V2 Chapter 69: Prepare to Receive Your Victory
760.M41. Low orbit above Ashek II.
The void engagement was still running.
This was not a continuation of the war from three years prior. It was part of a counter-offensive Nazdhreg had launched against the Imperial centre line, aimed at delaying the crusade's advance toward Balhaut.
Ashek II was one of several targets in that push. If it fell, the crusade's rear supply lines would be torn open.
Chaos warships and Imperial defenders traded fire in the planet's high orbital approach. Torpedoes drew cold white trails through the void. Macro-cannon shells detonated in brief flashes of light. Lance beams lanced out from hull arrays and cut straight lines through the dark.
An Imperial escort took three consecutive macro-cannon salvoes. The void shields held through the second but collapsed on the third. The third volley tore the ship's port side open. Hundreds of compartments decompressed in sequence. The hull, trailing fire, began its descent into Ashek II's gravity well.
On the other side of the engagement, an orbital defence platform caught a moment of exposed hull and punched a railgun round through a raider's drive section. The ship did not explode immediately. It drifted off its heading like a body that had stopped receiving signals, and its momentum carried it into the flank of a contaminated transport following behind.
Admiral Caspar Villent stood on the bridge of the Lunar-class cruiser Resolute and listened to his adjutant's running reports of friendly and enemy movements without raising his voice or making unnecessary gestures. He watched the tactical projection and issued new orders at intervals.
"Third escort squadron, pull back six thousand kilometres. Don't let that Murder-class get a crossing angle."
"Tell the second light cruiser to break off pursuit. Its assignment is to hold the Slaughter-class in place, not to die."
"Orbital platform four, hold the next strike for the Devastation-class. If its fighter wings get one more launch off, our transport lines are gone."
Villent ran on a tactical cycle of fifteen standard Terran minutes, redistributing ship targets, fire priorities, and movement axes with each cycle. The actual manoeuvring, void management, and battery salvoes were executed by individual ship captains, but the rhythm of the entire battlegroup had to stay in his hands.
Without it, they would not survive to the next salvo.
The adjutant's voice carried visible tension. "Admiral. Escort Sacred Compact has lost power and is requesting a tow. The third light escort flotilla has taken over fifty percent losses."
"Tow request denied." Villent said. "Order the crew to abandon ship. Transmit survivor coordinates to the rear rescue craft."
The adjutant was quiet for a moment. "Yes, Admiral."
Villent did not look back.
He understood what the order meant. In a void engagement, an escort that lost power without a tow was effectively sentenced to destruction. But he had no ships available to save it.
Because the enemy had more ships than he did.
This ambush counter-offensive had clearly not been accounted for in crusade command's planning. No one had expected Nazdhreg, already strategically pressured toward Balhaut, to disperse forces for a direct raid against the crusade's rear supply lines.
Void travel did not follow visible road networks. A fleet could bypass main approach lanes and break from the Warp at an unexpected Mandeville point, and the local defenders would face it alone until relief arrived.
Ashek II's available strength was thin.
The enemy force had assembled around a Styx-class heavy cruiser as its core, with four cruiser-class capital ships, over twenty escort vessels, and a significant number of armed transports, landing barges, and contaminated freighters to hit the orbital defence perimeter.
Villent had the Resolute, two Defiant-class light cruisers, and perhaps a dozen escorts, destroyers, and armed patrol vessels. If not for the several orbital defence platforms repaired after the last war, which were still capable of firing, the near-orbit approaches would already have been breached.
The engagement's balance was moving against them and had been for some time.
The enemy flagship, that Styx-class heavy cruiser, was holding position at the high orbital perimeter's outer edge. It was not behaving like a standard command vessel pulling back to safe distance. It was actively transmitting pulse signals toward the planetary surface landing zones and the outer fleet simultaneously.
Villent had already read the situation: that ship was not only the fleet's command hub. It was coordinating the surface counter-offensive below. That was the reason it had accepted the risk of operating close to the planetary approach, where it had no business being if its only function were fleet command.
"If we could take it out..." the adjutant said quietly.
"We can't reach it." Villent cut him off without turning. "No Gothic-class present. The Resolute's lances won't punch through its void shields at this range. What we can do right now is prevent it from consuming us entirely."
The words were barely out before the augury officer raised his head.
"Admiral. Mandeville point at the system's edge is showing a Warp-emergence signature."
Villent turned. "Transponder?"
"Confirming." The augury officer's hands moved rapidly across his instruments. Several servitors initiated mechanical prayer subroutines. "Signal stable. Imperial identification codes... high-authority encryption. Not standard crusade naval frequency."
The adjutant allowed himself a fractional expression of hope. "Reinforcements?"
Villent did not answer immediately.
At this moment in a void engagement, any ship appearing at the battle's edge could change the situation. Or it could be another feint.
Several seconds passed.
"Ship identity confirmed," the augury officer reported. "Inquisitorial black cruiser. Designated the Silent Verdict. Requesting immediate access to Ashek II's highest combat command frequency."
The bridge went quiet for one brief moment.
The Inquisition.
Villent's brow came together. "Connect them."
Static, then a voice that was cold and entirely precise.
"This is the Inquisitorial black cruiser Silent Verdict, Ordo Hereticus. Lord Inquisitor Werner Heinz commanding in person. This vessel requests immediate access to Ashek II's highest combat command frequency and current engagement status."
Villent raised one hand to indicate the adjutant should transmit the situation summary.
The adjutant immediately packaged and sent enemy and friendly strength, orbital platform status, enemy flagship position, surface counter-offensive status, and current defender losses.
Almost simultaneously, a second identification packet came back.
"Embarked forces include the Ash Watchers-Eisenmark 112th Regiment, Colonel-Commissar Duvette Erdmann, and an Inquisitorial-requisitioned Black Shield combat detachment."
This time, Villent actually raised his eyes.
Duvette Erdmann.
He knew that name.
Three years ago, during the Ashek II campaign, it had been this commissar from the 112th who led the orbital drop into the upper hive and crippled the Daemon Engines' central Cogitator Array, opening the path for the Iron Snakes Chapter and the Imperial ground forces to break the engagement.
Then he had disappeared into the combined authority of the Archmagos Cawl and the Inquisition.
Nobody had known where he went.
Now he was back.
The adjutant looked at Villent. "Admiral. What is our reply?"
Villent studied the tactical projection. The Silent Verdict's marker was appearing from the Mandeville point direction, and its approach vector was not behind the Imperial fleet. It was behind the enemy fleet, entering from a bearing that was both extremely dangerous and, under the right circumstances, extremely useful.
The Inquisitorial cruiser had chosen a terrible moment to arrive.
And a perfect one.
"Tell them the Ashek II orbital defence line is collapsing." Villent said. "The enemy Styx-class heavy cruiser appears to be performing simultaneous fleet command and surface counter-offensive coordination functions. As long as it remains operational, we cannot hold much longer."
The adjutant sent it immediately.
A moment later the Silent Verdict's response came back. It was shorter.
"Admiral Villent. Please mark the enemy flagship's port void shield status, escort ship spacing, estimated timing of next macro-cannon salvo, and available railgun batteries on the orbital platforms."
Villent's brow stayed where it was.
This was not simply a request for the engagement status.
This was someone finding the entry angle.
The adjutant hesitated. "Admiral. What are they planning?"
Villent watched the black cruiser's marker driving inward at speed on the tactical projection and allowed himself two seconds of silence.
"They want to close on the enemy flagship."
The adjutant's expression changed. "That's not possible. The escort screen's voids are still up, and the Styx-class is currently recovering its fighter wings. When that recovery completes, that entire zone will be sealed by fire."
"Which is why they need us to open a window." Villent said.
He looked across the bridge toward his gunnery officer. "Time to the Resolute's next salvo?"
"Nine minutes. Standard Terran time."
"Orbital platforms four and seven?"
"Platform seven's railguns are available. Platform four is in reload cycle, minimum twelve minutes."
"Platform seven to stand by. Order both Defiant-class light cruisers to press the Slaughter-class, pull it off the flagship's flank. Third escort squadron, cancel the pullback order, prepare for a torpedo salvo."
The adjutant looked at him sharply. "Admiral. That puts the third escort squadron in the direct fire path of the Murder-class."
"I know." Villent said. "But if what that commissar is capable of is accurate, we only need them to survive one exchange."
The adjutant said nothing further.
"I am prepared to believe him." Villent said quietly, looking at the star map. "I have read his campaign records. Thus far he has not lost once."
He gave the order.
The Imperial battlegroup began adjusting. Several ships already carrying damage broke from their current defensive positions and launched torpedo runs at the enemy flagship's outer escort screen. Both Defiant-class light cruisers accelerated into attack approaches, forcing the Slaughter-class cruiser to turn and engage them directly.
In the void, Imperial fire began converging toward a single point. Villent knew this was a gamble.
If the Silent Verdict failed to take the opening, the Ashek II orbital defence line would collapse ahead of schedule as a direct result of this redeployment.
Then the channel carried one more transmission from the Inquisitorial cruiser.
Not from Heinz. Not from the cruiser's captain.
The message was short enough that everyone on the bridge could read it in a single glance.
Villent looked at the line of text. Something moved in his eyes.
"Prepare to receive your victory."
— Colonel-Commissar Duvette Erdmann