Book I: Imperium
Chapter II: Alliance
The emotion was overwhelming. He was finally going home. After years of exile, his father wanted him back. Prince Zuko glanced towards his Uncle Iroh. Unsurprisingly, Iroh wasn't pleased. Zuko understood that there was some… issues between his father and uncle. However, it was his hope that upon their return to the Fire Nation, all would be reconciled.
"I'm so glad you decided to join us." Azula's voice was unusually cordial. Zuko had never heard her speak with such… warmth in her voice.
"Home…" Zuko whispered.
"You heard the Princess. Prepare the ship for departure and get the Prisoners…" Horror flared in the Captain's eyes. Zuko practically roared with rage, not only at his sister, but because he forgot the one fundamental truth in the universe.
Azula always lies.
Iroh, however, had not allowed himself to be blinded by hope as Zuko had. In an instant, he had knocked three of the Royal Guards from the narrow ramp in a flurry of kicks and strikes. A Guard charged and entered into an overly predictable set of attacks. The Dragon of the West sent him flying with a single blast of fire. The Guard crashed into the hull of Azula's vessel with a gong like clang.
As Zuko eliminated a pair of Guards with a series of fire blasts, he allowed his rage to gain control. He did not hear the crunch as he knocked the limp body of the captain into the ocean in his mad rush to destroy Azula. It would be a long time before Zuko realized that his palm strike had broken the man's neck.
Azula laughed at her brother. He was pathetic on so many levels. The princess of the Fire Nation had always been able to play her brother like a harp. So, predictable! His strikes were as bland and imprecise as his failed search for the Avatar. She simply slapped his strikes away. He had bent a pair of vicious daggers that would easily have killed her, but he was so sloppy.
"How did you ever manage to beat Zhao, Zu-Zu?"
In an act of undisguised contempt, she clawed a deep gash in his check with her fingernails. First blood is mine! Her mind screamed, not only in triumph of spilling her brother's blood, but of the pain she inflicted. Zuko's rage was giving his attacks great strength, but his control was a laughable concept. Azula simply dodged or blocked his attacks. Her strikes could have incapacitated or even killed Zuko at any moment, but she was enjoying tormenting the exiled prince too much to finish the fight.
Then she felt a pain in her shoulder. He actually landed a blow! Her rage exploded as she realized Zuko had struck her with a snap kick. She responded with a side kick and knocked Zuko down the ramp in front of her dais. Idiot… He didn't even pay attention to his footing! Enough games!
Zuko hit the deck with a thud. The breath rushed from his lungs. The air crackled as he looked up. Was that lightning? Azula hadn't even mastered the philosophy behind generating lightning when he had left!
The energy raced to her finger tips as she summoned the Cold Blooded Fire to smite her brother. Then she felt a presence, or was it presences, turn its, or their, gaze upon her. This metaphysical attention allowed her to gather the necessary power much quicker. She released the Lightning.
That was too close, Azula gathered that Lightning far too quickly. Iroh though as the Lightning flowed through him. He managed to redirect the destructive technique in time. Azula's discharge of Cold Blooded Fire thundered into the far cliff and exploded with incredible violence.
Zuko heard Azula yelp as Iroh delivered a powerful kick to her gut. She was still in the air when Iroh jerked his nephew to his feet. The two fugitives fled the Fire Nation vessel. The pair knew they would now have a death mark upon their head.
The whine of the ore hauler filled the air as the Guard platoon disembarked into the seemingly abandoned fortress. The Guardsmen split up into Fire Teams to secure the facility.
Corporal Fehrun took in the destruction. Giant Stone 'coins' were embedded into the wall. Blood caked the walls in some places. The person or thing that had caused this level of carnage could not have natural powers. The horrible memories of the Daemonic Incursion on the War of Lenton filled Fehrun's mind. Instinctively, he signed the Aquila.
"We've got survivors!" Private Uwren called out.
The soldiers of the 273rd Kiochi Warhawks rushed to Uwren's position. The Imperials struggled to lift the wreckage from the wounded man.
The young warrior had numerous broken bones and multiple cuts. His breathing was heavy. Guardsmen rushed to use the scant medical supplies they had on their persons. After Ackras, there were little medical supplies left. A fight against the Tyranids drained medical supplies the fastest behind ammo and soldiers.
Suddenly, the injured human grabbed Uwren's arm. "The Avatar…"
It was hard to hear his tired, distant voice over Terkris shouting into the vox for any sort of medic.
Urwen felt the soldier's arm go limp as he died. "He's gone. He said something about an avatar."
Lieutenant Terkris tensed up. "Did he actually say Avatar?"
Urwen noticed the change in his veteran commander. "Yes sir…"
The Lieutenant immediately activated the Comm and contacted command. "I need to speak with Colonel Yruich… I don't care if he's overseeing an Astartes chapter securing the Maelstorm! I need to speak with him now corporal!
Colonel Yruich pushed the flaps of the command tent aside. The Establishment was going well. There hadn't been any need to put down the small village's occupants yet. Adeptus Mechanicus techpriests had begun establishing what the Cadian Tank Major had christened Kasr Sagara.
The name was unusual and Yruich pressed the Major as to why he chose that particular name, the Major revealed that Sagara was the semi-mythical soldier-founder of Cadia.
"Sagara cleansed Cadia of the Chaos filth that had taken residence on our world. After defeating them, he had called for the entirety of Cadia to be turned into a fortress. He was overruled by the civies at the time, but after the Second Black Crusade" The Major had spat that phrase. "Cadia finally listened to Sagara."
Yruich sighed. It was nice to get out of the heat and away from the Adeptus Mechanicus.
"What did you call me for Corporal?"
The young woman saluted sharply. "Sir, a Lt. Tekris wants to speak with you."
Terkris… Ah, the Veteran Lt. of 3rd Company. "Very well."
Yruich activated the Comm. "This is Colonel Yruich. What is your status, Lieutenant?"
"We have secured the base to the north sir. It had been attacked. We found a survivor… He said that an avatar was responsible for the destruction of the base and the elimination of a large portion of the garrison."
Yruich began breathing faster as the horrible memories resurfaced. The unbearable heat and the sheer terror came roaring back. The Avatar. The mere mention of those words caused him to shake. The Eldar Daemon and it's body of molten iron and the hands… the hands that never stopped dripping blood.
"Can you confirm?"
Terkis took a deep breath. He had the same memories. He was one of the veterans of Galidesh. "We have only found a few other survivors. All are nearly dead, but they have all mentioned the Avatar. It is strange though sir."
"What is strange, Lieutenant?"
"There is no sign of heat based destruction. I'm taking no chances sir. I've deployed 4th and 7th Squads to patrol the surrounding areas and to look for Eldar weaponry."
Yruich steeled himself. "Very good Lieutenant. Captain Ghratis would be as proud as I am Hroth. I can think of no one else better to lead third company. You are now acting Captain. I'm deploying the rest of your company to your location. Secure the region and search for signs of any Eldar Witchcraft. I'm sure you know how to handle any of their magicks."
"Thank you sir! I believe cleansing flame and krak missiles should be sufficient to handle any Eldar trickery."
"Very good Captain. I will inform the Inquisitor of your discovery. Maintain constant communication with the settlement."
"Affirmative sir. Ave Imperator."
"May the Light of the Emperor Guide your steps."
Sokka's eyes were skyward. It had been a difficult couple of days, but things were looking up. Aang and Katara had recovered from the mental trauma of General Fong's ham-fisted attempts to have Aang enter the Avatar State.
He took a swig of water and shook his head as his sister and Aang were practicing water bending. "Shouldn't we be heading for Omashu?"
"Oh, like you're ready to go Naked Boy." Katara emulated her brother's trademark sarcasm as she turned around towards the sound of Sokka's sloshing. She was utterly surprised when Sokka wasn't lounging on a large leaf like he had been. Instead he was leaping down from a rock.
"What are you doing now?"
"I'm testing a new cover for our camp site."
Aang looked up from his Octopus stance. "Why do we need a cover? It's not raining."
Sokka nodded. "Well, this will help with that, but I've been thinking about those new flyers. This screen is designed to look like the ground from above. Hopefully, if anything flies over they'll think our campsite is just a splotch of dirt or something."
Aang and Katara gave hollow 'that's a good one' remarks before going back to their training.
Katara nodded. "Alright Aang, let's continue."
The Last Airbender spread his legs and called forth several water tentacles. Katara drew up several orbs of water and froze them into spears. She fired the projectiles in a wide spread. This exercise forced Aang to react and make use of the various water-arms the Octopus form conjured. Aang managed to casually slap the ice shards away from him.
"Not bad. But…" Katara circled Aang trying to figure out what he was doing incorrectly. "Ah…"
Aang struggled to control his breathing as Katara pulled in close from behind him. "You're arms are too far apart. Here…"
Katara grasped Aang's hands and maneuvered them into the correct position. "You see. This'll work much better, Aang."
The Last Airbender reveled in the moment until a booming laugh erupted from the dark corners of his mind.
You think yourself rid of me? I see the desires you hide deep within you. You hide them well, Airbender, but the Warp sees all…
Aang closed his eyes. It was easy to explain away, he was 'centering' himself. In a way, he actually was, but he couldn't mention he was hearing voices that weren't his past lives.
That would have been weird.
The crew dared not approach Azula in her current mood. Thus, while the deceased captain's second in command and Lo and Li greeted Inquisitor Gathos and the other Imperials the crew was deciding who would be the unfortunate to inform the Princess of the new arrivals.
It fell to the ships newly promoted second in command to deliver the news.
"Princess Azula…"
"What?" The Fire Lord's favorite child growled.
"We have, uh… unique guests who wish to meet with you."
"Likely flunkies from the village attempting to curry favor with my father."
The captain casts a nervous glance over his shoulder. The thought of returning to the mysterious guest without a satisfactory answer horrified him. "Not exactly, my lady."
Azula noted the fear in the man. "Who are they, Earth Kingdom?"
"No my lady, they claim to be from the Imperium of Man."
Oh, now this would be interesting.
It was going to take a lot longer to reach Omashu than Aang had hoped. Katara had gotten lucky and spotted one of the metal fliers in the distance. Appa had barely gotten into a narrow canyon when a massive flying box had rumbled over.
"Heeeeey! You guys can like fly!" An incredibly mellow voice echoed down the canyon.
A group of brightly colored travelers sauntered down the canyon. The front man for the five dude band was strumming at an instrument.
Aang lit up. "Yep! We've got a sky bison!"
"Wow… That's like cool. So, where are you kids headed and stuff?"
Katara spoke in order to stifle an amused giggle. "Omashu."
"Cool, that's where we're headed, too. I can't wait to go through the Cave of Two Lovers. There's only a tiny chance of certain death."
"As opposed to certain, certain death if we try to fly Appa anywhere near one of those metal fliers." Sokka deadpanned.
"Wait… shouldn't you be the one trying to talk of out of this?" Aang said as he munched on a piece of bread.
"A red mark on my face is a small price to pay for not being impaled by a ballista."
The woman swayed to music only she could hear. "I love face-painting! Want me to paint your face and stuff?"
Sokka hit his face with his palm. This was a mistake. He knew it was, but he didn't want to die.
Inquisitor Lord Gathos was flanked by his personal Stormtroooper detachment. He found himself admitting the Fire Nation's troops would be effective in intimidating the feudal peasants that the Fire Nation had been at war against.
However, Gathos and his soldiers had faced and defeated terrors that drove lesser humans to suicide.
A pair of old women entered flanking a much younger girl. The young woman sat on a raised throne. "Welcome to my flagship. I am Princess Azula of the Fire Nation."
"I am Leyland Gathos, loyal agent of the Imperium of Man and a Lord of the Ordo Xenos of the God-Emperor's Most Holy Inquisition. I have a proposition."
Azula's body language didn't reveal anything. Leyland was impressed, but as a psyker this woman could hide nothing from him.
"I am unfamiliar with your Imperium, but I would be happy to listen to your offer."
"Then learn of the true glories of our species." Gathos gave voice to the fervor of trillions and Azula learned of power.
Zuko and Iroh had run for hours. They had avoided the roads for most of their flight to prevent discovery. The young Prince was nearly doubled over from exhaustion and even Iroh was winded.
"We may rest now, Prince Zuko." Iroh assured his nephew.
"Good. There's something we need to do." Zuko unsheathed his knife and gripped it tightly. The Dragon of the West readied himself for any necessary action, but Zuko surprised him. The scarred, physically and emotionally, boy quickly cut away his top-knot and presented the blade to Iroh.
"We've been cast out, Uncle. This is beyond even our exile." There was pain in the young man's eyes that Iroh had only seen in his own mirror. He took the knife and cut away the symbol of familial ties.
Zuko stared silently as he watched the stream carry away more than his hair. It carried away his sole ambition of the past few years. "What do we do now Uncle?"
"We can either head into the Colonies or travel into the Unoccupied regions of the Earth Kingdom."
Zuko brought his hand to his chin and contemplated their options. "The Earth Kingdom will publically execute us if we are discovered. If we are caught by the Fire Nation, they'll turn us over to Azula. "
There was a moment of silence before Iroh spoke. "I vote Earth Kingdom."
"I couldn't agree more." The two fugitive Fire-benders headed east racing the setting sun.
"Are you guys sure it's not too late to risk being found by the Fire Nation? I mean, our luck isn't that bad." Sokka wasn't even trying to hide the utter desperation in his voice.
There was a musical strumming. "Yeah, he's right! You've got awesome luck and stuff. I mean, you like, found us and all."
Sokka stopped walking as the portly hippie walked past him. There was an internal debate raging in the Water Tribe warrior's mind. Surely, killing these guys wouldn't make me the bad guy. I mean, it'd be a service to the universe right? Right?
"Yeah! You're right, but we should really keep going. Sokka was right earlier about not standing a chance against those metal flyers." Aang smiled broadly.
A rumbling filled the small canyon. Katara gasped in alarm. "Run! Run for the cave! The Fire Nation is bringing up tanks!"
The lead hippie barely had time for a surprised 'what' before Aang threw him onto Appa's back with a blast of Airbending. "Run Appa!"
The Sky Bison obeyed his friend's urgent plea as a number of dark shapes appeared in the distance. A dank, dark cave was never welcomed so eagerly by so many.
Sergeant Salvador Ballinger of what was left of the 68th Tanne Mechanized Infantry popped the top hatch of the Chimera and waved towards the Fire Nation tank. The Imperium's new allies had halted suddenly. His counterpart popped his own hatch. Ballinger didn't even try to hide his glee that new associate was a woman.
"Why'd we stop?"
The woman flipped a strand of hair out of the way. "No one has maps of that cave. Hell, no one's ever even gotten out of that pit. I say we just bring the damn mouth down and let them starve in there while we are back at base drinking."
Salvador grinned. "Open up with the bolter, Sisco." The shriek of the heavy bolter was followed shortly by the roar of the collapsing cave entrance. "So, Lian, how 'bout that drink?"
Leyland Gathos had left the girl nearly two hours ago. He was surprised that Azula hadn't broken at the revelation of her truly insignificant place in the galaxy. The Inquisitor Lord walked down the ramp connecting the Princess's ship to the dock.
It was a truly rare occurrence for Gathos to be surprised. However, Astropath Ulkir Horan's presence was unexpected.
"My Lord Inquisitor." The Astropath bowed and drew back his hood. The ruined features of the psyker were laid bare for the world. "I have made contact with the Holy Imperium!"
This was truly unexpected. "Who has responded?"
"Inquisitor Ryna Dask and Chaplain Andre of the Fire Lords Chapter. They believe, assuming favorable Warp Currents, that they will arrive in two months."
Leyland smiled, but there was no good natured humor. The smile was that of a predator.
Oh my god (Your pick of which one...) It's been updated and you thought this story was as dead as the Squats...
Thank you for your patience between updates!