Chapter 58
Chapter 58: A Battleship from the Past
From time to time, warp anomalies spit out vessels that had entered the Immaterium long ago. Subspace is fickle like that—a classic Games Workshop staple—and now it had coughed up something truly ancient.
But the crew of the Imperial battleship had little time to ponder the implications. Nor did the Ultramarines aboard. The Tyranid fleet had spotted them—and they, in turn, had noticed the biomechanical monstrosities closing in.
From the command deck, the bridge crew of the Genesis peered through the stained-glass void-shield dome.
"By Macragge's honor… what are those twisted xeno abominations?" one of the younger Astartes muttered.
There were no Tyranids in the 30K era. This was entirely outside their experience.
But the swarm didn't wait for introductions.
They surged forward.
Godzilla had also noticed the arrival of the ancient battleship. From the surface of Planet Godzilla, he squinted upward at the shimmer in low orbit.
'Something just dropped out of the warp… but what the hell is that thing?'
From this distance, he couldn't gauge the exact scale. All Imperial ships followed a similar Gothic design language—giant flying cathedrals bristling with guns and sanctified armor plating—but the one now looming in low orbit bore the unmistakable toilet seat iconography of the Ultramarines.
'Hold up… the proportions look off.'
Only when a Tyranid bioship lunged at it did Godzilla realize just how big the thing was.
'Holy shit. Is that a battleship or a flying cathedral the size of a hive city?!'
Tyranid bioships were usually the size of small moons—some spanning over thirty kilometers—and could swallow frigates whole. But this ship? It was at least half the size of the bioship bearing down on it.
'No way that's a Rogue Trader vessel. What kind of lunatic would bring a Grand Cruiser alone to face down an entire swarm? That's just giving away biomass on a silver platter!'
But Godzilla wasn't concerned about the crew.
He only wanted the ship.
Let the humans get eaten—he could always replace them. The Genesis, on the other hand, would make an excellent mobile fortress for his lizardmen. And its shielding tech... oh, that was tempting.
Up above, battle had already begun.
From the tendril-covered carapace of the Tyranid mothership, swarms of winged organisms peeled off and swarmed toward the Genesis like a plague of biomechanical locusts.
"Activate the void shield!" came the order from the bridge.
At the heart of the ship, Tech-Priests chanted sacred binaric hymns. Machine spirits groaned and stirred from slumber, resonating with the choir of metal and flesh.
A shimmering blue dome enveloped the battleship just as the first wave of Tyranids slammed into it.
"Captain Wade, alien organisms are engaging the Genesis! Additional hostiles converging!"
"The enemies of Mankind are legion," Captain Wade growled. "Our expedition is far from over. Load the macro batteries. Await my signal!"
Down in the gun decks, servitors chanted dull mantras as they fed shell after shell into the mammoth macro-cannons lining the ship's flanks. Autoturrets ignited like fireworks as machine spirits and gunnery crews worked in unison, cutting down wave after wave of xenos.
But the Genesis did not merely stand and shoot.
She charged.
"For the Emperor! Ramming speed!"
The vessel thundered forward. Its adamantium prow collided with the lead bioship's fleshy armor and burst clean through, spearing it from snout to tail like a divine lance.
The deck shook violently. Consoles flared, servitors burst into flame, and warning klaxons howled—but the captain held fast to his command throne, his will iron.
He was the ship now.
Another bioship swept past the hull. Captain Wade's voice rang out like thunder.
"Starboard macro battery—fire!!"
The guns roared. A barrage of macro-shells slammed into the bioship's flank, tearing it open in a cascade of ichor and ruptured carapace. One hive ship destroyed, another crippled.
Godzilla watched with an impressed snort.
'Alright. You wreck one mothership and cripple another? Fine. I claim this ship. She's got teeth.'
But reinforcements were already inbound. In the distance, a massive bioship with an enormous plasma cannon mounted on its spine angled toward the Genesis.
A moment later, the beam fired.
The plasma blast was massive—easily rivaling Godzilla's own atomic breath. It smashed into the battleship's void shield with the fury of a dying star. Even Godzilla flinched.
Inside, the ship rocked violently. This time, even Captain Wade nearly lost his footing.
"Emperor damn it! What the hell are these things?"
"No matter their origin," snarled Captain Haider, the Ultramarines veteran, "they are enemies of the Imperium—and they will die."
The battle was escalating fast. But before Haider could order the next charge, a voice echoed in his mind.
"Don't waste your lives. That's not a ship. It's a living weapon. It has no crew."
The voice came through the Navigator.
But it wasn't the Navigator speaking.
"Who are you?" Haider demanded, fingers tightening on the grip of his storm bolter.
"My name is Isis. I speak for Lord Godzilla."
"Godzilla?"
Haider frowned. He'd never heard the name. Not in 30K or any other campaign.
"You dare violate a Navigator's mind? That is heresy!"
"Relax. I'm just borrowing his voice. I have no interest in the human—only the ship. If you want to live, land on the planet now."
"Why should I trust you?" Haider growled. "You've blasphemed the Emperor's servants!"
Isis chuckled, voice calm and deadly.
"Trust or don't. You're welcome to die. Either way, the ship will be mine."
The Navigator finally spoke aloud, his third eye blazing dimly.
"I… I heard a warning from Holy Terra…"
Navigators were strange—mutated psykers bred specifically to navigate the warp. Alien in form, but loyal in mind.
"A warning?" Haider asked.
"Yes. Do not provoke Godzilla. The Emperor himself… warned me."
Haider threw up his hands. "I don't even know what a Godzilla is!"
But the warning had weight. Even for a veteran like Haider, who had survived the betrayal of the Word Bearers during the Heresy, this was new.
"There are too many bioships," the Navigator continued. "We cannot win this."
"To die for the Emperor is our honor!" Haider shouted. "But… if we fall here, no one will learn of the Word Bearers' treachery."
The Navigator's words were sobering. Even Ultramarines had to pick their battles.
Then Isis spoke again.
"In exchange for cooperating with our plan, I can open a Webway gate directly to Macragge."
Haider's eyes narrowed. "What's the price?"
"I want your ship."
Before Haider could respond, a chorus of outrage erupted from the Tech-Priests.
"Blasphemy! Heresy! You cannot desecrate the Machine God's holy vessel!"
"We will not allow this sacrilege!"
Their mechadendrites lashed and sparked as they activated defensive subroutines. Red runes lit across the cogitator banks.
But Isis remained unmoved.
"Fight or don't. Either way… the ship is already mine."
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