Vex Chronicles 2: Outbreak

Reinforcements

Eredius System, warp jump point, Adamant

Oathkeeper Savax Crowfeather stood beside captain Urlas Nightowl as the space marine light cruiser Adamant broke through the barrier between warp and real space. The Stalwart Knife, the Void Hunters' scout sloop had already made its exit. The fast scout ship with its powerful auspex arrays had taken a forward position. The Stalwart Knife's refraction field was at work, masking the light cruiser's warp exit.

Captain Urlas towered over the other officers on his bridge. He was an astartes like Savax. A genetically enhanced super soldier, larger and bulkier than the rest of the crew. And captain Nightowl was a figure of utmost respect, even with his broken and mangled body. The captain had a brilliantly sharp mind and an instinct for the tactics of space battle. Urlas Nightowl had taken command when a nearly fatal hit had decimated the officer. Lethally wounded he had lead the Adamant to victory.

Urlas Nightowl had stayed on the bridge since this day. His chair was his life and his prison. Life support units reached out of its back. And the astartes' legs were hidden behind metal plates, inscribed with the many heroic deeds of this fulfilled oaths. In another space marine chapter, a veteran like captain Urlas would have been preserved in the destructive form of a Dreadnought walker. But the Void Hunters weren't too fond of those armored platforms of shambling firepower. Too slow, too loud.

The Adamant was a modified light cruiser of the Vanguard class. It was armed with an extensive array of torpedo launchers and hangars for boarding and landing vessels. Additional sensor systems lined its hull, exchanging some of the Adamant's armor for scouting and torpedo guidance capabilities. Captain Urlas' ship was fast and agile, always ready to fire deadly swarms of torpedoes from a distance. A perfect ship to be commandeered by the veteran hunter.

With only a scout as escort, the Adamant would be more vulnerable than usual. But the captain wasn't fazed. He had read the first sensor results and had called for the scribe-serfs to dictate his hunter's oaths. The augmented serfs eagerly wrote down the captain's words. Many battle-brothers had already sworn their own oaths. Openly declared, they would be remembered and recorded by their serfs. And the Void Hunters would be measured by them.

Oathkeeper Savax carried his own oaths on consecrated parchments on his charcoal colored armor. And only a few purity seals held old and still to be fulfilled oaths. Should Savax fall, his brothers would have only a light burden to lay him to rest oath-free.

Battle alarms howled through the light cruiser. Massive voidship auspex arrays drank up every bit of information from the Eredius system. And then the ship's sensorium turned silent as the Adamant hurried into new position. The foes in Eredius orbit would not get a warning that the spear tip of the mightiest heroes of the Imperial forces aimed at them.

Savax studied the readings that raced over the screens. The destroyed remains of voidships drifted through the planet's orbit. Most were freight haulers and voidtraders. But among it was also the husk of a light cruisers.

Another cruiser of the imperial navy was docked side by side with the Sword class frigate of the Mechanicus. The frigate's transponder screamed out a new allegiance and a new name. The Endeavor class ship had been re-baptized as the Fall of Eredius.

A third Mechanicus cruiser held position in a low orbit above Eredius III. And like the docked Mechanicus ship, its imperial transponder only sang encrypted signals.

"I want verification," Captain Urlas demanded. "Does the received message speak true? Am I looking at loyal AdMech or foul xenos cultists?"

"The damage pattern on the wreckage match their armament, captain." The master of auspex brought the readings on the main monitors. "And we're receiving multiple teleportation signals. They are moving troops onto the planet. "