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Waaargh! Hazug! Epilogue | |
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Waaargh! Hazug! Epilogue |
Thirty-one
years later. Sophie
dabbed at the painting with her brush when she heard the door to the room
in the governor’s palace open. Looking around she saw a man in a military
uniform enter holding a covered tray. He had captain’s rank markings on
his shoulders and a nametag identified him as ‘JARR’. Sophie smiled and
set down the paintbrush. “Mother.”
The officer said, smiling back at her, “I’ve brought the
food.” “Thank
you Marcus.” She replied, “Is your father back yet?” “No.”
Marcus told her, “The governor is still out hunting with General Thayne. I
can have someone sent to try and find them if you want.” Marcus
then looked at the painting Sophie was working one and then to the others
hanging on the walls around the room. Most showed orks, though not the
primitively armed creatures he was used to seeing. These were the orks
that had occupied Crassus Minor during the decades before he was
born. “Such
vicious creatures.” He said a he focused on an image of a Two Headed
mutant dressed in red and holding a rifle and glowing sword, “It amazes me
you survived as long as you did amongst them.” “Oh
they weren’t that bad compared to some humans I’ve met.” Sophie replied,
“One in particular was almost civilised.” “Ah
yes, the mysterious Hazug Throatslitter.” Marcus responded, “There’s
another one you know. It was delivered by a courier a few minutes ago.”
And he produced an envelope from under his tunic. It was marked with the
Imperial aquila and also with a stylised letter ‘I’. This indicated that
it had come via the inquisition. Sophie knew that the organisation
maintained a presence on the planet and that Rell was amongst it. On
occasion he visited the palace in person, though his last visit had been
many months ago. Sophie also suspected that Mayleth was part of the
inquisitorial forces on the planet. There were rumours that Rell kept an
eldar woman as his personal torturer or maybe even his lover depending on
who told the tale. Sophie had no proof if either of these were true, she
had not seen Mayleth since the day the Imperium returned to Crassus
Minor. When
the orks left the tau had made a brief attempt to take over. But upon
finding a force of Adeptus Astartes already present had convinced them not
to send any more ambassadors after the severed head of the first had been
returned to them. After that the vessel of Rogue Trader Octus Saval had
returned and contact with the Imperium re-established and the few
greenskins that remained had been hunted down. Jarr
had been appointed governor of the planet and ordered to rebuild it. Now
that they were married she lived with him in a palace of greater luxury
than she could have possibly dreamt of when the orks were in charge. Her
sister lived in similar luxury, though in a different city with her own
husband and family. Few apart from Sophie’s immediate family lived in the
governor’s palace. There were stories circulating that something else
lived there though, something that moved about mainly at night and was
best avoided. “I’ll
leave you to read this in private.” Marcus said, setting down the envelope
on a table and turning to leave. When she was alone again Sophie picked up
the envelope and tore it open. Tipping out the contents she found that it
held a sheet of folded paper that had her name and that of the planet
written on it crudely and also a pair of necklaces made from the teeth of
something large. The necklaces were something new, but the paper was
expected. Though Hazug had led his fleet into the path of the oncoming
tyrannid hive fleets, his ships were sometimes seen in Imperial systems.
The reports of these sightings were always the same, a large ork force
appearing and broadcasting a list of demands for war materiel. If the
demands were met then the fleet would take them and move on without
engaging the local human forces, though if they were refused the orks
would attack. They would launch raids on industrial and military targets
and take as much as they could before departing. No matter how they got
their supplies however, they always left behind a letter addressed to
Sophie on the world of Crassus Minor. Holding both the paper and one of
the necklaces she sat down on a nearby couch and smiled as she heard
another door, one disguised as a blank wall panel open behind her. Then
there was a jingling sound accompanied by an intermittent ‘clump’ of a
staff as someone approached the couch. “Here.”
Sophie said as she took the lid off the tray in front of her to reveal
various cuts of meat, “I had the kitchen prepare your
favourite.” “As
good as I used to make?” Sophie asked as she leant against Drazzok, but
the weirdboy’s reply was unintelligible due tot eh food in his mouth,
“There’s another one.” Sophie added, holding out the paper to Drazzok,
“Read it to me.” “Wotcha
need me to read dis for?” Drazzok asked as he unfolded the paper to reveal
the ork glyphs written on the other side, “Ya can read it just fine. I
seen ay do it.” Drazzok
held up the paper. “Only
if you want to stay here.” She replied. “Alright
den, ‘ere’s da rest of it.”
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Copyright Notice The Warhammer 40,000 universe is the intellectual property of Games Workshop Ltd. The fiction presented here is a derived work. It is completely unofficial and Games Workshop Ltd has not endorsed any of it. |
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