Targeting the Flagship

Chaos scrapcode was spreading through the mind-space of Calth.

It was no longer a tolerable obstacle. These highly contaminating data streams were steadily devouring and annexing other normal information flows, unquestionably pruning the Watchtower's dominion over orbital space.

This loss of control felt alien to Hurst and the senior tech-priests.

Their retrofitted processing cores were overheating in a data-battle they could not comprehend.

"How many ships and weapon platforms can we still reach with information?"

"Roughly forty percent, or less. The orbital platforms and weapon arrays have stronger interference. We need time." Senior Tech-priest Tauren checked the vessels still receiving the Watchtower's data stream, only to find the Ultramarines' flagship, Macragge's Honour, conspicuously absent.

"Then do this: tell those ships that can still receive the signal to fire their engines. They must get out of the spaceport." Hurst was using every scrap of his knowledge to forge a weapon against the Chaos scrapcode. The first step in fighting an enemy never seen before was to create a new mode of attack.

"Understood."

Data surged through the mind-space of Calth. War directives from the surface were activated. In an instant, every airship conducting supply runs in low orbit, every vessel docked in the spaceport and tethered by gantries, received the order to halt all operations.

Alarms blared inside the ships. Red warning lights flashed without pause.

Officers and tech-adepts aboard the vessels were baffled, but they followed protocol immediately, executing standard responses drilled into them by training.

Reactors and engines that had been shut down or running at low efficiency were flooded with power. Deck protective measures engaged. Weapon array crews went on alert.

In moments, officers and workers aboard every ship scrambled frantically, racing to regain control of their vessels.

But getting these colossal war machines operational was not a matter of a single command. For the Legion's muster, the Ultramarines' ships had been undergoing heavy resupply of weapons and fuel, along with routine maintenance.

Under the surface's orders, all of this had to be forcibly aborted.

Even with the Empire's Cogitator Systems, getting a starship underway required vast numbers of tech-adepts and mortal servants. Transmitting orders and mobilizing personnel took time.

From the ever-more-violent Chaos scrapcode, Hurst sensed a growing threat. He had a vague premonition: time was not on their side.

"No. This is wrong. The scrapcode isn't satisfied with just attacking other data streams anymore. It's forming a data surge. It's going to—"

Hurst realized the horrifying truth, but as he had feared, time had run out. All the Watchtower's tech-priests and Cogitator Systems were linked to the mind-space of Calth for the fastest, most efficient processing of immense data flows.

And so, when the data surge unleashed by the Chaos scrapcode struck, the brains of dozens of data-techs were instantly burst or scorched by the torrent.

Whether their parts were mechanical or flesh, all were ruined and burning.

Electronics shorted and overloaded in the data; flesh steamed with searing heat.

Hurst was stronger. His augmetics could bear more. He endured the tsunami of data, endured the collapse and dissolution of Calth's mind-space under the assault.

His body shook uncontrollably. Organs and implants rapidly necrotized. His soul was scorched by the boiling data. His death was irreversible.

But before death truly claimed him, Hurst completed the weapon he had forged. Using binary code, he sent a single signal to the orbital weapon arrays.

Strike Macragge's Honour with the laser array.

He could not transmit data to the Ultramarines' flagship, but that did not mean he could not send a message by physical means.

In his final moment, Hurst felt a measure of relief. He had warned the Primarch.

--

Macragge's Honour.

Roboute Guilliman, Primarch of the Ultramarines, stood upon the bridge before a full-scale projection. Tier upon tier of operation stations rose like the spectator seats of a Roman amphitheatre.

Light was bent and warped by force fields, shaping a lifelike illusion.

Across millions of kilometres, Guilliman held a virtual meeting with his brother, Lorgar Aurelian.

With the aid of technology, the Primarch's flesh and armour bore real texture and colour. His voice, too, resonated through Macragge's Honour.

"My dear brother, how many years has it been? Apologies, I had no time to change into ceremonial robes." Lorgar's voice was full of sincerity and regret, which drew a warm smile from Guilliman.

"No need for such formality. We'll meet face to face soon enough, on Calth," Guilliman said, glancing at the Word Bearers commanders beside Lorgar. "And your sons—I haven't seen them in a long time either."

"I have prepared a surprise for you, dear brother Roboute." Lorgar smiled mysteriously.

"Then I look forward to it."

They exchanged a few more friendly words before the XIII Legion's Primarch ended the brief meeting. He felt that virtual projection was not solemn or formal enough. When they met in person, he would properly reconnect with his brother.

On the surface, the weapon arrays drew immense power from their reactors. Auspex arrays locked onto the largest vessel in space.

Machinery turned. Energy flowed into cable conduits. Weapon output ports blazed with light and heat.

A brilliant beam carved across the void. In an instant, it struck Macragge's Honour.

"Emergency, my lord!"

The senior tech-priest of Macragge's Honour submitted an urgent report to the Primarch, not even pausing to organise his words. "My lord, the Calth weapon arrays have attacked us. A laser array. It has penetrated part of the flagship's outer armour."

Without void shields raised, the ship could only rely on its own hull armour and sheer mass to withstand the blow.

In the struck zone, heat rivaling a star melted the outer metal. Molten iron was blasted into space by the kinetic force, quickly solidifying into irregular lumps.

The mortal servants and tech-adepts in that area vaporised along with the hull.

Airlock doors slammed shut across the ship, halting the spread of damage.

"What happened? Captain Zedov, report to me immediately." Guilliman remained calm. The Calth weapon arrays had been built and calibrated by the Mechanicum of Mars and the Five Hundred Worlds of Ultramar. They possessed thorough reaction protocols and safety measures. Every command required verification from both surface and orbital tech-priests.

"Analysis is being compiled, my lord." The captain barked at his subordinates.

"Afraid it's related to the Chaos Scrapcode we discovered earlier, along with those anomalous disturbances," the Senior Tech-priest replied.

Guilliman immediately recalled several disturbances that had appeared in the data he'd read, though those had been attributed to stellar sunspot storms affecting the star.

The Senior Tech-priest and Tech-priests aboard the flagship had also detected the Chaos Scrapcode issue, but like the technicians on the surface, they were still figuring out how to deal with it.

"But technically speaking... it's nearly impossible." The Adeptus Mechanicus Senior Tech-priest hesitated, unwilling to admit that the Scrapcode could affect Calth's powerful Orbital Platforms and Weapon Arrays—this would mean the Adeptus Mechanicus's technology wasn't one hundred percent reliable. "Still, it should put us on alert."

After being struck by the Laser Array, a Data Surge spreading from Calth dealt another heavy blow to the Macragge's Honour. For a moment, the ship's cogitators went into overload, the well-lit bridge plunging into darkness, leaving only the crimson flicker of alarm lumen lights.

"Calth's noosphere has also disconnected. By the Omnissiah, where did this Data Surge come from!" Countless people screamed throughout the ship. Some Servitors convulsed and collapsed, their heads spewing boiling smoke, completely wrecked.

The Tech-priest was convulsing, but he endured it. The Data Surge had erupted within Calth's noosphere; the starship only bore the aftershock.

Moreover, the Machine Spirit of the Macragge's Honour was strong enough to block most of the impact.