Disclamer: I do not own Warhammer 40k, nor do I own Halo. They belong to Games Workshop and Bungie.


ATTENTION:

This Dataslate is the property of the Emperor's Holy Inquisition.

The act of non-authorized viewing, tampering, or damaging the contents of this dataslate will subject the offender and his/her family to death, arco-flaggeration, and/or any other form of capital punishment deemed just by the High Lords of Terra.

The Emperor Protects


Catherin Vikes, Lord Inquisitor of the Ordo Xenos quickly flicked through the warning of the dataslate. It was a standard one, listed on every dataslate owned by the Inquisition. Essentially a quick notice stating that anyone messing with the Inquisition's belongings could be punished in whatever forms the Inquisition wanted. No one, not even the High Lords of Terra nor the most vaunted Chapter Master of the Space Marines, were immune to the prosecution of the Inquisition. What was true for individuals was also true for entire worlds, whose punishments ranged from the death of the planetary governor by the virtue of a well-placed vindicare assassin to a life-ending exterminatus heralded by the ominous shapes of cyclone torpedoes plunging into the doomed world's atmosphere.

That was the power of the Inquisition.

The Inquisition had great power for a reason. Because the responsibility it shouldered was equally large; the defense of the Imperium of Man from the Traitor, the Heretic, and the Mutant. Whether it an external threat or subversion from within, the Inquisition was designed to be a swift and merciless dispenser of the Emperor's justice, be it in the form of a scalpel or a sledgehammer.

True, the Inquisition was often forced to the forefront in its unending struggle to safeguard the unity and purity of the Imperium. Sometimes in the form of a Grey Knight contingent slaying a greater deamon in the epicenter of a planetary battle, or the bloody cleansing of an entire hive city by holy promethium of the Adepta Sororitas. Many other times however, the Inquisition worked from the shadows; the assassination of an overly ambitious general, the massacre of entire heretical cults by cover of night, or the manipulation of xeno populations to cause a revolt against their Tau overlords. And yet, despite the tireless vigilance of the Inquisition, there were occasions when something was overlooked, when a threat passed under the radar, undetected, until it was too late.

This was one of those occasions.

Vikes sighed. How did this happen again? She thought, doing a quick mental refresh of her memory. The details were slowly dragged from her tired brain as she recalled what little she learned from the myriad dataslates she had read before this one. A xeno empire… the Shaleen Covenant. It was a collection of numerous xeno species recently united under a single banner. As her memories started flowing, she gazed upon the report. It was from her old friend and former subordinate Inquisitor Valorum


To Lord Inquisitor Catherine Vikes

I am glad to inform you that the compilation of data on the Shaleen Covenant by accessing the rogue trader archives continues to bear fruit. We have finally found information pertaining to the xeno that make up the Covenant. As we both suspected it seems that their social and political structure is highly influenced by their species. There seems to be some similarity to the Tau Castes, only with the species becoming the foundation of the caste system, at least in the higher strata. Communication with the besieged planets within the Halixis sector continues to be erratic at best, but we have managed to piece together a passable chart of the Covenant's hierarchy as well as descriptions of the xeno species that have been encountered in service of the Covenant so far. As we do not have an official designation for most of these species we shall use the names given out by the PDF of the worlds that have encountered them, the less prominent names would be in parenthesis.

The first is the Avians (or Jackals/Vultures/Bijacks). These beings have blacked skinned with dark coloured feathers encircling its beak. It must be noted that it possesses a partial exoskeleton from the area of the chest upward to neck, and that its skin is think and hard enough be considered hide. Roughly between 1.45 to 1.65 meters tall, they are slightly shorter than the average human. According to reports, they are being used as the standard rank-and-file troops by the Covenant, although a few seem to have ascended to a high ranks within the Covenant command structure.

The second species are the Elites (or the Lizards/Bladewarriors/Jorsen). They are, for most purposes, the NCOs and officers. Though at times they have also been grouped into all-Elite fire-teams, most of the time they lead the Avians and other troops to battle. Not much is known about their physiology, as they usually use fully encasing armor. Their height is between 1.75 to 1.9 meters tall, and they have demonstrated a surprising agility and dexterity in combat. Archaic rogue trader records state that their society was based on their solidly militant and austere culture.

The third species are the Gorillas (or Chargers/Brutes/Breakers). Being, at average, two meters tall, these xeno are highly muscled and have usually been used as shock troopers, the equivalent of our orgryns. Unlike the elites, they rarely use fully encasing armor, I suspect because they are not highly valued in the Covenant hierarchy. Again, rogue trader archives has casted a light of knowledge on this xeno. It appears that the Gorillas culture was also very warlike, similar to the elites. The difference is that the Gorillas were more tribal and warrior-like; emphasizing personal bravery and cunning while the Elites emphasized discipline and order. A small wonder the Elites are higher up in the totem pole.

The Bugs (or Flies/Grubs) are the final xeno species we have hard data on. They are very short indeed, about a meter tall, 1.2 at the most. Their most redeeming features are their bug-like wings, which give them limited aerial locomotion. Used by the Covenant as infiltrators and flankers, these xeno have impressing tactical worth, but will be no match in a stand-up fight against trained troops. The rogue trader archives states that when they were first encountered two millennia ago, they were still in the tribal state, unlike the Gorillas and the Elites, who were in the Feudal age. The archive contains a passing comment on the high level of mutation that happens to this xeno, as well as its telepathic nature. Although the bugs do not form into a hive-mind if bunched together, they do conjure minor psychic powers if a significantly large group is clustered together and faces a common focal point. Because of the disjointed nature of their psychic power, they seem to be unable to tap into it except when in total tranquility or total panic. Even then, their massed powers are only equal to the weaker sanctioned psychers we use.

Of course, there are almost certainly other xeno species in the Covenant, one of them being the Tanks (Warlords/Blasters/Shockers), who are even taller than the Gorillas yet also having a wider and bulkier frame. Sadly we still haven't found any information on them other than the fact that they are walking weapons platforms. None of the rogue trader archives nor the sector lexicanum scholaris have managed to heave up any mention of xeno that have dimensions or a similar description to the Tanks. Despite that, hopefully we could gain data on it once the Mechanicus allows my retinue to access their explorator files.

The Elites, with their discipline, make good frontline commanders, but I am sure that another xeno-species leads the covenant as a whole. As stated, while the Elites might lead the military echelons of the Government it is possible that they only hold middling levels in the government hierarchy. I also suspect that there is a primary psycher species, as the Bugs psycher abilities are extremely limited. Since the Covenant also uses the same form of warp travel as we do, we can only guess at their method of navigation. Either they have subverted traitorous navigators or they have formed their own navigator caste.

Lastly, the Adeptus Biologis, the rogue trader council, and other experts in the field of xeno culture all agree that whoever the leaders of the Covenant are, they must have very long memories, extreme patience, or elder-like longevity. So far, the majority of the rogue traders agree that long lifespans must be a trait of the leading species of the Covenant. Seeing how long they've been silently infiltrating our government and military, I find it prudent to agree with them. Those xeno are way too good at long term planning for comfort.

Ah, and before I go back to reading dusty tomes and old dataslates, attached are some illustrations and pics of the xeno species. One of my retainers found them in the rogue trader archives.

Emperor protect you, and may he guide us all

Inquisitor Valrig Valorum


Vikes finished reading the dataslate and sighed, fatigue and weariness briefly overcoming the triple mugs of recaff she had consumed. Slumping into her work chair, Vikes briefly massaged her brow before going on to read even more dataslates, some also from Inquisitor Valorum, and others from the Arbites, Imperial Navy, or any other institution, noble house, or government which felt it prudent to report their newest findings or to beg her for reassurances.

To think, a formerly disjointed collection of xeno states somehow unified in the span of less than two millennia, lifting numerous sub-industrial, feudal, or even tribal civilizations into imperial levels of technology. This empire had then set about to subvert an entire sector into its claws (or fingers, or hooves, or whatever they had on the edges of their appendages). Vikes knew the cycle of which a faithful planet would be slowly manipulated into forsaking the Emperor. Usually, bureaucrats were the first to be subverted, and they, in turn, subverted the leadership, who then subverted the military and the populace. Given another generation, the results would have been catastrophic, with entire governments, as well as their military apparatus, all suddenly revolting against the Imperium of Man in one fell swoop.

An unsuspecting Inquisitional investigation to the suspicious deaths multiple high-ranking Arbites had stumbled upon the plot. The aftermath was a desperate and anarchic series of purges, counter-purges and coups as the subverted individuals and planets, knowing that the Emperors justice would soon be looming over them, revolted before the Covenant's plan and preparation was mature.

Quick Inquisitional action helped saved part of the Halixis sector, but it could not save all of it. A third of the worlds in the Halixis sector were plunged into civil war, some planets even directly withdrawing from the Imperium without any resistance, so complete had their subversion been. Worse, what was already a dire situation became much grimmer as the Covenant fleets steamrolled through the frontier worlds, besieging loyalist planets whilst encouraging insurrectionist movements.

In the midst of all this, even the power of the Inquisition was blunted, as entire naval squadrons and guard regiments turned traitor, following the traitorous example of the planetary governments they were stationed at. Even the sector governor and Lord Admiral was found to be a xeno sympathizer. Only the Arbites and Mechanicus had emerged from the Inquisition's purges unscathed.

This led to her current condition, traveling to a backwater sector to pick up a new Lord-Admiral. The Imperium needed to shore up the defenses of the loyalist planets and prepare a counter-attack, and a functioning Imperial navy was vital for that. Since going through the bureaucracy was simply out of the question, the Inquisition had stepped in; basically waving the sacred badge of duty to make what would usually take months happen in weeks.

One the actions the Inquisition had taken into its own hands was the appointment of the new Lord-Admiral of Battlefleet Halixis. The selection process would usually take years, with political jockeying, bribes, and intrigue slowing down the selection, which would then need documented approval of the High Lords of Terra. Added by the time to arrange travel, and the traveling itself, it was not uncommon for relatively unmonitored sectors to have a decade in between Lord Admirals. (Vital sectors such as Cadia or Gothic had faster selection times, since even bean-counting bureaucrats and ambitious naval personnel were wary of leaving such sectors unattended and even more wary of attracting Inquisitional attention).

For weeks she and her retinue had shifted through dataslates to find the ideal replacement, until one of her newer retainers had hesitantly proposed the person she and Valorum had eventually agreed on.

Let's hope you're really worth all my time, Demian Jole. She thought gingerly, before picking up yet another dataslate.


Authors notes: And there it is, the first chapter to my first fanfic attempt. Wow, I feel giddy!

Anyway, before you ask, yes, the Shaleen Covenant is strongly based on the Halo's Covenant (As in an 80% carbon-copy clone of it). Not a total copy, mind you, but I doubt you could read through Valorum's letter without realizing the similarity. I decided not to put this story into the crossover section since I'm just using the Covenant as a minor variable. There are differences, and I promise to flesh them out more in the following chapters.

My thanks to Lord Vade for his excellent beta-reading and input.

Reviews and Comments are greatly appreciated, please do. I need the Input.