The horribly high-yield bolter rounds blended countless undead as the shots chewed their way. Attelus knew there was nothing they could do. If they dived for safety, it would allow the hordes to overwhelm and consume them. But the bolt rounds were soon to pulp them.

There was only one way out of this...

'Faleaseen!' Attelus couldn't help but scream from his every inch.

+Yes, I am here, Attelus, and you are lucky I have regained most of my strength!+

There was no time to think or consider the consequences. There was no choice in the matter. Like the last time, back on Omnartus, the kine shield erupted from Attelus like a sphere-shaped explosion. The blast expanded in a good three-metre diameter, and any zombie caught in it was suddenly sliced into ribbons by ultra-fine slashes of telekinesis. The bolt rounds exploded against the surface, consuming several undead who escaped the all-consuming kine shield. Attelus couldn't help but blink in shock at how large they were.

+Attelus! I will hold this shield up as long as possible. But remember! As it drains my power, it also drains your energy. You have ten of your minutes!+

Attelus remembered well when Faleaseen had used the shield back on Omnartus. He'd spent a good time unable to move afterwards. That would be the worst possible thing that could happen right now.

'Attelus!' Enandra snapped over the vox-link. 'What in the Emperor's name was that?'

Before Attelus could reply, the heavy bolter shots died away, and the Thunder Hawk's front hatch swung open.

'What in the god-emperor's name is happening now?' sighed the Palantine in quite possibly the most exasperated tone Attelus had ever heard.

Then, five Plague Marines dropped out, and their bolters opened up. The Thunder Hawk swung away and flew out of sight. The Plague Marines then began their slow, dogged advance, the hordes sweeping out of their way to make a path.

'Shit!' Attelus cried. 'Shit! Shit! Shit!'

'Damn it, Attelus, you-'

'Now isn't the frigging time, mamzel!' Attelus roared. 'We need to rendezvous and get to the tunnels and frigging now!'

To her credit, Enandra shut up, and Attelus looked at the Palantine. Their gazes met, and where he expected fear, or rage or something similar, yet much to his shock, she seemed to be gaping in abstract awe. Attelus just wished he could remember her damned name.

'Come on!' he snarled through clenched teeth. 'We've got to get back to your Canoness and the others. They aren't far away!'

The wide-eyed woman nodded rapidly. 'My apologies. We-'

'There's no time!' Attelus bawled. 'Just follow me!'

He didn't wait for a response as he slipped by her and toward Enandra and company. The shield followed him, cutting through more of the horde as he moved, and the Sisters hastily followed. Their bolter pistols barked sporadically into the crowd as the Plague Marine's shots exploded against Faleaseen's shield.

It didn't take long for them to reach Enandra and the others. Faleaseen opened the shield, allowing Attelus to approach them and inside the bubble, and they began back toward the stairs downward. Their numbers were a few less, but Satiristine was still standing, much to Attelus' relief. But much to his annoyance, many of the Sisters were gaping at him with wide eyes, just like the Palantine.

'It's a miracle,' said Satiristine.

'No. No, it is not,' said Soloston. His brow furrowed over his glasses, but whether it was in anger or concentration, Attelus couldn't know. 'It is merely a kine shield. A most powerful one, certainly, but it is just a psychic power. No miracle.'

Beside Soloston, Selva seethed like he'd never seen before, and her eyes kept shooting to and from Enandra. Who glared at Attelus, too, her jaw twitching.

'The strange thing is that until now, I did not sense any psychic potential from you, boy. Why is that?' said Soloston.

'None of your frigging business!' Attelus yelled. He dearly wanted to insist that it was a miracle to try to get the Sisters more on his side, but his whole being seemed to rebel against saying such a lie.

'I would-'

'Just shut up! Now is not the time, Inquisitor! We have to keep moving and-'

The Throne Agent then began storming Attelus' way. The rage in the Throne Agent's stride was obvious even beneath the battered golden ceramite as he rolled his Thunder Hammer in his gauntleted hands. Attelus frowned and readied his power sword, but Goruan's palm placing on the Throne Agent's chest plate stopped him.

'Everyone! If we run now, we-'

Agony suddenly pierced his brain, causing Attelus to cry out, waver, and then fall to his knees. Blood burst from his eyes and nose and rolled down his face as he clutched at his skull for all the good it would do. Was this a mind-spear? Was it Soloston? His thoughts screamed through the pain.

+Attelus!+ Faleaseen cried. +That is not from Inquisitor Soloston but from Selva! I'm sorry I cannot help you. I must keep the shield up!+

Attelus couldn't begin to reply as Selva and Enandra approached him. The glassy rage in Enandra's eyes was beyond belief. Attelus wanted to shriek that now was the worst time for this!

'You are not just working with the Eldar, are you?' said Enandra.

'Please!' Attelus cried. 'Please.'

'You were never enhanced by the Adeptus Mechanicus. But the Eldar did it to you, didn't they? And you were like this when I met you, so you have been their literal puppet since the beginning, then. Is that right, Attelus? Admit the truth, and the pain may stop.'

'Y-yes,' Attelus couldn't help but cry out through a wall of teeth.

'This boy is in collaboration with the perfidious Eldar?' said Soloston.

'Heretic!' snarled the Canoness, who stomped up to Attelus and punched him in the face. More pain crashed through him and sent him to the floor.

'Enough!' yelled Enandra with such force the Canoness stopped. 'I know that you knew how Torathe died, Attelus. A secret I, and many others, took much pain to keep. The Eldar showed you this, didn't they?'

Attelus didn't answer. He had just begun the war to get back to his feet, but another spear of agony blasted into his head, making him writhe on the stone floor.

'She did,' he yelled. 'She did, please. We-we.'

'Who's she?'

'F-Faleaseen. Farseer Fa...ahhh!'

'Good, good to finally know the extent of your lies, Attelus Xanthis Kaltos,' said Enandra.

Attelus and rolled on the floor. Then, an armoured fist smashed against his jaw.

'Hurry it up, now,' said Goruan. 'The damned Plague Marines are still coming for us, and they're not too far..'

'I don't think I can trust you any more, Attelus,' said Enandra. 'What else have you been lying about? What really happened on Sarkeath? How much did you and Karmen collaborate in the lie?'

Attelus couldn't reply, his mind being in so much pain.

'Fine, we'll find the answers later,' said Enandra. 'Please restrain him.'

'What?' cried the Canoness. 'He is a heretic! He should be executed right here and now!'

'No, this shield is an excellent boon,' said Soloston. 'And if we kill him, we might lose it. If it is an Eldar Farseer who controls it and they have not brought it down, it means they have some value in their puppet. Which interests me.'

'Is...this is...it?' gasped Attelus as a pair of Stormtroopers approached. 'After everything I've done in your service...Jelcine.'

'You have no longer have any right to use my first name, any more, former Throne Agent Kaltos. And...yes.'

'Well...frig you...then,' said Attelus as he flicked his wrist for a throwing knife and before anyone could react, he threw it into Selva's throat.

As the psyker collapsed, gurgling, and all attention swung to her, Attelus was back on his feet and sprinting.

Straight for the five Plague Marines.

+What are you doing?+ Faleaseen roared.

Bolt rounds and hell rounds briefly rained Attelus' way before being deflected by the shield. Then came the bolter shots.

If you want me free from a cell and not to become an experiment for the next few millennia, this is the only way. I have to die, and I can die helping them escape-

+You are going to sacrifice yourself for them? After that?+

'Well, it'll be temporary.'

Attelus glanced over his shoulder. Enandra and the others were back, surrounded by undead and too busy fighting for their lives to cause him more trouble. Satiristine was still alive, much to his relief. He'd killed Selva; he couldn't wrap his head around that. He'd killed her for a few reasons: first, to stop the agony. Second, as a distraction, but most of all, because she was a bitch. Killing her would've been probably the most callous kill in his career so far.

Even murder, perhaps? But she'd just tortured him, so frig it!

The shield hit the five Plague Marines. The thousands of telekinetic cuts sliced against their green-bloated armour, gouging into it like it was cutting through flesh. Blackish green bile poured from the wounds, but it didn't seem to hurt the freaks at all. Bolter rounds flew his way, and instantly, Attelus was forced into desperate dodging and weaving through the staccato. Attelus knew he couldn't win or even kill one of them; all he had to do was hold them off.

+You only have eight minutes remaining, Attelus,+ Faleaseen warned.

Attelus just hoped a bolt round would kill him as that messy, explosive death was far better than the alternative.

Far, far better. Attelus just hoped his sacrifice was worth it.

'We should have ignored her order,' said Ulysses his deep voice eclipsed the small cockpit along with his bulk. Ulysses was a dark-skinned man who'd been perhaps one of the longest-serving of Enandra's retinue. Thick dreadlocks rose from his scalp; his large brown eyes were glazed and wide with anger. He wore a flak armour chest plate, but his vast corded arms were bare.

'No, we should not have,' said Arlathan.

'We could have saved her,' said the pilot. 'We could have saved them!'

'No, we could not have.'

'You cannot know that,' said Ulysses.

'Yes, but Enandra knew.'

'Oh, for Emperor's sake, get your tongue out of her arse and-'

'Don't say another word more, Ulysses.'

Ulysses shut up, but his leather-gloved hands kept snapping open and closed.

'We still have a mission to complete,' said Arlathan. 'One that if we fail, it is becoming more and more clear that has such far-reaching consequences. Consequences that endangers not just this shit hole of a world but the entire Calixis Sector, all of us are expendable in achieving it, Ulysses. Even the Inquisitor.'

Ulysses shook his head. 'A mission which is making us do stupid, ill-prepared plans?'

Arlathan shrugged. 'I would like to see you make a better plan in our circumstances.'

The pilot seemed to think about it for a good few seconds before sighing and saying, 'Yeah, guess I can't. Well, give me some more time, and I might.'

'Doubt it,' said Arlathan, and he turned to leave.

'You know I've been at this for a long time,' said Ulysses, making Arlathan stop and turn back. 'I've only been the "Pilot" most of the time, but I still don't understand how we can do this.'

'Because we have to,' said Arlathan.

'And what about you?'

'What about me?'

'Your world died because of this shit. Your whole world.'

'It did...'

'And that is because of that Attelus character.'

Arlathan frowned. 'No, the kid was just a pawn in that atrocity. It was all because of that bastard Etuarq. He manipulated it, all of it.'

'So you've forgiven the boy, then?'

'I...I don't know, Ulysses. Never even thought about that, to be honest.'

'No matter what, he does take some responsibility,' said Ulysses. 'Twenty billion lives lost, forever.'

'I know. I more than frigging know. Look, I don't know where you're going with this, but I know that when shit went bad, the kid stepped up. Back on Omnartus, he saved all of us, temporarily sure, but he saved the planet by fighting through horrible daemonic entities. While I just fainted and shit my pants. I may be an arsehole, but now I'm an arsehole who's at least trying to be less of an arsehole because of that kid. For all his faults, I think Attelus is a good kid, and I think he's shown that time and time again.'

Ulysses frowned. 'Is he still, though? Even after he'd spent that time on a corrupted world? Him, and many others out there, do you still believe that?'

Arlathan pinned his gaze to Ulysses', and the words spilt out of his mouth before he could think. 'I do. I do still believe that.'

Then he left, but Ulysses didn't try to stop him this time.