Tartika II

[Red Angel]

as Verik was a honor guard, he had orders to protect the Lord General in any situation. now that a large battle was raging outside by the sound of it, the command staff had been sealed off and was directing the battle as best they could while locked inside the bunker. Verik had assumed his position near the entry point to make sure nobody got in that way. and he could not shake off the feeling of being successfull. he had accomplished his plan to the letter, and it was now just to wait and hope the inquisitor survived this battle. then he would have some explaining to do, and with a bit of luck, he would make it out alive.

Colban walked so fast Kiron had to run to catch up once he noticed the Inquisitor walking away from the battlefield.

"where are we going, lord?"

"to catch a traitor, my friend, to catch a traitor..."

and that was all Kiron got, and he reloaded his bolter just to be sure, as they walked straight towards the HQ complex.

[Red Angel]

the battle ended and the bunker was unlocked, letting the door be opened from the outside again, and there stood a Inquisitor with a most fearsome looking space marine behind him, carrying a stalker bolter, a yellow Imperial Fist shoulder pad, but otherwise deathwatch colored armor, and a very grim expression.

"bring me the guardsman named Verik, he is to be interogated for treason" the inquisitor boomed in a demanding voice very few could not quail before. Verik walked up without having to be forced to, and he was taken away by the space marine and the inquisitor.

while Belgor and his marines celebrated their triumphant mission. now, with the artefact, they could complete a cermony that had required a lot of preparation, and if anything was wrong they would all have been for nought, so Belgor was satisfied that the mission was finally over. with the banner of that impieral guard regiment, the symbol of so many victories for the imperium, they would now call upon the changer of ways to alter it from imperial victories to chaos victories, and the banner would become the focus point of a magnificent warpstorm that would engulf Tartika system and create a deamon world of it. and nothing would be able to escape the system, nor enter it, without favor of the dark gods.

[Red Angel]

Kiron watched the prisoners every single move and action, and made sure he did not try anything. he was not trained for this kind of mission, but the inquisitor had requested the deathwatch to accompany him since aliens were to be found at this planet, and he had realised that the request was not in any way out of order. Inquisitors request whatever they want, and they are obeyed whatever they ask for.

Verik noticed the marines close attention in his neck, but he did not bother. he had made sure he could prove his innocence and that he had not acted wrong in any way but one, and he hoped to the emperor that would not count for much compared to the benefits.

all 3 entered a room, and the inquisitor sat down on his chair while the marine stood behind verik, ready to stop him if he tried anything at all. and Verik realised now why inquisitors were so feared. he realised this man could kill him here and now, without any judge at all, and he would get away with it as it was his duty. this man infront of him could command space marines around, who normally only were asked to do things, but this man ordered them. he felt a bit uneasy for the first time this day, and he hoped he said the right things...

[Red Angel]

as the Inquisitor put his eyes upon the guardsmans soul, and started to look into his hearts depth to find if it was tainted in any slight way. what he found was, surprisingly he had to admit, steel resolve and faith. that did not mean there was no taint, only that this man could be well versed in the acts of hiding ones true allegiance. there was, as of yet, no evidence of either heresy nor purity. that was his job to find out, and he enjoyed it a lot.

"well, where to start. you know fully well i am a Inquisitor, and that means i dont answer to anyone but the Emperor and myself, so you are at my merdcy. whatever you do and say have to be chosen carefully, if you want to live another day. tell me, Verik, what part did you play in all this? the heretic scum took YOUR banner after all, did they not? the 35th Kunrak Regiment have only 3 men that live, and you are the strangest one. you keep appearing in my sight all the time. explain, please."

"i want to tell you i have a faithful soul and heart, i do not try to betray our holy Emperor, never would i do that as long as i live. i will need some time to explain it all, but in the end, i belive we can come to the conclussion that i am innocent, and should be released from this captivity."

Kiron reacted a bit on the fact that this poor guardsman, sitting infront of a Inquisitor and having a Space Marine behind him, both ready to kill him in a instant, was very certain of himself. this would be a interesting time. very interesting...

"i will not make any promises nor will i make any deal with you. i judge you as i wish and you have nothing to do with that. what you can do is merely to make me judge you innocent, and considering the current status, i doubt your ability to prove you are innocent. now tell me your tale, or i will happily have you executed for heresy."

"veryw ell, my tale begins when you arrived here, my Lord..."

[Red Angel]

Belgor stood in the huge room aboard the Celestial and watched the followers of tzeench weave their spells and utter their chants as to empower the banner and the other relics with the chaos gods favor. but why did he have a nagging feeling in his mind? it felt like he had missed something, but all was there. no relic was missing, all the actors were assembled and played their roles. why did the play then feel wrong?

the chanting grew louder and louder, and the relics started shining with the essence of the warp, daemonic faces being visible around them for brief periods of time. the fabric of space would soon be torn apart and daemons would swarm over this system, covering it in darkness and suffering, fitting for chaos. all of the unholy choir raised their voices to praise tzeench and his powerful might. and then the staff was to be put inside the center of it all, and that would be the key to unleash all the power this sacrifice contained. chaos would rule this system for millenia and more, and they would mock the imperium from it, showing them that the might of chaos is unstopable.

the head mage picked up the staff with his wretched hands, and carried it to the center of the 8 pointed star that the relics was making, and lift it high in the air, screaming his praise to Tzeench and his power, and smashed the staff down into the ground.

[Red Angel]

Belgor noticed the look on the headmage, and he realised that something had not gone according to plans here. he walked up to the man and grabbed his robe, pulling the short man up to face Belgor, his feet dangling in the air.

"what is the problem, mage? does tzeench not like you?" he growled, feeling a rage that this man had done something wrong and had ruined the entire plan.

the weak mage could only whimper, his magic powers forgotten as he stared into the black eyes of a very angry chaos champion, and he knew his life was in this mans hands, literally.

he could only stutter forth that everything had gone according to the plan, everything had been done right. something was just plain wrong somewhere, and nobody in the room could tell what. Belgor threw the mage away, and started to walk around trying to find the reason. none of the people had done anything wrong he realised, so what was it? could it be a object had not been in the correct place? he walked over to them and started examining them, one by one and carefully, but none showed any sign of flaw.

then he got to the banner in the centre, and he flew into a rage and stormed outside of the room, quickly followed by his entire warband and left the head mage and his kin baffled and scared as to the sudden rage. Belgor was known for keeping control, but this was outside his normal behaviour. something about the banner had toppled the usually clam and methodic man into a raging machine, and everyone knew someone would pay dearly for it.

[Red Angel]

as Verik started his tale, he began when it all started, at the battle where the chaos marines had landed. he explined in detail, just as he had prepared to do, how they had saved the imperial troops from defeat, and had since been instrumental in multiple victories over the tyranid swarm, lending their expertise wherever it was needed the most.

he then skipped the time until the day the lord general had arrived. he explained how he had been one of the honor guards that day, and he had notcied something strange in the group but could not quite put his finger on what it was. as he talked, Nolen realised that his disguise had not gone this man by. he had dressed as a adjutant, the kind nobody notice until they need some paper carried somewhere. he wanted to stay under cover for this mission, since he did not know where the enemy was. this guardsman had somehow felt his presence still, and had constructed a plan from that day it seemed like. at least, that was what it looked like, judging by this mans confidence despite being in a situation nobody want to be in.

Verik continued how he had found out about the traitor adjutant to the lord general, and had followed him once when he took one of his frequent leaves to "do something important". he had walked right into the space marine headquarters, and there Verik had, the next day, started to setup a surveilence system, posing as a mechanic fixing all the lights. nobody had stopped him, and he had gotten all the devices he needed up in one day.

[Red Angel]

he had found out about the marines true agenda, but he did not know what it was just specefically. he knew they were looking for a object that was needed for one of their foul rituals, and they posed as loyal marines until the artifact was found. this ment that they had been seraching since they came here, and nobody had found it yet. he quickly had started going through all he knew had happend, and came up with many possible objects being the one they looked for. but which was it?

he knew they had travelled to the battlefield where his regiment had been destroyed, and that they had come back with no artefact still. thats when he put one and one togheter. what was the single important thing that was a possible artefact and had been moved from that battlefield? the banner. he had carried it away from the field, and it had been moved into a storage area, so Verik quickly rushed to that place as soon as he realised what they were looking for. he had broken in there, stolen the banner and put a replacement banner he had made himself as a hobby project to spend time when there was no official duties to be done. now it came in perfect use.

[Red Angel]

the plan worked flawlessly. the banner was a little bit different from the real one, but in the heat of the situation, the chaos servants had no time further examining it, and had taken the fake banner and fled with it. they had, despite the warning that someone would oppose them, failed their mission because of one lone guardsman having his wits and courage enough to think and go outside the box. it was generally frowned upon, but in this case, colban nolen realised, that were it not for this single man, the entire system would be a haven for chaos servants already now.

he was baffled, and Kiron was as well. a lone guardsman had just fooled a plan by the alpha legion, as no other legion could have done such planning to such perfection. Verik sat there, looking confident that his errors of disobedience, his running about, lying about who he was, and a host of other things. but compared to theese smaller errors, he had, in fact, saved the entire system. he had foiled a alpha legion scheme. for that, Nolen decided that this man was the hero of the day.

[Red Angel]

and thats the end of Tartika II. i decided to do this story because i wanted to, and because i know i have a talent for it, so i thought that making a thread here would get some attention and feedback.

the first, obviously at almost 3000 views, was achived. thank you everyone.

the second, however, is non existant. i have not gotten a single word of feedback, so i would like to ask you all who view this thread to put up a post giving me feedback as to what i did right and what i did wrong. anything, from "you are god!" to "just die" is welcome, altough i wont follow that last advice.

hope you enjoyed it as much as i did making it, and again, please give me feedback. if you do and most liked it a lot, i will create another story. and this time, im thinking maybe to focus a lot more on tyranids, because its rival species 2 after all. enjoy the story as you read the finnish here, and i hope to hear some feedback soon.

Red Angel, signing off.