Another posthumous gift from my mentor. His gaze returned to the front.

Fynn stood ready for battle in his white power armour and beside the Apothecary stood a youth dressed in light carapace armour. Jorik, Basil reminded himself, recognizing the boy who he had helped introduce a Daemonette into and then exorcized from. He is not ready for battle against Aeldari but it matters not. He looked past Fynn and Jorik.

Beyond the pair was an entire regiment of Inquisitorial Storm Troopers, including war machines and walkers, and at their head stood Cade Lerriksen. The only person who treated me like the child I was, Basil said to himself. The only one.

It all leads to this, he told himself and took a deep breath. Is there nothing more than War to be found in the Cosmos? He grimaced within his helmet. "The moment is upon us," Basil said, his words broadcast across the bay, and beyond into the bowels of The Resolute. "Let us ride forth in His name and defeat our enemies." The cruiser came to an abrupt stop as it locked onto the interior of the burrow.

"For the Emperor!" Basil shouted.

"For the Emperor!" shouted the Troopers in front of him as well as crewmen throughout The Resolute.

The hatch opened.

A/N There will be one more part, probably 10 chapters, unless I decide it is too big to drop in one piece. It will probably be out in a month, maybe two.