The colonel pulled back on the Valkyrie’s controls with such ferocity that the cords in his neck stood out. The awkward machine whined in protest, but began to finally move up and out over the gorge. Bits of stonework and cabling were caught up in its landing gear and wrapped around its wings and tail.
As it passed over her, Shadowsun fired.
The beams struck the transport’s belly. The armour-plating simply ceased to exist as its molecules flew apart. White-hot lines of heat radiated out from the impact point. The very air inside the cockpit and passenger compartments became superheated and caught fire. The Valkyrie spun like a child’s discarded toy. Shadowsun was certain that she caught a glimpse of a hand pressed against the pilot’s canopy before everything exploded in a mass of shrapnel. Huge pieces of machinery fell into the Drop, trailing auburn flames behind them. When they at last hit bottom, the sound was distant and muffled.
How long she lay there on the makeshift alcove she didn’t know. It was a labour just to breathe, and the night breeze felt cool and refreshing against her skin. Finally, she heard Hollett calling out to her from somewhere nearby. She lifted her head.
‘Oh, good. You’re not dead,’ Hollett said dryly. He and Sabu’ro were climbing up the guardrail with agonising slowness.
‘No,’ she murmured. ‘Not yet.’
‘Can you make it up to the top, commander?’ Sabu’ro asked.
Shadowsun nodded weakly, and drained the blood from her mouth again.
The sun was rising when the three of them at last crested the cliff top. Across the Long Drop, the fires continued to rage. They lay there, completely spent, and watched the forest burn. Finally, Hollett stood and began limping up the winding path that led to the communications array.
‘Let’s go call your friends,’ he said.
The landing field was in chaos. All along the rockcrete the ochre shuttlecraft of the tau had landed and disgorged their passengers. Fire warriors swarmed everywhere. Earth caste scientists unloaded equipment and stacked supply crates. Water caste merchants took inventory of their wares. A few pilots from the air caste examined their vessels or made minor repairs. From every flagpole hung long, mustard banners proclaiming that the inhabitants of il’Wolaho – formerly Diepr-3 – were now under the jurisdiction of the Tau Empire.
Shadowsun displayed a banner as well: a waist-length purple cape hung over her left side. It was the official symbol for a tau in mourning. Sabu’ro walked proudly beside her. He wore a new suit of combat armour decorated with the insignia of a Shas’ui. His helmet rested in the crook of his left arm. They passed into the shadow of the defence laser. The massive building reached up into a heaven streaked with grey clouds of smoke.
Shadowsun pointed through the crowd ahead of them. Through the throng she could see Hollett standing beside a large pile of suitcases and trunks. He wore knee-high boots, a simple pair of grey trousers and a brown leather jacket over the top of an off-white shirt. His plasma pistol rested in the holster on his hip. A large, white bandage etched with silver circuitry stretched across the bridge of his nose.
The two tau came to a halt. Sabu’ro gave a shallow bow of greeting. ‘Greetings, Hollett-la’, he said merrily. ‘How are you feeling?’
Hollett touched his nose and said, ‘You know this thing is just about healed? Those medics of yours sure know a thing or two.’ He looked at Shadowsun. ‘How’s your leg?’
Shadowsun merely thrust out a small digital readout. ‘Your transfer data,’ she said. ‘Show this to the pilots, and they will ensure that you get where you are going.’
Hollett accepted the pad, and tucked it inside a breast pocket. ‘And where is that, exactly?’
‘Colony Twenty-three,’ Sabu’ro answered. ‘I chose it myself. The port is sparsely populated, but multicultural. I thought that you might encounter other humans there from time to time.’
‘Nuni,’ he said.
‘You might not be so thankful when you get there,’ Shadowsun sneered. ‘It’s the epitome of desolation.’
Hollett looked over at his stack of belongings. ‘I’m sure we’ll make do,’ he said, and gestured with his fingers. A girl of perhaps five or six years cautiously leaned out from where she had been hiding and looked up at the blue-skinned aliens. She was long-limbed and thin and pretty. Her light-brown hair was cut to just above her shoulders. Her hazel eyes were wide with mistrust. She clutched a well-worn, four-legged, stuffed animal toy to her chest. She darted out from behind her cover, and latched herself to Hollett’s side.
‘Daddy, who’s that?’ she whispered loudly. Hollett hoisted her up in his arms and held her tightly. He bounced her lightly, told her to never mind, and kissed her cheek.
Shadowsun’s expression fell. ‘Your daughter?’ she croaked.
‘Janaya, yes.’
‘Where was she all this time?’ Sabu’ro inquired.
Hollett licked his lips and cast a glance towards Shadowsun before he jerked his head towards the dormant defence laser. All around its heavy base were nestled the hab-blocks of the citizenry and the barracks of the former Guardsmen.
‘We had a communal dormitory over there.’
Sabu’ro gasped with realisation. ‘If we had... if the fleet had fired on this place from orbit…’
From behind the four of them came a long, undulating wail, like a lamenting foghorn. They turned to see a small army of earth caste tau struggling to manoeuvre a massive cage up the boarding ramp of a cargo shuttle. Inside the enclosure, the ursaloth bemoaned his fate.
‘The king has been dethroned,’ Hollett muttered grimly.
‘What’s going to happen to him?’ Janaya asked.
‘I’m not sure sweetie. I think he’s getting a new home. Like us.’
The flex-screen wrapped around Sabu’ro’s left forearm emitted three sharp chirps. He read the display, and whispered, ‘Commander, it’s Kor’el Kenhi’ta’s vessel. They have received a data packet from T’au, addressed to you.’
‘My shuttle is close by,’ she replied. ‘Have them transfer the message there.’
She took one last look at Hollett as he cradled his daughter.
‘Was it for this?’ she asked, but the former Guardsman’s only response was to hold the girl tighter. Shadowsun marched away through the crowd without another word. Sabu’ro started to follow, saw how Janaya buried her face into Hollett’s shoulder, and felt compelled to say something.
‘The ursaloth will be well cared for, I’m sure. The Menagerie is home to some of the most skilled xenologists in the Empire.’
Shadowsun was already standing just inside the open hatch of her shuttle. Sabu’ro joined her in the darkened interior, and activated a large viewscreen on the curving bulkhead.
‘We’re ready down here,’ he said.
The wrinkled, wizened face of Aun’va appeared. He was seated behind a grandiose, white desk. A towering hat was perched upon his head.
‘O’Shaserra, I hope that this message finds you not only alive and well, but victorious in your endeavours. The Aun’t’au’retha received your previous transmission, and have discussed it at length. The council acknowledges that you are well within your rights to take the Taal Saal’Y. Indeed, your retirement from active service in order to focus on a family is likely the wisest course of action. The Empire as a whole would suffer a great loss if Kiru’s line were to come an end. Therefore, if you wish to return home, you will be welcomed with all honour.
‘But I speak now, not on behalf of the Aun’t’au’retha, but for myself. Shadowsun, when I first met you, when you were just at the beginning of your caste training, I knew then that you would be one of the rare ones, one of those legendary few who push our entire race forwards with their actions. I did what I could to help. I used my influence to ensure that you received the most dangerous and difficult assignments, because the sharpest blade is tempered in the hottest forge.
‘Your father knew all of this, incidentally. Not only that, but he approved. He could never tell
you himself, but he was very proud of you. He once said “in that girl, I see all of my best qualities and more”. That’s why he gave you your name. You eclipsed him while also being the light of his life.
‘I will understand if you choose to come home. But I also encourage you to rule your fears, and not be ruled by them. But you and I know that there is also a Greater Good. It often demands sacrifice and loss, but in the end, it is the wiser, better path.
‘Regardless of your decision, the Aun’t’au’retha and I eagerly await word from you.’
The image faded out. Neither Shadowsun nor Sabu’ro moved.
‘Let’s get out of here,’ she muttered.
Sabu’ro’s face was etched with anticipation and worry. He swallowed and managed to voice the question burning within him. ‘Back to T’au, commander?’
She walked to the boarding hatch and surveyed the throng swirling about on the landing field. A cool breeze filled the shuttle with memories of smoke and fire. She saw Hollett seated on one of his trunks, cradling Janaya in his lap as she played with her stuffed toy. She saw that the ursaloth’s cage was nearly stowed away. She saw the tau boy standing at the base of the boarding ramp. He was dressed as before, in his crisp cadet’s uniform. His black hair-braid framed his face. Once, lying in the bog, she had asked who he was, but there was no need now. She knew who he was.
He was her boy.
You would have been E Rra’E – ‘Shadowsun’s son’. Others would have smiled whenever they heard your name. How ideal, they would say. Perfect alliteration. Balanced spelling. Even a clever homophone. You would have had all of my best qualities and more, a perfect inheritor of Kiru’s line. You would have eclipsed me, and I would have been so proud of you.
The boy regarded her forlornly and motioned for her to step down from out of the shuttle and join him. She thumbed the control panel next to her. The hatch swung shut, sealing away the noisy scene.
‘Why would we go home when there is so much still left to do?’ she said, answering Sabu’ro.
Behind her, the young shas’ui broke into a smile. ‘I’ll set course to rendezvous with Kenhi’ta’s vessel at once,’ he said, and headed to the cockpit with proud strides.
In the silence and isolation that rushed in, she placed a hand against the smooth metal door. Her head sagged and her body was wracked by three hard sobs. Tears splashed onto the tips of her hooves.
‘I’m so sorry, child,’ she whispered. ‘I just can’t.’
Then she drew a ragged breath, sniffled, and straightened her uniform. Oh, Oru’mi, she thought, wouldn’t you laugh to see your big sister right now. She spun on her heel and followed after Sabu’ro. There was work to be done for the last of Kiru’s line, she told herself. Important work. A Greater Good.
Moments later, the shuttle rocketed skywards. Shadowsun caught her reflection in the viewport as she watched the landing field recede. Her eyes were dry. After all, the boy on the planet below hadn’t really existed. And now, she realised, he never would.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Braden Campbell is a classical actor and playwright, currently living in Milton, Ontario. His theatrical work has seen him perform across not only across Canada, but in England and New York City. For the past five years he has also worked as a freelance writer, particularly in the field of role playing games. Braden has enjoyed Warhammer 40,000 for nearly a decade, and remains fiercely dedicated to his dark eldar.
To Annachie, who sacrificed her summer vacation for the Greater Good.
A BLACK LIBRARY PUBLICATION
Published in 2013 by Black Library, Games Workshop Ltd., Willow Road, Nottingham, NG7 2WS, UK
Cover illustration by Adam Tooby.
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ISBN: 978-0-85787-967-7
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