Act 1: The Ashes of T'ros'ka - Mission 4: Boarding the Argent Reach

The Shadowspire drifted through the shattered graveyard of the Shattered Halo like a hunting spirit, its hull gliding silently between the broken carcasses of ancient ships. Ahead, partially obscured by drifting wreckage and flickering auspex ghosts, hung the Argent Reach. Its engines burned low, its shields strained, its silhouette tense with readiness.

They knew they were coming.

There would be no ambush.

Only speed, precision—and violence.

The boarding craft slammed into the landing bay with a bone-rattling impact, clamps locking tight as cutting charges blew the hatch inward. Smoke and sparks burst into the chamber, and the joint Tau–Aeldari force surged through the breach into immediate resistance.

Mercenary troopers were already entrenched, rifles barking as they opened fire into the chokepoint. A heavy gunner anchored the defence behind a cargo hauler, his weapon roaring with relentless force, rounds hammering into the advancing line and forcing the attackers to ground.

“Down!” Varr shouted, diving behind cover as shots tore through the air above him.

Pulse fire answered in disciplined bursts, while shards of shuriken sliced through exposed positions, but the gunner held firm, suppressing the advance with brutal efficiency.

The crew land in the loading bay under heavy fire

Then, without warning, the lights cut out.

Darkness swallowed the landing bay whole.

Only the stuttering flashes of gunfire illuminated the void, turning the battle into a series of fleeting, violent glimpses.

“Move,” Voss commanded.

Under cover of darkness, the Corsairs surged forward, their movements fluid and silent, slipping between shadows with lethal intent. The Pathfinders followed in tight formation, advancing in coordinated bursts. The heavy gunner never saw the strike that ended him—only a flicker in the dark before his weapon fell silent and his body slumped lifeless across the deck.

Within moments, the bay was theirs.

And they pushed onward.

---

The corridors of the Argent Reach were tight, dim, and hostile—metal arteries filled with smoke, flickering light, and the echo of gunfire. Every step deeper into the ship brought heavier resistance, the defenders falling back in disciplined retreat while laying down fire to slow the attackers.

The fighting became brutal almost immediately.

Close quarters stripped away any illusion of distance or safety. Shots were taken at metres, sometimes less. Blades flashed. Bodies collided.

Brutal combat in the corridors of the ship

Smoke grenades rolled through the corridors, blooming into thick grey clouds that swallowed visibility and turned the ship’s passageways into shifting mazes of sound and instinct.

“Keep formation!” Varr called, his voice steady amid the chaos. “Do not chase into the smoke!”

Shapes moved within the haze—mercenaries firing blindly, Corsairs darting forward with sudden, lethal strikes. The line held, but only just, each metre gained contested with blood.

At a junction leading deeper into the vessel, the advance faltered.

A defensive turret dropped from the ceiling with a mechanical snap, its sensors activating instantly. It spat a stream of fire down the corridor, rounds shredding the bulkheads and forcing the crew back behind cover.

“Turret!” a Pathfinder shouted.

“Take it out!” Varr ordered.

The Corsairs moved first.

Two Aeldari slipped along the edge of the corridor, using the smoke and shadows as cover, their movements impossibly swift. One vaulted off the wall, twisting mid-air as he unleashed a burst of shuriken fire. The other followed a heartbeat later, their combined shots striking the turret’s housing in a precise, coordinated barrage.

The machine stuttered, sparks erupting from its chassis.

A final volley shattered its targeting array, and the turret fell silent, hanging uselessly from its mount.

“Path clear,” one of the Corsairs said calmly.

The advance resumed.

---

At a reinforced hatch leading toward the command decks, the crew regrouped.

“Door’s sealed,” a Pathfinder reported.

Varr stepped forward, rifle ready. “On my mark.”

The charge detonated sharply, the door buckling inward as smoke poured through the breach.

Inside, a cluster of engineers turned in shock.

Varr fired without hesitation.

Controlled bursts dropped them where they stood, the crack of pulse fire echoing through the chamber as consoles sparked and died around them.

“Clear,” he said.

The team moved in quickly, securing the room as Kai Sho’var rushed to the terminals. His hands flew over his tools as streams of encrypted data flooded his visor.

“I’m in,” he muttered. “Security’s collapsing… I can open the bridge.”

Ash fires on the engineers

“Hurry,” Voss said.

A sudden cry cut through the room.

One of the Corsairs staggered back, struck by a hidden shot from deeper within the ship. He collapsed to one knee, blood spilling between his fingers, but he remained conscious as his kin dragged him to safety.

“I endure,” he hissed. “Go.”

The final barrier slid open.

---

The bridge of the Argent Reach was waiting.

At its centre stood Arcturus, flanked by his personal guards, his coat shifting as he turned to face the intruders. His expression was composed—annoyed, perhaps, but not afraid.

“You’ve made this inconvenient,” Arcturus said.

The response was immediate.

Gunfire erupted, filling the chamber with deafening force as both sides clashed in the confined space. There was no room to manoeuvre, no distance to exploit—only raw, desperate combat.

Kai Sho’var barely had time to react before one of Arcturus’s bodyguards slammed into him. The two crashed to the deck, the mercenary’s sheer strength overwhelming the Tau. Kai struggled, striking where he could, but the bodyguard drove him back, battering him with brutal blows.

“Kai!” Varr shouted.

But the fight was already upon them.

At the centre, Voss and Arcturus collided.

Blade met power baton in a flash of force, the two circling, striking, countering. Arcturus fought like a man who had survived countless duels, his movements sharp and efficient.

“You should have stayed in the jungle,” he said, driving a kick into Voss that forced the Aeldari captain back a step.

Voss recovered instantly, eyes cold and focused. “You misunderstand your position.”

Arcturus pressed forward—

A shot cracked through the chaos.

Clean.

Precise.

Varr stood at the edge of the melee, rifle steady.

Arcturus faltered as the round struck him, his momentum breaking as he staggered, then collapsed heavily to the deck.

The battle ended in moments.

The final showdown on the bridge of the Argent Reach

Without their leader, the remaining defenders faltered and were cut down or forced into surrender. The storm of violence ebbed, leaving only the sound of ragged breathing and distant system alarms.

---

Kai Sho’var was dragged upright, bloodied but alive. The wounded Corsair was stabilised, still breathing, still fighting. Varr lowered his rifle slowly, his gaze fixed on the fallen Rogue Trader.

“It is done,” he said.

Voss stepped forward, looking down at Arcturus before turning toward the ship’s systems.

“Not yet.”

Kai forced himself back to the terminal, wincing as he accessed the deeper layers of the ship’s data. “I’ve got his private logs… encrypted, but I can break it.”

“Do it,” Varr said.

The data spilled open.

Contracts. Payments. Hidden routes.

Then something deeper.

Sanctioned accounts.

Ecclesiastical authorisations.

A symbol.

Coordinates.

A destination buried at the edge of Imperial space—shielded, classified, and tied to something far beyond a Rogue Trader’s ambition.

Voss studied it in silence.

“The truth,” he said quietly, “has been hiding behind faith.”

Varr stepped beside him, reading the same revelation.

“This is no longer about mercenaries,” he said.

“No,” Voss replied.

Around them, the Argent Reach drifted lifeless among the dead ships of the Halo, its secrets laid bare at last.

And beyond the wreckage, a far greater enemy waited.