SUICIDE MISSION


As the blunt nose of the Chapters boarding craft smashed through the steel skin of the space hulk
the battlecruiser Intolerance blazed the alien vessel with a great burst of radiation.

The flash of data was quickly analysed by the onboard computers and gave the Imperial forces
their first detailed view of the inner layout of the space hulk. The darkgreen screens on the
bridge showed the skeletal passages and chambers glowed with a ghostly white light.

Commander Bellisario pointed to one of the many groups of glowing dots clustered around the outer 
defensive levels of the hulk.

"These match up with the protuberances on the outside of the hulk," he said. "They appear to be
small boarding craft, perhaps escape pods. We cannot risk any planet-side contamnination - no
genestealers can be allowed to escape. It is imperative that the pods are destroyed or disabled
before we launch our main attack."

Within minutes, the next wave of data from the scanners has fleshed out the three dimensional
floorplans of the hulk. Wide spectra analysis revealed a fine red network of active power
conduits, and, more ominously, hundreds of blobs of cold blue - cryogenics chambers.

Computer analysis predicted that the escapepods were all linked to a central control room
situated well beyond the defensive perimeter, in the centre of several larger, cryogenic clusters.

Any squad moving into the area was unlikely to get out alive, but Commander Bellisaio ordered a
squad to attack immediatey. The Space Marines could afford to delay no longer.
.
