James Swallow - The Flight of the Eisenstein

'Ho, lad/ said the Luna Wolf. 'It seems we're to know our fate soon enough.'

Despite it all, Garro felt a new wellspring of vitality deep inside, the words of his conversation with Keeler still fresh in his thoughts. Tm ready to meet it/ he told the veteran, 'whatever it is.'

Qruze smiled a little, sensing the change in him. 'That's the spirit. We'll see this through to the end.'

'Aye.' Garro studied the other men in the room. This is Dorn's senior cadre? They seem a sombre lot.'

'True enough. Even on the best of days, the Imper­ial Fists are a stiff breed. I remember battles my lads of the Third fought with Efried, my opposite number.' He indicated a bearded Astartes in the other group. 'Never saw him crack a smile, not once in a year-long campaign. That's Alexis Polux over there, Yonnad, and Tyr from the Sixth… It's not for nothing they call them the Stone Men.' He shook his head. 'And now, they'll be grimmer still.'

'Sigismund told them about Horns?'

Qruze gave him a nod. 'But that's not the sum of it. I've heard rumours that sounds of violence were heard inside Dorn's quarters. One can only imagine the destruction a primarch's temper might wreak when awakened.'

'And Rogal Dorn would never be one to vent his frustration openly.' He studied the other captains again. The humour of a primarch sets the manner of his Legion.'

'It's their way,' Qruze noted. 'They bury their rages under rock and steel.'

The tall doors at the end of the chamber yawned open and from the dimness beyond came the master of the Imperial Fists. The battle armour he had worn when Garro had first seen him was gone, and instead Dorn was clad in robes of a simple cut, but the change in dress did nothing to diminish his presence. If anything, the primarch seemed larger still without the trappings of ceramite and flexsteel to confine him. Sigismund and the other captains bowed, with Garro and Qruze following suit.

Given what he knew of the Imperial Fists, Garro expected some sort of ceremony or formal procedure, but instead Dorn strode firmly to the middle of the chamber and cast around, looking at each man in turn.

Garro saw anger set hard in granite behind those eyes, the echo of the rage that he had briefly seen directed at him. His mouth went dry. He had no desire ever to come that close to it again.

'Brothers,' rumbled the primarch, 'something has begun in the Isstvan system that goes against every tenet of our oath to the Lord of Terra. While the full dimensions of it are not yet clear to me, the matter of what must be done about it is.' He took a step towards the Death Guard and the Luna Wolf. 'For good or ill, the statement brought to us by Battle-Captain Garro must be taken onward to its ultimate destination. It must reach the Emperor's ears, as only he can decide how to act upon it. That choice, as much as I regret it, is beyond even me.'

'My liege, if I may speak,' began Captain Tyr. 'If the veracity of this horrifying act is undoubted, then how can we allow it to go unanswered? If treachery is stir­ring in the Isstvan system, it cannot be given time to gain a foothold.' A chorus of nods came from the other men around him.

'We will answer, of that you may be assured,' replied Dorn, with quiet force. 'Captain Efried, Captain Hal-brecht and their veteran companies will form a detachment with my personal guard and remain aboard the Phalanx with me. At the conclusion of this audience, I will order our Navigators to set a course for the Sol system. Captain Garro has fulfilled his responsibility in bringing this warning to us, and it is my aim to personally see that task completed. I will

go on to Terra, as we originally intended.' He glanced at his first captain. 'Sigismund, my strong right arm, you will take direct command of the rest of our Legion and its war fleet. You will execute a return voy­age to the Isstvan system under the auspice of a combat deployment and consider yourself to be entering hostile territory. The journey back will be difficult. Warp storms still rage in that sector and you will find the passage challenging. Go there, first cap­tain, support our kinsmen loyal to the Emperor and learn what is occurring on those worlds.'

'If the Warmaster has turned his back on Terra, what are my orders?' Sigismund asked, ashen-faced.

Dorn's countenance became rigid. 'Tell him his brother Rogal will have him answer for it.'

FIFTEEN

The Fate of the Seventy

Sea of Crises

Rebirth

The Death Guard captain entered the tiers of the fortress's massive infirmary, and inside he found his way to the ward where Decius was being held. He approached the isolation chamber. Along with the dedication plaque that Carya had taken with him, it remained the only other component of the starship Eisenstein that had survived the frigate's destruction. Huge cargo servitors had physically disconnected the module from the vessel's valetudinarium and trans­planted it to here, where Dorn's medicae could turn their skills to the warrior's injuries.

The Apothecaries of the Imperial Fists had met with no more success than those of the Death Guard. Through the walls of the glass pod, Decius seemed closer than ever to his end. The livid knife wound was a sink for his colour and complexion, fingers of pallid corpse-flesh reaching out from the injury. Seeping sores collected at the corners of Decius's lips and

nostrils, and his eyes were gummed shut with dried runnels of pus. The infection from whatever poison had soaked Grulgor's debased blade was overcoming the defences of the young Astartes, moment by agonising moment.

Garro became aware of someone standing close by. He saw Voyen's face reflected in the glass wall. 'He has spoken once or twice. His words are largely incoher­ent.' The other man was muted, as if he were afraid to speak to the captain. 'He calls out war cries and battle orders in his delirium.'

Garro nodded. 'He's fighting the disease just as he would any other adversary.'

'There is little we can do,' Voyen admitted. 'The virus has moved to an airborne stage of contagion in recent days, and we cannot enter the chamber to minister to him, even in fully sealed power armour. I have done what I can to ease his pain, but he's on his own.'

The Emperor will protect him,' murmured Garro.

4Ve can only hope so. Captain Sigismund has given orders that every aspect of Decius's malady is to be examined and documented by the Phalanx's medicae staff, in case the… the intruders we encountered on the Eisenstein return. I have told them everything I witnessed.'

'Good.' Garro turned to leave. 'Carry on.'

'Lord.' Voyen blocked his path, his head bowed. "We must speak.' He offered the battle-captain his combat blade. 'On the bridge, before you triggered the warp flare, I challenged you and I see now that I was wrong to do so. You promised us rescue and it came. Such defiance as mine cannot go without censure.' He looked up. 'I have betrayed your trust twice. I will accept whatever punishment you will mete out. My life is yours.'

Garro took the knife and held it for a long moment. 'What you have done, Meric, with the lodges and on the Eisenstein, did not fall from any malice in your character. These things you did through fear: fear of the unknown.' He handed back the weapon. '1 will not punish you for that. You are my battle-brother, and your challenges are why I have you at my side.' He touched Voyen on the shoulder. 'Never be afraid again, Meric. Look to the Emperor, as I have done. Know Him, and you will know no fear.' On an impulse, he drew out Kaleb's tracts and pressed them into Voyen's palm. 'You may find, as I have, some measure of significance in these.'

Coded astropathic signals had gone before the Pha­lanx, high-level protocols that called to alert the most secure levels of the Imperium's forces in the Sol sys­tem. Dorn's authority was enough to set ships in motion and for troops to be put to a higher state of readiness; and there were other forces at work as well, agencies that had sensed the arrival of the star fortress and the precious cargo it carried.