“So why now, Inquisitor?” Asked Redvers Sid as Ambrose studied the board in front of him and wondered how to extricate himself from yet another of the former-General’s cunning traps.
“Well, Inquisitor Hesh was less than forthcoming with information about her and I felt there had to be something behind her heresy. After all this isn’t a power-hungry noble or someone who could have perceived themselves as neglected by the Imperium. She was an Inquisitor what could possibly have motivated her to turn her back on the very system she had sworn to protect? At the time I was too busy with the aftermath of the Brier’s Investigation, which dragged on for so long, to do any proper digging. Anyway now that I have some time on my hands I felt it prudent to follow up anything I could find on Rowena Memphis.”
Ambrose moved his marine to take one of Sid’s guardsmen a decision he regretted when the marine was quickly taken by the covering inquisitor.
“And? What have you found?”
“Nothing.” A description both of what he had found on Memphis and his current options in the game. “She was executed in 009, which I knew already having given my support for her execution, and before that she was Ordo Hereticus. If the official records or anything to go by she did nothing of note.”
“They’ve been tampered with?” Asked Redvers, somewhat surprised.
“So it would appear. Probably by someone on the inside.” Ambrose took the inquisitor with his primarch which was promptly taken by Sid’s fortress.
“So what are you hoping to find by coming here?”
“Probably nothing, but it’s the only lead I have and something about the whole situation doesn’t seem right.” The weariness in his voice mirrored his actions as he took Sid’s fortress with his emperor.
“Ok so what of the planet? Why is the system interdicted?” asked Sid, changing track as he absentmindedly moved a guardsman forwards.
“That’s also drawn a blank, something in 993 involving Memphis but whether that then caused the system to be declared interdicta I can only speculate.” Said Ambrose as he took the carelessly placed guardsman with his remaining marine.
Sid closed the trap by taking Ambrose’s marine with his second inquisitor, cornering his Emperor and winning the game. He sat back with a smug grin of victory.
“So nobody official wants to talk about Memphis and nobody wants to talk about the planet?”
“Exactly, but planet-side someone unofficial might know something of use. Unfortunately with the system being interdicta we need to go in officially to avoid getting killed on the edges of the system.”
“You have a plan I assume?”
“Sort of, obviously I can’t formulate anything exact till I know the situation planet-side but the plan is for me to pursue an official line of investigation while Milo, under your supervision and possibly with Jethro’s help if completely necessary, pursues an unofficial investigation.”
“Two problems. Firstly with the three of us investigating unofficial leads you’re left exposed without protection if anything goes wrong. Secondly if you start officially poking around it may cause some of the unofficial sources to clam up.”
“For once, Redvers, I’m a step ahead of you. Carson will lend me a couple of his security detail for my protection and I won’t be investigating Memphis, I’ll be investigating Moritz Kahn, a suspected smuggler of xenos artefacts believed to have snuck passed the interdiction fleet to hide here.”
*****
The
Graceful Prosperity made the transition back into real space with minimal fuss the sprint trader’s crew having done the manoeuvre innumerable times. The
Prosperity’s experienced captain Carson Bors didn’t start to worry until warning lights began to flash as the ship registered multiple target lock.
“Inquisitor?” He asked, “We appear to have entered interdicted space?”
“Oh yes, didn’t I tell you? It’ll be fine, just broadcast these codes, they’ll identify you as an ship in the service of the Inquisition.”
The captain breathed a sigh of relief. He didn’t mind working for the inquisitor, not that he had a choice, but sometimes he wished that he was given some form of prior warning when putting his ship and crew at risk.