"Lord Inquisitor, we have just managed to make it past the Straits of Epona and into the border of the Elara's Veil."
Lord Inquisitor Takeshi Tsuchimikado nodded grimly after Captain Connor O'Neil informed him of the ship's arrival. The Retributor-class battleship, Angels Ascendant, sailed into the void, her gellar fields replaced by shimmering void shields as she readied for combat. Accompanied by several heavy cruisers, five battle barges, eleven strike cruisers and a single Ark Mechanicus that was dispatched from the forge world of Draconis IV, the capital ships were surrounded by dozens of escorts, resembling shoals of whales that swam alongside cruising leviathans.
Bulky, heavily armored and brutally ugly, the capital ships of Torchbearer Task Force Regulus sailed onward, the might of the Imperium embodied. Within the cargo hold of the Ark Mechanicus, Omnissiah's Glory, the precious gene-seed that would save a beleaguered Chapter from extinction lay, attended to by dozens of Magi Genetor.
"Plot the coordinates for Elysium IX," Tsuchimikado ordered. "We head for the Celestial Lions' homeworld."
"There are reports that it may have fallen to the Archenemy, my lord," O'Neil reminded him. Tsuchimikado's lips pursed.
"Be that as it may be, we are honorbound to deliver their gene-seed to the Celestial Lions. They require Primaris reinforcements."
"They should already have Primaris reinforcements, thanks to the Emperor's Spears," Interrogator Isaac Istavan pointed out. Tsuchimikado shook his head.
"Not nearly enough. If we can get the Greyshields to the Celestial Lions, they should be able to bring their numbers back to a full chapter. I don't know how they managed to survive after the events of Armageddon, and even that...assassination attempt of my colleagues on Chapter Master Ekene Dubaku, but we are not leaving anything to chance."
"They said the assassination attempt failed...and that Chapter Master Dubaku still lives."
"Yes, they do." Tsuchimikado smiled, the almost star-shaped scar across his face making it look like a grimace. "A Chapter Master is impossible to kill."
"Nonetheless, we must hurry. The astropathic choir reports that the Elara's Veil is under siege, and that the Adeptus Vaelarii are hard-pressed to hold the enemy back. The cries of billions of deaths haunt their messages, and the stars weep blood."
Tsuchimikado turned to see Marshal Mowbray of the Black Templars, clad in his black and white armor. His red cape billowed about him, and the gold trim stood out in stark contrast to the rest of his Tartaros-pattern Terminator armor. When he raised an eyebrow, Mowbray shrugged.
"I was simply repeating what Alain said."
Alain, the resident astropath was prone to flights of fantasy and poetry. Tsuchimikado didn't press him. He bowed his head respectfully. Mowbray had come over from his flagship, Sigismund's Wrath, knowing that the Black Templars Marshal had granted him a huge honor. However, he was also aware that the Black Templar was keeping a wary eye on him.
The Adeptus Astartes and the Inquisition never had the best of relationships, after all.
"My lord," the officer of communications suddenly spoke up, his face tinted green and blue by the hololiths projected from his consoles. "Enemy fleet detected in the system."
"Disposition?" O'Neil asked immediately, leaning forward in his command throne. Both hands gripped the armrests tightly.
"Six capital ships and...over a hundred escorts."
Static and screaming burst from the vox, the wailing of doomed souls and bestial shrieking of things that should not exist. Tsuchimikado winced at the noise, but decades of fighting the archenemy had inured him to it. The crew of the Angel Ascendant, on the other hand, were shaken.
"Shut that off," O'Neil ordered, and the vox officer complied immediately. Blissful silence replaced the bridge once more. The captain then turned toward Tsuchimikado, who nodded. O'Neil drew in a deep breath and glared at the hololiths. "Send the order to the fleet. We attack."
"Destroy all of them," Mowbray said flatly. "Do not let even a single one escape."
"You heard him," Tsuchimikado said, and the captain nodded.
"No pity, no remorse, no fear," Mowbray whispered. He then turned, reaching for his helm that he had maglocked to the side. "I will return to the Sigismund's Wrath. We will show these traitors no mercy."
*
Even when besieged from all sides by numberless multitudes of enemies, the might of the Imperium still could not be denied.
The Black Templar fleet broke off and surged ahead, slicing through the void like sharp, brutish knives. Torpedoes volleyed from their blunt prows, detonating against the void shields of the archenemy warships. Lances arced forward, causing the barriers to sizzle out and collapse in sparks. Macrobatteries whirred about, waiting to unleash their payload the moment their broadsides faced each other.
The enemy fleet, though formidable, had clearly just gone through heavy fighting. There were ragged holes in their armor, and barely patched up damages - repairs that were overly hasty and improvised. Even without the visible signns of damage, the amount of debris that drifted in the system was a testamennt to the furious battle.
The Imperial Navy and Mechanicus ships followed up, the latter opening up with their long-ranged nova cannons. A frigate exploded as a massive round tore into it and detonated in its guts, and a heavy cruiser listed, its guts gouged out by another nova cannon round.
"The Exilarchy," Tsuchimikado murmured as he consulted his dataslate. Under his command, his retinue had tapped into the vox communications and relays spread throughout the system and began to piece together what had occurred here. "The name of the heretics who threaten the Elara's Veil."
The exchange was short but ferocious, the imperial ships slowly getting in close and pounding the battered Exliarchy fleet into oblivion. Several turned tail and attempted to flee, but the Black Templars strike cruisers swiftly caught up to them, their lances burning out engines and slowing their thrust. The entire engagement took hours - such was the nature of void warfare - but the Imperium inexorably and surely destroyed their foes, one ship at a time.
"Do you think the same has happened to Elysium IX?" Istavan whispered, moving toward the armorglass that spread across the bridge. The once beautiful world of Electra had darkened, a crimson fog of embers surrounding its orbit. Even from this disance, he could see the immense infernos that burned upon the surface of the planet.
"I believe the Exilarchy has invaded it," Tsuchimikado replied gravely. "That this is but a token force, mere raiders. The main bulk of the Exilarchy's strength would most likely be in the Elysium System."
"My Black Templars and I will help take back the Celestial Lions' homeworld from the Exliarchy," Mowbray said, his figure buzzing on a faded hololith. The marshal had led one of the boardings aboard an Exilarchy ship, and signs of fierce fighting had worn the blood-splattered Terminator armor out. Nonetheless, he stood tall and proud, no sign of exhaustion on his face. "Not just Elysium...but the whole Elara's Veil sub-sector."
"We will aid you however we can." Tsuchimikado lowered his head. Torchbearer Task Force Regulus was a gathering of Imperial might, boasting a dozen knight lances from House Yato of Draconis III, and about a hundred Imperial Guard regiments, recently reinforced by their victory in Kryptos VIII. When he had requisitioned the fleet shortly after the war in Kryptos VIII, the Shogun had agreed to send them across the Great Rift, to aid the Celestial Lions.
With a single Black Templars Crusade and dozens of Skitarii macroclades in addition to the Knights and multitudes of Guardsmen, they should be able to reclaim the Elysium system at least. Entire sectors had fallen to less.
"We will bring the fleet to the Elysium system, break through the enemy naval cordon and prepare to land ground forces on Elysium itself. We will drive the Exilarchy away from the planet...and refound the Celestial Lions if necessary."
As much as he hoped to find remnants of the chapter, the situation did not look promising. There were no Adeptus Astartes ships in the system, which struck Tsuchimikado as odd. Most of them were obsolete defense monitors and recently salvaged imperial ships whose make had not been manufactured by forge worlds in millennia. Was this system not under the jurisdiction of the Adeptus Vaelarii? What about the Celestial Lions' allies, the Emperor's Spears and Star Scorpions? He had no information regarding the missing Star Scorpions, but he had received information that the Emperor's Spears had benefited from their Primaris reinforcements and even shared whatever they had with the Celestial Lions.
The Greyshields, who had further blooded themselves in void warfare against the Exilarchy along with the Black Templars earlier, would prove to be a boon to them.
"My lord," the vox officer spoke up again. The lord inquisitor turned to him with a quizzical raise of his brow. The junior officer swallowed and gestured to his console. "We are being hailed."
"By who?"
"...by the Blade of the Seventh Son, Castellan Zvarin Roist, the Castellan of the Elysium Crusade."
"Brother Zvarin!" Mowbray looked delighted, or at least as delighted as a transhuman warrior could look. "He is still alive! This is great news!"
"Indeed," Tsuchimikado agreed. "Accept their hail and ask them for permisson to come aboard their ship. We have a lot to discuss."
*
At least that was Takeshi Tsuchimikado's intention, but he did not expect to find himself trained under the dozen or so barrels from the Marines of the Black Templars, Celestial Lions and Emperor's Spears. His Inquisitorial storm troopers mirrored them, their hot-shot lasguns and hellguns lifted up and aimed at them. Under different circumstances, Tsuchimikado would be impressed at how his handpicked troops were not intimidated by forces from three Adeptus Astartes Chapters, but right now he had to defuse the situation.
"I believe," Arucatas said, his tone dark and foreboding. "That we said we will destroy any vessels bearing the Inquisition's mark if they run the Straits of Epona."
"Peace, brother." Mowbray stepped forward, holding up an armored greave. "We are not your enemies."
"Tell that to the Inquisitors who murdered Chapter Master Dubaku." Roist's finger nearly twitched on the trigger of his boltgun.
"Chapter Master Dubaku is dead?" Tsuchimikado repeated blankly. "But the messsage from the emergency beacon pod reported that the In Devout Abjuration was destroyed. My colleagues' attempts should have failed if that's the case."
"They didn't," Arucastas replied coldly, and left it at that. Tsuchimikado felt cold perspiration drip down his back as he stared at the boltgun pointed at his face. He took a deep breath and held up his hands.
"The Inquisition is not, as most misunderstand, a monolithic entity. There are...many factions within the Inquisition. Most Inquisitors are often at odds with each other."
"That is the only reason why you are still alive," Arucatas said. Tsuchimikado nodded and didn't argue, not wanting to push his luck. If the Space Marines truly wanted him dead, he would have been killed long ago.
"I am, obviously, of the faction opposing those who are foolishly attempting to drive the Celestial Lions to extinction."
"Why?" One of the Celestial Lions asked bitterly, his skepticism clear. His boltgun never wavered from Tsuchimikado's face, and it was clear from the intense hostility he emanated that he itched to pull the trigger.
"Because the Adeptus Vaelarii are the only ones who can defend Elara's Veil," Tsuchimikado explained calmly. "Those foolish, shortsighted colleagues of mine have allowed their pride to go to their heads. In their obsession...their desire to carry out a nonsensical vendetta, they doom the Imperium. Already half the Imperium has fallen to darkness. We cannot risk losing any more territories. Lord Commander Guilliman has returned to us and he will bring the Imperium back to the light. But we must all do our part. We cannot be...petty and shortsighted, incensed over some perceived slight. The High Lords who discretely ordered the destruction of the Celestial Lions have already been removed by Lord Commander Guilliman himself. I have also collected evidence of the colleagues involved in this vendetta and sent it to the Primarch. He is busy, of course, and I do not know how he intends to deal with it...or if at all. But in his graciousness, he allowed me to put together a torchbearer fleet to reinforce the Celestial Lions with what Greyshields he can spare from Indomitus Crusade Fleet Tertius. These..."
He gestured toward the hundreds of Primaris Space Marines, all decked out in the blue and gold colors of the Celestial Lions, who stood smartly in the hangar after disembarking from the Overlord gunships that flew over from the Black Templars fleet.
"...these are the hope of your Chapter, and will restore you to your former strength and glory. As you say, you are the Sentinels of the Veil, the Adeptus Vaelarii, and that you still live and fight to protect the Emperor's domains. The Lord Commander Roboute Guilliman has returned to the Imperium once more, and he will reward you for your efforts. You will be reinforced, you will hold, and you will protect Elara's Veil, no matter the cost."
"We do not take orders from the Inquisition," the Celestial Lion snarled. Tsuchimikado shook his head.
"The Inquisition does not presume to give orders to the Adeptus Astartes. This is a mandate from a higher power - the Emperor Himself, as well as his son, Lord Guilliman. I understand if you mistrust the Inquisition, but you should at least recognize the authority of the Avenging Son."
"Brothers." Mowbray stepped forward. "What the inquisitor says is true. He is...not of the same faction as those who seek the extinction of the Celestial Lions. There are many groups within the Inquisition as he says, and he belongs to those who side with Lord Guilliman. He wishes to restore the Celestial Lions as much as we do. It was through Inquisitor Tsuchimikado's efforts that he was able to put together this fleet and bring along hundreds of your Primaris brethren, to take the fight to the enemy."
"Not only that, I have pledged the forces under my command to help you retake the Elysium system. The whole of Elara's Veil." Tsuchimikado boldly pushed on, buoyed by Mowbray's assistance. "We will join the Elysium Crusade."
For a second, the tension in the air simmered, but the Space Marines finally lowered their boltguns. At a subtle nod from Tsuchimikado, the inquisitorial storm troopers did the same.
"What do you think?" Roist asked, turning to Arucastas and the Celestial Lions. He nodded at Mowbray. "I can vouch for Marshal Mowbray. We fought together in the Donian Crusade." He smiled. "We killed hundreds of Orks side by side."
"I remember that," Mowbray responded with a grin.
Arucastas pursed his lips, turning to his comrades. Breac bristled, but his eyes flickered to the newly minted Celestial Lions, the former Greyshields poised to reinforce the devastated chapter.
"I don't trust him," he muttered. "But...we can't deny that we need the reinforcements."
"Indeed," Arucastas agreed. "And with a fleet of this size aiding us, we might just be able to defeat the Exilarchy once and for all."
"No more holding actions. No more defending." Breac noddded. "We can finally take the fight to the archenemy!"
"I sense no deceit," Ducarius murmured, his eyes closed. "For an inquisitor, he is surprisingly open and honest."
"I have no intention of deceiving you," Tsuchimikado spread his hands and met their gazes firmly. "My duty is to the Imperium, not to carry out some petty vendetta. I may have colleagues whose stupidity, arrogance and reckless shortsightedness will doom us all, but that is why my faction exists. To keep those who would abuse their power in check and remove them whenever possible, and safeguard the Imperium from threats both external and internal. The Celestial Lions are vital to the defense of Elara's Veil, and we cannot risk losing them."
"Very well," the Celestial Lion sighed. "We do not have a choice. Our forces are severely depleted, and we have been hardpressed to hold the Exilarchy back. With this, we may just have a glimmer of hope of reclaiming the entirety of Elara's Veil."
"But..." Breac's tone held an ominous air of warning. "At the first sign of treachery, we will destroy you, the Inqusition be damned."
"I understand," Tsuchimikado replied calmly, though he felt a tremendous sense of relief, a massive burden taken off his shoulders. He had fought to persuade the primarch, Roboute Guilliman, to spare a huge number of Greyshields, called in several favors to put together a huge fleet, and even attached himself to the Black Templars, and now his efforts had finally borne fruit.
It would be a colossal waste to destroy the noble Celestial Lions. He truly believed that. Especially in this dark age, where the enemies besieged the Imperium in their multitudes...only the foolish would try and weaken the Imperium's defense by destroying one of the stalwart Adeptus Astartes Chapters. Their pettiness would doom the Imperium.
Most of all, Takeshi Tsuchimikado was a practical lord inquisitor. Elara's Veil must not fall. It was a buffer between Imperium Sanctus and Imperium Nihilus. Should Elara's Veil fall to the enemy, there was nothing to hold back the hordes of darkness that would threaten to spill over through the Cicatrix Maledictum and invade the recently stabilized Imperium Sanctus. The invaders would find a route through and assault Imperium Sanctus, threatening the fragile peace that they had just barely managed to win for themselves.
When that happened, Lord Commander Guilliman's dreams of unifying the Imperium once more and reclaiming humanity's birthright over the galaxy would be shattered.
