Ben Counter - Galaxy in Flames

Like a gigantic pressure cooker, the temperature inside the Titan climbed rapidly until Cassar felt as if he could no longer draw breath without searing the interior of his lungs. He closed his eyes and saw the ghostly green scroll of data flash through his retinas. Sweat poured from him in a torrent and he knew that this was it, this was how he would die: not in battle, not saying the Lectitio Divinitatus, but cooked to death inside his beloved Dies Irae.

He had lost track of how long they had been bathed in fire when the professional core of his mind saw that the temperature readings, which had been rising rapidly since the firestorm had hit, were beginning to flatten out. Cassar opened his eyes and saw the madly churning mass of flame through

the viewing bays of the Titan's head, but РџРµ also saw spots of sky, burned blue as the fire incinerated the last of the combustible gasses released by the dead of Isstvan.

'Temperature dropping,’ he said, amazed that they were still alive.

Aruken laughed as he too realised they were going to live.

Princeps Turnet slid back into his command chair and began bringing the Titan's systems back on line. Cassar slid back into his own chair, the leather soaking wet where his sweat had collected. He saw the readouts of the external surveyors come to life as the princeps once again opened their systems to the outside world. 'Systems check,’ ordered Turnet. Aruken nodded, mopping his sweat-streaked brow with his sleeve. "Weapons fine, though we'll need to watch our rate of fire, since they're already pretty hot,’

'Confirmed,’ said Cassar. We won't be able to fire the plasma weapons any time soon either. We'll probably blow our arm off if we try,’

'Understood,’ said Turnet. 'Initiate emergency coolant procedures. I want those guns ready to fire as soon as possible,’

Cassar nodded, though he was unsure as to the cause of the princeps's urgency. Surely there could be nothing out there that would have surВ­vived the firestorm? Certainly nothing that could threaten a Titan.

'Incoming!' called Aruken, and Cassar looked up to see a flock of black specks descending rapidly through the crystal sky, flying low towards the blackened ruins of the burned city.

'Aruken, track them,’ snapped Turnet.

'Gunships,’ said Aruken. They're heading for the centre of the city, what's left of the palace,’

'Whose are they?'

'Can't tell yet,’

Cassar sat back in the cockpit seat and let the filaments of the Titan's command systems come to the fore of his mind once again. He engaged the Titan's targeting systems and his vision plunged into the target reticule, zooming in on the formation of gunships disappearing among the crumbling, fire-blackened ruins of the Choral City. He saw bone-white colours trimmed with blue and the symbol of fanged jaws closing over a planet.

'World Eaters,’ he said out loud. They're the World Eaters. It must be the second wave,’

There is no second wave,’ said Turnet, as if to himself. Aruken, get the vox-mast up and connect me to the Vengeful Spirit.' 'Fleet command?' asked Aruken. 'No,’ said Turnet, 'the Warmaster,’

Iacton Qruze led them through the corridors of the Vengeful Spirit, past the Training Halls, past the Lupercal's Court and down through twisting pasВ­sageways none of them had traversed before, even

when they had been hiding from Maggard and Mal-oghurst.

Sindermann's heart beat a rapid tattoo on his ribs, and he felt a curious mix of elation and sorrow fill him as he realised what Qruze had saved them from. There could be little doubt as to what must have happened to those remembrancers in the Audience Chamber and the thought of so many wonderful creative people sacrificed to serve the interests of those with no understanding of art or the creative process galled him and saddened him in equal measure.

He glanced at Euphrati Keeler, who appeared to have become stronger since their escape from death. Her hair was golden and her eyes bright, and though her skin was still pallid, it only served to highlight the power within her.

Mersadie Oliton, by contrast, was visibly weakenВ­ing.

'They will come after us soon,’ said Keeler, 'if they

are not already,’

'Can we escape?' Mersadie asked, hoarsely.

Qruze only shrugged. 'We will or we won't,’

'Then this is it?' asked Sindermann.

Keeler shot him an amused glance. 'No, you should know better than that, Kyril. It is never "it", not for a believer. There's always more, something to look forward to when it's all over,’

They passed a number of observation domes that looked out into the cold void of space, the sight only serving to remind Sindermann of just how

tiny they were in the context of the galaxy. Even the faintest speck of light that he could see was actually a star, perhaps surrounded by its own worlds, its own people and entire civilisations.

'How is it that we find ourselves at the centre of such momentous events and yet we never saw them coming?' he whispered.

After a while, Sindermann began to recognise his surroundings, seeing familiar signs scraped into bulkheads, and insignia he recognised, telling him that they were approaching the embarkation decks. Qruze led the way unerringly, his stride sure and confident, a far cry from the wretched sycophant he had heard described.

The blast doors to the embarkation deck were closed, the tattered remnants of the votive papers and offerings made to the Warmaster when his sons took him to the Delphos still fixed to the surВ­rounding structure.

'In here,’ said Qruze. 'If we're lucky, there will be a gunship we can take,’

And go where?' demanded Mersadie. 'Where can we go that the Warmaster won't find us?'

Keeler reached out and placed her hand on Mer-sadie's arm. 'Don't worry. We have more friends than you know, Sadie. The Emperor will show me the way,’

The doors rumbled open and Qruze marched confidently onto the embarkation deck. Sinder­mann smiled in relief when the warrior said, 'There. Thunderhawk Nine Delta,’

But the smile fell from his face as he saw the gold-armoured form of Maggard standing before the machine.

Saul Tarvitz watched the look of utter disbelief on Captain Ehrlen's face as he took in the scale of the destruction wrought by the firestorm. Nothing remained of the Choral City as they had known it. Every scrap of living tissue was gone, burned to atoms by the flames that roared and howled in the wake of the virus attack.

Every building was black, burned and collapsed so that Isstvan HI resembled a vision of hell, its tumbled buildings still ablaze as the last comВ­bustible materials burned away. Tall plumes of fire poured skyward in defiance of gravity, fuel lines and refineries that would continue to burn until their reserves were exhausted. The stench of scorched metal and meat was pungent and the vista before them was unrecognisable as that which they had fought across only minutes before.

'Why?' was all Ehrlen could ask.

'I don't know,’ said Tarvitz, wishing he had more to tell the World Eater.

This wasn't the Isstvanians, was it?' asked Ehrlen.

Tarvitz wanted to lie, but he knew that the World Eater would see through him instantly.

'No,’ he said. 'It wasn't.'

*We are betrayed?'

Tarvitz nodded.

'Why?' repeated Ehrlen.

'I have no answers for you, brother, but if they hoped to kill us all in one fell swoop, then they have failed,’

'And the World Eaters will make them pay for that failure,’ swore Ehrlen, as a new sound rose over the crackle of burning buildings and tumbling masonry.

Tarvitz heard it too and looked up in time to see a flock of World Eaters' gunships streaking towards their position from the outskirts of the city. Gunfire came down in a burning spray, punching through the ruins around them, boring holes in the black marble of the ground.