The strategium opened up to the bridge. Guilliman strode through the doors while they were still grinding apart. The primary oculus revealed the Ruinstorm in full anger. Searing vortices and uncolours exploded in the dark. There were no stars. The void screamed, and in the insanity to the fore of the ship, other vessels were closing.

‘I want energy signatures and I want identities,’ Guilliman said. ‘Shipmaster, set an attack vector. Communications, get me Chapter Master Iasus.’

One step behind him, Prayto said, ‘This cannot be a coincidence.’

‘It isn’t,’ Guilliman agreed. ‘It’s an ambush.’

‘The alert has been sent to all ships,’ Altuzer said, anticipating his order.

‘If we rush the enemy with only two ships…’ Prayto began.

Guilliman cut him off. ‘Theoretical – if it’s an ambush, our retreat will already be accounted for. Practical – disrupt the enemy formation with maximum aggression.’

‘We have Chapter Master Iasus,’ said Junixa Terrens, the vox-officer.

Guilliman turned to a vox-unit on the pulpit that overlooked the bridge.

‘The Cavascor stands ready, lord,’ the commander of the 22nd Chapter said.

The companies of Destroyers would be straining at the reins to bring their violence to the traitors. By the standards of Guilliman’s Legion, they were brutal, even under the moderating command of Iasus. He would be glad to unleash them today. ‘It will be our two ships,’ Guilliman said. ‘The others are too far away to reach us in time.’

‘So I presumed.’

‘Forwards elements identified,’ Nestor Lautenix at the auspex array station called. ‘The lead ship is the battle-barge De Profundis.’ The grey-haired officer frowned. ‘I think,’ he said. ‘There are anomalies…’

‘There would be,’ Prayto said. ‘Trust your initial judgement, lieutenant.’

‘Word Bearers,’ Guilliman breathed. His right cheek twitched once.

‘More contacts,’ Lautenix said. ‘Another squadron coming in below the ecliptic, thirty degrees to port. Elements of the Twelfth Legion. Battle-barges and strike cruisers closing at ramming speed.’

‘To be expected,’ Guilliman said, dismissive. ‘The World Eaters wouldn’t think of anything beyond a brute force attack.’ The hololithic display of the tacticarium table became populated with signals. Guilliman stared at the rune of the De Profundis. His fists clenched. ‘Take us at full speed into the vermin of the Seventeenth.’

‘The World Eaters won’t expect recklessness from us,’ said Prayto approvingly. ‘And this will take the Samothrace and Cavascor out of the direct line of the attacks.’

‘And tear the heart out of the Word Bearers,’ Guilliman snarled.

Battleship and strike cruiser accelerated towards the Word Bearers formation. Guilliman watched through the oculus for the enemy to emerge from the Ruinstorm. He felt the rising power of the engines as an expression of the Samothrace’s wrath.

Then torpedoes slammed into the stern shields.