Two things happened in the wake of that release. Close to the speed of light, the projectile hammered into Terminus Est, unleashing the physics of a collapsing sun into the shipa's underbelly. Several decks simply ceased to exist as the implosion gouged a wicked, bleeding hole in the Travellera's vessel. More wreckage, more crew and more diseased fluids drifted into s.p.a.ce from the grievous puncture.

The second thing was that Depth of Fury lost all pretence of stability. The kickback from firing the nova cannon was colossal, effectively killing the cruisera's forward motion and sending it veering to starboard, out of control.

The predator sensed its prey was crippled: Terminus Est loomed in the viewscreen, drifting closer.

a"Wea're dead in s.p.a.ce,a" said one the younger bridge ratings. His face was white with fear. a"Do we abandon ship, sir?a"

The side of the young mana's head exploded outward in a dark mess. The corpse toppled over in the same direction a moment after. The shipa's commissar, hook-nosed and thin-faced, lowered his pistol.

a"How dare he shame this vessela's final moments with a cowarda's talk?a"

Straden ignored the man. He was already on the ship-wide vox, speaking his last order.

a"Stand to your final duties, men of the Imperium. Be ready to greet the Emperor with pride.a"

The Second Shadow was also taking a beating. Encircled by lesser destroyers, frigates and fighter wings, the black strike cruiser still sat in orbit, returning fire with its formidable weapons array. But going nowhere.

Boarding ports opened like widening eyes along the hull, and a.s.sault pods shot from the Shadowa's launch bays, engines burning with fiery contrails. Almost as small as the fighters swarming the strike cruiser, they fired across s.p.a.ce in a formation blur, pa.s.sing practically unnoticed. The few Chaos ships that did notice the pods failed to target-lock the fast-moving objects as they hurtled through the void, directly towards the distant shape of Terminus Est.

A s.p.a.ce Marine strike cruiser was a Chapter commodity so precious that its value to the Raven Guard could not be described. The lives of fifty of its Astartes were similarly priceless.

With no escape from this colossal tragedy taking hold, the Raven Guard had decided how best to sell their lives. The ship-to-ship a.s.sault pods streamed on, ever closer to the Archenemy flagship. A textbook boarding operation.

Petty Officer Ovor Werland laboured shirtless in the prow armament chambers of Depth of Fury. He was forty-three years old, and would never see forty-four. In his right hand was a laspistol, its ammunition expended. In his left hand was a whip, the leather cord slick with blood.

Hea'd lashed them, hea'd shot some of them, but hea'd done it. His team of slaves, now down to barely a hundred men, had reloaded the nova cannon in just under seven minutes. The mouth of the great turret had been fed with the huge warhead it would unleash.

Werland sprinted across the wreckage-strewn deck, leaping at the last moment over the still-twitching body of a man hea'd shot himself. He dropped his weapons, keyed the wall vox-speaker active and shouted over the wailing sirens that the captain could fire the main armament.

His last duty done, Werland turned from the wall.

And froze.

The remaining hundred men of his slave team ringed him in an impenetrable semicircle. As the ship shuddered and came apart, the men stood there, pieces of wreckage held as weapons.

Petty Officer Ovor Werland paid the price many slavemasters have paid since time out of mind.

With nothing left to lose, his property rebelled and took their vengeance.

Depth of Fury was doomed. Although it would end its honourable but understated career in less than a minute, Ovor Werland was quite dead by then.

a"Their cannon ama.s.ses power once more, great Herald.a"

Typhus nodded his horned helm once. a"End them. Now.a"

a"Main armament ready!a" crackled the voice over the vox. Ovor Werlanda's last words.

Stradena's mouth fell open for a moment. For one insane second he wanted to get back on the vox and ask that officera's name, in order to recommend him for special citation.

a"Fire my d.a.m.n gun!a" he roared at the surviving weapons officers.

They tried. Depth of Fury twisted slowly, exploding as it turned, bringing its cannon to bear with agonising slowness.

Their bridge. Straden breathed fast, unable to believe what he saw. The Archenemy flagship was filling the viewscreen now. And he saw Their bridge.

a"Ita's too close to fire, sir,a" spoke one of the ratings. a"Wea'll be caught in the implosion.a" Straden couldna't believe what hea'd heard.

a"Do I look like I give a s.h.i.t? Wea're dead already! Fire! Fire, fire, fire!a"

The magnetic fields powered up. Straden could feel them. He didna't care that it was impossible. He could feel the magnetic fields charging, heating his blood, vibrating his bones. He ignored the bridge detonating around him.

a"Kill them!a" he cried out with a savage brightness lighting his eyes. a"For the Emperor! Kill them!a"

Depth of Furya's plasma drives finally exploded under the last sustained lance volley from Terminus Est and its support cruisers. The explosion sent Shockwaves that rocked the nearby Chaos vessels, creating a great cloud of plasma residue and debris, hanging in s.p.a.ce like a bruise-coloured nebula.

Terminus Est parted the dust cloud like a shark cutting through water.

a"That was close, Lord Typhus,a" said one of the Death Guard flanking the Heralda's throne. a"If they had fired a"

Typhus ignored him. a"Make for The Second Shadow. That dies next.a"

CHAPTER X.

Survival Solthane, Yarith Spire Graveyard, Monastic sector Thade crouched with his back against the ruined wall. Las-fire made little hissing sounds as it chipped the other side of the stone.

a"I hate this planet,a" he said, reloading his bolt pistol without looking. Crouching in the mud of a sprawling garden estate, using waist-high marble walls and huge trees for cover, several squads of the 88th were engaged with the Remnant, and engaged hard. Thade was used to his fair share of battles that began when the enemy came from nowhere. This time, the b.a.s.t.a.r.ds came from everywhere.

They spilled from the tower at the centre of the ten-kilometre-square estate, then flooded in from the edges, running from every direction. The 88th had been surrounded in a heartbeat, pinned between the enemy coming from behind them and from their objective.

Yarith Spire. The sainta's fingerbones were supposed to be here. The tower itself rose up like a spear splitting the sky. It was black a- some hideously rare and expensive black stone, Thade guessed a- and as overly ornate as the rest of this tomb city. Rings of gargoyles and angels leered down in all directions. It looked like a particularly unfriendly nightmare.

Nine hours deep into the city, and enemy resistance was supposed to be light. Not medium, not heavy and not medium-to-heavy thank-you. Light. The Vednikan 12th Rifles had swept this area clean only a few days before.

a"There shouldna't be a soul here,a" Corrun said as he reloaded his rifle next to the captain. a"Nothing ever goes right on this planet, eh?a"

Thade wiped a bleeding slice along his cheek a- a gift from shrapnel when the last wall hea'd been behind had exploded. This resistance was neither light nor medium. In fact, it even left a"heavya" some way back in the dust.

His dirty glove smeared the dark facial blood across his cheek, and it kept coming from the cut. Thata'll leave a scar, he thought. An ugly one.

The squads had scattered at Thadea's order, taking shelter in the modest domed chapels and graveyards dotted around the huge garden estate. The horde of Remnant came on, the rear elements slowed by the heavy weapons they carried.

A stalemate now. At best, temporary. At worst, already breaking. The Cadians were holed up in detached pockets, many soldiers using gravestones for cover, holding off Remnant forces with far superior numbers. A solid slug clanged off Raxa's chrome flank, and the beast growled low. Its photoreceptor eyes sought the shooter, calculating his location from the angle of the incoming fire.

a"Take cover, idiot,a" Thade said. The dog retreated further behind the wall.

Taan Darrick hurled himself into Thade and Corruna's cover, crawling on his belly until he was next to the captain.

a"Join the Shock, they told me.a" Taan was reloading his battered lasrifle. a"Serve the Emperor. Meet overwhelming numbers of a.r.s.eholes a" the lieutenant kissed his rifle once it was rearmed, a" and shoot them in the face.a"

a"Considering the number of heretics howling for our blood,a" Thade said, a"youa're in good spirits.a"

a"I heard therea's a pay rise if I get made into morale officer.a"

a"Shut up, Taan.a"

a"Shutting up, sir.a"

a"Captain?a" Thadea's vox-bead crackled. The sound was distorted. As reliable as always, then. a"Thade here. Identify.a"

a"Squad Vigilant: Unbroken.a" Commissar Tionenjia's voice, his accent adding an exotic twist to the regimental words. a"Thade, I need Sentinels. I have armour incoming.a"

Throne in flames. a"Confirm that you have armour incoming.a"

a"Confirmed. Armour incoming. They look like Repressors and Chimeras. Riot-control Troop transports Fitted with additional weapons. Captain? Captain?a"

a"Ia'm here. Dead Mana's Hand will be routed to you.a"

a"Acknowledged.a" The link went dead.

a"Who was that?a" Taan asked as he kneeled up, firing around the edge of the wrecked wall.

a"Vigilant sighted armour. Tionenjia's unit.a"

a"Still a"

a"Still what?a"

a"Ita's good the new boy is getting his hands dirty on his first day.a"

a"Shut up, Taan.a"

a"Shutting up, sir. What do you say about a brisk run back to the Chimeras?a"

The transports had been abandoned at the edge of the graveyard several hours before. They were several kilometres distant from the Chimeras.

a"Ia'm fairly certain I said you should shut up.a"

a"You say a lot of things.a"

Thade raised an eyebrow. Taan grinned. a"Shutting up, sir.a" Any other time, Thade would have laughed.

a"Wea're being ringed. Take Alliance further down into that graveyard to the west. If the Remnant takes that ground, theya'll split us up from Loyalty and Adamant.a" The inquisitor was with Adamant. It wouldna't do to be split up from him, of all people.

a"Sir.a" Taan took out his viewfinders, holding them up to his eyes and panning across the western graveyard. Dozens of Remnant, dressed in their filthy PDF uniforms, were already running across the dead gra.s.s. a"You always give me the fun jobs,a" he said with a grin. Then he was running, voxing his squad to follow.

a"Thade keyed his vox again. Vertain, acknowledge.a" Static. a"Dead Mana's Hand, acknowledge.a"

More static.

This is tremendous. a"Janden!a" Thade called.

Thadea's vox officer was kneeling behind a gravestone some thirty metres away. Las-fire flashed over his head as Janden hunkered down, gripping his laspistol. His bulky vox-caster backpack was on the ground, kept safely behind cover.

a"Sir?a" Janden called.

a"Signal to Dead Mana's Hand. Reinforce Vigilant in the north, immediately.a"

Janden nodded and started punching keys. The strength and range on the vox-casters far exceeded the personal micro-beads carried by individual soldiers, especially with the interference on Kathur so eternally harsh.

a"Sir, Ia'm getting scrambled signals.a"

a"Thata's not news to me, Janden.a" Thade kneeled up, firing his bolt pistol two-handed. It bucked as it banged in his hands, round after round, again and again. Remnant soldiers died each time the gun sang.

Thade nailed seven of them in quick succession, picking them off as they broke cover to run forward.

The Remnant was using the low walls and gravestones as shields, too. Except they had the numbers to take horrendous casualties and still run right up to the Cadiansa' faces in a swarm.

a"Sir, ita's the fleet!a"

Thade crouched to reload again. Throne, he was running out of clips.

a"Ia'm listening, Janden,a" he called. a"Get over here. Eighty-Eight, covering fire!a"

The hunkered-down soldiers from Thadea's nearby squads rose as one, letting rip with rifles on full-auto. Short bursts: just enough for each man to kill a target or two and get the rest of the wretches ducking. For a moment, the Remnanta's advance across the ma.s.s graveyard halted.

Janden made a break for it. He sprinted the distance between his cover and the captaina's wall. When he was within arma's reach of Thadea's cover, a las-round tore across his chest, shattering his body armour. He hurled himself next to the captain, the way Taan had only minutes before. His chestplate was a smoking mess.

a"Close,a" he grinned.

a"Close,a" Thade agreed. a"Youa've had worse. The fleet?a"

Janden offered Thade the speech horn, and the captain listened.

A storm of voices. Panicked, angry and pleading a- all to a background of vicious static. Thade covered his other ear to keep out the sharp cracks of lasrifles.

a" hull breach at a"

a" engaging unsupported a"

a" seconds left Dead in a"

a" the Emperor Laser batteries f a"