A Chapter Lost

Inquisitor Naaman scanned the table in front of him. The reports did not bode well. The Sons of the Lion had collectively vanished. Methelas itself had not seen a sign of them in over a year, and the fortress monastery was sealed and the Auto Defences were turned on ready to kill anyone who approached. Something he had found out from the Methelas high command. They had now setup a cordon to prevent any civilians getting caught by the lethal weapons.

An entire chapter does not just vanish… except it had. His petitions to the Dark Angels for information of the Sons of the Lion had been met with a stony silence. Chapter Masters certainly had the right to not answer his questions, but rarely did those questions go unacknowledged.

He fingered his inquisitorial seal absently; it had been a while since he last invoked the power of his office within the Inquisitions militant arm. There had been reports of Chaos activity along the fringes of the Cluster, nothing concrete yet, nothing he could use to bring in additional forces, especially when those forces would be used to hunt down the Sons of the Lion.

Again he scanned over the documents on his desk. Nearly all of the reports told of Wars ongoing in the Cluster, a few of those Wars were going against the Imperiums forces, most of them were going in their favour from insidious Chaos to brutish Orks the length & breadth of the Cluster engulfed in War, something that had not happened since the Sons of the Lion claimed protection of the Cluster.

The Spaces Wolves had been holding their own, but then the Warriors of Russ rarely went into a fight with anything other than total victory in their heads. Their animosity to the Sons of the Lion had only become more pronounced since they answered their request for assistance.

Maybe he could use them… ask them to start actively looking for the Sons of the Lion, along with reporting any Daemonic activity. If enough was found then a Brotherhood would be required regardless… and if the Sons of the Lion had fallen into darkness like their brothers before them… well then a Brotherhood would most likely be the best way to stop them.

Naaman looked out of his office briefly, the vast Starship ‘Saint Varcan’ was supposed to be the original ship that the Saint had used to travel around the Cluster, something that Naaman could almost believe, it was certainly old enough.

Now it was used only by himself and his attendants, a massive waste of space perhaps, but necessary as he had needed a transport and, commandeered the ship at the top of the list. That was nearly 5 years ago now, the captain had long since given up his quiet grumblings about the credit loss he thought he would make. Naaman had paid him handsomely, and continued to do so as long as the ship remained at his disposal.

Outside of this office stood two shadowy figures. Deathcult assassins sworn to protect him. There were another ten scattered about the ship. Finding twelve of them to follow him had not been difficult as they had approached him as a group, offering their services and swearing their loyalty.

He also had around a hundred handpicked Guardsmen who would accompany him on various assignments, or could work on their own. Add in the Mystics, Psykers and Servitors he had at his command and Inquisitor Naaman had a small army at his disposal… nowhere near enough to search an entire Star Cluster for a missing Chapter, nowhere near enough to keep him upto date on all the goings on in the area.

He brought his thoughts back to what he could do, not what he could not. The Space Wolves were the best option available, and with luck a little confirmation of Daemon activity would bring a Brotherhood to him.

The Grey Knights had been in the area before, not that any but Inquisitorial agents, and the upper echelons of the Dark Angels and Sons of the Lion knew it, but they had been here, and they had previously had a Strike Cruiser in the cluster… it had saved the day at that final battle. Maybe it would do so again.