+++5.256.987.M41+++
+++Nixus Secund, Subsector Ossibus, Sector Askellon, Segmentus Obscurus+++
+++Above the Garmus Plateau - Screaming Suzy+++

'A beautiful day.' Arthur Belloran thought smiling as he looked through the armourcrys windows of the cockpit of his transport, although there wasn't much to be seen. Thick snow flakes were swept against the windscreen and he could barely make out their destination. The Valkyrie was struggling with the heavy crosswinds and the pilots had been extremely weary when they had heard that the judge had planned to set out that day. It was anything but a beautiful day.

But Arthur Belloran's evaluation of the day wasn't based on the weather, but rather on his personal prospects. After almost three months of digging, he had finally been able to locate a major transport hub of one of the leading smugglers in the sector: the Highfield Cartel. The information they had gained from Shaneshabad had only brought them to Nixus Secund, so Frank had warned him that progress would be slow. But now at least, they were finally taking some direct action to put a heavy dent in their operations. Behind Arthur's personal Valkyrie, the Screaming Suzy, another five transports were flying, and above the formation a trio of reinforced gunships accompanied them. It wasn't nearly everything Arthur got aboard of the Revenge, but it should be more than enough to take out their target.

The hub was laying next to a rock plateau a good 1.200 clicks to the south of Spirus Blanca. It was well hidden in the cliffside and the Cartel clearly had favoured the location for it being hard to find - it was practically impossible to spot from orbit - and not for it's easy approach by air. Arthur's pilots, all trained by the Imperial Navy, had said that it would be a rocky ride to the complex as they would have to descend into the canyons leading to the base. Which was why Arthur was sitting in the cockpit. He wouldn't let such an experience slip through his fingers.

He would also be the first to land on the base. Their reports indicated that, although well armed, the opposition would be relatively small in numbers. With the element of surprise, they would definitely have the upper hand. Apart from their goons, the cartel also counted heavily on combat servitors, which was why in one of the transports a bunch of nervous techpriests had been strapped in their seats, partly to make sure they wouldn't get hurt during the turbulent flight, partly to avoid them starting to protest when the Valks would be pushed over their normal speed and G-force limits. The cog boys would be dropped off at the main control room of the base and had the task of shutting down the combat servitors remotely.

The judge himself would first secure the barracks and would then head to the main depot where they suspected the leader of the complex resided. That way, they would have cut the head of the enemy snake and the facility would fall into their hands.

"Starting our descend. Going to altitude 200. Everybody brace." the pilot said over the on board vox. "Yes! You all hold on to your knickers, chaps! We're going in! For Justice and the Emperor!" Belloran screamed enthusiasticly through the vox.


+++5.256.987.M41+++
+++Nixus Secund, Subsector Ossibus, Sector Askellon, Segmentus Obscurus+++
+++Garmus Plateau - Highfield base+++

"Our attempts, following protocol TD-5, have been succesful, praise the Omnissiah. Combat servitors connected to the defense grid are in code yellow. We will proceed with rewriting their targetting protocols. Adept Torhenus out."

All was going according to plan. The judge flicked off the power to his sword, ceasing the soft crackling noise and dousing the weak blueish light that surrounded the powered blade. He looked over his troops. They had incurred minimal losses. Their tactical surprise had been used to the fullest, but even cornered and at a disadvantage, the Cartel troops had fought to the end. No one had surrendered, something Arthur found strange, but absolute loyalty in a criminal organisation wasn't unheard off.

"Judge Belloran? I think we can use you here. We're at the docking bay. You need to see this." The judge acknowledged the message and started jogging towards his destination. He went through the barracks where he could see left and right room after room with neat rows of bunkbeds, far more tidy than he had come to expect from criminals. Another sign that the Highfield Cartel was far more professional than the average crime band. When he arrived at the docking bay, he could see his squad standing near the large hangar doors leading to the depot where the Cartel's transports would be stored. He crossed the large cavernous room in less than two minutes, increasing his speed, as he saw the man wave him closer urgently.

"What's the situation chaps?" he asked them when he came to their position, not even breathing heavily. "Well, your honour. We're not really sure. There are some things that don't add up." the sergeant of the squad told him. Without further explanation, he pointed his heavy stablight at the next hall, revealing more than a dozen tailwings of various transports. Next to the heavy sliding doors, Arthur could see the figure of one of the Highfield troopers, a prisoner the sergeant had taken. From his passing gaze, the judge could tell that the man was close to panic, but when the Adeptus Arbites raided your base of operations and you belonged to the culprits, you had every reason to panic.

"Well chap? All I see is a load of transports. Nothing unexpected, right?" The sergeant shook his head. "Yes your honour, but the number of transports doesn't match with the briefing note. And there are so many here that they aren't even properly docked." The judge already wanted to explain to the sergeant that briefing notes were far overrated, but held back as a tiny little detail made him pauze. Just at the edge of the circle of light of the stablight, Arthur recognized a red symbol on one the flanks of the heavy lifters, meaning that it was equipped for volatile cargo. He could also see that the transports weren't lined up neatly against the wall to match the power stations and promethium lines build in the hangar deck. After all the signs of order and discipline, this mess didn't really fit. He took a step forwards to the depot, but stopped dead in his track as he could hear the prisoner gasp.

"You're right sergeant. Something is off... Secure the hangar, but take care. I don't think we've won the day just yet." The judge immediately switched to vox to reach all his troops. "Attention. This is the judge. Remain alert. We've got reason to believe the base has been further reinforced. Belloran out." Arthur trusted his troops well enough to leave them to their business. Rather than trying to micromanage his squad leaders, he turned to a task far more useful. "You!" he yelled at the prisoner, that was sitting next to the large sliding door, "Tell me what this is about! Now!" But the man only spared him a short glance and then turned his head to look over his shoulder, desperately trying to see what was going on in the hangar. What would have angered another man, only made Arthur more curious. He took another look at the man. He wasn't badly injured, but still he was shivering, and the fervour with which he was trying to discern what was going on... One more thing that didn't add up. The judge approached the man and flicked his power sword back on, ramming it into the wall, an inch left from his head. The static electricity tugged at the man's hair and as it stood upright it burned up against the power field. The stench of burning hair filled Arthur's nose, but the man faced him only briefly. That short look had been enough though. There was a fear in him that didn't originated from the appearance of a judge.

Just as Arthur stood back up, one of the men in the hangar cried out in surprise. Arthur didn't even have the time to see what was going on, because the next moment, the entire left side of the docking bay was shrouded in a light blueish vapor. In a reflex, Arthur slammed down his visor, but on the vox he could hear that not everybody had been equally alert. The sound of retching and coughing filled the airwaves but right next to him, the judge could see the effects of the toxic cloud first hand. The prisoner started choking and tried to wriggle free. Seconds later he started yelling, screaming his lungs out, and hadn't his hands been bound behind his back, he would have started flailing around. The judge could see how one of the men in the depot had dropped his weapons and was clawing at his throat. The man fell to the floor and started spasming. The prisoner too had slumped to the ground and was now violently shaking back and forth, crashing his head into the rockcrete wall behind him. All around him, Arthur could see that the pain induced by the toxin was enormous and inhuman.

The judge turned his attention away from the spasming man. Clearly, the vapour could serve as much as a weapon of the enemy as a distraction. However, the preysense sight didn't reveal anything in the blue fog that was now spread out over the entire docking bay and hangar. The judge tried the vox. "This is the judge. We've just been hit by nerve gas. The enemy is still around. Squad leaders, report!" The first man to report was the sergeant commanding the squad guarding their own transports. "Omega team here. Nothing to see out here, your honour." Only seconds later, a second man came on the vox. "Delta team reporting. We've been hit by the gas, but managed to avoid inhaling it, your honour. What are your orders, sir?" But Belloran waited a bit longer. He expected at least two more responses, but no one else reported in. The feeling that the enemy had anticipated their raid, was now becoming a certainty.

'And if you know we're coming, you sure prepare to finish things.'

"All teams, pull back and meet me at the control tower: Torhenus' position. Watch your six. We're not just done yet." Although they were now on the back foot, there wasn't a single fibre in Arthur Belloran's body that thought of retreat. That changed seconds later though.
His only warning had been a metallic pang behind his back. As Arthur was more than alert due to the circumstances, he turned around with his blade in a defensive position. And that was the only thing that saved his life, because a second later, the prisoner ran himself on his power sword, screaming a wordless cry as the electricity fried him from the inside out. He noticed how the man was missing a hand, which he must have ripped off himself as he freed himself of the manacles chaining him to a support beam from the hangar. Revulted, the judge kicked the lifeless husk of a body from his sword and he was already busy scanning for more threats. And sure enough, he could see how his own men were scrambling up from the rockcrete floor of the depot and started walking towards him. "New plan, chaps. Pull back to the birds. Omega. Watch the skies!"

The judge hadn't wanted to retreat to the birds for two reasons. The first one was that his mission wasn't completed. The second that any decent ambush would also take care of the transports that had flown them in. Now, presented with his own men turning rogue, things had changed. Arthur knew enough of nerve toxins that he didn't freak out on the spot, but he knew it would be a harsh blow to the morale of the survivors and it only made the opposition stronger.

"Adept Torhenus. It is time to pull back, my boy. Do you copy?" The techpriest answered immediately, true to his ideals of efficiency. "Affirmative, your honour. We will cease our efforts to..." The droning voice of Torhenus stopped and as the judge started making his way to the open space outside of the docking bay, keeping his sword at the ready seeing his former servants were readying themselves to charge him. "Torhenus?"

The vox channel was still open and the judge could hear how blurts of binary were exchanged between the techpriests at the control tower. The closest of his gassed men started running at that moment and the judge stopped for a moment to catch him. Luckily for him, the men seemed to have forgotten their ranged weaponry, so he only had to deal with the raised shock maul. Arthur sidestepped the man and half expected to finish him off with a backhand slash from his sword, but unlike the frenzied prisoner, his former underling dodged the counterattack without much effort. Arthur Belloran smiled a wicked grin. There were only so many times when he could go all out and as the other troopers had started running, this would be one of those times. The first man crouched and jumped at him, using his shock maul more like a dagger than a club. Now, the judge concentrated a bit more and turned around his axis, avoiding the stab, only to literally disarm his assailant. The loss of a limb seemed enough to stop him for a moment and the judge quickly picked up the shock maul and assumed a defensive position.

"Torhenus, report now, or I will personally come and jack you to my dataslate!" the judge bellowed into his voxcapter. "... Affi-i-i-i-irmati-i-i-i-ive..." came the response, but the adept's voice was distorted and a metallic echo could be heard as if the vox box of Torhenus was stuttering. The first men of the second wave reached the judge's position and the fight intensified. Seconds later blood and gore were splattered all over the hangar's floor and Arthur thanked himself for picking up the shock maul. Although not as good as a combat shield, the weapon was a fine enough instrument to fend off flanking attacks. He slashed open one of his former comrades, his sword cutting through the ribcage like a hot knife slicing through butter, and stunned another one with a jab of the maul to the stomach.

"...Adeptus Arbi-i-i-i-ites secu-u-u-u-urity proto-o-o-o-o-o-o-oco-o-o-o-o-ols being over-r-r-r-r-rwri-i-i-i-i-itten. Cr-i-i-i-i-itica-a-a-a-al da-a-a-ama-a-a-a-..." The feed from Torhenus suddenly closed with a short, crackling noise and the judge understood that just like the man before him, whose head had just been seperated from his body by his sword, Torhenus would talk no more. The beheaded man's place was immediately taken in by two other troopers and for a moment the judge didn't really have time to consider the consequences. Combat reflexes came to the fore as he was confronted with three shock mauls mercilessly hammering down on him. He took a hit to the chest, but could thank the Mechanicus for his unique set of armour with build-in conductors. The judge didn't bother bringing his fancy sword techniques to the fore. Ripostes or reversed grips wouldn't gain him any points here. Instead he resorted to simple hack and slash, cutting his opponents down, if necessary, piece by piece.

In the meanwhile, Arthur considered the consequences of what had been Torhenus' final message. Setting an ambush, even of this quality - the nerve gas was an excellent idea - could be achieved by carefully studying your opponent and with the time they had spend on Nixus Secund, someone with enough means and perseverance could pull it off. However, overwriting an Arbite code was quite something else. If those codes and commands were insecure, the consequences could be extremely dire. A number of soft spots came to his mind. It meant that their defenses could be penetrated. The Revenge might be at risk. Also all covers could be blown. Which meant that regulator Akira, arbitrator Mahara and even Frank were in danger, not to mention a large number of lesser assets that passed on information to his office. But of immediate importance was that his transports were compromised. He sidestepped the last of his opponents that held his shock maul in two hands to recklessly tried landing a blow on Arthur's head. The man was rewarded for his efforts with a deep gash in his left thigh, which made delivering the killing blow child's play. With his demise, all that could be heard once more was the crackling of his power sword.

When he contacted the Omega squad, no reply came. The judge ran to the docking bay entrance. From there he had a good view over the highfield base and Arthur was hardly surprised to see that the transports that had brought them here were now nothing more than burning husks. The self-destruct option was yet another thing that could be activated with the correct Arbite codes. When he checked in with Delta squad to change their meeting point, no one answered. It seemed he was truly alone now. Until he heard the noise of jet engines approaching the base through the valley. With all his ships burned to the ground, Arthur knew he didn't have to expect friendlies. With gritted teeth, the judge made himself ready for a dangerous retreat.