If the road is easy, the destination is worthless [FT]

[Allanea]

Mission Log, Colonel Strelkina, Entry 54

At this point, I have chosen to omit the Solar-standard dating from the log. The circumstances – the use of warp travel by my captors, the fact that I have spent some time in stasis – mean that any date standards within this log are hopelessly confused and compromised. As such, let there be no entry numbers. I am retaining the log in the only computer system available to me that is truly secure – my cerebral uplink implants. Of course, it is possible in theory that these may be extracted intact after my death – but these are the closest thing, under the circumstances, to a secure system.

In a sense, I play witness to a tragedy. The entire history of the Ancestral Imperium – whether in this particular fractal iteration or others – is a tragedy in a true sense, the story of noble-minded, yet deeply morally flawed, heroes struggling and yet driven inevitably to ruin and mayhem by the internal logic of their own actions.

Tsagos is one such man. It is clear that his training has inculcated in him a sense of complete and absolute ruthlessness when his cause is concerned. Were the situation different, he would have no compunctions in torturing me for weeks or even years on end to extract information. Yet he possesses a form of bravery that is truly the stuff of songs, and is dedicated, not to his superiors, but to a moral compass all of his own. This is not to say he is a good man – rather that he is a man possessed with certain exemplary qualities, which, lashed to the cause that he is part of, lead inexorably to self-sacrifice or the sacrifice of others.

There are two essential difficulties ahead of us: one, recovering the captives. Beyond the duties any commander has to their men, the practical aspect is that the enemy will use them to carry some manner of warp horror to Allanea. (The Inquisition posits those may be psychneuein – psychnuien? I am not certain on how to spell the creatures names. I propose we designate them 'warp wasp'. Or the enemy may use another creature altogether.)

We have prevented – perhaps at the last minute – some manner of terrible atrocity being committed on Caldaris Prime. The second task is to prevent a second atrocity from being committed in Allanea. Tsagos believed we should organize a joint operation to destroy any infiltrators. I doubt this will be authorized – but we should doubtless alert the Ministry, so action could be taken.

But for now the, the priority is that first one. The rescue of our men.

I have contacted the Herodotus. Our operation commences soon.

* * *

The ship hangs in the void, its ventral plate nearly pressed against the surface of a planetoid – hidden in the shadow of the immense rock. The coordinates of the vessel are known to a few – its crew, of course, Colonel Strelkina, and Inquisitor Tsagos.

It is injured – lacking most of its boarding team, many of its fighters lost. It is not the Herodotus that started this operation, certainly not. Yet it lives still. And the crew are certain that they have some role still to play in the second act of the grisly tragedy.

[Sub Sector Protractis]

Inquisitorial Fortress, Location redacted

Tsagos stood in the landing bay, shortly a transport would take him, his retinue, and Colonel Strelkina into orbit to board an inquisitorial vessel. From there they would be transported to a pre-established drop area to be collected by the Herodotus with a contingent of Grant-Inquisitor Duran's private "special tasking unit" to carry out operations both within and without the Sub-Sector.

At present Tsagos' retinue was awaiting transport, bantering and preparing to plunge back into operational status after scant few days of rest.

Tsagos turned to Stelkina, "Are you excited to return to your ship?"

Meanwhile a company of the special tasking unit was staged on their gear awaiting the order to board the transport, they were a wide sample of Imperial society. Veterans, Gangers, storm troopers declared "dead", and even by some metrics deviant Heretics. All of them brought together for one reason, Inquisitorial Service, a blend between penal legion and elite infiltrator cadre. This group was stunningly competent and wholly devoted to the causes and missions of "the benefactor" whom unknown to almost all of their member was Duran.

[Allanea]

The men of the Inquisitorial service would find themselves in conditions that differed substantially from those on Imperial ships. Each man would be assigned a bunk that was clean, if somewhat spartan. Bulkheads separated their section of the ship from any secure areas – and unlike Tsagos, they were not invited to eat at the main mess hall. Instead, a separate mess hall was rapidly arranged in what used to be, days ago, a storage compartment, but was cleaned and pressure-washed for the new duty. The rationale was clear.

It would be James McCulloch, Captain of the Allanean ship that explained it, once the time for Tsagos. He was a tall man, his lower jaw replaced by a chromed metallic augment, and his face scarred. "Inquisitor, consider this not to be an insult to your men. Surely you can realize the many problems of interaction between devoted servants of the God-Emperor" – if there was sarcasm in his words it was barely noticeable – "and a band of xenos and ruffians that each worship in their own faith? Would you wish your men exposed to views they find heretical? Would I wish my men stabbed in a fight because they offended your men's faith?"

When the time came, the Inquisitor was once again brought to the briefing room he had already been familiar with. Two more officers were introduced – one was a xeno, somewhat between human and rat, covered in grey fur, the other a bearded mage, but – Praise the Emperor! – at least human. Both wore dark-blue Navy work uniforms. "The fellow with the beard is our Thaumaturgy officer, he will alert us to any suspicious dweomers and make a professional input on the situation," - the Captain explained, "and this is-"

The rat-creature spoke, its voice high-pitched. "And I am Keat Damper. Warrant-Officer Keat Damper. I'm in charge of the workshops here – if there's something you need made, say if you need to sneak into the bastards' territory and you want a truck that just happens to look like a Taurox, or if you need a few dozen specialist demolitions fuzes, I'm your rat."

[Sub Sector Protractis]

Tsagos went through the motions with the various staff officers of the Herodotus, meetings and planning operations. Meals and contingency planning, these exercises took place for several weeks as the Herodotus waited to pounce on its target. The Imperial troops kept to themselves, noticeably reserved from interaction with Allanean staff. They considered their present assignment a required indignity, all too keep their master, "the benefactor" pleased. Tensions continued to build, held in check by the threat of death for disobedience.

That is when the Order came, a prison asteroid orbited by an Imperial Defense station to the Galactic North-West of the Calaris sector, in a stretch of space known as the Crovas region. The asteroid designated P12150N was the target, cell block after cell block of Imperial prisoner with a much more secured, covert prison deep in the core of the Asteroid. It was presently used as a ferrying ground for convicts deemed psychotic enough to become Penal Legion troopers. In 36 hours, the defense station would move out of supporting range for six short hours allowing a small window for the Allanean POW's to be recovered. What was unconfirmed however was the presence of possible Order of the Scythe Astartes. Preliminary intelligence indicated that the station was protected by a garrison of Arbites and the covert facility guarded by Inquisitorial Stormtroopers but their had been talk of possible guardians of the Trans-Human nature being assigned to the location under the orders of Inquisitor Wallens.


Tsagos brought this information too the Command staff of the Herodotus and Strelkina.



".....and there you have it, we have no idea how many of your drop troopers are still alive. Further, we do not know if and how many may have been compromised by the "Warp Wasps" implanting.

The issue also remains, how do we extract so many souls from the station directly onto the Herodotus with your contingent of landing craft being so limited? How do we extract ourselves? Most Importantly, how do we screen the POWs for infection without bringing them aboard the ship?


Tsagos asked, "Or we can delay the operation and I can request further assistance but by that time there is no telling how many will be compromised. Unless you have a few key retainers you would like to see extracted, we may be able to land, extract, and screen a few dozen maybe up to fifty as soon as the station is out of orbit. The rest would have to be given the Emperor's Peace."

[Allanea]

"Stasis pods." – said Damper.

The ship's mage concurred: "We put the survivors in stasis pods once they're off the ship. This will allow us to screen them at our leisure. Moreover, I will go with you. I shall use my skills to screen the core group – the Colonel's assistants if you will."

"I propose we approach the station in three twaves," – said the Captain. "In the first wave, we use the Thundercuckoo and whatever dropship you can lend us, Inquisitor – these can pass for Imperial ships until it is too late to stop their approach. Then, once we have people on board engaged in combat, we use our service dropships to board with a second wave of reinforcements. At that point the first wave will have caused enough disruption that it hopefully won't matter what the dropships look like. We'll have your men ride in the dropships, and we'll have techspiders ride on the outside, since the techspiders are, well, robots. They will crawl about on the station's exterior and do damage to sensors."

"Your men will create as much mayhem as they can," – said Strelkina, "while we take a core team of specialists to free the hostages. At that point we'll disable the shields and start getting people off the ship – some through teleportation, others using the dropships. On our way out we blow up the station. No records, no survivors. Attack by unidentified xenos source. We were never here."

[Sub Sector Protractis]

The drop ships rumbled through the partial atmosphere, Tsagos turned to Strelkina, "Colonel, I will leave it to you which group you attach yourself with, I however will size the control tower. Be forewarned, should It look like we are running out of time or we will fail, I will be venting the plasma coolant into the compound. Once that moments comes I will wait for no one Colonel."


The first wave landed with the crash of Krak missles hitting the installations gun towers and the Thunderhawk fired its' Turbo Laser cleaving a hole in the installation. This would shunt all power to emergency control systems attempting to regulate the atmosphere. Tsagos, Ausjorn, Joyce, Goffrey, and Album jumped with 20 members of the special tasking unit into the hole made by the Turbo laser that was an access tunnel to the command tower.

Across the installation the battle had begun.

[Allanea]

Along the station's outer hull, metallic, spiderlike creatures skittered, jumping from the hulls of the shuttles to that of their target. Where they moved, they sliced cables, sprayed paint over sensors, cut away weapon mechanisms and void-shield projectors. Theirs was a task simple and vicious – distract and disable, shut down void shields where possible, so the Herodotus's teleportaria could do their work.

The station's defenders were valiant and loyal to their cause, and well-trained to the task. With lasguns and boarding shotguns, cutlasses and pistols, they held back the Inquisitorial mercenaries as best they could. Those attackers were brave in their own way – the scum of the subsector, of course, mercenaries and gangers all, but none survive life in the underhive without a measure of strength both of body and spirit. They fought and died. Weapons clattered, the smell of fyceline and blood filled the air. For brief minutes, the defenders believed they would hold back the enemy.

Then Strelkina was among them, sword and pistol. Outwardly, she was a regular mortal – but that was a mere illusion, one that shattered as soon as she began to move. The gleaming force-sword blade swept upwards, striking through an Imperial defender's arm, blood hissing as the stump cauterized instantly, and the man's weapon clattered to the deck along with his forearm. The downwards slash killed another man, and the plasma pistol tore a fist-sized hole in the body of a red-mantled techpriest. A disgusting smell filled the air as flesh and blood boiled at the impact.

Behind her came the Allanean ship's mage. He wielded a pistol in one hand too, but this was not his true weapon. He barked out incantations, and wizardly fire coruscated through the air. Sheets of roaring flame bathed the enemies before him, and they rolled on the ground as their clothes burned.

The mercenaries had been taught to hate and fear the witch, but they heard also of authorized psykers, and this one was clearly on their side.

They moved down and down into the dark, until at last they reached their destination – a long row of black, adamantium doors.

"We are in place, Tsagos." – the Colonel uttered into her vox-bead. "What is your status?"

[Sub Sector Protractis]

"What is your status?"

Tsagos' Vox bead rang just as a fell before him shot in the neck with a bolter, pulped from the neck to the sternum. Tsagos Returned fire with his Bolt Pistol shouted "Sergeant, have your squad cover our advance, we will break them here before they set up a crew served!"

Tsagos replied on the direct vox to Strelkina:

Complicated!

Tsagos' retinue was fighting shoulder to shoulder under the cover of the troopers las fire in a steady advance when Album barked out, "Do not speak to her that way she will have your head and I taught you better then that!" before laughing.

Tsagos laughed, Gregore Album had been one of Tsagos' Drill Abotts at the Scholia and would still 'Keep him (Tsagos) grounded' often to the shock of other Imperial subjects.

"Gregore, she is most likely closer to your age, also there is our opening" yelled Tsagos pointing at the Heavy stubber armed guard who had just been pinned down. "Frang Launcher!" he finished

As six fragmentation grenades went forward rending a deep toll on the defenders.

"Advance men of the Imperium! Advance in Hisname!" Bellowed Tsagos as his powered blade powered up and protruded from the shaft of the weapon.

Tsagos charged and his men followed, the Imperial Guards, loyal servants to the end would be remembered, but first they would die for a cause that dwarfed their comprehension.

Tsagos and his men broke through, and made their way up the control tower and sized control.

Stelkina from Tsagos, stand by....We will begin to open cells for collection, be advised there are Wasps here. Do! Not! let your witches use their power once the wards are down.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
With Strelkina

Captain Abe as he was known walked toward the Colonel calmly, "Ma'am we are prepared to advance, we are out gunned in the short term as the Arbitrators are using Bolters. I suggest if you wish to survive that the advance order comes sooner rather then later. We are collecting the wounded and moving them for evacuation, simple auto guns are being off loaded for your troops to be armed upon exit from their cells. We do have a problem however, it appears if cell blocks of prisoners are being let loose in a controlled order and it does not appear to be from the Inquisitor. These prisoners are being trained for Penal legions, they will overrun us in short order. Permission to call the reserve up to prepare to offset them."

[Allanea]

Now one task remained – that one task for which every Allanean soldier was best trained, one task glorified in picts and art. Strelkina's sword cleaved through the hinges of the adamantium door once, and once again, the heavy metal plates that would have stopped an ogryn clanking to the ground. Within was a man, naked to his waist, with his hands chained to the wall. The sabre hissed as she parted the chains.

"Colonel. " – the man whispered. – "It's too late now. These creatures, they have-"

"I know." - she spoke briefly handing, handing him a captured laspistol. "Now is not the time to grieve."

What they found was a horror defying comprehension. Many of the soldiers had been already implanted by the warp-monsters. Perhaps elsewhere they might have had hope of some miraculous Menelmacari cure. There was no such thing here. There were not even enough men to carry out all of the wounded on their hands, nor to place them into stasis pods.

The Colonel cut down door after door, seeking out her own. In some, she found monsters – warp wasps, hissing ferociously as they were cut down. In others – men and women who had succumbed already to their wounds. Some of her own retinue had already born the marks of implantation. Xander Kyl, the pilot, who had saved her life on many occasions, was now beyond rescue, and so was Vyacheslav – as mage, he was to the psychneuein the most attractive field. Plasma pistol fire was the last gift that she could grant to those so loyal.

And yet, in one chamber, she had struck luck – a woman, vaguely conscious, her hair still retaining some marks of blue dye, streaks of congealed blood running from her scalp and her bruised face.

"Sabrina."

"Colonel. You are here?"

"We are here. Can you walk?"

Sabrina felt the neck of a flask press to her lips, and felt her strength recover. "I can. Where –"

"Do not try to cast a spell. These things, they are still about. You'll need a weapon."

The former prisoners, in torn clothing, gathered about the Colonel. Some strill carried their injured comrades, but it was obvious most would not be recovered. They would have to be granted the only freedom that remained to them now – the freedom of a single gunshot.

All this transpired in minutes – faster, certainly, than it can be recounted. Already the noises could be heard of approaching footsteps. The former prisoners made ready with captured weapons, side by side with the mercenaries who had brought Strelkina here.

"Men!" – she shouted, waving her force-sword. "No time now for fear! We win, or we die as free men die! Even if we perish, they cannot use us for their gods-damned plot! Let us charge them a price they will not forget for their crimes! Forward! Freedom and vengeance!"

[Sub Sector Protractis]

Command Tower

Tsagos observed on hundreds of Pict-Feeds the actions of the Arbitators and their movements, they began to fall back and regroup. 'Curious' Tsagos thought, then his eyes widened. The cell blocks were opening and the prisoners were being released. A Vox messaged bellowed from the facilities intercoms,

Any Prisoner with the head of an invader will be allotted immediate clemency and will be excused from Penal Service. Your freedom is only one life away Gentlemen, now take it.

It was the Warden of the facility, Tsagos now saw that the Control Tower's command terminals were being taken over by the Warden with a remote connection from the Defense station on the far side of the Asteroid.

Tsagos keyed to Strelkina:

Strelkina from Tsagos.

Get out of their now! They are releasing the prisoners by cell block and they are headed right to your location. So far 80,000 have been released from their cell blocks and are in the process of being shuffled through the bulk heads.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Captain Abe turned to Strelkina, "Ma'am we need to extract now, I can fight for your and I can die for you, but I cannot stop an army for you. Those who are still stuck are dead already, if we try to push out now we can make it to the extraction sites."

[Allanea]

"Idiots!" – Strelkina roared as the first wave of the inmates appeared, charging her and her compatriots. What was minutes ago a straight-forward rescue mission became now a tragedy, as men on both sides fought for their freedom. A shotgun discharged next to her as a drop trooper fired at an Imperial inmate, the buckshot tearing a dark-red hole in the man's chest. "Idiots!" – she shouted again, her sword parrying a blow from a cutlass. "There is no need! Come with us and you will be free!"

Of course, even if some minority of these men would listen, there was no way to get this simple message to the entirety of the eighty thousand. Thus, there was only one way forward: through death.

Every yard, every foot was paid for in blood. The blood of Castamere's unwilling warriors, doubtless, but also the blood of the drop troopers. Plasma guns barked in steel corridors, blood and viscerae splattered onto the statues of Imperial saints, lasbolts cut the air. The drop troopers were better armed and trained, but they were weighed down by their injured comrades, and the enemy were simply more plentiful.

What did it mean, to be outnumbered four hundred to one? The fortress hallways prevented the prisoners from simply burying the Allaneans and their allies in the bodies of their dead. Yet still they were many.

Nor was the burden of killing easy of them. The men they fought now were much like themselves. Prisoners who only wanted their freedom.

How many men will you kill to live and be free? Will it be one? Five? Will you kill fifty? What makes you so certain that it is you who deserves it, and not them?

Even among these hard men and women, some doubted. To doubt was death. To delay a shot half a second meant to be buried alive in the press of bodies, ripped to shreds by men who knew perfectly well that to be in possession of your skull meant liberty, meant blue skies, fresh air. And among those who did not doubt, who shot, cut, choked and trampled with the efficiency of trained, augmented killers – there were many who would for many years to come wake in the night screaming, sweating, as they remembered that day.

There were a lot less of them when they made it to the exit bulkheads.

Two men died a pitiful death – in the very dock itself, yards from their dropship. A tall, muscular man, splattered in blood, stilly carrying his unconscious comrade. A few more steps – he could see the light inside the dropship, he could feel the chilled air flowing from its door, cooled down to be like the spring air in Liberty-City – and then, suddenly, an inmate, moving like a wild animal, appeared to his right, hitting him in the temple with a heavy wrench.

The man went down, dropping his precious burden.

From the dropship, Strelkina watched with derision as the prisoners set upon the bodies of the two men. She was going to give them the reward they expected – certainly it was going to be freedom.

"Grenades!" – her voice was like a steel trap snapping shut. Even as the dropship's ramp began to close, several green cylinders sailed through the air, among the prisoners.

Death is also a sort of freedom.

Tsagos, this is Strelkina. I am out. May the Gods forgive us all.

[Sub Sector Protractis]

"Withdraw, Withdraw by squads!" barked Captain Abe, the Imperial troopers took turns with disciplined volley fire, squad by squad made their stand and were overwhelmed.

The tide of prisoners were too great for the single company to hold back even with the help of the recently armed drop troops. Tsagos turned to one of the Sgts. accompanying him and before he could speak the Sgt. knew what needed to be done "Lord, override the protections and we will vent the plasma shafts, we will then hold here until they come for us and we will deliver to ourselves the Emperor's Peace."

Tsagos nodded, "Your death..."


"As payment for the eternal debt." finished the Sgt. who would remain behind with four other troopers.

Tsagos and his remaining 15 troops would go to the entry point and help hold the landing zone for Strelkina, and what a fight it would be.


Tsagos barked out orders to the handful of troopers still with him, as Imperial prisoners tried to over run their postions. It was only when Strelkina and the drop troops made it through that Captain Abe turned with the remainder of his company and held the prisoners back with las-bolt and bayonet. Some of the prisoners managed to break through and get to the landing area with their arms in surrender begging to come with their would be invaders at the offer of Strelkina.

Tsagos ordered Album to open fire on them, boarded a lander with Strelkina. He turned to her and spoke, "It was noble to try and offer them emancipation, however, by accepting that offer they betrayed what they knew to be Imperial authority. I will not suffer traitors to live, even if they are allies of convenience Colonel."


Tsagos simply watched out the viewing port as pressure relief points vented Plasma exhaust out to the surface of the Asteroid marking the death of any remaining Droop troops, or Imperial Troops and thousands of prisoners. Shortly after a melta-charged appeared to blow in the control tower. Tsagos turned to the remaining Imperial Troopers, "How many?" he asked, the trooper knew what he meant.

"There are 23 of our number left Lord, the rest have laid down their lives for your.....friends." the troops said with a cold eye towards Strelkina.

[Allanea]

There was nothing to say. The Allaneans – the prisoners that had just been freed, the ones that helped in their liberation, and, of course, Strelkina herself, each raised their right hand to their temple in a crisp salute.
"Most of my men now reside among the illustrious ancestors, Inquisitor." – she said. "As yours, I believe, are at the Emperor's side now."

* * *

As the Herodotus departed, the ship's weapons turrets came alive at last. With the station's void shield generators sabotaged, plasma fire cut through the hull. Anti-ship missiles, meant to fight in duels against worthy opponents, sped out towards the crippled station. Dozens of explosions tore through the plascrete and steel, until at last, a flash of pure white fire tore the station into a rapidly-expanding cloud of superheated gas.

"Let this small victory not deceive you, Inquisitor." – Strelkina spoke. "True, we have performed this rescue. We have recovered a few dozen men, and have a dozen more in stasis with gods know what in their brain. We have destroyed all evidence of our attack. But we no longer have a ground contingent to call upon, of any kind. We have only the ship and its laboratories at our disposal – and, of course, our brains."

[Sub Sector Protractis]

"For the time being, let us lick our wounds and withdraw. I still must report to my superior what has happened and that this mission was a 'success', let me know went the Herdotus can have its' operations system reset, I still must remove that authority of special condition before my head ends up as a decoration."

Tsagos turned to the remaining Inquisitorial troops, "Rest and prepare for our next attack, ensure your men are steadied for what is to come." he then looked to his retinue, "May deliverance be upon us as I fear our stumbles may have just begun." with that Tsagos walked away to find solace in his thoughts. The result of this operations and the losses incurred would not be taken lightly by Duran.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The sword glowed white hot in the body of the Deamon-Host, its face looked up and howled at him until it peeled away revealing the face of Karin with a bloody egg in her mouth bitten in half. She looked up from the egg she was eating and her jaw extended into an unnatural maw before striking forward into his neck.


Tsagos awoke with a start, had reaching for his power sword before Abek reached out, "Son of the Emperor, your are troubled in your thoughts....Do you wish to discuss them?"

Tsagos replied "No...How long have I been asleep?"

"The better part of 9 and a half hours Lord." Abek replied "It was not restful though, you kept repeating the rites of banishment and exorcism while you slept. Caldaris weighs upon you Lord."

Tsagos sniffed and cleared his throat, "Then say a prayed for me, but I must see where we are and prepare for our debrief with Duran."

[Allanea]

From: James McCulloch, Captain, FKS Herodotus
Subject: Official Mission Report
Addressees: The Free Kingdom Ministry of War, OAS Head Office, the Menelmacari Prefect of War, and Inquisitor Duran.
Transmission method: FTL-capable courier

Greetings!
As of this writing, the Herodotus continues its operation. Casualties to the ground assets we have carried have now exceeded 95%, and the ground contingent can be considered effectively lost, as can the Special Boarding Team. (Attached to the Allanean copy of this missive is a list of all crewmen who have fallen during this mission. I expect their families will not receive any details for how their loved ones have met their end, or at least not any time soon.) The research mission of the Herodotus is unlikely to be accomplished at this stage without assistance from either Inquisitor Duran or our superiors.

We have however prevented a major warp event from occurring at Caldaris Prime, and prevented a large-scale bioweapons attack on the Free Kingdom of Allanea. I believe, based on the extensive evidence attached to this report, that, had we not acted swiftly and decisively, billions of people would have perished already.

Herodotus retains its manufacturing facilities, its onboard scientific complement, its various weapons, and part of its fighter complement. However, it can no longer proceed in its role as a commando operations base, due to the tragic fact we no longer have any commandos.

Greater Prussian, Allanean, and Menelmacari authorities should be aware of a potential of further terror attacks against Allanean or other friendly assets in Sol or possibly elsewhere. Doubtless the recipients of this letter will take the appropriate precautons.

It is necessary for us to look on at further options if we want the Herodotus to remain operational in the theatre. It has to be either reinforced with a new ground complement, or its role has to be redefined.

Attached to this report you will find footage from the various operations. It has been redacted to prevent moral hazard to viewers, but is otherwise accurate. Where elements have been redacted for moral hazard reason, text-based summaries are provided.

May the Shadow withdraw from these lands.

[Sub Sector Protractis]

Lorella System, Martian Forgeword Brokkrod, Inquisitorial Enclave Satellite

The Herodotus was directed to dock at the Satellite in the mist of its far orbit from the Forgeworld. Duran had signaled that the Debrief would take place at this remote location with clear instructions on how to approach and dock without rising the attention of the Cult of Mars.

Tsagos turned to Strelkina, "How are your fellows? Are they recovering well?"

The ride was fit-full for Tsagos, sleep had not come easy and when it did it was punctuated by night terrors, he trembled at the thought of some small seed of corruption finding field in his soul. Much of his time awake was spent in prayer and under the eye of Abek.

[Allanea]

"As well as can be." – said Strelkina – "They are strong men, but all have their limits. They have done deeds that belong in song, and other deeds that belong in nightmare." – she did not mention that to many of her men, the last battle against men of flesh and blood was more of a terror than the confrontation, prior, with the foul creatures of the warp. "The hour grows dire, Inquisitor. We have looked at only a tiny sliver of the Great Enemy's designs, and we are barely alive now. Weaker beings would now lose hope altogether. Neither of us are, however, among such weaklings. "

"I will not pretend that the things we have done and seen do not weigh upon me. But both of us are the descendants of heroes. We are alive here today because our ancestors have faced that darkness again and again, and they have refused to yield to it."

"Or, in other words – the situation is dire and we need a better plan. We should speak to our superiors. We need to take stock of what we have – and, more importantly, what we know."

[Allanea]

The document as it arrived on Duran's desk was a modest one. It had been several sheets of paper, sealed in a single envelope of human skin. Each had been printed with the photograph – some of humans, some of xenos which appeared as close to human as to pass for one in a bad light. Doubtless they had been so selected, with the Organization for Armed Shenanigans perfectly understanding the need to choose operatives that would, within reason, pass for locals. Some of them, at least.

From: An anonymous admirer
To: Inquisitor Duran.

Dear Duran!
As you read this, the clouds are gathering already about our societies. I am unable to reveal my name, save to say that I am a senior officer at the Ministry of War, and am fully entrusted with the authority to control and dispatch missions. Colonel Strelkina has informed me that you are a man fully dedicated to your sacred service.

Arriving to link up with the Herodotes is a battalion tactical group, equipped with about two dozen gravtanks and about thirty gravitic fighting vehicles, and several hundred brave men that are qualified to serve on such, and augmented with the typical augments which Allanean soldiers will often have. Each of them is a man, or woman, of proven personal character and a high standard of training.

I am entrusting Colonel Strelkina with a crew of fifteen Operatives, that is to say, personnel of the highest levels of training that are available to us to deploy. Each of them is extensively augmented, possesses years of training, superhuman reflexes, and an array of other skills. In particular, each of them has been selected for the ability to speak Gothic well enough to at least pass for an off-worlder Imperial. Below are the profiles of at least some of these men and women.

Praporshik (Ensign) Ludmila Salko

Ludmila Salko possesses the entire array of training you would expect in a high-tier professional such as this, however the one item for which she has a gift given by the Gods is sniping. Even prior to receiving a series of combat augmentations she had been capable of extraordinary feats of both stealth and marksmanship. Upon joining the Operatives, she carried out several clandestine operations, among them both killing foes at enormous distances, and sneaking up to within dozens of meters from their homes to deliver the killing shot with absolute certainty.

Lieutenant Nang Kyu-Bok

Lieutenant Kyu-Bok is an excellent officer, however he is here principally for his skills with technology. Prior to arriving in the military he was a software engineer, and has since undergone several extension courses to train with all manner of electronic warfare and surveillance equipment, as well as having undergone a course in Imperial technology. Prior to this mission, his augments have been refitted to enable uplinks to Imperial systems.

Sergeant Jennifer Rostikova

Sergeant Jennifer Rostikova is a close combat specialist. Though her youthful appearance may fool many, she is in fact 250 years old – and has spent most of that time training. Her limbs, as can be visible in this image, have been reconstructed extensively to fit that task, but so have been parts of her skull, her brain, and a range of internal organs. Naturally – like all Allanean soldiers and in particular commandos - Rostikova is a skilled user of a range of small arms, however Operative tasks sometimes call for a more personal type of skill. Although all Operatives are qualified climbers, Rostikova's great degree of training and extensive augments allow her to perform extreme feats in that area as well.

The letter went on in this vein, providing summaries on the skills and capabilities of fifteen men – each cross-trained in a variety of tasks, languages, and augmented to an extreme level. It concluded with a brief conclusion:

I hope their initial deployment will prove a sufficient demonstration of their skill at arms, so that we can move on together to bigger and better things.