First, Best Destiny (Battle Fleet Gothic)

[Imperial Overlord]

"Ma'am, we're coming around now if you want a look," said the pilot. He switched off the vox and touched a thruster control on the pinnace to correct its course. The little vessel gentley rotated and killed some velocity. He nudged the ship forward on her new course.

Behind him he could hear the sound of boots on the deck plating. The captain's hands gripped the backs of the chairs. "He's a beauty," she said.

"Uh, he," the pilot responded before realizing he should shut the hell up around senior officers.

"He, the Lord Vonrilyental." And she was right. It was a magnificent sight. The battlecruiser was still attached the the scaffold-like arms of the construction yard. The ship was painted a pure white with gold trim and highlights. It's adamantium prow was tipped with a fierce golden eagle figurehead above and a power ram below. Along his back lay the heavy lance turrets, command domes, and sensor steeples. Along his sides lay the batteries of macro cannons, plasma accelerators, and fusion beamers that could burn a city or gut a ship.

The ship was different from most of his brethren not only in the power and technological sophistication of the products of the Adraxian shipyards, but in her stark simplicity. The towers and domes possessed little ornamantation. Few gargoyle heads or baroque flourishes marked her flanks. That would change as they accumulated over generations, but for now their absence did not attract from his magnificence. It was one not of ornate display, but of stark naked power.

"Take us in pilot," she ordered.

"Aye, aye captain," he responded. The little pinnace headed toward the docks. With nimble hands the pilot guided it into the docking craddle. There was the clank of locking docking ports and then a hiss of steam as the doors cycled.

Severa stepped through. She was a tall woman, about average height for a man with broad shoulders and a stouter than fashionable build do to hard earned muscle. Her blonde hair was cut short and cut away from her face. She wore the dark uniform, elaborate great coat, and scarlett sash of a navy captain although she did not wear the cap. She had lost the habit in the years of interregnum from naval service and had come back with enough rank to get away with not wearing it most of the time in a service where rank most definitely had its privileges.

The honour guard stamped their feet and hoisted their rifles. She past through them. Awaiting her at the other side was her executive officer and ship's commissar. She was well aware of their opinions of her. No amount of victories or patronage was likely to change that.

"Gentlemen, thank you for greeting me. How fairs the ship?"

Her suppossed executive officer, Commander Zar Hadin answered. He was a short stout man with long arms, dark hair, and pale skin. His nose had been broken a reset badly and his left eye was a bulky augmenetic. Several scars marred his face. "We are loading the last of the supplies and replacement ratings," he replied. A navy ship was a dangerous place to be. Even the good ones lost at least a crewman a day. If the crewman was lucky it was just a serious injury. They often weren't.

"Very good Mister Hadin. And your report commissar?" He was a lean, vulture of a man with burning eyes and a short fringe of white hair around his skull. Ships Commissar Ethan Vandelare was not by any stretch of the imagination a nice mind. His record reflected that for any eye to see.

"Discipline is strong. They are faithful to their Emperor and to the Navy."

But not to her captain, Severa noted. A deliberate jibe? "Problems?" she asked neutrally.

"There is some rumbling of discontent. They feel a woman captain is bad luck and may not be up to the job. There is also some concern about your inexperience." Well, that settled that. He was definitely out to replace her.

"Inexperience?" she asked. "Your words?"

"The crews," he responded.

"You of course responded by making sure that my victories were known. My record on the Glaive. The Battle at Myridius. The Reaving of Enosh. And so on."

He matched her gaze for a moment, actually glaring at her. Then he broke away. "Of course," he replied. Liar. He was fanning the flames. But commissars could also be held accountable for derelictions of duty. He would have to do it now and do it at least half way decently.

"Good. Now, take me aboard my ship. I wish to see him in his full glory."

[Ford Prefect]

You know, I've always wondered about the Imperial Navy's attitudes towards women. Now I know.

[Imperial Overlord]

You know, I've always wondered about the Imperial Navy's attitudes towards women. Now I know.

Senior officers have space on the ships for harems.

[Imperial Overlord]

Just below on the the Overlord Class Cruiser's new command domes, a group of junior officers congregated in a deserted observation room. Huge armourplast windows more a meter thick looked out onto the construction yards. In times of battle, thicker and tougher blast shields would slam down to protect them. There was a kind of battle going on at the moment, but it was one that didn't not require such measures.

"Read them and weep boys, three Thrones." Ensign Devill leaned forward to scoop up the pot. The others groaned and through in their cards. "Haha. Who is the king," he asked rhetorically.

"You are," said his friend/flunky Daved Anerson.

"That's right," said Devill gloating.

"Enough already," said the stocky form of Jehen Smyt. "Stop braggin and deal the next hand."

"Alright," said Galvin Devill. He swept up the cards and began to shuffle. The door opened. "Hey Jakko! Care to sit down for a few hands?"

"Why not," the gangly red head responded. Two of the other players made room for him at the table. "Rules?"

"Five card, Moons are wild. Ten to buy in."

"Alright," said the ensign. This was his second run into space and he was rumoured to have done well on his first posting. A promotion would be likely soon, if the rumour mill was correct.

"Hey," said Devill, "I heard you served on the Glaive." He began dealing the cards.

"Yep," responded Jakk Overstal. "Ten months. Got transfered here."

"Ouch," said Russ Corrington. He shifted his bulk in his chair. "I heard you got hammered."

"Yep," said Jakk. "Tough fighting."

"And now we get the Captain who got her ship torn all to hell," said Devill. "What a nice step up for her. Send her ship to the breakers and get a brand new one and one of the nicest ones in the fleet to boot."

"Glaive isn't heading for the breakers," Overstal corrected. "She needs work, but there's nothing unsound about her. Six months top and she'll be sailing the void. Hell, we could still fight at the end of it. That's more than you could say for the enemy."

"Heard it was a tough fight," Corrington rumbled.

Overstal examined his cards and then tossed them in. "Fold. Throne, was it ever a tough fight. Heretics had been quiet since Cyrus Gamma and suddenly they're out in force. Five cruisers, eleven escorts. Enough firepower to carve through Enosh's defences and cut up any fleet reinforcements. Didn't work that way. We got there in time to count and carved them up and sent the survivors packing."

"Huh," said Devill. "Not bad. How many did you bag?"

"Glaive helped kill a Murder Class and put two escorts to the sword. Did more than that though. We opened their flanks to a torpedo run by the Cobras. After that, we held the upper hand. We stabbed and twisted and didn't let go. Harried the heretics all the way to the warp. Hurt them on the way. Five raiders and two cruisers made it out of Enosh. The rest burned."

"So you're saying the captain may have something going for her beside a talented tongue," laughed Devill. "Got skill other than eating out the Admiral."

Overstal's eyes narrowed. "Hard to do that when you aren't in the same system as the admiral."

"Relax," Devill said in a false friendly tone. "I'm just joking. We all know the Navy wouldn't give the ship to someone unqualified."

"Sure," said Overstal with a false smile.

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Even minus the space for a small harem, a captain's quarters on an Imperial battlecruiser was spacious and luxurious. An orgy sized four poster bed hung with heavy brocade covers depicting stylized eagles. Tapestries decorated the walls, furs the floor, and a massive marble slab desk. Severa paced the room, a hand auspex buzzing.

She found three bugs. She made a grim little smile and headed to her bat room. A huge sunken tube greated her. No bugs. She ran the water full blast and gestured her steward forward. Senior Petty Officer Darius Venhel stepped forward. He carried a little too much around the gut, but was otherwise in good shape. A life time of hard living showed on his face and arms. "So they bugged your room."

"Had to be the good commissar," she replied softly. The water would drown out their voices. "He wants to get enough on me to hang me or at least cost me my command."

"I've cast my lot, ma'am. I'm with you."

She smiled. "I know. And we aren't beaten. I've been through far worse. I need you to watch my back."

"Always."

"Good. I can handle the rest."

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"Ladies, gentlemen if I can draw your attention to the main screen." Severa gestured with a laser pointed at the display. "The Adraxian subsector has been acting as a supplier of ships and men for three subsector threatened by splinters from Hive Fleet Kraken. In addition to building ships and sending guard regiments to these subsectors, we sent Task Force Conquerer to assist in the battle against the Tyranid menace." She paused for a moment.

"This has left the Adraxian subsector understrength, but with the destruction wrecked on heretic forces by our Navy and the general strength of most system defences, the risk was deemed acceptable. However, this has resulted in Naval forces being spread rather thin. In the aftermath of the Reaving of Enosh, and because of the casualties we took during that battle, it has been decided to send the Lord Vonrilyental on a patrol cruise. High command does not expect serious opposition, but believes normal patrols are spread to thin. Our route is displayed here," she said pointing at an path of red lines. "Questions?"

There were none. "Then see to your departments. We cast off at 0800 ship time tomorrow."

[Sidewinder]

I admit I'm unfamiliar with the Warhammer universe-- I have little interest in tabletop strategy games-- but the fact that a senior officer on a warship is plotting against the captain spells big trouble for any navy that allows something like this to happen. I mean, how can any warrior focus on fighting the enemy when his/her own peers and subordinates might be the enemy? (I had the same problem when my peers threatened to put me through hazing, disguised as an "initiation ritual". I responded by threatening to use terror bombs against them. The situation did NOT promote trust and confidence between myself and members of my platoon.)

[Xon]

The biggest enemy the IoM has is itself. Everything else is just a rather messy distraction.

[Imperial Overlord]

The fact that she's risen quickly through the ranks, has a powerful patron, and a woman are strikes against her in the minds of some of the officers. She's also from another subsector, which means even though she's from a navy family, she's an outsider. It's mostly envy. They would love for her to fuck up and get the command of one of the most powerful ships is the subsector. Normally the job of the ship's commissar's job is to shoot people who would plot to ursurp the captain's authority, but in this case he's one of the people who doubts she can do the job. It's rare, but given the feudal structure of Imperial society and the prejudices that are present in some regions, not unheard of.

[Kuja]

Hmmm...nice.

[Shroom Man 777]

Indeed. I'm in dire need of 40k stuff, and Overlord, you're slaking my thirst quite well. Anyway, any plans for a fic in the POV of a Battle Brother?

[Imperial Overlord]

Indeed. I'm in dire need of 40k stuff, and Overlord, you're slaking my thirst quite well. Anyway, any plans for a fic in the POV of a Battle Brother?

Not in the near future.

[Anomie]

Very intriguing. I've always enjoyed 40K fic's, and have, comparatively, rarely found anyone writing Battlefleet Gothic fic's.

Well done so far.

[Imperial Overlord]

The docking bridges retracted from the Lord Vonrilyental. She remained still as the massive steel webbing retracted. Then her starboard maneuvering thrusters fired, moving her gently away. Twenty second latter her port thruster's fired, killing her velocity. Then her aft thrusters fired and the stately ship began to slip forward.

Faster and faster she went, accelerating at a steady pace. Her main drive ignited once she was far away. Two frigates flanked it, the Sword classes Vigilance and Rapier. Vigilance had been Severa's last command. Shells from their guns fell around the Lord Vonrilyental and burst in displays of light and fire. The battlecruiser had been welcomed into the Adraxian Fleet.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Severa's door buzzed. "Come in," she said. Their was only so much help the advanced cogitator built into her desk could provide. Paperwork, even when it was all virtual, had to be done. And she knew better than most how important it could be. Had she not handed the evidence to Gix and destroyed her enemies with it? She would not render herself vulnerable to a similar attack.

A man who appeared to be in his early thirties stepped in and saluted. "Senior Lieutenant Hassan Conner reporting as ordered." He was a little taller than average with broad shoulders and a strong build. Several scars marked his cheeks, but they made his face look roguishly handsome as oppossed to disfigured. His skin wa light and his hair was dark. There was a twinkle in his dark eyes.

Severa rose. "It's good to see you again. It's been a long time."

"Sixteen years ma'am, but it still feels like yesterday."

She nodded. "Those were tumultous times."

"Those of us who went through it remember. We remember when the die was cast it was Naval Security that the Inquisition called upon. We remember you working with us and we remember you and the inquisitors leading from the front. When you needed by best you called on us and you fought with us and you bled with us. We'll never forget."

"I've had meetings with all my department heads, but I saved you for last. Do you want to know why?"

"I know why ma'am. You didn't need to know where we stood. Those of us who fought at Adraxis and Cyrus Gamma, we've kept the memory alive. Every man and woman in my department will go to the line for you and the Admiral. We know you'll do the same."

"Thank you Senior Lieutenant. I am pleased that I can count on you and your people. Unfortunately, not every one in the ship feels the same."

He nodded. "I've noticed. Not many in the Navy, at least not in this sector. A lot of men think the only place for them on a ship is in the bed. But they haven't seen you fight or the Admiral burn down a battle barge over Cyrus Gamma."

"Do they really think that way about the Admiral?" she asked.

"No ma'am, but she's different. She's a saint or so they say. When the orders might be coming from the Emperor or one of his angels-"

"Then that they are coming through a woman is irrelevant. What do they say, behind my back?"

"Well, some aren't saying much. Others have heard of your wins or know people who have fought under you. A lot are skeptical. A few are . . . . . pretty bad."

"How bad?"

"One said that the only reason you got the ship was providing ah intimate services to the Admiral."

Severa smiled. "That? Really, how unimagnitive. And considering that we both like men, ridiculous."

"Yes ma'am." He paused for a moment. "Permission to speak freely?"

"Granted."

"You know the Admiral?"

Severa gave a wry smile. "As much as anyone alive knows her," she said.

"What's she like? I mean . . . . is she really . . ."

"A saint? I don't know. Inquisitor Gix said she was touched by the Emperor or his agents. That's good enough for me. She has power, you can feel it. And you know why the Emperor chose her within a minute. She's so strong. Utterly competent. And sad."

"Sad?"

"The man she loved sacrificed himself so that we could win on Cyrus Gamma. There wasn't even a body left. I helped build his cenotaph. He was friends with Inquisitor Gix and I was in his service, at the time. I didn't know him well. Gix was somewhat in awe of him. So was I. Nathan was kind of otherworldly. Stronger, purer than the rest of us and yet somehow vulnerable to it. Gix mourned his loss, but didn't show it much. The Admiral loved him deeply. I don't think Lena ever fully got over his death."

An uncomfortable silence remained. "Well Lieutenant," Severa said, "we'll have to get drunk together next time we're at port and remenisce properly."

"Aye captain," he said with a smile.

"Anything I should know before you go?"

"No ma'am. Good hunting."

"Thank you senior lieutenant. Good hunting." He closed the door and left. Severa eyed the bugs. She had yanked them just before the third interview. Let Vandelare try and figure out when she had found out and which meetings she wanted to conceal. It would be a hard job since his resources consisted mostly of Security and they were far loyaler to her than they were to him.

She had a lot of contacts in the guts of Naval Security, all the way up to top of Adraxis's chain of command. They were more than happy to assign the people she wanted to this ship, assignments that would have no sign of her involvement. Her service their had been notable and then there was the small matter of Inquisitor's Gix and Talstrem having aborted a ramming attack on the Ramilles Class Star Fort itself. And, to be fair, not every officer in the Adraxian subsector was a misogynstic ogre. After all, Lena Novdalorin had risen to commodore before being revealed to be a saint.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

The Lord Vonrilyental broke through the warp at the fringe of the Selon Minor system. The warp currents further in were unfavorable and hazardous. Armoured plates slid open revealing the cold depths of space and a distant sun.

Selon Minor possessed two asteroid belts, the Shoals and the Far Breakers. The latter was located at the edge of the system and had been used as a hiding place by orks and pirates many times over the last few millenia. The Lord Vonrilyental's advanced sensor arrays would be quite helpful in finding any pirates and his gun batteries would be more than capable of shattering any pirate ships.

"Captain," said a literally faceless tech priest connected to a logical engine bank. The metal mask where his face used to be was connected to the machine in three places. "Our auspex has detected several anomilous heat sources in the Far Breakers."

"Display," Severa orderd. A holo display rose up in front of her, dancing in the air. Runes and glyphs marked intensity and distances. "Too strong to be coincidence. What is the status of mining permits in this area?"

Ephran Kalin, a painfully earnest ensign consulted his cogitator. "Four issued at the pleasure of the Imperial Commander of Selon Major."

"Do you think they are miners captain?" asked Zar Hadin.

"No," she replied. "Helm, accelerate and close. At no point get closer than 40k to the asteroid belt."

"Aye, aye captain."

"Take the shields and batteries to full power. Hail those heat sources."

"If they are just miners-" Hadin commanded.

"Then they are dormant, not working by the amount of heat they're putting out. In this system, I don't buy that. Someone not wanting to be seen doing a half assed job of hiding seems more likely."

"Batteries coming to full power, ma'am. Shield's running at full combat capacity."

"Very good," Severa replied. "Full active scans on those heat sources and a broad general scan as well. I don't want any unpleasant surprises."

"No response to the hail as yet." Suddenly the heat sources blossomed in size and intensity.

"Analysis," Severa snapped. "What profiles does that match?"

"Comparing with broad spectrum scanning," replied another tech priest. "Results as follows ninety-seven percent confidence of successful identification. Ork vessels, Navy classification: gunships. Four in number."

"Don't those greenskins ever just vanish and die," she said under her breath. "Continue our course parallel to the asteroid field. How long until our prow and starboard batteries will be in range of the nearest gunship?"

"Three minutes fifty two seconds captain," came a techpriest's reply.

"Turbo generators functioning normally, targetting matrix has acquired all ships," responded Master Gunner J'han Chaing.

"Ork ships accelerating towards us," said a tech priest. "Assuming a line a breast formation."

Severa watched the dancing holos. "Master Gunner. Lance batteries on target alpha. All starboard batteries on target beta. Hold course. Additional power to the transfered to dorsal and starboard weapon systems."

"Aye, aye captain." A moment latter the Lord Vonrilyental shuddered as his broadside fired. Plasma accelerators, macro cannons, and missle batteries fired in sequence. Their targets rushed through the void to meet their fire.

The ork ships were ugly and brutish. A kilometer and a half long, they were little more than armoured prows with grotesque figureheads attached to multiple engine tubes. A multitude of large gun barrels pointed forward, where the armour was thickest. Power field generators had been added almost as an after thought and were fed by the finicky reactor at the heart of the scowling metal beast.

Beta target's shield's survived the initial volley of atomic shells and high intensity plasma beams. The missles slamming that followed bathed the ork craft in a corona of fire and their focused plasma warheads blasted the powerfields. Surrounded by a storm of fire, the shields flickered. Several generators overloaded. Two melted down and one exploded violently killing two mekkboyz, three orks, and seventeen gretchin.

On the Lord Vonrilyental, autoloaders ponderously moved new shells and missles. Engines hummed and adjusted the direction super massive cannons came to bear. Coolant flowed through the plasma accelerators as capacitors recharged. High powered generators next to every macro and plasma cannon provided extra energy to hit hard and accurately at long range.

The next volley hammered the failing powerfields. The intense flashes of automic explosions overloaded the powerfields. Plasma beams vaporized armour and bored into the hull. Orks and gretchin were cooked and killed before they knew what was happening to them. Then the missles struck. Point blank directed plasma bursts aimed at breached armour. Beta exploded soundless, breaking up into a dozen major pieces.

Alpha wasn't much luckier. It's fate was delayed by the extra precision required for lance aiming. The two monster turrets on Lord Vonrilyental's back tracked the speedy ork raider. Each beam turret was composed of four massive laser weapons that focused their energy at one spot. They fired.

The first volley splashed against the ork's powerfields in a blinding flash of refracted energy. That was misleading. Most to the lances's energy went towards overloading the power fields. The massive energy conduits connect to the Lord Vonrilyental's lance turrets were operating at full capacity as the weapons were charged up again for another volley.

The lances punched completely through the power fields. One smashed through the tempermental ork plasma reactor. Alpha was gone in a flash.

Severa smiled grimly. The other gunships were closing, but still not in range of their weapons. Against Lord Vonrilyental's enhanced shields, their firepower would be useless. He had been out in service for seven days and tasted battle and she had yet to lose a man. Four seriously injured, but none dead.

And then victory turned to ash. Five power sources bloomed on the sensors. Two of them large. No easy win to cement her authority. She was going to have to fight with every ounce of cunning she possessed to save her ship.

[Imperial Overlord]

"Identify new targets," Severa ordered. "All guns engage gamma until it is destroyed and then kill delta. Continue power and computation resource allocation. I want those ork trash gone from my space."

"Aye captain," intoned Master Gunner Chiang. Orders were relayed to the gun stations that were already swinging into alignment with the closing Ork warships.

Severa turned her head. "Navigation, project course to nearest safe entry points. Overlay interception points based on known speeds of ork cruisers and escorts."

Bright glowing tracks were projected in the air a moment latter. Her Executive Officer took a step closer. "We'll take a pounding if we try to run for it, captain."

"They'll probably kill us if we do," she responded. "So we fight. Surveyors, progress with identification?"

A grey haired lieutenant commander was bent over between two junior officers. "Probability greater than ninety percent that the signals are a Kill Krooza, a Terror Ship, and three Onslaught attack ships."

"Thank you lieutenant commander," Severa replied. Orks didn't actually have standardized ship classes, of course, but their minds worked in predictable paths. Given their inclinations and technology, certain patterns emerged and similar ships were grouped together in categories based on the common names for the those designs.

The Onslaughts were similar to the gunships that were currently attacking, but used a larger number of smaller bore but longer ranged cannons. The Kill Krooza was the size of an Imperial cruiser and resembled its smaller cousins in every respect. It was a cylander with a cluster of engine tubes at the rear and its sides studded with guns of varying size and reliability. It's firepower and power field generators were concentrated on the bow of the ship, where the armour was thickest, for head on attack. The Terror Ship was similar, but sacrificed some guns for flight decks filled with the multirole attack craft that orks called fighta-bombers.

All five of the Ork craft were in a rough cluster about fifteen thousand kilometers in diameter, hugging nearby rocks as cover. They were powering up for an intercept course that would take them right at the Lord Vonrilyental's projected path. Their power plants were raised to full combat levels as their engines roared to life.

Their brethren weren't fairing so well. The Lord Vonrilyental's gunners focused all their fire on gamma. Atomic explosions detonated around the crude ork craft and plasma beams created storms of energy where they impacted with the power fields. The ork ship pushed through the artificial hell as a volley of plasma missles blasted its shields. New suns flashed into brief existences and flared against the straining power fields. Then the battlecruiser's lances fired.

The heavy dorsal batteries punched through the failing powerfields. Heavy armour plate meant nothing to the massed high energy beams as they bored through the ship. One beam struck length wise through the forward gundeck and penetrated almost to the reactor and the other went through the dorsal and ventral decks at angle Compartments were punctured, power lines severed, fuel lines ignited, guns were slagged, and atmosphere vented into the void as the lance beams somehow managed to avoid destroying any major systems.

But the cumulative damage was enough. Ork construction was sloppy and not much inclined towards niggling concerns like safety measures. Capacitors, sub generators, and power transmition systems had been destroyed and a number of safety systems added on literally as afterthoughts failed to kick in. Doors were stuck and did not seal. Emergency forcefield systems didn't trigger. Half the ship was expossed to the void. The hulk continued to forward, almost all systems dead or minimally functional.

Delta closed in and let loose with her "heavy gunz." The huge cannons fired massive shells at a fairly low velocity. The weapons were useless, except at close range were the immense power of the enormous shells made them devestating. More than a few shots missed due to failure to properly account for the battlecruiser's forward velocity, but several exploded on Lord Vonrilyental's void shields.

The shields flared brightly and power was diverted from the port side to stabilize them as the ship killing guns locked on the the viscious gunship. The starboard broadside fired simeoultaneously with the lance batteries. A huge explosion marked the position where delta used to be.

As their companion ship died, four squadrons of fighta-bombers were launched into the void by the Terror ship. It lagged a few thousand kilometers behind the Kill Krooza and the attack ships that were burning straight for the Lord Vonrilyental.

"Helm, turn us forty degrees port. Surveyors, get us targeting locks on those attack ships. Ignore the attack craft." The ork craft were capable, but being jack of all trades they were mediocre bombers. Against the upgraded turret array of the Lord Vonrilyental, their chances of inflicting serious damage without massive numbers were extremely low. Unfortunately, they were capable of intercepting and decimating the Lord Vonrilyental's torpedoes.

As the mighty battlecruiser began the ponderous business of adjusting its course, the fighter-bomba burned toward it. The passed the Onslaughts and then the Kill Kroozer as the Lord Vonrilyental presented her flank to them.

"Enemy attack craft in extreme range," reported a tech priest. "Ork Kill Cruiser entering range."

"Wipe the Ork Cruiser from the void," Severa said frostily. Gun batteries rotated and locked on coordinates fed to them by banks of logic engines.

"Firing," confirmed Master Gunner J'hain Chaing. The ship shuddered with the force of her guns' discharge. Detonations of enormous power shrouded the prow of the ork krooza. It kept coming, its shields crackling with power.

Lieutenant Commander Zoltan Dosza consulted with a tech priest and two pic screens. "Ork shields holding," he reported. "Estimate Ork ships shields nearing overload point."

"Maintain bombardment," Severa ordered. The flights of plasma missles detonated and unleashed storms of energy around the bow shields. More macro cannon shells and plasma beams struck home. Three power field generators overloaded and failed. Plasma beams scorched the nose of the cruiser, vaporizing large chunks of her armour. The lance beams punched through, destroying a huge cannon and frying a power field generator as well as blowing open several large compartments. One hundred and fifty two orks and two hundred and seventy gretchin died in a moment.

"Hits forward," Dosza reported. "At least one gun down. Overloaded generators are coming back on line."

"Maintain course," Several ordered. "Additional power routed to main batteries, all available logic engines assigned to targetting computations."

The Kill Krooza continued to the advance. It lacked the long range guns that were core of the Overlord's class arsenal, not to mention the Lord Vonrilyental's enhanced targetting matrix and generators which further increased their effectiveness and hitting power at long range. As the battlecruiser's guns reloaded and recharged, they again fired upon the ork vessel.

"Massive power discharge," reported a tech priest. "Indicative of shield collapse. Additional thermal blooms."

"Fires," confirmed Dosza. "The Kill Krooza is burning. Three fires, each at least three compartments in equivalent size."

"Torpedo launch by Terror Ship," reported another tech priest.

"Display," Severa ordered. Sinister little triangles appeared in the air. An intersect path was plotted. This time ork gunnery was worth something. The torpedo spread would hit her ship.

"Helm, full power. All non-essential power to engines. Starboard batteries and lances, continue firing." Without the extra power that had been shunted to them their rate of recharge and firing would be reduced.

"Captain, even with accleration," Hadin began.

"We wouldn't be able to avoid one of our torpedo volleys. These are orks." Of course he would start to undermine her now, especially with Vandelare here with the authority to put a bullet in her brain if she showed incompetence or cowardice. Well rape him with a serrated knife. The ship's commissar didn't pay attention to who ship security assigned as guards to the bridge. Several knew which way those men would jump. The commissar didn't even consider the question of their loyalty. Fool.

"Fighter bombers now being engaged by active defences," reported another tech priest. Explosive shells that scattered lethal shrapnel, massive radiation blasts, and laser pulses struck at the fighta-bombas. Seven craft were wiped out.

"Ork vessel firing at extreme range," reported a tech priest. "Multiple hits Void shields are moving up through green towards the yellow zone."

"Maintain fire," Severa ordered. The Onslaughts would be in firing range momentarily. Between the three of them, they packed a lot of firepower. Her poor ship. Hold, she commanded the void shields silently.

"Torpedoes closing," reported another tech priest as if she couldn't see that herself. The Lord Vonrilyental would only pass near three torpedos, if the ork guidance technology and maneuvering capabilities were sufficiently good the torpedoes would engage and attack.

"Onslaughts moving into weapons range," Dosza reported urgently. "Close in weapons engaging ork craft." Autocannons, swarm missle launchers, plasma casters, and lasers poured a torrent of fire into the space around the ship. They were the last line of defence against the fighta-bombas and the heavy rockets they carried.

"Emperor be with us," Zar Hadin whispered.

[Bob the Gunslinger]

That's a good, exciting battle, there. Too bad you left it on a cliff-hanger!

I think you've captured the feel of BFG in your story pretty well. It's dark, it's exciting, and it contains lots of explosions. Bravo!

[Imperial Overlord]

The advanced targetters on the Lord Vonrilyental's defensive turret network tried to put paid to the twenty-two surviving orks. Las beams fired in rapid succession as plasma casters fired out beam after beam, autocannons fired out a storm of shells, clusters of killer missles flashed out and directed shrapnel bursts filled space.

Cockpits were blown open, fuselage's exploded, weapon pods destroyed, and engines wrecked. Twelve ork craft survived to reach the battlecruiser's void shields. Each carried three heavy rockets.

The surviving ork attack craft hit the Lord Vonrilyental's void shields. Velocity was bled off and kinetic energy bled off in violent energy storms that danced over the crude but sturdy craft. Two of them, already damaged by high intensity radiation bursts and hyper velocity shrapnel, suffered critical damage. One exploded and other drifted forward dead in space. A third was slain just before it hit the void shield, the victim of friendly fire from the Kill Krooza. The surviving nine craft weathered the energy storm created by their own bled off kinetic energy and closed to kill.

Six attack craft were gutting during their run. More than a fe rockets were destroyed by the defence turrets. Several simply failed two function. Two detonated, but failed to pierce the hull. One caused a hull breach and killed forty one men. Another took out a sensor master, a third wrecked defence turret fifteen, and a fourth took missle launcher three out of action.

There were no sighs of relief yet on the Lord Vonrilyental. The battlecruiser's entire defence networked had been tasked to hold of the fighters, leaving nothing to stop the torpedoes which were passing dangerously close. Like human torpedoes, albeit with even less sensitivity and reliability, ork torpedoes were launched in spreads straight ahead. The surveyors would locate and lock onto within several thousand kilometers of their flight path and they would fire their maneuvering thrusters to engage them. The Lord Vonrilyental had been in their direct path until Captain Valin had ordered all ahead full. She had gambled that it might take them out of the torpedoes path. It was close. Very close.

"Ork torpedoes are continuing on course," said Lieutenant Commander Dosza. "They are not engaging!" The ship shook with to punctuate his statement.

"Shield status," Several demanded.

"Starboard shields moving into the red zone," answered a tech priest. "Overload failure immenent." Across the void the cruiser's had exchanged fire, Imperial broadside against Ork main guns. The Kill Krooza was a mere twenty three thousand kilometers away and its main guns were pounding at the Lord Vonrilyental's void shields. What was worse, the Onslaught assault ships were trailing it by a mere five thousand kilometers and had added their own considerable batteries to the hail of fire. The Ork line was like a spear aimed at the battlecruiser's flank, coming in from an angle forty-five degrees of center. Once the Kill Krooza closed a mere eight thousand more kilometers, its heavy guns would be able to engage effectivly. Backed by the firepower of the Onslaughts, the Lord Vonrilyental would die.

Not if Severa could help it. Velocity was commitment and the orks were committed. They had burned in hard and fast to close the range against the Imperial long range guns. The battlecruiser had accelerated to avoid the torpedoes. With just a little more speed, she could change the equation. Change the intercept course to passing astern. "Continue accleration. All available power to the engines. Master Gunner!"

"Yes captain!"

"Change targets. Burn down those Onslaughts."

"Yes Captain." The smaller, more maneuverable craft would be able to match the course change and harry them. They needed to die. The Kill Krooza was wounded and with luck would be a minor participant in the battle for the next little while. Those Onslaughts could not be permitted free reign to assault her ship.

"Kill Krooza is beginning to change course," reported Dosza. "Too slow. Maneuvering may be impared by battle damage. We will pass out of the line of fire in approximately twenty seconds." Which meant they would still suffer from the less formidable flank batteries, but at least the range would be widening as the Kill Krooza would attempt to dump velocity and maneuver for another attack run.

The guns of the Lord Vonrilyental had ceased firing on the Kill Krooza, despite having succeeded in delivering several minor hits after driving the Ork's power fields back into overload shutdown. Fire were still raging in the Kill Krooza's hull and were threatening to get out of control. The Ork Kapten solved this problem by ordering a mass venting of atmosphere in the affected areas, killing over eight hundred members of his own crew. Among them were over two hundred gunners and four hundred maintenence personel, the loss of whom would dimish the Krooza's broadside power.

The battlecruiser's guns locked on to the lead Onslaught. Power was slow in coming as void shields and engines seized took priority. Already the battlecruiser had suffered several overload failures and ork shells had blown two holes in the his hull and demolished macro cannon five. The still functioning shield generators stretched out to cover the holes their collapsed brethern had left, but they were near failure themselves.

"Onslaught's are altering course," reported a tech priest. "The are maneuvering to stay on our flank."

The Lord Vonrilyental's guns fired. Even diminished, they were enough. Plasma casters struck the Ork ship's shields and lances followed after. One turret missed, but the other tore through the ork ship's powerfields and burned opened three decks to space. Macro cannons shells burst around it, exposing the orks to a seething radiation hell. Then plasma missles struck. The ork ship's mid section ceased to exist.

But Severa was only half watching as the ork ship died and the incoming fire slackened. Her gaze was on the Terror ship with its torpedo launchers and attack craft hangers. It had slowed and turned to face an intercept point in front of the Lord Vonrilyental. It's tubes and attack craft hangers were undoubtedly being readied for another volley. Severa smiled. "Turn the ship hard to starboard! Master of Ordinance, prepare to fire!"

[Ford Prefect]

I love it. Utterly.

[NecronLord]

Indeed. It is MOST good.

[Kuja]

*ping*

[Imperial Overlord]

The Lord Vonrilyental's forword-port and starboard-aft maneuvering thrusters fired. The great battlecruiser turned ponderously, bring its prow to bear on the Terror Ship's projected position. As the Lord Vonrilyental turned, the Onlsaughts that had been sniping at its rear came into came within the fire arcs of the dorsal lances and starboard batteries. "All available guns," Severa ordered, "kill those Onslaughts. Master of Ordinance, status?"

Valentin Strack looked up from his repeater screens. Most of his head was covered in a linked autosense-cogitator helmet system that was constantly relaying data from the Vonrilyental's systems. "Coming to bear . . . . . now! All torpedoes firing."

The ship shuddered at the magnetic launchers flung the sixty meter long missles into deep space. Two seconds after launch their plasma drives kicked in, accelerating the spread of torpedoes towards the Terror Ship. "All torpedoes away and active," reported Strackl. "Closing on enemy cruiser."

As Strack reported his successful launch, the Lord Vonrilyental's batteries and lances came to bear on the lead Onlsaught. Power and computing capacity was being drained by other systems, especially the engines and void shields, and the maneuvering of both ships interfered with targetting.

The Ork Kapten was a quick on the uptake as plasma beams smashed into his ships. "More powa to da shields!" He yelled as his Chief Mekboy. "Get da grotz on damage control! Seal us up! Get uz back in da shadow of 'er thrustas before they zogging fry us!"

Macro cannon shells began to explode around the evading ship. Most were too far away to do any damage. A few were closer and the ship's powerfields glowed as they neared full capacity. The lances struck, driving the powerfields into overload. They seared through hull armour and wrecked a gun battery, a powerfield generator, and a manuevering thruster. Five compartments were breached, their inhabitents instantly flash fried. He heat was great enough to cook orks in neighbouring compartments. Then the plasma missles detonated.

Power fields overloaded and collapsed in a flash. Six generators were slagged by overload. Five guns were burned off. The plasma blasts blew off and vaporized armour as well as breaching the hull in three more places. The ships was battered and wounded, but it lived.

The Kapten of the Terror Ship was not so swift to react. Crude ork surveyors didn't notice the course change until after the torpedo launch. The Mekboy at the sensors turned to the Kapten. "'Ey boss!"

The Kapten was busy screaming down a speaker tube as his launch crews. "If you hummie loving grots don't get ma fighta-bombas into space and blastin' the zogging hummies right zogging now I will-shut your yab, can't you see I'm zogging speaking?!"

"Boss its-" Brakakakakakakak. The Mekboy fell down in pool of blood and gore that used to be most of his torso. The Kapten raised his gun and looked at it closely "Me likes me kustom shoota. Lots of dakka. Now what was he going to zogging say?"

The delay in information transfer left the Kapten with little time to make a decision. Six torpedoes closing rapidly. He could try to face them head on, but the battlecruiser was continuing to turn. If the ship managed to turn into the spread, it would be presenting its tougher frontal armour, but it would be ceasing to accelerate away from the Imperial ship and towards the Kill Krooza. That mean more time under the lash of Vonrilyental's fearsome long range guns.

The Kapten was actually bright enough to understand the dilema. He blinked for a couple of seconds. "Turn into the torpedozs. Shoot dem down!"

Too late. Ork intership communication was poor and their command systems crude. The gunners were just getting the message and the ship beginning to turn when the torpedoes surveyors locked on to it and began the final stages of their attack run.

Ork defensive fire blew one to pieces. One failed to lock on and continued forward. The surviving four closed and smashed through the powerfields in a flash of light and heat as the powerfield bled off much their kinetic energy. The tough, armoured casings designed to smash through warship hulls survived the energy discharge easily. Their engines burned at full power for the last stage of their attack run.

One missed the ship by less than ten meters. Another hit and smashed through three meters of steel plate before detonating prematurely, its reactor-engine consuming all of its remaining fuel in one enormous plasma blast. One hundred and thirty orks and two hundred and eight gretchin were killed instantly and eight compartments opened to space. The damage to the Terror ship was minor.

The third hit towards the rear, punched through the armour, and was near the engine room when it detonated. The main reactors survived the blast, but many of engine crew were killed instantly and two main thruster tubes were wrecked. Power and fuel lines were severed, several defensive gun blisters wrecked, and a power field generator was lost. The damage it did paled in comparison to that of the fourth torpedo.

It had very little armour to smash through, just the two meter thick number three hanger door and the atmosphere retention field. Ork and gretchin flight crews and pilots got one good look at the Imperial torpedo as it flashed across the bay crowded with attack ships, munitions, and fuel before detonating as it hit the far bulkhead.

The explosion guttered both port and starboard launch bays. For a brief moment a huge fire raged before emergency systems kicked in and doors and forcefields went up. The ship ceased to control its turn as power to its maneuvering thrusters failed. The explosion and atmosphere vent had served to counter the efforts of the now dead manuevering thrusters. Power was being diverted to shields and guns as the surviving engineers moved to restablish connections severed midway through the ship at its launch bays and its engineering room.

The Lord Vonrilyental was not idle. He had completed his turn and had the ork Onslaughts on his starboard side, the Terror Ship to his port, and the Kill Krooza far away aft. The heavily armed Kill Krooza would soon be back in range to fight, but for now it was merely an observer. The damage to one Onlsaught, the destruction of the other, and the increased distance between the Vonrilyental and the Kill Krooza meant the incoming fire had diminished considerably. Her void shields were stressed, but holding with a little extra capacity.

Severa Valin had known what to do in this situation since she was five. "Port batteries and all lances, kill that Terror ship. Starboard batteries, finish that wounded Onslaught. All available power to weapons."

Her crew obeyed eagerly. They too scented victory. The Plasma beams overloaded the Onslaught's surviving power fields. Macro cannon shells literally blew up the front quarter of the ship. The plasma missle volley that blew the reactors was overkill. The gun batteries shifted to the other Onslaught as batteries of logic engines generated a targetting matrix.

On the port side the plasma beams and macro cannons smashed into near full capacity power fields. Light and heat radiated away as titanic detonations and high energy blasts drove the fields towards overload. Then the lances struck.

The powerfields on the Terror Ship's flanks overloaded. The wave of plasma missles, slightly diminished by energy storm they had to fly through, blew two large holes in the ork ship's flank. Macro cannons added another two smaller ones. Plasma beams scoured the ship's armour and bored a large hole. Then the lances struck again, burning huge wounds.

Several generators had came on line in time to deflect the next wave of missles and plasma beams. The two ships past each other and the fury of their weapons connected each other in streams of high energy destruction. But the Lord Vonrilyental's shields held against the limited fire from the Onslaughts and the Terror Ship. The battlecruiser plowed ahead, exchanging shots with the orks as they drifted away.

Severa checked readings on her virtual display. Two wounded ork cruisers, one undamaged Onslaught. "Helm, turn us to port. Present our broadside to that Ork scum. Master Gunner, remind them that our ship has a very long reach."

[Ford Prefect]

I love it when Orks get the action. It was muchos Grande cool.

[Kuja]

I love it when Orks get the action. It was muchos Grande cool.

*echoes*

[Coalition]

Agreed. Very good story. Wonder if there will be any Roks to avoid?

Still, hope the crew gives her a little better treatment from now on. Not to mention the Commissar.

[technomage]

Agreed. Very good story. Wonder if there will be any Roks to avoid?

Still, hope the crew gives her a little better treatment from now on. Not to mention the Commissar.

Since this is presumably the "Battle of the Far Breakers" mentioned in In Memoria, I'd think so.

[Imperial Overlord]

Actually, this is the precurser to the Battle of the Far Breakers. And yes, there will be roks.

[Imperial Overlord]

J'han Chaing's smile was hidden by his interface helmet, but the pleasure with which he received his captain's order was evident. "Aye captain. Calculating targeting solutions for all port batteries and dorsal lances on Terror Ship." Bank upon bank of advanced logic engines processed surveyor data, calculated courses and tragectories, and then produced firing instructions. On the Lord Vonrilyental, it all happened very, very fast.

"Moving guns to bear on target," Chaing reported as the battlecruiser was half way through her turn. Massive guns and launchers were lining up on the aft of the Ork ship. Ork cruisers were built for frontal assault, with the thickest armour and most powerful field generators forward as well as every gun they could fit in. Aft was a cluster of engine tubes and whatever armour and generators the orks had left over after doing the front and the sides.

Vonrilyental's guns began to fire. Plasma beams slammed into shields, producing huge flares of light as the powerfields neared overload. Marco cannons shells burst around the ship, unleashing blasts of nuclear fury. Power fields collapsed. Then the ship killng lance batteries tore in.

One sliced into the engineering section, tearing a white hot wound in the armour that burned up the length of the ship almost to the midsection. The failsafes on one the main reactors kicked in as the lance ripped it open, preventing a catastrophic explosion. The other lance beam sliced across two engine tubes, slicing them open and breaching the hull in the engineering section.

Then the plasma missles struck. Focused plasma blasts smashed through thin armour and into the ramshackle and heavily damaged engineering sections. Secondary explosions blew flares of plasma fire through the hull and then the entire ship blew itself apart in an intense explosion. "Target destroyed," J'han Chaing added unnecessarily in a very satisfied tone of voice.

"Nice shooting, Master Gunner. You and your crews are too be commended." Severa turned her attention back to Dosza. "Status on Onlsaught?"

"Still trying to stay within our gunshadow aft while avoiding our exausht. Aft void shields are in low yellow, but holding."

"Maintain course," Severa ordered. "Master Gunner, lock all available weapons on the Kill Krooza and obliterate it. We bloodied its nose. Time to finish the job. The Onslaught is a negligable threat without more firepower to back it up. Commissar, have security sections stand by to repell boarders. They'll try that when the realize they don't have enough firepower to take out our shields solo."

"Yes captain," replied Ethan Vandelare in a clipped voice.

"Kill Krooza is entering weapons range," repored Dosza. It's heading on and intercept course." Right into the battlecruiser's port broadside. Its prow weaponry against the broadside and dorsal lances of the Lord Vonrilyental.

"Fire when ready," Severa ordered. Plasma beams lashed and struck shields. Macro cannon shells took a few moments longer to get their and detonated, creating a seething energy hell around the Kill Krooza's prow. It kept on coming. Plasma missles unleashed directed energy blasts and the prow shields finally collapsed.

The Vonrilyental's lances gauged gapping wounds on the already damage armour. Shells from the surviving long range guns began to fall around the Imperial battlecruiser but the long range and the poor accuracy typical of orks made the attacks little more than a nuisance.

The plasma beams struck again. The high powered beams vaporized or blasted off huge slabs of armour. Two burned through into the interior. The actual systems damage was minor, but it the consequences were catastrophic. A few seconds latter the next barrage of macro cannon shells arrived. The nuclear hell of the near misses damaged the Kill Krooza's armour even further, but two shells scored direct hits. The punched through the ravaged armour and unleashed megaton level nuclear explosions inside the ship's already ravaged hull.

The resulting detonations set off several other explosions as power systems, power field generators, or weaponry went up as a result. What was left of the prow armour came off entirely as the armour was flayed off from within. Atmosphere briefly blasted out through the gaping hole where the front used to be. Fires, flared, burned, and died within a few seconds as they were force-fed oxygen and then starved out of existence.

The Lord Vonrilyental's lances tore through the Kill Krooza's exposed innards and there was a bright flash as the ork ship's reactors criticaled. "Well done," said Severa Valin. "Now turn the ship hard to starboard and sweep away the surviving Onlsaught."

As the bridge crew hurried to obey their captain Zoltan Dosza's eyes went wide. "Captain! Come look a this."

Severa had a long, powerful stride that she shared with her far more graceful and delicate sister. It took her over to Dosza's station. "What is it?"

"Long range surveyor contacts. Anomalous power readings," he said touching a screen. "And warbook comparisons."

Severa studdied the host of dots on her screen. "Very good, Mister Dosza."

"Helm, as soon as that last ork ship is dust, set a course back to the safer warp currents. Maximum speed."

"We're retreating captain?" asked Zar Hadin.

"Yes. These were just the tip of the iceburg. There's a whole damn warfleet out there. We won the first engagement, not the campaign. The fun is just beginning."