I re-engaged with Mizar, currently transfixed by the flight of insects, perhaps attracted by their iridescent shells. Through it, I reviewed the footage, though I was unable to play back any sound. I knew Shard had told me we sought targets of opportunity, and there was a soundness in this tactic in a conventional war, where potential targets included cities and supply lines. But how did it make sense in a featureless swamp?

Unless they knew there was something out there…

It was difficult to catalogue our flight path from the images Mizar had captured, but it seemed after take-off we had flown true, at least until we were deep within the swamp. Just before we discovered the ork base.

Before I discovered it.

It had not occurred to me until then, but Mizar’s archaic sensors had been the only means of identifying the anomalous energies employed by the orks. The same had been true in the swamp, during my first mission with Shard and the Scions.

Wing Commander Prospherous had said my vision was vital for the mission’s success. Arrogantly, I had assumed he was talking about my picts.

There was no hero’s welcome. The runway was clear when Shard brought us down, a handful of ground crew swarming Hephaestus as it slowed, assessing damage and holes needing to be patched. I saw her detach the pressure helm, her shoulders slumped. But as the cockpit lifted she straightened, nimbly vaulting clear of the craft, as though embarking on a morning’s calisthenics.

‘Are the others behind you?’ the lead mechanical asked as I emerged.

She glanced over her shoulder, that sneer marring her face.

‘Oh yes,’ she said. ‘Several miles behind. It’s hard to give exact coordinates when the wreckage is scattered so widely. Good news for you, though, only one aircraft to patch up.’

She patted the man on the shoulder, her gaze falling on the Valkyries being taxied into the far hangar.

‘How was everyone else’s hunting?’ she asked. ‘I’d hate to think someone bested my tally.’

‘We lost two squadrons over the western front. Squad of orks emerged from nowhere.’

‘Sloppy but not unexpected,’ she said, before rounding to face me. ‘And how is our favourite propagandist? Was that the sort of battle you were hoping for?’

‘I hope to never witness something like that again.’

‘Then you’re not as stupid as you look,’ she replied, before frowning and scrutinising my face. ‘Then again, maybe you are, it amounts to splitting hairs. Which I can do, incidentally, assuming the lascannon is properly calibrated.’

‘It was fortunate we stumbled across that ork nest. Or unfortunate, depending on how you look at it.’

‘Quite.’

‘And how lucky that Mizar was able to detect it.’

‘Was that what happened?’ she said. ‘I don’t really recall. I was too busy saving our lives. Isn’t that right, my loyal crew?’