Battle Admiral Terbius looked out of the prow view point of the Ultramarines Octavian battle barge onto the stationary destroyer in front. He looked down to a working technician who looked tiny compared to the huge space marine stood above him "Have we made contact yet?" muttered Terbius. The technician swivelled on his chair
"No they've just come out of the warp, small vessels like that have to wait before their communications are back online, sir"
"The warp? Why only one vessel, I thought destroyers operated in squadrons."
"Sir, it's made a blind jump from Gravitalia II system" the technician shifted uneasily, both of them knew what had just happened in Gravitalia II.
A chirping noise came from the screen the technician was looking at he looked and began talking to Terbius again,
"I've got its profile now sir, its called the Wrath, from vengeance squadron of the 53rd eastern fleet, it looks to be lightly armed, no match for the Octavian"he said, stating the obvious, "The captain is Ship Master Tsenius, our astropaths are detecting no physcic presence in the usual places, the shrine and bridge, but in the engine rooms, it seems."
"I've have heard enough technician, I need men on that ship, contact the captains immediately."
The last rating fell as he sacrificed himself so his brother could get away but as he went down he saw a large chunk of Viel uniform being ripped off, it had a transpoder on it. The zombie plague victims all around him began to scratch the door open and some of the ratings began to stand again, some hands had been fused to their shotguns and could probably use them in battle. As soon as the door opens.
Back on the bridge Vertinus turned to Tsenius and in a loud whisper said "We have lost contact with the ratings, sir."
"What happened?" Tsenius replied, Vertinus was suddenly cut short by a technician who piped up from the communications deck above them.
"Ship Master, we have a message from a vessel named Octavian."
"The Octavian." Tsenius was astounded and didn't even try to hide it. "Why wasn't it detected before,"
"Our systems are still un-operational, and our communications only just came back on, if they hadn't it wouldn't of known we were here, sir"
"Put the message on the command deck main screen, and open the view ports. The admantium shield in front of the viewport slid back showing the blue gas giant and another blue giant, but it was a ship, not just any ship though, the Octavian of the Ultramarines. Tsenius stood in awe at the magnificent vessel, although only the size of an imperial cruiser it was still massive compared to a destroyer. Tsenius was brought back by the stern face of Terbius on the screen above the view port.
"This is Battle Admiral Terbius, we have detected contamination on your vessel, please do not resist as men of the 3rd company search your ship, failure to comply will result in destruction of your ship" the communication cut and a Red suited rating, wounded and bruised, stumbled in. "Thee…they are on th…e sh…sh…ip" then he collapsed and lay still.