Present
– von Valancius flagship –
It was just the day after the incident involving Idira that Cassia found the way to breach through to Kiava Gamma.
During the night, Elena had suffered multiple nightmares. They had always been here, lurking by - oneiromancy, some called it. But without the proper tools to interpret these flashing, tormented dreams, Elena couldn't quite gather what they meant. Their intensity and increasing pace hinted at terrible things ahead. She often found herself rising up in the morning, feeling unrested, sweaty, sick - in the very few seconds after jumping back to consciousness, she felt a clarity in her mind that was almost delirious but which provided her with utmost certainty - until it faded back again, leaving nothing behind but an oppressive sense of growing threats and danger. Never before, even in the Imperial Guard, had those dreams been so present. She wondered if it would stop, if it would calm down - or if she was doomed to live with them, for as long as her sanity could manage at least.
Curiously, the only person she felt she could speak about it in her retinue was Idira herself. The woman had a lot of experience in dealing with becoming crazy, after all. That was not a reassuring thought at all.
Elena took her rightful place on the platform of command, ordering the jump back to realspace. At first, everything went soothingly normal - Cassia Orsellio was growing in experience and was gifted with innate talent. But as soon as they ended the translation, they received multiple communications from the planet and the fleet above it.
" Lord Captain", said Vigdis, monitoring the incoming comms, " the Tech-Priests wish to speak to you. Shall we answer ?"
A shiver in the dark. An air of déjà-vu. All familiar warnings of her mind picking up on dangerous things.
" Don't accept the communications. Reject them ", she said, her voice sounded more cracked than she wished as the sense of threat grew in her belly and transformed into a rash nausea.
As she found herself increasingly doing, she naturally put her hand to her chest wound - somehow, the gesture soothed her down. She could swear sometimes that the scar was still throbbing whenever her precognition triggered. It was impossible. It wasn't real. Feeling the need to accomplish this small gesture unnerved her.
Vigdis nodded and clicked on her cogitator. " Establishment of communication refused", she said. The order went through, and she started straightening back up - until a screen turned yellow on the monitor.
" What's -" began Vigdis, bending over the comm. In a moment of precognition, Elena pulled the voidborn back. Just after that, an arc of electricity erupted from the machinery, jolting to another officer that went screaming with pain and crumbled to the floor.
" Motive Force, preserve us ! " muttered Vigdis, clenching to the Rogue Trader's outfit. She lifted an awe-filled gaze to her but quickly scampered back up, taking in the sight of various screens turning yellow or red in the vicinity.
Abelard was swearing a few meters away. He turned back to her :
" Lord Captain, various reports incoming of people getting jolted by the machines !"
Pasqal was already walking to them from his usual place, his hands clicking on multiple vox at once as he distributed orders to his flock of Tech-priests.
" The ship has been infected with scrap-code", he explained as he grew near. " The sacred machines are being defiled as we speak. I am sending my brethren to soothe their spirits and cleanse the virus. The communications from Kiava Gamma were loaded with this. It is similar to what we saw in the ship where we have met the daemon-engine. The High Priest of the Cenobium have informed me that they recognized some scrap-code as well - from the one that was used to torture and corrupt the sacred brethen guarding the miraculous reactor. Out of caution, I have locked down their area as it is preserved from the virus. Should it extend to the reactor…" he trailed off. There was no need to elaborate. If the reactor went off, they would all be dead.
So much for her plan to install the reactor on Kiava Gamma.
" But we didn't accept the comms", pointed out Vigdis.
Pasqal tilted his head. " Someone on the ship did."
" Damned traitors", cursed Abelard. " Those rats are still on board."
" How much of the ship is corrupted ?" asked Elena.
" 40 %...and growing quickly", answered Vigdis, looking at her data-slate. She sounded worried.
Elena Martyr grasped the nearby rails as suddenly the bridge vibrated and trembled. Abelard managed to stand up but Pasqal and Vigdis fell to the floor, as well as a dozen officers. Around her, the Tech-Priest working on the corrupted console emitted a high-pitch screech, as they fell on the ground, their neural implants whirring and smoking.
Elena gritted her teeth but refused to lose her calm.
"Send more of them", she ordered. " I want that virus gone !"
In response, Pasqal pointed at a batch of young Tech-Priests who gladly ran over the corpses of their brothers to take place behind the sacred consoles.
Elena closed her eyes for a second, searching for the thread of their near future in the tapestry of fate. She saw the myriad possibilities, the inflections of change and unpredictabilities ; she focused on the present, on the shape of the ship, on the idea of Kiava Gamma.
She saw the solution in her mind. She knew they would be saved.
" The Sentinel", she whispered.
Pasqal, next to her, turned his head slowly towards her.
" Bring me to the main console", she said.
" Lord Captain. As long as the virus is in the system, it's too dangerous to interfere directly -"
" Bring me there."
Pasqal, Abelard and Elena passed through the corpses of the analysts and Tech-priests busy with trying to establish the back-up systems of the ship. Should they fail, the whole flagship and its thousands of lives would meet its end in the system. They stumbled through the bridge, the Chief Enginseer issuing commands in his vox in binharic as they made their way through.
As she arrived in front of the main console, Elena focused on the gargoyle decorating the machine. Pasqal began the usual salutation prayer, and she waited for him to finish before putting her hand quite unceremoniously into the gargoyle's mouth.
As before, the head of the gargoyle let out pointy teeth that bite hard into her hand, drawing blood from her wounds. She secured her position to the consol with her free arm, waiting patiently for the thing to gorge up on her blood. What was in her blood and in Theodora's that was so important, she thought to herself ? What really was the Sentinel ?
This time, Pasqal studied the reaction of the machine acutely. " It appears the console is not totally overwhelmed by the virus", he said after a few seconds. " Interaction may still be possible. O machine spirit, I appeal to your grace to fight back the heretical sickness in you, and -"
Elena looked at the gargoyle and ignored Pasqal's litany : " You", she said sharply, addressing the now familiar gargoyle head. "I want you to cleanse the ship from the virus and restore the backup system."
Pasqal looked at her in shock :
" Lord Captain, as I have made clear to you before, such abrupt talking is not a protocolar way of communicating with the - …." his voice trailed off and he glanced at her and at the gargoyle. Something flickering on the string of data visible on the screens. Elena was completely unable to make sense of it. Machines were not her area of competence at all. Pasqal continued, in a careful voice : " Note for archive consideration : a new miracle has happened, type 1. Praise be the Omnissiah."
His eyes lingered on the gargoyle. " I believe, Lord Captain, that there are things you have been hiding from me. Such as what is this Sentinel you're referring to, and in what way is it connected to your ability to speak directly to the machine spirit and order it ?"
She supposed she couldn't keep hiding the truth from her own Chief Enginseer. Curious as he was, Pasqal would find out soon enough. Going against Abelard's recommendation to keep the Warrant room's archeotech fragment a secret, she said quickly !
" I have an unknown archeotech thingy in my Warrant room, I don't know what it is, Theodora forbid every Tech-priest to enter the room ; it has never been studied by your likes. I like it very much because it has been saving my hide thrice already, it reacts to my blood and voice, so meddling with it is out of the question for now. We'll talk about this later ", she diverted, as Pasqal's visor flashed with curiosity and disagreement mixed. " What matters is : did it work ? Is the ship saved ? "
" Affirmative. The systems are purging the virus as we speak. It is…most impressive."
But there was no admiration in his voice, only a layer of doubt and interrogation. Another crack in her companions' trust. Argenta looked at her differently ever since she refused to execute Idira ; now it was Pasqal's turn, she presumed. It sometimes seemed like she was going to lose their confidence one after the other.
The miracle had managed to stop the ongoing infection and the flagship started responding again, to everyone's relief. But they didn't have much time to enjoy the sudden peace as Ravor's voice echoed through the vox, alerting them of an incoming torpedo strike coming from the fleet guarding Kiava Gamma.
" Whatever is happening in this world, it has clearly fallen to heresy", said Abelard in a sad voice.
Another world of her protectorate gone completely mad - except this one was so far gone that it wasn't even willing to hide it or to discuss. Elena abandoned Pasqal on the spot - he was too slow to follow her around anyway - as she ran back to her commander position for naval fights. Her comms were overloaded with various reports, but she switched the priority to the space operation. They managed to destroy the enemy ships - ones that should have been hers. The flagship had suffered from the virus and the assault. Hadn't they been able to cleanse the scrap-code away, they would have been defenseless against the ships. That was something to ponder about. Whatever was on this planet, it really wanted her dead.
Elena thanked the Sentinel, whatever it was, for its presence on board, and the Emperor for protecting them.
She rushed back to the shuttle, where her companions were getting ready to transport to the planet's port.
She had chosen Argenta, Abelard, Pasqal and Cassia to go along with Heinrix and herself. Idira was still recovering from her incident, and she had enough of a diplomatic strike not to bring Yrliet or Jae on an Inquisitorial mission.
They landed on the port adjacent to the entrance of the manufactorum. They exited the shuttle into the industrial world. It smelled of fire, smoke and steel.
Argenta looked around, taking in their surroundings. She stated out loud what they all thought :
" There's not a soul around."
Indeed, the vaults and the halls were abnormally empty of people. Those types of manufactorum would usually be filled with servitors and workers, monitored by Tech-Priests. The emptiness was eerie, and the absence of people increased the oppressiveness of the huge, metal halls.
Heinrix reasserted his grip on his sword. His look was different, though they could not say why exactly. Maybe he felt more in charge, considering he had his mission to go through.
" I fear we may be too late. Let us make haste."
And too late they were indeed. Kiava Gamma had fallen under the heretical tyranny of the Fabricator. The once sacred brethren of the Priesthood of Mars had been working for Chaos for some times now. He had turned the industrial world from its goal to produce war machines - and he wasn't alone in his dementia. All the Tech-priests and servitors had been either corrupted, or tortured to death. As for the ordinary people of the planet, they were still nowhere to be found. Worse still, they had to fight a Chaos space marine on their way - a Word bearer, a preacher of Chaos, singing praise to something called the Primordial Truth. The marine was of the same attire as the one they had fought on Rykad, confirming that the Cult of the Final Dawn was beyond this. The implication of encountering another Word Bearer, on a planet turned into an industry for machines of death and destruction, was…worrisome, to say the least. It meant the Chaos space marine had a base and a plan to wage war in the future in the Koronus Expanse.
On their search for information, they entered a dark, obscured room. The whole planet was somber, unwelcoming. This place added something else : a deep, uncomfortable sense of wrongness. Elena took a careful step in, sensing her hair rise up on her neck and arms. She shivered uncontrollably.
Heinrix was leading the way harshly. She saw him rubbing his gloved hands against his legs in a nervous gesture, which was highly unusual with him.
There was something in the room with them. She guessed at the shape of cages, dozens of them. Something massive moved inside of it. In the darkness and at this distance, she could not quite grasp its shape. She counted her ammunition.
" Let me check first", said Henrix, his voice blank.
The retinue stopped, eyeing at the threatening form in the cage with distrust. So far, it didn't make any move to attack them but its presence was heavy in the room. It made a sound of spongious succion, something profoundly disgusting and disturbing.
Elena let Heinrix go first towards the cage and quietly followed him. He didn't want her to take the lead on his investigation, she knew that, but she couldn't just ignore the situation. And, if she was to be honest, she was a bit worried to let him handle this alone.
Heinrix flashed his light as they approached the thing. Elena wished they hadn't. Inside of the cage was a bulbous mass of tortured flesh. Various humane heads, including baby and elderly ones, emerged from it, scarred with bilious sores, full of protuberances and tumors. Little arms and pieces of feets pierced the flesh at various, incomprehensible places. Elena couldn't stop from stepping back, securing her grip on her rifle.
Heinrix hadn't moved. If he had flinched, she could not tell ; his face was unreadable, closed up and strained. He said harshly :
" Don't look away !"
It looked as if he was addressing her, but deep down Elena knew he was talking to himself. As the Interrogator didn't act nor move, she approached closer, assessing the thing up despite the visceral disgust it inspired her. She heard Abelard curse under his breath and Argenta usher a prayer to the God-Emperor. Pasqal had produced a data-slate and was studying the environment. Cassia drew closer, hovering behind them. She didn't seem afraid of the thing.
" What happened ?" she asked.
Heinrix looked away briefly, examining the mechanism the cage was part of. His hand lay upon his sword. Elena drew in, tilting her head - and, to her surprise, something rose inside the cage. A face, or what used to be the face, of a woman maybe. Its flesh was connected to wires and rods. Its deformed mouth managed to utter a single word :
" Mercy…" it said.
" By the Emperor…it speaks " whispered Cassia in shock.
Elena felt her heart turn to ice inside her body and stared straight ahead.
Don't be afraid, she reminded herself. Be angry.
And oh, whatever was going on in every damn planet of hers was making her very angry. Why did every time she stepped in Theodora's footprint, something turned horribly wrong ?
The coldness…the horror of the thing…she analyzed the sprouting tendons, limbs cut down, without apparent pattern or purpose. Only sorcery could permit something like that to endure and live. This was no mere medical experiment ; it was fueled by chaotic, ruinous powers.
" What is this ?" she wondered aloud. She hated the fact that the head talking to her still had one brown eye, fixated on her in a completely mad way, pleadingly calling to her. It looked conscious of its fate. That was a vision that was going to stick with her for a long time. Damned eidetic memory.
" I am beginning to have an idea", replied Heinrix. " The Lexmechaninc mentioned the inhabitants of the lower decks who had been imprisoned in their homes. He said some of them were brought here. The cultists did something to these poor people…in their own home…and now they are studying the results."
The thought was chilling. Elena straightened up. " Have you ever seen anything like this before ?" she asked, maintaining her voice composed.
" I have seen a great deal, Rogue Trader. That includes mutations caused by Chaos sorcery. But what frightens me the most is not their repulsive form, but what is hiding beneath this." He frowned. " A human soul in torment. Chaos never forgets to ensure that its victims retain the ability to suffer."
Heinrix was completely absorbed in his study. Elena took a brief glance at him, and found that he looked more tired, older than before. She realized she had ignored these marks of age before. They seemed more obvious when he was acting in his natural environment, as a true Interrogator. He was different somehow, heavier. So that was everyday life for him.
Experiments. That was what happened to these people. What interest did they represent for the corrupted Tech-Priest, she wondered.
" They're people," she said decisively. " Horribly mutated, but still people." Alive ones, she wanted to add, but she hoped the implication was clear enough.
Cassia flinched but said nothing.
Heinrix shrugged and took in his surroundings, examining the computing screens warily. Not reacting to her, he added :
" Lingua-technis - corrupted by the scrap code, I'm sure. It's unlikely we will be likely to extract anything of value from their cybercrypts." Heinrix bit down on his knuckle. He was usually so attentive to keep a cool composure that the addition of all those little gestures of anxiety and anger was beginning to seriously worry Elena. He recoiled suddenly as one of the thing inside the cage reached out to him :
" You…" said a female voice inside the bulbous mass of flesh. " You promised us ! You promised !"
Elena looked at the Interrogator. He looked shocked, if anything, and watched the hand through the bars attentively.
" You took us from the inferno ! You promised us a reward ! You - " The face that spoke contorted as a rod sparked blue, and the lips that talked melted under their eyes like melted wax.
Well, that was awful. And what the woman tried to say…how did she even recognize Heinrix ?
Heinrix's face contorted in a grimace. " I'll be damned ! They still speak ! They remember the people who did this to them !" He balled his fist in powerless rage and then stopped to think. " Perhaps a little biomancy will allow us to draw the fragments of knowledge out of them. Or it will trigger further…changes", he mused.
Elena looked up to the ceiling. Here they were again. She wondered what Heinrix would do if he was left alone to choose. Did he really have the will to go through with it ? They had this talk before, when she had stopped him from torturing a dying man. Should they try to extract information at all costs, including the suffering of innocent people, or should they show compassion and deliver them from their torture ?
It was the same dilemma, again and again, on larger scales at every time. And the first thing Heinrix said was always to go through with the mission at all cost - and yet, somehow, there was something off with his pragmatic facade.
He kept turning to her, as if wanting her to hold him back. If he truly wished to torture the man before, or these people now, she bet he would just do it. But he didn't. It felt like he was actively trying for Elena to forbid him from doing this - if only to authorize himself to go with his hidden inclination.
" Incredible. I can't believe I'm hearing this. Heinrix, let them go. You are only prolonging their suffering. "
She would not let the Interrogator resort to psyker abilities to torture this thing ; the results were likely to be useless. She would rather destroy the machine that let him experiment on those people.
" Always the kind one. But is mercy not a weakness in this case ? Considering how unsavable they are, should we not strive to do everything to avoid this from happening again…including extracting valuable information ? These people can still serve the Imperium" he retorted.
It sounded like her opposition reinforced him, gave him the strength to convince himself of the necessity of doing this. The dynamic of this internal dilemna frustrated her. She looked back at the mass of flesh, taking the time to think about it, to weigh the pros and cons. If this thing had information about their enemies, about the people who did this, wasn't it worth it to go digging for it ? Intelligence was precious after all. But, in the same time, she doubted that those experiments had anything interesting to contribute. Surely whatever information they could find with them could be obtained in another way.
She frowned.
" You are not a sorcerer. Don't resort to playing their games. These people served the Imperium rightfully and deserved to be delivered from their suffering."
He flinched and hesitated. She softened as she saw the traces of hesitation on his face. She couldn't quite imagine what Inquisitorial agents went through, what choices they were faced with. She had a feeling that deep down, Heinrix had no wish to use his biomancy powers on those people. He just thought it may be his duty.
She added : " If it is information you seek, then I shall provide you with them myself. No need to hurt these people. A little touch of psychometry shall do the trick."
She extended her hand towards the bulbous mass, but, swift as a snake, Heinrix caught it before she reached the bars. " Don't !" he said, traces of worry in his voice. His grip tightened for a second around her wrist and she looked in his eyes cooly. " Are you mad ?" he added angrily. " Connecting your mind to this thing is too dangerous, and you don't want to relive their fate !"
She authorized herself a little smug smile. " I knew you wouldn't let me do that", she replied. " Heinrix, you don't want to inflict this to anyone and you know reaching out psychically to this is imprudent. I just wanted to make a point."
He paled as he let go of her hand. " Don't play tricks with me again. But…you're right, I'm inclined to relieve their suffering. Every moment of existence in such a state is pure torture for the people locked in these sheaths…"
He turned away and walked to the cogitator. Pasqal was already there. He stepped to the side as Heinrix leant over the cogitator, eyeing him cautiously without a word.
" Each mutant has cables attached", muttered Heinrix. " It shouldn't be difficult to increase the voltage.."
The buzzing of electricity overwhelmed her ears as the rods turned white-hot blue with lightning. She looked as the hideous corpses fused together rippled and arched itself in agony, and finally dropped dead to the ground, its meat fuming.
Really not what she had in mind when she became a Rogue Trader.
Heinrix looked over the cages. He had regained some of his masque. " That's that, then…but something bothers me. The number of people here - they are too few. The lowest levels of these manufactorums are usually inhabited by millions - what happened to the rest of them ? I know I won't like the answer. Let's go."
" Wait", intervened Argenta. " I want to pray for their souls. If the Lord Captain agrees to it. "
Elena nodded. The Sister made them gather around as she told a few words of guidance. Elena repeated the prayer, wishing for the light of the Emperor to embrace the souls lost today. Though Heinrix recited along, she could tell his heart was not in it and his mind was clicking with thoughts and calculations.
They pressed on.
They entered another dark, somber room, guarded by corrupted Tech-Priests and servitors. Pasqal redoubled his efforts to dispose of his fallen brethren - there was no trace of compassion or regret in his demeanor. He was methodically plucking out the bad seeds that had fallen to Chaos.
Elena was beginning to feel a terrible headache come along. She put her hand to her forehead, pressing her temples with her fingers. She had very short precognitions at the edge of her peripheral vision, uncertain futures seeping into the present. Such a thing had never happened to her before. She presumed that it was the heavy presence of sorcery and Chaos that disrupted her abilities. It was hard to focus as she saw herself and her retinue dying in different, horrible fashion at the edge of her vision.
Heinrix had noticed her discomfort, but he was too far gone in his own mental torment to really react to this. He only commented, pointing to a huge cogitator in the back of the room :
" This is what I came here for. It is pure corruption, Elena. It is affecting my psychic senses too." He hesitated for a second, looking like he was going to say more, but restrained himself.
" It's triggering my precognitions in all sort of manners", she admitted. She frowned, as a new idea occurred to her. This feeling was familiar. She had felt like this before…upon the von Valancius ship, the first time she had commanded it out of realspace, just after Voigtvir's mutiny.
The massive cogitator looked like a grotesque tumor. It was impossible to look at it without feeling their mind twist and crumble. The machine emitted a strong sense of wrongness, as it defied the law of physics and perspective. Angles that were impossible, construction that did not make sense. As she glanced at it, her precognitions redoubled and it felt like her mind was opening up to an infinite amount of possibilities. Yrliet had said that such was the power of the Farseer. In this second, Elena had a glimpse of what it must feel like and what is must imply, not to see the short threads of near-future, not to perceive the clear, linear movement of fate, but to gaze upon the chaotic and multiple paths of change and destiny, intertwining in an impossible, ever-changing design.
She groaned and put her hands to her eyes in a risible effort to push the vision aside. Abelard steadied her as she staggered.
" By the Throne", she panted. " I need a second."
She couldn't see anyone of her retinue now, all was blurred out in the too-vast to understand vision. She knew with certainty that if she dared gaze at it, it would break her mind and snatch her soul in a moment, for such was its power. It felt as if it wanted to draw her in, to feed on her divination abilities, to use them for something. She couldn't quite explain it.
Cassia didn't seem to fare much better. She laid her back on the most distant wall, resting her head against the cold metal wall. " This is an abomination", she said calmly, her white talon hand clawing at her staff. " Whatever you do, Master van Calox, please do not fall prey to its lure. This needs to be destroyed. It twists every color !"
Heinrix had staggered too, probably overwhelmed by his own psychic overload, but he had regained his control and discipline quicker than Elena. He eyed the rest of the retinue, all looking various shades of sick. Only Pasqal remained still, unaffected, calculating how to destroy the heretical machine and cleanse it.
" This is a creation of the Archennemy. Elena, don't go near it. You have done enough for me and for my mission - do not put yourself at risk now", he said, his voice ringing with tension. Elena only began to regain her sight and Abelard gently supported her. He eyed at Pasqal. " This goes for you as well, Mangos. Let me handle it."
Pasqal nodded. " The disposal of such heretical machinery is in line with the duty of the agent of the Golden Throne", he replied neutrally. Which probably meant that he recognized this as Inquisition's territory…but wouldn't mind stepping in and analyzing everything if something went wrong.
Elena didn't like this at all. " The expression "having a bad feeling about this" doesn't even start to cover what I think of this. Don't approach it, Heinrix. We'll find a way to destroy it from afar", she intervened.
Heinrix shook his head sadly. " There is no such way. Stay back. "
Without further ado nor waiting for her answer, he stepped towards the machine. In response, the cogitator emitted a high-pitch shriek, similar to thousands of needles being driven into glass. Pasqal stumbled to his knees as the horrible shriek seemed peculiarly hurtful to him. Wincing, Heinrix pressed on and bent over the cogitator. An ice-cold breeze flew around him, slight manifestations of psychic powers translating to the material world.
" The Omnissiah's grace has not touched this object. The mechanism was not desecrated but born flawed. Initiating observation protocol. Let not fear stand in the path of Knowledge", said Pasqal, rising to his feet and producing a data-slate.
" Hmmm", commented Abelard, eyeing the Magos skeptically. He has his own date slate, discreetly produced, where he inscribed a few words.
Fighting back the terrible pressure of her own mind imploding upon itself, because of the thing contained in the cogitator, Elena disobeyed prudence and approached it. She didn't want to let Heinrix alone. He was too engrossed in the manipulation of the cogitator to stop her - she wasn't even sure he had noticed her. His eyes were blank. She had a distinct feeling that the cogitator was watching her at every step, as if it was conscious.
She stared harshly back at it. " We've met before, haven't we ? You won't fool me", she muttered discreetly to herself. The cogitator didn't react and she felt a bit foolish, but she was sure of her instincts. She couldn't quite use her divination powers - the wrongness of the thing had an effect on that, she was sure of it. She started looking through the cables for something to attack, a button to switch, a way to shut it down. The screens were computing strings of data that she couldn't understand. There was no logic in it. Yet it was computing something.
Her head vibrated in pain as she thought again about the vision of the ever-changing tapestry of fate she had seen. She had a feeling it was connected. This, the demon she saw after Theodora's death and her escape to realspace, her own divination predictions, the Word Bearers - all connected to the same master, the same puppeteer.
One of the screens turned instantly into a bilious yellow hue. Her eyes felt attracted to it - in an effort of willpower, she turned away from the screen. She had not been fighting against her curiosity - but against someone's malevolent will, acting through the cogitator.
" We must destroy this machine immediately", she insisted.
At that, Heinrix finally acknowledged her presence and tilted his head. " Out of the question. Even if we disregard the potential loss of data…it would kill us."
She decided to trust Heinrix, though she hated watching him interact with the cogitator. A minute passed, then another. She felt nervous. A heavy coat of ice had formed against Heinrix's hands, arms, as his hands darted from switch to buttons in a slow, chaotic way. She heard him, barely audible, muttering to himself as he worked :
" …sacrifices. More and more sacrifices every minute…" He was clearly not addressing her, yet he turned his head towards her, his eyes an unusually deep shade of black that wasn't natural, like two big holes in his pale face. " Hecatombe determinans. The womb of this cursed machine is down in the lowest levels. The auxiliary enumerator controls the system for delivering molten waste under the manufacture's main building. The cogitator is fueled by the energy harnessed from thousands of people - who are flowing beneath our feet as slag as we speak."
The horror of the thought made Elena fall silent as envisioned the system. This was crazy. Inquisition work was completely crazy. She wished she was back to handling xenos on Janus. It felt easier.
Heinrix added, hiding a shiver : " But I cannot even imagine the reason for sacrificing all these people… It's inconceivable. Now we know why the Fabricator prized this monster so highly. The cursed Tech-priest and his associates created something that went beyond the limits of the Omnissiah's powers. The machine is designed to process myriad possibilities using warp sorcery. It has almost finished its task. It…It predicts the future, Rogue Trader."
So that explained why it had triggered her precognitions in such a chaotic and harmful way. Though Heinrix's voice retained its coolness, she had grown accustomed enough to the man to hear its underlying tints of desperation.
" Heinrix, are you all right ?" she asked, worried about his state.
He tried to muster a reassuring smile, which was in itself a sign that he wasn't all right at all, and it came out looking more like a grimace. " I'll be fine."
She glared skeptically, but relented.
" It predicts the future…how ?" she wondered aloud. Pasqal was drawing notes as they spoke, while the other members of the retinue stayed carefully away from the abomination. Argenta held her bolted in her hand and stared at the amount of cables in the machinery.
" Do not attempt to gain any insight into the essence of the machine corrupted by the Archennemy, at least, not if you value your soul ! I have encountered the heretics' mechanical corruptions before…to truly fathom their nature is to allow a particle of death into your heart." Heinrix was silent for a few moments. " But the fruit they bear…no matter how abhorrent their instrument, the fruit they bear could be useful."
Elena was ready to snap, unhappy to fall into the same dilemna than before, but Heinrix's eyes suddenly cleared out on his own. He glared angrily at the cogitator. " No. No, the Cult's filthy raving are not worth that. What we can extract from its storage drives will be enough."
" We need to stop the cogitator," she pleaded " for the sake of the people still alive down there !"
Heinrix nodded. " I cannot believe I almost succumbed to the Archennemy's old trick", he muttered. This time, his movements were precise and clear, as the screens of the cogitator fade to black one after the other. Something fought back in the machinery, as Heinrix flinched as if from an electric shock, his head jerking back unnaturally. Then, all the screens exploded at once, showering Elena and her companions in myriad of fragments of glass. They covered their heads out of instinct, and stumbled back as something heinous and vile emerged from the broken cogitator wherein it was hidden.
What emerged from it flew up high to the ceiling, leaving a trail of multi-colored sparks behind it. It emitted a terrible screech that rung to their ears and left them dizzy and confused, disoriented. The demon was big, maybe four times their height. It resembled an aquatic ray, something Elena had never seen but had heard of in Scholastia Pskana . A screamer of Tzeentch, she thought. Know to be merciless hunters, they were most often found in the Immaterium, probing the Gellar fields of voidships for any weak spot. Their powerful jaws were capable of going through metal and armors, and they could tear their preys to pieces in seconds. Fortunately for them, this screamer was alone. It dived down from the ceiling, emitting unnatural arcs of warp lightnings. Elena couldn't get out of the way in time and the arc of electricity entered her body, leaving burning scars on her arm. She stumbled to her knees and Cassia quickly seized her by the armpits and dragged her out of the way of the beast.
Argenta was first to react. " For the glory of the Emperor ! " she yelled in a determined tone, her eyes gleaming as she aimed at the screaming. The demon, agile, dodged most bullets of the bolter.
Heinrix, reinforced by the powers of the warp, slashed at it and the beast rolled on its back. In another screech, it flew past him and back above, avoiding a shot of plasma pistol as it went.
Abelard cursed as he looked at it, unable to reach its target. Another set of crackle : this time, Pasqal was hit by lightning. Fortunately, his heavy implanted-body possessed ways of discharging electrical powers and he released the discharge into the remnants of the cogitator.
The screamer flew by. Argenta and Elena aimed at it, but each time, it managed to dodge.
" Enough of this stupid game", said Cassia, her voice strained with cold anger. " You shall comply to me and you shall stay still !"
The Navigator lifted her headband and the screamer screeched once more as she applied her will to it, moving it from its original direction and attracting it to the ground. The demon contorted helplessly ; Cassia clenched her jaws and stared hard, focusing on maintaining the screamer trapped and unable to move. Pasqal took it down in another shot of plasma pistol, this time hitting its target. Abelard and Heinrix ended it swiftly.
Heinrix stared at the smouldering ashes of the demon, and then at the destroyed ruins of the cogitator. His perpetual frown smoothed out - his face looking almost content. " The creation of Chaos is no more. I hope the Fabricator did not have time to pass on the secrets of this creature to his associates, and I hope the survivors down in the lower levels can hold on until we liberate Kiava Gamma."
" I saw something happen to you when you touched the machine. What was it ?" asked Elena. She felt something was off and wrong with him.
He jerked his head and waved away the question, his movements sharp and unnatural. " We'll talk about this later. But right now…"
His gaze settled on her. " I must thank you, Rogue Trader. Without your help and cooperation, I doubt I would have reached the depths of Kiava Gamma and learned the truth behind my agents' reports. I would have never ended up here. And I would have never succeeded in hampering the Cult's activities. My business on Kiava Gamma is done. It is time to return to the mission that brought you to the industrial world. The only thing I'll ask of you is an audience when we get back on your ship." He bowed his head respectfully, signifying that the conversation was over.
Elena grimaced. " Hmm", she only said. She wasn't happy at all with the lack of response of Heinrix at her questions. It definitely felt as if he was hiding something important from her. But well…he wasn't going to sprout out the truth there, and not in front of her retinue, she knew for sure.
She threw an uncertain, last gaze to the remnants of the cursed machine. It laid destroyed, inoffensive anymore. She tried to picture the inhabitants of Kiava Gamma, stuck in the lowest levels, brought to be disposed of as mere waste, turned to slag as a simple product. What kind of information could the machine extract from human bodies ? What did those people feel, in their last moment of life, as they gazed upon their horrible death ? Did they pray to the God-Emperor then ? Did they curse Theodora's name for not saving them ? The thought haunted her. Should she have come here sooner ?
She turned back to the door. It was time to finish things off with the Fabricator.
They found the Fabricator in the depths of the manufactorum. If anything, the corrupted Tech-priest seemed surprised that they had survived. The fight that ensued had been terrible - the Fabricator had help from a daemon-engine. In the end, they prevailed. Kiava Gamma was supposedly saved. But could it ever recover from these scars ?
Elena looked gravely at her wounds. That last fight hadn't been easy. Pasqal patched her up all right and she could still trot by, but she would keep a few scars from this if her Chief Medic didn't roll her up in rejuvenitas lotion on board. At this rate, maybe getting more implants would indeed be recommended.
Everyone on the team was more or less bruised up and no one was making a particularly good impression. That mission had been exhausting and nerve-breaking. The fight on Janus had been tense, because of the presence of the xeno, but otherwise not so difficult and they had managed to save some victims in the end ; the bodycount hadn't been high to begin with.
But the shit that had been pulled on Kiava Gamma was on another level of madness entirely. They walked back into the now silent halls of the industrial world, walking over the corpses of the corrupted Tech-Priests. There was not a soul to hear or see them. The machines had gone silent, their morbid fabrication cut off. It was like walking in a giant tomb. A world hecatomb.
As they neared the entrance to the port that would allow them to get back on the flagship, a sharp pain erupted in Elena's head - similar to the headache she had felt earlier when closing near to the corrupted cogitator, but on a more powerful scale. This time it wasn't as if something tried to protect itself by diverting her attention and break her mind down in her own curiosity : the thing lashing at her mind had now stopped making pretty distractions and just hammered her down mercilessly. She smelled smoke and burning, and a metallic taste came to her tongue as she realized her nose and ears were bleeding. Her knees felt weak and she fell to the ground. In the same moment, the manufoctorum surrounding her disappeared behind a whirlwind of mist, ashes and grey shadows.
She wasn't sure that someone that was not a psyker would have endured the mental attack. That lash was so powerful that even a trained battle-psyker as she was could only bend with the blow. But she retained her inner fortress, her strength of soul, held on to her sense of self.
She could barely raise her head under the harness of the pressuring elements. Her eyes stung and burnt, but through her own tears, she saw a colossal silhouette rising above. The roaring tempest which had replaced the manufactorum was unable to shake the imposing figure.
She recognized the figure immediately. She had seen this thing before. This ogre, as she called it, for lack of a better word. He was the one she had seen in her vision in Rykad. A Chaos Space Marine…but not merely a simple one ; something that had grown even more twisted and corrupted, if such a thing was possible.
" You. I've seen you before ", she said, her voice sounding weak even to her ears. A sense of life-threatening danger grew inside of her, making her heart race faster. Her long, pale fingers twitched helplessly as she tried to raise her arms above her head - and found herself unable to, as if her own body weighed a ton. Her retinue was nowhere to be found. Had she been snatched away ? Or, more certainly - was it all happening in her mind ?
She tried to get a better look at the figure. It seemed the giant figure wasn't alone - she saw someone behind his back, a more humane form, crumpled like a dog on a leash next to its master. She knew with certainty then that it was that spirit that projected the presence of the ogre through time and space to reach her. She shuddered, understanding that the silhouette was a psyker just as she was - but probably more powerful than her.
There were, of course, people with higher levels of psychic emissions than Elena. She was pretty certain that Idira was one of them. But Elena had been honed to be a weapon for Humanity - safe enough to be handled by whomever saw fit to use her, which meant that she hadn't been picked from the most powerful and crazy ones. Above that, and without that safety, psychic powers could perform just about anything impossible in the universe…and were a greater menace than anything.
The silhouette saw her attempt at discerning its origin and faded back in the tempest. The giant had a brief, cruel smile.
" I am the master of those that have been felled by your hand in the halls of Primordial Truth. I am Uralon the Cruel. The souls of my followers returned to the fount of powers they served, crying out that I cast my eyes on such a sacrilege. And what do I see ? Yet another lackey of the corpse-emperor."
The blasphemy burnt her ears and nearly physically hurt her. A winding, azure symbol, glimmering in the tempest. She retorted, tapping into her inner fieriness :
" I am the master of Kiava Gamma. This is my world, not the domain of Chaos !"
But even to her ears, that sounded more like a whimper than a proud claim.
" Oh, clinging to your illusions will do you no good. The rituals have already been performed. The mortals already sing litanies to the Primordial Truth or decorate the sacrificial altars with their flesh. Kiava Gamma, as you call it, is already saturated in the nectar of the Truth - a fate that awaits all worlds that stand in our way."
" Where am I ? Where have you taken me ?"
" This is the bridge that connects our minds, created by the will of my slave - whose fate you should be envying. The psyker is useful enough to me to be left alive. You…hardly."
She tried to get another look at the silhouette she had seen. She had never been good at telepathy and had never liked this discipline. If she had been, she wouldn't have become a Primaris psyker. She would have been sent out to be an Astropath.
Yet she formed the imprint of words into her mind, hoping that the psyker would catch it up : I can save you from him.
" What do you want from me ?" her voice was blanched from pain.
" I want to gaze upon the one who has disrupted my minions' duties and my master's plan. That warrior from my Legion…the Fabricator…You think of their deaths as a triumph : however it is but a minor hindrance in our path. There are other worlds that serve our goal. There are other sources of plasteel and adamantium. Revel in your victory - it will change nothing."
" I can stop you again", she said, aiming to sound defiant and barely managing to crack the words.
Ularon didn't seem to care at all what she said. He looked at her like someone seizing up the value of a beast.
" Nevertheless, the blood in your veins whisper to the spirits that you warrant a slightly greater deal of attention. Hmmm…yes…" he raised his head, as if sniffing the air. " You are a descendant of the Rogue Trader whose warrant Kunrad Voigtvir was supposed to retrive for me. "
Elena's eyes widened in shock. Kunrad was connected to that ?
" That worm failed in his task", continued Ularon, monologuing along. " Because of you. He lost my favour. Could it be that you wish it to gain it instead ? Do you wish to present the relic of your false god to me and serve the Truth ? Your very blood calls you to serve the one that your kind, in its blindness, calls the Archennemy - what would be the point of such futile defiance ?"
Elena's attention weakened as the shock of Ularon's words seeped into her. It couldn't be true. He must be manipulating her.
Straining every muscle in her body, relying on stubbornness alone, Elena slowly rose up to her feet, straightened, and stared Ularon in the eye, imprinting all her contempt and cold fury in this. In response, Ularon smiled, but there was no mirth in his eyes, only malicious curiosity. The kind with which one looked at an insect with its wings torn off.
But at least she was facing her enemy straight in the eyes and not whimpering on her knees.
" This isn't your first time meddling in the deeds of the servants of Chaos. You were there on Rykad Minoris, and so I want to know if you hold in your hands that which is not yours to hold. And you will tell me yourself."
What was he speaking about ? Elena felt confused, but soon her perplexity was lost in a sudden rush of pain. Ularon uttered a few words in a strange dialect and it felt as if her head was clamped into a vice, ready to explode.
Her blood started pumping alarmingly in her own ears and she felt it flowed even more out of her ears and nose. Her eye sockets seemed ready to implode. It was like reliving a mere fraction of the pain that had sanctioned her when she casted her eyes on the Golden Throne. She smiled through the pain, knowing that it was not a match to the God Emperor's aura. Still…it was powerful enough to kill her.
But the drumming stopped and the pain subsided.
Ularon chuckled.
" Umm…it looks like I'm not the only one who appreciates the value of a pet psyker. I will make good use of your watchdog when my servants get to you. Especially since…" he cackled even more. He must be referring to Heinrix, she thought, but she couldn't see him anywhere. " Especially since the soul of your leashed sorcerer has already been marked by my lord."
A gust of wind dissipated the imposing figure away and the mist disappeared, revealing the walls of the manufactorum. She was not standing up, as she thought she was, but laid with her back on the cold ground. She was left with a lingering sense of oppressive powerlessness. She opened her eyes- when has she closed them ? - into Abelard's face.
" - damn it, I am not losing another Rogue Trader !" was saying her Seneschal. Cassia was kneeling down, holding her cold hand in hers, her dark eyes shining bright with worry. Heinrix was standing beside her, white as a sheet, eyes wide, grimacing. The air around him seemed to roil - and stopped. As he spoke, his voice sounded cracked and hoarse. " That…wasn't easy."
Elena sat up, feeling too dizzy to get back on her feet just yet - but did anyway, out of pride and stubbornness. She staggered on her feet, and Heinrix steadied her one of her arms as Abelard did the other. Abelard's eyes flash with wariness.
" I'm fine", she said, irritated, shaking off their help.
" I sensed the presence of another psyker. Someone made contact with you mentally, then tried to harm you with psykana. I did what I could…at least you look unharmed. Can you remember what you saw ?" asked Heinrix.
Unharmed ? Elena put a hand to her face, feeling for the blood that she thought was oozing out of her ears. Nothing. She had no trace of the mental assault. It had all been in her mind. Of course it had been in her mind. Why was she still feeling confused ?
" You mean none of you saw or heard anything", she stated. Which was both a good and a bad thing. Good thing, because the things Ularon had said would put her in a very precarious position. Bad thing, because the confusion and fatigue she felt troubled her judgment. She wasn't at her best. She wasn't able to think things straight.
" It was a Chaos Space Marine," she began. " I'm sure he was the one I saw in a vision back in Rykad Minoris."
" A most terrible news. But I don't think it was he who grasped your mind", Heinrix said. " I wouldn't have the strength to go against a psyker from the ranks of these monsters. He might have forced some mortals to do his bidding. Perhaps it was through the same hapless medium he felt the death of his servants. Such indescriptible power…to have reached out to your mind at such a distance…"
Elena could only nod along, troubled as well by the thought and the implication. Such a person was bound to be extremely dangerous.
" Hold on", she added, frowning. Her head felt dizzy. She forced the nausea back. " He said that the soul of the psyker who served me was marked by his lord." She looked at Heinrix, waiting for his answer. A shadow passed over his face - astonishment, anger, and unease. " Most likely, our enemies wanted to sow doubt among your allies" he replied. " If I were a follower of the Archennemy, would I have thought for your soul ? Don't trust a word enemies of the Imperium say, Rogue Trader, lest you put your own soul at risk."
She bit her lips, irritated. It wasn't the first time Heinrix had been deviating her questions and there was something shady with it. No point in insisting for now.
She hesitated to share the last piece of information Ularon had said, but felt compelled to anyway. It was too significant to ignore.
" He…said something about Theodora. About how the blood in my veins will lead me to serve Chaos." It wasn't easy to get it out. She thought about the Sentinel, about the Warrant, about the way Kunrad needed her blood, about the Cult, about Theodora. There was something in the past that she had no knowledge of, a secret of her dynasty, that linked all of this together somehow.
Argenta, who'd been watching all of this intensely, paled and made the sign of the Aquila to ward off evil. The sign ordinary laymen made in order to chase away witches - psykers. Elena glared back sternly, vexed. No one made a reassuring gesture - concern and wariness passed over her companions' face.
She knew then that she would be alone to face her own fate. As she'd always been. In the end, who would stand by a voidborn psyker's side anyway ? She looked away, flushed.
She felt Heinrix's eyes studying her face closely, either with surprise or anger, she wasn't sure. " I see", he said, breaking the silence. " We can theorize later - although I will say, Rogue Trader, that his words do not leave much room for interpretation. "
She glared back. She thought that he was a damn hypocrite, but refrained from expressing her anger aloud.
" What does what this traitor to Humanity say matter ?" intervened Abelard. " Let's get back to the ship. We all have wounds to tend to."
She had to admit it was true. Her head still felt dizzy and she was clearly not at her best. She nodded and, in silence, they made their way back to the ship.
There, she had to decide what to do with Kiava Gamma.
She sat on her throne, trying to evaluate her options. They had cut off the head of the heretics and ended their morbid production - and they received vox signals, from across the planet, of smaller manufactorums that hadn't fallen into chaos.
Yet, could they be sure that they had released the whole planet from its taint ? She thought back on what Ularon had said, taunting her. On the cogitator processing thousands of human people turned into waste. On the corrupted Tech-Priests cutting up their own flesh. On Rykad, and how the thought of it had haunted her mind after her fateful choice not to exterminate the world.
She couldn't abide herself to restore the manufactorum just yet. It was too dangerous. She ordered for troops and priests to be deployed on the ground and purge whatever remaining heretics they could find. Kiava Gamma would not produce anything just yet ; it needed to be scrubbed down and purged first. The process would take time.
She also had a debrief with the High priest of the Cenobium. Elena had hoped for the reactor to be installed upon Kiava Gamma, and the saved Tech-priest from Rykad to find their place there. However, she could not allow them to settle just yet, not as long as the dangers of the scrap-code were still around. The High priest hadn't been happy, but he had understood her decision. The Cenobium would still have to wait.
That put closure to this page of her adventure. And opened up a lot more loads of questions.