Herald of the Stars: Chapter One Hundred and Ten (Patreon)

TyrTheFallen, Mathew Piece, and Semsius thank you so much for contributing to Herald of the Stars. Your efforts are the shoulders I stand on to maintain my own.

As we approach the exit of our one hundred and seventh jump, large shapes appear on our sensors. Quaani and I observe them from within the Warp sextant tank.

I cut our thrust profile down to zero point one gravities and send out a general alert. Within two minutes, Iron Crane is ready to repel boarders and launch its first strike craft. The Empyrean Mantle engages and Iron Crane shimmers as an energy field envelops it, smoothing out the hull’s harsh angles while scattering and absorbing the vessel’s emissions. Preparations continue as we creep closer, building energy reserves and storing as much heat as possible; plasma builds up in great containment vessels, ready to fire.

Hanging in the pseudo-sky above us is the echo of a massive Warp gate. It is broken into three sections that gravitate towards each other, giving a semblance of a whole circle, but never quite touching as they shift in and out of place.

Surrounding the gate is a ship graveyard of two hundred and thirty four vessels, fifty-four are deep black with bright green highlights. A Corona Radiata, a Roman style wreath, is printed on the pyramid structures on the rear third of the blackstone vessels, easily visible from a great distance. The Corona Radiata is shaped from Necron runes that have been altered from smooth, clean lines to sharp angles, making the wreath look like a crown of thorns.

The other one hundred and eighty vessels are slim and grey with orange highlights. A black symbol of a flame in a crucible is displayed on each grey and orange vessel. Two to six gravity sails flow from the rear of each vessel and bone-like structures protrude from the sweeping hulls along the vessels’ spines. The front third of each ship looks somewhat squid-like with an oval, bulbous shape.

Seeing ruined Necron and Eldar vessels gives me great joy, yet I remain vigilant. Something had to ruin them all, and unlike the Warp gate, these are fully in the warp. I’m getting a lot of conflicting sensor readings from the vessels and I cannot understand what they mean.

I vox Ylien, “Warlock Ylien, I have some vessels that require identification. Here are the sensor readings. Please assist.”

Thirty seconds later, Ylien voxes, “The Necrons are the Kinbriar Dynasty. The Kinbriar are a small Dynasty, but compared to the Stellar Fleet, they are a significant threat. The Yme-Loc Craftworld, whom the Eldar fleet belongs to, attacked with overwhelming numbers. They are renowned weaponsmiths yet still took a horrific beating. That should give you an idea of how dangerous the Kinbriar are.”

“What about the Gate?”

“A Necron Dolmen Gate. These are rare Necron structures that hack into the Eldar Webway, letting Necrons hijack Eldar FTL routes. While the Webway does attempt to cut off intrusions, it is not always able to do so. When vessels can be spared and the gates located, Craftworlds will attempt to destroy them. It seems they were partially successful, though at great cost.”

“Thank you, Warlock Ylien.”

“I wish to bargain with you for the retrieval of the Eldar soulstones.”

“That will have to wait until the current crisis has been resolved.”

“Acceptable.”

I close the connection and convey what I have learned to Quaani while simultaneously updating Iron Crane’s captain, Daithí Quill, who was previously the second officer on Distant Sun.

“Aldrich,” says Quaani.

“Yes?”

“I have some good news and bad news.”

“Go on.”

“The good news is that I recognise the adjacent system to this one. It’s right at the edge of the maps that we have. It should be a day’s travel bu-”, Quaani’s eyes widen and he clutches his head. “Ow!”

From the wrecked vessels pour demons. Millions of them in myriad forms and varying power. For a moment I think they are going to swarm Iron Crane and try to batter down the Gellar field with sheer numbers. Instead they group up and engage their sorcery, hurling wrecked ships in our general direction.

We’re still quite far out and they are way off target, our silent running protocol and Empyrean Mantle keeping them guessing exactly where we are. There isn’t enough distance between us for Iron Crane to change directions and escape. Instead, we must rush the gauntlet of flying wrecks and aim for the Mandeville Point into the Dolmen Gate system.

Daithí clearly agrees and the Helmsman accelerates Iron Crane towards a swirling whirlpool of the Warp, directly below the ephemeral Dolmen Gate. I am pleased by his choice as I hate having to interfere with direct commands, overriding a void ship’s captain as it diminishes their authority and breeds resentment. There would be no point in me delegating either if my officers couldn’t do their jobs.

Halfway to our destination, a massive demon shimmers out of hiding and appears above the whirlpool. The demon is as tall as Iron Crane is wide with four pairs of horns twisting from its skull, a snake-like tongue, and jagged, Ork-like teeth. On its chest are seven eyes, arranged asymmetrically, with one large central eye, four on the right side of its chest and two on its left.

Fine, baleen-like, white bone structures protect its lower torso while a black carapace covers its upper torso and arms. A flaming trident, crossed with a boar spear, is held in its clawed hands. The demon points its trident at Iron Crane and speaks, its voice echoes through the whole vessel and gnaws at the sanity of my crew.

“Mortals, I am Balphomael the Horned Darkness. You will present Magos Issengrund to me for his execution. Compliance and surrender will be met with mercy. Resistance is futile.”

I zoom in on his features and notice he is horribly injured. Demonic ichor seeps from beneath his armour and all four pairs of horns are chipped and cracked.

I vox the whole crew preceding the message with a piercing wail to shake the crew from any stupor.

“This is Magos Issengrund. Do not respond to Bad Penny in any manner, or speak his true name out loud. Cognitive hazard protocols are to be followed at all times. Failure to do so will result in immediate execution by servitor crews, Twist Catcher teams, or a vessel’s primary machine-spirit. Issengrund out.”

While I speak, I forward my observations on Bad Penny’s poor condition to Daithí and receive an acknowledgement. I also experience a small amount of regret. Now would be a really good time to launch a full salvo of torpedoes at Bad Penny but Iron Crane doesn’t have that capability and I don’t want to risk sending my torpedo bombers outside the gellar field. I realise that perhaps the original Cobra design was not as risky a design as it seemed, just highly situational in its usage.

Fortunately, we are not completely without means and Iron Crane and Distant Sun teleport atomics near Bad Penny. The demon deflects the attempt with a sneer and the bombs explode among the teeming masses of unshielded demons, birthing two small suns which illuminate the Warp for a handful of seconds that obliterate hundreds of thousands of demons, then fade.

Our prow and spine lances fire and score direct hits on Bad Penny, but the bright beams splinter and flow around a protective bubble, keeping the demon safe. One of his horns cracks off completely and falls into the deeper Warp.

Two percent of my crew panic and are being subdued, which isn’t great, but the impact is minimal. One in five hundred go mad from Bad Penny’s voice and have been granted the Emperor’s mercy by their fellows. My psykers are worse and, even with all their protections, four die instantly, their heads exploding. Killing seventeen people in the blasts.

I am entirely unaffected by Bad Penny’s insidious voice but Quaani succumbs to the dizziness and pain inflicted by the demon.

Three of my psykers are executed by a tarantula turret while trying to open a portal, and five are possessed. They lock themselves into small rooms and try to use their MIUs to possess Sadako, but the machine-spirit just cuts off their connection. Teams of servitors are already moving to purge them. Within seven minutes, the threats have all been reduced to greasy ash and burning plastics.

Bad Penny scowls up a warp storm, literally, and the currents become turbulent, slowing Iron Crane and pushing more wrecked Necron and Eldar vessels towards us, cutting off our space to dodge. Bad Penny’s power is quickly drained, however, when the Dolmen Gate starts shedding green lightning and the red crystal hanging in its centre begins to glow.

Thirteen wrecks are coming right for us and we have no way to blast them apart or avoid them. Daithí orders the crew to brace for impact and engages the engine overdrive. Antimatter is injected into the stream of fusion plasma that the engines eject, creating fifty times more thrust for every kilogram of fuel.

The boosted drives rapidly heat Iron Crane; the vessel failing to shed sufficient heat through its pulsed fusion drives while also massively burdened by the increased amount of heat the vessel needs to dissipate from the matter-antimatter reactions. The plasma macro cannons are a separate system and not appropriate for cooling Iron Crane. Creating the anti-matter also draws on our power reserves, though this isn’t too onerous, as Iron Crane is designed for such significant loads.

For the next thirty minutes, Iron Crane accelerates to three gravities, splitting the flimsy Eldar vessels that strike our prow and knocking aside the heavy Necron void ships without changing velocity.

Unable to lob vessels large enough to impede us or cause significant damage, the demons change tactics and swarm Iron Crane. Our macro-batteries aren’t that much use as the demons are too dispersed. Nor can we release our strike craft as even if they stay behind the void and gellar field, they would still be outnumbered more than a thousand to one and shot to pieces the moment our void shield fails.

The CIWS, however, are mighty; the micro-laser grid and thousands of turrets stream millions of rounds every minute into the hungry legion, dispersing the demons as they impotently flail against our gellar field, unable to break through, at least for now.

Quaani and I strain and struggle to firm up the gellar field’s flaking edges with Pass Unscathed. It will not hold out indefinitely though as the field’s components are rapidly cycling through their redundant systems to prevent overloading, but the buffer time between each separate instance is closing and soon they will be forced to overclock and risk permanent damage.

We can do nothing about the void shield, however, and it fails after six hours, letting the demons hurl their magics at our armoured hull, which gradually scours it of defensive weaponry. They fail to penetrate the armour, let alone the first hull, but our fading defensive fire leaves them with more opportunity to wail on the gellar field. Once it breaks, they can close in and cut through the warpsbane hull and we will be in major trouble.

As we close the distance, Bad Penny builds power in his trident, keeping it carefully contained so his power is not sucked away by the Dolmen Gate’s defences. We, too, prepare for the final confrontation and escape, charging our lances and Warp drive.

Bad Penny hurls his trident at the same time we engage the Warp drive. Daithí also triggers the overload shield capacitors, restoring our shields. Bad Penny’s blow is mighty and immediately pops the refreshed shields then tears through Iron Crane’s prow, where its armour is strongest, and wrecks it, ruining the shipyard doors and penetrating into the docks. The trident’s power fades and teleports back into Bad Penny’s armoured grip.

Our Warp drive whines, trying to force a breach, and fails.

Bad Penny bursts into mocking laughter. “Foolish mortals, did you think I was so ill prepared I cannot keep you here? There is no escape. No mercy. I shall consume you all. Your souls will nurture me, becoming part of a greater being, free of petty purpose and eternal doubt.”

Daithí, in a last ditch effort to save us, overloads, jettisons, and detonates the Warp core. Every demon except Bad Penny is instantly slain. Iron Crane shudders as the violent energy erupts over it, striping away all our sensors and defensive weapons. Multiple breaches occur all over the void ship as the armour and hull are ablated by the harsh energies carving away its integrity.

My kill count soars to new heights and I feel my body and soul start to fray from the massive influx of power.

Sadako screams in my mind, the machine-spirit’s distressed voice sounding like shattering glass, then its transmission cuts out. There is a small stutter in the lights as we switch to emergency power. Iron Crane is blind and only my third eye lets me see into the warp and what happens next.

The Dolmen gate shudders into action. Bright streaks of jagged green lightning burst out, penetrating the cloud of destructive energies. Billions of tiny tributaries branch out and drain the Warp of all the energy released by the discorporated demons and the detonated Warp core.

As the green branches spread up into the sky and deep in the Warp, they hit a barrier and slide over its inner edge. Demonic runes appear, outlining the full barrier in angry red and malevolent magenta.

A black ball materialises in the whirlpool beneath the Dolmen gate and I use what few thrusters we have left to steer Iron Crane towards it.

Gradually, the three broken and disconnected pieces of the Dolmen gate become more solid, fully manifesting in the Warp, somewhere they were never really meant to go. A golden ankh appears in the central red crystal and shoots towards Bad Penny, who is too stunned from the Warp core explosion to dodge or resist.

The ankh punches through Bad Penny’s chest and a chain of green lightning sparks from the ankh to the red crystal, dragging him towards the gate. Bad Penny screams and curses as he withers. His armour cracks, and the flames on his trident sputter and die. The instant his crumbling flesh touches the crystal, he howls and turns into a cloud of black dust. His trident disintegrates in a shower of rust.

The Dolmen Gate vibrates with poorly contained energy, becoming increasingly unstable, then it explodes. Just before its rubble can batter Iron Crane, a pulse of energy precedes it, sweeping over every wrecked vessel. As the energy wave passes over the wrecks, they blink out of existence.

We aren’t going to make it.

The energy wave hits us and Iron Crane disappears from the Warp.