"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
The explosions came not from enemy ships outside, but from deep within the vast hull of the Unyielding Truth.
Dull booms, the shriek of tearing metal, and the hum of overloaded power systems followed one another, like agonized spasms wracking the body of the Gloriana-class Battleship.
The vibrations traveled through its decks and framework. Even on the Bridge, an ominous trembling could be felt underfoot.
The infiltrators of the Second Legion's Fifth Great Company abandoned all pretense the moment their identities were exposed and their plot uncovered.
They no longer tried to hide or sought a tactical victory. At the cost of their own lives, they meant to tear this Flagship apart from within.
Melta Bombs had been planted at critical junctions in the power conduits. Blinding white light flashed, and streams of superheated molten metal gushed out like blood.
Plasma weapons were set to overload and fired wildly into the precision control chambers of the Lance Batteries, triggering chains of secondary explosions.
Bundles of chemical explosives were stuffed into ventilation ducts, Servitor rooms, and even load-bearing bulkheads near the keel...
They did not care whether their targets were "high-value." They sought only the greatest possible chaos and destruction.
Ten thousand Astartes warriors, along with whatever sabotage equipment they might carry, had been seeded beforehand into the vital sections of this immense ship like deadly spores.
This was a long-planned, costly suicide attack.
Its purpose was simple: even if they could not destroy the Unyielding Truth outright, they would cripple and maul it as severely as possible, depriving the First Legion of its command center and most powerful warship.
Yet hunters were often the best at recognizing traps.
For the First Legion, the Dark Angels, devotion to secrecy and vigilance against betrayal had long since become bone-deep