Author's Note: Hello my friends. Ghostwriter back again with another chapter. The story is gonna start picking up here, and the next couple chapters are one that I'm really look foward to. I'm not gonna add a lot of text here, so...With all that out the way... Lets get into the fic!


Out of all of the things that have happened in both her old life, and this new one, from crusading across the stars, to managing galaxy wide conflicts, Hathor Lupercal has never been arrested.

When the marines arrived, she did not resist them taking her into custody, although the amount of bolters they pointed at her reminded her this was less a custody and more a panicked imprisonment, but she didn't have much choice.

When she arrived at their compound she was astonished, on top of the marines themselves that she had observed previously, which made her think a lot had changed, she was surprised that the outpost these marines were held up in didn't look much different from any of the outposts she visited during her time. The only difference were some armaments.

These musings took her back to the present time. She was in a makeshift cell inside of the buildings of the compound. These marines had ordered her to remove her armor, which she obliged. Now she sat in an empty cell in her black body glove, waiting for something to happen.

Their leader, Jullia was her name, had visited her multiple times after she was imprisoned to interrogate her. But those interrogations went nowhere, obviously. Who would believe a word that comes out of the mouth of one of the greatest traitors of the Imperium, who was supposed to be long dead.

And now here she sat, alone

The humidity of the planet constantly reminded her of how cramped her cell was. The air inside felt stale, almost dead. She had tried to rest multiple times, but everytime she laid down on the metal cot inside the cell, a drop of water would land on her, immediately destroying any attempt. Above all else… she wondered about several new pieces of information that she had been made aware of during her interrogations if she could even call them that.

She was right… A lot had changed

First, she wasn't the only Primarch that was alive. Both her sisters Guilliman and El'Johnson were alive, with the former now being the "Lord Regent" of the Imperium. Out of all of her siblings, she thought, Juno would be the one managing the Imperium if Father weren't present.

Second, she hadn't entirely failed in killing the Emperor aboard the Vengeful Spirit. After much conversation with Jullia, she was informed that the Emperor was "entombed" on the "golden throne" due to his injuries. Now she didn't know what the "golden throne" was, but given that the marine had used the word "entombed", she guessed that Father was either dead, or functionally dead.

She wasn't even fully aware of all of the blood on her hands…

Hathor had attempted to ask the marine for any more information about the current state of the galaxy, but was unfortunately rebuffed.

Third, was that the marines had sent word to the Ordo Hereticus, whatever that was, about her existence and imprisonment. They would be sending a fleet from the Calixis Sector to retrieve her and transport her to Terra to answer for her crimes. But that would take a few months, so in the meantime she would remain on Formanton IV until then.

She learned all of this 3 weeks ago.

If she had one positive thing to say about her situation was that at least the marines fed her. Admittedly it was mostly scraps of grox meat and leftover nutrient paste that even a starving guardsmen would spit out, but at least it was food.

But all of her thoughts were interrupted by commotion outside of her cell. She could vaguely hear it through the lazer gate but she could see that the guards that were originally in front of her cell were gone. She moved as close to the gate as she could, almost singeing her hair in the process.

They were gone, something was going on…

Then she heard a siren start to blare throughout the compound, but she couldn't investigate its source.

She was completely stuck in this cell.

Then… the very cell walls began to shake. Artillery, why were they firing Artillery? Her tactical mind was running a thousand miles a minute, but she didn't need to be a genius to figure out what was happening.

The scrambling of the marines, the siren, the artillery. All of those things could mean only one thing.

Invasion.

The thought arrived in her mind like an icy wind. They were being invaded, by who? She didn't know, but her deep seeded fear from her time on the Discord came back to her… They had found her.

But how? She made a blind jump outside of the Eye of Terror, and she was sure that any living being aboard her ship was dead, there was no one to send the signal… she paused, then all at once, it became clear to her how they had found her.

THE SHIP!

How had she forgotten about it? One of the central aspects of a Navigation Unit is its location beacon. It's what you use as a reference in Warp jump calculations. She was kicking her, she was a fool for not trashing the ship when she had left originally. In her scramble to find a way out, find any kind of way out of her predicament, she got sloppy…

And now she brought the forces of Chaos to the Imperium's front door… again…

Despair momentarily filled her thoughts, now matter how hard she tried, she only seemed to bring more death and destruction to those around her. A dark thought came to her mind… one that even she had never considered before…

Before another thought, or more accurately, a memory came to her…

The memory of when she was made Warmaster…

They stood in the greatest hall of the Imperial Palace on Terra. The very walls gleamed with a golden glow, but Hathor didn't even look at them. Her face was looking at the ground. She had just triumphed over Ullanor, the greatest military victory of her career, of the entire Imperium. Her Father had called her, and all of her sisters to meet with him, he had news…

Her father stood before, her sisters stood behind her. He stood behind her… They all stood behind her.

"Hathor Lupercal, my daughter, my friend…" The Emperor's voice echoed throughout the large hall.

"We have all but conquered the galaxy. Now the time has come for me to retire to Terra…" Her face was in shock, as was the entire ensemble. He continued…

"My work as a soldier is done and now passes to you for I have great tasks to perform in my earthly sanctum…" Father's words weren't making any sense to her. What was their plan now? Were the many nights her and her Father had crafted this Imperium into what it is now, going to be swept away…

"I name you Warmaster and from this day forth all of my armies and generals shall take orders from you as if the words came from mine own mouth." Warmaster… She remembered the old terran stories of great leaders and warriors that Father had made her read in their time.

"But words of caution I have for you, for your sister primarchs are strong of will, of thought and of action. Do not seek to change them, but use their particular strengths well. You have much work to do for there are still many worlds to liberate, many peoples to rescue…" She could feel the concern in his voice momentarily leak out, she herself was concerned. The future of the Imperium was in her hands, but the feeling of her sisters behind her kept her grounded, his presence made her feel like she could do this.

"My trust is with you…" The Emperor's voice echoed through her mind…

"Hail Hathor!" His voice boomed through the palace. Her sisters began to applaud. Russ let out some kind of whistle, she felt his hand on her shoulder…

"Hail the Warmaster!"

Those words rang in her mind… Her lack of forward planning had her made sloppy… It was unlike her, and she was going to remedy that right now.

A plan quickly formed as another tremor shook the building. Both her and the marines' goals aligned, so she would aid them, whether they agreed or not…

The lazer gate in front of her impeded her, so she sought about removing that obstacle. She ripped the metal cot off its mountings on the wall. And began to shove it with all her might into the lazer gate, overcoming the gate's repulsive force with the strength of a, albeit weakened, Primarch. Her idea here was to force the bed in between the emitters on lazer gate, either overheating them or causing them to short circuit. The latter she would find out as a mountain of sparks shot out from the intersection of the cot and lazer gate, causing the emitters to die with sickening pop

As she stepped outside her cell, she took stock of her surroundings, when she noticed an injured guardsmen sauntered inside the building, likely seeking cover. The guardsmen's helmet had a sizeable dent, with a piece of shrapnel still lodged inside.

"Guardsmen…" She ordered, as the man turned to her with fear in his eyes.

"If you wish to live another day, you will show me where my armor is, then tell me where the command center is." She said,

"I… would rather die than assist a…"

"You would turn down the aid of a Primarch?" She questioned as she interrupted the guardsmen. She had guessed what the guardsmen would call her, a heretic, a phrase she had heard several times already.

This gave the guardsmen pause before he responded.

"Yes", she chuckled.

"Even though doing so will likely doom you and your men?"

"We are trained to give our lives for the Emperor at a moment's notice…" a dry laugh left his coarse throat. The guardsmen staggered, planting himself against a wall for support.

"And we would do so without a moment's hesitation." The guardsmen rebuked her. She momentarily paused… Very good, she thought…

"You are brave guardsmen. Not many would rebuke a Primarch's request, even most marines wouldn't balk at their orders." She said,

"But I'm not requesting guardsmen, I'm ordering you. And if we are to survive the onslaught, you must follow my orders to the letter." She continued as she walked past him.

"I never needed your assistance guardsmen, I was going to look for my armor myself. I simply needed to ascertain the commitment of the forces on this planet before I made my next move. You and your men are willing to look certain death in the face, and laugh. I will need that tenacity. You are relieved." She was fully past him, standing at one of the doorways inside the prison block, the guardsmen looking at her with astonishment.

He began to draw his sidearm.

"If you are going to pull the trigger guardsmen…" She turned to face him.

"You'd better not miss…"