For a moment Theobald simply stared at the man, not sure that he had just heard what he had heard. He looked around to see if everyone else had heard what Casuat had just called out. From the looks on all of their faces it was clear that they had indeed. They were under attack. As this fact sank in, a flurry of questions raced through his mind.

Who was attacking them?

Why were they being attacked?

There were more questions, but they would all have to wait for the moment. First, they had to survive the coming attack. That meant that he had to pull himself together and lead.

"RAISE THE VOID SHIELD! POWER THE LANCES! NOW THRONE-DAMN IT!" He looked about as the bridge crew rushed to obey his orders. As they did this, he turned back to Casuat.

"I need data! What are we looking at?!" The man, who had turned back to his instruments after raising the alarm, did not bother to look back. He merely called out the information as he read it.

"I am reading seven ships. The lead ship appears to be an Enforcer Class Light Cruiser." The man paused for a moment, reading his screen before speaking again.

"It appears that that ship is the largest one. The remainder are a mixture of escorts. I see three Claymore corvettes, one Cobra-class destroyer and two Iconoclast-class destroyers." As the details came in Theobald tried to determine which side had more firepower. While the enemy outnumbered them, the Adventurer and the Bringer of Illumination both had more firepower than any of the attacking ships. However; they were also less maneuverable and the enemy could attack from multiple angles and with the loos of the Glory they had fewer escorts to guard their flanks. If they were going to win, he would need to coordinate with his counterpart. He turned to the vox station and ordered him to contact Lord Tarron. He could only hope that their current situation would finally cause the man to be a little more cooperative.

"Lord Tarron, I believe that you will agree that the situation is not an ideal one. I recommend that we either withdraw or come up with a plan." As he waited for a reply Lady Julia came up to him.

"My Lord, if I may, perhaps you should attempt to contact the approaching fleet.

"While it is true that they are making aggressive moves towards us, they may simply be posturing. Words may remove the need for fighting and if nothing else, it may allow us to know who we are fighting and why." Theobald considered for a moment as he mentally kicked himself for not thinking of that himself. He then turned back to the vox operator.

"Send the following transmission: I am Theobald Traub, Rogue Trader by the grace of Terra and the God-Emperor's warrant and I greet you in his name. We do not come with hostile intent and I request that cease all hostile action and request that you speak with us." As all the ships were mostly Imperial design, he was confident that they could understand what he was saying. Thus, one he was finished speaking he was sure that there would be a reply and turned back to Casuat.

"Has there been any development?"

"Lord Tarron's ships are moving into a defensive position, with the Illumination in the center with Lord Tarron's other ships forming up around it." Casuat informed him. Theobald nodded, it was clear that his college expected it come to violence. He then turned to the vox operator.

"Has there been any response from the ships?"

"Negative, My Lord." The man replied. Just then Casuat spoke up again.

"My Lord, you need to see this." Made uneasy by the man's tone, Theobald hurried to the man's station and stared at the screen. As the ships drew closer more detailed images were available. What he saw was horrifying.

On some of the ships strange symbols seemed to have been carved into their sides. Just looking at them made him queasy. One symbol was more predominant than the others and appeared to be on all of the ships. A circle connected to two crescents by a line. Part of his training, imbued to him by cloaked tutors under the guns of servitors, had taught him that symbol and the horrors that it represented.

It was the symbol of the Dark Prince.

"Hi Sen! Lock onto the lead ship and fire!

"Mendrala! Evasive maneuvers!"

Neither of them responded to his commands, but he felt the ship shake as the lance fired and it began to turn. Theobald gripped the arms of his command throne. He found that he hated space battles. He hated the feeling of helplessness that he experienced every time that he took his ship into battle. He could give commands, but he could do nothing but wait for the results of those commands. Much of what happened was out of his hands and he did not like the feeling of not being in control of what was going on. He also hated that he had to wait to know if their efforts had any effects.

Back home when he had been fighting the Orks he had known what was happening and could react to the changes that occurred as soon as they happened. That gave him a feeling of control that he lacked whenever he took his ship into combat. He shook his head firmly. He did not have time for complaining. Now it was time to fight. This thought was reinforced by a sudden shaking of the ship.

"Report!" He called out. Hi Sen responded.

"The enforcer has struck us with its lance. However; we are at maximum effective range and it failed to penetrate our shields. I believe that our own attack will have similar effects.

"My Lord! The lead ship is launching attack craft!"

"Are they heading for us or Lord Tarron?" Theobald demanded.

They appear to be targeting primarily us." Before Theobald could react, Casuat spoke up.

"My Lord, Lord Tarron is contacting us."

"What does he say?"

"He states that he does not believe that we can successfully evacuate from the system and that our only option is to fight and he requests that you bring Adventurer alongside Bringer of Illumination to form a battle line." Theobald nodded.

"Helm, bring us alongside Bringer of Illumination.

"Hi Sen, continue firing at the enforcer. Once they come into range, give them a broadside."

"Aye, aye Captain." Hi Sen responded. Theobald then turned back to Casuat.

"What are their attack craft doing?"

"They are remaining close to their ships My Lord."

"They are not attacking?" Theobald was confused. Mendrala interjected to explain.

"They are probably waiting.

"The enforcer-class doesn't have that many attack craft and so they probably do not want to risk them until they are a lot closer and our flack guns will have less time to bring them down." Theobald could only nod as he turned back to the auger screen.

He had expected the heretic ships to advance in a line, like a naval unit would, but that was not the case. They were all advancing at what appeared to be their ships' maximum speeds; with the result that the smaller ships were beginning to leave the enforcer, which Theobald assumed was the flagship, behind and the cobra and iconoclasts were outpacing the claymores as well.

"I suppose that I should not have expected a bunch of heretical pirates to have the same level of disciple as a Navy squadron." He said, more to himself than to anyone else. As he watched the ships spread out a thought occurred to him.

He was not sure which side had more firepower if it were all added up, but he was sure that if they could use the enemy's impetuousness against them then they might be able to negate any advantage that the enemy might have. He did not know much about naval combat and so he was not sure if the idea that he had would work, but he did not give himself time to consider it. If he was going to do it, then they would have to act fast. He turned to vox operator, who stiffened as Theobald moved towards him.

"Make contact with Lord Tarron and inform him that plans have changed. We should strike before they close with us and they are spread out." Not waiting for a reply, he turned to the auger screen. He stared at if for a moment and then began giving orders to Mendrala.

"On my command, turn the prow to face the Iconoclast closest to us and move us forward at maximum speed." He then spoke to Hi Sen.

"Bring the lance to bear on that ship and when we pass the other ships fire on them with the macro batteries." Neither of them spoke, merely moved to obey his commands.

"My Lord." The vox operator called out. The cobra and the other iconoclast are heading towards and the rest are engaging Lord Tarron and his ships.

"Lord Tarron acknowledges your request and concurs." Theobald nodded his acknowledgement and returned his attention to the battle raging in the void. His eye was drawn to one of the iconoclast ships.

It was moving fast, faster than any of the other pirate ships. Faster than it should be possible for that class of ship. Even as he watched it on the augers it continued to accelerate and as it did so its shape changed. Theobald frowned and looked closer at the icon.

"Get me a closer look at that one." He told the auger operator, indicating the ship with his finger. The man worked his instruments and the imaged sharped. As it did so Theobald felt his gore rise.

The ship had sails.

Sails which appeared to be made of flesh. Indeed, the more he looked at it, the more the ship seemed to be more a creation of flesh than of steel. More importantly, it was heading directly towards the Adventurer.

"HI SEN! Change in priorities! Target that iconoclast! Bring it down before it gets any closer!"

"Aye Captain!" Acknowledged Hi Sen, who had clearly also seen the mutated ship closing with them.

Theobald felt the ship rock as the ship's lance fired. He turned to the auger and watched the closing ship. He was certain that the strike would hit, but it did not. At seemingly the last moment the ship slid to the side. It seemed a slight thing, but it was enough to save it from harm. Theobald heard Hi Sen curse and felt the urge to do so as well, he had to give the crew the impression that he was in control of his emotions. So he swallowed and took a deep breath before he spoke again.

"Again." He said simply. Hi Sen said nothing, merely nodded.

Theobald considered ordering the ship to turn and give the approaching ship a broadside, but in the end he decided against that course of action. If the ship was fast enough to avoid a lance strike, then it was probably fast enough to avoid macrocannon shells. Moreover, he wanted to save the broadsides to deal with the enforcer-class ship. Thinking of that made him remember that the oncoming ship was not the only threat which they faced and he turned back to the auger operator.

"How is the rest of the battle going?"

"The enforcer is stilling holding at the maximum effective weapons range. The cobra and the other iconoclast are moving to attack us, the rest are moving to engage Lord Tarron." Theobald nodded and turned back to the closing iconoclast.

He had expected it to be firing on them, surely it was in range by now, but it had not and continued to close with them. Theobald wondered if the altering of the ship had also effected its weapons. It had to be within weapons range by now, but it had not fired. It merely continued to accelerate towards them. He wondered if it intended to ram them, but that was nonsense. The ship, despite the changes that the Warp had wrought upon it was still significantly smaller than Adventurer. True, his ship would be damaged, but they would be destroyed. They had to know that, surely they were not mad enough to cause their own deaths for little gain. Then he remembered who he was talking about.

Yes, they would be that mad. Even as the ship closed it finally discharged its weapons.

Instead of macrocannon shells, missiles or any other normal munitions, it seemed to be discharging bolts of some liquid which did not freeze, despite the cold of space. The liquid splashed across Adventurer's void shields. They flickered for a moment and then faded. As soon as the shields failed the enemy ship shot forward. Theobald shouted at Hi Sen to shoot it down, but it was too late and the ship closed. Theobald thought that it was going to unleash a blast of the fluid, but it did not. Instead, it closed with them, the bottom of the ship seeming to sprout a mouth. The two ships came together with a crash; followed swiftly by a horrible sound, a sound like teeth grinding on metal. The crew looked at one another in fear and then at Theobald. He, for his part, had already risen from his throne and was already heading towards the elevator, his had going to his com bead as Lady Julia fell in beside him.

"THIS IS LORD TRAUB! WE ARE BEING BOARDED! ALL CREW ARE TO ARM THEMSELVES AND PREPARE TO REPEL THEM!" He did not wait for replies. Instead he turned back to Lady Julia.

"Fetch your armor." She merely nodded and hurried off.

Despite all that was happening, Theobald found himself smiling. After all that was happening, he was relieved and even a little happy. This type of battle was more familiar and far more to his liking than what had come before.

Author's Notes: Hey everyone, sorry that it has been so long. I will try to get the next one out sooner. Till then may Jesus bless you all.