Horus Heresy:
The Eagle's Talon
written by
John French
I'm not sure
if its a different editorial direction of if they just both came out
after Mortarion's Heart but
so far the Heresy audios have been a lot better for knowing what
makes a satisfying audio experience. The basic plot of this one is a
very simple engagement: at some time during the Battle Of Tallarn an
Imperial Fists strike team of three squads has infiltrated an Iron
Warriors macro-transport ship (its like a troop transport except its
transporting an entire army including armour) that they have to stop
reaching the surface.
That's
a very simple and direct skirmish engagement, more so even than the
battle at the centre of Mortarion's Heart,
but John French uses the audio medium to make it both interesting and
varied to listen to.
First
of all we are once again in a story being related after the fact. In
this case we have someone examining a series of archived radio
transmissions between the three Fists squads as they infiltrate the
ship and making notes on them. This allows French not only to skip a
lot of boring bits but to use the listening historian as a source of
exposition. During the breaks between vox fragments we have our Iron
Warriors historian talk about the specific tactics of the skirmish,
the larger tactical situation of Tallarn, and even offer some
thoughts on whether or not the concept of honour has any value in the
Heresy-era Imperium.
A
similar conversation to that last one comes up between the Fists
sergeants, one interesting detail of which is that one o their number
became a Space Marine during the Heresy and has only known war
against other Space Marines.
Of
the communications the most interesting, for my money, is when the
subject is broached of destroying the ship and letting it crash. The
impact and the nuclear fallout would kill indiscriminately the people
on the surface both loyal and traitor. What interests me, what gave
me more insight into the Imperial Fists psychology than I think I've
ever been granted before, is that one of the sergeants insists that
Space Marines should not sacrifice human lives for their own victory,
that it runs counter to the reasons the Space Marines were created.
It
isn't a new insight into Space Marine psychology (it forms the basis
of one of the earliest Black Library novels) but it gives the “vox
archive” sections a bit of meat they might otherwise have lacked
alongside the more contemplative exposition of the archivist.
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