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Alright, I could have waited a little longer to publish part 1 of 2, but I figure I should be making up for the long period you guys had to wait last time I did this. I want you to note that this next part is no longer written in a 1st person POV like the rest of the story. The style is different since we cannot be reading this part from Randall's POV. To answer some questions, we have to go deeper behind the scenes.

So, lets continue with our story, and see how this concludes:

-------------------------------------------------
He had no desire to regard his looks. Vanity was only for the weak. It kept your mind muddied by pointless thoughts when your focus only should be in the future of your own needs. Because of this, he pushed the mirror aside held by an ageless servitor who moved away with silent obedience.

The 4 other servitors surrounding him worked tirelessly on his face, arm and chest. Adding in life-saving mechanics and devices reserved only for those within the Inquisition, the operation was almost complete. These battle wounds will be carried with him, hopefully for the next thousand years or so.

The fight was painful. Although he was not trained, nor equipped to take on such a foe, the daemon he fought was……contained. Inquisitor Petrus played back the events in his mind. He hated Commissar Setorious in the first place. The man had no vision. No drive or passion for war. No grace of fear and intimidation. Setorious was more brutal than most he had known in that position. Brutal and clumsy. He hoped his soul was currently in agony within the warp. The man deserved such a fate.

As for the Daemon hiding within the Commissar’s body…..that was clever. The warp creature wasn’t sloppy. It knew exactly what it wanted, and almost got it…..almost. Petrus was always gifted with his psychic mind. Pulled from his parents as a baby, he was literally trained from birth. And with life altering chems and devices embedded within his body, he had several lifespans to perfect his gift. He could reach out to the minds of anybody’s, and either influence or crush the men within. But the daemon was able avoid his powerful mind. He had never encountered such a pattern before. Not even with Eldar.

Petrus was trained specifically to counter all xeno threats against the empire. Whether they were the ancient Eldar, the insect-like swarms of Tyranids, the brutal Orks, or even those weak minded Tau. But dealing with creatures from the warp? This was left to the Ordo Malleus. The daemon he dealt with was not your everyday warp creature. This thing was ancient, and very intelligent.

He had one thing that the daemon did not anticipate. Waves of orks………at Petrus’ own disposal. The fight was ugly, and the daemon became desperate. Several attempts of the creature’s possession towards Petrus had been futile. Yes, he wasn’t trained against warp daemons, but his mind was like iron compared to the poisonous soul that could move from body to body. In the end, the daemon had only a weakened and dying trooper to possess after the Inquisitor brutally ruined the commissar’s body. Once the transfer was complete, the body was too weak to fight, and the possessed body was contained. The daemon will be shipped off to the proper branch of the inquisition. Good riddance.

A light knock on the door, and Petrus motioned one of the several present servitors to open. A black cloaked figure stepped through. It moved with silence that even a breeze would envy.

Petrus swiveled in his chair, pushing aside the medical servitors trying to finish up the procedure.

“Report,” Petrus said in a slightly anxious tone.

The figure stepped closer into the light. It always amazed Petrus that one of his most prized agents could move into the light, and still be shrouded in darkness as much as he would be in a dark corner. The only detail that stood out was a single eerie deep purple optic eye that glowed within the hood. And the rare high powered rifle that Petrus personally overlooked its creation, blessed with Adeptus Mechanicus priests of Mars.

“The Ork shaman has been contained, Inquisitor” it said in a voice that seemed to have come from a different part of the room. “The glands seem to be intact, and our team will be processing the Shaman within the next few days.”

“Good,” Petrus said with a slightly painful grin. His face had been mauled severely during his daemonic encounter, but the implants seemed to be holding well. “The the gland transfer from the last subject had worked as expected,” turning slightly in his chair, he showed the dark figure 2 metal insert points, one by each shoulder blade, “but the response time for the effect did not have the range I needed.”

The figure nodded obediently within his hood, and responded, “Sir, from my position, your effective range to effect the orks had been increased by 40%,” with a slight pause, the figure continued, “reports indicate that the Shaman we captured today was the subject we had been trying to draw out for the past few years. His levels of ork influence are off the charts, and at this moment, we can calculate that with the gland secretion transfer, your range of ork influence could effectively span continents within a single planet.”

Petrus sat back, and relaxed. The pain it took to smile was worth it. He lost the smile quickly when he asked, “Are the reports hidden from main Empire transcripts?”

“Yes, sir”

“Is the command of the 137th Liberation Guard still kept in the dark as to why they are here?” Petrus asked as the servitors continued on his new implants.

The figure paused for a moment, “Yes, sir. Central Command of the 137th still has their battalions out fighting the orks through your command. They have not questioned your orders.”

With a satisfactory tone, the Inquisitor answered, “Perfect. They had done their job by baiting the Shaman out. Cannot believe it took this long for the greenskins to make their move,” he then paused to have another staple inserted in his cheek, “this planet was useless to us in the first place, and I cannot have word about our research leak into the Empire’s public knowledge. We will have the 137th main force make their attack in the Royal District of the city. The orks have been making several migrations through the sewers, making a central point of power in that spot. Once the 137th make their attack, most of the 137th forces should be wiped out from the trap.”

He paused long enough for a servitor to make these notations for relay, “Once this happens, I’ll place the order for a planetary purge via orbital firepower. We don’t need this research public.”

“Yes, sir.”

The dark figure turned and began to walk out of the room. Petrus stopped him, “One more thing,” the figure stopped and waited.

“What is your report on the Tau female and the guardsman?” he said in a slightly more frustrated tone.

The hooded agent turned, paused as if he was replaying something in his mind, “After taking the shot from your command to kill the Commissar, an Ork rocket hit the perch I had been stationed at. While I repositioned, I temporarily lost track of the targeted Guardsman. The smoke from your damaged Valkyrie didn’t help either,” the agent took a short moment to remember more details, “I regained target acquisition after leaping to another rooftop,” the inquisitor always loved to see how this dark agent could leap with inhuman strength from sniper location to location, almost as if the agent was a mist in the air, “From my position, I could tell a small number of cloaked transports had been taking off, and the targeted guardsman had been running with two xeno towards another hidden tra-“

The inquisitor interrupted, “I only needed the Guardsman to draw the female xeno out. I needed her for the cross species bond she had.” Petrus had to lift his arm for another servitor to insert another tube, “imagine what I could do if I discovered how that can happen…..imagine entire Tau armies effected by a single cross species bond intrusion , by me. That female was the key to unlocking this mystery.” He lowered his arm after the insertion of the tube, and then asked the dark figure, “so…..I just need to know what happened to my targets.”

“I had a shot to tranquilize the primary target, the female xeno. My shot had been blocked by a drone that seemed to anticipate my shot. The xeno got away, sir”

“And the guardsman?”

The figure’s dark purple eye glowed a bit brighter, probably using a playback feature within his HUD, “Knowing the secondary target, the guardsman; was going to be overtaken by orks NOT under your influence, I held my position to watch. He looked to have taken several hits and went down. Before the mob got to him, a small group of Tau units came from the north, behind his position. These were the XV-15 models we have cataloged in our database. Stealth Suits. The one leading the charge lacked the helmet from the other models, and seemed to have severely damaged armor. He acquired the guardsman’s body while the others covered his retreat,” the agent was silent for a moment, and spoke with a slightly downtrodden tone, “After getting a good look at the condition of the guardsman, I lost track of the group. They must have had their own transport off the planet since I found no trace of them after we cleared out the orks.” The figure turned and began to walk out, closing the door behind him.

Petrus exhaled, and tightened his right fist. One of the few parts of his body that seemed whole. “I guess it really doesn't matter anymore, but just out of curiosity……..what WAS the condition of the guardsman before you lost track of them?”

The dark agent was hidden from Petrus’ site by the door, but still held it open by a few inches, and said four more words before closing, “He was still breathing.”

--------------------------------------------------

Stay tuned for the second half of the epilogue. I promise NOT to disappoint.

Description
Previous: dustygrafix.deviantart.com/art…
Next: dustygrafix.deviantart.com/art…

Alright, I could have waited a little longer to publish part 1 of 2, but I figure I should be making up for the long period you guys had to wait last time I did this. I want you to note that this next part is no longer written in a 1st person POV like the rest of the story. The style is different since we cannot be reading this part from Randall's POV. To answer some questions, we have to go deeper behind the scenes.

So, lets continue with our story, and see how this concludes:

-------------------------------------------------
He had no desire to regard his looks. Vanity was only for the weak. It kept your mind muddied by pointless thoughts when your focus only should be in the future of your own needs. Because of this, he pushed the mirror aside held by an ageless servitor who moved away with silent obedience.

The 4 other servitors surrounding him worked tirelessly on his face, arm and chest. Adding in life-saving mechanics and devices reserved only for those within the Inquisition, the operation was almost complete. These battle wounds will be carried with him, hopefully for the next thousand years or so.

The fight was painful. Although he was not trained, nor equipped to take on such a foe, the daemon he fought was……contained. Inquisitor Petrus played back the events in his mind. He hated Commissar Setorious in the first place. The man had no vision. No drive or passion for war. No grace of fear and intimidation. Setorious was more brutal than most he had known in that position. Brutal and clumsy. He hoped his soul was currently in agony within the warp. The man deserved such a fate.

As for the Daemon hiding within the Commissar’s body…..that was clever. The warp creature wasn’t sloppy. It knew exactly what it wanted, and almost got it…..almost. Petrus was always gifted with his psychic mind. Pulled from his parents as a baby, he was literally trained from birth. And with life altering chems and devices embedded within his body, he had several lifespans to perfect his gift. He could reach out to the minds of anybody’s, and either influence or crush the men within. But the daemon was able avoid his powerful mind. He had never encountered such a pattern before. Not even with Eldar.

Petrus was trained specifically to counter all xeno threats against the empire. Whether they were the ancient Eldar, the insect-like swarms of Tyranids, the brutal Orks, or even those weak minded Tau. But dealing with creatures from the warp? This was left to the Ordo Malleus. The daemon he dealt with was not your everyday warp creature. This thing was ancient, and very intelligent.

He had one thing that the daemon did not anticipate. Waves of orks………at Petrus’ own disposal. The fight was ugly, and the daemon became desperate. Several attempts of the creature’s possession towards Petrus had been futile. Yes, he wasn’t trained against warp daemons, but his mind was like iron compared to the poisonous soul that could move from body to body. In the end, the daemon had only a weakened and dying trooper to possess after the Inquisitor brutally ruined the commissar’s body. Once the transfer was complete, the body was too weak to fight, and the possessed body was contained. The daemon will be shipped off to the proper branch of the inquisition. Good riddance.

A light knock on the door, and Petrus motioned one of the several present servitors to open. A black cloaked figure stepped through. It moved with silence that even a breeze would envy.

Petrus swiveled in his chair, pushing aside the medical servitors trying to finish up the procedure.

“Report,” Petrus said in a slightly anxious tone.

The figure stepped closer into the light. It always amazed Petrus that one of his most prized agents could move into the light, and still be shrouded in darkness as much as he would be in a dark corner. The only detail that stood out was a single eerie deep purple optic eye that glowed within the hood. And the rare high powered rifle that Petrus personally overlooked its creation, blessed with Adeptus Mechanicus priests of Mars.

“The Ork shaman has been contained, Inquisitor” it said in a voice that seemed to have come from a different part of the room. “The glands seem to be intact, and our team will be processing the Shaman within the next few days.”

“Good,” Petrus said with a slightly painful grin. His face had been mauled severely during his daemonic encounter, but the implants seemed to be holding well. “The the gland transfer from the last subject had worked as expected,” turning slightly in his chair, he showed the dark figure 2 metal insert points, one by each shoulder blade, “but the response time for the effect did not have the range I needed.”

The figure nodded obediently within his hood, and responded, “Sir, from my position, your effective range to effect the orks had been increased by 40%,” with a slight pause, the figure continued, “reports indicate that the Shaman we captured today was the subject we had been trying to draw out for the past few years. His levels of ork influence are off the charts, and at this moment, we can calculate that with the gland secretion transfer, your range of ork influence could effectively span continents within a single planet.”

Petrus sat back, and relaxed. The pain it took to smile was worth it. He lost the smile quickly when he asked, “Are the reports hidden from main Empire transcripts?”

“Yes, sir”

“Is the command of the 137th Liberation Guard still kept in the dark as to why they are here?” Petrus asked as the servitors continued on his new implants.

The figure paused for a moment, “Yes, sir. Central Command of the 137th still has their battalions out fighting the orks through your command. They have not questioned your orders.”

With a satisfactory tone, the Inquisitor answered, “Perfect. They had done their job by baiting the Shaman out. Cannot believe it took this long for the greenskins to make their move,” he then paused to have another staple inserted in his cheek, “this planet was useless to us in the first place, and I cannot have word about our research leak into the Empire’s public knowledge. We will have the 137th main force make their attack in the Royal District of the city. The orks have been making several migrations through the sewers, making a central point of power in that spot. Once the 137th make their attack, most of the 137th forces should be wiped out from the trap.”

He paused long enough for a servitor to make these notations for relay, “Once this happens, I’ll place the order for a planetary purge via orbital firepower. We don’t need this research public.”

“Yes, sir.”

The dark figure turned and began to walk out of the room. Petrus stopped him, “One more thing,” the figure stopped and waited.

“What is your report on the Tau female and the guardsman?” he said in a slightly more frustrated tone.

The hooded agent turned, paused as if he was replaying something in his mind, “After taking the shot from your command to kill the Commissar, an Ork rocket hit the perch I had been stationed at. While I repositioned, I temporarily lost track of the targeted Guardsman. The smoke from your damaged Valkyrie didn’t help either,” the agent took a short moment to remember more details, “I regained target acquisition after leaping to another rooftop,” the inquisitor always loved to see how this dark agent could leap with inhuman strength from sniper location to location, almost as if the agent was a mist in the air, “From my position, I could tell a small number of cloaked transports had been taking off, and the targeted guardsman had been running with two xeno towards another hidden tra-“

The inquisitor interrupted, “I only needed the Guardsman to draw the female xeno out. I needed her for the cross species bond she had.” Petrus had to lift his arm for another servitor to insert another tube, “imagine what I could do if I discovered how that can happen…..imagine entire Tau armies effected by a single cross species bond intrusion , by me. That female was the key to unlocking this mystery.” He lowered his arm after the insertion of the tube, and then asked the dark figure, “so…..I just need to know what happened to my targets.”

“I had a shot to tranquilize the primary target, the female xeno. My shot had been blocked by a drone that seemed to anticipate my shot. The xeno got away, sir”

“And the guardsman?”

The figure’s dark purple eye glowed a bit brighter, probably using a playback feature within his HUD, “Knowing the secondary target, the guardsman; was going to be overtaken by orks NOT under your influence, I held my position to watch. He looked to have taken several hits and went down. Before the mob got to him, a small group of Tau units came from the north, behind his position. These were the XV-15 models we have cataloged in our database. Stealth Suits. The one leading the charge lacked the helmet from the other models, and seemed to have severely damaged armor. He acquired the guardsman’s body while the others covered his retreat,” the agent was silent for a moment, and spoke with a slightly downtrodden tone, “After getting a good look at the condition of the guardsman, I lost track of the group. They must have had their own transport off the planet since I found no trace of them after we cleared out the orks.” The figure turned and began to walk out, closing the door behind him.

Petrus exhaled, and tightened his right fist. One of the few parts of his body that seemed whole. “I guess it really doesn't matter anymore, but just out of curiosity……..what WAS the condition of the guardsman before you lost track of them?”

The dark agent was hidden from Petrus’ site by the door, but still held it open by a few inches, and said four more words before closing, “He was still breathing.”

--------------------------------------------------

Stay tuned for the second half of the epilogue. I promise NOT to disappoint.