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| Another vibration shook the bridge of the mighty battleship, red warning lights strobed around the command deck and the air was filled with chatter as serfs and logisticians reports what their sensors were showing. The Master of Arms staggered through yet more vibrations as he approached the command throne. "Gellar fields at 30 percent lord, at this rate we will not last the day. Similar levels reported throughout the fleet.” The man’s features did not betray any hint of fear of the news he was delivering. “Also, the squads stationed in the prow launch bay have reported hostile contacts materialising, they have moved to engage and so far have taken no losses.” The captain nodded slowly, matt black hair hanging lankly around his hawk like face, his dark eyes scanning round the command deck taking in every detail. “Helmsman, prepare for an emergency warp translation, relay that order to the rest of the fleet. We haven’t come this far to fall pray to some warp spawned monsters.” His voice was low and rasping like the sound of air escaping a sepulchre. Without another word he rose from the throne, glimpses of lightning etched armour flashed in the strobing lights, a cloak of black feathers trailed behind him as he left the deck. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Admiral Kaleesh gripped arms of his command throne as his ship was struck again by the enemies weapons. The smaller more agile ships of the Tau were easily out manoeuvring his battlefleet and without support they would be torn apart piecemeal. “Load torpedoes, full spread on co-ordinates 40.12.8, fire on my mark.” He hoped he had gauged the enemies movements correctly, if he was right it would catch one of the Protector class ships full on. “Mark!” There was a series of percussive booms as the torpedoes sped from ship flying through the void towards the enemy ship. He held his breath as the munitions closed the gap with the Tau vessel. At the last minute the ships defensive batteries opened fire detonating the majority of the incoming torpedoes, a few managed to plough through the storm of incoming fire wracking the enemies ship with detonations, it wouldn’t be enough to cripple the ship but it would slow it down none the less. “Order the Courageous and the Glorious forward, intercept course, don’t let that Protector get back in the fight. Contact the Jupiter request she pull back behind the picket line, we can’t afford to loose her in this engagement.” The bridge of Kaleesh’s flagship, the Jure Divino, was bustling with activity as his command staff tried to salvage something from this disastrous engagement. Thus far they hadn’t lost any ships but already two of their cruisers were burning and only the majority of their escort craft had been crippled in the enemies initial salvo. The situation was looking grim. “Sir!” A young tactical officer turned from her console, a worried expression on her face. “I’m reading a massive warp anomaly behind us. Multiple signatures, cruiser and battleship class. At least a dozen, maybe more. It appears to be a translation” “Is it one of ours?” Kaleesh asked, more concerned that it could be more of the xenos trying to outflank him. “Impossible to say Sir, the translation is interfering with our scanners, when the rift is closed we will be able to get a better picture.” The officer turned back to her station as Kaleesh stood to stand behind her, the signatures were definitely big, some even bigger than his ship. It would pay to be cautious. “Have the Aurora and the Vanguard disengage and set up a fire cordon behind us, if those ships are hostile I don’t want them to be able to tear right through us.” He stroked his beard as he peered of the young woman’s shoulder. Just what is going on here? He wondered to himself. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ |
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| At fist the ships struggled to breach the rift, the barrier between realspace and roiling sea of the warp resisted their initial attempts to escape, as if the Empyrean was unwilling to give up its prize. Regardless the ships continued to push at the barrier eventually, meter by torturous meter, they began to emerge into the material realm, arcs of brightly coloured lightning cascading over their failing Geller Fields. The first ships through fell into a perfect cordon around the rift, fanning out and scanning for enemies. It didn’t take them long to locate the embattled fleet, or to notice the ships repositioning to oppose them should they attempt to attack. As the rift began to close the last, and by far the largest, of the ships emerged from the depths of the warp, its midnight colour hull flaring with warp discharge, with a final burst of energy the Spectre returned to the material realm. “Shields have completely collapsed Lord, and we only have half power from the reactors. Fires reported on decks three, seven and twenty six, damage control teams en route, E.T.A six minutes.” The Master at Arms stood a respectful distance behind the command throne while the captain received reports from throughout the fleet without a word. He glanced at the data slate he was holding, the damage to the Spectre was significant but hardly likely to be fatal. “Also Lord, the Ragebound and the Harbringer report there is are two fleets engaged a short distance from us. Neither ship has the scanning capabilities to get accurate readings at this distance, however, the ships of the nearest battlefeelt appear to be Imperial.” The captain steepled his gauntleted fingers and tapped them repeatedly against the pale flesh of his chin, possibly the most human gesture the crew of the Spectre had ever seen their Lord make. “How long until or sensors come online?” His rasping voice totally at odds with his massively armoured frame. “And do we have any information on the second fleet?” The ships viewscreens flashed into life, the initial electromagnetic shock of their re-entry finally dissipating from their systems, showing the star system laid out before them and, glittering in the distance, the two unknown fleets. The Master at Arms cleared his throat and consulted his Data Slate, quickly scanning through the information he was receiving from the rest of the fleet. “The ships do not match anything in our memebanks, we can only approximate their class relative to their size. Our sensors should be back online momentarily, they weren’t as badly damaged by the translation as some of the other systems.” The Captain nodded, translating out of the warp always left a ship blind as scanners and sensors struggled to adjust to the change in environment, but an emergency translation always did some amount of damage to a ships systems, its seemed luck had been on their side this time. Within minutes the bridge was a hive of activity, as scanners and other secondary systems came back online the crew of the Spectre began reporting what information they could on the two fleets. The closest fleet was indeed Imperial, though the designs of the ships did not appear to match exactly with any class found in their data banks, the second fleet was a complete enigma, not match descriptions of any ships ever encountered by the expedition forces, preliminary scans also provided little information as the ships names and markings were in a strange blocky text that the cogigators could not decrypt. “It is safe to assume they are xenos ships” the captain stated, looking into the projected faces of his brother captains, fully a score of ships either carrier class or larger and a further two dozen escort craft were at his disposal, “We must, if we can, aid our allies here, they may be able to assist us.” The holograms of the other captains flickered and jumped but each looked ready to engage the enemy. “The Spectre will lead the fleet supported by the Forgeheart and the Noblesse Oblige, I want the Ragebound and her escorts on our starboard flank, the Harbringer and the Stormbringer to port along with their supporting escorts. The Suncrusher and the Dark Messenger will form our rearguard. The rest of the fleet is to assume defensive stations here until I call for you. I want no futile heroics; this is an unknown enemy, engage at a distance until we understand their potential. Is that understood? Also, watch your fire, there are friendly forces out there and the last thing we need is to look like traitors.” |