Shand kept his hands behind his back. His face was shaved, angular and hard.

‘They’re coming,’ Commissar Knoll noted as a file of transports turned off the main thoroughfare towards the Cadian camp. It stopped at each checkpoint, and then moved into the camp proper.

Six cargo-8s pulled into the camp and turned towards the centre of the base, where Shand and the others stood. As they came to a halt the back flaps clattered down.

‘Shall we?’ Commissar Shand said as he led them forward.

Shand had read Major Luka’s after-battle reports. The major claimed that these new recruits were the match of any other unit of Cadians. Shand was wary of Luka’s enthusiasm. He had met the major a number of times at official occasions, and the old man seemed to love his students a little too dearly.

Major Luka stumped forward. ‘I confer three hundred and thirty-six Cadian Shock Troopers to your care, chief commissar. I can confirm that they have all seen battle and killed in the Emperor’s Name.’

Shand stiffened. ‘Thank you,’ he said as he returned the salute.

He stood before the recruits. The youth of the Whiteshields struck him first, although whether this was because there had been no new recruits from Cadia for five years, or whether he was just getting old, he could not tell.

The second thing he noticed was that these troopers had the haunted look of those who had just been in a ferocious battle. There were bandaged heads, arms in slings, a couple with crutches and stumps where a foot had been, awaiting the next round of crude military augmentation.

There was something else. He couldn’t put his finger on it.

‘Their eyes!’ Knoll whispered.

That was it! None of them had the distinctive violet eyes that were a token of life under the Eye of Terror. They had not been lifted up to stare into hell, and spit in the Archenemy’s face.

Shand beckoned Commissar Knoll forward. He unfurled the banner in his hand. ‘This is the regimental standard of the 101st,’ Shand declared. ‘It bears the emblem of the Cadian Gate, and the honour names of the great battles that this regiment has fought in the name of the Emperor. Learn those names. Commit them to memory! Let their deaths be an example to you all. Hold yourself to their standards. Try to make your deaths as glorious as theirs!’

As he spoke, Commissar Knoll lifted the banner. The pole was of a hard, dark wood, and at the top was the golden laurelled skull signifying the God-Emperor. He unfurled the banner. Its image was hidden in the darkness, but they could see the glint of golden thread.

This was a sacred object before which, for centuries, all new recruits to the 101st had sworn their allegiance to Cadia and the God-Emperor. But there was a newer addition, hammered just under the skull that topped the pole.