"Arbitrator Obscras. Are you prepared?"
The voice of her commander snapped Lupa out of her reverie. As their armored transport rolled down the dark street of the low level of the hive, one of its tracks snapped some old refuse loudly enough to drown out her reply.
"Trooper Obscras! I asked you, are you prepared?"
"Yes, Judge! I am every ready to battle the enemies of our Emperor!"
Judge Ricarden was a massive wall of a man, taller than any other man Lupa had ever seen or met. And one of the most dedicated, as well. In this case, they had been called upon by the Emperor's servants to uproot and destroy a nest of heretics that had hidden itself deep inside the Hive.
And so more than a dozen arbitrators had traveled down hundreds of levels to do so. Usually, they did not travel so low, to a level mostly inhabited by twisted mutants and degenerates, but an agent of the Ordo Hereticus had declared this mission necessary, and the arbitrators had followed.
Judge Ricarden would lead them, the first in and almost certainly the last out. According to some rumors, he was being considered for a position in the Inquisition, though no one had been able to determine the accuracy of such rumors. Lupa's only job was to follow his orders and kill those who would defile the Imperium.
Ricarden repeated his question to the remaining troopers, one by one. They were mostly seasoned men, and Lupa noticed with a certain consternation that she was the only woman among them. Then again, it was no matter, so long as they fought well. As the Judge finished his round, the transport began to slow and then rumbled to a stop, its massive bulk blocking an entire street.
"Troopers! We will flush the heretics from their hideout. Their only escape shall be blocked by our vehicle, and we will slay any who defy us! I ask you again, are you prepared?"
The assembled troopers roared, a savagely loud noise inside the cramped transport.
"Excellent! Now let us slay these heretics in the name of the Emperor!"
The transport's ramp slammed down into the street with a massive crash. For a moment, there was silence. Then a scream went up from the building they faced, a crumbling edifice that would have once been a noble's manor, but was now derelict. The scream, too, was not that of a terrified man, but something different. Something unnatural. Something unsettling. And it did not end.
It affected the troopers. Judge Ricarden stumbled, almost falling out of the vehicle. A few clapped their hands to their helmets in a failed attempt to stop the noise. One of them, a newer trooper that Lupa did not recognize, dropped his weapon and bolted, trying to scramble through their own transport, offering a scream of his own.
Lupa, on the other hand, had the opposite reaction. With a battle cry of her own, though one that could hardly match the keening sound from the building, she charged, reaching the building's entrance in record time. Her reaction, too, seemed to rally the troopers who had not fled, including the Judge. As they began to follow, she brought an armored foot to the building's door, knocking the rusted structure down with ease.
Apparently the inhabitants of the building had not expected her to recover so quickly. Two cultists, ugly wretches wearing tattered robes in the same crimson color as a priest of the Imperial Creed, were caught by the door falling and pinned. As they scrambled to escape, Lupa raised her rifle and fired twice. The mock priests stopped struggling.
The others had still not arrived when more of the cultists began pouring out, almost out of nowhere. Lupa fired more times than she could count, and the cultists dropped, their clothing offering no protection from her weapon. It felt like hours before she was done, but it must have been only moments; Judge Ricarden arrived behind her as the last of the cultists that had tried to rush her fell to the ground.
"I am impressed, Trooper Obscras." Ricarden took a moment to survey the damage, apparently having regained his composure during her battle. "I have rarely seen such effective tactics." The large man was panting, apparently having tired himself out running to the door.
"Thank you, sir. But I am worried about that scream. What could it be?"
The Judge took a look around before speaking. "Probably a mutant. Or perhaps these cultists are consorting with some sort of xeno."
Lupa nodded, but was somewhat unconvinced. Getting a xeno into the hive would be difficult, though not impossible. She doubted a mutant of any sort would have that sort of ability, but the Judge was more experienced. Perhaps he was correct.
As the rest of the troopers arrived, they moved swiftly through the building, sweeping room after room. Most of the cultists fought to the death, though a few surrendered, perhaps hoping to find mercy in the Imperial courts. A losing proposition, Lupa thought, but perhaps better than certain death.
As they reached the top floor, there was another noise, this time less of a scream and more of a scratching noise. Still insidious, but it had less of an effect on the assembled arbitrators. Still, they approached the floor with even more caution than usual.
They opened the door at the top of the stairs, with Ricarden in the lead and Luba behind him. As the door opened, the scream came again, but louder and more powerful. Ricarden came to a stop, and did not live to regret his mistake.
A massive claw, covered in blue scales and feathers, came out of the darkness and crushed him where he stood. He screamed himself, but the claw squeezed and he had no more air in his lungs to scream with. As the life flickered out of him, the creature screamed once more, a noise that seemed to echo inside Lupa's mind.
Unlike her superior, she did not freeze. Instead, as a second claw came from the darkness to grasp at her, she rolled out of the way, the claw making a gash in the floor where she had stood. She noticed some of the other troopers running down the stairs, hoping to avoid Ricarden's fate. "You cowards!" she yelled at them as they fled.
The creature had no such cowardice. The talon dropped Ricarden's body and reached after them, as yet another claw followed it. Two more troopers were crushed as the second claw reached at Lupa again. This time, rather than dodging, she pulled her weapon up and fired.
The claw recoiled, and another keening wail came from the darkness, this time out of pain and surprise. As the flash receded, she caught full sight of the creature, a beaked creature with oddly insectoid limbs, and a mix of features from many different creatures. As the scream faded, Lupa felt a pressure in her mind, and then began to hear something speak, seemingly inside her mind.
You are not like the others
"No, beast. I am better." She fired into the darkness, where she had seen the creature's body, and was rewarded by another scream.
Pathetic human There is nothing you can do I will kill you and then I will take this city as my throne As the creature spoke, it reached out with its uninjured hands in order to grab her, but she was too quick. As she dodged, she fired again, and again hit the creature's body.
ENOUGH The creature's yell this time was enough to stun her. As she attempted to get her bearings, one of its hands reached her and pulled her in close. A light came from the creature's eyes now, enough to see by.
You have not stopped me I will rise above this city and take it in the name of my lord Tzeentch
"You will NOT!" Lupa roared. With an effort of strength far beyond her normal means, she managed to push the creature's claw apart and grabbed one of the spare power pack from the belt. As the creature dropped her, too surprised to regain control, she threw the pack into the beast's maw and fired one last shot from her now freed rifle.
The explosion was deafening.
The monster disintegrated, its head disappearing first. The explosion blew Lupa back into one of the walls, hard enough to knock her out cold. The last thing she saw before blacking out was the beast's headless body stumbling around, an odd blue mist coming from its wounds.
LATER
The replacement for Judge Ricarden was a much smaller man, a native of Scintilla named Comorath. Comorath was smaller, but no less intimidating, than Ricarden had been, a fact that Lupa noted during the long interrogation.
"So then this creature had you in its grasp, but you escaped?"
"Yes, sir. Just barely." Lupa sighed on the inside. It was the third or fourth time she had been asked the same questions, to make sure her story matched up with what had happened. Comorath was a hard man to read; she could not tell if she was making any progress with him at all.
Comorath paused for a moment, a look on his face that Lupa had not yet seen. It seemed quizzical, almost surprised.
"Today is your lucky day, Obscras. You no longer have to speak with me."
"Sir?"
The Judge stood up from the seat at the small table they had both sat up.
"An agent of the Emperor's Inquisition wishes to speak with you. You will no longer have to face my interrogation." He turned to leave. "Be thankful." he added, before stepping out of the room.
A few moments after he left, another man entered. He was of medium build, with a voluminous cloak and trappings of the Imperial Creed upon his person. His face was nondescript, average in appearance in almost every way, his expression a mask of neutrality.
"Arbitrator Obscras, yes? I am Inquisitor Tarus Dart, of the Ordo Hereticus."
Lupa was shocked. She had never before met an agent of the Inquisition; it was an honor few of the Emperor's average servants would ever receive. She nodded at his question, as he took Comorath's seat.
"What you faced deep in the Hive was a daemon, a creature summoned from the Warp by those cultists to destroy the city. What you managed to do was incredible, to say the least."
Lupa gasped. A daemon? She had never imagined that she could face such a creature, never mind destroy it.
"I understand your shock. I am quite impressed, myself. I have faced such creatures before, but I have had far more experience. For someone so young to do so well is remarkable, if not miraculous. It seems the Emperor was watching you today."
"But, sir, what do you have to do with this?"
The Inquisitor smiled, an oddly joyful expression to see on his face.
"Quite simply, Arbitrator, I need your help. In three months time, I will return to Hive Sibellus. At that time, you will come to my ship, the Emperor's Determination."
"My help with what, sir?"
The Inquisitor's smile vanished, replaced with the same neutral expression as before.
"That, I cannot say. But you must be ready, Arbitrator. It will challenge you in ways you have not been challenged before."
And with that, the Inquisitor left, his coat trailing behind him. Comorath came back in just moments after he left.
"You are free to go, Arbitrator. And may the Emperor protect you."
Lupa gulped. She was going to need all the protection she could get.