[Dan296]

“Hail the Inquisitors ship. Replace the Adeptus Terra signal with our own so they know it is us,” ordered Katrina.

“Lord Malekai, the cargo vessel is hailing us. They are using the Sororitas’ code! They have escaped the planet!”
“Excellent,” replied Malekai, “patch them in.”
A picture of the transports bridge appeared before Malekai. Katrina stood in front of two servitor-pilots, with several of her warriors behind her. “Greetings Inquisitor.”
“Greetings my lady. I am glad to see you are well.”
“And yourself. I have fortunately brought with me almost all of the Order. We were caught unawares, and luckily had moved in force. The Ecclisiarchy serfs and several sisters are still on the surface, not to mention the relics, weapons, and supplies in the complex. I wish to take a smaller party back down to retrieve these.”
Malekai’s smiled faded, and he remarked, “I will send a shuttle to bring you aboard, were we can discuss this further.”

“It is absolutely out of the question! By the Emperor the planet is under xenos control! You will be slaughtered!”
“Our most holy relics are on the surface! Saint Lucia’s armour! The bones of the martyred sisters! The Sword of Briana! You would want us to abandon these things? As well as the remaining sisters? This is an insult! I will not allow this!”
“You forget yourself cannoness. I am a member of the Inquisition, and thus your superior! Don’t make…” Malekai stopped himself, and sat down. “Katrina, please. I have been your friend and comrade for almost two decades now. Your pain is my pain, believe me. This insult to the Emperor shall not be forgotten, but for now we must swallow our pride and withdraw to gather our strength. Now. By the authority of the Emperors Holy inquisition I am ordering you, Cannoness, to follow the Sentry in a warp jump to the Cardinal world of Okassis. There we will meet with Ecclisiarchy representatives and hopefully Ordo Heraticus inquisitors. Do you understand?”
Katrina hesitated, then snapped to attention, and said “Yes sir! Understood.” She turned to leave, but Malekai continued, “Oh, and Katrina? Did you by chance bring an astropath? It would be odd, but I know you were assigned one. My witch has been acting strangely and is unable to send or receive any messages.”
“No,” she replied, “ours was acting the same way. In fact, he went into uncontrollable seizures and died! It was very disturbing. We burnt his corpse in case of deamonic corruption.”
“Hmmm, this doesn’t sound deamonic. I’ve read reports of such things before, I will look into it. Thank you, you are dismissed.” With that, he turned toward a logic-engine terminal and began his search for answers.