Chapter 4

Errold had met up with Lenny, an old friend and astro-boy. They had chatted briefly about old war stories, and Lenny had laughed at Maddock's funny, innocent nature, commenting that the apprentice was an odd choice for the Inquisitor.

In no time at all the old astropath was telling a rousing story about Errold's own apprenticeship; as Lenny had been serving under that Inquisitor as a young man himself. An amusing tale regarding a red-headed beauty and how smitten Errold's younger self had been with her.

"Well, I'll tell you what. When Inquisitor Abernath found those love letters…" Lenny whistled at the memory of his master's ire. "I can say this: I've never see Theo, here, run so fast in his bloody life." He shook his head laughing. Even Errold had cracked a smile at this.

"Whatever became of her?" asked a wide-eyed Maddock, who was still trying to picture his stern mentor as "giggling" and "smitten".

The blind Astropath's eyebrow's rose at that question, his white eyes seeing the memories of times long past, and he gave a wicked smile and winked in Errold's direction.

Errold shrugged, leaning back in his seat, one arm crossed over his chest, the fingers on his other hand resting on his lips, now persed. "I suppose she's married and has a family."

"You never checked?" The young apprentice pressed.

"Leave it be, son." Lenny said gently. "It's been years. My fault, really. I shouldn't bring up the past and the ghost's that live there."

Maddock, while sad that his curiosity had been rebuffed, now looked out over the little shop they were sat, lost momentarily in the romantic notion of being an enamored young apprentice sending love letters to a special someone.

Errold rolled his eyes at his apprentice, then taking the lull in conversation, leaned in and asked in a more hushed tone over the tea they head been drinking, "Len, have you read the reports I sent to you?"

"Aye," Lenny said slowly, "I have. What about this tech-priest's got y'all ina tizzy. Just have the station go on high alert and smoke 'em out." he nodded at this obvious solution.

"It's not that simple, Len. He's killed hundreds for less. I can't risk it, so we've got to go in secret, under the radar. I need your help, though." Errold paused then continued, "On this mark and..." he licked his lips, "and a heretic I've got on my ship. I need you to scan her for me. Like the old days."

Len leaned back in his seat. His white eyes scanning something unseen. "Theo, I gave that all up."

"I know. But your the best psyker I know. Just this once. Please."

"Yeah yeah, it's always 'just this once'. Until it's not, and there you are, asking me again."

"Look," Errold rubbed his face, then looked over at Maddock, "Git outta here. Stand by the door and we'll be around in a minute." Maddock, torn from his romantic fantasies straightened in his seat and scowled in frustration at being told to just leave. But he stood obediently, taking his slight frame to the exit of the little cafe, resentfully crossing his arms over his chest and leaning against the door jam out of earshot.

"I'll be honest with you, my old friend. This is my last case. I'm gonna retire after this, so I promise that this really is the last time I'll ask."

Len's eye's narrowed as he took that in. "Huh. Funny, last time I checked Inquisitors don't 'retire', there Theodore." After a sigh and a non-committal grunt from the Inquisitor, the old Astropath took a moment of reflection, "Unless…" He stopped, leaning forward. "Errold, what's your game."

"No game, Lennard." Errold said simply.

The two old men sat for a moment in silence on opposite sides of the table, lost in thought. Then Len stood up, seeming to come to a decision. "Well, let's go find your fugitive tech-priest." Errold who seemed surprised that his old friend had actually accepted stood as well. "And afterwards we can finish this conversation and have a talk about that heretic you've got stashed on your ship."

The group made their way to the outer rings of the station. This area was completely deserted and had been left in a state of residual massive construction. White tarps and signs of caution, warning of the dangers within hung over the doorways. Errold unholstered his blaster and nodded for Maddock to do the same.

Maddock leaned over to Lenny and his empty hands, "Do you have any weapons?"

The old psyker laughed and pointed to his blind eyes, smiling. "Don't think I could hit anything even if I did." Maddock looked chagrined and nodded then realized Lenny couldn't see the nod and started saying his affirmative out loud but was cut off.

"Hush, you two," Errold whispered over his shoulder as he approached the first plastic cloth and pushed it gently aside, passing underneath it. He searched for any trap-like devices, but wasn't able to find any. Very suspicious, he thought, his brow furling. Especially since this prey loved to pepper his lair with traps and dead ends. He may not have been here long enough, was the only thing that Errold could come up with as he walked through the hall.

They made their way to a 'T' intersection, where the hall to the station met the outer ring proper. A glass window looking out to space stretching the length of the hall in both directions faced them.

Errold looked at Lenny. "Anything?" He asked.

Lenny's face screwed up and he pointed down one of the halls, "Something that way, but it could be anything, I really can't tell from here." Errold started walking in the direction indicated. They passed empty, waist high shipping crates and abandoned and broken moving equipment. The group carefully moved past areas that looked like they had been on fire a long time ago. Vermin skittered from shadow to shadow as Errold and Maddock's flashlights shined into darkened rooms and corners.

They checked each abandoned storefront and place of residence, gently moving the plastic aside to peek or slide inside and back out. Most were just open rooms, nothing inside them but crates and dust.

Lenny had been following them silently, his head tilted to one side as if he were listening to something. He walked in the other two men's footsteps, Maddock noted, as if he could see the them as they moved from doorway to crate, and wondered if it were his psychic abilities that allowed him to do so.

After about ten tense minutes of quietly searching further into the station's outer ring, Lenny whispered behind them, nearly sending Maddock out of his skin with the shock of sound cutting through the air, "Up ahead. Four, maybe five. They must be cogheads because it's hard to get a read on them."

Errold nodded and motioned for his apprentice to follow and the three inched closer, rounded a corner then saw a little teardrop shaped shuttle sitting on a round metal pedestal, it's top opened as if ready to go at a moment's notice. They passed it and continued down the large hallway. The lack of debris and dust made it obvious that they had found what they were looking for.

"Up and to the right," Lenny breathed to them softly.

Soon Errold heard a sound: fingers on a keyboard, and soft talking. He whipped around a corner but frowned as there was nothing there. Something made a 'thump' noise and a grenade seemed to just appear from a wall and roll along the floor towards them. It clicked and started to expel some gas. Errold and Maddock scattered just in time for blaster fire to come out of the wall as well. The energy of the blasters sending flickers through the hologram of a wall that was projected along a hallway.

Errold returned fire and must have hit the holo-generator because the image flickered. Lenny who hadn't moved when the firefight started, now waved his hand and shouted, teeth bared. The gravity rose up and then dropped in the little area as he used his Psyker's abilities to shoot two white-hot lances at the now scrambling tech-priests that had been hiding behind the wall. Two more figures appeared around the corner up ahead, one dressed in the reds of a Tech-Priest, it's form hulking in the enclosed space. He pulled a wicked looking vibro-sword out as he approached. The other a slender women with flex-armor and a helmet pulled her blaster and took a few pot shots from the hip.

Maddock ducked behind one of the large, metal and concrete columns that lined the middle of the hallway, firing off a few rounds from his blaster as cover fire.

Lenny's psychic bolts hit one of the priests and the red robbed cyborg fell to the floor, dead. He then reached up into the ether-made-form above his head, balled his hand in a fist then pulled it down sharply, sending a wave of force, crackling with energy out in front of him, knocking two of the three priests who had been in the once-hidden hallway down.

The third, who Errold now saw was Lockharte, cackled wildly and threw two more grenades into the call, they clicked and began to spew gas as well.

The air was getting thick now. Errold took two more shots this time at the female, but it was Maddock's shot that hit her right in the chest, leaving a gaping wound in the center.

One of the priests on the floor recovered enough to take a shot at Lenny, who turned his head in that direction and reached for it, it's energy flickering then dissipating until it winked from existence. But a second shot from the laughing Lockharte, who was still standing got Lenny in his head, ripping the skin from the side of his face and shattering bone.

Even though the gas was overwhelming, Errold, seeing his friend fall to a headshot, shouted a curse and took aim. He fired a few more shots towards the madman, then holding his breath he made a run at him, Maddock seeing this gave cover fire, but was hit on the arm and shouted in pain, the sudden intake of breath causing him to feel woozy.

Errold felt weak in the knees, fired once more this time grazing Lockhartes arm, and then slumped to a sitting position. Only having made it to one of the columns in the center of the hall, he fell back now, leaning against the support pillar.

The four remaining priests converged on him. How had he been so stupid? How had he failed again? Were his last thoughts. Then out of the corner of his eyes, his body going limp and unable to respond to the desperate calls he sent his limbs, he saw a flash of blue crackle. Lenny, in a last ditch effort had smited the larger, more hulking priest. The big body letting out a digital sound of anguish slumped over.

Like a taunting mirage, Lockharte, a gleeful cackle coming from his tech-priest mask, turned from the blue light as one of the other priest's punched the Astropath, to Errold, "Oh such fun we'll have, you and I."