79: Chapter 79: Behind the rifts of the lead-gray abyss lies a hive world of an empire enslaved by chaos.

Less than half a day after the first phase of the United Fleet's sweep operation concluded, the Void Throat Defense Command intercepted the next trigger signal of the Old Ones Evaluation Protocol. It was not a battle, nor was it a seal activation. Canoptek-7's quantum-state monitoring array captured an extremely weak Imperial distress signal from behind the not-yet-fully-closed Warp rift in the Lead-Gray Abyss. The signal format was the standard emergency broadcast template for an Imperial Hive World, with the sender identification code for the Hive World "Pillar of Steel." The signal had been repeating for a very long time, and its power decay was near total interruption.

In the briefing room, Marcus Aurelian played the broadcast across all Coalition channels. The synthesized mechanical voice was mixed with harsh Warp noise, and the content consisted of only a few looping sentences: "This is Pillar of Steel. Chaos fleets have taken control of the orbit. Ground defenses have completely collapsed. Requesting Imperial Navy support. Repeat, requesting support." The transmission timestamp showed that this broadcast had been sent continuously since the fall of Cadia, yet it had never been received by any Imperial agency.

General Heinrich von Strauheim's bionic eye suddenly flashed red after the recording ended. He stated that after the fall of Cadia, the Imperial Navy had searched the Hive Worlds along the shipping lanes between the Ultima Segmentum and Cadia, but the airspace of the Lead-Gray Abyss was marked as "Permanently Lost" on Imperial star charts, and search fleets had never entered it. Pillar of Steel had been listed in Imperial archives as "Lost Contact" for several years; throughout this time, no one knew the Hive World was still transmitting a distress signal. The Iyanden Farseer pressed a Wraithbone Staff lightly against the star chart, and the Web of Prophecy outlined the silhouette of the Hive behind the Lead-Gray Abyss rift—a giant Hive City converted into a slave camp by Chaos Hulk Fleets. Three operational Chaos cruisers were stationed in orbit, and the creep on the surface was not from The Swarm, but a parasitic spore jungle catalyzed by Tzeentchian sorcerers using Chaos psionic energy. Hundreds of thousands of human civilians still survived in the lower levels of the Hive, used by the Chaos fleet as raw material for psionic sacrifices, extracted periodically.

Sebastian stood up and placed his helmet on the table. He said that the United Fleet's sweep operation was tasked with clearing Chaos remnants, and now those remnants were behind the Lead-Gray Abyss, holding their people. Bern unslung the Holy Hammer from his shoulder, stating that the situation on Pillar of Steel perfectly matched the descriptions of Chaos-enslaved worlds in the codex astartes, and the rescue would require the cover of Holy Power. Marcus immediately opened the War Council's general channel and issued orders: the United Fleet was to form a rescue task force immediately, with Heinrich in overall command, Deputy Commander Oldenburg responsible for orbital suppression, and Sebastian and Bern leading the Grey Knights and Terminator veterans for the ground assault. The Swarm would provide deep disinfection via the Psionic Void Network and transport for civilian evacuation. The Brood Queen's quantum-state translator added on the main screen—the Overmind agreed to dispatch Drones and leviathan motherships to establish a purification quarantine zone in orbit. The rescued civilians would undergo medical examinations by the Coalition on Metallis, with subsequent resettlement provided jointly by the Ecclesiarchy and Eldar medical teams.

Heinrich's Shield of the Emperor and the Third Assault Fleet completed their integration within hours, with the leviathan motherships deploying on the flanks of the three cruisers. The Titan-Eater ascended from Metallis, carrying a Void-class resonance chamber to provide active suppression for the rift penetration. The Brood Queen led the Blackstone Cerebrates to simultaneously update all Coalition identification codes near the rift with the Old Ones-certified rescue protocol keys. Bern recited an Emperor's prayer on the assembly channel, and Sebastian slotted his Power Sword back into his belt clip, remarking that this was the first time in his service he was permitted to save people from Chaos ruins.

The rescue fleet breached the Lead-Gray Abyss rift the following morning. The Chaos cruisers' psionic shields were dismantled under the suppression of the Psionic Void Network. Heinrich ordered a volley from the Lance Weapons and Railguns to pierce the flagship. Sebastian's assault squad dropped into the lower levels of the Hive to engage in close-quarters combat with the Chaos defenders, while Drones used creep conduits to transport the first batch of critically injured civilians into the medical chambers of the leviathan motherships. Bern's Grey Knight squad encountered Tzeentchian sorcerers in an underground temple; when the Holy Hammer smashed into the altar's core, the entire temple collapsed. Before dying, the priest shrieked into the Coalition channel: "My Lord remembers every life you take away!"

Heinrich stood on the bridge of the Shield of the Emperor, aiming the prow—which had just been fitted with the Coalition emblem—at the remnants of the Chaos fleet for a final volley. He said hoarsely over the fleet channel that the orbit was cleared and all surviving civilians were being transferred. Marcus sent the post-battle statistics to Terra and the Coalition War Council for archiving: hundreds of thousands of human civilians were rescued from the Hive World of Pillar of Steel, the orbital Chaos fleet was annihilated, and the Lead-Gray Abyss rift was permanently closed and sanitized by the Titan-Eater after the civilian evacuation.

The Brood Queen received a brief confirmation from the Overmind and forwarded the text to the main screen: "The rescue obligation clause in the Old Ones Evaluation Protocol has been fulfilled by the Coalition. Side note: The Council of High Lords has just written the matter of Heinrich's prow emblem change into the Imperial Navy Regulations Amendment. The 'Coalition Emblem' now has an official designation in the imperial codex." Marcus looked down at the words, remained silent for a moment, then stood up, closed his data slate, and ordered the entire fleet: "Coalition rescue fleet, bring all the civilians of Pillar of Steel home."