"Life can only be understood backward, but it must be lived forward."- Soren Kierkegaard
Xavier and the rest of his squad idled as one of the Randon Commanders, Goss if he remembered correctly, found out the situation in full. The Randon Commander being the most senior officer was doing most of the heavy talking, Sergeants Joss and Grimes had gone with the irascible Goss to take part in the investigation. The joint units had made it about halfway to their objective—some room deep within the base they were to secure—when they heard the explosions and felt the blasts resonate thorough the structure.
They had doubled their pace ignoring the many dead bodies they had found along the way, both friend and foe alike. Not long after they came across a very battered looking group of what Xavier thought looked like a rather ragged squad of Korpsmen with a cog-girl, being followed by two unmarked bearded men. Despite the lack of markings the Commander had deemed them non-aggressors due to their gear being decidedly Imperial.
Xavier and his squad had been toward the middle of the formation when they had come upon the group and so hadn't really heard the full exchange, but he got the gist of it. Commander Goss had been her usual overbearing self before one of the bearded men flashed some sort of badge from his coat causing the Commander to go uncharacteristically quiet. She had made a request for the Sergeants soon after and ordered the entire formation to hold position until further orders were given.
Then the group of Guard officers had gone off to join the Commander and their found comrades a little farther ahead where they continued to discuss whatever the situation was with discretion, or as much as they could get at any rate.
"Told you, first a secret base, and now some spook types escorting a squad of blanks and a cog-girl. Definitely feels more and more like a spy vid by the minute," Cain stretched his shoulders casually as he said his piece from Xavier's left.
"Yeah, I know what you mean, did you see how the Commander just shut her yap when that scruffy looking guy showed whatever that was to her? That's like some of that Inquisition type keck you hear about from the rumor-mill, shady secretive sorts takings regular guardsmen away because they've seen too much." Eli added to the conversation.
"Don't say that kind of keck Eli, if that's true than what will happen to us? I mean sent here behind enemy lines on a mission to take a secret enemy installation, it could mean we're the one's about to disappear," Hack stated heatedly though his tone was low so as not to attract attention.
There was a pause in their conversation, the guardsmen around them speaking lowly of similar theories could barely be heard despite the decent number of them gathered.
"Xavier what're your thoughts on all of this?" Cain asked the fourth man of their group.
Xavier was only somewhat focused on the conversation his friends were having instead having been looking intently through parted forms in the mass of guardsmen at the meeting happening not too terribly far away from them. He couldn't hear what they were saying for sure with all the hushed speculation going on around him, but he did have a fairly clear view on the figures that made up the battered group of guardsmen.
"I think those Korpsmen look familiar," Xavier muttered to his attentive friends who all promptly looked the way of said Korpsmen a bit too conspicuously.
"Keck, you don't think it's your friend Jericus and his squad do you?" Hack responded his voice even and a little disbelieving.
"The way that guy's luck seems to play out I wouldn't be surprised," Cain announced.
"It would make sense, they are grenadiers so they get the secret behind enemy lines operations a lot, but keck you'd think they'd get a break," Hack put in.
"Hope it's not them," Eli said quietly even for their hushed conversation.
"Why's that?" Hack asked back.
"Because if it is, then they're missing two," Eli replied lowly.
"It's them," Xavier said finality lacing his words.
"Xavier, I know we're all really chummy with them, but how can you tell at this distance. I mean what are the chances anyway, there are dozens of other grenadier squads in the Korps what makes you think that's them?" Cain's question was surprisingly level.
"Some of the scars on their armor look familiar. Not to mention Jericus's mask has that scar on the right eye socket and S-1050 is a sniper, so that's probably her," Xavier answered confidently, pointing out the his friend and the korpswoman supporting him with a longlas shouldered.
"Keck, and I was really hoping it wasn't them, they look like they've been through it," Eli said.
"Hey you guys have any inklings of what this is about?" A feminine voice questioned from their right causing the four men to turn as one. Xavier instantly recognized Raltia, her helmet's face-plate up so she could look at them unobstructed, her friend Sunra was next to her, they had met a few times aboard the Ipsum when they'd had mess or recreation around the same times.
"Well, we know that's Jericus' squad with the two spooks, and from that we can guess this is definitely a more important mission than they already want us to believe it is," Hack supplied for the two.
"Those Korps grenadiers you guys are always hanging around?" Sunra entered the conversation. "Really, that's them for sure?"
"Yeah, that's them, as for who the other two men are I have no idea," Xavier shrugged. "But they've got to be at least pretty high up if they're escorting Korps grenadiers like that, and can get the Commander's attention."
"That's certainly true," Raltia added. "Commander Goss back talks to even some of her superiors, for her to have quieted down that fast they have to be really important at least."
"Troopers at attention! To either side of the hall right up against the walls, let the procession pass by, we follow them out when I say so, whoever's got a vox come to me," Commander Goss' authoritative voice rang out loudly in the large hallway. There was a ring of boots on metal as everyone quickly did as the Commander ordered, Xavier and the rest of them were quick to do so as well. They stood at attention as asked eyes straight as they had been trained, and backs flat against the wall for good measure, Commander Goss was not a person who's bad side you wanted to be on, even if you belonged to a different regiment.
Xavier found himself even more curious now—not that he hadn't been before—but when the man with a rather large-brimmed hat and an ogryn passed by first along with a good sprinkling of storm-troopers and some other colorful characters he found himself very interested. He had been too absorbed in the conversation to have noticed their coming he supposed.
Though the real object of his curiosity was now passing by, and there was no doubt now that it was indeed his friend Jericus, injured and battered though he was Xavier recognized him, and the rest of the Korps squad too. The two faces—so to speak—that he didn't see among the group were those belonging to the usually upbeat Corporal B-80 and F-920, which meant the worst seeing as how beat-up everyone looked.
Even the storm-troopers, the best of the Imperial Guard looked a little worse for wear, and that was on top of the fact that usually the Guard collected their dead for mass burials elsewhere if they could help it. Not so in the procession before him, which meant they had been unable, or unwilling to bring their dead with them, usually a very bad sign, Sergeant Grimes had told them so at one time in the past.
Once the procession was past them and out of sight Commander Goss gave the orders to get ready to move out. Grimes and Joss made their way back to their respective squads, Raltia and Sunra leaving Xavier and the others to join their own squad-mates.
"Not now boys this isn't something to discuss here," Grimes stated at the first sign that Cain was about to open his mouth and ask a question. Cain quickly abolished his thought to ask the question on everyone's mind at the very serious look on their Sergeant's grizzled face. Instead they all started to move out as per the Commander's orders after the strange group now far ahead of them.
Meanwhile Commander Goss voxed in the situation to other Commanders throughout the enemy base, the consensus to pull back and completely out of the current mission was a bit of a surprise to everyone, but then so was the additional news they were to find out when they exited the base that their main forces had easily broken through the enemy defenses and then effectively stopped the successful advance because of more orders from the General himself.
Helping Jericus along as she was Fenria still kept her attention on the things going on around her, it seemed that her friend's wounds would have to wait until they were fully out of the enemy installation before they could be treated. Schmidt had assured her that the Inquisitor's personal medicae would be the one to take care of them and their myriad of new battle scars, ranging from Jericus' flesh wounds to B-63's leg which seemed to be troubling the Watchmaster more than he let on.
When they ran into the first friendly Imperial elements outside of their own she had felt a mixture of relief and nervousness. The Inquisitor had said something about checking for corruption so she was wary about them coming into contact with anyone else. Schmidt had met with the Randon officer that came to address them while the rest of the force waited behind the imposing woman.
It only took a few moments of the woman talking for Fenria to vaguely recognize her as Commander Goss, they had met—sort of—once before on Tartarius, the bridge demolition if she remembered correctly. The Commander had come into the conversation strong, all but demanding what they were doing in the installation, and then Schmidt had flashed his Inquisitorial agent badge to the Commander making her come to an abrupt halt in her pressuring. She understandably adopted a more... polite tone as she called over a few of the Sergeants under her command.
Again Fenria and even Jericus moved out of surprise recognizing both Sergeants Joss and Grimes, the presence of Grimes meant that Xavier and his squad were a part of the mission as was Raltia. The conversation went on for a few moments before Inquisitor Dauntless and the remnants of his force finally caught up with them, the explosions from the demolition had been heard earlier and they had been expecting them.
Further speeding up the process and surprisingly placating the Commander and Sergeants curiosities Dauntless gave them half truths about the situation, and then ordered Commander Goss to spread the word to the rest of the forces securing the complex to pull out. Using his status he made it so they would be able to pass by the rest of the joint Guard force ahead of them with as little contact as possible, ordering them to follow once they were of sufficient distance away.
Fenria and Jericus had watched on as spectators, even Wachmaster B-63 had nothing to say, though the looks he got and returned to Sergeants Grimes and Joss seemed to satisfy them at least in that moment. Overall he seemed too preoccupied with the Magos and helping S-360 carry the cog-girl along being that she was still weak.
Walking through the parted crowd of Guardsmen Fenria looked at the faces she passed, instantly recognizing Xavier, Cain, Eli, Hack, and also Raltia and a few familiar Randon faces as well. Most of them had their eyes forward and seemed to refuse to look anywhere but, though their mutual friends did seem to have sparks of recognition in their own looks as they passed by them.
Eli had even subtly waved before being just as subtly elbowed in his ribs by Hack not wanting him to get them in trouble. Fenria had given a quiet and tired laugh at their antics drawing Jericus' attention, she shook her head to dismiss him and he obliged probably a little tired from his fight to give the situation much thought at that moment.
They had made it past their comrades within the middle of the group of Inquisitorial agents and storm-troopers in no time at all. Soon traversing familiar areas of the installation and the carnage they had wreaked upon it, once they got past the room where they had met up with the Inquisitor and his retinue it was uncharted territory for them as they were led through further complex maze-like halls and what looked like research rooms.
When they had finally made it to the ground level she, and Jericus based on his sudden movement, were surprised to see that they exited into what seemed to be an otherwise nondescript hab-building. They had run into a few more Guard forces on their way out but the Inquisitor only needed to flash his rosette for the units to part and allow them through. Once outside they were greeted by the sight of massed Imperial forces including a staggering number of Celk pattern tanks along with great amounts of Hoarfell, Randon, and Death Korps infantry supporting the many war-machines.
Though surprising still was that they seemed to be milling about the area, the advance into enemy territory halted for some reason. Dauntless motioned for them to stop just outside the hab-buildings front, well away from the Imperial forces surrounding the perimeter of the building. They seemed to be well ahead of any Imperial unit following them to get out of the installation, though the guard commanders could just be waiting for the Inquisitor to leave the area before moving out themselves.
"Inquisitor what's going on?" B-63 asked his focus taken off of what to him was a sight that was unusual to him, such a mass of troopers and equipment simply halting an assault was rare.
"My dear Watchmaster the warp has become involved now, thus in my professional opinion there is only one course of action to be taken," Dauntless stated grimly.
"And that would be?" B-63 fired right back.
"Retreat, our main objective for being on this world has been lost and this isn't the only warp related event on this world. Colleagues of mine have been reporting others all over this world for the past week, those more versed in situations than I have determined that soon it will reach a saturation point. And trust me I want none of us to be around for that when it happens," he replied frankly, a visible shudder actually gripping him.
B-63's next question was cut off by the sound of Valkyrie engines descending from the sky, three of them to be precise, though they weren't the Randon pattern Fenria was used to. Instead these bore no markings and were a camouflage paint scheme that seamlessly blended into the surroundings, it wasn't until the aircraft shimmered that she realized the Valkyries must have some kind of meta-material incorporated into their hulls. So this was what the Inquisition rode around in?
"Our transport awaits us Watchmaster, you and yours are with me and my agents. We'll be taking my personal Valkyries up into orbit," he paused a smile breaking onto his face. "Don't worry they've been specially designed to survive entry and exit from atmo, never liked some of the more fancy options myself, they tend to give off the impression of a valuable target." He got on the Valkyrie first waiting by the open door for everyone else to board.
As they came up to it Fenria let Jericus haul himself up into the aircraft, the Inquisitor offered him a hand up which he took, she followed right after. The interior looked largely the same to that of a standard Valkyrie though the occupants were more varied than usual, and it was a little larger all around. The Arbitrator was calming Aryn when he was finally put into the aircraft. Fenria remembered some basic training in the event they would fight alongside the large abhumans, they didn't really like tight spaces.
Though luckily Aryn seemed mostly docile and more than happy to be belted into his custom seat with straps meant to hold down heavy equipment by the Arbitrator as she said words of comfort to the overly large being. Looking away from the scene she saw Dauntless close the hatch and then walk over to where the cockpit was to sit down behind the pilots and give them the go ahead personally.
Taking that as their cue everyone began to find seats, Fenria sat next to Jericus and the rest of their squad naturally while the Inquisition agents filled out the rest of the seats. Everyone belted in anticipating the often bumpy ride atmospheric exit usually entailed. Fastening her own belts and securing her gear Fenria made to to also glance Jericus' way to make sure he was all set too.
She knew he was more than capable to do it himself, but his injuries could make it uncomfortable, and indeed that thought was confirmed as she saw him wince slightly as he tightened his own belts. Though he gave her a thumbs up to let her know it was alright when he caught her looking his way, she nodded back the message understood.
"And off we go ladies and gentlemen," Dauntless announced as the Valkyrie lifted off from the ground and after a few moments of flight over the city began to lift higher and higher into the air.
It was a much faster ascent than Fenria would have thought the aircraft capable of but it ignored her doubts and plowed on regardless. The pilot was she had to admit very skilled, the usually bumpy ride given by the Randon specific Valkyries paled in comparison. She supposed that was what you got when you were an Inquisitor, nothing but the best should you so desire. It wasn't until they hit the first layers of Endurholdgun's atmosphere that the ride began to degenerate into the familiar rough tempo of hull shuddering, teeth chattering intensity.
Aryn was groaning loudly as they exited the atmosphere, looking at him Fenria could see the large abhuman's massive knuckles go white as he clenched them, the Arbitrator patted him on his right shoulder to comfort him. Gunther and Schmidt were of the still strange to her breed of human she had met that actually seemed to enjoy the rough and nerve-wracking ride only endured when entering or leaving a planets atmosphere, they grinned and whooped as though they were on an amusement park ride. Meanwhile Lieutenant Virtanen kept an almost comical pouty facade, though Fenria could tell the otherwise disciplined former Guardswoman was nervous from her braced posture.
The Inquisitor's reaction was lost as his back was to her and she couldn't really see him properly to get an accurate judgment. Looking around at her squad-mates she saw the usual signs of slight discomfort heavily obscured by forced mental conditioning. Jericus surprisingly seemed very calm, probably more focused on the pain of his wounds than the bumpy ride she surmised.
Soon enough the ride began to smooth out as they exited Endurholdgun's gravity and started to drift through the vast emptiness of space. Everyone visibly relaxed as the ride evened out and even began to loosen some of their straps as the most dangerous part of the journey was over. Docking with whatever ship they were going to was all too common and by comparison much less prone to disastrous outcomes.
"So Inquisitor, what do you mean by retreat? Full-scale deployment, or what exactly," B-63 voiced up first breaking the silence of the aircraft.
Dauntless turned to him to give the Watchmaster his full attention as he addressed him. "Exactly that Watchmaster this campaign is over, the objective is gone and my other colleagues have decided that the risk is too great to stay and try to gain the world for anything else save the STC, had it not been corrupted we very well may have stayed to the bitter end. Alas that is not possible, or advised anymore, so it has been decided to forgo further loss of life and valuable Imperial resources that we give the planet up."
There was a tension filled silence in the Valkyrie hold as everyone digested the information, B-63 seemed especially tense about it, prompting his next reply. "You mean exterminatus don't you," it was stated with bitter certainty.
"Indeed, a subject that is a bit of a sore spot for you according to records, and I am sorry it has to be this way Watchmaster, truly I am. But this isn't just some backwater planet rebellion caused by xenos sympathy anymore, I'm sure you've heard of how the campaign had been especially rough in other regions yes?" B-63 nodded in affirmation before Dauntless continued. "Well now courtesy of an outside influence it would seem that a warp incursion will be inevitable. This whole campaign seems to be the orchestration of some cultist's sacrifice to open the veil between realspace and the warp. Our mass purgings and the general bloodshed providing the perfect opportunity for him to create his twisted offering. And the only way to hopefully stop it is to destroy this world, and believe me I don't take these decisions lightly as some others may, there is good cause."
B-63 nodded in understanding, Dauntless seemed to be trustworthy despite his Inquisition trappings, or at least he was a very good liar, though why he would lie about something like this and in front of mere Korps grunts no less made no sense to Fenria, so it was likely the former. The rest of the ride was again quiet, quiet being familiar and even expected of her Jericus, and the other Korps, but even the Inquisitor and his agents didn't seem like they wanted to discuss the subject any further.
His wounds agitated him, thankfully not as much as he initially thought they would as it seemed they were of a cosmetic nature. That things claws were sharp and Jericus had no doubt it would have shred through him easily if it had wanted, but for whatever reason its claws had only made mild lacerations. They would scar for sure, but no severe damage had been done, and none that required more that some admittedly extensive stitches.
He had to admit the Inquisitors medicae was good, and old Guard veteran he had claimed and more than capable. The medicae—Tolund was his name—had been a little gruff and seemed remarkably uncaring, but his work was not in question in any sense. Now Jericus sat reflecting on the current situation. He was alone in some medical room, on some part of the Nosce Te Ipsum he had never seen, the Inquisitor it would seem had a whole section of the ship barred for all but himself and his agents. Tolund had left him telling him explicitly to stay put until he came back, which was over two hours ago, and over five hours total since they had gotten onboard the ship.
Everyone else had gone off with the Inquisitor to be screened for warp corruption while Dauntless had merely informed him that he was a 'special case' and sent him off with Tolund to have his wounds treated instead. The medicae had accepted the burden with a distasteful look and had partially dragged him in the opposite direction to the room he now occupied.
Jericus had counted the ceiling and floor panels in their totality ten times now, there were only two-hundred-eighty of them in the room proper. He was lucky Korps training had taken into account training for long periods of inactivity, Jericus found that the act of counting would keep his mind occupied and ready should he find himself standing at attention for long periods of time. It still didn't seemed to allay his current worry over the fates of his squad-mates, and his own for that matter given the current situation.
The test the Inquisitor had in mind seemed rather simple to Fenria, a woman, another agent of the Inquisitor was conducting a debriefing on her, at least at first. Simple questions such as her designation, rank, and the events of the mission. The interrogator was dressed in what seemed to be a regular guard issue battle dress uniform though it was devoid of rank and the other usual trappings. She was tall too, at least taller than Fenria herself, had an athletic figure with brown hair tied into a messy bun at the back of her head, and very piercing dark blue eyes.
By the time Fenria was done studying her the cards had come out, each with vague imagery and symbols on them, some of it rather disturbing for some odd reason she couldn't place.
"This will be simple, I want you to separate the cards into two piles. Your right will be those that you like and the left those that you do not, please consider carefully, and remain truthful for I will know if you lie to me," her interrogator had explained.
There were ten in all, each as described before being nothing more than vague imagery or simple symbols. Truthfully to her it seemed like some child's game, but Fenria complied as was expected of her, there were about six cards in total which she didn't really like. She couldn't really put her finger on why other than that the symbols and imagery on them seemed to make her skin tingle in a bad way.
"I'm finished," Fenria said once she had finished with her choices.
The interrogator studied her selections. "Very good," the woman swept away the cards quickly, their thin forms disappearing into her sleeves in the blink of an eye.
"One more test and we should be all done," the woman sat directly across from Fenria placing both her palms flat on the metal table they occupied and staring directly into the lenses of her mask. Though the tinted lenses made it so that her eyes couldn't possibly be seen Fenria had the distinct feeling that the interrogator could in-fact see through them.
The feeling grew as she felt an indescribable sensation seem to pierce directly into her head as though something were caressing her very mind. It persisted for several long minutes as she found herself locked in her stare off with the woman unable to break eye contact with her almost hypnotic blue eyes. Finally as though cold tendrils were snaking off her brain the sensation stopped and Fenria found herself able to blink and move of her own will again.
She took a few deep calming breaths as she had been trained to do when shooting at a target, their effect was reassuring as she fully relaxed. The interrogator was nodding with a pleased look on her face as she observed her reactions.
"Passed with flying colors, you may go, please tell the guards to send the next one in," the woman said calmly motioning for Fenria to stand and get going. She nodded and stood from her seat and promptly walked out of the interrogation room at an even pace. The guard at the door unlocked it for her as she approached and allowed her to leave, his mirror mask giving no reaction at all, though the strange weapon he held was message enough. No doubt something special made to deal with them should they 'fail' the Inquisitor's tests.
Outside of the room she found herself in a short hallway leading to the waiting room—of sorts—where everyone who was left was waiting for their turn. The storm-troopers who had made it back seemed to be all that were left for clearing, her squad-mates, the throne-agents, and the Inquisitor himself had all already been cleared and allowed to leave. She had been the last of them to be screened by the interrogator for corruption.
"The Interrogator wishes for the next person to be sent in," Fenria relayed to one of the two guards outside the door of the hall leading to the interrogation room, each also carrying the specialized looking weapon, same as the one guard in the room with the interrogator had. They nodded silently and motioned for the nearest storm-trooper to come forward, the man stood and briskly made his way to the door disappearing behind the sliding metal hatch as he went through.
Fenria turned and went the opposite way and exited the area, which was guarded by yet two more guards stationed just outside. The hall beyond the waiting room looked like just about any other on the Ipsum though the door leading to the interrogation room beyond was very heavily built and seemed to have holy symbols engraved into its structured. The two guards outside allowed her to move along pointing down the hall in the direction she was allowed to go.
Turning where they had directed Fenria was greeted by the sight of S-360 and S-548 waiting for her a little ways down the corridor. She went over to them right away to check in on the situation as they had planned to do if they had been cleared.
"Where's the Watchmaster," she opened with the obvious. Their leader in question was nowhere to be seen up and down the hallway, though she had seen him exit to the interrogation room clear and allowed to leave. He had been the one to order them to wait for each other when they got out, so it was odd for him to be absent.
"The Inquisitor was waiting when we came out, when Watchmaster B-63 exited he whisked him away to discuss something. B-63 told us to wait for you and that we were to go meet up with S-1049, the Inquisitor gave us directions to the medbay. He said he'd be by when he was done," S-360 informed her speedily.
"Okay then let's get going," Fenria nodded affirming the plan. Her two companions nodded back and turned to begin leading the way to wherever Jericus was, Fenria was eager to see him ever since he had been singled out from the group and dragged off by that medicae.
"So Inquisitor what would you like to discuss," B-63 opened as he and Dauntless stepped into what looked like the Inquisitors personal office. The room was laden with various artefacts probably collected throughout the Inquisitors career, anything from xenos armour, weapons, and writings to those of a decidedly more human make were placed about the large. Most were in what B-63 assumed to be impact-proof cases. Tearing his eyes away from the curiosities dotting the space he focused on the Inquisitor himself, who was currently sitting behind his desk and looking directly at him.
"Please have a seat Watchmaster," Dauntless gestured to the chair opposite his own across the large wooden desk that reminded B-63 of the forests of his destroyed homeworld with its natural finish. He walked forward at an even pace and sat down to take up Dauntless on the offer and be polite, the Inquisitor nodded thoughtfully and ran his hands over the desk.
"I noticed you admiring the desk, it's made from Nal wood from the forests of the world Tanith. Quite lovely don't you think?" Dauntless started.
"Yes, the world must do a brisk trade for it," B-63 agreed running his own hand along its surface and feeling the natural texture of the wood.
"Sadly they aren't, Tanith was destroyed during the Sabbat worlds crusade. Now it's exceedingly rare and expensive, this desk was a gift from my master when I became a full fledged Inquisitor myself. I've heard that the trees of your own world Baurin are of similar quality, though they didn't move so much as simply grew exceedingly large from what I've been told," Dauntless replied.
"As tall as some hives I've been to throughout my career." B-63 confirmed his voice a bit terse at the mention of his lost homeworld.
Dauntless took on a thoughtful expression. "I meant no offence Watchmaster, I tend to be rather frank for most peoples tastes to be honest and sometimes things fly from my mouth before I can stop them." He smiled then. "Big as hives you say? My that must have been a sight, I wish I could have seen your world Watchmaster."
"I do too," B-63 replied before steering the conversation away from the subject. "Now I don't suppose you wanted to talk about dead worlds Inquisitor, considering another one is about to be created. What was it you wanted to tell me?"
"Quite right, my apologies again," Dauntless folded his hands on his desk. "As for the particulars of the situation I suppose my first response should be something you've already heard Watchmaster... I'm impressed with you, and your squad. I could use people like you, especially that one trooper of yours, S-1049 I believe is his designation."
"As I said planetside Inquisitor we will do whatever you wish of us," B-63 responded automatically as his conditioning demanded.
"Interesting training the Korps uses," Dauntless mused leaning his chin on his hands. "You're saying what I'd like to hear, and I'm sensing that there's no lie to it, you're completely dedicated and ready to do whatever I ask of you, truly. Yet there is also an undertone of dread and reluctance to your thoughts. We truly are alike Watchmaster."
"Indeed, so about S-1049 and my squads service," B-63 prompted further discussion.
"Ah yes the interesting case of your trooper who as I'm sure you know is a psychic null, yes he is of particular use to me. Other than my primary focus within the Ordo Xenos I often find myself in the company of those of a more chaotic nature and having someone like him along will even the odds for me considerably. The rest of you are a very nice bonus in your own rights, certainly people I can count on, as I'm sure you can tell Watchmaster I'm a very good judge of character." Dauntless assured B-63.
"So, what does this mean? Will we be transferred to your command," B-63 asked adjusting his seat.
"Already done Watchmaster, though don't worry too much you'll still be on the Ipsum as it's my primary means of transportation. In addition though now you and your squad will answer to me free of the chain of command of the 82nd for the most part, you will still be running operations with your fellow regiments aboard every once in a while. Just demand of the job I'm afraid."
"Is that it then, just like that," B-63 commented.
"Indeed Watchmaster, welcome to the Inquisition," Dauntless extended his hand across the desk with a grin, B-63 reached for it and they shook.
A/N:Okay, apologies for the tardiness of the chapter got a nasty cold, but finished it for you guys. In other news... what are your opinions upon the turn of events befalling our central characters? As always kindly review, and incase anyone is wondering I mean say whatever is on your mind, provided its not laden with curses, I mean if you don't like the story say so, provided you then tell me reasons why so I can improve. All input is very much appreciated!
Shout-outs: they're back!
gwb99- Thanks for the kind words, I was hoping to create a unique dynamic between Jericus and Fenria, and I'm glad I could do so in at least one particular area.
CookieMonsta1233- Yes things must me grim-dark, (otherwise people would pelt me with rocks) but I'm not that cruel... the designs will probably be lost in their attempted spread througout the Imperium due to a missprinted document or something, no need for any higher-up to even lift a finger. Hope you enjoyed the chapter.
JohnDoeSIGMA1- Yes it is indeed a great haul, though when looking at what they could've had it's rather disappointing lol. Glad I was able to pull off the possession properly, was concerned about that scene quite a bit. And I too am sad to see B-80 and F-920 go into the nether, but alas I hope I was able to at least give their characters a good run.
Imperial servant- If only you knew lol, I hope that means you enjoyed the chapter.
Well, I shall see you all in another two weeks, maybe less.
300-709.