Legends of the Smoke Jaguars Chapter 249

It took Vendrick many months to find his way back to the Ordo Astartes. His long trek across barren wilds led him to a town, which led him to a city, which led him to the capital and the Governor's Palace. From there he used the Astropaths to send a message out into the galaxy, coded to the Inquisition's secret cyphers. Then it was just a matter of waiting for them to come and retrieve him. Twelve weeks of enforced idleness, dogged by questions he refused to answer, until the heavens lit up with a new star as the mobile base dropped into orbit. In a more enlightened galaxy that would have been that, but the Imperium was not enlightened and Vendrick had been seen.

The second Vendrick left the surface assault boats were descending. Stormtroopers poured out, Hellguns blazing. They swept through the capital city in packs, gunning down men, women and children in the streets. The people panicked and they ran but to no avail. Gunships swept outside the city walls, assault cannons gutting any man or woman who attempted to flee. No mercy was shown, not to the common man or the noble. Even the Governor was not spared, killed by a las-shot between the eyes, all for daring to lay eyes upon Vendrick. Towns further away were subjected to a brief orbital barrage, less exacting but devastating still. The survivors would never know why they suffered, or by whose hand, only that fire had come from the heavens and burned their homes to ashes.

Vendrick watched this from an observation blister on the flank of Renegade's Woe, tracking the distribution of magma bomb shots. His perfect recall allowed him to track his route across the planet, and he noted those spots were subjected to intense bombardment. There would be no survivors there. Other sites were merely to spread indiscriminate damage and conceal the true intent of the purge.

"This seems excessive," Ehvael muttered.

"It is as it must be," Vendrick stated blandly.

"To slaughter innocents without care, charges laid upon us by the Divine Emperor?"

"Save me your religious doggerel, I am not a Storm Herald."

"Are we the Ordo Malleus then?" Ehvael demanded, "Even the Ordo Xenos does not purge anyone who happens to lay an eye upon them!"

"It is not the existence of Censors we hide, it is the sample I brought back. You know the nature of our work, the source of this power. Can you deny that it must be suppressed? Have the Storm Heralds never purged a people for laying eyes upon the raw warp?!"

Ehvael couldn't argue that. Even the self-righteous Storm Heralds had at times needed to exterminate a population, for being exposed to that which the common man must never know exists. The Imperium hid the threat of the warp and Chaos behind myths and allegories, half-truths peddled from pulpits and on the battlefield, but genuine knowledge of the Ruinous Powers could never be allowed to spread. Vendrick had carried with him a sample of raw warp power, not born of Chaos but dangerous regardless. Nobody outside the Ordo could be allowed to look upon that and live, so the planet was to be purged. Vendrick hadn't bothered to learn its name, it wasn't important enough to concern him.

Ehvael sighed, "I overheard the Inquisitors talking, it seems the records will be altered to suggest this attack was by a rogue Chaos warband, World Eaters, or some such."

"That usually covers most actions," Vendrick agreed.

"You remain sangfroid even after all that occurred?"

"Do not mistake my self-control for passivity. I lost nine Censors on this misbegotten mission; suffered betrayals and back-stabbing. I will be revenged."

Ehvael sighed, "About that, while you were away there were developments. An Astropathic communique from Copan XII…"

"The Smoke Jaguars!" Vendrick snapped, "Those treacherous curs must be brought to account!"

"They beat you to it," Ehvael sighed, "It seems there was an incident, your renegades attacked their homeworld and stole some relics. The Chapter is beyond furious, they demand to know how the Ordo Astartes could have allowed this to happen, and demand to know what we're going to do about it."

"They dare to blame us?!" Vendrick snarled, "Those deceitful scum, they must burn!"

"They are a sovereign Chapter, and wholeheartedly denounce the renegades as Traitoris Extremis. Their Chapter Master is… apocalyptic… on the matter."

"I care nothing for his outrage!"

"But you should!" another voice cut in. Both Space Marines turned as Magos Lazar entered the blister. The willowy Tech-Priest billowed in with his robes flapping, all six of his arms moving. His elongated snout was quivering with excitement and his staff tapped the floor rapidly as he walked nearer. In his wake a trio of hooded Inquisitors followed, watching silently as they always did. Useful as the Magos was, nobody fully trusted him.

"Lazar," Vendrick growled, "What is this I hear of the Smoke Jaguars?!"

Lazar came to a halt, towering over all others, as he said, "Ah yes, a distressing matter. An Inquisitorial Conclave has been dispatched to investigate the incident."

"Investigate?!" Vendrick spat, "They should be delivering a payload of Cyclonic Warheads!"

"Careful," Ehvael warned, "The Smoke Jaguars are allied to my Chapter; you may spark off a greater conflict than you intend with such talk."

But Vendrick snarled, "They abandoned us, betrayed us. I demand they be punished!"

"You make demands of us?!" one of the Inquisitors, a female, broke silence only to be halted by an unraised hand from one of the others.

Lazar loomed over them as he exhorted, "Let me make some things clear Censor 2.1. First: we have read your mission report and agree that the Smoke Jaguars are unsuitable for this project. Their immediate rejection from future experiments has been sanctioned. Second: a Chapter is a potent weapon in the Imperium's arsenal, not lightly discarded without good cause. And third, you underestimate their reaction. Their Chapter Master's missives melted the brains of two Astropaths, so invective were his words. The renegades who betrayed you shall have more to worry about than your anger, the entire Smoke Jaguar Chapter has sworn to hunt them down and… best not go into details… but rest assured it will be a very long and excruciating death. And fourth, and this very much the most important point, the Smoke Jaguars threaten to expose everything we've done here to the other Ordos if we attempt to pin any blame on them."

Vendrick was not pleased but he knew there were limits, even to the Inquisition's power. Their authority may be absolute but their armies were few. There were no vast battlefleets, other than those seconded from other institutions, no generals who would act without question. The Ordo Astartes could not draw forces enough to destroy the Smoke Jaguars on their own, not without the Ordo Hereticus, Xenos and Malleus finding out about it. And if the wider Inquisition learned of this disgrace then they'd soon learn of the Censors and have their existence declared Heretical. The consequences of that would be a war nobody wanted. Bitter as it was to swallow Vendrick was realist enough to know the Smoke Jaguars would have to evade obliteration, but for Vitcos there would be no mercy. That odious scum would suffer for his crimes, Vendrick would see it done, if nobody else did.

"Now, to the true matter!" Lazar clapped two of his hands, "The Final Phase!"

"It is complete?!" Vendrick asked.

"Complete… not yet… but the sample you brought me is the key! I have probed its mysteries and discovered so much, in such a short time. The power of the Legion of the Damned shall be mine!"

"Ours," the mouthy Inquisitor interjected.

"What…. Oh yes… ours… I meant to say ours…" Lazar waved off.

Vendrick pressed, "It can be done then, imbue a Space Marine with powers equal to a Daemon Prince?"

Lazar shivered with excitement as he crowed, "Warp-conduit engineering, Belisarius Cawl called me a madman for even attempting it. He can keep his pathetic gene-tinkering, for I shall show him true power! My Undying shall wield might beyond comprehension! Energy from the warp bound in human flesh, the might of the Immaterium caged and controlled! The dream of every sorcerer since the dawn of history, made possible not through Psyker and Daemonic pact, but cold, hard science!"

"Then we must begin immediately," Vendrick urged.

Lazar agreed, "Yes, yes! New subjects must be requisitioned. The Final Phase demands more bodies!"

"You have your first one right here," Vendrick stated.

Ehvael gasped in shock, "You can't be serious!"

"I am utterly serious," Vendrick rebuffed, "I shall be the first to undergo the procedure."

"But… but you have no idea what it will do to you," Ehvael gulped.

"I know it will give me the power to destroy the enemies of man, that is all I need."

"This is too big a risk!"

But Vendrick snapped, "No renegade shall stand against me, no Chaos Marine, no Daemon. I shall meet our enemies on equal grounds at last, and vanquish them. When I hunt down Vitcos I shall tear him limb from limb! That is worth any amount of risk!"

Lazar lifted his arms high to proclaim, "Then I have the final component for my Magnum Opus: a volunteer!"

Vendrick lifted his chin to declare: "Take me to your Laboritorum and make me the first of the Undying, so I can at last hold in my hands the means to fulfil the Oath Censoris. In the slaughter of His foes: my fist, my blade, my bolt, relentless. In defence of His people: my hand, my shield, my armour, relentless. In the face of evil: my mind, my will, my faith, relentless. I am righteous, I am retribution, I am relentless!"