Reference Number: 0 255 359.m42
Location: Investiary, Imperial Palace, Terra, Sol Sector, Segmentum Solar
Overhead, Luna shines quietly, full and proud. In her soft glow can be seen 9 statues of some of the greatest champions of mankind. Suspiciously, there are 9 empty plinths, selected apparently at random from among the selection. Even more suspiciously, there are 2 pedestals missing... the 2nd and 11th, counting clockwise from due north. In the gaze of the remaining statues [#'s 1, 5, 6, 7 , 9, 10, 13, 18 and 19] are seated a motley cross-section of humanity:
Seated in a wedge with backs to the empty 3rd pedestal facing an empty stage in the center, are the proud officers of the Astra Militarum and Armada Imperialis, in gleaming dress uniform save 2. One aged man in the battle-torn field coat of a Commissar, one arm shorn at the shoulder, replaced with a crude combat augmetic, that at first glance appears Orkish in manufacture. The other man, thickly muscled and scarred, in hastily cleaned sleeveless jungle-pattern camouflage fatigues.
In stark contrast to the officers and seated on their immediate left, in front of alcove 4, skulk strange shapes, some barely human, more machine than mortal, in the bright crimson hooded robes of the Martian Mechanicum, servo-skulls buzzing around them like morose pet avians. Watching them are silent Astartes in cold steel armor bearing Skulls.
A couple alcoves away in front of the 8th station sit stern faced but fiercely beautiful women in polished black and silver powered armor... the Adepta Sororitas with an ancient figure seated on a pulpit-throne born by a dreadnaught, attended by men and women in black robes with gazes that peer into your very soul... all wearing the mark of Malcador: an inquisitorial retinue of the Ordo Hereticus lead by Lord Inquisitor Fyodor Karamazoff himself.
Almost to the direct south, in front of the 12th pylon are Astartes armor of various colors, each with prayer inscribed pauldrons on the right shoulder, also bearing the badge of the Inquisition. At their head, a frail woman in a daunting augmetic exo-frame. This has to be Ordo Xenos Inquisitrix of the Chamber Hezika Carmillus and her Deathwatch Kill Team, no doubt joined by Watch Commander Mordigael, Epistolary Axineton, and Forge Master Harl Greyweaver of Watch Fortress Erioch. Amongst them, Astartes in crimson and Brass, bearing the mark of the Minotaur.
2 sections to their left, in front of the 15th station sit more Astartes, some in gleaming silver, rune-encrusted power armor, others in red or crimson, bearing winged blood drops or horned skulls: the Grey Knights and Exorcists of the Ordo Malleus and for whatever reason... Blood Ravens? Intermixed with them, members of the Navis Nobilites.
Betwixt Malleus and Xenos sit Battle sisters bearing the red and white tabards of the Orders Hospitaler, Apothecaries from every First Founding Chapter, and doctors from the Officio Medicae and Magos Biologis.
16th and 17th Positions contain priests of the Adeptus Ministorum, watched by the Black Templars Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes.
The 20th position holds, ominously, marines in Blue Armor, bearing the marks of Omega and the Hydra, intermixed with Judges of the Adeptus Arbites and a variety of scribes, scholars and inquisitional agents.
In front of the remaining alcoves are representatives of the First Founding Legions and their Primogenitor Succors, each in front of the statue of their father Primarch.
As the assembled cross-section of the Imperium begins to murmur over seating arrangements and ancient rivalries, the soft lighting in the Investiary shuts off completely, being replaced by stark searchlights focused on the central dias. The air around said stage then begins to shimmer and warp, every Astartes in the area reflexively stands and trains bolt pistols that seem to materialize in their hands, only to, as one, kneel in homage to the figures that are teleporting in...