Fame Cimex Chapter 25

In orbit of Angle's Redoubt a meeting was taking place, once more the Lords Militant and the heads of the Imperial Departmentos were gathered to discuss affairs. The arena like space aboard the Starfort was again filled with the most influential of Imperial leaders, but this time the mood was far from exuberant. All knew of the defeat of the Imperial Navy, and the monsters that stalked the world below and now they had heard rumours of an unexplained catastrophe on the third world of the system. Every man and woman shared a secret fear, a thought that they could not utter lest it prove true: the Tyranids were winning.

Fear and doubt were rampant among the great and the good, the terror of the looming Xeno invasion gripping every heart. In other circumstances most of those present would even now be fleeing to the stars but that was impossible. The Shadow of the Hive Mind was upon the system and the Navigators could no longer see the Astronomicon. For the first time these nobles were forced to face the idea of being in personal danger and they did not care for it.

Standing in the centre of the arena was Inquisitor Zerban in his black power armour, furiously shouting and making grandiose gestures with each pronouncement. He was orating to the crowd in an attempt to rally their support but it wasn't working. The fear and panic meant that no one was listening and the ceaseless chatter drowned out his words. Zerban was growing increasingly frustrated with these inept fools, with their lack of vision and contrary nature, as if they had any right to question his authority. The Xenos were practically on their doorstep and all these idiots wanted to do was argue and push their own agendas.

Standing behind the frustrated Inquisitor was the corpulent form of Cardinal Giovanni, looking rather worse for wear. His face was blistered and scarred by an ugly purple bruise and one of his eyes was swollen shut. Rumour had it that he had been attacked in his own bedchamber, Zerban had carefully inserted the detail that he had been fasting and taking holy prayer at the time, but he could not hide the fact that the Cardinal had only escaped by the skin of his teeth. Zerban had thought his opinion of Giovanni could sink no lower, but he was surprised to find that there were still depths yet to be plumbed. The incident seemed to have worn at Giovanni's sanity, for he was fumbling with his vestments and fidgeting constantly. He was muttering some incoherent litany under his breath and if anyone had been able to hear him over the tumult then they would have heard crazed mentions of monsters and divine judgement on them all.

Suddenly Zerban heard a commotion behind him and saw in the corner of his eye that Chapter Master Gorgall, along with his lackeys Captains Toran and Phalros had arrived. They were marching out from the entrance behind the stage in a perfect replica of their previous entrance. Zerban gritted his teeth, for this was the last thing he needed right now, but the crowd instantly spotted them and the tone changed. Many of those present hissed about unwelcome intrusions but far more nurtured the faint hope that the Space Marines may have come with a solution to the crisis. Yet the whispers fell silent when a fourth Astartes appeared, one in very different colours: Shade-Seer Imix.

Zerban's breath caught in his throat for his spies had failed to tell him that the exotic Chapter was in the system. Though they would never be famous in the way the First or even Second Founding Chapters were, the Smoke Jaguars had a solid reputation for worthy service and their aid had never been turned away when offered. Mouths fell silent in the arena as every mind tried to understand why the elusive Chapter was here and Zerban wondered what it meant that they were standing with the Storm Heralds.

Inquisitor Zerban rallied his spirit and snarled, "You, you are not welcome here!"

Gorgall was resplendent in his Artificer armour and he eyed the Inquisitor calmly as he replied, "Strange you say that, when we were invited to come."

Zerban's eye narrowed suspiciously and he growled, "Invited… by whom?"

"By me!" came a voice from the crowd and everybody craned to see who had spoken. Standing proudly among the ranks of potentates was a single man in a starched naval uniform, one who bore a plethora of medals on his chest and the rank badges of a senior flag officer. His hair had its first wisps of grey, making him young by the standards of the Imperial authorities and he bore the distinctive hooked nose of the Dousmanis family. This was Dousmanis the Younger, Admiral of the fleet and the most senior Lord Militant present and he was standing proudly to glare at the Lord Inquisitor.

Zerban glared back, infuriated by the defiant Admiral, as he barked, "You invited them, you overreach yourself."

Dousmanis the Younger replied firmly, "As the highest ranking officer in this theatre of war it is my Emperor given right to call upon all military assets as I see fit."

The crowd gasped to hear someone defying an Inquisitor to his face and all went silent to see how this would play out. The Inquisition was the most feared of all the Imperial institutions but the Navy had the weight of numbers and firepower on its side. There was no way of telling which side currently held the most authority and all knew the next few minutes would determine how the scales of power would tip.

Zerban was not about to be put down by this upstart and growled, "Do not think to disobey the Inquisition, we are the Emperor's eyes and ears. We see all and hear all."

The crowd shrank back in fear at the pronouncement but Dousmanis did not seem cowed as he replied, "And yet that did not give you clairvoyance enough to lead us to victory, we followed your strategy before and my uncle died for your hubris. You may watch and you may listen but that does not give you the right to dictate strategy, I propose that it is you who has overreached!"

The crowd was enthralled to see anybody defaming an Inquisitor publicly and Zerban realised that this Dousmanis really did think he was untouchable right now. Sadly he was right; his uncle's martyrdom shielded him from criticism and until that changed anything Zerban said would only rebound upon him. Of course Zerban could just draw his laspistol and execute the Admiral as a Heretic, any Inquisitor could, but that presented a whole new set of problems. One did not rise as far as Zerban had without making powerful political enemies and he knew that they were just waiting for him to put a foot wrong, in fact he himself had taken down rival Inquisitors with far flimsier pretexts. If Zerban executed someone as prominent and well connected as the Admiral without having compelling evidence of Heresy, then the rest of the Inquisition would gleefully declare him Excommunicate Traitoris.

Zerban decided to change tactics and challenged the Space Marines directly, he addressed Gorgall and spat, "What makes you think you can make any difference here?"

Gorgalled replied calmly stated, "Because we already have, it was our fleet that rescued the Imperial Navy from the jaws of the Hive Fleet."

Zerban drew in a sharp breath for that was a pointed jab; by implying that the Navy needed rescuing the Astartes was harshly criticising Zerban's tactics and weakening his position. The Inquisitor growled, "A shame that you ran away afterwards, a braver man would have carried on and struck a deadly blow rather than waste such an opportunity."

A smile slipped over Gorgall's transhuman features and Zerban realised that the Astartes had a trump card yet to play as he stated, "But we did, it was our forces that engaged the Tyranids over the third planet of this system and there they struck a tremendous blow for the Imperium."

Gasps from the crowd met that declaration and Zerban's ire peaked as he roared, "You dared destroy a world! It is the privilege of the Inquisition to decide which worlds live and die!"

Gorgall didn't flinch as he replied, "According to the accords of the Second Founding, as laid down by the Primarch Roboute Guilliman and ratified by the first High Lords speaking for the Emperor, a Chapter Master of the Adeptus Astartes has the right to declare Exterminatus when necessary. I assure you that this deed was not performed thoughtlessly nor irresponsibly, for the death of the planet took vast numbers of the Tyranid foe with it; our enemies have been reduced by half!"

Excited whispers greeted that and swept the arena, the thought that the Tyranids were not unbeatable sparking a desperate hope in every heart. Zerban saw that the crowd was turning against him and tried to rally his position by saying, "But the collateral damage was inexcusable, it's always the same with you war dogs, you wreck destruction and leave nothing but ruin in your wake!"

"Incorrect!" a prim voice cried out as Zerban spied a red-robed Magos of the Mechanicus floating higher over the crowd. She raised a hand and said, "While the loss of honoured tech artefacts is regrettable the planet's primary value was its high mineral content. The break-up of the planet will take a century to complete but once it has stabilised the minerals can be extracted via asteroid mining."

Zerban's temper flared at that, the technical jargon was meaningless to him but the fact that the Adept was taking the Space Marine's side was damning. Now the Navy and the Mechanicus both supported the Astartes, which was a potent enough pairing to swing many others to their cause.

Zerban tried to fight back by calling upon his ally saying, "Cardinal Giovanni, does not the Emperor have something to say?"

Yet Giovanni's gaze was far away and all he could say was, "Damned, damned we are all damned for our sins! The Emperor has forsaken us and he is right to do so!"

Zerban couldn't believe what he was hearing; the fat fool sounded like a raving madman and was ruining everything for the Inquisitor. He looked around the arena and saw the faces turning against him, even those he had blackmailed and extorted into following his lead were turning away in disgust. He made one desperate attempt to salvage the situation saying, "The battle is not over yet, the Imperium of Man can still stand strong in its purity!"

Yet it was Shade-Seer Imix who stepped up and declared, "Forget not that the strength of the Imperium lies in its unity. Was it not the Sun-Emperor's own decree that humanity must be united if it is to survive the darkness that dwells between the stars? Has not history proven him right? For ten thousand years the Imperium has endured all that the universe can throw at it and it is only through our unity that we can know this to be true. We stand before you, here and now, as living proof of that truth, that the Tyranids can be defeated and that through unity we can triumph."

The crowd paused at that and Gorgall seized the moment to proclaim, "Who here will stand with us as Brothers? Who here will join with us to draw a line in the stars and show these Xenos that Mankind cannot and will not be broken!"

The crowd leapt to its feet in response, they clapped and cheered the Astartes as if they were already victorious and the war was over. All thoughts of discord and division were put aside, for the first time they stood united as one force, one people.

Only one man was not cheering, it was Inquisitor Zerban and he was silent as the grave. Without saying a word the Inquisitor spun on his heel and marched out, in a perfectly reversed mirror of his previous victory. He knew he had lost this battle but swore there would be others, it did not matter if the Storm Heralds survived this war: sooner or later he would find a way to crush them under his heel.