The council at Ganymede was brief, as those things went, because the Emperor's word was law and because there was so much to do.

On the last day, though - on the last day, on the slopes of Harakhtes crater, where the blackened ice of ancient Ganymede met the freshly exposed whiteness within, Valmar looked across the desolation one last time. There was much of Ganymede that had been consumed by industry and life and war, but Harakhtes had been left as it had once been, before humanity had placed its second foot on the surface. It was not the same, of course. The atmosphere above them, even, was artificial, thin though it was before the bleak-blue sky of noon.

Ri Domaan took walks here, not uncommonly, but though it was wilderness Valmar did not see the point. Fenris was alive, and Terra and Cthonia and surely Avalon were alive in their own ways, but there was nothing to Harakhtes and little to Ganymede. Still, he took it in to remember, because this too was worth remembering.

And it was there that the Emperor found him.

"Father?"

"Valmar," the Emperor said with a sigh. "Do you mind if I sat down?" Valmar cleared a space on the rim, and the Emperor sat down, peering into unrevealed distance for an instant before shaking his head, laying his hand on Valmar's shoulder, and returning to earth.

"I do apologize about the assignment," the Emperor said.

"I have nothing to complain about in it." True, it was not a frontline place, but it was an essential one nevertheless.

"Some of your Legion will, though," the Emperor said.

Valmar nodded in understanding. The Draka Fenryka had often been deployed to plug such gaps, before his finding, and more than a few had likely wished for a more dramatic change. But this was not a repeat of the past; they would spend time on the Crusade's forefront, he had no intent to let defense grow as desperate as the Eighteenth's battles tended to before, and he would have the resources to ensure that.

The Emperor accepted his explanation. "And the matter of keeping peace between your brothers?"

"I have seen feuds far worse, and settled some. Though, of course..."

Though, of course, Faro and Rakissen were not merely human, and he was deeply proud to call both of them his brothers. But all the same.

They talked of Valmar's assignment for a few more minutes, as they walked back between lines of antennae to the complex. The Emperor pointed out two points of light in orbit. "These are my parting gifts to Ri and Rakissen," he said. "Two new Gloriana-classes, from the shipyards of Mars. Ri has called his the Cusp of Eternity. But Mars has not had the time to construct a fifth Gloriana-class yet."

There was a brief silence, save for the wind rustling the antennae.

"I imagine you will want to forge your own weapons and armor," the Emperor continued as they descended a staircase to the forge complex underground, "but you will understand that I wished to give you something."

Valmar's eyes widened to take it in, particularly given how well it blended into the dimly lit walls behind. At first glance, the vehicle seemed to be a jetbike of quadrupled scale, but one of a pattern unlike any he was familiar with. Its design was intricate to the point of being incomprehensible, swooping in microscopic spires and speckles.

"Did you build it?"

"I only refurbished it," the Emperor said, and for once his aura seemed distant. "Even that was the work of months. This is the last Peryton-pattern phasebike built in the Larimer belt, in the final moments of the Age of Technology. I will give you the blueprints, in the event that you need to make your own repairs - I am not sure even your brothers could manage the same."

Valmar took in the contours - the control system seemed intuitive, though he could only barely tell how the vehicle worked. Sitting in the pilot's saddle, he turned a handle, the bike seeming to instantly and effortlessly transition to hovering above the ground. It responded as if it was alive, indeed perhaps in a sense it was alive, and its name -

"Its name," Valmar said, "is Wyldbreaker."

The primarch turned back, to see his father half-hiding a small smile.

"Go," the Emperor said. "There are only a few hours before takeoff... Go, to your brothers, for the memories that will light the way into the future that we are fighting for, on the other side. Go."

"For humanity's sake," Valmar said, and flew into the darkness.

End Part 2