Legends of the Smoke Jaguars Chapter 6

The doors stood awaited, dark and forbidding. Without anything so crass as ominous markings or symbols of dread warning they managed to be intimidating, conveying a message that the supplicant shouldn't be here. It was odd that a plain barrier would make four Space Marines pause but somehow it managed to do so. Perhaps it was the knowledge of what lay on the other side, the singular being whom lurked beyond.

"Should we leave our weapons outside?" Engar asked with a note of trepidation.

"It wouldn't matter," Nolaro muttered, "If he intends us ill, our being armed would make no difference."

Sedaxus glanced over and asked, "His guards aren't worried that we might mean him ill?"

"No," Nolaro replied, "They're really not."

"Maybe we'll prove fortunate and he'll only kill Sedaxus," Damolos quipped.

"I'm standing right here!" Sedaxus snapped.

"I know," Damolos chuckled.

"Enough," Nolaro cut in, "There's no point lurking outside. Everybody stand smart, keep your chins up and Sedaxus, just try to keep your mouth shut for once."

With that the Shade-lord stepped forward and opened the door. They filed in and Sedaxus' first impression of a Primarch's sanctum was of clutter. The wide apartment was grand in scale, with a sweeping view over Deliverance and the vacuum perfect stars above. There was a desk that made even Space Marines seem childish in scale, cabinets and cogitators and various doors leading off to other rooms. Such was to be expected yet every surface was strewn with discarded items. There were piles of books and mouldering scrolls teetering on the desk, without an inch of spare room left. The floor was covered in data-slates, info-crystals, and mounds of dirty clothes. There was uneaten food rotting in one corner and a dark pit where a Holo-fire should be casting illumination, left cold and deactivated. Everything was dark and gloomy and Sedaxus found it to be worryingly unorganised, not what he expected a Primarch's living space to be. Then he chuckled, rumours of how his own gene-father lived made this seem tame, at least there weren't skinned corpses hanging from the roof.

Corax was nowhere to be seen and Sedaxus dared to wonder if he was employing his gifts to watch them unobserved, he could be standing in the corner, looking at them with black eyes, judging them silently. A cold shiver ran down his spine at the notion, but then one of the piles of clothes stirred and Corvus Corax was revealed. Sedaxus' first meeting with a Primarch proved disappointing. The Raven Lord was slumped in a corner of the vast window, sitting with his head pressed to the glassic as he stared at the stars. He was naked, his pale skin so white Sedaxus had mistaken it for cleaned sheets. His black hair was lank and hung in knots about his shoulders, giving the impression he hadn't washed in weeks. The Raven Lord looked defeated, broken by the cares of a cruel galaxy and Sedaxus' estimation of the threat dropped several notches.

Nolaro snapped to attention and barked, "Shade-Lord Nolaro, reporting as ordered!"

"Not so loud," Corvus Corax sighed without looking about, "There's no need to yell."

"Should we come back later?" Nolaro asked nervously.

But Corax breathed, "There is no later."

The four shared a confused look and Nolaro asked, "Are you in need of our help?"

"What help is there for the sins of yesterday," Corax lamented, "How can we escape our many mistakes, how can we absolve ourselves of the past? Roboute speaks of a bright new future, a fresh page in the history book, and he is right to do so, but he does not carry the weight of our failures. He succeeded where we failed, he held true while all others fell away. We lost everything in the fires of the Heresy, our nobility, our self-respect, our belief that we were righteous."

Nolaro leaned in and said, "The Traitors struck grievous blows, but they failed to break us. We rebuild, we start again. There is yet time to reclaim all that was lost."

"You have been speaking to Agapito," Corax sighed, "He speaks of a better future, a new founding. I supported it of course, what other choice was there? We Primarchs failed and it is time for men to lead, Roboute got that right, but it should never have been necessary. I should have stopped it, I should have been there, on Terra, at the end."

"You knew we could not be," Nolaro refuted, "You knew we would make more of a difference out there, among the stars. A few thousand extra bolters on the walls of the Palace would make no difference, but behind the lines we changed the course of the war. How many convoys did we burn, how many worlds did we contest? Horus would have had billions more soldiers to throw at the walls without us, Titan Legions and war machines by the millions. You were right to fight them in their own home, to take the war back to the Traitors."

"That doesn't excuse my own mistakes, the curse I laid upon my own sons."

Sedaxus' followed the back and forth with growing annoyance and snapped, "If you want to wallow in self-pity we can leave you to it." There was a sudden blur of motion and Sedaxus was startled to find himself hoisted off the floor by a giant hand locked around his gorget. Corax moved so fast even an Astartes had trouble seeing him, a blur of white crossing the room in an instant. His muscles were defined perfectly against his naked skin, black eyes filled with fury and thin lips drawn back over his teeth. Sedaxus was stunned by the speed and power of a Primarch but more so by Corax's sheer presence. He dominated the room, throwing all else into mere background, oozing vitality and strength. It was like wraith-slipping in reverse, his essence more present and alive than he had any right to be, he wore his environment like a cloak, majestic in his naked wroth.

"You speak carelessly," Corax snarled.

"It got…" Sedaxus squawked, "You on your feet."

Corax glared at him for a moment then his aura faded somewhat as he dropped the Night Lord and hissed, "I know Nolaro and Engar, I don't know you. Strange, you've been with us since Istvaan V and yet I've not laid eyes on you once."

"That's because I've been avoiding you," Sedaxus muttered as he rubbed his sore neck.

Nolaro pinched the bridge of his nose as he groaned, "For Frak's sake…"

Yet Corax growled, "Remove your helm and explain why I should trust you."

Sedaxus did as bid, wincing slightly in the wan light then remarked, "I hear you tussled with Konrad Curze in the Dropsite, shame you didn't finish him off. I'd have helped, had I been there."

"You would have died, as I would have," Corax growled, "Curze and Lorgar, I could take one of them alone but both together… It would have been the end, of me and my sons."

"Still, would have been worth it," Sedaxus quipped, "I'd love to shoot the bastard in the back."

"The back, not the front?"

"Do I look suicidal?" Sedaxus retorted.

"Huh," Corax grunted, "Perhaps it would please you to learn the Night Haunter is dead."

"Dead?!" Nolaro broke in, "Truly?"

"An Assassin took his head, the report arrived just before your ship broke Warp."

"Permission to throw a party?" Sedaxus asked wryly.

Corax grimaced "This is hardly a cause to celebrate, the VIIIth was chained to his leash, rabid dogs kept close to home. With his death they scatter far and wide. We have traded one insane commander for a dozen. Worse it proves Konrad right; he knew his doom and made it happen. By fate or his insane will, the end he desired came to pass. Does that mean he won?"

Sedaxus sniffed, "He's dead, so it hardly matters. I say this is good news. The only shame is that I can't spit on his grave."

Corax eyed him suspiciously then relented, "I see no trace of affection for your bloodline in you, but the question remains, why should I trust you?"

"You can trust me to kill Traitors," Sedaxus affirmed.

Corax looked them over and remarked, "Yes, your little band has done much to punish the Traitors. I read the reports of all my Shade-lords and none has proved as successful as you. I see the noble commander, the assassin, the sniper, I trust you're practising your wraith-slip Engar. And… the famous Damolos… tell me what do you bring to this gathering?"

Damolos shrugged his weapon and replied, "I have an axe."

Corax frowned for a moment then shrugged it off and said, "The Second Founding, what do you make of it?"

Sedaxus was surprised by the sudden shift in mood, the Primarch suddenly focused and direct as if nothing had ever been wrong. Yet it was Nolaro who answered, "A mistake, the Legion's work isn't done. These High Lords think the war is over but it's not, it won't be over until the last Traitor's throat is slit."

"Unfortunately, that may not be possible," Corax sighed, "They have fled into some warp anomaly in Segmentum Obscurus, where our Navigators cannot follow. Not, will not, cannot. We ring it with worlds of iron, but dare not follow."

"If they can get in we can too," Nolaro snarled, "We must give them no respite, I say we go in there and kill them all."

"You speak to the heart of me," Corax allowed, "But practical matters intrude. Victory is Vengeance, so I taught and so I still hold. The new Chapters must be readied and established before we can allow ourselves to indulge in reckless passion. The Raven Guard have sired three successors, but I judge there is material and recruits enough for a fourth. I intend to name you its Chapter Master."

"Me?!" Nolaro exclaimed in shock.

Corax affirmed, "Your name is admired widely and your skills well-honed. Your detached company has given you experience in leading independently and your squads will follow your word as if it was my own. You have walked the Trifold path better than most and brought hope to the worlds you visit. You can tell the difference between justice and vengeance, I judge you fit to lead on your own."

"I am honoured," Nolaro breathed as he bowed low.

Corax however darted to his desk with a frenetic burst of energy and seized a data-slate, holding it aloft to proclaim, "The Copan system!"

Confused silenced reigned then Sedaxus exclaimed, "You want to send us to that dump?!"

Engar looked at him and started, "You know it?"

Sedaxus nodded, "It was an old Night Lord garrison, we maintained a starfort to guard the mining settlements. I spent a rotation there, in my early days."

Damolos snorted, "I struggle to imagine the VIIIth standing garrison duty."

Sedaxus sniffed, "It wasn't our forte, but back then we at least pretended we had a duty to fulfil. The system was a mess of crashing asteroids and unstable proto-worlds. Rich in resources but there was a troubling Ork infestation on the rad-scoured inner worlds, we spent our days picking off their leaders. The twelfth planet was habitable, barely, that's where the miners established their colony. A stinking jungle as far as the eye could see, filled with poisonous plants, predatory animals, quicksand and volcanic fumes. Good hunting actually, when we got bored loping off Ork heads. I once took down an apex predator single-handed. See these fangs around my neck, a Smoke Jaguar's. That's how I got the title."

Corax offered the slate and said, "The system is to be reclaimed. It went silent during the Heresy and we don't know if anyone survives. Orks may have wiped the settlers out, or they may be cut off and besieged. I want you to take your ship and scout the system, make contact with the survivors and restore Imperial rule, if possible. The Raven Guard will come in force to clear the system out, once I recall our remaining Companies. I'll give you a hundred recruits and apothecaries to get you started on your new chapter, more shipments will follow once they are ready, with foundry ships to build a proper base."

Nolaro frowned as he took the slate and peered at it saying, "Surely there must be better places to start building."

"None so close to Alar-Median," Sedaxus commented.

"Who?" Nolaro exclaimed.

Corax explained, "The Forgeworld of Alar-Median, a powerful domain of the Mechanicus, but one of dubious fealty. There are hints they were less than loyal during the Heresy, though they never outright declared either way. Mars is tied up rebuilding after scouring the red planet of all traitors, they don't have the means to impose loyalty on every wayward forge in the galaxy."

"So having a brand new Chapter sitting a few light-years away will be a good incentive to clean up their act and play the dutiful ally," Sedaxus snorted, "We're a threat, in case the cogboys harbour disloyal thoughts."

"Officially you're there to protect them from a growing Ork Waaagh," Corax stated, "But unofficially… they will get the point. Go out there and fly the flag, build a new home and maintain Imperial rule over the Sector. That above all, Imperial rule must endure."

"You can count on us," Nolaro proclaimed, "It will be good to fight alongside you again."

"I won't be coming," Corax sighed.

"My lord?" Nolaro asked in confusion, "Surely you must lead your Marines in battle."

Corax's shoulders slumped as energy drained from him. He cast his eyes over the piled desk as he groaned, "So much to do, so many mistakes to correct. My tainted sons suffer and I can offer them no respite. I can't cure their afflictions, I can't grant them honourable deaths in battle. I have nothing for them save a clean ending… but I hold back, yearning for another answer, any answer. There is nothing more I can do for them, save to make sure no others suffer for my mistakes. Not again, never again."

Corax's aura faded as he retreated into himself, sinking into misery once more. Engar silently touched the elbows of his comrades and nodded at the door, indicating they should leave. Sedaxus affixed his helm, knowing this interview was over and slipped out the door, leaving the Primarch to his brooding. The meeting hadn't been what he anticipated at all, but he was glad to still be breathing, it was probably all he could expect to get. Nolaro's head was held high, the trust invested in him causing his pride to swell, but as they left Sedaxus heard Corax hissed between gritted teeth, "Nevermore."