"Sergeant, what should we do?" Cassian asked as he checked his Heavy Bolter. He had barely any ammunition left.
Malakai did not answer. His gaze settled on the baby once more.
Cradled in the sleeping Sarah's arms, the tiny life quietly sucked his finger. His bright, obsidian-black eyes studied the enormous yellow tin men around him with curiosity. The golden halo around his body seemed a little brighter than before.
An absurd thought suddenly sprang into Malakai's mind.
"Lion El'Jonson," he said to the Apothecary over the internal vox, "give me... the child."
Lion El'Jonson hesitated, but carefully passed the tiny, banner-wrapped body into Malakai's enormous, ceramite-gauntleted hands.
Once in Malakai's hands, the baby did not cry or fuss. Instead, he reached out with an impossibly soft little hand and grasped one of Malakai's fingers. A warm, pure current beyond words instantly surged through that finger into Malakai's body.
Malakai shuddered. He felt as though the old injuries accumulated over years of fighting, buried deep in his bones, had been soothed in that instant. His soul, always weighed down by the Chapter's fate, seemed touched by a ray of sunlight, becoming lighter and more peaceful than ever before.
For a moment, he even felt as though the ill fortune that had plagued him for half his life had been dispelled.
Just then, a violent tremor struck. The rock overhead let out a teeth-grating creak, and more rubble and dust rained down.
"Sergeant! It's coming down!" Volrag roared.
Miracle probability quietly activated once again.
Malakai instinctively looked up, searching for the strongest load-bearing structure so he could lead his squad into cover one last time. Instead, his gaze was caught by an inconspicuous, dust-covered metal panel on the rock wall.
It was... the entrance to an emergency maintenance passage. Judging by