The Wrathful Fall remains in the system for another 24 Terran Standard hours as Zhi performs a shake-down of all the new ship systems. A process that she preferred to do firsthand since each vessel has a micro digistructor and what she calls simple AI, which she explained as a smarter machine spirit. Tech-Priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus are not loyal to mankind, and thus, none will serve on the ships and fortress worlds of the Dread Legion and Shadow Corp. Since they control all the machines and horde all the Imperium's technological knowledge, a workaround is needed to supply and maintain Legion and Corp equipment.
During the wait, Lord Eversight and Dalat take a tour of the massive ship and meet with the various squads of the Dread Legion. The legionnaires themselves move around the ship out of their power armor. Some spar, some read, some watch the various shows and movies from around the Imperium, some meditate, and some train. Overall, the legion is much more relaxed than any other. Their skin colors vary from pale white to ebony and every color in between. They all sport tattoos of different styles and meanings, not just those of the Imperium. None show signs of mutations that are prevalent in many other Space Marines.
Dalat finds comradeship among the Dread Legion, finding them to be just as intelligent and insightful as the average Custodian. He is especially fond of the Terminator squads known within the legion as the Juggernauts. These Space Marines wear the modified Psykana Terminator Armor and are without question the most aggressive members of the Dread Legion but also its calmest outside of battle. The heavy armor and its weapons, like the Psykana Bolters, are fueled by the psyker pariah powers of the wearer, requiring each of them to be in the top one percent within the Dreadmarines. Each of them is a walking weapons platform capable of obliterating entire armor groups alone.
The ship also holds a far more powerful and terrifying force within the largest hold at its heart. The original nightmare machines that inspired the Ordo Sinister. The legendary Titan Legion that walked during the Great Crusade and Siege of Terra. The Ordo Sinister Titans are known as Psi-Titans because of their use of psychic weaponry. A Psi-Titan is manned by damned Human psykers surgically wired into the war machine's heart and locked in place against their will. They are, in effect, slaved to the Psi-Titan's commanding princeps, who bear the title of "preceptor-intendant" and are always a psychic Blank. It is the role of the preceptor-intendant to control their psychic charge and prevent them from losing control of their abilities. The machines aboard the Wrathful Fall are not that crude. They are the equivalent of a Legion Dreadnaught in many ways; only the Dreadmarine at their hearts are not permanently trapped there to whither and rot. They are fully armored and can leave their Titan shells, but none ever want to. If the Terminators are in the top one percent, the Knightmares, as the Titan pilots are called, are in the top 0.1. They pilot and fuel the Sinister-class Titans alone and, if unleashed, can crush entire Titan Legions alone. The Legion leaves these brothers to rest until they are needed.
Lord Eversight leaves the Dalat and the Dreadmarines to their downtime and returns to his quarters. Not because he is tired, he doesn't get tired, but because he is being called to conference. The chamber has no bed or desk or any other luxury. It is a circular chamber and, like a bridge, has a 360-degree view of space. Octrum Beta and its new fleet fill the forward view. In the center of the floor is the geometrically perfect symbol. This symbol is an ancient one known as a Mandala, and it is found in a few places in this blighted galaxy. One of those locations is the Wrathfal Fall and another is the Golden Throne on Terra. It allows for uninterrupted communication across the galaxy but only the most powerful psychic beings can use them without having their minds flayed. Lord Eversight sits in the center of the symbol and removes Final Sight as he closes his eyes. In seconds, his mind connects with the Emperor's, and the two become one.
"My Wrath," says the Emperor, his voice rolling like thunder in the darkness, "You have done well, but this is only the beginning. The Warp is making its move on the Immaterium is once again breaking into the Materium. Cadia will fall, and a Great Rift will rend the galaxy in two. The Imperium, already weak, will be divided in two. You are currently on the side that will become known as Imperium Nihilus. It will be isolated from Terra and the light of the Astronomican. There, mankind will suffer greatly even as Roboute awakens and begins a crusade on the other side of the rift to protect and reclaim the Imperium from the archenemy. When this happens, enemies long hidden will prey on humanity within the Dark Imperium. Many of these will be unstoppable by the forces there. You will stand in their defense. The first of these is the witch empire known as the Hexaria Imperia. It is an empire ruled entirely by psykers who have fully pledged themselves to Chaos Undivided. They have long hidden themselves from the rest of the galaxy, using the powers of their dark gods to hide themselves from sight even as they send out forces of their own to take psykers from the Imperium. Promising them a place of acceptance which is a simple but effective lure considering what the Imperium has become. When the Rift opens, they will be more powerful than ever and will descend on the galaxy like a plague. Bring them dread, my Wrath. I leave the choice of annihilation or salvation to you. And tell Zhi, thank you."
"Your will and your wrath are my command," says Lord Eversight before opening his eyes, "They will know dread."
Within hours of that communion, Cadia comes under siege, and the Despoiler and his Thirteenth Black Crusade pour from the Warp in their billions. Within weeks, it fell, and the Great Rift had opened. None of this could stop the Emperor's Wrath and his Dread Legion from fulfilling the Emporer's commands and cutting through the raging Warp to descend on the Chaos witches of Hexaria Imperia like a dreadstorm.