Dolgath sat alone in his private audience chamber monitoring the feed from the command center on his desk’s holo-display. He had a bad feeling about this mission from the very beginning. It was rash and ill-considered of Nelthas to lead this mission personally, and yet, he understood her choice. Under the circumstances, in his youth, he might have made a similar choice – who was he kidding, in fact he had done something very similar some sixty-seventy years ago… He was lucky to still be alive…
Dolgath very much understood her decision. The Space Marines had been her force of choice and early on she had achieved great success with them, but the xenos had adapted. Originally, the xenos expected a similar force to the Imperial Guard hammer he had used to crush the invaders on their first assault of New Boston. On their second assault, the lightning tactics of the Space Marines disconcerted them, and Nelthas was able to mount a significant string of victories, yet the xenos adapted once again. Nelthas’s tactics began to fail in the face of the enemy’s new strategies. It was the chink that the Ordos droogs had been waiting for.
Dolgath had been unaware of Nelthas’ enemies. All Inquisitors had them; of course, Dolgath had legions of them, as a matter of fact! Yet Dolgath had assumed that Nelthas had her enemies well in hand – apparently not… Dolgath initially implicated Welch, but he quickly realized Welch was nothing more than the errand-boy he seemed. If anything, Welch’s presence was more to monitor him. Sadly, the machinations of the Ordo Xenos were quite outside his personal experience.
On a darker day, he might have suspected Treyquill, the Ordo Hereticus could never be trusted, yet Treyquill was gone – off clear across the galaxy chasing the specter of his old nemesis, Sylax. The thought of that name sent sudden shivers down his spine… Sylax and Ozymandius… He had sent them to their graves, and yet, somehow, he still did not sleep well at night. He wished Treyquill the very best in his endeavors! In fact, Dolgath had danced across the line between the various Ordos factions of Maleus, Hereticus and Xenos many times in his career, and he had made untold enemies in his wake; any of which might be singling out Nelthas as a target simply for her association to himself. The thought of it filled him with rage…
The holo-display flickered with a sudden chaotic blurt of activity… The Grey Knights had made contact and engaged. Stupid fools, Dolgath thought, their mission was one of rescue, not revenge… The footage was pixilated and highly fragmentary; the Ordo Maleus restriction filters were preventing a clear, real-time picture of the events. Helmet-cam images flickered rapidly between combatants, finally settling on a steady backfield view. It focused clearly on several locations, before… The last images transmitted were of intensely bright orbital strikes falling on the scene.
All communications ceased after that. Dolgath left his audience chamber and stormed up to the command center. As he entered the command center he witnessed complete uncontrolled chaos. He saw Welch standing at the command nexus attempting to shout out commands, but no one was listening. Dolgath stood at the center of it all for a moment gathering it in… Information was streaming in unfiltered… Servitors moved about without porous… junior officers shouted out irrelevant commands… Senior officers had nothing to give command for… As his master had taught him long ago, Dolgath drew it all to himself and focused it, concentrating the chaos into a moment of clarity…
“Stop!” He shouted. The reverberations of his voice echoed throughout the chamber.
Quickly silence prevailed.
“What is called for here is a hammer, a hammer even larger than the one I brought to New Boston in the first place,” Dolgath said aloud.
Only silence greeted him in return.
At last a singular voice spoke: “I am open to your suggestions…” said Inquisitor Welch.
The Kabal of the Rancid Blade 