Editing Roman Albrecht (section)

===The Hektor Heresy===

When the first shots of the [[Hektor Heresy]] were fired on Ostium, Roman Albrecht and most of his Steel Marshals were waging war against the Domain of Hathor. This large trans-stellar realm controlled key Warp lanes at the juncture of Segmentum Pacificus and Segmentum Tempestus, but had proven too powerful for a single Crusade Fleet to subdue. Roman had massed forces to crush the Hathorites but the going was slow and news of the battles at Ostium and Diamat reached his command centre with the Imperials still in the beachheads. Honour and military necessity demanded that the campaign be brought to some sort of conclusion. Uncharacteristically swift but with his trademark boldness, Roman Albrecht led a long-distance strike at Oasis, the throne-world of the Domain of Hathor and there forced the Hathor Empress to make terms. A generous peace secured the Steel Marshals' rear and Roman began his long journey back to Terra.

With the light of the Astronomican obscured by [[The Voidwatcher]]'s foul sorcery, the Steel Marshals had to rely on more primitive navigation techniques. Albrecht's fleet split into two and made leap-frogging jumps through the Warp, with the Astropaths of the stationary element providing a short-range beacon for the moving element. This expedient was slow but steady and would have seen the Marshals to Terra in good time, but for the intervention of the Traitor [[Cromwald Walgrun]] and his [[Lions Rampant]] Legion. Cromwald's warriors ravaged the systems ahead of the Steel Marshals and forced a change of course. Roman directed his fleet towards the Segmentum Pacificus where he hoped to link up with gentle [[Tollund Ötztal]] and win the [[Mastodontii]] to the Loyalist cause. But before the Tenth Legion lost contact with their Traitor foes, the Lions Rampant launched an assassination strike against Roman's headquarters. The Primarch himself proved too much for Cromwald's daemonic assassins but his astropaths were less fortunate and the Steel Marshals fleets slowed to a crawl. Throughout months of short Warp jumps, the Steel Marshals' strength was eroded by misadventure and their morale sapped by inactivity and the knowledge that their Loyalist brethren were fighting alone - at best. Roman Albrecht felt these burdens as much as any of his sons or allied warriors, but as a true leader he strove to take their concerns upon himself and bouy up the Legion.

Roman's limbo came to an end when the [[Void Angels|Fifth Legion]] cruiser ''Persévérance'' made contact with the Steel Marshals fleet in the Ponvor system. Astropaths in service of the Fifth Legion had sensed Roman's makeshift Warp beacons from across the turbulent Immaterium, but their replies went unnoticed by the exhausted Steel Marshals psykers. ''Persévérance'' had been dispatched to make contact in person and exchange news. Roman was initially pleased to hear that the Legion he had once dubbed "Winged Victory" was coming into the fight, but his good mood was swept away by reports of the Mastodontii gone mad with bloodlust. Indeed, the Primarch at first refused to believe that Tollund's men could fall so far and had to be persuaded by hard evidence. In the following weeks, the Fifth's Primarch [[Gaspard Lumey]] provided that proof along with material aid, making good the Steel Marshals' shortage of Astropaths and seeing their fleets into the range of navigation beacons centered on the [[Al-Sherar Sector]]. Lumey invited Roman Albrecht and his command staff to confer at the Fifth Legion's homeworld [[Ciban IV]] but the Lord-Knight refused and instead set a course for nearby [[Rosskar]]. This decision was anything but malicious. Early in the Heresy, Rosskar had been attacked by gene-beasts and Selenar warriors under the command of [[Pallas Eugenesis]] and Roman knew that ignoring its plight could lead to bitterness with the [[Silver Cataphracts]] Primarch, [[Alexandri of Rosskar]]. Unusually, Gaspard Lumey refrained from a trademark volatile response and instead dispatched a fleet of his Fifth Legion to support the relief of Rosskar, though he remained at Ciban IV to continue mobilising his allies.

The arrival of the allied fleets at Rosskar sent the more rational parts of Pallas Eugenesis's army to flight. The Eclipse Queen herself had no stomach for a battle with the Space Marines and delayed her departure only long enough to signal the Loyalists her sarcastic congratulations of winning the "prize" of devastated Rosskar. Even this insincere message was somewhat premature, as the Steel Marshals together with their allies had to fight a short but hard campaign to purge Rosskar of gene-wrought monsters. The allies' victory at Rosskar also put them in position to greet [[Onyx the Indestructible]] when his enormous flagship ''Mount Everest'' arrived in system. The [[Stone Men]] were ill-pleased that their long wandering in the Warp had not even taken them out of the Segmentum Pacificus, but the opportunity to unite their forces with Roman Albrecth and Gaspard Lumey was fine compensation. Indeed, the news of a third Loyalist Primarch's arrival was good enough to draw Gaspard away from Ciban IV and, in orbit about Rosskar, the three Primarchs swore an oath to victory.

It is less well-known that Gaspard and Onyx imposed a secret condition in their talks. Roman's brothers were now confident enough of victory, but feared that they might defeat Hektor without saving the Emperor's life. Neither relished the prospect of an Imperium ruled by Alexandri and they insisted that Roman agree to put himself forward as the Emperor's heir if one was required. Disheartened but lacking an alternative, Roman Albrecht accepted this burdensome agreement. The allies completed their muster and surged towards Terra. Together with Onyx and his Stone Men, Roman led the Steel Marshals in a frontal assault on the Traitor cordon around Sol in order to draw off defenders who might have delayed the swift-moving Fifth Legion from making their best speed to Terra. Despite these sacrifices, the Fifth's arrival was in time for victory, but not to save the Emperor from his terrible wounding.