***
Aboard the *Path of Glory*, a vessel of the Tyrone Navy.
Captain Sain watched the battlefield unfold through a vast, overarching view.
The *Path of Glory* fired relentlessly at the *Soul of Vengeance*, but each shot was absorbed by the vessel's Void Shields. There would be precious little time to destroy the *Soul of Vengeance* as a tendril had already coiled around it, dragging it toward the grotesque, fleshy gateway.
"The cruisers' firepower isn't enough; estimated time to breach the Void Shields is seven minutes!" reported the weapons officer loudly.
Sain had anticipated this. His mind, linked to the analytical AI, had reached the conclusion well in advance.
If only a battleship were nearby.
But the *Master of Tyrone*, their flagship, had already withdrawn from the battle due to a sudden surge of warp energy, vanishing into dimensional space.
A peculiar feeling gnawed at Sain.
When the vortex appeared, *Master of Tyrone* and many other ships retreated in an instant, yet *Path of Glory* remained. Ever since the last sudden departure, everyone knew that the ships were equipped with a protocol—one that would activate to escape in response to significant warp energies.
Why had *Path of Glory* not activated it?
Sain began reviewing the ship's protocols and found the highest-priority defensive directive. It remained intact, but the ship had ignored it.
After pondering for some time, Sain recalled an odd tale from an Imperial Navy vessel, overheard while Tyrone's fleet fought alongside them in the Nebula Sectors.
Some ancient or symbolic ships, it was said, could develop self-awareness—what the Mechanicus termed the "machine spirit." The spirit would occasionally defy commands or perform astonishing feats, seemingly under the Emperor's influence.
If it had been any other Tyrone ship, Sain might have dismissed the notion. But this was *Path of Glory*—a vessel of symbolic significance, if not age.
*Path of Glory* had been Tyrone's first warship, launched to face three vessels under a rogue governor's command. When it emerged victorious and seized control over Tyrone II's orbital sector, a roar of jubilation had echoed across the hive world below.
As captain, Sain had noticed strange occurrences—the ship would sometimes broadcast rousing music late at night or project the spectral image of an old soldier, clad in ancient armor, within its corridors.
"Report! The enemy vessel is about to withdraw from the battlefield!"
A report yanked Sain back to the present. He glanced forward.
Half of the *Soul of Vengeance* was already slipping through the gate; if they did nothing, the enemy would escape.
"We're the only ones in range; we must act!" one crew member shouted.
"We can't let it get away! *Soul of Vengeance* is the flagship, the very symbol of their fleet. Its survival means their forces endure. Today, it's Cadia under assault—tomorrow, it could be Tyrone!"
"Captain, do something!"
Sain listened to his crew's outcry before issuing a calm command: "Prepare the dimensional engine for charge."
The crew assumed he intended to retreat; the officer responsible for the engine hesitated.
"I said, prepare the dimensional engine!" Sain roared, appearing before the officer and repeating the command, his voice a thunderous echo.
The officer complied.
The dimensional engine began charging.
Within the command space that gave Sain control over the ship, he summoned the crew before him.
"We may not destroy the enemy fleet," he began, "but we can eliminate their flagship, ensure it will never rise in another battle."
The crew nodded solemnly.
"Remember what the Admiralty told us before we deployed to support Cadia?" Sain asked.
The crew thought back. Tyrone's navy had been reluctant to leave the sector, to fight a war far from home. They were reminded why: this was a war that threatened to engulf the galaxy.
Once Cadia's defenses fell, Tyrone's sector would stand isolated in darkness, unprotected, with no recourse.
For the Tyrone navy, the reason to fight was simple: to prevent the newly won peace of their sector from being swept into the inferno of war.
"We must do this," Sain continued. "Perhaps Tyrone will face the flames of war; perhaps their rancid fleet will swarm our skies once again…"
"But at least we'll ensure their flagship will never reach our sector."
"That alone is enough."
He paused, then gave a second command: "Set our dimensional navigation point directly on the enemy flagship."
The crew swiftly complied, aligning the course of the dimensional jump with the *Soul of Vengeance*.
"Activate the self-destruct protocol. Set it for three seconds post-jump," he ordered.
A hologram appeared before Sain; the ship had autonomously activated the self-destruct protocol.
As the dimensional engine completed its charge, the *Path of Glory* vanished from the star system, plunging into dimensional space.
In Sain's vision, everything transformed into lines and threads of light.
Each soul aboard sensed it: when the universe took on color once more, they would be within the *Soul of Vengeance*, and they would detonate.
"For the Master of Tyrone! For the fifty-five worlds of Tyrone!" Sain roared as the *Path of Glory* emerged from dimensional space, fusing with the *Soul of Vengeance*.
At that moment, the *Soul of Vengeance* was already deep within the warp. Upon learning of their safe entry into the warp, and that an enemy ship was lodged within them, its crew felt a surge of hope—only to be consumed by an explosion before they could react.