The Daemons Gather

"Stop wasting words on him. Kill him. If it weren't for him, Kalun and the others would still be alive," one of the squad said.

Even protected by Spartan armor, they had suffered terrible losses in this battle.

"Just say he tried to resist. Command won't investigate. Who cares whether a rebel lives or dies?" another soldier added. They had done that often enough in the past. No one cared.

"He will be judged, but not by us." Kewonei shook his head, then turned to Kaliguisi. "Code 66-72. Kaliguisi, ruler of the Knight world Daluoke, you are under arrest for inciting Imperial citizens to rebellion."

"Why bother, boss? One shot would settle it," a squadmate said impatiently.

"War is our means, not our goal. Our beloved Regent, Lord Guilliman, wants us to win with generosity of spirit."

"Our beloved Regent isn't here."

"Then aren't we the ones who represent his will? If we can't keep him in our hearts at all times, I fear for this crusade's future."

"We wage war because we seek a world without it. War is only how we work toward that end. Can't you see the difference? Do we find glory and satisfaction only in cold-blooded killing? What are we, then? Butchers or saviors?"

The soldiers exchanged glances. With Kewonei so firm, they could only set aside their desire to kill. Whether they understood what he meant by being saviors rather than butchers was another matter. Kewonei knew that revenge and slaughter alone did the Imperium no good. They also ran counter to the Regent's hopes for a better future.

"Drop the pretense, soldier. You're nothing but daemons in armor. Your humanity is gone. In the name of your Emperor and Imperium, you've stopped caring about your own kind. You're dogs sent by the daemons of Chaos to play with the ashes of human civilization."

"I won't submit to your judgment. I spit on you, traitors." Resolve hardened the old man's face. He rose abruptly. Kewonei sensed something wrong. "Stop!" he roared, lunging toward him.

With a thunderous roar, the iron throne shuddered and released a terrible, invisible shock wave. The windows burst. Countless shards became a bright, multicolored blizzard. The squad activated their shields in time, but the gigantic surge of unseen energy hurled them out of the tower. Their thrusters still worked. Powerful jets kept them suspended in the air, and they suffered no real harm.

Before the explosion, Kewonei had dragged the old man away from the throne and activated his shield. The impact hurled him sideways off the platform. A wall of force swept him far outward like a dead leaf in the wind.

Worse, the blast had damaged his propulsion system. He could only cling to a steel bar, struggling to hold on amid the dragging glass and energy. At the same time, he had to protect Kaliguisi. The war criminal had to live to stand trial. The relentless force nearly knocked him unconscious. Red warnings flashed frantically across his armor's display.

His squadmates fired into the roaring eye of the storm. Explosions shook the entire crown of the tower. A scream cut through the shock wave's howl, then stopped abruptly. The wall of energy vanished. The hurricane dissipated, and glass fragments rained onto the platform.

They pulled Kewonei to safety. It had been far too close. The energy surge had wrecked his thrusters and damaged the power supply. A fall from more than a thousand meters would have left little of him intact.

Trembling, he rolled over and looked at the iron throne. It was a smoking wreck, its hidden mechanisms blown apart. Kaliguisi had been saved in time, but he was badly hurt. His chest had caved in. Blood filled it and spilled from his mouth in intermittent bursts. Holding the nearby railing, he struggled to stand and preserve a king's dignity. He managed it, swaying on his feet, his purple robe in tatters.

"You don't get to die before your trial, Kaliguisi. Even in death, you'll carry your shame. Your stupidity and arrogance killed countless Imperial soldiers. Shame, judgment, and death, traitor. That's the price you'll pay." Kewonei removed his shattered helmet. A deep wound crossed his face. It would not stop bleeding. Soon his whole face was covered in blood.

Spartan armor was not Space Marine power armor. Its protection was considerably weaker. That storm had nearly killed him. Two soldiers restrained Kaliguisi and called for medical assistance.

Kewonei's vision blurred. His mind slipped, and he collapsed. Before consciousness left him entirely, he heard his squadmates' frightened voices calling his name.

When he woke, he was back aboard the warship. Surgical lights hurt his eyes. An apothecary was treating him. Soon he slipped under again, leaving the figures in white coats to open his body and remove the fragments and dead flesh that threatened his life.

His injuries were severe. Even after emergency treatment aboard the ship, he would need a long recovery. He lay in a hospital bed on a newly repaired space station, where the wounded had been brought to recuperate.

He was admiring the vast, magnificent stars through a small window when a man approached his bed. Kewonei turned instinctively. Seeing the insignia on the visitor's shoulder, he tried to rise and salute. The movement pulled at his wounds. He sucked in a breath of pain.

"No need for formalities. I only came to see the hero who captured Kaliguisi." It was Yide, supreme commander of the fleet. "You did well, Kewonei. War is a means, not the final objective." The praise embarrassed him.

"Few people understand why the Regent keeps telling us to minimize killing, instead of clinging to the idiotic belief that it's better to kill a thousand innocent people than let one enemy escape. I've submitted a request to the Departmento Munitorum for you to command Catachan's first mechanized infantry regiment."

"Ah..." Kewonei was stunned. A regimental commander? Just like that?

"You won't refuse, will you? Catachan soldiers know no fear." Yide smiled. "No, sir," Kewonei said. He accepted.

Yide nodded, smiling, and turned to leave. Kewonei hesitated, then asked, "Sir, what happened to Kaliguisi?" The commander looked back in mild surprise.

"Once his condition is stable, he'll be sent to Ultramar. Why do you ask?"

"It's just... what he said at the end made me think. He called us daemons, said we brought slaughter and destruction to his world. That Terra ignored the suffering of Daluoke's people."

Yide was silent for a moment. "You can say that to me. Don't repeat it to anyone else." It was a warning. In the Imperium, those words were enough for the Inquisition to condemn a man to death. Seeing his commander's grave expression, Kewonei fell silent.

Yide stood beside him. "You know the laser beams you used to fire? The kind that could kill several men with one shot?" Kewonei frowned. "Yes. But why bring that up?"

"Lower the frequency a little, and you can make a laser blade for surgery. Remove small fragments from wounds. Cut away infected flesh and prevent infection. A laser can kill or save lives. The only difference is the person using it."

"Don't trouble yourself over what he said. Sometimes you have to cut away rot so something can live again. What you need to know is whether your ultimate purpose is to save lives or take them."

"We have no right to decide whether a person deserves to die. But we have a duty to ensure that our species and civilization survive in this universe, even if it means covering our hands in blood. That's what matters."

Kewonei looked troubled. He still could not understand. "But it's all killing. Why make so many distinctions? If you kill someone, you've killed them. Why all these qualifications and details?"

Yide smiled. "Suppose a recruit beats you. Perhaps you really couldn't beat him. Or perhaps you deliberately held back to encourage him. Are those the same? Can you simply say that a defeat is a defeat and every explanation is a lie?"

"As you said, war is a necessary tool. It isn't everything the Imperium is. It's only a means of achieving our great ideal. The same is true of everything Terra has done. They only want humanity to survive."

With that, Yide left for the moment. Kewonei thought he understood a little. He looked out at the stars. Many environmental engineering ships were already in position. They would help Daluoke rebuild, restoring its environment and making the world more habitable for humans. Black Ships had already taken the rebels away. Only a few senior leaders had to stand trial before they could be put to death. It was a required procedure, and a warning to others with designs against the Imperium.

Meanwhile, in the Warp, Celestine smiled at the burning planet on the holographic display. She had insisted on splitting the force to expand their gains. Before the powerful fleet and its Primaris Space Marines, the daemons could not fight back. Argent weapons let the Emperor's loyal servants slaughter them with ease.

"If the Regent had listened to me, we'd have cleansed who knows how many daemon worlds by now. These creatures are no match for us." The captains beside her nodded in agreement. Against their upgraded warships, Chaos had no advantage at all.

"My lady, one of the Chaos servants has given us news of the Dark Warmaster, Abaddon." A Chapter Master hurried over. They had captured many servants on the daemon world and used special methods to probe the secrets in their minds.

Among those secrets was information about one of the Imperium's most troublesome enemies: a former Son of Horus and member of the Mournival, now the Dark Warmaster. Celestine frowned. After she had badly wounded him at Cadia, Abaddon had fled into the Warp and vanished. She had not expected to stumble upon him like this.

"Can we establish his exact strength?" she asked. She did not rush ahead blindly. She considered whether the information could be trusted. Chaos cultists were mad, every one of them. Intelligence taken from their minds was unreliable.

"He's aboard the Vengeful Spirit. Since the Great Rift opened, large numbers of daemons and Chaos warriors have gone into realspace to harvest lives and souls. He has almost no one with him, just some Black Legion warriors. If we move quickly, we can strike, kill Abaddon, and withdraw before the Chaos forces in the Warp can react," an adviser said.

"A sound plan. We're strong enough to launch a surprise attack and kill him outright," another Imperial commander agreed.

Abaddon's name had become one of the Imperium's greatest torments. He had launched thirteen Black Crusades. The earlier campaigns had achieved little. They caused heavy casualties, but no crippling damage. In the twelfth, in the Gothic Sector, he had seized the Blackstone Fortresses and used them to destroy many systems. In the thirteenth, he had broken the Cadian Gate and brought about the Great Rift that spanned the galaxy.

After considering it, Celestine decided to eliminate the man who had plagued the Imperium for ten thousand years. If she put Abaddon's head in Guilliman's hands, what could he say? It would prove she had been right. Perhaps the Regent would have to admit she was better and become her little fanboy.

The eternal war in the Warp had stopped. Guilliman was too great a threat. He was reunifying the Imperium at terrifying speed. More importantly, with his help, humanity seemed to be escaping the bloodshed of murder and betrayal that had kept it divided. Freed of that, it would grow terrifyingly powerful. Even the Old Ones would look small beside it.

After the truce, daemons of all four gods began gathering on Abaddon's daemon world. A war that had lasted for endless ages had suddenly stopped. The daemons were having trouble adjusting.

Fortunately, Greater Daemons had joined the Black Crusade as well. They whipped the lesser creatures into silence and kept a rudimentary order. The lesser daemons had no concept of discipline or obedience. Even when their greater kin killed them outright, they remained a chaotic rabble, spending their days destroying things and indulging their desires.

Vast numbers of Chaos ships were gathered there too. Alongside the old Imperial hulls of the warbands were countless xenos vessels dragged into the Warp. Plague arks, bloodthirsty warships, every kind of vessel was present. Nearby daemon forge worlds sent an unending stream of terrifying daemon engines, warships, and weapons.

The force assembling for the Fourteenth Black Crusade was more formidable than any before it. This time, Abaddon intended to destroy the Imperium completely.