Interrogator (40k)

[Hiver]

Four months.

Four months it took until the sector fleet arrived.

Four months until the seven regiments of Imperial Guards arrived in system along with a small Fleet taskforce. There was even a Blood Angels strike cruiser on the way but wouldn't arrive for another couple of weeks yet.

All the while the PDF held the line against the Orks. In a manner of speaking. When the SDF were finished creating a brand new supervolcano, they were free to go back to hunting Ork ships, but not before we lost all our orbital infrastructure and asteroid mining stations.

Looking up, I zoomed in at the shape as it exited from the clouds, heading for the enclave. The sky was dark with ash clouds, a layer of ash covering everything.

It was almost impossible to be outside anywhere on this continent without a breathing mask. Every plant and animal on this entire continent was long dead. So were a lot of local people.

Starvation. Suffocation.

The Thunderhawk heading for the platform was painted the black of Inquisition with a large white =][= on the side. Didn't recognize that thing from the Edge of Fury. Either Aurelius got some upgrades or it's not from the Edge of Fury.

The dropship flew in above, passing and turning before spinning on the spot and slowly settling onto the landing pad, thrusters roaring and blasting the ash away in a massive cloud.

The ramp slowly lowered and Aurelius walked down onto the ground, wearing a breathing mask and followed by Teres and a couple of troops I didn't recognize.

"Inquisitor," I greeted him, "Welcome to Saigel. Mind the ash and the very angry mushrooms."

Aurelius smiled beneath his mask and offered his hand, "I heard things ended up a bit more difficult than planned."

"To say the least," I agreed and shook his hand with my augmetic one, "Everyone is just happy to see the fleet show up, the PDF has managed to hold the Orks off, but we have been getting pushed back for months," I said before letting go, pulling my hood a bit higher, "But we should get inside, this ash is not exactly healthy even with masks."

"Agreed, "he said, "But we're going to orbit, there is somebody that wishes to meet you."

"Really?" I asked and followed him up the ramp, giving Teres a nod on the way, "Who?"

"Lord-Inquisitor Endia von Orm."

Gulp. She was in charge of the entire Ordo Xenos in the subsector. While Inquisitors didn't strictly have ranks, it was a matter of degrees of experience.

I had only heard that name before, never met her.

Because while Inquisitors didn't strictly have ranks, she was in effect my boss's boss. Or closer to my boss's boss's boss.

"Why could she possibly want to talk to me?" I asked with a frown,

Aurelius shook his head and slipped his breathing mask off as the ramp closed behind us, "I think you underestimate the work you did here, Tezzeret. I was in conference with her when your message reached me. She decided to come with the conclave of Inquisitors assembled to root out the remaining heretics in the system."

The deck shifted and I quickly grabbed a handhold as the dropship took off, "Surely she has better things to do than bother with this."

Aurelius shook his head again and led the way into the next section of the thunderhawk… bringing us into a finely furnished sitting room.

So that confirms it, this gunship belonged to Aurelius. Always traveled in style.

Crossing over, Aurelius poured us each a glass of amasec before he returned and offered one to me, "I sent you to investigate why my contact didn't report back and you saved a system at the very least, Tezzeret. That is worth some praise, I'd say."

I sipped my drink, "Ah… sorry about that. I never did find out what happened to her, but her last known position was in one of the heretic enclaves."

Aurelius nodded with a small sigh, "I was afraid of something like that when I read your report. That's unfortunate, she has been working for me for years."

"How's your replacements treating you?" Aurelius then asked, motioning towards my arm with his glass.

I lifted my arm and rotated the hand a full circle, "Better than I thought," I admitted, "I have full functionality, but we're changing them out for something more realistic looking and more practical once we get somewhere more civilized. The appearance bothers me less than I thought it might, but it doesn't exactly help me blend in on my usual jobs."

Aurelius sipped his amasec and shrugged, "Bionics isn't exactly rare you know. Half the hive gangers I met had some at least."

"True, but that's rarely that you send me to investigate," I said before I grinned, "Besides, it's cold when I try to sleep."

That got a laugh from the inquisitor, "That I get," he agreed and looked at his left hand, "Did you know I lost this once?"

"You did? That looks real."

"Oh, it is, it's a graft," he said and wiggled his fingers, "Could likely get you one as well eventually."

I considered that for a moment before I shook my head, "No, I think I'll stick with something mechanical if we can get something that looks like it doesn't belong to a servitor. I can think of a lot of little useful tricks to add to an arm."

"Could be useful," he agreed, nodding, "How did the rest of the team do?"

"Everyone did exemplary," I said and sighed, "I just wish more had survived the experience."

I could still see their fates in my dreams at night. Torn apart, melting beneath green rays, chunks of men on the floor.

My hand crushing the throat of a heretic to a pulp.

I sipped my drink, "I think everybody may need some time to recover from this one. I think even Naria would appreciate that."

Aurelius nodded in agreement, "I wasn't about to send any of you out anytime soon in anycase. Once things have stabilized here, you're on medical leave until we can get you repaired a bit and everyone else does need time to recover. We're going to be stuck here for years in anycase, rooting out traitors and heretics. From your report, we may need to purge the entire nobility."

"Probably," I agreed.

 

[Hiver]

The ship we landed on wasn't the Edge of Fury. It was a significantly larger ship. The Edge of Fury was a light cruiser.

Endia von Orm didn't roll like that. A light cruiser? Apparently that was too plebeian for her.

Her headquarters was onboard the Apocalypse class battleship Emperor's Spear.

What more, it seemed to not be borrowed from the Imperial Navy. Because none of the crew I could see were Imperial Navy, all wore the color and marks of the Inquisition.

As we approached a pair of doors, the troopers outside went to attention. Both of them were carrying plasmaguns, not lasguns.

Man, the Inquisition gets all the fancy toys. Why didn't I have a plasma gun!?

They checked our credentials… and actually looked us up, not just trusted them. Even when Aurelius showed his rosette.

These guys were hardcore.

Finally they let us inside and Aurelius motioned me forward and I walked inside, the next door opening before us and a massive mountain and fur, muscles and teeth pounced towards me.

I barely had time to startle, but I raised my augmetic arm to punch the creature while I pulled my laspistol to aim.

"Easy!" A voice snapped through the air and I froze, my finger on my trigger as the massive creature skidded to a halt. It was almost as tall as I was, massive teeth the length of my fingers glinted in the lights as it turned away, prowling away from me.

I slowly holstered my laspistol again before following it inside.

Quite frankly, compared to my last six months… that thing wasn't that scary, but it had been damn lucky I didn't shoot it.

The main room was big and richly furnished, looking more like it belonged in a governor's palace, marble floors, lots of dark woods and golden details.

The large creature prowled over to lay down behind a chair, it's head in easy petting distance from it's mistress.

Endia von Orm was quite a striking woman, but she was tiny. Standing up she'd likely barely reach my chest and she was thin as well. I'd eat my shoes if she weighed more than sixty kilos, but every gram of it seemed to be muscle. It was impossible to say how old she was, her hair was white, but thick and flowing down her back, her face mostly lacking wrinkles and she had a strong jaw. She didn't look old as such, but with rejuv treatments she could have been anything from fifty to ten times that. One eye was red and gold in an obvious implant.

She was wearing a dark bodyglove with golden inlays and a thick fur cloak over her shoulders. She looked unarmed, but what could only be a power sword in its scabbard leaned against the side of her throne.

Lord-Inquisitor Orm reached out with an arm to run it through the mane of her pet as she smiled at us, "My apologies, Interrogator Tezzeret. I like seeing how some people react to my friend here."

I bowed to her, "It was lucky I didn't shoot it, Lord-Inquisitor. I wouldn't have liked to hurt your companion."

She smiled a bit wider, "Don't worry, Interrogator," she said and stroked it's mane, "Rax here isn't a normal Carnodon. He has more augmetics than the average tech-priest. Including a link to my mind impulse unit."

"Ah," I agreed, nodding and looking at the… carnodon she called it.

It looked like a mix of a tiger and a lion, turned up not to eleven, but fifteen. Now getting a good look at it, it looked to be six meters long and must have weighed a metric ton.

Out of the two of them, she was clearly the more dangerous.

"...Now getting a better look," I admitted, "I'm not sure my laspistol would have done enough in time for me not to be ripped into bits even if he had not been."

"Barring a very lucky shot, no," she agreed and stood up, "A laspistol can in theory kill an adult Carnodon with a single shot, but it is very unlikely," she said and walked over with a smile, "It's good to see you again, Aurelius."

He nodded, "You as well, Endia," he agreed with a small smile, "A bit sad it's always these kinds of situations however."

She nodded and sighed, "Hazard of the job, I'm afraid. But only one of them," she then added and looked at my right arm, "I heard you were wounded, Interrogator. How have you been recovering?"

"Slowly; it's taking some getting used to," I admitted and shifted my arm, flexing my hand, "But well enough, Lord-Inquisitor."

Lord-Inquisitor Orm nodded as Aurelius crossed over to one of the shelves and pulled a book, causing a hatch to open and reveal… a bottle of amasec. He was familiar with her quarters.

Very familiar.

Ah. I see. And they were letting me see.

"I reviewed your report," Orm said and as she looked up at me, "Would you mind me asking some questions?"

"Of course not, Lord-Inquisitor."

She smirked and then glanced at Aurelius, "Was he always this tense?"

"A bit," Aurelius said as he returned, carrying three glasses and offered two to us, "But I suspect the last six months and you almost killing him with your pet a couple of minutes ago might have something to do with it, Endia. The Emperor knows that our first exposure to The Great Enemy does a number on each of us."

She nodded with a sigh, sipping her amasec. I copied her.

"Very true," she agreed and lowered her glass before she smiled faintly and looked at me again, "Relax Interrogator before you strain something. I'm mostly curious about what happened at the end there, with the Eldar."

I frowned as much as my eyes would let me and took a deep breath, trying to relax, "I'm not sure how much more I can tell you, Lord-Inquisitor. I had lost quite a bit of blood and had more than one knock to my head… and was overdosing on stims to just stay awake and moving."

"Do you remember the witch saying anything? Any reason they were there?"

I sipped the amasec. It tastes expensive. No, make that Expensive. As in it may cost as much as a hab block for a bottle.

But then again, I'm not an expert.

"We didn't really have time to talk much," I admitted, "And it seemed to go against the grain to talk to a primitive mon'keigh in any case. But it seemed like they were there to stop whatever that machine was doing. Overlaying the system with The Warp if the eldar witch was to be believed. But… Eldar. So who knows, Lord-Inquisitor."

Aurelius nodded, "Usually you can't trust a word out of Eldars mouth," he agreed, "But the one thing you can trust them to do is to do what's best for the Eldar. Sometimes, that aligns with what's also best for the Imperium."

"Indeed," Lord-Inquisitor Orm agreed and shook her head faintly, "Anytime Eldar are involved, I just keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. It's never as easy as it seems."

The blue spirit stone hanging in it's silver necklace against my chest beneath my shirt and armor felt burning hot against my skin for a moment.

I nodded, "Likely," I agreed, "But right now there are more urgent matters, Lord-Inquisitor. Big, green, very angry matters."

That drew a wide smile from her, making her look twenty years younger for a moment, "Very true. We're going to be very busy. As part of that, I have something for you, Interrogator."

"Lord-Inquisitor?" I asked.

Her massive pet stood up and took the power-sword in its jaws, padding over to letting her take it before she turned back to me, holding it across the flats of her palms, "I once served with a member of the adeptus astartes," she said quietly, "A member of the Deathwatch. Originally from the Spacewolves chapter. His name was Freyyk Fyrhelm. When I was an Interrogator, he was badly injured saving my life. He was entombed in a dreadnought and returned to serve with my master as part of his deathwatch detachment. Armed with great wolf claws. He served my master and then me for another two hundred and fourteen years."

"What happened?"

Orm smiled faintly as she looked at the sheathed weapon, "He died. He died holding the line against Orks, he was completely destroyed. He saved me and my entire detachment along with a dozen other deathwatch marines. Saved a world. The only thing that could be recovered was his weapons. This blade along with seven others were forged from his claws by his old chapter for me. This is Permafrost. I have been gifting them to Inquisitors that have accomplished magnificent services for the Imperium. Never before has one gone to an Interrogator. But now I'm gifting her to you, Interrogator Tezzert. For your actions here on this world."

What the hell do you even say about something like that.

"I'm honored," I said quietly as I reached to pick the weapon up, feeling it in my hands. Somehow it… it's strange. It was lighter than it looked. The mastercrafted power sword somehow… it felt more real than reality. The handle was ornamental, the pommel that of a snarling wolf's head, the guard shaped like a pair of claws.

Gripping the handle in my augmetic hand, I slowly drew the weapon, the silvery blade sliding out of its scabbard without a sound before I pressed the activation rune in the handle.

I had seen power blades before.

Or at least I thought I had.

This was… something on a completely different level. Power swords glowed with the field around them, they hummed.

This… this one didn't. Permafrost was quiet. The effects around her were a lot more subtle than any other I had ever seen. The silvery shine of her blade turned whitish blue when activated, the aura around it an even paler blue, barely visible. Shimmering softly more than glowing.

It was amazing. Mastercrafted indeed.

"I…" I started to say, looking along the blade before I deactivated it and slipped it back into its scabbard, "I should likely learn how to use a power sword."

Lord-Inquisitor Orm grinned, "I would say that is probably a wise place to start, Interrogator," she agreed.

The soul gem in my necklace heated against my chest.



AN// And I think we'll leave Tezzeret there for now. Another big thanks to Arratra for betaing this section and all of you for reading! Next time we will be continuing with the story of Links In The Chain (SW)

 

[Hiver]

New story up!: Inquisitor (40k)