THE EXIT FROM the vault was far less fraught with danger than the entry. Having secured the contents of the inner chamber, the precious stasis capsule of primarch material included, the Raven Guard loaded up their supply carriers and heavy servitors to extract their spoils to the surface.
They worked in shifts, escorting lines of cases and crates back through the dormant Labyrinth to the waiting shuttles on the ice shelf at the entrance. Data crystals and storage units were carefully sealed within protective boxes. Larger pieces of equipment, the purpose of which was lost on all except the magos and Corax, were secured to the tracked trolleys that had brought in the expedition’s ammunition and food. Only the incubators and a few power generators were left behind.
It took the best part of a day to ferry everything to the surface. During that time, a signal was sent to the Raven Guard ship waiting in orbit. Drop-craft from the Avengerarrived as the last of the expedition emerged from the vault, together with the most precious treasures, which were watched over by the primarch himself, Orlandriaz and Arcatus.
Alpharius, along with the rest of Sergeant Dor’s squad, again found himself hefting boxes onto the drop-ships while the commanders discussed what was to happen next. Alpharius dawdled as much as he was able, to hear snippets of the discussion, though he learnt nothing that he would not have expected.
‘Be very careful with that,’ said Agapito, as Alpharius took the handles of a frost-rimed crate, Velps at the other end. A blinking energy monitor on the side of the box indicated the below-zero temperature within. ‘Break that stasis generator and we’ll have gone through all of this for nothing.’
‘Aye, commander,’ replied Velps.
They carried their cargo onto the ramp of the closest Stormbird, treading carefully through the drifts of snow. Alpharius was quietly amazed at the contents of the container: the stuff from which the primarchs had been created, from which the Emperor had engineered the Legiones Astartes, and ultimately the gene material that had turned him into an Alpha Legionnaire.
Odd thoughts crept into his mind as he hefted the box over the lip of the entry portal. How long had the Emperor laboured to create the contents of the stasis chest? Decades? Centuries? Perhaps even millennia? For untold generations he had waited, and when the Emperor had shown himself to the galaxy, it was at the head of the Legiones Astartes, his chosen warriors. The Alpha Legion had fought alongside the others for many years during the Great Crusade, seeing time and again their companions reunited with their genetic fathers while they fought on without the guidance of their primarch.
Alpharius remembered the discovery of his namesake, the last of the primarchs to be found. It had been as joyous for the Alpha Legion as the same event had been for the Luna Wolves, or the Iron Hands, or the Raven Guard. Each had been celebrated by all of the Legions as a momentous occasion. Yet the reunification with Alpharius had been a muted affair, almost overlooked by the other primarchs and Legions. That the nature of the twin primarchs was deemed a secret not to be revealed had only deepened the lack of celebration. It had rankled Alpharius that his Legion had been all but dismissed by those who had found their primarchs. It had been an afterthought, a niggling gap that had been filled, rather than being seen for what it truly was: the apex of the Great Crusade when the last of the primarchs had been brought back into the Emperor’s armies. Alpharius’s discovery was the culmination of the Emperor’s plans, not the mundane arrival of a latecomer.
With the aid of Velps, Alpharius slid the stasis container into a locker beneath the decking. They secured it with tightened straps so that it would not move, and lowered the deck grating over it, stowing it away for the journey to orbit.
‘Makes you thankful, doesn’t it?’ said Velps, pointing down at the container.
‘Thankful about what?’ replied Alpharius.
‘Thankful for the Emperor,’ Velps explained. ‘I don’t know why Horus has turned, or those others, but it confounds me. The Emperor created us. I mean, literally he made us what we are. He gave us weapons and armour and a galaxy to conquer and let us free. He made us the future of humanity, and that is something to be thankful for, deep in the heart. We were right there, it was almost finished. That bastard Horus, he had everything thanks to the Emperor and now he’s turned his back on him. There’s no forgiving something like that.’
Alpharius did not argue, though he was stung by Velps’s words. He could say nothing in defence of the choices the Alpha Legion had made. He did not fully understand why the twin primarchs had sided with Horus, but he trusted them to know what was for the best.
‘I’m sure everyone will get what they deserve in the end,’ he said, slapping a comradely hand to Velps’s shoulder.
It left Alpharius unsettled as they made their way back down the ramp. The rest of the expedition was already tramping onto the shuttles and drop-ships. Sergeant Dor and the others were waiting to board, not far from Agapito and Corax. Alpharius and Velps joined the squad just as Arcatus approached the primarch.
‘I have spoken with Malcador,’ the warrior announced, ‘and he agrees with me. I and my Custodian Guard will travel with you, in order that this cargo is protected properly.’
‘That is not necessary,’ said Agapito. ‘Your presence will arouse suspicion. Besides, we don’t need your help.’
‘My commander is correct, if blunt,’ said Corax. ‘A group of Custodians will attract unwarranted attention, and it is with secrecy that our cargo is best protected.’
‘We come with you, or you do not leave,’ said Arcatus. ‘I leave the choice up to you.’
Corax sighed and nodded.
‘Very well, Custodian, have it your way,’ said the primarch. ‘You will travel with me. Be warned, space is already pushed aboard the Avenger. You will have to billet with my warriors.’
‘That will not be an issue,’ said Arcatus.
‘Not a problem,’ said Agapito, with some satisfaction. ‘The Raven Guard will be happy to extend the same hospitality to the Legio Custodes as they gave to us.’
The group parted, leaving Alpharius and the rest of the squad in the snow. Alpharius looked at the golden-armoured warriors accompanying the primarch and felt on edge. With the vault contents in their possession, the Raven Guard would be more vigilant than ever.
A slap on the shoulder guard snapped Alpharius from his distracted thoughts. Sergeant Dor jabbed a thumb at a nearby drop-ship.
‘Get on board,’ said Dor. ‘We’re heading back to Deliverance.’
PART TWO
RECONSTRUCTION
TEN
Return to Deliverance
Unlocking the Gene-tech
Caesari
THE LANDSCAPE OF Deliverance was dominated by a kilometre-high needle at the centre of the workshops. Once this had been the infamous Black Tower, the main citadel of Kiavahr’s guards. Now it was called Ravenspire. Spotlights from dozens of gantries pierced the black void, shining down upon transportways and sprawling mineheads. Defence turrets studded its surface, guided by gleaming sensor-lenses in armoured niches, arrayed like the eyes of a fly. Corax’s Stormbird descended over the sprawl of the ancient prison towards one of the eight landing aprons that jutted from Ravenspire like grey fungi on a black stalagmite, each surrounded by the pale glow of an energy field.
Looking at the maze of prison wings and guard houses, it would be an observer’s first thought that the moon’s facilities were in disrepair. Rockcrete housings and metal panels covered the surface of the buildings like patchwork, while some areas were left blasted and burnt, open to the airless vacuum of space. Force domes glittered in the starlight, protecting clusters of high-rise cell blocks, fuel storage tanks and ore transport hubs.