Katherine walked through the command center with the Living Saint, Magdalena, her golden Vestment pattern power armor gleaming. They had just met with Legatus Scipio Trajanus, who was the commander of the Third Byzantine Legion. Under Inquisitor Saevitiae's instructions, the Legion was providing the close defense for Point Phobos, while other Guard and Marine units were stationed around the outer perimeter of the base and the city of Parvati. Magdalena wanted to keep in close contact with Trajanus to stay on top of any developments. He seemed a decent enough man, and a fine commander, despite his loyalty to the Inquisitor she felt was corrupt.
As they were leaving, something caught Katherine's ear. "392 Caelum, do you copy? Platoon 392 Caelum, can you read me?" A vox-operator was repeating into her microphone. Katherine moved closer, with Magdalena following. "351 Patrol, please respond. I repeat 351 Patrol please respond."
"What's wrong?" Magdalena asked.
The frustrated vox-operator sighed without looking up, "We've lost contact with Caelum squad from the 392nd."
"Vox-caster malfunction?"
The young Byzantine woman turned and her jaw dropped when she saw that standing behind her was none other than the Living Saint, Magdalena. She stared unblinking as her breath caught in her chest, "I…I…"
The Living Saint reached forward and laid a red-gold gauntleted hand on her shoulder, "It's okay. What's happened?"
With the touch on her shoulder the communications officer seemed to calm, who blushed slightly, "We…we lost contact with a patrol from the 351st about an hour ago. They were out in Sector thirteen of Parvati and didn't return to the 5th Cohort. We vectored in Caelum squad from the 392nd and air dropped them in. Now we've lost contact with them as well."
The young duty officer, a Tribunus in rank, approached them, "You've lost contact with those guys from the 9th Cohort?" After the other officer nodded, he frowned, "One comm. failure I could believe. Two…"
"Probably not a coincidence," Magdalena nodded.
The Tribunus frowned, "Put in a call to those Ultramarines. I'm not going to send another squad in there until we know what happened. Let's send in the big guns."
Katherine shook her head, "The Ultramarines are drawn thin. They're all out on sweeps in the downtown sector. I doubt they have anyone to spare."
"Do we have any squads free?" Magdalena asked.
"Mother Agnes is out with most of the Commandery in the fields north-east of the city." She tapped her lower lip with her finger as she thought, "I think there are a dozen of our reserves still in Point Phobos. I could gather them up and head out there to take a look. It'll take us over a half an hour to get there in a Repressor, though."
"I have a couple Argus-class lighters on standby," The Tribunus offered. "They could fly you over and drop you in the street in five minutes…if you're willing to go. We'd owe you one."
"You would owe us nothing, Tribunus," Magdalena shook her head gently. "We serve the Emperor however we can. How soon can you be ready to go, Katherine?"
"Give me five minutes to gather and arm the others and we'll meet you at the landing pad…"
Through the driving rain, the two Argus lighters settled down on the pavement, splashing down into five centimeters of standing water. The small dropships could only carry six people in them, and they were unarmed, but they were fast and maneuverable. The hydraulic rear ramps lowered and five Sisters of Battle piled out of each into the driving rain. The two lighters took off immediately. They were quickly two hundred meters up and rolling out into a looping orbit around the area, ready to lift the Sisters back out when called.
