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’Lord Boreas?’ the co hailed by Captain Stehr’
’Very well,’ Boreas said with a nod, striding to the com­munications panel He activated the speaker Your presence is no longer required, captain, I wish you a speedy and uneventful journey back to orbital dock’
‘This is intolerable!’ Stehr’s voice ranted back over the link ’That vessel was a prize of the Iht to destroy it’
’I not only had the right, but the authority and a duty to do so,’ Boreas answered sternly ’I deemed the contin­ued existence of the traitor vessel to be a threat and have acted accordingly I do not understand your e by right of capture,’ Stehr protested ’My creould have been paid hand­so her’
’Service to the Emperor is its oard,’ Boreas replied bluntly ’Your financial status is not my concern’
’I shall inform Commodore Kayle of this unprovoked action,’ Stehr continued ’Not only have you fired upon a vessel of the Imperial Navy, you wiped out an entire ship’s crew and destroyed a prize ship’
’I trust you will give Commodore Kayle a full and detailed report of the action,’ Boreas said ’Be sure that you include ard for my orders not to board the Saint Carthen You should also take pains to tell hiered me’
’You launched torpedoes at us!’ Stehr’s voice was almost a shriek
’I launched torpedoes close to your vessel to prevent you co to further harm,’ Boreas corrected the naval officer ’However, I demand that you leave this area immediately and do not attempt further contact with the Blade of Caliban otherwise my next torpedo salvo will not be aier,’
’I shall see charges brought against you for this,’ Stehr replied ’Even if it ht before a court hest authorities if I have to’
’Your threatsto me, Captain Stehr,’ Boreas replied ’We are not of the Imperial Navy, neither Commodore Kayle, nor your admentum has any authority over us Even Imperial Commander Sousan does not have authority over us, we answer only to the Supreels and the Eside you because we share a common foe, but it is wholly at our discretion hoe choose to fight the enemies of the Emperor And now you are here only at in to wear my patience Your presence here also pre­sents a threat to the security of my vessel andwithin the next fifteen minutes I shall take action myself’
Boreas sla the wooden panel around it
’Power to starboard broadsides, target the Thor Fifteen,’ he commanded, and this time the crew acted without hesitation Severalofficers reported the Thor Fifteen powering up her plasun deck crews to stand down and swept out of the chamber, his mood foul
It would take the Blade of Caliban six days to achieve orbit over Piscina II Boreas felt the tih the destruction of the Saint Carthen had been a deserved victory, they had yet to root out the Fallen themselves Boreas was hopeful that whatever diabolic plan they had been trying to enact had been undone with the destruction of their ship There was no way to be sure though, and the only course of action available to him was to follow the little evidence they had in the hope of finding the Fallen stranded in their base on Piscina II
But there was anotherof the Saint Carthen, he called his co chamber
’You are about to face a foe unlike any you have fought before,’ the Interrogator-Chaplain began ’You have all battled renegades in the past, but to fight the Fallen is to fight against a dark reflection of yourself Some are utterly depraved, as physically corrupted as a Berzerker or Plague Marine, but others appear no different froion, they carry the same symbol upon their shoulder as us But remember that they are not like us They are traitors and heretics who turned upon the Lion and the E new to us,’ Thu for­ward ’We are ready for them, as ere ready for them before’
’You may think you are prepared, but you must steel yourselves for the reality,’ Boreas warned ’They will try to talk to you, to appeal to you as brother Space Marines They will twist the teachings of the Lion, to sow doubt and weaken your resolve Do not heed their words! Harden yourself to their lies, their falsehoods and warped philosophies’
’I will hear nothing over the roar of my bolter!’ exclaimed Zaul with a snarl ’Let their corpses try to cor­rupt us!’
’And therein lies the danger,’ Boreas said slowly ’For the Fallen are not a foe we can execute out of hand’
’What do you mean?’ demanded Hephaestus ’The punishment for treachery such as theirs is death and damnation’
’But the quest, this crusade, is not just to erase the evidence of our dishonourable past,’ Boreas said, his gaze directed over their heads, as if he could see through the wall to the chapel beyond ’It is to expunge the sins of the past It is not enough that we simply kill the Fallen, for the stain on our souls still re of death, and we shall be the ones to bring it upon them But first it is our duty to allow the theiveness for ourselves’
’Salvation?’ Zaul almost spat the word out and Boreas looked at hiht this curse down upon us, what hope is there of salvation for thealaxy of their harh’
’It is not for us to judge the wisdom of ten thousand years,’ Nestor cut in before Boreas could reply
Zaul looked at Boreas, his expression full of consterna­tion
’Kill the mutant, the witch, the heretic, the alien,’ the battle-brother said stubbornly ’That is ere taught’
’And you have learnt well,’ Boreas replied with a faint smile before his expression hardened ’But now you must learn a new lesson, and learn it quickly If we encounter the Fallen, they are to be captured alive We will hold theels arrives, and then they will be passed into the hands of my Brother-Chaplains’
’And then?’ Zaul demanded ’And then they die?’
’Yes, but not before we have laid bare the full extent of their crimes,’ Boreas said ’Not before they have the chance to save their souls by aduessing rightly what the Chaplain’s words i cha power lines, the throb of the engines through the hull and the distant clank ofdeep into his eyes
’If it is your will, Brother-Chaplain, that we take the Fallen alive, then it shall be so,’ Zaul said eventually, dropping his gaze to the deck
’It is my will,’ Boreas replied
The display screen of the briefing rooe of the rid sprawled the Fallen’s base of operations in grainy red ades’ station, Boreas had ordered the Blade of Caliban to approach cautiously, edging into orbit a few kilometres at a time, ready to pull back from any fire from the surface No strike ca just two kilours and sur­veyors directed towards the cratered surface
At the heart of the base, Boreas couldcraft, soth and fifty s expanded outwards fro craft like a ferrocrete spider web of enclosed ays and bunkers half buried in flows of dust and grit Thin shafts of light spilled fro next to the Interrogator-Chaplain exa out features that looked like power generators, comms arrays and sur­veyor dishes
’They have no weaponry capable of orbital attack,’ Hephaestus said, confir what Boreas already sus­pected ’However, with the scanning equipment of the centtal ship, boosted by the relays to the sub-stations, I think we must assume they are noare of our pres­ence, even if they are unable to act’
’These look like weapons turrets,’ Da at three separate emplacements, one on the ship itself and two others in towers a few hundred er across the large screen to indicate their converging fields of fire ’They’re positioned well, no easy attack route Wherever we strike froeted by at least two turrets’
’They look like energy weapons, a at Hephaestus The Techmarine nodded
’Yes, you can see the ar froines,’ he said ’Lascannons, I would say, by their appearance Given their elevation and the low defraction of the ate of four or five kilomeUes, able to hit us as soon as we entered the upper atmosphere’