Choose Your Enemies, page 10
I shook my head. ‘The best-case scenario is that none of that happens. Why should it? Why now?’
Amberley looked grave. ‘Because the eldar have recently rediscovered a webway portal on Ironfound, down in the sump of the main hive. To cut a long story short, they claimed the planet long before the Imperium even knew it was there, and they’re not happy about how it’s been redecorated. They want it back. And, oh look, they’ve got a raiding fleet already in the outer system.’
‘God-Emperor,’ Kasteen said, and Amberley nodded.
‘My sentiments exactly.’
‘Right,’ Broklaw said, homing in on the tactical issues with his usual directness. ‘We need to send a message to Ironfound, get their planetary defence force on full alert, and whatever system defence assets they’ve got deployed in an outer defensive line.’
Kasteen nodded decisively. ‘And get there ourselves as quickly as possible.’ She glanced at Amberley for approval and, finding it, returned her attention to Broklaw. ‘Find an astropath, let the rear-echelon grox fondlers on Coronus know we need reinforcements for Ironfound, and to back up the defence forces here against the eldar and any heretics that might still be running around loose.’ She turned to Proktor. ‘Find us a ship.’
‘Right.’ He looked a little taken aback, but rallied quickly. ‘I’ll get right on it.’ He bowed, mainly at Amberley, and started for the door. ‘It might take a while. Most of the ones in orbit have their cargoes assigned by now…’
‘Then tell them I sent you,’ Amberley said. ‘Better still…’ She tapped her comm-bead. ‘Flicker. Scrivener Proktor’s just leaving. I’ve asked him to run a little errand for me, and I’m sure he’d be grateful if you and Zemelda went along with him to smooth his path.’
‘Thank you, inquisitor. Much appreciated.’ Proktor bowed again, with the air of a man who’d just poked a buzz saw to see if it was still running and was now trying to catch a couple of fingers. ‘I’ll get back to you within the hour.’
‘It’s still going to be tight,’ I said. I turned to Amberley. ‘Could we use the webway to get to Ironfound?’
She shook her head. ‘That isn’t an option. We had to collapse the tunnel leading to it before we came through. Even if we could work out how to activate the portal, your advance party would just be trapped in a cavern in the sump.’
‘At least we won’t have to worry about the eldar invading upwards through the underhive, then,’ I said.
‘Not in the short term,’ Amberley agreed. ‘Although the eldar are one of the oldest and most sophisticated races in the galaxy. I’m pretty sure working out how to use a shovel isn’t going to be beyond them.’
Editorial Note:
Since Cain skips lightly over the ensuing events, picking them up again only after some time has passed, the following extract may prove useful to any readers wishing to fill in the gap – although, as usual, any unwilling to plough through Sulla’s purple prose are perfectly at liberty to move swiftly on, if not actually encouraged to do so.
From Like a Phoenix on the Wing: the Early Campaigns and Glorious Victories of the Valhallan 597th by General Jenit Sulla (retired), 101 M42
The news that, dire as the situation on Drechia appeared, it was only the precursor to a greater and even more potent danger which had lain in ambush completely unsuspected was received by us all with the stoicism and renewed resolve I had come to expect from the daughters and sons of Valhalla, particularly those with whom I had been privileged to serve for so long. Though a certain amount of consternation among the rank and file was only to be expected, such apprehensions were gratifyingly short-lived, thanks to the inspirational leadership of Commissar Cain, whose habitual air of calm confidence had its usual reviving effect on the morale of all he spoke to, from Colonel Kasteen herself to the lowliest of the newly inducted troopers. My position as a company commander meant that I was fortunate enough to be briefed by, and occasionally converse with, the gallant commissar to a greater extent than most, drawing renewed heart from his manifest dedication to duty, nobility of bearing,[77] and unfailing concern for every member of the regiment.
The news that an inquisitor herself had requested our aid was, if anything, of even greater import, and cause for much speculation – something I must confess that even I felt constrained to indulge in on occasion. The prevailing consensus, however, possibly due to the calming influence of Commissar Cain, was that we would thereby be doing the Emperor’s work, and thus be under the protection of His divine hand throughout the trials to come which was, as can be readily appreciated, greatly comforting to us all. Of the inquisitor herself I saw nothing, since she preferred to work closely with Colonel Kasteen, Major Broklaw and Commissar Cain, all of whom it seemed were personally acquainted with her, although none of them were particularly forthcoming as to the circumstances under which this prior association had been minted. Knowing my duty, and the primacy of the need to know, I, of course, forbore to ask, although much speculation about the matter continued to be a staple of regimental gossip for some considerable time.
The news[78] that we were to pull out, in the midst of so grave a local crisis, was not, of course, well received by the Drechians, who protested as vigorously as one might expect; unsurprisingly it fell to the consummate diplomatic skills of Commissar Cain[79] to calm the situation. Even the planetary governor herself could hardly fail to be moved by his mastery of oratory,[80] eventually resigning herself to our departure with good grace and heartfelt wishes for our success.
In the meantime, of course, preparations for our rapid departure were being made. Thanks to the governor’s personal intervention[81] a freighter large enough to accommodate all the regimental assets had been requisitioned for our use with remarkable rapidity, and the process of embarkation begun within a day of the inquisitor’s unexpected arrival. I, along with the other company commanders, had, of course, been given the vital task of expediting our departure as much as possible, which in my case meant that Major Broklaw delegated most of the logistical matters to me, with the flattering observation that no other officer in the regiment could be relied upon to discharge these matters with equal diligence and despatch. This left him free to oversee the handing over of the defence of Drechia to the local forces, who, it must be said, had learned a good deal from our brief association, pending the arrival of whichever Imperial Guard unit was to take over from us. Whoever it was would find a world far better prepared to fend off the depredations of the perfidious xenos, the network of defensive works which we had prepared protecting the mines far more effectively than the more rudimentary constructions bequeathed us by the planetary defence force.
The defence forces themselves, on whom the task of holding the line against the eldar had now fallen unaided, rose to the challenge with all the fervour Commissar Cain’s inspirational peroration had imbued them with,[82] and we took our departure content in the knowledge that Drechia was, though now more weakly defended, still perfectly capable of meeting the challenge. Of the Chaos cult which Commissar Cain had so surprisingly uncovered there was little news, beyond the arbitrator’s office assuring us that investigations were continuing, and that the rounding up and purging of every last degenerate heretic was merely a matter of time.
Thus it was that we broke orbit a mere two days after the dread discovery of the eldar’s true plans, racing to the relief of Ironfound, and praying to the Emperor that we would be in time to protect it from the xenos’ fell purpose.
NINE
Proktor’s choice of vessel, an ore barge so nondescript as to be known only by a registration number[83] but dubbed Rustbucket by its crew, turned out to be an ideal one. For one thing it was large enough to accommodate the entire regiment and its materiel with room to spare, and for another its engines, designed to shift loads of around the megatonne mark, accelerated us like a scalded sump rat as soon as they were ignited, sending us scooting across the void at a rate I tried not to think about too much, more than halving the time the journey to Ironfound would normally have taken.
Best of all – and much to my surprise if I was honest – we’d got underway unmolested by any prowling eldar vessels, probably because the Rustbucket seemed indistinguishable to them from the hundreds of other ore barges plying the system – at least until we broke away from Drechia and began our sprint towards Ironfound, leaving the pointy-ears flat-footed behind us.[84]
Which still left us with a couple of weeks transiting open space to kill, but we managed to fill that with sufficient training exercises and orientation lectures to keep the troopers out of mischief, at least as much as could reasonably be expected. The inevitable exceptions kept me occupied enough not to think too much about what awaited us at the end of our journey, and given that Amberley’s presence aboard gave us enough time to renew our acquaintance with quite gratifying thoroughness, the whole interlude might almost have been pleasant.
Of course it was too good to last, the Rustbucket’s captain reminding us of the eldar’s presence a mere three days after our departure.
‘I thought you’d want to see this,’ she said, glancing up from a control lectern near the centre of the bridge as Amberley and I entered in response to the tersely worded invitation we’d received a few moments before. Her manner was deferential, as people’s tended to be in the presence of an inquisitor, but far from obsequious; I had the feeling that the Emperor Himself could have materialised on her deck and been left in no doubt that she was still the mistress of her own ship.
It was my first visit to the nerve centre of the Rustbucket, but I’d been on enough ship’s bridges over the years to orientate myself without difficulty, as they tended to follow more or less the same pattern. The captain’s station, currently vacant of course, was on a raised dais at the rear of the room, where she could keep an eye on her subordinates, manning the array of lecterns fanning out from it in three curving rows. Throne alone knew what half of them were monitoring, but I knew enough to pick out the ones relaying data from the enginarium, and the console Captain Addie was standing at was clearly an augur station.
‘What is it?’ Amberley asked, equally business-like, standing to one side as she spoke to allow Mott, who had accompanied us, a clear view of the display. I, on the other hand, was the sole representative of the Astra Militarum; Kasteen and Broklaw were still wrestling with the unenviable task of trying to work out how to defend an entire planet with a single regiment, and Jurgen had disappeared on some errand of his own, presumably in search of unattended comestibles or something he felt might come in handy once it was squirrelled away in his tangle of webbing pouches.
‘Something on the long-range augurs,’ Addie said, indicating the screen. ‘Cluster of contacts, heading out from the subsystem on the same course we are.’ Then a trace of doubt entered her voice. ‘But they don’t seem to be moving right.’
‘Eldar,’ Amberley said decisively, after a glance at the display. ‘They use light sails instead of plasma drives, so they’re faster and more manoeuvrable than Imperial vessels.’
‘How much faster?’ I asked, with the familiar sensation of having just been punched in the stomach. If I was reading the display right the contacts were a long way behind, but we still had the best part of a fortnight to go before we reached Ironfound – at least if we wanted to slow down enough to make orbit when we got there, instead of simply punching a continent-sized crater in it. Plenty of time for the eldar to catch up with us, if they really were capable of doing so.
‘That would depend on the intensity and direction of the etheric currents they’re tacking against,’ Mott said, taking the question as literally as Jurgen would have done. ‘But, based on indices of performance from previous encounters, the likelihood of them matching or exceeding our current velocity would be approximately fifty-seven point four three eight per cent.’
Captain Addie exchanged a concerned glance with her augur operator, clearly liking those odds no better than I did.
‘In other words,’ I said, ‘there’s a more than even chance that the eldar will get to Ironfound before we do.’ What I meant, of course, was that they’d catch us up and blow us out of the sky, intra-system ore barges like the Rustbucket not normally being over-endowed with weaponry, but putting that thought into words where Addie and her most senior officers could hear it was unlikely to end well.
Mott shook his head. ‘Not necessarily. That would depend on the class of vessel, as some are swifter than others. The estimate I just gave was averaged out.’
‘Then assume at least some of them will be faster,’ Amberley said, the faint air of testiness entering her voice imperceptible to anyone who knew her less well than I did.
‘If the flotilla includes destroyer- or frigate-sized vessels,’ Mott replied, ‘willing to operate beyond the effective support range of the heavier ships, there’s a thirty-seven per cent chance of making orbit around Ironfound before we do.’ An expression of faint surprise ghosted across his face. ‘Thirty-seven per cent exactly. How odd.’
Addie, at least, was looking a little more cheerful at this news. ‘They might make orbit,’ she said, ‘but they won’t stay in it. The orbital defence batteries will cut them to pieces.’
Mott nodded. ‘Their optimum strategy would be to remain together, and hope the firepower of the capital ships will be enough to breach Ironfound’s defences,’ he agreed.
Unfortunately the eldar appeared to have different ideas, as over the following few days it became increasingly apparent that a single squadron of faster ships had indeed broken free of the main fleet, and was closing inexorably on our position.
‘It’s going to be tight,’ Addie said, when I entered the bridge to observe the crew perform the deceleration rituals necessary to allow us to make orbit around Ironfound instead of ending up spread across most of the facing hemisphere. She indicated the augur screen, which, I’m bound to own, had taken up rather too much of my attention of late. The pursuing trio of eldar vessels had gained on us considerably, although to my untutored eye (mixed, I must confess, with a healthy dose of wishful thinking) we still seemed some considerable distance beyond the range of their weapons. Which made it a bad time to be slowing down, if you asked me.
‘The eldar will have to decelerate too, though, won’t they?’ I asked, and the captain pursed her lips, clearly wondering how best to answer that. Typically, she went for the forthright approach.
‘Frakked if I know. But the inquisitor says they don’t respond like our ships, so I wouldn’t hold your breath.’ She returned to her command chair and began issuing instructions to her crew, not so much ignoring me as shrugging off my continuing presence as something not germane to the proper functioning of her vessel, and therefore of no interest.
With nothing constructive to contribute I remained quiet, staring at the augurs, and wishing I knew enough about the arcane mysteries of navigation in the void to know if I needed to be worried.
‘Those enemy frigates are getting a bit close,’ Amberley said, appearing at my shoulder. She was unaccompanied as well this time, although whether from the desire not to distract Addie and her subordinates any more than could be helped on the already crowded deck, or because her retinue were otherwise occupied, I didn’t ask.
‘They are,’ I agreed, pretending to a lack of concern I was far from feeling, ‘but there’s not a lot we can do about it. Just trust in the Emperor to see us down safe.’ I looked at the augurs again, seeing the first few contacts of the nimbus of traffic surrounding our destination. They, and the sanctuary they represented, certainly seemed close enough to reach. In fact a few of them seemed to be moving in our direction. ‘What are they?’
‘System defence boats,’ Addie said, ‘moving out to intercept the xenos.’ She thumbed her palm, apparently unaware of making the gesture. ‘They should be passing our position in a couple of days.’
‘Good,’ I said, after a quick mental calculation. It was hard to be certain, but it seemed to me that there was at least a chance of scuttling behind the advancing picket line for protection before the eldar were able to close to within firing range.
Amberley chewed her lip pensively, apparently having come to the same conclusion. ‘It’ll be a damn close-run thing,’ she said.
In the end it was even closer than our most pessimistic forebodings. You can be sure I found an excuse to be on the bridge at the critical moment, reasoning that if I was going to be blown to perdition in the vacuum of space at least I’d be able to see it coming, and prepare some excuses in advance of my arrival at the Golden Throne.
‘I think we’re going to make it,’ I said, as the nearest system defence boat sailed past our position a scant few thousand kilometres away. I squinted quizzically at the blip. ‘What’s he waiting for?’ I was no expert, of course, but I would have expected its captain to have adjusted their heading by now; as it was, the cutter seemed to be making no attempt to intercept the oncoming eldar squadron at all, heading wide of their oncoming position.
‘You’re missing the bigger picture,’ Addie said, in the tone peculiar to an expert explaining what seems perfectly obvious to them. ‘The whole flotilla’s moving to intercept the main fleet. He’s not going to move out of position to engage a target of opportunity that the orbital defences can swat out of the sky anyway.’ She shrugged, barely masking the disappointment of someone who knew better all along, but couldn’t help hoping anyway. ‘It’s all a matter of priorities.’
‘I get that,’ I agreed. ‘But I’d have thought protecting the Imperial Guard unit that’s supposed to keep the planet safe would be pretty near the top of the list.’
