False Gods

observation gantry.

'No,’ whispered Karkasy. 'No, no, no,’

The Astartes were in no mood to be slowed by this mass of people, and brutally clubbed them aside as they forced a path through the crowd. The Mournival led the gurney through the crowds, mercilessly clearing a bloody path through the people before them. Karkasy saw men and women cast down, trampled underfoot, and their screams were pitiful to hear.

Mersadie held his arm as they watched the Astartes bludgeon their way from the embarkation deck. They vanished through the blast door and were lost to sight as they rushed towards the medical deck.

Those poor people…' cried Mersadie, sinking to her knees and looking down on a scene like the aftermath of a battle: wounded soldiers, remembrancers and civilians lay where they had fallen, bleeding and broken, simply because they were unlucky enough to be in the path of the Astartes.

They didn't care,’ said Karkasy, still unable to believe the bloody scenes that he'd just witnessed. They've killed those people. It was like they didn't care,’

Still in shock at the casual ease with which the Astartes had punched through the crowd, Karkasy gripped the railings, his knuckles white and his jaw clenched with outrage.

'How dare they?' he hissed. 'How dare they?'

His anger at the scenes below still seethed close to the surface; however, he noticed a robed figure making her way through the carnage below, reaching out to the injured and stunned.

His eyes narrowed, but he recognised the shapely form of Euphrati Keeler.

She was handing out Lectitio Divinitatus pamphlets, and she wasn't alone.

Maloghurst watched the recording from the embarka­tion deck with a grim expression, watching his fellow Sons of Horus batter their way through the crowds that swarmed around the Warmaster's wracked body. The pict replayed again on the viewer set into the table in the War-master's sanctum, and each time he watched it, he willed it to be different, but each time the flickering images remained resolutely the same.

'How many dead?' asked Hektor Varvarus, standing at Maloghurst's shoulder.

'I don't have the final figures yet, but at least twenty-one are dead, and many more are badly injured or won't wake from the comas they're in.'

He cursed Loken and the others for their heavy handed­ness as the image played again, but supposed he couldn't blame them for their ardour. The Warmaster was in a crit­ical condition and no one knew if he would live, so their desperation to reach the medical decks was forgivable, even if many might say that their actions were not.

'A bad business, Maloghurst,' said Varvarus needlessly. The Astartes will not come out of this well.'

Maloghurst sighed, and said, They thought the War-master was dying and acted accordingly,’

'Acted accordingly?' repeated Varvarus. 'I do not think many people will accept mat, my friend, once word of this gets out, it will be a crippling blow to morale.'

'It will not get out,’ assured Maloghurst. 'I am rounding up everyone who was on that deck and have shut down all non-command vox traffic from the ship,’

Tall and precise, Hektor Varvarus was rake-thin and angular, and his every movement was calculated – traits he carried over into his role as Lord Commander of the Army forces of the 63rd Expedition.

Trust me, Maloghurst, this will get out. One way or another, it will get out. Nothing remains secret forever. Such things have a habit of wanting to be told and this will be no different,’

Then what do you suggest, lord commander?' asked Maloghurst.

'Are you genuinely asking me, Mai, or are you just observing a courtesy because I am here?'

'I was genuinely asking,' said Maloghurst, smiling as he realised that he meant it. Varvarus was a canny sol­dier who understood the hearts and minds of mortal men.

Then you have to tell people what happened. Be honest,’

'Heads will need to roll,’ cautioned Maloghurst. 'Peo­ple will demand blood for this,’

Then give it to them. If that's what it takes, give it to them. Someone has to be seen to pay for this atrocity,’

'Atrocity? Is that what we're calling it now?'

'What else would you call it? Astartes warriors have committed murder,’

The enormity of what Varvarus was suggesting stag­gered Maloghurst, and he lowered himself slowly into one of the chairs at the Warmaster's table.

You would have me give up an Astartes warrior for this? I cannot do it,’

Varvarus leaned over the table, the decorations and medals of his dress uniform reflecting like gold suns in its black surface.

'Innocent blood has been spilled, and while I can understand the reasons behind the actions of your men, it changes nothing.'

'I can't do it, Hektor,' said Maloghurst, shaking his head.

Varvarus moved to stand next to him. 'You and I both swore the oath of loyalty to the Imperium did we not?'

'We did, but what has that to do with anything?'

The old general locked eyes with Maloghurst and said, 'We swore that we would uphold the ideals of nobility and justice that the Imperium stands for, yes?'

'Yes, but this is different. There were extenuating cir­cumstances…'

'Irrelevant,' snapped Varvarus. 'The Imperium must stand for something, or it stands for nothing. If you turn away from this, then you betray that oath of loyalty. Axe you willing to do that, Maloghurst?'

Before he could answer, there was a soft knocking on the glass of the sanctum and Maloghurst turned to see who disturbed them.

Ing Mae Sing, Mistress of Astropathy, stood before them like a skeletal ghost in a hooded white robe, the upper portions of her face shrouded in shadows.

'Mistress Sing,' said Varvarus, bowing deeply towards the telepath.

'Lord Varvarus,' she replied, her voice soft and feather-light. She returned the lord commander's bow and despite her blindness, inclined her head in precisely the right direction – a talent that never failed to unnerve Maloghurst.

What is it, Mistress Sing?' he asked, though in truth, he was glad of the interruption.

'I bring tidings that must concern you, Sire Mal­oghurst,' she said, turning her blind gaze upon him. 'The astropathic choirs are unsettled. They sense a powerful surge in the currents of the warp: powerful and growing.'

'What does that mean?' he asked.

That the veil between worlds grows thin,’ said Ing Mae Sing.

TEN

Apothecarion

Prayers

Confession