V2 Chapter 99: A Cold Acknowledgement
Duvette looked down at the dragon-skull staff in his hand.
The red light in Entropy's Song's dragon-skull eyes had faded. Only a faint residual warmth remained in the shaft. The direct confrontation a moment ago seemed to have drawn significantly on its strength, and when Duvette reached toward the resonance he had come to feel with the ancient relic's Machine-Spirit, what he found was something that resembled exhausted quiet.
Already tired after that brief exchange?
He could not help muttering the thought.
The red light in the dragon-skull's eyes flared abruptly, briefly, as though expressing some form of displeasure. The light lasted only an instant before fading again.
Duvette's jaw tightened slightly. He returned Entropy's Song to his hip.
Fine. He would find a tech-priest to tend to it later.
He had barely settled the staff back in place when he saw Silver Guard Chapter Master Vegum walking toward him.
The Astartes Chapter Master's left arm was gone. The stump had been treated by the Chapter's Apothecary with rapid-set bonding compound and a temporary seal. The side of the purple power armour still carried burn scarring.
Vegum's gaze did not go to Duvette's face first.
He was staring at the dragon-skull staff at Duvette's hip.
Duvette cleared his throat quietly.
"Chapter Master."
Vegum raised his eyes at that. With his remaining right hand he removed his helmet, revealing a face that was hard and pale. The face showed very little. His gaze said the rest.
"Why did you arrive so late?" Vegum asked again, making the question a statement of his anger rather than a genuine inquiry.
Duvette followed his gaze and looked around at the battlefield.
The Krieg soldiers were dealing with the aftermath. The Eisenmark armoured battalion's crews were checking their damaged vehicles. The 112th assault companies were digging pits for promethium clearance of the remaining Chaos spawn and Blood Pact bodies.
Across the factory district: vehicle wreckage, structural ruin, burned bodies, and Silver Guard Astartes lying in the rubble.
The warriors in purple armour with silver helms lay where they had fallen.
Their combat brothers were recovering the gene-seed, gathering the remains, preparing to carry them from this place.
Duvette was quiet for a moment. He lowered his head and exhaled.
"I am sorry." He said.
Vegum did not respond.
Duvette raised his head and looked at the Chapter Master who had lost an arm.
"But the lives of hundreds of thousands of Imperial citizens matter equally." He said. "Part of my force is still inside the reservoir dam completing the clearance. Those people were not Chaos-contaminated. They were locked in the dam's lower levels, maintaining that facility by blood and by hand."
Vegum's expression did not change.
Duvette continued. "We came to Balhaut to reclaim this planet. We launched the Sabbat Crusade to return these worlds to the Emperor's light. If we preserve an operational window by having the fleet burn hundreds of thousands of uncorrupted Imperial citizens to ash alongside everything else, what exactly are we reclaiming?"
Vegum still said nothing.
His gaze returned to the dragon-skull staff at Duvette's hip.
Duvette saw it, and shook his head slowly. He unclipped Entropy's Song and raised it with both hands, holding the dragon-skull staff out in front of Vegum.
"I know what you are looking at."
Vegum's eyes fixed on the staff.
Duvette did not conceal its origin.
"Entropy's Song." He said. "One of the relics forged personally by the Primarch Vulkan."
At those words, Vegum's face changed for the first time.
Surprise, wariness, and something that could not quite be described as composure moved through this Astartes Chapter Master's expression simultaneously upon hearing a Primarch's name.
What Entropy's Song had demonstrated on the battlefield was sufficient on its own to confirm it was not an ordinary weapon.
The force had extinguished the Bane Engine's primary Warp discharge directly in front of Vegum's eyes, and had then caused that desecrated construct's shielding and armour to decay and collapse in a very short span of time.
When Duvette spoke Vulkan's name, a great many questions resolved themselves.
"I will guard it through its last stretch of its journey, until the Sons of Fire arrive." Duvette said quietly. "It did not truly respond to me at first. Not until I made the choice to save those slave-workers."
"So you are claiming the relic acknowledged your decision?"
"What I am saying is that if I had abandoned them, we would not have had what we just used." Duvette said. "Without Entropy's Song responding, our only option against that construct would have been to call for fleet fire and reduce this entire position along with everyone in it to ash."
Vegum's expression remained still.
But Duvette could see the tension in the muscles of his face ease, marginally.
Vegum found himself unable to deny that Duvette's explanation contained a complete internal logic. More significantly, a Primarch's relic had genuinely responded to this mortal commissar.
Duvette returned Entropy's Song to his hip.
"Chapter Master, I do not need you to approve of my decision." He said. "But there are more important matters ahead of us."
Vegum did not argue.
Duvette called Adjutant Evan over. A tactical data-panel was placed in his hands. The current strategic map and operational planning were displayed across it.
The Oligarchy Zone's interior was still thick with red markers. The remaining Bane Engine elements were beginning to consolidate. The Blood Pact main force was pressing toward the right flank of the primary advance line.
"Our assignment is not complete." Duvette said. "We must hold the enemy's counter-push away from the right flank and continue closing on the Oligarchy Gate."
He indicated the battle zone to their right.
"The main force on that axis is facing considerably more than we encountered here. Gaunt, the 8th Hyrkan, the 11th Regiment, and the other Astra Militarum units are advancing along the abandoned industrial avenue. I have already dispatched a dedicated support element to assist them. At their current pace, they are estimated to reach the Oligarchy Gate in five days."
Vegum's gaze turned to the map. He understood the assignment.
"I believe you and your warriors should continue working with us to intercept the Bane Engines still threatening the right flank's advance line." Duvette said. "As long as those constructs remain active, the right flank cannot reach the Oligarchy Gate safely. We both understand that Asphodel did not prepare only one of those enormous constructs."
Vegum was quiet for a moment. There was one further question he wanted answered before he was done.
He raised his remaining right hand and pointed toward the Krieg soldiers clearing the battlefield nearby.
The mortals in their heavy grey greatcoats were still silent.
Their movements were faster than they had any right to be. Despite the residual Warp contamination still present in the area, none of them showed any evident disruption. Some were using entrenching tools to deal with the Chaos spawn wreckage. Others were hauling ammunition crates and moving toward the forward positions.
"Those soldiers." Vegum said. "Why do they possess that kind of capability?"
Duvette followed his gaze briefly, then gave a slight tilt of his head.
"Marshal Slaydo is aware of all of this."
Vegum looked back at him.
"That is not an answer."
"But it is the answer available to you at this time." Duvette said. "The relevant information is sealed under the expedition's highest authority. The Marshal knows. The Chief of Staff knows. Lord Inquisitor Heinz knows as well. You may submit a formal information request to the Warmaster's office."
Vegum looked at him steadily.
"You are deflecting a Space Marine Chapter Master with bureaucratic procedure?"
"No." Duvette looked in the direction of the Oligarchy Gate. "I am using the Warmaster's authority to prevent us from wasting time here."
He paused.
"The Oligarchy Gate is not open yet, Chapter Master."
Vegum did not press further.
He looked at Duvette for a long moment, then raised his helmet and placed it back over his face. The lenses lit with their harsh red glow, covering that pale face again.
He turned and walked away.
After several steps, Vegum's voice came through the helmet's external vox.
"Everything that has happened on this planet, my brothers and I will remember. All of it."
Duvette watched his retreating figure and did not answer immediately.
After a moment, he murmured quietly to himself.
"The other Astartes Chapters all seem to say something like that as well."
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