Chapter 6

Commander Widmann paced around in his cabin, its window overlooking the bow of the ship. He had been waiting for days already with his Escort squadrons. Waiting for the word to set off. His ships had already taken position around the cargo ships in convoy. His Sword class frigate, the Falcon, took point in the formation. They were flanked by two Firestorm Frigates, the Vigel and Achilles. The formation was closed by the last Sword frigate, the Hydra.

The formation was ready to go for two days already. He could've set off already, were it not for his original backup being rerouted somewhere else. Instead he was to be reinforced at some outsider ship. And now they would have to wait for it while they should have been under way! Whoever gave this outrageous order only the emperor knows. But if he had his way he would have his head!

There was nothing to be done about it now.

A knocking sound came from his door. "Enter". His second in command, Lieutenant Konig entered the room. "You asked for status reports, commander?"

"Yes, any sign of the Outsider?"

"Nothing yet. Since the Astropath signal yesterday we've heard nothing. Our Auspex arrays do not detect anything new in the vicinity either."

"I thought as much. Are our ships ready?"

"In position and ready to go."

"Good, I grow tired of waiting. If by dawn this Outsider has not arrived I intend to depart with the force we have. Mourndark is waiting. If we are late it will be on my head! I will not have it!"

"Shall I give the order, Sir?"

"If we are still on our own in three hours. We'll be under way soon enough."

Barely had he spoken those words when his cabin was lit by a blinding flash.

The bright flash lit up the void, filling the once empty space with a three kilometers worth of warship.

The ships nearby were taken by surprise and scattered like leaves in the wind, taking defensive positions.

"Jump 239 complete. Just under 2k drift. Right where we're supposed to be sir."

"Very well Nav officer. Mister Goradin, are you ok? You look a little green."

The young man didn't answer. It looked like he had trouble keeping his lunch from exiting through his mouth.

"Don't worry" XO Howard replied, "You should've seen the old man on his first jump. That was a sight to see..."

"If I remember correctly you didn't look peachy either Mark."

What is going on here? Why aren't we in the Warp? Why are there no horrors lurking just outside the hull? While all these questions were raging through his mind, Goradin looked over his shoulder towards the Navigation screen. The display blinked, and showed their current position with new planetary orbits and constellations. He didn't believe it, but it was true. They had arrived safely within seconds. How this was possible he did not know. For now he just decided to go with it.

"Are jumps always this easy?"

"No jumps are ever easy Lieutenant" Howard replied, "we have to calculate each jump extensively. Deviating by just a few degrees and we could end up smack-dead in the middle of a sun. Some poor bastard in a raptor made that mistake once. He jumped and ended up into some chunk of rock floating off Arilon."

"That woke people up back at Fleet HQ."

"Why these questions, Goradin? Doesn't your Navy travel in a similar way?"

"Far from it to be honest. We are bound to traveling through the realm of the Immaterium."

"Immaterium?"

"Imagine the worst possible hellish realm filled with ancient creatures hungering for your soul scratching at the hull. Try, if you can, to imagine that and you have a happy view of what you have to face when reaching your destination. Every voidsman fears Warp travel, the sane ones anyway."

A short silence fell over the men, only to be broken by the static of incoming transmissions.

"Unknown Vessel, Identify yourself immediately!"

"This is commander Price of the BS Invictus 92nd Battlegroup here to reinforce 212 and 327, Alpha and Bravo, squadrons. Sending ID codes now" Price said while gesturing to the Comms specialist.

"Check those codes!" Widmann Barked.

"They're authentic sir!"

"Check them again!" the man barked even louder.

The boy working the stations, he could only be described as a boy, worked the controls again, franticly trying to see any fault or trace of deception. He could find none. "The Cogitators confirm it, the codes are authentic."

"I agree sir." Lieutenant Konig replied "The codes are sound. They are our reinforcements."

Looking out of the bridge windows they could see the strange warship slowly glide towards the formation, taking position above the center formation. Strange tiny craft emerged from the sides of is large extenders, which one could only guess to be launch bays of some sort. When the ship glided past at just 500 meters distance the bridge crew could see this warship carried at least 8 turrets on its dorsal side. The broadsides mounted more large calibre turrets, while large parts of the side was covered with smaller guns. Probably defence guns of some sort. The ship was impressive to see to say the least. Maybe Fleet command didn't hurt them as much as he originally thought.

"Stand down from Battlestations."

Though the so called battlestar was upside down, it rotated with a speed comparable to an escort to face the same way as the rest of the formation.

It didn't take long for the formation to be closed. Finally the convoy was ready to depart. After a series of light signals, all engines lit up. Plasma blasts erupted from the engines and slowly but surely, the convoy gained speed. Finally under way to deliver much needed supplies to Admiral Mourndarks forces.