Ok so I wrote this interlude in response to a review somebody left, which thank you guest reviewer for bringing up that plot hole.
The review basically stated that story didn't make any sense, seeing as how Michael was an Inquisition Prisoner and they seemingly forgot that and just pushed him into a Guard unit.
Well, hope this explains that.
A Month earlier…
Zephyrus Drakon, grinned to himself as he sat behind his desk, the half vial of blood that had been provided to him by Sister Justine would prove to be most invaluable. But it could still only go so far, which is why he would have requests for more of the prisoner's blood to be drawn. Checking for infectious diseases he remembered being the reason he had put in, and Sister Joan of the Hospitallers had been ever the dutiful servant of the Emperor in providing them. After that it had just taken a few slight, unnoticed changes to the serial numbers on the documents, transport codes, and destination nomenclature, carefully done in transit, and voila he currently held eleven more vials of blood.
"We have everything we need then," he asked the Magus Biologis, a sinister grin seated firmly on his face.
"Affirmative," Xander Gates replied, the twinkle in his remaining organic eye shining brightly at all the raw material he was about to have, "have you had any progress in locating his home planet."
Sighing, he rubbed his forehead and seemed to melt into his chair.
"Unfortunately no," he answered, a scowl crossing his face, "he has base genetic markers that match citizenry of anyone of a million Imperial Worlds. We have also done as thorough sweep of the archives of the Administratum as is possible, nobody matching the name given to us by Sister Joan has appeared."
"This is most vexing," Xander stated, looking as perturbed as he could.
"Agreed," he replied, "but can we make what we have work?"
"I should be able to make due with the genetic samples I have available," his mechanical voice stated, "though I do wish we had found more of him."
"As do I," Drakon said, "but now I feel that since he has served his purpose to the Emperor we should endeavor to remove him from the equation."
"How shall we do that," he asked, his mechanical brain already running through a million different scenarios already, disseminating which would have the highest possible chance of success, when the servitor that served as his door man chimed that he had a visitor,
"Mute your channel," he ordered, before he grabbed a random data slate and pretended to look over it. In walked Sister Justine Volantis, with a rather troubled look on her face, almost subconsciously he couldn't help but admire the way her red and black vestments clung to her frame. He fingered the Inquisitorial Rosary that hung from his waist, reminding himself that now was neither the time nor the place.
"Sister Justine what brings you here," he asked, layering a false joy at her presence to hide his desires.
"You told me to inform you of anything that was bothering me," she answered matter of factly, truly he had said such a thing but it was more so he could continue to probe at her emotional defenses.
"What troubles you," he asked, continuing to finger his Inquisitorial Rosary.
"Someone who is not in the attached guard unit somehow found their way into the armory, "she stated, he internally groaned, this had been a common occurrence with her, as she would seemingly go out of her way to find even the most minute holes in their security and point it out. Given the circumstances of her arrival he couldn't necessarily blame her, he just wanted her to stop doing it.
"Which armory did he break into," he asked, already thinking of how he was going to punish the parties responsible.
"It was the Cadian 308th Infantry Company," she answered, "he claims to have just walked into the armory."
Nodding to himself, he ran through what he knew of the unit, it was being sent to help bolster the garrison for a nearby hive world if he wasn't mistaken.
"Do you have a name for this individual," he asked, already working through what punishments he could possibly level against him.
"He called himself Michael Rollins," she answered, before a frustrated look crossed her face, " and the frustrating part is that I can't shake the feeling that I have met him somewhere, though I know not where."
He sat up straighter, and had a slightly tighter grip on the data slate, as a possible solution to his problem had just been presented to him.
"Thank you for bringing this to my attention Sister," said, doing his best to hide the elation in his voice, "rest assured I know of the individual you speak of and I shall deal with them at once."
Getting up, seemingly not having acknowledged the statement, she walked out, after almost a full minute after the door closed he asked into the vox channel again.
"Did you get all that," he asked, unable to hide the grin on his face.
"Affirmative," Xander replied, his augmetics clicking in excitement.
"I do believe Sister Justine has just presented us with a most excellent opportunity," he stated, grinning to himself.
"But won't people get suspicious if someone is just assigned to the Guard unit," Xander asked skeptically.
"That particular unit," he replied, the plan already forming in his mind, "is understaffed, they'll be grateful for almost any scraps given to them. Also, paperwork goes missing and mix ups happen all the time at the Munitorum, it would be a trivial matter to explain why he's there."
"But he was a prisoner of the Inquisition's cells," Xander stated, "surely it would raise suspicion if he found his way into an Imperial Guard unit."
"He was a prisoner I made sure was not truly kept on file," Zephyrus Drakon soothed, "that as a aside, no records outside of a Pict recording, a few guardsmen's testimony, and a hospital record exist of him, all of which can be easily suppressed and dealt with."
"By why the Imperial Guard," Xander asked curiously.
"Guardsmen die all the time," Drakon commented, a sinister grin slowly appearing on his face, "if he were to suddenly be brought to the Emperor's side, he'd just be another corpse going to be recycled, and no one keeps track of those. Throne, the las gun he would be issued would be missed more than him. So truly the problem has just taken care of itself."
"I shall trust your judgment," Xander said, before cutting off his end of the Vox link.
"See that you do," Zephyrus Drakon said to empty air, already moving the pieces to make his machinations happen, he would need to be subtle but one did not rise to his position by being a blunt instrument.
So was everyone's curiosity sated?
Hopefully the story makes more sense for those the plot hole was bugging, my mistake for thinking I had implied why.
Anyway, I had two ideas that I had wanted to run by you guys.
First: A sort of Halloween special, set at an undetermined point in the future involving Michael, Sister Justine, and a seemingly abandoned Space Hulk.
Two: A separate story following Persephone Trask, bastard daughter and last surviving heir of an old Rogue Trader dynasty. Originally I had intended for her and Michael to have a connection but after thinking on it, I steadily found myself making her an entity separate from him. Still puzzling out how I would make it work, but such is the creative process.
Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed this little interlude and that satisfied that itch in the back of your skull.
Ave Imperator.
