'Come in.'
The door banged open. 'Sergeant Kodos, Training Platoon Two, Fourth Company, reporting as ordered. My lord!' Kodos saluted the captain, banging his fist loudly on his chest-eagle.
A moment later, the door banged shut behind him.
Captain Lakon looked up from the screen on his desk. 'One of these days, Kodos, that door will get there first.' He took Kodos's salute.
Kodos marched into the office. It was large and panelled in rich, reddish-brown Octalian wood. The office was located high up in the central spire of the Ravenholme. The left wall was adorned with a Chapter standard and a company banner, bearing the triangle with lightning bolts that represented the Fourth Company. Lakon had received it from the Raven Lord more then thirty years ago, on his ascension to Brother-Captain. As well as impressive standards, the office had an imposing view over the Chapter's central fortress. From the large bay window behind Lakon's desk, Kodos could see two of the vast building's five radial wings. They fell away like flying buttresses toward the ground, far below. In the distance the sea was just visible, a blue line near the horizon. The sun was casting rays through the patchy cloud in the sky.
The room floor vibrated; with a muffled rumble, a Thunderhawk passed in the near-distance. Neither warrior paid it any notice. They were used to the sound of transports taking off.
Lakon thumbed his screen off. His desk had paperwork heaped up on it, various things awaiting signatures or needing checking. It was the usual bureaucracy generated by any military organisation. He shoved some papers to one side. They rustled, as if in protest at their move.
'So,' he said, 'how are things going?'
'As well as you might expect, given that it's the first week,' Kodos replied. 'So pretty crap. Sir.'
Lakon laughed. 'As good as that? Oh dear.'
'We have three dead already, sir.'
Lakon blinked. 'In week one? But it isn't more then aggressive camping!'
'It was that idiot Kaylos. Sir.'
'Good to know you haven't got any softer to your superiors, Master Sergeant.'
'Then it was that idiot his lordship Brother-Librarian Kaylos. Sir.'
Lakon was used to Kodos's manner. He just nodded. 'So. What did he do this time?'
'I'm not sure – when I asked, he was evasive. It happened in the testing. Seems they attracted something, out of the Warp. It tried to possess the aspirants. One of them was apparently a latent psyker; the probing woke him up or something. I guess when you kick the brain, sometimes it kicks back. Anyway, they couldn't get rid of whatever it was – so they shot the aspirants.'
Lakon nodded. 'No host, no parasite. Not ideal, but Kaylos did act correctly.'
'I appreciate that having Warp-spawn loose amongst the training platoon would be bad,' Kodos agreed. 'But, it shouldn't have happened in the first place. With proper precautions-'
'Whatever they might be,' Lakon replied with evident cynicism.
'I'd like my comments on record anyway, if that would be possible, my lord.' Kodos spoke stiffly.
Lakon nodded. 'Of course, Sergeant. I'll make sure of it. On a different note, how are the aspirants? Any potential?'
Kodos pulled a face. 'Of the ones Kaylos left us … I don't have high hopes. Some funny personalities, but whether they're any use? I'm not sure.'
'Personalities, eh? Sounds interesting. Anyone I should look at particularly? I have all the personnel files here.' Lakon thumbed his screen back on. It beeped in quiet warm-up.
'Cadets Thirty-five, Forty-two and Fifty-one,' Kodos said. Grudgingly, he added, 'They've shown some merit.'
Lakon glanced at the relative files. 'Karo, Patreus and Shepherd.'
'He calls himself Nasty, sir.'
'Does he now? How cute. Is it apt?'
'I rate him as slightly unpleasant, sir. He has an attitude. And he claims to be a murderer.'
'That's true enough. Five manslaughters plus nine murders. His lawyer claimed the last few as self-defence, but the court didn't buy it. Shepherd 'just happened' to be in the way of a mob – sounded a bit contrived, they felt. Particularly since that mob had just killed his girlfriend. They linked him to the other, earlier killings during that prosecution.'
Kodos coughed in surprise. 'Nasty had a girlfriend?'
Lakon stared at him, then laughed. 'He's got you doing it too!'
Kodos looked annoyed. 'So he has. He's hard to forget, I'll give him that. A classic mouthy little criminal.'
Lakon looked at the file. 'Yes. He was running with a gang in Creekside. The murders were a sideline – they happened when his main business went wrong. His real business was mugging. Forty-three counts – and those are just the ones we have on file. A lot of them were near – hello, now there's a coincidence.'
'My lord?'
Lakon's voice hardened. 'Near St Teelek's – the Originist church in Creekside.'
'Originists? Here?' Kodos was disbelieving.
'Yes. I know the Raven Lord has been talking with the First Minister about them a lot, lately. He's been trying to get her to do something. She's reluctant to take action, following the Ikranos trial.'
'That's been sorted out?'
'Yes. Apparently the Ordo Hereticus has decided that they're a, and I quote, "tolerable variation on the Imperial cult".'
Kodos swore, letting rip with a string of obscenities. 'Has the Inquisition gone mad? Their claimed beliefs fly in the face of the Emperor's own works!'
'The rumour mill says it's because of the Originists' anti-mutant efforts. If the Inquisition needs a purge, they're only too happy to help. I guess they can't be bothered to dig the graves themselves.'
'The Church should crack down on them.'
'I agree, Brother. However, I understand the Church is split on the issue. There are sympathisers in the Ecclesiarchy. I suspect that's partly why the First Minister isn't keen to get involved. Faithful Road's funding comes from the pews. The last Yelessa wants to hear is a denunciation from the pulpit. Particularly with polls due in autumn.'
'Originists … on Octalis. How did that happen? I'd have thought they'd take one look at this planet and run a klick.'
'Not at all. A Chapter homeworld makes a degree of sense, if you buy into their poisonous philosophy. After all, if they believe that Marines are mutants then to them, we also need eradicating. If they can't get the Imperium to do anything-'
'Because the High Lords have better sense,' Kodos said acidly.
'-then maybe they can bully people into not joining us. Every Marine they avert is a mutant they've purged, as far as they're concerned.'
'Skaking traitors. We should go in there. Half an hour in Creekside and we could put this poison down.'
'And make them look like a persecuted sect? When the Inquisition has recognised them? No – and anyway, the Storm Ravens are sworn to uphold the Compact. If we go out all guns blazing on this planet, we're breaking our own Chapter law. And the Emperor forbid that anyone innocent gets in the way – as is bound to happen in a big city like Creekside. The consequences of all that'd be a problem. We are answerable to the Imperium's laws – as we should be.'
Kodos ground his teeth. 'I find politics frustrating.'
'I do too, Sergeant. For the record, I'm every bit as angry as you. However, I think the Raven Lord is taking the right course. When it comes to politics, one day's quiet diplomacy is worth a year of mailed fists. The Ministry and the Assembly will act eventually.'
'You have a lot of faith in them, my lord.'
'Oh, hardly. It's a question of money, really. We just need to make them realise the worst-case scenario. If Delta Octalis loses the Chapter, then the Deltan people have to start paying tithes to the Administratum again. It's been five thousand years since anyone had to do that – half of the planet's businesses are based on tithe-freedom. Faithful Road can survive some bad words from the pulpit – but planetary bankruptcy? They'd never form a ministry again. The politics are awkward now, yes, but the Assembly isn't going to let things get that far out of hand. No, the Originists are a nuisance and nothing else. If we draw too much attention to it, we'll merely feed it. If we just wait a little while, they'll fade away of their own accord.
'Although, looking at these records, I do wonder if your friend Nasty here might just share our opinions.'
'My lord?'
'The fourteen men he killed. Nine of them at once – the mob I mentioned. Five of them were Guard veterans. All of them were Originists.'
'Guardsmen amongst Originists? I'd expect better of them.' Kodos looked angrier now. 'The day Octalian soldiers side with Originist scum - it's a dark one for this world's honour!'
'I wonder if they faced traitors at some point,' Lakon mused. 'If a Chaos Marine was the only Space Marine you'd met … well, I suppose that would be a radicalising experience. Anyway, Cadet Shepherd here took them all down – and quickly, too. He took only minor injuries. That was how his lawyer got us to look at him.'
'He'd taken down veteran soldiers. Not just street scum.' Kodos nodded. 'Oh, he's pretty hard, all right. I'll concede that. He's a good brawler, too. I tried him out on the first day. He did well against me. Only Patreus lasted longer.'
'Patreus. What do you think of him?'
'He's a capable martial artist. He held me off for twenty minutes.'
Lakon stared. 'Twenty minutes? By the Emperor!'
'Telling the truth, sir, he nearly had me at one point. If he'd been more aggressive, he'd have done it, too.'
'I wonder who trained him,' Lakon said. 'See if you can get a name – maybe his master would run a few tutorials for us. Sounds like this Way of the Twig or whatever it was could be useful.'
'Way of the Leaf, my lord,' Kodos said diplomatically. 'Patreus's flaw is the opposite of Nas – of Cadet Shepherd's. He's not vicious enough. He didn't follow up his opening thrusts. Shepherd tried a kick in the balls – a good move, on a normal, and he wasn't to know it wouldn't work. I don't think Patreus would even think of that.'
'Anything else strike you?'
'He's very faithful – which is good, of course. But I think he's a bit too churchy, a bit too focused on the institution itself.'
Lakon nodded. 'Not really good in an Astartes, no. There are good reasons why we have our own cults.'
'We might be able to wean him off it – but that remains to be seen.'
'And Cadet Shepherd's flaws?'
'Are many. He has a bad attitude. He tests authority. He doesn't seem very faithful and he lacks discipline. I'm trying to find a way to make him focus – but I suspect nothing short of actual combat will do it.'
'And without discipline, he'd just be a danger to his comrades. Yes, I see the problem. Team games, perhaps?'
'I've set a couple of sporting teams up. It's probably too early – but we'll see what the effects are.'
Lakon nodded. 'They all tested out negative for psychic powers?'
'There was a flap with Patreus. Kaylos said he thought he'd found something but he didn't sound too sure. He voxed the data to the Ravenholme for checking and they said it was definitely a negative. I know he was having some problems with the equipment. He said it was due to the incursion. I think he didn't get it set up correctly in the first place. So I'd discount Kaylos's comments, my lord.'
'You don't like him, do you?'
'He got three of my aspirants killed on the first day. They're my responsibility. If an aspirant dies, I want to know that I did everything I could to get him through. I can't, this time. It's on my conscience – and I didn't even do it. I'm not happy about that. My lord.'
'Okay.' Lakon nodded. 'What about the third one – Cadet Karo?'
'A surprise, my lord.'
'How so?'
'His file reads like a textbook level five kid. His parents are both fives – they're clerks at the Administratum offices in the capital. He was heading that way too – the job's been in the family for the last four generations. The only reason he's here is that stunt he pulled with Brother Thaddeus.'
Lakon nodded. 'I know. I was there. I saw it happen.'
'I assumed that was just an accident. I figured he wouldn't last the first day. But he did. I sent them to get the tents, and he figured out what I wanted in two goes.'
'Two goes?' Lakon looked impressed. 'It took my section three days to get that right, back then.'
'Then it turns out Karo actually has outdoors experience. Seems one of the people at his office ran little trips for the kids. I guess he figured too much time around bureaucracy isn't healthy.'
Lakon cast a cynical eye over the paperwork on his desk. 'Someone in the Administratum has the brains they were born with. Now that is a surprise.'
'Anyway, Karo got their tent up – and even showed the others how to do it.'
'Teamwork.'
'Yes. On day one.'
'That was fast. Well done.'
'Frankly my lord, I couldn't believe it. I only had to put them onto bread and water for two days.'
'That sounds promising. My training section didn't get off bread and water for a week.'
'Mine would've been on it for a month – but we got good at scrounging.' Kodos grinned.
Lakon snorted. 'Yes, living off the land is handy, isn't it? Okay- so in summary, the nerdy kid has some useful skills. Anything else?'
'Well, he's braver then I expected. He stood up and fought me on the first day. Not very well – there wasn't anything he could manipulate. I could see him looking around for something, like he did with Thaddeus. But still, he had the guts to do it. After him, I had to call out all the cadets by name.'
'Now that isn't a good sign.'
'No, my lord.'
'Have you had the geneseed data back yet?'
'Yes, my lord. We got another surprise with Karo.'
'That being?'
'No allergies and ninety-eight percent compatibility.'
'Ninety-?' Lakon blinked. 'By the Emperor! So for geneseed, he's a safe bet.'
'Yes my lord. Shepherd and Patreus also topped eighty-five.'
'The other aspirants. How many seventy-pluses were you left with?'
'The Selection medicals get rid of most of the incompatible. We only had to send away six for below-threshold scores.'
'So you've got fifty-one left?'
'Forty-eight, sir. Three more have quit since day one.'
'Well we can expect to lose half of the rest by fortnight's end. Once they figure out the grilling they're in for, they start buckling.'
'Sir, where are we for targets?'
'There are seven training platoons this year. We started with about five hundred aspirants. To keep the company's strength up, we need to find ourselves at least five and preferably seven to ten new warriors.'
'Out of only five hundred? That's going to be tough work, my lord.'
'Yes, this year's Selectees are a weak bunch. Last year we had eight hundred to choose from. Unfortunately, we can't water down the Selection.'
'No, that wouldn't be fair to the Chapter.'
'Or for that matter the recruits themselves. Not just anyone can carry a Raven's burden.'
'No my lord. It's why these three are so frustrating.'
'How do you mean?'
'All of them are good at some things and skakking useless at everything else. If I could just glue them together or something, we'd have the perfect aspirant.'
'Or you'd have someone hopeless. No, we work with what the Emperor gives us, Brother. His plan may not be obvious sometimes but I do not doubt its wisdom.'
'Of course not, my lord.'
'All right. I'd like you to keep up the weekly reports, Sergeant.'
'Yes my lord.'
'I'd also like you to keep an eye on the three we've talked about. They sound like the most interesting of the lot.'
'I'm going to put the pressure up. I need to see how much it takes to make them crack. I want to see if they can make it.'
'It's your call, Master Sergeant. You have authority over the course. I'm not going to micromanage you.'
'Thank you my lord. Is there anything else?'
'No. Dismissed, Sergeant.'
'Yes sir!'
Kodos saluted once more, then he left the office. As the door closed behind him, another Thunderhawk rumbled past. With a sigh, Lakon returned to his paperwork.
'No – really. That's not how you dig it.'
'So you're the expert, are you?' Cadet Fegust was glaring angrily at Alaster. He leaned belligerently on his spade.
'Look, it's pointed toward-' Alaster was just about to point out that digging the latrine uphill from their drinking water supply was a bad idea. Unfortunately, Sergeant Kodos got there first.
As if on cue, a shadow fell on the ground beside Alaster. A deep, intimidating voice roared, 'What the skak do you call this?'
Before the last week, Alaster had never imagined that Astartes warriors could be stealthy. How weak his imagination had been! The sergeant had an amazing ability to appear exactly at the worst possible moment. His arrival would be sudden and verbally-deadly, bringing in an orbital bombardment of sarcastic mockery. You never saw him coming but you heard him once he arrived.
'It's a latrine, sergeant,' Cadet Fegust announced proudly. He was standing over the pit his section had begun digging, a few minutes before.
'No it's not – it's a hole in the ground.'
'Sergeant?'
'If you pee in that, what do you think will happen, Cadet?'
'Uh, nothing, Sergeant?' Fegust looked uneasy.
'Nothing, he says. I'll give you a hint. The stream is down there.' Kodos pointed to their left.
'Uh, I know. Sergeant.'
'Then why are you digging this here? Do you want your skak to get into your drinking water? That's what it'll do, you know.'
Fegust started to go red. The embarrassment spread across his face as he realised his error.
'I suspect,' Kodos continued, 'that Cadet Karo here might have been about to tell you that – if you'd listened.'
Alaster tried to look alert and attentive. Fegust said nothing but glowered.
'Since you apparently have better sense, Karo, I suggest you dig the latrine instead.' With a sardonic smile, Kodos wrestled the spade out of Fegust's hands and passed it to Alaster. To Fegust, he said, 'You go and sit there.' He pointed to a tree.
Envious, Alaster noted it was shady below the tree.
A few minutes later, Alaster was digging in a more suitable location. It was another hot day at the camp. Alaster was continually waving away buzzing flies. The work was hard and his arms ached. He was still tired from the night before – they weren't enough sleep. Last night, Kodos had decided to interrupt their night for an impromptu run. Then, barely an hour after the exhausted cadets had staggered back to camp, he'd done it again. Alaster reckoned he hadn't had more than two hours' sleep. And to top it off, this morning they'd discovered an infestation of flies in the previous latrine. Someone had forgotten to cover their leavings with the nearby heap of soil. It was astonishing how fast the flies had appeared.
He was breathing heavily. Underneath the uniform-smock he'd been issued with, he could feel sweat dribbling down his chest. Glancing down he noticed stains behind the knees of his grey trousers. The fabric was neither comfortable nor breathable. The uniform seemed solely designed to increase the misery of its wearer. It hadn't even been in Alaster's size when it was issued; he'd had to take it in with a scrounged needle and thread.
Alaster was almost done when Nasty appeared. 'Where's Fegust? I thought it was his turn to dig the hole?'
'He's under the tree. Sat down.' Alaster heaved another load of soil with tired bitterness.
'Kodos keeps doing that,' Nasty commented. It was true; when someone skakked up, the sergeant tended to give their punishment to the person next to them. One of the other cadets had complained about it – as a result, Nasty had been sent to fetch water.
Alaster glared at the distant figure sat below the tree. Fegust had fallen asleep! 'Perhaps we should scrag him,' he suggested.
Nasty gave the distant figure a calculating glance. 'There's an idea…'
With a grunt of effort Alaster cleared the final shovel full. He looked at his handiwork – a trench one foot wide by four deep. A neat heap of soil sat next to it – hopefully no-one would forget to cover their leavings this time.
'Come on – I need a drink. And the shovel needs to go back.'
Alaster and Nasty walked back to the stream. Propping the shovel against a tree, Alaster drank deep. The water was refreshingly cold. To try and wake up, he splashed some over his face.
'Another one's gone,' Nasty commented.
'What?' Alaster looked up. Nasty was scanning the camp.
'Someone else has left. I only saw two come out of Sendrer's tent.'
'Great. Another night-time vanishing.' People had a disturbing habit of choosing the middle of the night to drop out. Alaster had wondered at first whether something more sinister was going on – until he discovered that it was just when the supply Rhinos made their drop-offs. It seemed the Chapter wasn't prepared to lay on an extra daytime one just to bus out failed aspirants. 'Do you think we'll hear anything from Kodos?'
'No – he doesn't talk about it.'
Patreus joined them, reappearing from his latest prayer break. He did it a lot – at least five times a day. He also seemed pretty rigid about the times. Once at dawn, once at sunset and briefly before every meal. Alaster suspected there might be issues with the sergeant at some point – it hadn't yet got in the way, but what would happen if it did?
'Nice trench,' Patreus remarked to Alaster. 'I saw you digging. And Fegust under the tree again. That's twice just today.'
'Thanks. You don't seem very surprised.'
'It's how we did things with new novices, at the monastery. Some people won't listen to authority – but they will listen to a beating from their mates.'
'Lovely.'
'It's necessary.' Patreus shrugged. Authority seemed to be an ends in of itself for him. 'They have to learn the rules. Punish the person next to you and they'll make sure you never forget.'
'Calculated sadism, more like,' Nasty said. 'This is skaky so far. When are they going to let us at the guns?'
'They'll do it when we're ready.' As ever, Patreus trusted the marines implicitly. 'Talking of which, Alaster, I think we should show you some more moves…'
Patreus and Nasty had been making good on their promise to teach Alaster to fight. So far all he had to show for it was a lot of bruises. He was trying to focus – Alaster realised it was important. Whoever heard of a non-violent marine? However, he had to admit he wasn't enjoying the experience.
Some time and several fresh bruises later, Alaster was relieved to hear the assembly bell ring. It had been set up next to Kodos's tent, the one previously used by the librarian. The bell was rung when the sergeant wanted to speak to – or berate – the aspirants. Punctuality was expected.
'Oh – time's up!' Alaster said, just ducking past Nasty's last swing. The cadets trooped over and took their place in the assembled double-line. The lines, Alaster noted, had got a lot tidier since the first day. He supposed it was progress of a sort, even if it did seem singularly useless.
Kodos emerged from the tent. Hands on hips, he surveyed the aspirants. 'All right, runts, here's what we're doing today. We're going on a little trip. Your first off-world deployment.'
Alaster stared.
Kodos, as ever, noticed. 'What, Cadet?'
'Sergeant – I just finished digging!'
'Good. So you'll be quick about a new latrine at our new camp, then. The Rhinos will be here in thirty minutes. I want all of you back here and ready by then. In the meantime you're to clear up your skak. I want the tents taken down and stowed. Now move!'
The aspirants were starting to get the idea of organisation. Thirty minutes to break camp would have been a nightmare otherwise. As it was it was merely very difficult. Two sections got delegated to do the carrying, four more to bundle up all the tents and the remainder to do the actual taking-down. They still only barely managed Kodos's deadline.
With two minutes to spare, the aspirants gathered in the clearing. Alaster could hear engines in the distance – the promised Rhinos, he suspected.
Nasty was looking around with a cynical expression. 'So all of that camping stuff was pointless,' he remarked.
Patreus, as ever, looked shocked. 'It was doubtless to teach us vital skills!'
'If you come out with a line like that again, I'll hit you.' Nasty leered threateningly.
'Okay you two, better wind it up,' Alaster said. 'Here comes Kodos.' He pointed. The sergeant was approaching the aspirants. Even as he did, the first of the Rhinos rolled into the campsite. Within a few seconds, several of the box-like transports were lined up next to each other, engines rumbling quietly. Their tracks were stained with churned up soil and Alaster could smell the exhaust fumes. Briefly he wondered what they ran on – probably whatever was available, he supposed.
Kodos quickly assigned the sections to their respective Rhinos. Alaster found himself sat awkwardly at the end of a metal bench, in the closet-like confines of the vehicle. It felt crowded just with nine aspirants.
Nasty was jammed in between Alaster and Patreus. He looked irritated. 'How do they fit Space Marines in these things? There's barely enough skakking room for us!'
'Maybe they sit on each other's laps,' Alaster suggested.
'I'm sure they stand,' Patreus offered piously.
'Patreus – we weren't being entirely serious,' Alaster pointed out.
'Maybe geneseed stops you sitting down, as well,' Nasty offered with cynicism.
'So,' Alaster said, 'where do you think we're going?'
'Another planet,' Patreus said. 'Kodos said off-world.'
'He means which one,' Nasty put in. 'There're a lot of them about, you know.'
While Nasty and Patreus bantered, Alaster shifted around, trying to find a comfortable position. After a few minutes, he gave up. He found that if he leaned forward and hugged his knees, it minimised the pressure on his backside. That was good as the seat was hard. The side of the Rhino behind it wasn't so good to lean on, either. Alaster suspected he would be sore by the end of the ride.
The journey was boring. The Rhino jolted into life and drove off. There were no windows to look out of and nothing to do. The only sounds were the quiet hiss of the air vents and the rumble of the engine. Very occasionally, they would hear a stone being spat out by the treads.
It didn't take the tiredness long to catch up with Alaster. He fell asleep.
