Deus Pater (Exalted/40k)

The shuttle falls from the void with a scream of superheated air, wings painted in bonfire hues by the terrible forces of re-entry. Safely ensconced within the core, the only thing you feel is a slight trembling of the deck beneath your feet, just enough to set the water in your glass to dancing.

"Truly, Your Holiness, I have never seen the like," the Sister - Mina by name, according to your covert check of the comma frequencies - says in a reverential tone, "to not merely root out treachery in a manner of moments, but to turn the usurper to your side with nothing more than words… had I not been there myself I might have thought it merely a story."

You smile politely, setting down the cup of water and letting the magnetized strip across the base hold it firmly to the arm of your crash-couch. The straps holding you in place are uncomfortably tight, but it would be a poor end to your work to be thrown across the hold by an unexpected maneuver and see your skull split like an egg because you were too childish to follow direction. Your bodyguard remains standing, the arcane systems of her power armour allowing her to remain motionless and secure even in the midst of atmospheric re-entry.

"Arch-Deacon Amelia is a good woman," you say, adding just enough emphasis to be sure your words are taken to heart, "one who thought her flock might be endangered by my actions and responded as she had always been taught. She knew no better, and repented when corrected. I can ask for little more."

In truth, the fact that the standard response to doctrinal differences of sufficient scope is to call in the Witch Hunters is one of the things that sickens you the most about the current state of the Ecclesiarchy and humanity as a whole. That there are sects and splinter faiths which have perverted the very nature of the God-Emperor's existence and become a danger to the rest of mankind is not in doubt, not with the weight of ten thousand years of history behind it. Some degree of oversight is clearly required, lest demons slip in among the faithful wearing the guise of angels, but is the Inquisition the only form such a watchdog might be allowed to take? You do not believe it so.

No, better to say that you cannot believe it, for if that is the case then there is no salvation and your dreams to the contrary are nothing more than idiotic fantasy.

"As you say, Holy One," Sister Mina responds, inclining her head to you in a gesture of utmost respect. Her helmet rests strapped against her hip, letting you see her admiring gaze and earnest expression, "I have been informed that we are approaching the landing pad. Where shall we proceed from here?"

"I think I should be well advised to seek audience with your Cannoness, Sister," you say thoughtfully, "with the concerns of the clergy addressed the Sororitas remain the one institution of faith and piety on this world that might yet harbour doubts. It would be prudent to see those addressed, instead of assuming their support by virtue of rank and station."

"I shall convey your request to my superiors immediately upon our return to the Cathedral, Cardinal," Mina replies with a pleased edge to her voice, "I have no doubt they will be willing to grant your audience swiftly. We have all lived our lives dreaming of the day when the Emperor's will is made so undeniably clear."

There is a faint thump as the shuttle touches down, and with swift motions you unbuckle yourself and rise to your feet. Sister Mina falls in at your side as the ramp opens with a sinister hiss, and together the two of you step out into the air of Sanguis once again.

As it turns out, you don't need to contact the Sororitas at all; they have come to you.

Ten of them are waiting in a line at the edge of the landing platform, their silvered skin shining brightly in the evening light. The howl of the shuttle's engines fills the air and sends gusts of wind to toy with their bone-white vestments, but they remain motionless, bolt-weapons held at a parade ground rest. Each is adorned with rosaries of adamantine beads and purity seals of beautifully decorated parchment, and though they bear no marks of rank or status you know these must surely be true veterans of their Order. Every last one is wearing their helmet, the face-concealing helms rendering them cold and impassive.

At their head is another, an Eleventh member of the Adepta Sororitas, but unlike her sisters this one is clearly not drawn from a militant order. She wears robes instead of armour, albeit ones reinforced with carapace weave, and though she carries an imposing looking pistol at her waist there is no sign of heavier armament to be seen. Her arms are folded behind her back, and the upper half of her face is a mess of burn tissue studded by the burning red light of twinned cybernetic eyes. One of the Dialogus, you suspect, the non-combat arm of the Sororitas dedicated to record keeping and the study of their many and varied foes.

"Sister Mina," the scarred woman says, her voice as crisp and clean as any noble dictation, "the Canonness Superior has enacted the Silver Redoubt Protocol. Comply."

Mina blinks, stepping forwards to stand at your side and frowning at the assembled line of her militant sisters. "Silver Redoubt? Surely there has been some mistake…"

"Comply," the Dialogus repeats, her command snapping out across the landing pad with a force and clarity to put drill sergeants to shame, and at the word your bodyguard stiffens in silent shock.

Then, as you watch, she holds her bolter out before her and moves through the Ritual of Unloading with sharp, almost mechanical movements. The weapon disarmed, your bodyguard sets it down upon the deck and takes three steps backwards, only then sinking into a crouch and folding her armoured hands behind her head.

"Sister, I must admit I am somewhat confused," you say slowly, letting your puzzlement show through in your voice as you take a single step forwards, "just what is this 'Silver Redoubt' you speak of…"

Without a word, without a sound, the assembled line of Battle Sisters blur into motion. One moment they were absolute statues, the next you are quite literally staring down the barrels of a half-score armed and loaded bolt rifles. They loom in your vision, dark and imposing.

"Allow me to clarify, then," the Sister Dialogus says with a sharp, almost mockingly hard-edged smile, "Silver Redoubt Protocol is one course of action among many that the sisters of the Order of the Argent Shroud are trained in. It is designed to be employed when we are confronted by the potential but unverified presence of a powerful psyker among the ranks of our erstwhile allies."

The feeling in your gut is rather what you imagine a frozen spine would feel like. You stand there, perfectly motionless, aware on an almost intimate level that one wrong move could mean you death. "There… must be some mistake. I am no psyker."

"Perhaps. Perhaps not. It is not my place to judge," the Dialogus says with a slight twitch of her shoulders, "It is, instead, my place to convey to you the full seriousness of your situation. The Adepta Sororitas have witnessed you, a man suspected of heresy and in a position of extreme power and authority within the ranks of the Ecclesiarchy, defy an Inquisitor of the Ordo Hereticus and display supernatural abilities that manifested in a moment of terminal pressure. We have witnessed a senior Inquisitor of the Ordo Hereticus retract a sentence of damnation and depart the planet at your command, mere seconds after attempting to slay you for committing an act of treason and blasphemy against his person."

You would like nothing more than to curse and scream, but again the looming threat of the bolt rifles provides a wonderful argument for the virtues of calm self-control.

"If you have witnessed that then you have surely also witnessed the Light of the Emperor that accompanied the entire event," you try instead, grasping for what should surely be a conclusive argument in your favour, "gifted to me in holy vision in my time of greatest need."

"Trust not in the words of the Enemy, for his tongue is heavy with lies," the Sororitas returns without a moment's hesitation, "you would not be the first daemon to cloth itself in robes of pilfered righteousness. Yet neither would you be the first Saint to be blessed with such powers by the God-Emperor for the benefit of mankind, which is why the Canonness resorted to the Silver Redoubt instead of simply ordering your execution."

You grit your teeth, wondering at the silent stillness of the other Sororitas. Do they approve of what is happening here? Are they even aware? The generalities must be known to them, but the specifics… can they filter out the sound of the outside world with the aid of their armour, or replace your image with that of a hovering target icon? The possibilities are too many for you to make a reliable judgement.

"Well, it seems I have at least some chance here, then," you say with forced calm, "what happens now?"

"You will come with us," the Dialogus says simply, "and we will convey you to a secure facility elsewhere on the planet. There you will be studied, examined, questioned and judged over an extended period of time. Should the judgement be in your favour you will be released and granted your audience with the Canonness Superior."

You do not have to ask what will happen if the judgement does not go in your favour. Alone in hostile territory, surrounded by dozens or hundreds of veteran warriors of unshakable faith, likely weakened by these 'examinations'... you will die, either by swift bolter shot or slow burning flame, your corpse rendered down to ash and scattered in the ocean.

Is the risk one worth taking? Do you have a choice? So much of these depends on what the notoriously fanatical Adepta Sororitas will accept as proof of your borrowed divinity, but either way a decision must be made, now.

What will it be?

Article:

Choose one:

[ ] Comply. You will go with the Sororitas, and trust that this will not mean your doom.

[ ] Persuade. You will convince the Sororitas that such a course is perhaps unwise and certainly unnecessary. There is another way.

• [ ] Specify line of argument (Write in)

[ ] Resist. Ten to one, and they are veteran warriors besides, but you… you have the Emperor's Light, and you will not go meekly to your doom.

• [ ] Specify tactics (Target priority, engage or flee, specific tricks etc) (Write in)