With the vox-link severed and the tactical situation clarified, Axion remained indifferent to his specific coordinates. The fleet began a disciplined repositioning.
The Swarm Striker that had sustained damage during the shield-toggle window was maneuvered into position, angling its scarred flank into the ventral docking maw of the Machine Weaver. The remaining vessels shifted into a defensive sphere, drawing the two transport ships into their core.
The fleet anchored in the void to commence repair operations.
Massive clamping arrays locked the cruiser's hull into the industrial ship's dry-dock. Swarms of Eight-Legs scurried across the gap between the two vessels with mechanical franticness. Damaged hull plating was plasma-cut, stripped away, and fed back into the Machine Weaver's smelters for recycling, while fresh armor modules were forged and bolted directly onto the chassis.
Repairing ships devoid of life-support systems was a matter of brutal simplicity. With no internal atmosphere to preserve, hulls could be sliced open without fear of decompression or the need for pressurized docking environments.
Vormay's flotilla remained anchored nearby. These corsairs were raiders, not exterminators; their objective was the acquisition of materiel, not the total destruction of the merchant vessels. To that end, many of the merchantmen had suffered precision hits to their propulsion drives.
With the immediate threat of the Void Dragons gone and no imminent stellar storms detected, the merchants worked feverishly to restore their engines. In these lawless reaches, a ship that fell behind during a transit was a ship that did not survive, unless the God-Emperor Himself intervened.
Faced with a critical shortage of spares, the merchants eventually voted for the cold logic of the frontier: they scuttled their smaller, crippled craft, stripping them of fuel and supplies to bolster the more viable hulls. Cargo was consolidated, with only the most high-value assets transferred. Crew members, for a steep secondary fee, were crammed into the remaining holds. Upon reaching a stable port, the survivors would attempt to liquidate their goods and purchase new keels. Such was the price of survival in the deep void.
Imperial Navy patrols were a rare luxury in these sectors, and a single circuit could take months. If the region was plagued by plasma storms or hyper-solar winds, the interval between patrols could stretch to years. Under such conditions, the frontier merchants survived by huddling together.
Rogue Traders stood as the most powerful and privileged echelon of this merchant class. Empowered by the sacred Warrant of Trade, signed by the Hand of the Emperor, they were permitted to maintain their own standing privateer fleets and heavy shipboard armaments. With enough wealth, they could even procure true warships from the Adeptus Mechanicus.
Vormay Roskora's flagship, the ancient Mars-class Battlecruiser, was a testament to this status. It was a mothballed relic purchased from a Mechanicus Forge World in Segmentum Solar when her dynasty first received its Warrant on Holy Terra. It had been in the family's service for over two millennia. Though long since struck from the Imperial Navy's active register, it remained a formidable titan for a Rogue Trader family.
While most dynasties considered a Lunar-class Cruiser the pinnacle of their wealth, a battlecruiser was the crowning jewel of a family's honor. Wealthier Rogue Traders might favor the Exorcist-class Grand Cruiser for its long-range endurance, but here in the southern reaches of Segmentum Tempestus, a battlecruiser's superior firepower and thick hide provided far more deterrence against the xenos and pirates that haunted the dark.
This deterrence was why so many independent merchantmen clung to the Roskora fleet. Yet, against the Aeldari, the protection had almost failed. The "Longears" possessed sophisticated fleets that could outmatch Imperial hulls of equal tonnage. A single battlecruiser and its handful of escorts were insufficient to intimidate the corsairs.
…
"Vessel repair cycle complete. Structural integrity restored to 100%. Void shield generators operational."
The factory intelligence, the core of the industrial ship, transmitted the confirmation data. The Swarm Striker's repairs had been swift; the external armor had held, and simple replacement of the ablative layers sufficed. The Machine Weaver disengaged its massive magnetic clamps. With a flicker of pale blue radiance, the cruiser's energy shields enveloped its hull once more.
Axion surveyed the local volume. Confirming no anomalies, he began to put distance between his fleet and Vormay's.
This maneuver caught Vormay's attention. Just as Axion prepared to re-engage the Warp drives to bypass the Lightless Realm, Vormay signaled her vox-officer to reopen the channel to the Pectaro.
"Lord Axion, if you intend to transition into the Immaterium for transit, I must urge you to reconsider," Vormay spoke the moment the link was established.
"Provide detailed justification for this counsel, Vormay Roskora," Axion replied.
"The Lightless Realm is not merely a phenomenon of realspace; it is a scar on the Warp itself," Vormay explained carefully. "There are records of vessels attempting to use Warp conduits within the Lightless Realm during an eclipse and vanishing permanently. None know their fate."
"Within this zone, the Astronomican's light is not merely dim, it is severed. Navigators cannot perceive the tides of the Warp, and Astropaths are deafened to all psychic communication. You saved us from the Aeldari; I cannot in good conscience watch you risk such a fate. I advise against Warp travel until we clear the zone."
"Do the Aeldari Webway gates remain unaffected?" Axion inquired.
As a Rogue Trader, Vormay had heard whispers of the Webway, an alien technology that allowed the Aeldari to traverse the stars without the vagaries of Warp travel. Recalling how the corsairs had vanished as abruptly as they appeared, she nodded slowly.
"Only the 'Longears' move through these shadows with such impunity."
"How is this region bypassed?"
Vormay was still adapting to Axion's blunt, transactional style. "All merchant fleets navigate via sub-light drives within realspace. An eclipse lasts between two and seventeen standard Terran months. In the two months it takes to traverse this localized anomaly at sub-light, a merchant can cross the zone safely. Furthermore, when the Lightless Realm manifests, the seventeen worlds across the three systems within its shroud see a periodic spike in resource prices. As a merchant, I find the prospect of profit a fine incentive for patience."
"The longer the darkness lasts, the higher the prices climb. Moreover, these worlds produce unique resources that only manifest during the eclipse, treasures that draw many to risk the dark."