The Aeldari warships sailed along the asteroid belt with the Tyranid fleet behind them, seemingly intent on wearing their pursuers down through these kiting tactics.
But the Tyranid bio-ships remained hard on their heels. Whenever an Aeldari warship slipped up, they seized the chance to attack its engines, then caught up and destroyed it once the damage slowed it down.
These Tyranid bio-ships had been specially spawned. Not only were they fast, but the Great Devourer had also instilled them with extensive experience in fighting Aeldari warships. Experience that other races took years to cultivate could simply be imparted directly by the Great Devourer.
In a war of attrition like this, such losses meant nothing to the Tyranid Swarm, while the loss of every warship deeply pained the Aeldari.
After several rounds of kiting, the Aeldari seemed unable to sustain the losses. They accelerated away without turning back. The swarm consciousness reached the same conclusion, so it continued ordering its bio-ships to accelerate in pursuit.
Suddenly, a barrage of lances, particle beams, and lasers of every color erupted from the nearby asteroid belt. The fleeing Aeldari fleet wheeled around at the same instant and unleashed masses of melta torpedoes, blasting the Tyranid fleet apart.
In less than twenty minutes, the entire Tyranid fleet was annihilated.
A larger Aeldari fleet, four hundred ships strong, emerged from the asteroid belt. Among them was an exceptionally large warship, three or four times the size of an ordinary Aeldari battleship.
This was the Flames of Vengeance, the flagship carrying Osuwiss and her companions. One of the most powerful capital ships to survive the destruction of the Malan'tai Craftworld, it was a warship preserved since the War in Heaven.
"It looks like the trap worked. We caught our prey," Yriel said with an air of