The Strike Vessel Noctus Purgatory, a dark edifice of Aquilla and macro batteries cruised through the silent void near the Khazant system. Within the near silent halls the newly assembled Kill Team Epsilon - newly formed to replace recent losses amongst the Deathwatch in the brutality of the Jericho Reach from Stigmartus activity. Watch Station Iobel was to be the Kill Team's new posting where they could influence the area.

Aboard the strike vessel a soft beeping alerted the Astartes from their training or contemplation bringing them in their long robes to the observation dome revealing the stars beyond and the red shimmer of the distant Hadex Anomaly. In the briefing room silent chapter serfs sworn to the Deathwatch await you, silently running the ship. They bow low as the towering Astartes enter and wordlessly call up a hololith of Khazant and gesture to the waiting Astropath. He also bows, an Aqulla emblazoned blindfold across his eyes. "My Lords Astartes. I did not wish to disturb your contemplations. I have received an Astropath cry for help. Inquisitor Helena D'Bonham has contacted us. The vessel Spear of Drusus has crashed upon the barren southern ash waste of Khazant, a terrible blow. However of more pressing issue is the loss of the Navis Scion Leanna Benetek. She is the distant daughter of the Navis Partenus, a man of great stature. But she carries with her maps of the warp routes of the whole sector. Initial scans from other orbiting Naval assets have indicated that the ship has not been wholly destroyed and psychic screams and portents have revealed that a witch coven of the great enemy has seized the Navis. No doubt they will emplooy the most hateful of rituals to pry the knowledge from her mind. This is of critical importance to prevent that happening!"

He bows low as the serfs highlight the southern continent on the spinning hololith in the centre of the room. The grey dust world of Khazant, a world of battle wreathed in an orbital cloud of destroyed ships and floating wrecks as the ground below is a mass of destroyed cities and tangled networks of bunkers and trenches. A glowing blip on the southern continent shows that deep beneath the Stigmartus lines is the ash wastes, an area near devoid of life where isolated supply depots and training camps cluster around landing sites or wrecked vessels and supply reinforcements to the front line....