Lords of Blood, page 76
‘My lord, battle approaches,’ said Orfeo.
‘Faster,’ said Dante. ‘Speak not. War is on us. Let the sound of arming tools be our prayers.’
His servants obeyed, and abandoned the sanctifications altogether.
Dante was being bolted into the last of his golden armour when the door chime tolled and a brass putto lifted its head from the carvings of the wall and cried out.
‘Lord Dante, Antargo comes, the Master of Sacrifice, captain of the Third Company, Lord of the Ironhelms!’
Orfeo moved to the door, depressing a bloodstone button on his vox-badge to speak with Dante’s visitor. ‘My lord, please wait, Lord Dante is not dressed!’ he managed, but too late. The door opened, and Antargo pushed past Orfeo with two Sanguinary Guard.
‘We do not have time for ceremony, thrall, out of my way,’ he said, only to stop uncertainly when he saw that the Chapter Master’s head was bare.
Dante turned from the captain, and held up his hand. Antargo, understanding his error, looked uncomfortably away. Dante did not like others to see his face unless he chose to reveal it. The Sanguinary Guard clashed their vambraces together in salute and turned their backs. From Colma, Dante took the Deathmask of Sanguinius and placed it over his head.
‘Listen to my servants next time, Antargo,’ said Dante. He stared at the captain through ruby lenses. Antargo was one of Cawl’s Gift, and still young.
‘Forgive me, my lord,’ Antargo said, his eyes fixed on the carpet pattern, his cheeks colouring at the indiscretion. ‘I could not wait. Lord Mephiston has commanded the fleet exit from the warp. He sent me here to find you personally.’
‘That is no excuse for your unseemly haste,’ said Dante.
‘There is a problem.’ Antargo looked unsurely at the thralls.
‘Speak freely in front of them, they are my honoured servants.’
‘Daemons, my lord. We have manifestations on seven ships, chief among them the Dominance. Lord Mephiston speaks of an attack in the warp.’
‘When we leave the hunting grounds of the tyranids, I almost miss the shadow they cast,’ said Dante grimly. ‘The warp is no place for humanity in these benighted times.’
Dante took his axe and pistol from their stand, then waited while his jump pack was raised up by a monotasked armoury servitor and pushed into place. As soon as the interface between armour and pack kissed he stepped away. Power flooded his battleplate. Information ran up the helm display. Dante deactivated it. He felt stronger behind Sanguinius’ holy visage.
‘Lead on, Antargo. We must retake the Dominance. It would irk me to rescue this fleet only to lose its most powerful vessel.’
Antargo got to his feet, unable to meet his lord’s eye, then walked out. Dante followed, and the Sanguinary Guard fell into line with him.
‘Mephiston,’ said Dante, opening a direct vox-link. ‘Tell me what has occurred.’
A flight of Thunderhawks sped towards the Dominance. No weapons locked on to them. No challenges were issued. Dante’s vessel went at the head of the three, golden where the others were red, always first into action.
‘Nothing seems amiss,’ said Antargo, examining vid-feed shone onto the back of his eyes. ‘The ship is intact. I see no signs of external damage.’
‘Daemons are rarely interested in wounding beings of metal,’ said Dante. ‘Their passions lie in tormenting the soul and the flesh.’
‘As you say, Chapter Master. I do not underestimate the peril we fly towards. I merely suggest the Dominance might easily be returned to service.’
‘Watch your manner, captain,’ said Daeanatos, Exalted Herald of Sanguinius, Dante’s chief guardian. ‘You speak with the greatest hero of the Imperium, and the lord of all this side of the Great Rift. Surliness is an offence to his glory. Commander Dante may not be a primarch, but he is the Lord of Angels.’
‘I did not intend to dishonour myself, my lord,’ said Antargo. ‘I am a straightforward man. I apologise if my manner irritates you.’
‘Think nothing of it, Antargo. Your combat record and ability in command make amends for any supposed offence,’ said Dante. He was distracted, hardly hearing what Antargo said. The wounds in his chest throbbed.
Daeanatos switched his vox to a private channel. ‘You are too gentle on them. They have no manners, these young ones. They need schooling in the graces and the virtues.’
‘Do you think your position as my aide gives you the right to speak to me so?’ said Dante.
Daeanatos laughed. ‘I am a straightforward man too, my lord. But I have a little more polish. I thank the Great Angel himself for his brother Guilliman’s intervention, but he could have given these newcomers a little courtesy.’
‘The Lord Guilliman’s manners are not the same as ours,’ said Dante. ‘But he is courteous to a fault. It is not the fault of the teacher, but of the warrior. They will learn.’
‘This new breed should watch their tongues.’
‘New breed, still of our blood,’ said Dante.
‘Yes, my lord, but soon there will be only them. We must pass on what we are.’
‘I daunt him.’ Dante looked back through the hold of his ship. So many of the Space Marines in the transit bay were Primaris brethren, most of them Mars-born. Many had never seen Baal before their arrival, and though they bore the colours of the Blood Angels, they knew little of the Chapter’s ways.
‘So now they have nerves to be daunted too,’ said Daeanatos. ‘Cawl’s get seems more imperfect the longer I look.’
‘Any man has nerves when standing in the presence of I, greatest hero of the Imperium and the lord of all this side of the Great Rift,’ said Dante, mocking Daeanatos’ own words.
‘Fair point,’ Daeanatos said. ‘I would affect greater seriousness, my lord, or you shall destroy the illusion for me completely.’
Dante called up a close-up image of the Dominance from the Thunderhawk’s augurs. Interstellar void black; so far from any sun, the light of the stars was too feeble to provide more than a darkling twilight. The ships in the fleet were bright as temples, but the Dominance was a shadow in space, lit eerily by corposant foxfires crawling in the deeper places of its hull. These faded as Dante watched, and it became forbidding as a tomb.
‘We approach, my lord,’ said Antargo.
The Dominance was a Retribution-class battleship, approaching six miles in length and three abeam. It blotted out the stars. Even so, at the Thunderhawk’s speed they would quickly overshoot it.
‘Decelerate. Make a visual pass. Let us see the vessel before we look for a suitable landing point,’ Dante commanded.
The Thunderhawk slowed and turned to fly parallel to the Dominance’s vast bulk. The blur of the battleship resolved itself into hard lines, buttresses, statues of angels and heroes holding weapons out against the cosmos.
Dante examined the findings of the Thunderhawk’s augury. The reactor was out. Shuttle bays and windows were empty as the eyes of the dead. Atmospheric fields were off.
‘All shielding is down, my lord,’ the pilot reported.
They approached the prow.
‘Turn us about, take us in to the primary hangar,’ said Dante. ‘Best we concentrate our efforts where the bulk of the crew might be found.’
‘As you command.’
Accelerative forces tugged at Dante as the pilot brought the Thunderhawk over and down in a wide loop, and spiralled the vessel about to bring it back on the same orientation as the Dominance. The wide aft of the ship came at them, the aquila figurehead on the superstructure guarding command decks that were as dark as all the rest.
The hangar was hidden by the aft quarter’s armour vanes. The Thunderhawks passed between hull and outrigger. Before they lost sight of the fleet, Dante checked over the progress of actions ongoing aboard the other vessels. Two were purged, the others remained in the hands of the enemy. Casualty counts ticked up slowly in his visor, Adeptus Astartes only. Naval losses would be far higher.
‘If Mephiston is correct, and the source of the contamination is here, we must be quick. We can ill afford delays, and I will not lose this ship,’ said Dante. ‘Take us in. Let us see this done and be on our way. These ships are crucial to our fleet plans.’
The Thunderhawk slowed as it came towards the main hangar. The armoured doors were wide, and the space behind open to the void. The view of inside was obscured by billowing thruster gases. The vid-feed in Dante’s helm went dark. His auto-senses worked with the machines of the gunship to compensate, and showed him a cavernous hold full of shadows.
‘No sign of any material damage here, either,’ said Antargo. ‘Where is the crew?’
Tarpaulins covering shuttlecraft flapped back in the violent effusions of the gunship’s thrusters.
‘Put us down,’ Dante said.
The pilot obeyed, choosing a landing pad near the entrance, with good fields of fire towards the ship’s core. He brought the gunship into a hover, before pivoting it on the spot and landing, its weapons facing inwards.
Maglocks thumped off through the transit bay.
The ramp descended into the airless hangar. Dante was out first, flanked by half a dozen of his golden guard.
Antargo’s two Intercessor squads spread out to form a cordon in front of the gunships. They would go no further until Dante had given his judgement on the situation.
‘Gravity plating functional. Life support operational. If we close the blast shields we could reintroduce an atmosphere in here. Someone vented this on purpose.’ Brother Techmarine Delphinus stood in front of the gunship, reading information from his wrist cogitator. ‘All systems running as normal on back-up power banks and secondary generating facilities. The main reactor is offline. Beyond the hangar airlocks there is an atmosphere. I am receiving no response to my messages to the command deck or command nodes of the ship.’
‘Keep trying. Do not attempt to delve too deeply into the vessel noosphere,’ said Dante. ‘Isolate all systems from the ship’s spirit before connection.’
‘“Corruption of flesh is expected, for the flesh is weak. Corruption of the machine is all the more invidious, for the machine is strong,”’ Delphinus quoted. ‘I shall be careful. Give me the word, and the doors shall open.’ He found his way to a terminal set between two large cargo doors.
Mephiston descended the ramp of his own transport with four of his Librarians and more of Antargo’s men. Mephiston’s gorily styled armour stood out against his followers’ sober blue.
Dante steeled himself against the air of foreboding that preceded the Lord of Death. Few beings made Dante uncomfortable. Mephiston was one.
‘My lord Dante,’ Mephiston said. ‘My instincts were correct. The Dominance is the focus of the evil in the fleet. I can feel it.’
‘Fighting continues on five ships,’ said Dante. ‘The Neverborn find it easier to cling on to existence since the Rift opened. Our exit from the warp should have banished them back whence they came.’
‘We live in a new age,’ said Mephiston. ‘Darkness is all around us, pressing in,’ he said. ‘This ship is the locus of damnation.’
‘Your advice, Chief Librarian Mephiston?’ said Dante. ‘It will take us hours to sweep the Dominance, how might we most quickly achieve victory.’
‘The source will be easy to find. There will be one mind here and one alone that has given the warp beasts ingress.’
‘A hidden witch among the crew?’
‘An untutored mind is the key to the doors of the immaterium,’ said Mephiston. ‘But the manner of the ship’s egress from the warp suggests the problem was known, and the desire was to contain it by severing the links of the Neverborn from the immaterium by emergency translation. As the problem was detected and action taken quickly enough to save the ship from loss in the warp, it is my opinion that the breach occurred within the ship’s psychic staff, either the astropaths or the Navigators.’
‘There have been many ships lost in similar circumstances,’ said Antargo. ‘When I was with Lord Guilliman, he took great pains to shield his psykers from the warp, and yet there were many losses, especially on this side of the Rift.’
‘Fear not. Lord Guilliman lacked Lord Mephiston,’ said Daeanatos.
‘I and my Librarians will lead the way,’ Mephiston said. ‘Incursions of daemons are best dealt with by those with warp ability.’
‘Agreed,’ said Dante.
‘I find they die just as well to a sword,’ said Daeanatos. ‘But the Lord of Death is our best weapon.’
‘Our swords will still be needed, brother. We follow a simple plan, without complication,’ said Dante.
‘We do not know the enemy’s strength,’ said Antargo.
‘We do not need to,’ said Dante. ‘If the breach is closed, the incursion will be curtailed. If it is not, the enemy will be functionally infinite. Find the breach, close it, and the day shall be won.’
‘I do not like this,’ said Antargo. ‘I advise destroying the ship.’
‘How many Retribution-class war vessels do you think are left in this half of the Imperium, captain? I lack the Lord Guilliman’s resources. This ship is worth a great deal to us. Battlefleet Nihilus has need of it.’
‘You may leave this task to us, if you wish, lord regent,’ said Mephiston. ‘You need not jeopardise yourself.’
‘No,’ said Dante. He ignored the implication that he was weak. Although he hid his pain, whispers travelled far. They knew he was injured. ‘It has been too long since I tested my axe. Search this deck, then form a cordon,’ Dante commanded. ‘Sergeant Amatine, leave a demi-squad here to secure the landing zone. Should the enemy come, retreat to the ships, depart, stand off and await orders. Do not risk the Thunderhawks, we have precious few of those too.’
‘Yes, Lord Dante,’ Sergeant Amatine responded. His second took command of four Intercessors, and they peeled off from the main force to stand by the gunships as the rest of the Space Marines fanned out across the command deck. Once the three gunships were empty, there was a little more than a demi-company aboard the ship, drawn from Antargo’s Third. All were Intercessor and Hellblaster squads.
‘We shall begin our divinations,’ said Mephiston.
‘Lord Mephiston,’ Dante said. ‘Take a little time. Scry this vessel well. I want it purged and the fleet under way as soon as possible, but I will not strike blindly.’
‘It shall be done, my brother,’ said Mephiston. He bowed, and signalled his psykers. They drew away and formed a circle, and there began their rituals.
‘Search this deck,’ Dante commanded. ‘Perhaps we shall gain insight into what we face here.’ He looked about the space. Darkness lurked in every nook and cranny. ‘Something is watching us.’
Ruby light shone from Mephiston’s circle. Dante paid their sorcery no heed. Psychic talent ran strongly in the blood of the Sons of Sanguinius, and their use of the warp was commonplace.
Stablights spread out across the deck, flashing off stacks of supplies and inactive ships.
‘Lord Dante,’ one of the warriors voxed presently. ‘Human remains.’ He fed Dante a view of a stack of barrels from his auto-senses. Something glistened on the ground.
Dante and his guardians strode over to the warrior to see more clearly. On the other side of the barrel stack a mash of flesh and blood was spread liberally around.
‘Here is something amiss,’ Daeanatos said. ‘Where are the rest of the crew? This deck should be crawling with servitors and serfs.’
‘Most will be dead. Human lives and human misery are the food of the daemon,’ said Dante. ‘But if we are fortunate, some might yet live.’
Mephiston’s sigil flashing in Dante’s helm announced vox communication.
‘The centre of the disturbance is in the Navigators’ tower,’ the Lord of Death said.
‘More Navigators lost,’ said Dante. ‘The houses are growing reluctant to risk their members.’
‘They must learn to better guard themselves against the warp,’ said Mephiston. ‘The current conditions in the empyrean are a danger to them, but they do not see it. We lost ships because of their hubris. Doubtless it will not be the last.’
‘The quickest way, my lord,’ said Delphinus. He transmitted a cartolith to them all, with the route to the target precisely traced through.
‘Then we move,’ said Dante. ‘Librarius, to the fore. Ward your minds, my brothers. The creatures of the warp have grown strong of late. Prepare for combat.’
The flickering blue of power fields shone off armour as weapons were energised.
Delphinus opened the doors. Atmosphere blasted out in a cone of white. As the Space Marines passed through, their red battleplate rimed with frost. There were no returns on their auspexes, and their sight was limited by the rush of air.
Unseen by Dante’s men, a pool of shadows split and slithered across the deck, following after.
CHAPTER SIX
SHADOWPLAY
The strike group went deep into the ship. When they reached its grand, colonnaded spinal ways, Dante divided his force. He would lead the largest contingent with Mephiston, Rhacelus and Antargo towards the source of corruption. The rest were split into small bands, placed under the command of Mephiston’s Codiciers and sent out in all directions.
‘Search out the crew,’ Dante ordered them. ‘Kill anything that should not be here.’
To Delphinus, he gave the task of assessing the reactor for reignition.
‘Prepare the machine-spirits for reawakening,’ he said. ‘Once we are done, this vessel must be ready to travel as soon as possible.’
They exchanged oaths to accomplish their allotted tasks, and departed on their separate errands. Dante’s group headed upwards and forward, towards one of the ship’s great lifter nexuses, hopeful of finding swift passage up into the command spires.
‘Faster,’ said Dante. ‘Speak not. War is on us. Let the sound of arming tools be our prayers.’
His servants obeyed, and abandoned the sanctifications altogether.
Dante was being bolted into the last of his golden armour when the door chime tolled and a brass putto lifted its head from the carvings of the wall and cried out.
‘Lord Dante, Antargo comes, the Master of Sacrifice, captain of the Third Company, Lord of the Ironhelms!’
Orfeo moved to the door, depressing a bloodstone button on his vox-badge to speak with Dante’s visitor. ‘My lord, please wait, Lord Dante is not dressed!’ he managed, but too late. The door opened, and Antargo pushed past Orfeo with two Sanguinary Guard.
‘We do not have time for ceremony, thrall, out of my way,’ he said, only to stop uncertainly when he saw that the Chapter Master’s head was bare.
Dante turned from the captain, and held up his hand. Antargo, understanding his error, looked uncomfortably away. Dante did not like others to see his face unless he chose to reveal it. The Sanguinary Guard clashed their vambraces together in salute and turned their backs. From Colma, Dante took the Deathmask of Sanguinius and placed it over his head.
‘Listen to my servants next time, Antargo,’ said Dante. He stared at the captain through ruby lenses. Antargo was one of Cawl’s Gift, and still young.
‘Forgive me, my lord,’ Antargo said, his eyes fixed on the carpet pattern, his cheeks colouring at the indiscretion. ‘I could not wait. Lord Mephiston has commanded the fleet exit from the warp. He sent me here to find you personally.’
‘That is no excuse for your unseemly haste,’ said Dante.
‘There is a problem.’ Antargo looked unsurely at the thralls.
‘Speak freely in front of them, they are my honoured servants.’
‘Daemons, my lord. We have manifestations on seven ships, chief among them the Dominance. Lord Mephiston speaks of an attack in the warp.’
‘When we leave the hunting grounds of the tyranids, I almost miss the shadow they cast,’ said Dante grimly. ‘The warp is no place for humanity in these benighted times.’
Dante took his axe and pistol from their stand, then waited while his jump pack was raised up by a monotasked armoury servitor and pushed into place. As soon as the interface between armour and pack kissed he stepped away. Power flooded his battleplate. Information ran up the helm display. Dante deactivated it. He felt stronger behind Sanguinius’ holy visage.
‘Lead on, Antargo. We must retake the Dominance. It would irk me to rescue this fleet only to lose its most powerful vessel.’
Antargo got to his feet, unable to meet his lord’s eye, then walked out. Dante followed, and the Sanguinary Guard fell into line with him.
‘Mephiston,’ said Dante, opening a direct vox-link. ‘Tell me what has occurred.’
A flight of Thunderhawks sped towards the Dominance. No weapons locked on to them. No challenges were issued. Dante’s vessel went at the head of the three, golden where the others were red, always first into action.
‘Nothing seems amiss,’ said Antargo, examining vid-feed shone onto the back of his eyes. ‘The ship is intact. I see no signs of external damage.’
‘Daemons are rarely interested in wounding beings of metal,’ said Dante. ‘Their passions lie in tormenting the soul and the flesh.’
‘As you say, Chapter Master. I do not underestimate the peril we fly towards. I merely suggest the Dominance might easily be returned to service.’
‘Watch your manner, captain,’ said Daeanatos, Exalted Herald of Sanguinius, Dante’s chief guardian. ‘You speak with the greatest hero of the Imperium, and the lord of all this side of the Great Rift. Surliness is an offence to his glory. Commander Dante may not be a primarch, but he is the Lord of Angels.’
‘I did not intend to dishonour myself, my lord,’ said Antargo. ‘I am a straightforward man. I apologise if my manner irritates you.’
‘Think nothing of it, Antargo. Your combat record and ability in command make amends for any supposed offence,’ said Dante. He was distracted, hardly hearing what Antargo said. The wounds in his chest throbbed.
Daeanatos switched his vox to a private channel. ‘You are too gentle on them. They have no manners, these young ones. They need schooling in the graces and the virtues.’
‘Do you think your position as my aide gives you the right to speak to me so?’ said Dante.
Daeanatos laughed. ‘I am a straightforward man too, my lord. But I have a little more polish. I thank the Great Angel himself for his brother Guilliman’s intervention, but he could have given these newcomers a little courtesy.’
‘The Lord Guilliman’s manners are not the same as ours,’ said Dante. ‘But he is courteous to a fault. It is not the fault of the teacher, but of the warrior. They will learn.’
‘This new breed should watch their tongues.’
‘New breed, still of our blood,’ said Dante.
‘Yes, my lord, but soon there will be only them. We must pass on what we are.’
‘I daunt him.’ Dante looked back through the hold of his ship. So many of the Space Marines in the transit bay were Primaris brethren, most of them Mars-born. Many had never seen Baal before their arrival, and though they bore the colours of the Blood Angels, they knew little of the Chapter’s ways.
‘So now they have nerves to be daunted too,’ said Daeanatos. ‘Cawl’s get seems more imperfect the longer I look.’
‘Any man has nerves when standing in the presence of I, greatest hero of the Imperium and the lord of all this side of the Great Rift,’ said Dante, mocking Daeanatos’ own words.
‘Fair point,’ Daeanatos said. ‘I would affect greater seriousness, my lord, or you shall destroy the illusion for me completely.’
Dante called up a close-up image of the Dominance from the Thunderhawk’s augurs. Interstellar void black; so far from any sun, the light of the stars was too feeble to provide more than a darkling twilight. The ships in the fleet were bright as temples, but the Dominance was a shadow in space, lit eerily by corposant foxfires crawling in the deeper places of its hull. These faded as Dante watched, and it became forbidding as a tomb.
‘We approach, my lord,’ said Antargo.
The Dominance was a Retribution-class battleship, approaching six miles in length and three abeam. It blotted out the stars. Even so, at the Thunderhawk’s speed they would quickly overshoot it.
‘Decelerate. Make a visual pass. Let us see the vessel before we look for a suitable landing point,’ Dante commanded.
The Thunderhawk slowed and turned to fly parallel to the Dominance’s vast bulk. The blur of the battleship resolved itself into hard lines, buttresses, statues of angels and heroes holding weapons out against the cosmos.
Dante examined the findings of the Thunderhawk’s augury. The reactor was out. Shuttle bays and windows were empty as the eyes of the dead. Atmospheric fields were off.
‘All shielding is down, my lord,’ the pilot reported.
They approached the prow.
‘Turn us about, take us in to the primary hangar,’ said Dante. ‘Best we concentrate our efforts where the bulk of the crew might be found.’
‘As you command.’
Accelerative forces tugged at Dante as the pilot brought the Thunderhawk over and down in a wide loop, and spiralled the vessel about to bring it back on the same orientation as the Dominance. The wide aft of the ship came at them, the aquila figurehead on the superstructure guarding command decks that were as dark as all the rest.
The hangar was hidden by the aft quarter’s armour vanes. The Thunderhawks passed between hull and outrigger. Before they lost sight of the fleet, Dante checked over the progress of actions ongoing aboard the other vessels. Two were purged, the others remained in the hands of the enemy. Casualty counts ticked up slowly in his visor, Adeptus Astartes only. Naval losses would be far higher.
‘If Mephiston is correct, and the source of the contamination is here, we must be quick. We can ill afford delays, and I will not lose this ship,’ said Dante. ‘Take us in. Let us see this done and be on our way. These ships are crucial to our fleet plans.’
The Thunderhawk slowed as it came towards the main hangar. The armoured doors were wide, and the space behind open to the void. The view of inside was obscured by billowing thruster gases. The vid-feed in Dante’s helm went dark. His auto-senses worked with the machines of the gunship to compensate, and showed him a cavernous hold full of shadows.
‘No sign of any material damage here, either,’ said Antargo. ‘Where is the crew?’
Tarpaulins covering shuttlecraft flapped back in the violent effusions of the gunship’s thrusters.
‘Put us down,’ Dante said.
The pilot obeyed, choosing a landing pad near the entrance, with good fields of fire towards the ship’s core. He brought the gunship into a hover, before pivoting it on the spot and landing, its weapons facing inwards.
Maglocks thumped off through the transit bay.
The ramp descended into the airless hangar. Dante was out first, flanked by half a dozen of his golden guard.
Antargo’s two Intercessor squads spread out to form a cordon in front of the gunships. They would go no further until Dante had given his judgement on the situation.
‘Gravity plating functional. Life support operational. If we close the blast shields we could reintroduce an atmosphere in here. Someone vented this on purpose.’ Brother Techmarine Delphinus stood in front of the gunship, reading information from his wrist cogitator. ‘All systems running as normal on back-up power banks and secondary generating facilities. The main reactor is offline. Beyond the hangar airlocks there is an atmosphere. I am receiving no response to my messages to the command deck or command nodes of the ship.’
‘Keep trying. Do not attempt to delve too deeply into the vessel noosphere,’ said Dante. ‘Isolate all systems from the ship’s spirit before connection.’
‘“Corruption of flesh is expected, for the flesh is weak. Corruption of the machine is all the more invidious, for the machine is strong,”’ Delphinus quoted. ‘I shall be careful. Give me the word, and the doors shall open.’ He found his way to a terminal set between two large cargo doors.
Mephiston descended the ramp of his own transport with four of his Librarians and more of Antargo’s men. Mephiston’s gorily styled armour stood out against his followers’ sober blue.
Dante steeled himself against the air of foreboding that preceded the Lord of Death. Few beings made Dante uncomfortable. Mephiston was one.
‘My lord Dante,’ Mephiston said. ‘My instincts were correct. The Dominance is the focus of the evil in the fleet. I can feel it.’
‘Fighting continues on five ships,’ said Dante. ‘The Neverborn find it easier to cling on to existence since the Rift opened. Our exit from the warp should have banished them back whence they came.’
‘We live in a new age,’ said Mephiston. ‘Darkness is all around us, pressing in,’ he said. ‘This ship is the locus of damnation.’
‘Your advice, Chief Librarian Mephiston?’ said Dante. ‘It will take us hours to sweep the Dominance, how might we most quickly achieve victory.’
‘The source will be easy to find. There will be one mind here and one alone that has given the warp beasts ingress.’
‘A hidden witch among the crew?’
‘An untutored mind is the key to the doors of the immaterium,’ said Mephiston. ‘But the manner of the ship’s egress from the warp suggests the problem was known, and the desire was to contain it by severing the links of the Neverborn from the immaterium by emergency translation. As the problem was detected and action taken quickly enough to save the ship from loss in the warp, it is my opinion that the breach occurred within the ship’s psychic staff, either the astropaths or the Navigators.’
‘There have been many ships lost in similar circumstances,’ said Antargo. ‘When I was with Lord Guilliman, he took great pains to shield his psykers from the warp, and yet there were many losses, especially on this side of the Rift.’
‘Fear not. Lord Guilliman lacked Lord Mephiston,’ said Daeanatos.
‘I and my Librarians will lead the way,’ Mephiston said. ‘Incursions of daemons are best dealt with by those with warp ability.’
‘Agreed,’ said Dante.
‘I find they die just as well to a sword,’ said Daeanatos. ‘But the Lord of Death is our best weapon.’
‘Our swords will still be needed, brother. We follow a simple plan, without complication,’ said Dante.
‘We do not know the enemy’s strength,’ said Antargo.
‘We do not need to,’ said Dante. ‘If the breach is closed, the incursion will be curtailed. If it is not, the enemy will be functionally infinite. Find the breach, close it, and the day shall be won.’
‘I do not like this,’ said Antargo. ‘I advise destroying the ship.’
‘How many Retribution-class war vessels do you think are left in this half of the Imperium, captain? I lack the Lord Guilliman’s resources. This ship is worth a great deal to us. Battlefleet Nihilus has need of it.’
‘You may leave this task to us, if you wish, lord regent,’ said Mephiston. ‘You need not jeopardise yourself.’
‘No,’ said Dante. He ignored the implication that he was weak. Although he hid his pain, whispers travelled far. They knew he was injured. ‘It has been too long since I tested my axe. Search this deck, then form a cordon,’ Dante commanded. ‘Sergeant Amatine, leave a demi-squad here to secure the landing zone. Should the enemy come, retreat to the ships, depart, stand off and await orders. Do not risk the Thunderhawks, we have precious few of those too.’
‘Yes, Lord Dante,’ Sergeant Amatine responded. His second took command of four Intercessors, and they peeled off from the main force to stand by the gunships as the rest of the Space Marines fanned out across the command deck. Once the three gunships were empty, there was a little more than a demi-company aboard the ship, drawn from Antargo’s Third. All were Intercessor and Hellblaster squads.
‘We shall begin our divinations,’ said Mephiston.
‘Lord Mephiston,’ Dante said. ‘Take a little time. Scry this vessel well. I want it purged and the fleet under way as soon as possible, but I will not strike blindly.’
‘It shall be done, my brother,’ said Mephiston. He bowed, and signalled his psykers. They drew away and formed a circle, and there began their rituals.
‘Search this deck,’ Dante commanded. ‘Perhaps we shall gain insight into what we face here.’ He looked about the space. Darkness lurked in every nook and cranny. ‘Something is watching us.’
Ruby light shone from Mephiston’s circle. Dante paid their sorcery no heed. Psychic talent ran strongly in the blood of the Sons of Sanguinius, and their use of the warp was commonplace.
Stablights spread out across the deck, flashing off stacks of supplies and inactive ships.
‘Lord Dante,’ one of the warriors voxed presently. ‘Human remains.’ He fed Dante a view of a stack of barrels from his auto-senses. Something glistened on the ground.
Dante and his guardians strode over to the warrior to see more clearly. On the other side of the barrel stack a mash of flesh and blood was spread liberally around.
‘Here is something amiss,’ Daeanatos said. ‘Where are the rest of the crew? This deck should be crawling with servitors and serfs.’
‘Most will be dead. Human lives and human misery are the food of the daemon,’ said Dante. ‘But if we are fortunate, some might yet live.’
Mephiston’s sigil flashing in Dante’s helm announced vox communication.
‘The centre of the disturbance is in the Navigators’ tower,’ the Lord of Death said.
‘More Navigators lost,’ said Dante. ‘The houses are growing reluctant to risk their members.’
‘They must learn to better guard themselves against the warp,’ said Mephiston. ‘The current conditions in the empyrean are a danger to them, but they do not see it. We lost ships because of their hubris. Doubtless it will not be the last.’
‘The quickest way, my lord,’ said Delphinus. He transmitted a cartolith to them all, with the route to the target precisely traced through.
‘Then we move,’ said Dante. ‘Librarius, to the fore. Ward your minds, my brothers. The creatures of the warp have grown strong of late. Prepare for combat.’
The flickering blue of power fields shone off armour as weapons were energised.
Delphinus opened the doors. Atmosphere blasted out in a cone of white. As the Space Marines passed through, their red battleplate rimed with frost. There were no returns on their auspexes, and their sight was limited by the rush of air.
Unseen by Dante’s men, a pool of shadows split and slithered across the deck, following after.
CHAPTER SIX
SHADOWPLAY
The strike group went deep into the ship. When they reached its grand, colonnaded spinal ways, Dante divided his force. He would lead the largest contingent with Mephiston, Rhacelus and Antargo towards the source of corruption. The rest were split into small bands, placed under the command of Mephiston’s Codiciers and sent out in all directions.
‘Search out the crew,’ Dante ordered them. ‘Kill anything that should not be here.’
To Delphinus, he gave the task of assessing the reactor for reignition.
‘Prepare the machine-spirits for reawakening,’ he said. ‘Once we are done, this vessel must be ready to travel as soon as possible.’
They exchanged oaths to accomplish their allotted tasks, and departed on their separate errands. Dante’s group headed upwards and forward, towards one of the ship’s great lifter nexuses, hopeful of finding swift passage up into the command spires.
