Fear crept into Interrogator Rena's heart, a fear colder and more absolute than the void between stars, a suffocating dread that gnawed at her very soul.
Not even in the face of the most grotesque mutants or the most depraved Chaos cultists had she ever felt such terror. She had stared into warp-twisted horrors, burned entire cultist nests to ash, and silenced blasphemous screams with bolt and blade. Yet none of that compared to this. This dread did not stem from anything she could strike down or name. It was the unknown, the irrational, the impossible.
She had stepped through the doorway. But with a blink, without so much as a footfall, she was back inside the grand hall, like reality looping in a broken holo-reel.
Her mind raced, searching through every tome, every lesson, and every scrap of knowledge she had ever encountered. Daemonology, forbidden treatises, even the guarded whispers of Ordo Malleus veterans, none gave her an answer. Nothing could explain this phenomenon.
But among the five Thunderborns present, Yoan knew. This was eerily similar to what had happened beneath the glacial fortress on Talon II during their last daemon-purging operation.
To put it simply, the space around them had been twisted.
"I need her alive. But only in the biological sense. Her soul is expendable," Qin Mo ordered, his voice calm and absolute, carrying the detached certainty of one who had weighed this outcome long before the moment arrived.
Yoan gave a slight nod before advancing toward Rena.
Realizing that escape was impossible, the doors behind her were likely illusions, Rena was forced to stand her ground.
But as soon as Yoan closed the distance, an oppressive sensation flooded her body.
Her trump card, her psychic powers, were snuffed out like a candle in the void. It was just like the time she had been taken aboard the Black Ship and collared.
Losing her abilities was bad enough, but the physical effects were even worse.
Weakness flooded her muscles. Pain crawled across her nerves. Her stomach twisted with nausea. Revulsion curdled in her veins. The gift that had once made her formidable was now turned to poison within her.
Rena clenched her jaw, forcing herself to endure. She fired twice with her bolt pistol before lunging forward with her power sword.
This time, her bolts weren't stopped by some invisible force. But Yoan moved like a phantom.
To Rena's eyes, he flickered, left, right, effortlessly evading both rounds before closing the distance in an instant.
She couldn't even see his attack.
All she felt was the sudden, searing agony in her abdomen. Her already-weakened body collapsed to the ground, curling up in pain.
"How does it feel, Inquisitor?" Yoan stood over her, watching as she writhed.
A combat analysis flickered into his visor display. The scan revealed that several of Rena's internal augmetics had been critically damaged.
Yoan grabbed her by the hair and dragged her up before hurling her across the floor.
She tumbled twice before coming to a stop, face down and unmoving.
"Teleport her in place." Qin Mo commanded.
The AI core immediately calculated her coordinates. Since Rena was immobilized, even without a teleport beacon for precise targeting, the calculation process was swift.
In a flash of light, she was displaced one meter to the left, still sprawled on the floor.
Lying there, eyes vacant, she stared at the ceiling, no longer responding.
Wtihout teleport shield her soul tether was cut off lost to void beyond this world.
Perhaps, in the moment of her death, Rena had finally realized this was not a dream. But for everyone else in the room, they had known that from the very start.
This had always been a plan.
Grey had first been teleported onto the Inquisition vessel. He infiltrated Rena's quarters, knocked her unconscious, and then transported her back to the depths of the hive city.
The teleport shield had ensured that both he and Rena arrived safely. He had even brought along her weapons.
This was not an execution. It was a trial. A challenge. A crucible to test whether she could rise or be broken. Perhaps things could have gone differently, had Rena chosen differently.
"An Inquisitor is dead." Anruida looked at Qin Mo. "This could escalate the situation. If this spirals out of control, we may face a full-scale Imperial invasion."
He was not trying to sound defeatist, but he felt it was his duty to voice his concerns, ensuring Qin Mo had all the necessary perspectives before making further decisions.
He had said the same thing before. Yet Qin Mo had still given Grey the order.
"She was never a fully sanctioned Inquisitor." Qin Mo stated evenly. "If the higher echelons of the Imperium decide to wage war, then not even someone like Vick would be able to stop it. If they decide to negotiate, this woman's death won't change their minds."
He looked down at Interrogator Rena's still form.
"She was nothing but a pest, jumping me, mistaking boldness for authority."
Anruida nodded. He agreed, Rena was a pest. Had she not orchestrated the abductions of new recruits, she might not have ended up like this.
"You know, now that I think about it, 'Rena' sounds familiar." Yoan suddenly mused. "Back when I was holed up with a bunch of bounty hunters, dodging those mutated arachnids, one of them had a bolt weapon named 'Rena.'"
"And now, she's our weapon." Qin Mo said as he stepped forward, standing over her.
Grey believed that Rena's brain might still be useful, that it could be mined for intelligence.
But Qin Mo had something far more ambitious in mind.
"Teleport us to the underground fortress."
The protective shield enveloped Qin Mo as he engaged the orbital shipyard's teleportation systems. He had full authorization to use all computational resources for instantaneous calculations.
In a flash, he vanished from the hall.
Along with the soulless husk of Rena.
For the Thunderborns, their mission was now complete.
"Looks like things will be quiet for a while." Grey stretched and turned toward the exit. "I'm heading to Talon III."
"Make sure to keep your teleport beacon on." Yoan smirked. "Wouldn't want you getting halfway there only to be pulled back again."
"Honestly, I'd prefer if I got teleported back instead of having to take a ship." Grey sighed. "FTL travel makes me sick."
....
Within a chamber filled with surgical instruments and arcane machinery, Qin Mo secured Rena's body onto the operating table.
With precision and efficiency, he implanted a neural chip into her brain, then meticulously restored the incision, ensuring that no visible signs of surgery remained.
Once the procedure was complete, he unfastened the restraints and turned toward a nearby console. His fingers danced across the controls, interfacing with the chip he had just installed.
The device activated, its connections latching onto Rena's neural pathways.
And then one of the five AI constructs he had personally created entered her mind.
Rena's eyes snapped open. She swung her legs off the table and stood, though her body was still regaining full motor control. She stumbled once but quickly regained her balance.
That was expected. Within moments, she would be as agile as ever.
"I need you to construct a personality simulation based on the memories in this body's cortex banks," Qin Mo instructed.
Rena's expression flickered through a rapid sequence of emotions: grief, laughter, fury, and rage. To an observer, she looked utterly deranged.
But then, she stabilized.
The intelligence now inhabiting her body had adapted. It had not merely imitated, it had learned how to be Rena.
"What do you want, heretic?" she sneered, her tone perfect.
"I need you to put on a teleport beacon, return to the Inquisitor ship, and continue being an Inquisitor. That's all."
"Fine." Rena arched a brow before turning to retrieve the teleport device from a nearby table. She strapped it on without hesitation.
A moment later, she vanished, teleported directly onto the Inquisition vessel orbiting above.
Rena materialized on the ship's hangar deck. Without hesitation, she began striding toward her chambers, her every step measured, her presence radiating the quiet threat of Imperial authority. Crew members parted before her like prey before a predator, each earning a contemptuous scowl as she passed.
The simulation held. The machine believed itself to be Rena.
And that, for now, was enough.
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