There had been a Chapter of the Adepta Sororitas on Potence. But those Sisters had worn black and this woman was armoured in silver, her cloak of white fur lined with embroidered red damask.

As the Sister spoke, a band of warriors strode out around her as if they had been summoned. They did not wear armour, but were clothed in rags like penitents begging outside a holy shrine. Yet there was nothing of the mystic or mendicant about them. Some wore belts of chain, some leather. Half wore gags. Many had lost an eye or a hand. Tied to each of their bare limbs were prayer pennants that fluttered as they stalked forward. All were armed with eviscerator chainswords, some almost as tall as the women themselves. They were not looking for charity; they were looking for a means of redemption.

Next, four lifewards stepped out. They wore bronze muscled breastplates and tall velvet shakos pinned with voluminous ­ostrich feathers. Their visors glowed with augmetics and they carried power lances in their hands. The lifewards took up position outside the door, waiting.

Minka heard the voice before she saw their master.

‘Careful!’ said a woman’s voice with an imperious accent.

The old lady that stepped out had been through so many rejuvenat cycles it was hard to pinpoint her age with any degree of accuracy. She could be anywhere between a hundred and eight hundred years old. Despite this, she had a lithe and dangerous look.

This was Lady Bianca Richstar, Gerent of Tokai – a world that had been lost to the forces of heresy. But since the death of her cousin, the Patridzo, on Potence, she was the highest ranking Richstar within the Gallows Cluster. In light of the system’s precarious politics, she had thrown her lot in with the forces of General Bendikt. Her chief strengths were her ancestry and her noble status, and she was well aware of this. For her entrance on Malouri she wore a golden ruff, a bodice of black vitreous glass and skirts of silken lace.

There was a long pause as she cast an imperious eye over the whole of Seventh Company’s Second Platoon, standing below.

Dido strode forward until she was between two of the lifewards, then stopped and saluted. Minka couldn’t hear what Dido said, but the Lady Bianca’s response carried for a distance. ‘Where is General Bendikt?’ Her voice had been augmented.

Dido went on at length. Minka wondered what she was saying. She couldn’t tell from the body language. At last, Gerent Bianca seemed content, though her words carried to them all, ‘I shall present my thoughts to General Bendikt.’

She descended the steps of the lighter, then paused. ‘Of course, there is one far greater than I.’

At that moment, a golden grav-palanquin floated out of the lighter, its occupant screened by ancient curtains of embroidered silk. Censers trailed incense. The praise birds circled over the palanquin.