Chapter 1.5 - Hello John

John Grammaticus was not a happy man. Stuck in a cramped, stuffy apartment on the edge of Imperial space he desperately fiddled with the alien communications device he had recently acquired. The journey to the back-end of nowhere had taken weeks and burned through dozens of fake identities and documents. His entire life now consisted in what could fit in a poorly maintained travel bag. It had been days since he had seen a place with enough running water to clean. John felt sticky with the humid planetary atmosphere and the endless sweat of both running to catch connecting transports and the fear.

Outside the endless buzzing of Mechnicus drones continued to make all planetary inhabitants aware that compliance was still on going, along with the reconstruction following the cataclysmic conflict that often followed the arrival of the Imperium's servants. The world had been relatively low technology so the fight had been more for the sake of the planetary Tyrant who refused to bow to any man. His body had been ripped to shreds by a Astartes Teleport Assault John had learned. Not unexpected, John knew the Imperium's methods, but brutal all the same.

At this moment John was trying very hard to also not be caught by an Astartes assault. The worst of all possible outcomes had occurred well over a month before, when the news filtered down that Horus, first found of the Emperor's Primarch sons, was dead. And more than just a valiant death in combat, it had been an assassination. This got John's alarm bells ringing. Whilst he had never met the Emperor personally he was well aware of the self appointed 'Master of Mankind's react to any kind of slight or injury. Nothing would stop the Emperor's hunt for his son's killers. And he wouldn't care how many died in the crossfire to achieve that end.

John Grammaticus of course, couldn't die. He was a Perpetual, a being able to regenerate life in ways far beyond simple biology. But that wouldn't matter to the Emperor. At best, the Emperor would have some weapon that could kill even a perpetual. Far more likely, the Emperor would simply keep him alive and torture him to death over and over again. And given John's history with the Cabal, even if he was innocent of Horus' death it would be enough for the Emperor to ensure John never saw the sunlight again.

At the very least though John needed to know the truth. Abandoning his Cabal appointed post had not been an easy decision but a necessary one. Rumours had it that the Alpha Legion had descended on the world mere days after Johns departure. It could have been a coincidence, or other agents of either the Cabal or another group could also have been operating there, but John was not a man to take chances.

Finally getting the device working with a final thump of his fist, John wiped his brow and leaned back as a vague shadowy figure flickered into view.

"About damn time…" muttered John, staring up at the holographic figure before him, "Are you there? Hello? Can you hear me?"

"John. Where have you been. We have been trying to contact you for weeks," came the reply in a voice that obviously had learned High Gothic, but was not a native of the language.

"Running. You're damned lucky I haven't been caught yet. What the hell is going on?" demanded John, "I wake up one morning to news that Horus is dead. What the hell does that mean, what was this all for? Just… what is going on?!"

The figure paused as if contemplating a response. This more than anything made John even more angry and nervous. Something had happened, and the Cabal knew about it. Yet they had neglected to inform him before his entire world had come crashing down around his ears. John was not a happy man.

"I… apologize John. During the… discord… following Horus' death the Cabal has been somewhat… disorganized. We have lost many agents in the field due to this, and every loss is a devastating blow to us and our goals. You did the right thing by continuing to move, but it also did make it harder for us to contact you. I hope you can forgive us. You're dedication is needed even more now than ever."

"I'm sure," growled John, "I'm probably one of the few you've got left now, right? Those who aren't dead or in the Emperor's good company. So what happened? No more mystical, hazy nonsense. Plain and clear. What happened."

Another pause. Finally, the figure began again in a tone that showed clear reluctance to speak, saying slowly, "There was… a disagreement."

John face rippled with confusion.

"A disagreement? What the hell does that mean?!"

"There was… a disagreement. Within the Cabal. As you know we are a collective of many worlds, many species. The Aeldari are but one, you as a Human are another. We have a vast network of many peoples working towards the common goal of defeating Chaos once and for all."

"Yes, I know all that, tell me something I DON'T know."

"There are many factions within the Cabal. Generally we agreed having Horus as Warmaster would put the future on 2 paths, one where Horus lost, dragging the galaxy into millennia of darkness, and one where Horus won, in which Horus himself would destroy humanity and through it break the hold of Chaos due to their over investment in your species. But… these were not the only possible futures."

John paused, mulling over this news. The possibilities over other futures had crossed his mind, but given the Cabal's drive towards channeling the future down the one path this hadn't seemed that important.

"So what you're saying is someone decided to knock over the regicide board and play cards instead?"

"A crude metaphor, John, but not inaccurate. There was a faction inside the Cabal that believed a Horus victory was too big of a risk. The costs of Horus winning wouldn't simply just be the end of your species. Many others would perish in the fires the Warmaster would bring down on the galaxy. The Cabal had done its best to ensure the key peoples would be spared, or that they would willing sacrifice themselves in the name of the greater whole. But there were those who considered this too high a price to pay, and wanted us to examine other futures. A vote was cast, and the overwhelming majority agreed to continue with the Horus plan despite the consequences."

"But then some of them decided to ignore the Cabal's decision and act on their own anyway," concluded John, "So they got their hands on a weapon capable of killing a Primarch, and with your fancy Cabal stealth technology took down Horus."

"That is a correct summation," replied the figure.

"So what happens now? I assume those responsible are not in the best books of the rest of the Cabal."

"That would be something of an understatement," said the figure tersely, "The Cabal has done its best to leave subtle directions for the Imperium's investigations to find those members of the Cabal that defied our decisions in the hopes of providing the culprits of the attack the rest of us will be left alone."

"I'm guessing that didn't really work out well, did it?"

"No. The majority have been apprehended by forces loyal to the Imperium but the fervour of the investigation has not slackened even slightly. As I have said before, many agents have been killed or disappeared in these past few weeks. Until right now we had counted you amongst them. But we grateful you are still free."

"Only as free as you let me be," muttered John.

"Not only does this mean we have lost much in the way of resources," continued the figure, appearing not to hear John's words, "But our entire plan lies shattered. Futures that were once impossible have becomes possible again. The Warmaster who could only ever have been Horus now can be any of the Emperor's sons. There is no guarantee he will even fall to the temptations of Chaos, it might well be that another brother leads a rebellion with the Warmaster being the vanguard AGAINST it. There might even be NO rebellion, the so called 'Emperor' of your species may succeed in his own plans to destroy Chaos, something the Cabal did not have significant objections to."

"But right now you don't even have the future channeled down two paths, you have so many you can't even predict what will happen next week?" guessed John.

"Our divinations of Horus' rise and fall were calculated over millennia and centuries of foresight with everything within the Cabal's power pushing towards that choice of victory or defeat. Whilst we can make some vague predictions now of who will be Warmaster, and the consequences of that, but it has become much harder to see where we must push to guide the future to a specific end. There isn't even a unified idea of WHAT end we should push for anymore. Should we push for your 'Emperor's plan and support his complete victory and hope he shows us mercy when he is victorious? Should we try to replicate our plan with the new Warmaster, who may not act in the same way we predicted Horus will? The Cabal is divided, disunified, and without unity we cannot hope to guide the future to an end that will achieve our goals."

"So we're all screwed," replied John flatly, "One little bump in the road and everything is ruined."

"Hardly a little bump, John. Centuries of planning has been rendered meaningless."

"Have you never heard of contingency planning?" retorted John angrily, "Did you never even once stop to think what might happen if something happened OUTSIDE of your control?!"

"Calm down John," soothed the figure, "You are getting agitated. We did everythi-"

"Agitated? AGITATED?!" yelled John, "I am being chased half way across the Imperium by forces that think I might be connected with the death of the Emperor's Favourite Son, and have dedicated my life to a plan that NOW IS MEANINGLESS?! And to top it all off – YOU DON'T HAVE ANY OTHER PLAN!"

"John, listen. It will take time to-"

"TIME?! Are you trying to make a joke?! I COULD HAVE BEEN DEAD DAYS AGO HAD I NOT BEEN SMART ENOUGH TO ACT ON MY OWN! WHAT IN THE GALAXY MAKES YOU THINK I AM GOING TO TRUST YOUR JUDGEMENT AGAIN?!"

"John, please. The Cabal will find a way forward. We no longer have the rebellious element to interfere with our plans we-"

"YES BECAUSE THEY ALREADY SUCCEEDED IN RUINING THE LAST ONE!" roared John, "That is IT! I have HAD it being a pawn in your little game. It would have been worth it if it was obvious you have ANY clue what you were doing! But you don't! You let a gang of your own making destroy everything! The irony that your plan was to use Horus to do THE EXACT SAME THING is overwhelming! But no more! I'm done with you! I am going to run as FAR and as FAST as I can to escape whatever is behind me, and the whole Cabal, and your BLASTED PLANS can go to HELL! I am DONE!"

"John wait. Please. We need you. Without you we-"

John smashed a hand onto the activation switch of the device and the figure faded from view. John leaned over the device and breathed heavily. He was free. The galaxy was going to burn, the Imperium's finest monsters were on his tail, and the future could easily now lead to the complete and total victory of Chaos, but he was free. All he could do now was run, run and hide and hope he could live through the hunt of the Cabal, and when it was all over try to find a way to fix the mess the Cabal had started. Perhaps he'd try to find some others who he could work with. That guy Oll Persson perhaps.

As he stood and began to hurriedly pack his things back into his travel back, John suddenly leapt back with the shriek of, "OH SHIT!"

In the darkness of the corner of his room, a figure emerged. A tall figure, much taller than a standard human. It was dressed in a simple cloak, but on its belt glinted the reflective edge of a very sharp, very lethal blade. It was in that moment John truly came to understand the concept of trans-human dread, as the Astartes began to step forward, coming closer and closer.

"Hello John," he said, "I… am Alpharius."