I Blame You, Too

by Whitestrake

The blood smear on The Comedian's button in Watchmen represents the minute hand on the Soviet Doomsday Clock.

At noon, local time, Lord Inquisitor Dorosa received word of the Skyward Valkyrie's emergence from the Warp, and called her gathered inquisitors to the primary meeting chamber. Judgment would be passed upon Reglan Dahl, potential renegade, and upon Leon Ophidia, heretic and traitor; such occurrences were thankfully rare, as they called numerous inquisitors from their work. Inquisitors from every Ordo were present, along with members of their respective chambers militant, in addition to the numerous acolytes and retinue members permitted to see what went on within the Inquisition.

From the Ordo Hereticus were twelve inquisitors, proving their Ordo was the largest, and they therefore had the largest number of men and women to oversee the trials. Alongside them were twenty aolcytes, fifteen conscripted Imperial Guardsmen, thirty-seven civilian recruits, and a squad of Adepta Sororitas battle-sisters containing a meltagun and heavy flamer. Dorosa did not care much for the witchhunters, but she understood her won Ordo could only do so much against the Ruinous Powers, and that meant someone had to neutralize the rogue psykers who weren't powerful or dangerous enough to warrant a response form the Ordo Malleus.

Representing the Ordo Xenos were a handful of inquisitors, most of whom had rather stellar careers. Nathaniel Drake was a veteran of several encounters with the Eldar, and was more than capable of fighting alongside the Deathwatch Marines he so often worked with. He was accustomed to speaking and negotiating with aliens, always for the good of Mankind, and had brokered a minor alliance with Craftworld Eldar against an Ork invasion. With him were Inquisitors Amberley Vail, Blake Kruger, and Arnold Patel, as well as eight members of the Deathwatch who were returning after the successful defense and destruction of a splinter Hive Fleet. If anything, Dorosa was happy to have proven warriors and scholars amongst her guests; she would need such individuals if Amos's letter had been true.

Representing the Ordo Malleus were Jose Quixote, Timothy Macabee, and Lord Inquisitor Dorosa herself. They, as well as their neophytes, were all psykers, and sported the power armor and force weapons so common to their Ordo. Dorosa's own force sword was a relic passed from her master to her, as it had been dozens of times, all the way back to its first recorded use during the Horus Heresy, in the hands of a stalwart colonel in the Imperial Army. Augmenting their force was a single Grey Knight, fresh from Titan, assigned to her as a measure against the increasing number of cults popping up in the sector. Naturally, he was kept out of sight in order to maintain the secret of their Chapter's existence.

It would be roughly three hours until the Valkyrie docked and the accused would be brought before them.

@#@#@# Taylor's POV @#@#@#

“Are you sure they'll be suspicious?” I asked Amos as I looked into the whirred mechanism before us. Chains, grinders, and numerous saws roared within its steel confines.

“You fought a Chaos Space Marine in single combat a month ago and look fine,” he replied, looking as worried as I did. Neither of us were too thrilled about this, but it had to be done to maintain the secret of Equestria and the Medic's healing magic. “You need to look like you've been through hell, and your armor will have to mirror that.”

“None of these saws will cut through it, though,” Celestia stated, looking from me to the whirring mechanism. She knew very well how durable my suit was, and how much force would be needed to pierce it.

“I'll take care of that,” Delphine answered as she held up a chainsword in both hands. It was an Eviscerator, meaning each tooth had a small repulsion field around it, which turned every blade into a miniature power weapon, though my sabre had more cutting power than any individual tooth. Still, even small drops can cause a flood. “So, just jump in here, and I'll beat the hell out of you with this.”

“Can't I just stick my face in a blender?”

“Don't be a pussy,” Chrysalis said as she put a hoof on my back. I nearly pissed myself at the prospect, but I'd faced worse. Slipping my mask over my face, I ran into the swirling mass of blades and metal.

@#@#@# Amos's POV @#@#@#

It had been three hours since we beat the living shit out of Taylor, and we were walking up the boulevard to the Inquistion's head office on Crius. Behind us were Oleg and Delphine, who pushed along the trolley holding the dead Marine's corpse. Behidn them was Martellus, who held a case containing Ophidia's inferno pistol, to be reconsecrated and purified as the Inquisitoin saw fit. We were dressed as we normally would, and Taylor had brought a single pony with him, though you couldn't tell by looking at her.

Lyra Heartstrings had green hair and yellow eyes, but she looked totally human for the most part; apparently she had done this sort of thing before, and our astropath had difficulty finding any Warp signature on her. Apparently, being a pony psyker doesn’t mean you'll still be one when you turn into a human, thankfully. She was dressed in black armor like Taylor, and had been force-fed knowledge of Low Gothic. Her hair was obscured by a bone-colored hood, but could be attributed to mutation or fashion on their homeworld, which I would do my absolute best to ensure wouldn't be mentioned by name, and certainly not studied further.

“Are you sure we're allowed to carry weapons with us?” she asked as she corrected her posture again. There was a pistol on her hip and some sort of autogun slung over her, both of which were loaded and ready to fire if it came down to it. Her fingers were more agile than you'd expect for something that never had them under normal circumstances.

“No, but it makes them understand we aren't pushovers,” Taylor said as he moved a hand to his sabre. His mask was clipped to his hip, and covered most of the high-caliber pistol held to his armor via magnetism; I imagined it was only slightly smaller than Delphine's bolt pistol, if not explosive. Keeping his face exposed had the added benefit of showing the half-healed bruises and lacerations he had ostensibly sustained during his battle against the Black Legionnaire. “I imagine they'll disarm us in short order once we step inside.”

“Or before we reach the door,” I pointed out, indicating the pair of Inquisitorial Storm Trooper who stood vigil by the front gate. Their hellguns were trained on us, but they weren't in defensive postures just yet. Ophidia and Dahl had been taken in earlier by a three squadrons of the shock troops, but they seemed to be waiting for us in as friendly a manner was allowed by the Inquisition. That of course meant they were about as willing to kill us as they were to look at us.

The gates opened, and revealed a full squad of eight fully-armed Deathwatch Marines.

Lyra looked like she was about to piss herself.

Comments

[Coltsguy]

Dude, you recreated Lyra? I'm really not sure how I should feel about that.

[Whitestrake]

3176672 Recreated? She turned into a human once in the original

[Coltsguy]

3176679 But you killed her off in the backstory. Unless this is taking part in the backstory as well and I'm not paying attention.

[Whitestrake]

3176740 No, Trixie is dead

[Coltsguy]

3176747 And that, good sir, is why I fail at life.

[G S tol Kriaal]

her won Ordo

I think you mean "one"

[Whitestrake]

3177059 I think you mean "own"

[G S tol Kriaal]

3177069 I did say "I think"

[Bronydragon]

Lyra: "Don't kill me! I have hands now!!!"
Guard: "Now? What were you before that you have hands 'now'?"
Lyra: "Uuuuuum.... Human?"
Guard: "Sure."
Taylor: "Uuuum... Amos?"
Amos: "What is it?"
Taylor: "Should we run?"
Amos: "Defenetly"
Talor+Lyra: "AAaaaaaaaaaaaaaahh!"
*Running like mad*
Amos: "They had to use the toilet."
Guard: *looking at Amos intensely* "Okie Dokie Lokie"

Good chapter.

Dragon

[Rhodesm96]

Marine: What's that smell?
Lyra: ... I may have peed a little...

[ArchAIngel]

Derosa is in the Auralia sector(I probably spelled that wrong) So will we be seeing any blood ravens? Or the events of the Dawn Of War games?

[Whitestrake]

3190558 Dorosa was a secretary, I think, and later Planetary Governor, but never an inquisitor. Cyrus, however, will make a brief appearance with the Deathwatch.

[ArchAIngel]

3190565 Yay! Best marine!

[Dubious]

Interesting, interesting. I'm bored now, another chapter please so I don't have to unleash a swarm of rabid Piranhasaurs on Tokyo.

[Razzy]

Well, hopefully Lyra can keep it all in.