Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

In the shadow of the towering hive city a landing pad sat alone and seemingly in disuse as the dark clouds overhead rolled and contoured as the distant rumble of thunder and the first few drops of sour rain began to fall.
Near the landing pad whom had been built to receive anything from the great bulk haulers of the adeptus mechanicus and rouge traders to the private landers of wealthy spire nobles, two persons and their servants waited in the increasing rain while two servants held umbrellas over the heads of their masters, while one stood unsheltered and somewhat removed from the other two.
One of the figures where a man of many years whom where definitively safe from starvation or any hardship at all, his pot belly and greying hair alongside the fine make of the cloths he wore signalled him as belonging to the planetary administration and thus representing the governor.
The man seemed annoying with the fact that he was being forced to wait here in the increasingly unpleasant weather and being kept company by the two whom stood at his side.
“Dammit all to the darkness and beyond! I detest being forced to stand around like some lobotomised servant waiting for some supposedly important guest. Furthermore I have and will strongly object to being forced to have such plebeians as that one over there tainting the air I breath as I wait.” the man said and pointed to the man whom stood unsheltered and removed from himself and the other person waiting in the rain. If any of the other two had an issue with the disrespectful tone the man had none was expressed for the time at least. The one whom stood unsheltered from the rain did not reply to the insult from the chamberlain and it seemed the person where somewhere else. Then the other one spoke in a flat and neutral tone that seemed at odds with the tone of her compatriot from the nobility.
“ Well if you did not spend so much time inside and in the company of wine and the shy daughters of the merchants that seeks your favour you would perhaps be able to handle a few drops of rain and a cold wind from time to time, but then again someone whom has never been forced to do a single thing for themselves and have servants for any and all needs can not be expected to do so either.”
Pushing back her hood the tall and almost ghostly thin woman looked with a look of pure disgust at the man she stood beside. Her face was of a regal nature but her eyes was cold as the void and devoid of any human warmt, her skeletal frame guarded by a thick fur lined great coat and rune covered gloves that alone would be the envy of many lesser nobles due to their value and somewhat exotic look. Small gem stones and precious threads of metal gleamed across the black leather as the woman whom wore them like a second skin drew a long slender Ilho stick and struck a light.
She was the master of the largest and most powerful trade guild that controlled the trade that flowed for several sectors. Her name was Maren Merlette while the name of the pot bellied one was Maximian Bundette and he was as mentioned the chamberlain of the system that this world where the core world of. But before anyone of the pair had time to hurl out a fresh broadside of insults and slander a signal came across the now soaked landing pad from several loudspeakers.
“Incoming vessel! All dock hands ready on deck!” The message was followed by a wail of siren’s as blast shields rose up to shield any potential passengers from the exhaust and heat generated by the incoming ship, and a small horde of deck hands emerged from the nearby hangars and buildings to serve the ship and its crew. As the ship drew closer it became clear that this was no simple or common shuttle, no this more resembled a great predatory bird falling from the skies to strike its prey. The wholly outright hostile look and feel of the ship made them both feel uneasy, as none of them could easily forget the meeting they had been summoned to a mere few hours ago with the council of the most powerful and influential members of the civilian administration of the sector administration and the governor of this world.
That alongside the dark shadow that had come to rest over the world as of late made anyone whom held any real power worry about the days to come, well at least if they had any amount of cranial capacity beyond wine and enjoyment as a good portion of the lesser nobles seemed to be content to splurge the days away with while their serfs and workers toiled in their shadows.

So now the pair whom very seldom saw eye to eye found themselves waiting for whomever had answered the signal that had been sent by the council they themselves sat on.
But fate did not force them to wait for long as the boarding ramp of the thunder hawk began to lower and the revealed the darkness of the hold that hopefully held their rescuers.
Out of the gloomy hold a lone figure came into view as the individual walked down the steep ramp while leaning slightly on a cane for support.
The figure was a man whom by his appearance seemed to be marked by the years or wounds received in the line of duty, a shaven skull marred by scars and almost hideous burn marks showed him to also be a man whom did apparently wear his scars like trophies. His face was too a patch work of scars and more or less successful attempts to restore his looks.
From under his robe gleamed the dull gleam of metal and revealed that the man wore armour of some sort and on his left hip a sword rested in its scabbard.
But it was his eyes that revealed just what sort of a man this battle scarred soul was, for they where utterly devoid of warmt and only radiated suspicion and zealousness in the line of duty.
Her pot bellied companion must have thought this an good opportunity to attempt to court some favour with their guest, as he started to welcome the newly arrived man. But his greeting where stopped short when the man spoke with a voice that seemed to drive away all warmt in the air and simultaneously condemn them both as sinners.
“Spare me your sickening attempts at flattery chamberlain! I know already whom you both are and I did not come here to make friends with the likes of you two. Your council of nobles sent a message that stated that your world was in some way in need of aid, and thus I find myself on this bleak world of yours!” he said and at the same time drew fourth something resembling a necklace but where far removed from such a trinket, it was a simple thing really. But it sent cold jolts of fear and worry trough the two nobles whom stood before him.
Hanging from the simple silver chain was a rosette that could condemn any Imperial citizen to death or worse, for it was a inquisitorial zeal of office and signalled that their call for help had been answered by the most feared organization of the imperium.
Sensing that her companion had lost all his will to speak for the moment Maren spoke with her head dipped in apparent respect for the newly arrived inquisitor.
“Welcome to Shamatia lord inquisitor of the holy ordo. We have been dispatched by the ruling council of nobles and the planetary governor to greet you and see to that you arrive safely at the palace so you may be fully explained the situation we have at hand.”
“ I need not anyone to hold my hand as I make my way to the meeting but the gesture is appreciated my lady. But if you feared for my well being you should not have done so, I am not coming alone.” the man said and pressed a rune on his armour that flashed with a sickly green colour as it transmitted a signal to some unseen receiver.
No more than three heartbeats passed before several figures came into view from the darkness of the hold of the now silent thunder hawk. They all wore the distinct garb of the Tempestus Scions and all where heavily armed and had their face hidden from view by face masks and gas masks. The red gleam from their eye slits made them look somewhat unnatural and unnerving. The men formed a protective circle around their lord and did not lower their weapons as they scrutinized the surrounding area.
“ Well now your lordship, as your retinue has joined us shall we head for the palace?”
The inquisitor looked to the rolling sky overhead for a moment before answering the chamberlain in a neutral tone.
“ Yes that we shall, I assume you have the proper transport? I would be sorely disappointed if we had to walk or be shaken about in the hull of a bulk hauler.”
“ Why yes of course” said Maren and gestured with a talon like hand to a convoy of heavily armed personnel transports that stood waiting for them. Beside the transports stood several of her personal protection teams, gripping their las guns and auto guns.
“ I see you expect trouble already”
“ Well one can not afford to be too cautious these days my lord, I did not dare risk anything when I knew whom where coming to the aid of our world.” Pausing to take one last deep pull of her glowing Ilho stick the woman looked around, seemingly worried that some dark form could materialize and devour her where she stood before she gestured to the the waiting transports.
“ Just a few days ago one of the lesser noble families learned this the hard way, some unknown intruder breached their compound and killed all but two of the extended clan. The servants where also butchered to the last doomed soul by the unknown intruder. Their ruined corpses took a whole day and night to scrape up and dispose of. The attacker left no clues to their identity but we can establish as much as it was no common plot to take over the holding of the family.”
“ That is indeed something beside the normal but it dose not strike me as reason enough to send a plea for aid, but I suspect there is more to this than what you are going to tell me before we are behind the walls of the palace proper.”
“No with that I agree my lord but as promised we have some rather odd...things in our custody. I believe you will find rather interesting my lord.”
Upon hearing this the face of inquisitor changed tone and his eyes narrowed to arrow like slits that radiated suspicion. His voice fell to a almost feral like snarl whom made both of the nobles whom shared the transport with him tense and gulp in noting short of dread.
“ Well then these odd things of your better be damned worth my time or you and every other noble arse on this world will find out just how short my temper is and how it feels to be lobotomised by my tech priest and turned into a tech thrall or a servitor!”
This open threat silenced the portly man and made the skeletal woman gasp for breath before she spoke in a low tone.
“ We would never waste the time of such a man like you or any of your equals, if this had been a mere act of revenge or move to seize control of someone’s assets we would pass this over to the Arbites or handled this ourself, but what transpired within those walls are far, far beyond our capability to deal with. “ Outside the heavily armoured transport the rain had increased in strength and the rolling thunder boomed and rolled as its wrath was plain to see for anyone gazing up upon the heavens from below or from a ship orbiting the world.
The vehicle hit a deep pot hole in the street and rocked its passengers as it rolled onwards, clearly the driver favoured speed and keeping his allotted schedule rather than allowing his passengers any measure of comfort.
“ Son of a grox abuser!” snarled lady Maren as she dropped her newly light Ilho due to the rough driving. Before she had time to bend down and pick it up the gloved hand of the Inquisitor picked it up and held it between two fingers as he offered it to the lady that sat across from him.
He did not say a word as many others would if they where in the same position but merely waited for her to take thing from him, it struck her that he perhaps disliked having to breath in the smoke from it but if so she would make amends later, if the zealot did not pull out a bolt pistol and executed her for polluting the air in the name of the Emperor.
After some time the convoy came to a stop and the sounds of lowering boarding ramps, and the sounds of booted feet exciting the other transports could be heard as the two different parties of security personnel formed up and awaited their masters.
The heavily armoured and armed inquisitorial troopers stood out like wolfs amongst sheep when compared to the personal protection units that belonged to the nobles, their red gaze swept across the nearby rooftops, balconies and various personnel whom milled about the massive courtyard paved in green marble inlaid with black obsidian.
Stepping out into the driving rain the lord inquisitor raised his hood to shelter his shaven head from the downpour of rain and the wind that sang its mournful tune across the great plaza.
He stood for a moment and gathered himself before he turned to follow the two whom had formed his welcome party of sorts. He despised nobles whom leached on the hard labour of the common man and spent their days wrapped up in luxury and decadence, although he felt reasonably sure that at least the tall and almost sickly thin woman whom walked at his side, where someone whom put in many long hours in the overseeing of her trading imperium.


His moment of silent reflection where broken when her voice shattered the silence and brought him back into the world.
“ I believe we never learned your name your lordship? I perfectly understand if you wish to remain anonymous while dealing with what troubles our world, but for the sake of manners and a nature of co-working it would be nice to know your first name at least. If you feel so inclined of course.”
Turning his head the inquisitor looked at her the same way a judge would consider an accused man or woman.
“ My name is Constantine and I do the work of the Emperor, may his light guide my hand until the day I fall in the defence of mankind.”
“ Ah that is a fine name, and yes. Don’t we all try to serve him as best we can with what means we have at our hands. I wish however that could be said for all those whom has a family fortune and a noble breeding to show for.” she said in a whisper as they passed the massive doors of the great wall that surrounded the palace proper and shielded it from the eyes of the plebeians and the common man that dwelled in the hive city. To this the man beside her did not answer but she knew that he knew what she meant, or so she hoped to dear at least.
Behind the two came the inquisitorial troopers with weapons in hands, they seemed to expect an ambush or a crazed mad man at any turn, and she did not blame them. But it did seem that the palace guards did not find this worthy of any praise, as the heavily armoured men were greeted with looks of contempt and perhaps envy. But none dared speak a word, for the rosette painted on their weapons and pauldrons offered little doubt of whom they served.

The party of nobles and their guest found themselves standing outside a set of doors crafted from jet black obsidian, witch where decorated with the two headed imperial eagle in plain bronze and with two great gems as its eyes.
“Well we will await your return from your meeting with the council my lord, if you should need anything during the meeting let us know.”
“ I see.... So it just the high and mighty that get to set foot inside the hallow chamber of power then? Very well await my return, this will not take long! Captain you and your men will come with me, if anyone of these scoundrels objects you have my permission to kill them to the last man for hindering an servant of the inquisition!” the last part was said just loud enough so the men clad in fine cloths and ornate rather than functional carapace armour guarding the doors could hear it. The guardians of the seat of power parted like waves before a holy man as the Constantine followed by his silent men whom fell in behind him like a shadow.
The great doors closed without a sound and signalled the beginning of the meeting between the ruling council and the inquisitor.

Maximian and Maren stood in silence for a moment but it did not last long. The pot bellied man seemed incredibly annoyed that the grim faced Constantine had not opted to speak to him at all during the time they had been together.
“ Why in the name of Terra did you see fit to occupy that man like you meant to bed him! Did it not cross your mind that perhaps others have need to speak with him as well? It must be all the Ilho you smoke that has rotted away your mind and replaced it with clouds of dreams of grandeur and intrigue!”
He was sweating heavily and seemed on edge or perhaps he was nervous of what being said behind the closed doors. But the woman whom just had been bombarded with insults seemed not to be phased by this.
“ Really? Did you take me for a common street whore, although I suspect you have far, far more experience with those than me or the inquisitor for that matter! Furthermore I would be careful voicing such opinions Maximian, the eyes of the inquisition tends to be everywhere and hear all when one of their lords comes calling. Would be a damned shame if someone planted evidence against you or made you look to be connected to some nefarious cult eh?”

“ You would not dare! If you ever say something like that your head will be mounted on the gates of my estate faster than you could disrobe harlot!”
“ Oh really? Do you happen to remember what happened to your uncle and his beloved wife? Who knew that two such fine members of the nobility supported secessionists in the lower hives with weapons and cash? If you think they where informed upon by a brave servant whom had discovered their lies and webs of intrigue I suggest you ponder about that a bit more my dear fat imbecile.”
The face of the man went pale as a sheet when the skeletal and suddenly rather gruesome looking woman before him said these words, her eyes seemed to glow with delight as she spoke those words to him in her hushed tone and with a evil gleam in her eyes.
Backing away from her seemingly wanting to run screaming away he stuttered but could not speak, such where the shock to hear such venomous words from someone of the nobility. Although he should have been able to handle such jabs from someone of equal rank and station in life.
“ Why.....why.... You witch! Mark my words Maren, this will come back to haunt you” was all he managed to say before turning and hurrying along as fast as he could, beads of sweat and fear plain on his face for all to see. Speaking to no one in particular the woman spoke once more in her hushed tone.
“ I would not expect anything less my dear Maximian.”
One hour after the lord inquisitor had entered the chamber the doors swung open and the man himself came out, his face set in a worried tone as he strode like a grim figure judgement. His gloved hand gripped his cane in a vice like grip. And his face a mask of puzzlement as he strode towards the waiting lady Maren.
“ You did not lie lady Maren, the evidence is indeed most troubling and will require me to bring down some of my more..... specialized experts. Alert your local air space administration, I will have them land out in the plaza. I will not have them exposed to the potential dangers and hassle of the crowds. And instruct the local PDF to clear the plaza of any and all non essential personal, there will be a total of two thunder hawk gunships coming. They need space to land.”
“ That will no problem at all my lord”
“ I notice our pot bellied companion is missing? I trust no one has seen fit to dispose of him? Because I have a burning desire to speak with the man sooner than later.”

To this the woman raised a brown and seemed somewhat bothered by something, but before she could speak the lord inquisitor spoke in a cold tone.
“ I would be very, very careful with making threats to a noble of the imperium. Such things are some of the more common things that causes people to be burnt at the stake for interfering with the running of an imperial world!”
Her face froze in a look of dread as the figure in front of her gazed her with unnatural eyes that seemed to brim with light and something else, something sinister and dark that seemed to churn with the hunger for her soul.
“ The inquisition sees all and hears all! I could hear you two even if there was a wall between us and the noise of countless other lesser souls. So do not make such moves as long as I still remain on this world.”

Constantine is a badass. I Iike him and his style. though as to what he is ther for is still a mystery. Consider me intrigued and a follower of future chapters

Glad you liked him and the story at large, more will come soon enough

Awesome.

Lady Maren stood as if struck by a comet. Her heart beat like the possessed and her head felt heavy as the lord inquisitor strode past her, followed closely by his minions. In her mind she could not shake the deep sense of unease that his eyes had planted in her, and she shook with something akin to raw fear she sunk down on a nearby stone bench and sat there shaking.
Taking out a small pocket flask, she sipped deeply of it. Feeling the raw tang of it's brandy content wash down her throat like sweet nectar. The sting chasing some of the horridness away, but she still felt deeply worried about the days to come if the man had an habit of acting such around people.
As she walked down the now all but silent corridor towards her own quarters in a nearby wing of the palace. A sense of unease settled in her very bones that meant she would not feel secure until behind her own doors and it's multiple wards that kept anyone curious out of her private chambers where she slept and worked when she had to remain in the palace and could not return to her own far more secure and pleasant estate.
The walk to her quarters seemed to drag on forever and she began to wonder if she had been whisked away into a maze by some devious means, when she finally opened the doors and entered.
After the doors closed and her personal guards had taken their posts. She felt secure enough to let out a deep sigh of relief as she poured herself a glass of fine red wine before heading to her bedroom, where she began to undress.
The first things she took off were the countless rings, pendants and glittering necklaces she wore on her person. They acted as both ornate pieces of jewellery and protection, as many were imbued with runes and various charms to ward of all manner of foul things.
Having relived herself of the small heap of jewellery she removed her ornately decorated gossamer gloves and placed them on the desk in front of her. Feeling the weight of the world slip of her shoulders she began to undo her dress and allowed it to fall down onto the floor before crawling naked under the warm and comforting sheaths in her bed.
In near darkness she layed there and waited for sleep to embrace, her but it did not come, Turning to her side in mild annoyance, she cursed the day and her loose lips. She knew she had overstepped the line in her argument with Maximian, once more her venomous side causing more harm than ever needed or intended. Knowing she would need to apologize to the man and make some form of repentance for having caused him so much pain and loss of face in front of so many. She swallowed hard and felt her mind continue to race around inside her skull.
Perhaps it was some form of punishment from the Emperor on far away Terra. But at that moment she felt sure she would not mind if she did not wake for the next day. The hardship of the feelings that rolled around in her mind made the thought of sleep less and less inviting and she conceded defeat. Rising from her restless quest as she put on a fine silk robe and padded on bare feet into the other room to sink into one of the deep chairs.

As she sat there in the deep and comfortable chair, she felt frustrated and absolutely weary to the bone. A sense of unease beginning to seep into her mind and body. Her skin crawled and her heartbeats increased as she looked about the chamber for any reason or explanation to this, though none where to be seen. And discreetly pulled a plasma pistol from a secret compartment in the chair and rose while calling out with the weapon in hand.
“ If I where you I would come into view! Its not particulary nice or wise to skulk about my chambers like a common thief.”
But when no reply came forth she thought for a moment she was going insane until she was about to sit down again and the very air grew cold as she felt the sharp tingling of hoar frost spreading across the floor and towards her.
If she had been worried before, she was absolutely horrified now with a distinct tone of panic in her voice as she called for her guards and began to move towards the door.
Her loyal guards heard her calls for help and true to their nature the men whom carried auto guns and las rifles poured into the room with the beams of light from the flash lights of their weapons sweeping across the room.
The guards quickly made sure that their mistress was unharmed and they where about to fan out and begin examining the room, when one of them cried out and opened fire with his auto gun raking the wall on the other side of the room with heavy calibre slugs. His target an eerie shadow like form that had seemed to have materialized out of the thin air and stood there almost taunting the men who stood on the other side of the room.
“ Contact! Far side”
Much to the horror of the shooter and everyone else present the shadow which the man had fired upon simply sidestepped the hail of rounds and answered the hostile action by the guards which sought to slay the intruder and save their mistress.
An angry wail rose from its throat and the shadow drew a pair of exotic looking blades and lunged towards the nearest guard with such speed that the man barely had time to scream before the twin swords fell and rose, leaving the man a ruined heap of flesh and bone.
Spinning on its heels the shadow leaped towards its next target.. But its element of surprise was gone as it found itself facing several scores of well armed and well trained men who had just seen it slay their comrade. The soldier in question barely managing to throw himself out of its way as he rolled along the ground while the shadow decapitated a man that tried to use his weapon as a club. The blades slashing with incredible speed and the man fell back screaming as his left arm fell to the ground.
Like a tempest the figure danced and weaved amongst the men while making its way towards the door and the chance for escape. It all just took a few moments, but it felt like a lifetime to Maren who felt the cold hand of fear close around her mind and paralyse her with it's power.
Suddenly like a cat the intruder jumped over the heads of several men and vanished into the corridor outside where it was pursued by a hail of las bolts and auto gun rounds that chewed ugly marks across the walls and floor. as the men who had survived the mayhem vented their anger.
The room that had mere minutes ago had been a display of wealth and statues, was now a charrnel house and resembled something out a description of a brutal battle on some far away world torn apart by war. Several men lay in various unnatural positions with blood pooling around them. The walls had scores of fist sized holes alongside an equal amount of ugly black holes punched into them by the las rifles of the men whom had managed to fire their weapons.
Outside the chambers of the leader of the trade clan the scene was equally grim, the bloodshed had been substantial and the ranks of the guards had been thinned and spent auto gun rounds lay around in a great amount. Maren stood surrounded by her guards and summoned servants whom where busy tending to their mistress whom was quite shaken by the ordeal.
The captain of the guards pulled a pack of Ilho sticks from his bandoleer and offered one with a gentle hand to his mistress whom accepted it and took a deep drag of it once the man had given her a light.
“ Many thanks captain, I definitively own you one. I will make sure you have enough of these to last you a good amount of time to come.”
“ No need miss, consider it a medicinal issued ration of comfort”
“ I require cloths and a new place to dwell it seems, make sure all my belongings that are not ruined are salvaged. Then I want you to personally oversee the examination of the place captain! Select your most able technicians and such. Spare no expense when it comes to this.”
“ Err about that miss, I think perhaps there is someone whom want a say in that” said the captain and went visibly pale as he gestured to the far end of the corridor where a familiar figure stood surveying the scene that lay before him, and behind the ominous figure his retinue could be seen, although it seemed to have grown from the dozen heavily armed troopers to include several others whom all wore wide and concealing hoods and capes.
“ Oh Emperor damn it all! I really did not feel like meeting that one just now” said Maren as she felt a tug in her stomach as she looked in the direction of the lord inquisitor and felt his baleful glare meet her own.
He walked towards them like he was the only man alive whom was worthy to walk these halls, with his rune covered cane in one hand and the other firmly gripping the hilt of his sword he stopped before the corpse of one the slain men and bent down to examine the gory mess that the twin swords carried by the unknown killer had made of the man. His brief examination done he rose to his feet and turned to address Maren.
“ I dare say you have made someone with a interesting set of skills your mortal foe lady Maren, judging by the scene here and along the path of escape chosen by your would be killer. But I am pleased to see that you still are alive and well, I would hate to have to question a mangled corps. “
“ Well then I am equally glad not to be that mangled corps your lordship!”
He seemed somewhat unprepared for such an response and a grin spread across his scarred face.
“ That I have no problem understanding at all, but now I require you to have your men and technicians depart the scene of this brazen attempt at your life, my retinue will process the scene and if their findings are what I hope you will be informed at an later point. And this is not an request, have them well clear of this place within the next hour or I will have them removed, with force if need be! You will accompany my interrogator so you can give a full statement of the attempt at your life, this is also not a request. I hope you understand” he finished with something akin to perhaps sympathy in his tone as he spoke.
She drew breath and replied with the most steadfast tone she could manage
“ Yes that will not be a problem, my captain here will help you so that you can have full reign over the scene as fast as possible. And may I be allowed somewhat more decent clothing than a nightgown unless your interrogator requires me to be all but undressed?”
“Forgive my manners my fair lady. Of course you can dress and I can reassure you that it will not take long.”
Not long afterwards lady Maren departed the scene with a dour faced man whom had presented himself as the interrogator whom served the lord inquisitor. He was a gaunt man with a face marred by pox scars and more skin grafts than she dared to think about, his eyes where two cold orbs of disdain and annoyance aimed at the universe at large it seemed and the man did not respond when she tried to strike up an conversation with him, he more or less ignored her. The pair where flanked by the troopers whom had followed the lord inquisitor and now whom seemed to be detailed to ensure she did not meet an violent end or made her escape.
After some time they reached a section of the palace whom very seldom received any visitors these days, the great library had all been but abandoned and few where those whom still walked amongst the immense book shelf’s or studied in their shape, and the whole place had thus gained a somewhat secluded feeling about it. In the middle of the main room of the library where was the servants of the holy inquisition had set up their base of operation.
She was surprised to see that no real amount of equipment or much of anything had been brought in by the current occupiers of the room except for a few cases of what seemed to be basic supplies and something that could only be containers storing weapons and munitions for the troopers.
“ Sit down and we shall get this done with sooner than later. I wish not spend more time with your ilk than need be” the dour faced man almost growled and pointed to a chair that stood on the other side of the table he had seated himself by.
“ Well I certainly don’t wish to take up more of your precious time either. I shall answer all the questions you have for me at my best abilities.”
“ Oh that I have no doubt about, but it wont be me asking the questions” the man said and gestured to someone standing behind her. Suddenly Maren found herself gripped by strong hands whom held her in a iron like grip, and she could feel herself being tied to the chair.
“ What in the name of the emperor are you doing? Is this how you threat those whom wishes to cooperate with you?” she cried in a panicked tone as the hands released her and she found herself bound to the chair with heavy leather straps and chains.
“ Look I hate to do this, but trust me you are far better of being tied down while this lasts. It wont take long but it will certainly be unpleasant but we shall make every effort to reduce your distress.” said the man as he walked out of sight and vanished behind her.
“ What? Are you going to just leave me here tied like a asylum patient and hope I just tell you everything? Clearly a good understanding of conversation is at a loss in the inquisition” she said and tried to move but to no avail.
Then she heard someone moving behind her and she half expected to receive a blow to the head for her sharp tongue but no such thing came.
Instead a foul smell of burning herbs and other strange smells filled her nostrils as the individual came into view, when honoured lady Maren looked up to see she felt the blood drain away from her face, and her mouth became dry as if filled with sand. Her two eyes whom only could see this world and the things that dwelled in it meet the inner eye of someone whom could peer into the world that was the twin of this world and whom could pry into the minds of those whom walked in either of the two.
Outside the chamber the interrogator and the troopers could her the noble lady wail in abject fear as the psychically gifted servant of their master reached into her mind and began to examine her recent experience with the shadowy figure whom had tried to claim her life but had failed in doing so.

I have to say it's all looking a bit grim for the lady and unfortunate. Good luck to her in having her mind intact after that.
Seems like the Inquisition are a curse and not a blessing, but then we all knew that

Grim? I have no idea what you mean=D

The pale sun that illuminated the world had risen and fallen before any members of the nobility or anyone for that matter once again saw any sign of the members of the inquisition and their nefarious lord. Rumours had begun to circulate of horrid screams and wailing from the library that had been occupied by said lord and his retinue and none had seen lady Maren for a whole day and night, and some whispered that she had fallen from grace and been rewarded with the fate of all those whom fail the imperium.
But these rumours where never said out loudly or in places where someone could be lurking to observe those whom spoke about such things.
In the end the rumours regarding a certain noble woman and her possible demise where proven wrong, when she arrived back at her estate escorted by a heavy guard detail and in a much reduced state. Her whole body marked by the unknown ordeal she had endured to provide the lord inquisitor with the evidence he needed to carry out the task he needed to preform to save the world from damnation and ruin. Her servants and staff where instructed to care for her every need and to not stray from her side until she was fully recovered and back on her feet once more.
They where also told that if anything should be required to help her recovery progress at a better pace to send word.
Ashen faced servants only dared to nod silently and swear to do as told before they began to care for their mistress, whom now lay in her own bed and under very heavy guard.
The scene resembled a ant hill of activity as the four dozen or so servants began to fetch things that the house physician had requested, or to acquire things the now sleeping lady could perhaps desire when she woke from her drug educed sleep. The house physician whom was a former medic whom had served for almost twenty five years in the imperial guard, and had been a good and trusted friend of Lady Maren`s deceased brother whom had fallen while commanding a rearguard action upon the dusty plains of Armageddon never left her side for two days and nights.
His calm and reassuring manner helped the servants feel more at ease and when upon the second day dawned lady Maren woke from the deep slumber she had been in, he was there to comfort her and speak words of reassurance and helped her to deal with the ordeal she had been trough.
When she rose from her bed and began to dress it was he whom where the only one to see the ugly scars left by the interrogation, and it was he whom applied bandages and pain reliving gels.
He did not say a word or he knew the reason why the holy Ordo had been so vigorous in their questioning but it did not help to calm his or hers distaste for it all.
On the third day Lady Maren declared she was fit enough to reconnect with the world and to face the intrigues of the nobility once more.
“ I can not linger for much longer, if I do the damned harpies whom populate the court will condemn me as a heretic and abject failing! Gather my retinue and prepare the convoy. I wish to leave as soon as possible”

No sooner had she spoken before her legs failed her and she slumped down hard on the floor while a violent spasms gripped her body and made her froth at the mouth.
Those around her reacted with a mixture of fear and shock as the violent spasm continued to ravage her body.
The veteran whom served as her personal medical aide however did not allow himself to be stunned by the gruesome sight, he had seen and dealt with far worse things on the battlefields of the imperium.
He undid his heavy leather belt and with a almost brutal grip forced open the mouth of lady Maren and placed the belt between her teeth so she could not bite down upon her own tongue.
“ No need to panic ladies and gentlemen, I have seen this several times before. Its her body reacting to the sheer agony visited upon her in the last few days. Its a delayed physical and mental reaction from her body. Someone get me something to wash her face with and send for the porters, she can not walk anywhere for sometime to come.”
the servants and troopers that had stood around them watching in dismay scrambled to obey the command given by the grizzled veteran. It would seem the harpies at the court would have their day of gossip and slander while he tended to the now weeping form of his mistress and close friend.
“ Its alrigth Maren, I got you lass” he whispered softly to her and held her frail hand in his own scarred and calloused hands.

Meanwhile in the same library where the horrific seance had taken place lord inquisitor Constantine stood and pondered over the events that had unfolded in the short time he had been on this world, whom made his guts churn with disgust and his hearth weep with sorrow for mankind whom had fallen so deep from grace, that he needed to resort to such foul methods. And the suffering he had been forced to visit upon that poor woman, emperor guide her path to recovery he muttered and gripped the prayer bead he held idly in one hand.
But he was several steps closer to unveiling the dire threat that now loomed over this world and the whole system if it where allowed to continue to grow and fester.
Turning around he looked to his interrogator and perhaps one of the few people he could call a dear friend.
“ Today we strike the first strike that will cause the whole card house built by our foes to come crumbling down in a fiery cataclysm of vengeance and holy fury. We must first strike at the place where these devils forges their weapons and resupply their foul operatives, seeing how we will need every able man whom can hold a weapon for the main assault I have sent word for additional reinforcements, they will strike at the very hearth of the enemy while we ensure none make it out alive from the den of corruption.”
“ That sounds like a good plan my lord, but what about the planetary forces? Are we sure they do not pose a threat as well. Whom knows how far the heretics have spread their foul taint?”
“ Yes that is very true but do not fear. I have no intention of ever allowing the dimwitted fools of the PDF command to live to even consider interfering with our operation, they have been selected for their breeding and wealth. Not skill of arms or tactical mindset, I have dealt with far to many traitors to leave such an option open to the enemy. And if not they will not be missed either.”
“ I understand my lord, but whom will eliminate the PDF command? We do not have the man power available to launch two purges at once, nor can we hope to simply bypass the unknown amount of troopers and various other security measures they might have installed”
“ Fear not. I have learned that the senior commanders and their closest advisor’s are going to be gathered at a bathhouse whom is situated at the rural estate of one of their own. The security is heavy as extended from someone whom has grown fat and greedy at their post. That will be no hindrance for the devils whom will deliver the wrath of the Emperor upon their wrenched souls.”
To this his servant merely grinned a evil smile and nodded, clearly the man knew what was in stall for the heretics and imbeciles that dared sully the realm of man when the blood of his master was running hot with blood lust and rage.
That very night in the rural zone that lay several hours flight from the looming hive city the upper leadership of the PDF forces of the world gathered with their mistresses and wife’s plus the various hangers on that seemed to forever trail them. The place they where gathered where a immensely lavish and almost opulent bathhouse built by one of their more greedy fellows, the grounds where immaculate kept by a host of servants and servitors whom laboured day and night to maintain the absolute aura of luxury and wealth that filled the whole estate.
They had all arrived in their own plush shuttles and had been greeted by the host whom presented them with expensive wine and flowers to decorate the hair of the women whom accompanied the grey haired and their jackal like followers. As the feasting and drinking began inside the banquet hall whom where filled to the brim with decorations worth tens of thousands of thrones the man whom hosted the event rose from his ivory chair to address his fellows.
As the toast was about to be made the man paused if physically shaken by some unseen event and several other guests looked around with confusion and puzzlement in their eyes and faces.
The host called for his senior captain of the guard to find out why it felt like someone where driving a super heavy loader or something similar while he held a banquet.
“ I am sure there is just some daft gardener whom decided to take delivery of the latest load of exotic plants and other dreary things” of the ladies that sat around the table said in bored tone as she sipped her wine, but just how wrong she was no one would have dared to guess.
For no sooner had she spoken than the man dispatched to find the source of the rumbling came running back, his face deathly pale and his eyes wide with dread and mortal fear.
“ My lord! You and your honoured guests need to flee at once! The other security teams reports that a cadre of knight titans are coming this way! And they are butchering and destroying everything in their path, we are trying to bring them down but our weapons can not pierce their shields nor halt their advance! I have signalled for your personal shuttle but I doubt it will make it here in time if the enemies continue their current pace of approach”
“ WHAT! Why in the name of all things sacred would a knight household be coming for us? I want you no I demand that you bring those lumbering heaps of deranged scrap down even if you have to summon every man at arms on this world to engage them!”
“I would gladly do that your lordship but our communication lines have been wrecked and the bunker that housed the back up systems have been sabotaged by an unseen enemy.”
His lord whom already had lost the colour on his face seemed to grow even paler at this revelation.
The other guests had already succumbed to panic and where milling about like panicked chickens as they sought a way to escape the coming carnage.
In the distance the rumbling of heavy weapons and the muffled roars of explosions mixed with the thundering foot falls of the approaching enemy whom where displaying a great amount of care in wreaking as much carnage and mayhem as possible.
“ That sadistic whore! It must have been her or that pig of a man that seems enthralled with her, that pair must have whispered untold amounts of lies into the ears of that ghastly inquisitor about us all and condemned us all to the fate of heretics and renegades.” the man said and hurled his wine goblet at the man whom still stood with his head bowed and awaited new orders with what could only be described as very misplaced loyalty and a deep sense of honour, even when he probably knew that he would soon no longer be amongst the living.

Outside in the darkness of the night the trio of war machines drew closer and closer, their massive metal bodies gleamed dully in the light of the burning vehicles and smouldering ruins they left behind as they maintained their formations while their weapons spat death and their void shields flared violently as return fire from their foes struck like rain upon a wind shield.
Their Senechal walked at the front and his knight was painted in the blood red and obsidian black livery of their house with the grinning skull of the drake on each of his massive pauldrons. And his banners hung from the groin of his knight and the two lesser ones flying from the two banner poles whom where mounted onto his mighty iron clad shoulders.
He and his brothers had been summoned by the inquisition to pay an old debt they owned to one of their lords whom had need of the services they could provide form him at this time in the long and honourable history of their household. Even if it mean taking up arms against someone whom had been a loyal servant of mankind until their despicable fall from grace and lust for power had driven them to be declared unfit to live. So now these stoic warriors unleashed their weapons upon the countless screaming and dying men whom now fought for a group of men whom would be revealed to be traitors and heretics when the sun once more rose over this fair world.
“ tank squadron approaching from due north, threat level alpha!” he growled as he hosed down a large number of fleeing labourers with his avenger cannon, the shells chewed up the ground and reduced the terror stricken labourers to patches of red gore and torn flesh.
“ Understood Senechal!” growled one of his brothers whom turned his knight and fired a long ground shaking salvo of missiles and cannon shells at the approaching tank squadron, the munitions struck two of the tanks head on and tore them apart in great fiery clouds of thick oily smoke and flame, but the third tank whom where equipped with a long barrelled vanquisher cannon returned fire and the screaming round impacted against the shoulder of the knight whom had wrecked its squadron mates with such ease. The round struck true and the knight shuddered as it took the blow and seemed to scream in anger, the pilot reacquired the offending tank and fired a salvo of cannon whom flipped the tank and left a smoking wreck as its pilot assessed the damages done by the anti tank round.
“ Report knight!” came the call from its Senechal whom had heard his comrade bellow in anger and pain.
“ Minor damages and within accepted parameters. Increasing shield strength and taking up rear guard position”

With the matter settled the trio resumed their murderous advance across the now ruined estate grounds with their objective coming into view about one kilometre out, but no sooner had they done so than the unmistakeable squeal of tank threads and the angry bark of auto cannons filled the air as no less than twenty leman russ tanks followed by a battery of hydra anti air vehicles came into view as they rolled up and out of the ditch they had been concealed in until now.
The Senechal took a second to view this last line of substantial resistance and felt a cold grin of pure undiluted blood lust seep into his mind from the machine he piloted.
This would prove more like a proper fight than mowing down fleeing plebeians and low born soldiers whom died waling in abject fear.
“ Knights! Fire pattern Aquitain! Rearguard cover my advance and be on the look for hidden emplacements! Let us show these faithless heretics how we dispose of such scum.” he growled as he felt the machine spirit howl for blood as he readied his avenger cannon and flicked his glowing sword. His two comrades took up positions on both his flanks and began to engage the enemy slow and methodically as he weathered a hail of tank rounds and auto cannon rounds from the Hydra tanks, just as he strode over the remains of a dozen labourers a hidden emplacement opened fire and a series of stinging red beams of light bit at his flank and the smoke trail that zipped past him told him that a missile had just missed its intended mark.
He snorted in anger and let loose with his own weapon against the source of the las cannon salvo that lay in the main building of the estate. The rounds chewed apart the façade and pummelled the structure as he maintained a three second burst of fire. To his right his blood brother where engaging a trio of tanks at close range with his melta weapons when one of the tanks fired at point blank range and the mighty knight titan shook from the violent shock and force of the shot.
He could hear him snarl a curse of the most foul sort and the tell tale scream of the melta told him that his brother had returned the favour and reduced the offender to molten slag. But the two other tanks did not pause and they pumped several shots into the flickering shield as the warrior turned to face them. As the now outmanoeuvred knight turned to deal with these two upstarts whom dared to shoot at him a lone missile from his comrade whom walked across the battlefield from him caught the tank to his left in the side, and stopped it from posing a threat as the offending tank where flipped onto its side by the sheer force of the impact.
But this mere moment of distraction was all that was needed, for the Hydra battery opened up from a few hundred meters and in a dizzyingly shower of heavy fire from their quad cannons and supporting fire from several las cannon emplacements overwhelmed the already strained shields of the stricken knight and in a almost tragic manner the knight slumped down onto its side, and the bright light that had gleamed from its eyes went dark and cold. The proud knight whom had walked upon countless battlefields in the defence of mankind and dulled with horrors beyond imagination and slain alien warlords and heretical war engines of such heinous natures that it would have driven these low born serfs mad now lay cooling and silent in the shell marked ground.
The tank crews and heavy weapon crews did perhaps in that moment congratulate themselves and felt perhaps even relived, but had these known anything about the towering beasts of metal that faced them and the consequences of prodding these noble born warriors whom now where feeling the maddening grief and loss overwhelm their minds they would have most likely soiled themselves in abject fear. The Senechal and his remaining comrade in arms both howled in anger, grief and perhaps even a hint of fear as they watched their kin fall to the weapons of these traitors.
The Senechal accessed the vox system he had been given access to and whom he knew these heretics where using to communicate between their tanks and various emplacements.
“ By the power granted to me by Lord Inquisitor Constantine of the Ordo Hereticus I judge you all trice as heretics and the most foul sort of servants of the darkness! Trice I sentence you all to the eternal purgatory that awaits your kind, trice I sentence you to eternal damnation and infamy and trice I sentence you to death!”
then the vox link fell silent as the grave as he switched to a different and far, far more secure link.
“ Perimeter established! I have lost one knight errant, god emperor watch over his brave soul and memory. You may deploy in your own time Cannones”

Awesome. I loved the titans walk, even if was a bit tragic. I hope to see their vengeance fulfilled on these up start curs. I humbly await the next communication from the battlefield.

Glad to hear that it read as well as I hoped for. And well yes, revnge is definitly comming.

Are these Sisters we've met in previous tales? Hope so!

I too liked the Knights in action - nicely described. Good use of description overall in this tale, Trondheim - I especially liked the depiction of the interrogator from the earlier chapter.

A trio of Valkyries came out of the darkness and seemed to hug the land below them as they speed towards their destination. In the lead Valkyrie a power armoured figure stood before her sisters and lead them in prayers of hate and righteous retribution, her suit was painted in a obsidian black with silver coloured pauldrons and with the holy golden sigil of the inquisition on her chest. Her eyes where cold and devoid of anything but a burning zeal and a hatred for those whom dared to betray man kind.
One gauntleted hand gripped the hilt of her spiked mace while the other firmly held onto her helmet , one more she and her sisters where needed to deliver the wrath of the emperor upon those whom had seen fit to stray from his light and once more she would be the bloody handed executioner whom acted out the will of her lord and master.
The ritual prayer completed and with the silence once more filling the hold the voice of the pilot filled the hold.
“ My lady we are thirty seconds away from the drop point!”
“ Understood pilot!
With that she once more slid her helmet down onto her head and secured it with the mag locks and watched from behind its eye lenses as her sisters did the same.
Everyone of them was a veteran of countless wars and missions like this and had been hand picked by herself to join the elite cadre she had at her command.
As the ship banked and turned as it began to close with the ground she hoisted the mace and thumbed the activation rune on the hilt, and the familiar green glare of its now energized spiked head filled for a brief moment her vision.
“ Omega pattern once we land sisters! Spare not one wretched soul except for the man we have been tasked with the capture of! Emperor guide our blades and shots!” she growled as the doors of the Valkyrie opened and the angry bark of the door mounted bolter filled the air as the gunner layed down a hail of fire to cover the debarking strike force. As they scrambled to get clear of the transport and keeping their weapons raised and ready the sisters moved towards their first objective witch was to gain entry into the manor itself.
As they closed with the looming structure witch before this evening had been a statement of the wealth and power of its owner but now where marred by explosions and fire they where greeted with noting but silence as it seemed that anyone who had survived the wrath of the knights whom now could bare be made out fare away as they stood silent and watched over their fallen brother.
As they passed the burning wrecks of tanks, personnel carriers and supply trucks they walked over the broken and ruined bodies of the servants men and women they had come to deliver the judgement of the Emperor upon, bodies torn apart by the hail of large calibre munitions and the following explosions that had gutted the various vehicles that now where burning and spewing dark smoke into the sky far, far above their heads. The formation of battle sisters kept up their vigilance as they could now clearly see the main entrance to the manor itself, the great doors of bronze and costly wood had been more or less torn of their hinges by a direct missile hit and a large amount of broken masonry and rubble lay around, scorched black by fire and heat in the explosion.
So far they had not encountered anyone whom had been in any shape to resist them but they did not fall into a false sense of security because of this. Still there could be a significant number of defenders holed up inside the manor, ready to repulse any attempt to storm it.
They formed up on both sides of the broken doorway and looked to their Cannones whom stood to the left of the door. She nodded and the two sisters whom would be the first to enter the place produced two frag grenades from their belts and simultaneously they thumbed the priming rune and tossed the devices in trough the door. The loud thump as they detonated threw more dust into the air and would likely have killed or disorientated anyone still alive inside the place.

Silently they stormed in and fanned out to cover all possible angels of attack, but what meet them where a scene of abject carnage. Around their feet lay the bodies of what must have been hundreds of dead and dying men and women, whom by the looks of their torn clothing and equipment belonged to the PDF and the estate staff. Amongst them lay also several individuals whom looked far, far too well dressed and feed to be anything else than some of those they had come to deal with. Their bodies had seemed to have been mangled and tossed about by the hit that had ruined the main entrance to the manor, but the Cannones did not feel so sure. She had been witness to so many strange and arcane things over the decades after entering the service of her lord and master that she did not dare rule anything out. But she did not speak these thoughts out loud.
“ We can not afford to idle around this place. Form up by squad and start searching this place at once! If you find our prey signal for the rest of us, and there is to be no one left alive here once we have our prey in hand ladies!” she said as she almost casually stamped down hard on the head of a young boy whom gripped weakly around her ankle and seemed to pleaded for help. The sickening sound of breaking bone and splintering flesh where drowned out by the sounds of armoured boots against the marble stairs as the strike team did as ordered.

Cannones Istra walked at the front of her personal retinue, her veteran sisters fanned out behind her with weapons raised, every now and then a single or a short burst of bolter fire would fill the gloomy corridor as survivors where dispatched or wounded men and women where executed, despite their screams for mercy. As they came to what seemed to be a indoor garden of sorts they where finally meet with some resistance of any real magnitude.
A hail of las fire and auto gun rounds chewed up the walls and floor as the sisters dove for cover or took shelter behind the stone pillars that held up the lead window sealing above their heads.
As the sisters scrambled for cover and let loose with their own weapons the Cannones felt a small sense of worry grip her mind as she fired her bolt pistol once and dropped clipped a man whom where leaning out cover with his auto gun raised and ready to fire. Her suspicion where confirmed when she saw the figure of the man she had just shot trough the head slump down and fall from cover. There where more to these damned heretics than meet the eye, further proof of this was provided when she saw one of the men take several shots to the chest but still kept his murderous grip around the neck of sister he was wrestling with.
The life of her fellow sister was only saved by the brutal and almost barbaric intervention of her second in command, whom gave the man a brutal kick to the head and followed it up with a flurry of downward strikes with the butt of her bolter whom shattered his skull and sent shards of bone and lumps of brain flying.
“ Take heed sisters! These are not mere fodder. They have been genetically modified and thus is far more deadly than the common heretic! Fire pattern lucius, leave not one of these wrenches alive.” she finished as she swung her mace and struck a shotgun armed man in the chest, the angry hiss of the energized weapon mixed with his death wail as the mace cooked him alive with its lashing streams of energy.
She vaulted over a fallen pillar and barrelled into a pair of guards whom had taken cover there with a howl of fury on her lips. Swinging her hungry weapon down in a wide arch she struck one man in the shoulder and sent him reeling, his face a mask of agony as the spiked head of the mace torn chunks from his shoulder and splattered the floor with his dark red blood. Turning to face the second man she found that he had vanished from sight and had been replaced with a blacked and burning corps.
“ I really should start taking note on how often I have saved you my lady” said the squad flamer whom had engulfed the man with a stream of promethium as he aimed his las gun at her head from behind. “ Emperor will reward you sister” she replied and found herself grinning behind her helmet as she swung with both hands and struck a man whom carried a riot shield and a electro lance hard in the side and collapsed his chest with a sickening crunch of bone and ruined meat.
Taking a moment to look around she saw that her retinue had more or less killed all but a few of the defenders. These devils whom still drew breath tried to get away from these armoured zealots whom bayed for their blood but they where gunned down in a hail of fire and fury and their ruined corpses fell silently to the ground.
“ All clear my lady, no one is left alive here. All squads report that their sweeps are complete, no casualties but a few walking wounded.” said her second in command over the vox link.
“ Understood sister, all that remains is to find our prize then whom is probably debasing himself in abject fear by now, as he should for the wrath of the emperor knows no bounds.”
Her sisters stood silently and where busy reloading their weapons and using their blades to dispatch anyone yet drawing breath amongst the red ruin they had sowed in the now ruined and bullet riddled indoor garden. Each one of them where drenched in gore and resembled more a walking nightmare than a servant of the emperor as they followed their mistress towards the main banquet hall where they prey had taken refuge from the coming storm, they knew that now as they had dispatched what was hopefully the last of the troops still able to defend their corrupt lords that the rest would be noting but a bloody massacre and the satisfaction of watching traitors and heretics reap what they had sown.

The last hallway decorated with pictures of long dead ancestors and imperial saints did not impress the sisters as they walked with weapons at the ready, nor the did these warriors of faith notice the mess their gore stained boots made of the expensive carpet beneath their feet.
Outside the banquet hall that had been sealed of from the other entrances by the other squads of sisters a lone man seemed to be standing and seemingly awaiting his judgement.
He stood with his hands behind his back and with a slight slump of the shoulders as he watched the kill team draw closer and closer to him.
When the man saw the icons and various other symbols of faith and devotion upon their armour he seemed to shrink before them and he bowed his head and seemed to weep silently as he slumped to his knees and did not meet their eyes as one of the veteran sisters raised her bolter and shot him between the eyes as she came to a halt.
The rest of the kill team did not lift a eye lid to this almost casual execution nor did their mistress as she stepped over his corps and.
“ Make ready to breach the doors” she said over the vox network to all the members of her force whom now stood ready to act out her will.
“ Kill anything that moves and sow the place with fire! But find me the man we have come for! She said as the rippling explosion of the breaching charges tore trough the cordite filled air and sent a shower of broken masonry and rubble flying.

Wow these Sisters are badass. I Like this new Cannones Istra character of yours a lot. also the courtyard scene was nicely done too.

As the sisters departed the now all but ruined estate and left noting but the smouldering remains of their foes behind, their lord and master was also engaged with delivering a brutal strike at their foes. The rain that had greeted him when he first had set foot on this world for the first time in several decades had returned and now tried its best to make him loath this world any more than he already did. To his left and right his storm troopers and his personal retinue stood ready to begin the bloody work with clearing out the warren of tunnels and storage halls where the traitors hid their secrets from the eyes of the world at large.
“ Ilho Constantine?” his interrogator asked as he drew one slender stick from the package and offered one to his lord.
“ No thank you but I may want one when we are done, Throne knows I dislike tunnels after our last experience in a similar place”
“ Well if its any relief sir I do too, noting ruins a good day as a tunnel filled with sewage, heretics and the stink of beans to make a pious man grumpy eh”
“ Indeed friend, indeed. But do not think for a moment we are dealing with the normal brand of deranged lunatics here, after what I saw and what was learned from the questioning of Lady Maren it is clear we are dealing with those whom dabble in tech heresy and the genetically modification of their rank and file servants.”
“ I understand Constantine, this will be the second time we deal with such things in far to few years, makes my stomach churn with worry what we will see next time something like this is unveiled.”
“ Mine as well Sigmund, mine as well.” finished the lord inquisitor as he watched his men begin to pry open the rusted steel door that lead down into the darkness.
The first squad of inquisitorial trooper slipped into the gloom with weapons raised and wasted no time in securing the first storage room they came to after descending the tunnel that lead down to it, on the floor where pools of water mixed with oil and other unknown substances that seemed to reflect the gleam from their flashligths as they signalled it was all clear.
Tall stacks of disused drums and shipping containers added to the sense this being noting but a storage room where things where simply dumped and forgotten about, that cobbled with the general sorry state of the tools and equipment that lay haphazardly scattered.
As Constantine entered the room he felt his mind tingle with the weak sense of unease that always where present in his mind when he walked into the lair of those whom served the dark gods.
He did not waste any time investigating the room as he was keenly aware of that Notting that he needed to find where present in this place. As he stood there lost in deep thought for a moment his reflections where interrupted by the sharp and familiar sounds of weapons being fired and the din of combat that now flooded out from the tunnel his troopers had advanced down.
The sharp hisses of hell guns and the muffled barks of combat shotguns mixed with the sounds of auto guns and stub guns. He and his retainers did not wast a moment in further reflection and made haste towards the ongoing fight.
As they reached the ongoing fight it was clear that this was a very one sided brawl, scores of dead men lay on ground or slumped down on the scaffolding that stood near the walls, and it seemed that the storm troopers had taken them by complete surprise as they emerged from the gloom and fell upon them gun blazing.
He watched the last lost souls die like whimpering dogs as the troops almost casually gunning down the fleeing men, and afterwards making sure they where all dead with several jabs with the bayonet.
“ These are not fighters, let alone trained in the use of the weapons they had my lord. My guess is that they where noting more than a maintenance gang or something of that sort.”
“ It dose indeed look like that captain, but did you not find it odd that such a amount of men offered so little in the way of resistance when they most likely knew their fate?”
“ Well my lord, the Emperor did not make me a fighting man to ask such questions.” the captain said as he kicked one of the mentioned dead men in the head.
But as he did something happened that no one bar the inquisitor could have predicted, the corps gave emitted a low growl and lashed out with one bloodied arm at the man whom had just kicked it, It seized the man by the ankle and looked to be trying to bite its killer.
The captain yelled in surprise and barely had time to plunge his bayonet into the neck of the reanimated thing before he found himself the centre of attention by several other corpses whom where also stirring.
“ CONTACT!” he screamed over the vox and once more the hall came alive with weapon fire and the shouts of surprised men.
But before the offending corpses near the good captain could get up from their temporary resting place a cold wind seemed to fill the very air, and the sharp tang of ozone drifted across the room.
Both the lord inquisitor and the robed figure of his psychic savant seemed transformed as they began to channel their gifts of physic might and ruin.
Constantine drew his blade whom now seemed to be covered in a dark red haze of energy and swung the sword down hard and cleaved the nearest corps cleanly in two, its foul mutated blood sizzling and boiling as the baleful energies of the sword cooked it even after its demise.
“ Aurora! Help the good captain and his men before they all end up as lunch” he said as he spoke a word of power and several of the newly reanimated men fell shrieking of the overhead scaffold while they where roasted by flicking greenish flames.
To his left Sigmund had drawn his infernus pistol and had a long broad bladed knife in his other hand as he watched his master tear these abominations apart with his cursed gift. Every time he watched the man whom was like a father to him using his psyker gifts he was sure he watched the man die a little on the inside, he could not help the feeling that he watched his master slowly loosing the race to remain whole while he watched over mankind.
Snapping back to the situation at hand he levelled his pistol and fired several shots in rapid succession that struck several lurking figures as they tried to overpower two storm troopers. Around him his fellows alongside his master and that robed she devil Aurora had seen to the rest of the damned shambling horrors.
Suddenly a large shadow fell over the interrogator whom turned to see just what new devilry this was, and the man promptly let out a shout of dismay and fear as he did.
Sigmund never had time to avoid the blow that ended his life and sent his soul to the afterlife, but his comrades in arms did as they watched his broken body being hurled like a rag doll across the room before impacting with a sickening sound against the wall.
Where the man had once stood now a towering figure, clad in dark and almost unrecognisable power armour, it was clearly a mixture of models and variants but this was of little interests as the eyes of the spawn of the abyss glowed with malice and sheer untamed violence.
On each of its massive pauldrons where depicted a grinning daemon skull that seemed to gaze upon these mortals with a great sense of interest and hunger.
In one massive hand the fallen one gripped a hammer that still dripped with the blood that stemmed from the last of its kills. A deep rumbling sound like thunder poured from the grill of its skull shaped helmet as it gazed at the petty mortals that stood before it.
But there was one amongst the loyalists whom did not spare a second thought for the towering traitor, Lord inquisitor Constantine stood as if turned to stone and watch the broken form of his interrogator. The man whom he had rescued from a certain slow and tortured death in the low hives of this very world decades ago and had raised as his own son now had died in such a undignified way. It was at that moment in time he did something he had not done in an very long time, a lone tear trickled down his face as he allowed himself to show this humble sign of grief and respect for Sigmund.
“ GET DOWN MY LORD!” yelled the storm trooper captain as a long burst of bolter fire from the infernal traitor swept across the scaffolding and various crates that littered the place. But the inquisitor did not seek shelter not did he reply the captain. Instead the man whom had seen so many horrid things and lost so many comrades to the universe fixed the traitor marine with his eyes that now seemed to radiate grief.
“ Captain! Get your men clear and if I die promise me you burn this whole hive down to the ground. I have left all the authorizations you need amongst my personal effects.”
The stone faced captain swallowed hard and seemed to bite back a desperate plea for sanity, but instead he simply said.
“ Give the bastard hell my lord! And Emperor keep you if we don’t see each other again!”
“ Emperor keep you as well captain!”

With those finale words lord Constantine walked towards the traitor with blade in hand, his whole body seemed to be awash with anger and his free hand was weaving small patterns in the damp and bloodstained air.
“ In the name of the Emperor I judge thy to death thrice for your countless sins, thrice I declare you a failure to man and the holy vision of the Emperor you betrayed! Trice I condemn your soul to eternal suffering!”
Having spoken those words he picked up his pace and broke into a run as he charged towards his foe whom still dared to mock him with its very presences. The traitor swung its massive hammer down in a overhead swing, seeking to swat him like a fly, but the swing was for all its sheer strength and speed not enough to connect with a man whom could call upon the powers of the warp to aid him in combat, Constantine sidestepped the blow and swung his sword and aimed to strike his foe at the wrist, hampering his use of the large and cumbersome weapon that needed two hands to be used to its full potential, but his sword missed its mark and instead scraped of centuries of dirt and rusted paint from the war plate of his foe producing sparks as it did.
His foe now seemed aware of the capabilities of his opponent and let out a low and feral growl as he let go of the hammer with one hand and drew his pistol to spray his foe with shots instead of beating him into a red paste.
The rounds of the bolt pistol chewed up the dirty floor and pinged of the walls but none managed to strike home save for one whom nicked the inquisitor and drew blood from his chin as the bolt detonated against a nearby steel beam, and showered him with fragments.
Then it was the turn of the human to draw blood from his foe, a flickering stream of energy surged forwards and engulfed the bolter and began to cook of the rounds that remained in its drum magazine. It detonated with a loud rumbling boom and left the hand whom had gripped it stained a sooth black and with several cracks it the old suit of war plate, from witch blood oozed and dripped.
This seemed only to enrage the fiend whom almost screamed in rage and seemingly unphased by the wound he had suffered hefted the hammer and came on like a charging tank, the eye lenses in his millennia old helmet glowing with madness and hate.
“ I have watched countless worlds burned and the defenceless butchered by the millions! You will not fare any different puppet!” he growled as he caught the inquisitor with a back handed blow from his wounded hand and sent the man tumbling along the wet and corps littered floor.
“ And your pitiful dabbling in sorcery dose not impress me either dog!” he said as he raised the hammer to strike the man whom had just gotten to his feet and looked as he was preparing to defend himself again.
“ I do not need to impress you heretic! Nor am I unfamiliar with your nefarious history either. But I do however notice that you are standing in a growing pool of spilled promethium......” Constantine said as he raised his free hand and sent a new gout of flame towards the traitor whom let out a howl of dismay as a violent explosion filled the world and sent the old man flying and reduced the screaming traitor to a enormous living candle whom flayed and thrashed around as the heat and burning liquid seeped into his armour trough the ruined gauntlet on his hand.
Lord Constantine hauled himself to his feet and spat blood and to much to his dismay a couple teeth as he coughed and spat in an attempt to clear his mouth and clear his head.
“ Burn heretic! Burn and feel the wrath of mankind as your soul is torn apart again and again!” he said as he made the sign of the aquilia.

I like the last line 'Burn Heritic' A nice chapter with a few good twists and turns too. I approve the next installment

Well noting is like the screams of a burning heretic eh? And thanks for reading and commenting

Indeed so, and not a problem. I know how hard it can be to get feedback so happy to oblige.

As the room began to fill with the acrid stink of burning flesh and the sour sting of burning promethium, mixed with an unknown amount of chemicals. Lord Constantine felt himself going almost limp with pain as it surged through his battered body as he fumbled for the vox bead.
“Captain if you can hear this? The fiend is slain by my hand. But I fear I may need some medical attention, if your medic can spare anything that is.” He said as he waited for a response while blood dripped down from a wound near his left temple and his sword arm was wracked by a almost cramp like pain. The pain killing injection he'd received from his war plate had done little to help the pain wane as he stood on unsteady feet and stumbled to where Sigmund lay so very still.
The man, whom to all else, came across as a ruthless and cold and a man of stone. Now sank to his knees as he felt all his strength and will ebb away as he held the bloodied and limp hand of his adoptive son in his hand.
Speaking in a low, almost trembling tone. He spoke softly as he reached forwards and removed the silver necklace Sigmund had always carried since the day he had been rescued from this world.
“ I am sorry my son! This was not what should have been your fate.”
with his free hand he closed the glassy eyes of his comrade in arms and with a groan of pain rose to his feet.
His vox bead crackled to life and a familiar gruff voice filled his ears
“ Hold on Constantine! We are closing in on you. How bad are you wounds? “
“ You would not believe how good it is to hear your voice Captain. I think it will be possible for me to walk out of this place on my own, once we are done here.”
“ Done here, sir?”
“ Yes captain! There are still devil worshippers lurking in this foul place. They will all pay for their foul deeds and the comrades of ours they have struck down!”
“Understood sir. I can see you now” He said as Constantine could hear the sounds of boots splashing in the puddles of muck and blood as the men rushed to his aid.

The captain stood and watched as his medic and the psyker savant Aurora tended to the wounds of his master. Whom which looked like he had gone several rounds in a boxing ring against an Ork.
He had seen many varied figures of the order come and go. But few had rivalled his current master in the sheer steely will and die hard sense of getting things done himself and not delegating it to his countless minions and various agents. But then perhaps also it was the blood curdling malice his master also possessed for those whom stood in his way or for those foolish enough to stray from the light that had seen him through the horrors.
As his master was helped to his feet after receiving some temporary care to his wounds and battered body. He once again saw that side of his master.
“ Enough of your fondling!” he snapped harshly at the two who tended to his wounds as he bent down and picked up his cane that he had dropped.
“ These traitors will not line themselves up in a line for the fall of the blade! Let us be done with this sooner than later. Once we are done here I have a score to settle with whomever has had the task of overseeing the enforcement of the Imperial law on this tainted world.” The inquisitor said and was about to say something else when his speech became slurry and his eyes seemed to roll back into his head as he slumped down onto the bloodstained and filthy floor from he had just risen.
His followers and retinue scrambled into action to care for their lord whom each and one owed their lives several times over.
“ Someone send for a damned transport! He needs more care than I can provide down in this stinking hole” The medic snapped as he furiously checked the pulse and breathing of the prone man while he instructed another trooper on how to administer a dose of adrenaline.
A pair of troopers came running down from the surface where more men had arrived to aid in the sweep. They carried between them a stretcher which the bloodied and unconscious lord was gently placed before he was carried with haste to the surface to await the coming Valkyrie that would carry him to safety.

While the drama unfolded in the dark and foreboding tunnels and caverns beneath the hive city. Someone else was experiencing a hardship as well.
In the silent halls of the city mansion that belonged to, Lady Maren. a dark mood reigned as her servants and retainers stood silently in watch over their mistresses. She had freshly awoken from the deep slumber she had been placed in by her medical staff after her collapse when she had tried to return to the court to face the rumour spreading harpies, as she had put it.
Now she sat ashen faced in her grand dining room and looked out of the great stained glass window that overlooked the surrounding Hive city.
Her eyes where glassy and she seemed so frail that a mere gust of wind could shatter her and disperse to the four corners of the heavens. But there was one thing that showed that there was still a lot of tempered steel left in her being. The razor sharp mind of hers and the equally sharp voice she had been renowned for was still with her. She sat and listened to the accounts of what had happened to those whom had been gathered at the mansion who had belonged to one of the senior commanders of the PDF.
Her senior man at arms stood and retold what he had been shown by one of his agents, who had slipped past the cordon of troops sent to survey the carnage that had unfolded at the estate. The man had spoken of countless wrecked vehicles, gaping craters where clearly very powerful weaponry had been used to pulp the defenders and marks in the bloodstained soil that could only belong to some massive war machine. The spy had recanted with fear plane on his face about the nightmarish scenes that he had witnessed inside the devastated mansion hall. Men and women torn apart in gruesome displays of mindless violence and hallways marred by bolter and flame. But the thing that had unnerved the man the most, was a small thing he had found laying on the floor near the main banquet hall. It was not any grand or expensive thing but it was a symbol that was all too familiar to him and the ones he reported too.
That thing now lay in the cold hands of, lady Maren. Who examined the stylized symbol that filled all but the most insane with a cold sting of dread and fear for what could be awaiting them down the road.
“ Sergeant! I want you to strengthen the security of this place and also send word to the guild. Have them step up the security around our warehouses and other facilities.”
“ As you say, my lady. Is there anything else?”
“ No Sergeant”
The man turned on his heel and departed the room with a low bow to his lady as he left to carry out the instructions given to him. Maren sat there and looked upon the symbol she held in her hands with something like a mixture of disgust and intrigue.
She knew just too well what this thing come from. But she had not expected the man to act as soon as he did, nor had she expected him to be so utterly bloodthirsty when he struck at the ones whom he had found to be guilty and deserving of noting else than death. Then there was the matter of her own run in with his horrid servant. Now that was a fate she really only wished upon a select few of her rivals and foes.
“ Damned it all, damn it all to the abyss and beyond” she growled and her long razor sharp nails dug deep into the leather of the great chair she sat in.
Throwing of the blankest that had been wrapped around her to ward of the draft she cursed again as she began to push herself up from the chair, and onto her unsteady feet.
“ I refuse to wither away like a dying flower at the end of autumn” she said to one in particular as she finally managed to stand without leaning on the chair. With purpose driving her steps she walked towards the door leading out the small room where she knew her maids where waiting alongside the other servants for her to call them to her. As she suspected her servants and maids had not expected her to be up and walking any time soon, for as she entered the room the chatter that had filled the air died away as if someone had taken all the oxygen out of the room. Her narrow face and smouldering eyes gave her a almost nightmarish look as her gown of fine black silk trailed behind her as she stood there and seemed to gather her breath.
One of them rose to his feet and spoke with a almost shaking voice. “ My lady! Are you well? Do you require anything from us? We did not expect to see you up so soon”
she seemed to ponder this question for a moment or so before she answered him.
“ Bring me cloths that are fit to be seen in, send for my personal shuttle and if he will accept it. Send word to Maximian Bundette. I have need to speak with him, and alone!”
“ At once my lady!” all the gathered staff seemed to say as one as soon as she was finished to speak. As they all filed out to do as told Maren said to her select chamber maid.
“ Help me get dressed and what not, I need to look somewhat human when I go to see that man.”
“ Yes my lady” the girl replied and did not meet the gaze of her mistresses whom seemed to be boiling with pent up anger at that moment in time as she stood there alone with her chamber maid.
As the trembling girl helped her spectre like lady to get properly dressed and powdered before her meeting with Maximian the thunderstorm that had been blotting out the sun for several days returned with a vengeance, the strong winds howled and moaned as they whipped around the the looming hive spires and bit hard with its icy teeth. People whom where outside cursed the damned wind and pounding rain that once more returned to make their life’s a bit more miserable once again.
The flashes of lighting and the following rumble of thunder echoed and made it seem like some old and terrible god had awoken and where venting its rage up in the heavens far above.
“ Judgement draws near for us all” lady Maren muttered to herself as she looked her self over in the full figure mirror that had been moved so she did not have to exert herself crossing the grand room.
“ Judgement and fiery torment for us all” she said as she adjusted one of the necklaces inlaid with strange glimmering orbs that seemed to absorb the light that hit them, and return and as a pale glowing tone of cold.
As she did so a sharp knock on the door heralded the arrival of her senior man at arms and her close protection team whom where all armed to the teeth by the looks of it. Clearly they would not take any chances with her well being.
“ Your transport awaits my lady” the veteran said as he shifted his grip on the menacing bolter he held firmly in his gloved hands.
“ Many thanks sergeant! But would you mind lowering that piece of iron? I don’t like being at the end of such infernal things if it can be helped.”
“ of course madam, many pardons” the man said and gave a deep bow as she glided past him and where surrounded by her most trusted guardians.

While the drama unfolded in the dark and foreboding tunnels and caverns beneath the hive city. Someone else was experiencing hardship as well.
In the silent halls of the city mansion that belonged to, Lady Maren. a dark mood reigned as her servants and retainers stood silently in watch over their mistresses. She had freshly awoken from the deep slumber she had been placed in by her medical staff after her collapse when she had tried to return to the court to face the rumour spreading harpies, as she had put it.
Now she sat ashen faced in her grand dining room and looked out of the great stained glass window that overlooked the surrounding Hive city.
Her eyes where glassy and she seemed so frail that a mere gust of wind could shatter her and disperse to the four corners of the heavens. But there was one thing that showed that there was still a lot of tempered steel left in her being. The razor sharp mind of hers and the equally sharp voice she had been renowned for was still with her. She sat and listened to the accounts of what had happened to those whom had been gathered at the mansion who had belonged to one of the senior commanders of the PDF.
Her senior man at arms stood and retold what he had been shown by one of his agents, who had slipped past the cordon of troops sent to survey the carnage that had unfolded at the estate. The man had spoken of countless wrecked vehicles, gaping craters where clearly very powerful weaponry had been used to pulp the defenders and marks in the bloodstained soil that could only belong to some massive war machine. The spy had recanted with fear plane on his face about the nightmarish scenes that he had witnessed inside the devastated mansion hall. Men and women torn apart in gruesome displays of mindless violence and hallways marred by bolter and flame. But the thing that had unnerved the man the most, was a small thing he had found laying on the floor near the main banquet hall. It was not any grand or expensive thing but it was a symbol that was all too familiar to him and the ones he reported too.
That thing now lay in the cold hands of, lady Maren. Who examined the stylized symbol that filled all but the most insane with a cold sting of dread and fear for what could be awaiting them down the road.
“ Sergeant! I want you to strengthen the security of this place and also send word to the guild. Have them step up the security around our warehouses and other facilities.”
“ As you say, my lady. Is there anything else?”
“ No sergeant that will be all for now at least.”
The man turned on his heel and departed the room with a low bow to his lady as he left to carry out the instructions given to him. Maren sat there and looked upon the symbol she held in her hands with something like a mixture of disgust and intrigue.
She knew just too well what this thing come from. But she had not expected the man to act as soon as he did, nor had she expected him to be so utterly bloodthirsty when he struck at the ones whom he had found to be guilty and deserving of noting else than death. Then there was the matter of her own run in with his horrid servant. Now that was a fate she really only wished upon a select few of her rivals and foes.
“ Damned it all, damn it all to the abyss and beyond” she growled and her long razor sharp nails dug deep into the leather of the great chair she sat in.
Throwing of the blankest that had been wrapped around her to ward of the draft she cursed again as she began to push herself up from the chair, and onto her unsteady feet.
“ I refuse to wither away like a dying flower at the end of autumn” she said to one in particular as she finally managed to stand without leaning on the chair. With purpose driving her steps she walked towards the door leading out the small room where she knew her maids where waiting alongside the other servants for her to call them to her. As she suspected her servants and maids had not expected her to be up and walking any time soon, for as she entered the room the chatter that had filled the air died away as if someone had taken all the oxygen out of the room. Her narrow face and smouldering eyes gave her a almost nightmarish look as her gown of fine black silk trailed behind her as she stood there and seemed to gather her breath.
One of them rose to his feet and spoke with a almost shaking voice. “ My lady! Are you well? Do you require anything from us? We did not expect to see you up so soon”
she seemed to ponder this question for a moment or so before she answered him.
“ Bring me cloths that are fit to be seen in, send for my personal shuttle and if he will accept it. Send word to Maximian Bundette. I have need to speak with him, and alone!”
“ At once my lady!” all the gathered staff seemed to say as one as soon as she was finished to speak. As they all filed out to do as told Maren said to her select chamber maid.
“ Help me get dressed and what not, I need to look somewhat human when I go to see that man.”
“ Yes my lady” the girl replied and did not meet the gaze of her mistresses whom seemed to be boiling with pent up anger at that moment in time as she stood there alone with her chamber maid.

As the trembling girl helped her spectre like lady to get properly dressed and powdered before her meeting with Maximian the thunderstorm that had been blotting out the sun for several days returned with a vengeance, the strong winds howled and moaned as they whipped around the the looming hive spires and bit hard with its icy teeth. People whom where outside cursed the damned wind and pounding rain that once more returned to make their life’s a bit more miserable once again.
The flashes of lighting and the following rumble of thunder echoed and made it seem like some old and terrible god had awoken and where venting its rage up in the heavens far above.
“ Judgement draws near for us all” lady Maren muttered to herself as she looked her self over in the full figure mirror that had been moved so she did not have to exert herself crossing the grand room.
“ Judgement and fiery torment for us all” she said as she adjusted one of the necklaces inlaid with strange glimmering orbs that seemed to absorb the light that hit them, and return and as a pale glowing tone of cold.
As she did so a sharp knock on the door heralded the arrival of her senior man at arms and her close protection team whom where all armed to the teeth by the looks of it. Clearly they would not take any chances with her well being.
“ Your transport awaits my lady” the veteran said as he shifted his grip on the menacing bolter he held firmly in his gloved hands.
The man seemed not willing to take any chances after the few last days and perhaps in his mind it made perfectly good sense to keep such an weapon at the ready, even in the bowls of the estate. But then his instinct for these sort of things had not failed him or her for that matter either since he had taken up the position he now held.
“ My thanks sergeant, do lead the way” she said as the close protection unit took up their position around her as her personal maid followed at the heels of her mistress.
As they walked down the wide marble stairs and past countless pieces of priceless art and decorations the raging thunderstorm cast a pale light into the halls and hallways as the lighting flashed and rolled overhead. This mixed with the dim lighting made the palace of Lady Maren seem like the court of a thousand ghosts as the figures of servants and staff cast long slender shadows.
Boarding the waiting transports went without any disruption or howling would be assassin materializing out from the driving rain and wind.
It was clear that the sergeant had not taken any chances, as the Valkyrie lifted rose into the skies, several menacing forms materialized out of the darkness and took up a guard formation. Eight Vendetta gunships covered all the flanks of the trio of transports whom carried their lady and her personal guard towards their destination, the nose mounted cannons tracked back and forth and seemed to give each passing craft a angry glare as the crews took no chances.
“ Quite the show of force I dare say sergeant” Maren said as she took a Ilho and light it and let out a plume of blueish smoke as she looked over the heavily armed men whom had sword to defend her until death whom sat around her.
“ I take no chances miss, Not with all manners of devilry lurking in the night.”
“ Duly noted sergeant, my thanks for your zeal in the line of duty.”
The mad nodded to this comment of approval and returned to discussing some dull soldier related things with the two men whom sat opposite him as the Valkyrie braved the howling storm and flashing thunder, while the menacing forms of the Vendetta gun ships kept their iron like gaze on anything that dared share the heavens with them this night.
As the convoy where just a few heartbeats from their destination the gunships peeled of in pairs and took up a holding pattern around the rain soaked landing pad, to which the Valkyrie dropped towards while its pilot corrected for the strong winds and interference produced by the storm.
“ Argus pattern when we land! Weapons ready and watch for any signs of trouble!” the sergeant at arms barked as the ship closed the last few feet and touched down with a muffled thump.
His men all as one nodded and gripped their weapons and when the air crew lower the boarding ramp the men poured of the Valkyries that had landed and took up their positions while keeping a constant watch for anyone or anything out of place.
The rain pounded them like a hail of stubber rounds and the wind screamed around them with growing strength but no one seemed willing to dare attacking or otherwise hindering these men whom could rival any troops found in the Imperial guard.
“ All clear my lady” the sergeant said over the vox link as he stood in the rain and waited for his lady to disembark the Valkyrie, he hated having to spend so much time here in the open. But rushing this was not a option either given her frail health.
“ Good to hear sergeant.” she said as she rose from her seat with her maid in tow and walked down the rain slick boarding ramp and into the waiting storm.
Lady Maren looked to be almost floating down the boarding ramp, with her dark dress flowing around her feet and her almost unnatural thin figure sticking out amongst the heavily armed men and the rest of her retinue.
Her narrow and cold face gave her an distinct feel of someone whom had an grudge to settle with the wider world and anyone whom dared to oppose her at the moment.

As they reached the first of several checkpoints that guarded the entrance to the palace of the ruling council they where greeted with suspicion and perhaps fear. The rumour mongers had been busy weaving wild tales about the now apparently returned woman and her grim faced guardians. And it seemed no one was keen on allowing her entrance into the halls of power and prestige at this time.
They where confronted by a man whom looked far more at home in a country estate on some distant paradise world than wearing fatigues and armed.
“ Halt! And state your full name, rank and intention for entering the palace of the ruling council!” his eyes rested for a moment upon Lady Maren before becoming fixated on some far away point, as if wanting to avoid looking at her thin frame and smouldering eyes.
“ You know perfectly well whom I am plebeian! You should kneel before your superior, had I not to observe the rule of Imperial law in this place I would have had you flogged right now” the lady snarled from behind clenched teeth.
As the man was about to reply all those whom stood and watched this spectacle unfold seemed to notice some sign of a greater authority approaching the unfolding argument between the lesser noble given power, and the queen of the trade guild. But it seemed lost on the two whom sunk deeper and deeper into biting insults and posturing.
It was only shattered by a loud and angry bang followed by the now headless corps of the captain of the guard slumping down, his head all but vanished from his shoulders and replaced by the red ruin of his neck.

Looks like the ruling council is about to meet a sticky end.

The story's developing nicely over the last few updates. I really liked the description of the Sororitas in action, and the fight scene with the Inquisitor Lord was well-paced and depicted. Nice work, Trondheim.

The sight of the headless carcass made several of the spectators yelp in shock and fear, and made the grim faced men guarding Lady Maren level their own weapons in the direction the shot seemingly had come from. As people tried to get clear of the madness that had seemingly overtaken this place the unseen executioner materialized out of the gloom of the night.
A figure clad in dark crimson robes and leaning on a slender staff made from some pearl white material seemingly flowed towards the crowds flanked by a pair of inquisitorial troopers whom where dressed in black garb, and wearing the stylized symbol of the Ordo Hereticus on their shoulders. The eerily red glow from the eye sockets of their skull shaped helmets made people take a step back as if faced by some feral beast. But it was the figure they where escorting whom made people flee in sheer wanton fear. Her eyes seemed to shimmer with raw energy and her whole form seemed radiated by the recent discharge of her considerable power.
Lady Aurora whom served as Lord Inquisitor Constantine most able expert on all things arcane and related to psykerers glared daggers at the rabble that parted before her as she took a moment to study the result of her display of displeasure with the delay caused by the now dead and soulless man whom lay on the floor. Her eyes seemed to return to something resembling a human look as she reined in the surges of power that flowed inside her mind and soul.
“ Let the fate of the mundane waste of flesh and cloth be a example to you all! My master requires absolute obedience and anyone whom seeks to hinder his plans will meet a fate like this. If they are fortunate enough that is!” she said almost casually as her eyes drifted towards the now pale and sweaty figure of Lady Maren, something akin to recognition or perhaps whom she was flickered across the face of the savant but it disappeared just as quickly. Her fingers whom all where covered in silver rings whom glittered with precious and rare stones weaved strange patterns as she continued to speak.
“ Ah there is the honoured lady whom my master wished to speak with when she saw fit to graze this grox pen with her presences! If you could be so inclined to follow myself and my two minders to his chambers before you resume whatever errand you came here for.”
Lady Maren seemed to struggle to remain on her feet as she meet the eyes of this abomination whom had ransacked her mind, and pried into her every secret, lust and desire. Her pulse felt like it was about to explode and her mouth went stale and dry as moon dust as a shiver of dread washed over her as she watched the psyker turn and begin to depart the scene of chaos she had just created with a flicker of her mind. But determined not to be seen as a coward the trade queen and her somewhat unnerved party followed on the heels of the dreadful escort that had been sent to greet them. As they passed by checkpoints and various grand banquet halls whom milled with nobles and various other important figures of the social scene Maren found herself wondering just what raced trough their impotent minds at this time as they watched a psyker no less walk openly in these hallowed halls of rule and law.
As they reached the wing of the grand palace where the lord Inquisitor had made his lair so to speak they where greeted by the armoured forms of battle sisters and storm troopers whom looked at them from behind their full faced gas masks and skull faced helmets with the characteristic red eye lenses that seemed to give them an almost diabolic look. And perhaps that was the intention too, to further instil fear and terror in those whom had reason to fear these men and women.
They where allowed to pass after a close inspection by said individuals and thus they found themselves in the company of the now rather infamous and feared lord inquisitor. However he was not what they expected, the good lord sat stiffly on a chair with bandages and various thin tubes connected to glass bottles that feed him pain killers and other unknown forms of medications. His face was a mask of agony as a sister hospitaler tended to his wounds with the tenderness of an Ork.
When the man saw that he had guests he seemed to straighten himself but this clearly caused him much pain as he seemed to draw a sharp breath as the hospitaler finished tending to his bruised and bloodied form.
A lowly servant shuffled forwards to present his master with new cloths, but where greeted with a wolf like snarl and a language seldom heard outside the guard or Imperial Navy.

The man was clearly not well, and the loss of his adopted son clearly tore at him still but none of those whom still lived and served him dared raise their concerns for his well being at the moment.
All except for lady Aurora that was, for as she lead the now somewhat nervous lady Maren and her to his side as he tried to button the shirt that he had been given.
“ Curse these infernal buttons to the maelstrom and beyond! One would think the damned grease lovers in the Adeptus Mechanicus could conjure something a bit more easy to use. But no those drooling lunatics are too busy praying to lumps of steel or spreading that infernal incense everywhere to do anything useful for once.” Constantine growled as he gave up dressing himself, and allowed the scolded servant to aid him.

“ Pardon to interrupt your elaborate thoughts regarding the Martian brotherhood my lord, but the one you sought to speak with has arrived. I took the liberty to hasten their journey to your quarters, and at the same time thin the local gen pool of some useless genes as well.” Lady Aurora said as she bowed low while gripping her staff and gesturing to the others whom stood behind her to do the same. Lord Constantine gazed upon the new arrivals with cold eyes that seemed awash with sorrow and something that could only be described as pure unfiltered rage.
“ Rise you are not growling peasants or common folk! I have no need for a noble whom lies with her face pressed into the floor.”
Pausing to draw breath as a spasm of pain shot trough his battery form the man seemed lost in the cloud of pain and suffering for a moment.
“ Lady Maren! I see you are well enough to be up and about, witch is good for I will have need of your services shortly. That and of your men at arms if all things takes a turn for the worse, but hopefully my stay at this abominable world is soon over.” he said and coughed and wiped his mouth with a piece of cloth.
“ If I may ask my lord, just what do you need from me and my household? Weapons? Soldiers?”
“ Do not ask about such things girl! For once it would be very wise indeed for you to hold your razor tongue and simply follow. I would hate to see the fate your companion Maximian Bundette befell you for speaking out of order, recent events has left me with precious little in the way of good will or time for the squabbling of nobles”
“ What you mean befell Maximian? Has the heretics gotten to him as well?”
“ Heretics no not by any means, a song bird was heard mentioning that he was related to individuals whom had sought to oppose the rule of the imperium over this world. Witch is a sin there is no forgives for. “

Lady Maren felt all the strength and warmt evaporate from her body as Constantine uttered those words, her body felt heavy as lead and a biting cold seemed to seep into the very marrow of her bones. Struck with the shock and utter regret that now washed over her for even saying those words to a man whom, despite all his flaws and unpleasant ways had been a dependent and trustworthy soul. To know that he now was gone, his name and reputation ruined by words she had spoken out of sheer mindless stupidity made her feel oh so very weak. She barely managed to press out a reply to these news.
“ I.....understand my lord” was all she managed to say.
“ Good! Now then as I am more or less dressed and you are here as well it is about time we bring about the end to this affair” he said and clasped his sword to his belt and griped his cane in one bandaged hand.

Nice new character with the Ordo Hereticus woman. A truly cool woman who enjoys her work it seems.
Surprised to see the Lady Maren survive this one TBH. But I'm sure she may well meet a sticky end yet.

This will not end well.

For anybody.

 Necroagogo wrote:
This will not end well.

For anybody.

You say that like is a bad thing