a"Ammunition depleted,a" said one of the servitors in its dead voice. The heavy bolter that formed part of its body clanked as the auto-loaders linked to the slavea's backpack cycled through empty chambers.

Away from the other officers, Osiron couldna't have cared less about Kathur Reclamation protocol regarding the sanct.i.ty of the architecture. His servitors were armed with heavy weaponry. He was going to use it.

In the wake of the a.s.sault, the moans of wounded Remnant reached Osirona's ears. Although it would have been a pleasant vindication to remain and finish the heretics off once and for all, the tech-priest was obeying Thadea's fall back order.

Without a word, he turned from the scene of carnage hea'd wrought, and his servitors followed in similar silence. The 88th squad with Osirona's unorthodox squad was a group of Whiteshields, under the command of Squad Leader Farren Kel.

Kel was a Whiteshield himself, just turned fourteen years of age. His black helmet was marked with the central white stripe denoting his membership in the Cadian Youth Legion, though a badge of minor rank was evident on his shoulder pad. Bylam Osiron, the Honoured Enginseer, made him nervous. And it wasna't the slaughter the machine-man was capable of. Seeing the tech-priesta's servitors gun down over a hundred Remnant was nothing. The Cadian boy was almost fifteen; hea'd already killed that many men himself.

a"Lord tech-priest?a" Kel asked, as the Whiteshields a- all under sixteen years old a- fell back in smooth formation, each squad providing covering fire for the others. The Remnant was already retrying its rush at the Cadians.

a"An unnecessary honorific,a" Osiron murmured.

a"Sir, the captaina's orders are to proceed to his position.a" Kel tightened his helmet strap, his blue-violet eyes fixed on the black depths of Osirona's hood.

a"I heard them,a" Osiron said. Kel just nodded to Osirona's words. No sense asking how the Mechanicus holy man had news the squad had only just picked up on their vox-caster.

a"Forward for Cadia,a" Kel called out, pointing his own newly-issued chainsword towards the distant figures of the embattled Vigilant platoon. He still felt faintly ridiculous shouting out battle cries like that. He felt like he was doing a bad imitation of Captain Thade, but his troopers followed his every word without any laughter.

They made good time, moving swiftly through the graveyard. Osiron and the servitors were forced into an awkward forward-tilted walk to keep up. Kel heard the tech-priesta's breathing coming in harsh metallic rasps, and not for the first time he wondered just how old Osiron was. Was this laboured breathing natural for one of the Machine Cult?

Commissar Tionenji met them on a small rise. A dozen of his men were still alive, the rest lay strewn around the hill. Flanked by Dead Mana's Hand, the survivors were enjoying a momentary respite as they readied to fall back to Thade. The tanks that had been a.s.saulting their position were burning husks some distance away, shattered and wrecked by the fury of the five Sentinelsa' autocannons. Kel stared at Tionenji for several moments.

a"Squad Leader Kel,a" Tionenji flicked gore from his chainsabre. a"Never seen a commissar before?a"

a"No, sir. Never, sir.a" This was a lie. Kel had seen plenty, but this was his first time off-world. He was staring because hea'd never seen a man with black skin before. a"Courage: Broken, sir,a" Kel added.

a"Ah.a" Tionenji noted the Whiteshields had only a few casualties. Their success was the tech-priesta's doing, no doubt. Or perhaps the children had simply been sent to a section with less intense fighting. But why had the boy said a"Brokena"? He smiled as he gestured to the men preparing around him. a"Vigilant,a" he said, a"in bad shape, but Unbroken.a"

Kel forced a smile. It must have looked awkward, because the commissar straightened his cap and frowned. a"Something wrong, squad leader?a"

a"It doesna't mean that, sir.a"

a"Hm?a" Tionenji turned as one of Dead Mana's Hand opened fire once again, the heavy bang-bang-bang of its autocannon echoing across the graveyard as it pounded a distant group of what looked like plague-slain. a"What doesna't mean what?a"

a"Unbroken, sir. Ita's just slang. Code for a'able to complete mission objectivesa'.a"

a"Then wea're all Broken, eh?a"

a"Yes, sir.a"

a"How very uninspiring that thought is.a" Tionenji signalled the move-out with a short blast of the whistle around his neck. a"Thank you for the tip, young man.a" He made to move, then turned back to Kel. a"Tell me something else, if you would.a"

a"Anything, sir.a"

a"The Sentinel squadron. Why are they called a'Dead Mana's Handa'?a"

Kel grinned. It made him look even younger. a"Named after the captain, sir.a"

a"Named after his lost hand?a" asked Tionenji. A trifle grim, even for Cadian humour.

a"Ha! No, sir. Have you ever played Black Five? Ita's a card game. We play it back home. If you get dealt all five black cards in your first turn, ita's impossible to win. We call it a dead mana's hand.a"

a"And the captain a"

a" is the worst card player youa've ever seen, sir. Adar a- that is, Scout-Lieutenant Vertain, sir a- he named the squadron after he won three monthsa' wages from the captain. Theya're the captaina's elite scouts, therea're five of them, and the name stuck.a"

The two platoons fell back together, closing on. Thadea's position. Tionenji made a promise to himself then: if he survived this, he was going to do his d.a.m.nedest to make some money off Thade at a card game.

The Second Shadow stood alone. The Chaos fleet closed in, and only now did the strike cruiser turn to face its oncoming attackers. The wreckage of enemy fighters drifted around the black ship like a corona.

The half-human creature at the Terminus Esta's void shield console writhed in the Heralda's direction. It tried to speak for the first time in months, but the taint within was so rich, the creature could barely recall human speech. Instead it psychically projected its message in a burst of panic.

Typhus, still standing, turned his colossal armoured bulk to the nearest Death Guard warrior.

a"We have been boarded. a.s.sault pods have breached a" the Herald paused, reaching out with his powerful sixth sense, sending his consciousness throughout the halls of the diseased ship. He felt the intrusion as wounds in the flesh of his beloved vessel.

a" decks nineteen, thirteen and six. Starboard. Sections twenty to twenty-four.a"

Strange, he thought. No sense of intruding life.

a"The Raven Guard have not left the pods, yet. Slaughter them as they emerge. Slaughter them all. Bring me their skulls so the lowliest of my slaves will have new pots to p.i.s.s in.a"

The Destroyer Hive stirred with the Heralda's anger. The hollow, bony protrusions jutting from the archaic Terminator armour began to expel flies from their openings. Fat, blood-wet insects thrummed around the bridge, released from the Heralda's innards. His G.o.da's greatest blessing, contained within a once-mortal sh.e.l.l.

Terminus Est had been boarded. This was not amusing. This was an affront.

Seth. Seth. Seth.

Seth screamed. Psychic lightning raged from his outstretched fingertips, enveloping the Death Guard warrior in tendrils of coruscating energy. Its armour blackened and cracked under the psychic onslaught, and the reek of burning flesh was made far worse by the foul stench of cancerous diseases cooking within the superheated power armour.

The sanctioned psyker broke off his attack, suffering a savage cough that brought blood to his lips. As the destroyed Traitor Astartes collapsed in a heap of ruined armour and burned flesh, Seth cried out at the headache heating the insides of his skull. His brain was boiling. He was sure of it, his brain was boiling. Hea'd pushed himself too far.

Ban Jevrian pistol-whipped him. It was an ungentle blow that made a loud crack as it connected with the psykera's skull. Seth cried out again, but forced the sound to burst quieter from his lips this time.

a"Keep it down, warp-touched freak.a"

Seth nodded dumbly, blood streaming from his tear ducts, ears and nostrils.

Jevriana's Kasrkin unit, like the rest of the 88th, was falling back to Captain Thadea's position. They were under the graveyard, deep within an underground mausoleum, with Seth seconded to them for support. Theya'd been exploring until a squad of Death Guard had emerged from the shadowed corridors adjoining a large burial chamber, opening fire. The Kasrkin had taken the two Traitor Marines down with a blistering volley of h.e.l.lgun fire aimed at the Astartesa' armour joints, thirty grenades, and Setha's psychic fury.

Jevrian knelt by the still form of a black-armoured Cadian. Hea'd lost three of his men to the Traitorsa' bolters. Three. Three Kasrkin, the elite, the best of the best. He could scarcely fathom the loss. And now he had the warp-touched mutant dribbling and weeping. To h.e.l.l with Thadea's pet wizard; Jevrian was tempted to shoot the b.a.s.t.a.r.d now and have done with it.

a"Move out,a" growled the Kasrkin sergeant. a"Get to the surface, double time.a" The Cadians walked the corridors, leaving their dead down in the dark.

Seth.

The voice again. Familiar, but distant. Almost strained. It had been calling for several minutes now. He feared it was the voice from the night of the monastery, calling him by name.

Seth.

Seth took a shuddering breath, steeling himself by imagining his psychic inner walls back into place. With concentration, he could silence the whispering voices that stroked his mind. Daemons, warp-things, h.e.l.lish creatures from the empyrean reaching into his mind and seeking a way into the world of flesh and blood. He was all too used to resisting their corruptive touch.

Seth! SETH!

No, wait. He knew that voice, sensing it through familiarity rather than any true vocal recognition. Instead of girding his mind in hatred, he opened up to the one calling his name. At the last moment, he feared hea'd made a terrible mistake. The denizens of the warp would flood within his mind and steal his body, swallowing his soul.

That didna't happen. Hea'd made the right gamble.

Seth.+ The voice was crystal clear now he wasna't fighting it or overexerting himself through use of his powers.

Brother-Codicier Zaur.+

Listen to me, Cadian, and listen well. We cannot reach the ground forces. Communications are impossible with the interference caused by the Archenemy fleet. You are my Chaptera's only link to the Guard.+

a"Keep up, freak,a" snarled Jevrian. Seth picked up the pace. +Is the fleet truly lost?+

It burns and dies as we speak. The Second Shadow remains alone in orbit. We are the final defence before the Death Guard and their slaves land in full force. We have launched our ship-to-ship a.s.sault pods against Terminus Est.+

A n.o.ble end, brother-codicier. To die taking the fight into the enemya's heart.+

The fleet is lost, and with it, our precious Shadow. But it is not our time to die, Cadian. We need coordinates. We cannot escape this if we remain blind.+

Coordinates?+ Setha's psychic voice asked, but he already knew why.

Yes. Coordinates of the remaining Guard units. The a.s.sault pods are just a distraction. The Shadow was lost the moment the Archenemy fleet arrived, and boarding Terminus Est would be death through a thousand poisons. The pods are empty. We are making planetfall.+

Understood. The only surviving senior officer in the regiment is Captain Thade. He is the only one that will know the exact disposition of Guard units.+

Then find him! The vox interference is savage and we are deaf to the planet below. We cannot throw our drop-pods blindly at the surface, Seth. The Shadow is dying. We need coordinates quickly. +

It will be done.+

a"Master Sergeant?a" Setha's voice was an unhealthy rasp, but full of cold threat. It made Jevriana's skin crawl.

a"What?a"

a"On the authority of Brother-Codicier Zaur of the Raven Guard Astartes Chapter, get me to the captain immediately.a"

a"What in the h.e.l.l are youa-a"

a"Silence, blunt.a"

The stone walls of the undercroft sparkled with the faint kiss of psychic frost. The Kasrkin, those that survived the Death Guard a.s.sault, saw their breath steam before their faces. Seth felt the telepathic withdrawal of the Astartes psyker with a pang of bitterness. Zaura's power was intoxicatingly strong. It left Seth feeling weak and wretched in its wake.