GeGe's Odd Adventure Part 1.3

“So, how dif ou enn up wif her?” Bruta stuffing his face with food that he could only faintly remember eating sometime in his past life of nobility. Odicar was making a face of annoyance at the level of unprofessionalism that this former officer was displaying. Light green and yellow electro-torches lined up along the walls of the mess hall to give light to what the Scions didn’t want to see. “Excuse me, I couldn’t understand you what with all that food holding your tongue,” said Odicar trying his best not to be angered. Fine wine, roasted grox, and herbal bread were common back when this fanatic lived in the Brutii estate then he joined the imperial Navy and never looked back. Naval rations were fine and he could enjoy luxury food but it wasn’t as preventive like on his home world. After the navy was pretty much eating like a center-hiver, harden bread with preservatives or flesh bars made from questionable meat. The zealot took a cup of wine to chug down the food, clearing his mouth, “Ah yes, I was asking how your platoon got to service under GeGe.” Shifting around on his seat back and forth, he didn’t like how Bruta called Genevieve by this, yet it seems like he would have to play along permanently.

“She picked us up from our training world as soon as we were done, then got on Isha’s Poison.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it.”

“There must be more to that tale than this.”

Adalheid was sitting still to record the conversation between Odicar and Bruta using her shoulder-mounted pic recorder when they were right next to her on the same table. “What are you doing Bio-Priest?” asked Bruta. “Acquiring observational Men social data” she answered before the pic recorder folded itself in half then detach to fall right into her hands. “Unfortunately, since the subjects noticed my observations, I must continue this later,” told Adalheid to both of the guys. Bruta just gave an odd look to Odicar to get back, “She always acts like this, you’ll get used to it.” There was a golden thin line running down his pants when Bruta stood up to stretch. The shoulders were covered by rectangular harden yellow flak fabric made to appear as eagle wings. More decorations cover the naval uniform as the arms, sleeves, and collar had golden laces while a silver braid was woven along the buttons from the neck down. All of this gold and silver was on sky blue fabric making up the rest of the uniform.

“How about this, I’ll tell you why GeGe picked to recruit from my regiment,” said Odicar as Adalheid got up to leave the table. She was carrying around her nutrient paste canister that was hooked up to her left arm via tubes, she left her seat to put away the pic recorder or refill the canister.

“How long was that again?” the Sargent was asking himself, “Right, it was about one Terran year ago when the Isha’s Poison entered orbit over our training world. After that was a quick introduction where GeGe told us ‘...to act like your in the Imperial Army’ before being shipped off to fight a cult.”

“Well, that seemed… rushed.”

“At that time, her Inquisitor mentor just already died and she didn’t have any champions other than her frigate.”

“Why did she want you guys so badly?”

“You should know about the limit to how many an Inquisitor can conscript, which is 100 personal champions, one frigate of any class including a full crew with whatever vehicles could be stored inside it. Inquisitors can request command or help from any branch of the Administratum and the Imperial Army yet those the Inquisitor seek aid from can always turn them down. She told me that she really wanted to take the entire regiment with her but that would be numbered around 1,000. Thus it was settled to take only two squads with her.”

“Come on, unless she was invading a Daemon world, there is no need to take a regiment of Scion with her. Couldn’t she just took 100 Scions instead?”

“She works well with less apparently, also never led a force larger than 40 men. You guys in the navy didn’t know it, but there was a bad case of Nurgle’s Rot back then destroying a sub-sector in Segmentum Obscurus. It almost spread out to the rest of the sector if not for a quarantine sealing off that sub-sector from the rest of the Imperium. Battlefleet Gothic was shooting at any void ship departing a world’s gravity well as a part of that operation. Those ships really know how to set up a quarantine.” He chuckled grimly after saying that last sentence.

“That appear to be a bit harsh you know, shooting at friendly civilian and military ships. It must have killed tens of thousands or a hundred thousand Imperials.”

“Oh yeah, it definitely did, no doubt about that. They would first fire warning shots but if those void ships didn’t slow down and tried to enter warp space, the Gothic guys just shoot to kill. Not even trying to disable the engines like other Battlefleets would have.”

“Gods’ piss, was it that bad?”

“Worst planetside, this thing was spreading like crazy and this was GeGe’s first assignment. To stop this plague using 20 Scions, some outdated voidcraft, and a frigate. At least our regiment wasn’t called 68th Empress’s Sons for no reason. You see, the reason why she conscripted Scions from the 68th is because we undergo grueling anti-poison training. Along with drinking blessed blood from decedents of those originally gifted with disease immunity from Isha, makes the 68th the perfect soldiers to fight the Plague Lord’s minions.”

“Except for Fallen Marines.”

“Well, the only real counter to those guys is lots of Space Marines and maybe a swarm of Battle Sisters. My point is that we were convenient to her, she snatched us away before the Imperial Army could transfer us to the front. Close enough to intervene from our training world, we were shipped off as soon as possible. For her to have her mentor just die than have to deal with the Rot is like being dumped out of Cryosleep into a boiling pot. She just took any advantage she could get.”

“So how did you stop the Rot?” Bruta’s eyes lighting up in curiosity to hear the rest of the story.

“Too long, ask GeGe or another veteran Scion. I said I would tell you why she conscripted us, not about the months worth of operations right afterward.” Odicar was standing up to get more food while brushing off crumbs from his uniform in disgust.

“Huh...” Much thought was put into trying to figure out how an Inquisitor with 20 Scions stops the Rot, he knew she didn’t use Exterminatus grade weapons or else she would probably no longer be an inquisitor. That and possibly magic was used if all else fails. He was thinking of anything that could have allowed GeGe to have the means of halting such a threat. Then the mind dwells on the question if the inquisitor was a puritan or radical. Gulping from the thought that he might be working for a radical, Bruta was visibly distraught with the idea. There was no real way of wiggling out of inquisitorial conscription which was why it was limited to only 100 individuals in the first place, that and nobody with planetary level effectiveness could be removed. Bruta knew that by being removed from Zhong, he wouldn’t effect it on a planet wide scale, unlike a general or governor. He traced his right hand along the hallway back to his room when thinking about the scary idea.

Looking through the archives on this insignificant Hive world, GeGe was trying to find an alarming pattern or odd irregularities throughout the planet’s history. She then remembered about the helper servitor which worked in the library back on planetside while reading about farming productivity affected by climate change. It made her shutter that a library of all places used a servitor instead of something a lot more suicidal like on the battlefield or mines. These lifeless husks were a rare sight for most of the Imperium as they were deemed immoral for common usage within the wider Imperium. That was why only the Mechanicus and Fallen Marines used them frequently as they are not bound by Imperial morality, the former was used legal technicalities while the latter did it illegally. To her, the servitors did serve a role in the Imperium as punishment for convicted traitors who must work the rest of their undying life for the government until they break down. Being converted into a servitor was considered one of the worst penalties a citizen can receive, which GeGe believed mustn't be thrown around triviality like the Mechanicus has done.

Tired of looking at the planet’s history from the modern days to the past, she began reading about the world from before Men first set foot on it. Earliest identifiable records show that it was originally inhabited by Xenos natives before a plague killed off the population by the time Man first discovered it. The world was colonized during the Dark Age of Technology, or Reign of Technology if you ask a Reformed Tech-Priest. Then the Age of Strife plunged the world into warring states where three major kingdoms ruled most of the planet. The fighting didn’t end until during the 300-year long era known as the Great Crusade by M31. The bodyguards and the servants of Isha called simply as the Handmaidens, did visit the world in M32 for unknown reasons. The reports on the Handmaidens arriving planetside were highly classified, to the point where the only way to see the reports were looking at the physical copies of it inside the governmental archives in an Upper Hive behind a bloodlock. GeGe was frustrated with her lack of creativity on tackling this problem to told herself, “Why didn’t I think of this sooner, I should look through the classified information first.”

Bringing her fist down on the wooden table to make a thud, the planning finally clicked inside her mind. “Anything worth finding would be hidden wouldn’t it?” One sensible chuckle escape the mouth when GeGe got up to go to her psyker messenger down the hallway. The messenger room had a bunk bed for the psyker and adapt who stay near the psylock transmitter most of the time. There were crude drawings of void maws on the wall made from illegally obtained chalk. To this day, GeGe never figured out who stole the chalks as both of them admitted to their guilt, trying to spare the other. This time, the two idiots were fooling around in their room when the inquisitor barged in. The psyker wore suspender pants and a tank top as round fruit fell on his face. His skinny arms couldn’t catch the food in time after he was frightened with GeGe sneaking up on him.

Laughing to what just happened and being oblivious to the inquisitor, the adapt was pointing at the failed psyker in amusement while she let out a hardy snort. Covered in a gray trench coat and red armband on the right arm, the adept bolt up to salute when she noticed the Eldar standing in the doorway peering in. The psyker rushed cleaning up the fruit from the floor so he could also salute after the adept. His hazel eyes held nervous mannerisms anticipating punishment from his superior, “Ma’am!” said while he was thankful about not forgetting protocol. “Petty Officer Zau,” GeGe nodded at the psyker then turn to the adept, “Rate Kaidun.” Boots clicking when Kaidun said, “Ma’am!” after her emerald eyes shift about left and right when GeGe found them.

“Just, what were you two idiots doing here?” She let out a sight from the people like this that surrounded her.

“I was ah- testing my hand-eye coordination.”

“By juggling food?”

“Um...”

Kaidun spoke up before Zau could come up with something more stupid to say, “I told him that I would pay to see him act like a jester.”

“The psylock transmitter, an expensive sensitive equipment, one of the few ways of communication back planetside. Which he started throwing fruit around right next to?”

Forming the biggest smile on her freckled face with the lips to get near the short ginger hair, “Yes?”

The Eldar brought a hand to rub her forehead from all the people she had to deal with today, “Whatever, Zau prepare to send a message to Manchuguo Upper Hive Archives. Kaidun, whip out parchment to deliver this to them.” The adept pulled out paper from the roll on her hip to type down ‘Inquisitorial code – Liu, wu, yi, chi, si, bai, zho, san – request entrance to second top classified records – Imperatrix class level – use blood signature of Agrippa Publius Bruta’. When the adept was furiously done typing, she went over to Zau while GeGe left to drink some tea to calm herself. They both went to work operating the machine with Kaidun starting first, she hooked up the cables into the back neck of Zau, “You didn’t set the frequency to 0.00 did you?”

“What?! I’m not trying to lobotomize myself!”

“Hey, I was just making sure you were fine. I don’t want to see you turning into a vegetable you know.”

“How thoughtful,” Zau said with a smug face, “Now I’m ready to send the message but let me do this first.”

In training, the astropath had almost accidentally sent a message while thinking the frequency didn’t reset on the psylock. The feedback loop of the message could have short circuited his brain if not for the trainer intervening in the last minute. These things are not a problem for psykers of Iota rank or higher but for those below who have little to no training can very well be crippled with the psylocks.

Back on Manchuguo Upper Archives, a 30-something-year-old psyker was asleep drooling on the desk next to her psylock station. From nowhere, her mind felt like a hammer was hitting it to grab attention. “I’m awake, I’m awake!” said the psyker then wiping clean her face after she shot up in her seat. The old adept man next to her took out his paper to start typing. The psyker started to hear the message from Isha’s Poison with ‘Inquisitorial code...’ which caught the attention of a Securitas Sister who was reading a book near them. When she got up to the cubical, the rest of the message was heard by her as the psyker spoke it out loud while the old man typed down everything. “Inquisitors,” said the Sister with annoyance flowing out of her mouth. The adept handed the paper to the Sister after tearing it off from his roll, “Don’t worry, I’ll vox this over to my Sister Superior, you just go back to sleep.” His afternoon nap was back on schedule and his psyker coworker resume creating a spit puddle.

Feeling refreshed from the tea, GeGe went off to find Bruta to inform him of his first mission. The noble was polishing his chain-ax inside his assigned room when the Eldar knocked on the doorway to alert him that she was entering. He had already made quick work of unpacking his few possessions from the backpack as the books lay stacked in a corner next to his bed. “Burn it down and start again.” Reciting a quote from The Emperor when he was known as The Warlord, the man reminded himself of why he never returned to his parents and siblings. “Oh, I didn’t see you there Inquisitor!” Placing down the shiny weapon with the gentlest of a touch on the table. She waved a hand to tell him to stay seated, “Remember, just call me GeGe, no need for formalities.” Giving a puzzled face to the Eldar, Bruta said, “No need to check up on me, I’m perfectly fitting in with the crew and this fine ship.” GeGe drops the playful face to a more serious stance as she was about to brief Bruta on his first mission.

Her eyebrows frowned before she said, “Are you sure you can fight for me with a chain-ax?”

“Don’t worry, I’ve fended off more boardings with this thing then I can count.”

“Then I’m ordering you to take a Las-pistol just in case, by the way, your going to come with me when I go to retrieve classified documents in Manchuguo.”

“Can I ask why?”

“Classified...” Told GeGe with the most stern face she could muster, “...Joking, merely a jest,” said with an expression of amusement.

“Oh- You had me scared there.”

“I need your blood signature for a bloodlock.”

“What!? I never registered a bloodlock on Zhong with my fingerprint!”

“No, I did.”

“Because?”

“My fingertips are sensitive...” Trailing off the last word to hide the fact every time she used a bloodlock, she sweated profusely while gritting her teeth waiting for the needle to prick then take blood from the thumb.

“That’s it? I thought it was going to be more special than at.”

“Will you comply!” Anger boiling up to break through the surface when she said those words mixed with a faint embarrassment.

“No objections here, GeGe.” Doing his best to keep cool under the gaze of an enraged inquisitor.

“Good, prepare yourself for a combat mission within the next Terran day. Also, never mention about my sensitive fingertips to anybody, do I make myself clear?” The voice shifting into akin a prowling cat rising to almost being threatening.

Placing his right hand over his heart, “By my House’s honor, both shall be done.”

Satisfied after hearing the answer, GeGe made ready to leave Bruta alone after she said, “Good… night? I think… I forget how confusing the sleep cycle on a void ship can be.”

Cold air on the Upper Hive made walking around outside unconformable, much like on every other Hive city in the Imperium. Bumps on the skin formed as even the Exo-armor couldn’t block out the breeze moving into the tiny spaces between the plates and bodysuit. She knew she should have been wearing her helmet to keep out the wind whilst waiting. The woman kept checking her limbs if the movement accelerators were working properly, knowing a flaw can render the limbs immobile. Worst, the armor can keep moving without her control to break her bones like a twig. To her, it was a small risk for serving amongst a clock and dagger organization for the Imperium. Although, she had hoped for torturing cultist, planting informants, and hunting renegade Space Marines. The romanticized version of Orders Securitas was quite destroyed for her when she was assigned as guard detail for archives from graduation till forever it seemed.

Drumming her fingers on the left thigh plate, Securitas Sister Jin-Hau was getting impatient standing on the landing pad. Around 12 Terran hours have passed since she first heard the message from the sleepy astropath, 10 hours since her Sister Superior was supposed to return to the archives but haven’t, three hours since the higher-ups delegated the role of inquisitorial babysitter to Jin-Hau. She didn’t know if this was punishment for her clearly justified duel in the mess hall using knives and forks over her stolen dumpling, or the ancestors loved laughing at mortals. Thankfully, nobody was harmed in the duel as the guards tackled Jin-Hau before she could land a hit on the other Securitas Sister. The Inquisitorial voidcraft screamed in fast then jerked hard up to slow down right on top of the pad. This display of unnecessary flair only pissed her off even more about her circumstances. “Thank you for flying ‘Ordo Securitas’ and please, enjoy your trip,” could be heard from inside the black transport followed by laughter from the Inquisitor and her retinue. She hated seeing this whole thing when she was grinding her teeth as she closed the distance between her and the Eldar.

“Lady Inquisitor Genevieve,” saying before bowing at the group with a scowl hidden when Jin-Hau faced the floor. Two other Sisters flanking behind follow suit as they also bowed to copy their commanding officer. “Sister Superior Châlons I presume?” With a wave of a hand, Genevieve was telling the Sisters to stop bowing. “No, unfortunately, she could not join us this evening. Likely delayed went returning to this institution.” That last part was guesswork from Jin-Hau as she didn’t know why her superior didn’t come back after this much time. “Tell me your name,” GeGe ordered with readiness to move things along. “Jin-Hau,” said the doubtful woman. The cold wind bares down on her earthy hair when she was staring at the Inquisitor with flaming yellow eyes. This Sister was trying to figure out what game the inquisitor was playing at, to come here of all places. Showing the way inside when holding out her hand to point at the left door, Jin-Hau guided the way to the first locked door.

Dark halls and passages form a maze of confusion that led from the landing pad to the actual doors of the archives. The gatekeeper asked for verification from both the Sister and Inquisitor, which the Eldar held up her rosette while the woman pulled out a metal card. Jin-Hau inserted her card into a code-reader where the machine made a few clicking sounds before it spat back out the card. Automatically, the heavy doors grind against the floor as they opened, releasing stale air from inside the archives. “Been a while since I walked the halls of a grand building such as this.” Bruta broke the silence between the Sisters and the retinue. Frowning for reminding a younger version of herself, Jin-Hau said, “Don’t let the grandeur fool you, the jobs of those inside here is rather dull.” Smirking at the opportunity present, “Oh, I expect that,” said GeGe to leave Jin-Hau puzzled at the true meaning of that comment. Everybody came to a stop at the final door until the Imperatrix-level classified doors, they made it this far with just the card insertion from Jin-Hau but now it was different.

The device attached to the wall right next to the doors was a bloodlock. Even though the Sister have access to all levels of classification except Imperator-class, she needed to have a visitor go through the bloodlock to keep out impostors. It had a red spot to show people where to place their thumb, either left or right hand would do for unlocking. “If you would, Lady Inquisitor,” Jin-Hau said as she prompts the Eldar to make the first move. Nervously, GeGe turns to look at Bruta, “I shan’t be subjecting myself to a barbaric contraption. I’ve already registered the bloodkey under Bruta here, so let him unlock it.” Things were turning suspicious for the Sisters but she just said, “But of course my lady,” then lowering her head to give a false apology. She knew the Inquisitor could do this but it was odd how she herself didn’t register for the bloodlock. The noble stepped up to the machine then put his right thumb on the marking. First, it scanned the fingerprint then a tiny needle emerges from the scanner. The needle poked into the thumb to draw out blood to later return inside the scanner. Finally, a small tube came out of the same place to spray something on the thumb.

“Be sure not to touch anything with that thumb,” Jin-Hau told.

“Why is that?”

“Rubbing of any kind interrupts the fast acting healer spray.”

“Got it.”

It was quieter then the library as there was not a soul in sight, even servitors were not around to attend the many documents and recordings the Inquisitor would search for. Genevieve first entered with her retinue close in tow and the Sisters were the last to walk in. Jin-Hau was to ensure the group didn’t tamper the placement of anything or help them find things, she wouldn’t like performing the latter. With hawk eyes, the Securitas Sisters watched over GeGe as she found the report that she was looking for. Written ‘Operation: Hei Gui’ using giant black fonts, the folder contained several pages concerning the mission conducted by the Handmaidens along with citing other records about Zhong at the time of the visit. “Adalheid, begin scanning these files for future reference,” GeGe said while flipping through the other files. The Bio-Priest gave cursory glances up and down the pages before her right eye began shining a blue light at the words. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, stop right there!” Yelled Jin-Hau with her hand up to tell Adalheid to stop. “And why should she do that?” came back the retort from GeGe.

“Because you don’t have the authority to transfer anything from here to outside of the building without permission.”

“Yes, that may be true, but I was never going to remove a paper scrap from here.”

“I known inquisitors can’t act above the law every time it is convenient for them. You have to send a request to the Administratum first, before removing these files from the archives.”

“Then I’m not breaking any laws, am I? Just to create scan copies of the records here is not removing them from the archives.”

“The law was made to keep classified records stay classified.”

“Please, you neither have the power or authority to interpret these laws, leave it to the wordsmiths. Yet I have the legal authority to follow them how I see fit and the power to enforce it, what say you?”

Grumbling under her breath, Jin-Hau knew not to argue with an inquisitor, then silently backed off. Ordering, “Bruta, vox over Odicar to check if he is receiving the copies. Adalheid, don’t let anybody interrupt your scanning and upload them back up to out ship,” came from GeGe. Reading some of the pages on what this ‘Operation: Hei Gui’ was, the Eldar learned that during the 2nd Black Crusade, there was a viral outbreak killing all sentient life and almost got off-world. The Handmaidens arrived on the world just in time to prevent it spreading as they fought off weird monstrosities of those infected and cured the sick. Eventually, a few years after the end of the Black Crusade, the outbreak disappeared as fast as it appeared. Few events of note happened in this mission but one revelation frightened Genevieve to the core. One such event was the Handmaidens discovering a Xenos artefact in the form of a mask. Tech-Priests studied it in the underground vault where it was found until the whole thing collapsed crushing them and the research. There was very little data recovered after the collapse as the world was still in turmoil from the outbreak and many records were lost in the resulting chaos.

What little is known about the mask is that it was probably made by the Xenos natives of the planet before their death. There is proof to indicate that it was designed to absorb all sorts of radiation to power nanites released into the wearer, along with providing protection from radiation poisoning. “Jin, is there any radioactive mines on Zhong?” GeGe asked thinking one of the natives might have an answer. Jin did like how her name was shortened but she didn’t want to pick a fight with the Eldar, “A few mines were operational some 300 years ago, yet now they all dried up.” The thought ‘Miners, uh’ was swimming around Genevieve’s mind. Information on the nanites or what their function was is no longer available. However, some people analyzing the vault structure believed it not to be a mine, as the walls were too well built for containing internal impact rather than preventing collapse.

Ear-splitting sirens accompanied with red lights on the walls became active inside of the archives for some unknown reason and the Securitas Sisters all brought their bolters up to aim at the Inquisitorial group. “Tell her to stop the upload and drop your weapons!” Jin-Hau was ready to fire at the Eldar when the group didn’t remove their weapons. “Intruder alert!” kept repeating itself over the loud-vox as the horns vibrate to blare out the message. “Clearly, there is a misunderstanding. You see, we can’t be the intruders if we already got past the bloodlock.” Genevieve was holding her ground to stall them for Adalheid’s upload to finish. “That may be so, but you still need to cooperate with us.” The Sisters were now aiming at the torso of those in the group for a clean kill if the worst comes to pass. “Are you done?” Bruta asked then got a nod from Adalheid. A few seconds later after Jin-Hau and Genevieve stared at each other, “Drop all weapons,” the Eldar ordered to her group. Adalheid put her Las-carbine and Las-pistol on the floor, Bruta threw his chain-ax and Las-pistol in front of the Sisters, whilst GeGe softly placed her sword still in the sheath and Shuriken pistol next to her feet.

One shockwave rocked everybody in the room as Jin did her best to stay balanced and the inquisitorial group wobbles about. Several ropes descend down from the ceiling after debris fell through the hole the explosion made. Armored with midnight black flak plates, the attackers repelled down with Las-carbines in hand shooting at everything in sight. GeGe rolled out of the way moments before the last place where she was standing was made into toast. Metal bookcases shaking from each shot and paper went flying as the lasbolts connected with documents. “Bruta, Adalheid, status report!” yelled the Inquisitor over vox. “All green,” told the noble with a quick succession of “Everything operational,” from Adalheid. Intense fire from the attackers made running through the clear center of the room an impossibility.

With no way of reaching the weapons laying on the floor, Genevieve felt useless on relying the Securitas Sisters to do the heavy lifting. Right when she was thinking that, a flash of events mere minutes in the future unfolded before the Eldar’s eyes. This vision was about as muddy as the last, it showed the two Sisters covering the flanks of Jin was focused on keeping the fire down range at the attackers in front of them. They failed to notice two attackers on each side bypassed the firefight to shoot them in the back. Jin-Hau would eventually be shot from all sides as the Sisters fell from overwhelming firepower. That was when she saw herself make a break for the weapons then have her legs shot as the attackers approached to execute her with a head-shot they can’t miss. Genevieve felt the Las-carbine heat before a sudden and frightful darkness. These divinations were becoming too realistic for her liking.

“Both of you, listen up!” GeGe said over vox, “Prepare yourselves for CQC.”