After using the authority Solomon had granted her to settle Nia into a safe room, Gaia hoisted Horne, who looked ready for another trip to the ICU, onto her shoulder and sprinted toward the upper deck.
As she passed through the corridor, she saw brilliant beams of light scraping past the hull. The energy shockwaves they unleashed made the Spear of Destiny tremble violently.
Seeing that, the worry she had just managed to put down finally rose again.
Wonderful. She had thought reinforcements had arrived, only to discover they were enemies.
And judging by the situation, Solomon was under enormous pressure.
She watched those lances of light, each one packed with terrifying energy, repeatedly skim past both sides of the ship. The void shields, struck by the spillover, were already glowing with the purple light of overload.
If this kept up, then the moment the shields shorted out after taking a hit past their limit, the Spear of Destiny would be torn apart by a devastating strike.
Gaia wanted badly to go to the bridge and see what was happening, but her side was just as urgent right now.
While the Spear of Destiny was fleeing from an unknown enemy in a desperate chase, she had to race death herself.
Twice.
Along the way, she saw corpses everywhere and crewmen still scrubbing away the blood.
She knew that after passing through that kind of nightmare in the Warp, losing so few people was already a miracle by Warhammer standards.
Even so, her heart still felt heavy.
Sacrifice might be the foundation of the Imperium, but that did not mean sacrifice should be treated as normal just because people had grown used to it.
Not everyone could survive in this brutal, hopeless universe, but every innocent person who died only proved the incompetence of those who should have protected them.
Walking across a deck littered with corpses, carrying the unconscious Horne on her back, Gaia's silent eyes lit once more with fire.
She had a feeling she would meet that thing they had only managed to drive away again.
And when that time came, she would make that arrogant bastard pay in blood for everything it had done.
...
"Captain, the enemy's lance weapons are too powerful. Our void shields can only neutralize one more attack at most."
"After that, our only protection for a long stretch of time will be the outer hull plating."
"Captain, since the main engine is crippled, the reactor core is overheating."
"Captain, the hull damage is severe. Oxygen is venting faster than the recyclers can replenish it."
"Captain..."
Listening to the flood of catastrophic reports coming in one after another, Solomon felt his heart climb straight into his throat.
That alien ship was absurd. Despite having a crack across its hull that practically cut it in half, it was still moving faster than the Spear of Destiny.
"Damn it, what did those filthy xenos even take offense to? How the hell did we provoke them?"
While frantically directing repair work, Solomon cursed the bizarre warship chasing the Spear of Destiny with all his might.
"They're still chasing us! Still chasing us! Their hull's nearly split in two and they're still chasing us!"
He punched the armrest of his captain's chair in fury, only to hit it too hard and snap off the last remaining armrest.
Together with the one he had previously torn off to smash the corrupted cogitator, his captain's chair was now perfectly symmetrical again.
It was no wonder Solomon was so enraged. At this point, impotent fury was about the only thing left to him.
They had just escaped one death trap, only to fall into another, and this time the situation was even worse. They could not outrun it, and they certainly could not fight it.
Solomon took several deep breaths and buried his head in his hands, trying to think of a way out.
But for the first time, he felt genuine despair.
When they had been trapped in that Warp vortex and about to be swallowed by the abyss, he had still thought of taking the riskier path and forcing a jump from the center of the vortex to survive.
Now, he could not even think of a way to drag the enemy down with them.
At this range, with the Spear of Destiny's engines half crippled, turning around would only get them cut to pieces by those monstrously powerful lance weapons before they even reached the enemy.
Was there truly no way left?
Solomon stared silently at the enemy ship on the auspex as it drew closer and closer, his gaze gradually calming.
Then he slowly scanned through the ship's status readouts until his eyes settled on one warning in particular:
Reactor Core Overheating.
A strange light flashed in his eyes.
He had a bold idea.
But just as Solomon was about to voice a plan that was only slightly less suicidal than outright self-destruction, the vox transmitter that had been endlessly looping their distress call suddenly lit up red, signaling a response.
Catching that out of the corner of his eye, Solomon nearly leapt at it.
"Patch it through. Put it on external. Broadcast it across the bridge."
No matter who had answered, it was good news.
The bridge crew and deckhands were elites, but none of them had ever been through such repeated, high-intensity brushes with death as the Spear of Destiny had just endured.
Their nerves had already been ground down by one crisis after another. Right now, they needed something to hold onto.
Solomon stared at the vox unit as it shifted into relay mode and glowed blue. For once, even someone as unromantic as him could not help praying silently.
Emperor above, let it at least be some armed civilian ship.
Better yet, a Navy patrol ship.
The enemy was badly damaged too. Even if the rescue ship could do nothing more than distract it, that might still be enough to let the Spear of Destiny escape.
He watched tensely, waiting for the caller to identify themselves.
Static crackled through the bridge.
As the interference gradually cleared, the voice of the responding ship rang out across the bridge.
It was a hoarse, low, powerful voice. Even knowing the amplification of the vox system was boosting its volume, its force still hit their hearts like rolling thunder.
"We heard your distress signal, citizens of the Imperium."
"There is no need to panic. Our battle barge is approaching from directly ahead of your present course."
"We have already locked onto the xenos filth with our augury arrays."
"Maintain your current heading. The Emperor is with you."
As those firm, decisive words echoed through the bridge, though the speaker still had not named their identity, an indescribable sense of safety washed through the crew.
While they were still reeling in relief that help had come so quickly, Solomon himself had gone wide-eyed.
From what he remembered from his time in the Navy, battle barges belonged to a very special class of vessel.
Because they served only the Emperor's Angels...
...
Aboard the Shadowhunter-class escort, the psychic detection array, which had until now remained eerily silent, suddenly erupted into a shrill warning alarm.
When the Striking Scorpion warriors turned to look, they were horrified to see a massive red signal rapidly advancing from directly ahead of them.
(End of Chapter)
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