The rule of the Imperium on Herod had to continue, and it had to be seen to continue by the populace at large. The old regime had to be restored, else anarchy and confusion would like as not persist and Chaos would doubtless regain its foothold on this contested world. Since the Governor himself had played no part in the Shinarii uprising, his position had to be restored, at least for the time being. Had a member of His Holy Majesty's Inquisition been present, from the shadowy Ordo Hereticus perhaps, things might have gone very differently for the Governor. For them the ends always justified the means, no matter what anarchy might come to pass for those very ends to be achieved.

Governor Sardis cleared his throat noisily, with a loud rasping cough. The sound echoed from the bare plaster walls of the temporary audience chamber, buried deep within the bowels of the recaptured Citadel. He was a grotesquely fat man with a wobbling chin and a bristly grey moustache cascading from his thin top lip. He also favoured the voluminous robes and exotic head-dress worn by the desert nomad traders.

'I must thank you, Iron-Father.’ he said.

'You have Sergeant Dagan and his men to thank,' Gdolkin said grimly. 'But if you had been more exacting in your governorship of this world you would not have needed our help at all. It was your own lack of vigilance that allowed the Shinarii cult to flourish.'

For a taut moment the audience chamber was held in the grip of a tense silence.

Governor Sardis cleared his throat again.

'But your men quelled the rebellion so swiftly,' he persisted. Sardis seemed to think that at this time of turmoil, and with his own position so fragile, his best course of action was to keep praising the Space Marines and so ensure his own safety. He was a weak man indeed, and naive; flattery would get him nowhere with the Iron Hands.

'It was a simple surgical strike. Brother-Sergeant Dagan's kill-team's assault on the Citadel tore out the heart of the cult's strength. Kill the correct cell and the whole body dies.'

Knocking out the centre of the Shinarii's power base on Herod had been like ripping the heart out of a rabid animal, the rest of its body had died along with it; the insurrection had ultimately failed. The Iron Hands' attack had given the rest of the Planetary Defence Force the opening they had needed. In the space of thirty-six hours standard, Imperial forces had been able to take back control of Herod.

'But I don't believe you have,' said a voice as cold as frozen steel. It was accompanied by the sound of cloth dragging on the floor of the chamber. Magos Thule had arrived.

‘What?' Gdolkin snarled.

'You haven't taken out the heart of the heretic cult.’ the tech-priest said icily.