The bridge of the Furious Abyss.
Zadkiel, Chapter Master of the Scions of the Quill, stared at the Frigates bearing down on them, closing with the speed of loosed arrows.
"Horus is truly willing to pay the price. He's actually using the Vengeful Spirit as an anvil, drawing fire to create an opening."
"The hammer he's bringing down isn't meant only to defeat me. He wants to seize the Furious Abyss."
"My lord, leave them to me." Belanos bared his fangs.
Zadkiel recalled the Black Emperor's warning. "Escort fleet, intercept the enemy ships."
Three Frigates and five Destroyers spread into formation and tore into the green enemy vessels.
Aboard the Blade of Horus, Seghar Torgaddon, captain of the 7th Company, gazed at the holographic tactical display.
The Warmaster had given Torgaddon command of the boarding force. His battle honors were second only to Ezekyle Abaddon and the traitor Garviel Loken, and even surpassed Asimand's.
If the Warmaster had not had no intention of re-forming the Council of Four Kings, he would have become one of them without question.
The limited structural schematics of the target provided by Regulus flashed through Torgaddon's mind, and he opened the Sonic Array channel.
"The Other."
Torgaddon, captain of the 18th Company, was known among his peers as The Other.
"To attack the Vengeful Spirit, the Furious Abyss's plasma reactor must be running beyond capacity."
"Boarding target: the cooling conduits."
The steel hulls of the assault fleet were ripped open amid their ferocious advance, and Boarding Torpedoes surged from the wrecked metal carcasses.
Metal debris wreathed in fire drifted away. Seven warships had been destroyed by the escort vessels to win this boarding opportunity.
Torgaddon slid down into the interior of the Furious Abyss, and a hail of fire came shooting through the drifting, hazy