Tisaku
Head Chief Thinkomancer
danger
Interrogator (40k)
- Thread starter Hiver
- Start date
Winged One
Not the Simurgh
- Location
- definitely the ground
- Pronouns
- They/Them/It
No, the galaxy's definitely fucked with them too.
It's a rare Exterminatus case that can wait for evacuation, and rarer still is the Inquisitor willing to warn xenos to gtfo. It's not impossible that at the end of this, the protagonist will have both the Ordo Exterminatus and the Ordo Xenos on his ass about such an irregularity.
- Location
- Washington State
This is starting to feel like a kobayashi maru, are we sure this is real? haha
The first part isn't as hard as it might be since he has the Kroot as a witness. So at least they'll likely believe him something dangerous is going on; the hard part will be convincing them just how dangerous Necrons are. His position in the Inquisition will likely make that both easier and harder, since the fact that he's willing to talk to them at all will have added weight, but increases the chance that they'll (with significant justification) consider it a trap.
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Kroot are about as respected by the tau as an imperial hive scum conscript is. That is, not at all. They are generally looked down upon by the Tau and generally used as expendable forces in warfare. Not the least which due to their habit of losing all discipline post-battle as they eat all the dead on the field.
The Tau will sooner believe an Imperial spy/inquisitor convinced one some servitors were an alien army than believe a Kroot telling them that their screwed and their ambitions are for nought.
30
I woke up as the transport jerked beneath me and before I even registered I was awake, I had my laspistol drawn as I looked around, "What's that!?"
"We entered the enclave," Gahak said and moved out of the pilot's seat, "We will be stopping very soon."
I nodded and holstered my laspistol, "You best go first and explain why I'm here or somebody might shoot me on reflex."
The Kroot made a clicking sound. It took me a second to realize it was laughing.
The transport settled down and he headed towards the ramp, hitting a button and it started to lower, allowing him to exit.
Taking a deep breath, I stood up and headed for the cockpit, scanning everything with my augmented eyes, recording everything before I slowly turned around the crew compartment. Returning to the 'cargo area', I did the same, looking over the weapons lockers, inside of the hatches and across any displays.
A lot of which didn't tell me a lot, but I knew some Tech-Priests that would be very happy about this view of an undamaged Devilfish.
There was a call from outside which I could only assume was a 'get out here' signal, so I headed towards the ramp, keeping my hands away from my laspistol.
When I did, I found myself facing a full dozen Firewarrior, each holding one of those advanced plasmaguns of theirs. Pulse rifles.
They were all looking towards me, weapons not quite raised in my direction but still aimed at the ground, but they could aim and fire in a split second if I made the wrong move.
I kept my hands where they could see them as I looked over towards where the Kroot were clicking away in T'au too quickly for me to follow to the Shas'UI of the group, "We good here, Gahak?" I asked him loudly.
The Kroot and the T'au looked over towards me. The Kroot raised one hand and motioned for me to come closer.
I walked down the ramp to them before giving the T'au a nod, "I am Tezzeret, Shas'Ui. I need to talk to whomever leads this enclave and I require fast transport back to the Requel enclave."
He stared at me through his helmet optics for a long moment. I looked at him for a long moment in turn before I repeated my request in my best T'au instead. Maybe he didn't speak gothic.
He reached up and took his helmet off, giving me my first face to face encounter with a T'au. Blue skin, deep set eyes, bald head. No nose, instead a slit into his head took its place. Thin, almost non-existent lips. It's eyes were dark, almost black.
Like usual when encountering an alien, what really struck you more than the visual was the scent. Tau smelled… dry. Almost like dried seaweed.
"I am Shas'Ui T'olku Shase'kran," he answered in T'au, "I have instructions to take you to Por'El Bork'an Grasor. Remove your weapon."
I looked at him for a long moment before I pulled my laspistol, removed the powercell and handed both to the Kroot.
"Lead the way," I answered him, keeping to T'au as he clearly didn't know Gothic… or didn't give me the satisfaction of letting me know he did.
Well, if he rather have me butcher his language, that's on him.
He motioned for me to follow and I did so, a trio of the firewarriors followed behind me in turn as he lead the way out the hangar, giving me the first real look at the tau enclave.
And it was alien. All curves and brown surfaces. Very clean too, none of the usual graffiti and thrown away food wrappers.
That was almost as alien as the construction itself.
We didn't need to go far, it was maybe a five minute walk before we approached a large building. A part of large battlesuits flanking the paths. I watched them as we walked past. Their movements were smooth and silent, no clicking of gears and whining of servos. No hissing of hydraulics.
Their heads moved silently, tracking me as we walked past them.
As I followed the Kroot and the T'au towards the doors in between the two battlesuits, I reached up and removed my helmet running my hand through my hair before strapping my helmet to my carrying harness.
Fuck, I need a shower.
And some more sleep. Hot food. I'd kill for some hot food.
The path wasn't very long, but I looked around carefully, recording everything. That's one thing, sure T'au bases was one of the xenos ones we had the most undamaged data on as they tended to do their invasions in this way if at all possible and corrupt the local nobles to get invited in to take over in a couple of hundred years, worming their way into the minds of the population.
If it wasn't for the way the heretics were acting, I would have suspected the T'au actually. But it wasn't their way… and they didn't have any way to affect the warp anyway.
We walked into a chamber where we were met by a trio of T'au, the leader wearing a simple white robe, her hair long and in a single braid almost to her waist, hanging down over one shoulder. White and coming from one spot on her otherwise bald head.
She smiled and bowed, "Interrogator Tezzeret, my name is Por'El Bork'an Grasor," she said in unaccented gothic, "Welcome to our trade station."
"Thank you, Por'El," I greeted her in turn, "I wish it was during more pleasant times. I need a vox channel to the PDF headquarters as soon as possible."
She shook her head, "Usually we would be more than happy to assist our Imperial friends, but there appears to be heavy interference and don't seem to be able to reach more than a few kilometers even with our strongest transmitters. Our engineers suspect that it's caused by your rebel forces."
"If it only was," I grumbled and shook my head, "No, there is another party. Ancient automatons have been unearthed at one of the mines. They are hostile to all life and if not stopped, will kill everything on this world. I need to report this to HQ as soon as possible so we can stop it."
"Is there anything we can do?" Por'El Bork'an Grasor asked with a frown, "We have some forces stationed here for our protection, perhaps they can be useful."
I shook my head, "Not directly, we have enough space assets so we should be able to take the entire site out from orbit. You should keep your forces close for your protection. But I and the Imperium would greatly appreciate if you could provide transport back to our forces, perhaps an aircar or similar."
"I am sure we will be able to arrange as much," She agreed before she smiled, "It will take a few hours to arrange, could we perhaps offer you something to eat while we wait? Maybe some place to clean up?"
"That would be most appreciated, yes, but I'm not sure how much time we have. Sooner would be better."
"Of course."
"We entered the enclave," Gahak said and moved out of the pilot's seat, "We will be stopping very soon."
I nodded and holstered my laspistol, "You best go first and explain why I'm here or somebody might shoot me on reflex."
The Kroot made a clicking sound. It took me a second to realize it was laughing.
The transport settled down and he headed towards the ramp, hitting a button and it started to lower, allowing him to exit.
Taking a deep breath, I stood up and headed for the cockpit, scanning everything with my augmented eyes, recording everything before I slowly turned around the crew compartment. Returning to the 'cargo area', I did the same, looking over the weapons lockers, inside of the hatches and across any displays.
A lot of which didn't tell me a lot, but I knew some Tech-Priests that would be very happy about this view of an undamaged Devilfish.
There was a call from outside which I could only assume was a 'get out here' signal, so I headed towards the ramp, keeping my hands away from my laspistol.
When I did, I found myself facing a full dozen Firewarrior, each holding one of those advanced plasmaguns of theirs. Pulse rifles.
They were all looking towards me, weapons not quite raised in my direction but still aimed at the ground, but they could aim and fire in a split second if I made the wrong move.
I kept my hands where they could see them as I looked over towards where the Kroot were clicking away in T'au too quickly for me to follow to the Shas'UI of the group, "We good here, Gahak?" I asked him loudly.
The Kroot and the T'au looked over towards me. The Kroot raised one hand and motioned for me to come closer.
I walked down the ramp to them before giving the T'au a nod, "I am Tezzeret, Shas'Ui. I need to talk to whomever leads this enclave and I require fast transport back to the Requel enclave."
He stared at me through his helmet optics for a long moment. I looked at him for a long moment in turn before I repeated my request in my best T'au instead. Maybe he didn't speak gothic.
He reached up and took his helmet off, giving me my first face to face encounter with a T'au. Blue skin, deep set eyes, bald head. No nose, instead a slit into his head took its place. Thin, almost non-existent lips. It's eyes were dark, almost black.
Like usual when encountering an alien, what really struck you more than the visual was the scent. Tau smelled… dry. Almost like dried seaweed.
"I am Shas'Ui T'olku Shase'kran," he answered in T'au, "I have instructions to take you to Por'El Bork'an Grasor. Remove your weapon."
I looked at him for a long moment before I pulled my laspistol, removed the powercell and handed both to the Kroot.
"Lead the way," I answered him, keeping to T'au as he clearly didn't know Gothic… or didn't give me the satisfaction of letting me know he did.
Well, if he rather have me butcher his language, that's on him.
He motioned for me to follow and I did so, a trio of the firewarriors followed behind me in turn as he lead the way out the hangar, giving me the first real look at the tau enclave.
And it was alien. All curves and brown surfaces. Very clean too, none of the usual graffiti and thrown away food wrappers.
That was almost as alien as the construction itself.
We didn't need to go far, it was maybe a five minute walk before we approached a large building. A part of large battlesuits flanking the paths. I watched them as we walked past. Their movements were smooth and silent, no clicking of gears and whining of servos. No hissing of hydraulics.
Their heads moved silently, tracking me as we walked past them.
As I followed the Kroot and the T'au towards the doors in between the two battlesuits, I reached up and removed my helmet running my hand through my hair before strapping my helmet to my carrying harness.
Fuck, I need a shower.
And some more sleep. Hot food. I'd kill for some hot food.
The path wasn't very long, but I looked around carefully, recording everything. That's one thing, sure T'au bases was one of the xenos ones we had the most undamaged data on as they tended to do their invasions in this way if at all possible and corrupt the local nobles to get invited in to take over in a couple of hundred years, worming their way into the minds of the population.
If it wasn't for the way the heretics were acting, I would have suspected the T'au actually. But it wasn't their way… and they didn't have any way to affect the warp anyway.
We walked into a chamber where we were met by a trio of T'au, the leader wearing a simple white robe, her hair long and in a single braid almost to her waist, hanging down over one shoulder. White and coming from one spot on her otherwise bald head.
She smiled and bowed, "Interrogator Tezzeret, my name is Por'El Bork'an Grasor," she said in unaccented gothic, "Welcome to our trade station."
"Thank you, Por'El," I greeted her in turn, "I wish it was during more pleasant times. I need a vox channel to the PDF headquarters as soon as possible."
She shook her head, "Usually we would be more than happy to assist our Imperial friends, but there appears to be heavy interference and don't seem to be able to reach more than a few kilometers even with our strongest transmitters. Our engineers suspect that it's caused by your rebel forces."
"If it only was," I grumbled and shook my head, "No, there is another party. Ancient automatons have been unearthed at one of the mines. They are hostile to all life and if not stopped, will kill everything on this world. I need to report this to HQ as soon as possible so we can stop it."
"Is there anything we can do?" Por'El Bork'an Grasor asked with a frown, "We have some forces stationed here for our protection, perhaps they can be useful."
I shook my head, "Not directly, we have enough space assets so we should be able to take the entire site out from orbit. You should keep your forces close for your protection. But I and the Imperium would greatly appreciate if you could provide transport back to our forces, perhaps an aircar or similar."
"I am sure we will be able to arrange as much," She agreed before she smiled, "It will take a few hours to arrange, could we perhaps offer you something to eat while we wait? Maybe some place to clean up?"
"That would be most appreciated, yes, but I'm not sure how much time we have. Sooner would be better."
"Of course."
Winged One
Not the Simurgh
- Location
- definitely the ground
- Pronouns
- They/Them/It
...this seems too reasonable, even for Tau.
Yeah, there's a subtle feel that they are stringing him along for some reason; they're much too agreeable towards a member of the Inquisition who just got dropped in their laps like that with no warning. My guess would be that they don't really believe him and are either planning to somehow take advantage of the situation, or are going to try to check out what is "really" happening at that mine and poke the Necrons with a stick in the process.
Poking Necrons with sticks is a Bad Idea.
- Location
- Queensland, Australia
I mean, they said it would be a few hours. String him on a bit longer than that, and you easily get the four and a half hours it took for them to get to the Enclave from the mine site. Hell, you might not even need that long if you're using an actual skilled driver rather than the basic autopilot function for the hover vehicle. Which means right around the time delay him further becomes blatantly obvious and thus problematic, you've probably got an exploration team that's got the comms gear to punch a report back through the interference reporting in about what's really down there.
Of course, what they aren't expecting is for the report to basically be "By the Greater Good, the robots are killing us all, they're killing us afshzzzzzz***!!!!!". Once that comes in, they'll probably be a lot happier to help him along.
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Yeah, one thing that's stuck in my head after reading some of the Black Library stuff, is that that T'au basically think of the Imperium as a bunch of superstitious, backwards, savages; that clawed their way to (near) the top of the heap with violence, surprise, and surprising amounts of violence. Part of this is because the T'au don't have much of a soul, so don't cause much in the way of damage to the Warp, so haven't had to deal with many daemons. They've also been cut off from the galaxy at large (IIRC), so they're this fresh-faced new kid on the block, used to be being a local powerhouse.
They are the HFY-equivalent of a shonen anime.
Except we're actually in eldritch-horror.
So when Tezzeret says "There's spooky murder machines underground that are going to kill everyone", this is interpreted much like a child telling you there's a monster in the closet that's going to eat them. They think "Ah, we can rock up with our plasma rifles, shoot the malfunctioning toaster a few times, and claim the planet easily!", and then they get flensed.
They are the HFY-equivalent of a shonen anime.
Except we're actually in eldritch-horror.
So when Tezzeret says "There's spooky murder machines underground that are going to kill everyone", this is interpreted much like a child telling you there's a monster in the closet that's going to eat them. They think "Ah, we can rock up with our plasma rifles, shoot the malfunctioning toaster a few times, and claim the planet easily!", and then they get flensed.
Tezzeret: "...You do know we actually have those, right?"
Winged One
Not the Simurgh
- Location
- definitely the ground
- Pronouns
- They/Them/It
Well, they mostly are. What else would you call the Great Crusade?
But yes, just because the Imperium are crazy assholes doesn't mean daemons and magic aren't real.
Yeah. The Imperium in general just oozes "unreliable source" between its hostility and blatant irrationality. So of course very few "xenos" are going to believe the Imperium's claims about most anything, even when the Imperials are telling them the genuine truth.
An issue that likely isn't helping Tezzeret out at all here.
- Location
- Germany
- Pronouns
- It/Them
"Human propaganda to Hype themself up. Why would you even waste resources on something so military stupid?"
At least that's the (fanon?) Reasoning I remember, including the heart attack once a Tau problem got big enough to warrant a Titan showing up
Still foundry remember the Tau characterisation in the Men of Iron fanfic, so very human
Tezzeret: "We're the Imperium! We're all about wasting resources on impressive yet stupid things!"
Tau: "...That argument makes far more sense than it really should."
My bet? They don't need a few hours, thats an arbitrary time to make a decision. This Tau trade post is step 1 of many to subverting a world, theyre probably terrified of the fact a member of Ordos Xenos is *HAPPY* to be talking to the Tau and are currently in a state of either figuring out what his game is or panicking over an interrogator being alone and claiming the planets got an Inquisition worthy problem that isn't the Tau or rebels.
Come to think of it, where is the connection here? Theres definitely some common reason why crazed cultists, orks, and Tau are on the same world, hell I wouldnt put it past the Tau to facilitate a minor insurrection or ork attack to convince the Planet the Tau are their only hope, but both is a bit too weird and the necron presence adds more weirdness.
The Tau gotta play this game of only making things hot enough for them to step in while not hot enough that the Imperium elects to destroy the Tau.
Come to think of it, where is the connection here? Theres definitely some common reason why crazed cultists, orks, and Tau are on the same world, hell I wouldnt put it past the Tau to facilitate a minor insurrection or ork attack to convince the Planet the Tau are their only hope, but both is a bit too weird and the necron presence adds more weirdness.
The Tau gotta play this game of only making things hot enough for them to step in while not hot enough that the Imperium elects to destroy the Tau.
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The Tau were here to start a slow takeover. Chaos was also spreading their influence to take over (and they'd been there much longer than the Tau. The Necrons were hibernating. The the Orks showed up and landed a big force. Chaos decided If anyone's gonna conqure this world it's gonna be US!' and rose up, fighting both the orkand the Imperials, and triggering the warpstorms to keep the government from calling in Imperial Reinforcements (Imp Guard, Astartes, SoB, or whatever)
The Necrons are starting to awaken and go full GET OFF MY LAWN! mode. Unfortunately, they conside the whole planet (possibly the sector) to be their lawn.
The Necrons are starting to awaken and go full GET OFF MY LAWN! mode. Unfortunately, they conside the whole planet (possibly the sector) to be their lawn.
Tezz is finally about to eat some real food in this whole debacle.
Cue Explosion and "They're coming out of the fucking ground!"
Tezz: "Join the Inquisition they said, it'll be fun they said."
- Location
- Somewhere North of south
I mean the craftworlders would probably shit bricks if an imperial came up shouting about metal men firing green lazers, but that's about it.
- Location
- United States
As I said before... Just as Tzeetch planned! 👾
- Location
- Oblivion
The Ork's were arranged to be there to slow the digging so the Tomb Breakthrough occurred at a specific time, the Crazed Cultists were arranged to be there so the Imperium would send an Inquisition Team who could call in an Exterminatus on the planet, and the Tau were arranged to be there so a member of the Inquisition Team would be able to escape after discovering the Necrons and inform the rest of the Imperium to call in ships to perform said Exterminatus.
Really... It's a pretty obvious if basic Eldar plot all things considered...
Winged One
Not the Simurgh
- Location
- definitely the ground
- Pronouns
- They/Them/It
That's certainly the sort of thing the Craftworlders do, but there's too much unknown to be nearly that certain.
31
I raised the blue orange sized blueberry between my fingers and looked at it. The shower had been nice, but we needed to move, damn it. What's the holdup?!
Putting the alien fruit down, I headed for the door only for it to open before I could reach it to reveal the T'au diplomat, "Interrogator Tezzeret," she said, "We have a transport ready to convey you back to your people."
"Thank you, Ambassador," I told her, "Sooner is better. Have you got any word at all? Anything on the Vox?"
She shook her head, "No, sadly not. We have taken your advice and stepped up patrols around our enclave."
I nodded, "Lead the way, ambassador," I told her.
She smiled and motioned for me before leading through the compound, a quad of Firewarriors joining us.
"We…" she said slightly hesitantly, "...sent a drone to the mine to verify your story," she admitted.
"And?"
"It didn't return."
"Hmm."
Outside we walked to a landing pad where there was some sort of alien aircar. The T'au liked their brown and curved surfaces, that's for sure. The aircar looked more like a fish than anything else, all smooth aerodynamic lines and thrusters.
Gahak was waiting by the aircar, holding my laspistol and powercell.
"The pilot is instructed to take you a couple of kilometers from the closest human base," Por'El Bork'an Grasor told me, "During the circumstances with malfunctioning communicators, flying across your troops unannounced seems like a ill advised idea."
I nodded in agreement, "We should also give the area of the mine a wide berth. It's between us and the closest base."
"Of course, he has instructions to swing around to the west."
West. That'd put us over rebel territory for a bit. Fuck it, it's better than getting close to the Necron tomb and the east path would more than double flighttime.
Time we didn't have to waste.
"Thank you for your assistance, ambassador," I said, giving her a small bow.
She returned it, "We're always happy to assist our Imperial friends whenever we can."
The Kroot stepped up and offered my laspistol and powercell back. I took them and nodded to him as well, "Thank you," I said and pocketed the powercell for now, slipping my laspistol into its holster. Best not load my weapon just in front of their ambassador, seems like that would make her guards nervous. Best wait until in the flier.
Giving them a final small bow, I climbed into the aircar and took my seat. The insides were luxurious but simple. The seat soft and shifted beneath me to become more formfitting.
The door closed and the aircar started to move.
Taking a deep breath, I slipped my powercell into my laspistol, checking the charge. Fully charged, Six shots.
Well, that should be enough. If I had to use it at all, something would have gone horribly wrong. Slipping it into the holster, I leaned back against the seat and took a deep breath.
Trying not to think about everybody that got killed getting me to this point. I had just started to get to know everybody in my team.
Now they were all dead. All veterans, having survived horrible things to even get recruited in the Inquisition... Only to die horribly at some no-name world to a threat millions of years developing.
Necrons.
The Necrons were coming. Even if we stopped them here, even if they decided the threat was over and they could go back to sleep… sooner or later they would wake up and we would face a threat bigger than anything we have seen so far.
With some luck, I'll be long dead from old age at that time though. They have slept for millions of years, they can hit snooze for another couple of millenia.
"Pilot?" I asked, unsure if the pilot in his separate compartment could hear me, "How long will the flight take?"
"We will arrive in just over one Dec, Interrogator Tezzeret," a voice answered in clear gothic, "But I am not a pilot, I am a drone."
I was alone in an aircar, traveling who knew how fast above hostile lands, piloted by an AI.
Spotting a bottle of crystal filled with an amber liquid, I poured myself a big glas.
"Thank you," I told the AI and then took a big, long drink while doing the motion of the cog. I may have listened a bit too much to the Tech-Prests, but AI made me nervous. Alien AI even more so. Best be polite.
Two glasses in, I found myself able to relax slightly against the soft and comfortable seat, my eyes drifting closed.
Call in the System Defense Force. Nuke the site from orbit until it glowed. Figure out what the heretics was up to that caused the warp storm. Stop them.
Call in the Imperial Guard, the Inquisition and the fucking Space Marines and let somebody a lot more qualified than me purge this world while I take a long vacation on some paradise world somewhere with blue skies, nice wildlife and pretty girls.
I couldn't help but smile wryly as I took another sip. Why did the vacation part of the plan sound a lot less realistic than anything else on it?
Closest I gotten in six years was that month of Loremunda where we stopped for one of Aurelius' contacts to meet us and then ended up being a month late. With nothing to do, we basically had the time off with just some practice and training to do.
It had been a hellish hiveworld, but the upper sections of the spire had been nice, well above the clouds of smog hiding the rest of the world from view. I had enjoyed the alien zoo they ha-
Strapps slammed down across me, pulling me back against the seat as the cushions went rigid, forming themselves against my body as the drone piloting the thing started to talk in T'au as the flier jerked around in a hard maneuver.
"Alert, incoming weapons fire. Aler-"
There was an explosion, a large hole ripped through the side of the aircar and everything went spinning before going black.
Putting the alien fruit down, I headed for the door only for it to open before I could reach it to reveal the T'au diplomat, "Interrogator Tezzeret," she said, "We have a transport ready to convey you back to your people."
"Thank you, Ambassador," I told her, "Sooner is better. Have you got any word at all? Anything on the Vox?"
She shook her head, "No, sadly not. We have taken your advice and stepped up patrols around our enclave."
I nodded, "Lead the way, ambassador," I told her.
She smiled and motioned for me before leading through the compound, a quad of Firewarriors joining us.
"We…" she said slightly hesitantly, "...sent a drone to the mine to verify your story," she admitted.
"And?"
"It didn't return."
"Hmm."
Outside we walked to a landing pad where there was some sort of alien aircar. The T'au liked their brown and curved surfaces, that's for sure. The aircar looked more like a fish than anything else, all smooth aerodynamic lines and thrusters.
Gahak was waiting by the aircar, holding my laspistol and powercell.
"The pilot is instructed to take you a couple of kilometers from the closest human base," Por'El Bork'an Grasor told me, "During the circumstances with malfunctioning communicators, flying across your troops unannounced seems like a ill advised idea."
I nodded in agreement, "We should also give the area of the mine a wide berth. It's between us and the closest base."
"Of course, he has instructions to swing around to the west."
West. That'd put us over rebel territory for a bit. Fuck it, it's better than getting close to the Necron tomb and the east path would more than double flighttime.
Time we didn't have to waste.
"Thank you for your assistance, ambassador," I said, giving her a small bow.
She returned it, "We're always happy to assist our Imperial friends whenever we can."
The Kroot stepped up and offered my laspistol and powercell back. I took them and nodded to him as well, "Thank you," I said and pocketed the powercell for now, slipping my laspistol into its holster. Best not load my weapon just in front of their ambassador, seems like that would make her guards nervous. Best wait until in the flier.
Giving them a final small bow, I climbed into the aircar and took my seat. The insides were luxurious but simple. The seat soft and shifted beneath me to become more formfitting.
The door closed and the aircar started to move.
Taking a deep breath, I slipped my powercell into my laspistol, checking the charge. Fully charged, Six shots.
Well, that should be enough. If I had to use it at all, something would have gone horribly wrong. Slipping it into the holster, I leaned back against the seat and took a deep breath.
Trying not to think about everybody that got killed getting me to this point. I had just started to get to know everybody in my team.
Now they were all dead. All veterans, having survived horrible things to even get recruited in the Inquisition... Only to die horribly at some no-name world to a threat millions of years developing.
Necrons.
The Necrons were coming. Even if we stopped them here, even if they decided the threat was over and they could go back to sleep… sooner or later they would wake up and we would face a threat bigger than anything we have seen so far.
With some luck, I'll be long dead from old age at that time though. They have slept for millions of years, they can hit snooze for another couple of millenia.
"Pilot?" I asked, unsure if the pilot in his separate compartment could hear me, "How long will the flight take?"
"We will arrive in just over one Dec, Interrogator Tezzeret," a voice answered in clear gothic, "But I am not a pilot, I am a drone."
I was alone in an aircar, traveling who knew how fast above hostile lands, piloted by an AI.
Spotting a bottle of crystal filled with an amber liquid, I poured myself a big glas.
"Thank you," I told the AI and then took a big, long drink while doing the motion of the cog. I may have listened a bit too much to the Tech-Prests, but AI made me nervous. Alien AI even more so. Best be polite.
Two glasses in, I found myself able to relax slightly against the soft and comfortable seat, my eyes drifting closed.
Call in the System Defense Force. Nuke the site from orbit until it glowed. Figure out what the heretics was up to that caused the warp storm. Stop them.
Call in the Imperial Guard, the Inquisition and the fucking Space Marines and let somebody a lot more qualified than me purge this world while I take a long vacation on some paradise world somewhere with blue skies, nice wildlife and pretty girls.
I couldn't help but smile wryly as I took another sip. Why did the vacation part of the plan sound a lot less realistic than anything else on it?
Closest I gotten in six years was that month of Loremunda where we stopped for one of Aurelius' contacts to meet us and then ended up being a month late. With nothing to do, we basically had the time off with just some practice and training to do.
It had been a hellish hiveworld, but the upper sections of the spire had been nice, well above the clouds of smog hiding the rest of the world from view. I had enjoyed the alien zoo they ha-
Strapps slammed down across me, pulling me back against the seat as the cushions went rigid, forming themselves against my body as the drone piloting the thing started to talk in T'au as the flier jerked around in a hard maneuver.
"Alert, incoming weapons fire. Aler-"
There was an explosion, a large hole ripped through the side of the aircar and everything went spinning before going black.