[16] Like most Guard units, the 597th returned to their home world every few decades to replenish their ranks; in the meantime a steady trickle of fresh troopers was provided by the Munitorum recruiting stations back on Valhalla, thanks to the inertia of the Administration and the fact that they were originally formed by the merger of two severely depleted regiments, they were fortunate enough to receive double the usual allocation of fresh soldiers, no one in the upper echelons of the Munitorium having noticed that the 296th and 301st no longer existed. This bureaucratic quirk not only accounts for the regiment remaining at full strength throughout Cain's association with it. but also the fact that the numbers of male and female troopers stayed roughly equal.
[17] Nerves, persistent worries. One of the many Valhallan colloquialisms Cain acquired during his long association with the natives of that world.
[18] Probably a local vegetable known for some reason as a ''squinch'' which remains a popular crop on Adumbria, though more for the fact that it's one of the few edible plants capable of surviving in the perpetual twilight than that it's actually palatable. Medicae records for the district show no fatalities among the anchorites, although several were subsequently treated for minor injuries apparently related to treading on hastily-discarded gardening tools.
[19] Since ambient light levels were completely unchanging wherever you were on the surface, the Adumbrians had adopted a local convention of sleep and work periods which held true for the entire world, thus avoiding the shifting time zones common to most inhabited planets.
[20] Marginal members of most hive societies who live quite literally at the bottom of the social order, salvaging whatever they can from the debris which falls from the higher levels. Cain makes frequent allusions to having been a hiveworlder by birth, and certainly possessed an uncanny affinity for tunnels and similar underground habitats, but firm details about his origins remain a mystery.
[21] Another Adumbrian dialect word, meaning a state of almost total darkness with a barely perceptible glimmer of light still visible. Adumbrian readers would have found the title a witty play on words, the rest of us merely irritating.
[22] Or the agents of the Ordo Malleus, who would surely know the truth of this if anyone does.
[23] The summary of the local political situation was no doubt one of the things he'd neglected to read in his briefing slate.
[24] Having ultimate authority over matters of law enforcement, the Arbites representatives on Adumbria would have access to the relevant records for the entire planet.
[25] Like most Guard officers, Cain had a low opinion of the average Planetary Defence Force.
[26] He seems to completely discount the PDF, which outnumbered the entire expeditionary force by at least four to one, as an effective fighting force. As later events were to show, this does them a considerable disservice.
[27] Not entirely true, as our earlier encounter on Gravalax quite clearly demonstrates.
[28] Zyvan was wise enough to know that there were things he didn't want to know, and to direct his gaze accordingly.
[29] Typically, it doesn't seem to have occurred to Cain that Zyvan was reacting out of the regard he held for him personally.
[30] In actual fact the work was well paid and highly sought after.
[31] A naturally-occuring substance most notable for its ability to bond immovably with almost anything.
[32] A familiar form of address between a senior NCO and the lieutenant commanding them, in the same way that their own subordinates might abbreviate their title to ''surge''. It seems that whatever Cain may have thought of Sulla she at least had the respect and confidence of the troops she led.
[33] In actual fact. Glacier Peak was a fair-sized town, with a population of around thirty thousand. Only about a third of these were directly involved in the mining operation, the rest being made up of storekeepers, tavern owners, and other service sector workers, not to mention the families and dependants of the economically active local citizens. The abrupt arrival of a thousand or so Guard troopers would have had an impact on the community, no doubt, but not the overwhelming one Cain seems to imply. Then again, as the regimental commissar, his perceptions were almost certainly coloured by the inevitable exceptions he would be required to deal with.
[34] Since these are alluded to repeatedly, but never described, in both the Cain archive and Sulla's scribblings this seems as good a place as any to elucidate. Crawlers were locally manufactured vehicles which came in a variety of forms, the main characteristic of which was the wide tracks which enabled them to move reasonably efficiently across snow and ice at a brisk pace and in as much safety as might be expected under the circumstances. Most were about the size of a Chimera, the vast majority with enclosed passenger or cargo bays.
[35] Cain was attached to this Astartes Chapter as the Imperial Guard liaison officer for a while during his previous assignment at brigade headquarters. His activities during this period are described elsewhere in the archive.
[36] Only two, in point of fact: Mott, my savant, who would undoubtedly have deduced it for himself if I hadn't told him, and Rakel, who, being a psyker, had most decidedly
[37] An Imperial Guard slang term for sanctioned psykers, less pejorative than most, but still surprising coming from a man of Zyvan's rank.
[38] Adumbria had no moon, which no doubt made them appear even brighter by contrast.
[39] Kilometres per hour.
[40] Sentinel pilots are recon specialists, used to acting away from the supervision of their superiors to a far greater extent than most Guard troopers. This tends to breed a casual attitude to correct procedure which, on occasion, can spill over into outright insubordination. A wise commander or commissar, which Kasteen and Cain most definitely were, will recognise their value and accordingly cut them a little more slack.
[41] Typically command squads in the Imperial Guard consist of an officer and four troopers, as Cain has already mentioned, instead of the ten soldiers of a line squad.
[42] This, of course, is because they're one of the STC artifacts found pretty much anyivhere there's a need for them.
[43] For a man of the galaxy, as he undoubtedly was, I feel Cain is being a little disingenuous here.
[44] More likely he was masking some concealing sorcerous illusion. No doubt someone from the Ordo Malleus could explain the principles, if anyone cares.
[45] More likely this was due to the psychic shock of being so close to the residues of sorcery.
[46] Like commissars, enginseers, and other specialists altatched to Imperial Guard forces, sanctioned psykers are technically not part of the militar)' command structure. This is probably because no sane officer would be willing to take responsibility for them.
[47] In defence of my psyker I have to say that Cain exaggerates a little. Rakel isn't the easiest of people to get along with, and her conversation, not to mention her thought processes, do take some getting used to, but she's not completely insane. Besides, her medication is generally quite effective. As to the jokaero, whether they're actually sentient enough for the concept of sanity to be in any way meaningfully applied to them is still a subject of much debate in the Ordo Xenos.
[48] Cain's account of the incident forms one of the shorter fragments of the archive, and need not concern us at this juncture.
[49] Or a Radical member of the Ordo Malleus, which pretty much amounts to the same thing.
[50] Unfortunately it's generally impossible to pronounce Exterminatus on a so-called daemon-world, since, being outside time and space in the conventional sense, tried and tested methods such as virus bombing are at best ineffective and at worst counter-productive; the last thing you want to do in such a case is give them ideas.
[51] Shooting my way past a ridiculous number of inordinately persistent hrud, if I've worked out the dates correctly.
[52] His account of the actual incident leads me to suspect that he wasn't quite as taken in as he says here.
[53] Onc
e would have been sufficient.
[54] The catchphrase of Arbitrator Foreboding, a popular holo-character of the lime, who battled criminals, heretics and mutants with relish and a very big gun.
[55] Cain is perhaps being overly cynical here. It's a common human reaction to cling to the familiar in times of uncertainty, and many of the Adumbrians no doubt found slicking to their regular routines a source of reassurance.
[56] From which we can conclude that Cain was now sufficiently past any residual trauma left by his nightmare to be fairly described as his old self again.
[57] Not to mention the rest of the planet. The praetors in every major population centre were tied up with heretic hunting and the suppression of civil disorder, just as they were in Skitterfall.
[58] The PDF troopers wouldn't be equipped with personal comm-beads, like the Guardsmen. Cain was used to fighting alongside (or more likely behind if he could contrive it), but each squad would have included a specialist carrying a portable vox unit.
[59] A common infantry tactic, where half the squad lays down covering fire while the other half advances, then the first group of troopers provides covering fire for the rest to catch up.
[60] Or night jobs, to be a little more accurate.
[61] If Cain is being literal here we can infer that only two men from third squad were actually incapacitated after their Chimera was destroyed; however, it seems more likely from his other remarks that he's simply going for an approximate round number and that they suffered more casualties than this.
[62] Which for Cain was positively effusive, and, I must admit, rather gratifying.
[63] A quotation from Caddaway's ''Paths to Damnation'', a Redemptionist tract of dubious theology and even worse literacy.
[64] Perhaps, or she may simply not have registered the distinction. Members of the Navis Nobilitae seem to regard anyone who isn't another jumped-up little mutant with a warp eye as scarcely more than orks with table manners, and treat them accordingly.
[65] A term used by navigators to describe those without their dubious gift of warpsight. As it's among the least offensive we can infer that Dimarco was making what she no doubt thought of as a considerable effort to be gracious.
[66] Which may seem surprising, given the cavalier attitude Cain usually expresses towards the pious and matters of faith.
However, attendance at certain services would have been part of his commissarial duties, and therefore unavoidable; having his aide accompany him on these occasions would normally be a matter of protocol.
[67] From which we can infer that Agnetha was the chief astropath from Zyvan's flagship, rather than a local civilian.
[68] As most readers have no doubt guessed, this is an early incident in the long and glorious career of Fleet Admiral Bugler. Unlike General Sulla, however, he has yet to produce his own account of it, or anything else for that matter, for which we should probably be thankful.
[69] And a striking testament to the rapport he'd built up with Kasteen and Broklaw. Most Guard officers in a similar position would consider the regimental commissar a nuisance at best and keep him as far removed from most command decisions as possible.
[70] As a former quartermaster sergeant, Sulla would have had considerable expertise in logistical matters, which probably accounts for her skill in the stowage of vehicles which Cain has remarked upon before. How welcome her willingness to share this knowledge with her fellow officers may have been, we can only speculate.
[71] A practice he stuck to whatever the circumstances, even in the most apparently secure locations.
[72] It's extremely unusual for senior officers to be on first name terms with their commissars, another indication of Cain's remarkable rapport with the regiment he was attached to.
[73] From Nordwick's Considerations of the Divine, a chapbook of daily meditations (most of which are as platitudinous as that one).
[74] A species of animal indigenous to the hotside of Adumbria. Its toughened hide is highly prized for certain hardwearing applications, particularly the covering of sofas in waiting rooms.
[75] Three each of the armed merchantmen so casually dispatched by the Falchions in the earlier engagement.
[76] The two Infidel-class vessels mentioned by Kasmides, a Desolator-class battleship and between five and eight transport ships. The records are a little hazy on this point due to the high volume of legitimate merchant shipping in the system at the time.
[77] Three Cobras: the Gallant, Impetuous and Spiteful.
[78] It eventually impacted on the hotside, about a hundred kilometres from the nominal boundary of the shadow zone, gouging a crater a little over three kilometres in diameter, A half-hearted attempt to promote the site as a tourist attraction after the war understandably failed, since few citizens could be bothered to put up with the time and discomfort required to look at what was really nothing more than a big hole in the ground. The caravansari established for their use eventually became a holiday lodge for affluent city dwellers who fancied the idea of a weekend nauga hunt.
[79] Presumably by this time the luminators had been rekindled, as these colours would have been almost indistinguishable under the starlight, or Cain may simply be writing with the benefit of hindsight.
[80] A reference to a scrumball team in the subsector league (who were knocked out in the semifinals that year, incidentally).
[81] A relic of an ambitious, and quite clearly doomed from the start, attempt to establish some kind of agricultural industry in the perpetual sunshine of the hotside in the early years of the third century M41.
[82] And the Ordo Malleus, of course. No wonder so many of them go off the deep end.
[83] After Action Reports: a summary of an engagement, passed up the chain of command for subsequent assessment.
[84] The Spiteful was salvaged the following year and returned to service in 948, eventually meeting its end in a rather more heroic manner: this was the vessel which rammed the battleship Agonising Death at the blockade of Garomar in 999.M41, destroying it completely along with itself, and saving the lives of an estimated eighty thousand Chilians in the refugee fleet it was escorting.
[85] The Impetuous.
[86] Armoured Fighting Vehicles, a generic term used by the Guard to refer to anything from a Salamander to a Baneblade.
[87] A form of battlefield promotion to be confirmed at a later date. Though entitled to wear a captain's insignia and be considered one in the chain of command, Sulla would remain a lieutenant for most administrative purposes until the change in her status was approved by the Munitorum. In theory, if she proved unable to do the job she could thus be returned to her original position and rank without the stigma of a demotion marring her service record.
[88] Technically Legion, as the traitors never underwent the reorganisation which followed the Horus Heresy.
[89] Interestingly, it never seems to have occurred to him to order Jurgen to take the shot anyway, sacrificing the impetuous troopers for the good of the majority, a decision which most commissars would undoubtedly have taken without a qualm.
[90] Slate of Organisation and Equipment, a slightly archaic term still in use by the 597th to refer to their personnel disposition. The so-called ''ghost squads'' could be filled in by fresh recruits when the regiment returned to Valhalla to replenish its numbers, or, should sufficient inductees be found, an entire new company added to the roster. In practice, most commanders would prefer to have the new men dispersed among experienced platoons where the)' could learn from the veterans by example. It's by no means unusual for Imperial Guard companies to consist of fewer platoons, and the platoons of fewer squads, than their theoretical full complement; indeed, it was only the administrative error alluded to earlier which kept the 597th at a relatively steady number of soldiers despite their combat losses.
[91] The imperial Navy also has commissars attached to it, though in lesser numbers than the Guard, linen if he hadn't encountered one of them, the pilot would certainly have
come into conflict with a few of those travelling aboard the Emperor's Benificence with their regiments.
[92] The World Eater leading the assault on Skitterfall appears to have been killed with gratifying thoroughness by an anti-tank squad from one of the Kastaforean regiments. (Two krak missiles and a lascannon not having left an awful lot to identify for sure.)
[93] Or, more likely, had had transmitted from somewhere. The plans of the dredgers would have been readily available to anyone with an appropriate security clearance.
[94] A widely-believed piece of folklore, but quite baseless according to the psykers I've asked.
[95] Each platoon would have their own vox channel assigned, to which their troopers' personal comm-beads would be tuned. Their platoon commander would have access to this and the company channel, through which they would report to Detoi. In larger engagements the company commanders would have access to the regimental tactical net, through which they would report to Kasteen and Broklaw, and this arrangement would be repeated for higher levels of command right up to the lord general's staff. Cain, as a commissar, would have complete access to all the channels, enabling him to get an overall impression of the whole battlefield, albeit a somewhat confusing one on occasion. No doubt his training and years of experience would enable him to pick out any salient information from the rest of the traffic.
[96] Identification, Friend or Foe: a beacon fitted to most military craft which transmits a code identifying it as a member of the Imperial forces. Generally reliable, but occasional malfunctions have led to unfortunate incidents of fratricide; it's not unknown for such devices to fall into the hands of enemies, deviants and heretics, enabling them to masquerade as servants of the Emperor for their own nefarious purposes.
[97] Quite why they would have bothered to do this in perpetual twilight I have no idea; perhaps it was just out of habit.
[98] A question Cain's narrative answers beyond all doubt, but not in any fashion suitable for the good citizens of Adumbria to learn.
[Caiphas Cain 03] The Traitor's hand Page 29