(This will be the final flashback chapter, it's almost surreal pulling out the old notes I wrote last summer about Inquisitor Clark's retinue.)
Inquisitor Clark's Journals
The Inquisitorial fortress world I usually operate out of is located in the Hanno Sector on the planet of Byzantium. The region I overlook includes the Polo, Columbus, Magellan, Cortez, Drake, Pizarro, Hudson, Cartier, Cook and even the Amerigo Sectors where Mantanya was located. Needless to say this is a lot of ground to cover and having a central base I can operate out of really helps. Due to the spread out nature of these sectors and their lesser importance to the Imperium due our location far from Terra, the Masters of Byzantium oversee us, with an Inquisitor Lord overseeing each sector. It should be noted that a Grandmaster usually oversees an individual sector, so this arrangement makes it highly difficult for us to properly combat threats to the Empire, though Grandmaster Nicodemus Nicolai of the Ordo Militum does his best to keep everything under control. I report to Master Agatha Crowley of the Ordo Xenos, though she prefers the more humble title of Inquisitor Lord. One time I called her Inquisitor Lady and got an earful from her about improper titles. She doesn't like being called Mistress either. Master Simon Proctor oversees the Ordo Hereticus with Master Malachi Petrov handles the Ordo Malleus. These three command tremendous respect and skill, essentially pulling off what should be impossible for such a large area. I remember visiting the Inquisitor Fortress World of Talasa Prime to the south of us in the Realm of Ultramar several times for "sabbatical conclaves", where I have even given lectures on how to deal with Tau, Eldar, Dark Eldar, and Necrons. Heck it was on Talassar where I found my apprentice Melissa. That being said, the inhabitants of the Ultramar System, including the inhabitants of Talasa Prime are too soft and complacent in their security and stability. Their fortress is more like a fancy resort than a proper base for the servants of the God-Emperor. If you really want to make strong Inquisitors than you should look no further than the Inquisitorial Fortress on Byzantium, a lifeless planetary rock with a massive fortress built on and in it, which has the duty of overseeing eleven sectors. You either grow strong, cunning, and competent, or you are consumed by madness and a neurotic desire to destroy the enemies of the Emperor as a means of venting frustration. Either way you end up serving the Emperor and fulfilling your duty as an Inquisitor. Fun Fact, I have only been to about ten percent of all worlds under my jurisdiction at this point. The trick is not randomly visiting worlds and wreaking havoc upon the populace, but building a network of contacts, informants and allies, and rational investigation tactics to weed out the actual threats, Freeport's and Rogue Traders are a big help in this.
Nathaniel had finally reached the Inquisitorial Fortress on Byzantium, the Citadel of the Eastern Fringe that oversaw eleven sectors. The entire planet was either a lifeless rock or a fortress dedicated to the Inquisition. Looking at the viewing screen on the Miss Liz he could see that Byzantium was built to withstand the fiercest assault, with spires and domed forts bristling with weaponry and heavily fortified with the finest materials. While it wasn't mobile like the fabled base of the Dark Angels, it more than made up for it with its impressive size. It was a place of little comfort or luxury, a place of study, interrogation, preparation, and Inquisitorial administration. They entered the main dock which was large enough to hold several capital class starships; there was more than enough room for the Miss Liz to dock. Methuselah escorted him out to the dock, where he was greeted by a squad of Stormtroopers.
"Are you Nathaniel Clark, acolyte of the traitorous radical Inquisitor Wei?" The sergeant asked him; apparently word had spread across the region about what had happened. It didn't help that Phaeron Cleandra Wei had sent out several vid logs about how the end of man was near but how she wouldn't advance any further since there was no need to at the moment.
"Yes I am."
"Come with us, Master Agatha Crowley is waiting for you in her study."
Nathaniel gets ready to leave with them, but Methuselah has one last thing to say. "I will stay here till your done kid, if the Inquisition doesn't want you anymore, and don't want to kill you, you are always welcome to be a member of my crew."
"Thank you Methuselah, I will remember to keep that in mind." Before he was able to leave the ship though Methuselah enveloped him in a big bear hug, the Stormtroopers looked on confused.
Methuselah finally lets go, "see you later kid, I'm sure you'll be fine."
Ten minutes later Nathaniel found himself in the study of Inquisitor Lord, or Master, Agatha Crowley. She was a shriveled up old woman who had extended her life using rejuvenation procedures. Her study was covered with Xenos artifacts, including an impressive collection of Eldar Aspect Warrior Exarch helmets and spirit stones; apparently she liked collecting them as trophies when she was younger, and since an Exarch couldn't reincarnate without their full suit of armor, it was a win win situation for the Imperium. Various papers and vid logs covered her desk. She wore a simple black dress and bonnet, wearing earring in the shape of the symbol of the Inquisition.
"It is good to see you are doing well Nathaniel, Methuselah was kind enough send me the details about what happened, though my traitorous students certainly did enough with her ramblings. I want you to know that I do now hold you responsible for what happened, nor the fall of Inquisitor Wei."
"Inquisitor Wei was your student?" He had never been told this.
"Yes, she was my greatest pupil, and my greatest failure. It was my hope that she would take my place one day, but her love and friendship with the Xenos ruined that plan. But you are not like her, are you. In your heart there is no love for the Xenos."
"Why should there be, I have only been torture, enslaved, and betrayed by the Xenos. They are a threat to the human race that must be wiped out."
"Does that include the Mechanatites?"
"They don't count; they are machines that want to serve humanity, not Xenos, if I wanted to hate them I would have to hate my laspistol as well."
"That's good to hear, I am quite fond of them myself. But now we need to get to the issue at hand, what will happen to you. Your teacher is a traitor and her retinue is dead, yet you are too old and experienced to be assigned to a new Inquisitor."
"If you want to kick me out, Methuselah says that he would gladly take me in."
Inquisitor Lord Agatha lets out a laugh. "My dear boy, why would I want to get rid of one as talented, resourceful, and loyal as yourself? I want to promote you to full Inquisitor."
"Inquisitor Wei spoke of that before we went up against the Horkhesh Dynasty, but I thought I would have fallen out of favor over that fiasco."
"Nothing that happened in that "fiasco" is your fault. If anything your escape illustrates that you have what it takes to be an Inquisitor, we even have a ship and crew ready for you, along with a list of possible retinue members for you to start out with. But before we get you started, you need to see the Grandmaster. It is our tradition to have the Grandmaster of Byzantium bestow full Inquisitorial authority upon a new Inquisitor."
"You mean I get to meet Grandmaster Nicodemus Nicolai?"
"Yes, now hurry up it will be go to sleep very soon and we want to get this over with as quickly as possible."
The Stormtroopers had lead him to the inner sanctum of Byzantium where Grandmaster Nicodemus Nicolai oversaw his Inquisitors. The sanctum was a domed room filled with viewing screens and bookshelves filled with ancient tomes. In the center of the room, on a raised platform, was the Grandmaster himself. He was even older than Agatha, a shriveled up old skeleton of a man, attached to an elaborate life support system. Despite his emaciated frame he still wore the full Inquisitorial outfit he wore in his prime, with it loosely hanging off of his body. The only thing that appeared still remotely healthy about him were his eyes, that burned with a fiery passion.
"Come hear my child, come hear Nathaniel." His voice echoed with power an authority, even in his current state. Nathaniel walked over and kneeled before him. The ancient Grandmaster struggled to lay his hand upon Nathaniel's head.
"Do you swear to serve the God Emperor faithfully and competently, to hunt down and eliminate his enemies, to protect his people even from themselves, to be reviled, feared, and hated by all for the evils you must inflict? Are you prepared to make sacrifices and countless enemies, are you prepared to travel down a long and lonely road with no regrets? Are you prepared to do what must be done and never hesitate in your duty?"
"I am, I know that this is what I was born to do."
The Grandmaster manages a smile after hearing this. "Then rise, Inquisitor Nathaniel Clark of the Ordo Xenos, you bow to no mortal man." He reaches into his uniform and pulls out an Inquisitorial seal, with great effort he hands it over to Nathaniel. "Now go to the Hagia Sophia Cathedral of the Inquisition for a night of meditation and prayer for guidance. I can rest easy tonight knowing that the future of the Inquisition rests with remarkable young men and women like yourself and the others you will meet there."
Curious, Nathaniel manages to get off one last bow as he leaves the room. On his way to the building he runs into Inquisitor O'Peak who manages to rap him up in a big bear hug. "I heard what happened; I just want you to know that you will always have my support."
"Thank you Angus." Nathaniel shows off his new Inquisitorial seal.
"I see you are not that inexperienced boy I used to know anymore. Now you are a true Inquisitor and colleague."
Nathaniel finally makes it to the Hagia Sophia, a large and beautiful domed cathedral with windows on the domed ceiling showing the endless starry night of space. On all of the walls he can see ecclesiarchial images of the Emperor and his loyal Primarchs, as well as famous Imperial officials and Inquisitors. He can see Evangeline Marie de Bellerose seated in the front, praying and crying her eyes out. From behind him Nathaniel can hear a deep booming voice.
"Evangeline may have reached the rank of Inquisitor, but it wasn't without a price. Her family had degenerated into a Slaaneshi cult and she had to kill them all, but not before they sacrificed Inquisitor Khopek to the Dark Prince, right now she is still coping with the situation. Having to purge one's own planet can be a bit difficult even for the best of us." Nathaniel turns around to see a large blond haired blue eyed man his age had been standing behind him. His eyes have a deep fathomless look to them. He has a gentle smile on his face, dressed in Inquisitorial armor. "My name is Inquisitor Lankester Karras of the Ordo Malleus, and you must be the new Inquisitor Nathaniel Clark. It is my pleasure to make your acquaintance; I have heard many fascinating stories about you." He gets very close and stares deeply into Nathaniel's eyes. After a long and uncomfortable time, he finally speaks. "I see, so the stories are true, a warp entity did inhabit your body."
"You can learn that just by staring deeply and awkwardly into my eyes?" Nathaniel was getting annoyed by Inquisitor Karras.
"It is a skill every good Ordo Malleus Inquisitor should develop."
"Okay, you could have warned me however, it's kind of weird just walking right up to somebody and looking deeply into their eyes."
Evangeline had apparently heard their conversation and had come over. "So the stories are true, you did survive Horkhesh incursion."
"Hello Evangeline how's the family?" And thus began their usual verbal spar.
"Purged for heresy, how about your traitorous surrogate mother?"
"Willingly possessed by a 60 million year old undead robot queen, it happens." Nathaniel is trying his best to keep a cool head in front of his number one rival.
"I told you she was a radical who would get herself in trouble one day." Evangeline is trying her best to be smug.
"And I told you the corruption of the nobility would be their undoing." Nathaniel could give as good as he got.
"Peace friend's peace," Lankester steps in to defuse the situation, "internal disagreement amongst the servants of the Emperor makes baby Sanguinius cry." He points to a picture of a baby Sanguinius being held by a beautiful woman in red robes, white hair, and angelic features.
"Who is the woman in red robes?" Nathaniel is genuinely curious about that.
"She represents his homeworld of Baal, if the Emperor was the father of the Primarchs, than their home worlds were their mothers who raised and nurtured them."
Nathaniel looks around and sees more baby primarchs with women who bear the characteristics of their homeworlds."
"Isn't Baal a nightmarish deathworld?" Evangeline is confused by beautiful appearance of the woman.
"Some liberties were taken in the painting of the mother worlds. Now that I got you two calmed down, why do you hate each other so much, we are all the Emperor's children?" Lankester is doing his best to make sure that things do not get out of hand.
"He is an ignorant, disrespectful, common ruffian who does not know his place and who should have been killed a long time ago.
"She is an arrogant, whiny, spoiled brat who wouldn't even be an Inquisitor if it weren't for her family connections."
"Yet you both love the Emperor, can't we all agree to tolerate each other and focus our hate on our true enemies." He has a big childlike smile on his face right now; Nathaniel finds it weird that a man who supposedly hunts down and destroys daemons would have such an innocent and childlike smile.
"Very well, just don't look at me creepily anymore." Nathaniel is still a little unnerved about the eye thing.
"Nathaniel, if I suspect you of even the loosest form of heresy I will take you down myself, but if Lankester trusts you, I guess I can as well." She extends her hand in a gesture of peace. Nathaniel grabs it and they shake.
"I can see that the Imperium is in excellent hands with us three, the next generation of Inquisitors."
"Indeed Lankester, who knows, we might even gain the Masters positions one day."
"Me definitely, Lankester probably, but you Nathaniel, it is out of the reach on one of your common breeding." This time Nathaniel thought she was actually joking.
The memories end and Nathaniel brings Melissa back to reality in their private suite on New Kyoto.
"Inquisitor I never knew any of that." Melissa is still shocked by some of the more recent images.
"Now you do, but now we must discuss our plans for tomorrow."
"How much time passed while we were in your memories?"
"Five seconds, give or take a few milliseconds."
"I think I need to sit down."
"Be my guest and if you have any questions feel free to ask."
"There is no need master, I have learned everything that I need to know."
"Good, because I have a special assignment for you tonight. Its 6:30 right now and I want you in the field by seven.
We are thee shepherds of the God-Emperor who protect his flock from the wolves of our galaxy, may the God-Emperor have mercy on those wolves. I am Inquisitor Nathaniel Clark of the Ordo Xenos, and all who know of me rightfully fear me.