The knock at the door was firm but not frantic. I looked up from inspecting the tumbler of my favourite amasec and my eyes narrowed. Nobody knocked on my door at this time of night unless it was urgent. With a tiredness I didn’t have to feign, I rose from my chair, deposited the glass on the table and walked…
‘What is the T’au?’ the new auxiliary asks me. He chatters while we work, when he should be focused on his task. I do not know why he has been assigned to my cadre, but I’m sure there must be a good reason. All will be revealed as required by the Tau’va. We are in the armoury of the H’tol’tor…
‘The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear.’ -Konrad Curze And they shall know no fear. The words carried in the heart of every Astartes, a creed reminding them of their place in the galaxy. The bulwarks against terror. The defenders of humanity. What a joke. Astartes were hardly fearless. He had seen it for himself. They may have…
‘Dis’ ship will self-destruct. Self destruct ‘az been activated. Dis’ ship will self-destruct.’Freebooter Kaptain Gitcutta stood on the gloomy bridge of the ‘Eadbutt and looked out at the uncaring stars. The viewing portals were slanted like two angry eyes glowering, at the cosmos ahead. The ‘Eadbutt was burning hard out-system towards interstellar space, but the kaptin didn’t have to look…
‘Vectors …cked, final app…ch to bay … c…irmed. A…al in …nutes.’ The voice of the servitor pilot blurted through vox emitters into the passenger bay of the short-range shuttle. Techmarine Berenike noted the breaks in the transmission and added a maintenance request to the shuttles flight log. If all was well the issue would be rectified before they made the…
I’d thought I’d be able to see my home as I left. I’d pictured it so many times, the transport punching up through the clouds as I watched my receding home shrink ever smaller. I should have known that what I’d leave in would be an old windowless clunker. ‘Here,’ said Gasselum. The pilot handed me a strip of rawhide.…
Adeptus Ministorum Dawn brought fear, ash, and worse to Hypatia II. Atop the Hive’s brooding peak, the man’s cloak swirled like black mist as his Valkyrie returned to the stars. Hypatia II’s planetary logs omitted the departure, in deference to the insignia on its hull. Knowing it would not return, the man examined the sprawl with eyes like comets. The…
++For this sacred place, for this sacred cause, we stand together.++ ‘All Together!’ ++For faith and kinship, for divine design, we stand united.++ ‘All United!’ ++For blood and honour, for tales eternal, we stand as kindred.++ ‘All as Kindred!’ ++For truth and light, for Lorgar’s will, we stand as one.++ ‘All as One!’ chorused the Word Bearers, their voices thundering…
As Isha dreams, she drools. When Isha drools, Kurnous cannot resist smiling. This is something only a lover knows of their beloved. Not a detail found on any celebratory fresco of Isha’s Bounty or Isha’s Glory or—his personal favorite—Isha’s Ecstasy. In this small flaw she is immediate and perfect and real as only one lover can be to another. He…
Emergency runes flashed across his vision, warning him of VSG burnout. He could feel the residual energies crackle over his skin. The overload had been sudden and rapid, and would have cascaded into other systems had he not diverted it to the void shielded generators. Allowing them to collapse had saved further catastrophe. It was a calculated decision, a risk…
