The hangar of House Halcyon thundered with the slow, dying heartbeat of war machines cooling from battle. Servitors swarmed like insects across scorched adamantium, chanting binharic hymns as they tended to damaged Knights. The air reeked of promethium, ozone, and burned flesh.*

Sol Invicta loomed above them all, its armor scorched black along one flank where the Ion Shield had failed for a fraction too long.

The access hatch slammed open.

Virella descended hard, boots striking the gantry with a metallic crack. She didn’t wait for the ladder fully, just dropped the last meters. Tech-priests recoiled. Retainers froze.

Across the bay, an Armiger Warglaive stood half-docked, its plating gouged, its Thermal Spear still glowing faintly. Its pilot had just begun disembarking.

Virella crossed the distance like a storm.

She seized him the moment his boots hit the deck and slammed him onto the metal floor.

“Do you even understand what you did?”

“You broke formation. You charged without sanction.”

Her grip tightened, gauntlet grinding into his chest.

“I shifted my shield to cover you. Not myself. You see this?” A sharp gesture back toward her Knight. “That breach cost us two minutes of field dominance.”

A pause. Cold. Measured. Furious.

“You are not a hero. You are an Armiger. You are beneath me! So next time get in line before I replace you!”