Mikal Sternmark led Sigurd, Ragnar and Gabriella across the crowded room to a large, ornate hololith table that had been set up on the auditorium's former stage. There, he introduced them to Lady General Militant Esbet Athelstane. The commander of all Guard forces on Charys was a thin, raw-boned woman with a severe, patrician face and large, dark eyes. Her iron-grey hair was cropped as short as a rank and file sergeant's, and to Ragnar she smelled of leather, amasec and fine machine oil. Athelstane wore the Medallion Crimson among the many campaign ribbons and decorations on her officer's greatcoat, and from the faint sounds of servomotors and pistons, Ragnar reckoned that her right arm and both legs were expertly crafted augmetics.
Athelstane greeted them all with weary professional courtesy, and then introduced an older, balding man in a dark green suit, who reluctantly joined the gathering from a seat at the back corner of the stage. He was taller than the general, with a hook nose and red-rimmed, grey eyes. There was a defeated air about the man; he limped haltingly on his left leg, and his angular shoulders were hunched. As he stepped into the dim light, Ragnar saw that the right side of the man's face and throat was covered in a glistening film of wound sealant, and both hands were wrapped in flexible bandages.
'This is Inquisitor Cadmus Volt, of the Ordo Malleus,' the general said. 'He and his team have been on Charys for the last three years, investigating reports of forbidden practices among the local farming cartels. Since the uprising began, he has advised us on the enemy's capabilities and possible intentions.' From the steely sound in Athelstane's voice it was clear that Volt had been of little use in that regard.
Inquisitor Volt bowed cordially to Gabriella. 'May I ask what brings so esteemed a member of the Navis Nobilite to such a dangerous place as Charys?' he asked.
Gabriella acknowledged Volt with a cool nod and a narrow gaze. The Navigator Houses had a long, antagonistic relationship with the Inquisition. 'House Bellisarius and the Wolves of Fenris have been allies for centuries,' she replied coolly. 'Honour requires that we aid our esteemed friends in whatever manner we are able.'
'Without Lady Gabriella's assistance our reinforcements would never have reached Charys at all,' Ragnar said. 'Turbulence in the warp has all but isolated the system.'
'So we surmised,' Athelstane said with a nod. 'Whatever the enemy is attempting at Charys has taken a fearful toll on our astropaths. We have been awaiting your arrival with great anticipation.'
Both Athelstane and Sternmark looked to Sigurd, and the Wolf Priest picked up on the unspoken cue and began his report of the war council on Fenris. The commanders listened carefully as the Wolf Priest recounted the Great Wolfs deliberations and their subsequent journey to Charys. Ragnar took the opportunity to lead Gabriella to a nearby seat. The Navigator was still somewhat unsteady on her feet, and though she took pains to conceal it, Ragnar could tell that she was deeply unsettled. Gabriella accepted the seat with an absent nod, one hand clinging to his forearm for support.
As strained as her manner was aboard the Fist of Russ, it had only grown worse once their shuttle had landed. There was something strange at work on Charys. Ragnar felt it, too, a strange sense of dislocation, as though the world around him had no more substance than a hologram. Shadowy shapes flitted at the corners of his vision, and faint sounds whispered in his ears. The agitation he felt on Fenris seemed magnified tenfold. It was all he could do not to rise and pace across the crowded stage like a caged animal. From time to time, his gaze wandered to Mikal Sternmark's grim face, and he wondered if the legendary champion felt the same as he did.
'Thanks to the Lady Navigator's skill, we emerged very close to Charys, whereupon we came under attack from a force of enemy raiders that had been at anchor in high orbit,' Sigurd continued. 'We had thought to find Berek's fleet waiting there.'
'The enemy has a sizeable naval presence in the system,' Athelstane replied. 'We believe that there was a large armada of raiders hiding within the outer asteroid fields for some time. Since the uprising began, they have been joined by a growing number of escorts and cruisers. Berek's fleet commanded the approaches to Charys for almost a week, and we were able to defeat a number of enemy ground offensives with their support. As the enemy was able to commit more and more ships against Berek's force, casualties began to mount, and it became clear that if they left the system to make repairs, they might not be able to return.' The general glanced briefly at Inquisitor Volt. 'It was decided that the fleet would withdraw to the edge of the system and make what repairs they could. They've remained there ever since, as our force of last resort. Much of the enemy fleet has been drawn off to hunt for them, although groups of raiders have appeared from time to time to bombard our positions from orbit.'
Gabriella straightened in her seat and drew a deep breath. 'How has the enemy managed to communicate with their fleet across the system?'
The general shrugged. 'We don't know. Sorcery, perhaps? That's not my area of expertise.' Once again, she gave the inquisitor a sidelong look. 'Maybe they aren't talking with one another. Their orbital attacks don't seem to coincide with their ground operations as far as we can tell, not that they aren't damaging enough all by themselves.'
'Well,' Sigurd interjected, clearly a little agitated by Gabriella's interruption, 'you've heard our tale. Now, what would you have of us?'
Athelstane rested her hands on the hololith table's smoked glass top and glanced at Sternmark. 'That's an interesting question,' she said slowly. 'We had been led to believe that Fenris would be sending a great deal more troops and heavy weapons to support us. We'd hoped for a spear that we could thrust into the enemy's heart. Instead, it appears that the Great Wolf has gifted us with a handful of brand new knives.'
The bald statement took all of the Space Wolves aback. It wasn't a disparagement, but a cold assessment of the facts. Ragnar saw the Wolf Priest stiffen nevertheless. This is the second time he and his men have been dismissed as irrelevant, the young Space Wolf thought, a hard thing to take, for the son of a powerful jarl.
When Sigurd didn't reply at once, Ragnar ventured, 'Even a knife can be lethal when used properly,' he said. 'Tell us, how goes the war on the ground?'
'Badly,' Athelstane replied. 'At first we believed the uprising was the work of a small cabal of government officials and officers in the local PDF regiments, but now it's clear that outside forces planned and organised this campaign for many years. More than two-thirds of the planetary defence forces mutinied over the course of a single night. What heavy weapons and vehicles they didn't take they managed to destroy. Bureaucrats in key positions sabotaged the planetary logistical network and crucial emergency response plans. By the time my regiments and I arrived, Charys was almost completely in enemy hands.' She reached down and keyed a control panel recessed into the edge of the table. A holo-map of the planet instantly appeared in the air above the table, showing nearly sixty small cities and townships scattered across the world's vast plains. More than half of the settlements had a skull superimposed over them. They existed in name only, having been abandoned or wiped out by the rebels. The rest showed a red aquila, indicating that they were battlegrounds where neither side could claim total control.
'We managed to establish footholds at a number of points around the planet, but we weren't able to achieve significant gains because we had been misled as to the size of the rebel force and the lack of support we would find on the ground.' The general turned a brass knob and the view switched to an operational map of the capital city. Nearly eighty-five per cent of the districts were red, with only a narrow band of Imperial blue around the outlying sectors to the east that stretched back to the starport outside the city. 'When Berek Thunderfist and your brethren arrived, we attempted a lightning thrust aimed at decapitating the rebel leadership and retaking the capital.' She pressed a stud and a trio of broad, blue arrows leapt from the eastern districts and drove deep into the heart of the city. 'The orbital bombardment and follow-on attacks inflicted very heavy rebel casualties and allowed us to push all the way to the governor's palace.'
Athelstane's expression darkened. 'Unfortunately, the Wolf Lord's attack met with disaster. Sternmark and his warriors managed to break out of the enemy ambush and withdraw from the palace with Berek's body, and then linked up with our lead armoured elements.'
Ragnar glanced over at Mikal. The look in the warrior's eyes was one he knew all too well. He curses himself for retreating, the young Space Wolf thought, and no wonder, but what other option did he have?
'Where is Berek now?' Sigurd asked. 'Does he still live?'
'We think he lingers in the Red Dream,' Sternmark said dully. 'Our instruments detect faint life, but his body will not respond to our priest's unguents and balms. We had hoped that Grimnar would at least send Ranek or one of the senior Wolf Priests to tend to Berek…' The Wolf Guard left the rest unsaid, but the implication was clear.
'What of the palace?' Ragnar interjected.
'Before we could mount another attempt to retake the palace the rebel forces launched a massive counter-offensive,' Athelstane replied. 'This time the rebels were supported by Traitor Marines and packs of daemons. The enemy struck out of thin air, exploiting weak spots in our lines with diabolical skill.' She sighed bitterly, clearly haunted by her failures stemming from that fateful day. 'Fighting raged around the city centre for almost forty-eight hours, but in the end we were forced to withdraw.'
Gabriella leaned forward in her chair. 'How are the Chaos Marines managing these feats of teleportation?'
Inquisitor Volt folded his arms and scowled at the holo-map, as though the secret was somehow hidden there. 'We don't know,' he admitted. 'It's not technological. They appear and disappear like ghosts, coming and going apparently at will, and not just here in the city, but across the entire planet as well.' He shook his head in exasperation. 'We've laid wards to protect the starport perimeter from attack. They seem to have worked so far, but the cost of maintaining them is enormous. If I knew how the enemy was accomplishing this, I could perhaps devise a better way of countering it, but I can't find a reference to anything like this in my records. The scale is unprecedented.'
Gabriella considered this. 'It is interesting that you mention the notion of scale, inquisitor. I have been studying the efforts of the enemy sorcerers at the subsector level. Perhaps if we were to compare notes, I might be able to give you more insight into the situation.'
Volt stared dumbstruck at the Navigator for a moment. 'That is… unexpected,' he finally managed. 'Of course, I would be happy to hear your thoughts on the matter.'
Gabriella nodded at Volt, and then gestured to Athelstane. 'Please forgive the interruption, general. Pray continue.'
The general keyed another stud, and the blue arrows shrank back from the palace. 'For a time we were able to stabilise our lines with help from the ships in orbit, but once they withdrew the tide turned against us. The enemy has pushed us back bit by bit. The Traitor Marines crack open our lines with precision assaults, and their ground troops pour right through. Berek's company has been divided up among war zones all over the world in an attempt to stem the tide, but all we've done is slow their advance. At this point, we've been driven back to the edge of the city, and there are indications that the enemy is preparing another major offensive.' The holo-map shifted again, returning more or less to the thin blue line at the city's eastern edge. 'Their objective is the starport. If it falls, we lose our one and only air base and supply point. Our regiments will then be isolated and eventually overwhelmed.'
For a moment, Sigurd and Ragnar considered the map in stunned silence. Ragnar glanced up at the general. 'What about the Imperial Navy and the Guard?'
'When I left Corianus with my staff, the lord governor subsector had sent out the call for more regiments,' she said. 'At best, the first units won't get here for another five months, even assuming the Navy can get ships through the local warp turbulence.' She eyed the map grimly. 'We'll be lucky if we can hold out another five days.'
Ragnar walked over to the map table, studying the riot of symbols that depicted the locations of Imperial and enemy units across the city. 'You forget, general, that one ship has already made it through,' he pointed out, 'and, although they are untested in battle, you have almost fifty Space Wolves to add their strength to the fight. Do not be so quick to dismiss us.' He looked pointedly at Sternmark, but the Wolf Guard would not meet Ragnar's eyes.
Athelstane sighed. 'Your courage does you credit,' she said heavily. 'I've had the honour of fighting alongside the Space Wolves several times in my career, and I know very well what you're capable of, but you must understand, even with twice your numbers I doubt we could defeat the forces arrayed against us.'
Ragnar set his jaw and looked the general in the eye. 'You said you wanted a spear to thrust at the heart of the enemy,' he said. He indicated the enemy positions on the map with a sweep of his hand. 'Suppose the Great Wolf had arrived with his company, where would you have employed them?'
The general regarded him appraisingly for a moment. 'For starters, I wouldn't have committed them to the city at all.'
She adjusted a set of dials and the map's viewpoint pulled back until it showed the countryside within sixty kilometres of the city. 'There is a large PDF base approximately twenty kilometres west of the capital. Before the uprising it was the supreme headquarters for the Charys defence forces.' The map shifted, focusing in on a large, fortified military base some five kilometres across. 'We've suspected for some time that the traitor regiments were still using it as their command centre. Naturally, we've bombarded it at every available opportunity, but the base's bunker complex was built to shrug off that kind of attack.'
With another turn of the dial the map zoomed in on the rebel base. Ragnar observed tall, thick perimeter walls sited with dozens of gun emplacements that commanded a flat, featureless killing ground for kilometres in every direction. He saw tank parks and reinforced barracks large enough to hold four or more armoured regiments, defended by Hydra anti-aircraft positions. The central bunker complex alone was over two kilometres across, and Ragnar suspected that it extended even farther underground.
'Once Berek's company arrived we inserted three packs of his scouts into the area around the base to see what we could learn,' she continued. 'Our suppositions proved correct. The rebels were indeed still using it as their headquarters, and recently they have observed the arrival of numerous high-ranking officers and their aides. They are still there, which is why we believe they've been gathered to plan a major series of offensives.'
'And you wanted the Old Wolf's company to destroy this base?' Ragnar asked.
'Not just destroy it,' Athelstane replied. 'We planned a lightning assault to capture the rebel high command and deliver them here for interrogation. Inquisitor Volt assured me he had the means to make the traitors tell us everything they knew.'
Ragnar nodded appreciatively. 'How many enemy troops?'
'A reinforced armoured regiment: at least fifteen hundred troops with heavy weapons and almost forty battle tanks.' She spread her hands. 'We reckoned even Grimnar's great company would have a tough time taking the base.'
The young Space Wolf nodded thoughtfully. 'It's good for you then that we're here instead of the Old Wolf,' he said with a feral grin. 'We'll go in at first light.'
SEVEN
Hit and Run
The battle cruiser's brass and steel teleportation chamber rang like a swordmaster's forge as the Space Wolves made ready for battle. The Wolves of Harald's Blood Claw pack congregated in a tight group, checking their weapons and adjusting the heavy load of extra equipment they would be carrying with them on the raid. Most had their helmets off and were talking with one another in low, sullen voices. Ragnar had insisted that the warship's ancient teleporters were vital to the success of the raid, but the Space Wolves hated the thought of placing themselves at the mercy of such an arcane, unreliable device. A few metres away, Sigurd the Wolf Priest stood alone, both hands clasped on his crozius and his head bowed in prayer. Iron Priests and acolytes in full ceremonial vestments moved slowly around the perimeter of the room, checking and anointing the vast network of power couplings and matrix field collectors.