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Chapter 13: Revelations

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Part 1

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Gorgutz stronghold
The Green Coast

Kronus

The Great Rockit, the pride and joy of the surviving Mekboyz rose high up in the sky. It was a pile of scrap leaking fuel. Gorgutz gave it one look and shook his head. At least the Boyz painted it properly in Red, to be fasta, and Purple, to be sneaky like. The Warboss sniffed the air and the acrid stench of rockit fuel filled his lungs.

"Good work. Now get on and make sure it workz!" He rumbled, wondering how to climb up himself. It took a few piles of scarp, a few hours of Mekboyz hammering on it, and five squigs, to punch together an ugly crane.

Gorgutz looked suspiciously at the contraption and prayed to

Gork and Mork that he would die in glorious combat, instead of Mekboyz' mistake. It took thirty Boyz working the crane to lift him enough that he could get into the cockpit. That day, Gorgutz learned he didn't have a taste for swinging on a chain like a squig ready to be roasted.

It was hard to get through a too small of an opening, but Gorgutz was a crafty Warboss and managed if barely.

A pilot, a survivor from a shot down ship, waited for him, puffing on a pipe made of green pipes. The much smaller boy grinned at him and put on red-rimmed aviator glasses, made sure his hat was properly on his head, and pointed at an almost large enough throne at the back.

Predictably, the Mekboyz had wielded it together from scrap. It was all pokey and uncomfortable looking.

"We're lifting, right now! Plesur to fly with Orkysh Rockits!" The pilot mumbled around his pipe and began pressing buttons. The cockpit closed, and Gorgutz hurried to secure himself.

"Three." The Pilot said aloud.

Gorgutz cursed the diseased spores the Pilot spawned from and sat heavily into the throne. It groaned under his bulk and all scrap poked him in all the uncomfortable places.

Something below them began to rumble ominously to make the day even better.

"Two." The Pilot flipped a large red cover from an even larger red button.

Gorgutz held for dear life, cursing all the Mekboyz across the galaxy.

"One."

The world exploded and kicked Gorgutz in the ass, then sat on his chest and tried to squash him like that greetchin he stepped on before coming on board. The pressure made sure to poke scrap even deeper into his hide.

"And we fly!" The Pilot waved a fist in the air, then continued to press colorful buttons.

This was going to be a long and unpleasant flight… More than long enough for Gorgutz Ead Hunta to swear vengeance upon everyone responsible for the rockit ride from hell.


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Eres Badlands
Kronus

Digging in the dirt like slaves! That was what Eliphas and his Astartes had to do, while the Sorcerers chanted, giggled, and screamed. One of the vital bastards fell to his knees and clawed out his eyes babbling nonsense in tongues.

"It burns! The light burns! He's watching us!"

That was all the Black Apostle could understand. After the earlier experience with the portal, it was more than enough. That rotting corpse on the golden casket still had some fight in him. That wasn't good, like at all.

"Hurry, damn your souls!" Eliphas spat and redoubled his own efforts.

Eventually, they hit black rock and excavated a massive slab of it covering what had to be the entrance. It took all the Astartes might, that of the Sorcerers too, even the babbling imbecile, to move it. It was a slow and hard process, but they managed it, all the while venomously cursing their lot in life.

With the chamber opened, the saner Sorcerer led the way, checking for nasty surprises. There were a few wards to break, and in that regard, the crazy one proved invaluable. He opened himself to the Warp and began burning in silver flames. Nevertheless, the true believer lasted long enough to overpower the first two defensive enchantments.

The third required ritual self-mutilation to crack. It was only his altered physiology that allowed the remaining Sorcerer to live long enough to get the job done. They finally managed to pass the short corridor leading into a small circular chamber made of the same black heavy stone as the slab outside.

The last Sorcerer croaked orders, spreading the willing sacrifices, including one of the Astartes, so they could form the necessary arcane symbol. Then he began to chant and opened his wounds. The sacrificed followed suit, and fresh blood, freely offered, pooled in the ground, which drank it greedily.

The Sorcerer's voice changed, he choked and began to burn. The chamber shook, all light went out, and something powerful manifested inside. Inhuman fury clashed upon Eliphas, and only his experiences in the Basilica of Pain allowed him to retain a semblance of sanity. The remaining Astartes weren't so fortunate, and they fell upon each other with murderous intent.

The screaming and chanting ceased. All save for Eliphas fell to the ground dead, and not a drop of blood remained in their bodies.

"It's you." Something spoke through the Sorcerer's throat. Burning embers stared at Eliphas from the scorched and otherwise empty eye-sockets of the possessed corpse. The body was shifting and mutating in front of his eyes. Bones shattered and transformed, limbs stretched, the skin darkened until it was blacker than the chamber walls.

"Khorne wants the Inquisitor dead." The Daemon rumbled in eager anticipation. A monstrous maw leered at Eliphas from where the Sorcerer's face used to be. "But not today."

A huge clawed paw closed around the Black Apostle, and reality shattered around them. They fell into the Immaterium and slammed straight into a barrier of light. The Daemon roared at its searing touch, and Eliphas chorused its screams when the cleansing light bathed his tainted soul.


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Bridge
Rogue Trader Vessel Lucre Foedis
The Warp en route to Kronus

The Lucre Foedis tore itself from the Warp in a surprisingly easy fashion. Too easy really.

Amberley held a weapon in death-grip while staring at the Navigator's alcoves.

The senior Navigator knelt in front of her, crying tears of joy from the corners of his eyes. Whatever happened a few minutes ago, seared them shut, and stunned everyone daring to glimpse at the Immaterium.

Despite the crippling injuries, the Sanctified Mutant was happier than Vail had ever seen one of their kind. He was in rapture.

Nearby, Rakel was a little better. She had her trembling hands frozen in the sign of the Aquila and muttering prayers. Every few verses, she would smile happily and mumble something about beautiful divinity.

The alcoves hissed open, and the replacement Navigator stumbled out. A few were little more than drooling, laughing wrecks. Most had at least one eye sealed shut.

The most coherent among the group turned to look at the gathered armed party pointing weapons at them.

"The Emperor's light, it's beautiful." The woman declared. "It was like the sun bursting forth from Kronus, illuminating the darkness and searing away all the Daemons! Rejoice, it was a miracle! We beheld Divinity, stared straight in the Emperor's light, and it was too much to bear…" The Navigator collapsed and fell into a peaceful slumber. The content smile never left her face.

"I'm open for suggestions, Inquisitor." Captain Orelius asked in a subdued manner that was nothing like his usual bearing.

"Put them under quarantine and observation. At the first hint of trouble or taint, give them the Emperor's mercy." Amberley kept watching the Navigators like a hungry bird of prey. "Contact Kronus and request

a status update. We need to know what in the Emperor's name happened over there."


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Part 2

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Bridge
Rogue Trader Vessel Lucre Foedis
The Warp en route to Kronus

News from Kronus arrived slowly due to light-speed lag. The faster options were out of the question. The locals lacked the necessary equipment, and the less said about the state of the Astropathic Choir, the better. Until very recently, the local Warp had been chock full of so many Daemons that anyone listening would risk their sanity and soul for no good reason.

Now? The Warp apparently echoed with the dying screams of countless Daemons, which might have been music for the souls of those who could hear it. It was also a danger to the sanity of those Psykers, but of no use as far as receiving timely information went. Nevertheless, what the happy Astropath reported lined up with the claims of every other Psyker on the ship.

Amberley Vail was a particular chipper and upbeat woman, for an Inquisitor. She was an optimist, a rare thing indeed, especially among those in her line of work. Her first reaction upon hearing the reports was logical – Chaos sorcery and deception. Probably caused by Slaneeshi Daemons. If the source was servants of the other three entities, their effect upon the Psykers would have been different. It would have been much bloodier too.

Time passed. No one suddenly mutated and tried to kill them all. Or seduce and copulate with everything in sight. There was no mysterious sickness reported by the crew, no mutations. While people did die when something shook the Warp, the cause was very obvious and blunt. That didn't stop Amberley from investigating and keeping her trusted people at critical locations, just in case.

Yet, whatever treachery might be at work failed to manifest a result. They did arrive intact, and as far as anyone on board could determine, the Psykers haven't been tainted despite the very obvious injuries some of them suffered.

"We all are going to be in for a Malleus or Hereticus investigation on general principle." The Inquisitor whispered quietly enough that only the Captain could hear her.

Orelius was back on his command throne, so he could properly link up with the ships' systems and hear her Machine Spirit. He gave her a tiny nod.

"No anomalies. The transition to real space was the smoothest we have on record."

"Then we owe your Navigators a case of their favorite drinks." If they don't end up shot just in case, Amberly didn't add.

"We're receiving data bursts from ships in orbit around Kronus. IFF matches known Blood Raven units and Navy elements presumed to have reached the system before the Warp disturbances began." Orelius spoke mechanically, while his eyes moved, seeing what the ship showed him.

"Update threat status. A Tau battle group is present in the system. Local forces believe several Eldar vessels are hiding in the outer system. Biel-Tan affiliation, threat rating extreme." The Captain's face tightened. He turned his head sharply and looked at Amberley. "Necron forces confirmed on the ground. Necron ground to orbit weapon emplacements confirmed to be operational on the surface. All Ork space assets have been recently terminated."

Amberley blanched at that news. Then and there, she didn't bother keeping a blank expression on her face.

"Then how are our naval element still alive?" Vail blurted out.

She knew the Necrons, faced them in combat a barely got out alive. They were among the greatest threats in the known galaxy.

Orelius stared back at her. His expression mirrored her own shock.

"Warning to approaching Rogue Trade vessel." He spoke, citing something. "Be advised, you're entering an active combat theater. Under the authority of His Majesty's Inquisition, Ordo Xenos, the Imperial forces on Kronus are in an active military alliance with the following Xeno groups." Orelius paused, to give Amberley a meaningful look before he continued whispering the contents of the message. "Necron forces, under the command of the Necron Lord of Kronus. Eldar expeditionary force, under the command of Ranger Rohan, affiliation Craft World Ulthwe. Do not fire upon allied Xeno forces without being engaged first." The Captain stopped there, giving the Inquisitor a bit of time to digest the news.

An alliance with Eldar, especially from Ulthwe? It was more common than the Imperium would like to admit, even though there were elements on both sides who would like to pretend such things never happened. It was a sad state of affairs, that only Imperial authorities might shoot you or worse for such an alliance. To the best of Amberley's knowledge, an Eldar working with humans might get some sneers and curses behind their back, at worse.

And she was rambling because her mind was refusing to accept the idea that the Necrons of all species might consider a military alliance with the Imperium, no matter how fleeting. They were murderous machines with hard to fathom goals, responsible for the death of whole planetary populations! They never talked, much less wanted a peaceful resolution in any recorded encounter! What in the Emperor's name happened down there?!

"There are active Imperial Guard, Naval, and Commissariat codes. There is attached authorization by an Inquisitor Delkatar Veil, Ordo Xenos, using codes assigned to Lord Inquisitor Requista, Ordo Xenos." Orelius added.

"I've met Requista briefly. He should have been on Kronus." Amberley frowned. They might be dealing with treason, an impostor, or a member of the Inquisitor's retinue doing their best after Requista have been killed. It might be all of the above. Some traitors genuinely believed they knew best, even without being compromised by outside forces.

"We're receiving data burst, properly logged reports on events that happened before our arrival. I'll make them available as soon as the data is scrubbed for unpleasant surprises." The Captain continued.

Amberley smiled briefly. This level of proper paranoia was one of the reasons why she had this ship, and more importantly, her Captain, chartered as her usual transport.

"Have the reports sent to my quarters. I'll review them there, Captain. I'll appreciate it if we don't reach the planet before either powerful reinforcements can catch up and we know what we're walking into. Please inquire if the local forces need immediate assistance and about the situation on the ground."

"I already did, Inquisitor. I sent the request along with your identification package. And we're receiving another transmission. It's a message from the Blood Raven Cruiser Armageddon."

Amberley waited for cogitators and Tech-Priests to scrub the data. Soon, an image of an ageless man with visible augmentations appeared above the primary hololith.

"This is Captain Steven Ignatius, Shipmaster of the Blood Raven Strike Cruiser Armageddon. Your codes check, Lucre Foedis. We've already apprised you of the situation in space. Biel-Tan forces are lurking around, and we're still considering them a threat. We have rough parity with the Tau battle group in orbit, and we're holding a defensive posture in order to protect our assets on the ground."

A brief pause followed while the Captain looked away from the camera.

"Good. Send a copy of the report to the Lucre Foedis when it's ready." Ignatius looked back at them. "The situation on the ground is complicated. About a week ago, Guard and Blood Raven forces engaged a massive Ork horde heading towards Victory Bay. We annihilated the Orks with the help of orbital strikes. As soon as we broke the greenskins, the Tau launched attacks upon our ground forces, while their naval vessels ensured we were in no position to offer support. Our ground assets managed to retreat in good order and reach secondary defense lines." Captain Ignatius grimaced. "At that point, the situation got complicated. A Necron representative," The Naval Officer twitched when saying that, "contacted us. Inquisitor Veil convinced General Alexander and Captain Thule that if nothing else, listening to the Xeno would buy us a bit of precious time. Long story short, the Inquisitor managed to broker an alliance with the Necrons after learning the Eldar Biel-Tan elements on the ground have ensnared the Tau and planned a joint attack upon Victory Bay."

As he spoke, Ignatius' face became a curious shade of gray. Amberley could swear he hadn't approved of the alliance. Emperor be good, her first reaction was to conclude the leadership of the local forces had been suborned, so she couldn't blame the man. She wondered how much the presence of the Necron ground to space weaponry changed the man's opinion of the affair.

"The attack the Necrons warned us of happening did occur. We were able to detect the Tau movements from space and track the Eldar thanks to sensor feeds provided by the aliens. The Tau battle group ensured we were unable to intercept the approaching forces from orbit. Doing so risked leaving our ground assets exposed to the still present Orkish naval presence and the surviving elements of the Eldar fleet we engaged earlier in the campaign."

This was becoming more interesting by the minute. More surreal too. Amberley was sure she was missing a lot of context and details. She hoped to find some of them among the properly filled reports.

"Our ground forces engaged and destroyed the Tau and Biel-Tan mobile units sent against Victory Bay. At the same time, Inquisitor Veil's retinue acted as bait for the Eldar Farseer, who led an assassination attempt against Imperial leadership on the ground. I'm unclear on the details, however, the Eldars were deceived and suckered into an ambush, where an overwhelming number of Guard and Necron forces engaged and destroyed them. Sadly, the Eldar Farseer managed to escape." Captain Ignatius sighed."Contrary to my belief and expectation, the alliance with the Necrons persisted. Our combined forces turned their attention upon Chaos foothold in the Deimos Peninsula. As we speak, ground forces are preparing to launch a final assault

to annihilate the traitors and neutralize an active Warp Gate, which provided the enemy with a constant stream of reinforcements."

By this point, Amberley wasn't sure what to think. What she knew was everyone on the ground was suspected to be subverted by Chaos, the Necrons, or the Eldar. She also knew that any reports from the surface were now suspect at best, outright fabrications at worst. One thing was certain, there was no way they would get into orbit without heavy reinforcements and not just because of the Necrons.

"During the initial assault upon the Deimos Peninsula, the enemy launched a counter-attack spearheaded by a Daemon host. Thanks to the Necrons deploying anti-Warp counter-measures, and the intervention of Inquisitor Veil's retinue, the Daemons were banished, and traitor armored counter-attack smashed. We have reports from our ground assets that a Daemon entity, Code Name Skulltaker manifested on the battlefield. It attempted the destruction of the Necron Lord we're currently allied with and the murder of Lord Inquisitor Veil. What we can confirm is that Blood Raven elements, the Inquisitor and his retinue, and the Necrons engaged the entity and banished it. We also have unconfirmed reports that a joint operation between the Inquisition and the Necrons testing experimental Xeno technology was underlay. Its purpose was the attempted the permanent destruction of Code Name Skulltaker… We do have supporting evidence that this might be the case…"

And Amberley wasn't listening anymore. She was staring at the holo-image of the Blood Raven Captain, while her mind spun in circles. She needed Malleus and Hereticus assets in the system, yesterday. A lot of them and the reliable kind.

She refused to believe that the local forces managed to kill something like that for good, even if they worked with the Necrons. This whole story sounded insane, and the fact that Captain Ignatius played along rang all kinds of alarm bells in Amberley's head.

"Captain Orelius, keep us on a very slow approach towards Kronus. If someone asks, tell them we suffered damage due to Warp disturbances, and currently, we can't safely accelerate any faster. Inform me about the moment our reinforcements arrive in the system and apprise them of the situation. All local forces are potentially compromised. If they make any threatening moves our way, we'll consider them a clear and present danger to the Imperium."


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