The Order of the Glorious Reprisal (The Battle for Delmarus)

[Servant of Dante]

From my order's thread (link in sig).

I started this story well over a month ago, then set it aside. I'm writing a bit right now, and thought I'd post the first bit of this story to see what people thought. Everything here is subject to change in the final draft (obviously), but I would love to here any thoughts you might have.

 

This is my first story featuring the sisters (or, frankly, any female character at all) and it's also the beginning of the longest narrative piece I've ever worked on (not saying much, actually).

 

So, anyway, Comments Appreciated!!!

 

516.M38

 

Sister-Captain Victinia stood in council with Canoness Alexius, the head Seraphim Superior, the three remaining Sister-Captains, and a few other venerable figures of the order. All wore full battle armour; nobody looked like they had slept in a week. Victinia felt as is she had been staring at the thrice-accursed holo display that Sister-Captain Illumen was updating them on since her first day as an initiate.

“As you can see,” the scarred Sister-Captain intoned wearily, “the foul heretics have outmaneuvered us every day for the past month. Their ships seem to come out of nowhere. Here was our most recent engagement,” she jabbed the controls with her finger. The projection sputtered before finally zooming into the system Illumen had indicated. A lifeless brown planet orbiting a fiery red star jerked into focus, along with a dozen or so ship icons. The distribution was familiar to Victinia. See had seen it from the bridge of the Resolute Shield eighteen hours ago. The whole experience felt rather surreal in her memory, even as Sister-Captain Illumen recounted the battle, “We scored a few solid hits on this cruiser, but the frackers sent Sister-Captain Jentais to the Emperor, along with the rest of her crew and the broadside batteries of the Holy Vendetta. I expect them to enter the Talmion system within the hour.”

The Chaos warband had been picked up by one of the order’s ships on routine patrol barely a week ago. Since then the five ships of the Talmion Battlegroup had engaged the heretics three times, but they where outnumbered and outgunned. After their last engagement with the traitor fleet the Battlegroup had returned to Delmarus, and the four surviving Sister-Captains had gone immediately into council with Canoness Alexius, who sighed heavily as she asked, “Was there nothing to be done for the Emperor’s planet Unteika?”

“No. We dared not engage again after such heavy casualties. Why the servants of the dark gods would stop to destroy an uninhabited planet is beyond me.” There was a long silence filled with the barely audible murmur of mumbled prayers.

Victinia finally spoke, “We must engage them before they land on Delmarus, even if it means the death of every woman and man on our ships.”

“And fight we shall. If, Emperor forbid, the heretics set foot on the Emperors holy soil here on Delmarus, we shall fight them here too,” spoke the Canoness, “There can be no retreat from the convent. Is there still no word from Battlefleet Tempestus?”

“No. The navigators say the warp currents have grown even more treacherous.”

“Then we have no choice. The Battlegroup will launch immediately. Engage the enemy. Have faith in the Emperor and He may yet deliver us to victory.”

As the women slowly filed out of the chapel, Victinia locked eyes with Sister Illumen. Neither said a word, but they both knew they needed more than a miracle if their order was to survive the week.

 

[Servant of Dante]

UPDATE TIME! I had more at the time of my first post, but didn't want to reveal it yet. Here's some more. I'd say the story is about half done. It's a REAL cliffhanger as is, but I don't have to worry about that, 'cause I already know how it ends . Anyway, I'd love to hear any comments/questions you might have about this.

Edit: yeah, I can't be bothered to indent all of those paragraphs by hand.

Ave Imperator! Faith, fire and death!

A little background:

The Adepta Sororitas Order Minoris known as The Order of the Glorious Reprisal is based on the planet Delmarus in the Talmion system on the northern fringes of the Garon nebula in the galactic south of the Segmentum Tempestus.

A few excerpts from Imperium archives relating to a some peculiarities of this order:

The isolation of the Talmion system makes it necessary for the order to maintain a small battlegroup for transport and defense. These ships are usually salvaged from Imperial Navy scrap yards. The majority of the crews of ships in the Talmion Battlegroup are native Delmarians, and a sister of the order captains each of them.

Past a minor offence, which is still reason for major penance, there is no room for compassion. Repentance is only accepted in extraordinary circumstances. Therefore, when a sister of the order commits a serious offence against the Emperor and their order they are not cast out as a Sister Repentia; rather, these former sisters are pressed into service in the furthest depths of one of the ships of the Talmion Battlegroup. They traditionally load the torpedoes or preform other dangerous tasks related to the ships weapons. If their ship is boarded, the sisters in exile on the ship will be the first to respond to the enemy assault, fighting with tools and autopistols. It is traditional to reinstate sisters in exile who preform extreme acts of heroism or self-sacrifice and survive.

516.M38

Sister-Captain Victinia stood in council with Canoness Alexius, the head Seraphim Superior, the three remaining Sister-Captains, and a few other venerable figures of the order. All wore full battle armour; nobody looked like they had slept in a week. Victinia felt as is she had been staring at the thrice-accursed holo display that Sister-Captain Illumen was updating them on since her first day as an initiate.

“As you can see,” the scarred Sister-Captain intoned wearily, “the foul heretics have outmaneuvered us every day for the past month. Their ships seem to come out of nowhere. Here was our most recent engagement,” she jabbed the controls with her finger. The projection sputtered before finally zooming into the system Illumen had indicated. A lifeless brown planet orbiting a fiery red star jerked into focus, along with a dozen or so ship icons. The distribution was familiar to Victinia. See had seen it from the bridge of the Resolute Shield eighteen hours ago. The whole experience felt rather surreal in her memory, even as Sister-Captain Illumen recounted the battle, “We scored a few solid hits on this cruiser, but the frackers sent Sister-Captain Jentais to the Emperor, along with the rest of her crew and the broadside batteries of the Holy Vendetta. I expect them to enter the Talmion system within the hour.”

The Chaos warband had been picked up by one of the order’s ships on routine patrol barely a week ago. Since then the five ships of the Talmion Battlegroup had engaged the heretics three times, but they where outnumbered and outgunned. After their last engagement with the traitor fleet the Battlegroup had returned to Delmarus, and the four surviving Sister-Captains had gone immediately into council with Canoness Alexius, who sighed heavily as she asked, “Was there nothing to be done for the Emperor’s planet Unteika?”

“No. We dared not engage again after such heavy casualties. Why the servants of the dark gods would stop to destroy an uninhabited planet is beyond me.” There was a long silence filled with the barely audible murmur of mumbled prayers.

Victinia finally spoke, “We must engage them before they land on Delmarus, even if it means the death of every woman and man on our ships.”

“And fight we shall. If, Emperor forbid, the heretics set foot on the Emperors holy soil here on Delmarus, we shall fight them here too,” spoke the Canoness, “There can be no retreat from the convent. Is there still no word from Battlefleet Tempestus?”

“No. The navigators say the warp currents have grown even more treacherous.”

“Then we have no choice. The Battlegroup will launch immediately. Engage the enemy. Have faith in the Emperor and He may yet deliver us to victory.”

As the women slowly filed out of the chapel, Victinia locked eyes with Sister Illumen. Neither said a word, but they both knew they needed more than a miracle if their order was to survive the week.

As Victinia strode through the familiar halls of the convent, she noted those she passed, recalling their names, and finding comfort in their familiarity. Some walked erect, their heads held high, while others barely gazed past the toes of their feet; some wore their white robes, others where arraigned in power armour. Victinia nodded to Sister Niteelan, who sat outside the infirmary with a blood-splattered sling tied around her right arm and hung with an array of holy symbols. The wounded sister looked up briefly with clouded eyes, a spark of determination still glowing within them.

The corridors became more crowded as Victinia neared the shuttle pads. Afternoon sunlight poured in through the stained glass windows. She glanced at one of them as she passed. It had always been her favorite - a beautiful depiction of Saint Alicia Dominica kneeling before the Golden Throne, but there was no time to waste looking at it now. The bright sun caused her to squint as she passed out of the convent onto the open landing pad. Four Aquila Landers where parked on the rockcrete surface, a fifth position lay empty where Sister-Captain Jentais’s shuttle should have sat. A wave of sadness and indignation washed over Victinia at the sight.

Victinia glanced around, looking for her adjunct, as the shuttles boarding ramp slowly hissed downward, but recalled that she had just passed Sister Niteelan at the infirmary. The Sister-Captain barely heard the voice over the roar of idling engines as she claimed the gilded ramp, “Sister-Captain! Wait! Victinia!” Vivtinia turned to see Sister Niteelan running toward her, her right arm still tied within the sling.

“It’s good to see you up Sister,” said Victinia, a half smile on her lips, “but where is your armour?”

Niteelan glanced down at her white robe, the same one every sister wore when not training or on active duty. “The Sister Hospitaller wouldn’t let me take it,” she answered weakly.

“And I suppose she sent you off without your weapons too. Fortunately for you, Sister Elianan doesn’t have your armour. It’s on board the shuttle, as are your weapons. Let’s get moving.” Sister Niteelan hurried to follow Victinia into the lander and the Sister-Captain signaled the pilot to take off. The shuttle’s engines roared as they rose off the ground to begin the transition into the void.

As she sat down in the Aquila’s passenger compartment, Victinia realized that it had now been six years since Niteelan had began her training under her. She would be the next Sister-Captain of the Resolute Shield, an unusual role for a member of the Adepta Sororitas. Demarus’s isolated position on the northern edge of the Garon Nebula necessitated the existence of the Talmion Battlegroup, although the small band of ships that the order had managed to salvage from Imperial Navy scrapyards barely deserved its name. It had been decided that each ship should be under the direct control of a member of the order to avoid dealing with troublesome Imperial captains and other eccentric voidsmen. Each Sister-Captain took on an adjunct as soon as they took full command of their ship. In this way knowledge such as the workings of the ship, basic void tactics, how to deal with necessary mutants like navigators and astropaths, and so on, was passed on from one Sister-Captain to the next.

Niteelan would serve as adjunct aboard the Resolute Shield until the day Victinia passed into the Emperor’s light. Until recently, the Sister-Captain had been sure that that day was still far in the future, even as she entered her hundredth year. Now, well it was better not to dwell on that.

Thanks to the gene therapy the members of the orders of the Adepta Sororitas received, Victinia looked and felt like a woman the age of her adjunct, who was in turn more than fifty years her junior. Of course, no one outside the order would guess that Niteelan was a woman in her forties.

Victinia eyes snapped open as the lander touch down in the shuttle bay of the Resolute Shield. She didn’t remember closing them. Niteelan was watching quietly from her seat on the opposite side of the shuttle; Emperor knows how she had gotten into her power armour with one good arm. Both sisters where armed as they descended the ramp to the deck of the ship. They carried the bolt pistols that they had been given by the Canoness on the day that their respective novitiates had ended, and Victinia rested her right hand on the skull shaped pommel of her powersword, while Niteelan struggled to belt on her chainsword without aggravating her fractured right humerus.

The bay was awash with lifters and trolleys of all sizes and descriptions as munitions and other supplies where frantically offloaded from atmospheric transport shuttles and whisked down into the bowels of the ship. Food and other supplies where also being replenished, although Victinia hardly expected that they would have time to use many of them. Some of the nearby workers glanced up as the power-armoured sisters strode across the bay, but mostly they kept to their work. Victinia led Niteelan to a lift, and coded in the bridge access key. As they rose through the Righteous Shield, Victinia updated her adjunct on the tactical situation, “the Canoness has determined that we intercept the heretics before they reach Delmarus. We will have to move at full speed in order to engage them before their lance batteries are in range of the planet.”

Niteelan nodded solemnly. They both knew there was little chance either of them would see the convent again, but the younger sister simply replied, “every one of them we cast into the void is one less for our sisters to fight on the Emperor’s sacred soil.”

Victinia began to smile in spite of herself, “let us place our trust in the Emperor,” she intoned as the lift doors ground open to admit them onto the bridge, where the crew was already at their posts. She acknowledged the on duty officer with a small nod before replacing him at the center of the room. The hunched form of the ship’s Navigator tugged at the edge of her vision, but she had long since learned to accept the witch’s presence as unavoidable. He was almost as much a part of the ship as the warp engine or the broadside batteries. A few seconds later the hologram before her lit up, as the attendant techpriest methodically prodded its arcane mechanisms, and began to display the Resolute Shield, orbiting Delmarus alongside the Dawnhammer, the Shroud of Faith, and Sister-Captain Illumen’s flagship, the Emperor’s Grace.

While the sight caused a swell of pride in her heart, it also intensified her unease. The Emperor’s Grace was a Dauntless-class light cruiser, but the other ships where frigates, or, in the case of the Resolute Shield, a destroyer. The battlegroup had lost its heaviest batteries when the Holy Vendetta, an Endeavour-class light cruiser, had been destroyed.

Victinia linked her com-bead into the command frequency, which allowed the Sister-Captains and their Adjuncts to converse without outside interference. On the signal from Sister-Captain Illumen, she ordered the Resolute Shield into motion, and as the four ships moved away from Delmarus, someone, she wasn’t sure who, breathed, “may the Emperor be with us, for soon we shall be with Him.”

The holo switched to the battlegroup’s main tactical display, centering on the Emperor’s Grace. Victinia watched anxiously as Delmarus crept slowly toward the bottom of the display, and a red curve inched toward the ships from the other side. That line traced a circle around Delmarus at the estimated maximum range of the enemy’s lance batteries. If they crossed it they would be in range to strike at Delmarus directly. The Navigator’s blind, unwavering gaze drew her attention. When she finally turned toward the old man he said, “I can feel their presence already. The ripples they are causing in the warp, even from realspace . . . most unsettling.”

Victinia grimaced, never pleased to be reminded of the witch’s nature, but did not doubt that he was correct. She turned her attention back to the holo, watching the progress of the red line ever more intently. Then the first of the heretic’s ships appeared on the display. “Contact, one hundred million kilometers. Their exact locations are still tenuous,” reported the ship’s auspex operator excitedly.

“Very well, upload the telemetry to the cogitators on the Emperor’s Grace,” said Victinia, her pulse quickening as the battle drew near. She knew the response was largely irrational, as she was not going to be doing any physical fighting, but the familiar sensation was comforting nonetheless.

The field of view of the main holo display shrunk as the two fleets closed, keeping the enemy contacts just on the edge of the field of view. As the detail of the display increased Victinia let out a sigh of relief. They where going to make it. Barely.

“Status report,” called Niteelan as the Resolute Shield entered full combat alert.

Various crewmen across the bridge responded in perfect order, “Broadsides and point defense batteries charged. Loading forward torpedoes now.”

“Void shields functioning within tolerances.”

“Engines running hot, but within tolerances.”

“Integral secondary systems functioning normally.”

Victinia nodded as the status report came in. The void shields and engines where showing the strain of the past days, but the ship was holding together. Both fleets where tens of millions of kilometers from the red arc displayed on the holo, but Victinia knew they where already in range of the massive lance weapons of the enemy capital ships. She checked the range readout on her main weapon display: seventy million kilometers. At this range it would be next to impossible for the traitors to target anything as small as one of the Imperial ships, but not impossible. Regardless, there was nothing in range to shield one ship from another. This would not be a tactical engagement, but a brutal brawl amongst the stars. The traitors had them outnumbered, outranged, and outgunned, so their only chance was to close as quickly as possible. If they where lucky they would be able to line up a shot on of the cruisers’ engines.

A searing green-white beam cut through space from the traitor ships, screaming past the Shroud of Faith, barely a kilometer off its starboard side.

Fifty-five million kilometers.

The heretics fired a second time, again targeting the Shroud of Faith. Its void shields flared gently as the primal energy of a sun grazed past.

Forty million kilometers.

Target acquisition icons flashed to life on a dozen consoles. Victinia relayed Sister-Captain Illumen’s engagement orders to the bridge crew, “Target the cruiser.”

She wondered briefly which cruiser the Sister-Captain intended them to target - there had been two at Unteika, but there was only one ship of that size in the enemy formation now. Where had the other gone? She cut into the command frequency as the Resolute Shield swung imperceptible to port to acquire its target, “Illu-

The lance fired again. For a moment the massive beam dissipated against the Shroud of Faith’s tortured void shields, but they gave out almost instantaneously. The vessel was pierced from bow to stern, knocking it off course and darkening its lights. The cascading energies of its plasma engines exploded outward, ripping it into tank sized shrapnel in seconds. Victinia was stunned. That level of accuracy with a lance weapon would be next to impossible, even at a full stop, and at these speeds? Impossible. None of them had expected this to be an easy fight, but not one of the Sister-Captains would have expected to lose a ship in a single blow.

“Holy Emperor preserve us!” yelled Niteelan making the sign of the Aquila and snapping Vivtinia from her reverie.

“Return fire! Torpedoes!” she commanded. A stunned bridge crew moved sluggishly to enact order.

“Now!” bellowed the Sister-Captain, slamming her armoured fist against the console before her, and four golden points of light raced away from the bow of the Resolute Shield. She tracked them on the holo as the massive projectiles traced a path toward the enemy cruiser. One flew wide to its starboard, another grazing along its ventral void shields. The third and fourth torpedoes found their mark, blossoming against the leading voids of the traitor ship. Their detonations where joined by others from the ordinance of the Emperor’s Grace and the Dawnhammer, but the heretic scum remained unharmed.

Thirty million kilometers.

The traitor ships where coming to a stop now, rotating to take full advantage of their superior broadside batteries. Victinia didn’t have to hear Sister-Captain Illumen’s command to give her next order, “Move into Katherine formation, position gamma!” Responding to the frantic commands of its pilots, the Resolute Shield slid gracefully into position, five kilometers ventral of the Emperor’s Grace and ten kilometers to the flagship’s starboard. The Dawmnammer mirrored the Resolute Shield, completing the tight triangular formation.

“Keep heading for the cruiser, and fire till you run out of torpedoes,” Victinia heard Sister-Captain Illumen finish giving her order over the sounds of the bridge. Even as she relayed the order to her crew, she knew it was going to be a rough ride.

Twenty million kilometers.

Another volley of torpedoes impacted against the enemy cruiser’s port void shields. A wall of energy beams reached out from the traitor ships’ broadsides in response. The resolute Shield shook with the violence of the barrage, but its void shields continued to hold. Soon they would be too close for the heretic ships to track them with their main weapons, and the battlegroup would have its chance to cripple their advance.

Thirteen million kilometers.

The traitor ships stopped fireing, leaving Victinia’s ears ringining in the absence of the constant pounding of energy against the ship’s collapsing void shields.

“Why did they stop,” wondered Niteelan, “Their voids don’t seem to be weakening, and ours are on the verge of collapse.”

“There’s something coming,” whispered the Navigator, his sightless eyes wide.

[Welcheren]

I enjoyed this very much. The tension builds up nicely into an AGAINST ALL ODDS/DESPERATE LAST STAND narrative. The characters have been effectively distinguished from what I would expect from Adeptus Astartes - on one end of the continuum - and Guardsmen on the other. The Order's emotions occupy a balanced middle ground, by showing more determination, faith and confidence that many Guardsmen might, but without the bio-engineered fearlessness of the Astartes. This makes them relatable and admirable. 

 

Admittedly, I am not as well versed with the Sisters as with other arms of the Imperial military, but the characters' zealous devotion/fanaticism reads as authentic.

 

At first Victinia struck me as just a little nondescript; that is, as too typical of her rank and status (given my level of familiarity with such orders), but I grew to like her and I am growing concerned about her future. The scene in which she let's Niteelan onto the Resolute Shield despite her injuries begins to distinguish her a little bit. If I were you, I would consider building something a little more unique-yet-believable into her character. However, this is just my opinion, and if I were you I would weigh this up against other readers' views first. 

 

 

I have a suspicion as what is coming next, and am eager to see whether my theory bears out. 

 

One absolutely TINY question. As mentioned earlier, the grim likelihood of death is well-established; so the following description struck me as odd: "If all went well, the Sister Captain was sure that that day was still far in the future."

 

Looking forward to more.

[Servant of Dante]

I enjoyed this very much. The tension builds up nicely into an AGAINST ALL ODDS/DESPERATE LAST STAND narrative. The characters have been effectively distinguished from what I would expect from Adeptus Astartes - on one end of the continuum - and Guardsmen on the other. The Order's emotions occupy a balanced middle ground, by showing more determination, faith and confidence that many Guardsmen might, but without the bio-engineered fearlessness of the Astartes. This makes them relatable and admirable. 

 

Admittedly, I am not as well versed with the Sisters as with other arms of the Imperial military, but the characters' zealous devotion/fanaticism reads as authentic.

 

At first Victinia struck me as just a little nondescript; that is, as too typical of her rank and status (given my level of familiarity with such orders), but I grew to like her and I am growing concerned about her future. The scene in which she let's Niteelan onto the Resolute Shield despite her injuries begins to distinguish her a little bit. If I were you, I would consider building something a little more unique-yet-believable into her character. However, this is just my opinion, and if I were you I would weigh this up against other readers' views first. 

 

 

I have a suspicion as what is coming next, and am eager to see whether my theory bears out. 

 

One absolutely TINY question. As mentioned earlier, the grim likelihood of death is well-established; so the following description struck me as odd: "If all went well, the Sister Captain was sure that that day was still far in the future."

 

Looking forward to more.

You are right. I'd forgotten about that line . . . I was playing off her faith, but I later contradicted myself. I will fix that.

 

I will attempt to give Niteelan more bits. She has a role to play.

 

Its wonderful to know there is someone who is enjoying my story! I have some more, but I want to get it to a suitable place before I post more. Remember, this is technically a draft, and everything is subject to change (except for the Emperor, who is Eternal).

[Welcheren]

That's exactly what I hope the fan fiction section will allow for: running drafts by peers who are equally avid readers of BL literature. 

 

I thought Niteelan was okay for now - being a supporting character. I was thinking about Victinia. But like you said, this is a draft. Hopefully, there will other comments as well (I wouldn't trust my opinion only). 

[Servant of Dante]

That's exactly what I hope the fan fiction section will allow for: running drafts by peers who are equally avid readers of BL literature. 

 

I thought Niteelan was okay for now - being a supporting character. I was thinking about Victinia. But like you said, this is a draft. Hopefully, there will other comments as well (I wouldn't trust my opinion only). 

Hum. I am actually going for a rather rigid character. She is a Battle Sister after all. They are basically as mentally tough and focused as space marines as far as I'm concerned.

 

I guess it will have to wait until I end the story. I'd be interested to hear what you think of the character once you have the whole picture.

 

Well, now you've gone and gotten me in the mood to write . . .

[Servant of Dante]

I think I've fixed the discrepancy you noticed. Here's what that paragraph used to look like:

 

Niteelan would serve as adjunct aboard the Resolute Shield until the day Victinia passed into the Emperor’s light. If all went well, the Sister-Captain was sure that that day was still far in the future, even as she entered her hundredth year. Thanks to the gene therapy the members of the orders of the Adepta Sororitas received, Victinia looked and felt like a woman the age of her adjunct, who was in turn more than fifty years her junior. Of course, no one outside the order would guess that Niteelan was a woman in her forties.

 

And here's the modified version. I split it into 2 short paragraphs to help it feel a bit more natural:

 

Niteelan would serve as adjunct aboard the Resolute Shield until the day Victinia passed into the Emperor’s light. Until recently, the Sister-Captain had been sure that that day was still far in the future, even as she entered her hundredth year. Now, well it was better not to dwell on that.

Thanks to the gene therapy the members of the orders of the Adepta Sororitas received, Victinia looked and felt like a woman the age of her adjunct, who was in turn more than fifty years her junior. Of course, no one outside the order would guess that Niteelan was a woman in her forties.

 

The full story above has been changed to reflect this edit.

[Servant of Dante]

I think I've reached a suitably dramatic and satisfying stopping point. Here's some more story! Note that I have changed the font and formatting of the distance readings throughout, but I did not edit my previous posts.

 

Oh, and Welcheren, check your PMs if you haven't already (don't worry, no spoilers).

 

9 MILLION KILOMETERS

A mighty gash opened in realspace, the immaterium spilling out like blood from a wound. Otherworldly sounds rippled over the Resolute Shield, causing several of the crewmen to fall from their posts, screaming incoherently. Victinia was transfixed. The opening into the warp was in front of their formation, some hundred kilometers above the Righteous Shield. A vessel slid out of the empyrean, claws of warp-matter clinging to it’s scarred and twisted hull as if to drag it back from reality and eldritch lightning sparking from its mass into the roiling realm. A massive eight-pointed star wrought in deep blue wrapped around its mighty prow, and nine pink-blue fires blazed from atop its bridge.

“Full stop!” ordered Sister-Captain Illumen, “Line up a volley with your broadsides!”

“So that’s where the other cruiser went,” muttered Victinia, turning to her disgruntled bridge crew to relay the order, “Get our broadsides in line with that cruiser, quickly!”

The Resolute Shield groaned as it slammed to a halt. Rivets hammered home ten thousand light years away, in a millennium lost to memory, screeched and snapped as tech priests ran from console to console. Victinia clung to her command console for support, watching in horror as the heretic cruiser ran down past the Emperor’s Grace at an angle, firing its massive broadsides in succession as they come into line with the Imperial ship. The gutted Emperor’s Grace was bashed away from the traitor cruiser to list lifelessly in the void. Victinia tried to reach Illumen over the command frequency, but received only static.

“Holy Terra, what just happened?” Niteelan seemed too stunned to hear Victinia’s question, rhetorical as it was.

“Sister-Captain,” said Niteelan slowly, “perhaps this is the miracle we have been looking for.”

Victinia rounded on her Adjunct, “What did you just say! By the Emperor, have you lost your mind?” Seeing the startled stares of the crewmen she quickly turned back to the bridge at large, slipping into a brusque, commanding tone, “Do we have the broadsides lined up yet?”

Turning back to his console, one crewman replied hastily, “A few more seconds, Sister-Captain”

Niteelan was still trying to get her attention, even going so far as to tap her on the shoulder.

“What,” said Victinia quietly, still startled at her Adjunct’s indiscretion.

“What I meant is that we could ram them. This is our chance to cripple the enemy fleet, especially if, as I suspect, this is the enemy flagship. What Chaos Lord would let another steal this kind of glory out from under them?”

The cruiser had finished pounding the Emperor’s Grace into scrap metal and was slowly turning and rolling to bring its guns into line with the Resolute Shield. Victinia’s mind raced as she watched their approaching doom. Niteelan was right. This would be their only chance to stop the heretics before they reached Delmarus. She hadn’t really expected to survive this battle, but her life was irrelevant. The Sister-Captain felt a pang of sorrow as she thought of the thousands of loyal souls aboard her ship, but she knew with an unwavering certainty that their sacrifice would be remembered and reprised in full.

Victinia came to a decision. “Point us to just aft of their broadsides. Ramming speed!”

 

The helmsman glanced over his shoulder before responding, “Yes, Sister-Captain.”

“Fire torpedoes from tubes one through three at will. Vent tube four for a maintenance cycle and alert me when it’s temperature drops to safe levels. Commander, you have the bridge”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Niteelan, with me!”

For the second time that day the bridge crew stared at Victinia in confusion, but she ignored them.

“Are you a bunch of filthy Ogryn mutants? You heard the Sister-Captain! Step to it!” The Commander drew the bridge crew’s attention back to their work as Victinia and Niteelan clamped on their helpets and the list doors closed.

“Munitions deck?” asked Niteelan, not waiting for an answer before setting the lift into motion.

Victinia nodded as the lift began its decent and, switching her and Niteelan over to a private vox channel, said, “I see we’re on the same page. We’ll need to pick up some additional ordinance on the way.”

“There should be a weapons cache near the lift doors once we get to the Munitions deck”

“Right. I’m switching back to the command frequency for a moment. We can’t leave the Dawnhammer completely in the dark.”

If Niteelan said anything as Victinia toggled her vox unit’s frequency, she didn’t hear it, “Olinva, what’s your status?”

Static crackled in Victinia’s ear for a second before a voice came through, “A few of the heretic ships are starting to fire again, but the new arrival seems more interested in you. What are you doing? Can’t you see all this on your holo?”

“I really don’t have time to explain. Get the Dawnhammer out while you can. Return to Delmarus and alert the Canoness!”

“What? You don’t seriously think that you can take on the entire traitor fleet on your own! I’m not-”

“Just do it! We’ll buy you enough time to get away from the cruiser. Even if we could wipe the traitors from the void together, we can’t leave our Sisters stranded planet side. Besides, with Sister-Captain Illumen gone into His light, I am in command of the Battlegroup.” As she finished speaking the lift doors opened onto the Munitions deck, it’s dank air and oily walls in stark contrast with the faded but meticulously clean lift.

Victinia knew Olinva wasn’t satisfied, but she heard her relaying the order to her crew, “Disengage, and best speed for Delmarus.”

With a sigh of relief Victinia switched back to her channel with Niteelan.

“So?” The younger Sister asked as she jogged over to a nondescript panel in the rusted wall. Victinia activated a console next to the lift doors and pulled up the ship’s tactical display.

“The Dawnhammer is returning to Delmarus in preparation for the final defense.” Her eyes widened as she saw the enemy flagship. The Resolute Shield was speeding toward it, but the massive cruiser had almost finished maneuvering its broadsides into line with the smaller destroyer.

Her attention was pulled away from the flickering display when Niteelan ripped the wall panel she had been prodding from its mountings, and tossed it to the side with an annoyed grunt. The thick sheet of metal must have weighed over a hundred pounds, but in the grip her black and gold power armour it may as well have been an empty bolter clip. The panel had concealed a weapons cache, one of many hidden throughout the ship in case of enemy boarding actions. The weapons gleamed with sacramental oils and the welcome smell of incense mixed with the unpleasant air of the corridor. Like all of the caches aboard the Resolute Shield, it held clips of bolt ammunition amongst the crates of autopistol shells and lasgun power packs. Beneath a small portrait of the Emperor hung a meticulously cleaned Godwyn-de’az Boltgun. Victinia smiled as she hefted the weapon and glanced at its serial number. She had cleaned this particular weapon herself just seventeen days ago.

Niteelan tossed a belt of frag grenades to Victinia before looping another over her shoulder and across her chest. Victinia noticed that she was using both of her arms with alacrity, something she would be feeling when her armour ran out of anesthetics. Sighing and shaking her head, Victinia slung the grenade belt over her shoulder and grabbed as many spare clips of bolter shells as she could carry. The pouches at her waist where already filled, of course.

When they had taken all they could from the weapons cache and kneeled briefly in prayer before the likeness of the Emperor, Victinia led Niteelan down the corridor toward the torpedo bay at the prow of the ship.