SEVEN

On that day the tables were turned and I learned what a guardsman goes through when they stand before the regimental Commissar to receive their punishment. Fighting the fear of the unknown and the overwhelming sense of being powerless, while counting on the mercy of a system designed to operate without mercy. Inquisitors were the Commissars of the entire human race, charged with the task out rooting all forms of heresy, treason, rebellion, subterfuge, and anything else that they considered a threat to the Imperium. As an Inquisitor once said to me, 'Everybody is guilty of something. We need only to decide how to punish the person before us.' The woman I had beaten senseless was not just an operative working for the Holy Orders of the Emperor's Inquisition but just so happened to be one of Inquisitor Hakim's most valued assets in his retinue. For a brief moment, I was certain that the Inquisitor was simply going to shoot me right then and there. However, Cain, convinced the Inquisitor to postpone any decisions until we reached the safety of the Headquarters where a proper debriefing could be held. Were he any other Commissar, Hakim would have completely ignored him but the words of a Hero of the Imperium managed to prevail.

Unfortunately, while infinitely grateful that my potential death (if I was lucky) had been postponed, it made for one of the most agonizing rides back to base in my entire life. I remained absolutely silent, hoping that I would be able to avoid drawing any attention to myself. Hakim must have not wanted to let me out of his sights because, for whatever reason, he decided to ride in the same chimera as me, even going so far as to sit in the seat across from me. I think a part of him took some pleasure in watching me squirm…so to speak. There wasn't any squirming involved as I remained as silent and still as humanly possible with my eyes transfixed to the floor. I was afraid that if I even so much as made eye contact with the Inquisitor I would need a new pair of trousers.

It was eerily reminiscent of the one time I had managed to get my father truly angry with me. I was eight years old and I lost my father's Kriegan Knight's Cross when I accidentally dropped it down a storm drain. It was arguably my father's most treasured possession – awarded to him personally by the Governor of Krieg after he rallied the defenders during the siege of Fort Scimitar on Estivan II. My father might have been a hard-ass when he was with his regiment but when we were together he displayed compassion and caring, a side of him that I was certain that only my mother and I ever saw. But on that day I witness the full potential of my father's anger. And yet, he never raised his voice once; he simply stared straight through me, searing his emotions into my mind. That look was worse than any words he could have spoken. He said nothing to me for a week. During that time it I didn't exist to him. No acknowledgement of my presence, no emotion, nothing. When the time you had to spend with your father was measured in days, losing a week was an unending nightmare. He forgave me and returned to his usual self just before he redeployed and I spent the interim on a letter-writing campaign to the Governor in hopes of getting a replacement medal for my father. I did eventually get a replacement…almost ten years later and seven years too late. It sits on my mantle with all my other memorable odds and ends nestled between a holopict of my daughter and an unexploded bolter round that was removed from my hip.

But back to the near pants-wetting terror that I was currently in, the all-consuming silence inside the chimera was burning years off my lifespan. It was strange that what I wanted the most was also partly what I dreaded the most. The fear of the unknown was arguably worse than the potential death sentence from the man sitting two feet away from me. And I feared that at a drop of a hat, he could draw his sidearm and put a round between my eyes and everybody else in the chimera would be forced to just sit back and hope my brains didn't stain their coats.

Cain and Vail rode in another chimera and when I finally stepped out of mine, now back at headquarters, the two of them were waiting for me. When the Inquisitors' entourage began unloading from the other chimeras, I noticed that many of them were walking wounded. It appeared as though Cain had, by far, the most eventful day out of everybody in the regiment. Some people have all the luck.

"Come along, we have much to discuss," Vail said. I wasn't certain if that was meant for me specifically but it did not stop my paranoid mind from assuming the worse (which, in hindsight, would have been preferable). The Inquisitors went ahead while Cain lingered behind and walked with me behind them.

"You certainly know how to make a first impression," Cain said quietly. "At least you didn't throw up on his shoes." Bad first impressions have been a running trend in my life, from barfing on Cain's boots all the way along to getting caught without any pants on by Lord Inquisitor Langley. And by the Golden Throne, he has never, ever, let me live that down.

Despite an overwhelming desire to say something along the lines of 'please kill me' I kept silent and followed along. Whining was not very dignified, especially for a commissar and I was fairly certain that Cain was already sympathetic to my plight. I would not have been surprised if he spent the ride back to base with Inquisitor Vail pleading my case, if only to avoid the considerable amount of paperwork that would result from my execution or whatever 'worse-than-death' fate the Inquisitors saw fit to unleash upon me. To be honest, death by firing squad was probably the best death sentence I could receive. One does not fully understand the phrase 'a fate worse than death' until they've been given the field primer on the myriad of punishments an Inquisitor had at their disposal – suicide squads are a favourite ploy for most Inquisitors

Eventually, I was led to one of the rooms we used for mission briefings and meetings, which wasn't too surprising since it was chosen for being one of the most secure rooms in a building that had more holes than intact walls. And like a naughty juvie, I was told to wait outside while the grown-ups went in to talk. Thankfully, I did not have to wait alone as Broklaw must have been informed what had transpired. I was only pacing outside in the hall for a few minutes before the Major arrived. He said he was to speak with the Inquisitors but I suspected his real concern was focused on someone else entirely.

"Are you okay? You look a bit…um, ruffled," he asked. It was kind of cute the way he tried to mask his concern with a more professional undertone. After getting kicked in the head and falling two stories, I did look like a mess but that obviously wasn't what he was worried about. I could have used a reassuring hug at that moment but professional etiquette dictated otherwise so I simply tried to hide my worry as best I could, which probably didn't fool Broklaw.

"Fine…for the time being at least," I said dishearteningly.

"So what happened exactly? Cain told me a bit but he didn't have all the details."

"I chased this stupid little critter and it led me to what I thought was an Eldar scout. With all the fighting and the darkness I couldn't make out if it was human or not. And she attacked me first so I just went on the assumption that she was an enemy."

"Well, Miss Vail isn't the unreasonable type so she might let it slide," Broklaw said to try and reassure me.

"It's not Vail that's pissed, it's the other one; that Hakim guy."

"There's two?"

"As if one Inquisitor wasn't worrying enough," I muttered. There was a brief silence and I could hear muffled talks from the other side of the door. I was tempted to press my ear to the door to try and listen in but I was already in hot water with the Inquisitors and wasn't certain if I should risk making it worse.

"Still, if she did attack you first then I see no fault in what you did. There's no reason for an Inquisitor to punish you…unless he's some sort of vindictive bastard."

"Not helping Ruput," I growled.

"Sorry."

"So…I take it you've worked with this Vail woman before?" I asked after another prolonged silence. I didn't expect to get much of an answer, unfortunately. Any dealings with the Inquisition would be strictly classified

"The regiment has had dealings with her in the past but I've only met her briefly. If you want to know more you're better off asking Cain. They've worked…um, closely in the past."

"Oh really?" I replied a little surprised. I had no idea that Cain had any sort of clout with the Inquisition or perhaps it was more with that Inquisitor in particular. I couldn't help but wonder just how 'closely' they've worked together. Obviously I didn't say anything; it would be rude to speculate about such things when they involved colleagues (and the Inquisition) but it didn't seem too unreasonable. Cain, after all, was in the same boat as I was when it came to the limitations of personal relationships due to our duties and constant travel. But perhaps I was just over-thinking things.

After several more minutes of waiting outside, which felt more like several lifetimes, the door to the room opened and out stepped Commissar Cain. Given that he did not have the expression of a man about to deliver grim news, my spirits immediately raised; an optimism that was soon validated.

"Inquisitor Hakim is still a bit sour but he's in a better mood now than he was before," Cain reported with a hint of relief. "I think he's more annoyed that his star pupil got walloped by a junior commissar than anything else. Plus, his surly temper had rightfully earned him a bit of a reputation for not playing well with others. Anyways, the Inquisitors do have some things they want to discuss with you Abel." Alas, Broklaw was not invited to join the discussion so we had to part ways. I could imagine his frustration about being kept in the dark but Cain reassured me that he would be brought up to speed in due time. As with many things involving the Inquisition, they wanted to keep the number of participants involved to a minimum when possible.

Now that we were indoors, I was able to get a proper look at the two Inquisitors that sat across from me at the conference table. Inquisitor Vail was an attractive young woman with blonde hair and clean features that made her look as far from being an Inquisitor as humanly possible, which was apparently the whole point. She carried herself with a well-controlled confidence that made me want to be at ease but I couldn't shake the feeling that there was a danger lurking beneath the friendly exterior. Apparently, she was the type of Inquisitor that you didn't see coming until you were pulling the knife out of your chest. In a stark contrast, Inquisitor Hakim was a sizeable man, slightly larger than Cain, who looked to be in his late fifties were it not for the likelihood that he's had multiple juvenat treatments. He had a dark, tanned complexion that hinted at a desert world origin along with dark hair and a full beard that was just beginning to gray along the edges. He reminded me of some of my older, more jaded tutors from the schola – the kind that always looked down at you as though you're very presence was a huge disappointment delivered to them by the galaxy. And his expression was always grim, as if at any second he would break into a metaphor-laden soliloquy about how bleak and grim the universe was.

"Good evening Commissar Abel, I'm Inquisitor Amberley Vail of the Ordo Xenos," Vail said in a more formal introduction. "And this pouting gentleman over here is Inquisitor Abd-al-Aziz Hakim of the Ordo Hereticus." For a moment, Hakim glared at Miss Vail for her choice of adjective while I had to fight down the urge to smirk. "I would like to first state that we realize that you acted with the proper intention and given the circumstances, the outcome, while undesirable, was inevitable."

"She's just lucky she didn't accidentally kill her," Hakim scoffed bitterly, earning a brief, harsh glare from Vail. "And this wouldn't have happened if we had done things my way rather than skulking around in the shadows like a bunch of rats."

"Your plan involved turning this world into another warzone and the last thing we need is to add more chaos to the confusion," Vail retorted. "Maybe charging around like a mad grox works for you but I like my enemies to not know that I'm coming for them."

"We are Inquisitors – our chief weapon is fear."

"Well some of us prefer surprise," Vail replied. I got the distinct impression that the pair got along about as well as a tech-priest and a drunken barbarian.

"Don't forget ruthless efficiency," Cain chimed in.

"And your fanatical devotion to the Emperor," I added.

"She doesn't need your help," Hakim snapped at Cain and I.

"Listen Aziz," Vail interrupted. "We agreed that since we're dealing with Eldar, we do things my way. When we deal with heretics, then you can call the shots." I knew little about the Inquisition back then other than stories that bordered on rumours from other soldiers. Like the Commissariat, there was little hierarchical structure amongst Inquisitors and the decision as to who lead and who followed was usually something that had to be agreed upon by the Inquisitors involved. Hakim had more experience than Vail but his specialty was hunting down heretics and other internal threats, whereas Vail specialized in alien species. I still had no idea what they could possible need from me. The pair bickered back and forth for a little while longer but Vail eventually won out with repeated use of the 'I'm the xeno expert' card. "Back to the matter at hand. Commissar Abel, Commissar Cain tells us that you have a certain degree of…expertise when it comes to particularly troublesome Eldar. I believe he said you know him as 'Kael.'"

I probably should have seen that coming given that my relation with that Eldar was probably the only thing that set me apart from everybody else. "I wouldn't call it expertise but I've had more dealings with him than I would have liked."

"And you can confirm that he is, in fact, on Erebus?"

"Yes. He's already contacted me," I answered. I just then remembered the item that Kael had given me. Since I figured I would likely bump into Vail without advance notice, I had kept the item in my pocket. I pulled it out and slid it across the table to the Inquisitor. "In fact, he told me to give this to you and to tell you better luck next time."

Everybody except Vail had a puzzled look on his or her face; Vail, on the other hand, looked surprised for a moment though I wasn't certain if it was at the content of the message or just the message itself. Cain was the first to finally ask what the rest of us were thinking, "What exactly is that?"

"It's a part from an animus speculum," Vail answered as if those words meant something to us. Actually, it appeared to mean something to Hakim who now had a rather surprised look but Cain and I were still stumped. "The Culexus temple is not going to be happy to hear about this."

"The who in the what now?" I asked.

"The Culexus temple," Vail repeated. "They're part of the Officio Assassinorium. Assassins from the Culexus temple are specifically trained to target psykers."

"That's impossible," Hakim interjected. "Culexus assassins are psychic blanks. There's no way a warlock would have been able to stop one."

"He could easily have enlisted help," Vale said plainly. "I sent this after I read the report about Magnus Viridis. I had hoped that the years of inactivity would've left him complacent but…well, that's the third one so far."

"He's killed three agents of the Culexus temple? I find that hard to believe," Hakim said.

"He didn't kill them directly but I'm fairly certain that the first one didn't wander into an Ork encampment purely by coincidence." Most of what they said still didn't make much sense to me but I had quickly gathered the impression that killing off Culexus assassins was no easy feat for an Eldar psyker. I knew that Kael was dangerous but I had no idea of just how dangerous until that day. Vail brushed the broken optic piece to the side and slid a dataslate across the table for me to see. On it was a picture of an Eldar warlock, who I assumed was Kael. "Kyriese Myr'nel of the Craftworld Alaitoc. For over a millennium, he's been a thorn in the Ordo Xenos'side. He's assassinated key figures of the Imperium, incited riots and civil wars on hundreds of planets, undermined Imperial efforts in dozens of campaigns, and is even cited as being responsible for the near-destruction of an Astartes chapter. He's eluded Deathwatch kill-teams, assassins from every temple, and has slipped through blockades as if it had holes big enough to fly a cruiser through. He's repeatedly been one step ahead of our Inquisitors but now we've finally tracked him down to Erebus. But it's such a mess here that he'll easily slip off world if I don't find him soon…and yet he's not running, which begs the question what's so important here that he's willing to risk the Inquisition catching up to him. And that, Commissar Abel, brings us to you."

"Umm…how exactly?" I'll admit I had a bit of trouble following Vail because my attention was divided between her and the dataslate in front of me. Apparently Kael had a lengthy file with the Ordo Xenos and I was intrigued to get a glimpse into his past. Unfortunately, it wasn't a flattering picture and if the estimates were to be believed, Kael was responsible for a lot of deaths within the Imperium. One former Inquisitor who had spent most of his life chasing Kael described him as 'one of the most devious Eldar seers next to the infamous Eldrad Ulthran himself.'

"As I said, Cain told me you share a…sordid history with Kyriese. Very few people who've come in contact with him live after he's gotten what he needed from them. The fact that you two are once again on the same planet cannot be a coincidence," Vail continued to explain. "So you are going to help us apprehend him so we can figure out what he and his Eldar friends are up to."

A part of me wondered what Vail and Hakim had in mind that would succeed where so many others had failed. Another part still wondered how I somehow fit into all of this since it appeared that Vail had just as much information on Kael…er, Kyriese as I did. And a last part just wanted to tell them to get stuffed and leave me it out of it. I didn't know much about the Inquisition but I already knew I didn't want to get involved with them. Of course, being the dutiful Kriegan that I was, I simply accepted these new orders without question.

"What about Cain? He doesn't really know anything about Ka-…I mean Kyriese," I inquired.

"Oh, him? I like having him around," Vail said with an odd, playful undertone to her voice. "He's a very resourceful man. I'm sure it'll be useful to have a Hero of the Imperium around for whatever we might find." I suddenly got the impression she wanted him around for entirely different reasons but obviously I wasn't going to say anything. A Seal of the Inquisition was basically a pass to do whatever the frak you wanted to whoever you wanted and get away with it. They were the only people in the galaxy that could technically boss around Astartes without repercussion (not that it was a wise thing to do even if you were an Inquisitor).

I asked what my involvement would entail but Vail decided that before we continued, it would be prudent to let the Major in on the conversations. She was, after all, going to be commandeering a few of his commissars and troops for a while. As Broklaw entered, I flashed him a quick smile just to let him know that I wasn't going to be shipped off to a penal legion or something equally unpleasant.

"Might I ask where the Colonel is?" Vail asked after a quick round of introductions.

"She was injured in a recent skirmish with the Eldar. She's recovering in the medicae facility," Broklaw explained.

"Please pass on my regards the next time you see her," Vail replied. She then gestured with her hand for Hakim to begin the briefing.

"As you may have no doubt guessed by now, though the civil war may have ended in our victory, the situation on Erebus is still extremely volatile. The war itself drew concern from the Inquisition due to its sudden, violent outbreak. There are always tensions in the Adeptus Mechanicus but rarely does it break out into all-out war so quickly and with such coordination. Whole regiments of Skitarii suddenly turned traitor and attacked loyalist regiments far too quickly for it have been a naturally occurring schism. Clearly, a third party had been agitating the underlying tensions. Being the closest available Inquisitor, I began the investigation…though to be frank I had little idea what to expect. There was minimal intel and no clear signs as to who was the true culprit. At first I suspected Chaos but there have been no signs of traitor Legions or psychic disturbances; not even a desecrated shrine…unless you count the ones that had bombs dropped on them. An examination of the remains of numerous traitors showed no signs of genetic alterations or implantations so that ruled out a genestealer cult. Eventually, I caught a break - a captured heretic leader provided some valuable information after a thorough interrogation. He gave us a name - Merari."

"And who is this Merari?" I asked even though he probably would have explained anyways.

"As far as my investigation could determine, he didn't exist," Hakim explained. "After investigating thousands of people by that name, none demonstrated any semblance of importance, competence, or leadership to orchestrate a nutritious breakfast. It was an alias used by somebody to undermine the Mechanicus' control. Further investigation brought the name up many times but no prisoner we interrogated knew of him aside from a name and that he was apparently the mastermind behind the rebellion. My suspicions of Eldar involvement were confirmed when I happened upon Inquisitor Vail who came here tracking the Eldar Kyriese."

"You think Kyriese is Merari?" Broklaw asked.

"It fits his MO," Vail answered as she was the expert on aliens in the room. "He likes to sow dissent amongst populations and provoke unrest, then trigger an event to ignite a full-blown rebellion. By the time we're done putting down the rebellion, we're either in a weakened state or we've pulled resources from the real targets of interest. Most of the time, we don't realize there are Eldars involved until we're picking shurikens out of our hair."

Personally, I was a bit sceptical that Kael was behind the entire civil war on Erebus. It hadn't been that long, relatively speaking, since the end of the campaign on Magnus Viridis and according to Kael that little event was years in the planning. Kael was cautious and methodical and the tactics the Eldar were using didn't strike me as his style. Plus there was the matter of the blue Eldar soldiers who I suspected were the ones following Kael's orders. It couldn't have been a coincidence that Kael was here at the same time I was and a bunch of other Eldar but whatever his reasons were, he wasn't sharing them with me. And I knew that all I had were hunches and speculations, which carried about as much weight as the breath that carried them. Since I didn't want to come off as taking the side of an Eldar, which was borderline heresy, I opted to keep quiet.

"After linking up, Vail and I pooled our resources and began to search for potential Eldar bases of operations," Hakim continued on. "We found forward listening posts but could not find a main operational base. Somehow the Eldar were hiding the energy signatures of their equipment. We suspected, as did Commissar Cain, that the Eldar may have been using the high radiation fields of the old waste disposal facility in order to mask their presence. Suffice to say, we certainly surprised them when we came crashing through their front door."

"You only surprised them because they were too busy at the time tearing my men apart with shuriken cannons. Which, by the way, wouldn't have happened if you hadn't alerted everybody by trying to blow open that door with hand grenades," Cain remarked, clearly trying to keep his bitterness from slipping into his otherwise polite critique.

Hakim seemed to scoff at the notion. "The enemies of the Imperium were near. I was not about to risk them escaping us while we waited for your men to open the door from the other side."

"Those men died needlessly because of your impatience." I must admit my respect for Cain shot up several points that day. Very rarely did you see a mere commissar talking back to an Inquisitor and not get a lasbolt for his trouble. I imagine that Cain's aggravation stemmed not only from the senseless deaths of those under his command but the fact that he had come close to joining them. That is if the numerous slits through the tail of his great coat were from what I suspected they were from. I know almost being killed by another person's idiocy usually got my panties in a twist.

Thankfully, Inquisitor Vail was quick to put out the embers before things intensified. "Gentleman, please…you have more important things to do than lock horns," Vail interrupted, silencing both surprisingly quickly. She decided to continue the briefing as to avoid future disagreements. "Once we had routed the Eldar out, we recovered a cache of intel that links the Eldar to operations undertaken before the civil war's outbreak. Another troubling revelation was discovered when we were confronted by the Autarch, Junayd." I recognized the name immediately from my brief encounter with Kael. He had mentioned that Junayd was 'locked into his path,' which I'm guessing was an Eldar's fancy way of saying he was a stubborn jackass. If what Kael said to me was true, then Junayd was to be more of a concern than him.

"How exactly does this Junayd make things worse?" I asked, hoping to steer the focus away from Kael for a little while.

"He was the Eldar that attacked Kasteen and I back in the communication spire," Cain answered. "As an autarch, he's the military commander of the Eldar warhost on Erebus. A warlock would be something akin to a captain – an accomplished leader and tactician capable of leading small and mid-sized operations. An autarch is more like a general and they wouldn't send a general to handle something this small-scale unless it was important."

"On top of that, Junayd has commanded battles against Imperial forces on many occasions, so he's well versed in our tactics," Vail added. "According to the information we have on him, he likes to seize military tomes as personal trophies and supposedly even has a copy of the Codex Astartes."

"Sounds like he's going to be a serious problem," Broklaw remarked. Junayd was not the kind of opponent you wanted to go against in your first campaign as acting commanding officer. The Major was an experienced military leader but it paled in comparison to the volume of experience an Eldar commander had under his belt.

"Yes, but now that we know who we're up against, we can better prepare ourselves," Vail reassured him. "I'll have Mott send you a dataslate with all the information I have on this Eldar. He's experienced but he's a known quantity and we all know how old generals can get set in their ways. Plus…" she continued, pausing for a moment to glance over to Cain, "he seems to have taken an interest in Commissar Cain. Junayd has been known to single out competent opponents so we might be able to capitalize on that."

Unfortunately, as worried as I was about their focus on the Eldar, I didn't really have any means to try and dissuade them. Kael said the real danger lay with something worse but I shuddered to think what that could mean. Again, it was still entirely possible that he was trying to mislead me, hence why I did not bring any of it up. Even I had trouble believing that I was willing to believe Kael. "So what's our next move?" I asked.

"The intel we recovered has shed some light on the Eldar's past activities but there was nothing hinting at their current objectives," Hakim answered. "Our people are analyzing the data but it'll take time to see if there's anything more we can divulge from it. In the mean time, our best bet is to locate and apprehend the warlock Kyriese or the autarch Junayd."

"I see somebody's awfully ambitious," Cain commented. I shared in my fellow commissar's assessment. Arguably the two most important Eldar on Erebus were those two and they would know that better than anyone else. I did not see how the Inquisitors thought we would be able to accomplish so easily something that which so many have failed to do in the past. Kael had, by Vail's own words, been eluding the Ordo Xenos for decades; and Junayd was a military commander and unlikely to wander into the field without a heavy escort. Unfortunately, I had a bad feeling that Vail and Hakim had already taken these into account and the answer involved us. Cain, however, was already a step ahead of me and had put the pieces together. "You think the two of us are going to be able to lure them out into the open, don't you?"

"Oh I am most certainly counting on it," Hakim said with a devilish grin. He leaned against the table, interlinking his fingers into a bridge that he rested his chin on, a sort of smug look now upon his face. "A few days from now you two will take a small team to 'investigate' a series of ruins for us. We'll let slip a few poorly encrypted communications about the location and let Eldar pride take care of the rest."

"And if they just decide to send a bunch of snipers to wait for us?" I asked.

"Unlikely to be an issue," replied the Inquisitor dismissively. "As Vail said, Junayd will likely take a hands-on approach due to a vested interest in Commissar Cain. But even if he decides to send others, then Kyriese will likely show up to due to his keen interest in you…if what Commissar Cain has told us is to be believed."

Cain and I exchanged a brief glance. The look in his eyes told me he had the same apprehensions about this supposedly brilliant scheme as I did. Granted, running decoy was not an uncommon tactic but we were going up against experts with hit and run tactics. We were going to try and beat the masters at their own game instead of sticking to our tactics, our strengths. I was starting to feel sick to my stomach but we had about as much say in the matter as a guardsman did after Cain sentenced them to latrine duty. It's absolute shit but it's unfortunately now our shit. "How 'small' of a team exactly?" Cain asked. Since no Eldar would bite if we were leading a parade through town, our only support would be this 'small team,' which wasn't very reassuring to me.

"A single squad should be sufficient," Hakim answered as though he were pulling the number out of his pompous ass. "We'll disguise a team of our people and they'll accompany you on this-"

"I'm taking my own people," Cain interrupted, which clearly irked the Inquisitor. I get the impression that Hakim was accustomed to being treated with a slightly higher degree of respect than Cain was giving him.

"My people are better equipped for this mission," Hakim said. The Inquisitor did not appear to have a very high opinion of Imperial guardsmen. Granted, as Ordo Hereticus, he could call upon the militant arm of the Adepta Sororitas to provide the muscle he needed. And one can hardly consider it a choice to pick between flak armour and lasguns or power armour and bolters. What experience he had with guardsmen was likely not very favourable and probably involved a lot of excommunications.

"I have no doubt that they are but if I'm going to be sticking my neck out for this operation, I'd prefer for it be surrounded by people I know and trust."

I was worried that Hakim was about to pull out the Inquisitional trump card, as I shared similar sentiments as Cain, but just as Hakim was about to speak, Miss Vail interrupted him. "That is acceptable," she said calmly before looking over to Hakim. "The 597th is a highly skilled regiment. They will be sufficient. But I will still insist on sending one of our people with your team Cain."

"And who will that be?" Cain asked. He seemed less concerned with the request coming from Miss Vail or perhaps just because a small compromise was a pretty big victory when your opponent was the Inquisition.

"Her name is N'hila and she's the one that your colleague beat senseless," Vail answered.

"What makes her so important?" I asked

"Contrary to what your previous experience might suggest, she is actually a very competent operative," Vail explained to me. I learned some time later that the only reason I was able to win the fight was because she wasn't actually trying kill to me, just escape. I'm told that if she had aimed to kill me, I would never have seen her coming. And in hindsight, I can say without exaggeration that N'hila wouldn't have even broken a sweat killing me that day. "If we're to have any chance of taking down Kyriese, whoever takes him down is going to have to get in close. And Abel is likely the only human he'll allow to get close without raising his guard."

"Um, we've scuffled before and there is no way I'm good enough to get even a single hit in," I admitted without hesitation. Normally I'm not one to admit defeat so quickly but I knew I was no match for Kael's reflexes. The last time I tried to fight him he literally slapped me around the room.

"There's a shocker," Vail said sarcastically, stinging my pride ever so slightly. "N'hila is an assassin from the Callidus temple. She's going to take your place and should be able to take down Kyriese when the opportunity arises." Like all of the temples of the Offico Assassinorium, I only vaguely knew details of the Callidus temple. I had never seen one before but that's kind of the point since they're masters of disguises and the closest thing I knew to a shape-shifter within the mortal realm. Personally, I was a little sceptical that an assassin, even one whose sole purpose was to imitate others, would be able to deceive Kael. But, again, I had no say in the matter and both Inquisitors seemed to have confidence in this N'hila character. "We still need to brief her and thanks to your…initiative, she's still unconscious. We'll have to page you when she's up and about so you two can meet. She'll need to spend the next few days with you so she can better disguise herself as you."

"Oh lucky me," I murmured under my breath. Since there was little else to discuss after that point, the non-Inquisitors were dismissed. Once I was outside, I was able to properly express my sentiments for the situation with a quiet, exasperated sigh.

"My feelings exactly," Broklaw replied. "I have nothing against the Inquisition but…damn if things don't always get a million times more complicated when they show up."

"Things were already complicated," I groaned. "Apparently we're just not smart enough to realize it."

A twenty-eight year old agent of the Callidus temple, N'hila Hassac first caught Inquisitor Hakim's attention while he was investigating a heretical cult known as the Sons of Solar Temple. N'hila successfully infiltrated their ranks, assassinated the cult's leader, assumed his identity, and then convinced the entire cult to enter into a suicide pact. Very rarely in the history of the Inquisition have they been able to eliminate an entire heretical cult without having to fire a single shot. Unfortunately when the time came for me to find her I knew little about her and even less about the Callidus temple. I had few preconceptions to go on. Assassins are like any other breed of human in the galaxy – they come in every flavour under the rainbow. Hakim told me that I could probably find her at the medicae facility. However, when I arrived I was surprised to discover that she had already checked herself out; though not as surprised as the orderlies who didn't even notice she was gone until I pointed it out. At least it explained why Hakim didn't sound optimistic when he told me to 'try checking the med-bay.' His other suggestion would be a nearby library, which was convenient since we didn't have one, or the nearest shrine, which was less convenient since we had several. There was the shrine in the barracks, the tech-priest's shrine in the motor pool, the officer's shrine, the old worker's shrine in the back, one in the basement area, and the one our regiment's priests set up because 'there is insufficient faith in this area,' as if there was some sort of spiritual energy in the building that needed to be balanced out with the extra shrine. Of course, priest that told me that was the same one that once told me to move my couch two feet to the left because it prevented the Emperor's light from properly radiating into my room. He didn't laugh when I suggested getting a signal booster from the tech-priests. I think they get their sense of humour surgically removed when they become ordained as priests. Except maybe for Magnusson, but he was a bit on the crazy side. And not in the 'ha ha, you're so crazy' manner but in the 'we, the Inquisition do hereby declare…'

It shouldn't have come as a surprise that the shadowy assassin was at the remote, isolated shrine deep in the bowels of the facility. I spent a few minutes fumbling in the dark before finding a hand-held luminator to light my path. Once I wasn't walking into low-hanging pipes or tripping on narrow doorways, it was fairly easy to find my way to the shrine. It helped that it was the only room down there that had its own light source so it was as simple as walking towards the light (something that I spent most of my career doing the opposite).

There was only one person in the room – a young woman kneeling before the shrine adorned with candles and tasteful depictions of the Emperor during the Great Crusade. I figured it was the woman I was looking for since she had a piece of gauze bandaged around her head in spot where I had bashed her with my laspistol. Only a few candles provided illumination, making it hard to make out her details other than her a ragged mop of short, red hair, and the tight bodyglove that she wore. I felt a little awkward interrupting somebody while they were in the middle of prayer so I wanted a few minutes figuring she'd be finished soon. However, that was merely a reasonable estimate and I had forgotten at the time, reason and faith don't necessarily see eye to eye. After five minutes I was still standing a few feet behind the woman and she hadn't so much as budged an inch. I finally just cleared my throat in order to make my presence known though she later told me that she had known I was standing there the whole time and was wondering what was taking me so long to say something.

"Your hat," she finally spoke, peering over her shoulder.

"Excuse me?" I replied a bit confused.

"You are in His presence. Your hat is disrespectful."

I resisted the urge to vocalize my annoyance with a growl and instead just took my hat off. It was the faster solution compared to arguing with an Emperor-botherer about the merits of headgear. "You're N'hila, correct?" I said

"Yes."

"Did Hakim explain the mission to you?"

"Yes."

"Are you finished here?"

"Yes."

"You don't talk much, do you?"

"No."

I let out a quiet sigh. On the bright side, if she was going to be hanging around me for a few days, at least she wouldn't be too much of a nuisance. "So…what exactly do we need to do?" I asked, trying to phrase my uncertainty as best I could. My assignment was unlike anything I had done before so I wasn't certain what may need to be done in order to facilitate this 'character profiling.'

"You live. I watch," she explained rather plainly. It seemed the concept of affect was foreign to her. She always spoke with a slightly monotonous tone when not in character. It was as if she had to reserve all emotional energy for her work.

"Okay then," I replied, still a bit confused. I reminded myself that I knew little of her world and likely never would so it was better if I just went along with things and put my trust in her abilities. As she got up, I noticed that the strange, furry mound next to her began to move as well. It took a moment for me to realize that the furry mound was actually the furry critter that I had chased through the streets. And, as it turned out, it wasn't just 'canine-like,' it actually was a dog. Apparently I couldn't recognize a dog when I saw one but in my defence, I had never actually seen one save for a few holovids. It growled at me at first but N'hila snapped her fingers and went 'shh,' which promptly returned the dog to a docile state. "Does he have a name?" I asked curiously.

"Mutt," she said. For somebody who operated as a spy for the Inquisition, she wasn't very creative. Or at least that's what I thought at first. As it turned out, Mutt was the only name the dog would respond to for whatever inane reason. Mutt reminded a fair bit of Jurgen – always faithful, always presents, always ready to charge off against the enemy. The main differences were that Mutt smelled better while Jurgen had opposable thumbs.

And so we headed on our way out. Wherever I went, N'hila and her faithful pooch were right on my heel. Since I wasn't allowed to say that she was on loan from the Inquisition, I had to make up the excuse that she was a civilian with vital tactical information that I had to safe-guard. Thankfully, only a handful of soldiers and officers inquired about her, at which point I told them the lie and said any further information was above their pay-grade. It always amazed me the things I could get away with just because of the hat I wore. It was fortunate that I had a mentor that taught me the virtue of not abusing the trust that my position bestowed upon me. The rest of the day (or at least I think it was the rest since it was hard to gauge by the limited sunlight and the fact that days on Erebus were terribly long) was spent doing routine business, which was a nice change of pace. I met with Cain to discuss some disciplinary reports as well as we managed to squeeze in a few hours of sparring. Ever since Magnus Viridis, I had been practicing my swordsmanship with Cain. And I can say with pride that since we started our practice routine I had managed to double the time it takes for Cain to beat – it was now almost eight whole seconds.

Afterwards I met with Broklaw. Again, nothing terribly interesting – just simple routine talks between commissar and commanding officer (or acting commanding officer in this case). Having somebody watching my conversations did make me feel a little self-conscious. Despite Broklaw and I both agreeing that our responsibilities and duties outweighed our personal feelings, we did still share a rather candid professional relationship and it likely would have raised some eyebrows amongst commissars or officers from other regiments. Having somebody from the Inquisition watching and analyzing my every move worried me. I did not wish to make an inappropriate gesture or say the wrong thing and wake up the next morning in an Inquisitional torture device. I believe Broklaw had similar apprehensions judging by how often he glanced over to where N'hila was sitting a few feet away at the side of the room. But despite our worries, she said absolutely nothing during the entire meeting. In fact, she didn't say a word unless I spoke to her, to which her answers were usually limited to a couple of words or less.

A real discussion between N'hila and I didn't come up until that night when I returned to my quarters to get some rest. "I'm guessing your orders including crashing at my place," I said aloud as I headed inside. She made her usual affirmative utterance and followed me in. Mutt made himself right at home, bounding along to a nearby easy-chair and plopped down onto it. "I'm afraid I don't exactly have a spare bed but that couch over there is probably more comfortable than what most of the troops are sleeping on."

"May I ask you something personal commissar?" N'hila spoke up.

"Uh…sure, of course," I replied, taken back by the sheer number of words in the sentence she used. There were even three-syllable words in there.

"You and the Major are…close, correct?"

"I suppose you could say that," I replied as I hung up my coat and weapon belt. "But you can say that about a lot senior officers and their commissars."

"Have you two had sex?"

That question prompted my whole body to suddenly tense up, causing my arm to accidentally knock my hat right off. I frantically tried to catch it but wound up bouncing it a few times into the air before finally getting a grip on it. "Th-that's a rather inappropriate thing to ask!"

"I am merely trying to under the inter-personal dynamics here. I've rarely worked with others before Hakim. I know little of how the Guard operates."

"W-well, it's nothing like that. I'm a commissar. I have to remain objective when watching over the regiment."

"My apologies," she said. "During you're meeting, you two were very focused on each other, only breaking contact when you looked over to me as though I were…intruding."

"Well you're reading into it too much," I argued perhaps a bit too earnestly. "I'm going to sleep." I said my goodnight and headed into the bedroom to get some rest. Since the day cycle was very peculiar on Erebus, I would probably wake up some time in the very early morning. Thankfully, I was more used to the soldier's sleep cycle, which was 'sleep whenever you could.' The welcoming comfort of a soft bed reminded me of my care-free days back at the schola. I figured I would be out as soon as I shut my eyes and that likely would have been the case had I not heard the door suddenly open once more. I thought I was imagining things at first but then I heard a heavy thump sound and I immediately reached to turn on a nearby luminator orb. N'hila had pulled in a chair and was sitting across the room just staring at me as she had been the entire day. "What are you doing?" I muttered.

"My job."

"You have to watch me while I sleep as well?"

"Yes."

"Can't convince you otherwise?"

"No."

"Frak…" I groaned.

"I'll be quiet," she insisted, not that I was worried about potential noise. With a frustrated groan, I turned off the luminator orb and tried to get some sleep. I hadn't had a night that restless since my first time in the field with a regiment when I was a cadet and I suddenly realized I was literally the only (human) woman on the planet.

Note from the Author:

Guess what? Commissar Abel turns one year old on October 16th! I'd like to do something for her birthday but my inability to stick to a schedule means I'll never get something done in time. So instead, I'll be releasing the first Inquisitor Abel short on October 31st. Now hopefully I can stick to this schedule...