Breve couldn’t stop himself. ‘I know all that. But you tell me where I can get the parts from! Don’t you know there is a war going on up there?’ He waved his hands at the sky, but really he was talking about the galaxy. Or what was left of it.

It was a rhetorical question, but Breve sensed the adept was going to answer. There was a brief pause as the adept brought up secondary data banks. ‘There is always war. However, systemic incoherencies within the Munitorum supply structure increasing exponentially due to the fall of the Cadian Gate and surrounding systems are causing major logistical challenges in Segmentum Solar. Do you want me to list the affected forge worlds?’

‘No!’ Breve said. ‘But that is why this Chimera is suffering so many problems. It’s nothing to do with poor maintenance!’

There was a pause. The adept’s expression was blank. ‘In lieu of suitable replacements, recommend increase frequency and thoroughness of maintenance routines,’ he said at last.

Breve sighed. The Adeptus Mechanicus was full of adepts who were losing the ability to navigate human communication. He started to explain, but the adept interrupted, ‘Action is imminent. Increased frequency and thoroughness of maintenance routines is vital.’

Five

FIVE

Minka shouldered her pack up the flakboard steps of the pre-fab barracks. At the top, Sergeant Barnabas had a clipboard in hand and an irritated look. ‘Lesk,’ he said and checked the paper before him. ‘Fourth squad. At the end. Right-hand side.’

Minka couldn’t stand him. She made no response, turned right and led her squad down the corridor. There were shouts and complaints from each dorm room as troopers bagged the best cots. Everyone was pushing back and forth as they found their rooms and bunked down. Minka shoved through them all. The gap was so narrow her pack scraped along the wall. At the end of the corridor, Sparker’s aide, Kavik, was already sticking notices up on the board.

The first one was the Thought for the Day. This long into service, they all started to sound the same.

‘Every Cadian is a spark in the darkness,’ she read. ‘Wasn’t that yesterday’s?’

‘Was it? I guess there are only so many,’ Kavik said, but the truth was officers like Kavik all worked from the same thumb-eared Book of Daily Thoughts.

‘They’ve made a complaint,’ Kavik called after her.

‘Who?’

‘Those Drookians.’

Minka made a rude gesture. ‘That was Sparker, not me.’

‘Tyson is on the warpath,’ Kavik warned her.

Minka had already turned into her room. It was long and narrow, lined on both sides with bunk-cots. She was sharing with the other women in her squad and a couple of others from the rest of Seventh Company. The bunks by the window were already taken.

‘You take that one,’ Minka told Karni and Lyrga. It was the better one. ‘I’ll take the one by the door.’