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Gix shook he head. "Not going to happen. The casualties among inquisitors alone means new blood will be assigned. There isn't anything we can do about it. Anywhere we work on this project there will be unfriendly eyes. At least here, we have a distraction. It will be good practice."

"There is another problem to consider. Prius Ristani. He knows too much to let him live unless we have absolute confidence in his discretion. I think we should have him travel with and watch Inquisitor Varian. Varian's . . . conservative, but we don't know much more than that. He could be a useful ally if he's sufficiently clear eyed on this issue."

Pater nodded. "I'm not sure about Ristani. I think he trusts Varian more than us."

Meanwhile, events were already in motion. Even hundreds of light years away from the sub sector, things moved. Inquisitors suspended low priority cases and moved to wrap up larger matters, eager to embark for Cyrus Gamma, whose once most glorious hive city now burnt courtesy of an Imperial Warship’s orbital bombardment. Ships of the Adeptus Astartes altered their courses too, embarking at the highest possible speed for the beleaguered epicentre of the uprising. And other forces moved too, ancient, dark and malevolent beings that found their plans… diverted. Some resolved to settle the matter themselves, others, to bide their time.

Many were still confident in the ultimate failure of the Emperor’s Servants.

And not without good reason.

Gix considered Pater's words. "That means killing him, unless you have another idea."

"Or we could entertain other options. Ristani is ideaologically a fellow traveller of Varian, but he would shoot his best friend in a heart beat if he thought it would serve the Emperor. He practically worshipped Nathan, who was given his authority by the Emperor himself, and he knows that Nathan agrees with this plan. His fanatical nature would insure he wouldn't deviate from his task while giving him a good opportunity to observe Varian. And Varian maybe a good recruit. He's some flavor of Thorian Monodominant, which means he's inclined the believe in the superior judgement of the inquisition and the enlightened. And since inquisitors and a saint make up our little conspiracy, he could inclined to join us."

"I don't know enough about Varian to be sure of him, but I'd rather our pile of bodies was as small as possible. How much does he know already?"

"He's seen the Men of Iron and he's kept his mouth shut so far. He doesn't know how far it stretches and killing him with every other inquisitor in the sector descending upon us is risky. I say we plant Prius on him, have our Officio Assassinorum friend watch him, and see what happens. He may very well be a suitable recruit."

"That sounds reasonable. Do we have a timeline for our 'guests' arriving?"

"Not all of them are announcing themselves, but some are already en route. I'm sure some advance agents are already in place."

"Do you think one of us should stay behind? I don't think we can trust the Techpriests or the Men of Iron to run things properly."

"We can't stay behind. Neither of us is senior enough. Our place is in the field and if we aren't there, we are going to be sent there and someone is going to start looking into our activities. We have to cultivate agents and send them back to be our eyes and ears among the Men of Iron and Tech Priests."

"We'll need some method of keeping in touch. I believe some of the Archaeotech is capable of heavily encoding transmissions, in a similar fashion to the AdMech's 'binary' language. We've been trying to crack that for millenia."

Gix smiled. "As a matter of fact, I have a lot of experience with codes in the last few years. I would prefer to work something out without relying on archaeotech. I should have something ready in a few days for your comments. Any other concerns?"

Pater shook his head. "We seem to have covered everything. In summary, we're going to install spies among the AdMech, get Prius to watch Varian and see if he is likely to join us and seperately attempt to carry on Lord Vonrilyental's legacy."

"Yes, that's about it. We can accomplish more seperately, as well as be less conspicious. We do have other duties. We are trying to change the entire Imperium, after all. I'll take 500,000 worlds, you take the other 500,000."

Pater grinned. "I was hoping we could do it in shifts. You change the fabric of society Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, I'll take Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays."

Gix reached down and pulled out a bottle of amnsec and poured two glasses. He raised his. "To the Imperium, to all who have served and fallen, and the dream which we were try to make reality.".

"May it stand for another 10 millenia." Pater solemnly clinked his glass against Gix's.

The End

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