1_For_The_Emperor

by Sandy Mitchel

  'You did well, I hear/ I congratulated him as he disembarked from his Chimera. He nodded, still a little high from the adrenaline.

  'Cleared out the whole nest of them. Minimal casualties, too.' He broke off to return Sulla's salute; her face was shining as though she'd just been out on a heavy date. 'Well done, lieutenant. That was a tough call.'

  'I just asked myself what the commissar would have done,' she said. At that point I still didn't have a clue what either of them were talking about, but I assumed she'd distinguished herself in some way, so

  I tried to look pleased. It turned out later she'd pulled some damn fool stunt that had almost got her killed, but the troopers thought she was the hero of the hour, so it had all turned out for the best. Besides, it was the sort of thing I was assumed to have done myself, so I could hardly chew her out for it when the reports came in, could I?

  'And then did the opposite, I hope/ I said, then raised an eyebrow at her expression. 'That was a joke, lieutenant. I'm sure whatever decision you made was the correct one under the circumstances.'

  'I hope so/ she said, saluting again, then trotting off to check on the wounded from her platoon. Broklaw watched her go with a thoughtful expression.

  'Well, it worked, anyway. Probably saved us a heap of casualties too. But…' He shrugged. 'She'll probably do well in the end, if she doesn't get herself killed first/

  Well, he was right there, of course, although none of us could see at the time just quite how far she'd go. Like they say, it's always the ones you least expect. l

  After a few more words of little consequence, Brocklaw went off to report to Kasteen, and I went to look for a drink.

  I found it in a quiet booth at the back of the Eagle's Wing. The place was almost deserted, in an

  1 For further details of Sulla's illustrious career see Dragen's biography Valhallan Valkyrie, a populist but accurate work, and Like a Phoenix From the Flames, if you can tolerate her prose style.

  eerie contrast to my visit here with Divas, but I supposed it was still a bit too early in the evening for things to be lively, and anyway the solitude fitted my mood. I'd noticed, on my short walk to the bar, that the streets were unusually quiet, too, and the few civilians I'd seen had seemed nervous, scuttling away from me as they caught sight of my uniform. Our show of strength against the rebels in the Heights had put everyone on edge, and if anything, anti-Imperial sentiment seemed to be gaining ground.

  I can't say I blamed them entirely, either. If I'd been a Gravalaxian, I'd probably be thinking that the tau might be blue, bald, and barmy, but at least they hadn't blown up part of the city. My opinion of Grice would have fallen even further for ordering us to intervene, if that were possible.

  As the amasec started to kick in, I found myself brooding over the events of the afternoon: a hairs-breadth escape from death does that to me, I start to contemplate my own mortality, and wonder what the hell I'm doing in a job where I'm liable to be killed pretty much all of the time. The answer, of course, is that I didn't have a choice - the assessors at the Schola Progenium decided I was commissarial material, and that was that.1

  1 A decision which, on the face of it, seems remarkably perverse, given Cain's manifest character flaws. However, it's a decision his subsequent career triumphantly vindicates. We can only speculate how he would have fared if directed into some other branch of Imperial service, such as the Navy, or, Emperor help us, the Arbites.

  I was just working myself into a perversely comforting mood of gloom and despondency when a shadow fell across me and a mellifluous voice asked, 'Do you mind if I sit here?'

  Normally, I'm never averse to feminine company, as you'll know if you've read much of these memoirs, but right then all I wanted was to be left alone to contemplate the unfairness of the universe in a self-pitying haze of alcohol. However, it never pays to be impolite to an inquisitor, so I gestured to the seat across the table and masked my surprise as best I could. She'd found the time to change and freshen up too, I noticed, into a mist-grey gown which showed off her colouring to the best advantage.

  'Feel free/ I gestured to the waitress, who looked vaguely disappointed as she delivered our order. Two more, please/

  Thank you/ Amberley sipped delicately at the drink, a faint moue betraying her opinion of its quality, before replacing the glass on the tabletop and regarding me quizzically. I tried to pull away from her depthless blue eyes, then decided I didn't really want to after all. 'You're a remarkable man, commissar/

  'So I've been told/1 waited a heartbeat before smiling. Though I can't say I see it myself/ The corner of Amberley's mouth twitched, with what looked like genuine amusement.

  'Oh yes, the modest hero routine. You've got that one off pat, no question/ She knocked back the rest of her drink in one, and signalled for another, leaving

  me gaping like an idiot. Her smile widened. "What's next? "I'm just a humble soldier," or "Trust me, I'm a servant of the Emperor?"'

  'I'm not quite sure what you're insinuating-' I began, but she cut me off with a chuckle.

  'Ooh, honest indignation. I haven't seen that one in a while.' She picked at the bowl of nuts on the table, some local variety I didn't recognise, and flashed a grin of pure mischief at me. 'Lighten up, commissar, I'm only pulling your leg.'

  Yes, right, I thought. And letting me know you can see right through every little manipulative trick in my repertoire in the process. Something of this must have shown on my face, because her eyes softened.

  'You could just try being yourself, you know.'

  The thought was terrifying. I'd spent so long hiding behind masks I was no longer sure there was a genuine Ciaphas underneath them any more, just a quivering little bundle of self-interest. Then an even more terrifying thought hit me; she could tell what I was thinking! Everything I'd tried to conceal about my fraudulent reputation would be open to her, and the inquisition… Emperor's bowels!

  'Relax. I'm not a psyker. Just very good at reading people.' She watched me sag into my seat with relief, not even trying to conceal it, the faint amusement still dancing in the back of her eyes. 'Whatever you're afraid I'll find out is still safe. And it'll stay that way. Unless you give me a reason to start looking for it.'

  Til do my best not to/ I promised, picking up my own drink with a shaky hand.

  'I'm glad to hear it/ Her smile was warm again. 'Because I was hoping you could help me/

  'Help you with what?' I asked, already sure I wasn't going to like the answer.

  The conference suite was less crowded this time, although since two of the others present were Lord General Zyvan and an inquisitor who was already making it perfectly clear that she was in charge here, it certainly seemed full enough to me. The only other person present was Mott, the elderly savant, who sat bright and alert, occasionally poking at the dent in his leg left by a hasty techpriest who hadn't quite finished patching him up when the summons to the meeting had arrived.

  Thank you for joining us, commissar/ Amberley flashed me a smile which looked genuinely warm, although as an experienced manipulator myself, I wasn't quite sure how far I could trust it. Zyvan nodded a greeting, also pleased to see me.

  'Hello again/ Mott smiled, surprisingly clear brown eyes flickering behind his excess of beard. He evidently hadn't found the time to wash the smell of the fire out of his hair and robes, or simply didn't care. You've caused us a great deal of inconvenience, young man. Although I suppose you weren't to know/

  'Know what?' I asked, trying not to snap. I'd grabbed a couple of sandwiches to try and mop up the alcohol I'd drunk, and got Jurgen to find me some recaf, but between the amasec and the

  reaction from the day's adventures, my head was still buzzing.

  'All in good time.' Amberley smiled indulgently at the wizened sage. 'Caractacus does tend to skip the dull bits given half a chance.'

  'When you get to my age, you don't have the time to waste on them/ he responded, smiling in return. I realised that this was all part of an easy fa
miliarity between them, which spoke volumes for the trust the inquisitor placed in him, and the length of their association. He turned back to me. 'Which reminds me, thank you for coming to our assistance. It was most timely'

  'My pleasure/ I said.

  'Then you have an extremely perverse idea of what constitutes fun. You should get out more/

  Amberley shook her head, and raised an eyebrow at me, in an exaggerated mime of exasperation.

  'You just can't get the help these days/ she said. I couldn't think of any adequate response to this, so I said nothing. I'd never had a really clear idea of what an inquisitor was supposed to be like, although like most people, I had a vague impression of some scary psychopath who slaughtered their way through the Emperor's enemies. Amberley, on the other hand, seemed to be the complete antithesis of this. She had her ruthless streak, of course, as I was to find out during our long association, but back then, the cheerful, slightly whimsical young woman with the strange sense of humour seemed about as far removed from the

  general preconception of her profession as it was possible to get.1 Zyvan cleared his throat.

  'Inquisitor. Perhaps we could get to the matter at hand?'

  'Of course/ She activated the hololith, thumping it in just the right spot to bring the image into focus. 'It goes without saying that everything you see and hear is completely confidential, commissar/

  'Of course/ I nodded.

  'Good. I'd hate to have to kill you/ She smiled again, and I wondered if she was joking or not. These days, of course, I know she meant every word of it.

  'In case you haven't been paying attention/ she went on, 'I'm an agent of the Ordo Xenos. You know what that means?'

  'You deal with aliens?' I hazarded. Back then, I had only the vaguest idea that the inquisition was divided into multiple ordos with specific areas of interest and responsibility, but it was a pretty easy deduction to make. Amberley nodded approval.

  'Exactly/ she began.

  'For the most part, anyway/ Mott chimed in helpfully. 'There was that Chaos cult on Arcadia Secundus, and the heretics of Ghore-'

  Thank you, Caractacus/ she said, meaning, 'shut the warp up/ so he did. As I was soon to discover, being a savant meant being obsessed with detail and trivia, and all the pedantry that went with it. Imagine the worst barroom know-it-all you ever met, who

  1 Which was, of course, the whole point…

  really does, and is cursed with a tourette-like compulsion to spill out everything relevant on any topic that comes up, and you're about halfway there. Although he could be incredibly annoying at times, I found him good company in his own way once I got to know him. Especially as his gifts included an uncanny intuitive grasp of probability which we put to good use in a number of gambling establishments over the years.

  Amberley pulled up a star chart on the hololith, which I recognised without too much difficulty, as it had been reproduced in far less detail in the briefing slate I'd skimmed through before we made planet-fall.

  'The Damocles Gulf/ I said, and she nodded.

  'We're here.' She pointed out the Gravalax system, seemingly alone and isolated on the fringes of Imperial space. 'Notice anything about the topography of the region?'

  We're close to the tau border/ I said, playing for time as I studied the images. She wouldn't be alluding to anything that obvious, I was sure. Several of the neighbouring systems were tagged with blue icons, marking them as tau-held worlds. In fact they almost engulfed our present position, with only a thin chain of friendly yellow beacons connecting us to the welcoming haven of Imperial space. 'Too close/ I concluded finally. 'If we had to fight a war here, our supply lines would be far too thin for comfort/

  'Precisely/ Zyvan nodded approval, and indicated a couple of choke points. 'They could cut us off here,

  and here with no trouble at all. We'd be blockaded and swallowed up in months. While they could reinforce at their leisure from at least four systems/

  Which is why we're so desperate to avoid a full-scale war over this miserable mudball/ Amberley said. 'Keeping it would tie up our naval assets from at least three sectors just to secure our supply lines, and we'd be funnelling Guard and Astartes units in from all over the Segmentum. Putting it bluntly, it's not worth the effort/

  To say that I was astonished would be putting it mildly. It had been an article of faith for as long as I could remember that the sacred domains of His Majesty's Imperium should never be polluted by the alien no matter the cost. And here was an inquisitor no less, and the lord general himself, apparently quite happy to let the tau just walk in and have the place. Well that was fine with me, of course, especially if it kept me out of the firing line, so I nodded judiciously.

  'I can sense a "but" coming/ I said.

  'Quite right/ Zyvan nodded, clearly pleased by my astuteness. 'Just letting the little blue grox-lovers walk in and take the place isn't acceptable either. It would send entirely the wrong message to them. They're already popping up on worlds all over the sector and arming to keep them. If they take Gravalax without a fight, they'll think half the Segmentum is up for grabs/

  'But we could beat them in the long run/ I said, trying not to picture the decades of grinding attrition

  that would ensue as the overwhelming might of the Imperium met the technosorcery of the tau. It would be the biggest bloodbath since the Sabbat Worlds crusade.

  'We could. Eventually.' Amberley nodded soberly. 'If they were the only threat we had to face.' She widened the view, systems falling into the centre of the hololith, new ones coalescing at the fringes of the projection field. Several systems were tagged in red. I recognised one of them as Corania, and then, a moment later, I picked out the Desolatia system where I'd first been blooded against a tyranid horde over a decade before.

  'In the last few years, tyranid attacks have been increasing in this region of the galaxy/ Zyvan said. 'But you'd know all about that.'

  'I've seen a few/ I admitted.

  There's a pattern/ Mott butted in. 'Still not clear, but definitely beginning to form.1

  'Our greatest fear is that they could be the harbingers of a new hive fleet/ Amberley said soberly. I tried to envision such a thing, and shivered involuntarily. The hordes I'd encountered before had been weak, the scattered survivors of hive fleet Behemoth which had been shattered centuries before, but still dangerous shards of poison in the body of the Imperium. Even attenuated as they were, they could still overwhelm a lightly defended world, growing in strength

  1 In hindsight, these were clearly the precursors of Hive Fleets Kraken and Leviathan, the bulk of which had still to be detected at this time.

  with each one they consumed. The prospect of facing a fresh fleet with almost limitless resources was, quite simply, terrifying.

  Then let's pray you're wrong/ I said. Unfortunately, as we now know, she was right twice over, and the reality was far worse than even my craven imaginings.

  'Amen/ Zyvan made the sign of the aquila. 'But if she's not, those ships and men will be needed to defend the Imperium. And it's not just the 'nids…' He trailed off as Amberley shot him a venomous look. Clearly I wasn't supposed to be let in on everything.

  'Necrons/ I said, jumping to the obvious conclusion. I pointed out the tomb world I'd been lucky to escape from a couple of years before. 'Not the friendliest of xenos. And cropping up more frequently of late, if these contact icons are anything to go by/ I indicated a couple of others in the same purple script.

  That would be pure speculation, commissar/ Amberley said, a clear warning tone entering her voice, but Mott nodded enthusiastically.

  'A two hundred and seventy-three per cent increase in probable necron contact over the last century/ he said. 'Only twenty-eight per cent fully confirmed, however/ That would be because the majority of contacts left no survivors, of course.

  'Be that as it may/ Amberley said, 'the fact remains that the resources we would expend fighting a war for Gravalax are likely to be needed elsewhere, and if we're for
ced to use them now, we would be fatally weakened/

  "Which still begs the question of who would be insane enough to try to provoke such a war, and what they could hope to gain by it,' I said, eager to show I was paying attention.

  'Precisely what the inquisitor was sent here to find out/ Zyvan assured me.

  'Not exactly' Amberley killed the hololith display, probably to stop me from making any more uncomfortable guesses about what might be lurking in the outer darkness. 'Our attention was drawn to the increase in tau influence on Gravalax, and the activities of certain rogue traders who seemed to be profiting from it. I came to look into that, and assess the loyalties of the governor.'

  That's why you had Orelius pressuring him for trade concessions/ I said, the coin suddenly dropping. "You wanted to see if he had any influence with the tau/

  'Quite right/ She smiled at me, like a schola tutor whose least promising pupil has just recited the entire catechism of abjuration. 'You're really quite astute for a soldier/

  'And your decision?' Zyvan asked, carefully not taking offence at the remark.

  I'm still considering it/ she admitted. 'He's certainly weak, probably corrupt, and undeniably stupid. He's let the alien influence take root here far too deeply to be dislodged without considerable effort. But he's no longer our primary concern/

  'You mean the conspirators?' I asked. 'Whoever's trying to provoke a war over this?'

  'Precisely/ She nodded, favouring me with another smile, which, perhaps due to wishful thinking, looked remarkably like praise. 'Another astute deduction on your part/

  'Do you have any clue as to their identities?' Zyvan asked. Amberley shook her head.

  'There's no shortage of enemies who would stand to gain from weakening the Imperial presence in this sector/ she said, with a warning glance at Mott, who seemed on the verge of listing them. 'Not least the tau themselves/ He subsided with visible disappointment. 'But whoever it is is undoubtedly working through the xenoist faction here, and the PDF units they control. Fortunately, the Guard seem to have drawn their teeth without dragging the tau into it, for which we can all be thankful/