Secret War I

Gun fire. Las and solid projectile alike ripped down the corridor, stray rounds punching holes through the wooden walls, showering us in pouts of exploding dust, which engulfed much of the corridor in a thick, white haze. Taken off guard, my colleagues and I were forced into cover, two of whom, Jarvus and Callague, never made it. A well aimed Las round burned straight through the side of Jarvus’ skull as the ex-guardsman desperately dived for cover. Callague was dead before he could move, the poor bastard’s corpse almost cut apart by the intense fire. Cursing, I blindly fired my auto gun from the corner, through the dust obscured corridor, “spray and pray” being the technical term and wondering for the hundredth time why I had decided to join this line of work. No way in hell could I ever get a clean shot my only hope was to pin the assailants. With a quick fire signal to Garrakson behind me, I slipped back from the corner and the ex guardsman taking up position in my stead. “Fire in the hole!” he sang out in his oddly melodic voice and with a grunt the middleaged man hefted a tube-charge down the hall. The explosion rocked the building, all sound drowned out by its deafening cacophony and preceded by the hefty clatter of falling debris. Without a moment’s hesitation, Elandria and I slid out of cover, side by side we sprinted down the corridor, through the dust and debris and all the way we fired our auto guns from the hip. Two unfortunate gangers buckled and collapsed under our withering hail of bullets, they were only a pair of darkened figures still stunned by the grenade’s force. At the last moment we dropped our weapons and fell upon our enemies, Elandria drawing twin monomolecular enhanced blades from their sheaths on her back as I drew my own mono sword from its hip scabbard. Elandria let out a spine chilling cackle as she dodged a ganger’s clumsy blow and countered with a deft slice of her sword, relieving her hapless attacker of his head. Not in such humour. My face grim I parried one ganger’s stabbing knife and kicked my boot’s knife into his shin. The man screamed out in agony then was cut short as I stabbed my sword through his chest and finished him by kicking the convulsing idiot off my blade. Immediately I was forced to duck the next ganger’s attack as he swung out wildly with the butt of his Las gun, the man was in mid recovery but in the blink of an eye I struck, my blade arced into his left hip and straight through to his right shoulder, the man gurgled out copious amounts of blood then fell onto his back. Beside me, Elandria also finished her last attacker, disemboweling the ganger with a quick slice of Setsukia then decapitated him with Katrina. Both she and I worked well together but our combat styles could not have been more different. I was taught the way of the combat pragmatist: to do anything and everything to win, to fight with quick, brutal and practical techniques.

She on the other hand fought like a gymnast, with acrobatic and fanciful techniques that I found at first contemptuous, but I could not deny that she was skilled, very skilled. She had yet to reveal to me what school of assassins she had been taught in, but I could hazard a guess. Elandria enjoyed every kill, to such heights that it disturbed me at times and her complete obsession with decapitating her victims was nigh on unnatural. Hence why she wielded twin blades; Setsukia was for blocking and wounding, while Katrina was specifically to decapitate. Also she took combat drugs before battle, a process I was actually taught to do, but personally detested. If you had to rely on artificial enhancements what good would you be without them? I suppose that was the reason why her fanciful style was so effective. I on the other hand, I do not enjoy killing, I do it because needs must, in a professional manner and with pride in my work, this job to me is nothing but a means to an end, I do not intend to be an assassin forever, I have other goals for my life, though in all likelihood I will not live to see them through. But despite her ruthless, blood thirsty nature Elandria was without doubt an extremely attractive young woman, at times her beauty held me utter awe, almost reducing me to a drooling idiot. But I was wise enough to know that a girl like her was only to be looked at, not chased, so indoctrinated by her cult was she that all she would onlyever know was the mindless urge to kill. It was quite depressing really. The four that had fell to our blades were the last; three more had taken the brunt of the blast. ‘Good work you two’ said Garrakson as he walked up behind us. Both Elandria and I turned to face our colleague. Elandria was tense, visibly shaking and as she span she almost toppled over in her haste. Fortunately for him, Garrakson was smart enough to stand out of range of Elandria’s blade; she was hugely unpredictable when in such a state. I shrugged. “All in a day’s work,” I said, sounding far more nonchalant than I felt, “we must be getting back before the local Magistratum arrive.” Garrakson grimaced slightly, “or the damnable Arbites.” “C-cut the chit chat s-shall we?” said Elandria her voice was painful, needy, ‘our master will be wanting, to hear of our exploits.’ she was twitching madly now, another reason why I kept away from stimms; the damn withdrawal was intense. "What?" said Garrakson, "our exploits being that we lost even more good men chasing yet another dead end?"

I sighed, Garrakson’s words rang true. I had been part of Taryst’s personal army for half a year now and so far this would have to be the most horrible, thankless job I’ve ever had. Taryst, an infamous Rogue trader who was well known throughout the Calixis sector as a master of trade and business, our employer and who, for some unknown, esoteric reason was waging war against the authorities and local gangs of this Hive world called Omnartus. In fact, so secret this struggle was that any mercenary who joined had to have their minds blocked from psyker intrusion, and that was twenty thousand men and women. Emperor only knows how even someone as rich as Taryst could afford it, on top of wages and living expenses. “What are we to do about Callague and Jarvus?” I said as I started down the corridor and walked past Garrakson, though I already knew what the answer would be. Garrakson sniffed, his scarred, square jawed face contorting with the movement. “Do what we always do,” he said as he shacked his head, “leave ‘em; we don’t have the time kid.” “Just for a change huh?” I sighed deeply, “poor bastards. I hope that the Magistratum treat them well.” “Why does it matter?” asked Elandria who despite a drug induced withdrawal approached us with such feline grace she seemed to float instead of walk, “the dead are dead, it does not matter how well you treat them.” I sighed again; no matter how many times I explained it she still didn’t understand. Garrakson sniffed again but this time he hawked up a wad of flem which he unceremoniously spat to the floor. “Okay kiddies, we split up,” he said, “Elandria go south west-“ “Yeah, yeah,” I interrupted dryly, finding it hard to hide my disgust, “we know the drill; I go south east and you go south, meet at the base at eighteen hundred, we know.” Garrakson shook his head with a bemused smile, “how long has it been now?” “One hellish half of one hellish year,” I answered, though I wasn't entirely sure either. “Hellish? Hellish?” said Garrakson, his dead panned tone almost as sarcastic as my own, “now that is the damned understatement of the damned century. Alright then, just move out now, if you know the bloody drill so frigging well.” And we did it, yet again.

I ran out the building and into the polluted, darkened streets with my black flak jacket flowing in my wake. I did not need to check the compass on my wrist chronometer to know I was running to the south east, ever since I was a child I had an innate sense of direction, an instinct. I could find my way out of the thickest of the bush in my home world with only my wits. As I moved, swiftly, silently my thoughts wandered. Half a year ago our squad numbered ten, but now with the losses of Callague and Jarvus we were reduced to four, Garrakson, Elandria, Torris and myself. Torris, an ex-Arbitrator, had been wounded in our last incursion and badly wounded. The poor bastard lost an eye and had been knifed in the guts. His condition was still uncertain, I was not much into praying but I was tempted to for Torris he was a good man, for a self serving merc anyway. It was quite depressing really; it was very hard seeing your comrades in arms slowly whittled away, one by one. Was it like this to serve in the Imperial Guard? Perhaps I should ask Garrakson one day, if I ever remember or get around to doing it. Better do it sooner rather than later, Garrakson maybe the next, I thought grimly. Or perhaps even me. I shook away the morbid thought, the morale of Taryst’s personal army was on an all time low sure we were mercenaries, for us, money was a good incentive to fight, but Taryst expected us to give up our lives without ever telling us why. We were human as well, if we had a cause, a meaning! It would help us to fight all the harder. Anger started to well up inside me; my jaw clenched as my teeth ground together, a regular occurrence when I got mad. What was the point of implanting us with psychic blocks if you don’t give us any of any information to protect? But I was no stranger to secrets and sabotage; I lived my life by ulterior motive, rarely trusting anyone, I had learnt my of lesson “trust” from my dear old dad, my dear old, frigging father. I sighed, too many memories just suddenly came flooding back and I forced them away with a swallow, now was not such a time for those thoughts. I turned a sharp corner, out of the alleyways and into the main streets. We were meant to meet at the base at 1800 hours, but I intended to get there sooner. I felt I needed to speak with the employer; a mother-figure to us and was more of a mother than my own ever was. Her name was Glaitis; the woman who had saved my life after my first, futile, attempt at assassination. The woman who had taught me the ways of the assassin in far more detail than my father ever would. And she knew my father, my real father.

My brow furrowed and I sped up my already fast pace. She never looked up as I entered her office, she never seemed to need to. “Ah! Attelus Xanthis Kaltos, what is it that brings you to my humble abode my student? ” said Glaitis. She was a tall and harshly beautiful woman my gaze glided over her as she sat at her desk, studying a data slate intently with her cold, calculating and crisp blue eyes. My cheek twitched as I clenched my jaw, I really did hate it when she called me by my middle name, of course she knew this well, it was all part of her constant testing that drove me nuts, the point to catch me off guard so that I could learn to recover but no matter how many times I always recovered badly. ‘I-I am here to advise you of-.’ She interrupted me as she snapped the data slate shut and fixed me with her piercing gaze. ”No stuttering young one, unless it is an act, you are to be confident! Precise in your words and your demeanor and stand up straight! Your posture is utterly horrendous!” I did as told, barely holding back an annoyed sigh. ‘Now Young Attelus, you may start again.’ ‘I am here to advise you that we have lost two more members of our squad.’ 'And who were they?’ she asked, turning her attention back down to her data slate, barely interested. ‘Callague and Javus.’ ‘They are of Taryst’s ilk,’ she stated rather than asked, keeping her attention squarely down. I confirmed it, but I already knew what she was about to say. ‘If they are not part of our own organisation I do not care, you know this as well as I, come out with it then, I know you Attelus, tell me the real reason you are here.’ I let out a heavy sigh, hoping that it didn’t sound too fake, right now I was testing myself to see if I could hide the true reason why I was here, ‘the men are losing morale-‘ ‘I am well aware of the state of the morale young Attelus’ she interrupted, ‘you are just here to seek guidance for you own melancholy. Am I correct in my assumption?’

I sucked in air through my clenched teeth. Hesitating my response. Damn it! Out witted yet again! ‘Yes...’ She smiled a steady and starkly rare expression. “At least you have learnt from my teachings the value of deception young Attelus and yet not the proper technique, apparently. As I told you when we had first begun your training your father had taught you well in the basics; close quarter’s combat, swordsmanship and ranged weaponry but he had neglected the more subtle arts of an assassin’s trade.” My jaw set hard at the mention of my father. “Do not do that!’ she hissed, "that is one of your many tells young one, that is what you do when you are annoyed or angered, remember what I have taught you time and time again; ‘give nothing to your enemies or your allies,' that proverb was handed down to me by my master and now I hand it down to you, do you understand what it means young one?” ‘Yes.’ I barely said than sighed. I was really starting to regret coming here. ‘Good!’ she sat back in her chair, ‘now, tell me what troubles you young Attelus.’ Her voice had softened and she was legitimately interested that had always taken me aback, how she changed from harsh, berating teacher, to tender and kind hearted motherly figure in the blink of an eye. My heart skipped a beat and I found words extremely hard to form. When she changed like that I would always be taken aback, feeling a strange tightness in my chest, I had no idea why, or what it was it just happened. ‘I- I hate this situation!’ I managed to blurt out, ‘we have been here for six months and we have nothing. Nothing! Just more corpses and questions! It’s hard every frigging day is the same! A new lead we are sent to track down and- and! We are only to find a new dead end!’ ‘I know,’ she sighed heavily, ‘I know it is hard.’ ‘But you know what else?’ I snarled, ‘I get the suspicion that frigger Taryst knows more than he lets on, that he could give us information that would allow us to do our jobs but for some, idiotic, selfish reason he holds it back, I don’t know why but I have my ideas.’ Glaitis placed her elbow on her desk and cupped her jaw in her smooth, tender hand, a slight smile playing over her purple lips. ‘Really, young one?’ she cooed, ‘and pray tell; what are these “ideas”?’

I immediately stiffened, realising that I had said more than I should have, but I did not stutter. I looked her straight in the eye and said with confidence; ‘That the information would damn him, that he is desperate to keep it secret so much that if it was even slightly leaked out, his life would be jeopardized by someone or something, that he could be branded as a heretic and a traitor.’ I sighed, ‘that’s why.’ My attention dropped to the carpet at my feet and I awaited her response. After what seemed to be an eternity she finally said, ‘I have to say my young one; I am impressed.’ “What?” I said, looking back up at her, of all the responses she would say that was the last I had guessed. “Yes, that you would have at least a little tact to figure out makes me believe that finally my lessons seem to be getting through to you, I, myself had come to suspect Taryst for quite some time but for you to figure it out all alone,” she laughed. I could only stand still frozen to the floor, never had she complimented me like that before. “Th-thanks?” was all I could manage. ‘That young one is the true key to survival in our...line of work,’ she said ‘the first rule; “know your enemy” it’s such a simple and obvious statement but you have learnt it’s true meaning.’ I winced as the realisation hit me. Then I quickly cursed, wincing again as I realised how obvious it was. ‘You have it child,’ she said, her smile turned cruel. ‘Everyone is your enemy.’ I stood outside, my hands in the pockets of my flak jacket, leaning against the North West wall of the organisation’s tall office building, a smoking Lho stick hanging out the left corner of my mouth , awaiting for my colleagues but in all honesty, really doing what I do best; thinking. Once again my mind recalled what Glaitis had said to me, it was atypical of her to retract a compliment; after her words filtered through my numbed mind, pride started to well up inside me, and my posture straightened, so straight that I stood taller than ever before and then she said. ‘But do not let it go to your head young Attelus, Xanthis Kaltos, for though I am not sure when you began to suspect Taryst in all likelihood it would be far too late.’

‘What?’ and I came back to being hunched again. She got up off her seat and approached me from around her desk; I could not help it as my eyes ran up her lithe, full figured body, right from head to toe. She shook her head, she knew, she always frigging knew, ‘by now Attelus if you were alone, working out in the field and it took you this long to suspect your employer? You would be dead, you did well young one in this endeavor but next time...’ I cursed, snarling it out like some ravenous beast, “try doing it a little quicker” I finished with a sigh, my expression dark. ‘Indeed! Also remember this piece of advice young one and remember it well; “trust nothing, suspect everything.” I nodded, wide eyed; the frog not stuck but truly grafted into my throat, ‘I will,’ was all the words I could manage. ‘And Attelus, as much as I try to encourage you to try...think a little less, do think on my words now,’ her face turned dark, ‘Think on them long and hard, now leave; I have much work to do.’ I drew my left hand out of its pocket and gripped my Lho stick with index finger and thumb. “Trust nothing, suspect everything.” I thought on that piece of advice yet again and came to the same realisation once more; the pure irony of it that Glaitis meant herself as well; she was an extremely literal woman. Was this what it meant to truly be an Assassin, to be some paranoid, psychotic, schizophrenic? Trusting no one, not even you? I sighed out smoke as my thoughts wandered to the many memories of my father; how he would act when some slightly suspicious stranger walked past our front yard, how he would react when anyone but me came close. Then for the first time in a long time I felt something other than hatred for my father, I felt truly sorry for Serghar Kaltos. He was the product of this “training”, no, now I was beginning to think it as “brain washing” Was this the reason why my father neglected to teach me the more “subtle arts”? He did not want me to become some lonesome monster just like him? I took the Lho stick from my mouth and eyed it; I used to be a chain smoker, using them as a coping mechanism back in my darker days. At Galitis’ instruction I had gone off them (which seemed ironic that she encouraged the use of potentially deadly combat drugs) but ever since we came under Taryst’s employ I had slowly drifted back to the dirty habit, coping mechanism indeed.

Was the life of an Assassin what I truly wanted? Truly? I flicked ash off the end of the Lho stick and put it back in my mouth. I really didn’t know what I wanted anymore. I inhaled the sweet smoke once more, raised my right hand and took the dying smoke out, exhaling I flicked the stub onto the rockcrete ground. I stayed, leaning against the wall; not moving to step it out, I did not need to; Elandria doing it for me as she emerged out the shadows. “Lost in your little world once more eh?” she said. “Not lost enough to miss your clumsy approach.” I could not see the expression on her face behind that cold, featureless mask but I could hazard a guess. Elandria was many things but socially intelligent was not one of them. She stood still for a few seconds trying to make a coherent comeback, finally all the best she could out with was; ‘why is the son of Serghar Kaltos smoking Lho, does he think himself too good for the rules?’ My jaw set, I really did try to keep the identity of my father a secret but Glaitis had to go behind my back and tell Elandria, my presumption was it being yet another “test” but what that bloody woman wanted to test exactly was a mystery, was it my patience?. Or was it my skill at combat when I finally lost my patience. I sighed, a contemptuous sound that really riled up Elandria. “What does that mean?” she asked darkly. ‘It means what it means,’ was my reply, my tone insultingly melancholic. “Yeah!” she snarled, “well let us see what it truly “means” when I separate your head from your shoulders!” And she reached for her blades I grinned and in the blink of an eye; I was sliding into a combat stance; my left thumb flicked my sword’s blade loose in its sheath, and my right, grabbed the hilt, beginning to draw. That was when Garrakson just suddenly appeared between us. Both Elandria and I yelped out in fright and leaped back.

“That’s enough kiddies,” he said, “I think that we have had enough violence for today.” Then he turned to me, "and kid if you want to sheath your blade in her may I suggest using your “other” blade instead." I could not see my face but I felt it go insanely red as I instantly got it. “What?” demanded Elandria, her confused attention switched between me and Garrakson, back and forward, “what is this “other blade” Garrakson? Attelus Kaltos only wields one, is-is it the knife in his boot?” “Try a little higher missy,” said Garrakson and I blushed even worse. But she still didn’t get it. Garrackson sighed, “alright let’s get moving kids, we have exploits to report.” My face still a dark shade of red and Elandria still quite confused, we slipped southward toward the “back entrance” of the organisation’s building, the way which Taryst’s dirty little dogs of war were meant to skulk in and out of as we were not good enough for the public’s entrance. Elandria and I walked on Garrakson’s flanks, through the dirty, barely six metre wide alley way, all of us well aware of the many cameras which watched our approach with their undying gaze, there were thirteen in all, each perched a good five metres up the wall. I had noted this right from my first entrance into the alleyway and I reminded myself with each subsequent walk through, just in case. We came to the entrance, a well camouflaged double door way that anyone who passed it would in all likely hood never notice. Garrakson tugged open the hidden panel and proceeded to type in the access code. Both Elandria and I stood watch for any civilians too curious for their own good which was fine with me; I could have my back to the gorgeous assassin, in my immature embarrassment I could barely look her in the eye, counting myself lucky that her indoctrination had given her a naiveté of such personal matters. Actually, on second thought, I wasn’t lucky at all. I hissed a curse under breath and then I could not help grin widely, shaking my head to myself. Then with a slight hiss the doors opened, both Elandria and I backed through the entrance, auto guns raised.

Through that door was another alley way beyond, what I could have guessed to once be a maintenance entrance now was a super secure, massively fortified maintenance entrance. If there was ever a literal embodiment of Taryst’s absolute paranoia this would be it; mercenaries crawled through the alley, a ten metre wide, hundred metres long and at every three metres there was a check point with five guards stationed at all, the alley way also slowly elevated upwards, at five degrees so each checkpoint had high ground on the last and not just that but there were numerous balconies jutting out the walls, ten metres up, they each had full time guards all equipped with Imperial guard issue Long las sniper rifles. I hated the place, every single time I would walk through it I would try to find some way I could sneak through or fight through without being messily evaporated by two billion las, solid projectile and massive, high velocity hot shot rounds and besides stealing a uniform or a complete camouflage each time would come up with nil, it was as close to impregnable as I knew. The only way to penetrate that I could think of was to have thousands of Imperial Guardsmen storm it, the casualties would be utterly horrendous but it would work...eventually, that or an entire company of Space Marines but even they would suffer as well, a Long Las high yield round punches through power armour with ease. As we walked up through the crowd of highly armed and armoured mercs, both Elandria and I were silent but Garrakson had to greet each and every single one, he knew them all by their name and almost had to stop and small talk with each. I was finding myself almost glad at Callague’s and Jarvus’ demise as the walk would have been even longer with them. After twenty long minutes, finally we arrived as the alleyway’s end, here security was pumped up to an extreme with two auto cannon duel wielding servitors which stood constant vigil at the doors. Exiting out was Colonel Barhurst, the grizzled second in command of Taryst’s personal army, approached us with a warm grin and outstretched arms but was highly contradicted by the ten grim, elite Storm Troopers that escorted him. “Ahh! Garrakson my good friend!” he exclaimed, Barhurst was a man well into his two hundreds but the use of extensive and expensive gene bathing kept him looking like a spry man in his mid thirties, though a heavily scarred and beaten, spry man in his mid thirties, as my research had uncovered he was one of Taryst’s longest serving allies, he had abandoned his duties as colonel in the Tamarsk 30th to join the rogue trader in his endeavors. He was wanted by the commissariat and the Inquisition for dereliction of duties, but thanks to Taryst’s good will and huge influence he had eluded justice so far. I had never liked Barhurst, the man was sycophancy incarnate, Taryst was the true commander, all what Barhurst did was carry on the Rogue Trader’s commands and when asked to do anything himself he would just order others under him to do it for him.

He was charismatic and friendly, but a very fake charisma and friendly, how Taryst couldn’t see the incompetency of his second was quite beyond me. ‘How goes the hunt?’ “Another dead end,” replied Garrakson grimly, I could detect the barely hidden contempt in our squad leader’s voice, “and we lost Callague and Jarvus.” Barhurst frowned a animated frown, ‘sorry to hear my friend, Master Taryst is up in his grotto waiting for you.’ Then Barhurst turned to Elandria and me, “and you two know the drill.” I sighed, yes I frigging know, do you need to remind me every single time? And you could do it without that idiotic grin? I thought this as my teeth clenched. Hesitantly, I unstrapped my sword from my belt and placed it on the nearby table, with that I slipped my off my wrist mounted throwing knife compartments, my auto pistol and lastly and most hesitantly my right boot which contained the hidden knife. Elandria did it too with even worse aversion than I, letting go of her twin swords, her auto pistol and her knife. “Good!” said Barhurst, “you can head on up now.” And just to make sure we had no weapons on us we had to each pass through a metal detector. Every single damn day for half an entire year I have to go through this frig, saying that it was quite depressing really was a frigging understatement. Next thing I will be wasting my money on the heavier drugs than Lho, like Obscura to get over this monotony. I shook away the stupid thought, as we walked through the entrance way. I have seen firsthand the damage that drug can do, no...I have been through that damage and I intended to never go through it ever again. Never... All of us silent, we rode the elevator up three hundred stories. Upon a hive world like this it was a given to have a building of such calibre, but I was from an Agri world called Elbyra, though it was not one without great cities; Varander the capital of my home country, Velrosia was a bustling and beautiful metropolis, it was the city built upon the northern most part of the coast of lake Varander, a lake so large it could have been classed as a sea, I spent the majority of my teenage years living in that great city and

then there was Varanier the capital of Elbyra’s largest nation; Maranger that was an amazing city in itself, harsh and sparse it was a metropolis of granite and grit, a true embodiment of its hard people. Neither was anything on scale term with even the smallest of hives, some which packed three times the population of Velrosia into an area the size of the smallest Varanderian suburb. This planet was long dead, the intense human colonisation and pollution had sucked away the natural eco system as naturally as those people that preserve it on my own world, but always when we rid up to the top of these three hundred stories it would make my dreary, deathly day worth it, it gave me great satisfaction to glimpse the might of nature, that despite man’s wanton destruction the horizon still held a beauty all in its own; over the clouds of pollution the sun dominated everything , that far, far out in the distance the peaks of the mountains of the world broke out into the clear, clear air, looking like icy white islands in an eternal sea of black and brown, that despite everything each mountain top contained life; I read allot of research into this world and found that a one in a million plant, which had the sheer power and audacity to evolve and survive in well below zero temperatures and it thrived on these mountain tops it was a true testament to me. Of course I have kept this romanticism private; no self serving mercenary should be like this, as much as I have seen so much death and grim darkness I still somehow hold onto slight aspects of my sixteen year old persona, the foolish, naive persona that had dominated my life before I found out how unforgiving and horrible it was to live in this universe, that was why I am having second thoughts, I was beginning to doubt whether I could handle the damage the life of an assassin could cause, both physical and mental. No the damage it will cause. I sighed to myself, attention stapled to the outside world, hoping like hell my back facing to Elandria and Garrakson was enough to hide my myriad emotions. Then it happened, what I dreaded most, the end of the journey. “300th story; Master Taryst’s living quarters” said the elevator’s pre-programmed, monotone voice as the ascent abruptly stopped, ‘restricted access retinal scan required.’ My clenched and I glanced up to the no less than the three cameras which crowded the elevator with their damnable presence. Surely Taryst was watching the feed? Surely over the dozens upon dozens of times we had rode up and down this elevator the rogue trader could discern who the hell we were?

I could tell that Garrakson shared my teeth grinding frustration as the ex guardsman stood and waited for few seconds, then with a heavy, defeated sigh of his own he finally lent down to the scanner. “Employee 568; identified as Jeurat Garrakson” said the computer, “Access granted.” With that the doors slid open and we stepped through, into the room beyond. We entered into Taryst’s lavish living quarters, Elandria in the middle with Garrakson and I on her left and right flanks, red was what dominated Taryst’s private little world, a deep, dark, bloody crimson. The windowless corridor was five metres wide and ended abruptly only four metres down, what ended it was a thick crimson curtain. Two straight backed soldiers wearing golden, ostentatiously emblazoned carapace armour, stood silent guard at each side, both had equally fancy hell guns slung on their shoulders, I had never seen their faces nor talked to them before but every time I came up here, I could not help admire their discipline and stoicism. But by far more interesting I have never been behind that curtain before, always Taryst would meet and greet us here, Garrakson I knew had passed through and I was sorely tempted to ask the ex-guardsman but was not yet able to bring myself to do it, him and Glaitis... My curiosity at what was hidden felt like it ate away at me, it could be anything; a secret shrine dedicated the Ruinous powers? Or perhaps even a den of sin and hedonism? (That could be a shrine to one god in particular, but I would rather keep from uttering its name) But I was not sure if I truly wanted to know, no I wanted to see, that was without doubt but whether I should was an entirely different question. I was finding more and more that in this universe, ignorance could very much be bliss (which is ironically against Glaitis’ teachings) I sighed to myself; it was far too late for me to have such thoughts, long ago I had passed that event horizon and had travelled even further ever since, short of having myself lobotomised there would be no going back. Just like my dear old damnable dad. “GREETINGS MY DEAR FRIENDS!!” the deep voice boom suddenly down the corridor and the boss himself stepped out from between the curtains.

I winced, though not in fright but in contempt, every single time he would greet us this way. And it every single time it smacked of utterly forced, fake enthusiasm. To be honest I had come to suspect Taryst of withholding secrets right from my first week of employment under his regime and how could I bloody well not? And even if I had told Glaitis’ that, it would still have been far too late in her lofty opinion. “My friends!’ he echoed as he approached us, “my friends!” Taryst was a big man, standing well over two metres tall, big boned and corded with muscle he was an intimidating figure. His strong jawed face neither handsome nor ugly but a strange in between, his tanned skinned was complimented with a thick, black goatee and his pearly white smile was glaringly bright and like his greeting, utterly fake. In fact over the last few months I have started to notice that Taryst had aged, now there were dark, dark bags under his eyes and a wrinkle here and there had started to appear, being utterly paranoid would do that to someone. I wouldn't trust him as far as I could frigging throw him, this was emphasised even more by the research I have had done into his past...The tiny amount that was able to be found. “Attelus, Jeurat!” he paused at Elandria and with surprisingly gentle dexterity for such a large paw took her hand in his own, and lightly kissed the back of her palm, “mamzel Elandria, what news have you brought me today?” My jaw set and my face turned murderously dark as I saw Elandria blushing like mad. Garrakson cleared his throat; he was the only one used to the Rogue Trader’s over the top extroversion, “my lord we have arrived at yet another dead.” Quickly, almost violently Taryst let go of Elandria’s hand, got back to his full height and turned on his heals so his back was facing us, “and Callague, Javus?” “I am not sure sir.” Taryst spun back to Garrakson, his face an edgy calm, “and what does it mean you are not sure?” Garrakson shrugged and I could not help be shocked at the ex-guardsman’s dead pan tone, let alone what he said himself; “I don’t know sir, meaning that they are either still lying in the pools of blood we left them in or in a Magistratum mortuary either/or.” Taryst grimaced ever so slightly and just for a second he looked like his three hundred years.

“I-I am sorry to hear that.” Garrakson stayed stoically quite, not abating his gaze away from Taryst’s. Taryst turned away, “and as well as no news on your target?” “Ziltch,” answered Garrakson, “no sign of this Brutus “Bones” yet sir he is quite the enigma.” Now that’s the frigging understatement of the millennia, I thought. “Then what exactly happened?” Garrakson sniffed, “they went immediately hostile sir, ambushing us as we entered their base of operations, even with our aliases. We managed to fight our way to their cogitator banks but found the memory all wiped. I haven’t seen such ferocity since I fought in the guard sir, from what I gathered if we captured and tried to interrogate one of the hammers we would be wasting our time, they were like cultists sir.” “This Brutis “bones” must to be getting very influential in the local gangs if they will fight for him like that, the crazy bastards.” ‘And you two agree?’ asked Taryst, looking almost desperately to Elandria and I. Elandria nodded and blushed her attention to the floor, meanwhile my jaw ste and as I said simply; “yes.” I could not be bothered with a more detailed response; I just really wanted to get out of Taryst’s presence. Taryst grimaced again, more distinctly this time. “Alright another dead end it is then!” he exclaimed with forced humour, “and quite literally too.” The only one who laughed was Elandria, both Garrakson and I, not so amused. “Okay then and I thank you all for the update and I apologise for Callague and Jarvus they were good men’, then he turned away and began to walk back to his curtains, dismissed all.” “Oh and young Attelus,” he said, suddenly halting his tracks and making me stop in mine as I began to leave, “come! I very much wish to speak to you!” That was very much the last thing I wanted to hear.

I sighed to myself as I watched Taryst disappear between those curtains and right then I found I really needed a drag of Lho almost as much as I really did not want to follow that literal embodiment of psychotic paranoia. And I did it: pulling out the packet of Lho sticks from my flak jacket pocket I eyed the two guards as I slowly began to open the ceramic casing. They just stood there silent, deathly still. I carried on, attention fixed on the guards, more interested as what they would do than the smoking itself. I opened the box, tugged out one stick: put it in my mouth then with my other hand, pulled out my lighter. I hesitated half way through the movement, expecting the guards to do something. No, they were still motionless. I shrugged as I lit the Lho. I sighed out the smoke; glad that my stupidity did not cause my torso to be messily bisected by Laser fire and that perhaps paranoia had not entirely taken Taryst’s mind...Yet. I still did not understand why Taryst had those two standing there, I had only seen such ostentatious bodyguards accompany planetary Governors or Lord Generals, perhaps he wanted to state that he too was deserving of such charges as those great and mighty servants of the Imperium, being a great and almighty Rogue Trader and all. Well actually perhaps so, at least unlike many Lord Generals and Lord Governors out there (and especially the latter) Taryst may have had earned this power, this prestige, which of course was according to the research that I had garnered but I would not put it past Taryst to have that doctored though. I took another inhale and blew out the sweet smoke, why is it that you want to talk to me Taryst? So many reasons flew through my thoughts then, each more obvious that the last and even more dodgy than the one before. I pulled out the Lho in between index finger and thumb, eyeing those still guards once more and finding myself envying them. Life for those two idiots seemed so simple, they just stand and guard. Did they have to worry about political intrigue? No. Did they have to worry about their master’s constant berating at even the slightest of mistakes? Somehow I did doubt it. Alright enough loitering, I thought as I put the Lho back in between clenched teeth, let’s get this over and damn well done with.

I walked toward the curtains, slowly; casually, my hands in the pockets of my flak jacket and the Lho hanging out the corner of my mouth. I was almost there but a large, golden gloved paw was just suddenly held right in my face, making me halt my pace. “Excuse me sir,” said the left side guard with forced politeness, the voice vox enhanced, “would you be so kind to dispose of the contraband?” My brow furrowed heavily and I sighed, annoyed but not at all surprised. I took the Lho stick by thumb and index finger and handed it to the guard. “And the container as well sir?” Barely containing a groan, I snapped it out of my pocket, the movement so swift, so smooth that the guard took a few seconds to notice it was right in his face, and why don’t you chop off my balls while you’re at it huh? I thought sorely. “I-I thank you sir, now you may pass through, you will have your Lhos returned when you leave.” I glared up at the much taller guard, I frigging well better, I thought as I passed through the curtains, or you may be waking up a eunuch. That is, if you are not already, a eunuch. I emerged through, into the living quarters, quickly glancing around. It was a much smaller area than I at first thought, ten metres in width, and fifteen in length. The crimson red walls lined with gold. Placed nicely in the room’s epicentre was a tasteful beautiful, white (with gold lining) marble water fountain with three wide, red couches around it, a small table set at each arm rest, all covered in expensive liquor bottles. The couches were arranged three metres away from the fountain but otherwise the room was completely and strangely, empty. I did note, far more prominently the door at the opposite end of the room, the adamantium, intensely thick reinforced door that was such a contrast to the rest of the decor, it was quite interesting that Taryst did not seem to even bother hiding it, a fake door perhaps? Or perhaps I was looking into it with far too much detail. “My friend!” yelled out Taryst as he leaned back on one of the couches, “come! Take a seat I have amasec of the highest quality and cigars! Relax, we have much to discuss!” I didn’t move an inch, “no, but I would castrate someone for a smoke of Lho.” “Sorry?” Taryst’s eyes widened.

The corner of my mouth twitched, Idiot. “Hmm, sorry do you have any Lho to smoke?” I rephrased as smoothly as possible. Taryst’s look of shock disappeared, “Yes young Attelus come, sit I have plenty.” I sighed and hunched in defeat, beginning to approach, I really didn't want to move an inch but saw little choice in the matter, Taryst’s over friendliness was quite frankly getting on my nerves. Taryst leaned over his couch and opened one of the draws on his table, pulling out a rather fanciful box. “Here, take as many as you want young Attelus,” he said, sliding the box open and holding it out to me. My jaw set, why did he have to continually call me “young” Attelus? Attelus would just do, I knew that I was young, I did not need to be constantly reminded buy someone else besides Glaitis, who still called me “child” a rather dated title seen as though I was twenty three frigging years old. Keeping my annoyance once again silent, I nodded thanks and drew out two, meanwhile pulling out the lighter in my flak jacket pocket. I smiled to myself, finding it wholly ironic that the guards outside would make me give up my lhos but forget my lighter, which I could potentially do far more damage with (but obviously allot less than both) I was skilled in that aspect, my father had taught me how to turn anything into a potentially lethal weapon, even lighters, especially lighters, he was an equally avid smoker of Lho as well. “You still stand young Attelus, come and sit.” “Thank you sir, but I would rather stand.” I said, trying for the softly forceful tone that Glaitis had taught me. Taryst shrugged, “if you wish it rather.” I slid one of the Lhos into my mouth and light it, drawing the smoke deep, ‘yes, thanks, but now might I ask why you called me here?’ “Ahh yes my young friend,” said Taryst as he suddenly got off of his seat and moved to one of the tables, opening a draw, “I have been studying into your records, your curriculum vitae.” My eyes turned into suspicious slits, “and how exactly did you get your hands on my “curriculum vitae”?”

“I had a young friend of yours look into it for me; you know the one, the young friend under my employ, the young friend who you had secretly hired to look into my past for you.” I winced, “Vex-.” “Vex Carpompter” confirmed Taryst as he pulled out a data slate from the table’s draw, “the young ingenious hacker, how very audacious of you young Attelus to try such a trick under my very nose, you would have gotten away with it as well, but for-.” My cheek yet again pinched and twitched, ‘reasons you will not divulge?’ I finished. “Exactly!” he grinned, “You are smart young Attelus, too smart for your own good it seems, using the very person who inspects the system to check the information.” I was not sure what to do, was Taryst going to kill me? Vex, he even had almost unlimited access to the cogitator systems of Taryst’s whole corporation, actually I had completely forgotten about my under the table agreement with the infamous hacker, it seemed like such a small request and seemed even smaller after the pathetic results. “No young Attelus I am not going to kill you if that is what you are thinking,” then his eyes turned into evil slits, “I was tempted to before though.” “Very tempted.” My brow furrowed, I was beginning to really dislike were the hell this was going, ‘you were tempted to until you saw into my files right?’ “Answer me this young Attelus,’ said Taryst, “did you act on the volition of your teacher, or your own?” I sucked in air through my gritted teeth, I hesitated in my reply, seeing that my very life may be depending on my next sentence and so I chose my words very carefully and told the truth. “No, Glaitis didn’t ask me to do it, not directly anyway, I was acting under her teachings.” “And does she know of your attempt at espionage?” “Again, no, not that I know of anyway.” Taryst smiled and fiddled his data slate with a large thumb, “I see young Attelus, your answers confirm what your records state, I can see that you are nothing like your ally,

young Elandria, she is a blunt instrument, she knows very little besides how to kill people in a very gory, all be it, very pretty fashion, you on the other hand are a far more subtle instrument, infiltration, espionage, assassination in your very, very short career you have done it all have you not?” All I have done very well, I shrugged, trying very hard to sound nonchalant and keep the welling pride from my tone. “Yes and no, I have been on many missions but Glaitis has always been with me in the more subtle asks, constantly guiding me, but if it’s mindless mercenary work,’ I barely kept the words “like this” out of my sentence, ‘she lets me work alone.” “She doesn't believe you ready yet?” “Yes,” I answered, knowing full well that I should not be divulging such information, but my instinct for self preservation was overwhelming my usually extremely strong instinct for keeping secrets and also that Taryst may already know it anyway, “I didn’t start my training of the “finer arts” of the Assassin's trade until my employ into mamzel Glaitis’ mercenaries.” “I see, how about a test young Attelus, the ultimate test to see if you are finally ready, I would like to employ you.” I raised an eye brow, this I actually saw coming, “tch! You want me to spy on Glaitis don't you?” Taryst raised his own eyebrow, “you seem surprised despite your forward guessing.” I'm surprised that you’re so damn predictable, I wisely thought than said. “Young Attelus, do you truly want the life of an assassin, one living always in the shadows, one of only death and thanklessness? Or would you rather a life of meaning, a life of profit, a life of happiness? I can get you that, a way to escape, a way to get away.” I glared up at Taryst with extreme suspicion, was this coincidence? Just as I am beginning to have doubts, Taryst here comes to me with this request and giving me such incentive. I did not believe in coincidence. But also I could not help remember that conversation with Glaitis’ before, “trust nothing, suspect everything.” Did she guess that Taryst would pull such a stunt? Or did she already know that he would?

If either was the truth there would be no way in hell I could hope to keep it a secret. Was it again, potentially a coincidence? I genuinely hoped that it was. Taryst looked at me with an expression that was almost sympathetic, ‘I know what it was like to be your age, to not know who or what you are, it’s hard young Attelus, take your time in your decision, but I have to ask that you make up your mind before you leave, though my indecisiveness was of a completely different subject the struggle is still the same.’ I sighed, could I betray her? The woman, who had saved my life, took me in, cared for me and taught me everything she knew and potentially destroying six years of hard work and struggle? It was for freedom, which I was not sure would be worth it, this was a harsh universe. I was beginning to believe that the term “freedom” was a word that could only be used with irony, that it ever being literal of use was forever lost. “No.” “Excuse me?” asked Taryst, seeming almost bemused. “No I can’t do it, I-I just can’t.” “Why?” carried on Taryst, beginning to sound forceful. “I have my reasons,” I said, sounding more timid than intended, not expecting such a change in Taryst he sounded almost childish, almost sulky. “No! I know why!” he snarled, “I’ve heard of how you act around her, like some little, pathetic, love struck puppy! Can’t you see that she is using you like some mindless pawn! Like a slave!” “What?” “You have two ears and are smart. Apparently, you know exactly what I said.” “You- you think I am in love with her?” He just glared at me. I scoffed, “don’t be ridiculous! She’s three times my age! And Like a mother to me, that -that’s disgusting.”

Then he grinned, “to be honest I don’t blame you young Attelus, I would be head over heels for her as well, if she was my type of course, beautiful, intelligent, confident, deadly.” “Sh- shut up!” I meant to snarl, but rather whined and I felt my face flush. He shook his head, “so can’t you see this is unhealthy? That it is all the more reason to do what I ask?” I swallowed, “I-I can’t I just can’t Taryst, do you know what you exactly ask? What the consequences will be if I’m found?” Taryst nodded, ‘I do, I did research into your employer before I hired her services and your death would be...Very painful indeed, but if you succeeded, the reward would be worth it!’ “How?” “I would make you rich! And you could go back to your home planet, live an easy life of luxury and wealth, a life of freedom and meaning.” I gritted my teeth and grimaced in anguish “trust nothing, suspect everything” the meaning of that motto was double jointed to say the frigging least, Glaitis I knew meant herself as well, she could in all truth never be trusted, ever. I knew why Taryst would ask me to spy on her, he was a paranoid, psychotic but from time to time I could not help suspect that Glaitis had some hidden agenda that was far, far bigger than me, bigger than even Taryst's corporation. I could only hazard a guess how large that goal truly was. that I was only some pawn in that plan, yet every time a strange, strong feeling in me had made me deny it, some feeling that was foreign and strange to me. Was that feeling...love? “Take your time young Attelus,” said Taryst, “it is hard favour to ask, I understand completely.” “No!” I stepped forward, “I have made up my mind!” “And?” And I answered without hesitation and with truth, it felt good to be real, to be genuine for the first time, in a damn long time.

I left Taryst’s quarters, trying hard to mask my haste. On the way out I had almost forgot to retrieve my Lhos, lucky for the guard I didn't. I caught the elevator and twitched in impatience the whole ride down, tapping the tip of my boot on the floor. I had told Taryst, no. The rogue trader had taken the answer in due course, not trying to convince me otherwise again. Perhaps he had known that he could not change my mind, or he didn’t care. The look in his eyes almost exclaimed the former, seemingly accusing me of foolishness and cowardice all at once. Perhaps I was a coward and a fool, but I was not about to risk my life for what could easily be a lie. There was no guarantee that Taryst would keep his end of the bargain, the odds would not at all be in my favour. Afterwards, I had tried to levy some information of Vex’s fate from the rogue trader, but to no avail, Taryst was too smart to be coerced into slipping on his words. As much as I hated to admit it I liked the little nerd, I did not wish to see him dead over such a trivial matter. Actually, why I was still alive was a wonder in itself, Taryst had more than enough reason for shooting me, just on the grounds of trying to infiltrate his systems and even more for flat out refusing his request. Letting me live would make sense if I found Vex dead, it would send the message: “do not cross me again young Attelus, or this will be your fate.” It would certainly, I would not be crossing him ever again. Despite myself I could not help smile my evil smile, the sentence went through my thoughts as a perfect recording of Taryst’s voice, everything from tone to demeanor. When the elevator had reached my intended level, I slipped out the sliding double doors and ran down the corridor, heading to the northern side of the building that was where Vex’s office was; nimbly I dodged and weaved my way through the many of Taryst’s employees on the way. It took me only five minutes to reach the cogitator workers section. I had earlier learnt the layout of the lower floors (the ones I had access to anyway) like the back of my hand, the quickest way to get here or there, just in case. I fast walked through the lines upon lines of cogitator banks, each having a thin, decrepit serf sitting, typing madly; the clicking sound turned into a crashing as thousands upon thousands of fingers pressed keys. The noise enveloped the entire two hundred by three hundred metre cavern in its near deafening cacophony.

I fought the need to cover my ears and started to approach the door to Vex’s office. I paused near the door, I was cool, calm my face set in determination, if Vex was dead in there, it would make little difference, just another death and one more did not really matter in a galaxy this vast. It really wasn’t my fault, Vex had accepted the bribe; it was his own fault for going through with it. If he was truly as smart as he claimed he was he would have told me to shove it. But maybe it was my fault, how old was Vex? Fourteen? And if so maybe it was his youthful ignorance that had made him take the job, and then it would truly be my fault. I sighed and reached for the door, but again hesitated as I realised something that made my guts churn. I wasn’t armed! Who was not to say that someone wasn't standing over poor Vex's corpse, a silenced gun trained at the door way, just waiting for me to step through? I glanced about. They would not need to silence the weapon; I doubted that even the roar of a bolter could be heard over that racket. “Oh this is depressing, really!” I exclaimed in frustration, so loud that even a few of the nearer serfs looked up from their work and glared at me in disapproval. I grinned as an idea hit me. “Hey everybody! You know who is a damnable frig wipe!” I yelled even louder and was met with even more looks of anger, “Oh come on! Can nobody can guess!?” “Shut up!” said one as he got off his stool. “Shut up huh?” I grinned at the man, “huh! Shut up really? He must be a really big frig wipe if he beats Taryst!” Now that got more attention and that was exactly what I was looking for. Then I stepped through the door and found... Vex standing alone completely and utterly unharmed, inspecting one of his many Cogitator units with an intense expression. Turning to look at who had intruded his space his intense look was quickly vacated by one of surprise as he saw it was me. "Hey Attelus I didn’t- Gak!" Bang! The "Gak!" was him getting cut off mid sentence by me, grabbing him by the collar of his tunic and the "bang!", me slamming his back against the wall.

“Wh-what did I do?” he whined in his pitiful tone, well as whiny and as pitiful as one could be when being suffocated, but Vex achieved it better than most would. “You little bastard! You frigging little bastard!” I snarled, accompanied by another violent slam, ‘you damn well told them!’ “I don’t know what you are talking about,” he gurgled back, “told on you about what?” My anger turned in on itself as I pulled him from the wall, spun him about and smashed him hard against the nearest Cogitator. “Were you born an idiot or did you lose the brain cells along the damn way!” I snarled, “our agreement, remember? The one where I paid you one thousand throne gelts and you would check the systems to look into Taryst’s past, remember? Remember!?” each “remember” was accompanied by a violent shake, which threw around Vex’s head like whiplash. Vex could only gurgle back, his face almost turning blue. I quickly let off a little pressure, a little. “I don’t know!” he hoarsely managed and then tears started to well in the kid’s eyes, “an agreement that I look into the system I don’t remember it by the Emperor I swear! I swear!” Then the tears started to flow freely down his face, “I swear.” It was then when the realisation hit me and guilt followed and I let go of Vex’s collar. Still crying the young hacker slumped onto the floor and curled up in fetal ball, whimpering pitifully. I stumbled back; Vex’s mind had been messed with! His memories of the whole incident erased by some warp touched freak! I should have realised it damn it! Taryst had psykers place the blocks on our minds! Of course he would have them for other uses! And I had just strangled and hurt an innocent person who had no knowledge of why and even if Vex had remembered the agreement it would have been plucked out without any knowledge of it ever happening. I cursed, this was all my idiocy, my fault; I should have remembered that Taryst had psykers, how stupid was I to forgetI cut myself short as my eyes widened in epiphany, but one reason why I had done it was because of the blocks! Vex had told me that they had done it to him as well! I was no expert on those touched, with their knowledge of how they had placed the block as far as I knew they could have just bypassed it. That is, assuming Vex had even been blocked at all.

I looked down at the whimpering and shuddering form. My brow furrowed heavily. I started to feel a strong and almost intoxicating mix of contempt and rage begin to well at the pit of my gut, how utterly pathetic! I felt the powerful urge to kick the kid while he was down. Teach him to toughen the hell up. Don’t make this any worse than it is, if Glaitis finds out... I thought, forcing down the rage, the contempt. Then I turned and stormed out the door, leaving the pathetic foetal form of Vex to writhe in its self pity. It would also explain how Taryst knew I was having second thoughts. I was right, the damnable Rogue Trader had left me a warning and through Vex also! An even worse one than if I found him dead. I winced as the words echoed through my thoughts, “do not cross me again young Attelus, or that will be your fate.” But this time the ominously similar sounding voice of Taryst laughed. I sighed; I stood in my shower, the high pressured water crashing against my thin, pale but solid body. My usually rigorous, daily training lasted at best five hours (though with a quick fifteen break between each hour) It was disciplined and harsh like my father had taught me, it seemed my daily training was the only thing I kept consistently disciplined on. The schedule was this; the first two hours were dedicated to swordsmanship, the next two on unarmed combat and if I had the time I went over to Taryst’s shooting range, spending the last hour practicing firing drills, both Garrakson and Torris would almost always be there and so I would go for the company as well. That was before poor Torris got maimed of course. I physically winced as I remembered that yet again I had forgotten to visit my comrade in arms at the medicae. That would be, what, the fifth day in a row? I couldn’t even recall that either. Throne did my limbs ache! Today was certainly not the first but hopefully the last were I would neglect my regime, not saying I didn’t train, I did, but a little too hard, and I hadn’t stretched before either. After I had retreated from my crime scene, I had retrieved my weapons from security and went straight home to my habitat block. Immediately when I was through the door my sword was out and I was slashing the air in a blind and rusty rage, my years of training and discipline thrown out the window and sent crashing to the

ground. I had barely lasted half an hour before I was gasping for breath and weak from exertion. But my anger was all but spent. I was an idiot, a complete and utter idiot; I had no excuse to beat up on Vex, even if he had willingly told on me I should have seen his treachery coming and planned for it in advance, “trust nothing, suspect everything” those words could not ring any truer right now. No, I had to lose myself in my anger, I’ve had that problem ever since I was a child something would happen that would anger me and I would hurt people, badly. “A blind rage” I had heard it being called once, I could not recall who had said it exactly It was as if something had taken over me, I would lose all control and all I would do is hurt the one who had done me wrong, no matter what. My father had taught me how to control that side of myself, how to curb it if it occurred and he had taught me this well but with Vex I had slipped and fallen into that abyss, that was the first time in along time, going on six years now. That I did remember and that I remembered well. Poor Vex Carpompter, he did not deserve my wrath, all of my repressed anger from the last six months was almost taken out on the kid, he was lucky I didn’t kill him. No, I thought, I was lucky that I didn’t kill him. I shuddered at the thought and the soothing feeling of the constant stream of hot water disappeared entirely as the horrible sensation of sickening guilt welled at the pit of my stomach. Taryst was right! Sudden rage over took me and I punched my fist hard, against the tiled wall, blood intermingled with water and pain erupted through my hand. I am a coward! A bully who takes out his anger on those weaker than him because he is too scared to take it out on those over him! The very definition of cowardice. Sighing, I turned off the faucet, trying hard to ignore the agony of my left hand and that of my dull, aching limbs, but I could not ignore that both were entirely of my own volition, of my own idiocy. It was quite depressing really.

I walked out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped around my waist, my face foul. I caught a glimpse of the form standing in my room and that was all I needed to see, in the blink of an eye, I snatched up a nearby knife, about to let it fly. But stopped in mid movement, and felt my face flush madly as I saw that the form was Elandria, who was also aiming an Auto pistol at me. “Drop it,” she said. I immediately did as told. “Now kick it over to me.” I looked at her with hooded eyes, I had bare feet damn it! But gingerly I kicked the knife to her, which bounced and rolled over the carpet. “Mistress Glaitis wishes to speak to you,” she informed in her emotionless voice, her mask was off so I could see her just as emotionless, pale and attractive heart shaped face. The gun still pointed at me. My embarrassment disappeared as my eyes widened in fear, I felt the palms of my hands turn clammy with sweat. I had guessed that my teacher would want to talk to me but I was not at all prepared for it. “J-just let me get changed,” I stammered as I scrambled to gather some clothes from that of the many scattered pieces of clothing lying about, and could not help be embarrassed that Elandria was seeing the messy state of my living quarters. “You have three minutes,” she stated. “Okay, but, uhm, can I, uhm, have some privacy, please?” “No.” I sighed, then the sudden and impatient twitch of the Auto pistol made me jump and search all the faster. She had me hook line and sinker or for want of better cliché, I was caught out in the cold, never in my life had I felt so helpless and exposed, that was why Elandria was a true assassin and I was not, though she lacked my training of deception and espionage, she still knew bloody well how to catch those at their most vulnerable and she certainly had succeeded with me. Though, I could not help but wonder what would happen if I had actually thrown the knife? In fact I may have got her; she had not reacted to me until a full second after I had stopped the throw.

If it was anyone else beside her and Glaitis I would have let it fly, without hesitation, perhaps that was why Glaitis had sent Elandria, she knew I had a weakness for the fairer sex, a weakness that she could exploit, a weakness I needed to eliminate. It took me two minutes to hurriedly slip on my clothes, a taken from the floor, smelling, day old tunic, I had tried exceptionally hard to hide myself as I put it on and had succeeded with admirable grace. I nodded to Elandria and walked out the door, but she followed me down the apartment building’s corridor. “Where are you going?” I asked over my shoulder. “With you.” My jaw set, “to escort me right?” “Yeah.” Barely, I kept the fear from my face, if Glaitis was having Elandria guard me, the master assassin was meaning business. I swallowed, really meaning business… It took us twenty long minutes to arrive back at Glaitis’ base of operations and all the way I had Elandria holding her auto pistol in my back. Every single step made me dread more and more whatever Glaitis had in store for me. I struggled to hide the fear I felt from Elandria even with my back to her the stress of suspense was almost overwhelming as my heart thudded in my chest. I had never bothered to try garnering any information from Elandria knowing full well it was futile I doubted that Glaitis would have told her anything and everything I tried to say to Elandria was answered with mindless mono syllables, for her it was not entirely out of character but it was doing nothing to help my nerves. We rode the elevator up to Glaitis’ office. Taryst had given the master assassin the top floor of one of the rogue traders many separate buildings that surrounded his main tower. Naturally she being the leader of a very professional and well off company of mercenaries, she only got the best for her living quarters. The elevator arrived and the doors slid open, immediately I was prompted out with a shove of Elandria’s pistol. My teeth on edge I hesitantly complied and we entered into the foyer beyond. It was no more than six metres wide, a corridor. At each side and lining the stark white walls were long, black leather couches and our boots echoed over

the polished, back marble tiles as Elandria and I walked toward Glaitis office. The contrast between hers and Taryst’s quarters could not have been much more obvious. Glaitis never kept any guards, which showed her arrogance in her abilities, an arrogance that was quite justified, she surviving for this long and I also have seen her abilities first hand and they are quite, breath taking. I gritted my teeth as Taryst’s words echoed through my thoughts. I was not in love with Glaitis! And he was a fool for ever thinking so. A woman sat at the end of one of the couches, her smooth, long legs crossed together as she reclined back. Her high boned, youthful and attractive heart shaped face was on profile as her large eyes studied a data slate intently. Her long, violet coloured hair pulled back into a pony tail and relief washed over me as I saw who she was. Castella Lethe didn’t look up as Elandria and I approached her, “Tsk, tsk Attelus what that you have done now?” she sighed with an amused smile as she bounced her crossed leg. Despite my anxiety I could not help but grin. I liked Castella, she was always charismatic, always friendly and she had a fun, dry sense of humour I could appreciate. If any woman I would be accused of being in love with I’d rather it be her than Glaitis. She was also confirmed to be Glaitis’ successor if ever the master fell and I agreed. Castella was an excellent choice she was extremely extroverted, confident and held almost everyone’s respect in the company. Except Elandria who seemed to despise Castella for a reason that I could not, or cared not enough to comprehend. “Completed yet another assignment I see,” I said, trying to slow my advance but Elandria was intent on not letting me. Castella snorted, “of course Attelus, would I be here if I hadn’t?” I shrugged, “goes without doubt Castella. I was actually making sure that you were not some fear induced mirage.” “Wow Attelus if you really are that scared shall I say a little prayer for you?” I frowned and furrowed my brow, “I was actually hoping for a more, proactive form of help.” She shrugged, pouting her full lips. “What could be any more proactive than the divine intervention of the Emperor mankind himself? Ohh wait you don’t believe in that thing do you? Oh well, never mind you’re screwed then. Bye!” Before I could make a coherent reply I was shoved through the glass double doors and I could not help wonder. Why the hell she was just sitting out there?

As before she sat at her desk, Glaitis reclined her long, lithe form back in her leather chair he feet planted on her desk. She looked positively relaxed but her piercing blue eyed glare said otherwise and I had to fight really hard to keep myself from wincing under its intensity. My breath had caught in my throat as I saw her and my heart beat sped its already fast rate she was, she was-. Then my jaw set in anger, damn it Taryst maybe right! But if it was true Glaitis must know and then she has to had used it against me on occasions when I never knew and if it was so obvious, why had no one in the company ever mentioned this to me before? Glaitis would have told them not to of course so she could use it to her advantage, my fear was suddenly replaced by giddying disgust and I seriously found myself reconsidering my decision on Taryst’s proposition. ‘Mamzel Glaitis, here he is as ordered,’ said Elandria behind me her smooth, soft, voice flowed like silk but the pistol never relenting in sticking in my back. “I can see that, thank you Elandria, ” said Glaitis sardonically, “and good work.” I glanced over my shoulder as the pistol finally let off, looking just in time to glimpse the young assassin bow slightly; likely she had never noticed Glaitis sardonic tone and turned to leave. “Stay Elandria,” ordered Glaitis as she sat forward leant her shoulder on her desk and cupped her smooth jaw in the palm of her hand, “I have a task for you which I will tell once I deal with him.” “As you order,” said Elandria. Then Glaitis turned her glare on me and I met her gaze unflinchingly. “Why did you do it?” she asked bluntly and despite myself I did flinch, I had expected her fly straight into an anger fuelled lecture saying things like: “you have disgraced our company!” or “your idiocy could have cost us our reputation!” I hesitated, no matter how hard I tried Glaitis always out witted me it was infuriating, in all my years under her tutelage I could never predict what she would say or do. “She asked you a question worm! Hurry and answer!” I flinched at the sudden words erupted behind me and even Elandria started in surprise. I clenched my teeth as I recognised to whom the voice belonged to and I turned to see Darrance approaching us. He was one of Glaitis most senior employees and a right bastard. The true epitome of arrogance and snide superiority I knew nothing of where

he came from but I could hazard a guess, and my guess was: he was some son of some member of Imperial Hierarchy who had squandered and spoilt Darrance and thus creating this monster, how and why Darrance became an assassin was beyond me, perhaps the governor got sick of his creation and threw him out into the cold. But despite my dislike for the senior assassin I could not deny his skill, neither me nor Elandria had any idea he was in the room until he chose to reveal himself. My jaw set hard as I turned back to face Glaitis, this just emphasised how much I still had to learn. “Yes, young Attelus I did indeed ask you a question,” said Glaitis, an evil smirk curling her full lips, “has a feline stolen your tough by chance?” I could think of a no more fitting cliche at that very moment. “Hey Darrance,” I managed through clenched teeth but I kept my attention still fixated on Glaitis, “I see you have returned from your assignment as well and so I assume it was a success then?” “I am not here to waste time tarrying words with a fool like you!” snarled Darrance at my back, “mamzel Glaitis asked you a question and you will answer or so Emperor help me I will-!” “Darrance,” interrupted Glaitis her eyes were attached to my own and her voice soft but the warning in it deadly obvious but I could detect a slight amount of amusement in the words and in her eyes. What would be entertained by? My audacity of taunting Darrance who was three decades my senior and who could potentially beat me in a fight with his eyes closed and one arm tied behind his back, or, perhaps the sheer idiocy either way I was making progress. The senior assassin said no more. “Now child, please would you finally deign to answer my question, why indeed did you beat up on poor little Vor?” “I believe it is pronounced, Vax, mamzel,” corrected Darrance timidly. “Oh yes sorry indeed it is, why did you beat up poor little Vax?” “Vex,” I corrected gruffly. “Sorry young one?” she asked. “Vex! His name is Vex,” I said impatiently, so she cared so much about the poor kid that she would forget his name.

No, I quickly corrected, that was very much unlike Glaitis her memory was photographic there was no way in hell that she could forget especially when she was only informed a few short hours ago, she was testing me again. I glanced side long at Elandria, my fellow squad member must have informed Glaitis of my meeting with Taryst and Glaitis must be testing to see if I had betrayed her. “Hmm, indeed,” said Glaitis as she sat back in her chair, tapping her perfect nose with a fore finger, “I know you young Attelus, to all but the most educated you seem…chaotic, strange, random but you really are not, there is some method to your madness. Some surprisingly sane reasoning as to why, ironically nothing like your father who was always as straight and narrow as anyone can get, that is a trait I can admire, one that would help you if you ever meet the requirement of making you a full fledged assassin… That is if you live that long of course, but for me it makes you predictable.” I smiled half at the compliment and half that now I knew the game and so could play, but I quickly decided that I cannot tell her all. Not yet if I confirmed her of Taryst's proposition it would take away any potential leeway I might have in future and so I followed one of her many teachings, “the best way to lie, is to tell the truth.” After hissing out breath through clenched teeth I said simply “The little bastard told.” “Told? The little bastard told whom and of what!? Answer straight young one! I begin to tire of your meandering!” She snapped suddenly making all but me flinch in surprise. “I had made an agreement with Vex a few weeks ago; I paid him to search the systems for more detailed information into Taryst’s past, just in case, but came up with nil for anything of any use. Taryst hides his tracks very, very well." “And so you were stupid enough to be surprised when this young hacker betrayed you so you strangled him right in his very office? Right were dozens of witnesses could see you do it?” “Pretty much,” I said, trying hard to keep my cool and to keep any remorse from my voice and that was far, far harder, “I let my anger over come me, I was idiotic, stupid and foolish I make no excuses and am ready to face my punishment mamzel.” “Punishment young one?” sighed Glaitis, and she could not hide her rising ire in her voice, “believe me Attelus Xanthis Kaltos you will face punishment but for now you escape it, we have far more important matters to attend to.” “What!?” both Darrance and Elandria exclaimed together incredulously and I could not help but smile. This I had actually seen coming. Both Darrance and Castella just suddenly being here, Glaitis earlier saying that she had a “task” for Elandria, I had gambled on this and had won and I could not help but wonder if Glaitis knew this and that was why she was so flustered, knowing the rules indeed.

“Quiet, both of you!” she roared, “I like this no more than you do! We have it and we are to act before Taryst can know and we need all of us to do it!” I grinned asking, “And what is ‘it’ that we have mamzel Glaitis?” Glaitis eyes narrowed, “information 'it' is child, information on the where abouts of this ‘Brutis Bones, the man that Taryst seems so desperate to hunt down.” We sat in back seat of the old Hesuitor 89, Elandria and I in silence. We watched as the hive outside drove us by. It was the dead of mid night but the lighting of the hive conquered the darkness in a blazing haze of an artificial day and the hustle and bustle of traffic never abated. A hive city like Omnartus never truly slept, Imperial bureaucracy was everything. It was more important to the survival of mankind than the Ecclesiarcy or the Adeptus Arbites, the Imperial Guard or even the Astartes, everything rode upon its ever turning cogs and so a Hive city like Omnartus never slept. Forever more, as long as it lived it would have millions upon millions of serfs sit and type upon their cogitators, monitoring countless upon countless lines of information. The very thought of it made my mind hurt, to know that we more counted upon them than those who fight to defend the Imperium, they give their very lives. They say that it is for their Emperor but in all truth is was only that this organised chaos could survive. To say it was quite depressing really was the understatement of the millennia and many more millennia to come. I could only thank the Emperor I wasn’t one of them. But beside the countless bureaucrats coming and going from work a few amongst them were many night owls, party goers that deemed to rid themselves of the dull drudgery of their work lives for a brief foray into the night life. We were driving through Omnartus’ night district and at its peek. I wore a high quality silken suit with white shirt, black blazer and black pants. Castella had told me it was the latest in men’s fashion out and yes I had noticed many in similar attire on the drive along the way. Elandria sitting next to me looked very quite stunning indeed, her long black hair was tied back revealing her attractive high boned face and some how her disliking frown pouted her lips and made her even more appealing also she was wearing makeup, a first for her since I met her a whole six months ago. I sighed to myself, placing my elbows on my thighs and balling my hands in together near my chin and began to relay in my head for the umpteenth time the plan, Glaitis’ plan. After the master Assassin’s revelation almost immediately Castella burst into the room and grinning from ear to ear.

“Ah yes indeed information retrieved by yours truly of course” said Castella, with a mocking bow “you can all thank me later if you like.” I had been initially taken aback by Castella’s sudden entrance, but this was replaced buy sudden revelation and I turned back to Glaitis. “So I see that you have been doing your own extracurricular investigating while under Taryst’s employ master?” I said. Glaitis grinned, “Why of course my young apprentice,” then she looked to Castella, “and do not take all the credit for yourself Castella do not forget that Hayden had as much of a hand in it as you did.” Castella hunched forward with an animated pout, “Pah! Details!” and then she grinned, a sly grin, “and now I’m betting that you are all wondering how I knew what you all where saying right.” “No,” said Elandria, “we can all see your ear piece quite clearly.” Castella grimaced, another extremely animated expression that brought a smile to my face, “Pah! Details!” she repeated. “Alright enough of you’re clowning,” sighed Glaitis but I could hear the amusement quite clearly in the master assassin’s voice, “now we move onto business.” “We have located through much investigation the possible location of Brutis Bones,” she said on, not waiting for us to recover, “his main base all evidence points toward a bar in the night district of the hive, highly popular for the locals, it is named “The Twilight bar.” Castella let out a derivative snort which made me smile all the wider, I could not have agreed anymore, “The more I hear that name the cheesier it sounds,” said Castella. “Yes I know Ms Lethe but the bar provides an almost perfect cover for the gang leader, it is high class, quite sophisticated and-.” “And so it wouldn’t be believed by anyone looking because it would be to obvious” I cut in, “what do they call that? That’s right, refuge in audacity.” “Indeed young one,” confirmed Glaitis, “Taryst being the utter genius he is, had left that area for last in his investigation as you and Elandria may know.” “Yes,” confirmed my squad mate and to my surprise I could detect an undercurrent of annoyance in the young woman’s voice. Evidently Elandria did not like being left out of the loop and neither do I to be honest but I can just hide the dislike better than most and by now I was used to it.

Glaitis could also tell the young woman’s dislike as emphasised by the master assassin’s patronising glare. After a brief pause Glaitis moved on, “thanks to Hayden Tresch’s hacking skills we were able to get a full layout of the plans for the entire bar,” from under her table Glaitis pulled out a control wand and with a flick of her wrist the lights died and a large and sophisticated hologram sprang out from the middle of her desk. “This is it; the building is at the far North West end of the night district’s main street, the Dawn of Ages Boulevard. As you can see there are three entrances, the main being the south east coming from the Dawn of Ages Boulevard of the other two, one is placed on the northern side and the other on the south all are guarded constantly and all are placed on surveillance cameras. The security is very tight indeed as befitting such a leader.” I shrugged, “but I’m guessing that no tighter than any other club in the district so they don’t draw suspicion.” “Indeed and also no match for us at all,” said Glaitis, “and here is my plan, Elandria both you and Attelus and dressed satisfactory for occasion you two will enter into the bar via the front entrance, posing as legitimate patrons, as a dating couple of course.” Beside me Elandria visibly stiffened in obvious distaste, which made me feel a lot more upset than I cared to admit. “But mistress,” I said, “if you send in Elandria and myself…with our activities together over the last six months the odds of them knowing our faces would be higher than if you sent in Castella or anyone else.” Glaistis smiled, “of course and that is what I gamble upon, that viewing your entrance into the bar will spike up the suspicions of the ones running it and they will not turn you and Elandria away for fear of spiking your own suspicions. I believe that you two will be very, very closely monitored indeed.” My jaw set, “so we are the distraction then?” “Never miss a beat then do we child?” she said, “but that beat was about as subtle as an explosion. Yes you and Elandria are the distraction once inside I want you both to-.” “Start a bar brawl?" Glaitis frowned, “yes Attelus, start a bar brawl and we need a big one indeed, one that will distract the vast majority of the moody hammers acting as bouncers so both-.” “Darrance and Castella can slip in unnoticed and plant bugs in the bar, but why not just have us plant them, it would be easier.”

“Actually child, I was going to say that Darrance and Tresch do it but never mind, while what you say is true what we are not to sure of is the surveillance in the bar , it is well hidden. But what we do know is two elite assassins in syn skin body gloves will move unseen, we just need you to distract the hammers for long enough to do it, also we don’t want them placed in the bar itself but in the back rooms, otherwise it would be just pointless wouldn’t it?” I shrugged, it made sense. But why was she doing this? I knew Glaitis and she would only move if this information was one hundred percent confirmed she never did anything half way. I suspected that she wanted to plant these bugs so she could find the reason why Taryst was so desperate to find Brutis Bones, but there had to be more. I set my jaw. “So there is the plan,” said Glaitis, “whether you take it or leave it is immaterial were doing it. I have a transport ready for you both in the parks and suitable clothing, after of course you take a shower Attelus, you smell like you haven’t washed in days! Dismissed. And Castella make sure that you go over the details with the lovely couple for me.” "As ordered mamzel," said Castella with a bow and I frowned in annoyance as we all turned for the door. “Oh and young one,” called Glaitis at my back causing me to freeze in my tracks, “do not for a second believe that you are off the proverbial hook, you will face your consequences one way or another and you will keep that in mind, okay.” I swallowed noisily, “y-yes mamzel.” “Oh and young one, stop interrupting me in mid sentence you are not doing yourself any favours.” “Y-yes mamzel.” “Good now leave before I make you leave.” I did as ordered and quite hurriedly indeed. “We’re here,” growled the voice that cut me out from my revere and I realised Darrance glared over the driver’s seat at me as the car was coming to a stop, the senior assassin's face fowl. I grinned. “Yes thank you good driver,” I said in my best up hive accent, “we must really be getting to the party chant us dear?”

It was Elandria’s turn to glare at me, “what are you doing?” “Why getting into character my dear.” “Well if you call me “dear” one more time you will find yourself sorely lacking a head.” I grinned even wider, “well good luck in that endeavour my dear since you lack the proper appliances to pull through with said threat.” Elandria started slightly in remembrance, we were both very much unarmed so we could go through the bar's detectors without a hitch, but then she smiled, “Haven’t tried it with my bare hands yet "dear" and then there is always a first time for everything isn’t there?” “Shut up you two and get moving!” snarled Darrance, “I have yet to get into position and I will not have this mission ruined by your unresolved sexual tension!” I started in embarrassment but moved quickly, opening my door of the old limousine; I swiftly got out, walked around and like a gentleman of old opened the door for my “date.” All the while I fought the urge to cover my eyes from the blaring lights. Elandria clumsily climbed out, she was still unused to wearing Stilettos and I frowned as I wondered if it was truly wise sending her instead of Castella then I offered my hand to help which she reluctantly took. Gently pulling her out, I placed my arm over her shoulders holding her close and steadying her walk as we moved down the street, almost immediately the old Hesuitor violently drove off leaving a cloud of exhaust in its wake. “W-What are you doing?” she said, though only slightly struggling. “Making sure that you don’t fall on your face my dear,” I answered and then cried out theatrically and so loud that many a passing pedestrian looked my way in bemusement, “oh Emperor forbid! That my lovely date would slip and break her nose on our very first engagement! I would never hear the end of it from father oh Emperor forbid!” “Lovely?” she said wide eyed and we started to approach near the bar. When I saw the long line of potential cavorters waiting for entrance into the Twilight bar, I barely stifled a curse I hated waiting in lines it was my anathema, well one on my anathemas on a long list of many more. I deeply sighed then Elandria, my arm still over her shoulders, she turned to glare at me balefully.

“What’s wrong now?” she growled. “Nothing, nothing,” I said lightly, “I am just so entranced by your-.” “Shut up!” she snarled, “Your ‘character’ is even more annoying than you are.” I smiled patiently Elandria’s constant grumpiness was really beginning to get on my nerves, “may I ask you a question my dear?” “No,” she pouted, “but I know you will anyway.” I grinned, “now that you have said that, I will. Have you ever done undercover operations like this? You have always sat out our earlier missions as reserved reinforcement.” “No,” she answered rather simplistically. I frowned deeply, it was obvious to me right from the start that Elandria’s skill set seemed more militaristic than the other assassins of our organisation. Seemingly the society which had trained her completely neglected to teach her the complexities of civilian infiltration in favour for battle field specialisation, hence the reason why she could barely place one foot in front of the other while wearing high heels or act like a high class hive citizen for more than three seconds. I sighed, “I guess that answers a few questions, yes. But could you, at least try, to be in character when we line up.” “But I thought we were to make them suspect us as being undercover?” My jaw set hard, why she was being so insistent on antagonizing me so. Actually I suspected she wasn’t doing it on purpose at all. “That is true, but it does not mean we can’t be professional. We are gambling on them knowing our faces and even if they don’t the fight we start will hopefully suffice for the distraction even without the extra attention. Perhaps acting convincingly may cement any suspicion of our position in Taryst’s private investigatory force.” “What ever,” was her reply which made my choler rise even higher but before I could reply we had arrived at the end of the line and it was depressingly long I did a quick head count, of the crowd of young, ostentatiously dressed pretty people and found that approximately sixty locals in total waited for the huge hammer acting as the bouncer to let them in. I could hear the music from inside and feel the boom of the bass line tingle my teeth with each note.

Despite it being called a “bar” the Twilight Bar seemed to resemble a club first and foremost, prior booking before hand is a must to gain access and thanks to Hayden Treash’s hacking expertise we certainly were on the list, under aliases of course. That made me wonder actually, how long had mamzel Glaitis actually known about this club and its connection to Brutis Bones? Just judging at how long this line is alone that a booking maybe needed to be at least a week prior to guarantee entrance. Perhaps Treash had not hacked into the system at all, maybe they had made the booking legitimately. But if that was the case why act now of all times? On that subject I could hazard a myriad amount of guesses but the most obvious once again came down to Glaitis was testing me and if so whether it was a test of my abilities or whether or not I had betrayed her was another question entirely. Or perhaps I just needed to get it through my thick head that the universe didn’t revolve around me and my idiocy. “Attelus Kaltos stop it,” Elandria’s voice abruptly ended my revere, “stop leaning on me.” With a start I realised this and immediately let off my weight, flushing in embarrassment, “s-sorry about that.” “Lost in your little world once more were we dear?” she said with a contemptuous sneer that seemed to exclaim my idiocy and hypocrisy all at once. The corner of my mouth twitched, I really needed to learn to keep myself from being lost in my thoughts and I shrugged. “Oh I do apologise my dear, oh how my idiocy knows no bounds please forgive me! Please do.” Elandria gritted her teeth then turned away and I grinned to myself, that made her shut up and again I took another sweeping look over the crowd. I started midway through as I saw through the crowd two young, very attractive women eyeing me with quite enthusiastically flirtatious gazes. I flinched and I felt my face turn bright red then I tore my attention away, up toward the three surveillance cameras which watched us from above, Castella had informed me of their positions during her in depth briefing earlier but I just wanted to see them for myself, just in case. When I looked back down I found the two women were still looking at me luridly, trying to avoid their eyes looking down to peer at my wrist Chrono. In all my research into Omnartus’ culture I never could recall ever reading about the local women being so obvious about their attraction despite the guy of interest having another woman right under his arm. Perhaps they had a sixth sense, could they just tell by instinct alone that Elandria and I where not a real couple?

I looked side long at Elandria who still had her attention turned away and plastered to the wall and I set my jaw. Or perhaps she was just making it so frigging obvious it wasn’t funny. I sighed and reached into my pocket for my Lho’s, it had been while since my last smoke and the cravings were beginning to get to me. As I began to light my Lho clenched in my teeth I was using the activity to try averting my attention away from the two women who were still looking even now. The line had finally made a step forwards and I began to tap the tip of my shoe on the rockcrete floor. I'm not a partier I’m an assassin who kills people for a living and being the dangerous job it is and that I would quite like to live past my twenties I spend every waking hour for training. Making sure I have the necessary skills to live to see the next day. The line had sped up, already we had made another step and I glanced over my shoulder and to no surprise at all saw that already five more people had lined up behind us and as I did this I accidentally caught the eyes of another young woman. I flinched, turned and sighed, hunching animatedly then Elandria looked to me. “You’re strange,” she said out right and bluntly. I looked at her side long, exhaled smoke while smoothly slipping my ceramic Lho casing back into my pocket. I was used to Elandria’s extreme lack of subtlety but it took a hell of along time to acclimatize to. “Yeah well, tell me something I don’t know.” “There are many things I do not understand like how after so long training in martial arts and weaponry and your posture could still be so terrible.” I immediately straightened, Elandria had a point, if I was to act as an upper class hive citizen I had to stand like an upper class hive citizen who where stereo typically, straight backed and refined both traits which I sorely lacked. Perhaps that was the real reason those two young women were looking at me so intently, they must find my posture entertaining and at that I inwardly cursed. That had to be it and no other reason could explain it. “There is that better?” I growled. “Now you’re just over doing it.” I sighed and went back to being hunched again.

According to my wrist chron the wait in the line lasted only fifteen minutes but for me it felt like a whole frigging hour, did I say I hated waiting in lines? I did? Good so now it’s doubly emphasized. When we stood in between slight steps I tapped the tip of my shoe on the rockcrete and the whole way I smoked Lho as my attention darted around like quick silver. About half way through the line Elandria hissed at me: “really could you stand still for more than three seconds?” I blew out smoke and replied simplistically, “no.” She kept quite after that, perhaps Elandria was smarter than I gave her credit for. Perhaps she was aware it was an intended ironic echo of her own catch phrase and then I made a mental note that I should make use of her “what ever” more often. Once we had finally made it to the end of the line I whispered in Elandria’s ear, “let me do the talking.” “What ever,” she hissed back “just be careful not to knock out the Moody Hammer with one of your nervous twitches.” I pursed my lips, that actually wasn’t a bad idea I had yet to come up with a decent plan for starting this brawl just looking over the line alone I decided that this task would be easier said than done, sure I could pick a fight with one patron easily enough but initialising the needed chaos would be a challenge. The majority of the patrons were upper class dandies who I doubted had ever taken part in a full on bar brawl in their pampered lives. If it was a lower hive bar, well enough said really. We approached the huge hammer standing at the door, that despite his low browed, vat grown, square jawed appearance that a lot of his kind has his hooded, beady eyes gleaned a slight modicum of intelligence. He wore a suit not dissimilar to my own and he held a data slate in his huge, meaty paw. I quickly noted the large, black tattoo on his neck which showed he belonged to the “Greasers” a local gang who were one of the first our intelligence had reported to be reeled into Brutis Bone’s little alliance, the holstered las pistol barely hidden under his blazer, the Microbead in his ear and not just that but two more huge hammers standing inside the shadowy entrance to the club. The Hammer smiled a surprisingly welcoming, toothy smile and gave us both friendly nods, “Sir, Mamzel may I ask that you state your names please.” “Indeed,” I said, I may have put on a hammy performance earlier for Elandria’s sake but as Glaitis taught me the true art in undercover acting is subtlety to not get carried away and not let stereo types rule your mind set, but that is of course unless the role calls for it “I am Autius Davian-Meggs and this lovely young woman is Riculia Harviad.”

As I said this the Hammer scrolled down his data slate, “…Sir Autius Davian-Meggs and mamzel Riculia Harviad you are indeed on the list. Welcome into the Twilight bar and may you enjoy your time here.” “Thank you and we will,” I smirked slightly as Elandria and I turned into the club I was not surprised at the doorman’s professionalism and politeness it would be a given for a club this high up and well known but the colleagues in the entrance way did not share the doorman’s friendliness I could feel them glare at us, suspicious and unyielding with bulky arms folded in an “intimidating” fashion. I pretended to ignore them and I assumed that they wouldn’t treat their regular customers in such fashion (or else that their “bar” would have closed down along time ago) evidence so far was pointing to this being more and more to be a Brutis Bones operation. This could also prove that our rival organisation knows our faces at least. I glanced over my shoulder at the doorman and saw him talking intently, his index finger placed against the microbead in his ear. We followed through the three metre wide corridor, the hologram planning had proven true the corridor curled subtly to the north west, the steel walls dulled down into a dark crimson, metallic sheen and the walls trembled in time with the bass line, the way the building is designed is that the main entrance’s corridor splits the club in half starting from the south east and ending in the for most northern corner, according to the information gathered the west side of the building was the private area for the VIP’s and the east general club and bar. “So? Do you have any kind of plan yet?” Elandria hissed right in my ear her soft voice causing me to start slightly from my thoughts. “Some semblance…” I said twisting my pinkie finger in my ear. “Which means nothing?” “No it means what it means “some semblance,” I’ll think of something, I’ m…Adaptable.” “Adaptable? Is that what you are calling it now?” Before I could make a reply my pocket vibrated and swiftly I reached in and slid the small listening device in my ear. “We’re in,” I said, though I knew that they would already know. “Good work,” Castella’s voice came from the tiny speaker, “Where are you now?” “Still in the corridor, not yet through the second security station the one with the metal detectors,” I said “I find this place very interesting this is, very…Pretentious I can almost smell the pretentiousness in the air.”

I heard Castella giggle on the other side, “what do you expect when it’s called the Twilight Bar?” “Well I expected that the main corridor would be darker and be more of a reference to its name sake, perhaps the building itself hates what it’s called so much, so somehow, through sheer force of will, rejected it.” Again Castella laughed, “Alright, alright you know the drill you have four of these devices make sure you drop one in this corridor and another at the second station on your way in the other two keep with you and Elandria so we can communicate with you inside ” “Yes we know, we know didn’t you just say that I knew the drill yourself?” “I did but as you know one can never be too careful, you know, just in case good luck and may the god-Emperor’s virtue be with you.” Then she cut the link. Immediately I halted my walk, slipped off of Elandria, pulled one of the listening devices out from my pocket. Took off the back adhesive and stuck it against the wall. Immediately the advanced little device camouflaged its self in the wall’s colour, texture all but invisible to the naked eye. “One down and just one to go,” said standing back to full height and offering my arm back to Elandria, “may we move my dear?” Elandria begrudgingly took it and growled “if you call me “my dear” one more time-” I sighed, “Yes I know, I know I will be sorely lacking my head, I know.” We walked through the detectors without consequence the listening devices were made from a rare and expensive Plasteek that was all but invisible to most scanners. The two huge hammers posted at the checkpoint were just as affable as their colleague at the door and with the combination of my quick hands and the aide of Elandria I was able to successfully place the listening device at the checkpoint. When we entered into the club itself, dozens, upon dozens of dancers jumped and leapt to the music a huge orgy of activity which seemed to move like white caps on the sea, rising and falling, rising and falling. It was almost entirely dark the only light source lasers beaming down onto the countless cavorters, projecting patterns, numerous different patterns changing from flowers to even the Imperial Aquila, it was quite an amazing site to behold.

Quickly I changed my tact, glancing over the crowd my brow hooded in concentration and noticed three more gangers straddled through the crowd of cavorters each eyeing both Elandria and I with distinct suspicion and I barely held back a sigh. I knew they are low hive gangers, I knew that they were muscle but they wouldn’t know subtlety if hit over the head with “A Guide to Infiltration and Espionage.” Though it is an utterly terrible and pretentious book which the author (whose name I cannot recall) he blatantly did not do the research but it would help these idiots’ skills in that field by leaps and bounds. That wasn’t saying much of course. Then it hit me, it frigging hit me and the realisation caused me to sigh and place my face into the palm of my hand, if these gangers were this pathetic and it has taken this long for Taryst’s “elite” to find this place. I didn’t want to begin to think about it, it was depressing just damned depressing. But, actually perhaps that was it. This “bar’s” security was so stupid and sloppy that it wouldn’t stick out from the rest of its ilk, or was I just over analyzing it? I didn’t know I didn’t care anymore. “What the hell is wrong with you now?” demanded Elandria her raised voice heard barely over the music but I could hear her well, her words enhanced by the bud in her ear. “I hate my job,” I groaned, my voice muffled into my hand. “What?” I dropped my arm back to my side and said instead, “These guys are complete idiots.” Elandria smirked, “Please, do tell me something I don’t know,” she said, “I see three Hammers in the crowd, two armed with laspistols, one with a high calibre auto pistol all in torso holsters right?” “Hmmm, interesting,” I said. “What?” I gestured with a lazy hand, a small indistinct movement aimed toward the Hammer with the Auto pistol. “See? His Pupils are dilated and even in this terrible light it is obvious his skin is a shade lighter than his norm, that Hammer is scared, very scared.” “Scared of what?” asked Elandria then a big, evil grin spread across her symmetrical face, “scared of us?”

I shrugged, “hmm perhaps, that seems logical. He may be a survivor, a survivor of one of our many skirmishes against Brutis Bones’ organisation over the past months he may even be the one which they had learnt our identities from.” Elandria grimaced in utter disgust, “a survivor! We were thorough! We let none escape!” “See! It is that exact attitude that would have allowed for his escape in the first place but this we can turn toward our favour, though it also looks like we will have to reevaluate our plans.” “Why?” “Because we will both be killed if we don’t. If we make one wrong step, even try slightly to start a fight he will shoot us, he’s as twitchy as a frigging Obscura addict on withdrawal.” “Even shoot through a crowd of civilians?” she smirked. I sniffed and glared at her side long, I knew she was ruthless but I was hoping that there would be some line for Elandria. “Perhaps, but that is one risk I am unable to take, at first this was to be an innocent fisticuffs against other club goers but if we are to do anything we will have to take care of that Hammer first.” “Kill him?” I grimaced, “if it comes to that but-” Suddenly the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end and a cold shiver slid down my spine. The air temperature dropped dramatically and the once enthusiastic crowd halted its partying as every one shook in instinctive terror. I had felt this before and I knew exactly what it was. Elandria turned to me, her eyes white with animal like fear, “psyker!” My earpiece suddenly came to life and Castella’s uncharacteristically urgent voice erupted over the mic. “Attelus! Attleus! Cough if you copy damn it!” I quickly complied.

“Good! We have two new additions to the line outside and-and the people they are justjust parting, letting them through, I!-I can’t make out their faces but-but-!” The line began to fizzle and crackle, warping Castella’s words into indecipherable syllables then completely descended to nothing but static. I felt my heart beat a thousand miles a minute and the fear! Oh the fear! The adrenaline pumping! But still I shivered in the unnatural cold and then I noticed Elandria who looked at me utter terror, whose lower lip shook and her body wavered. “Why-why are you smiling?” she stammered. “I’m smiling?” I asked, genuinely bemused, “well I guess I would now that everything is going according to plan, to my plan anyway.” I don’t know if you had thought I had forgotten about Taryst’s little psyker cadre or you had forgotten, but this, this I had actually seen coming, yes. I knew I had to act quickly that time was short so I moved. I dodged and weaved through the frozen clubbers and within milliseconds I reached the Hammer with the auto pistol, the ganger was never able to react to my advance as his glazed eyes stared dumbly to the ceiling, his mouth gaping open in stark shock. I smashed my elbow straight into his solar plexus which impacted in a sickening “crunch!” and the Hammer let out a feeble gasp for air, his torso bending in under the force. I gritted my teeth and followed on, punching him in the kidney then the ribs and finally finishing him by sliding to his flank and delivering a brutal, low side kick snapping his knee inward and causing the Hammer to let out a strangled howl of utter agony. I now had his Auto pistol in hand (which unsurprisingly already had the safety off) and I fired one round into the ceiling yelling out at the top of my lungs, “down everybody down!” Luckily the crowd were not so frozen in fear that they were unable to acquiesce to my request and with frightened yelps they did exactly as told, all accept the two remaining bouncer Hammers who were only just now numbly reaching for their weapons. I shot them both, one through the head and the other in his chest the shots accompanied by even more screams of terror. “Damn it what the hell are you doing?” demanded Elandria as she retrieved one of the corpses’ Las pistols and raising it to cover the entrance way. “Improvising,” I replied. “Didn’t-didn’t you just say that “everything is going according to plan?”

“All according to one plan, yes.” “Then it really isn’t improvising then is it?” “What ever,” I sighed and I found the unconscious Hammer’s three backup ammo clips and I slipped them into my pockets. “So what is it that you improvise now oh you magnificent bastard you?” I looked over my shoulder at her shocked, was that an actual joke? A backhanded compliment perhaps, or something else entirely? “Cover the door for me would you. I have unfinished business to attend to." "Then what the hell will I do when that Psyker gets here then?" "Prey to that Emperor of yours!" that was my reply as I turned into the corridor leading to the VIP area, my confiscated Auto pistol raised and ready as I advanced. I had not forgotten about Taryst's psykers, I had an idea in the back of my head that this little independent operation of Glaitis' would have been tracked but that also begs yet another question, why would Glaitis have played this move? She must have known of Taryst's psychic allies and was aware without taking the proper precautions that we would have be found out, I could hazard a myriad amount of guesses as to why but now was not the time toAs the corridor began to curve southward I heard it, sudden and deafening, gun fire! That reverberated within the corridor. I gritted my teeth, risking a look and what I saw made my eyes widen in fear. One Hammer had lost his mind, he fired his stub automatic limply and indiscriminately into the crowd of terrified, screaming VIPs, two of which already lay dead. The man was grinning mindlessly, foaming from the mouth and his body moved loosely like a marionette this was defiantly a psyker's work and this would have been nightmare fuel unleaded, if I had not seen it many times before and without breaking stride I shot him, I shot him straight through the face, the back of what was once a Humans skull exploded out into a cone of gore, the thick, red matter coating anyone near and the body dropped like a sack of spuds. I left the corridor and out into a cacophony of cries as the VIPs all saw the small skinny bastard who held a smoking auto pistol walking right through their midst. Are you really scared of me? Didn't I just save all your hides? I thought, Glaitis had once said that being a hero was overrated and once again she proves to be right and I kicked the corpse as I walked through, "shame about the face," I muttered. I came to the door which led into the "restricted" area and studied the lock, it was one of your atypical password encoded things and to the consequential cry of many a onlooker

I raised my pistol, turned away covered my face with a forearm and blew out the lock with one deafening pull of the trigger. I kicked the door open then threw myself back into cover mere milliseconds before the torrent of Las fire cut through the air. I had actually managed a glimpse of the lone Hammer, the lone Hammer with crazed eyes, who stood six metres down the corridor and who still kept spraying on full auto despite my absence and who's insane screams of fear I could hear well over the rounds, he had no cover, nothing. I only had to wait for several seconds for the fire to stop and to hear the familiar hiss of over heated Las weaponry then I stepped out. "You idiot!" I roared as I put two rounds through his torso. Of course his idiocy and the others fear could be explained buy the psychic presence. Now I could see my breath steaming and the ice on the walls, I grinned, thank you Taryst you are making this way to easy. I kicked open the door at the end of the corridor and entered into what I remembered from the schematics a larger room and found it was a recreation room one that was already held and makeshift fortified buy three more of Brutis' Bones mooks. I was actually almost caught completely unawares, not prepared for an organised defence and was immediately forced back into hiding as they opened fire. I had accounted for the psyker's presence to be more lasting and at times like this I would really kill for a grenade or manstopper rounds they would easily blow fist size holes through the table which they had turned over. It looked like it wasn't going to be so easy after all. I briefly leaned out and fired off my last three rounds which forced the Hammers to duck behind their table. Ejecting the empty clip and slamming a fresh one home without hesitation I leaned back out. Even now I am not sure if it was skill or luck which was the cause of me managing to scalp one of the Hammers as he rose from hiding but either way it shocked his comrades into submission long enough to allow me to sprint the distance and shoot them both through their faces at point blank range. I vaulted over the table and retrieved a las pistol from one of the corpses, after checking the charge gauge was full, I moved on now with a big grin on my face. The shots reverberated through the confined corridors as I fired two point blank rounds into the Hammer's chest and my front kick followed on colliding into the limp corpse and propelling the dead Hammer into the next of his colleagues in line. Both bodies fell to the floor in a mass of writhing limbs and screams. While lunging over the screaming Hammer and the corpse pinning him to the floor I shot the next ganger as he was bringing his stubb revolver to bear but the forth ganger in line was thinner and more nimble than the others as he slid past his collapsing ally and lunged into a hook punch intended on smashing in my head. I blocked the fist with a forearm, an inner-outer block which pushed the attack off course, augmented his momentum and caused his punch to connect straight into the rockcrete wall instead. His hand broke with a sickening crack

and the Hammer bellowed out in of utter agony a bellow which was abruptly cut short as I pistol whipped him in the base of the skull causing his forehead to follow after his fist in cracking against the hard surface. He also wasn't much taller than I was so hence an effective human shield and just in time I hooked my arm around the man's neck, turned the limp form to face the next aggressor as he opened fire. The human shield took three rounds from the the Hammer's auto pistol (I could only thank the Emperor that none of them wielded shot guns) Jarring the corpse with each and almost causing me let go before I managed to shoot the hapless team killer over the shoulder of his murdered work mate. The next Hammer, an older and horrifically scarred monster attempted to follow my example as he roughly shoved his traitorous allies corpse toward me to mask his advance but I slid out the way, pushing my back against the wall and the two dead men collided into each other falling to the floor in a heap. The large ganger was on me and threw a deceptively fast hook that I barely managed to back peddle out the way from, he was actually pretty good much to my surprise and my attempt at bringing my pistols to bare was interrupted by his follow on, a right jab that I swayed under and then an upper cut I narrowly side stepped. The next attack was a lunging back fist that sent me back peddling even further and almost made me trip over the corpses that I had left in my wake. The Hammer stopped his assault and glared at me balefully, one of his eyes milky white the other a piercingly clear blue. "Put those pistols away," he grunted as he cracked his knuckles "I see you are a worthy opponent so let us truly see who is the better fighter." I sighed and complied dropping both my pistols to the floor with a clatter. "Hmm right," I said, "but first, just one question, are you by chance Brutis Bones?" "No I am-" Before he could continue any further I knelt down, picked the pistols back up and shot him five times, the first exploded out his guts, the second blew a ragged hole in his chest, the third burst open his right bicep, the forth hit him in the thigh, causing him to spin around so his back was facing me and the last ripped out the base of his spine and he fell straight to the floor, flat on his face. I knew it was over kill but these "Honour Before Reason" idiots were usually tough bastards and that was the only way I could make sure he wasn't ever getting back up. Taryst wanted Brutis Bones alive so I would have made the effort if it was him. Sighing again and wondering how the hell such an idiot could have lived as a Ganger. I casually lowered my Las pistol and put a neat black hole through the fore head of the Hammer who was still struggling to escape from under his dead ally.

I felt kind of dirty, sure I was sure I could have beaten the idiot eventually if I had done the honourable thing and fought fair but that would have wasted time and time was one thing not on my side. As I moved through that maze of cramped, brightly lit corridors the closer I came to the area I guessed was Brutis Bones' quarters more and more a feeling of unease grew at the pit of my gut, that almost the very air disturbed my very being and with that feeling it became more and more evident the lack of any psychic activity around me. Only one thing off the top of my head could explain this phenomenon, the presence of a blank. A person whos very existence nullifies the activities of the warp around them dissipating any and all psychic abilities at a certain radius this would explain allot, Taryst's apparent need of an army to track down this enemy even with the cadre of psykers at his beckon call. But there had to more to it than that even with the blank here making this place all but invisible why hadn't Taryst just captured a lowly Hammer and had one of the psyker's delve into their mind? Was Taryst so paranoid at having the activities of his psykers found buy the local authorities so frigging overwhelming? That also begs the question how the hell could Taryst know my thoughts so well that he could tell of my doubts about my job, perhaps the answer lies in the "blocks" placed in mine and all my fellow mercenaries minds, perhaps they allow the psykers to read our thoughts without giving off any hint? Was that even possible? I really didn't know. But if it was true then it only confirms that Taryst really didn't want anyone outside of his organization knowing of this hunt and the complicated precautions he was prepared to take to keep it that way. Then "paranoia" was a frigging understatement. But this "answer" was just fuel for many more questions; why was Glaitis willing for her apprentice and many of her employees implanted with these things? Why would Glaitis have both Elandria and I along to this operation if Taryst could have his psykers read our minds? And I will not say that it was "because she didn't know" idiocy, she knows, she knows everything I can say that with an amount of conviction that I hadn't felt in ages. Perhaps she wanted to have Taryst reveal his organisation by forcing his hand? But then why would she want Taryst to reveal himself in the first place? Could Garrakson actually know more than he lets on as well, he was our leader and a long time senior in Taryst's company? But most importantly what was the cause behind all this paranoia and why the hell was so much effort going into tracking down this low life gang leader? The answer to that I could hazard a myriad amount of guesses upon. I reached the end of yet another corridor, stopping at the edge I pushed my back against the wall and glanced around the corner.

Two Hammers stood guard at the doorway situated half way down the next hall both were bulky men both held Auto Guns and both glanced about with nervous expressions. Without hesitation I stepped out and vacated the nearest ganger's brains out the side of his skull with one auto pistol round. The other turned to me in almost admiral discipline, attempting to bring up his auto gun to fire. He managed it half way before my Las shots killed him, one blew through his ribs and the other blew out his neck. I ran on, unloading and reloading my smoking pistols on the move, pushing my back against the wall beside the entrance. It was then I could not help but think to myself that perhaps this was a little too easy and you also maybe wondering, why I am doing this? Why it is simple and it is not what you may think, if it is that I bring in Brutis Bones finally Glaitis will see me worthy and promote me to full assassinhood? Well that would just be an added bonus, but no, I am and have never been a particularly ambitious person I have no dreams of ascending Glaitis and taking her blood soaked throne (the metaphorical one of course but at times I have wondered) No I just wanted to have this frigging job done, finished so we can move on to something else, I hated this crap and was frankly sick of it, that is why I am throwing myself blind into the Wolves den, killing anything and everything in my way like a Hitman on heat and the poor Hammers who had stood in my way were just the instruments for me to take my anger and aggressions out on, almost like Vex was. I physically winced at the thought and felt the guilt I had suppressed over the earlier hours boil back to the surface. I swallowed hard and forced it back down. I still had plenty more frustration to go around, Now, with that finally explained I took in a huge breath and slipped through the doorway. My pistols raised and covering the interior. The room I emerged into was large at least eight metres in width and fifteen in length, a brightly lit rockcrete cave. Barren to an extreme and there were twelve thick, square pillars, six along the lengths of the room. It was empty except for the one figure who stood in sight, right at the epi-centre, he stood with his back facing me but I could see the heavy carapace armour he wore. "Brutis Bones I presume?" I said, covering him with my guns. No answer, the man just stood deathly still and stayed silent. "Hmm right. I'm not going to bother to say for you to surrender. This place looking like it's been built specifically for a fire fight isn't coincidence is it?" Again he replied with silence. Something inside me snapped and I cocked my pistol, "don't you give me the frigging silent treatment you bastard! Do, you, have, any idea the crap, I have been through to find you!"

"I cant believe that so many of my guards killed single handed by a kid," the man said abruptly, "a foolish kid playing at games far too large and complicated for him to even begin to comprehend." I wasn't sure how to reply to that, what he had said had hit quite close to home. "And nope, sorry kid I am not your Brutis Bones, he is, in another castle you could say." I gritted my teeth, widened my eyes and tightened my hands on the grips of my pistols. "How the hell do I know that you actually are him and not just lying?" I asked, struggling to keep my voice neutral, if this wasn't Brutis Bones then Glaitis' intel must have been misled, no I truly doubted that. If this was Bones or wasn't she would know and if this man who talked to me now isn't him, then it would just reinforce that this as one of her feints used to force Taryst to show his hand. The man shrugged, "you can choose to believe or not to believe kid, either way its the truth, now I may not be him but that doesn't make me want to live any less so..." Then he spun, as quick as lightning and he held a stub revolver which was raised and firing. All I could do was lunge, diving behind the nearest pillar just in time. But I was not fast enough to dodge the one round which skimmed my left shoulder, sharp pain erupted up my arm and I yelped out as I hit the floor. Getting into a crouch, I pushed my back against my pillar cursing savagely. I had his back completely covered and yet the bastard still got the drop on me! A few more shots rang through the huge room, then there was silence, the only sound the ringing clatter of empty shell casings falling to the floor. "You really are him aren't you?" I said. "Maybe, maybe not," the man replied. My own reply was me suddenly leaning out slightly and wailing off four shots in his general direction. "Well either way your fighting me now and either way you are going to pay the consequences!" I said as I lunged out into the open, my guns blazing. I ran, sprinting sideways and fired my pistols at my opponent who ran with me horizontally along the opposite width of the floor. The bellowing, rudimentary consistent and combined sounds of our weapons discharging over and over echoed through out

the interior with a horrible deafening cacophony and tore into the decor, which wrought in a new and far more interesting scenery of bullet holes in the rockcrete walls and pillars. Making it to the next pillar and leaving the clatter of spent shell cases in my wake I pushed myself up against my cover. I lent out let off a few shots with my Las pistol then I spun to the other side rockcrete cover and neatly caught my enemy off guard as he attempted the same maneuver. The man barely made it behind his own colonnade as I opened fire. Then without hesitation I moved, running toward the other side in an attempt to bridge the gap while I wailed away with my pistols to keep the bastard pinned to prevent his reconciliation. Without hindrance I found the other side of the same colonnade that my opponent cowered behind, pushed myself against the pillar then slid out, pistols raised and found the man had gone. I snarled out a curse, turning just in time to catch him as he came around the other side of the pillar and to desperately knock his raised Stub Revolver's aim off course. The round once meant to cave in my skull shot off, its fate only to create yet another smoking crater in the wall and I followed on, kicking out viciously at the man's groin. The man side stepped the attack with almost contemptuous ease and attempted to bring his gun to bare on me again. My inner-outer block smashed the shot aside after which I opened up with my own auto pistol. Despite the shot being completely point blank the man still managed to almost dive out the way, instead of exploding his ribcage the round impacted against his shoulder guard, it's kinetic force caused him to turn in mid lunge and he hit the floor clumsily, I could clearly hear him gasp out his lungs ejected air with the impact. I didn't hesitate, shooting once! Twice! Hitting him as he rolled across the floor but that was all I could muster before he made it behind the next pillar and my pistols clicked empty. Sliding around the first colonnade I knelt down and began reloading my weapons, I had six clips left, four for my auto pistol and two for my las, along the way of my massacre I had pilfered them off the corpses of my many victims and I could also hear my opponent following suit along with his pained gasps and grunts as he performed the task. "You know," I said casually as I slammed home a fresh clip into my auto, "you would be dead if you weren't wearing that carapace." "I know," he replied and I could not help but be surprised by the sadness in his words, "your good kid I'll give you that." "I know," I echoed back.

"Perhaps even good enough to kill me," he went on, "and that I actually wouldn't mind, I have lived a long life kid, killed allot of people I really wouldn't mind. Going out in one final blaze of glory." I grinned, "Well if you’re so keen to die why don't you just step out and make this easy for me?" The man sighed, "you and I know I can't do that, your boss, Taryst wants me alive doesn't he? There is more at stake here than one old man and his lowly life, my mission demands that I live amongst the populace of Omnartus to complete it so I can't give up, I can't let you kill me or anyone else." It was my turn to sigh, "and what the hell is it that is exactly at stake?" "More than you could imagine." Something in those words made sudden indescribable fear crawl up my spine, fear even more potent than the presence of the blank, fear even more powerful than the psychic activity of earlier. "W-what do you mean? Who the hell are you?" I managed. "I'm nobody, no one. But I know who you are, you are what I said you were earlier, nothing but a kid, a kid caught up in games far to complex and adult for him. Just some poor, innocent kid who's been thrown into this mess and for what I am about to do I am truly sorry." I gritted my teeth, somehow the fear was even more potent than before, my heart shuddered in my chest and my hands began to shake uncontrollably. "Sorry? W-what the hell are you sorry for?" I demanded. "For this." I heard a beep, the brief simple sound of a press of a button, small non-descript but somehow it held more weight than any of his words. I flinched in fright as I heard a nearby, small section of the wall slid open revealing the darkened room beyond and what stepped out from it's depths made my heart turn to ice. "I am truly, truly sorry." It stood at three metres tall, it's huge bulky body utterly corded with a musculature not at all possible for a normal human being, it was naked except for a torn old loin cloth, it's pink, swollen skin was covered all over with countless hideous scars, both it's hands

had been severed at the wrists surgically replaced with two huge, razor sharp axes and it's teeth where filled into ugly incisors. The Arco Flagellant didn't make a sound, no roar from it's smiling maw as one would expect from such a monster and that somehow made it even more terrifying, silently and with grace belying it's bulk it turned it's attention to me then lunged for the kill. Despite my utter terror I still managed to dive out the way of the Arco Flagellent's charge, I landed and neatly rolled into a crouch turning in time to see it practically eviscerate a frigging three metre thick solid rockcrete pillar with just one swipe of it's huge Axe and then it shoulder barged straight through carrying on as though it was nothing. The wanton destruction showered the surroundings with chunks of rockcrete and an explosively ejected cloud of dust. This was one enemy I couldn't defeat, this, this thing was so far out of my league that even if I was full equipment with armour everything I would be nothing but a spec to it, even less of a nothing than that damned pilaster it had just destroyed with naught but its forward momentum and its shoulder. I crawled to my feet, a clumsy and hard action as my sweat slicked hands almost slid out from under me twice, the task of getting up must have taken me no more than a few seconds but felt like a life time, any second I expected the thing to bare down on me to deliver the killing blow but it never came and once up I turned and I ran. I ran like the coward I am. My heart bet so fast my chest hurt, my whole body shook so hard I was in utter agony I sprinted as fast as my aching legs could go but still I never felt it was nearly enough. I made it out the door and turned right, the way I had came and barely a millisecond afterwards the size of the entrance way was doubled as the Arco Flagellent crashed through to follow me. I never looked back, I didn't dare to I just ran and ran as my arms flailed about like curtains in the wind, my breaths came out as agonizing rasps, every step I made felt like a million more and I never looked back but I could feel its presence behind me, tailing me, descending on me like a predator about to pounce upon its prey and with every step I took I expected to feel it's Axe cut through me like a hot knife through butter. Those corridors seemed to go on forever these were the corridors which mere minutes ago I had slaughtered my way through and I now ran for my life through them. Terrifyingly I almost tripped over many of the dead Gangers I had killed. Even in my fear fuelled state I was able to see the irony that falling over one of them meant falling to my own demise. When I finally made it out of that maze my body almost physically ejected itself out the door, out into the club beyond and the relief that washed over me in reaching it here was completely and utterly unjustified.

But despite myself I slid to a stop and turned to look back and found the monster wasn't there, that somehow, someway I had lost that inhuman thing in the maze, as the corridor behind me was completely and utterly devoid of life. Perhaps it wasn't as manoeuvrable as I was through those sharp turns so it had lost its way? And I was to busy mindless in my flight to ever notice? I glanced around and to my complete horror found that the party goers hadn't moved an inch since my earlier exit, they all stood gaping and staring at me with terror milked eyes. Something deep down inside me said that the Arco Flagellent would never be lost, that it would hound me until I was dead or it was, I knew soon, very soon that it would come down that corridor and massacre anyone and anything in its path, these people included. I could just leave them, run and run, leave them to be slaughtered delaying it further so I could have a slighter semblance of a chance to escape. And why not? They were nothing! The sons and daughters of haughty, arrogant corrupt aristocrats and bureaucrats! Whatever the galaxy would never mourn them, they were nothing just dozens of lives in a galaxy of trillions more. But yet they were innocent, these people, these men and women they had come here to dance to enjoy themselves, to forget their worries and find some slight joy in this Emperor forsaken universe, every day millions of people die whether killed by the numberless Xenos that ravage humanity on every front or those of our own petty species, the petty members of humanity like myself. Perhaps I could conquer my cowardice and work for once to prevent even just a few of those millions of souls instead of being a contributor. That if I died and even one of them survived, that they would remember the small skinny bastard who gave his life to protect them, that my sacrifice would mean something for someone. I was wrong, I was the nothing I had died inside almost a decade ago when war had ravaged my world, my country, my home. When war separated me from my mother and forced me into a life of ruthless scavenging, a life toiling away for survival amongst the ruins among the rest of the beasts I-. It was then that I noticed that despite everything I had kept hold of my pistols. I smiled bowing my head and felt the tears abruptly swell in my eyes and roll down my cheeks, this was the first time I had cried in a very long time and boy did it feel good. I thanked the Emperor that I had my answer and seemingly almost on cue I heard the repeating, quick fire plodding sound of the Arco Flagellent's running at the end of the corridor. I raised my pistols and cocked back the hammer of my auto, perhaps this was the retribution for what I had done to Vex, perhaps this was my vindication for the my selfish cowardice.

The smile never left my face even as the creature bore down upon me and my shots fired ineffectually off of its thick hide. A voice, a womanly, low soft beautiful voice spoke in the impenetrable black, a familiar voice. One I felt I knew well but could not recall to who it belonged to. It came off somewhere distant, far, far out in the blackness. Was this death? Was what the church of the Ecclesiarchy taught about death complete crap, was death just this black void of nothingness? I had never believed. My mother was highly religious but I never was, we were opposites her and I. We were so similar in our personalities but completely different in our beliefs, we would clash countless times, verbal fights of stunning ferocity on both sides and now I think back at it, it was a miracle that the Ministorum never found out about my Heretical words and had me killed for them, that my mother loved me enough to never tell them. I believed that the Emperor was never the god that people proclaim him to be, but a great man who's wisdom and power were indeed God-like. But how could he ever have wanted this for us? All the suffering, the death? The rampart poverty, the chaos, the mindless religious fanaticism in his name, the millions of planets dedicated to the hives of organised chaos and the meek, brain washed bureaucrats who knew nothing but their small boxes and the Cogitators at their finger tips our whole encompassing bureaucracy? If this was truly death I wouldn't mind, I felt safe here, I felt truly free just floating in this black, in this nothingness and that voice, that beautiful, beautiful soft voice oh I could listen to that voice forever. Slowly though the voice came closer, closer and closer as if who ever the voice belonged to silently walked toward me through the black. I wasn't scared, never was I scared and I could start to make out the words which became clearer as the voice came closer what was it that it said? It sounded like a prayer of some kind, the prayer like the voice felt familiar but I couldn't quite recall what it was. Then it stopped, the voice was gone and my heart felt empty at it's absence, was I supposed to spend the rest of eternity without it's comforting words, without it's company? Wait my heart? What? "Attelus," whispered the voice in my ear, "open your eyes."

Without hesitation I did as told, and found myself alive, lying in one of the many beds in Taryst's medicae facility and that the voice had belonged Castella who sat at the end of my bed her hands clasped together in prayer and pushed against her forehead with her elbows leaning on my duvet. She was so beautiful and to see her there filled me with such indescribable joy at being alive. I tried to open my mouth to speak out to her through my dry, crack lips but all that I could manage was a pathetic rattle as though my body had forgotten how to talk. She stopped her praying and looked to me, her eyes were red with tears and it hurt me to see such beauty marred. But her smile oh her smile it was a smile of indescribable happiness, one of great relief, a smile which showed the weight which had left her shoulders. I tried to move my hand to beckon her closer but my whole world was racked with pain at the effort, utter agony which made me close my eyes and grunt out in response. It took me until then to realise I was covered from head to toe in bandages and to see the drip cord which fed into my arm. But she got the hint and leaned closer, nearing her ear toward my mouth for me to speak and I said, "Stop praying, I'm trying to sleep." Castella threw back her head and laughed out loud, it was a nice sound a nice sound from a nice person who seemed to utter nothing but nice sounds. She laughed so hard she had to wipe a tear from her eye and she sat back down on her chair. "It's good to see that you are still yourself Attelus," she said. I tried to smile but even that hurt. "You have been out for along, long time my friend," she carried on. "How...Long?" I fought to say. Her eyes widened into a pained expression that told me I really didn't want to know. "I...See." Her perfect face suddenly curled up and tears ran down her cheeks the change in emotion was so fast that I didn't know how to react.

"Th-thank you," she squeaked. I couldn't manage to ask what she was thankful for but she still answered. "Thank you for proving to me that you still are a good person. Ever since I had first met you, I knew you weren't like the rest us, that you weren't evil, that you still cared for more than just yourself. Thank you for proving to me you still are human," she sniffed heavily and wiped away her tears with her forearm, "after-after what you did to Vex I began to doubt you, I had began to believe that you had devolved into the monster, but I see now that doubt was unfounded. You stood alone Attelus, against an impossible enemy, you willingly put yourself on the line for the good of others, you-you." She couldn't continue her sentence as she teared back up again. "And-and thank you that now I know no matter what happens, no matter how hard it is you will still be that good, kind compassionate person inside. I just regret that we couldn't have got there in time to save you earlier and for that I am sorry Attelus, I am truly, truly sorry." Even if I had been able speak then, I couldn't have, I was taken aback at her emotional outburst, never in all my career that I would have ever suspected that Castella cared for me so much, never. She was always a friend, the only person who I could talk to with humour and trust, who saw me as a person and not some know nothing apprentice. But then I realised something, I couldn't recall at all what had happened in that club after the Arco Flagellent had charged me, how the hell had I survived? Had any of the club goers escaped? What exactly had happened? Castella sniffed again and as if reading my mind she said, "you did it Attelus, you held off that monster for long enough that those people could escape, you went one on one with an Arco Flagellent long enough that Elandria, Hayden, Darrance and I could stop it before it could cause anymore damage, if you had died Attelus your sacrifice would not have been in vain and I swear I'm telling you the truth, I know you aren't the most trusting person in this world but believe me on this, be proud Attelus." She sniffed again but this time it had humour in it, "when we took you to Taryst's medicae facility, they said there was no way you would survive, that you would die within hours but I knew you were stubborn and you held on, you lived and-and most importantly, thank you, thank you for living, thank you." Oh how I dearly wished I could reach out and comfort her or even thank her but everything was so hard, so, so hard, couldn't keep my eyes open, anymore, anymore, I blinked, once then twice, then I embraced the sweetness of sleep.

I lunged, the crackling power sword in my hands, slicing a horizontal arc at my opponent's torso. My movements were so sure, so fast, so skilled that my eyes could barely follow, never had I known myself to be this good and never had I ever wielded a power sword either. But somehow despite my incredible speed, my breath taking confidence and skill, blindingly fast my enemy still managed to dodge, Serghar Kaltos back peddled just away from reach and the handsome, grim faced man that was my father slid in, slashing through vertically with his own power sword. Never would I ever had dreamt I could fight my father to a stand still Serghar Kaltos' skill was legendary, his speed and agility rivaled that of an eldar's and these immeasurable talents, were honed from decades and decades of experience and training. When I was young he and I would spar for countless hours. I was good, very good but I would never win no matter how hard I tried, never could I ever even begin to touch my father and I could tell even then that he was just forever toying with me, forever holding back his true skill and strength. Now he wasn't but still my blade was able to come around and knock his off course, my body seemed to move on it's own like water and fire in one. In the blink of an eye I riposted and stabbed forwards in perfect balance the tip of my power blade aimed in impaling his chest. The ever practical Serghar Kaltos simply side stepped the thrust but my body followed on as if expecting such a trick, keeping the thrust forwards I turned my hips, causing the crackling blade to follow after my father's movement. Serghar didn't hesitate, he parried with his blade on an angle so my momentum caused my sword to slide up it and off course throwing me into being overextended and over balanced then he came in to perform the killing blow. A short slash aimed to disembowel. I cried out knowing this to be the end, that no matter how good I was there would be no way I could ever hope to counter. And yet despite my over balance, despite my overextended position my body moved, with extreme cat like dexterity beyond my comprehension I slipped clear in a move of extreme audacity I slid forwards, sliding around and behind my father while he was still in mid cut and then I stabbed my power sword through his back. I wanted to scream out NO! To halt the blow! But my body wouldn't let me. I resented my father I really did, he was a hypocrite and a liar but I never wanted to kill him, he was still my dad he was still the one who looked after me, put up with me, who taught me how to shoot a gun, how to wield a sword, how read and write, how to survive I had no intention to ever hunt him down in some mislead vengeance. Without my permission my body lent in and said something into the dying Serghar Kaltos' ear but what was said I could not hear.

Then abruptly I pulled back and tore my blade from his torso in an angle which caused his body to spin around to face me and for one brief moment I was able to look into my father's face, but now it wasn't Serghar Kaltos, no the wide eyed dying form which faced me now was that of Glaitis who despite the ugly gaping hole in her chest, grinned at me with hideous, terrifying insanity but it was when I looked into her glazed eyes it was then I screamed, as utter terror tore through me, terror which far exceeded anything I had ever felt before, terror which consumed me and drove me to brink of insanity. Because it was in the reflection of her large, blue beautiful eyes I saw myself, I saw my face so much like my father's but framed by long brown hair but my expression was contorted, twisted and deformed into an insane, hideous, wide eyed and grinning maw, a mirror of Glaitis' own. My screams turned into muffled yells as I awoke back into the medicae ward, back into the agony of the real world but despite the pain relief washed over me as I realised it was a dream, all just a dream and I lent back into my pillow my yelling turning into strangled gasps. It was then the medicae rushed through the door and to my bed side I instantly recognised him as I had met him the first and only time I remembered to visit Torris after his injury, but to my annoyance I could not quite recall his name. "Mr Kaltos are you alright? I heard screaming." I could not answer, it still hurt to talk I could only look up at him. "I see," he said, "it was a nightmare." He pulled out a small flash light from his white jacket pocket and shone it into my eyes, "after what you had went through I would not expect any less young man." When he pulled away I caught a glimpse of his name tag, Feuilt that's right, medicae Yarran Feiult, the guy seemed decent enough from the very brief bits of passing dialogue we have shared "It's good to see you are finally awake mr Kaltos, everyone was beginning to worry, it has been more than a week since you last woke up." I clenched my teeth in disbelief, a frigging week! "But believe it or not you have been through the worst of it you're lucky you are young. Another, solid month of recovery and you should be back in working order." A month of recovery? Wait, another month! I have been unconscious for that long! By the Emperor! But really I shouldn't have been surprised it was a miracle that I was still

conscious at all, actually going from what Castella had said a month was way too quick really. I dont believe in "miracles" and to be honest I didn't believe any of Castella's earlier claim either, there was no way in hell that I could have held off that beast for so long that all of those people could have escaped, I remember well the size of that room and the size of the crowd stuffed into that space. There was no way in hell that there couldn't have been collateral damage, I would have had to dodge and weave it's attacks. Perhaps she had just worded it wrong, though I doubted Castella would be so sloppy, if Glaitis had concocted this lie she would have engineered it to sound more legitimate, surely. Or perhaps that I am just legitimately that awesome or perhaps Castella just wanted to give good news when I finally awoken and she would tell me the truth later? But that would just piss me off because she lied and-. I wanted to scream, to roar out the frustration and anger which just suddenly flooded to the surface. Do you have any idea what it is like to live in a world that you can't believe in anything! That everyone who's close to you lies about anything and everything! That you are forced to question any act of kindness that just in case there maybe some treachery behind it? Everyone has their own petty agenda, everyone! And there would be nothing they couldn't resort to see their ambitions through. I am an idiot, a complete and utter idiot that it has taken me this long to realise that. "Trust nothing, suspect everything" a saying which now seems so redundant it was laughable. It was then I realised that medicae Feiult was studying me, his beady eyes glinted with concern Suddenly he turned, grabbed the nearby stool, slid it next to my bed and sat down. "Now I am no psyker but I can tell when a patient is in distress and well," Feiult paused, grinned and scratched the back of his skull, "but you wouldn't need to be a psyker or a thirty year veteran of the healing arts to tell that you must have allot of questions." I set my jaw and treated him with the best glare I could dare, oh you could not imagine the stock pile of questions I have gathered and needed answered, I thought. "And well you are not exactly in the condition to ask them so I will tell you what I know and of the best of my ability," he sighed. "When you were first taken in to us you were in bad shape, well to be honest saying that you were in bad shape is like saying a star going super nova is a bad thing for the planets orbiting it. It is an understatement." Well I would have never figured that out, I thought sardonically.

"Almost every bone in your body was broken, well, shattered, but remarkably your skull and spine were mostly still intact and you had the slightest of life signs," Feiult's expression turned hard, "in all honesty we had pegged you for dead as I said your bones were shattered there was no way we could re nit them and even if you did survive the trauma of the impact which caused it that your brain would have been damaged beyond repair, but your employer, Glaitis, she wouldn't give up and under her orders and to much, much sweat and toil we managed to stabilise you for the first week, so you lived long enough that she could," he hesitated and an almost incredulous expression creased his already aged face. "So she could bring in a new surgeon, who uhm, worked by interesting methods, for only an hour at most we were not allowed to enter this room while that new surgeon worked, who ever it was, it never even asked us anything, but I could not deny the psychic presence emanating from this room," Feiult shivered, "after that, that hour who ever it was just left, as quickly as they came." I wasn't to sure what to make of this news so far, if Feiult was telling the truth which I actually believed he was indeed telling, obviously the story of Castella's "you were stubborn and held on to survive" was complete and utter frig but I could see that Feiult wasn't telling me the whole truth, like if the healer was indeed a psyker who somehow didn't get it's healing of me get detected by the local authorities after the incident at The Twilight Bar, certainly any new psychic activity would have been treated with extreme suspicion if it was detected of course and then why did Taryst allow it? And also why would Glaitis go to so much effort to save me? A mere, lowly apprentice? But all that paled in comparison to one large in fact huge lingering question, why where we still here? After Glaitis' "extra curricular" activities and the subsequent chaos at The Twilight Bar wouldn't Taryst at the very least fired Glaitis for going behind his back? I could hazard a myriad amount of guesses at this but one seemed to fit, that obviously Brutis Bones' was still at large, whether they had confronted and killed or captured that man I had fought at the man meant he wasn't Brutis or that he was Brutis and he did escape. Or that the whole "independent" operation was known to Taryst and for some reason Glaitis had lied to us about it. But if the former was true, I would, once again emphasise the complete extent of Taryst's desperation that he would keep us around after that incident, that he needed our skills so badly brought this into an even larger light and now I know that perhaps Brutis Bones or that man I fought has connections with the holy Inquisition, that would explain the huge funding it has and them being able to keep a pet Arcoflagellent and if they were Inquisition why couldn't they make contact with the local authorities seen as though Taryst seems to be going to insane lengths to hide from them? What that man in the Twilight Bar had said then echoed ominously through my thoughts; that there was more at stake than I could possibly imagine, now his words could not ring with much more truth. "When we were finally permitted to enter your room," said on Feiult, "we found that you were still completely unconscious, but you were completely in tact, your shattered

bones had miraculously been re nit and your brain activity was back, functioning at normal parameters." I expected more elaboration from the medicae but he seemed to just trail off once more confirming that he wasn't telling me everything. How had this psyker who apparently completely healed me but yet here I am, still lying in this bed where even the slightest of movements causes complete agony? How did he even know that I would be at full order in four months time? Damn it Feiult your explanation was creating nothing but more questions and if I couldn't get those missing details during the next month, once I get well I will frigging ring them out of the old bastard and Emperor damn the consequences! Feiult smiled almost nervously, "well also during your month long coma quite few people came to visit you, Garrakson, young Elandria, Torris and if you are wondering about Torris has recovered from his injuries he now has a new augmetic for his missing eye and he is out on the field working at full capacity now, even Taryst himself once visited you." I felt glad about Torris' recovery but felt a pang of guilt, the guy had visited me during my injury but I had hardly visited him, the next time I will have to apologise. But at the medicae's mention of Taryst I sighed, he would have only came to have his psykers withdraw the information he needed from my mind. "A few new people as well, a light, snarky man named Darrance he came once, a friendly, big man called uhm Hayden a few times but most prolific of all was that woman Castella she came in everyday and everyday prayed over you, it was no coincedence that she was there the first time you woke up, your lucky that you have so many who care for you so much." I could understand Hayden and Castella (though her coming in everyday was quite shocking) And even to an extent Elandria, but Darrance? Perhaps Glaitis had forced him to or something, that was the only explanation I could theorise. "Well," said Feuilt as he got off of his chair, "that is enough exposition for today young mr Kaltos, I really should not have told you so much but I felt you deserve some explanation at least and as your medicae I advise for you to not stress to much over the information I have given you, and stress no matter how small will slow the healing process, you need to relax. I will inform everyone you are awake," and with that Feiult turned and walked out the door. I sighed to myself once Feuilt had left. Did he just ask me not to stress out about all the gigantic holes in his "exposition?" And now that I am stuck here immobile and alone as well? Medicae Yarran Feuilt really didn't know me did he? For the next three hours as I lied alone and I lost myself in thought as I stared up at that white, tiled ceiling.

I thought over a myriad amount of subjects, the first being how interesting it was that a psyker had repaired my shattered body. I really didn't know that it could be used in such an extreme healing aspect, though in retrospect it made perfect sense. With the power to be able to manipulate much of your surroundings and warp other people minds to your own will, why couldn't psychic talents be used to re-nit bones? Perhaps that was the reason why I was still bed ridden, I am still suffering from the trauma of having my shattered bones repaired by a completely foreign and unnatural force. But my body was destroyed beyond repair, the skill and power of that mystery psyker must have been beyond phenomenal to accomplish such a task. Perhaps the psyker brought in was one of Taryst's cadre? But why would it then take a week before he/she or on a more frightening note “it” could be brought in to repair me and once again my thoughts were lead to that one question I really wanted to avoid thinking about; why would Glaitis go to so much trouble to save me? This question I wanted to avoid as much as possible as I seemingly, completely was unable to make a coherent theory on the answer, was it because she genuinely cared for my well being? That I doubted, everything she did, good or bad, seemed to have something behind it which aided her mysterious agenda in one way or another. I always knew I was but a pawn in that agenda but now, apparently, I was a slightly more special pawn. My constant, circling and futile train of thought was eventually interrupted by my first visitors, three of them to be exact. Elandria was first through the door, her pale face as impassive as always but she treated me to a slight, almost respectful nod then she silently went and leaned against the wall, crossing her arms over her chest and gazed off looking generally bored. I had always found it sad that it was such a rare occasion when she actually smiled legitimately it would have been nice to see her smile, especially now. Garrakson was next, wearing his usual scarred old guard carapace armour, with a big grin plastered on his equally marred face. “Hey kid, good to see you're finally awake” he said then he frowned, “damn it though you bloody well took your sweet time.” Yeah, I thought in good humour, having most of your bones shattered would do that to a person. “Yes,” said Elandria as she unknowingly spoke my thoughts but was completely devoid of humour, “but that is what would happen to most people after they had most of their bones shattered.”

“Now that's were your wrong kiddo,” corrected Garrakson, “no, most people would be dead.” “Well Attelus Kaltos isn't “most” people is he?” said the third person as he entered, the tall and dark skinned Torris grinned at me widely with the white teeth that contrasted his complexion and though I knew one of his eyes was an augmetic it was hard to tell which was, it seemed that Taryst had spared no expense for the ex-arbitrator and I was glad to see that. “He is the mighty hero of the Twilight bar who sacrificed himself to rescue the young party goers from a monster of horrible power, no, Attelus is now a hero, a legend, a god amongst men.” My eyes widened, did everybody already know of what had happened? Except perhaps mediace Feiult he didn't seem to, but I was extremely sure he was also not telling me entirely what he knew anyway. “Yeah, yeah keep it down Tor,” said Garrakson, “by the Emperor I swear you and Taryst should have a competition to see which of you can chew more scenery.” “But,” added Elandria, “whether he actually “sacrificed” himself is, really, up for interpretation.” Not liking at all were Elandria was taking the conversation I tried to shoot at her a death glare, attempting to make her shut up but it was an attempt which failed miserably, going completely unnoticed and Torris and Garrakson gave her bemused glances. “What does that mean?” asked Torris almost accusatory, I could tell he had an idea where this was going also. Elandria grinned wickedly “I think the real reason behind it was Attelus Kaltos meant to use the “innocent” party goers as human shields to protect him from the arcoflagellant until back up arrived and he was just extremely lucky it did.” “No!” I managed to exclaim even though it cause me pain to do so, “no! That wasn't what I intended to do at all!” Her words were cruel and truly callous but perhaps they weren't without merit? Perhaps all her, Castella, Darrance and Tresch had found was a blood bath and this maybe even more evidence pointing to Castella lying to me. She shrugged, seemingly almost frightened at how genuine my heartfelt rebuttal was, “I am no psyker I can't read thoughts,” she said, pouting, “it's what I would have done, if in that situation.” Everyone stared at her in utter shock. So this was the true Elandria? Someone so inherently evil and brain washed that she couldn't even begin comprehend that

someone in the same line of work as her could do any good. That what she said wasn't meant to be cruel, that it was from genuine ignorance, which made it even worse. “Elandria,” said Garrakson with an icy calm, the ex-guardsman's face was dark, as hard as stone and for a minute he was utterly terrifying. “What?” “Get out.” “What?” “I said get out! And that's a frigging order!” snarled Garrakson suddenly and that was the first time I had ever heard him raise his voice in anger. Even Torris who had worked with Garrakson for along time seemed surprised by the outburst. Elandria flinched at the intensity but then irrational rage began to spread over her fine featured face and for a second, I could have sworn that it would come to blows, as she glared up at Garrakson and while he stared down stoically. To be honest I wasn't sure who would win if it did, Garrakson had the obvious advantage of size, strength and reach and he was well versed in basic brawling and guard CQC drills but Elandria was even my equal in close combat, she was sly, agile and very, very fast. But in these confined quarters Garrakson had the upper hand so to speak as Elandria had little to no room to maneuver. Elandria seemed to realise this as after what felt like an eternity her face twitched back into its atypical impassive, then she turned and walked out the room, muttering, “whatever” as she closed the door behind her. Garrakson turned back to me, “I'm sorry about that kid,” he said “both Tor and me know that you wouldn't do such a thing.” At that line I looked away, feeling extreme guilt welling at the pit of my gut as I acknowledged just how close I had came to will fully abandoning those people which in my opinion would have been equally as monstrous. “I-I,” I swallowed back the pain which had came with that utterance, my earlier exclamation must have done more damage than I had initially thought, “I was, the one who, had lead that Arcoflagellent to those people, I was responsible for it, so I had to try to make up for it.” “Fair enough and noble words Attelus,” said Torris but he and Garrakson exchanged almost guilty glances, “but we heard about what you did to Vex.” “And that was one frigging hard pill to swallow,” growled Garrakson his harsh tone somehow making me feel even more guilty.

“Now Attelus we don't know why you hurt that kid and to be honest don't care,” said Torris, “we just want to know if that you did in that club whether or not you did it was mostly out of guilt for what you had done to that kid.” Despite myself sudden irrational fear pounced to the surface, fear which turned my heart to ice, I did indeed do it in part to that guilt but I wasn't sure whether they would agree with that. I had been left to guess about oh so much while working under Glaitis but never before had I felt this weight of consequence and uncertainty and it terrified me beyond belief, Torris and Garrakson were mercenaries, hired killers, selfishness was all part of the job so why the hell was this so damn important to them? Why did they care!? Why couldn't my actions be enough? “W-why? Why the hell, do you want to know?” I managed. “It's a simple question Attelus,” said Garrakson, “and a simple answer yes or no, you can take your time but we aren't moving until you answer.” I desperately looked from Garrakson to Torris back and forth, back and forth desperate to find some clue in their impartial expressions but to my dismay I found nothing. Finally I sucked in air through clenched teeth before saying, “yes, it was, a partial contributor to my action,” and it was almost physically painful to admit. Both Garrakson and Torris exchanged looks then Garrakson finally said, “yes, we thought as much.” “In fact it was pretty damned obvious,” said Torris, “but it was good to hear you say it.” “So? You two already knew, but you still were still, willing to put me through that?” I said sounding more exasperated than I should have. “You were willing to throw away your life then and there weren't you Attelus?” said Garrakson, ignoring my statement, “and doing it because you felt guilty about what you did to Vex would have been stupid.” “You are extremely lucky to survive,” said Torris, “if you had died you wouldn't have gotten the opportunity to legitimately apologise to that kid and so your sacrifice, to him would in all likelihood seemed hollow and self important.” “What you really needed to do was to face the music in the first place you should have built up the courage to say you're sorry to his face and you are extremely lucky to get a second chance to do it,” said Garrakson then immediately his face lightened, “but it is also good to hear you didn't do it just because of that.”

“W-what would have happened if I had?” I asked, feeling an extreme mix of both guilt and relief. “Well lets just say that this lecture would have gone on for longer,” said Garrakson, “we maybe ruthless mercs kid but we still care about a few things.” “A very few things,” emphasized Torris with good humour. “Kid, we'll leave this subject only if you promise us is that the very first thing you do once you recover is you find Vex and you frigging well apologise.” It was deja-vu all over again when I was a child I remembered that my father and had given me similar lectures after each and every single time I had fallen into that blind rage and had hurt others because of it. As every-time I had found it extremely hard to face the person I had hurt afterwards. But once I had worked up that courage and faced the kid, and said sorry it was like a weight had been taken off my shoulders. No wonder Glaitis insisted on calling me “child” as I was still one on so many facets. “No,” I said with new found determination and much to Garrakson's evident surprise, “I swear it.” We conversed for the next half hour, with Elandria all the while staying outside and through them I found out that now everything was back to square one. “We're still running into dead ends,” Torris had said, “still chasing our tales.” “Though our bloody encounters against the hammers have been allot fewer kid,” said Garrakson with a sniff, “it seems that they have gone even further into hiding.” “Hmmm, not surprising really,” I managed, “and it also seems that Brutis Bones is in, someway, involved with the Inquisition, which explains the organisation's funding as well as Taryst's paranoia, I had a slight suspicion but when I went in there I wasn't exactly expecting they'd have a frigging Arco flagellant." “Fair enough,” said Garrakson with another sniff, he didn't seemed at all surprised at my conclusion. But he wasn't stupid he would of at the very least guessed it also or on a more darker note, knew it. “Well we'd better go,” sighed Torris as he got off his seat, “we've still got to take our newest report to the big man himself.” “Right,” agreed Garrakson, “we can't keep him waiting in eager anticipation to hear more of our “exploits.””

“Garrakson wait,” I said causing the ex-guardsman to halt his exit, “do you truly think that an apology would be enough for Vex?” Garrakson smiled and shrugged, “maybe, maybe not kid but it's something which is better than nothing.” Then he turned to leave but once again I stopped him, “Just one more thing, could you, send in Elandria for me, before you go, I need to talk to her.” Garrakson looked to Torris who shrugged and said, “I don't see why not boss we can spare a few minutes.” The ex-guardsman sighed, “sure kid but don't take to long we all know that it will be tough but we don't have all day to wait around for you have your fun.” I felt my face flush and Torris sniggered in agreement then they left. “We'll wait outside the medicae,” I just managed to hear Garrakson inform this to Elandria before he shut the door behind him. I only had to wait a few seconds before Elandria entered. “What do you want?” she asked. “Could you please close the door, Elandria?” I croaked. She looked at me with a strange uncertainty, then she turned and hesitantly complied. “So now will you tell me what the hell is it you want?” “Thanks El, I just have one thing I want to know. No, one thing I truly need to know, in the Twilight bar, what the hell exactly happened?” “Hah!” she exclaimed suddenly and with a resounding bitterness so potent it took my breath away, “didn't the great Castella Lethe tell you when you first woke up? Or don't you trust even her now?” “I-I truly don't know who the hell to trust anymore,” I admitted, my words sounding more strained with sadness than I had intended. “What did she actually say to cause you to be this...?” she trailed off.

“Suspicious? She said that all of the people I had attempted to protect had survived that they all fled and had escaped the arco flaggellent's wrath, but in all honesty it seems far to good to be true, I just wish I could remember it.” And the reason why I couldn't remember I could hazard myriad amount of guesses on. She grinned, “Oh indeed, I guess that would be suspicious, but you know what? I' m not going to tell you.” “What?” “Oh no and you know why? Because you don't deserve it!” she suddenly closed on me from across the room so fast it made me flinch in surprise and she brought her face so close to mine that our lips almost touched, her expression was one of cold rage and horrible fear gripped me as it seemed she was going to kill me and I would be utterly incapable of defending myself. “What you did was beyond stupid,” she hissed and I could feel her spittle speck on my face. “To throw your life away like that out of some misguided self righteousness just makes me sick and for what? To save the lives of a group of pathetic nothings who you don't even know! For such complete and utter idiocy I believe you need to be punished. In fact I would have let you die for it but for some reason, quite beyond me mistress Glaitis wanted to keep you alive. No I won't answer your question I will let you lie here and writhe in your own uncertainty, it is the very least you deserve.” It was then that the realisation hit me and the pain of it was beyond description,“Glaitis put you up to this didn't she?” I cried, “she had Castella tell me that and she knew I wouldn't believe it! She knew that the disbelief would eat at me, this is the punishment for what I did, oh no! No!” This was cruel, even for Glaitis it was cruel, could this be the one reason why she had me saved? Just to torture me this way? What the hell people do I work for? Who would do such a terrible thing? Elandria got back to full height and grinned that disturbing grin “maybe or I could just be doing this extra curricular. But that I won't answer as well. Oh I do hope that you have your fun Attelus Kaltos, I know I will.” With that she turned and walked away, leaving without a further word, ignoring me as my desperation overwhelmed my pain as I writhed in my sheets and pleaded out after her impervious back; “please don't do this, please don't be this cruel Elandria, please Elandria. Please! Elandria! Elandriaaa!!” Her only reply was the slamming door, leaving me all alone once more.

For along time afterwards, unrelenting agony swept through me from head to toe. I could barely breathe, my vision blurred as tears welled in my eyes but otherwise I stayed silent, never did I whine or complain, determined that I would not show such weakness just in case that the room was bugged. I had already shown enough weakness as it was. I had moved far too much and now dealing with consequence that was all I seemed to do lately, dealing with retribution in one way or form, perhaps it wasn't actually for my actions at the Twilight Bar the reason why Glaitis was putting me through this hell? Perhaps it was for what I did to Vex? But why would Elandria have said it was for what I had did at the Twilight Bar? To be honest I could not imagine it was about the Vex incident, the term “selflessness” was the very anathema of Glaitis' soul, sure you were expected to sacrifice yourself for the contract but only after it was full filled, before that you were expected to resort to anything and everything to win and we still had yet to hunt down Brutis Bones and so, contract unfulfilled as simple as that. I had faced down the Arcoflagellant without giving a single thought of what would happen if I somehow had survived, this wasn't just punishment, in fact this was Glaitis' cruel attempt at teaching me a lesson, that such idealistic and kind actions would lead to nothing but pain and misery, again it was the brainwashing, she was truly trying to break my spirit to turn me into a monster like Darrance, like Elandria, like my father, like her. She was putting so much effort into my indoctrination, which I still couldn't understand at all. Why was I so damned special? As Elandria had said earlier in the eyes of any assassin excluding Castella it seemed what I had done in the Twilight Bar was idiotic, beyond idiotic shouldn't that act been enough to make Glaitis believe me to be a liability not worth anymore effort and leave me to die? Was all this because of who my father was? Serghar frigging Kaltos was it that she believed his immense skill and ability was hereditary and perhaps it even was, but surely she could have taken an apprentice of a younger age one which would be far easier to brainwash and would less likely to suffer any crisis of conscience. She took me in when I was eighteen which is ridiculously old for any starting apprentice, children usually as young as five or at the oldest ten where the atypical age bracket for assassin training, perhaps she had believed that my father had brainwashed me already? Or that being forced to scavenge and murder for survival among the ruins of Varander in the Chaos incursion of Elbyra had destroyed any semblance of my humanity, well if she was counting one of those she was wrong on either which I could not help feel some pride in. As I had said earlier I had always found it impossible to understand Glaitis and just as I was beginning to believe I finally had her pegged she pulls this stunt, it seemed trying to understand the way that woman's mind worked was akin of attempting to understand the infinite miasma which was the warp, and just like the immaterium I suspected that it would drive one insane in the process.

I sighed and that act brought back the pain, I was buried so deep in my thoughts it had acted some what as an anesthesia. I grasped out for the alarm hanging from my fluid feeder with a lack of any coordination I would never believed I could ever be capable of and I felt more and more depressed with each missed grab, now it was truly beginning to sink in that my once extremely quick coordinated hands where lost, maybe even forever. I dared not even think how long it would take for me to earn back such skill if I ever could. I needed to summon someone, anyone to my aid I could not lie here with this pain any longer. But I could not help wonder why no one had came to check on me after I had screamed at Elandria. Finally my bandaged fingers found the button, my thumb pressing down with all the strength I could muster and perhaps I had pushed for a bit to long but I wasn't in the condition to care. I lay back in my bed, gasping for breath my tear blurred eyes gazing up at the eternally white tiled ceiling and I only had to wait a few seconds before my door opened and someone stepped through I was not sure who as all I could make out as a white blur. “Mr Kaltos!” cried the man who I could only assume to be medicae Feiult as he ran to my bed side, “Oh God Emperor! I need help in here, now!” he roared and I had no idea why there was so much urgency in his voice I was just in pain, I was always in pain what could possibly be so bad? But I could not think on it any longer as suddenly darkness took me once more into it's sweet embrace. I dreamt again though unlike my last I was aware it was a dream, the first portion was a sparring match of unarmed combat, non-contact against a beautiful young woman with long brunette hair who I could knew was Elandria. I was winning quite convincingly leading her attention with quick high hooks, jabs and crosses which allowed for my low and medium kicks to bypass her defences with ease. She was smiling and laughing in utter, genuine joy something which I would never see from the real Elandria even though she was losing and my own heart sang with happiness I felt alive, I felt free it was intoxicating beyond belief I could just do this forever, but as I knew this was a dream I also felt horrible heartache, knowing that she would never be this way in the real world. But at times my sparring partner would briefly, inexplicably transform, sometimes she was Glaitis sometimes she was Castella, sometimes an attractive blonde woman who I had never seen before. Always one of those four and with each switch I would feel my emotion change, from Glaitis I would feel suspicion of such strength it made me sick to my stomach, with Castella came a strange uncertainty my heart turned into ice and leaped it in my chest but not in a fearful way, it seemed to bring even more happiness than when it was Elandria it was an extremely strange feeling that was alien to me and the blond woman from her I felt fear, powerful fear that made my attacks sluggish and

my feet heavy but also an extreme familiarity like I had known her for my entire life but yet I had not, what I felt from her was the strangest of them all. Then I dreamt that I was back on Elbyra, once more a scavenging orphan among the ruins of Varander, I was so heavy and ached all over, every foot step being a horribly fought battle against screaming limbs, I wanted to stop to sit and rest but my body moved with a life of it's own. My eye sight was boarded with white and I couldn't raise my attention, it was fixated inexplicably down to my feet and the rubble which I walked over and I felt my mouth move but could not hear any words from my lips. I have had dreams, no, I have had nightmares many, many times of my life in the ruins of Varander, nightmares which I could only suspect to be repressed memories of the horrid acts I had committed in my desperate fight for survival, acts that I could never, ever admit of ever doing to anyone. But here, here I could remember them all, my mind sifting through them like a pict reel. My eyes burnt and tears flowed freely down my face and my sanity slowly degraded away. I begged for the images to stop! I pleaded! I even prayed! But they would just keep coming over and over again seemingly with more glee as though my mind did it to spite me and still my body kept walking over the debris, left foot, right foot, left foot right and despite it being a dream I could feel my bare feet meet the cold, hard rockcrete. Then I fought, I began to fight against my body and my mind with every ounce of my will, it was hard so, so hard like trying to stop a ship spinning out of control through the black nothingness of time and space but I never stopped trying, I resisted and resisted for what felt like hours then days ignoring the images which forever flipped through my mind's eye. But for every second I fought I felt more pain until it transcended into unimaginable agony. My mind and my body seemed to scream to say that the agony would stop if I just stopped resisting, but I kept fighting and fighting never giving up, for I knew that if I didn't I would be stuck in this hell forever more. Finally my feet slowly, slowly, painfully came to a halt and immediately I collapsed falling onto my face and gasping out for breath and agony. Then the images stopped and my agony was forgotten, replaced with such joy that I got to my knees roaring out to the heavens, it was first time ever seeing the sky, which was so crisp so blue so beautiful that it took my breath away and I wept. I had won! I had really won! Although I was not so sure what I had won exactly then the sky disappeared and everything faded into a shining eternal white. The shining, eternal white turned slowly receded into the white tiled ceiling of the medicae facility and my sight cleared further revealing the three faces looking down at me, each expression hidden behind medical masks but I could make out the concern from their eyes they were saying something, something which I could not hear.

I wanted to laugh, to smile to say that their fear was unwarranted that I was fine but found myself unable to do anything then I felt my eye lids grow heavy and I blinked once, then twice and the third stayed shut. I slept but this time I did not dream all that I saw was the peaceful nothingness of black. Never had I slept so soundly, never had I felt so at peace. But also I had a deep sense of satisfaction I had earned this rest after going through that hell, I had more than earned it. But somewhere out in that deep black I could hear voices barely audible at first but it was similar to Castella's prayer the voices seemed to slowly approach, closer and closer until I could hear the conversation clearly. Two voices, one which I recognised instantly it belonged to Glaitis I could tell without a shadow of a doubt, her tone was haughty and deathly cold even more so than usual and it sent shivers up my spine. “Did he pass your test?” demanded Glaitis. “Yes,” answered the other, the voice was distinctly female, as soft as silk and echoed ominously. It was alien and monotone but held indescribable wisdom, just from that one word I could tell the speaker held knowledge of the forbidden so much so that it would drive anyone else insane, “he has remarkable willpower, for a M-.” “Don't you dare call us that!” snarled Glaitis suddenly cutting the others sentence with such rage it made me flinch, “we are neither your pawns nor anyone elses!” “Your position here seems to contradict your words Glaitis human, you are but a pawn of fate as is everyone else. I am but fate's messenger I exist to make sure all will run it's intended course, for I am the only one with strength and tact enough to do so.” Glaitis let out a growl of frustration which was so out of character I wasn't sure what to think. “You are just as arrogant as the rest of you're kind!” she roared. “Do not pretend to be able to lecture me on arrogance human,” said the voice as though scolding a child, “you cannot imagine what I know, what I have seen, what I have done you are but a mere child, you are like all you're kind! Nothing! It isn't arrogance to state so, it is fact, simple fact.” I listened in shock, I wasn't sure if this was real or just a dream, perhaps these two where talking at my bed side? I tried to force myself to awake but found I was unable, as though my eyes were weighed shut.

“Y-you almost killed him,” stammered Glaitis and I had never heard her sound so weak and timid, “you're test almost lost you your newest pawn.” “But that is all he is,” said the voice and I could almost feel the contemptuous sneer with the words, “a pawn to use as I please it is all in the name of fate and even if he dies I still have you do I not?” “Y-yes,” sighed Glaitis, utterly defeated, “yes you do.” What was this? Who or what was it that could speak to Glaitis with such influence and power? Had Glaitis made pacts with the ruinous powers? Why the hell was I hearing all this? But worst of all I felt with sickening certainty that they were talking about me. “It is good that you learn your place,” said the extremely tall, thin form as it seemingly materialised out of the black, it's armour was esoteric, form fitting and utterly intimidating, from it's alien shaped helm two small glowing, red lifeless eyes seemed to stare straight at me, piercing into my very soul. Glaitis had shown me picts and taught me of them but I had never seen one with my own eyes, an Eldar! “Now you see what what your “mentor” truly is Mon Keigh, see how she is nought but my servant” it said, “You will follow in her foot steps as fate decrees, as I decree it to be.” With a cry, I awoke and sat bolt up right in my bed. I was back in the real world, back in the medicae facility back to the pain. But yet, no agony swept through me like fire I was fine. I raised my hand to my face and flexed my fingers, expecting that the movement would cause the pain shoot back but again, nothing. Was I healed? But how? Perhaps I was unconscious during the entire estimated month of recovery? Glaitis' voice had said that the Eldar's “test” had almost killed me perhaps that was the dreams, perhaps that was what caused me to fall into coma? With the thought of Glaitis I closed my fist and clenched my teeth as sudden rage curdled within my slight form. I needed to talk to my erstwhile mentor, I needed to know what I had heard was only a dream! But deep within me I knew that it wasn't that what I had witnessed was true.

I was no Imperial zealot, my ideals did not adhere to the rampart xenophobia with the rest of the Imperium. But if the Inquisition was to ever find out about our mercenary force working in cohesion with the Eldar, there would be no escape, they would hunt us down without mercy and crush us under foot. How could Glaitis be capable of such idiocy! How!? What could drive her to become a willing servant to the Eldar and why was I to “follow in her foot steps”? I needed to talk to her, I needed to hear the answer from her full lips and I began to clamber out of bed still half expecting the pain with the movement. But then the door suddenly opened and my jaw dropped as I saw who it was that stepped through. It was Glaitis. “M-mamzel?” I stammered, completely unable to hide my bemusement, but it was then that the explanation why Glaitis had allied with the Eldar just suddenly became painfully clear. Farsight, Glaitis craved control of her fate and everyone else. But I never imagined that she would go to such an extreme scope for that control, but it explains oh so much like how she could be so far ahead of enemies seemingly able to pull through with perfect, convoluted schemes and who was more skilled at such power than the Eldar? Though in the ironies of ironies she had no control now at all, the Eldar was her complete and utterly undisputed master. She was just as much a slave as I was. “Child I see that you are finally awake, I came down to see if you were okay.” I stayed silent, feeling my jaw set ever so slightly, wondering why she had used such a weak lie. She moved across the room to my nearby window and closed the shutters with an abrupt, Clack! “I am sure that you have questions-.” “What happened,” I interrupted with such force in my voice that it took me by surprise, “I need to know what the hell happened in the Twilight bar!” A look of terrified shock appeared on Glaitis' face but was gone as quickly as it came, replaced by an empty smile.

I took note on that expression, I could hazard a myriad amount of guesses as to the reasoning behind it. “I am not even sure if you will believe anything that I say about that young one,” she said almost tenderly, “you did not believe Castella why would you believe anything that I would say?” My eyes widened, she did indeed have a point. Why would I believe her even if she told the truth? At times like this I truly wished I could read minds. “You have finally learnt the truth young Attelus, “trust nothing, suspect everything” you may have known those words but now you understand the true wisdom behind them, it is the only way to live in this world you are almost an assassin you are almost there.” I sighed, “if that is the only way to live then...Really what is the point of living?” At that Glaitis threw back her head and abruptly burst out laughing which caused me to flinch in fright. “Ahhh this is the consequence of taking an apprentice who is so old, so self righteous so stubborn. That is the one thing in this world which is in no short order of young one “the point in living” to some their service to the Emperor is their point,” and I could hear a slight undertone of bitterness at her mention of “The Emperor.” “Some serve the ruinous powers, some serve for the good of humanity, your “point” is to serve me.” “So that is it?” I cried, “the only point is to serve another? But they serve because they believe what they do is right! How can I serve you when I can't trust you?” Her expression turned as hard as steel, “because you know the consequences if you do not, you have seen the consequences if you do not a-” “A fate worse than death,” I finished my eyes widening in fear. “I saved you Attelus Xanthis Kaltos, I took you in, I have given you purpose just remember that, and also do not be so naive that only trust and belief are what drive them, just like you they have fear of consequence.” “Yes, yes I know,” I sighed, Exterminatus the destruction of an entire planet that was the ultimate consequence and that was the first which came to my mind but I could not help but wonder with a quick glance at Glaitis. What is your purpose? What is it that drives you? Glaitis turned and began to walk to the door, “that is all I have to say young one I encourage you to think about my words and-”

Then the realisation hit me. “There are other purposes that I can think on for living,” I interrupted, internally cursing as I realised that I had never once wondered what exactly the relationship between my father and her was until now all that she had ever said was just she knew Serghar Kaltos on a “personal level” that was all, “how about...Revenge being one?” That made her suddenly halt her exit, her hand still laid on the door knob. I smiled, now I was finally unraveling this woman after that dream now I knew she was human and not some all powerful, all knowing being. She was like every other human flawed and idiotic. “Yes young one that is another purpose indeed,” her voice halting as though barely keeping back anger, “after the medicae checks you out you are to report to Hayden immediately for briefing he is on the fifth floor of my tower, don't keep him waiting.” With those words she closed the door leaving me all alone. So this was all about my father and this brought in all new and very interesting revelations about why she had took me in, perhaps she was using me as a hostage? Or as bait to draw him in? It also explains why she was so eager to keep me alive, but why train me? Wouldn't it be easier to just keep me in a cell or something? Was it all just about Serghar Kaltos? Or was there more something more? Surely not just revenge would have enough inertia to drive mamzel Glaitis into cooperation with Xenos? I sighed and silently swore that I would find out the answers to these questions no matter the price. I paused just outside the entrance of Glaitis' tower, my hands inside the pockets of my flak jacket, a smoking Lho stick hanging out the corner of my mouth. It was good to finally get out of my bed, out of that hospital and away from the stench of disinfectant mixed with crap. It was nice to be able to escape into the day and as if to make it even more cliché it was raining. Looking up at the over cast sky, my thoughts wandered. According to good medicae Feiult I had barely been in coma for two days but Feuilt had said earlier that I had yet another month's rest before I could be at peek performance and despite this the medicae had given me a clean bill of health much to his evident bemusement. Even more interesting was that barely moments after Feuilt had answered my call for aide my heart almost immediately stopped, the medical staff had worked for a good half an hour to try revive me but to no avail. Then just after they had given up my heart

seemed to mysteriously start back up again my eyes opened and then I fell into deep unconsciousness. That was the second time I had come close to dying it seemed...Cheap. So it seemed that was what Glaitis had mentioned in my dream; the Eldar's test having apparently “almost killed me” perhaps in my dream me managing to stop that walk through the ruins of Elbyra was signifying my escape from death's door. I shivered, once again recalling the images that I had seen and quickly forcing them from my mind. That was a time of my life which I would rather forget, but now, that Xenos had dredged it up from the far recesses of my subconscious and just for what? Some test? What kind of sick creature would put someone through that? I could still recall what the Eldar had said to Glaitis, it's thoughts on humanity as a whole and for the first time I actually felt sorry for my mentor, to have to commune with such a creature would be beyond my comprehension and then it said that it wanted for me to follow in Glaitis' foot steps. My wet, long brown hair was now in my eyes and I was forced to brush it from my face. Never would I ever ally with the Eldar, never would I willingly do something so idiotic after what it had put me through, after seeing first hand its horrific arrogance and disregard for humanity. I lowered my head and sighed out smoke, taking the almost all the way smoked Lho with thumb and fore finger dropping it to the rockcrete then stamping it out with the tip of my shoe. “Time to get this over and damn well done with,” I muttered as I walked through the automatic sliding doors simultaneously my hands instinctively slipping back into their respective pockets. I rode the elevator up, spending the entire time tapping the tip of my shoe on the floor impatiently. It was more due to the cravings, the consequence of over a month without a smoke, already I had burnt through six Lhos on my walk over here but that didn't seem enough, frig it. One thing which had also taken my notice as I collected my belongings when leaving Taryst's tower I noticed the distinct absence of Colonel Barhurst. When I asked the colonel's second, major Olinthre and he answered that Barhurst was sent away on recruitment duties that it was a recurring thing that the great colonel would

every six months annually leave for two more to search for new members for Taryst's private army. When I pointed out that it seemed unorthodox for the colonel himself to act as the recruiter, Olinthre just shrugged and said; “hey it's always been that way kid and hell you won't hear me complaining about it.” I nodded my thanks and left, this proved to be yet another interesting development, yes. Was it a mere coincidence that our little incursion against the Twlight Bar just happened to coincide with Barhurst's leave of absence? But why? He wasn't at all a threat to us and so I was unable to fathom the reasoning behind it but I knew with every fiber of my being that it wasn't a coincidence, there was no such thing in this line of work. After what seemed to be forever the Elevator finally to found the fifth floor and I stepped out the double doors. “You're late,” said Hayden Tresch, he was a big man, standing well over two metres and built like an Astartes. Like Torris he was once an Arbitrator but unlike Torris his demeanor was one which I could imagine an Arbitrator possessing, a no nonsense professional attitude and a ruthless one at that. How he had left the Arbites to become an Assassin working under Glaitis, I had no idea but I knew that he had been with Glaitis straight from the very start and was actually the oldest in our organizaiton. From what I knew he was at least a decade older than my erstwhile mentor and ironically for a person of such large stature he was a sniper and the best I have ever seen. I could only assume that such a stony resolve would be a great contributor to that line of work as quite few snipers I have met and a few I have killed seem to adhere to this temperament. He was also a very skilled hacker but was nothing compared to Vex. I physically winced, just remembering that I had yet to see the kid to apologise. I liked Hayden I could not help but respect his hard line attitude but he had a softer side which he let reign from time to time, he reminded me of Garrakson, a version of Garrakson which was a whole lot grimmer and harder anyway. The other waiting in the hall way made me frown and furrow my brow, it was Darrance who sneered in contempt when he saw me and sometimes I could swear he looked more feminine than many actual women I knew. “Why it's good to see you to Hayden,” I said. The ex Arbiter smiled ever so slightly but Darrance sniffed loudly, then his attention snapped straight at me, his face as hard as stone. “You've been smoking,” he stated.

I sighed, Darrance must have been in love with Glaitis or something as he followed her every order to the letter, and will reinforce this with an almost fanaticism which is ironic as Tresch would allow for far more leeway and he was an ex Arbitrator. “The mistress has a strict policy against the smoking of Lho for which everyone must adhere!” Now it was Tresch's turn to sigh, “give the kid a break Darrance after what he went through I think he is entitled to it just this once, but Attelus just make sure none of us actually catch you do it or else-” “Or else you will have no choice but to bring it to Glaitis' knowledge,” I finished, “fair enough and thank you for the leeway.” Even though in all likelihood Glaitis already knew about my recently resurfaced habit. It was in that instance I could not help wonder if any one else working for Glaitis knew of her ally, which I did indeed doubt it but out of all of us Hayden would. As I stated earlier he was the longest serving in our organisation. Also how long exactly has she been allied with the Xenos anyway? I pushed away these thoughts, there would be time to dwell on them later. “So, Glaitis said for me to come here for briefing.” “That is “mamzel” Glaitis to you apprentice,” said Darrance, “and yes we are here to brief you. Let us get this farce over and done with shall we? We have an interesting development from the Twilight Bar incident that the mistress thinks you may find interesting although I do not know what you could ever possibly attribute is beyond me.” My jaw set ever so slightly, “and what is is this “development” exactly?” I asked. “That is exactly what it is apprentice,” said Darrance, “a development. No more, no less you will see what it is soon enough.” “Wouldn't it be better to be briefed on what it is I am about to see before being shown it?” I pointed out. Darrance raised his finger, about to argue but was interrupted by Tresch as he chuckled. “Yes Glaitis mentioned that we are to “brief” you didn't she?” he said, “lets just say we want it to be a surprise okay?” “Actually she said that just you were just to brief me, without Darrance.”

Darrance sneered at the slight but did nothing more. Tresch shook his head, “alright enough smart mouthing from you kid, I'm not sure I can stop Darrance if he decides to try slice you to ribbons, lets move on kid.” We walked on, through the thin, badly lit corridors Tresch in the middle Darrance and I on his left and right flanks. “Attelus, so how much of your one man storm of the Twilight Bar do you remember exactly?” asked Tresch lightly. .“I remember most of it except what happened after the Arcoflagellant charged me everything after that is a complete blank.” “And so,” said Darrance, “then you remember that it was your own stupidity that lead to your horrific injury, that mistress Glaitis' is your master that she has far more experience and intelligence than you will ever have, do not disobey her again for she always knows what to do, she has never lead us astray.” I sighed, as much as I hated to admit it Darrance had a point, but he had no idea just how true his words were. It was then that I couldn't help wonder; some people worshipped the Emperor, some people worshipped the Ruinous powers, some people worshipped money, I suspected that Darrance worshipped Glaitis, oh if only he knew the truth. If only he knew what I knew. Finally we reached the end of the corridors, two guards stood on sentry at both ex Imperial guard veterans, both under Glaitis employment. Our organization may revolve around assassins but for basic sentry work we had a small contingent of just over five hundred mercenaries. Both the poor bastards looked bored out of their skulls, but if anything Glaitis paid them well and it was an easy job so they wouldn't complain. They nodded respectfully to Tresch and one opened the door for us. We walked into a small room, the walls metallic and reinforced like a holding cell and through a panel of one sided glass I could see a slightly larger room, Castella stood with her back to us as she stared intently into the other room. She looked over her shoulder and treated us with a smile. “Good to see you're up, Attelus,” she said. I nodded and smiled back about to reply but cut myself short as I saw what the other room contained; One man sat alone tied up to a chair, he was haggard, old and beaten to a bloody pulp.

I approached closer to the window, gaping shock, the wounds were brutal and would scare him for life, the torture this poor man had been through I could not imagine. “You don't recognise him?” asked Tresch as he stepped up beside me. “No,” I said softly, “should I?” “He was the one you fought in the Twilight bar,” answered Castella, “he was wearing a full faced helmet so I don't blame you for not knowing.” I turned to her, my eyes wide with shock at the razor sharp edge in her voice and almost immediately her attention went straight to the floor as though to evade my look. “Even if he hadn't worn a helmet I doubt that I could recognise him now. How? How did you capture him?” “He attempted to escape through a secret passage in the bar,” said Darrance, “mistress Glaitis herself was waiting out side and accosted him there, she revealed that she knew of the exit from the schematics but chose to keep it a secret.” Well I knew that there could be yet another reason how she knew but I kept such thoughts to myself. “Its obvious now that mamzel Glaitis wasn't intending at all for us to plant the bugs,” I said, “that it was a ploy so she could capture this man.” But that wasn't just it I was utterly sure and I suspected it would in some way or another coincide with the absence of Barhurst. “Good deduction Attelus,” said Castella, “we have made the same conclusion also.” I smiled, savouring the compliment. “But one thing I don't understand is if the infiltration of this bar was extra curricular, away from Taryst's devices why are we still under his employment?" I said, “wouldn't he have been pissed that we went behind his back?” Darrance shrugged, “maybe the mistress had actually informed master Taryst of it and told us otherwise, we are assassins we are only told no more than what we need to know.” “Hmmm,” was my only reply as I placed my finger and thumb onto my chin in thought, it was a valid point and one that I have considered but somehow I doubted it and again my thoughts reeled back to the coincidental preordained absence of colonel Barhurst.

One thing that was also interesting as why I was being shown this I did not know if I still had the implant in my brain or not perhaps the psyker which Glaitis had brought in to heal me also got rid of it, but surely his psykers would have noticed that? Perhaps it was still there and this was because of a new more open alliance between the two? Or it could be as Darrance said that Glaitis had actually informed Taryst of our espionage of the club and they were in a more open alliance than they had insinuated right from the start? “So you want me to talk to this man?” I asked, deciding not to reveal my thoughts to my colleagues, not yet anyway. “Yes,” said Tresch, “we've been talking to him over the past month but has yet to reveal any reliable information and as you well know we are sure he is a Throne agent of some form so his mind will be blocked from any psychic intrusion. ” “We also never revealed anything on your condition to him,” said Castella, “I bet that he will be very surprised to see you up and about.” I could not help grin at that. "Alright," I said, "I'm in." I stepped into the interrogation room and as I closed the door the man suddenly started, spluttering into consciousness so abruptly it made me flinch in fright. His back was facing me and he attempted to turn his head to try see who had entered. “What the hell is it now?” growled the man, his voice horrifically hoarse but whistled slightly due to a severely broken nose, “is that teal haired bitch come back to beat on me again?” I was approaching him as he said this but the words causing me to stop in mid stride although I couldn't see the three assassins standing watch I turned to face the one way glass anyway my eyes wide, my jaw hung open expressing the deep shock I felt. Castella did all this? She was the one who had beaten this man so brutally? This would have been something that I would expect from Darrance and even Tresch, but Castella? Perhaps I was correct in my disbelief in her claim of me saving all those people in the Twilight bar was inherently justified, perhaps she wasn't at all who I thought she was, I have seen some gruesome things in my very short life but what had been done to this throne agent, was hard for even me to take. Tearing my attention back to the brutalised man I felt something I would not have expected to feel.

I felt sorry for him, truly and utterly sorry, I had expected to be angry, to hate the person who had ruthlessly let loose the arcoflagellant to slaughter me and to cover his escape but in all honesty I could understand it. He had a mission to complete as well although one I did not know and if the stakes where as high as he seemed to believe them to be, once again it came down to the saying “anything and everything to win” he to was a professional like me but there was one huge difference between us; he was doing a job which in his view was right and true, I am not and yet now here he was, trapped, beaten and unable to do what he needed to. I could not help but wonder how he felt, it seemed that so much hung the balance for him was he not just defiant outwardly but actually genuinely? Or perhaps he was actually terrified and depressed? Scared that his capture would invariably lead to his mission to fail? This I wondered because in all my life I had never known real conviction, I worked and that was that, never did I ever believe in any “cause” it was the job and only the job to get it done and move on, that this throne agent's world seemed so foreign, almost alien to me. That was the way of the mercenary and to be honest to say that it was quite depressing really is an understatement of a breath taking scale. “Who's there stop hiding whoever the hell you are!” the man yelled, struggling in his bonds. Without any word I moved into his field of vision, holding the water flask that Tresch had given me up to the man's face and he drank from the straw greedily his eyes to black and swollen to make out who I was. I was unsure what to say, never before had I actively taken part of any interrogation, a few I have witnessed but that was all. Taking away the flask I finally said: “I survived you know.” The man's attention snapped straight up at me as he obviously recognised my voice but it was impossible for me to make out any expression then he shook his head and spat blood out on the floor. “Well goody for you,” he said bitterly. I was not so sure if it was actually “goody for me.” “I'm sorry for what my colleague did to you,” I said.

“Well your sorry isn't going to affect nothing kid,” replied the man, “I know that this is the how the world spins, I'm a professional, I know this is all part of the job.” Then he wheezed out what I could only guess to be a laugh, “maybe next time I should try to negotiate my contract.” “That would indeed be wise,” I agreed and I could not help but feel an edge of respect for the old man, “and in all honesty I am not sure that we will ever wean any information from you, you seem to be a man of conviction that so much so that you would rather die than give us whatever we want.” “You're a smart kid,” he said, “but your “colleagues” don't seem to agree.” I looked side long at the one way glass, “no I guess they wouldn't.” “Or that or they know it but choose to avoid the fact,” said the man. “Or that,” I agreed, “but can I ask a question?” The man's nose whistled as he attempted to sniff, “kid, do I look like I capable of keeping you from asking it? Although I do still hold the ability to not answer so I am not going to guarantee you will get one.” I paused not sure on how to word it at first. “W-what is it like?” I could only stammer. The man sighed, “what is what like kid?” “What is it like to, I don't know, to be a person of conviction? What is it like to be a person to believe in something so much that they would willingly die for it?” What seemed to be incredulity crossed the man's beaten features, “that was the very last question I guessed that you would ask.” “Answer or don't answer,” I said impatiently, “as you said it is still your choice.” “It is,” agreed the man, “and I will answer but on one condition.” “What is it?” I growled. “Before you said that “whatever we want” as if you didn't know what I was being interrogated for is that true?”

I frowned, bemused, “did I say that?” I shrugged, “well it is really “whatever we want” as I don't know if you are actually Brutis Bones or not, I know that if you weren't, my colleagues would be interrogating you to find out where he is.” “And if I was Brutis Bones?” queried the man. I smacked my lips realising that I didn't actually know, “I could hazard a guess,” I admitted hesitantly, or thousands I thought sourly, “why do you ask?” “No reason,” said the man lightly, “and now I will answer your question and the answer is, I really don't know.” “What?” “Well kid in all truth I have always been this way, I have always believed that the Emperor knows what is best for humanity, that in my service to the holy Inquisition I can truly aide in that plan, to be this person of “conviction” you call it is as natural to me as breathing so asking me that is like me asking you what is it like to inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide.” “Well that's,” I trailed off, scratching my head, “well that's anti climactic, who the hell are you anyway?” “No one of consequence.” “I must know.” “Get used to disappointment.” “Hmm, okay.” “Actually I lie,” said the man, “because you are a strange one I will give you information, information that I have so far kept hidden from your associates and I only give it because you might already know it.” “What is it then?” “Your boss, Taryst, holds someone captive, someone of great influence.” I would have asked “who?” but did not want to give away that I actually didn't know. The man smiled with gaped teeth and those still in where cracked and loose. “He holds in that tower of his my superior, my Inquisitor's Interrogator he has kept her as a hostage right from the beginning of this debacle.”

I tried to keep my expression neutral and glanced to the reflective glass then my microbead buzzed and Tresch's voice came through. “Attelus get out here now.” I nodded and moved to leave when the man asked; “hey where are you going kid?” “Thank you for the information, No One of Consequence,” I said, “but now I have more pressing issues to attend to.” “You really didn't know did you?” I heard the man say just before I closed the door. I stepped into the observation room my attention to the floor I sighed and slipped my hands into their pockets. “Is he actually Brutis Bones?” I asked. “No,” answered Tresch, “we don't believe he is.” “I thought as much,” I sighed again, “and Tresch, sir did you look at the schematics of the Twilight bar when you took them from the local data base?” “No, when mamzel Glaitis ordered me to get them she also ordered that I could not look directly into the file.” “Hmm right,” I looked up and saw both Tresch and Darrance where there to greet me but Castella was strangely absent. “Uhm where did Castella go?” Both Darrance and Tresch briefly looked side long at one another, the glance seemed to be almost nervous. “She left apprentice,” answered Darrance impatiently, “are we now finished with your line of enquiry yet?” I looked at them both, bewildered, wondering why they had such a strange reaction about Castella's absence “n-no, w-what the hell are we to do with this new information?” “Why nothing apprentice,” said Darrance simply. “What?” I snapped, “if what he says is true we could-” “Taryst is our employer,” interrupted Darrance, “while I agree this information is valuable and I have no doubt, this “No One of Consequence” is telling the truth, you forget that we are still under Taryst's employ, who he holds and doesn't hold captive is his own

business and what are we going to make of it? Go up to Tarst in his tower and demand that he confirms this accusation?” “But!” I tried. “I agree with Darrance kid,” said Tresch, “this information is something to lean on, we know it and that is enough for now.” Frowning I sighed “yeah I guess you're right.” “Of course we are right apprentice,” said Darrance, “you seem to forget that we have been in this game allot longer than you have.” Tapping my shoe against the floor, I finally asked the question I have had one hell of a time to dredge up the courage to ask them. “Uhm, can you tell me what the hell exactly happen in the Twilight bar?” Both Darrance and Tresch glanced at one another again and then it was Tresch turn to sigh. “Sorry kid,” he said, 'but we're under strict orders not to tell you.” “Hmm, right,” I said, finding myself utterly unsurprised and more than a little bit upset. The awkward silence must have lasted no more than ten seconds before Tresch finally broke it. “You're dismissed Attelus,” he said, “get back to you're hab unit and we will contact you when we need you, is that understood?” I nodded as that was all I could manage and turned to leave but as I did Tresch said at my back. “By the way good work on the interrogation kid.” I stopped in my tracks my back still facing them and felt a smile spread across my face, to be complimented by Tresch in such away was something to be savoured. “Th-thanks,” I said then left. I didn't go to my apartment, instead electing to walk back to Taryst's tower. There was still that certain promise I had to keep and I had every intention to see it through, despite the nerves playing hell on my guts.

In all honesty I understood why Tresch and Darrance would sit on this information, but they didn’t seem particularly surprised, they could have even known already or just didn't care either idea wouldn’t surprise me at all. Sighing to myself I turned off the main street into one of the many alleyways leading to Taryst's tower, having decided to take the long route around. But yet something didn't feel right, ever since I had left Glaitis' tower I could not shake the feeling that I was being watched. I paused to look over my shoulder finding that once again no one was there. Shrugging to myself I turned to continue but immediately froze in my tracks as I saw the figure appear right at the other end of the alleyway. I flicked my wrist, ejecting a throwing knife from its sleeve into my hand. So my paranoia was justified after all, could this be one of Brutis Bones' mooks? There was one way to find out and I began to walk toward the person, he was in shadow but I could make out that he stood at just under two metres tall and was built like an Astartes could it be Tresch who had tracked me here to tell me off for now following his orders. I made a few more metres when three more figures joined the original in blocking my path and I glanced over my shoulder to see to very little surprise four more were beginning to approach from the other entrance. I could see now that they were all wearing expensive black suits with no gang markings or anything at all in fact. But they had yet to draw a weapon on me, Interesting. Now the others at the end began to advance on me, they were all brimming with confidence so sure of themselves well that wasn't entirely unjustified as there where eight of them. I activated my micro bead to call for backup but my only reply was white noise. Hissing a curse I stopped, now they were close all eight they had me completely surrounded and I had no way of getting any reinforcement, but in all honesty I relished this a test of my abilities after my recovery. I grinned, “so, you guys come here often?” They didn't answer to my quip only kept on approaching all with stony expressions. “Hmmm,” I shrugged and without hesitation threw my knife straight into one of the nearest man's throat and he fell to the floor gurgling, dieing.

The rest didn't seem to notice at all as they stopped their dogged advance and one by one drew their weapons, all of them wielded axes, small wood choppers which would be easy to conceal and potentially do a whole lot of harm, the smart bastards. One attacked, with a cry he lunged sweeping out his axe at my skull. Despite my month long recovery, despite what I had went through my body never forgot what to do and in the blink of an eye I drew my sword from it's scabbard and stopped his attack with the raised blade and I could glimpse an expression of incredulity spread across his face. Three more followed their mate before I could counter, swinging at me with their respective axes. I parried a vertical swing ducked under another and I sidestepped the third. With a laugh of delight and the blood singing in my veins I ejected another throwing knife from my sleeve as another two came at me one axe slashing down at me the other following around horizontally, I parried them both with quick fire movements with my sword. One followed on with a front kick aimed at my chest but I countered, slipping away from the attack and by stabbing my knife straight into his thigh, the man screamed in agony but before I could do anything more the rest of his buddies were onto me. I swayed under one swinging axe and smacked away another flurry of attacks all from individual opponents. One assailant came at me from behind but I was running on instinct so sidestepped his attack barely and I turned my hips, smashing my elbow into his face which impacted with a hefty crunch as I shattered his nose. I blocked a horizontal slash by bringing my blade over my elbow and knocked down another with an over head sweep. After Front kicking the first attacker in the guts I back peddled from another three as they converged on my flank, I blocked the over head slash of the first and countered by throwing my knee around into his solar plexus, the second I parried but the third was already on me so I was forced to knock away his before I could ever hope to counter. I parried a forth assailant's attack then another as he attempted to open an ugly wound in my torso, one tried for a low blow swinging his axe in an arc armed at ripping into my thigh. Back peddling from that attack he followed on by slashing at my skull, an attack which I ducked I was just in time to turn to face another on my flank, barely managing to block his slashing axe. Clenching my teeth I countered by kicking him in the knee with my boot knife, the man howled out in pain but I was not quick enough to stop another attacker's front kick from colliding into my torso, the blow knocked the wind out from me and sent me stumbling

back, ignoring the throbbing pain I recovered just in time to duck under a sweeping axe and saw much to my amusement the man had a messed up bloody nose. With a roar the man twice my size crouched down low and charged straight at me, in an obvious attempt to spear tackle me to the floor. I side stepped and front kicked the blade the at tip of my boot into his torso, side stepping another slash I parried a follow on swipe then boxing swayed under a back fist and brought up my blade right into his wrist. The next two flew straight at me I parried the first, a vertical slash then the second's over head attack. The first followed and to quickly for me to counter by punching me straight in the face, his fist met my jaw with a crack! And sent burning waves of pain through my head, I was sent stumbling back just recovering in time to duck another axe. Clutching my face with my free left hand I slashed out at my attackers, the attack was stopped dead as one blocked but I slipped my sword from the hilt of his axe into a vertical slice at his comrade in line who back stepped out the way, now it was my turn for the offensive. I slashed at the third and he to blocked but with all the momentum I could muster my attack caused his block to turn out allowing me to bring around my elbow into the side of his skull and just to make sure I round house kicked my boot knife into his arm pit as he collapsed. I grinned at the four remaining attackers raising my sword, I could feel my breaths were now coming out as ragged gasps I didn't know if I could keep this up for much longer my fitness was not what it once was. Then with a roar they made to charge. “Stop,” the deep commanding voice echoed through the alley causing the four assailants to stop immediately, though standing with barely contained restraint and as I turned to the source of the voice my jaw dropped. The leader was wearing light blue power armour covered from head to toe and a long brown cloak hanging from his shoulders and emblazoned on the power armour's chest a gigantic very unsubtle “I.” “S-so are you Brutis Bones?” I stammered. “No,” said the Inquisitor as he began to approach me and shaking his head, “I bare no relation to your mark.” He pulled out his Rosette and held it out although it was rather unneeded.

“I am Inquisitor Nonin Edracian and I would very much like to talk to you young Attelus Kaltos.” I grinned at the Inquisitor, “really? An Inquisitor? What ever would have given me the clue?” Edracian laughed and I blinked as I realised that the sound was in my mind, “I see that your eye is as sharp as your wit boy, I am sure that will really get you far in your line of work." I frowned, finding myself unable to think of any sort of good retort, I just shrugged and said. “So you wanted to talk, Nonin Edracian that is what you said?” “Yes, yes it was.” “Well was sending these axe wielding psychopaths to kill me was that truly so necessary then?” “Yes, yes it was.” “Well then why it was so damned necessary then?” I growled, I should not have been so angry about this I was an apprentice assassin, working for a woman who has been in the business for a very long time, someone sending people to kill me or to capture me to get to her was just a part of the job, I knew this but I was tired and wasn't in the mood after all the crap I have been through and now this development out of the blue. “It was a test, I wanted to witness for myself the capabilities of the son of Serghar Kaltos.” My jaw twitched, why was he was still insisting on speaking psychically? “So,” I sighed, “was I up to those capabilities?” “No you still have along way to go.” I shrugged while as cool as I could, simultaneously sheathing my sword, took out a Lho stick, placed it in my mouth and lit it. “Well then now you have your answer can I go free?” “No we still have much to yet discuss.” I held the smoking Lho in between of fore finger and thumb, eyeing the well armoured Inquisitor.

“I did, in fact think as much, yes,” I said then suddenly I spun, stabbing the lit Lho stick right into the eye of one of the men guarding my back, the poor bastard let out a blood curdling scream of agony and turned away, clutching at his face. I followed on by front kicking the next enemy right in the chest, sending his limp form sprawling silently straight to the rockcrete ground. I drew my Auto pistol from the chest holster hidden under my flak jacket blowing out the backs the skulls of the remaining two men. Turned back to Edracian then emptied the rest of the clip of the semi automatic pistol into him. The gun fire echoed in the alleyway as the manstoppers ricocheted across his armour, I had no real hope of killing him even at such close range but the kinetic force of the bullets sent him reeling with each round, one managed to hit the gap in the knee and the Inquisitor was forced into a crouch. In the blink of an eye I had my pistol reloaded and began to advance down the alleyway meanwhile laying down a withering hail of fire into Edracian's large form then I fell into a sprint, straight past the stunned Inquisitor. I slid to a halt as I approached the turn at the end of the alleyway pushing my back against the wall while carefully peering around the corner. To my very little surprise there were two more men advancing down the next street perhaps drawn by the fire, perhaps called here by the Inquisitor, both wielding high caliber auto guns and both immediately opening fire the second they saw me. Forced back, into cover I glanced to Edracian who was now lying prone on the ground and slowly struggling to get onto his feet. I had very little time. They had stopped their shooting and I reached into one of the inside pockets of my flak jacket pulling out a mirror, one which I kept on me not for my rampart narcissism, no but for moments like this when I needed to look around something during a fire fight and really didn't want to get my head shot off in the process. Raising the mirror to reflect down the next alleyway I caught a glimpse of the two men approaching quickly but cautiously their rifles raised and sweeping through every possible angle. I glanced back to Edracian and it was then I saw more figures appear right at the other entrance of the alleyway, three of them and all wielding auto guns. I cursed savagely but luckily for me they didn't open fire, perhaps afraid that they may hit their boss by accident, and the range was utterly terrible to try hit my small form anyway, as I crouched low in the shadows. Mooks like that could never make precise shots at 200 metres. With a shaking hand and reaching again into my jacket I tore out another auto pistol clip. Then threw it with all my strength around the corner immediately I followed suit my auto pistol raised and firing. The two attackers where caught off guard for barely half a second as the ammo I threw bounced and clattered at their feet but that was all I needed. With three shots I killed

them both, my first hit the left side man in the shoulder, then blew a ragged hole in his chest as he opened his mouth to scream, the third was a clean head shot. Both corpses where barely falling when I was up, sprinting down the street meanwhile re-holstering my pistol. I stopped quickly at the corpses, snatching up one of the fallen auto rifles, a few extra clips of ammunition and the one I had tossed then carried on through the alleyway as fast as my feet could carry me. There was a T junction not far ahead, as it came close I followed my training, pushing my back against the right hand wall and sliding along cautiously, my rifle raised to cover the left side, which I knew led to a dead end. Finding it devoid of any life I turned to cover my rifle the right quickly professionally switching around the alley, it too was clear. Hearing a cry behind me, I glanced over my shoulder just in time to glimpse one of my many attackers emerging from around the last corner. A mere millisecond before he opened fire I was into the cover of the turn off. I had banked on them seeing the corpses of their comrades, for it to cause them to yell out and give themselves away, luckily for me my gambit had paid off. It seemed now that Edracian's henchmen had camaraderie of sorts, perhaps I could use that once again to my advantage. The enemy's full auto fire quickly died and as it did I leaned out returning my own withering hail which forced the the man behind his corner. After that quick burst I did not wait to exchange more fire I was already moving on, sprinting almost recklessly, these back alleys where like a maze a maze made of five story high dull grey rockcrete walls, they were empty other than a few small piles of garbage strewn about it was as lifeless as the rest of Omnartus so they would afford no cover to cower behind other than all of the many twists and turns but I knew the path well having used this route on a few occasions. I knew I had to head south, for half a kilometre that was toward the relative safety of Taryst's base I had barely made it to the next turn before my pursuers were out in the open and shooting My desperate dive only just carried me into safety. In cover, again I tried my microbead and again got nothing but white noise. I cursed savagely before I had been able to use my microbead in this area with no trouble at all but now. Edracian must be using a jammer, either that or his psychic abilities. This Edracian, just how powerful was he anyway? What was he doing here? Why was he trying to capture me? Why had he chosen to reveal himself now? Amongst all these questions I did have one thing I was sure of; that he was yet another player in this convoluted game. A game that seemed to be growing ever more convoluted by the second.

I sighed and briefly leaned out, blasting back at my attackers on burst fire, forcing them again to cower around their cover. This fire fight was frigging awkward to say the very least, it would have been over along time ago if I had a grenade. Note to self, I thought, from now on carry grenades on me when I can. Luckily for me the enemies seemed to have no grenades or perhaps they did and chose not to use them. As their gun fire paused once more I retaliated firing another blind flurry then once again was moving on, ejecting the almost empty clip and slamming fresh one home, I sprinted. I realised then that no matter how hard I tried I couldn't catch the bastards off guard they were to well trained, used their cover to well. The reason why I seemed so intent on killing my attackers is that Edracian could have more of his henchmen waiting for me further through the alleys, just waiting to catch me in a cross fire. There was another four way intersection ahead I knew well that if I wanted to go to Taryst's base that I would have to turn left but decided against it, as that is the way my enemies would expect. Skidding to a halt I elected the right instead, it lead straight to the north back into the busy main streets. Intending to try lose myself among the crowds of potential pedestrians. The alleyway was long and like all the others utterly empty, as I sprinted my heart leaped in my chest, expecting at any moment Edracian's men to shoot me in the back as I fled. But I heard no shots ever echo through the alleys announcing my untimely death and I managed to emerge out of the darkness out into the bright lights of the main streets. It was five in the afternoon and luckily for me the street was completely bustling with activity. On my homeworld this street would have been classified as a highway, it was eight lanes and traffic roared past I had actually forgotten the streets name but I knew that it was one of the main supply roads through this part of the hive and it was then I realised that in all my desperation I had completely forgotten that I was still holding my stolen Auto rifle, that when the pedestrians saw me run out, a few glimpsed the gun in my grasp and they halted their walking raising their hands and began to back away with fearful expressions. Ignoring them I skidded into another turn making my way east along the sidewalk and cursed under my breath, trying my best to hide my weapon from people passing buy while dodging and weaving through the crowd. Glancing over my shoulder I saw no sign of my pursuers but I was far from any safety yet, I needed to find a way to hide my gun so not to attract the attention of the local

authorities. I winced, I could have easily just dropped it when running through those alleyways but it was to late for that now. My sword was legal though, local law allowed for citizens to carry bladed weapons but only for self defense and as long as one has a license for it. I actually have one, it is forged of course along with my fake local identification but I could not risk magistratum involvement, just in case that Edracian had them under his thumb being a Inquisitor he had that power easily at his grasp. But with those people seeing me earlier the odds that of one of them having used their personal vox unit to call the Magistratum was very, very high. Violently I cursed my idiocy it seemed to be one mistake after another, first walking straight into Edracian's ambush and nowI didn't see the person walk into me, too lost in my own self berating and I turned to them, finding myself face to face with a woman an attractive woman with long black hair, deathly pale skin and dark, dead eyes. One glance was all it took for me to know she was not anyone normal and I attempted to break into a run. But it was too late her hand was already right out in front of my nose and I flinched as she sprayed a brief pout of mist straight into my face. "Ahh crap," I managed to gasp. My vision went dark and the last thing I thought before completely losing consciousness was on the sheer irony of it all. Suddenly I awoke spluttering back into consciousness as my body was racked with violent coughs. I curled forward but not far, the movement constrained by the ropes which bound me. I saw that were the room I sat in was mostly enveloped in darkness only I was illuminated by a weak light which hung from the ceiling just above me. “He is awake on schedule my lord,” a voice emerged from the darkness, a soft spoken woman's voice which eerily reminded me of the Eldar from my dream. “Yes,” agreed another which I immediately recognised as Edracian's, once again the words echoing through my very thoughts. “Your mastery of poison would be inconceivable to ever doubt miss Ellak,” said the Inquisitor as he stepped into the light, he was still wearing his power armour his face still hidden behind that imposing mask. “Hello young mr Kaltos.”

I was in mid reply when interrupted by another flurry of coughs. “What did you say?” asked Edracian. I laughed and replied, “I said deja vu.” I could not see Edracian's face but could imagine him smile as he said, “yes I assume that you would feel way, would you?” My jaw twitched, “what the hell does that mean?” Edracian's helmeted head shook in what could almost be read as contempt, “I actually have a mole inside your organisation young man and they have been in there for quite sometime now, quite some time indeed.” Glaring up at the Inquisitor I wasn't sure what to think, perhaps he was just lying as an attempt to gain my respect before interrogating me? Or if he was telling the truth... “Who is it then?” I asked bluntly, although I knew he'd never answer and hardly in the mood for my usual dead pan snark. Edracian laughed, “why just telling you Mr Kaltos would be inconceivable! Where would the fun be in that? You will just have to find out all on your own I'm afraid.” I sighed, “alright, what ever, so are you going to ask any questions or not? I'd like to get this over and damn well done with.” The Inquisitor's helmet tilted slightly a movement which reminded me of many of the native birds back on Elbyra. “Oh no young Mr Kaltos you quite misinterpret, my true intentions behind this little kidnapping of yours. I have no need to interrogate you, why would I when I already have someone in your organisation to feed me information? No you are here so you can perform for miss Ellak and I a little favour, wait! No! That is the incorrect term, Miss Ellak what is the word for it? It's a favour but one that no one could refuse? When they are forced to do it?” “An order master,” answered the woman from the darkness. “That's right an order, thank you miss Ellak.” “The pleasure is mine, master.” Edracian's helmet turned back to me, “miss Ellak here hails from the Venenum temple of the officio assassinorum, how they practice the art of death I am sure miss Glaitis has

already informed you of, hasn't she not? Miss Ellak is also my most loyal servant. But all of my men are loyal to me though I bet Miss Glaitis is wishing she could say the same, am I right?” “Yes,” I growled my patience was wearing thin, coming to the obvious conclusion that Edracian was completely and clinically insane, “now what the hell do you want me to do?” “Oh!” cried the Inquistor's voice in my mind, “I apologise it seems I went a bit off track there did I not?” With that he suddenly spun on his heel so his back was facing me and he walked a few steps away. “You have been to the top of Taryst's tower,” that was a statement not a question and his voice if you can call it that, suddenly changed into the epitome of seriousness which made me blink at the sudden change of tone. “You have been in his personal quarters, you saw that big adamantium door of his.” “Hmm yes, and let me guess. You want me to see what is behind it?” Edracian suddenly turned back me so fast it caused me to flinch in fright. “Of course!” he yelled so loud in my mind that it made my ears ring. I shrugged “well I can tell you already, well assume really. That behind that door he is holding captive a member of your organisation an Interrogator-” “That I know!” Interrupted Edracian, “what I need you to do is find the exact condition of Taryst's captive, whether she is still alive or not.” I nodded, “hmm, okay.” The Inquisitor looked away, into the darkness and nodded to who I could only assume to be “Miss Ellak” and to my very little surprise the woman who had ambushed me earlier stepped into the light holding in her hand a very, very large syringe. I struggled in my bonds, “w-what is that for?” “Insurance,” answered Edracian, his attention still on the slowly approaching, Venenum assassin, “insurance to make sure that you will follow through with your end of the bargain.” He looked back at me, “you of all people should have guessed that.”

Then the needle stabbed straight into my arm, miss Ellak finding a vein as easy as I would find my way through a forest and agony erupted up my arm. Agony which made me scream out but it was gone as quickly as it was in. “You have been injected with a special poison,” said Edracian, “one which will kill you in a few hours if you do not receive the antidote.” I sucked in air through clenched teeth, my body shaking uncontrollably. “Really? “A few hours?” Could you be a little more precise?” Again I could almost feel Edracian smile, “why that would be inconceivable young mr Kaltos-” “Yeah okay "where would the fun be in that",” I interrupted, “I know, I know.” Edracian tilted his head again, “so once you complete your objective you are to meet a few of my men at an appointed rendezvous point, they will give you the antidote but I will only give you the co-ordinates once I know you have accomplished the mission I have given you.” “And how will you know that then?” Edracian held out his hand, showing me what looked to be a small pict taker. “With this of course young man, once you get through that door if you find the Interrogator dead you are to take a picture of her, it is set up that once you do it will automatically send it straight back to our cogitator and if you try to fake the picture we will find out.” I sighed as I felt a sudden surge of desperation, “B-But how the hell am I to do this? I will be found Taryst has psykers which can easily read my mind see my true intentions I wont even get anywhere near before being caught.” Again that invisible smile, “you need not worry about Taryst's psyker young mr Kaltos as she is very much unable to do anything now.” I looked up at Edracian, “what?” “Oh she isn't dead just hurt,” said Edracian lightly, “badly, not as badly as you were of course. Your collegues ambushed her and her bodyguard during your little one man storm of the Twilight bar, they took advantage of the souless being that was kept in that building as she lost her power, that made her easy prey and that was why they took so long to rescue you. Because that Arcoflagellant was actually the blunt.”

My eyes widened now it was starting to make sense that is if Edracian is telling the truth of course. “But still how-” “I don't care!” Edracian's voice suddenly flared in anger interrupting me mid sentence, “how you do it is not what I care about only that you do!” “Alright! Okay,” I sighed, my mind desperately whirling through a myriad amount of potential plans, “so? I take a picture of her if I find her dead I understand that, but what do you want me to do if I find her alive?” “If she is alive why kill her of course and then take the picture,” answered Edracian simply, “what the hell did you think I would want you to do?" I was blind folded as we drove through the streets of Omnartus, my hands tied behind my back. The ride was smooth and the seating was very, very comfortable what I could only deem to be made of pure high grade leather. Edracian didn't seem to do anything buy halves, I'll give him that, “The Camera will get through Taryst's security,” said Edracian suddenly in my mind interrupting my thoughts I had utterly no idea if he was sitting near or even if he was in the vehicle at all, “It is made from a special plasteek that is immune to most detectors.” “Uh huh,” I replied, utterly disinterested having already guessed such a fact, “I have a more interesting subject that we could discuss.” “And what is that young Mr Kaltos?” “You said that my colleagues had injured Taryst's psyker.” “Yes, yes I did.” I frowned, “until you told me that, I was under the impression that perhaps Glaitis and Taryst were working with more cohesion than what was initially let on and that was how my organisation got away with the incident of the Twilight bar. That was why we are still under the rogue traders' employment, you seem to know everything so can you tell me why we are still here? I am sure that Taryst would know if his prize psyker was hurt and who did it.” Again that strange smile, “a good question young Mr Kaltos, a very good question indeed but one that has very little to do with your mission sadly.”

My jaw set, “What do you mean it doesn't have anything to do with my mission? If something has happened to Taryst then if I am to get through him and then through that door I'll need all the information I can get.” Then it hit me and I smiled, “you don't actually know, do you?” Or you are just choosing not to tell me, I thought. “No I shall admit that I do not,” sighed the Inquisitor's voice, “but it does not matter, in the end I just need for you to take that picture, that is all.” My jaw twitched, after I potentially murder this Interrogator of course, I have killed a few throne agents in my career, but an Interrogator? The potential consequences for that could be quite dire indeed. I could only hope that she was already dead. “Do you have a plan yet?” asked Edracian. No, I thought sullenly, “some semblance,” I said instead. “I am sure you will think of something.” There was no mistaking the edge of threat in those words and I barely held back a sigh, really Edracian did you need to threaten me even more? You held all the cards, you've got me right were you want me so just leave me alone. But why does he want this picture anyway? What exactly would he do with it? “How long have I been away for?” I asked, deciding that attempting to asking those questions was completely pointless. “Half an hour,” answered Edracian, “you will have to decide on the excuse you will use for your absence.” “Of course I will,” I muttered, a little surprised at the short amount of time gone by since my kidnapping. Then the vehicle came to an abrupt halt. “Well this Here is your stop young Mr Kaltos,” said Edracian. “Why me?” I said abruptly. “Excuse me?” asked Edracian.

“Why did you spend time and resources to kidnap me instead of using your mole for this job?” “Questions, questions it is always questions with you isn't it? I do have my reasons for that young Mr Kaltos, reasons that you do not need to know.” With those words, suddenly rough hands grabbed me by the arms and hauled me from my my seat, I heard the familiar sound of an opening door then someone cut my bonds. Suddenly I was shoved out the vehicle, barely turning my body in time to keep the tarmac from breaking my nose on impact. I heard the deafening squeal of tyres as Edracian's transport abruptly drove away and pulled off my blind fold while slowly getting onto my feet. They had dropped me in another alleyway one which I did not recognise it was completely devoid of any life but I could see quite clearly Taryst's tower looming over the surrounding six story buildings. Quickly, I calculated that I was less than a mile away, at least during my walk I could try and come up with a plan of some description. I paused at the turn toward the alleyway entrance into Taryst's tower and with a quivering right hand reached up to take the smoking Lho from my mouth. I was scared, utterly terrified the only thing helping my nerves was the Lho, having smoked through my entire supply on my trip here. Edracian had thrown me straight into a situation that was unfair to say the very least, damn him! But life isn't fair, I reminded myself quickly while sighing out smoke and I could not help but wonder what my father would have done if in this situation. The answer was as clear as day, he would have slaughtered all of Edracian's mooks and killed the Inquisitor without even batting an eyelash, but for me that wasn't an option at all, lacking the skill or hard earned experience of Serghar Kaltos. Cursing under breath I began to march toward the hidden door. During my walk over here I could only conjure up one plan; I would tell Taryst that I had reconsidered his proposal, that I would spy on Glaitis for him but only on the condition that he allows me to see what is behind his door. Truly I doubted it would work, suspecting that Taryst had given me that option once and only once. It was the only semi realistic plan that I could think of, what else could I try? Go in there guns blazing? Try to use my considerable skill in stealth and guile to sneak in? None of those considerations could come close to ever succeeding and so, no way in hell.

Ignoring the cameras watching my approach I roughly tore open the hatch concealing the key pad and with clumsy, shaking fingers quickly typed in the password. Barely waiting for it to open all the way before moving on and starting up the hill, through the hive of activity at a quick pace, my face a grim scowl of determination. Many of Taryst's mercenaries actually nodded to me in respectful greeting as I made my to the tower entrance and I tried my best to nod back convincingly, it was getting a whole lot harder to mask the fear I felt. Finally, after what seemed like an hour I reached the peek of the service way and I had to say I was a little out of breath. There I found Major Olinthre standing at the security station, two of the elite Stormtroopers standing at his sides he was looking at me with a determined expression on the major's handsome face. I liked Olinthre he was in many ways who I would want to be one day, laid back, charismatic, friendly and an utter womaniser. I wished that I could have half as much influence with women as Olinthre. Still I could not comprehend why he wasn't the commander of Taryst's private army instead of that sycophant Barhurst, actually, yes, yes I can. He saluted me with a sharp snap of his boots, “Attelus.” Taken of guard by his uncharacteristic formality I managed a weak salute in return, “major.” “I need to talk to you,” he said in a tone which would brook no argument. My heart turned to ice, did he know what I was planning? “S-sure, okay,” I managed. His expression still hard, Major Olinthre nodded and turned on his heels, walking away with the two Stormtroopers following suit. “Follow me,” he said over his shoulder, “and you can keep your weapons.” My eyes widened in exasperation, why could I keep my weapons? Well this said something, that he more than likely didn't know what I was here to do. Allowing myself a slight sigh of relief, I followed.

Without further word we walked through the top checkpoint, the detector never went off as I went through it and I could not help but nervously eye both of the huge Servitors standing guard. I could not help sigh slightly with relief as we passed through the doors without me being reduced into bloody, smoldering chunks by auto cannon fire. It was only when we where half way through the huge barren cargo bay, heading toward the elevators. That perhaps Major Olinthre was the spy who Edracian had bragged about? It made sense, it certainly would explain why the major allowed me to carry my weapons inside. But from the way the Inquisitor said it I was under the interpretation that the spy was part of Glaitis' organisation not Taryst's. Could Olinthre be like me, a triple agent? Be working for Taryst while spying on the rogue trader for Glaitis while spying on her for Edracian? Frowning, I eyed the captain my brow furrowing. Never could I claim to be the greatest judge of character but Olinthre always seemed a solider first and foremost even after turning into a merc he still seemed to cling onto some semblance of his old honour. I clenched my teeth glancing sidelong at a mercenary as he walked closely by and I could not help briefly wonder what they thought of me just walking in here with my full armament. No, Olinthre couldn't be the insider there must be something else behind it, perhaps he has found something and for some strange reason decided to trust me with it? But why me? I was the much very last person to trust with anything. Two more Stormtroopers waited at one of the eight elevators, seemingly holding it for us. I noted that as all six of us filled in that it wasn't the one lift which led up to Taryst's office and glancing up I found that it was devoid of any obvious surveillance. One of the Stormtroopers keyed the destination level, where exactly I could not quite see and the elevator begun it's ascent. My attention plastered on the growing numbers, nerves playing at the pit of my guts and I said to Olinthre next to me, “anything wrong?” Olinthre's expression stayed completely neutral, “you will see,” he only growled.

The elevator finally found its destination abruptly the stormtroopers and Olinthre filled out into the foyer beyond but I stood still frozen to the floor. Olinthre turned back to me grim faced, “you coming then damn it?” “S-sorry,” and jogged to catch up, it was the 31st floor, Vex's floor. Unsurprisingly we silently headed northward making our way through the thin corridors in an exact echo of the route I had walked a month before. The five Stormtroopers formed an escort formation around Olinthre and I and the many of Taryst's serfs walking the other way where very eager to make room for us. My heart thudded in my chest, my fear threatening to overwhelm me. I'm pathetic! I decided with a wordless snarl, I could fearlessly face down a dozen gangers as they attempted to murder me but when forced to face up to some stupid kid who I had almost killed! But killing was in my nature it is what I get paid to do on a daily basis why should I have to apologise? Why the hell should I have to feel guilty damn it! So was this is was the major making me talk to Vex now? Was this because I had forgotten to stop in when I had promised to apologise? But, why would he let me keep my weapons then? Unless he wanted me to kill Vex it didn't make much sense. Again I came back to and with some relief that this was about something else, something more and Vex was just a part of it. We came out from the corridors, into the cavernous cogitator room with the cacophony of constant clashing of keys causing me to cover my ears. But still I could not help smile, with all the hell that I have went through, with all the death and destruction that their colleagues where put through still these serfs will sit and type, it reminded me of the ancient idiom, “the more things change the more they still the same.” Not that much has changed at all we are still chasing out tails searching for this Brutis Bones, which actually just further emphasises my point really and there it was, Vex's small box office that sat in the midst of it all. Just outside Olinthre came to an abrupt halt and turned to his men yelling over the deafening sound. “You two guard the door, make sure no one gets in not even if it Taryst, especially not Taryst,” he turned to the remaining two, “you guys check the room make sure there isn't any hidden bugs! Make sure you are damn thorough you got that?”

I stood shocked, my jaw open dumbly but the four Stormtroopers didn't hesitate they simultaneously saluted with yes sirs! Then swiftly moved to their appointed tasks. Olinthre then turned to me his face distinctly lightening, “these are men I know I can trust Attelus, they are loyal to me, over Barhurst or even Taryst.” “But how can you tell?” I blurted out. “What?” “How can you tell that they are the men that you trust if you can't even see their faces? For all you know they could easily be someone else.” The captain smiled and shrugged, “true, but I choose to have faith and believe that they are who they say they are.” My jaw set slightly at his mention of “faith.” Faith was an utterly idiotic concept that didn't, ever, fit within the realms of reality. The door into Vex's office opened and one of the Stormtroopers stuck his head out, nodding to us the all clear. Olinthre nodded back, “lets go.” We both began our approach and it was then I realised that none of even the nearby serfs had ever noticed the presence of the six fully armed and armoured figures in their midst and I could not help but shake my head in contempt. I walked into the room just after Olinthre and one of the Stormtroopers abruptly closed the door behind us. A few of the large cogitators had been pulled from the walls and moved about and the room was almost a complete mess, most of it being snack junk food packaging and Vex stood among it his face contorted in anger. “Frig it Olinthre!” he yelled with alarming force, “your men didn't have to be so rough with my equipment! Do you have any idea how much this all costs!” “I apologise,” said Olinthre calmly as he ripped off his leather gloves, “I didn't want to do it but you know who we are up against and the precautions we must go through to make sure we survive, and frig who taught you such dirty language?” Vex stood simmering then he turned his back to us and began to work furiously on one of his cogitators.

“I see you have Attelus with you,” said Vex quickly. “Yes I believe we can trust him.” I could not help but flinch the words cutting deeper than I cared to admit. “Okie dokie if you think so, you're the one who's got the gun and the soldiers so I can't complain can I?” Both Olinthre and I glanced at each other each of us assuming the question to be rhetorical. I could not help but see that Vex had changed he seemed a whole lot tougher with the way he was talking to Olinthre, he used to be far more timid and shy. Far, far more timid and shy and I could not help think that my assault might have something to do with this new character development. “But I'm guessing,” carried on the young hacker quickly, “I'm guessing the reason you choose to trust him was because of what he did at the Twilight bar is that it?” “Could be,” replied Olinthre with a smile that seemed to suggest he was humouring the kid. “Okie dokie then now are we tell him of our findings then?” I stood there a little confused, why wasn't Vex mad at me? Why wasn't he demanding for an apology? It was the very least that he deserved. “Yes," said Olinthre turning to me, “what you said a few hours ago piked my interest so I decided to hire Vex here and begin my own investigation.” “Yes that he did,” confirmed Vex needlessly, “but be honest it was more than just that wasn't it?” Olinthre sighed, “yes, yes it was ever since you were forced into coma few things have gone... ” “Awry?” I finished turning to Olinthre, it was the first word I uttered since walking in. The major nodded, “ever since that night the psyker under our employ, Karmen Kons, she has gone missing, just disappearing seemingly and Taryst refuses to explain why or to sanction any sort of search for her.” Olinthre looked nervous, “also he granted permission for your master Mamzel Glaitis to call for that psyker to heal you, even though he had a very strict edict right from very the start of this operation that Karmen Kons would be the only one to use any psychic

abilities among us, my suspecting something wrong was there but you made me act on it.” “As well as that we have received no word from Colonel Barhurst after he left for the recruitment drive,” added in Vex. Olinthre nodded, “that's right, usually we'd be getting very accurate and daily reports from the colonel, I always suspected he did it to make sure that we didn't forget about him but this time, nothing.” I listened intently to this information but I could not shake a nagging feeling of familiarity at the name “Karmen Kons” so that was the name of the faceless behind the scenes psyker, and it wasn't even a cadre as I had initially thought but just one woman, apparently. “How many people know of this information?” I asked, placing my chin between my thumb and fore finger. Olinthre and vex glanced at each other, “as you know of the psychic ban, everyone,” said the major, “of Karmen Kons and her operations only me, Barhurst and Taryst and of her disappearance only me and Taryst. Barhurst's communications only come to Taryst and me, Vex only knows this because I told him earlier.” “You also must know the secret behind the psychic blocks then?” I asked. At that question Olinthre's face immediately turned white as chalk, “y-yes,” he sighed, “I knew that someone would find out eventually, I don't know the technical crap but I know they are designed to block out almost any intrusion but...” “But-but what?” said Vex. “But for one psyker they can be bypassed,” explained Olinthre, “only Karmen Kons can get through the block and not just that but she finds it easier, it allows her to read thoughts without expelling as much energy as she would normally.” “How are they implanted into the mind?” I asked barely holding back a triumphant smile, I was right! Finally right about something through all this convoluted crap! “I don't know,” Olinthre sighed, “all that I know is that she does it, somehow.” This also begs another question, how could have these blocks gone unnoticed by the Omnartus Verispex technicians of the local Adeptus Arbites when they had studied the dead bodies we left behind? How hadn't they been tracked back to Taryst and his private army? Not just that but how was Edracian able to talk to me through my thoughts if my mind was blocked? Was mind talking a different thing than reading thoughts?

“As far I know,” said Olinthre interrupting my train of thought, “the only minds inaccessible from Karmen Kons are mine, Taryst's and Barhurst's.” I nodded, briefly checking my wrist chron, it had been roughly three quarters of an hour since I was dumped out of Edracian's vehicle, I still had some time, I hoped. “Alright I can see why your suspicion was peeked,” I said, “but why are you telling me this now? Is there something else? Something that Vex found perhaps?” “It was indeed, first I have to inform you that I don't have complete access to Taryst's systems his own personal ones to be precise so I attempted to hack into his database.” “Also,” said in Olinthre, “the cameras in his elevator the feed can only be viewed by him.” “I don't know who had installed the security of Taryst's files but it is good, very, very, very good maybe even the best I have ever seen, maybe it was a priest of the mechanicum that would be the only explanation that I could think of but I am me and me being me the genius that I am I was able to access some of Taryst's data base.” “Did you find the surveillance feeds?” I asked. “No! No no no no! That would take along time, for anyone else it would take months but for me a week or two but I was able to gain access to the log of retinal scans, which are also only accessible to him for the people accessing his floor for the past few months.” “Hmm, right,” I said. A grin spread over Olinthre's face, “as far as we know,” said the major, “only once he has left his suite and that was to briefly visit you Attelus while you were in coma.” Vex turned back to us “I have also checked into the medicae logs and found that Taryst had in fact arrived at exactly the right time that would take for him to walk from the elevators to the medicae bay.” My jaw set slightly, wondering were the hell this was all this was going. Next to Vex's cogitator a printer suddenly began to print off something, the elevator log I could only presume and the young hacker reached over and tore off the paper and handed it to me. “Look at the local calendar the eighteenth day of the month of Estarius and the time of 2:53.56.24.”he said.

I complied reeling hurriedly through the well organised and precise log and saw something which made my heart turn into ice and my hands went clammy with sweat. “It's-it's,” I managed. “Yes, yes it is,” said Olinthre grimly. There it was as clear as day the retinal scan wasn't actually recorded as belonging to Taryst. It was Barhurst's. I looked back up to Olinthre my eyes wide and I could imagine my face being even paler than normal. “Have you actually seen Taryst over the past few months?” I asked, “has he been even more recluse than normal.” “That's the thing,” said Olinthre, “While he still never leaves his quarters he still talks openly to the investigation squads and myself, his mannerisms are the exact same nothing has changed except for his decisions. Clenching my teeth I shook my head, “you are aware, that while we are having this highly confidential conversation this Karmen Kons could easily be listening in. That Taryst could have feigned her disappearance to draw out anyone conspiring against him…Like us.” Olinthre shrugged, “I know, but I don't care, if she truly knew, something would have happened right after I talked to Vex earlier, for all I know she could be dead.” The corner of my mouth twitched in contempt, how typical of a solider to think so simplistically. Of course Edracian had claimed earlier that this Karmen Kons had been injured by my colleagues during the Twilight bar incident, but it would be wise to take everything that deranged Inquisitor claims with a grain of salt. I sighed and shrugged, placing the paper on a nearby cogitator, “for all our sakes I hope you're right, frig it.” I could easily see where this was leading. With this development perhaps I could “encourage” good Olinthre to go up to “Taryst's” condo and confront the rogue trader, the major taking me with him of course. From there I could get access to this mysterious door. Finally for the first time in along time it seemed luck was on my side for a change.

Atleast I hoped it was luck, this seemed to smack of something that Glaitis had cooked up behind the scenes and perhaps she knew of my kidnapping and deal with Edracian, but she hadn't tried to stop me yet. “So,” I said, attempting to push the conversation where I wanted it to go, “what are we going to do now?” Olinthre's square jaw set in determination, “we're going up there and we're going to ask Taryst what the hell is going on.” I barely held back a smile, everything was all according to plan, yess. “What, now?” asked Vex perplexed, “b-but don't we need a plan first?” “You don't need to worry Vex,” said Olinthre, “because you are staying right here, I can't have your death on my conscience if anything should happen.” “And make no mistake, something, will happen,” I said with complete certainty. Olinthre gave me a sidelong glare, a look which seemed to show his complete disbelief that someone so young could be so cynical. He can think it's cynicism, I prefer to call it pragmatism. Vex shook his head a slight smile on his face, “no I didn't expect that you would want me to come with you, I would very much get in the way.” “In fact,” said Olinthre his attention still on me, “I am leaving my men here to protect you Vex.” My eyes widened in disbelief as did Vex's and the two so far silent Stormtroopers glanced at one another. “But-!” “No Attelus,” interrupted Olinthre then he turned to the Stormtroopers, “Aithyre, Geron, Daveth, Rayle they have been good soldiers, no great soldiers I will not put their lives on the line for this crap, I wont, I just wont.” I opened my mouth to argue to say that if we went up there and if anything happened that Taryst would surely find out about their involvement and kill them anyway, that it was idiotic that we could use all the help we could get. But I could tell that to argue was pointless Olinthre had that determined look again he would brook no argument. Olinthre turned to me, “sorry Attelus it's just you and me I'm afraid.”

My jaw clenched, “let's get this over and damn well done with then,” I growled. The major smiled down at me, “lets,” and he began to walk to the door, but I stood still my attention to the floor, shoulders hunched and shacking as I began to work up the courage. “Attelus?” Olinthre asked. “I'm sorry!” I finally blurted out, “I'm sorry about what I did Vex, I had no right, I was a jerk and a complete frig head I'm sorry, I truly am.” Vex didn't reply for a while, I was already sweating profusely the small space with so many Cogitators stuffed in it made the place as hot as a furnace, but I was somehow sweating even worse now, my body glove's internal heat dampeners didn't seem to help at all. “You were a jerk,” agreed the young hacker and I let out a long sigh of relief, not realising that I had held my breath the whole time, “and no I don't forgive you.” My attention snapped straight to Vex, as much as it sucked to hear those words I knew that he had every right not to. “I-I understand,” I stammered and turned to leave. “But!” exclaimed Vex causing me to stop in my tracks, “but I will forgive you on one condition.” I could not help sigh in relief and turn back to the hacker, “name it.” “Only if you let me punch you in the face as hard as I can.” My eyes widened, that was it? That was all? It was then I was reminded how young Vex was. only someone of such youth would think that was enough retribution for such treatment. I almost felt guilty, while I knew that a thin person could be just as powerful and strong fighter as much as someone twice their size, Vex was not at all trained and I have been punched in the face many times in my life, I could not help suspect that Vex's would barely even hurt at all. Swallowing I said, “h-how about three punches to the face Vex perhaps that would suffice more?”

Vex grinned and I knew that grin well, it was one which I had also worn on many occasions it was when someone knew that they were being underestimated, “nope I think one'll do.” I frowned and nodded, scratching the back of my head “hmm, okay, fire away but do you mind if I close my eyes?” Vex's grin widened, “why, are you scared?” My reply was a brief nod, hell yes I was scared. Scared that if my were eyes open when Vex tried to punch, my self defense instincts would take over and the poor kid would end up with a broken arm, or worse Vex shrugged, “sure I don't see why not.” Closing my eyes I lent forward, giving Vex a clear shot. Then the punch came, with no fanfare or ceremony and he hit me right in my cheek bone with surprising strength. Sharp pain abruptly flared through my face and I was sent sprawling to the floor so fast that I was barely able to stop myself from smashing my nose into the hard rockcrete. He somehow had hit me harder than Edracian's mook did earlier. Still on the floor I turned back to Vex, my eyes wide with shock and clutching my face, that was going to leave one hell of a bruise. But it truly was the least I deserved. Vex was smirking triumphantly down at me as one of Olinthre's men approached and abruptly pulled me back to my feet. Woozy I clung to the Stormtrooper. I was woozy? woozy! How the hell could this kid hit so damned hard! Vex grinned, “apology accepted Attelus Kaltos,” I nodded still holding my face, “th-thanks.” “I bet you are wondering why it hurt so much, right?” Yes, I thought, but said nothing. “Garrakson had taught me how to punch while you were in coma” said Vex, “that was nice of him, wasn't it?” “Yeah, real nice of him,” I said sarcastically.

Both Olinthre and I exited Vex's office, only pausing briefly for the major to order the Stormtroopers to stay put and say some other, supposedly inspiring hold the line crap. We walked on through the cavern of cogitators, me sulking silently while still holding my cheek and Olinthre studying Vex's print out intently. As we entered the corridors and out of the deafening crashes of the serfs Olinthre said to me absently; "you really shouldn't keep touching you're face like that Attelus, it wont help you at all." My sidelong glare was the only reply which Olinthre got. The major smiled, seemingly quite enjoying my suffering. "Fine be that way but I have to warn you Attelus, if you were in the Imperial Guard and acted that way-" "What would happen?" Olinthre grinned, "well you would just have to sign up to find out wouldn't you?" The corner of my mouth twitched then I turned my attention back forward. "So Attelus how long have you worked as an Assassin for?" asked Olinthre out of the blue. "Why?" I growled, quickly realizing that this sounded allot like small talk. "Why? Because I'm just interested that's all." I Looked at him, trying to detect a reason behind this but came up with nil that was what it exactly seemed to be, small talk. With a shrug I answered, "just made seven years now, how long have you worked for Taryst?" Olinthre frowned he was still studying that sheet, "around ten years, hmmm." "What is it?" Olinthre suddenly stopped in his tracks and looked straight at me, "frig," he said, "that is one hell of a bruise you've got there Attelus." I raised an eyebrow, "What?"

"Yeah, man, the kid got you good, yeah. It's all big and blue, we better see medicae Feuilt." This was an act that much was blatant but why would he want to see Feuilt? And if we did this it would just use up even more of my precious time. I sighed, "yeah okay, maybe he'll bandage it or something." The major smiled and we moved on. "So what is your home planet?" asked Olinthre after a few moments of silence. My brow furrowed, wondering where the hell this line of questioning was going, it was strange I don't think that anyone has ever actually asked where I came from before. "E-Elbyra," I answered hesitantly, thinking that maybe I should not be giving out this information so freely. Olinthre's eyes widened, "Ah! Elbyra! The small Agri world I know it actually." My eyebrows raised in surprise, "really, have you been there?" The major shook his head, "no, no actually I should re-phrase, I know of Elbyra, the way I found about the planet was because I once served along side the Velrosian first regiment during my time in the guard." I nodded, Elbyra was only recently taken in by the Imperium it would be just over three hundred years ago, as I could recall from school, we Elbyrans attempted to resist at first in particular the country of Maranger who have always been war like but we were still a little primitive we where really a feudal world then and so it didn't take long before we where under the fold, it wasn't until twenty years ago that the entirety of Elbyra raised their first regiments of Imperial Guard, one drawn from each country on the huge continent; Velrosia, Maranger, Galak Heim, Despasia, Terluin, Haellestein and Amagrin. "It was in my last year in the guard," said on Olinthre, "my regiment were fighting Orks on the planet Belfost and the Velrosians were sent into help us, the famous "first amongst equals" at first we all scoffed at the arrogance of the title but quickly I saw it was justified. They were good, very good one of the best regiments I have ever worked with actually, well disciplined, reliable and their general he was a hard bastard. Tathe was his name and he actually had a son working inside the regiment as a commissar, apparently his father forced him into the scolar progneium when he was young, Delan Tathe he was an arrogant little punk, but very skilled with a blade, you kind of remind me of him actually." My jaw set slightly, "thanks," I said, it was kind of funny at how such a large galaxy could feel so small at times.

I smiled and said, "The Velrosian 1st really have made a name for themselves over the last twenty years, my country seems to breed natural warriors. Around thousand years ago Olinthre, Velrosia fought the far larger and numerically advantageous invading Maranger to a stand still, a war which lasted over four decades before Velrosia was finally overwhelmed. But it was barely after a year of occupation when the Velrosian rebels led by the young and now legendary prince, Royd Antares they ousted Maranger and Royd slaying the corrupt Maranger king Voltarin in single combat." "Although that great act of heroism would lead to events that no one could ever have foreseen. The legend of King Royd of Velrosia was a sad tale which ended in utter tragedy, but that still doesn't stop all Velrosian children wanting to be him growing up, myself included of course, my love for sword mastery and hand to hand combat was in part, because of that legend." That and my father making me learn of course. The corner of my mouth twitched slightly, wondering why I had just suddenly said all that information. it has been along time since I talked of my home. Olinthre smiled and nodded as we walked out of the corridors and into the elevator lobby. "And where are you from major?" I asked. "Cadia," answered Olinthre simply. My eyebrows raised in surprise, I knew of Cadia of course, the mighty fortress world which guards the only navigational route too and from the Eye of Terror. The Cadian Imperial Guard regiments where amongst the most well known and lauded in the whole of the Imperium so that Olinthre would know of and praise the Velrosian 1st so highly was certainly something to be proud of. That's if the good major was telling the truth of course. Olinthre pushed the elevator call button and turned back to me. "I served in the 266th regiment for a good ten years with Garrakson under my command as a sergeant." That surprised me also, I had no idea that both Garrakson and Olinthre were from the same planet, let alone the very same regiment. Olinthre shook his head, "that was the best decade of my life, don't get me wrong we all went through hell that's for sure but the brotherhood we shared, the friendships we developed Attelus war is a terrible, terrible thing but nothing else could ever bind comrades together so well."

"There is only war," I could not help intone under my breath. Olinthre sighed sadly, "yes I can't disagree with you on that." "It was hard to see your comrades slowly whittle away Attelus, to die off, sometimes one by one, sometimes even by the dozens. You must have an idea by now, your squad was much larger when you first started fighting in this complete and utter farce." The major's face suddenly contorted in horrible rage while his eyes watered with barely contained tears, "but to have your entire regiment, the friends! The comrades who you have fought side by side for years on countless battlefields! To have them all slaughtered right in front of your eyes like they were cattle, you can't imagine what that is like!" His sudden outburst made me flinch in fright and I could only stand around like an idiot, not knowing what to say. Olinthre sighed again, "I-I'm sorry for that Attelus, I didn't mean to-" Olinthre was interrupted by the arrival of the elevator and we slipped inside. We went up a few floors before Olinthre finally said, "Taryst saved us from that hell hole Attelus, he saved me and Garrakson from being slaughtered just like the rest of our regiment and for that I truly respect him, and for that I owe him everything. I was always prepared to die for the Emperor but not in that way, but not that way." "And for that I will always be ashamed, I am a coward Attelus I should have died in duty along with my comrades but yet here I am. Working as a soulless mercenary for an ugly and back stabbing corporation that really shouldn't exist, but now it's time to face up like you did with Vex, it's time to finally, truly face up to my mistakes." I nodded and that was all I was capable of.

I winced as Feuilt dabbed my sore cheek with a wet piece of cotton. "Yeeep," he said, "young man you are going to have one frig of a bruise." My jaw twitched and I glared accusingly at the grinning Olinthre, really is that why we came up here, just so Feuilt could state something I already knew? "Actually," said on the medicae, "you are lucky that you didn't break your zygomatic bone, that was one hell of a punch." "Well the person who threw it has being practising at the art non stop over the last month," I growled and flinched again as more pain coursed through my face.

Feuilt's eyes widened, "what just so they could do this to you? What did you do to warrant such retribution?" I frowned and furrowed my brow, bemused at the medicae's apparent ignorance. "Well I guess it doesn't matter," sighed Feuilt, "just be careful, two injuries so quickly one after the other, just try, be, a, little, bit, less, clumsy next time." He dabbed between each pause and I could not help bristle slightly at being called clumsy, I wasn't clumsy, I was never clumsy. "Alright," said the medicae as he got up and turned to a nearby draw pulling out a bandage, pulled off the adhesive tape then planted onto my face. "Just wear that for the next few days," he said, "it will keep down the swelling and help prevent the bruising, I'll give you a few more if this one ever falls off." "Thanks doc," I said, sounding more grudging than intended. Feuilt shrugged, "yes young man, just make sure you don't come back for any time soon, okay?" I nodded and briefly played with the idea to tell Feuilt of the poison injected into my system but quickly declined the notion, Edracian could be watching me even now and I didn't know what kind of poison it was. There was a few kinds that I could name off the top of my that would kill a man in a few hours but here I was dealing with an assassin from the Venenum temple and their knowledge of poisons was unrivalled through out the Imperium, it was very likely that Feuilt would have no clue what it was at all. Feuilt nodded back then turned to Olinthre, "so major now will you tell me why you are here as well?" Olinthre was leaning against the wall with his arms folded over his chest and he pushed himself off. "Yes I will Feuilt, something has come to my interest recently," said Olinthre and he held up the print off of the retinal scans to the medicae. My eyes widened, what was he doing? Why was he telling this to Feuilt? Feuilt's brow furrowed in bemusement, "where are you getting at major?" "This, my friend," said Olinthre, "is a print off from the records of people who have used their retinal ID to access Taryt's condo over the past month."

The medicae frowned deeply, still confused he slipped on a pair of spectacles and took the sheet, studying it intently. "Yes it is," agreed Feuilt, "but what does this have to do with me?" My eyes widened as it suddenly hit me, "because you've been going up there to treat Taryst's injured psyker!" I blurted out without thinking. Both Feuilt's and Olinthre's attentions snapped at me, their expressions both amazed and confused. "H-how did you know that?" stammered Feuilt. I winced, internally cursing my idiocy then my face went bright red and I scratched the back of my head, "uhm a lucky guess, I guess." It was a terrible lie, I know. But I barely held back a sigh of relief as Olinthre returned his suspicious gaze back to the bemused medicae, "so you admit it then? As the records show you have been visiting Taryst far more than normal over the last month." It was Feuilt's turn to sigh, "yes, yes I do admit to it Olinthre as you know I go up once a week to give Taryst his weekly juvenant treatment, but…" "But this time was different?" I asked and immediately regretting it as Olinthre's attention briefly snapped straight at me again, damn it! Why the hell did I always feel so inclined to finish people's sentences! "But…Yes this was different young man, Taryst actually took me through that large door in his quarters, in there he is keeping an extremely injured psyker, a woman by the name of Karmen Kons, he told me to treat her and to keep it a secret." Olinthre looked at the medicae with extreme incredulity and said, "but! But! How!? Not even I'm allowed through that frigging door and why wasn't I told what had happened to her!" Feuilt raised his hands in a protective motion as it seemed for a second there that Olinthre would strike the medicae. "You must understand major, I was not informed of such information but it does not end there." "And what the hell does 'It does not end there,' mean?" yelled Olinthre. The medicae didn't flinch facing down the angry ex-guardsman with admiral courage, "when I was first taken to her she was unconscious due to head trauma, but I was

ordered to keep her in coma via a drug named Diporisan which needed to be injected every two days, that is why my retinal scan is logged in at every second day." "I don't understand," I said interrupting anything that Olinthre was to say, "why didn't you give Taryst some syringes so he could do it himself?" But what I was really thinking was why Taryst would want to keep his little psyker in coma and the reason why I asked such a small question was because I wanted to take Olinthre's thoughts away from it. Perhaps the psyker had found something? Or did something wrong during the raid on the Twilight bar? Feuilt shrugged, "I don't know but I am guessing that he suspected no one but himself would be able to see the records so my visitations would not rouse suspicion." That made my eyes widen, if this was such a secret then how did Edrasian's spy find out? The spy who seemingly worked for Glaitis or was there someone else in Taryst's organisation? "Well they have now," growled Olinthre. Feuilt turned back to Olinthre, "so I am curious, how is it then you got your hands on those records, major?" "That is none of your business, medicae." "Alright then," sighed Feuilt, "I don't know how you got your hands on that information but I can still tell Taryst that you have it, so do not intend to get angry at me again Olinthre!" A wolfish, predatory grin spread across Olinthre's face, "well it doesn't matter if you do, medicae as the three of us are about to say a little hello to the good rogue trader right now, isn't that right Attelus?" "Yes, that's right," I agreed and I paused as I realised, "wait, what do you mean 'us three'?" I asked. "Because Attelus Kaltos, because good medicae Feuilt here will be accompanying us, isn't that right Feuilt?" Feuilt's face grimaced in utter rage but it was quickly gone, turning into a look of defeat, "yes, yes I will be accompanying you major." Olinthre grinned that grin again, "good!" he said brightly, "lets go then, shall we?"

We silently rode the elevator up to Taryst's penthouse me standing with both Olinthre and Feuilt on my flanks. Earlier on our walk from the medicae I asked Feuilt with as much casual interest I could feign, if he had seen anything behind that door, anything of any interest, but the only answer I got was that the door actually led to an elevator that went down into an underground bunker that he hadn't been shown much of the bunker at all. Perhaps he was lying but I didn't want to push the medicae for more information with Olinthre around, the ex-guardsman's suspicion of me was high enough as it was already. With the thought of the ex-guardsman I could not help but steal a sidelong glance at Olinthre, my jaw twitching slightly. Perhaps I should've pointed out the pure hypocrisy of Olinthre making poor Feuilt come with us, Feuilt who in all essence who had done nothing wrong he was just following orders. But me being the complete coward I am my mouth kept shut not wishing to force any confrontation with Olinthre, I needed to stay on his good side him being my only true ally in this idiotic endeavor. Well how "true" Olinthre was as an ally has yet to be elaborated on I would be keeping an eye on the major after his tirade with poor Feuilt I was beginning to wonder about his mental health. I then looked sidelong to the medicae who stood as emotionless as he was motionless, he hadn't complained at all about the unfair position he was in. But as I had said earlier life was unfair and I couldn't help but respect the medicae for his apparent stoicism. I sighed slightly and reached into the pocket of my flak jacket for a smoke while tapping the tip of my shoe against the floor, very much unlike the good medicae my nerves where really getting to me the entire ride I fidgeted in one way or another while wholly ignoring the annoyed looks from the major and medicae. The attempt at retrieving my Lhos was far harder than it should've been my shaking fingers fumbling to find the little ceramic case which caused me to curse a couple of times under my breath. Finally I managed to tug out the case and opened it with a flick of a thumb then began to search for my lighter.

"You aren't going to smoke that are you?" growled suddenly Olinthre at my back which made me flinch in fright. "And I hope that you are aware of the dangers to your health of smoking Lho," said Feuilt, "or of the potential effects for both Olinthre and myself when you smoke in such close proximity to us in here-." "Yeah, yeah," I interrupted while hurriedly slipping my away my Lho's, really not wanting to hear much more of the medicae's tirade. "Are you a bit nervous Attelus?" asked Feuilt. "Yeah just a little," I said sarcastically, "we are about to confront the leader of huge multi planet business franchise who has a huge army at his beckon call and may or may not already want us dead and may or may not have lost his mind so I am a little bit nervous, yes." Feuilt smiled, "I understand we all have our ways of dealing with our anxiety Attelus, you I see deal by fidgeting and by displaying extreme sarcasm which is not uncommon for others your age and the smoking of Lho of course." I sighed again, "so are we a psychologist now as well?" Feuilt smiled wider, "why I've dabbled although I doubt it would take a genius to figure that out." "Of course you have," I said, "and what is your way of dealing with anxiety medicae?" "My faith," he answered without hesitation. My jaw set at the medicae's response, first frigging Olinthre now Feuilt both being idiotic believers in "faith", a smile spread across my face and I looked up at the cameras looming over us and said; "Whatever happens, happens." Before either Olinthre or Feuilt could respond the elevator had stopped its ascent and again the automated voice announced in it's atypical monotone “300th story; Master Taryst’s living quarters restricted access retinal scan required." Wordlessly Olinthre unslung his las gun approached the retinal scanner and placed his face into the machine while I still watched the cameras with great interest wondering whether Taryst was watching, watching us assend to potentially usurp him. I drew my auto pistol from my chest holster, racked the slide and turned to Feuilt, "stay behind us Feuilt."

The medicae's exterior of apathy was gone, his nod of reply very nervous. “Employee 106; identified as Toron Olinthre” said the computer, "Access granted." We all quickly stepped into the sides of the elevator in case of any immediate retaliatory gun fire from Taryst's bodyguards. But there was nothing. I glanced questionably at Olinthre who with a similar quizzical look, nodded back and together with guns raised we slipped out of the elevator and into the corridor beyond. What we saw as we stepped into that red, overly pretentious corridor made my jaw drop and Olinthre bark out in disbelief. She stood at the end, kneeling over the corpses of both Taryst's bodyguards seemingly studying them intently. "You!" roared the ex-guardsman, "how in the Emperor's name did you get up here?" Elandria was suddenly on her feet and she eyed each of us blankly, "I was allowed," she answered. Both Olinthre and I had her completely covered but I could not help but feel a little unnerved, what was she doing here? Was this Glaitis making her move? "Did you kill those men?" demanded Olinthre his tone betraying his own nervousness. Slowly, Elandria looked over her shoulder at the two dead men behind her as though only just realising they were there, "no," she answered, "they were both already dead when I arrived." Scarily without a shadow of a doubt I knew she was telling the truth and that made me all the more nervous. Suddenly, seeming from no where Elandria grinned her evil grin and her attention snapped straight to me. "This is it Attelus Kaltos," she said. "This is it for what El?" I asked. "Finally we will see who is truly the better of us," Elandria said as she slowly almost theatrically drew Setsukia and Katrina. I kept my pistol firmly trained on her, "I don't want to fight you, Elandria."

"Oh but you do," she laughed darkly, "you are just as interested as I am in seeing who is the superior one, I know it." "Glaitis has ordered you to kill me hasn't she?" I asked. "That is mamzel Glaitis Attelus Kaltos, and yes the master did order your death so I will not be holding back." "Well I wouldn't have it any other way," I said and opened fire. Almost faster than the eye could follow she dodged the bullet swaying sideward’s and her somersault carried her lithe body out of the trajectory of both my following shots. Olinthre had no time to react before she had crossed the distance between us and I in vain emptied my pistol at her acrobatic form. She flew at me in a horrifically powerful butterfly kick which would have taken my head off if I hadn't managed to just duck underneath. My sword suddenly drawn I slashed horizontally, attempting to catch the young woman in mid flight but she dodged; twisting out of harms way with impossible grace. She landed perfectly and followed on by pirouetting into a massive hook kick which forced me into a back step, her heel barely missing my nose. Elandria kept up her offence; thrusting forward Katrina at my guts, a thrust which I abruptly side stepped and countered with a horizontal slash, an attack that she cart wheeled just out of range from but her dodge was also an attack as she attempted to shatter my jaw with her feet. I swayed away and slid into a vertical slash which would have sliced her skull cleanly in two if she hadn't parried with Setsukia then countered by cutting with Katrina. My dodge was a desperate leap back while simultaneously ejecting a knife from my sleeve and throwing it straight at her face at point blank range. Elandria knocked my projectile out of mid air with almost contemptuous ease and lunged forward, easily making the distance while spinning in mid air into a vertical blow which was far to powerful for me to parry so I instead sidestepped, sliding nimbly around her while cutting at her back. Elandria leaned low, just under the blow and swept her leg out in an attempt to take my feet out from underneath me but I danced over the kick and stomped down at her. She rolled out the way, across the carpet and into a feline like crouch, her dead, drugged up eyes looking up at me under a furrowed brow. "It looks as though your time in bed hasn't effected your speed, " she growled, getting back to her full height.

I grinned through my gasps that little skirmish would have lasted less than a second or two but already it had worn me down a bit. "Well that's me," I said, "the Autarch Speedyrificus." Elandria raised an eyebrow, "what?" "Nothing!" I replied quickly, wondering what the hell I had said as well. Then without hesitation Elandria was lunging at me again. I slipped from the path of the slicing Katrina then weaved underneath the stabbing Setsukia. My counter was a quick short slash, slashing up toward her ribs She span sidewards out of the path of my attack, it was yet another fanciful dodge but over the past six months I'd like to think that I learnt allot about Elandria's fighting style, I knew that her spins, her flips, her cartwheels and such were usually far to fast for me to take advantage of the openings they create and I knew they weren't just for show, either, that she used them to build momentum which added much more power to her strikes, it was a deadly mix of speed and power that made her such an exceedingly deadly enemy. Elandria spun into a stroke with Setsukia, the blurring blade arcing in a decapitating cut that I kept clear of by back stepping. Against an offensive dual wielder with her speed I wasn't ready to risk a parry I didn't want to open myself to one of her following blows or even be potentially disarmed. She flowed into a high front kick that I side stepped, I would have loved to slice my sword straight into her leg then but again she proved to be far too quick. Clenching my teeth I stepped into the offence, slashing out horizontally with my sword an attack which Elandria parried with Katrina and she flowed with the blow, turning her hips and augmenting my attack in an attempt push me off balance to impale myself on the tip of Setsukia. I would have been surprised if not running on instinct, it was the type of defence I used and so the appropriate counter had been drilled into me over and over again by my father along time ago. In the blink of an eye I pulled my blade back reposting into a blindly fast over head vertical slash that Elandria barely blocked with both her blades. A smile spread across my face at seeing the surprised look on her beautiful features, then I kicked out with my boot knife straight at her knee. On hind sight it was foolish of me to think that she wouldn't have anticipated the attack, I had gained much knowledge of her style and so had should she of me.

This I found out the hard way as she suddenly slipped sideways pulling her blades from the block and just managing to dodge my crippling kick, luckily my skill had prevented me from putting to much pressure on my sword otherwise I would have been over balanced and open to her counter cut so with a desperate defence I knocked aside Katrina a mere millimetre before the short sword sliced through my guts. Elandria's second attack was a thrust, the tip of Setsukia moving so fast straight at my face that the sword seemed to phase into reality and I leaned away. My dodge was quick enough to keep Setsukia from impaling my skull but not quick enough to prevent it opening an ugly, gigantic gash across my cheek and tear off Feuilt's bandage. Crying out as the horrific pain spread I leapt back, away from any follow on that Elandria could muster then fell into a defensive stance. Elandria stood, her swords held limply at her sides grinning at me with that disturbing grin of hers. "You are slowing down," she stated. I could barely respond with the lull in the combat my fatigue was back at full force, my heart was thudding through my chest at a mile a minute and I couldn't stop gasping for breath, if only I was at full strength, if only I could breath properly. Elandria shrugged, "well you are weakened but even at your best Attelus Kaltos I am sure that I would win." "Dream, on," I managed and glanced briefly over my shoulder to check on Feuilt and Olinthre, who both stood frozen still with expressions of utter awe. "I don't want to fight you Elandria," I said, turning back to her. "Really, why did you try to shoot me then?" My jaw twitched slightly, so I don't have to waste my frigging time fighting you and I was aiming at your leg also, I thought, but said nothing finding it hard to think of a convincing lie. "So tell me El," I said in an attempt to change the subject, "did I save all those people at the Twilight bar?" "Not this again," she growled. My jaw set as sudden anger welled at the pit of my guts, "yes this again," I growled, "did I or didn't I? Now spit it out before I kill you." Her face turned grim, "I am not telling you so if you by some miracle actually kill me you will miss out on it."

"There are no miracles, there is only men," I said, suddenly recalling the quote although could not quite remember where it came from. She grinned again, "well if that is true then you are positively screwed." I grinned back, "then I am positively screwed I guess, but really, I don't mind that it would be you who screwed me." Elandria's face immediately turned a stark red, obvious in contrast to her deathly pale skin. I stepped forward looking her straight in the eyes, her drugged dead but somehow still beautiful brown eyes, "I-I don't want to fight you Elandria." "Why?" she asked. "Because I don't want to fight you!" I yelled. "Why don't you want to fight me?" "Because I don't want to kill you!" "Why don't you want to kill me?" My reply caught in my throat why was she pushing this? Damn it! I turned my attention to the floor unable to keep eye contact with her any more. "B-because I don't want you to die, Elandria." "Why Attelus don't you want me to die then?" she said softly. I glanced at her, why? Because you are so damn beautiful it hurts every time I look at you. "Just because!" I snapped. It was pathetic! But I couldn't, I just couldn't talk properly my heart leapt like it wanted to burst out of my chest, my throat had a huge lump in it, it was hard so, so hard. It was strange going from one second fighting her, to this, me struggling to confess-well I had no real idea what I wanted to confess exactly. She tilted her head slightly her pale face a mask of utter bemusement. "Why Attelus, why?"

"Because Elandria," I sighed, "I don't want you to die, it's because I know what you have been through." I paused trying to swallow back the lump in my throat, "and I know that you never had any choice in the matter, no choice to be what you wanted to be, to do what you wanted to do. That-that any real choice in your life was stolen from you when you were so young a-and you didn't deserve that Elandria, no one does, I-I want you to live so you could one day have your own life to escape this crap, to, to." My left hand clenched into a tight ball while the right gripped my sword's hilt all the harder, "and that maybe in your new life that I'd be able to be part of it, that I'd like be by your side to help you through I-I." I dropped my sword with an abrupt clatter and kicked it away. "W-what are you doing?" she demanded, her voice now high pitched almost scared, her expression of grim determination disappearing entirely into one of extreme uncertainty. "Giving you a choice Elandria," I answered, feeling tears welling in my eyes, "you can kill me or let me pass, but either way I know now that you truly aren't the monster that you claim to be, your uncertainty now is proof of that." Elandria was shacking in utter terror now and I could even see tears in her own eyes she had utterly no clue what to do, "Attelus..." I closed my eyes, "just make the choice Elandria, I wont fight it either way." "What the hell are you doing!" I heard Olinthre roar,"don't just give up you idiot!" I ignored him and despite my eyes being closed the tears now flowed freely. "I-I," stammered Elandria, "I don't understand, I-I just don't, why can't, why can't I do it? Why can't I kill you?" Then I heard a clatter as she dropped her own swords, "I-I can't." My eyes opened and was greeted for the first time Elandria cry and by the Emperor it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen as they weren't tears of sadness they were tears of joy, utter joy. In all honesty I had truly expected her to kill me that her years brainwashing and indoctrination would win so to see her Elandria some how over coming it was so astonishing I could not help stand in shock and awe and it filled me with such unbelievable hope, if she could do it then why couldn't I? Despite my self I approached her, pulling her into an embrace, she didn't fight only tightly embracing me back and sobbing raggedly into my chest

I held her all the more and it was then I truly realised that I loved her and she truly loved me too and the joy it brought was beyond description. The single gun shot roared, reverberating the very corridor to the core and Elandria suddenly gasped her eyes widening with shock and she collapsed so fast that I had no time to catch her. I just saw with dawning utterly numbing horror the huge ragged hole in her back. My shock was so strong I never saw Taryst slip back through the curtains at the end of the corridor, a smoking gun in his grasp neither did I hear Olinthre scream the rogue trader's name and run after him nor Feuilt sprint up to try help me with Elandria. I fell to my knees and slowly pulled her into my arms, turning her limp form over so I could look into those big brown beautiful eyes, it seemed so unreal I couldn't begin to comprehend. She smiled at me weakly, "you're so stupid," she whispered. "H-how?" I managed. "Th-that you didn't believe Castella when she said you saved all those people," her voice was barely a whisper now, "because you did save those people Attelus, you did." "Please don't talk El," I said wiping away my own tears with a fore arm, "t-try to save your strength." "Thank you Attelus Kaltos," she said ignoring my plea and she placed a soft hand against my cheek, "thank you for caring for me despite all I did, thank you for being the only one who-who." She never got to finish her sentence as her hand fell away and she gasped one last time then died still cradled in my arms. It must have been a good minute that I knelt and held her close, the world, everything was but a blur, my attention fixated down, down to the only girl I had ever really loved. I never loved Glaitis, no it was some form of sick, idiotic infatuation developed from her oppression, that both Taryst and I had mistaken for love. I felt nothing, not the tears flowing down my face or even Elandria's blood soaking through my clothes, it was unreal nothing was real. But no matter how long I held and looked down at her she was still dead, there was no miraculous opening of eyes, no abrupt gasp for air. I would've made an attempt at genuine resuscitation if I wasn't so brain dead. Or perhaps deep down I truly knew that it would be all for naught.

Feuilt was the one who brought me back to reality, the medicae actually having to grab me by the shoulders and physically shake me to do it. "She's dead," I said, never hearing Feuilt's yelling even though he was right in my face, "the bitch is dead." Feuilt's sudden backhand connected with my face, sending agony through my cheek. "If you loved her then don't you dare talk about her like that!" He yelled while flicking his hand to cope with the pain. I clutched my jaw, staring to the floor then sudden anger welled within me and my attention snapped straight up at the medicae. "Why the hell not!" I roared, "she was a bitch to die on me, how could she do this to me, how could she!?" "Do you actually think that this death was by her choice?" Snapped Feuilt with extreme exasperation, "are you so damned selfish and arrogant that you believe that she died on purpose to spite you? To make your life more miserable? What? To add more stupid melodrama to this retarded story of yours? Grow up!" "B-but she-!" "It was a bullet in the back!" He interrupted, "she never saw it coming Attelus! Even I could tell that she wanted more than anything to be with you! That she wanted to live! Get the hell over yourself!" He was right I was being idiotic, had my paranoia got so rampart that I would believe that she would do this on purpose? I felt physically sick at the very thought. Feuilt approached me and leaned down to take Elandria from my arms. "W-what do I do now?" I asked Feuilt. "Take Elandria, take her back to my clinic you are in no condition to do much else right now." I wordlessly nodded, looking away ashamed of my pathetic performance. "W-what about you?" "I am staying," said Feuilt, "Olinthre ran into Taryst's den someone needs to help him." "I-I loved her."

"I know Attelus, I know you did," said Feuilt, "now go." Nodding again I began to get to my feet but hesitated mid way. "No," I said. "Excuse me?" "I said no, Taryst did this, I need to know why and I need to make him pay." "But-!" "This isn't up for argument medicae," I interrupted calmly while giving him Elandria, "you're a good person Feuilt you deserve to live, I won't allow you to throw your life away, not for this." Feuilt looked like he was about to argue but stopped, nodded understanding and made for the elevator. "Don't die Attelus Kaltos," he said, "life is tough but you must live on, or let me reiterate, don't let yourself die." I looked over my shoulder, "I won't Feuilt, I swear it," I said and meant every word, I was a coward but not that much so. Then I went to collect my weapons. Cautiously with auto pistol raised I approached the curtains leading into Taryst's den. I was angry, I was more than angry, as white hot rage welled at the pit of my guts rage that I could barely hold it at bay. But I held back the urge to rush in blind, in all likelihood Taryst had heard my conversation with Feuilt so he must know very well that I was coming. Also I had learnt my lesson of the potential consequences of letting anger rule you after what happened with Vex. Near the curtains I stopped, clenched my teeth then in the blink of an eye my sword was drawn while holding up my pistol and with one clean arc the monomolecular enhanced edge sliced cleanly through the thick fabric. Quickly I covered the room with my pistol sweeping the gun professionally from left to right.

From what I could see the room was entirely empty, nothing had changed since my last time here, still with that marble fountain, the couches set around it, the small tables at each couch's end and that huge adamantium steel door on the opposite wall. Sheathing my sword I stepped inside, in a double handed grip my pistol still swayed back and forth, my gaze still searching for some semblance of life somewhere anywhere, there were a few places to hide I could see behind one of the couches or the fountain. My heart leapt in my chest as my anger was replaced by fear, I didn't like this at all something was truly wrong. The sudden crash behind me almost made me almost jump out of my skin and I spun to see. A shield had been turned on, a force shield that Taryst had installed in case of a fire fight in the corridor as obviously the red curtains wouldn't provide much cover for the rogue trader and a shield which was impossible for me to walk through unless I destroy the power source which I couldn't help believe to be at the bottom of that elevator behind that adamantium door. There would be no going back now. I turned back around. "Taryst I know you're there!" I yelled at the top of my lungs my patience already worn away, "come out and show yourself!" No answer. "Get out here now or I'll-!" "Or you will what Attelus?" Without hesitation my aim snapped straight to the voice's source, on my right side an area I could have sworn to be empty the last time I looked a mere second ago. My eyes widened as I saw who it was, "Olinthre!" The major stood his hands raised and empty and looking nervously at my raised pistol, "uhh yes it's me kid now could you lower that gun of yours." I didn't I kept it firmly trained on him, "What the hell happened Tolon? Where the hell's Taryst?"

Olinthre shrugged, "when I came in the place was empty, my guess is that he already went down the elevator to safety." "Did you turn on the shield?" "No Taryst must have, I wouldn't have a clue how to do it now could you please put down the gun Attelus." "No and how the hell did you just suddenly appear there? I could have sworn that no one was there a second ago." Olinthre smiled, "maybe it's your mind playing tricks on you Attelus, you've been through so much today why don't you just go home and rest." "I can't exactly do that as I am trapped in here," I smiled back, "now who the hell are you?" Olinthre's smile abruptly disappeared, "its me, Olinthre, who else could I be?" I shook my head, feeling pride well within my chest as it all just suddenly came together, as all the evidence just seemed to suddenly fall into place, "now it all makes sense, yess. This truly explains why Taryst changed his ideals, why it was Barhurst's retinal scan in the records instead of Taryst's, why Taryst ordered his prized psyker to be in a drug induced coma the answer is obvious really I'm just ashamed that I didn't think of it sooner it's because Taryst isn't really Taryst just like you aren't really Olinthre." The smile was just suddenly back on Olinthre's face, "oh you think you have it all figured out now do you?" Ignoring the obvious sarcasm I grinned, "indeed, so what are you exactly? Who are you working for?" I swallowed back the lump in my throat before I asked the last question, "and most importantly why the hell, did you kill Elandria?" Olinthre grinned evilly and shook his head, "foolish child, you think that you are so smart don't you?" Suddenly the major was no longer the major seemingly fazing from existence and Olinthre was replaced by...Me a perfect mirror image of me everything copied down from my flak jacket and thin build my pale skin and long brown hair. "Is this appearance more pleasing for you?" the new Attelus Kaltos asked me. I barely kept my composure, barely kept my pistol aimed, "w-what the hell are you?"

Attelus grinned back at me and said in a voice also my own, "why anyone you want me to be, so who do you want me to be? Oh I know!" My image fazed away and was replaced by the tall long limbed form of Glaitis, "hmmm young one now is this more pleasing now?" "I assume that you can turn invisible as well? That is how you appeared so suddenly, how long have you been masquerading as Taryst?" Glaitis shrugged, "I do not see any harm in telling you child it was since the night of the Twilight bar incident." "And before that you were Barhurst, were you always Barhurst?" The Glaitis thing smiled, "I was indeed Barhurst but only for the past half of a year." My heart thumped in my throat, "you could have killed me," I managed. "Excuse me young one you mutter I cannot quite understand what you said." "I-I said that you could've easily killed me before, why didn't you?" "Orders," answered not-Glaitis simply. "From who?" "Why she is standing right in front of you young Attelus Kaltos." "Glaitis? Glaitis is you're boss?" "Got it in one!" Said not-Glaitis, "did you not ever wonder why Glaitis had engineered the Twilight bar incident? And no it was not to plant listening devices, it was not even to capture that throne agent-" Then it hit me, "it was so we would draw out Taryst's psyker!" "Yes, so I could get a clear opening to Taryst without the psyker filth being there to get in my way, my mind may be unreadable for her but she still could have stopped me." "And Taryst?" Not-Glaitis grinned, "dead, his corpse is rotting down in the bunker as we speak, he never saw me coming."

I blinked my mouth agape, all this information, this revelation was almost to much I never imagined that all of this had happened behind the scenes, that Glaitis could out play Taryst so easily. "So you now understand young one we are indeed on the same side?" With those arrogant words my confusion was suddenly back into anger, "so if we are on the same side why, why the hell then did you kill Elandria!" I roared. "Again orders," answered not-Glaitis simply, "she was losing her edge she was no longer worthy of working for Glaitis so her life was forfeit." "What? So her finding her humanity made her expendable?" I yelled, "is that why?" "Essentially, yes." The rage was almost all consuming, my breaths were ragged gasps which hissed as air inhaled and exhaled through clenched teeth. "Tell me one reason why I shouldn't kill you right now," I snarled. The not-Glaitis shrugged still with that snide smile, "why young Attelus it would take allot less time to tell you the reasons why you should kill me." My gun still on the not-Glaitis I glanced at the adamantium door. "I presume you have access to that door?" For a second a bemused expression crossed not-Glaitis' face, "Of course I do, why do you care?" "Because I need you to take me down there." "Why?" "Because...Just because! Damn it!" I snarled as a plan was already forming in my mind, "now you should really be asking yourself do you or don't you want a bullet in your brain!" The Glaitis thing shook it's head, "you really do believe that you have the upper hand, don't you?" I grimaced about to reply when suddenly my pistol was gone from my grasp and flying across the room then the not-Glaitis punched me in the chest or what I believed to be a punch it was so fast I couldn't truly tell.

Raw pain erupted through my torso as the blow sent me head over heels, face first into the red carpet. Running on instinct I suddenly rolled into a crouch my sword suddenly drawn and searching the room for my enemy. It was gone the living quarters was once more empty. I sighed, now this was going to be one hard fight. Getting to full height, my ragged gasps echoed through the room my chest hurt like all hell and I could not help but suspect one of my ribs maybe broken. It could have been a killing punch if the thing had aimed at my centre, at my solarplexus so perhaps this truly proved that It was under orders not to kill me but I didn't want to kill It either It being the only one with access to the bunker where my objective still lay. Again I glanced around, this time in search for my lost pistol and I found it! lain on the floor next to the door but I had to immediately restrain myself from lunging for it knowing the Thing would be lying in wait using it as bait. "So!" I said, thinking that if I could make It talk, that It would give away Its position, "what did you do with Olinthre, kill him to?" "You will see," came Its reply immediately but the Things words seemed to echo from every corner which made me curse aloud, of course It'd know how to throw its voice, frig it! The thing laughed a halting unsettling sound that send shivers up my spine. My brow furrowed my teeth clenched and I spun, slashing out my sword in a sudden 180 degree arc. Nothing and I heard it laugh just a millisecond before the blow smashed into my back, sending waves of pain through me and crashing me back to the floor. "Sure keep that up," it said as I blindly attempted to attack in the general direction of the blow, "keep slashing into the air, wear yourself out, allowing me an easier target and I thought you were meant to be smart." In all honesty I was already worn out, my general lack of any apparent fitness and my brief but brutal fight with Elandria making sure of that.

The thought of Elandria made the rage all of a sudden rush back and with the pain temporarily forgotten I began to slowly get up. But then the viscous kick connected with my side sending more waves of agony through me and forcing me onto my side as I gasped for breath and coughed. "I maybe under orders not to kill you Attelus," it said, "but I am quite fond of loopholes-" It paused to kick me again, this time in the guts making me bend forwards. "-But mistress Glaitis never said that you could not be "half alive," did she?" another kick came this right in my crotch, complete agony tore through me, tears abruptly blurred my vision and I saw stars. I would have screamed out if not so winded. I rolled over, clutching myself and weeping openly, "I, don't, know," I whimpered, "but, there's, one, thing, I, do, know." "And what is that you pathetic little wretch?" I managed a shaky grin, "you, will, see." Again the things laughter echoed, "I truly doubt it child, but before I knock you unconscious there is one thing I would like to know." I didn't reply, I couldn't reply the agony was too great, sickness welled in my guts so greatly I was afraid that I would puke in any second and I could barely keep my eyes open. "Why do you want to go through that door so badly?" "Don't, you, know?" "Of course I don't know you stupid boy!" it snarled, "why would I be asking if I did?" "I, Don't, Know." "Tell me, if you do I will knock you out now and spear you any more pain." Despite myself I laughed although it sent more waves of pain I sniggered and said simply, "no." In the blink of an eye I slashed out my sword and again it cut though nothingness. But I didn't care it was more a gesture of defiance, to truly show I would never give up not now, not ever. "That wasn't my decision boy," it said, "and like every decision we all have to face the consequence of it, don't we?"

"Yes...yes...we...all do." Another attack came this one smashing painfully into my forearm, but now I was ready, keeping myself grounded against the force then cut out in its general direction but found more nothing. "I don't care how many times you hit me!" I roared, "I don't care if you break every bone in my body, I will make you pay." I smiled, "anyway I've already had all my bones shattered once before what's one more time then?" "Insolent child!" It snarled out as a sudden and powerful new instinct made me skid sidewards and back to my feet. I had just dodged it's attack, I just knew it and this was emphasized further by the few seconds of silence which followed. "I'll ask you once again, why do you want to enter into the bunker so badly Attelus?" It said, finally breaking the lull. "Why do you want to know so badly Thing?" I countered, now It was uncertain no longer brimming with such confidence and knowing that made me smile. "This is not a game child, answer the question." "No," and struck out but once more, nothing. "Foolish boy," it said then punched me in the face, my world turned white hot with pain and the attack opened the cut on my cheek even further. Dazed I still managed to strike back but again it proved futile. Its kick followed which impacted into my side, jarring me from head to toe and sending me stumbling a few steps and yes my counter was again ineffective. A fist smashed into my face, then another and another each making me see stars and feel more horrific pain. But even still I kept my footing, despite the agony, despite the black spots in my vision and wooziness again I countered and again it was for nothing. "Why wont you go down!" It growled and punched afterward the attack opening the cut along my cheek even more.

"Guess I'm tougher than you thou-" Another punch interrupted me, crashing painfully against my cheek but this one I couldn't keep my footing against. Too tired, too off balance and the impact flung me into one of the nearby tables but I managed to stop myself falling further, leaning against it for support. "Shut up!" It yelled, and punched at me once more. I moved, suddenly side stepping the punch while simultaneously picking up one of the bottles of alcohol and smashing it into where I thought Its face was. The Thing shrieked in agony as the bottle shattered against it, as shards of glass embedded into its skin and as the alcohol seeped into its wounds. It stumbled away, now a disembodied, floating puddle of liquid which was beginning to mix with blood. "How did you know where I was?" It screamed through Its cries. "The blood from the cut on my face," I managed, "the blood which still coats your hands." My kick connected into it with a satisfying crunch and it was sent hurtling to the floor, where It rolled around and moaned pathetically. I began to approach It but felt an abrupt, overwhelming wave of nausea that sent me stumbling to keep my feet, shaking it away I retrieved my sword pinned the squirming figure under foot and lowered the edge of my blade near the creature's throat which made It yelp out in fear. "Now, whatever the hell you are, you will open that damn door for me," I growled, "and you are going to do it right, now." I placed more pressure with my foot onto the creature which made it squirm all the more "And change into something I can see, don't want you trying anything," I paused, "and if you even think of changing into Elandria I will...Well I don't know what I would do." "You will regret this-!" Sudden rage almost over took me, rage that I'd been holding back for along time and I leaned closer to the Thing, placing slightly more pressure with my sword and said with slow deliberateness, "oh perhaps I will, but you wont be able to EVER regret anything, if you don't do it now!"

The Thing laughed, "can you hear yourself?" It cried, "you sound like a child! You wouldn't know how to intimidate someone even if you had a sword at their throat." "Do you want to die?" I asked, "I should really just kill you right now." "Why?" It asked, "because I killed Elandria? I was under orders to kill her! I am like you an assassin! We are the weapon! We are the tool! The one you should be avenging Elandria on is Glaitis-" I shook my head and immediately regretted it as the dizziness came back, my face was numb now the newly forming bruises throbbing like hell, "stop it! Just stop it!" I snarled, "there is just one! One! Question looming over you right now, so shut up! Just shut the hell up! And make you're damn decision!" "I should have killed you when I had the chance," It said sullenly. I smiled, "yes, you really should have, I bet that you're regretting following Glaitis' order not to kill me now, aren't you?" The Thing changed shimmering into form, into a mirror image of me, me with an expression of frustration and pain but otherwise untouched with injury, no shards of glass protruding from my clone's face and I couldn't help shake my head in clear distaste, why the hell did it have to change into me again? It smiled up at me, obviously enjoying my discomfort. I grimaced in disgust, "Get up and slowly." "Of course," and It did exactly as told all the while still grinning at me evilly. "What the hell did you do to Olinthre?" It sighed, a familiar mocking sound, "really Attelus, do you really care?" "Would I be asking if I didn't?" I growled. The Thing tilted its head in amusement, "you really do love to turn my own words against me don't you? All this smart mouthing doesn't seem to be from someone meant to be mourning- *ack!*" It was interrupted by me placing more pressure with my sword against It's neck, "yes taunt me more, just see how that turns out for you," I hissed. "You are aware this has happened before hasn't it?" It said, "but then you had me at gun point just mere minutes ago and I got out with no problem, didn't I?"

That I was well aware of but now I knew or at least had a basic idea of my opponent's skill and speed but that was immaterial even with such knowledge I was still on the verge of collapsing I could barely keep my eyes open, everything hurt I was completely and utterly sure that if my opponent chose to take the offensive, I wouldn't stand a semblance of a chance even with my sword against It's throat. Despite all of this and the pain it caused I still forced a slow deliberate grin to spread across my bruised, swollen face, "alright do it." The eyebrows on my clone's face raised in bemusement, "what?" "Do it, get out of this just do it, show me." It looked at me, now not so sure of itself or not so sure of me, either way I was getting somewhere. "DO IT!!" I roared suddenly and with such force it made my enemy flinch in fright and even surprised myself. It stood there motionless It's hazel eyes never leaving mine how long we stood face to face I didn't know, was it seconds? Minutes? But it felt like forever all the while my heart leapt in my throat, in any second I knew it could lunge forward and take me down, in any second it could disarm me and break my neck. The pressure was intense every second I had to fight the fear twisting in my guts, every second I had to fight to keep my feet from going out from under me, every second was a war to keep my eyes locked to it's as I knew if I looked away just for a millisecond It would have me. But finally, finally after what seemed to be an eternity it's jaw twitched in frustration and It let out a slight sigh of defeat as It looked to the floor. "Now tell me, what did you do to Olinthre?" I said, trying hard to keep the relief from my voice. My expression on It's face turned into one of extreme shame, whether this was at It being out played by me or it's shame of what It had done to the major I wasn't sure. "He is behind that couch," It said with a gesture indicating which one. I pursed my lips , "lead the way." It clenched It's jaw, turned and moved toward the couch all the while I kept my blade against the back of It's neck. We slowly walked around the couch and I saw him lying on the floor major Olinthre a dead major Olinthre his handsome face was now a deep shade of purple, his eyes were

almost bulging from their sockets and his tongue hanging loosely from his mouth it was obvious he was suffocated. Luckily It's back was to me so it couldn't see my sad expression, Olinthre seemed to be to me a good person and his death I felt to be responsible for, me being the one having egged him on into this. Olinthre didn't deserve this fate, he really didn't. "Now you know why you must not kill me Attelus," It said with surprising melancholy, "the only way we can keep this charade up is if I can go on pretending to be Taryst if both Taryst and Olinthre here are dead and anyone finds out, Emperor only knows how the men under their command would react." "Well then why the hell did you kill him then?" I demanded, "when you did this you must have been aware of the potential consequences..." "He was going to kill me Attelus, if I had tried to talk to him as Taryst, he was going to kill me and I still have a mission to complete." Olinthre was dead and there was nothing more I could do for the poor major. "Alright, move," I said, "open that damned door." It nodded and we turned toward that huge adamantium door. "Are you just going to kill me once I get that door open for you?" It asked. I smiled, "no I still need to bring you to the bunker, just in case if there is any traps or security measures you will have to bypass for me." As we walked I glanced down at my pistol still on the floor a good three metres away and well out of reach. I didn't dare to try get the gun as the act of doing so could potentially give the Thing an opening. We approached the door and It immediately flipped a slight switch which caused a touch pad to emerge from from a hidden compartment in the wall. It reached over with my spindly long fingers and began to type in the code. "What's the password?" I asked. It paused in It's typing and looked over It's shoulder at me, It's hazel eyes wide with what seemed embarrassment, "uhhh..."

"What's the frigging password!" I yelled right in It's ear while pushing more pressure with my sword. "Alright! It's-it's," It sighed, "it's j-garrakson." I raised an eyebrow in bemusement, "what?" "Please don't ask me for the details." I opened my mouth to ask anyway but decided against it . It finished typing and immediately what looked to be a retinal scanner slid out next to the key pad. It placed It's face into the scanner. "Subject identified as Deltath Barhurst, access granted." Then the huge doors opened in a slow almost over dramatic way revealing the grim, gun metal grey elevator inside. "You first," I said giving It a light shove as we stepped inside. The Thing pushed the down button on the elevator and it began it's descent. "So, I see that you logged into the system as Barhurst with the retinal scan," I said. The Thing didn't reply It only gave me a distinctly contemptuous sidelong glare. "From that I can only assume, you can't actually shape change," I carried on, "not properly anyway, the image which I see that is me is an illusion, so six months ago when you killed Barhurst you had his eyes implanted into your skull, which really shows that you are very, very dedicated to your work." "Oh so clever of you to figure that out," It said with a sarcastic sneer, "do you want a medal?" I smiled, "so it's true then." The Thing only shrugged. It was then the elevator found it's destination and the doors slid open. "You..." "Yeah, yeah!" It interrupted, "me first, I know."

We emerged from the lift and into room beyond it was stark and bright, white tiles lining the walls and the floor. On each side were what looked to be large cells six in total and at the end was another door way. "So what now?" It asked over It's shoulder, "are you going to kill me now?" "What's behind that door?" I asked intentionally avoiding the question. The Thing sighed, "It's Taryst's panic room where he keeps his cogitators and surveillance systems and supplies just in case." I smiled, "of course it is, how far are we below the planet's surface?" "Approximately seven miles," It said, "and before you ask you do not need a retinal scan for access it's a password again, and, that again is j-garrakson." I shook my head, why did Taryst have all his passwords in Garrakson's name? This was just getting stranger and stranger. "How do you open the containment cells?" "Each is opened with a basic switch outside each cell," It informed and looked at me again wide eyed, "are you going to kill me?" I met It's gaze, intentionally letting It's question hang for a few seconds. 'No," I said simply and smacked It over the skull with the hilt of my sword. "Not yet." Stepping over the Thing's unconscious form, I walked toward the door looking intently through the windows of each cell. The first two were empty but the second on the right wasn't. A corpse lay and that corpse was without doubt Taryst, recognisable even after awhile of decomposition. I wasn't sure what to feel, I held no love for the rogue trader but he was one of those people who seemed larger than life, he had amazing charisma, a force of great personality before he retreated into this psychotic paranoia which ironically was one of the key reasons for his death. My attention turned back to the Thing masquerading as me and for a second some sort of sick professional respect for It came to me, this Thing was a true assassin one that

behind the scenes had influenced so much in this game almost single handed, It had infiltrated Taryst's organization without being detected for months waiting patently for when to strike, It had killed Taryst one of the greatest rogue traders in the sector It took his place as the head of a multi planet organization acting in such a convincing way It managed to fool men who had been working under Taryst for decades, so much so only one really realised something was wrong and though it had killed the girl I loved and I would forever hate It for that. It was good, very good I had to give It that. I sighed and moved onto the last two cells and the one on the right made me freeze in my advance. A woman was in the cell she lay on the floor in a deep sleep with a drip feed in her arm, she was blonde and she was without doubt the woman I had sparred with in my dream. This must be Karmen Kons, the pet psyker of Taryst, the one who had allowed the rogue trader to delve into the minds of his employees and worked so long behind the scenes. She was very attractive with a lean if a bit malnourished body and heart shaped face. This woman must know a lot, she was very close to the diseased rogue trader perhaps even more so than Barhurst was. If I could her into consciousness if I could get her talking what I could learn from her. But did I want to know it, really? I sighed again and turned away from the cell to the next and what I saw made me drop my jaw in utter horror. The corpse that lay within was barely recognisable after what must have looked to be a few months decomposition but being in such a stark environment it could have been dead a lot longer, I could only be thankful that the entrance was closed keeping the stench inside. It wore a robe one that looked like a priest of the ecclesiarchy would wear, although I wasn't sure who it was I could see it was once a girl. I knew then without a doubt this was the Interrogator I was sent to take a pict of I had this plan in my mind that if she was alive I would force this chameleon thing to change into her and then I'd kill It take a photo of it's corpse, send that to Edracian then escape with the real Interrogator, maybe making who ever this person's master was, in my debt. That was the reason why I had knocked the thing unconscious to see if It could hold onto a form while out cold. I glanced over to it seeing that It still held my form.

Well it looked like that plan was down the drain and I reached into my pocket for the pict taker. But then it hit me the realisation hit me like a punch to the guts which made my eyes go wide and my mouth gape open, if the good medicae Feuilt had been down here numerous times to give the psyker her daily dose of drugs he must have at some point seen the two corpses in these cells he must have known that one was Taryst! Wait what was it he said before I went through the curtains to confront Taryst; "Don't die Attelus Kaltos, life is tough but you must live on, or let me reiterate, don't let yourself die." Did he actually know about me being poisoned? Feuilt was the spy that Edracian had bragged about and not just that he was also working under Glaitis as well, Feuilt was a triple agent! But how did he dodge the unscrupulous gaze of the psyker? I glanced over my shoulder to the unconscious form in the other cell, she knew something she must know something! Turning back to the cell with the Interrogator's corpse I pulled out the pict taker in my jacket's pocket and took the picture. "Well, well well!" came the voice through my thoughts so suddenly I almost made me jump out of my skin, "you did it Attelus Kaltos why I am quite impressed." "Edracian!" I snarled, "Feuilt was your spy!" The Inquisitor laughed, "of course I thought it would be obvious, he was Glaitis' spy, Taryst's medicae but all along my agent and I have another thing to tell you." "What?" "You where never poisoned Attelus, we never injected you with any poison it was only a nerve agent, you are not going to die, there is no cure you never needed one!" "But-!" "You did well Attelus Xanthis Kaltos, you really, really did well. You jumped through all my hoops like a good little pawn." With a roar of rage I smashed my fist against the glass of the nearest containment cell. "You bastard!" I yelled, "You frigging bastard! I swear! I will kill you! I will hunt you down and I you will pay! How dare you, how frigging dare you!" Edracian's voice only laughed, "why are you so upset? Are you not used to being a pawn already? You have always been one so it would seem logical."

Then the voice was gone. I let out another roar and kicked the glass of the the cell holding the comatose Karmen Kons and I was about to kick again but stopped then pushed the switch to the cell. This Karmen Kons she was was going to help me, she was going to tell me all the information I needed, whether she wanted to or not. The small cell stunk, it really, really did Karmen Kons was hooked up to a medical apparatus similar to the one I was hooked up to when in a coma. It was made to hold the coma patient's body waste but that was sealed tight she just stunk like someone would after not taking a shower in a month. I grimaced, gagging at the smell but hesitated stepping inside, instead looking back to the Thing on the floor and hissed a curse under my breath. It could wake up any second and here was I just letting it just lie out in the open. Clenching my teeth in anger at my inherent idiocy I walked over to the Thing and opened the nearest cell, punching the switch with a frustrated fist I then grabbed It from It's ankles and hauled It into the cell with a grunt. After closing the holding cell I walked to the door at the end of the room, there must be something behind it that I could use to revive her. Setting my jaw I hurriedly typed in "jgarrakson" into the key pad hoping to hell that the Thing had told the truth about not needing a retinal scan for access. But my worries were quickly allayed as the doors slid open revealing the room beyond. I slipped inside my sword raised in a defensive posture and found myself really wishing that I'd brought my pistol and that I'd drilled the mimic for more answers as who knows what defences that Taryst kept inside? The room was quite large and brightly lit although the architecture not as starkly white as the last room and it was had a simple, practical lay out that surprisingly contrasted the pretentious opulence of Tayst's quarters on the top of the tower. In the middle of the room was large work desk with an in built cogitator and behind that a small living area while on the right hand wall was another door. I looked at the desk cogitator, this would have to be the hub of all Taryst's knowledge of how his organization worked, information on all the projects he had pored his vast wealth into over the decades perhaps even the records from his ancestors investments his father and his father's father but by far the most interesting was his true motivations, why was he so hell bent on tracking down this Brutis Bones if I just could tap into this

fountain of knowledge, if I could harness it I, I actually didn't quite know what I would do. I'd have to get Vex down here sometime to take a look. Carefully I moved further in, my sword still raised and approached the desk, now I was no expert on how to use cogitators but I could use them well enough. I found it still on and was immediately treated to the password request screen. I smiled, shook my head in contempt and typed in "jgarrakson" but much to my choler found only the "access denied" screen. I really shouldn't have been so surprised. It would have been really, truly idiotic of Taryst to have the same password for his personal files as well as his security doors and I wiped away blood from my split lip with a fore arm then tried "garraksonj" but it as well was "access denied." Sighing I refrained from trying again this time with "garrakson" or "jeurat" the security measures in this I could only safely assume to be in the extreme. If I got it wrong even once more anything could happen, the cogitator could self destruct or just instantly wipe all the memory either way it wouldn't be very beneficial to me. Not very beneficial at all. I stepped away from the desk, pushing off it with a violent, frustrated movement then glanced back over the room and as I did, I don't know, something about the place just suddenly gave me the creeps The only thing that interested me was the other door and I walked over to it. As I came close the door opened automatically and hesitantly I stepped through. What greeted me on the other side was row upon row of supplies kept in shelves lining each wall in what must have been decades worth of food, water and just everything. Spanning the length of a huge underground corridor. "By the Emperor," I said in no small amount of awe as I walked on, looking along the row on my right, I had no idea what to look for but it was interesting just to look. I stopped and peered closer at one of the containers it was made out of a clear plasteek which allowed me to see my reflection. To say I looked frigged would've been the understatement of the millennia, my face was battered all most beyond recognition swollen and black and blue with bruises the blood that from the cut on my cheek had dried clinging to my face like a tattoo. In all honesty I was surprised that my face wasn't worse, after going through such a bad beating I was lucky to have all my teeth and I was tired, by the Emperor was I tired.

I turned away and began to make my way back to Taryst's quarters. After stumbling through the door I threw myself onto the bed and immediately fell into a deep, deep sleep.