Chapter 5
Taking a Chance
"We come from a society known as the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances, a cooperative that spans most of our galaxy and includes thousands of worlds and races"
Admiral Joseph Halos to Gabriel Angelos
------
As the Imperial II-class Star Destroyer returned to the Magos system its weapon batteries powered up and its shields were raised, from the hanger bay flew a steady flow of Tie Interceptor, X-Wing and B-Wing starfighters that formed up around the Vigilance, creating a defensive screen around their carrier, if the Imperium was to attack again they would have a real fight on their hands.
From the bridge of the capital-ship Admiral Halos scanned the floating weapons platforms, their massive gun turrets and torpedo launchers now trailing his ship, each platform with enough firepower to obliterate his Cruiser in a single barrage. Around these fortresses of death were the dim lights and engine exhausts of dozens of ships ranging in size from Gunships to much bigger Frigates, Destroyers and a Battleship that he recognised as the Daemon Slayer.
"No going back now Admiral" Florn said, his yellow eyes scanning the defences that lay out in front of them.
"Open a channel to the Battleship"
The main screen flickered to life showing the form of Admiral Rooseland; beside him was a man twice his size at around three meters tall, he wore extravagant battle-armour that was a blood red in colour, a bulky gun was holstered at one side of his waist and a power sword was sheathed on the other, his hair was white with scarred features and eyes that looked hundreds of years older than he was.
"Admiral Halos?" the Space Marine asked.
Instinctively the Admiral brought himself up to his full height, clasping his hands behind his back before he spoke "Yes"
"I am Brother-Captain Angelus of the Blood Ravens 3rd Company" the towering warrior introduced "In the name of the Emperor I apologize for any hostilities brought upon you"
Halos exchanged glances with Florn before turning back to the Space Marine "Apology accepted Brother-Captain"
The Marine nodded "I wish to open negotiations with you, to show that I am serious I will come to your ship personally"
"Thank you Brother-Captain, we will prepare a welcome"
------
The Imperium Thunderhawk shuttle glided noisily into the hanger bay, it was a farcry from the silent Eldar shuttle that was in this very hanger almost four days ago, its armoured hull bore the colours of the Blood Ravens with the markings of an Imperial Eagle on its wings and tail fins, as well as that there was another symbol, a black bird in flight with a drip of blood on its head.
As it landed clumsily on the metal decking a unit of blue-robed Honour Guard marched up to the descending boarding ramp, behind them marched another two squads of GA Soldiers, fully armed with blaster rifles and vibro-weapons.
Halos, Florn and Master Sabbath stood in the hanger waiting for the elite warriors of the Imperium to make their appearance. The Space Marine Captain was the first to step onto the hanger deck, beside him was a man equally as tall and intimidating as him, wearing yellow armour, holding a staff with a strange marking at the tip, his bald head bore the scars of battle with several mechanical implants, two soldiers marched behind them, their blood red armour was more simple than Angelus, wearing helmets and holding large guns against their chests, Angelus stopped a few steps away from Halos.
"Welcome to the Vigilance sir" Halos greeted, holding out his hand, Angelus took it and shook it firmly, although Halos hand almost disappeared in Angelus's armoured fist.
"Thank you Admiral" Angelus replied "This is Librarian Crone"
The Librarian nodded in greeting to the three Alliance officers "I must say Admiral this ship is of a design I have never seen before"
"It is an Imperial II-class Star destroyer" Florn explained "One of the primary warship classes of the Galactic Alliance"
"Interesting" Angelus replied, his eyes scanning the Twi'lek captain "What is this Galactic Alliance?"
"We will explain later Brother-Captain" Halos interjected "However I think we should take this to a more private location"
Halos and his entourage led the Imperium officers to the briefing room, while Halos, Florn and Gabriel took seats Angelus and his entourage choose to remain standing because the chairs weren't big enough for them.
"Now what empire do you come from?"
"We come from a society known as the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances, a cooperative that spans most of our galaxy and includes thousands of worlds and races" Halos explained.
"So you come from another galaxy?" Angelos asked.
"It appears so, yes"
"You say that you live peacefully with alien races?" Crone asked in surprise.
"Yes, there are thousands of alien races including my own that are members of the Galactic Alliance" Florn answered, not backing down from the towering Librarian's gaze "Is it any different here?"
"Yes, completely different" the Librarian replied a little threateningly "The main power in this galaxy is our own, the Imperium of Man, the only aliens that I know of that stand with us are the sub-human Ogryns of the Imperial Guard"
"My apologies but what is the Imperial Guard?" Gabriel asked in interest.
"They are our main defensive and offensive armies" Angelus answered "Along with the Space Marines they fight off any threat made to the Imperium of Man and are the main force in crusades to capture enemy worlds. The Guard number in the billions and are our military backbone"
"Billions" Gabriel echoed "Just how big is the Imperium?"
"The Imperium governs over a million worlds which are spread out across the galaxy…we are however in a constant state of war as many alien races wish nothing more than to completely destroy us. It has been this way for ten thousand years"
"By the force" Gabriel exclaimed "Ten thousand years of war"
"In any case we now know for certain that you are from another galaxy" Crone replied "If you weren't our two empires would have meet each other thousands of years ago, we seem to have vastly different histories and our technologies are also completely different"
"We would like to have our people examine the area where the worm hole appeared to see if it can be reopened again" Halos said "Saying that we are in your territories I ask for permission"
"You have permission Admiral and we would like to negotiate a trade of knowledge on your home galaxy" Angelos said.
Halos nodded "We are happy to grant you knowledge in return for the same on your empire and galaxy"
"Agreed Admiral" Angelos said.
------
It had been three days since that first meeting with the Space Marines; Halos had recalled his taskforce from deep space and under the protection of the Blood Raven's were now docked within the massive space station that orbited Magos IV.
The Alliance scientists had thoroughly searched the area where the worm hole once was and came to the conclusion that it had completely closed up, the Alliance would need to find another way home and it appeared the only ones who could help were the Imperium.
Angelus had stationed his most trusted Space Marine units along with the visitors own security troopers at the entrance points to the Alliance ships to make sure nobody unfriendly tried to gain entry.
From his personal quarters Angelus and Crone were looking through the datapads that Halos had supplied, scrolls of data passed by the screen showing information on the Galactic Alliance and its member states as well as recent galactic history.
"Found anything interesting Typhus?" Angelus asked as he scrolled through the mountains of information on the datapad.
"Yes sir I have" Typhus said "This Galactic Federation is an Alliance consisting of former member worlds of a fallen empire called the New Republic, another known as the Imperial Remnant, the Hapan Consortium, Bakura and the Corporate Sector"
"Very interesting…from the data Halos supplied it is a very young empire, what brought it to be?"
"Apparently the arrival of a race known as the Yuuzhan Vong" the old Librarian replied "They arrived into the galaxy and started a crusade to turn the native peoples, human and xeno alike to their religion, they carved a trail of destruction through the galaxy starting a set of conflicts known as the Yuuzhan Vong Wars which lasted for five years…they slaughtered trillions, destroyed several worlds and took the Galactic Capital, a planet known as Coruscant"
"Sounds like they'd fit right into this Emperor forsaken galaxy" Angelus remarked dryly "What happened?"
"The main empires came together under the banner of the Galactic Alliance and fought back" Crone replied "Claiming victory after victory on the stretched Vong armadas until their combined fleets met the Yuuzhan Vong on their throne world, a small strike team made of Commandos, battle droids and a unit of warriors known as the Jedi Knights infiltrated the planet and assassinated their leader, the war ended there and the Vong empire began to fragment…permission to speak freely sir?"
"Of course"
"Can we truly trust these people…they are allied with xenos"
"I know it sounds strange Crone" Angelus admitted "But these people saved this system from a Chaos fleet…they have proven themselves courageous and honourable in my eyes"
"But what if you are wrong?" Crone persisted.
"If I am wrong we will destroy them" Angelus replied evenly "We will take them to the capital world of the sector, let the Tech-Priests look through their ships, they will decide whether their technology is pure or not"
------
The grey sphere of the forge world, Helios Prime, was an incredibly impressive sight; the planet was surrounded by a mass of plasma minefields with large weapon platforms and even larger space stations scattered among them, the engine trails and running lights of thousands of patrolling warships were clearly seen as the Blood Raven Cruisers led the Alliance fleet through the many layers of planetary defences towards the main space stations, four massive orbiting fortresses that were thirty kilometres at least from top to bottom.
As the Alliance vessels docked with the station Brother-Captain Angelus contacted Halos "Admiral we must ask you to stand down your forces, our Tech-Priests need to do a thorough examination of your technology to be sure it is no threat"
"I assure you Captain that we are no threat to you" Halos replied.
"And I believe you Admiral but it's not me you need to sway, it's the Tech-Priests, you see they believe that only technology made by humans is safe and unless proven otherwise believe that any alien technology needs to be sanctified and thoroughly checked before they deem it as safe"
"The Imperium is becoming more and more complicated to understand every minute" Halos remarked before looking up at the Space Marine "You're not staying Captain?"
"I'm afraid that we have another mission, we were on our way to a system under attack by the Orks when we were called to Magos" Angelus replied "The Adeptus Mechanicus is sending a Retribution-class Battleship to act as your protectors, until they arrive you will be under the jurisdiction of a unit of my Chapters most trusted Tech-Priests, they should arrive shortly"
"We thank you for your help Captain" Halos thanked.
"I hope we will meet again Admiral" Angelus replied, his lips curled up into a smile "Farewell"
------
A Blood Ravens ship, a Dictator-class Cruiser that registered as the Sword jumped out of the warp and made its way through the defences with practised ease, docking alongside the Star Destroyers. A Thunderhawk left the hanger of the impressive warship and made its way towards the Vigilance.
Halos and his entourage stood waiting for the Tech-Priests to make their appearance, the shuttle landed and it's main ramp descended, the occupants walked down to the deck, the Tech-Priests, dressed in long red cloaks with the insignia of the Blood Ravens imprinted on their metallic coloured armour, their faces covered in augmentations to the point that they looked like masks, each one held a long metal staff that from what Halos read was their main tool as well as a weapon.
"Admiral Halos I am Tech-Priest Rune of the Blood Ravens" the lead priest introduced "I have been ordered to inspect your ships technology"
Well how was that? In the next chapter you will see the Adeptus Mechanicus putting the Alliance technology through its paces but an enemy is watching and is also interested in acquiring the new technology. Who might it be? See in the next chapter…the Emperor Protects!