Chapter 17: Aftershock
Dragos McThraby swelled with pride as messengers streamed into the command center with reports of success all around the city. With the help of the Eldar, his men had managed to slay the greater daemon who had been responsible for anchoring the Slaaneshi forces on the planet. He sent the messengers back to their platoons with orders to ensure that every daemon had faded from the material world. Confident that his men would successfully utilize the Tauroxes and Chimeras in their arsenal to confirm the safety of his city, McThraby took a moment to cherish the hard work and triumph of his men.
McThraby's good mood was quickly dampened as he stood to acknowledge the entrance of the Inquisitor and a handful of his retinue. Adhering to his reputation, the Inquisitor haughtily took a seat in McThraby's recently vacated chair. The rest of the cabal took up positions at each of the entrances to the command center as the Inquisitor wiped some grime off of the boots of his power armor. Noticing the lack of blood on any of the men's uniforms or weapons, McThraby doubted the Inquisitor got involved with the battle at all. McThraby hid his frustration; his men surely would have benefitted from such a competent warrior fighting alongside them.
Forcing a smile, McThraby announced "This campaign is a rousing success! I have been getting reports that the city is holding strong and now my men -"
"Yes, yes. Your forces somehow managed to save the day," the Inquisitor interrupted McThraby and silenced him with an uncaring wave of his hand. He drawled on, "but now we have the Eldar presence to worry about. How do you plan to get your battered defense force to take on the Harlequin army?"
McThraby hesitated to respond to this question since he wasn't actually planning on attacking the Harlequin army. The Xenos had been keeping their distance from the city and didn't seem to be posing any sort of threat. Any offensive against them would be a waste of life. As McThraby struggled to find a way to explain this to the Inquisitor, another breathless messenger sprinted into the room.
"Sir," he began to address McThraby when he noticed the Inquisitor glaring at him from McThraby's chair, "uh… Sirs!" he snapped a salute.
"Out with it!" the Inquisitor barked at the messenger who had begun to sweat nervously.
The messenger took a deep breath and announced, "The leaders of the Harlequin army are requesting a parlay. They are currently heading towards the command center and will be here shortly."
"And you just let them stroll into the city?" the Inquisitor shouted, standing abruptly from the chair and picking up the startled messenger by his collar. He began to shake the poor man while shouting "What the Hels were you thinking letting the Xenos past our defenses?"
"Inquisitor!" McThraby shouted, disgusted at MacVicar's treatment of the messenger, "Put that man down at once! He is just doing his duty to inform us of the happenings of the battlefield, he has done nothing wrong!"
In response, the Inquisitor pushed the messenger at McThraby and heatedly turned his attention to the entrance where three Eldar were now standing. McThraby caught the messenger before he fell over and the man gave him a grateful look before assuming a position behind the Captain. McThraby inclined his head at the Harlequins who had bowed in greeting. The Inquisitor, however, made no such motion as he rudely demanded "What do you want, filth?"
The Harlequin who was dressed in the lightest colors ignored MacVicar's question and proceeded to introduce the three Eldar in an eerily proper voice, "We are the Troupe Masters of Sword's Triumph. We trust you are the leaders of the human forces?"
McThraby nodded and returned the pleasantries, "I'm Captain McThraby, leader of this city's Planetary Defense Force. The other men here are also high-ranking. They are-"
"That is classified information that will not be given to you Xeno scum!" the Inquisitor interrupted McThraby yet again. McThraby agitatedly bit his tongue; he was quickly losing hope that they would be able to maintain peace with the Eldar. The Harlequin who had spoken before inspected the Inquisitor through his mask. Although his face was hidden, McThraby could tell that the Harlequin was not impressed by the Inquisitor since he turned to address McThraby alone.
"We have come to you for a multitude of reasons. The first was to accept your gratitude for the assistance in fending off the forces of She Who Thirsts." Ignoring the scoffs from the Inquisitor, the Harlequin continued "The second reason was to ensure that our terms of allying with you would be acknowledged. We were unsure if the man who originally contacted us was able to communicate our agreement with you."
McThraby shook his head; he hadn't heard any word from Commissar Bellaire or Sergeant Limanowitz. So, the Harlequin proceeded to notify them that they had agreed to the alliance under the assumption that the humans would thereafter refrain from exploring into the desert. The Eldar would steer clear of the city and other human activity on the planet, but only if the humans did not venture too far into the badlands.
Immediately, McThraby agreed to the terms. Nothing good ever came out of desert expeditions anyway- there were no useful resources out there. Just as McThraby was reaching to shake hands with theHarlequin, the Inquisitor slapped his hand away.
"Heresy!" the Inquisitor fumed, "These Eldar are clearly trying to hide something! If we simply let them exist in the desert, they will find a way to use the warp energies of Opuntia to their benefit!"
"What are you blathering on about, mon-keigh?" The alien's voice quickly took a dark tone.
"In the name of the Emperor, we will drive you filth off of this planet and back into the depths from whence you came!" The Inquisitor raised his bolt pistol, but before he could fire, the Harlequin simply sliced off the gun-wielding hand with his power-sword. The darker dressed Harlequin gave a gleeful whoop as he cartwheeled over his sword-wielding companion and plunged his energy-encased hand into the Inquisitor's chest. McThraby stepped back as he watched the Troupe Master use his Harlequin's Caress to extract a beating heart from the Inquisitor. The Inquisitor's cabal rushed into action and charged at the Harlequins who had slain their leader.
McThraby flinched as he was splattered with blood, the stormtrooper nearest him was hit in the face with the Inquisitor's heart. The trooper cried out in terror as he realized what the projectile had been, but his screams were quickly silenced by a shuriken pistol from the offending Troupe Master. Within seconds, McThraby noticed the only other humans left standing were the pale, terrified messenger behind him and one of the Inquisitor's retinue who hadn't assaulted the harlequins.
The three Harlequins mindlessly flicked the blood from their weapons and returned them to a resting position. As if nothing had happened, the Troupe Master who had been speaking to McThraby asked "So you accept our offer?"
McThraby again nodded and explained "I don't know why you Eldar are here, or how long you have been on this planet. But given how much you helped my men, I trust that you will keep your word to stay clear of the city. In honor of today's alliance, I will return the favor and keep my men out of the desert. The Imperium shouldn't mind since there is nothing of value to us in the badlands anyway, but they may have a problem that I let you live after you murdered one of our Inquisitors. This is going to involve a lot of explaining in the paperwork and we still may even get unlucky enough for the Inquisition to respond by sending someone from the Ordo Xenos."
The three Harlequins seemed to silently confer with each other if the potential for human invasion was enough of a risk for them to call off the agreement. Their silence was broken by a voice from the other side of the room. The remaining member of the Inquisitor's cabal made himself known as a psyker who had been assisting in the Inquisitor's investigations.
The psyker explained "Our investigations of Opuntia were fruitless and I had been trying to persuade MacVicar to give it up as we were wasting precious time here. We had recently received word of our next assignment, but he was determined that we continue looking into that blasted cactus. The daemonic presence explains the warp anomalies we have been observing and now I am finally free to bring the rest of the retinue with me to address our next mission. It seems we will have to return empty-handed in regards to Opuntia, but I can express my thanks for the Captain's valiant defense of our investigation from the daemons. Unfortunately, the Inquisitor perished at the claws of a Slaaneshi fiend before your arrival, Captain, otherwise I'm sure you and your men would have been able to save him. I bid you good day, as my men will be taking their leave under the assumption that the daemonic incursion is now under control and nothing more on this planet demands our attention."
At that, the man left the command center, never to be seen again by McThraby who was now being watched by the three Harlequins. "Well! That resolves that issue. You have my word, Harlequin, that you will not see any Imperial men or women in the desert. That is, unless we feel you have broken your side of the deal."
The Harlequins laughed, "It would be the end of times should an Eldar forget their end of a bargain before a human does." The three then mimicked the psyker and left the command center to also never be seen again by McThraby. Finally, his city was safe from any daemon or Xeno threat and McThraby could relax. His old bones creaked as he took off his boots and sighed at the relief the fresh air provided to his aching feet.
"Can I get you some recaff, sir?" McThraby had almost forgotten about the poor messenger.
With a smile, McThraby replied "Only if you find enough to share some with me. You and I just witnessed quite a lot and could both use a hot drink." He leaned back and shut his eyes as the messenger hurried off; he probably had time for a quick nap before the messenger returned with the beverages.