"I thought it was Jaghatai that did things to his ships to make them faster," Alpharius grumbled. Ingo Pech gave him an amused look. The space marine had only just arrived on the bridge as they were engaging the Raven Guard. Mathias Herzog would be with the initiates while the fight was happening.
"I didn't know that meant he had a monopoly on it," Pech answered.
"I guess not," Alpharius chuckled. "And I can see a bit why Konrad envies Corvus so much. He'd love to have the ability to do this with the Night Lords."
"He'd have to be sterner with that rabble to make them work like the Raven Guard," Harrowmaster Armillus Dynat said.
"How Konrad manages his people is his business," Alpharius said. "But we do need to do something about how Corvus has us pinned."
"The Ravenlord has the net drawn tightly," the shipmaster said doubtfully.
"What's that ship at 48 degrees mark 5?" Alpharius asked suddenly. "The one that seems by itself."
"The Avenger, lord," auspex reported.
"Let's target them," Alpharius said. "See if we can get Corvus out of position to cover his mistake."
"The net is tightening, lord," came the report a moment later.
"Do we still fire?" the ordinance officer asked.
"No," Alpharius said. "Let's change the script a bit. Navigation, ramming speed."
*****************************
The Emperor had once shown the Primarchs a series of drawings and paintings done with very strange perspective. He had then told them that void fights were similar to having submarines, sailing ships, and aircraft in one of those images. The Lion hadn't been able to visualize it well in the moment. However, he could get what the Emperor was saying now, seeing the bridge of the Nightfall go past the top of the Invincible Reason. To him, it looked like Konrad's ship was upside down, and he knew to Konrad it looked like the opposite.
"Should we still focus on their vox?" Zephyr asked. He was manning the ordinance station.
"If possible," the Lion said. "Though engines and weapons of course are good targets of opportunity."
Zephyr nodded, then looked up into the strategium of the Nightfall and stiffened. The Lion and Corswain followed his gaze, finding a Night Lord making rude gestures towards them. Corswain glowered at him, angered at what he was seeing. The Lion, finding Corswain's attention there and not on him, proceeded to return his own rude gestures. Zephyr quickly turned his snort of laughter into a sneeze, a pretty impressive feat actually.
"I could try to get them with some of the point defense guns," he offered.
"No," the Lion said, shaking his head. "We aren't using fighter wings in the war game, so they weren't altered to be safe. No need to risk venting Konrad's bridge."
"It would be quite the shot to get them," Corswain said, turning to look at the two. The Lion quickly dropped his hands to his sides, trying to avoid issues with the nature of the gestures he had used. Looking up again, it seemed that another Night Lord was displeased with the first. The new one was in Terminator armor, and the Lion suspected it was Sevatar.
*****************************
"Why are you like this, Skraivok?" Sevatar groaned. He might not have noticed what his battle-brother was doing, except that he didn't know why they warranted such a glare from the Hound of Caliban. Skraivok turned, giving the First Captain a sheepish look.
"I was... taking advantage of the opportunity for psychological warfare," he said.
"Against other Space Marines and a Primarch?" Konrad asked, raising an eyebrow.
"There are humans on the bridge of the Invincible Reason," Skraivok said slowly. He realized he was in trouble, and was trying to get out of it. The fact that he had already failed to get out of trouble hadn't quite dawned on him yet.
"If you can't find something constructive to do, go wait with your men," Konrad said. His head dropping, Skraivok left the bridge. Sevatar moved to the viewport, and bowed while making an apologetic gesture. Corswain and the Lion both looked at him, then nodded their heads in unison.
"It's a bit eerie how similar they are," Sevatar muttered to himself.
*****************************
Forrix watched Perturabo carefully. His Primarch had agreed to let Horus make the attack on the Phalanx, but it wasn't without protest. Tension lay thick in the air of the Iron Blood because of it. The Swordstorm wasn't a bad prize, but it wasn't what they wanted.
"Where did the Swordstorm go?" someone asked, causing everyone to turn to them.
"It's a Gloriana-class battleship," Forrix said. "It can't have disappeared."
"But it's not where I last had it on scanners," the auspex officer reported. "I'm not finding it in the battlesphere."
"Jaghatai wouldn't run away," Perturabo said sourly. "And only Corvus can hide his ships from auspex."
"It's above us," Forrix said, looking over the shoulder of the auspex officer. His eyes narrowed, then widened in surprise. "And descending."
"Lower us through the sphere," Perturabo said sharply. "Spread the fleet and try to catch him."
"We're dropping," navigation reported. "There's something below us!"
"More White Scars," auspex stated. "They're boxing us in, and there's more coming from the sides!"
"What are they doing?" Forrix mused.
"What they do best," Perturabo growled. "Hunting."
"Hunting?" Berossus asked. "It feels more like herding."
"Indeed," Perturabo said. "Apparently that's how they hunt in some places on Chogoris. Jaghatai mentioned fences once. Hence the boxing us in."
"Interesting," Forrix said. "What do they do when they have something contained?"
"What would you expect to do with a trapped animal?" Perturabo asked. It annoyed him sometimes when his sons couldn't keep up. Or worse, were pretending they couldn't keep up. That made it feel like they were patronizing him.
"How do we get out?" Forrix continued, switching tactics.
"Keep dropping," Berossus said with a shrug. "An animal might think it can't escape a fence, but we know we can break it."
"Good idea," Perturabo said. "Drop a bit more, then forward."
"Why the further drop?" Berossus asked.
"Corners can be weak points," Forrix answered before Perturabo could.
*****************************
"You know why we can't use it, Shipmistress," Angron said firmly.
Lotara Sarrin glowered at him, then sighed. "I understand."
She wanted to use the Ursus Claw, a modification of a weapon some Titan Legios used. Unfortunately, it wasn't able to translate into the light signal system that they were using for the war game. Novacannons were also not able to be translated, but for a different reason. The problem with a novacannon was the long range. For the Ursus Claw the issue was that it sent out a harpoon, then reeled in the other ship.
Angron looked at her a moment, then leaned in conspiratorially, "Perhaps after the war games we can find a nice asteroid to demonstrate to everyone."
"There are great targets in the Keiper belt," Lotara said, giving a wide smile.
*****************************
"He's doing good," Raldoron said approvingly, indicating the Conqueror. "Their fleet formation is better than normal."
"Lord Aurelian is also doing a good job," Azkellon grumbled. "Keeping Lord Guilliman away from us."
"It's a logical tactic. We don't want them meeting up either," Sanguinius said. "It's good to see Lorgar fighting along side someone, and Angron accepting the assistance."
"I hadn't thought of that," Raldoron said. "More good things we're seeing. Maybe they make a strong pairing after all."
"Father is always telling us that positive reinforcement is a powerful thing," Sanguinius said.
"It would be nice if we could contact the other Legions," Azkellon said. He didn't like being isolated, even though he knew if they were on the attack they'd be doing the same thing.
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