V2 Chapter 113: You Have Received My Father's Sanction. You May Keep It.
Duvette followed the Salamanders to Isolation Hall Three.
The space had originally served the flagship as a large prayer and assembly hall. It had been cleared in advance. Purification censers surrounded the Imperial Aquila markings on the walls. Several layers of isolation runes had been laid across the floor. Ship technicians had set up temporary force field generators at intervals around the perimeter.
After they arrived, Harath Shen made his first request.
All non-essential personnel were to withdraw.
Slaydo made no objection. Within moments, the expedition's aides, guards, and ship staff had all stepped out, leaving only Slaydo, Duvette, and the Salamanders delegation.
Harath Shen placed Entropy's Song on a black metal stand at the centre of the hall.
Several Salamanders technical sergeants moved forward immediately. They unrolled sacred oil purification rings and fixed small sensor arrays around the stand, then began chanting forge litanies in low, even voices in the Nocturnean tongue.
Duvette stood to the side and watched the instruments come to life.
Several faint blue scanning beams passed across Entropy's Song's surface. The technical sergeants reported material data in quiet voices. The dragon-skull sceptre remained dormant: no surface temperature change, no light in the dragon's eyes.
Harath Shen went to one knee before the metal stand, one gauntleted hand resting lightly on the surface beside the sceptre.
He did not touch the dragon-skull directly. He spoke a passage of oath in a low voice.
"Father's fire. Hammer's form. Forge's heart."
The Salamanders lowered their heads together. The technical sergeants continued feeding data into a portable cogitator. Characters scrolled across the display, then compared against the Salamanders Chapter's relic archive.
On the other side of the hall, Tu'Shan walked to Duvette.
"Major General Duvette." Tu'Shan said. "We need to hear the full account."
Duvette gave a nod.
"Where should I begin?"
"From the first time you encountered it."
Duvette looked toward Entropy's Song at the centre of the hall, then began.
He started from the daemon world.
From the temple occupied by the Word Bearers, to Kobath's attempt to corrupt the relic, to Entropy's Song lying dormant beside the altar like something that had been forgotten for a very long time.
He described the appearance of the Shadow Wolves, and deliberately kept that portion contained, referring to them only as a Black Shield detachment who had fought alongside the 112th. He omitted what could not be stated openly.
Tu'Shan did not interrupt that section.
It was only when Duvette reached the moment he had first gripped Entropy's Song and used it to shatter the ritual core that Tu'Shan looked up.
"You were able to use it at that moment?"
Duvette gave a nod.
"I could. But it felt more as though it responded of its own volition under the circumstances, rather than to me specifically."
He thought for a moment and added: "The situation was chaotic. Daemons, Word Bearers, a Warp rift, and whatever the relic itself was doing were all entangled. I simply held it and directed it at what I wanted destroyed."
Tu'Shan's red eyes stayed on him.
"And after the fighting?"
"It went dormant." Duvette answered. "It became an ordinary dragon-skull sceptre again. No light, no response, no further expression of any capability."
He paused.
"Until Balhaut."
Harath Shen was still examining the relic, but his movements slowed slightly.
Tu'Shan asked. "What happened at Balhaut?"
Duvette's gaze settled on Entropy's Song.
"The reservoir dam."
Tu'Shan was quiet for a moment.
"We read that battle report."
Duvette looked at him.
Tu'Shan continued. "The enemy intended to destroy the dam. You could have called for an orbital strike or used heavy artillery to collapse the structure, prevent the lake water and industrial effluent from flooding the landing zone. That would have been faster and cleaner."
"The cost would have been hundreds of thousands of slave-workers."
"Many Imperial officers would call that a necessary sacrifice." Tu'Shan said. "They would write the judgement into their report and continue their advance."
Duvette did not deny it.
"I considered it as well. At first."
"But you did not give that order."
"They were not corrupted." Duvette said. "And at that moment I still had the ability to save them. If you can save them, you should not burn them along with everything else."
Tu'Shan looked at him. His tone remained level.
"That is why I was willing to hear you out."
Duvette gave a simple nod.
"Thank you."
Then he continued. "After I made that choice, Entropy's Song responded to me for the first time in any real sense. It came through in my... awareness. I could tell that it had acknowledged what I had done."
In the centre of the hall, several Salamanders technical sergeants slowed their movements simultaneously.
Duvette did not stop.
"Afterward, the Silver Guard and the Eisenmark armoured battalion encountered a giant desecrated war machine. Its firepower and Warp energy had suppressed the entire battlefield. When I arrived, I used Entropy's Song to deflect its primary weapon discharge, and used the relic's force to degrade that machine's armour and shielding."
When he finished that sentence, the hall went briefly silent.
Harath Shen, who had been kneeling at the metal stand, rose slowly.
His red eyes turned to Duvette.
"You are saying that Entropy's Song acknowledged you?"
Duvette gave a nod.
"That is the only way I can account for it."
Harath Shen was quiet for a moment.
"I have seen three of my father's returned relics in the Nocturnean relic vault." Harath Shen said. "As Fourth Company Commander, I have participated in their care and forge maintenance rites."
His voice dropped lower.
"I have felt the echo of their Machine-Spirits. That resonance is very faint. It requires oath, ritual, and long sustained devotion to draw out."
Harath Shen looked at Entropy's Song.
"I had always believed that only sons of Vulkan could achieve true resonance with our father's relics."
He looked at Duvette again.
"I had never considered that someone outside the Chapter might be capable of it."
Slaydo stood beyond the isolation circle and said nothing.
Tu'Shan was also silent.
Harath Shen held the pause for several seconds, then said: "Major General Duvette. Would you be willing to demonstrate it once more?"
Duvette looked at Entropy's Song.
"Of course."
A technical sergeant stepped forward immediately and secured a decommissioned hololithic projection unit inside the isolation field. The device was already flagged for disposal from the ship's inventory; it was mounted now on a metal frame with a small additional isolation barrier layered around it.
Harath Shen lifted Entropy's Song in both hands and returned it to Duvette.
Duvette took the dragon-skull sceptre.
It was still heavy and cold in his hands, unchanged from when the Salamanders had been examining it. Duvette closed his eyes and let his fingers close around it slowly.
Every eye in the hall came to rest on him.
Several seconds passed.
The eyes of the dragon-skull began to kindle with red light.
The light was faint at first. It became clear quickly. An ancient weight radiated outward from the sceptre in silence. Several Salamanders technical sergeants bent over their instruments simultaneously; the cogitator display's data began shifting rapidly.
Harath Shen said nothing.
Duvette opened his eyes and directed Entropy's Song at the decommissioned hololithic projection unit.
A beam of red light discharged.
The device began to fail the moment the beam touched it. The metal casing darkened first, then mottling spread across its surface. Internal circuits fractured in rapid succession. The supporting frame folded inward.
Within a few seconds, the device had crumbled into dust inside the isolation field.
The hall was completely silent.
"This..."
Tu'Shan looked at the ash. For the first time, he could not immediately complete the sentence.
Every Salamander in the hall dropped to one knee almost simultaneously, right fist pressed to their chest plate. The reverence was not directed at Duvette. It was directed at the relic in his hands, still emitting its fading red light.
That was the relic expressing the will of the Lord of the Drakes.
Harath Shen did not kneel immediately.
He stood in front of Duvette and his expression was complex: shock, awe, hesitation, and something else that was difficult to conceal, something heavy.
He had been in contact with the relic more than once before this.
The technical sergeants had handled it.
Tu'Shan had come close to it during the examination.
Without exception, Entropy's Song had given none of them any response.
And yet this mortal standing before them had done it.
Harath Shen walked forward slowly, his gaze moving between Duvette and Entropy's Song.
"Our plans will need to change."
Duvette said nothing.
Harath Shen looked at Slaydo.
"Marshal, we require some time."
Slaydo gave a nod.
"Take what you need."
Harath Shen looked back at Duvette.
"Please remain here as well."
Duvette looked once at Slaydo, then gave a nod.
"Of course."
Harath Shen gestured for Tu'Shan to follow him to the far side of the hall.
The two company commanders walked away. The technical sergeants continued their vigil beside the isolation field, recording the data from the demonstration. Duvette held Entropy's Song in both hands and could feel the red light in the dragon's eyes fading slowly.
Slaydo looked at the retreating figures, then gave a short laugh.
"You surprise me again, Duvette."
Duvette shook his head.
"I didn't expect this outcome myself."
Slaydo looked at the relic in his hands.
"The Salamanders brought a battle barge and a strike cruiser for this. And now they find that the thing only responds when it is in your hands."
He laughed again.
"I am genuinely curious how they will handle it."
Duvette said nothing in return.
He was curious as well.
A short time later, Tu'Shan and Harath Shen walked back across the hall.
Harath Shen spoke first.
"Our plan has changed."
Duvette looked at him.
"How?"
Harath Shen said: "I will stay."
Duvette blinked.
"Stay?"
"Yes." Harath Shen gave a nod. "Given what you represent, Tu'Shan will return toward Nocturne and put the matter before the current Master of the Forge and the Pantheon Council."
He paused.
"The Choir of Starseers can transmit brief conclusions. They cannot fully convey what we have just witnessed. That Entropy's Song responded to a mortal outside the Chapter must be brought back by Tu'Shan as a complete personal account."
Tu'Shan added from the side: "This is not something that can be explained adequately through text and data alone."
Harath Shen continued. "Until Tu'Shan returns with the Council's ruling, Fourth Company, the Branded Warriors, will remain with the Sabbat Expedition."
Slaydo's expression shifted slightly.
Harath Shen looked at him, his tone deliberate.
"Marshal, this does not mean Fourth Company is being placed under Departmento Munitorum authority. We will remain under the designation of Entropy's Song watch and expedition cooperative detachment. We will accept expedition strategic coordination, but Fourth Company's primary duty remains the security of the relic."
Slaydo gave a nod.
"The Sabbat Expedition is honoured to accept the cooperation of Vulkan's sons."
Harath Shen looked back at Duvette.
"During this period, you may keep Entropy's Song in your custody."
Duvette looked down at the dragon-skull sceptre in his hands.
"You are certain?"
"You have received my father's sanction." Harath Shen said. "I cannot deny what we just witnessed."
His voice became more measured.
"But that does not mean it belongs to you."
Duvette gave a nod.
"I understand."
"I will assign a standard ten-warrior Tactical squad to accompany you directly." Harath Shen said. "They will witness whether Entropy's Song continues to respond to you, record every activation, and confirm whether you remain worthy of its custody."
He stepped forward.
"If you misuse it, they will stop you."
"If you become corrupted, they will end you."
"If circumstances require it, they will also protect your safety. Because your wellbeing is now connected to the relic's condition."
Duvette stood completely still for a moment.
A full Salamanders company remaining with the Sabbat Expedition. Even if they were not under his command, the support this represented was extraordinary. And beyond that, a ten-warrior Salamanders squad would be travelling with him directly on a permanent basis.
He looked back at Slaydo.
Slaydo gave a short laugh.
"It seems you have secured the expedition another remarkable cooperative force."
He looked at Harath Shen and Tu'Shan, his manner formal.
"I welcome Fourth Company of the Salamanders to the Sabbat Expedition on behalf of the crusade."
Then Slaydo looked at Duvette.
"Keep proving yourself, Duvette."
Duvette held Entropy's Song and was silent for a moment.
Then he gave a single nod.
"I will."
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