It took an hour to get through to and persuade a suitable Imperial Navy officer. ‘They’ve agreed,’ Tyson said at last and Sparker leapt up from his chair and strode to the door. A plume of black smoke showed the location of the remains of Tor Kharybdis. ‘It’s a tough call,’ he said.

Tyson nodded. That’s what the Cadians were for.

The afternoon was wearing on by the time the Valkyries and Vultures were being filled with promethium. Only then did Tyson relay the developments to Colonel Baytov.

‘You think there are survivors left behind?’ the colonel asked.

Tyson maintained his flat demeanour. ‘It is a possibility. Worth investigating.’

‘I agree,’ Baytov said. ‘Well done.’

Tyson took the compliment and then said, ‘It was Signals Offi­cer Kallio.’

‘Good. Congratulate him too!’

Valkyrie A-786 lifted off from Phaeton Airbase X-94 as the light was failing. Captain Uleg was in the pilot’s seat. Jimal was co-piloting. The waist gunners were already swinging their heavy bolters out as the evening klaxons started to ring. The air rippled with the heat of the droning engines. He had an escort of two Vultures that rose into the air from neighbouring pads, their noses swinging round. Uleg saluted the other pilots. Vultures packed a serious punch, bristling with nose-mounted heavy bolters and missile pods underslung from their wing mountings.

Jimal ran through the basic checks as Uleg established vox contact with the Vulture pilots, and then said, ‘Let’s go!’

The three noses dipped low as they accelerated forward, flying low and hard, pilot lights flashing as they roared out towards the sea.

Each crew knew that as soon as they crossed the cliffs and were over water, they would be picked up by the sensor stations on Crannog Mons. And then it would be a desperate scramble to locate the missing Cadians and pick them up before a fighter response or anti-aircraft fire could take them out.

‘We’ll copy the routine cargo-shuttle routes, make this look as ordinary as possible,’ Uleg told them. ‘Then make a dash for it.’

The atmosphere in the lead Valkyrie was tense. Jimal kept a constant check on the augur. That ‘dash’ was only a ten-mile run, but it was ten miles straight into enemy territory. ‘We get out there, see if anyone is alive, and then we get the hell back as quick as possible,’ Uleg voxed.

‘What about the eruption?’

‘Nothing we can do about that.’

‘Five minutes to objective,’ Jimal stated.

Uleg nodded. Life in the Imperial Navy had taught him that if anything could go wrong, it would.

Colonel Sparker didn’t do well when there wasn’t much to do and now he paced up and down his office. The flakboard floor creaked under his feet.

Long ago, in his officer training academy, Sparker had been presented with the relevant sections of the Codex Exercitus.