Hello Everybody, Now then this is the second chapter to the Imperium of Mankind's Rise. I will say things will heat up next chapter even more but it has started. If you have suggestions or concerns let me know and I will try to answer. Now first I don't own Mass Effect or Warhammer 40k.
Commissar Critical: I thank you for the idea it was better then my planned reason so I hope you don't mind me borrowing it.
Phoenix Connection: I realized that and have a reason for it.
Jouaint: Yes, I am fully aware of that. But the Imperium has enough problems to really worry about these pathetic new Xenos.
Ridli Scott: I agree but you seem a little overzealous... Nah you can never be too Zealous. Die Batarian Scum in The Name of The God-Emeror of Mankind!
Sileq: No you are correct but I have the answer in this chapter.
Now on with the Story!
Bortak Nisk stood in the armory of the Batarian slaver cruiser Brasknik. He was thinking on the Humans they captured two weeks ago. He was a Krogan Warlord who had lived over five hundred years and these Humans unsettled him.
They refused to break or submit, the one they put an explosive collar on had killed a room full of Batarians after one ordered it to bring him more wine. The Human took the alcohol and a rag to create an improvised incendiary devise to burn the six men alive with him. All of them had a fanatical gleam every time they yelled out how they would pay.
They had unloaded most of the Humans on a moon in the nearby system and had grabbed seven frigates to hunt around for more Human settlements. Nisk was polishing his Claymore shotgun when alarms began to sound. Running out of the armory he grabbed a running Turian by the neck. "What in hell is going on," he roared. "Unknown ship ahead of us. Its more then four kilometers!"
Nisk dropped him in shock. The Asari's Destiny Ascension was only 1.5 and it was a struggle for them to get it to work without ripping itself apart at the seams.
Mariah had spent three weeks in a cage with the Quarian Xeno Neela. She listened as Neela spoke about herself and her people and occasionally about the other races in Citadel Space. After a week Mariah answered a question about her life. After that they traded questions to pass the time to keep themselves entertained
She spoke of the God-Emperor and the history of the Imperium. Neela spoke of the Flotilla and their history. One day Neela asked, "how did you end up being captured by the Batarians, Mariah?"
"I was apart of a construction crew as an Architect building a Hive City on a new Agri World. We only had five hundred soldiers to protect us. They had been sent to a nearby sector as reinforcements to deal with an Ork WAAGH! Our PDF force was destroyed by a marauding band of Dark Eldar. We had finished the city and were just waiting for the new inhabitants when these foul Batarians invaded and took us captive. Then I got thrown into this cell with you."
Alarms went off and the Humans and their Quarian cellmate wondered what was going on. Up on the bridge it was chaos as people ran about trying to figure out what was happening.
Captain Cepril Brasnelak stood on the command deck and yelled out, "What the fuck is going on!"
"Unknown ship has been detected and its a little over four kilometers, master!" One of his Asari slaves yelled out.
A Batarian called out, "Captain we are receiving a transmission from the unknown, sir!" On the screen was appeared a Human male. He stood in thick black armor with what appeared to be a sword of all things by his waist.
"Xeno, I am Inquisitor Hadrian Guskoff of the Imperium of Mankind. I know you have stolen Imperial Citizens on your vessel. Surrender your ships and your deaths will be quick."
Cepril laughed at him, "I don't think so Human. In fact if you surrender now I won't kill your crew and you can be one of my personal slaves."
Hadrian stiffened, "Very well, Xeno, the hard way it is." The video shut off.
Cepril laughed and called out, "Prepare teams for boarding. We will make a fortune with this."
On the bridge of The Emperor's Devine Will Hadrian growled at the Xeno's arrogance. "Helm prepare the Lance Batteries. The smaller ships are free targets but i want the larger ship intact so target the engines. Brother Volkmar, you will lead an assault on that ship with the Guardsmen, understood?"
Volkmar nodded and turned to leave the bridge as Hadrian called out after him, "I want the leader alive, kill any who resist."
The Imperial Guardsmen on board were of the White Hand regiment. They gained the name after the regiment held a city besieged by Tyranids for three weeks until reinforcements arrived. Out numbered and out gunned the General in charge took white paint and used his hand to make imprints of a pure white hand on each man's left shoulder.
He told those men to stand tall for the hand of the Emperor was on their shoulders. When reinforcements arrived they found the regiment had suffered only moderate causalities and on every man dead or wounded the hand print was still intact.
The Devine Will had one thousand men aboard her for Inquisitor Hadrian to command. At the command twenty men piled into each of the ten Caestus Assault Rams for the boarding actions. Volkmar turned the vox system and spoke, "Guardsmen, today we fight a new enemy. These Xenos dared to take loyal Imperial Citizens from the Emperor. They shall take NO MORE! We will kill these beasts, leave none alive except the leader. He will live long enough to tell us where our siblings are then he shall join the others in death where they belong. Remember, The Emperor Protects the Virtuous!"
Hadrian then spoke, "You will be the Vanguard of our attack. You are to secure a landing zone for the Thunderhawks. If needed the Rams have teleport beacons for quick insertion. Show these Xenos no mercy!"
The Rams flew out of the hangar as the Devine Will fired it's Lance Batteries at the Xeno fleet. The four smaller ships in view just shattered as the Lances ripped through the ceramic armor without triggering the kinetic barriers. The cruiser lost it's engines and the ship was dead in space.
As the rams hurtled towards the crippled cruiser the other three frigates fired their cannons on the Devine Will and the Rams. The Will's void shield took the fire but one of the Rams blew under sustained fire. One frigate tried to flee but one of the broadside guns fired a barrage of shells upon it causing it to blow violently in the void.
Finally as the Devine Will destroyed the last frigate the first Ram fired it's magna-melta and slammed into the cruiser. It was scarred from the GUARDIAN lasers but far from dead. Inside the crew prepared to fight for their lives.
Crew men were scurrying down the hall when the metal became red and then ruptured as the Ram crashed through the hull. The Ram sat there a moment. A curious Batarian crept close and jumped a little as it opened. He peered into and saw two glowing eyes as a bolter round blew his skull apart.
The others were shocked as a figure far bigger then the Humans in the cargo bay stepped out of the object. It was a solid black figure larger then a Krogan. Nine foot tall it stood imposing before then like some kind of Demon from Hell. Silver ornaments and scraps of parchment hung from it and clutched in its hands was a huge gun with a thick tube leading to it's back.
DAKKA!DAKKA! The gun roared as it spit it's lethal Metal Storm Frag rounds. These rounds shattered just before hitting its target spraying shrapnel, shredding the target, making it useful against lightly armored enemies.
They started to fire back as it strode forward with more Humans flooded out behind it firing Las Carbines and shotguns at the crew. The first ten seconds was the crew killing about five Guardsmen before the sweltering las fire and storm of metal shrapnel forced them back. Once the Guardsmen got the two melta guns out and fired them the Slavers broke and ran.
The Batarians fled forcing slaves behind them as shields. They ran only to find that the whole area was a warzone as the other eight Rams impacted across the ship and Guardsmen poured into the cruiser firing shotguns, las carbines, and the occasional melta or flamer. Hack was using his slab shield to block fire as he advanced towards the armory with six Guardsmen behind him firing their las carbines at the twelve Batarians and the unknown Xeno.
Nisk had to admit these Humans wouldn't give up. They marched over the dead men as they fought on. He had even seen one jump onto a grenade a desperate Batarian threw in a panic. He never seen anyone except Turian military do that, the Batarians would rather throw one of the slaves on it instead. He was starting to wish he had left when he could but it was too late for that as the huge Human in slab armor used a large shield to push forward with the others firing around him.
Nisk knew that they were dead so he gave a roar and charged the larger figure. Hack was having a grand time as they fought across the ship when the large Xeno roared and ran at him. Hack dropped the shield and meet the Xeno and it became a fight of strength. Hack shoved the Xeno and punched him in the face and was back handed away as the Xeno crashed into his stomach. Hack picked up his Ripper Gun and fired three rounds point blank into the Krogan's head. It shattered under the pressure.
In the cargo bay Mariah and the others had felt the impacts and could hear fighting. "Could it be the Turians," Neela asked softly. Mariah shook her head. "I hear bolter fire. It's THE IMPERIUM!" Every Human cheered as they knew they were saved. Several Batarians and their slaves ran into the hold as the far door shuddered as the Guardsmen tried to bust down the door.
Finally the door crashed forward but no fire or Humans came. One of the Batarians ordered a slave forward to check it out. The slabe crept forward when suddenly flames and cinders enveloped him and caused him to erupt in flames as a figure shrouded in fire stepped through the destroyed door. The figure was a primaris psyker, he had sigils and wards tattooed and burned into his skin carrying a force staff. He walked forward and saw the cages filled with Humans he snapped his eyes to the Batarians who were standing in shock at him. He raised a hand and flames poured forth towards them as he brought the energies of the Warp to bear against them.
Behind him came thirteen Guardsmen and a Commissar who strode forward to see the incinerated remains and nodded. "Good work Psyker." Walking up to the cages he spoke, "I am Commissar Gregor of the White Hand Regiment if the Imperial Guard, we will get you out of here after we secure the ship."
He saw the Quarian in the cell with Mariah but refrained from mentioning it, his orders where to kill the Xenos who stole citizens of the Imperium, this Xeno was caged like the Humans where.
Inquisitor Hadrian walked onto the Slaver ship from the ThunderHawk as he looked about the hangar. Several Xeno and Guardsman lay dead across the floor but amazingly more Xenos laid there then Guardsman. A trooper jogged over to him. "Sir, we have found the stolen citizens. There is another new Xeno caged with them."
"Leave it alive for now I wish to meet this Xeno. They could have valuable intel about these Slavers." The trooper nodded and spoke into his Vox. "Follow me, Inquisitor, they are this way."
As they walked down the halls Hadrian could see the efforts of the Slavers to keep the vessel from them, that effort was in vain as Guardsmen marched through the vessel rooting out survivors.
Finally they came to the cargo bay with the caged Humans. He strode forward and spoke, "I am Inquisitor Hadrian Guskoff, Ordos Xenos, of The Inquisition. We are nearly ready to send you over to the Emperor's Devine Will and bring you home. First we need to discover where these Xeno Slavers have taken our brethren."
Hadrian walked over to Mariah and Neela who had been standing at the edge of the crowd. "Who might you be, Miss?" He asked as he look at Neela.
The Xeno shuffled and spoke quietly almost afraid that if she spoke she would be shot, then again a few Guardsmen were pointing Las Carbines in her direction. Hadrian motioned for them to point their rifles away from her.
"My name is Neela'Hasar nar Suvum, my Lord?" She spoke hesitantly not sure what to say. "There is no need for the my Lord, Miss Suvum. You are not an Imperial Citizen, Inquisitor is fine." Hadrian told her as he turned to the Commissar. "Has the leader of this Vessel been secured yet?"
The Commissar nodded his head, "They are bringing him down here for you, Sir." At that moment a dozen men were dragging the same Xeno from the Vox screen earlier.
Hadrian grinned, "Ah, well done men. Now then Xeno, what should we do with you?"
Cepril growled, "I am Captain Cepril Brasnelak of the Batarian Hegemony! You darw assault my vessel and kill my crew! The Hegemony will kill you and enslave your species, you worthless two eyed primate!"
Hadrian laughed, "I have no care for your precious Hegemony, Xeno. I want to know where you sent my people to. Now once again you have the easy way and the hard ways. The easy way you tell what I want to know and you die quickly or you go the hard way and I torture the information out of you."
Cepril laughed at him, "Do your worst scum. I don't fear you!" He spat in Hadrian's direction.
Hadrian grinned, "Good, I was hoping for the hard way. Now Xeno, do you know that my people have some pretty amazing abilities?" He looked at Cepril who looked confused. "One is our ability to fight even against overwhelming odds but the second is more useful in this situation."
He stood before him and cupped a hand and purple flames manifested in his hand curling and licking the air. "The second is our ability to manipulate the Immaterium of the Warp and use it against our foes."
He gestured to the men around him. Two grabbed Cepril by the shoulders and another brought a table over to them. The trooper grabbed an arm and slammed it onto the table. "This is warp fire, said to be able to burn a beings soul. Now I don't know about that but it does work wonders against the flesh."
Cepril tried to fight as he realized what he was implying. "You can't do this! The Council will have your head Human!" Hadrian paused at this but shrugged. Then carefully he grabbed the arm on the table and allowed it to burn for five seconds while Cepril screamed in agony.
Cepril was sobbing in pain and was shaking, "You can do whatever you want but I will never tell you anything, you monster!"
Hadrian looked at him for a second and was about to do it again when Neela shouted for him to stop. "I could get you the navigation data! Just please stop it!" Hadrian looked at her then shrugged and nodded to the Commissar. He grinned stepped behind Cepril and pulled out his bolt pistol and fired a round point blank into his skull.
Hadrian motioned for Neela to follow him and the men escorted them to the bridge. Neela looked nervous and kept glancing towards Hadrian. He looked at her, "I am sorry you had to witness that Miss Suvum but in our space these things are a needed evil unfortunately."
"Suvum is the ship I was born on, Hasar is my last name. The full name means Neela Hasar child of the Suvum. When I return to the Flotilla the mar will change to vas which means "of the"." She rambled in nervousness.
Hadrian chuckled, "I am sorry about that Miss Hasar. Now I just need to know where they took my people, I promise as long as you behave you will not be harmed. I wish to know what you can tell me of the peoples of this area of the galaxy."
After a minute of walking they reached an elevator. Inside stood Volkmar and Hack. Neela looked up at Volkmar in awe and a little bit of fear. He glanced at her and turned to the Inquisitor.
"What is the Xeno doing here, Sir?"
"Miss Hasar will be pulling the ship's navigation data for us. Also where is Hybris?"
"He is on the bridge, he is not having much luck with the Machine Spirit though."
Neela was looking at Volkmar's armor as they spoke. At nine feet tall and almost half that wide he created an imposing figure. There were several icons embossed into the armor in a silver material. Scraps of a papery substance containing writing in a cursive script hung by wax seals.
Volkmar noticed her watching and stared her down. "I don't like this idea Inquisitor. You can't trust Xenos, they are treacherous beings who only deserve a bolter to the face."
Hadrian scowled, "Until she proves a threat you will not try to kill her, understood?" Volkmar nodded but told her, "I will be keeping an eye on you Xeno."
Neela growled and snarled at him, her anger at the insult overriding her fear, "My name is Neela not Xeno and I have nothing to do with the Batarians or any other alien race you have fought!"
Volkmar stared at her for a minute longer then nodded. They continued walking and as they did they past several check points with several Guardsmen. They looked uncomfortable with Neela but due to Hadrian's presence they parted easily.
On the bridge Hybris was trying in vain to influence the Machine Spirit but it refused to act at all. The thing was acting as if it was restrained from action. As he pressed a button while murmuring a prayer a figure appeared on the console. "Hello User I am the VI. How may I serve you?"
Hybris growled in anger, was this some kind of Soulless Intelligence? "What are you Abomination!?"
The figure froze for a second and spoke, "Sorry User, that query does not appear in my Database. Please ask an acceptable query I can answer."
So it's not intelligent but it constrains the Machine Spirit but I can not figure out how to fix it, Hybris mused.
Just then Hadrian, Volkmar, and Neela walked in. "Ah, Inquisitor I was hoping for your arrival." He noticed Neela standing uneasy to the side. "How Xeno species are there on this side of the Xeno Catapult Device?"
Neela corrected him softly, "There are nine. Quarians, my people, Batarians, the four eyed people of this vessel, the Krogan, the Volus, the Drell, the Hanar, the Salarians, the Turians, the Asari. Also the "Catapult" is actually a Mass Relay."
Hybris nodded absently as he studied the console. "The Machine Spirit is slumbering and I can not wake it."
Hadrian nodded, "Our Quarian friend here is going to do that for us."
Neela slowly walked forward and stepped up to the console and activated an Omni-tool she took from Captain Cepril.
Hybris looked at this strange tech in fascination. The Machine Spirit was awake in it and it sang in the Quarians hands as she manipulated the computers to find the Nav Data.
Hybris watched as the Machine Spirit in the console seemed to be roused from its slumber minutely when an alarm sounded.
Hadrian yelled over the din of alarms, "What in the name of The Emperor is happening!?"
Neela didn't look up from her Omni-tool as she replied, "They rigged the console to activate the self-destruction when an unauthorized person tries to access the console. Unfortunately they also made it to where the ship VI knows you killed the real Captain so it knows I am an imposter."
Hadrian cringes, "Can you stop the self-destruct!"
"Not without losing the Nav Data, they added out erase programs so I have to fight the computer and keep the data at the same time, so kindly shut the hell up so I can focus!"
After a nerve racking five minutes Neela yells in triumph as the Alarms die and she spins around in victory. "Yeah I did it, I am the best hacker in Citadel Space!"
Hadrian coughs to get her attention, "Do you have the Data?"
She nodded sheepishly. "Good, now we return to the Devine Will and rescue our brethren. Good job Miss Neela, and welcome."
With that he turned and started towards the elevator. "What do you mean welcome!?" Neela ran up behind him. "I of course mean to my retinue. I will need your expertise in dealing with these "Batarian's" XenoTech. So therefore you will be working for me as a retainer."
Neela yelled in frustration, "You can't just make me work for you!"
Hadrian grinned at her, "Volkmar, please make sure Miss Hasar makes to the Devine Will. Also Hybris, make sure we have some Carapace armor for her. We don't want her to die now, do we?"
Volkmar seemed to disagree but nodded in acceptance as he stepped behind Neela and threw her over his shoulder and kept walking. Neela squeaked and yelled for him to put her down.
Neela noticed Guardsmen putting round object on walls and floors. "What are the doing?"
Hadrian glanced over then shrugged, "They are putting Melta-charges to blow this place to hell."
Neela was shocked at that but didn't speak again. After they arrived on the Devine Will Volkmar let Neela down and called over two Guardsmen. "Put her in the spare quarters next to the Inquisitor's rooms. She is not to wander about unescorted."
Neela turned to Hadrian, "Wait, I can't eat your food. I am Dextro-Amino acidic. Your Levo-Amino acidic."
Hadrian looked thoughtful and nodded. He gestured for a Vox caster to have someone get some from the Slaver ship.
A few hours later Hadrian then headed to the Comm. Room to update the HighLords of Terra on what he had found and his progress on his mission. He activated the comm unit and was placed via holo in front of the Council of Lords.
"Inquisitor, make your report."
"I have found the Slaver ship responsible for the attack on the colony Agri-world. We have rescued a hundred and eighty-five colonists and have found the location of the rest. They are on a moon in a nearby sector of space. They are to be sold in a weeks time."
"This can not be allowed, Inquisitor. We are sending another Dauntless-class light cruiser to support you and the Ultramarine Adeptus Astartes chapter has sent a strike force to help put the fear of the Emperor into these Xenos," spoke The Master of the Adeptus Administratum. "Show these Xenos no mercy."
Hadrian nodded and spoke, "My lords I have discovered there are nine new Xeno races in this section of space." This was met with murmurs of surprise as they took this new information in. "My Lords, only one race was responsible for the kidnapping of our people. I also have a member of another race on my ship to deal with the XenoTech of these "Batarians", they are called Quarians."
The Representative of the Inquisition spoke, "Is there any reason you have kept it alive, Brother?"
Hadrian nodded, "The Xeno was able to access the computer even when my TechPriest, Artisan Hybris, was not able due to the strange slumber of the vessel's Machine Spirit."
This caught the Fabricator General's attention. "The Machine Spirit was not responsive?"
Hadrian shook his head, "Hybris told me it was like the Machine Spirit was chained and forced into a slumber but when the Quarian interacted with the vessel he said it started to awaken. He also mention that a piece of XenoTech the Quarian had on had an active Machine Spirit that was almost singing in her hands."
The General looked thoughtful and didn't speak again. Hadrian started to ask the question that he knew could get him killed. "My Lords, I have review the information the Quarian was able to give me on this "Citadel Space" both facts and things she had seen herself. I wish to ask your permission, My Lords, to gain the loyalty of the Quarian Race as a servant species of the Imperium."
As he had expected the Lords were yelling in anger, except the Fabricator General and The Inquisition Representative. Finally after several minutes of yelling and threats the Representative spoke, "Let us hear the Inquisitor's reasons before we kill him. They may be truly good reasons, I would hope for his sake."
Hadrian nodded, "The Quarian people have only been in space for a few hundred years, they are a young naive race, but they have potential and are useful. They are a nomadic race after they were kicked off their home-world by AIs they had accidentally created. Like us they tried to destroy their creations but were defeated yet they still try to destroy the AIs. They were betrayed by the people they hoped would help them and instead left to rot in the void of space."
"They have kept a flotilla of over fifty thousand ships running for a little over three hundred years without stable supply lines. They are incredible engineers. We could use them to keep our ship's engines and systems running for far longer. They could be put to work on Agri-worlds and Forge Worlds in return for our protection and a world to live on. In return we can put the men into the Imperial Guard without losing any man power in production of food or products."
He looked at the High Lords and hoped he was giving them good enough reason for them to agree. "Their fleet if massive. We could easily melt down most of for resources. Plus these AIs and Batarians can be good training for our newer Regiments."
The Master of the Adeptus Administratum interrupted him, "How so, Inquisitor?" His tone did nothing to hint on how he was leaning. Hadrian continued, "After taking the Slaver vessel I checked the causality reports, my Lord. Out of the one hundred and thirty-five men I sent over only thirty-nine died in the fighting my Lords. The Flak-Jackets could take roughly five rounds from their rifles before failing. The weapons fire smaller caliber shots at a faster pace then our bolters but their rounds flatten against the target, the Flak-Jackets are designed to protect against piercing bullets. They can handle more hits. The Xenos have a strange kinetic barrier but it barely does anything against the Guardsmen's Las-Guns."
The High Lords confer among themselves for a few minutes then seem to make an agreement. "Inquisitor, you have our Blessing to try and bring these "Quarians" under the banner of the Imperium, but should you fail, you will be executed as a Heretic of the Imperium and your death will not be quick, good luck, Inquisitor."
Hadrian shut off the comm and headed to his meeting room to meet with Hybris and Volkmar in a daze.
This is for the betterment of the Imperium, May the Emperor Guide me. He though as he made plans for the execution of this scheme.
Well that is the second chapter. Now read and review or I shall have a Terminator come kill you in the Name of the God-Emperor. Let me know what you think and any questions or suggestions.
BYE!