Rules

"Aw, bloody hell! No. Not again!"

Ricardo smirked as he entered the shuttle that he normally called home while away from his void ship. It wasn't much, just a flight deck and a cargo compartment but neither of those were anything that the tech priests who had built the ship long ago would recognize. His pilot stood at the hatch, staring at the servitor who was carrying the unconscious woman up the ramp.

"What part of 'Never again' was unclear, sir?"

The uniformed woman was not quite being rude. She knew exactly how far to push and when it was time to stop. That said, he prized his crew for their reliability not their politeness. Even here, even now, in a secured hangar on a loyal space station, Master Sergeant Lisa Korniazal held her lasgun in a ready grip. It never left her side even when she slept.

"It's not the same, Sergeant," Ricardo said as the servitor laid the unconscious woman down and made its clanking way back down the ramp. At least they had wrapped her in a sheet for this, not that Ricardo was a prude or anything.

"Didn't the last time you bring home a stray teach you anything?" The woman demanded as Ricardo picked the woman up and strapped her into a chair.

"This one is not a stray." Ricardo wasn't angry. If anything, he was amused. Lisa was a lot of things, politically correct was not one of them.

"Sir..." The woman groaned as she pulled the hatch lever and it sealed behind him.

Only then did Ricardo relax a bit. He finished checking the unknown woman's vitals and rose to face his upset pilot. She would keep, the sedative he had given her would keep her unconscious for some time and even if by some miracle, she did wake? He paused and then bent down again. Ricardo slapped a small device to the back of her skull where it adhered. The device would warn him if she moved and allow him to shock her into compliance if needed. He shook his head as he rose again and turned to Lisa.

"This is not the same." Ricardo said mildly. Lisa stiffened and her face blanked. He bit back a sigh. "Sergeant, at ease."

Lisa relaxed a little, but not much. He didn't mind it when his subordinates spoke their minds. Not at all. It was far better than being surrounded by 'yes men'. But Lisa's upbringing and training denied her the ability to speak back to superiors in most cases.

As always, she was perfectly turned out. Bathed even! He knew her blonde hair would be cut in a perfect buzz cut. Only the scars on her pale face were not regulation. The impeccably shined boots, the crisply pleated blue pants, the almost gaudy looking blue jacket with the golden epaulets topped off with the gold rimmed blue pointed cap. All of these put together were nothing like the normal look that Imperial citizens assumed for Imperial Guardswomen. The array of medals on her chest spoke of long service. She looked like some kid's fantasy of a toy soldier, but she was far more than that. The Mordian Iron Guard was famed across the galaxy for their steadfast loyalty and discipline. Entire armies had broken on their crisply dressed ranks. Deamons, traitors, heretics, they all had fallen under the Mordian Iron Guard's onslaught. That said; they were human, and mortal.

Lisa was the only survivor of her regiment. It had been lost along with several others to a badly bungled campaign on a forgotten world. Ricardo had been hunting a heretical cult at the time and his hunt had taken him to that world. He had found Lisa about to be eaten by their cannibalistic shaman leader. She had survived on her own on that Emperor forsaken world for almost two years before the cult had captured her. Putting a blessed bolt round through that monster's brain had been a good thing. Finding Lisa alive and sane had been a better thing. He had been making do with servitors as pilots. They were workable, but Lisa was far, far better at surviving things than any servitor could possibly be. Add her piloting ability and she was a perfect match for his retinue. She had served him well even before he had orders cut for her. She was utterly loyal to him and the Imperium. She didn't talk to anyone else. She had shot two men trying to press her for information.

One odd thing? Her boots had been just as shiny when she had been about to be eaten as they were now.

"Yes, sir." Lisa allowed, her back still straight. A small crinkle around her eyes would have been a smile for anyone of lesser discipline. "You know Doc is going to flip."

"I fully admit my mistake." Ricardo said with a sigh as he sat. The seat had been built specifically for him in armor and was far larger than a normal one. Lisa spun on her heel and marched to the cockpit where she too sat and started her preflight checks. She was good enough to carry on a conversation at the same time. She had been a damn good Valkyrie pilot according to the records he had found from her regiment. "I thought we could use more muscle."

"We warned you." Lisa muttered not even close to under her breath. When she was in the cockpit, she was in command and her demeanor changed quite a bit. He could see her at the controls of a gunship, laying waste to entire squads of enemies with the massive firepower at her disposal. She wasn't arrogant, not quite. Just a confidence that bordered on it.

"Yes, you did, sergeant." Ricardo leaned back in his seat. "That said? This woman is an enigma. She was working a nurse in the facility. She was assigned to a secure ward that had a subject break loose and slaughter the staff."

"Her?" The pilot demanded, spinning in her seat. He knew Lisa's hand would be on her laspistol.

"No." Ricardo reassured the pilot. "She killed the subject with a pistol she smuggled in." The Mordian Iron Guard's legendary discipline kept Lisa's jaw from falling, but he could see it was a struggle. "I have reason to believe she is or was a Sororitas."

"A Sister of Battle?" Lisa's hands were back on her console even as she stared at Ricardo. The engines hummed and then they were in motion. Such was Lisa's skill, to multitask that way. Not many pilots could do such, but Lisa had benefited from her service to the Inquisitor almost as much as he had benefited from her. Inquisition issue equipment, such as piloting implants, were far, far better than most anything found outside of Mars. "What was she doing here?"

"I don't know." Ricardo admitted. "She is a mystery. Add to that, if she is Sororitas, she will be resistant to any normal interrogation and psyker interrogation simply fails on them most of the time." He shook his head. "She impressed me."

"Doc is going to flip right out." Lisa warned again.

"Doc is excitable." Ricardo sighed and closed his eyes. He would nap for the rest of the short trip. He needed to be ready.

It would get loud when they arrived back home.

An hour later

"WHAT THE SODDIN' HELL IS THIS?"

The shout was totally familiar. Ricardo woke up as swiftly and completely as he ever did. His implants always let him sleep exactly as long as he wished and be ready to fight or flee instantly on waking. That had saved his life and soul on more than one occasion. As expected, Lisa had landed the ship perfectly in the small hangar bay that it called home. Also as expected, his retinue had assembled to greet him. He looked at his 'guest' but she slumbered on. Lisa sat in her cockpit, her hands flying over the controls. From her posture? She wasn't going to move until Ricardo dealt with the mess.

Ricardo rose and strode to the hatch. Outside, his team was assembled, if such a word could be used for such a group. Calling this team irregular was an insult to the word 'irregular'. He nodded to them and faced the loud one.

"Doc." Ricardo shook his head at the red faced human. "This isn't the same."

"Another stray! You promised!" The human in the greasy coveralls speared a finger at Ricardo. "You promised!"

"I did." Ricardo allowed. "Doc, it isn't the same situation. She is not going to make the same mess Krep did." He winced. "Not physically possible."

"I was cleaning vomit out of the machinery for six weeks!" Doc shouted. "Six! Void! Damned! WEEKS!"

For a pure bred human, Doc had quite a set of lungs. He was not shy about using them either. Only the fact that he was the best at analyzing odd and ancient tech within at least a hundred light years kept him out of trouble with his superiors. Ricardo cut him a lot of slack and if the Inquisitor was perfectly honest? The man had a point. That had been a hell of a mess in so many ways and Doc had been forced to clean most of it up since the rest of the team had been busy.

"I admitted my mistake and yes, I will never, ever, allow another Ogryn on the ship if I have any say in it at all." Ricardo said with a sigh. Doc sputtered some more, but Ricardo turned to the others. "We need to get underway to our next assignment. Doc, it is not the same. I didn't lie to you."

Doc stared at him and then slowly relaxed, still muttering under his breath. He spun on his heel and stalked off, obviously still angry. The others watched him go with various expressions of amusement and distaste.

"You handled that well." Captain Mainwaring was a redoubtable figure with his huge feathered cap. Not quite the larger than life space brigand he pretended to be for the masses, he worked generally as an actual legitimate transporter. Very few knew that he also worked for the Inquisition. The few who tried to run from or steal from the ship never to the chance to talk about what actually happened aboard.

"I am but human." Ricardo nodded to the captain. "I make mistakes. Hiring Krep was a mistake." He shuddered. "I should have listened when all the vets told me that Ogryns and advanced tuning of the Gellar fields don't mix. I fixed my mistake, and his body won't ever be found." He shook his head. "We need to get underway. Between this detour and all of the surges, we are behind schedule."

The Caligari sector was renowned for the difficulty of warp travel within it. Warp travel was never easy or safe, but this sector took it to new heights. Surges of Immaterium swept back and forth across the sector, denying entire systems access to the interstellar trade that formed the lifeblood of the Imperium. That led to a lot of dark times. Hence why Ricardo was here along with so many other agents Inquisitor. There was lots to do.

"On it." The captain saluted, spun on his heel with a flourish that Lisa herself couldn't have bettered and walked off, head held high. He wasn't the actual captain. No one outside the void ship knew who the actual captain was and Ricardo preferred it that way. The Inquisition bent if not outright broke a lot of the rules, but there were limits.

"So, what is the deal?" The man asking could have stepped right out of a pitfighting ring. He was as large in fatigues as Ricardo was in armor and most of it was muscle. The shield he carried seemed as much part of him as his broken teeth were. Then again, the man unimaginatively named Mace had been an Arbiter, dealing with the worst of undercity hive gangs on a regular basis. He was at home with a shotgun as he was with a sword and shield. "Why did you have to go?"

"The usual weirdness. Why else?" A snide voice said from the side and Ricardo had to smile at the man who had spoken. Lornan Ezilus had been a lot of things in his life. Hacker, thief, spy, the list wen ton and on. Then one day, he had been picked up during an Inquisitorial search for heretics. He wasn't one, but he hadn't wanted to stay and argue the point. When they had come to drag him to interrogation, his cell had been empty. Two years and uncounted hours of searching later, Ricardo had caught up to the man in a sleazy warehouse. Then, to the human's amazement, instead of putting a bolt round through his skull, Ricardo had offered him a job. He could go anywhere and do almost anything, usually unnoticed. An always useful ability for agents who wished to maintain a low profile. Any Inquisitor who wanted to live very long knew that there were times to be loud and times not to be. Lornan excelled at the latter.

"This time it is a little weird even for us." Ricardo allowed. "The woman is the sole survivor of a Warp breach in one of the wards." Everyone winced at that. They had seen such far too often. "She shot the subject with a bolt pistol she must have smuggled in." Lornan whistled softly at that and nodded. Such was not easy to do. They had managed such things on several occasions, so they knew exactly how hard it was. "I got the pistol. It too is odd."

It had taken some fast talking, but he had managed to procure the weapon as 'evidence'. But he had to admit, he was stumped. It had no manufacture marks, which was insane. Any manufactorum always imprinted a maker's mark on everything made by them. It was both pride and sheer practicality. If flawed goods were delivered, the Imperium had to know who to blame, yes?

"I will take a look. Maybe get Doc in on it if he has calmed down." Lornan nodded. He was good at backtracking anything data related. He smiled. "Then again, odd tech always has a way of talking to him that we lack." Ricardo handed the weapon to him and Lornan took it carefully. Then the agent shook his head. "First impression? Not a standard design, but almost a Godwyn-De'az pattern." He shook his head again, his expression bemused. "Sized to fit a human hand, but nothing I have seen before."

"I have seen Godwyn-De'az pattern bolt weapons before." Ricardo agreed. The others looked curious, but kept their mouths shut. They knew better than to ask. He might answer and they knew far too much for their own good already. "That said, yes. It not quite one of theirs. No markings."

"So, what are we to do with our new 'guest'?" The last member of his retinue spoke up and Ricardo bit back his immediate retort. He knew what the woman wanted to do. Her face was all but alive with lust. And not for any reason that most humans would consider 'sane'. As always she wore a gown. Stupid that. If the door opened and the force fields failed, then she was dead. But then again, Mary of Cadia had been dead from the moment the Inquisition had caught her. If only she wasn't so useful.

"No." Ricardo said flatly. "We will question her, but you will not experiment. Am I clear?"

Both of the men stepped away from the woman beside them as Ricardo laid a hand on his holstered pistol. The woman facing him smiled.

"You can shoot me." Mary said with a grin. "You know you want to."

"Fine." Ricardo drew and fired in a single instant. The bolt hit her mid chest. The less than lethal taser round dropped her to the floor, every muscle spasming. He shook his head as he saw the woman's smile becoming beatific. He jacked the slide, loading a fresh round. That one was lethal. He holstered his pistol. "You may enjoy pain and you may like hurting people, but I will not tolerate such unless I order it. Cross me and I will have your brain rewired to only feel pain for a few years. Clear?"

This was in a tone that would be obeyed. Both men winced as the woman on the floor licked her lips in obvious ecstasy. Then again, when one cross wired one's pleasure centers to stimulate them? Odd things had been known to happen even if one was a talented and respected brain surgeon as Mary had been on Cadia. The only reason the Inquisition hadn't executed her when she had been caught? She never killed her subjects. They all lived. Admittedly, without skins on their heads and with less mind than toddlers always seeking their next fix of her potent brain juice, but they lived. Ricardo hadn't been one of the ones who had caught up with her and he was glad of that. He had simply been ordered to make use of her and he was authorized to kill her if needed.

"Yes." Mary said through a wide smile. She rose to her feet, her eyes brimming with the ecstasy of her addiction.

"We need to know who she is, where she came from, and why she smuggled a weapon in there." Ricardo said with a glower that was wasted on the euphoria riding medical person. "I bet it will be a lot harder than simply asking and using psyker abilities around her may be a very bad idea."

"Oh shit." Lornan paled as Ricardo nodded to him. "She…? Oh, um? Boss?" He retreated a step. "You know how they get!"

"I do indeed." Ricardo sighed deeply as Mary looked at him, confusion starting to war with her drug induced haze. Mace also inhaled sharply as realization struck and Ricardo nodded to him too. "We have a weapon sort of like what the Sisters of Battle carry. I heard her praying to the Emperor and she has a scar on her face where something was removed. Probably a scar in the shape of a fleur de lis." Mary recoiled as if struck and Ricardo nodded. She actually looked shocked sober and that was scarier than almost anything else.

"Are you saying she is-? No." Mary shook her head. She was very smart and at the moment, very scared. With reason. No one in his or her right mind angered the Sororitas, even the Inquisition. "You say she is a mystery. You don't know."

"No, and we need to find out."

"Carefully."