Prologue
The situation was tense. Fifty of the Emperors beloved Blood
Angel Space Marines surrounded the mixed Praetorian Guard force. Neither side had
moved as they waited. Fifteen, twenty, then thirty minutes passed. The two
ranking officers, Major Holtman and Colonel Ackland, exchanged knowing glances. Finally Ackland offered,
“I say, this is
getting rather ridiculous. Hmm, Stand fast old boy, I’ll see to it.”
With that,
Ackland marched out to a Blood Angel shielded in gleaming gold armour. After saluting he said
“My Lord Captain, Do you have
orders?”
The Blood Angel Captain blankly stared down at the Colonel
from his ornate battle mask. There was silence for a moment, then in a booming
yet softly rounded voice the golden marine spoke,
“We are here, as are you, at
the bidding of Inquisitor Virgil Sasppenny. We await His holy orders.”
“Yes Lord, but may I respectfully point out that the storm
will soon descend on the planet again. If the Inquisitor has been waylaid we
cannot stay here indefinitely. We engaged a traitor force on our journey here;
it would be unfortunate if some ill fate had befallen the Inquisitor.”
There was silence, until finally the Blood Angel spoke
again,
“Noted.”
Ackland tuned to march back to his fellow Praetorians, a sea
of scarlet girt by blood red. He whispered to himself
“Sorry my good chap, but
old Sasppenny won’t be giving out any execution orders today.”
 |
Inquisitor Virgil Sasppenny, Missing In Action on Medusa V, presumed dead.
Search attempts withdrawn due to warp storms. |
