Fame Cimex Chapter 5

In the depths of space war raged, the mighty proud bastions that were Imperial warships fighting tooth and nail to survive in the cruellest of arenas. Arrayed against them were the endless swarms of Tyranid craft, filling surveyor screens with wave upon wave of abominations. Their claws twitched whilst their hides spewed acid and chitinous shards that ravaged armoured hulls, scything deeply within to wreak havoc.

Hanging in low orbit was the Battlebarge Light of Terra, her payload of Exterminatus class weapons had been delivered; now she was struggling to come about and make her withdrawal. In her wake followed a dozen civilian Transports, the last refugees from Veltri and they followed in the Astartes vessel's wake like chicks huddling under a mother hen's wings. On the Light of Terra's bridge the crew of mortal serfs were working frantically to operate their vessel in the most fraught of circumstances. They bellowed orders and ran to and fro, yet over all hung an air of desperation and the knowledge that they were failing to equal the challenge. Standing in the command dais was a single Astartes, clad in red and with a large servo arm looming over his head, he was a Techmarine and he did not seem to be having much success at organising this chaos. Into this bedlam ran Captain Toran and his command squad, fresh from the fight and having raced up from the landing bays. With them came Chaplain Wrethan and Apothecary Memnos, each having spent the journey into orbit tending to their respective ministries, but now free to join their commander.

Toran practically leapt onto the dais and barked, "Techmarine Hevostan, report!"

Hevostan addressed him in a surprisingly rich baritone, "The situation is grave, we are on the periphery of the battle but the bulk of the Tyranid splinter fleet lies between us and the rest of the task force. Chapter Master Gorgall is on the Battlebarge Thunderlord and is conducting a fighting withdrawal, but we are on our own."

Toran looked into the overhead Hololithic display that projected the battle zone. He saw the swarms of Vanguard drone ships surrounding the Battlebarge on all sides and said, "Brothers take up your posts and beat some sense into the serfs. Furion take the Helm and Novak the Ordnance. Persion get to the Sensorium, Jediah the guns batteries and Bylan take over damage control."

Swiftly the command squad spread out and moved to their posts, each one of them quickly instilling discipline back into the panicked serfs. With order restored Toran assessed the situation and commanded, "Bring us to port and ready a broadside, we are going to blast ourselves an opening in the Tyranid lines. Signal the transports that they must keep pace, we cannot slow for any that fall behind."

As the crew hurried to obey Wrethan grumbled, "Those scows will slow us down; we should not risk the lives of the Emperor's Finest for a worthless rabble of mortals."

Furion scowled from his station, "Those worthless mortals are the Emperor's faithful, we are duty bound to lay down our lives to defend them."

Wrethan shook his head, "I did not expect such naivety, our duty is to defend the entire Imperium. If we lay down our lives here then who will fight the next battle and the next? How many worlds could fall if we are not there to defend them?"

Furion protested, "Abandon the defenceless to save ourselves, is that the wisdom of the Chaplaincy?"

Toran overrode their argument, "Brothers, while I appreciate a theological debate as much as any, this is neither the time nor the place. We are not yet so desperate that we must make such a decision, not until we have no other options left. Now pay attention, the time has come to demonstrate the Emperor's power to these Xenos."

As one they all looked at the Hololith, seeing the targeting vectors align upon the swarms of Tyranids. There was a moment's delay and then Jediah reported, "The Machine Spirits have blessed us with a shooting solution."

Toran answered, "Then by all means… Fire!"

With a rumble of thunder the battlebarge unleashed its might, firing waves of mass drivers, Grav-cannons, plasma annihilators, missile launchers and Turbolasers. A torrent of destruction leapt from the mighty vessel and smashed into the Tyranid escorts, blowing mottled hides open to the vacuum of space. Tyranid creatures fell limp as death claimed them and a hole was blown in their formation, a chance for the humans to escape. On the bridge Toran ordered, "Hard a starboard, take us right into that gap. Bombardment canons target stragglers and signal the Transports: All Ahead Full!"

Responding to his orders the great ship slowly swung about and moved into the narrow channel it had blown open. The Transports followed in her wake, but even straining their drives to maximum they could barely keep pace with the Astartes vessel. As the Battlebarge moved ponderously forward her bombardment canons spat fat shells, blasting apart stray Tyranids that ventured too close.

Memnos was staring at the Hololith and said, "We are doing it, as long as we can keep this corridor open we can disengage from the combat zone."

But Wrethan frowned, "The Tyranids are just milling about, why aren't they reforming and coming at us en-mass?"

Toran answered, "Look at the splinter fleet's formation; mainly escort and cruisers with only two contacts large enough to be classed as proper Hive Ships. We are on the edge of synapse range out here and the escorts have lost their connection to the Hive Mind. They are reacting on instinctive behaviour, each one fighting their own war without higher coordination."

Suddenly there was a cry from the Sensorium and Persion bellowed, "Incoming, incoming! We have six cruiser-sized Bio-ships closing on our position, logic engines designate them as Razorfiends."

Toran looked at the Hololith and cursed, "Damnation, they are moving to cut us off, our escape window will close before we can disengage."

Wrethan said, "They are coming at us head-on, if we turn right at them we can break through in one pass. Then we can then run out the drives and break out for deep space before they can come about to give pursuit."

"No," rebuked Toran sternly, "The civilian transports will never survive such an engagement, we will be fortunate to escape with even one or two of them."

"That may be acceptable losses given the circumstances," Memnos advised.

Toran wouldn't have it, "No, not yet, not when I have fight left in my body."

Wrethan placed an open hand on Toran's pauldron and said quietly, "Toran, sometimes you cannot save everyone. You must fight to save those who have a chance at life; the rest is in the hands of the Divine Emperor."

Toran shook him off and declared loudly for all to hear, "The Emperor created us to defend humanity and that is what I intend to do. Helm come to course, three-zero-one mark zero-zero-seven, set for three-quarters thrust. Communications, signal the Transport to stick to us like glue!"

As the great battlebarge came about Memnos said to Wrethan, "What's he doing?"

Wrethan replied, "He's plotting a course towards Veltri's twin moons… no correct that, he's heading right between them."

Memnos looked puzzled, "Surely he doesn't think their gravity will deter the Tyranids?"

Wrethan concluded, "He is the Captain, our role is to advise and support, his is to make the tactical decisions."

As the pair watched the tiny moons of Veltri grew in the Hololith, spinning around a common centre of gravity as they orbited the dead world. They were minuscule things in space terms, more large asteroids than actual moons and they sat in a low orbit that saw them circle Veltri every ten hours. Yet as the Imperials closed their gravity still affected the ships, drawing them closer and increasing their speed, but not nearly enough. On the bridge Persion cried, "Razorfiends closing!"

Novak called, "Request permission to launch Thunderhawks to intercept?"

"Denied," Toran barked, "We cannot wait to recover them; anyone who goes out there is not coming back."

Suddenly Persion cried, "Razorfiends targeting us, all of them!"

Toran roared, "Brace for impact!"

Across the pitiless black the Razorfiends closed, opening orifices over their bony prows and spitting forth a torrent of bioweapon fire. Giant shards of chitin were hurled into the void along with waves of seething acid and beetles the size of gunships, whose only function in life was to chew and rend and tear. The volley engulfed the Light of Terra, blistering her shields and making them quiver and distort, but worse was to come. A wave of bio-plasma swept in, bypassing the shields completely. Void shields worked on a complex formula of speed and energy, allowing light to pass unhindered but deflecting weapons fire, sadly the bio-plasma was cunning designed to avoid triggering such a response. The seething energy hit the Light of Terra, melting through dorsal armour to vent compartments and spill oxygen, munitions and men into the vacuum.

The bridge was a scene of shaking tremours and thunderous noise while Toran was roaring, "Damage report!"

Bylan called, "+Direct hit to the dorsal armour, extensive damage to upper quadrants, no way to estimate casualties at this time+"

Jediah called, "Permission to return fire?"

Toran cried, "No, we are almost to the moons, we want the Tyranids to follow us."

Memnos looked at the Captain suspiciously and said, "Follow us… you're plotting something aren't you?"

Toran gave him a knowing look and called, "Hevostan, are we ready?"

The forgotten Techmarine checked an arcane runebank and said, "Ready and waiting, all we need is for them to get in position."

Toran nodded and declared, "Fire control is at your discretion, now all hands hold on, here we go!"

On a comet tail of plasma thrust the Light of Terra and her gaggle of transports dived between the two moons, passing by with no more than a thousand kilometres of clearance to either side. The Razorfiends closed hard on their tail, chasing them with an instinctive hunger driving them on, yet unaware that they were racing into a trap. Toran clung to the rail of his dais and yearned for the trap to be sprung. All thier lives depended on this gamble, if he miscalculated than all was lost. He was risking the lives of his Marines on a long-shot, but his duty demanded no less. By his Emperor's decree and for his Primarch's honour, he would dare the impossible.

As the two groups of ships passed by, hidden emplacements on the asteroid moons came to life. Servitor-guided motors shifted large launch rails into position and made minuscule adjustments. Then a silent vox impulse triggered a pre-programmed launch sequence. With a blaze of fire a score of torpedoes leapt into the night sky, incinerating the launch sites and burning the servitors to ash. The torpedoes hurtled into the void, effortlessly overcoming the asteroid's attraction, they were sleek and deadly killers, armed and seeking targets. Trapped between the gravity of the two moons the Razorfiends could not evade and they were helpless as the torpedoes closed. The roaring cylinders closed and struck then searing balls of plasma fire burst into life as the warheads detonated. Two of the Razorfiends disappeared in annihilating explosions and the rest fell behind, struggling to not be knocked into a moon's gravity well by the blasts.

With the Tyranids stymied the Imperials fled, the Light of Terra leading the transports into the blessed safety of interplanetary space. On her bridge the serfs were cheering and Wrethan was leading a hymn of thanksgiving as the Space Marines rattled their breastplates with armoured gauntlets. On the dais, Memnos turned to Toran and said, "What in the name of Him on Terra, gave you the idea to set that up?"

Toran slowly exhaled a tense breath and said, "Codex Astartes Vol I, Chapter XVIII, verse V."

Memnos replied by rote, "In war exists the folly of thinking that the path to victory will be via the most direct route, but unexpected changes of fortune are inevitable. Sometimes created by yourself but more often by the enemy. The commander who is best prepared to meet these changes will prove victorious, thus before a battle is joined one should always prepare a contingency plan."

Toran nodded, "Exactly, given the nature of the enemy Hevostan and I agreed that it would be prudent to take precautions, should we need to leave in haste."

Memnos shook his head in disbelief, "Well I for one am glad you thought ahead."

Toran nodded thankfully then turned to Wrethan and said, "Chaplain, you have the bridge, plot a course to rendezvous with the rest of the Chapter. I have matters to attend to in my quarters." And with that he hastily left.