For reference:
Elements of Battlefleet Sigmar, Karloff Sector, Admiral Karol Zoltoy
* Orlanth Rex Emperor battleship
Confessor Kyrinov Retribution battleship
* Hammer of Faith Mars battlecruiser, Wrecked off Marxos I, now repaired, Acting-Captain Carlos
Revenge Mars battlecruiser
*,** Cypra Probatii Improved Overlord battlecruiser, Captain Thrack
* Moon of Aaron Dictator carrier, Former Traitor, wrecked off Marxos II, now repaired
Moon of Esau Dictator carrier, Former Traitor
* Scourge of Heresy Dominator cruiser, Captain Vindire
* Scourge of Deviancy Dominator cruiser.
** Lord Daros Improved Lunar cruiser
Patriarch Lunar cruiser
Destiny Lunar cruiser
Hammer of Thor Gothic cruiser
* Danae Dauntless light cruiser (Lance armed), Destroyed off Marxos II
* Dragon Dauntless light cruiser (Torpedo armed)
* Delhi Dauntless light cruiser (Lance armed), replacement for Danae.
Dunedin Dauntless light cruiser (Lance armed)
* Squadron Orbis Swords, Former traitor
* Blue wing Swords
* Red wing Swords
Green wing Swords
Dagger Flotilla Cobra
Sabre Flotilla Cobra
* Ships normally forming part of Commodore M’Dhu’s Division
** On temporary attachment from Battlefleet Gothic to Battlefleet Sigmar, Karloff Sector.
The services of Praise and Glory were over and Commodore M’Dhu prepared for the forthcoming battle in the privacy of his own Shrine, alone.
How quickly things could change, he thought to himself. Only a month ago he was supervising the final cleansing of the Marxos system from the last of the taint of Chaos. The few surviving ships from the original raid had been hunted down, their base and its foul altar converted by the cleansing fire of plasma to dust and pebbles, dark and drifting in space. Now it was Caldur itself that was under attack, and by a tremendous force. Sub-Sector Commander Maltesse and his Division had been ambushed and nearly destroyed, the few wrecked survivors disengaging and limping back to Ruslan. Their loss was not entirely in vain, warning and intelligence had been received, but it was little compensation for the lives lost and the damage suffered. It was also clear, that in spite of the heroic fighting, the enemy had been barely slowed.
Every ship available had been put into space, some very short of crew, others still under repair as they rushed to intercept the enemy. Normally such vessels would be more of a hindrance than a help, but these were desperate times indeed. Before his division had been blasted to scrap, Commander Maltesse had identified Abaddon’s Planet Killer at the heart of the enemy fleet. While this report had been doubted by many, the vessel had been reported destroyed in the Gothic sector, Commodore M’Dhu had studied the reports himself. If it was not the Planet Killer, then it was something as dangerous. Admiral Zoltoy was not prepared to take any chances, and the fleet sailed with the expectation that if they failed to stop the enemy, there might well be no base to return to. The loss of Caldur would be a disaster and might well result in the loss of the entire Karloff sector and Battlefleet Sigmar with it.
There were two Warp Loci in the Caldur system and, at this time of the year, the Chaos force was approaching the Locus on the far side of the sun while at the same time, Caldur was almost at its closest to the Locus that lead to the Marxos system. This proximity had been no small help in the cleansing campaign. However, Commodore M’Dhu was a little concerned at the timing of the Chaos attacks. He had been assured by Admiral Zoltoy that the attack on Marxos had merely been a diversion; intended to suck as much force into the Marxos system, preparing the way for the final attack. Thanks to his, Admiral Zoltoy, handling of the campaign the enemy had been defeated and Marxos cleansed before the main attack could materialize. Commodore M’Dhu had expressed his doubts, but he had been over-ruled. Admiral Zoltoy had been very pleasant, but very firm in his convictions. Commodore M’Dhu would have been more convinced if Admiral Zoltoy had any actual fleet combat experience. Still the emergency has resulted in another promotions, if only another acting one.
Nominally, M’Dhu was a Captain Senioris, a veteran of at least twelve years of active service and senior and experienced enough to be able to command a wing of up to half a dozen cruisers and their support. For the original Marxos operation he had been given the rank of Commodore, a real rank, but held only by Captains Senioris when assuming the duties and responsibilities of temporary, acting, unpaid Fleet-Admiral of the most junior rank and held at the whim of their Sector Admiral. Since then he had been further promoted to Commodore of Division, another temporary rank, but senior to all other Commodores. To these august titles was now added acting Sub-Sector Commander, in the absence of Commander Maltesse. He was now a man of considerable authority, but it was all at the pleasure of Admiral Zoltoy. One order from him and he would be back to commanding the Hammer of Faith , a Mars battlecruiser. In other sectors and under other Admirals his ranks would have been brevet. Let the administration of the Imperial Fleet over-rule the decisions of a fighting Admiral. That was not Admiral Zoltoy’s way. He sent in his recommendations and waited for formal confirmation from Terra, should he live long enough to receive it. However, for all his faults, Admiral Zoltoy was an inspired organizer and he knew the fleet bureaucracy through and through. Were it not for his efforts the fleet now rushing to engagement would be a lot smaller.
On paper the fleet was large and impressive. It was anchored around two battleships, Admiral Zoltoy’s flagship, Confessor Kyrinov , a Retribution, and the Orlanth Rex , an Emperor, and Commodore M’dhu’s nominal flagship. Supporting these were three battlecruisers, M’dhu’s own Hammer of Faith and the Revenge two Mars, and the Cypra Probatii the veteran Overlord commanded by Captain Seniors Thrack, now promoted by Acting-Sub Sector Commander M’Dhu to Commodore in his own right. Captain Thrack had proven his worth as a ship commander many times, let him see how well he did commanding a Division.
Additional carrier support was provided by the Moon of Aaron and the Moon of Esau , a pair of Dictator cruisers. There were six line cruisers, rather too few for a fleet of this size, two Dominators, the Scourge of Heresy and the Scourge of Deviancy , two Lunars, the Patriarch and Destiny and the Hammer of Thor a Gothic. Finally there was the Lord Daros , another Lunar, but fitted with a Nova Cannon rather than torpedoes. How Admiral Zoltoy had gotten the ship transferred from Battlefleet Obscuras M’Dhu neither knew nor cared, he was only glad that it was there. The last of the cruisers were the Delhi and Dragon a pair of Dauntlesses.
Accompanying this host were far few escorts, the four Swords of Squadron Orbis and Red Wing and the four Cobras of Dagger Flotilla and Sabre Flotilla .
In addition, and under the command of the Sub Sector Commander, was the Caldur Patrol of system defense ships. Two Oberon class system defense battleships, the Honorio and the Barberoni , the Defender class light cruiser Merino and the Gothic class cruiser, with no Warp drives, the Veccio . The normal patrol escorts had been detached to replace losses in the two Flotillas. Unfortunately, only the Merino was actually at Caldur, and all her attack craft had been commandeered to bolster the Orlanth Rex . The other ships were patrolling the Marxos Locus and their modest reinforcement was no excuse for delay. They would have been a significant reinforcement if available, but to M’Dhu, time was far more important than force. The Chaos fleet must be engaged before it had time to disperse. Although M’dhu’s concerns had been ignored by Admiral Zoltoy, he saw his duty, and on his own authority ordered the Merino on a special mission to support the Caldur Patrol. In order for this violation of his Admiral’s wishes to cause real problems he would both have to be wrong and survive the coming engagement and Admiral Zoltoy would also have to be right and survive.
A warning gong sounded announcing the change of the Watch. Commodore M’Dhu turned his attention back to the Shrine and the Ikon of the Ever-Living Emperor. It was said that the Emperor provided. Commodore M’Dhu prayed with all his heart that the Emperor provided Victory!!!
**********
The battlefleet approached the Locus in two Grand Divisions, one, toward Terra, lead by Admiral Zoltoy, the other lead by Commodore M’Dhu. Commodore M’Dhu commanded the ships of his usual Division, escorted by the two squadrons of Swords. He flew his flag from the Hammer of Faith newly returned to the Division after extensive repairs at Ruslan. In spite of the best efforts of Acting-Captain Carlos, the training of the crew had suffered while in dockyard hands, but with the inspiring presence of Commodore M’Dhu, the veterans of the crew would die at their posts rather than let their beloved Captain down.
To the casual traveler, a Warp Locus might seem like a doorway in space, but a seasoned spacefarer like Commodore M’Dhu knew better. Warp Loci were regions of space where the currents of the Warp made it more likely for ships to appear. It was a large area, many tens of thousands across, not a hole or the entrance to a tunnel. Admiral Zoltoy had dispersed his fleet enough that some portion could rush to engage the Chaos ships if they got there in time, but yet be strong enough not to be overwhelmed by the Chaos forces. Thus only two groups.
Commodore M’Dhu’s force was divided into two smaller Divisions, one, commanded by Commodore Thrack, consisted of the Cypra Probatii , the Moon of Aaron , the Delhi and Dragon and both squadrons of escorts. The remaining ships were under the Commodore’s direct command. The force had slowed to allow the Orlanth Rex to remain in touch, and in fact Commodore M’Dhu had slowed his speed to keep the battlecarrier in the vanguard. This was possible only because his route was the shorter.
On the other flank, the vanguard was formed by the Confessor Kyrinov supported by the escorts, both Lunars and the Gothic. To the rear was a small wing consisting of both carriers protected by the Lord Daros .
The bridge crew was bent to their tasks, every officer scanning their lecterns for the slightest sign of the enemy. As Commodore M’Dhu watched, symbols started to appear on the forward augers. The enemy had been sighted, practically directly between the two forces.
“Battle plan SPEAR”.
“Aye aye, Sir!”
Hardly had the order been given when a warning gong rang. Commodore M’Dhu’s display shifted to the aft sensors. Behind them a tornado of gas detached from the sun and rushed into space. The burst would avoid the fleet and the combatants, but the radiation and energy cast off would interfere with communication both within ships and between ships. Only the best ships would be able to perform properly, and perhaps not even then. The Commodore wondered whether this was a coincidence or as a result of the malign influences of Chaos. In any case, it was a bad time for any instabilities in the sun.
It would now be a race between the fleet, Chaos and the sun. Who or what would win?
**********
Through the green mists of uncertainty, Commodore M’Dhu searched his command lectern for details of the enemy force. His heart sank as the display began to resolve the enemy vessels as they emerged from the Warp. Normally the enemy would be invisible at this range, but the combination of the leaking energy from the Warp and the sun’s radiation picked them out. It was a trap after all! The sensors had identified eight enemy cruisers, their class and type was not clear but, from their formation, they looked like six line cruisers and two carriers. There were supported by a battleship, presumably a carrier and three other ships. One was the largest Chaos vessel Commodore M’Dhu had ever seen, larger even than the largest battleship. This must be the presumed Planet Killer. The other two ships had the unmistakable signature of activated Blackstone Fortresses, stormed by Abaddon in the Gothic sector and reported destroyed along with all of those under Imperial control but long rumored still to exist. Well at least that question was answered.
However, the Emperor had indeed provided. It would take the Chaos vessels some time to recover from their Warp travel, shorter than it would for Imperial forces, but as long as their crews retained any shred of humanity it would take time. At full speed they would get there first, if nothing else when wrong.
As the range closed, Commodore M’Dhu turned to the tactical display and watched as the identification markings appeared for the enemy ships. It was as he thought. The enemy cruisers were five Murders and a Hades, supported by a Styx and a Devastation. The battleship was a Despoiler. For once, it would be Chaos outnumbered in attack craft, at least as long as the five Imperial carriers remained.
“Fire plan EXTERMINATUS.”
‘Aye, aye, Sir.”
Commodore M’Dhu had agreed with Admiral Zoltoy’s plan in that the Planet Killer must be destroyed at all costs. Without it, even if the battle was lost, the Chaos forces might be delayed long enough by the orbital defenses of Caldur for reinforcements to arrive. The presence of the two fortresses complicated this plan. Their terrible firepower from the arcane Warp Cannon they mounted was enough to cripple a Battleship is a single blast, and it was rumored that they could combine their fire in some way to shatter any vessel or defense. There was always a price to be paid for Victory and in this case it appeared that it would be very high indeed.
In an apparent effort to crush Commodore M’Dhu’s division, the Chaos force divided into three. In the lead was the Planet Killer and the two fortresses, Behind them were the three carriers and the mass of line cruisers seemed to be moving behind some asteroids to attack his division on the open flank. Admiral Zoltoy’s division was some distance away, and to start with could provide little more than moral support. Commodore M’Dhu prayed for the Emperor’s favor.
“Engage as soon as you are in range!’
**********
The warning horns sounded and the shutters covering the observation ports clanged shut as the wave of radiation washed over the fleet. The lights dimmed and the information on the various lecterns dissolved into a green and red haze. Even the opticons were affected, the radiation interfering with their tracking motors. It did not matter. The orders had been given. The entire crew subconsciously adjusted for the recoil of the Nova Cannon. Commodore M’Dhu looked expectantly at the Observation Officer, but the Fifth Lieutenant could make nothing of the swirling mass of lines on his display. At last the logic engines and machine spirits managed to make sense out of it all and the various displays returned to normal, less than half of their surface covered by the characteristic green glow of interpolation.
“All Praise the Emperor! Five direct hits.” Commodore M’Dhu expected such accuracy, but it was a minor miracle to achieve it in such circumstances. Three such hits might be enough to destroy a battleship. Even an arcane device such as a Planet Killer could hardly be expected to ignore five direct hits. Unfortunately there was little information for the damage analyzers. Who know what weapons and systems the vessel might carry?
“Communications ceased, Sir.”
“Fires burning on multiple decks”
“Plasma leaks from engines.”
“Port outrigger detached and destroyed.”
“Engines off-line.”
“Weapons off-line.”
“No signs of activity.”
How could you tell how badly you had damaged something when you didn’t know what it’s signature was like when it was fully functional?
“Attack wings launched.”
“Torpedoes launched.”
The torpedoes were not aimed at the enemy specifically, but rather at places where the enemy might be in the future. Thus the enemy either had to be somewhere else or expend resources to deal with them.
Barring nasty surprises the enemy had no weapons that could reach over ninety thousand. More heavy blows would be dealt before the enemy could reply. In the far distance, through the now open observation ports, the bridge crew could see a brief new star appear in the distance.
“The Planet Killer has exploded. It’s GONE Sir!!!”
Commodore M’Dhu thought for a moment while the cheers echoed down the length of the Hammer of Faith . That seemed suspiciously easy. Perhaps he had mistaken the nature of the trap.
“Enemy fighters launched.”
“Cruisers advancing at full speed behind asteroids.”
“Change target to enemy carriers!”
It would take a long time for the fortresses to lumber up into range. Until then, the Chaos ships in range would be hammered mercilessly. Then the fortresses could be bombarded at long range or left to their own devices.
Another wave of radiation passed through the area of battle and its effect interfered with several vessels’ attempts to reload their torpedo tubes. The crews of the carriers worked heroically and all twenty-four squadrons of attack craft were launched. Even so, several more salvos of torpedoes were fired.
“Despoiler annihilated!”
“Shields down on Styx and Devastation.”
According to the tactical display, the enemy Despoiler, hit by five Nova Cannon shells had disintegrated in a blossom of plasma fire. Thousands of followers of the foul Gods exterminated in a second.
“Enemy Murder on fire in asteroid field.”
The torpedo salvos had been fired to pass the asteroid field in such a way as to prevent the enemy from emerging on time. One ship had tried to move through the asteroid field, but it’s efficiency impaired by the radiation burst had resulted in a collision.
“Enemy vessel crippled, fires increasing.”
“Fighters intercepting bombers.”
“Wing destroyed by battery fire.”
“Enemy launched six squadrons.” But not ten. Something had gone wrong on the Devastation.
More radiation passed, but the bursts seemed to be getting weaker. Perhaps better prepared now, all but two ships were able to re-load their torpedoes and launch more attack craft. Admiral Zoltoy was taking his time. The enemy would be past the asteroid field soon and Commodore M’Dhu would face their whole strength.
“Styx bracing.”
“Three direct hits.”
“Shields down.”
“Prow armament off-line.”
“Ship crippled.”
“Devastation, two direct hits.”
“Shields down.”
“Prow smashed.”
“Direct hit on bridge, communications off-line”
“Starboard battery and lower galleries hit.”
“Enemy crippled.”
“Two torpedo hits on Fortress.”
“Shields down.”
“Shield generators off-line.”
“Torpedoes passing asteroid field.”
“Torpedoes missed carriers.”
“Attack wings intercepted.”
The massed attack had failed, but now the enemy had only about two squadrons available. When the next attack went in, there would be nothing to stop it.
“Enemy extinguished fire on Murder.”
“Enemy targeting Orlanth Rex .”
“Shields down.”
“Hit on aft defense turrets.”
The enemy were closing fast, and the Fortresses would soon be in range.
The time had passed for long range sniping.
“Battle plan IRON FIST.”
Commodore M’Dhu would take his command through the enemy cruiser line. With torpedoes, battery fire and attack craft, no matter what happened, the enemy would take very heavy damage.
“Admiral Zoltoy changing course.”
Commodore M’Dhu changed to the operational display on the lectern. Admiral Zoltoy was now heading directly toward the enemy fortresses. There was no doubt about his courage.
“Two direct hits on damaged Fortress.”
“Enemy bracing.”
“Seven hits.”
“Engines off-line.”
“Fortress crippled.”
“Direct hit on crippled Murder.”
“Shields down.”
“All systems off-line.”
“Fires on both broadsides.”
“Two direct hits on Hades.”
“Enemy bracing.”
“Hits on stern and amidships.”
“Dorsal lances out of action.”
“Shields collapsed.”
“Hades crippled.”
As Commodore M’Dhu looked the view from the forward opticons, the Orlanth Rex discharged its entire fire at the damaged Hades. Plasma blasts and the bursts from macro-cannon shells sparkled along the length of the enemy ship and, although it was braced with all hatches battened down, it was completely unprotected following the failure of its shields. Something must have gone wrong as the ship erupted into a volcano of destruction, hurling huge masses of its wreckage back into the asteroid field, but also into its consorts. A blazing chunk of the prow crashed into the stern of the ship in front, crushing many of the drive tubes and even venting a few of the plasma accumulators. The shields on all the nearby ships were collapsed too.
The Cypra Probatii and the Hammer of Faith concentrated their lances on the worst damaged of the ships and, its shields battered down by the explosion, it was crippled too by the additional damage.
Following up with this tornado of fire were salvos of torpedoes and squadrons of bombers. A wing of eight bombers crashed into the crippled ship. Short range plasma missiles and melta pods tore at the flanks of the ship, and it too exploded in an actinic burst of released plasma. Many of the attacking bombers were destroyed, but the nearby enemy were terribly damaged too. One, still with one shield had this knocked down but was otherwise undamaged. The other two were not so lucky. Their shields already down, they took the full force of the blast at close range.; one was crippled in an instant, its port side a mass of wreckage and damage. The other was not crippled, but suffered severe damage to its sensor arrays and gravitic stabilizers. Additional bomber attacks took place, but the enemy was able to beat them off with little trouble.
Finally, large salvos of torpedoes scythed through the survivors. The defensive turrets already occupied dealing with the bomber attacks or destroyed by the explosion of nearby ships, there was little defense. Two more ships were reduced to burning hulks and the third was crippled.
The entire enemy force facing Commodore M’Dhu was reduced to one crippled Murder.
*********
On the other flank Admiral Zoltoy launched massed waves of ordnance against the undamaged Fortress.
All fire was directed at the damaged carriers and, even though braced, both the crippled carriers were destroyed along with a couple of squadrons of fighters that they had launched. The silent hulks drifted off into the depths of space.
The working fortress was struck by fifteen torpedoes and four of them found their mark, penetrating the thick armor. Although the damage was severe and would have disabled the armament of a lesser ship, the Blackstone shrugged off the damage. Finally, eight squadrons of bombers bored home. The accurate targeting engines being able to send their relatively puny weapons against the very few weak points on the target. Six damaging hits were achieved, and this too crippled the vast fortress starting a brief fire.
Driven by his insane support of his corrupt Gods, the captain of the surviving Murder, its damaged engines at full power, debris streaming from both flanks, rammed the Orlanth Rex , carving off a huge section of the forward sensors and adding to the considerable damage on the Murder.
In spite of the tremendous battering that the two fortresses had taken, their terrible Warp Cannon were still functional and they locked on to the Confessor Kyrinov . Against these ancient weapons shields were no protection at all. Only the Emperor could provide His protection. The Confessor Kyrinov was hit by the full effect of the weapons, suffering six hits, its starboard batteries silenced, and the ship itself crippled.
It was now just a matter of mopping up for Commodore M’Dhu. His division changed course to support Admiral Zoltoy, his squadrons of escorts turned back to deal with the surviving cruiser, harrying it from astern at close range with the bulk of the vessel picked out against the Caldur sun. The hulk exploded, but the damage did not extend to the pursuers. Commodore M’Dhu’s Nova Cannon hit the Fortress with no shields and, braced against damage, only four hits were inflicted. The other fortress was hit by two more shots and its shields were knocked down, other serious damage being shrugged off by the immense strength of its structure. Lance fire finally resulted in the Fortress disappearing in an instant back into the Warp, the force of its passing dragging several squadrons of bombers with it.
The remaining fortress was hit by nearly thirty torpedoes. Once the plasma bursts had cleared, no sign of the fortress remained, not even wreckage.
Admiral Zoltoy had saved Caldur. Hymns of Praise and Thanksgiving were sung on every ship.
In the Officer’s Chapel of the Hammer of Faith , Commodore M’Dhu sang with as much enthusiasm as anyone. Even so he was troubled. Victory had been achieved, but it was far too easy. Given the apparent strength of the enemy, the battle should have been much harder. Two battleships, including the terrible Planet Killer, eight cruisers and two of the massive Blackstone fortresses had been annihilated, all for the loss of six or seven thousand men on the Confessor Kyrinov another thousand or so on the Orlanth Rex and a thousand assault craft crew. Unbelievably light losses. Something was wrong.
**********
The sound of the Victory hymns broadcast of the Inspiration circuits re-ignited the resentment of Comandanti Baroni. The past three days had been nothing but hard, dirty, back-breaking work. While the main Imperial Fleet had rushed to drive back the enemy, he and the Merino had been sent off in the other direction, but not before all his Furys and Starhawks and their crews had been commandeered by Admiral Zoltoy. The Merino have been left stripped naked, except for its prow lances. Even so, it should have been there, defending Caldur. It was obvious that Admiral Zoltoy wanted all the glory for the off-world forces. Sub-Commander M’Dhu had just added insult to injury by converting his beloved ship into little more than a cargo vessel. His crew were almost exhausted and Comandanti Baroni himself was worn out dealing with the real cargo vessels which had come from Caldur to re-supply him. One mistake and it would be all over for him and his ship. Now with the victory, what had taken him nearly two days to do, would take five times as long to undo.
“Comandanti, Honorio reports a disturbance in the Warp. It looks as though something is coming through.”
“To the Eye with them! All traffic from Marxos has been ordered back to port.!!”
“ All ahead full, let’s get out of here!”
“COMANDANTI!!!!”
Comandanti Baroni needed no warning, he was close enough to see from the forward observation ports as almost directly ahead of them materialized the largest battleship he had ever seen. This thing dwarfed even the Orlanth Rex and the Confessor Kyrinov and it took only one look to tell that it was not friendly.
“Clear for Action!”
“Emergency Regime!” Things which could not be stowed were to be heaved out of the way, overboard if necessary.
“For the Emperor and Caldur!!”
This is the last of this series of stories and takes place a few months before Death of a Confessor, Inquisitor Roberto Brake VII.
The life of the Merino and Comandanti Baroni could be measured in hours. It would take some time for the enemy vessel to recover from the emergence from the Warp, but in that time the Merino would have no chance of escaping its weapons. The ship was barely twenty thousand away and closing. Capital ships were not like Land Speeders, they could not just turn and run. Long before whatever main weapons the monster carried came to life, its smaller short ranged defense weapons would have reduced the Merino to a burning hulk.
Comandanti Baroni knew his Duty. It pained him a little that with the great victory on the other side of the sun, his sacrifice would doubtless go unnoticed. Still, public heroism was easy; it was the private and forgotten heroic acts that gained the Emperor’s greatest favor, or so the Ecclesiarchy preached. Comandanti Baroni was about to find out.
“Prepare to ram!”
“Comandanti. We must jettison the cargo, the ship will be destroyed.”
“Better Dead than Corrupted! All Ahead Full.”
“All weapons fire as you bear!”
As the Merino pressed home, a few light enemy batteries opened fire, but the shields held. Reports came in of other enemy ships appearing out of the Warp, but Comandanti Baroni did not really hear them, besides the other ships had their orders. Over to port, a huge plasma explosion blossomed as the concentrated lance fire from the Honorio , Barberoni and Veccio destroyed an enemy ship. To starboard there was a sparkle of bursts as a squadron of escorts ran into the newly laid orbital mines.
In the last seconds before the Merino crashed into the flank of the enemy ship at full speed Comandanti Baroni was in a state of perfect grace. He looked forward to his union with the Ever-living Emperor.
From the bridge of the Honorio it seemed almost as if the great enemy vessel swallowed the Merino whole, to no great effect, but then the remaining cargo of orbital mines detonated and ,as large as it was, the enemy vessel was completely hidden by a vast explosion of fire and debris as the Merino was almost vaporized. Nothing, it appeared, could survive such a blast. But as the glare faded it could be seen that the enemy ship remained. It was not, however, undamaged. Its port forward quarter had been blown completely apart, chunks of burning debris as large as escorts were spinning away. There were fires everywhere, the enemy’s port battery was a mass of flames and the strange weapons or structures on the bow were warped and twisted by the explosion. Even as they watched, secondary explosions blew more debris into space.
Under the cover of the confusion, the orbital mines activated and started to home in. Several enemy vessels took hits from multiple mines before they were even aware of their existence. The long-range lances of the Honorio and the Barberoni concentrated on the undamaged ships, giving them no chance to recover unmolested.
There was some desultory return fire, and the Veccio took a heavy hit to the starboard galleries which left it on fire until the damage control parties gained the upper hand, but it got its revenge. The ship responsible was hit simultaneously be a full spread of the Veccio’s torpedoes and two mines. It was extinguished in an instant.
Then, almost as quickly as they had arrived, the enemy was gone, back into the Warp, as if they had never existed. There were still occasional explosions as the orbital mines, unable to distinguish between small ships and large chunks of wreckage, homed in and destroyed everything that had not escaped.
Caldur had indeed been saved.
