Week Two

"Quartermaster!!" Commissar Prash shouted at the top of his lungs.

A masked figure with a dusty greatcoat and a skull emblazoned on his helmet rushed to the Commissar’s side. He stood silently for a moment and then leaned down to inspect the corpse of Lt Colonel Braithwaite.

“Would you please remove that?” asked Prash, politely. “Right away sir.” He responded. Prash noticed he was standing in a small pool of Braithwaite’s blood. He kicked the toe of his boot into the dirt to blot it up.

Prash stared at the dataslate in his hand, new reports streamed in from the field at a feverish pace. He habitually thumbed the firing stud of his archeotech pistol as he read.

To his left there was a clicking noise and he instinctively drew his pistol and leveled it at his would be attacker.

A young man festooned in a gold trimmed, black cape stared unaffected at the Commissar. Circling rapidly around his head was a trio of green glowing servo skulls. They bathed him in light; quickly protecting him from the threat with a refractor field. The man spoke with a clipped timbre. “Members of the Ordo Chronos are not unaccustomed to having weapons pointed at them Commissar. However, we normally request more courtesy from our colleagues in the Astra Militarum.”

“Inquisitor…?” Prash said; hanging a question in the air.

“Fell.” The young man replied.

Prash holstered his weapon. There was no mistaking the bearing and appearance of a member of the Ordo Chronos. Fell had the markings of a predator; keen eyes and a lean build. He wore the robes of the Inquisition as well as their seal on his belt. He was saddled with technology that Prash felt heretical for even laying his eyes upon.

Prash bowed slightly and said “I assume you’re here to discuss the unknown Astartes currenting laying waste to New Hope?” Inquisitor Fell smirked. “I’m not here to discuss anything Commissar. I am here to commandeer a vehicle and a few of your men. I need them to accompany me to the front.”

All around them, men and women scurried. Vehicles roared to life and departed their makeshift camp. Prash took a step toward Fell. It had been a long while since the Commissar had been pushed around and he did not care for it.“As you can see Inquisitor; we are in full retreat. A sodding huge lot of Tyranids are bearing down on New Hope and we’re directly in their path. They’ve already taken the zone to our North known as The Wyrd.”

“Certainly.” the Inquistor responded. He looked down at his belt and the gilded Inquisitorial seal which hung there.

Commissar Prash knew there was nothing more to say. In fact, he had already said too much. Suddenly he felt very lucky to be alive as he also gazed at the Inquisitorial seal. Had Fell desired he could have simply executed Prash on the spot for failing to respond with anything but an emphatic “yes”. “B-but for the Emperor’s Inquisition we will certainly make it so.” Prash motioned to a subordinate. “Lieutenant, muster squad 44 and a Valkyrie for Inquisitor Fell.” The Lieutenant noticed Prash’s ashen pallor and simply saluted, then ran off to perform his duty.

“You should know Inquisitor; the Astartes have already moved onto Sector 16. They fight like devils sir and now they hold the Firebase in that area. The marines so thoroughly routed the Xenos in that region that we’re not certain the Xenos alliance can recover. We expect them to encounter either the Red Scorpions and Dark Angels or the Crimson Slaughter at any time.”

The Valkyrie engines screamed above them as it entered the LZ. Fell looked up at his escort and smiled widely. “My good Commissar. Confine your concerns to those foul Tyranids. Let me worry about our time tossed Astartes. The Ordo has this in hand.”

Prash shielded his face with his forearm as the Inquisitor boarded the Valkyrie; its engines throwing up dust everywhere. The massive turbines fired and it raised into the sky. “I highly fugging doubt that.” muttered Prash as the Valkyrie rocketed away.