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Perhaps you now think that it was I as afflicted with paranoia, and not the priht, perhaps his taint had somehow touched me, and I must stress to you that at this tirievances, just a disquieting feeling, an instinct that soan to focus when I made another discovery Our pri on the front line of conquest even while directing the resources of his entire Legion But it appeared that his attention was not evenly spread across the Legion

For a primarch as said to love his homeworld more than any mortal inhabitant of Caliban, the facts painted a curious picture Rather than an understand­able, though still worrying, favouritism for the Chapters who shared the world of his birth, the Lion actually spent h two-thirds of the Dark Angels were now from Caliban, our primarch accompanied those Chapters less than a quar­ter of the ti and inevitable conclusion: the priels, our commander, did not trust us!’

Astelan stopped there to allow the ihts, but the Interrogator-Chaplain’s expression did not change It was as if nothing Astelan was saying had even the slightestfor the Chaplain at all

’Do you not understand?’ the former Chapter com­mander asked

’Explain it to me els! We were the first, the best of the E, our training and our wars We were the finest war­riors in the Imperium, none had conquered more, and none had showed more zeal in battle and more dedication to their dudes And now our primarch did not trust us!

It hit me like a shot and the realisation stunned me I see nohy perhaps you cannot understand You have been raised by the children of Lion El’Jonson, and his legacy is within you, so that distrust and secrets are sec­ond nature to you Not ht desperately for some other rationalisation, to offerelse that could explain the actions of our primarch

And still, I never once doubted the Lion I did not think the blame was his, I did not realise that it was his ht was that perhaps he had just cause, that perhaps the old Legion was failing in soht less valiantly under El’Jonson than e fought for the Emperor himself Perhaps our achievements matched poorly to those of the new Chapters Perhaps our attention to our duties had diular worry to me, especially when I received word fro con It was almost an accusation, and when I told my coht harder and with more dedication than ever before I impressed on them the need for us to shine in battle when the eyes of the prie they took to the battle-brothers and as we travelled to the Altyes systeht not fail in our primarch’s eyes’

’And so it was at this point that you started to subvert your own Chapter against the primarch?’ Boreas said heavily ’It was then that your heresy began?’

’I voiced my concerns to no one, and my research had been circu suspicions were unfounded,’ replied Astelan ’Let it not be said that I juht to accusation of Lion El’Jonson, that I saw e and found hi those long days on Caliban, and even later still while I wandered the wastes of Scappe Delve, that the pieces all coalesced into a single picture, that the instincts, the subconscious observations became focussed into a whole For I had plenty of time to ponder on my life at that point, and then when I came to leave Scappe Delve, the vision of the Greater Ihts Only now, to you, have I shared these truths’

’A dubious honour, you can be sure,’ Boreas said ’As you have pointed out yourself, there are explanations for these events, even if I were to discount your obvious paranoia and alomania None of what you have told me can justify your actions on Caliban, particularly your attein, Astelan? When did they really begin? Only when you confront them fully will you see them for the acts of treachery they are, and then be able to repent what you have done’

’It began, it truly began, in the Altyes systein, and our priilantly as ever, for the Great Crusade was a war to bring light into the darkness We never kneaited for us out in the stars and in the shadows between the starlight Ancient races with arcane weapons, barbaric huy, hus and more were out there

So you can understand that whenever we entered a new systeression, speed and deterreatest weapons, tempered with purity of purpose All were needed e arrived at Altyes’

’What did you find there?’

’The faint signals and their origin proved to be true There were indeed hu in Altyes They had retained reat addition to the growing Imperium but for one obstacle Altyes was over­run with orks The greenskins had come a century earlier, and overwhelmed the Altyans and now the whole planet was enslaved The hureat factories to build ships and weapons for the orks, who covered the world in a tee mass

We struck at once To the Altyans itfroalaxy itself had turned on them As we descended in drop pods and transports, the fleet opened fire on the planet below We hardened our hearts to the fact that thousands of Altyans lost their lives alongside the orks, for it was the world that ere trying to save, not individuals

How often have the Dark Angels gone to war as a whole Chapter in your lifetiest engagement I have been involved in had five coht, a whole Chapter at war! Over one thousand Space Marines e the E of jets and blacken with drop pods and gunships The ground itself explodes with laser blasts,at the heart of the enele stroke Even then, with a whole Chapter to coate a world, but they are enough to destroy any enemy

With decisive strikes, we destroyed and captured the largest factories and laid waste to thees, the fortifi­cations and landing pads In orbit, our fleet engaged the ork ships and drove the hulks Within two days we had forged ourselves a foothold on Altyes

Fro the orks back, catching the them into ravines and to the coasts Slowly, surely, their resistance wavered, and we continued to push theh they outnuh mobility and co-ordination we divided them and sub­divided them and continued to break them up and exterminate them one part at a time

Once orks have landed on a world it is polluted, and we rigorously cleansed Altyes of their presence, eradicat­ing every shred of their contaainst the battle-brothers of the Dark Angels, their disorganised, lacklustre attacks were all but useless Their ferocity was as keen as ever, but against the Lion they were doole way In firepower, in manoeuvre, in orbital supremacy, and in sheer fervour, ere always in a position of power Where they gathered in strength, we pounded them with our ships Where they were scattered, we sent our rapid strike forces to wipe them out before they could muster a resistance

Skilled and as experienced as I was, I learned n I studied the Lion, the way he planned, the way he directed our strengths and eems I had never conceived of, never mind put into practice Yes, I studied hard and learned well, but it was not until Tharsis and the quashing of the rebellion that those lessons were to be eain by me

Despite our unparalleled success, despite the valour of the battle-brothers, destroying a world full of orks is no quick matter The days turned to weeks, then months, and then a year But at the end, only one pocket of seri­ous resistance remained Several thousand orks had taken shelter in one of the passes that split the moun­tains at the heart of the southern continent While half my Chapter eliminated all trace of the orks across the rest of Altyes, El’Jonson and myself mustered five companies to wipe out the final ork encampment

It was then that Lion El’Jonson revealed his true nature The orks attacked unexpectedly, perhaps driven by desperation or perhaps by seeing soed out of the pass even as we prepared to attack, and shth Company But rather than stop to turn east or west, they drove north towards the city of Keltis Our primarch instructed hest order, in er half a million Altyans needlessly’

’But you yourself have already toldthe initial attack,’ coun­tered Boreas ’What was different about the fate of Keltis?’

’There are unavoidable civilian casualties in war,’ Astelan answered carefully ’Not only would great caution have risked the entire start of our cah our lack of speed, put even more Altyans at risk At Keltis, there were no such considerations, I believe it was ard for the worth of human life, his selfish preservation of those under his coantly decided that the pri, what did you do then?’ Boreas asked

’My Second and Fourth Companies were in a position to cut off the ork attack and hold them up while the rest of the Chapter responded,’ explained Astelan ’It was then, as I looked at the tactical displays that both the genius and the darkness of the Lion were revealed The Second and Fourth Companies were positioned perfectly for an attack on Kelris, and the primarch’s plan was to encircle the orks in the city and eradicate them It also became clear to me that the chink in our arhth Company, had been meticulously ordered by the Lion to te a poten­tially bloody assault on the orks’ position, he had pulled the the people of Keltis as bait!