‘There’s an incoming signal, brother-captain. Ciphered for command only. We haven’t been able to locate a cogent station officer yet, but hopefully your command override codes should access the channel for us.’

‘I see.’ Aeschelus stopped as the tech-priest pointed with a mechanical claw towards a small panel of speakers and dials, a manual pick-up hanging from a coiled cable on the wall beside it.

The captain found the blinking rune indicating the channel connection and tapped his cipher code into the alphanumeric pad. The rune turned green, illuminating a slider at the top of the keypad. Aeschelus pushed the lever fully across and the speakers crackled into life at full volume. The noise was brutally loud, bouncing back from the metal terminals and ceiling. Aeschelus moved the slider down to halfway, dimming the sound of the vox-static. A few more seconds passed before a man’s voice could be heard.

‘Leshk Station? Praise the Emperor! Did the Invigorous get away?’

‘Do you think the Invigorous was the ship that tried to translate?’ said Praxa­medes. ‘The one whose warp engine detonation allowed us to jump?’

‘Could be.’ Aeschelus picked up the voice-transmitter and activated his external address. ‘Identify yourself.’

‘What? Who is this? You don’t sound like Marco or Scrollig.’

‘I am Captain Aeschelus of the Ultramarines vessel Ithraca’s Vengeance. De facto commander of Leshk Station. Identify yourself.’

‘Ultram… Here, in Orestes? All glory to the God-Emperor that our prayers were heard so swiftly.’

‘Identify. Yourself.’

‘My apologies, captain. This is Charnfel Gusser, hailing from Commander Lowensten’s palace on Orestes Orbital.’ The man spoke cogently enough, given the confusion regarding the change in circumstances. ‘How…?’

‘What is your current status?’

‘I don’t know what you mean, captain. I am unhurt?’

‘Orestes Orbital. Are you occupied? Under attack?’

‘Not yet. Our fleets have been scattered or destroyed, but the enemy seem to be approaching from the opposite side of orbit, avoiding us. We’ve lost power to other orbital stations and facilities, and there’s been broken reports of enemy boarding parties on some of the defence platforms.’

‘What is the Invigorous, Master Gusser? Was that a ship?’

‘An Imperial Navy light cruiser, captain. It happened to stop by the system on patrol. The Imperial commander ordered them to depart for help.’

‘The ship did not survive warp translation.’ Sounds of distress moaned over the vox. ‘However, its warp engine detonation did enable our arrival. I need an immediate report, Master Gusser.’

‘It’s Baron Gusser, not that titles really mean anything any more. So many have died we’re just filling in where we can, trying to keep things working.’

‘I need to know what happened.’