Part 8 (1/2)

aThe council was divided on this, Dhrykna. I can understand your concerns, but you must believe that we have exorcised them already. There were some who did not want to involve the mon-keigh in our business, even at this time of great need. There were some who would rather have perished than entrusted anything to the clumsy and ignorant humans. But, plans were laid long ago, plans beyond even the collective wisdom of the Seer Council today. Lord Ulthran himself stands as the composer, and we merely dance to the subtle music of his symphony. Your part in this is clear to us, and we would be telling an untruth if we told you that this whole affair does not rest on your shoulders. The s.h.i.+ning Spear will flash through the darkness once again, and your soul will dance in the glory of its light. The mon-keigh are a blunt instrument, but the spear is rapid and precise. Without you, they will fumble in the darkness. And without them, Ulthwe is lost.a aThere is no need for you to convince me, Eldressyn of Ulthroon. I cannot hide my heart from you, and I will make no attempt to do so. I have no desire to accompany the primitives, but, on your command, it will be done. Might I ask just one question of you?a aYou might.a Eldressyn did not smile, but her face was clear of hostility.

aWhy just me and Shariele of the Lost Souls? Why not a squad of Black Guardians or a detachment from the Dark Reapers?a Because this honour falls into the path of your future, s.h.i.+ning Spear. The thoughts of Thaeaakzi slid quickly into Dhryknaas mind, before Eldressyn had the chance to answer her. There is no other around whom the currents of time swirl with such pristine clarity, and thus no other to whom we may entrust this task.

Dhrykna bowed her head once again. aAs you wish, Emerald Seer.a Do not think that I believe you have answered my question, she thought, only half hiding her thoughts from the seer. In that moment, the s.h.i.+ning Spear realised that even though she knew that she could not trust the mon-keigh, she should also be careful about the words of the seers; their ways were far more treacherous than those of the warriors.

As the Lance of Darkness fired its engines and blasted out of Calmainocas dock, Octavius thought that he could feel its machine-spirit heave a ma.s.sive sigh of relief, as though it were emerging from under a huge weight of resistance. The atmosphere on the control deck lightened and the tension that had been growing between the Marines in the rest of the vessel seemed to ease slightly.

While the rest of the team administered to their armour and weapons in the armoury, Octavius and Atreus watched the main viewscreens on the control deck reorient to a rear-facing scene. The incredible structure of Ulthwe was accelerating away from them, bathed in the distortion of discharge from the Lance of Darknessas engines, which were firing at nearly maximum capacity. Both the s.h.i.+p and the pilot-serfs wanted to get away from the craftworld as quickly as they could, it seemed. Despite the rapid acceleration, Ulthwe dominated the screen for a long time, obliterating the light of the stars and looming like a ma.s.sive, intricate monolith.

There had been no time to wait for Ashok; in any case, Octavius was not sympathetic to the missing Angel Sanguine. It was not clear why the librarian had left the kill-team on Ulthwe, and Octavius did not appreciate having his command compromised by the actions of a maverick Marine, not even by the magnificent librarian. Besides, Lord Vargas had instructed him to proceed without Ashok.

The inquisitor lordas tone had been uncharacteristically stern, and Octavius had needed no further encouragement to vacate the alien craftworld. He had never left a Marine behind before, and he was not entirely comfortable with doing it now, but his duty to the Ordo Xenos, to the Inquisition, to the Imperium and even to the Ulthwe eldar forced his hand. Duty before all else. Besides, part of him suspected that, if he wasnat dead already, the unpredictable librarian had had something to do with the disappearance of the two seers from the upper levels of Ulthwe during the raid. No matter how magnificent the Angel Sanguineas combat prowess might be, Octavius could not shake the feeling of distrust that always flooded his brain when he came into contact with him. Whatever the case, the captain was not well-disposed to wasting more time on that cursed craftworld waiting for the librarian, who was either dead, a loose cannon, or even a traitor.

As they watched the diminis.h.i.+ng image, waves of s.h.i.+vers pa.s.sed through the bodies of the s.p.a.ce Marines, as though the Lance of Darkness itself were pa.s.sing through successive boundaries of icy energy. At first, Octavius thought that his mind was simply releasing the tension that it had stored whilst aboard the monstrous alien vessel, but then he remembered the similar feelings that had wracked the frigate as it had approached the craftworld.

Atreus nodded, as though reading the captainas mind. Some kind of psychic sensor array, captain. We are clearing its reach now.

aIf there is such an array,a began Octavius, his suspicious mind juggling the information without turning away from the screen, ahow can the dark eldar raiders approach the craftworld undetected?a Their psychic technology is far superior to yours, human. The icy, unfamiliar thoughts made Octavius turn. They hurt his head and pushed his mind in unnatural directions. Their presence is much more subtle; they are little more than shadows in the darkness.

The tall, sinister shape of the eldar warlock was standing in the doorway to the control room. It had taken off its elaborate helmet shortly after take-off, revealing a perfectly smooth, porcelain white face with dark, elliptical eyes. Its head was an elegant oval, and its hair fell in long, black cascades down to its slender shoulders. Rather than appearing menacing and powerful, there was a distinctly feminine quality to the inescapable danger that emanated from the eldar war-witch.

aThen how do you detect them?a Octavius made no attempt to approach the alien, and he kept his voice low, forcing the warlock to approach in order to hear him.

There are ways that you would not understand.

Try us, interjected Atreus, honing his thoughts into deceptive daggers and pus.h.i.+ng them slowly into the warlockas head, hoping that they would cause at least a little pain.

Shariele flicked his black eyes over to Atreus, narrowing them with a strange hatred that confused the Blood Raven. There were accusations written into that alien gaze, although Atreus could not see their form or content. The librarian was well aware of the unusual connection between the fabled Gabriel Angelos, captain of the Blood Ravens Third Company, and the eldar of the Biel-Tan craftworld, but he had never thought that he would see echoes of that relations.h.i.+p in the eyes of an Ulthwe warlock.

Your minds are not adequate, replied Shariele, punctuating his thoughts with moments of psychic pressure that sent ripples through Atreusa head. The warlock was making his point emphatically; it was not a challenge, but it was certainly a response to the librarianas test. The two psykers were sizing each other up.

Octavius watched the silent concentration sear through the air between Atreus and the warlock, and he realised immediately that something was going on.

aEnough,a he said. aAtreus, we have no time for this. And you, Shaariell,a continued Octavius, not caring that he was probably butchering the eldaras name. aYou are here to a.s.sist us, not to hinder. It is no secret that we would rather be without you, and I suspect that the feeling is mutual. However, until our duty is done, we will work together to ensure the success of this sortie. Make no mistake, alien,a added the Deathwatch captain, bringing his face closer to the delicate features of the warlock, aonce this thing is over, you can test our strength all you like. But I warn you now, you will not find the Emperoras Deathwatch lacking in resolve or power.a The Ulthwe psyker held Octaviusa gaze for a moment, as though trying to a.s.sess the captainas sincerity. Then it nodded slowly, aping a brief bow of deference. aWe hinder you are not here to,a it said, jumbling the alien tongue self-consciously. aHelp need you. Help you must we. Understood.a aWe do not need your help, alien,a replied Octavius without diplomacy. The eldaras lack of fluency in the tongues of the Imperium made communication difficult and unreliable, but he was certain that the implied insult had not been accidental. aWe merely require that you do not interfere with our duty.a As he spoke, the s.h.i.+mmering and beautiful figure of the female warrior stepped through the doorway into the control room. She nodded respectfully, meeting the eyes of Atreus for a moment before striding past the small group to watch the receding picture of Ulthwe on the viewscreens.

Despite his disciplined composure, Octavius s.h.i.+vered again. He did not care that the aliens paid him so little respect; he could even understand how they might focus their attentions on the librarian. The eldar were a psychic race, and he could imagine that they viewed ungifted humans as stunted or primitive life forms. Quite what they made of librarians like Atreus and Ashok, he had no idea. Come to that, he was not even sure what he thought about Ashok.

However, it was one thing for the aliens to disrespect him personally, and it was quite another for them to behave without appropriate decorum on the control deck of an ancient Deathwatch frigate. He could only imagine the enormity of the insult being done to the machine-spirit of the venerable vessel with two aliens occupying places of honour on the control deck itself. He hoped that Sulphus would be able to tend to the vessel before it was called upon for combat.

A warning klaxon interrupted his indignance, and a blue range warning light started to pulse over the main viewscreen.

aIt appears that even our primitive technology is of use, after all,a said Octavius, turning away from the warlock and striding across to one of the display terminals for the long-range sensors. Clearly visible at the top of the screen were three small marks, which the cogitator recognised immediately as emanating dark eldar signatures. aIt seems that we will have company rather sooner than we expected.a The corsairs rolled and flashed around the Lance of Darkness, flickering in and out of visibility as though falling in and out of phase with the material realm itself. Their shadowfields clicked on and off intermittently, as though the flurries of sparking fire that spat out of the gun arrays interfered with the mimic engines.

The three ranged signatures had divided and multiplied into six as they had closed on the Deathwatch frigate, splintering into three attacking pairs that spiralled around each other and darted around the vessel, peppering its heavy armour with volleys of darkly glimmering fire.

The gun bays around the perimeter of the frigate resounded with fire, coughing out explosive warheads and slicing through the detritus with lances of lasfire. The gun-servitors were working overtime, tracking the rapid and constantly s.h.i.+fting trajectories of the dark eldar corsairs and rattling out fire into their wakes.

Even the control deck rocked under the fury of the frigateas defensive actions, as each and every gun turret seemed to fire simultaneously but in a different direction. The kinetic release from the ma.s.sive recoils of the heavy cannons sent shock waves pulsing through the infrastructure of the frigate.

In comparison to the maelstrom that raged outside, the control room was a haven of calm. Octavius and Atreus stood in the centre of the roughly circular chamber, observing the behaviour of the dedicated serfs who operated the controls and made constant reports on damage inflicted as well as suffered. Streams of data flooded into the cogitators from around the s.h.i.+p, and the serfs sifted it immediately, presenting Octavius with the salient information so that he could instruct them appropriately.

The serfs aboard the Lance of Darkness were amongst the most talented of their kind in the Imperium. Just like the Deathwatch Marines themselves, these serfs were drawn from the ranks of the pledge workers of a number of different s.p.a.ce Marine Chapters, often arriving in tow behind a Marine captain or sergeant that had insisted on bringing one or two of his own most trusted support staff.

The Ordo Xenos in some sectors still insisted that the serfs should be drawn directly from their own internal bureaucracies or should be seconded from the Imperial Navy, believing that service under the Deathwatch required special capacities that only the Inquisition itself could instil. However, many facilities, including the Watchtower Fortress of Ramugan itself, acknowledged that the serfs best suited for service under a kill-team were those who were already well-drilled in the strategies of the Codex Astartes and who had served under s.p.a.ce Marines before.

Just as the great Watchtower would enlist and train the very best Marines from throughout the Adeptus Astartes, so a separate and almost forgotten administration scoured the Chapters for talented serfs, recruiting them, training them, and then utilizing them for limited periods of secondment, before returning them to their original service vessels to fulfil their pledges to the relevant Chapters. It would be simply disastrous to entrust the transport of the Imperiumas finest s.p.a.ce Marines to a second-rate crew of serfs and servitors, and the relations.h.i.+p was also beneficial for the separate Chapters that contributed their personnel, since the serfs would return much more experienced and capable than when they left.

aBring us around. Point her nose back towards Ulthwe,a growled Octavius. aLetas see whether these aliens are willing to risk the deployment of eldar support.a The captain was gazing up at the main viewer, watching a line of explosions strafe in the wake of a pair of speeding corsairs a the gun-servitors were clearly unable to keep pace with the movement of the dark eldar at this close range. He did not direct his commands to anyone in particular, but a.s.serted them to the control deck as a whole, confident that the crew would see it done.

aWhat kind of damage are those things doing?a he asked, conscious that the movement he could feel in the hull was largely caused by the Lance of Darknessas own weapons.

aMinimal, captain,a came the reply. aTheir fire is not penetrating our armour.a Octavius nodded without looking for the source of the voice. All the serfs were the same to him. As long as he got the information he needed, he did not care who gave it to him. He was satisfied that his vessel was holding up under the a.s.sault, but something in the back of his mind urged him to be cautious; dark eldar corsairs were not known for lacking firepower.

aWhat are they firing?a he asked.

There was no reply.

aI asked a question.a He turned his gleaming eyes around to survey the crew behind him, annoyed that he had been forced to recognise its personality. The serfs were all positioned at their terminals, heads bowed over glowing screens, deep in concentration. aWhat are they firing?a he repeated.

n.o.body looked up. aWe canat tell, captain. Whatever it is, it is impacting against the outer armour and detonating there. There is almost no penetration into the plates. Itas as though the warheads are utterly without material substance.a The white armoured eldar strode over to one of the terminals and looked down over the serfas shoulder, inspecting the data and making the man squirm uncomfortably. The faint green glow from the screen cast her pale skin in an eerie light. She nodded, but said nothing.

Before Octavius could say anything, his attention was drawn back to the main viewer by the sound of an explosion. He turned in time to see one of the corsairs splutter and then detonate, a line of debris and puffs of off-target sh.e.l.ls running up behind it. Fragments spun and tumbled away from the epicentre of the explosion, ravaging the hull of the Lance of Darkness like shrapnel. At the same time, a chunk of debris smashed into the corsair that had been on the wing of the first, crunching through its thin armour and punching out of the other side of it, leaving a gaping hole through its fuselage.

As though responding to a signal, the other corsairs suddenly peeled away from the Lance of Darkness and flashed off towards the red, misty, glowing fringes of the Circuitrine system, close to the asteroid field that laced the lashes of the Eye of Terror itself.

aDonat let them get away,a said Octavius, keeping his eyes locked on the rapidly diminis.h.i.+ng shapes of the four escorts. aKeep up the gunnery, but leave at least one functioning a we need to find out where it is heading.a aBe careful, captain.a The voice was harsh and shrill, echoing as though spoken by more than one person in chorus. Before it had finished, Octavius could already feel the slight gravitational s.h.i.+ft caused by the rapid acceleration of the Lance of Darkness as it powered after the fleeing corsairs.

aWhat?a he said, turning back to face the glittering form of the female eldar. aAre you telling me how to conduct my s.h.i.+p, eldar?a His annoyance, already raised by the casual manner in which the eldar had perused the readouts on the control deck, was palpable.

The fleeing corsairs ducked and bobbed, weaving their way between and around the asteroids. Behind them, the Lance of Darkness roared with determination, its forward batteries spraying fire almost indiscriminately, exploding asteroids into scattering fragments and making life difficult for the remaining dark eldar pilots. Four corsairs had been reduced to three, but these were as elusive and slippery as fish in an ocean.

aThere!a yelled Octavius, pointing to one side of a ma.s.sive moon-like rock that was tumbling through the field. aTake us around the other way.a Even before he had finished the order, the Lance of Darkness banked sharply, firing a long series of retros that ran down its port side to tighten its curve. The frigate pulled itself back into line and roared past the ma.s.sive s.p.a.ce boulder, cutting short the flight path of the escaping corsairs and reeling them in. Immediately, and without waiting for an order, the forward guns coughed a volley of rockets into the heat trail of the alien vessels. Two of them struck home, charging up behind the flickering corsairs and punching into their exhaust rigs, detonating their engine cores in fantastical explosions of light. The debris of the two ruined vessels lashed out at the single remaining corsair as it spun and dived to avoid the sudden onslaught. It ducked beneath the fury and rolled round behind one of the larger asteroids, vanis.h.i.+ng from view.

aCease firing,a called Octavius, satisfied that he had caused enough damage to the aliens and conscious that he did not want to lose the last s.h.i.+p. The remaining corsair might be their only guide to the location of the kidnapped eldar seers. a.s.suming that there was only one band of dark eldar pirates operating in this section, it seemed more than likely that this corsair would be heading back towards the same base to which the craftworld raiders would have taken their prisoners.

aBring us up behind that asteroid and cut propulsion. We are going to wait for that corsair to break cover. When it does so, let it clear visible range but track it on the long-range scanners. We need to know where it goes, but we do not need it to watch us following it.a aUnderstood,a came the anonymous reply.

aIt seems that our primitive technology may be good enough, aliens,a said Octavius, without turning to face the warlock or Aspect Warrior who stood uneasily on the deck behind him. They had refused to take seats during the pursuit, and it seemed probable that they were not used to the rough gravitational s.h.i.+fts that such manoeuvres could generate in an Astartes frigate. Eldar vessels were equipped with gravitational stabilisers that nullified all the effects of such movements and were the envy of the Imperial Navy.

As he spoke, the signature of the last corsair reappeared on the monitor, accelerating rapidly away from the blind side of the huge asteroid.

aItas moving, captain.a aGood. Wait.a The dark eldar escort s.h.i.+p flashed out towards the edge of the asteroid field, accelerating continuously, putting a great distance between itself and the lurking Lance of Darkness. But then it stopped dead. There was no period of deceleration; it just stopped. After a tiny delay, it had reoriented itself and was rocketing back towards the asteroid, following exactly the same flight path as it had used in its escape route, accelerating all of the time.

aCaptain. Itas coming back.a aOn screen,a said Octavius with interest. Perhaps the flighty and treacherous dark eldar had some honour after all: were they returning to finish the fight head to head?

The main viewscreen flickered and a line of static oscillated across it, leaving the ghostly green image of the sensor terminal enlarged for all to see. The corsair signature was racing down from the top of the screen at an unbelievable speed. It was heading directly for the asteroid at the bottom, behind which lurked the Lance of Darkness. To everyone present, it looked clearly like a collision course.

aArm the forward torpedoes,a murmured Octavius, his complex blue eyes transfixed by the apparently suicidal image. aAnd bring us around to face the horizon of this rock. If our visitor is going to overshoot, then we will be ready for him.a There was no reply, but the captain knew that his orders were being fulfilled.

aStop can not the darkling.a The white-clad Aspect Warrior stepped up next to Octavius, joining his concentration on the darting image. aToo fast.a For a moment Octavius said nothing. He was not sure whether the alien was telling him that the Lance of Darkness was too slow or that the corsair was travelling too fast to be able to stop before it hit the asteroid.