Legion of the Damned

this part of the Emperor’s Imperium, no matter how small, to the Ruinous Powers – nor will I abandon the Emperor’s subjects, those who we were bred to protect, to torment and certain slaughter. This is, of course, largely academic. We have no astropath to call for reinforcement and without a Navigator, we cannot reinforce the Vanaheim Cordon with our own numbers.’

‘The Avignor Star?’ Ezrachi asked.

‘Their Navigator is dead,’ Kersh informed the Apothecary. ‘He inexplicably started bleeding from his mouth, his ears and his eyes. The ship’s surgeon tried his best but the Navigator could not be saved.’

‘The Angelica Mortis could make short-range jumps,’ Dancred said.

‘Yes,’ Kersh agreed. ‘And I have spoken with Corpus-Commander Bartimeus on the matter, but I have another destination for the strike cruiser. In the meantime, we have to face the reality of an imminent attack. With our number we can only afford to hold one strategic location and the city is our only real option. Pontifex Oliphant and I have arranged the recall of all Certusians from burial grounds and communities across the planet surface. They have made and continue to make their way here under the instruction of the Tenth Company Scouts. Whip Keturah, I believe you still have a number of your contingent outstanding.’

Silas Keturah fixed his corpus-captain with his single bionic eye.

‘Brothers Taanach, Omar and Iscarion are still outstanding,’ Keturah reported. He nodded his acknowledgement to the Techmarine beside him. ‘Brother Iscarion reported issues with the vitality of his vehicle’s machine-spirit.’

‘I will apply the necessary oils and benedictions,’ Dancred assured the squad whip.

‘Taanach and Omar have made no vox contact,’ Keturah informed the Scourge. ‘Which is unusual.’

Kersh nodded his agreement. ‘Go out with the Impunitas. Find them, Silas. We will need every brother in the dark hours to come.’

‘You have a battle plan?’ Ezrachi asked.

‘One that was good enough to serve our ancestral brothers and parent Legion at the walls of the Imperial Palace,’ Kersh told him. ‘Brother Dancred will oversee the demolition of all buildings on the city exterior.’ The Scourge paused, turned and looked at the young pontifex. He expected the ecclesiarch to offer some objection regarding the ancient lineage of the buildings or the holiness of the ground upon which they were to be collapsed. Oliphant hesitated and then nodded. The pontifex had seen up close the monstrous enemy that the Excoriators would be facing. ‘We’ll assume that an attack could come from any and all directions. The necroplex itself will impede large vehicles and slow the progress of mass charges on the city. There our bolters will do their worst.’

Several Excoriators nodded in grim appreciation. ‘Rubble mounds from the collapsed architecture will provide cover and elevation for our shooters, but more importantly an unbroken perimeter obstacle for our assailants should we have to fall back to the next line of buildings.’

‘What about the remaining citizenry?’ Oliphant asked through one side of his mouth.

Kersh hesitated. ‘The city is small but we simply do not have enough Excoriators, Charnel Guard and Adepta Sororitas to hold the line alone,’ he said.

‘You don’t have any Adepta Sororitas,’ Palatine Sapphira informed him with cool conviction. ‘My Sisters and I will be in the vault below the Memorial Mausoleum with the relic remains of his Reverence, Umberto II.’

‘I need your bolters on that perimeter.’

‘You can’t have them. I’m sorry.’

The Excoriator and Sister looked hard at each other.

‘You will be when we’re overrun by the enemy.’

‘You have your orders, corpus-captain, and I have mine.’

‘My orders invariably focus on saving the living.’

‘I’m afraid mine don’t,’ Sapphira told him harshly. ‘That many might fall today is regrettable, but nothing compared to the comfort and spiritual fortitude Umberto II’s sacred bones will give to future billions. See, corpus- captain – you must worry about the living but I must look to the yet to live.’

Kersh’s lip curled. He would get nowhere with the Sisters of the August Vigil.

‘The cemetery worlders will have to provide the extra coverage,’ Kersh said with regret.

‘And how do you propose they do that?’ Palatine Sapphira came back at him. Her voice was cold and cautious.

‘We will arm them from the city auxiliary armouries,’ the corpus-captain returned.

‘Impossible, that’s–’ Oliphant piped up, half out of his throne and tripping over his words.

‘Heresy,’ said Sister Sapphira, supplying the word for him. ‘That would break the Decree Passive. Should we survive the oncoming Cholercaust, we would all simply be executed for treason of faith.’

Kersh nodded, recalling his time at St Ethalberg.

‘Which is why Laszlongia would recruit them as Charnel Guard conscripts. They would be probitors, whiteshields – under the command of the lord lieutenant and the pontifex only in his role as planetary governor.’

‘I don’t like it,’ Sapphira said after a short pause. ‘It still smacks of insidiousness.’

‘I’m not asking you to like it,’ Kersh bit back. ‘And I’d simply call it expedience.’ He looked to the freshly promoted leader of the Certusian Charnel Guard.

‘My lord, you want to draft the citizenry into the ceremonial defence force?’

‘No,’ Kersh told him. ‘That’s what I want you to do. I’m sure under the severity of the circumstances, the Departmento Munitorum would hypothetically approve such measures.’

Proctor Kraski seemed to consider the proposal. The grizzled arbitrator finally said, ‘These here cemetery worlders are mainly diggers and labourers. Many can’t read and write anything beyond the most basic prayers. You’ve got a lot of women and children. None of the men have any combat experience.’

‘Would they know which end of a lasfusil was the most dangerous?’ Kersh put to the enforcer.

‘I expect so,’ Kraski said, chewing on his tobacco.

‘Well as long as they point that end in the general direction of the enemy, I’ll be happy.’ The Scourge looked from Kraski and the lord lieutenant to Oliphant. ‘The women and children can form a prayer cordon inside the perimeter.’

Pontifex Oliphant’s gaze moved about the floor. The ecclesiarch looked deeply unhappy and as though he were going to vomit on the basilica floor.

‘The Sister is right. The Decree Passive is not an obstacle to be circumvented. It is the God-Emperor’s law.’

‘Whether you designate them so or not,’ Kersh told him, ‘the Certusian people are your defence force. When the enemy attacks, they will have to fight for their lives. All I’m asking is that they also fight for everyone else’s. Pontifex, does not the God-Emperor fight on their side?’

The pontifex searched his soul and looked up at the dull stained-glass window above them. ‘Yes,’ he said tightly and left it at that.

‘These backwater wretches against the damned berserkers of the xiith Legion?’ Skase said with ill-disguised scorn. ‘You might as well offer them up on an altar to the Blood God yourself.’

‘There is another consideration,’ Ezrachi said, eager to take Kersh’s attention off the provocative Skase.

‘Apothecary?’

‘With so many losing their minds to this gall-fever, is it wise to indiscriminately arm the population?’

‘Do we know anything more of this madness?’ the corpus-captain asked.

‘Only that it isn’t physiological,’ the Apothecary replied. ‘And it doesn’t seem transmissible like a virus or infection. It is a malady of the mind. Men are no more susceptible than women, young no more than the old. All we do know is that the mental transformation from Certusian to savage is unpredictable, swift and that the first symptom is usually murderous bloodshed. I suspect it is some psychological condition brought on by the comet, but that is not for me as Apothecary to say.’

‘The lord lieutenant here is simply going to have to exercise his judgement. I suppose a cure is too much to hope for?’

Ezrachi grunted. ‘The same as for life, a bolt-round, administered to the heart or brain.’

‘What about our number?’ Kersh asked.