30 July 2010: The hiveworld of Malis, whose tens of billions toiled night and day in vast manufactorums, was a center of mass-produced war machines, weaponry, and flak armor for the Imperial Guard in addition to its yearly tithe of 50 new guard regiments per annum. Now the Curse of Unbelief has struck Malis.
A plague ship of the Archenemy had materialized from Warp space, surviving just long enough to infect Malis before being destroyed by the Imperial Navy. The Lord Governor of Malis has reported cults rising among the Malis Planetary Defense Forces, the PDF, and of cultists within being spared the curse’s death. Perhaps some underground Cults of Nurgle existed before the outbreaks that were responsible for summoning the plague ship, for organizing the other cultists so effectively, and for directing the hordes of plague-slain.
Funeral priests roamed the streets in gangs. Armed with flamers, eviscerator chain-swords, and flak armor, they fought a losing battle to gather up the dead and take them to the consecrated incinerators or, later, to destroy the corpses where they lay. Funeral pyres burned endlessly, the streams of black smoke choking the sky around the largest hive-cities. The desperate priests knew they had a time hack. The plague slain must be burned within days or they would rise again!
The Adeptus Arbites, wielding shock batons and shotguns, and the Malis PDF, had attempted to enforce quarantine, first on districts, then on entire hive-cities, in order to contain the plague. Riots broke out planet wide, often overwhelming the Imperial authorities through sheer numbers, and ravaged refugees broke through the quarantine, spreading the plague. None managed to escape the planet. The Imperial Navy arrived in force at the first signs of the Curse of Unbelief to quarantine Malis. The taint, the fleet captains knew, must never be allowed to spread.
The mighty fleet coalesced over the course of several days, both to quarantine the planet, and to land Imperial reinforcements, including scores of regiments of the Imperial Guard, to aid the loyal Malis PDF in reclaiming the planet.
Yet the Malis PDF has dwindled. The Lord Governor has produced evidence, in both pict and audio form, of his men dragged down and eaten by plague victims in some districts, and falling under fire from hordes of cultists in others. The call for further Imperial reinforcements has been issued.
***
As the Uradeln 21st Regiment continues its journey through Warp space on the cruiser, Zealous Wrath, Astropaths onboard the ship have relayed the orders to Colonel Sir Zeller that his regiment is to be diverted from a Tyranid campaign to fight on the hiveworld of Malis.
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