Gren Vosotho had just issued his final order to destroy as many rebel ships as possible before his flagship was sunk, when, suddenly, salvation arrived. The ships of the 33rd Fleet entered into the battlefield.
Vosotho drew in a deep breath, forcing himself to calm his racing thoughts as he gave a new order to the Astropath.
"Send a transmission request."
While waiting for a response, his eyes turned to the hololithic display.
The long-range augur arrays projected two titanic silhouettes through the static haze, the Throne of Shadow's Sovereignty, flagship of the 11th Legion, and another vessel newly built by Mars: the Judgment's Glory, a Gloriana-class battleship.
As he watched, every screen aboard his bridge filled with streams of returning signal, then came the barrage.
Like a storm of stars, an overwhelming salvo of ordnance rained upon the rebel fleet. Around the Thunder of Thessalan, the red dots that marked enemy ships flared brilliantly and then winked out one by one.
Warning runes vanished from the displays. His flagship had survived.
Yet even under this devastating assault, the rebel ships did not flee, instead, they charged madly toward the fleet of the Shadows of Order.
Their numbers still gave them a crushing advantage, pouring volleys of fire into the darkness.
"Gunnery command," Vosotho ordered, "open fire! Support our allies!"
Aboard the Shadow of KingsThrone of Shadow's Sovereignty, Captain Diana Pauline sat upon her throne of cables and conduits.
Around her, sacred alcoves pulsed with flickering runes.
She was adrift in a sea of data, her mind receiving and parsing billions of readings at once.
As a "Telephatist", Diana's psychic core had been strengthened twice combined with her gyrinx familiar coiled beneath her feet, her cognition exceeded that of most Shadows of Order.
Following the Primarch's doctrine, the Marshall of Ordnance, Gabriel, had optimized the ship's Simulus Chambers to match the cognitive limits of unmodified human officers.
Each tier processed one-tenth the usual data volume, prioritizing only the most critical variables: position, vector, energy output, and shield integrity.
This was not a lesser version of the Iron Hands' system, but a refined one, focusing purely on decisive parameters.
Diana now commanded with total clarity. She could feel every ship's position, velocity, and relation to others, seeing the entire battle as a single living mechanism.
The data streamed into the Chamber:
{Enemy vessel A-1, distance 104,900 km, azimuth 8-0-5, declination 2…}
Within the virtual tactical space, Diana and a hundred officers of the strategic chamber conducted rapid thought-simulations.
Each officer's solution was instantly shared, compared, and refined.
In one breath, consensus was reached, Diana's strike plan was optimal for targets A-1 through A-100, while Staff Officer Willock's plan was best for A-28.
The final collective will was transmitted to the fire control crews.
The Throne of Shadow's Sovereignty yawed three degrees to port, its twin aether-cannons firing in unison, collapsing the void shields of a rebel light cruiser before vaporizing its hull.
Macro-batteries thundered, each shell hitting its mark.
The entire fleet moved like interlocking gears, each ship striking independently but in perfect synchronization.
One macro-cannon on the Throne of Shadow's Sovereignty coordinated fire with the Sword of Vostroya, the 11th Legion's cruiser, to hammer both flanks of another rebel vessel.
Every shot, every strike, efficient, precise, devastating.
Within moments, the XI Legion's fleet had annihilated nearly one-fifth of the rebel armada.
Diana received status feedback simultaneously:
"Starboard void shield B-16 overloaded by concentrated fire from eight enemy vessels."
Without crew intervention, the system rerouted energy and activated a secondary generator.
Within seconds, a new teardrop-shaped barrier shimmered into being.
These automated systems had reduced crew requirements by over fifty thousand, yet doubled combat efficiency.
On the Thunder of Thessalan, Vosotho watched in stunned silence.
In a single exchange, the 11th Legion had shattered the enemy line.
He saw that, despite overwhelming enemy numbers, the Shadows of Order had lost only a handful of unshielded communication and escort craft, not a single main voidship.
Just as he regained his composure, the voice of his choir master echoed through the comm-beads:
"Lord Commander, Primarch Nareth has accepted your transmission request. The channel is open."
"Lord Nareth," Vosotho said with genuine gratitude, "thank you for saving my fleet from utter annihilation."
"War-Borns," Nareth's deep, resonant voice replied, "the Imperium shall remember your sacrifice in this campaign."
The Primarch's words brought Vosotho a moment of comfort.
"Vosotho, your Legion has suffered heavy losses. Withdraw from the battlefield immediately. The rebellion in the Osiris Cluster will now fall under my command."
Vosotho's eyes filled with unwilling resignation. Yet he knew the order was correct. His ships were crippled; his troops decimated.
"Lord Nareth, there are still War-Borns fighting planetside. If it is possible… please aid them."
"Of course," Nareth replied, his tone absolute. "My sons will recover those who yet live."
"Thank you, Lord Nareth," Vosotho said once more, then cut the channel.
He hid his bitterness behind command formality.
"Set course for withdrawal."
Aboard the Throne of Shadow's Sovereignty, the Primarch sat upon his obsidian throne as Arsena manipulated the control staff.
"My lord," Dunn reported, "we now have full void superiority. The 7th Chapter has arrived and is clearing the remaining enemy ships. All units have confirmed their objectives, the xenos entities capable of mind control."
Nareth nodded slightly.
He knew little about the Osirian Psybrid, but even this was enough, an alien presence capable of puppeteering humans. That alone justified the intervention.
The Shadows of Order would not blunder blindly into slaughter as the War-Borns had.
They understood: This war's true goal was not simply to crush human rebels, but to hunt the alien minds controlling them.
.....
If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 30 chapters ahead.
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