6 561 937.M41
I remember watching a video on
YouTube about the French Revolution many years ago. The various contributors were discussing how the Committee for Public Safety went madder and madder and more and more murderous, and how that tied into other revolutionary philosophies. And
most of them sounded like that fact was why they were very sceptical about revolutionary philosophy, because they'd seen where it led.
Except the Russian chap, who sounded like he thought it was great and completely appropriate to randomly murder people in order to maintain an atmosphere of fear that would make people reluctant to act against the revolutionary state.
"
VILE HERETIC!"
My
construct barrier wavers as…
Some sort of energy field disrupting ammunition strikes it. Not actual Vindicare Temple shield-breaker rounds… I think. I'm too mobile to be a good target for temple assassins, so aside from one testicle-retraction-inducing encounter with a Callidus Assassin which I
think was more an attack of opportunity I haven't been targetted. As far as I remember, shield breaker ammunition would break a shield whatever it was made of and these rounds clearly
haven't.
My construct boyz swarm the Storm Trooper position, taking several hits before-
Waaaaaagh!
-evaporating, while their brethren slam into their targets with… With 'smackers', and begin clubbing them into compliance.
Some inquisitors are hard people in a hard line of work, confronting covert threats to the Estate Imperium. They're usually late to the party, fighting mutants, aliens, heretics and traitors in entrenched positions in the societies they inquisite in a desperate race to prevent some great catastrophe. Or they contain in their mind dangerous knowledge that is vital to a conflict but would corrupt a person of lesser devotion or will.
The old quote 'Some may question your right to destroy ten billion people. Those who understand realise that you have no right to let them live!' isn't a dark joke or the ranting of some edgelord. I've seen Imperial loyalists burn a faithful world from orbit to destroy a reactivating Necron tomb buried underneath and I've seen what can happen when tombs like that reactivate and I agree that it was the correct course of action.
And some Inquisitors are like
this arsehole.
I look at one of the holding cells, where the people were pushed inside until there was no space left at all, the bodies of the people closest to the bars… Partially pressed through. There's no one alive in there, but they… They could have lived for quite a while.
No sign of mutation or genetic corruption on any of them. No Eye of Horus tattoos, or other signs of religious heresy. A couple have genetic traits associated with low level psykers, but nothing above
Mu level. Even the Inquisitor's own records just say that 'the will of the ineffable Master of Mankind drew them to my attention' and other just
non-justifications.
This man didn't solve problems. He created them. And now I've got to deal with one.
Gremlin clanks up the corridor as the last of the Storm Troopers are… Um, detained. What he's wearing… We managed to acquire a couple of oddboyz to see what happened when they were exposed to him, on the grounds that they would be less hassle to contain than regular boyz. The results have been… Interesting, and the relatively smooth power armour he's now wearing is a marked departure from the
way ork mega armour usually looks. It looks like armour and not randomly attached bits of industrial machinery, for a start.
"Looks like the boyz did good, Boss."
A mental impulse from me and they begin dragging the recumbent guardsmen out to the waiting detainment units. Technically, this is a Tau Empire-loyal human world invading its Imperium-loyal human neighbour, and as a result of the sheer barbarity of the rulers to their subjects they're not having any trouble finding collaborators. Earth-caste engineers will go through their… Horrendously brutal factories later to see what modifications can be made in terms of health and safety improvements…
They were literally cooking the foundry workers alive, for goodness sake.
I nod absent-mindedly. I'm not looking forward to the next bit, but that's my job.
"Boyz will be boyz."
The most deeply fortified cell is just ahead of me. The Storm Troopers were actually using the outer fortifications for cover, and-.
Ring charging. Capacitors at seventy six percent.
And something warp-related started happening here the moment Kais killed that
flipping Inquisitor, which probably means that the wards were tied to his own psychic powers. And the Storm Troopers were stationed here rather than manning the outer defences.
Ring charging. Capacitors at seventy seven percent.
Artefact or psyker? Don't know. It's interfering with my scans. Gremlin is only here because as an orkoid he's a lot more resistant to this sort of thing than tau or most humans.
"Lotta sacrifices, boss. Didn't look loik
that sorta Inquisitor."
Ritual sacrifices are best for sorcery, but actually? Just killing a lot of people in the same place works. The veil draws thin, and the next thing you know…
The ring
defeats the lock on… Yes, it's a null chamber, as Gremlin readies his positron gun. Klaxon and warning lights as the heavy metal door slowly opens,
my armour ready for any attack.
Ring charging. Capacitors at seventy eight percent. Capacitors at seventy nine percent.
Oh dear.
Scarlet and purple light streams out, moving in waves and leaving an odd ripple texture on any surface it touches. We've got a full on veil-piercing here, and that's a
bad sign. The hole itself is manageable; this isn't my first time closing one. This issue is that every vaguely psychic person is going to start hearing the voices, if they weren't already.
A light stream touches my construct armour-
Capacitors at eighty percent.
-and gets absorbed as I push forward, Gremlin hanging back to cover me.
"
Is there anyone in there?
Please, try to remain calm, we're here to rescue you."
My boot hits a chain on the floor, links made from some psychically retardant material cut clean through and the remains of its purity seals melted on to the floor.
"
Try imagining a wall.
On the other side of the wall is a raging ocean, but where you are is calm."
Captured Imperial psykers haven't been entirely consistent in what they think they're allowed to share, but some just start muttering their mantras when their own powers start acting up.
"
If you can hear my voice, please respond!"
The colours are fading slightly, and I can see the outline of the room. Looks like there's… Yes, an enhanced interrogation suite, Inquisition style. Clamps, chains, an excruciator, what's left of a scribe servitor… But they knew he didn't
know anything! There wasn't anything he could tell them and they didn't believe otherwise. This was just… Horribly torture a man because that's the next step. And they don't even have the excuse that most Imperial organisations do about procedure being holy writ; the Inquisition is expressly empowered to go against that.
They just didn't care to.
Okay, I can't see anyone. They could be hiding themselves, but it's more likely that they're further into the warp.
A step from the real.
Alright, let's do this.
"
I'm coming for you!
Please, come this way!"
The world ripples as the real pulls away and-.
A colossal arm of burning metal and slag punches through the materium and grabs onto me, pulling me into no-space before a vast daemonic face!
"Ave, domine."
And the real
vanishes as I'm pulled deeper.
