As the ending of The Certus Crusade draws near the Inquisition receive an unexplained visitor but there is no time for questions before events begin to unfold.
A lone vessel slips from it’s orbit above Certus Minor and launches into the void toward a scene of utter devastation. The moon of Certus Prime lies shattered by the hands of dark sorcery. Archon Mysaria’s plans have come to pass as she and Severah summon soulstorms with growing intensity ravaging the planets of Certus…. but that is far from the only problem facing the inhabitants of the system.
Aboard the bridge of the Inquisitorial cruiser, The Tear of Rapture, the long range auspex began to chime. Midshipman Jeru sat for a moment perplexed, what it was telling her was not possible, an object of that size does not simply appear from nothing. With everything that had happened of late she ran a diagnostic on the auspex to be sure, there was no technical issue, there had been no warp disturbance yet there was now an object the size of a small moon in orbit above Certus Minor.
“Captain, I have an anomaly on the long range auspex.” Jeru called out.
Captain Davit sighed and took a draw from his cigar. The system was a warzone, imperial citizens openly rebel, Orks rampage, The Despoiler had been spotted, the hive mind sends bioships to consume worlds if
the Drukhari do not destroy them first. What more tests could The Emperor have for him? Exhaling the smoke he turned and grunted,

“What is it midshipman?”
“Sir there is an object that has just appeared in orbit above Certus Minor.” She replied nervously.
“Objects don’t just appear. Check your auspex. Have their been any warp disturbances?”
“No Sir & I have checked the auspex. Sir it’s massive.”
“How big are we talking here crewman? A battleship? A spacehulk? I want details damn it!”
“The auspex are having difficulties scanning it Sir but it appears to be several hundred kilometres long.”
“Something that size does not sneak up on us for thrones sake. I want visual now!”
The bank of comms screens one by one flicked to a grainy image Certus Minor and in orbit directly above Obsequa City was an object that had not been there seconds previously.
“Magnify that thing damn it!” rasped Davit.
“By your command.” replied several of the bridge servitors in unison.
As the screens refocused a hush fell over the bridge. In all his years serving the Ordo Hereticus in Battlefleet Bravada Captain Davit had never seen anything like this, his cigar dropped from his gaping mouth. The size alone was overwhelming but the architecture of the ship was awe-inspiring. Split into four main sections the ships hull resembled glorious golden wings with two towers raising from the centres of each sculpted like grandiose eagle heads. Massive lance cannons splayed outward from the central engines with the unmistakeable silhouette of a Nova cannon firmly fixed between the sets of wings that formed the shape of a double Aquila on the ship’s hull.
“The Emperor protects.” Davit whispered unable to truly register the magnitude of what his eyes where telling him.

“Sir we’re getting some very unusual readings from that ship.” Davit’s attention was drawn away from the screens toward Jeru.
“Explain crewman.”
“Our auspex’s are unable to target it Sir. From what we can ascertain there is no ship in the Imperial navy that matches that design and more curiously Sir, that ship seems to have no power.”
“Then how did it get there? I want a full power auspex sweep done now, and maximise magnification.” barked Davit.
The screens flickered again this time filling the bank of monitors with a full image of the ship. It was truly breathtaking. Every inch of it covered with elaborate Gothic design. Imposing void spires rose between embellished cathedrals and splendid great halls with sublime lancet arches covering plasma cannonade emplacements. Yet something was off with the ship. From a distance it’s architecture had appeared magnificent but now at closer inspection the signs of damage where evident. The hull surface, exposed to the ravages of time, had been scared from impacts and explosions. Deposits of immaterial matter has built up and spread across the ship like a disease. Sections where once ornate stained glass windows had resided now lay open to the void. The ship appeared dead, with no signs of power, yet it was glowing.
“What am I looking at?” Davit puzzled. Jeru moving a separate auspex unit focused the resolution.
“Sir that ship, I mean the hull Sir, it’s on fire.”
“What part of it crewman?”
“Well ALL of it Sir.”
Before either had the time to question this the ships alarms began to shriek. One of the bridge officers screamed to be heard over the sirens,
“Sir there is a massive spike of warp energy approaching the system. It appears stronger than any warp storm I have ever seen.”
Suddenly the bridge was filled with an overpowering sense of dread as servitors began to wail & auspex units exploded. Captain Davit looked around, the junior members of his crew had started to panic, smoke had begun to fill the room. Smoke he thought, looking down he saw his cigar lying by his boot and picked it up. Sitting down on his control throne he relit the cigar. Taking a two deep drags Captain Elias Davit calmly issued his final order.
“Brace for impact.”

Neil likes the simple things in life. A good choppa, lots of dakka and shouting WAAAAAAGHH!!! on a Thursday evening.
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