816.M41
Segmentum Obscurus
Calixis sector, Margins of the Halo Stars, within the warp at the entrance to the Maw
Bridge of the Tiberius, Excelsior-class grand cruiser, flagship of House D'Romas
The Tiberius and the fleet of House D'Romas traversed the warp for twelve standard days before finally reaching a feudal world named Penolpass where foodstuffs were traded for with the primitive population. Shortly thereafter, the fleet left the borders of the Imperium and approached the Maw, a gap between two great warp storms through which passage into the Koronus Expanse was possible.
Vitus walked en route to the bridge with Sarcasin at his side, Mathis following them. Vitus wore his dark crimson greatcoat with gold trim and his chainsword on left hip with bolt pistol on his right. Sarcasin was dressed in red robes with the hood pulled over her head, hiding the twisted knots of hair containing psychic circuitry. Her Inquisitorial Rosette was fastened to her chest. Not a red dress, but I still like the way the red robes look on her ebon skin, he mused. I wonder what else she might have hidden under those robes? Maybe she will show me one day. He suddenly laughed at himself. I might not live long enough to find out with thoughts like that. His thoughts were marred by a steady drone in the warp that he could sense.
They passed an open hatch covered with fabric and marked Entry Forbidden. I need to arrange docking time to finish refurbishment, he thought. Then, with a frown, he added, More importantly, we need a repair yard availability to restore the prow lance battery. His thoughts were interrupted by a psychic nudge from Sarcasin. He allowed her to enter a guarded portion of his consciousness.
There is much we have to discuss and little time to do so. You hold such promise, my young psyker, but there has been no time to properly prepare you. He looked into her deep brown eyes and, for a moment, her normally blank face was full of tenderness and she nearly smiled. But, as quickly as it started, it ended. Her eyes drilled holes into his. At the meeting in the War Room, I mentioned a force at work on the Lycurgos, the other void station controlled by the secessionists. The warp is home to a great and terrible power, a primordial force we call Chaos, that we must battle with while keeping the mass of the Imperium ignorant to its existence. That force was at work on the Lycurgos. Thus, the termination of so many involved. What I am about to tell you must be repeated to no one.
Vitus nodded to a Tech-Priest that passed him by and glanced to Sarcasin. Go on, he answered. The steady drone grew louder in his head
Chaos has four principle aspects which manifest themselves as four gods of the empyrean. The aspects battle each other as well as the Emperor for supremacy in the galaxy. These gods feed on the emotions and supplications of the intelligent species of the galaxy that have souls, or psychic reflections in the warp. They tempt beings to pursue terrible agendas, she continued. In fact, the greatest traitors of the Imperium throughout history were adherents to the dark gods. Horus, Lorgar, Fulgrim, and the space marine traitor legions are examples.
The space marine on Phobos Tertius with the nine-point rack of horns, Vitus thought to himself in a portion of his mind he kept Sarcasin from touching.
First, there is the Blood God, she said. It is bolstered by the spilling of blood and slaughter. His other monikers include the Lord of Rage and the Taker of Skulls. Records of the Inquisition suggest it first truly rose to power during the time of Holy Terra's Middle Ages. After giving Vitus a moment to absorb her words, she continued. The second dark god is the Changer of Ways. Among its domains are sorcery, psychic powers, mutations, and conspiracy. Other titles by which it is referred are Master of Fortune and the Architect of Fate.
The Architect of Fate…Vitus thought to himself in the secluded portion of his mind as he absently passed several officers hurrying to their stations.
Sarcasin did not slow her lesson. The Lord of Decay is responsible for morbidity and disease. It is also known as the Great Corruptor and the Master of Pestilence. She took a breath then continued her instruction. Finally, there is the Prince of Pleasure who gestated while the hedonism and debauchery of the Eldar empire reached its climax. Its birth created the great warp storm known as the Eye of Terror. This entity is also known as the Perfect Prince, the Dark Prince, and the Lord of Excess.
The Dark Prince, Vitus thought to himself. Then, telepathically to Sarcasin, The Primordial Chaos and its manifestations are the great common enemy we humans share with the Eldar to which the hololith of Angelica D'Romas referred, correct? They stopped just short of the blast door entrance to the bridge. He looked around for something solid on which to focus his attention and center his thoughts. His mind rested on the open hatch just before the blast door that was covered with fabric and marked Entry Forbidden. He took a deep breath.
Yes, answered Sarcasin. This brings us to our passage through the Maw. We have a very narrow window to navigate between two great and permanent disruptions in the warp. The two warp storms known as the Void Dancers' Roil and the Screaming Vortex.
You have my attention, he silently replied while looking at the fabric covered hatch. Despite his focus on her words, the constant drone from the warp made concentration difficult. It had grown louder in his warp-sensitive mind.
I suspect you can hear the hum from the Vortex now, just as I do. Soon, it will be a cacophony of screams. She looked in his eyes and continued. The thirteenth station of passage is similar to the Cadian Gate at the Eye of Terror in that it is a stable warp passage from the Vortex from which warbands can strike against the Imperium in both the Calixis sector and the Koronus Expanse. Warbands that consist of mere human traitors as well as exiles from the Adeptus Mechanicus and space marines who have forsaken their vows to the Emperor and embraced Chaos.
Crew members passed by as the two stared in each other's eyes. They paid them no mind and the crew knew better than to interrupt their Captain and an Inquisitor. But, there is more, she continued. The storm is filled with settlements dedicated to the dark gods. It is a realm of Chaos where entire worlds have been subsumed into the warp. Worlds filled with daemons which are manifestations of the dark gods themselves. It is said that the scream of the Vortex is the eternally suffering voices of those who died within its boundaries when it was created and that those voices speak terrible truths to those who pass through. Truths that shatter sanity and cause people to do terrible things in the name of the dark gods. Lucius, the Librarian, awaits us on the bridge. I have strategically placed the other members of his kill-team throughout the Tiberius in case there is any trouble.
Keep your wits about you. We approach the Maw. With that, Sarcasin faced the blast door and waited. The door opened and she walked in. Vitus followed with Mathis behind him.
The constant drone rose to a roar of screaming voices in Vitus' head as the Tiberius entered the Maw.
The bridge was full of its normal complement of officers, all giving a wide berth to the space marine standing motionless in the middle. Lucius' tattooed face and scalp were hidden beneath his helm and he held a force staff in his hands. Vishnu was harnessed to the Navigator control panel and Mother Vostod hovered over him. She looked to Vitus and he could see the struggle on her face. He knew she heard the screams too. Sarcasin's face was an emotionless mask.
The screams grew louder and filled Vitus' mind. Echoes from deaths occurring thousands of years before, they still were as emotionally potent as when they had originally happened. Being able to sense the past, Vitus intimately sensed their sorrow and pain. And he sensed something else. Some of those screams were not echoes. They were being slaughtered as the Tiberius passed through the Maw.
Rituals to the dark gods, Vitus instantly realized. He was able to hear and separate the chants of scores of ritualists from the cries of their slaughtered victims in his mind. He recognized one voice and it spoke to him.
"This is done in your honour, boy," it said with a laugh. Vitus recognized the voice and its laughter. The mockery was seared into his memory. It was the space marine with a nine-point rack of horns who was sworn to the Architect of Fate. "It will be the first of many for you, whether you wish it or not."
The laughter echoed in Vitus' head. He looked about to see if anyone else noticed or heard. He saw no signs they did. Feeling the strand of the message in the warp, he recognized it was encrypted for only him and he telepathically answered. "You didn't murder them to honour me. You are just too weak to contact me yourself without their blood. Too weak. Not like me," he calmly said as he answered the traitor's call. "You gave up everything."
Vitus felt the hatred and anger swell at him through the warp from light years away. He didn't care. The traitor spoke again, rage mixed with humiliation. "I have been told to make you an offer," said the voice. "Knowledge is power. There is a psychic battle-power used by psykers in days gone by known as a kine shield. Just agree to learn the knowledge and it is yours. You will be gifted with the knowledge of the kine shield as well as how to expand it to your surrounding brethren. And in return, my Master asks nothing of you." The anger and hatred crackled in his voice.
"I serve the Emperor," Vitus coldly answered. "I will die before I betray him."
"My Master says you will suffer for this," calmly responded the voice. The anger had dropped from the space marine's voice. That worried Vitus.
Is there a problem, my young psyker? Sarcasin telepathically asked him. Vitus looked over at her. To his disappointment, he saw no tenderness. Her mask was up.
No, everything is fine, he responded.
There is something important I must show you, she said. I thought it could wait, but it cannot. She looked at him and then toward the blast door. He nodded. Without waiting another moment, Sarcasin turned and exited through the blast door.
"Mother Vostod, you have the bridge," Vitus commanded and immediately followed the Inquisitor.
Once outside, Sarcasin walked to the open hatch covered with fabric and marked Entry Forbidden. She ignored the sign, moved the fabric and slipped through the hatch. Vitus followed without hesitation.
Inside, the compartment was filled with enormous cables on either side which came up through the deck and passed through the far bulkhead. She walked over to a table with various books and papers on it against the far bulkhead and began rummaging through them. Vitus walked over beside her and asked, "What are you looking for?" He almost added "Valette" to the end of that question. I really am going to get myself killed if I don't watch myself, he thought.
"I don't know," she said in almost a whisper. "I had a foretelling that led me here. Then nothing." She sighed, almost exasperated. "A foretelling of something important to the Imperium, but I don't know what. The Tiberius is more ancient than the Imperium itself. It harbors many secrets." She turned around and looked up to him. "You can see the past as well as the future and I hoped that you would see it or sense it if you came here."
He reached out to the warp, but felt nothing. Frustrated, he looked down to her face as she looked up to his. Here goes, looks like my life is over. He bent over to kiss her. Her palm and fingers on his face stopped him cold. Embarrassment set in and he immediately stammered, "I'm sorry."
The Inquisitor looked up at his face, her brown eyes like daggers. Her fist grabbed his collar in a clinch, then she pulled his head down and her lips briefly met his. The kiss was barely a peck but he froze. She smirked and flashed her white smile, then hopped up to sit on the table facing Vitus and grabbed his waist, pulling him to her. "Do not dare tell anyone of this," she whispered so quietly he could barely hear her and then pulled back her hood to reveal her face and hair.
He looked down for a moment at the twists of hair on top of her head bound in place by psychic circuitry before she looked up with her deep brown eyes, a smile on her full lips. "Never, Valette," he whispered as she pulled his head down to hers and he rested his hands on her robed thighs. The smell of her perfume nearly overwhelmed his senses as their lips met in a warm kiss. A kiss that was interrupted by a noise behind him.
"Vitus, I mean Lord D'Romas," rang out the questioning voice behind him. He looked over his shoulder to see Sister Elena in white robes with a golden fleur de lis. Her long red hair was down over her shoulders. Her eyes opened wide in naïve surprise and then became sad. He thought he saw a tear glisten. "I'm sorry," she said and turned away, her long red hair flowing as she did.
"Wait," snapped Sarcasin, her voice rapidly changing to the stern commanding tone she had used in the War Room. Sister Elena froze in place, half turned around.
I am a Primaris Psyker and a Rogue Trader, thought Vitus. Why am I sitting here frozen and unable to say anything or even move? He asked himself the question but he already knew the answer.
"Don't leave," snapped Sarcasin. Then softer, "You can join us." Sister Elena snapped around with a mischievous smile on her face.
"I thought you would never ask," she said. Vitus pushed himself back from Sarcasin and to the side, away from Sister Elena. "You can be a king," she said.
"No," Vitus said. "This is not happening."
"Don't ask for or deny yourself anything," Sarcasin said. Then more forcefully, "The universe is yours. Take what you want."
Vitus was on the bridge. Everyone was looking at him. Mother Vostod looked at him through her braids and Sarcasin with her emotionless face. Lucius was turned toward him, his face under his helmet, and force staff in hand. Suddenly, Vishnu raised up from the Navigator control panel. "The Vortex has receded," he said with a sigh of relief. "It swelled so fast. I had never seen anything like it. I managed to keep us from becoming engulfed, but it was close." Mother Vostod turned to Vishnu and patted his shoulder.
Sarcasin coldly looked Vitus in the eyes and said, "Welcome to the Expanse."
The End of Episode 5
The season finale will be spread over the next two episodes. The Warp and Weft of Fate Part I will be posted in two weeks on April 14th, maybe a day later or sooner, with Part II coming two weeks after that.