The Barant Valus grabbed a wood-inlaid Tex Mechanica sidearm from one of the many crates stacked at the bottom of the boarding ramp. The weapon looked pathetic and fragile in his hulking gauntlet, fit only for the spindly hands of Psions. Its undeniable efficacy only increased his indignation.

He tossed the sidearm into the red dust at Enforcer Rao's feet. "Look on the Totality Division's contributions: dainty toys pilfered from our enemies. You insult our glorious Imperium soldiers."

Rao's only response was a wave to her Syndicate associates, who began loading the crates into the Imperium Thresher.

The Valus gave a rough snort, pawing his metal-clad foot into the Martian soil. "Enjoy your little fiefdom while you can, Psion. It will not last."

'Do not be so quick to discard your allies.' Rao's voice propagated through the Valus's mind like an inverted echo, becoming sharper with each reverberation.

Suddenly, the hulking Barant commander felt as if he were falling forward, into the convex reflection of the Psion's helmet. Falling, falling…

[a barant warship. adrift. alarms blare silently. bodies strewn in corridors. gnawed. torn. infested. the bridge. an imperium insignia. bodies overgrown with egregore. sickly sweet rot. clouds of yellowish spores.]

[the warship groans. gravity pulls it into the atmosphere below. friction. combustion. torobatl wails as her favored children slam into—]

The Valus lurched backward, stumbling into his startled attendant.

'You walk a perilous path, Valus.' Rao's silence held a grim smirk. 'You will be wise to remember that.'