The three-way brawl aboard the frigate called the Nestling lasted a full twenty-odd minutes. Though perhaps it would be more accurate to call it a two-sided brawl?
After all, Ali and the rebel soldiers under her command had barely taken part in the fighting—not in any serious battles, at least. They had simply followed the Chaos rebels, trailing the raider squads to ambush them, finish off the wounded, and force Loken's confused, disoriented men to surrender.
In any case, while chaos still reigned throughout the mixed fleet and showed no sign of letting up—in fact, it was only getting worse—Ali and her people had already taken control of practically the entire ship. They had even seized the bridge, the ship's command center.
It hadn't seemed difficult at all, including the final push to take the bridge from Loken's men.
After all, following the fierce battle between the nearly three hundred Astartes under Loken and the three hundred elite Chaos traitors, fewer than twenty of them remained—even with Ali and her people providing backstabbing support later on. And it was plainly impossible for fewer than twenty Astartes to put up a fight against the rebels, who numbered over a thousand and were all equipped with CMC Powered Combat Suits.
That was especially true with Ali and her people having armed almost all the rebels' families, and already having taken full control of the Nestling.
So, when Loken's men saw that the tide had turned, that resistance would be futile, and that the ones who had seized the ship were none other than Captain Loken's aide, Ali, they knew when to give up. Despite their confusion and bitterness, they laid down their Bolters, chainswords, Power Weapons, and other weapons under the dark muzzles of the many spike rifles pointed at them.
The