The next morning Arkon met with General Lucian. The officer was looking extremely pleased with himself. "Inquisitor, good morning. I take it you enjoyed last night's festivities?"
Arkon gave him a tight lipped smile. "I did." he lied. "Your troops certainly know how to celebrate a victory – and quite a victory it was. You must be very pleased."
The cyborg's grin grew further. "I am, and things have got even better. Segmentum HQ sent a supply convoy to us just after the Tyranids attacked. It had to drop out of the warp when it reached the edge of The Shadow, and has been travelling through real-space since. We received a transmission this morning. It will arrive in the next few hours."
"Emperor be praised." Arkon's smile was now genuine "You have a plan for breaking the blockade?"
"Actually I do." Lucian raised an eyebrow "Tell me Inquisitor, how well armed is you ship?"
Arkon was the first to arrive at the shuttle, and didn't have long to wait before he was surprised by the second member of the team there. Flint sauntered over to him, leaving no doubt to his good mood with exuberant, if off-key, whistling. The guardsman stayed true to form by showing no hesitation in engaging in conversation with his superior officer. "How are you boss?" Considering what the man had drunk last night he had no right to be so chipper.
"Not as good as you, apparently. Glad you enjoyed your night."
"Awww, mate." Flint looked away, his grin growing as he remembered specific details. "Those two girls..."
The Inquisitor shook his head ruefully. "I have to give you credit Flint. You know how to live."
"Right here, right now, making the most of life is easy. It's holding back I don't get." His tone didn't change, but he fixed Arkon with look that belied how much he believed what he was saying. "You managed that ok though."
He must have spotted what happened with Kay last night. Arkon wanted to put him back in his place, remind him of the vast difference in their ranks, but for some reason he found himself indulging the guardsman. "That would have been a terrible idea. I did the right thing."
"If you say so boss." Flint checked around, making sure they were still alone. "Look, I dunno what's going on with you two, but you're a good man, and she's a great girl. There's obviously something going on there, but you're confused enough by it without having to worry about me swooping in and stealin' her from under your nose."
Arkon sighed, bewildered by the whole situation. It sounded like the guardsman was genuinely trying to help but the Inquisitor just wanted to ignore the whole thing. "Great. Thanks Flint."
"No worries boss." After the brief moment of candour Flint returned to normal. "Besides it's not like I don't have the ladies queueing up. Elena - the brunette from last night - she let me-"
Arkon laughed in spite of himself, holding up a hand to stop his friend mid sentence. "Please Flint, spare the details."
The ride back to the Path was not the awkward one Arkon had been expecting. Kay simply ignored him, spending the entire trip talking, laughing and joking with Flint. When she wasn't looking the guardsman exchanged a brief look of understanding with Arkon. The Inquisitor didn't mind the solitude, using the time to mentally run through the plan to get the convoy safely to the planet. Not that he could really do anything – his captain, Malvarion, would be giving the orders.
It was a simple enough idea. The Path would form up with the two escorts of the incoming convoy, punch a hole in the Tyranid blockade, then draw as many alien ships away as they could, allowing the supply ships to slip through. Then they would make a break for open space, where the Tyranids wouldn't follow…hopefully. The convoy was fairly large, but there were four ships that really mattered. Two were empty personnel transports, that could be used to evacuate the majority of the remaining guardsmen when the world fell. The other two were promethium tankers, each carrying trillions of gallons of the flamer fuel that was probably the single most important item for keeping the Tyranids at bay.
The shuttle returned safely to the True Path, which rendezvoused with the convoy on schedule. Unable to take an active roll the team made their way to bridge to watch the oncoming fighting. Everything started well. The three warships hammered a sector of the blockade, destroying two smaller outriggers and catching the attention of a half dozen enemy leviathans. With the Tyrandis in persuit the Imperials raced solar north, drawing the hive ships with them and creating a gap in the enemy picket line. The convoy began its run for the planet, but the gap closed up faster than expected. Several ships towards the rear were caught by Tyranid vessels, which stabbed large armoured proboscises through their armour, out of which poured Genestealer kill-teams that swept through the ships like mercury, quickly slaughtering the crews and allowing the high grade materials used for weapons and supplies to be absorbed by the swarm. A huge Kraken grappled one of the fuel tankers, being careful not to puncture the metre-thick armour of the tanks. The Genestealers were aboard in seconds, managing the massacre the bridge crew before they could even activate the self-destruct. It looked like the high-energy fuel was destined to fall into the Tyranid's claws when one engineer, in a true act of heroism, overrode the fail-safes opened a small access pipe to one of the main tanks, and then, as an ocean of promethium roared towards him, lit his welding torch. The resulting explosion could be felt on most of the northern hemisphere of Charris. For several minutes the planet gained another sun, and in space the results were incredible. Dozens of Tyranid ships, as well as the human ones yet to enter the atmosphere, were destroyed in the maelstrom of fire. The three warships were caught on the edge of the blast, one escort being torn apart by the force. The Path and the remaining frigate limped away from the planet, to the safety of the void. Although the loss of life had been high, and just half of the convoy had made it to the city, the unexpected impact on the enemy qualified it as a success in Arkon's eyes. It had also given him an idea…
