Kel-Vantor — The Iron Veins
Four stories from the forge of the Iron Veins, held together by Brother-Techmarine Kael'dun. They begin with a discovery in the Sixth Shaft and ask what a Chapter that is more metal than flesh preserves — and what it gives up to do so.
The starting point: in the Sixth Shaft, Kael'dun's team finds a machine intelligence older than the Imperium. What happens there echoes through every story that follows.
Sixteen months later a brother is interred in a Sarcophagus as a Venerable — and Kael'dun has to defend the rite against an enemy that respects nothing. This is the story of what the Iron Veins mean by living on.
Back to the consequences of the Sixth Shaft, this time on the side of those without armour: an adept who saved a novice is declared contaminated. Kael'dun cannot stop the sentence — only keep something of her.
The finale asks about guilt: the tech-priest who signed off on the mission into the Sixth Shaft chooses the Last Service. His son and a Magos bear the consequences — and Kael'dun sees what a rule costs when everyone believes it necessary.