Chapter 13 Part 2
Chapter 13: Revelations
=ATBS=
Part 2
=ATBS=
Bridge
Rogue Trader Vessel Lucre Foedis
The Warp en route to Kronus
News from Kronus arrived slowly due to light-speed lag. The faster options were out of the question. The locals lacked the necessary equipment, and the less said about the state of the Astropathic Choir, the better. Until very recently, the local Warp had been chock full of so many Daemons that anyone listening would risk their sanity and soul for no good reason.
Now? The Warp apparently echoed with the dying screams of countless Daemons, which might have been music for the souls of those who could hear it. It was also a danger to the sanity of those Psykers, but of no use as far as receiving timely information went. Nevertheless, what the happy Astropath reported lined up with the claims of every other Psyker on the ship.
Amberley Vail was a particular chipper and upbeat woman, for an Inquisitor. She was an optimist, a rare thing indeed, especially among those in her line of work. Her first reaction upon hearing the reports was logical – Chaos sorcery and deception. Probably caused by Slaneeshi Daemons. If the source was servants of the other three entities, their effect upon the Psykers would have been different. It would have been much bloodier too.
Time passed. No one suddenly mutated and tried to kill them all. Or seduce and copulate with everything in sight. There was no mysterious sickness reported by the crew, no mutations. While people did die when something shook the Warp, the cause was very obvious and blunt. That didn't stop Amberley from investigating and keeping her trusted people at critical locations, just in case.
Yet, whatever treachery might be at work failed to manifest a result. They did arrive intact, and as far as anyone on board could determine, the Psykers haven't been tainted despite the very obvious injuries some of them suffered.
"We all are going to be in for a Malleus or Hereticus investigation on general principle." The Inquisitor whispered quietly enough that only the Captain could hear her.
Orelius was back on his command throne, so he could properly link up with the ships' systems and hear her Machine Spirit. He gave her a tiny nod.
"No anomalies. The transition to real space was the smoothest we have on record."
"Then we owe your Navigators a case of their favorite drinks." If they don't end up shot just in case, Amberly didn't add.
"We're receiving data bursts from ships in orbit around Kronus. IFF matches known Blood Raven units and Navy elements presumed to have reached the system before the Warp disturbances began." Orelius spoke mechanically, while his eyes moved, seeing what the ship showed him.
"Update threat status. A Tau battle group is present in the system. Local forces believe several Eldar vessels are hiding in the outer system. Biel-Tan affiliation, threat rating extreme." The Captain's face tightened. He turned his head sharply and looked at Amberley. "Necron forces confirmed on the ground. Necron ground to orbit weapon emplacements confirmed to be operational on the surface. All Ork space assets have been recently terminated."
Amberley blanched at that news. Then and there, she didn't bother keeping a blank expression on her face.
"Then how are our naval element still alive?" Vail blurted out.
She knew the Necrons, faced them in combat a barely got out alive. They were among the greatest threats in the known galaxy.
Orelius stared back at her. His expression mirrored her own shock.
"Warning to approaching Rogue Trade vessel." He spoke, citing something. "Be advised, you're entering an active combat theater. Under the authority of His Majesty's Inquisition, Ordo Xenos, the Imperial forces on Kronus are in an active military alliance with the following Xeno groups." Orelius paused, to give Amberley a meaningful look before he continued whispering the contents of the message. "Necron forces, under the command of the Necron Lord of Kronus. Eldar expeditionary force, under the command of Ranger Rohan, affiliation Craft World Ulthwe. Do not fire upon allied Xeno forces without being engaged first." The Captain stopped there, giving the Inquisitor a bit of time to digest the news.
An alliance with Eldar, especially from Ulthwe? It was more common than the Imperium would like to admit, even though there were elements on both sides who would like to pretend such things never happened. It was a sad state of affairs, that only Imperial authorities might shoot you or worse for such an alliance. To the best of Amberley's knowledge, an Eldar working with humans might get some sneers and curses behind their back, at worse.
And she was rambling because her mind was refusing to accept the idea that the Necrons of all species might consider a military alliance with the Imperium, no matter how fleeting. They were murderous machines with hard to fathom goals, responsible for the death of whole planetary populations! They never talked, much less wanted a peaceful resolution in any recorded encounter! What in the Emperor's name happened down there?!
"There are active Imperial Guard, Naval, and Commissariat codes. There is attached authorization by an Inquisitor Delkatar Veil, Ordo Xenos, using codes assigned to Lord Inquisitor Requista, Ordo Xenos." Orelius added.
"I've met Requista briefly. He should have been on Kronus." Amberley frowned. They might be dealing with treason, an impostor, or a member of the Inquisitor's retinue doing their best after Requista have been killed. It might be all of the above. Some traitors genuinely believed they knew best, even without being compromised by outside forces.
"We're receiving data burst, properly logged reports on events that happened before our arrival. I'll make them available as soon as the data is scrubbed for unpleasant surprises." The Captain continued.
Amberley smiled briefly. This level of proper paranoia was one of the reasons why she had this ship, and more importantly, her Captain, chartered as her usual transport.
"Have the reports sent to my quarters. I'll review them there, Captain. I'll appreciate it if we don't reach the planet before either powerful reinforcements can catch up and we know what we're walking into. Please inquire if the local forces need immediate assistance and about the situation on the ground."
"I already did, Inquisitor. I sent the request along with your identification package. And we're receiving another transmission. It's a message from the Blood Raven Cruiser Armageddon."
Amberley waited for cogitators and Tech-Priests to scrub the data. Soon, an image of an ageless man with visible augmentations appeared above the primary hololith.
"This is Captain Steven Ignatius, Shipmaster of the Blood Raven Strike Cruiser Armageddon. Your codes check, Lucre Foedis. We've already apprised you of the situation in space. Biel-Tan forces are lurking around, and we're still considering them a threat. We have rough parity with the Tau battle group in orbit, and we're holding a defensive posture in order to protect our assets on the ground."
A brief pause followed while the Captain looked away from the camera.
"Good. Send a copy of the report to the Lucre Foedis when it's ready." Ignatius looked back at them. "The situation on the ground is complicated. About a week ago, Guard and Blood Raven forces engaged a massive Ork horde heading towards Victory Bay. We annihilated the Orks with the help of orbital strikes. As soon as we broke the greenskins, the Tau launched attacks upon our ground forces, while their naval vessels ensured we were in no position to offer support. Our ground assets managed to retreat in good order and reach secondary defense lines." Captain Ignatius grimaced. "At that point, the situation got complicated. A Necron representative," The Naval Officer twitched when saying that, "contacted us. Inquisitor Veil convinced General Alexander and Captain Thule that if nothing else, listening to the Xeno would buy us a bit of precious time. Long story short, the Inquisitor managed to broker an alliance with the Necrons after learning the Eldar Biel-Tan elements on the ground have ensnared the Tau and planned a joint attack upon Victory Bay."
As he spoke, Ignatius' face became a curious shade of gray. Amberley could swear he hadn't approved of the alliance. Emperor be good, her first reaction was to conclude the leadership of the local forces had been suborned, so she couldn't blame the man. She wondered how much the presence of the Necron ground to space weaponry changed the man's opinion of the affair.
"The attack the Necrons warned us of happening did occur. We were able to detect the Tau movements from space and track the Eldar thanks to sensor feeds provided by the aliens. The Tau battle group ensured we were unable to intercept the approaching forces from orbit. Doing so risked leaving our ground assets exposed to the still present Orkish naval presence and the surviving elements of the Eldar fleet we engaged earlier in the campaign."
This was becoming more interesting by the minute. More surreal too. Amberley was sure she was missing a lot of context and details. She hoped to find some of them among the properly filled reports.
"Our ground forces engaged and destroyed the Tau and Biel-Tan mobile units sent against Victory Bay. At the same time, Inquisitor Veil's retinue acted as bait for the Eldar Farseer, who led an assassination attempt against Imperial leadership on the ground. I'm unclear on the details, however, the Eldars were deceived and suckered into an ambush, where an overwhelming number of Guard and Necron forces engaged and destroyed them. Sadly, the Eldar Farseer managed to escape." Captain Ignatius sighed."Contrary to my belief and expectation, the alliance with the Necrons persisted. Our combined forces turned their attention upon Chaos foothold in the Deimos Peninsula. As we speak, ground forces are preparing to launch a final assault to annihilate the traitors and neutralize an active Warp Gate, which provided the enemy with a constant stream of reinforcements."
By this point, Amberley wasn't sure what to think. What she knew was everyone on the ground was suspected to be subverted by Chaos, the Necrons, or the Eldar. She also knew that any reports from the surface were now suspect at best, outright fabrications at worst. One thing was certain, there was no way they would get into orbit without heavy reinforcements and not just because of the Necrons.
"During the initial assault upon the Deimos Peninsula, the enemy launched a counter-attack spearheaded by a Daemon host. Thanks to the Necrons deploying anti-Warp counter-measures, and the intervention of Inquisitor Veil's retinue, the Daemons were banished, and traitor armored counter-attack smashed. We have reports from our ground assets that a Daemon entity, Code Name Skulltaker manifested on the battlefield. It attempted the destruction of the Necron Lord we're currently allied with and the murder of Lord Inquisitor Veil. What we can confirm is that Blood Raven elements, the Inquisitor and his retinue, and the Necrons engaged the entity and banished it. We also have unconfirmed reports that a joint operation between the Inquisition and the Necrons testing experimental Xeno technology was underlay. Its purpose was the attempted the permanent destruction of Code Name Skulltaker… We do have supporting evidence that this might be the case…"
And Amberley wasn't listening anymore. She was staring at the holo-image of the Blood Raven Captain, while her mind spun in circles. She needed Malleus and Hereticus assets in the system, yesterday. A lot of them and the reliable kind.
She refused to believe that the local forces managed to kill something like that for good, even if they worked with the Necrons. This whole story sounded insane, and the fact that Captain Ignatius played along rang all kinds of alarm bells in Amberley's head.
"Captain Orelius, keep us on a very slow approach towards Kronus. If someone asks, tell them we suffered damage due to Warp disturbances, and currently, we can't safely accelerate any faster. Inform me about the moment our reinforcements arrive in the system and apprise them of the situation. All local forces are potentially compromised. If they make any threatening moves our way, we'll consider them a clear and present danger to the Imperium."