In which we conclude Vandemar's introductions with the outer circle of his operational unit. As before, links under the pictures lead to painting articles. Follow these links for Episodes one and two.
While my Inner Circle are the solid foundations that prop up
The Firm there is more to my operational unit than my close colleagues. The
operational unit requires skilled individuals to perform its role. However
these people may not display the deeper talents or easy group cohesion that
will grant them a place in the Inner Circle. It may be as simple as being a
poor fit for the rest of the team. Some, I will confess, I deliberately hold at
arm’s length. I feel I should start by introducing those who are close to being
part of my closest colleagues.
Enforcer Callaghan |
I do believe that what the Emperor takes with one hand he may
return with the other. I mentioned the Affair of the Corvid Maze earlier in
this chronicle. That unhappy affair cost me a long term ally in my poor Amenemhat
but granted me a new cohort in the form of Enforcer Calleghan. The Corvid Maze
was the name given to the tangle of slum dwellings and abandoned industry at
the heart of the capital of Centuarii. New dwellings had been built on top of
each other, covering alleyways and making them into tunnels. Hatches cut
vertically through floors and ceilings and occasional collapses made the area a
treacherous warren of tangled pathways, blind tunnels, festering squats and
vicious gang strongpoints. I was tracking a known recidivist – Keiden the Reviled
– on Centuarii and it was only when he disappeared into the Corvid Maze that I
knew his intent. An estimated third of a million people dwelt within, cults
germinated in such fertile soil would have roots that would be almost
impossible to eradicate. Sadly, I know that many of my Ordos would have ordered
the Maze to be levelled by orbital fire rather than take any chances. I, once
more, let my weakness for seeing innocence within the most festering sinks of
humanity get in the way. I would try to flush my quarry before he had a chance
to seed heresy.
To aid me I was assigned a full regiment of enforcers. These
would start a crime sweep from the eastern edge of the Corvid Maze while my
band entered from the west and tried to capture Keiden as he fled ahead of the
advancing enforcers. I had samples of Keiden’s blood from previous engagements
and I had requested a tracking detail from amongst the enforcer regiment. Calleghan
was the result. His faithful cyborg-mastiff – Atemis – was equipped with
astonishing bio-spoor sensors and could follow the scent trace of a suspect across
a hundred thousand crisscrossing trails. Calleghan loosed Artemis into the maze
and we followed eagerly. Several skirmishes against the scum that claimed the
various territories within rather announced our presence though. By the time we
caught up with Keiden he was ready for us. The ambush was savage, the surprise,
total. Not one of us escaped without grievous injury of some form. Through it
all Calleghan was like a force of nature. This was his natural battleground,
close quarters, righteousness and a shotgun his allies, criminal scum his opponents.
What really sold me was that wherever possible throughout the operation he
sought to take his foes alive to face the Emperor’s justice. That sort of
tenacity and honest adherence to the law appealed to me greatly.
I’m still not sure whether or not I retained him to fill a
tactical or emotional hole at Amenemhat’s passing. Regardless, I made him the
offer to perform the Emperor’s work on a grander scale and he accepted. I think
he felt that he had risen as far as he was able within the Magistratum and
seeing the sort of villain that we pursue gave him hope for greater exploits.
He is increasingly valuable and on the verge of being accepted into the Inner
Circle. His hound is capable of tracking in a bewildering variety of
environments and has been more than useful on countless occasions. Calleghan
himself throws himself into the work with a glee and enthusiasm that is most
gratifying. He works well with Herodotus in interrogation, the two forming a
double act. One, the erudite, eloquent web of logic, the other playing to the
stereotype of the callous, brutal enforcer. Truthfully though, he is of most
use to me as a bridge between the Inquisition and the local Magistratum. He
speaks their language and opens many doors of cooperation that they might try
to conceal from me. As I say, a valuable man and well on his way to Inner
Circle status.
Mung |
And then there is Mung. Mung will never be a part of the
Inner Circle I am afraid, although I am extremely fond of him. He simply lacks
the cognitive functions to appreciate anything but the simplest concepts. Mung’s
early life is very much an enigma. He certainly is not from one of the Ogryn
homeworlds, he lacks any Imperial Guard markings or implants so could not have
travelled offworld. I am inclined to believe that he was the child of serving
Ogryns left behind when the regiment moved on. Who can tell? However he came to
be, I found him on Enix Major. Enix is a cancerous lump of a world, run down
and forgotten, hopeless and heartless. There really is no functioning
government to speak of, a local lord serves as governor but he is little better
than a mob boss. It is my intention one day to return to Enix and carry out a
thorough purge of the so called leadership. Try to install some genuine
Imperial order there. Regardless, I am sending myself on a tangent.
Mung was working as a bouncer in a low-sink dive that had
become the focus of my investigations on Enix. I was following the trail of
warp-polluted erotica that was being exported from Enix. The pages contained hidden
details in the background of the images, sigils and circles of power for the
conjuration and communication with daemons. Ritual incantations, symbols of the
dark powers, you name it. Wenchang Mimir had tracked the supply lines back to
an establishment called The Decadence Lounge. Mung was its fearsome guard dog,
growling at those who entered and beating senseless any who contravened the
fairly lax rules. During our reconnaissance I had tricked my way past Mung with
the simplest of telepathic illusions. Touching his mind, I detected no genuine
malice, he was a gentle, innocent soul who had been trained to look ferocious.
The presence of a genuinely civilian Ogryn piqued my curiosity and when the
time came to raid the Decadence Lounge I ensured that Mung was non-lethally
neutralised.
After I had dealt with the cultist owners of the club – a tale
for another time – I questioned Mung. He was adamant that we were the bad guys,
that we had attacked a legitimate business, he’d seen papers that proved it. It
turned out that his simple brain had been fooled into believing that this den
of filth was a typical Imperial business, taxes paid, permissions granted and
all above board. When I finally finished explaining his error, this huge
creature crumpled. Mung wept for a day and a half, gasping for forgiveness
between sobs. Have you ever seen an Ogryn cry? It torments the soul. I fully
believe that without the brutal indoctrination of his own people he represents
the true state of the Ogryn soul. Gentle innocence in a murderously powerful
frame.
Eventually I had to concoct a means by which he could pay
penance to the Emperor and earn his forgiveness. He had to serve me as
faithfully and completely as he had his false masters. From that moment on – the sight
of hope re-entering his eyes has stayed with me – he has served me utterly.
He remembers his training to be ferocious well and makes an excellent
intimidation tool. Combine that with his ability to haul a full-size multilaser
– he calls it Princess – we liberated from a wrecked sentinel on Casterus and
you have a formidable presence on the field of battle. Between investigations
he spends most of his time either obsessively cleaning – he sees it as part of
his penance – or listening to the dreadful Pound music that the club used to
play all the time. He’ll never be Inner Circle material, but I wouldn’t be
without the big guy these days.
Friar Dominic Augustine |
Now we move into slightly more uncomfortable territory for
me. I have mentioned before that I am a strict Amalathean and dislike and
mistrust factionalism within the Imperium. Sadly, the Imperium is riven by
factions far more divisive and powerful than those within my own order. I truly
believe that the Imperium will never be saved until it is whole, one people,
one purpose. This will never happen as long as potent factions such as the
Ecclesiarchy continue to meddle with government. They should concern themselves
purely with the promulgation of the Imperial faith and with the worship of His Divine
Majesty, all other activities should be forbidden and curtailed. With this in
mind it may be surprising to see a member of the Ecclesiarcy within my operational
band, Friar Dominic Augustine.
Frankly, with my experience identifying heretics and
deviants I know better than to shun the Ecclesiarchy. To shut them out would
invite undue attention to my views on their practices. Instead, I prefer to
play the role of the dutiful servant and hide my opinions under cover of
acceptance. Indeed, Friar Augustine is not so bad. He is not so hidebound as
many of his ilk and was a private in his world’s PDF before taking holy orders
so has some of that practicality, he even keeps his issued chainsword as a
keepsake. He was little more than a scribe in his abbey and jumped at the
chance to serve the Emperor as part of my band. He rarely sees combat unless we
are facing foes who are vulnerable to faith. Instead, I use him much as I do Calleghan
to be a bridge between my band and the Ecclesiarchy. Having an ambassador of
the cloth opens doors for me and prevents irksome suspicion.
Enginseer Hephaistos |
Then we come to the Mechanicum. I fear I will have to redact
these comments if I ever publish them for in the eyes of most of my peers I
would be a heretic for my views. My job is to hunt deviant cults, including
heretical Imperial cults. What, might I ask, is the most deviant of all of the
Imperial cults? That of the Machine God. For Throne’s sake they even schism
over whether or not the Emperor IS the Omnisiah. They are the ultimate
expression of deviant worship. Why did we ever tolerate them? Nothing more than
political expediency. It was easier to swallow their perversion – indeed I
believe pretence – of worship than to challenge them and bring them to heel.
Sadly though, I need enginseers to keep my machines and tech working. I have
made it my policy only ever to recruit relatively junior ranks within the
Mechanicum and to keep them at arm’s reach.
Hephaistos is the latest in a string of Mechanicum servants.
He joined us shortly after Herodotus was elevated to Interrogator. He’s a
tolerable example of their kind. Mercifully obsessed with the machines he
serves and forever tinkering with that oversized gravitron rifle of his. He
seemed enthusiastic to be our enginseer at first but – as always – he is
starting to grow dissatisfied. You can’t blame them, they join an Inquisitor’s
retinue, excited at the thought of making a substantive contribution and are
reduced to mechanics and occasional translators. I fear Hephaistos will soon
reach the point where boredom and dissatisfaction will overwhelm duty and he’ll
make his excuses. It will be a shame, it is hard to look for the right
combination of duty and lack of ambition in their kind.
Captain Aleksandr Pokryshkin |
And finally we come to Captain Aleksandr Pokryshkin. He
is the first member of the Operational band that I have not chosen personally.
I gave Herodotus the task of choosing a new pilot when our previous incumbent –
a woman called Graia who had been with me for half a decade – was killed by
explosive decompression in a fire fight at low orbit. I wanted to test his
judgement in assessing people. Frankly, I think he needs work in this area.
There is no doubt that Pokryshkin is a superb pilot, I’ve seen him do things in
bulk transporters that I would have blanched at the thought of in a void
fighter. Unfortunately he is a terrible fit for the team. He is brash, blunt to
the point of rudeness, boastful and has developed a rather dangerous – for him –
obsession with Dolus Andraste that I foresee ending with blood. Only Bard can
tolerate him for lengthy periods and that is only because he sees making up
stories to outdo Pokryshkin’s as a source of endless entertainment. I only hope
that whatever well hidden depths there are to his personality come to the surface
before I am forced to dismiss him.
So we come to the end of our introductions. These are the
people with me aboard the trader vessel Horizon Yearning as we enter Cetus.
Whether they all leave with me will depend on the danger of this scrutiny. Time
will tell…
I really like your piece of fluff for your inquisitor and I can't wait see others warbands, grunts and AAR!
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