D049. Y977. M31. MI60
The Galaxia Inquisition was a galaxy wide spanning organization and along with seven other organizations was officially known as a Disjointed Organization, these eight organizations did practically all of the governance for the central government and thus had a huge amount of influence across the galaxy, this was especially true within the Sector of Juskium.
This sector was considered strategically important to the Federation as it was a sector that bordered the Domain and thus had been fortified and reinforced over many millennia by both the Federation military, which had in the last few hundred thousand years become as corrupt and incompetent as the senate, and by the more competent and less corrupt Inquisition.
But a major roadblock had been the Senate which due to the aforementioned corruption had refused to give the sector more resources citing 'constitutional reasons', so to do this expansion quite a few concessions had been made to the Administratius and the Martian Citadel so that the necessary equipment and supplies could be made available to equip these expansions of the Sector Fleet and Sectory Army.
These large-scale efforts also allowed for the expansion of many of the local PDF's who were not usually allowed to have large militaries in case of rebellion or chaos related treason, even so these reforms were usually only given to the large planets whose loyalty could be perpetually confirmed, thus excluding smaller systems.
However to make use of this larger than constitutionally allowed military force effectively they had to know where the enemy was, as such the Inquisition had a number of what were known as GRDF stations (Galactic, Range and Direction Finding) scattered throughout the Juskium Sector.
Not only could these stations be found in the Juskium Sector but they were very common throughout the galaxy within Federation territory, this stations however even with advanced A.I that protected them from Chaos and lingering Rangden still needed living people to crew them, this is how Operation Specialists John Sumium found himself on one of these stations near the Molech subsector.
John was currently staring at the radar screen, with his feet kicked up on the console and his chair leaned back, he was tired from his long shift and getting some comfort was the only way he could really make it through this without going insane, but all this time he spent sitting he gave him a lot of time to think.
'As a young, healthy 197 year old man' John thought, when he was a kid he had imagined at this point in his life he would be an adventurer, that he would go and see Terra the birthplace of Humanity, Mcragge the home of the Eternal Chairman and Primarch Roboute Guilliman, see the wonders of Olympia or even discover some corner of the galaxy that Humanity had not seen yet.
'But life doesn't really care for anybody's wants now does it?' He thought as he stared at the green line that perpetually went in a circle around a small metal dot, during his life John had always thought that life had purpose, that it held value and that his views were shared by others and the government.
'War really does give you another perspective doesn't it?' John thought back to before he was assigned to his current post, when he was drafted by his homeworld's government to fight in some war that he couldn't give a rat's ass about, but one he needed to fight in to survive.
It was on that forgotten dust ball that he had learned how the establishment truly felt about humans life 'like numbers on some statistic sheet' he thought, it was painfully obvious that their high command in the Federation Navy, Army and Air Force were a bunch of rich brats who didn't know the first thing about military combat.
Their behavior was something that John would describe in one word, disgusting, they had him and his fellow soldiers wade on them hand and foot to be their servants really, not only that but they had no mind for strategy resulting in horrendous casualties to a enemy that was outnumbered, outgunned and technologically inferior.
How he survived that he really had no idea, but he did and soon the Inquisition showed up, the inquisitor that had taken command quickly disposed of the corrupt high command via public executions and public communal beatings by the soldiers.
At the time John had the perception that what the Inquisitor had done was illegal, being that the Federation Army and the Inquisition were separate Organizations, but now that he was in the service of the Inquisition he knew that those actions had probably been approved by the local Sector Council beforehand.
While John would also consider these actions barbaric, (as any rational person would) at that point they had gotten so many of his comrades killed with their snobby and out of touch attitudes that he really didn't care, it also got the job done, and these days John knew that to survive in this galaxy you needed to be brutal to your enemies.
Soon after that the army he was apart of would transition over to the jurisdiction of the Inquisition and the Inquisitor that had disposed of the former high command took charge, assigning their own acolytes as army corp commanders, as well as empowering the few that who had not been purged and who they deemed 'competent' to positions of authority.
It was than a walk in the park to clean up the rebellious PDF and to reassert the authority of the Federation, at that point there were only a few holdouts left and the task of destroying one of these holdouts was given to his unit, which was a total eight squads led by two platoon leaders, with himself being a squad leader.
The holdout they were targeting comprised about twelve squads and had fortified an entire hospital and had stocked up on all the necessities that they needed, combine that with a powerful orbital shield that the traitors had somehow gotten working. And you have a very powerful, albeit makeshift bunker.
If it was up to the inquisitor alone they might have just bombed it into oblivion from orbit with the fleet but due to that shield they had to take the hospital by storm, but none of them could be prepared for what they had found that day.
From memory John knew that the operation had gone well, as the majority of the enemies they encountered were actually conscripts who were led by a few veterans and the defenses they had set up just turned out to be some overturned tables and medical machinery.
But it was in the basement they found the true horrors, he and his squad were some of the last ones who went down 'and that's what saved our lives' John thought, as when they got down into the basement they found a Daemonic ritual with a few dozen people all dead with their throats slit lying around a circle made of runes and symbols.
He would later learn that the Daemons that proceed to slaughter his squad along with the other two platoons were called Bloodletters and were simply the rank and file of the Chaos god Khorne, however the other horrors that he would later learn about made these Daemons seem like cute house pets.
'But that doesn't make it any less horrifying' John thought, the Daemons rampaged through his squad killing everyone in their path and sucking the blood from them with their serpentine like tongues, he only escaped by running for his life while his men were slaughtered.
In the end it was an acolyte that saved him, as he had used his vox to request help, not backup, just help and soon the Inquisition responded by sending in about a dozen acolytes to deal with the problem before it grew out of control.
These acolytes soon managed to banish all of the Daemons albeit not without casualties and had saved his life, he soon learned from these acolytes that he was the only survivor (although he doubted that information now there was no point in trying to find the others), it was then he was given an ultimatum.
Although they acknowledged that he had been put in an unsurvivable situation due to the failures of the intelligence services (a.k.a the Inquisition themselves), for his cowardice and for the things he had seen he could either chose to die via execution or to come under the employment of the Inquisition due to his technical skills as a engineer.
He chose the latter, now he was here and had been for the past 89 years 364 days with the 90th being only a few minutes away, it was during his first few years he had resented the Inquisition but over the years, although he didn't like the situation they had put him in, as they told him more and more he had begun to understand their reasoning.
The thing is, basically everyone knows of the fact that Chaos exists, they know the names of the Chaos gods, the fact that they are evil, cruel and self-serving, and all learn that the 'Big Five' protect Humanity from the URP, but the public doesn't know the true scope and scale of the threat that Chaos presents, in other words the public is naive and purposely so.
No Chaos is more like the boogieman, something that religious parents use to keep their kids from doing weed, smoking or drinking "if you do X.Y.Z those evil gods are going to get you" they say, well they're not wrong the Chaos gods do want every sentient being to worship them to grow their own power, but they don't think small, no.
Chaos couldn't care less about some teenager smoking or rebelling against his parents, they only care that they can use that rebellion to manipulate that naive teen to unknowingly worship them, as that teen could be the corrupt seed that leads to the corruption of entire communities and planets.
But again Chaos doesnt think that small they in fact bump that metaphor to the max and encourage entire star systems to be the seed so that dozens of planets could be the communities, this is why controlling information about Chaos was so important, if it wasn't there would mass hysteria and panic.
Imagine that, trillions of people suddenly learning that there are gods out there that can strike anywhere at any time, gods that desire nothing less than the galaxy while having a champion that already has a foothold in Federation space, people would riot, kill, steal among many other horrible things.
General order would break down in short order, the massive but fragile economy of the Federation would crash and be guaranteed to not recover for thousands of years and that's if there was still a united Humanity around, after all what comes with a breakdown of order in a society?.
The answer is war, anarchy and opportunity for many ambitious politicians and military leaders who would want to push their own desires and assert their own authority in the vacuum left by a collapsing Federation, leading to more death, more Chaos who would undoubtedly use this as the amazing opportunity it would be.
Thus it was paramount that- PING 'wait what was that' John thought as he analyzed the radar, soon dozens of green dots filled the radar screen and these dots quickly formed two groups, both of which were different sizes and considering that loyal vessels had technology that allowed the radar to ignore them and their size, that could only mean these were enemy fleets.
Quickly John called for the stations A.I who had been given the name 'Seth' by the crew, "you detected this as well I presume" Seth said in the monotone voice that almost all A.I possessed, "yep, Seth could you run some calculations and place this info in a data pad?" John asked while typing away at his keyboard.
"Already done, the data pad is to the side" Seth said, John quickly grabbed the data pad and made his way out of one of the many radar rooms within the station, as he walked down the brightly lit, white, winding hallways he thought over the information within the data pad he held.
'Two fleets, one larger than the other with the larger one appearing to be following the smaller, with approximately a few dozen light years of distance between the two fleets, with their predicted destination being the Molech Subsector' John thought as he finally reached the office of the station's head inquisitor.
It was then however that something… odd happened, the air began to crackle with energy as reality around John started to seemingly breakdown in a hasty fashion 'oh fuck me' John thought, he recognised this feeling, the way reality buckled around him it was something he could never forget.
It was a Daemon incursion.
—-
D065. Y977. M31. MI60
Grand Inquisitor Hextor Rex was as of now and lack of a better word frustrated, a week ago one of his acolytes had brought him a report of two fleets that had breached the Juskium Sector, as of now these two fleets remained on the peripheral of the sector having yet to land on any planets.
Secondly on the same day these two fleets had been detected only about 20 minutes later in fact, there had been a Daemon incursion on multiple GRDF stations, now to Hextor this was practically a neon sign saying that this was some Chaos scheme that could possibly endanger the whole Sector.
This was on top of the fact that they were already dealing with a large number of new political and cultural movements which were being incited by the angels of the Father, Malaikah of The Desert Warrior and the Deva's Karma who had allegedly visited millions of planets across the Federation, this had been recently confirmed and it had gone over differently with each of the eight organizations.
The URP had been over the moon so to speak although they did not openly promote the 'third coming of jesus', the 'return of allah' or the 'righteous karma' it was almost certain that they were supporting these movements, to what end? So far they did not know but Rex was determined to figure it out.
Meanwhile the rest of the Disjointed Organizations did not really know what to think about these movements, they all knew that the political elite and upper class of society had long become corrupt and degenerate, it was not as bad as the Domain of course.
In his early years Rex had seen of the some of the darkest and most filthy degeneracy one could imagine like orgies, child exploitation, slavery, and torture devices that even the inquisition would not dare to use.
However the most common crime against society being the creation and use of drugs made from sentient beings, such a thing sent a shiver down Rex's spine, as such the rest of the Disjointed Organizations did not openly oppose these movements for societal change and virtue they would approach them with caution and continue to investigate them.
This didn't mean it would not become a problem sooner rather than later however they just were not a big enough problem to warrant a huge effort to suppress them.
As such for the last week he had traveled to the Sectors capital Sartorius Primis, there he had sought an audience with the Inquisitorial Grandmaster of the Juskium Sector, Alexio Kresh but had trouble getting a meeting with him due to 'bureaucracy'.
'This is utter nonsense' Rex seethed as he attempted to get through to the practically brain dead Administratius drone that was Kresh's secretary "you must understand" Rex said gravely.
"I am a Grand Inquisitor and I have traveled all the way here to deliver important information" Rex lied and repeated for the tenth time, the grandmaster already knew about the two fleets but he was here for a different reason, to offer a proposition, it would cost him something to get the Grandmaster to support him but Rex was already scheming so he did not have to do that.
"And as I have stated before Grandmaster Kresh is in a meeting with the Sector Council, if you want to schedule a meeting then-" "then you will let me into that meeting, and you will do it quickly" Rex commanded, his hand resting on one of his backup chainsword, his threat was clear.
The secretary would back up slightly while staring at him blankly, finally the drone pressed down on a button "Sir the Grand Inquisitor Hextor Rex wishes to meet with you, he says it's important" the drone continued to draw on until they finally got a response.
"Third room on the right, 42nd floor" the secretary said in a deadpan monotone voice, Rex grumbled and finally went on his way 'oh, how I wish the Inquisition was above such petty things as bureaucracy' Rex thought 'now that would be paradise'.
As he walked down the hallway his bulky black colored and gold trimmed armor taking up much of the hallways space, his armor was very similar to that of the Galaxia Warrior's in terms of composition and technology albeit with a different color scheme.
On his back he had a large rectangular shield, said shield was thick and bulky meant for blocking attacks that his armor could not handle, this also meant that he would not use it for smaller attacks as it was too unwieldy for that, lastly was his power mace.
While he had a plethora of weapons on his person at all times, his favorite was most certainly his power mace, while some may criticize his choice of weaponry he did not care to hear it as he knew from centuries of service that a weapon was a weapon, any advantage was an advantage he wanted plain and simple.
Why? Again warfare is not some complex dance between brilliant minds, no it is a brutal affair, one that forced men to the darkest, the lowest and the most heinous acts just to survive, in this galaxy war is something where only one side can survive, come out on top and grow stronger.
'And if I and the Inquisition have anything to say about it Humanity will be the strongest, all other Xenos are a waste of air and space' Rex thought his resolve to prosecute the two new enemies within the Juskium Sector remaining absolute 'You are charged to burn the heretic, kill the Xeno and burn the unclean'.
Rex repeated the Motto of the inquisition in his head as he reached the 42nd floor, the Inquisition had always taught its inquisitors the truth of the matter concerning the multiple Xenos threats that lingered on the Federations borders, most of these concerned the Domain.
Speaking of such it was his personal theory that this was a battle between the two rival Eldar factions that were known to exist by the top brass of the government and the Disjointed Organizations who again were known as the Domain and the Sanctuary.
If his theory was correct then this could be the warning that finally woke the senate from their endless slumber of never ending corruption and complacency, maybe then some real change could happen after hundreds of thousands of years, maybe but for now his theory was just that, a theory.
When Rex had finally gotten to the meeting room he approached another drone who was flanked by two Galaxia Warriors, unlike the mortal inquisitors (like himself) the Galaxia Warriors valued honor, justice and all those values that are considered a virtue and made them heroes in the eyes of the public.
Alexio Kresh was one of these Galaxia Warriors and certainly sought to uphold the aforementioned values, even so when Rex had met the warrior they had agreed on much more than he had thought they would which was certainly a pleasant surprise.
"I am here to see the Grandmaster, you will let me through" Rex said, his voice commanding authority, in response the two Galaxia Warriors flanking the drone each took a step forward however quickly backed off when they saw his rosette that signified his status.
His status as a Grand inquisitor outranked almost everybody in the Sector except for his fellow Grand inquisitors, the Grandmaster of any Sector, the highest echelons of the Disjointed Organizations and the Sector Council, besides that he was challenged in terms of authority to prosecute/execute any individual within the local Freehold governments without trial.
This authority also included the ability to lead armies and military campaigns, hold any political office within the Freehold governments for as long as ten years, to hold any military position indefinitely, these were only a small portion of the long this of powers he held but listing all of them out would be needlessly tedious when he only needed to go over the basics.
The second secretary he had to deal with today would go over about a dozen papers with a painstaking slowness before gesturing to the door, finally Rex stepped through into the room the Sector Council currently occupied.
Said room was plain in style and only held a large rectangular holotable with about a dozen chairs around it, sitting at the one end that was closest to Rex was the Grandmaster himself Alexio Kresh.
On either side of the table and only a chair down were the representatives of the Martian Citadel and the Administratius who were respectively known as Ismood Kar and Hana Laal, both were known to be slightly more radical in terms of reform and the want for change.
At the other end of the holo table opposite from Kresh was the High Bishop of URP with the representatives for the Army, the Navy and the Air force of the Federation who were sitting a row closer than the Bishop, these four were known for opposing any large change or major reform as they heavily benefited from the statue quo.
Finally in the middle of the table and sitting in the right sided chair was the representative of the Great Psychic Houses of Luna who was known as the Lunar Lord, he represented the GPHL who provided all the sanctioned psyker's and the trained choir's of the Federation.
While smaller commercial and civilian vessels did not need a psyker to navigate given the warp the presence of a trained psyker massively sped up warp travel and made it significantly less hazardous, not only that but they were crucial in maintaining one sides clairvoyance during battle, as such they were always used in military vessels.
In the end this seating arrangement painted a good picture of what sides the Disjointed Organizations with Juskium were on politically, "Grand inquisitor Rex" Kresh greeted a tone of annoyance lacing his voice, "Grandmaster Kresh" Rex replied taking a seat next to Ismood Kar.
The council was quiet for a moment with everybody knowing the reason for why Rex had joined, the report of the two fleets had already arrived at the council's doorstep as well as the Daemon incursion with protocols already being put in place.
Such as using memetics to wipe the memories of the local populations in order to hide this incident from the public, among many other protocols and measures that would frankly make them look like they had turned the geneva conventions into the 'geneva suggestions'.
It was then that Kresh stood up gesturing for Rex to do the same before speaking "Lord's and representatives of the Disjointed Organizations of Juskium" Kresh began "we have gathered here today to here many things, however it appears that our meeting will end with Grand inquisitor Rex, do we all agree to hear his proposal?" Kresk announced and asked.
A chorus of "yes" and "aye" would ring throughout the room as Kresk than sat down while Rex would walk over to the center of the holo table across from the representative of the lunar houses, from there would pull up a 3d model of the Molech Subsector and repeat the incident from a week ago.
"As you all know, a week ago two hostile fleets were detected, this coincided with a minor Daemon incursion that while it was dealt with quickly and resulted in minor casualties-" "minor casualties?" the High Bishop interrupted him "you allowed demons to infiltrate your stations, on your watch, is that correct?" the High Bishop said with indifference.
"Not on my personal watch" Rex replied "then whose is it?" the High Bishop asked a slight smugness in his voice "your acolytes? If so and if you let this happen then how could we trust what your proposition is?" the High Bishop clearly knew what he was doing, something like this could be a catalyst for change and that would not be good for business.
"It is no one's fault High Bishop, Daemon incursions are unpredictable, even so normally Daemons are unable to penetrate into the material world" Rex responded "this was going to be the transition into my proposition, which I will be getting into now, if you would be so good" Rex said.
The High Bishop then relented by simply nodding his head and Rex would then continue "my proposition is this, appoint me as a Fleetmatser to lead a military expedition to destroy these hostiles" Rex explained "I would place my own acolytes as admirals and commanders of the ground forces and the air force" Rex finished, it was relatively short but to the point.
"My reasoning is this" Rex began "an invasion of this scale would undoubtedly draw attention from the senate and the large military we have quite obviously violates the limit for how many ships we can have" he explained, "we must act quickly in order to not draw the attention of the senate" Rex said.
"Secondly the minor Daemon incursion points this to be a large chaos plot, why else would the monsters appear less than an hour after the two fleets were detected?" he questioned, shaking his head "this is clearly the work of larger forces and thus the organization that was made for dealing with such issues should be the one to take on this task" Rex said confidently.
"Lastly, this would be a show of force, it has been sometime since the full might of the Juskium Sector has been displayed to anything other than anti piracy measures against both human and Doman raiders" he said.
"Not to mention the small expeditions to cleanse the occasionally resurgent Ork empire or Rangden hivemind are rarely seen or cared for by the population" Rex explained.
"This show of force would remind the people that traitorous thoughts are not healthy or a good long term strategy for living" Rex stated, he could practically feel Kresh's disapproval of that last statement but it needed to be said.
Kresh would then stand up and speak "If that is all then we will hear the Lords and representatives of the council" Kresh said "I for one do support it however the large number of acolytes that you seek to appoint does seem slightly unnecessary" Kresh said.
"I concur" the High Bishop said with the representatives of the military following his lead, "not only do I think that staffing the admiralty with the inquisitions loyal servants is unnecessary, but I would deem this whole 'expedition' to be a folly that would only enrage the poor poor people, and thus destabilize the sector" the High Bishop said, 'he doesn't care at all for the people that much I know' Rex thought.
It was then that the Lunar Lord spoke up "I for one would support this course of action as proposed by the Grand inquisitor but as I would point out many of the 'minor casualties' were experienced and battle hardened sanctioned psykers" the lord explained "as such I don't feel comfortable sending a fleet when we cannot staff all positions that are needed to properly defend the Sector" he finished.
Rex did not know the exact numbers of psykers the lunar houses could produce, but via information he had on their cloning technology and gene enhancement therapy he could make the educated guess that they could produce a lot of them.
As such he suspected that the lord was just delaying any action to buy time in order to attempt to get more psykers than the Great Lord of Luna (the lead of the Great houses of Luna) would normally allow him, and to soften any damage this could have on his reputation in the Luna court.
Meanwhile the representatives of the Martian Citadel and the Administratius, were both speaking quiet whispers to one another but they did not make their opinions known instead they just nodded to Kresh and just like that the meeting would come to an end.
"Lords and representatives, it has been a great honor to speak with all of you, however our time runs short and we must make a decision, all in favor of this expedition?" he asked, Krash then pressed a small green to give his vote on the matter, which was a yes, along with Ismood Kar and Hana Laal who both pressed the green button.
However the High Bishop followed by the military representatives and the Luna Lord would each press a red button that was next to their green button, their answer was a clear no, so in total it was majority no for his proposal 'those bastards' Rex thought as glared at the High Bishop.
"Thank you all for being here, I wish you all good health in the name of the Father, Desert Warrior, Karma, Cycle and the Shepherd, good day" Kersk said, they all quickly filled out of the room however before Rex left Kresh connected to his Vox within his helmet.
"Meet me in the seventh room on the 77th floor, one hour from now" Kresh commanded, this was something that Rex could not dodge or skip out on, as such an hour later Rex found himself standing outside of the 77th room, this room was different from the room the council had met in only an hour beforehand.
And at this point all the other representatives had left to where? Rex knew because he was an inquisitor, but just didn't care at this moment for he had more important things to think about like what he was going to do about the two enemy fleets in the Molech Subsector.
'Corrupt idiots' Rex thought, first the Bishop had called into question his abilities to discredit him, then the Bishop easily swayed the Lunar Lord using said lords own selfish motives, then with his corrupt 'allies' he had struck down his proposition all while hiding behind a false care for the people and for 'stability'.
In reality like most of the URP in this day and age the Bishop did not want anymore power in the hands of the actually competent and still uncorrupt inquisition, as that could be a threat to his power base and rightfully give much of the military strength of the Juskium sector over to the inquisition.
In all honesty the Bishop was a snake that Rex wished he could dispose of, but the inquisition was not totally above the law, again his status as a Grand inquisitor granted him many rights and exemptions from normal everyday laws.
But when it came to other Disjointed Organizations Rex often found himself limited by the powers that be, mainly the Sector Council and the fact that he could not prosecute any individual above a fine line, said line often varied case by case but it mostly extended to the top brass of the Disjointed Organizations.
Exiting his thoughts he entered room 77, the first thing Rex saw was Kresh who was sitting on one side of a desk that looked like it had come with the building, as it wasn't personalized to any degree, but what Rex had not expected was for both Ismood Kar and Hana Laal to be there albeit as a hologram from a holocall.
Rex quickly made his way to the desk and stood before Kresk as the two representatives flanked the large Galaxia Warrior on either side, Kresh already had a hand out by the time Rex had entered, gesturing for Rex to sit down, "take a seat" Kresh commanded.
Rex calmly walked over and quickly sat down, this was most likely going to be a reprimand for him practically barging into a meeting at the last second, although given the method Kresh used to contact him gave Rex some confidence that maybe this was more than a simple punishment.
"I will make this quick" Kresh began "what you did was out of line and as a result some level of punishment will be required" Rex was not nervous per say be apprehensive "not only does protocol demand it, the Bishop does as well" Kresh said "however I will let you explain yourself" Kresh explained, Rex quickly seized the opportunity.
Rex cleared his throat before speaking "I believed that my proposal would be the best way forward for the sector, I also believe that we were and still are on a ticking clock, one that threatens the entire sector, thus I prioritized acquiring an audience with you and the entirety of the Sector Council" as Rex explained himself however it seemed that Kresh had already made up his mind about… something.
"That is all and I offer no excuses, my lord" Rex finished, Kresh would simply look back a forth between the only other two in the room before refocusing back on Rex "I do believe you, as I also have thought long and hard about how to approach this topic" Kresh began.
Rex sat there silently with his hopes of speedy action having risen but still strangled by Rex's knowledge of hope's poisonous nature "I have come to agreement with both the representatives of the Martian Citadel and the Administratius" Kresh said as he paused to allow the other two to speak.
"This is factual" Ismood began "we have reason to believe that many important Followers of the Omnissiah are aboard one of these fleets as such we wish for their ways of thought and research to be destroyed as soon as possible" Ismood explained.
"The Administratius has, is and always will be in support of stability of the current regime and government" Hana said "however the Editor has made such things as corruption and complacency a rarity in the Administratius, allowing us to maintain the many facets of Federation governance" Hana explained.
"As such leaving a Chaos Fleet and plot unattended would be bad for stability in general, however a shake up of the sector's politics was also deemed necessary and this is an opportunity we can not pass up" Hana finished.
"As such" Kresh continued "you will be 'suspended' from your command as the Grand inquisitor of the south with the Juskium Sector" Kresh said "however the inquisition does not waste assets, as such you will be given the position of Fleetmaster over the Inquisition Sector Fleet for the duration of you suspension" Kresh explained.
Rex immediately understood what Kresh was doing here, you see with a sector there are always four Grand inquisitors whose jurisdiction was divided into 'Sub Sectors' the north, south, east and west, while there was always one Grandmaster who had jurisdiction within the central subsector.
However these sub sectors were different than the SubSectors that were used for administration purposes, and as the Grand inquisitor of the south all inquisitors who operated within the southern sub sector, now as the Fleetmaster of the inquisition's fleet of Juskium he could put his plan into action.
In conclusion Kresh had made it seem like he was punishing him to placate the Bishop so they could take action, whilst giving him all the tools and permission that Rex needed to execute his plan, "of course with our support there will come certain conditions" Ismood, with the Administratius representative nodding her head in agreement.
Rex would slowly nod, his mind already crafting up many strategies he could use against the enemy within "I will be joining you in your crusade, inquisitor" Ismood said plainly "I will also be bringing along many vessels, the Silver Soldiers and experts in the degenerate subject that is the Followers of the Omnissiah" ismood finished.
The Administratius drone would then speak her piece "I will not be providing much aside from providing the necessary equipment and resources for this 'investigation' inquisitor" she said, Rex noticed the odd word usage however would resign to allow Kresk to explain it should it be relevant.
After that a few more details were exchanged before it seemed the meeting would begin to die out with the other two leaving shortly after they had laid out their conditions, after they had disconnected from the holo call Kresh would turn back to Rex before he began to speak.
"There is one last problem to address before I give my final orders" Kresh said, Rex's mind would immediately jump to the obvious "due to the lack of support from the Federation military we will not have a large ground or air force" Rex said.
"Yes, and while the problem of the air force is mostly solved with the support from the citadel and the ground forces can be subsidized with the Silver Soldiers" Kresh said "however, this will still require more men and soldiers to fight the Daemons that will most likely be traveling with the enemy fleet" he explained.
Kresh would pause and look over Rex, it was then that Kresh finally revealed what his intentions were with supporting his plan "to fill out the ranks you will recruit the many tens of thousands of veterans that are currently serving in the GRDF stations" Kresh said.
'An honorable warrior through and through' Rex thought irritated, the reason he had 'hired' all these veterans and taken them off the front lines instead of executing them was because many of their skills were useful and if the stations everfell under attack the thousands of war hardened and disciplined vets would hold out until help arrived.
Obviously considering the stations were still in their control this was and has been an effective policy, had been for over a century "my lord is this necessary? They have knowledge of the true nature of Chaos, they can not be allowed to spread it" Rex argued, although he knew Kresh had already made up his mind.
"Rest assured I have my own solutions for that" Kresh said, whatever he had planned Rex knew it would be unwise to look into such matters at the moment, "officially this will classified as a large 'investigation' into attacks upon GRDF stations, just for appearances sake, and so the Bishop would have little no argument in favor of stopping this course of action".
"Secondly do not make this public, no 'showing off' to the populus, he may be a snake but he is right on that end as the sight of a large majority of the Juskium Sector Fleet leaving would insite many rebellions, in that I have no doubt" Kresh finished.
That was the end of it as Kresh would dismiss him soon after with finale orders to not fail under any circumstances, Rex would immediately began to enact his plan and the orders given by the Grandmaster, it would take a few weeks to gather the necessary forces for this 'investigation', to equip reorganize and prepare the fleet and the troops.
But he would get it done all the while he would search for a way to keep his veterans where they were useful, defying the Grandmaster was something that not many would dare even consider, but he also knew that nothing came for free in this galaxy he would have to give up something for this to get off the ground.
However another question would present itself, what kind of inquisitor would he be if he just rolled over and let his policies, orders and power be so easily taken down? He would not be one at all, that's what.
He had more assets than just the veterans, he had thousands of experienced acolytes, his authority over the south of the Juskium Sector, the fear and respect (mostly fear) of all freehold political leaders in the south, this was not even including the many 'alliances' and favors he had gathered over the years.
In conclusion he would not take this lying down.
—-
D?. Y977. M31. MI60
Rapheal chek glared out at the warp in pure hatred through the bridge of fleets capital warship that was now known as the 'Fates Stalker', he had always had 'problems' with his anger,
But due to the ever present threat of being possessed by a Daemon should he lose control of himself he learned to control it and release it like a Flame gun to destroy anyone in his path, which up until a little while ago had consisted mostly of criminal syndicates and corrupt politicians.
Now he and his two siblings in arms would be facing off against the damn Eldar at the command of a devil, he hated what he had become a mutated servant in all but name, equal partners? What a joke that contract was obviously only meant to appear to be fair.
Why had they signed it then? It's quite simple really, they didn't want to die, It seems like an excuse really, like nearly all acolytes the three of them had been petty criminals on Terra, pickpockets, thieves from the planet's vast underhive, they didn't even see sunlight until they were teenagers when they had been recruited and give an 'education'.
On top of that they were not even full inquisitors they were acolytes a.k.a expendable cannon fodder, they knew this even before that devil gave them their new perspectives, and thus their lives did not matter and if they had died there were millions that could take each of their places and with the requirements to become an inquisitor being so absurd few ever became inquisitors.
That reality was known to almost all acolytes actually, most the he had met took it on with grim determination to prove themselves in order to become a full inquisitor, others however resigned themselves to forever be an acolyte as they were content with having a roof over their head, consistent source of food and the limited powers acolytes were granted.
As such did their histories really matter? It did not matter if you were evil or good, smart or dimwitted, big or small almost everyone who became an acolyte was formerly a criminal or someone very low on the social and economic totem pole, who via harsh training and 'education' methods were reformed into killing machines who could dish out their superiors 'justice', but more so to survive this cruel galaxy.
These thoughts made his skill boil with anger, quite literally actually as his blood had become water that apparently boiled whenever his anger spiked, while his blood boiled his skin and flesh could also turn into boiling water that he could control and manipulate.
Although after some experimentation he found that his bones and brain would not turn into water leaving those parts of himself vulnerable to attack when he mutated, the changes to his body might have been even more radical if he was not resisting his body's slow but gradual mutation.
Anyhow the fact was that he had long recognised this tactic of praying on the worst off of society and he hated the inquisition for it, but he hated a lot of things and did not like many things so what made the inquisition different in his eyes?.
He had decided long ago that he hated the inquisition, it thought it was doing what was right when their foundations were so flawed and corrupt, some might call that dramatic or nonsensical but the facts remained, the inquisition would give the people the saw potential in, the poor and uncared for of society, and beat out most of their previous undesirable 'traits'.
This process was gradual and took place over the course of three years, he, his siblings in arms and hundreds of others were taught how the galaxy worked from the inquisition's point of view, which was that suppression of anything that could be deemed 'Chaos related' was to be destroyed.
It was taught to them that having passion was something that would only lead them to fall for the schemes of Chaos and distract them from their duties, he remembered when he had been passionate for the sword and to fight only to be put down and degraded as to learn humility all while he was still a teen.
They were taught that the inquisition was necessary and was integral to the Federation, if it was so integral than why had the Federation not collapsed during the Great War with the Eldar or during the wars of the Beast, the Gravemind and the Daemonic Crusades that came afterwards?.
In short, he never said such things out loud but he came to the conclusion that the inquisition was lying, though for many years he justified it to himself telling himself that they had 'saved' him from a life time of imprisonment so he should be grateful, now that only showed him that despite attempting to form his own opinions the claws of the inquisition were already in deep.
As such he knew how to spot manipulation and hated the fact that that devil had not just manipulated them but had also read them like a book playing into their emotions and greatest fears, as such Rapheal had made it his goal, his ambition to kill that devil if it was the last thing he ever did.
'HHIISSSSS' it was then that Rapheals thought process was interrupted by the entrance of two figures, the first one was how the devil got around the clause of not directly influencing Rapheal and his siblings, while the second one was from a separate organization.
The first one was a Galaxia Warrior of the Cosmic Scholars and when Annu had joined the fleet he had brought just about one thousand Galaxia Warriors with him, for name he had simply wanted to be called Annu Aqo and if Raphael had to describe his abilities or 'gimmick' in one word it would be teleportation.
Usually attempting to use the warp for teleportation was wildly inaccurate due to the unpredictable currents and ever changing rules of the warp, the average starship got around this by the use of the gellar field which kept a 'bubble' of the material realm around it while also using D.A.I to keep the ship out of danger.
The Galaxia Warrior in front of him in their cyan colored and gold trimmed armor had somehow perfected short ranged teleportation, Raphael suspected it had to do with the relatively large backpack that Annu was carrying.
Anyhow the Galaxia Warrior in front of him was the tool that the devil used to control him and his siblings, because Annu was technically a 'third party' Korios was not technically giving them 'direct' orders, as such Annu rarely spoke much as they knew that Raphael could not easily go against them.
The second figure that glided into the room was cloaked in a bloody red colored cloak that like the warrior's armor was trimmed with gold, its face was hidden by shadow with a sickly green eye glaring out at anyone that caught its attention, meanwhile a constant low hum could be heard coming from the figure like white noise.
Relatively soon after they had met with that devil and had picked up Annu they came across an intact planet within the warp, a very rare thing indeed, its surface was covered with many industrial horrors, such as the use of what they called 'servitors' people who had been reduced to their skulls and their brains who were made to fly around and complete small menial tasks.
Above the planet was a medium sized fleet with many medium sized ships with the largest sized vessel being bigger than the 'Fates Stalker' and wouldn't let them leave the system, soon after they arrived Annu disappeared only to reappear around a week later.
Soon afterwards the figure that was the planet's leader contacted them for a second time, the figure was going to join them, allowing them to repair their fleet as well without having to leave the warp, he had no clue what Annu had given the demented figure but whatever it was it had to have been highly valuable.
The only name this figure went by was Alpha Cor 50/1 a "Technophile Bishop" and was of the Followers of the Omnissiah, and they did not appreciate anybody who did not respect the area around him or did not keep their emotions in check when in his presence, a few soldiers had gotten a bit too close while sharing a few jokes with themselves.
The witness accounts had described a bloody scene where Alpha Cor had first turned to them before their cloak began to ripple with geometric shapes before practically zooming towards the soldiers ripping them apart and appearing to consume their flesh and bones leaving only the blood splatters on the ground.
Raphael had demanded an explanation but only got a small robotic response "the flesh is weak, I will make them strong" before they walked off back to the hanger to go back to their own flag ship, thankfully he and his siblings were able to keep to crew of the fleet calm due to the powers and control over the crew granted to them by that devil.
He had not wanted to rely on the power given to them instead he had wanted to punish Alpha Kor to show that this was a one time incident and that it would not happen again, his siblings had instead used their new powers to suppress the soldiers feelings of panic and fear, replacing those feelings with calm and apathy.
Disgusting that's what he called it, as a result they had all gotten into quite the argument and he did not want to admit it but they had been slowly drifting apart ever since 'Damn it all, all of this' Raphael thought as both Annu and Alpha Kor approached him.
"Where are the other two?" Alpha Kor questioned his hood swaying as he stopped at the holo table, the crew on the bridge would all shift uncomfortably as the robotic monotone voice reached them "as far as I know they are currently on other vessels within the fleet and will be here soon" Raphael said.
As if on cue two more people entered the bridge they were his siblings in arms Corvin and Sabine, they had all been a team since they were small kids, in particular he recalled that they had once stolen a set of radios from some Adeptus Arbites the police force of the Federation.
'Good times' Raphael thought as he looked over his two siblings,like both he and Corvin, Sabine had pale skin from the underhive with pale blue eyes and dark black hair, her outfit consisted of a black, white trimmed coat with black pants and brown boots.
However it was the dragon-like wings she had grown on her back and claws that had replaced the tips of her fingers that were the most eye-catching, having been a mutation that had occurred when they had received their new powers, apart from that she had gone down the path that he had by not allowing her mutations to spread.
Then there was Corvin with the same pale skin but with sandy blond hair but instead of a normal white cornea his eyes were pitch black with his pupil being a bloody bright red, Corvin's eyes were not the only thing that had changed.
Unlike himself Corvin had allowed his mutations to progress further as such he had the legs of an animal that allowed him to run at speeds only those with extreme mechanic and genetic enhancement could hope match, not only has his legs changed by he now had large spiral horns on his head that were black in color, all this was wrapped up in a gray colored, gold trimmed coat.
As they both approached the tension from the crew dissipated, they were using that power again, the power to manipulate emotions was certainly strong and disgusting in Raphael's eyes, as such although the crew returned to their tasks the tension between the three of them remained.
They stared each other down for a good five seconds before the tension was broken by Corvin laughing up a storm before he used his speed to stand next to him in less than a second "jesus you are tensed up man, relax it's just us, and i'm not planning anything I swear, scouts honor" Corvin laughed putting a hand on his shoulder.
Rapheal just sighed "we all know you never had much and you already used it all during our sparring match idiot" Raphael said, Corvin would laugh again "and we all know that I kicked your ass I got your eyes crossed every other second" Corvin jokes, "you were never the most honest were you?" Raphael responded before snickering "butterfingers" he said.
Corvin threw his head back dramatically while grinning "I dropped my weapon during our spar one time, dammit let that go" Corvin said "not while I live" Raphael replied, meanwhile Sabine just smirked clearly amused "you two are such childish kids" she said while taking a chair to sit at the holo table.
"If you are all done, we shall proceed" Annu said, Raphael hoped they were some of the last words that they would speak today, Annu would then bring up a 3d map of the Molech system "this is what is going to happen, we will split our fleet into three groups, group C, group S and group R, with all of you will leading one group, group R" Annu began.
Raphael just glared at the Galaxia Warrior with his anger shimmering just beneath the surface, for the past while they had been shadowing an Eldar fleet, to remain undetected they has used specialized runes that had been put on by the Followers of the Omnissiah and had retained a low profile, although it had disrupted their organization as they could not communicate in large amounts, not enough to maintain full fleet cohesion but just enough so the fleet did not fall apart in the warp.
Soon they would exit into the Molech system in order to destroy the Domain fleet, for what purpose? He did not know and probably would not get to know "and what will you be doing while we are out risking our lives against the enemy" Raphael said "you'll be in the rear playing pretend as some great sorcerer won't you, you coward" his annoyance clear in his tone.
A wet 'CRACK' was then heard throughout the bridge as Annu snapped his neck to look at Raphael, the resulting staring contest would last for almost ten seconds as the voids that made up Annu's eye sockets appeared to pierce straight through his soul.
It was then the Raphael found himself thrown back against the wall as Annu's eyes gained a purple pinkish color, he was then lifted off the ground a large amount of pressure around his neck with his oxygen supply slowly dwindling, Raphael swiftly attempted to shift into his water form but found that he couldn't, he was not angry in this moment instead he was afraid.
Annu then disappeared in a blink and appeared right in front of Raphael with their hand around his throat "confident aren't you?" Annu said their hand continued to close around Raphaels neck, a look of excitement shining within the cold dead void that was their eyes.
However it was then that Annu appeared to remember why Raphael and his friends were still alive and tossed him across the room into the holo table a few cracks being heard as a few of his ribs broke, but Raphael did not give up that easily as now that he could breath his anger quickly returned to him 'like an old friend' he mused.
Raphael stood back up and drew his sword the 'Fate Seeker' and charged at the Galaxia Warrior, he aimed at the joints ready to slice and dice the warrior in bits and pieces, however Annu would spin around faster than he could ever hope to with a knife infused with daemonic energy and would slash at Raphaels arm.
Raphael would counter this by transforming his arm into boiling water while throwing his sword into the air, the blade would go straight through the water doing minimal damage, Raphael would then jump into the air and grab his sword before falling towards Annu intending to hit them with a psychic powered backhanded slash.
It was not to be however as Annu simply stared at him for a good second before they responded with their own psychic attack, in a few moments Annu would vanish in a blink before they reappeared behind Raphael, with no time to transform the Galaxia Warrior would simply smack Raphael into the ground, the ground would tremble as Annu fell to the ground.
Raphael was no laid out on the ground with Annu standing over him everyone in the bridge had frozen in fear at this point, it was then that Annu spoke "Remember your place" they said before they vanished in another blink, his siblings would rush over to help him as Alpha Cor would simply leave.
"You're a fucking idiot you know that?" Sabine said as she and Corvin helped him sit up against the wall, thanks to their new powers they all had powerful healing factors but the blow that Raphael had taken had basically snapped his spine in twine, thankfully it was now healing but he didn't know if he could take another hit like that.
"I'm f-fine" Raphael stuttered the pain now hitting him in full force "look man we both know you're not and I have to ask what the fuck were you thinking?!" Corvin asked, the three of them had begun to once again draw the attention of the crew, Corvin quickly suppressed their emotions and forced them to get back to work, this only caused Raphaels anger to grow.
"That, that is what I was thinking" Raphael said the both of them looked understanding but defeated at the same time "we sold our souls to a devil and now we are his puppets, his slaves, trading one master for another!" Raphael exclaimed the two others looked at each other in uncertainty.
"Kesh wasn't so bad he was everything the inquisition hated" Corvin responded at this Raphael only rolled his eyes "you know damn well I wasn't talking about him" he said "I hate this power it disgusts me, how you two have given into its temptation is disgusting" Raphael said with venom and hate dripping from his voice.
At this the two others balked, shocked from being called out "what do you mean? we are only trying to help you if giving us some privacy means using our powers so be it, we will use what we have" Sabine said, her tone showing that she was angered by his statement.
"Really? Ever since that evil gave us this you two have mutated into freaks, we can't ever hope to return to normalcy, remember everything we had before this?" Raphael said, in response Corvin only shook his head "you're pissed off but that doesn't give you the right to berate us" he said.
Corvin would then continue "we hate this as much as you do, we're just better at hiding it and if you can't accept that we're just doing what it takes to survive then you need to reflect on that" Corvin said, at this, Raphael would balk.
"How is forcing your own will on others just 'doing what it takes to survive'? You two disgust me" Raphael said, however at this point both of them had begun to leave the bridge, disappointment clearly written on their faces and in their body language.
Corvin would then stop before turning around while taking a deep breath with his fingers rumbling his temple in frustration "look man… I dont exactly know how to say this but, cut this shit out, your anger issues are getting old alright? You keep doing this shit over and over, nobody likes that!, in short, sort your shit out before coming back alright?" Corvin said before turning on his heel once again striding for the exit.
At this Raphael suddenly felt immense guilt for what he said with his anger evaporating like water on the surface of a star, he tried to say something, to apologize but the word would get stuck in his throat unwilling to come out when he needed them most.
The two of them would soon be far from the bridge while Raphael attempted to stand up to chase after them, but unfortunately his spine was still broken 'Damn it all!' Raphael thought as he stopped trying to get up, it caused him excruciating pain and he feared that he would pass out if he continued.
Looking out the window Raphael thought about all the good and rough times between the three of them, these times had occurred too many times to count but a majority of these times had one common denominator, Raphael himself, when he would get angry he would say things he didn't mean, it made him feel awful even if they would always be willing to forgive him.
But his anger didn't excuse his behavior, looking in the mirror that was the window on the 'Fates Stalker' bridge he decided that he would make a change, he was only 39 and had centuries left to live, if he couldn't make it up to them somehow and make a decent change, he didn't deserve to be their sibling in arms.
It was then that Raphael made the vow to make himself worthy of being their sibling.