Ancra Mortis Chapter 3

From behind the cover of the moon the Imperial fleet advanced in formation. The poisonous satellite dwindled to their rear as the fertile world that was Glaeba grew in size. The planet appeared to be a blue-green marble, speckled with clouds, and it was hard to believe that it could possibly present any danger, yet the tiny specks of Ork warships told a different story.

The Imperials were travelling at fantastic speeds yet still it would be hours before they made contact with the enemy. The sheer distances involved in void travel being utterly incomprehensible to most men. The warships were travelling only a few hundred kilometres apart, in naval terms a tight formation, so that they could support each other's broadsides and concentrate their firepower. In the heart of the formation plodded the troop transports, like a herd of grox being driven to market. Their puny guns would make little difference to this battle and their thin armour meant any damage would be catastrophic to the Guardsmen packed onboard, but to the Imperium such men were eminently replaceable and there was no question of them behind left behind. Their numbers would be required planetside the second the Astartes made landfall, so all they could do was hope and pray the Orks would ignore them in favour of the biggest warships.

At the head of the Imperial fleet was the mighty BattleBarge Light of Terra. She was travelling with gun ports open and torpedoes loaded ready for battle. Such vessels had been the backbone of the Imperium's wars for ten millennia, but it would be a mistake to think that meant she was inviolate. This ship had faced Orks before and still bore deep scars from those encounters, only time would tell who would prove victorious this day. Standing upon her bridge the Space Marines were watching proceedings with calm detachment. The atmosphere was tense yet they remained unperturbed. It would be hours before they made contact with the enemy and until then there was little point bringing the fleet to high alert, mortals had their limitations and even with the best of wills hours at their posts would leave men fatigued and degraded.

Toran was talking with Captain Mandas via the Hololith pedestal saying, "Despite the delay the Navy has proven a stalwart ally in sending such a large force to our aid."

Mandas snorted, "You flatter us, but I am afraid this task force was not intended for you. I was escorting these troops to the Tyranid front when the call came through. We were diverted at the last minute with whatever we had to hand and told to follow your lead."

Toran asked with a frown, "Then Lord Admiral Dousmanis did not send you directly to aid us?"

Mandas shook his head, "If the Admiralty had known the Orks were going to invade then they would have sent a proper blue-blood officer to take over the whole operation, not some jumped up lad from the docks who spent more of his youth hunting rats than in the classroom."

Toran smirked at the man's self-depreciating humour, "I've seen the size of your ship's guns, those dock-rats must have had some pretty large teeth."

Mandas smiled widely, "I doubt we will find any rats here, the only vermin out here are Greenskins and you can count upon the Navy to teach them the meaning of a bloody good thrashing."

Toran was heartened to see that the Captain remained as boisterous as ever, a Naval man without blood ties to the high Admiralty needed to be larger than life after all. Toran stated, "I am confident that you shall teach the Orks to fear the wrath of man, speaking of which have your Logic Engines determined the composition of the invasion force?"

"Hold one moment," Mandas replied as his image stepped out of view.

Beside Toran, Chaplain Wrethan leaned over to say, "You realise the Adeptus Mechanicus ensures we Space Marines receive far superior auspex arrays than the crude gear the Navy is allowed access to?"

Toran nodded and quietly stated, "Yes, but it is a courtesy to ask, we need the Navy to stand proudly in the coming battle and defend our flank. They will fight all the harder if we treat them as a valuable asset, rather than disposable cannon fodder."

Wrethan smiled, "Always thinking ahead aren't you. Very well let the mortals have their pride, for the Divine Emperor knows who will really win this battle."

Mandas' image returned to the Hololith and he said, "Auspex sweeps are detecting several capital ships and over twenty escorts, a sizeable force indeed. The Orks aren't trying to hide their presence, in fact they are broadcasting their identities for all to see. One Kroozer is calling itself, Mork's Fist. The other is broadcasting the name, Bighamma, but it's the last one that concerns us, it is calling itself Maw a'Gork and its mass signature is equivalent to a Battleship."

Toran declared, "That is our primary obstacle, we must punch past it to reach orbit."

Mandas said, "The escort squadrons are requesting permission to probe forwards, they want to engage ahead of the fleet."

Toran saw Chaplain Wrethan turn to look at him and knew he was being tested, he was taking on the role of a fleet master but this was the first time he had commanded a naval engagement of this size and if he was to lead then he must be seen to lead from the start. Toran drew in a breath and said, "No, the Orks excel at head to head engagements and the escorts lack the armour to endure in that kind of fight. The Light of Terra and the Averof will be the tip of our spear, we will keep our heavy prows towards the foe and punch through their lines. The escorts will need to stay behind the larger ships until the fighting becomes close, we will need their guns to keep the Orks from sweeping behind us and gutting the fleet from behind."

Wrethan smiled and Toran felt like he had passed some test as the Chaplain declared, "Excellent, Fourth Company are already in their drop pods and will lead the assault. Captain Toran your orders are to get us to the planet at all costs, then secure orbital supremacy I must bless Captain Erathor and his squads before deployment."

Wrethan made the sign of the Aquilla then walked off the bridge, Toran watched him go then turned to the image of Captain Mandas and said, "I look forward to fighting with you again."

Mandas bowed and said with a grin, "I wager a bottle of my ship's finest grog against whatever you Marines drink that the Averof claims more kills than you do."

Toran replied, "Sadly my vows prohibit the vice of gambling."

Mandas inspected the back of his hand and sniffed, "Well if you glory hogs don't think you can keep up with a few Navy boys…"

Toran laughed and said with a smile, "Well now the pride of the Storm Heralds is at stake I have no choice but to accept your wager."

Mandas smiled equally warmly, "Excellent, I hope you have something palatable on board, the Averof is one ornery bitch in a fight. Now if you will excuse me I have a fleet to make ready for war."

With that Mandas' image cut out and the remaining Space Marines were left bemused by his exit, Bylan said, "+If Mandas is commanding a fleet of his own how is he still a mere Captain? Surely he has earn enough laurels to be made a Commodore at least+"

Novak replied candidly, "The answer is that the man was born and raised in the Naval academies of Tectum, like a million other junior officers. Without blood ties to Lord Admiral Dousmanis or an ancient name like Ravensburg, Kisher or Kountouriotis no man rises high in the Imperial Navy. Mandas is exceptional and he only to rose to command a Ship of the Line through sheer audacity, skill and an unreasonable amount of luck…"

Novak trailed off as he realised everybody was staring at him and Persion said, "How did you know that?"

Novak cocked his head to the side and said, "I read it in the briefing notes."

Persion's jaw dropped as he exclaimed, "You know how to read?!"

Toran was watching the exchange and he saw Novak's lip twitch slightly in amusement, he knew Novak had a flippant attitude but sometimes he suspected that the Champion actively enjoyed playing the fool to tease his squadmates. It was easy to forget that behind that insolent mouth was a working brain and Novak was actually a lot smarter than he let on.

Toran spoke up, "That's enough from you lot, to your posts and make ready for battle, I will sound actions in plenty of time to meet the Orks." The command squad saluted and moved off the dais to their various posts around the bridge, the mortal serfs made room for them without rancour, no matter how experienced they were there was no question that the Transhuman Astartes were better qualified. The next few hours would have crawled by to anyone who was not experienced with void combat, ground warfare had no equivalent for two massive fleets drifting inexorably towards each other, their crew left with nothing to do but wait for the fighting to begin. Toran itched to be doing something, to badger the serfs for updates and reports but knew they would only be distracted by his looking over their shoulder. The best thing he could do right now was stand still and look confident, so the hours slipped by while the Orks grew in the great Hololith display that dominated the bridge.

When the fleets were finally inching towards weapons range there was a cry from the Sensorium as Persion declared, "Aspect change, aspect change, the Orks are lighting their engines and changing vectors. Logic Engines are calculating new heading… the Greenskins are breaking orbit and coming about to face us head-on."

Toran looked at the Hololith and saw the icons of the Greenskins pulling out of the planet's gravity well, on a course to meet the Imperials and the time to intercept dropped dramatically. Toran wasted not a moment to call, "Contact all ships and order the fleet to sound action stations. Raise our shields and run out the guns, all stations report combat readiness!"

Serfs started running to and fro as the ship prepared for battle and fresh crewman ran onto the bridge to take up the posts of weary men. The Space Marines watched them hand over and then when they were ready Furion called, "Helm control set."

From another post Persion shouted, "Sensorium is running smoothly, if the Orks so much as sneeze we will see it."

Surrounded by Tech-Priests in the Enginarium section Bylan announced, "+Plasma reactors fully operational, Void shields at maximum and damage control parties are standing by+"

From the gunnery pews Jediah shouted, "Weapons batteries loaded, bombardment cannons primed and targeting cogitators are eager for the fray."

Standing by the ordnance control pulpit Novak declared, "Thunderhawks are fuelled, Torpedoes tubes loaded and Drop Pods primed."

"Excellent" Toran declared launching into a speech, "Make no mistake my comrades today is the day…"

His speech was cut off as Persion yelled, " What the hell! One of the Kroozers is emitting a huge energy build up, it's going critical!"

The Hololith flared red as a massive energy discharge went off right before the Light of Terra's prow, making various consoles shriek in alarm and servitors scream in Binaric distress. The artificial gravity field stuttered for a second as feedback from the voidshields caused them to spasm and the bulkheads rocked in sympathy as if the ship had crested a wave on the ocean, throwing crewmen to the deck. Toran grabbed the bucking rail of the command dais and roared, "Report for Throne's sake, what was that?!"

Persion was gripping onto a console and yelled, "Massive energy discharge just off the bow, if it had been any closer it would have taken out our shields entirely!"

Toran roared "Where the hell did it come from, did we hit a mine?"

Persion was staring at a display and gasped, "No it came from the Bighamma, they accelerated a gravitic implosive to near light speed!"

Silence fell at that pronouncement and Toran stared at the Hololith as he realised the horrible truth. "The Orks," Toran said in disbelief, "They have a Nova Canon."