"Isn't that my favorite servant of the Emperor?! How are you? Have you run out of people again? You are really burning through them like a Knight burns through ammunition!" A slightly chubby face with short, black hair appeared on the screen of the inquisitor's private quarters, laughing at him with a wide grin. He had been prepared for the barrage the moment he had chosen to contact the man.

  "Nothing serious Giron, I just need a ride to get me out of here." Kael Gull said to his friend. However, their friendship was always business-oriented, he could not expect Giron to burn himself in his stead.

  "I already look forward to it, I can smell the profits!" The man laughed again, obviously in a good mood, but Kael could not be deceived by his looks. Giron was a ruthless negotiator and one of the wealthiest Rogue Traders in the sector.

  "I would appreciate your visit rather sooner tan later, you see, I am in quite a pickle here this time around."

  "As always my friend, as always!" The man's smile turned even wider. "One week is the best I can do, my Navigator needs to recuperate for a while after the last jump."

  "That is perfect, I will make it up for you later. See you Giron." The inquisitor nodded at the jolly man, glad that he was close enough to make it under two weeks, which was the rime of the general's offensive started.

  The calculating man could do whatever offensives he wanted, but Kael did not plan to be present when Kurtz Oberhoff unleashed his operation. There might be some complaints to deal with later, but it would be much easier to deal with when he was no longer in the general's region of influence, not depending on his assets. He would not be able to use Lor'themar Theron against him anymore as well, as they would be out of reach of the ambitious general.

  Misusing an inquisitor for his conquest? What audacity! it was about time someone showed the arrogant general his place. One could argue that fighting mutants was an inquisitor's duty, but he had learned long time ago that fighting mutants on low priority worlds with little value was not an efficient method to keep the Imperium afloat. There were more pressing leaks to plug .

  * * * *

  Lor'themar Theron checked again his new clothes for any deficiency that might blow his cover. He was not wearing any armor on him, but a deep blue robe with a green cape on top, fastened with a few metallic buckles under his neck.

  He felt like a mage of Silvermoon, but their clothes was much more loose compared to the Eldar tighter attire.

  "That is perfect, no one should recognize you." The inquisitor smiled at him and gripped his shoulders tightly, as to give him more confidence in his role.

  "Until I open my mouth." The high elf snorted, not sharing Kael's optimism. He felt like a lost lamb, a lone high elf in an alien universe. What a disaster had befallen him!

  "That won't be necessary, have you forgotten our plan?" The overconfident human made Lot'themar recall the insane maneuver they were about to attempt and he felt uneasy at his stomach.

  The mana withdrawal symptoms were enough without this kind of a crazy mission. He was really too old for this!

  "No, it cannot be forgotten." He sat down on a sleek chair in the cockpit of a small spacecraft. He had never been in anything similar and the futuristic contraption was driving him crazy, the multitude of lights flashing around him, apparently important for piloting the ship were something he could not make sense off.

  Naturally, it was all in a language he could not understand one bit.

  "I have a really bad idea about this." Lot'themar sighed and watched the enthusiastic inquisitor press a button and quickly leaving the cockpit of the Eldari vessel. The door sealed shut behind him and the engines began to hum into life.

  "Right, that should have been the autopilot function." The high elf mumbled, his mood plummeting to the rock bottom when he felt the craft starting to move, the lights in front of him changing as the autopilot adjusted the flight parameters for his short trip.

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  "I have to be the worst undercover agent in the history of their Imperium of Ma'am, well man." He was obviously a high elf, the whole term was hard to get out of his mouth in Thalassian.

  The autopilot guided the craft to swiftly leave the planet's orbit, its stealth function already engaged.

  "It is time to take the shot, I hope they've put in there the right potion." Lor'themar pulled out an injection out of his pocket and went through the steps again in his head. His life very much depended on the flawless execution of their plan.

  Theron pushed the needle against his skin, penetrating deep into his arm and pressed the small piston. He quickly emptied the injection inside his body and pulled it back out, the mild pain followed by a numbness that was slowly spreading through his body.

  He quickly stood up and walked to a small box, threw the injection inside and pressed the button with a red flashing light the inquisitor showed him earlier. He had no idea what it did, but it should get rid of the injection and make the situation look more natural.

  Lor'themar quickly sat back into his seat and fasten the safety belt, the indicator lights ceased to be single points, turning into a rainbow of lights as his brain was slowing down.

  "I hope this works out." Lor'themar Theron, the least prepared spy in the Imperium of Man's history yawned and fell unconscious. His body hung limply in the safety belt, waiting to be discovered.

  * * * *

  The inquisitor Kael Gull stood on the bridge of a small space ship, the personnel of the Adeptus Mechanicus around him doing their job, tracking a particular Eldari patrol ship. It was the oldest model they could find, a critical factor for the success of their operation.

  "Report status." The inquisitor said confidently, but it was only a front, he had never enjoyed these kind of operations.

  "The target stopped near the package, uploading the virus. " Magos Eisenarch was executing the operation personally, his ever present tech-priest observer helping him without saying a word. "Upload complete, they stopped."

  Kael Gull was tapping his finger against the hilt of his bolter, hoping his support personnel from the Adeptus Mechanicus would not screw up, The Magos had assured him in advance that their stealth should hold against the outdated vessel of the enemy, as well as their new virus being able to take out their systems at the right moment.

  Seconds seemed like minutes, but at some point, the inquisitor heard his subordinate reporting the enemy ships departure.

  "The package is on board, they are moving back towards the craftworld." Everyone on board was tense, as this was the critical phase of the operation. "Activation in forty."

  "Activation in thirty, the distance from the craftworld within estimated values." The Magos continued to report the status of the mission, Kael listening tensely to his stoic voice.

  "Activation in twenty."

  "Ten."

  "Virus activated."

  "Systems disabled, fake messages sent, manual override disabled. Transponders disabled."

  Immediately, the hands of all personnel on the bridge of the space ship began moving frantically, checking the status of their target again. Kael Gull's face tensed, as the last message was not something they had planned for.

  "Transponders disabled, mission failed. I request permission to engage in online mode." Eisenarch said immediately, looking directly at the inquisitor.

  "Permission denied. Stand by." Keal Gull said with heavy voice and his mood turned gloomy. He could not allow his crew to actively connect to the virus, the moment their systems touched the network of the craftworld, their ship could be hacked in no time, as the inquisitor had no illusions about his tech-priests winning the clash against the whole craftworld.

  "Wait for their reaction, they may ignore the transponder going offline." The inquisitor hoped the Eldar handling the security were exceptionally lazy and did not follow the protocol. Any ship going dark was a major concern for the central command and was rarely ignored.

  "The craftworld is sending ships in the direction of the target." Magos Eisenarch Alvrick reported and the frantic activity of the Adeptus Mechanicus ceased. With this statement, it was a clear failure with no hope left.

  "Disengage!" The inquisitor ordered immediately and their small ship turned around and headed back to the planet under partial control of the Adeptus Militarum.

  "The mission failed. What happened Magos? You assured me that the virus would work on their outdated vessels!" The inquisitor asked with anger in his voice, it was not the first failure of Magos Eisenarch.

  "Irregular maintenance had to be performed on the ship, the system controlling transponders should have been independent of the main systems according to Eldar standards. It should have stayed online." Magos provided explanation, but it sounded like excuses to Kael's ears.

  "But it did not and now he is royally screwed." The inquisitor raged inside, but could not do anything. He hated these kinds of missions where he could only rely on his support team and hope for success, losing or winning without a real fight.

  "Acknowledged." Eisenarch said promptly while looked upon by the tech-priest next to him. It was clear the report on the Magos' performance had just gotten even less flattering than before.

  "Emperor protect him, he will need it." Kael Gull followed the bright dot shown on the radar displaying the Eldar towing the patrol ship towards the craftworld.