Layak hesitated and then clasped Abaddon’s hand and pulled himself to his feet. Blood fell from the sorcerer as he straightened, but shadows were already pooling in the breaks in his armour and pulling flesh and ceramite back together. Abaddon turned from him and strode towards where Matriarch Heliosa-78 was frantically locking vials of red liquid into the column of tubes and machinery in front of her. The gunfire began to fade from the chamber as the last of the guards crumpled to bloody debris. Abaddon’s steps were unhurried as he approached the Selenar. Casually, he reached up and released his helm. His brothers did not move; they could read the balance of the moment and follow his lead without a direct command.

‘Matriarch Heliosa,’ he called, and his voice rang clear. He saw her half turn as she slotted another vial of the red liquid she had been concocting into the mass of tubes. ‘You hold death in your hand, matriarch, but not mine.’ Another vial slotted in place. Her hands were moving over fine silver levers, releasing, priming. ‘I have no doubt that what you are about to do will destroy the value of this place to us. That is the gene font that links to all the gene-looms, stores and seed reservoirs in this complex. What is it you are going to unleash into it – a gene-scrambling toxin, a viral pollutant that will touch everything within your domain with imperfection?’

Heliosa did not stop in her movements.

‘You should have destroyed this place already, matriarch,’ he said, still advancing slowly. ‘You must have known we would return, that we would want the cradle of our creation back. If you wanted to stop that you should have purged every mystery and person here.’

He was within five strides of her now, close enough to see that her limbs were shaking. He stopped.

‘But you have not done that. We knew you wouldn’t. We know you. After all, in a sense, are we not your sons?’

Her hands had stopped moving on the crystal tubes and vials.

‘I am not here to kill you, matriarch. I am here to make you an offer. You could never let go of the hope of survival. This fane should be a ruin, but part of you can’t do that – you cling on, hoping that a moment like this will come to save you. That is why you bent the knee to the false Emperor, why you sold your purity and made us for Him. So now I make you another offer, matriarch, the same bargain that you made with our creator – live and serve, or die and see all you believe and love become ashes.’

Heliosa looked at him, blank eyes in a silver helm.

Then, she bowed her head.

‘The Selenar will serve,’ she said. ‘What is the will of the Warmaster?’