Of Templars And Angels 1

1.

    The silence was beginning to get the better of Captain Anaru. Not that he was bothered by the dark, mote irritated by the fact he had awaken in the pitch with no clue to his location and whether or not he was a prisoner. He knew he had been conscious for several hours now. He knew he was in a walled room. Growing up in the Underhive, he was more than familiar with the darkness and and the suffocating feeling of tight places. Despite his rising anger, he remained calm, trying to remember what happened. All he could keep seeing was the the millions of asteroids destroying the Fleet as the ships came out of warp space where Salessia IV was supposed to be. So many ships ripped to nothing. So many souls lost. He shook the memory and made the sign of the Aquila.

Anaru began whispering to himself the events in order, but he seemed to have gaps in his memory. It hurt to think, no doubt he had a concussion. He cursed himself for coming up blank. His head seemed to hurt twice as bad if he tried to push aside his thoughts. His body hurt and the air itself seemed thick and heavy. It was almost as if he was being punished for not remembering how he got here.

"YOU ARE."

Anaru nearly jumped out of his skin as he heard the cold voice echo and bounce from wall to wall, ear to ear and through his mind and down his spine. He was paralyzed by the voice. It was then that he realized he was in a cell and the voice was that of a psyker.

"EASY"

The voice released his grip on Anaru's mind and body.

Gasping for air and trying to stand, Anaru nearly double over in agony and loss of equilibrium.

"What have I done...to..to deserve this and who.....who.. are you ?" He asked the voice.

"WHO I AM IS NO CONCERN. WHAT YOU HAVE DONE IS PUNISHABLE BY DEATH."

The voice boomed at Anaru, nearly making him vomit.

"TELL ME WHY YOU MURDERED YOUR ASTROPAT.,"

Anaru's mind swam with half images and blurred memory. Bloody carnage and screams. Sounds of violent destruction.

"I...can't remember." Anaru cried out.

"THE MORE LIES THE WORSE THE JUDGEMENT."

"WHY DID YOU MURDER YOUR NAVIGATOR?"

The voice rang like a thousand death bells in his skull.

Anaru was on his knees, clutching at his skull.

"It’s not lies, I can't remember! PLEASE! STOP!"

The lights came on so sudden it blinded Anaru. He collapsed to the floor, squinting to focus on the shape in front of him.

It was most definitely a psyker.

Tall and pale. Eyes like twin suns. He wondered if this psyker was going to kill him now.

“I am not your judge or jury Captain Anaru. I have been sent here to help you by your Regimental Command. Though, I am not sure I can help you."

"I didn't kill anyone !" Anaru pleaded. " We were dead in the sky before we even reached the surface, I'm not sure how I even managed to survive..."

The psyker looked at him quizzically and coldly.

"Your ship ripped through warp space after avoiding total destruction in the asteroid field some hundred light years from Salessia IV. You then crashed into a small Mechanicus freighter upon re-entering real space about five light years from Salessia Prime. The Priests called for aid and the nearest Imperial force answered the call."

"All the men under your command were found deceased. Some had obviously been butchered and others appeared to have died in the impact. Others...others appear to have been vaporized right where they stood. They found you near your astropath, his throat was cut from ear to ear and your navigator was found with no head. You were covered in blood, Captain. The evidence against you is towering and your loss of memory does not aid you."

Anaru was in disbelief. He had no recollection of anything and no words to give his thoughts a voice. Only panic and confusion in his heart and eyes.

 "You are now on the lower decks of the Reconquista and will remain here until the Black Templars decide what to do with you. That is if they decide at all. The call for aid was also received by a small force of Dark Angels in this sector as well and they are en route as we speak. I will do my best to help you, as Colonel Ogotai has bid me to get to the truth of this matter. He felt that no soldier of his should be left alone to be interrogated by the Astartes alone."