DuneHammer 40K
It materializes the size of a needlepoint, quickly expanding greatly to occupy space the size of a small moon. From the opening the fleet came, scarred, battered, and broken. But they still live.
"My Emperor. We have finally managed to exit the warp." The Captain, commander of the Imperial Apocalypse-class battleship Arica Dominus, says.
The Emperor of Mankind Himself occupies this vessel, during the Great Crusade. This is the time when mankind is reuniting the human colony worlds hidden amongst the stars, all alone since the age of Stryfe. Now, He sits on a throne in the middle of the bridge, heading the crusade Himself. Flanked by the Captain of the vessel and an empty seat He would reserve for one of His sons if He requires their presence.
"Good, the storms are particularly volatile in this region, research that immediately, I want to know everything about where we are. It took Me maximum effort to get us out, and My contact with the Astronomican is clouded, we are cut off." The Emperor exclaims as He stands up from His throne. The Captain bows and gestures to some men to get to work.
"Give me a damage report and status report on the fleet." The Captain says.
"Sir, we were in the warp for far too long, we lost 90 percent of our fleet. Damage to the ship is marginal however, repairs should not take longer than a few hours." The bridge officer says.
"90 percent? What of our auxiliary and repair ships? How many are left?" The Captain asks.
"None, sir. All we have is 6 troop ships and 5 Lunar-class cruisers." The officer says.
"Let us hope the rest of the fleet found a way out on their own, wherever they ended up." The Emperor comments. "Which troops ships are still among us?" He then asks.
"They are of the astartes legions my Emperor, all Imperial Guard ships are missing." The officer says with some nervousness in his voice.
"Good, we might need the astartes to get out of this system." The Emperor says.
"Sire?" The Captain asks. The Emperor sighs.
"We are surrounded by warp storms, Captain, I can feel them. We are cut off unless this system has a webway, we are stuck here till the storms subside, or we are forced to jump." He says.
"Jump into a storm, Sire?" The captain asks fearfully, but regrets doubting the Emperor immediately. The Emperor bows His head and closes His eyes. He could do it, if they have to. Can't be too big a storm though.
"How are the navigators on the other ships doing?" He asks.
"2 are dead, one lost his mind so will soon be dead. They have already been replaced." The navigation officer says. The Emperor slowly nods, expressing no concern. If He has to He will navigate all ships fully on his own.
"Peculiar. This warp jump was different, more volatile somehow. How far are we off course?" The Captain asks the bridge.
"Unknown Captain. We could have ended up anywhere in the Segmentum Obscurus." The navigation officer says.
"My Emperor, we have information about the system." The astrophysics officer says.
"Good, show it on the main screen." The Emperor says, walking towards the front of the bridge. The screen pops up and the 3D orrery shows a white luminous star, F class, surrounded by 4 celestial bodies. The 2 outer ones are gas giants, and the innermost planet is a cold, barren rock. The second planet from the star is a medium-sized planet, with a liveable atmosphere, gravity, and temperature.
"Zoom in on that planet." The Emperor commands. The orrery zooms in. 2 small moons of little significance orbit the planet. The planet itself is a desert world, completely lacking in any surface water or other biomes. At the northern pole, they register activity of artificial nature.
So, they are not alone in the system. But who or what could be out here?
"The planet is most likely inhabited. A single biome planet is rare, usually the result of some significant geological or stellar disaster. The biology on the planet is probably not old. Head for it now, gather as much information as you can en route." The Emperor says and without hesitation, the orders are given.
"It is unlikely to be Orks, my Emperor. The signals we are receiving are too sophisticated, plus there are no radiation detections. They could still be Eldar, my Lord." The astrophysics officer says.
If they are Eldar, the fight will be tough. The Emperor sighs, He can not see more people die, not against Xenos. It was still better than jumping into a storm this big though. Better to pacify the system of Xenos, always better to leave a system behind cleared of the taint of Xenos, especially Eldar.
"Prepare battle stations. Eldar ships will detect us as soon as we detect them, they will attack before we get a chance to get too close. Their fastest ships will be upfront, with flexible patterns. Call upon Horus. Take up formation Epsilon." The Emperor commands. Flawlessly the instructions are carried out.
All of His lost sons He has found so far are on board the flagship of the fleet, close to the Emperor Himself. 13 of His sons in total are on the ship, 13 of the 20 he made in His labs under the Himalayas back on Earth, so long ago now. He was determined to find them all as soon as possible, so the Great Crusade could be most efficient, and The Emperor could finally focus on different tasks whilst His sons reunite humanity. He quickly checks to see which astartes are still with them. On the remaining troopships, there are astartes of 3 different legions, 2 full divisions of each. Legions VII, IX, and XV. Good, very good. They might need them, The Emperor feels something is very wrong with this system.
These astartes are the gene-seed of Sanguinius, Rogal Dorn, and Magnus. They originally had another 7 legions with them, but The Emperor hopes they have successfully exited the warp elsewhere and are alive. The legions of His most recently found sons, Perturabo, Mortarion, and Lorgar were still recruiting and outfitting when they left Holy Terra and couldn't join the fleet yet. Even if they lose all these men, Holy Terra is still protected.
Closer now, they detect it is an entire armada orbiting the northern pole of the planet, many types of ships, unidentifiable. This could mean something else than Eldar. The Emperor closes His eyes. Suddenly He feels their presence, before any sensors detect the nature of the intelligent presence. First He feels the fleet of ships, then He slowly starts to reach the planet with His powerful mind and telepathy. Over the surface He scans, finding settlements, labor, hidden enclaves, and then... The Emperor opened His eyes wide. A reach out, a shock, a tremor in His mind. A sign. Something claws at His mind, and He repels it violently. He comes out of His vision.
Primarch Horus, the first of His sons that was rediscovered, arrives on the bridge mere minutes after he is called by the Emperor. His armor is broad, stunning, and flawless. His signature feature is a huge glove, called a lightning claw, on his right hand. He wears it with great pride. His gear also includes a laspistol on the hip, like a standard soldier. Over his shoulders a pelt is draped, on his right hip he has a sword, purely decorative.
"Father, what is the situation?" Horus asks. The Emperor turns to His son and smiles, His most beloved creation, His prodigy. He grabs Horus by the shoulders and smirks.
"My son, I had expected Xenos contamination, but it appears this world is host to a human settlement. There are curiosities on the planet though, my son. It needs investigation." He exclaims. Horus slowly nods, he wouldn't doubt his Father. Whatever He commands, he does.
"Sire. We are approaching the human fleet orbiting the planet. We have easily penetrated and decrypted their communications. They call the planet Arrakis. It does indeed hold human settlements, your Grace." The Captain says.
"Open communication, all their ships. Horus will address them properly." The Emperor says, He looks at Horus who nods again.
"Communications opened, Primarch Horus." The Captain says. When Horus begins to speak he drops his thick, Chthonian accent which he usually keeps on purpose to show his roots.
"Humans, rejoice. After many millennia, you have been reunited with the Emperor Of Mankind! We are on a holy crusade to reunite the worlds of humanity under one banner so we will be strong again to defend against the Xenos threats and the ruinous powers and their heretical followers! Pledge your allegiance now and you shall be protected, enlightened, and forgiven!" Horus spoke with such power and force, the Captain of the flagship himself almost bows down again. Horus, of all the primarchs currently on this ship, was the truest of leaders. After a moment of silence, a voice comes on the comms.
"This is Captain Densqui of the House Corrino flagship. Whichever faction you are with, we will not submit. You have no authority over this planet or system, you have only the wrath of our Emperor, Shaddam IV, to fear. Leave now before we will destroy you." The man says without a quiver in his voice. Horus growls as his posture rises higher.
"Insolence! They shall meet fire!" Horus exclaims, making a fist with his power glove, lightning sparks licking the air. The Emperor holds up His hand though, and Horus says no more.
"Calm down, Horus. Captain, what is our position now?" He commands. A 3D map of the situation orbiting the planet comes into view. The human fleet above the planet consists of several hundred ships of various sizes. They appear to be of 3 or more different factions but are united under one banner. The ship that communicated with them was in the middle of the group of ships, right above what they saw as the capital of the human settlement on the planet.
Their own 12 ships have slowed down their approach and are now mere kilometers away from the group, facing 3 ships larger than any of theirs.
Most of the enemy ships are tubular in shape, ugly, no apparent weapon systems but the sensor indicates heat signatures, radiation, and large energy pulses that suggest these ships are all armed.
"The odds seem against them." The Captain blatantly states. Their Lunar-class cruisers have enough firepower on board to destroy several dozens of ships without ever slowing down, they are fast and well-shielded. And then there is their only Apocalypse-class battleship, which is even heavier armed, and armored. Even the troop ships have significant weapons to do some real damage to even this big of a force.
"Their technology is impressive, but not beyond ours. It appears they have either found an STC or met Imperium ships before and took the technology for their own." The Captain continued.
"Heresy," Horus says. The Emperor nods. Horus is right of course, any attack on the Imperium, or any use of the dark, corrupt, technology of STCs is heresy. He can't quite put his finger on it, but there is definite corruption here. There is no denying it, it has to be cleansed.
"Yes, it is obvious to me that they have an interstellar empire, rivaling The Imperium and therefore the Imperial Truth. They use the Immaterium to travel, it is too dangerous. Cut that one down with our lance cannon. Make sure they see us powering up our weapon." The Emperor says as He points at one of the huge, cylinder-shaped, ships hovering in front of them.
The Captain gives the order and the Apocalypse-class battleship's main lance cannon is turned to target the ship in the middle and powers up. The other 2 vessels don't move but the targeted one responds by turning its nose toward them. Didn't matter for the outcome as it turned out. When the lance cannon fires it shreds through the bridge of the vessel like paper, exiting somewhere halfway through the ship, sending sprays of high-energy sparks out. The front of the ship broke off and it drifted down towards the planet.
The Emperor feels the screams of the heretics as they die, some even sending out psyker calls into the warp, which the Emperor finds discomforting.
"They have psykers." The Emperor exclaims. Horus turns to his father.
"You don't think they can navigate the warp like our navigators can do you?" He asks. The Emperor grunts slightly. He doesn't fully grasp that these ships don't seem to have a gellar field, any psyker crazy enough to send out his mind into the warp openly would be fried within a second. They might be skimming the warp to get where they want to go, sacrificing psykers to get where they need to go. But something doesn't add up to that.
"They don't have enough psykers on board for jumps like that, nor the right protection. No, they skim the warp like we used to do in the Dark Age of Technology. But I need information on their capabilities, and how they build an empire. Captain, give me prisoners." The Emperor says and sits on His throne. The Captain nods when a new message from the enemy fleet arrives. They had declared war.
"Combat stations, engage at free will." The Captain orders. He doesn't need the Emperor's permission to issue attack commands and carry out a campaign against heretics or rebels. The Apocalypse-class battleship opens up all fire ports and extends all cannons. The cruisers take up evasive maneuvers and open their torpedo bays as the smaller enemy vessels behind the big ones take up positions at the front. The Imperial troop transports stay at the back.
As the enemy vessels come in range the front cruiser launches its torpedoes. A barrage of 20 torpedos in total spreads out towards the enemy fleet. 10 of the torpedoes are melta torpedos and the other 10 are seeking torpedoes. The enemy fires on the torpedoes as they approach and gets roughly 70 percent of them, 2 more seeker torpedoes detonate prematurely, and the remaining 4 hit 2 enemy ships. 1 ship is hit with 2 melta torpedoes, which punch into the ship with ease, detonating inside and melting a good portion of it from the inside. The result is the enemy ship imploding and a big ball of fire shoots out of its bottom. The other ship gets hit with 2 seeker torpedoes that blow up on the surface of the ship and rock it to the side. When the sparks and smoke clear 2 big holes are seen on the side of the ship, a total loss. The enemy ships were successful in protecting the larger vessels and more are maneuvering in front of them. But, the Imperium has 5 other cruisers who all also unload their torpedoes. The enemy is quickly overwhelmed and within a few minutes of the fight 10 enemy smaller ships are cut down by the Imperium and the way to the bigger ships is cleared.
However, the bigger ships had now had time to maneuver into position, tight formation. They have powered up their weapons, aim true, and fire their forward turrets. They fire high-energy lasers and all are directed at the cruisers who had taken point but were dispersing to give room to the battleship.
Their armor and shields are holding though. The void shields are very capable of deflecting laser fire, which iswhy the Imperium has resorted to using plasma and lance weapons. These weapons mostly ignore shields, which the enemy ships have but are overloaded pretty quickly.
Then the big ships open up with rockets, coming at them at about the same speed as their torpedoes. But their lasguns fire quickly to take care of all rockets fired, which exploded with nuclear fire in open space.
Now it is the battleship's turn and it aims its Nova Cannon. When it fires, the mistake of the enemy formation becomes clear. The Nova cannon fires a grav shell, a shell that creates a small black hole. The shell is too quick and large to be deflected by any defensive fire. With a proximity fuse, the shell detonates close to the hull of one enemy ship. The small black hole that appears almost instantly absorbs a good portion of the enemy ship, gravity crushing the materials into particles smaller than atoms. Despite the small size of the black hole, its gravitational influences expand well into the reach of the other 2 ships, whose hulls buckle and break under the intense gravity. The ship that suffers the worst damage is a total loss without any survivors whilst the other 2 are badly damaged and drift off. The small black hole falls apart as it can't contain its size and the gravity well disperses, leaving open space. Not shortly after the attack escape pods are seen coming out of the 2 badly damaged ships before they detonate. They probably scuttled the ships.
After that, no enemy ships turn towards them to engage, whilst the Imperium fleet freely engages them at full speed.
"What are they doing?" The Captain asks. The navigation officer turns to face him.
"Most of the smaller enemy ships appear to be descending towards the planet sir. They are landing." He says. The Captain stands up.
"Cut down as many as you can, prevent them from escaping!" He yells. Their own ships are incapable of landing without being torn apart in the atmosphere. If the enemy lands, their heretical crews will survive. They start firing their lasguns, torpedoes, lance weapons, and macrocannons. They manage to take out a lot, but definitely not all. A lot of enemy ships have now descended towards the planet. About 3 dozen bigger ships remain in orbit to defy them, probably to give the other ships time to escape. The Imperial fleet opens fire. The Nova Cannon is used again to destroy the flagship of House Corrino. Quickly, the battle is over. There are 10 ships left, a lot crippled, but still functioning. Only one of the ships left is one of the big rectangular vessels.
"Sire, the ships have surrendered. Your orders?" The Captain asks the Emperor. The Emperor looks at Horus. Horus nods and walks forward.
"Order them to shut down their powerplants, weapons, and shields. Nothing running on those ships but their life support. We will board the small vessel over here." Horus taps on one of the enemy ships on the 3D holographic viewscreen. "Send in the imperial guard, take prisoners, question them thoroughly. I want a tech-priest and ship surgeon among them, let them report to the Emperor directly about the enemy's ways of traversing the immaterium and their genetic profile." He says. The Captain relays the order and everyone goes to work tirelessly to set a boarding party into motion.
"There is chaos disturbance on that vessel. Be careful." The Emperor intervenes as the boarding party is ready to depart. He points at the big ship. The Emperor feels there is something important to be found in this system, either within this fleet or on the planet. Whatever it is, it is dangerous though.
Entering the enemy vessel proves to be easy, the enemy crew stands down and obeys without question. Not much after, a boarding party enters the bigger vessel and reports come back. The first report is from the tech-priest.
"Their technology is more impressive than we at first thought Your Grace. After ritualistic cleansing and Holy confirmation, it is safe to say Arrakis is not a Knight World. It is possible, however, through my findings and intensive studies of holy texts and forbidden gospels, that these humans have subjugated a Knight World somewhere close and stole their technology. The mere thought makes my augmented skin crawl.
They have sophisticated weapons and energy distribution. The ship's power plant is efficient, clean, and powerful. We might be looking at more than simply skimming the warp to reach their destination. I believe there must be an enormous amount of industry and population behind building these vessels, ones with access to either an STC or other stolen Imperial technology. Either way, I implore The Emperor, the Omnissiah, to show these heretics the full fury of The Imperium and Mechanicum alliance." The man says in his half-metallic voice. The ship surgeon goes even further to warn them of their new enemies.
"The crew of this ship are genetically human, no major mutations are visible, of course I'd have to test their DNA to find out for sure. But they do appear to be genetically pure. That does not count for all of them, however. One or 2 showed massive mutations, called themselves 'mentats', and we killed all of them.
I'm afraid they also have heresy beyond comprehension. They have navigators, Your Grace." He had said. The Emperor balled His fists at this news.
"Navigators? Are you sure? How?" The Emperor demands.
"Yes, my Lord. I do not yet fully know how, but we have encountered one of their monstrosities in a mannequin, a sort of water tank, which allows it to survive because of its physical, disgusting, mutations. It was on the bridge of the ship. It appears to be their leader, the captain even. They worship it, and revere it for its power. Apparently, their ships are controlled by these navigators, they hold full control over this separate human empire. I do not yet know by which means it protects itself from the chaos of the immaterium specifically but its psychic abilities are impressive enough to be able to enter the warp and take the ship with it. We think this gigantic vessel is a carrier for the smaller ships of their fleet. All these massive ships have one of these abominations aboard. I'd like to take it aboard our ship for study." He says. Images are shown of the abomination, both inside the tank and after forced extraction.
"Kill it, do whatever experiments you want with it on that vessel, and then incinerate the corpse as soon as you can. Can't be too careful about the taint of the warp, they can be in league with the ruinous powers." The Emperor says. But, if they are in league with the ruinous powers the Emperor would surely feel it. These mutants, these heretical navigators don't seem to be malign, they are somehow protected by the warp's influence, without psychic barriers, without Geller field. But that's impossible, isn't it? Yes, this needs further investigation.
"Round up all officers and people close to these navigators. Interrogate them thoroughly. Kill the rest. Destroy the vessel itself, the crew of the remaining ships can be taken as slaves if their genetic code is pure enough." He says. The surgeon coughed slightly.
"Sire, we have found another type, another mutant. A woman. She has definite chaos taint on her, she even managed to kill a few of the guards with her magic before we were able to detain her. Totally lost her mind, talking about prophecies and jihads. She refers to something called the Kwisatz Haderach. We killed her of course and burned the body. Excluding the navigator behemoth the vessel is now free of the taint of chaos." The surgeon finally says. The Emperor nods. More taint, magic, the worst kind of heresy besides Artificial Intelligence.
"It was good of you to kill the witch as quickly as possible. Interrogate more of the crew about this witch and her powers. See what they make of it. Keep searching for other heresies as you plan the destruction and executions." The Emperor says. The surgeon nods and the connection is severed.
"Horus, a word." The Emperor says. They take a small distance from the other crew of the bridge even though they would never listen in on a private conversation between the Emperor and one of his sons.
"Everything about this worries me. There seems to be too much mutation and psychic development on board these vessels without the ruinous powers having full control of these people. Yet I do not detect their presence as much as we should. Something is behind this and I think we can find the answers on that planet." The Emperor says. Horus nods.
"We shall send in the astartes to pacify the planet and find the answers You are looking for, Father," Horus says. Cleansing a planet with fire and blood was the best way to defy the ruinous powers, The Emperor couldn't agree more.
"Yes, the astartes will do for now. But be prepared Horus, you might need to make landfall yourself to find out the truth." The Emperor says. Yes, He might even have to land himself, if what he sensed was true.
"I will do anything you ask. My Emperor." Horus responds, raising his body high again in pride.