Location: In transit. Aboard The Argent Drake. An hour before enemy contact. I'm not sure who but when I mentioned needing a break one of my guards probably Delta-A3 helped pull me away. All the Magi were fussing over the changes to the ship. Somehow miraculously I escaped unnoticed. "Where are we going?" I asked my guard. "Acolyte desires a location to sit and relax. There are three locations that meet that criteria. The Arboretum, The Observation Dome, or the Shrine." "Let's try the dome? That sounds nice." I say offhandedly as I am led into a lift. It takes over half an hour before we get to the right deck. The dome is on the uppermost deck of the ship. Then we still need to move laterally to reach it. The dome itself is a large open space on par with the Librarium for size except where the Librarium was full of shelves. This space is open and the ceiling is transparent, letting everyone there look out into the void. You could also see some of the ship's hull to the prow and aft. Towards the aft of the ship was one of the dorsal lance turrets. There were two total turrets, one closer to the prow that held onto one lance while the aft turret was a massive paired turret holding the other two lances that made up the three total in the battery. I was by no means alone in the dome but it wasn't crowded. Most of the others were there in pairs or small groups enjoying their off time with friends, family or lovers. There were various benches and places to sit scattered around the inside of the dome. As I went to find a good place to sit down on one of the seats that I thought had the best view I almost bumped into someone. Looking over there was a surprisingly pretty young girl who looked to be in her teens. She had her own armed escort but with people from the house guard. "Oh! Sorry! Were you going to sit here?" I ask her politely. She seems momentarily surprised and taken aback by my appearance but she speaks quickly. "It's big enough to share." I note that she is using high gothic by default. Thankfully I can speak that just fine. "Oh well if you don't mind. I'm Nicole!" I say as I take a seat. She looks pleased as I join her on the bench and hesitated "I'm… Arianwyn. So what brings you here?" Not a name I know from my list but since she seems eager to change the subject I oblige her. "I needed some time to relax. Had a bit of an eventful day." I admit with a small giggle. "Oh, this is a good spot to relax. I enjoy the peace and quiet and the views are fantastic. We have to cover the dome during warp transit so I try to visit when I can." "How lovely! I admit being able to look at the hull of the ship is also quite nice. Do you know what that is?" I gesture to the double lance turret. "Yes. Your answer is right but I'm asking if you know what it is specifically." I get a little excited since I do know what I'm looking at. "Then no I admit I do not." "That. Is a Godsbane lance battery. It's an Archeotech relic weapon. The lances feature lengthened focus apertures and quad lens-arrays give the weapons extreme range. So much range that beam dispersion becomes an issue. This comes at the cost of being technologically complex but also the requirements to mount them are so high usually you need a Grand Cruiser at a minimum." I gesture with my hands dramatically as I enlighten the girl. "That… that is very impressive. I admit I had no idea." "What about the ship as a whole do you know much about it?" "Not really, I'd be happy to hear more though please!" Just as I get ready to speak again I whip my head around. My Noospheric link informs me of the alarms that just went off. "That's… a ship leaving the warp" I point towards the dome drawing the attention of Arianwyn and our guards. I gasp as the gate it was using closes early and wince at the state the poor hulk is in. "That poor ship." I mutter as The Argent Drake seems to be headed right for it now. The information just came naturally to me. After meeting Argent's Machine Spirit it's like I inherently gained intuitive knowledge of the ship and there's only one explainable source. I think the ship imparted me with the knowledge of the various parts so I could recognize them all when I saw them. "This ship, The Argent Drake, is actually a prototype. It's the original prototype for the Corinus Class Grand Cruiser. You've probably heard that it's called the Repulsive-Class Grand Cruiser. However, that's just a title that it gained due to most of the class having been lost to the archenemy." I growl out. I can still feel the connection from me to the ship thrumming and I stand up as I spot the next gate starting to open. I can sense what the ship does. The taint of chaos lingers on the vessels making me wrinkle my nose. "Here we see the enemies of the Imperium. For they are guilty, traitors all. Guilty of corrupting the progeny and legacy of The Argent Drake, atrocities innumerable and unnameable." The large double turret is behind me and turning, tracking as I continue to look dead ahead at the three enemy ships. The drake sweeps them with it's advance sensors and I perk up. "Lo and behold these foes who would bare their weakness before a grand dragon, for them we weep. For they shall feel its unyielding wrath! For this is The Argent Drake and its mighty breath is potent, resplendent, and cruel, its breath is Godsbane!" Three burning lances erupted in sequence one after the other with a growl from the ship itself. Leaping across space the extreme range makes the strikes look like they're moving in slow motion. I can't keep the slightly manic grin from my face as I watch. The first strike is a glancing one along the floundering raider but it pushes the ship just enough that the second strike bites deep. Causing a small explosion that throws the vessel around. Then the third lance strikes the vessel in the nose perfectly aligned with the spine of the ship. The burning spear of energy goes straight through the meager armor of the raider without slowing. It leaves a molten smoking hole in its wake as it travels from prow to aft. The strike goes the full length of the vessel along the spine, coring it like an apple, before finally hitting the main power plant. For a brief moment the nearby ships including ours are blinded by the birth of a new temporary star. Just in time for the protective cover on the dome to start to close as the alarm signaling people need to go to their battle stations rings out. "Lady Drakios! We need to go!" One of Arianwyn's guards says pressingly. I turn slowly to find Arianwyn looking at me with a mix of shock and confusion. I give a polite bow and make the sign of the cog. "I must go. Arianwyn Drakios, it was lovely meeting you. Archmagos Doll has summoned for me. Thank you for sharing this with me." "I… how… you? Who are you?" "I am Nicole Cavalerio. Tech Acolyte." Some words bubble up unbidden to my tongue "I am a relic of those who lost." I pull my hood up and turn away as Arianwyn is tugged away by her Stormtrooper escort. Delta-A3 is swift to guard me to the nearest lift so we can return into the depths of The Argent Drake. My current assigned combat position is to be at the side of Archmagos Doll or other Magi should he be indisposed or unreachable. I wasn't expected to run or do anything critically important but I could offer my assistance if needed. —--------------------------------------------------------------------------- Location: The Bridge, The Argent Drake There was a pause as the crew of the bridge watched the lances fire and the hits strike true. No one expected the lances to strike a target as small as the Idolator Class Raider at such extreme range with all three. When one after the other the volley sank into the unshielded hull of the vessel only for it to suffer a catastrophic Plasma Drive explosion the crew were shocked. Flaming bits of debris scattered out like a frag grenade hitting the shields of the two ships that had been less than six VUs away. "One Idolator Class Raider has been eliminated. Plasma Drive explosion. Destruction level total." "Get us between the enemy and the damaged vessel side on to the enemy helmsman. Continue to hit them with the lances. If they don't get the message, prepare a welcoming plasma broadside from the Hecutor Battery for our esteemed guests." Lord Drakios was still a little rattled by the ship firing on its own, he hid it well however and focused on the task at hand. The ship had done so to kill one of the enemy in a single glorious stroke after all. "Sir! The Hellbringer is launching fighters!" "13 VUs sir we're almost on top of the damaged space marine vessel. However the enemy ships haven't started fleeing yet." "Oh. It seems we are dealing with an idiot. Prime our point defenses. When the fighters close to within 5 VUs launch two squadrons of our fighters." —-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Location: Hellbringer Class Light Cruiser: The Sky Scourer "What the fuck was that!?" Captain Nightscream howled. "Sir the Hunting Spear is gone! Struck by lance fire!" "Then fracking shoot back!" "They're outside our maximum range. Enemy vessel is a… Grand Cruiser" "Launch the Hell Talons! Target the Astartes ship! We can't leave it alive. Open fire on it!" "The enemy cruiser is moving to interpose itself between us and the hulk sir! We'll only get a volley single off before it's in the way." "Fraking Imperial scum, Emperor's dogs! Frak!" "Lord vox!" Captain Narexah appeared on the vox. "We need to leave now!" "Calm down Narexah they got a lucky shot on the Hunting Spear when their shields were down. We still outnumber them." "They've got more tonnage than the two of us combined. Look out!" A second volley of concerningly accurate and potent lance fire rippled across the forward shields of The Sky Scourer. "I just got my scans back from that Grand Cruiser! It's going to obliterate us if we get closer than ten UVs to it!" Narexah yelled. "Shields down to fifty percent! Enemy is turning its broadside towards us!" Captain Vox realized he was in the shit. "Frak! Full retreat prepare an emergency jump back into the warp! Recall the Hell Talons!" "Sir the fighters just reached the enemy ship they're being shredded by point defenses. The enemy launched intercept fighters!" "Get us in the warp now! We need to call for reinforcements." He growled loathe to admit it but they were outgunned. This little side mission was supposed to be easy. Knock out the marine's vessel and head on over to the nearby world for some pillaging. "Eligael didn't say anything about a fracking Grand Cruiser!" slamming a fist down on the arm of a command chair as he looked out the view port to watch a concerning amount of plasma wash over the ship's shields. —------------------------------------------------------------------------- Location: The Bridge of The Argent Drake Lord Drakios watched the holo table in front of him with a bemused expression. "Someone's panicking. I almost feel bad for those… what did you say they're called?" "Hell Talons sir, we got some data on them a few jumps ago. A new fighter-bomber produced by the archenemy for both void and atmospheric operations." This story originates from NovelHub. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. "Nice of them to throw them into our meat grinder." "I don't think many expect a ship our size to boast point defense power on par or greater than most Imperial battleships sir. We also launched twice their number of intercept fighters." "Well the pilots needed to shake the rust off only running sims for months. How many made it back to their carrier? Did any manage to hit the wreck?" "From our scans less than one in four made it back. A few landed bombs on the wreck sir but the damage seems minimal compared to… the ships overall state." "They are making an emergency warp jump now sir!" "That plasma broadside must have spooked them. Now that our unwelcome guests are gone. Hail the hulk on all channels, move us in close and start scanning." "Do we have an ID on the hulk yet?" "Sir it's The Vanguard Light Cruiser: The Hollow Star. Registered as belonging to The Star Dragons chapter." "The Star Dragons? Our dynastic capital rests in the same sub sector as their home world of Draconith. They are known to me." Lord Drakios sat up straight and started speaking into his vox to broadcast it on all bands. "Attention Star Dragons survivors of The Hollow Star. This is Rogue Trader, Lord Admiral Arken Drakios, Captain of The Argent Drake. You are being rescued, prepare to be boarded." Turning off the all channels broadcast he nodded "Alright men, full warp contamination protocols. Send in an advance team. Use the Shark Assault boats." "We have life signs! Three pockets in the center of the ship and the two hangars. The rest of the vessel is totally dead. A couple hundred people at most." —----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Location: The Hollow Star Captain Bolaar looked around. Ever since they had managed to exit the warp the number of enemies assaulting their fortified positions had steadily decreased. They still had marines placed on overwatch but they could rest and take a headcount. The inside of the ship was pitch black. Not even emergency power was working in most parts of the ship since they lost the entire back end of the ship. Instead they were relying on portable generators "How many?" Bolaar asked their lead Apothecary Helveptus Sistus, "Twenty nine have fallen. We only managed to recover the gene seed of twenty and of those five had suffered from too much warp exposure to risk transplantation and have been destroyed." "That leaves us seventy one brothers. How many are injured?" "Fifty of various levels of severity. Ranging from gashes to full missing limbs." "Our four interred brothers?" "They seem to be in oddly high spirits. It seems that all of them being awake at once is unusual. So they're socializing while patrolling in pairs." "The gene vault is secure. We are dangerously low on ammunition. If you want the list of serviceable vehicles you need to speak with brother Cogmane." Bollar nodded and clapped Helveptus on the shoulder "You did what you could." "Cogmane! Sitrep." He called out to the Techmarine who was inspecting one of their surviving fliers. "We have enough armor for our company. Barely but considering we were hauling far more than that at the start of this mess it's a huge loss. Thankfully all four of our Dreadnoughts are fine." He paused and gestured off into the distance "We have one Whirlwind Hunter and it needs a track replacement. One Whirlwind Stalker with minor armor damage. The base Whirlwind is totally out of ammo." "One Thunderfire cannon. The Rapier carrier someone dug out of storage somewhere is fine but it needs a tuneup badly." "We are down to two Land Raiders, one Helios and one Prometheus. Two Razorbacks. Two rhinos. Surprisingly all three tarantula batteries are fine. Those were a great boon holding the hangars." "That's not terrible. I was expecting worse." "Then we get to our air power. The three Caestus Assault Rams are still functional. We have one functioning Stormraven. Two Thunderhawks, one Gunship, one Transport. We have One Sokar-Pattern Stormbird. Oh and the Dreadnought Drop Pods." "Really that's all we have left?" "All that isn't ruined, slagged or worse. We at least managed to open the hangar shutters on this side of the ship." "At least the Stormbird is ok." "It's not. It badly needs repairs but it's functional. Barely. I also have far less technical help from the remaining clutch than I would prefer." "Captain! I think you need to come see this!" Someone called out. They were standing at the edge of the hangar looking out into the void. In the distance three vessels came out of the warp. Even at the current distance it was obvious the vessels were ships of the archenemy. Captain Bolaar watched as the larger of the three started launching strike craft and cursed. "Someone get to work getting point defenses up! Can we get any of the AA guns over here!?" However before he could fully finish giving orders there was a flash of light from overhead. Moments later one of the smaller chaos vessels exploded violently as their primary drive went critical. Bathing them in the bright light of a small star for just a few moments "What in the name of the Golden Throne was that?" He asked aloud. Lumbering into view was a sleek and massive vessel that would have dwarfed their own vessel even when whole. "That's a Repulsive-Class! That's a Grand Cruiser!" One of the pilots called out. "Chaos infighting perhaps?" A deep voice suggested as brother Nemeth Solantar in his Ironclad Dreadnought lumbered over to observe. "No." Came the other voice as Venerable Dreadnought Brother Baldos came over. "Look again." Captain Bolaar watched as the ship blocked their view of the enemy. Weapons on the far side of the ship began blazing as point defense lasers seemed to erupt from all over the hull tearing into the strike craft all while disgorging Fury interceptors. Most telling however was the pair of massive icons painted on the hull of the vessel. A silver dragon over a blue cog. Under it was a smaller but prominent icon of the Mechanicus. Astrovas limped over to join in as most of the marines came over to watch. He laughed loudly over the open vox. "Our silver dragon has come and it is quite angry brothers." "That… That's The Argent Drake!" As soon as someone else mentioned it Bolaar recalled why the ship seemed so familiar. A wave of relief swept through him and most of the marines present. Most of the mortal crew just looked confused. "Sir, can someone explain what's going on?" "The Emperor has blessed us with saviors familiar to our chapter. The flagship of house Drakios, The Argent Drake, is an ancient monster of the void. Once the enemy decides to flee or chooses to stay and die at their hand we shall seek their aid." "Let's clear a space. I expect we will be getting borders soon." "Shouldn't we focus on evacuation?" "No, with how much corruption invaded our ship. I expect they will take full precautions. You are all ordered to cooperate with their teams once they arrive!" It was barely half an hour later when the shooting stopped. "Attention Star Dragons survivors of The Hollow Star. This is rogue Trader, Lord Admiral Arken Drakios, Captain of The Argent Drake. You are being rescued, prepare to be boarded." Bolaar chuckled as the message came through confirming their suspicions. Soon several assault boats were flying towards them and as soon as they were in vox range he called out. "This is Captain of the Star Dragons 9th company. Bolaar Silvershield. It's good to see a familiar ship. We welcome you House Drakios." "Captain Bolaar, this is Major Milo of the Drakios House guard. Please transmit your clearance codes. By fire and…" "Fury. Transmitting now." Sergeant Bolaar replied with a wry smile forming as the major asked for his chapter's battle cry. The first boat slid into the cleared space of the hangar and set down smoothly. Within moments the ramp was lowering and men in power armor spilled out and scanned the area. "Clear!" "Clear!" "Network node established!" "Clear!" Another power armored individual moved down the ramp. Scanned the room and made a beeline for Captain Bolaar. "Captain." "Major" he returned shaking hands after the pair saluted one another. "How many are you Captain?" "Seventy one Astartes, fifty of them wounded. Only three hundred and twelve of the clutch remain, mostly crew and some tech adept level mechanicus crew. None of the ship's officers made it." "A shame." The Major made the sign of the Aquila and gave a small bow. "We are establishing a quarantine in the port hangar bay. We will move the worst of the wounded first. Unfortunately captain you and anything you bring will all have to be screened for corruption." "I understand Major. We will cooperate. I have a list of salvageable and uncorrupted gear compiled by my Techmarine that we would like to take with us." "Of course, we can bring as much as we can as long as it remains untainted. Archmagos Doll and Magos Xor-XXVII of the Venatorii will be ensuring your gear is cleared." "Where did you pick up an Archmagos?" Brother Keraar asked after overhearing their talk. "We didn't pick him up anywhere. I suppose we picked him up from the lathes before I was born. He lives here." "We also have an object that requires the VIP treatment." "We are aware, our scans picked it up. We have a specialist team coming to assist your Apothecary with moving the gene vault. I am sorry to say Captain Bolaar but The hollow Star cannot be saved. Once we get what we can we will be destroying the ship." "You have room for all of us?" Astrovas asked the Major. Milo turned and the visible parts through his face plate around his eyes crinkled. "Honored Librarian, we could feasibly house an entire codex compliant chapter, I think we can manage to squeeze in a company." Only once the Major went off to organize things did Venerable Baldos speak up. "Those men would have made potent marines. As they are, they're well equipped, well trained and strong for mere men." "We shall be glad to have them." Baldos rumbled "Indeed. We may be stuck with them for some time. Bolaar myself and the other three, we have conferred we wish to remain awake for the foreseeable future. We expect that our foes despite being chased off for now will not give up so easily. The fall of Cadia shows that with the formation of that great abhorrent rift the traitors plan to push hard this time." "Alright we can allow that. If there really is an Archmagos on the ship we may well finally be able to have you four serviced fully. Not that brother Cogmane doesn't do well but having all four of you in different patterns taxes his skills greatly." "I would like new hip actuators." Baldor mused. "We shall remain until most are away. There may yet be foul creatures lurking about." The titanic figure stomped off to go patrol as everyone made preparations to leave the cursed hulk that had once been their home amongst the stars. ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ nοvelfire.net