Steel & Oil: Warhammer 32K

Sorn had little energy to spare for Zebyrean's feelings just then — the Ork assault and the Chapter's grievous losses had consumed nearly all of his attention.

When Kurande and the others led him into the war council chamber, only Christina and Admidel were waiting inside.

Kurande had earlier extended an invitation for Admidel and his warriors to rejoin the Imperial Fists, but the offer had been declined. Kurande did not understand the refusal, yet he respected their decision — and so Admidel attended the council as the representative of an independent force.

Christina bore the insignia of the Titan Congregation, so Sorn placed her at a glance. But the warrior clad in a heavily modified MkII power suit, still painted in Imperial Fists colours — him, Sorn could not help but regard with curiosity.

Sorn looked Admidel over from head to foot, studying the fang-adorned armour and the slender Power Sword slung across his back. Noticing Sorn's gaze, Kurande leaned close and offered a quiet explanation:

"That is Brother Admidel — a warrior who, like you, survived the Horus Heresy. They claim to be veterans of the battle for Cthonia, though they became lost in the warp on their way back to Terra."

"How did you come across them?" Sorn asked. He did not recognise Admidel, but that was hardly surprising — in the days of the Legion, the Imperial Fists had numbered a hundred thousand warriors; he could never have known every brother the way one knew the men of a Chapter.

Even so, he needed to be certain.

He was confident these warriors showed no sign of warp corruption — Kurande would never have trusted them so readily if they had. But the absence of corruption did not make them trustworthy. He had to be sure their identities were not an elaborate deception.

He had followed Dorn into the Battle of Pluto against the Alpha Legion. He knew better than most that the methods of traitors could, at times, be far more dangerous than Chaos itself.

"Together with Lin — the Archmagos who stood at my side just now — they emerged from the warp at precisely the moment the Imperial Fists were dealt a near-fatal blow on Jingang, and saved what remains of us."

Kurande gestured toward Lin. Lin gave Sorn a small nod.

"Have you noticed anything… off about them?" Sorn pressed.

Kurande frowned, slightly irritated by the suspicion. Yet Sorn's standing as a fellow ancient warrior, and the devotion he had just demonstrated by swearing to the Ultimate Wall, moved him to answer:

"They conduct themselves more like brothers of the Soul Drinkers Chapter, and they have no desire to return to the Imperial Fists. If we survive this war, I expect they will found a new Chapter once it is over — and that would be an honour they have well earned."

"That doesn't surprise me at all." Sorn relaxed somewhat. He had not entirely set aside his suspicions, but he was perhaps seven or eight parts convinced.

Speaking as an ancient who had walked out of that era himself, he said quietly:

"The battle for Cthonia — the homeworld of Horus's sons — was commanded by Lord Evander Garrius, the castellan our Primarch liked least of all. That campaign was less a war than an exile."

Kurande nodded in understanding. He grasped what Sorn was telling him.

Those ancient warriors had never felt much belonging to the Imperial Fists. He let go of his regret at failing to bring them back into the fold, and instead found himself grateful that they were willing to fight by his side at all.

Though it was their first real exchange, an unspoken understanding had already begun to form between the two men. Sorn and Kurande set aside the topic of Admidel and turned to the matter of force deployment.

"How many warriors does the Imperial Fists have left?"

"One hundred and thirteen, counting myself," Kurande replied.

Sorn was taken aback — he had not expected the Imperial Fists' losses to exceed even those of the Exemplary Fists.

"You should set aside the constraints of the Codex and replenish your ranks as quickly as possible."

"We have lost most of our Gene-Seeds, and we have no Apothecary."

The Honour Company that had reinforced them was, by nature, closer to a ceremonial guard — they had no auxiliary specialists such as tech-sergeants or Apothecaries.

There was no question about it: even with Lin's intervention, the Imperial Fists were standing on the very edge of extinction.

Sorn's eyes went wide. "Then how have you continued to fight?"

"On their iron resolve, and with my assistance."

Sorn turned his head. The man who had nodded at him earlier — Lin — had picked up the thread of the conversation and stepped to the front of the room, plainly intending to chair the council.

"Allow me to introduce myself," Lin said, slipping into the role with practised ease. "I am Lin, Archmagos of Forge World Huangquan VIII, who came out of Cthonia alongside Brother Admidel. I currently serve concurrently as the Imperial Fists' acting Apothecary, and as the coordinator of production lines on Cath Maximus."

To appoint an Archmagos of the Mechanicus as a standing-in Apothecary was, without doubt, an act of desperation — but it also spoke to the extraordinary degree of trust Kurande had placed in this particular Archmagos.

Moreover, the fact that an Archmagos from Huangquan VIII was now coordinating the production lines of Cath Maximus made it clear he had played a pivotal role in the seizure of the Forge World.

Sorn watched Lin, a quiet sense forming in his mind that this council, convened in the name of the Ultimate Wall, was about to be run by this Mechanicus Archmagos.

"Chapter Master Sorn, I must commend your foresight."

Lin opened with flattery. He brought up a holographic projection, displaying the current garrison strength and dispositions on Cath Maximus for everyone present.

"Cath Maximus holds three million Astra Militarum. Astartes total two hundred and twenty-three. What we face is an Ork horde in excess of thirty million, incoming from Jingang. Chapter Master Sorn, the strength you have brought is absolutely critical — without it, there is no way we can win the battles ahead."

Sorn studied the projected deployment map closely. He noticed that Lin had organised the defences around the Secondary Hive, but beyond the hive itself, a sprawling mining district had also been drawn within the defensive perimeter.

"Our forces are insufficient. Why haven't we contracted the defence?" he asked Lin.

"Because we need resources to sustain production. Fortunately, Cath Maximus is a world rich in mineral wealth — as long as we can hold this mining district, we can keep the troops supplied."

"What about the Primary Hive's spaceport?"

"Abandoned. If we cannot win on the ground against the greenskins, the probability of any of us leaving the surface alive approaches zero."

"Perhaps we should abandon Cath Maximus now while we still can," Sorn suggested. He had little confidence in Lin's defensive plan.

The situation on Cath Maximus was worse than he had imagined. Three million Astra Militarum might just barely be sufficient to man Lin's proposed defensive line — but that would leave no reserves whatsoever.

When the Orks broke through an exhausted mortal battle line and there was nothing behind it to plug the gap, what would follow on Cath Maximus would be an unstoppable, catastrophic rout.

This grease-monkey — did he actually know how to fight a war?

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