It was only after the weight of the traitor marine's gaze left me that I was able to force my body to move. His will was as potent as it was ancient, and filled with the burning hatred of ten thousand years. I watched with morbid fascination as gold filigree swirled from his armor filling the gaps in it in a manner eerily reminiscent to sap oozing from a tree. Its swirling cloak seemed like a shimmering star field dancing with patters that I thought were maybe more than random light... I pulled my eyes away a moment and saw the companion who had ducked back into the room beyond reemerge. He was pointing a heavy caliber autogun of some kind right at Hadrian's back.

"No!" I shouted and my will reached out across the room. In retrospect I was glad I was forced to use it so unconsciously as I might not have dared to face the traitor marine again. One of the potted fruit trees burst from its vase, limbs twisting to grapple with the attacker. The autogun ripped out a long burst riddling the ceiling and raining a snow of shattered plaster down. I fumbled for a reload for my pistol and had just about managed to get the rounds seated when the doors to the outer chamber flung open to reveal a dozen men in breaching gear with shotguns. I screamed a shattering psykana scream which froze them in their tracks weapons half raised. I cast my handful of bullets into the air and sparked their percussion caps with my mind. Flame and smoke filled the air between me and the breaching team. Two or three of them went down, struck in the neck or head. One round struck a breachman's xythene tank and it went up in a brilliant white plume that rocketed across the room, miraculously passing between the chaos marines legs, bouncing off the floor, and flying over Hadrian's head. It cut the autogunner and my tree golem in half before smashing into the plexiglass view port and detonating. There was a sudden and tremendous roar as the chamber explosively decompressed, every piece of detritus from spent brass to pomegranate seeds whipping outwards in a great plum of gas and trash. Klaxons whined and I heard blast doors coming down in the hallway beyond. The breachers were sealing their suits even as their magnetic boots locked into place. The fallen astartes hardly slowed simply waded towards Hardrian, wielding his shadowy blade with both hands.

"Emma!" Clara shouted, the words already attenuating as we ran out of air. I unleashed my will and the flooring beneath us liquified. We dropped through the liquid but still cool metal likes stones sinking to the bottom of a pond, the rippling deckplates hardening behind us in unnatural frozen waves. We dropped onto a long mess table on the deck below. A score of ships officers in full dress uniform sat around glasses half raised as though they had been about to offer a toast. I landed on top of a roasted pheasant, scattering the bird and attendant vegetables in all directions. Clara landed chest first, sending a turine of soup spinning into the mess servants horrified faces.  Hadrian landed, by some fluke on his feet a few inches from the end of the table, powersword blazing as he faced down the senior officer. Unfortunately that man was neither confused nor irresolute.

"Kill them!" he snapped and grabbed for his side arm a moment before Hadrian's blade took off his head. I shoved out both my hands and exerted my will once more. Knives and forks leaped up of their own accord and began stabbing and hacking at the screaming mass of officers and messmen. I saw one man get a saber drawn and slash at Clara who parried it with the stock of her weapon and fired a one handed shot that emptied the man's brain pan. Heavy naval pistols cracked and ricocheted wildly off the walls. A man grabbed my by the hair and yanked back to expose my neck. I grabbed him by the throat and poured my will into him. DEFEND ME. The man screamed and threw himself onto the ceremonial sword of another man poised to run me through, climbing up the blade to claw at his shocked companion with animal fury. An animate knife jumped onto the defenders shoulder and plunged its tip into the mans carotid artery in a spray of blood that slashed the ceiling. Whether by fate or some caprice of the Dark Gods the shadow sword of the Chaos Marine chose that moment to plunge through the roof and begins sawing a jagged hole in a half meter thick steel deck plate. 

"We have to get out of here!" I screamed, patently obvious and completely useless in the insane melee. Clara rocked back howling with pain as shards of her ceramite plated flack jacket blew away under the strike of heavy 40 caliber naval pistol ball. Blood sprayed up over her face like war paint as she emptied her magazine into the melee. I think they would have run if they could, but there was no where to go and besides no one had the first clue what was going on. My defender was clawing his way across the table intent on using teeth and fingernails to rip apart his fellows. Hadrian was laying about himself with his blade, easily outclassing naval officers who wore swords as an affectation and not as a tool. The ceiling above us began to bow. My staff was hot in my hand, the psycoreactive crystal pushed close to failure by all I had been doing.

"Go!" Hadrian shouted, shoving me towards the door, I caught Clara and grabbed her helping her through the large brass doors at the end of the mess hall. Several servants were laying on the floor, praying to the emperor or vomiting. One was trying to push loops of entrails back into his chest cavity where a bullet, ours or theirs had ripped it open.

"Grenade!" Hadrian shouted and in a remarkable feat, struck it from the air with the blade of his powersword, thumbing it off a moment before impact to send it flying back towards whatever desperate fool had tossed it. I raised my hand and formed a square of force a foot across immediately behind the bomb. It went off like a great shot gun, scything down the remaining officers and staff into a ruin of chopped meat that blended with spilled wine and gravy. The ceiling above flexed again as a great blue fist seized it and peeled it back like a tin can. Hadrian slapped the autoclose and the great brass doors began to roll shut, two bodies were between the jaws and both were cut in half by the pressure of the hydraulics with a series of sickening crunches. The door boomed wetly shut and we all stood gasping. A crash like a great bell sounded from behind the door and I knew our pursuer had leaped from the deck above. Clara shoved herself to her feet, reloading her weapon with bloodied fingers. It was impossible to tell how badly she was hurt but the tremor in her arm didn't look promising.

"We have to get out of here," I gasped, sucking in great lung fulls  of air. A psychic roar erupted behind the door and the brass began to quiver and melt under its force. A horrible sound came from behind the door, and I realized that the Marine was laughing.