Not only his own Chapter, but those blinded by their past relationships and allied to the Astral Claws, also followed Lufgt Huron into heresy. In the face of wanton heresy and deceit, the Inquisitor-Legate later charged with prosecuting the crusade against the Secessionist forces of the Badab Sector condemned the entire Astral Claws Chapter as Excommunicate Traitoris, and placed their allies under official suspicion of heresy and treason. Both the Sons of Medusa and the Marines Errant Chapters then agreed to his selection for reasons of their own. Despite some continued minor dissent, Carab Culln was acclaimed as the second magister militum of the Imperial Crusade to retake the Maelstrom Zone from the Secessionists. A lull descended upon the region following these tumultuous events as the Secessionists consolidated their gains and the Karthans retreated in disarray. Soon the Fire Hawks, heavily outnumbered and outgunned, were forced into a long period of retreat to the Maelstrom Zone's fringes which lasted until late 904.M41, when the Marines Errant Chapter answered the call of the Fire Hawks for reinforcement. With the fall of this key world, Imperial control of the northern Maelstrom Zone swiftly crumbled. Without Cygnax, along with other Imperial losses suffered in the region over the previous few centuries, vital military supply chains stretching as far as Bakka and Terra itself were threatened, forcing the Adeptus Terra to act.

Entered into the official record would be sanitised and altered versions of the events of the Badab War for the protection of the Emperor's honour and the moral safety of Imperial citizens. The Red Corsairs and their Tzeentchian allies battle the forces of the reborn Roboute Guilliman during the Terran Crusade Notable Engagements

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This difficulty was further complicated by a conflict of interest due to the ancient ties of loyalty and blood the Marines Errant had forged with the Lamenters Chapter, which they had fought beside as recently as the Corinth Crusade, but now faced as enemies. This led to incidents where the Marines Errant failed to try to do more than drive off the Lamenters' forces during raids, and in which both parties gave quarter to the other, raising the mutual ire of their respective allies. In 821.M41, a heavy Ork raiding force from the Maelstrom was intercepted and destroyed in a series of battles in the Khirab Sector in the Endymion Cluster by a combined force of the Maelstrom Warders. During the battle, Lufgt Huron slew Rakka, the Ork Warboss, in single combat and was hailed as a hero of the people of Endymion. Situated along the Eastern Fringe in the Segmentum Ultima, the region of the galaxy now known as the Maelstrom Zone was first explored during the Great Crusade of the 31st Millennium. Second in size and extent only to the Eye of Terror, the Maelstrom is a vast Warp rift that scars both the physical universe and the fabric of the Immaterium beyond.

Huron excelled as a warrior and a leader, and was soon named the captain of the 3rd Battle Company. In this role he displayed his true strategic prowess and unleashed innovative tactics that saw his battle-brothers defeat enemy forces several times their size and power. In his monumental arrogance and pride, Huron sought at first not to rebel against the Imperium, but to prove his case by scourging the Maelstrom clean, and establishing a new realm carved out for Mankind in the name of the Emperor. Despite the Inquisitor Legate's strong objections, Lord High Commander Ortys agreed to the meeting, trusting Huron's word as a fellow Chapter Master to maintain the truce. Ortys had also equally promised to show his intention to remain iron in his resolve to carry out the judgment of the High Lords of Terra.

This force was to include the fleet-based Lamenters and Charnel Guard Chapters to patrol the outer regions, and also incorporated the Mantis Warriors who were based in the nearby Endymion Cluster. Once this force was put in place, the Astral Claws took over an orbital battle station in the strategically vital Badab System, which became their fortress-monastery and base of operations. This engagement proved inconclusive with both sides suffering damage but few losses of any major warships by both sides. The only serious loss sustained was by the Maelstrom Fleet's flagship, the Overlord-class Battlecruiser Gauntlet of Wrath. The Secessionist fleet broke off from the engagement into the Warp soon afterwards, leaving the Loyalists to claim a tentative victory. A dozen such engagements occurred in a short space of time during this period.

Some Imperial scholars contend that when the last remaining Tiger Claws survivors were taken into the Astral Claws midst, these once-loyal brothers grasped a poisonous viper to their hearts, thus causing them to eventually fall from grace. Soon crisis followed crisis, and in the dying years of the 800s.M41, Lufgt Huron saw the Maelstrom Zone slipping from his grasp and all the victories the Maelstrom Warders had gained began to crumble, and so in an attempt to tighten his grip, he remained unaware that elsewhere events were moving against him. It would not be long before the brooding Tyrant of Badab would spark into violence, and the Imperium would once again shed the blood of its own. Before they submitted to the legate's will, the Fire Hawks had one last act of bloody vengeance to carry out, which has since been entered into the Imperial history of the war as the infamous "Firebombing of Sacristan." The Minotaurs claimed salvage rights to the crippled Lamenters fleet and the wargear of the fallen to replace their own serious losses. The surviving Lamenters were incarcerated on a prison hulk orbiting the nightside of Sagan II amid rumours of their growing insanity in confinement.

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Angstrom continued their operations as usual, which included a long-standing agreement to render up a "bounty" of advanced weapons and refined ores to be collected by the Imperium's representatives on a 3-yearly cycle from the edge of their planetary system. The magi pointedly didn't care from which of the Imperium's servants retrieved the bounty, only that they carried out their part of the arrangement without fault. In the past this arrangement had provided the Maelstrom Warders with a vital resource and the Tyrant of Badab's servants continued to be in the perfect position to collect it. But the Tyrant lived. One side of his body had to be almost entirely reconstructed with bionics while the Astral Claws' ships hung in the Maelstrom. Within twelve solar days, Huron could stand, and he donned his Terminator Armour with grim determination. His followers hailed his recovery as a dark miracle. Huron's limited forces were still powerful enough to overwhelm the first pirate stronghold he found, slaughtering the corsairs in a matter of solar hours. With the Khymara System's defence platforms and listening stations destroyed, the Executioners had achieved their primary objective. They could have pressed their advantage and utterly destroyed the Howling Griffons' outpost but instead withdrew suddenly from the system, leaving the Howling Griffons garrison with more than 70 percent casualties. The powerful fleet-based Chapter of dark renown, the Minotaurs, arrived in full strength in the Maelstrom Zone in mid-907.M41. They announced their presence in the war by launching a full Chapter-scale assault on the Secessionist-controlled mining facilities on Kyro, wiping out the 46,000 strong Tyrant's Legion garrison and rendering the mine-works unusable.