As a Bellerophon-class Heavy Assault Cruiser, the Iron Will was constructed during the mid-period of the Great Crusade. It was forged to provide the Imperial fleets with a platform of overwhelming fire support and strategic deterrence. Its design synthesized the pinnacle of pre-Heresy technology with the cold requirements of the Emperor's military, boasting exceptional void-performance, devastating weapon arrays, and reliable protection.
The Imperial fleet, poring over the technical schematics transmitted by the Ark Mechanicus, treated this vessel, lost for ten millennia, with extreme trepidation. The sheer number of Macro-cannon batteries lining its flanks was sufficient to cripple an unshielded Imperial battleship in a single broadside. Its prow-mounted Nova Cannon was capable of puncturing the void shields of any ship in its class instantly.
Furthermore, visual observation suggested the ship had undergone extensive refitting after its initial commissioning. Historical records indicated that during that glorious age, Ferrus Manus, the Primarch of the Iron Hands, frequently modified the vessels delivered to his Legion to further augment their lethality. The Iron Will was clearly a product of this obsession; its standard superstructure had been altered, with ornamental gothic facades replaced by additional missile silos and secondary point-defense turrets.
Facing an Imperial patrol consisting of a single battleship, three cruisers, and a dozen assorted destroyers and frigates, the Adeptus Mechanicus helpfully provided a conflict probability matrix. The Naval Commander paled as he read the readout: a 22.41% probability of 42.33% fleet loss. Within half a Terran hour, this heavy cruiser could turn every escort and destroyer into orbital pyrotechnics. While such ships were expendable in the grand calculus of the Imperium, the data was enough to make the commander proceed with extreme caution.
Just as the fleet prepared to take the Iron Will into tow, the auspex arrays shrieked once more.
Another Warp rift tore open. The incoming data-bursts sent a wave of tension through every bridge in the sector. Scanning results indicated that the arriving entity possessed a scale far more terrifying than any mere starship.
A titanic mass of metal, comparable to a small moon, lurched out of the massive Warp breach. It was a jagged, twisting mountain of debris and hulks, countless shipwrecks fused into a singular, grotesque structure. It bore a haunting resemblance to the Arks of Omen commanded by the Despoiler's lieutenants.
"It appears to be 00-GZ-Ω7!" a Magos identified, cross-referencing his private archives.
"00-GZ-Ω7?" the other Tech-Priests queried in confusion.
"You may also know it as the Gallowdark," the Magos replied. His personal databanks were far more comprehensive than the Ark Mechanicus's general library. "It seems to have undergone a new transmutation."
Based on stored telemetry, the Magos quickly identified a change in the Space Hulk's silhouette. Clinging to its flank was a ship of exquisite and distinct design, currently being enveloped by a cage of metal spikes resembling a ribcage.
The identification of this legendary Hulk relied on the famous wrecks embedded within it. No one knew how long this ancient derelict had drifted through the Empyrean, but following the records of its last recorded discovery, the Mechanicus easily identified several landmark vessels.
These included the Vanquisher-class Battleship Victoria Magnus, the Exorcist-class Grand Cruiser Queen Imperia, the Ordo Xenos sample-collection vessel Everwatch, the claustrophobic penal transport Boneshackle, and the hollowed-out Ministorum cathedral ship Saint Bernidelph's Pride.
Among these loyalist husks were the traitors: the Death of Innocence and the Night Lords cruiser Prince of Despair. According to previous exploration logs, the World Eaters Strike Cruiser The Foeshredder was also trapped within; even in its derelict state, blood-crazed berserkers were said to roam its halls, turning every deck into a slaughterhouse. Even daemonic warp-ships like the Hellspite and Darkspawn had not escaped the Hulk's gravitational clutches.
Mixed within were countless xenos wrecks and unidentified shards of metal fused together by unknown, brutal forces. Beyond the physical dangers, the Space Hulk was a hive of hostile life: bizarre sentient xenos, warp-entities, tortured Machine Spirits from millennia past, and monsters from forgotten epochs.
As this metallic sphere stabilized, Axion received a singular, looping quantum signal.
"Armed Civilian Exploration Vessel—Distress Call!"
The signal format was archaic, but its protocol confirmed its origin: a vessel from the Federation era. The suffix data identified the ship as the Eternal Soul.
Filling with cold anticipation for a ship of the ancient Federation, Axion dispatched a specialized detachment. As a small task force of two ships of each class broke off toward the signal, the Imperial fleet remained locked in position.
Since the opening of the Great Rift, communications in Segmentum Obscurus had been sporadic. Originally, the patrol intended to escort the Iron Will to a nearby Imperial world for Inquisitorial screening. However, the appearance of the Gallowdark had captivated the Mechanicus.
The last time the Hulk appeared, Battlefleet Nemesys of War Group Alpha-VII had deployed elite naval boarding parties to explore it. Before the mission could be completed, the Hulk had plunged back into the Warp, taking hundreds of Imperial sailors with it. This time, they would not let it escape; they had to prepare for boarding actions to recover lost technologies and search for potential survivors within the labyrinthine metal tomb.
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