Lord Admiral Rollah straightened her uniform, a habit which made her mentally wince. She bit down on the behavior, though the admiral could barely fault herself for her unconscious nerves. She had spent almost an hour trying to determine what was appropriate to wear for this occasion.
It was silly, she was well over two hundred years old, and had waged battle against void spawn and alien menaces which would have made the primarchs themselves shiver. She was the Lord Admiral, a veteran of crusades, defenses, retreats, and victories that withered the souls of lesser humans! And yet, even she found herself woefully under prepared for the request she had received shortly after the battle.
"A dinner invitation...from a Space Marine. Forgive me, Lord Admiral, but doesn't that strike you as…" Said the head of her Naval Guard, who had insisted on accompanying her to the event in question, along with thirteen of his men.
"Unprecedented? Alarming? Potentially lethal?" She asked, still walking straight, facing forward with steel eyes.
"I was going to say something unusual, Lord Admiral."
She laughed humorlessly.
"You always were one for understatements."
They said nothing else for a time as they traversed the distance from the transit station to the Rusted Trust, a sort of inn or lodge which existed somewhere in Hab Bosiss. The guards flanked them as they made their way down the wide, metal avenues, boots clinking and clanking against the grates which made up the floors. Above them were not ceilings but more grated floors, upward and downward for hundreds of decks.
And all around them, the varied masses of the inhabitants of her flag ship. Some scurried away from her and her retinue, hiding mutations or brandings which revealed them to be criminals. Others chanted prayers in their wake, rightly ascribing holy significance to the Lord Admiral of their sacred Battlefleet. But most simply gawked, having never in their lives seen such high ranking officers as the Lord Admiral and her bodyguards.
Those among them with rank, the Voidsmen and Armsmen, saluted, bowed, or kneeled as they passed, but they were not the majority. The rank odor of unwashed bodies, promethium, and stale air was ever present from the moment they had departed the transit station, and more and more the Lord Admiral couldn't help but wonder why the Chapter Master of the Skywatch had asked to meet here, of all places.
"So, are you planning on discussing the next battle? Where do we go next?" Alvat asked her, his voice coming not from his covered, helmed face, but from a subtle communications augmentation she had installed at the base of her neck.
"No. But probably." She responded, speaking through the implant without moving her lips.
"Ostensibly, this is an informal event. I even had the option to decline." She added.
"Ah, then why didn't you?" He asked.
She almost chortled at the very thought.
"I am a Lord Admiral, he technically cannot order me to do anything without the permission of my superiors. Codex Astartes separation of powers and what not. He may have been in command of the retreat from Subsector Angellun, but I don't think any of us are under any illusions when it comes to how legitimate his commands would be out here.
"That being said, I'm not eager to earn the ire of a Space Marine Chapter, the Skywatch least of all."
"I guess that explains why you're wearing your uniform to an 'informal' event. So you took it to be a subtle order, as opposed to an actual request?" Alvat said.
She nodded.
"But why? Like you just said, he cannot order you, subtly or otherwise. What makes the Skywatch different from the Tempered Hands, or even the Crimson Razors?"
Lord Admiral Rollah shook her head in near disbelief.
"Captain, are you really unaware of the reputation of the Skywatch?" She asked.
Alvat shook his head before responding.
"Of course not. My home was Yevan Secundus before the Navy. The Skywatch saved my planet from two inserections and several Greenskin incursions. We fly their banners in several places of honor. They are renowned, beloved, and we venerate those of us who were recruited by them during their visitations."
"And that is exactly my point." Rollah snapped through the com.
"The Skywatch are control freaks, maybe even more than their brother back in Ultramar. They reform almost every world they "Rescue", always finding some cause or reason to uproot the existing aristocracy or nobility, and replacing them with sycophants and supporters."
Alvat shrugged.
"I don't know Lord Admiral. High King Anu and his line have been good for my world. The faminines almost don't come anymore, and when they do, stores normally hold up. The Imperial Tithe is always paid, and the civics are busy and happy more often than not."
She rolled her eyes but didn't bother to look at him.
"My point, Captain, is that he might try to do the same thing here. With me even."
Again Alvat shook his head.
"With respect, Lord Admiral, I think you're being too hard on them. They are loyal, through and through. I wouldn't doubt it for a second."
The Lord Admiral sighed as she stopped and looked up at the patchy, plas-crete sign that adorned the large, round entrance into the Rusted Trust.
"I don't doubt their loyalty either." She said as she stepped forward and pressed the door chime to herald her arrival.
The door hissed and squealed as it rolled open.
"It's who they are loyal to, and how they manifest that loyalty that makes me nervous."
She entered, brazen as her station allowed, dressed in what Orion assumed to be her most comfortable Naval uniform, and flanked by four of her guards, one of whom was the Captain of that guard. She had all the bearing and air of a woman going into a war council, which was much as he had expected her to react. It was how the vast majority of Imperial officers of any branch behaved when he invited them to anything that wasn't strictly a war council.
So when Admiral Rollah froze at the sight of him, he did not take it as a slight or insult, but as a part of the due course. He was standing beside the table they were to share, a simple thing of wood and silver, wide enough to hold a heft course between them, yet not so large as to wordlessly invite many more than two occupants, particularly with only two chairs being present.
The room itself was an abandoned chapel, large enough to sit a few hundred, which made it pathetically small by comparison to what was standard. It was clearly in disuse, dusty, abandoned, with most of the pews cleared away, leaving a large expanse before the lectern, where sat their modest table. The room was lit by torches, the lumen strips on the ceilings and walls either broken, or subpar after so long without proper maintenance.
Two space marines accompanied Orion, his two most trusted honor guards. And while they were fully armed and armored, Orion, most notably, was not. He stood in a deep blue habit, tied about his waist with a golden tassel. On his chest stretched the Imperial Aquila, and his robe was lined with gilded thread, but outside of these details, his robe was plain. Finely made, but certainly modest.
She looked at him as though she had found him standing naked, and it was not lost on Orion that this was likely the first time she had ever seen a space marine unarmored, and likely, it would be the only time she ever saw someone of his rank in such a state. But Orion prided himself on his tactical deployment of humility, a weapon all too accessible and yet too often neglected by the men of his order.
In response to her expression, he gave the barest hint of a smile, and pulled out her chair, gesturing towards it.
Rollah nodded to her guards, and Orion knew from the slight pause which followed that she had given them orders. They departed, moving to the four corners of the room to create a perimeter while Orion's honor Guards backed away enough to not be intrusive, but remained at either side of their Chapter Master. As she came forward to take her seat, he crossed over to his own seat, a much larger chair made to accommodate his size.
Once she sat, Lord Admiral Rollah looked across at Orion. Her face was a mask of cordial neutrality, something he knew she could fake readily thanks to her augmentations, which also provided her with the beauty of a much younger creature.
"Lord Admiral Rollah, I am glad that you could meet me here for this small dinner. It is not often that I am afforded the privilege of dining with the Lord Admiral of the Sector herself." He said.
She raised an eyebrow.
"I see. I'm sure it will not surprise you to know that I have never had the privilege of dining alongside an Astartes, muchless one of such a profound rank and seniority. I do not expect that such an event comes lightly, or without cause."
Orion nodded.
"Indeed, there is a greater cause to our meeting here." Orion admitted.
"But I am sincere when I say it is a privilege. I worked closely with your Predecessor for a time, before the battle of Uxonill's Heart. He and I would often meet like this during the retaliation wars."
This was a lie. Orion had worked closely with the previous Lord Admiral, and they had dined in this very place, twice. But only once on purpose and only once like they were doing now. Still, he could see it taking the truth just that much farther, could see the very slight, nearly imperceptible changes in her movements, as she lifted the menu resting before her.
" I can imagine how that might be the case, Lord Admiral Boazan was reputed to have been an incredible man." She said as her eyes drifted across the lettering.
"And I have every reason, after reading about your account on Kentalous, to believe that you will be just as capable." Orion said, lifting his own menu as well.
Her eyes trembled, she didn't read the last word, he knew. She had skipped it as the impact of his words took her. Yes, he knew about Kentalous. Long before she had been even a proper Admiral, an early showing of her promise as a commanding officer in the Navy. Yet something that would go unmentioned throughout most of her accolades. It was something that could only be found after it was sought, and no casual seeking would have uncovered it.
"I see you know much of me." She said casually.
She placed her menu down gently, folding her hands together and looking at Orion as he mirrored the movement.
"And I know many of you as well, Orion Phatris. Your record is formidable, even compared to others among your ascended kind. Simply that you are the most Senior of the Commanders from between three chapters of Astartes speaks volumes without utterance. But the work you did on Jubilation of Tal, Gragantua Nine, and Yevan Secundus. Masterful."
He nodded, not denying her. Of course, he knew what she was implying. All three of those worlds had faced insurrections, and all three had to be restructured extensively. He himself had been forced to intervene in each of these conflicts, not simply to root out the traitors and insurrectionists, but to repair the severely corrupted and decayed power structures they had uncovered there.
"I am glad that you appreciate the care my Chapter takes in ensuring the loyalty and stability of the Emperor's dominion. I expect you would do no less, in position."
She smiled at that, though it was not a kind smile.
"Of course. We must all do what we can, as our duties demand...and yet, forgive me for saying so, but many may consider such...duties to fall under the purview of the inquisition. Others who are less dedicated, or daring, may even consider it an overreach of your authority."
Orion felt his eye desire to twitch, but smothered the impulse. Discipline was his greatest weapon, and he was never unarmed. Still, he had to commend the Lord Admiral, she had a way of cutting to the point with a touchless blade.
"Lord Admiral, do you know much of the Kassakanni insurrection of Yevan Secundus?" He asked.
A servitor entered the room then, clicking and clacking on metal limbs, like a four legged insect. It came to each of them in turn, taking their orders and writing them down precisely, before scuttling away again. When this was done, Rollah turned to answer the Chapter Master's question.
"I was referring to the Proken Rebellion, actually." She said.
"Yes, I suspected you were. But do you know of this prior event?" He pressed.
"I am afraid not." She said.
Orion leaned back in his chair.
"I was a battle brother then, a tactical marine. My whole squad of ten had been sent to Yevan Secundus to put down a heretical insurrection. Rebels worshiping some kind of fertility god, they had started capturing and sacrificing members of the Nobelity as well as sabotaging off world grain shipments."
He sighed heavily, and though he desired the impression it gave off, this was no feint. This memory weighed on him, it had truth, and the power of truth in it.
"So we found them. We killed most of them, took their leaders prisoner. It was easy, a near complete waste of our time." He said
"Why capture their leaders?" The Lord Admiral asked.
Orion smiled a sad smile.
"It was the real reason we were there. My chapter didn't care if this planet lost a few grain shipments, or a few haughty nobles were eaten alive on planet wide vid-cast. The reason my Chapter responded was because these heretics were killing in the name of a god, a foul, unknown god, and needed to root it out."
He could see in her posture, though not her face, that she didn't quite understand.
"You see, Lord Admiral, rarely, I mean truly rarely, is it the case that an insurrection purports to worship a god of any kind, and is in truth worshiping nothing. Normally it is some kind of Xeno, or charismatic rogue psyker, or worse. It was this thing that we were hunting, and so we took their leaders prisoner in order to interrogate them, to force them to reveal the locations of their gods."
Orion shook his head.
"They did. On the first night, in the first hour, they told us. We did not believe them, and I personally aided the Chaplains in forcing them through every single measure of and method of truth extraction that they could survive. And yet, when they lay broken and chittering at the end, the answer was the same. And it was a terrible answer."
She leaned in, and he continued.
"There was no god. They made it up." He said simply.
The Lord Admiral blinked.
"Well, that hardly seems so terrible." She said.
"Does it?" He asked, his voice heavy and serious.
"Think about it, Lord Admiral." Orion continued.
"Normally it takes some kind of alien parasite, or psychic tyrant, or spiritual corruption, to taint mankind against the Emperor. To make them renounce his laws and his will and their own faith in him, to side with something else. It normally requires a display of power, or a promise of true reward.
"But when we finished our interrogations, we were left with a mundane but horrendous reality. Those men had been hungry and angry. They had watched their children die, had watched their wives waste away and their brothers and sisters pass into the grave, pointlessly. The men and women of the Imperium are always willing to sacrifice for the Emperor, but it must be for him, or for something.
"But the High King of Yevan Secundus starved and ruined his people, day by day, year by year, out of sheer negligence and incompetence. So great was the menace of his own administration that he was the source of the profane god. He compelled it into existence, for it was only through the use of this made up entity that the rebels could fight him. And they fought him rightly."
The words were like balls of hard ice being thrown directly into the Admiral's face.
"How can you say that? Serving the planetary governor is serving the-"
"Yevan Secundus produced nothing." Orion interjected.
"What it shipped out was dwarfed by the expense of what was shipped into it. The world had once been an agri world, until the High king and his line, drunk on delusions of grandeur, attempted to convert the planet into a hive. He had no plan, barely enough resources to attempt the lunacy of his design, and no consideration for his existing infrastructure.
"He destroyed his planet, destroyed his people, and was content to let his world choke, three half built hives and a ruined system of grain farms all he had to show for it, and everything he was willing to settle for. And because of that, the people of this expiring world served nothing but the indulgence of the high king's utter lack of fitness."
Rollah Sendurran nodded, her movement sympathetic and genuine.
"So you left the first time." She concluded.
Orion laughed.
"We shot him." He said.
"We shot him, his son, and his two daughters. Painless deaths, better than he deserved."
"So...what exactly is the point of this story?" Rollah asked.
Orion learned this time.
"The high queen remarried. Her husband became the new high king, his son his successor. When we returned during the Proken Rebellion, everything was the same, except that it was now all on fire. This time it was not easy. This time a whole hundred of us, not ten, were needed to bring the world back into order. And this time, three of my brothers, three, died on that planet."
True anger began to resonate into his voice now, and he didn't attempt to restrain it.
"Brother Taskaern Cholde, Brother Sassran Olden, and Apothecary Jullian Vrain. Four hundred and eighty years of combat experience between them. And they died killing desperate, starving humans who had been driven so far out of their senses by their conditions that they dared rebel."
He shook his head.
"It was then that I realized that it was not enough to merely excise the infection. The wound needed to be bandaged, rested, and healed. So this time we shot them all. The High king, the high queen, and their entire family lines. We created trials, tests, and took those who succeeded and mentored them briefly in the ways of rulership, in the ways of administration. We taught them to stand, and then we let them stand."
His eyes fixed on the Lord Admiral, intense, golden. Behind her the hatch opened again as the Servitor reentered, carrying the first course each had chosen, as well as a bottle of strong amasec.
"I am no Tetrarch. I do not aspire to be one. The reason Yevan Secundus still has a high king is because I still insisted on respecting the structure that was already there, that which could be salvaged. As I was then, I am now."
He paused as the half mechanical servant placed a dish of spiced void eels before the Lord Admiral, all artfully displayed, each wide mouth filled with a candied Xenthurian apricot. He resumed after his own dish, a steaming bowl of something blue and very hot, was set down. It smelled like wet plaster and somehow left a metallic sting in the admiral's nostrils.
"So then, I can assume that, since you are now as you were then, you are eying the power structure of our isolated forces, is that right?" She asked, picking up her utensils and cutting into the supple flesh of the first eel.
"Perhaps I would be, if one existed." Orion said.
"But if we are no longer abiding by the rules of commander Seniority, then there is none."
"Nonsense, we serve the Imperium-"
"Rollah." Orion said, his tone flat.
She looked up at him, prepared to be defiant, but found herself disarmed by the utter implacability of his gaze.
"There is no Imperium here. There is an aging battle fleet, three Space Marine Chapters, many, extremely varied regiments of the Imperial guard, several overloaded black ships full of volatile psychers and Thousands of transports housing almost fifteen planets worth of civilians who will all soon be arriving at this beach head. There is no departmento munitorum. There is no Segmentum command. There is no Terra, no astronomicon, no high lords. There is just us. And soon, there will not even be that."
The Lord Admiral wanted to protest, wanted to refute his statements, but she couldn't, not while he was looking at her, not when she had no way of refuting his words without resorting to delusion. He could see it in her artificial eyes, still too human to hide her soul underneath.
"Then what do you want from me? Command of the fleet? Command of the transports?" She asked sarcastically.
He didn't take her bait, didn't flinch as he proceeded.
"Work with me, Lord Admiral. Stand with me, not under me, but alongside me. Put your trust and your weight behind me in the negotiations to come. The Imperium is not here until we make it here. Help me do that."
She sighed heavily, suddenly feeling her appetite drain utterly.
"I will agree to hear you out." She said.
Orion suppressed a smile.
"That's all that I need."