"Laughing at such oaths is an insult to every brother who has laid down his life in service to the Emperor. It is this unyielding faith, this sacred duty, that turns the tide of war and ensures the survival of mankind. I recommend the Admiral remembers this, and tread carefully with her future words, for disrespecting the vows of a Space Marine is to court ruin and dishonour in the eyes of the Emperor Himself."
Quote from Durandal in his after-action report/record of deeds about the 'Incident' with Rear-Admiral Adams
The rest of their walk to what could be considered the situation room was uneventful, upon their arrival Shepard was greeted by Anderson and a Rear-Admiral her name was Linda E. Adams, Jane remembered her from some debrief after Torfan for the N7's along with some other command staff standing across from them was the Adept and Durandal as Shevrim stood beside him arms crossed across his chest. Sa'kan joined them towering over his fellow marines Shepard could see the admiral and her staff shift uncomfortably as they noticed the massive warrior and the heavily augmented Grullor.
"We can begin." Durandal finally spoke, a young lieutenant-aid to the admiral jumped out of her skin slightly at the harsh growl of his Vox. The woman looked young, really young. Shepard looked at lieutenant and saw the visible tremble in her hand as she gripped the pad in her hand. Shepard caught her gaze and smiled softly to try and reassure her also she got was a gulp instead.
"To start we are oath-sworn not to divulge the information and specifics of our mission before arriving here, however it does tie into our arrival which Adept Ra-T4x is currently looking into, we have his assurance there will be away for us to return." Durandal looked to his brothers receiving short nods of agreement, he looked at Shepard and her team, so far, they and this captain had been the only humans to show any promise. All the others the kill team met had mostly cowered in fear, with a brave few such as this admrial demanded the throne damned universe from them.
Rear-Admiral Adams arched a brow up at the giant 'priests' response glancing at Anderson, "so you have information on how you arrived and are refusing to share it because you swore an oath, I had been informed you acted like some kinda medieval knight and after seeing your appearance I can see whatever black-ops group you belong to had quite the theme going on, but really? Swearing an oath? That is height of ridiculousness I want to speak to your superior now." her gaze was stern, and Shepard was surprised she didn't scoff however Durandals response chilled her blood. "Watch your words mortal, by the throne I will kill you here and now, for a mere girl such as you to dismiss the oaths of one of the Emperors own chosen angels is to belittle our very existence and purpose. They are not mere words like the ones you and your ilk spout off…ours are ironclad bonds that tie us to the emperors will, solemn vows that fuel our relentless crusade against the darkness and damn our very souls should we break them…" he was leaning over the holo-table and had managed to accidentally crush the metal railing with it screeching under his grip.
Durandal turned slowly to Anderson, "Captain I would advise your superiors of this, we are a Kill-Team of the Deathwatch, the militant arm of the ordo-Xenos of the God-Emperors inquisition…for a mere Admiral to question our mission is to question the will of the emperor and as such is punishable by death. Now the next one of you to think they can Order or Demand anything from myself or my brothers I will personally see you are turned into a servitor." he jerked his head over his shoulder, the admiral followed to see a sight she'd never truly forget. It was something she would later write in her report in the meeting stating that of all she saw and experienced in her career it was perhaps the most inhumane. Mounted in a wall was the torso and head of a man, in his stomach cavity was a tray with mechanical appendages twitching in the air above it.
Shepard and her team were watching the whole scene play out, and Shepard swore she could see Admiral Adams actually shit herself in real time with the tension in the room being cut when her attendant, the young lieutenant who had jumped out of fear at hearing Durandals voice hit the floor with thud. "it would seem the Admiral misunderstands her position here…she has been invited to discuss what we plan to do now that the Vaunted has been cleared, Commander Shepard has been affected by this Xenos beacon and in doing so has apparently also been privy to the mind of the Chaplain so until we can leave we are Oath-Bound to aid her as vengeance for the innocents lost on Eden Prime." Came the calm diplomatic tone of Sa'kan. The drake seemed to start moving almost like he was going to help but stopped himself as the young woman was picked up off the floor by some of the admirals' other attendants and carried out.
After witnessing the debacle Grullor spoke up, "Admiral you have been gifted a rare chance among our number are veterans who have spent centuries combating alien threats, from Tyranid hive-fleets to Orkoid Waaghs, we have faced the perils of Necrontyr tomb-worlds to counter-raiding Drukhari slavers in their Webway and annihilating Tau expansion spheres. All of that was before our secondment to the Deathwatch we are willing to supply the Commander and her team with weaponry as well." The electronic tinge in Grullors voice threw the Admiral off, one of her aids a Captain of one the ships in the response fleet stumbled through his words, "w-w-what t-the hell are you an AI?" Grullor looked to his brothers taken aback by the in his opinion foolish response, the lack of apparent discipline from this woman's officers would have resulted in her removal at the very least from command. "He isn't his name is Grullor…his uh…Brotherhood have a tendency towards augmenting themselves." Shepard spoke up catching the admiral off guard.
Jane sighed not even 2 minutes in, and their big, bad super soldiers were pissed, really, they were in a room with 5 guys capable of crushing metal bars and ripping xenomorphs in half. "they're sort of special forces…they've been recruited from different brotherhoods to help target alien threats…our main problem is how the hell we explain away the floating church and obvious humans." The admiral hummed she'd managed to regain some of her composure thanks to the intervention. "Brotherhoods? That'll be a question for later…in fact if you're going to be aiding the commander the easiest way to help hide this is to have you posted aboard the Normandy…the commander can compile information on you, these brotherhoods, combat capabilities etc. while your there." She said looking at Durandal expecting an objection instead getting a loud *beep-click* in as response, the sound emanating from the giants at different points before Durandal responded.
"And why exactly do we need to hide the Vaunted?" Anderson looked to Admiral who shared his concern, "we have allies who aren't human…and while they are our allies the chance for shield penetrating energy weapons along with whatever else you have on here the scared the shit out of the most advanced Geth Dreadnought that's ever been seen would be too much of an opportunity for them to pass up on." Durandal turned his skull faced helm to Grullor who simply responded with, "the cyclonic torpedoes and other exterminatus grade ordinance aboard were picked up by the abominants likely why they breached where they did in an attempt to plunder it before encountering the Tyranids." Durandal was staring at his brother and the adept before asking, "and its all accounted for, none was taken by the Geth?" the Ra-t4x responded in good candour, "all cyclonic torpedoes melta and ordinary variations are accounted for, as are the Graviton imploders, Virus bombs and Hellfire warheads." The tech-priest went back to its data slate, Durandal looked at the adept before focusing on the Admiral.
"You will be allowed 2 cyclonic torpedoes and 1 Graviton imploder, Commander Shepard and her team will be allowed access to the Armoury of the inquisitorial stormtroopers, I and my brothers however are not under her command nor are we under the command of any Alliance officer." There was a short pause, as Durandal glared at the holo-lith projections and into the Admiral standing behind them causing her to unconsciously shift in discomfort.
"We are Astartes. Few are those who could even think to issue us a command let alone be gifted with the authority to do so. In regard to your…worry…that we will cause some disturbance among your allies then yes, we shall simply agree to your story that we are not human because in essence it is true we are not." That caused some confusion among everyone even Shepard until she started getting flashes of a large group of children Gathered around a figure wearing armour similar to Durandals with it blurring to someone swinging a sword at her in which she barely moved away in time, her assailant was a teenage boy who nodded to his right, she followed his nod to see the figure from before joined by 2 others a warrior clad in armour with heraldry similar to Durandals, and another older warrior standing unhelmed. It was the Marshall of their crusader host.
Rubbing her temples she came back to conversation in time to interrupt the admiral, "they start out…human but they get changed as they train and age." The Astartes all looked to each other as Anderson walked over to his protégé and helped her steady herself. "You saw more of my memories…my initiation into the Black Templars." The Admiral was barely keeping up and reaching her tolerance limits for the shenanigans going on around her, "I'm sure ill be fascinated by whatever just occurred when I read it in Shepards report but for now I no choice but to agree to those terms however this ship is to be under escort to luna."
Ra-t4x interjected, "that will not be feasible we do not make use of your mass effect drives, and our own method of travel would be very dangerous as it involves extra-dimensional travel however, I believe it would be a point of interest to share our information on the subject. The Vaunted will need to stay here while we undertake repairs, I can ensure that any interactions are done solely by myself or an intermediary who will appear non-human I suggest you tell these Asari and Salarians any attempts to steal or spy on us and they will be annihilated this I swear to the omnissiah." The cyborg had pulled down its hood to reveal a mostly metal face the upper left-hand side was the only piece still organic; it was frankly horrible to look at.
"We will repair our war-gear and allow our weaponry to undergo service rituals then join Shepard aboard the vessel. For now, I recommend she rest, I will be speaking with her when I board..." Durandal stalked off his Kill-Team following close behind Shepard could barely follow she was seeing a templar one who bore a black sword at his side, one who had failed his father, shrouded in