Vex Chronicles 4: Zeal

Ascension in blood

Codra Minor, Factory-City-2, industry sector

The imperial agents had dropped the blank in custody of the local adeptus arbites. And now they had joined a team of hardened police enforcers who moved towards the warp distortion in Zaraman's Grace industry sector. The police enforcers had already received alarming reports from there. And when Sill and Cassilia had drawn their badges, they had gladly invited them to join.

The officer in charge looked at Cassilia with a bit of confusion. Cassilia looked like a beauty, not a warrior. And her cloth was designed to just enhance that effect. But what he didn't saw was the hidden armor in her frilly dress the tough skin underneath. Cassilia was a xenos creature made for subterfuge and battle alike. A deadly package that was made to hide its true strength. Cassilia had worked hard to enhance her harmless and pretty apparel. And her genetics had gladly assisted her by evolving further into the small but voluptuous creature that she now was.

Cassilia was born on Eredius III. An agrarian world with lots of farms and a populace smaller and paler than the imperial standard. That made the contrast to Sill's half-ogryn bulk only more crass. The Rhino troop transporter was clearly to small for her. But she had somehow managed to squeeze inside.

"What can you tell us about the complex?," Cassilia asked the commanding officer, a certain high marshal Trairot.

"Old tailoring factory that made worker overalls for the rabble. Large open hall with a few offices on the upper levels. Main hall spans both stories. But it was abandoned quite some time ago. I expect much of the machines to be salvaged and broken."

The enforcer marshal clearly came from very high up the command chain. But high marshal Trairot was not a field leader but a politician. His duty was to look good on a holo-vid when taling about success in a crucial missions of the enforcers. And if this marshal was here in full costume, whatever was going on, was bigger than Cassilia had expected.

"We had multiple reports of mutilations and missing people in Zaraman's Grace," marshal Trairot. "And just this morning we traced the ring of pontifex Benedictus III. to this sector. Someone here sold the signet ring of the kidnapped priest."

A kidnapping of a high ecclesiarchy dignitary? That was news to Cassilia. And it explained why the enforcers had been so eager to march out in full force.

"Mutilations, missing people, a missing pontifex and an odd activity in the warp," Sill counted her fingers. "Looks bad, doesn't it? Nasty shit."

Cassilia nodded. "I have to repeat my warning, marshal. We don't fully know what we'll face. But it is either a bunch of very clumsy wannabe sorcerers that dabble in powers way out of their league. Or it could be a skilled warp incursion so strong that even their precautions can no longer hide their own warp meddling."

The high marshal wasn't too happy to hear that from Cassilia's lips. But it was clear as day that the enforcer's thoughts went in similar directions.

And as if to confirm their worst fears, the first camera feeds came in. It looked worse than expected. There was blood, lost of it. It was smeared over walls and floor. Runes that hurt the eyes still glistened freshly, even though some of if had to be days or maybe even weeks old.

When the snipers moved into position on the higher floors, the monitors finally showed the whole extend of the mess. They looked down into a blood drenched main fabrication hall. Rusty machinery had been pushed aside to make room for a large basin. It was entirely filled with blood.

"That doesn't look good," Sill pressed out, her face pale from the sight.

The sheer amount of blood wasn't even the worst sight. It was the symbol drawn around the basin that made everyone gasped. It was the eight pointed star of Chaos, painted in blood that seemed to boil right out of the video feed. Each of the star's arrows pointed at a gruesome trophy. Some where blood drained bodies, mummified and prepared just for this moments. Other trophies were helmets with severed heads still inside. And those were helmets of imperial power armor – slain space marines...