Chapter VIII: Chariots of Fire Pandemonium had broken loose on the command deck of Qurbitus Station 978. Multiple reports were streaming in from the battles below. Klaxons were blaring as if competing with the cacophony of emergency proximity alert warnings. To make matters worse gravimetric readings were going completely off scale! "Whoever designed this blessed station must have placed an alarm and a button for every conceivable anomaly" thought Sagitante, and all of them seemed to be blaring away at their maximum pitch. Some holo-vid screens were shorting out and going blank. Electronics were crackling, sparking and occasionally arcing across, throwing the console operators off their stations in a conflageration of sparks and smoke! Men screamed as they were incinerated by exploding electrical systems. Some prayed. The servitors stumbled along, impervious to the disarray being sought amongst their midst. Sagitante heard Graffer's voice, coming through weakly over the radiometric receiver. The Bramberg mountain line was holding. More so, the enemy was milling around in confusion! He chewed harder the expensive cigar, he had kept as a lucky charm. If he needed lucky charms, this was the time for it!! Sagitante also noted the massive energy spike that was picked up by the thermal sensors, coming from the underground caverns and spouting out in to the atmosphere. Rapidly assimilating the evolving situation he rapped out his orders, praying to the emperor that he was right. He ordered the Station 979's orbital missiles to now re-target the massive cult army that was at the foot hills of the Bramberg range. The Spacemarines had accomplished their task, it seemed, going by the huge underground explosion. "All orbital stations, concentrate all firepower on target co-ordinates a follows!" The targeting officer relayed his instructions to all the other stations. The shuddering in the station caused by the gravimetric sheer was becoming unbearable. Anything not buttoned down was hopping in the air. "It is done! They have done it!" Whispered Glengaard weakly to the Colonel, who had now completely regained his control. "I suspected as much, but what in the name of his holy emperor is coming through the warp" " Whatever it is, it's too close!" shouted the air defence console operator, his discomfort clearly evident in his voice, " It is exiting the warp space too close to the planet or" "Or what?" Sagitante screamed at the top of his voice! "or it is so massive that.. " The operator's eyes were glued to the consoles. It was exactly one minute since Sergeant Dexter had uttered the word "my God!" and he repeated it again. Sagitante had not removed his eyes from the large view screen all this time, while re-deploying his meagre resources and altering his plans. Now he too began to feel weak at his knees. He could see a shimmering in the distance, where there was meant to be nothing. A warp space rift was appearing. A kaleidoscope of colours started to play at the edges of the rift. Clouds formed and unformed where there was nothing but vacuum. Sagitante stood riveted oblivious to forces that were throwing the massive orbital station around like a toy. Men hung on to whatever they could for dear life. "Multiple contacts" "Multiple warp rifts! No! No! It's one massive rift" They're coming through!!!! Sagitante noted that the astropaths were not as hysterical as they had been! Reality tore itself apart in a massive display of the power of nature. The sheer enormity of physical and warp forces that coalesced at the point of entry in space belayed description by a human mind. A massive rift bigger than Qadis III began to form. The vibrations were almost unbearable. The panoply of colours and swirling clouds of charged energy particles seemed like participants in a massively choreographed astral ballet. View screens blew out. Bulk heads buckled. This was truly a massive structure emerging. Then, like a Titan of legend emerging from the depths of hell, a gargantuan asteroid-like structure slid elegantly in to view at the center of the warp rift. Everyone was rooted on the spot. The steam and cloud vapours that surrounded it made it look like a mountain top peering through the morning mist. Slowly, the nose appeared. The structure gradually grew in size, despite it's distance to the planet and it's orbital stations, the sheer size was astounding. An enormous mass of asteroid kept growing until it dwarfed the station by a hundred times. Then Sagitante suddenly realised that the warp rift had closed as abruptly as it had opened. The vibrations had stopped! The massive asteroid, slowed down rapidly as it approached Qadis III implying artificial control. It gracefully slowed almost to a halt, sliding gently in to an orbital position with such surgical precision, it was impossible to believe unless seen. Sagitante's jaw dropped in awe. He didn't feel his lucky cigar drop from the grips of his teeth. In the time it took for the cigar to reach the floor, he noticed a number of things. One entire side of the asteroid seemed to crumble in to smaller parts! The structures on the asteroid became clearly visible. Large buildings! Imperial Gothic architecture!. High spires! Massive gun emplacement! Launching bays! A huge tower with a massive monument at its apex. It was a made to resemble an angel! A winged, robed and hooded angel! What he had thought to be the crumbling aside of the steroid now took shape. They were hundreds of vessels. Spacemarine vessels!!! The emblem of the winged sword was seen flashing across their view screens! Cruisers, escorts, drop pods and gunships. All swinging in a precision arc towards his home planet! The Dark Angels had arrived! |
DEATH ON QADIS III By ( Shadow Guard ) |
FABLES OF THE UNFORGIVEN |
