The moon of Migeto hung lazily over the planet Juno. Captain Arno Droit reflected absent mindedly how beautiful it looked floating there. It was a shame however he couldn't enjoy it however. He stood on the bridge of the Defiant, an Arquitens class light cruiser. They had been stationed as a defensive garrison for the listening outpost on the moon, and in the past few hours they had mobilized in response to a missed check in from the outpost. They had deployed a squad to investigate, but had lost contact soon after. Arno had ordered a second and third squad down, and both had discovered a gruesome scene. The personnel and security detachment along with the response squad, had all been eliminated. All that was left were mauled and mutilated bodies. In response Arno called for reinforcements. He wasn't sure what this was, but he wasn't going to take chances. For all he knew this violence could be the precursor to something larger. In response, two additional light cruisers, the Repulse and the Endurance, along with three Gozanti class cruisers, the Reliant, Swift, and Retribution, along with three flights of tie fighters. Though they were nowhere near the firepower of a Star Destroyer, the small fleet was still a considerable response. It eased Arno's mind to have such overwhelming firepower backing him up.

"Captain, we are receiving audio transmissions from Repulse. They're reporting all systems are nominal and the fleet is ready to proceed with the sweep." The first officer, Lieutenant Sharpe, notified Arno on their current readiness.

"Very good Mr. Sharpe. Have the Repulse and Endurance finished unloading their marines to the surface?"

"Yes sir. Along with our own contingent we have ninety ground personnel sweeping the area around the outpost. Lieutenant Pierce is in command of the away teams."

"Pierce is a good man," Arno reflected aloud, "If we don't find anything here, I'm sure they will down there."

He glanced once more at the moon. Whoever did this had left no trace of their presence, but it did not matter. There is always something left behind no matter how thorough one is in covering their tracks. It was time to hunt for some rebels.

Ardno began to rattle off commands, and doing what he did best. "Mr. Sharpe signal the fleet to advance to sector c11 at half thrust. Helm bring us about twenty degrees starboard. All ahead half thrust."

The bridge staff did as they were ordered quickly and efficiently. The ship rumbled and Arno could feel the deck shift and quake as the engines kicked in. He always preferred how the smaller ships felt when they flew when compared to the larger capitol ships. He remembered serving in and Imperial II class Star Destroyer as a lowly ensign. Half the time he served below deck and away from the bridge or any major sections. Half the time you couldn't tell if you were moving down there. It was almost disappointing considering the size of the ships. The smaller vessels took more skill to pilot. You had to feel how she shifted and turned, know what her limits are, and when you could push past those limits. It was almost a preposterous idea to think of space travel that way, but Arno was somewhat of a romanticist when it came to such things. It helped him to better execute his job.

The fleet advanced in a triangular formation. The gozanti's class ships advanced in the vanguard deploying the Tie flights as they advanced. The Ties flew out ahead of the main ships and engaged in long range sweeps. Arno ordered the main fleet to spread out their formation and maximize scanner output. Space was vast and empty. A small ship or debris could escape the human eye, and so they had to resort to large search around the moon. Perhaps there was a probe or a smaller vessel hiding its signature by powering down. Regardless they would search until they found something. Arno had already planned a patrol pattern encompassing the moon. If they found nothing in the first sweep, they'd expand their search pattern.

"Captain I'm getting some strange readings here?" the navigations officer Erin Bordo had spoken up.

"What do you have Mr. Bordo?"

"Unknown. There is some kind of massive rift developing. Our scanners are picking it up and we're getting some off the chart readings."

"What do you mean by that?"

Bordo shook his head frustrated. "These readings are off the chart. I'm detecting high levels of radiation emanating from sector b9 port side. There are some similarities to a hyperspace exit, but I've never seen anything like this!"

"Perhaps it's a special anomaly in the hyperspace lanes." He suggested walking over to Bordo.

"Sire we have a visual!" Sharpe shouted drawing Arno's attention.

"Mr. Sharpe is it still in sector b9?" Arno asked as he came back to look out the central viewport.

"Aye sir anomaly holding at b9."

Arno could plainly see it and he had honestly never seen anything like it. There was lightning of a multitude of colors bursting from a central point in space some 10,000 kilometers port side. Though it seemed it was spewing from nothing. The lightning was followed by vaporous gas clouds which were similarly multicolored and appearing from nowhere.

"Open a channel to the Tie flights. Order them to stay clear of the anomaly and reform on us."

The communications officer, Lieutenant Diesel, complied with Arno's orders.

"Command the rest of the fleet to follow are lead and steer clear of the anomaly. I will not have anything out of the ordinary harming us now."

"Captain! Something's emerging from the anomaly!" Sharpe said pointing.

Arno followed the officers gaze and saw the anomaly and grown into what looked like a literal tear in the fabric of space. Looking at it now Arno and the others felt an odd sensation of nausea as if the anomaly itself was making them sick with its presence. Arno's head began to swim, but he shook of the nausea as he heard Lieutenant Diesel's voice started shouting at him.

"Captain I'm getting odd transmissions coming from the anomaly! They seem to be radio transmissions!"

"On speaker!" Arno ordered. Static was heard over the speakers and was being distorted somewhat by the anomaly, but voices could still be heard crackling through.

+Approach-…breach…..attack for-…..standard spread+

+Decelerate to…-ive power output. Order the flee-…..+

Without another guess Arno guess the transmissions to be military in origin. Immediately he knew what to do.

"Whatever that is it's not Imperial. Order the fleet into a defensive formation, I want a staggered line on the double!"

Diesel followed the orders and relayed them to the other vessels. The small fleet came about facing the anomaly. The firing line staggered out with 500m clearance between each ship. Deflectors were set to maximum and the turbolasers were primed and charged. The Tie flights took up positions surrounding the imperial ships making sure to stay out of the larger ship's firing arcs. The small fleet then waited for whatever was coming to emerge from the anomaly. They did not have to wait long.

Through the anomaly large blocky ships emerged. They were not the typical angular designs that Arno was familiar with. They were rectangular in shape, but with what appeared to be clearly defined naval features. The ships were dark green in color, strange buttresses and towers adorned the hull, and massive slab like shields were on the port and starboard sides of the prows for the ships. Arno noted that each ship coming out, of which he counted six at the moment, were some form of capitol ships. He couldn't know there exact size but rather he guessed based off their rough distance to the Imperials. If these ships were anything like star destroyers, they may have to retreat quickly. Then again he had no idea if these ships had the firepower to match a star destroyer. His thoughts were interrupted as something far larger emerged. What emerged left Arno speechless.

There were three massive ships each similar in appearance, to the smaller ones but far larger. These colossal ships emerged like passing behemoths, bristling with firepower and covered in armor. Arno was in a state of shock as was the rest of his crew. What in the name of all that is holy are these monstrosities?

"C-Captain?" the startled voice of Sharpe cut in snapping Arno back to reality. "What are we to do sir?"

For a moment he wasn't sure what to do. What could they do? Against ships so large and undoubtedly powerful, was there anything their paltry few could do? They needed the main Imperial fleet here, and they needed it now. A plan began to formulate in Arno's mind. He needed to find out who or what these ships were, and if they were hostile, he would have to find some way to stall them.

He cleared his throat, "Mr. Diesel? Open a channel all frequencies."

"Sir?"

"Open the channel damn you!"

Diesel complied and he opened multiple frequencies. He gave a thumbs up when they were set. Arno straightened up adjusting his collar nervously. For a moment he wondered if he should even speak at all. The ships assembling from the anomaly seemed to be ignoring him for the moment. Would speaking over the comms reveal their position and bring about their destruction? He exhaled slowly to calm himself. He was committed now and there was no turning back. He stood straight and began to speak into the intercom.

+++ Realspace entry complete. Dark Vengeance at 100% integrity. 0% hull breach. Disengaging Warp Geller fields…..+++

The servitor, a half human half machine automaton, prattled on as it reinitiated sub systems and ship functions. Its voice was joined by a chorus of other servitors built into various computers and alcoves of the ship's bridge. The vessel was a battle barge of the Dark Angels space marine chapter known as Dark Vengeance. Ship Master Haniel Grey, an Astartes himself, let the chorus of voices wash over him as he sat in the command dais.

With a simple thought his mind connected to the ships sensors through a neural link to the navigation computers and sensory arrays. The fleet consisting of Dark Vengeance, three strike cruisers, and ten Nova class frigates, along with a compliment of support and supplementary craft. All ships had successfully made the transition to real space, and thankfully none had been lost. This area of space was unknown to them, and the light of the astropathic choirs barely reached here so far from Terra. Thankfully they were able to make it and thus close every closer to their quarry. On this unknown moon somewhere hiding on the forested mega continent, the Fallen Angel known as Cypher lurked. He would not escape so easily this time.

As he monitored the fleet and received communications from other ships, Haniel noticed a slight blip on his radar. With a thought he ordered a servitor to get a visual, and in quick order he received an image of the space in question. The area was some 10,000 kilometers out, and the image showed a small cluster of void ships bearing a design he did not recognize. The ships were tiny in comparison to the Imperial war vessels, perhaps comparable to a small corvette. He noted weapons batteries and a charged energy presence amongst the small ships. Further he noted a series of radio waves at varying frequencies, an attempt at hailing perhaps? Before he could investigate further his concentration was broken by a prying voice.

"Yes Captain Nakir, to answer your question we have arrived." There was a note of sarcasm in Haniel's voice, though it was in good humor.

Captain Nakir was a tall Astartes. His armor was the traditional darkened hue of green, with gunmetal gray trim and Imperial iconography. He wore the traditional knight robes over his arm, with the cowl drawn back revealing a pale skinned hairless face marred with burn scars. Nakir and Haniel had been friends for many centuries, and Nakir was often at the bad end of his friend's jokes. The scared Astartes did not mind, and often let Haniel's surprising humor run off his shoulders.

"Forgive me brother, but I grow anxious. Especially when one so hunted draws near." There was an urgency of seriousness weighing on Nakir's voice, and Haniel could not blame him. Cypher, along with the other fallen angels, were a blight on the Dark Angel's honor who carried with them a terrible secret. As such, for the sake of the Chapter, these renegades needed to be silenced. Cypher was one of the more notorious and illusive of the fallen. Many a time did he slip the Dark Angels grasp, and not once had they gained the upper hand. Perhaps today would be different.

"Are your forces prepared for planetfall my friend?" Haniel asked though he knew the answer.

Nakir nodded with a grin, "The 6th, 7th, and 10th companies have been ready since before warp transit. They are ready and willing to shed traitor's blood."

"Good to hear. And might I add brother not unexpected."

Nakir nodded towards one of the screens displaying the distant xeno's craft. "These are unexpected however. Should we board them, to make sure our quarry is not there?"

Haniel shook his head, "No, If Cypher had boarded one of those vessels, I suspect he would be long gone. These seem to be a patrol of some sort. I'm picking up their hails." Haniel grinned in amusement as heard one of the messages play in his neural implants. "They demand that we identify ourselves or be fired upon."

Nakir chuckled darkly at that, "that seems a threat to me brother. Though it doesn't matter. No one, not even these unknown souls, can bear witness to the fallen and live to tell the tale."

"Silence any threat be they armed with weapons or armed with words." Haniel reflected, "See to your men Captain, I shall deal with these."

"Very well. We shall mount up and begin planetfall. Good hunting brother." Nakir said slamming his fist to his chest in salute. Haniel returned the gesture and Nakir strode off the bridge. Content in his friend's determination, he turned his attention back towards the interlopers and gave orders to the Redolent Justice, and the Resolve strike cruisers to engage the xeno's vessels. As the cruisers moved their bulk towards for far smaller craft, Haniel noticed sudden panic in the hails coming from the vessels. The death of these unknown vessels was of little importance, and instead Haniel turned his attention back to the moon, and the deployment of the Adeptus Astartes. We come for you Cypher, and this time you shall not escape.