-XXXII-
"I am Eduardo II Felix of House Echnisia, by the rights given to me by my father Alfonzo Philip, Patriarch of House Echnisia, I demand that you tell me what you did to the Lion Warriors command. Answer quickly for I have no time to waste." said the handsome man in the pict-screen.
"He sure loves to say his name out loud." thought Julius.
"He could just ask what we are doing." voxed Horatus so that the man would not hear his mocking.
"Well?" said Eduardo getting impatient.
"We are Astartes of the Emperor's Spears Chapter and sergeant Orson is in our custody for..." said Ioras but Eduardo cut him off.
"If you will ask for ransom, know that we do not deal with traitors or pirates." said Eduardo in a smug manner.
Julius doubted if the man could tell the same sentence so smug, if he was in the same room with them.
"We are no pirates, we needed questions answered and sergeant Orson was not in favour of answering them." said Ioras, he was irritated by being interrupted but kept his cool.
"I don't care who you are, tell me what you want." said Eduardo.
Ioras stood for a moment before answering, he kept Eduardo waiting on purpose, making clear that he did not rule this conversation.
Imperial aristocrats always had servants and people who seek favour, orbiting them constantly, after years of aristocracy they start to see themselves as a precious pearl that cannot be replaced.
"Are you sure we should be talking to you, patch me to your father." said Ioras.
Julius adored the shock and anger at Eduardo's face for a moment.
"I am the colonel of Echnisia House Guard, I rule the military might of this great planet of ours!" Eduardo roared, his voice thinning.
Aristocrat's face turned red with anger, but Ioras wasn't impressed.
"Then you clearly are making a poor job, we had to fight our way through the streets that are streets no more." said Ioras.
"You traitor scum, how dare you speak up to me!"
"I am no traitor." said Ioras removing his helmet.
He looked directly at the pict-screen with a gaze that many would look aside.
"I am Apothecary Ioras of Emperor's Spears Chapter, I am a Space Marine of the Emperor and you, kid, will show me all the respect that you show your superiors." said Ioras with an unflinching gaze.
Eduardo stood there like a frozen deer looking into the head-lights.
For a second he looked like he was going to cut the link and try to escape from his shame, but to his credit he composed himself.
"Well-maybe I was disrespectful. We-we are hard pressed with the command. It's been hard on all of us." said Eduardo his face red with shame.
He was on a command-comm-line and not a private one, so his entire command group including the officers heard the reprimand he got from Ioras.
However the boy seemed clever than he looked and tried a compromise when his usual oh-so-mighty-and-powerful routine didn't work on the Space Marine.
"We are on the same side here, Eduardo, if you work with me you will find your work eased considerably." said Ioras sympathetically.
Julius was able to realise that Eduardo himself was never at the front lines, his uniform looked clean as a display item. He was probably kept behind a command console all this time while his officers keep him away from any military decisions and generally ignore him in all decisions. He was there not as a commander but as a token. He probably felt every second of it and despise himself and his life. So he put up a show of command to feel himself important.
"I wish that Lord Ioras, we need all the help we can get." said Eduardo trying to look in control.
"We met your sister while coming here, Lady Agathe and her palace guard, how she fares?" asked Ioras.
Eduardo looked unpleased to talk about his sister.
"She fares well. We hold most of the inner cluster thanks to my House Guard." he said, putting the importance on his own units.
"I'm glad that she is okay, we had the most urgent of missions and couldn't see her to safety ourselves." said Ioras.
"And what mission was that, if I might ask?" Eduardo was using his court-educated speech now. The extra polite one.
"Lion Warriors caused us harm and we wished to learn why, sergeant Orson was cooperative and we learned of the existence of a distress in your planet."
"House Echnisia thanks you for your aid against the Orks." said Eduardo politely, still hiding the real truth.
"I meant the warp-rift in the alien tombs and your involvement with it." said Ioras directly.
"I-I don't understand, I have never heard of such a thing." said Eduardo his face puzzled.
"I thought we had an understanding, it does not bode well to lie." said Ioras with a serious face.
"No, I am not lying, I know about the tomb but never heard of anything related to warp inside it." said Eduardo hurried.
"Sergeant Orson claims that there is a warp-rift that exists within this tomb and Orks used it to arrive at Echtesia." said Ioras, he wasn't sure if the boy was lying or really oblivious to it.
"What if Orson lied to us?" voxed Julius.
"To what end?" asked Achagon.
"I'm not sure, maybe he expected us to charge the Orks on some suicide mission."
Just as they were talking the pict-screen divided in two and a beautiful face appeared on the second division.
"I'll take it from here, brother." said Agathe Ferdinand of House Echnisia.
She looked as lovely and tired as Julius remembered her.
"Lady Echnisia." said Ioras bowing slightly.
"Hello, Apothecary Ioras of the Emperor's Spears." she said.
Julius was impressed that she actually remembered their name, considering she probably was suffering from severe sleep deprivation and fatigue.
"I take it you're more informed on the subject than your brother." said Ioras.
"I was monitoring the communication and it is true that there is a warp-rift on our beloved planet, but it is a topmost secret to us." she confessed knowing that the Spears already knew too much and hiding from them would be no use.
"Than what is to be done about this problem?" asked Ioras.
"We don't know, our only option is to keep fighting against the Orks and pray to the Emperor that they extinguish." she said.
"Do disrespect but that was a poor expectation. Orks would never invade this deep if they did not had the manpower to back it up." said Ioras.
"So what are we to do about it? Will you help us close down the warp-rift?" she asked trying to look vulnerable as if to make Ioras react with sympathy, or to provoke a protective instinct to protect a weaker kin.
Ioras was not effected but kept playing the knight-in-shining-armour game for it suited their needs.
"I'm not sure that the Orks would cease to be a problem even if we somehow close the warp-rift." said Ioras honestly.
"Sister, why was I not informed of this danger to our planet?" asked Eduardo trying to be polite as possible but his anger and jealously burned deep inside him.
"Not now, little brother." said Agathe.
"I am a colonel too, I have a right to know." he said, his voice rising.
"Now you know about it, if you excuse us we need things to sort out." she said.
Eduardo remained silent but his face conveyed his displeasure.
"If they were in private he would shout at her." thought Julius.
Julius also realised that Agathe was more in favour with his father than Eduardo himself, she had knowledge of the situation far more than her brother.
"She would make a fine matriarch" Julius thought.
"I'm sorry for the inconvenience." Agathe said in her court-talk.
Ioras ignored the apology for it served him no purpose.
"As I said, the Orks is a problem at large, Idagenia have fallen thanks to Lion Warriors that lure us there." he said.
"I know nothing of such a thing, Lord Ioras, but you dealt with your revenge so I hope it is no more concern to us." she said, riding the tide and keeping Ioras on her side.
"It was not a matter of revenge, my lady, all the Lion Warriors still live and I hope they will assist us when we assault the tomb." Ioras said.
"Assaulting the tomb? But that's impossible, we barely hold the cluster." she said.
"Cluster is already lost, bar your gates and defend the hive walls, anyone outside the walls must help us at the assault." Ioras said.
"I need to take this to my father, surely abandoning the cluster is a hard decision."
"There is no more cluster, we walked through the fields of debris and ruin. It wasn't a city." Ioras said.
"But if we were to defend the hive, we need every help we can get. We need you here." she said nervously, imagining Orks scaling the walls of hive Echtesia.
"That won't do, we are undermanned as it is, if the warp-rift is not closed we have no chance to stop the Orks." stated Ioras.
"But-it would be a suicide mission to react the tomb, it is located deep within the Ork-held territory." she said.
Pict-division of Eduardo vanished and an elderly man in fine clothing appeared instead.
"Patriarch Alfonzo of Echinsia, who am I speaking to?" the elderly man said.
"Apothecary Ioras of the Emperor's Spears. At your service." Ioras said slightly bowing.
"Lord Ioras, my daughter informed me of the situation and your involvement in it, I have fought the Orks before and think that your stratagem is sound and wise. I give you full command over any Imperial force that is located in the cluster if you help us get rid of this warp-rift." said patriarch.
"Lord Alfonzo, we are Emperor's Spears and we are here to pierce those who mean to lay waste to his land." Ioras said in an exaggerated declaration.
Patriarch Alfonzo looked unimpressed but understood the meaning behind it, it was both acceptance of terms and a subtle threat.
It meant "We will help you out but we also know what you do, so don't cross us."
Alfonzo was clever enough to see his options and play them out to his advantage.
"Eduardo, Agathe pull back your forced inside the hive and lock the gates, Lord Ioras I trust that you and your men would save our planet and the lives of the Emperor-fearing citizens of Echtesia from this green-menace." Patriarch said.
"For the Emperor." said Ioras locking his helmet on his head.
"For the Emperor." replied Patriarch before closing the comm-feed.
Agathe's face was all that remained on the screen. She looked concerned and nervous at the same time.
"Lady Agathe." said Ioras.
She startled "Yes? Lord Ioras." she said hurryingly.
"I need someone to keep order among the guardsmen, do you have a commissar that can help me out?" he asked.
"Yes, we do, I will send him to you as fast as possible." she said.
"Thank you." said Ioras and meant to turn.
Agathe's voice kept him "Lord Ioras." she said.
"The Ork-held territories is highly dangerous." she said.
She continued when Ioras didn't reply "They said that thousands of Orks roam the fields and with them murderous machines in all shapes." she said, her nervousness filled her face.
"We are Astartes, their numbers or their machines mean nothing to us, we shall pierce their soul and raise their corpses high upon spikes for all to see." Ioras said.
Agathe looked blankly for a second. "Be careful." she said blushing, she cut the comm-feed abruptly.
Ioras looked into the blank reflective screen for a second. His own image was reflecting back at him. Reflection of a mass murder machine made from flesh and ceremite.
He turned towards his brothers.
"Power up the Lions and refill your ammo from their armoury." he said.
"Can we trust them?" asked Julius closing by.
"We are on the same page now, I sensed no traitor amongst them. They were just following orders."
"And will they follow us now?" asked Achagon.
Ioras stood for a moment as Iulius, Horatus and Rexus opened the armoury door and started unloading fresh ammo from the chamber.
"For the Emperor, they will." he said.