"Trade is war; war is trade. Either way, the House of Ma'Kao profits."
Lady Sun Lee
Sun Lee sat on her light cruiser's bridge, the caravan were astronomical, more so when heading into a war zone.
Betting everything on their next conquest was not sothing she liked, but there weren't other choices. The Navigator was already a ss of tentacles and claws, and only the snuff drug kept him stable enough for another Warp jump.
"We really need a cruiser with warp-less drives..." her Master-at-Arms mused thoughtfully.
"Like that Battlecruiser with the psyker Inquisitor? Right. Perhaps we should even take the offer from that blonde assassin." Sun Lee said in a dismissive voice.
"An alliance wouldn't be so bad, Captain. And you need a husband anyway..." the man murmured softly.
"Get out! I make my own luck!" Sun Lee yelled and smashed the holotable for emphasis. Not too hard though, as the bloody thing was really expensive.
Sure, a seat at the High Table on Terra for Rogue Traders was attractive, but it wasn't worth losing her freedom. Plus...that Catachan Major scared her. Just looking at him made her want to smack his face, with a hamr most likely. Those dead eyes, and grim smile. Like burning into your soul, and seeing every secret.
Soon enough, the Nihontu was prepared and jumped into the Warp, while the Navigator stopped screaming for a ti. Three weeks at most.
The three Cobra destroyers flanked the cruiser, although the third one will need a refit at the Forge World and possibly a new fusion generatorium, as this one was leaking badly and irradiating the crew.
It never got the chance, as the nexus point was blockaded by a gigantic fort made black matter, surrounded by a thousand ships of every kind.
"Ergency turn, dive and engage plasma engines to full!" she ordered as the third Cobra split in two and blew up in a cataclysmic explosion, that luckily caught 20 boarding shuttles and a dozen Chaos starfighters in the radius.
The gunners started firing, plasma cannons and lance batteries striking a couple of bombers and clearing a path for the Forge World.
They were still trapped, but surely the Fabricator will allow repairs in exchange for aid.
"Captain, the Navigator is...purging quarters now!" her Void-master yelled and pointed at the holoscreen, where the pict-cara in the Navigator quarters caught the last mont before the creature blood into a flesh tree made of skulls and fangs.
A thin spray of phase-iron dust hit the creature and made it retreat, while the explosive bolts blew out the armor panels and ejected the demon into space.
"Focus fire on the skull tree." Sun Lee commanded, trying to ignore the strangeness of the order.
A dozen cruiser-sized weapons hit the creature until it burst into purple fire and vanished.
"We're going to need a new Navigator..." She murmured in dismay. It didn't matter if the whole bridge crew heard it, did it?
"And a new Navigator deck..." the vox officer added smartly.
Perhaps washing that deck a dozen tis will teach the moron so respect. When combat was over, of course.
"Sensors, any pursuit?" she asked anxiously.
"No, Captain. These guys seem content to simply pillage whatever ships jump in. And the big thing is a Blackstone Fortress, Captain." the auspex girl said in a polite tone.
There was a good officer in the making there. One day, the girl might beco a Captain, if they lived that long.
They were almost half-way to the Forge, when a new fleet jumped right beside them, bypassing the blockade.
Sun Lee checked the identifying sigils three tis. Bloody Pef Lancefire!
"Captain Sun Lee, be so kind and turn off all active auspex and vox comms. It would be a sha if such a pretty lady gets butchered by teleporting traitors." a voice spoke in her head, seeming amused for so reason.
She gritted her teeth and did as ordered. The man phrased it mildly, but there was real danger too.
"Archmagos Omnifax, could the traitors ride back our auspex signals and teleport right here?" she asked the resident techpriest.
The cyborg froze for a minute, possibly thinking very hard. "It sounds possible, if they have powerful cogitators or pyskers..."
"And would a Chaos fleet with a thousand ships have all that?" Sun Lee asked ironically.
"I'll start working on restricting all active emissions, Captain. Visibility will decrease significantly..." the techpriest explained and began chanting at his chanicus console, then spraying oil and scented incense.
"Helm, turn us around. We'll cover Lord Lancefire while he battles..." she began saying when the sky exploded into thousands of gigantic explosions centered on that Black Fortress.
A minute later, when the armored windows lost the black tint, barely a hundred burning wrecks remained, while Lancefire corvettes sped ahead to push the wrecks into the sun.
"Nova Cannons are great, eh? And you need a new Navigator, Lady Sun Lee..." the smug voice of Pef Lancefire sounded from the vox caster.
She slumped in her command chair, trying to make sense of what she saw.
Sure, those Chaos guys were kinda clumped up around the jump nexus, and the Fortress was a target nobody could miss, but even so...it would take unbelievable luck to hit every shot. A thousand enemies, gone just like that!
"He's so cool! I wonder if we can visit his ship." the auspex girl murmured in a srized voice.
Sun Lee sighed and closed her eyes in defeat. So people had all the luck.
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