Title: Angelus Erroneous: Fabricati Diem

Author: Spike

Chapter: Twelve

My ears were on full alert and my two firing fingers were at the ready on the triggers of my bolt pistols. The jungle was silent but deep within the Wave Serpent itself was the muffled sounds of voices saying indecipherable words and objects being shifted around.

If there truly are a horde of Orks on their way, then I'm ready for them.

Yet my eyes were focusing on something different – Instead, they were directed at the only thing that bothered me at this point in time.

Jessie.

There was no telling what she was still thinking of me following from that dispute this morning. Was she still intent on killing me?

I cast a gaze at her – she had her back to me, her gaze focusing on the trees, her sword and her laspistol drawn and ready in each hand.

My brow furrowed. Should I say something? How would she react if I dared open my trap?

With her back to me, she didn't seem at all concerned with my presence. But then again that didn't really provide any indication of what she was thinking.

Although I should be really concentrating upon the possibility of being ambushed by the Orks, my mind was growing increasing concerned with the person I considered a comrade.

I guess this stems from my military days – Back then, it was considered paramount to establish a degree of trust with your fellow grunts. Because in the battlefield there exists a million situations where you have to rely on someone else to help you out.

And here there's not that much difference. Only here the grunts have been replaced by wanted criminals and the worst scum the Imperium could come up with.

But in the terms of appreciation and respect there's not much in the way of difference.

However, even if I little respect for the scum fate has placed me with, there's still no excuse for not at least trying to cooperate with them.

And hey, I would certainly like someone watching my back as much as the next person.

Even if it's someone who's combat style is both relentless and remorseless. And who was quite keen on killing me earlier on.

Besides, the tension in the air was as large, and as heavy, as an Emperor class of Titan. The least I could do was try and eradicate it.

I cleared my throat.

"See anything on your end?"

Okay so it maybe wasn't the best conversation starter in the world but it was better than nothing.

"Nothing as yet" she replied.

I blinked. This was a surprise. I wasn't expecting a reply, let alone that was responded to so promptly.

Might as well make the most of it….

"You think there could be anything in there?"

"Possibly – But I doubt it. It doesn't like it's been disturbed for ages"

"Considering we're on an Ork World I find that very hard to believe…" I muttered.

"I guess the Orks must've found it, raided it and forgotten about it" she replied

I offered myself a round of mental congratulations. Hey she must have stopped being so pissed off with me – She now sees me worthy of being on speaking terms.

I guess it's a start….

"So are you suggesting that there may be still something in there that the Orks overlooked?"

What happened next was something of a surprise - she turned around and faced me.

I blinked – her facial expression didn't look anything resembling anger- it seemed a lot more thoughtful.

And perhaps the most thoughtful I have ever seen Jessie.

"Sure I do" she said.

"The odd for that happening are slim" I muttered "And the odds of finding an overlooked relic that actually works are even slimmer"

Jessie's brow furrowed and she turned away.

"Boy, aren't we feeling cynical today" she growled.

"Funny, I thought I had been like that since I arrived on this miserable rock" I shot back.

"How you can you say that?" she said, turning her gaze back around.

"What?"

"How can you submit to the idea of cynicism when we're on a planet like this?"

"Oh silly me" I snarled sarcastically "I was too busy wallowing in my cynicism that I failed to realise that we are STRANDARD on a planet for beyond the BORDERLINES of Imperial space populated entirely by the ORKS when no-one else knows, let alone cares, that we're here because we're all wanted CRIMINALS ON THE FUCKING RUN!!!!"

Amazingly, Jessie didn't bat an eyelid when confronted with a barrage of ferocious words.

"But don't you see?" she replied "That's precisely the point! We are on this planet and no one knows we're here! As such, we can do whatever we feel like!"

I blinked.

"Being on this planet gives us an opportunity to find a brand new life!" She went on "One that should be made for ourselves without any interference whatsoever from the Imperial authorities!"

I closed my eyes. Oh great – she was beginning to sound like that idiot Xerxes….

"And I for one am certainly carving myself a new life here!"

Once again, Jessie was experiencing what the rest of us referred to as 'one of her moods'. Being unpredictable in both her actions and her words, certainly made her interesting company but there were times when it became particularly problematic. As such, there was this tendency to remain somewhat wary when dealing with her. One minute she could be spouting some random nonsense while the next she could have her knife drawn.

But considering what Jessie was capable of, perhaps her current mood would be better if it were kept that way.

"What?" I inquired "You call day after day of slaying Orks a new life?"

Why not?" she grinned. "I get to do what I want to do, I get a lot of enjoyment out of it and no one can tell me otherwise.

"Besides" she added "It's certainly better than ending up on with one's neck on the executioner's block."

"You gotta point there…." I muttered.

"So what do you intend to do here?" Jessie then asked.

"What are you talking about?"

"Look, no one knows where we are and no cares. It's not like we're going to be rescued anytime soon, right?"

"Well…yeah…"

"Exactly! So we may as well make ourselves make ourselves comfortable!"

"Throwing my own words back at me…" I grumbled.

"If that's true then there's no reason why you should be playing Mr. Cynical" Jessie snapped, her voice accusing.

"Look, I'm just here for the purposes of keeping myself alive" I growled. "There's no way in hell that I would ever let myself die at the hands of those green-skin scum!

"Well that's a start" she grinned.

"Call it what you like"

I guess this the best example of Jessie at her most optimistic – yet another product of her erratic mood swings.

Yet there was no telling how long this cheery outlook would last…..

Of course such an attitude would be, in retrospect, comforting but I'm not in any rush to relax – because there was always the likely we could be ambushed by the Orks.

Or worse, still be torn apart by Jessie in a sudden change in mood.

I guess the least I could do was to keep her talking:

"Anyway" I said "Going back to what you said about the chances of finding something in here that the Orks overlooked

"That's a good theory but that doesn't take in account that there are countless tribes of Orks around here. Sure this thing looks like it's been here for a while but it's in too good condition to be here for so long on a planet like this. So, if one tribe of Orks came through here, more would've followed in their wake"

"So what are you saying?"

"If this wreck hasn't been completely obliterated then only one group of Ork may have discovered it."

"Meaning, we must be in an area which the Orks aren't aware of"

"Maybe the other green-skin tribes haven't discovered it yet?" Jessie theorised.

"It's possible but I doubt it" I replied "I thinking more along the lines that the Orks have been avoiding this area and for good reason"

"You think so?"

"Ah you're just being paranoid" she said.

"Really?"

"For one thing, your theory doesn't explain one thing?"

"Like what?" I retorted.

"Like how that bozo behind you came sneaking up on us!"

With battle instincts instantaneously flaring with alarm, I flicked my head around

There, standing several feet away, stood a huge green-skin. He stood several feet away, glaring at us both.

What happened next happened very quickly.

In a blink of an eye, the Ork exploded – The green-skin was knocked off his feet from the force of several las-bolts. The corpse came crashing down.

I turned back to Jessie. She clutched her laspistol, it's barrel smoking.

This event can only be described as a rare occurrence: Jessie using her laspistol over her sword to dispatch an enemy. But such events can only be used in emergency situations.

And such emergency situations aren't entirely welcome.

Particularly if the scowl across Jessie's face was anything to go by.

"Sure hated to do that" she growled.

I shrugged before hurrying over to where the corpse lay.

The Ork was well and truly dead – he was covered with blood and he was still smoking from the instrument of his untimely demise. His skull and his shoulder muscles had all been penetrated from the las-bolts.

I looked over my shoulder, to see Jessie approach, her facial expression still deformed with a scowl.

"Hey, good shooting" I said casually.

Immediately, her eyes grew angry.

"Not one mention to Bishop or the others about this!"

"Huh?"

"I kill all my enemies with my sword! Not with a damn pistol!"

"But…."

"But nothing!" she snapped "Just promise me you won't say a word about this!"

My muscles tightened. I could sense a possible change in Jessie's mood.

And as I'm quite keen on keeping my own head, perhaps it would be best to not pursue this matter any further……

Being skilled at combat also meant that Jessie had developed something that could only be described as a warriors' pride.

But considering how schizophrenic her moods were, it makes me wonder whether she developed this through countless hours of combat or whether she was copying something she had seen before.

"Fine then" I muttered.

My eyes then scanned the forest behind the downed Ork. No other sign of life seemed to be around. There were no movements, explosions or bolter fire that was usually associated with the presence of Orks.

My eyes hardened. This seemed rather unsettling…..

"I wonder how this one came by, here?' I went on.

"Perhaps he wanted to check out what you described as a place best avoided" Jessie sneered.

"Actually that may not be as unfeasible as you may think" I replied "Look at him – he's on his own."

"So?"

"Correct me if I'm wrong but all these Orks upon this miserable rock travel in groups. Seriously - Have we ever encountered an Ork on their own?"

Jessie blinked, her facial expression close to something to resembling thoughtfulness.

"I don't know about you but something seems terribly out of place here" I muttered.

Then Jessie grinned in a sadistic manner.

I didn't pay any attention to she did next. Instead my gaze travelled upwards, travelling up with surrounding tree trunks on to the forest canopy.

With my mind in state of pondering, words began drifting out of my throat.

"…First, we enter this part of the planet that seems unusually quiet when compared to the other areas on this miserable rock. Second, we encounter a downed Wave Serpent and then a single Ork comes seemingly out of nowhere without any other sign of greenskin.

Something seemed terribly amiss here…..

Something that screamed out good enough reason for both myself and Jessie to have our wits about us.

I turned around, my mouth open…

But the sight that then confronted me was something I wasn't expecting.

Jessie had her sword drawn and was using it to slowly carve through the green-skin's neck.

I blinked as she then pulled off the freshly severed head and, with a fistful of green flesh, pulled it up into a view with a sadistic grin on her face.

"Hey Narc, look" she said proudly. "Look at my little souvenir: The only Ork on his own that we had ever encountered on this planet!"

I sighed.

Having seen no further interest in the Ork's corpse, both myself and Jessie headed back to the open hatch of the Wave Serpent.

Along the way, we were greeted with the sight of Deacon poking his ugly head out of the wreck.

"Hey there" he grunted "We've found something"

Both Jessie and myself exchanged glances and hurried over.

"Yeah?" Jessie asked "What?"

"We found several weapons and quite a few artefacts as well"

"Artefacts?" I echoed, my suspicions arising. "What type of artefacts?"

Deacon shrugged.

"Don't know" he muttered "I'm just relying on what Xerxes said. I hope he knows what each of these devices does."

Which, in Xerxes' case, seems highly unlikely.

"He called one of them a…. communications device"

Jessie raised an eyebrow but I mentally cursed. What type of nonsense did Xerxes come up with this time? Emperor knows how Bishop can keep swallowing the crap that the 'Rogue Trader' keeps feeding him.

It's also debatable on how much longer the Rogue Trader can keep his lies from unravelling.

Still, such theorising also came with a sense of comfort: it should be amusing to see what this device does when Bishop tries to use it. No doubt something completely different..…

That thought alone pacified the anger I had for the Rogue Trader's constant lies and filled my head with such potentially amusing possibilities (okay so maybe Xerxes won't find them funny but since when have I ever placed his benefit before my own?).

As well as a wellspring of devious possibilities as to how everyone will react to this piece of unwelcome news.

Just then, Deacon stepped out from the Wave Serpent. Close behind came both Our Fearless Leader and the Rogue Trader. Bishop had two pieces of Eldar equipment in his hands. One seemed to resemble a firearm of some kind. Despite its all too-alien origins, it seemed to possess the same shape as a lasgun.

But then again just because it looks like a lasgun doesn't mean it really is.

Meanwhile the other was a much smaller object. It was oval shaped and was large enough to fit in the palm of Our Fearless Leader's hand.

Xerxes followed Bishop, also carrying a number of objects that also bore the signs of the unique Eldar craftsmanship. Being of an alien construct these objects didn't seem to resemble anything I was already familiar with.

It was anyone's guess as to what Xerxes told Bishop these objects were.

And it should be interesting as to what would happen when our Fearless Leader tries to use them.

But whilst that prospect has a certain degree of amusement value, there's always the question of what Bishop would do when he realises that Xerxes has deceived him….

Seriously, Our Fearless Leader wasn't the type who took deception, cheek and unreliability lightly. Being a former CO in the Imperial Guard, I guess that's natural but the time away does nothing to stop the application of brutality towards his charges.

I cleared my throat

"What did you found in there, boss?" I inquired.

Bishop grinned evilly and immediately raised up the weapon that resembled a lasgun.

"I think we've struck gold here" he said.

"Does it still work?"

Our Fearless Leader didn't reply. Instead he, in one swift motion, flipped the gun around in his hand and aimed it out to his left. Without even bothering to look down the barrel, he pulled on something that resembled the firing trigger.

A burst of lasgun bolts erupted from the firearm, only to travel through the air and thunder their way into a nearby tree.

The rest of us blinked in stunned silence as Bishop turned and noted the fresh scar marks at the tree trunk.

He merely shrugged.

"Yeah, it still works" he said nonchalantly.

The rest of us exchanged bewildered glances.

"And what is this?" Jessie asked, eyeing the strange device that Bishop held in his other hand.

"Xerxes told me that it's some sort of explosive – An Eldar-crafted grenade."

I bet he did I thought to myself

"So where's this communications device I've been told about?" I then demanded.

I cast an eye at Xerxes who turned away.

"He's got it" Bishop said.

I glared daggers at the Rogue Trader. He however kept his gaze hidden from the rest of us.

I could sense the corner of my lip twitch into an amused curl.

Your time spent weaving your lies is slowly running out I thought

Our Fearless Leader then turned to both Jessie and me.

"Did you see anything out here?" he demanded.

I exchanged glances with Jessie.

And what I saw brought me to a point of ill-ease.

Her facial expression had undergone a bizarre metamorphosis since the slaying of the Ork. Jessie's face had grown laden with melancholy. At the moment, her thrill of the combat had disintegrated with the absence of the Ork. And with no more reliance on the one thing she enjoyed out of this life currently absent, she had reverted into a more mellow state of mind.

Of course this may seem good for me as it places me in a position of comfort - after all, it's highly unlikely she would draw her blade in me when she's like this, right?

Wrong. Even whilst she currently seemed unhappy, I did see something in her face – It came in the form of small lines of fear. Fear for Bishop.

A fear strong enough to reduce Jessie silent and immobile.

You gotta admire the degree of intimidation those Imperial Guardsmen CO's command.

It always happens. I don't know how but I guess it comes part of the job.

Of course, whether it's natural or hammered in during the job training process is debatable.

But enough of my ponderings – The look on Jessie's face spoke volumes of the intimidation she received from Bishop's presence.

I swallowed.

Better take one for her I guess.

After all when you're faced with someone with such presence, the only thing you can rely on is the truth.

"We did encounter the greenskins" I said "But it was only one of them"

Bishop responded by giving me a hardened stare.

"One?" he echoed.

"Yes" I replied, jerking my thumb towards the location where the corpse still lay "He's still over there so if you don't believe me. Why don't you take a look for yourself? It's not like he's going anywhere"

In hindsight that was far from the best thing to say. Having too been part of Imperial Guard myself, I understood all too well that the punishment of issuing a CO with such cheek.

He glared at me with the eyes that usually come from the type of person who is merely seconds from breaking every bone in your body

Indeed, I expected Our Fearless Leader to grasp his newly-acquired lasgun and ram the butt of it into my face. Or, failing that, use that bionic arm of his to deliver an uppercut strong enough to break my jaw.

All around was silence.

Everyone watched us with tension so great that no one dared to intervene.

Both myself and the onlookers waited for the inevitable fist to the face.

I could sense the anger that was boiling up inside Our Fearless Leader but I wasn't worried even in the slightest. We are the only humans on this planet and we all alone in hostile territory. As such, survival takes top priority over rules and rankings.

After all, being beyond the boundaries of the Imperium pretty much means we can do whatever the hell we like.

No one dared say a word to stop Bishop out of fear of him.

So it was only a matter of seconds before he decided to break my bones.

But to my surprise, no such thing came.

Instead he merely broke off eye contact and turned to the rest of us.

"If a single Ork found his way here, then there must be more nearby" he said firmly "What this means is that we have to move. Pronto"

And with that he turned away from the Wave Serpent and immediately began making his way back up the slope.

We all blinked in amazement at Bishop's actions. This was most unexpected for him to let someone off like this for being cheeky.

Even Deacon seemed astounded – but it didn't take long before he shrugged his shoulders and followed Our Fearless Leader.

Always the loyal follower…..

On the other hand, this incident had left Xerxes even more tense than before. He looked at myself and Jessie, his facial expression a wreck of unease. Then, carrying his treasured discoveries from the Wave Serpent, he proceeded back up the slope.

No doubt he needs all the time in the world to come with some good excuses as to explain what these discoveries were.

I paused, baffled by what had just happened.

Why did Bishop let me off like that? If that altercation that occurred earlier on, between Xerxes and himself, was anything to go by anyone would assume that Bishop insists that his orders be understood and taken without question. As such, there was no room for any cheek or any other smart-arse remarks. As such, I'm surprised that Our Fearless Leader didn't try and smash my face in.

I figured he would have found it necessary to make an example out of me for the benefit of the rest of us. After all, that was a common practice applied by all Commanding Officers in the Imperial Guard. And you only had to look at what happened to Xerxes for a textbook example of that theory being put into action. So it was any wonder as to why he let me off so easily.

Perhaps he's more interested in finding out more about the discoveries he found within the Wave Serpent

An equally likely theory is that maybe he exhausted all of his anger in roughing up Xerxes earlier on.

Or most likely he considers me too valuable to lose….

My gaze hardened. With this thought all other excuses no longer seemed relevant. No other reason held a degree of neither truth nor substance to this revelation.

True, we are all staying together but it's hardly by choice: it's merely in the name of survival. Indeed, being stranded on an Ork World, it's doubtful that any of us would survive on our own.

In that sense perhaps I should feel grateful that he has a degree of respect for my skills that he won't dare lay a finger on me.

Or maybe I should be outraged that his leadership skills demands that he sees us all as tools that he uses as he sees fit.

This last thought filled me with loathing – It seems Our Fearless Leader is an Imperial Guard CO through and through: Far more concerned with achieving the accomplishment of a set mission than worrying about the cost of life involved (after all, being a grunt in the Imperial Guard meant nothing save for being a soldier in one of the countless legions made of an indeterminable number of troops scattered across the galaxy).

Only on this planet we have no set task – apart from saving our own skins.

It seems the environment hasn't changed at all for Bishop – this planet may be inhabited by Orks and far beyond the reaches of the Imperium but it would seem that it's just another battlefield for Our Fearless Leader.

And whilst he may have the best leadership skills out of the six of us, that's not to say that he holds a single iota of concern for the rest of us.

I shook my head in disbelief.

Seems any scum-sucking bastard can become a CO quite easily. You'd think the Imperium was handing out every high-ranking position imaginable like they were hotcakes.

As if constantly watching my back on the Orks wasn't bad enough – No it has to, for some reason known only to the God-Emperor, be made harder due to being with the most unreliable of allies.