876.M30.
Training Deck of the Fifth Chapter's flagship, the relic-class vessel Starcaller.
Santiago Borgkamp, the Starlord, after numerous experiments, discovered that as a "Scribe," he could record the abilities of a total of twenty-two Court Knights, Lords, and Barons.
They had been granted power by the Black Emperor once, twice, or three times.
Finding that the storage cost of recording their abilities was roughly the same, he began consciously planning combinations of abilities.
Since his own bestowed powers were not suited for combat, he naturally focused his attention on this area.
The "Scribe" watched a "Folk of Rage" unleash a burst of rage. In his eyes, a phantom book, its pages slowly turning, was reflected.
The "Scribe" activated the cells in his "brain," forming wave-like symbols, rippling water droplets, and emblems of fury.
CRASH!
A training dummy shattered from a "Raging Blow." Fragments littered the floor.
Simultaneously, the symbols, patterns, and marks in the "Scribe's" eyes rapidly dissipated.
"Record" failed.
Santiago was undeterred. He would try again.
"Continue."
The "Folk of Rage" accumulated fury. As a new training dummy descended and rotated, he let out a roar.
The phantom book in the "Scribe's" eyes slowly turned. Symbols, patterns, and marks flashed rapidly.
Amidst the shattering, the "Scribe" watched an arc of fury leap across the phantom book and nodded with satisfaction.
Feeling his psychic energy become more lively, Santiago instructed.
"That's enough for today."
He then walked to the elevator and returned to his Captain's quarters.
Unlike other Lords, his quarters more resembled a psychic artisan's laboratory, or a psychic alchemy chamber.
The walls were covered with star charts. The ceiling was covered with astrolabes...
The abundance of stellar-themed items was the most obvious difference between him, a seasoned "Astrologer," and other psychic artisans.
Santiago walked to his workbench, carved from a single piece of psychic crystal. Even the Thousand Sons sorcerers would marvel at its rarity.
It was carved from a single piece of crystal, sourced from the Crystal Mirage.
It was five times larger than the largest piece of psychic crystal ever mined from the reflecting caves behind Tizca.
Santiago entered the first level of the Enumeration, then ascended to the third.
As a Daemonologist, he perceived the surge of aetheric tides.
The psychic artisan picked up his psychic probe and carving knife, both made from psychic crystal.
These tools were crafted by the Daemonologist himself; the entire refining process conducted within the Warp, untouched by realspace.
Santiago stared at the rudimentary, bizarre-shaped backpack.
Shorter than an Astartes power pack, but longer, tapering as it extended outward.
Glowing psychic crystals were set into its edges. An abstract rune was carved in the center.
The rune was composed of an incomplete trident, an incomplete triangle, and an inverted triangle.
The rune of the Aeldari Aspect Warrior, the Warp Spider.
The psychic probe in Santiago's left hand moved slowly. He carefully discerned the flickering aetheric light.
The carving knife in his right hand fell occasionally, refining the backpack.
Orion-Cygnus Arm, Sak'trada Deeps.
The Vulpa Straits, at the edge of the Gurgan system.
The planet Golghis was hidden within a dark nebula, dense asteroid fields, and canyons formed by enormous, forest-like celestial bodies, it was the only corridor through the Vulpa Straits.
Within the canyon-like corridor, three black destroyers, in an arrowhead formation, escorted a frigate, navigating cautiously through the dark nebula.
On one side of the defile, six ships, in a petal formation, emerged from the shadows.
They were indistinct, nearly invisible within their shifting time fields.
An instant before the entropy beams fired, alarm lights flashed urgently on the bridge of the Shadows of Order ship.
The Simulus Chamber network, discerning the enemy from the nebula, dust, and floating rocks, had detected the attack.
Time waves surged like a tide, slamming into a destroyer.
The ship lurched, tossed like a boat struck by a wave, then plummeted.
In an instant, it seemed to age millions of years. Its engine lights died. Obvious corrosion appeared on its hull.
Within seconds, its crew aged to dust.
In moments, it was reduced to a crumpled, rusted hulk.
The three ships turned rapidly.
On the frigate's starboard destroyer, officers saw the horrifying scene through their displays and frantically ordered firing.
The destroyer frantically fired a salvo of solid rounds, which struck the temporal wave front of the Hrud's mysterious shields.
Bright flashes of matter annihilation erupted. The shells vanished.
The Shadow of Order commander on the frigate calmly reminded on the fleet channel.
"aether cannons, shadow-strike beams, laser cannons."
"Only these can damage Hrud ships."
The destroyer on the frigate's port side was the first to complete a forty-five-degree turn.
Its laser arrays fired a dense barrage. Blazing light struck one of the petal-formation enemy ships.
"Hit!"
The officer shouted excitedly. Excitement at damaging the xenos ship overcame fear.
The destroyer accelerated its turn, trying to bring its prow-mounted aether cannon to bear.
An entropy beam caught it. The part of the ship within the time field, all matter was forced into a constant baseline temperature.
Atoms dispersed.
With scattered neutrons and escaping radiation, nearly half the hull disintegrated.
Ripples in spacetime raced past the wreckage on both sides. Amidst cacophonous alarms, the hull screamed.
In the chaotic vortex, time raced.
Different parts of the wreckage were forcibly pulled into different reference frames.
An officer, skin withered, aged and fell.
Another officer, less than a meter away, was unharmed. Before he could feel relief, the cogitator beside him exploded.
Matter shifting at meters per second triggered a chain of screeching explosions.
The frigate completed its forty-five-degree turn. Its shadow-strike beam arrays fired a dense barrage.
Shadow-strike beams were now large-scale equipped on Shadows of Order frigate-class vessels.
The ethereal Hrud ship became a patch of ominous shadow amidst a series of magneto-optic explosions, like a shadow cast on starlit rock.
The destroyer ahead of the frigate agilely executed a graceful turn.
The aether cannon mounted under its prow fired a dazzling, colorful beam.
As if parting clouds, the colorful beam swept aside the entropy shield, un-twisting spacetime.
The following lance pierced and tore through the Hrud ship.
The four remaining Hrud ships fired entropy beams, catching the frigate.
Temporal shockwaves rolled forward, striking the frigate directly.
The frigate tumbled like an ellipsoid in the void. Entropic beams hammered it repeatedly.
The simian field protected the black ship from the temporal vortex.
Tumbling, the frigate's prow aligned with one xenos ship.
At the Shadow of Order's command, two aether beams lanced out, sweeping aside the chaotic entropy shield.
The moment the lance pierced, alarms on the bridge screamed wildly.
Hrud ships, like shadows, filled the defile.
The Shadow of Order's expression was calm. He saw black ships emerging from the nebula.
.....
If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 30 chapters ahead.
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