+++ Fleet Communique: Security Clearance – Epsilon Five

+++ Reporting loss of transport ‘Emperor’s Deliverance’ to warp storm – all hands & cargo lost

+++ Crew: Standard Navy complement. Manifest: Primaris Greyshields x1000, Ultima Founding

+++ The Emperor’s mercy be upon their souls

+++ Requisition 729474000276478;9287 for Primaris Greyshields x1000 (authorisation attached)

 

 

Ordo Chronos field notes:

My Lord Inquisitor. Investigations into a suspected temporal disturbance in sector ############ have yielded some evidence of displacement. Components of several shuttles have been retrieved from an orbital debris field around ########## ###. Serial markings were identifiable as belonging to the manifest of one ‘Emperor’s Deliverance’ – a standard Temperance class transport lost to the warp six standard months ago. However, the degradation of said components is severe, with auto-savant analysis predicting an exposure period of not less than 50 years standard. The absence of any sources of radiation capable of causing such degradation makes a temporal anomaly the favoured hypothesis at this time.

Of the ‘Emperor’s Deliverance’, there is no sign…

 

 

Intercepted communique relating to Inquisitorial investigation into black market dealings on (REDACTED):

############### For sale – Imperial Aquila recovered from (REDACTED) – rare example of Astartes devotional token, but of an unusual design. Condition is degraded, but there is a unique hand engraving on the reverse. Engraving reads “In Dedicato Imperatum Ultra Articulo Mortis”. Bidding to start at… ################

 

 

Extract from witness report (REDACTED)dated (REDACTED)

Subject: Citizen (REDACTED), survivor of attack on outpost (REDACTED)

Interviewer: Inquisitorial Interrogator (REDACTED)

 

Int: So let’s run through this again. On (REDACTED), your outpost, (REDACTED), was attacked by Ork raiders without warning. You and your fellow citizens had no time to prepare a defence, correct?

Subject: That’s right Sir, they came on us on foot, from the treeline – no vehicle smoke or noise to give them away, no chanting, nothing. They was sneaky buggers, all stealthy and quiet they were, not like any Orks I’ve ever seen.

Int: So you’ve been attacked before?

Subject: Yes Sir, many times. Orks often raid in these parts – we’ve always repelled them with the perimeter lasers without too much trouble, but this time, they were inside the compound before the guards even had a chance to raise the alarm.

Int: So what happened next?

Subject: Well Sir, it was a massacre. The Ork were everywhere, stabbing and slicing and shooting – the security detail managed to take a few down, but not enough to make a difference. My science team didn’t stand a chance.

Int: And yet when we found you, all the Orks were dead…

Subject: Yes Sir – all I heard was the sound of gun fire – not Ork gun fire, and not las, but something different. All the Orks start running toward the sound, and then I hear Orks screaming and whatnot, and then nothing!

Int: And did you see what attacked the Orks?

Subject: Well, after a good while I figured it was safe to get out and go and see what the situation was. I caught a glimpse of one of them through the smoke – a giant it was, all in black armour, but with fire and bone too… Like Astartes he was, but different.

Int: Like an Astartes?

Subject: Yeah, but bigger, newer, stealthy-looking. You know, I saw an Astartes once? I was attached to this expedition, and –

Int: You said ‘get out’… What was it you got out of?

Subject: Sir?

Int: Just now. You said that you figured it was safe to ‘get out’ and go see what the situation was… What was it you got out of?

Subject: Ah, well, yes… well, I was in a storage crate Sir…

Int: And why were you in storage crate?

Subject: Well Sir, I, er, well… I was hiding Sir… from the Orks… I mean, once they were inside, what other choice did I have?

Int: You had the same choice we all have in the end – to live as a coward, or die in service of your Emperor…

Subject: But I’m not a soldier, I’m a scientist! It would be a waste of my talents to die needlessly – I have decades of knowledge and experience! Hiding and surviving was the logical thing to do – surely you can see that –

Int: Irrelevant. Citizen (REDACTED), I find you guilty of desertion in the face of the enemy and sentence you to summary execution.

Subject: No, wait  –  no!! I demand to see –   [Interview Terminated]

 

Appendix:

Security footage of the incident has been expertly wiped – presumably by the intervention force. However, one partial image was recovered and reconstructed: