Part 16 (1/2)

a”Ammunition depleted,a” said one of the servitors in its dead voice. The heavy bolter that formed part of its body clanked as the auto-loaders linked to the slavea's backpack cycled through empty chambers.

Away from the other officers, Osiron couldna't have cared less about Kathur Reclamation protocol regarding the sanct.i.ty of the architecture. His servitors were armed with heavy weaponry. He was going to use it.

In the wake of the a.s.sault, the moans of wounded Remnant reached Osirona's ears. Although it would have been a pleasant vindication to remain and finish the heretics off once and for all, the tech-priest was obeying Thadea's fall back order.

Without a word, he turned from the scene of carnage hea'd wrought, and his servitors followed in similar silence. The 88th squad with Osirona's unorthodox squad was a group of Whites.h.i.+elds, under the command of Squad Leader Farren Kel.

Kel was a Whites.h.i.+eld himself, just turned fourteen years of age. His black helmet was marked with the central white stripe denoting his members.h.i.+p in the Cadian Youth Legion, though a badge of minor rank was evident on his shoulder pad. Bylam Osiron, the Honoured Enginseer, made him nervous. And it wasna't the slaughter the machine-man was capable of. Seeing the tech-priesta's servitors gun down over a hundred Remnant was nothing. The Cadian boy was almost fifteen; hea'd already killed that many men himself.

a”Lord tech-priest?a” Kel asked, as the Whites.h.i.+elds a- all under sixteen years old a- fell back in smooth formation, each squad providing covering fire for the others. The Remnant was already retrying its rush at the Cadians.

a”An unnecessary honorific,a” Osiron murmured.

a”Sir, the captaina's orders are to proceed to his position.a” Kel tightened his helmet strap, his blue-violet eyes fixed on the black depths of Osirona's hood.

a”I heard them,a” Osiron said. Kel just nodded to Osirona's words. No sense asking how the Mechanicus holy man had news the squad had only just picked up on their vox-caster.

a”Forward for Cadia,a” Kel called out, pointing his own newly-issued chainsword towards the distant figures of the embattled Vigilant platoon. He still felt faintly ridiculous shouting out battle cries like that. He felt like he was doing a bad imitation of Captain Thade, but his troopers followed his every word without any laughter.

They made good time, moving swiftly through the graveyard. Osiron and the servitors were forced into an awkward forward-tilted walk to keep up. Kel heard the tech-priesta's breathing coming in harsh metallic rasps, and not for the first time he wondered just how old Osiron was. Was this laboured breathing natural for one of the Machine Cult?

Commissar Tionenji met them on a small rise. A dozen of his men were still alive, the rest lay strewn around the hill. Flanked by Dead Mana's Hand, the survivors were enjoying a momentary respite as they readied to fall back to Thade. The tanks that had been a.s.saulting their position were burning husks some distance away, shattered and wrecked by the fury of the five Sentinelsa' autocannons. Kel stared at Tionenji for several moments.

a”Squad Leader Kel,a” Tionenji flicked gore from his chainsabre. a”Never seen a commissar before?a”

a”No, sir. Never, sir.a” This was a lie. Kel had seen plenty, but this was his first time off-world. He was staring because hea'd never seen a man with black skin before. a”Courage: Broken, sir,a” Kel added.

a”Ah.a” Tionenji noted the Whites.h.i.+elds had only a few casualties. Their success was the tech-priesta's doing, no doubt. Or perhaps the children had simply been sent to a section with less intense fighting. But why had the boy said a”Brokena”? He smiled as he gestured to the men preparing around him. a”Vigilant,a” he said, a”in bad shape, but Unbroken.a”

Kel forced a smile. It must have looked awkward, because the commissar straightened his cap and frowned. a”Something wrong, squad leader?a”

a”It doesna't mean that, sir.a”

a”Hm?a” Tionenji turned as one of Dead Mana's Hand opened fire once again, the heavy bang-bang-bang of its autocannon echoing across the graveyard as it pounded a distant group of what looked like plague-slain. a”What doesna't mean what?a”

a”Unbroken, sir. Ita's just slang. Code for a'able to complete mission objectivesa'.a”

a”Then wea're all Broken, eh?a”

a”Yes, sir.a”

a”How very uninspiring that thought is.a” Tionenji signalled the move-out with a short blast of the whistle around his neck. a”Thank you for the tip, young man.a” He made to move, then turned back to Kel. a”Tell me something else, if you would.a”

a”Anything, sir.a”

a”The Sentinel squadron. Why are they called a'Dead Mana's Handa'?a”

Kel grinned. It made him look even younger. a”Named after the captain, sir.a”

a”Named after his lost hand?a” asked Tionenji. A trifle grim, even for Cadian humour.

a”Ha! No, sir. Have you ever played Black Five? Ita's a card game. We play it back home. If you get dealt all five black cards in your first turn, ita's impossible to win. We call it a dead mana's hand.a”

a”And the captain a”

a” is the worst card player youa've ever seen, sir. Adar a- that is, Scout-Lieutenant Vertain, sir a- he named the squadron after he won three monthsa' wages from the captain. Theya're the captaina's elite scouts, therea're five of them, and the name stuck.a”

The two platoons fell back together, closing on. Thadea's position. Tionenji made a promise to himself then: if he survived this, he was going to do his d.a.m.nedest to make some money off Thade at a card game.

The Second Shadow stood alone. The Chaos fleet closed in, and only now did the strike cruiser turn to face its oncoming attackers. The wreckage of enemy fighters drifted around the black s.h.i.+p like a corona.

The half-human creature at the Terminus Esta's void s.h.i.+eld console writhed in the Heralda's direction. It tried to speak for the first time in months, but the taint within was so rich, the creature could barely recall human speech. Instead it psychically projected its message in a burst of panic.

Typhus, still standing, turned his colossal armoured bulk to the nearest Death Guard warrior.

a”We have been boarded. a.s.sault pods have breached a” the Herald paused, reaching out with his powerful sixth sense, sending his consciousness throughout the halls of the diseased s.h.i.+p. He felt the intrusion as wounds in the flesh of his beloved vessel.

a” decks nineteen, thirteen and six. Starboard. Sections twenty to twenty-four.a”

Strange, he thought. No sense of intruding life.

a”The Raven Guard have not left the pods, yet. Slaughter them as they emerge. Slaughter them all. Bring me their skulls so the lowliest of my slaves will have new pots to p.i.s.s in.a”