Shadow of a Doubt

by Vityaz

Veteran Legionnaires fight the long war in the 42 Millenia.. but for the Emperor and Terra. There are those who still live from the Great Crusade, and they walk in the shadow where the Emperors Light directs them. First story on here, so any thoughts on the story are greatly appreciated. Ratings changed to M for a bit of graphic violence.

25. Chapter 25

Shadow of a Doubt

Chapter 25

Albert laid down to sleep again, their ship having made much headway towards the planet, his mind racing as he thought about the dreams that kept haunting him. He saw images of armoured giants, of a golden figure, both of which repeated the phrase over and over again in his head. "Hydra Dominatus." The words seem to imbue him with purpose, a purpose beyond simply adhering to the Writ of Trade. He tried to close his eyes again, his hands gripping the silk sheets tightly as he sighed softly and tried to relax himself. As he closed his eyes deeper and took large calmer breathes, his vision darkened and was lit with green flames. He saw the Hydra again, the Hydra this time an extension of the Emperor, roaming forth into the stars and coiling around its foes and utterly crushing them. He would see a large dusk blue armoured giant, and he groaned slightly as he tossed and turned, the giant stalking on a planet as soldiers around him bowed to him, going down on a knee as he walked away from destruction. Beside the armoured giant trailed the Hydra, ever present, ever there. He could sense the Hydra, sense the armoured giant's purpose; they were the Emperor's hidden hand. The multi-headed monster created to destroy his foes where they hid, in the darkness surrounded by masks and fake loyalties.

With a loud gasp, he woke up and sat up quickly, coughing at the dryness of his throat before picking up a large carafe of water and draining it in one long drink, slaking his thirst. He would have to shower again, the realisation made obvious to him by the dampness of his silk nightgown. In the morning, he will speak to his Archivist about such things.

Kyreg sat in the war room, the holographic map display in front of him as he checked over the various points and ridges of Urseuna, the desert planet that orbited the frozen planet of Jarskarr. He would magnify certain portions, looking at the various ridges that ran around the planet as well as looking over the series of runes from all around angles. The runes were shaped topographically, with a large ridge that ran through the middle while half fallen walls surrounded it. The cave entrance it seemed was in the middle of the massive ridge, although no details existed of its cavern system. He was not surprised such things were not mapped, he doubted even the Inquisition had truly been down there. He knew, because if they had, there would no doubt be no life on the planet anymore. The door slid open, and the Rogue Trader stepped in, looking the worse for year considering he had gone to bed for more than eight hours. Kyreg had instead explored the ship, and spent some time in the training bay where he had practiced his blade craft. It seemed even the hard bitten Warrant Officer had nodded approvingly at his swordsmanship. It was efficient, devoid of formalities or wasted motions and utterly lethal.

"You look as if you had stayed up all night." The Astarte commented while carefully blowing up the image of the ruins. The Rogue Trader sighed and shook his head a little. "My sleep lately has been rather disturbed by visions. Perhaps it is because of the warp travels, I am not truly sure. I do know that it is also nothing that a good mug of recaf will not fix." Kyreg smiled slightly before gesturing to the map. "This is our objective. Jarskarr is a lost world. A planet that has had no contact with the Imperium since their first discovery millennia ago. The small satellite planet Urseuna is a desert that was shown to contain some life. Not a lot but small nomadic tribes of people that survive by living in large shaded structures, simple structures made out of woven fabrics and the natural terrain. That is our objective. The ruins here.. this is where we must go, and hold. I expect the Word Bearers to be here shortly after we do." The Captain nodded and pointed to the ruin on the holographic map. "And we do not know what is in it, do we." Kyreg shook his head. "No. We do not, but that is where I require your assistance. I require for your force to act as the warning for us, to safe guard us against the locals so that I may destroy the target." The Captain nodded. "I will have plans for us promptly."

The lead warship broke through the warp one week later, Etana standing on the bow and grinned underneath his helmet. "Send our brothers to the drop pods. We shall assault the planet at once. We must take back what is ours."

Just half an hour after, drop pods began to fly towards the desert satellite, landing all around the ruins and disgorging squads of the dark red coloured troops. Etana stepped onto the desert sand, his elite Octaivan bodyguards around him with their bolters raised. The Sorcerer was behind him and grinned. "Ah Ashfanged.. I can sense the device. It is close.." Without a word, the Sorcerer began to step towards the massive ruins. What used to be a crystal like material was now pummeled down by the various sand storms and turned into a matte dull rough surface, their formerly majestic walls now asunder with cracks and fragments on the sand itself. The Sorcerer would lean down and examined the material carefully, nodding and muttering to himself. It was as if he recognised it, which raised Etana's suspicions. It caused him to follow the Sorcerer closely, with a private vox message to his bodyguards. The Sorcerer does not walk away from this. The Sorcerer would lead them down to a large ridge, what used to be a water source of some kind that drained down into a cavern system. They would take careful steps downwards, and moved into the caverns blow. The caverns were of a smooth polished crystal, possibly similar to what the walls were made up of outside, but the cavern fed into a large room, with many alien letters lining the walls. The Sorcerer would step out of the opening, stepping out of what was a massive water pool of sorts and onto the crystal floors where he laughed loudly, his voice echoing in the massive room. The room only had one corridor leading away, a massive opening that could fit a dreadnought in width and height. Etana stepped forward and looked around. "Lead the way Sorcerer." Ashakhet smiled and began to walk down the corridor, where he would stop in the middle and looked around at the writing around him, scripture that seemed to follow the corridor on the walls. He would reach out and touched the walls, the crystals lighting up for a moment. Etana frowned at such a thing and gestured for his troops to follow him, the Word Bearers behind him lighting up the pilot light of their flamers as they followed.

The corridor opened up to a massive ramp downwards which ran all the way down, and contained massive sources of water pools that seemed to alight with some kind of pale blue light in them, lighting up the large crypt that it came to. The crypt had a large coffin, a sarcophagus with alien features on it that would seem oddly human. It was a massive one, one large enough to house a terminator in it fully suited, and the Sorcerer would wander up to it and smiled before placing a hand on the sarcophagus and started muttering. Soon, dark red balls of energy would travel from the Sorcerer's body and swirl around the sarcophagus, eventually sinking into the sarcophagus itself. Then with a final word, the Sorcerer stood back, and the sarcophagus would begin to open. The lid would float up slowly, before flying onto the ceiling with a soft thud and remaining there while the sarcophagus held an armoured suit that clutched a black gem in its hands. The Sorcerer uttered another word and soon the armoured suit began to rip apart, until a flash of warp fire blazed over the suit and the black gem was lifted up slowly, when suddenly the Sorcerer clutched his head and screamed, falling over onto the ground while several daemon possessed Chaos Astartes began to scream as if their very souls were being ripped apart slowly. The black gem fall back into the sarcophagus while Etana began to look around, drawing his plasma pistol when the shaped charges went off. Hidden on the ceilings, hidden charges detonated into the massive gathering of Word Bearers that were gathered around, the melta charges searing off helmet heads and causing other major injuries to the Astartes there while bolter fire suddenly erupted all around them, powerful armour piercing bolts that cut through power armour like a katana through butter.

Kyreg looked through his sights and began firing as the Sisters around him did the same. Clad in cameoline cloaks, they were well hidden in the darkness and began to move forward little by little. The Chaos Astartes looked around, unable to find the source of fire as the area was suddenly filled up by a dense thick smoke, the underground environment making it difficult for the smoke to escape anywhere. As the smoke filled the room, Kyreg drew his blade and began to move through, slashing and stabbing his way through the ranks while the massively curved long swords of the Sisters who had de-activated their null limiters slashed through the Word Bearers with a keenness that did credit to their pedigree.

Then the walls came to life. The walls opened up and desiccated walking corpses came through them, groaning as they marched towards the Astartes engaged in combat. Kyreg took one look and gestured for the Sisters to retreat. They were outnumbered here, badly. And his bolt rounds seemed to do little to them unless he hit them in the head. The null sphere created by the Sisters seemed to do little, the reason a mystery until Kyreg fired a three round burst into the neck and head of one of the walking corpses, only to reveal robotic machinery underneath. Artificial intelligence. Gritting his teeth, he quickly fired at them in long suppressive bursts that would cut through machine and rotten flesh, the Sisters following him as they moved back towards the opening of the crypt, Kyreg watching as four of the tomb defenders grabbed onto a Word Bearer Astarte and began to rip his armour off of him, the Astartes screams lasting far longer than it should.

Etana looked around and cursed as he fired his plasma pistol in searing blasts, his bodyguards looking around him and firing as well in long bursts of bolter fire. The Sorcerer looked around at the foot of the crypt and smiled slightly. He had known what would happen here, the outburst of so many living things here would have activated the crypts defensive mechanisms. That is why he needed the Word Bearers here, a distraction so that he may take the gem and escape. The Ashfanged howled and looked over at the Sorcerer who seemed to look at him mockingly as he picked up the black gem, giving the Word Bearer a small bow. With a howl, he would aim his plasma pistol at the Thousand Son who smiled and stepped backwards, into a portal that popped open for him and disappeared him, before closing behind him. With a roar of rage, the Word Bearer commanded the Astartes around him to charge and find their way out.

Kyreg fired another long burst as the Sisters made it out of the cavern, and they began to move through the cavern upwards until they could see sunlight, sprinting until they had made it out of the alien ruins, standing in the large ridge that ran through the ruins. Kyreg quickly gave a quick gesture with his hands, the Sisters all bounding to four different corners of the ruins while Kyreg would take out a small perfectly round sphere of utterly black metal and hit a switch on it before dropping it down the hole and sprinted. The Sisters all placed charges around the opening of the ridges and ran for it as well, following the Astarte Commander. With a loud crack, the earth shook, the sphere having dropped down and detonated, sending a massive explosive charge underground, while the sand quickly began to pour down the open hole. The charges set at the corners then detonated as well, the explosion moving the sand around it at a rapidly pace. In moments, the cavern hole would be buried underneath hundreds of tonnes of sand, Kyreg standing on a tall ledge about sixty foot in the air beside the four Sisters who stared down at the hole, while the Astarte Commander grimaced underneath his helmet again. The Sorcerer had gotten away, which meant that a dangerous artefact was now in the hands of someone who should definitely not have it. It also meant that he had to find a way off his planet now.

However, a collective sound could be heard from all around them, and Kyreg looked out. Around them were the natives of the planet who seemed to have gathered in a massive horde. They seemed to have gathered around the alien ruins, probably the moment that the cursed item had been awakened, and they stood with rudimentary rifles as well as various edged blades, standing around the ruins and staring at the Astarte and the Sisters. Kyreg paused as he looked at the group, their numbers numbering over thousands. Thousands of even mortals would have a massive effect on them and stood a great chance of taking them down. That was something that could not be allowed. From within them however came other humans, clothed in blue clothes made into robes and headgear reminiscent of the designs found inside the crypt. Men with staffs, whose eyes seemed to stare right through them. Kyreg however recognized shamans for what they really were; warp sorcerers. Kyreg quickly gave a signal through his vox, the message travelling through the orbit and received by a blue uniformed soldier who prompted ran to the Rogue Traders personal quarters. It was a message of a single word; Crystal. The message read clear to the Rogue Trader who quickly gave orders as gunships were powered up.

The XX Legion Commander smiled underneath his helmet and looked at the Sisters of Silence who accompanied him. "Sisters. I do not believe that we shall meet with the Emperor just yet. However if I do fall, please go to the planet of Tyven V and mention my name to the Governor. Tell him of how I passed." Catriona smirked slightly as she readied her bolter. "Please Commander, no need to become emotional for our behalf." Kyreg smiled underneath his helmet, and the two sides waited. Until one of the Shamans raised his staff towards the sky and began screaming words of power as lightning began to flicker around him. At this signal, the massive army of xenos worshippers attacked, their rudimentary rifles cracking with fire, while the others charged forward with blades. Kyreg waited for them to get closer, before giving the signal and drawing his phase blade. The Sisters around him all drew their powerful Charnabal sabres and the five power armoured figures charged into the mass, their blades slashing, and cutting through the masses. Kyreg didn't just slash his blade through the horde of cultists all around him, he stomped, kicked and smashed as well. Then Catriona gave an order over the vox, and the Sisters undid their limiters fully. The Shamans all began to scream and collapse onto the ground, some bleeding from their nose as the lightning died out around them. Kyreg drew his bolt pistol and fired in rapid succession, exploding throats and heads as he targeted the Shamans, the bolter shells blowing massive holes in the xeno worshippers and sent their souls screaming back into the warp. That was when the warriors around them broke, and they began to retreat. However as they retreated, las cannon and heavy bolter fire would stitch into them as blue painted guncutters dropped off soldiers who set up heavy weapons quickly and began firing into the retreating group. Soon other soldiers dropped down and began firing from their las carbines in a disciplined fashion. However, the goal was not to kill all of them.

An escape route was purposely left open for them, the massive gathering retreating back into their villages and huts, while Kyreg sheathed his blade and looked around at the corpses. "I think it's time to go." More guncutters would land, the Astarte Commander nodding his thanks to the air crew of a guncutter that waved him and the Sisters in.

Tyven V

It had been almost a year since the Commander had left for his vengeance mission. Sergeant Rythor had taken de facto command of the Stealth Spear, amalgamating Gungnir and Xythos both under his command as one team, while Asgeir and Anpa had no problems answering to him either. Both Sergeants had bowed to Rythor's greater experience. Captain Ikanis and he shared an awkward command of sorts under Maygis, who stayed on board the strike cruiser that had only recently begun to be repaired. So far, twenty four of the Initiates had become full implanted Astartes, although still raw and inexperienced. They had been split apart and each given to different Legion units, some forming brand new squads with experienced veterans promoted to Sergeant. A mixture of squads were formed that each were christened with new names, new lineages. The hilts of power swords had been etched with their names, the first of the XVI, the XV and the XII legions in a long time that was as the Emperor had intended; his armoured champions that would stride forth to bring his rule to the stars. Rythor looked over the massive starports at the newly completed ships that had just began to take off into orbit. It had taken the entire year with the planets backing thanks to the Inquisitors that had remained on the planet and their approval of certain assets being provided to them, the fleet had been expanded.

The Kilo Zeta had been supplanted by the Spear of Luna, a vanguard cruiser that had been built for the Assault Spear. At the same time, they also had built four Nova Class frigates, all modified by the various tech marines and adepts that had originally came from the Kilo Zeta to be housed with Tau stealth technology but also modified weapon arrays. Each Nova frigate had the capacity to kill cruisers, and bigger when they worked together. They were intended as the pit vipers, hidden with their venom ready to be used on their larger enemies. New drop ships as well as aircrafts had been built for the new ships, with some personnel being transferred over. One of the most experience void fighters, Lieutenant Mordred who had previously served with high distinction amongst the XX Legion's war fleet had been promoted to serve as the Spear of Luna's captain. The Nova frigates were staffed with various mortal crewmen, with mortal captains promoted from the ranks of the loyalist SDF that had remained. It was all in all a rather impressive fleet.

Even their mortal Auxilia had been augmented. Coyote squadron had fully become a part of the Gamma 6-7, its ranks being filled with Spartocid soldiers gene forged and grown in accelerated vats while the previous Tyven V recruited soldiers had filled out leadership roles in Echo 5-1, a multi-battalion full regiment recruited from the personnel available on Tyven V. Every single one of them a volunteer, the massive planet had provided a large high quality source of manpower as the ones that did survive had been loyalists of the highest degree. In that, Sergeant Yingr was to be thanked. To form an entire regiment of more than ten thousand, it had taken the XX Sergeant months just to find the personnel, the training time a brutal six months that had shaped more than fifty thousand recruits into a lethal ten thousand troop regiment of elite shock troops. They had been blooded in the battle against a pirate fleet that had not noticed the cloaked vessel in orbit and invaded, their operation ruthlessly effective against the overmatched pirates. At the same time, a small rebellion had been suppressed by the Echo 5-1 soldiers as well, a group of cultists that had survived the purges had tried to overthrow a provincial government in the eastern tropics of the planet, the rebellion purged in two weeks as the Echo 5-1 soldiers had brutally cleared the small hive floor by floor, corpses being burned by the hundreds after the rebellion had been broken.

Yet Rythor could not help but look up at the skies every chance he got, hoping that his Commander would be back. It was not just him, even Captain Ikanis would grumble at times, the XX Commander had been the one to unite them after all. Inquisitors Laneth and Gregory had both used their authorities to re-direct shipments of arms and equipment to the planet, and for all intents and purposes the planet has served as a recruiting world, as a home base of sorts finally for the 8th. As he watched the vessels disappear into orbit, he locked his helmet on again as the others waited around him for him to continue leading the training course for the still new Astartes.

Kyreg looked at his armour and made a face as the power wash wand sprayed the blood off of the dusk blue armour. It had been more than a month of warp travel, but they had been making excellent progress so far. The trail of the sorcerer had gone cold as they had travelled to the various planets near Jarskarr with no results to show, although the Rogue Trader had been rather firm in his assistance to the XX Commander. The Sisters were doing the same in the private vehicle wash bay that they had, and as Kyreg finished spraying the guts off his armour, he would activate the holographic field on himself that would render the dusk blue ornamented armour to be those of a blackshield again. He would even sigh softly as he stepped out of the wash bay, his weapons clamped to his armour within easy reach as a servant in blue livery bowed to him.

"Lord, the Captain wishes for you to join him in his private dining hall."

The white jacketed servant would bow and open the massive double doors for the Astarte, Kyreg stepping through to the now familiar hallway. He would stop and admire some of the exotic weapons found there, his eyes resting on a long thin spear that hung in a stasis field. An Eldar singing spear. He would smile slightly, wondering about how a human got his hands on such a weapon, but he had seen the effectiveness of the blue uniformed soldiers, the former drop troopers and could see just how this weapon came into the Rogue Traders collection.

He stepped in and saw the Albert sitting by the faux fireplace, a glass of what smelled like amasec in his hands; the man looked to be absolutely disturbed, his eyes showing huge bags underneath his eyes from the lack of sleep. What was different however, was the massive revolver in his lap. He looked up at the Astarte and dipped his head slightly. "Lord. I wish to know the truth of who you are. Ever since you came on board, my dreams have been haunted by images, of seeing scenes I had never imagined to see before. So please Lord, tell me who you really are."

It would be a lie if he was to admit that he didn't consider simply slicing the man's head off and being done with it. However, a more calculating aspect of himself thought about things for a moment. "Why do you truly wish to know, Captain? Do you truly wish to know even if you know what it might cost you?" Kyreg responded, as he took off his helmet and clamped it around his waist. "You sit there with a revolver that is incapable of hurting me even at this distance. The bullet will flatten itself against my armour, and might not even scratch the paint. So who is that revolver for?" Albert looked down at it for a moment and sighed, before picking it up and unloading it, five massive titanium cased shells sliding out of the cylinder and dropping onto the ground with the slight clink of metal. "I don't know. I worry about the answer I may get, and I suppose for a mortal like me, it's a natural reaction just to arm myself. I suppose you are right, I don't believe this revolver will be of much use to me."

Kyreg looked at him for a moment and chuckled a little before walking to stand in front of the fireplace. "I told you a tale when we first met. I told you of the sons of the greatest leader in human history, where half the sons turned against the other. And I told you as well, these sons were made to be the greatest Generals, to lead humanity into the stars and to claim the dominion of the stars for mankind, did I not?" Albert nodded as he listened intently. "I also told you that they were gifted with their own sons, warriors created by sciences that we don't understand anymore to become the angels that humanity needs. Of that, very little can be of doubt. But not all of their own sons followed them into darkness. Some fought and resisted, many died. But some… some made their way into the lost space. Some carved out small empires and fiefdoms for themselves but a few, a few were able to stay together in small brotherhoods and continue the fight. Where the enemies of humanity were slain by hands that have been rebuked by the High Lords of Terra, their only judge is their own conscience and the Emperor of Mankind."

Albert looked down and drained his glass before setting it down on the small ottoman in front of him. "Yes, you told me of all that. But what does it mean?"

Unknown planetary moon

"No. Stay behind Sergeant. That is an order. I will see him myself, and we shall see what my punishment will be." Kyreg stated to Sergeant Rythor, the veteran Sergeant that was head of the Gungnir stealth squad. The Sergeant paused for a moment and then nodded, many other Legion Officers standing in the drop bay, looking at their Commander. The vox order had come in four days ago, a simple set of coordinates followed by a series of coded words. Kyreg checked his weapons and stepped onto the shuttle before the ramp sealed behind him. More than a solar month ago, the order had come for the 8th to join members of the Night lords on a strike mission on an Imperial world, to attack and destroy an Imperial warship repair station just outside of the Sol system. Kyreg had ordered for them to proceed to the port where the Night Lords had followed the Alpha Legionnaires through pre-designated entry points into the space station. After thirty minutes, the members of the 8th walked back onto their docking ships, leaving behind more than three hundred Night Lord corpses, killed from behind and hidden ambushes with blade and Banestrike bolter shells that blew apart helmets and neck joint seals with ease. A few dozen of their own had fallen as well but their bodies had been brought back to the Kilo Zeta. At the same time, the Night Lord cruiser had been boarded by the elite 10th Company of the 8th, the Agema Terminators. The 7th Company, the Threshold, had joined the Agema terminators in the attack on their cruiser, and an hour later as well, they boarded Stormbird gunships with their wounded and dead, the Night Lord cruiser set to auto pilot and aimed towards the space station but programmed to miss it by barely fifty miles. The Night Lord cruiser had flown past the Imperials, alerting them of traitors in bound even as the Night Lord cruiser crashed into a small moon. A few weeks later, reinforcements were brought in and bolstered the positions around the Sol Systems. Now, he was to pay, he was sure of it. The order to attend had come from the Primarch himself.

As he stepped out of the shuttle, he would check himself over one more time and gritted his teeth slightly, before stepping forward. Awaiting him was the Primarch, dressed in the same suit of armour as the others that stood around him. He would stop ten feet in front of his Genefather and went down on a knee with his head down, awaiting the blade or bolt shell that would be coming his way any moment. "Leave us." Alpharius spoke, a rich voice that held echoes of pain behind it, and sorrow. The bodyguards that came with him all stepped away back onto the dusk blue Stormbird that had been the Primarch's transportation down to this moon. Kyreg could feel an armoured hand on his shoulder, and he looked up at the Primarch. "Rise my son. Tell me what you have done."

He rose and paused as he looked at the armoured face of his father. "I.. I have disobeyed, my Lord. And I am not repentant. I am willing to suffer the consequences." Alpharius looked at him, only slightly taller than the 8th Commander. "You know, I ratified it. Your rank. You are officially the Commander of the 8th." Kyreg looked up slightly in surprise, while the Primarch smiled underneath his helmet. "Yes. Why would I not? I had not expected you to lead, truthfully. When we first met, on the day my father united us, you were on a list of names that were recommended to me to form my Legion's elite. There were a lot of high praises sang about you from many well-known officers of the other legions. It is why I sent you to Ullanor to stand beside my father at the time." Kyreg bowed his head, unsure of what to say in response.

"I had imagined that you would one day have become an Effrit. In many ways you have, but as part of the 8th. I was advised to you know, by my brother. I had wished to claim you as one of my own personal troops." Kyreg realised that the person in front of him was not Alpharius. No, it was Omegon. "I.. my Lord." Kyreg had always had a large amount of respect for his other Primarch, pioneering the use of the elite Effrit stealth squads and developing a way of war that was followed by those who could wear the mantle of a stealth squad. "Instead you surprised me, and rose in rank, first becoming a Veteran Sergeant and sent to the 8th to lead a stealth squad. Then promotion to Captain of the Shrouded, the 8th Harrows elite stealth company. It's only fitting, that you now wear the Commander's mark as the head of the 8th. I know what happened in that space station, my son."

Kyreg clenched his teeth for a moment and drew his blade, holding it out for the Primarch. "If you seek to punish me Lord, then I accept it willingly. I will not lead the 8th into treason. I cannot. I owe my fealty to the Emperor first. Legion… second." Omegon took the blade from him and test swung it, nodding slightly as he noted the balance of the blade as well as the keenly sharp edges. "What makes you think I seek to punish you, Kyreg? Or Kilo 360?" Kyreg was slightly startled by the mention of his number when he had first been inducted. "3 for the third intake. 60 as the 60th member. Kilo because the geneseeds used in your implantation process was from the Kilo batch, the second stabilized batch of XX geneseeds." Omegon chuckled and took one step in and slid the blade into the sheath set at Kyreg's left side. "I am not here to punish you Commander. I am here to see why you did what you did. I wish for you to continue on this path, my brother and I do not agree on everything. Let's just say that while he was not happy with what you did, I am more than willing to accept what you did. I happen to agree with you." Kyreg looked up in surprise at the words of one of his Primarchs.

"Surprised? You shouldn't be. We are all Alpharius. But that does not mean we all share one mind does it? No, I believe you did the right thing. I think that in the days to come, after this war is over… I believe those such as you will be needed. Disappear from this quadrant Commander. My final order to you is to go into the stars and cull the ambitions of Horus." He would reach up and set a hand on Kyreg's shoulder pauldron and nodded. "Ave Imperator, my son." Kyreg bowed his head and nodded. "Ave Imperator, Lord."