In 904, the black ships of Shadows of Order set foot in the southern Segmentum Tempestus for the first time, crossing the entire segmentum to reach its southeastern edge.
The Forge Lord's flagship, a heavy, iron-grey Squat fortress ship, had been repainted deep black and renamed the Forge-Hammer.
The moment the Forge-Hammer arrived at the realspace anchor, piercing alarms sounded on its bridge.
Rosicky Czechk sank his consciousness into the Simulus Chamber's throne.
The star's dazzling light filled the system.
Ultraviolet radiation spread rapidly. The celestial bodies' temperatures soared.
Magnetic particle streams hammered the fortress-grade void shields, reducing them by 3.8%.
A stellar flare.
'Indeed, as my Lord said, the Mandragoran Stars are prone to disasters.' As he thought, he selected Contingency Plan 61 from those prepared during the Warp voyage.
Over the next two years of exploration, the Forge-Hammer encountered disaster after disaster.
Chaotic asteroid storms. The death throes of aging stars.
The database of celestial disasters was continuously updated and shared with the entire Legion.
When the Forge-Hammer reached the thirteenth system of its voyage, the entire ship was caught in a gravitational current.
Within the Simulus Chamber, Rosicky's expression was grim.
The data streams from the auspex showed him the surrounding space.
Matter and energy were bending, causing gravitational collapse.
No light could escape the singularity. Gravitational effects pulled at the ship like spiderwebs.
The fortress-grade void shields fought the gravitational currents, dropping 0.1–0.2% every second.
He was surprised to see, emerging from the black hole's maw, shell-shaped ships drifting against the current, converging on his flagship.
Their crystalline hulls opened and closed, releasing coral-like craft.
The xenos craft moved as if swimming, drifting towards them.
'Their space travel and flight technology is impressive.'
As he thought, he ordered.
"Activate the backup Punishment-class reactor. Initiate the inertial dampening field."
"..."
"Fire Plan: Rosicky 4-8."
His orders, transmitted through the Simulus Chamber to every node, were executed.
The Squat fortress ship, within seconds, grew heavy, enveloped in an inertial dampening field.
Squat fortress ships were built using inert metals mined at the galactic center, capable of generating an inertial dampening field to deal with dangerous environments.
The galactic center was no safer than the Mandragoran Stars. This was a key reason the Black Emperor had ordered them to stop at the region's edge.
Feedback runes for each launch flashed rapidly. The "Artisan," relying on his transhuman calculation, tracked each attack's trajectory.
He had designed one hundred fire plans for his flagship, each for a different environment.
Techmarines executing a plan only needed to adjust based on auspex data.
The first digit, 4, indicated a disturbance environment. The second, 8, targeted slow targets.
The xenos craft, fighting the black hole's pull, slowed.
Trams fed shells into launchers. Machine-spirits roared. The shells, accelerated in the gravitational current, flashed like meteors.
They traveled two to four times faster than normal, detonating at the marked runes.
Blinding light waves expanded and burst like bubbles.
But the seemingly slow 'corals' drifted, swaying, evading as if going with the flow.
'Even Aeldari ships would struggle to evade such swift attacks.'
'This is more like...'
After a moment's thought, he found the right word for their evasion.
'Intuition. Even precognition.'
"Prepare for impact. Counterattack."
"Torpedoes. Saturation strike. Fire Plan 6-1."
He believed that fighting the black hole's pull would consume significant energy. Attacking would further reduce their mobility.
The coral craft turned, aiming at the Forge-Hammer.
Each xenos craft had five short, thick gun barrels, like porous coral, spitting blue beams.
Gravitational currents hammered the fortress-grade void shields. The last 5% dissipated under the sustained assault.
The Simulus Chamber shook. The six data niches around his throne went dark for two seconds, then lit again.
The heavy Squat fortress ship withstood the counterattack, allowing the Punishment-class reactor to power the torpedo launchers.
Swarms of torpedoes shot out, shredding the gleaming 'corals.' The short, thick barrels were caught in the gravitational pull, sucked towards the collapsing black hole.
After the black hole effect subsided, Rosicky pursued the xenos, landing on the planet's surface.
The moment he landed, he looked towards the battlefield a kilometer away.
He saw the xenos and immediately linked them to jellyfish.
They were translucent. Their upper 'umbrellas' were about four meters in diameter, with five tentacles.
Two tentacles slid on the ground, as if dancing.
The remaining three held short, thick, white weapons.
Blue beams shot out, swirling like vortices, converging on the human lines.
The swirling vortices, strangely converging, enveloped the yellow human tank formation.
Ripples spread. Cracks appeared on the vehicles.
The tanks at the center of the vortex shattered. Crew fled in terror.
His gaze swept over three figures. He noticed they had mechanical augmentations.
Two had iron hands. The other had both arms replaced.
Amidst screams, the two with iron hands crumbled under the ripples.
The man with mechanical arms curled in pain, but did not fall.
His eyes flickered. He sensed machine-spirits roar in unison. Dense barrages rose from the human vehicles.
Amidst the roar of artillery, the jellyfish xenos slid, like umbrellas drifting in water.
He tracked six xenos. They only evaded after the shells left the barrels.
'More likely intuition than precognition.'
'And, the xenos craft can evade, but their ships didn't.'
'Even so, these xenos are strange. They resemble the Saharduin, the space sharks of the Ultima Segmentum. They seem to be an aquatic species that evolved space travel, with keen intuition. My Lord would be interested.'
He was about to order support for the natives when the yellow human tanks spat torrents of flame, covering a wide area.
The translucent jellyfish bodies blazed in the fire, turning to ash in moments.
A flicker of surprise crossed his black eyes. The natives, in their second attack, had found an effective way to fight the xenos, and quickly switched their weapons.
Even elite Solar Auxilia would struggle to be so efficient.
His thoughts raced. He ordered.
"Anesthetic needles!"
"Target: the jellyfish xenos."
The Techmarines' servo-arms turned. The Nucerian-made anesthetic needles replaced the fire suppression system.
SWOOSH, SWOOSH, SWOOSH...
The servo-arms locked onto the xenos. Needle after needle flew.
The "jellyfish" slid, dodging left and right.
But each launcher held a dozen needles.
On the third salvo, the first needle struck a translucent, swaying body.
A grey thread spread through its body.
Its swaying slowed, as if caught in slow motion.
THUD!
Its body hit the ground like a water bag.
Within the next two salvos, the "jellyfish" fell one after another.
As the Techmarines retrieved the needles and collected the xenos, Rosicky activated his translator and walked towards the human lines, who had ceased fire.
.....
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