I consider myself skilled in the arts of interrogation. In my opinion, torture can often hide the truth as much as it is revealed; thus I only use it when absolutely necessary. So, I squared up to the ethereal. He had been bound and gagged by the PDF who had captured him. I removed the gag and signaled to Karazak, my bodyguard and assistant, to start the recording.
“What is your name?” A classic opening move that helps the interrogator connect with the interrogated.
“My name is Ethereal Commander blooded wildflower of the Tau’n sept.” I had been studying the Tau language for nearly thirty years now, on and off during the war against them on Velterax III. My tutor was a captured human who served the Tau as a diplomat and negotiator. This ethereal’s name of wildflower became evident with his next sentence.
“What is your purpose here, Gue’La?” I have rarely been disrespected by my captives, even the Eldar have never shown me the disrespect that this Ethereal showed me that day. I replied harshly.
“In your foul tongue, the correct term should be Gue’O, Aun’El Tau’n Li’Sun’Ye. In my elegant tongue, my name is Inquisitor Octavian Lars of the Ordo Malleus. And since you ask about my purpose, I shall gladly tell you. My purpose was to capture you and destroy the column heading towards the capital of Velterax III. Which leads on to my next question.”
“Which is?”
“Don’t interrupt Ethereal! You are in the custody of the Imperial Inquisition and will speak when spoken to, no more. The question I was going to ask was, what was the purpose of your column’s advance?”
“I shall not tell one as unworthy as yourself.”
“If that is so, I shall have to find out using better methods than are available here. Karazak, vox Marcus and tell him to start the shuttle’s engines and help me move the captive.”
We locked him in one of the shuttle’s prison cells, gave him enough sustenance to last the two week journey to my base of operations in the upper spires of Hive Hyperion. My self and Karazak inspected the troops in their sleeping quarters. As it turned out, of the five Devils taken out of action, three would fight again, one was badly wounded, and would be stuck with desk duty, but only one; Lorenzo had been killed outright. He had taken several pulse wounds to the chest, but he kept fighting, according to the Devil who had been beside him when he had been killed. He had charged, grievously injured, wielding his empty bolter as a club and hacking and slashing with his long Catachan warknife. The final blow had come from a Tau squad leader’s knife at the same moment that Lorenzo had stabbed him with his own knife. They had gone down together. All of us departed to our sleeping quarters for the night before the long journey back to base.
When we got back, my servants had redeyed my Inquisitorial Mansion for my arrival. A cell in the basement had been prepared for the Ethereal and a safe return banquet had been laid out for my arrival. I decided to allow the Ethereal a night of luxury and he was allowed to dine with us. My Tau language tutor helped prepare some Tau dishes for him. Other members of my staff were distrusting of him due to him being xeno, but many of them enjoyed the Tau culture themed food so I decided that Tau food would become a meal for special occasions.
After the great banquet, the Aun’El was escorted to his spartan, but comfortable cell. It was furnished with a simple bed, a toilet, a shower and a small desk. The room was also well lit, it was also the room I would be questioning him in. Confident he was settled and unable to escape, I retired to my study to examine the chainsword I had killed so many fire warriors with. After a quick examination, I had found many clues to it’s origin. The first one I spotted was the mark of the Inquisition, embossed on the casing of the blade. It had to belong to an inquisitor or one of his staff. My long time rival and Tau supporter, Inquisitor Ostrek would never use a chainsword. Gut instinct is often frowned upon within the ranks of my fellow inquisitors, though I often go with my instincts when there are no other clues available. I had run a quick search of all inquisitors active in that area. There was a total of twenty four Inquisitorial missions to the Iron Dune where I had found the chainsword. This was where gut instinct came in. In many cases, chainswords are often wielded by Monodominant Inquisitors and the followers for reasons I can never quite grasp. I then looked further into make and model, date of production, location of production. Eventually, well into the week, I had a name. Inquisitor Tannen von Hausing.
