The two wings clustered together and greeted each other.
‘Nice of you to join us,’ Jagdea grinned as she shook Hayyes by the hand.
‘Nice of you to wait for us,’ Hayyes replied. ‘I trust there are still some bats flying for us to hunt.’
A hush suddenly fell. A final group of aviators, all Navy men, had just entered the hangar, making a late entrance that seemed to Jagdea calculatedly theatrical. There were only eight of them. Their armoured flightsuits were matt black and their suede jackets cloud-white. They wore no insignia or rank markings whatsoever, except silver Imperial aquilae at their collars.
‘Holy crap!’ Jagdea heard Del Ruth whisper. ‘The Apostles!’
The Apostles, indeed. The celebrated wing of aces, the very elite. Jagdea wondered which one was Quint, ace of aces, which one Gettering. The tall one, was that Seekan or Harlsson? Which one was Suhr?
There was no time to ask Blansher. Escorted by a dozen aides and tactical officers, an imposing figure in the uniform of a fleet admiral came in and took the stage. It was Ornoff himself.
All eyes turned to him.
‘Aviators,’ he began, his voice soft but carrying. ‘At 18.00 yesterday evening, I met with Lord Militant Humel in the War Ministry at Enothopolis. The lord militant, as you must be aware, has been prosecuting the war here on Enothis for the last nine months, in the name of Warmaster Macaroth and the God-Emperor of us all.’
‘The Emperor protects!’ one of the Apostles said smartly, and everyone eagerly echoed the words.
Ornoff nodded appreciatively. ‘I hope he does, Captain Gettering. In the meantime, we will have to do. I presented the formal orders sent to me by the Warmaster to lord militant Humel, and at 18.30 hours precisely, the lord militant formally handed command of the Enothis theatre to me.’
Spontaneous applause broke out across the hangar floor.
‘For now, the land war on Enothis is done. Now the air war begins.’
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‘Raptor Down’ first published in Words of Blood in 2002.
‘Wings of Bone’ first published in Inferno! #40 in 2004.
‘Acceptable Losses’ first published in Let the Galaxy Burn in 2006.
‘Ancient History’ first published digitally in 2012.
‘Doom Flight’ first published digitally in 2013.
‘Wraithflight’ and ‘The Emperor’s Grace’ first published digitally in 2014.
Medusan Wings first published in 2016.
‘Stormseeker’, ‘In Service Eternal’ and ‘Wraithbound’ first published digitally in 2016.
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