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Shadowsun: The Patient Hunter – Extract

A Black Library Publication

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CHAPTER ONE

Kal’too Orbital, Startide Nexus, Nem’yar Atoll Two rotaa later

The Elemental Council of Kal’too Orbital was a shadow of its sept-space equivalent. The discussion chamber itself felt almost claustrophobic to Shadowsun, its command thrones each within touching distance of those next to them. Something like a miniature amphitheatre in form, the chamber had a circular, open space at its heart and a domed roof made of transparent resin – strong as steel and thick as her thigh – revealing a vista of stars beyond.

Above her, Shadowsun could see the titanic, round-cornered hexagon of the Startide Nexus framed neatly by the chamber’s window. Within its frame shimmered the wormhole portal itself, a deeper darkness entirely devoid of stars. Presumably the council chamber’s architect had left the roof transparent specifically to give a constant reminder that the Nem’yar Atoll had a greater purpose in its direct link to the sept worlds. Even if the t’au’s home territory was impossibly far away on the other side of the galaxy, they were part of its wider aegis. To fail in their duty as guardians would be to see the seat of the T’au’va under attack and, should the wormhole collapse in the process, doom two entire spheres of expansion to a lingering death on the dark side of the galactic rift.

The close feeling of the chamber’s size, in combination with the illusion it was open to the void and the weight of responsibility it represented, put Shadowsun on edge. Were they not already under attack from forces unknown? Every flicker of movement amongst the stars made her turn an eye upwards to check whether it was a t’au-aligned spacecraft, or an inbound missile.

At her right, Oe-ken-yon reacted to her body language with a low, soothing hum. Oe-hei came in a little closer to her left. Despite the impossibility of danger in the discussion chamber’s sanctum, the faint shimmer of his shield was a comfort.

‘All is well, high commander,’ said Oe-ken-yon softly. ‘With the wisdom of the castes combined, we can overcome any threat.’

‘I am sure that is the case, little helper,’ she said, a smile under her formal tone. ‘And I have been through stranger times than these.’

The council chamber’s inner ring was formed of a wide command throne for each caste’s delegate, who would represent their section of t’au society and provide expertise as necessary. The ethereal representative – still to arrive – would oversee proceedings. Shadowsun had it on good authority it was to be Aun’La, the foremost of his magisterial kind in the entire Nem’yar Atoll, who would lend his wisdom this day. She felt a warm flood of gratitude in her chest at the thought she would soon be reconciled with a member of the ethereal caste.

It was an honour, no matter the context.

To her left was Commander Surestrike, seated with his hands in the posture of the Seeker of Wisdom. A powerful choice of pose, and one that placed him in a cerebral rather than confrontational state. As the representative of the Fourth Sphere Expansion, that infamous expedition which had fared so badly in the Rift’s initial crossings, he was to take a lesser role, yielding to Shadowsun in all matters unless the matter at hand concerned the Fourth Sphere itself.

To the left of Surestrike was the earth caste delegate, a smooth-skinned Fel’shanian built like a Fio’taun guardian statue. Fio’O Kejata was her name, a specialist in zero-gravity construction; it had been her ingenuity and understanding of deep space tolerances that had allowed the Nexus to be built from the sparse materials that survived the crossing.

Around Kejata’s domed head, a hextet of spherical microdrones flicked out faint scanner beams whenever a new member of the council took their seat. They seemed to have a particular interest in the air caste delegate, Horizonchild, who sat distinctly ill at ease directly opposite. Small wonder, thought Shadowsun. If the briefings were correct, his kor’vattra navy had launched a swift but ill-advised attack on the gue’ron’sha fleet as soon as they could after it had suddenly appeared within their borders, and paid a heavy price.

To her right was the water caste contact, Rivertell – a tall, sour-faced por with a wide-brimmed hat that cleaved to ancient magisterial tradition. His gestural vernacular was famously impeccable. He made the sign of the seventh welcome even as Shadowsun settled her eyes upon him, followed by the steepled hands of the mountain: a clear reference to her tutelage on Mount Kan’ji and his respect for her sacrifices there.

‘What happened to Team El’au?’ he said quietly. ‘I rather enjoyed that footage at the spires. Are they not with you?’

‘I disbanded them,’ she said under her breath. ‘Promotions, mainly, for the survivors. They had earned them.’

‘Ah, that’s right. The fire caste’s finest never keeps her team for long.’

It had not always been the case, and given his reference to Mount Kan’ji, Rivertell knew full well about the botched ta’lissera bond-ritual of her past. She scowled, despite herself. The magister looked away, fussing with his sleeve.

Last in the circle was an elder kroot, the hologlyphs before him reading Opikh Tak. He was the council’s Kindred Soul, occupying the traditional sixth seat in order to give an outside perspective to the five true castes. It was considered a signal honour for any ally of the t’au to be invited to an Elemental Council, yet it was clear the muscular figure slouching in the Kindred Soul’s command throne did not feel particularly blessed by his inclusion. Unmistakeably avian in aspect, he was folded in on himself, limbs gathered to cover his chest and odd four-taloned claws twitching as if keen to be elsewhere.

The kroot saw her staring at him, and the great sheaf of spines protruding from the back of his elongated head shivered and stood out. His lower jaw was jagged and protuberant, almost shovel-shaped but bent upwards to form a beak-like shearing tool. Beady black eyes pierced her from beneath heavy brows, the skin around them slightly paler than the deep mottled olive of the rest of his body.

Shadowsun fought the urge to look away. By his adornments, he was a master shaper. An eater of flesh who guided the swift evolution of his kindred, telling them which parts of which animals to devour in order to inherit their biological advantages and letting their species’ hyper-evolution do the rest. At first Shadowsun thought the shaper was wearing tattoos across his arms, but at second glance they were serried discolourations, a kind of natural camouflage that broke up his silhouette against the straps and linen bindings that swathed his torso and limbs. Against the sleek white shapes of the t’au audience chamber, he seemed as out of place as a bag of bones emptied on the bridge of a spaceship.

‘Aun’La approaches,’ said one of the ethereal guards at the back of the audience chamber. ‘Be at peace, and know that the T’au’va is with you.’

Every delegate got to their feet, many of them smoothing down their robes of office. A moment later the iris door of the chamber slid its petals open.

In drifted a living work of art.

Aun’La was surprisingly small for one of his caste, but he had a strange beauty to him, and he wore his authority like a mantle of power. According to the council brief he was as old as Puretide had been when he was concluding Shadowsun’s studies, yet his aura of calm, of utter and implacable confidence, filled the room like healing incense.

The celestial delegate gave a slight smile as his ethereal guard, tall warriors wearing segmented mantles and holding stylised halberds, stepped forward on either side of him. The ethereal met Shadowsun’s gaze, and suddenly she knew that everything was as it should be.

The younger of the two ethereal guard called out, eyes fixed straight forward, ‘I present to you Aun’O Bork’an Fenesa Kais Tan’la, called Aun’La, he who brings to us the truths of the Greater Good.’

‘T’au’va be with you, Aun’La,’ murmured those of the Fourth Sphere around the room. Shadowsun and her peers made the cupped hands of the honoured recipient. Across from her, the kroot shaper nodded his head in the ethereal’s direction, just once.

‘My thanks, one and all,’ said Aun’La as he took his throne. ‘It is a sight to behold, this assemblage of excellence. We welcome to our ranks none other than Commander Shadowsun. Be seated, and we shall commence.’

‘My thanks,’ she replied, ‘and by extension the gratitude of the Fifth Sphere Expansion.’ She gestured to the audience chamber at large, opening her arms with her palms up. ‘I am Shas’O Vior’la Shas’len’ra M’yen Sha’serra, Student of Puretide, called Shadowsun. My role is high commander and military executive leader of the entire fire caste. I commend you all, for in all the missions I have seen undertaken in the name of the T’au’va, none are as courageous as this pioneering voyage across the Mont’yhe’va.’

At this she made the slashing sign of the Great Rift, that cross-galactic phenomenon that had ripped the galaxy from the tip of one spiral arm to the other.

‘And I am Oe-ken-yon,’ said her command drone as he hovered forward, ‘first of–’

‘Very good, little helper,’ said Shadowsun, waving him backwards. ‘We will have time for that later.’ She recovered smoothly. ‘We are honoured to be here, at the fulcrum of fate.’

‘As we are honoured to have you,’ said Aun’La. ‘We of the Fourth Sphere had felt our hopes grow thin. Yet we persist, and survive. Shall we start with an overview of the Fifth Sphere’s wider strategy?’

Shadowsun nodded curtly. ‘We have made great strides in the annexation of Imperial worlds over this side of the Great Rift. They are cut off from the rest of their galactic empire, and in this rich loam of confusion the water caste have planted seeds of our own, superior order. In places we have borne aggression from be’gel pirates, but the orks are an old foe, and largely predictable. Even the rise of the strange Imperial sub-cults that is occurring across Kellik and Calendula appears to be self-contained for now.’

‘It is not these threats that have precipitated our meeting, of course, even if they divide our strength at this critical hour,’ said Aun’La.

‘As you say, wise one. A gue’ron’sha fleet has emerged from the sub-dimension the Imperials call the warp, their vector of approach heading straight for the Nem’yar Atoll, and seemingly the Startide Nexus itself. Admiral Horizonchild and I have already enacted a stalling tactic of sorts. Nonetheless, given the highly irregular nature of the foe, I need the unfiltered truths of an Elemental Council to lend me a greater perspective.’

‘Of course,’ said Aun’La. ‘It is of paramount import that the gue’ron’sha be barred from passing through the Startide Nexus. If they do, the sept worlds beyond will pay the price.’

‘I have collaborated closely with the air caste, and recommended a Kauyon metastrategy that is now in progress. We will choose our moment, and then, when they are surrounded and without hope, we will take their fleet apart.’

‘The high commander’s methods made a great deal of sense to me,’ said the young admiral, flicking a deferential touch of his temple in her direction. ‘I have made the relevant calculations, and sadly, given the gue’ron’sha fleet’s proximity, we cannot muster reinforcements in time. The interstellar distances we are dealing with are vast. The unfortunate truth is that most of our forces are committed already. With the Slipstream drive yet to be perfected, we cannot bring them into play without risking another Fourth Sphere incident.’

Commander Surestrike cast an acid glance at Horizonchild, but did not speak.

‘Have you not forces enough, high commander?’

‘Sadly not,’ said Shadowsun, ‘and for much the same reason. In our establishment of the Nem’yar Atoll, we did not account for the sudden appearance of a gue’ron’sha fleet. To constantly be on guard for such an occurrence would commit our entire strength to defence at all times, and forgo the expansion the T’au Empire is destined to achieve.’

Aun’La nodded his head. ‘I can see that. A highly dangerous and unfortunate quirk of gue’ron’sha war capability. We must react as swiftly as we can.’

‘We are doing just that,’ said Horizonchild. ‘But it is proving difficult to disengage in time without letting existing engagements collapse. In Barolyr and Riatov we have human colonists waging uprisings of their own. They exist in numbers approaching the billions.’

‘Surpassing them, at latest count,’ added Rivertell. His manner was urbane, as if he were discussing bolts of silk ready for trade rather than a widespread human insurrection. ‘From the forays of the water caste thus far, those systems are in a state of extreme agitation, and they do not respond to reason. The transmissions we have intercepted have referred not to their Imperial Emperor as the supreme power. Some give praise to an organisation known as the Star Children, others to some manner of deity they call Ner’ghal. Both claim their deities are rising, and will visit great harm upon us.’

Shadowsun nodded curtly. ‘I encountered some of the latter breed upon Vrio. They are a vile foe indeed, riddled with disease as well as a cultish fanaticism. It is my belief, given their acceptance of the plague that riddles their enclaves, that they are in league with the gue’ron’sha fleet itself.’

Gesturing with the data thimbles of her command throne, she conjured a hazy visual of the grotesque Space Marine flagship currently bullying its way through Atoll space.

‘Though the gue’ron’sha capital-class ship appears so corroded as to be out of commission entirely,’ she continued, ‘it somehow functions. Not only that, it has Damocles-pattern void shields enough to repel even our heaviest firepower.’

Rivertell made the sign of the timely interjection, and Shadowsun nodded her assent.

‘The heraldic skull and tri-lobe you can see here on their lesser ships correlates with icons we have on our wider records. This is a military faction known to the Imperium as the Death Guard. I regret to say it is a subsect of the gue’ron’sha with a reputation for employing biological weapons.’

‘Then we must engage them at range until the telling blow is struck,’ said Aun’La. ‘Let the sterility of space be our ally.’

‘Just so, wise one,’ said Horizonchild. ‘However, with much of our armada already divided amongst the orks of the Ful’nae Nebulae and the emergent Cult of the Star Childen, we have far fewer ships active than I would like to make such an attack.’ He paused, ashen-faced. ‘We cannot strike that decisive blow until we have assessed them thoroughly, and found their weaknesses. We must know them in order to destroy them.’

‘So does the toxinspider find the giant’s vein,’ said Aun’La.

‘An apt metaphor,’ said Shadowsun. ‘Admiral Horizonchild and I have put in place a plan to skirmish with them, just enough to keep them at combat speed until a decisive Kauyon strike can finish them off.’

‘If they are so set on a single course, can we not deploy seeker mines in their path to dissuade them?’

‘We made such a sortie, wise one, but it was soon stymied,’ said Horizonchild. ‘Amongst their counter-fire volleys are gue’ron’sha boarding torpedoes employed to great effect, much as the Scar Lords assailed the Farsight Expedition in their crossing of the Damocles Gulf.’

Shadowsun fought back a shudder of revulsion. It was known amongst the kor that the human war caste fired torpedoes not with munitions inside, but their own shock troopers standing cramped as bullets in a primitive’s gun.

‘Surely the deployment of counter-strike forces would stymie such aggression?’

‘Thus far, all findings indicate the gue’ron’sha are rather adept at boarding actions.’ Horizonchild’s expression was mournful. He twisted his data thimbles and tapped a sequence on the screen that shimmered into being before him.

The hologram unfolded to show footage of an orbital skirmish, the enemy flagship disgorging fat-bodied cylinders that shot across the void through a storm of chaff and point defence fire to slam into the nearest kor’vattra vessel, the Harmonious Treatise by its data tag. A sound wave sprang to life next to the image, a distant battle echoing to the sounds of gunfire and terrified screams. The waveform spiked at the bark and chatter of Imperial guns, immediately followed by the bass reverberations of distant explosions.

Horizonchild unfolded the zoom-hex again with a flick of his thimbles, and a plan view of the Harmonious Treatise shimmered in front of them. Where the boarding torpedo had struck home, the hull had blackened and furred, fingers of strange discolouration reaching across its clean white contours.

‘What’s happening? What is this stuff?’ came a strangled shout from the audio record. Then another cry, faint and desperate. ‘Please, in the name of the T’au’va! Please kill us!’

Horizonchild folded the screen away with a gesture. ‘As for those ships that have been boarded,’ he said, ‘I regret to report they have been lost with all hands.’

‘As we speak, our ships are levelling just enough firepower to slow their progress,’ said Shadowsun. ‘They are firing missiles at our orbital defences, and wreaking havoc, but with every display of their strength we learn more.’

‘Learn to avoid them,’ muttered Opikh Tak.

Shadowsun frowned. ‘Kindred Soul, would you care to elaborate?’

The kroot shook his head, quills rattling. An awkward silence followed.

‘Our esteemed guest has the right of it, I believe,’ said Fio’O Kejata. Her broad, dark face was a mask of solemnity. ‘The gue’ron’sha weaponry is like no other I have seen. Their missiles are somehow corroding their targets, rusting them to skeletons of metal within a matter of moments. My hypothesis is that they are employing some manner of atomic dissembler.’

‘And we let this storm break upon us so readily?’ Aun’La looked mystified.

‘The Imperial brute, though strong, is easily goaded,’ said Shadowsun. ‘Our plan is to divide them, watch how they react and learn their weaknesses. We are already peeling away their outer elements, luring them to overextend and thin their forces to the point our Explorer, Merchant and Hero-class ships can pick them off with long-range railgun battery fire.’

‘Is it working?’

‘It will,’ said Horizonchild. He looked down, then, and did not continue.

‘Should it become necessary, I will address the matter personally,’ said Shadowsun. ‘I have crossed blades with the gue’ron’sha before, upon Damocles and Prefectia. They are unimaginative foes, and quite unable to resist a planetary decapitation strike if the opportunity is presented to them.’

‘Very well,’ said Aun’La. ‘I place my trust in you, O’Shaserra, despite the predicament in which we find ourselves. We will gather what we need to secure victory, ceding territory if we must. Commander Surestrike, do you have anything that might bolster your high commander’s conclusions?’

The Fourth Sphere commander stood smoothly, hands clasped in the gift-well-held. ‘Greetings in the name of the T’au’va, one and all. I am Shas’O Ko’vash Van’tara Jeh Tsem, called by the honorific Surestrike.’

Several delegates bowed in solemn acknowledgement. Shadowsun kept stock-still as he continued.

‘That same misfortune which wracked our expedition during the initial crossing may have a link to the force that assails us now.’

‘Is that so?’

‘When we were trapped in the interstitial dimension, before the wormhole appeared and allowed us to enter the Chalnath Expanse beyond, we were savaged by an unknown force that defied logic. It was a race hideous to behold, many of its manifestations rotting yet still operative in the manner of this repulsive fleet. More than that, they were able to subsist in nothingness without an environment suit. Without apparel of any kind, in fact.’

‘Perhaps that is of lesser relevance at this point,’ said Aun’La. Shadowsun looked over, puzzled by his response. A strange expression had replaced his usual mask of serenity.

‘On the brink of our defeat, something vast took form near our fleet,’ continued Surestrike. The Fourth Sphere commander’s voice was cold and certain, his eyes fixed on hers instead of those of Aun’La as was proper etiquette. ‘It was familiar, yet not entirely t’au-like, for it was possessed of many arms, and no facial features. I tell you this because I believe you too will encounter it in time, even if only in your dreams.’

Something curdled at the back of Shadowsun’s mind, then. She said nothing.

‘As foul as that false idol was, it was the entity’s appearance that precipitated the appearance of the wormhole that allowed us to escape. Nightmares take on substance in that other dimension. We thought them behind us, but it appears the creatures of that interstitial realm are not done with us yet. There is another dimension behind our own, and it is hostile. All those tainted by it, or who taint our culture with it, must die. There can be no peace.’

‘Enough!’

The ethereal’s command hit the room like a boulder flung into a troubled sea. His expression had become thunderous, his stance rigid.

‘I hereby draw us to this council’s conclusion,’ said the ethereal, recovering his composure almost immediately. ‘Were it not for the severity of the situation we would disband immediately. But we must find consensus. Here, now, we must bring every insight we can. For the Greater Good. That is all that matters.’

Shadowsun risked a look around. Every other delegate in the room had their eyes cast down – all the t’au, at any rate. Opikh Tak was staring hard at Surestrike, his quills stiff and his beak slightly open as he shifted in his seat.

‘It is the prevailing theory amongst the Fourth Sphere,’ continued Commander Surestrike, ‘that it was not our fellow t’au who brought those first lethal visitations to our ships, nor who caused the manifestation of the False Entity.’

Silence, now, and the sense of a blade about to fall. Shadowsun saw Aun’La make eye contact with his ethereal guard, slowly and deliberately.

‘We have soared upon the thermals of the interstitial dimension many times.’ Surestrike spoke on, one hand skimming the other forearm like a stone on water. ‘Until now we have never encountered these denizens, these horrors that make that environment their home. It was these experimental Slipstream drives that drew them to us, and the ethereal caste’s decision to use them en masse before they had been perfected.’

Aun’La’s expression was incendiary. To criticise the ethereals, even obliquely, was taboo, a shocking mistake that had ended careers and seen public figures disappear entirely. The ethereal guard moved towards Commander Surestrike, their ceremonial halberds held in the Seventh Form.

Surestrike continued unabated.

‘The aliens of that place preyed upon the auxiliary craft first. They were attracted to those vessels that contained non-t’au personnel, in particular those of the nicassar, the greet, the nagi, the charpactin and, in their latter assaults, the kroot. In short, those with ability in the field we call mind-science. Psychics.’

A spasm passed over Surestrike’s face as he continued.

‘It pains me to say this, but although in theory they are admirable additions to our cause, in practice almost all of our auxiliary forces are a weak link, corrupted by moral decay.’

‘And this same weakness you experienced in every one of our allies?’ said Shadowsun. ‘I find that hard to believe.’

‘The only commonality between our alien auxiliaries that you need to know,’ said her fellow commander, the muscles in his neck tight, ‘is that they did not survive the subsequent engagements to which they were assigned.’

‘You made sure of it!’

Across from the fire caste speaker, Opikh Tak had sat bolt upright, body taut and near vibrating with outrage.

Shadowsun felt her blood grow hot.

‘Their corruption of the true path of the T’au’va damned them all,’ said Surestrike. ‘The destruction of your fellow conspirators was assured.’

There was a blur of motion as the kroot shaper launched himself forward, claws outstretched towards Surestrike as he screeched his need to kill.

Tak was fast, scarily so. Shadowsun leapt over the command throne in front of her to intercept, her shield drone close behind. The ethereal guard had formed up with fluid grace and speed before Aun’La, their priorities clear.

The kroot shaper landed with all four claws on the front of Surestrike’s throne. The Fourth Sphere commander brought both arms up in a sweeping circle, brushing his enemy’s lunge aside. The kroot opened his iron-hard maw as the second forearm came in, sinking his beak into muscle and wrenching the limb so hard it broke with an awful crack.

Shadowsun’s elbow struck the kroot’s wattled throat a microdec later. She had dived headlong, her full-body launch giving her enough power to bowl the alien from Surestrike’s command throne and send him sprawling. Letting herself tumble with him, she landed with a crunch, shoulder first, on his elongated breastbone. Ribs gave under her weight.

A clawed hand lashed out to grip both her temples at once, squeezing like an iron vice. Too close for Oe-hei to intervene. No matter. She trapped it, curling her arms around the limb and kicking the kroot hard in the armpit. He released his grip and prised at her with incredible strength as she fought to lock her elbow around his wattled neck. A moment of give, and he had peeled her wrestler’s hold from his throat, in doing so exposing her flank. She felt something give in her ligaments, but the fire was lit, now, and it would not go out.

Her knee came up to sink into his gut. In return, the kroot grabbed her topknot and yanked her head back hard. Her scalp burned; it felt as if the long rope of hair would be ripped from her head. His beak opened wide, jaws about to sink into her throat.

Oe-hei discharged a lance of crackling energy into the top of the kroot’s spine. He spasmed, nervous system overloaded to the point of paralysis.

Shadowsun slammed the alien down onto the basin-like floor with a harsh cry of effort. In a flurry of motion she had Tak face down, her knee in his back and one hand pressing his head to the floor.

A stylised halberd came down onto the back of the kroot’s neck, pinning his head as his rattling quills finally went limp. One of the ethereal guard had come forward, Aun’La some distance behind him.

Shadowsun looked up, getting her breathing under control with her knee still in the small of Tak’s back. A ring of shocked faces surrounded her.

‘My thanks for your intervention, High Commander Shadowsun,’ said Aun’La. ‘You are truly a credit to your caste. Opikh Tak, your behaviour is a disgrace. No longer are you a Kindred Soul, and you will be censured appropriately. Furthermore, I will be reviewing the inclusion of kroot allies in the ongoing theatres of engagement.’

‘The entire notion needs examination, that much is clear,’ muttered Surestrike.

‘I think not,’ said Aun’La, ‘though perhaps there is some basis to your reservations. They clearly have impulse-control issues yet to be ironed out.’

Oe-ken-yon hovered close, blipping tentatively. Shadowsun let him approach; extruding a hinged limb, he sprayed antiseptic onto her claw-scraped scalp. It stung like the caress of a Dal’ythan jellyfish, but she rode it out.

It was only physical pain, after all. The emotional kind was much, much worse.

‘I can see the merit in a review,’ she said. She already had her breath under control. Whatever Oe-ken-yon had done to it, the kroot was out for a while. She straightened, rearranging her topknot, but kept her knee on the alien’s back for a moment before standing up and stepping away.

‘Fast work.’ Surestrike still sat in the same position, his composure complete.

She cocked a finger in the curl of the question-that-must-be-asked. ‘Was it something you said, do you think?’

‘Perhaps,’ said Surestrike. ‘It is no secret that many of the kroot kindreds suffered over the course of the crossing, and they have fared ill ever since.’

‘I wonder why.’

‘Perhaps they blame me for that, as a figurehead of their expedition. They worship strange idols, forbidden entities. In doing so, they court the worst of all fates. Perhaps their entire race is cursed.’

Shadowsun felt her olfactory chasm wrinkle at the term. Cursed. It was an old word, and one she had not heard for many, many years.

‘Remove our recumbent guest, please,’ said Aun’La. His ethereal guard moved to obey. ‘Have him sequestered so no more of our kind are threatened by his lack of discipline.’

The ethereal guard obliged, one taking the kroot shaper’s arms as the other grabbed his legs.

Aun’La waved open the door with his rod of office as they made for the chamber’s exit. ‘I hereby draw this Elemental Council to conclusion,’ he said. ‘We will not speak of it until we gather again, once a replacement Kindred Soul can be put in place.’

‘Did you have one in mind?’ said Shadowsun. ‘Time is of the essence, wise one.’

‘I suggest Ven Tah Regah of the nicassar dhow Gliardis. She has a unique insight and a fervent belief in the T’au’va.’

Dawnchaser, Commander Surestrike’s second, came forward from the periphery of the room. She held her hand up and put it to her mouth, a sign as old as the Fio’taun Plateau. Aun’La nodded, barely looking at her.

‘You may address us.’

‘Honoured leaders,’ said Dawnchaser, ‘I too favour the Kauyon metastrategy. There are minor points of its execution upon which I would seek High Commander Shadowsun’s advice. In truth, I would study under her. With the council formally concluded, may I address her afterward?’

‘You may,’ said Aun’La. ‘But make it quick. Other matters require my attention. Commander Surestrike, I take it you would not be opposed to Dawnchaser here being a liaison between the Fourth Sphere and the Fifth, in the interests of sphere harmony.’

Everything in Surestrike’s body language said he would very much be opposed to it.

‘As you wish,’ he said.

‘Excellent. Incidentally, I would talk to you in my quarters after my guardians are reinstated. Be there in one demidec, if you please.’

Surestrike made the fists of immutable accord. ‘Of course, honoured one. I shall be there, with my mind clear.’

‘Ensure it,’ said the ethereal quietly, his tone cold as he met Shadowsun’s gaze. ‘For I fear the mark of the Rift is upon us all.’

‘High commander!’

Shadowsun had reached the corridor outside her quarters when Dawnchaser approached her. She had her hands overlapped in the gesture of the supplicant student.

‘It is my hope you will forgive me,’ she said, looking up and down the corridor, ‘but I asked for your help under false pretences. Of course, I would dearly desire to learn under your tutelage. Yet I have information I believe to be vital.’

Shadowsun felt something tighten in her throat. ‘Very well. You may speak freely.’

‘I have reason to believe it may not be safe to do.’

‘Oe-ken-yon, ensure a sonic perimeter of white noise.’

‘At once, high commander.’

‘My thanks,’ said Dawnchaser, nodding to the drone as a low susurrus crackled around them. ‘I am counting on your discretion. The shaper, Opikh Tak. He is not to be held in the orbital’s brig, as you might presume, but is instead en route under armed guard to a nearby planet. He is being taken to the cells of the gue’la planetary governor’s palace upon Pekun.’

‘Is that relevant?’

‘You must speak with him.’

‘And why must I do that? He openly assaulted one of our own at an Elemental Council. Even if he has reason to do so, that cannot be allowed.’

‘From a certain perspective,’ she said, her eyes pleading, ‘he had every right to attack.’

‘Is that so?’ said Shadowsun, intrigued. ‘Why is he not held in one of our own facilities?’

‘Because he must tell you of his own version of the Fourth Sphere’s crossing. And because Surestrike wants him removed from our networks. Held off-grid until he can be safely disposed of.’

‘I see. Has your commander not been telling me the whole truth thus far?’

‘That is not for me to say.’

‘Is this to do with the auxiliary races? That entity your commander spoke of?’

‘Again, high commander,’ said Dawnchaser, her expression fraught, ‘I implore you not to press me on this.’

Shadowsun nodded. ‘Very well.’

Dawnchaser nodded her thanks, scalp lock clinking on her breastplate. The adornment had half as many victory rings as Shadowsun’s own version, but it was an impressive tally nonetheless. She noticed, then, that one had been torn off, the hair ragged and split where it had once gleamed proud.

‘You had best return to your commander,’ Shadowsun continued. ‘Tell him, should he ask, that we spoke about the finer points of Kauyon, and how it is inherently superior to the killing blow strategy of Mont’ka, especially that version practised by the traitor O’Shovah. That will be what he is expecting to hear.’

Dawnchaser gave a grateful smile. ‘I really do believe in you, high commander. If anyone can straighten out the fu’llasso that we of the Fourth Sphere have made of our own psyches, I believe it is you.’

‘Some disarray is only to be expected given the sheer distance you have covered.’

‘I fear you do not understand,’ said the subcommander. ‘Your passage was smooth. We went through an experience so shocking I cannot put it into words.’

‘I am well apprised. You lost some three-quarters of your number. It must have been deeply traumatic.’

A shadow passed across her eyes, then. ‘We saw something, out there. Many things. Most were malevolent, but that entity… it was somehow worse. A ghost, or rather the ghost of something yet to be, mocking us with its form.’

‘A ghost? Not simply one of these transit hallucinations we hear of, its size distorted by a fluke of physics?’

‘I will speak no more of it.’

‘Duty can leave deep scars.’ Shadowsun made the sign of the eclipsed sun, one hand splayed behind the other. ‘Rest assured, I will ensure the Fourth Sphere and the Fifth are aligned. It is my purpose.’

‘That may be more difficult than you imagine.’

‘Enough, Dawnchaser,’ said Shadowsun gravely. ‘If you wish not to speak of these matters plainly, kindly do not make vague and portentous statements concerning them. I will investigate this matter thoroughly, and afterwards, if I have more questions, I will seek you out. Is that understood?’

‘Perfectly.’ Looking a little pale, Dawnchaser made the sign of the gift’s recipient and backed away. ‘May the light of the T’au’va go with you.’

Shadowsun dismissed Dawnchaser with a nod. She stared out of the corridor’s panoramic window for a long time afterward.

‘High commander,’ said Oe-ken-yon, his tone deferential. ‘Permission to speak?’

Touching her forehead against the cool glass for a moment, Shadowsun turned to her two drones, still hovering at a respectful distance.

‘I offer contrition, little friends, but I feel that perhaps we should wait until we are in my quarters. That last exchange has left me somewhat discomfited.’

‘The truth must be unearthed,’ said Oe-hei. ‘Those accusations were grave.’

‘Indeed they were.’

‘I will collate all available data on the Fourth Sphere and its activities thus far, then edit it to a rotaa’s worth of information,’ said Oe-ken-yon.

‘My thanks, faithful one. I don’t know what I would do without you two watching over me.’

The drone bobbed happily, turning slightly to face Oe-hei. The guardian drone dipped his edge in thanks.

Shadowsun stared out into the depths of space once more. ‘Something profound has broken here, I know it. Broken, or perhaps denatured.’

‘What do you mean, high commander?’ said Oe-ken-yon.

‘It’s just a feeling. But I know it, in my heart.’

‘Could you elaborate?’

‘She means an internal data-screed with no tangible source,’ said Oe-ken-yon.

Shadowsun laughed despite herself. ‘Yes, something like that, little one. The people here are spread thin indeed, in terms of leadership, and they are far more resistant to renewal than I had hoped.’

‘I concur,’ said the drone. ‘They are rather unwelcoming.’

She nodded, looking back out into space once more. ‘The community of the T’au’va here is a house made of porcelain slates, battered by outside forces yet somehow still standing. We must tread carefully, or risk bringing the whole thing down around our heads.’

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A BLACK LIBRARY PUBLICATION

First published in Great Britain in 2022.
This eBook edition published in 2023 by Black Library, Games Workshop Ltd, Willow Road, Nottingham, NG7 2WS, UK.

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Way to get out of reading a book, Jim.

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