Крип / Kryp: Отряд_2.12

Chapter 12

Camrad_RIP 17.11.21 в 15:44

"Well..."

Camrad_RIP 17.11.21 в 15:57

Inquisitor Schmettau pursed his lips, pulled a folding comb from his pocket, and carefully combed his hair. Not for the sake of improving his hair, but rather to take a short pause, to occupy himself with some fleeting duty. The artificial hair rustled faintly under the plastic teeth.

Camrad_RIP 17.11.21 в 15:58

"Unexpectedly," said Schmettau quietly, folding up the simple instrument with a neatness (perhaps the least bit deliberate).

Camrad_RIP 17.11.21 в 15:58

Essen Pale stood at attention in silence, looking now at the inquisitor, at the big screen, where a short satellite recording was repeated over and over again. First, a general plan, covering a couple of thousand square kilometers. Part of the industrial area and a section of the railroad tracks, where the armored train was parked. Houses and industrial complexes were decked out in lights, work continued around the clock, despite the threat of heretical invasion. Astropathic towers on the asteroids required a constant supply, especially now, with the steadily increasing traffic that fed equipment, equipment, and troops to the distant battle for the Sabbat worlds. The atomic train, on the other hand, was lurking in the darkness.

Camrad_RIP 17.11.21 в 16:01

Almost a minute of recording, where the movements of individuals are indistinguishable, but one can see the blocking of all civilian vehicles and the pulling down of armored vehicles. Kalkroit did not need to listen to the radio conversations, he already remembered every last note. A rank-and-file report from the 'convicts', then the radio operator switches to a quick, hurried speech, and then... Yes, then things began to develop very quickly. Too fast and unexpected, given the drop in warp-storm activity and the long string of false alarms with the seers' mistakes.

Camrad_RIP 17.11.21 в 16:09

Schmettau rubbed the hump of his nose with two fingers, just like a bespectacled man who had removed his spectacles, though the inquisitor never wore spectacles or pince-nez. His assistant sighed softly, shifting from foot to foot. It was pitch black in the corner of the screen, and all of a sudden it exploded in a shower of flames. "Radial-12," using a battery of guided missiles, exactly as per protocol and the summons from the mentor. A dense beam of orange trails crossed the darkened tundra with deliberate slowness and struck the suburbs, covering an entire block. A few minutes later, a second strike followed. It was help from 'Radial-64', giving a volley at the limit of missile range.

Camrad_RIP 17.11.21 в 16:12

One wonders how many guards in the cordon were killed...? Technically, the referees and police had five or seven minutes between the request and the attack. Enough to save not everyone, but many. If the proper orders had been given, and Schmettau suspected that they had not bothered to do so in time. The long months of peace and near-zero warp disturbances had relaxed the local services considerably.

Camrad_RIP 17.11.21 в 16:15

'The Emperor will protect,' Kalkroit said to himself, conjuring up an aquila in his mind as well. God is omniscient, he does not need pompous and public gestures, the main thing is faith in the soul. He created in His wisdom the Inquisition, giving it a perfect organization, which, among other advantages, helps to avoid the bureaucratic cumbersomeness of traditional agencies.

Camrad_RIP 17.11.21 в 16:16

"Is there an estimate of casualties?" The inquisitor asked the assistant.

Camrad_RIP 17.11.21 в 16:17

"No, sir," said Pale cheerfully and without pause, knowing full well what the patron was primarily interested in. "Presumably the whole squad is dead. At any rate, they are presumed dead. Planetary rescue services are waiting for the fires to die down so they can start searching for bodies and evidence."

Camrad_RIP 17.11.21 в 16:18

Schmettau once again scrolled through the passage with the direct hit. Sixty missiles... Yeah, there wouldn't even be ash left after that. Still, several square kilometers are blazing, as if a promethum pipeline had been brought to them. However...

Camrad_RIP 17.11.21 в 16:19

"Check the armory," Schmettau ordered curtly. "Request information directly from battalion command. I want to know what the launchers were loaded with."

Camrad_RIP 17.11.21 в 16:20

"Sir?"

Camrad_RIP 17.11.21 в 16:20

"If the volley was a combination of volumetric and penetrating projectiles, there's nothing more for us to do here. The kill zone is plowed and burned to the rock bottom," Schmettau explained patiently. "But deliveries of large-caliber armor-piercing missiles are now irregular. It's possible the strike was a superficial one. And in this area, the catacombs are buried."

Camrad_RIP 17.11.21 в 16:23

"They couldn't have come down that fast, I'll find out and report back."

Camrad_RIP 17.11.21 в 16:24

What the inquisitor valued in his right hand especially was the rare ability to object, but at the same time meticulously execute the order. Alas, Essen had great problems with imagination and flexibility of thought, or rather these properties were completely absent in his assistant. And with diligence and for the benefit of Kalkroit himself. However, Pale's virtues more than compensated for some defects in his thinking process.

Camrad_RIP 17.11.21 в 16:30

"The captain recommends we move to a higher orbit," Essen reported in the meantime. "Such proximity to the surface forces us to perform complicated maneuvers, we are consuming fuel, and the crew is fatigued."

Camrad_RIP 17.11.21 в 16:32

Schmettau pondered the suggestion.

Camrad_RIP 17.11.21 в 16:32

"No," he said. "First I intend to make sure that Kryptman is no longer among the living. Right after that, we'll leave the system. The team will receive a bonus for responsible service."

Camrad_RIP 17.11.21 в 16:49

"As you command," Pale lowered and lifted his chin with machine-like clarity, turned on the spot, and then walked out, literally stamping his steps.

Camrad_RIP 17.11.21 в 16:50

Schmettau sighed, shrugged his shoulders as if his jacket had become too tight for him. He relaxed perceptibly. He played the tape twice more, although he had already learned and memorized it to the last frame. Wandered around the office, hidden near the heart of the Inquisitor's ship. The place held many secrets and was a History in itself. How many secrets were revealed to the fastidious investigator among the white walls, how many hardened heretics confessed their terrible transgressions, weeping from the happy opportunity to repent...

Camrad_RIP 17.11.21 в 16:53

Schmettau pressed a hidden lever, or rather a section of wall, unremarkable in appearance. Obeying unseen sensors, a secret hatch opened, and behind it a special vault, the existence of which even Essen, privy to all the secrets of the master, did not know. Here Schmettau erected an altar of hatred to his best friend and loyal comrade-in-arms, who turned out to be an enemy and traitor.

Camrad_RIP 17.11.21 в 16:57

Kalkroit walked along the wall, barely visible beneath the drawings and picts, most of which were many decades old. The Inquisitor paced slowly, touching the yellowed picts with moments of former triumphs frozen forever with his fingers.

Camrad_RIP 17.11.21 в 17:01

Here are two young referees who have just emerged from the walls of the Progenium Hall, they smile into the camera, not yet knowing that a few minutes later a discreet gray man will approach their friends and make them an offer they can refuse. But what kind of servant of the Emperor are you, then?

Camrad_RIP 17.11.21 в 17:02

Here they are, but a couple of years older, at the first fire. A small, inconspicuous case, after which only a long code and a thin folder in the archive of Ordo Hereticus were left. Just a petty sorcerer, capable only of smothering old men and infants with sweat. He burned in the cleansing flames, long forgotten by all, most of all by the wicked lords he had served so poorly. But Kalkroit remembered.

Camrad_RIP 17.11.21 в 17:03

Schmettau and Kryptman. Kryptman and Schmettau. Fear and Terror for any and all who have rejected the gifts and sacrifice of God the Emperor. Together they began, and together they walked the path of His service.

Camrad_RIP 17.11.21 в 17:04

Their duo proved strong and effective because the inquisitors combined each other's strengths in the best way possible, compensating for their weaknesses. Kryptman was the epitome of fierce pressure, of brilliant improvisation. He was always pushing forward and only forwards. And Schmettau was someone who was inconspicuous and not famous, always in the second role, always behind the leader. But without number two, the leader is helpless and blind. Unlike his friend, Kalkroit always thought about 'what happens if...'. Always ready for any counterattack and invariably disappointed enemies, ready to escape from under the crushing blow Kryptman to strike from behind.

Camrad_RIP 17.11.21 в 17:05

Kalkroit paused for a moment at the next pictograph. The yellow rectangle was a reminder of the deadly Heresy that sought to penetrate the soul of the Imperium. Yes, it was a grievous affair in the Schola Progenium on Hagia, where traitors had defied the very essence of His holy cause.

Camrad_RIP 17.11.21 в 17:06

The Throne of Correction must suppress the misguided thoughts of the progenitors, not even heretical ones, but the simplest ones common to adolescents. If these thoughts introduce excessive deviations into the student's behavior. Enemies, on the other hand, have created imperceptible 'improvements,' turned the noble machine into a perverse mechanism that poisons the hearts of future commissioners, naval officers, priests, sororities, administrators. Drop by drop the invisible poison oozed into the souls of young people, the future backbone and core of the Empire. Changing students, already deprived of parental care; perverting the precepts of the abbots in the heads of children orphaned by the actions of the eternal enemy.

Camrad_RIP 17.11.21 в 17:07

/'Kryptman! - Schmettau exclaimed mutely, addressing the ghost. - 'You believed an under-educated Sororite who fled from Schola. You dismissed my objections. You convinced me to suspend the exploitation of an unregistered psyker in Sanyera and to send all the acolytes of our groups to Schola.'

Camrad_RIP 17.11.21 в 17:10

Kalkroit clenched his teeth that could bite through a steel wire.

Camrad_RIP 17.11.21 в 17:12

/'You weren't wrong. And after that, I believed you without a doubt.

Camrad_RIP 17.11.21 в 17:12

With the tips of his fingers, as if a pict could burn artificial flesh and nerves, Schmettau touched the penultimate image. It was taken just after a meeting at which two of the inquisitors, no so young, were deciding how to play out the final notes of a composition that had lasted twenty-seven years. They had both long since given up their youth, but on that day each had to restrain with an iron will the feverish readiness and impatience. The moment of the greatest triumph was approaching, a victory that would rattle through the millennia and engrave two names on the tablets listing the Inquisition's greatest victories.

Camrad_RIP 17.11.21 в 17:15

But this never happened.

Camrad_RIP 17.11.21 в 17:16

In the moment that preceded the great triumph, the most faithful betrayed a friend, abandoned a colleague. Destroyed everything for which so much had been sacrificed. But most importantly, he did not admit a mistake. If Kryptman realized that he was chasing a mirage, say it out loud, and Schmettau would forgive him, and then help with all available resources and connections. All stumble, for only He, is blameless, and man is weak and imperfect, even the best of the best. And an inquisitor as great as Kryptman would have been able to level the damage done.

Camrad_RIP 17.11.21 в 17:18

But the old friend did not admit the error. And though no one believed the tales of the terrible enemies of Mankind that lurked in obscurity. But after much deliberation, weighing Kryptman's explanations on the impartial scales of logic, the brethren decided that at that time the inquisitor's actions could be considered justified. When this happened, Schmettau nearly became a renegade because his world was turned upside down twice. Betrayal was not only accomplished but justified. The inquisitor kept from falling into heresy, but he did not forget or forgive anything.

Camrad_RIP 17.11.21 в 17:21

The traitor had cheated for the last time by going to the other world, depriving Calcroyd of the sweet triumph of vengeance. But Schmettau knew that his thirst could be quenched in another way. Not all the way, not even half of the desired satisfaction, but at least a small fraction. After all, not only honors are inherited, but debts as well. Such was the case on his home planet of Schmettau, and he believed it was fair.

Camrad_RIP 17.11.21 в 17:22

The last pict. A stern, sullen father whose lips have long since forgotten a smile, burdened with much knowledge of human weakness, of enemy treachery, of the unseen horrors that accompany everyone and are ready to enslave forever, if you let them slacken. And the son, a boy of about five or six, a child who already knows about the coming and inevitable destiny. The future apprentice, the inevitable heir to the deeds and glory of his famous father.

Camrad_RIP 17.11.21 в 17:23

"Are you still alive?" Schmettau asked softly into the emptiness and silence. And he answered himself:

Camrad_RIP 17.11.21 в 17:23

"I think so. You didn't take over your father's mind and will, but you inherited his survivability. You can't be killed that easily."

Camrad_RIP 17.11.21 в 17:24

There was a long pause, during which the inquisitor froze like a statue. Only after many minutes did Kalkroit whisper:

Camrad_RIP 17.11.21 в 17:25

"I believe in you, boy. Don't disappoint me. Don't deny me the pleasure of scattering your ashes with my own hands."

Camrad_RIP 17.11.21 в 17:26

* * *

Camrad_RIP 17.11.21 в 17:24

"Oh, God..."

Camrad_RIP 17.11.21 в 17:26

Whose voice? Probably Savlar's, only he's the one who makes such a disgusting snarl. Or maybe not... Anyone with a broken nose.

Camrad_RIP 17.11.21 в 17:27

Broken...

Camrad_RIP 17.11.21 в 17:27

Nose...

Camrad_RIP 17.11.21 в 17:26

/What's broken on me this time?

Camrad_RIP 17.11.21 в 17:28

The girl moved her fingers and toes. Her body obeyed, though it protested. But her eyesight was worse; it was either blindness or complete darkness all around her.

Camrad_RIP 17.11.21 в 17:29