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V2 Chapter 70: Boarding Action. Boarding Action.
Duvette and Heinz stood on the bridge of the Silent Verdict.
Deep in the hull below them, a thousand of the 112th's absolute veterans had already moved to the hangar bays and boarding torpedo launch shafts.
These were soldiers who had come through Macragge, Formal Prime, and the original Ashek II campaign. They would go in together with Markus's thirteen Black Shield Astartes, boarding the enemy Styx-class heavy cruiser in a decapitation strike against the flagship itself.
The Silent Verdict was cutting into Ashek II's near-orbital approach at combat speed, executing a series of deceleration and heading corrections before it entered the enemy's effective fire range.
This Inquisitorial black cruiser was not a standard naval vessel. Its outer armour had been reinforced and its void shield layering exceeded standard specification. The lance arrays and macro-cannon batteries had clearly received Martian technical modification, and dedicated boarding torpedo launch shafts had been installed along the prow and flanks.
It was not a battleship.
Even with firepower and protection exceeding a standard ship of its class, the Silent Verdict could not win a sustained broadside exchange against a Styx-class heavy cruiser. Its actual value was what it had come here to do: tear a window open in a confused engagement and deliver a blade to the enemy's heart.
Duvette studied the tactical projection.
The enemy flagship was holding position at the high orbital approach's outer edge. Its flanks were covered by several escort vessels, and a defensive perimeter of fighter craft and point defence fire held the near space around it.
In standard naval doctrine, this approach angle was entirely wrong for a boarding action.
At this moment, they had no other option.
The Ashek II defenders, fighting on the edge of collapse, had done everything they could to open a window for them. Taking out that heavy cruiser was the only path to victory.
"Boarding torpedoes loaded and ready." The report came from Captain Mordecai Lessin behind them.
The captain commandeered into Inquisitorial service stood at the command station's other side, his expression carrying very little of anything. His eyes stayed on the navigational data and enemy fire prediction overlays. He understood clearly how dangerous this operation was, more clearly perhaps than Duvette did.
"This is an extremely dangerous action, Duvette." Heinz said, with the measured quality of a man stating a fact he cannot change.
Duvette did not turn.
Heinz continued. "With limited preparation time, the relative closing speed between the two hulls approaches seven hundred kilometres per minute. Given enemy fire interception and the target's movement, boarding success probability is unlikely to exceed ten percent."
"That is acceptable." Duvette's voice was entirely flat. "Someone will pray for them. They will succeed."
Heinz gave him a brief look.
Duvette was not going to tell this Lord Inquisitor that somewhere in the 112th's logistics train was Lena, who was the reason that particular kind of confidence was not entirely without basis.
Her ability could not keep someone who was fated to die alive. It could not bend the trajectory of shells and lance beams from nothing. But in a field of possible routes where nearly all of them ended in death, she could move the people walking those routes toward the path that killed the fewest of them.
He trusted them.
Heinz did not press the question. He gave a quiet nod.
Shortly afterward, the bridge ran through its sequence of confirmation reports.
"Lance arrays ready."
"Macro-cannon batteries loaded and standing by."
"Boarding torpedo shafts sealed. Magnetic rails charged and standing by."
"Flank hangar doors warming up. Assault craft and decoy fighter group awaiting launch."
"Hull attitude adjustment beginning. Estimated three minutes to insertion axis."
"Admiral Villent signals: Imperial fleet and orbital defence platforms all standing by."
Duvette looked toward Heinz.
The Lord Inquisitor said nothing.
Captain Lessin did not intervene. He brought the assault channel up directly in front of Duvette.
Duvette issued his orders as boarding action commander.
"Notify Evan and Markus. Boarding action in five minutes."
"Yes, sir."
The channel connected quickly.
A moment later, Evan's voice came through. "112th boarding element in launch tubes. Breaching team, rear guard, and beacon team all in position."
Then Markus.
"Black Shield detachment ready."
Duvette was quiet for a moment. "Markus. Once you are through, your element clears the path. The 112th holds the breach, cuts off reinforcement, and advances with you to the enemy command node."
"Understood."
"Evan. Tell Stroud not to take anything from the enemy ship."
The channel held a half-second of silence. Then Evan's voice returned, carrying a specific quality of patient resignation. "I will pass it on."
Duvette continued. "If the primary extraction point is lost, execute secondary plan: take their hangar. No one disperses without my order."
"Yes, Commissar."
Outside the bridge, the Silent Verdict began its attitude change.
The enormous black cruiser adjusted its orientation in the void, turning to present its starboard side toward the Styx-class heavy cruiser's port flank in the distance.
The enemy had clearly identified the Inquisitorial cruiser's intent.
Several enemy escort vessels began turning to position themselves in front of the flagship's flanks. Further out, a Murder-class cruiser's prow lance arrays began to charge.
Villent did not give them time to complete the repositioning.
From Ashek II, the Imperial orbital defence platform opened fire first. Heavy lances fired from the platform struck the enemy flagship's port void shields directly.
Immediately following, the Resolute's macro-cannon batteries completed their salvo. The mass of shells crossed the void and tore gaps in the enemy escort screen that had been covering the approach lane.
The two Defiant-class light cruisers accelerated from the other side of the engagement, pressing the Slaughter-class cruiser with torpedo runs that forced it to turn and protect itself rather than maintain its position on the flagship's wing.
Seconds later, the Silent Verdict fired.
The dorsal lance arrays went first. Several columns of white light struck the Styx-class heavy cruiser's port side. The macro-cannon batteries on the starboard side followed immediately: tens of thousands of tonnes of shells falling against the same zone like a heavy curtain of steel.
The enemy flagship's port void shields began cycling irregularly.
"Enemy port void shields showing overload," the augury officer called out. "Estimated shield recharge time two minutes forty seconds."
"Port-side point defence still active." Another officer reported. "Enemy port turrets are traversing."
Captain Lessin did not hesitate. "Fire decoy torpedoes. Assault craft launch. Boarding torpedoes on ten-second standby."
"Decoy torpedoes away."
In the void, the Silent Verdict's forward launch shafts opened first. A line of decoy torpedoes was pushed out on magnetic rails. They drove toward the enemy flagship trailing bright exhaust, their internal jamming systems broadcasting false signal masses in every frequency the enemy's point defence systems tracked on.
The enemy flagship's port point defence opened up.
Hundreds of defensive fire lines intersected in the void. Several decoy torpedoes were destroyed in bursts of debris. But more continued forward, and the enemy turrets kept adjusting their traverse to track them.
"Boarding window: two minutes remaining."
Lessin turned toward Duvette.
Duvette watched the tactical projection and gave the order in a level voice.
"Launch."
The boarding torpedo shafts along the Silent Verdict's prow and flanks opened in sequence.
More than a dozen reinforced boarding torpedoes were pushed out on magnetic rails, their main drives igniting immediately, driving toward the zone of void shield instability on the enemy heavy cruiser's port side.
Simultaneously, the flank hangar doors opened fully. Assault craft and decoy fighter groups launched in their wake. The decoy fighters broke into small formations and pressed forward along the boarding torpedoes' approach track, using their weapons and jamming to buy the last few seconds for those steel coffins packed with soldiers.
The enemy heavy cruiser's port void shields were still cycling.
The first boarding torpedo drove into the unstable shield boundary and was shredded as the field attempted to recharge. The second was destroyed by a point defence turret. The third lost its heading under a glancing hit and struck the enemy hull's outer armour belt trailing fire.
But more torpedoes were still coming.
Duvette watched the markers on the tactical display, one by one, and his fingers closed slowly.
Stroud's voice came through the channel under static.
"Boss. Looks like we are going in."
Duvette said quietly: "For humanity."
Markus's voice followed immediately.
"For the last day of the traitors."
The next second, the first boarding torpedo struck the port side of the Styx-class heavy cruiser.
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