– Grantis –
They reached Grantis a few hours after Scalander tipped them off.
True to her words, Elena had swapped Pasqal for Yrliet on this excursion. According to Achilleas, the drukharis would have swept over a jungle planetoid called Grantis, mainly used by wealthy families as a resort station. The planet itself belonged to the Winterscale protectorate, but there was no sign of any wardens or enforcers in sight.
The augurs on the flagship pinpointed an area of activity, where their scans picked up flight and transport vehicles - xenos one. Firing on the vehicles with the flagship wouldn't do - that would scar the planet and Winterscale might demand explanations and, to some extent and more terrifyingly in Abelard's opinion, financial compensations .
Considering she was going to scope by his planet, preferably unnoticed, Elena had to lay low and not make things explode from a distance. Underwhelming, to be sure, but necessary to keep the peace.
In the last few days, both Heinrix and Yrliet, for different reasons, have taken great care of avoiding her aboard the ship. Now they acted as if nothing special had happened - though there was something a bit different in their posture. Yrliet looked more bitter than usual, and Elena had pointedly chosen not to evoke what she had seen during her psychometry trance to her.
As for Heinrix, though he remained impassive as ever, she could just feel the pull between them growing in intensity. His presence at her side seemed more vibrant, decisive, and, in truth, distracting. There were slight changes in his body language that she picked up on. She found it more difficult to keep a straight face when he was close either. Thoughts of their shared kiss parasites her mind in a pleasantly haunting way. She wondered if anyone else on the retinue had noticed these changes - and, upon noticing Abelard's severe look at Heinrix as he sat next to her, understood that some had indeed.
They landed over a beach, down by a cliff, taking care to avoid coming in range of the drukhari vehicles. They would have to sabotage them by hand - in the unlikely case that they somehow managed not to get sighted by the enemies. Considering the layout of the environment, Elena doubted that. Their shuttle was pretty in-your-face. Still, to her disappointment, no one tried to ambush her on the spot.
Grantis was a beautiful world. The skies were colored in purple, soothing hues, the sun setting down over the waves of the sea lazily. It evoked peace, luxury. Surely the families that had been enjoying the setting hadn't expected to be put down, mutilated and tortured to death by xenos.
Elena's gaze turned out to the corpses littering the beach. Their blood dribbled in thin lines over the sand. The horrified expression of a teenager boy looked back at her, his terror and pain carved in his face as the rigor mortis took hold of his body. His abdomen was opened up and his intestines had been used to strangle what could possibly be his sister, judging from the similarities, though it was hard to say through all the cuts and gouging eyes.
There was probably no need to go through with the gory and gruesome description. A dozen people were lying there, their bodies desecrated in multiple, ingenious ways that Elena would have never thought about and would have very much liked to never have to think about either. There were things you could do with vertebrae that her human mind refused to even consider. She steeled her will, forcing herself to remain composed. She had a feeling the encounter to come would require her to make a show of willpower in order to rein the cold anger that was fueling her from the inside. Her calm was faltering in the face of such atrocities.
The blank gaze of the teenager boy cut through her memories. Looking at the corpse, she was reminded of the teachings of her past.
– Past –
Unidentified Hive-city -
The Arbites looked her up skeptically as Mistress Maria ushered her into the morgue.
" She's just a child", the old man said, his hoarse voice cracking through his artificial respirator.
" She's not a child, she's a tool ", corrected Maria steadily. " Besides, some ground training will do her good."
A young, teenage Elena scanned her environment. Her head was wired with cables and warp crystals, giving her an off-putting look that obviously repulsed the Arbites. She had no idea why Mistress Maria had decided to pull her out of Scholastia Psykana (because Lady Maria had that kind of authority and power), and why she had dragged her all the way across the nearest hive city to this…dump. She was educated enough to recognize the old man facing her so dubiously as an Arbites, but that was pretty much all.
" Fine. Let's see what she can do, then. I hope her head is not gonna explode. "
The Arbites shrugged indifferently, and pushed over a table whose wheels squeaked pitifully. Over the table laid the remnants of what had been a pretty looking young girl, a bit older than she was. Her nose had been broken and she had no teeth. Also, her skin had fallen out, as if her face got peeled somehow. Elena had to fight the urge to vomit - she didn't wish to embarrass Maria in front of this…colleague ? informant ? The youngling winced as she refrained the urge of emotions and disgust.
" Six one in a row. This time the governor's own daughter. He's been on my ass ever since, but the investigation is reaching a dead-end." The Arbites paused. " Hence why I called in that favor from you, Your Ladyship."
" Of course. As you very well know, I like to keep an eye on things. What happened to the governor's family is a real tragedy. It is my duty to assist in finding out the culprits by any means necessary."
" I'll leave you to it", said the Arbites, giving them some space.
The words were nice, Elena supposed, but Maria sounded like she was just going through the motions and did not really care about that poor mutilated noble girl.
Well, she didn't care much either, but she had a job to do. Next to the lacerated corpse had been displayed various objects and possessions of hers. Elena took the girl's cold hand in hers - she'd been dead for a few hours now, and the girl's ghost in the Immaterium had already vanished. Yet all dead souls left a trace of echoing feelings for a few hours after death. If one was quick enough to grab onto it, it could guess at who they were and what their last instants had been like. The impressions were often imprecise, too saturated with pain to exploit them. The objects, though, or the remnants of a scene could provide more useful information. It required time - hours of it, to decipher through the threads of another's one life. It could not be done under pressure nor in an emergency.
" Remember, child : it is important to dissociate your mind into the part that weaves the psykana and the one that experiences inputs from external consciousness and emotional reactions ", said Maria. " Emotions are the scourge of your brethren. Anger, fear, despair, sadness, grief, desire, ambition, should be envisioned as fleeting flames igniting purely physical reactions. They should never engulf your spirit. Your mind must be a fortress upon which the waves of emotions break. In time, you shall learn how to store their energy away to use them without losing yourself. For now, erase them. Do repeat the technique your professor has been teaching you."
Maria sat nearby, observing her from the corner of her eyes as she started working on her own reports.
Dutifully, Elena focused on studying the corpse, hunting after the tracks the governor's daughter had left behind her. A feeling of joy and delight over her personal diary, gifted by her father on her birthday. A shared secret with her brother and the argument that had drawn them apart inevitably. The excruciating pain of claws tearing up at her flesh. The hot, frantic flash of panic and the complete and absolute powerlessness. A breath of fresh air as she paraded in the garden. All those feelings passed her mind by, like a river running through her fingers. They were not anchored in time, free from the need of the human soul to cement a cohesive narrative about itself.
They flew freely, unrelated, chaotically, like a kaleidoscope. The young psyker whimpered as she tried to focus hard on the objects, on the dead girl's very faint traces of essence. The pain of the final hours of the victim kept running on her nerves ; Elena felt it in her own flesh, the violation and mutilation of it, but from a distance, as if it was far away. Still, a mere slip of focus and she could fall into it, suddenly convincing her nerves and brains that she was living through a memory that wasn't hers to begin with. Psychometry was deemed a very useful talent. But it exacted a taxing price on diviners exhausting their mind. She needed to maintain the dissociation, the balance of focus and composure needed to poke at the fleeting memories without losing her own sense of self and identity in the process. Insanity was the curse of the diviners, thus Maria had warned her. But she was still young. It would be years before that.
After hours of taxing work, lost in a meditative psychic trance, Elena finally got useful information out of the corpse and its material possessions. The face of the one that had murdered the girl - one of the last things the dead brain of the victim had seen, imprinted with enough fear to echo still. Especially considering there was an emotional root within linking her to her torturer.
She took great care of closing up the connection slowly and cautiously, fending the excruciating pain away, unwinding the threads of a past that was not hers. They said sometimes, if you were too quick and reckless, figments of other soul's imprints could stay with you, leading you into madness. Not an enviable fate.
As she was sure that she had put back everything where it belonged, Elena emerged from her transe, shivering. She was cold, anxious, and felt terribly sick. Navigating death in such a manner was demanding and dangerous. But her face hadn't fallen off, she was still herself and her head hadn't exploded. So she was all right by a psyker's standard.
Noticing her return, Maria lifted up her eyes from her reports. " Arbites", she called. The old man had been busy contemplating another body - an older one. Elena would not have been able to gather much information from this empty shell of flesh.
" The girl was killed by someone she knew. Ties of flesh, love and blood are the stronger ones to echo in one's life. The betrayal of a brother is enough to mark a soul forever ", she said placidly.
The Arbites frowned, narrowing his eyes. " Gibberish and dangerous talk. How do you dare accuse the governor's honored son ? "
Elena said nothing, turning towards Maria. Her mistress looked at her gravely. People rarely responded well to divination, even when they were the ones asking for the answer. Elena was used to people not believing her. Maria had been the only one to pay attention to her….even if, deep down, Elena knew she was just a useful tool to her mistress.
" I believe, Arbites, that you have your answer", cut Maria. " That settles our little deal, wouldn't you say ? The rest of the case is in your hands. Go through with this clue and tell me what comes of it. If the girl is right, I shall want for her to get more training in this charming morgue of yours. And if she's wrong, then I shall oversee proper punishment. I believe that settles your case….?"
" Fine", the old man relented, his eyes glinting with both interest and disgust. " We'll test that theory."
Maria left the morgue, Elena trailing along. The Lady looked ever so elegant in her pretty clothes and jewels, her chestnut hair catching the dying light of the day. The young girl looked at her in wonder and wished she would one day be like her.
" You did good, pup", said Maria after a while.
The teenage girl beamed. " I hear and obey, Mistress Maria", she replied dutifully.
" It is such a good thing that I looked out for you on the Black Ship. You are certainly a helpful little thing, are you not ?" Maria extended a hand and tipped at one of her cervical implants. The tapping resonated into Elena's skull painfully. " These will have to go. They set you apart too much. I'm going to need you to be more discreet. Plus - " as if manipulating a pet, Maria pulled at a short lock of pale blonde hair " - we don't want you to look like a scarecrow. Not with such a charming hair color. Did you inherit that from your mother's side, perchance ? "
" I don't know. I have never known her", replied Elena, feeling confused.
Maria had a crooked, knowing smile. She knew more than she let on about her pupil's origin, such was certain. " She was insignificant. But you, dear pup, are not. It is such a good thing that you were delivered to my care. Now, now. Let's walk back in silence, shall we ? "
Some of her companions managed to keep their cool. Heinrix showed no expression, gazing critically over the bodies - it wasn't new to him. Though something flickered in Yrliet's green eyes, it was quickly extinguished and she didn't seem that surprised at the sight they were greeted with.
Abelad had blanched, his hands tightening severely over the hilt of his sword. Argenta put a knee down on the ground, praying as she removed the intestines away from the corpses, giving them a more dignified position.
" We don't have time for this, Sister", intervened Heinrix, his voice unusually soft and understanding.
" But we have to do something ! We can't leave them like this ! " Argenta's voice quivered with fury.
Cassia had recoiled from the scenes and leant her back against the cliff, covering her nose with her shawl. " Just standing there makes me feel filthy ", she said. " Let's go somewhere else."
" Those filthy xenos are still lingering somewhere", said Abelard, scanning their surroundings. " We shall do right by these poor fellows by cutting them down where they stand."
" Do not let yourselves be blinded by anger and vengeance. Affecting your judgment and provoking you is the purpose of this whole…exhibition", replied Heinrix, remaining composed and dispassionate in appearance - but Elena's keen insight could see the angry twitch of his lips.
Yrliet tilted her head, eyeing at the righteous wrath painted on the expression of Sister Argenta and the look of distance in Elena's glassy face. In her eerie, ethereal voice, the Aeldari said with lingering contempt :
" The drukharis feed on pain and anger. They exact the most terrible torture on their captives, merely in order to satiate their hungering souls. Cursed by She Who Thirst, they know nothing but to hunt and mutilate. Thus they escape their misery by passing it on to another. They act as parasites. Nothing is more exquisite to them than causing distress. Instead of taking the path to self-control, they chose to revel in their base instincts. Your grief and anger will only make them stronger. One needs to be still around them, standing calm in the eye of the storm."
Yrliet's speech left Argenta and Abelard stunned, as they turned towards her with a confused expression. They had never expected the xenos to understand and share their anger at seeing those corpses - nor to be able to demonstrate advice and reason in the face of this threat…even, to her retinue's surprise, hints of empathy. Elena could swear she saw something new wavering in Argenta's eyes as the Sister looked at the ranger.
Heinrix said nothing, assessing the xenos with an inscrutable expression.
Elena cleared her throat softly. " Then still and ruthless we shall be, as our hands will not shake when time comes to strike down our foes." She put a knee to the ground, joining Argenta for a second, and kindly helped her "clean" the gory mess by taking off her cloak and putting it over the corpses. " There. That's all we can do for now. We'll take care of them later." She rose up.
Argenta refrained from a shiver and followed Elena's lead, getting up, her face closing up dangerously. Her hand clasped in the aquila sign, as she whispered to herself : "They shall be shown no mercy."
They fell silent for the rest of the walk, heading to the top of the cliff towering over the sea. Birds were chirping pleasantly in the trees. The sun was dying out now, its light bubbling up over the horizon in what should have been a spectacle of beauty - but none of them were in the mood to appreciate it. The corpses got rarer as they climbed up, mainly because the raiders must have run out of preys at this point. The resort planet had obviously welcomed a noble family from the Winterscale protectorate and its servants on a sea holiday. They stopped checking the corpses. The possessions of the nobles had been rampaged through with utter disrespect and cruelty, debasing everything they had or were.
They arrived at the top of the cliff, where a large tent had been disposed over a terrace giving a viewpoint to the sea. On the other side of the cliff laid the drukhari's vehicles. The raiders were there, forming a circle around the one that could be their leader. As the Rogue Trader made her way, the drukhari lifted his strange, horribly-looking gun to the face of a whimpering man begging for mercy - from his clothes and medals, probably the father and head of the noble family. The man fell dead head first into the dust, his face pierced through by tiny needles. His body still contorted itself, like a spider who'd just been crushed.
The drukharis didn't seem in a hurry to fight them. The most frenzied-looking ones were eyeing Elena and her retinue with bloodlusting interest, but their attention was quickly drawn to the Aeldari standing besides Elena. Yrliet pressed her lips together, a mask of calm over her pale face, as she found herself the object of her dark cousins' attention.
There was only one drukhari who wasn't enthralled by Yrliet's appearance, and didn't look ready to snap in frenzy in the upcoming second. The leader who'd just executed his victim swiftly turned towards them, and, after a brief, mocking glance at Yrliet, focused on Elena - as if he knew what he was looking for.
Elena observed his silhouette as the slender drukhari put back his pistol on his hip. Just as Yrliet, he was built with a sense of elasticity and slenderness that her human mind had trouble understanding ; he moved as if he possessed too many articulations, with uncanny speed. Clad entirely in ornate black armor, his face had high, imperious cheek bones, and red lines covered his right eye. Elena had no idea if those were paintings, tattoos, or blood splatters, and if those lines were cosmetic or symbolic. Behind her, Yrliet hissed slowly, assessing the drukhari with cold eyes.
His thin lips turned into a crooked, unpleasant smile upon noticing her gaze. His voice, sounding oddly grave from such a slender body, breached the night in a mastered Low Gothic : " At last. You took your time coming to meet me, mon-keigh."
So she was right in her assessment that this wretched creature did want to meet with her and expected her. She frowned. Why would the thing have an interest in her ? Weren't those raiders supposed to be pillaging through without any real plans ?
Elena silently locked gaze with the distasteful drukhari - as a sense of familiarity engulfed her. It was like looking at the face of an old nemesis. She had seen him in a vision before, she was sure of it. Something meaningful - the one when she had walked on Dargonus, transformed into a tomb, with the threads and the hooks. She felt certain that this wretched thing had been there, on the periphery of the threads - still, connected to her somehow. Looking at his face turned her stomach with a sense of primal menace no one had ever infused in her before. Actually, Elena was surprised at herself. There were very few things that actually frightened her. This creature…just sent off every alarm in her reptilian brain.
She hoped she managed to hide the flicker of recognition and fear that the precognition had inspired her.
By her side, Abelard paled with fury : " Hold your tongue, blasted fiend ! No xenos dares use such a tone with the Emperor's chosen !"
The xeno tilted his head to the side. " Why ? I sent an invitation - through the means of the cattle that dwelled on this world - and the 'chosen' have come so obediently - how are my words anything but the truth ?"
That sent her teeth gritting. She tried to remember to stay still and calm.
" We've met before, haven't we ?" she asked, putting in an effort to remain dispassionate about this meeting.
" You ruined the reception that our poor little Tazarra had worked so hard to arrange", replied the drukhari with a crooked smile. " Now it is the Succubus' dream to drag you to Commorragh and have her way with you. What a terrible disappointment it would be for her if something were to happen to you before then…but we should not get ahead of ourselves, yes ? First, mon-keigh, allow me to get a good look at you."
The xenos examined her, as if she was some sort of cattle. Elena found it disgusting, but raised an eyebrow as she took a step forward, to Abelard's instant hostile reaction. For now, the other drukharis were observing the scene - listening to their leader. Maybe the xenos would have something interesting to say amongst his quirks. She took another step forward without their leader showing any reaction to her advance. On a sign of her, her retinue stayed where they were, unpleased. She calculated in her mind the quicker way to draw her weapon and shoot at the leader. Maybe she'd be better off using her pyromancy directly.
" There is deplorably little to distinguish you from the rest of your dull-witted species", commented the xenos. It was a miracle that Abelard didn't explode on the spot. " And yet, mon-keigh…you are different. After all, you are from the caste of their rulers, are you not ? 'Rogue Trader' - that is what they call you ? Well, then, Rogue Trader, since you nevertheless deigned to come to this meeting, tell me your little secret. How is it that you, out of all your kind, are the only one to discover our feasts in advance ? Usually, you are all so slow and sluggish that my kin always have enough time to leave the battlefield before aid arrives. But still, time and time again, your dogs have been there to stand in the Kabal's way."
Elena thought back on Achilleas's reports. Maybe Heinrix was right and she'd been too harsh and paranoid over him after all ; it seems even drukhari were impressed by the spy's work.
" That thing is perceptive", murmured Heinrix. She noticed the hint of worry in his voice - it was rare enough to be significant.
Elena tilted her head.
" I hope you are not seriously hoping for me to reveal my tricks to you", she replied in a dead voice. " You'd be thoroughly disappointed."
The xenos looked at her imperiously, with a hint of distaste and uninterest in his eyes.
" I will tell you this, mon-keigh…" His tone now sounded bored. " You may be trying to hide things from me…or simply lying, or even unaware of who is guiding your hand. In any case, I have grown tired of your attempts at delaying the inevitable. Let us put an end to this. Finish this standoff. My forces against yours. Once and for all. Let us meet at the Cinerus Maleficum. That is where our dispute will be settled. The Kabal of the Reaving Tempest and I, Marazai, its Archon, will be waiting for you, mon-keigh - do not come unarmed."
Reaving Tempest…something clicked inside her mind, as the words of Idira came back to her. So, this must be the one the troubled diviner had warned her about. She narrowed her eyes, focusing on her psychic powers to call forth the flames.
" Why go anywhere ?" she replied evenly. " I can kill you right here, right now."
The drukhari dismissed that. " Naive little beast. I won't be soiling my blades with your guts today. My subjects, however…they will gladly amuse themselves with you, mon-keigh."
Elena didn't wait anymore for shooting a molten beam of fire at the drukhari. He'd apparently seen through her intent and managed to dodge out of the way, to her annoyance. Very rare were the foes agile enough to avoid her timely attacks.
" Don't let him get away ! Yrliet, take him down ! " she ordered. The next second, all hell broke loose as the bunch of drukhari lept at her. With a last taunting smile, Marazai dashed off behind the horde.
It did cross Elena's mind that rushing through dozens of drukharis to pursue her prey was completely crazy and risky, and that she should probably not do it.
However, the thought crossed her mind as she was already hurling herself down the path. In times like these, something primal, primitive took hold of her brain. The chase was on. And so she ran.
She was agile enough to dash through the drukhari frontline, probably surprising even them with her suicidal attempt. Dodging an incoming blow by rolling on the ground, she got a good sighting of where the drukhari's vehicles were. On Vheabos, the drukhari had fled, but not using space - what kind of sorcery were they using to travel, she wondered ?
" Elena, be careful !" That was Yrliet's voice. She heard a vibration in the air - and a wynch's head exploded as the leaping form of the attacker slumped forward, her weapons clinking uselessly on the ground. It seemed Yrliet had favored saving the Rogue Trader's life over taking down the drukhari leader, opposing her order.
She clicked her vox angrily as she gained speed. " I told you to take him down ! What do you think you're doing, Yrliet ?"
" Keeping you alive, as much as you seem enthralled by a death wish ! "
Elena supposed that the frustration Yrliet's heroism caused her was somewhat similar to what she herself regularly inflicted upon Abelard and Heinrix. They did spend an awful amount of time making a sour face at her, as she was now making at Yrliet.
No time to quarrel with the Aeldari now, and the ranger had indeed saved her life with this superb shot. Elena threw herself down the path. The voidborn was agile and quick, but the drukhari was even more. She was falling behind, but managing to keep him in her line of sight. However, she was herself trailed by parts of the group of raiders, who in turn were chased down by her retinue - her companions doing the best they could at keeping her alive. It was an…interesting pursuit.
Elena took another shot at the fleeing drukhari. This time, she managed to graze him. That earned her a few shots in her back - she dodged some, but the weird needles-like pistols that managed to touch her left her feeling impaired as she started suffocating from the nerve toxins the drukharis so much enjoyed. She wasn't going to be able to stop the leader from running away. She thought she saw a sniper shot at Marazai - that he dodged gracefully in an infuriating way.
Groaning, Elena took her focus back on the vehicles and called forward the Immaterium, turning the seeping presence of the empyrean through the veil into flames as she aimed at the tanks. It resulted in a fiery explosion, whose waves sent her down on the ground.
Ultimately, it didn't matter. Marazai had managed to vanish into thin air, taking advantage of the resulting chaos. The burning vehicles barely seemed to cause the drukharis any setbacks. Her retinue had succeeded in eliminating most of them, and Argenta was now exacting vengeance upon those that survived her first round of fire.
" Where did he go !" snarled Elena, scrambling back to her feet like a cat. Her voice sounded slurred because of the toxins. She grabbed at a few needles in her shoulders and tore them out in a howl of pain. She scanned the environment, switching to witch-sight and attuning to her diviner's senses. Marazai was nowhere to be spotted.
Yrliet ran to her side, checking her wounds with a critical expression. " It was brave of you to try to stop him ", she said. " But Archons have the power to travel with…unusual means.."
" What do you mean ? Where is he ? We needed to take him down ! I told you to take him down ! Do you know what is to come now ? For me ? For all of us ? Idira told us to stop him ! It was important ! Next time I give you an order, Aeldari, you better be executing it ! " Elena was hissing unpleasantly, her precognition making her heart pulse painfully in her chest now, as her agitation grew. It was very rare for her to lose her temper, even more at the expense of a companion.
Yrliet looked surprised and vexed at her outlash. Her face turned icy as, at last second, the xenos stopped herself from speaking out, in a show of composure that put the Rogue Trader to shame. The xenos had never seen her like that before, and never towards her. Elena had always been patient and respectful with her. It certainly was…disturbing. Elena immediately regretted her words, conscious that she couldn't take them back now.
Only those that were with her on Rykad could recognize the pattern of growing agitation and nervousness - she had acted the same way before the planet fell into Chaos. Upon seeing her retinue's expression, Elena inhaled deeply, mustering enough will to tame down her flash of anger and emotions in a second, as if it was nothing. The rapidity with which she threw away her feelings seemed to unsettle her retinue even more. Only Heinrix remained unfazed - he looked her straight in the eyes, with something both grave and comforting in his expression. It did succeed in soothing her down somewhat.
" Fine. I'll guess I'll just have to deal with it myself, since none of you proved themselves useful today", she said, completely unfairly, her voice like ice in the air. " Let's take care of the bodies and go back to the ship."
– von Valancius flagship –
Following the events on Grantis, Elena had ordered a meeting with her officers and retinue to course their next plot of action.
Cassia and Ravor were bent over a map of the Koronus Expanse, estimating the time it would take them to chart a route towards the Cinerus Maleficum. Heinrix was standing close to Elena, lost in thought, saying nothing. Abelard was busy assessing the state of the ship's machinery with Pasqal. Yrliet hadn't been invited. All the other important people of the ship were lingering by, some of them clueless as to the situation, others having a pretty good idea what to expect.
" It's a trap", said Idira firmly. The psyker ignored Argenta and Heinrix's glances and straightened up, with a crooked laugh erupting from her lips. " But then everywhere she goes she finds herself in a cage made out of hooks and threads. Through the roads of thorns she walks, while others scream in the dark for her name - no help shall come to them. Wicked, wicked, wicked things do come around in the end, don't they ? The strings and the threads…all played like some kind of instrument. "
That certainly put a chill in the room. Elena kept a straight face, locking gaze with the diviner. A shiver went up her spine and her hands started getting sweaty at Idira's words - a finger twitching uncontrollably, as if pulled by a string from afar.
" Idira", said Abelard sternly, looking up from his report. He scanned the environment for any danger, as he usually did when the cryptic psyker delivered a warning. " Speak clearly, I implore you. None can understand this gibberish !"
But Elena thought she did. The diviners locked gazes as a sense of understanding grew between them.
" As I've said", said Idira, finally replying to Abelard, " this meeting is a trap. They will be waiting for you there. But you cannot bypass it. Whatever path you take…you shall find yourself in a trap or another. "
" Damn drukharis", cursed Ravor under his breath. " Of course they'll be waiting for us there. I bet they are gathering quite the fleet in there. While we only have one frigate. It is suicide to meet them ! "
" They could also be planning something else. Distracting you while aiming at another target", mused Heinrix. " Though such a strategy is rather uncommon in them." He looked out at the map, thinking.
" Pattern of xenos's actions is…unlogical," commented Pasqal. " First they attacked Vheabos, a von Valancius world at the edge of the Expanse. Now they attack Grantis, a Winterscale world in the middle of the system. They do not appear to have the means or the fleets to pose a real threat, relying on raiding tactics. Still, it is impossible to extrapolate a cohesive plan from skirmishes so random. Most probably, we are faced with different factions locked in a struggle for power. "
" I fear the Chief Enginseer is right," sighed Cassia, " no clear strategy can be extracted from the xenos' behavior. It is likely they try to go after the Rogue Trader herself - twice now they have met with her, and they did mention an interest in exacting vengeance over you by abducting you into their world, Lord Captain. "
" Hmm", replied Elena in a distant manner, crossing her arms as she studied the map. It allowed her to hide away her now trembling fingers as reminiscences of the primal dread she had felt when meeting Marazai engulfed her once more. She wasn't afraid of much in her life, as Rogue Trader ought to be. So why did she feel now like a powerless child ?
" They could be going after Dargonus", ventured Janrus. " The capital world is far away from the Cinerus Maleficum…but quite close to Vheabos, from where the first attack originated."
" What would happen if we don't go the Cinerus ? I mean, do we have to go there ?" asked Jae, tilting her head. " We could just go back to Dargonus and survey the system."
" And what ? Leave the xenos to roam in peace in the sector ?" groaned Abelard. " If they are gathering a fleet, we have to take it down. It is our sacred duty."
" But they could be lying to us. Maybe there's no one there. Then we would look like complete fools standing with our pants down the whole way across the system while they're free to pillage through the other worlds", replied Jae snarkingly.
Abelard made a gesture for them to simmer down. " Master van Calox", he said, turning to the Interrogator, " do you have any way to correlate this information ?
" According to my informants," said Heinrix slowly, " there is some activity in the system. There is no way to confirm the extent of it without going there personally." He did seem hesitant.
Abelard turned towards Elena, who was listening to them all intently. " Lord Captain, what shall we do ? Should we pursue the xenos to the Cinerus Maleficum, or standby ?"
Elena absent-mindedly extended her hand and traced circles over the map with her fingernails - circles breaking themselves into spirals. Pasqal stopped what he was doing, eyeing the geometric pattern with unusual interest and a curious light in his flesh eye.
" Both of these solutions lead to painful and dangerous outcomes ", she finally said, her voice distant, as if coming from afar. " But we're no strangers to danger or pain, are we ? Seneschal, set course to the Cinerus Maleficum. Vigdis, send words for my worlds to reinforce their defense and protection. The Emperor protects."
Personal note on the story, taking into account the release of the game (yeehay)
Hey ! So, as you know, I've started up this fanfic during the beta, while waiting for the final version of the game.
I hope I haven't fallen too far from the tone of the game, happy with some scenes that proved aligned with the characters in the end (talking books with Cassia comes to mind.) However, I would probably have to put the fic on hold in, let's say, a few chapters - in order to catch up with the actual events of the game, and maybe do some retcon and modifications if need be.
Funnily enough, I haven't even gotten to the scenes that I actually wanted to narrate first when beginning the fic (act III scenes, some other romance scenes coming up.) Hopefully they'll still make sense and not be too outdated ^^
Personal note on the story, taking into account the release of the game (yeehay)
Hey ! So, as you know, I've started up this fanfic during the beta, while waiting for the final version of the game.
I hope I haven't fallen too far from the tone of the game, happy with some scenes that proved aligned with the characters in the end (talking books with Cassia comes to mind.) However, I would probably have to put the fic on hold in, let's say, a few chapters - in order to catch up with the actual events of the game, and maybe do some retcon and modifications if need be.
Funnily enough, I haven't even gotten to the scenes that I actually wanted to narrate first when beginning the fic (act III scenes, some other romance scenes coming up.) Hopefully they'll still make sense and not be too outdated ^^