The UL-073 Sector was located at the outermost fringes of the Imperium's Segmentum Obscurus. Due to the proximity of the Eye of Terror, it had been a desolate and dead region for millennia.
There was a vast multitude of Death Worlds within this sector. Even Perturabo was unwilling to waste excessive resources and effort on these planets. Aside from a few Mineral Worlds where the Tech-Priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus had established Forge Worlds, the defensive forces in this region were not particularly strong.
Generally, only three to five Space Marine Chapters were garrisoned across these areas.
Of course, the worlds where these Chapters were stationed had certainly undergone strenuous terraforming and fortification. Except for a few solitary Chapters that disliked clustering together—such as the Night Lords and Raven Guard—few Chapters willingly chose to be stationed on the worlds of these sectors.
To call it exile would be an exaggeration, as they could return at any time. But to say these places were truly peaceful and suitable for retirement was equally impossible.
In fact, these sectors were precisely the primary operational zones where Imperial Chapters currently conducted cleansing operations.
Because there were very few habitable worlds left in the galaxy for xenos to dwell in, they were forced to abandon their homeworlds and native systems to flee toward high-risk worlds that rarely had contact with the Imperium of Man.
Death Worlds and Feral Worlds were their top choices. However, the Imperium's sheer hatred for xenos and its drive to utterly exterminate them was evidently hardcoded into its very bones.
The Deathwatch swept through these sectors almost year-round. Many Chapters would also occasionally enter these regions while pursuing traitors, lending a hand whenever they crossed paths with these xenos.
At this moment, the Deathwatch Fifth Fleet arrived in the UL-073 Sector to rendezvous with a Raven Guard successor Chapter.
"Commander Rhode, it has been a long time."
On their homeworld, the Chapter Master of the Shadow Claws personally received this Deathwatch fleet.
The Deathwatch and the Grey Knights held quite a unique status among the various Chapters. Although they were referred to as Chapters, they were not bound by the Codex Astartes. Generally speaking, they were dispersed into various fleets, striking out across all corners of the galaxy.
The Deathwatch specialized in combating xenos, while the Grey Knights dedicated themselves to hunting traitors and dealing with the rifts that had appeared in realspace following the prior warp blockades. Unaligned Chaos Daemons often manifested outside these rifts, and if left unattended, these fissures could grow progressively larger.
The Grey Knights were responsible for sealing these rifts. Yet, such minor rifts in the galaxy were countless; closing one here meant another would tear open elsewhere. Thus, while the Grey Knights were not as scarce, fragile, or overwhelmingly burdened as they were in the original history, it did not mean their current duties were easy.
"Chapter Master Nyx, long time no see. It has been nearly thirty years, hasn't it?"
Rhode's three-meter-tall frame firmly embraced Nyx, who was a full size smaller than him.
"Three days short of exactly thirty years."
Though descended from the Raven Guard, Nyx was one of the rare ravens who had not succumbed to melancholy or depression. He had once collaborated with Rhode in a joint operation to hunt down a fleeing xenos species.
The two sides had forged a fairly deep bond of friendship.
"You remember it that precisely?"
"Of course. You are our dearest friends, and our duel back then remains undecided."
"Haha, rest assured, brother. Once this mission is resolved, I will have another proper bout with you. My brothers are itching for a fight as well."
"Then it's a deal."
"It's a deal."
Rhode was a very talkative man. As an initiate implanted with a chimeric gene-seed of the Dark Angels and White Scars created by Perturabo, he possessed both the resolve to keep tight secrets and an occasional, irrepressible urge to chatter as a way to vent the inner darkness of his mind.
As scions of the Raven Lord, the Shadow Claws actually suffered from quite severe bouts of melancholy. Yet, this group of powerful and unbothered veterans from the Deathwatch could perfectly manage the psychology of these gloomy princes. Not only did the two groups get along harmoniously, but they also shared an excellent rapport in cooperation.
Conversely, the ones who left the Deathwatch the most speechless were the taciturn blocks of wood from the Imperial Fists and the Death Guard.
For the Death Guard, it was likely due to Mortarion's influence; every single one of them was no less melancholy than the Raven Guard, and they were incredibly xenophobic toward outsiders. Aside from the Iron Warriors, this quiet bunch associated with no other Legions.
The Imperial Fists required even less explanation. They weren't melancholic or depressed; they were just incredibly stoic. They were so silent that every Chapter that had ever cooperated with them could hardly bear this communication style, which could practically be described as giving the silent treatment.
You could trust any Imperial Fist to watch your back, but you could absolutely never expect them to have any conversation with you. They barely spoke outside of essential mission directives.
In this regard, the Black Templars were entirely at odds with the rest of the Imperial Fists. However, their fanaticism and their stubbornness—which gave even their allies massive headaches—truly proved that they were indeed the sons of Dorn.
In short, the Death Guard were unpopular, and they isolated themselves from everyone else. The Imperial Fists treated everyone with the exact same coldness, making everyone uneasy, yet everyone still genuinely regarded them as trustworthy brothers.
If one were to speak of the true social butterflies among the Chapters, it had to be the Thousand Sons and the Ultramarines.
One relied on sincerity, while the other relied on thoughtfulness. Their friends could be found all across the galaxy. When one side faced trouble, hundreds of Chapters would bring their entire households along to back them up. Even the vastly wealthy Iron Warriors fell a step short of them in this regard.
However, when it came to Chapters that truly every brother was reluctant to face—not out of hatred or fear, but simply because these individuals were far too reclusive and mysterious—the Deathwatch First Fleet was one, and the Dark Angels were the absolute pinnacle.
Nowadays, even the Space Wolves did not resist the breaking up of the Legions as they had in the original history. But the Dark Angels were different; they had never truly executed that order from beginning to end.
In name, they had split into dozens of Chapters, but in reality, these Chapters were nothing more than carbon copies of the Dark Angels themselves.
Aside from their numbers and fleet sizes, they hadn't changed a single bit. They remained just as mysterious and shrouded in the unknown.
The Death Guard isolated themselves from other Chapters due to Mortarion, but the Dark Angels were different. Aside from the Space Wolves and the Iron Warriors, to whom they granted a modicum of trust, almost everyone else was instinctively and systematically blocked from prying into their affairs.
They even utilized obscure ciphers and battle-cant hand signs to communicate amongst themselves in front of their other brothers, guarding everything about themselves with extreme rigor.
This level of precision and strict secrecy had even prompted Alpharius to openly complain to El'Jonson.
"Your Legion is the only one I cannot infiltrate. Those inner circle structures are nested one inside another; even I cannot fully integrate myself. Do you know, brother? I was toyed with by your men like a clown for three whole months."
"Even with Angron, I managed to endure his mind-reading and lay low within his Legion for thirteen months. Yet your men exposed me simply during a routine exchange of countersigns."
"You clearly knew what my objective was, so stop playing games with me. The moment I was exposed, you should have dragged me out. Otherwise, it makes me look incredibly foolish."
To force the Imperium's greatest covert agent to complain like this only proved that the Dark Angels were far too authoritative in their secrecy. Aside from the Emperor and El'Jonson himself, no one knew exactly how many little secrets were hidden within the Dark Angels—perhaps even they themselves could no longer keep track of them all.
Yet, the most unique Chapter nowadays was still the Word Bearers. This group of zealots who revered the Emperor had always actively preached across every galaxy.
They had splintered into a number of Chapters second only to the Ultramarines, taking root in every star system to spread their faith.
In a certain sense, the ones with the deepest roots across the five major galaxies were not the Iron Warriors or the Ultramarines, but this bunch of holy men.
Rhode had encountered these preachers many times. Their fanaticism made a materialist like Rhode highly uncomfortable. Even though he knew that faith as a concept actually held power, he also knew that the Emperor disliked it, the Warmaster disliked it, and the vast majority of the Primarchs disliked it all the same.
Although Lorgar and the Word Bearers adhered to the Imperial Truth and revered the Emperor, they had stopped short of elevating him to godhood or treating his words as holy scripture. However, anyone with open eyes could see that this was exactly what they intended. They simply practiced it themselves without forcing or brainwashing others into doing the same.
Rhode found it difficult to judge such behavior, but a minor commander like him had no right to debate matters of that echelon.
Just as he still did not know which Legion his own gene-seed originated from. The Warmaster kept entirely silent about it, and their Chapter Master led the First Fleet rampaging across the stars all day, nowhere to be found. As a result, a lingering doubt hung over the hearts of the entire Deathwatch from top to bottom.
They could be certain they had come from the major Legions, but they couldn't say for sure whose scions they truly were. After all, their genetic resonance felt almost identical toward every Chapter.
They couldn't distinguish who their true brothers were. The Deathwatch made no distinctions among themselves, but wouldn't it still be a good thing to recognize one's own kin and father?
But despite their curiosity, the Deathwatch tacitly kept this matter buried in their hearts. After all, since the Warmaster hadn't allowed them to claim their parentage, he certainly had his reasons, or perhaps there was some secret that made him keep his lips tightly sealed.
But regardless, if it became possible in the future, the Warmaster would surely speak of it.
"What is your purpose for coming here this time, brother? Have more xenos fled to our sector?"
Nyx knew the Deathwatch hadn't come all this way just to idle about and foster friendships; no Chapter had that much free time.
"More or less. Have you ever heard of the Khrave?"
"I've heard rumors. But weren't they already eradicated by the Dark Angels?"
"Stragglers from other galaxies. They likely slipped through those warp rifts. A blind cat stumbling upon a dead mouse. A fleet above a certain planet lost most of its strength, and the planetary defense forces and navy on the surface fought with all their might just to halt their advance."
"Corswain has personally led a force here, and Lord El'Jonson has once again initiated an operation targeting the Khrave. I've come this time to coordinate with them to hunt down and eliminate this cunning xenos breed."
"No one knows just how well they can hide. This time, we requisitioned quite a few anti-psychic devices specifically to leave these xenos with nowhere to conceal themselves."
Rhode had only ever seen records of these extinct xenos within ancient Imperial archives. This was data reported by the Dark Angels, so it was absolutely impossible for it to be erroneous, yet these Khrave had somehow managed to drift into these regions.
Previously, everyone had overlooked the factor of the other galaxies. After all, the Eye of Terror was firmly locked down by the Iron Warriors' parent Legion and its successor Chapters, making it absolutely impossible for any xenos to slip through. The only possibility lay within the warp rifts that were now interconnected.
"Is there anything we can do to help?"
"Yes. We need the Shadow Claws and two other Chapters to blockade the warp nodes along several other routes for us. The Khrave are highly cunning; if we aren't careful, they might slip away."
"Rest assured, no issues will arise in the sectors I blockade," Nyx promised. Though the Khrave were insidious, the Shadow Claws were no pushovers. When it came to stealth and ambushes, they had never feared anyone.
Meanwhile, a mid-sized fleet was slowly approaching from beyond the Segmentum Obscurus.
The dazzling, brilliant light within the warp from earlier had ultimately drawn the gaze of the Great Devourer. It could sense the biomass hidden within this galaxy, as well as those deliciously tempting genomes. That formidable aura spread wantonly through the galaxy, almost entirely unshielded.
It was like a plump piece of blood-soaked meat, drawing in all predators.
Thus, the will of the Great Devourer altered their course, steering them toward a galaxy that had already been battered and torn to pieces.
The Khrave were a highly unfortunate xenos species.
The Dark Angels had chased them across the entire galaxy. They had thought they could seize the opportunity to rise again when humanity fell into internal strife, but they hadn't expected that the Chaos Space Marines still had no intention of sparing any xenos.
With no other choice, the Khrave continued to hide and scurry through the galaxy, only for those traitors to inexplicably be beaten back by another faction of humans.
They thought that this time things should finally stabilize, so they planned to strike once more, intending to forcibly occupy a sector of space before plotting their resurgence.
Yet to their surprise, this faction of humans possessed the exact same temperament. Whether they turned to Chaos or not, xenos were always the first that needed to die in their eyes.
This Khrave fleet had barely escaped the pursuit of the Deathwatch Fifty-Eighth Fleet over there. After hastily fleeing into a warp rift and drifting for a long time, they finally materialized here.
Consequentially, before they could even celebrate finally shaking off their pursuers, they ran headfirst into the very Legion they were most familiar with—and hated the most.
Without a second thought, they turned tail and fled frantically once more. Corswain had never imagined that a casual scouting run of his would result in discovering this familiar xenos breed.
Thus, the two sides engaged in a frantic chase. It was only after Corswain contacted the surrounding Chapters to set up blockades and ambushes that they managed to corner these incredibly swift xenos into a dead star system.
Corswain had originally intended to use five Chapters along with a Deathwatch fleet to encircle and annihilate this Khrave fleet. However, when the Chapter Masters arrived at the location together, they fell into a collective silence.
Because the Khrave here were already gone—in the most literal, physical sense.
Their starships had crashed upon a planet, covered in horrific, massive bite marks. These Death Worlds looked as though they had been gnawed clean by something; the biomass and energy readings on them were terrifyingly low.
Someone had beaten them to the punch and wiped out the enemies of the Imperium. But Corswain and the others knew that a highly troublesome new enemy had likely surfaced within the galaxy.
After dispatching this message to their respective parent Legions and logic engines, the gathered forces promptly withdrew.
This planet was useless now. They didn't know if those Eldar could still restore a region like this; otherwise, they would have to rely on the Iron Warriors and those Tech-Priests to spare some time to come over.
The enemy this time was far from simple. Everyone was well aware that any adversary capable of stripping an entire star system so thoroughly right under their noses in such a short span of time was bound to be extremely ferocious and cunning.
Meanwhile, Perturabo also detected a hint of something amiss while reviewing the battle reports of this cross-galaxy hunt for the Khrave.
"What is the matter with you? You look so solemn. Is Chaos about to resurface? This quickly?" the Emperor asked.
"No, it's just that an equally troublesome threat is likely on its way," Perturabo replied.
"What exactly happened?"
"Do you remember the Swarm and the Great Devourer I mentioned to you before? They have noticed this place now, and they have already dispatched a vanguard fleet into the galaxy."
"The Necrons are also likely to awaken ahead of schedule."
Perturabo pinched the bridge of his nose. This sudden turn of events had once again disrupted his plans.