Chapter 23
Meetings and Proposals
"Curses! Just when you have managed to bring the whole world under your evil influence some pathetic little Inquisitor goes whining off to the Adeptus Terra about rogue psykers and daemonic possession. I mean, do I look possessed? Well, do I?DO I???"
Personal Log of Lord Varlak
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As the star destroyers and their Retribution-class protector left hyperspace they saw the throne world of the Imperium for the first time, and what a sight it was. Around every planet of the Sol system were thousands of weapon platforms, each one bristling with lance batteries, plasma cannons and heavy bolter turrets, as the flotilla moved closer into the system the weapon platforms only got bigger and more deadly, eventually the lance batteries were replaced by nova cannons and massive, spire shaped space stations orbiting around the planets known as Jupiter, Mars and finally Terra. Around these great platforms of destruction were thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of warships, mostly escorts but also cruisers, battlecruisers and battleships patrolling the many lines of defences in assigned battle squadrons.
Admiral Halos could only gaze out at the incredible array of weapons that surrounded the systems planets like a great mist, the platforms and the space stations that were close enough to his force swivelled their weapons to trace them but they reframed from firing. Magi Durin wanted them to set up positions around the orbit of Mars and wait for the Adeptus Mechanicus' tech-priests.
"Not even the Death Star could break through these defences" Florn said as he watched the view unfold before him.
"No one has ever succeeded in invading Terra in almost ten thousand years captain" Vallace explained as they took up positions around the red world "Be honoured for you are the first outsiders to be invited here"
"I'll keep that in mind Inquisitor" Florn replied.
Halos remained silent, he knew how important this proposed meeting with the twelve high lords was, it could solidify the promise of an alliance with his small force and if that came to be then perhaps they could help his people find a way home, he wasn't blind to his peoples wishes to return to their homes, to their families.
"It has been many years since I have been here" Robyn said, more to herself than to anyone present, she then pointed at the red world that they had just begun orbiting "This is Mars, capital of the Adeptus Mechanicus and head forge world of the Imperium"
"It is impressive" Joseph said, he guessed that this forge world was greater than the shipyard worlds of Corellia and Mon Calamari combined, but there were other things on his mind that he needed to discuss "Have you contacted your allies on Terra?"
"I have and I told them of my plans" Robyn answered, tearing her gaze away from the view "They are sceptical and weary but feel that we should take the chance, my mentor and several of his most trusted allies will be waiting for us at the landing bays"
"Well I have spoken to the Magi about this and I have convinced him to try and gain the support of the fabricator general, if you and your allies try and gain the lord inquisitors then we may have a chance"
"Perhaps" Vallace said wearily "But I must warn you admiral, Terra is well known to be a very zealous place, one wrong word can see a man being branded a heretic and burned alive so please mind what you say"
He nodded before seeing a small thunderhawk shuttle come into view, its ancient exhausts expelling trails of smoke and flame as it came closer to the Vigilance. Suddenly the comlinks came to life and a voice, magnified by a helmet amplifier spoke "This is Terran shuttle gamma alpha 6345 to Alliance star destroyer Vigilance; we are your admirals transport to the holy worlds surface"
"Roger that" Halos responded "You are cleared to proceed to the hanger bay"
"Admiral" the Magi said as his holographic image appeared on the command deck "Once you have disembarked I will take your fleet further into the Martian defence zones and allow the tech priests to further analyse your technology"
"That sounds fine Magi as long as my techs and a few of your own tech priests are allowed to keep taps on them" Halos replied.
"Understood Admiral" the Magi agreed, a small smile spreading across his heavily augmented face "I will also try and gain the support of some of my fellows, there are Magi's who I think will rally with me in trying to convince the fabricator general, best of luck admiral"
"Same to you Magi" Halos replied
He then ordered the transmissions cut before turning to the inquisitor, she had dressed for the occasion, wearing a long, simple grey robe, her long black hair done up in a braid.
"Well my honour guard will be waiting in the hanger" Halos said before turning towards the bridges turbolift "Florn you have the bridge"
As the thunderhawk left the hanger of the star destroyer Halos and Vallace sat on the ancient, slightly uncomfortable chairs which were built into the walls, the bulkheads of the shuttle showed their age with rust and the tang of incensed metal, sitting with them on the chairs was a full squad of eight ARC troopers, armed with simple E-11 blaster rifles. At the other end of the shuttle were two stone faced elite Kasrkin guardsmen.
The shuttle shuddered as it hit the outer atmosphere and for a moment Halos thought that it would break up, but thankfully the thunderhawk held long enough, the first thing that the admiral saw was skyscrapers, hundreds of them were above the cloud cover that stretched as far as the eye could see, as they flew through the clouds they saw yet more buildings that reminded him of Coruscant, they continued on for several minutes before the proposed meeting site for the high lords came into view, a massive spire that looked about two kilometres thick and was made out of ancient grey stone that's top seemed to pierce through the cloud cover, platforms on the spire held up ancient lance batteries and plasma cannons as well as several others acting as landing pads.
The shuttle decreased its speed, the ancient crafts very superstructure started to shake as it decelerated and landed on the closest platform of one of the last surviving great watchtowers of holy Terra. As the ramp descended Halos saw the shodowed figures of a half dozen beings waiting at the connecting walkway.
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Major Thorn of the 12th ARC trooper squad led his troopers out of the thunderhawk first, at the edge of the landing platform were three men, their forms hidden in long hooded cloaks, behind them were a group of four large warriors that from what he read up on were called the space marines, their bulky armour was coloured yellow and red to symbolise their chapter, the Imperial Fists.
Thorn and his contingent fell into step behind the Admiral and Inquisitor Vallace, as they got closer the major started to see just how intimidating these warriors of the Adeptus Astartes truly looked, they towered over him and looked about twice his mass, the heavy weapons they held in their armoured fists seemed capable of tearing gaping holes into the strongest armour.
The three cloaked figures standing within the space marine formation were no less intimidating, their forms appeared to be lanky and at least one of them had been implanted with mechanical enhancements to the point where he couldn't tell whether he was a man or a machine, Thorn had been a stormtrooper a very long time and in his years he had meet many evil men but these beings looked like they would give people like Palpatine and Zsinj nightmares.
"Admiral Halos" Vallace started as the two parties met each other "May I introduce to you Inquisitors Dominic, Greysteel and Silvermaine, my mentor" Dominic seemed the younger of the group and the tallest, his lanky form and dead green eyes fixing the admiral with a gaze that would make a lesser man flinch, Greysteel was the one with the heavy mechanical implants to his left eye and lower face and finally Silvermaine who was by far the oldest of the group, his face was old and weathered but his eyes were sharp as a hawks.
The three robed figures nodded their greeting, it was the elder one, Silvermaine who spoke first "We thank you for coming Admiral, I hope Inquisitor Vallace has appraised you on the state of matters here""
"Yes she has and I am honoured to be here Inquisitor" Halos replied, bowing deeply as Robyn had instructed "I take it you have read up on the reports Inquisitor Vallace had sent you?"
"We have admiral and they are very interesting" Greysteel answered, his voice mechanically enhanced "There are however several things we need to confer with you before we approach the high lords"
"Things like?"
"First why would you risk helping us?" Dominic asked pointedly, Halos guessed immediately that this one was the more direct "I mean the humans of your galaxy coincide peacefully with xeno races, our ideologies couldn't be any more different"
"That is true and I must admit that first contact with the Imperium made us sceptical of allying ourselves with you however after confronting the enemies of humanity in this galaxy in the forms of the Dark Eldar and later the Tyranids we have found that the Imperium seems barbaric at first glance because you have been fighting for survival with these races for thousands of years, I have a feeling that if the empires I represent were in your situation they may have been no different"
"To another point" Silvermaine cut in, seemingly happy with the admiral's answer "From the data we have read on your galactic alliance we have gathered that it is a coalition of nations, both human and alien alike, is this true?"
"Yes the alliance is such a coalition between most of the galaxy including alien races" Halos answered "however I myself am not from a nation in the alliance"
"Really" Silvermaine said, raising a greying eyebrow "Then where are you from?"
"Tell me inquisitors have you read up on the galactic empire?" Joseph asked.
"Yes we have" Greysteel replied "It is an empire within your galaxy similar to us that came into being half a century ago, at its height it covered eighty percent of your galaxy but it began to decline and fracture after the death of its emperor, it now covers only a few hundred thousand systems but is still a powerful nation and carries a lot of influence on the bigger galaxy"
"I am from the planet of Bastion, which is the capital world of the Imperial Remnant" Joseph said simply "We are allied to the galactic alliance however we are still an independent military power"
"And the origins of your fleet in orbit?" Dominic questioned.
"It is a coalition force between the empire and the alliance, three star destroyers belong to the alliance and the other three belong to the empire" Halos said, his answers calm and precise.
"But if you are separated from your own empires then how will you be able to validate an alliance with us, let alone the sharing of technologies without the permission of your ruling councils?" Greysteel asked suspiciously.
"During the Yuuzhan Vong Wars the Galactic senate of the Galactic Alliance and the ruling Moff council of the Imperial Remnant passed decrees that allows separated military leaders to make alliances and trades as long as it is agreed upon by them afterwards" Halos replied evenly, holding the challenging stare of the cyborg Inquisitor.
"This may prove helpful to our cause admiral" Silvermaine said "The fact that you are from a mostly human empire may gain the attention of a few of the high lords"
Halos nodded, it was the truth but he wasn't your average Imperial stereotype that the Inquisitors read about, he was a firm supporter of Daala and Paelion who were what changed the empire from what it was during Palpatine's rule to an organisation that allowed aliens into its ranks, but he wasn't going to tell the Inquisitors that.
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Magi Durin took a deep augmented breath before entering his battleships briefing chamber, the ancient room was darkened with the only light sources coming from ancient red flamed candles on the rust coloured walls, in the centre of the chamber was a large round table, sitting on the metal chairs were fifteen fellow Magi's of the Adeptus Mechanicus, each one heavily augmented with mechanical implants, hidden by the streaming red robes of the Mechanicus, standing guard against the walls of the chamber were each magi's own entourage of Tech-guard, their augmented battle implants and armour appeared to shimmer in the low light.
"My fellow magi of the Adeptus Mechanicus" Durin welcomed as he entered the room, his own entourage of two tech-guards flanking him as he entered "I welcome you to my domain"
"Magi Durin" Magi Culsis, the older of the Magi's greeted "What is so important that you required all of us to be here"
"The importance my friends is the discovery of technologies which could overall strengthen the entire Imperium and give us enough to research on for a very long time" Durin said simply, as he predicted the message left the other Magi in the chambers silenced.
"You are talking about the alliance technologies" Magi Gurine said, his tone almost challenging "What makes their technology so different from ours?"
"Well for one is their superior shielding technology" Durin began "Their ships rely on their shields more than their hull armour so they are considerably more powerful than our own, and I have read that they have created shields big enough to protect entire planets"
"Interesting" Magi Drenn replied, his voice barely containing his enthusiasm, Durin had sent each of them examples of such new technology, so he was just repeating what the records said "But one technology which is superior to our own is not worth such a partnership"
"That shielding technology is just the tip of the iceberg" Durin replied calmly "There is also gravity technology known as gravity well generators that create a gravity field similar to a planets, this has been proven to throw ships out of the warp and damage their warp drives, they also have faster and safer lightspeed travel called hyperdrive and longer ranged weapons. This is just a taste of what the alliance can offer us"
The Magi in the chambers were silent once again, several of them were genuinely excited by the news but others like Magi Culsis were unsure of the news Durin was giving them.
"Why have you called us together if the leader of this force is about to speak with the high lords?" Magi Drenn asked.
"The reason my friends is because I believe that Admiral Halos and his taskforce may require our protection in the near future" Durin answered "Once Halos and his peoples existence becomes known there will be individuals in the Imperium who would possibly wish to destroy the alliance and I feel that my one battleship may not be enough to protect them, if I call for aide I wish for there to be allies who will answer"
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As the Inquisitors lead Halos and his entourage through the greatly decorated corridors of the ancient spire Halos could only stare in wonder at the greatly detailed corridors, the walls were made out of grey stone with greatly detailed tapestries covering them, each one depicting legendary moments in the history of the Imperium, mostly great conflicts during the time known as the great crusade with famous battles between vast armies and impressive space fleets. Thick grey pillars supported the high solid stone ceiling which in turn was also covered in tapestries depicting great battles and heroes that shaped the Imperium, including the emperor himself who stood out as a towering man encased in armour that seemed to shimmer with psychic power, a long bladed power sword, sparking with barely contained psychic energy held in his gauntleted hands.
Finally they came to the chambers that would hold this meeting with the high lords, the massive double doors were made of solid stone engraved with high gothic runes and hieroglyphs, as they approached the great doors opened with a creak revealing the dark confines of the chamber.
"Are you ready for this Joseph?" Robyn asked in concern.
"No turning back now" Halos replied as he took a deep, calming breath before following the other Inquisitors through the stone doors to the interior of the impressive circular chamber. The ARC troopers followed the cue of the space marines and remained where they were.
The meeting hall was massive, at least a kilometre wide, the grey stone walls were embedded with ancient runes that the admiral guessed were high gothic as well as massive statues of great heroes of the Imperium during the great crusade and the horus heresy, high above his head, at least 500m high was a stone ceiling that reminded him vaguely of the design of an ancient citadel. In the centre of this room was a large table, a well crafted statue of the emperor at its centre, dressed in white robes and holding a power sword over his hooded head, sitting at this table were twelve figures that he guessed were the high lords, sitting on grand thrones, each one crafted to show the organisation that he represented.
"Great high lords of Terra, rulers of the Imperium, voices of the Emperor we thank you for allowing us this meeting" Robyn spoke, her voice echoing through the great chamber.
"We have reviewed the data sent to us on this galactic alliance" one of the men, of whom Halos guessed was the lord of the Inquisition by his long flowing black robes, bearing the insignia of the organisation spoke, he then ran his steely gaze through each of the people present, settling on Joseph for a few moments before speaking again "You may be seated"
Five chairs suddenly rose from the ground around the free part of the table and the four Inquisitors and Alliance Admiral each took a chair and sat down.
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Meanwhile the first teams of Martian tech-priests arrived on board the star destroyers and set to work on examining the various new technologies on board, each team was watched over by a squad of soldiers, either stormtroopers or alliance guards as well as a tech-priest from Magi Durin's forces, this was to make sure they didn't do anything they weren't supposed to do to the internal systems of the warships.
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On one of the most outer space stations of the Terran defence network a small group of Inquisitors gathered, their black robes and hoods concealing their forms and facial features. The walkway they had chosen was deserted and quiet, the security systems mysteriously shorting out before they gathered.
"Do you realise what is at stake if the plans of these alliance infidels come into effect" one exclaimed angrily "The emperor could be revived and take complete control of the galaxy once more, our plans will not be realised!!!"
"Indeed" another agreed, his voice old and gruff "If he is revived he will know what we have been doing and hunt us down to the last, these heretics must not be tolerated here!"
"Calm my friends" another said, his voice old yet still holding a smug tone "We will just simply unleash those loyal to us and destroy them"
"What about the Adeptus Mechanicus" another asked "They would not tolerate us attacking those under their protection"
"One battleship will not protect them my friends" the old one replied uncaringly "And the defence platforms would not fire upon the black ships of the Inquisition, these alliance infidels and their xeno pets will not leave Terra alive"
Well what do you think, sorry it took so long I had IVA coursework to finish, 152 pages long…sorry, anyway the pieces are coming together, the friends and enemies of the alliance are becoming more clear, Halos is meeting with the high lords to discuss his proposals, what will these rogue Inquisitors do to the Alliance and will Magi Durin be successful in rallying support to his cause, keep reading and find out.
Question: Where do you think I should go next, stay with Halos, go back to the Jedi, or to the other galaxy?