Recuperatio

Octavian frowned, eyeing the readouts on the Admiral's board. He would have been more comfortable with a fellow Marine in charge of the bridge and the fleet, what there was of it, but Admiral Sextus was a fine man, and had served the Chapter and the Third Company Marines that were on anti-pirate patrol when the warpstorm broke quite well.

Besides which, the Master of the Fleet had died in the early battles, amoung the ruins of Kelsa. And the Master of the Forge - Magnus Damondred had enough pressing matters assisting the Apothacary with Septimus.

So many wounds to heal, but that would come in time. First there was the triage of those that survived.

"Sergeant Jeckt, remind me what and who was aboard the Sapientia." Octavian replied after a moments consideration.

"Sir, the loading was haphazard, but my records show that the rememberance tablets from the eastern wall were loaded aboard the Sapientia, along with the fifth squad of the first company, Stelpan's Sternguard. Beyond that, she held three thousand chapter serfs and a few relics that were not deemed important enough to place aboard the Wrath." Jeckt reported as he double checked the Dataslate in his hand. He had become something of the Captain's adjunct, beyond looking after his scouts - he was the provisional head of the Tenth Company. What was left of it.

"Stelpan was no fool, he and his men should still have been in their armour, and may have elected to put themselves in cold sleep. That may drop their vital signs below that which the Wrath's cognators can read. Reguardless, if possible we need to recover their Geneseed, along with any salvage the Tech Marines deem worth the trouble to retrieve. Admiral we will launch a salvage crew, if the launch bay is operational with a Thunderhawk. Sergeant Antillus and the Terminators of the Fist will accompany whatever Tech Marines Damondred can spare, and Apothacary Fenix on a salvage and recovery mission." Octavian replied as his armoured fingers drummed against the helmet latched to his belt. "Any Thunderhawks we have beyond that which are safe to fly and we can spare the pilots for should begin a close patrol of the immediate area, while the remaining ships of the fleet see to any internal and external damage and take stock. We need to catch our breath, and there is little need to push ourselves to oblivion, now that we've escaped it. Once Septimus is seen too, Magnus will work with his Tech Marines to speeed any repair and refit we need, and are able to make without a fleet dock."

"I will pass the word Captain." Sergeant Jeckt stated as he added a few notes to his dataslate.