In the Eyes of Men
by Falconwind
Chapter Thirteen
"Meetings"
They were an odd couple, to use the term. However, to call a Space Marine Librarian and a Chaos Sorcerer an 'odd couple' was most certainly to invite bodily harm. Or at least the threat of such. It was, however, nonetheless true.
To be sure, most, if not all, the crewmen had never seen either a Space Marine or Chaos Space Marine first-hand. And to see them walking next to each other onboard an Imperial warship was definately something no one had expected.
They walked silently for the most part. Their thoughts churned inside their heads, consuming all faculties so that they could only stare ahead with unfocused eyes.
Horandrin was the first to speak. "We are truly to be welcomed on Evernight?", he said almost absently.
Covan glanced at him with raised eyebrows. "You doubt my sincerity." It was not a question, nor an answer.
Horandrin considered his response. "It is not you whom I doubt. I doubt... everything." They turned the corner. "I try to keep my doubts hidden, but they are great."
"Why so?"
"That I keep them hidden? Or, that they are great?" he asked.
"That they are great. I know why you keep it hidden."
Horandrin considered Covan, and nodded slowly. "I cannot help but feel that the universe smiles upon me too affably. Things progress easily, and we continue to do the impossible." Horandrin stopped abruptly, causing the Librarian to back-track some steps. " I will not lie; I desire peace between us greatly. But why should we Thousand Sons be the recipients of such charity? What have we done to deserve a second chance?" He looked at Covan, hoping for an answer, that he knew he could not give.
"I don't Know, Horandrin. But from what I've seen, in this short period, I can say that there are no others more deserving."
Horandrin scoffed. "Only words."
"Words of truth," insisted Covan. "I have seen you fight against your own. We have fought together, and spilt blood and dust together. I need no more convincing." He smiled lopesidedly. "Besides, you saved my life."
"But perhaps this is a trick. Perhaps this is but an elaborate scheme," said Horandrin.
"You would not say such, if it were," the Librarian pointed out. He continued to walk, and the sorcerer was forced to follow. "Nor would you have destroyed so many of your former comrades if you had a choice."
Covan stopped. "It is regrettable that they did not share your views. Or else you would not have had to fight them."
Horandrin agreed. He had not wanted to fight his former brothers, even if they did not feel a thing when destroyed. They were but power armour embued with a trace of life so that they may fight and follow orders. But they were still family, in essence. Back in the hanger, they had fought with determination and resolve. But undoubtably, each of his men pondered the morality of fighting one's own.
"Betrayal begets betrayal," muttered Horandrin.
"Well, I wouldn't quite say you betrayed the Emperor, so much as he wronged you," commented the Space Marine Librarian.
Horandrin nodded his thanks. "It is refreshing to hear a Space Marine not overcome by rhetoric and zealotism."
"I could say the same about you. But I must stress the fact that we are idealistic, not naive. You did well in gaining our trust, but you have not gained it all. Millenia of treachery and murder do not evaporate with one battle. We will be watching, and you will have to do much to prove yourselves worthy of our friendship."
"I thought I had your trust," Horandin said.
"You do. YOU have MINE. But a single Librarian or Sorcerer does not a Legion make."
They had finally reached their destination, the compartment marked "Conference Room."
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Imperial Guard Garrison GSI4452-X5593 (Venerable Base), Minos Corva, Tellaris System
Commissar Branch and Commissar Steinbech sat quietly in a room that seemed to have no walls. The bright overhead lamp bathed the grey, rectangular table in white light while the rest of the room was completely obscured in shadows. The room was deathly quiet, and though both men hid it well, they were nervous. The room, after all, was essentially an interrogation room.
Steinbech, however, was possibly more indignant than nervous. "How dare they keep us here against our will! We have done nothing wrong!" he declared vehemently. "Why do they hold us so?" he asked Branch, who could have cared less.
He sighed. The more he interacted with his counterpart, the more he disliked him. "We're here because the most highly trained core of Minos Corva's military deserted it's post while under our 'watchful' gaze. I should think it's obvious why we're here."
"I still don't see why," he grumbled. "They have my report."
"Would you be satisfied to simply read a report if fifteen ships and 150,000 guardsmen equivalent to stormtroopers or better deserted?" Branch asked. "They want us to tell them what happened."
"Humph. Still, I should think that they would not have us sitting here for an hour," continued Steinbech.
Branch was about to finally give the man a piece of his mind when the door abruptly opened, suddenly blinding them with the light from the outside. The door closed just as quickly, and both men where aware of another in the room, standing in the shadows.
The figure stepped into the light, revealing a rather large-framed man in non-descript Imperial clothing that only identified him a member of some branch of the Adeptus Terra. His hair was grey and thick, and his face was round with large eyes of a light blue. He looked, Branch imagined, wise.
"Good..." the man started, checking his chrono, "...afternoon, Commissars. My name is Gerard, I shall be interviewing you concerning the mass desertion of three divisions of Imperial Guard, and of the Minos Corva fleet. Answer truthfully and quickly, and this shall not take more than a few hours. If you wish, I will have dinner sent to us, if we need to do so. Either way, we shall be finished, and not until then." He sat down opposite them without preamble and placed before him an audio recorder, a paper note pad, and some folders. "My first questions will be about General Harrington and-."
"Now, wait just one second!" said Steinbech indignantly. The man arched an eyebrow. "You keep us waiting for almost two hours in the dark, and you walk in and proceed to dictate to us without so much as an explanation!"
The man blinked for a second. "Of course, how thoughtless of me. You must understand that you were kept waiting because I was not yet planetside. It would have been difficult to commence this interview with several million miles between us. I only happened to be in the vicinity, and thus is the reason for my relative quickness in getting here. Terra is, after all, quite a distance."
"I have heard that tone from many before you, and I must say that it does not do well to be cheeky with me," warned Steinbech. "I want an apology."
"Of course," the man said amiably. "I apologize for keeping you waiting. It was rude and unbecoming of me to not afford you the proper courtesy."
Stienbech grinned with satisfaction. "I accept you apology. I trust it will not happen again, lest I inform your superiors."
"Undoubtably, I shall not offend you again." He turned to Branch. "And have you anything to say?"
Branch shrugged. "I also did not appreciate the wait, however, it is not in my nature to demand an apology," he cast a disapproving look at his counterpart. "I was well enough to simply bear with it, and trust that you would make this proceeding swift, which you have promised to do and I thank you."
The man nodded curtly. "You're welcome. Now, shall we proceed?"
They both nodded.
The man switched on the recorder, and noted the date and time out loud. He then Identified himself as, "Inquisitor Morro Gerard" and set his eyes upon the stunned Commissars.
Branch was the first to regain his composure, and he looked at Steinbech, who remained wide-eyed and pale.
Inquisitor Gerard smiled, almost dangerously. "Commissar Branch, you may relax." He focused his steely gaze towards Steinbech. "You, however, are very, very, VERY, lucky that I am an Inquisitor with an unusually abundant supply of patience and good-humour," he said sternly.
Steinbech gulped, and tried to disappear beneath the table.
Branch coughed. "I would like to apologize, Inquisitor. I did not know whom I addressed."
"You need not apologize, Commissar Branch, you acted most civily. And, at the time, I had not identified myself as an Inquisitor, so you're misconduct can be forgiven. Commissar Steinbech, however, shall recieve a disciplining should this lesson in humility go unheeded. Is that understood?"
Steinbech squeaked out a 'yes, sir'.
"Now, I think we should start, lest we become further distracted. Please tell me your thoughts on General James Harrington. What did you think of him? What did he think of you? How would you characterize him? Steinbech?"
He cleared his throat. "General Harrington is a traitor, I do not think I should waste good Imperial thoughts on his treacherous character. He was a man who actively dabbled in forbidden texts and never truly served the Emperor."
The Inquisitor made some notes on his pad with a pen. And old-fashioned method, to be sure. "Very well spoken, Commissar. I'm sure the instructors at the academy would be proud. Branch?"
He took a deep breath. "General Harrington was perhaps the greatest man I have ever known. He was a commander written from a text-book of leadership. His men adored him, and his abilities were superb. He held himself and his troops to a high standard, and was perhaps the very core of the Minos Corva military. He was a admirable man, worthy of every praise, but never looking for it. He was a man of common sense, and good humour."
"Indeed, he was a great man," said Gerard.
"Yes, he was. But Steinbech is, more or less, right about some things. He never did, truly, 100, support the Imperium of Man. But he did not have any other loyalties that I knew of, certainly not Chaos, that I thought I knew for sure. He did not like that the Imperium had taken control of Minos Corva, that was all."
Gerard looked intrigued. "Why did he resent Imperial presence?"
"Are you familiar with the history of Minos Corva?"
"Yes."
"Then I need not tell you of the prosperity that they enjoyed, despite being cut-off from Terra for so many centuries. General Harrington likened the coming of the Imperium to the end of a Golden Age. For you see, Inquisitor, before, Minos Corva had existed as it always had. A by-product of it's self-sufficiency. They remained civilized and cultured; their society was like that of Earth during it's greatness. Now, that is gone."
"Gone? How?" asked Gerard.
"Until we came, Inquisitor, the education system here was free and uncensored. Citizens could study and learn everything and anything they wished. It was empowerment by knowledge. As you know, we do not support this, because too much knowledge is dangerous. We siezed all books and files that could be found, and much of it was destroyed as heretical materials."
Gerard nodded. "This, I know."
"And as well, the Adeptus Mechanicus siezed the Planetary Archives, which contained much information from before the Dark Age, depriving them of that. As well, he often said that Minos Corva had become a target for the Dark Eldar and others because of the mere virtue of being part of the Imperium."
"I see, so the coming of the Imperium was, in essence, a step backward for the planet. Instead of coming to a world in disorder and savagry, we came to a planet of peace and knowledge. We took both those things away from them." Gerard seemed to nod to himself. "So he was Anti-Imperial, that is considered treason in itself."
"Yes, sir, but he never acted against the Imperium. I believe the phrase 'If you can't beat them, join them' applies. But he was, by no means, a worshipper of Chaos."
"I can't believe you!" cried Steinbech, suddenly. "You call youself a Commissar! You just testified on behalf of a traitor! A deserter!"
"I have told the truth, that is all!" Branch stated, defensively. "He earned my respect!"
"Obviouly, it wasn't worth much," he said contemptuously.
"Harrington was a man that a boor like you couldn't possibly understand!"
"A boor I may be, but at least I'm not a traitor!"
Branch slammed his fist on the table. "Stop calling him a traitor! We don't know what he's done, if anything, yet!"
"I wasn't talking about him!" he said, seethingly. "Inquisitor, I contend that Commissar Branch is a sympathetic, and should be treated as a suspected accomplice!"
Branch stood in outrage. "Outrageous! For all we know, you could be the accomplice, and thus is the reason you're framing me!"
"Gentlemen!" yelled the Inquisitor. "Shall we conduct ourselves with a little more maturity than ten year-olds? I am well aware of Commissar Branch's high regard for General Harrington. That being said, I am done with you, Steinbech, you may go. As for Branch, we have more to talk about."
Steinbech got up. "Very well. I trust the truth will reveal itself shortly," he said glaring at Branch.
"Yes, indeed it will," replied Gerard ominously.
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The room was fairly lavish, but it still had an air of utilitarianism to it. The walls had the same imitation wood panelling, and the large rectangular table in the middle was what looked like wood once again. The room had paintings of landscapes, and some non-descript looking commander types. The room was meant to be a formal, private meeting place for dignitaries and honoured guests, so it was fitting, in a strange way.
On one side, sat Harrington and Tokugawa. At the far end was the Shadow, and three more chairs remained, two for them, and the other most likely was intended for Daleon, who had not opted to attend.
"Good evening, my friends. Please have a seat," announced the Shadow. Horandrin wondered when he had graduated to 'friend'.
They both took a seat, which was somewhat small for their large, armoured bodies.
"I'm afraid the /Redoubtable/ wasn't designed for Space Marines, nor was it's furniture," commented Tokugawa.
Covan chuckled. "Well, being this large does sometimes have it's drawbacks."
"May I ask the reason for this meeting?" asked Horandrin as he took his seat next to Covan. He wasted no time in coming to the point.
The Shadow inclined his head. "Yes, you may, Horandrin. The reason for this meeting is to fully disclose what mission we are to set ourselves to."
"A mission?" asked Tokugawa.
"That is what I said, admiral. A mission of great importance, that is without doubt." He paused, seeming to collect himself. "However, even I, in my vast cosmic knowledge, cannot say exactly what threat we face. Only that it is one which will change the shape of the universe as we know it."
"Grandiosity aside, that does not enlighten us further," stated Horandrin.
The Shadow took no offense in the comment. "Chaos is rising, my friends. That is all I know. Were I a God of Chaos, I would be privy to more information, but as I am not, that is all I know."
"I assume a war is coming, then," concluded Harrington. "Why else would our services be needed."
"You assume correctly, James. A war is indeed coming, and I cannot say what the very nature of it will be. But I know that we are a force to be reckoned with, and that we will play an instrumental role."
"For the better, I hope?" asked Covan.
The Shadow nodded. "For the better, certainly. We shall side with the light, and push the darkness back to where it belongs."
"And what of you, Shadow? You say you are a God of the Light, but you are of the Shadows. That seems to be a contradiction," said Tokugawa.
"Shadows are created by the Light. It is the Light that defines me, and shapes me, and gives me form. That is where my alligence and loyalties reside. If Darkness and Chaos were to take over, then I would be swallowed, and become as them. I would not like to be as they are."
"I find comfort in the fact that you have a personal stake in this," said Horandrin. "I am tired of Gods who wish to manipulate the universe from atop their throne."
The Shadow chuckled. "Aren't we all?"
And indeed, they were.
"So what of this 'Evernight'?" asked Tokugawa without preamble. "What sort of planet is it?"
Covan, Evernight being his home planet, was the obvious source for answers. "It does not fall into any one class of world, so far as Imperial classifications go. It is a civilized world, and yet it is not very hospitable for the most part."
"A Death World?" asked Tokugawa.
"No," Covan shook his head, "nothing so threatening. There are very few lifeforms large enough to pose a threat to any man."
"A Dead World, then?"
"Once again, no. The very name of my planet indicates it's prevalent feature. It is always night on Evernight, hence it's name. More accurately, it is always dark. Strictly speaking, the world cannot support the people which live upon it."
"No sunlight means no plants, which means no animals, which means no food," concluded Harrington.
"Well, there are some plants and animals, but essentially you are right," affirmed Covan. He turned to Horandrin. "Certainly, if we were short on food I would not invite you all to a banquet."
Horandrin simulated clearing his throat, for he had none.
"Uh, yes, of course. How thoughtless of me." He coughed. "Still, the invitation remains."
Horandrin bowed slightly. "And it remains accepted."
"What is the level of technology on Evernight?" asked Harrington.
"For the most part," Covan began, "it is high, but not so high as, say, yourselves, whom I imagine are at least on par with Cadia."
Tokugawa frowned at the sound of the name. "Really? And how did you divine that information, Librarian?" he asked.
Covan grinned. "Nothing so invasive as scanning your mind, Admiral. I simply observed your Storm Troopers' armour; they look like Kasrkin." Covan spoke of the Cadian's super elite Storm Troopers, whose armour actually managed to look more heavy than those of Space Marine Scouts.
Harrington cleared his throat. "Actually," he began, "as a point of fact, we don't look like them. They look like us."
"Indeed?"
Harrington nodded, somewhat proud to bolster his troops reputation. "That armour design was developed here, or rather on Minos Corva. It was copied by the Adeptus Mechanicus and then distributed to the Kasrkin."
"Ah, I see," said Covan know well that Harrington took pride in his troops, "my mistake. However, we stray from the topic. They have just begun utilizing jet engines and nuclear power for an example. There are pockets of high technology more comparable to your own, and they take great care to only release technology in such ways that do not distrupt the less advanced portions of the planet. Actually, nuclear physics was perfected by a scientist living outside of the Tech Sancuaries, so it has not detracted from their pursuit of the sciences."
The Librarian had been speaking for some time now, and Harrington, not wanting to be rude had listened. But he now wanted more information relevant to him. "Honourable Librarian," Harrington began.
Covan interrupted him. "Forgive me, General, but longwinded etiquette is not one of my passions."
Harrington chuckled. "Good, nor is it mine. Covan, what of the military strength of Evernight?"
"Other than my brothers, negligible. We have but a handful of troops, about 500,000 including reserves, I believe."
Harrington was shocked at such a low number. "For the entire planet?"
Covan nodded. "The population is rather small, and we have not needed one on Evernight; it is kept safe by it's secrecy. One cannot attack what one does not know about. As for the Doom Lords, we number 4000, massed."
"A significant number of Adeptus Astartes, so be sure," commented Tokugawa.
Harrington agreed. "Yes, but I would still rather have more regular troops."
"One space marine is equal to any three guardsmen, easily," Covan said, not realizing that Harrington did not share this view entirely.
Tokugawa sighed. "And here we go..."
Covan was about to ask what he meant, but he eventually figured it out.
"As a point of fact, Librarian, that is not necessarily true," started Harrington. "In a face-to-face confrontation, perhaps, but on a battlefield, the three guardsmen have a distinct advantage that one space marine can never hope to gain."
"Really." Covan said, incredulously. "And what is that?"
"Simple. They can be in three places at once."
Covan blinked, then laughed. "I stand corrected, General. You wish more manpower, rather than just firepower."
"Precisely."
"I can understand that. However, I was indeed referring to a face-to-face confrontation. I understand well the concept of 'strength in numbers'," Covan said, rather amused.
"I'm afraid my convictions do not stand still, even when no insult is intended."
"So I see. There is a strong drive inside you, General, I can see that now."
"Thank you," Harrington bowed his head slightly.
"Gentlemen, I think now would be a good time to ajourn for the evening. It's been a strange night for all of us, I'm sure, and a respite is well deserved. I, however, must attend to matters abroad." By 'abroad' they assumed he meant 'throughout the universe'. "I bid you good night, then."
The Shadow receeded into the darkness of the room, and did not return.
"I still think that's creepy," said Tokugawa.
"You obviously haven't had many dealings with Chaos then," Horandrin said as he walked out, followed by the others.
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Ivan Alias: Heh, yeah, I know... been busy with other things. Gemini, you know, can't settle for just one story at a time.
darth: me too :P
HammerOfElohim: i'm glad you like it. I tried to have the story mostly serious, but I had to throw in some humourus dialogue just to keep people on their toes. Personally, I think that in a story such as this, in the WH40K setting (while interesting, it's also ridiculous) it works quite well.
Thalanox: hey, thanks. As a writer, it is always a pleasure to know one is appreciated for their work.