[Warhammer 40K - The Horus Heresy 54] - The Buried Dagger by James Swallow

Author:James Swallow [James Swallow]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Military Fiction, Science Fiction, Warhammer 40K
ISBN: 9781780308517
Published: 2019-01-10T15:08:35+00:00

The sun hung above the horizon, but scant measure of its light could find the warriors in the chamber where they had gathered, deep within the peak of the old, forgotten fortress. It was a broad, resonant space—a naturally occurring cavern that had been ­widened by the use of stoneburners and other geoformer tools, the dead rock remade into platforms and sharp angles of a kind that would never occur without human intervention.

Throughout the space, computational devices and cogitator-servitors worked in clicking, whirring harmony, with spinning brassy mechanisms and pale faces alike lit by the pallid glow of great hololithic panels. The ghostly display panels hung in the cold, unmoving air like great animate tapestries, with waterfalls of text and numerals rolling endlessly from top to bottom.

Garro looked around, and each panel he settled upon gave him no more understanding than the last. He found the scientician, the woman Brell, stealing a glance in his direction, and once caught in the act she shied away.

At his side, Loken pointed towards a larger holographic display on the highest level of the gloomy chamber—a vast projection of the globe of Terra, turning slowly on a canted axis. Indicators resembling long gold needles pierced the surface of the simulated planet in dozens of different locations. ‘There,’ he said. ‘All the recoveries so far.’

Varren and Gallor stood directly beneath the ghostly sphere. The former World Eaters legionary glared at the display as if he expected it to insult him, while the younger legionary looked on in fascination. They had not had much opportunity to speak since their arrival at the White Mountain with their cargo of newly rescued captives, and Varren’s terse report had left Garro with more questions than answers.

Garro threw them a nod and halted before the hololith, taking in the scope of it. ‘So many,’ he breathed, and then his tone hardened. ‘What if this circumstance were reversed? What if it were our brother legionaries returning from the rolls of the war dead, and the Sisterhood were the ones keeping it from us?’

‘There would be fury in that, and no mistake,’ growled Varren. ‘But the Untouchables are not fools. They would tell us…’

‘Or else kill those they found and disintegrate the remains,’ noted Gallor.

Loken ignored the opening and gestured at the display again. ‘You wanted to see where they came from, here is your answer. As I said before, there is no discernible pattern to the abduction and return of the pariahs. They are from dozens of different Witchseeker ­cadres, all of differing rank and age. The locations where they were last sighted and the ones where they were found have no apparent correlation.’ As he said the words, differing indicators lit up and datum panels rose and fell. Each one briefly showed the face of a Silent Sister, along with personal details and a field report.

Garro saw Malida Jydasian’s image float by, and he frowned. ‘The questions return. Who did this, and why?’

‘If I may?’ Brell cleared her throat and

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