Legion (36 page)

‘Hurt and Peto? Never!’

‘Why never?’

‘I’d have known. I knew them both,’ Boone exclaimed.

‘I have identified the spy at the heart of the business,’ said Chayne. ‘He was using the name Konig Heniker, and operating under the guise of an Imperial agent. Uxor Rukhsana Saiid was running him during the Nurthene operation. Bronzi and Soneka were arrested after an attempt to remove her from the palace. Was that the Chiliad covering itself, I wonder?’

Boone felt his mouth drying up. He breathed deeply, and steered the Lucifer Black out of the path of a trundling servitor truck laden with ground attack missiles. He led Chayne into a nearby repair shop where crews were working on service parts.

‘Get out,’ he told the men.

They withdrew, puzzled.

Alone, Boone turned to Chayne. ‘Of course the Chiliad covers itself. We see a weak link, we clean house. Saiid was in bed, literally, I believe, with the spy. Soneka and Bronzi were simply covering our arses. I sanctioned them. You can’t blame the Chiliad for that. We cleared up our own dirty laundry.’

‘I won’t blame you, Boone,’ Chayne replied. ‘Tell me about Strabo.’

‘Fugging Strabo?’ Boone asked, raising his eyebrows.

‘Why is he called that?’

‘I dunno. It’s a long standing joke. Do you Lucifers make jokes, Chayne?’

‘Never,’ Chayne replied.

‘Why am I not surprised?’ Boone replied. ‘All right, what’s Strabo got to do with anything?’

Chayne walked away towards the shop’s workbench and inspected some of the tools idly. ‘He made a report, after the extraction from Nurth.’

‘I think he may have,’ Boone said.

‘Don’t be coy, Franco Boone,’ Chayne said. ‘With the Lord Commander’s personal authority, I have accessed the Chiliad’s private record base.’

‘That’s illegal,’ Boone spat. ‘You’ve no right!’

‘Council of Terra edict 1141236a, powers of search and inquiry, as governed by the martial process,’ Chayne responded. ‘During war operation, the authority of any Lord Commander, or commander holding a position of equivalent authority over an expedition or similar task force, or equivalent mandate, may be allowed, under suspicion or general threat of insurgency, to seize, audit, copy, access and otherwise examine any data files compiled and stored by any military section of a regiment under his purview.
That’s
my right. Tell me about Strabo.’

‘It was nothing,’ said Boone, miserably. ‘Strabo was head bashaw of the Clowns. They’d lost their het. Soneka was sent in as proxy, to see them through. As Strabo reported it, Soneka left the Clowns on station under bashaw command during the last few hours of the Nurth campaign.’

‘Why?’ asked Chayne. ‘Isn’t that rather unusual?’

Boone shrugged. ‘According to Strabo, Soneka just took off. Strabo, and bashaw Lon, who’s a much more reliable source, said that Soneka had taken a spy into custody, and was personally escorting him to us genewhips. Then Nurth came down around our ears and no one ever saw him again.’

‘Thank you,’ said Chayne.

‘That’s it?’ asked Boone.

‘One last request,’ said Chayne. ‘Supply me with the surface drop coordinates of Het Bronzi.’

‘Why?’

‘He is not working for us, genewhip,’ said Dinas Chayne, ‘and he hasn’t been for a long time.’

SEVEN

Eolith, continuous

T
HEY SCALED A
steep slope of jumbled rock littered with decomposing residue. Soneka saw poking ribs and split fatty blubber, filled with liquid putrescence. The stench was intolerable.

‘Come on, just a little further,’ Grammaticus urged. He had become imbued with a boyish vigour. Soneka and Rukhsana followed on behind him, Soneka clasping the uxor’s hand now.

‘Down here!’ Grammaticus called. They followed him down into a depression between leaning stone blocks. A cave of sorts lay before them, its basin flooded with black liquor between the scattered slabs.

The cave was cold and had an odd echo. Grammaticus leapt from stone to stone to avoid the stagnant water, hopping from one raised block to another as if they were stepping stones in an ornamental water garden. Soneka and Rukhsana followed him.

The cave opened out into the most enormous chapel of stone. Moisture dripped and trickled down out of the arched roof. There was a wide stone shelf in the centre of the space, like a stage. The wet rock shone like glass. Grammaticus helped Peto and Rukhsana up onto it.

‘This is it?’ asked Soneka, looking around at the ominous shadows, dubiously.

Grammaticus nodded.

‘What happens now?’

‘Wait, Peto, wait,’ Grammaticus replied. He turned in a slow circle, gazing up at the walls. He seemed to be listening for something. ‘I can’t feel them,’ he murmured. ‘Where are they?’

‘I may have to fleet,’ he decided after a moment.

‘You may have to what?’ asked Soneka.

‘Fleet! Fleet!’ Grammaticus said, as if everybody understood what the arcane term meant. He jumped off the stone platform and bent down beside a rock pool. He skimmed the surface of the water with his fingers. ‘Please, please,’ he mumbled.

Nothing happened.

‘Come on!’ he snapped, flicking his fingers across the water.

It suddenly went very cold.

Rukhsana pulled herself against Soneka.

+There is no need to fleet, John Grammaticus.+

Grammaticus looked up at the cave roof. ‘You hear me? You’re here?’

+We’ve been here all along, John.+

‘Show yourselves!’ Grammaticus called out.

‘Oh fug me,’ Soneka breathed, holding Rukhsana close. She was crying and agitated.

Shapes were beginning to appear around the platform of rock, alien forms cohering into place.

Soneka swallowed hard as he saw the inhuman nature of the things solidifying in front of him: ghastly shapes, mockeries of creation, a gathering of the most disturbing xenosforms. Some were pallid, multi-limbed entities, others whispered their respiration through fluttering mats of gelatinous pseudopods. Others were stalk things, or crouching vulpine shapes, or asymmetric insects. Some were horned, or boneless, or armoured in bizarre environment suits. A giant mollusc uncurled, glistening, from its vast shell. Two spavined avian creatures hopped forwards and peered with bright, curious eyes. Something mechanical rose up on four, club-footed limbs. One entity seemed to be nothing more than a beam of discoloured light. An imposing eldar in pearl white armour, somehow the most terrifying thing of all with its oh-so human shape, walked to the front of the congregation.

Grammaticus opened his arms wide, and bowed. ‘Hello, my masters,’ he sighed.

An insectoid scuttled out in front of the mighty eldar and writhed its mouth parts.

‘Greetings, John,’ G’lattro announced in perfect Low Gothic.

‘My friend, hello,’ Grammaticus replied.

‘Who have you brought with you to this place?’ asked G’Lattro.

‘Rukhsana Saiid, who is my heart love, and Peto Soneka, my friend,’ said Grammaticus. ‘I have come to arrange the meeting. The Alpha Legion awaits. I’m tired, sirs. This has been a long and punishing task, but it is done, and the Alpha Legion, though painfully cautious, is ready to hear what you have to say.’

Slau Dha, the autarch, murmured something.

‘The autarch wishes to understand why you have brought mon-keigh things with you,’ G’Latrro piped. ‘Where are the envoys of the Astartes Alpha Legion?’

‘I had to improvise,’ Grammaticus said. ‘The Alpha Legion is not easily manipulated. I could not allow suspicion and mistrust to debase this meeting. I did not want a misunderstanding to lead to bloodshed. Now that I have vouched for their intent, we can contact them directly and—’

‘Mon-keigh!’ Slau Dha boomed abruptly.

Grammaticus turned. Peto Soneka was aiming his laspistol right at him.

‘Peto?’ Grammaticus said, incredulously. ‘Control word
bedlame. Bedlame
?’

Soneka laughed. ‘You really thought that had worked, didn’t you, John?’ he asked. He tossed the locator to Rukhsana.

‘Got it, Peto,’ she said. She activated the beacon setting.

‘Rukhsana?’ Grammaticus stammered. ‘No!’

Stained light blinked and flickered all around the cave. There was a chorus of rapid, harmonic chimes. One by one, around the edges of the chamber, Alpha Legion warriors appeared in the shivering light display, weapons already trained. The teleport delivery left a dry, gritty scent in the air. In less than four seconds, fifty Alpha legionnaires were covering the Cabal from every angle. The members of the Cabal jostled and quivered, and jabbered in consternation. Slau Dha glared and reached for his weapons.

‘Stand where you are and make no attempt to resist,’ Omegon ordered, bolter aimed. He adjusted channels. ‘We’re secure.’

Light wafted. Alpharius materialised, with Shere at his side.

The primarch walked forwards. ‘Cabal,’ he said. ‘We meet at last, on my terms.’

EIGHT

Eolith, continuous

‘T
HERE
’
S A SHIP
approaching,’ said Mu. Bronzi called the company to halt and looked up into the saturated cloud cover. He couldn’t see anything.

‘There’s no drop due,’ he said, ‘and we haven’t been notified of air support. I can’t see anything.’

‘It’s there,’ she insisted, staring up into the sky. Her ’cept had caught its approach.

A dot appeared out of the clouds, and swooped down across the block valley, trailing vapour. It was a Jackal gunship.

‘What does he want, I wonder?’ asked Tche.

The gunship made two passes over the Jokers’ position, and then banked in and hovered down to settle on the flattest patch of rock in the immediate vicinity.

As soon as its claws bit into the ground, figures dismounted from the side hatch and ran towards the waiting geno company.

‘Lucifer Blacks?’ Mu murmured uneasily.

Bronzi felt a shudder of panic. ‘No, no,’ he whispered.

The three companions, armed and armoured, covered the ground sure-footedly, and reached the Jokers. They came to a halt in a row, apparently oblivious to the surly glares of suspicion that they were getting from hundreds of big, gene soldiers.

‘Hetman Bronzi,’ said the lead companion. ‘Identify Hetman Bronzi.’

A murmur ran through the company. Bronzi realised that he was trembling. There was absolutely no way he could run or hide from this. He did the only thing he could.

‘That’s me,’ he called, walking out of the huddled troops to face the Lucifers. One of them immediately stepped forwards and disarmed him. Bronzi didn’t fight.

‘What the fug do you think you’re doing?’ Tche exclaimed.

‘Hetman Bronzi,’ the lead companion announced, ‘you are detained by order of the Lord Commander. You will come with us.’

The Jokers started to yell and protest, spilling forwards out of their lines in outrage.

‘Keep your places!’ Bronzi yelled. ‘That’s an order! Keep your places! This is just a misunderstanding, and we’ll get it cleared up!’

‘You will come with us now,’ the lead companion demanded.

‘No,’ Honen Mu snapped, striding out to stand beside Bronzi. ‘I can’t allow this. You cannot remove my hetman during an operation.’

‘Your objection is noted, uxor,’ said the companion, ‘but it is overruled. Step back.’

‘This is a disgrace!’ Mu yelled. ‘How dare you—’

‘Step back, uxor,’ the companion repeated. ‘Don’t provoke them, Honen,’ Bronzi told her gently. ‘I’ll get this sorted out and be back as quickly as I can.’

‘What is this about, Hurtado?’ she asked, horrified. ‘I don’t know.’

‘Bronzi, what have you done, you silly old dog?’ she pleaded.

‘Nothing,’ he insisted. ‘I’ve done nothing.’ He clasped her hands in his and looked down into her eyes. ‘I’ll come back, Honen. Look after my Jokers for me, all right?’

‘Hurtado…’

He bent and kissed her cheek, and then let go of her hands and allowed the companions to walk him back to the gunship.

He never looked back.

As she watched him walk away, Honen Mu had the most profound feeling that she’d never see him again.

‘T
HIS IS NOT
how it should be!’ Grammaticus roared. ‘Be quiet,’ said Alpharius.

‘No!’ Grammaticus spat, turning to face the primarch. ‘This is exactly the sort of confrontational duress I was trying to avoid. This is no way to deal with the Cabal. You cannot turn your guns on them and force them to—’

‘I can do anything I want,’ said Alpharius, ‘and what I want is to be in control of this situation. Your Cabal has persistently and covertly schemed to manipulate the Alpha Legion. That is no basis for trust. I’ll hear them out, but I will not let them use my Legion, or lead it into a trap.’

‘It’s not a trap!’ Grammaticus wailed.

‘Not any more it isn’t,’ Omegon agreed.

Grammaticus put his head in his hands and backed away. He looked up, and saw Soneka and Rukhsana.

‘You used me,’ he sighed in disbelief.

‘No more than you thought you were using me, John,’ Soneka replied, ‘and you did try very hard to do that.’

‘But—’ Grammaticus said.

‘This is what my lord wanted, and this is what I delivered for him,’ said Soneka. ‘He wanted to see where you would go, given the chance.’

‘And you too,’ Grammaticus murmured, looking at Rukhsana. ‘It was all a sham.’

She opened the throat of her protective gear and revealed the pendant hanging there. ‘Psionic scrambler, Konig,’ she said. ‘It made my mind seem as if it were out of joint.’

‘Oh, Rukhsana, why?’ he begged.

Playfully, she continued to unbutton her suit, and pulled the seam aside to show half of her right breast. The hydra brand appeared like a beauty spot on her pale skin.

Grammaticus looked away and sank to his knees.

‘Who speaks for the Cabal?’ Alpharius asked, advancing across the platform towards them.

‘They will all speak through me,’ clicked G’Latrro. ‘Lord Alpharius, our agent is correct. This is no way to conduct business. The Cabal deplores your aggression.’

‘But they want to talk to me, so they’d better get used to the situation and begin,’ Alpharius replied. ‘I have limited patience. What is so important that you’d go to such lengths to draw me here?’