‘Then they have succeeded, but it will gain them nothing,’ said Calgar. ‘I am sending my own message. The lords of Macragge will not allow any dissent upon the capital world or in any other place.’

‘My lord defender, mercy will be seen as weakness.’

‘Mercy is a strength, because it is harder to forgive than it is to slay,’ said Calgar. ‘They are children led by demagogues. They will be treated as such.’ He turned to his sergeant. ‘Julio, retake the museum. Save as many of the boys as you can. Try not to destroy the artefacts – they are priceless, and an important reminder that the myth of Illyrian independence is indeed a myth.’

‘Yes, my lord. Squad Julio!’ the sergeant voxed.

‘We hear and obey,’ his warriors replied. Armour growling, they marched up from the line of Rhinos blocking the road further down, trudging slowly, their huge shapes as solid as the boulders of the pass’ crags.

Upon reaching their leader, the Terminators fell into formation. Julio drew his power sword and saluted Calgar. ‘We march for Macragge.’

‘This is overkill,’ said Calleduus. ‘An aerial insertion from Valkyries would have been sufficient.’

‘You have spoken – now be silent, Calleduus,’ said Calgar. ‘We will advance into the fullness of their fire and we will not fall. They will see the Ultramarines cannot be harmed by such as they. Terrorism is pointless.’

The auxilia by the roadblock drew back the central wheeled section of rockcrete with long iron hooks, allowing the giant warriors through. When the last clumped by, they hurriedly replaced the segment and hunkered down behind it once again.

When the Ultramarines were a hundred metres from the museum, the rebels opened fire. A mixture of lasgun beams and solid bullets perturbed the smoke.

Many shots went wide, either from incompetence or from fear – talk of killing an angel of death was the sort of bravado that vanished when battle came. Those shots that hit sparked off the thick battle­plate. Calleduus may have been right about the waste of using Terminators for this minor activity, but had the Vigil Opertii undertaken the task, several of them would now be dead. The secret police’s incompetence in allowing this to happen was irksome, but they were still more use to Calgar alive.

The lascannon fired once and missed. There was a long delay before the second shot clipped the shoulder of Julio’s lead warrior. The force of the impact threw him off balance a little, but he shrugged off the strike and lumbered back into formation, his pauldron dripping molten metal.

A good lascannon team could focus and fire four shots a minute. Calgar’s displeasure at the local Juventia leaders grew. Where was their weapons discipline?