'Leave it,' said Russ, staring ahead. 'If we slow, we will lose more lives.' As he commanded, so he was obeyed. The ship was abandoned to its fate.

The starboard star responded to its brother's entreaty, shooting out its own curling lash. In return, the first sent another, and so on, until the void screamed with burning atoms and the Vlka Fenryka flew pell-mell down a twisting gut of fire. Imperial ships were mighty tools of war, but nothing made by man can compete with a star, even ones so puny as the Trisolian binary. Instruments overloaded in showers of sparks, their circuitry fried by a surfeit of the Motive Force. The priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus moaned, and the Vlka Fenryka could not say if it was in fear or ecstasy. The cruiser Valhall detonated. A dozen escorts were overwhelmed. Void shields all over the fleet buckled under the attentions of the binary as they were beaten hard by stellar scourges.

The punishment abated. The tremors subsided.

'We're down to our last shield bank,' announced the kaerl of the aegis. 'The next one will tear us in half.'

'Charge all the capacitors. I want every void generator operating at peak capacity,' said Russ. 'Take power from the engines. Strengthen the aegis.'

A final blast of power from Trisolian 2b ripped away the blanket of energy protecting the Hrafnkel, leaving it exposed to the binary stars' wrath.

'Stand by for hull impact!' yelled the kaerl of the auspex.

The blow did not land. The fury of the stars subsided. No more flares burst from the spheres.

'They have had their fill of violence,' said Russ. He relaxed his hands. They were gripping hard at the arms of his throne.

As he pronounced those words, the Hrafnkel burst through the gravitic envelope, and sailed into calmer space. The drag of the suns lessened, and the fleet pulled free.

Damage reports came in thick and fast. There had been many casualties, RUSH did not hear them. He had his eye fixed on the primary tacticaria. The main world of the system was an icy moon orbiting a gas giant. Seven large facilities were suspended high over its surface on tall, macro-sized tether-tubes. Around it, caught unawares, was the fleet of Horus Lupercal.

'I count more than fifty capital ships. Word Bearers, Alpha Legion, Sons of Horus, World Eaters, Iron Warriors. By the heart of Fends, it's a feasting table of traitors. The whole lot of them are here,' said Grimnr.

'They are spread across the system,' said Russ. 'We have them unawares.' He frowned. 'And my huscarl, this is only a fraction of Horus' forces. Can Horus really be here with such a poor fleet? The Vengeful Spirit, can you see it? Is he here? Find him!'

'Yes, my jarl,' responded the auspex kaerl. Then, a moment later: 'I have it.'