Editing Story:Pax Imperialis (section)

== A Commander's Work Never Ends ==

With the bridge under Imperial control, it was a simple matter of deactivating the power systems and the air. This had the positive side effects of putting out every fire set by the battle…and the even more positive effect of putting almost ninety thousand heretics, pirates and criminals to death, albeit with cold and suffocation and darkness rather than the purifying flames that the Imperial Cult demanded.

All in all, Vyn could live with that. 

She sat in her quarters. They had never struck her as appropriate for a Commander of the Imperial Navy: A large blackwood desk with what seemed like several hundred thousand data slates, papers and parchments that were delivered by an endless stream of errand boys and servo skulls. Around it were the trophies and portraits of the previous captains of the ''Pax'': The bleached Hr’uudo skull from Commander Alkvan, who had been the first captain when the ''Pax'' had first launched, five centuries before. The half melted boltgun used by the pirate reaver Skvan Worldbreaker, claimed by Commander Lothen, Alkvan’s successor.

And, from the Commander right before Vyn…the fur rug. The hideous, off-yellow fur rug that ship’s tradition demanded she keep intact and present. Just looking at it made her skin crawl.

But it did provide a wonderful distraction. Whenever she wished to flee, if only for a moment, from the endless flood of paperwork, Vyn could think about just how terrible the rug was. Now, though, she had a trophy of her own to admire: The power sword she had won. She had taken it to the tech-priests and after several hours of careful examination and purification rights, they had certified that the sword remained pure…enough.

A faint knock came at the door. Vyn nodded, still looking at the sword.

“Enter.”

The door opened and Janus walked in, smiling. “I come bearing data slates.” He said.

“Don’t tempt me to use this…” Vyn waved the blade at him, the power field inactive for the moment. “I wanted to savor this victory for at least a second.” She smirked. “You know what this means, right?” 

“Captaincy for you. Maybe even Lord-Captaincy. Maybe they’ll even give me the ''Pax''. We all know you deserve a second rate Light Cruiser, maybe a Dauntless. Hell, you deserve a Lunar.”

Vyn smirked. “I sure can beat a Lunar at least. If only it was so easy to kill the captain and take a ship. Then I’d just decapitate Vice-Admiral Loren. The Phoenix is a glorious ship.” 

“Kill the captain?” Janus asked.

“…yes. I fought him, blade to blade. I decapitated him with his sword.” She held the power blade up.

Janus blinked at her. “Didn’t you read the medicade report?”

Vyn frowned, then brushed back the papers, picking up the data slate. She started to scan through the medicade reports and found the listing for the bridge battle. She skipped the slain armsmen and the report on Hue’s need for augmetic eyes and instead focused on the SLAIN COMBATANT.

“Vat grown meat…his genetics…don’t match any records on the cogitators…no command insignia…ships logs indicate captain is a…female...” Vyn slammed the data slate down onto the desk. “Son of a bitch! Did the ''End of Days'' launch any clemency pods?”

“No! We’d have detected-“

A purple flash from the office window cut off Janus’ sentence. Vyn spun and saw one of the chartist vessels – they had been moored nearby, their supplies being shared out to help repair the damage the ''Pax'' had taken – vanishing into the warp. The other chartist ship barely managed to avoid being sucked in after her, its engines firing desperately to avoid the grasp of the portal. The portal snapped closed. 

Vyn’s face shifted from shock to anger. She looked at Janus and broke the silence stretching between them.

“Janus, beat to quarters.”

“M…Ma’am, if we leave, fleet will take the ''End of Days'' back. Our logs say we captured her, but you know your reputation. Unless we actually drag her in ourselves, the admiralty will...” Janus trailed off. They both knew the realities of naval politics.

Vyn sighed.

Then, she grinned, facing him.

“Perk up, Victor,” She said, grabbing her captain’s cap from the desk and sliding it on. “It’s only a promotion.”

She walked to the door.

“Beat to quarters.”

The End