This is a continuation of Acolyte (40k), you may want to start there to catch up.
Interrogator (40k)
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This is a continuation of Acolyte (40k), you may want to start there to catch up and big thanks to Arratra for betaing this one.
Now, on with the story!
____________
I ran, my laspistol clenched in my hand.
Not even sure why, not like it was of much help. Sucking in air as I breathed hard, I vaulted over a fallen tree almost a meter thick.
Rolling over it, I landed on the dirt and breathed heavily, listening hard for a second.
Quiet.
None of those large chirping insects. No wonder, they were likely bright enough not to draw attention to themselves.
I listened.
*Crack*
Popping out, I didn't bother aiming, I just pulled my trigger as fast as I could, the lasfire crackling through the air as I emptied my powercell in the general direction of the sound before I turned and scrambled back onto my feet.
I ran for it, dropping the powercell with a muttered apology to the laspistol's machine-spirit as I pulled a fresh one from my belt, slamming it into place.
Barreling through a brush, I found myself almost running face first into a group of Tau.
Likely surprising them as much as they surprised me, but I didn't bother slowing down, "Run you blue frack heads! Run!" I yelled at them, shouldering what must have been their Shas'Ui from the markings on his armour and helmets out my way without stopping, I booked it straight through their squad before they could do more than let out yells of surprise.
Plasma bolts Pow-Hissed through the forest around me, but most went very wide.
Shit! Shit! Shit!
The ground fell away and I jumped, landing on my back and going skidding down the hill. I hit hard, driving the air from my lungs.
Even as I raised my hands as the brush tugged at my hair and face, thorns dug in through my clothes and sinking into my flesh, the air behind me filled with the sound of pulse rifle fire… and then screams of pain.
I finally rolled twice, went over a ledge and landed in a small stream with a blash.
Gasping for breath, I struggled onto my knees, the ice cold water hitting me like a mallet. Spitting and coughing, I froze for a second.
The forest was quiet again.
Struggling onto my feet, I risked a glance up along the slope.
Nothing. No movement, no sound.
I didn't trust it. Slowly I started to move again, careful not to splash in the water as I crossed the small stream, I climbed back onto the bank again.
Climbing up with the help of a tree root, I moved up around the tree, putting my back against it as I checked my lasgun.
It didn't seem overly bothered by getting dunked, the small indicator light showed a happy little green light.
I shook it off the best I could anyway, doing my best to make sure that the dangerous end was clear of mud before I risked another glance around the back of the tree and froze.
Something moved along the top of the ridge.
I couldn't see it clearly, but there was definite movement. It wouldn't take a genius to follow my tracks, I needed to move.
Now!
Slowly ducking down, I started to move away into the forest. They seemed to have lost me for the second, but that wouldn't last.
But the longer they didn't have a fix on my position, the better.
Think quiet thoughts.
I'm not here. I'm a shadow, a forest animal, a little mouse. I'm not here. I'm not here.
A tree trunk right next to me came crashing down as a torso sized chunk of it suddenly disappeared with a hissing sound.
Breaking into a run, I raised my forearm against the branches.
Vegetation hissed behind me.
Something caught my eye and I changed course, running towards what looked like imperial construction. The rockcrete was old and cracked, overgrown by local vegetation, but it was clearly Imperial Construction.
Four rockcrete structures, prefab buildings on a wide and thick slab of the same material, clearly some sort of landing platform.
Fuuuuck, none of those help. Not unless somebody forgot a Sentinel or something when they packed this place up.
Still, it was the best chance I had.
Not bothering to slow down, I ran as hard as I could across the rockcrete surface towards the closest building.
The door was closed, but opened when I gave it a tug, the heavy metal moving with a slight creak and I pressed through the gap, pulling it closed behind myself the best I could.
Trying to breathe as quietly as I could, I felt my heart thump in my ears, overwhelming any other sounds, but I moved as quietly as I could.
Needed to hide. Just getting inside wouldn't be enough.
Needed to hide. Needed to…
There. A hatch with the mechanicus seal on it. Not large, but maybe…
Grabbing the handle, I slowly started to lift it, trying my best to do it quietly. The hatch made a slight squeaking sound and I froze before lifting it a bit higher again, going even slower until it was high enough for me to holster my lasgun and very carefully slip inside.
The area inside was cramped, maybe two meters in each direction and seemed to contain a junction box and a small mechanicus shrine to the junction box.
I would be trapped like a rat, but I literally couldn't run any longer. It was just a question of time until they caught me.
I had to hide and hope they didn't find me.
Lowering the hatch fully into place, I took the two steps more down the short ladder and turned around, finding myself staring into a pair of slightly luminous eyes, the beings head covered with some sort of dreads or quills. He was muscular, slightly taller than me and his jaw somewhat beaklike.
His clothes looked a mix of primitive and advanced, made up of leather and some sort of ceramic from what I could see, a short staff/rifle combo held in one hand.
The Kroot didn't move a muscle, just staring at me silently.
There was the sudden Clang of metal against metal somewhere above and I froze, glancing upwards before back to the Kroot.
Slowly, very, very slowly, I carefully raised my hand and put my finger to my lips.
The Kroot slowly nodded once.
Now, on with the story!
____________
I ran, my laspistol clenched in my hand.
Not even sure why, not like it was of much help. Sucking in air as I breathed hard, I vaulted over a fallen tree almost a meter thick.
Rolling over it, I landed on the dirt and breathed heavily, listening hard for a second.
Quiet.
None of those large chirping insects. No wonder, they were likely bright enough not to draw attention to themselves.
I listened.
*Crack*
Popping out, I didn't bother aiming, I just pulled my trigger as fast as I could, the lasfire crackling through the air as I emptied my powercell in the general direction of the sound before I turned and scrambled back onto my feet.
I ran for it, dropping the powercell with a muttered apology to the laspistol's machine-spirit as I pulled a fresh one from my belt, slamming it into place.
Barreling through a brush, I found myself almost running face first into a group of Tau.
Likely surprising them as much as they surprised me, but I didn't bother slowing down, "Run you blue frack heads! Run!" I yelled at them, shouldering what must have been their Shas'Ui from the markings on his armour and helmets out my way without stopping, I booked it straight through their squad before they could do more than let out yells of surprise.
Plasma bolts Pow-Hissed through the forest around me, but most went very wide.
Shit! Shit! Shit!
The ground fell away and I jumped, landing on my back and going skidding down the hill. I hit hard, driving the air from my lungs.
Even as I raised my hands as the brush tugged at my hair and face, thorns dug in through my clothes and sinking into my flesh, the air behind me filled with the sound of pulse rifle fire… and then screams of pain.
I finally rolled twice, went over a ledge and landed in a small stream with a blash.
Gasping for breath, I struggled onto my knees, the ice cold water hitting me like a mallet. Spitting and coughing, I froze for a second.
The forest was quiet again.
Struggling onto my feet, I risked a glance up along the slope.
Nothing. No movement, no sound.
I didn't trust it. Slowly I started to move again, careful not to splash in the water as I crossed the small stream, I climbed back onto the bank again.
Climbing up with the help of a tree root, I moved up around the tree, putting my back against it as I checked my lasgun.
It didn't seem overly bothered by getting dunked, the small indicator light showed a happy little green light.
I shook it off the best I could anyway, doing my best to make sure that the dangerous end was clear of mud before I risked another glance around the back of the tree and froze.
Something moved along the top of the ridge.
I couldn't see it clearly, but there was definite movement. It wouldn't take a genius to follow my tracks, I needed to move.
Now!
Slowly ducking down, I started to move away into the forest. They seemed to have lost me for the second, but that wouldn't last.
But the longer they didn't have a fix on my position, the better.
Think quiet thoughts.
I'm not here. I'm a shadow, a forest animal, a little mouse. I'm not here. I'm not here.
A tree trunk right next to me came crashing down as a torso sized chunk of it suddenly disappeared with a hissing sound.
Breaking into a run, I raised my forearm against the branches.
Vegetation hissed behind me.
Something caught my eye and I changed course, running towards what looked like imperial construction. The rockcrete was old and cracked, overgrown by local vegetation, but it was clearly Imperial Construction.
Four rockcrete structures, prefab buildings on a wide and thick slab of the same material, clearly some sort of landing platform.
Fuuuuck, none of those help. Not unless somebody forgot a Sentinel or something when they packed this place up.
Still, it was the best chance I had.
Not bothering to slow down, I ran as hard as I could across the rockcrete surface towards the closest building.
The door was closed, but opened when I gave it a tug, the heavy metal moving with a slight creak and I pressed through the gap, pulling it closed behind myself the best I could.
Trying to breathe as quietly as I could, I felt my heart thump in my ears, overwhelming any other sounds, but I moved as quietly as I could.
Needed to hide. Just getting inside wouldn't be enough.
Needed to hide. Needed to…
There. A hatch with the mechanicus seal on it. Not large, but maybe…
Grabbing the handle, I slowly started to lift it, trying my best to do it quietly. The hatch made a slight squeaking sound and I froze before lifting it a bit higher again, going even slower until it was high enough for me to holster my lasgun and very carefully slip inside.
The area inside was cramped, maybe two meters in each direction and seemed to contain a junction box and a small mechanicus shrine to the junction box.
I would be trapped like a rat, but I literally couldn't run any longer. It was just a question of time until they caught me.
I had to hide and hope they didn't find me.
Lowering the hatch fully into place, I took the two steps more down the short ladder and turned around, finding myself staring into a pair of slightly luminous eyes, the beings head covered with some sort of dreads or quills. He was muscular, slightly taller than me and his jaw somewhat beaklike.
His clothes looked a mix of primitive and advanced, made up of leather and some sort of ceramic from what I could see, a short staff/rifle combo held in one hand.
The Kroot didn't move a muscle, just staring at me silently.
There was the sudden Clang of metal against metal somewhere above and I froze, glancing upwards before back to the Kroot.
Slowly, very, very slowly, I carefully raised my hand and put my finger to my lips.
The Kroot slowly nodded once.
Last edited:
Much earlier
Sipping my tea, I sighed softly and turned the page on my dataslate book. The sun shone bright above and a local bird flew past above on buzzing dragonfly wings.
The cafe was moderately busy today, the serving servitor delivering food and drinks at the direction of the hostess.
Sipping my tea again, I put the cup back down and went back to my book.
Out of all missions, this was the best one I had so far. Maybe not the most challenging really, but by far the nicest.
There was a slight scraping of the chair against cobblestone street next to me as the man sitting on the next table got up and put some Thrones on the table for his bill, moving to leave.
I sipped my tea again and pressed the 'go back' button on my dataslate three times rapidly, sending the signal.
I really should get some of this blend, I couldn't help but think as I considered my tea before putting the cup back down and yawning. A bit sharp in the aftertaste, but really quite pleasant.
I should go by here at least once more before we head offworld and see if I could buy it in bulk or at least get the name of it. Or at least send somebody for it.
Getting up, I dropped a couple of Thrones on the table before picking up my jacket and slipping it on, putting my dataslate in one pocket before wandering casually along the street.
This really was a rather nice world compared to most I've seen.
Clean streets, cleanish air, only a minor population of mutants in the sewers. All in all, especially in the capital it was nicer than most cities back on Terra from my time. Less pollution at least.
It was just too bad that it was relatively close to Tau space. It could have been a lot worse of course, the Tau maybe a special kind of insidious with their influence, but compared to a lot of other aliens they weren't that bad.
It could have been a lot worse. It could have been close to an Ork held system or a multitude of more horrible things. Say what you will about the Tau, but they weren't into indiscriminate slaughter.
A small effort of will activated the implant beneath the surface of my skull and a screen of a pictcast appeared in my field of view as I put my hands in my pockets, strolling along the boulevard.
The target walked a couple of hundred meters in front of me, the special servoskull hummed along high in the air above him. I watched him as he turned off the main route to a side street. I didn't follow him, instead I took the next street over, letting the servoskull do the heavy lifting.
So we went on through the city, moving towards the more outskirt areas with less people, less wealth.
There.
He turned into a narrow alley. Nobody else was around.
'Unit XR-001t, initiate capture protocol on target Alpha.'
The viewpoint shifted slightly, sweeping a bit lower before it suddenly jerked slightly. The target touched the back of his neck and looked around for a second before he dropped bonelessly.
'Unit XR-001t, initiate aegis protocol'
The servoskull shifted position and I canceled the optical feed and made my way to location. I found him crumbled in the middle of the alley where the needler built into the servoskull had dropped him.
He was dressed in nice looking robes, not administratum issue, more those of a moderately wealthy local planetary trader. Sure, the style was a bit garish for my taste, but each to their own I suppose.
Reaching down, I gripped his clothes and rolled him over before hauling him over to the wall, pulling him up to sit, "Hello, William Weathersby," I said with a smile.
His eyes flicked to me but that was all he moved.
"Oh, my apologies," I said and pulled some identification from my pocket, "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Tezzeret, Imperial Inquisition. Ordo Xenos."
His eyes widened as I showed it to him.
"You Mister Weathersby has been a rather bad man," I told him calmly, "Trading in xenos artifacts is strictly prohibited and we have proof that you have been quite busy in that regard. Some of them are quite dangerous in fact. "
He just stared at me and I smiled slightly, "If you are wondering why you can't move, that's because of the dart of Tryxian neurotoxin that hit you in the neck. That's quite a fascinating compound really. Now, I'm not a Magos Biologis, so I don't know quite how it works, but this is just the first stage. In… say fifteen minutes or so the nerve endings in your extremities are going to start to melt. It starts at the tips of your fingers and toes and I'm told it feels like being on fire. Sadly no known painkillers work on it, some even make it worse. Some couple of weeks after that, it'll reach your torso. That's when it gets bad."
I reached into my pocket, "Of course, there is an antidote and it'll work perfectly as long as it is taken before the second stage sets in," I said and held up two small autoinjectors for him, showing him the red and green ones, "The green one will allow you to use your vocal cords again. The red one is the counter agent. I'm going to inject you with the green one and I'm going to ask you a few questions. If you answer them honestly, I'm going to inject you with the counter agent and take you into Inquisitorial custody as a willing witness and informant. It won't be comfortable, but you will not die or be turned into a servitor. Likely there will be prison time, but I can promise it won't be forever. Alternatively, I walk away and leave you here. Maybe somebody will come along and rob and murder you before it get too far along. Blink once if you agree."
Of course, it was just a paralytic: it would wear off on it's own in a couple of hours. Sure, there was such a thing as Tryxian neurotoxin, but that stuff was hilariously difficult to get the right dose on according to the literature and really some nasty stuff I didn't want to play with.
Blink.
"Excellent," I said with a smile and injected him with the green vial before waiting a second for it to take as I pulled a small recorder from my pocket and clipped it to his collar, "Now, you are Mister William Weathersby, Trullsa Trading Coalition?"
"Yes," he answered, his voice shaky.
"You were involved in the trade of xenos artifacts, including Tau pulse weapons to local heretics?"
"Yes."
"You can name your source and everyone involved?"
He didn't answer for a second, "I was just a middleman. I… I know some names, but nobody that was in charge. I would tell you if I knew, but I don't know! Please! I don't know!"
I held my hand up, "That's alright, I believe you. Please, tell me who you met with and the locations and times."
"I... " he started before he swallowed, "My pocket. Left pocket. Dataslate. It has them."
I raised my eyebrow and reached into my pocket, pulling out the dataslate and thumbing it active, "Password?"
"...Password. No capitals."
I frowned at him, "Your password is password?"
"...yes..."
I shook my head and tapped it in before scrolling through the tablet, "This is accurate?" I asked with a small frown.
"It's my personal calendar and organizational planner. It has everything you want! And it has meetings for the next two weeks! You can find a lot of the people you are looking for there!"
I smiled at him, "Thank you, that's most useful," I said and reached to inject him with the red vial, actually a second dose of the paralytic, not an antidote, "That's all I need. The nerve toxin will start to wear off in the next couple of hours. Somebody will be by and pick you up before then."
Standing back up, I headed out of the alley as I pulled a combead from my pocket and slipped it into the ear, "Control, this is Agent 7. Target disabled and I have the package."
"Acknowledged, Agent 7," Imagos machine voice came through the small speaker in my ear, "Pickup of target is on it's way. Crown wished to see you when you return to the nest."
Inquisitor Aurelius's current codename. Nest was his ship in orbit.
"Acknowledged, Control. Agent 7 on his way. Just have an errand to run first."
Sipping my tea, I sighed softly and turned the page on my dataslate book. The sun shone bright above and a local bird flew past above on buzzing dragonfly wings.
The cafe was moderately busy today, the serving servitor delivering food and drinks at the direction of the hostess.
Sipping my tea again, I put the cup back down and went back to my book.
Out of all missions, this was the best one I had so far. Maybe not the most challenging really, but by far the nicest.
There was a slight scraping of the chair against cobblestone street next to me as the man sitting on the next table got up and put some Thrones on the table for his bill, moving to leave.
I sipped my tea again and pressed the 'go back' button on my dataslate three times rapidly, sending the signal.
I really should get some of this blend, I couldn't help but think as I considered my tea before putting the cup back down and yawning. A bit sharp in the aftertaste, but really quite pleasant.
I should go by here at least once more before we head offworld and see if I could buy it in bulk or at least get the name of it. Or at least send somebody for it.
Getting up, I dropped a couple of Thrones on the table before picking up my jacket and slipping it on, putting my dataslate in one pocket before wandering casually along the street.
This really was a rather nice world compared to most I've seen.
Clean streets, cleanish air, only a minor population of mutants in the sewers. All in all, especially in the capital it was nicer than most cities back on Terra from my time. Less pollution at least.
It was just too bad that it was relatively close to Tau space. It could have been a lot worse of course, the Tau maybe a special kind of insidious with their influence, but compared to a lot of other aliens they weren't that bad.
It could have been a lot worse. It could have been close to an Ork held system or a multitude of more horrible things. Say what you will about the Tau, but they weren't into indiscriminate slaughter.
A small effort of will activated the implant beneath the surface of my skull and a screen of a pictcast appeared in my field of view as I put my hands in my pockets, strolling along the boulevard.
The target walked a couple of hundred meters in front of me, the special servoskull hummed along high in the air above him. I watched him as he turned off the main route to a side street. I didn't follow him, instead I took the next street over, letting the servoskull do the heavy lifting.
So we went on through the city, moving towards the more outskirt areas with less people, less wealth.
There.
He turned into a narrow alley. Nobody else was around.
'Unit XR-001t, initiate capture protocol on target Alpha.'
The viewpoint shifted slightly, sweeping a bit lower before it suddenly jerked slightly. The target touched the back of his neck and looked around for a second before he dropped bonelessly.
'Unit XR-001t, initiate aegis protocol'
The servoskull shifted position and I canceled the optical feed and made my way to location. I found him crumbled in the middle of the alley where the needler built into the servoskull had dropped him.
He was dressed in nice looking robes, not administratum issue, more those of a moderately wealthy local planetary trader. Sure, the style was a bit garish for my taste, but each to their own I suppose.
Reaching down, I gripped his clothes and rolled him over before hauling him over to the wall, pulling him up to sit, "Hello, William Weathersby," I said with a smile.
His eyes flicked to me but that was all he moved.
"Oh, my apologies," I said and pulled some identification from my pocket, "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Tezzeret, Imperial Inquisition. Ordo Xenos."
His eyes widened as I showed it to him.
"You Mister Weathersby has been a rather bad man," I told him calmly, "Trading in xenos artifacts is strictly prohibited and we have proof that you have been quite busy in that regard. Some of them are quite dangerous in fact. "
He just stared at me and I smiled slightly, "If you are wondering why you can't move, that's because of the dart of Tryxian neurotoxin that hit you in the neck. That's quite a fascinating compound really. Now, I'm not a Magos Biologis, so I don't know quite how it works, but this is just the first stage. In… say fifteen minutes or so the nerve endings in your extremities are going to start to melt. It starts at the tips of your fingers and toes and I'm told it feels like being on fire. Sadly no known painkillers work on it, some even make it worse. Some couple of weeks after that, it'll reach your torso. That's when it gets bad."
I reached into my pocket, "Of course, there is an antidote and it'll work perfectly as long as it is taken before the second stage sets in," I said and held up two small autoinjectors for him, showing him the red and green ones, "The green one will allow you to use your vocal cords again. The red one is the counter agent. I'm going to inject you with the green one and I'm going to ask you a few questions. If you answer them honestly, I'm going to inject you with the counter agent and take you into Inquisitorial custody as a willing witness and informant. It won't be comfortable, but you will not die or be turned into a servitor. Likely there will be prison time, but I can promise it won't be forever. Alternatively, I walk away and leave you here. Maybe somebody will come along and rob and murder you before it get too far along. Blink once if you agree."
Of course, it was just a paralytic: it would wear off on it's own in a couple of hours. Sure, there was such a thing as Tryxian neurotoxin, but that stuff was hilariously difficult to get the right dose on according to the literature and really some nasty stuff I didn't want to play with.
Blink.
"Excellent," I said with a smile and injected him with the green vial before waiting a second for it to take as I pulled a small recorder from my pocket and clipped it to his collar, "Now, you are Mister William Weathersby, Trullsa Trading Coalition?"
"Yes," he answered, his voice shaky.
"You were involved in the trade of xenos artifacts, including Tau pulse weapons to local heretics?"
"Yes."
"You can name your source and everyone involved?"
He didn't answer for a second, "I was just a middleman. I… I know some names, but nobody that was in charge. I would tell you if I knew, but I don't know! Please! I don't know!"
I held my hand up, "That's alright, I believe you. Please, tell me who you met with and the locations and times."
"I... " he started before he swallowed, "My pocket. Left pocket. Dataslate. It has them."
I raised my eyebrow and reached into my pocket, pulling out the dataslate and thumbing it active, "Password?"
"...Password. No capitals."
I frowned at him, "Your password is password?"
"...yes..."
I shook my head and tapped it in before scrolling through the tablet, "This is accurate?" I asked with a small frown.
"It's my personal calendar and organizational planner. It has everything you want! And it has meetings for the next two weeks! You can find a lot of the people you are looking for there!"
I smiled at him, "Thank you, that's most useful," I said and reached to inject him with the red vial, actually a second dose of the paralytic, not an antidote, "That's all I need. The nerve toxin will start to wear off in the next couple of hours. Somebody will be by and pick you up before then."
Standing back up, I headed out of the alley as I pulled a combead from my pocket and slipped it into the ear, "Control, this is Agent 7. Target disabled and I have the package."
"Acknowledged, Agent 7," Imagos machine voice came through the small speaker in my ear, "Pickup of target is on it's way. Crown wished to see you when you return to the nest."
Inquisitor Aurelius's current codename. Nest was his ship in orbit.
"Acknowledged, Control. Agent 7 on his way. Just have an errand to run first."
Last edited:
The local inquisitorial headquarters… wasn't. It was an arbites station that might never have seen an actual arbites, just the local representatives.
"Time again?" the sergeant at the frontdesk asked as I walked inside.
"Time again," I agreed with a nod. After getting back from capturing the contact, I had just enough time to get changed before getting back here.
My outfit was now that of a low level administratum drone, simple white and grey robes with little ornamentation, just a small grey badge by my collar and I was carrying a bag over my shoulder.
He got up, "I don't see why you bother, it's been two months. It's not going to work."
"I just go where I'm told," I said with a small shrug at him with a smile, adjusting the thin rimmed glasses riding on my nose.
It always worked. I have done this two times already, on other worlds, on other subjects.
It always worked.
Sergeant Javal shrugged and handed the key over to me, "Well, the Inquisitor says to cooperate, so…"
I nodded and took it, "We all have our duties," I said, walking past his desk towards the isolation cellblock. Nobody else was to enter, nobody but servitors delivering meals.
Two turns and two opened doors later I approached a cell.
An old fashioned cell with thick steel bars. It contained little but a water dispenser, a toilet and a bunk. And my subject of questioning.
He was a thin man, not only because of his capture and the diet of the prison, but he had never been large. After two months his hair was getting longer and he was wearing a grey prison uniform.
At the sound of my footsteps, he walked over to the bars, meeting me, "Taz," he said in greeting, "You're late."
I reached up and adjusted my glasses, "I'm sorry, but my Lisa didn't want to go to school today," I told him, bringing up my imaginary daughter, "She's having trouble with another of the girls. Bullies."
"Ah," he said and nodded.
Setting my bag down, I dug through it and pulled out a pair of travelcups of recaff before I handed one over to him along with a sweetbun, "How are you holding up?"
Kall smiled and sighed, sipping his recaff, "Thanks," he said before he sighed, "...I'm in prison. In the custody of the Inquisition. How should I be doing?"
I nodded gravely with a small sigh, "Yeah, I guess I get that," I agreed and sipped my own cup. This one filled with tea instead, "I'm not even sure why I'm here," I said with a shrug and another small sigh, "You don't know anything. But when an Inquisitor gives an order…"
Kall just nodded and sat down on the edge of his bunk, "...I guess…" he admitted, "So how long will this be going on?"
I shrugged and sipped my drink again, "I think they have forgotten about both of us," I said with a sigh, "You know, the guards don't even search me anymore? Just wave me through. I'm not even sure if the Inquisitor is still in the system, I haven't heard anything since I was… assigned to this. I'm as trapped as you are."
"Really?"
I nodded and shrugged, "I guess they're as bored with this as we are."
Kall frowned slightly, taking a bite from the sweetbun, "Lisa having trouble with bullies?"
I nodded again and sighed, "Yeah. I told her she has to stand up to her, but she's not one for confrontation. I guess she takes after her father there. I… when I was little I wanted to join the PDF, but I don't think I could handle it. I just wish I could move her to a different school. She deserves better than to live the life I have."
He nodded and sipped his recaff, "They really don't search you anymore?"
I shook my head, "Haven't for weeks," I said and shrugged, "Why?"
Kall hesitated, "...I have some friends. Maybe we can both get what we want. You could afford to move her to a new school."
"...What are you suggesting?" I asked hesitantly, taking half a step back.
He shook his head, "Nothing dangerous, I promise. Just being a message to some people and then bring the package they give you back to me. That's it. You'd be able to afford to pay for an upper class school for her, I promise."
I shook my head, "I don't know, it sounds dangerous."
"It's not, I promise. Nobody will know you were ever even involved," he said and stood up again, facing me across through the bars, "It's the only chance I'll have to see my own little girl again. Come on… please."
I looked down at my tea for a long moment, frowning and taking a deep breath before I nodded, "...Okay…" I said after another long moment, "Okay. I...just a message and a thing back to you? You're sure that's all?"
"That's all, I promise."
"And I could move her to a better school?"
"With money left over," Kall reassured me, "We have powerful friends, a lot of resources."
I swallowed nervously and glanced around, scooting a bit closer, lowering my waist, "O-okay. What's the message?"
"Tell them that Kall needs a phase wave disruptor."
"What's that?"
"They'll know what it means," he reassured me, "Don't worry. Just go to Jalway road twenty three and ask for Jannice. She'll give you what you need."
I nodded, "Okay. Jalway road twenty three, ask for Janice. Phase wave disruptor."
"Exactly. Don't worry about a thing, just do this, bring the thing she gives you back here tomorrow and everything will be fine, I promise."
"...Okay… Okay, yeah, I can do that," I agreed, nodding nervously before I gathered my bag up, "I have to go."
He handed me the now empty cup through the bars, "Don't worry. It'll be fine."
I nodded and swallowed, "See you tomorrow then."
Then I left. The doors closed behind me as I walked out to the front desk and walked in behind it to one of the consoles as I took my glasses off and put them away. I brought up Jalway road twenty three. It turned out to be a somewhat wealthy neighborhood, mostly inhabited by merchants and administratum staff.
This one in particular seemed to be owned by one Janice Tolward. Seemingly the owner of a small import company, moving cargo from the other continent.
Nodding, I wrote the information down and added it to my list.
"That's what I needed," I told the sergeant, "You may transfer the subject to the Edge of Fury in orbit for final interrogations and sentencing."
"All that for a name?" He asked with a frown.
I smiled thinly, "All of that for the right name," I told him and walked around the desk and headed towards the door, "A name you better forget having ever heard."
Several other sources had mentioned a 'J' as had been their contact. Now we had a name to tie to it. Torture was unreliable, it'd make a man say anything to make it stop. Maybe the truth, maybe lies. It was messy and you only had one shot at getting it right.
The trick was making them want to tell you what you want to know. Now I had some information to deliver to Aurelius so a raid could be arranged.
"Time again?" the sergeant at the frontdesk asked as I walked inside.
"Time again," I agreed with a nod. After getting back from capturing the contact, I had just enough time to get changed before getting back here.
My outfit was now that of a low level administratum drone, simple white and grey robes with little ornamentation, just a small grey badge by my collar and I was carrying a bag over my shoulder.
He got up, "I don't see why you bother, it's been two months. It's not going to work."
"I just go where I'm told," I said with a small shrug at him with a smile, adjusting the thin rimmed glasses riding on my nose.
It always worked. I have done this two times already, on other worlds, on other subjects.
It always worked.
Sergeant Javal shrugged and handed the key over to me, "Well, the Inquisitor says to cooperate, so…"
I nodded and took it, "We all have our duties," I said, walking past his desk towards the isolation cellblock. Nobody else was to enter, nobody but servitors delivering meals.
Two turns and two opened doors later I approached a cell.
An old fashioned cell with thick steel bars. It contained little but a water dispenser, a toilet and a bunk. And my subject of questioning.
He was a thin man, not only because of his capture and the diet of the prison, but he had never been large. After two months his hair was getting longer and he was wearing a grey prison uniform.
At the sound of my footsteps, he walked over to the bars, meeting me, "Taz," he said in greeting, "You're late."
I reached up and adjusted my glasses, "I'm sorry, but my Lisa didn't want to go to school today," I told him, bringing up my imaginary daughter, "She's having trouble with another of the girls. Bullies."
"Ah," he said and nodded.
Setting my bag down, I dug through it and pulled out a pair of travelcups of recaff before I handed one over to him along with a sweetbun, "How are you holding up?"
Kall smiled and sighed, sipping his recaff, "Thanks," he said before he sighed, "...I'm in prison. In the custody of the Inquisition. How should I be doing?"
I nodded gravely with a small sigh, "Yeah, I guess I get that," I agreed and sipped my own cup. This one filled with tea instead, "I'm not even sure why I'm here," I said with a shrug and another small sigh, "You don't know anything. But when an Inquisitor gives an order…"
Kall just nodded and sat down on the edge of his bunk, "...I guess…" he admitted, "So how long will this be going on?"
I shrugged and sipped my drink again, "I think they have forgotten about both of us," I said with a sigh, "You know, the guards don't even search me anymore? Just wave me through. I'm not even sure if the Inquisitor is still in the system, I haven't heard anything since I was… assigned to this. I'm as trapped as you are."
"Really?"
I nodded and shrugged, "I guess they're as bored with this as we are."
Kall frowned slightly, taking a bite from the sweetbun, "Lisa having trouble with bullies?"
I nodded again and sighed, "Yeah. I told her she has to stand up to her, but she's not one for confrontation. I guess she takes after her father there. I… when I was little I wanted to join the PDF, but I don't think I could handle it. I just wish I could move her to a different school. She deserves better than to live the life I have."
He nodded and sipped his recaff, "They really don't search you anymore?"
I shook my head, "Haven't for weeks," I said and shrugged, "Why?"
Kall hesitated, "...I have some friends. Maybe we can both get what we want. You could afford to move her to a new school."
"...What are you suggesting?" I asked hesitantly, taking half a step back.
He shook his head, "Nothing dangerous, I promise. Just being a message to some people and then bring the package they give you back to me. That's it. You'd be able to afford to pay for an upper class school for her, I promise."
I shook my head, "I don't know, it sounds dangerous."
"It's not, I promise. Nobody will know you were ever even involved," he said and stood up again, facing me across through the bars, "It's the only chance I'll have to see my own little girl again. Come on… please."
I looked down at my tea for a long moment, frowning and taking a deep breath before I nodded, "...Okay…" I said after another long moment, "Okay. I...just a message and a thing back to you? You're sure that's all?"
"That's all, I promise."
"And I could move her to a better school?"
"With money left over," Kall reassured me, "We have powerful friends, a lot of resources."
I swallowed nervously and glanced around, scooting a bit closer, lowering my waist, "O-okay. What's the message?"
"Tell them that Kall needs a phase wave disruptor."
"What's that?"
"They'll know what it means," he reassured me, "Don't worry. Just go to Jalway road twenty three and ask for Jannice. She'll give you what you need."
I nodded, "Okay. Jalway road twenty three, ask for Janice. Phase wave disruptor."
"Exactly. Don't worry about a thing, just do this, bring the thing she gives you back here tomorrow and everything will be fine, I promise."
"...Okay… Okay, yeah, I can do that," I agreed, nodding nervously before I gathered my bag up, "I have to go."
He handed me the now empty cup through the bars, "Don't worry. It'll be fine."
I nodded and swallowed, "See you tomorrow then."
Then I left. The doors closed behind me as I walked out to the front desk and walked in behind it to one of the consoles as I took my glasses off and put them away. I brought up Jalway road twenty three. It turned out to be a somewhat wealthy neighborhood, mostly inhabited by merchants and administratum staff.
This one in particular seemed to be owned by one Janice Tolward. Seemingly the owner of a small import company, moving cargo from the other continent.
Nodding, I wrote the information down and added it to my list.
"That's what I needed," I told the sergeant, "You may transfer the subject to the Edge of Fury in orbit for final interrogations and sentencing."
"All that for a name?" He asked with a frown.
I smiled thinly, "All of that for the right name," I told him and walked around the desk and headed towards the door, "A name you better forget having ever heard."
Several other sources had mentioned a 'J' as had been their contact. Now we had a name to tie to it. Torture was unreliable, it'd make a man say anything to make it stop. Maybe the truth, maybe lies. It was messy and you only had one shot at getting it right.
The trick was making them want to tell you what you want to know. Now I had some information to deliver to Aurelius so a raid could be arranged.
The Inquisitor's Quarters aboard the Edge of Fury overlooked the planet below, thin clouds moving over the blue and brown marble, the sun setting in the distance behind it but the material of the windows filtered out most of the glare.
I crossed my arms, frowning as I watched a light of a shuttle or small ship transport move past below, a streak of fire forming across the sky below. With some luck, the information I got on the dataslate combined with that name, it will be possible to break up the smuggling organization and stop this world from being corrupted and brought into the Tau empire.
Personally… I had never met a Tau. But as it came to Xenos, there were worse ones. But even then I think being under the heel of somebody, it's likely better that it's a human than an alien.
Marginally at least.
...Very marginally depending on the world in question.
Or not in some cases. Some worlds I didn't actually blame for going to the Tau side of things, some planetary governours were just evil.
The door opened behind me and I half turned to look as Aurelius walked inside. He was wearing what passed for civilian clothing for him. Which meant he only looked incredibly rich instead of like the rare example of a planetary governor with good taste. He was wearing a cloak for crying out loud!
"Inquisitor," I said and turned fully in his direction, giving him a nod.
"Tezzeret," he said in turn with a smile as he walked out to look out over the planet, "I heard your mission went well."
"Well enough," I agreed, "Found and disabled the target, recovered information. I handed the dataslate over to Imago for analysis. I also was able to extract a name from the second captive, the likely storage and distributor of the weapons. Do you want the full report?"
He shook his head, "I'll read it later," he said and let his breath out, "We have a different problem."
"Just one? That's different."
He grinned at that, "That would be a nice change, wouldn't it?" before he shook his head, "I need somebody to take a team to the Saigel system."
"Saigel system? Never heard of it."
Aurelius nodded, "I have a contact there. Her last message indicated that she thought that something was going on."
"Anything more specific?"
"Her actual message was even shorter. And it came in seven months ago, nothing since. I have been unable to reach her. Her name is Amelia Dornez, she's a troubleshooter I hired a number of times during the years and in turn, she alerts me when she finds something unusual. It's not like her not to follow up."
"Well… fuck."
He smiled a bit and then nodded, "So I'm sending you."
"Okay, I'll get packed. Who's borrowing me?"
He grinned, "You're misunderstanding, I'm sending you with a team. Not you, in a team."
I looked at him in surprise, "What?"
"You can handle it."
"And everyone else is busy," I said, smiling wryly.
Aurelius chuckled and shook his head, "Not quite. But you really are my best pick for this right now. I need you to go and find out what happened and what's going on and then report back."
Oh, bollocks. That's not good, this job was hilariously dangerous enough with a full team.
"You mentioned a team?"
He nodded, "Reinforcement from the regional headquarters just arrived on planet, I'm giving you the pick of them. Some of our regular personnel as well if I can spare them."
I slowly nodded, frowning at the window.
Going somewhere likely dangerous with unknown people at my back, unknown dangers before me and everything could go straight to Warp at a moment's notice.
I didn't like this. I didn't like this at all.
But not like I had a choice in the matter here. I felt like swearing. Instead I nodded again, "Authorization?"
"I'm sending you with my sigil and an Inquisitorial authorization. But I don't want you to need either," he said, "I want this quiet if at all possible."
"So I'm guessing no asking to borrow the Edge of Fury then?"
"Commercial transport only I'm afraid."
I nodded and tapped my finger against my forearm as I thought before I slowly nodded, "I want Teres."
"I need him here, I'm afraid."
"Not for the mission. For selecting the combat troops," I said, "I wouldn't be able to tell one star filled personal folder from another. They wouldn't have been recruited by the Inquisition if they weren't good at what they did, I want him to help filter out the outstanding from the just great, I can't do that."
"You got him for that."
"Thanks. Other information? Local resources?"
"All uploaded to your console already," Aurelius said and sighed as he walked to pick up a small metal box about the side of a hand, "Tezzeret, if I didn't think you could do this, I would not send you. It needs to be done, I'm not wasting valuable resources needlessly. I need you here too, but I need you there more. Besides, it's just a fact finding mission. See if you can locate the asset and send back what's going on."
"I know. I'll get it done."
I had no idea how, however.
He returned to me, turning it around and opened it to reveal an Interrogator rank Inquisitorial Rosette.
"I'm certain that you will. Interrogator."
I crossed my arms, frowning as I watched a light of a shuttle or small ship transport move past below, a streak of fire forming across the sky below. With some luck, the information I got on the dataslate combined with that name, it will be possible to break up the smuggling organization and stop this world from being corrupted and brought into the Tau empire.
Personally… I had never met a Tau. But as it came to Xenos, there were worse ones. But even then I think being under the heel of somebody, it's likely better that it's a human than an alien.
Marginally at least.
...Very marginally depending on the world in question.
Or not in some cases. Some worlds I didn't actually blame for going to the Tau side of things, some planetary governours were just evil.
The door opened behind me and I half turned to look as Aurelius walked inside. He was wearing what passed for civilian clothing for him. Which meant he only looked incredibly rich instead of like the rare example of a planetary governor with good taste. He was wearing a cloak for crying out loud!
"Inquisitor," I said and turned fully in his direction, giving him a nod.
"Tezzeret," he said in turn with a smile as he walked out to look out over the planet, "I heard your mission went well."
"Well enough," I agreed, "Found and disabled the target, recovered information. I handed the dataslate over to Imago for analysis. I also was able to extract a name from the second captive, the likely storage and distributor of the weapons. Do you want the full report?"
He shook his head, "I'll read it later," he said and let his breath out, "We have a different problem."
"Just one? That's different."
He grinned at that, "That would be a nice change, wouldn't it?" before he shook his head, "I need somebody to take a team to the Saigel system."
"Saigel system? Never heard of it."
Aurelius nodded, "I have a contact there. Her last message indicated that she thought that something was going on."
"Anything more specific?"
"Her actual message was even shorter. And it came in seven months ago, nothing since. I have been unable to reach her. Her name is Amelia Dornez, she's a troubleshooter I hired a number of times during the years and in turn, she alerts me when she finds something unusual. It's not like her not to follow up."
"Well… fuck."
He smiled a bit and then nodded, "So I'm sending you."
"Okay, I'll get packed. Who's borrowing me?"
He grinned, "You're misunderstanding, I'm sending you with a team. Not you, in a team."
I looked at him in surprise, "What?"
"You can handle it."
"And everyone else is busy," I said, smiling wryly.
Aurelius chuckled and shook his head, "Not quite. But you really are my best pick for this right now. I need you to go and find out what happened and what's going on and then report back."
Oh, bollocks. That's not good, this job was hilariously dangerous enough with a full team.
"You mentioned a team?"
He nodded, "Reinforcement from the regional headquarters just arrived on planet, I'm giving you the pick of them. Some of our regular personnel as well if I can spare them."
I slowly nodded, frowning at the window.
Going somewhere likely dangerous with unknown people at my back, unknown dangers before me and everything could go straight to Warp at a moment's notice.
I didn't like this. I didn't like this at all.
But not like I had a choice in the matter here. I felt like swearing. Instead I nodded again, "Authorization?"
"I'm sending you with my sigil and an Inquisitorial authorization. But I don't want you to need either," he said, "I want this quiet if at all possible."
"So I'm guessing no asking to borrow the Edge of Fury then?"
"Commercial transport only I'm afraid."
I nodded and tapped my finger against my forearm as I thought before I slowly nodded, "I want Teres."
"I need him here, I'm afraid."
"Not for the mission. For selecting the combat troops," I said, "I wouldn't be able to tell one star filled personal folder from another. They wouldn't have been recruited by the Inquisition if they weren't good at what they did, I want him to help filter out the outstanding from the just great, I can't do that."
"You got him for that."
"Thanks. Other information? Local resources?"
"All uploaded to your console already," Aurelius said and sighed as he walked to pick up a small metal box about the side of a hand, "Tezzeret, if I didn't think you could do this, I would not send you. It needs to be done, I'm not wasting valuable resources needlessly. I need you here too, but I need you there more. Besides, it's just a fact finding mission. See if you can locate the asset and send back what's going on."
"I know. I'll get it done."
I had no idea how, however.
He returned to me, turning it around and opened it to reveal an Interrogator rank Inquisitorial Rosette.
"I'm certain that you will. Interrogator."
I leaned back in my seat, frowning at my datapad for a second. What Aurelius was thinking in giving me this mission I had no idea, but if I and my future team would survive it, doing the homework was the order of the day.
Sadly there wasn't much to go on. The Saigel system was a moderately populated Feral world… well, on the limit of being a Feral world anyway. The locals - other than some specific technologies such as Las weapons for the PDF - seemed to be around the tech level of steam engines and very limited electricity with some offworld tech mixed in.
Nothing specifically interesting about the world in question either, it was a bog standard Imperial world, their biggest export was fish, Imperial Guard recruits and some sort of local bean used for a vanilla substitute. They weren't an agri world, but they just didn't have anything else anybody wanted. At least not enough to ship it across the interstellar void at scale.
With a population of just over a billion, it was a fairly small world in an uninteresting part of the galaxy. Exactly what Aurelius' contact thought might be going on there, I had no idea.
Could be literally anything from nothing to a full on Ork Waaaagh.
Glancing up as Teres led a group of new guard troops into the room, I then turned back to my dataslate. New troops to replace losses from the last mission.
Wonder how many will need to be replaced next time. Who would have thought a void station would be infested with nids anyway, nothing to eat there.
Well, until we arrived anyway.
Fucking bughunt.
"Who's the administratum drone?" one of them said, one of the large specimens of mud pounders. I sipped my tea, pretending I didn't hear him as I studied my dataslate.
"That," Lieutenant Teres said, "Is Interrogator Tezzeret and easily one of the most dangerous people on this ship. If you're lucky, he'll pick you for his team. Now move out, we need to get you worthless apes loaded up! Move it!"
I suppressed a small smile behind my cup. Teres messing with the new guys. I remember him doing the same to me… well… maybe not the same, but he did seem to enjoy running me into the ground when he could.
Putting the dataslate down, I picked up the next.
Well, with no way of knowing exactly what kind of mess I was walking into, I'd need a balanced team leaning towards being able to handle themselves.
Tech-Adept Naria Neard. She'll work. Not quite to Imago's level of things, but quite skilled. She was the one to put the augmetics in my head after all. She did well during the second to last mission too. Couldn't blend in well, she had heavy augments even for a tech-priest, but she was very skilled.
She's in.
As for the security, we'll see what Teres manages to shake loose in the new bunch. Will I need a Psyker? Maybe. I didn't like the idea, they were freaky and quite frankly I trusted them about as far as I could throw them.
Might still need one though. They were really handy in a pinch even if most of the time they were rambling madmen. I'd prefer an astropath to be able to send reports, but we were already short staffed on astropaths.
I doubt I'd be able to borrow one.
Dorian.
Yeah, Dorian might work. He was creepy, but he was mostly quiet and above all, he was professional and relatively sane. As close as a Psyker got anyway. Dorian then.
Psyker, Tech-Adept… security… some troubleshooters.
Pilot. Having a shuttle should make things easier, allowing us to move around at will.
Who would be a good pick?
I scrolled through the tablet for a second. Kim. Kim Weaver was good; former navy lightning pilot, she was an ace. Worked with her before. How somebody could put a heavy transport shuttle down on the pin of a needle while still being unable to hit the broadside of a battleship with a lasgun, I'd never know, but she was one hell of a pilot.
Should be able to get us out of a tight pinch.
Making my selection, I put the slate down and sipped my tea as I leaned back, looking up towards the ceiling.
I'd like a Savant as well for obvious reasons, but they didn't exactly grow on trees even in the Inquisition and I doubt Aurelius would allow me to borrow Cariel.
Well, nothing to do about it.
Putting my cup down, I put my dataslates away and headed down towards the hangar. Knowing Kim, she would be yelling at some poor tech-priest about something about her gunship.
As it turned out, I wasn't far off.
"I don't care that it's according to spec! The moment you hit atmosphere, there is a vibration from the left wing!"
"According to the machine-spirit, there is no malfunc-"
"I'll show you a malfunction you, you pile-"
"Kim?" I asked as I got close enough to see her waving a wrench in the face of a somewhat disturbed looking tech-priest.
Despite the fact that he was towering over her.
She was a very petite woman with a shaved head, a flight implant on the back of her head. She looked like she weighed about sixty kilos even wearing her flightsuit and gear, but she was very compact and I knew from experience that she could pack a punch when she wanted to. Especially with her augmetic left hand.
Kim had a temper.
She paused and looked over to me, "Tezzeret?" she asked and lowered the wrench, causing the tech-priest to strike a quick retreat away from her, "I heard you got a promotion. Congratulations."
"Thanks," I said and nodded as I crossed over to her, "Problems?"
"Nothing serious."
I nodded and then smiled at her, "I have been asked to pick a team for a mission," I said, "Congratulations, you're volunteered."
"Awesome," she sighed and rested the heavy wrench against her shoulder, "What's the mission?"
"I have absolutely no idea yet."
"I see. One of those," she sighed and looked towards her gunship, "Can I bring her?"
"Doubtful. We're going low profile. But I'll see if I can swing the Pure Heart."
The Pure Heart was a medium sized civilian shuttle with guns strapped to it. Way easier to sneak around in than an outright gunship, while still having firepower when needed. It had souped up engines, but defenses were limited.
"I can work with that."
Sadly there wasn't much to go on. The Saigel system was a moderately populated Feral world… well, on the limit of being a Feral world anyway. The locals - other than some specific technologies such as Las weapons for the PDF - seemed to be around the tech level of steam engines and very limited electricity with some offworld tech mixed in.
Nothing specifically interesting about the world in question either, it was a bog standard Imperial world, their biggest export was fish, Imperial Guard recruits and some sort of local bean used for a vanilla substitute. They weren't an agri world, but they just didn't have anything else anybody wanted. At least not enough to ship it across the interstellar void at scale.
With a population of just over a billion, it was a fairly small world in an uninteresting part of the galaxy. Exactly what Aurelius' contact thought might be going on there, I had no idea.
Could be literally anything from nothing to a full on Ork Waaaagh.
Glancing up as Teres led a group of new guard troops into the room, I then turned back to my dataslate. New troops to replace losses from the last mission.
Wonder how many will need to be replaced next time. Who would have thought a void station would be infested with nids anyway, nothing to eat there.
Well, until we arrived anyway.
Fucking bughunt.
"Who's the administratum drone?" one of them said, one of the large specimens of mud pounders. I sipped my tea, pretending I didn't hear him as I studied my dataslate.
"That," Lieutenant Teres said, "Is Interrogator Tezzeret and easily one of the most dangerous people on this ship. If you're lucky, he'll pick you for his team. Now move out, we need to get you worthless apes loaded up! Move it!"
I suppressed a small smile behind my cup. Teres messing with the new guys. I remember him doing the same to me… well… maybe not the same, but he did seem to enjoy running me into the ground when he could.
Putting the dataslate down, I picked up the next.
Well, with no way of knowing exactly what kind of mess I was walking into, I'd need a balanced team leaning towards being able to handle themselves.
Tech-Adept Naria Neard. She'll work. Not quite to Imago's level of things, but quite skilled. She was the one to put the augmetics in my head after all. She did well during the second to last mission too. Couldn't blend in well, she had heavy augments even for a tech-priest, but she was very skilled.
She's in.
As for the security, we'll see what Teres manages to shake loose in the new bunch. Will I need a Psyker? Maybe. I didn't like the idea, they were freaky and quite frankly I trusted them about as far as I could throw them.
Might still need one though. They were really handy in a pinch even if most of the time they were rambling madmen. I'd prefer an astropath to be able to send reports, but we were already short staffed on astropaths.
I doubt I'd be able to borrow one.
Dorian.
Yeah, Dorian might work. He was creepy, but he was mostly quiet and above all, he was professional and relatively sane. As close as a Psyker got anyway. Dorian then.
Psyker, Tech-Adept… security… some troubleshooters.
Pilot. Having a shuttle should make things easier, allowing us to move around at will.
Who would be a good pick?
I scrolled through the tablet for a second. Kim. Kim Weaver was good; former navy lightning pilot, she was an ace. Worked with her before. How somebody could put a heavy transport shuttle down on the pin of a needle while still being unable to hit the broadside of a battleship with a lasgun, I'd never know, but she was one hell of a pilot.
Should be able to get us out of a tight pinch.
Making my selection, I put the slate down and sipped my tea as I leaned back, looking up towards the ceiling.
I'd like a Savant as well for obvious reasons, but they didn't exactly grow on trees even in the Inquisition and I doubt Aurelius would allow me to borrow Cariel.
Well, nothing to do about it.
Putting my cup down, I put my dataslates away and headed down towards the hangar. Knowing Kim, she would be yelling at some poor tech-priest about something about her gunship.
As it turned out, I wasn't far off.
"I don't care that it's according to spec! The moment you hit atmosphere, there is a vibration from the left wing!"
"According to the machine-spirit, there is no malfunc-"
"I'll show you a malfunction you, you pile-"
"Kim?" I asked as I got close enough to see her waving a wrench in the face of a somewhat disturbed looking tech-priest.
Despite the fact that he was towering over her.
She was a very petite woman with a shaved head, a flight implant on the back of her head. She looked like she weighed about sixty kilos even wearing her flightsuit and gear, but she was very compact and I knew from experience that she could pack a punch when she wanted to. Especially with her augmetic left hand.
Kim had a temper.
She paused and looked over to me, "Tezzeret?" she asked and lowered the wrench, causing the tech-priest to strike a quick retreat away from her, "I heard you got a promotion. Congratulations."
"Thanks," I said and nodded as I crossed over to her, "Problems?"
"Nothing serious."
I nodded and then smiled at her, "I have been asked to pick a team for a mission," I said, "Congratulations, you're volunteered."
"Awesome," she sighed and rested the heavy wrench against her shoulder, "What's the mission?"
"I have absolutely no idea yet."
"I see. One of those," she sighed and looked towards her gunship, "Can I bring her?"
"Doubtful. We're going low profile. But I'll see if I can swing the Pure Heart."
The Pure Heart was a medium sized civilian shuttle with guns strapped to it. Way easier to sneak around in than an outright gunship, while still having firepower when needed. It had souped up engines, but defenses were limited.
"I can work with that."
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Touching a sensor on the side of the door, I walked inside and looked around, "Naria, you in here?"
"I am here, Tezzeret," a modulated voice answered and there was a clicking of metal against metal as the tech-adept came into view.
She moved on eight spider legs, clicking forward against the floor beneath her, sticking out from beneath her red robes. A mechadendrite hovered over her left shoulder, a claw and a laser welder at the end of it. Her left hand had a number of built in medical equipment such as scalpels and microsutures.
Her right hand was also augmetic, but more normal looking, at least on the surface.
Naria was an augmetics specialist, an expert on working with servitors and augmentations. Looking beneath her hood, you couldn't identify anything human other than her mouth from the wide array of sensors and augmetics.
She clicked closer across the metal floor, "Has your new augment been giving you trouble?" she asked as she moved around behind me, fingers feeling through my hair along the back of my skull, "The skin over it has healed well."
"No trouble at all," I said, "when not using it, I barely notice it. You do very good work," I said, making the symbol of the cog with my right hand, "The blessings of the Omnissiah strengthen me."
I had worked quite a bit with the Adeptus Mechanicus.
She poked down the back of my neck, "It is a pity that the blessings have to remain hidden. And that you do not wish for more of them. If you were willing to join the Adeptus Mechanicus… you would do well in the Priesthood of Mars."
"I think my service to the Imperium takes me in a different direction," I said seriously and turned to look at her."
"Indeed," she answered and leaned in closer, her left hand rising to spread the eyelids on my left eye as she peered into it, "How is your color vision?"
"Unchanged. If it had, I would have told you," I said, trying my best not to blink, "That's not why I'm here. I have been promoted to Interrogator. I want you on my team for the next mission."
"And the mission is?"
I sighed as she let go and shifted back to get something that approached giving some personal space, "Don't know yet, something is going wrong somewhere and Aurelius wants us to check it out."
She made a machine sound, her spider legs clicking a bit in place before she nodded, "I will come. You will require somebody with my skills."
"So I will," I agreed.
"There is another matter," she then said and clicked back as further clicking filled the room as something the shape of a small dog moved out of the shadows on four legs, another two at the front raised with razor sharp blades. It looked somewhat like a four legged spider.
"An vivisector module," Naria continued, "Connect to it with your mind impulse unit."
She transmitted the encryption code to me and I assigned it to the right thing and then opened a connection to the small robot.
It wasn't a servitor, it was all circuits and mechanisms, and as such, dumb as a rock. Abominable Intelligence was banned after all and for good reason.
A screen of it's view showed up in part of my vision, readings and sensors on it showing it's status. Text scrolled and I willed it to move. No reaction.
Oh yes, it's not a servitor.
Mentally writing up a command, I sent it to the small robot and it took three steps forward before tilting back to look up at me, "I will need to commune with the machine-spirit to learn how to guide it," I said and turned to Naria, "Thank you."
"There are several tech-chants already in it's root directory," she told me, "Usually used by Magos-Dominus."
I made the symbol of the Omnissiah, "Thank you, Tech-Adept. I am aware that this sort of access is unusual from somebody not completely in the Adeptus Mechanicus."
She regarded me from beneath her hood, "Are you not, Interrogator? You commune with the Machine-Spirits and they answer to you. You touched the Old Machines."
I smiled and looked at the Vivisector, accessing the system and scrolling through the ready made script, selected move to location, assigned my quarters and let it run.
The robot got up and moved out of the room, the door opening before it. I looked after it for a second before just letting the connection stay up to keep a mental eye on it as I turned back to Naria, "Still. There will be a great number of situations where it will be quite useful."
"We all serve the Omnissiah and the Imperium in our own ways," she said, legs clicking as she shifted back and forth slightly, "We should prepare for our mission, Interrogator."
"Indeed, Blessed be the Omnissiah," I agreed with a nod before I turned and walked out.
My relationship with the Adeptus-Mechanicus was… complicated. I knew a hell of a lot more than they liked somebody not an outright Tech-Priest to do. But I was part of the Inquisition so they couldn't just outright snatch me up and forcefully induct me or turn me into a servitor.
I think they also thought that me having touched the first machines was kind of cool. At least among the few that knew of my origins.
So I had been somewhat… soft inducted. I worked with them, they worked with me. They didn't turn me into a servitor and I worked with them when it came to ideas about Old Technology, even if most was more advanced than the time I was originally from.
They also had a point about technology and machine-spirits. Because it's clearly a thing in some way, at least with more advanced technology. Call it emergent properties or whatever, but if you treat your things well, it just works better.
And considering how often I found myself in mortal danger, if talking to my laspistol made it work better, then I praised it as being a good gun from time to time.
...And I swear it has gotten more accurate. It's actually slightly creepy.
I patted the handle of my lasgun as I walked.
"I am here, Tezzeret," a modulated voice answered and there was a clicking of metal against metal as the tech-adept came into view.
She moved on eight spider legs, clicking forward against the floor beneath her, sticking out from beneath her red robes. A mechadendrite hovered over her left shoulder, a claw and a laser welder at the end of it. Her left hand had a number of built in medical equipment such as scalpels and microsutures.
Her right hand was also augmetic, but more normal looking, at least on the surface.
Naria was an augmetics specialist, an expert on working with servitors and augmentations. Looking beneath her hood, you couldn't identify anything human other than her mouth from the wide array of sensors and augmetics.
She clicked closer across the metal floor, "Has your new augment been giving you trouble?" she asked as she moved around behind me, fingers feeling through my hair along the back of my skull, "The skin over it has healed well."
"No trouble at all," I said, "when not using it, I barely notice it. You do very good work," I said, making the symbol of the cog with my right hand, "The blessings of the Omnissiah strengthen me."
I had worked quite a bit with the Adeptus Mechanicus.
She poked down the back of my neck, "It is a pity that the blessings have to remain hidden. And that you do not wish for more of them. If you were willing to join the Adeptus Mechanicus… you would do well in the Priesthood of Mars."
"I think my service to the Imperium takes me in a different direction," I said seriously and turned to look at her."
"Indeed," she answered and leaned in closer, her left hand rising to spread the eyelids on my left eye as she peered into it, "How is your color vision?"
"Unchanged. If it had, I would have told you," I said, trying my best not to blink, "That's not why I'm here. I have been promoted to Interrogator. I want you on my team for the next mission."
"And the mission is?"
I sighed as she let go and shifted back to get something that approached giving some personal space, "Don't know yet, something is going wrong somewhere and Aurelius wants us to check it out."
She made a machine sound, her spider legs clicking a bit in place before she nodded, "I will come. You will require somebody with my skills."
"So I will," I agreed.
"There is another matter," she then said and clicked back as further clicking filled the room as something the shape of a small dog moved out of the shadows on four legs, another two at the front raised with razor sharp blades. It looked somewhat like a four legged spider.
"An vivisector module," Naria continued, "Connect to it with your mind impulse unit."
She transmitted the encryption code to me and I assigned it to the right thing and then opened a connection to the small robot.
It wasn't a servitor, it was all circuits and mechanisms, and as such, dumb as a rock. Abominable Intelligence was banned after all and for good reason.
A screen of it's view showed up in part of my vision, readings and sensors on it showing it's status. Text scrolled and I willed it to move. No reaction.
Oh yes, it's not a servitor.
Mentally writing up a command, I sent it to the small robot and it took three steps forward before tilting back to look up at me, "I will need to commune with the machine-spirit to learn how to guide it," I said and turned to Naria, "Thank you."
"There are several tech-chants already in it's root directory," she told me, "Usually used by Magos-Dominus."
I made the symbol of the Omnissiah, "Thank you, Tech-Adept. I am aware that this sort of access is unusual from somebody not completely in the Adeptus Mechanicus."
She regarded me from beneath her hood, "Are you not, Interrogator? You commune with the Machine-Spirits and they answer to you. You touched the Old Machines."
I smiled and looked at the Vivisector, accessing the system and scrolling through the ready made script, selected move to location, assigned my quarters and let it run.
The robot got up and moved out of the room, the door opening before it. I looked after it for a second before just letting the connection stay up to keep a mental eye on it as I turned back to Naria, "Still. There will be a great number of situations where it will be quite useful."
"We all serve the Omnissiah and the Imperium in our own ways," she said, legs clicking as she shifted back and forth slightly, "We should prepare for our mission, Interrogator."
"Indeed, Blessed be the Omnissiah," I agreed with a nod before I turned and walked out.
My relationship with the Adeptus-Mechanicus was… complicated. I knew a hell of a lot more than they liked somebody not an outright Tech-Priest to do. But I was part of the Inquisition so they couldn't just outright snatch me up and forcefully induct me or turn me into a servitor.
I think they also thought that me having touched the first machines was kind of cool. At least among the few that knew of my origins.
So I had been somewhat… soft inducted. I worked with them, they worked with me. They didn't turn me into a servitor and I worked with them when it came to ideas about Old Technology, even if most was more advanced than the time I was originally from.
They also had a point about technology and machine-spirits. Because it's clearly a thing in some way, at least with more advanced technology. Call it emergent properties or whatever, but if you treat your things well, it just works better.
And considering how often I found myself in mortal danger, if talking to my laspistol made it work better, then I praised it as being a good gun from time to time.
...And I swear it has gotten more accurate. It's actually slightly creepy.
I patted the handle of my lasgun as I walked.
I raised my hand to knock on the hatch and a voice drifted out from inside before I managed to do it,
"Come in."
Rolling my eyes, I walked inside the private quarters, "Should I even bother telling you what I want?"
Dorian was an average looking man. Aggressively average, so much that I was fairly sure it was some sort of psychic effect. If I looked away from him, I wouldn't be able to describe him other than 'average build, brown hair'.
Even looking at him, I couldn't even give a much better description. Average build, average height, average haircut, average complexion.
"It is impolite to look so deeply," Dorian said, his voice… unremarkable, "But it is hardly my fault that everybody is transmitting every single thought going through their heads. Congratulations on your promotion, Tezzeret."
"Thank you, Dorian. You in?"
He looked over at me finally. His eyes were brown. Average.
"I am," he agreed and he got up from his chair, "You're right, you will need a psyker. And yes, especially a telepath; we are especially useful for these sorts of investigations."
"I wish you'd stop doing that."
He frowned faintly, "Then stop thinking so loudly."
Hmmmh.
Dorian raised an eyebrow at me, "Have you picked the muscle of the group yet? Ah, well, you should go see Teres about that."
"Right you are," I admitted and nodded, "Well-"
"I'll be ready for when it is time to depart."
I nodded and waved to him before I left. Dorian was creepy. He was also good at what he did and for a psyker he wasn't really that bad and relatively sane. At least he wasn't babbling to himself and looking at things only they saw. Or if he did, he hid it well.
I kind of felt bad about the fact that I found him creepy as I knew that he could tell. And he could tell that I felt bad about it.
Telepaths didn't have an easy life, especially somebody like Dorian who couldn't really turn it off. It was a wonder he was as stable as he was. Then again, he was lucky he was as strong and in control as he was or he would have been fed to the Golden Throne instead of inducted into the Inquisition.
Moving out of the way of a cargo servitor hauling crates of ammo, I headed into the barracks areas of the Edge of Fury. It's where the muscles of the team were stationed. Mostly Imperial Guard recruits.
Aurelius usually didn't bring that many of them down on general missions, but having a couple of hundred Imperial Guard soldiers to throw at a problem if necessary was useful. Especially as they were recruited into the Inquisition by being the best of their best in their units, often after surviving something most people would not.
Stepping to the side once more as a squad of troopers jogged past, wearing full gear and equipment packs, I let them pass before continuing towards Teres office.
He glanced up from his console as I walked in before leaning back in his chair, "Tezzeret, I take if you're here for your squad?"
"Got it in one," I agreed and dropped down in the chair across from his desk, "What do you have for me?"
Teres leaned back in his chair for a moment, his shaved head reflecting the light of the luminators before he smiled dryly, "Depends on what you're looking for. Door kickers or someone that can play your and Aurelius games?" he asked as he leaned forward, pulling a drawer in his desk open and taking out a clear bottle and a pair of glasses.
He filled them half way and slid one over to me as he picked up his own.
Taking it, I sipped what might possibly be cleaning fluid, I considered that for a moment. Teres were many things, but taste in liquor he didn't have.
"Is it too much to ask for both?" I finally asked.
He shook his head and picked up a dataslate, glancing at it, "Might be able to do something at least," he admitted, "Anything special in mind?"
"Not yet," I admitted, "But I'm going to need troopers that can blend in as at least personal protection. So no catachans, no obvious gang markings if you can avoid it and no ogryn or other ab-humans. No substantial augmentation either that can't be gotten outside the guard."
"Not asking for much, are you?"
I sipped the cleaning fluid, "I'm sure we should be able to find some. I only need five after all."
Teres sighed and nodded, knocking his drink back with a small frown, "I should be able to get something ready for you," he admitted, "How soon do you need them?"
"We're leaving on commercial transport in six days," I said, "So before then."
He slowly nodded, his glass clicking down onto the floor as he set it down, "I should be able to have them ready for tomorrow. I have some guys in mind. Any thoughts about male or female?"
"Not really, pick who you think will be best," I said and finished my drink, putting the glass down as I got up.
"We'll get it done," Teres said before he smiled and stood up, rounding the desk before saluting smartly, "Interrogator."
I smiled and returned the salute before offering him my hand.
He took it and shook it firmly, "Congratulations."
"That's still to be seen," I admitted wryly.
"Come in."
Rolling my eyes, I walked inside the private quarters, "Should I even bother telling you what I want?"
Dorian was an average looking man. Aggressively average, so much that I was fairly sure it was some sort of psychic effect. If I looked away from him, I wouldn't be able to describe him other than 'average build, brown hair'.
Even looking at him, I couldn't even give a much better description. Average build, average height, average haircut, average complexion.
"It is impolite to look so deeply," Dorian said, his voice… unremarkable, "But it is hardly my fault that everybody is transmitting every single thought going through their heads. Congratulations on your promotion, Tezzeret."
"Thank you, Dorian. You in?"
He looked over at me finally. His eyes were brown. Average.
"I am," he agreed and he got up from his chair, "You're right, you will need a psyker. And yes, especially a telepath; we are especially useful for these sorts of investigations."
"I wish you'd stop doing that."
He frowned faintly, "Then stop thinking so loudly."
Hmmmh.
Dorian raised an eyebrow at me, "Have you picked the muscle of the group yet? Ah, well, you should go see Teres about that."
"Right you are," I admitted and nodded, "Well-"
"I'll be ready for when it is time to depart."
I nodded and waved to him before I left. Dorian was creepy. He was also good at what he did and for a psyker he wasn't really that bad and relatively sane. At least he wasn't babbling to himself and looking at things only they saw. Or if he did, he hid it well.
I kind of felt bad about the fact that I found him creepy as I knew that he could tell. And he could tell that I felt bad about it.
Telepaths didn't have an easy life, especially somebody like Dorian who couldn't really turn it off. It was a wonder he was as stable as he was. Then again, he was lucky he was as strong and in control as he was or he would have been fed to the Golden Throne instead of inducted into the Inquisition.
Moving out of the way of a cargo servitor hauling crates of ammo, I headed into the barracks areas of the Edge of Fury. It's where the muscles of the team were stationed. Mostly Imperial Guard recruits.
Aurelius usually didn't bring that many of them down on general missions, but having a couple of hundred Imperial Guard soldiers to throw at a problem if necessary was useful. Especially as they were recruited into the Inquisition by being the best of their best in their units, often after surviving something most people would not.
Stepping to the side once more as a squad of troopers jogged past, wearing full gear and equipment packs, I let them pass before continuing towards Teres office.
He glanced up from his console as I walked in before leaning back in his chair, "Tezzeret, I take if you're here for your squad?"
"Got it in one," I agreed and dropped down in the chair across from his desk, "What do you have for me?"
Teres leaned back in his chair for a moment, his shaved head reflecting the light of the luminators before he smiled dryly, "Depends on what you're looking for. Door kickers or someone that can play your and Aurelius games?" he asked as he leaned forward, pulling a drawer in his desk open and taking out a clear bottle and a pair of glasses.
He filled them half way and slid one over to me as he picked up his own.
Taking it, I sipped what might possibly be cleaning fluid, I considered that for a moment. Teres were many things, but taste in liquor he didn't have.
"Is it too much to ask for both?" I finally asked.
He shook his head and picked up a dataslate, glancing at it, "Might be able to do something at least," he admitted, "Anything special in mind?"
"Not yet," I admitted, "But I'm going to need troopers that can blend in as at least personal protection. So no catachans, no obvious gang markings if you can avoid it and no ogryn or other ab-humans. No substantial augmentation either that can't be gotten outside the guard."
"Not asking for much, are you?"
I sipped the cleaning fluid, "I'm sure we should be able to find some. I only need five after all."
Teres sighed and nodded, knocking his drink back with a small frown, "I should be able to get something ready for you," he admitted, "How soon do you need them?"
"We're leaving on commercial transport in six days," I said, "So before then."
He slowly nodded, his glass clicking down onto the floor as he set it down, "I should be able to have them ready for tomorrow. I have some guys in mind. Any thoughts about male or female?"
"Not really, pick who you think will be best," I said and finished my drink, putting the glass down as I got up.
"We'll get it done," Teres said before he smiled and stood up, rounding the desk before saluting smartly, "Interrogator."
I smiled and returned the salute before offering him my hand.
He took it and shook it firmly, "Congratulations."
"That's still to be seen," I admitted wryly.
I looked at myself in the mirror.
I recognized myself, but I still looked different from what I did when I woke up. Harder.
Working for an Inquisitor for six years does that for you, I suppose.
My brown hair was cut short in a common cut and I was clean shaven. A slight scar by one temple where I had hit a wall a bit harder than strictly necessary while dodging a gangers stubber fire of all the stupid things. It was small enough not to disrupt my work so I kept it as a reminder not to take any enemy lightly, so far I had been able to keep it.
My eyes looked identically pale greyish green, despite that one of them being an augmetic.
Naria did amazing work. You could even see the iris move as I shifted my focus. Of course, this kind of augmetic was only really available to the hyper-wealthy, like nobility or planetary governors.
Or members of the Inquisition, I suppose. The ones in my brain and along my spine weren't exactly common either.
I was also in the best shape of my life. Very useful for running away from things shooting at you, something I was very keen on being good at.
While a lot of what we did was investigative, there was a lot more running involved than I really liked.
Finishing washing my face, I dried myself before picking a shirt up and slipping it on, following it with an Inquisitorial long coat. Last thing….
Might as well give the best impression I could on the people that would be fighting for me and the Emperor.
I usually preferred something more civilian to blend in, but there are times you need to make an impression.
Picking up the small metal box I opened it and looked down at the Interrogator Rosette. An Inquisitor Rosette was gold and black with a black I on it. Usually.
Mine was smaller with silver on black.
Picking it from the small box, I attached it to my shirt by my throat.
Stopping by the workbench, I looked at the Vivisector combat robot. It was sitting there like any other dumb peice of metal. Not a servitor, an actual robot running on a cogitator.
No AI of course, but you could do a lot with the right scripts and decision trees.
Patting the metal on it's back, I then turned and left my quarters, heading towards the briefing room in grunt country.
I found Teres just outside, holding a dataslate in his hands. He looked up when I approached, "Tezzeret," he said with a nod, "Morning."
"Morning," I agreed, "It certainly is that."
That drew a thin smile from him and he held the dataslate out for me.
I took it and glanced down at the screen, "You found five?"
"Found five," He agreed and nodded towards the room, "Waiting inside."
I nodded, "Thank you," I said before I tapped the button and the door opened for me, allowing me to stride inside.
All five men inside went to attention when they spotted me. You might be surprised, but none of them were particularly large.
They all had the same regulation haircuts other than the guy on the far left that was shaved clean. All wearing the same identical dark darky grey fatigues.
"Are you ready to die for the Emperor?!" I asked loudly as I walked inside, making sure to put some whirl into my longcoat.
I'm allowed to be dramatic. I'm actually fairly sure it's required.
"Yes sir!"
"Well, frack that," I said and scowled at them, "And If I hear any of you talk like that, I'll shoot you myself!"
That knocked them out of their scripted responses. Not out of attention, but all of them looked somewhat confused.
"Uhm… sir?" The man on the far right asked.
Sergeant Darien Weller. Medium height and with blonde hair, a scar across his chin. Survivor of a battle against tyranid forces during a splinter fleet engagement. Got snagged up by the Inquisition after he managed to survive the rest of his battalion getting eaten. Cadian.
The leader of the group, or would be at least.
"Dying for the Emperor is easy," I said as I met each of their eyes, stopping a couple of meters short from them, "Inquisitor Aurelius and myself have something much more important and difficult in mind for you. You are to live for the Emperor, your lives aren't yours to throw away. Everytime you survive, is one time your life can be spent on a much more important matter later. If I see any of you dying heroically, you better pray that the Emperor does indeed protect, because when I finally get to find you by the Golden Throne, you will bloody well need it. Do you understand me?"
"Yes, sir!"
"Excellent," I said and crossed my arms, looking across them.
Peadar Burgstaller was the second from the right. A thin man, with short black hair, formerly of the Hikator PDF, he had gotten involved in an Inquisitorial purge and provided the Inquisitor with local support as a guide. At the end he had been offered a job. The next mission, there was a teleporter malfunction and most of his team ended up in a wall. He didn't and managed to survive.
In the middle was Linus Arnesen. A thick built man, slightly balding and his short hair was slightly greying. A former member of the Valhallan 56th rifles, demolition specialist. He was recruited into the Inquisition after he was saved from a Drukhari slave barge on it's way to orbit. Space Wolves had teleported onboard and purged the vessel. One lucky bastard.
Zhivko Shelby was second to last. A short thin man, with short black hair. He looked like he was constantly trying not to fidget. He was a former member of the Jeloki 67th artillery as a radio operator. His entire battery ended up recruited into the Inquisition after they saw something they shouldn't. The notes didn't say what it was, only that it was above my clearance level. Apparently the choice they got was join the Inquisition or Servitor. A few picked servitor.
The last man was the only one that looked calm. Too calm. Callan Gupta was a man of medium build and a shaved head, his eyes grey and flat. He reminded me of a shark. A sniper from the 89th Cadian rifles, he had been recruited after he went awol and hunted an enemy combatant through a jungle for three weeks. He had been given the choice of Inquisition or execution for desertion.
I slowly nodded, "You'll work," I finally said, "grab your kits and anything else you think you might need from the quartermaster. Get ready, we're leaving in five days."
Then I turned and walked out.
I recognized myself, but I still looked different from what I did when I woke up. Harder.
Working for an Inquisitor for six years does that for you, I suppose.
My brown hair was cut short in a common cut and I was clean shaven. A slight scar by one temple where I had hit a wall a bit harder than strictly necessary while dodging a gangers stubber fire of all the stupid things. It was small enough not to disrupt my work so I kept it as a reminder not to take any enemy lightly, so far I had been able to keep it.
My eyes looked identically pale greyish green, despite that one of them being an augmetic.
Naria did amazing work. You could even see the iris move as I shifted my focus. Of course, this kind of augmetic was only really available to the hyper-wealthy, like nobility or planetary governors.
Or members of the Inquisition, I suppose. The ones in my brain and along my spine weren't exactly common either.
I was also in the best shape of my life. Very useful for running away from things shooting at you, something I was very keen on being good at.
While a lot of what we did was investigative, there was a lot more running involved than I really liked.
Finishing washing my face, I dried myself before picking a shirt up and slipping it on, following it with an Inquisitorial long coat. Last thing….
Might as well give the best impression I could on the people that would be fighting for me and the Emperor.
I usually preferred something more civilian to blend in, but there are times you need to make an impression.
Picking up the small metal box I opened it and looked down at the Interrogator Rosette. An Inquisitor Rosette was gold and black with a black I on it. Usually.
Mine was smaller with silver on black.
Picking it from the small box, I attached it to my shirt by my throat.
Stopping by the workbench, I looked at the Vivisector combat robot. It was sitting there like any other dumb peice of metal. Not a servitor, an actual robot running on a cogitator.
No AI of course, but you could do a lot with the right scripts and decision trees.
Patting the metal on it's back, I then turned and left my quarters, heading towards the briefing room in grunt country.
I found Teres just outside, holding a dataslate in his hands. He looked up when I approached, "Tezzeret," he said with a nod, "Morning."
"Morning," I agreed, "It certainly is that."
That drew a thin smile from him and he held the dataslate out for me.
I took it and glanced down at the screen, "You found five?"
"Found five," He agreed and nodded towards the room, "Waiting inside."
I nodded, "Thank you," I said before I tapped the button and the door opened for me, allowing me to stride inside.
All five men inside went to attention when they spotted me. You might be surprised, but none of them were particularly large.
They all had the same regulation haircuts other than the guy on the far left that was shaved clean. All wearing the same identical dark darky grey fatigues.
"Are you ready to die for the Emperor?!" I asked loudly as I walked inside, making sure to put some whirl into my longcoat.
I'm allowed to be dramatic. I'm actually fairly sure it's required.
"Yes sir!"
"Well, frack that," I said and scowled at them, "And If I hear any of you talk like that, I'll shoot you myself!"
That knocked them out of their scripted responses. Not out of attention, but all of them looked somewhat confused.
"Uhm… sir?" The man on the far right asked.
Sergeant Darien Weller. Medium height and with blonde hair, a scar across his chin. Survivor of a battle against tyranid forces during a splinter fleet engagement. Got snagged up by the Inquisition after he managed to survive the rest of his battalion getting eaten. Cadian.
The leader of the group, or would be at least.
"Dying for the Emperor is easy," I said as I met each of their eyes, stopping a couple of meters short from them, "Inquisitor Aurelius and myself have something much more important and difficult in mind for you. You are to live for the Emperor, your lives aren't yours to throw away. Everytime you survive, is one time your life can be spent on a much more important matter later. If I see any of you dying heroically, you better pray that the Emperor does indeed protect, because when I finally get to find you by the Golden Throne, you will bloody well need it. Do you understand me?"
"Yes, sir!"
"Excellent," I said and crossed my arms, looking across them.
Peadar Burgstaller was the second from the right. A thin man, with short black hair, formerly of the Hikator PDF, he had gotten involved in an Inquisitorial purge and provided the Inquisitor with local support as a guide. At the end he had been offered a job. The next mission, there was a teleporter malfunction and most of his team ended up in a wall. He didn't and managed to survive.
In the middle was Linus Arnesen. A thick built man, slightly balding and his short hair was slightly greying. A former member of the Valhallan 56th rifles, demolition specialist. He was recruited into the Inquisition after he was saved from a Drukhari slave barge on it's way to orbit. Space Wolves had teleported onboard and purged the vessel. One lucky bastard.
Zhivko Shelby was second to last. A short thin man, with short black hair. He looked like he was constantly trying not to fidget. He was a former member of the Jeloki 67th artillery as a radio operator. His entire battery ended up recruited into the Inquisition after they saw something they shouldn't. The notes didn't say what it was, only that it was above my clearance level. Apparently the choice they got was join the Inquisition or Servitor. A few picked servitor.
The last man was the only one that looked calm. Too calm. Callan Gupta was a man of medium build and a shaved head, his eyes grey and flat. He reminded me of a shark. A sniper from the 89th Cadian rifles, he had been recruited after he went awol and hunted an enemy combatant through a jungle for three weeks. He had been given the choice of Inquisition or execution for desertion.
I slowly nodded, "You'll work," I finally said, "grab your kits and anything else you think you might need from the quartermaster. Get ready, we're leaving in five days."
Then I turned and walked out.
The quarters assigned to us aboard the Rising Profit were comfortable. We were pretending to be somewhat well-off merchants after all.
Merchant representative with his entourage and bodyguards. It was a disguise we have done several times in the past with Aurelius, but then he had been the one playing merchant.
Now it was my job.
Scooping some water up, I splashed it across my face before reaching to the towel and drying off before looking at myself in the mirror.
I was dressed… expensively. Silk shirt, silk robe, heavy golden rings and a heavy necklace. The scar that used to be on my temple is now gone, having been smoothed out and removed. It didn't fit the image this time.
The ship thrummed softly, barely audible at all as it forced its way through The Immaterium. I knew how it worked, the gellar field generators keeping the field up, forcing a bubble of 'reality' around us. Outside the field was a infinite amount of demons and warp entities wanting nothing more than to rape us to death and wear us as flesh suits. Maybe even in that order.
But the blessing of the Omnissiah and the Light of The Emperor guided us through the Warp. Kept us safe.
I took a second to put my hand against the bulkhead, whispering the catechism of smooth operation. I might not be a tech-priest, but the machine-spirits seemed to like me so far. Besides, it wouldn't hurt to be nice to the thing keeping infinite demons from skull fucking me for eternity.
Machine-Spirits may or may not be a real thing, but I have seen things that definitely leaned towards the yes side, so better be safe than sorry.
Faith was a shield after all.
Pulling my hand away, I walked into the common room to see Dorian sitting by a regicide board. He moved a piece and then turned the board around, studying it before moving a piece from the other side before turning it again.
"Isn't that boring?" I asked as I walked to sit down across from the psyker.
"Not anymore than playing against a blunt," he said plainly but he reset the board anyway and turned it around, giving me the first play.
"I do have some anti-psyker training," I told him and moved my first piece.
Dorian sighed, "Yes, but you are not a very good player," he answered and moved a piece in turn.
"Well," I agreed and moved my own, "I haven't had that much practice. We're six weeks from our destination, so I suspect we'll have plenty of time to practice."
"Hmm."
We kept playing for a while. No question about it, he was way better at it than I was. By our third game, he had won every single one of them. He had to work for it a couple of times, but he won in the end.
"Any ideas what's waiting for us?" I asked him as he reset the board again, turning it around before moving first.
Dorian looked at me for a long moment before he shook his head, "Precognition is unfortunately a power I am not capable of. Especially not at that distance or time interval."
"Perhaps not, but most have at least some feeling about their own destiny," I said and moved a piece, "Any feelings of dread about this mission?"
Dorian snorted and moved a piece of his own, "I have feelings of dread about every mission. It has nothing to do with my abilities. If you wanted a psyker with precognitive skills, you should have selected somebody that had them, no matter how creepy you find them."
"Stay out of my head," I said idly, moving a piece.
"Then stop thinking so loudly," he answered and countered.
I moved my next piece.
"Yes," Dorian said, "I will help you practice your defenses. They are better than most blunts, I admit, but you need them to be stronger if you are to be an Interrogator. And learn not to think so loudly."
"Thank you," I said and waited for him to make his next move, "Would you like a drink?"
"I don't drink. You do not want a drunk psyker," Dorian answered and made his move, "That is a bad idea in general. Especially in The Immaterium."
"...Fair point," I agreed, "But I was thinking more along the lines of tea."
"No thank you."
I nodded and reached up to touch a button on the wall. It only took a minute before a servitor trundled inside.
"Tea, hot, Black. Earl Grey if you have it," I said, "And some sandwiches. A carafe of water."
The gilded servitor trundled back out.
After years, they no longer creeped me out quite as much as they used to, but still. In a way, servitors were a symptom of everything that went wrong with the future. Gone were the gleaming spires of the bright future with mechanical servants. Now the spires were darkened and the servants twisted and made from people.
I turned back to find Dorian watching me intently.
"My mind is a strange and dangerous place," I told him quietly, "be careful where you walk, Dorian. You may not like what you find in there."
"Yes Interrogator," he said quietly with a small frown, looking down at the regicide board before he glanced at me again after a long moment, "What was that image?"
I sighed as the servitor returned with the meal and the water. I put it on the table, pouring Dorina a glass of water and slid it over to him before pouring myself a cup of tea. Not earl grey of course, I have yet to find it. But it was at least black and did smell somewhat of tea,
"That," I said, "Was what the future might have been. Before the Darkness. Before the corruption. That is why I do what I do. Because what might have been, might still be."
Dorian slowly nodded, "I see," he said quietly before moving a piece on the board.
He won that game too.
Merchant representative with his entourage and bodyguards. It was a disguise we have done several times in the past with Aurelius, but then he had been the one playing merchant.
Now it was my job.
Scooping some water up, I splashed it across my face before reaching to the towel and drying off before looking at myself in the mirror.
I was dressed… expensively. Silk shirt, silk robe, heavy golden rings and a heavy necklace. The scar that used to be on my temple is now gone, having been smoothed out and removed. It didn't fit the image this time.
The ship thrummed softly, barely audible at all as it forced its way through The Immaterium. I knew how it worked, the gellar field generators keeping the field up, forcing a bubble of 'reality' around us. Outside the field was a infinite amount of demons and warp entities wanting nothing more than to rape us to death and wear us as flesh suits. Maybe even in that order.
But the blessing of the Omnissiah and the Light of The Emperor guided us through the Warp. Kept us safe.
I took a second to put my hand against the bulkhead, whispering the catechism of smooth operation. I might not be a tech-priest, but the machine-spirits seemed to like me so far. Besides, it wouldn't hurt to be nice to the thing keeping infinite demons from skull fucking me for eternity.
Machine-Spirits may or may not be a real thing, but I have seen things that definitely leaned towards the yes side, so better be safe than sorry.
Faith was a shield after all.
Pulling my hand away, I walked into the common room to see Dorian sitting by a regicide board. He moved a piece and then turned the board around, studying it before moving a piece from the other side before turning it again.
"Isn't that boring?" I asked as I walked to sit down across from the psyker.
"Not anymore than playing against a blunt," he said plainly but he reset the board anyway and turned it around, giving me the first play.
"I do have some anti-psyker training," I told him and moved my first piece.
Dorian sighed, "Yes, but you are not a very good player," he answered and moved a piece in turn.
"Well," I agreed and moved my own, "I haven't had that much practice. We're six weeks from our destination, so I suspect we'll have plenty of time to practice."
"Hmm."
We kept playing for a while. No question about it, he was way better at it than I was. By our third game, he had won every single one of them. He had to work for it a couple of times, but he won in the end.
"Any ideas what's waiting for us?" I asked him as he reset the board again, turning it around before moving first.
Dorian looked at me for a long moment before he shook his head, "Precognition is unfortunately a power I am not capable of. Especially not at that distance or time interval."
"Perhaps not, but most have at least some feeling about their own destiny," I said and moved a piece, "Any feelings of dread about this mission?"
Dorian snorted and moved a piece of his own, "I have feelings of dread about every mission. It has nothing to do with my abilities. If you wanted a psyker with precognitive skills, you should have selected somebody that had them, no matter how creepy you find them."
"Stay out of my head," I said idly, moving a piece.
"Then stop thinking so loudly," he answered and countered.
I moved my next piece.
"Yes," Dorian said, "I will help you practice your defenses. They are better than most blunts, I admit, but you need them to be stronger if you are to be an Interrogator. And learn not to think so loudly."
"Thank you," I said and waited for him to make his next move, "Would you like a drink?"
"I don't drink. You do not want a drunk psyker," Dorian answered and made his move, "That is a bad idea in general. Especially in The Immaterium."
"...Fair point," I agreed, "But I was thinking more along the lines of tea."
"No thank you."
I nodded and reached up to touch a button on the wall. It only took a minute before a servitor trundled inside.
"Tea, hot, Black. Earl Grey if you have it," I said, "And some sandwiches. A carafe of water."
The gilded servitor trundled back out.
After years, they no longer creeped me out quite as much as they used to, but still. In a way, servitors were a symptom of everything that went wrong with the future. Gone were the gleaming spires of the bright future with mechanical servants. Now the spires were darkened and the servants twisted and made from people.
I turned back to find Dorian watching me intently.
"My mind is a strange and dangerous place," I told him quietly, "be careful where you walk, Dorian. You may not like what you find in there."
"Yes Interrogator," he said quietly with a small frown, looking down at the regicide board before he glanced at me again after a long moment, "What was that image?"
I sighed as the servitor returned with the meal and the water. I put it on the table, pouring Dorina a glass of water and slid it over to him before pouring myself a cup of tea. Not earl grey of course, I have yet to find it. But it was at least black and did smell somewhat of tea,
"That," I said, "Was what the future might have been. Before the Darkness. Before the corruption. That is why I do what I do. Because what might have been, might still be."
Dorian slowly nodded, "I see," he said quietly before moving a piece on the board.
He won that game too.
10
In my six years in Aurelus' service I have learned a multitude of skills. Shooting, technology, hand to hand combat, protocols, diplomacy, speeder piloting, investigative techniques and a myriad of other skills.
Out of everything I had learned, all the experience I had gathered, there was one above everything else that had helped keep me alive this long.
Something completely critical to the survival of somebody in my profession.
I breathed heavily as I slowed down my run, sweat staining my light shirt as I pulled a water bottle from the side of my pack.
The ability to run the fuck away from things shooting at you was more important than anything else and it was something I have been practicing anytime I possibly had the time.
Sergeant Darien Weller came to a halt next to me, breathing heavily, carrying a lasgun and a pack as heavy as mine.
I offered him the bottle of water as the rest of the small squad caught up with us.
He took it and had a drink before looking back, "Two minute break," he ordered before he turned back to me, "You do this every day, sir?"
"Yep," I agreed, "Well, every day when I can possibly squeeze it in between everything else," I said and smiled, "It's good for your health."
"I see, sir."
After all, getting shot is very bad for your health.
I'd never be able to outfight most things in close quarters combat even if I had regularly been carrying something like a chainsword. Which I didn't because what's the point?
The great majority of the time if I needed one, I'd be dead anyway and the rest of the time it'd just slow me down. Much better to make use of something humans was rather good at instead and just stay the fuck away from whatever wanted to eat my face today.
Not always possible which is why I still practiced with one, but most of the time not getting in that situation in the first place was a much better idea.
"So, you guys have anything you need?" I asked and adjusted the straps of my heavy backpack, pulling it a bit closer, "We might be able to find some once we arrive if there is anything you didn't pick up on the Edge of Fury."
"We're good, sir," Darien said with a nod and then looked at the rest, "That's two minutes! On your feet!"
"No rest for the wicked," I said with a smile, "Which means that we get very little as well. It's just another ten kilometers, then we're good with this for today. Sergeant, how are you with a chainsword?"
=][=
"Thank you," I said and took the glass as the little combat robot handed it over to me before taking two steps back and going into passive mode.
It wasn't really any smarter than anything back from Old Terra. Okay, that's unfair, it's cogitator was faster than anything regularly accessible and it's technology a lot more advanced, but it didn't have any sort of AI.
Just a bunch of basic neural networks and scripts. In combat or anything like that, it'd need constant supervision and herding to make it do the right thing unless you just set it to a course and told it to kill anything in its path.
I'll likely just leave it on the shuttle this time around. Need more practice before bringing it out on a mission.
Sending it a command to return to its charging dock, I sipped my glass of water before walking to look at the bookshelf.
"It works well."
"Your control has improved," Naria said, her spider like legs clicking slightly against the metal floor as she shifted her position, "But you require additional practice."
I nodded in agreement, "Yep. You have a report for me on the status of the Mechanicus holdings on Saigel Prime?"
Naria slipped a dataslate out from somewhere in her robes and put it on a table, "Would you like a verbal report?" she then asked.
"Yes please. Just the highlights."
She nodded, "The Mechanicus has a limited presence on Saigel Prime. Outside Imperial enclaves, the local population has nothing more than primitive steam devices."
"And the enclaves?"
"Seven across the planet. Total population of just under eight million. Total planetary population, three point five billion."
I frowned, that didn't match the data I had, it should have been a third of that. Then again, that information was quite old...
"That's quite a lot for a semi-feral world," I commented and rubbed my chin before I turned to her, "What do you think may have happened?"
"Insufficient data."
Figures.
"Nothing that comes to mind?" I asked, "No secret Mechanicus experiment that caused the local star to go supernova?"
"Insufficient data," Naria answered, "However, if there would have been such an artifact there, I would be unlikely to know about it or have access to that data."
Fair point.
I nodded, "Okay. Well, all we can do is to prepare our best for whatever is happening. I'm just worried that the lack of communication means Tyranids."
She seemed to consider that for a moment, "It is a possibility," she admitted, "But no splinter fleets of sufficient size to cause a Shadow in The Warp effect has been observed in the sector."
"That just means nobody has survived to tell anybody about them," I sighed, "Well, if it's a full on 'nid invasion, we're just turning around and going back where we came from as there would be nothing we could do anyway."
Out of everything I had learned, all the experience I had gathered, there was one above everything else that had helped keep me alive this long.
Something completely critical to the survival of somebody in my profession.
I breathed heavily as I slowed down my run, sweat staining my light shirt as I pulled a water bottle from the side of my pack.
The ability to run the fuck away from things shooting at you was more important than anything else and it was something I have been practicing anytime I possibly had the time.
Sergeant Darien Weller came to a halt next to me, breathing heavily, carrying a lasgun and a pack as heavy as mine.
I offered him the bottle of water as the rest of the small squad caught up with us.
He took it and had a drink before looking back, "Two minute break," he ordered before he turned back to me, "You do this every day, sir?"
"Yep," I agreed, "Well, every day when I can possibly squeeze it in between everything else," I said and smiled, "It's good for your health."
"I see, sir."
After all, getting shot is very bad for your health.
I'd never be able to outfight most things in close quarters combat even if I had regularly been carrying something like a chainsword. Which I didn't because what's the point?
The great majority of the time if I needed one, I'd be dead anyway and the rest of the time it'd just slow me down. Much better to make use of something humans was rather good at instead and just stay the fuck away from whatever wanted to eat my face today.
Not always possible which is why I still practiced with one, but most of the time not getting in that situation in the first place was a much better idea.
"So, you guys have anything you need?" I asked and adjusted the straps of my heavy backpack, pulling it a bit closer, "We might be able to find some once we arrive if there is anything you didn't pick up on the Edge of Fury."
"We're good, sir," Darien said with a nod and then looked at the rest, "That's two minutes! On your feet!"
"No rest for the wicked," I said with a smile, "Which means that we get very little as well. It's just another ten kilometers, then we're good with this for today. Sergeant, how are you with a chainsword?"
=][=
"Thank you," I said and took the glass as the little combat robot handed it over to me before taking two steps back and going into passive mode.
It wasn't really any smarter than anything back from Old Terra. Okay, that's unfair, it's cogitator was faster than anything regularly accessible and it's technology a lot more advanced, but it didn't have any sort of AI.
Just a bunch of basic neural networks and scripts. In combat or anything like that, it'd need constant supervision and herding to make it do the right thing unless you just set it to a course and told it to kill anything in its path.
I'll likely just leave it on the shuttle this time around. Need more practice before bringing it out on a mission.
Sending it a command to return to its charging dock, I sipped my glass of water before walking to look at the bookshelf.
"It works well."
"Your control has improved," Naria said, her spider like legs clicking slightly against the metal floor as she shifted her position, "But you require additional practice."
I nodded in agreement, "Yep. You have a report for me on the status of the Mechanicus holdings on Saigel Prime?"
Naria slipped a dataslate out from somewhere in her robes and put it on a table, "Would you like a verbal report?" she then asked.
"Yes please. Just the highlights."
She nodded, "The Mechanicus has a limited presence on Saigel Prime. Outside Imperial enclaves, the local population has nothing more than primitive steam devices."
"And the enclaves?"
"Seven across the planet. Total population of just under eight million. Total planetary population, three point five billion."
I frowned, that didn't match the data I had, it should have been a third of that. Then again, that information was quite old...
"That's quite a lot for a semi-feral world," I commented and rubbed my chin before I turned to her, "What do you think may have happened?"
"Insufficient data."
Figures.
"Nothing that comes to mind?" I asked, "No secret Mechanicus experiment that caused the local star to go supernova?"
"Insufficient data," Naria answered, "However, if there would have been such an artifact there, I would be unlikely to know about it or have access to that data."
Fair point.
I nodded, "Okay. Well, all we can do is to prepare our best for whatever is happening. I'm just worried that the lack of communication means Tyranids."
She seemed to consider that for a moment, "It is a possibility," she admitted, "But no splinter fleets of sufficient size to cause a Shadow in The Warp effect has been observed in the sector."
"That just means nobody has survived to tell anybody about them," I sighed, "Well, if it's a full on 'nid invasion, we're just turning around and going back where we came from as there would be nothing we could do anyway."