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Author Topic: Imperial Talons (Ordo Xenos/Imperial Guard Fiction)  (Read 1282 times)

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Offline GreaterGoodIreland

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Imperial Talons (Ordo Xenos/Imperial Guard Fiction)
« on: April 30, 2012, 01:13:45 AM »
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Hey guys! This is a reboot of my old fiction "Shadows of the Mont'ka", which instead of switching between Imperial and Tau perspectives, will concentrate on the story of Inquisitor Talan. It's a complete rewrite, but expect to see plenty of the old characters return, some in entirely new guises. Hope you like it!
Imperial Talons

The servants began to bring in an exquisite array of food, the smell of which wafted throughout the Governor's personal dining room. Inquisitor Ferenz Talan, who had been brooding behind the small talk that had filled the space, caught himself eyeing up the steak with intent. Hopeful that some business with his fellow Imperial subjects could begin now that the Governor's insistence on food had been fulfilled, he thanked the servant for a large helping of the grox with a nod, and turned towards the table.

Governor Intios himself was old enough to suit his grey hair, and his sensibilities were clearly typical of many of the nobles Talan had met before. However, he seemed competent by the Inquisitor's standards, having handled the invasion of his world very admirably before the arrival of the Imperial Guard and having no real qualms about handing over control of the planet for the benefit of the reclamation campaign. A loyal servant of his Majesty, as far as anyone could tell. Talan had therefore decided some time ago that he liked the Governor, despite the man's blatant attempts to impress. Regardless, as the Inquisitor looked to the head of the table, he couldn't help but smirk as he found Intios eating as heartily as he himself was. The man had impeccable taste, it had to be said.

As the servants filed out of the room, the heavily ornate doors to the grand chamber were closed behind them, and the group now had the privacy to speak and the comfort of food.

“Well now, shall we get started?” Intios began, pausing to sip a large goblet of wine, “We have much to discuss and I have delayed us for far too long.” Talan immediately frowned, tempted to ask why he bothered to delay the discussion if he felt it such a burden.

To the right of the Governor, sat Inquisitor Alanis White of the Ordo Hereticus, the man responsible for calling the meeting and one of the most sly and disreputable people Talan had ever met. Talan himself had been originally brought to the planet to help deal with the invasion, but instead found himself dragged into something a lot more messy altogether. The Ordo Xenos was not for chasing daemon worshippers or witches, though Talan occasionally found himself doing just that.

White immediately pulled a set of data slates out of a pocket, and slid them along the glass-smooth surface of the table to both the other diners. His face immediately produced a sort of ugly smile, which put Talan off his steak for a moment. Picking it up, the Governor knit his brows as he browsed the contents of the data.
“What are these, troop deployments?” Intios asked with the tone of an educated guesser, “They seem to be very erratic.”

“They're not troop deployments, they're the movement of heretical groups over the past five years in this sector,” White smirked, “As you can see, Parmenion, your system, is among the destinations.” The Governor immediately ceased eating, “We have done all we can in the current circumstances to root out any threat to the Emperor's rule, I assure you,” he replied pre-emptively, “I urge that you hand over all information you have so that we may purge any heretics we are unaware of.” Talan rubbed his temples, and started to wonder why he had been brought to the polite prelude to a Hereticus interrogation.

“Relax Governor, your place here is secure, for the moment, the heretics had barely arrived when I had them purged in cooperation with some of your Arbites,” White continued, “Whom I insisted keep the information they obtained secret along with all knowledge of the operation.”

“What information?” Talan asked impatiently, “Get to the point, some of us have a war to fight.”
“Very well,” White conceded, “Over the past century, the Ordo Hereticus has had a significant fear of gaps in Imperial sovereignty where heretics may hide from our holy retribution. One of the largest outside of the Eye of Terror is in close proximity to this system.”

The Governor, who had been turning pale since the beginning of the conversation, became noticeably overwhelmed by an altogether different sort of fear. Talan rolled his eyes as the Governor struggled to remain calm, listening to the distraught man's questions about daemonic incursions and massed legions of cultists ready to attack at any moment. Finally, as the Xeno specialist in the room, Talan had heard enough.

“The Tau Empire,” Talan interrupted, finally understanding why he was here, “You're talking about the Tau.”

“Indeed I am,” White replied, “As you may know, since the failure of the Damocles Gulf Crusade, significant numbers of humans have found themselves absorbed by the xenos' empire, and many more have fled there to escape the Imperium for various reasons. The largest single group of human beings outside the grace of the Emperor's rule now resides within the Tau Empire, aside from the population of the Eye of Terror which is beyond our knowledge to know.” The Governor quickly made the sign of the Aquila upon hearing the foul realm of Abaddon, to White's barely perceptible approval, but otherwise looked very relieved indeed."

“So the heretics wreck havoc within the aliens' empire, why should we care?” the Governor asked, looking suitably happy that the problem wasn't his to solve, “Wouldn't that simply weaken our enemies?”

White looked at Talan with expectation, to the latter's chagrin. The Governor soon followed suit.
“The Tau are quite ignorant of warpcraft and its dangers,” Talan recalled, “I am supposing that my fellow Inquisitor and his Ordo fear that the Tau may not be able to handle a daemonic incursion.”

“That is indeed the fear,” confirmed White, “We have made overtures to the Tau leadership via the usual channels, offering some knowledge of the threat, enough to delay the issue long enough for an appropriate crusading force to be gathered in response to any major daemonic threat from the other side of the border.”

“Let me guess, they didn't buy it,” Talan stated nonchalantly.
“No,” White said with considerable frustration, “They waved off the vast majority of our advice as superstitious nonsense, and claimed that even if it did pertain to reality, their heretical ideology would protect them from such threats.”

“You should have contacted the Ordo Xenos earlier,” Talan replied as the Governor shifted his weight, obviously uncomfortable with the discussion, “We could have told you that they would not take such advice beforehand, and we could have devised a strategy around the problem earlier than now.”

“Indeed, which is why I have called this meeting,” White said as he waved his data slate, “If you go to the last map reference, you'll see that the heretics have converged on the world of Hephastion, in the sister system to this one, one ruled by the good brother of our fellow subject here, and the only system between this one and the Tau border.”

“So what do you want from us?” the Governor asked, “We have a war with the Orks here as it is.”
“The garrison regiment on Hephastion is scheduled to change in the next cycle,” White continued, “We will take the best regiments we can find from the Imperial Guard here, and we'll eliminate the heretics in an ambush to prevent them from crossing over to Tau space.”

Talan put down his glass sharply, almost cracking the glass at its base. “No,” he said as he regained control of himself, “You will not be borrowing a single regiment of the Guard from this planet while I am here.”
Inquisitor White narrowed his eyes, clearly unhappy at the unexpected turn of events. Or perhaps they were expected, as his response was far more calm than Talan expected.

“Why may I not borrow His Majesty's soldiers to smite his enemies?” White asked in threatening  monotone, “The campaign here is going well, is it not?”

“Indeed it is,” the Governor said, in a blatant attempt to keep the peace, “The Orks have been prevented from taking the major industrial areas, and the lines have stabilised.”

“Stabilised,” Talan replied pointedly, “As in they're not being pushed back in the direction we need them to be. We can win this in a few months with the troops we have, we may not win it at all if we are forced to spare troops for an operation that my fellow Inquisitor should be able to handle on his own.”

“The number of heretics is not insignificant, and their connections within the sector have given them access to weaponry beyond that of a mere gang,” White explained slowly, “It's not an unreasonable request.”

“As the person in charge of overseeing this campaign, I will make the decisions on what is reasonable,” Talan replied calmly, “When we have routed the Orks and so prevented them from taking a key industrial hub, then we can discuss this little operation of yours.”

Satisfied that White had been put in his place, Talan began to eat again. Dealing with the overzealous Hereticus agents was a thankfully rare, but tiring, experience. The Governor's insistence was not in vain after all.

White brooded for a minute.
“Then I'll be forced to declare you and the Governor here Excommunicate Traitoris, and so have you purged,” White said almost flippantly, placing his sword on the table.

Talan immediately unhooked his powermace, placed it on the table beside him and continued eating for a moment. The governor remained silent, shocked by what he heard, but stared at Talan in the knowledge that his fate was in the hands of the Inquisitor.

“You're alone here, I command twenty-seven Imperial Guard regiments,” Talan said as he chewed, “You'll purge me with what exactly? That toy you've got?”

White put his hand to his ear, and sub-vocalised for a moment. Nothing happened. Talan grinned in return. “Something wrong?” he said, as he finished his meal.

The Witchhunter grimaced for a moment, but his face lit up quickly as pounding metal-on-marble sounds came into earshot. Talan's heart nearly jumped out of his mouth, as he recognised the sounds. He quickly put down his cutlery, picked up his powermace and pulled out his boltpistol.

“What is that noise?” the Governor asked, “Who is coming?”
Talan stood up and edged back towards a highly decorated window, which was thankfully open.
“If you have Astartes, why do you need an Imperial Guard regiment?!” Talan asked loudly as his opposite number's grin grew by the millisecond.

The ornate doors opened for the second time, and standing in the large space to the corridor stood three Sisters of Battle, their bolters raised and their faces determined. They covered Talan with their weapons, and looked to White.

“I need all your regiments, and if this planet must be sacrificed so that the heretics may not find a truly safe haven from our might, so be it,” White said, standing up slowly as he placed his sword back in its scabbard. The Sisters still were transfixed on White.

Talan saw his chance and knew what was coming next. He sprang swiftly towards the window. The bolter rounds shattered the frame of the window as he hopped over the windowsill and down, praying to the Emperor that there would be something below. Landing on a parapet that sat on top of a flying buttress, Talan holstered his pistol and mace, and searched for a way down. The Adepta were soon at the window, levelling their bolters down at the Inquisitor, but Talan's years in the Arbites served him well, and he flung himself onto a drainpipe and slid down as the bolters barked explosive rounds where he stood seconds earlier.

After a hundred foot slide down the pipe, Talan breathed deeply for a moment, recovering from the shock. He found himself in the courtyard, and promptly started sprinting towards the groundcar where his bodyguard was waiting. Bolter shells started exploding around him as the Sisters of Battle re-acquired their target. The distance would prevent them from finding their mark immediately, a fact Talan was counting on. Hopping in the window of the functional but speedy groundcar he had been provided with to reach the Governor's mansion, his bodyguard had already started the car.

“Drive!” Talan shouted as he landed in a tangle in the backseat, “For the love of the Emperor, drive Stavan!”

Stavan had already started driving as soon as the Inquisitor was half-inside the window, and the groundcar burst through the barriers at the gate to the compound and soon mingled with the other traffic towards the workers' district.
« Last Edit: May 2, 2012, 06:56:52 AM by GreaterGoodIreland »

Offline Hanith

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Re: Imperial Talons
« Reply #1 on: April 30, 2012, 04:56:14 PM »
Not a bad read. Wouldn't mind reading the rest of it once it comes along.

(As is my usual MO with fiction, I must point out at least 1 flaw.)

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The Governor quickly made the sign of the Aquila upon hearing the foul realm of Abaddon, to White's barely perceptible approval, but otherwise looked very relieved indeed."

extra quotation mark. :P
For me: 16.667% chance of failure equates to a 83.334% failure rate.

 


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