Ciaphas Cain: Choose Your Enemies

‘Why wait so long, then?’ Amberley asked – rhetorically I hoped, as I hadn’t a clue myself. ‘And running an enemy blockade to a void station smack in the firing line seems a peculiar way of trying to keep anyone safe.’

‘That was Fulcher’s idea, apparently,’ I replied, trying not to think too much about the ‘smack in the firing line’ part of what she’d just said. ‘The last place anyone trying to target him would think to look, or try to get to.’ I glanced around, making sure Defroy and Fulcher were still both out of earshot, which fortunately they were, being engrossed in conversation again at the foot of the heavy shuttle’s loading ramp. The steady stream of trucks rumbling up and down it had diminished to a trickle by now, although they were still making enough noise to afford me the opportunity to contact Amberley with little chance of being overheard. Even less so with Jurgen standing watch behind me, his presence obvious even out of my line of sight.

‘There might be some political angle too,’ Pelton suggested, cutting in on the same frequency. ‘Shoulder to shoulder with the Skysiders on the front line, that kind of thing.’

‘That’s possible,’ I conceded. I’d run across innumerable politicians over the decades, and was long past being surprised by any piece of idiocy they’d commit in order to curry favour with the populace. The average Imperial governor’s position isn’t nearly as secure as they like to pretend, with innumerable relatives, rivals or both poised to take advantage of any perceived weakness; not to mention oversight at the subsector level or higher, which can remove any of them from office if they don’t appear to be up to the job.174 Accordingly, the more prudent ones would go to great lengths to maintain their popularity among the citizenry. ‘Or maybe he just wants to be around to take the credit for the relief flights in person.’ Particularly as Mott had already deduced that their primary purpose was to stiffen the resolve of the defenders.

Amberley snorted. ‘No maybe about that if you ask me. But he’s not a bad governor as these things go, so good luck to him if it helps. Do you think Defroy’s our man?’

‘He could be,’ I said, a little warily. So far I’d seen nothing which pointed towards Chaotic leanings in the household guards’ commander, but if he really was a cult member who’d managed to infiltrate the highest levels of the governor’s staff then he’d hardly be parading around in a pink bandana175 prattling about how much more fun it was indulging every conceivable vice in a Slaaneshi shrine than listening to some ecclesiarch droning through a sermon in a temple to the Emperor. Then honesty impelled me to add, ‘but he hasn’t shown any heretical tendencies so far.’

‘Well, he wouldn’t, would he?’ Amberley said, to my inexpressible relief. ‘Better stick with him for a while. If he is clean it wouldn’t hurt to have another pair of eyes on the governor, and if he isn’t, you just might be on the spot to prevent a coup d’état.’

‘If you think that’s best,’ I said, trying not to sound too elated.176 Rejoining the others would mean getting dragged into a hands-on ­heretic hunt, and I’d already been down more than enough utility conduits with gun-toting loonies lurking in ambush at the other end for one lifetime.

‘I do,’ Amberley said, sounding faintly amused about something. ‘Besides, I’d rather keep Jurgen as far away from Rakel as possible at the moment. Her talents could come in useful.’

‘I’m sure they could,’ I said diplomatically. In my experience they very seldom did, but Amberley knew the psyker a great deal better than me, and to be fair, I’d generally seen her when Jurgen was in the vicinity, which probably177 didn’t help much. ‘Is she coming up with anything at the moment?’