Domus Discordia Chapter 35

Outside the grand council chamber a crowd was gathered, a gaggle of Astartes all jostling before the massively reinforced doors. They were all True Believers but not regular line warriors, those had to stay at their posts guarding the perimeter, these were the senior leaders of their cause. There were half a dozen black-clad Chaplains along with a dozen Apothecaries and even the blue blots of Captain's Tygra and Erathor. All of them were talking at once, shouting over each other, "Can it be true?" or "Did you know about this?" or "It must be a lie," or most common of all, "Where are Lessall and Samect?!"

Towards that gathering Reclusiarch Wrethan strode, gripping his Crozius furiously. He heard the warriors as they shouted angrily at each other and he shared their outrage. Wrethan had led the withdrawal from the last fight, practically dragging his leaders back to a defensible position. Lessall and Samect had immediately closeted themselves away in the grand council chamber, leaving the Reclusiarch to organise a proper defence. A task made much easier by the unexpected restoration of the vox-net.

Wrethan had tried not to think ill of his masters but he had felt the distinct impression that they were stunned by the defeat, shocked by the turning of Eighth Company and abandoning their duties. Then completely out of the blue had come a message packet, conveyed over the vox-net from somewhere outside the perimeter. Wrethan had been suspicious but his armour's Machine Spirit had opened the message without prompting and played the contents before his incredulous eyes. What Wrethan had seen had at first confused him, then horrified and finally left him with an incandescent rage. He had immediately set off to confront his masters only to find that many others had arrived before him. Wrethan strode up to the jostling mob and yelled, "What is going on here?!"

Many turned at his cry but they swiftly fell back before him, recognising his elevated rank. Only two stepped up to answer him, Tygra and Erathor. Each of them looked battered and worn, their armour chipped and scored from battle. Erathor's Lightning claws were sheathed but still flecked with blood and Tygra's Eviscerator was battered and missing several teeth.

Erathor spoke first saying, "You saw the message?"

Wrethan snarled, "We all did, every True Believer saw it."

Tygra shook his head saying, "It must be a trick, a vile fabrication to undermine us."

"No," Erathor spat, "This rings all too true."

Wrethan looked about and said, "Lessall and Samect can tell us. Where are they?"

"Hiding behind those doors," Tygra spat, "They won't see us."

"They will see me," Wrethan growled. With that Wrethan strode past them and the Captain followed on. They marched up to the doors where a pair of True Believers stood guard, holding their bolters uncertainly. They saw Wrethan closing but one held up a hand saying, "We are to allow no one in."

Wrethan marched up to the defiant warrior and snarled, "You know who I am, you have known me all your lives. I saw each of you raised up into this Chapter and watched over you as you chanted the litanies for the first time. I have slain Heretics and Xenos beyond counting; I have felt the touch of Phospex and lived to tell the tale. I have faced down Greater Daemons and walked outside of time and space. Who are you to oppose me, you will step aside or be the next to face my wrath."

Prudently the pair of guards stepped aside and let the Reclusiarch pass. The great doors slid open a fraction to let the trio pass and Tygra muttered, "Nicely done."

Wrethan commented, "It's all in the tone of voice, implying there is no possibility of them opposing your will."

Together the three marched into the long nave, passing along its length. Ahead of them they spied Lessall and Samect, sitting in the chairs of the masters, the Chief Apothecary taking the Chapter Master's seat. The pair had their helms off and seemed to be in discourse but they hastily shut up as they spied the intrusion. They waited until the trio were close enough and then Lessall growled, "I thought I left instructions not to be disturbed."

Wrethan sneered, "You presume much, your troops don't see you as any sort of master, for your leadership is sorely lacking."

Samect barked, "You dare speak to us thusly!"

But Erathor shouted, "Who are you to be giving orders?! You are a Chaplain and an Apothecary, we are Captains. You should be following one of us, not the other way around."

"Jossat thought the same and he got himself killed," Lessall sneered, "Where would you be without us? Still bowing and scraping to that fool Gorgall."

The mention of the dead Chapter Master stoked Wrethan's anger and he snarled, "Don't you dare mention that name, you who killed him!"

Lessall blinked and said, "I don't…"

"Don't try to deny it," Erathor spat, "I recognised your voice in the recordings. It's true isn't it; you conspired with the Inquisition to have Gorgall murdered."

Lessall sat still for a long moment and then spread his hands and said, "Very well… yes its true. So what?"

"So what," Tygra gasped, "You commit shameful acts of dishonour and you dare to sit there saying: So what?!"

Samect leaned in and remarked, "Honour, from you Tygra? Since when have you cared for honour?"

Wrethan fixed his master with a fierce glare and said, "You knew of this?"

Samect cocked his head and replied, "Of course I did, we planned it together. Gorgall was a stubborn fool and just wouldn't die. You all wanted him gone; don't pretend you didn't. Only we had the courage and selfless nobility to act."

Angrily Wrethan growled, "You have the audacity to speak of noble courage. You plotted murder and sedition, you framed an innocent Captain for your own crimes, plunging us into civil war and you have the gall to sit there and speak of nobility! It is not our enemies who are dishonoured it is we! You disgraced us all and then tricked us to fight for a tainted cause!"

Lessall shook his head and said, "You all seem very irate over this."

"I killed Maxitio!" Erathor roared in anger, his claws sliding out, "My friend and the most honourable man I ever met. I cut out his hearts because he stood against what was right but now you tell me it was all a lie. You had me disgrace my honour and laughed about it behind my back. I should take these claws and ram them into your hearts."

Lessall spread his arms wide, exposing his chest and said, "So cut me down and then what, do you think the fighting will stop? Will our lost kin welcome you back with open arms or will they instantly put a bolt-round into your head? This war has already gone too far to stop, we are committed to our course and you know there is no turning back."

Erathor froze and Wrethan did not know what the Captain would do. Would he strike down the Chief Apothecary or baulk at the deed? It was a struggle Wrethan knew all too well, for he shared it. Wrethan had blood on his hands, he had slain any who had dared to stand up for what was right. He had unjustly executed his sworn Brothers and cast aside all pretensions of honour, there was no redemption from that. Deep down Wrethan knew this war was now unstoppable, both sides had shed blood and they must fight on to the last.

Slowly Erathor's claws retracted as he growled, "Damn you, the Emperor will damn us all for this."

Lessall scoffed, "Perhaps or perhaps not, history is written by the victor after all. Once we win this war we will be in a position to decide what is honourable and what is not. Once we have built our Empire nobody will question how we did it, the end will justify the means."

Wrethan growled, "You don't care about humanity, you never did. You only lust to claim your own kingdom and to enthrone yourself as the Tyrant of the Saint Karyl Trail."

Lessall glared at him and spat, "Are we going to remain here arguing all day or get on with winning this war?"

Wrethan fell silent but Tygra spoke up to say, "How are we supposed to win now?"

Erathor agreed saying, "Our ranks are shattered and Hakulo has betrayed us. Counting the Chaplains and Apothecaries we number a mere one hundred and seven-seven Space Marines."

Lessall snarled, "Hakulo's treachery runs deeper than you know. Our specialists uncovered that his Marines have been sabotaging the vox-net this whole time. The underhanded knave has been working for the other side since the start!"

Wrethan's thoughts turned to the prisoners he had seen Hakulo's squads dragging away but something held his tongue. Instead he said, "What is your plan?"

"We have suffered a serious setback but the situation is not irrecoverable," Samect stated coolly, "We control the interior defences, we control the landing docks and vox-arrays, the Thunderhawk hangers and the armouries, everything of note is under our thumb. Our enemies have nothing, no support, no resupply, the longer this goes on the more they will wither upon the vine."

Tygra seemed to be adapting fastest to the situation and remarked, "They can't lurk out there forever, will have no choice other than to brave our guns and in a siege we hold the advantage. They will impale themselves on the defences and then we crush them."

Erathor reluctantly pointed out, "There are other ways into the heart of the Fortress-Monastery, they may try to be sneaky and avoid our guns."

Samect replied candidly, "Tunnel fighting and close-quarters brawling. The Codex Astartes states that in a siege the attacker should enjoy a three-to-one superiority in numbers, which they don't have. If Toran wants a battle of attrition then we shall give it to him and we shall still win."

Wrethan didn't like any of what he was hearing but he knew he had no choice but to help. No, he thought, there had been a choice once, but that moment was long past. He was committed to this course and he had no other option save to follow it. He swallowed his misgivings and said, "There is a flaw in your plan. Morale is at rock bottom, every True Believer knows what you have done, they are angry and liable to riot. If we sit here and do nothing then we may well have a civil war in our own camp."

Lessall didn't look concerned as he said, "That is your duty, you three need to go get the troops in order. Also we will fold the survivors of Fourth Company into your ranks, better to have two nearly whole Companies than three shattered bands."

Tygra looked thoughtful and asked, "What if the enemy doesn't dance to your tune? What if they stay out of range and rampage freely?"

Lessall replied, "Then they will grow weaker and weaker, exhausting their supplies and ammunition. They will waste their strength pointlessly and when they are spent we advance en-masse to crush them."

Samect nodded and said, "It might be better that way, to shed blood together will unite the True Believers once more. A taste of battle will plaster over the cracks in our morale, reforging the bonds that make us strong."

Nobody looked pleased but Tygra said, "Very well."

Erathor reluctantly murmured, "If it must be so."

Wrethan could only nod in agreement; he had no other choices left to him.

Then Lessall commanded, "Go and get your ranks back into order, soon we will win this war!"

Silently the trio turned and marched out each lost in their own thoughts. Wrethan's head was swimming, replaying all that he had done. He felt like he was trapped in a nightmare and could not wake up. Everything he had fought for was a lie and all he had held to be righteous was now ashes. He had burned down everything that he held dear and had blood upon his hands. There was no going back from that, no way to change his fate. Deep down Wrethan was struggling with a realisation: that strange voice that had cried against his deeds, he had recognised it at last. It was a voice he had not heard in centuries, one he thought had been excised during his training and Hypno-indoctrination. One that he thought he would never hear again.

It was his conscience.