Warhammer 40,000: Stavrakis- The Hunt For Valakt

Aftermath

The Magos Biologus clicked and buzzed next to me. The stark whiteness of the Tech Mechanicus private Medicae facilities was starting to get to me. Why would the Tech priests need a biological medical facility anyway? I'm glad for it all the same. I was interred in a sort of metallic tube, hollowed out in the middle. Dangling from the inside of the tube was a myriad of diodes, needles and scanning probes. I honestly had no idea what they were. While I enjoyed a closer relationship with the Tech Mechanicus than a vast majority of the Imperium's agents, I was still clueless as to most of it. 

The esteemed Magos Biologus, meanwhile, was happily clicking and buzzing as his machine collected all the data it needed while I was hooked up to it. My fight with Valakt had left me horribly weakened. I had attributed it to my failing level of fitness and health, but weeks after the cleanup of that incident and I was actually feeling worse. The Magos assured me his machines could not only diagnose the cause, but cure me as well, if it came to it. Too bad I had to sit like this for 15 hours. 

The cleanup off the Valakt incident had proceeded with all haste once my Grand Master Isshmus Jakob III had arrived. For the first week, Inquisition death priests had roamed the Spire, cataloguing and sorting through the dead so that proper records could be made. I was there as they assessed Saul's body. The Felid had been thorough, I must grudgingly admit. It had taken the priests forty five minutes to find all of the different body parts in the lounge area, and another thirty to confirm which belonged to whom. Senver was the only Hasskar mercenary to survive our mission. 

They had run a clean sweep through the surrounding hab floors, and had set off another enemy ambush. Retreating back towards the Inquisitorial areas, they inadvertently set off more traps. Valakt had planted insurance as to the deaths of anyone arriving after he was here. I would retain Senver if he accepted my offer. The corpses of all of the enemy were put in a modified stasis hold aboard the Radiant Dawn, until such time as I could resume the investigation. The second week saw a new Maniple of Tech Priests come in and assess all of the structural and equipment damage. Most of the logic engines were repairable, but the sheer volume of destruction kept them busy for a solid few months. Not to mention the damage caused to the Hives primary systems. 

The third week was the darkest of all. The Inquisitors who had cleared up their current field work returned in droves to Seranet spire, only to find it in shambles. Their home based teams were either slaughtered or turned to Chaos. Their databanks and personal rooms and vaults were ransacked. I greeted them all personally. It was my 'honour' as I was the one who had returned first, and had handled the situation. I loathed it, in actuality. Seeing all the sombre faces darkened my mood more. I started to feel the effects of my weak body more keenly at this stage. But I had to persevere. For the Emperor. 

The last shuttle to come in was a tiny bug-like affair. It had a bulbous backside, with thruster vanes positioned along its neck and back, which looked like the wings of a flying insect. The six long segmented legs were lowered as it made its final attitude adjustment. It ghosted in through the outer hangar doors. It had a faint yellow sheen to its hull, and along the edges of its cockpit windows. I knew this Inquisitor personally, and sighed as I envisioned our meeting. 

The beetle like flier landed heavily. Its legs buckled and flexed, but maintained their posture and integrity. The thruster vanes flittered back and forth, and its legs repositioned themselves by inches to gain a good footing. Then its aft pod split open down the middle to disgorge its passengers. First came a pair of lifter Servitors. 

They were as large as Astartes and were carrying immensely huge lockboxes in their clawed hands. Their robotic components were dulled and covered in brown dust. I suspected the colouring on the hull was also a result of dirt and muck. Next was a man. He looked middle-aged,at least by Inquisition standards, with a bristly blonde beard and short cropped hair. 

The only hint of his advanced age was his confinement to a hover-chair, the spinning grav hoops suspended beneath the chair keeping him aloft. I myself was nearing fifty(or was it sixty? THe Tyranids had robbed me of more than my Mentor), but I suspect Kive had broken past 100 recently. I felt old. Edmund appeared beside me.

"The two captured psykers have been transferred to an intact holding cell below Inquisitor." He said as he eyeballed the beetle-shuttle. "I have also signalled the greater Inquisition facilities on Artame. A ship has been dispatched for pick up." He noticed Kive, and they both shared a nod. Kive was the visiting Inquisitors primary interrogator, if one could be called that with such a service record.

He passed me a slate as the rest of the Inquisitors retinue disembarked.

"Senver has agreed to stay on as your bodyguard. For a moderate fee." I nodded as I read the report on the slate. Lord Isshmus had taken control of all operations for now. He had brought a small warband with him as assistants. 

Tens of scribes and savants, entire squads of elite stormtroopers, a private library that was worth more in knowledge than the entire combined trade output of Setra Prime and a large force of enginseers. The slate was a report by him, for my attention. I looked up momentarily and saw her. Inquisitor Lex Hunting. I dreaded this.