"The Ork fleet is at least one light-year out. Even at full speed, they'd need days to leave the Warp and enter realspace," Calgar said.
Their Imperial fleet, with advanced FTL, had made record time to Vigilus. But the Orks? With their junk-heaps?
In realspace, the only species that used true FTL used to be the Necrons alone—but now humanity had it as well.
The Orks' cobbled-together tubs certainly weren't on that list.
"Lord Calgar! The Orks' junk ships may have scavenged some Imperial vessels,
or recovered wrecked Imperial warships, allowing them to obtain FTL drives," a company captain suggested.
Over the last decade, FTL had been widely adopted across fleets, especially the Indomitus Crusade. Human naval power and speed had soared. With so many FTL units in circulation,
some Imperial ships were inevitably destroyed, and their drives left behind.
Other xenos might take ages to crack them. Orks are different: if they get it, it's theirs.
So the most likely scenario was that the Orks had somehow mounted FTL drives, enabling them to cross a light-year at such speed.
"Give me detailed status. Have they entered the system proper?" Calgar asked.
"Commander, the Orks are still a dozen AU out. At their current speed, they'll collide with us within 24 hours," an Ultramarine reported.
Calgar frowned. At a dozen AU, an Imperial ship
without FTL could still reach you in 24 hours. If the Orks had true FTL, they'd be here in minutes.
Then the auspex officer noticed something odd: contrary to their guess, the Ork ships didn't seem to have FTL drives.
They were being propelled by some unknown Warp phenomenon—much like how the Ultramarines had suddenly arrived.
Calgar snapped: "No time to fret. Fleet to Condition One!
Activate all orbital defense platforms on Vigilus. Evacuate all noncombatants to deep shelters. Orbital batteries to maximum alert.
Signal the Imperial Navy at the moon dock: rendezvous with my Ultramarines. We'll engage the Orks together.
And prepare mass drop-pod capacity. If the Orks land, we'll fight them on the ground," Calgar ordered rapidly.
The Imperial fleet idling at the starport reluctantly sortied and joined the Ultramarines, slightly bolstering numbers.
Under Calgar's command, the battle barges, Avenger-class cruisers, Overlord-class cruisers, Gothic light cruisers, Sword-class frigates, and Firestorm-class frigates formed up.
The battle barges—battleship-tier—brought their strongest lances and newly installed pedanium ray cannons to bear on the Ork fleet.
Calgar returned to his flagship: an Apocalypse-class battleship, 12 kilometers long.
The Vigilus Navy topped off their magazines and braced for battle.
For this clash, Calgar planned to send part of the Astartes and a contingent of Battle Sisters as a boarding task force.
The rest of the Ultramarines would deploy planet-side, fighting alongside local troops.
With the Astartes giants in the field, local morale would soar.
These local troops hadn't taken super-soldier augmentations. They were nowhere near Primaris Astartes levels—more like the Astra Militarum of decades past,
perhaps worse, lacking real combat experience—more planetary defense force than seasoned Guard.
A dozen hours later, the Ork fleet's ramshackle ships closed on Vigilus and slammed into the joint Imperial formation.
"WAAAGH!"
"WAAAGH!"
From within the Orks' space-junk barges, countless green skins bellowed in excitement, their war cries rising and falling.
They'd been eyeing this human world—and in truth, any inhabited world along the way. If there's a fight to be had, Orks throw themselves at it.
They should have needed two more days in the Warp to reach this system, but for some reason, a small Warp storm suddenly spat them out
right inside the system, very near the enemy.
So Warlord Gromm and his boyz charged without a second thought.
Gork and Mork were surely smiling!
A great war! A great WAAAGH!
The first Ork junkers surged in and opened fire, the savage barrage slamming into the Imperial void shields.
The Ork fleet's scrap-heaps formed a chaotic charge, muzzles flashing unstable green energy. Crude kannons and rocket racks spat fire, a rain of munitions hammering Imperial void shields.
"Hold formation!" Calgar's voice filled the command-net. "All battleships: pedanium main batteries—salvo fire!"
The shields held. Calgar ordered the counterattack.
Golden pedanium rays speared out from several battleships, striking Ork junkers and tearing them to pieces.
The Apocalypse-class's main guns fired first, a brilliant golden beam lancing across the void, hitting an Ork asteroid-turned-mega-ship.
The beam slagged armor in an instant. Orks inside vaporized in the heat. The ship detonated into dust.
Then four battle barges let loose their lance arrays, searing white blades that bisected three Ork cruisers trying to close.
The rest of the Imperial Navy—especially Vigilus's—lacked pedanium beams. They answered with old macro-batteries and lances.
"Lord Calgar! The Orks are trying to break our left!" came an urgent warning.
Calgar glanced at the hololith. Dozens of Ork ramships were hurling themselves at the flank in a near-suicidal rush.
These welded-together cans carried suicide bombs that could gut a frigate.
"Right-flank escorts, evasive now! Firestorm frigates, CIWS—intercept!" Calgar ordered.
The Firestorms' close-in batteries wove a killing web, detonating most Ork ramships mid-space.
A few broke through and slammed a Sword-class frigate.
Boom—! The blast rocked the ship, tearing a massive breach. Air and crew vented to vacuum.
Calgar's eyes hardened. "Damaged ships fall back. Astartes and Battle Sister boarding teams—ready to strike! I'll draw the fire up front."
Four battle barges and the flagship formed a core, overlapping void shields to tank the Ork fury.
Auspex marked the largest Ork junk flagship, clustered with dozens of escorts—clearly the command ship.
"First Company Terminators—board with me!" Calgar intended to lead a teleport assault himself.
Several captains quickly pulled him back. Their vice-commander—former Chapter Master—had that habit of leading from the front.
But he had to command the battle; he couldn't risk a boarding charge.
At last, Calgar relented and remained on the flagship. The captains took the boarding mission.
Hundreds of Thunderhawk gunships and assault craft screamed toward the Ork fleet.
Ultramarines and Battle Sisters plunged into the Ork hulks.
"WAAAGH!" Dozens of Ork nobs with chain-choppas and power klaws charged.
"For Macragge!" a company captain roared.
"For Ultramar!" the Astartes shouted.
"For the Emperor!" cried a power-armored Battle Sister.
They were older-pattern Sisters, not as enhanced as the reformed era, but their will was iron.
Inside the Ork junker, Sisters and Astartes met the greenskins in brutal close combat.