1_For_The_Emperor Read online

  It must have been the belated realisation of this which spurred the loyal cadre of Planetary Defence Force regulars into turning on the traitors in their midst, taking heart from the salutary way in which the Imperial Guard had dealt with the alien-lovers who had dared to desecrate the streets of an Imperial city with open rebellion. Their patriotic fervour at last aroused, His Divine Majesty's most loyal servants began to cleanse the hideous stain on their honour in the only way possible; by shedding the blood of those whose craven panderings to the aliens

  in their midst had led the whole planet to the very brink of the abyss.

  At first, the renewal of martial spirit was sporadic, beginning with the arrest of those unit commanders whose loyalties were, for one reason or another, suspect. Inevitably, however, faced with the threat of exposure, those whose souls were stained with the guilt of collaboration resisted, proving their black-heartedness by opening fire on the heroic defenders of Imperial virtue. The rot spread exponentially after that, until almost every PDF unit was engaged on one side or the other; indeed, such was the confusion that many were unable to tell friend from foe and simply engaged every other unit they encountered indiscriminately.

  Under these circumstances, it was hardly surprising that the most fervent of the loyalists lost no time in placing the blame squarely on the shoulders of those ultimately responsible, the xenos themselves, and resolved to rid our world of the taint of their presence without further delay. These heroes of legendary proportions, whose names would undoubtedly ring down the ages of Gravalax forever more if enough of their bodies had remained intact to identify, turned on the corruption at its source and threw themselves against the very citadel of the invader.

  Alas, faced with the overwhelming firepower of this redoubt of the unholy, they were cut to pieces,

  but the damage had been done. Aware for the first time of their own vulnerability, the tau advanced into the city to slaughter the righteous, and the very future of Gravalax hung in the balance.

  Throughout these events, one question remains unanswered. Why did the Imperial Guard take so long to respond? Accusations of cowardice are clearly ridiculous, if not treasonous, the lord general's reputation alone being sufficient to belie them without a moment's thought. Once again, the only credible explanation is that of conspiracy, some dark machination hindering their deployment for reasons we can only guess at. As to the hand behind that conspiracy, a careful sifting of the evidence once again points us firmly to the shadowy presence of the rogue traders…

  [And after a reasonably concise summary of events up to that point, he veers off on his personal obsession once more. Perhaps it's just as well, though; if anyone were to deduce the real enemy we were facing, we would have to take steps to o6scure the truth.]

  ELEVEN

  Whatever happens, we have got The Emperor's blessing. They have not.

  – From 'The Guardsman's Duty,' a popular ballad. (Trad.)

  The warehouse was just as we'd left it, which is to say it was a tangled mess of collapsed rubble and gently smoking debris. As we disembarked from the Chimera, the scent of old burning caught at the back of my throat, making me cough. We hadn't seen any more of the supernaturally fast tau dreadnoughts before we reached our destination, but I remained cautious nevertheless, ordering the troopers to consider the area enemy territory as we left the relative safely of the armoured carrier. What little I'd been

  able to glean from the vox traffic was less than encouraging, and my attempts to get through to someone more senior at divisional HQ for clarification were futile; no one there seemed to have a clue what was going on either. Besides, this was the inquisitor's little expedition, and she showed no sign of calling it off, so I gave up after a while and just let her get on with it.

  'It seems clear enough,' Amberley said, consulting an auspex she'd produced from somewhere, and for a moment, I wondered what else the dark cape concealed. Nevertheless, the troopers debarked with commendable precision, covering each other as they moved. Kelp on point, while the others remained protected by the vehicle's armour plate until he'd reached the cover of a nearby heap of rubble, then Trebek, who headed for a tumbled wall on the opposite flank. Once they were established, Velade followed, taking up a position behind them, then Holenbi, who, I noticed, picked a spot where he could cover her as effectively as possible despite leaving a small blind spot in his coverage of Trebek. After a moment's hesitation, I decided to let it go just this once. After all, they weren't the most cohesive team I might have wished for, and it could have been an honest mistake. Sorel swept the area with the targeter of his long-las, and raised a hand. 'It's clear, commissar/ he said. "You can move.' 'After you/1 said. He shrugged, almost imperceptibly, and was gone, crouching low, hurrying over the uneven ground to a point about fifty metres ahead of

  Kelp, where a fallen structural beam lay across a tumbled internal wall. He scrambled up it, worming his way into a gap between the chunks of masonry, and froze, scanning the rubble around us through his magnifying sight. If I hadn't been keeping an eye on him the whole way, I would barely have known he was there.

  Amberley raised a quizzical eyebrow at me.

  "Wouldn't it have been more prudent to have moved out while he kept you covered?' she asked.

  Any other sharpshooter, yes/ I said. 'But after what he said at the briefing-'

  'Better safe than sorry/ she finished for me. I nodded, and indicated the open ramp.

  Whenever you're ready, inquisitor/

  'After you/ she said, and I almost missed the grin that accompanied her echo of my own words. I wouldn't have been all that surprised if she didn't trust me, mind you; I wouldn't have trusted me either, but then I suppose I know myself better than most.

  So I smiled in return, to let her think I thought she was joking, and dropped to the ground, my boots crunching on the scattered ash. Jurgen had left the driver's compartment by now and I was joined by his odour, followed an instant later by the man himself. In spite of myself, my eyebrows rose.

  'Are you sure you're not a little lightly armed for this?' I asked, and a momentary frown of concern flashed across his face before he realised I was joking.

  Like the rest of us, except for Amberley (for all I knew, she might just have concealed hers the way I

  had), he was wearing a carapace jacket, but in a reassuring nod to the Guard I knew, his was definitely one of the standard sizes - too big - although most of his kit looked like that at the best of times. He had a hellgun like the others, but it was slung across his shoulders. In his hands was the unmistakable bulk of a meltagun, a heavy thermal weapon normally used to give tanks a hard time in close terrain, which was about the only time you stood a chance of getting near enough to use one without being spread across the landscape. Emperor alone knew where he'd got it from, but it was a reassuring sight nonetheless. He shrugged.

  'I thought if we were tunnel fighting we might want to clear a path quickly/ he said. Well, it would certainly do that, I thought, whether our path was blocked by rubble or enemy troopers.

  'Good idea/ I said. On this kind of mission there was no such thing as overkill.

  'Did you remember the marshmallows?' Amberley asked, appearing at my elbow. Jurgen looked a little worried.

  'I don't think so…' he began.

  'She's joking, Jurgen/ I reassured him. A slow grin spread across his face.

  'Oh, I get it. It's a thermal weapon, and you toast-'

  'Quite.' I turned to see Sorel signal the all-clear, and Kelp begin the next step in the complex game of leapfrog which would get us to our objective.

  * * *

  I'd half expected us not to find it, what with the building having collapsed and all, but Amberley's auspex pointed us in the right direction, and after a few moments of alternately dashing forward, ducking for cover, and trying to keep an eye on five former mutineers I didn't trust for a second, we assembled again in the shadow of a wall. Or what was left of one, at least.

  'It should
be around here/ Amberley said, sweeping the little instrument around so its guiding spirit could get a better view. Something on the readout seemed to satisfy her, and it vanished into the recesses of her cloak as deftly as it had appeared in the first place. She indicated a small heap of rubble, and smiled. 'Under that, if I'm not mistaken/

  'Kelp, Sorel/ I said, indicating the debris, and the two men stepped forward, Kelp with a scowl and the sniper with his usual lack of expression. They slung their weapons and began the onerous task of shifting the rubble. 'The rest of you keep watching our perimeter/ I ordered, diverting their attention from the work. Somewhat shamefaced, Trebek, Velade, and Holenbi stopped gawping at the rapidly growing hole and resumed their guard duties.

  'Not good/ I muttered to Jurgen. They shouldn't have let themselves get distracted that easily, even if the inquisitor's little gadget had assured them there were no hostiles in the area. He nodded.

  'Sloppy/ he agreed, unconscious of the irony.

  'Is that what you're looking for?' Kelp asked, after a few more moments of heavy lifting. What looked

  like a maintenance hatch of some kind had been revealed, bent and twisted by the heat and the pounding it had received from the falling rubble. He wiped a grimy hand across his sweating face, leaving a streak of soot and masonry dust. Sorel, more fastidious, wiped his hands against the knees of his trousers.

  'I think so/ Amberley said. Kelp nodded, grasped the handle, and pulled, every one of his overdeveloped muscles standing out as he strained against it. After a moment he gasped and let go.

  "We'll need a demo charge to shift that.'

  'Maybe if I…' Jurgen took a step forward, and aimed the melta at it. Kelp and Sorel scrambled back with almost indecent haste, and even Amberley looked a little disconcerted as she raised a hand to forestall him.

  'We just want the hatch open, not the whole building down.'

  'Right idea, though/ I added, seeing his crestfallen expression. Velade, Holenbi, front and centre. Five rounds rapid/ The twisted metal flashed into vapour under the combined power of the hellgun volley, and I clapped Jurgen on the back encouragingly. 'Good thinking/ Which, by his standards, it had been.

  'Or that might do it/ Kelp conceded, staring down into the darkened hole which had opened up at our feet. I aimed my trusty pistol at it, but it was a pointless precaution; anyone waiting in ambush would have been vaporised along with the inspection panel, and anyone outside the hellguns' area of effect would have been shooting back by now.

  'Good/ Amberley looked satisfied. 'I was hoping they'd think this way down had been blocked off/

  I wasn't about to take anything for granted, though, so I assembled the squad quickly.

  'Kelp/ I said, 'you're on point/ He nodded, but didn't look happy. 'Then Sorel, Velade, Jurgen, me, the inquisitor, Holenbi. Trebek has the rear/ That ought to keep the biggest potential troublemakers as far apart as possible, and separate the two lovebirds just enough to keep their minds on the job instead of each other. I hoped. Amberley caught my eye and nodded. Good, she wasn't going to undermine my authority by contradicting me.

  'Whatever happened to "ladies first"?' Kelp grumbled, and dropped into the dank-smelling darkness below.

  Well, it might have been a consequence of my upbringing, but the labyrinth of service ducts we found ourselves in felt almost reassuring. I was careful not to let myself get too comfortable, though, as in my experience complacency is just a shortcut to a body bag. No one was shooting at us, and the aus-pex, now back in Amberley's hand, remained reassuringly free of hostile contacts.

  Or, indeed, contacts of any kind. Our footsteps echoed back at us, despite every attempt at stealth, and the beams of our luminators picked out nothing more threatening than the occasional rodent.

  After a while, I noticed that the dust in the corridor ahead of us was undisturbed, a thick layer which

  puffed up under our footfalls before settling slowly back down again. I felt the residue tickling my eyes and the back of my throat, and fought the impulse to sneeze.

  This isn't the way you came before, is it?' I asked, and Amberley shook her head.

  'No/ she admitted. 'I thought a detour might be prudent, given the welcome we got the last time.'

  'But you do know where we're going, right?' I persisted. She repeated the gesture.

  'Haven't a clue/ she said cheerfully. Something of what I felt must have shown on my face, because she smiled then, and qualified the remark. 'I mean we should be heading roughly south-west, but all these corridors look alike to me/

  'Then we need to bear off more in that direction/ I said, indicating a side corridor that intersected the one we were in about thirty metres ahead.1 Kelp flattened himself against the wall next to it, and signalled the all clear.

  I was beginning to pick up a clearer idea of Amber-ley's destination, which, despite her claims of uncertainly, she manifestly had. If I still had my bearings we were heading in the general direction of the

  1 Cain's sense of direction underground was indeed remarkably good, as I had the opportunity to observe a number of times, a fact which adds some plausibility to his claim to have been native to a hive world. Although it should be noted that he could b'ecome as lost as anyone else on occasion, particularly when under fire or attempting to move closer to the enemy, a minor discrepancy over which I have tended to give him the benefit of the doubt.

  old quarter, which made some kind of sense. The tunnels would be closer to the surface there, making them more accessible to whoever else was down here. Who they might be, and what they might be hoping to achieve was still a mystery to me, however.

  We proceeded in silence for some time, until Sorel held up a hand, warning us to stop. Amberley and I padded over to join him.

  What is it?' I asked. Kelp's face, a pale disc in the gloom, stared back at us, waiting for the signal to proceed.

  'Movement/ he said, pointing away into the darkness ahead of us. Amberley checked the screen of her auspex.

  'Nothing on this/ she said. I didn't care what the box said. Techpriests might have complete faith in their machines, but I'd been let down by them too often in the past. Sorel had a sniper's instincts, and was as much a survivor as me, and if he was feeling spooked, then so was I.

  'Kelp?' I asked. The point man made a negative gesture. No contact.

  'I didn't see anything/ he added verbally.

  'OK. Proceed/ I said. Then quietly I added to Sorel, 'Keep your eyes open/ He nodded an acknowledgement and moved out, his gun at the ready. The others followed, a little more nervous now, and I waited until they'd all passed before dropping into line behind Trebek.

  'Taking the rearguard now?' Amberley asked, falling into step beside me. 'Isn't that dangerous?'

  It was, of course, the second most dangerous spot in the column, vulnerable to being picked off by an ambusher or a pursuer. But if Sorel was right, the enemy was definitely ahead of us now. I shrugged.

  'As opposed to the position of perfect safety that you're in at the moment?' I asked, and was rewarded with another throaty chuckle, which lifted my spirits in spite of myself. The mood didn't last long, though; as we passed the mouth of a service duct, I noticed the dust around it had been disturbed, and not long ago, either. I pointed it out to Amberley, my voice low so as not to alarm the others. 'What do you make of that?'

  The duct was a good two metres above the floor, but the dust beneath it showed only the marks of our own boots. My palms tingled, and I swept the beam of my luminator across the tangle of pipework that hung from the ceiling over our heads. It was possible someone had lurked there, but why had they moved just as we approached? And how had they got up there in the first place?

  'Remind you of anything?' Amberley asked quietly. Now that she asked, it did - a maddening sense of familiarity that refused to gel. The only thing I was certain of was that it had been something bad, but with all the horrors I'd faced up to that point, it didn't help much in narrowing it down. I was about to say somethin
g sarcastic to Amberley about another clue helping when my attention was firmly distracted.

  'Commissar.' Kasteen's voice hissed in my ear, hazed with static. 'Can you hear me?'

  'Barely,' I said. The metres of masonry and rockcrete over our heads were attenuating the signal, and if we went much further, we would be out of contact entirely. 'What's happening?'

  'The governor has ordered the arrest of Lord General Zyvan!' Even through the static the outrage in her voice was palpable. And he's demanding the Guard move into the city right away!'

  'On what charge?' Amberley said. Whatever vox gear she had was evidently a little stronger than mine, because Kasteen recognised her voice.

  'Cowardice!' Kasteen sounded even more outraged than before. 'How he has the nerve-'

  'Will be determined by the proper authorities.' Amberley's voice was crisp and commanding now. 'Until such time as that can be arranged the armies of the Imperium will remain under the command of the lord general, and if the governor objects to that, he is more than welcome to take the matter up with the Inquisition.'

  'I'll relay that message,' Kasteen said, evidently relishing the prospect of the governor's reaction.

  'Colonel/ I added, before she could cut the link. 'What's the situation with the tau?'

  'Grim/ Kasteen admitted. 'They're still engaging PDF units all over the city. Civilian casualties are already up in the thousands, and we have rioters choking the streets. But so far they've held off from attacking us. If the lord general and the diplomats can buy us a little more time-'