In Memoria (40K)

[Imperial Overlord]

Anjun knocked back another drink. It was his fourth. He had been doing that a lot since his mother died, but fuck it, what was better? Drugs, booze, and sex were only temporary solutions, but they would do for now. It didn't affect his work. Hell, it was half of his work. The up level boys and girls loved him and the cred flowed.

"Mind if I join you?" a bass voice rumbled. He was distinctive, even in the bar's poor light. A huge bastard, muscled like a grox with shaved head and the aquila tattooed above his forehead. Light brown skin, definitely unusual in these parts. His tunic and pants were clean and nice, but nothing special.

"Who are you?" Anjun asked.

"A man with a proposition," the big man replied.

"What is that?" Chou responded.

"I've heard that your hooked in pretty good uplevel. That you make more money for the High Ones than most territories. Yet you aren't even a boss."

"So? Not that I'm saying its true?"

"You won't ever be a boss. They're all someone's nephew or soon or some shit like that. If you marry in and your son's a good earner, your grandson has a shot. But you, you've gone as high as you can go. Your smooth enough of a chameleon that you can blend and make money, but that's it. You're done. You're just waiting to be discarded."

Anjun saw red. It was true, he fucking new it was true. That didn't mean he liked it. He reached inside his jacket and found his wrist pinned by the big man. The big man squeezed and he let go of the gone. The big man spoke again.

"You're dead meat. I can kill you here or feed you to the Arbites. But there is a way out."

"Fuck you."

"Not smart," the man said as he shot chew with a digital needler. He tapped the transciever in his ear. "Coming out with the package." He through chew over his shoulder and walked towards the door. His las pistol was ready to discourage heroics, but at this hour there were no heroes. Only drunks. He disappeared into the night.

[Imperial Overlord]

The big bastard was there, smiling grimly. So was a slim woman wearing a form fitting black body glove. The third figure was an olive skinned man in up level clothing. He looked pretty tasty, but Chou didn't think he would be game. The fourth commanded his attention. She was middle aged, dark hair shot with strand of grey.

"Welcome back to consciousness Anjun Chou."

"Who are you?" Chou knew better than to run his mouth. These people could vap him anytime they wanted.

The woman smiled. "I am Kyra Neven. Sergeant D'eckor you have already met and this-" she pointed at the looker, "is Jolan Gix. You are going to bring Jolan to some of those debauched functions you service."

"Why?" he asked. She looked at him strangely.

"Not why should I do it, but why do you need me? You have the money to get yourself on the guest list if you want in."

"We need you to vouch for him so they won't check him throughoughly. Jolan Gix may be pretending to be a prosperous younger scion of a Mercantalis family, but he is actually a member of the Inquisition."

"Inquisition?" he gapped.

"Yes. I am Inquisitor Kyra Neven." She produced her rosette.

"Word will have gotten out about me being taken," said Anjun. Anything to talk his way out of this rat fuck in the making. "I won't be any good to you."

"Word has indeed leaked out about the Arbites raid. Fortunately you weren't there and there are no witnesses to contradict that statement. Of course, if you aren't useful to us in this matter, then you know too much. Are you useful Anjun Chou?"

He gaped. "Yes."

[Imperial Overlord]

Severa

Severa maneuvered the ponderous Gothic class cruiser in a broad turn, taking it out of the broadside fire arc of the Murder class. The Gothic class ship poured heavy fire from its powerful gun decks into the heretic ship as the Lunar class came along side and blew down the void shields with its gun decks and lance batteries. The Murder class burned as the Imperial vessels turned toward the other traitor cruisers, which had been dispersed by the Imperial torpedo volley.

The door opened. "I'm home!" cried out a strong male voice. The girl froze the holosimulation and ran accross the room. A man in his mid thirties wearing the great coat of a naval officer stood in the doorway.

"Daddy!" she practically leaped into his arms. He picked her up and hugged her.

"How's daddy's big girl?" he asked.

She giggled. "I'm winning daddy!"

"Really?" he asked gently.

She wiggled lose and he lowered her gently to the ground. She yanked his arm. "Come and see."

He let his daughter drag him into the other room. He took a look at the projection. "So you are honey. So you are."

[Imperial Overlord]

She heard the door open behind her. "Your still mad at your mother?" he asked. He stepped onto the terrace, closing it behind him. She didn't answer.

"Throne, that's a beautiful sunset," he continued. "It's one of the reasons your mother and I wanted these quarters. Up above the bustle of the city, with a gorgeous view and a lot of room. Good place to raise a family."

He put his hand on her shoulder. She had grown over the last year. She wasn't much shorter than he was. "Listen honey, I know its tough. I'm not around often, it's difficult being your age, but you're tough. It's all right to be upset or angry, but just ease up a little on your mother. She has to go through enough-"

Her bitter laughter interrupted him. "Go through enough? How would you know? You're never here. And she doesn't miss you. She whores around when you're away! She's was with him yesterday!"

He rested his arms on the railing. "I know," he said softly. "The navy isn't all glamour, and danger, and hard work. It's a long time spent in places where you can't bring your family. It's hard to be alone for all that time. A lot of navy officers have quarters for mistresses. Some admirals have whole harems that travel with them."

He paused for a moment. "Your mother and I, we don't ask and we don't judge. When we are together, we use that time. And what we do when we're away, the other doesn't need to know about. Whatever gets us through the long lonely stretches, that's not anyone else's business. So if your mad at your mother about that, you better be mad at me as well."

He kissed her on the forehead. "Be well, my strong beautiful daughter. Whatever you decide to do, I am sure you will make me proud. Now I am going inside so I can help your mother set up for the party. Join us when you're ready."

[Imperial Overlord]

Severa considered taking another piece of cake. She'd pay for it latter, that's for sure. She didn't have her sister's lithe build. She was heavier set, more like her father. She wasn't carrying too much in the way of extra meat, most of what she possessed was muscle. But next to her sister she always felt big and clumsy. What the hell. She scooped up the piece.

"Isn't she beautiful? She's glowing."

"Yes mother," Severa replied. She was trying hard to not to be jealous. It was a happy occassion and it was her sister's day. And it wasn't like Elena wasn't a decent person, but everything came to her so easily.

Severa watched her mother drift away, talking with her friends. A voice called out from behind her. "Hey Sever."

She turned around. Another cadet in dress uniform stood there. There wasn't a shortage of navy families at this wedding. She greated her classmate by his nickname. "Hey Jinx."

"Your sister's quite the looker. Too bad she's being taken out of the running. Lucky bastard- Owe!" He rubbed his arm where Severa hit him. "There wasn't any need for that Sever."

She smiled. "In your opinion."

He smiled weakly. "Hey, some of are getting together for a little get together tomorrow night. Are you gonna show? You don't have the excuse of having to study this time."

"Maybe."

"Come on. We're on break and it won't last long. You're a good girl all year. Cut loose just once."

"Maybe."

"Querrin's. 1500 tomorrow. Be there.

[Imperial Overlord]

The music was slightly below deafening level and the booze flowed like atmosphere going out the side of a torpedoed cruiser. Maybe a third of the people were navy. Friends, relatives, hanger oners, and complete strangers had found there way in and were now partying with the rest.

Jinx was dancing with a pretty girl (much prettier than her, Severa admitted), a petit dark haired thing. He had been making the moves all night and was having some success. Severa took another sip of her drink. It was cool, fruity, and had a nice bite. Chaos take her if she knew it's name, but it was good.

Someone tapped her arm. It was Deadman. "Hey Sever. What are you doing here all by yourself and not shaking it on the floor. Wanna dance?"

"You're on flyboy," she replied. He took her whirling out onto the floor.

"Damn, you can really move," he said.

"My mother's fault," she shouted back. "Dance lesson's." She nearly bumped into Carlyle, one of Chess's flunkies. He gave her a dirty look. We'll rape him and their whole "Old Family" crowd. They'd look better if they actually worked harder, instead of relying on blue blood. She was navy going back ten generations. She worked her ass off to get near the top of her class. What right did they have to look down at her?

The song ended and she bowed out to go to the bathroom. It took her a good five minutes, the line was so long. By the time she was back the fighter jock was gone, probably dancing with another lady. She took another drink. She smiled as she sipped it. The night was still young.

[Imperial Overlord]

Severa groaned. Her skull throbbed in agony. She tried to get up, failed. She didn't recall drinking that much. Not enough for this. Not that she could remember much. She tried to get up again. Succeeded.

She didn't recognize the bedroom. And she was undressed. Her clothes were scattered about the room. And she ached. Really badly. She put on her clothes and staggered out. She got a cab and headed home.

She dodged her mother and headed into the bathroom. Clinically she examined herself. She was bruised on her arms and her legs. She was bleeding and sore between her legs. She dreaded to look.

She cleaned herself up as much as she was able. She dried her tears and pretended nothing much was wrong for the rest of break. But her eyes told a different story.

She caught the looks in classes and in the halls. People knew. Not everyone, but the Old Families. She could see it in their eyes, in their thinly veiled snickers. Someone had drugged her and then they had raped her and who was so high and mighty now?

Her gaze was cold. Her blood was ice. Her heart blazed with fury and indignation. She would not be broken. She was a Valen.

[Imperial Overlord]

Proctor Hessen walked into the infirmary. It smelled heavily of antiseptic. There was the usual training and horse play injuries and then there were the more unusual cases. Like the three last beds on the row.

Their bodies were almost completely covered in casts. Bones throughout their bodies had to be reset. And that was just the beginning. The broken bones made them unsuitable candidates for the skin grafting surgeries that they all needed. The delay wouldn't help, or so he had been told.

"Doctor."

The reedy man turned towards him. "Proctor."

"How long will their recovery take?"

"Another month for the bones and then there is the skin graft and the recovery period. I'm afraid there is no help to it proctor. They're going to have to repeat the term."

"Their father's won't like it."

"With all do respect proctor, the ability of the human body to heal and recover is beyond the ability of their fathers' to control. And we both know why they are here."

It wasn't said, of course. There was a reason why no one saw the mask wearing assaliants who stormed the shower after the cadets' rec class and beat them severly, but not fatally. The temp regulater that had malfunctioned for a short period of time and bombarded their broken bodies with scalding water had also been no accident.

There were suspects, of course. The boys had coasted and bullied using their fathers' and uncles' rank. Of course, everyone had an aliaby. The cadet core had an ancient way of leveling transgressions and it had clearly swung into action. What could they have possibly done to deserve this?

It didn't matter now. The investigation had dead ended. Whoever had done it had covered their tracks too well and cut the winds from these boys sails. These boys would still have careers and most of their wounds would heal. Their fathers would have to be content with that.

[Imperial Overlord]

Severa listened as Gherhardt Ferr gave his speech. He had been first and fair enough, he had earned it. And to be fair, his speech was better than hers would have been.

Jinx squeezed her elbow. "How much do you think he beat you by?"

"Dunno. Not much, I hope."

Her friend smiled back. Emperor Above, it was good to have friends. They hadn't said anything, but just as the Old Families "knew" they had figured it out and had made themselves available when the time came. Severa didn't know if they got them all or if everyone of the one she had gotten had been guilty, but it was close enough. Imperial justice was like that.

"So," Jinx said. "Do you think you made eigth?"

She punched him lightly in the arm. Gherhardt rapped up his speech. They began calling the rest of the names. "Severa Valen," was next.

Second! She was second! She headed up to the potium to recieve her bars. Behind her came the call of "SEVER! SEVER!"

[Imperial Overlord]

The grizzled officer showing the rookie was the ropes was a cliche, but it almost seemed appropriate. Lieutenant Ralthman was tall, lean, scarred, and was missing half of his face. A metal plate and an augmentic eye on the right side of his face covered the injury and uped the intimidation factor. His right arm was also an augment. A power cutlass and a bolt pistol hung from the belt around his great coat.

"So ensign," he rasped, "you placed 2nd in your class. I suppose you think that makes you hot stuff?"

Well I am, she thought. "No sir," she lied.

"Heh. What was your nickname?"

"Sever, sir."

"Cute," he rasped. "Not very original, though. You couldn't have been that good if that was all they could come up with."

"I was also one of the best duelists in the academy, sir."

"You mean your class."

"No sir, I mean the academy."

"So you do think you're hot stuff."

"You bet your ass, sir."

He laughed. "I like you ensign. Welcome aboard the Incandescent Blade."

[Imperial Overlord]

The Incandescent Blade shuddered at the impact. "Hold steady!" Severa yelled. The gun crews knew that the impact wasn't from weapon's fire. She grabbed the vox line. "This is Battery Four. We have impacted, presumed boarding vessel, approximately 200 meters aft of our position. Repeat, impact 200 meters aft of Battery Four. Probably boarders."

"Master Gunner, continue to fire as we bear. Senior Gunner Hark!"

"Yes sir."

"Round up every available crewman and arm to repel boarders."

"Yes sir."

She descended from the gantry down towards the deck with its power leads, capacitor banks, sub generators, and logic engine relays. She thumbed the safety off he pistol. She could here them coming down the long corridors toward her position. They had to hold.

[Imperial Overlord]

They were clumsy and not exactly subtle, just like she had been taught. They fired their guns almost randomly and bellowed to each other in their uncouth tongue as they advance. Severa crouched and waited for them to close.

She rose, firing. She put four in the chest of the lead ork with her naval pistol and it fell. She missed with her next and put the last into an ork's head, blowing out the back of its skull. Crewmen fired with her, shotgun short barrelled, high calibre, low veloctiy autoguns. She crouched back down to reload.

Orks fells torn open by the fusillade of fire. Some orks suffered wounds that on a human being would be called terrible. They continued to fight. The orks responded to firing wildly in the human's general direction.

About nine out of ten of the orks weapons worked. Those weapons that didn't jam and blow themselves apart unleashed a lot of very big bullets. They tore up machinery, severed cables, punched divets in walls and the floor, and in a few instances mangled flesh.

Severa rose up and emptied her gun into the torso of another rampaging ork. It went down, like a lot of its boyz. They kept coming, choppers and hand cannons clenched in their fists. Severa didn't bother to try to reload.

[Imperial Overlord]

She drew her blade and opened up the first one from right shoulder to left hip. The power sword was a family heirloom, a 70cm single edged blade with a gilded hilt decorated with the form of an eagle. Even ork flesh and bone parted before its edge, especially after being disrupted by the power field. And the ork had no technique. Holding a giant chopper over its head was not exactly a stance conductive to defence.

She took off the top of the next one's head. Even a ork couldn't function with its brain cut in half. The third charged straight at her. She impaled it, her blade going all the was through its chest. It kept on coming.

She sidestepped the chopper, losing her grip on her cutlass. Now she was really screwed. Fortunately a crewman rammed a pike into its chest and pushed it back. She reached for another ammo clip.

She never got to it. The ork in front of her fired its big bore pistol. Two bullets struck her in the chest and she went down.

[Imperial Overlord]

Severa came to. She was lying on her back and a medicae was leaning over her. "Relax ensign, you're going to be fine."

Grox shit. He head rang like a bell, the back of her head ached, and her chest was on fire. The medicae continued blathering. "You were shot at close range with a large calibre pistol. Fortunately they were low voelcoity soft slugs. Your armour stopped them, but there is a lot of bruising and three broked ribs."

"The battery?" she rasped. It hurt to talk.

"Preserved. The battle has been over for half an hour. We won." The medicae injected something into her arm. It didn't matter. She felt herself grow warm and sleepy. We won.

[Imperial Overlord]

"Not a bad looking record lieutenent." Captain Parlin drummed his fingers on his desk.

"Thank you sir." Severa managed to keep the smirk off her face as she stood rigidly at attention.

"If you're half as good as your record indicates, you'll do fine. Most of the job is arresting drunken sailors and checking ship cargo holds. Every now and then the shit hits the fan. But you've dealt with that before."

"Yes sir."

"Have you met Lieutenant Commander Reckart yet?"

"Yes sir. He met me at the 'lock and showed me to quarters. I look foreward to working with him," she lied. Reckart was a drunk and sloppy. A disgrace to the navy who shouldn't be wearing a uniform let alone his current rank, but she wasn't going to let that stop her from doing her job.

"Good. Welcome aboard lieutenant."

"Thank you sir."

[Imperial Overlord]

"I really don't see why you are bothering me with this lieutenant. If I thought less of you, I would say you are slandering a superior officer." Captain's Parlin's voice was glacial.

"No sir," she replied stiffly. She was screwed. The old man didn't want to hear it and was going to make sure no one ever brought it up again. Which meant making an example out of her.

"There is no evidence of malfesence on the part of Lieutenant Commander Reckart. For this he has grounds for calling you out," he said. Severa's heart skipped a beat. She wasn't afraid to duel anything this side of an Astartes. "This will go on your record lieutenant. You will not attempt to go behind your superior's back again or I'll find a way to bust you down to the lowest rank of conscript rating. You are dismissed."

[Imperial Overlord]

Severa Valin flipped through another listing on her data plate. They had screwed her good. In hindsight it would have been wiser to find out that half the senior officers were up to their neck in smuggling operations before going to the old man about it, but she hadn't.

They were too smart to write bad reports that could be challenged or investigated. Mediocre evaluations would do the job well enough. And of course she was always off duty or had a different assignment whenever one of their ships came in. She knew better than to complain. She had no proof and if she got too close an "accident" could always happen.

So she sat at her desk and rotted. Well, not entirely. She became very good with cogitator systems and auspexes. She acquired a lot of experience examining questionable lists and doing electronic and paper data traces. She got very good at searching ships that weren't paying off the officers on station and she learned security operations very well. She got most of the dangerous and dirty jobs and learned to do the well.

Her career had taken a hit, but it might be possible to salvage it. If she performed well at her next posting, she might undo the damage that this one had done. That meant only two tours wasted. She was off the fast track, she could accept that now even though it still caught in her throat, but she still might make it back on to a bridge. She might have a command one day. It wasn't impossible that fifty years from now she might be issuing commands from a cruiser's bridge. Just unlikely.

[Imperial Overlord]

The two years Severa had been stationed here had not been kind to Parlin's gut. He hadn't been a lightweight to begin with and another ten kilos hadn't helped anything. And ten kilos was conservative.

"Ah, Lieutenant Valin. Won't you sit down?" He gestured to the chair in front of him. Severa noted that while it had remained the same, the rest of the furnishings in the office had increased in value in the last two years. Increased by about a captain's yearly salary.

She sat. He pretended to continue to read the gold framed data pict scream hovering in front of him. He wanted to see her squirm. She would give herself to an ork before she gave him the satisfaction.

"There has been a problem with your transfer," his toothy smile made his apologetic tone a lie. She braced herself. They were really going to fuck her over now. She would face the destruction of her career with the same resolve she had faced death.

"Some sort of personel mix up with The Pride of Cadia and with the replacements we were due to be shipped. I'm afraid they've already gotten replacement officers and we are short staffed. You'll have to remain at your current position until another post becomes available." He could keep the gloating out of his voice, but not out of his eyes.

"Yes sir," she replied lifelessly. "Is that all sir?"

"That is all lieutenant," he said smiling. "You are dismissed."

She got up to leave. She reached the door just as he spoke again.

"Lieutenant, if you want to discuss your options further, feel free to drop by my quarters at around 2000 hours." Be my whore and I might let you go free. Just surrender your body and your pride for as long as they interest me and I'll let you crawl away when I am done with you.

"No sir, that won't be necessary." She walked out the office, her face as rigid as if carved from stone. She didn't start crying until she closed the door to her quarters. Silent, wracking sobs, unheard and and unseen.

[Imperial Overlord]

The Blimp and his cronies had another party last night. Severa scanned the security pict logs, watching the corrupt naval officers meet and greet their business partners. Not all of them were in the smuggling business, but all that dirty money was best laundered through legitimate front businesses. And what was the point of being rich if you couldn't spend it? Wine, fine food, and expensive companions were the order of the day at least twice a month if not more. It made the whole scam fairly easy to track. She sped through the record.

Something caught her eye. She replayed the previous part again. Ah, a new player. Severa followed his progress through the party. He was a short, slim man who wore a small fortune in silks and jewelry. He laughed easy and told amusing jokes while glad handing just about everyone. A stern faced dark man dressed in conservative clothing followed in his wake.

Severa linked her slate to her desk cogitator and flipped through the entry logs until she found him. A handsome, dapper young man who made a very nice looking pict. The minder was there as well, a stern man with olive skin and a scar on his left cheek. There was also a truly huge bruiser with an aquila tattoo on his forehead.

Rich boy. Family Retainer. Bodyguard. It fit, but it didn't tell her what his interest was. She began to formulate trace requests for out system transmition.

[Imperial Overlord]

Severa woke as her door slid open. She had installed a nonstandard upgraded lock, but neither it nor the bar had been enough. She had been expecting this day for years. Her hand snaked under her pillow for her gun.

She was pinned by something she couldn't see. Graviton gun? her sleep befuddled mind asked. Shadowy forms entered from the darkness outside and closed the door behind them.. She was relieved of her gun and her arms pulled behind her back and tied with something plastic.

Then the force vanished and the lights came on. She blinked against the sudden brightness. It was the three. The bruiser was standing in front of her. The fop was sitting at her desk, her gun at the table. He was dressed plainly now, but the needler pistol in his hands was all business. The retainer was by the door, leaning against the wall.

Severa tried to think. This wasn't making much sense. Not for a background check. The only reason they were here would be . . . . would be if they were finally going to kill her and the fop wanted to watch.

"You're quite good," said the retainer. "When we started mixing with the high rankers, you started monitoring us. The first check didn't satisfy you and you sent out another. You are prying in all the right places and you're a pariah among the power brokers on the station. You're pretty tenacious."

She said nothing. Why bother? They were going to kill her anyway. "You've been here for almost four years and watching with considerable viligance. Why haven't you come foreward?"

She stared at him stonily. The fop spoke up. "She didn't know who to go to. And they laundered their proceeds pretty good with their merchant connections. No point in stepping up if the only thing that's going to happen is that you're going to be screwed even more."

She said nothing as her mind race. Could they be some kind of covert investigative unit? She had heard rumours of those working for Naval Intelligence, but how likely was it that they would target this station?

"Look into her eyes boss, the truths right there if you want to see it," continued the fop. The scarred man took something out of his pocket. She felt her knees cave. It was an Inquistional Rosette.

"I am Inquisitor Jolan Gix. How would you like to assist me in cleaning out this den of corruption?" Severa looked up at him. He had a predatory smile. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

[Imperial Overlord]

Jolan Gix


The boy looked at the woman weaving cord. "What are you doing mama?"

The woman smiled at the boy. She was young and beautiful, with rich brown skin, silky black hair, and dancing eyes. "I'm weaving a net," she said with a smile.

"For da?"

"Yes, so he can catch fish with it."

"So your helping da fish?"

"That's right. Everybody does their part. I weave nets and tend the garden and help mend the sails and cook and go berry picking and make dinner for little boys."

The boy's eyes were big. "That's alot of work."

She smiled. "Yes it is."

"I am going to help you and da!" the boy delcared.

She smiled. "I am sure you will," and kissed her son on the forehead.

[Imperial Overlord]

The boy waited impatiently on the deck of the boat for his dad get on deck. The muscular young man carried on two more jugs of water and then began to untie the boat from the dock. The boy jumped up and down in excitement. "Hurry da! They're beating us!" The boy waved towards another boat.

The man laughed. "Don't worry about it. We'll catch them on the water." He ruffled the boy's hair and cast off. A few powerful stroked with the oars and they were away from the dock. The wind caught the sail and they began to glide up the bay. The early morning sun reflected brightly off the water.

"We'll get to the good waters soon," he said to his son. "And then we'll catch a lot of fish."

"I'm going to catch more than you."

The man laughed. "That's pretty tough, son. Sure you want to try that first time out?"

"Yes!"

"Alright then, we'll have to see how much you catch." The man laughed. Life was good. He had heard tales of the time before the coming of the Emperor's men, when his grandfather was a boy. Before every village had a radio and before their were any real doctors or medicines. Before there was law. When pirates and warlords could take you wife and your daughters as well as your wealth if you were unlucky.

Now every generation had it better than the last. Two years ago a man from their village had joined the Imperial Guard, to fight the Emperor's enemies. It was a big decision and his mother had been afraid, but they had all been so proud. Bringing the Emperor's peace to others was hero's work.

They were nearing the reef, which was a pretty good fishing spot. He began casting his nets. Jolan tried one of the small ones and got it tangled. Laughing, he helped his son sort it out and try it again. It got tangled up again. It seemed fishing didn't come easily to the boy.

He ruffled his son's hair again and showed him how to cast a net again. He then turned back to get some real work done. "Hey da!" said Jolan behind him.

"What is it?" he said as he cast the net into the water.

"I'm catching fish!" Jolan said.

"Good."

"And I don't need a net!" he said triumphantly. He turned around to see fish surging out of the water to land flopping on the boat. His son smiled at him. His blood turned to ice.

[Imperial Overlord]

The men came later that day. Not in a boat, as they expected, but in a flying machine that landed on the beach. It had been only four hours since they had used the village's vox.

Six men came out wearing dark blue battle dress with ceramite breastplates. Lasguns were clenched in their hands, their faces unreadable behind mirrored face plates. A seventh followed them off the flyer. He was shrouded in dark robes. They walked up to the village.

One of the soldier's spoke. "Where is he?" He voice was distorted by his helmet. The eldar trembled and lead them to the hut. Two of the soldier's followed him inside. A moment later the robed figure followed them. Crying came from the hut. The robed man emerged, followed by the soldiers. One was carrying the boy, who hands were bound and wore a collar around his neck. He was crying.

"Mama! Help mama!" The soldiers ignored his cries as they marched back down the beach. "Da!"

The loaded him into the flyer and strapped him down. One of the soldiers took out an injector and gave the boy a shot. The flyer's engines began to rumble. In a few more moments it was rising into the air and flying back the way it came. The boy's parents watched, tears streaming down their faces.

[Imperial Overlord]

The armoured door ground open. Black armoured guards stepped through, preceeding another figure in black robes. His face was also shrouded by a mirror shield. The men on the other side saluted. The robed man spoke. "Are they all here."

"Yes lord," said one the men.

"Their health and nutrition?"

"As ordered," the man held up a data slate. "Controlled exercise, regulated diet." One of the soldiers took the data slate.

"Exercise area?"

"An adjacent yard. Small, monitored. One at a time. Three times a week for a half our each time."

"Thirteen subjects. Two prepubescent, one seven standard years. Is this correct?"

"He was six when hes was brough here lord," said the other guard.

"We will begin by opening the cells one at a time and insuring that the subject is secured adequetly for transport." The black armoured men moved foreward impassively. They had done this many, many times.

Within five minutes a column of new psykers was shackled together and secured for transport onto the Black Ship. The last figure in the line was a little boy. His eyes were wide but he did not speak.

[Imperial Overlord]

Jolan cowered in the corner. He could feel the fear leaking out. Some of his fellow captives were projectors and even with their collars on they emenated waves of emotion. It was bad around them.

Not that it was ever good. There were rules, rules that had to be obeyed or else. Rules about when you could eat, when you slept, where you slept, and even when you could go to the toilet. The masked ones knew everything. Sometimes they would come in and grab people. Sometimes just to move them to a different hold, sometimes they vanished. You never knew.

They had shock prods and used them often. To disobey was to be punished. Jolan didn't know how long it had been. It felt like forever. He could still remember his parents faces. He closed his eyes and pictured his mother. He tried to remember her smile. He held on to that image.

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The main doors opened and the masked men came in. "Line up," one said. Most of the people in the hold began to get up and move toward the painted line. A few didn't. One wild eyed man sat and gibbered. One of the guards shocked him and he convulsed. "Line up," the guard ordered. The man babbled. The guard shocked him again. "Line up," the guard ordered. The man grabbed the guard's legs. The guard flicked a switch with his thumb and shocked the man again. He convulsed and lay still. The guard flicked the switch again and broke free of the clutching hands. He moved on to the next relitrant psyker. "Line up."

A few minutes later the psykers marched out, leaving only the dead behind them. They were marched down several long corridors and through an airlock onto another ship. They were secured to a long line a padded benches in a room that stank of dissenfectant. With a loud clang, the ship they were in seperated itself from the Black Ship and fired its thrusters.

Soon they were buffeted in their seats. The turbulence grew worse. Several fouled themselves in fear or vomited from nausea. After several minutes the turbulence abaited and then they could feel the ship set down.

The guards came in and lead their line of shackled prisoners down a ramp. They prisoners blinked in the weak sunlight. It was brighter here than they had become used to. Their were other ships in this vast walled courtyard. Each ship was disgorging multiple lins of prisoners. Ahead of them was a vast tower that reached high into the sky and was broader than anything Jolan had ever seen. Cameras and gun turrets tracked them. Heavily armoured and armed guards were stationed all over their place. The prisoners were marched into a yawning maw in the side of the fortress.

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Processing took hours. Each train had the lead prisoner unshackled and lead into another room. After an intermiable time, the next prisoner was taken. After an small eternity, it was Jolan's time. A guard lead him into the room.

It was long and empty. A voice came from the wall. "Strip," it said. The Black Ship had taught the boy the consequences of disobediance. He complied. Some kind of mist blew through the room. "Advance to the doorway," the voice repeated. Jolan obeyed. The door opened into another room.

Their was a man and a woman in the room and then their were things. The woman was too pale and dark haired. The man had thing of glass and steel instead of eyes. Metal tentacles, like those of a squid or a jellyfish, hung from the back of his head. Three skulls with similar metal and glass devices on them hovered in the air. The room was full of sinister looking machines. Jolan quivered.

"Come foreward boy," said the machine-man in a surprisingly gentle tone. Jolan knew better than to disobey. He took tentative steps foreward. The man held out a device. "That's a good boy," he siad. "I'm not going to hurt you." The device in his hand buzzed.

The woman continued to look at him coldly. The man said, "this is going to hurt for a moment," and then stabbed him with a needle. He could see the glass tube fill up with his blood. "That's a good boy. It wasn't too terrible was it. Now I need you to sit in this chair." Tubes and and devices surrounded the chair. A metal skullcap was supported on a boom above it. Jolan quivered but obeyed.

The man tightened straps around him. He moved some of the metal arms and then lowered the skull cap. He fastened it to the top of Jolan's head. He heard a hum as switch was flipped and he felt a strange buzzing sensation. It continued for a minute and then stopped after another switch was thrown. Then the woman moved.

She walked over to the chair and looked into his eyes. Her eyes were dark and spooky and seemed to bore into him. He felt like he was falling away from some terrible thing. And then the feeling vanished.

"Stable and strong to all the readers," the man replied. "No sign of corruption. The machine spirits concure with one another."

"I agree," said the woman. "Stable and strong. Nothing hiding in his mind."

The man unfastened him and said, "You've been a good lad." He fasted a tie with a number to his wrist and sent him out through the opposite door. The doctor then touched a button indicating the next one should be sent through.