[Dan296]

A day later, preparations for warp jumps were almost complete. Tech adepts from the Sentry had been sent over to the transport, which had been renamed the Vengeance, to prepare the warp engines for a jump. Okassis, as the closest powerful world of any imperial faction, was the perfect destination. As they prepared for the voyage, the Tau fleet spread throughout the system. The ships had barely escaped notice from patrols of Manta’s several times, and now a large Tau force moved toward the moon.
“Damn the machine spirit, we need to leave now!” Malekai yelled.
A tech priest stood stubbornly in front of the plasma drives, swinging a pot of incense.
“If we do not appease the machine spirit then the engines or void shield generators may fail mid-jump, exposing us to deamons of the warp who shall pick our souls clean. Neither you nor I want that to happen, so this must be done.”
“Deamons are the least of our problems now. How much longer will this take?”
“An hour longer, no more.”
“Good.”

“Lord Malekai, the Tau fleet is within scanner range. They’ve spotted us.”
“What are they?”
“One Hero class, several Orca gunships, and a dozen Manta gunships.”
The Sentry, as a modified escort, was more then a match for the Orca and Mantas, but a Hero class was a ship of the line, almost as powerful as the Luna class cruisers. Vengeances had a few meager turbo-lasers, but no ordinance to speak of.
“Can we outrun them?”
“Yes,” replied the adept, “but the Vengeance is far too slow. I have an idea, though, sir.”
“Speak.”
“We can fly low above the planet, and the defense auto-lasers at the fortress will open fire on the Tau vessels. Of course, they will then know of the fortress.”
“Then that is unacceptable. How much time do we have until the Tau reach us?”
“Approximately 15 minutes.”
“Vox the armory. Ask if we have any vortex or EMP torpedoes.”
The adept did so. “We have two Vortex torpedoes, no EMP.”
“Excellent. Withdraw to the jump point, load both vortex torpedoes into the stern tubes. We will give the xenos a goodbye they will not soon forget.”

The two imperial ships lept forward, all ahead full. The Tau ships, seeing that the chase was on, sped to the attack. The Hero opened fire with its long range lances.
“Hah! Without their markerlights the Tau pilots are as bad as the fire warriors,” remarked Katrina, aboard the Vengance.
“Mistress, the inquisitor voxed us. He says that he is prepared for a warp jump, and wishes to know if we are as well.
“Yes, we are.”

The two ships sped forward while the Tau gained. The smaller gunships opened fire now. Plasma bombs glanced off of the Sentry’s void shield, but almost breached the less-powerful shields of the cargo vessel.
“Open fire with everything except the vortex torpedoes. Draw their attention away from the Vengeance. If their shields are breached and we jump, they will all die!”

Lance fire raced out, punching through the light armor of the Tau escort vessels. An Orca was smashed amidships. The engines detonated, and the ship was blown in half. The tightly packed formation scattered to avoid the wreckage. Another manta was caught on the left wing and vanished into a huge explosion. One Orca, trying to maneuver away from the explosions, caught the side of Manta and crushed the side of it.
The Navigator aboard the Sentry shouted, “Inquisitor! We have reached the jump point!”
“Weapons teams, target the big Tau ship with the vortex torpedoes and open fire! Navigator, warp jump as soon as they are away!
Two torpedoes, each the size of a land raider, popped out of the rear ordinance tubes. Huge, oversized rockets fired, propelling the rockets at several hundred kilometers per second. Meanwhile, a rent appeared in the fabric of space in front of the Sentry and Vengeance. The huge warp drives burst into life, and the ships vanished into the warp, the rent closing behind it.
The two vortex torpedoes swerved in and out of the gunship formation and slammed into the port side of the Hero class ship. No explosion sounded, only a rapidly expanding, black as night orb. Like a black hole, it disintegrated everything it touched. The ship decompressed explosively and the entire bridge vanished forever. The expanding vortex caught two Mantas that lingered beside the mortally wounded Hero. Then as suddenly as they had appeared, the vortexes collapsed in upon themselves. More sectors of the Hero decompressed, and its punished plasma drives finally failed spectacularly, taking a crippled Orca along with it in its death throes. The remaining gunships scattered, fleeing back to the fleet.