The fleet action continued for another three hours before the rising pyramid ships forced an Imperial withdrawal. Forty two of the odd metal vessels had been smashed to the ground by concentrated lance fire, but a combination of orbital mechanics and the shear number of enemy ships conspired against them. Three of the ships were able to make orbit and once they reached the heavens they opened fire. The greenish beam weapons they mounted swatted one of the Imperial destroyers with concentrated fire. The first salvo blew out its void shields and gouged deep wounds in her flank. A concerted Imperial torpedo salvo provided just enough cover to allow the crippled ship to escape into the Immaterium. That done, the fleet withdrew to the edge of the system. The pyramid ships did not pursue, instead they vanished, though our astropaths detected no entry into the Empyrean.

All the Inquisitorial teams had suffered heavy losses, it was a miracle none of the primaries had been killed. Barnabus Amator, the one man who might have had some insight into the strange xenos, was the only surviving member of his party. A partial gauss rifle hit had stripped most of his right arm away, though he still managed to reach the extraction site under his own power. He was a mass of blood and wounds, and while it was hard to credit he would survive, the medicae predicted a full recovery. 

Our own party was decimated, and even those who survived were wounded. I was psy-shocked and my hand was burned, though a slop of counterseptic and pain suppressant gel and some skin sealant had taken care of the worst of it. I could feel my surviving seven troopers. None of them had said anything to me about the haptic meld I had accidentally inflicted. I could tell they were a combination of afraid and euphoric. I had to agree with them. I still hadn't found a way to close down the link, I was starting to worry that there wasn't a way to do it. I calmed them with a thought, sending out a sense of confidence that was entirely manufactured. I was an untrained psyker and I had made a mistake. If the Inquisition found out about it, they were likely to take a very dim view. Perhaps an unsurvivable bad view. I decided not to bother Hadrian with the matter.

"Elements of Battlefleet Hyros are enroute," a naval lieutenant was tell Hadrian as she entered the debriefing room. 

"Admiral Triton indicates he plans sustained orbital bombardment against the downed ships and and any surviving ground targets. He anticipates arrival withing seven sidereal days, and a conclusion of operations withing nine." The Lieutenant reported, then saluted and withdrew.

"How are you feeling?" I asked looking over his wounds.