Chapter 7

On Wings Of Fire Do They Soar.

Bridge of the Reaper of Faith, Flagship of the Fleet of Absolute Destruction, just outside of High Charity, Y.999 M41.

Thel felt his way through the bridge, strange to now be again in command of a fleet, let alone one such as this one. It was smaller than the one that gave him his greatest victory and subsequently, his greatest failure and still it was more menacing than that one far some strides. Above the rest of the command bridge, he could see the Sangheili working about the control panels, maintaining the ship's course forward towards the warzone that they knew awaited them. For all the grandness of the High Prophet of Valor's speech and the importance of this mission had to it, the crew was quiet. The few chatterings that were had were about the normal things in life: their family back home and if they survived the journey to follow them here, their faith forwards from this point onwards and how it would be changed by the events that have shaped the engagement that they now thrust towards. Thel's own faith towards the Great Journey wasn't something he had on his mind often, it wasn't needed. He knew for his whole life that the path that he treaded down was the one of righteousness and sanctity, However that was then, and this was now. The encounter with the Oracle and the Heretic leader, the removal of the Sangheili from the Honor Guard, them finding themselves here in this new land? Location? It was difficult to say, how did one position themselves in space? And lastly, the fight with the demons. In all his time, Thel had never felt fear in a fight, a sense of failure where he witnessed the destruction of the sacred ring, yes but never fear. Until he met those things.

Rtas had been deployed on the carrier Shadow of Intent so Thel had now found himself without a confidant to let his mind wonder to. There was the major he had met, Jiazah 'Thogamee was it? Thel had asked for all veterans of the first attack to be put under his personal command, minus those Brutes under Tartarus. This request was denied but he was able to keep Jiazah with him as he needed a second in command, now that Jiazah was now an Ultra, due to his action in the early engagement and the discovery of the demon engine, as it was now being called. He found him giving out instructions towards the new warriors under his command.

"These warriors in red armour are deadly close quarters combatants, keep them at a range whenever possible, there weapons, where it be the chainaxes or energy fists, will kill you with the slightest action. I've seen it up close, it is not a quick or honorable way to die." Jiazah moved back and forth between a holo board that displayed many of the figures that they saw back at the planet. His men looked at the display with a mixture of hatred, fear, and confusion. Some of them rose up and berated him for cowardice in the face of such tactics, other just looked onwards with distain towards the man for being an upstart. Thel thought they would leave or challenge him to a duel to bring him down to size. However, Jiazah just looked at them and went on to continue his teachings

"You, all of you are warriors who have joined with this fleet in order combat this threat to us and our Great Journey and yet none of you has yet seen what you fight, some of you boast too much of skill and prowess, others of honour and courage. It will take all of those things and more if you wish to win against the foes you are about to fight and kill." With that, the Sangheili went back to listen to his lectures.

Thel thought it best to let Jiazah finish his' teachings before going on about what troubled his mind now. He went back to the bridge, seeing as he was the one commanding the fleet, under supervision of the High Prophet of Valor, he merely waited for the signal to have it jump into Slipspace.

"Arbiter, All Ships are accounted for, sir." A deck officer, Xur'is 'Durea, told him.

"How many?" Not knowing the number himself, seeing as this was a newly formed fleet.

"One hundred and seven battle line ships and forty five support ships, totalling one hundred fifty-two ships, sir." That was a far larger number than what he was expecting for this fleet. To have the super carrier alone was more than Thel had expected though, so to have such a large number of ships under his command again was, perplexing and puzzling.

"Send the message: all ships to jump to Slipspace, we are to meet just outside the star system. From there it's grasping at what we see." The deck officer went back to his station. Thel could see the smaller ships now moving into position then jumping into Slipspace then it was their turn.

XXX

Angel's Tears, inside Hive Virgo, 8th Planet in the Valorous System, Y.999 M.41

Sevax moved into the shadows, wanted not to be seen by the others here. Using the Warp to try and hind himself, he moved towards the lair of Atrino to continue planning for their coup against Rhymor. It was a simple plan: inform the other groups to stay just outside of fleet auger range, then wait for the new aliens to show back up, (they would come back, people like that always came back.) and just let them do the deed themselves. Rhymor, being the honorable Khornate that he was, would go head long into the fray. Sevax was sliding more and more into the clutches of Tzeentch just as Atrino had.

As he entered the sanctum sorcerer, Sevax could fell the change around him, the air was thick with the power of Atrino's sorcery. When he went inside, the power was almost intoxicating to him, he could feel the touch of the gods on every cell in his body.

"Ah good, you're here, I was just making the final preparations. What news have you to report?" Atrino asked while floating in midair, his force stave positioned upon his knees.

"Yes, I have my acolytes in their positions, all we need now is for the xenos to come back and I hope for our sakes, it is soon." Sevax said, circling around Atrino.

"Good, Rhymor, the blood stoker that he is will have the whole war-band out to strike at them when they arrive." Atrino came down closer to Sevax as to speak with him on a closer level.

"What if they try and attack with their ships? We don't have a fleet Atrino, we came here via a Warp portal. Most of our fleet is off with the War-master at Cadia's ruins.

"Which is why I have summoned up the rest here. They care not for the War-master's plans of Terra, only the passage of the true faith, as all true Sons of Lorgar do." Sevax paused at this, if they could get ships it would help in drawing them in, but it would also as Rhymor breathing down their neck like a wolf before the jaws clench down.

"And just how do you plan on tell Rhymor about the ships, Atrino. I doubt even his combat addled brain would miss a fleet arriving from the Warp."

"Oh I don't think that will be a problem seeing as he ordered me to send for the fleet." Atrino began following Sevax around as he continued to circle around the sorcerer.

"Rhymor wanted to have the ability to go to planet to planet, so he wanted Warp portals until I made the statement that we would be without heavy support if travel that way. So I told him I would gather whatever ships I could from the fleet here and that we would be leaving as soon as we could with them."

"Then all we need do now is wait for the Xenos fleet to arrive and have us watch as everything falls into place, Sevax." Sevax was liking this plan less and less as Atrino went on. It seemed to have more things that could fall apart if didn't go the right way, such was the way of the Lord of Fate, always making plans that had more parts to it than needed and constantly changing them as time went onwards.

"Yes, my friend for I have taken care of everything that needs taking care of so you needn't worry it shall all go just as I have planned. Your role in this is done for now, and when Rhymor is no more, it shall be you that leads the warband. Go now, I have still things to do and I wish to be tasked with the presents of anyone while I do so."

"I shall take my leave then." Sevax left the sanctum and went out the battlements of the ruins that now was the base of operations. He could hear the Warpsmiths conjuring daemons to bind into Daemon Engines, the sounds of ravening warriors testing their metal against each other and, on occasion, never-born. It was not a fortress nor did Sevax like it even if it was, the only reason he tolerated it at all was because of the promise of actual doing something worth the act, such as damming a whole empire into the claws of chaos. It was the waiting that made Sevax take pause to the whole plan. Through Nurgle he knew that only ruination is certain but through Tzeentch all things can change. It was now that the price of being a servant of Chaos Undivided was in full swing: the conflicting ideas plagued his mind as he continued down the pathway towards his own sanctum.

"And now, we wait."

XXX

Bridge of Reaper of Faith, Flagship of the Fleet of Absolute Destruction, In Slipspace, Y999 M.41

Thel, could hear the voices of the various ships' communications officers giving report over to the Reaper's. Thel wanted to keep a tight communication net around the fleet in case of a repeat of their first venture there.

"Arbiter, all ships reporting no troubles and all systems working as functioned." His com-officer, Watum 'Poitemee, told him. Thel just kept on his business, moving back to his command throne.

"How's our time to target looking like, Major?" Thel asked his tactical officer, a young Sangheili named Jutme, who was in a position that he would have liked to have been filled by Jiazah.

"We should be on location within the hour, My Arbiter. Shall I inform the rest of the fleet to begin preparing troops for ground assault?" His tactical officer had the air of eagerness to him, a trait that was hard to stamp out of most Sangheili before their first command and even after.

"Let us not get ahead of ourselves here, Major. I and everyone else here have no doubt that these things have a fleet ready for us when we arrive in the star system. We will have to deal with them accordingly if we wish to push ahead with the landings." Thel drew back now to his decades of navel experience and ship to ship warfare. Unlike the strategies used against the humans of the UNSC, the organization they were fighting before they found themselves in this mess of a conundrum of a problem.

"Of course, my mistake, My Arbiter." He apologized to him and went bake to his station. Thel could tell he had no place here, a tactical officer needed a backbone, to tell hard truths towards the commander, but to still be respectful of them. Thel could feel the need to go out. If this was going to be an assault without opposition, he wanted to be ready but knew that he needed to stay after giving a presentation like that to everyone aboard the bridge and wasn't like he didn't have his weapons on him at all times, no Sangheili warrior went anywhere without his weapons to anything. After a time, it looked like the waiting was over.

"Sir, we are about to drop out of Slipspace." Xur'is told him. And not a second too soon, Thel's new found fear of the world around him made him anxious, not soon after Watum jumped out of his seat at the reports now surging forth towards him.

"What is it, Watum." Thel looked to him, his face now shocked with the news he was getting from the rest of the fleet and it wasn't good.

"My Arbiter, the fleet is under attack, from unknown craft." Thel could feel it now, the battle being joined and unnatural dread rising from him. He knew it in his soul it had to be the demon warriors, nothing else could be this.

"How many Watum?" he ordered the young officer. Watum hesitated from answering the question, whether to gather more information or just from shear lack of courage to his person. Thel found the lack of a response to his order worrying.

"Major Watum, How many enemy ships is the fleet currently engaged with." His question was asked just as the ship dropped out of Slipspace. By then he could see his answer: one. One giant ship that rivalled in size the Reaper of Faith and even surpassed it.

"By the Forerunners, look at the size of that thing." An Sangheili guard said just before alarms started ringing, the crew feverishly moving to battle-stations, Thel griping down on his command throne in awe of the thing he was now looking at, after everything that he had seen so far, these people still had more things to both surprise and horror him with.

A ship that seemed meshed together with others, its superstructure made of what seemed to be multiple ships fused together with asteroids, fused by something or other. As much as it was against the covenant way of engagement with unknown vessels, Thel did want to make contact, Forerunners known they could use allies in this new world what was more pressing to his mind was how this ships form came into being and why anyone would want to use a ship in such a state, camouflage perhaps, it did bear a striking form to an asteroid, but scans had showed that it lacked any stealth capacities. These question ware cut short by alarms ringing as the unknown ship began firing upon them. Shots cruised onward towards them, the amount incalculable by any eyes of flesh.

"Brace for impact!" Thel screamed as the mass of the ship, a ship that was the largest type of ship in the Covenant

"Give me a status update Watum, how badly did we fair?"

"Sir, we have shields down on eleven ships, the Sanctified Blade has deck breaches on decks two through six. The Castellan's Hand has aft plasma batteries disabled but not unsalvageable other reports are rather minor." Watum turned to Thel, fear now gripping his eyes.

"Sir, that was just one deck of volleys, scans are showing decks of cannons like that." Seeing those shots reminded Thel of the mega-cannons of the UNSC, if this ship had decks of cannons like that then had gotten themselves into something way above their heads.

"Have all ship take evasive actions immediately. We have a fight on our hands. Have all cruisers move into an above position of the ship and have excavation beams be ready to fire down on it." Thel's plan was unorthodox but so was the situation. The ship was too large to just fight head on and too large to ignore it for fear of a flanking attack done by it to cripple their supply ships however, using the cruisers' excavation beams to tear down their superstructures would prove most effective. The excavation beams were used primarily in searches for Forerunner artifact sites but had been used before in exterminating humans forces on the ground.

"Contact all ships, Burn that abomination of a ship to blackened glass." the orders couldn't have come fast enough from Arbiter's mouth. The plasma fire from the ships crashed into the metal hide of the mega-ship, its searing energy burning away the sides of it yet it would not go without a fight the mega ship began to return fire on the fleet only then did they realize the fire power of this monster. Canon-fire, not plasma-fire as they had began to shred the fleet to pieces. Shields flickered and for some faded away from the sheer power of this titan of the void. Thel felt as though his eyes were betraying him is this how the humans felt when it was they who were the ones to eradicate their ships. He now had a greater respect for them for this. Thel looked to Watum for communication of the fleet to get a greater scope of the action.

As the cruisers moved into position, Arbiter kept a close eye on the area around him having the outlying ships perform constant checks to the area as to prevent this becoming a flanking for whomever was in command of this ship, even if the possibility of this ship being the only one sent in. There also was the possibility of this being a huge misunderstanding but somehow he felt like that wasn't the case considering the fact that they shot first. The feeling of this ship belonging to the demon-humans as they were now called did not go through Thel's mind unnoticed and weather or not that was a good thing was yet to surface.

Whole slabs of the ship were becoming white hot with plasma fire, and yet to the eye, barely a scratch was made upon its form. At this point the engagement was taking too long, too much resources were being put into removing this one vessel, albeit it was a vessel of monstrous size, but still conserving his limited resources for when he knew his enemy was upon himself on when him them would be prudent more so now given the very real possibility of being unable to replenish them. After what seems like an eternity it being only a few short minutes in truth, Thel soon realized that destroying this ship would take far more time and resources then he wanted to give at this time.

"All ships, Fall back and regroup. We are changing course to arrive at our chosen location some other way." Thel felt let he was betraying those had already died for him down, the shame of it all, it felt like his chest was being burnt again, his honour stripped from once more but that was merely the shards of whatever hubris he had left talking. Thel knew this was the right call to make, he had focused he attention on something right in front of him before and it cost him dearly. He could not, no he would not make that mistake again.

XXX

And another one done, and another one done another one bites the dust, but really I know this chapter took a really long time to do, more so than I planed to do but I will make the effort to get them under way. Truth be told my enthusiasm for 40k is a little on the low side right now.( I've not been able to play any games since last year so I need new codexes and most of my love of the hobby comes from having other people to take about stuff with.) That said, I do want to continue this story for everyone.