“I concur, that’s an excellent strategy if you want to get us all killed, Lord Kanin,” I objected, being met with raucous roars of dissent and agreement alike.
“What, is the undying Inquisitor afraid of facing the foes he is required to slay?” Lord Inquisitor Kanin shot back and was met with equal—but opposite—responses from our Inquisitorial allies and rivals on the war council.
“The things I fear in life, Kanin, you do not have the contextual knowledge to speak of—not that that’s stopped you before,” I grilled.
“Yet for your limitless years, you remain an insufferable runt all the same!” Kanin scoffed. “I will not be criticized by a walking heresy! My proposed plan will save countless—”
“Your proposed plan will exterminate the Ixaniad Sector, and you’re too damn zealous to comprehend why,” I interrupted him.
“I will not stand for this! We all know it was a mistake to let Blackgar live in the first place; why do we let him on this council even so?” Kanin objected to the crowd.
“Inquisitor Blackgar was invited to this council decades before you were, Kanin,” Caliman growled. “This has been his fight for far longer than you have had the thought to involve yourself.”
“Neither statement answers my question! And of course the two former Commissars in the room defend each other! Brothers to the last, is that it? Why do we tolerate Blackgar’s continued existence?” Kanin roared. “Would it not be simpler to kill him now and move on with this discussion?”
“You will lose your head long before Cal is even scratched, you wretch,” Lucene promised him, standing to my back but leaning over me to press her message closer to Kanin.
“Apologies, Sister, for in vying for your husband’s demise, I have omitted calls for the same fate to befall you. The whole lot of you, his entire retinue! Tainted by the works of our archenemy! And yet you’re here, on a war council deciding the fate of a Sector, of all places!” Kanin all but shrieked.
“Because unlike you, you parasitic leech of others’ success, my retinue is charged with the protection of this Sector, as we have done for centuries now. I care little for the fate you would wish of me. You and I are of little significance. What matters is the Sector, and the defense thereof; we are the first and last wall keeping Obscurus from ruination—to that end, your proposals are laughable at best and more heretical than my existence at worst,” I returned.
“I will not listen to one more word from a tainted Inquisitor or his vile retinue. I will not! Thy kind is fated to bring us only unto damnation! Better to lose the Sector, nay, the Segmentum, than surrender to its heretical defenders. This is our very charge, my friends, the oath we swore to uphold,” Kanin entreated of his allies in the room. He then returned his gaze to meet my glare. “Throne help us if we hear thy words. Throne help us all if we give in to thy kind.”
A great many Inquisitors opened mouths to retort, myself included, but we were all cut off by the emotionless droning of the Machine Spirit, and its owner, in the room. “Calculations complete. Strategic analysis of combat simulation established based on known estimations of enemy forces,” Techsorcist Massino Varnus declared, speaking to my right. “Lord Inquisitor Kanin’s proposed strategy has an estimated 34.63% success rate. Survival of Quintus fortress: Unlikely. Survival of Ixaniad Sector: Unlikely. Resultant status of Ixaniad Sector: Compromised and subjugated. Overall analysis: Dimwitted. Recourse: Suggest alternative approach.”
“And does Inquisitor Blackgar have a strategy on hand, or is this heated display for nothing?” Lord Inquisitor Lycia asked the room, but mostly of me. Even so, it was Varnus who chimed in again before I was able to respond.
“As hypothesized to me in M41.976, Inquistor Blackgar’s approach is simulated with a 57.44% success rate against known forces. Survival of Quintus fortress: Unlikely. Survival of Ixaniad Sector: Likely. Resultant status of Ixaniad Sector: Intruded upon, but largely unharmed. Overall analysis: Optimal—enemy fleet, even if victorious at Quintus, will be functionally unable to engage in further expansion into the Sector. Massive casualties expected on both sides of engagement,” Varnus reported.
“And what good is the word of a biased Techsorcist, who by his trade already dabbles in heresy, enraptured by a fallen Inquisitor?” Kanin decried.
“Do you dare question the word of the Omnissiah?” Varnus replied, no hints of emotion on his voice, yet I sensed Kanin may not have been long for the Sector if he did not tread carefully.
“I dare not, no—I only question you. Would the Techsorcist even know if he was corrupt?” Kanin suggested. Eyes fell to Varnus.
“Would the Lord Inquisitor even know if he was an idiot?” Varnus replied, getting a grin out of me as much for the insult as for the simplicity of the phrase—not a common thing for my Mechanicum friend. “Historically, evidence suggests not. My operational acuity is not compromised. Do you have the diagnostics to say the same?”
“Watch your tone, tech-priest! You are an honored guest in these halls, nothing more—do not taint that honor with your wit, especially not when it is that which is being called into question!” Kanin grilled him.
“My tonal inflection has not changed in three centuries. Likewise, the presence of inadequacy in positions of power also appears to be a constant. You make a notable addition to my records,” Varnus stated matter-of-factly. “My wit is only concerned with the destruction of the enemy. In no uncertain terms, Lord Inquisitor Kanin, you do not have the ability to visit the Omnissiah’s wrath upon our mutual foe. This is irrelevant, as I have already found an Inquisitor capable of the task at hand. Whether you intend to die for your idiotic pride is irrelevant likewise. If this council is more concerned with its pride than with the demise of its foes, than I am wasting my time—and holy clock cycles of the Omnissiah—here,” Varnus declared, and then looked to me, nodded, and departed from the room at once.
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For once in its decades-long history, the war council endured embarrassed silence for a time, most of all Kanin. Lord Inquisitor Halloid van der Skar broke the tentative peace. “One wonders how many holy clock cycles have been lost in this room,” he suggested, being met with a collection of chuckling laughs from all sides of the war council. van der Skar had aged considerably since I had seen him last; I did not see him during or after the Phaenonite affair, instead last seeing him shortly after my reunion with Lucene, at the end of my figurative house arrest. It had been nearly 150 years since then. His hair had vanished entirely, and his flesh had withered, but I was not so naïve as to suggest any part of him appeared weakened. The same could be said of Lord Caliman, all in all, though I had seen Caliman’s deteriorating age firsthand through the years.
“Inquisitor Blackgar will profess his approach to us. We will hear it and respond to the merits of its contents. And for those who worry I am going soft on a subordinate of mine: you are exactly right; I am. You would not be in the wrong to voice your displeasure to me after this meeting, but you would be in the wrong to question the dedication with which Inquisitor Blackgar has given of himself to this Sector. For now, within the confines of these walls, the only discourse of any value is that which intends to defend the Sector. To speak of otherwise is to besmirch the designs of the Holy Ordos, and I need not explain to any of you how heretical such a thing may be,” van der Skar declared. Caliman, and a few others, nodded in solemn assent before the whole group turned to me. Kanin did not, instead looking away from me in a scowl aimed at van der Skar. I was sure van der Skar noticed, but he did not acknowledge Kanin.
I cleared my throat and then addressed the council. “They must attack us twice. We must invite that conflict to our doorstep. It is imperative that they attack us twice. We will sustain heavy casualties in both conflicts, if even we survive the first. But we must.”
“Why?” Caliman asked.
“They do not know the forces we will have here, but they can guess. They will assume we will pull in some of Battlefleet Ixaniad to assist us, and we should, but when they come for us, their initial assault will be to test us. It may well be that we fail such a test and are overwhelmed, but if we succeed, then the second assault will be given with the intent to destroy us in one fell swoop. Our enemy fights a protracted campaign across dozens of worlds; they will not direct the entirety of their forces to one single front if they can help it, even though they know we’ll put up a fight,” I explained. “Point being, the enemy is playing a game of resource management. We must do the same. We must keep some resources in reserve, hidden from the strategic knowledge of our foes. So even when we call upon Battlefleet Ixaniad for assistance, we must not show the entirety of our hand all at once.”
“Cowardice!” Kanin decried, unable to contain himself. “I hear your words Lord van der Skar and I do understand them, but what Blackgar insists upon is cowardice! When the enemy comes we should burn the sockets of their eyes out from the sheer volume of lance batteries in our arsenal. What good is a reserve if it is not used?”
“Let us listen a little further yet, Lord Kanin,” Lord Inquisitor Lycia suggested. “After all, the clock cycles were not kind to your 34.6%,” she noted in a sly grin. It occurred to me that Varnus would have corrected her to 34.63%, but I thought better of the correction. “Continue, Inquisitor Blackgar.”
“If we survive the first fleet that lays siege to Quintus, its remnants will report back to whatever horrors they keep within the Warp. They will speak of the damage they caused and the remnants of our forces. Yes, they will expect us to reinforce ourselves for a second assault, but we must do so well beyond their expectations. Hence the keeping of some of our vessels in reserve. When the second fleet arrives, it must be met with the overwhelming power Lord Kanin desires, as retreat will not be considered an eventuality for it initially, as the first fleet will have known. Furthermore, it is also imperative that the first fleet not be chased after—” I started, but was again interrupted by Kanin.
“Again, why? All the better, hm, if it cannot report to its master fleet, no?” Kanin asked.
“No,” Caliman shook his head in disdain.
“Why not?”
“You really are an idiot, aren’t you?” Caliman grinned. “For once I miss that admech.”
“Caliman,” van der Skar chided in a sigh.
“Even if the first fleet is completely destroyed after its retreat, that will merely signal to the master fleet that we already possessed a great amount of power here, and will invite far more significant a response than we may be able to handle. But more likely, any pursuers of the first fleet will find themselves poised against the second, and will wastefully die in vain, resources being spent on pride, rather than defense,” I explained.
“I have a question of numbers, Blackgar,” van der Skar approached.
“Please,” I nodded.
“As an estimate, how much of Battlefleet Ixaniad do you believe would be required for your plan?” he asked me. “I need not remind you that it is stretched thin responding to threats all throughout the Sector, and we are but one world—even if an important one.”
“It is a fair question. When I first gave my proposal to Varnus last year, I had been conservative in my estimates. Fifteen, twenty percent of Battlefleet Ixaniad. I think these values can still manage the task of crippling the second fleet to prevent it from venturing further into the Sector,” I answered.
“And for defeating the second fleet?” van der Skar asked.
“Thirty percent?” I suggested.
“Thirty percent of an entire Sector’s Battlefleet is a tall order, Inquisitor Blackgar,” Lycia noted.
“I’m aware, so it is not part of my strategy. There are tremendous benefits to utilizing such a subsidiary of the fleet, least of all the survival of Quintus, but where the survival of Ixaniad is concerned, I have not planned for such a boon,” I explained.
“Elaborate on these benefits,” van der Skar suggested.
“Well other than our own chances of survival improving considerably, rather than crippling the second fleet we could break it here. And when it flees, we could then give chase, hunting the wretched traitors down. Yes, we would expose our flanks a bit—other parts of the Sector having been taken by the heretic Astartes. But if those fronts chased after us in our pursuit into their territory, the remaining seventy percent of Battlefleet Ixaniad could recapture what was lost,” I offered.
“You would use thirty percent of a Battlefleet in a suicide run against the enemy?” Caliman asked quietly.
“I would use thirty percent of a Battlefleet to kill the enemy,” I corrected.
A pause fell over the room. Even Kanin was giving my proposal consideration, then. As before, van der Skar broke the silence, though this time not with a joke. “What about twenty-five percent?”