Axion watched Calanthus fall into deep thought after his strange question. Since the Marine showed no intent to continue the conversation, Axion didn't push. There was nothing on this ship that particularly interested him. Although the Knight suit brought back a touch of nostalgia, it was just that, nostalgia. A pile of civilian goods from a bygone era.
Axion found himself wondering if any of his kin still existed in this universe. Since he had been left behind, it was clear that his kin's withdrawal had been urgent and chaotic. The Iron Men had once followed the Creators and Engineers across the entire galaxy. Countless strange xenos lifeforms and defiant civilizations had been reduced to ash under the beams and shells of the automata. There might be other Iron Men remaining in this galaxy, perhaps unawakened, or in hibernation.
Axion believed he would encounter them eventually.
"Beep. Realspace matter manifestation. Collision trajectory warning."
The automated warning echoed throughout the ship. Axion scanned the viewports but saw nothing. He immediately used a short-range warp-jump to appear at a viewport on the opposite side of the ship.
To the right of the flotilla, a vessel the size of an Imperial Navy Battleship was drifting laterally across their flight path. The ship showed no energy readings, possessed no Gellar Field, and its rear thrusters were completely cold.
The flotilla desperately adjusted course to evade the gargantuan hull. But their relative speed was too high. Speed within the Warp was notoriously unstable, fluctuating wildly without warning. When this unpowered, unidentified ship suddenly accelerated and blocked the fleet's path, no one could react in time.
Two destroyers took the brunt of it, exploding instantly. The massive blast tore a hole in the unidentified ship's outer hull. The remaining destroyer slammed into the midsection of the hull, becoming wedged within. Fortunately, it did not detonate.
The Moon-class cruiser possessed a massive torpedo ram at its prow. The sudden collision caused the bow to explode into a tangled mess of wreckage. Although the internal secondary armor wasn't thick, it successfully absorbed the remaining impact. The prow structure was gone, exposing the armored upper hull and the lower decks, from which bodies began to drift.
Yes, there were no internal armored bulkheads between the lower hull and the ram structure. Though the ship's machine spirit quickly sealed many lower deck hatches to maintain atmospheric integrity, a large number of ratings and serfs were sucked into the vacuum. They met instant deaths, and as they drifted into the Warp, they were corrupted by the raw warp-energy, turning into semi-daemonic husks that began to crawl back toward the ship's breach.
While the cruiser's main power remained online, the structural damage caused the Gellar Field to flicker. Daemons began to stir. Meanwhile, the destroyer wedged in the wreckage was silent, its status unknown.
The massive impact caused widespread injuries among the crew. However, the magnetic boots of the Ultramarines' power armor activated the moment the collision occurred, locking them to the floor. Though inertia tossed them about, none fell. The armor's shock-absorption systems protected their bodies.
Calanthus, about to react to the collision warning, saw Axion vanish before his eyes just as the massive crash and explosion reverberated through the hull.
"Captain! Give me a sitrep! What happened? Damn it!"
"All squads assemble! Count your numbers, confirm all positions, move! Check the hull for structural integrity!"
Calanthus didn't know where Axion had gone and couldn't focus on him for the moment. He assumed the Iron Man could take care of himself. Soon, a voice filled with static and interference crackled over the vox.
"Sir, a battleship-sized vessel materialized in the space to our right and accelerated into our path."
"Two destroyers were lost instantly. Another has collided with the hull, though no explosion was observed; crew may still be alive."
"Our torpedo ram was detonated. It blew through the outer hull and is now wedged inside the target. The lower decks are compromised; the prow is gone. The upper hull is intact but has sustained multiple structural failures."
"Heavy casualties reported among the crew."
Calanthus's heart sank. "A battleship? What are the markings? Any ident-data?"
"Imperial Navy markings on the exterior. Multiple ship IDs returned; possibly a Battle Cruiser or some other specialized hull, but all are listed as missing in action."
"What is the shortest time since disappearance among the IDs?"
"At least six millennia, sir."
A Navy ship missing for six thousand years?!
"Can we disengage from the wreckage and withdraw?" Calanthus asked after a grim pause.
The Captain sounded surprised. "Sir? You mean to abandon the potentially surviving destroyer and its crew?"
Calanthus nodded firmly. "On the path to victory, glorious sacrifice is inevitable. We lack the strength to explore a derelict of this size, nor do we know what enemies lurk within. The risk of remaining stationary in the Warp is too great."
"I will not risk an Imperial Cruiser, hundreds of battle-brothers, and tens of thousands of mortal soldiers for one potentially surviving destroyer."
"Even the coins in the Emperor's hand must not be spent recklessly."
Calanthus knew this decision might seem cruel and heartless to the Captain, but it was the best judgment his experience could offer. Suppressing his sorrow, the Captain slowly acknowledged the command.
"By the Emperor's will. Do not mourn. Sorrow breeds weakness. Find your courage and execute your duties. The eyes of the Emperor and the Primarch are upon us. Our responsibility is great. For the future of Mankind."
Calanthus offered a brief word of comfort before cutting the link. Through the side viewport, he could already see warp-daemons running rampant across the exterior of the hull. Some had materialized from the Warp itself, but more were the corpses of the serfs from the lower decks, twisted by the Warp's touch.
In the Warp, ordinary ratings could only fight within the ship and had to avoid looking out the corridors. A single glance at the roiling Warp outside could shatter their sanity or turn them into daemons where they stood. The Ultramarines dared not gamble on the fortitude of mortal soldiers. Even those from Ultramar included dregs from the hive depths. They might have faith in the Emperor, but it was often a fragile thing. To say they fought for the Emperor was less accurate than saying they fought out of fear of the Commissar's lash and laspistol.
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