Admonius fought ahead of Aeschelus in customary silence. There seemed to be an urgency about the Judiciar that carried the rest of them forward, as though he might singlehandedly carve a path to the target by sweeps of his greatsword. Aeschelus wondered if the Judiciar was trying even harder than normal to showcase his zeal or if it was simply a case of violent release after the mounting stress and frustrations of the warp-lull.

The tunnels – the semi-circular passages seemed more like tunnels burrowed through the metallic substance than corridors built out of walls and bulkheads – ran at peculiar angles to each other, converging from above and below as well as left and right. This arrangement suited the insectoid creatures far more than the Space Marines, who were forced to clamber up steep inclines and drop down shafts where their smaller, agile foes simply ran from floor to wall to ceiling without effort.

They ran into a new foe about three hundred yards from the entry point – the rangefinders were having difficulty getting an exact fix through the alien material of the ship.

‘Something larger coming up from below,’ warned Dorium, leader of the foremost Incursor squad.

‘Something?’ growled Aeschelus. ‘Specifics, brother-sergeant. Direction, speed, threat.’

‘Large-scale movement, brother-captain,’ replied the Incursor. ‘Could be several enemies or one larger construct; I cannot determine the details yet.’

‘Coming up from a passage at a right angle to the level of our advance,’ added Lato from the other squad. ‘Triangulation efforts hampered by the xenos material.’

‘Hold hard position until we arrive.’

Aeschelus hurried forward through the darkness, signalling to the Judiciar and a squad of Bladeguard Veterans to come with him. These warriors were among those first despatched by the lord pri­march; Primaris Marines like Praxa­medes who had been in the first torchbearer fleets and now returned with experience and skills to match many of the far older Space Marines.

In the glare of their suit lamps, the Space Marines saw the floor a few yards ahead opening, iris-like, to leave a hole three yards across. Aeschelus stopped and readied his shield, a great cruciform plate almost as tall as he was, forged in the foundries of Macragge itself. Purity seals and ancient oaths of moment were affixed to its edge, and upon its boss were mounted the bones of its first owner, Captain Heraphus of the Fourth Company. Aeschelus had been presented with it on embarking the Ithraca’s Vengeance, a joint symbol of his authority, the protection of the Chapter and the traditions he was to uphold. With it had come a mantra of the forty-one captains that had borne it before him, from the middle of the thirty-sixth millennium to that day.