Conflicts of Interest
Ricardo came back to himself to see Kay's eyes on him. Nothing seemed to have changed. But everything had. She took a deep breath and he nodded to her as he turned to scrutinize the readouts beside him.
"Were you going to do something?" Lornan asked Kay.
"She did." Ricardo's curt reply cut off anything anyone else was going to say. "We have backup coming."
"Boss?" Lornan asked slowly, his eyes narrow.
"You do not want to know." Ricardo said flatly. "Hell, I do not want to know." He looked at Kay. "Any idea how long?"
"Within the hour." Kay said with a small frown. "They were close and they don't screw around."
"No, they don't." Ricardo allowed. He was staring at the plot and it wasn't making any sense to him. "There are still Mechanicus defenses up. Why are the fighters withdrawing?"
At his words, everyone in the cargo compartment tensed. Everyone was looking at the plot. Everyone but Kay who was staring off into the distance, her face oddly pensive. Indeed, the Thunderbolts and Avengers were flying away from the battle that had been unfolding as planned. The Elysian transports were on profile, but if the air defenses were still up when they got there? This would be a very short fight.
"Get on the vox, Sergeant!" Ricardo snapped. "Get those fighters back into action!"
"They report they have been ordered back to base." Lisa's voice was confused. "Their orders check out, sir."
"Who the hell countermanded my orders?" Ricardo felt anger rise. "Who the hell… could…?" He stiffened as his com lit up. His Inquisition secure com. "Oh no."
He looked at Kay whose face was a mask. Karne held out a helmet to her and she slid it on without a word. Suddenly, she was just another Sister of Battle, checking her weapon before combat started. He nodded slowly as he keyed his com. Better she not be visible for the moment if what he feared was coming.
"Inquisitor Illusmar." Ricardo fought hard and managed not to sigh as the face of his immediate superior showed up on the screen. "You have been busy."
"Lord Inquisitor Gornal." Ricardo said slowly. "I wasn't aware you were in system."
At that name, both Mace and Lornan stiffened. Both knew Ricardo's history with his superior. It wasn't a pleasant history. As far as Ricardo was concerned, Gornal was the worst kind of Inquisitor. A political one. He was very good at kissing up to superiors and taking credit for things done by subordinates. As for the rest of his abilities? He might be able to find Chaos if a Traitor Titan stepped on him. Other than that? Not a chance. Ricardo had suspicions about worse things, but he had been very careful not to speak his suspicions anywhere that anyone could hear. The Lord Inquisitor was both powerful and vindictive when crossed. It didn't help that he had the common sense of a drunk Ogryn at times.
"I wasn't." Gornal said with a frown. "I received a disturbing report that one of my subordinates was assaulting an ally's defenses her and undermining an entire war front. So, as a dutiful servant of the Imperium, I dropped everything and came running."
Fat chance of that. As Ricardo was well aware, the man was too fat to run. He had a positive nose for ferreting out secrets though, usually ones that earned him power and allies. Ricardo wasn't sure the last time Gornal was in the field, actually working. He doubted it was in the last decade. He had managed to keep secrets from the Lord Inquisitor, but it had cost him dearly on occasion.
"Oh?" Ricardo asked. "And did your agents tell you why?"
There was only one group who could have possibly pulled this scum in. The Mechanicus. But why? And when? At last report, Gornal had been on the other side of the Caligari sector. That was one reason Ricardo had wanted to move fast and had enlisted the Elysians.
"They were rather vague." Gormal said with a wider frown. "Would you mind enlightening me as to why you have attacked an Adeptus Mechanicus facility and caused a great deal of damage to said facility, using Imperial assets no less?"
"Yes, I would mind." Ricardo said flatly. "This channel is not secure."
"Do not play games with me, boy!" Gornal seemed to swell. "I came all the way across this blasted sector to keep you from making a serious mistake. What the hell are you doing?"
"Your 'friends' in the Mechanicus..." A shot in the dark, but confirmed when Gornal flinched. "...kidnapped a member of my retinue." Ricardo said with a growl. "I want her back."
"So you called in orbital strikes on the surrounding area?" Gornal was shaking his head. "Have you ever heard the word 'diplomacy', boy?"
"Yes." Ricardo kept his voice mild through sheer force of will. "Have you ever heard the word 'traitor', Lord Inquisitor?"
Mace and Lorna both winced at that. Ricardo had been called on the carpet by Gornal several times for his methods. The results had always outstripped the collateral damage, but Gornal had been less than pleased with some of Ricardo's escapades. After all, what apparently mattered to him was his power and prestige, not if the job got done. Ricardo couldn't have cared less about appearances or politics. He had sworn an oath to defend the Imperium, not to kiss some fat fool's ass.
"You should not try to play such games with your betters." The older Inquisitor seemed almost jolly. Something that bothered Ricardo on a number of levels. "Luckily, I am here to pull your ass out of the fire. You owe me, Illusmar."
"I do?" Ricardo asked softly. "For what, pray tell?"
"You very nearly damaged a massive prize." Gornal said with a smirk. "One that I will claim for the Inquisition. My allies in the Mechanicus have found a marvel. A relic that predates the Horus Heresy."
"Oh?" Ricardo put a look of worry on his face. "So… they didn't tell you about the self destruct?"
"Self destruct?" Gornal asked, face blank.
"Never mind." Ricardo shrugged. "You just answered my question." He turned to the intercom. "Pilot, order the 743rd to get clear as fast as they can and get us the hell out of here. I don't know how big it will be, but I bet it won't be small." Karne looked as if she was about to speak, but Kay laid a hand on her arm and she shut her mouth with a click. He turned back to the screen where Gornal was goggling at him. "Enjoy your prize, Lord Inquisitor. I am sure that such a superior mind as yours will be able to succeed when an entire Forge World failed. Then I wish you luck holding off the Chaos Titans that your 'friends' apparently summoned with their silliness."
His grin was downright vicious as he cut the com. Karne opened her mouth again, face angry, but Ricardo held up his right hand with his fingers splayed out. He clenched one finger, two, three… Just as he clenched his last finger into a fist, his com chimed again. He smiled at Karne whose face was a study. The com chimed again and he ignored it.
"Boss." Lornan was somewhere between amusement and horror. "None of us like him, but…"
"That man is an bootlicker, Lornan." Ricardo said with a sigh. "I know that in any group larger than three, humans are always going to have politics, but geez. The scum does rise to the top, doesn't it?"
"Always that way." Kay's voice was quiet, sad.
"The only good news is that he values his skin." Ricardo said with a small frown as his com stopped chiming. Then it started again. "I may be able to get you to the tank, I may not."
"Get us on the ground near it and I can reach it." Kay had no arrogance in her voice, just a confidence that bordered it. "How do you want to play this?"
"Angry sisters." Ricardo smiled at Karne whose sudden look of comprehension was priceless. "You are sworn to protect Georgia after all. I promised her safety. I failed, so you can take a complaint to the Lord Inquisitor. I am betting he will be in the lab with his 'friends'. And Georgia." His com stopped chiming.
"Bets on him being there before the attacks started?" Lornan asked. Ricardo looked at him and the agent winced. "Sorry, sir."
"I wouldn't take that bet." Ricardo said softly. "The man is scum, but unfortunately, he is not a fool. He wouldn't be here at all if they were not about to lose everything. He will know more than he should, but there is simply no way he will know everything." He nodded to Kay who nodded back.
"This has to be a trap for you." Karne said to Kay who shrugged. "They held you before."
"Yeah, they did." Kay admitted. She probably would have spoken again, but Ricardo's com chimed, this time with a priority sequence. Any Inquisitor was sworn to answer that no matter the situation. Inquisitors had died responding to such calls in bad places.
"Yes?" Ricardo asked as his screen came alive. Gornal's face was flushed. Anger or embarrassment or both? "Lord Inquisitor?"
"You are an ass!" The higher ranked inquisitor said sourly. "You know very well I need that regiment to defend the prize and you cut their coms so they won't talk to me."
"Did I?" Ricardo looked at Lornan who smirked. The man was damned good at anticipating needs. "I can neither confirm nor deny that. These transmissions are as secure as the Inquisition can make them, but that doesn't make them totally secure as you very well know. I am sure your 'friends' in the Mechanicus are listening in at this very moment." Was that fear that flickered across Gornal's face?
"What do you want?" Gornal demanded. "The tank is mine."
"I want my agent back before the Sororitas who brought her to me take my head off." Ricardo said with a grunt. Gornal stared at him and Ricardo shrugged. "A non-militant sister named Georgia was kidnapped by the Magos who leads the Mechanicus on planet when I went to talk to her." He couldn't resist digging the knife in deeper. "I went to talk to them and they responded by kidnapping my agent. I know I overstepped. I have no right to respond in such case, because your 'friends' would never act against the Inquisition or the Imperium..." Butter might not have melted in Ricardo's mouth as he laid it on as thick as he could. "But they did take my agent without even a 'by your leave'. They refused to talk to me or anyone, so I had to assume that they were acting against the Inquisition. I acted accordingly."
Gornal shook his head. "And I should take your word for that?"
"You better take mine!" Karne slammed upright in the bay and stalked forward until the video pickup could see her. Gornal's face went pasty white as he saw the angry sister. "If any harm has befallen our sister, I will take it out of his hide and then yours. Do I make myself clear, Lord Inquisitor?"
"Who are you?" The Lord Inquisitor demanded. Karne growled at him and he moderated a little. Even he wasn't so stupid as to needlessly antagonize a Sororitas. "I do not recognize your Order."
"We are of the Order of the Lost Rosetta." Karne said with a glower. "I am Veteran Sister Karne and I was sent by my Canoness with a team to investigate rumors of someone impersonating one of ours in this sector."
"Who the hell would dare?" That at least sounded honest, a first from Gornal in Ricardo's experience.
"It is not impersonation." Karne shrugged. "We found a sister who has been lost to us for years. She was ministering here and we are trying to convince her to come home with us. At least, we were trying to do so when our assigned Sister Hospitallar chose to serve Inquisitor Illusmar." Gornal stared at her, eyes flat and she continued. "Needless to say, we were displeased with her choice, but it was her choice, not his. Then the Mechanicus took her. Whatever her choice, they will not keep our sister." Steel might have warped under her tone.
"That is not what I was was told." Gornal started, only to break off as Karne seemed to swell.
"Are you calling me a liar?" Karne asked, her tone soft. Her hand was on the hilt of her sword.
"That is not what he said." Ricardo said quickly, only to break off himself as Karne leveled her glare on him. She had a very good glare. Ricardo stuck to his guns. "Veteran Sister Karne, he said that was not what he was told. He did not question you." He looked at the screen when Gornal seemed at a loss for words. "Please tell me you were not calling her a liar. I am here with her and you are not."
"Still antagonizing the Sororitas, eh, Illusmar?" Gornal snickered. "I was told they recovered a Mechanicus agent. So what we have here is a failure to communicate."
"They will not keep the Hospitallar." Karne said flatly. "An unprovoked attack on a non-militant sister will have every militant Sororitas in this sector up in arms. You know that as well as I do. You know what we will do."
Such would involve lots of fire. Innocence meant little to Sisters of Battle on a crusade for vengeance. Collateral damage? Less. Oh, there were stories in abundance and few of them did the truth of Sororitas wrath justice. The Inquisition knew the true facts and knew enough to be very afraid.
"No one wants that." Gornal agreed quickly, face still a bit pale.
"The cogs don't seem to care." Karne said with a growl. "They ignored our coms. They took our sister and we can only assume for nefarious purposes. We will have her back. One way or another. If she is harmed, I will see the debt the cogs owe us washed away in blood."
"I will personally see to the status of your sister." Gornal promised. Karne did not react. "The prize that they uncovered is a relic of the Emperor's own manufacture, Veteran Sister Karne. We must preserve it."
"I only have your word and theirs for that." Karne said flatly. "Their word is meaningless and you have already been deceived by them. Why should I put any of my sisters in harm's way for this?"
"Because if we can duplicate the vehicle, the Imperium itself may survive what is coming." Gornal said fervently. "You know how bad things are right now. The darkness is swamping us all."
"The Emperor's light is our torch and we will see it through to the other side of the wall of madness." Karne blew out a deep breath. "My orders allow little leeway. I need to see the Hospitallar and see that she is unharmed. If she has chosen to…" She paused and shook her head. "...do this silliness with cogs of her own free will, then that is a matter for her Canoness. If she has not… If they have tampered with her..." She drew a finger across her throat armor.
"Illusmar..." Gornal said sternly. "I am on course to land at the facility. You will land there as well."
"So, I fly in all dumb and happy and let them blow us out of the sky?" Illusmar scoffed. "No, thank you, sir." The honorific was distinctly disrespectful.
"They won't." Gornal said savagely. "If they do..."
"If they do..." Karne cut him off. "My full report is already sealed and in transit. If I do not stop it, it goes out to the nearest convent." Gornal paled again. "Kill us and hell lands on you and them." She snapped. "Feel free to order such. You won't live long after."
"I am not stupid, Sister Karne." Gornal said with a glower of his own. "I am trying to save the Imperium."
"That remains to be seen." Karne stumped back to her seat and sat, drawing her bolt pistol and checking it.
"You always wind up in cesspits, don't you, boy?" Gorna asked Ricardo. "You will be cleared through their defenses. Their remaining defenses." He corrected himself grimly. "I need the 743rd to land and secure the vehicle and I am trying to find other forces to repel the Chaos forces."
"There are not any free." Illusmar said soberly. "I looked."
"I have two carriers on standby in high orbit." Gornal continued as if he hadn't heard Ricardo. "Their fighter and bomber wings will help."
"Against Titans?" Ricardo didn't even bother trying to hide the scorn in his voice.
"There are Astartes ships moving towards the planet, but none are answering our hails." The Lord Inquisitor continued, ignoring Ricardo's insolence for now. There would be a reckoning later. If they survived. Gornal shook his head. "Never mind. They are the Dogs of Fenris. We cannot trust them to do anything but howl."
Ricardo kept his face blank at that. Indeed, the Space Wolves moved fast. Anyone dumb enough to shoot at them would get what they deserved.
"Let me sure I get this recorded." Ricardo said slowly. "You are ordering me to land at a facility where the beings who stole my agent are currently holed up. People who I know are hostile to me and mine."
"The Mechanicus are allies, boy." Gornal snapped. "Allies. As in not enemies. You will pay for firing on them first."
"Maybe." Ricardo mused. "They did take my agent and I will have her back."
"Gah!" Gornal snapped. "I will see you on the ground."
The com clicked off and Ricardo took a deep breath as everyone looked at him. He shook his head. There was only one way to go.
Forward.
Half an hour later
The pad was deserted except for an Arvus lighter. A quick glance at it showed a servitor pilot and no one else. Ricardo stepped off his shuttle fully aware of how exposed he was. He had his hands on his pistols. Mace hefted his shield and Lornan his lasgun. Lisa followed, her own lasgun immaculate as always.
The Sisters tramped off the ship in formation and all but Karne had helmets on now. It was impossible to tell which one was Kay, which was likely the point. They had weapons up and ready.
It did them no good.
The only warning was a familiar giggle before green bars of energy swept across the tarmac. One hit Ricardo and he felt every muscle suddenly seize. As he collapsed, he heard Mace fall with a clatter and saw Lisa dive for cover. There wasn't any.
Then the sisters opened fire. Bolters, the flamer and the meltagun poured out a devastating barrage at targets that Ricardo could not see. More green bolts flew and a scream heralded a drop in the fire.
"What the hell are you doing?" Ricardo managed to grate out past whatever had frozen every one of his voluntary muscles. Another green beam hit him and he was frozen again.
"Saving the Imperium." Gornal stepped into view, an oddly shaped pistol in one hand and an oddly shaped sword in the other as more green beams sliced. Bolts and other things clattered off a purple field around him as he smirked. "These brave sisters' sacrifice will be remembered."
Ricardo saw a blur as Karne charged forward. Gornal's odd pistol belched energy, but she dodged the weird looking beam.
"You know I cannot let you do that, my dear." Gornal said quietly as Karne hacked at him, her power blade bouncing off the odd shield and then being parried by his sword. He took careful aim and fired. Karne had no chance to dodge and fell without a sound. "Your message was never sent. Was it, Doctor?"
"Oooo..." Somehow Ricardo was not surprised when Mary ran out to kneel by the fallen Sororitas. "Pretty plaything! Mine!" She declared as she touched the still woman's cheek. "Not dead! I can make her better!"
"None are dead. Yet. We are on short time." Gornal said sternly. "And you boy. You may be a dupe, but you were a useful one. Troopers! Six Sororitas left the shuttle, but there are only five Sororitas down. The abomination is here. Find it!" Clattering sounded all around as heavily armed Skitarii unfolded from their hiding places. Sweeping the area. Seeking Kay.
Darkness claimed Ricardo.