 It is a truism, when speaking of warfare, that when brother meets brother upon the field of battle, that marks a nigh impossible return. It is even more so when the brothers in question are members of the adeptus Astartes. Space marines lay dead in the maelstrom zone, slain by other space marines. The annals of imperial history such deaths have often presaged times of wanton destruction and grand misery, and many who saw the rising tides of escalation in the maelstrom zone desperately strove to bring about some form of camp to the hostilities, hoping even at this stage that peace and compromise, as the imperium understands such concepts, could be snatched from the jaws of a full-scale civil war. They were of course wrong. The actions of the secessionists could not publicly go without reprisal, and the only forces capable of bringing recidivist Astartes to heal were, of course, other Astartes. The pronouncement of the Terran Legates necessitated the immediate mustering and deployment of a major force of adeptus Astartes elements, drawn from any and all chapters present within the local galactic region, or who were willing to respond from further afield on short notice. Under the now concerningly commonly applied title of Loyalists, battle companies from the salamanders, fire angels and raptors chapters swiftly responded to the call for arms, joining a much larger number of the Astartes from the Red Scorpions, who formed the bulk of this initial muster. The surviving marines errant and firehawks, however, were not ordered into this gathering of force. Malled by the initial engagements of the Badabschism, their conduct saw them subjected to orders of withdrawal from their present operations, to undergo investigations by the delegation of the High Lords of Terra. The marines errant, who had suffered significant losses, needed little encouragement to do so, readily complying to the will of Terra and withdrawing from the Maelstrom zone. Firehawks, however, were not too prompt in their retreat. In what has entered into the annals of history as the firebombing of Sechriston, the chapter reaped one last act of vengeance, seen by some as righteous, but by most historiography as arrogant and extravagant. Kaelian Urbeck, in their seminal work Observations Upon a Schism, called the manoeuvre strategically bankrupt and demonstrably wasteful. But despite such apparently obvious considerations, Chapter Master Lazarec of the Firehawks was not to be denied. Surviving elements of the chapter's fleet, led by the wounded Starfortress Rapturous Rex, closed in on Sechriston, a tiny sovereign colony at the edge of the Endemian Cluster. There was quite genuinely nothing significant about this world, save for one factor. The Mantis Warriors counted it amongst their vassal planets as a protectorate. Its meager orbital defense batteries were swept aside in barely an hour, and the planet was subjected to a series of targeted assaults by fireborn Firehawk squads, gorily slaughtering the colony's leadership in extremely public acts of savagery, before a full scale withdrawal was called. When all the startys had been successfully extracted, the Rapturous Rex hove into extremely low orbit and subjected Sechriston to a saturation bombardment of plasma bombs, igniting the atmosphere. This continued for several days and nights. By the time the Firehawks had deemed it time to make for their High Lord-appointed debriefing, over 90% of the planet's population lay dead. While the Firehawks slaked their vengeance with genocidal atrocities, the Loyalist muster was focused on the world of Josiah Quintus on the outskirts of the Carthagos Sector. Legate Inquisitor John Dice Frane of the Ordo Hereticus, as voted representative of the Senatorum Imperialis, was nominally in operational command, but actual tactical command was granted to Verrent Ortis, Lord High Commander of the Red Scorpions. It is common practice that when a startys of several chapters are present in the same war zone, for them to elect amongst themselves a Magister Militum, a sort of first amongst equals, of equal rank to those of similar seniority, but in overall command for the sake of ensuring a robust chain of command and responsibility. Given the inherent difficulty in dealing with the notoriously independent adeptus startys to begin with, Inquisitor Frane was forced to accept this by sheer virtue of not making the situation any more fractious. However about the near sovereign nature of the chapters he commanded, Frane was pitting them against ostensibly fellow startys who had literally claimed actual sovereignty. The Red Scorpions were a perhaps less than ideal chapter to be placed in a position of operational leadership. Even amongst the ranks of the adeptus startys, they carried a reputation for disregarding authority in favour of their own goals, born out of their own perception of staunch conservatism. Inquisitor Frane had of course no actual weight in the decision to vote the Scorpions to their leadership role, feeling his political capital best withheld, Frane demured. With ships from Battletfleet Solar arriving to reinforce chapter fleet elements, the Loyalist forces identified their two primary goals. The first was, of course, the surrender of the Secessionist chapters and their submission to the authority of the Imperial Legate. The second, and the one unstated on the propaganda reels, was to seek a robust re-establishment of commercial shipping within and out of the Maelstrom Zone, to ensure the Imperium's continued access to resource extraction operations within the volume. The first command issued by Lord Commander Ortiz as Magistra Militum was an immediate advance in force by the majority of the Red Scorpions and Battletfleet Solar ships into Secessionist territory to gauge levels of resistance and assess deployments. This had the immediate result of causing possibly the largest naval engagement of the war in its entirety, the battle of silent reach in 4.011.906.M41. The Lementors fleet, seconded with cruiser squadrons from the Maelstrom Zone's Imperial Navy fleet, clashed heavily with the invading Loyalists in the dead void between the star systems of Galen and Grief. While fighting was heavy and quite brutal, it has been assumed by historians that neither side was willing to actually commit to the potential of losses at such an early stage in the campaign. Vir Av Kor, a naval chronicler for Battletfleet Solar, committed to posterity the work on Stormcast Tides, discussions upon fleet engagements in the Badabskism, within which he observed the tendency for both Loyalist and Secessionist ships to probe, engage, and withdraw, and at distances that stretched even the ranges of Imperial warship fleet-based weaponry. Typically conducted at distances of thousands of kilometers to begin with, the Void Warfare in the Silent Reach battle was at an even more detached affair than usual, and ultimately an inconclusive one. The only major loss was the Maelstrom Defensefleet's lead battle cruiser Gauntlet of Wrath. Having its bridge demolished by a lucky Lance battery strike from the opposing cruiser Lady Sibylene, the leaderless Gauntlet fell out of formation with its escorts, immediately drawing the attention of the opportunistic Red Scorpion ships in the nearby volume. Hoving into close range, the Astartes ships engaged the battle cruiser in a short but lethal firefight, and despite the efforts of the Gauntlet's gunnery crews to devise some form of defense without centralized leadership, it was left a gutted and burning wreck before too long. The loss of the Gauntlet drove the Secessionists into flight, their retreat to the warp marking the battle as a tentative, Loyalist victory. Silent Reach was, however, merely the largest of a dozen naval engagements in the space of a relatively tiny space of time. The one of Lord Commander Ortiz's probing maneuvers elicited immediate responses. Taking the defensive tack, the Secessionists were forced into a responsive position, allowing the Loyalists to fully check any advances that they were attempting to make in the early months of 906-M41. The firehawks and the Marines' errant, having undergone thorough inquisitorial examination, had been cleared of suspicions of seditious or heretical inclinations, and rejoined to the fight with all possible haste. Despite this, and the speed of the Loyalist advance, the Imperium had not made what could be considered any significant gains. No weaknesses had emerged from Ortiz's initial moves. While the Master of the Red Scorpions had not necessarily been expecting any, it now behooved him to change his approach. The Inquisition, one keen eye placed upon the activities of the Astartes, had likewise shifted its investigations to the Carthagn conglomerates, quickly establishing the culpability of Satrap Tanet Canig, sector governor for provoking the Badabskism in the first place. Canig and her immediate family were summarily executed by the Ordo Hereticus for wanton misrule, while the punishment for the Carthagn conglomerates was further extended. By writ of His Majesty's divine Ordos, the 14 billion strong population of Cedon Ultra, headquarters of Carthang commerce, were committed en masse to indentured servitude, with a six-generational sub-clause, so that their lord's debts to the Imperium would be considered fully paid. The Imperial tithe has been extracted from the Carthaggo sector by Administratum rectification cadres aided by the moral enforcement divisions of the Adeptus Arbites for these past centuries, and is still considered an ongoing process generations later. Lord Commander Ortis selected the Viania system as the target of the next phase of loyalist operations. The system was a focal point for many secondary warp corridors, coreward, into the deeper Maelstrom zone, but unlike the similarly transit-crucial Sagan system, the Viania was more sparsely defended. Additional reports from Imperial intelligences noted that the populace was in a state of significant unrest, owing to opposition to the tyrant of the dabb's secession from the Imperium. The possibility that this simmering loyalist discontent could be motivated into an open revolt was an opportunity for the Red Scorpions, zealous worshippers of the Emperor that they were. The chapter was to lead the assault, supported by the Marine's errant and the Nova Marines, while the Raptors, newly arrived, supplemented the remaining firehawks in escort operations for loyalist supply lines. The attack was not nominally intended to capture the planet. The Adaptus Astartes could fulfill the role of conquerors, of course, but Lord Commander Ortis intended to use them as scalpel in this first big loyalist push. The targets for the raids were the system's production infrastructure and shipping facilities, the secondary objective of kindling loyalist sentiment into open revolt or sabotage. This was to be the first open warfare engagement of the escalated conflict, and so the Adaptus Astartes loyal to Terra encountered Huron's reformed Badab sector defence forces for the first time. The resistance of the latter was greatly underestimated by the Red Scorpions. They had not committed the forces needed to overcome the staunch discipline of the tyrant's troops, taking only one of four intended orbital defence platforms and inflicting negligible damage to the planet's manufacture. Recompense was at least earned when Imperial reports on casualties reached the Lord Commander. The tyrant's legion, so-called, were still unaugmented soldiery and were facing the Adaptus Astartes. Loyalists claimed a kill ratio of 178 to 1, with the last of their raids proving atrociously bloody for the Badabites. Viania still, however, remained contested, and the loyalist objectives unfulfilled, his word now came of ill tidings. In 115906 M41, the warship Nighthag of the Executioner's Chapter scattered and destroyed several loyalist military supply convoys. The loyalist, forced to swirled of Surdengrad, deep in the Maelstrom Zone, had finally fallen under Huron's control, despite its years of resistance to the tyrant's maneuverings and later invasion. The relative impasse lasted until 339906, when an unexpected proposal from Huron was delivered via emissary to the Imperial Magister Militum. The tyrant offered Ortus a ceasefire, saying that bloodshed between loyal brothers should not continue, and he requested to parlay. Legate Inquisitor Frayne protested this in the strongest of possible terms. This only modified the Inquisitor by offering his utmost reassurance that, even though he was agreeing to meet with a traitor, he would remain resolute in his utter commitment to carrying forward the judgment of the High Lords of Terra. The meeting would be face to face, conducted on an abandoned way station orbiting a gas giant, Shedim, in the uninhabited grief system. The facility, a former naval supply depot, had lain dormant for centuries, owing to stellar storms from the now highly active local star, retaining a mere fragment of its former atmospheric shell. It is verifiable in historiography that both parties agreed to, and held to, the initial terms of the meeting. A single, unescorted Astarty strike cruiser from both sides transported the respective delegations, who were flown to the asteroid by Thunderhawk gunships, with the strike cruisers laterally withdrawing out of weapons range as a show of good faith. It is likely the full account of what, later, transpired, will simply never be known. The records concerning it have both been heavily damaged and heavily redacted, beyond the point of the influence of the Logos Historic Avertia to either unseal or revoke them. It appears that, despite the diplomatic tone of his entreaties, Huron, in person, was far less tactful, becoming indeed quite volatile. From surviving audio logs, it appears that Huron presented himself as a true upholder of the Lex Imperialis, speaking to Ortis as if the Red Scorpion and his kin were the seditious participants in this conflict. Blanking Huron, Chapter Master Sartak of the Mantis Warriors was likewise quite bullish, demanding the surrender of Lazarak of the Firehawks to the secessionists, that he may be brought to trial for his wanton genocidal crimes against innocent Imperial civilians. Sartak's demands were both backed by, and seemingly proved a source of inspiration to Huron, stoking the tyrant's imperious attitude and sending him on a series of long, rambling dire tribes about the characters of his enemies, the Imperium, the state of political balance within it, and the enormities, severities, and licentiousness of the injuries and insults inflicted upon him personally. Opining that only his view upon leadership could steer the Bedab sector away from ruin, Huron went as far as to state that Ortis and the Red Scorpions should themselves accede to the wisdom of the tyrant, peerless as it was, and take up arms against the corrupt Imperium that would turn proud Astartes into no more than licks-bittle slaves to their own petty greed. It was all Ortis could do to reiterate the terms as stated in the Legantine writ, and the unassailable authority of the High Lords of Terra from whence it had come. An adjournment was called, with both parties withdrawing to separate compartments of the way station to confer. The course of events that followed remained shadowed to this day, becoming mired in the need to fulfill narratives, to support points of view, and to justify responses. This is partly due to the inciting incident. Loyalist communications to their strike cruiser suddenly ceased. Shortly thereafter, three unknown vessels appeared on all-spec sweeps recorded by that strike cruiser. Two were of an iconoclast pattern of raidership, a known design utilized by heretic Astartes forces, and the old legions sworn to the dark pantheon. The third was of a design and mark unknown to imperial records. Vector logs tracked their approach as emerging from the upper atmosphere of the gas giant Shedim, placing them essentially right beside the way station and far beyond the interdiction reach of either Loyalist or secessionist strike cruisers. It was an ambush, and a very effective one. The attackers raked the station with weapons fire, but their true aim was soon apparent. Boarding torpedoes launched an assault force comprised renegades, heretics, and mutant scum. In the chaos and confusion that unfolded, notable casualties were incurred. Lord Commander Ortis perished aboard the station, as did the chaptermaster of the Mantis warriors, Sartac. Precisely how these warriors died is completely unknown. Both Loyalist and secessionist strike cruisers made full burn for the station, with chief librarian of the Red Scorpions Severin Loth leading a desperate Loyalist assault to retrieve their chaptermaster, although by this point it was far too late. The anarchic three-way battle that developed saw all sides firing upon each other. At its height, the unknown starship, under punitive fire from the secessionist strike cruiser, crashed into the way station, inflicting catastrophic damage to the asteroid it was built upon, causing it to begin to fracture. Severin Loth, too late to save his chaptermaster's life, was at least able to recover his remains, engaging in a fighting retreat against both the renegade raiders and the astral claws to flee the station before it disintegrated utterly. Huron appears to have departed the station altogether earlier, conducting the battle from within the safety of his strike cruiser. The event rapidly became known within Imperial circles as the Betrayal at Grief. Blame and counter-claim were flung across the astropathic network. Loyalists placed the blame squarely on the secessionists, claiming the raiders to have been anything from a goaded plant to a false flag operation, and proof of Huron's utter lack of honesty and good faith. The secessionists, for their part, claimed the disaster to be an inquisitorial attempt to assassinate the tyrant of Badab. Internal, Imperial communiqués dispatched by Legate Frayne to his colleagues within the Ordo Hereticus simply were without conclusion. Frayne opines quite openly that the calamity may have seen the intervention of outside forces, possibly malefic in character, for whom the continuation of hostilities would be nothing but a boon, those for whom slaughter and bloodshed and destabilization were explicitly desirable outcomes. It was, of course, not just the Imperium that had interests in the volume. Frayne did not rule out, however, secessionist culpability. Huron's ego would fully allow for such a plan, once the tyrant had had his proverbial soapbox upon which to pontificate. Frayne additionally put the possibility that Huron's target was not Ortis, but his ally, Sartac. The death of the Mantis Warrior's chapter master would only serve to strengthen Huron's cause politically, casting doubt upon the Imperium's motives and hardening those of the secessionists. Inquisitorial agents had brought word to the Ordos of an apparent disquiet amongst the ranks of the Mantis Warriors, and a waning of their support for the secessionist cause in light of the ever-escalating conflict. Committed as the Mantis Warriors may have been to the defense of the Maelstrom Zone and their old brothers in the Warder chapters, the opposition to the High Lords of Terra to Huron's actions shook their faith in the Astral Clause's leadership. The death of their chapter master would thus inject a measure of base betrayal into the cocktail of motivations swirling around the war, and ensure the Mantis Warriors would only continue to heed the word of Huron. Regardless of any actual party at fault, the disaster had utterly destroyed all possible compromise in the Badab war, only entrenching the commitment on both sides and annihilating all faith in future diplomacy. Escalation was inevitable, and soon, secrets would come to light that would darken the clouds surrounding the secession even further. This video and this channel were made possible thanks to the very kind donations and support from my Patreon subscribers. If you'd like to help support the channel, head on over to patreon.com. If you'd like to receive more updates about the channel and any future videos, you can contact me or follow me on Twitter at oculusimperia. Otherwise, please like, subscribe, comment, let me know your feedback, and as ever, thank you very much for watching.