An Imperial warship orbits Belzagor, part of a growing armada that many believe will soon challenge the xeno presence in the Sculptor System.
After a lengthy lull in military action in the Corvus Cluster, there is both fear—and optimism—that the Imperium is readying itself for a serious response to the growing xeno threat. Here is some of the news that is spreading out of earshot of arbiters and commissars:
Imperial Navy readies for battle
It appears the Imperial naval fleet in the Sculptor System, under the command of Commodore Gadea Hennard, is preparing to deploy into battle.
Two cruisers and three frigates recently arrived to bolster Fleet Corvus, and Hennard met with military commanders on Hegira recently to ensure that additional supplies were shipped from the embattled moon to the warships orbiting the planet.
At this time, Fleet Corvus faces a number of challenges:
• It is attempting to maintain its blockade of the moon of Dar Sai, which has severed the supply line to the Tau invaders on the moon’s surface. This blockade appears to be under threat from a growing fleet of Tau vessels orbiting the Tau-held world of Media III.
• Da Butcher, a cruiser-class ork warship, is known to be hiding in the Sculptor System’s asteroid field. It is known that the ship’s crew seized several Imperial vessels lost in a naval battle near Hegira two years ago—and towed the wrecks into the asteroid field, where it’s believed the greenskins are using them as the basis for a new fleet.
• The growing xeno fleet at Media III also raises the risk of a major fleet engagement, which could reshape the balance of power in the system. An Imperial victory would greatly enhance Imperial war efforts, whereas a major defeat could threat the Imperial hold over the entire system.
Plague ship threatens multiple sectors
A rumor is spreading among Imperial Navy personnel that the plague-invested warship, the Terminus Est, sailed out of the Heart of Darkness and destroyed two Imperial cruisers that were patrolling the edge of the Warp storm.
A vile legend and harbinger of doom, the Terminus Est is said to be under the command of a Warp-cursed warlord known as Typhus.
All manner of outrageous rumors surround Typhus. The most nonsensical suggestion is that he was a commander of the XVIth Legion, known as the Death Guard, which betrayed the Emperor during the time of the Horus Heresy. That’s clearly impossible, as Typhus would be 10 millennia old.
No matter what the truth, Imperial authorities cannot stress strongly enough the threat posed by the Terminus Est and encourage Imperial citizens to report immediately any information regarding the traitor ship’s location. The ship lately has been reported at both Celestius and Dozaria, two worlds recently afflicted by a virulent plague.
Mutant cult attacks Morkai capital
The largest hive city on Morkai, Golgenna also serves as the planetary capital.
Mutants calling themselves “The Twisted Helix” detonated a virus bomb on the 112th level of Golgenna, a hive city and planetary capital of the dying world of Morkai.
Nearly 20,000 citizens were killed in the attack, which saw its victims’ flesh literally melt as it came into contact with the corrosive biological agent released by the bomb’s explosion.
Casualties would have been higher, but authorities managed to seal the level quickly, although their actions doomed thousands of yet-unaffected citizens who were trapped within the sealed area.
The Twisted Helix claims to be followers of Haruspex, a mutant leader who ruled the abandoned hive city of Ungoloth on Morkai nearly three centuries ago. Rumors lately have spread that Haruspex still lives.
Blood Angels join fight on Dar Sai
The Blood Angels are considered one of the most noble chapters of the Space Marines.
A small contingent of the Blood Angels Space Marine Chapter has joined the Imperial defenders on the moon of Dar Sai in the Sculptor System.
There is no word yet on the number of deployed Astartes, their commander’s name, or their company designation. Nor is there any information on what has drawn one of the Imperium’s foremost defenders to a war on a backwater moon.
That said, the arrival of the Blood Angels represents the third Space Marine Chapter to show an interest in the Corvus Cluster. The Knights of Altair arrived nearly three ago, and there have been several reports of Space Wolves activity in the region.
If, as it’s hoped, several companies of Astartes have arrived to defend the region, this offers hope that victory is inevitable … or that a dire threat looms over us all.
Orks are building Titan-class weapons on Hegira
Disturbing reports are circulating in military circles that the orks on Hegira are engaged in a massive construction project to build Titan-sized war machines.
Orbital sensors constantly pass over the ork-held southern continent of Hegira, and new vict-recordings show a score of large construction gantries in the greenskin-held Herak Manufactorum, located to the southwest of the Sea of Dust.
Under construction are massive ork-shaped walkers, believed to be Gargants and Stompas—the equivalent of an Imperial Battle Titan of the Warhound or Reaver class.
“This is a threat of the most serious nature,” said General Tiberius Vectrix, supreme commander of Imperial forces on Hegira. “Our manufactorums, however, are hard at work on the construction of countermeasures, most notably the introduction of Titan-killing Vanguisher tanks.”
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The Corvus Cluster is a Warhammer 40K blog documenting our wargaming adventures in the fantastical sci-fi universe of Games Workshop.
Categories: Rumors
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