Curze's Curse

The Shield that Guards the Realm of Man

XXXX Unknown XXXX

Star maps littered the various walls of the Sectors Headquarters. There officers and servants rushed into and out of the room, reports arriving like an uncountable tide.

In the centre of the room, a large holographic table remained, the same table that months ago had been used to simulate a wargame, now it was used to show the vastness of the sector's systems. The planets raided, the station broken and the one they had lost contact with.

Lord Admiral Ravensburg gazed at it with a heavy face. Six star systems had been raided, their pattern unrecognisable, except for the fact that they struck at poorly guarded pockets of Imperial rule. Erynes Secundus, Barakor and Daykin all minor hive worlds in the system had been systematically looted and their populace enslaved, the few accounts from the survivors only spoke of gods in deep blue armour maiming children and babies on their world, the screams of tortured souls broadcasted throughout the planetary network and the single sentence repeated without end.

"We have come for you"

The rurals worlds of Ursa Lycean, Brunhild alongside the industrial worlds of the Xerces cluster, Korazon and Noctis Primaris all sharing in the grim fate of the hive world.

These systems were far apart from each other, the Xerxes cluster being thousands of light years away, in Khan Subsector, from the ones like Noctis Primaris and Barakor who sailed the void upon the Subsector Erinyes

It made no sense.

Besides that, there were worlds in Newfound Trailing Subsector that Sector administration had lost contact with.



Inquisitor Salazar stood beside him, gazing at the same worlds he was, their orange coloration in the hologram contrasting easily with the green meadow of secure worlds.

"Lord Admiral" the inquisitor called.

Ravensburg turned his head towards him, seeing the admiral ́s right hand stroking his own chin in deep thought.

"Have you considered the possibility that the sector is under threat of a second organised group?"


"I confess I hadn't considered it. I simply thought it was a splinter fleet from the first group, but if what you say is true we are in terrible tides indeed."

"I have read the reports of the engagements at Erynyes and Xerxes, and while their Modus Operandi is similar, the latter had many unexplained occurrences in it. The astropaths who could relay long distance messages dying without explanation while the others untrained for such tasks survived unsceathed with nothing out of the ordinary to report."

"I suggest we approach the following reports of raids in the Khan Subsector as an independent phenomenon from what may lie upon the Erinyes Subsector." The Magos, whose allegiance belonged to the Forge World of Atar Median, spoke with his deeply metallic voice, the mecadrendites above his head lowering into the holographic table's terminals and focusing the map upon the Erinyes Subsector.

"I concur" voice the lord militant "Our defences in the sector are strongest in the Khan Subsector. We should focus our efforts in rooting the enemies in Erinyes before turning to deal with the others."


The Admiral nodded and stared at the starmap once more. There was no point in arguing with them, there was logic behind their words and tactical sense.

"My lord. We are receiving a vox message from the Mortis Imperator."


"Put Horthy through." the Lord Admiral ordered.

"Lord Admiral." Admiral Horthy spoke, his voice strained with tiredness.

"Speak Admiral, what have you found on Korazon?"

"I have found nothing but shadows. Shadows and the trail of Astartes. The two dead are in a stasis chamber to be dissected later by the Magos. We've also managed to intercept one of their messages.They seem to be searching for something as much as plundering."

"What could they possibly be searching for?" asked the lord general, gazing upon the inquisitor's pensive blue eyes.

"There are no relics in the system that we know off, much less in our worlds. Even still, such hunting must be stopped, there may be a terrible result for the imperium, especially if this is another of the Arch-traitor's plots."


"So we don't know what they seek. We don't know where it is, we are hard pressed to manage their movements. I think we only have a choice. All worlds in the sector must raise more regiments to defend it."

The Lord's militant conclusion was sound beyond comparison. They were in the dark, and until they had something to work with every move was too dangerous to perform. This was no war of conquest they were against, nor the usual raids in the eternal war against the dark gods. This was another thing entirely, and unbeknownst to them it was something much darker.


"I have no option than to agree, Lord Militant. As the Sector is reinforced I will call all available resources I can muster from the Ordo Malleus to investigate the sightings." The Inquisitor spoke, in the manner as to give no room to argument. Not that there would be any, the news of traitors looking from something would always land in the hands of the Emperor's most holy inquisition.