Hero of the Imperium, page 12
‘We are aware of the value of Imperial promises,’ El’sorath said, with the barest trace of sarcasm. ‘But we will make our own enquiries.’
‘Of course.’ Grice wiped his face with the sleeve of his robe, quivering like a plasmoid, and failing to recover a shred of dignity. ‘Our Arbites will keep you apprised of everything we’re able to uncover.’
‘I would expect nothing less,’ El’sorath said.
‘We’re in position, commissar,’ Lustig said in my ear. Kasteen and I exchanged glances.
‘What’s it like out there?’ she subvocalised.
‘Panic and confusion, ma’am. And there seems to be something going on in the city.’
‘Perhaps you’d better return to your compound,’ Donali suggested to El’sorath, unaware of the ominous messages we’d been getting. ‘My driver–’
‘Wouldn’t get fifty metres from the gate,’ Kasteen put in. I switched frequencies to the tactical net, as I was sure she had, and heard a confused babble of voices in my ear. PDF units were mobilising in support of Arbites riot squads, and unrest was spreading across the city like jam across toast.
‘What do you mean?’ Grice quivered, looking around for a flunkey to blame. Palace security troops were finally beginning to deploy, guarding the exits, although I didn’t expect much help from them if they actually had to defend the place. Lots of ceremonial gold armour which wouldn’t stop a thrown rock, and old-fashioned lasguns with the ridiculously long barrels I’d only seen before in museums, and which probably hadn’t been fired in the last couple of millennia.
‘There are riots breaking out all over the city, Your Excellency.’ Kasteen almost sounded as though she was enjoying breaking the bad news to him. ‘Mobs are attacking the Arbites sector houses and the PDF barracks, denouncing the Imperium for the ambassador’s murder.’
‘How could they know?’ Grice blustered. ‘The news hasn’t had time to spread...’
For a moment I wondered if my ill-timed transmission to Lustig had been the cause of all this, then common sense reasserted itself. There hadn’t been time to disseminate the information even if someone had been listening. There was only one possible explanation.
‘A conspiracy,’ I said. ‘The murderer had confederates who were spreading the rumour even before he struck. This wasn’t just meant to disrupt the negotiations, it was supposed to signal a full-scale revolt.’
‘More lies!’ El’hassai had been quiet for the last few minutes, staring at the ambassador’s corpse as though he expected it to sit up and start giving us the answers. ‘You think we’d sacrifice one of our own to seize control here?’
‘I think nothing,’ I said carefully. ‘I’m just a soldier. But someone’s orchestrating this, Emperor knows why. If it’s not your people, then maybe it’s some Imperial faction trying to smoke out your supporters here.’
‘But who would consider such a thing?’ Grice burbled. I glanced at Orelius, my suspicions about him flooding back. The Inquisition was certainly ruthless enough, and had the resources to do it.
‘That’s for wiser heads than mine to determine,’ I said, and for a moment, the rogue trader’s gimlet eyes were on me.
‘Our prime concern must be the welfare of your delegation,’ Donali insisted. ‘Can we get a skimmer into the grounds?’
‘We can try.’ El’sorath was keeping it together, at least. He produced some sort of voxcaster from the recesses of his robe, and hissed and sighed a message into it. Whatever the response was, it seemed to satisfy him, and calm the others, even El’hassai seemed a little less jumpy.
‘An aircar has been dispatched,’ he said, tucking the vox away. ‘It will be with us shortly.’
‘And in the meantime, my guards will ensure your personal safety,’ Grice said, beckoning a few forward. The tau looked dubious at this.
‘They were signally unable to do so in the case of O’ran Shui’sassai,’ El’sorath pointed out mildly. Grice flushed a darker shade of grey.
‘If anyone has a better suggestion, I’d be delighted to hear it,’ he snapped, grabbing a large glass of amasec from one of the servitors which continued to circle the room, oblivious to all the commotion.
‘I believe the commissar arrived with an honour guard,’ Orelius said. ‘Surely a man of his reputation can be trusted with so delicate a task.’
Thanks a lot, I thought. But with that reputation at stake, all I could do was mutter something about it being an honour I didn’t deserve. Which was perfectly true, of course.
Donali and the tau were all for it, once the idea had sunk in, so I found myself leading a small gaggle of xenos and diplomats out of the hall, and into the open air. Lustig and the others came pounding up as we emerged, lasguns primed, and took up station around us.
‘Be on your guard,’ Kasteen warned them. ‘The assassin’s still at large. So trust no one, apart from us.’
‘Especially the diplomats,’ I added. Donali shot me a sharp look, and I smiled to pretend I was joking.
‘I don’t like it here,’ I said quietly to Kasteen. ‘It’s too exposed.’ She nodded agreement.
‘What do you suggest?’
‘There’s a shrubbery over that way.’ I pointed, blessing the instinctive paranoia that had had me looking out for boltholes on our drive in. ‘It’ll give us some cover at least.’ It was also out of the pool of light surrounding the house, less exposed to prying eyes and sensor equipment.
So we scurried over to it, the troopers double-timing, and the tau keeping up with remarkable ease. Donali kept up with difficulty, but managed to converse with El’sorath the whole way, slipping between platitudes in Imperial Gothic and the sibilant tau tongue for what I assumed to be remarks too sensitive for the likes of us.
Not that I had the time to eavesdrop on their conversation, even if I’d had the inclination. Vox traffic on the tactical band was getting more urgent, the situation deteriorating rapidly.
‘The governor’s declared a state of martial law,’ I relayed to Donali, who took the news remarkably well, only kicking two ornamental bushes to pieces before calming down enough to respond verbally.
‘He would. Cretin.’
‘I take it you don’t think that will be helpful,’ I commented dryly.
‘It’s about as helpful as putting a fire out with promethium,’ he said. Even I understood the logic of that. The riots on their own were bad enough, but putting several thousand PDF troopers like the ones I’d encountered in the Eagle’s Wing on to the streets, itching for an excuse to bust heads, was just asking for trouble. And that was assuming none of them were secretly xenoist sympathisers.
‘So long as none of the PDF trolls take it into their heads to attack the tau...’ I began, then trailed off, unwilling to complete the thought. The notion of the aliens being forced to defend themselves, unleashing the wargear Divas had enthusiastically described to me, was truly horrifying; because if that happened it was credits to carrots we’d be mobilised to stop them. And, aside from my natural desire to keep as far away from the killing zone as possible, I was by no means sure that we could.
‘Our enclave is surrounded by agitated citizens,’ El’sorath announced after another brief and incomprehensible conversation on his own vox. ‘But overt hostilities have not yet occurred.’
Well, thank the Emperor for small mercies, I thought, and stepped aside to talk to Kasteen, who was still monitoring the tactical net.
‘There’s a mob of rioters heading this way,’ she said. ‘And a PDF platoon with orders to secure the palace grounds. When they get here it’ll be bloody.’
I listened to the traffic myself for a few moments, overlaying the sitreps with my still somewhat hazy mental map of the city. If I was right, we had barely ten minutes before the slaughter began.
‘Then let’s make sure we’re somewhere else,’ I said. ‘As soon as our little blue friends are airborne, we’re leaving.’
‘Commissar?’ Kasteen was looking at me, a little curiously. ‘Shouldn’t we stay to help?’
Help a bunch of gold-plated nancy boys hold a virtually indefensible fixed position against a mob of blood-maddened lunatics? Not if I had anything to do with it. But I needed to put it a little more tactfully than that, of course.
‘I appreciate the sentiment, colonel,’ I said. ‘But I suspect it would be very unwise politically.’ I turned to Donali for support, unexpectedly pleased that the diplomat had hung around. ‘Unless I’m misreading the situation, of course.’
‘I don’t think you are,’ he said, clearly reluctant to agree with me. In his position, I wouldn’t be too happy to see the only competent soldiers in the vicinity moving rapidly away, either. ‘At the moment this is still an internal Gravalaxian matter.’
‘Whereas if we get involved, we run the risk of bringing the rest of the Guard in behind us,’ I finished. ‘Which would be just as destabilising as a tau incursion.’
‘I see.’ Kasteen’s face fell, and I suddenly realised that she’d been hoping for a chance to prove herself and her regiment. I smiled at her, encouragingly.
‘Cheer up, colonel,’ I said. ‘The Emperor has a galaxy full of enemies. I’m sure we can find one more worthy of us than a rock-throwing rabble.’
‘I’m sure you’re right,’ she said, though still with a faint air of disappointment.
Well, she’d just have to get over it. I switched channels again.
‘Jurgen. Get over here now,’ I voxed. ‘We’re going to have to leave in a hurry.’
‘On my way, sir.’ The growl of an engine preceded him, the large military truck ploughing parallel gouges in the immaculate lawn that would take generations of gardeners to completely erase; he swung it to a halt beside us with his usual disdain for the conventional use of brakes and gears.
‘Good man.’ I waved to my malodorous aide, who popped the cab doors, but kept the engine running. Time began to drag now. Lustig had fanned the troopers out into a textbook defensive pattern, making good use of the available cover, and I could see that the two fire-teams had set up in mutually supporting positions as Kasteen had intended. They looked tight and disciplined, their minds on the job, and with no trace of the old rancour I’d half feared would surface the first time any of our troopers found themselves in combat together.
Of course, they still had to face that ultimate test, but this was far more than an exercise, and they were still responding well. I began to feel reasonably confident about getting back to our staging area in one piece with them to hide behind.
‘Listen.’ Kasteen tilted her head. I strained to hear over the thrum of our truck’s idling engine, but failed to hear anything else for a moment; then I could distinguish it, the faint susurration of a nulgrav flyer approaching at speed, the humming of its ducted fans quite different from the powerful roar of an Astartes speeder or an eldar jetbike. It was the first time I’d ever encountered tau technosorcery at first hand, and its quiet efficiency was subtly unnerving.
‘There.’ Donali pointed, his outstretched finger tracking the curved metal hull as it swept over us and swung around to align itself on the headlights of our truck. I breathed a quiet word of thanks to the Emperor, even though I was sure he wouldn’t be listening, and turned to El’sorath.
‘Bring them in,’ I said, and watched while Lustig’s troopers moved quickly and smoothly to cover the area of lawn next to us. ‘It looks safe enough.’
One day, I’m going to learn not to say things like that. No sooner had the words left my lips, and the tau diplomat raised his vox to contact the pilot, than a streak of light rose from the streets beyond the perimeter wall.
‘Holy Emperor!’ Kasteen breathed, and I spat out something considerably less polite. I snatched the smooth plastic box from an astonished El’sorath.
‘Evade!’ I screamed, not even sure if the pilot spoke Gothic. Within seconds it was academic anyway. The missile impacted on the underside of the vehicle, punching through the thin metal plating, and exploded in a vivid orange fireball. Flaming debris began to patter down around us, but the burning wreck of the fuselage carried on moving, trailing down to impact harmlessly on one of the wings of the palace. As it struck, tearing through the walls, it set off a secondary explosion, probably the fuel or the powercells. The noise was incredible, making us flinch almost as though it were a physical thing, and I was blinking the afterimages clear of my retina for some moments to follow.
‘What happened?’ Donali stared in bewilderment, as screaming figures erupted from what was left of the palace.
‘More gue’la treachery!’ El’hassai screamed, glaring around as though he expected us to turn on him any second now. To tell the truth, it was getting more and more tempting every time he opened his mouth, but that wasn’t going to get my skin out of here intact. My best chance of doing that depended on keeping Donali and the xenos sweet.
‘I’m inclined to agree,’ I said, shutting him up through sheer astonishment. ‘It seems our assassin has confederates in the PDF.’
‘How can you be sure?’ Donali asked, clearly not wanting to believe it.
‘That was a krak missile,’ Kasteen explained. ‘We’re the only Guard unit in the city, and we didn’t fire it. Who else does that leave?’
Well, too many possibilities for my liking, but there wasn’t time to go into that now. I cut into the tactical net, using my commissarial override code.
‘Krak missile fired in the vicinity of the governor’s palace,’ I snapped. ‘Who’s responsible?’
‘I’m sorry, commissar, that information isn’t available.’
‘Then find out, and have the brainless frakker shot!’ I was suddenly aware that my voice had risen. Kasteen, Donali, and the little group of tau were staring at me, their faces flickering yellow in the light of the burning palace. I hesitated, more considered courses of action beginning to suggest themselves. ‘No, wait,’ I corrected myself, to the evident relief of the unseen vox operator. ‘Have everyone in that squad arrested and held for interrogation.’ I bounced off Donali’s questioning look.
‘We don’t know yet if it was someone panicking, a deliberate attack on the surviving tau, or just sheer stupidity,’ I explained. ‘But if it was an attempt to finish what the assassin started, it might lead us to the conspirators.’
‘If you are able to identify the assailants.’ El’sorath nodded, the human gesture strangely unsettling.
‘If it is a conspiracy they’ll have covered their tracks,’ Donali predicted gloomily. ‘But I suppose it’s worth a try.’
‘What I don’t understand,’ Kasteen said, frowning, ‘is why they didn’t wait until the aircar took off again. Surely if they wanted to kill the other tau, downing it on the run in was pointless.’
‘No, colonel. It was exactly the point.’ Sudden realisation hit me like a punch to the gut. One thing to be said for being paranoid is that sometimes you begin to see patterns no one else can. ‘Killing the ambassador was meant to make them run. The mobs in the streets were meant to leave them with nowhere to go. They’re supposed to have only one option now.’
‘Call in their military to extract them.’ She nodded, following my chain of reasoning. Donali put the last link in place.
‘Bringing them into direct conflict with Imperial forces. The one thing we can’t allow to happen if we’re to have any hope of avoiding a full-scale war over this miserable mudball.’
‘Then we must die.’ El’sorath said, as though he’d been suggesting a stroll through the park. ‘The greater good demands it.’ His companions looked sober, but none of them argued.
‘No.’ Donali did, though; he wasn’t about to have any little blue martyrs offing themselves on his watch. ‘It demands that you live, to continue the negotiations in good faith.’
‘That would be preferable,’ El’sorath said. I was beginning to suspect that the tau had a sense of humour. ‘But I see no way to effect so desirable an outcome.’
‘Colonel. Commissar.’ Donali looked at Kasteen and me a moment after a sudden sinking feeling in my gut warned me that this was about to happen. ‘You have a vehicle, and a squad of soldiers. Will you try and get these people home?’ For a moment, I struggled with the idea of the xenos as people. I suppose Donali’s diplomatic training made him think a little differently from the rest of us21, but I couldn’t think of an excuse to refuse, try as I might. ‘Not just for the good of the planet. For the Emperor Himself.’
Well, I’d pulled that one on enough people in my time to be aware of the irony, but it was an appeal I couldn’t turn my back on without sacrificing my hard-won reputation, and even though I’d be the first to admit it’s completely undeserved, it’s proven its worth to me far too often to be casually discarded.
Besides, however unhealthy trying to smuggle a truck full of xenos through a city in flames was likely to be, staying here to be caught in the crossfire between rioters and the PDF looked like being a whole lot worse. So I smiled my best heroic smile, and nodded.
‘Of course,’ I said. ‘You can count on us.’
Editorial Note:
Once again, as we might expect, Cain’s account of this crucial night’s events is completely self-centred and lacking in any wider perspective. I’ve therefore taken the liberty of inserting another extract from Logar’s history of the Gravalax incident, which, like the one quoted earlier, provides a moderately accurate summary of the overall situation despite his manifest shortcomings as a historian in almost every other respect. Hopefully it may prove useful in placing Cain’s narrative into some kind of context.
From Purge the Guilty! An impartial account of the liberation of Gravalax, by Stententious Logar. 085.M42
With the advantage of hindsight, we can see how the conspirators had prepared the ground carefully for their coup d’etat, spreading rumours of the assassination so far in advance of its execution that few, if any, thought to demand proof of these claims when the deed was actually accomplished. Tension between the loyal subjects of His Divine Majesty and the turncoat dupes of the alien interlopers had by now become so pervasive that only the tiniest spark was needed to ignite an inferno of lawlessness which threw the entire city into disarray.
