The bridge of the Emperor’s Judgement was, as ever, bustling with activity. Staff officers gathered in small clusters, discussing operations and procedures. Servitors trundled to and fro, delivering data-slates and messages.
Watching over it all, the Lord-Admiral sat in his command chair, observing. Landing operations had begun in the northern sector of the main continent, and the fleet had moved swiftly into action to execute his orders. Troop transports hung in low orbit above the planet, disgorging swarms of dropships and a steady stream of bulk landers and vehicle transports. Forming an outer ring around them were the warships of the fleet. Shoals of frigates and destroyers prowled around the larger cruisers and battlecruisers. The largest ships in the fleet were the three battleships; the Emperor’s Judgement, the Retribution-Class ship Galatea and the smaller Apocalypse-Class ship Malleo Mortis. Each many miles in length, the trio of battleships were among the largest weapons in the Imperium’s arsenal. Nothing could stand against them save another battleship.
‘My Lord, the first units have made planetfall.’ Captain Bormann relayed the news to his Admiral.
‘Excellent!’ The Admiral loved smooth operations, and so far this one was going as smoothly as could be expected.
‘I understand from the other landing party that these horse creatures are not hostile to us after all,’ he said, turning to the Captain who stood beside his chair.
‘Apparently not, sir,’ Bormann replied. ‘I see the first engagement was all a misunderstanding.’ The Admiral smiled grimly.
‘It is fortuitous for these ponies that the first-contact party survived to find that out,’ he said. ‘Otherwise this might be a continent-wide invasion. As it is, I shall see for myself exactly what is going on down there in due course. I would not wish to be known as the Admiral who made peace with Xenos without at least investigating to see if they really are of no threat to us.’
Bormann was not sure he liked the idea of making peace with any Xenos, no matter how little threat they may seem to pose. The litany of races hostile to the Imperium was a long and dangerous one- the Orks, the Eldar and their dark cousins, Tyranids, Necrons, Hrud; the list went on and on. Even the Tau, who were not exactly hostile in the strictest sense, were a very potent threat out on the eastern fringes. Bormann was not sure these creatures would be any different. To him, all Xenos were abominations to be purged from the galaxy, though he knew that those much wiser than he occasionally declared that a particularly unthreatening species should be left alone.
‘Our troops on the ground report negligible resistance from the…Griffons, sir,’ Bormann said.
‘As expected,’ the Admiral replied with a dismissive wave of his hand. ‘Their technology is primitive. This campaign will be over in a matter of hours.’ Bormann suspected he was correct. Troops were pouring down onto the continent below in their thousands. Their vehicles were dropping with them; hundreds of tanks, armoured personnel carriers, mobile artillery pieces, scout vehicles and a dozen other assorted types. Everything the Imperial Guard needed to wage war was being landed. Some might call it overkill, but the Guard just call it being thorough.
‘Captain!’ one of the bridge officers called. Bormann turned to him.
‘Strange readings on the Auspex, sir,’ he continued. ‘Approximately five hundred thousand miles out.’
‘What sort of readings, Ensign?’ he called from the Admiral’s podium.
‘Unknown, sir. Very faint and fluctuating…wait, we have something.’ From the tactical Auspex station, a different cry went up.
‘Unidentified contacts, Captain! Three of them…wait, now five…seven…ten!’
From the warp they came, tearing gashes in reality as they emerged. First one, then another, then a stream, until there were nearly a hundred vessels. A warfleet of Chaos, on the hunt and with its target dead ahead.
‘Red alert! Battle stations! Alert the fleet,’ Lord-Admiral Marcos issued a stream of commands as the Auspex contacts multiplied.
‘Now reading one-hundred six contacts, My Lord!’ the tactical Auspex officer shouted.
‘Auspex readings indicate target signatures match that of Chaos vessels, My Lord.’ Marcos thumped the arm of his chair in frustration.
‘Curse those foul heretics! They can’t leave well alone, even this far out. Destroyers move to engage. Capital ships, form a firing line! Protect the transports. They are the reason we are out here. Have the Malleo Mortis move astern of us. I want their lances glowing red!’ he ordered.
‘Aye, sir!’ came the chorus of replies from the command crew. The strident wail of the alert klaxons filled the bridge.
‘They are closing fast, sir!’ the Auspex officer reported. ‘They are not slowing.’
‘Looks like they want to punch right through us,’ Marcos growled. ‘Are there any transports amongst them?’
‘Aye sir, at least thirty bulk transporters in the centre of the fleet,’ the officer sung out. Marcos pounded his chair again.
‘Damn them back to hell! This was no chance encounter. They have come for the planet. Do not let them break through! Launch all fighters!’
The Emperor’s Judgement slipped into position in the firing line, with the Galatea ahead and the Malleo Mortis astern, presenting their flanks to the enemy to allow the maximum possible firepower to be brought to bear. With the Chaos fleet already in range, the first las-blasts and torpedoes were flying. The few Imperial picket destroyers were simply swatted out of the way by the combined firepower of nearly seventy five Chaos warships. Within moments the long-range lance batteries of the Malleo Mortis blazed into action. The Imperial escort ships rode out to meet the oncoming tide as their cruisers swung toward the enemy.
At the heart of the Chaos fleet were a trio of ancient Desolator-Class battleships, three more Repulsive-Class Grand Cruisers, and a full dozen other cruisers of various classes. As they raced towards the Imperial battle line, their smaller escorts forged ahead to soak up incoming fire and launch their own torpedoes. Several were destroyed in moments by lucky strikes, but their early losses did now slow the forces of the Ruinous Powers.
‘My Lord, Auspex scans show an exact match. One of those Desolators is the Soul Harvest, the personal flagship of Sorcerer Lord Parthax the Infidel.’ Admiral Marcos growled.
‘If he bleeds, we can kill him. He will die like all the rest!’ Grim-faced, the Admiral observed the holo-display in front of him. It had changed from an image of the planet to displaying a three-dimensional representation of the space occupied by the two fleets. Blue and red icons represented the ships of the Imperium and Chaos respectively.
A solid spear of red sigils were moving steadily towards two thin lines of blue. Clusters of red and blue in between represented the escort squadrons.
‘They will not stop until their transports are in orbit,’ he said to Captain Bormann. ‘This is an invasion fleet disguised as a warfleet. We have only just arrived here ourselves and I’ll be damned if I am going to see this place fall to Chaos! Alert all ships. Tell them to focus their fire on those transports. We have a planet to protect.’
‘How much longer do we have to wait here?’ Rainbow Dash flapped her wings in frustration. The Elements and Spike had been led into the palace by members of the Royal Guard and left to wait in an antechamber for an audience with the Princess. Twilight tried to mollify her friend.
‘She’s busy! Meeting with these humans takes precedence over meeting with us,’ she began. ‘Especially since the only reason she wanted to see us was to talk about the things I saw in the sky, and I think her questions have already been answered.’ Rainbow Dash sighed.
‘I guess you’re right,’ she said, though she did not have much longer to wait.
The doors to the throne room swung open seconds later. The guards stepped aside, and Shining Armour emerged. Behind him came the three humans. Twilight had seen them on the airship, standing on the command deck and muttering to each other, drawing fearful glances from the crew.
The Princess must trust them to some extent, she thought, or they would be in chains by now. They walked past, the taller of the three eyeing the colourful mares with some confusion. Apart from the Princess, we are the first ponies he has seen who aren’t in uniform, she realised. He saw us on the airship; now he must be wondering why we are going to see the Princess too.
Shining Armour stopped beside Twilight. Another guardspony emerged from the throne room, and with a gesture from his commander he began to lead the humans through a door at the other end of the antechamber and out of sight. Twilight embraced her big brother.
‘You can go in now, Twiley,’ he said, though his words were addressed as much to her friends as to her. ‘The Princess wishes to see you.’
‘What did the humans have to say?’ she asked, looking up at him with wide, inquisitive eyes.
‘They want peace. That’s all I can say for now,’ Shining Armour replied.
‘Do they like parties?’
Everypony smiled at Pinkie’s random outburst.
‘I don’t know, Pinkie, they didn’t say!’ Shining Armour replied. ‘Alright, you’d better go. Don’t want to keep the Princess waiting.’ Twilight nodded.
‘Right. Let’s go girls. I’ll see you later, BBBFF!’ Shining smiled and watched them trot into the throne room, before turning away and returning to his duties.
‘My faithful student!’ Princess Celestia smiled warmly as the young ponies entered the room. ‘And all your friends, too.’
‘Good afternoon, Princess!’ Twlight returned the greeting. The door clanged shut behind them as they six mares and one dragon formed a line in front of the throne.
‘I must admit, I was looking forward to this meeting, but it has been rather overshadowed by recent events,’ Celestia said. ‘It has been too long since we last spoke face to face, Twilight. How are you all?’
‘We’re all fine, Princess. Thank you for your concern!’ Twilight replied eagerly. Celestia chuckled.
‘Well, that is good news. Now, you were coming here to tell me about some strange phenomena, but I think I have just heard all about it from a different source.’ Twilight gasped.
‘Oh, no! I left all my notes behind! I’m so sorry, Princess! The sirens went off, and we went to the town square, and then my brother came, and…’ Celestia cut her off abruptly.
‘Twilight! Do not fret. I am not angry. On the contrary, I am happy that you still came to see me with all this excitement going on in Ponyville.’ Twilight breathed a sigh of relief as the Princess continued.
‘The humans said they have a fleet of ships in orbit. What you mentioned seeing last night must have been one of them. I will have my sister carry out more observations tonight. I would like you to stay at the palace and aid her in this task.’
‘Oh, of…of course, Princess. I’d be happy to help Princess Luna,’ Twilight said. Celestia nodded.
‘The rest of you are more than welcome to stay here also. I have had rooms prepared for you all.’ There was a chorus of thanks from Twilght’s friends.
‘Wow, thanks Your Highness! This is gonna be so awesome!’
‘Ooh, thank you! We can have a party!’
‘Well that’s mighty kind of y’all, Princess!’
‘Um..thank…thank you…’
‘I think that, although these humans claim peace as their aim, it would be wise to have the Elements of Harmony close at hand and well protected,’ Celestia said. ‘Therefore I must ask all of you not to leave the palace grounds until I say otherwise.’ Twilight nodded. Fluttershy gulped.
‘Hopefully this precaution will be unnecessary, but I do not know enough about these humans to trust them just yet. One can never be too well prepared,’ Celestia continued. ‘We must be ready for any surprises.’
‘Ohh!’ Pinkie Pie exclaimed. ‘I like surprises!’
The range between the two fleets was closing rapidly. The Chaos ships had their engines running on flank speed, powering towards the planet as fast as they could go. Long-range lance fire from the Imperial battle lines flickered out at them, their void shields glowing as they absorbed the blows. Nova cannon blasts from the fleet's two Mars-Class battlecruisers detonated in their midst, shredding several escort frigates. But nothing was slowing them down.
‘They will reach our lines in four minutes, Admiral.’ The grim news from the tactical Auspex station caused Lord-Admiral Marcos to thump his chair yet again.
‘I want every gun in the fleet firing. Drive them back into the warp!’ he shouted. As the range closed, the fleet obeyed his command, pouring laser, plasma and missile fire across the gulf of space to strike against the shields of the enemy. The Admiral knew that, in a close-range firefight, the Grand Cruisers in the tip of the spear of the Chaos fleet would rip his ships apart with their fearsome macrocannon broadsides, slicing a way through the warships and exposing the all-but defenceless transports beyond.
Lord-General Galen, who until minutes ago had been directing the landing operations, watched the drama unfold from the rear of the bridge. Space battles were an Imperial Guardsman’s worst nightmare; they could do nothing but stand and watch, hoping that the vessel they were riding in would not be hit. The Lord-General, at least, could take some solace in knowing that he was aboard a ship with excellent armour, an excellent Captain and an excellent Admiral. His guardsmen on their transport ships, however, were not so lucky. Galen found himself drinking straight from the Amasec bottle as he watched the fight commence.
The Emperor’s Judgement lacked a powerful, long-range armament, but it made up for it by carrying a large number of fighters and heavy bombers. These small, nimble vessels roamed through space, shooting down enemy attack craft and making bombing runs on their warships. They poured forth from the hangar bays of the battleship, joining those few that the other Imperial capital ships carried. They added their firepower to the strobing mass of gunfire that was now filling the void between the fleets.
‘One cruiser has been knocked out, My Lord, and we have dropped the shields on a second.’
‘Destroyer Squadron Omega has been destroyed completely, sir.’
Tactical reports flew back and forth across the bridge like the volleys of gunfire that they were describing. Admiral Marcos stood above it all, his hands clasped now behind his back.
‘Captain Bormann, manoeuvre the Emperor’s Judgement to bring our prow weapons to bear.’
‘Yes, my Lord,’ Bormann replied, passing the order on swiftly to the helmsman. The Emperor’s Judgement was more heavily-armoured fighter carrier and command craft than true battleship, but its prow was studded with numerous heavy weapon turrets as well as sensor probes. The ponderous craft swung slowly in space, its manoeuvring jets flaring silently in the void. Astern, the Malleo Mortis blazed away with its broadside lances, bringing death and destruction to the Chaos fleet with every shot. They were taking losses, but they were not taking losses fast enough.
‘Range is now less than fifty thousand miles, Captain,’ called the Auspex officer. The Chaos ships had warped in almost on top of the planet, leaving the Immaterium at high speed and not braking. Now, within mere minutes they were entering knife-fight range with the Crusade fleet. At such a range every weapon on board every ship was usable, from the largest lance to the smallest close-in missile defence gun. Each fleet possessed thousands of muzzles; Nova cannon, lance batteries, las-cannon, plasma guns, macrocannon, torpedo tubes, missile packs, gauss railguns and coildrivers. A hailstorm of projectiles was pattering off the shields of the approaching warfleet. One of the Chaos cruisers erupted with a blinding, actinic flash that left after-images in the eyes of the Imperial attack craft pilots. The heretic fleet was running through a hurricane of fire from the broadsides of the Imperials, and they were being punished for it, but they were still not being slowed. Here, a destroyer lost its engine array and began to spiral away into deep space.
There, an escort frigate took a hit to the bridge and, rudderless, swung into the side of one of the Desolator-Class battleships, blossoming into a vast fireball and bringing the capital ship’s shields down. The lances of the Malleo Mortis took full advantage, striking home with pinpoint precision at such a relatively short range. The spear-shaped prow of the Desolator-Class began to come apart from the inside, riven by internal explosions. Its engines failed and it began to slow, the rest of the Chaos fleet tearing past it as it died.
But, at such a range, the Imperial guns were not the only ones that were effective. Although the Chaos vessels could not fire their broadsides, they still mounted enough prow and dorsal guns to inflict heavy damage. The lances of the Desolator-Class ships proved fearsomely effective, punching through void shields and armour alike. One of the Mars-Class battlecruisers reeled away, its Nova cannon destroyed and its hull riddled with internal fires. A smaller Dauntless-Class light cruiser was blown apart by the same weapons.
Trapped in no-mans land between the two fleets, attack craft on both sides took catastrophic losses, caught in the crossfire of the larger anti-ship weapons as well as the blizzard of close defence guns. They died in their dozens. The same fate befell many escorts. The Chaos fleet arrived in-system with forty-nine escort destroyers and frigates- by the time they reached the Imperial battle line, there were just twenty six remaining.
But reach it they did, and not just the escorts but the capital ships too. They ploughed through the outer ring of escorts and bore down on the Emperor’s Judgement and her fellow battleships with terrifying speed. Even then, they did not stop to fight. The Grand Cruisers in the van unleashed their ferocious broadsides, dozens of heavy cannon and las-batteries on each ship shredding the shields and armour of whatever they came into contact with.
The Galatea took the worst of the pounding. The huge battleship was stripped of its shields in moments under the sheer weight of firepower being hurled at it. Steel and ceramite were rent asunder, entire strings of compartments being opened up to the vacuum. Its engines were blasted to pieces by one of the Grand Cruisers passing astern. This ship also struck the Emperor’s Judgement with its portside gun batteries as it passed.
The bridge shook as the Chaos cruiser bombarded the battleship. Admiral Marcos rocked from side to side with the motion of his flagship, but years of experience in such matters had given him a firm footing. The bridge was bathed in the sickly red glow of the battle lighting, but an unusual calm had descended over its crew as the ship was struck again and again by enormous shells and pulsing las-blasts.
‘Shields are holding, My Lord, barely,’ reported the tactical officer.
‘Return fire, all portside guns,’ Marcos said steadily. The gunnery officer had no need to input firing solutions. He simply gave the order to fire. The Emperor’s Judgement had but a few broadside batteries, but they were effective nonetheless. The railguns and plasma cannon blew several holes in the shields and armour of the Grand Cruiser, which brought its dorsal lances to bear in retaliation.
At such short range, the fire of the lances was devastating. The shields of the Emperor’s Judgement collapsed, and the beams of pure energy melted their way through the outer armour.
Even Admiral Marcos’ steady footing was not enough, as the battleship bucked and shuddered under the onslaught. He was thrown to his right and stumbled heavily against the railing that encircled his command podium. Members of the bridge crew were flung from their seats and several smashed their heads on consoles and chart tables. Warning klaxons began blaring.
‘Shields are down, sir!’ the tactical officer shouted.
‘Damage report!’ Marcos spat, standing back up.
‘Heavy damage to our port side, My Lord,’ the officer reported. ‘All portside batteries are offline. Hull breaches reported on all decks.’
‘Damn them! Bring us about,’ the Lord-Admiral ordered. ‘Starboard broadside on that cruiser.’
‘Sir!’ the vox-officer called. ‘Word from the Galatea. They are dead in space, My Lord.’
The Chaos spearhead had smashed through the Imperial fleet, crippling one battleship and damaging the others. Their battle line was in disarray. With heretic warships pouring through their defensive shield, the transport ships began desperately to scatter. They mounted only very limited defensive armament and nothing that could even scratch the shields of a capital ship.
Its main drives throbbing with barely restrained yet silent fury, the Grand Cruiser that had led the charge opened fire on the fleeing transports. Not designed to come under fire, the transport ships had only minimal shielding and armour. It proved woefully inadequate at repelling lance blasts. One transport blew itself apart completely as its reactors overloaded. Another had its flank ripped open, exposing the troop compartments to space and condemning nearly ten thousand Imperial Guardsmen to an agonising death. Blasts of venting atmosphere erupted from the side of the ruined transport. Now getting dangerously close to the planet’s atmosphere, the Grand Cruiser cut its drives and engaged its braking jets.
As it did so, it was struck from behind by the combined firepower of the Emperor’s Judgement’s starboard broadside and the dorsal lances of the Malleo Mortis. Its shields, damaged by the firefight with the Imperial flagship, shut down completely. The second wave of lance shots smashed the ship’s bridge and tore flaming gashes in its flank. With nobody at the helm, the crippled cruiser dived towards the planet, unable to slow its descent.
With the cruiser out of the fight, the two surviving Imperial battleships turned their attentions to the rest of the Chaos fleet. The other two Grand Cruisers were about to force their way through the battle line, and were being followed by the Desolator-Class battleships and a half dozen cruisers. Behind them came the transports.
‘Close that gap! Do not let them through!’ cried the Lord-Admiral, seeing the cluster of red icons on the holo-map about to breach the line. But it was too late.
The Chaos capital ships saw the gap in the line where the Galatea lay crippled and pounced on it. As they passed it by they blasted it with their broadsides. Overcome and burning, the Galatea died fighting, its lances roaring till the last.
Fire from the Imperial battleships and cruisers caught them as they broke through. Swarms of missiles smashed into their shields, and las-blasts blazed brightly against the darkness of space. Two cruisers were knocked out in moments, their shields overwhelmed and their hulls punctured in a dozen places. The battleships and Grand Cruisers proved hardier opponents, shrugging off the blizzard of ordnance and returning fire with their lance batteries and rail drivers. The escorts following close behind fired off shoals of torpedoes, their heavy nuclear and plasma warheads more than capable of ripping through the hull of any Imperial vessel. Launched at close range as the escorts approached the gap in the line, the torpedoes were difficult to avoid. The torpedoes struck two Imperial cruisers dead-on, and several burst with bright flares on the already ravaged port side of the fleet’s flagship.
‘Your Highness!’ A guardspony knocked heavily on the door to Celestia’s private chambers. ‘Your Highness!’ Celestia opened the door with her magic.
‘What is it?’ she inquired. The guardspony saluted and bowed before his Princess.
‘Your Highness, there is something you need to see. Something in the sky.’
‘Show me,’ she said, following the guard into the corridor. He led her to the palace gardens.
The gardens were not empty. A group of ponies stood on the path. The six Elements of Harmony and Spike were there; Shining Armour and a handful of guardsponies, and her sister, Princess Luna. They were all staring skyward. Following their gaze, Celestia could see why.
The heavens were falling.