The fleet battle had just ended, and the ground war was next to begin.

Titans, Knights and heavy tanks were to insert first, and clear a beachhead for the armored infantry to follow inside the Imperial Webway.

Last checks and renewal of the holy purity sigils, as well as the Rites of Sacred Maintenance for the Godwalkers were taking place now, when Pef's dimensional sight caught a ship under inverted void cloak approach, from the side of the Imperium Sanctus no less.

A minute later, I recognized my own family aboard the cloaked Strike Cruiser, a Company of Red Talons Blank Astartes based out of Port Stanley on Terra, plus his mother, Justine. Quite a heavy-handed message from the Starchild. 'See, I am the one to return your mother to you, alive and well.'

"We have incoming. Under cloak." I spoke out loud to let the command bridge know he wasn't hallucinating.

The pack of new wolves all glanced at him with hungry eyes. Then again, the C'tan were as hungry as his Daemon lance. Always hungry.

'Not a danger, I would say.' the Blade discerned, likely by reading his metabolic state.

'My mother.' I answered in a flat voice.

'Also a Blank. Quite a safe option for a Divine Emissary.' the AI noted with a sarcastic tone.

An Emissary...the AI was always smarter than expected. I eyed the C'tan wolves, and realized they were probably smarter than his AI.

They weren't hungry for the few souls on the ship, but for whatever target the new Emissary was likely to send him to kill.

"Zath, with me. The rest of the wolf pack, you may begin the assault on the Necrons below." I ordered, and stepped into the tesseract, to relocate on the Cruiser.

"Commander Lancefire!" the ship's Captain exclaimed as he appeared on his bridge.

"So, the Mortalis Crusade is acknowledged as such on the saintly side?" I asked curious, as Zath landed soundlessly at his side.

Justine rose from her chair and walked forward, wary but brave. "The Emperor is aware, Pef. They share the same soulspace, after all." she explained in a small voice.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

I sighed and went to hug my reborn mother. "I'm sorry you went through all of this, mother. But being dead would be worse."

"You're so tall now, my son. Matching the Firstborn Astartes, right?" she noted with mild humor.

"This is my friend, called Zath. He is very strong." I introduced the C'tan wolf while observing the new Blanks wearing the Red Talon armor. Grand-grand children, most likely. 600 years was time enough for 20 generations to pass.

"Sire, is this a Fenrisian Wolf?" the Astartes Captain asked in a weird voice.

I shook my head. "There are no wolves on Fenris, Captain. There are only Space Wolves, of different types." The wolves were not just smart like a human, but humans mutated by their Canis Helix genes into looking like real wolves.

Zath walked to a free console and began reading the ship's logs, even waving through holopages like a human would.

Justine glanced at the wolf for a second, then decided to ignore it. Canis was much the same, after all.

"The Emperor has a request, son." Justine began saying, just as the phased shape of Inquisitor Valyene appeared on the same bridge.

I nodded to his wife, and smiled with a sad grimace. "Who is it, the Emperor wants me to kill this time?"

Justine blinked, then waved her hand through the holographic form of the Inquisitor, before sighing. "Truly, the Inquisition holds too many secrets. I heard only Blanks could withstand the Zone Mortalis."

"She cannot say, with non-cleared personnel in range, my Lord. You may turn back now, Red Talons. Your package has been delivered in good health." Lady Valyene ordered with a flash of her half-real Rosette, then the away team jumped back inside the tesseract to receive the target's specifics in person.

Zath also arrived, then tilted his head in a wolf stance. "I'm going inside the Webway then, or the fun will end without me." he spoke out loud, then vanished.

I nodded and deployed the Crusade army as well, starting with the big Castigator Titans.

"It seems there has been another Primarch that went bad, the one leading the Eleventh Legion." Justine began with a flat voice, only for me and my wife to burst in laughter at the news.

"Am I that lucky?" I asked in between fits of laughter, while Lady Valyene smacked his back like it was the best joke of the millennium.

"I don't see how this could be funny, Pef! This Malice creature is close to manifesting in realspace soon!" Justine argued in outrage, making me shed tears while laughing even harder.

"Oh no! In realspace!" Lady Valyene added in fake outrage and choked on her laughter fits.

"You knew? I see..." Justine realized just as her dear son produced a bottle of expensive Amasec to celebrate.

I gulped my glass, then poured another. "No wonder the wolves were so hungry. Poor metal robots make for a scant meal after all. Chaos Space Marines on the other hand..."

"Not to mention a weak Dark God or whatever Malice has become. Zath must have promised the new ones a feast worthy of gods." the Inquisitor spoke in an Ordo Xenos tone.

"Yes, and I shall deliver it. So, why now, mother? Malice has been around for millennia." I asked more to the point.

"That double-faced Yvraine showed up on Terra on Roboute's Fort. With prophecies of doom and whatnot." Justine answered after drinking her second glass.

"Teresa?" our hero asked instead. Yes, I still cared about my family, even those who fucked up.

"Your daughter is fine. But if you wanted her safe, you wouldn't have sent her away." Justine answered with slight reproach.

My shoulders slumped. "There is no safety in this universe, mother. You may be erased with a word by a God, or torn in two by a daemon or a Necron just the same. All I hoped to achieve was stop the church pyres burning our kind just for existing."

"... It isn't much better on the Sanctus side these days. There are pyres burning for decades on some planets, in the madness of pure Faith. I would guess they ran out of genestealers and cultists centuries ago." Justine whispered in a heavy voice.

"What exactly did Yvraine say?" Lady Valyene demanded in a curt voice.

Justine nodded. "She said the Sons of Malice are conducting raids on Craftworlds, and conducting some blood games that will soon allow Malice to manifest. But there must be more. Five Craftworlds are deployed and considered insufficient."

"I see. The remaining Chaos Marines must be gathering around the last Chaos God. The 13th Black Crusade." I deduced with my special knowledge.

"Could be pretty bad. The God-Emperor wouldn't summon you otherwise." the Inquisitor noted in a stern voice.

"I guess it will be pretty bad. At least it's not the Skaven..." I mused in a far-away voice. The rats did win in the first Warhammer.