Interrogator (40k)

[Hiver]

I never found out quite how long I was out. To be completely frank, I never expected to wake back up. Or if I did, it would be by the golden throne feeling very silly.

Instead, I woke up to pain and smoke.

I jerked up and a large hand pushed me back down, I went for it to twist a finger back. Or tried to at least, most I managed was to slap his hand with my left hand.

"Easy, sir," a voice said and he pushed me down firmly, "You lost a lot of blood. If you sit up now, you'll risk passing out again."

I blinked, trying to clear my eyes as I frowned up at him before the face clicked with a name, "...Miller...."

"Private Tim Miller, sir," He agreed and reached for a waterbottle, holding it to my lips, "Drink. Water."

I drank before I looked at my arm, the uniform had the sleeve ripped off and I had bandages tied around my upper arm, "How bad is it?"

"Not a medicaid," He said and shrugged, sitting back and taking a sip from the water himself, "But you caught some shrapnel to the upper arm. Lost a bunch of blood. Not sure what damage it did, but I think the bone is okay. Did what I could."

I flexed my hand. Nothing. Tried to move my arm. It kind of twitched. My arm didn't hurt, which wasn't exactly a good sign. In fact, I couldn't feel a lot of anything on it below the shoulder.

"Anyone else?" I asked before I could stop myself. Everyone else was dead, I knew that much.

He shook his head, leaning back against the tree, "Managed to haul you out. Nobody else made it."

I nodded, staring up at the blue sky through the trees. It was day. Close to mid day from the position of the sun.

Groaning, I worked to sit up. I felt a bit faint, but at least I didn't pass out, "We need to move. We're some thirty kilometers from the frontline. If we move now, we might be able to meet up with friendly forces by tonight."

Miller shook his head, "No chance of that, sir," he said, "Not in your condition and not through the forests. That's at least a two day march and that's if we don't have to dodge enemy patrols."

He was right. I knew he was right.

I nodded and scooted back, leaning against a tree, "You weren't always a tanker, were you?"

He shook his head, "Been since basic. But before I joined the PDF, I was a hunter. Used to live some two hundred klicks from here actually. Me and my musket knew these forests well. Grew up with it."

Nodding again, I rubbed my right upper arm, feeling the bandage before I forced myself to my feet, my hand against the tree before I felt for my laspistol. In my holster.

Good man, Miller.

Ah, fuck, my head was killing me. Where is… my helmet is missing. At least I still had my carapace chest armor.

When I didn't fall over or pass out, I looked at him, "We need to move."

He looked at me for a long movement before he nodded, "As you say," he said and climbed to his feet, picking up his lascarbine before looking around, pointing towards the left, "That way, sir."

"Your area, you lead."

He nodded and looked around before he motioned forward and I followed him deeper into the forest. It was slow going, thick wild forest and undergrowth forced us to take detours that felt every couple of meters.

I kept trying to move my right arm, but it mostly just swung uselessly there. I could move my fingers slightly and my wrist a tiny bit, but that's as far as it went.

And I didn't have any feeling below the shoulder.

Whatever shrapnel hit me had to have hit a nerve or something. Which back in my time would have been catastrophic, but nowadays is simply annoying. It could be repaired. But I didn't have time!

Besides, considering it could get me killed, it could be just as catastrophic now.

I looked up to see Miller a dozen meters ahead and beyond a fallen tree trunk. Damn, the locals could really move. But I guess it helps if you are north of two meters tall.

I moved to vault over the fallen tree trunk and next I knew, I was laying on the ground as my hand slipped and the trunk and then the ground reached up to smack me for daring to resist the pull of gravity.

Ow. Neither my side nor my head appreciated that. At least my arm didn't hurt.

"You okay, sir?" Miller asked and picked me up. Literally. He grabbed me by my upper arms and lifted me to my feet.

I guess that's what happens when you lift tank shells for a living.

"...Yes, thank you," I said, "It's just my bloody arm."

"Let's try this," he said and pulled for more bandage from his medkit and started to tie it up in a sling and wrapped a couple of loops around my chest armor to keep it against me, "This might help."

I tried it, "Good idea," I agreed as I leaned back against the fallen tree, "...I'm sorry about your crew."

He was silent for a moment before he nodded, "Is war," he finally answered, rubbing his eyes with a pair of large fingers, "...To be honest, we didn't think we'd last as long as we did. When we realized we were stuck behind the lines… we thought we were fucked. We almost were, it's why we risked going into town when we found you, sir. Almost out of supplies."

I nodded.

"At least you brought us something we lost weeks ago," he continued, "Hope, sir. A mission."

I took a deep breath and nodded once before standing up, "A mission we still have," I said and felt around with my left hand to pull the map from my pocket before unfolding it. Or trying at least.

Miller took it and unfolded it before holding it so we could both see.

"Okay," I said as I looked at it, "I saw this when I studied it before," I said before I pointed at a spot, "It was a backup plan I had if everything hit the fan, but it seems like it has. Can you get us here?"

"The lake, sir?"

"The lake," I agreed, "It's in the middle between the lines, or at least we're when this map was drawn. Both sides are going to be watching it, but it's too small to warrant any kind of water transports… and I think we have a much better chance going across it at night than trying to sneak over. If we get close enough, my combead might be able to cut through the interference, but it has to be really close. Couple of dozen meters at best."

He slowly nodded, "Might get there… two days or so," he agreed before he frowned, "Think you can swim that far with a busted arm, sir? It's almost a kilometer across."

"I don't see that we have a lot of choices. So I guess we'll find out."

 

[Hiver]

The rain poured down as it started getting darker.

Three days. Three days in the forest, dodging patrols. We quickly realized that the relative speed of moving during the day wasn't worth it and we switched off trying our best to sleep during the day and move in the cover of darkness.

I tossed what remained of some berries into my mouth and chewed. They were chewy and sour and bitter, but it was what food we had.

We couldn't risk a fire, so hunting was out.

Luckily Miller knew these forests and was able to find us enough to eat that we didn't need to outright starve.

"You really want to cross that, sir?" He asked from next to me where we stuck close to the trunk of a tree, avoiding as much of the heavy rain as possible.

"Not particular no," I admitted, "But it's our best chance. I tried my combead, but at this distance with the interference all I get are sparks and hisses."

Miller slowly nodded again, "I'm worried about your arm, sir. That's pretty far."

"Yeah."

"I have an idea though," He continued, "I saw a dried tree fall over there. If we drag it down into the water, we can hold onto it as we cross."

"...How's your swimming?" I asked, looking at him, "I just realized I didn't ask."

He grinned briefly, teeth flashing in the fading light, "Not the best, I admit. But I should make it that far."

I nodded, "It's a good idea with the trunk. We should move now, before the rain stops."

"I'll get it, you get ready, sir," he said and headed off from beneath the relative cover of the tree. I looked out over the lake for another second before I started to unstrap my arm from my side. It still didn't work and the sensation wasn't back.

But I needed to get out of my carapace armor or I will definitely not make that swim.

Unstrapping it was a bit of a hassle with just one arm, but I got it to drop to the ground. I glanced at the water and then shook my head. Fuck it.

I started to undress down to my underwear before I moved to strap my arm to my side again, digging my rosette from one of my pockets and tying it in place on my arm with the same straps of bandage.

Miller hauled a heavy tree log out of the trees and pushed it out into the water before he nodded, "Good idea, sir. Wouldn't do to be seen in this crap anyway," he agreed and started to take off his heretic uniform, "Get us shot, that."

"Likely before I could tell them not to as well," I agreed and eyed my laspistol. It was custom modified. Leaving that behind….

Water wasn't a problem, but I couldn't carry it…

Fuck it.

Picking up my holster, I waded out of the semi floating log and hooked it over a branch the best I could. If it made it, awesome. If it slipped and sank…

Better that than an enemy getting their hands on it.

"Oh, that's brisk," Miller commented as he waded in after me on the other side of the trunk.

"Not exactly a pleasure cruise," I agreed quietly as I took hold of the trunk and started to move for deeper water, hooking my left arm over it, "We move slow and steady, as quietly as possible."

"Just not too slow, Clawfish feed at dawn," Miller commented as he took hold of the other side of the trunk, "They usually don't eat humans, but they have been known to try at least. Watch your toes."

I stared at him across the trunk, "You didn't think that was worth mentioning earlier?"

"Do we have a choice in any case?"

"...No, not really," I admitted and started to swim.

Just seemed like a detail that would have been nice to know about. The cold water, the pouring rain and everything else involved in the operation was bad enough without needing to also worry about predatory fish.

Ten minutes later, I was starting to think that maybe risking the forest would have been a better idea. Especially as I could see searchlights on both sides of the lake play across the surface of the lake.

"Light coming," I said quietly, "Dive."

I let go of the log, taking a deep breath and pushed myself down beneath the water. I could see Miller copying me a moment before the light passed across where we had been… before sweeping back and aiming at the log.

Damn it. Move away! Move away!

My lungs started to burn. The light remained on the log before there was a sudden crashing sound from above as the log was ripped in two by an impact that made the water around it turn white for a second.

The sound hit me like a hammer which did exactly nothing for my headache or my burning lungs. The light remained.

I looked over at Miller. He seemed to be struggling. But he didn't move, didn't make for the surface. The light moved on away from the broken log.

I started up towards the surface, forcing myself to slow down and breach it slowly before sucking in a deep breath.

Miller breached next to me, grabbing hold on the largest part of the log and I could hear him gasping deeply for breath.

"You hit?" I asked quietly as I grabbed the piece as well, feeling it start to push down beneath the surface, forcing me to swim harder than before. It couldn't hold us both now.

"I-I'm good," he gasped quietly, "They… might do that… again…"

"Yeah," I agreed, "Let's continue."

I could just about make out his nod in agreement before we continued across the lake towards the at least theoretically friendly lines.

If the lines had moved since the map was drawn up…

We swam on.

 

[Hiver]

The rain stopped as the wind started to pick up, a wave washing over me and almost forcing its way up my nose.

It took all my willpower not to cough. Ahead, thick trees were shadowing the sky. Almost there. Almost made it.

Every muscle I had, wanted me to swim faster. But that was a hilariously bad idea. Every muscle in my body felt like it was on fire.

I felt like a overcooked noodle and could barely keep my head above the water even with the help of the log.

I had stopped shivering… what must have been hours ago. I knew that was a bad sign, but didn't exactly have a choice in the matter here.

"Hang on," I said quietly, "Just a little longer."

If it was to Miller or myself, I'm not sure. He didn't answer. He just kept swimming.

Just a little longer. Just a little further.

The lasbolt exploded the log just next to my arm, making me jerk back and slip beneath the waves with a yelp of surprise.

The night lit up, lasbolts raining down at our location, hissing against the water or exploding against the log, sending shrapnel exploding across the night.

I flailed against the water, choking for breath that wouldn't come. Water. Darkness. No air. No air.

My foot hit something solid and I kicked off it, sending myself towards the surface and I broke it, gasping for breath. I managed one breath before I instantly dove again. Just in time as lasbolts hissed against the spot I had been a second before.

I swam towards the left beneath the churning water before I climbed towards the surface again at another spot.

I broke the surface, "Loyalist! Loyalist!" I yelled before I dove down again.

Lasfire boiled the surface of the lake.

If I ever find out whomever is on the other side of that lasgun, I'm going to shove it so far into his arse he turns into a gun servitor!

There was a splash as something hit the water.

It was followed by an almighty WHOMP and everything went dark. Silent. Relaxing.

Next thing I felt was anything but relaxing. Pain.

Pain as I choked, coughing up water.

I forced my head out of the water, feeling something solid beneath me. Rocks. I slowly pushed myself over with my working arm and gasped for breath.

Opening my eyes, it was just in time for me to see the butt of a lasgun coming towards me.

Funny that. It barely hurt even as I heard the crunch of it hitting my nose and my vision turned into bright sparkling fireworks.

Pretty stars.

I tried to say something. Not even sure what it was I was trying to say, I don't remember. Next thing I do remember was lights moving above me.

I was being dragged by the shoulders.

I think.

"I-m… imf…" I started to say but that was as far as I got before something hit me across the face. Oh. yes. Broken nose.

Now I felt it.

Ow.

Stars flashed again.

"Shut your mouth, heretic!"

Oh. Loyalist forces then. Goody.

"Arm. Check. Ban-"

Smack. I lost consciousness there I think. Must have as the next thing I remember was a light above me and something soft beneath me.

I blinked slowly at the grey tent above me before I groaned and slowly raised my head to look around. I very quickly regretted that fact as it caused a spike of pain to explode through my head.

"Stay down, Interrogator," a voice said and I risked a look over, setting a man wearing an apron and the uniform of a PDF doctor quickly making his way over. He was older with graying hair but the same build as all the locals.

"Figured out who I was, huh?" I asked and forced myself up to sit anyway, gritting my teeth, "The man that was with me?"

"Alive, sir," the doctor said and leaned in, pulling a small lamp as he peered into my eyes, "Follow the light please. I am Doctor Swanson."

I did as he asked.

"No sign of a concussion, but it's difficult to say with your augmetic," he admitted.

"Where is he?"

"Locked up," he said and stood up, putting his light away, "We couldn't identify him yet with the vox down and needed to be sure he wasn't a heretic. But that's for the Commander. But I really think you should rest some more, sir. You are injured."

"I don't have time to be injured. Get me something for my head and take me to your commander," I ordered and struggled up to sit, looking around before I reached beneath the bed to pull out a small cart with uniforms to work on pulling on a pair of pants.

Doctor Swanson didn't look happy, but he nodded and moved to get a small bottle, "You need surgery on that arm, more than I can handle here," he said, "You have several severed nerves," and helped me on with a shirt.

"Thanks, I noticed," I said and swallowed the pills he gave me, "My rosette?"

"With Colonel Bolton, sir," he said and sighed before helping me on with a sling to hold my arm, "One moment and I'll get a trooper to escort you."

I nodded.

Which was a mistake. Neither my head nor my nose enjoyed the movement very much at all.

 

[Hiver]

As it turned out, I wasn't far from the command tent in the first place. Just a five minute walk from the medical area.

The command bunker looked freshly dug and wasn't even made from rockcrete, just seemed to be wood covered with a meter of sand bags.

The ramp down left me in cool shadow as I stepped over a powerline across the path as the trooper led me down into the command center.

"Interrogator Tezzeret," a man said and approached. From his build he was clearly a local and had short cut graying hair, a thick red scar across one eye and down his cheek. His uniform showed him of being of Colonel rank, "I'm Colonel Bolton. I would like to assure you tha-"

"I want the man that was with me released," I told him, interrupting, "I then want a message sent to HQ. Can you do that?"

His cheek twitched and he nodded, "Of course, sir. Vox is down, but we have a hardline connection. It's not up for voice, but we can send text."

Thank the Omnissiah!

"Good," I said and walked over, easing myself into a chair, pulling a keyboard over to myself before I held my hand out, "Rosette," I ordered.

Commander Bolton handed it over without a word and I plugged it into the cogitator. It clicked and whirred softly before allowing me to access the system. I quickly tapped in a message aimed at the Lord-General before sending it off with every single authorisation code I had to cut through any red tape, making sure it ended up directly with him. Requesting an intense orbital strike at the mine due to horrendously dangerous xenos infestation.

Finally I closed my eyes and leaned back in my seat, "My apologies, Colonel," I said after a moment, "It has been a long week. And I needed to get that message to HQ."

"Understandable, Interrogator," He answered and moved to sit down more or less across from me, "You must be hungry. Aldin, could you get the Interrogator some food?"

"Of course, Colonel!" a young trooper said and rushed out of the bunker.

I reached and pulled the rosette from the cogitator data port as it finished loading my standard custom instructions into it before clipping it to the collar of my jacket.

It was done. They knew now.

My job was done. The relaxing feeling that came from that knowledge was stronger than anything else I had ever felt.

Did it. Got the word out.

Something clicked against the console and I opened my eyes to see my laspistol and holster sitting on it, "I thought that was lost," I commented.

"One of the troopers took it," Colonel Bolton said as he sat back down, "When we realized who you were, we recovered it."

"Appreciated," I said with a small smile and reached for it. Strapping it in place with one working arm wasn't the easiest, but I got it done. I did make sure to shift it around so it was easily drawable with my left hand though.

By the time I had finished, the aide had started to set a small table filled with simple food. But it looked like smoked meats, cheese, bread and recaf.

I didn't even remember when I last ate a real meal.

I reached out and plucked a piece of Astra Militarum regulation cheese. It may have been the best thing I had ever eaten.

The anti-gas fabric covering the opening outside was pushed outside and a pair of troopers walked inside followed by Miller.

He looked at me and then went to attention, saluting, "Sir."

"At ease," I said and when he dropped the salute, I looked him over, "You look like shit". Half his head, including one eye, was covered in thick bandages.

He grinned briefly, "You don't look too good either, sir."

I just laughed and nodded, "Fair," before I frowned and got serious, "Your eye?"

He shook his head, "Doc says it's gone. Caught some shrapnel."

"Don't worry, we'll get you a new one, you lost it in the service of the Inquisition. We take care of our own," I told him and then motioned towards the food, "Dig in."

He nodded and quickly followed my suggestion, getting on assembling a sandwich. I didn't even bother with that, just taking a plate of meat at random and lifted it over to my console before snacking on a piece.

Ping!

The cogitator made a sound as a message to me arrived.

"Machine-spirit," I said, picking out a small smoked sausage, "Read message one."

The Colonel and the other men in the bunker looked at me like I had gotten a punch to many to the head before jumping in surprise as the cogitator spoke up in a even and clearly artificial voice,

"From: Lord-General Joel Hauxely XXIV
To: Interrogator Tezzeret, Ordo Xenos.

Unfortunately I am unable to agree with your request, Interrogator. The few voidcraft we have in system are busy dealing with the remaining Ork ships menacing the outer system or covering the orbit from Heretic traffic. The request for firesupport has been denied."

I stared at the cogitator for a long moment before I chewed at a piece of smoked meat. Finally swallowing I looked at the Colonel, "Colonel Bolton, I need your ten best men to escort me back to HQ at once."

He visibly swallowed before he nodded firmly, "At once, sir."

 

[Hiver]

The rumble of the chimera engine was actually kind of soothing. Couldn't sleep, not really. But… I could relax. Or try at least. My head ached.

Sometimes giving the impression of being relaxed was as much or even more important than actually relaxing.

If nothing else, it gave the impression that you knew what you were doing… or at least that you thought so.

That was important. It improved the morale of the troops.

Pretending that you knew what you were doing was the second good to actually knowing what you were doing.

"Sir?"

I opened my eyes and raised my head, "Yes?"

"We're approaching the outer perimeter of the enclave," the driver reported, "You wanted to be told."

"Thank you, Private."

"What's the plan, sir?" the man sitting across from me asked. He was short for a local, only about two meters tall and half again my weight. Bald head and he had a fresh looking burn scar above his left hear. Likely gotten too close to a flamer or something like it.

"Relatively simple, Corporal," I said and scooted to sit up more straight, "You and your troopers are to escort me to PDF HQ and follow my orders. Until the end of your current assignment, you work for the Inquisition, Corporal Dalion."

He swallowed, "Yes sir," he answered with a nod, "...Are we expecting a fight, sir?"

"No," I said, shaking my head and checking the charge of my laspistol. It was clumsy to do with just one working arm, but I got it down, "You're mostly here if we get jumped by some heretics on the way."

"I see, sir."

The chimera ground to a halt and I climbed up to look down at the dozen or so troops there, scanning them quickly for the leader, a Lieutenant that looked too young to need to shave. He was also larger than me.

Damn it.

I held my Interrogators Rosette where they could see it, "I am Interrogator Tezzeret of the Inquisition, Ordo Xenos. I was never here and this is not a chimera, it's a delivery truck with canned fruit," I told him seriously, "You have cleared it to enter."

He stared at me for several long moments, his eyes getting wider and wider before he nodded once and waved us past, "You're clear!" he yelled, "Get going, the troops are hungry!"

Wonder if he was career or conscript? Because he'll never be an actor.

I ducked back down into the crew compartment as we started to roll forward again.

"Fruit truck, sir?" Miller asked, looking amused.

"Only so many things you can disguise a chimera as," I said and I sat down again, doing my best to hide the twinge my side gave me from the movement. Doc back at the camp said nothing was actually broken, but I might have to get a second opinion on that one.

I knew bruised, this felt worse.

We rumbled on along the streets. Nobody spoke. The troops were nervous. Most clinging to their lasguns or holding aquillas in their hands.

Silent prayers.

I really hoped I didn't need any of them. I hoped Lord-General Hauxely would listen to reason. In all honesty, they really were here for the reason I told them. Because if it became anything more, just me or me and a squad of PDF wouldn't help much against the rest of the planet.

They were just here to make sure I wasn't jumped by some heretics on the way back.

"We're coming up on the gates, sir," the driver called back.

"Thank you, Private," I said in return, "You may let us off by the gates and then you can all return to your company. Thank you for your assistance and company."

Some thirty seconds later, we came to a halt and the ramp started to lower. I made my way back towards it and walked down into the bright sunlight. The sun was setting in the distance but things were still bright. I took a slow deep breath. It smelled of Promethium mostly, the smell of dust. Of lubricant. But also… water. Rain. It will rain soon.

Miller walked down behind me, "Sir?"

"Just follow," I said and turned towards the gate, walking over towards the guards there, pulling out my badge of office, "Take me to the Lord-General," I told them as I got close.

The trooper looked at it and me, "...I'm going to need to call it in, sir."

I nodded, "Of course," and then I waited as he called in to somebody high enough in rank to be allowed to use his brain for something else than to prop up his skull.

Only a couple of minutes later he returned, "Sir, I'm to escort you to the command center."

"Thank you, trooper," I said, giving him a nod before I followed him across the compound, stepping to the side briefly as a group of ten tractors hauling heavy artillery pieces behind them. No fancy self-propelled basilisks here.

Similar guns though. Earthshakers.

Heading for the front.

They rumbled on and we stepped back onto the road, heading straight to the command center. I walked down the ramp and the guard opened the gate for me before I could reach it, clearly recognizing me by now. I had been in and out of the place almost every day since I arrived on the planet after all.

The cool of the underground command center was rather welcome after the ride here. Chimeras were many things but comfortable they were not.

The central command was as busy and filled with screens as I remembered it, auspex screens pinging and cogitators clicking and whirring.

I found Lord-General Hauxely and General Lux, "Lord-General," I said with a nod, "General."

"Interrogator," Hauxely said and looked up from the map screen, giving me a nod in turn, "Welcome back."

"Thank you. May I ask why you decided to deny my request for orbital fire?"

"Because we need them in the outer system against the Orks or we risk losing what remains of our orbital infrastructure and deep space mining platforms," Hauxely said firmly, "I already explained so in my message."

"Lord-General, I'm not sur-"

"Interrogator Tezzeret," Lord-General Hauxely interrupted, his chins wobbling slightly, "While I appreciate your assistance with finding traitors among our forces, you are not an Inquisitor and do not have the authority to question my decisions! I will stretch as far as to send a few squads of troops to investigate your mine for Xenos, but that is as far as I'm willing to stretch! Now, go back and do your job!"

"I see," I said, slowly nodding, "As you wish."

Then I pulled my laspistol and in one smooth motion shot him through the head.

 

[Hiver]

The command center was quiet as the previous Lord-Commander's considerable bulk collapsed, what remained of his skull bouncing off the holomap projector with an ugly crunch on the way down. I holstered my laspistol, "Lord-General Joel Hauxely. By the power of His Imperial Majesty's Holy Inquisition, on the authority of Inquisitor Dermand Aurelius I sentence you to death for the crime of treason. By Thought. By Word. By Action. May the Emperor have mercy on your soul."

Silence.

I turned to General Lux, "Lord-General Lux. I want every lance in the system turning everything within twenty kilometers of that mine into molten glass all the way down to the mantle."

I'd give him his credit. Lux just swallowed deeply before he simply nodded firmly, "At once, Interrogator," he said and glanced back towards the communication section, "Send a shuttle to Admiral Helmar with orders to redeploy the fleet back to orbit."

"Thank you, Lord-General," I told him.

He nodded once more, carefully not looking at his former commanding officer, "Of course, Interrogator," he said before he hesitated before speaking up, "Sir, there are several villages of civilians in that area."

My respect for him went up another couple of notches, "Evacuate anyone you can," I agreed, "but don't delay the bombardment. As soon as the fleet is in place, I want them to fire."

"These xenos truly are that dangerous?"

"Worse. And alert the fleet to stand ready to repel boarders, they are masters of teleport technology."

"If you think that's necessary. Just to be sure..."

I nodded and turned to walk out before he spoke up again,

"Interrogator? One more thing."

I glanced back at him, "Yes, Lord-General?"

"We just got a report thirty minutes before you arrived," He said and leaned against the map table, "It's the astropaths."

"What about them?"

"They are screaming."

It seems we just ran out of time and if Aurelius had problems with me executing that waste of space, he can shoot me when we meet again.

Right now I have a sector to save.

=][=​

Naria poked at my wound with several unidentifiable instruments built into one of her hands, leaned in close, her optical sensors uncomfortably close to me, "You have severe damage to several nerve clusters."

"I could have told you that," I agreed and flinched, "Can you fix it?"

"Of course."

"Can you fix it quickly?"

She poked deeper and I gritted my teeth not to flinch, even through the numbness. Because I know that had to hurt like hell. Even if I couldn't actually feel it right now.

"It will be a several hours long repair," she answered, "And you will be required to practice with your arm to regain full motion."

"Pick an option. New arm, repairs or whatever you can come up with. But no matter what, I have to have as close to full functionality as possible tomorrow," I said and pulled away, standing up, "And I have a different task for you even more important that need to be done first," I said and picked up a dataslate with my good hand, handing it over to her.

She didn't even glance at it, a small mechadendrite just snaked out from beneath her red robes and plugged into it.

There was a couple of seconds before she nodded, "Of course. I will prepare, Interrogator," she said, "I will alert you when I am ready. Omnisshia bless the circuits."

"And the cogs," I agreed and she turned, clicking out on her spider like legs.

I turned to one of the others in the room, "Miller."

"Sir."

"Go get some rest, you're wounded. Until Naria gets some time to get you a new eye, you're off duty. Ask the guard outside, he'll find you a free room," I said with a sigh as I sank down to sit in one of the chairs with a groan.

Naria had confirmed my suspicion. Two of my ribs had hairline fractures. Not broken exactly, but strained.

Miller looked about as tired as I felt.

"Yes, sir," he agreed and nodded, "Thank you, sir," and headed for the door.

I reached for the bandage on the table and started to wrap it around my upper arm, "Kim, I want you to find us a Valkyrie. Ready to go at minute's notice."

My pilot got up, setting down a glass of expensive amasec she had gotten from… somewhere, "We have a destination yet?"

"Not yet," I said and tried to get the bandage around my arm. Damn it, I need another-

"Give me that!" she said quickly and effectively wrapped it around my upper arm before tying it off, "I'll get a long range loadout," she said, "Will let us reach anywhere on the planet. I'll tell Timmion that we'll be gone for a bit. Better he stay here."

"Thank you," I said with a nod before I frowned, "...Who's Timmion?"

"The voidsman we saved when we left the freighter? He's been assisting me with repairs."

I had completely forgotten he existed.

"Ah. Good."

"...It's bad, isn't it? I've been in some scrapes with Aurelius before, but..."

"It's bad," I agreed and held my hand out. She took it and hauled me onto my feet, "I'm going to round up some people and get them ready. I need a message skull too."

She nodded, "I'll get the flier ready," she said and turned to walk out before she hesitated and glanced back, "Tezzeret?"

"Yeah?"

"Try to get some sleep at some point. You look like shit."

I smiled tiredly at her, "You should see it from this side."

 

[Hiver]

I woke up with a gasp, my heart beating in my ears, my bed soaked with sweat. The room was quiet and dark, some faint light filtering in through beneath the door.

Struggling to get my breath under control, I brought up the time on one of my augments. Three hours. That's how much sleep I managed to get.

Swinging my legs over the edge of the narrow bed, I rubbed my eyes, leaning my elbows against my knees. My one moving elbow.

I had dreamed… No idea. But my pulse thundered in my head. Exhausted. My head hurt. A lot.

And I can admit that I was terrified. The Heretics was doing something and until I found out what, there was nothing to do about it.

Necrons.

Orks.

Not feeling like going back to sleep, no matter how tired I felt, I got up and walked to the small fresher and grabbed a shower.

The unremembered dream fading away and the hot water helped. By the time I finished and got shaved, I felt slightly better.

Not a lot, mind you. But still better.

I looked into the mirror. I looked about as well as I felt. My right arm hung limply by my side. I had a small cut on my forehead. A bruise the size of a dinner plate on my ribs.

Necron tomb.

Heretics controlling like half the world.

Some major warp working fuckery fucking with the warp currents and making the fucking astropaths fucking scream.

And let's not forget the Ork invasion and Ork raiders in the outer system that when the fleet pulled back, will be free to go wild anyway they want.

I snorted.

I'm so out of my depth it's funny. Seriously, this was something for a team of Inquisitors and a sector level fleet movement! Regiments upon regiments of the Imperial Guard! Fuck, this would more than justify calling in the Space Marines!

But here I was.

Tezzeret. 6 years into the job, newly promoted Interrogator.

I started to slowly laugh softly. Nope, it didn't get any less funny either! I slowly sank down, laughing as I rested my back against the cool wall, my ribs aching with every movement, but it was just too funny!

Bring it on, Horus! Khorn! I'll take you! One on one! Fisticuffs! One arm behind my back!

There was a knock on the door.

There he is now!

"Sir?" somebody called through the door.

I took several slow deep breaths, trying to get my voice under control, "Yes?" I called out.

"Your tech-priest wanted me to let you know that she's ready to begin as soon as you arrive, sir."

"Let her know I'll be there in half an hour," I answered before I let my head fall back against the cool wall, looking up against the ceiling.

The funny thing? The really funny thing?

I didn't have time to have a nervous breakdown. I'd have to do that later on my own time or after I get killed by everything going on.

...No.

No, I'm fucking not.

I glared at the ceiling. I'm not dying here. I didn't survive drifting through space, asleep, passing through whatever dropped me off in empty space, what cataclysms happened On Earth and my own death just to die at this primitive shithole of a planet.

Thirty eight thousand years of random chance, sleeping through the ages and then dying here? Laughing naked in a cheap bathroom?

No.

I reached up for the sink, hauling myself onto my feet, glaring at myself in the mirror. No… I may die here, that's true.

But I was the only chance these millions - billions - of people had. I may die… but I'm going to do it standing on my feet and doing my best.

I looked at myself in the mirror.

Billions of guardsmen across the galaxy did the same thing every hour of every day. They stood their ground against the monstrosities of the galaxy. In jungles, in trenches, on beaches and streets.

Against every monstrosity the galaxy had to throw at them, against the dark gods themselves, not even knowing if their individual actions even did anything. But they still did it.

What I did here… I knew it would matter. That's more than most of them knew.

In truth… could I do less than Guardsman #991882 that when told, he left his trench and charged the enemy, knowing he'd likely die? Not even knowing if his death would matter?

Here…. Here, my death… my charge... would matter.

Win or lose.

It'd matter. At least to the people on this world.

Taking a deep breath, I moved to get dressed.

 

[Hiver]

My footsteps echoed slightly through the cool underground corridor of the arbites building, the air was slightly chilly like always and the lighting just bright enough to make it easy to see, but still gloomy enough to be oppressive with brighter islands of lights beneath the illuminators.

The guard before me guided me to one of the interrogation rooms.

"Here, sir," he said and glanced at the door before retreating back down the corridor. A bit faster than when he walked me here.

I couldn't really blame him. I didn't want to be here either.

I pulled my coat a bit tighter around myself against the chill in the air before I reached for the door and walked inside. Several machines were set up along one wall with wires snaking out from them towards the table.

Jaren Cornek was sitting at a chair at the table, strapped to the chair. Looking quite different from when I saw him last in a room very similar to this one.

His jaw slack and his eyes unfocused as he drooled on himself. Cables snaked up across his torso and up behind his head. His hair was missing, shaved off and I could see where the cables went into his skull through metal plugs, somewhat crudely installed. Or at least in a hurry.

Naria turned away from the displays on one of the machines for a second to aim her primary optical sensors at me, her spiderlike legs clicking against the rockcrete, "The subject is ready for data retrieval."

I nodded and moved to sit down across from him, pulling out my dataslate and setting it on the table, "Jaren Cornek?" I asked, watching the remains of what was once a man.

It took several seconds before he answered, his voice quiet and toneless, "Yes."

"What color is the sky?"

"Blue."

"What is two plus two?"

"Four."

I nodded again, "Tell me of the Prophet of Truth."

Silence. It took several long seconds again before he answered, his lifeless voice drifting through the chilly chamber, "He came to us. He spoke to us. Taught us… The Truth."

"What truth is that?" I asked as I tapped in a note in my dataslate.

"The corpse emperor is a false god," he droned tonelessly, "The Imperium is crumbling and will fall. Saigel must unify. Spread the Truth to the sector."

"That's the truth?" I asked, "That the Emperor isn't a god?"

"Yes."

"And you believed him?"

"Yes."

I leaned back in my chair, "Did he say anything else?"

"Yes."

Silence.

I slowly nodded and frowned at my tablet for a long moment, "You are from Regnesh Enclave?"

"Yes," the thing that used to be Jaren answered, drooling on his chest, his eyes unfocused. Empty. I looked down at my tablet again. Suppressing a shudder.

Heretic and traitor or not...

"Did you see where The Prophet came from? Did he come from your Enclave?" I asked and tried to avoid looking at his face again. I'm going to have nightmares enough about this as is. No need to give them more to feed of.

"No."

"Did you see him leave your enclave?"

"Yes."

"How did he leave?" I asked and risked one more glance. Glassy, empty eyes. I remember how he looked last time we talked.

Traitor, yes. Fought the troopers that collected him.

But full of life. No more. I did this. Ordered it done.

"Flyer," Jaren mumbled, "Took… flyer…"

I glanced at Naria to see her working quickly at the console. He wouldn't last much longer like this.

"Which direction?" I asked, leaning forward.

Silence. Jaren drooled, his left eyelid had started to twitch.

"Which direction did he go, Jaren? Which direction!?"

"Wes-" he started to answer before his head snapped back and he jerked in his chair, shaking and blood gurgled from between his lips as he bit his tongue. He shook for several seconds before he collapsed in his chair, going limp, no longer breathing.

I swallowed and slowly sat back down.

West. He had said west. I marked an arrow on the map in my dataslate from Regnesh Enclave before I looked at Naria. She turned away from the console towards me again,

"The quick installation of the data modules damages the subject," she said in that machine voice of hers, "It's possible to keep it stable until data extraction begins, but once stimulation of neural centers is initiated, data loss is impossible to prevent."

I nodded slowly, looking at him again, "How long does it take to prepare?"

"Once the equipment is set up, changing out the subject for data extraction can be done in thirty minutes," Naria reassured me, "The majority of the time is taken up by sanctifying and configuring the cogitator and data banks."

I slowly stood up, slipping my dataslate into my coat pocket, "Prepare the next subject."

West from Regnesh Enclave.

Today will be a long day.

 

[Hiver]

I walked out into the cooling evening air and took a slow and deep breath. It wasn't exactly clear, but it didn't smell of… blood and other fluids.

We knew where his base was. With an accuracy of almost seventy percent. It may have been mostly guessing, but it was a lot better than what we had before.

What's worse, we had run out of suitable candidates to interview.

I looked up towards the stars for a moment before something drew my attention towards the horizon. I walked a bit towards the left, giving me a better sightline between the buildings. Somewhere beyond the horizon, there was a glow. Sometimes brighter, sometimes dimmer.

That was in the direction of that mine, it was somewhere quite a bit beyond the horizon. Far enough that the strikes themselves weren't visible from here, but all that energy released…

It was basically turning into a supervolcano. The entire continent will be fucked. Famine for certain, toxic fallout, ash...

We're likely looking at a nuclear winter for a couple of decades at the very least.

Well, if we lose, that's a nice gift for the traitors. Enjoy your dirty snowball, arseholes.

A servo skull floated over to me and projected a message for me.

From Lord-General Lux. It seems that the orbital bombardment is about to begin.

I hate not having a functioning vox.

Sending the skull off again, I was just about to turn around and walk back in when a second servoskull dropped from the sky next to me, this one significantly faster and with larger engines and sensorium units. It came to a stop and projected a message for me.

I waited until it was done, slowly nodding before I gave it a new message and it set off into the sky before I walked down into the cool tunnels of the arbites prison complex.

It's time we do something about my arm.

=][=​

I rolled my right shoulder, the servos whining slightly as the exoskeleton frame moved it. It was little more than a metal mesh armor my arm and hand, supporting and moving my arm.

Usually they were for people that had difficulty moving, degenerative neurological diseases and such. But it worked well for this. It wasn't ideal. I didn't have any feeling still, but it worked and still gave me feedback through my brain implant. Positional data and pressure at least.

Hell of a lot faster than anything else.

I was wearing a set of carapace armor again beneath my coat and I had acquired a new helmet. My laspistol was in my holster and I was holding a lasgun.

Didn't feel as confident as I tried to look. 67% chance that we had even identified the right conclave. No idea if he was still there. No idea if whatever bullshit they were doing was there. No idea of troops. No idea of defenses.

But it was what we had. Because we just couldn't wait any longer.

Every minute we delayed, things were likely to get worse and it just felt like… for all I knew, the next five minutes the entire fucking planet could get sucked straight into the warp.

A couple percent chance that we could stop it was still infinitely better than none at all.

So here I was. Looking like an arsehole.

The valkyrie ahead on the landing platform started to whine louder, the engines picking up power as I walked up the ramp, reaching to smack the rune to close it.

As the ramp closed, I grabbed the handrail along the ceiling for support as the floor of the aircraft pressed up against me and I could have sworn I felt my spine compress as the force.

"Sir," the closest trooper said, giving me a nod.

Not a local from his build, not that I could see any of his face behind his helmet and visor. He was wearing a fleet trooper assault uniform.

"Lieutenant," I greeted him in turn and moved to sit down across from him. He and the eleven others in his group had been drawn from the pool of troopers of the SDF. The PDF did have troopers with this sort of speciality as well, but I had instructed Kim to find some from the fleet on the theory that it was less likely that one of them would have turned.

No time to try to verify them and it made it… less likely that one of them would shoot me in the back.This would be impossible enough without that.

I snapped my lasgun into a holder on the wall next to me and quickly strapped in before I looked between them. Eleven blank faced helmets and dark armored uniforms stared back at me.

"Lieutenant Daniels," I said, looking at him, "You and your men have studied the plan?"

He nodded, "Yes, sir. I would have liked a bit more details."

"Me too, Lieutenant. Me too," I agreed and shook my head, "I attached the maps of the enclave and whatever information we have, but who knows what the heretics have changed since then?" I said and then smiled slightly, "But you are all familiar with the mission?"

"Yes, sir," he agreed with another nod, "Assassinate the target."

"And stop whatever it is that they are doing," I continued, "According to our best data, this is the right place. But even if we manage to take them by complete surprise… This will be a tough one."

"Don't worry, sir. My men will get it done."

"I don't doubt it," I said with a confident smile.

Lying might be my most valuable skill, even over running away from things. Running away kept me alive, lying got the job done.

 

[Hiver]

"Interrogator," Kim's voice said over the intercom, "We're coming up on waypoint alpha."

I opened my eyes and sat up straight, reaching to unhook the safety harness, "I'm on my way," I answered and got to my feet.

Fuck, I felt dead on my feet.

Making my way to the cockpit, I squeezed through the narrow hatch and hauled myself up behind the weapon servitor so I could see out the window ahead. Stars above, black shapes flashing past uncomfortably close beneath us.

Thick forests.

I almost felt like we should be playing Fortunate Son or something like it.

"Three minutes out," Kim reported, not bothering to look back, which was something I was very thankful for, "Five minutes until the target."

"Roger. At waypoint Alpha, flash every light we have twice, as bright as you can," I said and reached for the medical kit on the wall, opening it before digging through it and pulling out a pack of stim tabs.

I don't like these things. I had seen people addicted to them and they were shit to your body.

But if I would have a chance to survive this, I would need to be alert.

I took a tab and popped it into my mouth, quickly swallowing before I slipped the rest into my pocket and closed the medical kit.

What if we were wrong? What if we were wrong and he wasn't here, what if whatever they did wasn't here?

What if he had moved on?

What if I was wrong about my ideas about his… powers? What if…

What if, what if.

Doubt. Nothing but doubts… but it was the best we could possibly guess at.

"Are you sure of this?" she asked, "I'm seeing a lot of targeting auspexes ahead. If one of them spot us… and lighting up like that…"

"Yep," I said, feeling my tiredness starting to fade away as an energetic feeling filled me, like I just guzzled a couple of liters of caffeine, "This is one time we want to be seen. Trust me."

That was a good sign at least. If this enclave wasn't very important, why would it be this defended, this far behind the lines?

But that was a lot of pings I could see on our auspex screen over Kims shoulder. Dear lord, that's a lot of pings.

I leaned back towards the hatch, "Everybody get ready, three minutes!"

"Okay, here we go…" Kim said and reached for a switch. Nothing I could see happened for several seconds before streaks of light slashed in through the darkness from the right.

Missiles, impossibly fast, leaving streaks of smoke behind them lit up by their own light jetted down before us, explosions ripping through the night at the barrage.

"Golden Throne…" Kim breathed, "What…"

"T'Au assault force," I said as AA fire started to reach up towards the skies, las weapons and explosive shells, "They are hitting the enclave and their ground troops should be dropping off just before us outside the enclave. They'll draw the attention of the heretics."

"But they are xenos! We can't trust them!"

"Don't need to trust them for this," I reassured her, "They want this to succeed as much as we do. They want the planet too, that means they can't let the lunatics finish whatever they are trying to do… and they are the one group on the planet with the firepower we needed for this that I'm completely sure isn't corrupted. In this case, the enemy of my enemy is useful."

"One minute to target," she answered.

"Got it," I said and slipped back to the crew compartment to see everyone getting ready, powerpacks slapped into lasguns, the two weapon specialists checking their weapons, a flamer and a plasmagun.

I really would have wanted a plasmagun, but I wasn't anywhere near as practiced with one as I was with a lasgun, so…

Better the weapon you know. But I'm getting that practice if we survive this. A lasgun simply didn't have enough punch sometimes.

"Okay then," I said and moved to shrug a harness on, "We all know why we're here," I said as I turned to them, "Our mission is to kill their 'Prophet' and stop whatever they are doing. But that's not why you're here."

I had their full attention now so I continued, "If this mission fails, the planet falls," I told them seriously, "You're not here for me. Not for your commanders or even for orders. You're here for your families, your friends, for the trooper next to you. You're here for this planet."

"We'll get it done, sir," Lieutenant Daniels said, his lasgun held across his chest.

"I know you will, Lieutenant," I told him seriously and walked back, punching the button and the sound of the engines got louder along with the sound of the air as the rear hatch started to open.

"Because you're doing this for your families," I said as I picked up my lasgun while reaching up to hook onto an overhead rail, "You're doing this for Saigel. You're doing this for the Imperium!"

"For the Emperor!" I continued louder as the engine pinch changed and got louder, grabbing hold on the railing overhead before a red light turned green.

"For humanity!" I yelled and turned, jumping out into the dark night.