The Imperial Frontier: Courage

The Hive City's arcaded boulevard was packed with people. Built from milky-white marble and adorned with gold, this magnificent structure was vast and imposing. Once, it had been the main route to Victoria Cathedral. Every year, during the Emperor's Ascension Day, it would bustle with pilgrims making their way along the Processional Way to the cathedral.

Today, it was packed with people again, but not out of faith or devotion. They were driven by fear—sheer, unadulterated terror.

The panicked refugees had gathered there, shouting and cursing without end. Clutching bundles of all sizes and holding their children, they were crammed together like sardines in a tin. Worse still, the vehicles among the crowd took up precious space.

These armored vehicles of the Planetary Defense Force should have been fighting on the front lines. Instead, they were parked there, honking furiously and ordering people out of the way. Soldiers with guns shoved aside any refugees who blocked their path. The people cursed them for their cowardice and betrayal, but the desperate soldiers clearly didn't care.

They fled recklessly toward the heart of the Hive City. The officer leading them stood atop a Chimera's turret, waving his arms and shouting at the crowd to get out of the way. But no one could. Everyone wanted to reach the inner city.

Explosions boomed all around them. The burning sky flashed above the crowd, and fear only added to the chaos. The soldiers began forcing their way forward even more aggressively.

A Guardsman carrying a Lasgun roughly shoved a pregnant woman aside with the butt of his weapon. She lost her balance and fell backward, but she didn't hit the ground. Someone caught her.

"Thank you, sir..." The pregnant woman turned to offer her thanks, but the words died on her lips after the first two. She had seen the pendant hanging on the man's chest: a ruby-carved letter I.

Vito helped the pregnant woman up, then motioned for her to move aside. She and the other refugees quickly opened a path, allowing him to face the panicked soldiers.

They stared at the Inquisitor in near terror. The female governor stood beside him. The two of them had no bodyguards or escort, yet the Inquisitor alone radiated the menace of an entire army.

He walked toward the fearful soldiers, their terror plain on their faces. As he passed each one, his cold gaze seemed to scrape across their hearts like a razor.

"Lieutenant, do you remember Victoria's history?" Vito asked, standing in front of the Chimera. The lieutenant on top could no longer swagger. His legs nearly gave out, and he stammered so badly that he couldn't get a word out. Vito smiled and looked around at the soldiers and refugees.

"Then let me refresh your memories. During the War of the Beast, the first colonists of Victoria were descendants of the heroic legions that liberated most of the Ultramar Segmentum from the Orks."

"Your ancestors fought the Green Tide that spread across the galaxy thousands of years ago, waging war beneath the Primarch, Vulkan, Lord of Drakes. Guided by the Emperor's light, they swept tens of millions of Orks into the galaxy's trash heap."

Vito looked at the faces around him. The soldiers exchanged glances while the refugees began whispering among themselves. "And you, their descendants, are now members of the Planetary Defense Force, here to protect the people of this planet. Yet here you are, shoving and cursing them—and nearly killing an unborn child."

Vito drew the Bolter from his belt. A chorus of screams erupted from the crowd, and the lieutenant and the Guardsmen before him turned deathly pale.

"As an Inquisitor, my duty should be to execute every coward among you. Right now." As he spoke, his finger curled around the trigger. He looked around at the cowards and the fleeing soldiers.

But Vito's expression suddenly turned grave. He snapped up his gun and fired. A burst of explosive fire erupted over his head, and a figure crashed down into the crowd.

When the person nearest it stepped forward to investigate, the creature suddenly raised its head and, with a roar, tore him to pieces. Screams and terror detonated through the crowd like thunder. People shrieked and scattered in every direction, and many fell beneath countless trampling feet.

In an instant, countless unlucky souls were killed, their flesh splattered across the walls and pavement. The monster rose, bent forward, and roared in Vito's direction.

"What kind of monster is that?" a soldier shouted, raising his gun and taking aim. Vito grabbed him by the shoulder. "A Lictor. Now get out of my way!"

Vito flung the soldier aside, but not everyone was so lucky. The Lictor charged forward, its claws tearing apart several soldiers who frantically fired at it.

The deadly assassin of the Tyranid Swarm had slipped silently through one line of defenses after another, crossing the war zone unseen to reach this place. It had only one target, just like every assassin before it: the leader.

The Lictor reached Vito at lightning speed, slashing at his face. But Vito drew his Chainsword just as quickly. The roaring golden-red blade met the creature's claws, sending dazzling sparks flying. Vito blocked the Lictor's right-claw strike with one arm.

The Tyranid assassin pulled back its blade-like claws and struck again, but Vito met the attack with perfect precision. The two fought at breakneck speed at point-blank range, their Chainsword and bio-claws clashing in a spray of dazzling sparks.

Vito rolled sideways to evade the Tyranid's sweeping claw. He raised one hand, and a tiny, nearly invisible shield blocked the Lictor's sideways strike. To everyone else, it looked as if the Chainsword had stopped the Tyranid's claw. But the Tyranid stared at Vito in surprise and retreated several steps.

Olivia cursed and drew the Lasgun at her waist, but Vito barked at her to stop.

"Don't waste your ammunition. It won't kill the thing; you'll only make it angrier. Darling, do me a favor and get these refugees to safety." Vito spoke as he drew his Chainsword and swung it backhanded at the Lictor's wrist. Fragments of its bony armor sprayed everywhere, but before the blade could cut through the flesh beneath, the creature leaped back and opened the distance.

The Lictor crawled a few steps along the ground, then gradually turned transparent. Its body finally disappeared completely, provoking gasps and screams from those around it.

"It can turn invisible. Stop screaming, Olivia! Get them out of here!" Vito raised his Chainsword as if he knew exactly where the Lictor was, and blocked its deadly blade with perfect precision as it came slashing down.

Olivia immediately began directing the soldiers to evacuate the refugees. Everyone started running in all directions, but before they could get far, Olivia fired a shot into the air and shouted them to a halt.

"What are you running around for?! Corporal! Organize a retreat! All you idiots with guns, get them up and form a firing line! What are you staring at? Move!"

Vito watched as Olivia's yelling got them organizing a defense. With her cursing and kicking them into action, the flustered soldiers finally managed to regroup. They formed a cordon and began ushering the refugees back, while ordering the armored vehicle drivers to turn their vehicles sideways and block the road.

Everyone began moving in an orderly fashion, while Olivia continued shouting orders and curses. Vito watched her with satisfaction. "That's my girl."

As he spoke, Vito turned and swung his Chainsword like lightning. The blade, engraved with the Imperial Aquila, blocked the silent strike from the invisible creature. Sparks showered the ground, dancing over pools of blood.

The Lictor's face appeared indistinctly before Vito. Its mouthful of forked tongues writhed in front of the Inquisitor, then suddenly it leaped backward and disappeared again.

Vito stood calmly before the Chimera, gripping his Chainsword. There wasn't a trace of fear in his eyes. The lieutenant atop the armored vehicle, by contrast, was badly shaken, waving his Lasgun around and looking everywhere like a madman.

The monster moved silently, without a sound or impact. Its enormous body and claws left no trace on the ground, like a phantom.

Vito narrowed his eyes slightly, searching for something. Then he suddenly whipped around, drew his Bolter, and pointed it toward the lieutenant. "Jump down! Now!"

The lieutenant obeyed, leaping off the armored vehicle almost on instinct. The Bolter roared, and a shot slammed into the Lictor's face. The monster appeared in plain sight amid the explosion, crashing onto the Chimera with a roar before scrambling up and leaping down, its enormous bulk crushing Vito beneath it.

Its two lower claws pinned Vito firmly to the ground. The Lictor raised both of its scything claws high. It thought Vito had no way to fight back—but suddenly, a force struck the Lictor and hurled the assassin-beast away.

The Lictor slammed into the front of the Chimera, striking the muzzle of its coaxial machine gun. Vito flicked his hand, and the hatch beside him suddenly opened, revealing the startled operator inside.

Vito pointed at him and shouted, "Fire!"

The command reached the driver's brain with lightning-fast efficiency, like node pheromones from the Tyranid swarm. He responded almost instinctively.

He immediately pulled the trigger. The coaxial machine gun roared like thunder, its shots pounding into the Lictor's back until they blasted a terrifying hole through its chest.

The beast roared, throwing back its head. A long, curved, densely forked tongue protruded from its mouth. Then, in an instant, its head exploded, spraying purple-black brain matter across the front of the Chimera.

The viscous brain matter and flesh splattered onto the operator. He stared at Vito through the driver's hatch in horror. A plasma cannon protruded from Vito's wrist, ionized lightning crackling along his entire arm.

Vito lowered his hand, and the plasma cannon retracted automatically into his wrist. In the blink of an eye, his arm had returned to its normal shape.

The Inquisitor looked at the smoking monster's corpse. All that remained of its face was a pool of plasma; its features had been melted and shattered, leaving only a gruesome corpse.

The communicator on Vito's wrist suddenly buzzed. He raised his arm, and a voice immediately came through. "Inquisitor! The Tyranids have broken through the underground streets! We can't hold them much longer. By the Emperor, we need reinforcements! Right now!"

"Understood, Major. Hold them off for now. I'll bring people over shortly." "Yes, sir. May the Emperor protect you." "He'd better protect you right now."

Vito closed the communicator. As the sounds of battle faded, the refugees and soldiers emerged from both sides of the armored vehicle. They gathered in the middle of the boulevard again, all staring in astonishment at the Lictor's corpse. People began whispering among themselves, while Olivia walked over through the crowd and looked down at the battered remains.

"Are you hurt?" she asked. Vito smiled and touched her cheek. "Worry about yourself and them first."

Vito climbed onto the armored vehicle and stood atop the Chimera's turret, looking down at the crowd that had gathered again.

The lieutenant was among them. He had put his cap back on and walked over, while the tank crew climbed out through the front hatch and sat on the sloped armor, looking up at Vito on the turret.

"This is a Tyranid creature. You've seen it now, and as you can see, it's dead." Vito pointed at the monster. "These bastards can be killed. The ones outside can be killed too. Yes, there are a lot of them, seemingly without end. You may have fewer bullets than they have bodies."

Vito looked at the crowd. Every pair of eyes was fixed on the Inquisitor, filled with admiration, looking at him as though he were a hero.

"For ten thousand years, this is how every battle in the Imperium has been fought! We've spent ten thousand years fighting all kinds of endless monsters and fiends! And it's humanity that fights them—not the Astartes outside! People like you!"

Vito looked around at them and shouted, "We're frail, weak, and helpless. Our flesh can't stand against overwhelming power. But we held the line! We've defended the Imperium for ten thousand years! Ten thousand fucking years! And we won!"

The Inquisitor pointed toward the barrage of gunfire at the end of the street. "I've fought alongside millions of ordinary people and hundreds of Astartes, driving those bastards outside back into the wombs they crawled out of, then shoving bombs up their mothers' asses and blasting them back into the void!"

"Your ancestors stood with my comrades! We sent every kind of monster and fiend back into the wombs they crawled out of! Chaos, Tyranids, Necrons, Aeldari, and even the fucking T'au! Ten thousand years have passed! We're still standing here, and the Imperium still stands in this galaxy! And it'll keep standing! So will we!"

"If you want to run, then run! Every one of us will die, whether today or any day to come. But ask yourselves this: when you meet the Emperor, will you hang your heads and tell him you accomplished nothing, or stand tall before him and generations of Imperial heroes, and tell them you died a hero?!"

Everyone looked at Vito as the Inquisitor raised his Chainsword and pointed it at the sky. "Let's kick some Xenos ass! Who's coming with me to smash theirs?!"

Amid a roar of cheers, thousands of guns and fists rose into the air. The cheering thundered through the boulevard. Olivia stood among the excited soldiers and refugees who had regained their courage, looking up at Vito on the turret. She smiled at him.

"That's my king. Our hero."