A little trap

When Bona came out, he found Horus blocking the doorway.

Beyond him stood a ring of Thunder Warriors.

Beyond them stood Arlith and her Storm Troopers.

Beyond them were the naval boarding troops. They no longer carried guns; each clutched a melta charge, packing the entire corridor.

When the tense Arlith saw that nothing had happened, she let out a long sigh of relief.

The Emperor had visited her dreams a few days earlier. Though the dream had been extraordinarily complex and chaotic, Arlith had still managed to decipher its general meaning.

Keep Bona well away from those Chaos scum.

"Stand down."

Horus studied him for a while, then said:

"Hmm, looks like nothing's wrong."

"You sound like you were hoping something would be wrong with me."

Horus noticed the demure Teresa following him out.

"Who's this...?"

"Teresa. She used to be a maid in the Palace of Excess."

Every gun that had just been lowered rose again in unison, while the boarding troops nervously slipped their fingers onto the pull rings of their melta charges.

Bona frowned slightly.

"Lower your guns."

No one listened.

"She's a Greater Daemon, Your Highness," Captain Dakan said nervously.

"I know that better than you do, Captain."

"I know you're brave, but the Aeldari in Commorragh outnumber everyone aboard this ship by more than ten to one."

"If we want to break through the Drukhari blockade and complete the Emperor's mission..."

"Then lower your guns."

Everyone hesitated.

Finally, Fleet Commissar Korn gave a quiet cough.

"Dismissed."

Only then did the naval boarding troops outside begin to leave, and the tension eased somewhat.

Teresa, the cause of it all, watched the scene with curiosity, as though she were merely enjoying the spectacle.

Captain Spire stood beside them, his brow deeply furrowed.

"My lord, while you have your reasons, she is still a Greater Daemon of Chaos."

"Teresa has never been to the real world. Until now, she's always served her god."

"I understand your concerns, Admiral. I'll order Teresa to stay put and not wander around. How's that?"

Spire could only sigh helplessly.

He felt as though he had boarded a ship of thieves, but he had no proof.

"As you wish."

Arlith said nothing. She merely glanced at Teresa before leaving.

Horus was thoroughly enjoying the drama.

"Oh... how did that one agree to give you a maid?"

"Did you offer yourself up?"

Bona clenched his fists, but said nothing and simply walked away.

That was exactly the reaction Horus had wanted.

Anyone could throw out a cutting remark.

"It was just a little deal."

"Oh? What kind of deal?"

"I have to help an Aeldari named Yvraine and a fellow called... Roboute Guilliman fall in love with each other."

Bona had barely taken a few steps before Horus all but dragged him back, demanding loudly in disbelief:

"Who?!"

"Yvraine."

"The next one."

"Roboute Guilliman."

Horus's face twitched.

He suddenly realized something.

Bona didn't know any of the Primarchs at all.

Horus then gave Bona a brief explanation of who the Thirteenth Legion's Primarch was.

Bona was stunned senseless yet again.

"You mean..."

"Roboute Guilliman is probably the Gene-Father of the largest number of Astartes in the Imperium today."

"Is that what you're saying?"

Horus nodded.

Bona said nothing, merely striding back to his private chamber.

He called over and over like a man possessed, but Slaanesh refused to answer.

At last, after a long while, an utterly solemn voice came through.

"Hello, cutie. The person you are calling is currently busy fighting. Please try again later. Sorry, this..."

"Slaanesh, you played me!"

"No, I didn't, cutie."

"A Primarch is a fucking honorary monument with no real authority?"

"Yes. Another cutie I picked hacked him into paralysis. He hasn't moved in ten thousand years. The Ultramarines are currently led by an old man with two fists."

Bona drew a deep breath, forcing down his skyrocketing blood pressure.

A promise made to a god could not be broken. Besides, what Slaanesh had said was technically "correct," so there had been no fraud.

But he refused to accept it, and snarled:

"You'll have to pay extra."

Only after demanding an army of Slaanesh's daemons and information on the Aeldari did Bona emerge, looking deeply aggrieved.

Horus was chatting with Teresa. He had discovered that this Greater Daemon really didn't know anything.

Seeing Bona come out, Horus asked:

"Hmm, looks like you've sorted it out."

"Tell me, how do we get to Commorragh now?"

Having once made a "deal" with the Four Gods himself, Horus understood perfectly well that a signed contract could not be broken. He wasn't foolish enough to ask whether the terms had been changed.

"Where are the nearest Aeldari ruins, or an old battlefield?"

Horus looked puzzled.

The Righteous Protector arrived at the nearest ancient Aeldari battlefield, where corpses littered the ground.

There were Imperial Aquila banners buried in the sand and dust, as well as the helmets of Aeldari warriors.

Someone appeared to have cleared the site. Bona spotted an enormous depression, probably left by the wreck of a Knight. He had no idea who had hauled it away.

"What are we doing here?" Horus asked, bewildered.

"What we're doing is very simple."

Bona opened a comms channel to Admiral Spire.

"Admiral, I need you to send enough men down here to make it look as though an excavation is underway."

"Understood. I'll send them immediately."

Before long, a large contingent of Astra Militarum and a Tech-Priest came down.

The Tech-Priest approached Bona and looked at him.

"**&￥#... According to my calculations, this site has no scientific value whatsoever. I do not understand this pointless operation."

"This operation is indeed pointless, but the Aeldari will think it has a great deal of significance."

"*&*%&￥###"

The priest looked at him, then said:

"Then I want first rights to study the Aeldari equipment."

"Of course."

With the Tech-Priest's assistance, the rank-and-file soldiers began excavating, while engineering-pattern Sentinels and cranes moved back and forth.

When they unearthed what looked like a rather large Aeldari war machine, Bona ordered everyone to stop working.

He took out a cheap-looking crystal ball, a little toy Commissar Korn had confiscated from a sailor.

Then Bona poured psyker power into it, even "accidentally" sending a tiny ripple into the Warp.

From a distance, it looked as though something had leaked psychic energy, only for the leak to be swiftly suppressed.

Bona then ordered an emergency evacuation. Large pieces of equipment, such as the cranes, were simply abandoned.

Horus asked in confusion:

"Can that lousy glass ball attract the Drukhari?"

Bona casually tossed the glass ball into the deepest part of the Righteous Protector, then shut the heavy blast door.

"It couldn't before."

"But it can now."