The Imperium's Frontier: Moment of Redemption

The cockpit of the Aquila was dim and deathly silent. This shuttle, a true work of art, boasted impeccable taste both inside and out. The plush, brownish-red leather pilot's seat was smooth and supple, while logically arranged LCD screens were scattered across the dashboard. On either side of the control stick sat two unique, spherical holographic interfaces.

The shuttle did not look like a product of the Imperium at all; its style leaned closer to the cockpit design of an Aeldari longship, yet it still incorporated many Imperial elements quite appropriately, such as skulls and shimmering, decorative gold filigree.

Vito ran in from the rapidly opening cockpit door. He nimbly vaulted into the pilot's seat and quickly activated the dashboard. One by one, the display screens lit up, and the spherical holographic operating system projected a full-surface interface. Vito skillfully tapped and swiped across it, completing the pre-flight checks in no time.

The entire shuttle emitted a faint hum. Vito pushed the holographic interface to the sides and tapped the glass in front of him. After a brief flash, the pitch-black cockpit glass displayed the view ahead of the shuttle.

"Come on, beauty, time for an adventure." Vito increased the engine thrust on the pilot's armrest. The vector-thrust engines at the rear of the shuttle began to spew crimson flames, and the craft hovered off the ground, sliding smoothly forward onto the hangar runway.

Vito retracted the landing gear and tapped the comms frequency. "Hangar control, open the bay doors. Anyone there?" He was met only with the static of the radio. Vito sighed helplessly, staring at the perfectly flat audio waveform on his screen.

"Why did I expect them to still be at their posts? I should read fewer epic chronicles; they always portray humanity as far too selfless."

Vito sighed and leaned back into the pilot's seat. "Hangar logic-servitor, Inquisitor clearance code i-001, open the hangar doors." "Command accepted. Identifying. Identification complete. Clearance verified. Opening hangar doors."

As the mechanical voice recited the response word by word, the sturdy starport gates in the distance slowly began to open. The heavy steel structure slid apart under the force of the sliding system and heavy hydraulic mechanisms, and crimson light flooded into the hangar. The gates of hell had been thrown wide.

Vito pushed the control stick, and the entire shuttle roared out. The streamlined craft instantly surged past the runway and flew out through the gates. The shuttle soared over the war-torn streets of the Mid Hive, the light of the burning city reflecting brilliantly off the shuttle's hull.

Like a silver droplet, the ship darted between buildings. Vito watched the burning streets below and the Tyranid Swarm racing across them. At the end of an alley, Vito suddenly banked; the vector engines adjusted direction with extreme efficiency, allowing the ship to execute a sharp turn in front of a collapsing building.

The Aquila wove nimbly through the ruins. Vito performed a series of high-difficulty maneuvers, flying through the city's wreckage as if he were merely taking a stroll through a garden in this restricted flight zone.

The shuttle roared out through a gap in the collapsing edge of the hive city and almost immediately began a steep climb. The flames from the vector nozzles turned pure blue, propelling the longship into the upper atmosphere.

Vito piloted the ship, dodging flexibly between the falling spore cysts. As his fingers pressed the trigger, the laser cannons fired in continuous succession, blasting every cyst in his path into falling gore.

But soon, the Aquila broke through the atmosphere. It shot out from the purple-brown rain of spore cysts, and the flames of the burning atmosphere extinguished and dissipated from the streamlined hull, leaving only the cold, harsh light of space shining upon it.

Suddenly, dense flashes of light illuminated the hull. From the cockpit, Vito looked at the exploding Imperial warships. Imperial destroyers were detonating and disintegrating one by one, their brilliant fire lighting up the entire galactic backdrop.

"Inquisitor." Bell's voice spoke. Vito looked toward the corner of the arched cabin glass and saw the blue Thunderhawk appear behind him, the flames of its atmospheric entry just having faded away.

"Good, looks like everyone is here. Prepare to move." "Can you tell us where we're going? If we're going to die, I'd prefer to know where." "Fine, we're going to find the Norn Queen."

"The Norn Queen?!" Ragnar's voice shouted in surprise, though Vito couldn't tell if it was excitement or terror. "Stop shouting, stay calm. It's just a matter of raiding their backyard."

"How do you know the location of the Norn Queen?" Olaf's voice asked. "There are tens of thousands of ships in the Tyranid Swarm. How could you possibly know where she is?"

Vito smiled and looked at the spectacular war zone ahead. Warships were turning into flying embers; the cold backdrop of space had been lit up—thoroughly lit up by blood and fire.

"Remember the Lobotomy Reader we snatched back at Huangquan-8?" "I remember. So what?" "I used that thing to fry the brain of a Tyranid Node Creature, and then I found out where the Norn Queen is."

There was silence on the comms frequency, followed by Olaf's voice again. "When did you take the Lobotomy Reader off the ship?" "The time Omega came down to help me, but that's not important now. Cole."

"Speak." On the Infinite Frontier, Cole stood on the bridge. He stared at the flying artillery fire before him. Countless Imperial warships were turning into wreckage, and the Tyranid fleet was swarming toward his position.

"Cover us as we approach the Norn Queen's bio-ship. I just opened the channel, you heard it, I don't have time to explain." "This is a damn stupid idea, brother." "Yes, it is a damn stupid idea."

Cole let out a long sigh and slammed his fist onto the console. Captain Cole suddenly stood up, radiating unparalleled majesty and courage. He looked at the bridge operators below and pointed toward the Tyranid fleet. "All Imperial warships, acknowledge! Advance! Cover the Inquisitor and the Astartes!"

The crew looked at one another, but after seeing Cole's resolute gaze, they immediately made their decision. Roars and curses directed at the ancestors of Chaos and the xenos echoed one after another. The first mate began to turn the helm, and the engine array of the Infinite Frontier began to spew violent flames.

The battlecruiser charged forward, and the remaining Imperial warships around it began their assault as well. Countless streams of fire converged into a shimmering sun.

The Imperial Navy began a head-on charge. Macro-cannon arrays and lances roared, and massive firepower slammed into the Tyranid fleet from the front. Dense barrages of torpedoes were launched from the Imperial ships.

Explosions erupted within the Tyranid fleet, but the beasts charged forward without hesitation. The destroyer squadron at the front of the fleet was struck by Tyranid bio-ships and disintegrated; the brilliant fire lit up the entire bridge of the Infinite Frontier.

"This is suicide! This is madness! I cannot carry out this order!" Someone shouted in despair on the fleet frequency. Cole looked to the side of the fleet, where a Lunar-class Cruiser began to veer away from the Imperial Navy's attack formation.

Cole frowned as he watched the ship. He opened a comms channel to that vessel, took a deep breath, and said slowly, "Commissar, fulfill your duty." "As the Emperor wills!"

Gunshots echoed over the frequency. A moment later, the ship returned to the Imperial Navy's attack formation. Cole slid back to the channel with Vito and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Charge!"

"You got it!" Vito shouted back, as if the two of them could truly transmit their voices across the cold vacuum of space. Vito slammed the control stick forward, and the Aquila roared out like lightning, darting between countless Imperial warships and bio-ships. The Thunderhawk followed closely behind, using superb piloting skills to dodge, dash, and fire in succession.

The Thunderhawk's twin-linked bolters roared incessantly, shattering the flying beasts that swarmed like insects between the two fleets.

Vito piloted the Aquila past the side of an Imperial cruiser. As the giant ship sailed parallel to a Tyranid bio-ship, its broadside macro-cannons roared. Vito and the Deathwatch surged beneath the thundering ship-guns and bolter fire, dense explosions flickering incessantly at their sides.

The close-quarters space combat unfolded vividly before their eyes. The Imperial Navy pierced into the Tyranid fleet like a sharp blade, but their numbers were so small that every inch of progress was accompanied by horrific losses and casualties.

The explosions of warships and the disintegrating wreckage of Tyranid ships drifted and spread through space. The Aquila and the Thunderhawk followed one another through this space meat-grinder. The Thunderhawk pulled up behind the Aquila, and they roared past, almost scraping the upper structure of an Imperial warship.

Tyranid bio-artillery hammered the side of the warship. The void shields had failed under the siege of dozens of bio-ships! The warship disintegrated and exploded, and towering fire clouds rose around the two fighters. The Gothic cathedral and spire structures collapsed and crumbled, and the secondary explosions of the macro-cannons instantly severed the entire warship in two.

Cole watched the surrounding bio-ships. Those biological behemoths attacked from all directions, their tentacles and bio-cannons hammering the void shields of the Infinite Frontier. The flickering shields were suddenly pierced after one attack, and the Tyranid bio-shells struck the hull directly.

Violent explosions shook the entire warship. Cole was knocked to the side of the bridge, and many others were thrown heavily to the deck. Cole cursed incessantly, leaning against the railing and slamming his fist against the surface.

"Captain! The Warp is churning! A storm of destruction is coming!" The Astropath shouted in a frantic tone. Cole climbed up, confused, and stumbled back to the operating platform. "Lady Oria, what are you talking about?" "The Ruinous Powers are approaching! Destruction is at hand!" "Speak plainly! And we're about to be finished! Killed by the Tyranids!" "No! Captain, it is the power of the Warp! It is a rift of Chaos! Aaaaaah!"

The Astropath let out a hideous, final scream. Cole looked outside the bridge. Above them and the bio-fleet, countless Warp rifts appeared.

Purple lightning shot out from them. Cole stared at the rifts in astonishment. "Navigator! What happened to the Shadow in the Warp!" "Ah!!!" "Answer me!" "Power! The power of destruction has torn a rift! The shadow has been shattered! Ah!"

They were being driven mad; it was the influence of the Warp, and it was intense. "Is it a Chaos fleet?" "No!"

A voice roared, majestic as steel. The voice suddenly appeared on the comms frequency, tearing through all the chaotic noise.

Ships jumped out from the rifts one after another. It was a massive space fleet, and every warship bore a black cross.

"Black Templars!" Cole shouted. "No pity! No remorse! No fear!"

"In the name of Dorn! We shall rain down the wrath of thunder!"

The Black Templar fleet immediately launched a storm-like offensive. Countless macro-cannons, lances, and bombardment cannons cut mercilessly into the battlefield from above. Under the assault from the heavens, the Tyranid fleet began to dismember and collapse.

Inside the Aquila, Vito looked up at the fleet and smiled. "Thanks, Lily." With that, Vito performed a barrel roll, sending the Aquila diving beneath a bio-ship.

He piloted the Fluid Longship straight through the chaos toward a bio-mothership that appeared to have unremarkable weaponry, with the Thunderhawk following close behind as they charged the vessel together.

Vito slammed his finger onto the trigger, and two small proton torpedoes popped out from the sides of the Aquila. The torpedoes shrieked through the air, slamming into the bio-ship's carapace and blasting a decent-sized hole into the scales.

Vito surged forward, diving directly onto the body of the bio-ship. He pulled the trigger again, and melta beams converged from several emitters onto the flesh beneath the breach. The Aquila plunged into the crater carved out by the melta fire, and the Thunderhawk followed suit without a moment's hesitation.

Cole was right; this is a damn stupid idea.