Beyond Farthest Thule

by SDWilson

The far reaches of the Imperium of Man tore themselves asunder during the High Lord Goge Vandire's Reign of Blood in the early 36th millennium. But while this happened, most of Humanity was blind to the fact that the Galaxy shook from the events that occurred Beyond Farthest Thule. But not the Inquisition, for they were at its heart. The Phoenix Reborn & Epilogue have been posted!

65. Part 11 The Phoenix Reborn ch5

Elsewhere…

Early 36th Millennium, dawn of the Plague of Unbelief
Aelion Corridor within the Abalatian Reach
Orbit over unexplored world AR-AC-017
Adeptus Mechanicus escort vessel FWV-F03-EV03 in void combat with the Tremeirchion, Hemlock-class Destroyer of the Aelion Corsairs

Magos Gutnik quickly reconfigured his heading and waited. His vessel rapidly changed direction, outpacing the Hemlock Destroyer's acceleration is it tried to circle round him. The reports of the acceleration characteristics of Hemlock-class Destroyers appear to be in error, he mused as his vessel lined up to fire with its Aeldari counterpart. Fire, he commanded. Escort vessel FWV-F03-FV-03 responded to his command, firing its last two torpedoes. The Magos watched with barely hidden anticipation as his augurs tracked the torpedoes as the closed distance with the fast-moving Aeldari vessel.

Then the Tremeirchion accelerated.

The Destroyer left the torpedoes behind. In shock, Magos Gutnik quickly recalculated the necessary distance and heading to meet the vessel with his laser batteries. But, as he analyzed his readings, the Magos knew his attempt was futile. The Hemlock was too fast. It would reach a new location and reorient itself to fire its Pulsar Lance. He frantically disengaged from his Command Throne and made for the nearest escape pod.

But the Tremeirchion was too fast.

The Destroyer reached position and reoriented itself. The vessel was little more than a stellar engine with an enormous Aeldari laser cannon known as a Pulsar Lance mounted to it. And the Pulsar Lance fired. A salvo of incredibly powerful laser bursts exited the Lance and streamed through the void toward escort vessel FWV-F03-EV03. The vessel's void shields caught the first part of the packet of light to reach it, but was dropped, and the remainder of the burst carried on into the vessel. It struck the vessel's plasma drives and annihilated them, resulting in an enormous blast of subatomic particles that destroyed the vessel.

Had the inhabitants on the surface of AR-AC-017 known of the victory above by their Corsair protectors, they might have thrown up a cheer, but they did not know. The Exodites were too panicked and frustrated. Many of the menhir structures scattered about the planet which composed its World Spirit had been damaged, cracked. And through those cracks, the souls of their deceased brethren were slipping out, drawn by something in the Warp. The Ritual.

And the Exodite World Singers of AR-AC-017 wept. Cries that were echoed all across AR-AC-017 as well as by their brethren across two more of their home worlds. Worlds known to the Imperium of Man as AR-AC-026 and AR-AC-043 where similar battles had been won in the voids by the Corsair protectors, but only after damage had been done to their World Spirits.