Chapter 10 Part 1

Chapter 10: Tonight, we dine in hell

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Part 1

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Victory Bay

Kronus

I stared at Karom with empty eyes, my mind struggling with what he just told me. I've been expertly mind-fucked. In fact, I now had a reason to suspect everything I knew from before boarding the ship that brought me here. Was Delkatar Veil even my name? I shook my head. I didn't have time for an existential crisis. I had to get myself in hand and deal with the brand new disaster that just found its way to fuck my life.

"Magos, we're about to enter combat with Arch-Traitors to the Imperium, casualties are going to be extreme. Your experience will save some of our people who otherwise will die. That is the only reason Commissar Weber isn't arranging a firing squad as we speak."

"I am not?" Charles sounded particularly disappointed and I couldn't blame him under these circumstances. "I mean, as you command, My Lord!"

"You aren't. However, if the Magos fucks up again, I'm going to give him to our Ogryn friends and see how long it will take them to pull him apart."

"I like how you're thinking, Lord Inquisitor!"

"That's not fair! I was only trying to help!" Karom whined making me wonder how the hell he managed to get to his current rank without someone killing him.

"Do the words 'need to know' mean anything to you Magos?" I glared at the cyborg. "Get out of my sight." I dismissed him and turned my ire on the other Tech-cultists. "Now, you bunch. Anyone volunteering as firing squad target?"

Volunteer Number One, who had no less than two dozen weapons aimed at him, an achievement in itself in the small hospital room, let out a string of Binary at me, which prompted a few of his or her friends to begin cursing us as well.

"That's uncalled for!" The reasonable Cogboy, Scipio-Ro-11 I think, snapped at his buddies.

"Magos, I have the sneaking suspicion that if you translate what they're chanting, I'll have them summarily shot without a second thought, am I right?"

"While it's your right, Inquisitor, we do need every Tech-priest we have!" Scipio-Ro implored.

"I'm aware of that, Magos. What I'm not convinced of is the utility of this bunch. Can we trust them not to sabotage the war effort or try to engineer a confrontation with our allies? Distasteful or not, our alliance with the Necrons is likely going to be the one thing that keeps Kronus from falling to actual heretics and traitors." Even as I spoke, I wondered at how oddly calm I felt. After I just found out that I was mind-fucked, I knew I should be having all kinds of logical and expected reactions, like freaking out of my mind for example. The training I could remember would have helped mitigate it somewhat, however not to this extent. Was this an artifact left from the memories that someone took from me, or a consequence of the procedure that did it?

Well, obviously I wasn't all right, despite the odd cold calmness gripping me right now. Scipio-Ro-11 was speaking, yet my mind failed to register his first words.

"...supervision. I'll personally make sure that they will act exemplary as Members of the Cult Mechanics always must!"

I focused my attention on the Cogboy while trying my best to keep my mind on point.

"I'll hold you up to this promise, Magos. See to it and get them out of my sight as well." I sent my best glare at the Martians who were still busy cursing me in Binary.

Scipio-Ro bowed to me, muttering his gratitude, and turned to face his rogue minions before he blasted in deafening Binary at them. I didn't bother paying attention to the exchange but instead looked at Charles.

"Commissar, I want people watching our Mechanicus contingent just in case."

"I'll see to it, My Lord."

"Good. In that case, let's go see the Ogryns before they decide to bring down the building on our heads." I slowly stood up, finding that my feet weren't particularly steady. What a joy. While Scipio was still busy berating his minions I checked if all my appendages still worked as advertised – slowly and carefully so I wouldn't make a complete fool of me if they didn't. With everything being mostly in order, I looked around for my equipment, which I found put in a corner of the room, almost completely hidden by Anteas' bulk.

The good news was that the Cogboys decided not to commit an expensive suicide right now, but instead continue to be a pain in my ass in the future and piled out of the room, while still cursing in Binary.

"They're going to be trouble," I muttered to myself.

"Then why did you let them live, Inquisitor?" Anteas asked.

"Politics and the fact that we do indeed need every one of the toaster-fucking bastards for the time being," I grumbled in response and squeezed past the Librarian to get my gear.

"What's a toaster?" Someone asked.

I paused at that. I wish I knew the answer. Nevertheless, I turned my head in the general direction of the voice and spoke in a deadpan tone. "Something the Cogboys gleefully fuck that is most certainly not meant for fucking."

"That actually makes a twisted kind of sense." Anteas wisely nodded. "Are you really all-right, Inquisitor?"

"I'm as well as I can be given the circumstances," I admitted after putting my sword on my belt. I attached my pistol's holster on the other side, grabbed the various odds and ends Karom had removed for the examination, and pocketed them.

"That's not particularly reassuring." Anteas pressed on.

"I'm well aware of that." I nodded in agreement. "Work first, an existential crisis later, preferably when we have the time to safely drain a few bottles of amasec."

"I can get behind that plan." Weber pipped up.

"Excellent, then you're buying the first round during the victory celebrations." I declared with false cheer and ponderously headed for the door.

My Stormtrooper bodyguards fanned moved in front of me, scanning for threats. As soon as the Cogboys' beeping faded out, I could hear the angry grumbling of Ogryns coming from outside. I hastened my steps as much as I dared and soon reached the entrance, where Corporal Santos and his troopers fanned out, forming a thin barrier between me and what appeared to be a huge crowd. This was indeed what looked suspiciously like a mechanized battalion surrounding the hospital, though there was a large free space in front where the Ogryns were gathered, all of them armed and armored to the teeth. I could also see a lot of curious locals staring at us from the windows of nearby buildings, though the streets were clear of civilians.

This was a proper circus, only the Necrons were missing, though I was pretty sure they had a handful of cloaked machines watching the show.

"As you can see, I am very much alive and in my right mind." I declared aloud, happy that my voice didn't crack. "And I'm very fucking disappointed," I added, though my words got swallowed by the deafening cheers of the Ogryns, who happily waved their guns around. At least they managed not to shoot someone by accident.

As soon as I had that thought, one of the Ogryns got a bit too excited and discharged his assault shotgun. He failed to take out someone's head. Instead, by pure luck or the Emperor's design succeeded in nailing a familiar-looking scarab-like machine, which fell to the ground covered by green lighting.

Predictably, at that point, everyone got their weapons at the ready and either aimed at the Ogryns or at anything that might be a cloaked Necron machine. The celebrating Ogryns naturally returned the favor, producing an armed stand-off. My bodyguards were not outdone and formed a live shield in front of me, while Anteas towered behind us and I could sense him drawing on Warp energies.

Fuck my life, what in the Emperor's name did I do to deserve this?