The Emperor's Finest

1

Which indicates that this portion of his memoirs was composed some time before he got round to recounting the Interitus Prime incident: a typical example of his cavalier approach to chronology.

2

In his account of his escape from the necron tomb world Cain refers to the vessel as a battle-barge, which is hardly likely, given that these huge craft are only employed where a significant proportion of an Astartes Chapter's assets need to be transported between war zones. It's quite possible, however, that, given their rarity, he simply believed it to be a generic term for any Space Marine vessel.

3

He is, of course, joking here - or so I sincerely hope.

4

There have indeed been reports of necron warriors apparently surviving on worlds which have been subject to decrees of Exterminatus. Although, given their apparent mastery of the warp, it's equally possible that the ''survivors'' merely arrived through an undetected portal deep below the surface after the firestorms abated.

5

The local name for law enforcers.

6

A typically vague statement: there seem to have been around forty or fifty in total, far fewer than a full-strength company, but still more than sufficient to deal with the kind of civil insurrection sweeping the Viridia System.

7

Presumably because ''captain'' is a Space Marine rank, and to confer it on a serf, even in a different context, might lead to confusion.

8

A generic term for all light warships incapable of warp travel.

9

As he does so often in the course of his memoirs, Cain is clearly compressing events here for dramatic effect; even at maximum acceleration, the Thunderhawk would have taken several hours, or possibly longer, to reach Viridia from the Revenant's closest viable point of re-entry to the materium.

10

Clearly an exaggeration, as the Thunderhawk would have been past far too quickly, and at too great an altitude, to be able to make out facial expressions on the ground.

11

The Imperial Guard term for their equivalent of a Space Marine combat squad.

12

Though Cain doesn't say so explicitly, no doubt expecting his readers to be sufficiently au fait with matters military to recognise it, this is almost certainly some form of urban camouflage pattern suited to operations in Fidelis.

13

Quite understandably, as most of Cain's colleagues would at least have had the man arrested, pending an investigation, and many would simply have shot him on the spot without even the formality of an enquiry.

14

Apparently in an underhive, although on which world remains a mystery.

15

Which means he must have drawn his laspistol, although he doesn't bother to mention the fact.

16

Non-commissioned officers.

17

The artillery unit he was assigned to at the outset of his career.

18

Conventional practice would be for Terminators to be deployed in dedicated squads, equipped with either ranged or close-combat weaponry. It's unclear from what Cain says here whether this is in fact the case, and two full squads were sent in, or whether the Reclaimers had combined elements of both in a single unit, as they also appear to do later in his account. If the latter, this would be extremely unusual.

19

Which of his own weapons he stowed to do this we can only speculate.

20

Many of the hybrids probably had the ability to do this as well, but by now the brood mind had evidently concluded that Cain would be less easy meat than the PDF troopers, and deployed the most formidable of its assets accordingly.

21

I suspect a little exaggeration may be creeping in here, as close combat against a creature as formidable as a purestrain genestealer is hardly likely to leave enough time for defiant speeches.

1 Imperial Guard regulations are firm on this point, prescribing execution as the penalty for losing a weapon, unless it was an unavoidable consequence of action in the field. Which probably accounts for most Guard troopers' tendency to carry theirs everywhere when on duty, even to the latrines.

22

Cain might well have encountered purestrains on Keffia, although the short account of his activities there only mentions hybrids. He may also have seen them in one of the sporadic cleansing actions against the tyranid splinter fleets in which he was involved prior to this juncture.

23

A form of tyranid carnifex, so named for the sound it makes while spitting a ball of bio-plasma.

24

Clearly the result of air being ionised by the discharge of a turbo laser.

25

Since they would probably have teleported back to the Revenant at the conclusion of their mission, this wouldn't have concerned them overmuch.

26

Those of us who have had much to do with the Astartes, and found them rather more concerned with the traditions of their Chapters than effective cooperation, may find these sentiments ringing a little hollow...

27

Like many seasoned travellers, Cain uses the term to refer to law enforcers in general, rather than actual members of the Adeptus Arbites. As previously mentioned, they were known as ''Guardians'' on Viridia.

28

The irony of this statement seems to have eluded Cain entirely, though not, I suspect, most of my readers.

29

Probably to make sure he wasn't pushed out of the loop entirely.

30

A Valhallan beverage, which Cain developed a taste for shortly after his first posting to a regiment from that world. Why, I have no idea.

31

He was, of course, one of the first Viridians to be screened and declared free of the xenos taint. Otherwise he'd hardly still have been breathing, let alone given access to one of the most secure facilities on the planet.

32

Not strictly true, as she was the youngest of three siblings, but she was the only one present in Fidelis at the time.

33

Or, to give it its official title, The Emergency Martial Law Regulations and Provisions for the Safeguarding of Civilian Populations in Areas Under the Protection of His Divine Majesty's Imperial Guard and Allied Forces (CCXXXVIth revised edition, 759.M40).

34

The vast majority, certainly. Most, if not all, have their own traditions and secrets, sometimes to a degree which would seem positively heretical in less devoted servants of the Emperor.

35

From which we can infer that they'd either removed their helmets, and Cain had seen them on some other occasion, or he recognised the personal heraldry on their armour; probably the latter.

36

Not, I suspect, an analogy the Techmarine would have appreciated.

37

It's actually not that surprising, as the genestealer cult would have been few in number - to start with, and no doubt concentrated on expanding its influence planetside, where most of the institutions it wished to subvert were based. Most of the active rebels in the offworld habs would have been simple dupes of the brood mind, rather than members of it.

38

The belt of cometary debris which marks the nominal boundary of a stellar system.

39

Traditionally, space hulks are given their names by the Inquisition conclave responsible for the sector in which they first appear, and, as Cain points out, they do tend towards the melodramatic.

40

Which seems to indicate that Cain was never made aware of the existence of Mira's siblings, something most people would have thought to mention at some point under the circumstances: a small, but telling, confirmation of her self-absorption.

41

Most Viridian histories of the war credit him with pulling the shattered remnants of the PDF back into a credible fighting force almost single-handed, and playing a decisive part in finally ridding the planet of the genestealer taint, but we obviously have to allow for a fair amount of bias and local chauvinism in these accounts. The Imperial Guard records simply state that he was an effective mediator between them and the PDF, which might charitably be interpreted as grudging approval.

42

Probably not, in fact, given the average Viridian's tenacious faith in the Golden Throne, although 1 suppose there were the inevitable exceptions.

43

In fact they were probably more interested in searching for building materials than items of value.

44

As so often, Cain's habitual cynicism where members of the Ecclesiarchy are concerned may have led him to miss the point. Given the devout nature of so many Viridians, it's entirely possible that the labourers he saw were repairing the temple for spiritual rather than pragmatic reasons.

45

Intended to reduce the sound of the vertical thrusters, which would always be loudest at takeoff and landing, and contain the worst of an explosion in the event of an accident.

46

A faintly derisive nickname for acolytes of the Machine-God, common among Imperial Guardsmen, apparently derived from the cogwheel symbol of their calling.

47

From Soylens Viridians for the Machine-Spirit, a populist work intended to make some of the principles by which the Adeptus Mechanicus operates comprehensible to the vast majority of us with little understanding or interest in technotheology: a no doubt laudable aim, which it signally fails to achieve, being too abstruse for the lay reader, and too simplistic for even the lowliest tech-priest. Its author, unsurprisingly, was Magos Yaffel, one of the handful of people actually to have read it.

48

It was also possible, of course, that Cain's suspicions about her true age were correct, and that this wasn't the first occasion on which she'd boarded a starship.

49

I must say I find that all too plausible: Cain possessed considerable personal charm and was perfectly willing to use it to get whatever he wanted from people. A particular kind of woman would be extremely susceptible to that, especially if she wasn't overly bright to begin with.

50

Which probably indicates that this portion of his memoirs was compiled before the tyranid incursions and the Black Crusade were to drag him back to reluctant active service in the closing years of the 41st millennium.

51

Astartes do, of course, eat, although most of them seem to regard doing so merely as providing fuel for their enhanced metabolisms, taking little more pleasure in the act than members of the Adeptus Mechanicus do. The real reason for the Reclaimers' reluctance to invite their guests to join them was probably that such gatherings are generally regarded as providing spiritual as well as physical sustenance, being accompanied by prayers to the Emperor and the Chapter's primarch, and readings from their own martial litanies. Doing so in the presence of outsiders, and thereby revealing some of their Chapter's most sacred mysteries to non-initiates, would, of course, be anathema to them.

52

Which would have, and did, take years.

53

Probably static cling. I used to have a dress like that, but it was never quite the same after a firefight with some hrud; and concealing a weapon while wearing it was always extremely uncomfortable, so I never bothered to find a replacement.

54

Not without reason: almost a decade was to pass before the Ordo Xenos felt able to declare Viridia free of taint with any degree of certainty, and the local authorities remain vigilant for any sign of a renewed outbreak to this day.

55

A peculiar form of recreation, practised in some form on many worlds, in which people attempt to balance on a plank being swept along by waves or water currents for as long as possible without falling off. Since they inevitably do, the appeal of the pastime escapes me.

56

Though Cain is clearly exaggerating a little here, he's quite right in the essence of his assertion: if there's an Astartes Chapter which doesn't regard its training areas as hallowed ground I've yet to hear of it, and granting access to an outsider is an honour seldom conferred.

1 In fact he was a great deal better than that, being one of the finest swordsmen I've ever encountered, which in my line of work is quite something.

57

In fact he was a great deal better than that, being one of the finest swordsmen I've ever encountered, which in my line of work is quite something.

58

If anything, Techmarines tend to be regarded as somewhat eccentric at best by most Chapters, which affords them a fair amount of latitude in their behaviour. In fact, judging by Cain's account, Drumon seems to be more accepted as an equal by his battle-brothers than would normally be the case, perhaps because of the Reclaimers' unusually strong ties to the Adeptus Mechanicus.

59

Hardly surprising, since they were probably aspirants to membership of the Reclaimers who'd narrowly failed the rigorous selection process.

60

Clearly more than the two Cain mentions seeing in the hangar bay earlier in his narrative; perhaps they were docked elsewhere, or simply engaged on other duties on the occasions he embarked and disembarked.

61

Damage Control Team, a term also in use by the Imperial Navy.

62

Damage Control Team, a term also in use by the Imperial Navy.

63

But probably not in quite those terms.

64

Something of an exaggeration: orks are considerably more robust than humans, but not quite to that extent.

65

Cain is speaking with some authority here, as he had considerable experience of captured ork weaponry on Perlia.

66

Hardly surprising, as they were being contested by a Space Marine captain and his command squad, as well as the armed crewmen Cain had previously noted.

67

One of the greenskins' principal deities, a piece of xenological trivia he'd presumably picked up during his hectic sojourn on Perlia a few years before.

68

Or, more likely, dragged into the warp in the wake of the Revenant, to be preyed upon by whatever daemons happened to be around at the time.

69

An orkish word for firearms in general. They have nothing more specific in their vocabulary, and, like many nouns referring to pieces of wargear, it appears to be a corrupted Gothic loan word.

70

Given that the main cause of perturbation in a hand holding a pistol on aim is the heartbeat, which affects the entire body, Cain's apparently unshakable conviction that his augmetic fingers increased his accuracy with such weapons may have been psychological rather than physiological in origin.

71

Which probably accounted for at least some of the gunfire Cain noted earlier, orks having a fairly basic way of resolving most arguments.

72

It's unclear here whether Cain is being literal, or merely making a flippant reference to Mira's use of her hunting expertise. Many Space Marine Chapters do indeed display the bodies of their defeated enemies, but given their profusion tend to be rather more selective about it.

73

A traditional artisan's benediction while assessing a repair job; its origin now lost, although some scholars speculate that it's a symbolic communion with their materials, infusing themselves with their essence before commencing work. At any event, the tradition persists throughout the Imperium.

74

Orks unusually skilled at infiltration and sabotage.

75

According to the log of the Revenant he was fending off an attacking ork with his mechadendrites and a convenient chair at the moment the vessel entered the warp.

76

Or remarkably good judgement, given the progress of Cain's subsequent career.

77

As is Cain's at this point. It seems quite astonishing that he should miss what Mira was so clearly driving at. In his defence, however, it must be pointed out that his experience of women prior to this particular liaison had been rather more broad than deep, so to speak, and that he'd had very little contact with the nobility of the lmperium, so lacked a context for her dynastic ambitions.

78

The exact ratio of male to female Navigators contracted out by the Navis Nobilite is a matter known only to them, although both sexes seem equally able practitioners of their arcane craft, and we can infer that only the most skilful would be accorded the honour of serving aboard a vessel of the Adeptus Astartes.

79

A promethium refining facility in the upper atmosphere of the outermost gas giant, with a population of around thirty thousand.

80

Cain appears to be referring here to the primary world, rather than the system with which, in accordance with Imperial tradition, it shared a name.

81

Accommodating larger vessels would be one such occasion, of course, but combining the two bays would also allow what the Navy refer to as through-deck operation, allowing fighters and shuttles to arrive at one end and depart from the other, reducing the time required to rearm and re-equip them during combat. Somewhat hazardous, with the hangar open to vacuum, of course, but Space Marines and their vassals tend to be a bit blase about that kind of thing.

82

Which implies that both sets of doors were being left open, to expedite the disembarkation of the passengers: not the safest thing to do, but, as previously noted, Space Marines tend not to be too concerned at the possibility of exposure to vacuum.

83

Unlikely as this may sound Sekara isn't exaggerating. According to Mott, my savant, such protostars are hardly uncommon in the galaxy, although it's extremely unusual to find one circled by even one habitable world, let alone the multiplicity of them described in this account.

84

The usual Imperial Guard abbreviation for commander-in-chief.

85

An Imperial Navy officer of some renown in the Damocles Gulf. Although he and Cain were both involved in the Adumbria incident of 937.M41, there's no evidence that they ever met face to face.

86

It seems that there were only three, an arbitrator senioris and two assistants, none of whom were on Serendipita itself when the Governor's shuttle was dispatched.

87

Or perhaps not. The configuration of the internal spaces would be unlikely to change much over the centuries, other than the occasional structural collapse as overstressed materials finally gave way.

88

Or, probably, within it. Space Marine units tend to operate autonomously for years, even decades, at a time, and officers of Gries's rank and status would have little opportunity or inclination to refer matters to a higher level of the command chain.

89

Hardly flattering to see inquisitors among the list, but considering the one Cain had the most to do with apart from myself was Killian, a Radical renegade mass-murderer, and barking mad to boot, I can't say I'm all that surprised.

90

A slang term common to many hive communities, referring to those both literally and figuratively at the bottom of the social heap, who scrabble a precarious existence out of what they can salvage of the detritus falling from the higher levels. Cain alludes repeatedly to an early life spent in an underhive, but as yet his world of origin remains obscure.

91

A popular form of theatre on several worlds in the sector, in which a large cast of characters continually misunderstand one another to comedic effect. They're generally set in an aristocratic milieu, allowing the general populace a bit of harmless amusement at the expense of a stratum of society that's barely aware of their existence in any case, and culminate in some dramatic contrivance to bring everyone together at the same time. For obvious reasons a ball is a frequent choice of the lazier playwrights, hence the name.

92

On Viridia, not to mention many other worlds where a period of service in the PDF is considered an acceptable way of keeping young members of the nobility relatively harmlessly occupied, the rather more flamboyant than practical uniforms of the units so favoured are a perennially popular subject for such packaging. Why any confectioner would consider their wares enhanced by such images we can only speculate, but the hope of selling a few boxes to rich idiots would be my guess.

93

A clear reference to his involvement in the defence of the sector against the tyranid hive fleets at the turn of the millennium, the details of which, though fascinating, need not detain us at this juncture.

94

Despite Cain's highly subjective characterisation of her as both ruthless and selfish, there's no evidence at all that Mira intended deposing her father by force of arms. His earlier assertion that she was intent merely on strengthening her position against rival claimants when the governorship eventually fell vacant seems far more likely.

95

By which he meant that the object the auspex was scanning was dense enough to register strongly, and was therefore probably not a natural phenomenon.

96

Another quotation from Soylens Viridiens for the Machine-Spirit.

97

In actual fact it was only four or five kilometres across in any direction, but that's quite big enough under the circumstances.

98

A rare direct reference to Cain's own family history, although, as noted elsewhere, anything he says in this regard must be treated with considerable caution. Many of these fragments of information are clearly contradictory, particularly those which occur in his reported conversations with others.

99

In fact CATs have been in service with the Astartes and the Adeptus Mechanicus for centuries, if not millennia. Few Space Marine Chapters make much use of them, however, preferring to rely on the expertise of their scouts under most circumstances, while the Mechanicus finds the more versatile servitor better suited for most practical purposes. Nevertheless, the construction and modification of CATs remains a popular pastime for a considerable number of tech-priests, who claim to find the activity meditatively calming and beneficial in advancing their understanding of the blessings of the Machine-God, so that it's a rare visit to a Mechanicus shrine which isn't likely to be interrupted by the erratic progress of one or more of these ambulatory devices. Despite these pious assertions, and though true servants of the Omnissiah would vigorously deny the fact, to outsiders they seem less like recreational construction projects than pets.

100

If not more so: this would irrevocably contaminate the gene-seed carried by the host's progenoid glands, passing on the taint to any later recruits implanted with it.

101

An Imperial Guard term for the accidental firing of a weapon.

102

A form of festival entertainment popular on a number of worlds in the Eastern Arm, in which incidents from the lives of the saints or the Emperor are mingled with the crudest kind of knockabout humour. Far from being considered sacrilegious, these are generally regarded with indulgent approval by the Ecclesiarchy, on the grounds that they're bringing the word of the Emperor to the masses, and a few flatulence jokes is a small price to pay for actually being listened to for once.

103

Ironically, despite his ambivalence towards her, Cain still seems to consider Mira more officer than civilian at this point - unless he's deferring to her diplomatic credentials.

104

Ironically, despite his ambivalence towards her, Cain still seems to consider Mira more officer than civilian at this point - unless he's deferring to her diplomatic credentials.

105

Ironically, despite his ambivalence towards her, Cain still seems to consider Mira more officer than civilian at this point - unless he's deferring to her diplomatic credentials.

106

It's hard to be sure from Cain's vague description, but it's possible that these were portable cogitator cores, intended to download the data from the venerable archives aboard the derelict prior to attempting to salvage the system physically. That way, the information would survive, even if the mechanisms themselves proved too fragile to remove intact.

107

Since the Codex Astartes specifies an upper limit of ten men to a Space Marine squad, including Terminators, we can infer that either two smaller squads were present, or a single one had been reinforced by attached specialists of some kind. Since the most likely individual to have been accorded the honour of a personal suit of Terminator armour would have been a Librarian, who would undoubtedly have reacted to Jurgen's presence in a noticeable fashion, we can be reasonably confident that the former alternative was the case; which ties in with Cain's earlier description of a specialised assault squad working in concert with a regular formation of Terminators. If, of course, his habitually vague estimate of their numbers can be relied on.

108

Around a quarter of an hour, according to the official mission logs.

109

Something he may have witnessed for himself during the battle for the floating hives of Kosnar.

110

More likely the engine had been throttled back, allowing the gunship to coast, while the pilot corrected its attitude in preparation for docking.

111

Quite. The probability of the genestealers in the Viridia System having originated somewhere other than the Spawn of Damnation is in the order of 0.35%, according to my savant Mott, who has a considerable aptitude for this kind of statistical analysis. Or any other kind, come to that, which is why he's been barred from innumerable gaming establishments, particularly when accompanied by Cain.

112

They can't tolerate vacuum indefinitely, like some of the void-adapted creatures of the tyranid hive mind, but they can certainly remain conscious and dangerous for considerably longer than an unprotected human would; so even depressurising a section of a ship or void station harbouring them may not be enough to subdue them entirely.

113

In fact they were probably a great deal more ancient than that; according to the surviving records, the Redeemer-class heavy cruiser was first commissioned during the lifetime of the Emperor, and used extensively in the great crusades predating the Horus Heresy. Along with so much else, the secrets of their construction were lost in the course of the centuries following that cataclysmic upheaval, and although they continued to serve with the Imperial Fleet, the inevitable losses were never able to be replaced. The last known example was destroyed by renegades attempting to force passage through the Cadian Gate early in M35.

114

A flippant reference to the liturgical chants and votive incense generally employed by the Ecclesiarchy.

115

Or perhaps not quite so remarkable, considering the relative rarity of the occasions on which it had both popped out of the warp in an Imperial stellar system, and someone had been on hand to take auspex readings. If anyone had tried to board it before the Reclaimers, they left no record of the attempt; not even in the rather more comprehensive archives maintained by the Ordo Xenos.

116

Another typically vague statement, although study of the deck plans would seem to indicate either two or three, depending on whether you counted the exit from the hangar bay or not.

117

Not quite; though phenomenally tough, even compared to conventional Space Marine armour, Terminator suits are just as vulnerable to a lucky shot as anything else. Which, given that they're also employed by the Traitor Legions, is probably just as well.

118

Though Cain seems unaware of it, this was almost certainly Blain's blood, that of Astartes being modified to coagulate instantly on exposure to air in order to seal wounds which would incapacitate a normal man without impairing their fighting ability. That the Terminator had lost enough of it to leak out of his suit would indicate severe trauma, even by Space Marine standards.

119

Or, perhaps, by Jurgen's proximity: although his peculiar anti-psychic talent had yet to be revealed, some time later on Gravalax, it could well have been disrupting the brood mind, isolating and disorientating any of the genestealers incautious enough to venture close enough to him to become affected.

120

That he was evidently monitoring the condition of the other Astartes in the boarding party can be taken as a fairly reliable indicator that he was in overall charge of it; unless, as the de facto artificer responsible for their maintenance, he was more concerned with the condition of the Terminator suits than their wearers.

121

If true, one or both weapons must have been damaged in some way, in order for the las-bolt to be so widely diffused, instead of penetrating more deeply over a smaller surface area. Unless, of course, he's resorting to hyperbole again.

122

1 Small utensils, with a bowl roughly the size of a thumbnail, traditionally used to measure out the infusion. Among Valhallans, the consumption of this beverage, to which Cain's long association with regiments from that world left him inexplicably partial, has acquired a great deal of custom and etiquette, as baffling to outsiders as the appeal of the drink itself.

123

The usual Astartes designation for the twin-barrelled variant Cain noticed before; presumably he picked this up in conversation at some point, probably with Drumon.

124

This kind of fluctuation in the local gravity field is apparently common aboard space hulks, and far from unknown on the larger naval vessels and charter ships, particularly when they've been cobbled together from salvaged hulls: it's apparently due to the misalignment of overlapping gravity generators, something which is almost inevitable when as many vessels as commonly make up a space hulk have been randomly thrown together.

125

A debatable point. Some, otherwise indistinguishable from humans at a casual glance, seem to have inherited all the arcane senses of the abominations which polluted the genes of their forebears, while others, much closer to purestrains in appearance, do not. As with so much else where genetics is concerned, random chance appears to play a major part in the distribution of these characteristics.

126

Or possibly ozone from the electrical discharge.

127

A torrent of liquid falling into the sump, or lowest levels, from higher up in a hive; some last for years, or even decades. Given the enclosed nature of an underhive, the echoes they raise can be quite literally deafening if appropriate precautions aren't taken.

128

A consequence of the constituent vessels hairing been brought together by the warp currents, so that their physical structures had become intermingled rather than coterminous; a state of affairs rendered permanent by the hulk's periodic sojourns in the real universe.

129

An orkish word, referring to the greenskins' equivalent of tech-priests, although their rites are as primitive as the rest of their culture. Instead of propitiating the machine-spirits which serve them, in the manner of the Adeptus Mechanicus, the mekboyz appear to terrorise them into acquiescence.

130

Actually, for orks, there are no other necessities to speak of.

131

The orkish warboss Cain bested in single combat on Perlia, effectively breaking the back of the invasion in the process.

132

Orkish warriors or footsoldiers; also used as a generic suffix to indicate a group with more specialised abilities, like mekboyz (ibid.), weirdboyz (the nearest greenskin equivalent to sanctioned psykers), painboyz (roughly analogous to medicae or chirurgeons, although their ministrations are only sought by most orks under the direst of circumstances), and so on. Largely synonymous with gitz, which is often applied to any group of boyz which doesn't include the speaker.

133

Not necessarily a metaphor in the case of orks.

134

Possibly from an eldar vessel, or a long-deceased tyranid leviathan.

135

He must have been almost completely exhausted by this point to take such an uncharacteristically reckless course of action; although he does at least seem to have retained sufficient sense not to try cutting through the bulkhead directly, which would have taken a considerable amount of time and noise even if his chainblade had been able to penetrate it.

136

Or from a different nest; similar hibernacula would have been distributed throughout the hulk, allowing the brood mind to survive the loss of a group or two.

137

Or from a different nest; similar hibernacula would have been distributed throughout the hulk, allowing the brood mind to survive the loss of a group or two.

138

Though Hydras are intended primarily for air defence, most Imperial Guard commanders are well aware of the damage their quad-mounted autocannon can do to a heavily armoured target or dispersed infantry formation, and aren't slow to take advantage of the fact when the opportunity presents itself.

139

A substantial proportion of it, at any rate; the number of genestealers Cain describes could hardly have fitted into so narrow a maze of corridors all at once.

140

An orkish word, which translates roughly as ''go away'', but which may also mean, ''leave it alone'', or ''1 doubt your veracity'', according to context. Clearly the second of the three meanings is intended here.

141

The township on Perlia where Cain's celebrated March of Liberation began. It was subsequently renamed Cainstead, to his mingled amusement and embarrassment; even after taking up residence on that world, as a tutor at the schola progenium there following his retirement, he continued to refer to the place by its original name.

142

Orks in a position of authority.

143

The usual orkish word for their smaller cousins.

144

Clearly not a literal half-dozen, then...

145

Presumably in one of the minor firefights Cain glossed over a few pages ago.

146

The actual mechanisms of teleportation are a little more complex than that, involving the linkage of two discrete physical points through a precisely focussed Geller field, but Cain's typically forthright description is close enough for most purposes.

147

Possibly because his peculiar gift cushioned him from the worst effects of exposure to the warp, although Cain would have had no way of knowing that at the time.