Price said nothing for a little while, but sat staring at the decking. When he did speak, he was quiet, showing the humility that had earned Kulik’s respect ten years earlier when they had first met.
‘Sorry, Rafal.’ He looked the captain in the eye and moved his gaze to Shaffenbeck. ‘Your captain can be quite the moraliser, can’t he? He has a keen insight at times.’
‘He got that from me, admiral,’ said the lieutenant, without any hint of irony or humour.
‘Some of our ships are still resupplying, and the Conqueror and Heavenly Wrath are docked for refitting,’ said Kulik. ‘It’ll take at least five days to get the rimward flotilla ready, never mind some other parts of the fleet. If Acharya intends to take his ships out for translation tomorrow, we’ll be running to keep up.’
‘Yes, but I can’t just send my ships out piecemeal.’ Price folded his arms and leaned back with eyes closed. ‘We’ll split the fleet into two waves. Ships ready at present, except the Colossus, will be seconded to Acharya’s ship and leave straight away. We’ll take the stragglers in the second wave.’
‘You’ll give command of the ships to Acharya? Isn’t that what he wants?’ said Saul.
‘You know he’ll use our ships as the vanguard if we let him, sending them in while holding back his,’ added Kulik.
‘Temporary command, gentlemen,’ said Price, opening his eyes. ‘But good point, Rafal. I’ll set the transit order for two days’ time. That should give Acharya’s fleet enough of a head start.’
‘Does it bother you that Acharya’s forced us into this position?’ asked Kulik. ‘It occurs to me that perhaps I am being used by Brusech. It would be a bit of a climb-down if Acharya had to request you support him in the attack at Port Sanctus. Maybe he is relying on your better nature to follow him into battle, but this way he’ll look like the leader rather than an equal.’
‘Yes, to all of your points,’ said Price. He pulled something from his coat pocket: a silver flask engraved with the seal of Neoscotia’s Distillarius Superior. Price laughed and winked. ‘I managed to swipe this from one of the stewards. Small recompense, but it’ll do for now.’
Price took a swig and lifted the container in toast.
‘Here’s to the spoils of politics,’ he said with a laugh.
Kulik took the proffered flask and laughed too. But only on the outside. The politics of admirals would soon get lots of men killed. He hoped it would be worth the sacrifice.
Six
‘There can be no blame apportioned for your loss at Ardamantua.’ Laurentis gripped a regicide piece in one of his crane-claws and moved it across the board. He placed it in its new position with a heavy click. ‘To have forecast the advances in technology and strategy employed by the orks would have required extrapolation bordering upon the insane.’
‘Only a madman could have foreseen what happened at Ardamantua?’ replied Koorland. He studied the regicide board. Sixteen days it had taken for the ship to travel to Nestrum, where they now waited to rendezvous with another vessel. The Achilles was due to arrive shortly to transfer Koorland to Terra. In that time Laurentis had visited Koorland in the medi-cell to play regicide thirty-eight times and Koorland had lost every single game. Laurentis had offered to disengage his secondary processors during their latter matches but Koorland did not want any such favours; a victory against an opponent that was not trying their utmost to win was no victory at all. The captain grunted and moved a piece.
‘That would be a succinct summary.’ Laurentis’ claw hovered above the board, digits clacking open and closed as he considered his next move. ‘From our own experiences we can deduce as much, but combined with data from other observations made by the Adeptus Mechanicus vessels in attendance the evidence is utterly compelling. The orks have reached some new threshold of technological and societal expansion.’
‘Orks have always had access to erratic but devastating tech — field projectors, energy beams and such. What makes the attack moons so different? One of their tech-savants has stumbled upon a gravitational disruption system.’
‘If we encountered one, perhaps two of these battle stations I would agree,’ said Laurentis. He moved a piece into an assassination position. Koorland frowned and studied the board with greater intensity. ‘The manner in which this technology is widespread and the deployment of the attack moons in a pre-meditated manner, if not wholly efficient and co-ordinated, suggests a higher level of interaction.’
‘Intelligent orks?’
‘Orks have always been intelligent, captain,’ said Laurentis. His artificial voice sounded strained, the modulators struggling to convey his disapproval. ‘They have also been numerous and determined, a fact which in retrospect the authorities of our respective organisations have failed to consider over recent centuries.’
‘The orks were broken by the Emperor at Ullanor,’ said Koorland. He reached towards a piece, hesitated, withdrew his hand. ‘There have only been scattered encounters for the last thousand years.’
‘Which brings me back to my original premise. Only a madman, capable of an astounding and highly illogical leap of thought, could have predicted that the ork menace would return with such strength and means. From the records I have accessed, historical data concerning ork advancements is sporadic. However, I have discerned an underlying trend. Not a pattern, as one might think it, but a phenomenon. The orks operate in bursts of hyperactivity. They explode, rapidly expanding and showing technological advancement on an unprecedented scale, and then when defeated recede quickly. During the peak of their strength, their innovation and cultural intelligence is at its height.’
‘They thrive on momentum.’ Koorland knew that he was beaten and indicated as such before gently pushing away the board. ‘Each conquest, every expansion, feeds into… whatever. Their orkishness?’
‘Exactly. Aggression rewards and enables further aggression. Their progress is measured in plateaus swiftly reached, which may then decline in defeat or be sustained for a period until another major leap forward occurs.’
‘The attack moons are one such leap?’
‘Of the technological kind. Our companions in the Adeptus Astra Telepathica inform us that there has also been a psychic leap forward. The Beast, the driving force at the heart of the latest expansion, is an incarnation of ork psychic potential not seen before.’
‘The two must be linked,’ said Koorland, standing up. ‘If the Beast can be destroyed, the foundations of this current plateau of advancement will also be destroyed.’
Laurentis positioned himself in front of the Space Marine as Koorland stepped towards the chamber door.
‘It appears that your heartbeat has increased, as have skin temperature, perspiration and other vascular activity. One might think that you are undergoing an adrenal rush prior to some form of action, captain.’
‘I have just thought of something I must do.’ Koorland stepped to the right but Laurentis shifted position to intercept him again. ‘Step aside, or I will move you aside.’
‘Indulge me for a moment, captain.’
‘A moment.’
‘The only reasonable explanation for your sudden activity is a resolution to act based on a conclusion drawn from our recent discussion. Reconsidering your words, it would also be logical to assume that this theoretical course of action is related to your conclusion that the ork advances might be halted by the removal of the Beast.’