We arrived at the border of Ordex System with a day to spare, so I had enough time to compile a detailed map including the former Forge of the Ordex-Thaag .

Unlike the Administratum records showed, the devastated and polluted world was not deserted. Instead, a Fallen Knight House had established here, digging through the ruins for rare weapons and valuable metal, while at their side was a group of Chaos cultists digging deep in the planet's core to install some sort of daemon engines.

The Fallen Knights belonged to House_Lucaris , which hailed from the nearby world of Morda_Prime . These guys plundered and raided many Imperial worlds, firstly destroying their spaceports as to deny escape, then butchering the rest in agonizing manner.

It was a sad story, and one almost eliminated in the range of the Pharos. What was even worse, nobody bothered to check on this world for so many years, or launch an attack on Morda Prime for that matter.

As for the Chaos cultists, they were a Dark Mechanicum group called the Daemon-Splicers, which specialized as expected in corrupting Imperial machinery and installing daemons into their cores. Or inside planet cores, like now.

"My Lord, there is already a Warp tendril gathering around this planet, powered by the planet's rotation itself. These hereteks may be trying to spin-up a Warp Rift, and maybe even a Warp Storm!" Sister Stern muttered as she expanded her wide powers to gather more intel.

"That would be dangerous, but not too much. Only a localized phenomenon." Librarian Menelau offered as he clenched his new Power Fist, a Master-crafted item made for him by our resident healer Clonemaster Anzion.

While regular humans could indeed receive cloned limbs and organs with some effort, the particular Blank-psyker genome of my Librarians refused to be cloned. I knew it would not be easy, just like the Emperor himself failing to duplicate the gene-code of my daughter Janice.

Even the exotic methods of the Cullexus Temple failed often with simple natural Pariahs, although our research promised some developments in inverting the soul nature of Astartes via Tyranid synaptic links and blood.

I hope to gather more knowledge before trying again, which was why we waited here patiently.

The_Blade_of_Infinity was predicted to appear nearby, broadcasting warning messages about some impending doom involving Chaos, like they have done dozens of times before.

I was a bit bored, and simply watched the Chaos guys going about their business, praying to their Dark Gods for immortality and what not. The ritual sacrifices were quite gruesome, and made me wonder why the nutjobs preferred to use human victims, when there were hundreds of xenos species around. Surely the Dark gods wouldn't care if they sacrificed some Orks or Eldar, right?

Then again, humans were rather powerless, unlike say: Tyranids. It was cowardice, probably. Why risk their lives to acquire dangerous blood gifts, when human were plentiful and easy to capture?

Waiting, waiting...a whole day passed, and the warp spin became a little visible, distorting reality around the former Forge World.

Then the ancient ship appeared, screaming on a hundred different channels about a spinning Warp Rift being launched towards Terra itself.

All right, then. Perhaps these nutjobs were actually dangerous, if their plan could be carried out.

Playing a little with my tesseract, I captured the ship and moved its crew away, then brought their Captain beside me on the Black Lament's bridge.

"You were the one screaming in warning, right?" I asked politely as the man looked around with panicked eyes. He wore a high-tech uniform filled with miniaturized systems, and had a number of implants on his neck and back of the head, looking rather advanced.

"...Dimensional transfer? Who are you? Where is my crew?" the man asked back in perfect High Gothic.

"That would take a few weeks to answer completely. You are on board a Talisman of Vaul station, also called a Blackstone Fortress by the Imperium of Man. And I am Pef Lancefire, the commander of this Crusade fleet, but not an ordinary Imperial. The wolf is Canis. The other is Zath." I explained politely as the invasion began in force.

A hundred Titans and a thousand Imperial Knights appeared on the surface, followed by Blank Thallax and Astartes, alongside several Blank Auxilia regiments in armored vehicles and their Silent Sister escorts in Silent Leviathans.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

The large screen lit up with pict-captures of our attacking forces, just as our Tech-marines appeared riding Void Bikes and herding Guardian turrets and coordinating the Tarantula turrets scattered all over.

It was a short duration, high-impact assault, mainly focused on liberating the remaining victims held for ritual sacrifice. I didn't even bother to send non-Blank troops on the surface, due to Chaos shit.

I could use the other troops versus Orks and Tyranids just fine, without having to comb and eliminate corrupted people inside the Crusade army.

"I'm going down to help..." Stern said without asking for my approval, and teleported away with a golden flash.

Oh well. She'll come back anyways, even if she died. Still. Polaris-Abdelach appeared just behind my wife, firing his psi-weapons at daemon engines and corrupted tech-priests.

"... All these troops, they can withstand the Immateric emanations without any problem." the new guest observed while monitoring the large screen with expert eyes, and possibly AI support.

"Like I said, not ordinary Imperial. Although much of the Federation tech is beyond us, not everything was lost. And we also evolved Blank genes, to better withstand the Warp." I added with a wry smile.

The man turned as examined my command staff with curious eyes, especially Librarian Menelau who was conducting his own psychic battle from a distance, blue Warp currents covering his Ancestral Staff as he deflected Chaos curses and whatever else. Psyker spells were quite esoteric, beside normal stuff like fire and lightning.

"Even some prototype Barrier Tech, beside modified mining and forestry devices. Are you in contact with the Votann Leagues?" the old Captain asked with a wary voice.

The new Demiurg bolter was called a Votannic Bolt Cannon in the original STC template, so maybe? "We met a mining fleet from the Demiurg, and a Gnostari vessel. They seem to hail from somewhere in the Galactic core, but as to their leadership I do not know. Some weapons are labelled Votannic." I explained in a curt voice.

"Why do you attack in this manner, if you're able to control dimensional transfers? Surely, you could only deploy explosives and keep your troops safe." the Captain asked, sounding a bit annoyed.

I glanced at Canis, and he rose up to explain instead. A growl from his throat formed in a solid golden maw, just above our heads. "Whooorl! Wof!"

Zath grinned widely and sprang out a pair of Phase Claws, pointing at the man's hip, where his hand had glided for a dangerous artifact.

Slowly, the man drew his hand away and held his palms out as a peace sign.

"I get it. Training with live enemies. Still dangerous, but at least it makes some sense." the Captain deduced from the power display.

"Sit here and tell me all about your T-engine. I do have some artifacts of my own, including the locator bracelet for your ship. Did you lose a scouting party some millennia ago?" I asked instead, holding out my T-engine vambrace.

"... We did try to establish contact with Mars, about 11 thousand years ago. The away party was dissected alive by those religious monsters, and their personal items stolen." the man admitted with a grieving voice.

Welcome to the grimdark future, fellow Captain. No wonder they stayed away from the Imperium after that.

Made you wonder if the implants of this Federation party were now used as an altar for the Machine God, or even re-used by a greedy tech-priest.

"You won't find refuge inside the Imperium of Man, time-traveler. You're not even wearing the obligatory Imperial Aquila, which marks you as a heretic. Keeping advanced technology away from the Mechanicus makes you a heretek too."

I said with a sad voice, and produced an Aquila-shaped Rosarius with a bead-necklace to be worn around the neck.

The man stared at the golden eagle for a minute, before sighing and wearing it with a dour face.

"If I wear this weak personal shield, I am safe?" he asked a bit naive.I just drew out a bolt pistol and fired at Canis, making his collar shield flare with protective light.

"A Rosarius shield works by Faith, mostly. I saw some women withstand tank weapons with no sweat, just like Canis can. As for that woman with golden powers, Sister Stern can punch Great Daemons to death. Her Rosarius can tank Capital ship weapons with barely a wobble.It also works if you believe in Omnissiah. I'd advise you to start believing as soon as possible, or Chaos will get you, in this grim and dark future. And you see what happens after." I pointed out with a nod at the main screen, where Sister Stern was abusing her Demonifuge powers on the poor Chaos cultists.