In Memoria (40K)

[Feil]

Atheism is idiotic in the 40k universe. The existence and power of gods, spirits, and souls is visible, measurable, and verifiable.

Paragraph 3 needs a question mark at the end of the first sentence.

Paragraph 5, sentence 3 is missing a subject.

Another good update, IO.

[Dominus]

Atheism is idiotic in the 40k universe. The existence and power of gods, spirits, and souls is visible, measurable, and verifiable.

Point conceded. I merely meant to express my sadness that Chou wasn't there to offer a different perspective, for he was always one of my favorite secondary characters. Ack, apologies to everyone if I came across somewhat pigheadedly.

On second thought, though, I doubt that Chou would have even made the journey -- he probably would have stayed on the Eternal Will with Keys and the navigator-captain.

[Feil]

No offence taken, my similarly-avatared friend. And aye, Chou would probably have asked for the postcard version .

[Imperial Overlord]

The auspex controller beeped. Scion Greeves grunted and shifted position, his green enameled carapace plates clanking softly off each other as he got to a kneeling position, his left hand fumbling for his field glasses. The psy trackers they had planted along the road detected psykers all the time. It seemed even the company of pious pilgrims was not free from witches. A lot of witches.

He scanned the road, looking for one of the faces of Gix or his retinue. Nothing. He kept looking. Still nothing. "False alarm," he said. Just like the last one hundred times. "Throne, are you sure that they're going to be here?" he said snappishly to Imane Sandine.

The frail psyker quailed under the burly warrior's anger. "I saw it," he whined. "It was a clear sign!"

"Leave the worm alone," grumbled Milosh Telvar. The big inquisitor's bulk was further enhanced by the black plates of his powered armour. Telvar cultivated the appearance of a savage warrior, with long dark mustaches and short dark hair. His tanned face was marked by innumerable scars. Fear was his most favored weapon and he used it freely.

The monitor beeped again. Scion Greeves raised his binocs again. "Who could believe we would find so many witches among pilgrims?"

Behind him Natayen Vrath stirred and rose to a sitting position at the crown of the hill. Telvar's interrogator was a slim man, blonde and handsome and on the surface unlike his master. His pleasant demeanour concealed the heart of a ruthless sadist. "Perhaps we can't read him because he has an untouchable?"

"Gix won't use an untouchable," said Telvar. "He places too much faith in his own powers. He wouldn't use one except in extremes. He has no reason to believe that we're set up on a hill overlooking the road, waiting to blow his brains out."

Greeves turned his head. "You have an opinion Machel?"

The grey haired Imperial Guard veteran turned his head under the camouline cloak. "No," he said to the warrior-monk.

Scion Greeves laughed. "No? That's it? No?"

Machel looked Greeves in the eyes. "Yes."

"Throne take you," Greeves cursed. The controller beeped again. "Throne," Greeves murmured. He scanned the rode again. Peasants, more peasants, beggars, interent priests, and-Throne!"

"D'eckor!" he said excitedly. "I see that big fucker."

"Gix is there," said Telvar as he reached for his helmet and began the process of securing it to his armour and sealing it. Sandine and Vrath slithered down to the rocks just below the crown of the hill where Greeves and Machel were set up.

Machel poked the barrel of his long las out from between the rocks and began to scan the crowd. Greeves picked up his massive rifle, slammed home a magazine the size of a book, and set it down in another spot on its support bi pod. The scion slipped the the lever off safety.

"See them?" he asked Machel.

"No," said the sniper. "Still sweeping the crowd. Wait. I have Gix himself. Approaching the roadside shrine."

"Got it," said Greeves as his shifted his aim.

"Zero out Gix now," ordered Telvar.

"Taking the shot," said Machel.

A kilometer away Jolan Gix received an overwhelming premonition of danger. The psyker didn't hesitate. He activated his conversion field and ducked his head. "Take cover!" he shouted.

The crimson lance of a long las shot speared through the space his head had once occupied. A middle aged woman's head exploded in a spray of gore. The crowd was still for a moment as Gix's retinue pushed through them towards the cover of the roadside shrine. The moment passed and then it exploded in every direction.

"Throne!" screamed Greeves in frustration. "I don't have a shot!"

"They're moving to the shrine," said Machel as he attempted to get another shot at Gix. There. He squeezed the trigger.

Intolerably bright flashed around Jolan Gix as his conversion field turned most of the las blast into a harmless burst of light. Gix winced as the remaining energy burned through his armoured bodyglove and into his shoulder. Jolan dived behind the cover of the roadside shrine with the rest of his retinue.

On a hilltop a kilometer away the snipers searched the crowd through their scopes and found no one. "They're hiding behind the shrine," said Machel.

"Psy tracker confirms Gix and another weaker psyker is behind the shrine," said Natayen Vrath. It wasn't much to look at. The shrine was typical of its kind, a simple one story round build with with a domed roof. It was made of white plastered over brick and contained the statue of a saint within and an aquila altar.

"Sturdy construction," said Scion Greeves, "but not meant to withstand shots from this evil bitch. Machel, cover the sides with your las."

"Right," said the Guard veteran.

"What are you going to do?" Vrath asked.

"Shoot through it," Machel answered.

"Exactly," said Greeves.

[PeZook]

Curses on all you people who harped on and on how you were expecting this.

Curses on you all. Twice.

[Dominus]

Ah, I just finished crushing the Necron stronghold in Dark Crusade as the Blood Ravens, and what do I find? Why, it's another delectable update to In Memoria, of course. Thank you, IO, for proving that my rampant paranoia was completely and utterly justified. In the grim darkness of the far future, there is no such thing as too much security!

You know, I hate to say this, PeZook (and everyone else, by extension) but I told you so. Remember, constant vigilance!

*Activates Fleet of Foot and runs away.*

[Raj Ahten]

You know, I was half expecting Keyes to blow the snipers head off before he could make the shot on Gix. It would have made sense that he would be protecting Gix's ass from the shadows. (He does have limits though, that would have been nearly supernatural.) Gix has handled far worse in his time. These guys shouldn't be a problem. Especially if Gix can call in backup (So far we have no indications that Telvar is jamming comms.)

[Vehrec]

I do not think that those Frater Militia will take kindly to a bloody Inquisitor attacking another inquisitor who was just visiting to see the sights. Telvar had better have planned for their presence, or else this could turn into a clusterfuck for him really quick.

[Feil]

Speaking of them... I thought the Ecclesiarchy was forbidden to keep male soldiers?

[Vehrec]

They could probably avoid this by having milita be volunters, people who show up and buy a uniform, and then take care of their own organization outside the oversight of the Ecclisarchy. Or they could be PDF forces obstensibly. The fact that the planet's governer is a priest himself, and has asigned a permanant force to overwatch the mountain is irrelevent.

[Hawkwings]

Well, maybe the Frateris Militia are technically security, to keep the pilgrims in line, safe from each other, and punish any criminals. Police, if you will. Plus, this is a very important shrine world, so I doubt people would raise too much of a fuss when there's a lot of security present on the planet.

Back to the story, I am saddened that Jolan's "vacation" was so rudely interrupted. see? My guess is that the local security is either unaware of the assassination plot, are have been bought off. If they've been bought off,

[Imperial Overlord]

The Frater Militia is one of the ways the Ecclesiarchy has of getting around the prohibitions against having men under arms (the most famous being the Sororitas). As the name says, the Frater Militia are a militia sponsored, equiped, and trained (usually by drill abbots, IG veterans who have joined the Ecclesiarch) by the Ecclesiarchy but not technically part of the Ecclesiarchy by being a local militia. Thus the fit into the loophole.

As a fighting force their quality is quite low and the IG and Navy nickname for them is "the Holy Terrors". Their most prominent appearance is probably in "Execution Hour."

Telvar, being the worst kind of Monodominant thug, is actually practicing restraint (notice the lack of heavy weapons, cluster bombs, etcetera). Shooting up a few pilgrims, a shrine or two, and say a half dozen Frater Militia is something the Ecclesiarchy won't like, but not enough to serious pursue an inquisitor over. Now if he was up at the Shrine of the Skies, that would be a different matter.

[Dominus]

Speaking of inquisitorial politics, IO, is there any chance that we'll see some disaffected radicals going after Gix in the near future? I only ask because everyone who's tried thus far has been, almost without exception, a Monodominant thug. Not that I mind seeing the Monodominants cut down to size (the Imperium has more fanatics than it knows what to do with, and a thinning of the ignorant herd can only be a good thing), mind you. After all, it does seem to me that Gix's recent surge in popularity has made quite a lot of people on both sides of the radical/puritan divide very angry indeed.

[Imperial Overlord]

Most inquisitors believe Gix to be a Amalathean middle of the roader, so its only the really hard line Puritans that are going to have problems with him.

No comment on possible future super secret plot points other than Inquisition politics will appear in future.

[Chris OFarrell]

Most inquisitors believe Gix to be a Amalathean middle of the roader, so its only the really hard line Puritans that are going to have problems with him.

Yes but don't they have problems with EVERYONE who isn't a hard line Puritan?

And great work IO, keep it up.

[Imperial Overlord]

Hethor knelt down behind the shrine and tossed down his backpack. He pulled it open. He drew out a long bag, yanked it open, and withdrew a matte black lascarbine and a headset targeting unit. He put on the headset, moved the targeting reticle over his eye and plugged a cord into the carbine. He unfolded the stock.

"Shots came from that hill," said Gix. The rest of them were following the big veteran's example and staying low. A round tore through the building at around where chest height would have been if they had been standing.

"Throne!" Gard cursed. He dug into his jacket pocket and tried to get lower.

"Slugger," said Hethor calmly. "Probably twelve plus millimeters. Armor piercing rounds of some type. And a long las. With hot shot packs they can burn through the brick as well."

Another round ripped through the shrine about forty centimeters over Iriza's head. The astropath whimpered. Gard tapped frantically into his palm unit. "Jolan! I'm getting junk on most channels! We're being jammed!"

"Doesn't matter," said Gix. "This will be over before help gets here." Another round punched through the wall above their heads. Jolan reached out with his psychic senses. Yes, there were a cluster of people on the hill. Several of them had protections, probably hexagrammic wards, and a third was a psyker who was already reaching out to disrupt his clairvoyant vision. "Throne!" he hissed.

His mind raced. They were pinned down and if anyone stuck their had out they were going to hit with high powered weapons. Hethor's las could reach, with the targetter and Heth's skill even with some accuracy, but the enemy had sniper weapons and very good cover. Firing psychic attacks against protected targets with their own pysker acting to defend them was tough enough even without the added problem of the distance. Of course, he would be also be gigantic target for the snipers while doing. He resisted the impulse to swear. The only words he knew of sufficient weight would unleash the horror of chaos into the world.

Brick was pulverized in a spray of dust just above Gix's head and slightly to the right. He had no time and there was no help that was going to save them. There was only one course of action that would work. He reached into his coat and drew out his power sword hilt and inferno pistol. The vibrant blue power blade sizzled into life. "Heth! I'm going to hit them! Try not to hit me."

He drew upon the full extent of his power and passed into the warp. Here, where the warp bore the imprint of the faith of countless billions, there were no predators swimming shark-like through the Immaterium. To them, these were hostile waters. Gix propelled himself through the currents to the point he had chosen.

He emerged into the material universe right behind the psyker. The small man was turning even as Gix materialized. His mouth opened to shout a warning, his mind forming a mental dagger to jab into Gix's mind. They were barely two meters apart.

Gix pulled the trigger of his inferno pistol. A white-hot blast turned everything above the waist to char. He toppled. Ahead of him and to the right the sniper in the camouline cloak was bringing his rifle around to bear on Gix. Off to his left Natayen Vrath was no longer adjusting his equipment and instead drawing a pistol. Gix smashed him with a telekinetic hammer blow, sending him sprawling in the grass.

The rifle was almost lined up on him. Gix fired first. The sniper became a mass of blackened meat and half melted synthetic goo. Then Telvar was upon him.

The Monodominant's power armour was outfitted with a powerglove and digital weapons. He didn't bother with the latter, probably because he digital laser and needlers were a poor choice against a foe protected by flak armour and a conversion field. The power glove, on the other hand, would reduce him to pulp or paste depending on which method of killing Telvar chose to employ.

Telvar brushed aside Gix's power sword, tearing it from his grasp, and closed for the kill. Inferno pistols had very limited ammunition capacity and at point blank range the heat they produced could be dangerous to their wielders as well. Gix pulled the trigger. A blast of white heat destroyed Telvar's head and Jolan Gix glowed like a new born sun as his conversion field turned the killing heat into harmless light.

Scion Greeves smashed into Gix, sending him sprawling on the rocky ground. A powerful hand closed on Gix's wrist, crushing mercilessly. Jolan gritted his teeth and tried to fight him off. Greeves bore down merciless. The inferno pistol dropped from his hand. Greeves other hand closed around his throat.

The warrior-monk was damn near as strong as Hethor and his body was completely protected by armour plate, leaving no vulnerable spots that Jolan's bare hands could exploit. Gix could feel the hexagrammic runes under the armour, resisting his efforts as Gix tried to gather killing fires. He couldn't breath. His concentration was failing.

Shots rang out. Bolt pistol would be his guess. Why wasn't he dead? His conversion field hadn't gone off. Hot blood poured into face. Above him a slim monoedged blade withdrew from a gap in Scion Greeves's gorget and more blood streamed from the wound. Greeves's dying body was jerked off Gix to finish dying beside him.

Standing over him was a tall woman wearing a cuirass over cold weather clothes and under an open long coat. A long barreled pistol was holstered on her right thigh. In her hand she held a slim blade twenty centimeters long. She was beautiful, with pale skin and long dark hair. Gix barely noticed that. Her eyes held him. He saw strength, confidence, and a touch of humour there. "Inquisitor Jolan Gix?" she asked.

"Yes," he replied. She extended her free hand. He took it. She pulled him up.

"Lydia Meradin. Kyra Neven sent me."

[PeZook]

Do I sense a future love interest here?

And if anyone tries to say how she will probably die horribly sometime in the future, I'm going to kill you. Just so we're clear

[Dominus]

Do I sense a future love interest here?

And if anyone tries to say how she will probably die horribly sometime in the future, I'm going to kill you. Just so we're clear

Well, if you really wanted to know the answer to both your questions, you could just take a gander at the 41k RPG thread over at Librium Arcana. I won't say anything to spoil it for those who haven't or don't want to do so, of course.

The only words who knew of sufficient weight would unleash the horror of chaos into the world.

That's somewhat lamentable, actually. The sins of the past are never that far out of mind for Jolan Gix, are they?

Also, I think that should read "The only words he knew..."

[Vehrec]

Do I sense a future love interest here?

And if anyone tries to say how she will probably die horribly sometime in the future, I'm going to kill you. Just so we're clear

*grins* Lydia is going to die from a Tau-tyranid hybrid possesed by Chaos shooting her brains out with a flying worm. She will then rise again in the unholy service of Nurgle, albiet only as a mindless zombie.[/sarcasm]
I wonder how fast a running man could cover the distance between the snipers nest and the shrine. Or in other words, how long it would have taken for Gix's crew to make it over to him.

[Comosicus]

Here, where the warp bore the imprint of the faith of countless billions, there were no predators swimming shark-like through the Imperium. To them, these were hostile waters.

Shouldn't this be Immaterium ? Or am I getting things wrong here?

[Dominus]

*grins* Lydia is going to die from a Tau-tyranid hybrid possesed by Chaos shooting her brains out with a flying worm. She will then rise again in the unholy service of Nurgle, albiet only as a mindless zombie.

*Has just finished reading Flight of the Eisenstein*

You know, Nurgle certainly seems to have a real fetish with the whole zombification of one's enemies/friends/family/nation-state/universe thing...

So, IO, might we pitiful plebes prevail upon you to give us some minor, glancing insight as to when the next chapter is due?

[Imperial Overlord]

So, IO, might we pitiful plebes prevail upon you to give us some minor, glancing insight as to when the next chapter is due?

Within the next day or so. I will warn you that after another couple installments there is a gap which I haven't thought of how to fill (what comes after the gap I have already planned), so there may be a hiatus in the near future.

[Raesene]

Within the next day or so. I will warn you that after another couple installments there is a gap which I haven't thought of how to fill (what comes after the gap I have already planned), so there may be a hiatus in the near future.

I hope that's your April Fools Day Joke...

[LadyTevar]

Within the next day or so. I will warn you that after another couple installments there is a gap which I haven't thought of how to fill (what comes after the gap I have already planned), so there may be a hiatus in the near future.

I hope that's your April Fools Day Joke...

No... he's seriously got a hiatus coming up. But I think he's going to post more of his Maladar saga.

[Dominus]

... Or perhaps BFG? [/not-so-obtuse hint]

Ooooh, an update on the Maladar saga would be most welcome. I want to see what everyone's favorite blunt instrument has been up to lately on that poor medieval world.