Part I
At the base of my throne is Kretin Helmenov
at last kneeling. Having him this close makes my emotions run wild - I
really want him dead! But he is so resourceful, so strong and powerful,
he is the mightiest of weapons - and he is mine! All his devotion to the
false emperor has been transferred on to the Cult - now he will carve the
Empire of Truth, the followers of the Dream of Truth will multiply hundreds
of times, yes and soon millions of times.
I call out to Mirh’jern’gchoon’cheechum
and he answers from the shipyard. My children have been working constantly
the four days Kretin have been lying in the regeneration unit, and now
the ship is ready for Kretin's mission.
-- -- --
Kneeling before The Father - the source of
love and truth in the universe - I am awed and pleased like never before
in my false life. His nearness makes me dizzy. I hear a soft whisper in
my head and I know I am to approach him. My legs can hardly carry me up
the few steps - twice I stumble. He points to his left knee - the least
honorary - and I can understand why. I have to make myself worthy to kneel
at the right, and by His honor I will!
He tells me about the great ship he has
had constructed while I was recovering. Gathering sections from my old
blasphemous ship in space, my call codes, as an Imperial Judge, should
now be installed in the new one. My first test to prove my value will be
to head for Nehream VI and start the liberation of the Yhree system. Yhree
is valuable as contains materials for five of the six liquids that can
cleanse Kilr'merhn'rhien.
He must know I am as loyal as anyone could
be, but still He has decided to send his First Son with me. Being only
at His left knee I will make no suggestion that Mirh’chee might make to
rash decisions. This might be just as much a test of him as of me!
-- -- --
Why is Father putting me on a mission with
this foul new brother? No new member of the family have faltered the slightest
before - and I know even our greatest enemy yet will not either. At least
it tells me that Father sees me as His greatest asset - and not Kretin.
We must hurry on our mission. First though,
I have to take Kretin to the woman chosen by Father. His son will be powerful.
Ten minutes later we head for the spaceship. Soon we have left Venis I
behind us, and one of our Navigators heads for our goal. Apparently those
humans not liberated are in danger traveling in warp space. At certain
times even the least psychic of the crew can feel the creatures out there,
but they are no danger to anyone in the family. The lies they try to tell
us offer nothing that is better than what we got! We are all totally devoted.
-- -- --
Training in the ship gym I feel like 15 again,
swinging in those ropes like any professional athlete. The blessed egg,
given by my father Chnee'kathne'shem, contained the power of the gods.
The surviving brood brothers from Starium still look more or less like
then, while I aged 35 years. How can the false emperor I followed for far
to long compete with that? The answer is simple; he can not.
This ship will liberate the system of Yhree
in the name of G’choon’cheechum!
Part II
First Operational Leader of the mineral extraction
project on Nehream VI blinked and looked again unbelieving at the monitor:
A Most Honored Traveling Judge in the Yhree system? Every shipment had
been on time for the last seven decades and
there had been no worker or
prisoner uprising in four decades. It has to be some secret mission - why
else would such a high ranking Judge travel to this dump?
I make sure everyone in Control Center is
in his or her places, a Judge's landing must not be delayed - he or she
might get suspicious! I find the two most impressing looking Center Guards
and run for the landing place. I arrive a moment before touchdown and we
hide around the corner of the entrance. When the door opens and a imposing
figure in red armor appears, I walk as stately as possible - in no hurry
at all - around the corner and towards the landing craft.
-- -- --
I do not feel quite comfortable in old armor
anymore. Partly because we didn't have all the right spare parts, but mostly
because it is a symbol of the false emperor. Walking out in the bright
daylight my visor darkens to compensate and I see three men walk through
the entry to the platform. Haven given them my Most Honored Traveling Judge
identification signal it has to be the highest leader on this moon. Walking
to meet him my brothers spread out around me, looking for possible snipers
and automated defenses. Mirh’chee and two other Fathers should already
be in the complex, the maintenance tunnels next to the fuel pipes makes
perfect entry points into the system.
The man presents himself as FOL Kirken Le'han.
As we walk toward his meeting office he tells me about the complex and
his work here. He seems a bit to polite but trying to look through his
facade, I find that this really is his natural behavior - the perfect sub-leader
in the Imperium. Such a man is both a blessing and a curse for our cause.
He will to my bidding without questions - but if we liberate him all his
underlings will instantly know something is wrong. I just hope Mirh’chee
will not do anything rash.
-- -- --
Ha ha ha, this will be far too easy! Everybody has their own little sleep chamber with a huge grate to the ventilation system. We three could liberate one level per night. The whole complex would be ours within at most two weeks. My brothers can feel my excitement and respond to my suggestion with a gleeful clicking with their claws. I am happy I selected the simplest minded brothers for this trip - the others always make trouble and question my decisions. Well, there is no need to go back up to the ship, we can just as well scout around until our work begins to night.
-- -- --
What the Judge is telling me is shocking news indeed. Several of my trusted sub- subordinates should be - no IS, this is a Judge telling me - undercover agents for a huge pirate fleet planing to steal the next shipment of minerals. He was the one nearest to the system, but a regiment of Imperial Guards is expected within three weeks. He begins asking questions about who my most trusted and smartest officers are, and if anyone ask many questions and the like. I then show him around the complex and especially Control Center, so he can arrest all his suspect in one fast sweep. The interogation will then find place on board his landing craft.
-- -- --
Now I know about all those who might suspect
something first. This is going to be a perfect operation. Gathering all
the brothers who can pass for ordinary humans, we split up the Arbites
suits and red capes and get ready for the big sweep. Our three Fathers
have not returned yet, I hope the other two can put some reason in Mirh’chee's
head if he comes up with something crazy. Some of the more blessed brothers
mumble about letting an only liberated human lead the sweep. I envy their
likeness to a Father, and know how dangerous their claws are - but I also
know I am by far the smartest and more experienced. I remind them that
The Father gave me command right after Mirh'chee, and knowing the mentioning
of The Father means everything I start the sweep.
Damn! I hear a scream echo up from the level
beneath me. Running down the stairs, I hope no one used their claws - like
I told them not to. But like I guessed, using those claws are second nature
and pure instinct to them, and the blood splattered sleeping chamber is
going to give us problems. I tell the brother to stop licking his claws
for blood and get back to the ship for a body bag. I select five liberated
humans and tell them to guard the room and make sure no one looks in it.
Back at the ship I think about sending the
most agile brother out looking for the Fathers, but he would just obey
Mirh'chee once he reached him.
-- -- --
Hmmm, they work in shifts - so there will
not be a whole level filled at any time. On the other claw there will be
lots of workers sleeping with empty chambers next to them. Yes! We will
take those, and as they work in shifts we can just as well start now.
The grates are easy to lift out of the way
and those deaf humans do not even wake when we jump down next to them.
The first is easily done and I am up in the shaft again and replace the
grate. The others come up shortly after and we go for the next cells. Right
after we get into the cells there is a shot from the chamber Kraan'nye
entered. The human in my chamber jolts upright in his bed and opens his
mouth to scream, I have no option but to tear his head off. Jumping up
and into Knaan'nye's chamber I find him wounded next to a chopped up mess
of flesh. Heheran'ke enters too. I tell him to help lick the blood off
Kraan'nye so he will not leave traces.
Before getting out I notice a guard uniform
next to the bed. The guards sleep with the workers!
Part III
Mirh'chee has messed everything up - as I feared he would. I couldn't get anything out of him, but Heheran'ke told me what happened. The records say that there have been absolutely no trouble on this moon for decades, so it would be stupid to think that FOL Kirken Le'han will not link our arrival to the killing. Heheran'ke must go and bring in one of those they liberated, so that we can get some inside information - and fast.
-- -- --
I can hardly believe that an Imperial Judge
should have anything to do with this brutal killing, but the chance of
it being a coincidence is very slim. The medic says it looks like the work
of huge extremely sharp claws and is clearly shaken. On the other hand
the ones Helmenov came here to stop might have panicked and started some
murderous plan. I try to convince myself that this must be the case - but
there is too much at stake for wishes.
As the door to the sleeping chamber was
locked solidly from the inside, the murderer must have come in through
the ventilation system. Those shafts are made from cheap chrome plates
that make a hell of lot of noise when you crawl through them. Yet no one
heard a sound before the scream.
I decide to send a shuttle for Jenana where
they have the system's Astropath. Either the leaders on Jenana will know
what could have done this - or they can contact the Caardinen Archive for
more information. The Judge ship is currently over the moons dayside, so
I jump in a speed train headed for the night side. Seeing me and my four
Center Guard bodyguards, the passengers on the crowded train make sure
the train is only crowded for them.
-- -- --
Ashtorm is calling me furiously on my comm.
Turning the comm on I know it is more trouble - everything just seems to
go wrong. This is very bad - a small messenger shuttle is a thousand clicks
out in space, apparently headed for Jenana, the one place it must not be
headed for. Messenger shuttles are fast and we will properly not be able
to intercept it. I do not want full responsibility for this so I inform
Mirh'chee about what happened.
Mirh'chee goes berserk and orders that we
fly after the shuttle right away. Knowing I will not survive refusing him
- and know that I will not knowingly harm a Father - I just barely get
Heheran'ke out to stay on the moon before we are off. He must disable the
inter-planetary comm transmitter on Nehream VI. Then they can not disturb
us.
We are soon aboard and starting out of orbit
we have but a few choices. Ships in our army try to look like merchants
and the like, bidding whoever might attack to board us - and none but the
false emperor's Space Marine Terminators will have any chance at all against
a ship full of Kilr'merhn'rhien. Therefor weapons for more regular space
battle are rare and this ship is no exception. As this ship is custom build
to look somewhat like the ship of a high ranking Judge it does have a few
bigger guns though. Shooting the shuttle will properly put Jenana on alert
anyway and we don't want that.
Going for the simplest option is often better,
and so I simply open a comm channel to Jenana and order them to shoot down
the shuttle - having recieved my signal codes along with the order the
gunners do not dare waste time checking with their superiors and blast
the shuttle to cinders. Mirh'chee looks a bit disappointed that he couldn't
rip the pilots and messengers on board up personally, but also a bit relived.
Deciding to simply ignore the questions
now pouring out from the comm we turn around to finish our business on
Nehream VI. But arriving at the moon we find all their anti-space guns
directed at us - and FOL Le'han denies us landing clearance until he recieves
orders from the Planetary Governor on Jenana.
- continued in Part IV -