IX

Deceit

"I told you to keep your eyes on them!" Giltbert barked at Catellus as he stepped out of the room before turning on his com-link, "Brother Wigbrand, do you have a visual feed of the ship's interior right now? Inquisitor Marion and Fantoche are missing."

"Negative, my lord," the Techmarine's voice crackled through his micro-bead, "The screens are blank. The Machine Spirit is still too weak for the visual feed to pull through."

"Oddmund! Dieter! Location?"

"We are approaching the flight deck, my lord," Giltbert heard the old knight's voice, "Dieter and I are searching for a working elevator."

"Find one," the Sword Brother growled, "And meet us at the cargo bay. We need to find the Inquisitor!"

Catellus remained silent as he watched Giltbert walking hurriedly through the cargo bay; following the Sword Brother as he looked and scanned every inch of the area.

"Forgive me, brother," the young knight began to speak, "I…"

Catellus suddenly found himself reeling as his helmet flew off his head and landed a few feet away from him. It was as if a Power Hammer had struck him in the head. The young knight staggered before planting his boot to the grilled floor of the space cruiser. Catellus turned, blood dripping from his mouth, to find Giltbert with his right arm outstretched. The Sword Brother's fist was tightly clenched.

"I have told you many times, Brother Catellus," Giltbert spoke, his voice filled with anger, "You are a knight of the Black Templars. You cannot afford to be careless! Have you no honour?!"

Catellus bowed his head in shame as blood continue to trickle from his busted lip.

"Pick up your helmet," the Sword Brother snapped, "You will receive your punishment once this is over."

Dejected, Catellus turned to pick up his helmet from the floor when he suddenly stopped; his ears pricking up.

"My lord," he said as he slowly rose up, "Do you hear that?"

Giltbert turned towards the young knight. At first, he heard nothing. Then, he too heard it. It was a very soft but recognizable sound.

A beeping sound.

With a single heartbeat in their two hearts, the two Black Templars knights made their way towards the sound; with Catellus quickly putting on his helmet. The beeping sound slowly became louder as Gilbert and Catellus sprinted through the cargo bay. The young knight suddenly felt the Sword Brother's arm across his chest as the two knights abruptly stopped. In front of them was Fantoche; slumped to the floor.

"I do not see any life signs," Catellus remarked as he touched the silent bodyguard's body before turning it over, "Holy Terra!"

Like the Cadian stormtrooper, Fantoche had a gaping hole in his chest. This gaping hole, however, had an entrance and exit wound. Something must have pierced through the bodyguard's chest. Something sharp. Giltbert also noticed another gaping hole in the helmet. Through the gaping hole, the Sword Brother saw broken shards of the skull embedded in what remained of Fantoche's brain.

"This is no ordinary attack," Catellus uttered, staring at the chest wound, "What could have caused this?"

Giltbert remained silent. He had just noticed the beeping sound was coming from one of the cargo bay rooms. He also noticed some flashing lights emanating from the same room. While Catellus focused on the bodyguard's dead body, the Sword Brother walked towards the open bulkhead door. Through the room's opening, he found Inquisitor Marion lying face down to the ground. The inquisitor's handheld scanner was just a few inches away from him and it was still beeping; its screen flashing constantly. Electricity surged through the Sword Brother's Power Sword as he cautiously made his way to the Ordos Xenos inquisitor. Inquisitor Marion's body remained unmoving as Giltbert knelt down to pick up the scanner. As he turned the inquisitor's body over, he noticed that the inquisitor's mask was damaged; sharing a similar sized gaping hole in its forehead. Filled with curiosity, Giltbert removed the damaged mask.

"By the Throne!" he cried in shock.

Underneath the cracked mask was a pale face with an installed augur eyepiece on its right eye and a mouth that was stapled shut. Giltbert immediately recognised the face despite the gaping hole in its cranium; a face he had seen continuously in the Obsidius Euxinum. It was the face of a servitor.

Brother Wigbrand was getting frustrated as his hands glided around the bridge consoles. The Machine Spirit had been awake for a while yet its presence remained weak. The Techmarine had used all the methods he had learnt from his training with the Adeptus Mechanicus in order to bolster the Machine Spirit's strength. He was now resorting to chanting when the anointed consecrated oil and burning tributes did not work. Yet the Machine Spirit remained weak.

"Tell me, great Machine Spirit," Wigbrand muttered under his breath, "What ails you?"

It was almost as if the Machine Spirit was answering the Techmarine as a light from one of the buttons on one of the consoles suddenly flashed. Wigbrand took a step towards the console; looking at the flashing button. He immediately understood the Machine Spirit's plight. Having to be forcefully awakened when it had been dormant since the Emperor's Descent crash, the Machine Spirit was now looking for a source of power. Wigbrand removed one of his connective wires from his Power pack and inserted into one of the connection ports on the console.

"Great Machine Spirit," Wigbrand spoke with a humbled tone, "To return your strength, I offer you my own power."

The screen of the console suddenly lit up, giving some elation to the Black Templar Techmarine. The Emperor's Descent's machine spirit had accepted his offering. Wigbrand looked at the screen as he explored through downed cruiser's ship data; scanning every file and record. As he continued scanning through the ship's massive data, the Techmarine's body slowly started to shake; his head jerking erratically from side to side.

"By the Omnissiah!" Wigbrand exclaimed as he took a step back from the console; accidently unplugging his connective wire from the console's connection ports.

The console returned to idleness as Wigbrand staggered back in disbelief. This was not what he expected to find from the cruiser's ship data. In fact, he was appalled by it. Wigbrand knew that it was urgent that Giltbert knew what he had discovered.

"Brother Giltbert," he began to speak through his com-link, "I have…"

Wigbrand's body suddenly jerked forward as he felt a sharp pain through his chest. Surprised and in shock, the Techmarine looked down to find a strange sharp blade-looking organic object protruding from his chest. Coughing blood out from his mouth, Wigbrand felt his body being hoisted from the floor before being turned around to face the shadows. Through the darkness, Wigbrand could see a set of sharp metallic teeth getting closer.

"Forgive me, my Emperor." he said weakly as the metallic teeth slowly opened.

"Sword Brother Giltbert!" Catellus exclaimed as he entered the room.

"I am here, brother." the Sword Brother replied while still looking at the dead servitor body below him.

"Did you find Inquisitor Marion?" the young knight asked as he stepped closer to Giltbert.

"I did," Giltbert replied with anger, showing the broken inquisitor's mask to Catellus, "But it is not him."

"Not him?" Catellus said, looking at the broken mask; clearly confused, "Then, where is he?"

Giltbert gave a sardonic laugh.

"He has fooled us all," the Sword Brother spoke with a cynical tone as he motioned to the dead servitor by his feet, "He was never with us from the beginning. Only his two servants."

"How deceitful!" Catellus roared, "I will find him and purge him for his dishonesty!"

"In time we will," Giltberd said as he nodded, "But first we must inform our brothers of his deception."

"Brother, look!" the young knight suddenly yelped, pointing to the scanner in the Sword Brother's hand.

Giltbert looked at the device's screen. On it, he saw two blips representing both him and Catellus being closest to the scanner's vicinity. A few metres away was a third mysterious blip.

"We are not alone," Giltbert whispered as he powered up his Power Sword, "Ready yourself."

Catellus nodded as he held his bolt rifle. The two knight slowly walked through the room, with Giltbert leading with the scanner. The room they had entered was like a makeshift laboratory; filled with crates and idle equipment. The device continued to beep as the two Black Templar knights continued towards the mysterious third blip's location. They stopped as soon as the third blip was a few inches away from them. In front of Giltbert was a storage container laying on the floor. The Sword Brother looked towards Catellus as he hooked the scanner on his belt. The young knight nodded before aiming his bolt rifle at the storage container. Giltbert raised his Power Sword with his right hand as his left hand reached for the storage container's lid. With a sudden quick motion, the Sword Brother immediately lifted up the lid. Catellus tightened his grip around his bolt rifle when he heard a small metallic yelp as Giltbert grabbed whatever was inside the storage container and threw it against the wall. The mysterious figure cried as his head smacked onto the wall before falling to the floor. He was wearing a red hooded robe with gold trimming with several mechadendrites protruding from his back. On its pockmarked face were several bionic implants, including two augmetic green eyes and a protruding hose from his cranium.

"A Tech-Adept." Catellus softly exclaimed as Giltbert made his way to the collapsed tech-priest.

"Identify yourself!" the Sword Brother ordered as he pointed his Power Sword at the tech-priest's throat.

The tech-priest quickly rose to his feet before answering in a raspy, metallic voice.

"Magos Biologis, Bischof Weiran."