V2 Chapter 143: Warmaster Slaydo. I Have Come to See You.
After the conversation with Macaroth ended, Juno found Duvette alone.
She stood outside the surface command post. The black Inquisitorial robes hung to the tops of her boots. The eye that was not covered by the patch was fixed on him, and the expression in it was difficult to read.
"I looked away from you for a few years."
Juno said.
"And now you have connections to an Archmagos of the Adeptus Mechanicus, another Lord Inquisitor, a Rogue Trader dynasty, and an independent combat group."
Duvette understood exactly what she meant.
She was saying he had moved beyond the range she had originally been able to control. The Commissar who had walked out of Farrak IV was no longer simply a piece she could position on the board.
Duvette allowed himself a small smile.
"This is not where it ends for me."
He looked at the one eye she kept uncovered.
"But for now, you are still on my side."
Juno looked at him in silence.
Duvette offered no further explanation. He turned and left, feeling her gaze on his back.
After that, he began making arrangements for the return to Balhaut.
Warmaster Slaydo was still there, commanding the Sabbat Crusade's full strategic front. After the fall of Balhaut, the crusade had achieved a decisive breakthrough and many people believed the remaining problems were simply a matter of time.
And time was precisely what had opened the vulnerability in Slaydo.
Chaos corruption had worked its way in like a cold and patient thing, entering through his anxieties and obsessions and urgencies. Duvette thought of the Warmaster from ten thousand years ago who had been dragged into the same abyss by the same process, and found himself cursing quietly.
Did the title of Warmaster genuinely invite this?
The thought lasted only a moment.
He pressed it down.
This time, he would not let Slaydo repeat that fate.
By this point, Duvette was already aboard the Resolute.
Admiral Villent had also learned what Macaroth had told them. He stood before the bridge star chart and looked at Duvette with an expression that carried no lightness.
"You actually intend to go back?"
Villent's voice was low.
"If the Imperium's higher authorities were brought in, perhaps it would be better—"
He stopped himself partway through the sentence.
Duvette's expression was already closing as he interrupted.
"It has not reached that point yet."
"There is still a chance to turn this around."
He looked up at Balhaut's position on the star chart.
"The Warmaster promoted me. He trusted me. He placed me in dangerous positions and gave me the freedom I needed."
"I am not going to give up on trying to save him."
Villent went quiet.
After a moment, he let out a long breath and gave a nod.
"I understand."
"I respect your decision."
Duvette said nothing more. He looked at the star chart.
For this operation, Cawl and the Carpé family's main fleet vessels would remain at Menazoid Epsilon to continue the lockdown, excavation, and analysis of the Age of Darkness ruins, waiting for Duvette's next return. The remaining warships would accompany Duvette back to Balhaut.
Villent's fleet would depart.
Delavere's fleet would travel with them, but under Villent's oversight. Both Lord Inquisitors' black cruisers would follow. The Salamanders' strike cruiser would hold an outer position in the formation.
It was a considerable fleet.
Even without a battleship at its core, its scale already exceeded many sector patrol forces. To avoid any appearance of provocation toward Balhaut, Duvette gave advance orders for all vessels to adopt a defensive transit posture, with weapons systems making no active targeting locks.
The fleet began its departure and set course for Balhaut.
Just before they entered the Warp, Duvette sent Slaydo one final Astropathic message.
It was short.
"Warmaster Slaydo. I am coming to see you."
After a long Warp transit, Duvette returned to the Balhaut system once more.
The vast fleet representing the crusade's main strength was still there. Warships filled the orbital approaches and outer anchorage points, a fortress of steel extended across the void.
Duvette had intended to have his fleet merge into Balhaut orbit under standard crusade procedures, then go in person to the Warmaster's command complex for an audience with Slaydo.
But shortly after entering the system, a warning came through from the crusade command structure.
The order was direct.
Halt.
Hold at the designated position.
Wait for further instruction.
Any approach that had not been authorised would be treated as mutiny. All crusade warships would open fire.
The bridge went quiet.
Duvette and Villent looked at each other.
Then Duvette gave a nod.
"Acknowledge."
"We will comply."
Villent did not object.
The fleet adjusted heading to the coordinates designated by the crusade command structure and held position on the far side of a planet, well away from Balhaut's primary orbit. All vessels cut active fire control links. Void shields maintained a defensive setting. They waited for further communications.
A short time later, Slaydo opened a channel himself.
In the moment the channel connected, Duvette's expression settled into something considerably more serious.
The Warmaster's condition had not deteriorated.
At least on the surface. If anything, he looked more energetic than Duvette remembered. The lines in his face seemed somehow shallower. His eyes were unnaturally bright. He carried a quality of vitality that was not quite right.
This did not reassure Duvette.
From a Chaos perspective, every one of these signs meant the corruption had deepened.
Slaydo sat on the far side of the hololithic projection and looked at Duvette with a dark, settled expression.
He did not speak immediately.
The Resolute's command deck went still with him. Villent, Evan, and the officers on the bridge all looked at the Warmaster's image. Nobody spoke.
Just as Duvette was preparing to open the conversation, Slaydo spoke.
"You came back."
His voice was steadier than it had been, but underneath the steadiness was something cold.
"Good."
"Very good."
Duvette watched him.
Slaydo continued. "You will come and see me alone."
"No one is to follow."
"I will be waiting."
The channel cut.
He had not given Duvette any time to respond.
A brief silence settled over the bridge.
Evan was the first to step forward.
"Commissar. This is too dangerous."
There was urgency in his voice.
"The Warmaster's current state is very unstable. If you go alone and he—"
Duvette raised his hand and stopped him.
"Go and prepare a shuttle."
"Commissar, this—"
Evan tried again.
Duvette looked at him.
"My decision is made."
"Go and prepare it."
Evan's lips moved briefly. Then he lowered his head.
"Yes, sir."
He turned to carry out the order.
Villent walked over to Duvette's side and put a hand on his shoulder.
Then he pressed an emergency communicator into Duvette's hand.
"If something seems wrong, give yourself room to step back."
Villent said it quietly.
"Send us a signal."
"We will come immediately."
Duvette looked down at the communicator in his hand.
"That would start a civil war considerably worse than what happened with Delavere."
Villent shook his head.
"This was never something you should have to resolve alone."
Duvette was quiet for a moment. He put the emergency communicator inside his coat.
He gave Villent a nod.
"He is still willing to see me."
"That is the opening."
He turned and walked toward the shuttle bay.
The officers on the bridge moved aside as he passed.
Villent watched his back and did not look away for a long time.
In the privacy of his own thoughts, he offered what words came to him.
By the Emperor.
By the Golden Throne.
May the loyal find their way through.