Across the ship, Captain Coro headed a meeting with a select few members of the chapter and the Inquisitor. In the private room hidden somewhere deep within the ship, the three Astartes and a single human meeting in secret to discuss the real mission of the fourth company. "how much longer until we are out of the warp?" asked Prall. The captain went to answer him but as he did the room was subject to a moment of inertia mixed with a vacuum sensation that made the body feel as it was being sucked through a straw. The hulking mass that was lieutenant Gregorio grumbled in his ever gravel tone "right now it seems." "Then we are safe for the moment," said Prall as he moved to face the other three.
"Let us begin" continued Prall. "Maxmillus Coro, Cassius Havel and Gregorio the Gavel you are the memoir members of fourth company correct?" "We are" replied Havel bluntly. "I assume you are not Ordo Hereticus if you know this?" "Correct, I am Augustus Prall of the Ordo Templaris and we have need of your services once again. once we get to Lomea system you will find that the Inquisitor on board with the Mantis warriors will implore them to attack the moon of Lomea Primus, saying that the heart of the demonic cultists lies somewhere down there. This is of course false, we do not know where the leader of the cultist is at this time. It will however provide cover for us to land and recover the last relic required to lead us out of the darkness that is mankind today.
Captain Coro scoffed."Doesn't matter how many times I hear you guys say it, it never gets less ridiculous." Prall's face twisted into annoyance. "Countless lives have been sacrificed in the acquisition of the Mentis shards. there are accounts and studies that suggest just a single shard has the power to greatly affect anything sentient around it, together they will allow us to achieve our goal. We will lead the imperium out of this archaic debacle it has been suffering. we will destroy the ecclesiarchy and relight the beacon of the imperial truth."
Gregorio did not look impressed, "once again the Red Hunters must step in to do your dirty work inquisitor." Prall looked up to the terminator with venom in his mouth "without the Templairs there would be no memoir lieutenant! without us, your entire chapter would be memoryless drones set to spend forever being thrown to your deaths on demon worlds, your lives resulting in little more than a scratch on paper as the death tolls are counted. Besides, I too will have to land on the planet too, once they have secured the area I will collect the Mentis shard personally. "
Coro's mind began to process the tactical aspect of the mission. "The fewer units we send the better, that is obvious. We shall send Achillies squad, they have just enough time to be deployment-ready and have already lost all their experience, it will be of little cost to the chapter to mind-wipe them again. Havel raised an eyebrow "Taber is set to become a blade master, he has already been blood bound to his weapon and gone through the initiation ceremony. once he does the centurion challenge and becomes a fully recognised blade master he will be exempt from any future mind tampering. Gregorio laughed "Ha that's assuming he even survives the centurion, one hundred minutes fighting a blade master who has countless years of experience versus a freshly wiped mind. he will die before he earns the privilege of memory"
"Regardless we must keep him busy over the coming weeks. Gregorio, you will tell sergeant Achillies of the mission and that they will be training double leading up to deployment to be prepared, he will not have time for the centurion." with that captain Coro opened the door "everyone back to your stations before someone notices we are gone.
Gregorio the gavel made his way to a nearby transport shuttle, a massive elevator-like design that could transport things as large as dreadnaughts across the ship. As the door opened he saw that he would not be riding alone inside were the other four members of the veteran first squad. "Where are you lot off to?" asked Gregorio hurriedly, knowing that if anyone was going to catch him out for attending a secret meeting it would be his veteran brothers. Brother Tyrannus replied "there has been a blood duel challenge." obviously excited to see such a rare event. "I am going to try and make sure no one dies." interjected Hiren flatly "Hiren you are as boring as a commissar." laughed Mannus "this is an ancient rite of the chapter, in my opinion, there is no better way to settle in house disputes. whatever the cause, once it's over, it's over, and everyone can move on. Gregorio exhaled a breath he didn't realise he was holding. His missing presence had gone easily unnoticed in the shadow of the blood duel, or so he had thought. Shrike stood silently with his brothers looking at the lieutenant, his face gave away nothing but when they made eye contact Gregorio felt a single bead of sweat build on the back of his neck.
Trying to casually break the moment of tension Gregorio stepped into the shuttle and asked "where is the duel being held?" Tyrannus pressed a button on the interface and answered. "It's in the training pits of course, where else would you hold it?" The doors shut behind the veterans and the shuttle took off at high speed so as to traverse the length of the ship in minutes instead of hours.