‘The tau have made an offer of reparations, which His Excellency the governor is minded to accept,’ I said, in my most diplomatic tone.
‘Because His Excellency the governor is a self-obsessed, inbred imbecile, who can’t see the trap for the honey,’ Zyvan added, not diplomatically at all.
‘What sort of reparations?’ Braddick asked, in tones which told me all too clearly that he shared the Lord General’s opinion of the Emperor’s anointed representative on Quadravidia.
‘Assistance with the reconstruction effort,’ I told him. ‘Resources, expertise and civilian advisors to coordinate everything with the Administratum and the Adeptus Mechanicus.’
‘Preaching subversion and heresy the whole time, no doubt,’ Braddick snorted.
‘No doubt,’ I agreed, ‘and I’d keep a particularly close eye on a bunch of human renegades calling themselves “Facilitators” if I were you.’
‘You can count on it,’ he assured me, before turning back to the hololith. ‘What’s the wider strategy?’
‘The only one that makes sense,’ Zyvan said. A world on the Imperial side of the border flared crimson, indicating the presence of an Adeptus Mechanicus holding[41]. ‘Fecundia provides half the arms and ammunition in the sector[42].’
‘If we lose it, we’re frakked,’ I agreed, contemplating the display. ‘And it’s the nearest Imperial world to the tyranids’ line of advance.’
‘Assuming the tau have extrapolated their course correctly,’ Zyvan said, a note of caution entering his voice. Neither of us could see what the xenos would have to gain by feeding us false information, but that didn’t mean they weren’t being selective about what they passed on. Throne knew, I would be if I were in their shoes. He manipulated the controls, kicked the lectern, and the line of the hive fleet’s projected course extended.
I nodded, in grim satisfaction, as it almost clipped one of the tau worlds highlighted in green. ‘If they bypass Fecundia, then the tau will be next on the menu,’ I said. ‘Meaning we can fall back to the Sabine Cluster while they bear the brunt of the onslaught. That should give us more than enough time to dig in, in case any splinter fleets or stragglers drift coreward across the border.’
‘Why not do that straight away?’ Braddick asked, no doubt noticing that we’d be far closer to Quadravidia if we did. ‘Let the Mechanicus defend the forge world themselves.’
‘If they had anything there capable of it, we would,’ Zyvan said. ‘But they’d be overwhelmed in a matter of days by a fleet that size.’
‘These are their assets,’ I said, bringing up a fresh data display. ‘One company of skitarii and that’s about it. No Titans, no militia. Why would they waste resources on their own defence when they know the Guard need them so much they’ll step in at the first sign of a threat?’
‘How very efficient of them,’ Braddick said sourly.
‘Indeed,’ I said. In truth, I felt a certain sneaking regard for the cogboys, who’d been astute enough to realise that the steady stream of Imperial Guard units putting in to resupply there already gave them all the protection they needed; at least under normal circumstances. Unfortunately, these were anything but.
‘We can’t take the risk of leaving them to fend for themselves,’ Zyvan said firmly, and that was that; just one sentence, and we were committed.
All in all, I supposed, it could have been worse; at least no one was suggesting we went charging off to engage the hive fleet head on. With any luck it would bypass the forge world entirely, leaving the tau to blunt their advance while we sat on the sidelines, poised to render them all possible assistance short of actually doing anything, leaving us ready to mop up the survivors of both sides; we might even be able to annex a couple of their worlds for a change into the bargain (which would serve them right for trying to grab Quadravidia, if you asked me).
That was the theory, anyway, but of course it didn’t work out like that.
Despite my forebodings, the tau completed their withdrawal on schedule, leaving only a handful of so-called merchantmen orbiting the war-ravaged world. El’hassai, of course, insisted that they were only there to deliver humanitarian cargoes to help with the relief effort, and that their formidable armaments had been deactivated. For all I knew, he was right; the locals could certainly do with all the relief they could get. Of course, it was going to come with a heavy price tag if I was any judge; but nobody asked me, least of all the governor. On the mercifully few occasions