The Beast Arises

‘And, therefore,’ he said, ‘I got no body-heat notifications from the security overwatch when I entered the suite, not even my own.’

‘Ah,’ said the man, slightly ashamed.

‘Also, you managed to throw a slight side-shadow under the foot of the armoire. You didn’t take into account the glow-globes to your left.’

The man nodded, chastened.

‘Where is she?’ asked Vangorich.

‘The atrium, sir,’ said the man.

Vangorich poured a second amasec and carried both drinks through to the small inner courtyard. Wienand was sitting on the bench beside the thermal pool, watching the luminous fish dart in the steaming shallows.

‘All done humiliating my bodyguard?’ she asked, not getting up.

‘A visit from you wouldn’t be the same without an opportunity to humiliate your man,’ he replied, handing her one of the glasses.

‘Kalthro is very good,’ she said, ‘the best we have. You’re the only person who ever catches him out.’

‘I consider it to be part of his education, a gift from the Officio Assassinorum to the Inquisition.’

He sat down next to her and crossed one knee over the other, rocking his glass.

‘Your visits are less frequent these days, Wienand,’ he said. ‘I was beginning to think you didn’t like me. To what do I owe this pleasure?’

‘Agenda item 346,’ she said.

‘346?’ He paused and thought for a second, running through the day’s fearsome data-load in his eidetic memory. ‘The Imperial Fists’ undertaking to Ardamantua?’

‘Yes,’ she said.

‘It was the quickest item of the day. It was raised and covered in about two minutes. Pending, awaiting reports from the Chapter Master.’

Wienand nodded. Her cheekbones were as sharp as glacial cliffs. Her hair was silver in the light.

‘What of it, Wienand?’

She pursed her lips.

‘A threat is developing,’ she said.

‘A threat?’

‘In the opinion of the Inquisition, yes.’

‘A xenos threat?’

She nodded.

‘They’re called… Chromes, aren’t they?’ asked Vangorich. ‘I did see the briefing paper.’

‘The Imperial Fists have undertaken the mission to Ardamantua to suppress a xenoform outbreak. The xenoforms are known as Chromes.’

He raised his eyebrows.

‘What am I missing?’ he asked.

‘You tell me.’

Vangorich shrugged. ‘I don’t know. As I understand it, these Chromes are like vermin. Nothing out of the ordinary. They have to be dealt with. I gather their numbers are greater than usual. The Fists have mobilised in prodigious numbers, almost full force. I understood that was a political gesture, to show them being useful in peacetime.’

He hesitated.

‘Wienand, if it’s a threat that seriously jeopardises an almost full-strength Chapter, you’re starting to worry me.’

She cleared her throat.

‘No, the politics should worry you,’ she said.

‘Go on.’

‘Mirhen’s taken pretty much his entire Chapter to Ardamantua to deal with the xenos threat. He’s the only one taking it seriously.’

‘And why is he taking it seriously? Who alerted him to it?’

‘We did,’ she said.

‘Of course you did.’

‘The Fists are more than capable of dealing with the Chrome problem,’ Wienand said. ‘The point is, they shouldn’t have to. The Imperium should be meeting the challenge. Ardamantua should have been a joint undertaking between the Astra Militarum and the Navy, with a backbone of Fists as its cutting edge. Deploying the whole Chapter was ungainly and clumsy.’

‘Heth should—’

‘Heth can’t commit Guard forces without the cooperation of the Navy, and Lansung is more interested in the glory wars against the pathetic greenskins on the frontier. That’s where he’s sending his fleets. He’s fighting border wars and claiming territory practically in his own name. And with Udo backing him, he’s pretty much got a free hand to do that.’

‘Like too many seats on the council, Lansung places his own interests above those of the Imperium,’ said Vangorich.

She nodded again.

‘Ardamantua is just six warp-weeks from Solar Approach. It’s not a frontier war. It’s on our doorstep.’

‘And?’

‘We’ve been intercepting comm-traffic between the undertaking fleet and the Chapter House. In the last ten hours, relative, problems have begun to arise. We anticipate that Mirhen will be forced to request support and reinforcement inside a week.’

‘Against a xenos threat? Against… vermin?’

She held up a hand.

‘He will need it. And Lansung won’t give it. We must make sure we apply pressure today.’

‘Pressure?’

Wienand’s soft smile tightened.

‘Mirhen may have underestimated the nature of the xenos threat.’

‘Since when did the Imperial Fists underestimate anything?’ asked Vangorich.

‘Since, I think, they were forced to act without the combined support of the Senatorum,’ she replied. ‘I believe — that is to say that the strategic planners at the Inquisition, and my immediate superiors, believe — that the Imperial Fists will require direct fleet support within the next three months in order to complete the undertaking.’

‘Or?’

‘Or the xenos threat could actually threaten the Terran Core.’

Vangorich thought about that.