– Dargonus –
– Present –
Jae's point of view -" Tell me I am an idiot."
Idira sighed. " No, Lord Captain. I will never say that to you", replied the diviner patiently.
" Grox shit. You're an idiot, Elena von Valancius " snapped Jae Heydari.
Jae had been stalking outside of Elena's office, waiting for the right moment to sweep in. It had presented itself naturally when first Idira had left the room, and, not long after, a very flustered and hasty van Calox. She had not even bothered to try to stop and question him : for the first time ever since Jae had met the man, she'd seen him lose his self control and basically fled whatever crime scene just happened between him and Elena. He didn't even notice Jae when she jumped from the shadows and to the door just before it closed, followed quickly by Idira.
Well, Jae has had doubts about Elena and Heinrix's relationship for a while. She was an experienced lady, well-versed in human nature. Heinrix's stupid little frown smoothened down when Elena was near. Elena's ordinary absent eyes focused sharply when he was around.
Now, entering the study to find Elena in nothing but a towel, slumped in her chair behind her desk, weeping sadly in a miserable fashion, Jae knew that she was right all along. These two were sleeping together. Or, judging from the actual look of defection of the Rogue Trader, used to.
Idira and Jae looked at each other, then at the underwear lying on the ground.
" Oh," muttered Idira. " I guess I should have seen that one coming. Why do the whispers never tell me the good stuff ? "
" I'm never going to let that ashmag intimidate me again", commented Jae between clenched teeth.
" Time for an intervention, it seems", said Idira, lifting her chin at the dejected Rogue Trader.
" Agreed."
And that's basically how Jae got to call the Rogue Trader an idiot to her face. It felt so satisfying. Next order of business : chase van Calox down to tell him to get his shit together. Oh, this was going to be so much fun. He would hate to find out that she knew about his not-so-secret infatuation with Elena von Valancius. She was going to rile him up so bad !
But Jae's work here was not done yet. She still had to do something about the weeping mess that was Elena right now.
Elena lifted up two black doe-eyes towards her. Jae had never seen the Rogue Trader cry. Elena rarely expressed her feelings. A trained eye could spot them over the micro-expressions of her face, but she very seldomly opened up. It was a bit disorientating to find herself in her company when she was so vulnerable. She looked like every woman she knew who'd just been broken up with : shitty and watery-eyed.
In fact, Jae kind of wanted to laugh at the absurdity of this scene. In that exact moment, Elena just looked…completely normal, and not at all like the glorious Rogue Trader she was supposed to be.
" Thank you, Jae." She sniffed. Why was Elena so pale ? Paler than usual, that's it. There was something wrong with her complexion. Jae ought to take her to long strides in the sun more.
" Anytime, shereen ", said Jae in a honeyed voice. Idira flashed her a brief smile as she started distributing tea and covering Elena's shoulders in a warm blanket.
" Now, you two have been hiding things", continued Jae in a patient, maternal voice. " I have to basically barge in here, as your officially appointed Mistress of Whispers - you have my eternal gratitude for that, light of my night, flower of the void - and now I find this ?" Jae emphasized her words by pointing out to the shivering and sick-looking Rogue Trader, then at the mess of clothes thrown haphazardly over the armchairs. " I think, shereen, Idira dear, that I should have an explanation. In excruciatingly long details, please. "
Elena's unfocused expression took over the details of the scene slowly. " Oh. This. Yes. Let me call my handmaiden to fix the mess. "
Jae sat at the edge of Elena's desk. She wouldn't get much coherent information from the Rogue Trader in her current state. She directed her attention towards Idira.
" Don't look at me like that ! " said Idira, opening up her arms. " I don't know how this happened. I wasn't even here."
Jae narrowed her elegant, kohl-lined eyes. Idira was an awful liar.
" Tell her, Idira," sighed Elena, slumping back even more. One would have never thought that the woman currently sinking inside her chair was the glorious heiress of the von Valancius dynasty.
" All right, if that's what you want… Easier to show you then, Jae. Follow me."
Idira led Jae towards the secret study, wherein laid the oneiro-pod. Jae looked at it dumbfoundedly - until Idira talked her through the process. A machine that multiplied Elena's divination powers, for her to act like an oracle and decipher the future. In Jae's point of view, all of this was a terrible mistake. Why go head on towards the future when you could just run away from it and try to avoid it ?
Going back to the main room, where Elena was still skulking, Jae cleared her throat. " So. I didn't understand any of that, except that you were trying to predict the future, and right now you have two issues, shereen. First one : the future is grox shit, judging from your expressions. And you can't tell me that peering into the cursed warp everyday for hours is healthy. You lost weight, you look sick and - "
On point, Elena bent over her chair and vomited on the side of the desk.
" - and to be honest, you're losing touch with your subjects and Dargonus. We need you back, shereen."
Jae avoided the vomit and gently brushed back Elena's hair. She was a bit surprised when a handful of hair stuck to her hand. From up close, in the daylight, Elena's skin was even worse-looking, with patches of eczema.
" But I have to save you all," mumbled Elena.
" Save us from what ?"
Jae would never forget the way Elena's head jerks up towards her, in a deft, inhumane movement. Her eyes rolled white, smeared with blood, as the psyker started shivering and sweating. Elena bite her lips so as not to say anything.
[*** A decapitated head rolling over the ground. Jae's remains are shattered around the room, her organs carved out of her once striking body. For some reason the skin on the head is intact, the dead eyes staring back at Elena forever plunged in horror and abuse. ***]
Jae had no idea what flashed through Elena' mind, but something in her expression made her blood turn cold and a feeling of fear creeped into her heart. It was as if she'd become a ghost in the woman's eyes.
" Everything," finally hissed Elena, putting a hand to her head. " I'm sorry. I have a most terrible migraine. Things are…not good."
Idira got closer to Elena : " When I got like that, I used to drink amasec. But let's not recommend that course of action. We'll just talk about something else while you cool down. Visions of death - they are the worst, uh ? " Idira shook her head. " You wouldn't believe how many times my whispers talked to me about it. On and on and on. It makes you cra zy, fills your head with it. But what's important to remember is that they're not all true. Sometimes they're just…reflections. Broken shards of a mirror our minds can't encompass. "
Elena looked at her with a dull expression, but nodded.
" You're right."
It didn't quite make the shiver inside Jae's soul go away, but she made every effort to overcome it.
" It brings me to your second issue, shereen. Are you having sex with Master van Calox ?" asked Jae in a cheerful manner, trying to ignore the chill in her bones.
" Jae ! You could have phrased that better !" Idira said, half laughing, half shocked that Jae mustered the courage to talk this straight to the Rogue Trader. Some people had been executed for far less.
" Sorry. Shereen, are you fucking the Interrogator by any chance ?"
" Oh void ", whispered Idira, putting her face into her palms.
No need to be a telepath to understand what the quivering expression over Elena's face meant. " You can't talk to me like that, Jae", muttered Elena in a faint voice.
" You're a mess, Elena. You need someone to give it to you straight." Jae leant forward, and, carefully, as if trying to take a stray cat into her arms, hugged Elena's shape. Her bones felt pointy in her arms. Had the woman be eating anything at all during those days spent in the machine ?
" Stop whatever hero fantasy you're having. This pod thing is a lure into temptation. When you poke at the future, it's always bad. That's the whole point of it ! Stop it before this delirium swallows you whole. "
" You're right", mumbled Elena.
" Now. Did Heinrix hurt you in any way ? Because if he did, I am going to chase him down and turn his life into literal hell. There will literally be no place in the Koronus Expanse where he can hide his sorry self. "
" No, he didn't. I mean…I don't know…I don't know where we stand…It's complicated ! "
" Looks like he's getting the shovel talk, then", said Jae, brimming with gleeful revenge.
Idira nodded. " Count me in on that one. Time to flip the table on this one for a change."
Jae and Idira's wholesome support finally seemed to break through whatever sorry state Elena was in, and some light returned to her eyes when a laugh escaped her lips.
" No need for that, I assure you. But thank you. I wouldn't have thought…you would have worried for me. "
Jae snorted. " As I said to you before, you're an idiot, Elena von Valancius. Now, there is a whole queue out there waiting to see you. Let's get you presentable, shall we ? Let's start with taking a bit of fresh air outside and get something to eat. "
– Elena's point of view -
After Jae and Idira were done nursing her back to life, Elena put back her strict uniform and declared herself ready to receive auditions again. She was soon swarmed neck deep into protectorate business - and it seemed everything was back in order for the next few days, if not for the various twitches she suffered and the lingering visions at the corner of her peripheral view.
Yrliet had asked the Rogue Trader to set sail again between the stars, after a new trail for her lost kind. Elena had agreed to it and had ordered her retinue and crew to prepare for take off tomorrow morning. Yrliet had seemed relieved - but also haunted.
There were still a few things to clear up before leaving the system, though.
Elena clicked on her vox-bead. " Abelard. Are Calligos Winterscale and his son still around ?"
" Lord Captain !" the Seneschal's voice sounded glad to hear her. Elena felt a pang of guilt at how worried she had made her retinue feel while she was experimenting on herself. " Surprisingly, they are. They've gone on a hunting journey in the deserts of Dargonus, chasing after the nomadic bandits there. "
**** A poison in the drinks. The family is reunited together forever. Together forever, no pain and no hassle, no more. ****
Elena shivered and tried to focus back on Abelard's words. A chase. The hunt. Calligos. Right.
" Fine. Tell them I want to discuss Evayne's engagement proposal to Cassia. Tonight. Order Clementia to see through the details for a feast. It shall be our farewell party. Is Incendia gone ?"
" She left the morning after your Magnae, Lord Captain. Something about her duty calling her. Flew back to her ship in the shuttle of the Lord Inquisitor. "
" I see."
Elena sighed. Rogue Traders were weird. Was it how she looked to everybody else ? Probably.
Nervously, she stayed silent for a few seconds, fixating the ceiling.
The ceiling stared back at her with its hundreds of dead eyes, blood oozing from the pile of corpses she was stuck in.
Elena blinked, chasing the vision away from her mind, hit by a wave of nausea.
The dinner was magnificently organized by her servants. Evayne Winterscale had made the effort to appear in a clean and beautifully crafted dark-blue uniform, with a large, flowing red coat. His soft hair had been carefully placed on the side of his head to give him a dashing look, and the young pup was busy courting the Lady Navigator. Cassia, upon hearing that the Rogue Trader had decided to hold this feast, had been head over heels all day. A feeling of anxiousness and youthful glee encompassed everyone present in the room, as Cassia's hold over her powers diminish in proportion to her giddiness. The young ones both sat to the left of the Rogue Trader.
Cassia wore a beautiful reception dress in the latest fashion, with puffed-up indigo sleeves and a cleavage accentuated by a corset of blue leather. She was smiling, a rosy blush on her pale cheeks.
** The absence of light, the absence of sounds, the absence of any feelings at all is hard to describe, but this is where Cassia is : where nothing happens, nothing comes through, not even the sound of her voice as she screams and begs and cries. Imprisoned in a bubble of nothingness, she turns and sees that she is not alone. Someone is there, too, watching and judging her forever. ****
Calligos, sat to the right of Elena, hadn't seen fit to follow his son's sense of etiquette and he was still clothed in his hunting outfit. The leather armor he wore smelled of musk, sweat, oil and blood. His power axe rested on his left hip, as the giant straddled into the room as if he owned the reception. He barely acknowledged Evayne or Cassia's presence, all eyes set on the other Rogue Trader. Elena von Valancius wore her usual black set of armor, her hair pinned in a casual bun, her face powdered with make-up so as to hide the hollow circles beneath her sullen eyes.
Other guests included Abelard and Clementia Werserian, Achilleas Scalander, Jae Heydari, Idira Tlass, an envoy of Regent Aaronto, Han Cassini, and various members of the local aristocracy. Heinrix van Calox was present - on the far edge of the Rogue Trader's table, his face impassive, he considered his surroundings with his usual inquisitiveness. He wore his simple black and red uniform - his eyes were more sullen than usual. On the other side of him, Jae Heydari was watching his every move with a devilish look on her face. Sometimes, Heinrix's eyes wandered to Elena, his expression unreadable. Sometimes, Elena's eyes wandered to his frame, flickering with something like regret, perhaps.
It was a dance - a distant one, full of things left unsaid hanging in the air like a barrier.
**** The cage and the needles closing up on Heinrix's body, his screams like a wild hounded beast, echoing in the laboratory. ****
Elena shivered and looked away as his screams only she could hear in the darkness of her mind overwhelmed her senses.
The servants and handmaidens of Elena were busy serving wines and food - the official cook had prepared twenty different meals : roasted veal with mashed potatoes and black pepper sauce, duck fillets with oranges, servings of vegetables and fruits straight from Janus.
The first part of the meal was pretty uneventful, despite Calligos's burst of irony or mood sways, or the desperate courting between Evayne and Cassia that everyone could enjoy. Elena slipped away from the dinner for a few minutes - Abelard was surprised when he saw her vomiting in one basket in the servant's kitchen, hiding away from her guests, shivering like a child.
The second part, as the amasec and various digestives and obscura-pipes are served, was where everything of importance is discussed. Elena moved to another reception room, a more intimate one, to discuss privately with the Winterscales, Cassia and House Orsellio's envoy. The other guests left, taking the cue, and found themselves various occupations in the reception room. Elena watched as Heinrix vanished, without having said a word at all from the whole evening.
" Evayne," began Elena, squinting her dark eyes through the smoke of the obscura pipes, " you have decided to propose to Lady Orsellio. In the absence of a Novator for House Orsellio, Lady Orsellio is more than capable of agreeing or refusing of her own over such a proposal. She can benefit from Regent Aaronto's envoy's advice, though, and, since she's asked for my chaperonage, I also have a word in this. While on your side, your father as Rogue Trader and master of your family ends up making the call. Now please tell us, Evayne Winterscale, what is the content of your proposal."
Intimidated but brave, the young man rose to his feet and began to list all the reason why a wedding between Cassia and himself would prove fruitful for the Expanse : brokering out an alliance between a Rogue Trader's dynasty and a Navigator House, mutual cooperation and collaboration, prospects of peace and development, and various other considerations that Elena didn't quite care about.
Predictably, Regent Aaronto's envoy lashed out against such a proposal. Navigators didn't wed outsiders. Lady Cassia would, in time, bear children that ought to possess pure genes. A noble like Evayne Winterscale didn't qualify.
That managed to get a reaction from Calligos, who had shown more interest in the amasec than in his own son's speech until now. The broad-shouldered man leant over the Regent's envoy, asking him to detail the reason why he thought the Winterscale's blood was impure and unworthy of a minor Navigator House. The envoy didn't cede under his intimidating stare, but lost some of their aggressivity and luster. Calligos mentioned that Regent Aaronto's words were that of an old fart overestimating his own importance.
Cassia mentioned that the customs of the Navigators didn't forbid them from wedding outside of their lines when it enabled them to promote their House in a sufficiently refined circle. A Rogue Trader's dynasty was an acceptable one.
Calligos told her that fucking the Winterscale wouldn't make her sit over his protectorate's throne any soon, and that Orsellio's blood would not reign over his domain while he was still alive. That was the privilege of his children.
Things got messy and heated, and the negotiations went on for hours. Elena quipped in from times to times, redirecting the debates when necessary, focusing on conciliating every one's point of view and interests - until, in the middle of the night, an acceptable agreement between the Winterscales and House Orsellio emerged. Cassia and Evayne would have their wedding ; Evayne will remain in charge of a small portion of the protectorate, and his wife and children's authority would extend only to that part ; Cassia would place her duties to House Orsellio first foremost, and her children would be named Orsellios. The wedding was mainly the occasion for Calligos to bargain over numerous contracts and clauses of agreement, as Cassia sharpened her claws and traded back mercilessly for a suitable dowry.
The morning rose when all the details were settled.
Elena was only too happy to finally be out of the negotiation room, and made a few steps into the gardens to feel the fresh air on her face.
An impatient and giddy Cassia ran straight into her. Even after all this bargaining, Cassia kept an impeccable facade.
" Lord Captain ! I cannot thank you enough for agreeing to this." Cassia hesitated for a second, then clasped her clawed hand over Elena's ones, staring into her eyes. " You once said to me you would be here for me, come ebb or flow, and you haven't disappointed me. Because of you, I am able to experience love. Would you agree to be my bridesmaid on my wedding day, Elena ? And would you be so kind as to lead me to the altar ? Normally, this role should fall over my family, but…well, you are my family now, Elena. "
Cassia's gratitude managed to break through Elena's morosity, and a smile tugged her pale lips upwards. Elena tightened her grip over Cassia's fingers. " Of course, Cassia. I will be very happy to stand by you on that special day. I rejoice for you. "
*** A gaunt woman with stretched features puts her claws through Cassia's skin, forcing her to kneel. "You are mine now", says Tisiphone, reaching to pierce the young woman's third eye. ***
She looked at the rising sun, a furrow forming over her forehead. " Maybe you should do your wedding when winter comes. I always heard that weddings in the snow are associated with good omens. "
Cassia was oblivious to the strange flicker in her eyes, and nodded : " Good idea. Oh ! I have so much to think about and prepare. Thank you again, Elena. Now I have to ask the other ladies in your retinue to be my bridesmaids as well. "
Elena nodded as Cassia swept away, a rosy cloud of pink spirals swirling in her wake.
Calligos stepped towards her. He didn't seem tired at all. He stretched, making sure that she would have a nice view of his back, muscled arms and shoulders. That attention to details almost made her snort in amusement and irony.
" I didn't take you for a romantic, new blood. You don't gain much by marrying off your Lady Navigator." He scoffed.
Elena shrugged. " I won't deprive Lady Orsellio from happiness. We both know what her fate is. "
" Aye. Give her a few decades and she'll barely get her ass off her Novator throne because of all her mutations. " A snigger. " My son is foolish. He must have inherited that sentimental streak from his mother. "
" I guess we all bear with our lives thanks to our delusions", replied Elena, looking away at the dawn settling in.
" Didn't take you for a cynic, new blood. Well, time to go. Dargonus is a very boring planet, you know that ?"
That put a smirk on her face.
" I'm leaving myself soon enough," she said.
" Good," said the other Rogue Trader, considering her face. His interest was not lost on Elena. " Life is better in the wild. All of this…" he gestured indiscriminately towards the palace. " …is for Seneschals, not Rogue Traders. We are made of different stuff. We are explorers, conquerors, hunters. Not glorified prelates or governors. You should meet me one day, in one of my hunts. It would clear your head, you'll see. "
" Maybe I will take you up on your offer," said Elena, tilting her head.
The older man's laugh echoed through the gardens as he left.
*** Calligos's head goes under the pool filled with blood, eyes closed, slowly asphyxiating. A hand is raised out of the blood, as if asking for help - someone cuts it clean straight from the bone. There is only blood. *
" Rogue Trader."
Elena lifted up her chin from her walk, her eyes narrowing down in surprise.
" Heinrix", she said, her voice flat. " Please don't call me like that."
Heinrix had been waiting for her - or at least she supposed he did - down by the gardens. How long had he been lurking here, waiting for her to finish up her negotiations with the Winterscales ?
He must have seen the interrogation in her eyes, because he went on, relaxing his shoulders :
" ..Elena. I couldn't find sleep anyway. I thought I might as well wait for the good news from there."
Heinrix looked terrible. If his uniform was perfectly unwrinkled and spotless as usual, his face was caved in, his eyes tired, as if he hadn't slept for days. He slowly directed his eyes to hers, as if preparing himself for meeting her unblinking stare.
Elena felt her heart skip a beat as a sudden rush of longing ignited in her belly. She almost vacillated from the blow. She hadn't been close to him for days, ever since their argument. His perfume was - she wanted to kiss him, to engulf herself in his warmth and smell.
He had been waiting for her in the rose garden. The buds of the flowers were barely opening up in the dawn, but their scent was already strong. Some gardeners were busy picking up bad seeds some distance away.
" Cassia and Evayne have agreed on a wedding date in the winter", said Elena.
For a brief second, Heinrix didn't seem to register the information, until a faint smile stretched the left side of his lips.
" I shall have to extend my congratulations to Lady Orsellio, then. I am…happy for her. "
He looked at Elena strangely and fell silent.
She wondered what it would be like, if suddenly Heinrix proposed to her. In a moment of fantasy, she tried to imagine it - the love declaration, the crazy frenzy of preparations, the wedding.
That was definitely not like her or him at all.
Elena felt a sense of weariness. She kept on holding Heinrix's eyes. He didn't back away, eyeing every part of her face. She felt upset for a second that he had put on a sanguine mask of distance once more - he was unreadable.
" Were you waiting for the news of Lady Orsellio's wedding or for me ? Because it looked like you were waiting for me", said Elena after a while, feeling that the conversation would go nowhere if she didn't speak up.
" I was waiting for you. I still am, in a way." He straightened, as if recovering his senses. " I am so sorry about what happened the last time we talked. It is all I have thought about lately. To the point that I couldn't…focus on anything, anymore. Except you."
His voice was hoarse. He looked away from her and Elena inferred from it that he was going to ignore her. Tentatively, his hand reached out to her face, his knuckles delicately folded - but barely brushing against her skin, barely touching her, as if she was made out of molten fire.
" Heydari told me to give you flowers and apologize for my behavior. This woman really cares about you, you know ?"
Elena pressed her lips together, brushing away his hand and taking a step forward in his inner circle. Heinrix flinched.
" Do you ? Care about me ?" she asked, looking him dead in the eyes.
His jaw clenched. He looked back at her, deadly serious. " Of course I do. More than anything."
Elena felt the tension in her chest leave and she had the sensation to truly breathe in for the first time for days.
That was when Heinrix delivered a fatal blow to her.
" And that is why I must stop being with you", he murmured, his words like ice as the temperature dropped around them. He braced himself, ignoring the rush of cold. " Being with you is a perpetual contradiction. The power you have over me…no one had ever had that kind of hold. No one should have that ! I care more about you than I care about doing my job. I thought that you wouldn't get in the way of my duties but…I was wrong. I'm sorry, Elena, but I was wrong. I will see your journey through for as long as you need me, I will protect you with all my soul and heart - but I have to return to the Inquisition. "
Elena opened her mouth to speak, but her voice got strangled in her throat. She felt all her body turn numb, her mind shriveling away from this place and time.
Oh, she'd been such a fool.
She wanted to scream, to cry, to say something. Heinrix looked pleadingly at her, awaiting for her to say anything - to do anything.
But she was unable to.
She stared straight through him, her face closing up.
" I understand your dilemma, Heinrix. Personally, I don't care more about you than I care about doing my job. Good night, for what's left of it, and I'll see you later on the ship."
Elena stepped out of Heinrix's inner circle, feeling nothing. He barely moved at all, closing his eyes as she left for her room.
Heinrix knew he wasn't going to sleep at all. He cursed himself as she left :
" You're such a moron, van Calox", and bite his knuckles down with enough force to leave a mark.
The gardeners were very surprised when the rose garden got covered in frost and ice, as if they were in the middle of winter and not toiling under a warm summer's day.
– von Valancius's flagship –
Days later, warp travel –Elena's heels clicked on the floor, revealing her presence from afar.
Pascal Haneuman lifted his head, his visor flashing blue as the Rogue Trader approached. Clad in her black armor, her hair braided back, she had recovered a healthier look lately.
Pasqal looked down on his data-slate. As Elena's ground medic, he had access to information privy only to him and Doctor Jane Valess - things even Abelard Werserian didn't know about.
" Registering successful clinical operations. Vital signs of the subject are well within acceptable parameters." He lifted his head towards the Rogue Trader, who'd stopped now.
Her dark, feline eyes considered him and a faint smile stretched her lips. " Is that how you wish me a good recovery, Pasqal ?"
Pasqal moved to the side, escorting Elena to a nearby set of servitors working over a cogitator. " This statement is false. I do not make wishes. I make judgments. You are faring better than before. "
Elena tilted her head, admitting : " I am. Being back on the ship brings me comfort. The operation…relieved me. The result of it is now in the Chief Medic's hands…yours…and that one's as well. "
*** Pasqal's own mechadendrites are tearing him apart, opening him up, ripping his True Flesh out in a frenzy movement. Dark streets, mud, alien devices forcefully inserted inside in careless and debasing ways. ***
Elena shivered as the phantom movements of the mechadendrites traces impossible patterns around Pasqal.
They stopped, looking at the servitors acting in perfect unison. The bodies of these servitors had been forged in gold, the ugly heads of the lobotomized humans hidden under delicately carved masks of gold and sapphire.
In harmony, the three servitors stopped what they were doing and turned towards them, tilting their heads in the opposite direction of Elena's.
" So, what we had on the ship was not at all an Abominable Intelligence, after all", whispered Elena, watching the units move in awe.
Pasqal said nothing for a while. He had sent a complete report of his findings to the Rogue Trader - he knew she was already aware of everything he knew about Nomos.
" This statement is…partially true. It is difficult to categorize and qualify the phenomenon which refers to themselves as "Nomos." They could be considered as a great miracle of the Omnissiah…but their existence is also a challenge to the firmness of the Adeptus Mechanicus's principles."
Elena smirked. " You know I love a challenge, Pasqal. That won't stop me. Now, give us some time. I want to talk to Nomos. "
Pasqal had estimated that he would get that answer with a 93% chance of accuracy. Behavior pattern's assessment in the Rogue Trader had enabled him to build precise decision trees predicting Elena's speech and decisions.
" Nomos, " said Elena, stepping forward towards the servitors. " I know you were hidden there by my predecessor, Lady Theodora von Valancius, and that you protected me when I shed blood on the ship. That day, when you manifested through the Sentinel, something awakened in you - something that would entwine your fate with mine. " She scanned the servitors for any traces of expressions, but Nomos was devoid of those.
" Nomos confirm your assumptions. We are now bound together. You have asked for help and I have provided it. Then something happened to Nomos and now we are here. We want to know, to explore, to search, to understand. We have observed you ever since, through the numerous eyes of your ship. We have seen how dearly you cling to the threads of lives around you, taking care not to severe them harshly, growing connections. We have communicated with your red-robed servant, and he deemed us a miracle. We do not know what that word means. Will you explain it to us ? We have been waiting to talk to you for so long, Elena von Valancius ! "
" Yes, Nomos, I will talk with you and I will share my understanding of the world with you", replied Elena, leaning over the wall. " But before that, I need you to record something from me. Listen carefully. "
– von Valancius's flagship –
– Jae's point of view –
" This is grox shit", fumed Jae, tapping her foot on the platform. At her right, Vigdis prudently chose not to say anything. On her left, Janris tried to soothe her down :
" This is not the first time the Lord Captain is following the Aeldari's bread crumbs into the Expanse. Probably all they would find is more dead xenos. "
Jae shook her head. " I don't like being benched like this. "
Elena rarely took all of her retinue with her on ground missions. The companions that got "benched", as Jae put it, usually found themselves on the bridge amongst the officers, managing the ship and monitoring things from afar.
Jae always hated when she wasn't on the missions. Why would anyone sound of mind not take her along ? She was smarter than the cog-man, had a deadly silver-tongue, was a pretty good shot, and she was certainly a welcome addition in terms of fashion sense.
Elena had taken Yrliet, Heinrix, Abelard, Argenta, Pasqal and Idira down with her, as well as a squad of enforcers and voidsmen. The Lady Navigator had stayed behind - which was unusual. Elena seldomly left Cassia behind.
Jae crossed her arms, listening to the reports as they came in over the augur's station :
" (static)...approaching the unregistered vessel. Beginning landing maneuvers…"
" (Abelard's voice) That ship looks dead. Are you sure that's where your coordinates lead, xenos ?"
" (Yrliet's voice) I am certain. Elantach, that is the place where we can find more about what happened to my kin."
Jae watched the augury screens as it projected the shuttle flight towards the vessel.
Things were clicking inside her brain.
Elena's strange behavior lately. The "oneiro-pod" thing in Dargonus.
Elena had been insistent that Cassia held her wedding in the winter.
" Screw that," muttered Jae, turning heels around. " I'm taking a shuttle down on that ship too. Vigdis, send me Lady Cassia, and a team of good soldiers. "
" Mistress Heydari ! The Lord Captain has not given orders to - "
Jae lifted an authoritative finger towards Vigdis. " The Lord Captain is not here, and neither is the Seneschal ! Which makes the Mistress of Whispers in charge. Do as I say !"
Jae didn't bother to wait for their replies as she hurried towards the shuttle bay.
Things were clicking in together.
Something had been amiss on Dargonus lately, hadn't it ? One would think that a mission involving xenos would require Achilleas's input. Even Heinrix had seemed to forget it - but the man was so over his head with the Rogue Trader that he barely seemed there at all lately.
She reached for her vox-bead. " Janris ! When was the last time we received a report from Scalander ?"
Janris didn't ask questions and treated her as his superior officer. " Checking in the archives right now…last report from Master Scalander is registered on the day before we left Dargonus. Nothing relating to our current topic. "
" Nothing after that ? "
" No. "
Jae nearly bumped into Cassia on her way inside the shuttle. Cursing under her breath, she almost took the girl by the shoulders to launch her inside, but refrained from such rude behavior at the last second.
" Lady Cassia, have the colors of the Lord Captain changed lately ?" she asked, speeding up the pace.
Sure as day, a group of enforcers was busy finishing equipping themselves.
Cassia gasped at that, her pretty face marred with confusion.
" Why, Jae, I…it seems rather impolite to discuss that in the Lord Captain's absence", she said.
Jae groaned and refrained herself from shaking the pretty lady by the shoulders.
" Drop the act, Cassia, I know you're stalking Elena days and nights. I think she might be in danger. Just tell me what you saw !"
Cassia followed her into the shuttle. The enforcers were busy checking the system for take-off. The Lady Navigator seemed uneasy. She unwrinkled her skirts pensively.
" The Lord Captain's aura has been…unlike herself, lately. Her inner glow has given way to streaks of morose grey and unfeeling whites, awashed with sickening greens of despair and pain. It didn't drench out completely her most prominent turquoise glow, her sense of resolve, but…it worried me, it's true. Most importantly…her colors shimmered as if forming an accretion disk, in distorted halos."
Cassia shook her head, looking pensive.
Jae opened her mouth, then closed it, then opened it again to snap at Cassia :
" And you didn't think about telling that to anyone, did you ? "
Cassia blushed, but held her gaze, her eyes widening. " What do you mean ? The Lord Captain has always been…special. Jae, you're scaring me. What's going on ? "
" To the void with it all ! I wish I knew for sure. I just have a bad feeling about this. Vidgis, patch me through Idira."
" On it, Mistress Heydari."
Jae sat at her chair. The shuttle would be ready for take-off in a minute or so. Then they would meet with Elena's team. The Rogue Trader would have her head for disobeying her command and wandering in space of her own volition, but Jae just couldn't bear the weight of suspense crashing down in her heart.
Elena. Elena, Elena, Elena. Such a weird slip of a girl. Who knew what a brain like that could come up with ? Who knew what she could see ?
Would she be idiotic enough to sacrifice her life if she believed it was for the greater good ?
Jae had no doubt she was. Orlon, her long lost brother, would have, and the Rogue Trader took all her more…iconoclastic views on life from him.
Fucking Heydaris. Never one to fit somewhere.
" (Idira's voice) …Jae…wh…not… - (static)"
" Vigdis", snapped Jae," this sounds like crap."
" My apologies, Mistress Heydari," replied Vigdis, sounding perplexed by her unusual vulgarity. " The vox-line is unstable. Maybe the vessel has jammers."
" Jammers ? It's supposed to be empty !"
" (Idira's voice, pressing and urgent)...J…Red…no path…he…the shad…!"
Jae nearly threw away her vox bead in a gesture of annoyance.
" Shuttle ready for take-off in ten…nine…."
" Move it, soldier ! " shout Jae.
The open vox-channel was still sizzling on the line, with sounds of distant conversations and shouts, now.
" Jae", said Cassia.
" Five, four…"
" Not now, Cassia", hissed Jae.
" Jae", insisted Cassia.
" Two, one…"
" Jae, listen to me. That's an order from the Lady Navigator."
Jae pivoted, shocked. " What ? Cassia, what in the warp - "
Cassia had risen from her seat. An unknown servitor had limped its way towards her. She was holding something - a letter.
Jae's heart grew heavy in her chest as a horrible sense of foreboding turned her entrails into ice.
The enforcers looked confused by the contradictory behaviors of the two women. The motors whirred and the shuttle began to exit the bay, slowly and with hesitancy.
On the vox-line, Jae heard Yrliet and Heinrix scream something.
" (Heinrix's voice)...I…ill…y…xe…! "
" (Yrliet's voice) …not…ag…p…!"
Then something else, like very soft steps, and a larsen sound. A voice said something, in a melodic language that Jae picked upon as being drukhari. She had trouble translating it from memory but she made out the message.
" (Marazai's voice) Such crude device, mon-keigh pet. Let's get you rid of all of this. "
Then nothing.
Jae stared at Cassia in horror. They had to go there ! They had to -
Cassia shook her head and lifted up the piece of paper for her to see.
" The Lord Captain…gives you authority over her protectorate and ship, Jae Heydari, as her substitute while she is away. She knew, Jae. Whatever is happening there, she knew and she prepared for it."
" Away ? " Jae nearly choked on that. " Substitute ? Nonsense ! We have to get there - "
" (Vigdis's voice) Mistress Heydari ! The Rogue Trader's and her retinue's vitals…are gone ! Have you managed to leave the shuttle bay ? We've lost them ! The auspex and sensors can't pick them up…"
Cassia suddenly started shivering and a horrible sense of loss and fear overwhelmed Jae, making her fall to her knees and weep…until Cassia fainted, unable to bear with the idea that Elena may be gone.
Through gritted teeth, Jae got back up, and snatched the piece of paper from Cassia's fingers.
" Jae,
You are the superior officer now.
This time you cannot desert.
Nomos will give you seven coordinates. The first one will guide you to your brother. You have to save him.
Should you try to go after me, I asked Nomos to destroy the information I trusted him with.
You have to pick between trying to save me or your brother.
I command you to go after him.
I choose to discontinue the threads. From now on, we deviate from our trajectory.
Kind regards,
EVV"
Under the elegant scripture of Elena's handwritings were written seven sets of coordinates. Jae looked at the piece of paper dumbfoundedly, feeling a mixture of rage, panic and pain.
She was glad that the refined lady Cassia had all but fainted on the spot, because a set of curses erupted from Jae's mouth as she lost her self-control :
" FUCK ! Fucking Elena von Valancius ! I hate you, Elena ! "
The wardens in the shuttle looked at her in shock. She glared at them, her brown eyes filled with commanding fury. They shrinked into their seats.
" You ! Go faster ! I want to be in that vessel ten minutes ago ! "
" Aye aye Ma'am", replied the pilot, the authority of Jae going straight to his limbic system as the motors whirred once more and the shuttle sped up.
" Fuck, fuck, fuck, what is that ! Who even is Nomos ! " continued Jae, panicking. Her trembling fingers set back a lock of raven hair behind her ear.
" Registering correct use of identification code by nearby authorized access identifiers", said the servitor standing idly by Cassia. The servitor suddenly straightened up as if someone had pullets invisible strings up, its lobotomized head drawing a thin stretched smile over a mouth filled with tubes, cables and implants. The voice was inhumane and was emitted by a vox-device on the servitor's shoulders.
" Hi, user-code Jae Heydari. We are Nomos. We are pleased to meet you."
Jae screeched and, raising her needle rifle, shot at the servitor furiously.
Notes:
At least, on to Commoragh madness !
And, should you ever wish to explore what could have been between Elena and Calligos...then Holy is your gal ! Check out this superb fic featuring Elena x Calligos in an alternative timeline set : /works/53926279 I am so in love with it !