"Helmsman, maintain current speed. Adjust heading to the received co-ordinates. All decks report status!" thundered Gregor's voice. Vox-casters began to transmit responses from each compartment and deck, starting with the gunnery decks. The crew was ready. They would have made any imperial navy commander proud. The right mix of opportunity, bounty and fear was all that was required for everyone to function well. Dalamere had no illusion about this mission and fully expected to suffer casualties. Nothing was ever straight forward when renegade space marines were involved. She strained her memory to try and identify the origin of these marines. The dark armour covered by robes was not easily visible. Their speech did not offer any clues. She would have to ascertain their back ground at a later stage. For now, the asteroid belt was drawing near and their ships were ploughing forward at flank speed. Gregor glanced sideways with a nervous flicker of his eyes. Dalamere almost felt the unspoken question. How much did they trust their employers? Very little indeed was the answer. The lead captain of the infidel raider reduced speed as he neared the edge of the field. Within seconds a single beam of lance energy struck the vessel collapsing its single void shield. An all-fleet broadcast came over the vid-screens. The space marine who had previously addressed Dalamere was there, his helmet removed and the cowl drawn back. Fearsome in appearance, scarred beyond recognition, the former defender of humanity spoke slowly. "Disobey orders and you will die!" palpable evil emanated even through the inorganic vid-log sequences, terrifying all the complement of the war cruisers. A moment passed and silently the infidel raiders picked up speed, speeding to their apparent destruction. "Unidentified weapons systems coming online!" shouted the sensor-auger operator, "Multiple contacts! Massed weapons batteries hidden within the asteroids. Targeting resolutions transferred to weapons matrices" "Battle stations" shouted Dalamere, the adrenalin rush of combat overcoming her concerns about her employers for the present moment. The targeting display was rapidly filling up with potential targets, each identified by different icons. All were immobile, mostly multiple torpedo launchers, mine dispensers and weapons batteries. "Eviscerator is launching attack craft" "Gregor, have the secondary batteries follow the attack craft until they have passed us" Dalamere was certainly not taking any chances. "Massed torpedo launchers detected. Space mine launchers have activated within the asteroid fields. Laser weapons systems powering up" Whatever was hidden within the asteroid field of Caliban, some one was going to great lengths to guard it. What was more suspicious was that the space marines in the Eviscerator seemed to have full knowledge of this. She had wondered as to why the equivalent of three complete imperial guard regiments were being brought in to assault the three lightly guarded systems in the Caliban sector. Terraq was a prison system with little defences against an outside assault and Orphia was forlorn and shunned by most. Perhaps she should have listened to Gregor and dropped this assignment. On the other hand, once the troops were landed and the space marines away from the bridge of the Eviscerator, it would take little effort to commandeer the transports, disable the Eviscerator's engines and make good their escape. All she had to hope for was that the renegade marines did not intend her fleet to be the physical shield against the formidable but hidden defences in the region. Suddenly the forward view screens dimmed as the sensors automatically protected the holo-vids. A string of explosions blossomed in the distance, followed by multiple detonations as ordnance, mines and torpedoes were engulfed in the primary explosions. On the targeting display, Dalamere noticed that the weapons systems that had been displayed were rapidly disappearing. She also noted that no weapon had been fired from either the fleet or the attack craft. |
CHAPTER XV: DALAMERE'S COMMAND (Cont) Chronicled By ( Shadow Guard ) |
GATHERING OF ANGELS |
This section provides the narrative history of the events that took place during the Gathering of Angels campaign conducted by the Inner Circle, during Abaddon's Thirteenth Black Crusade. This is in no way the official GW version nor is it in anyway an attempt to infringe on their IP. There are many versions of imperial history buried within the sands of time and this is but just one of them. Read on if you dare! |
