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“Sir, we are ten minutes out.”
...................................................
“Sir?”

“I heard your Sergeant.”

Inquisitor Lord Torben sat in the back of his Chimera, both of his gloved hands resting heavily on the top of his cane. His wrinkled forehead rested lightly on the cuffs of his coat, gently bumping along with the rough hive road.

“So, what do you think we will find?” A rough voice carried over the roar of the engine.
Torben looked up.
“We could find anything from a genuine servant of the Emperor like yourself or a genuine servant who only thinks that he is a genuine servant of the Emperor,” Torben replied.
“Yeah, like the one who had failed to notice the second mouth that he was growing where his stomach used to be?” came a chuckling reply.
“I doubt that we will find anything like that. This one claims the be the voice of Bartholomew. He is not a saint that the unclean take lightly. Many of the cult leaders we have captured have shown more aversion to him than the Emperor himself,” Torben replied.
“Well he has to have something wrong with him for us to be making an impromptu visit, right?”
“Why are people so fascinated by the wholesome leaders of the Imperium being chaos heretics deep down?”
“Because they have seen one to many holo-flics about it.”
Inquisitor Torben chuckled.

The Chimera came to a halting stop in a deserted square on a hive sub level 37. The hatch door clanged down even before the occupants had a chance to right themselves from the lurching stop.
“I will never understand why all Inquisition troopers drive like the universe depended on them getting to their destination in the least possible time,” Torben said in a disgusted manner as he limped down the ramp, his cane clanging loudly as his paced increased away from the vehicle.
Caiden was forced to jog to catch up with the crippled Inquisitor Lord.
“Well, doesn’t it sometimes? Best if they stayed in practice.”
“You need to teach your smart mouth to do something useful, like fill out my daily paperwork.” Torben grumpily replied.
The pair walked down the dimly lit road. The white light that permeated this level of the hive was always either too bright or too dark. It added a pale blue tint to everything it touched. The debris fought with the crumbling walls for dominance of the walkways.
“This place does have a kind of charm to it, doesn’t it?” commented Caiden.
He kicked a small chunk of plas-crete wall that was in his path.
“Yeah, but it’s ruined by our friends back there.” Torben indicated behind him with a tilt of his head.
The squad of Inquisitorial storm troopers that was following them was far from inconspicious. They were in heavy riot gear. Several had well-worn blast shields and their armor had numerous scars on them. They all looked worn and abused, but carried themselves with a calm air and a professional demeanor.
“You’d think that they would clean their gear once in a while.” Torben smirked.
He said this simply to pick at Caiden. He knew that all of the men behind them were the best that Radnar had to offer. Caiden always said that a hallmark of a good trooper was personalization of his equipment and keeping old gear highly functional without worrying too much about how it looked. These were not parade troops.
“If you wanted the finest toadies, we could have visited the vice magistrate’s house prior to this excursion,” Caiden sharply replied. “These men will see you through a dinner with a patriarch.”
“ I just wish that they could be a little more subtle.” Torben replied. “I don’t care if they can arm wrestle with servants of khorne, they are going to make our job impossible if we have them twenty feet from us all night.”
“They will disappear when we need them to. They know what they are doing.”
Torben started to chuckle but it turned into a grunt as a sharp pain shot up his right leg.

The pair neared the intersection of route 75 and 74 on block 54 of sub-level 37. According to the tip that one of Caiden’s informants had given them, this was supposed to be where the Voice of Bartholomew appeared once a month to preach. They hadn’t been able to get any recordings but the consensus was that this man was beginning to hold sway over much of the sub-level. The reports of his night long rants could easily have gone unnoticed if it hadn’t been for his choice of location. Had it not been that the intersection of route 75 and 74 was being used by the local bureaucrats as shortcut to avoid all of the traffic on the more civil levels of the hive, his sermons would have gone unreported for years. As it was, it interfered with the luxury of the political class, so it obviously warranted the attention of the Inquisition. Torben wasn’t exactly sure why he had chosen to personally investigate this case. He didn’t leave his offices very much anymore. The pain in his leg was growing to a level that made most everyday activities extremely unpleasant. Still, he was 37 sub-levels down, limping along next to a fellow Inquisitor that was more than capable of doing this himself, without his aid.

As they came to the last corner before intersection they could hear the murmur of a large crowd, all being as quiet as they could. No matter how quiet a large group of people tries to be, they cannot help but radiate a hum of being that cannot be suppressed. This hum was a loud hum. Caiden moved forward first and looked around the corner. There was a lectern erected on a large stage, in the middle of the intersection. The crowd that had gathered was in the thousands. All across the stage, open topped lanterns blazed on a set up of crude plasma arc cutters. Their greenish light bathed the four buildings that confined the crossing with a sickly shade.
“Well, he definitely has a following.” Caiden said as he turned back to Torben.
“Good, I would hate to see him on an off night.” Torben sarcastically replied.
Caiden reached out and straightened the heavy black trench coat that Torben was wearing over his earth-colored body glove. Torben always wore his Inquisitorial rosette pinned over his heart, even when he was trying not to draw attention. Caiden, on the other hand, had taken an inordinate amount of time altering his so that it would appear as a simple medallion but when he pressed the two concealed buttons on either side, it would project a holographic image of a real rosette over its casing. Torben thought the only bigger waste of Caiden’s time had been the paperwork he had to fill out and the endless screening he had to go through to get permission from the Inquisition to alter his rosette.
“There, you look much more like a theologically starved citizen of the Imperium.” Caiden smirked as he turned back from Torben to the intersection.
Torben smiled at Caiden. “So, let’s go hear about this Emperor.”

“Good citizens of the Emperor, bless you for coming to hear one of his greatest servants speak. I know that all of you have heard of the great Bartholomew Bracarius, the saint of our world. Our very own piece of the Emperor. All of you have heard his inspiring words over and over again from the mouth pieces that are sitting inside his most holy place, his very cathedral is being run by those that do not believe in his vision, his vision for a better Radnar. No! For a better Imperium.”
The Voice of Bartholomew Bracarius was in full swing. Caiden and Torben had made their way into the back of the crowd.
“Isn’t that heresy? Preaching against the Ecclesiarchy, and all?” Caiden murmured under his breath.
“No, not just preaching. Remember, Caiden, even in the most holy Inquisition we have our differences. Those differences are tolerated, even if they lead to us killing each other. Why shouldn’t we let all the other servants of the Emperor enjoy that same right?” Torben replied.
Caiden just smiled and turned back to the ranting man on the stage before them. He wasn’t really paying very much attention to what was being said. That wasn’t his job. Torben had a much sharper mind than he did. He was the streetwise one of the two. He had already spotted several people that were on the Inquisitions list of people they wanted to talk to. And by talk, the list meant kill. He knew that there had to be something going on behind the scenes here for them to tolerate the endless praising of the Emperor. The storm troopers that had followed them were all watching very closely. They were out of sight to everyone, including Caiden. He breathed a calm breath at that thought.
“Bartholomew will reveal to me the wisdom of his infinite intellect this night. Those of you that have come will be amazed at the revelations you will garner from his teachings.”
The speaker suddenly went rigid. His voice became a whisper and then he fell to the ground. A murmur went through the crowd. None seemed too surprised at the speakers’ antics.
“This seems to be a normal occurrence.” Torben said as he leaned toward Caiden.
Caiden wasn’t listening. He was intently watching someone to the side of the stage.
“See that guy standing on the edge of the crowd on the stages left? He’s bald.” Caiden stated.
“And my hair may be going also, why does that make him so interesting?” Torben said.
“None of the gangs in this area shave their heads. His is also way to clean for any razor that could be found down in this dump.”
“Any chance that he isn’t in a gang? That he might not even care?”
“He’s too young not to care, if he doesn’t try to fit in he will most likely be viewed as a gang member from another level and be killed as a spy. Gangs are very serious about their territory.” Caiden said in a serious tone.
“Okay so why are you so interested in him, maybe he was sent to see what this guy had to say. Even gang members believe in something.”
“Unless he is a Magus.”
Torben stopped. “I didn’t feel any psychic presence. He would have to be very powerful to mask his presence that much. If he is, I am not sure I am prepared to tangle with him tonight.”
“There is only one way to find out.” Caiden said with a jovial smile.
Caiden made his way through the crowd toward the front. He passed all manners of people. Most were the typical hive dwellers one would find this far down in the hive. One or two of them were upper class. They had tried to dress themselves down so they wouldn’t stick out but they couldn’t replicate the demeanor of someone who had lived in the deep hive. Caiden didn’t understand why they thought that they would find a deeper meaning to life down here. He had managed to work his way too within a couple rows of the speaker when he ran into a wall. Not a literal wall but the people in front of him weren’t letting him through. He had suspected that this would happen. No one with this kind of charisma just got up in front of a lot of people and started preaching. He would have a core of followers that would act as a shield. What Caiden wanted to know, is if they would protect the bald man to. As he neared the man, he slowed his pace. Watching intently out of the corner of his eye he saw the man straighten. On the stage, the Voice of Bartholomew had come out of his stupor and was once again ranting on. Caiden was about to take another step toward his target when the man turned and looked right at him. It was only Caiden’s will power that kept him from reacting. Even with his peripheral vision Caiden could see this man’s eyes. Those eyes. They were as black as night and yet at the same time they glowed with some light that he couldn’t quite put his finger on. Caiden kept his eyes on the speaker. The man slowly turned back to face the speaker also. After several minutes, Caiden slowly moved back toward Torben.
“He is, isn’t he.” Torben stated as Caiden walked back up to him.
With a truly disturbed look on his face, Caiden simply nodded and walked toward the back of the crowd.
Torben was worried. Caiden never got intimidated. He was the only human he had ever seen kill a brood lord with his shotgun from two feet away without flinching. He had never seen him so shaken. Torben turned and followed him back down the road.
When they were safely around the bend in the street, Caiden turned and faced Torben.
“I haven’t seen anything like that in a very long time. No, not ever.” Caiden’s light purple eyes were shaky. They darted slightly, back and forth.
“I have never seen you quite like this friend. So it was a Magus. We have dealt with their kind before, many times.”
“This one was different. He knew that I was watching him, I know he did. He turned and looked right at me. The only thing that kept me from reacting was the fact that I was scared. Scared. No, not scared, horrified. I couldn’t move.”
The Storm Troopers were starting to come out from the buildings on either side of the road. They gave respectful distance to the pair.
“How well do you know this area of the hive, Caiden?”
“Well enough.”
“If this thing is enough to scare you, then it terrifies me. We need to end it tonight while we have a chance.”
Caiden stretched his arms out and slapped them against his sides.
“Magus dies just like maggots.”
Torben had heard that saying repeated only during training of the Radnar PDF. It didn’t reassure him.
Torben led them back around the corner. Caiden stayed behind him and to the right. There was a noticeable bulge across his back now. The old combat shotgun that he refused to replace was now slung in its usual place. The speaker was starting to dabble in self flagellation when they reached the back of the crowd. Several of the observers were joining him in their zeal. Caiden looked over the crowd quickly trying to spot the Magus, but he was no where to be seen. He did notice that his Storm Troopers were no where to be seen. He tried to find some comfort in that.
“Let me attempt to confront the speaker first. We should only use force if it is necessary.” Torben whispered to Caiden.
“Necessary or not, if I see that Magus, I’m killing him.” Caiden’s tone was completely blank. Torben wasn’t sure if he liked that.
The crowd reluctantly parted for Torben as he made his way to the front. He hadn’t had to use his will yet, he was hoping he wouldn’t have to with the possibility of the Magus being near.
“Look! My friends! Another lost soul comes forward to receive the blessing of Bartholomew. You will not regret coming forward, my brother,” boomed the speaker.
Torben hoped that he would not. He struggled intentionally to get on the stage. Truth be told; he was more than capable of walking without his cane. All it did was relieve the pain that the weight on his leg caused. He had chosen to start walking with a cane instead of getting a bionic replacement for the lost nerve structure in his thigh. He had found that an old man with a cane is less than no threat at all. He was depending on that assumption to gain him an advantage tonight.
“Come! Someone, help the man up! He is clearly struggling!”
“Thank you, prophet. I am not the man I used to be.” Torben said in his the feeblest voice he could manage.
“You are to kind my brother, for I am no prophet. I merely heard the call of our most revered saint Bartholomew Bracarius.”
“You must have excellent hearing. That man has been dead for quite some time now.” Torben was still using his best helpless old man voice. Otherwise, this might have been taken as sarcasm.
“My hearing is no better than yours, I hear with my heart instead of my ears.”
“Well, then show this old man how to hear with his heart too.”
“It is simple. Those, which are pure of heart and mind, hear the saints talking. They try to reach us and tell us of the wisdom and grace of the Emperor.”
“Forgive my heretical soul, then, Great Prophet, for I cannot hear them.”
“You are not heretical my son. You just have to listen to your heart and the saints will speak to you, also, someday.” The speaker was now resting his hand on Torben’s stooped shoulder.
“Son, is it now? What happened to brother? You are young enough to be my grandson!”
The speaker gave a hearty laugh. “I am truly sorry if I have given you offense. It is merely a term used by those in my profession. May the Emperor, rest his soul, grant me forgiveness.”
“Rest his soul? He is still alive, isn’t he, sitting on his golden throne and all.”
“Now it is truly my son, you have been deceived by those that want you to remain where you are, downtrodden and destitute. They have been lying to us for millennia upon millennia.”
“So, the Emperor is dead.” Torben muttered to himself.
“Yes my dearest son, with time you will come to deal with this loss.” The speaker had a look of profound regret upon his face.
“Then who guides our ships through the empyrean and provides the beacon for our astropaths?”
“Those things are not needed. They are merely more lies that we are told to keep us from becoming more than what we are now.”
No old man who lived in the hives all his life would have had any clue about how star ships travel through the warp. But this slipped past the speaker. It didn’t get past Torben.
“Are you preaching against the Emperor?”
The bluntness of Torben’s question caught the speaker off guard. So off guard that he didn’t notice that the old man was completely gone from Torben’s voice.
“No, I worship the Emperor just as you do.”
“But you say that he is dead.”
“And he is my dear son.”
“No, he isn’t. He sits on the Golden Throne as he has done for a millennium, guiding humanity through his divine light.”
“Yes he is, you are merely repeating lies told to us by the Inquisition and the many others that claim to have the ear of the Emperor.”
“Bartholomew Bracarius believed that the Emperor was alive. Did he not tell you that yet?”
The tone of Torben’s voice finally seeped into the Speaker’s head. His eyes grew wide as he turned to where the Magus had been standing.
“Look at me!” Torben said, using his will.
The Speaker straightened but did not turn quickly, instead he slowly turned and Torben could feel his mind being assaulted.
“I am a great prophet old man. You should not have come here tonight.”
With that a sharp pain seared across Torben’s mind. The Speaker started to smile as he saw a flash of pain come across his adversaries face. That smile quickly turned to shock when Torben smiled back. This was not some old man. This was an Inquisitor Lord of Ordo Xenos. And this Inquisitor Lord was now very angry.
Torben lashed out with the full power of his mind. The Speaker was blasted flat onto his back. The wave of raw psychic energy knocked the crowd back several steps. The Speaker struggled to rise but everything felt numb. It was as if someone had wrapped him in a hundred blankets. It was stifling and impossible to move. He managed to turn his head toward the crowd, looking for his supporters. Several had already recovered and were rushing toward him. Another had recovered even quicker however. Caiden jumped onto the stage with his shotgun out.
“Do not come any further. This person is now a prisoner of his most holy Inquisition.” Caiden barked.
Several stopped at the mention of the Inquisition. The real cult members didn’t. One pulled out a small stub pistol but before he could fire a sharp crack of an auto gun came from above the stage. Torben looked up and saw the outline of a Storm Trooper standing above him on a roof. He knew that before he even saw him. That familiar crack made Torben feel more comfortable about their situation. All of the storm troopers that Caiden chose to be in his personal unit used autoguns. He said that it was a sign of a good soldier. The less dependent they were on technology the better in Caiden’s eyes. They were also excellent shots. Several more shots rang out and several more of the crowd members dropped. In answer there was a hail of assorted small arms fire from the outlying buildings. Caiden grunted as a round hit him in the left shoulder. Out of the buildings several dozen cultists slowly moved out. Thier weapons up and firing. Torben was crouched on the stage with his archaic six round bolt pistol out. He hadn’t fired yet. He was to busy looking for the bald headed Magus. Caiden was standing with his feet spread evenly calmly blasting away. Torben’s mind was frantically searching the area. Trying to find a hint of where the Magus could have gotten to. If they didn’t catch him, this would be a wasted effort. The Magus would just find someone else to do his dirty work for him.
Torben found what he was looking for in a doorway several building down. There he was. Standing hunched, hood drawn far over his head. Behind him stood two very large, very alien forms. Before Torben could do anything serveral storm troopers moved toward the Magus. The Magus stepped out into the street. With a wave of his hand one of the troopers crumpled up and fell to the ground in a hideous shape. Without any fear the other open fired. Not on the Magus, but on the two alien forms that were now emerging from the building. The autogun slugs caught one of the Genestealers in the torso, knocking him back but hardly hurting it. The other was on him impossibly fast. It’s feeder tendrils locked firmly onto the troopers shoulder. Torben didn’t even hear the soldier cry out. He simply pulled out a knife and jabbed it as deep as he could into one the the Genestealers four arms. He kept stabbing as he went down.
“I see him Caiden! He brought a couple friends with him too!” Torben shouted over the gun fire.
Caiden looked up from his aim for a second, and just as fast returned his attention to his target. A stumbling misshapen cross between a human and a Genestealer. A smooth pull of the trigger ended that threat.
“I see them but we aren’t going to get across this crowd in time to stop them!” Caiden shouted back.
Torben raised his pistol and squeezed off two quick rounds. He was a good shot. Not as good as Caiden, but he could hit targets at range. His bolt pistol was a excellent weapon. That didn’t hurt. The shots punched into the stealer that was busy feeding on the remains of the trooper. They blew clean threw the stealer’s thick carapace and knocked the still lodged knife to the ground.
Caiden had jumped off of the stage and was fighting threw the cultists, attempting to get through. He managed to break through and catch the wounded stealer before it managed to crawl back into the building it came from. He quickly put a shotgun shell through the back of it’s head. He didn’t follow the Magus and stealer into the building. They knew the hive better than anyone. He knew it would be foolish to chase them on their terms. The other members of his squad joined him. They had either killed or chased off the rest of the cultists. Torben was standing over the Speaker. He looked irritated.


He was afraid that his mental assault might have damaged him. If that was true the Speaker might well be useless in an interrogation.
Caiden’s heavy boots thumped onto the stage. Torben saw the Speaker visibly flinch at each foot fall, as if they somehow brought his doom.
“Not tonight,” Torben thought. “As much as I would like them to, not tonight.”
Caiden racked his shotgun as he approached. The speaker winced.
“Calm Caiden, we need this one alive.” Said Torben’s soft voice.
Caiden glowered down from his position above the head of the speaker.
“Inquisitor Lord Strutgart is on his way. He got wind of our impromtu outing.” Caiden muttered.
“Great, that monodominant will want this man executed on the spot. We have to get him out of here if we want any answers that he might have.”
“I can think of one that I really, really, want.” Caiden stated. His ominous voice combined with the steady gaze down at the Speaker made the man tremble.

The tip of Torben’s cane bounced off the floor of the Chimera as they raced back to the Inquisition fortress on Radnar. As usual Caiden rode across from him on a identical metal bench. To Torben’s right and left sat three storm troopers. To Caiden’s right and left there were also three, but the center seat at the front of the troop carrier was empty. A silent testiment to the man that had fallen during the nights raid. His body was wrapped with a black cloth that had the Inquisition seal displayed promenitly on the chest. He was being given ample space by the other occupant of the floor. The Speaker cowered against the closed hatch of the Chimera trying desperately not to slide into the body. With the many bumps, hard turns and quick accelerations that was no easy task. But he did it. Caiden had said in no uncertain terms that if he defiled the body by touching it with his heretic hands, he would receive a shotgun shell to the face. A whimper escaped him periodically. When it got to loud Caiden delivered a sharp, quick kick to his gut.
“Don’t abuse our prisoner to much now Caiden, I want him able to speak when we get back to my offices.”
“He will be more than able to talk.” Was Caiden’s bland reply. Nothing else was said the rest of the trip.
Caiden was acting very out of character. His usual boyish attitude was gone and it was replaced by a stern serious look that had permeated his features since his encounter with the Magus earlier that night. He was actually starting to act like the Cadian he was, Torben thought to himself. The Chimera poured through several more turns and then came to a sudden, screeching halt as they came to the gates of the Inquisiton fortress.
Its tall black spires reached up to compete even with the tallest of the hive spires. On most planets that were fortunate enough, well most would say fortunate enough to have a Inquisition fortress, nothing on the planet competed with it. It was the tallest, biggest, grandest building on the planet. And they were all the same. They were sharp buildings, seeming to sport jagged edges on all of its surfaces. The jet black didn’t reflect any light at all. The structure seemed to be a shadow that absorbed all light that touched it. The grimness of the towering structure might seem over dramatic but it served its purpose, as a grim reminder of the shadow that moves among the Imperium. Of the servants that will not hesitate to carry out the Emperor’s will. The one on Radnar wasn’t the biggest building on the planet. It had been at one time but there had been other, grander building projects since then. Normally the local Inquisitor Lord would order planet funds to be spent on expanding the fortress so that it was still the grandest, but Torben wasn’t as concerned with that as most of his peers were. He always spent the funds on things that would help his quest of exterminating the genestealer cults more immediately than making his “house” bigger. It had taken a while for the business types of Radnar to build something that stood taller and grander. Most were afraid of being declared heretics and hunted down for it. Many men have been killed for much less. But there is a limit as to how long a business man can wait. His “undying” loyalty to the Emperor will keep his expantionistic business needs at bay only so long.
Even though the gurads knew who it was they checked ID slates and their mission log against the occupants of the vehicle. They did so quickly and respectfully. They knew that nothing was wrong but Torben had ordered that every vehicle be checked at the gate. Even if it was his own. Despite being raised a civiallian Torben was very military minded when it came to running the Inquisition’s forces on Radnar. That may have rubbed off on him from Caiden who was from Caida. The most militarized planet in the Imperium. Torben looked up at Caiden again as the passed through the four gates that protected the outer courtyard. Caiden’s purple eyes seemed to lack some of their luster. His sandy colored hair was matted and messed up from the intense scuffle that had happened tonight. After missions he usually was in good spirits, especially if it had gone well. Even though the night hadn’t been very successful it wasn’t a total scrub. They had managed to capture the Speaker, he would undoubtedly have some information for them. Even if they had to interpret what the meaning behind it was. Most prisnoners that were associated with Genestealer cults weren’t of much use. They were either to indoctrinated or they were 2nd or 3rd generation stealers which were of no use at all.
The Chimera came to a screeching halt again and the occupants shifted visible toward the front of the vehicle. Every one accept for the Speaker. Torben didn’t know how he did it but he managed not to slide into the bodie of fallen Storm Trooper. Maybe it was Caiden’s ominous shotgun that he was holding loosely in his hands with the barrel pointed lazily down in the direction of the speaker. The door clanged as the clamps let loose and slammed into the paved square that sat in front of the Inquisition fortress.
“On your feet Speaker.” Caiden ordered.
The Speaker scrambled to his feet and began to stagger down the ramp. He was stooped under the weight of a null ring that was latched around his neck to completely contain his rudimentary pshycic powers.
“Stop. I didn’t tell you to move yet.” Caiden stated in a flat tone.
Immeidiately the Speaker froze, mid step, with one foot hanging in the air.
“You sure have a way with people.” Torben said to Caiden
There was no reply from Caiden.
Torben just shook his head as he limped down the ramp and off towards his office.

“ Lord Strutgar I assure you we didn’t anticipate the level of cult activity that we encounterd tonight. Had we, you would have been informed before our leaving this facility and cordially invited to join in our little frolic.” Said Torben while over using his hands to get his point across.
“You may not have had the foresight to think that there would be a Magus there this night but I would have if you had informed me about it in the first place!” Lord Strutgar yelled at Torben from across the desk his hands were resting on.
Torben didn’t show any signs of fear or aggression. Despited the fact he wanted to blast the idiot in front of him back through the door he had so unceremoniously burst through several minutes ago. Strutgart was a formidable human. He was bionically enhanced internally, but had no outward signs of it. He was 6’9 and well over 250 pounds of muscle. The massive power sword he wore everywhere was in its customary place, strapped across his back. He was in informal wear, which constituted a heavily armored bodyglove that had quotes from the Emperor and saints alike inscribed on its bright white surface. He usually wore a suit of power armor that had been gifted him by the Lords of the Segmentum. His shaven head always gleamed , even, it seemed, when there shouldn’t have been enough light for it to do so.
“I am sorry Lord Strutgart, I didn’t mean any offense, I have acted in this way innumerable times in the past and it didn’t upset you. I mearly assumed that I had the same liberties to act that I always have.” Torben said as calmly as he could.
“You have always taken your liberties to far, Torben. Your are lucky that I haven’t had your authority curtailed. I am the one in charge of this operation and you will not take any more actions without first informing me.” Strutgart commaned while leaning in closer to intimidate Torben.
Torben came up out of his chair, ignoring the shooting pains that shot up his leg.
“You will not order me to do anything Strutgart, the Inquisition sent us here as equals and you will respect that. I do not have to inform you of anything that I do, or any actions that I order. I have, up to now, told either you or your aides myself of what operations I had coming up. If anything was to short notice you always had a report on your desk the next morning. Furthermore if you ever speak to me in that tone again I will send you back through that door with enough force that your aids will have to dig you out of sub-level twenty!” Torben evenly said back.
“You’ve informed me of everything? Have you really Torben? Then why did I have to resort to sending one of my own men into your holding cells to find out that you took a prisoner this night!?” smiled Strutgart.
“Because we have been back two hours and I have not had time to complete a report on our operation since you stormed into my office!” Torben’s voice was starting to show some of his agitation.
“Now, now kids, don’t make me call the Emperor on you.” Caiden scolded from the doorway. He was leaning on the doorframe. He was still in his heavy overcoat and armored bodyglove.
“Your insolence will also not be tolerated, Caiden. The holy work of the Inquisition is not something to make light of. Your attitude puts your commitment to our, no your work in question.” Strutgart sneared.
Torben saw Caiden’s eyes go slightly flatter. He knew that was one of the very few subtle signs that he was about to do something rash. Torben also noted that, unfortunealty, Caiden was still wearing his shotgun.
“Lord Strutgart, Caiden didn’t mean anything by that, we both are tired and more than a little on edge after our encounter tonight. Why don’t we take this back up in the morning. After a good nights rest this problem will be easier to resolve.” Torben managed to say before Caiden made a already unpleasant conversation even more so.
“I see no point in continuing this discussion until you both start showing your good faith and seriousness that this holy work requires. I will expect you to start adjusting your attitudes.” This last statement was directed at Caiden. Strutgart walked calmly past Caiden. Not even looking at him. After he was down the hall and around the corner Caiden moved up to Torben’s desk.
“So did you get all your stuff hidden before he showed up?” Caiden’s smile asked.
“Yes, there wasn’t much to hide. I haven’t had time to do much studying lately. The Cults have been to active.” Torben said with a regretful tone.
“Yeah, things have been hoppin lately haven’t they.” Caiden somberly agreed. He smiled. “If Strutgart saw your chart-o-heresy that conversation would have gone much worse.”
“Yes it would have.” Torben agreed with a chuckle. “That mono-dominant would have me ceremoniously killed in the name of the Emperor.”
“Even though your studies on the Cults have helped us imeasureably over the years. If it wasn’t for your studies we wouldn’t have the knowledge about how these cults work. And without that we would be no better than a regular bunch of Guardsmen running around in the underhive getting eaten.”
“But Strutgart will never be able to see the value of the research that I do.” Resigned Torben.
“Yep, that one doesn’t read no books well.” Caiden said.
“One day your mouth is going to get you in a lot of trouble.” Torben laughed.
“Everyone keeps telling me that but I still haven’t gotten more than I can handle.” Shrugged Caiden.
“Seriously though we need to somehow mollify Strugart. He may be a thick headed mono-dominant that sees heresy everywhere he looks but he is not only a experienced Inquisitor, he could make our lives very difficult.
“If he goes running to the Segmentum Lords I guess they could censor us or place us under investigation. I’ve had that happen to me before.” Smiled Caiden.
“That’s hard to believe.” Torben said dryly. “How are you Caiden, you seemed very out of character during the trip back. Have you had your wound looked at?”
“Oh that?” Caiden looks at his right shoulder. It was smeared with dried blood and his coat had a circular burn mark through it. “I’ve had a lot worse. I’ll dress it myself later when I clean up.”
After a short pause Torben reiterated, “But are you feeling ok, you seemed very shook up. I talked to Sergeant Brinous. He was genuinely worried about you. He says the rest of the men were a bit rattled by how you reacted tonight.”
“Sergeant Brinous? Remind me to demote him for that.” Caiden teased. “I don’t know Torben, I just got scared is all. Well that isn’t really all. But it is I guess. I am not used to being scared. I grew up on Cadia, fought for twenty years with the PDF before joining you as a Interigator. In those twenty years I saw more of chaos than many senior Inquisitors do. None of that rattled me as much as tonight did. Looking into those eyes I felt like I was falling. No, wait I never looked directly at them. I was to scared to even move my eyes.” Caiden softly said as he crossed the room to stand before a painting of the Bartholomue Braccarius cathedral that Torben had hung there fifteen years ago.
Torben had risen and slowly moved to stand next to Caiden. He reached up and put a hand on his shoulder.
“We all get scared sometimes Caiden, tonight was frightening. Not just because we were in a brief fire fight but because of the level of enemies that were there. We don’t often encounter Maguses. They are some of the most potent enemies we have. That one tonight could have easily beaten me in a psychic battle. I was not properly prepared to deal with one of his power. But he didn’t. I don’t know why but he didn’t.”
“If this gets anymore sappy I am going to use my shotgun to shut your mouth Torben.” Caiden interrupted.
“Torben gave a hearty laugh. “I am sorry if I offened your tough man sensibilities Caiden. But if you ever do need to talk you know you can always come to me.”
“Yes daddy, Caiden said mockingly.
“If I was your daddy I would have beaten the smartness out of your mouth years ago.” Torben stated.
Caiden just smiled. “So are you going to sleep anytime soon?
“Its only four in the morning, and after what happened tonight, proably not.” Said Torben as he looked up from his wrist chrono.
“You want to go visit our prisoner?” Caiden said with a hopeful smile.
“Why not. We need to get done with him quick anyway before Strutgart gets tired of waiting in about, twenty minutes.” Torben said sarcastically.

As Torben and Caiden exited one of the lifts that carried them down the twenty eight levels from Torben’s office to the dungeons a congicator approached them.
“Here are the records you requested Inquisitor Lord Torben.” Its mechanical voice stated without emotion. The congicator was more machine that man now. Most of the organic parts had been replaced with mechanical augmentations. This one was very far in life. Torben doubted if anything was left of the original human except for the spinal cord and brain tissue.
Torben leafed through the stack of papers, a frown forming on his face.
“I requested these over a month ago, I assumed the order had been lost.”
“I am sorry Inquisitor Lord Torben, we have been kept busy with rush orders placed by Inquisitor Lord Strutgart. He has been requesting records to fast for us to keep up.” Came the mechanical reply.
“Strutgart?” Torben said increduesly. “You mean his savants?”
“No, Inquisitor Lord Torben, He has had 1,342 individual documents brought up to his personal office for his reading in the last 9 days. Not including the 12,456 documents he has requested in the last month.”
“What has he been requesting?” Torben asked, hoping that they weren’t special clearence documents.
“Most have been history texts on the local Imperial Guard units. He has requested Inquisitor Caiden’s complete record twice now, Several articles on the Saint Bartholomue Bracarius. I am sorry Inquisitor Lord Torben but I am not allowed to reveal the content of the other documents to you. You can place a information request with the Head congicator in the Library and receive a full transcript of the documents requested by Inquisitor Lord Strutgart. I am capable of filing a request for you. Would you like me to procede with that action Inquisitor Lord Torben?” the congicator replied.
“No thank you. That will be all.” Torben replied while looking over the papers that had been handed to him.
The congicator turned and proceded up the lift they had just exited.
“So it sounds like that one can read.” Caiden said with a little surprise in his voice.
“Yes it does.” Torben said absently as he finished flipping through the papers and stuffed them into a pocket on the inside the trench coat he was still wearing from the mission that night. “We will have to be careful around him from now on. I don’t like how he has requested your personal records twice now. He is looking for something, don’t doubt that.”
“Then were lucky he doesn’t have the brain power to find it quickly.” Caiden smiled.
“He may not have but he has enough savants to find whatever it is he is looking for. He has hundreds of them.” Torben said somberly as they entered the last lift down to the dungeon.
“Even if most of them are busy recording his mighty deeds.” Caiden said as the lift doors closed.

“The dungeon of the Inquisition Fortress on Radnar was a typical one. Void shields blocked off the seventy cells that were arranged in rows of ten each and ran seven deep. Each cell was ten feet by twenty feet with a space of four feet in between each, giving the large underground room a honeycombed feel. The lighting was not much different from the underhive but here each room had it’s own controls. Not only for light, but for temperature, sound, psychic dampers, and any other environmental factor that a Inquisitor might need to control to aid him in his interrogation.
“Sergeant Brinous said that he was secured in cell fifty five.” Said Caiden as they walked down the first five rows and half way down the aisle. The cell they were facing had the number fifty-five inscribe on it in gold lettering, set off by the adamite door. There were seven locks on the outside of the door, the psychic dampers were engaged as were the void shields. Torben took out his rosette and pushed it into the top lock. The Inquisitorial rosette was more than just a badge of office. It had a powerful multi-key and some the most advanced encryption technology in the Imperium. Torben gave it a quarter turn to the right and then pulled it out. The seven locks all clicked open, one at a time down the door. The mechanical echoes of the noise reverberated through the honeycomb of cells for several minutes. The door then swung open and the psychic dampers and void shields were deactivated.
Caiden strode in first. He had brought a psychic damping clamp in case the guards hadn’t put one on the speaker. Even though he wasn’t a powerful psyker he was still dangerous. His worries were, however, unfounded and he placed the clamp on the floor next to the table where the speaker lay. The table was four feet tall and the myriad of straps that had been used to strap the Speaker down were all fastened to the bottom of the table. The solid legs were made of adamite and went several feet into the floor. Which was also, solid adamite.
Torben followed behind Caiden more slowly, the effects of the psychic dampers had not yet fully worn off. He was a much more powerful psyker that Caiden was. Caiden’s abilities didn’t go much past a heightened six sense that had gotten him out of many scrapes in his life on Caida and ultimately landed him in the service of Torben. After Torben had adjusted to the numbing effects of the dampers he moved to stand next to the table. Caiden moved past the table to the console and engaged the spot light that was directly above the head of the table. He also turned the sound deadening field to maximum so that none of the interrogation could be monitored from outside. He left the pict-recorder active but deactivated the mirophone that was slaved to it.
The Speaker, who had been either sleeping or passed out, started to flinch at the intnse light. He was coming around.
“Caiden take off his damping clamp. I want to be able to look into his mind without all that interferance.” Torben said.
“You sure? Did you get a good enough gauge of his powers on the stage tonight?” Caiden said apprehensively.
“Yes, he threw everything that he had at me up on the stage. It wasn’t much. If the black ships had found him before the Genestealer cults did He wouldn’t have made anything except and offering to the golden throne.” Torben assured.
“Very well.” Caiden sighed. He reached down and disengaged the clamp. As he pulled it up the Speaker suddenly came to.
He tried to move his head up, then his arms, legs and started heaving his whole body around trying to get free of his bonds. Though he was throwing all of his weight into it the table wasn’t even budging. He started screaming inanely and knashing his teeth.
“Stop him Caiden! Before he bites out his tongue and is of no use to us.” Torben urged.
Caiden calmly drove his fist into the mans stomach, forcing all the air out of his body. The speaker went limp quickly, gasping for air.
“I am a servant of the Emperor, prophet of Bartholomue, you have no right to hold me, “ the Speaker wheezed, “ you are inhibiting the holy work of Bartholomue.”
Torben leaned very close to his face. “ I am an Inquisitor of his most holy Inquisition. I have the right to hold anyone except the Emperor himself. No saint, planetary govenor, general, or prophet can overrule my authority. Remember that. Now we are going to ask you some questions and if you answer them quickly and truthfully things will go well for you. If you insist on lying to us things will not go so well for you, and we will still get the answers we want. So make it easy for all of us and tell us what we want to know.”
The Speaker started to gather his will to lash out at Torben but Torben quickly smothered it with his own.
“We have not even started yet and you are already resisting? Maybe we should leave you down here for another week with no food or water except for a nutrient drip and let you think about it.” Torben pondered ominously.
The Speaker started to whimper slightly. He had been in the cell only a couple of hours but in the pitch black with absolutely no sound whatsoever it had probably felt like a couple of days. Torben had known some men to go mad when isolated like that for a week’s time. He couldn’t afford this one to be lost down that path, but the Speaker didn’t know that.
“Well, will you talk then?” Torben asked.
The speaker made a subtle nod. That was the only movement allowed him by the table’s straps.
“Very well then, lets start at the beginning. What planet are you from?” Torben asked.
“Radnar.” Came the one word reply.
“Have you ever been off world?”
“No”
“Have you ever lived in the Underhive?”
“All my life.”
“When did you first meet the Magus?”
There was no reply from the speaker.
“When did you first meet the Magus?”
Still here was no reply. Torben probed slightly wit his mind at the memory centers of the Speakers brain. There was definetly a block there. He hadn’t expected less. Maguses were notorious for their ability to instill absolute loyalty in the ones they dominated. Even when separated by the distance and circumstance that the Speaker was in. He couldn’t have told the pair anything about the Magus, Cult activity he had witnessed or locations he had been. Torben knew that.
“Caiden bring me the second vial from the left over there.” Torben gestured with his right hand.
Caiden reached up and took down a vial and syringe. He pulled the fluid out of the vial with the syringe and passed it to Torben. It was a relaxant. Torben was hoping that it would relax the Speaker enough that the potent blocks the Magus had put up.
As Torben admisitered the medcine the effect was visible in moments. The Speakers body went limp and his mouth opened slightly as his eye lids started to droop.
“What planet are you from?” Torben began questioning again.
“Radnar.” Came the sleepy reply.
“Have you ever been offworld?”
“No”
“What is your name?”
“The Speaker”
“Have you ever lived in the underhive?”
“All my life?”
“What is your first memory?”
“Running down a street with my big brother.”
“What is the name of your big brother?”
“Saul. Saul Slachener.”
“Where do you live?”
“With my friends.”
“Where do your friends live.”
“hhhrrggnnn.”
“What is your name?”
“Pa…The Speaker.”
“Have you ever been off world?”
“No”
“Have you ever lived in the Underhive?”
“Yes….unnnggghhh life.
“What is your name?”
“Paul Slach….Speaker.”
“What is your first memory?”
“Street…..big…..running….”
“What planet are you from?”
“Raaa…..Radnar.”
“What is your name?”
“Paul Slachener.”
“Where do you live?”
“Told you…..with friends.”
“Where do your friends live?”
“Down in under……hrnngghh hive.”
“Where in the underhive?
“hrgnnnn…..hurts….don’t know.”
“What is your name?”
“ Paul Slachener”
“Where do you live?”
“Down in under hive with friends….uuunnnggg.”
“Where do your friends live?”
“Sub level thirty seven……no……around there all time.”
“When did you first meet the Magus?”
“What Magus?”
“The bald man with black eyes. Where did you first meet him.”
“At bar….urrrgggg….stop asking……head hurts…..me no know.”
“ Where did you first meet the Magus?”
“At bar…told you…leave lone.”
“What bar?”
“uunnnnnaaguumm…….”
“WHAT BAR?”
“AAAA……hurt please leave lone…. head hurt.
“TELL ME WHAT BAR!”
“………..”
“Crap! Torben his brain is hemroging!” Yelled Caiden. “I need a medical team to cell Fifty-Five NOW!” Caiden shouted into the vox unit on the wall.
“Frag, I didn’t think that would happen,” Torben said. “The barrier isn’t that strong. He shouldn’t have had a hemorage.”
“Well should or shouldn’t have he is.” Caiden stated as he looked down at the man that was now frothing at the mouth and going into convulsions. “I hope he doesn’t loose to much of his memory. WHERE IS THAT MEDICAL TEAM!” he shouted back into the vox.
Seconds later the team arrived and started to stablize him. The damping clamp was placed back around his neck and Torben and Caiden headed back up to Torben’s office. As Caiden slumped down into a chair Torben pulled the stack of records out of his coat pocket and dropped them on the table. Dust spewed out from inbetween the sheets.
“Old records huh?” Caiden commented as he waved the dust away from his face.
“Yes, quite old. It’s a list of all encounters with the Ghosts. I have been trying to make some sense out of the scattered reports of their activity.”
“Ghosts? I can tell you a little about them but most people just chalk them up to the Cult of the Storm. They sound a little backwards but they aren’t really heretical.”
“Yes I know but something about these encounters bothers me. Everytime a encounter is reported it is when our PDF forces are heavily engaged and losing a fight. The Ghosts simply appear, destroy the opposition and then disappear back into the hive. They don’t sound like normal Cultists to me.” Torben said skeptically.
“Well if they aren’t I don’t know what they would be. The cult of the Storm is a pro-Imperial cult, they just don’t want to work within the boundaries of Imperial Law. That is their only crime but one that we have to watch. Who knows if someday they will turn on us like so many other pro-Imperial cults have. I remember a Death Cult that went bad back in my days working on Cadia. Took a whole regiment to hunt down and kill those ten cultists. I don’t want have to deal with another anti-Imperial cult.” Caiden said.
“I wonder if any Storm Hawks stayed behind……” Torben’s voice trailed off.
Caiden sat bolt upright. “Storm Hawks! Now Torben I know that they sound a little supernatural in those accounts but…”
“I know.” Torben cut him off. “I know that sounds crazy but this sounds like a space marine operation to me. When the Storm Hawks were declared heretics they maintained that they weren’t and fled the planet rather than have it destroyed by the Inquisition. That has never sounded like the action of heretics to me. I think it would fit right in with the mind set of a space marine that is dedicated to defending a planet form an infestation of this kind. I would assume that some of the marines wanted to stay behind and continue the fight. I surely don’t think that these kind of actions are beyond their abilities.” Torben argued.
“I surely think that it is late and lack of sleep is affecting your judgement.” Caiden said evenly. “If Strutgart gets wind of you researching anything on the Storm Hawks he will come after you as a heretic sympathizer. Don’t you doubt it for a minute.”
“Yes I know he would. Maybe your right, Caiden. Maybe it is late and my thoughts are getting cloudy. I should get some sleep. And you should get that wound dressed.” Torben emphasized.
“Oh stop it mom. I will get it taken care off.” Caiden whined as he got up and walked out the door.
Torben watched him go and sighed. Then he turned and headed back into the chamber behind his office. He didn’t sleep much anymore. He merely just studied. He wondered if lack of sleep was starting to cloud his judgement. He looked down at his chronometer. It was nearing six in the morning. He should be dead on his feet, but he wasn’t tired in the least. He gave another heavy sigh as he slumped down into a chair and started to read through the records that the congicator had given him that morning.

Caiden rolled over in his bunk. A ragged pain that ran through his upper body woke him up. He sat up cursing and reached up to his shoulder. He felt the crust of dried blood and the fibers of a ripped body glove. He cursed again as he realized that he had fallen asleep without properly cleaning his wound. He pushed himself up off of his bunk with his good arm. His halting steps carried him the short distance across his quarters, his feet finding holes in the mess on the floor. He stepped over several body gloves that desperately needed washing, a couple of autopistols that were still in their holsters with belts wrapped tightly around them. As he stumbled into the closed fresher door he squirmed and tried to free himself of the torn body glove. After several minutes of struggle he managed to get it off and step into the fresher. The warm water felt soothing as it hit his face, pushing his dirty hair out of his eyes. The river of warmth ran down his neck, and became a torrent of pain when it hit his wounded shoulder. Cursing once again, Caiden started to scrub the infected areas out.
Fully dressed in his customary armored body glove, with a hip worn auto pistol strapped to his right thigh, Caiden made his way down the hall. He occupied an empty officers quarters in the Inquisitorial Storm Troopers Barracks. The living space was modest, even for an Interrigator, much less a full Inquisitor. But Caiden had never wanted more. Being a Cadian he was much more at home in a military barracks than he would ever be in the opulent estate that Torben had. That is not to say that Torben lived excessively. Torben lived a modest life by Inquisitor standards, having only what he needed to run the operations here on Radnar and a few luxuries. Cadiens heavy boots made the walls echo his approach as he came out into the central room of the barracks.
It was four stories tall, and big enough to hold a quarter of the regiment that was housed there at a time. It was the 2nd lunch shift. He moved to stand in back of the already formed chow line. For the length of the line it moved at a very fast pace. The discipline that was instilled in these men carried over even to the cooks that worked in the barracks. All the men were the best soldiers this Segmentum had to offer. Radnar was a rariety in that over 50% of the Storm Trooper regiment stationed here was born on Radnar. The only place that Caiden had seen better fighters was on his home world, Cadia. Picking up his already prepared tray he moved to sit in the next seat available. There wasn’t much talking at the lunch tables. There never was. Caiden started spooning the overly thick nutrient soup into his mouth as he thought of the neuf-steak that he was sure Torben was enjoying. Caiden kept the smile at that thought to himself. He didn’t want to ruin the mood of the table.


Torben was busy restacking the many books and scrolls that he kept in his offices when Caiden walked in late that same afternoon.
“You know we have servitors for that kind of thing.” Caiden indicated, pointing to the occupied charging station on the wall.
“Yes, and we have these wonderful things called med-servitors that can dress a wound better than just about any human too, I am sure that you have heard of them Cadien?” Torben didn’t even turn around.
Caiden just grunted as he flopped into one of the two chairs that sat in front of Torben’s large wooden desk. The office was of decent size. Caiden had to take several long strides to cross it in any direction. The walls were lined with books, holo and pict viewing stations that had various logs plugged in and watch halfway through. Above Torben’s desk the phrase, “Know your enemy, for your enemy already knows you.” Was inscribed on the wall with gold lettering. Torben was by nature a calm and peaceful person, he loved to read and study various subjects and had a incredible retention of what he read. His office reflected that. The various open books and half viewed pict recordings were like his mind. Always working on several things at once.
“So what reports of cult activity have come in today?” Caiden said absently as he spun his drawn auto pistol around his finger.
“Not many,” Torben said as he turned. “I really wish you wouldn’t do that, someday its going to go off and shoot someone.”
“Well then lets get Sturtgart in here.” Caiden said excitedly.
“You do realize that he proably has my office bugged.” Torben said seriously.
“Nah, if he had your office bugged he would know about those nasty heretical things that you have, called books.” Replied Caiden.
“Still we don’t need to give him a reason to dislike us any more than he already does.” Torben sighed as he rubbed his face.
“I didn’t know that was possible.” Cadien muttered as he caught the handle of the pistol he was now tossing in the air.
“We didn’t get to much out of the Speaker,” Torben said, his tone turning serious. “The only thing was the name of his brother and that he first met the Magus at a bar on sub level thirty seven. Are there any bars that stand out in your mind on that level?”
“No. There are hundreds of bars on every sub level. It would take weeks to find the right one. Especially if I had to do the work by myself….” Caiden let the last part of his statement hang.
“So you want to drag a poor crippled old man along with you. That is just great. I suppose if you think that you need me. I can come some of the nights but there are those of us that actually try to do our paperwork on time.” Torben sighed.
“Nah, if you don’t send in any paperwork for a decade or so they stop bugging you about it.” Caiden stated with another, particularly high toss of his auto pistol.
“So are we going to go tonight or do you think that you could curb your enthusiasm?” asked Torben
“Tonight would be fine with me. Its not like us Inquisitors have much to do anyway.” Was Caiden’s non-chalant reply.
“Well then I will meet you down at the motor pool at sundown then. In the mean time I have a lot of work to catch up on so if you’ll excuse me.” Torben said as he rose and walked into the back room of his office.
Caiden just shook his head at the lengths Torben went to do things by the book. He never much liked doing things that way. He stayed in the chair for another few minutes and then got up, and walked out the door.

It was nearing sundown. Radnar’s yellow sun was slipping down below the horizon’s towering hive structures. Radnar was a hive world. Most of its surface was covered in bloated city structures. The fading yellow light streaked past the points on a hundred spires that reached for the sky. The streaked light hit Torben’s face as he came to stand in front of one of a thousand windows in this hall of the Inquisition’s Fortress. Radnar certinaly had its beautiful moments he thought to himself. The sharp contrasting horizon was breath taking. But Torben knew what that sharp contrast hid. Radnar was plagued with an infestation of Gene Stealers. The remenants of a supposed hive fleet that managed to send its vanguard to start preparing the planet for destruction but was stopped by the Ultra Marines at Maccarage. Torben had his doubts about whether or not these Stealers were actually from a hive fleet or just a infestation from Ymar. Where Gene Stealers were first encountered, completely separate from the Hive Fleets.
As Torben marveled at the Radnar’s beautiful sunset he felt a sadness tinge his heart. He knew that as an Inquisitor he would never really get to go somewhere just because it was beautiful, or just because it was a wonderful place. He would always be where there was a threat to the Imperium. On a planet that’s beauty hid a evil, most of the time that evil was so over powering that it tinted the look of the planet. Maybe it was because Radnar had been infected for so long, perhaps it was because of all the man made structures on the surface, or maybe it was because Torben liked this planet more than any other he had been on, that Radnar didn’t look infected. It looked like many other Hive cities across the Imperium. But to Torben there was something special about this planet. He couldn’t put his finger on it but there was something that caused peace to creep over him.
He slowly turned and started walking down the hall. The hollow thuds of his cane falls seeming to fill the massive shadow he was casting across the hundred foot wide hall. He was once again dressed in his heavy over coat, hiding beneath it an armored body glove that would hopefully protect him tonight. He turned down the overly grandiose hall that led to Lord Sturtgart’s offices. He didn’t really want to talk to the over inflated Inquisitor Lord but in an effort to avoid further angst he was going to inform him of Caiden’s and his plans for the night and possibly the next couple weeks. He seemed to shrink as he started walking down that hall. The hollow thuds of his cane that seemed to fill the room just moments before now seemed weak and impotent. This wasn’t going to be a pleasant visit Torben knew. He tried to think of something witty to say, like Caiden would, but it wasn’t forthcoming. Torben just wasn’t in the mood. With that thought he banged the head of his cane on the thirty foot door that opened to Lord Sturtgarts’s reception hall.
The doors slowly creeped open. They didn’t screech or squeal like one would expect them to. In fact there wasn’t a sound except for the resonating echo of Torben’s knock until the blare of horns pierced the room. Torben ignored the horns and proceded into the room. Above him flew several dozen cherubs, all blasting their horns to announce the presence of a guest. Their song was different for each guest, Torben guessed that was how Strutgart knew who was coming. That seemed to be far to much trouble to Torben. But a pict recorder and a monitor just weren’t Strutgart’s style.

Walking down the plush carpteted aisle was akin to walking through sand. The carpet was so soft that his feet sank several inches with each foot fall. The walls towering over him to his left and right were covered with murals depecting the great Inquisitors. All standing in their shining white armor, Torben noticed that they were all mono-dominants. Their wasn't a potriat of any of the famous Inquisitors such as Czeak, Kryptmann, Eisenhorn, or Ravenor. All the pictured Inquistitors did have one thing in common, they looked like Sturtgart, or he looked like them. Torben chuckled at that thought. He knew that Strutgart was itching for a opportunity to add himself to the walls, but he was waiting for some coming accomplishement that would place him their beyond a shadow of a doubt.

The trumpet music was fading as Torben left the reception hall and came into a smaller, but still large room. It's walls were made of the purest white marble, and the floors reflected like glass. Down the center of the room a single three foot wide red carpet led up to a throne like desk that was set a dozen feet above the floor upon a white marble dais. The dais wasn't quite as white as the walls, and as Torben approached he could see why.
Every inch was covered in writing, It was far to small for Torben to read and would have been still if he had been a foot from it, instead of the seventy or so he still had to go before he reached it.

Behind the desk sat Sturtgart, Still in his white armored body glove with his sword resting in a holder at his right hand. There was nothing on the desk, Strutgart sat watching Torben approach silently. Behind his desk stood three men. Each had a power maul thats head rested on the floor at their feet. They were in white ceremonial armor complete with visors that hid their face. Torben was almost having to squint at the brightness of it all.

"True servants of the Emperor do not flinch at the light, they bathe in the radiance of it's holiness, and are refreshed by its divine nature." Stated Strutgart, still sitting behind the desk.
"Epithis, if I am not mistaken," replied Torben "And may I add, Those that do nothing but gaze at the majesty of his holiness, the Emperor, do not appreciate what it is they look at, for they do not see the darkness for the light.
"Those that look at the darkness are doomed to be drawn in by it's nature, All those that think they are strong enough to withstand the will of chaos are fools, for only by the Emperor's light do we have the strength to combat the darkness." Strutgart replied in a almost monotone manner.
"We must go with the Emperor's light behind us lighting our path into the darkness, so that we may defeat it. Those that walk with his light before them are blinded to the enemies approach." Torben countered
"Carry the light of the Emperor before you into battle for by his divine holiness will you be granted victory." Replied Strutgart, with slight irritation.
"Ah Sebastion Thor," Torben exclaimed, "Forget all this praying, I came here to blow the heads off some heretics, and I can't very well do that in this church now can I?"
Strutgart looked puzzeled.
"Inquisitor Caiden." Was Torben's reply.
Strutgart looked slightly irritated at the mention of Caiden but took that quote as a sign from Torben that he had won.
"Did you need something Torben? I am a very busy man." Strutgart stated with finality.
"Yes actually, I came to inform you that Caiden and I will be going down into the underhive tonight to act on some intelligence that has recently come up. And I thought that I would extend the courtesy of inviting you to join us." Torben said cordially.
"I am afraid that I have far to much to do Torben, but I did want to talk to you about Caiden, and since you are here we might as well discuss it now."
"You always get right to the point don't you," Thought Torben, "Was it anything in particular?" Torben said.
"I have never liked Caiden, I have always thought that he didn't take his job seriously enough, but he is a fellow Inquisitor and until now I have tolerated his antics because of the good that he is doing. However, I have recently found some very disturbing things in his record that suggest he may not be entirely stable."
"Stable? How do you mean?"
"With all the time he spent on Cadia he may have become tainted by the very enemy he fought."
"Strutgart! Are you accusing him of being infected by Chaos!? That is quite a accusation, I hope you have plenty to back it up or you and I will have it out right here and now, It is one thing to disagree with someones modus oporandi but to accuse them of taint is quite another." Torben said with a cutting edge in his voice.
"I have made no accusation and will not make any until I have suffecient proof," said Strutgart rising from his desk, "However I would watch my back when around Caiden if I was you."
Strutgart walked out of the hall and left Torben standing in shock at the hints he had left.
"Great, that is the last thing I need," Thought Torben. He didn't say it aloud because the cherubs were still hovering a dozen feet above him, watching.




Strobing neon lights pulsed along the rim of the ceiling. Their glow was muted by the flashing signs that guided denizens of this place to their favorite games, he sound of hundreds of machines and the music, gunshots and clunks of control sticks filled the room. Caiden was casually leaning against the wall with a very cross Torben standing hunched over his cane on his left.
“Now that we’re here would you care to tell me what the throne it is we are doing HERE!” Torbens voice slowly rose to a yell.
No one in the massive room took notice. Torben wondered if Caiden had even noticed, though he was standing mere feet from him.
“I got a tip from someone that the Voice’s contact might be meeting him here tonight.” Caiden yelled back, now stooped over closer to Torben’s ear.
“A tip? I thought you said you had a hunch!” Torben replied confused.
“I did but I got a tip from someone pretty high up,” he leaned closer, “Someone who lives in the Storm Trooper Barracks.”
Torben’s face scrunched up. “ That informant wouldn’t happen to live in room 122, would he?”
“ Why yes! How did you guess?” Caiden gasped with way to much enthusiasm.
“Because that person’s hunches aren’t reliable at all.” Torben replied sullenly.
Caiden’s purple eyes glinted as he smiled through the slightly translucent piece of cloth that he was wearing across his mouth and nose. He reached up and pulled it down past his nose.
“Whew! Why don’t these people ever shower?”
“They’re to busy playing.” Torben said. “These 24 hour holocades consume people. Especially since they started giving out prize money for high scores. People stay here for days, drawn by the flashing lights and the promise of easy money, ironic because if they…..” Torben looked up. Caiden had walked off into a corner and was playing some shooting game. He was brandishing the plastic pistol at the kid who was competeing with him. Torben sighed. Working with Caiden was sometimes like working with a 6 year old. It was little mystery to Torben why Caiden had left Cadia. The serious and sour demonour of most Cadian’s would have made Caiden seem very out of place.
Torben closed his eyes and began pushing his mind out into the room. He had undergone extensive preperation before tonight. He wasn’t going to be caught unprepared to deal with the Magos if they met. He felt the incredible amount of emotion in the room. People were on edge, trying to squeeze a little more concentration out of their tired, drugged, or even enhanced minds. He pushed his mind along one row of gaming machines and then another. Suprisingly on each row of about 120 machines he would encounter a psyker. They were all to busy winning and astounding those around them, or to be more accurate, winning their money to notice Torben’s cursiary brush. If the Magos was here, he wanted to find it, instead of being found first. Several people walked by the old man hunched against the wall, leaning on his cane. None of them paid him any heed, he was just another burnt out soul to them. Someone who had become to enthralled by the holocade. The old torn trench coat didn’t hurt the look either.
After he had searched the many rows he felt a presence entering the room from the door on his left. Torben went shooting back to his body. He lifted his head in time to see several large hulking men dressed in baggy overcoats walk in. Leading them was a small bald man. He wore a purple robe that nearly drug the floor and small, round, dark glasses. He lead them into the mill of the crowd.
After giving them about a minute to get well into the room Torben rose and turned to get Caiden. He nearly knocked him over. Caiden was walking back with a big box full of gold colored coins.
“Hey! Careful! I won these on that shooter over there. Guess all that real life practice is finally paying off after all.” Caiden said with a smile. One that melted the second he saw the look on Torben’s face.
“He’s here isn’t he?” Caiden asked.
“I think so. He headed across the room about a minute ago with three big goons.”
“Baggy coats?” Caiden asked, Torben’s nod answered yes. “Then those goons are proably third generation. Several nasty mutations that they have to hide.”
“At least until they get where they are going. I get the feeling that this place isn’t all it seems. There are is a abnormal amount of psykers here.”
“Think they were hired by the owner to make sure that records aren’t broken to easily? You know, stack the deck a bit?” Caiden offered.
“That is a possibility but I still don’t like it. Most of them are strong enough to have noticed the Magus when he walked by but none of them have reacted yet.”
“You think we might be over our heads here?” Caiden asked
“Might be. I am going to put a alert out to Strutgart and let him know that we might need back up.”
“If you do that he’ll be here in minutes, kick the door in and start tearing the place up!” Caiden scoffed.
“I am counting on it.” Torben said with a rare smile of his own.
“You creep me out sometimes.” Caiden said.

“A message for you Lord Inquisitor.” A tremebling savant offered up a parchment raised above his bowed head. Strutgart reached down from his throne like chair and took it in his paw of a hand. He dismissed the savant without a word.
“So Torben and Caiden think that they might need some back up soon. Probably gotten themselves in over their heads trying to skulk around like they always do. I think that it is about time I showed them how a real Inquisitor works.” Strutgart thought to himself.

It was nearing 2 in the morning and the holocade was only getting fuller. People were streaming in after the 2nd shift got off at the munitorium plants in this part of the hive. None of them expected what happened next.
The front door burst off it’s hinges and several dozen Storm Troopers dressed in white carapace ran in. The sergeant’s vox caster was shouting for everyone to get down on their stomachs and to remain still.
From the back row Caiden and Torben watched with barely shielded mirth as the Troopers started going from person to person checking them for weapons.
“This could take all night.” Caiden moaned.
“I know but this is one of the few ways we could try and make the magus run and then follow him. Having the loudest distraction sometimes is your friend.” Torben said with a smirk.
The troopers were doing their job fairly quickly and efficiently until they came to the first psyker. One trooper had a meter that could detect the presence of a latent mind.
When they realized that this person was a psyker they started to put a null collar on him.
“Great Emperor no.” Whispered Torben as he watched what unfolded.
The psyker, was near panic, he knew what his fate was as an unregistered psyker. He lashed out at first with his hands and then his mind. One Trooper was thrown over several rows of mahinces and went crashing into another. The meter holding trooper fell to his knees clutching his head as his skin turned an unnatural shade of red. The last one just collapsed.
A panic gripped the crowded room, people started screaming and running for the door that was closest. As they all tried to squeeze through a hail of fire drove them back, killing dozens in seconds. The Troopers had secured the building before they had entered. They didn’t have any qualms about killing. There was a psyker in there. The sacrifice of every innocent soul in the building was worth the killing of the one psyker.
Torben could feel the air getting cooler. He saw the other psykers standing up and gather their power. There were at least a dozen. None of which was a match for Torben but all of them together, plus the likelihood of the Magus showing his face didn’t make the odds favorable.
“O well,” Torben muttered to himself. Caiden had already drawn his pistol from its thigh holster. He dropped two of the pskyers before they noticed him. They turned as one and Torben felt a wave of nausea come over him. Caiden was feeling a bit worse. He had fallen to his hands and knees, his weapon lying several feet from him, forgotten.
Torben knew that he didn’t have a choice. He gathered up every ounce of will he could muster and pushed back out at the waves of psychic energy. If he could just get some momentum. He dug deeper as he felt the concentration shift from Caiden to him. The weight was unbearable. He strove to put up a shield around himself and Caiden but there were just to many of them. Then something happened. The forces pushing against him just stopped. The sudden lack of resistance caused Torben to fall forward, like every machine around him. He looked up to where Caiden had been. He could see his boots and old worker trousers that was part of his disguise. He was on his feet. He heard the reports of Caiden’s pistol. Then he slipped into the sweet rest that the blackness offered.

“Good to see your coming around.” Caiden said.
It sounded like Caiden was using a 1,000 watt vox unit.
“Do you have to be so loud?” Torben asked in a whisper.
“Oh. Sorry didn’t realize that you had a headache. I thought that you would have recovered a little in the three days that you were out.” Caiden smirked.
“Three days!?” Torben exclaimed. He immediately regretted speaking at anything close to full volume. He slowly rubbed his temples.
“ I know a great girl that would be happy to make your head feel better.” Caiden said off handedly. “Sure she works several levels down but I think…”
“No thank you Caiden. I don’t need any of your girlfriends to help me. I like my money.” Torben rolled his eyes back.
With a deep sigh Torben lifted his upper body up on his elbows. The softness of his bed made it a little difficult. “So what happened with the Magus?”
“ I managed to follow him after I made sure that you were in good hands. Strutgart was having to much fun cleansing and all that to pay to much attention to me. I thought he would have been long gone by the time I had a chance to snoop about but he was just slipping out the back. The Troopers guarding the entrance he used were in a daze when I found them. Probably put to sleep or whatever by the Magus. I had to shake one pretty violently to get him to come out of it. He looked at me like I had just jumped out of no where. He obviously had no memory of what had happened. I started off down a random street hoping to get lucky. After a couple hours I noticed one of the thugs he walked in with standing outside a door. So I hid myself and waited for several hours before he came out. I can’t tell you how tempting it was to put a slug in his head. I know that it wouldn’t have worked but I wanted to anyway. They made their way to a old building on level 42. I got the location locked into a tracker so we can pay it a visit whenever you feel up to it. I am not going looking for that one without you.”
“I am glad to hear that the night wasn’t a complete waste. Good work as usual Caiden. Give me a day or so and we will go check this building out, and why do you have your shotgun and power sword?” Torben started to get out of bed. “Your in my bedroom for goodness sake. Why do you need those here.” His feet had just managed to dangle over the edge when the door to his bedroom came flying open. The crash it made against the wall made Torben cry out in pain. Inquisitor Strutgart was across the room before the door swung back home.
“Inquisitor Caiden, by the power granted me by Inquisitorial council #2657943 I hereby relieve you of your rosette and place you on house arrest, hand over your weapon.” He sneered the last word.
Caiden didn’t move.
“Strutgart I don’t care what authorization you have, I will fry your brain if you don’t stop yelling.” Torben winced.
“Give me your rosette Caiden, don’t make this difficult.” Strutgart stated holding out his hand.
Caiden still didn’t move, he didn’t even blink.
Torben slowly rose to his feet. “Lord Strutgart I am sure we can resolve this without taking Caiden’s rosette he has done nothing wrong and he has the right to keep it until he faces a council of his peers and is judged. One can be convened here on Radnar within the month if that is what you desire. But for now please don’t force a ugly confrontation.” Torben’s face was contorted with pain as he slowly mouthed the words.
“Sit down cripple. I will take his authority now so that he can’t use it to hide any evidence of his heresies or force others to testify for him.” Strutgart looked back up at Caiden. Seeming to notice for the first time that he hadn’t so much as blinked.
“Very well, take his rosette and be gone. We will meet at a council next month. I will make the arrangements. Now get out of my house.” Torben’s face was contorting even more.
“Very well.” Strutgart said as he reached up and pulled a simple looking medal off of Caiden’s chest. He knew that it was in reality his rosette. With that he turned and stalked out of the room.
Caiden still hadn’t moved. At all. His face was a complete blank.
Torben breathed out, relaxing.
Caiden lunged across the room. His body moving like a spring. His right hand flew up over his right shoulder, badly missing the shotgun handle and cracking his wrist on it’s butt. This exaggerated movement caused him to spin, he fell in a heap on the floor.
He jumped to his feet and spun to face Torben.
“Why the Throne did you do that?!!?” He yelled.
“Because if I didn’t you would have gutted Strutgart right here for trying to take your rosette, and that would have gone over well at your murder trial. I am sorry for dominating you like that but I had to be sure that there wouldn’t be a confrontation that all of us would be regretting.”
"The only one that would be doing the regretting is him!" Caiden emphasized.
"Killing him wouldn't have done any good. We would only have more to explain.
"But what am I going to do? If I don't have my rosette Strutgart can do whatever he wants to me. Lock me up, send me to a labor camp, kill me, whatever."
"I will make you my Interrigator again until we can get this resolved. You will be able to move with my authority just as you would with your own. Strutgart has something, I am not sure what, but he hinted at it when I spoke with him before our last expedition into the underhive." Torben said thoughtfully.
"I don't know what it could be. I haven't done anything really heretical. Sure I don't really observe my chapel times that well but I haven't done anything blasphomeus." emphasized Caiden.
"It wasn't recent, he has been going through your record with a fine tooth comb and he mentioned that you may have become tainted during your service on Caida." Torben said in a calming manner.
"Tainted on Cadia!? He accused me of being tainted! Did it ever accuor to his pitiful little brain that the Black Ships would have noticed something like that when I was tested before being let into the Inquisition!"
"Probably not." smirked Torben. "Is there anything in your record that he might suspect?"
"Not that I can think of, but I'm to mad right now to think very well." Caiden huffed.
"I would imagine. Give me a day or so to catch up and we will go after that Magus, that should cheer you up." Torben said
"Yeah, killing stuff usually does." muttered Caiden as he stalked out of the door.