If you know about the lore you can skip this chapter also. Don't whine if you do, not everything is about you. And not everything will change, I already stated that.
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With a loud, creaking sound of strained metal, the mighty battle-fortress, the Phalanx, released its anchors from realspace and jumped into the Immaterium.
Archmagus Dominus Belisarius Cawl's fleet, moving in a rocked formation to prevent any vessel from being left stranded, was now alone in the hostile void of space.
The first shells exploded among Cawl's formation, fired from extreme range with little accuracy. It was merely a stroke of bad luck that one shell detonated against the Ark Mechanicus's shields, knocking two of the vessel's plasma drives out of alignment and, more critically, disabling the Iron Revenant's Gellar fields.
This was terrible. The Geller Field was a definite must-have if one wanted to jump into the Warp. With this damage, escape into the Immaterium was no longer an option for Cawl and everyone aboard his ship.
The Archmagos was consumed by fear. Not of dying, although that wasn't a pleasing conclusion to his cogitator either, but at the prospect of losing his precious cargo. Cawl ordered the Iron Revenant to change course for evasion.
As their flagship sought to escape, the rest of the Adeptus Mechanicus fleet formed a blockade around them, their captains accepting without hesitation the sacrifices required of them. They would take any and all damage meant for the Iron Revenant, to give him precious moments.
The last remaining interceptors, used for space combat, took off from their hangars and attacked the enemy behind them. The first salvoes shot into the void, targeting the oncoming Chaos cruisers. All for one purpose, all to save Cawl and his precious cargo.
Among Cawl's fleet, only the Ark Mechanicus could stand toe-to-toe with one of Abaddon's vessels. Even then, the Iron Revenant's weaponry was a mere shadow compared to that of Abaddon's ship: the Vengeful Spirit.
Nonetheless, the direct approach of the Chaos fleet allowed them to initially maintain fire superiority and gain those desperate few minutes they wanted but didn't know what to do with.
Salvo after salvo battered the traitorous vessels, overloading shields and buckling armour. Servitor crews worked with their usual mechanical efficiency, loading and firing without the fatigue that afflicted non-augmented crews.
Explosions erupted in the narrowing gap between the two fleets as the heavily outnumbered interceptors clashed with Heldrakes and Hell Talons.
The Heldrakes are a type of flying Daemon Engine used by Chaos Space Marines. This twisted combination of man, machine, and daemon featured enormous wingspans, making them even larger than Stormraven Gunships. Originally, these were fighter aircraft piloted by noble Space Marines, but the Warp had since mutated them into something far more grotesque.
The Hell Talon was a product of the Daemonic Forge World of Xana II, situated within the Eye of Terror.
This forge world supplied infernal machines to Chaos warbands, and the Hell Talon had become increasingly common among their forces over the last millennium.
The Hell Talon was equipped with vector-thrust engines, which enabled it to move upwards or sideways in a non-conventional manner, making it lethal in combat.
.
Prow lances fired, and liquefied adamantium flowed like a fluid after being heated, across the armoured flanks of the Adeptus Mechanicus ships.
One of the proud and loyal ships had its prow torn, and its crew killed, veering off course due to jammed rudders. And it was only one of many that turned to scrap in the void.
However, even if twice the number of vessels had attempted to block Abaddon's advance from reaching Cawls ship, it would have made no difference.
One by one, the ships of the Adeptus Mechanicus fleet went dark or detonated in bright flashes of plasma and heat.
...
Nevertheless, the sacrifices were not in vain; each moment bought with lives and machinery allowed the Iron Revenant's damaged Geller fields to be repaired. They tried to repair the damage and then finally jumped into the Warp to flee.
Sadly, the Ark Mechanicus quickly lost ground to the Vengeful Spirit, which had acted like a bloodhound and pursued its 'prey' at full speed.
Abaddon had been told that there was a treasure on Bellisarius Cawl's ship. Something so bad for Chaos and their interests that it might even dampen the enormous victory they had achieved on Cadia.
Little by little, the battleship closed in on the Iron Revenant. Realising that the Vengeful Spirit would soon overtake his badly damaged ship, Cawl pushed the plasma reactors beyond their highest tolerances.
Super-heated steam erupted from damaged coolant pipes, electromechanical vehicle horns, called klaxons, could be heard across the drive decks, and pressure plates exceeded their safety thresholds. Ultimately, it made little difference. No matter how much additional acceleration Cawl squeezed from the Iron Revenant's damaged engines, it was never enough—the Vengeful Spirit was closing in too quickly.
In a matter of minutes, it would draw level, and the broadsides would begin.
Again and again, Cawl calculated the probabilities of survival. Each time, the calculations returned meagre and depressing odds. Curiosity about the Blackstone Pylons had led Cawl to Cadia; pride had kept him there. Now, the Iron Revenant was destined to be lost, along with its precious cargo.
Cawl believed he had failed.
"Increase drive threshold by seventeen per cent," he ordered.
The command bridge shuddered as the crew of the Iron Revenant obeyed Cawl's orders.
Inquisitor Greyfax, who was a psyker, needed no telepathy to realise that Cawl understood the futility of his command. The Iron Revenant was doomed. Her confusion was understandable, since she could not have known anything of Cawls secret. But that was quickly taken care of as she peered into his mind.
What she saw was an obligation, a sense of duty that had not yet been fulfilled, which drove the Archmagos. It was a secret so closely guarded that Greyfax could only glimpse its shape, not the details.
"We cannot outrun this fate," said Celestine.
Marshal Amalrich of the Black Templars stirred, his low growl a warning. Black Templars Crusade Fleets are often led by an experienced Marshal – similar in role to the Captains of other Space Marine Chapters, who oversee the order of battle and command their troops from the front lines. They are fanatical and experienced warriors who answer only to the High Marshal himself.
And fanatical means extremely fanatical.
"Would you have us offer our necks to the Despoiler without a fight?" Amalrich asked.
Celestine, who Greyfax saw as a heretic as she didn't believe in the concept of Saints, turned away from the viewport.
"I saw this in a dream. A river of blood among the stars. The harder we struggle, the more certain our fate. We must find another way. I have seen help that will arrive."
Greyfax felt her old anger rise at those words. She was, after all, an Inquisitor of the Ordo Hereticus, who specialised in hunting and exterminating heretics.
"There is no salvation to be found in your heresy. If--"
Greyfax fell silent at Cawl's impatient gesture.
"Necessity considers all answers, however improbable their origins," he said.
"She is a heretic!" Greyfax interjected.
But then she fell silent, reminding herself that Belisarius Cawl's artificial span far predated the Orders of the Inquisition from which her authority came. She couldn't take his obedience for granted and was smart enough to know when her zeal had to be restrained.
"A bold accusation," Cawl hissed, "for one whose blood seethes with Necron artifice."
Greyfax tried to hide it, but her microexpressions revealed the truth.
"Do not deny it. I can perceive the nanomachines writhing beneath your skin."
Instantly, Greyfax felt the mood in the ship's strategium shift. Marshal Amalrich's expression darkened with fresh suspicion, a reminder of the unpredictable zeal of the Black Templars, which far surpassed her own.
It was true: Greyfax had nanomachines in her bloodstream and brain, created by the Necrons. And there was a reason why she did, not that anyone cared to listen to that, or even that she herself was fully aware of it.
"I remain uncorrupted," she proclaimed.
Cawl regarded her thoughtfully. His lenses regarding and scanning her with suspicion.
"So you say. I can even free you from them. But first, we must survive."
He turned his attention to Celestine.
"What else did your vision reveal? What must we do?" he asked.
The saint indicated towards a moon: Klaisus on the viewscreen.
"We will find salvation within the ice. Then our crusade will begin anew."
Amalrich nodded.
"Your crusade, lady. But we will follow while our strength remains."
Disgusted, Greyfax turned away. The thought of the Celestinian Crusade made her skin crawl. The irony of all this would only become apparent once someone entered the picture who could see it from the outside.
.
They set course for Klaisus, the ice moon, following Celestine's words. Cawl stressed the plasma drives and brought the Ark Mechanicus around, while exchanging fire with the other Chaos ships, mostly the Vengeful Spirit, where Abaddon was furious.
The situation worsened when reports of Chaos boarding parties reached the Iron Revenant's strategium. Cawl knew that point lost the ship, but it didn't matter; they had made it to Klaisus' orbit.
Cawl moved deeper into the ship and began the process of unsealing the stasis vault. Meanwhile, as the Adepta Sororitas advanced toward the undamaged portside hangars, Marshal Amalrich declared that he and his battle-brothers would die fighting.
Greyfax opposed this plan, believing that the Archmagos Cawl was already half under Celestine's influence. The Inquisitor wanted allies of her own nearby, in case she had to take 'drastic' measures. However, Amalrich was unwilling to comply and flee once again; the long fleeing of Cadia and through the solar system had wounded his pride.
Only the presentation of the Inquisitorial Seal could convince him to follow Greyfax's words.
As a result, a group of transports left the Iron Revenant and headed planetward, vanishing into the monstrous snowstorms.
After landing on the frozen world of Klasius, the Imperial survivors were forced into a brutal fighting retreat across icy glaciers. Abaddon the Despoiler refused to let them escape, sending aircraft and troops to hunt them down across the surface.
It seemed as though the Warmaster of Chaos was filled with even more fire to see them die and be destroyed. He knew what Cawl was transporting and what his secret and sacred mission truly was. And he had to stop it.
Belisarius Cawl and the survivors moved on foot through blizzards, protecting a vital Auto relinquary, which he carried in a massive transport. Saint Celestine led them onward with unwavering resolve, even though no one else understood where she was going or why she was so certain that they would be saved.
Alongside them marched Sisters of Battle of Our Martyred Lady, Imperial Guard survivors, Inquisitor Katarinya Greyfax, Marshal Amalrich, and his remaining Black Templars.
They were constantly attacked by daemon engines like Heldrakes, Chaos Space Marines, and fast-moving assault troops. Each attack cost lives, and although the Imperials fought back fiercely, their numbers steadily dwindled while the enemy seemed endless.
As casualties increased, the survivors clustered around Cawl's transport for protection, knowing instinctively that whatever it carried was crucial. Greyfax eventually confirmed their worst fear: they were being surrounded.
Still, they pressed on, following Celestine into the mountains of the frozen landscape of the moon. Exhausted, freezing, and under constant assault and immense stress, they reached an ancient, buried structure, but even there they were attacked again. By the time they secured the entrance, their position had been revealed, and enemy forces were already closing in.
"What do you see?" asked Celestine, moving to stand beside the Inquisitor on the ridge.
It had to be a rhetorical question, Greyfax decided. No one could have missed the growing number of Black Legion tanks across the glacier or the diminishing chances of their survival.
"I see our death," she answered sourly.
"No," said Celestine. "Salvation awaits us. He is coming."
Forcefully, her chattering teeth from the freezing temperatures, Greyfax turned angrily, looking at Celestine with pure hatred.
"Your lies are wasted on me, idolatress," she spat.
As ever, Celestine seemed to take no offence. Her gaze seemed to pierce the thick, heavy clouds that slowly turned from white and grey to black and red as more of the Chaos forces arrived.
"You serve the Emperor. You trust the Emperor. Why can you not believe his hand guides me?" Celestine asked.
"I don't believe anything guides you. You're a heretic, preying on the credulous. I should have let the Despoiler kill you. Were you not surrounded by your acolytes, I'd kill you now," Greyfax hissed.
Celestine smiled in response.
"Then I should kill you first, while I can?" she asked.
Greyfax squared her shoulders.
"Yes," she answered.
Hearing her answer, Celestine's smile faded.
"He has a plan for you, too, Katarinya. I have seen it. And you will see it when he arrives as well. You will get to do what you are so good at when he arrives. But you had better keep your mind open."
Greyfax didn't say anything after that. She didn't trust Celestine's words anyway.