Editing 97th Conglomerate's Tyrannic War (section)

=== Part 2 - Hull Breach ===

Captain Jarrus sat in the command throne of the mining vessel ''Rampart'', his aging eyes scanning the bridge around him. The ship was not extremely large, but aboard it were mountable trajectory thruster meant to move asteroids into new paths. He looked out the front viewport and found the prey of his hunt: an asteroid 70 km wide. 

“Helmsman, bring us into tethering range of that asteroid.” He commanded tiredly. 

He had been awake for hours now, at least since they’d reached the edge of the asteroid belt in this system. None of the pickings were particularly what he needed, as they were either too small to do enough damage to exact Exterminatus or too large to be tethered and moved by the ''Rampart''. 

“Aye sir.” The helmsman replied curtly, punching control runes into her console and they felt the ship’s momentum adjust to the new trajectory. 

“Sir...” One of the other bridge crew who manned the radar station chimed in from the other end of the bridge, off to the Captain’s right. 

“What is it, Dural?” Jarrus asked, annoyed that his train of thought had been interrupted. 

“I have a lot of motion, of our starboard side about 100 kilometres out to our 2 o’clock.” They replied meekly, a tone of worry in their voice. 

“Fine, get past the object blocking our view, and we’ll see what it is. That’ll continue us on our course to the target, correct?” Jarrus implied the question to his helmsman, who nodded in response. 

A few moments pass, half the bridge crew tense while Jarrus himself had tunnel vision on the asteroid. 20 seconds had passed and they finally passed the smaller asteroid blocking their view of the radar’s signatures. The sight shocked the bridge crew and a collective panic settled in.

“CONTACTS! WE HAVE ENEMY CONTACTS!” Captain Jarrus shouted at the top of his lungs, keying the shipwide vox as he did this. 

He leapt from his command throne down to the weapons and damage control stations to look over the shoulders of the operators. A hive ship and several smaller tyranid bioforms were gaining careening towards the mining vessel with surprising speed. Several small fighter-looking creatures were already almost within striking range of the ship, glowing acid visible through the membranes of their enormous necks. Jarrus keyed the nearest vox rune.

“All hands, battlestations!” He called, releasing the rune before yelling into the ears of the gunners next to him. “Fire all defensive laser batteries, don’t let them touch us!”

Red lines of light beamed from ball turrets on the ships exterior, cutting a disintegrating swath of heat across the nearest acid belching fighters. Their bodies boiled in the vacuum of space and glowing green acid exploded from them, the trajectory already making contact with the ship’s hull. An audible but not quite felt thud slapped the armour plating as a sizzling sound was heard somewhere. The larger ships had moved into range and long mandibles had opened to reveal monstrous maws, hungering for the vessel’s metal. 

“BRACE FOR IMPACT!” A crewman called as a set of mandibles clamped down. 

The groan of metal was deafening as the ship’s hull cracked and buckled under the immense force. The ''Rampart'' rocked and kicked, bridge crew thrown from their chairs and Jarrus tossed from his feet. His body crashed backwards and he landed at the foot of the steps up to the command throne, blood trailing from his temple. 

“HULL BREACH! HULL BREACH!” One of the bridge crew yelled out as they pulled themselves up to their console.

“NO SHIT!” Jarrus barked angrily as another bite was taken out of the ship, rocking everyone back to the ground. He clawed his way up to his throne and keyed the vox. “Abandon ship! All hands aban-” 

An explosion from midship ripped through the superstructure and the world seemed to explode into chaos and fire. Consoles exploded and wires snapped and crackled with electricity, sparks flying and flames blistering and popping. The front viewport glass cracked ever so slightly, and Jarrus held his breath. He knew what was coming. A second explosion rocked the vessel and an audible roar of pain came from the xeno abomination gutting its prey. The glass shattered and a sound like a hurricane ripped the bridge crew from their bridge. Many tried to grab onto their chairs and hold on for dear life, but their efforts were futile as they watched their captain fly past them, nothing in his reach to grab. His fingers brushed past the helmsman’s shoulder, screams and fire and terror filling his ears. 

He was sucked out of the bridge and all sound stopped. He felt his body breaking, wanting to explode outwards from the pressure. His lungs were on fire as the air was sucked from them. In his final moments he pleaded that the Emperor would forgive him for his failure, and then a flash of light caught his eye. Behind the Tyranid fleet, red ships, glorious in their size and gleaming as they exited the Warp. A gauntlet wreathed in flames was emblazoned on the high towers of the battle barge. The Emperor, God of Mankind, had heard his prayers and answered with righteous, flaming fury as torpedoes and macrocannons and lasers tore into the bioforms. He released his grip and closed his eyes. His body would never be found, and he was at peace with that.