152 - The Primarch Who Knew the End (Patreon)

152 - The Dark Cathedral

As Celestine's fleet broke through the great vortex storm's blockade and approached the daemon world of Belial IV, Chaos ships emerged from the planet's dark side. Their blasphemous livery and insignia identified them as vessels of the Word Bearers, the seventeenth of the original twenty Space Marine Legions. The beleaguered Imperial fleet had not expected another enemy force to be hiding there. The newcomers opened fire almost at once. They seemed to have anticipated Celestine's line of retreat and lain in wait for her.

The enemy aimed its first shell straight at her flagship. Trailing an extraordinary blaze, it tore through the Warp's turbulent currents before vanishing against the Imperial shields in spreading ripples. The Word Bearers' assault was so furious that this first impact attracted scarcely any notice. Denser, more vicious volleys hurtled toward them, battering the Imperial ships' quantum-deflection shields. The storm of blows set secondary systems shrieking with urgent alarms.

Free of the Warp storm, Celestine no longer had to overdraw her psychic strength. She took up her holy sword and hurried to the bridge to watch the fighting outside. The Imperial fleet reacted quickly, and the two forces met in open battle.

Hundreds upon hundreds of Chaos warships crowded every orbital band around Belial IV, their immense numbers blotting out the sky. The vast fleet reflected a monotonous, glaring blood red, punctuated by fierce flashes from plasma beam weapons. Void shields deflected Imperial fire, shedding unholy colors through the planet's dim atmosphere. So dense was the light that sickly auroras shrouded the entire world, their mottled hues mingling with the eerie pallor of the Warp.

Tens of thousands of flashes lit both fleets: beams firing, shells streaking in their wake. The exchange was ferocious.

An artificial orbital temple rotated into view from the far side of Belial IV. An Imperial warship opened fire on the blasphemous monument. A powerful particle beam struck it, shaking it before an explosion ripped through its broad gravitic engine array. The blast disrupted its power core. Its void shield flickered once and died. Without the gravitic array to maintain its balance, the temple slowly tilted. Further Imperial strikes tore into the enormous structure, and it began to disintegrate. The raging Warp storm swept its wreckage away into unknown depths.

Even in desperate straits, the Imperial troops were making their intentions clear through action. They would tear down every temple the servants of Chaos had raised to the dark gods. Saint Celestine watched the battle unfolding within the Eye of Terror. Her gaze seemed to pass through the ships and into the storm-ravaged depths of the Warp.

She would never admit defeat. She would never submit to those fallen beings. “We do not fear death. We will never yield.”

Space between the fleets became a deadly thicket of lasers and lances. Vast gun muzzles flared, hurling shells the size of shipping containers. Yet the superior performance of the Imperial ships soon gave them the upper hand.

“That ship—an Abyss-class battleship.” One of the captains directing the battle recognized his opponent. “Target these positions.” His hands swept over a display and pressed its controls, bringing targeting markers into focus. An image of the Abyss-class vessel formed on a secondary hololithic projection in front of the console.

The target had a massive, pointed prow. Even at a glance, the armor plating suggested extraordinary protection; ordinary Imperial guns would scarcely scratch it. Its spread of jagged structures and immense bulk made its menace plain. Three huge, serrated projections gave it the appearance of a gigantic trident.

Beneath the thick bronze of its broad flanks, the muzzles of countless twin-linked plasma-laser turrets gleamed coldly. Powerful guns occupied every sharply angled metal recess. Dense clusters of defensive turrets covered its underside, alongside the black mouths of torpedo tubes. At the stern, immense exhausts blazed with dazzling light. A book was engraved upon the prow: the emblem of the Book of Lorgar.

Celestine did not interfere with the command of the battle. Ship-to-ship warfare was not her strength. “Pour everything into it,” the captain ordered. “Destroy that Abyss-class vessel in one strike.”

On the eve of the Heresy, the Word Bearers and those members of the Mechanicum who intended to betray the Imperium had secretly constructed these exceptional warships. They were even larger than the Gloriana class. Three had been built: the Furious Abyss, the Blessed Lady, and the Trisagion.

The materials, slave labor, and ammunition squandered on those three vessels were beyond counting. Their performance during the Heresy had been terrifying. The blue boys had suffered brutal ambushes and beatings, losing countless lives. Abyss-class battleships had also appeared during Abaddon's thirteen Black Crusades, inflicting grievous losses upon the Imperium each time.

Along the battle line, more than a dozen immense Imperial ships unleashed the fire they had been preparing, every weapon trained on the Abyss-class vessel. Under normal circumstances, a battleship could endure hours of bombardment.

The vital systems of those old Imperial designs lay buried deep inside their hulls. Multiple void shields protected them, and their steel hull walls were several meters thick. Even a wrecked battleship could be salvaged, repaired, and sent out again: its adamantium framework was very difficult to destroy.

Before Guilliman's awakening, the Tech-Priests and Navy had been particularly fond of retrieving such ships, patching them up, and returning them to service. That had continued until Guilliman repeatedly forbade the practice. By then, however, few had any reason to do it. Building a warship had once been difficult; now it was considerably easier. Moreover, the entire Imperial fleet had been upgraded. Its performance far surpassed that of the old models.

Powerful dark-matter reactors supplied energy beyond anything previously imagined. Even while sustaining quantum-deflection shields and Gellar fields together, they could meet every demand of the weapons systems. Such firepower could easily destroy a starship. One concentrated volley would be enough to blast the Abyss-class battleship to pieces through sheer, overwhelming force.

Dazzling beams engulfed its void shields. The generators flickered frantically, then overloaded. Particle fire covered the ship's surface. A mere twenty seconds later, its hull had become an immense pillar of flame. The great vessel slowly split apart. Its reactor exploded as well, a miniature sun enveloping the ship in a brilliant white sphere.

The brief victory brought a hint of a smile to the fleet's crews. Even an Abyss-class Chaos battleship had been destroyed at the outset of the engagement. The other ships stood still less chance against the Imperium; they would only be throwing their lives away. The Word Bearers were forced to flee. Remembering the earlier trap, Celestine did not send her fleet after them. She knew that stronger enemies watched her from the depths of the Warp. If her ships became trapped in the storm again, there would truly be no saving them.

Having routed the enemy fleet, they changed course and prepared to land on Belial IV. A huge black cathedral stood on the surface, another masterpiece of the Word Bearers. Those madmen loved nothing better than building cathedrals. Before their betrayal, they had built them for the Emperor. Afterward, they built them for the dark gods.

The cathedral was octagonal, taking the form of the wheel of Chaos. A strange, lofty tower rose at its center.

After a moment's thought, Celestine decided to attack the blasphemous cathedral. It occupied a useful position in a basin, beside a great many Aeldari wraithbone towers. Those towers radiated an energy that disrupted the perceptions of Warp daemons. The enormous building would also give her troops a place to rest and reorganize, if only briefly.

The expected battle never came. The temple was deserted. All that remained were bones strewn across the ground and walls carved with blasphemous runes. They even found many traces of the Aeldari inside. The Word Bearers had raised their dark cathedral in haste, building over what was already there without properly clearing it away.

The accompanying psykers pieced together evidence of a prayer ritual performed within the cathedral. It dated to the battle for Cadia. Celestine remembered that terrible war. The Warp storms had indeed been extraordinarily fierce. Some ships attempting to suppress the rebels had been swallowed by the surging currents. It seemed certain that the Word Bearers had helped bring that dreadful storm about.

Celestine ordered every statue of the dark gods pulled down and smashed. They erased the strange, profane runes and cleared a space for the sick.

Away from the ships, the flies could find no suitable hiding places. Flamers reduced them to charred remains; whenever any were spotted, they were killed. Using the medical equipment developed for Tearstain, the expeditionary force soon stabilized the outbreak. The soldiers' suppurating wounds began slowly to improve.

Several uncontaminated ships remained in high orbit. Their powerful weapons deterred the fleeing Word Bearers and other vessels attempting to approach Belial IV. Celestine sent out Primaris Space Marines to search for a Webway entrance. If they could find one of the routes used by the Aeldari, perhaps they could escape.