Page 6 (2/2)
’Your cause was blatantforward ’You sought nothing more than to achieve your own ambition A for, you lusted after that power again!’
’Power? I will tell you of power,’ Astelan said in a terse whisper ’My word is the word of the Emperor hiht has been in his name He had a vision - to drive back the aliens and the uidance He strove for humanity, to take back the stars that had once been ours, a vision we had throay for petty-y Froe of Strife, the Ealaxy, to conquer the stars and to safeguard our future He alone saw this, and it was the Emperor who created us to ful­fil his vision It e, the Space Marines, ere to be the instrue the Emperor’s dream into a reality’
’And yet, at the end, you turned on hi you had shed blood to build’ Boreas’s voice was filled with sadness rather than anger
’The first betrayal was not ours!’ protested Astelan
’And Tharsis?’ Boreas stooped low and spoke quietly into Astelan’s ear ’What has this to do with your enslave­o’
’And in that statenorance,’ Astelan replied, staring into the Chaplain’s eyes ’The Great Crusade was not intended to be an event; it is a state of mind The crusade never finishes, it is never com­plete while there is an alien alive to threaten our worlds, and while discord lingers in the heart of the Iht on Tharsis?’ Boreas’s voice was now little more than a whisper from the dark­ness as he stepped back out of Astelan’s sight
’Yes, and as I did so, I rallied support around me,’ Aste­lan exclaimed proudly ’In time, I had an audience with Imperial Commander Dax himself He had heard of the victories I had won in the Emperor’s nao was flattered and the sin of pride grew in you’ Boreas’s haunting whisper see off the walls like a crowd of accusers
’I never sought aggrandiselad of the praise,’ Astelan said, limpse of Boreas ’You cannot knohat it is like to be abandoned, scorned by those ere once allies I had been lost, I was searching for a way to regain my place, and on Tharsis I found it’
’But there is still a long way from renoarrior to despot’
’Your insults deserve only contenorance,’ Astelan spat, tired of the Chaplain’s atteh we had won some battles, there was still h I was the greatest warrior on Tharsis, even I could not achieve victory by myself’
’How modest of you, to accept such limitations’
’If you listen, instead of poorly atteain understanding,’ Aste­lan said slowly, resting his head back against the slab and staring at the ceiling He cast his mind back to the first days he had spent on Tharsis ’On my own I could not win the war purely by e, could still save Tharsis froades I handed my weapons over to the Iht study them and turn the munitions factories over to production of superior arms I had the hundred best soldiers sent toI knew For half a year, I pushed and pushed them Many did not survive, and at first there were doubts The Imperial commander had full faith in me, but his aides expressed concerns over- ere they, bureaucrats and priests, to argue with a Chapter conored them, and the protests were silenced when I led my elite company into battle for the first time They were not Space Marines - five of my battle-brothers could have achieved what those sixty men did - but they were better equipped andthe rebels had faced before We storholds in the Sezenuan Mountains For five hundred and seventeen days the Eed the fortress; we took it in a single night’
’Yes, I re your so-called sacred bands e retook Tharsis Fanatical, courageous, they orthy opponents’
’Worthy indeed!’ agreed Astelan ’Fifty-one of the first sacred band survived the assault, and I sent theiments to each train a hundred men, and those that survived to train a hundred rew, the derenades and other weapons stretched the factories beyond capacity The Imperial commander implemented my recommendation that we build more, for what use is farmland when the foe’s hand is at your throat?’
There was silence in the cell for a moment before Boreas’s disembodied voice replied
’Perhaps to feed those you were protecting?’ the Chap­lain suggested ’When we liberated Tharsis from your tyranny, you had turned it into a wasteland The sprawl­ing factory-cities you had built were rife with destitution and cri for humanity?’
’It was a means to an end, not the end itself,’ Astelan explained ’Do not judge me on this, I have seen the Imperium you protect Hive-worlds covered in desolate ash wastes, the populace cra every hour, leeching every last handful of resource from their dead worlds to supply other planets with metal ore, machine parts, chemicals And, of course, weapons and warriors for the arh ether,’ said Boreas ’Each planet dependent upon another for food, or machines, or protection’
’And that is its weakness, for it is a fragile structure,’ declared Astelan, sitting up again as far as he could, filled with a resurgence of energy ’Self-serving I the defence of the Emperor’s douarded systehbours are overrun, its food or water supplies taken away It is a tee­tering labyrinth supported by self-interest and reat ideal that drove us to create it’
’And this was the neay you were showing on Thar­sis?’
’No, I am a warrior when all is said and done, with a warrior’s instincts,’ confessed Astelan ’Though inning battles, it was destroying Tharsis Yes, the facto­ries spread and we began to conscript the citizens into the arrew, so our ene They did not seek open battle, they clawed at us fro terror and uncertainty From fastnesses in the wilderness they struck at our supplies, bombed our factories and killed our people No h to root them all out, and the victories died away to be replaced by stale­mate We would find a cadre of rebels and crush it, they would slink into the towns and attack the factories and barracks The larger the aruns were needed, the more ration distribution centres, recruitrew, so we needed more troops to protect them’
’Your own ambition had beco itself’
Astelan ignored the Chaplain’s stateht ue, the Ih we killed thousands of rebels every year, there were always uided souls to replace the for, the glory of the Emperor mired in the tribulations of battle and survival The war had become an end in itself, not the victory’
’And so what happened?’ asked Boreas ’Your authority was absolute e toppled you from power’
’You deliberately rew sick of the slaughter of the people I had slaved to free from those terrible times’
’Times you yourself created’ Boreas’s low voice was now just behind Astelan, he could feel the Chaplain’s breath on his scalp
’Have you not listened to a word I have said?’ Astelan snapped with growing exasperation ’You enera­tion of Tharsians died so that their descendants could fulfill their place in the Emperor’s vision, they could not stand idle while you took it from them’
’And so you took it upon yourself to take control, to usurp the Ihtenment,’ Boreas said
’No, not at first,’ Astelan replied before stopping to cough, his throat dry He heard oblet, filled ater Astelan could not reach to take it, and the Chap­lain dribbled the contents onto Astelan’s parched lips Gulping down the refreshing water, Astelan savoured the en­erals and colonels, but often they did not heed the wisdom of my experience They continually doubted me, told me that what I asked of the army could only be expected of Space Marines They were the old argureatness, of forging a neorld in the crucible of battle, my impassioned pleas fell on deaf ears It was after one of our regiments was ambushed and all but wiped out in the passes of Tharzox that Imperial Commander Dax appointed me commander of Tharsis’s loyal armies I swore an oath to hi him victory within a year’
’A bold clain of your conceit perhaps?’ Boreas said, accooblet on the floor
’An achievable goal, now that I had been given supreme authority and direct control,’ answered Astelan ’My first act was to execute the existing army comaant banquets, not to lead men in bat­tle I replaced them with the best leaders fro and capable, men with keen ainst the renegades, there would be hard fighting ahead, and the men I chose to lead in my name were utterly loyal to the Emperor, men ould command without doubt and folloithout question’
’And did you fulfil your oath?’ asked Boreas from the shadows
’I did, within two hundred and fifty days,’ Astelan declared proudly ‘The old regihted Their narrow oal, to understand the necessity of hardship and sacrifice They had baulked at sooal of victory Those two hundred and fifty days were full of tur­ But it was necessary for the future of Tharsis If I had acted as , the people of Tharsis forced to live a half-life in subservience and fear It would have been a long, slow death for the world’
’And so you found a harsh cure for this planetary er, Astelan could hear the Chaplain breathing more deeply ’You, their self-appointed saviour, led them out of the dark­ness’