128. M.41: Chapel of the Battle Barge Canis Lupus Rex
Erak Tempest wolf, Lord of the Tempests and High Rune Priest of the Chapter, meditated before the altar of the Allfather. Incense filled the air as he was meditating and beseeching the Allfather for guidance. To grant him a vision of what enemies of Mankind that were in need of slaying, of the Emperor's servants who needed the Knights of Russ to save them, and of traitors who must be brought low by the Emperor's Executioners.
He knelt before the statues for hours, chapter serfs sworn to Ulrich went about the chapel, refilling censures and performing a myriad of other rituals. Singing hymns to the Emperor, the Allmother, and the Primarch Leman Russ, in High Gothic, the Fenrisian tongue, and the tongue of Loborrak their homeworld. In such a sacred place, he could allow his mind to delve deeper into the malefactum to search for threats to the Imperium, the chapter, and the people they have sworn to protect. The Sea of Souls was churrining constantly, its waves filled with hate, malice, and the laughter of the ruinous powers. He was a Son of Leman Russ,a Rune Priest, a Knight. He will not fall for their malicious tricks. He would keep pure.
A sudden wave of red hot hate and fury washed over him. It was not his own. The air became heavy and his mouth became as dry as Tallharn. He smelt blood in the air and a foul metallic taste was left on his tongue. He saw it. A monster of pure rage and hate. As large as A Questoris Pattern Knight. A hideous abomination of flesh, metal, and warpcraft. The beast was surrounded by a legion of treacherous rabid dogs and neverborn hungering for blood.
The vision shifted and now he was at a courtyard within a Hive City. The legion of traitors had soaked the courtyard with blood and built an obscene edifice. In the center of the courtyard. Which channeled the power of the Malefractum. Bringing the Monster into realspace. Slaughtering the entire world before using it spread more death and destruction across the Imperium.
Erak awoke from the vision. A few beads of sweat dripped off his face. He did not know fear, for he was an Astartes, but he knew a coming apocalyptic calamity when he saw it. For what else could be the summoning one of the Traitor Primarchs….
Erak Tempestwolf entered the bridge of the Battle Barge Canis Lupus Rex, the chapter serfs that served as the mortal crew of the ship were hard at work preparing for battle and ensuring all systems were operating correctly.
The shipmaster turned and said, "Lord Tempestwolf, the system patrol ships have confirmed that a large traitor battlegroup has entered the system and is making its way to Benedictine Primus. All ships report that they are ready to mobilize to general quarters".
Erak replied, "Excellent, what is the status of my brothers and our ground forces"?
Shipmaster Fernan de Navarrete said, "All Packs aboard the fleet are armed, armored, and at their stations. Lord Ironmonger and his retinue of Iron Priests and tech thralls are within the armory ensuring the vehicles and dreadnoughts are prepared for battle. Lord Morkaisson and the Great Wolf are in the chapel. The Thanes are at their secondary command stations and the Varagyr packs are at their stations. Lord Dragonwolf reports that they are in position and ready to spring the trap. General Manderly reports that the defenses around the critical Hives and infrastructure have been prepared and the quick reaction force is ready. Duke Miguel de Valentine reports that the knights have concealed themselves from orbital intelligence assets as best as possible and await the order to lay low the traitors".
Erak said, "I see, Carry on shipmaster".
The Shipmaster responded, "Aye my lord".
After the status report, came the long wait for the traitors to see the meager defenses of the system and rush straight for the principal inhabited planet to begin deploying their forces. With the seemingly meager defense he would not put past the traitors to attempt to maximize their advantage of surprise by utilizing a drop pod assault and other rapid assault tactics. If they did, then they would find themselves at the mercy of the reinforced AA batteries of the Hive cities and other strategic targets across the world. The few who got past the storm of flak and SAMs would find themselves facing prepared firing zones where Hunter and Fang packs would be waiting for them. The few who survived would find themselves at the mercy of the Blood Claws who would charge and slay the rest of the traitors.
They had not managed to get the assistance of any other Imperial forces, but their own forces were not lacking. Their force consisted of two Great Companies of the Chapter, the Great Wolf's own Firewolves and the Dragonwolves of Ameon Dragonwolf. Which meant the deployment of the Chapter's Battle Barge and two Astartes Strike Cruisers along with a squadron of the Chapter's escorts of Gladius class Frigates, Hunter class Destroyers, and a single Nova class. Their sector's Battle Fleet consisted of two Lunar Class Cruisers, a Dictator class Cruiser and a Gothic class Cruiser, along with two escort squadrons consisting of Dauntless class Light Cruisers, Sword class Frigates and Cobra class Destroyers. Their void combat capability was certainly nothing to dismiss though it wasn't a true battlefleet. Especially if they ended up facing down the Conqueror or a large space Hulk. A Battle Barge, two Astartes Strike Cruisers, and four cruisers was a pitiful strike force if their prey was a Glorianna Class Battleship like the Conqueror, let alone any other capital ships that the traitors would be bringing with them.
The Chapter had not mustered a force as large as this since the days of Third Verymr War when their chapter faced death in the face and threw it back. Though unlike in those days. For this campaign it seemed like they would essentially fight alone. They had not been able to secure other Imperial forces and unlike during the war they had not been able to call their allies among the Craftworlds who had assisted them during the Vermintide. Though with their inability to aid Biel-Tan during the Fracture of the Craftworld, any hope to gain their support was a forlorn hope.
If they could just prevent the summoning of the Lord of the Twelfth they would triumph as even mad Berzkers knew when they had lost the advantage. Especially in the face of such a large force of Knights, as even the strongest warbands of the Traitor legions would struggle to stockpile enough resources and technology to maintain any combat effective number of super-heavy tanks that could match Knights. While even discounting the Great Companies, the Guard had enough armored fighting vehicles, and anti-tank weaponry to aid the knights to deal with what little enemy super heavies and heavy armor that could pose a threat.
The enemy soared through the void closing in the planet of Benedictine Primus. They were still long out of range, but the system patrol craft and defense monitors had picked up enemy drive and auspex signatures. With each passing moment granting them better readings.
They transmitted their information back to the fleet through a series of relays. The intelligence officers and cogitators made quick work of analyzing the enemy fleet.
The commanding lieutenant reported, "My Lords. We have identified two enemy capital ships, at least six cruiser class warships of unknown type, and half a dozen transports of various types. Possible strike cruisers, the primary enemy capital ship is massive. Estimate above 20 klicks long. Enemy escorts seem to count at least two dozen. All enemy vessels are at full burn. Heading appears to be unchanged, My Lords".
Erak stood silent, but the Shipmaster said, "The treacherous dogs have certainly made it easy for us", he turned and gave an order to a comms officer, "Ensign, transmit message to the rest of the fleet to mobilize to general quarters. I want all hands to their battle stations before we reveal ourselves".
Shipmaster de Navarrete continued giving orders to the crew and the fleet. They had a prearranged battle formation, but it never hurt to ensure that orders were clear.
The vox bead in his ear chirped and with a thought he opened the line.
The voice that came through was his liege lord, the Great Wolf, Luis Firewolf, "Belay the order to engage. Wait for our prey to fully commit to the assault on the planet. We will strike when they are their most vulnerable".
Erak Tempestwolf replied, "It will be done, Great Wolf".
He passed on the orders of the Great Wolf, and the fleet waited. Some of the younger officers balked and protested at the idea of not engaging the traitors immediately, but they were outnumbered three to one by the more cautious senior Captains and Shipmasters who were veterans of Vermintide and knew the importance of preserving the strength of the fleet until the most opportune time.
The reports from the relays merely proved what they expected, the enemies were tearing through the meager defense of the system. It had simply been a manner of time. Especially when their flagship was a Gloriana Class Battleship.
When the Traitors finally made it to the planet, they didn't even bother to destroy the Vox relays or the Astropathic Choir Tower. This let the Fleet and the Wolves know exactly when to strike.
As soon as they received the report that the enemy were entering into low orbit to begin deployment, the Wolves went on the attack.
The bridge's lights changed to battle lighting. The plasma drives of the fleet burned white hot and drove the ships from their concealment behind the other celestial bodies of the system. They drove straight towards the enemy. Targeting auspex and cogitators were running at full power to analyze and recommend the best targets for the torpedoes.
Erak received psychic flashes from younger Primaris Rune Priests aboard the strike cruisers and the astropaths of the fleet. He knew what it meant instantly. All targets were selected. Torpedoes were primed and ready to launch.
Erak gave the psychic command. He could not feel the reverberations of the launch but could see the flashes of their plasma drives once they had been reached the minimum safe distance. As the torpedoes made their deadly journey towards the Traitor warships, the tracking beeps filled the air as the crew waited to see the results of the first salvo.
Even with their relatively close position, the torpedoes still took time to reach their targets. Of the 42 Torpedoes, half were armed with standard plasma warheads the rest save the six fired from the Canis Lupus Rex were standard melta warheads. The last six were a specialist type that in addition to either plasma or melta warheads, also featured a modification born from fusing Imperial stealth technology and Aeldari Holo-field counter-measures. Erak was not privy to the finer details of how it worked, but he knew that they had been blessed and sanctified by the Chapter's Iron Priests and were incredibly effective.
Auspex technicians reported that several torpedoes had been intercepted and destroyed. Over the next few minutes, more reports of torpedoes missing or being intercepted were heard.
Finally the targeting blips stopped, a few moments passed before a Lieutenant spoke, "Auspex confirms that we have multiple targets struck. Though many were intercepted and destroyed or missed their targets".
Shipmaster de Navarrete asked, "Which targets were struck"?
The Lieutenant said, "We have an enemy Carrack that has been crippled and is being pulled in by the planetary gravity well. Along with one of the enemy's cruisers, one believed to be a Strike Cruiser. Of our own torpedoes, we have all struck. The enemy capital ship has been hit with three that were targeting it and the other three have struck their targets. Another Cruiser has been heavily damaged, one of the larger ones. We estimate it to be a Grand Cruiser. The other enemy capital ship has sustained major damage with both torpedoes striking it".
A loud cheer rang out from the crew. This was a promising start. Two ships crippled and in the process of falling to their doom, and severe damage on two of the most powerful enemy warships. The battle was far from one, but it was a good sign. The Conqueror would still require a large amount of firepower to render it combat ineffective let alone to kill it. The other enemy battleship and the believed to be Grand Cruiser were not ones to discount either as they were still ready to fight.
A weapons officer called out, "Torpedo cells are reloaded, awaiting command to fire"!
Shortly after came another series of psychic flashes from the other ships. Their own torpedo tubes had finished the reloading process and were awaiting orders. With a single thought, he gave the command to both the Battle Barge's crew and the other priests and astropaths of the fleet.
The next salvo fired and the torpedoes were away. Most again missed or were intercepted but a few more struck their targets. Erak gave the order to hold fire on torpedoes as they entered lance battery and strike craft range. The dueling dance begin as the fleet kept a distance attempting to cripple or destroy the enemy cruisers before they could close in on the fleet and pin them down for the Conqueror could arrive to destroy them as even the Canis Lupus Rex would not last long in a slugging match with a Gloriana class Battleship and even a boarding action would not be in their favor as they would be severely outnumbered between the traitor astartes and daemons within the Conqueror.
Over the great distances of the void, each volley took minutes to reach their targets. Though the lack of sense on the part of the worshippers of the blood god gave them the advantage. As even the Grand Cruiser which led the battle line of traitor ships was seeking to enter a close quarters battle.
Minutes turned into hours as each side's batteries fired punishing salvos into the other. Lance beams cut through the darkness of the void. Flashes of blinding light flickered into existence with the striking of void shields.
Erak reached out with his mind's eye to see the battle on a level beyond the auspex systems. He could hear the cries of anguish from one of their Frigates having entire decks wiped out by a barrage of macrocannon shells or burned out existence by a lance blast. The insane ruckus created by the followers of Khorne. Regardless of whether they were being torn asunder by weapons fire or not.
While the traitors were certainly fighting hard, the trap that the Great Wolf had planned had done its work. Many of the traitor ships have suffered heavy damage from the torpedoes and strike craft which focused on disabling specific systems such as weapons batteries or void shield generators. This led to their forces having the advantage even when brought into a close range engagement. Even the fast cruisers of this Chaos warband could not reach them fast enough before losing one of their number and their own escorts were being picked off by the Chapter's escorting frigates and light cruisers.
The next phase of the battle was fought in the most ancient of ways. The broadside barrage. The close range barrages were savage. Void shields flickering in and out of existence. The Chaos Grand Cruiser had already lost its shields but was relying on its infernal armor to soak up enough damage to get into point blank duel. Where its superior macrocannon broadsides would give it the advantage.
One of the auspex operators yelled, "VAMPIRE! VAMPIRE! VAMPIRE!. Six torpedoes inbound on the starboard side. ETI, 60 seconds"!
Shipmaster yelled, "FOCUS ALL FIRE ON THOSE BLASTED TORPEDOES"!
The seconds passed slowly by, as the venerable Battle Barge's point defense guns fired in defiance.
A dozen seconds pass, before being interrupted with a shout.
"SPLASH ONE! SPLASH ONE! SPLASH ONE"!
Another dozen seconds passed, before another shout came.
"SPLASH TWO! SPLASH TWO! SPLASH TWO"!
Ten seconds passed, before another shout came.
"SPLASH THREE! SPLASH THREE! SPLASH THREE"!
Twenty Seconds passed before another call came out, this time from the shipmaster.
"ALL HANDS BRACE FOR IMPACT"!
The venerable Battle Barge shuddered upon the impact.
The crew seemed to await the inevitable explosion, even a well trained and veteran crew could sometimes be fooled.
Erak activated his vox bead beforing shouting, "ALL HANDS, PREPARE TO REPEL BOARDERS"!
That snapped the bridge crew from their surprise at the torpedoes' impacts being that of boarding torpedoes rather than anti-ship torpedoes.
The Shipmaster took back control, shouting orders to the crew to bridge to continue focusing on the battle and to let the Astartes handle the boarders.
A new voice came over the vox, it was one of the mortal crew, the sounds of battle clouded the transmission, "This is Petty Officer Gonzalez, Deck 47, Sector 6, Starboard Aft. Traitor Astartes have boarded the ship! I say again, Traitor Astartes have boarded the…"
The transmission was cut off by the scream of a man being torn apart by a bolt shell. The transmission was followed by several others.
Another came through, "This Ensign Cordoba, we have Traitor Astartes in the Great Hall! I say again, Traitor Astartes in the Great Hall! Enemy numbers a half dozen in terminator armor! Request immediate Astartes reinforcements"!
Erak growled but before he could say anything a new voice came on the vox.
"I hear your request. My Varagyr and I are moving to intercept the butchers of the 12th Legion. Packs near the other breeches. You know your duty. Deliver the Emperor's wrath to the traitors! WE WILL TEACH THE TRAITORS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE INVADE A WOLF'S DEN! FOR THE WOLF KING AND THE ALLFATHER!"
Followed by a long howl joined in by their brothers across the ship.
Erak left and marched out of the bridge, leaving a pack of the new primaris wolves to guard the bridge. He could smell the foul stench of those corrupted by the ruinous powers and it would take more than steel and shot to drive out the taint.