Warhammer: The 11th Primarch - The Black Emperor

In the Persephone System, voidspace flickered as ships emerged from the Warp and began to assemble.

The fleet, with crenellated hulls and towering silhouettes, drifted through the silence of the void, forming an enormous formation reminiscent of a gothic fortress.

Their massive prows all pointed in the same direction, and trails of plasma fire carved bright, turbulent lines across the darkness.

At the head of the fleet, one warship stood out, entirely black, its plow-shaped prow etched with letters the height of a man, evoking memories of humanity's Golden Age.

On the left side was the emblem of the Legion, casting a shadow over the ship. On the right, in blood-red High Gothic, its name was engraved: Void Hunter.

On the strategium table within the ship's bridge, a hololithic image gradually formed—the silhouette of a Jorgall world-ship.

It was a massive cylindrical vessel, several kilometers long, with a bulbous engine cluster on one end and a short, stubby prow on the other.

Surrounding it were forty-three teardrop-shaped escort ships.

Nareth absorbed the data flashing across dozens of vid-screens, analyzed it rapidly, and began issuing orders:

"Leverage Void Hunter's range advantage to engage the xenos escorts."

"Instruct all boarding parties to prepare."

"The Jorgalls breathe air rich in oxygen, nitrogen, and high concentrations of chlorine, but your helmets will protect you."

He paused, then added with a hint of humor to the newly initiated Astartes of the Shadows Order.

"Don't worry. Even if your helmet gets cracked, an Astartes' lungs can handle a bit of poison."

Raising his left hand, he tapped a target on the holo-display:

"Transmit the following: The Thousand Sons will target the world-ship's power core."

"The Faceless and the newly joined legionnaires will strike the bridge. Execute a decapitation strike."

When the 11th Legion deployed, 5,241 warriors who had completed the Path of Ascension joined its ranks.

Since then, an additional 1,639 Order Shadows have been inducted. For many of them, this would be their first battle.

"My Honor Guard and I will assault the xenos' hatching chambers."

The Jorgalls were unique; their young were psykers, but they lost these abilities as adults.

There was another reason Nareth wanted to personally deal with the hatchlings: their mutated young were the primary material for Sequence 9's potion, "Monster", and the only required component.

'Perhaps because they're so rare, just one is enough to meet the needs of Sequence 9.'

"Gabriel, bring your tech-sergeants. You'll accompany me."

After the successful transformation of Wojciech Bielek, tech initiates were dispatched to Mars for advanced training.

As Nareth gave his orders, the gun decks began executing them with cold precision.

The machine spirits of the macro-batteries awakened, howling with joy as they unleashed wrath upon the foul xenoship.

With every salvo, multiple xenoships, sometimes over a dozen, were hit and torn apart.

The Jorgall vessels retaliated, but their munitions couldn't even scratch the relic-class hulls of Imperial warships.

The Void Hunter, in its first hunt in millennia, roared to life. One xeno escort's engines exploded in the void, blossoming with a blinding light, as though celebrating the rebirth of an ancient predator.

The gun deck's machine spirits shrieked in delight, devouring shells from the feed-trains and vomiting death onto the desecrating xenos.

The hunt continued, "fireworks" blossoming across space.

From the observation deck, Azhek Ahriman watched in awe, turning to his twin Ormuzd and his friend Apophis.

"What a mighty vessel. It outshines even our battleships. We'd still need to close to 56,000 kilometers before entering effective range."

Ormuzd nodded solemnly:

"It's said to be a gift from the Emperor himself, an ancient warship granted to the Primarch. The Master of Mankind is clearly pleased with him."

Apophis mused:

"Perhaps only the Gloriana-class under construction in the Martian docks would surpass its firepower."

As they watched the holoscreens, xeno battleships were torn apart one by one.

Once the number of escorts had dropped to single digits, Azhek, clad in crimson plate, gave the order:

"Prepare for boarding. Launch the assault."

Hundreds of heavy boarding torpedoes launched into the void, each like a precision-guided missile, streaking toward the Jorgall cylinder-world.

The force of the engines slammed the Astartes back against their acceleration racks.

Jorginho, now a newly promoted captain of the Furyborn, blinked through his helmet's interface, quickly absorbing every tactical feed:

A squad leader's helmet cam.

Vosroya-made auspex readings.

Low-res external imagery from the jagged prow of the torpedo.

He tracked the approach of the cylinder-world, the metal wall grew larger, its sheer scale making its curvature nearly imperceptible.

Only the gradual appearance of detail, like spire-like antenna arrays, confirmed they were nearing.

Soon, yellow tracer rounds erupted from spherical turrets.

Jorginho didn't flinch; he knew the legion's tech-marines had deployed ECM, heat flares, and foil clouds to confuse enemy sensors.

The wall loomed. The range closed rapidly.

Scans identified a thinner section of the hull. The boarding would begin about one kilometer from the cylinder's apex.

Jorginho shut off the data feed and opened the squad channel:

"Focus, brothers."

"We completed the Path of Ascension to follow our Monarch, and now he is our Gene-Father."

"Today, we strike swift and true. Let us bring pride to the Primarch! For Nareth!"

A chorus of eager voices echoed:

"For the Monarch!"

A moment later, the torpedo's armored prow crashed into the hull, shrieking as metal warped and atmosphere vented.

The boarding torpedo pierced deep, its claw-rails biting into the chitinous armor.

The Jorgall ship's interior wasn't cold machinery; it was more like an ecosystem.

The torpedo's navigation servitor fired hydraulic barbs, decelerating sharply.

After what felt like an endless slide, the torpedo halted with a violent jolt. Jorginho heard scraping metal, then saw the runes on the blast door begin to glow.

"Stand by for breach!"

The detonation bolts blew. Rozhinio unlatched his bolter and raised it, ready to face defenders.

Then he froze.

A rush of blue, salty water surged into the torpedo.

This wouldn't happen on a human ship, but this was xeno-tech.

Jorginho instantly recalled the xenos briefings from the Primarch; he had breached a Jorgall chemical lake, part of their ship's bio-ecosystem.

The liquid was icy cold, swirling up to his waist, then higher, to his gut.

This was nothing like expected, but to 'Folk of Rage', it was familiar.

.....

If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 30 chapters ahead.

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