Communication: Michael to Lear

Ashar Lear
Obeslisk
Hive Sejanus
Cetus Major

Dear Ashar,

I am writing to you as you are currently away with Inquisitor Drake and I may not have a chance to speak with you in person before I leave. As you may have heard by the time you receive this, Kovach has promoted me to the rank of Inquisitor. I know we joined the Inquisition at roughly the same time and have, for the large part, shared our experiences since then; however I have the advantage of several decades of life and extensive command experience with the Imperial Guard under my belt. I’m sure by the time you reach my age you will already be a far greater servant of the Imperium than I am now. With perhaps the exception of Inquisitor Kovach, you have been the greatest influence upon me in my time with the Inquisition, and this promotion is in no small part thanks to you. You have my most sincere gratitude.

It is my dearest wish that this promotion will not come between us. Without wishing to get overly emotional, it is perhaps fair to say you are the closest thing I have to a friend. Senior rank within the Imperial Guard does not foster friendship. Most of the people surrounding me were my subordinates, who would live or die upon my order. Unfortunately when I did have the occasion to meet those of equal rank, far too many of them considered me competition for advancement and glory, and those few I did genuinely take a liking too that managed to survive whatever campaign we were engaged upon would eventually be lost to me by the whims of the Munitorium as we were redeployed to different warzones.

Sad as it may sound, I have never been as close to anyone as I have to you and Praetus in my entire adult life, and whilst Praetus is a good man, in his way, I fear I have never managed to bond with him; we come from such different worlds. Did I ever tell you my father was a Planetary Governor? Honestly the less said about my childhood the better.

In the Guard, rank was absolute and inviolate, but perhaps in the murky world of the Inquisition in which I now find myself, things might not be so. I suppose what I am trying to say is that I will always think of you as Ashar Lear, not as an Agent. How you feel in return is up to you, and I will not make demands, nor judge you, whatever you decide. I will respect your choice regarding the formality of our future relationship and abide by it.

Regarding the reason for my absence then. My most recent mission from Kovach took me to the planet Erydimae. You can look up the report at your leisure, but it was there I learned how soft our borders really are with the wild spaces beyond the light of the Astronomican known as the Halo Stars. It is my intention to head out to the Halo Stars immediately to learn what I can, and to set up an information network so that we might have some better idea about what is out there.

Emperor willing, I will return to the Obelisk when the initial work is done. I have recruited a veteran Arbites Detective to be my Spymaster and he will remain behind and continue to build the network, I am simply going to get him set up and see the situation for myself. By the nature of the mission I cannot leave a way for you to contact me, nor can I know how long I will be gone. I would guess more than a few months but less than a year. I will not send a contact back unless absolutely necessary.

Faith in the Emperor. Stay well.

Yours in duty,
Gregory

P.S. Keep an eye on Max for me. The boy shows promise. In addition to his training I have tried to impart some understanding of the true state of the Imperium and the reason we do what we must, but I cannot know yet how well that has sunk in. Such truths have been known to overwhelm an unprepared mind, the reason so many are kept ignorant, but without them I fear he was starting to doubt the necessity of some of the less pleasant thing that we and the wider Imperium must do. If you have any doubts, speak with Drake or Kovach.