Secret War: The Annihilation Plague (Part 2)

Chapter 3

Tathe held his eyes with the Inquisitor's; he could tell she was used to people blanching under her scrutiny, such as that young fool, Attelus Kaltos. Still, Tathe had faced down worse things in the galaxy than an angry Inquisitor. And he'd faced down a few of those as well. For a second, he couldn't help admire Enandra's beauty, her flawless dark skin like the highest quality re-caff. Her damn amazing, wide, wisdom laden brown eyes.

'Pray tell, Commissar, why your...killing of one of my Throne Agents "needed to be done"?'

'Because he was slipping, mamzel,' said Tathe, his brain bashing back into reality. 'It occurred during the time the young Attelus and the others were fighting the Bloodthirster. I think now it's a good time to rewind the timeline a bit.'

Enandra leaned back in her chair and whipped out her hand dismissively. 'Yes, yes, go ahead.'

Tathe nodded; he more than empathised with the Inquisitor's exasperation. 'We fought our way towards the tower as this happened. The enemy was demoralised by the falling of the Bloodthirster and its disappearance, or I supposed it was the case as they'd lost so much fight since its fall, then Adreen revealed herself among the Resurrected. She was restored to her beautiful young self, and I shot her through the head, didn't hesitate. I saw it as the manipulation tactic it was, and my anger at such a...use of the woman I loved angered me, enraged me beyond anything I've ever felt before.'

'Of course, it did,' said Enandra, and Tathe didn't quite know what to make of her tone; it seemed both sympathetic and sad but sad in a strange way. 'I am sorry you were forced to do that, but it was the right thing to do...'

The Inquisitor trailed off in her sentence, but Tathe knew she wanted to say something along the lines of "even if it was because of the corruption within you."

Tathe cleared his throat and continued. 'Above us, Darrance and the Guncutter fought off the enemy craft, and just before we managed to enter, he became overwhelmed, and the Guncutter was shot down.'

'And obviously, Saderth Darrance managed to eject beforehand?' said Enandra. 'And that is why he is still alive? Unless he was killed and came back because he's one of those immortal perpetuals Attelus mentioned.'

Enandra turned to Attelus. 'That brings us back to the question, Attelus Xanthis Kaltos. Why did you believe so fast in a concept so...strange that you went to get a daemon weapon?'

Attelus shrugged. 'I was stupid, idiotic, I know. I have just seen things, mamzel. Seen too many things that in this horrid galaxy that an immortal human seems pretty, uhh...'

'Normal?' said Karmen. 'In comparison, anyway.'

Tathe smiled; say what you will about the boy, but his acting was damn on-point.

'In comparison, yes,' said Attelus. 'And my paranoia, mamzel. With just an even small chance, Etuarq is one it had to be assumed that he is. How much power has he accumulated, mamzel? How much has he learned in ways beyond any of us with that power? Please, mamzel, Inquisitor, you have to see my logic here.'

Enandra pursed her wonderful lips, folded her arms, then looked back to Tathe. 'So, you entered the tower. What happened next, Commissar?'

'We ran into the lobby,' said Tathe. 'And there we found...people, the locals. They had taken shelter in there.'

'What?' said Enandra, as her brow furrowed.

Tathe shrugged. 'I cannot overstate how surprised I was. How surprised all of us were.'

With Inquisitor Jelcine Enandra in the room, most other people seemed to fade into the background. 'It had to be some trick by the frigging Arch Enemy.' 'A trick,' said Arlathan and Tathe fought the urge to flinch, having forgotten about the Interrogator entirely until then.