Secret War: Warhammer 40,000, Ben Agar [list of ebook readers .txt] 📗

a feudal world then, and so it didn't take long before we were under the fold. It wasn't until twenty years ago that the entirety of Elbyra raised their first regiments of Imperial Guard, one drawn from each country on the vast continent; Velrosia, Maranger, Galak Heim, Despasia.

"It was in my last year in the guard," said Olinthre. "My regiment was fighting Orks on the planet Belfost, and the Velrosians were sent in to help us, the famous 'first amongst equals' at first; we all scoffed at the arrogance of the title, but quickly I saw it was justified. They were good, one of the best regiments I have ever worked with actually, well-disciplined, reliable and their general he was a hard bastard. Tathe was his name, and he had a son working inside the regiment as a commissar. His father forced him into the schola progenium when he was young; Delan Tathe was an arrogant little punk but very skilled with a blade; you remind me of him, actually."

My jaw set slightly. "Thanks," I said; it was kind of funny how such a large galaxy could feel so small at times.

I smiled and said, "The Velrosian 1st has made a name for themselves over the last twenty years; my country seems to breed natural warriors. Around a thousand years ago, Olinthre, Velrosia fought the far larger and numerically advantageous invading Maranger to a standstill, a war which lasted over four decades before Velrosia was finally overwhelmed. But it was barely after a year of occupation when the Velrosian rebels led by the young and now legendary prince, Royd Antares, they ousted Maranger and Royd slaying the corrupt Maranger king Voltarin in single combat."

"Although that great act of heroism would lead to events that no one could ever have foreseen. The legend of King Royd of Velrosia was a sad tale that ended in utter tragedy, but that still doesn't stop all Velrosian children wanting to be him growing up, myself included. Of course, my love for sword mastery and hand to hand combat was in part because of that legend."

And my father made me learn, of course.

The corner of my mouth twitched slightly, wondering why I had just suddenly said all that information. It has been a long time since I talked about my homeworld.

Olinthre smiled and nodded as we walked out of the corridors and into the elevator lobby.

"And where are you from, major?" I asked.

"Cadia," answered Olinthre simply.

My eyebrows raised in surprise; I knew of Cadia, of course, the mighty fortress world which guards the only navigational route too and from the Eye of Terror. The Cadian Imperial Guard regiments were amongst the most well known and lauded in the whole of the Imperium so that Olinthre would know of and praise the Velrosian 1st so highly was indeed something to be proud of; that's if the major was telling the truth of course.

Olinthre pushed the elevator call button and turned back to me.

"I served in the 266th regiment for a good ten years with Garrakson under my command as a sergeant."

That surprised me also; I had no idea that both Garrakson and Olinthre were from the same planet, let alone the very same regiment.

Olinthre shook his head. "That was the best decade of my life, don't get me wrong, we all went through hell, that's for sure, but the brotherhood we shared, the friendships we developed. Attelus, war is a terrible, terrible thing, but nothing else could ever bind comrades together so well."

"There is only war," I could not help intone under my breath.

Olinthre sighed sadly. "Yes, I can't disagree with you on that."

"It was hard to see your comrades slowly whittle away Attelus, to die off, sometimes one by one, sometimes even by the dozens. You must have an idea by now; your squad was much larger when you first started fighting in this complete and utter farce."

The major's face suddenly contorted in horrible rage while his eyes watered with barely contained tears. "But to have your entire regiment, the friends! The comrades who you have fought side by side for years on countless battlefields! To have them all slaughtered right in front of your eyes like they were cattle, you can't imagine what that is like!"

His sudden outburst made me flinch in fright, and I could only stand around like an idiot, not knowing what to say.

Olinthre sighed again. "I-I'm sorry for that, Attelus; I didn't mean to-"

Olinthre was interrupted by the elevator's arrival, and we slipped inside.

We went up a few floors before Olinthre finally said, "Taryst saved us from that hell hole Attelus, he saved Garrakson and me from being slaughtered just like the rest of our regiment and for that I truly respect him, and for that, I owe him everything. I was always prepared to die for the Emperor but not in that way, but not that way."

"And for that, I will always be ashamed; I am a coward, Attelus. I should have died in duty along with my comrades, but yet here I am. Working as a soulless mercenary for an ugly and backstabbing corporation that really shouldn't exist, but now it's time to face up as you did with Vex, it's time to finally, truly face up to my mistakes."

I nodded, and that was all I was capable of.

I winced as Feuilt dabbed my sore cheek with a disinfectant wet piece of cotton.

"Yeeep," he said. "Young man, you are going to have one frig of a bruise."

My jaw twitched, and I glared accusingly at the grinning Olinthre; really, is that why we came up here so that Feuilt could state something, I already knew?

"Actually," said on the medicae, "you are lucky that you didn't break your zygomatic bone; that was one hell of a punch."

"Well, the person who threw it has been practising at the art non-stop over the last month," I growled and flinched again as more pain coursed through my face.

Feuilt's eyes widened. "What, just so they could do this to you? What did you do to warrant such retribution?"

I frowned and furrowed my brow, bemused at the medicae's apparent ignorance.

"Well, I guess it doesn't matter," sighed Feuilt. "Just be careful, two injuries so quickly one after the other, just try, be, a, little, bit, less, clumsy next time."

He dabbed between each pause, and I could not help bristle slightly at being called clumsy; I wasn't clumsy, I was never clumsy.

"Alright," said the medicae as he got up and turned to a nearby draw pulling out a bandage, pulled off the adhesive tape then planted onto my face.

"Just wear that for the next few days," he said. "It will keep down the swelling and help prevent the bruising; I'll give you a few more if this one ever falls off."

"Thanks, doc," I said, sounding more grudging than intended.

Feuilt shrugged. "Yes, young man, just make sure you don't come back for any time soon, okay?"

I nodded and briefly played with the idea of telling Feuilt of the poison injected into my system but quickly declined the notion that Edracian could be watching me even now, and I didn't know what kind of poison it was. There were a few kinds that I could name off the top of my that would kill a man in a few hours. Still, here I was dealing with an assassin from the Venenum temple, and their knowledge of poisons was unrivalled throughout the Imperium; it was very likely that Feuilt would have no clue what it was at all.

Feuilt nodded back, then turned to Olinthre. "So major now, will you tell me why you are here as well?"

Olinthre was leaning against the wall with his arms folded over his chest, and he pushed himself off.

"Yes, I will Feuilt, something has come to my interest recently," Olinthre said, and he held up the print off of the retinal scans to the medicae.

My eyes widened; what was he doing? Why was he telling this to Feuilt?

Feuilt's brow furrowed in bemusement. "Where are you getting at major?"

"This, my friend," said Olinthre, "is a print off from the records of people who have used their retinal ID to access Taryst's condo over the past month."

The medicae frowned deeply; still confused, he slipped on a pair of spectacles and took the sheet, studying it intently.

"Yes, it is," agreed Feuilt. "But what does this have to do with me?"

My eyes widened as it suddenly hit me. "Because you've been going up there to treat Taryst's injured psyker!" I blurted out without thinking.

Both Feuilt's and Olinthre's attention snapped at me; their expressions were both amazed and confused.

"H-how, did you know that?" stammered Feuilt.

I winced, internally cursing my idiocy, then my face went bright red, and I scratched the back of my head. "Uhm, a lucky guess, I guess."

It was a terrible lie, I know.

But I barely held back a sigh of relief as Olinthre returned his suspicious gaze to the bemused medicae. "So you admit it then? As the records show, you have been visiting Taryst far more than normal over the last month."

It was Feuilt's turn to sigh. "Yes, yes, I do admit to it Olinthre as you know, I go up once a week to give Taryst his weekly juvenant treatment, but..."

"But this time was different?" I asked and immediately regretted it as Olinthre's attention briefly snapped straight at me again; damn it! Why the hell did I always feel so inclined to finish people's sentences!

"But...Yes, this was different, young man; Taryst took me through that large door in his quarters; in there he is keeping an extremely injured psyker, a woman by the name of Karmen Kons, he told me to treat her and to keep it a secret."

Olinthre looked at the medicae with extreme incredulity and said, "but! But! How! Not even I'm allowed through that frigging door, and why wasn't I told what happened to her!"

Feuilt raised his hands in a protective motion as it seemed for a second there that Olinthre would strike the medicae. "You must understand major, I was not informed of such information, but it does not end there."

"And what the hell does 'It does not end there,' mean?" yelled Olinthre.

The medicae didn't flinch, facing down the angry ex-guardsman with admiral courage. "When I was first taken to her, she was unconscious due to head trauma, but I was ordered to keep her in a coma via a drug named Diporisan, which needed to be injected every two days; that is why my retinal scan is logged in at every second day."

"I don't understand," I said, interrupting anything that Olinthre was to say. "Why didn't you give Taryst some syringes so he could do it himself?"

But what I was really thinking was why Taryst would want to keep his little psyker in a coma, and the reason why I asked such a small question was that I wanted to take Olinthre's thoughts away from it.

Perhaps the psyker had found something? Or did something wrong during the raid on the Twilight bar?

Feuilt shrugged, "I don't know, but I am guessing that he suspected no one but himself would be able to see the records, so my visitations would not arouse suspicion."

That made my eyes widen; if this was such a secret, how did Edracian's spy find out? The spy who seemingly worked for Glaitis, or was there someone else in Taryst's organisation?

"Well, they have now," growled Olinthre.

Feuilt turned back to Olinthre. "So I am curious, how is it, then you got your hands on those records major?"

"That is none of your business, medicae."

"Alright then," sighed Feuilt. "I don't know how you got your hands on that information, but I can still tell Taryst that you have it, so do not intend to get angry at me again, Olinthre!"

A wolfish, predatory grin spread across Olinthre's face. "Well, it doesn't matter if you do, medical, as the three of us are about to say a little hello to the good rogue trader