Steel & Oil: Warhammer 32K

Compared with the veterans who had already come to loathe the Legion of their own accord, the Soul Drinkers who had been led astray truly were an unstable element.

Dorn clearly had no wish to see them grow stronger and repeat the fate of the Second Legion.

But Lin's words sent him into a long silence.

Perhaps he found the reasoning sound. Perhaps the current battle simply demanded those four hundred Space Marines as reinforcements. In the end, Dorn nodded and granted Lin's request.

"I expect you and those loyal warriors of the Second Legion to guide them correctly, Priest Lin."

"Of course I will."

The reconciliation between the two sides and the fate of the Soul Drinkers were settled in that single conversation. Dorn let out a long sigh, and the Primarch famed for his unbreakable will revealed a weariness no ordinary man could imagine. "Go, Priest. Go and help those sons of mine who stand firm as bedrock. Even without me, you can hold the line and turn back the enemy. I will remain aboard the Shanzheng and wait for word from you."

"Only remain aboard the Shanzheng?"

Lin studied the Contemptor Pattern Dreadnought that served as Dorn's vessel. With the main problem resolved, his mind had begun racing again, and it sketched out a bold idea.

"Since your strength is limited by that chassis… Lord Dorn, have you ever considered changing vessels?"

While Lin set about his work aboard the Shanzheng, Kurande was still on Terra, playing political games with the great men of the Throneworld.

The Battle Moon hung above Terra without launching an attack, and once the initial panic had passed, the orks' inaction let the High Lords recover their composure. They had been the ones desperate for reinforcements not long ago, yet now they felt they had grounds to haggle with the very reinforcements they had begged for.

Foremost among them was the Imperial Commander, Udin Macht Udo.

Udo took Kurande very seriously, but not out of any respect for his return to Terra's defence. It was the Ultimate Wall he feared. And once he realised that the orks who had handed him back his authority were in no hurry to attack, he found he had all the leisure in the world to grind down Kurande's patience across one meeting after another.

Kurande had stopped bothering to count how many meetings there had been. Looking at Udo, who had summoned him to the conference room yet again, he felt nothing but a weary sadness.

"Welcome, Captain of the Imperial Fists Second Company. This is our sixth meeting in three days." Udo, at least, remembered clearly.

"It is Chapter Master," Kurande said, stressing the words. He had never clung to the title himself, but before these ambitious High Lords he had no choice but to assert his standing.

"You have indeed carried out certain duties of a Chapter Master. That does not make you one."

Udo spread his hands. "By the traditions of the Imperial Fists, any potential successor to the office of Imperial Fists Chapter Master must have the unanimous consent of the Chapter's Priests and Captains, and the nominee must be chosen by vote. In your case, neither condition was met."

"I was the last Imperial Fist alive at the time." Kurande looked at Udo with open distaste. "Internal Astartes matters should be judged by the Astartes themselves."

"Of course, of course. But you know that the Chapter Master of the Imperial Fists is unlike those of other Chapters. He holds a rotating seat on the Senatorum Imperialis. Which means your internal affairs do not belong wholly to the Adeptus Astartes, do they?"

Udo twisted the concepts with a silver tongue, and Kurande had learned across five previous clashes that he could not out-argue the Imperial Commander.

But compared to the previous five demands, all of which had opened with the outrageous condition that the Ultimate Wall be disbanded outright, Kurande sensed from this new line of argument that the man wanted to move things along.

So he simply watched Udo without answering, waiting for the next sentence.

Feeling the pressure of an Astartes stare, Udo cleared his throat. "By all rights, the Imperial Fists should first rebuild the Chapter, elect its senior officers, and let those officers put forward a Chapter Master for Terra's recognition. But the situation is urgent. If the choice proves to serve the Imperium's best interests, then with my assistance the Senatorum Imperialis could permit your emergency confirmation."

His form of address changed. "But understand this, Chapter Master. Yours is the largest concentration of Space Marines assembled since the Rebellion. Not once since that betrayal have more than five Chapters gathered beneath a single banner."

"Your arrival has left the entire Senatorum Imperialis uneasy. Under such circumstances, even I would struggle to persuade them to approve your succession."

Kurande understood him now. Rather than demanding outright that he disband the Ultimate Wall, this time Udo was reasoning with him and dangling the Chapter Master's seat as payment.

"I will not sell out my brothers for the novelty of Terra's approval. I am the Imperial Fists Chapter Master acknowledged by the sons of Dorn. Whether or not Terra agrees, I will still have the power to summon the Ultimate Wall."

"You see, it is precisely such talk that stirs our fear."

Udo produced a theatrical sigh. "Your Ultimate Wall is neither necessary nor authorised. It operates within the existing structures of the Imperium of Man while conforming to not one of that Imperium's present regulations. The willfulness with which you summon the Ultimate Wall is something today's Imperium cannot accept."

Udo's posturing finally lit Kurande's temper.

He rose to his feet and pointed straight through the window at that second moon in the sky.

"Can you truly not see that its strength is necessary? We returned to Terra because of your incompetence, to save this Throneworld, and you treat that as a challenge to your authority? Without my selfless brothers, how do you intend to save Terra in the shadow of the Battle Moon? With your political tricks?"

His anger did not move Udo in the slightest. Facing a Space Marine who was furious but forbidden to use force, the Imperial Commander felt entirely secure in his position.

"These are the Imperium's rules, Kurande. We must first establish where you stand. Your Primarch Dorn is gone. With no one left who can command a Legion, to whom exactly do you swear loyalty?"

"To the Emperor, obviously."

"Then you should swear loyalty to the Senatorum Imperialis."

"We serve the Emperor, not bureaucrats!"

"But as the Emperor Himself acknowledged, the High Lords, born from the old Council of Terra, are the voice of His great will."

Kurande fell silent, realising he could never defeat Udo in a debate conducted inside the existing system. His only weapons left were his own stubbornness and the present necessity of the Ultimate Wall. "I will not disband the Ultimate Wall."

"Of course not. Until the crisis on Terra is resolved, even I will concede its necessity."

Watching Kurande's astonishment, Udo knew that after several days of necessary deadlock, the crucial moment had come to follow the stick with a few sweet plums.

"This is only an informal meeting, Chapter Master Kurande. Every question will be settled at the Senatorum Imperialis once the crisis is formally over. You may of course lead your Ultimate Wall against the orks' Battle Moon. While the Senatorum Imperialis can neither recognise nor deny you, what you do is your own affair."

Kurande suddenly remembered the crusade that had annihilated the entire Imperial Fists Chapter. That expedition, launched by decision of the Senatorum Imperialis, had likewise been an isolated thrust made by Space Marines alone.

Orks were not an enemy that Space Marines alone could handle. And to secure the cooperation of the Imperium's other institutions, there was no way around the permission of the High Lords.

"We cannot defeat the orks by ourselves."

"Which is why you need my help, Chapter Master Kurande."

At last the Imperial Commander bared his fangs. "I am the Imperial Commander. I alone can commit a portion of Terra's forces without the approval of the Senatorum Imperialis."

"How many?"

"There are five million Astra Militarum on Terra at present. I can assign one Astra Militarum army group to you directly. Roughly five hundred thousand men."

Terra's Astra Militarum army groups were absolute elites, heirs to the traditions of the Solar Auxilia, but five hundred thousand men were a drop in the ocean against an entire Battle Moon. Kurande began to speak, and Udo cut him off first.

"That is not the whole of it, naturally. But the rest you must earn for yourself."

"Earn? Why?"

"Because they are not on Terra."

Udo waved him back to the conference table, where the hololithic projector threw up an image of an important world neighbouring Terra.

Kurande recognised that orange-red sphere at once. "Mars?"

"Correct. Fabricator General Kubik has gathered the strength of most of the Forge Worlds in the Solar Segmentum onto Mars, and refuses to attend any session of the High Lords." Udo tapped the tabletop. "Even setting aside the explorator fleets that have vanished to who knows where, the Skitarii household troops in the hands of the Magi assembled on Mars number over ten million between them. They are warlords hoarding their armies in the truest sense."

"They have other plans for the situation on Terra." Kurande recalled Lin's earlier assessment.

"Exactly. But if we display our strength, I believe they will become our support once more."

Terra and Mars shared the fate of lips and teeth. Those Martians might be selfish creatures, but so long as Terra could demonstrate the capacity to turn the crisis around, Udo believed even the Fabricator General would fall in beside him.

After all, if Terra fell, Mars would be next.

Where else could the cogboys run? Would they drag Mars itself out of the Sol System with them?

Persuading cogboys required real, tangible force. Once Terra's crisis was over, Udo would never permit the Ultimate Wall to continue existing. But until then, he judged that these Astartes could serve as leverage to "persuade" Mars.

"Chapter Master Kurande, you are currently the only man who can leave Terra and still carry enough weight to negotiate with the Fabricator General. You will travel to Mars representing both the Imperial Fists and the Imperial Commander, and request the Fabricator General's aid. The Imperium cannot be the only one bleeding on the front line against the xenos. Those Tech-Priests must prove they still stand with the Imperium."

Kurande hesitated. He detested the feeling of being used as another man's weapon. Yet his reason reminded him that this was, without question, the only sensible course available.

He found himself missing the days when Lin had been at his side. Back then all he had needed to think about was how best to close his brothers into a single fist and shatter the enemy. Not sit here trying to unravel political intricacies he might never understand as long as he lived.

He stood. "I will go to Mars."

"Excellent. Admiral Lansung and his two battleships will accompany you. And if at all possible, bring the Shanzheng along as well."

Udo savoured the success of his design. "Persuade them, attack the Battle Moon alongside them, and I can persuade the Senatorum Imperialis to adopt my proposal. Once the war on the Battle Moon begins, you will receive far more support than a single Astra Militarum army group. Afterwards we will hold your triumph ritual here on Terra, and there we will discuss what comes next."

The informal meetings that had dragged on for days ended there. Udo, who had gone out of his way to intercept Kurande and prevent him from contacting any other High Lord, escorted him only as far as the door.

Kurande had his agreement, but the Imperial Commander was plainly impatient to start manipulating Terra's situation. Kurande walked out of Udo's office alone, only to find his Honour Guard waiting outside with anxiety written across every face.

They spotted him emerging and closed the distance in a single stride. The captain of the guard lowered his voice and spoke fast. "Grim news from the Shanzheng!"

"What news?"

"Daenyathos, Chapter Master of the Soul Drinkers, has launched a rebellion!"

Kurande's eyes went wide. He suspected he had misheard. But the whole guard was nodding gravely, confirming that their captain spoke the truth.

"Daenyathos? How dare he!"

His blood froze, then boiled. Fury surged up in him and he shoved past his own Honour Guard, wanting to return to the Shanzheng at once and demand answers from Daenyathos to his face.

The captain blocked him again. "The revolt has already been put down."

"There are eight hundred Soul Drinkers. Could a rebellion of theirs possibly be settled that quickly?"

"According to the report from the Shanzheng, only half the Soul Drinkers took part. Combined with the preparations Magos Lin had made in advance, the damage was kept to an absolute minimum."

Kurande let out a breath.

At this critical moment, with the Ultimate Wall under such heavy suspicion, a scandal of mutiny coming to light would have buried them. Mercifully it had been resolved quickly enough to remain a small internal secret.

"Lin…" He murmured the name of the Tech-Priest whose name alone was enough to steady him. "All the more reason to return to the Shanzheng quickly. We settle the Soul Drinkers' internal affairs and decide our next move at the same time."

The Honour Guard nodded and took up their duty, escorting Kurande back toward the Thunderhawk gunships. From there they would reach a small transport in orbit and rejoin the Shanzheng.

When they arrived at the Thunderhawk, however, they found the Chapter serfs who had been left behind in an argument with another group.

"Who dares to inspect an Imperial Fists transport?" Kurande demanded of one of the serfs.

"My lord, they are retinue of the Inquisition. They stopped us and said an Inquisitor would be arriving here shortly."

So it was those ubiquitous agents of the Imperium.

Kurande pressed his lips together, wondering whether the Inquisition had come because of the mutiny aboard the Shanzheng. That guess was overturned soon enough by a silver-haired silhouette.

Vladilena walked up to Kurande, an old acquaintance with a grave expression. "I need to travel with you. To the Shanzheng."

"Why?" Kurande shot back.

"It concerns Mars. I need to speak with the leader of the Ultimate Wall."

"Is there anything we cannot discuss right here, face to face?"

Eyes turned toward Kurande from all around. Facing that stern expression of his, Vladilena's own composure slipped into awkwardness.

"I meant the other leader… I mean Lin."

[Author's Note 1: Any Mechanicus military force of significant size is, in essence, the private army of its commander — some Magos, Archmagos, or Deputy Forge Director — merely restrained to a degree by the Imperium and the Fabricator General (who is himself restrained by the Imperium).

This system means no single Mechanicus army can easily become a large standing force on the scale of an Imperial Guard army group. But the private nature of these forces drives the Magi to spare no effort in raising the combat power of their own Skitarii, turning them into their own distinctive elite units.]

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