1.Grey Knghts by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Format: epub

'...systems down, engines... down to twenty...' Alaric couldn't tell which one of the Malleus crew was

speaking. It sounded like the bridge itself had sustained damage. How many of the command crew were dead? How many would it take before the Rubicon was left blind and crippled? The Thunderhawk shook violently in its moorings, as if it was flying through heavy turbulence. The Grey Knights were held fast by their grav-restraints as explosions groaned through the ship. Suddenly the static on the vox was gone and a clear voice was layered over the sounds of the dying strike cruiser. 'Brother-Captain Alaric, we've lost the bridge. We've set the Rubicon on a final deployment run but control systems are gone so there's no one to correct if the approach is wrong.' Alaric recognised the voice of the officer who held the comms helm, a man Alaric couldn't name. 'We will hit high atmosphere in six minutes if the engines hold. We're heading down to your decks now to make sure the hangar doors open.'

'Good work, officer.' said Alaric as the vox filled back up with static. 'What's your name?' 'None of us have names.' came the faint reply. 'Deployment in six minutes, brother-captain. The Emperor protects.'

THE STRIKE CRUISERS used by the Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes weren't built for gunnery. They were built for speed and resilience, since their primary purpose was to move Space Marines quickly and safely and to take part in boarding actions. They could take a hell of a lot of punishment, the equivalent of Imperial Navy ships of far larger classes, and so the Holy Flame had calculated that it would take almost its whole stock of munitions for its starboard guns to destroy the Rubicon. The Rubicon, however, was not just a Space Marine strike cruiser, as rare and remarkable as those were. It had been commissioned by the Ordo Malleus whose resources dwarfed those of the highest Naval admiral. The Rubicon had been built using alloys and construction techniques so advanced the Adeptus Mechanicus could no longer replicate them. The Ordo Malleus demanded the best of their Chamber Militant, the Grey Knights, and they provided the best as well. The Rubicon was as solid a ship as had flown since the Dark Age of Technology.

The slow dance of the Holy Flame and the Rubicon twirled into the first wisps of Volcanis Ultor's atmos- phere, the thin air ignited into long bright ribbons by the shells that pumped from the Holy Flame's starboard guns. The Rubicon blossomed into flame as it entered the atmosphere, fire rippling like liquid up its sides, pouring from the ruined prow and billowing in huge fluid plumes from its shattered engines. A second plasma generator exploded and sent superheated plasma flashing through the whole engineering section. A section of hull blew out so huge that the Rubicon was split down half its length, spilling wreck- age and bodies like a gutted fish. When the ordnance magazine detonated, the explosion was like an after- thought compared to the shrieks and eruptions as the Rubicon began to come apart.

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