Are You Building a Palace?

"We'll take you next time. We definitely will. You did such a good job holding down the fort this time that you've earned more credit than you would have on the front lines," Lin En hurried to reassure them.

Ha.

Phoros's lips twitched. He nearly smiled, then forced it back.

For some reason, whenever Lord Lin En was around, things always seemed to take a turn for the ridiculous.

Why were they sulking now? Were they a bunch of little girls?

Of course, the Astartes who had stayed behind to guard their homeworld weren't nobodies.

That squad leader had served under him for decades and fought his way through mountains of corpses and seas of blood. He could take on a Chaos Terminator alone in battle, yet now he was sulking because he'd missed a fight.

The Lamenters had always been outcasts of the Imperium, a Chapter anyone could kick around.

Battle had been how they proved they were still alive. In the past, Phoros wouldn't even have dared imagine a scene like this.

But it was good. It felt like a dream.

The Chapter had a homeworld, supplies, and someone to back them up. Someone even remembered those left behind.

"All right, stop looking so pitiful. You're still blocking the lords' way."

"Ah, yes!" The squad leader answered at once, saluted, and stepped aside.

Lin En beckoned the squad that had stayed behind, along with Iron Hammer, Gabriel, and Sentoyor. Then he called to Cecilia, who was coordinating with the refugees. "Sis, let's go! Time to see our new home!"

"Coming!" Cecilia called back.

The whole group set off toward the newly built settlement on Bolomite.

Apart from being a little too close to the Warp Rift for comfort, the environment around the Maelstrom was actually quite nice.

Bolomite's