The Beast Arises

‘Very well, my lord,’ said Ericus, but Rolans had already gone.

‘Bomber wing approaching. They have launched torpedoes.’

A flight of crude orkish fighters soared over the spine of the Obsidian Sky, chased by streams of glowing tracer fire. A moment later the ship shook. A score of bombers hurtled past, weaving between each other recklessly as they dodged the Obsidian Sky’s anti-interceptor fire. One disintegrated into a cloud of glowing scraps. The rest were away.

‘Damage control?’ asked Ericus.

‘Nothing to report. Negative impact,’ said the Master Divulgatus.

‘Shields?’

‘The void shields took the brunt of it, shipmaster,’ said the Master Scutum. ‘All reading within optimal limits.’

‘Shipmaster, the northern and eastern groups of orkish ships are gaining.’

‘What is your command, sir?’ asked the Master Ordinatum.

Ericus glanced at the tactical displays. Ork ships closed on two horizons, coming fast and low around Dzelenic IV. Four cruiser-class in each group. The Imperial ship had the advantage of range; orkish projectiles were inaccurate and unreliable at distance. Up close they would be devastating.

‘Emperor forgive me, I pray that Lord Magneric shall understand my actions, and be merciful,’ said Ericus quietly. ‘Abort attack run on the Palimodes! Provide gun crew with new orders, Franzek. Kill the orks. Destroy their ships before they can close.’

‘Conveying new firing solutions to all batteries. Solutions conveyed. Open fire.’

The Obsidian Sky quaked under the release of its guns. Lance beams burst through space. Cannons spoke, scattering high-velocity chaff around the vessel in a razored net that caught ork fighters and rent them to pieces.

‘Port broadside, engage eastern ork group. Thin their numbers,’ ordered Ericus.

‘Aye, sir!’

The ship rocked as the port guns fired. Twenty seconds later, the lead ork cruiser of the eastern group flew into the mass of projectiles. It burst apart at the seams, flickering energy and fire crawling over the broken pieces for a moment before it went dark. The aft of the hull spun away, connecting with the cruiser following and severely damaging it. The remaining two ork cruisers clumsily split, getting in each other’s way.

‘Shipmaster. We have two cruisers coming at us astern!’

‘Come about, port side,’ ordered Ericus. ‘Batteries and lances stand ready.’ The ship’s engines rumbled and metal sang at the sudden course correction, played upon by the gravity of the planet and its own momentum.

A klaxon blurted out a mournful wail. ‘New contacts appearing everywhere! Behind the moon, from near space… Dozens of them. They must have been waiting, engines dark. We’re surrounded!’

‘A trap?’ said Ericus incredulously. He stared at the hololith as augur data was fed into its cogitators. New contacts sprang into life, bright red, a net around his ships. Ork ships now approached from three quadrants at once, only the Palimodes standing between them. ‘Port battery open fire on northern group. Keep them off the stern,’ Ericus commanded.

‘Fresh ork cruiser group coming aft!’ shouted the Master Augurum.

‘Palimodes is mirroring our movement and is coming about also!’ added his second.

The Palimodes’ main engine stack dimmed. All along its sides flared the ice-white sparks of braking jets. The nose dipped, carrying it to the very edge of the atmosphere. As it dived, it lumbered around and turned on its side a little, ignoring the swarm of ork attack craft pressing it from all sides, and presented its full broadside to the oncoming prow and keel of the Obsidian Sky.

‘They’re preparing to fire!’ called Franzek.

‘Up thirty degrees. Concentrate anti-interceptor fire to ventral aspect, support anti-munition cannons, or they’ll tear the guts out of us!’ shouted Ericus, half rising from his seat, his link cables tugging at his augmetics.

Cannon muzzles ripple-flashed up the length of the Palimodes’ port side.

Glinting shells sped across the void.

‘Time to impact five, four, three, two, one…’

‘Brace, brace, brace!’

No impact came. Ericus glanced at the display. Red reticules spun past the icon denoting the Obsidian Sky, heading into the ork ships chasing them. They blinked rapidly before impact. The ork ship icons flashed, and vanished.

‘They are firing on the orks!’ reported the Master Augurum.

Space was alive with explosions and the burning light of high-energy weapons fire. The main hololithic display blinked thickly with yet more orkish attack craft.

‘Close oculus shutters. Replace holo-display with true representation of the battlespace. We will concentrate our efforts on the orks. See if you can raise the shipmaster of the Palimodes. If they are not going to fire upon us, we will offer them a truce, for now.’

‘Marshal Magneric, shipmaster…’

‘I am shipmaster,’ said Ericus. ‘It is my responsibility. Rather he has a ship to return to and a shipmaster to execute, than no ship at all.’