If anyone had asked Elias Fuzeyr, Inquisitor, how his day (days) was (were) going, he would have given them a mild look, and answered, "Well." The actual answer, the one he would keep to himself and never speak aloud to anyoneis that the days since the Chaos incursion on Gheistos started have been the most, well, chaotic and messy of his hundred-and-some years of life.
The incursion itself was not, ultimately the cause of most of the chaos in his life right now. No, the fault for that lies squarely at his own booted feet: he had opened the artifact, he had released what lay within, he is to blame for it, and everything that came after.
For all that it seems to have turned out in the favour of mankind, there are more than a few of his fellows who would condemn him for opening the artifact. There are more than a few more who would condemn Satoru Gojo as well--as though they could.
Elias' thoughts turn to the thing they have been circling: Satoru Gojo, relic of the deep past, a being so ancient that it makes his teeth hurt just thinking about it. If he is telling the truth--though he has not given Elias any reason to think that he is not--he predates not just the Imperium of Man, but the Dark Age of Technology, and... Admittedly, he is a little vague on what comes before that, the exact progression of human history, but it's a heady thought, having access to such a relic. To say nothing of his power.
And what power. Gojo is the single most powerful psyker Elias has ever met short of the Emperor himself. Not the most powerful he has ever heard of, of course, but the man tore apart an army of daemons. Sometimes with his bare hands. There's a lot to be said for that kind of power, and right now, knowing what he does about Gojo's untouchability, well. A bet on Gojo would be a long shot, but not entirely misplaced, even against ancients, traitors, and xenos.
All that is to say, the man is someone that he really really, very much wants to keep on his side, in his hand, and content to be there.
"--which is why," he says, calmly and without rancor, into the vox. "I told you not. To. Antagonise. That. Man. Chapter Master. Do I make myself clear?"
"I understand you perfectly, Inquisitor." Chapter Master Matann is likewise calm, and without rancor. "And I have already explained my reasons to you."
"And what of your Librarian's actions?" Elias counters.
"What of your... 'asset's' actions?" Matann returns. "He--"
"--responded in a perfectly reasonable, if a trifle immature way to being fired upon without provocation, and poisoned. You are well-aware that space marine rations are not fit for unaltered humans."
"If that asset of yours is an unaltered human I will eat my damned power armour," Matann replies immediately. "He should be dead. He is not."
"If you had succeeded in killing an Inquisition asset, we would be having a very different conversation, Chapter Master," Elias tells him, still very calmly. "I think that you are lucky. You are lucky that Gojo has apparently unshakeable self-control, keen awareness, and--"
"You--"
"I am not finished!" Elias does not, quite snap. "You are lucky Chapter Master, lucky beyond all belief that my asset did not decide that you and the rest of the Vorpal Swords were a threat! You are lucky that all he did was play with your Lilbrarian a little, instead of blowing a hole in the side of your ship, or leaving your Librarian stranded in vacuum half a solar system away. We are all lucky, Chapter Master, that that man is on our side. I do not know if you have a hololith available-"
"-I do-"
"-then put up a current projection of the planet. Of Gheistos itself, and take a look at the state of the southern continent, near the equator."
"What coordinates?" Matann asks, audibly reluctant. Elias does not care if he is reluctant, so long as he does as he is told. The daemon invasion is over, but the system is still on the edge of a crisis, one that has only been avoided so far because a man out of time has been somehow, mysteriously, willing to cooperate with Elias.
"You will not need them," Elias says, seconds before he hears an audible sound--not a gasp, but more like someone sucking air in over their teeth. "You see it."
"That man did that?" Matann demands.
"We do not know how much was him, and how much the Warp portal," Elias admits. "But yes. And no, the depth is as yet unknown; the auspex has not returned the same numbers twice."
"All right," Matann admits after several long seconds of silence. "We are lucky. I can admit that. What do you intend to do with him?"
"Fold him into the Inquisition and point him at His Imperial Majesty's enemies, of course." What else can you do with a man who clearly sees himself as a living weapon? A weapon needs a hand to guide it. Elias' might as well be that hand.
"I should tell you, Inquisitor, that my Librarian believes that your asset was stolen from a space marine chapter, and he is not happy about it."
"I can tell you without a doubt that that is not the case," Elias replies.
"And can you tell me why?" There is an edge to Matann's voice, one that Elias cannot quite help but smile at. He is sure that it is audible when he replies.
"No."
He ends the call.
