The Eagle’s Talon Read online

  We can deduce that the Seventh Legion operation on board the Eagle’s Talon had as its focus one of the crucial command and control systems of the ship, most likely the communications trunk that linked the bridge to the stations which enacted its orders. If the communications on a ship of such size can be cut, then it leaves the whole vessel frozen in action – the bridge unable to give commands, and the crew and systems without commands to enact. In a living creature we might liken it to severing the nerves connecting brain and body, leaving both alive but paralysed, the mind locked within its skull.

  Such a plan requires a high degree of precision and nerve, but these qualities have never been in doubt when it comes to the Imperial Fists. There is, though, the self-evident truth that the more precise and delicate an operation, the more it is prone to error.

  And once disrupted, the chances of mission collapse expand at an ever-accelerating rate. As we know well, the boundary between disaster and triumph is a razor-cut line.

  ///ACCESSING EAGLE’S TALON INCIDENT, VOX FRAGMENT (V).///

  ///RECORD PROCEEDS. THE MACHINE IS ETERNAL. THE ETERNAL IS AN EXPRESSION OF THE MACHINE.///

  GA-739: Squad Gammus in position. All units confirm readiness and location.

  TH-144: <>

  AR-502: <>

  GA-739: On your word, Arcad.

  AR-502: <>

  TH-144: <>

  AR-502: <>

  GA-739: Arcad?

  AR-502: <>

  TH-144: <>

  AR-502: <>

  TH-144: <>

  GA-739: Permission denied.

  TH-144: <>

  GA-739: Arcad, advance on the primary objective.

  AR-502: <>

  GA-739: Move for the objective. You must reach it.

  AR-502: <>

  GA-739: No, you will reach it. I will give you an opening.

  AR-502: <>

  GA-739: Because my squad is about to hit the servitor controls for your sector.

  ///RECORD ACCESS PROCEEDING.///

  The advantages of a force operating covertly against a more powerful enemy are few, but chief amongst them are the twin elements of surprise and confusion. If one individual can visit destruction across a large area in a short space of time, then that individual is not merely one in the minds of their foes – they are many. With planning and aggression they can seem to be everywhere.

  Though the attached records are only auditory, it can be simply deduced that the three squads of the strike force were spread at different locations through the decks of the Eagle’s Talon. Squad Arcad, having taken casualties and under fire, had been attempting to reach the mission’s primary objective. Squad Gammus, the command squad for the mission, is located in the machine spaces of higher decks. Squad Theophon is standing ready to cut the primary route by which enemy reinforcements can move into Arcad’s location.

  ///ACCESSING EAGLE’S TALON INCIDENT, VOX FRAGMENT (VI).///

  ///RECORD PROCEEDS. KNOWLEDGE AND THE MACHINE ARE ONE. THE MACHINE IS THE CHILD OF KNOWLEDGE.///

  AR-502: <>

  GA-739: Detonating!

  TH-144: <>

  GA-739: Arcad, move now!

  AR-502: <>

  GA-739: Arcad! Arcad, what is your status?

  AR-502: <>

  GA-739: You are wounded.

  AR-502: <>

  GA-739: Estimate time to target.

  AR-502: <>

  GA-739: Theophon, close the chokepoint.

  TH-144: <>

  AR-502: <>

  GA-739: Keep moving!

  TH-144: <>

  GA-739: Strength, and direction?

  TH-144: <>

  ///RECORD ACCESS PROCEEDING.///

  At this point, the probability of the mission succeeding without the loss of all forces was zero-point-zero. This fact would have been known to the Imperial Fists, but it would not have inhibited their ability to function. They, like all of us raised by the gene-seed of our sires, are not bound by the weaknesses of lesser beings.

  They would have known that they would not survive. The only question would have been whether or not they could still succeed.

  ///TIME ELAPSED FROM PREVIOUS RECORD: 00.00.24.///

  ///ACCESSING EAGLE’S TALON INCIDENT, VOX FRAGMENT (VII).///

  ///RECORD PROCEEDS. THE MACHINE IS ALPHA. THE MACHINE IS OMEGA.///

  TH-144: <>

  GA-739: How long until they are past you?

  AR-502: <>

  TH-144: <>

  AR-502: <>

  GA-739: All units, this is Gammus. I am cutting prime arterial corridor. Charges firing in five, four, three, two... Detonate.

  TH-144: <>

  GA-739: Theophon, how long until they bypass the wreckage?

  TH-144: <>

  GA-739: Arcad, are you at the bridge atmosphere control?

  AR-502: <>

  GA-739: Arcad?

  TH-144: <>

  GA-739: Arcad, what is your strength and status?

  AR-502: <> ///TRANSMISSION TERMINATED.///

  TH-144: <>

  GA-739: Arcad, what is your strength and objective status?

  TH-144: <>

  GA-739: Arcad?

  TH-144: <>

  GA-739: Arcad!

  TH-144: <>

  GA-739: Arcad, can you hear me? Arcad, you have to reach the target.

  TH-144: <>

  GA-739: If Arcad can reach the target-

  TH-144: <>

  GA-739: I will not do it, Theophon. You were right. We do not slaughter our own allies for victory. I am a son of Rogal Dorn. I will not be the bringer of such annihilation.

  TH-144: <n failure.>>

  GA-739: We all die as we were meant to.

  TH-144: <>

  GA-739: Better to be no more, than to betray what we once were.

  TH-144: <>

  GA-739: Brother, no!

  TH-144: <>

  TH-144: ///TRANSMISSION TERMINATED.///

  GA-739: ///TRANSMISSION TERMINATED.///

  ///FILE ERROR.///

  ///VOX CAPTURE RECORD ENDS.///

  The Eagle’s Talon fell from Tallarn’s sky. The blast wave from the initial impact travelled over three hundred kilometres. Winds of over a thousand kilometres an hour spun debris from the ground, and scattered into the burning air. The engagement on the southern continent was ended in an instant. Earthquakes split the ground, and tidal waves surged across the sludge-clogged seas. Nucleonic fallout from the reactor failure rose up and spread across the atmosphere.

  On any other planet this one event would have doomed all life to a slow death, smothered beneath a blanket of ashes. But this was Tallarn, and the dead planet could not die twice.

  The consequences of this one incident are difficult to judge. Would events have unfolded differently if these few scraps of valour and foolishness had taken a different shape?

  Perhaps.

  For our purposes, it is enough to know that it happened. Will this split in character repeat within the Imperial Fists? Can advantage be taken from it? The questions remain open, but one thing can be certain – for this intelligence to be useful to our Legion it must remain unknown.

  I tender my advice to you, my lord father, that once you have reviewed this record you consign it to oblivion.

  ///INITIATING RECORD PURGE.///

  ///ENTER THE WORD OF OBLITERATION TO PROCEED.///

  ///PURGE PROCESS COMPLETE.///

  ///SEEKING ALL ARCHIVE RECORDS DESIGNATED “EAGLE’S TALON”…///

  ///NO RECORDS FOUND.///

  ///THE MACHINE KNOWS ALL. ALL IS KNOWN IN THE MACHINE.///

  About the Author

  John French has written several Horus Heresy stories including the novellas Tallarn: Executioner and The Crimson Fist, the novel Tallarn: Ironclad, and the audio dramas Templar and Warmaster. He is the author of the Ahriman series, which includes the novels Ahriman: Exile, Ahriman: Sorcerer and Ahriman: Unchanged, plus a number of related short stories collected in Ahriman: Exodus, including ‘The Dead Oracle’ and ‘Hand of Dust’. Additionally for the Warhammer 40,000 universe he has written the Space Marine Battles novella Fateweaver, plus many short stories. He lives and works in Nottingham, UK.

  Imperial forces stand victorious over the blasted wastes of Tallarn. But has the price of victory been too high?

  A BLACK LIBRARY PUBLICATION

  First published as an audio drama in 2015.

  This eBook edition published in 2015 by Black Library, Games Workshop Ltd, Willow Road, Nottingham, NG7 2WS, UK.

  Produced by Games Workshop in Nottingham.

  The Eagle’s Talon © Copyright Games Workshop Limited 2015. The Eagle’s Talon, The Horus Heresy, GW, Games Workshop, Black Library, The Horus Heresy, The Horus Heresy Eye logo, Space Marine, 40K, Warhammer, Warhammer 40,000, the ‘Aquila’ Double-headed Eagle logo, and all associated logos, illustrations, images, names, creatures, races, vehicles, locations, weapons, characters, and the distinctive likenesses thereof, are either ® or TM, and/or © Games Workshop Limited, variably registered around the world.

  All Rights Reserved.

  A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library.

  ISBN 978-1-78572-181-6

  This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.

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