Chapter 9

Surprises

"Im not what you were expecting, am I admiral"

Inquisitor Robyn Vallace to Admiral Halos

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As soon as the battle was over Halos had his ships communicator send a message via Holonet to his ships on Helios telling them to inform the Imperium and to send a fleet, it was four days later before a sizeable force of Imperium warships and cargo ships lead by the refitted Star Destroyers arrived. One vessel within the Imperium fleet group that stood out was a heavily modified 14km long Emperor-class Battleship, painted a matte black instead of the Imperium grey

The last few days had been eventful to say the least as Admiral Halos had agreed to offer sanctuary to Warlock Taldeer, eventually Magi Durin had also agreed but only under the condition that the, in his words 'witch' stayed on Halos ships. Ishta to her credit stood up to the towering warrior saying that she wouldn't be caught dead on an Imperium ship anyway.

The Admiral was tired and almost desperately wanted to sleep for a few hours but the surprise arrival of the Inquisitor had forced him to stay awake for a few more hours.

As the sleek Thunderhawk hovered past the hanger shields and settled down on the hanger deck Halos stood just past the last Honour Guardsmen that were now standing at attention on either side of the landing ramp, the Admiral had read up on the Inquisition and quite frankly didn't like what he read, the invisible fist of the Emperor, the secret police who handled the internal threats of the Imperium as well as outside threats when called upon, their methods of protecting the Imperium were cruel and barbaric reminding Halos of the stories his father told him of Emperor Palpatine's assassins and secret police forces, the run in with the purist Inquisitor Delshon didn't really help his outlook on the Inquisition either.

As the ramp came down Halos already had the image of an old religious fanatic stalking down the metal decking in his mind, it was only when the agent of the Imperium came into view that he realised how wrong he was, the Inquisitor was a young woman and a beautiful one at that, her skin was pale with long black hair that reached down to her shoulder blades, her hazel eyes scanned the hanger with great interest and intelligence, almost as if she was scanning everything in the hanger, her clothing was mostly a long grey robe that showed her perfect physique nicely and her only weapon appeared to be a well crafted bolt pistol that was attached to her right thigh.

As she descended the ramp she glanced at the Honour Guard before continuing alone, she stopped in front of the Admiral and bowed respectfully, Halos slightly taken aback complied with a bow of his own.

"Welcome to the Vigilance ma'am" Halos greeted.

"Thank you Admiral" the woman replied warmly "I am Inquisitor Robyn Vallace of the Inquisition" she introduced shaking the Admiral's hand "I have much to do and require some assistance"

"Of course we have all of the reports and schematics you will need ready for you" Halos replied before leading her to the briefing chambers.

"I'm not what you were expecting, am I Admiral?" Vallace asked as she sat down.

"Am I that see through?" Halos asked as he took a seat.

"Actually you hid your thoughts pretty well" the Inquisitor replied "I've just had a lot of practise reading people"

"Ah" Halos said "You wouldn't happen to be psychic would you?"

"Yes I am" she replied with a smile "Shall we get down to business"

"Of course"

"Admiral" Robyn started as she put down a datapad "I am one of the only Inquisitors that trust the reports sent by the Adeptus Mechanicus and so know for a fact that this technology is indeed safe to use, however there will be Inquisitors and other important individuals who will back away from this and call the findings heretical"

Halos shook his head in bemusement drawing the Inquisitors attention "Did I say something wrong?" she asked calmly.

"Not at all it's just that with the last Inquisitor that my fleet ran into and the information I have read about your order I thought you would be more…"

"Irrational"

"That'll do"

"Admiral let me say that there are some Inquisitors who are more open minded to new ideas than others" she said seriously "Some like Inquisitor Delshon are foolish and naïve to the fact that without new technologies the Imperium may fall within the next few hundred years"

"I thought that your fleets were constantly bringing new territories into the Imperium" Halos said.

"Indeed" Vallace agreed "However we are also losing territory to the Orks, the Necrons, the Tyranids and the forces of Chaos, the Dark Eldar raiders are also weakening our supply lines and main supply worlds with their raids and vanish into their webway before we can stop them, myself and many others believe that we need new technologies like your terraforming techniques to restore dead worlds, galaxy-wide holonet to keep the entire Imperium in contact and your hyperdrive to get to besieged worlds faster, your weapons although weaker have much better accuracy and range and as I have read you have built weapons that have the firepower to destroy planets…even entire star systems"

"The Death Star, Galaxy Gun and Sun Crusher were indeed impressive" Halos admitted "But they came at a terrible price, including the destruction of several of our most precious worlds"

"Admiral I am not asking you to hand over schematics for such destructive devices" she said reassuringly "All I ask is that you give me the first shot at any new technologies"

Halos felt slightly torn, he and Magi Durin had formed a sort of respect for each other over the last month. Unlike many of his fellow officers he seemed to be more…open minded and not nearly as xenophobic, this Inquisitor seemed nice enough but Halos had been around enough female officers within the Galactic Empire that looked sweet at first but were either a Krayt Dragon in Bantha clothing or had a hidden agenda that would threaten the safety of those around her.

"You don't have to make the decision right away Admiral" Robyn reassured "I can see that your tired, get some rest but promise me you'll at least think about it"

"Thank you Inquisitor, I'll do just that" Halos said with a nod before rising and walking towards the door.

"Admiral?" the Inquisitor asked "May I ask what your first name is?"

"It's Joseph" Halos replied "Joseph Halos"

The Inquisitor nodded "Good night Joseph"

When he left she started to study the scrolls of information on the datapads, with each pad she began to get more and more interested, there was more here than just what she had mentioned, as she continued to read she found schematics for powerful planetary shield generators, gravity-well generators and an assortment of starfighter designs. As she picked up another one and turned it on she suddenly starred in disbelief at the information she was reading…now that was very interesting.

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The halls of the Emperors Fire was as busy as ever, crowds of Tech-priests, Skitarii, Tech-Guard, Aides and messengers walked along the long, dimly lit corridors going about their day to day duties. Magi Durin walked down the corridor, scanning the scrolls of information from his personal datapad on the statistics of the battle. The Imperial Guard and PDF together suffered over a thousand casualties, civilian casualties were in the thousands with people dead, wounded or missing, and the city itself had suffered millions of credits in damage.

His own losses and those of the Alliance were not as serious, a hundred Skitarii and around sixty Alliance soldiers were reported dead or seriously injured, if it wasn't for the Alliance AT-AT walkers and their jump troops the city would have suffered much worse, he hoped that the Inquisitor had noticed that.

"Magi Durin"

The sound of his name made the Magi turn to see a Skitarii Colonel walk quickly towards him "Yes Colonel Drake"

The Colonel walked up to the Magi and made the shape of an aquila along his chest "Sir I have some information on a Commander in the Alliance that you may find shocking"

"You mean the psyker that is among them?" the Magi asked as he continued to walk, Drake keeping pace.

"No sir, it is that I don't think he is a psyker"

The Magi stopped and scanned the colonel before starting to walk again "Follow me"

They walked to an elevator and ascended to the officers floor were it was less crowded, the Magi walked down the long, well kept corridors before he came to his living quarters and entered a door, the two Tech-Guard stood rigidly at attention as he and the colonel passed, they entered an extravagant office, the walls were decorated with portraits as well as cabinets full of power weapons including swords, war hammers and battle axes to a collection of guns including various meltas, lasguns and bolters. At the end there was a large viewport that showed an incredible view of the area of space outside.

The Magi walked around an oak table and dropped the datapad onto it before sitting down, he measured the colonel who was standing rigidly at attention at the other side before speaking "Well what about their Psyker"

"Well sir the first thing I notice about him is that unlike other psykers he doesn't seem to be self destructive and he can do things that I have never in my a hundred years of service seen done before"

"Like"

"Well sir for one thing his powers are not just capable of destroying something but capable of healing as well" the colonel said "I saw him heal a serious shoulder injury on one of the xeno soldiers in the Alliance's army that in my estimation, if she was brought to a medic would have risked losing her arm"

"Go on"

"And during the counterattack he jumped out of the gunship…without a jump-pack" Drake replied "And when I saw him again he was unharmed and jumping nearly impossible distances from rooftop to rooftop"

"Well Colonel what is your philosophy on this?"

"I may be wrong sir but I believe he is a Daemon" Drake replied "No on can use the warp like that and come out untouched"

"Indeed" the Magi replied before rising from his chair "I will take a squad of Tech-Guard to the Alliance Star Destroyer and question Commander Sabbath on this immediately"

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Gabriel whistled in surprise as he stepped into the medbay to see that the healers had finally managed to get Ishta into a Bacta tank, the cut wounds that she had suffered in the company of her dark kin had been more serious than originally thought. The Jedi Master stepped up to the head healer, a male human named Jerrick

"How did you persuade her?" Gabriel asked in astonishment.

"It wasn't easy Master Sabbath" the Coruscanti healer replied tiredly "It took a half hour of explaining what Bacta did before she finally conceded to take the treatment…she'll be in there for the full day"

"Good, I don't think I'm in the mood for arrogance" Gabriel replied with a chuckle before changing the subject "How's the girl doing?"

"She just woke up a few minutes ago but she still won't utter a word" the healer said sadly "Poor thing, I guess watching her mother get killed like that must have been too much for her to take"

"And being taken to a strange place like this with Stormtroopers and aliens running around must be just as terrifying as the Dark Eldar to her" Gabriel replied "Which bed is she in?"

Jerrick pointed to a bed a few metres down and Gabriel nodded before walking to her bedside, now that she was cleaned up the Jedi master noticed that she looked around thirteen years old with long strawberry blonde hair and grey eyes.

"Hey little one" Gabriel said softly "How are you feeling today?"

She didn't answer for a moment before turning to him and studied him, he looked into her eyes and saw to his surprise that they seemed much older than she was.

"I'm Gabriel" the Jedi introduced "What's your name?"

"Alana Varne" she replied after a brief pause "You couldn't do anything for my mom could you?"

"I'm sorry Alana" Gabriel replied meaningfully trying to search for the right words to say "I tried but your mother was to far gone"

The little girl trembled slightly, tears brimming her eyes "I know, what about my dad?"

"Who is your dad?" he asked "What does he work as?"

"He's a Colonel in the defence army" she replied "My dad's first name is Marcus"

Gabriel nodded and stood up "I'll see what I can do about finding your dad Alana" he said with a smile "You just get some rest okay"

The little girl nodded and lay down again, Gabriel sensed that she was asleep by the time he reached the entrance, his comlink beeped the moment he entered the corridor and sighing he unhooked it from his belt and thumbed it on "Yes"

"Gabriel" Halos said "Magi Durin is here and wishes to discuss something with you, he seemed urgent and a little unnerved…do you want me to send a squad of soldiers to accompany you?"

"No" Gabriel replied while massaging his temple, force this was going to be a long day "I will speak with him myself, I feel that bringing guards into it will make matters worse"

"What do you think it's about?"

"I think he finally knows that I'm not your average Psyker" he answered before thumbing the com off and started to walk down the corridor.

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"You wished to see me Magi" Gabriel asked as he entered the briefing room, the Magi was not alone; as the Jedi was waved into the room he noticed two Tech-Guards, Tech-Priest Rune, Colonel Drake and a Psyker were also with him.

"Yes Commander Sabbath" the Magi replied evenly "Would you please take a seat"

Gabriel complied and took a seat across from them, he placed his hands on the table and waited for the questions.

"You're not a Psyker, are you?" Durin asked.

"Not in the way of your Psykers" Gabriel replied evenly "I'm not"

"Are you a Daemon" Drake said sharply before receiving harsh glances from the Magi and Tech-Priest.

"No" Gabriel said "I am not a Daemon either Colonel, I don't think a Dark Warp Daemon can heal as well as I did…my order is known as the Jedi Knights"

"I have read of the Jedi" the Magi said "An order of beings that are said to be force-sensitive, psychic, according to your history they have safeguarded the main empires of your galaxy for thousands of years"

"Yes they have" Gabriel replied "My order has been in existence for nearly twenty-five thousand years, they protected the Old Galactic Republic, later the New Republic and now the Galactic Alliance"

"Twenty-five thousand years?" the Tech-Priest echoed in disbelief.

"I have read all this" the Magi said.

"My lord" Drake asked in disbelief "You knew?"

"I speculated" the Magi said, silencing the colonel with a sharp look "I had no proof until now" he then turned to Gabriel who was patiently sitting in his chair "Tell me Jedi Sabbath…just what is this force?"

Gabriel thought about his answer, this was most likely a test by the Magi that could prove fatal if answered wrongly "The force is an energy field that encompasses the galaxy, it creates life and binds it together"

"Interesting" the Magi replied "And what would you see this force as?"

"Well Magi think of the force like the warp" Gabriel replied, carefully choosing his words "Now the warp encompasses this galaxy, the force does that too but it is no where near as dangerous as the warp…one would call the force as a completely different field of energy, what the warp was before the Eldar fall for example, force-sensitives…like myself are born with a gift to tap into this life force, like this" he then focused on a cup on the Magi's side of the table, it floated into the air and began to rotate causing the Tech-Guard to swing for their rifles.

"Put those away!" the Magi shouted at them before turning to the Jedi, he studied the man before him and sighed "From what I have read on the Jedi your order are honourable and only do what you consider to be best so I will ask this one question" the old soldier rose from the chair "Are you planning to cause harm to anything or anyone of the Imperium or do harm to the Emperor of Mankind?"

"No Magi" Gabriel replied, the Psyker studied him and Gabriel felt him probe his mind, the Jedi master lowered his shields to allow the man access, after a few moments the Psyker nodded "He tells the truth"

"Very well" Durin replied before turning to Gabriel "You may leave"

"Thank you Magi" Gabriel replied "While I'm here can I ask a favour?"

"What?" the Magi asked.

"The little girl I saved is called Alana Varne" Gabriel told him as he too rose from his chair "She told me her father was a Colonel called Marcus Varne in the Imperial Guard, could you do a search for him?"

"I will see what I can do"

"Thank you" Gabriel said before bowing and striding out of the briefing room.

"My lord" the Colonel said in outrage, his sanity leaving him for a brief moment "He should be thrown to the Inquisition!!!"

"Bite your tongue Drake" the Magi bellowed, silencing the colonel "Perhaps he should but he has protected the territories of the Imperium from not just the Dark Eldar but from the Great Enemy as well, he has earned my respect and trust!!!"

"Besides" Rune interjected "The Alliance would not like it if one of their main officers would suddenly disappear during a meeting with the Magi!"

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Gabriel looked at the information on the datapad, Magi Durin had lived up to his word and within a few hours had sent him the whereabouts' of Alana's father, the Jedi master shook his head sadly as he entered the medbay, he walked up to her bed and sat down, she looked up at him and seeing his sadness her face fell "He's dead, isn't he"

The Jedi nodded "I am truly sorry Alana"

She pulled her knees to her chin and started to sniffle, Gabriel put a comforting hand on her shoulder and she rushed into his arms, crying softly, Gabriel cradled her trembling form "Shhhh…its alright…its alright…just let it all out"

And she did let it all out, she cried and cried until she finally fell asleep, Gabriel put her back to bed and sat on the chair beside her, it was then that he felt a minor disturbance in the force, a nudge in the back of his mind, he dispelled it at first but eventually the continual nudging forced him to expand his awareness and search for it's source, surprisingly the source seemed to be coming from Alana.

He placed a hand on her forehead and carefully entered her mind, searching for the area at the back of her brain, it was here that Jedi could tell whether a person was force-sensitive or not, usually when you nudge that part of the brain a small psychic push, a reflexive action mostly tells you whether…his mind went blank as he flew backwards, falling from his chair and skidding across the white floor startling everyone in the room including Alana, who awoke and jumping out of bed ran over to him.

"Gabriel, what happened?" she asked worriedly "are you alright?"

Gabriel summoned the force to dispel the feeling of pain in his back and the darkness in his vision, it was like being run over by an angry Krayt Dragon, no doubt about it Alana was force-sensitive and a powerful one…incredibly powerful, maybe as strong as the likes of Luke Skywalker or Kyp Durran.

"I think you'd better take a seat Alana" Gabriel said as he stood up, staggering slightly, she really hammered him "I have something to tell you"

Alana gave him an odd look before he sat her down and started to tell her about an energy field called the force.

I don't know what to say, I just started righting and righting, what ya think? If you think the Adeptus was too soft then let me know. I' am unsure as whether to stay in this part of the story or add another chapter on the Yuuzhan Vong, what do you think?