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Hi all, I’m looking for some feedback on the overall tone and eager to see if anyone is excited to read any more?
Thanks for reading!
“Any questions Lieutenant?”
The flickering hololith somehow managed to capture the general’s apparent ignorance of her own demands despite the heavily distorted projection. Light years away, in a lavishly furnished officer’s mess it was presumably quite easy to think up ingenious solutions to problems by moving one Regicide piece next to another. Out in the void, on the cusp of a planetary rebellion that could severely disrupt the Imperial War effort, it fell to the subordinates to actually come up with practical answers.
“General, there are several layers of difficulty that this request presents…”
“Segmentum Command has assured me that the Storm Troopers of the 1313th are the finest that the Imperium can bring to bear in your sector. They tell me that ‘difficult’ is what you are best suited for. Are they wrong?” The general sneered.
“No my Lady” The Lieutenant bristled. “I merely have some inquiries about the lack of logistical support…”
“Have you been remiss in your briefing attendance Lieutenant? Allow me to remind you that we are sitting on the wrong side of the largest warp storm ever recorded! I can barely get a fleet from one system to the next let alone coordinate every warzone’s specific needs...” The general was on her feet now, bitterly clenching and unclenching a fist. “If I could sanction and secure a full scale invasion I wouldn’t be giving you these orders. Throne, I need Nosca III back in the fold and producing materiel! You are going to deliver that for me, Lieutenant, or your outfit will die trying. Do we understand each other?”
“Absolutely, Ma’am. One way or another you will have your way.” The Lieutenant braced himself.
“Indeed?” She raised an eyebrow. “Well Segmentum Command may trust you but I find a strict hand in such matters eases a lot of doubt.”
The Lieutenant tightened his expression and cricked his neck as the general’s projection turned back to face him. “I’m assigning one of my staff to your troop… Commissar Mertens will be more than capable of keeping up whilst he keeps an eye on you.”
“Yes my Lady” the Lieutenant grimaced.
“He will rendezvous with you in the Nosca system. Do not disappoint me Lieutenant, the Emperor expects.” The general made the sign of the Aquilla before her hololithic projection flickered and faded.
The rose red lights of the ship’s officer’s ready room beamed back into life as the Lieutenant slumped into a chair and lit up a Lho stick. His last briefing from high command had taken place at a sumptuous dinner after an operatic performance of Lucretia’s “The lion and The Wolf”. But this was a sparsely furnished side room of the Ship’s bridge that functioned more like a conference room than anything else.
“Congratulations Arjun, you’ve reached new heights of idiocy today.” A whip thin gentleman in a gilded naval officer’s uniform sat down next to the Lieutenant with a smirk on his face and a cup of tea in his hands. “General Sarkovitch doesn’t have a great deal of patience for insubordination at the best of times. You’re lucky she didn’t have me blow you out of an airlock.”
“Well then Captain, I suppose I’m lucky it’s the worst of times…” Arjun Tuplin sighed as he reached over to the briefing print out and started flicking through the pages. “If the gak really has gotten this deep and she really is that desperate then she’s going to need her desperate measures.”
“Quite some risk, Arjun. But if you’d simply taken the orders and shut your mouth you might have gotten away without having a Commissar over your shoulder for the whole operation. ” The Captain sipped at his tea with a wry smile.
“Hmm? Oh that was probably coming whether I bent over like you normally do or not… Throne Marius, haven’t you ever heard of a data slate?” Tuplin took a drag of his lho stick as he tossed the briefing across the cold steel desk.
“I’ve always found that making my officers work to comprehend their briefings makes the information stick all the better. Perhaps the fact that you’ve never had to strategize before is affecting your appreciation of my methods.” Marius snorted as he shuffled the briefing papers back into place.
“Well I’m not one of your officers, captain; just because my troop is attached to your ship that doesn’t make you my commander. I thought we’ve had this discussion before?”
“We have and we established two things that are relevant to this current discussion”. The Captain swivelled back to face the Lieutenant and pointed to the star on his uniform’s breast. “Number one, I am still a superior officer of the Adeptus Administratum as far as you are concerned. And Number two, as long as you are on my ship you are my responsibility.” Marius’ expression softened. “You’ve saved this ship and my life Arjun. I don’t forget things like that but you must understand your actions reflect on my command. We’re about to have a General’s personal Commissar attached to this operation. That means, however briefly, that he will be attached to this ship. I do not need you giving him any reasons to doubt my authority.”
Arjun Tuplin took one last drag and looked back Marius. “You’ve repaid that debt many times over Marius. As for Mertens…” he stubbed the Lho stick out. “Commissars are awfully clumsy... I’ve never known one last very long in a warzone.”
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