The Heretic of the Iron Hands

Felix Gray had been a promising brother of the Iron Hands. When taken in by Iron Father Lydriik and placed into Clan Raukaan, he had shown great intelligence with technology and field tactics. He had been groomed by Sergeant Naim Morvox to take command of his squad and would have been on the fast track to one day succeed Klaarc Kalag as Clan Captain. Now he was being condemned as a Heretic. And in a way he deserved it. Even if he felt it wasn't quite warranted.

Lydriik entered his cell and glared down at him. If Felix could remember his father, he imagined that he would have glared at him like Lydriik was doing at that very moment. Lydriik had been there for him to give advice and to encourage and discourage him when he needed it. Now he had all but severed that relationship.

"Do you know why you are here?" The question was simple and direct. Felix had expected that.

"I tried to understand the inner workings of a Titan so we could learn how it worked and how we could build one ourselves?"

"And?"

"And... when the Skitarii tried to stop me... I shot a few of them. And a few workers."

"A few?! You killed a dozen Skitarii and five workers! Innocent blood is on your hands and the Legio Titanicus wants your head delivered to the Princeps of Worldbreaker as payment for their lives! You have shamed the 3rd Company and the Chapter with your foolish arrogance!"

"It was only a Warhound Titan anyway. Not like I was trying to examine the inner workings of an Imperator."

"IS THIS A JOKE TO YOU?!" Lydriik was livid now. "Do you understand what you have done?! Do you have no regrets for the lives you needlessly took?!"

"They opened fire first with no warning. I was defending myself! And no, this situation is no joke." Felix glared back at the Iron Father. "What is a joke is the fact that we are not allowed to truly understand why things work and that we cannot improve upon what has been created!"

Lydriik sighed. This argument again. It had been passed between them over a dozen times. Now it was back. The root of all of Felix's troubles. "What you have done is violate the Will of the Omnissiah! You violated a machine that was meant only to be maintained and not questioned!"

"Why is it wrong to question?! Why can we not try to build? To create? To improve? The Omnissiah cannot be so obtuse that discovery and change is truly forbidden! Otherwise, what is the point of the Mechanicum?"

Lydriik slammed his staff's haft to the ground. "The Mechanicum discovers and preserves history so we may rediscover it. The past must be found."

"The past holds us back! We must create! We must make new! Only then can we learn to overcome our enemies! Did you know that the Dark Angels have the last remaining Jetbike in the Galaxy? And they won't even share it to be examined! They have something the White Scars used in the Great Crusade and they horde it for themselves!"

Lydriik narrowed his flesh eye while his optic's lens narrowed. "So, you seek knowledge. Tell me, if you discovered the secrets of the Warhound Titan, what would you do with them? Who would you share them with? Would you keep them to yourself? Who are you to decide what we do with them?"

"Someone who isn't afraid like the Imperium and the Mechanicum are!" Felix stood up and fixed both his silver flesh eyes into the Iron Father's. "The Xenos themselves are more advanced than we are! Necron Technology is billions of years old and still it is more powerful than ours! The Galaxy laughs at us!"

He felt the Iron Father's bionic hand strike him across the face. He wiped the blood off and continued to stare. "That, boy, is blasphemy! The words you speak are no better than that of the Dark Mechanicum! You profane the Omnissiah with your words! And because of that blasphemy you have ruined your career as an Iron Hand!"

"You know I am right! You know what I suggest is the truth and it is what must be done!"

"YOU ARE AN ARROGANT, GREEDY, AND CRUEL BOY!"

Felix's blood rose at the insult. "AND YOU ARE AN OLD MAN AND A FOOL!"

The words were said. They could not be taken back. Lydriik turned his back on him. "I am a fool. A fool for not seeing your greed and lust for knowledge sooner. Your actions have disgraced the Chapter and Clan Raukaan. You have no place in the Iron Hands! However... I have granted you some amount of mercy. A small amount. You will not be handed over to the Legio Titanicus. You will be questioned and tried... by an Imperial Inquisitor."

Felix's blood ran cold. Not even an Astartes could escape the gaze of the Inquisition for long. He felt no fear at the prospect of going through an Inquisition, but he knew that given his actual guilt in the matter, he was all but finished. He looked down at his bionic hands and clenched them together. "Then I will face the Emperor's justice for my crimes. Goodbye, Iron Father." Lydriik said nothing as he exited the cell. Felix was alone with his thoughts.

He had no idea why he wanted to know the things he did. Or perhaps he did. Felix was a servant of the Imperium. A devoted follower of the Will of the Omnissiah and a soldier of the Emperor. Should they not do what it took to uphold that peace and to dispense justice upon all who would harm it? What was the harm in understanding the inner workings of a Titan? He hadn't meant to kill those people. As soon as the first shot had been fired, he'd felt his mind go blank. Then he was surrounded by the dead. He felt remorse for their deaths, truly he did. A pointless death served no purpose to the greater cause of the Imperium. Now he was cut off from his Clan and his Chapter. He was alone. And he could hear the feet of a mortal approaching his cell.

"This is it. My judgment has arrived."

An old man in power armor made for a mortal entered the cell, followed by a younger man carrying a desk and a stool. The old man, obviously the Inquisitor, carried scrolls as well as a slate and a stylus, a lamp-pack attached to his waist. The young man set up the desk and stool and bowed to the Inquisitor who waved him out of the cell as he set up the scrolls and writing slate and stylus. He activated the lamp-pack and placed it on the desk and turned to give a soft smile to Felix.

Now that Felix had more light, he got a better look at the man. His power armor was midnight black with a long red cape trailing behind him. Oath Seals were attached to his armor and a rosette hung at his belt. On his shoulder was a stylized capital I with a skull overlaying it. The Inquisitor spoke in a soft voice.

"I am Inquisitor Thrax and I am here to ask you a few questions, Brother Felix."

"Former Brother Felix. I have been excommunicated from my Chapter."

"Yes," Thrax nodded in sympathy. "A shame that. I am sorry it has come to this, but the Mechanicum is demanding payment in blood for the lives you took and you are lucky I am here at all. Technically the Mechanicum is outside of my territory." He smiled again. "But I would like to see someone tell me that to my face."

"So you are here to help me? Am I supposed to believe that?"

Thrax shook his head. "I am here to get to the bottom of the truth. The source of why you defiled a sacred machine of the Mechanicum."

Felix lowered his head for a moment and then looked up. "Because we need more. We need to improve the Titans. We need new machines. We are a stagnant Imperium. We are fighting enemies that have more advanced technology than us. The Tau Empire is getting stronger by the day and our people refuse to acknowledge the truth!"

Thrax raised an eyebrow. "Already I have a count of Heresy against you. Coming from an Iron Hand, that is indeed shocking." He picked up a slate and glanced over it. "It says here you applied to be sent to Mars to be trained as a Techmarine. Why were you not chosen?"

"I know it is Heresy, but as a great man said 'Just because it is Heresy doesn't mean it isn't true.' And to answer your question as to why I wasn't chosen... Because I refused any augmentation to my head." Felix gestured to his chromeless face. There wasn't a single piece of technology outside of the normal work that was done in the process of ascending a mortal to the status of Space Marine.

"Why?"

"Because I wanted my mind to be clear. I will accept the blessings of steel for my limbs, but I believed my mind needed to be clear of chrome. The Flesh may be weak, but the mind is strong. That is what I believe. They saw my reluctance to attain more augmentation as lacking in my commitment to the Omnissiah."

Thrax jotted down a few notes. "Okay, that clears that up. Let me be frank: You are as good as dead. The Legio Titanicus wants your head. You are not dead now because the Iron Father is an old acquaintance of mine and I have authority that supersedes any authority of the Mechanicum. But know that your life in the Iron Hands is over. But I can offer you a second chance."

"A second chance? What kind?"

"One that has you in my service. You serve the Imperium. You serve the God-Emperor. You cannot do that as you are now. A disgraced murderer and a heretic. But I can give you the chance to make up for your sins."

Felix glared at Thrax. He had learned one thing from his life with the Iron Hands: An Inquisitor could not be trusted. No matter what they said or promised. There was always a catch. You would soon find a bolter shell in your back and soon your comrades would be dead for even associating with you. He had heard tales of more level headed servants of the Throne, but he had yet to meet one worthy of his time or trust. "Why would an Inquisitor want someone like me? I have heard tell of Inquisitors employing murders and monsters, but Astartes? Really? Why me?"

Thrax considered. "Because I believe that if an Astartes is given the chance to repent, then he may take it. If not, then he is executed as a traitor. But I believe you still have a purpose to serve for the God Emperor." He smiled at Felix. "Did you know I once hoped to join the Ultramarines? I was turned away. I was found wanting. I joined the Black Ships. I became an Inquisitor and here we are. But I never forgot that boyhood dream. I believe in the true servants of the Emperor. I believe that you have a role to play. You have a choice, Brother Felix. You can accept your punishment and die or you can join me and my retinue and redeem yourself through deeds. What do you say?"

Felix considered this. "How would you get me out of here?"

Thrax smiled again. "I'm afraid you would have to die in order for that to happen."

Felix raised an eyebrow. "You want to explain that better?"

Thrax nodded and pushed a folded piece of paper. "In this envelope is a substance that will cause a complete shutdown of your nervous system. You will appear to be dead. I will take care of the rest."

It worked well enough. Felix was paralyzed to the point that a medical examination pronounced him dead. Inquisitor Thrax took possession of his body under the pretense of returning it to Medusa. The substance itself was odorless and tasteless and was virtually undetectable during the examination. Felix Gray was dead to the Iron Hands.

It was three days later when Felix regained motor function on board Thrax's ship, The Eurydice. When he came to, he was surrounded by three women and Inquisitor Thrax. One was of Chogorian descent while the others had the complexions of those that lived in Hive Cities. Thrax smiled down at Felix. "Welcome to the Eurydice, Brother Felix. Welcome to the Knights-Errant."

"The what?"

"The Ordo Malleus has the Grey Knights. The Ordo Xenos has the Deathwatch. The Ordo Hereticus will soon have the Knights-Errant."

Felix sighed. "And I'm the first of this noble order?"

"No, Brother," a voice said from beyond the Medical Bay door. "You are the sixth." Five Astartes in bright white armor entered, each with a different Chapter symbol on their right pauldron while their left had the I of the Inquisition on it. Among the five, he could see a dark gray haired Ultramarine as the leader and a Blood Angel with long dark hair and one eye standing beside him. Behind them in full terminator armor was a Salamander with a Raven Guard and a Dark Angel to his left and right respectively.

Felix gave a small smile. "So you are my new Brothers?"

The Ultramarine nodded and walked over to his side and held out his hand. "Correct. I am Captain Titus, formerly of the Ultramarines. This is my right hand Lysander, formerly of the Blood Angels." He gestured to the others behind him. "Tsu'gan of the Salamanders, Oreus of the Dark Angels, and Nero of the Raven Guard. Welcome to the cause, Brother Felix of the Iron Hands."

Felix looked at the proffered hand for a moment. He took it and shook it. "Thank you, Captain." For most of his life, Felix had felt like an outsider. One who questioned rather than accepted at face value. These were outsiders like him. Brothers.