Atlas World had no time to wait. The incoming Rogue Planet exerted considerable gravity of its own, and as it drew closer, it would soon come within range to affect this world.
They had to destroy it before it reached that critical distance.
When Evan returned towing a whole collection of damaged warships, the Astartes immediately transferred to a Battle Barge and set off to blow up the planet.
Whatever happened, the Bipolar Cyclonic Torpedoes would blast it into fragments that would scatter in every direction through deep space, greatly reducing its effect on Atlas World.
Perhaps Atlas World would enjoy prolonged meteor showers for many years afterward.
The Eternal Mountain accepted this mission.
Travel through realspace was boring. The Eternal Mountain had not been fitted with that reality-defying acceleration device, so reaching its destination would probably take some time.
The clanging of metalwork rang out from the lower decks. The Techmarines had started working overtime again to repair the precious Terminator Armour, and resentment seemed to gather over the Manufactorum District and the Neophyte Transformation area.
Casualties in this battle had been considerable. Even with Terminator Armour, the warriors had suffered effective attacks from Chaos Sorcerers on battlefields where Evan and the psykers were absent.
Especially those who had boarded the Strike Cruisers.
Still, the long voyage was not entirely dull.
Annos had finally deciphered the information in another STC Template fragment.
This was the third fragment he had decoded. The information describing half a warship in the previous fragment had particularly caught his attention.
This one seemed to contain a great assortment of miscellaneous technologies.
There was a Long-Range Auspex with increased scanning range but no ability to detect life, a Spacecraft Exterior Armor Cleaner usable during a voyage, a technique for dealing with ice fields during planetary