Tell me, loud and clear! What is our Chapter's tradition?
No fighting fair!
Never fight alone when you can gang up.
Nian Cijin's distress signal was soon picked up by the returning Main Fleet of the Light of the People. They were sailing from the Octarius Sector toward the Great Thousand World, and it was right on their way.
Their return to T'au would take them past Stone City anyway. The Wind and Cloud-class Battleships hit the throttle, and the White Scars Sons roared with delight.
The Light of Redemption Chapter was trapped in the Stone City system. Nian Cijin made his position clear: they needed to talk. If the other side refused, their ten ships and the battleships arriving in support would remain well beyond boarding range and open fire the moment their opponents crossed the boundary.
Naval strength was strength, too. Astartes who could not board an enemy ship were no different from ordinary crewmen.
Both sides finally stopped. Nian Cijin looked at the two battered Lunar-class Cruisers. He remembered those ancient ships. For a long time, they had been the pillars of their strength, the principal warships in their conquest of the Three Hundred Worlds.
"Commissar, our scans show that not all that damage seems to have been caused by those damned Strike Cruisers. There are signs of even stronger explosive impacts, decks deformed by unknown forces, and bombs detonated from inside."
"The Light of Redemption had better not be responsible for what happened to those two ships, or..." Nian Cijin left the sentence unfinished, but made no attempt to conceal his murderous intent.
"Commissar... isn't that a little inappropriate? You know, uniting every available force..."
"Well said." Nian Cijin reined in his murderous intent and returned to his stern demeanour. "What about our request for negotiations?