In the Eyes of Men
by FalconWind
Chapter 6
"Slight of Hand"
The forests of Minos Corva's northern hemisphere all looked the same to Commissar Branch. He didn't appreciate it's natural beauty as the others did, but then, he wasn't native of the planet.
"This is ridiculous," he said to himself. He had been wandering for thirty minutes trying to find Commissar Steinbech.
He had been sent a coded message from his planetside counterpart telling him to meet at these coordinates. Steinbech had said that the meeting was of utmost importance, and absolute secrecy was required.
The Atlas transport, a common design on Minos Corva, had lifted off after dropping him in the wilderness. Steinbech had said that they would both be returning to the /Redoubtable/.
"Commissar Branch!"
Branch jumped and spun around. It was Steinbech. "Where have you been? I come down here, and you're nowhere to be seen!"
"I apologize for keeping you waiting."
He nodded, and waited for the other commissar to get to the point.
A moment of silence stretched for much too long.
"Well?" they both said simultaneously.
"'Well' what?" said Steinbech defensively.
"What are you talking about, you idiot? You're the one who call me here!"
At this, Steinbech was taken aback. "I did no such thing! You called me, or don't you remember?"
"I did not!" yelled Branch. "I got a message from you telling me to meet you here in private, and that you had information that was of the utmost importance. You then proceeded to insist that I return with you to the /Redoubtable/ for our safety!"
"Impossible!"
"I don't see how," replied the other, missing Steinbech's meaning.
"I received a message nearly identical to that. Except it was from you, and it insisted that we go to Venerable Base."
"What? Impossible!"
"These woods sure do echo, don't they?" he replied, his patience thinning. "We have obviously been tricked. But by whom, and to what end? I have no enemies aboard the /Redoubtable/, I know this much. You, I scarcely have to guess."
"How dare you!"
"Shut up, Branch! I hold three years seniority over you! And frankly, you are getting on my nerves already!" Steinbech forced himself to calm, despite Branch's glare. "Now, we must get back to our posts, and find out what the hell is going on!"
Steinbech activated his collar communicator, which was styled to look like an embroidered collar-badge. "This is Commissar Steinbech calling /Redoubtable/." There was no answer. "I say again, this is Commissar Steinbech calling /Redoubtable/, please respond." Still, no answer was received.
He cast his puzzled and worried look at Branch, who pressed his wristcomm. "This is Commissar Branch to Venerable Base, come in." There was no answer. He repeated his call several times, and so did Steinbech.
"There is something deeply wrong," concluded Steinbech.
"You don't say?" he replied sarcastically.
"Shut up. There is little we can do about the fleet, but Venerable is only 10 miles from here, if I'm not mistaken."
The man crossed his arms. "Surely, you don't expect me to walk all the way there!"
"No, I expect you to complain like an old woman. But unless you happen to have an inflatable landspeeder up your ass, I suggest you start moving." And with that, Steinbeech started to walk in the direction of the fortress, not really caring if Branch was following or not.
It was many hours before they finally reached the walls of the huge garrison. Stienbech's feet ached, and he surmised that living on a warship had spoiled his marching ability. Branch, for all his complaining, seemed to fair better.
Branch input his security clearance into the automated gate, and the door opened. The outer base grounds were vacant. No tranports, no landspeeders, no men on drills. Nothing. They instantly knew something was amiss and proceeded with laspistols drawn.
A further survey of the base revealed the unsettling truth. The entire garrison compound that was Venerable Base, a military installation of 500,000 troops, officers, and thousands of armoured vehicles and artillery pieces, was deserted. The base was literally vacant, the Headquarters of the entire Minos Corva military was as if it had never been occupied. Vehicles were gone, supplies were gone, weapons, ammunition, even personal affects were taken.
There was no sign of struggle or carnage. It was as if everyone had just picked up and left. Even the Imperial Flag had been lowered, folded and placed neatly at the foot of the flag pole. The only sign of life remaining was a single mug of coffee in the cafeteria, now cold.
As the two commissars walked along the eeriely vacant halls, they stopped at the daily message board. It too was vacant except for a single message tacked to the wall. Steinbech read it aloud.
"Dear Steinbech and Branch. We regret the cruel trick we played on you, and hope you did not suffer too much from the walk back. Last week we received a message from a very important person, who asked for our help. Our entire planet and us especially, owe him a great, ancient debt, and it must be repaid, no matter the cost. We cannot speak of the nature of this debt, for you would not understand, and we cannot speak of the nature of our mission, for we ourselves do not know it. This action is considered desertion of the highest degree, and perhaps even heresy. But I can assure you, as honestly as I and Admiral Tokugawa have commanded you for all these years, our mission is just, noble, and good. The imperium will see us as traitors, but hopefully the Emperor will see we mean no harm to mankind. Quite the contrary. So you see why we couldn't bring you along. I will have you know that you performed your duties with honour and convicton, and any commander would grudgingly admit to welcome your services. Do not feel responsible, and don't let them tell you otherwise. This action was one hundred generations in the making, and no amount of commissars can fight that. In the garage, you will find a landspeeder and a few days rations and supplies, which should be enough to get you to the next city. Also, all your personal effects are there as well. You are fine officers whom I regret to have to leave behind. But it is your fine qualities as Commissars that make it so. The combined forces of the reconstituted Shadowatchers, formerly the Minos Corva Armed Forces, bid you farewell and good luck in the rest of your lives. And we hope for the day we will be able to meet you as friends once again. I leave you with a quote by Alfred Lord Tennyson. 'For I dipt into the future, far as human eye could see, saw the vision of the world, and all the wonder that would be.' Signed humblely, the Honourable Grand General James Harrington the First, and the Honourable Fleet Admiral Matsu Tokugawa." Steinbech read the time stamp; the message was only six hours old.
For what seemed like hours more, the two commissars contemplated General Harrington's words. Trying to imagine what had just happened not six hours ago.
Branch was the first to speak. "A shame. He was a good commander."
After a moment, Steinbech replied. "No, he is still a good commander."
"How can you say that? He's deserted his post, his duty, and the Emperor!"
"He deserted his post, yes. But he still strike me as a man worthy of the utmost respect."
"More so than the Emperor?" asked Branch, dangerously.
At this, Steinbech smiled slightly and shrugged. "I have a feeling we may find out one day."
------------------------
Onboard the /Redoubtable/, and throughout the rest of the fleet, there was an irrational tenseness prevailent among all the men. The irrational tenseness was a result of the somewhat irrational action they were all willingly involved in. No one had ever managed to get such a large portion of a world's forces to willingly abandon their posts, until now.
But then, there were no other men like Harrington and Tokugawa. They were best of friends for all their lives, and were, in many ways, simliar. They were firm believers that actions speak louder that words. But unlike other commanders, they didn't use big actions, instead they preferred a multitude of smaller ones.
For example, an Imperial Commander might threaten to kill a man who refuses orders, but not Harrington or Tokugawa. They would find a way to get the man to do it, but without and spoken, explicit threat. Even a stern, unwavering stare was enough. The best part of their command style was, after all is said and done, the men don't feel mistreated.
That was part of why so many men volunteered to go. There was still quite a few troops left on Minos Corva, but most had elected to partake in the mass exodus that had been a hurried week in planning. It had been frantic, but Minos Corva's troops were highly mobile, compared to typical Imperial Guard forces.
The second part was, 99% of the troops were born on Minos Corva, and they knew the Legend of the Shadow. But to most people, the Legend of the Shadow, was just that; a legend, and nothing more. Nothing more than a common fairy tale.
When the Imperium had stumbled upon Minos Corva, the Inquisition had been alarmed by this story. But it had been quickly dismissed because not a single person believed for a second that it held any truth whatsoever.
But they were wrong. Two people knew the truth; that the Legend was fact. And as the one hundredth generation since the Legend, they knew that they would be called upon in their lifetimes. Thus, they rose through the ranks of the Imperial Guard, and took it upon themselves to spread the truth throughout the troops under their charge. They created, in effect, a Traito Guard within the world's forces. But they were still loyal to the Imperium, so no one knew they existed.
Of course, if any one of the heard someone call them Traitor Guard, as they all knew they would sooner or later, they would cringe.
For in their minds, they weren't turning against the Imperium, but rather just leaving.
Harrington, as well as Tokugawa, hoped that the Imperium would not force them into a battle. It was a somewhat distant hope, but still, there was no harm in hoping. Harrington knew that they would defend themselves, that went without saying. But they would not repent either, because there is nothing to repent for.
"Almost surreal, isn't it?" asked Admiral Tokugawa.
Harrington, who had been in deep thought, nodded. "It's hard to believe. I feel like a child sneaking out of his house."
"Everyone is very tense aren't they?"
"They'll be fine. I'll even get Kamerov to start circling the order to calm down. Just tell them to take it easy because nothing's going to happen."
"Yet," Tokugawa added.
Harrington gave him a sideways glance. "Little late to become a pessimist now, Matsu."
"Optimism is all good and fine, but one has to be grounded in reality as well," replied the admiral.
"You don't need to convince me of that. I'm well grounded, thank you." He turned to the watchful captain. "Captain Ross, how long until our destination?"
The Captain conversed with the Navigator. "Not long, sir." While General Harrington didn't have any direct control of the Captain, Ross obliged him. "The Vertolli System isn't far, astronomically speaking. It shouldn't take us more than few days."
"Good."
--------------------------
Yay!!! I'm loving writing this!! Woo hoo! It seems this will end up a fairly large story. Oh, and I guess the title of this chapter sorta makes one think it will be about Horandrin. This isn't a trick, it's just I wanted to use the title.
DarkMoonWolf: Oh, how I love reading your reviews! Thanks for the encouragement! I always write for my own enjoyment, but part of my enjoyment comes from other enjoying it as well. Oh, by the way, I haven't forgotten about your LotR/WH40K crossover! Come on, I'm dying for more!
darth: what an original name! Just kidding. Thanks so much, for reviewing! You'll find out soon enough!
Lord Dante: Wow! That's awesome! Thanks so much for saying so!
Belated Greetings - I'm making these chapters like three in advance, so I never thought about replying until now.
Gunboat: Oh, well. Kay sera sera, guess you could consider it AU now then :P If you want.
mecha ghost: Thanks!
Graham The Mighty: Yeah, i thought so too! :P
Chaos Dreadnought (too lazy to sign in): Yeah, a minor typo. Glad to see you're liking it.
To all: Action finally coming up next! :P