In Orbit
The stormtrooper stood at the door and coughed nervously. 4 pairs of eyes flicked in his direction.
"We heard you clumping up the corridor, it's no good being subtle now." The voice was deeper than any human's had a right to be, but then its owner was much larger than any human had a right to be.
"Sirs. My commander bid me come.
"Didn't want to come himself?" A second voice snarled.
"No Librarian. Sergeant Gottries said if he saw the Commander one more time he would throw him out of an airlock. And you said you never wanted to see his face again. He is taking that as an order."
"And you drew the short straw and so get to be the lamb in his place." Xistos turned his attention back to a war knife he was sharpening. "Woe to our enemies if even our allies are too scared to face us."
"Peace brothers. We do ourselves no honour here. I will talk with the Corporal." Menalis stood and walked away the human soldier hastily backing out of the doorway to allow him room. The soldier heard those behind continue talking behind them. Most of it a dull rumble too low to pick out but one phrase he heard distinctly.
"Brothers. I have no brothers."
The human and astartes walked together to a training room where Menalis abruptly stopped.
"We are probably out of earshot. At least if you talk quietly. What did you want to say?"
"My Captain said to offer our thanks for your intervention. Without it..."
"You would have died." There was a sad smile. "I mean no offence. You and the PDF fought well and against a smaller number of warriors may have held. Quite a feat for men against a necron advance."
"No offence taken. We know our abilities. And our limits. Your aid was timely and necessary."
"Your gratitude is noted. Please ask your Captain not to do this again. Thanking us for obeying orders and doing our duty is like thanking us for breathing. Gottries would no doubt find some way to take umbrage."
"Sir would you be angry if I ask a question?"
"It depends upon the question." Another sad smile. "I am not my brothers. I will not offer violence to an ally."
"Why are they like this? We have fought alongside Deathwatch before. I know Astartes are not human... exactly. I know different Chapters have different ways and every Astartes is an individual, but those I crossed paths with before channelled their anger against their enemies. They never seemed so..."
"Bitter?" Menalis suggested when the Corporal struggled to find a word that would not anger the warrior. He drew a deep breath and looked up as if seeking the words from somewhere outside himself. "We fought to protect, both the Imperium and the brothers we stood with. The Rift has swallowed much."
The stormtrooper waited. But that seemed to be all Menalis had to say. He gave the sign of the Aquila and left as quickly as he could with his dignity intact. As he left Menalis closed his eyes and submerged his rage into the sea of a lost world. Almost unaware he muttered quietly to himself "Our brothers drowned and every battle we survive keeps us from them."
Arbites Command
As Kryn arrived in the command centre flanked by Darien, Totiem and Judge Anderson. Cormack was fussing over a central table where a black alien looking cylinder lay. Tarik was sat in a corner wearing a black body suit and his arm armour. The rest of his armour was carefully stacked by his chair, excepting the torso section which was on his lap as he worked on the combat damage it had sustained with a set of metal files and filler compounds. Two more of the interchangeable stormtroopers were on guard. One seemed vaguely familiar the other seemed to be new. Presumable rotated in from the ship. Ulrich had ditched his power armour and was in plain black robes. He and Sal were deep in conversation over a console. A conversation that halted abruptly as the arbites entered. Ulrich looked at Judge Anderson and raised an eyebrow.
"Anderson took over the Goblin inquiry. As it seems related to your own I thought you would appreciate a status update."
Ulrich gave a curt nod and gestured for Anderson to give a report.
"We've picked up another 3 gang members around Zander Falls along with half a dozen PDF who were on the take. All report delivery of coffin sized boxes on a semi-regular schedule. None of them had any idea what was in them."
"No one asked?"
"Lots of second hand accounts of people being iced for asking too many questions, one of the gangers said he'd seen someone ask about the boxes only for Trask to open it, shove him in and slam the lid. From the hammering and screaming the boxes were not soundproof. Given how quickly it stopped they are airtight. No other useful information from the suspects."
"Any sign of Trask?"
"Possibly. We've had the local protectors on the lookout, there's been a couple of reports from Angel Rise of characters in what seem to be Goblin gang style."
"Angel Rise?" Tarik asked.
"Another PDF base. The regiments are segregated so male recruits go through Zander Plain, Angel Rise is the equivalent for most of the female recruits."
"Isn't that a fighter garrison?" Sal asked. "Would probably provide similar smuggling opportunities.
"That was the thinking. We had put agents around all the major spaceports and asked the protectors to focus their attentions there. To be honest I assumed Trask would go to ground. It appears his deliveries may be time critical."
"Or he just doesn't fear us." Kryn muttered. "We'll change that."
"One more thing. On the last raid there was a psyker present?" Anderson asked as if unsure how much she was supposed to know.
"Yes. Quite potent. At least high gamma."
"We've got rumours of one, possibly two other high level psykers active. One in the reports was also from Angel Rise."
Ulrich swore quietly. Tarik looked over. and gave a half grin. Seeing the puzzlement he explained: "If the normal human mind is a candle, Lord Ulrich's is a searchlight. If we just go into Angel Rise then any psyker is likely to realise and warn the rest of the gang that we're coming. There are ways around that, just not any that are... comfortable. Any more Judge Anderson?"
She shook her head.
"Thank you for your time, we'll let you get back to your duties."
"Sir." Anderson made the sign of the Aquila, bowed slightly and turned on her heal. Tarik put down his armour and walked over, sealing the door behind her.
"There is one more thing to discuss..." Ulrich began. As he did Tarik pulled a blade from a wrist holster and drove it through Darien's spine just below the base of the skull. Darien's eyes opened wide in shock then he slumped, hanging from the blade. Kryn's gun flew from her holster and she was training it on Tarik almost without conscious thought.
"Easy Marshal." Tarik stared unblinkingly back down the barrel of the bolt pistol. Out of the corner of her eye Kryn could see that both stormtroopers had her cold. Totiem also had a pistol out, but could have easily been aiming at Tarik as at her.
"You better have a damn good reason."
"I have Inquisitorial authority. I don't need a reason. That said in this case I have both. Put the gun down and Cormack will show you."
The only sound was a gentle dripping of blood as it fell from the knife to the floor. Kryn risked a glance at Totiem who gave an almost imperceptible shake of the head. Reluctantly she lowered the bolt pistol. The stormtroopers kept their weapons trained but at least moved their fingers off the triggers. Cormack stepped nervously between them. Tarik gripped the body of Darien under one arm. The head lolled forward as he removed the knife. Cormack's mecha-dendrites snaked out, two holding the wound open while others dived inside. Kryn fought the urge to raise her pistol again as Darien's body twitched, the mecha-dendrites stimulating nerves and causing still cooling muscle to spasm.
"Someone on your command staff was leaking information. Trask was too well informed and the ambush was set up to counter all the forces that you knew were at our disposal." Tarik kept eye contact. His words an implacable monotone. "We cross referenced who knew what and when, as soon as Darien knew of an operation it went to pieces. Those he did not know about were successful."
"Darien? He's been working here for decades, he's totally loyal."
"And he is the spy. He is the only one who fits."
"Wait – you cross referenced operations... have you been spying on me? On the Arbites?"
"Yes. We're the Inquisition. It's our job." Tarik snarled. Then took a breath as the Kryn tightened her grip on the pistol. "You know that Marshal."
Cormack grunted then snatched his hand back. The mecha-dendrites yanking out something from Darien's skull. Blood-covered it was struggling and squirming. Tarik dropped the body and flicked the knife out cutting the object in half.
"That was unnecessary." Grumbled Cormack taking it over to a table and reaching for a spray that blasted the object clean. With horrified fascination Kryn looked down at what appeared to be half a small metallic spider.
"What is that?"
"Mindshackle." Replied Cormack, not looking up as he further dissected the creature into its component parts.
"What does it do?"
"What can it do... we're not totally sure." Tarik began as Cormack lost himself studying the alien technology. "It can alter memories, transmit everything the host sees. They might be able to exert more control than that."
"Oh definitely. The connectors here... but the power source is limited so probably couldn't do that for long."
"So Darien was spying on us." Kryn stood for a moment then angrily holstered her pistol.
"He wouldn't have known. Maybe it just broadcast what he saw as he saw it. Maybe it altered his memory so he sent vox transmissions to someone he thought was a friend and then forgot what he had done." Tarik sounded more sympathetic now the gun was no longer pointed in his direction. He wiped the knife clean on a rag, put it back in its sheath then knelt down and gently closed Darien's eyes.
"How long..." Kryn staggered to a seat and sat down trying to process the betrayal of her closest colleague, one the few in the system she would have classed as a friend.
"No way of knowing. Could be weeks. Could be years. If I had to guess, probably while he was undercover trying to infiltrate the Goblins. The mindshackle gets put on his neck in a bar. He wakes up the next day with a headache, a memory of a few drinks and thinks nothing of it."
Kryn shut her eyes whispered a soft prayer for Darien then stood up. Her eyes opened full of new resolve.
"How many more of these? How do we find them?"
Cormack looked up from his studies with a slightly rueful expression. "I wish I knew." He glanced at the body. "The techniques I have are rather too invasive to be used on a wide scale, it involves measuring internal electrical resistance to narrow down the search. Scanning for the devices externally requires a power level high enough to cause significant cellular damage."
"The devices are uncommon. We know our team was clean before we came down and we've ensured no one has been unaccompanied at any point. Mindshackles are not in common use. Generally the necrons see us as beneath their notice so it would not surprise me if that was the only one." Tarik volunteered putting a consoling hand on Kryn's shoulder that she angrily shrugged off. He looked appraisingly at her for a moment then turned to Sal.
"Now we are secure what are your findings?"
"Unrecorded attrition rate of around 200,000 per year on Tetran I, a proportionally equivalent rate given population on Tetran II and slightly lower on Tetran III and IV. Given the ability to change planets so easily and a large asteroid mining concern the figure is still significantly above what would be expected from such a well ordered world."
"Is that a compliment?" Ulrich asked laconically.
"The usual refugee drivers are not present, no conflict, no mass unemployment, no lack of necessities. Gang warfare is low, record keeping is good. We might expect around half that figure to be the victims of murder, gang warfare or similar. It is an industrialised world so workplace fatalities will be high, but the reporting system seems relatively comprehensive. Of course some will want to leave whatever their circumstance but between the Guard, the farm worlds and a near forgeworld there are sufficient legal alternatives that number should be low."
"So how many are we talking?"
"Between 20-80,000 people per year. If that has remained constant it would be sufficient to account for virtually the entire population discrepancy."
"Who is disappearing?"
Sal looked for a moment like a school teacher who had been asked a particularly silly question by an otherwise intelligent student. "200,000 people. Of all ages, backgrounds and classes. Between 60-90% of whom are disappearing for reasons common to every world in His empire."
Interested despite herself Kryn pitched in. "Any disproportionally affected groups?"
"The under 30s, but that age range usually is."
"Sal, focus on under 30s. Single: male or female. Living either alone or in company provided berths. Particularly those given to orphanages by living parents or who's parents kicked them out while other siblings remained with the family. Look for above average grades and work performance reviews, but a history of rapid dismissals. Similar PDF service – high ratings but discharged after the minimum mandatory service. Especially those who applied to stay in but were turned down. Discount those with known criminal or gang related associates. When you have some suspects profiled look for commonalties." Tarik finished and looked around as everyone stared at him.
"You have a theory?" Kryn asked.
"I may be wrong. But yes."
Her gaze turned back to Darien's body and her expression hardened.
"What do you want us to do Marshal?" Ulrich asked. "We can release him to you now or take him and notify the Arbites that he died heroically fighting mankind's enemies.
"Lie." Kryn responded flatly.
"He was a casualty of enemy action. As much as any guardsman sent to his death to hold a line for the sake of the battle. We couldn't allow that information flow to continue. He had to be sacrificed. Would you have preferred us to use him and your entire organisation to deceive our enemy? That was our only other real option."
"We can simply return the body in a few days. KIA by an alien device. Details redacted by order of the Inquisition. A hero. Not a traitor." Tarik offered.
Kryn grabbed the smaller man lifting him bodily by his collar, he was much heavier than he looked but her anger gave her all the strength she needed. "He was not a traitor. Take him. And don't any of you speak to me." She threw Tarik who tripped over a chair and crashed to the floor as she stormed out of the room.
"That went well." Ulrich smirked until Tarik silenced him with a glare.
"If you have all finished you have an appointment set with the Fabricator General. They are running a special train for you from Station 1 Prime." Sal informed them, her attention already back on her cogitators.
Ulrich looked at Tarik as he got to his feet. "Just the two of us?" They both glanced at Cormack who affected not to notice.
"Probably diplomatic."
Tarik picked up his half repaired armour. "Better dress for the occasion then."