Ghana's Rock, in the Coronid Deeps.
Aboard the Furious Abyss, in the Cathedral.
Chapter Master Zadkiel of the Quillborn stood at the obsidian lectern, surrounded by thirty-three Word Bearers.
Their clerical robes bore the legion insignia of the Shadows of Order, and beneath them, their armor had been repainted black, with a massive crimson quill emblazoned upon their chests.
They stood in formation: three on the left, eleven in the center, nineteen on the right.
To the left were Zadkiel's confidants: Assault Captain Belanos, Chaplain Ixalon, and Reskiel.
"In the Emperor's new era of enlightenment, there is no place for faith. The short-sighted Imperium denies the existence of ultimate truth."
"He is wrong."
The Quillborn chanted in unison: "As you have spoken."
"Lorgar is also wrong."
"The four gods of Colchis are all illusions." Zadkiel clasped his hands together in an inverted hold.
"Only the Black Emperor is true."
"All that Lorgar speaks is false!" The Quillborn mirrored Zadkiel's gesture.
"Only the Black Emperor is true!"
Zadkiel gazed down at the congregation below, his followers repeated the true words again and again.
He turned abruptly to look at the figure emerging from the dim shadows.
Master Helmsman Salkorov bowed. "My lord, Navigator Essimia has detected a fleet translating into realspace."
"No word from Flamini?"
"No, my lord, hence the Navigator believes it to be an enemy fleet."
"I see." Zadkiel looked down at his congregation, spreading his arms wide.
"The appointed hour has come; it is time to write our chapter."
He swept his gaze over each of them. "The moment has arrived to prove you have grasped the true words."
"Write the chapter of truth!" The Quillborn chanted in unison, retreating into the shadows at the cathedral's edges.
Zadkiel drew his sword, with a "Concepts Swap," he swung the blade and dispelled the "Euclidean sigils."
...
The bridge.
Zadkiel gazed at the central image screen, a smile curling at the corner of his mouth, his speculation had been confirmed by fact.
The rebels, with their overwhelming advantage, would strike from Isstvan, in the southern part of the Coronid Deeps.
Ghana's Rock, the most important world in the southern Cyclops Cluster, would be the heretics' first target.
Here, Zadkiel would take the stage.
Zadkiel glanced at the secondary screen displaying tactical readings, the augur array had identified the enemy's flagship.
The Death Guard's Mia Donna Mori.
'A terrible world-killer?'
Zadkiel smirked; 'It was time to show what a true ship-killer looked like.'
"They are in range," said Assault Captain Belanos.
Zadkiel wanted to savor this moment, but the Black Emperor's warning surfaced in his mind.
He watched one cruiser and escort vessel after another, similar to those in the databanks, yet all wreathed in eerie, sickly auras.
Seven escort ships surged ahead first, like venomous darts streaking toward the planet.
"Malforian."
The ordnance deck flickered on screen, situated in the metal canyon below the ship's prow, where ratings shouted as they dragged torpedo sleds forward.
"My lord."
"Fire."
The ship spat out a wave of torpedoes.
On the bridge of the Mia Donna Mori, crimson dots flickered across the tactical display.
"Evasive maneuvers, torpedoes full spread!"
Void shields were primarily designed to counter macro-cannon and broadside fire, they were not effective against torpedo strikes.
Matteus could only hope the ship's thick armor would absorb the impact.
The Mia Donna Mori's braking engines ignited, all thrusters below the hull blazed with blinding light, pushing the battleship's hull upward.
The first wave of torpedoes missed, streaking past into the void.
Matteus looked at the screen as the enemy vessel came into full view, and frowned.
He had never seen a ship so massive, three times the size of his own; even an Emperor-class battleship would pale beside it.
Three enormous decks loomed like the prongs of a Styx trident, sending chills down the spine.
Dense torpedo tubes glowed crimson, swarming out like a hive of enraged wasps.
Warning runes flared across every screen, heralding imminent impact.
The Mia Donna Mori's portside defensive turrets twisted to their limits, large-caliber fragmentation rounds pockmarked dozens of torpedoes.
One torpedo streaked through the barrage and struck the starboard side.
The void shield at the impact point, already failing, flickered with an ominous black light, shrapnel spun outward.
"Torpedo has penetrated the outer armor," reported the helmsman's chorus.
Another torpedo struck beneath the ship.
The steel hull split open, one super-thermal incendiary and six small ballistic warheads spun out.
They drilled through the armor, and high-explosive charges detonated.
Thermobaric shock tore through the protective-suit-clad workers; raging flames incinerated the gas-masked sailors.
The shockwave spread like a hammer, smashing open the biochemical room's doors.
A wave of fire rolled in, crackling.
Boom boom boom!
Tongues of flame raced across the gun deck; sparks ripped open gashes in protective suits.
Workers grabbed extinguishers, spraying foam.
The foam splashed onto the flames, rising as a cloud of mist.
The vaporized toxins mixed with the mist, seeping into the protective suits.
Bang!
A worker collapsed to his knees, clawing at his throat.
Rip!
A tear opened in his suit, blisters erupted across his hands.
The blisters swelled rapidly, bursting with wet pops.
Three meters away, another sailor convulsed violently.
His eyes rolled white, he saw nothing.
In that terrifying whiteness, he crashed against an overheated plasma conduit.
Crack!
Boom!
The sailor was engulfed in fire, reduced to a pile of ash.
A chain of explosions sent massive fragments hurtling from the Mia Donna Mori, the crew, already suffering horrors from the biochemical toxins, found release at last.
Matteus gripped his command throne, metal groaned.
"Report!"
Death-screams filled the comm channel. Matteus relied on his Lyman's Ear to filter the fragmented information.
"Second-tier shields have collapsed, massive internal explosions and secondary detonations."
"Plasma leak in Reactor Four, no response from the gun crews."
"Toxic leak on the medical deck, all doctors and wounded are dead."
Matteus opened the fleet channel: "All ships."
"Our fate is sealed, heed my command. Sound the death-horn."
"Abandon all defense, full power toward the enemy ship, maximum firepower!"
Plasma engines flared crimson, the green ships surged forward, hurtling toward the Furious Abyss.
Zadkiel stared at the screen, port and starboard batteries fired in unison; the ship spat out swarming torpedoes.
Yet the flaming enemy ships still pressed their death-charge, closing the distance to the Furious Abyss.
"Deploy the escorts!"
"Bow cannon, fire!"
The escort fleet's engines accelerated, racing to meet the oncoming ships.
The great book adorning the ship's prow opened.
While cruising and docked at Ghana's Rock, it had been repainted in the black-iron color of the Iron Laws of Monarchs.
In silence, it slowly unfolded outward, revealing a monstrous cannon.
Red light gleamed at the barrel's tip, the ship's reactor plasma surged forward, charging the capacitors to full.
Blue flame ignited the stored energy, a white beam leaped from the ship's prow.
The beam struck the Mia Donna Mori; vaporized metal rose in a white-and-green dust cloud.
The entire ship sheared apart at the forward quarter amid frozen hail.
Blinding fire filled the Death Guard's screen images.
The colossal energy readings overwhelmed all sensors.
As all enemy ships went blind, the plasma lance, unleashing its might on the battlefield for the first time, carved burning trails of plasma across the void.
Charred bodies slid from the green hulls.
Zadkiel felt the Furious Abyss as an extension of his own body, its turrets and torpedo tubes like his own hands.
As his fists struck out, the Death Guard's fleet was consumed by the flame of true words.
He stared at the screen with lingering satisfaction, then the Black Emperor's warning surfaced again.
'The Furious Abyss is so powerful, could any enemy truly board my ship before being destroyed?'
....
If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 30 chapters ahead.
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