Arrakian Accord pt 4.

Segmentum Tempestus 999.M41

Harkonnen IV System; Planet Arrakia
Days on planet: 13

Situation: Critical



From the diary of Major Carpenter: We hit another sandstorm, so I Picked up reading the service record again. At some point after Golgotha, he was an Imperial Guard Commander without an Imperial guard unit. His requests to Cadian Command for a new regiment had all been denied, and he was unable to transfer to another unit. He met up with an Inquisitor from the Ordo Malleus at some point in his medicae treatments. The name of the guy was erased. Typical. Whatever the details of the meeting were, they involved him getting incredibly high quality treatment for his injuries in exchange for disappearing and working for the inquisition. I did some searching, and other than his medicae release forms, there is not a single mention of Captain Peach again until the battle of Tyrok fields! To top things of, when he was finally mentioned again in the after action report of the battle, he had gained an entirely new regiment and carried the title of Field Marshall. Whatever happened to him in those years of inquisitorial service had really paid off. He was entirely different from the man who lost his regiment on Golgotha. Unrelated note. Just heard the Engine cut out, going to talk to the driver.

Aelgafar climbed out of his seat and knocked on the small hatch that separated the passenger compartment and the driver compartment. There was no reply so he tried knocking again. No reply. He eased open the hatch and peered inside the driver's compartment. The Sergeant and his driver were gone. He went inside the compartment and looked around for any sign of where they could be. The front hatch was open and there was the tattered remains of Imperial fatigues strewn about the front of the Chimera. "No. It can't be like this" Carpenter whispered to himself. "It can't be this way." He checked the fuel reading for the vehicle. It read 19%. "Alright, I can work with this." He sat down at the controls for the Chimera and tried to start it back up, but to no success. A light flashed on the console indicating that there was a problem with the electrical box. "It's always some damn thing." He moved over to the electrical box and pried it open with his combat knife.

"By the Emperor.." He gasped. The inside of the box had been shot and fried to the point of uselessness. There was only one weapon that could leave damages like that. An Imperial Laspistol. "Frak!" He punched the wall of the chimera then reeled back in pain holding his hand. "Of course. Frakking metal box of an APC." Aelgafar climbed out of the front hatch of the chimera and into the harsh desert sun.

He took a deep breathe and looked around for any sign of the chimera's crew. There was a single set of footprints leading off to the east. "Frak" he muttered as he returned to the chimera to salvage what he could. Before he left, he sent out a call on the emergency vox caster that was attached to the top of the turret. "This is Major Carpenter of the XII Vatarian Legion. The chimera I had commandeered is inoperable. Separated from any kind of Imperial Forces. Heading due north from my current position. Emperor be with me."

The desert heat scorched Carpenter's lungs with each heaving breathe he took. He had long since abandoned his flak jacket and wore only the fatigues that were underneath. "By the Emperor, who would live in a place like this?" He asked himself as he began to drag his feet. The chimera he abandoned had long since left his view, and was now only a glimmer in the far, far distance. Aelgafar tripped over something cropping up out of the sand. He turned around and dug around it and let out a gasp of surprise. It was the driver of the chimera, there was a hole in the skull from a small weapon. The sergeant was still nowhere to be seen. He kept very attentive as he walked onward.

It felt like an eternity of walking. The sun was now setting and the winds were picking up. There was a sandstorm coming. Carpenter fell to his knees and unbuckled his pistol's holster and sabre's scabbard. They weighed too much for him to carry them any farther. He tried to stand but quickly fell onto his face instead. He could begin to feel the tiny needles of the sandstorm drawing closing. "Emperor" He gasped "Emperor help me! I have served you well, have I not!?" The winds of the sandstorm began to screech as they drew ever closer and swirled around him. "Emperor what must I do to serve you!?" The only reply was the sandstorm encircling him and he could feel the layers of his fatigues begin to rip away, and his skin became bloodied as it was ripped open by the wind. His cries of anguish became hateful. "Damn you Emperor! You sit and watch as I lay and die! How many souls must fade away before you act!?" He began to hate the Emperor. He hated everything about the Emperor, he hated the Inquisition, He hated Terra, He hated the Priests, He hated them all. "You are nothing but a corpse! A corpse! The horror that men commit in your name is a testament of how fallen you truly are! The horrors, of the horrors! You are nothing but a false god! Damn you, and damn your imperium!" He screamed those words into the sandstorm. His voice pulled from him as he was enveloped in the blackness of pain and suffering. Then it all stopped. All the pain, all the suffering, his anguish ceased to exist in one fell being. He felt strength fill his muscles as a light seemed to flicked in front him just out of reach. As he began to crawl after it, it moved away from him.

"C-Come back!" he cried desperatly as it kept moving away from him. He continued to follow it until it vanished. He felt his strength dwindle away again, and felt the familiar pain of the sandstorm. No longer wishing to fight death, he simply gave up. His rescuer was gone, and he was to be lost here in this Arrakian desert. He felt a rumbling through the sand. "It must be a Sand Wrym." He thought. As suddenly as it began, the rumbling stopped. Out of nowhere he heard a familiar voice. "Sir? Major Carpenter, is that you?" He struggled to look up and saw the familiar outline of Sergeant Rielly. He was rescued. "First squad dismount! Get the major inside NOW! Don't worry sir, you'll be alright."

As he felt himself being carried inside the cramped innards of a chimera, he heard something unusual. Something from deep within his own brain. He heard a voice, and it only had one thing to say. "You belong to me Aelgafar. You always have, you simply did not know it. You will always belong to me. Now embrace the cold darkness of sleep. When you awaken, your true purpose will reveal itself."