James Swallow - The Flight of the Eisenstein

'Then, what happened out there?' demanded Decius. 'You saw the Thunderhawk explode!'

'I saw an explosion', countered Sendek. He toyed with the controls and then let the hololith run the brief engagement again in slow motion. Indicators showed the Eisenstein turn and fire, the bolts sweep towards the other craft, and then the stormy aftermath. The Astartes nodded slowly. 'He didn't target the Thunderhawk at all. The shots must have struck the lead Raven. The other interceptors were in close formation. The detonation would have caught them all in the Shockwave.'

'Then, where is Tarvitz?'

Sendek pointed at the deck. 'He was close to Isstvan Ill's atmosphere. I'll warrant he's using the sensor dis­ruption to slip away'

Decius glanced around to be sure that the rest of the frigate crew were not aware of what they were dis­cussing. 'So Tarvitz escapes and five pilots are killed in his stead?'

'They were only crew-serfs, not Astartes. I doubt Eidolon will weep over their loss.' Sendek looked across to the vox hide. 'He's not talking to the Andro-nius in there,' he said, with grim certainty.

'If you are correct, then we have just witnessed our commanding officer disobey a direct order from his superior. That is dereliction of duty, grounds for severe chastisement at the very least!' Decius frowned. 'You know I have no love for Fulgrim's fops, but if the Warmaster learns of this, it will taint all of us, the entire Death Guard!'

Sendek grimaced. 'How can you be so quick to set your colours? Our captain would never act without conscience! If he has done this thing, then there is no doubt in my mind that he has a credible motive. Will you not at least learn what that is before you begin lamenting for your reputation?'

Decius's eyes flashed. Very well, brother. I shall ask him, now.'

Before Sendek could stop him, Decius rounded the hololith and strode quickly to the vox hide and grabbed the sound-deadening drape. As he wrenched it back, both Astartes heard the battle-captain speak­ing into the vox.

'Luck of Terra be with you/ he said. Only static answered him.

Garro looked up from his crouch by the commu­nications pulpit and met their gazes. The hollow, broken look upon his face cut Decius to the very core. Even when he had seen the captain in his heal­ing trance after falling on Isstvan Extremis, he had not seemed so empty and ill as he did at this moment.

'Lord?' he asked. 'What is it?'

'The storm is coming, Solun/ the battle-captain said in a dead voice.

8SS

It took great effort for Garro to propel himself out of the vox hide, as Tarvitz's revelations churned in his mind, sapping the will and strength from his muscles like some strange malaise. The things he had said… The import of them was staggering. He took heavy steps away, ignoring the loaded stares of the Eisen-stein's crew and the visible distrust radiating from Maas as the comms officer made for his alcove once again.

Garro threw a command at Maas over his shoulder. 'Contact Andronius. Tell them that the rogue was destroyed, and the explosion claimed their pursuit ships as well. No survivors.'

'Is that what really happened?' asked Decius accus­ingly.

'Tarvitz brought me… brought us a warning. You heard what he said on the vox.'

'Lord, all I heard was some wild shouting about betrayal and virus bombs. On that alone you have gone against orders?'

Sendek and his brethren moved to the rear of the compartment, instinctively keeping their voices pitched low.

'If Tarvitz spoke of it, then it was no falsehood,' insisted Garro softly.

Decius sneered. With respect, captain, I did not know the man and I do not hold that hearsay is enough to let a direct command be ignored-'

Garro's temper came back in a hot rush, and he grabbed Decius by the gorget and pulled him off bal­ance. 'I do know Saul Tarvitz, you whelp, and his word is worth a thousand of Eidolon's!' He thrust his vam-brace up before Decius's face. 'You see this, the etching there? That mark is all the guarantee I need! When you have fought for as long as I have, you will

learn that some things transcend even the commands of your masters!' Furious, he released the other war­rior and his fists tightened.

Sendek's face was pale with shock. 'If what he said was true, if there are ships in the fleet preparing to drop blight warheads on the planet, it would mean the wholesale slaughter of thousands of our kinsmen.' He shook his head. 'Oath's sake, there is no need to sacrifice men to wipe out the Choral City. Why would Horus allow such a thing to happen? It makes no sense!'

'Exactly/ said Decius, recovering his composure. 'What possible reason could the Warmaster have for doing this?'

Garro opened his mouth to speak, to actually say the words aloud to his battle-brothers for the very first time, and found that he could not. The sheer hor­ror of it, the ripping, echoing void inside his thoughts stopped him dead. Betrayal. He couldn't make the word, couldn't force it from his throat. That Horus himself, great Horus, the beautiful and magnificent Warmaster, had done this… The idea of it made him go weak. And with that realisation there came another. If Horus had prepared this treachery, then he had not done it alone, it was too big, too monumen­tal an endeavour even for the Warmaster to have managed by himself. Yes, Horus's brothers would be a part of it too: Angron, ever ready to take any path that led him to more bloodshed. Fulgrim, convinced of his own superiority and perfection over all, and the Death Lord himself, in secret conspiracy with the Warmaster.

'Mortarion…' Garro saw those hard amber eyes once again, remembered the questions and the intent of his primarch. It is important for my brother Horus to

have unity across the entirety of the Astartes. He had said those words. We must have singular purpose or we will falter.

Was this duplicity the purpose Mortarion had alluded to? Garro turned away, pressing the heel of his palm to his forehead, fighting down the conflict inside him. He saw a frantic, shuddering figure come rushing in through the iris hatch of the bridge, face tight with fear. 'Kaleb?'

The housecarl bowed shakily. 'My lord, you must come quickly! Brother Voyen and I… In the ship's gunnery racks, we discovered…' He struggled, sucking in gasping breaths of air. 'Grulgor and his men are loading the main guns… loading them with Life-Eater globes!'

'Virus bombs/ said Sendek, in a cold, distant voice.

'Aye, lord. I saw it with my own eyes.'

Garro pressed down the turmoil within and drew himself up. 'Show me.'

Voyen looked on, aghast. With each new sphere that emerged on the back of the loader crews, he felt his horror plunge deeper. As a trained Apothecary, it was his duty to be knowledgeable in the patterns and pathologies of many types of biological warfare agents, and the Life-Eater was known to him. He wished it was not. He flashed on a moment of mem­ory, a day during his advanced training with the Magos Biologis when the mentors had given live demonstrations on condemned criminals of the effects of various toxins upon unprotected flesh. He had seen the damage a single droplet of the voracious virus could do, watching it eat into a screaming heretic from behind impenetrable armourglass. Out there, in those globes, there were gallons of the thick

green transmitter medium, every cupful swarming with countless trillions of the killer microbes. He esti­mated that the war shots aboard the Eisenstein alone would be enough to wipe out a large city.

Commander Grulgor walked carefully among the loaders and his own men, showing no fear, directing the arming process personally. He was taking respon­sibility for it, Voyen realised, doing it himself to put his own stamp of perverse pride on the deed.