‘Taking a walk? TAKING A WALK!?’

We were in another private one on one meeting and Mister Straight-to-the-point was at it again, he even stood up from his chair to emphasise the point.

‘WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?’

Thaberus snarled at me, the inquisitor’s displeasure at my antics written all over his face. ‘The whole planet, nay, the whole sub sector might be turned upside down should you get yourself hurt or killed out there! Lest you forget, there is a psychic beacon that might be tied to your wellbeing!’

Thaberus looked more ragged than before, he must have been overworked during the days when I was in a coma. Utterly clueless on how to appease him, I resorted to cheating by expressing my regrets with a signature move only performable by girls – casting my sight down, holding both my hands up and extending only my index fingers so they touched each other.

‘I am very sorry.’ I mumbled.

Thaberus continued to glare at me for a while before sitting back down, silently conceding there was not much he could do to punish me. There was a short moment of awkward silence before I spoke. ‘It was just outside the monastery, I had no idea it could be dangerous.’

He scoffed and replied. ‘A lot has happened. After the heretical cults on the planet were exposed, all imperial forces were mobilised to hunt them down, and in return the heretics retaliated where they could.’

‘Why were the heretics near the monastery gate?’ I asked.

‘Nusquam is crawling with a sizable number of these previously hidden heretics, those you met near the gate were the loose agents of these cults. As for what they have been doing here is a long story. Tell me first, how did you get out of the monastery without anyone noticing?’ He asked.

I looked down again while replying, ‘I had a dream, regained some memories and abilities that helped me to get out unnoticed but would rather not share them.’

He cast me a side glance. ‘Keeping secrets now?’

‘So say the man who visited with a psyker, a hierophant and a null who I never met before.’ Still feeling slightly betrayed by him showing up with hidden aces for my final clearance, I retorted for the sake of it but kept the spite out of my tone.

‘Fair point.’ Surprisingly, Thaberus conceded with a nod. He then took down his capotain, placed it on the table next to a delicate tea set before saying, ‘both the psyker and hierophant were semi-retired while the boy was a recent addition. I would not have deployed them if there were other options. Sorry but we had to be sure.’

‘I understand.’ I said with a nod.

‘So what happened? How and why were you outside?’ He asked.

I offered a half truth. ‘I woke up surrounded by monitoring devices with no one around. It was so strange I decided to take a walk and look around.’

It was only natural he did not fully buy my words. Thaberus shot me a wary look before saying, ‘the reason you were left alone was because of an incident. Do you have any recollection?’

I stared blankly at him in response. He let out a sigh before continuing, ‘when we tried to contact your mind via psychic means for the second time, a manifestation of the Emperor appeared.’

‘Say what? What happened?’ I asked, shocked.

Thaberus did a double take on my reaction before continuing. ‘According to testimonies, when my psykers failed to make any progress on contacting your mind, they attempted brute force and that triggered a psychic feedback. A misty form of the Emperor manifested, shimmering in holy light and all. It was just for a very short time, but He gave a warning about messing with you.’

Pausing only to verify my expression, the inquisitor continued with a whisper. ‘This happened right in the heart of a Sororitas monastery and was witnessed by a palatine and a whole squad of celestian sisters who later testified, swearing by the sanctity of their souls. You could only imagine, pardon my expression, the shit storm that soon followed.’

‘What exactly did He say?’ I asked with all the seriousness I could muster.

‘Care to take a guess?’ Thaberus asked back.

A traumatic scene flashed before my mind, heightening my pulse. ‘Was it…“your presence here is not authorised” ?’ His eyes widened for a fraction of a second, and he nodded grimly before looking into my eyes. ‘My agents confided to me it was probably a protective measure or residual memory rather than a true manifestation, was it though?’

I gulped, betting on [Regalis] to hide my true feelings. No one must find out I might be a runaway from home. I returned his gaze without flinching and said, ‘no comment. Please ask no further on this.’

Thaberus held his gaze for a while longer before looking away. ‘Anyway, the incident resulted in fierce debates that raged for a full day. In the end, the sisters accepted no arguments. Doing what they thought was their best to follow His decree, they evicted most of Kryptopher’s personnel from the monastery and even severely restricted the presence of their own people around you except for routine inspections. Hence why you woke up alone.’

I was speechless. After a short while, the inquisitor started to make himself a hot drink. ‘You want one?’ He asked casually.

‘Yes, please.’ I accepted his offer, figuring it might be unwise to refuse the gesture twice. While Thaberus started on the drinks, I looked at his capotain on the table and noticed scorch marks that were not on it before.

‘What happened?’ I asked while pointing at it.

‘Those?’ Thaberus answered while continuing to prepare our drinks. ‘I was in the northern region and managed to locate some of the people who were partially responsible for ambushing us onboard the Flameraven a while back. They were… less than cooperative upon confrontation.’

I watched as the inquisitor distributed meticulously measured portions of brown decaf powder into two delicate ceramic tea cups. He then poured boiling hot water from a space age kettle into them before continuing his story. ‘Naturally, we liquidated them. Do you want one or two servings of sugar?’

‘I… trust your judgement.’

‘One it is. Cream?’

‘Yes, please.’

As Thaberus continued to make our drinks, I could not help but notice his every action seemed so purposeful and precise. What is going on in the mind of such a person? Curious, I attempted to read his mind discreetly but nothing was forthcoming. Either I was still new at this or he was trained and protected by the serious mental fortitude that inquisitors were famous for. Alternatively, some protective measures might be present.

‘What happened to the war?’ I asked away.

‘About that, while the rebel army was defeated, their leader Kaithan escaped and returned to his stronghold in the north, taking shelter behind fortresses and his people.’ Thaberus said while passing me a steaming drink on a saucer. ‘Careful, it is still hot.’

‘Thank you.’

I reflexively touched the cup with my index finger to test its temperature, but the feeling came off weird. While I could tell the cup was very hot, the spiking flash of pain that should have occurred on contact did not occur. Feeling curious, I put my whole palm on the cup and was rewarded only with a more intense version of the sensation.

This temperature would have hurt for a human.

While I mused over another newly discovered transhuman oddity, Thaberus continued. ‘A direct attack would lead to another drawn-out bloody affair with many forces involved, something we wanted to avoid with the threat of cults and renegade Astartes still present.’

Thaberus then paused and took a sip from his drink, prompting me to do the same. It tasted like premium instant coffee with a twist. This might be the first time I properly consumed a drink after coming to this world. While my mind dwelled on such triviality the inquisitor continued his tale.

‘Meanwhile, despite our best efforts to control information, tales and pict-feeds of your… performance were soon leaked and transmitted around the whole planet.’

Woa? So much for wanting to keep as low profile to the public as possible. Wait, hold on. What was I thinking? They had already built a statue of me! I suddenly had a bad feeling of where this was going as Thaberus spoke again.

‘Obviously, the initial plan of keeping your presence a secret from the public was no longer feasible. Since the Holy Daughter prophecy had long been propagated on Nasquam, everyone quickly connected the dots. After some discussion, we decided to use the situation to our advantage by openly admitting that the prophecy had come to pass. As per our agreement, please remember your current status now.’

Oh yeah, that agreement.

It had been a pivotal point of discussion back then at the fortress, to announce my true identity to the world or not. After a lengthy discussion between the pros and cons, it was decided to leave it in ambiguity.

As Thaberus put it, the weight of my status meant I could not afford being looked upon in a dodgy light by the higher powers, as that would bring unwanted complications in the future. On the other hand, to brandish my status as a mini primarch without proper powers to back it up would be utterly foolish, bordering suicidal. All that was even before considering the extra layer of muddy issue of “my personal relationship” with the Emperor. So personally, I would like to delay this becoming public knowledge as long as possible.

In the light of that it was decided that if I became widely known to the populace during the war, our side would cover up my true identity with the declaration of an emerging imperial saint.

Well, that solo live performance of mine just sealed that deal for good. Thinking about that, I pushed down the urge to facepalm.

So, to the people in the upper echelons in the know, I am the Emperor’s daughter. To the commoners, I would be the Holy Daughter, the prophesied imperial saint. That was the setup which hopefully bought us enough time to gain a proper footing.

‘Luckily for us this incident also provided the best cover up story for your loss of memory, blame it on the coma. Please remember that going forward. By the way, I only know this after the battle, but do you know how many versions of your prophecy are out there on Nusquam?’ He asked.

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Stumped, I shook my head.

Thaberus continued, ‘there are about half a dozen versions of these prophecies on the planet. And guess what? As far as I can tell, none of them are true and not even the Ecclesiarchy knows the extent of the full story.’

Huh?

Dumbfounded, I asked to confirm, ‘wait, you are telling me the Church did not know the full details?’

Thaberus took another sip from his drink before answering. ‘From what Canoness Diadinah had revealed to me, only the highest ranking Sororitas of the local Order and the designated dialogus lore keeper were aware of the true prophecy.’

‘So even the Church was kept out? Is that even possible?’

Thaberus shrugged. ‘Think about it, the whole Adepta Sororitas was founded upon the hubris of a single delusional man who almost destroyed the Imperium from within by hijacking religion. So despite serving as its military arm, the Church itself rarely earned the sisters’ full trust.’

Oh yeah, it did appear that way in the lore. In fact most imperial factions were more often than not portrayed as mired with internal power struggles and double crossings all the time.

‘So as far as most folks are concerned, legend has it there will come a time when this world and its region would face calamities beyond reckoning. In its darkest hour a Holy Daughter of the Emperor, probably a living saint with connections to the Sororitas, will appear to turn the tide of darkness. Other than that, all details are vague except for contradicting theories of origin. Huh, bloody convenient if you asked me.’ He said and paused for a while before continuing.

‘Anyway, since the northern region has a more conservative and religious population, we devised a narrative that worked against Kaithan. A quick propaganda campaign was launched, blaming the ritual and breach incident on Kaithan. We accused him of being used as a proxy by the Great Enemy, subsequently nearly damning the whole planet and grievously wounding their saint.’

‘With countless pict-feeds and testimonies from troops on both sides, the narrative successfully turned most of the people against Kaithan, severely eroding his local support until he was all but abandoned by his people. Even the previously silent Ecclesiarchy had come out to formally condemn Kaithan while acknowledging your status as a saint candidate.’

‘Cornered, Kaithan holed up in the most secure part of his personal fortress. By the time our strike force breached the final defence, he was found dead in an apparent suicide. The rest of his faction unconditionally surrendered soon after.’ Thaberus said before taking another swig from his cup.

The images of Kaithan’s profile pictures surfaced in my mind. He was a handsome man with an air of aristocratic grace that would charm most ladies, hardly the type people would associate with an upstart planetary lord with a grisly end.

‘With that the uprising came to an abrupt end. We turned our focus on cleaning up and going after the hidden cults while your Magos friend busied himself with treasure digging. The cults of course would not take this lying down, their agents retaliated where they could against exposed high priority targets.’ He said while glaring at me again, I smiled awkwardly in return.

‘So the civil war has ended. If you are interested in the final numbers of casualties, I have a report here,’ Thaberus concluded while handing me a data-slate. I took the device and glimpsed at the report, feeling a sense of numbness at the numbers.

‘Why the long face?’

Thaberus’ words made me look up from the report. How did he…? The poker face provided by [Regalis] should have been perfect.

‘You can tell?’ I needed to know.

The inquisitor rewarded himself with another half smirk. ‘No, you took too long to read.’

I felt like doing another facepalm for giving that much away, internally I lamented at my inexperience in dealing with a true professional. A sense of uneasiness informed me if I continued to operate carelessly and carried on like this he might eventually figure out I was but a useless civilian on the inside. The thought of that gave me chills as I passed the device back to him.

‘If your primary aim was to cut down casualties, it was a massive success.’ He said while putting the data-slate away, ‘put it this way, you managed to turn what should have been hundreds of thousands of casualties into… localised episodes of tragedies. By the Throne, I have seen industrial accidents resulting in more deaths.’

‘You are correct, I just… dislike these unnecessary loss of human lives.’ I confessed with a nod. He gave me another glance before asking, ‘can you elaborate on that?’

I was stunned by his question and silently cursed myself for slipping my tongue. Am I supposed to explain twenty first century humanitarian ethics to an imperial inquisitor? No, I need to repackage my reason. After organising my thoughts, I gave him an answer. ‘This is a wanton waste of trained personnel, I despise wastage of precious resources.’

Thaberus said nothing, but maintained his steely gaze on me for a moment before looking away and commenting, ‘for your information, more than half of the casualties were caused by either friendly fire, field accidents or belated medical attention. So, that concludes the uprising.’ Done with the war report, Thaberus finished his drink with a large gulp, prompting me to catch up with my own drink.

While I drank in silence, Thaberus switched topics. ‘So, about what you did today at the monastery and the gate, you knew?’

About what? Taken totally out of my depth, I played the only card in hand – strategic ambiguity and replied vaguely, ‘which exact part were you referring to?’

‘Either about the state of Ecclesiarchy on this planet or the implications of helping that man near the gate.’ He said with another shrug.

Wait, implications?

‘Let us start with the Ecclesiarchy, you might have picked it up already but I need you to be informed on this.’ Thaberus said, somehow sounding more serious than before. I gulped, readied myself for whatever was to be revealed.

‘For now, be wary of the Church. Especially the cardinal.’ He whispered, going full conspiracy mode.

Huh, but that was kinda expected. As an atheist in heart who had witnessed countless deeds of misguided religious folks, people who proclaimed to be representing an almighty enigmatic being with a straight face were not exactly on my most trustworthy list.

As that thought crossed my mind the inquisitor whispered again. ‘He might have something to do with the uprising, covert investigations are underway.’

Eh? This sounds even more serious.

‘Can you tell me more?’ I asked.

‘The details are sketchy, but Kaithan might have received secret blessings from the cardinal to take over the planet. Now, the real question of whether he was compromised by Chaos cults is not clear at this point; the sisters were wise to keep their distance from the Church during this ordeal.’ This was not the first time I heard bad stuff about this cardinal.

‘Understood. Then what about the man I helped at the gate?’ I switched topics. Thaberus took out his data-slate again and conjured a report. ‘Citizen Rutibor Sermard, just discharged from the monastery infirmary. A retired general of the planetary defence force, his children are listed in the surrendered ranks. For days he had been petitioning in front of the monastery for an official pardon for his children and the others. Due to his ranking before retirement he had become a sort of de facto spokesperson for people in the same situation.’

‘Why here?’

‘It became the focal point once everyone knew you were being treated here. That statue outside? It was rushed out and delivered to the spot within a day by the devotees.’

The mere mention of that statue made me involuntarily cringe again while he continued. ‘Tensions have been brewing between kin of the surrendered rebels like Rutibor and the others who could not forgive their actions. They insisted every person who participated in the uprising be punished with the harshest sentence possible for the daemonic incursion and getting their prophesied saint, you, hurt- ’ Thaberus suddenly paused at the beeping of a vox call.

‘Speaking of getting you hurt, you should hear this.’ He said while putting a small device on the table and switched it on.

‘Lord Thaberus?’ A deep and strong man’s voice burst forth.

‘Speaking, marshal.’

‘My Lord, I just heard about the incident. On behalf of all the Arbites, I formally apologise for the actions of my subordinates. Is the… saint candidate hurt in any way?’

‘By the Emperor’s grace, not at all. It might have gotten ugly otherwise. There were a few hundred devotees at the scene plus a whole detachment of battle sisters that arrived soon after. For their own safety, your subordinates are temporarily being held inside the monastery.’

‘Thank the Throne! Lord Thaberus, please let me know of your decision on how to deal with this. Kindly convey our deepest regret to the saint candidate.’

‘Very well, I will contact you later.’ Thaberus said and ended the conversation. ‘That was the top Arbites here, Marshal Gallianor Svendul. You heard him, so what to do with the Arbites trooper who shot you?’ He asked casually.

I was hit with a sudden implication that with but a word from me, someone could disappear forever, and that the old saying of “everyone being equal before the law” was forever a pipe dream.

Thinking back on what happened, while at times that Arbites sure felt like an arsehole, I was not sure if that warranted final judgement. Not liking the idea of deciding someone else’s fate due to an interaction gone awry, I made up my mind.

‘Please let the Marshal decide on his punishment.’

‘Is that so?’ Thaberus said, despite his flat tone he seemed a bit surprised I was not asking for anything heavier.

‘Yes. By the way, what were the Arbites doing during the civil war?’ I asked, seriously curious. Thaberus started to make himself more comfortable on the chair before replying. ‘They were completely caught off guard by the whole event and were about to launch a series of suicidal operations to apprehend Kaithan when I arrived. Since then, they had been operating under my directive, using their fortress as the main staging point.’

Fortress? I was about to ask before realising the obvious, it was Fortress Endurance Sigma. The fact that I had stayed inside a supersized Arbites precinct-fortress without realising it made me facepalm internally again.

The inquisitor continued, ‘back to the topic of Citizen Rutibor, your timely aid might be viewed upon as a direct stance to pardon the surrendered troops. I am sure the word is spreading on the street right now. I am also sure your actions have further tarnished the Church’s dubious local reputation, considering your first appearance was with the devotees rather than the representatives of the Church.’

The sudden realisation that everything I do might carry some symbolic weight dawned on me. I definitely went overboard with my stunt and have to be really careful about my actions in future.

Thaberus concluded, ‘now that you are being updated of the recent events, I would like to inform you that my promise to you was kept and it is time for you to fulfil yours.’

My mind played back my conversation with him on that fateful day when I promised him to look for a solution. ‘It is about what to do with the soldiers that got too close to the daemon?’

‘Yes, all twenty thousand of them. Currently kept in a temporary tent city.’

20,000??

Thaberus waited a bit before asking. ‘Am I supposed to be worried when the Holy Daughter is giving me a thousand yard stare?’ I replied to his taunt with a heavy-lidded stare, and he laughed.

‘So, it is time for the newly anointed saint candidate to work on her third miracle.’ Thaberus said with another smirk.

‘Third?’

‘Not keeping score? First was your song that stopped the war, the banishment of the daemon being the second.’ He replied without batting an eye and continued, ‘the third would be on sorting out the troops who might be compromised by the breach. Twenty thousand people might be a small number in the grand scheme of things, but the political implications would be huge.’

He paused a bit before concluding. ‘Should you succeed in this arduous task, it should put enough pressure on the Church to expedite their process and formally canonise you as a living saint, giving you the much needed public political legitimacy to do a lot of things. I would appreciate it if you could look into this quickly, a hunch is telling me complications might arise if this is not resolved soon.’

‘Let’s go then,’ I stood up and declared.

Thaberus was startled for a second before regaining his composure, ‘while I appreciate your enthusiasm, you are not going anywhere. Stay put here for at least a day or two for observation. In my professional opinion, dragging the Holy Daughter around after she just woke up from days of coma will result in the whole Adepta Sororitas revolting against me.’

Oh, right. My shoulders slumped.

The inquisitor continued, ‘besides, do you know anything about the vetting process against warp taint? I will arrange the psykers to brief you as part of their break. They are currently overworked as it is.’

I realised I would have to savour a short, precious breather before being swamped by whatever was thrown my way again.

‘One last thing, about the insidious heretical cults,’ Thaberus spoke again just as I thought we were done here. ‘From what we uncovered, I believed they all hail to a single leader at the very top. This person, an arch-heretic with vast forbidden knowledge, should have been at the ritual site during the breach and might have survived.’

‘Didn’t you mention only finding dead people at the site?’ I asked while recalling what was mentioned.

‘Yes, more like chunks and debris of dead people,’ Thaberus nodded, ‘we later found a fresh set of footprints leading out of the site and disappearing into the wilderness. Since we could not find anything of significance on other human remains, I suspect this single survivor might be the arch-heretic.’

So, a very dangerous person might be on the loose, another plus one for my countless worries ahead.