Collus had finally got in contact with someone who was taking charge, General Geart had gone missing in a secret attack on the Tau base, so he could presume he had been killed in the nuclear blast that had occurred. Scout teams had been dispatched due to protocol, but the weary librarian didn't expect them to find anything. So far there had been no further Tau resistance, the strike force had been taken apart piece meal following the destruction of their commander. A few enemy troops had fled across the plains, but they would not have enough supplies to trouble the planet for more than a week, and no support would be coming for them.

So it was that Admiral Swanson had managed to get the Imperial fleet back under control, his report stated the Tau navy had left the system following the loss of their strike force and encampment. He and Collus were preparing for the withdrawal from Kethrin Prime, a basic contingent of troops would remain in garrison whilst the administratum arrange for repopulation. The Imperial Guard had remained to the rear of the Sanguine Dragons advance, Collus assuming command in the Generals absence, they had been used to mop anything left behind by the marines. It was then that one his scout sergeants contacted him.

'Chief Librarian Collus, this is Scout Squad Four. Do you copy?'

'Collus here, go ahead.' He replied.

'We have some survivors from the blast here, Sir.'

'Tau forces?'

'No Sir, the remains of an Imperial Strike force. Claim they were with the general.'

'The General isn't with them?'

'No Sir.'

Collus pondered this for a moment, he didn't want any complications with the withdrawal but they might be able to shed some light on what happened there. If they had survived, then so could a Tau force and Collus didn't want to be caught out.'

'Are there any senior officers in the group?' There was just static for a moment before the Scout sergeant replied.

'A few members of the command squad are here, but no one of a commanding rank Sir.'

'Bring them to me, the rest can be taken back to the Guard.'

'Yes Sir!'

The librarian inhaled deeply, closing his eyes. He let his mind drift into the empyrean slowly, his psychic power twisting the warp into images he could comprehend, much of what he felt there was death. There had been many deaths here and drifting souls projected images of their death across the other worldly realm of the warp. Images formed of guardsmen and marines dying in combat, very faintly there was a feeling of the tau death that had occurred. But the effect barely registered at all, and he was not concerned with the deaths of the aliens either. He remained still and looked through chaos to find answers, trying to see any sign of the General. He hoped his death would sing out amongst the others.

Spit flew through teeth clenched together as Jadden fell to his knees, the jolt tearing through his damaged ribs pain stabbing into him like white hot nails. He spat a thick gobbet of blood into the scorched dusty earth, the red fading as it soaked into the brown soil. He forced himself to stand again, surveying the scene before him he knew they were hopelessly exposed in the wide open road way they were using. Josla was coping well with the Ethereal, thankfully he had put up very little resistance when he came round, Josla easily knocking him unconscious again with a swift backhand. She turned at the sound of his pain.

'Sir?' She had a worried look in her eyes.

'Don't worry. I'm sure the marines will have someone who can dose me up.'

'If you make it that far.'

'Well then you don't need to slow down for me and you can get out of here quicker can't you.'

The woman said nothing, she just turned away and continued walking. Jadden took a deep breath and prepared to keep moving, ready for the agony once more. He forced himself forward again, step after step, the sun of Kethrin Prime seemed unusually hot as it baked his broken body, he squinted up at the bright disc, struggling to raise a hand to shade his eyes when he heard a familiar sound. A subtle and sinister sound. A sound he had wished to not hear again for some time. The unique click whine of a pulse rifle. The sound was right by his ear as he looked to Josla, seeing a soot blackened shape appear from the shadows and put a gun to her head too.

The figure covering Josla said something alien, but his tone was angry and he gestured to the unconscious body over her shoulder. Josla wisely chose to put the Ethereal on the ground, using the motion to turn herself to face the xeno. Jadden responded to her wary look with a slight wave, this prompted a jab from the hidden pulse rifle into the back of his head. He hissed in pain, the motion causing more distress than the actual blow.

'Frak!' He blurted out, as strange string of Xeno words followed along with another jab from the rifle. 'Do you think you can take your guy without trouble?' He asked Josla.

'Yeah, but I don't think you can take the three behind you.' She replied.

'You gue'la are so arrogant!' came a strange voice, the words spoken in a deliberate forced way, clearly coming from lips not used to speaking gothic. 'You assume we could not understand you just because you would not bother to understand us.'

Ele'ty strode forward into Jadden's sight, allowing his shoulder to knock into the wounded man as he passed letting a smile show at the pain he had caused with his petty action. He continued pacing around, between his human captives, looking both of them up and down.

'Quite a mess your kind have made here.' He said finally as he reached the prone form of Cha'riss. 'But at least you have given me the chance to save the Aun'el. Por'O Ele'ty has quite a nice sound to it don't you think? Nothing to say? I thought you would be happy for me.' The Tau politician gave an alien grin before saying something to the other Tau. The soldiers gave short replies to Ele'ty before acting on his order. Jadden watched as Josla was struck around the head before his own legs were swept from beneath him, he landed hard before the barrel of the pulse rifle was pointed at his face. He could just make out the bruised and burnt face of guns wielder through his swimming vision, the alien face smug and hateful as it gazed down at him.

Jadden tensed involuntarily at the sound of gunfire causing him further agony. He waited for the follow up fire, eyes closed as the pulse rifle discharged just above his head, the continuation of his life startled him. He looked up and saw the burnt gunman was firing at an attacker, the first shot heard had not been a pulse rifle, but the distinctive whip-crack of a lasgun. The Tau were under attack. Jadden drew on the last of his strength and filled his body with warp power and place a powerful punch into the ribs of the alien crouched over him, the empyrean fuelled attack launched the soldier skyward, energy discharging from the now decimated body as it soared into the distance. Blue gelatinous blood oozed from his fist as he lay there as shots flew over him and he slumped down again, his energy complete gone after that final exertion.

He just listened to the fire fight as he stared up at the clear Kethrin sky. More scarlet lines of lasgun fire flashed above him, white bolts of artificially contained plasma answered moments later. There was a dull thud as something fell nearby, he could hear whimpered cries and approaching footsteps. His vision continued to swim as the silhouette of a figure appeared beside him, he looked up at the towering figure and allowed himself a smile as the familiar face of Bartos came in to focus.

'Thank frak for that.' He exclaimed as his team mate greeted him.

Admiral Swanson surveyed the readings before him. It had been almost 60 hours since the fleet had been thrown into disarray by the destruction of the Tau flagship and only in the last 30 minutes had he managed to get the fleet into something resembling a formation again. He rubbed his temples for a moment as he could finally start to relax. Basic sensors had been restored to most ships, and it seemed the Tau navy were fleeing the system, though he had no idea if they had manage to evacuate the planet of their forces and he still didn't have enough control to pursue with any efficiency.

A dull chime signalled a priority transmission was being received, the code was from the Sanguine Dragons strike cruiser and he knew it would be some absurd request he was in no position to fulfil. He took a long drink from glass by his side, the whiskey felt warm inside him as he sighed wearily. Reluctantly he tapped on the flashing icon, another chime telling him the connection had been made.

'Admiral Swanson, Fleet Commander.'

'Greetings Admiral, Captain Jussion of the Sanguine Dragons.' Came the clipped reply, a grainy image of the space marine appeared on the display screen.

'Greetings. What is the problem Captian?'

'I am here to confirm our pursuit strategy of the Tau fleet. I suggest that you organise a sweeping blockade with your long range cannons, command of your remaining cruisers to…' The admiral cut the marine off.

'I am afraid that won't be possible. I am in no position to redeploy and my orders are to secure the planet and the system. Which is what I intend to do.'

'And allow the enemies of the Imperium to escape.'

'On this occasion Captain, Yes.'

'I cannot put my already damaged fleet at risk and allow the xeno invaders to counter attack the planet while it is left undefended. The Tau are fleeing into their own territory and I have no orders to prevent them from doing so.'

'That is not acceptable. I order that you accede your fleet to the Sanguine Dragons command.'

'I am afraid Captain' Swanson stressed the marine rank intentionally 'That you have no authority over either myself or my fleet. Though I will not hinder you in chasing the enemy fleet down if your orders are to do so, but I will not deviate from my own orders.'

'I have a force on the planet and only one vessel. I cannot leave orbit without extracting them.'

'And I cannot pursue the Tau fleet with a damaged fleet.' The Admiral cut the feed and took another drink of whiskey. He did hate space marines some times. He was more than happy with them on the battlefield doing what they are supposed to do, but too many of them insisted on interfering with other parts of warfare where, he felt, they had no place to. Big muscles and power armour did not help control a fleet, and he liked to keep it that way.

The Inquisitorial craft had collected its passengers discreetly from within the decimated Tau drop site and it now approached the Sanguine Dragons vessel silently, the access code transmitted to the cargo doors causing them to slowly slide open, defence guns ceasing to track the approaching craft. With the armoured hull a strange calm had covered the group, Josla was performing basic medical care on Jadden while Bartos kept watch over the captured Ethereal and the ambassador they had picked up when they found Jadden and Josla. The rest of the group sat quietly in the back of the craft, thinking about who they had lost, but thankful they were finally off that planet.

'Didn't think we were gonna make it out of there.' She said softly as she tended to the broken ribs. A powerful shot of medication had taken the edge off his pain, but he still groaned as she ran her hand across his side.

'Not all of us did.' Came the reply, Jadden was looking at Alishia who had taken Varner's seat in the Stormraven.

'I'm gonna miss them both.' She sighed, pausing for a moment before pressing hard on her leaders broken ribs.

'Aaahhh, Frakking twat! What the shit is wrong with you!' The man exclaimed as her action reset his ribs, a loud crack echoed around the vessel, everyone's attention drawn by the outburst.

'How's that now?' Josla asked ignoring the insults. The man twisted around, as he tested his ribs after the procedure.

'Better. Sort of. Cheers!'

'Not a problem, Sir!'

Jadden stood up from the makeshift workbench at the end of the deck and stepped up to the ship vox and press the activate rune. 'Pilot, what's the situation?'

'Landing in the Strike Cruiser Cargo bay in 2 minutes. Sir.' Came the distorted reply.

'And the rest of the marine forces?'

'Vox chatter suggests that the main force is being extracted, including Chief Librarian Collus. The Imperial Guard are in disarray having lost General Geart, but arrangements have been made for them to be evacuated, Sir'

'Thanks, Get us down as quickly as possible so we can get our cargo unloaded unhindered.'

'Yes Sir.'

He released the vox rune and turned to the group, all of them looking back at him expectantly. He took a deep breath, aware that his ribs ached as he did so. He look across the people before him, Wyn, Josla and Batty seemed relaxed as usual but Alisha and Grant stared back expectantly, as if believing he was going to announce some big news that would make all there suffering worthwhile, all the loss of life would be justified.

'Touch down in 2 minutes, get the target and, err, guest into the secure cells in our operations unit. Wyn you can begin transcribing our equipment loss to report back to Vigilem. Alishia, Grant…' He paused for a moment. They both looked ready to obey his orders, and it pained him that he might be ordered to terminate them both once this was over. 'I will escort you to safe premises within the Inquisition unit and you are to wait there until someone debriefs you.'

'That's it?' Alishia said puzzled. 'After all that's gone on and you're just going to leave us waiting around until your told what to do with us.'

Jadden said nothing. He just turned away and began entering data into a data slate from the workbench.

'Seriously, that is all you have to say?' She stood and walked up to him, turning him around to face her as she reached him. 'We have put our lives on the line for your mission and you just gonna leave to the mercy of the system? Why didn't you just leave on Kethrin if that's the case?'

Jadden just looked back and her and sighed. He was thankful for the interruption from Wynor when it came.

'Inquisition protocol dictates that any persons, xeno's or artificial constructs that may have obtained restricted information because of interaction with Inquisition Agents must be retained for debriefing to prevent the leak of information that could affect Imperial Security.' The Tech-priest quoted the protocol flawlessly, a direct pull from his data banks, but this didn't explain why Jadden was struggling to discuss the matter.

'So? That doesn't mean you have to shut off and cut us out. We have helped you the whole time we've been together?' She looked at Jadden angrily 'I don't like being cut out!'

'I am afraid that now our primary objective is complete, I might have process you myself when this is done.'

'What does that mean?' Alishia was getting angrier with every vague answer she was given.

'It means we are probably going to have to be killed when this is over.' Grant finally spoke.

'They can't do that Grant. You just can't kill a Commissar and a Guard Corporal because they might have learnt a few secrets?' She looked desperately at Jadden again 'Can you?'

'It is very likely that's what my orders will be.' Jadden spoke finally, the regret heavy in his voice. 'If I could have avoided getting you involved we would. I tried to send you back the capitol first chance we got, but you insisted on following us.'

'And you didn't think to tell us that you'd have to kill us afterwards?'

Wynor stepped forward again 'With all due respect, it was statistically probable that you would be killed during the course of the mission. Additionally, in my experience telling somebody that you are going to kill them is a poor motivational tool.'

'That's enough Wyn. I'll handle this.' Jadden held a hand up to the Mechanium servant before turning back to the distressed commissar. 'I will try to avoid that happening and recommend that you are of enough value to the imperium but I am not going to promise you that I can.'

'How many?' Grant asked quietly

Alishia turned to him 'What?'

'How many people like us have you have to kill?' He said looking around at the team, his gaze finally resting on their leader.

Josla started to answer him 'We try not to think…'

'Forty-seven!' Jadden cut across her flatly. 'And it is always me that does it. It has to be, it's no one else's responsibility but mine.'

'You have murdered forty-seven people for helping you?' Alishia screamed as she burst out in tears.

There was a thump of metal on metal as the vessel touched down. The access ramp whined open, and recycled air rushed in as the pressure equalised with the atmosphere in the strike cruiser. Without pause Jadden turned and left the stormraven, stopping at the end of the ramp and surveying the scene he disappear to one side.

'Come on, we know what we're doing.' Said Batty, ushering Josla and Wyn to get on with things. He knew there was nothing more they could do and they just had to get one with the job. He gave a quick look back to the unfortunate occupants left on the ship as he marched the Tau prisoners away and he tried to put them out of his mind.