Locum Ignotum Chapter30
The Warp heaved with great swells, vast waves sweeping its haunted depths and remaking it. Huge surges of and dips rolled across the Immaterium, rewriting everything and creating new patterns. This was a time of great changes, a remaking of all that had been. The galaxy was in a state of flux and the Empyrean was no exception, patterns were being rewritten and new configurations were rising.
Even the Astronomicon, the Emperor's great psychic beacon, was not the same. It was a shadow of its former self, flickering and intermittent, a waning light in the growing darkness. Still it was more than had been present before and even a guttering light was a welcome reprieve in the midst of such nightmares.
Thus the Thunderchild gingerly picked its way forward, seeking the path home. It was a tiny little mote of life in the roiling mass of unlife but it remained unbroken. The same could not be said for the Old One's refuge, the last shards of its debris spinning away, dissolving into nothingness. The Thunderchild had barely made it out in time and had been rocked by the psychic shockwave of its destruction. The ship had been flung across the Immaterium before the shockwave passed, leaving it battered but hale.
Deep within that ship the leaders of the Space Marines were meeting, gathered to debrief and reflect upon all that had happened. They were in a strategic briefing room, the same one that had hosted the Company's Sergeants before the battles had begun. The debriefing was being held by Captain Toran, who had recovered from his poisoning with no permanent side-effects as well as his Command Squad, Novak, Persion, Jediah, and Furion.
There was also Chaplain Wrethan, his skull-mask off and hanging from his belt and with him Honourable Ajax, whose bulk made the room seem rather small. Librarian Arvael was also present, his gaze far off as he contemplated upon mysteries only he could know. The last member was Bylan, standing proud, head held high to be among such heroes.
He was glad to see the Captain had recovered; he had been very worried for a time. The thought that the Captain might not make it had been more troubling than he was willing to admit. Bylan knew that Chaplain Wrethan had stepped up magnificently and led them to safety but it had felt wrong, he found it hard to imagine going to war without Toran at the fore.
Bylan shook off his musings and heard Toran saying, "So in short, we made it out."
"Barely," Wrethan stated, "It was closer than I care to admit."
Persion spoke up to say, "I can't believe we missed it, we slept through it all."
Novak quipped, "Perhaps it was for the best, an old man like you needs his rest."
"You were passed out too," Persion poked back.
Bylan had a pressing question and asked, "+So now we have time, did we ever deduce what that place was?+"
"A refuge," Arvael stated, "A hiding place, but one that ultimately failed."
"+A hiding place for what?+" Bylan pressed.
Arvael's eyes glimmered strangely and he said, "You don't want to know."
"+But…+" Bylan said.
Arvael cut him off saying, "Certain things are not meant to be known. That place is gone for good; you should be content with that answer and not inquire further. Be grateful, in this case ignorance is bliss."
Wrethan put his foot down by saying, "Let the Librarian be, his role is to know these things, ours is to fight the Divine Emperor's wars. Truly it is written: to question is to doubt and doubt is the path to Heresy."
Bylan shrank back in the face of the Chaplain's ire and he chided himself for inquiring into that which was forbidden. He had let his growing familiarity with the Librarian obscure the fact that Arvael routinely dealt with prohibited matters, with the secrets of the Warp. The Chapter taught that when it came to Psykers, it was best not to inquire too deeply or not at all.
Thankfully Furion changed the subject to ask, "So have we established contact with the Imperium yet?"
Arvael replied, "Our Astropaths are hard pressed, the Warp seethes with violence but stray messages are being picked up."
Bylan saw the grimness of his expression and inquired, "+Not good news?+"
Arvael shook his head and said, "I have cross-checked the embedded time stamp, according to that we have been absent from the galaxy for four and a half years."
That drew gasps and Jediah spat, "But we were only in there a couple of months, little over sixty days. That's a time differential of… of…"
"Twenty-five to one," Novak stated frankly.
Bylan eyed him, that was unusually sharp for Novak but then he remembered that despite the flippant attitude the Champion was far from stupid. He did a quick sum himself and said, "+That means our late allies were trapped in that strange place for roughly four hundred years, from their point of view+"
"Still a long time," Persion said, "I don't think I could have coped."
"It could have been much worse," Wrethan declared, "We have all seen bad translation slips before, this is not extreme, as far as Warp travel is concerned."
"That depends on what we missed," Toran stated, "Arvael, what have we heard?"
The Librarian's face fell and he said, "Its bad… very bad."
"Do not seek to spare us," Wrethan said, "We shall face whatever comes with stern resolution."
Arvael swallowed and explained, "Terra itself has gone silent, save for the Astronomicon there is nothing. Other reports are scattered but they tell a grim tale. While we were gone the Thirteenth Black Crusade fell upon Cadia and brought ruin with it, the Despoiler unleashed weapons beyond compare. The planet is gone, the Cadian Gate has fallen."
Dumbfound silence greeted that as jaws dropped and Bylan couldn't believe his ears. The Cadian Gate had been the Imperium's bastion, an enduring, unbreakable fortress that had held against everything the Traitor Legions could throw at it. For ten millennia Cadia had held the line, the idea of it being gone was inconceivable.
Bylan gasped in disbelief, "+It must be a mistake, the messages are scrambled, Astropathy is notoriously unreliable. They must mean the Imperial Guard fell, that they were routed and fled. The Imperium can still counterattack and retake the planet+"
Arvael shook his head sadly and said, "The reports are too consistent and complimentary, there can be no doubt: Cadia is nothing but asteroid debris now."
"We should have been there," Jediah spat angrily, "Those weak mortals shamed themselves, they cost us everything with their cowardice."
A flash of fire lit Arvael's eye and he said, "The reports are clear, the Guard stood and fought to the last man. They never gave up, not even when the end came for them. They fought tooth and nail as the planet broke up, even as fire fell from on high and the earth shattered they still continued to fight. They never ran out of courage, merely time. The last message to get off-world is being repeated galaxy-wide to honour them. They are saying, 'Let it be known: the planet broke before the Guard did.'"
A solemn silence fell and heads bowed in respect to those fallen heroes, all honouring the bravery and sacrifice shown by mere men in the face of ultimate evil. Bylan was struck by the similarity to their own situation, had they not had a way out then they too would have chosen to fight to the end. They would have fought to the last as a world burned around them.
After a moment Furion spoke up to say, "The question now becomes, what do we do next?"
Arvael stated, "The Imperium is beset on all sides, Chaos incursions beyond any we've seen before and Xeno foes rise on all sides. The topography of the Warp is completely changed, nothing is it was… well almost nothing. There is one spark of good news, the Navigator reports that the Saint Karyl Trail still exists, the way back to our homeworld is passable."
"That at least is good news," Toran said, "We must regroup with the Chapter and determine where we can make a difference. Our honoured dead must also be mourned; our lost squadmates deserve proper commemoration."
Furion rubbed his chin thoughtfully and said, "We have been absent a long time there is no telling what may have changed in the meantime. We may find things are quite different once we get home."
There was a sudden grumble from Ajax who declared, "IT DOES NOT MATTER, WE MUST RETURN HOME. THE CHAPTER NEEDS US AND WE MUST STAND WITH OUR BROTHERS. I HOWEVER HAVE BEEN AWAKE TOO LONG; I YEARN FOR THE PEACE OF MY STASIS CRYPT."
Bylan looked up and said, "+You will not remain with us?+"
"I WILL ALWAYS BE THERE WHEN NEEDED MOST," Ajax stated, "BUT I MUST REST, IT IS THE CLOSEST THING TO DEATH I CAN PERMIT MYSELF."
Everybody blinked at that odd statement but Wrethan said, "There is still the matter of fifty-thousand refugees to deal with."
Bylan stated, "+Yes, they are draining our life-support systems at an alarming rate. The Machine Spirits are greatly taxed, with fair winds we should make it home but it will be a close run thing+"
Furion ventured, "Maybe we should drop them off at an Imperial way-station."
"What, leave them to rot while Administratum functionaries dither," Wrethan growled, "Or the Inquisition tortures them for hints of Heresy? I think not."
Toran nodded and said, "The Imperium would not understand what we have seen, where these people came from. Best to keep them close; there are hundreds of sparsely inhabited islands on Lujan II, Chapter Master Gorgall can surely find them a nice archipelago to settle when we get home. They can live out their lives under our protection, in time some of their descendants may even join the Chapter."
Wrethan nodded and said, "It is what Baruch would have wanted."
Bylan felt a wave of sadness to think upon those lost warriors, so far from home. Yet they had fought and died for noble causes, their actions in life and death had taught them all so much. He wished he could have seen how they fell but surely it must have been the most gallant of ends. He said, "+We should send word to their homeworlds, they may have records of their names.+"
Persion remarked, "Baal, Prometheus and Fenris perhaps but we never did find out where Maxivus and Leanyr came from."
Toran said, "We shall send missives to all the First Founding Chapters, somebody may have a record of them."
Suddenly Ajax rumbled, "THEY CARED NOT FOR LAURELS OR PRAISE. SIMPLY TO BE REMEMBERED, THAT IS ALL THEY WANTED. TO KNOW THAT THEIR WISDOM HAD BEEN IMPARTED AND SHALL ENDURE."
Wrethan said, "Yes, they said to raise a glass and remember them. Our own lost will be ritually memorialised in due time but let us mourn our allies now. Summon a servitor, we shall toast their memories."
A call went out and after a few minutes a servitor arrived, carrying a tray of goblets. Everybody took one, save Ajax who couldn't hold one and they held the wine quietly with heads bowed.
"To Baruch, Samandriel, Maxivus, Leanyr and Ganaar," Wrethan said, " They reminded me of the meaning of duty, of our true purpose."
Jediah nodded and said, "They showed me how to live with myself, how to balance being a man and a monster."
Bylan declared, "+They taught me to be my own man, to not be afraid of stepping forward+"
Arvael said, "They showed me that even in the darkest of places there is yet light and that there is more at work in the universe than the will of Chaos."
Last of all Ajax whispered softly, "They reminded me of what I am fighting for and why I must continue."
Bylan blinked, Ajax's vox speaker was fritzing again, he kept slipping into soft tones. It was a good job they were headed home, Bylan thought, they all needed respite. Toran raised his glass and said, "To our comrades in arms then, heroes all. No matter what comes we shall remember them."
Then they drained their goblets, in one last toast to the fallen
