'Well enough, Brielle. Just make sure you've shaken it by two point five. Understood?

'Understood, Father' the reply came back. He smiled to himself. Brielle never could do things the simple way.

'Ship to fleet' Lucian called to the communications servitor. It nodded an instant later to indicate that he was speaking to both ships. 'Korvane, Brielle. We begin our approach run now' He nodded to the helmsman, who hauled on the huge, floor-mounted lever, feeding power to the main drives. The deck vibrated as engines roared into life, although thankfully they showed no sign of trouble from the misbehaving drive unit.

'We find ourselves on the same side as these aliens, the tau as Korvane calls them. Now' Lucian continued speaking so as to forestall his son's inevitable interjection, 'this could prove troublesome, given that not a couple of hours ago I personally sent several thousand of them to the depths of the seven hells. Despite that, I did so for entirely plausible reasons, but I feel that the remaining vessels may not share our newfound friendship. Therefore, if we are to honour the obligations entered into on our behalf, we are forced to take a somewhat unusual approach. This then, is my plan. We must draw the tau onto the guns of Luneberg's fleet'

He sat back, knowing what was coming next. It came.

'Father! Korvane's voice came back, Lucian's son's anger obvious, even over the static-filled and distorted ship-to-ship channel. 'Father, I negotiated our agreement in good faith, and even though you disapprove, we are honour bound to abide by it. The tau might be aliens, but they are Droon's allies, and we cannot be responsible for their demise'

Lucian grinned. By the Emperor, he really had spawned a couple of humourless whelps.

'Korvane, I am not asking you to do so. Just follow your orders and shut the hell up' he said, slamming his palm down and cutting the channel. He chuckled, imagining his son's spluttering indignation at his words. He would have some explaining to do, later.

Meanwhile, however, the two cruisers of Luneberg's fleet had reached the optimum point at which to open fire, and did so at exactly the moment the Admiralty Staff textbooks told their captains they should. Lucian watched, his breath caught in his throat, as the moment of truth finally arrived.

Nothing happened.

Lucian slammed both palms down on the arms of his command throne, his laughter filling the bridge. 'I knew it!

Brielle smiled demurely to herself as she realised the trick her father had just pulled. He had, she saw, gambled that Luneberg's vessels were outfitted with weapons provided to them by the tau, as the orbital station at Mundus Chasmata had been. Furthermore, he had surmised, again correctly, that the tau weapons would not fire upon their own, leaving Luneberg's vessels suddenly helpless at the crucial point in their confrontation.

He was a wily old bastard, she had to give him that, but he hadn't foreseen this. She tapped a code into the communications readout beside her command throne.

'This' she said aloud, hitting the key labelled Transmit', 'is for the greater good'

Lucian watched from the starboard viewing port as explosions blossomed across the lengths of Luneberg's two cruisers. He had seen that the Borialis Defensor was equipped with xenos-supplied weapons when he had passed her earlier, and realised instantly that these were the same, high velocity projectile weapons that had been unleashed against him by the Chasmatan orbital. He had gambled upon their not firing on their own, but something else entirely was occurring here.

A dozen points of rapidly expanding orange studded the length of both enemy vessels, the exact locations, he knew, of the alien weaponry. Luneberg had sought to play them all — the rogue traders and the tau both — for suckers, but appeared to have been played himself.

The Borealis Defensor listed to port, her captain, Lucian guessed, attempting desperately to manoeuvre his vessel out of the alien ships' kill zone. The other cruiser responded by opening up her engines, the enormous power building inexorably to propel her forwards and away from danger.

Neither vessel had even the slightest chance of escape, however, for they were firmly trapped within the aliens' most deadly fire arc. The multiple, prow-mounted turrets on each of the five vessels turned as one, tracking the nameless cruiser as she attempted in vain to pull away. The muzzle of each spat blue fire, the hyper-velocity projectiles propelled across space in the blink of an eye.

The cruiser was struck to starboard, amidships, a line of explosions blossoming across its spine. Even larger explosions appeared on the vessel's port flank, the projectiles having passed entirely through its vast bulk.

Lucian stood speechless, too stunned even to order his helmsman to steer away from the almost tragically uneven battle. Violet plasma geysered from the cruiser's exit wounds, lending it the appearance of some gargantuan sea creature bleeding its guts into the churning ocean. A series of secondary explosions spread within the dying vessel, and its ravaged midsection bowed as fires danced along its length, fed white-hot by the ship's rapidly escaping air.

The fate of the first cruiser sealed, the tau vessels turned their attention to the Borealis Defensor.

'Hard to port, full power to mains! Lucian snapped out of his trance as the blazing wreck of the first cruiser drifted from his view. With the aliens intent on Luneberg's flagship, he saw only one way of ending this in anything like a favourable position.

'Comms! he shouted, the interference-laden ship-to-ship channel bursting to life. 'Fairlight, Rosetta, this is Oceanid!

'Go ahead, Father, I read you' came back Brielle's reply.

Then silence.

'Korvane? Lucian said, looking across to the communications servitor. 'Korvane, do you read me?

The only answer was the angry howl of the open communications channel.

The Rosetta shook violently beneath Korvane's feet, the scream of twisting steel audible from somewhere far below decks.

'What the hell was that? Damage report, now! bellowed Korvane, filled with a sudden dread. The sound had come from a part of his ship from which no such sound should ever come, even in the event of major battle damage. His gaze raced across the banks of data-screens clustered around the bridge, each choked with reams of rapidly scrolling figures.

Before he could even begin to decipher the data however, a second explosion sounded from the guts of his vessel, the bridge lights cutting out, leaving only the illumination that came from the static-filled screens.

'Where's that report? he called, standing, and grabbing the nearest bridge officer, a junior rating, by the collar. 'You, go find out what's happening to my ship!

Another explosion sounded, this time even deeper in the Rosetta's innards. Korvane knew immediately that it was the drive section and his fears were confirmed a moment later as the ship began to list severely to port.

'Damage control parties! Korvane ordered. 'Get the secondaries on line, now!

'Yes, sir' replied a hooded junior tech-adept, hauling open an access hatch in the deck plate, and clambering in to the cable-choked crawlspace.

Korvane experienced a moment of utter helplessness, the worst feeling a captain could ever have. Then, by the grace of the Emperor, the banks of screens flickered, went dead, and then awoke entirely, the machine spirit deep within the Rosetta's cogitation banks reawakening them.

He strode to the main bank, leaning over the command lectern and gripping its edge hard as he felt the artificial gravity fluctuate. For an instant, he stumbled as the gravitic generators fought to maintain their normal output, their force doubling before returning to something resembling their normal level. He fought to concentrate on the endless figures scrolling across the main screen, suddenly gaining an inkling into what had happened.