by Guy Haley
‘Look at this lot, scheming away,’ said Jonas quietly.
‘That’s the way of command in such a large, mixed army, I suppose,’ said Bannick. ‘Our regiments have to fight for their corner. I thought I’d be getting away from all this, from Paragon’s intrigue, but it looks like Paragon has followed me.’
‘I had heard you had got maudlin and self-obsessed, but you’re quite something. Very stiff, aren’t you?’ said Jonas.
‘What do you mean by that?’
‘It’s all about you, is what I mean. Look again, what do you think they are talking about? It’s not whether Verkerigen can become the next grade of general.’
Bannick dipped in and out of the talk.
‘They’re discussing settlement rights, don’t you see?’ said Jonas. ‘All these men are high nobility back home, higher than me and you. They want to rule – these people always do. Half of them have enough years under their belts to take the Emperor’s gift. Who do you think is going to run this place once the incumbent ruling class have been purged? That stuff “uncle” was saying in there was half the truth. The other half will be “if we bomb this planet to pieces, we won’t be able to take it over for our personal benefit”. Mark my words, he’s wondering how grand “Planetary Governor Bannick” would sound.’ He looked around the room distastefully. ‘I’ve been on the sharp end of clan politics. I can smell it on the air. “Human cost” indeed. Monetary cost, is what he meant. The more reasonable someone with a fine rationale sounds for lining their own pockets, the more you have to be cautious. Welcome, dear cousin, to New Paragon.’
‘I... I hadn’t thought...’
‘You know, you’ve got a reputation for that too.’ He thumped Bannick on the back. ‘Come on, Colaron, I need some air. Do you smoke?’
‘No.’
‘I do. I know you drink.’ He pulled a bottle partway out of his sash. ‘I pocketed this from the bar. Gleece, a good one too, not this Geratomran promethium water. Care to share?’
‘All right then,’ said Bannick.
Jonas thrust it back into his sash. ‘Good man.’
They went out of doors onto a wide patio where a number of people now congregated. Most were lower-rankers like themselves, uninterested or too unimportant to be involved in clan politics. They were, however, very interested in the local women, and as they vied for their attention they dispelled the uneasy quiet of the earlier evening.
‘How easily they accept their new lords,’ muttered Jonas. ‘Come on, this will do.’ He pointed out a bench at the top of a sloped lawn away from the building. He dropped into it and groaned. ‘These boots kill my feet.’
Bannick sat next to him. Jonas took a drink then passed him the flask and lit a cheroot. Bannick swigged. The gleece was rougher than his uncle’s, but still welcome after months of inferior spirit.
‘You like that? Tastes like home, eh? I’d have thought we’d have run out of it. There must be a whole fleet tender dedicated to the stuff. I’d like to know which one.’
‘Someone must be distilling it,’ said Bannick.
‘From what though?’ said Jonas. ‘Where are they going to get the glest? I’ve not seen any glest trees on board my ship, don’t know about yours.’
‘Treeless,’ said Bannick.
Jonas sat forwards. ‘You know a woman runs this world. What do you think of that? Reminds me of Kaithalar. She got married, you know – to Gedling Lo Basteen of the Engine Clans. She’s become a very rich lady.’
A sharp twinge twisted in Bannick’s guts. Was she happy? His cheeks coloured for the shame he had brought to her. He had accepted betrothal to her and then he had rejected her and her clan.
‘What other news do you have from home?’ said Bannick, keen to change the subject.
‘Nothing new, not heard anything at all since I left.’
‘Your news is a year fresher than mine.’
‘Well,’ said Jonas, considering, ‘let me see. A few months before I went, Lord Commander Materiak was finally forced to disown his brother. He was found guilty of fraud by the Unified Clan Council. He didn’t dare veto another judgement.’
‘About time,’ said Bannick.
‘I think that his brother was caught in bed with the head of the Clan Council’s daughter, already promised to someone else, mind you, helped cinch that. Materiak exiled him before he could be lynched.’
They talked a little while, Jonas filling Bannick in on the affairs of their families. Bannick enjoyed it at first, but as Jonas went on, a painful numbness enveloped his heart. He had put his cousins and siblings out of his mind. Hearing of the struggle his father had in finding a successor was particularly hard. He’d lost his first heir to accident, and his second to self-destructiveness then the Astra Militarum. Shame Bannick had largely managed to lock away crept out from its prison anew.
The approach of a member of the Adeptus Arbites attached to Paragonian command stopped their conversation. Bannick was almost glad to see him, though arbitrators of any kind were only ever the bearers of bad news.
‘What does he want?’ said Jonas quietly.
The arbitrator came to stand in front of them. ‘Lieutenant Bannick?’ he said.
‘Yes?’ both men replied.
‘Honoured Lieutenant Colaron Lo Bannick, that’s who I’m looking for.’
‘What is it?’ said Bannick.
‘You’re to come with me.’
‘Why?’ said Jonas.
‘There’s been an altercation involving the honoured lieutenant’s men.’
‘No rest for the wicked,’ said Jonas. ‘See you around.’
Bannick stood and saluted his cousin. ‘There’s no rest for anyone.’
Chapter Ten
Justice
LANDING FIELDS, MATUA SUPERIOR
GERATOMRO
083398.M41
The Adeptus Arbites precinct fortress had been destroyed the moment Missrine Huratal had made her stand against the tithe, and so the arbitrator took Bannick by groundcar to a commandeered building that had once belonged to a free captain. Situated on the edge of the spaceport, it was heavily fortified to guard expensive off-world cargoes against theft. The Free Captain was away on a voyage, the arbitrator said, or he would have been dead along with everyone else who’d had off-world connections.
The arbitrator led Bannick through an armoured door into a vast, reconfigurable warehouse space. On one side of it the stalls had been raised to form makeshift cells. Nearly all of them were full of soldiers.
‘Why aren’t they in the regimental gaol? Why not let the regimental peacekeepers take care of this?’ said Bannick.
‘Civil justice must be seen to take precedence,’ said the arbitrator. The new army badge issued to all the forces on Geratomro – a blue star on a white lozenge – gleamed on his shoulder. ‘A return to normality is desired.’
‘This is normal?’
‘Most of the Adeptus Arbites were killed in defence of the planetary precinct house, but a lot of the local arbitrators managed to go into hiding. We’ve nearly a fully functioning justice force here. Missrine targeted them for liquidation also, which makes our job of deciding who is loyal and who is not easier. They all hate her.’
‘You’ll be moving on with the fleet then?’
‘Maybe, maybe not. I go where the Emperor’s justice demands, and at this moment that is here.’
He took Bannick to a cell. It was crammed with men, including his own. He looked in dismay at their wounds.
‘What by Terra happened to you?’
‘I’ve had worse,’ said Meggen, flexing the hand of his injured arm.
They looked shamefaced as the arbitrator read out their charges from a pad.
‘Disorderly on leave,’ he said, ‘destruction of civilian property, brawling. Injury of fellow soldiers of the Emperor. Right. They
’re all yours.’
‘They’ll not face civil charges? You said a return to normality.’
‘In appearance only. The law courts are not functioning. And whose law would we use? Military, Paragonian, Geratomran and standard Imperial are all applicable. We’ve processed them, that’s enough to keep up appearances. Please get them out of my gaol.’
‘So now military law takes over?’
‘Yes. If it sounds like a waste of time, it is. But orders, you understand those, yes? We’ll let the military arbitrators catch the few others that have escaped the net. Military law, as defined under cross-planetary force statutes, is to be applied, which I suppose means you do whatever you do on your planet when men get into brawls. Their officers will punish them, not the civil authorities,’ he said meaningfully. ‘That means you. I’ll need your mark here, here and here.’ He handed Bannick a stylus, and he imprinted the flimsies presented to him with smudgy carbon black. The arbitrator peeled a carbon copy flimsy off his pad and pushed it into Bannick’s chest. ‘That’s that. I’ll leave this with you. I’ll fetch the gaoler.’
The arbitrator left.
The men crowded towards the bars, pushing the other prisoners in the cell out of the way.
‘What happened?’ said Bannick.
‘Throne-cursed Atraxians tried to take Gollph. They wanted to string him up,’ said Meggen.
‘Why?’
‘They lost some buddies because the Bosovar supporting them broke and ran,’ said Ganlick. ‘So they say, anyway. Some of the men in here say it’s true.’
‘Did you start it?’ said Bannick.
‘Definitely not,’ said Epperaliant. The left side of his face was bruised purple and black, and his jaw was swollen closed. ‘They did.’
Bannick tightened his grip on his sword hilt. ‘Have you had someone look at that face?’
‘No, they brought us straight here. To tell you the truth, sir, I don’t feel so great.’
‘And your arm?’ said Bannick to Meggen.
‘Atraxian pulled his bayonet on me.’
‘They were arrested also?’
‘Damn right they were, most anyways. The one with the knife got away. He was drunk, but not so drunk he forgot they’d hang for that. Especially seeing as Leonates here reminded him of it,’ said Meggen. ‘Listen, it wasn’t us that started it, but you’re going to have to do something. You heard the adept.’
‘I’ll not have you punished for something you didn’t begin,’ said Bannick.
‘We gave as good as we got. A couple of theirs are nursing broken bones. One got a cracked skull. I tell you, Gollph is a combat monster. We’ll be charged. You know we will. We’ve decided we’ll plead. I’ll invoke the right of one. I’ll take the stripes.’
‘That we didn’t agree, Meggen! We’re all in it together. We’ll get five or ten lashes each – you take them all yourself, it’ll be too much,’ said Epperaliant.
‘I’ll do it. I can handle a flogging. No sense all of us getting punished.’ He shrugged.
‘Don’t be ridiculous, Meggen, you’re in no fit state.’
‘Better than us all getting flogged,’ said Meggen.
‘It’s my decision, Meggen,’ said Bannick.
‘I know Col, but think on it. And sorry and all for speaking out of turn, but you have us all beaten, it’s not going to go down well with the rest of the Paragonians. The Atraxians are going to need an example.’
‘What you mean, you take it, Meggen?’ said Gollph.
‘On Paragon, in a joint enterprise like this, one can suffer the punishment on behalf of all,’ said Epperaliant.
‘Then I will take it,’ said Gollph pushing his way to the front.
‘You’re not Paragonian,’ said Meggen.
‘I am in Paragonian regiment now. These rules, they apply to me, yes?’
Bannick nodded.
‘Then I take pain for all. These men, my friends. They stopped me from death. If they not there, I would be gone to the Sky Emperor now. It is not good that they should suffer for me.’
‘I don’t know, Gollph...’ said Bannick.
‘Listen!’ said the little man. ‘I not Paragonian, not Atraxian. I Bosovar. The men of Paragon will not be caring about me, the men of Atraxia will be satis... satis...’
‘Satisfied, Gollph,’ said Meggen, resting his head against the bars wearily.
‘Satisfied. This means happy, yes?’
‘It’ll hurt, man. You’re the smallest of us,’ said Meggen.
Gollph stood tall. ‘To become a warrior of my people, I am bitten thirty-four time by spider-rat. It makes a poison that causes great pain for three days and terrible visions.’ He looked at Bannick. ‘So what if man hit me with stick?’
They all looked at one another.
‘He’s speaking a lot of sense,’ said Epperaliant.
‘It’s not you going to get beaten, sir,’ said Vaskigen.
‘I know it’s not!’ said Epperaliant. Bannick had never seen him so dejected. ‘But it still makes sense.’
Gollph looked at Bannick determinedly.
‘So be it,’ said Bannick. The gaoler arrived and opened the door. ‘But I don’t want this to ever happen again, do you hear?’
A vast camp of tents bounded by prefabricated walls had been set up on one of the landing fields. The crew of Cortein’s Honour stood at the edge of its castra principia under dawn skies the colour of lemons. In silence, Gollph was led to a frame at the centre of the courtyard and tied up by his wrists. A peacekeeper with a whip waited five yards behind Gollph. The Atraxian brawlers waited, pale-faced, for their turns at the frame.
Representatives of several regiments lined the edge of the square, present to witness justice being carried out. Sound from elsewhere in the camp carried easily on the wind, but the principia was silent, the fabric of the tents around it rippling audibly. Bannick was reminded of the scene in the city the day before yesterday, when the governors of Matua Superior were burned alive. There was a certain cruel predictability to Imperial justice, no matter the gloss put on it by local custom.
Colonel Sholana of the 42nd acted as magistrate. He faced the east, awaiting the sun. As soon as a sliver of its disc rose over the wall, he unrolled a parchment heavy with seals and broke the silence with a clear voice.
‘Second Loader Gollph Bosovar of the Seventh Paragonian Super-Heavy Tank Company will allow himself to suffer thirty-five lashes for his own crimes and those of his comrades in inciting violence. May his pain earn the forgiveness of the Emperor for them all. Begin.’
It was a ridiculous charge. Bannick did not doubt the truthfulness of his men. But the Atraxians had told a different story to that of his crew, and witness accounts were predictably split along national lines. The Paragonians supported the tank crew, the Atraxians their infantry.
‘What a basdacking mess,’ he breathed.
Two men came forwards, gave Gollph a drink from a canteen and set a wooden bit between his teeth.
Sholana nodded. The peacekeeper let his coiled whip drop.
‘One,’ he called out, sending the lash hissing through the air. With a deceptively light smack it kissed the bared flesh of Gollph’s back. When it flicked back, a fine line of blood sprayed off onto the sand. A tightening around Gollph’s eyes was the sole display of discomfort.
‘Two,’ said the peacekeeper. The whip sang again. Gollph stared forwards and spat out the bit.
The men of Cortein’s Honour stood to attention, watching the punishment solemnly. A movement to Bannick’s side had him glance over. Karlok Shoam appeared next to him.
‘Where by the Throne have you been, Shoam?’
Shoam shrugged. His kit was unkempt, hung with non-regulation additions, and his face was seamed with oil. Unlike all the others, he had not taken advantage of the lull in fighting to get
clean. ‘I been around, bossman. Doing my own thing. Gotta do right by my crew buddies.’ A sickly, sweet smell came off him that Bannick had come to recognise as the odour of nitrochem addiction.
Bannick looked over the punishment ground at the Atraxian infantrymen. Their crime had been deemed the greater, and they were facing ten lashes apiece. Their ringleader had escaped justice, so far.
‘The Atraxian. Lieutenant Prazexes. Shame he not here to suffer with little Gollph,’ said Shoam. He spoke very quietly, barely moving his lips.
‘You know the one who started the fight?’ said Bannick, staring ahead. ‘You weren’t there.’
‘Man can find anything out if he wants to bad enough. It weren’t hard.’
‘Shoam, do you know where Prazexes is?’
Shoam looked sidelong at Bannick with bloodshot eyes. ‘Why would I know that?’
‘They looked for him all day. They couldn’t find him,’ said Bannick.
‘They never will, man like that, knows he’s got the death penalty over him,’ said Shoam. ‘A pity. When he mess with my crew, he messes with me. I could do things to him that make him wish he never born. Superior, those Atraxians. They say they all the same, and that make them think they better than everyone else. Irony, I say. Is no one better when they in the mud and blood than a Savlar born.’
‘What did you do to him?’
‘Why you ask that? You accuse me, sir? Murder serious crime. Carries death penalty, don’t it?’
‘They’d have to catch the murderer,’ said Bannick.
‘They would. They never gonna. This place warzone.’
‘You could find him,’ said Bannick.
‘Maybe. Like I say, man can find out anything he want, if he wants bad enough.’
‘Did you kill him?’
Shoam stared off at Gollph.