Even Karen stopped pacing. His eyes widened as he watched the bravest sergeant under his command cradle a tiny life as fragile as glass in a power gauntlet capable of crushing steel, like an awkward father.
Jason lowered the staff in his hand and slowly approached. He looked neither at Malakai nor at the woman. From beginning to end, his gaze remained fixed on that tiny halo of golden light.
As the Chapter's chaplain, Jason had a soul more sensitive than anyone else's. The moment the infant entered headquarters, he had felt an unprecedented bond of fate, as though it reached across countless ages. This was no trick of the Warp, but a resonance far older and more fundamental. He felt the sorrow and nobility of Sanguinius deep within his soul stir in an indescribable response to that tiny life.
"A... newborn." Jason's voice was deep and resonant. He extended his unarmored hand to touch the halo, only to stop halfway, as though afraid his mortal flesh might sully its sanctity.
"Yes, Chief Chaplain," Malakai said. "And... some things we can't explain."
In the briefest, most objective terms possible, he reported the squad's experiences in the mine and the Ork Warboss's bizarre death to Jason and Karen.
After hearing Malakai's account, Karen looked even more bewildered and wary.
"Coincidence? Malakai, you know better than I do that in the Sons of Sorrow's dictionary, that word usually goes hand in hand with disaster." He scrutinized the infant suspiciously. "A baby who brings good luck? I'm more inclined to believe this is some Warp creature beyond our understanding, a lure disguised as hope."
"His vital signs show no abnormalities, Company Captain," Apothecary Lion El'Jonson added from beside them, his voice carrying an unmistakable note of professional authority. "I examined him with every