Signus Campaign - Holst: As the Blood Angels continued their investigation of the scattered fleet of wrecked vessels, they could not determine why these craft were even in that particular zone of space. The people of those ships had been so terrified that they had willingly sought out the embrace of the deep void in order to escape whatever horror they had witnessed.By order of Sanguinius, a task force of Blood Angels Astartes were ordered to travel ahead to Signus VI, the Hive World known as Holst by its people, to discern the fate of its people. Meros and a squad of Blood Angels, accompanied by three Word Bearers Astartes who acted as official observers of the campaign for Horus by order of the Warmaster, were sent down to the surface of the planet to investigate. But en route, their mortal pilot was suddenly overcome by the nightmarish visions that continued to plague him and all of the unaugmented humans aboard the IX Legion's fleet since it had entered the Signus System. The pilot succumbed to his madness and shot the Servitors assisting him, the rest of the mortal crew and himself, forcing the Apothecary Meros to pilot the Stormbird and make a crash-landing.Once they arrived on the surface of the planet, the Astartes quickly realised they had no communication with their fleet and would not be missed for at least ten solar hours. They decided to explore the planet's surface any way, investigating the outer wards of the hive city known as Holst-Prime. During their investigation, the small detachment of Space Marines heard the sounds of gunfire. The Space Marine on point, Brother Xagan, had somehow mysteriously disappeared down a ragged sink-hole within one of the habitat buildings. The only sign of his passing was a discarded Umbra Ferrox Pattern Bolter, vapour still curling from its muzzle.As the Astartes continued their investigation, the Blood Angels became separated from the three Word Bearers that had been accompanying them, just as they encountered enemy contact from unknown vectors. When Meros and the Blood Angels caught up to their compatriots, they discovered a dead Word Bearer Space Marine. Dark, oily fluid stained the slate-coloured Power Armour of the dead Astartes.With a start, Meros realised that the purple fluid was the Space Marine's blood -- and the strange vitae suddenly filled his thoughts, his senses. He recognised it as the same strange blood he had discovered in the boneless corpses aboard the Red Tear. Suddenly, and without warning, the Word Bearers' Captain immediately interposed himself between the Apothecary and the mutilated remains of his Battle-Brother before further investigation could be made.As the contingent of Space Marines attempted to escape from the outer wards of Holst-Prime, the hive city itself came alive, attacking the Astartes in the form of living metallic constructs formed from fragments of wreckage. Surrounded and outnumbered, the small task force was only saved by the timely intervention of Captain Amit and the Blood Angels' 5th Company.Receiving the strange, but unbelievable reports from the survivors that had been on the planet's surface, Sanguinius ordered the destruction of the cursed planet. Priming their Cyclonic Torpedoes and megaweapon systems, the entirety of the Blood Angels fleet bombarded Holst, subjecting it to the rarely used punishment of Exterminatus. Like a tormented animal, the planet ended with a tortured scream that even the void could not silence.