//------------------------------//
// The Entire Country of Zimbabwe is Only Worth $217 
// Story: I Blame You, Too 
// by Whitestrake 
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	The Skyward Valkyrie hadn't seen so much activity in decades. The three remaining members of Inquisitor Dahl's retinue rushed around the hold, gathering whatever supplies they may have needed. Claudius Martellus, magos of the Adeptus Mechanicus, leisurely calibrated a servo-skull as he waited for the other two to arrive. The cyborg, indeed he was more machine than man, used the plugs in his fingers to manipulate the machine's inner working in the most respectful way possible. Hearing the clicking footsteps of the group's lone female, Claudius's unblinking lenses looked up from his work.

“Magos,” Sister Delphine, of the Order of Serenity, said curtly as she took her boarded the small landing vessel Shipmaster Delray had allowed them to rent. Martellus knew the woman didn't particularly like him, if only because she saw the human body as sacred and perfect as it was, and despised augmentations that were unneeded to ensure survival. As such, the Sister Hospitaller refused the cyborg's offer to replace her missing eye. The medic and machine-man would never see eye to lens, but that was just fine for Inquisitor Dahl, so it was perfect for the two of them. Still, Martellus couldn't help but hear the woman's prosthetic arm whir and click as its surgical tools cycled within the chassis.

“Ready to go?” Alexander asked as he poked his head into the vessel's cramped interior. He, as Inquisitor Dahl's savant, was to use his encyclopedic knowledge to aid his lord in any way possible after they made landfall. Delphine shrugged and loaded her boltpistol, the only firearm she had. Magos Martellus rose from his seat without a word, glad to be leaving the ship for a spot of fresh air and exploration. The techno-sage plugged himself into the small ship's console and started its engines. Amos may have been the better pilot, but Martellus knew machines.

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Turns out we actually were left to ourselves. Skully and the purple xenos were in the next room, but the boss could determine no listening equipment or feel the psyker in our minds. We were left with a lot of information to digest, even as Alexander told us he and the others were inbound. Dahl, Oleg, and I sat around a small table, thinking over everything. There wasn't much we could go on; the Emperor's will was for the heretic Ophidia to burn and his name forgotten. Skully and those he knew could aid in our goal, and he had displayed interest in such. But what would it cost us?

“Ophidia has known ties to the Black Legion; it may even be how he rerouted to this rock.” Oleg had been with us on Igor's World, four years ago. The Black Legion was formerly an Adeptus Astartes under the command of the ancient Warmaster, Horus. But, you already knew that, didn't you? Well, Ophidia had a nasty habit of worshiping all four of the Dark Gods, which meant he was able to form alliances with any and all forces allied to Chaos Undivided. The Black Legion was one such army, corrupted Space Marines who specialized in eliminating their enemy's commanders. “Allies would be needed if he had even one of the bastards with him.”

“I'm not disagreeing, but the fact remains that- what did you call him, Amos?” 

“Skully, sir,” I deadpanned, having mentioned it twice before.

“Yes, Skully. As I was saying, he may prove to be working against us.” The boss would be stubborn sometimes; personally, I think it had to do with being captured by a someone so young. “There was something about those black xenos that stuck out to me.”

“So he had a favorite alien, so what? I can't even count how many guys on home who had xenos friends.” I grew up in the Ultima Segmentum, right on the Tau border, and I used to work for a rogue trader. Needless to say, I had experience with aliens aplenty, and while I hate the xenos with as much fury as the next man, the Tau have earned my respect. Maybe, just maybe, the strange quadrupeds would not be found wanting. “Besides, Skully could probably kill any rogue psykers Ophidia had from a few kilometers away.”

“I have to agree, boss.” Oleg puffed on a lho stick, a filthy habit that I partook in on occasion. The giant off a man probably barely felt the narcotic, which was part of the reason Dahl let him smoke all the time unless Alexander or Delphine were nearby. The gunner looked like he was about to say something as the boss slumped in his chair. You know, I have no idea why quadrupeds had chairs like ours.

++Dahl, should we return to the Valykrie?++ Martellus's artificial voice crackled in over our vox-pieces. Immediately, Inquisitor Dahl was sitting erect.

“Absolutely not!” The boss almost shouted, but remembered the two in the next room. This was odd, the magos was usually the most logical of us. Why would he even consider pulling back unless AA batteries were firing upon him?

++The strider is registering as moving, inquisitor.++

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“Do you think they'll take the offer?” Twilight asked the armored human. In reality, she had no idea how they would take everything, and had only the barest bits of information Taylor mentioned years ago. The psychic shrugged.

“I really have no idea right now.” Suddenly, the man's head jerked slightly to the side, like a dog hearing a distant noise. The alicorn had seen this look before, and was glad for it. Taylor only did this when thoughts were particularly loud, forcing him to hear even if he didn't wish to. This meant there was emotion behind it, not the cold logic that dominated humans like him.

“Hear anything worth knowing?” She half-joked, knowing he often heard sexually-charged things and the impulses of teenaged colts. A small nod came from the telepath, though a wry smile also played across his face. This was either good, or very good, depending on how she decided to take this. Really, anything Taylor picked up that made him smile was probably something of tactical advantage, an odd fact gathered from photos of his team during the Second Battle for Canterlot.

“It seems Celestia sent Query and a couple of chariots after our little friends.”

“I really don't like that stallion.”

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Forbidden Query was a unicorn of particular tastes. He was naturally gunmetal grey in color, a shade accentuated by his Inquisitorial overcoat's black leather. His ivory hood was pulled over his head, his sharp horn lit with its pale glow as he helped carry the unusual object. Other unicorns, all of whom were Inquisitorial prospects, combined their power to lift the strange vessel. A spaceship, as Her Majesty had called it, and nothing like it existed on Equus. The stallion huffed once at the thought.

The Equestrian Inquisition was founded six years ago in an attempt to root out both illicit technology trades and plans of a coup d'etat. The organization was technically founded when Taylor first captured Queen Chrysalis after the First Battle for Canterlot and given the title of inquisitor by Princess Celestia. Query had been there, then, and had visited the then-stranger in the hospital while he was unconscious. The Inquisition just sort of grew around the man, and followed him faithfully into battle in the following war.

“Guardspony, take us down next to the Golden Oaks Library; our business lies there.”

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Gents, I trust you have made your decision? Skully came back faster than I expected, and just in time for us to see our strider touch down outside. Its engines were inactive, but it had flown here. Also, make sure your friends don't kill my subordinates.

“Skully, I hav-” Dahl tried speaking as we heard the armored man burst into laughter. The psyker grabbed at his abdomen as he barked louder. Did... did he think his title was funny? Understandable, but he picked only now to realized we had been calling him that since we met him? “Here-” Again, the boss was cut off by the man's raucous laughter. Oleg starting chucking along with the heretic, and I'm not too proud to admit that I did the same. “Fine! We're in, for now.”

As though sobered by some external force, the void-clad man was suddenly serious as the grave. He extended his armored hand, and Dahl took it. A single, quick shake sealed the deal, and put us on the track to killing Ophidia and figuring out what he knew that we didn't.

Yes, that's what happened. You want my side of this story or not? The boss and Oleg will say the same thing, I guarantee it.