MORKAI IMPERIAL VOXCAST (6 320 745.M41)—More than 150,000 citizens are presumed dead after mutant terrorists caused a massive explosion that led to the collapse of the Sublimis Spire, a satellite tower of the hive city of Charcharoth.

Authorities state that approximately a dozen mutants sabotaged a promethium fuel facility in the underhive of the spire, igniting an extensive number of promethium storage tanks and causing an explosion that damaged a nearby plasma reactor that supplied the 5,000-meter-tall, independently standing tower.

Grand Elector Fabius Nemetorius appeared in a planet-wide broadcast two hours after the explosion.

“The mutant terrorists’ damage to the reactor set off a chain reaction that led to a 70-kiloton explosion that vaporized approximately 1.2 square kilometers of structural supports, which compromised the spire’s structural integrity,” he said.

The immense weight of the tower could not be supported by what was left of the underhive supports, and within 90 seconds of the explosion, the spire began to “pancake,” essentially collapsing level by level atop one another.

“In the space of less than two minutes, every inhabitant in the Sublimis Tower was crushed, the immense weight of the ruins ensuring that there are no survivors,” the Grand Elector said.

Rumors are circulating that the Adeptus Arbites had received intelligence suggesting an attack on the fuel facility—and that Enforcers engaged in a firefight with the terrorists.

Although there has been no official response to this rumor, anonymous sources within the Grand Council reportedly are arguing that information on the Arbites’ heroic actions during the attack should be released, if only to reassure the populace that government officials were alert to the threat of the ongoing mutant rebellion.

“It’s my understanding that a squad of Enforcers were guarding the promethium facility when the mutants attacked,” said one source that insisted on anonymity. “Tragically, they were overwhelmed. And they paid for their failure as did everyone else in the spire.”

The Council of Electors held an emergency meeting after the attack, although there is no official word of any security or retribution initiatives as yet.

“A full report on this tragedy is being prepared for the council, but it will take time to collect all we know of the attack, what security data was recorded by cogitators, and assess security needs at other high-risk sites in every hive city,” said High Marshal Albus Sundvar, commander of all Arbites forces on Morkai.

Rumors are spreading—as they have repeatedly in recent years—that the government is planning a pogram to cull the mutant population, detain them in labor camps, or possibly drive mutants out of the hive city and into the desert.

Government authorities sought to downplay such rumors, not surprising given that such reprisals would spark a bloody conflict with the three million mutants living in Charcharoth.

“While security forces will detain mutants suspected of insurrection, terrorism, or support for the mutant rebellion, any government action against mutants in general would lead to civil disorder on a scale that would amount to civil war,” Sundvar said.

“That is exactly what rebel mutants want—to distract our military forces from the military threat of the mutant-held city of Ungolath.”

Military forces are on alert, Nemetorius assured citizens. Although recent military attacks by the mutants of Ungolath, the center of the mutant rebellion, have been rare in recent years, this week’s attack on Charcharoth is reminiscent of an earlier virus bombing of the capital city of Golgenna in 737.M41.

The boldness of this week’s attack—and the scale of damage and loss of life—has sent a ripple of apprehension across Morkai. Protests against mutants have been staged in hive cities across the planet, and a riot between gene-norm and mutant citizens broke out in the city of Cynosure.

At last 2,000 deaths have been reported in fighting that’s still ongoing.

A Level 3 security mandate has been declared planet-wide, with more stringent security measures put in place around critical infrastructure, government facilities, and markets and other commercial areas where large numbers of citizens congregate.

“While this tragedy will spark fear in the hearts of our citizenry, I remind everyone that the Emperor protects,” Nemetorius said. “We take the mutant threat seriously, and we are going to do all we can to keep people safe—and bring retribution down on those responsible for this heinous crime.”

In other news, some are questioning Nemetorius’ statement on the casualties of Sublimis’ collapse, arguing that official casualty numbers overlook collateral damage to the rest of the hive city.

As the spire collapsed, huge sections of debris fell outward, with one 100-meter-long section crashing into the main hive spire’s outer wall.

That collision tore a 1-kilometer gash through the wall, destroying 120 levels of industrial, commercial, and residential areas in the Fourth Quadrant’s Subsections 11, 12, 14, and 17. This resulted in an estimated 13,000 dead and 7,500 injured.

Meanwhile, casualties among inhabitants of the underhive aren’t listed in official reports. Government authority is practically non-existent in these deep and dangerous levels, so it is impossible to estimate how many lives were lost below the spire’s base.

Nor have authorities determined how many levels below ground collapsed when the spire’s tens of millions of tons of plasteel and adamantium slammed downward.

Some estimate casualties among these citizens, however wretched their existence, could amount to anywhere from 30,000 to 100,000. That would put total deaths in the attack at more than a quarter of a million.

A battle report on the terrorist attack is coming. The link will be here.

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