Falsa Verum Chapter 25

Beta faced down the line of bolters, their unwavering barrels fixed upon his body. Death was only the twitch of a trigger finger away and without his armour he could not survive their first volley. His powers were at their lowest ebb and he doubted he could deflect even a single round, let alone a full barrage. He looked upon his former minions and saw in their steady gazes the willingness and capability to use their guns. He was in no doubt that they would not hesitate to kill him, which raised the question as to why they had not done so already.

Talgor was the first to speak, "Let me do it, I've always wanted his head on my backpack pole."

Epsilon didn't look away but he growled, "What, let you take all the credit? I don't think so."

Then Delta spat, "I deduced his location, I get to kill him!"

Ah, Beta thought, there it is. There was a power play at work here, the sudden vacuum of leadership drawing them in. These three were already vying for dominance and they knew whom ever killed him would gain the respect of the Splinter and so would be first in line to assume command. Beta realised then that they had not planned this far ahead, none of them had bothered to wonder what happened after they killed their false lord. Now he could practically hear the wheels turning in their minds, the schemes and ploys forming as they judged who was most likely to survive the inevitable fight to come.

Talgor hissed, "We can't all kill him."

Then Epsilon barked, "I should do it!"

Beta very carefully made no sudden movements as he interjected, "Is that really necessary? We don't have to fight."

Epsilon sounded scornful as he snorted, "Don't try to weasel your way out of this, there is no way we would spare you. You must think we are stupid, the second we turn our backs you will kill us with some spell."

"He's right," Talgor hissed, "We can't trust you."

"No," Beta confessed, "You can't trust my loyalty… but you can trust my self-interest."

Epsilon growled, "Don't listen to him, let me shoot him!"

But Beta implored, "Use your brains for once, what does fighting each other get us? We could fight it out right now, until only one of us is left standing, but how long would the victor rule? How long until some uppity champion decides to plunge a knife in? Watching every shadow for the next scheming usurper… I've lived that life and it doesn't lead anywhere, it's a dead-end."

Talgor snarled, "What other life is there for Chaos Marines?"

"Exactly my point," Beta said, "We can tear each other apart, but we should try to find another way to get what we want. Just for once stop undermining each other and work towards our mutual benefit."

Warily Epsilon muttered, "Who are you and what have you done with Beta?"

Beta grinned slightly as he said, "I know it sounds odd, coming from me of all people. Yet I have had my failing made plain to me and it is obvious to me that not one warlord can rule the Alpha Legion, not even a Splinter. Are we endlessly going to repeat our failures or do we have the wit to see it's a fool's game? I'm willing to try to find a new way to run things around here."

Epsilon snorted, "Don't waste our time; we know you don't care about any of us."

"Indeed, I don't care about any of you," Beta stated, "But don't pretend you care for each other either. Truly do any of you really trust each other?"

A frosty silence greeted that as they all realised it was true, the three were indeed already planning their next betrayals. Delta lowered his aim a hairsbreadth and sighed, "Endless backstabbing, scheme upon scheme upon scheme. I sometimes wonder if we are even capable of walking in a straight line and I grow tired of it. What are you suggesting?"

Beta explained, "I tried to run this Splinter on my own and it didn't work, I was surrounded by knives in the dark and no one got what they really wanted. But we each have things the others want, so why fight each other when we can work together? My sorcery, Delta's cunning, Epsilon's skills and Talgor's popularity with the troops. Acting in concert we can achieve far more than we could ever dream to accomplish alone. Mutual self-interest, it's the one thing we all share."

The three of them took their eyes off him for an instant, looking at each other in disbelief. Then Epsilon said, "This is ridiculous, we can't believe a word you say."

Talgor agreed, "No Chaos Marine would ever trust another, we'd be fools to let you out of our sight."

"Words fail me," Beta sighed, "So it seems I must prove my intent to you."

Very slowly Beta turned and carefully made his way over to the wall. He pressed his hand against it and counted to ten while the others watched with bolters trained at his back. Delta inquired, "What are you doing?"

Beta replied, "Didn't any of you wonder why this chamber had such odd angles?"

Suddenly the wall next to him was cracked by a sliver of light, a vertical slit that widened as two thick doors parted before him. Beyond was revealed a sterile white chamber, filled with upright glassic tubes. They stretched away from him in two lines, fifty to a side and all humming peacefully with the content mummer of Machines at work. Beta grinned as the trio inched closer and peered within, taking in the contents. The tubes were each taller than a Space Marine and filled with a viscous fluid, within which bobbed the form of a Transhuman warrior. At first glance they looked like Astartes but careful observation revealed that they were taller and more heavily muscled.

Delta sounded stunned as he gasped, "You had more of these things?"

"Of course," Beta replied with a knowing grin, "I would never keep them all in one place. I kept the most stable of them here, right under everybody's noses. A shame about the laboratory, years of work down the drain, but there are enough subjects here to start over. Their gene-seed can be harvested to create our own Primaris Marines. We still have to solve the problems of stability, their lives are distressingly short, but together I am confident we can find a solution."

Talgor sounded desirous as he growled, "Chaos Primaris Marines, an army of superior warriors at our command."

"Just imagine the worlds we could scorch bare with warriors like these," Beta prompted, "But the next generation will need someone to train them, Talgor."

Talgor went silent as his ambitions stirred but Epsilon was looking at the machinery supporting the prototypes and whispered, "I have never seen archeotech like that."

Beta nodded as he said, "All yours, it needs improvement anyway. Keeping the subjects stable is proving challenging; I'd love to have your input on any upgrades."

Delta glanced at Beta and asked, "You have hypno-indoctrinated them?"

"Somewhat," Beta admitted, "It's a work in progress, perhaps you could take charge of that."

Delta went quiet as he thought about it, no doubt planning how he would change their implanted programming to suit himself. Then he drew in a breath and said, "Honesty from you, I never thought I'd live to see the day. You have intrigued us but this will only work if we are candid with each other. No more secrets or lies, not between we four at least. We must share all our assets and have a full say in where this ship goes and who we conquer."

"I can work with that," Beta stated.

Epsilon sounded wary as he said, "We will be taking precautions against your inevitable betrayal."

"Naturally," Beta replied, "We all will, but this army needs all four of us to bring into reality. That is our guarantee of loyalty, so long as we remain more useful to each other alive than dead, we can do this. Everything we have ever wanted is within our grasp… so what do you say: Partners?"

Delta looked at the other two, who nodded in agreement, then he said, "I find it hard to imagine a time when we don't have to watch our backs for the next knife. But I'm willing to give it a try, if the only option is more backstabbing, then partners it is.

Then Epsilon asked, "But what of the Legion?"

"Screw the Legion," Beta proclaimed loudly, "From now on we fight only for ourselves!"