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More cheers and clapping. He wandered back to the podium. He rested his hands on the wooden rails of the lectern. 'These last months, we have quashed an entire culture. Make no mistake... we haven't brought them to heel or rendered them compliant. We have quashed them. Broken their backs. Set them to flame. I know this, because I know the Warmaster unleashed his Astartes in this action. Don't be coy about what they do. They are killers, but sanctioned. I see one now, one noble warrior, seated at the back of the hall.’
Faces turned back to crane at Loken. There was a flutter of applause.
Sinderma
The applause died away. The souls we have lately conquered believed in an Imperium, a rule of man.’ Sinderma
He looked down, as if in thought. 'Yet we are. We are right. They are wrong. This simple, clean faith we must undertake to teach them. We are right. They are wrong. Why? Not because we say so. Because we know so! We will not say "I am right and you are wrong" because we have bested them in combat. We must proclaim it because we know it is the responsible truth. We ca
He had to wait, smiling, until the uproar subsided. 'Your supper's getting cold. Dismissed.’
The student iterators began to file slowly out of the hall. Sinderma
I 'Did you hear anything you liked?' he asked, sitting down beside Loken and smoothing the skirts of his robes. *You sound like a showman.’ Loken said, 'or a carnival peddler, advertising his wares.’
Sinderma
Loken frowned. That you don't believe what you're selling?'
'Do you?'
'What am I selling?'
'Faith, through murder. Truth, through combat.’
'It's just combat. It has no meaning other than combat. The meaning has been decided long before I'm instructed to deliver it.’
'So as a warrior, you are without conscience?'
Loken shook his head. 'As a warrior, I am a man of conscience, and that conscience is directed by my faith in the Emperor. My faith in our cause, as you were just describing to the school, but as a weapon, I am without conscience. When activated for war, I set aside my personal considerations, and simply act. The value of my action has already been weighed by the greater conscience of our commander. I kill until I am told to stop, and in that period, I do not question the killing. To do so would be nonsense, and inappropriate. The commander has already made a determination for war, and all he expects of me is to prosecute it to the best of my abilities. A weapon doesn't question who it kills, or why. That isn't the point of weapons.’
Sinderma
Beyond their duties as iterators, senior counsellors like Sinderma
ordained. There will come a time when war is over, and fighting done, and my warriors should prepare themselves for a life of peace. They must know of other things besides martial matters, or else find themselves obsolete.’
There's no tutorial scheduled.’ Loken said, 'but I wanted to talk with you, informally.’
'Indeed? What's on your mind?'
'A troubling thing...'
"You have been asked to join the Mournival.’ Sinderma
'How did you know? Does everyone know?'
Sinderma
'I am.’
'I'm not. You chase Abaddon and Sedirae with your glories, Loken. The Warmaster has his eye on you. So does Dorn.’
'Primarch Dorn? Are you sure?'
'I have been told he admires your phlegmatic humour, Garviel. That's something, coming from a person like him.’
'I'm flattered.’
You should be. Now what's the problem?'
'Am I fit? Should I agree?'
Sinderma
There's something else.’ Loken said.
'Go on.’
'A remembrancer came to me today. A
'Who?'
These people. This Emperor.’
'Garviel, you know the answer to that.’
'When I was in the tower, facing that man-'
Sinderma
"Yes. He said much the same thing. Quartes, from his Quantifications, teaches us that the galaxy is a broad space, and that much I have seen. If we encounter a person, a society in this cosmos that disagrees with us, but is sound of itself, what right do we have to destroy it? I mean... could we not just leave them be and ignore them? The galaxy is, after all, such a broad space.’
'What I've always liked about you, Garviel.’ Sinderma
'I thought it would fade,' Loken admitted.
Sinderma
'The first thing,' Sinderman said as they strolled along, 'is a simple bandage for your worries. You heard me essay this at length to the class and, in a way, you ventured a version of it just a moment ago when you spoke on the subject of conscience. You are a weapon, Garviel, an example of the finest instrument of destruction mankind has ever wrought. There must be no place inside you for doubt or question. You're right. Weapons should not think, they should only allow themselves to
be employed, for the decision to use them is not theirs to make. That decision must be made - with great and terrible care, and ethical consideration beyond our capacity to judge - by the primarchs and the commanders. The Warmaster, like the beloved Emperor before him, does not employ you lighdy. Only with a heavy heart and a certain determination does he unleash the Astartes. The Adeptus Astartes is the last resort, and is only ever used that way.’