Chapter 1 Part 2

Chapter 1: Welcome to the Inquisition

=ATBS=

Part 2​

Space Port

Victory Bay

Kronus

Once I was able to stop bemoaning my fuck all luck and likely immediate demise, I had a few hours to start scheming. Without an actual Inquisitor around who could simply order this whole fucking mess stopped I would need to get creative. Considering that I really knew very little about the situation - besides what amounted to rumors - meant that I needed some facts and to talk with the General. Persuading him to stop trying to force the IG on Kronus in mass suicide by Astrates would be a good first step after that.

If that didn't work, I would be in a bind. Technically I might be in my rights to shoot him then, though that wouldn't be a course of action that would be survivable.

For some arcane reason I was quite taken with my continued state of living, so that was flat out.

Our atmospheric entry and landing went without a hitch and soon enough the ramp opened, revealing a brightly lit landing pad. I looked around. The place was rather busy, but it paled in comparison with the port at Omnicron V – the location of my shcola and the only place I could call home until I was promptly kicked out into the outright terrifying world that was this millennium.

There were a lot of dockworker, heavy machinery, the inevitable cog-heads and soldiers milling around either doing their work or trying to skive off a few minutes of rest. A squad of the latter waited leaning on a chimera next to the steps leading down from the landing pad below me. Obviously they were here for me, because one of them, an NCO started striding up the steps once I got out into the sun.

"Sir, I'm Sergeant Lacroix, Alpha Platoon, Baker Company, 71st Battalion, 1st Kronus Regiment. Are you Agent Veil, from his Majesty's Inquisition, sir?"

"I'm an Inquisitorial agent, yes." I nodded at the sergeant.

"We're to escort you to see the General, sir."

"Splendid. Just a moment."

I took a deep breath and let my mental barriers ease up a tiny bit. Touching the warp was both exhilarating and revolting. The sheer raw power at one's command was only surpassed by the perils that laid in wait over there. This time was much worse than usual. The warp here was akin a boiling cauldron, just needing a push to explode into violence.

That didn't bode well for anyone. I sent a prayer to the Emperor on Holy Terra that Inquisitor Requista would be successful in his Heretic hunt before the imbeciles could do something particularly idiotic and doom us all.

I touche an tiny fraction of the power the warp "freely" offered me, using it to pick up my cargo container and make it float after me. That was an obvious power play, intended to rattle the Guardsmen a bit before I started questioning them during our ride to meet the brass. At the moment they were my best and only source of information and I was going to ruthlessly milk that, mind screwing included.

As expected, none of the soldiers were particularly happy at my mostly harmless display of witchcraft. It got them nervous, on edge.

"Shall we go?" I beamed at the Guardsmen, who were throwing uneasy glances at the cargo crate floating behind me. They reluctantly piled into the Chimera - which had an auto cannon mounted on top - and I followed suit. Once inside I lowered my luggage to the ground and took a free seat. "How's the situation around here? While making my way planet side I heard some concerning rumors."

The troopers looked at each other and hastily shook their heads.

"No idea, sir. We just do what we're ordered to." Lacroix shrugged.

To tell you the truth, my time in the shcola didn't made me a silver tongued devil. They were too busy teaching us how to literally tear thoughts from people's minds or effective interrogation methods, which was Inquisition speak for how to torture people, while keeping them alive so we could actually learn something.

Actually being nice and persuasive, that wasn't something they taught. Such things were apparently mere superstition and never worked. At least that's what Inquisitor Gregory Foch, believed and he was the one who taught us how to untangle reluctant tongues. Besides, anyone who didn't start singing about any sins he though might be perpetrated by a person he either knew or heard about, was supposedly an obvious heretic who needed to be questioned…

I took those lessons with a grain of salt, but made sure that Foch thought me to be very attentive student who agreed with his methods. Of course I did. I had no desire to be a volunteered like Claudia after mounting off to the Inquisitor.

Last I heard the medicae were finally putting her back together and she might return to school in an year or so. Fortunately for her she was a scion of a minor Noble house and they were able to pay for the expensive treatment. Anyone with less wealth and connections would have received the Emperor's mercy if they were lucky.

But I digress. I had a squad of soldiers to grill about the mess I had unwittingly landed myself in. I gave them a disarming smile, while I delved a bit deeper in the Warp. Their very souls shone around me with the dull light of the Empyrean blind majority of the population. I focused on the people around them and laced my voice with intention and power.

"The overall situation, Sergeant Lacroix. Give me a summary. Tell me about the issues with the Blood Ravens too."

The NCO stiffened and his eyes glazed. The rest of the Guardsmen shrunk back from us. I could sense the fear radiating out of them.

It was tasty.

"It's an Emperor damned mess!" Lacroix sneered. "We were sent here to recover this world from the Tau and the local bloody xeno lovers. We took this city with light casualties. Before we could even properly set up FOB and depots, the damn knife-ears started raiding our rear areas. Then the fucking Orks landed and the Eldar had been funneling them our way ever since. Meanwhile the damned blue skins had been taking pot shots at everyone and they're keen on retaking Victory Bay and kicking us off this rock. It's only thanks to the General we've been able not only to hold our positions but retake the farmlands beyond the city limits." The Sergeant paused to take a deep breath. "When the Astrates arrived last week, we thought that it was Emperor's blessing. Instead they demanded that we leave the planet and evacuate the populace. The General refused, because he has orders from up high to secure this planet. In the last three days the Astrates wiped out two companies in the farmlands and I heard we've shelled one of their forward outposts. It's a fucking damned mess." Lacroix shook his head in disgust.

"What about the Inquisitor Requista?" I asked.

"He was here a few days before the Astrates arrived. Took a Storpmtrooper platoon, his retinue and went hunting heretics. I hope he'll get the fucking traitors."

Well, wasn't that just peachy. Apparently the problem wasn't with the IG and instead the Space Marines were feeling unreasonable today. I was certain that the General would want me to fix that mess, though I simply lacked the authority to even suggest a course of action to the Astrates.

Yet, I would probably have to do so anyway and hope not to get a bolter round to the head for my trouble. Joy.