Author's note: Sorry I took so long to update…:$ The semester's almost over, so I had to rush several projects all at the same time. Plus, there's exams next week, so…don't hold your collective breaths waiting for chapter 3. Faith and Fury! Zerg Rush in the Emperor's name!
Chapter 2: For the Emperor
Imperial Star Destroyer Subjugator
Chiss Space
Unknown Regions
"Sir! We have detected a hyperspace anomaly in-system! Sensors say it matches no known ships, be they Imperial or otherwise."
Captain Sydar Fel strode up to the display showing the feed from the probe. He did a double take, rubbing his glasses before looking again. What appeared to be a trio of floating cathedrals drifted through space, along with a small debris field from what looked to be a gigantic battle.
"Notify Sector Command. They're gonna want to see this…"
Battle Barge Axios
Unknown Space
Sirens blared and lights flashed as Brother-Captain Lucian Westwynter paced back and forth on the bridge, pushing away hapless servitors and badly placed wiring alike. Occasionally he glanced at his data slate, frowning as the casualty and damage reports flowed in. Lucian turned to Bondsman-Captain Argus, who as usual was waist-deep in reports and issues urgently requiring his attention.
"Argus! What is the barge's status?"
The Axios' captain's head snapped around, startling a servitor and causing Westwynter to stumble back in surprise.
"Well, Brother-Captain, to put it bluntly, not all the tech-priests of Corbulo can save this barge. Weapons are shot, comms are fried, shields are downed, and Emperor-knows-what happened to the Astronomican's beacon. As for the warp engines…let's just say we're not going anywhere in a hurry."
A moment passed before it sank into Lucian. His downcast look must have been visible through his helm as Argus chuckled before speaking again.
"Thankfully, sir, the Axios has tech-priests not just from Corbulo but from Mars, who we managed to bribe aboard by allowing them to play with the Baal-Pattern Predators. The Axios and its escorts should have auspex and inter-ship vox coming back online within a day."
Lucians smiled, then a look of rage came upon his face as he processed the rest of the sentence.
"You let those Throne-accursed Martians do WHAT?!"
ISD Subjugator
Chiss Space
Unknown Regions
"Admiral's shuttle incoming sir!
"Vader Battalion, 501st Legion! Present…ARMS!
Three hundred white-armoured boots thudded on the deck, followed by the sound of blaster rifles being presented. Captain Fel strode from the inspection dais towards the landing Lambda-Class shuttle. A moment later, the ramp slowly lowered from the craft, and a pair of elite black-armoured Stormtroopers took positions on either side. The silence inside the bay was deafening, being broken only by the sound of a pair of Imperial Navy dress boots going down the ramp.
A blue-skinned, red-eyed humanoid with jet-black hair strode off of the shuttle, returning Fel's salute before marching towards the bridge with spotless precision, followed by his bodyguards and the captain himself.
Battle Barge Axios
Unknown Space
Lucian blinked in surprise as he stared at his auspex screen. He fiddled with the zoom function on the screen, then turned in confusion.
"Tech-priest! Are you sure you fixed this correctly?"
The red-clad Martian looked offended, as if Lucian's doubting him would somehow bring the Omnissiah down upon their heads. Westwynter couldn't care less about the Cult Mechanicus right now, as he was more preoccupied by the giant floating wedges that had appeared about a light-hour away from his ships. Sighing, Lucian turned back to his screen before frowning as he attempted to view an interior view of the vessels.
"Tech-priest! Why can't I see inside the ships?"
The priest looked exasperated as he explained, speaking as if Lucian were an infant—which, in the field of mechanics, he was.
"The ships have some form of energy shielding and an advanced machine-spirit that seems to be blocking our auspex scans from penetrating the hulls. We can detect energy spikes and such, but as for the interior and specifications of the vessels, we cannot be sure."
Lucian silently cursed in frustration before opening his vox channel. Thinking it through, he closed it and turned to the immensely irritated tech-priest. You think you're mad? Welcome to the club.
"How soon can we get long-ranged vox up? I want to be able to talk to our new…companions."
ISD Subjugator
Chiss Space
Unknown Regions
"Captain Fel. I want sensor readings on those ships. Now."
"Yes sir!" Fel scrambled to bring the readings up on his display, the image refreshing every minute or so as the scans slowly built up an accurate image of the unknown craft. His eyes widened as he looked at the ships' possible capabilities, shuddering as he thought what those, those, things could do to his beloved Subjugator.
The admiral in turn leaned over his shoulder, his sudden intake of breath indicative of even his surprise and horror. Moving closer, the admiral played around with the sensor readings until he rested upon the possible weapons specs. Even at the bare minimum, the large ship had firepower equivalent to half of the sub-sector's destroyers.
Fel turned his head around to look the admiral in his unblinking red eyes.
"Admiral Mith'raw'nurodo...What do we do?"
The admiral smiled as he replied, chilling Fel to the bone.
"Please. Call me Thrawn."