The prone form of McKraken was bundled away into the secure brig. Magnus took up a position at Severus' right shoulder as the massive Ecclesiarch strode about the bridge, issuing orders in his powerful baritone. None were disobeyed.
The
Restless Cove was in Warp, in formation with the Kassandoran ship
Gluttonous Ingress, a frigate-class ship that, like the
Cove, had been stationed at long range around Kappa-Psi-12 to cordon the system during Marcus Kassandora's fateful challenge. Having been witness to the Kassandoran House's scurrilous, base, and dishonest practices and associations - not least with the reprehensible McKraken himself - Severus and Magnus decided that it was time to strike a blow with honour.
Without warning the
Restless Cove loomed close to the
Gluttonous Ingress against a field of screaming colours. On the bridge and with dread certainty of purpose, Severus and Magnus ignored the panicked hails coming from the other vessel.
"Open fire! All weapons!"
Even in the Warp, Severus' order would brook no argument - and with Magnus at his side could never be disobeyed in any case. With righteous fury the
Restless Cove blasted the
Ingress with a broadside macrocannonade, inflicting terrible hull damage and starting several fires. Even surprised and in transport, the
Ingress was able to respond and unleashed a withering hail of fire from its laser battery, destroying the
Cove's sensor array. The exchange went on, continuous chains of fire linking shadowed shapes in the formless void. Though the
Restless Cove's surprise attack had been telling, the heavier armour and weaponry of the Kassandoran frigate soon left it in a sorry state. Fires broke out in critical areas, and the void-shield and Geller field systems began to chime breach warnings.
The decision on the bridge was made instantly. "Armsmen to docking stations! Prepare to board!" Senior staff at their stations gaped at the command in disbelief. "Prepare to board, damn you!" Severus cried savagely, "Or be lost with all hands!"
"Ramming speed!"
The two vessels swept closer. Their Geller fields intersected, banishing the last tendrils of Warp-colour between them. Turrets opened fire, each raking the other's skin. With a scream of tortured adamantine the
Restless Cove finally crashed against the
Gluttonous Ingress, her drives afire, her weapons falling silent; a shell of what she had been, her dying breath was a horde of murderous pirates disgorged down boarding-tunnels and into the
Ingress.
By this time Severus and Magnus had already left the bridge, planning to lead the assault. As the ships closed, they had secured Severus' drop-pod and blasted it out of the
Cove's hold and crashed into a rent in the other ship's hull, flattening a crew of Kassandora ratings. Embarking quickly, the two men lead a ruthless core of the
Cove's bridge crew on a deadly foray. The Kassandora men aboard were in panic, unused to assault in the dark of the Empyrean, and Magnus was able to pluck enough information from the dull minds around him to lead the assault directly to the bridge. Battle-servitors were smashed to flinders by Severus' mighty hammer, enemy armsmen were blown apart, fled, or were burned by the assault. A subtle thought from Magnus saw a bridge crewman fumble open the bulkhead lock, thinking it the Captain's order; by the time anyone realised the mistake, it was already far too late. What remained of the vengeful piratical horde swept into the room and fell on the Kassandora bridge crew. The captain, little more than a vassal for Marcus Kassandora himself, barely had time to organise a defence before his mind was crushed by psychic assault.
Severus and Magnus held the bridge. The remains of McKraken's pirates, and what few Kassandora men who buckled under the threat of execution, gave a damage report: several systems critical, shields failing, the ship wildly off-course and smashed by the impact of the
Restless Cove. A word of command and the motley crew jumped to, reversing course. The ship, leaking energetic plasma, brighter than a comet, groaned and shook as Magnus and Severus pushed it harder, retracing its path through the Warp, determined to return to Psi-Kappa-12.
With a final tortured explosion the
Gluttonous Ingress tore its way out of the Warp. Alarum klaxons rang deafeningly across the bridge, fires tore unopposed through the decks, and the plasma engines were rapidly reaching critical energy.
"Abandon ship!"
Even sealed or fallen bulkheads were no barrier to Severus' thunder hammer. The two men made it back to the drop pod and were flung free by a trio of explosions which signified the beginning of the end of the
Gluttonous Ingress and its inglorious crew.
But that is only
The Story So Far...