In the shadowy expanses of the Warhammer 40,000 universe, nestled within the ferx dust cloud, a tale of chaos and contagion is unfolding. This is the second chapter of our multi-part series, telling the story of the Imperium’s struggle against the forces of Chaos, led by the herald of Nurgle, Typhus of the Death Guard Traitor Legion.
The Imperial fleet, fresh from Port, began their hunt for the dreaded plague claw. Their mission was abruptly interrupted by an ambush from chaos warships, led by the Terminus EST, Typhus’s flagship. It was a brutal assault, with several Imperial warships crippled by the opening salvo of torpedoes. Others were overwhelmed by the grotesque, diseased creatures unleashed from the chaos boarding crafts.
Admiral Quaran, shocked but unbroken, rallied his forces. He masterfully counterattacked, fighting his way out of the chaos war fleet’s trap. Typhus did not pursue, and the majority of Quaran’s fleet limped back to Port at Bellis Corona. The Battle of Fenx had been a bloody disaster, but the worst was yet to come.
The return journey was a journey of death. Thousands of Imperial Navy crewmen fell ill and died. With the aid of system pilots, the fleet docked safely. The situation at Bellis Corona was grim. Plague hulks had slipped through the defensive net, spreading contagion across the Cadian and Agripina sectors, along with the Bis Corona sector. The Hive world of Subiaco Diablo, an ideal breeding ground for the unknown plague, was quickly quarantined by the Adeptus Administratum Officio Medai. But it was too late for the millions who were already sick and dying.
In the span of a solar month, a dozen other worlds reported cases of the same plague. Panic spread throughout the Segmentum Obscurus as transit between neighboring sectors was halted by the Imperial Navy. As the epidemic spread, apocalyptic religious sects appeared on every afflicted world. They preached that the Emperor’s wrath was upon them, a punishment for their sins. Their message resonated with the masses, who were terrified for their lives.
The true horror of the disease was revealed on Subiaco Diablo. The mass graves deep in the ash plains heaved and split open. The corpses of those who had perished in the plague climbed up from the lime-encrusted ground. Soon, millions of shambling corpses advanced on the Hive City, clawing their way inside and attacking the already weakened inhabitants. The curse of unbelief, the zombie plague, had begun its reign of terror.
Imperial forces were stretched to their limits, trying to contain these chaos abominations and mobs of flagellant zealots who burned meday ward facilities to the ground. In their misguided attempts to stop the plague, they only added fuel to the fire. The Imperial Navy, paralyzed by the sheer scale of the zombie epidemic, was caught off guard by the vast chaos War Fleet that emerged from the warp at the edge of the Subiaco Diablo system.
Typhus, the Herald of Nurgle, had come to reap the harvest of his plague of undeath. Subiaco Diablo was claimed as the newest province in the Plague Lord’s eternal kingdom of death. As fanatical cults proliferated, preaching that the Imperium had forsaken the Emperor’s teachings, the situation continued to deteriorate.
On Melin’s Reach and Lethar, Imperial rule nearly collapsed as the plague crippled authorities’ efforts to contain the self-proclaimed prophets of the end times. The Adeptus Ministorum was embroiled in conflict, with some Cardinals siding with those preaching the Emperor’s judgment. Naval facilities and symbols of Imperial rule were openly attacked, and mob rule replaced the Administratum on many outlying worlds.
Overpopulated Hive worlds across the Scaris and Cadian sectors erupted in violence. Even the higher echelons of Hive world society were not spared. The Imperium was in chaos, and the forces of Nurgle were just beginning their reign of terror.
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