Confessor Blochberger tours the refugee camp with the Chrysopeleans providing protection for him and his retinue. Alpha Squad meets Lieutenant Angilello, the despairing camp commander, a fallen nobleman named Senon Martin, and a somewhat strange priest named Father Aolicious. The troops get a platform built for the Confessor to speak upon as the crowds gather.
Meanwhile, aboard the Thunderhead, Lady Commissar Cedercreuz talks with Lieutenant Kravos in the ship's dining area. Kravos asks her to see if she can get Major Jona of the Solace regiment on the side of the 1st Aerial Assault in the politicking against the Scintillans. She talks to Jona and learns that the numerous survivors of the crash and the few remnants of the Solace army are now in need of food. Jona offers to support the Chrysopelean regiment if Cedercreuz can get Lady Caligari to donate the food stores of the airship to those in the camp.
Darrien Adel is assigned to getting the vox speakers at the speech platform fixed up, and he finds the needed parts from the faulty speakers posted elsewhere around the camp. With the dais complete, the Confessor takes the stage and begins his firey speech to the masses. Exhorting them to find and destroy the agents of Chaos in their midst, he riles them up in a bloodthirsty mob. The squad holds their ground and watches as the refugees turn on their own, seeking for any who they feel do not belong.
An elderly woman rumored by some to be a witch is taken out of her tent and ripped to shreds. A group of mutants begin attacking the Cadians posted at a scrapyard, and Lieutenant Angilello is unable to convince Alpha to come with her to help them.
Back at the airship, Cedercreuz is able to get the Scintillan noblewoman to agree to give away the extra food stores. She arranges for the food to be given out, but first has to scare off the obnoxious Senon Martin as he pesters the troops outside. The mob is very disorderly as they come to take the food, and the gangs in the camp beat down the miner's union members to get the lion's share of the food.
Cultists of Nurgle appear within the scrapyard as the Cadian defenders are decimated, A fire is started and it quickly spreads, threatening to engulf the entire camp. Yekaterina, Isabella, Malachi, and Solon are sent out to try and deal with the problem as the rest of the squad continues keeping the Confessor safe from the mayhem he instigated. Yekaterina summons up a massive psychic lightstorm that seems to turn night into day, showering the agents of Chaos with firey wrath. The Nurgle cult is utterly destroyed and the fires are doused by the psychic power, and people for miles around can see the glow.
The rampaging mob sees the bright light as a sign from the Emperor, and they begin to calm themselves from their earlier frenzy. As the cleansing of the camp subsides, the squad can see that Lieutenant Angilello and most of her troopers are among the numerous dead. Adel goes out to recover the bodies and gear of the Cadians in the aftermath.
With the airship's repairs completed, the Chrysopeleans are called back to rejoin with the others aboard. As the Thunderhead lifts off from the recovering refugee camp, the noble guests gather on the deck to celebrate their survival and toast the Scintillans' plans to help rebuild Solace. In the middle of this gathering, however, the squad spots Dark Eldar Tureborn hidden nearby, their weapons trained on Lady Caligari.
Lady Commissar Cedercreuz leaps to defend the noblewoman and the rest of Alpha quickly (and Scintillan Fusiliers) responds to the assassins' attack. Castellan Bibiloni is killed and Cedercreuz is wounded by a plasma grenade thrown by the xenos, but the quick response of the troopers saves the others and puts an end to the Cabal's strike. With the Trueborn slain, the squad receives the gratitude of the surviving VIPs.
As thousands of Scintillans come from their cruiser transports to help guard Solace, the 1st Aerial Assault Chrysopeleans receive new orders; they are being sent back to the star fort Lycurgos. Their next mission will be part of a planet-wide assault to retake Warzone Epsilon from the Severan Dominate.