Bridge of the Battle Barge – High Orbit over Ishvan II
The void was eerily silent as the last Thunderhawks cleared the atmosphere, bearing the wounded, the broken, and the victorious. Only 21 beacons had survived — many barely. Extraction had been costly. Blood had soaked every corridor, every hive floor, every ruined cathedral. The few who made it out would never be the same.
Librarian Alexandru stood at the viewing port, his golden armor dimly reflecting the storm-wracked surface of Ishvan II below. He could feel it — something in the warp, shifting like a serpent in the deep.
> "Sir," came the voice of the Psykana officer at the console, tense.
"I detect a massive spike in the warp. Beneath Hive Primaris. Something is opening."
Alexandru's fists clenched at his side.
> "All fleet vessels, confirm position," called Captain Noxa Xinoxis over command vox.
"Prepare for final cleansing. The Emperor's Mercy be swift."
> "All vessels in position, my lord," she added, turning to Alexandru.
"Awaiting final order."
Alexandru turned, eyes burning with the cold fury of the Imperial Fists' gene-line.
> "Commence full bombardment. Exterminatus pattern. Leave no settlement intact. Let no shrine, no ruin, no soul remain."
The bridge fell silent.
> "It will be done."
🔥 The Fires of Judgment Begin
The mighty Nova Cannons, plasma lances, and cyclonic torpedoes of the Imperial fleet turned toward the surface.
Hive cities lit up like dying stars.
Entire plateaus cracked and fell into oceans of magma.
The very continent split as orbital fire rained down.
From orbit, it was no longer a world. It was a funeral pyre.
> "Report on casualties," Alexandru asked quietly.
Noxa replied, her voice like steel.
> "32% of deployed personnel lost or wounded. Four Space Marines confirmed KIA.
Two corrupted and eliminated. Seventeen PDF units recovered, two companies remain combat-effective.
We estimate only 18% of all loyalist Guardsmen
"Cleansing the Ashes"
High Orbit Over Ishvan II – Aboard Battle Barge "Emperor's Grasp"*
The fires of Exterminatus still raged below.
From orbit, Ishvan II was no longer a planet of hive spires and cathedrals — but a cracked, molten carcass, black smoke clawing into the void.
The Imperial fleet had begun to close ranks around the flagship Emperor's Grasp. Hundreds of ships — strike cruisers, support frigates, Mechanicus vessels, and defense monitors — reoriented, forming a protective phalanx around the burning world. Their formation was tight and efficient.
---
🔒 Containment Protocol
Inside the barge, Librarian Alexandru stood with Captain Noxa Xinoxis at the strategium hololith. A holo-map displayed the active transports returning from the surface and the location of all surviving beacons.
> "All recovered Space Marines and PDF personnel are to be locked down and screened," Alexandru commanded. "Every gene, every soul, every whisper. We will not bring the taint aboard this fleet."
> "Understood, my lord," Xinoxis said. "Quarantine bays are prepped. Apothecaries and Mechanicus seers await. No one enters the core decks until cleared."
Dozens of Thunderhawks and landing craft were now docked in the barge's quarantine hangars, where Techmarines, Apothecaries, and Psykana interrogators began the grim work of screening for corruption.
Catalin, his armor still blackened and red from the ground war, stood silent in the hangar, towering above the exhausted PDF survivors. His chainsword was not sheathed. His eyes watched everything.
---
🛠️ Fleet Command Council – Upper Bridge Deck
A meeting of high command convened in the tactical sanctum. With the ritual concluded, the system secured, and the psyker vanished into the warp, new concerns loomed:
Supplies were strained.
Crew morale was damaged.
And five planetary defense ships — stripped of warp drives and too large to remain — were dead weight.
Captain Xinoxis addressed the room, flanked by fleet officers and Tech-priests.
> "The five defense cruisers that survived Ishvan II's uprising have no warp drives. Their crews are loyal, but their ships will slow us down."
> "Suggestions?" Alexandru asked, arms crossed.
> "We send them to system Delvaris-9," replied Magos Cordex. "One year sub-light travel. It has an agri-world and vox contact with a Mechanicus relay. The ships can serve as local defense."
> "And their crew?" a naval officer asked.
> "Transferred. All combat personnel moved to our active fleet. Only skeleton crews remain on the ships. Food and oxygen will last if the crew is minimized."
Alexandru nodded slowly.
> "Make it so. Strip anything not bolted down. Those ships will serve the Emperor — even at half-power."