Several hours later the powerful, stabbing form of the Conqueror broke through to join the Warmaster. Shimmering with the white and blue colours of the World Eaters, the Conqueror was Angron's flagship,
and its blunt muscular form echoed the legendary ferocity of the World Eaters' primarch.
Finally, the Andronius, at the head of the Emperor's Children fleet, joined the growing Isst-van strike force. The vessel itself was resplendent in purple and gold, more like a flying palace than a ship of war. Its appearance was deceptive however, for the gun decks bristled with weapons manned by well-drilled menials who lived and died to serve Fulgrim's Legion. The Andronius, for all its decoraВtive folly, was a compact, lethal weapon of war.
The Great Crusade had rarely seen a fleet of such power assembled in one place.
Until now, only the Emperor had commanded such a force, but his place was on distant Terra, and these Legions answered only to the Warmaster.
So it was that four Legions gathered and turned their eyes towards the Isstvan system.
The klaxons announcing the Vengeful Spirit's transВlation back to real space were the spur to action that Kyril Sindermann had been waiting for. MopВping his brow with an already moist handkerchief, he pushed himself to his feet and made his way to the shutter of his quarters.
He took a deep, calming breath as the shutter rose and he was confronted by the hostile stares of two army soldiers, their starched uniforms insignia free and anonymous.
'Can I help you, sir?' asked a tall man with a cold, unhelpful expression.
'Yes,’ said Sindermann, his voice perfectly moduВlated to convey his non-threatening affability. 'I need to travel to the medicae deck.' You don't look sick,’ said the second guard. Sindermann chuckled, reaching out to touch the man's arm like a kindly grandfather. 'No, it's not me, my boy, it's a friend of mine. She's rather ill and I promised that I would look in on her,’
'Sorry,’ said the first guard, in a tone that sugВgested he was anything but. 'We've got orders from the Astartes not to let anyone off this deck,’
'I see, I see,’ sighed Sindermann, letting a tear trickle from the corner of his eye. 'I don't want to be an inconvenience, my boys, but my friend, well, she's like a daughter to me, you see. She is very dear to me and you would be doing an old man a very real favour if you could just let me see her,’
'I don't think so, sir,’ said the guard, but SinderВmann could already detect a softening in his tone and pushed a little harder.
'She has… she has… not long left to her, and I was told by Maloghurst himself that I would be allowed to see her before… before the end,’
Using Maloghurst's name was a gamble, but it was a calculated gamble. These men were unlikely to have any formal channel to contact the Warmas-ter's equerry,, but if they decided to check, he would be unmasked.
Sindermann kept his voice low and soft as he played the grandfatherly role, utilising every trick he had learned as an iterator – the precise timbre of
his voice, the frailty of his posture, keeping eye conВtact and empathy with his audience.
'Do you have children, my boy?' asked Sinder-mann, reaching out clasp the guard's arm.
'Yes, sir, I do.'
Then you understand why I have to see her,' pressed Sindermann, risking the more direct approach and hoping that he had judged these men correctly.
'You're just going to the medicae deck?' asked the guard.
'No further,’ promised Sindermann. 'I just need some time to say my goodbyes to her. That's all. Please?'
The guards exchanged glances and Sindermann fought to keep the smile from his face as he knew he had them. The first soldier nodded and they moved aside to let him past.
'Just the medicae deck, old man,’ said the guard, scrawling on a chit that would allow him passage through the ship to the medicae deck and back. 'If you're not back in your quarters in a couple of hours, I'll be dragging you back here myself,’
Sindermann nodded, taking the proffered chit and shaking both men warmly by the hand.
'You're good soldiers, boys,’ he said, his voice dripping with gratitude. 'Good soldiers. I'll be sure to tell Maloghurst of your compassion for an old man,’
He turned quickly so that they didn't see the relief on his face and hurried away down the corridor
towards the Medicae deck. The companionways echoed with their emptiness as he made his way through the twisting maze of the ship, an idiot smile plastered across his puffing features. Entire worlds had fallen under the spell of his oratory and here he was smiling about duping two simple-minded guards to let him out of his room. How the mighty had fallen.
'Is there any more news on Varvarus?' asked Loken as he and Torgaddon walked through the Museum of Conquest on their way to the Lupercal's Court.
Torgaddon shook his head. The shells were too fragmented. Apothecary Vaddon wouldn't be able to make a match even if we found the weapon that fired the shot. It was one of ours, but that's all we know,’
The museum was brimming with artefacts won from the Legion's many victories, for the Luna Wolves had brought a score of worlds into compliВance. A grand statue dominating one wall recalled the days when the Emperor and Horus had fought side by side in the first campaigns of the Great CruВsade. The Emperor, sword in hand, fought off slender, masked aliens while Horus, back to back with his father, blazed away with a boltgun.
Beyond the statue, Loken recognised a display of bladed insectoid limbs, a blend of metallic and bioВlogical flesh wrested from the megarachnids on Murder. Only a few of these trophies had been won after Horus's investiture as Warmaster, the majority having been taken before the Luna Wolves had
been renamed the Sons of Horus in honour of the Warmaster's accomplishments.
The remembrancers are next,’ said Loken. 'They are asking too many questions. Some of them may already have been murdered.'
'Who?'
'Ignace and Petronella Vivar,’
'Karkasy,' said Torgaddon. 'Damn, I'd heard he killed himself, but I should have known they'd find a way to do it. The warrior lodge was talking about silencing him, Abaddon in particular. They didn't call it murder, although Abaddon seemed to think it was the same as killing an enemy in war. That's when I broke with the lodge,’
'Did they say how it was to be done?'
Torgaddon shook his head. 'No, just that it needed to be done,’
'It won't be long before all this is out in the open,’ promised Loken. 'The lodge doesn't move under a veil of secrecy any more and soon there will be a reckoning,’
'Then what do we do?'
Loken looked away from his friend, at the high arch that led from the museum and into the Luper-cal's Court.
'I don't know,’ he said, waving Torgaddon to silence as he caught sight of a figure moving behind one of the furthest cabinets.
'What's up?' asked Torgaddon.
'I'm not sure,’ said Loken, moving between disВplay cabinets of gleaming swords captured from an
ancient feudal kingdom and strange alien weapons taken from the many species the Legion had destroyed. The figure he had seen was another Astartes, and Loken recognised the colours of the World Eaters upon his armour.