The video ended abruptly. With a sharp click, white light filled the small room, dispelling the grim imagery of the rec. Elizabeth stepped into view, wearing her pristine white Sororitas habit. The slits in her uniform limpses of long, toned legs, while her heels clicked against the polished floor with authority. She was striking, undeniably beautiful, her presenanding attention. A figure like hers could stir desires even in the most pious of men—if not for the fact that she was a Judge of the Inquisition, someone no sane man would dare approach lightly. To Kayvan, it felt like a waste of such beauty.

  Shaking off those lingering thoughts, Kayvaan leaned bad studied the woman. “What the hell was that?” he asked, gesturing toward the now bnk s. “A horror vid?”

  “That,” Elizabeth replied coldly, her voice sharp enough to cut through steel, “was the st thing seen by the fourteenth Inquisitor assigo the Eastern Fringe. You’ve just witnessed what he saw in the moments leading up to his death. The Eldar not only killed him but also obliterated the monastry ainstakingly built i. They everoyed the research facility ected to it.”

  Her expression was icy, her tone ced with anger. It didn’t take much to see that Elizabeth was in a foul mood. She paused, as if choosing her words carefully, then tinued, “For the Inquisition, this is an uable loss—a humiliation we ot tolerate. The Eldar of Aitoc have mocked us, spit in our faces. But they will learrue fury of the Emperor soon enough.”

  To Kayvaan, it was just another spectacle. He shrugged internally. The deaths of the Inquisition’s people didn’t bother him; if anything, their losses might make things easier for him in the long run. The fewer Inquisitors meddling in the Eastern Frihe better. Still, he feigned regret, if only to keep up appearances.

  The regret, however, wasn’t for the dead Inquisitor—it was for not having rations to enjoy the show properly. Suppressing a gri on a solemn face, tilting his head in what he hoped passed for respectful ption. “I see,” he said. “A tragic loss indeed.”

  Elizabeth didn’t seem to notice his ck of genuiion. Instead, she stepped closer, her pierg gaze locked onto his. “You’re probably w how we got this footage,” she said, her to but with an edge of challehe video starts when the Inquisitor ehe town and ends minutes after his death. What you saw was a first-person perspective—his final moments.”

  Kayvaan raised an eyebrow. “So, what? He just happeo be rec? Doesn’t seem like something your lot would bother with.”

  “Our Inquisitor knew his fate the moment his st acolyte fell,” Elizabeth expined, her voice steady, though a trace of bitterness crept in. “He uood there was no escape—that death was iable. But even in the face of that, he chose to serve until the very end. He fled to the sanctuary not for his own safety, but to buy time. Time to gather intelligence.”

  Elizabeth’s tone grew colder. “He performed surgery on himself during the voyage, repg one of his eyes with a meical augmetic capable of rec and transmitting what he saw. His only thought was to leave us with knowledge of the enemy, even at the cost of unimaginable pain. Everything you saw—the enemy, their words, their as—was captured by his eye. He paid for that knowledge with his life.”

  Kayvaan leaned back slightly, rubbing his jaw as he processed her words. He couldn’t deny that the Inquisitor’s as were impressive, even admirable, in a grim way. The man’s unwavering resolve and sacrifice deserved some measure of respect, regardless of how much Kayvaan disliked the Inquisition.

  Elizabeth’s voice broke through his thoughts. “I know many of you despise the Inquisition. Even if you won’t say it, I know what you think. But uand this—every single one of us bleeds for the Imperium, just as much as any soldier on the front lines. We sacrifice, endure, and give everything for the Emperor.”

  Kayvaan's lips twitched, tempted to ent on her priorities—how “humanity” seemed to be an afterthought in her speech. But he bit his tongue, instead straightening up and adopting a solemn expression. “The blood of warriors will never be spilled in vain. May the Emperor bless his soul.”

  Elizabeth nodded curtly. “The Emperor protects. The meical eye was recovered by our intelligeeam, buried in the wreckage among blood and broken flesh. Thanks to their speed aermination, we were able to retrieve this invaluable footage in such a short time.”

  The term "such a short time" echoed in Elizabeth's words, but from the moment the Inquisitor was killed to the intelligence personnel disc the prosthetic eye, to the intel finally reag Terra, the process had taken two full months. This meant the murder Kayvaan had just learned about actually happewo months ago. "Information from two months ago? That’s practically a in a crisis. Eden 5 must be in real danger by now."

  "Why do you say that?" Elizabeth asked, her tone carrying both skepticism and .

  Kayvaan didn’t hesitate. "It’s a cssic strategy: see forces to duct targeted strikes, assassinating key intelligence operatives to paralyze or fuse the enemy’s unications. Then follow up with a decisive, rge-scale attack. It’s an old tactic—the Raven Guard perfected it during the Great Crusade."

  She ignored Kayvaan's rea and pressed on. "Eden 5 is located on the Empire's Eastern Fringe border, an area of little strategic value. The local garrison sists of the Cadian 69th Regiment from the Astra Militarum. The Eastern Fringe and has already chosen to focus on gathering intelligeher than deploying major reinforts. Orders have been given for the local garrison to hold the region as best they ."

  "A battle just to gather intelligence?" Kayvaan murmured. "It’s an effective method," he admitted relutly. "There’s no room for lies or misdire otlefield. A real fight exposes the truth about both sides. But still, it’ll e at the cost of the Cadian 69th Regiment being wiped out. That’s the Guardsman’s fate, I suppose. Even Space Marines meet their end otlefield; regur soldiers don’t stand a ce against this kind of assault. Still…" He hesitated. "Why sacrifice them specifically? Was it because of their number? '69' is a—well, never mind."

  Elizabeth’s voice cut through his wandering thoughts. "We should receive updated reports by the midpoint of our journey."

  "Wait," Kayvaan said, narrowing his eyes. "You said 'we'? What do you mean by that?"

  "Exactly what I said," she replied casually. "I came here not just to share information, but to ask you to join our front. I’ll be traveling on your ship."

  Kayvaan frowned. He had no i in aligning himself with an Inquisitor—it felt wrong on every level. But artig that disfort was another matter. "I… I don’t uand. Why me? Why involve me in this?"