It is the thirty-second millennium and the Imperium is at peace. The Traitor Legions of Chaos are but a distant memory and the many alien races that have long plagued mankind are held in check by the Space Marines. But an ork invasion of unparalleled scale throws the Imperium into disarray. As worlds burn and renowned Space Marine Chapters are destroyed, can the Imperium pull together to defeat the Beast?

For Ianthe, war is all too familiar. A former soldier in the Astra Militarum, she now serves Inquisitor Covenant as an agent of the Throne. Her first mission sees her investigating a cult called the Children of Eternity. Falling foul of the local Enforcers, Ianthe soon learns that war in the shadows is seldom straightforward and that the local, angry law-keepers are the least of her troubles.

A great darkness has befallen the galaxy, and the armies of Chaos are rampant. To survive, humanity must retaliate and take back what they have lost. By the will of the reborn primarch, Roboute Guilliman, is the Indomitus Crusade launched - a military undertaking that eclipses all others in known history. From the Throneworld of Terra does the Avenging Son hurl his fleets, their mission the very salvation of mankind.

The primarchs, nigh-immortal sons of the Emperor of Mankind, take the stage in a series of short stories showcasing some of their great deeds and hideous acts from across the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy.

On the prison world of Zartak, darkness has fallen on arbitrators and inmates alike. The Night Lords have come, bringing with them the shadow of fear and pain. But these monsters are not the only ones with an interest in Zartak. From the void, running on silent, another fleet emerges. These Space Marine warriors are grey-clad and white-faced, and their eyes are as black as the Outer Dark – the savage Carcharodon Astra.

Faced with an ork invasion of Piscina IV, the 3rd Company of the Dark Angels believes the threat to be minimal. As enemy numbers continue to increase, their commander, Captain Belial, insists that his Company are strong enough to resist. But Scout-Sergeant Naaman knows just how dangerous this foe can be, and when a renewed offensive takes the Dark Angels by surprise, the orks swarm towards Kadillus Harbour.

Belisarius Cawl, Archmagos Dominus of the Adeptus Mechanicus, is the most brilliant mind alive. For 10,000 years he has furthered the cause of mankind, working under the aegis of the Emperor and Lord Commander Roboute Guilliman to prevent the inexorable march of the alien and the traitor. Many call him heretic, but all must recognise the magnitude of his achievements, for who else but he was entrusted to create a new generation of Space Marines?

Supreme Grand Master Azrael summons Lazarus and his Fifth Company to honour an old debt on the Knight world of Reis – a planet upon which the warp has set its hungry gaze. But Lazarus is not so sure Reis wants to be saved – its Knights are long lost, its governance is dogged by political strife, and internecine conflict hampers the world’s defence against an ancient evil. ­An evil which, like Lazarus himself, refuses to die.

After seven long years of conflict, the Horus Heresy nears its end. But now, as the Warmaster Horus marches on Terra to rip his father from the Throne, the seat of the arch-traitor’s power lies empty. Cthonia, a world once dominated by brutal murder-gangs, is occupied by the Emperor’s praetorians—the indomitable Imperial Fists. For the Sons of Horus, this outrage demands a reckoning.

This audiobook brings together 13 uproarious short stories and one novella, focused on Ciaphas Cain, Hero of the Imperium. His stories are celebrated as heroic propaganda pieces, but he’s simply trying to stay alive in a hostile galaxy.