[Brother Emund]

HUNTED

CRAIG WILLCOX

There is nothing like hunting a man, and those who have hunted armed men long enough and liked it, never care for anything else thereafter..

* * *


PROLOGUE

The Wrath of the Emperor​

+++ INITIALISING +++
“Oh Great Machine God, I implore thee to cast your benevolent gaze upon our systems, the Divine Right. Let your burning power seethe through its circuits. Let your undying wards lay upon its matrix and circuitry. Let your supreme intellect watch over this operation and assist me in my never-ending search for knowledge.”

+++ LOADING SEARCH PARAMETERS +++
+++ LOADING +++
+++ INITIATING LORD MARTINEZ PROTOCOLS +++
+++ LOADING +++
+++ SEARCHING +++
+++ ADD SYSTEM WIDE +++
+++ LOADING +++
The Emperor Protects

+++ PRAXIS GATANIA SUBROUTINE IMPERIAL COMMANDER +++
+++ ACCESS DENIED +++
Hunt the heretic, cleanse the unclean

+++ ARBITES MAINFRAME +++
+++ ACCESS GRANTED +++
+++ PLANETARY DEFENSE FORCE SUBROUTINE +++
+++ LIMITED ACCESS +++
Patience, He that has patience can have the will

+++ ADEPTUS ADMINISTRATUM - ACCESS GRANTED +++
+++ ERROR - FIREWALL INITIATED +++
+++ ACCESS LIMITED +++
+++ MARTINEZ ACCESS OVERRIDE +++
+++ ACCESS GRANTED +++
Patience is a gift to the truly anointed

+ Arch-Magos. This is servitor 31/20. We are being scanned +
+++ PROXIMITY ALERT +++
+++ AUSPEX SCAN +++
+++ INCOMING VESSEL CONFIRMED +++
+ Two thousand Kilometres and closing +
I cannot understand why they were not picked up sooner: Note Run diagnostic on servitor’s 30/20 through to 30/27

+ Lower shields. Send out Standard Imperial Greeting +

+ Unknown vessel. This is The Admiral Swinton of the Praxis Gatania Outer-Rim Flotilla. Heave to, lower your colours and prepare to be boarded +
+ Good Day to you +
+++ ACCESSING NAVAL DATA BASE +++
+ Greetings Captain Zorich.This is an un-registered vessel on Imperium business. Sending our clearance now +
+ Unknown vessel. You will immediately cease your scans of our vessel and Heave to. This is not, I repeat NOT a request. You will comply or face ultimate sanction +
+ I am sending you our clearance now Captain +
+++ ACCESSING +++

+ Instructions received. Thank you for your co-operation. If there is anything we can assist you with, do not hesitate to ask. The Emperor Protects +
Indeed he does

+ That will not be necessary. We will be on our way +

+++ ALL SYSTEMS SEARCHED - STANDBY +++
+++ 13 OF 14 PARAMETERS FOUND +++
+++ AWAITING INSTRUCTIONS +++
Knowledge is power

Arch-Magos Flavius Cutov of the Adeptus Mechanicus detected a rise in blood adrenaline levels in the frontal lobe of his brain; this immediately caused a rush of pleasure throughout his body giving him a feeling of lightheadedness and well-being, and what he might perceive as being excitement.
Note: Check Frontal lobe functions for signs of decay or possible infection

His pneumatic legs raised him up to his full height and twisting at the hip, he moved away from his station and made his way to the Sanctum exitway.

+ Lord Martinez. This is Arch-Magos Flavius Cutov. Are you awake? +
There was a pause, before a gruff, deeply-accented voice returned.
+ I have only slept one hour in the last twenty-four so technically I am still asleep +
These mortals insist on using the wasted method of communication called sarcasm

+ I have a 13 out of 14 template result for you +
The Arch-Magos heard what he thought to be a spluttered cough, followed by items being dropped or knocked over.
+ Cutov, a 13 of 14 is very rare, are you sure? +++
Omnissiah, give me your infinite strength so that I may continue to work under such testing conditions

The Arch-Magos momentarily halted and considered the question.
+ I have run a quick diagnostic my Lord, my systems are functioning at 99.97 per cent. I am almost certain that the information is correct +

There was a longer pause this time and then a deep baritone burst of laughter.
+ Almost 99.97% certain. From a an Adept of the Mechanicum, that is not very reliable +
+ My Lord, I will shut down and purge my systems and try again +
This time the reply was quick and without humour.
+ No, no, for the Emperor’s sake Cutov, do not purge yourself, I am more than happy with the result. Meet me in the Stratagem most expeditiously +

* * *











CHAPTER ONE
Prioris Vitae

“The antidote for fifty enemies is one friend”
~Aristoti, ancient Terran Philosopher​

I AM AN OUTCAST.

For years too innumerable to count, I have traveled the stars, always moving, always hiding.
For I am hunted.

I have seen my brothers and sisters burn, I have seen them flayed, I even watched one of my brothers being crucified in front of a baying mob and could do nothing.
Their crimes? Like me, they were different to everyone else. When one cannot explain something his base instincts take over and something that is not the norm, something that does not fit the time or place is dealt with through ignorance and fear. Death usually follows.

I have been hunted down through the years by men on horses, with dogs and other wild beasts, but always managed to stay one step ahead. Special units or groups have been formed to find and destroy my like.
Groups like The Inquisition.

I faced the Dominicans, The Innocent Pope and later Torquemada, the high-and-mighty, and all of them failed to judge me.
Now I face them again, in this time, but the latest batch of zealots put the ancients and their methods to shame. These so-called brave and loyal servants of the Emperor make the Spaniards look like small children at play.

I feel my days are numbered… perhaps?

I am not ready to give up yet, for I believe that I still live for a purpose, and although our numbers have dwindled, I know that I still have brothers and sisters out there amongst the stars.
One day we will all meet again. One day we will sit at the feet of our father and a new dawn of enlightenment will begin and Mankind’s true destiny will be revealed.

Until that time I will run and I will hide. I will agitate, harass and spur on the subjugated and the oppressed and I will bring a glimmer of light and hope to small corners of this dark Imperium.

It is my destiny…

 

[Beaviz81]

Its a fine read, but I'm a tad unsure how much the guy should know about the Spanish Inquisition. But then again he could be a perpetual as that's not unique in the setting as even a Grey Knight is one.

 

[Myen'Tal]

Good work, so far, and I may have an idea on what this mysterious character is . Looking forward to more.

 

[Brother Emund]

Its a fine read, but I'm a tad unsure how much the guy should know about the Spanish Inquisition. But then again he could be a perpetual as that's not unique in the setting as even a Grey Knight is one.

The clues are there!!! :grin:

 

[Brother Emund]

544M-1​

“Always regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys and highest mountains. Look on them as your own sons, treat them as such, and they will stand by you even unto death!”

The old General shuffled over to the window and gazed out over the walled gardens below. He looked very tired today, almost threadbare in his long silken cloak. I also noticed that his left arm remained behind his back, rigid and unmoving, pushing in against his lower spine. The old General had fallen off his horse the day before and I knew that he had probably broken a rib. He was ashen-faced which suggested some sort of internal bleeding.

“Master Sun’ I began, “I follow your doctrines and will always abide by them, however..." the General turned around and straightened up, a trace of a smile across his face “most of your generals and leaders” I continued “care nothing for the common man; they are just playthings, items or things to be used. They are treated badly. I have seen…”
“Honourable Cai, Son of An-ceeni-folah..”
“Son of An Ceann i Bhfolach, Master Sun”, I respectfully corrected.
The General grunted and waved a hand dismissively.
“Your tongue, with great apologies, is quite uncouth and I have much difficulty in speaking it. You must forgive me. It is rare that we have such a guest as yourself and from so far away. I did not think the world stretched so far to the west”
I gave a short bow. The General had never traveled beyond his country’s great border and had never seen the vast continents beyond.
“And I had no idea that there was anyone so far east”!
We both laughed and the General clapped his hands. A small serving boy appeared from behind a line of hanging drapes and placed a tray on the table in front of us. He then reverently positioned two exquisitely carved glasses in their centre and then filled them with a clear liquid. The General then waved him off.
“What does your name mean in my tongue”? he asked quietly.
I nodded. I had told him the meaning many times and each time he had forgotten. Master Sun was at his height of power now, but sadly his memory was fading fast. He, however, would never be forgotten and his thoughts and teachings would last an eternity.
I raised my glass to Master Sun Tzu, and lowered my eyes with respect.

“It means, Son of the Hidden One”

* * *​

 

[Brother Emund]

Planet Rophus
Draianus System
​

THE TEMPERATURE WAS dangerously high and the sweat was literally flooding from every pore in my body. A person could die very quickly here, if he did not find shelter and cool water.
I knew that my enhanced physiology could withstand such extremes, but my companions were made of softer stuff. Despite their state-of-the-art equipment, and the constant checking and double-checking by Garxan Mansmay, my loyal Mechanicum Adept, my group would soon go under .
I unconsciously rubbed the stubble on my chin and shook away a heavy feeling that pushed at the back of my eye balls. I had not slept for several days, but that was not the issue here. Like the vaunted Space marines, I can do without sleep if the need arises, and like them, I too can go into a kind of trance sleep. However, I can do it without the need of the Space Marines Catalepsen Node and all their physical adaptations.

No, sleep or rest was not the issue here.

I was faced with yet another problem which I could have done without.
I squinted across the heat haze toward the distant settlement, its jagged roofs partially obscured by dust being churned up by the enemy.
“Bloody fuggin’ Orks!” A gruff voice suddenly invaded my thoughts like the explosion from a Krak grenade.
“If there is one thing in the whole fugging universe I hate, its fuggin’ Greenskins and their fuggin’ ways”
Deaglán Ó Báire continued to rant as he crawled up slowly alongside me, shuffling his arms and shoulders in the dark sand to make himself more comfortable.

I looked at my companion and slowly shook my head. Deaglán, Deaglán Ó Báire; you could always rely on him to lighten… or darken the mood. Part of me wanted his broad shoulders at my side, part of me didn’t. I was trying to formulate a new plan, to either stay here or move on and Ó Báire’s uncouth humour was not what I needed..
“I could do without this” I whispered, scratching my chin again and pulling my hood further over my head..

The new arrival hawked a globule of phlegm across the sands and grinned. Although he went by the name of Deaglán Ó Báire, I knew that this was not his real name. Like everyone in the group, they all had a past and sometimes it paid to leave whoever you were behind and make a new life for yourself. I studied his grizzled features;

I thought back to the time we first met, when was it? Ten, no eleven years ago in a Tavern on… the name of the planet escaped me.

Ó Báire had just laid out two Commissarial Provosts, one after the other in rapid succession, and had now positioned himself on a stool by the door, so he could welcome the rest of them when they came in.
“I hate fuggin’ Provost’s” I remember him grunting and then winking at me with a mischievous grin on his face.
The room had cleared, and only a few semi-conscious patrons still huddled at the bar. The barkeep had disappeared along with his door staff and enforcers. I found myself alone at a table near to the drunken fighter, with a full bottle of Amsec and nothing else in particular to do.
Without thinking why, I picked up the bottle, retrieved an unbroken glass and walked up to him as bold as brass.
Ó Báire looked at me with conspiratorial eyes and then gazed longingly at my precious liquor.
“You hold a rare cargo there my friend” he nodded. I looked down at the label and shrugged a shoulder. I could not for the love of me remember where I had got it.
“Would you care to share it with a poor, lonely Guardsman like myself” he added.
I pulled up a stool and joined him. We sat side by side facing the door together.
“I think I can manage that… friend”
He smiled back at me and then held out a strong hand.
“Deaglán Ó Báire’s the name, and I am in for a whole world of shite”


Ó Báire was a huge brute of a man with bulging muscles and a pugilists face. He wore a battered grey field cap over a crop of blonde hair and the remains of what was once an Imperial Guard uniform stretched over his tall frame. A Body rig, utility pouches, canteens and grenades festooned his body. A non-regulation Lasgun lay on the sand in front of him, next to a Fenris hunting knife.
He passed me the magnoculars he had been using.

“Boss, I will be honest with you, I know we are on a tight schedule and all that. We should go around and leave these yokels to their own devices. However, we swore an oath to help the helpless and needy wherever we can, and this is a blind-stinking cry for help as far as I am concerned”.
I turned back and observed the dying settlement through the scope.He had a point, but we were short on time. I also had ‘that feeling’ in my bones, and when I got that, it was usually the prelude to trouble.
“They are beyond help I am afraid Deaglán my old friend. There is nothing we can do here”
Ó Báire raised an eyebrow and placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder.
“Is it Arnold, you'll be thinking on?” he asked, almost as a whisper. He knew me so well.
“He is not here… thankfully. We have a fair bit to go before we find his place, and we will have to give this area a wide berth’ I scanned the horizon ‘there are Ork outriders everywhere”

I shrugged almost nonchalantly and then looked back toward the settlement. The flimsy outer wall had been breached in several places and Orks were running amok. They had not had it their own way however, and there were piles of their bodies around the breaches and spotted here and there across the desert. Inside, hidden by clouds of dust, the orks were slaughtering the inhabitants with abandoned relish. Even from this distance we could hear the hoots and cries of vengeance, as the green-skinned brutes cleared up.
“I bloody hate Orks’ hissed Ó Báire, looking at me in his best, ‘disgusted’ face, before breaking into a smile, ‘no, I really do Boss”
I stowed the magnoculars away in my pack and smiled back. Ó Báire was a rogue, a vicious, hard-faced rogue, but he had got me and the group out of a lot of tight spots and I he could not help but love him.
“You hate everyone, Deaglán my friend’ I paused, then shuffled backwards off the horizon ‘and you are right, we cannot let this pass. The Orks will have their comeuppance”.
Ó Báire’s face broke open into a broad grin.
“Oh good, a scrap, just what the Apothecary ordered.”

* * *​

 

[Brother Emund]

Sorores Argentum Gladio​

THE SILENT WATCHER had rarely seen as much excitement onboard the ship as there was today.

Canoness Talanova Alisa Stepanovna of the Order of the Silver Sword, stood to the rear of the command Sanctum and watched in undisguised annoyance as the crew around her became more and more excited over the upcoming mission. The otherwise quiet command area was now alive with chatter and general hubbub as more and more of the crew came and went. She had noticed that the command section had almost doubled in size as officers and communication staff prepared the ship for the ground insertion.

She tipped her head and another Sister stepped out of the shadows. Human speech was forbidden in their Order so the complicated hand language used by the Adepta Sororitas was the preferred method of communication. It was also virtually untranslatable to the uninitiated which suited them.
+ Advanced Nunciate Balakhnova. Seek Lord. Inform. We stand ready for deployment +
Sister Balakhnova nodded.
+ I serve. Question +

The Canoness turned slowly. It was not protocol to ask anything of a senior, but, as the Canoness often reminded herself, Balakhnova was not one for adhering to strict rules and regulations. She was, afterall a Nunciate and considered to be a highly capable Sister when it came to negotiations between her Order and the other human, and non-humans on the ship. Her record spoke for itself. The only problem was that Advanced Nunciate Balakhnova also knew that, and thought herself to be better than anyone else.

+ Speak +
+ Revenge. Canoness. Target at location. Not decoy. Hunt and Destroy +
The Canoness knew that Balakhnova still held onto the guilt she felt after the last Canoness; Stepanovna’s predecessor’s, unlikely and untimely death at the hands of the Arch-Heretic.The young Nunciate blamed herself for the Leaders fall, when she failed to protect her when they were ambushed two years before.
The Arch-Heretic who went by the name of Rasch was now on the planet below, and she wanted Vengeance for her death.

The Canoness gave a rare smile.
+ Exterminate. Extreme method +
Balakhnova smiled back and gave a curt bow.
The Cannoness squeezed her hand.
+ Report. Remain in Station. Observe. Report +
Sister Balakhnova smiled and gave the Sign of the Aquilla.
+ Intelligence gathering mission. Confirmed +

* * *​

 

[Over Two Meters Tall!]

The scope and writing all have a lot of promise, but at this point it's hard following what's going on with who and where, much less when. I'm diggin on the perpetual angle in the story.