Chapter 5
Inquisitor Adrastia; Hordo Hereticus; Subsector Aurelia;
Planet Meridian; Hub Spire Legis, sub-spire Schorn
"And what does stop me from executing you, oh Secular Director, to make sure that my own duty is followed to its end?"
I had chosen to come on this planet for many reasons, the main one being more of the purview of the Malleus, due to the almost certain Warp disturbance, strong enough that my navigator had blinded himself at that moment, but not strong enough to cause more than a momentaneous blinding.
The Warp, in which we were navigating at that moment, didn't behave nearly as well, and its currents beat and crashed against my frigate, the archenemy not wanting for me, or anyone, to interfere, forcing us to pull out the Warp on the capital planet of this Sub-sector.
Or, just as possible, not wanting any help to come.
"Deactivate eyes of the Omnissaiah. Turn off the holy balms of security." then he wrote something on the cogitator, his mechanical hand almost blinding fast, and from the cogitator an electrical wine started and a melody made from two keys came from it "01100011 01101111 01101101 01110000 01101100 01100101 01110100 01100101 00100000 01100100 01100101 01100001 01100011 01110100 01101001 01110110 01100001 01110100 01101001 01101111 01101110."
Oh?
A noble, a high-ranking one, with deep ties with the Mechanicus, even if not directly part of them, laying down his arms and being prepared to be executed?
If we were alone, I could have almost believed him.
And if I wasn't hiding my own station, I would do the same.
But we weren't either, and the man beside me? I knew he was good at fighting, and his mutations were uncanny enough, along with being holy enough, to be important.
That's without adding what the astropath had seen.
'You will encounter a red-clad guardian, hair of the sisterhood of holy Terra, his eyes of steel giving him an unending armory stretching infinitely back and forward, and above and below humanity's instrument to answer his call, on his shoulder, beside his hair of white, a one-eyed crow to lead the way in the Emperor's name'
The tarots had given a similar answer.
And the ship's temple had lighted up, enough to blind some of the Sisters inside. Those same Sisters repeating those same words, along with drawing a figure with that description.
Under the banner of the 85th Vendoland , just on the planet we were now orbiting about.
So, here I was now, on a planet infested by Heretics, and Xenos, and, knowing the usual luck, probably there was some chance that the Archenemy was present as well.
Now, if this vision was that easy, or at least, the subject of it had already been encountered? Easy work, for once.
And if it only took me to take a seat and listen to a request, which could as well be within my mission, I would sit and listen, on a thankfully not too rich-looking chair, while the possible target of a prophecy stood beside me, leaning slightly away and against a wall.
"I am listening, but if you wish for me to continue to do so, make this worth my while." I crossed my arms over the commissarial uniform and waited.
Having more information, and a way to reach Angel's forge for a hidden extraction, or as hidden as it can be?
With this planet being neck deep in Orks, Eldars, and Heretics, with not nearly enough imperial Guards, and the local Space Marine chapter being in the middle of another Waagh in their recruiting world of Calderis, along with a minor crusade, remaining on planet with an asset so important, if he was an asset, would be deleterious to the extreme.
And what better way to test a possible Acolyte than a request from the local head?
"In the last few local star revolutions the local population has become more and more unwilling to follow its instructions;" the noble, while talking, fidget slightly the Holy Gear around his neck: "That's something I am quite sure you are already aware of."
I nodded, keeping my face as cold as stone, a reminder of my own mentor to how one should behave in front of a testimony.
Or possible heretic.
"What the Adeptus Adeministratum calls Hub Spire Legis has been in continuous revolt for at least two star's revolutions, and that state had been expected to come towards our holy factory in less than a fraction of that time. A Holy Terra's month, or even less."
"The militia outside seemed angry, but not seditious. I don't think that at this moment the hammer is needed for such behaviour." I let out, making sure that the inquisition wouldn't act for such a small thing.
Being annoyed, or tense, in the middle of several raids by multiple parties of Xenos and Heretics would make anyone jumpy, acting on that alone would make sure that the servants of the God-Emperor were much less than His enemies.
And the biggest crisis for the planet wasn't what looked like minor heresy at best, even if that image, the one they had on their chest, was concerning.
"The efficiency of our noble garrison went up by fifty-five point nine percent, with spikes of eighty-four percent on the outskirts of the territory controlled by us, during the immediate revolutions before the big revolts of the hub spire and after it, to now. That's translatable in almost not needing rest, and being able to defend our own forge without straying from the mission, and without any kind of punishment needed."
I did inhale a tad too much when he said that.
Strange symbols, rise in working efficiency…
My mentor, while we luckily never found something like that in our many investigations, did warn me to pay attention to those signs.
And such an uptick in zeal?
"The mutations we saw? Are they normal on this planet, or did they come in the last few generations of workers?"
Those mutations, even if they looked like earlier stages, were quite similar to those of a particular Xeno.
The machine-noble tapped, with a well-grafted cybernetic hand, on the cogitator again and, within a few seconds, and with a few sounds, a sequela of profiling photos in green appeared, different shades of that colour giving the light and shadows on the many, many faces in front of me.
I mindlessly started tapping my finger on the metal desk, while the man, letting a servo-skull enter with a steaming pot and three cups, set one beside me.
And I could see that many had those same mutations, and that some had even that strange symbol, of a snarling reptile in front of the cog.
This…could be worse than I thought.
"You are aware of what it could be, Secular Director?"
If he didn't, then it was best to use my inquisitorial authority and just make him do what was necessary.
The nod made my hope for a quick, clean, and above all mostly hidden action moot, along with a quick downturn of my lips:
"The Omnissiah always lead us towards the keeping of knowledge, Inquisitor; our own angels of death, Ghorban Al-Dam, know that well, if the inscriptions in their honour are right."
That Chapter name…interesting.
A similar situation to the Vlka Fenryka, it seemed.
Not unlike how this chapter behaved, these "Blood Ravens" were quite secretive, after all.
Far too much to not be hiding something, but it wasn't my duty at that moment, nor was it as dangerous as a possible genestealer cult on a planet.
"Did you already cut the way towards, or outside, your territory?" I asked, trying to start imaging what the worst-case scenario was, and going down from there.
The director tapped his fingers on the machine's finger panel, and a map, with several Xs crossed on logistical chokepoints but one, showed up:
"I, alongside the Fabricator General of our factory, have calculated the most usable connection points with other spires and destroyed them, if possible. If not possible, we withdrew any personnel from there, and used weapons of the same matrixes as the rebels to make them unusable, and placed servitors and automated Tarantulas turrets."
Then there was a heavy sigh, and the humanity in the half-machine in front of me came out:
"Unfortunately, many of those under my protection, most of them families of the outskirts of the spire, have hidden somewhere inside its very structure."
I took out my hat to scratch an annoying itch on the side of my head, and all the while formulated more counter-measures for this crisis.
"Any Tyrannid infestation? Any spores, any strange behaviour on the forested side of the planet? Any abnormal growth of flora?"
There had been a stark lack of that information, or even of something like a shadow of the Warp, possibly due to the waves hitting against my ship.
"Our own sensors found a growth of..." The noble went closer to the cogitator, and read the number: "Six-point naught percent in the local mosses. Somewhat above average, and if we are right, it could be concerning. But, from the records of our own governor, there is nothing more than usual."
The same governor that had failed to control Waaaghs, Eldar incursions, and rebels inside their own planet.
And that I was sure, given the tithe given to the Imperium, that he was embezzling, and due to the incompetence, I wouldn't be quite sure if the corruption hadn't reached the astropaths as well.
Naturally, with Eldars around, the chances of them being the ones causing problems with the data were quite high, but also the heretical behaviour of the governor, well.
"We cannot trust those. The governor and, I apologize for this, this whole planet's governance system seems to have not innocence, but different shades of guilty."
A chuckle came from my left, and the person I had not forgotten was there was its source.
The slight paling of the noble in front of me, the stopped whirring of his machines, or even my questioning and annoyed glare didn't stop him, who then continued by asking, his tone amused but his eyes lacking such a thing:
"Sorry, sorry. I am just asking myself why I was needed here at all. After all, it doesn't seem that a single person would be able to fight against someone wanting to hurt one such as…august as you, Inquisitor Adrastia."
My lips downturned completely at such disregard for my own title and duty, and I felt my hand creep towards my hip instinctually.
Then an idea came into my mind, something that would help me to find out if what I had in front of me was simple chaff, ignorant and weak, or an instrument of the God Emperor.
"I wish for you to find information on the field about a possible genestealer cult. You will be given for it the squad of guardsmen you came with, and the Chimera. Alongside that, you will be given any infantry-level equipment you can bring from this manifactorum. You will also have two days of rest for it."
I took out the Rosetta, but the noble that I was prepared to show it just shook his head and pressed several buttons on the cogitator.
After some seconds, an infernally loud sound came from beside that screen, and something that I had taken to be a useless knick-knack came to life, and from it, a rectangular piece of hard paper came out, with several holes in it.
The white-haired man became less than impressed when he was given that paper by the noble, who explained in a calm tone:
"If the inquisitor didn't wish to be found, there must have been a reason, which we, both inside this holy temple and outside of it, young man, are better to not be known. Take this and give it either to one of the young students or to a Servo-skull. They will lead you, and your squad, towards a reliquarium, where our own best works, and those I, and my ancestors, deemed worthy of study are being kept."
"And what about information? I would like to avoid being the blind leading the blind, even if it feels like you want me to be just that."
Not fully a fool, good.
His tone was full of annoyance, and his smile barely hid that, but the noble in front of me, much more calmly, gave answer:
"That blessing of passage will let you inside the librarium as well. I hope it will be enough for your mission."
The man beside me exhaled, possibly not expecting much, but he did at the very least bow slightly before, without waiting for my leave, starting to walk out of the lavish room.
Before he could, though, the half-cybernetic noble spoke up:
"May I ask you something, young man? My progeny is in that squad, so I would ask to not take their lives lightly. My flesh still makes me weak, and I do not wish for that weakness to be shown in such times, where it could spell doom."
The red-coated man stopped for a moment, nodded, then went out.
I remained in and started to quietly, and politely, interrogate the man about the governor, and the preparations were done.
The genestealer cult was but one of the heresies done by the current, and soon to be deposed, head of the planet. I just needed to find out how widespread they were, along with the current resources, both already under the dear Lord General's control and…reticent to leave it from a "simple" commander's order.
And if this planet could be saved, or if it would be better for the Imperium if the flames ate it.
Maybe requesting a Servo-skull might also be useful, one with an extremely good vox connection, and a far-seeing camera.
AN
This is more of a interlude to enter in the next small arc, and those who are in the known, or think to know, please comment on it.
Also, a normal thinking inquisitor is a rare thing in this universe.
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P a treon . com (slash) Manram
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Have a good week!