“This is Shas’o Sa’cea Udas, La’Kais. I’m aboard the Enduring Blade.”
“...thank the tau’va... oh, bloodfire... thought I was alone...”
Udas exchanged a raised-eyebrow glance with El’Lusha.
“Kais... I need a status report. Have you seen the Aun’el?”
“Gone... gone, by the path... eaten up by the blood door... It’s the terror. The terror, Shas’o. Do you hear me? It’s the terror!” The excess of emotion was palpable in his voice, breaking through the facade of dignity and calmness inherent to taukind. Udas placed a hand over the drone hovering at his side, covering the microphone array. He turned back to El’Lusha. “He’s gone mad.”
Lusha didn’t look convinced. “Shas’o... May I?”
“Of course.” Udas waved the drone towards the veteran.
“Kais? Kais — this is El’Lusha.”
“El’Lusha? I blew the engines. I did that. For the machine, Shas’el. I cleared the bridge. M-me. That was right, wasn’t it? ‘For the machine’, you said.”
The voice sounded like an infant, timid and querulous, clinging to certainties to displace whatever madness was gripping it. O’Udas thought: iur’tae’mont. Burnout. War madness. Shellshock. It happened.
El’Lusha, concern etched on his face, spoke with a soothing cadence. “That’s it, child, for the machine... Kais: listen to me... I want you to tell me what’s going on in there. I want you to tell me what’s happened to the Aun.”
The response was a long time coming. Nervous kor’uis exchanged worried glances. Udas rubbed his chin.
When it came, the voice was little more than a whisper.
“Kais? Kais, we can’t hear you.”
“M-m...”
“Kais?”
“Mont’au!”
The bridge filled with the murmured litanies and meditations of dozens of personnel, all warding off the connotations of Kais’s pronouncement. O’Udas ground his teeth together and shook his head. The youth had lost his mind.
“There are things...” the comm said, voice growing in strength. “They came out of the walls, they came out of thin air. I thought it was a trick at first but... oh... the blood...”
“Kais—”
“Black. Black things. And red. Like devils. Like Mont’au devils with their eyes on fire and their guns... oh...”
One or two of the kor’uis moaned quietly, terrified by the monotone description. Lusha tried again.
“Kais, that’s enough...”
“They took the ethereal. And a gue’la, I think.”
“Took them whe—”
“But it’s okay. It’s all fine now, because... because, you see, I know. I understand. It’s a nightmare. El’Lusha? I’m dreaming, aren’t I? This isn’t real...”
Udas thought El’Lusha looked sick, grizzled features closing in on themselves.
“Kais, you... You’re awake.”
“...and you... hah...” the voice sounded sleepy, fogged behind a cloud of unreality, “...you’re just part of the dream...”
“Kais...”
“There’s something coming.”
“Kais? Kais, you have to fight th—”
“I have to go now. Respect and Unity, tau’fann.”
“Kais!”
Silence hit the bridge like a weapon strike, shaking every tau to his or her foundation. The kor’ui at the comm swallowed and shook his head. El’Lusha deflated, face pale.
“Well,” mumbled O’Udas, not sure what else to say. “well...”
“The gue’la is hailing us again, Shas’o.”
“Right. Yes. Open the channel.”
Click.
“—ill there? Xeno?”
“I am here, gue’la. We...”
“You contacted one of your units, yes? I take it that I have earned your trust?”
“Perhaps...”
“Good. No attacks on the Enduring Blade. Not yet, at any rate.”
“You say the Aun is on the planet?”
“I said ‘probably’.”
Udas could hear gunfire and shouting voices across the comm. He swallowed, hardening his resolve. “Then we shall free him.”
“You are welcome to try, xenogen. This ship is overrun. I’m taking my men planetside as soon as I can; we shall clean this mess or die trying.”
“Commendable br—”
“I neither expect nor desire your commendation, alien. I contacted you to suspend hostilities, that’s all. Let us not waste time with pleasantries. Your troops will stay out of my way. That is all.”
“Is this... is this a truce, then?”
“Call it what you want. You’re on borrowed time.”
Udas felt the blood heat again. These were words he understood; military, fighting words. The desire to rise and outstrip the human’s arrogant threats was powerful indeed... but... The Aun must come first. Always.
“As you say, human. For now.”
The channel went dead, El’Lusha clenched his fists, the Kor’uis cleared their throats and fidgeted in anxiety, and O’Udas anticipated another ground war. Suddenly he felt much more at home.
<Tightbeam (multi-direction) commstream generation (0/8.45.h).>
<Carrier-code [Oscillate:54.4>127.22]. Priority-1. (1/630.q) Datastream transmission only.>
<Logging receipt...>
<All targets receiving. (1/732.d).>
<ALL FLEET CODE>
<GENERAL HAIL. Suspend comms-traffic for duration.>
<Channels sustained.>
++ All ships, attention.++
++This is the Enduring Blade.++
[Purgatus here... Constantine! What the blazes is going on over there!]
[Sir! Baleful Gaze. You’ve been out of contact for an hour!]
[Troubador— Is it the xenos? What action, sir?]
[My telepaths are having fits. One of them clawed his own face off, by the throne! What’s happening?]
++Be silent, all of you. Constantine is gone. Maybe dead.++
[What the devil?]
[Who is th—?]
++This is Captain Ardias of the Adeptus Astartes Ultramarines. I want you all to listen very closely.++
[What th—?]
++Listen.++
++There has been an incursion. The tau are no longer our priority.++
[I demand an expla—]
++No more interruptions!++
++Governor Meyloch Severus of Dolumar IV. There’s a photo ident on the carrier frequency.++
++He’s been tainted.++
[...]
[Tainted? What do you mean?]
++You know what I mean.++
++Chaos, gentlemen.++
++The Enduring Blade is overrun.++
[This is...]
[I mean... Living-god...]
[...Chaos?...]
[...came out of nowhere...]
[How do we know this isn’t a tau trick?]
++Oh, of all the ridiculous...++
++Hhh++
++Stand by.++
<Carrier-code [Oscillate:54.4>127.22. Stream cont.>
<Secure-code Prompt. Navis Nobilite code reque------------
----------------Override.>
<Unknown code entered. Request repe—>
<...>
<...Subcore priority-code recog. G#3.>
<Standby...>
<SPECIAL CODE ASTARTES/56/GAMMA>
<SEC. PROFILE ALPHA-1.>
<ALL COMMAND OVERRIDE>
<IMPERIAL EDICT M.38.003453>
<SECURE.>
++There. Satisfied?++
[Emperor’s blood...]
[My comms servitor just died!]
[Throne’s mercy...]
+I’ll take that as affirmation.++
++That’s one of the highest priority edict codes you’ll ever see, gentlemen. Astartes Prioritus Level. This is real.++
++I’m initiating the evacuation of the Enduring Blade. I suspect some sort of Chaos operation on the planet surface. I suggest high-altitude surveys as soon as possible.++
++I’m taking my men down there.++
[I... I’ll dispatch ground troops immediately.]