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.
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.