Fulgrim had cleared one channel, a specific channel that he knew Ferrus would be trying to use. It was the one they had claimed as their own private channel long ago. Moments later Ferrus was on the other end, exactly as Fulgrim had intended.
"What?" Ferrus growled.
"Brother," Fulgrim said, somewhat taken aback. "I just wanted to know if you were having fun."
"Fun?" Ferrus asked. "Do you think this is play-acting?"
"Well, it is pretend," Fulgrim said. He had hoped that Ferrus would be in a better mood now that the fight had started.
"But it's not acting," Ferrus insisted. "That means you think I would ever betray my allies."
"I... that's not what I was going for," Fulgrim said, off-footed by that.
"You are supposed to be acting as yourself," Ferrus snarled. "And you tried to talk me into BETRAYING Vulkan and Corvus!"
"But it wouldn't be a real betrayal," Fulgrim tried to reason. "It's only pretend, a simulation."
"One where you are yourself," Ferrus pointed out, a look of disgust crossed his face before it was replaced by anger. "You aren't my brother."
"Of course I'm your brother," Fulgrim said. "Who else would I be?"
"AN IMPOSTOR!" Ferrus roared. There was a thud, indicating to Fulgrim that Ferrus had slammed his fist onto something next to him. Silence fell on the vox line for a moment, then Marius Vairosean entered the room.
"The Fist of Iron is charging a nova cannon!"
"I thought he had those offline," Fulgrim said. "Keep track of where it's aimed, drop the jamming signal. I'll try and get answers out of Ferrus."
******************************
"Ferrus?" Fulgrim's voice came over the vox. Gabriel Santar quickly gestured to the vox officer to cut the channel. Ferrus was staring at the button he had accidentally pressed.
"Can we shut it down?" Santar asked.
"No time," said Iron Father Sabik Wayland. "It will fire in five seconds."
"Aim it towards the gap in the sphere," Ferrus said, clearly still aware of what was going on around him.
"That's core-ward, my lord," the master of ordinance said.
"It's something we'll have to risk," Ferrus said. "Better the local star than one of the ships. Especially with the short range."
"Aiming," ordinance called. "Firing."
******************************
Branne Nev had ordered the Avenger to stop between the spheres of battle, just above the one the Iron Hands were in. As they stopped there was a proximity alert that faded away.
"What was that?" he asked, looking to the auspex station.
"Nova cannon shell, my lord," the officer reported quickly. "Headed core-ward."
"Those were supposed to be offline," Branne grumbled. "Is it going to hit anything?"
"Looks like it'll enter the system star," came the reply. "Unsure of results, readings from the shell don't match normal nova cannon shells."
"Vox, what about the interference?" Branne asked. He wanted to alert Lord Corax if at all possible.
"The jamming signal has stopped," the vox officer answered, sounding relieved. "Shall I hail the Shadow?"
"Please," Branne said politely. A moment later vox contact was established.
"Captain Nev?" the voice was feminine, but clearly also one of authority.
"Who am I speaking with?" Branne asked carefully. He wasn't aware of any female officers currently serving on the Shadow.
"I am Pryskella of the Solar Watch," the voice replied.
"Lady Pryskella, what of Lord Corax?" Branne ventured.
"Occupied in trying to contact the Fist of Iron regarding that nova cannon shot," she replied.
"Ah," Branne said. "It passed below us as far as I can tell. It's heading towards the local star. How should we proceed?"
"Come back up to our sphere," Pryskella said after a bit. "Bring full shields online. Start trying to broadcast to the Alpha Legion as well. Hopefully they'll listen."
"I'll try," Branne said. He agreed with her assessment that the Alpha Legionnaires might not listen to him because they were on opposite "sides" as it were. "Perhaps the Pride will also reach out to them."
Pryskella didn't respond to him, but Branne wasn't that surprised. She was a Custodian by the way she had introduced herself. He hadn't really dealt with any directly, but there was some knowledge about them on Deliverance.
"Let's start with trying to reach the Gamma," Branne said after confirming the channel was closed. "I want to give them a piece of my mind for trying that run at us."
******************************
Herzog entered the room that the initiates were monitoring the battle from. Omegon noticed that he seemed distracted, but wasn't sure if the other four noticed. Dwancis noticed Herzog next, and brought the others to attention.
"Lord captain?" Martreus asked.
"There's been a complication," Herzog said. The Initiates exchanged glances. "There was an accidental discharge, and a munition is going to enter the local star."
"But I thought we weren't supposed to be using actual munitions," Qayle objected.
"We aren't," Herzog said. "That's why it was an accidental discharge. Chathyn, can you tell us about nova cannon munitions?"
"They're meant for extreme range," Chathyn said. "High level explosive shell, large caliber as well."
"Basics," Martreus said.
"And you know more?" Herzog asked.
"The real question is who shot one," Dwancis interrupted. "Why is also a good question."
"The Fist of Iron shot it," Herzog answered with a grin. "We don't know why. I've heard that all of the Lord Primarchs in this area are trying to reach the Fist at this time."
"That means F-- Lord Fulgrim dropped the jamming signal," Omegon said, catching himself just before naming Fulgrim without any title. He really wanted to speak with Alpharius and see what happened.
Alarms suddenly wailed. The initiates looked up, then at Herzog. Omegon noticed he was listening to the vox feed. After a moment the captain returned his attention to the initiates.
"Frederick," he said, looking directly at Omegon. "You are acting as the Primarch, the nova cannon shell just detonated in the local star, causing a stellar mass ejection. What do you order?"
"Override the shield restrictions and bring them to full," Omegon said promptly. "Signal the fleet to disperse the sphere as best as possible, an EMP is likely, and disabling the ships while close together could be dangerous."
"What about the Raven Guard?" Dwancis asked. "They might think we're just repositioning."
"They have their own sensors," Omegon pointed out. "But we can also power down our weapons. I also doubt that the Lord Primarchs would have set this up without making some kind of signal in case there's an actual emergency."
"He's got a point," Qayle said. "Lord Valdor might have required it since neither he nor the Emperor were able to oversee the games." Herzog and the other initiates nodded. Omegon knew that there was one.
******************************
"My lord, stellar mass ejection!" came the call from the auspex station on the Phalanx. "the Gamma, the Fist of Iron, the Shadow of the Emperor, and the Pride of the Emperor are all signaling for the game to be suspended."
"Agreed," Rogal said. "Though they probably don't all need to be yelling it."
******************************
Alarums wailed on the usually quiet bridge of the Macragge's Honor, though to the untrained eye it would seem that the crew was unphased by this. Roboute knew better, watching their heightened efficiency with pride. They had received the signal to stop the games and were as prepared as they could be for the electromagnetic effects of the stellar ejections.
"That ship is out of position," Gage said suddenly. He indicated a Blood Angels cruiser that was going to be caught in the brunt of the effects.
"We're too far away," Roboute said. "Perhaps they will recover."
"No time," the master of auspex stated quietly. As they spoke the ship in question began to careen across the sphere.
"What about the Conqueror?" Gage asked. "They have different equipment than we do."
"Possibly," Roboute agreed.
******************************
"Shipmistress!" Angron shouted as they saw the ship loose control. It was all the cue Lotarra Sarrin needed.
"Fire the Ursus Claw!" she snapped, an almost concerning gleam in her eye. They both watched eagerly as the claw shot out and pierced the side of the Blood Angels ship.
"We're receiving a hail from the Blood Angels ship," the vox officer said.
"Put it through," Angron said quickly.
"This is the Promise of Blood, we appreciate the assistance," came the voice of a shipmaster. Their accent marked them as coming from one of the moons of Baal, but Angron wasn't sure which one.
"We do apologize for the unconventional means," Angron said. "Once the electromagnetics have settled back to normal we'll release you."
"Understood, Lord Angron," the Promise of Blood replied. "We shall inform the Red Tear."
"Very well," Angron replied.
******************************
It was another ten minutes before the proverbial dust settled. Each fleet had avoided any major collisions, but some ships had brushed against each other. Several of them had damage to their electrical systems which would need work before things were operational again. Rogal and Horus gathered their sides together to discuss what to do.
"There's the unpopulated planet," Roboute's voice was a bit distorted due to issues with his vox system. Or that's what Corvus and Pryskella had concluded.
"It was always part of the plan to do ground warfare as well," Rogal confirmed. "Though we should supervise the repairs to our fleets, and the ground warfare was meant to have orbital support."
"There's going to be times when that isn't an option," Leman pointed out. "This would be a good trial for that. Unless Lady Pryskella has an issue?"
"No issues from me, Lord Russ," Pryskella said with a bit of a smile. "We can make the most of this opportunity."
"Have you had a chance to speak to your companion on the Fidelitas Lex?" Rogal asked.
"Briefly," Pryskella said. "Lord Lupercal's side is having their own meeting. We'll check in with each other again afterwards."
"Very well," Rogal said. "Though I expect they're coming to the same conclusion."
"My lord would appreciate that," Sontar said, speaking for Ferrus on the Fist of Iron. No details had been provided, other than there was communication between the Fist and the Pride of the Emperor and an argument.
"We can even keep the same spheres," the Lion said. It meant that he could hunt Konrad, which was always fun.
"You just want to hunt Konrad," Vulkan chuckled.
"When did you become psychic?" the Lion growled.
"He didn't have to," Corvus said. "We all know it. Even Mortarion and Angron know you want to hunt Konrad."
"Corvus has you there, Lion," Leman said.
******************************
"What did you do to Ferrus?" Horus asked. The vox channel popped, and Joysepha idly wondered if it was an issue on the Vengeful Spirit or the Fidelitas Lex.
"I... made a mistake," Fulgrim said, his vox channel was staticky, but he was also speaking quietly and seemed downcast.
"That seems like an understatement," Alpharius growled. "My move nearly got one of Corvus's ships in the path of that shell."
There was a long pause, then Fulgrim broke it. "Is no one going to... I don't know, berate me?"
"Horus, could you tell Fulgrim that I think it best I don't speak to him for a bit?" Angron's voice came in clearly.
"I can hear you," Fulgrim growled.
"Fulgrim, I don't think there's anything for us to say," Lorgar said. "Though Ferrus is probably going to beat you up pretty good."
"But how do I fix this?" Fulgrim whined.
"You don't," Magnus said. "Or at least not on your own. Ferrus is the one you wronged, and is the one you need to speak with. He'll tell you if this is something that can even be fixed."
"Lord Magnus is right," Joysepha said.
"Let's get back on track," Perturabo said. "Are we landing?"
"Yes," Horus said. "That was always the plan."
"But what about repairs?" Alpharius asked.
"We should only take some of our legionaries," Mortarion suggested. "Leaves most of them with the fleets to assist in repairs."
"If we're in agreement, I should meet with Rogal," Horus said. "And I assume Mamzel Joysepha wants to consult with her counterpart as well."
"I do," Joysepha said. "But, before we end this conversation, I do want to congratulate Lord Angron for his quick thinking with the Promise of Blood."
"I... thank you, Mamzel Joysepha," Angron said, sounding a bit uncomfortable with the praise. "The crew of the Conqueror did well."
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