Reptile entered the cabin and saw the bloody scene, three eldar corpses were broken, left where they fell and their blood splattered over the walls.

Kaida lay unconscious on the bed, she had been laid there as if sleeping.

"What happened here?" asked Reptile to the two marines in the room. One was Ermine, the other, Reptile didn't know, but was sure he was in Pantaleons terminator squad.

"The eldar escaped," said Ermine, "they saw us in the hallway and this is where they chose to hide."

"I count three corpses, but there were five eldar," commented Reptile.

"It was that weapon," said Ermine, pointing at the ground. "It turns people to dust when they are struck, and there was only three when we entered the room."

"The husk blade," said Reptile picking it up, "I'll have to get this to its rightful place, thankyou." Reptile glanced at the figure on the bed.

"Your Tau is still alive," said Ermine, "She was knocked unconscious in the fight."

"Thankyou for making her comfortable," said Reptile with a smile, "she means a great deal to me."

"That wasn't me," said Ermine, "that was Gechorus." gesturing over to the other marine.

"Gechorus, I don't believe we've been introduced," said Reptile as he turned to face the other marine.

Gechorus did not show emotion in his face, but a look into the eyes of this man showed the sadness that was consuming him.

"Reptile," said Gechorus, "There was another killed here whose body cannot not be found."

"Who was it?"

"Her name was Xilthara," said Gechorus, "She was the one to free my mind from the brainwashing of the imperium."

Reptile turned to Ermine "There is one more eldar back in the hold where they were kept. She is crying out and in pain and was unable to take part in this feeble escape attempt. Can you go and deal with her?"

"Right away," Ermine replied, he then left the room.

Reptile waited for Ermine to leave, then turned back to Gechorus, "This must be quite hard for you."

"My soul is hard," said Gechorus "like my armor."

Reptile raised an eyebrow, "you said that with no conviction at all, Gechorus, you don't believe it."

Gechorus said nothing, but his eyes fell to where Xilthara had fallen.

"Sit with me," said Reptile as he lowered himself onto the bed. He was careful to set his right arm on his leg without moving it too quickly. The fight with Pantaleon earlier left him injured, but he had dealt with worse in the past.

Gechorus sat beside Reptile.

"Tell me how it happened," said Reptile.

"She was held hostage by the last remaining Eldar. He pleaded for his life, saying that he would let her go if we let him go."

"Did you agree?"

"Yes," said Gechorus, "It wouldn't have made a difference anyway, he would have been caught elsewhere on the ship."

"How did she die?"

Gechorus glanced over to the scene of the incident, "he gave Xilthara over to me, and that was it, we lowered our guns and were about to let him pass. Without warning he just threw the sword and…"

"It struck Xilthara?"

Gechorus, looked over at doorway once more, a tear squeezed from his eye, it was swiftly rubbed away. "I was looking into her eyes as she died… her body fell apart as I held her" said Gechorus, just keeping his composure. "And now she's gone."

Reptile watched Gechorus closely, "she must have meant a lot to you."

"I didn't realise how important she was to me." said Gechorus, "but when I look back, I chose her over the imperium."

Reptile let out a sigh, "this is the nature of what we do, sometimes we lose what we grow to love."

Gechorus looked at him "I have lost a lot, but I linger on."

Reptile put his arm around Gechorus, "Don't just linger," he said with a smile, "embrace this world."

Gechorus didn't say anything.

Reptile stood up and walked towards the door, "did you lay Kaida on the bed?"

Gechorus glanced round at the Tau laying behind him, "I did."

"Do you know her?"

"I met her earlier, but only briefly."

"I need you to do something for me," began Reptile, "Can you stay with her, until she rises."

"Ofcourse," said Gechorus.

"And get her out of this room, it stinks of dead eldar, I'll send some slaves to clean this up." He inspected the sword, there was no blood on the blade at all. "I need to take this to where it belongs." Just about to leave the room, Reptile looked over his shoulder and said " I find her company to be very soothing."

Reptile stood before the two sorcerers, Nidhiki and Halphas.

"Why have you come here?" asked Nidhiki looking down on Reptile from his throne.

Reptile held the husk blade out in front of him, "I have come to bring the Husk blade to its rightful place." He then laid it on the floor at his feet.

"Very good," said Halphas who stood at Nidhiki's side.

"I found this sword at the scene of a terrible accident," explained Reptile, "The Eldar broke from their detainment and got into a fight with two of the people on the ship; my Tau and a woman called Xilthara. My tau was badly hurt and Xilthara lost her life in the confrontation."

"That is a pity," commented Nidhiki, visibly frowning at the news, "Xilthara was instrumental in turning the Silver Griffons."

"I went down to where the Eldar were being held, there was nothing, no sign of a struggle, no marks on the door, it's like someone simply let them out. And considering that my Tau just happened to be in the same area of the ship at the time, one has to think that it may not have been a simple coincidence." Reptile turned to look at Halphas and could feel the corner of his mouth curl into a smile.

"What are you saying, Reptile?" snarled Halphas.

"My Lords, I can hear many things, but I cannot see everything," Reptile looks directly at Halphas, "perhaps you can tell me."

Halphas glanced over to his superior, "We decided it was time to rid ourselves of the eldar, we don't need those vile creatures on this ship."

"And Kaida just happened to be in the area at the time?"

"Yes," said Halphas, "it was a good opportunity."

"It was messy," said Nidhiki, "You need to exercise more restraint."

"My apologies," replied Halphas.

"So it was planned?" asked Reptile.

"Planned would be incorrect," said Halphas, "like I said, it was an opportunity."

"My Lord Nidhiki," began Reptile with an eyebrow raised, "I didn't know that it was protocol to destroy a battle brother's spoils."

Nidhiki smiled and let out a little laugh, "Your spoils?"

"Yes," said Reptile with a smile "she's mine, her life is not yours to take."

Halphas let out a sigh, "regardless of whether the eldar would have killed her, I still think you've proven your theory."

"Yes, but the end of the game doesn't mean that she needs to die, I still like having her around, I might keep her."

"It's presence here is an affront to the perfection that is astartes," objected Haphas, "How long do you intend to keep this alien at your side?"

"Until I get bored," Reptile admitted.

Nidhiki laughed "The Tau is harmless Halphas, let Reptile do what Reptile does." he turned to Reptile, "you may leave."

Reptile nodded his head to Nidhiki and left the room.

Kaida opened her eyes and saw the blurry figure of an Astartes sitting at the foot of her bed. Not Reptile, but she recognised him, "Gechorus," she said with a groan, "what happened?"

"You don't remember?" asked Gechorus.

"No." said Kaida, holding her head "Where's Reptile?"

"He told me to look after you." said Gechorus, with a warm smile, "Don't worry, I'm here for you."

THE END

Authors note:

Thankyou very much for reading this story to the end. It's been a lot of work (but enjoyable work).

Please let me know what you thought of it, I always want to know what others think of my writing and I'm always looking for pointers on where I can improve..

Of course I'm not ruling out the possibility of writing more with these characters, but not for a while yet. I was thinking of writing something about the Adeptus Mechanicus next.