Attempted Assassination

It was late at night in the Imperial Palace and Regent Vulkan was going over the latest batch of requisitions and requests from citizens and nobles. When he'd accepted the position of Regent of Terra, Vulkan had hoped for a bit of time to be able to work in the Forge or spend time with N'Bella. His days were either the surveying of the building of the atmospheric filtration complex with Rogal, hearing the concerns and grievances of the common folk, something that his advisors had strongly advised against since they feared it would open him up to assassination, or meeting with the Councilors of Terra individually. He wished that they could all meet in session, but the damned fools seemed determined to avoid one another. It was almost as if they did not wish to actually govern the damn Imperium they had been appointed to govern.

The only member the Council he genuinely liked and enjoyed meeting with was Anna-Murza Jek, the Chancellor of the Senatorum Imperialis and the successor and former protege of the previous Chancellor. When Roboute had returned, Jek had been instrumental in preventing the Coup by former members of the Council of Terra, along with current members, to take back power they had lost from Roboute. They had failed utterly and put to death. It saddened him. They had claimed to believe in an Imperium that had never truly existed. In truth, they had only wanted power.

Vulkan sighed. He wanted to believe in the best of humanity. Protecting them was the reason he'd been created in the first place, or so he wanted to believe. But the Council of Terra had shown him a difficult truth about the Imperium: That the Government his father had wanted to create was all but corrupt beyond belief. The Council seemed to be only in this to build up their own personal power while the Galaxy suffered. To them, Terra was the Imperium and all the other planets were simply sources of income and food.

Vulkan was determined to break them of this insular thinking. To turn one's back on the Imperium was an insult to everything he believed in. "Father was not perfect, but he built the Imperium for all of humanity, not for those that dwell on top of the mountain."

He rubbed his head and sighed. Soon it would not matter. He would soon be off planet for several months with N'Bella and several of his sons and he would be showing her the Imperium and the planets of his brothers. One of his advisors, Thrandell, had suggested it to him one night. "If you wish for the Imperium to understand that it has not been forgotten, it might be best for the Regent of Terra to show them that."

Vulkan had thought it over and agreed. Rogal was fine with presiding over the Governance of Terra while he was away and N'Bella could not wait to get off planet to see her uncles. He could tell she was getting bored of the Palace and wanted to see the sights. He himself was bored of it. He missed Nocturne. He wanted N'Bella to see the grave of her other Grandfather. The man who'd raised him. Who'd loved him even though he was clearly not his son. N'Bel... He missed him terribly. He hadn't been there for his passing and had hated himself for it since. But now he would be there to introduce N'Bel to his granddaughter.

The door opened and an old man in a robe and with a bad back entered. He was hunched over and carrying a lumen globe in one hand and a pair of books in the other. "Lord Vulkan, you are up quite late."

Vulkan smiled. "Thrandell, you should know that sleep is not exactly required for a Primarch to function." Vulkan dwarfed the old man in just about every way, but he was always surprised that the old man never once showed fear to the Primarch. He was a courageous fellow and that was part of what Vulkan liked about him.

Thrandell smiled at his master. "Aye, my Lord, but it does help. You are excited for your departure from Terra?"

Vulkan nodded. "I need a change of scenery, Thrandell. Terra has become a place where I can dwell, but it is not home. I must see Nocturne again. I must get back out amongst the stars"

"And the Princess? She is excited as well?"

"N'Bella could not be more excited if she tried. She is eager to see her uncles again."

"And you will return to us, My Lord?"

Vulkan was puzzled by this. "Of course. I am needed here. I swore an oath to protect the Throne World, no matter what."

"Even if the Throne World... may not want a Primarch standing watch over the Golden Throne, my Lord?"

Vulkan's eyes narrowed. "You mean... what the Council may not want, Thrandell?"

"I do not mean offense, My Lord, but Lord Dorn would be more than happy to take your place. You yourself have stated your distaste for Terran politics. Perhaps it would make you happier?"

Vulkan noticed something. Thrandell's tone... it was stronger. More confident. More alive than it had been before. The way Thrandell carried himself was also odd. More purpose in his strides as he walked around the office, putting away books and tidying up notes. There was also the way he addressed Vulkan. Vulkan did not want a servile toady as his bondservant. He wanted someone he could have a conversation with. One he could confide in. One he could show his humanity to. This... did not feel like that man he'd handpicked from a list of hundreds of applicants. This was wrong. Something was wrong.

Vulkan stood up and towered over the one who greatly resembled his servant. "I would like to ask a simple question: Are you truly Thrandell? Are you really the grandfather of four children and the father of six? Are you really a 97 year old man with a bad back and a limp he gained from his time in the Imperial Guard? If you are, I will apologize for my suspicious nature and bid you a good night. If you are not... then I will kill you right here and now."

The person who looked like Thrandell looked up at Vulkan for a moment before straightening up. "You are quite observant, Lord Vulkan. I apologize for the deception, but you see... I answer to one higher than yourself."

"My father, you mean?"

The impostor nodded. "Yes. I am here at the behest of one who wished to know if you would never return to Terra. Having two Primarchs here is hard for certain members of the Council to retain power. But if one were to remain-"

"Then one like Rogal, whose steadfast loyalty has never been in question, could be easily controlled. And if I did not leave, you would be forced to try to kill me."

The Impostor's form began to melt away, revealing what appeared to be a female form in an all-covering bodyglove with two red eye lenses. From their head sprouted a long single braid of hair and on their right hand was a gauntlet that appeared to emit a green glow from a gap in it. "Once again, a Callidus Assassin is sent to kill a Primarch," Vulkan said with a sigh.

"Then you are aware of one of my number killing Konrad Curze millennia ago," the assassin said in a voice that was a mixture of a male and female voice.

"Yes, but I myself fought Konrad in several battles to the death. And even at my most insane, Konrad was particularly hard to kill. If one of your number killed Konrad, he let it happen. Now, I have two questions before we begin: Thrandell. Was there ever such a person or was he a fiction you created to infiltrate me?"

"Thrandell was such a person. I apologize though that he has been dead for two weeks. Old age."

"Very well. Second: Were you sent... by Anna-Murza Jek?"

The assassin shook their head. "No."

"Good. Begin."

Quick as a viper, the assassin leaped into the air, drawing out the Phase Sword in their gauntlet and stabbing Vulkan in the chest, piercing through his hearts. Slowly, Vulkan lowered himself to his knees and lowered his head in turn, his blazing eyes closing in death. The assassin withdrew the blade and turned around to leave. "Good try," came Vulkan's baritone voice. The assassin turned around, drawing the Neural Shredder and pointing it at Vulkan's head. Vulkan's massive hand shot out and engulfed the assassin's weapon, crushing it and the hand in one swift movement. "But I do not think your master told you... that I have died many times. And this wasn't even the most painful death I have suffered."

Vulkan's other hand shot out and engulfed the assassin's blade arm and snapped it like a twig. "You may be a killer of men, but you are still human. Whereas I am more than human. I am a Primarch."

The assassin, caught off guard by Vulkan's counterattack and still in his grip, groaned in pain, but did not cry out. More than likely it knew pain worse than even Vulkan could imagine, but he had no room for pity for a killer like this. Releasing the hand that had held the Neural Shredder, Vulkan engulfed the assassin's head in one grip. He held the assassin at arm's length and stared at it with cold eyes of fire. "Thrandell was a good man. As I said before, he was a father and grandfather. I took his family in when I hired him. The fact that you have been impersonating him for several weeks tells me that they do not know he is dead. You lied to them in order to get close to me. You hurt them long before your blade even touched my hearts. You besmirched the memory of a member of my family. Goodbye." Vulkan's hand squeezed, pulping the assassin's head. Blood spurted from between his fingers as he dropped the headless corpse.

Looking down at the assassin, he keyed his vox. "Custodian Maylan? This is Regent Vulkan. Contact what guards you trust and have them come to my office to retrieve the body of a Callidus Assassin. No, I am fine, Maylan. I assure you I am fine. Good. Then contact Tanau Aleya and have her double the guard outside of my daughter's chambers until morning. No, that will be all, Maylan."

He shut off the vox and sighed as he sat behind his desk and waited for the guards to come to dispose of the body. This was the third time an assassin had been sent to kill him. It appeared the belief in the divinity of his father did not extend to him or his brothers it seemed. "How many times am I going to have to die before they realize it is hopeless," he thought. "How many times?"

Author's Note:

Ah, Vulkan. One of my favorite characters from the Horus Heresy and it is time he had a solo story. This is a story I've wanted to tell for a bit and I am proud of it. Vulkan, one of the most unkillable Primarchs in Warhammer, being targeted over and over again by his political enemies? What's not to love? But yeah, this is more or less a prologue to another series of shorts featuring Vulkan and N'Bella. The Pilgrimage. Don't worry, this will tie into the main plot and it will make sense.

But mostly I wanted to do a story that explores Vulkan's reaction to helping to rule a planet that is a pale image of what it could have been. Basically, Vulkan ain't got time for this petty political crap and he needs a vacation. Rogal is more than willing to shoulder his brother's responsibilities for a time so Vulkan is going out on the Galaxy with his little girl.

I also wanted to really explore what would happen if one of the Officio Assassinorum tried to kill a Primarch. We all know that Curze let himself die when M'Shen came for him. It's what he ultimately wanted, but you can guess the Callidus Temple has been riding that achievement for millennia. "Oh, you blew up a city, Eversor Temple? Well, we killed a Primarch, BIIIIIIITCH!" But if a Primarch does not have a death wish, then they will fight back and they will kill.

But yeah, Vulkan's wrath is also something I wanted to explore here, albeit in minor detail. Vulkan is often cast as stereotypically all-loving, but we all know that ain't true. Vulkan has a dark side to him and his temper is legendary. He does not suffer bastards and he will end you if you get on his bad side. But at the same time, deep down, Vulkan is a good soul who does not like it when he gives into his darker side. There's a reason why he and Jaghatai are my favorite Primarchs.