The Eldar formerly known as Prince
The team investigate a series of assassinations of high profile criminals by an Eldar sniper.
The Mission
The Inquisition were alerted to a series of assassinations of high profile criminals on Baeten by an Eldar sniper. Correlating this with other reports from across the sub-sector suggested the possibility of either a rogue Eldar assassin for hire or some kind of Eldar pogrom against criminals on Imperial worlds.
Inquisitor Michael took Max Drent, Acid, Padraic Larnock, Ekaterin Malo and Benedikt Kantner to Baeten to investigate.
Tracking down and capturing the remains of one of the victim’s gang revealed little that could be used to identify anything the gang might have done to attract Eldar attention (such as Soul Stone smuggling).
The next stage was to get closer to the new crime lord who was taking over Prospekt 6, Nikita Vassalev of the 7th street cutters.
Whilst Benedikt, Acid and Padraic set up a mobile medical centre to gather information and hearsay, Ekaterin and Max took a more direct approach and worked their way into contact with Nikita Vassalev as weapons dealers selling stolen PDF weaponry.
Between them they gathered enough information to believe that Nikita was confident that she was in no danger of being assassinated, and had a mysterious Patron known as “The Prince”. Meanwhile reports from other worlds impacted by the assassin also showed the gathering and unification of criminal powers under a mysterious benefactor.
With greater confidence around the situation the team planned a stealth mission to infiltrate the 7th street cutters and capture and/or interrogate Nikita Vassalev. The mission went wrong, and the team was detected. In the ensuing firefight Padraic was killed, but the team managed to capture Vassalev.
Interrogation revealed that she was indeed working with an Eldar benefactor that was able to slip in and out of the system undiscovered. During this research Benedikt met a scanning technician Adept Ludmilla Zema, who Michale then recruited. Whilst still working on their next step, Michael was contacted by Prince Hal’tar Rhianthari.
They negotiated, and Michael learned that Rhianthari was simply playing, he enjoyed the challenge of “bettering” the lives of lower class Imperial citizens under the nose of the Imperial authorities. Michael agreed to permit him to continue to be involved in Erydimae. Acting through a representative of the Inquisition, as long as he gave up his interference in all other systems within the Cetus sub-sector. Michael, aboard the Accipiter met up with Rhianthari’s Void-stalker class Battleship to receive a communication device.
Aftermath
- The death of Padraic came as a surprise and shook the team hard.
- Max volunteered to take on the role of intermediary on Erydimae
- Benedikt was concerned that Michael was a Radical, and afraid that he might be caught up in a vengeful response form a Puritanical Inquisitor. Ekaterin caught him composing a message to send to Kaprun, and persuaded him to speak with one of the other Inquisitors at the Obelisk first.
- Benedikt spoke with Inquisitor Drake who seems to have put his greatest concerns to rest, although he still does not approve of the way Michael deals with things.
- Upon returning to the Obelisk, before heading off to other missions, Ash asked Michael out on a date.
Communications
+++TO: Ashar Lear
+++FROM: Max Drent
+++SUBJECT: Fucking Baeten
See subject.
Love and kisses,
Max xxxx
+++END MESSAGE
+++TO: Max Drent
+++FROM: Ashar Lear
+++SUBJECT: Re: Fucking Baeten
Fight the good fight, precious.
Miss youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu don't get killed thanks xx
+++END MESSAGE
+++TO: Gregory Michael
+++FROM: Ash Lear
+++SUBJECT: Fashion
I hear they managed to get you out of the carapace and into civvies. Who are you, and what have you done with Inquisitor Michael?
+++END MESSAGE
+++TO: Ash Lear;
+++FROM: Inquisitor Michael;
+++SUBJECT: Re: Fashion
Ash,
I wish my intelligence network could pass on information as fast as gossip spreads through the Obelisk. Indeed, Big Bad Max bullied this poor harmless Inquisitor into deploying in the field wearing nothing more than two of the most advanced force fields the Imperium can produce between myself and an unknown fate. But last time I let them go off on themselves Max and Padraic got captured by Xenos, so I didn’t want to leave them to do it alone.
Indeed Padraic rather compounded my feelings when he suggested that I wouldn’t need armour simply going into a morgue. I’m not sure if that’s overconfidence born from his own unnatural powers or simply his lack of experience in Inquisitorial field operations. Remember that candle factory? Or that time I had to jump through a window to pursue a suspect? Frankly when you’re on the trail of a highly skilled and probably alien assassin, it’s hardly the time to grow overconfident.
They also insisted on me leaving behind my power sword, and I can’t help but recall the first time you and I visited Beaten when my sword and a bit of luck were the only reasons either of us are still alive, and even then you only emerged with three quarters of your limbs…
I do wish we had Jaxx on this one.
Still, I’m currently wearing a borrowed sweater from Padraic, and whilst I’d gladly take it over and above anything in Max’s wardrobe, I think if this is going to happen again then I will need to go shopping. Maybe we can see if our schedules can line up sometime this decade?
Yours,
Gregory
+++MESSAGE ENDS
+++TO: Gregory Michael
+++FROM: Ash Lear
+++SUBJECT: Fashion
That Max. What a bully. I must get him to teach me how he does it.
Totally get your worry on leaving it, though. All the times you refused to go without it, I think you ended up needing it every time. Although having said that - it does make people nervous, and more likely to feel cornered. Maybe you wouldn't need it, if you didn't wear it. If that makes sense.
I wouldn't recommend losing a limb, but actually now I wouldn't trade it for the world. Can't beat the reassurance of knowing you're armed (ha) literally all the time. So - just a silver lining, there, if you have to leave your sword again.
Padraic's jumpers are great, but admittedly I can't really picture you as the cosy knitwear type. Definitely up for shopping. We'll have you in something flattering in no time. Just let me know next time we're both in the Obelisk.
Good luck, I hope you get through the rest of the mission without being bullied again by everyone's favourite pilot.
Ash
+++END MESSAGE
+++TO: Inquisitor Lear; Inquisitor Drake;
+++FROM: Inquisitor Michael;
+++SUBJECT: Padraic Larnock
My fellow Inquisitors,
I regret to inform you that Padraic Larnock was killed in action last night during a brutal close-ranged firefight. I will be informing the Scholastia Psykana and making the necessary arrangements, however I wanted you to hear it from me first. Despite this tragic loss Padraic’s final mission was a success, due in no small part to his own heroic actions, and his murderer is currently in our custody.
Several other agents were injured, Max Drent, Ekaterin Malo and Benedikt Kantner, however the medics have informed me that all are stable and expected to make a full recovery, albeit with bionics in some cases.
A full report will be filed once the mission is completed.
Yours,
Gregory
+++MESSAGE ENDS
+++FROM: Agent Ekaterin Malo of the Inquisition
+++TO: Master Fallo Vorthys, Scholastica Psykana
+++SUBJECT: Padraic Larnock
Dear Master Vorthys,
Inquisitor Gregory Michael tells me that he has informed you of the death in action of Padraic Larnock. I wanted to add my condolences to his.
I was lucky enough to serve with Padraic in his short time here at the Inquisition. He was a great psyker, and a good man. He was a good friend. He spoke so fondly of the Psykana, and his students. He missed his reading room. He missed teaching. He was looking forward to getting back to it.
We grieve with you, although we have fewer rights to do so. We didn’t know him nearly as well as you did at the Scholastica, and we don’t presume on your mourning. But I wanted to let you know that he died doing the Emperor’s work, and he will be very missed here by the team on Cetus Major.
I will send his personal effects on to you as soon as I can.
Yours sincerely,
Ekaterin Malo
+++MESSAGE ENDS
Max waited outside Michael’s office. There were bits you’d forget even belonged to a ship. The hallway floor had a thick carpet and a particularly ugly marble statue of a round man with a hooked nose set into the wall opposite. Max glanced over it and vaguely hoped it wasn’t of the previous owner.
Imagine getting offed by assassins AND looking like that…
Beyond the oak coloured doors next to him he could faintly hear Michael and Benedict discussing whatever had gone down at the Port Authority. Their low tones were so sufficiently muffled that he only caught the odd word and Max, involuntarily, found himself leaning closer to the door as the conversation progressed: reports...stealth... ship... wasted…
In his attempted eavesdropping, Max almost missed the dismissal and just about managed to scramble out of the way of the doctor as he left. Doing his best to look natural, he gave a quick nod and smile as Benny passed before ducking in the open door.
In what had become routine over the last few days, Max greeted Michael, took out a dataslate and began briefing him on the prospect gossip, as well as the progress in finding Nikita’s children. He felt strangely disconnected as he read, as though he was speaking with someone else’s voice.
"... given all that, I’m pretty sure we can disregard the two from sector 6 and the twist near the water treatment place, which leaves us with around a dozen… so… yeah. Still a little while…"
He waited for Michael to respond, eyes on the dataslate. It couldn’t have been more than a few seconds, but it felt like it stretched to eternity. He was distantly aware of Michael answering.
Max didn’t mean to interrupt. He’d actively focussed on nothing other than the tasks put in front of him, but the words tumbled out entirely unbidden:
"What happens when this is over? With the prospect? And the kids? And… the prisoner?"
He felt weirdly flat as he spoke.
Michael looked at Max quizzically. "Well, as I was just saying," he looked pointedly at Max, "I'm pulling the manhunt for the children. I'm pretty sure we've got everything we can out of her already and Benedikt's lead appears fruitful. Write up your notes just in case but for now we can drop it.
"As for the Prospekt… I had not intended to do anything. Or rather, anything myself. As you know I came to Baeten early in my career and we found Eldar here in the Prospekts; the time Ash lost her leg. Afterwards I shut down the webway portal they had used to get onto Baeten.
"I came a second time as a full Inquisitor in the wake of a Deathwatch interception of a second Dark Eldar incursion. Again the Prospekts, and this time the aliens came a long way out of their way. Now I find myself here for a third time. Once more the Prospekts. Once more the Eldar.
"The poverty and lawlessness is a draw to the Xenos. They do not find such easy prey amongst the comfortable citizens of more civilised worlds, they target the weak, the overlooked and the ignored.
"My intention is to make this plain to the Governor that he must make systematic improvements to this planet to prevent further incursions in the future or he will be found to have failed in his duty as Imperial Commander and will be replaced.
"That said, diplomacy is not my strongest suit so I'd welcome feedback on how I can put that point across in a manner that gets him to uplift the people rather than just eliminate them. Currently all that comes to mind is 'and I don't mean kill or sterilise them either' which seems a bit blunt. Plus he probably remembers when I was willing to make sacrifices to save a planet and sod's law says that is going to come back to bite me if I'm not very very careful.
"As for our prisoner… I have an idea... but what do you think we should do with her Max?" He stared intently at Max, clearly studying his response.
"I...think she needs to go".
Max looked up briefly to meet Michael's eye and then back to the dataslate, "Once this is completely over and you've got everything you need."
She'll never trust us, and I don't know if we could ever trust her enough for her to be useful to us, but... I don't know if that's right or just practical or because of Padraic or what so... I'd just really like it if you could just tell me what the right answer is".
Michael paused, as he often did at moments like this, his eyes roving over Max’s face for some clue as to what he was thinking
"If you’re looking for the ‘right’ answer, you’ve come to the wrong place, and indeed are in the wrong business entirely. I have an answer. But I won’t put you on the spot then, clearly this makes you uncomfortable.
"She’s not some arch traitor, she’s a common criminal who is a product of her environment. Nevertheless she has, through circumstance rather than intent, broken Imperial Law, so obviously her life is forfeit. To do any less would undermine the law. Still, I have no need, nor desire, to make some grand example of her. She is a skilled warrior, competent leader and has proven that she cares about those close to her, so I am thinking of sending her to the Penal Legion. She could make a good sergeant, if she survives long enough.
"There is nothing she could ever do to repay the Imperium for the loss of Padraic but in the Penal Legion she would spend the rest of her life repaying some small fraction. I would rather her life be spent in service than taken in vengeance. How does that sit with you? You knew Padraic better than I, what do you think he would want?"
Max considered it. "He'd probably think it was quite fitting. He told me once he hated to see young psykers wasted, maybe that extended to normal people too?".
"A penal colony is a good idea. And I'm not uncomfortable, I'm just angry. I'm angry that it all went so sideways and about what happened, and I know she's had it rough and was making shitty calls for the right reasons and it kills me that she got to walk away and Padraic didn't, but I wanted her gone before then and I'm just really aware that it's a bit rich me deciding what happens when me and her are exactly the same".
Max ran his hand through his hair, catching Michael as he watched him.
"We are the same. If anything she's better, she actually tried to change the shit around her. I just did as I was told. The only difference is I ran into Kovach and she ran into this prince.
"I'm sorry. Please don't take me off the case".
Michael gave Max a skeptical look.
"Exactly the same? Strange, I was under the impression that when you helped Siveter buy that orphanage factory whatever, it was to help out the children. I’m sure I heard talk about education and training programs and dietary planning and career guidance. I must have missed the part where you were arming the children and using them as disposable cannon fodder to expand your petty empire..."
He looked at Max’s face and backtracked slightly.
"Sorry, this isn’t really my forte. I can see some crude parallels, you’re not wrong there, but you’re oversimplifying. My advice is to not get too caught up in who the enemy is. It’ll just slow you down. She was scum. She sold drugs, dealt with xenos and used child soldiers to feed her personal ambitions for petty power.
"Keep the mission in mind. Who you are, right now, is an Agent of the Throne, and your job is to safeguard humanity. All of it. Not just the people you like down your street. Not just the planet you live on. Not just the sector. All of humanity is in your care. The motivation of one individual really doesn't matter if their actions stand opposed to the rest of humanity.
"I’ll do you a deal. I won’t pull you off the mission if you make an appointment with Dr Barra for when we get back to talk to her about this. You’re off the case until the message is sent, so hurry up, we’ve got more work to do."
Max listened, keeping his eyes on the ground. At ‘agent of the throne’ he braved a look. Michael didn’t look mad… but he also looked far from impressed. But he was right: he did have a job to do. At the dismissal he gave a quick 'Sir' and left.
+++TO: Dr Martya Barra, The Obelisk, Hive Sejanus, Cetus Major
+++FROM: Agent Maximus Drent, The Accipiter, Baetan
+++SUBJECT: Appointment
Can I make an appointment for when The Accipiter gets back?
I don’t know when that’ll be, but on the off chance you’ve got space.
It won’t take long.
Take Care,
Max
+++MESSAGE ENDS
There's a knock at Michael's office door - after waiting for him to reply, Ash opens and pokes her head around, grinning.
"You are back!" She says with satisfaction. Then, mischief in her eyes: "Heard you tried to shoot my new agents. Is that a declaration of war, Inquisitor?"
"Hah, well, if you will send unknown assassins to burst into my office as soon as I get back I'm going to have to defend myself!" Michael laughed it off, but Ash knew him well enough to see real embarrassment underneath the facade. "It's good to see you starting to build a team of your own. Although… poaching another Inquisitor's children… interesting choice."
Ash laughed. “I didn’t poach them, she gave them to me.” She was smirking. “On some worlds that’s bona-fide legal grounds for a lifetime of indentured servitude, I’ll have you know.” She let herself the rest of the way into the room, and let the door close behind her. The smile slipped. “Look, I - I wanted to say, I’m sorry about Padraic. It sounds like a clusterfuck. You alright?”
He sighed, and leaned back, gesturing for Ash to take a seat. “He personally killed Heretic Astartes and held off swarms of Xenos mechanoids with his mind but some low life scum manages to get the drop on him and it’s all over. But… it happens.” He pushed a decanter of Amasec and an empty glass across the desk within easy reach of Ash. “He’s not the first soldier I’ve seen fight through hell only to be killed by something trivial, but... the timing… Look it’s probably just the travel-lag but... He came here to help Rosa and arrived just days too late. He was with us for a year and dies and days later a new child-psyker arrives, fresh and naive and everything he came here to help with and never could.” He looked somewhat sickly as he finished off his glass.
Ash held her glass of amasec in one hand, the heavy stopper from the decanter in the other. It was cool against the living flesh of her right palm. She looked down at it, the prism of light trapped in the centre.
There was nothing to say. There were oceans between them. Her life experience was nothing compared to his, who had seen so many men die in service. Sympathy would be useless, platitudes intolerable. What was left? ‘He had a good life’? ‘He knew the risks’? Ridiculous.
The stopper was warm from her hand, now. She placed it down on the table, reached for the decanter and topped up Michael’s glass.
"I miss him," Ash said, eventually. She sipped, and the amasec was oily on her tongue. "I liked him. We trained together a lot. He kept trying to analyse the pariah thing. I wouldn’t take a flower from him once, when he offered one - feels stupid, now. He was a good man."
She raised her eyes to Michael’s face, and lifted her glass. "To Padraic."
Michael raised his glass. "Padraic". He took a mouthful of the spirit and let it sit on his tongue. Some of the firefly liquid vaporised from the warmth of his tongue and filled his mouth with it’s heat. He let it burn for a moment before drinking it down. When he placed his glass back on the table the introspection and emotion was cleared from his face; back to business.
"I saw the Machadon file come in, I see you’re taking it. Just you and your new recruits?"
"Me, the Karriads, Nadia, and my other new agent - Ramak, I think you’ll like her. Feels strange to have a group who are all so new to each other.” She smiled. “I still want to look over my shoulder every time someone calls me 'Inquisitor'."
Ash knocked back the rest of her amasec. "Better go and prep to leave." She set the glass down carefully, and took a breath.
"Gregory. Next time we’re both back." Her mouth felt dry. Her expression was half-wary, half-amused at herself. She swallowed, a small smile playing on her lips. "I want to take you to dinner." Ash’s chin lifted slightly in what Michael might have recognised as a small, defensive gesture. "Will you come?"
The look of shock on Michael’s face was a rare show of genuine unsuppressed emotion. "A… er…" he stared at her for a moment. "Yes. I will. That is… I’m going to Erydimae soon, I don’t know if you’ll be back before I leave, and I may be some time."
Ash visibly relaxed, the wariness leaving her face as her smile widened. “And if I wasn’t leaving for Machedon tomorrow…” she shrugged, and shook her head in amusement. "This is how our lives are." Her dark eyes held his. "No rush."
She got to her feet and, one hand on the door, turned to give him a joking half-salute. "Be safe, Gregory. Good hunting." Then she slipped out, closed the door and - checking first that nobody was around to see - spun around in the corridor before taking off at a run.