Due to a player leaving, this post is no longer in continuity with the story. The Serpents and their Primarch are still prosecuting the Arel Extermination rather than being present during the battles for Ullanor.

[h2]Serpents of the Sun[/h2][hr]
[hider=No Longer in Continuity]The Empyrean had racked the [i]Solstice’s End[/i] from the moment it had made the warp jump from the Vokarr system. For a full Terran month the mighty flagship of the Serpents of the Sun and it’s myriad 685th Expeditionary Fleet of cruisers, frigates, and support craft had braved the roiling warp to reach the Emperor with all possible haste. Astropaths has been unable to send or receive messages in the turmoil, and several ships had been forced to disengage into realspace, suffering malfunctions that would not allow them to continue the journey and one frigate was lost entirely when what was believed to be a Gellar field failure allowed the energies of the Immaterium to tear the ship asunder. But the fleet pushed on, Nelchitl made sure of it. They would not falter in their duty to assist their Emperor.

A dozen ships lost to the Empyrean was a number Nelchitl was willing to see multiplied were it to get her to the Ullanor System.

“Lord, we’re transitioning to realspace in thirty seconds.” came the clipped voice of Admiral Fabrizio, Mistress of the fleet. Nelchitl shook her head, clenching her muscles in sickly anticipation at the idea that they would be too late to provide any assistance to the campaign, that their travel through the warp would spit them out ten or twenty years past the victory that the Emperor was to win upon Ullanor.

Warning klaxons blared, a servitor spoke over the shipwide broadcast system in a monotonous and static strewn tone.

“All hands to combat stations,” the lights of the bridge dimmed to an amber glow, casting golden shadows across the deck, “translation imminent.”

At a place near the far flung reaches of the Ullanor system space tore apart in a maelstrom of warp energies and light in a hundred and more places, and from the maw of each of these tears in reality the mighty ships of Nelchitl’s flotilla made their yawning transitions into realspace.

The entire structure of [i]Solstice’s End[/i] shuttered and moaned as it slipped back into reality, several crew ratings steadied themselves with hands outstretched while other more seasoned officers took the transition in stride as they carried out their duties about the bridge. Nelchitl stood in her power armor before the strategium and the holo-image that hung in the air above it. She took in the readings from the augors and the other sensors of the venerable warship with quick glances of scrolling text.

“Captain, hails from the 29th Macroclade!” the vox officer called out as he listened intently to his headset, “They request immediate ident and transfer of command runes!”

“Multiple target locks reported, energy spikes at the Macroclades fore, they’re charging lances and coming around Ma’am!” a junior officer reported from his station.

Nelchitl moved quickly to the vox station and reached past the vox officer as he shrunk further into his alcove at her form, she slipped a pendant from around her neck and keyed it into a slot on the vox station, “Respond, Vox Officer.” Nelchitl stated flatly as she pulled away from the station and moved back to the strategium.

The Vox officer responded quickly in serious terse tones and sat silent for a moment as he listened to the response from the Macroclade. “Ma’am the 29th is maneuvering back onto their original course. Note the Archmagos Dominus informs the Lord Primarch that the 29th is at the Lord's disposal if she so requires.”

“Noted.” replied Admiral Fabrizio from her command throne. She swept a pen across several data slates and stepped down to join her Primarch at the strategium, “Lord, several calls for assistance are being broadcast on the general vox and emergency frequencies. Several navy vessels are drifting and badly damaged in need of evacuation or emergency crews to help fight fires aboard,” the Admiral shifted a dataslate from the stack in her hands and placed it on the strategium before Nelchitl, “Imperial Army are reporting desperate fighting on all fronts, and most quizzically, the Dread Lords are voxing for immediate reinforcement lest they be lost completely.”

Nelchitl filed away the information and turned to smile at Fabrizio, “Admiral you already know which we respond to. Set course for the Dread Lords position, ready the companies for a combat drop. We move to save my Brother and his sons today.” the Primarch fingered a few keys and the holo-image shifted and spun to a close-in view of the area that the Dread Lords found themselves stuck in. 

“They could have held the battlements of the ork city. Cut down the xenos to the last they would have.” came the dissenting voice of First Captain Xenetl as Nelchitl looked over the terrain around the Dread Lords position. 

The First Captain stood to the side of the Primarch, resplendent in her terminator armor. Hues of blue and gold accentuating the intricate designs overlaid in the ceramite plate and pulling the still feminine features of her face to the fore of her person.

“Perhaps First Captain, but you know as well as I do, my Brother does not shy from a chance to meet the foe on even footing.” Nelchitl grinned as she turned to address the First Captain, “Ready the First, Captain. And bring the rest of the Legion to combat alert, tell them their Brothers require saving.” she laughed, a light and delicate thing befitting only the face of one as bloodthirsty as Nelchitl.[hr]
Warning runes flashed and klaxon blared aboard the bridge of the [i]Solstice’s End[/i], Nelchitl grumbled unhappily as she read the data streaming over her data slate. From behind her Admiral Di Fabrizio made a noise of annoyance and stepped down from her command throne. As the Admiral moved to Nelchitl’s side, ships ratings and officers passed tense messages and ran wafers and streamers of data from one station to another.

“The Ork fleet dropped out of warp well within the stars gravity well on the near side of Ullanors closest moon, it shouldn’t be possible. Especially not with the hunks of scrap they dare to call ships.” the Admiral stated, her frustration obvious as it practically dripped from her words, “None of the other Legions fleets are in place to engage but they’re almost all moving to close that distance.”

Nelchitl shifted where she stood and and surveyed the hololith, “Can we deploy before the Xenos are in range Admiral?” 

“Not likely, they transitioned at considerable speed, they will close the distance in fifteen minutes if we’re lucky, less more than likely.”

Nelchitl weighed her options as she watched the Admiral reading over new data, “Move to engage Admiral, we will drop as you prosecute the Xenos filth from the battle space.” she gave the Admiral a nod, “And raise the 29th Macroclade, request their intervention immediately.” With the directions of her Primarch complete the Admiral began to move back to her command throne, barking orders that were repeated and relayed down the bridge crew to the relevant officers.

On the holo-lith, the ships of the 685th Expeditionary Fleet came about in lines and pressed themselves into an orderly battle fortmation. Smaller specks began to disgorge themselves from the larger holo-images of light cruisers and larger tonnage ships as the they launched their fighter and bomber compliments into the cold void. The swarms of attack craft was quickly cleaned up into single icons to represent formations and clear space on the already cluttered holo-display.

Nelchitl nodded in approval as the gunnery officer began to rattle off targets and solutions in tandem with the vox officer relating other ships at the ready to engage.

“Admiral.” 

“Lord?” the woman asked expectantly.

“The fleet is yours.” Nelchitl stated flatly with a grin.

“When has it ever not been, Lord?” the Admiral answered back with a similar grin on her face.

With the ever expected reply of her Admiral Nelchitl turned and left the bridge headed for the embarkation decks and her daughters so eagerly awaiting their moment on the planet below.[hr]
In the void above Ullanor Prime battle raged in absolute silence. Vessels kilometers long lashed out in displays of continent destroying firepower, attack craft jockeyed for position and died in nearly invisible balls of fire and plasma as lascannons and hard rounds met their mark.

The Ork fleet was larger than the opposing Serpents, but what the Imperials lacked in available numbers they made up for in tenacity and courage. 

In the void above the two engaged fleets, the entirety of the Serpents picket fleet fell with systems cold until they had reached a nearly perpendicular position above the Orks fleet. In a flurry of drive plumes the Frigates and smaller craft roared to life in a display of considerably smaller but no less awesome firepower than their larger counterparts. The attention of the Orks now split, their once unified formation began to quickly crumble as individual Ork ships began to break for one fleet or the other, opening wide avenues for Imperial attack craft and new firing solutions for more important targets among the Ork fleet.

Nelchitl smiled as the Ork fleets cohesion fell apart on her helmets display. She tapped a single rune at her side and gravity quickly fell away as the drop pod launched from its cradle. Behind it a swarm followed in silence through the void. Several found their journey to the surface cut short in blooms of flame as Ork attack craft shot by or stray munitions found completely unintended targets. Several more found themselves falling far of course as dead and dying Imperial craft careened into their flight paths, spewing atmosphere, bodies, and radioactive clouds as they spun through the void. 

But still, enough drop pods remained on target, and as soon as the void battle was won, more Serpents would follow in assault craft to reinforce those already on the surface.

Nelchitl keyed a vox-link to her brother on the surface just as the atmosphere outside of her drop-pod began to burn, “Asura, the Serpents have answered your call. Hold Brother.”[/hider]