Fifty Third Volume, Chapter Twenty Four
In the previous chapter I wrote of the end of the battle of Pilgrims and the return of the Seleucaemi Treasurer to realspace. However there were still further trials to fall upon the shoulders of Talis Saro.
No sooner had the ship returned to real space it was rocked by a huge impact, as the ship was struck bodily by another object. The damage already wrought on the ship was as nothing compared to the damage which now occurred, the engines of the treasurer were smashed to flinders by the impact, and many other sections were destroyed.
Any other man would no doubt have been beaten down by the avalanche of so many ills in such a short time. However the line of Saro is made of more stern Men and Women, and Talis Saro wasted no time in contacting his Void Master Jameson and asking for information.
The situation was revealed to be very grave, the ship had reappeared in a debris field of prestigious size filled with the wrecks of many space faring vessels. It had been one of these pieces of debris which had struck the Treasurer in the region of it's engines, destroying them completely. The debris however was not like the majority of the field, shattered chunks of ships, but in fact was a sword class Frigate, very badly damaged, that had obviously been here for a long period of time. The armoured prow of the ship had driven into the engineering sections of the ship like a spear smashing the mechanisms to wreckage.
Still worse their sensors showed that life signs on the other ship were moving to the skin of the other vessel, obviously with the intention of boarding the Seleucaemi Treasurer. The denizens of the other ship obviously did not realise the danger of their position. Having already perpetrated a terrible assault on the line of Saro, albeit without realising it, they now intended to compound this error by entering the Rogue Traders own domain. Only a fool would consider such an action, and it speaks to the desperation of the attackers that they even considered it.
Despite the terrible damage caused by the collision, the ships voidmaster was able to use the remaining sensors to gain an overview of the situation. It soon became obvious that the occupants of the other ship were cutting through their own hull to gain entry to the Rogue traders vessel. In most cases they were cutting into regions badly damaged enough that they would not be able to make headway. However four or five of the breakthrough points would lead them into open locations, from which they could break out into the ship proper. One of these locations was a munitorum for the Treasurers macrocannon shells. How different would things have been if any of the shells had detonated, however luckily for the Line of Saro and the Imperium as a whole they did not. The stores off the treasurer were very low by this point and ammunition was particularly low.
Working swiftly Talis ordered his master at arms Ichigo to formulate a plan of defence. Sending units of arms men to guard the other break in points he realised that the munitorum was the most dangerous to the ship as it posed the greatest chance of the assailants being able to gain a foothold in the ship. The Command team and three five man squads of arms men, backed up by Father Drake and his remaining flagellants rushed to this area to stage their defence of the Treasurer.
The battle of the Munitorum has been long discussed in various military texts, some claim that the decision to build two barricades, and keeping a reserve of arms men was a mistake, reducing the fire power that the forces of Talis Saro could bring against the foe. However the second school of thought holds that the smaller barricade actually formed the main reserve force and flanking force. To explain the position I hold however, I must describe the battle ground more fully.
I will use the usual House Saro notation of giving directions with regards to alignment of the ship. In the direction of the prow and starboard there were doors out of the munitorum still usable and leading to open corridors. The port door however had been crushed. The other ship had entered the munitorum sternward of the majority of the ammunition racks, cutting through the room. Although while the racks starboard of the centre of the room were mostly unharmed, the most sternward port rack had been hit by the progress of the prow through the room spilling some of the macro-cannon shells. It was between one of these shells and the starboard racks that the "long" barricade was placed. The "Short" barricade was between one of the ammunition racks and the wall of the room covering the starboard door. The part of the enemy ship they were busy cutting through was actually part of the taper of the hull, where the other ship had obviously been previously struck by a piece of debris weakening the hull. It was at the midpoint of this colossal impact that the enemy were cutting through.
Talis Saro and Father Drake were positioned on the short barricade with a unit of arms men, on the long barricade were the first officer Macharuius, the Master of Arms Ichigo, Navigator Loka, Enginseer Prime Luna, and another squad of Arms men. The Enginseer Prime also placed her servo-skull above the battlefield to give her a better view. It is obvious from these details that the reason for the reserve was actually Talis Saro's way of trying to minimise the losses from his crew. The short barricade also ensured that the enemy could not escape through the starboard door.
The warriors of House Saro were prepared and watched as some form of plasma cutter inscribed a huge arc in the hull, and eventually a large section of the hull fell away. At first nothing came from it but suddenly there was movement as a combat servitor strode from the hole and killed two of the armsmen on the long barricade. Crewman Ives and Arms man third rate Von Bolt were the first to die in the conflict but they not the last. As the Long barricade opened fire on the servitor, taking it apart in a single burst of bolt fire and hell pistol blasts, Talis turned to his men and with the skill of the line of Saro raised their morale. As stated in Father Drakes Actions of the Righteous his speech was short but succinct.
"Men Whatever steps through that hole I have faith in you that We will drive it back where it came from.
Very shortly afterwards they gained the chance. The first servitor through the breech was cut down easily by the fire of the long barricade, Macharius and Ichigo aided by Loka easily dismembering the heavily armed servitor. It was followed by another combat servitor this one obviously the method by which the hull had been cut, its left arm having been replaced with a huge plasma cutter. Behind this servitor came a ragged horde of warriors wearing ragged clothes and long beards. Imagine the scene, the well equipped warriors of house Saro facing a barbaric mass of unkempt barbarians. Desperation obviously drove the ragged men as they threw themselves towards the guns of the Long barricade, driven forwards by leaders thoughtless of their safety using them effectively as a human shield.
Seeing the enemy finally revealed the one of flagellents rushed forward to engage them with fire bombs, but the bomb fell somewhat short illuminating the combat with the flickering light of burning promethium. The unkempt horde ignored him however driven onwards by the boltguns of their leaders. However the defenders of the Treasurer were unable to stand aside just because the troops were unwilling. Luna, Macharius, and Ichigo opened up on the horde causing terrible damage and cutting down many of the men. Ichigo also manage to disarm the servitor, quite literally blowing off both the plasma cutter and it's large manipulator arm. However the damage was not totally one sided as the officers of the horde turned their weapons on the defenders of the long barricade, killing one more of the Treasurers ratings Rating Huch and wounding Rating Jick with their bolt weapons.
Seeing that the horde was approaching his men quickly Talis opened fire on the horde with his plasma pistol as he ordered Ichigo to clean his decks of the scum assailing it. Again the defenders opened fire on the horde once more, dropping several more of the ragged attackers. Loka however saw that the barricade would likely still be overwhelmed if something was not done. Shouting to warn the other defenders not to look at him he revealed his warp eye, and allowed the raw power of the Empyrean to rip through the assaulting men.
There are many legends of what occurs when someone looks into the warp eye of a Navigator. Very few people have ever survived, and none have described the sensation. However Navigators have written much about how revealing their warp eye feels, speaking of the black roaring of power passing through them. Loka staggered as the power burned through him, leaving him drained and tired. However three of the enemy were unable to look away from the eye into the warp, and upon seeing the raw power expired immediately.
Once again the defenders opened up on the onrushing ragged troops. Talis fired his plasma pistol causing one to fall dead to the ground. Macharius, Ichigo, and Luna used their bolters to terrible effect killing all but one of the horde, however this man was obviously braver than the others throwing a fire bomb that caught Ichigo in it's blast and setting him on fire. However he was quickly killed by the Enginseer prime. Seeing that they had lost their human shield the enemy officers turned to flee. However two of them were easily cut down by Loka and Macharius, while the remaining one was charged by the last flagellant. However his attempt proved fatal as the officer killed him with his bolt pistol.
Seeing this and added to the callous manner in which the officers had used their men as shields Talis Saro was enraged. He charged through the flames of the flagellants fire bomb and surrounded by the flames glaring light attempted to attack the Officer, but was denied as the Officer parried his blade and then ran into the other ship, quickly managing to lose any pursuit.
Else where in the ship similar attacks had taken place, but all had been easily beaten back by the defenders, with the exception of one closer to the skin of the Treasurer where the Arms men had taken a number of casualties before managing to drive the raiders back with Frag grenades.
A few of the ragged army were still in the land of the living and Macharius managed to bring one back to consciousness, and soon he was speaking with the man about the situation on the other vessel. Crewman Johnson as this man turned out to be, was quickly persuaded by the offer of food to join the crew of the Treasurer.
The situation on the other ship was desperate, The Fall of Dorn a sword class frigate of battle fleet Angaman had been lost near the Tempest of Graves over ten years ago. They too had suffered terribly from the passage through the warp anomaly, but unlike the Treasurer their Gellar field had not re-established itself and many of the crew had been killed or transformed. Over the years the remains of the crew had split into various factions fighting over the meagre resources in the ship.
The attackers which had been foolish enough to attack the warriors of House Saro were the Jennik. Originally the Jennaker warp sail crew, they were one of the weaker factions and in desperation they had attacked the treasurer in the hope of taking food or other trade items. This was the plan of Connor their leader, with whom Talis Saro had exchanged blows at the end of the combat. According to Crewman Johnson they had been pushed out of the rich areas around the ships lighter bays and into the prow of the ship far from the influx of new goods into the ship. These goods were brought from the wrecks in the Graveswarm (as the debris field was known) by the group that controlled the Lighter bays, known as the Greenshots. This group had become exceedingly rich by controlling the market in the lighter bay, however there were other Factions with great power.
However like any good trader Talis Saro realised that where there were a number of competing factions, then there was the chance for profit. Or in this case, the possibility for escape from the predicament they found themselves. The scion of the Line of Saro began to lay his plans.
In the next chapter I will describe how Talis Saro deftly navigated the politics of the other vessel.
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