Por'o Dal'yth Kal'roh stood in humble silence before the throne of Governor Feldeburg Von Wassermann, his four fingered blue hands held within the sleeves of his robe, careful to hide their alien form, lest they offend the superstitious Gue'la. And this Gue'la in particular, human he reminded himself, their name in Gothic was human, was a particularly slimy member of that most fecund and violent breed. As wide as the jolliest Earthcast, with the same height as an Aircast, the governor was a truly massive specimen, and bedeck in so much golden brocade and hung with so many medals, he appeared as if he was wearing a suit of golden armor, with only his unarmored, fat head poking above the golden, corpulent mass, shattering the illusion.
'Xenos, I assume you come to deliver to me your proposal' spoke the vast bulk that was named governor of this world, in a deep but wet voice. 'I have indeed, honorable governor' began the envoy. 'The benefits of unity are evident for any with eyes to see. If you may allow me honorable and wise governor, I have something to show you.'
The governor's face scrunched up in an expression that Kal'roh had learned meant curiosity, and gave a slow nod of his head, his many chins bouncing merrily as he proceeded with the gesture. Kal'roh slowly withdrew his hands, their alien nature revealed to the two guards that flanked the governor, causing them to flinch and tighten their grips in their brutish weaponry. Moving slowly, and clearly telegraphing his movements, Kal'roh slowly dropped his hands to his belt, careful not to startle the tense Gue'la warrior caste. More than one Watercaste ambassador had died because of itchy human trigger fingers. Withdrawing from his belt a smooth sphere, he held the device in the air and when he withdrew his hand the device floated in silence except for a light purr, the pitch of which was so high that Kal'roh knew that to human ears, it was essentially silent.
The sphere, however, did far more than just float. Slowly, the sphere began to emit light and slowly and steadily grew into a vast holographic projector, shining a representation of the sector in a soft, pleasing blue light.
The governor cheered and clapped his hands together, as if he were an ignorant child, wowed by the cheap tricks of a heathen conjurer.
'Marvelous, simply marvelous!' the governor cackled with glee.
'Ah, most astute honorable governor, this is the most recent model of Earthcast projectors, only the finest for one such as yourself'. Kal'roh, lies running of his tongue as easily as water runs through a stream, just as he had been trained. In fact, the sphere was a standard issue projector, a few generations old in fact, but to such a backwards race as humanity, even this, a minor trinket, was an object of wonder.
'But look beyond governor, and see what great wonders unification can bring you.'
The next hours progressed at a torturous pace. All the statistics and blueprints that Kal'roh had planned to display to the governor to illuminate the value of the greater good uterly boored the overgrown child. He yawned throught statistics and thumbed his nose at blueprints, and, most irritating of all, he would interupt abruptly with a gurgled demand for an explanation for some technological bauble that his blunted mind found facinating. Kal'roh had, of course, prepared for such a thing. Instead of economic projections and trade relations, he displayed battle suits and pulse weaponry, aircraft and heavy machinery. And, as any negotiations perpetrated by the water caste, it had worked.
'Marvelous, simply marvelous the things that you have shown me this day. Truly, the gifts of unification that you have shown me are fruitful. I shall have my chamberlains draw up some papers.'
'My thanks governor for your consideration' Kal'roh said, as he presented the sluggish governor with a humble and ingratiating smile.
'However, it is my obligation to stress that any integration into the Tau'va, excuse me, the Greater Good is by no means one-sided. My superiors, the honored Etherials request a token of your awakening to the Greater Good, a sign of your acceptance of the truth.' Kal'roh stated, knowing that this tactic of paying a feudal homage to be particularly effective on humans, whose alien minds could never view the world in true harmony, only dominance and submission.
'I... I shall see what I can do. My thanks ambassador, you have given me much to ponder on.' With a gesture from the governor's pudgy hand dismissing Kal'roh, he turned to leave, as he moved, he was already calculating how best to integrate into the empire this newest of Watercaste conquests.
Sighing and sitting back into his massively cushioned throne, Governor Feldeburg sighed in contentment at the fruitful work done today. Undoubtably some would view it as seditious. But Feldeburg knew the truth. The Imperium had betrayed Cena Primaris, had betrayed him, far before he had betrayed it. When the piratical attacks on his shipping had carried on and on, with the Imperial Navy providing nothing in terms of support, they had betrayed him. When those self-same pirates, the alien Tarellian Dog-Soldiers, turned from snatching his ships to raiding his planet, the Imperium had betrayed him. Worst of all, after these attacks the Imperium had increased the tithe so that he was forced to sell off his pretty toys to pay the rapacious drones of the Administratum they had betrayed him. Betrayed him!
That was when Feldeburg knew the Imperium had no love for him. If the Emperor did truly love his children, as the priests and deacons keep blathering about, then surely, He would want him to be happy, would want him to accept unity with these xenos Tau who, so unlike the propaganda had not brought with them fire and sword, but learning and hope. Yes, Feldeburg decided he had done the Emperor's will this day.
His musings were interrupted however, by the patting footfalls of another of his servants. Gesturing for his guards to answer the door, he waited in silence, brooding on the nature of his upcoming liberation.
'Lord-Governor' came the soft and almost ethereal voice that he knew heralded bad news. Groaning to himself Feldeburg turned in his command throne, a not inconsiderable feat considering his bulk, to address the speaker.
'Damn it Arsha, whenever you deliver news to me it always ruins my day! Xenos pirates this, renegade fleets that, or another grain shipment being cut off! What have you to tell me now!' the governor bellowed, obviously perturbed by his visitor.
'Nothing so terrible as all that, Lord' came the reply from Arsha, her deathly pale features obscured by the deep purple cloak and shall she was dressed in. On the surface, Arsha's only aberration was her unhealthy pallor and ethereal voice, things that some of the hive nobles might even consider to be attractive. It was not until you entered into her presence and felt her cold aura did you know that something was amiss.
Arsha was an astropath, and served as Feldeburg's only lifeline to the rest of the galaxy, for all the good that it had done him. 'The portents read well, Lord, I have received a missive from a brother Astropath aboard the bulk-transporter the Suneater. He says that three regiments of Krieg guardsmen have been sent to reinforce our world, Lord.'
'Three regiments, to reinforce a world of billions! What are the generals in the Militarum playing at? If my world is to be defended, I shall need armies! Why our PDF is 4 million alone what will scant tens of thousands do for me.' The Governor bleated out, his pudgy face glowing redly with a tirade about military strength that his advisors had heard a thousand times before.
'My apologies Lord, the intricacies of your military mind are elusive to a humble messenger such as I, reinforcements were perhaps the wrong word. They are to alight on our world for a time, a layover while a new crusade is gathered.' Arsha replied furtively, her body still bore the marks from when she had been careless with her words around the governor.
'Yes, my dear astropath, see how the Imperium treats our world, a layover! Did they mention for how long they were to stay?' The governor replied hopefully. If the guardsman were to leave quickly, then perhaps his new and already prosperous alliance with the Tau could yet be preserved, then with all the battlesuits and flying tanks that he had seen from the ambassador's pict-caste, the Imperium would never dare to question his dominion over his rightful home!
'I am not certain Lord. I understand that they are to stay here until the crusade has fully been mustered, which as I understand it could take anywhere from days to decades to reach fruition.' Archa replied to the governor, unknowingly shaking him once again out of his reverie.
'Very well Arsha' came the governors reply. 'You are a good girl to keep me informed of such things, and your ignorance is not to be levied against you.' Governor Feldeburg said. 'I shall need time to reflect on what you have told me.'
Curtseying with all the grace she could muster, Arsha withdrew from the governor's chamber, leaving him alone in his throne room with naught but his loyal lifeguard at his side.
The governor sat there for many a long hour, his guards changing out with their fresh comrades smoothly and professionally around him. As the sun dipped over his hab-spire he had finally concocted a plan.
On the one hand, he had an isolated, outnumbered, and unsuspecting force of guardsman, outsiders whose loyalty to him was nil, and whose hostility to the tau would likely be high, whilst on the other he had a willing ally who needed proof of his devotion.
Smirking at this serendipitous turn of fate, the governor set about putting his newly concocted plan into action. If he had doubted that the Emperor had blessed his endeavor before, this twist of fate surely proves that He was watching Feldeburg. And that He approved.
Ship's Mistress Constantina stood on her bridge as usual. Her officers and their men bustled about their command stations, whilst servitors, gold plated as was tasteful, sat linked to their cogitator screens, constantly searching for any sign of approaching debris or ships. Even on a ship the size of the Suneater, it always paid to be cautious. The one thing that was out of place, however, was her two guests, who seem to have taken up an ersatz position as ambassadors from the Kriger regiments she was hauling.
The two of them stood in opposition to the bridge crew and to one another. The commissar, Serana Vilsk if Constantina's memory held true stood in the center of the bridge, affable, and with a blood red sash sitting across the chest of her jet-black greatcoat stood chatting with off duty bridge crew and the civilian worthies who spent their days in transit aboard the bridge, awed by the immensity of the void between the stars.
The other Militarum representative stood behind the commissar, about four paces or so, silently glowering behind the tinted glass of his ever-present gasmask, which he wore even on the bridge of her ship. Constantina supposed that it would not be politick to bring it up.
Indeed, all the others on the bridge studiously ignored him, content to supp on the political officer's carefree charm.
'Colonel Kurtzen was it not?' Constantina asked affably of the dour military man. 'Yes Ship's Mistress,' colonel Kurtzen replies crisply, coming to attention as she addressed him. 'You requested to meet me; thought I am charmed I suspect it is because you need something of me, rather than for my company,' Constantina said cordially, hoping to fish something human out of the masked man before her.
'This is correct Ship's Mistress, I have the request for our transport here to the surface, as well as some sundry supplies that the Lord-General Minor requests for our stay on the planet,' Kurtzen replied in his monotone voice, and handed her a dataslate, upon which she presumed his requests were recorded.
Even as the other notables present turned and gasped at the candor of the Kriegsman, Constantina just sighed, expecting nothing less than a straight answer from the seemingly impenetrable guardsman who stood before her.
Taking the dataslate, Constantina began to read. The numbers involved were surprising.
30 tons of preserved food, hundreds of assorted survitor parts, Lasgun power packs, and more scrolled by her screen, the amounts of goods sending her slightly dizzy.
'This... this is an outrageous request!' Constantina exclaimed, her normally husky tone compromised as her reprimand came out as a shriek perhaps an octave higher than she had anticipated. 'This would ruin me,' she continued, 'when I was tasked with moving your regiments, I was not told to supply them as well! I thank you for what you did during the Warp Squall, truly I do, but this is a ludicrous figure, if the Lord-Commander told me this I would have tripled my price!'
The Ship's Mistress exclaimed, furious at being shortchanged by the fat bastard of a Lord-Commander.
'I apologize Ship's Mistress, I forgot to mention that there would be additional payment rendered,' Kurtzen replied coolly, unaffected by Constantina's outburst.
'With respect Colonel, I don't see how anything you could offer me could recoup the costs this request has foisted on me.'
'There is' Kurtzen replied nonplused, 'Commissar' he said, whilst nodding to Serana. The commissar began to reach for a satchel at her waist, a satchel that Constantina had not seen when the commissar entered. Reaching in, she pulled out an object, wrapped reverently in a black cloth embroidered with the Imperial Aquilla.
Handing the package over to Constantina, she could instantly feel that it was a pistol. Sighing heavily, Constantina began to speak, 'Colonel, I appreciate the gift, but I do not see how a mere pistol could be wor...' her words died in her throat as she unwrapped the object, the black cloth fluttering to the deck plating, completely forgotten. In her hands Constantina held something that even the wealthiest of nobles had only seen in pict-casts. This pistol was an elegant thing. An old thing. It was 'A Volkite Serpenta, pre-Imperial Vintage, the last of the make of Forge World Lucius, forged even before our Beloved Emperor revealed himself to mankind.'
The Krieg colonel replied with a certain nonchalance, as if he had not just handed her an item worth more than an entire hive's year of production. Despite this the gun, unadorned and beautiful for its lethal mundanity was held fast in her very hands, before Constantina's still unbelieving eyes.
'W...well a gun is no good without ammunition to fire it with' Constantina replied weakly, her argument sounding hollow even to herself, but hoping that she could have both the gun and the ammunition. A full set would at the very least quadruple the weapon's value.
Grinning wolfishly, the commissar reached back into another of her satchels and received five magazines, glowing a soft orange light which promised imminent and burning death to any being who opposed the God-Emperor's dominion.
'I hope this is a satisfactory offering, Ship's Mistress' Kurtzen continued smoothly.
'Y...Yes, I suppose that this will suffice,' Constantina replied shakily, a slew of possibilities screaming through her head at the speed of a Fury Intercessor. She could of course just sell the thing. Lords of the Adminitratum, Planetary governors, Archmagi, and thousands of other rich and powerful individuals would buy the thing at for eye-wateringly high prices. And that was without even considering the trade opportunities that owning such a prestigious item presented to its wielder.
'Our supplies will be forthcoming then, Ship's Mistress?' Kurtzen enquired.
'Yes, it shall be done immediately, if you would' handing the nearly forgotten data slate over to her Commodore, the redoubtable Barzan Vertis.
'It will be done Ship's Mistress' Barzan replied, the usually unflappable ship's officer gobsmacked by the rarity of the prize which had just been offered up to them.
'One more thing, Ship's Mistress,' said Kurtzen, 'I hope that this is not the end of the relationships between the Death Korps of Krieg and your vessel, if you are able, embark to Krieg once your trade mission in this sector is complete, I understand that there is more work for you there, if you would have it' Kurtzen said.
'It would be my genuine pleasure' came Constantina's response.
Today, it had turned out, had been a very profitable day indeed.
Hey everyone, a quick update. My upload schedule is going to be a bit erratic for the next few months, I've got a plan and everything I swear, but getting it out on paper (so to speak) is going to take awhile. And yes before anyone says anything I know Volkite is super rare, but in the book Volpone Bluebloods a Lord-Commissar has one, so I think its an acceptable trade here.