A steady rumble shook the ground.

"It has begun," Basil stated. The kid glanced over at Lerriksen whose eyes were glued to his wrist and the chrono attached to it. The rumble was joined by a host of smaller rumbles. Most likely hand grenades and the like being thrown at the servitors, Basil decided. In a few seconds, the Cassius PDF will charge the front entry-way behind the servitors in concert with us moving from here. His eyes turned to the double doors in front of him and the squads of Inquisitorial Storm Troopers waiting for the order to move.

"Now!" barked Lerriksen.

The sound of breakers being thrown echoed loudly from the distribution center and the lights went out. Darkness swallowed the Troopers for an instant before they were bathed in a very dim red glow from the emergency lighting. Two Troopers opened the double doors and the rumbling sounds from above and out front became louder. The Troopers quickly flowed through the open doors and began scattering.

Basil and Lerriksen raced through the doors behind them, entering into the dark storage vault, and followed the Troopers. Basil reached out to the Storm Troopers' minds. They are stronger than most, he thought with a shrug as he touched the minds of those in the front rows. Touched their minds so softly they didn't know he was doing it, steadying their nerve as well as their hands. But not strong enough to make this difficult.

He saw through their eyes and beyond. Expanded his prescience across the field of battle. Sensing the corridors and his Troopers as well as the Templars through the Warp, they were as visible to him in the darkness as if they were bathed by the bright light of the Sun. The sounds of the battle, lasrifles and grenades from countless sources filled his head, making it difficult for him to focus.

Basil saw through the eyes of the lead fireteam which had just passed through the north exit of the storage space. A corner ten metres beyond. Saw beyond the corner to the Templars waiting behind it in gold fringed carapace armour and visored helms, and he nudged the minds of the fireteam into lobbing grenades past the corner's edge. The explosion knocked the Templars off their feet and the fireteam quickly raced round the corner and finished them off using the bayonets of their lasrifles with no nudging on his part.

Simultaneously, Basil saw the lead fireteam which passed through the open west portal. He saw beyond to the Templars waiting to fire and pushed the Troopers' minds into a dive. The Templars fired overtop them. With Basil's mind steadying their aim, the Troopers shot through the Templars' gorgets. The corpses dropped to the ground as the Troopers climbed back to their feet.

Basil's mind reached out to another fireteam and another team and another team as they quickly moved along the corridors. Again, and again. He looked into the minds of the Templars too. They are lost and afraid, he realized, feeling pity for them. Lost with their life's mission ripped away by the Decree Passive. His mind focused. Lost, but still dangerous. I can rip their minds out. Every one of them on the planet, he thought. End this now. Basil reached more deeply into the Warp.

A body slammed into Basil, taking him to the floor, but with his hand never relinquishing hold of his force staff.

Las blasts streaked over his head where he had been a moment before. Basil pulled back his mind and quickly realized it was Lerriksen on top of him, lasrifle in his hands and firing. Basil quickly realized his error as he watched the lasrifle blasts streaking to their target. A target peering out of the drop-ceiling and firing with a lasrifle. Firing blasts that would have hit him if Lerriksen had been a moment slower. A sniper. A servitor sniper. Focusing his efforts on entering the minds of the Templars, he had not followed the clues of the battlefield as he should have and the servitor had no mind for him to enter. More lasrifle blasts than just Lerriksen's converged upon the target and the drop-ceiling from which it fired. The servitor dropped through the ceiling, visible cybernetic enhancements to its eyes which would have allowed it to find him in the darkness, and lay on the ground motionless.

Lerriksen hopped up and extended a hand to Basil who took it and quickly climbed to his feet, using both Lerriksen's hand and the staff he held. "You were right," Lerriksen said.

Basil stared at him, not immediately comprehending what the Captain was asserting.

"It was waiting to shoot. Shoot you," Lerriksen said. "The servitor held fire until it recognized that," he added, pointing at the Inquisitorial icon upon Basil's chest. "Someone tipped them off."

"Tell no one this," Basil said. "No one. Since it's a mole of some sort, and we don't know who it is, we tell no one."

"Understood," Lerriksen answered.

"Now," Basil said. "We've almost made it to the back of the front entry-way." He paused for a moment in thought. Do I give them a chance to surrender? Take a chance to bring the sheep back home?

Basil made a decision.

"We'll have them cornered, dead to rights. Once we have them penned, give them a chance to surrender," he said. "Surrender and do penance, but not as servitors. A chance to live as men and serve."

The visored helm of Lerriksen just faced him, unmoving, but Basil knew the Captain's eyes were locked onto his form. "Excuse me, Commander," he said.

"You heard me," Basil said. "We've been butchering each other since Goge Vandire became the Ecclesiarch and put the High Lords of Terra in his pocket. Now that Sebastian Thor has deposed Vandire, we need to end this Reign of Blood and move forward if Humanity is to survive. When we have them penned, you make the offer and be sure to tell the Cassius PDF officers outside that it is my order. You hear?"

"Yes, Commander," Lerriksen replied.

Why did I give that order? Basil asked himself. Why did I pass it off instead of taking the responsibility myself? He paused, then asked himself another question. Am I fit to lead and command?