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Caves of Ice

Author	Alex Stewart
Language	English
Series	Ciaphas Cain series
Genre	Science Fiction, Military fiction
Publisher	Black Library
Publication date	December 2004
Publication place	United Kingdom
Media type	Print (paperback, hardback), audiobook, e-book
Pages	254 (first edition, paperback)
ISBN	9781844160709
Preceded by	For the Emperor
Followed by	The Traitor's Hand

Caves of Ice is a science fiction and military fiction novel written by British author Alex Stewart under the pseudonym of Sandy Mitchell and the second instalment in the Ciaphas Cain series. The novel was first published in December 2004 by the Black Library. A year after the events of For the Emperor, Cain is sent to the icy planet of Simia Orichalcae with the Valhallan 597th, Imperial forces are threatened by an Ork invasion and by unrest amongst themselves. The book is presented as Cain's memoirs years after the incident, with occasional footnotes and interjections by Inquisitor Amberly Vail to provide additional context as Cain is an unreliable narrator. Other Imperial perspectives are provided, such as the memoirs of Jenit Sulla, a soldier of the 597th, and official Imperial Guard reports.

Plot

The 597th are transported to the ice planet of Simia Orichalcae aboard the ship Pure of Heart to defend a promethium refinery from an Ork incursion. At the refinery, Cain discovers a report of several disappearances in the past few weeks. A meeting between the administrators and the 597th's officers goes poorly and Colonel Kasteen declares martial law, demanding that the 597th be left alone to combat the Ork threat.

After the meeting, Cain and a platoon of the 597th journey into the mining tunnels, where they briefly combat an unidentified hostile creature and retrieve the remains of one of the missing miners. Worryingly, they also discover a series of unmarked tunnels, predicted by techpriest Logash to possibly have been dug by the creature. Kasteen orders a platoon of the 597th to destroy the creature, accompanied by Cain and Logash. Later, while assessing the defensive lines of the 597th, it is discovered that a Gargant, an extremely dangerous Ork armoured fighting vehicle, approaches the refinery with an estimated arrival time of one day. Kasteen and Broklaw decide to detonate the underground mines to disable the Gargant.

In the tunnels, the group encounters the creature, who is killed in melee combat by Cain. A bemused Logash identifies the creature as an ambull, a desert-dwelling creature not native to Simia Orichalcae or suited to the planet's icy climate, concluding that the ambull must have arrived on the planet with the Orks. Deeper in the tunnels, the group exterminates the remaining ambulls with a single casualty and discovers Ork skulls in the ambull faeces, indicating an Ork presence in the tunnels. Worse still, the group encounters an inactive Necron tomb. Cain decides to barricade the entrance to the tomb despite Logash's vehement disagreements. The group continue to explore the tunnel network and eventually encounters more evidence of Orks in the mines, such as a destroyed Ork gun. The group resurfaces using an unmarked exit, where a surly Logash disappears in the snowstorm.

Cain and the platoon advance and witness Necrons in combat against an Ork patrol, who spot the platoon, forcing the platoon into combat. The Ork patrol is defeated with a single casualty in the platoon. The platoon returns into the tunnels to investigate the Necron threat and encounters several flayed Ork corpses and a single flayed ambull corpse. Later, the platoon engages in combat against Orks in the tunnels, sustaining grievous casualties. The group continue to traverse the tunnels, eventually making their way into a Necron tomb, where they evade detection from a Necron Flayed One. As Cain's group attempts to make their way to the surface, they regroup with Logash, who is in religious awe of the Necrons. The group are rescued by Sulla's platoon.

At a meeting with Broklaw and Kasteen, the group conclude that the refinery had been deliberately constructed in that region due to its proximity to the Necron tomb, as other regions on Simia Orichalcae contained richer deposits of refinable ice. At a later meeting with the 597th's command staff and the refinery's administrators, it is eventually discovered that the Ork incursion into the system alerted the Necron tomb; the ambulls originated from a portal the Necrons had opened in response to the Ork presence. Worryingly, this means that the Necrons will be able to supply their forces with countless reinforcements through the portal; undoubtedly, should the 597th attempt to fight both the Orks and the Necrons, they would suffer total casualties - a total evacuation of the planet's workers aboard the Pure of Heart is ordered. Cain decides to have the Imperial Navy destroy the site, much to the vehement disagreement of the techpriests. However, techpriest Ernulph makes an unfortunate conclusion; Imperial Navy ships would not be able to arrive in orbit for several months, meaning that a strike team has to enter the tomb and destroy the portal themselves. Cain is ordered to take a strike team into the tomb for that reason.

While the Necrons are distracted by combat against the Orks, Cain sneaks himself and a strike team into the underground tunnels, which suffer near-total casualties against the Necrons and fail to destroy the portal. Logash and Cain eventually decide to flood the underground mines and tunnels with the refined promethium as a distraction. They then evacuate with the rest of the 597th and the planet's staff aboard the Pure of Heart. Federer, the captain of the Pure of Heart, concludes that the promethium vapours which have diffused through the mineshafts have turned the entire tunnel network into a makeshift fuel-air explosive. There, Federer detonates an explosive hidden in the caverns in Simia Orichalcae. The resulting explosion destroys the entire mining network and eliminates both Ork and Necron forces from Simia Orichalcae.

Afterwards, Cain meets up with Amberly over a meal to discuss the incident, with Amberly concluding that Cain was lucky to have made it out alive.

References

Bibliography

Stewart, Alex. For the Emperor: A Ciaphas Cain Novel. Black Library, 2004.