A Chance Encounter

Bedlam Rhaine leaned casually against the slime encrusted ouslite strut of the Hab block, safe in the knowledge that he was folded in the depths of the down-hive shadows. The high-born woman that Rhaine followed strolled nonchalantly down the middle of the rubbish strewn throughway seemingly without a care in the world. What actually bothered Rhaine was the fact that this woman was still walking freely in the depths of Hive Temanis. Usually a person garbed in that kind of clobber was knifed the moment they were alone.

Perhaps, just perhaps, Rhaine had lucked out and no-one had noticed the lady walking through the Hab. It was his chance to make a good score and get a decent meal from a little higher in the hive tonight, rather than having to hunt down a scav-rat and the rancid meat they provided.

As she turned a corner Rhaine ghosted down the throughway and poked his head around the wall. She still walked, almost gliding along, her long overcoat billowing out behind her as she moved. Down in this part of the hab, glow-globes flickered fitfully. Well, those that worked or hadn’t been stolen by acid-etched gangers to light up their noise-pits or obscura shacks. As a result, much of the deep-dark was simply that, dark, with small pools of light trying to maintain a losing foothold.

It was in one of these footholds that the woman stopped. Rhaine nearly swore under his breath as she looked back in his direction, but luckily he had been close to an overhanging wall and he was hidden in the shadows. Only self control kept him from voicing his thoughts aloud. The woman’s voice drifted down the off-way, but Rhiane couldn’t hear what she said, nor to whom she was talking. He carefully unsheathed his prized mono-filamented blade and held it ready.

When she started off, it was down a thin alley between two abandoned habstacks. Rhaine hesitated for a moment, waiting for the other person to appear. Nothing. Only the slow drip of fetid waste dribbling down from the upper levels reaching the bottom of the hive. Taking a deep breath, Rhaine quickly ran to the mouth of the alley and peered into the gloom. There! Not more that fifteen metres away stood his mark. She stood near the center of a small personal space from one of the habs. Detritus and junk from gangers lay strewn around the area.

Perfect. Rhaine glanced around one final time to make sure no-one was near and crept down the alley. She still didn’t look around. Rhaine took his chance and reached around her head and clamped a hand over her mouth and drove his blade into her back with practiced ease. What Rhaine didn’t expect, was for his arm to shudder as the blade encountered something solid then slide to one side creating a horrible screeching sound as if metal running across metal. The next thing Rhaine knew he was on his back in the filth of the pub-space with the woman pointing a huge pistol at his face.

“How the hell did you get behind me!” she growled at Bedlam.

Bedlam raised his arms and thought about pleading for his life but then thought better of it. “Uh…”

Around the two came a series of muffled thuds and clicks.

“More of your ganger knuck-heads, eh?” muttered the woman as she looked up at the new arrivals. “Ah. Not quite.” With that the woman raised her gun and fired.

The sound of the gun releasing its casing of death reverberated off the walls of the enclosed space and Rhiane heard the sound of something splitting open before he was splashed in hot, sickly sweet smelling liquid. Above him, the woman was already firing her pistol again and in one motion drew a blade before turning away. Rhaine could hear guttural noises, howling and the steady crack of the pistol firing.

As Rhaine rose to his feet, he felt a soft pull on his dirty coveralls and warm, fetid breath on his face. Rhiane looked up into the face of some knucked-up creature, which smiled and growled softly.

“Holy Terra!” Bedlam muttered, “What the frig are you?”

His answer was a swipe of its taloned hand, which he only barely managed to turn aside with his blade. Rhaine quickly brought his boot up between the creature’s legs and was greeted with a grunt and an outtake of breath. While the beast tried to get back up from its knees, Rhiane drove his mono blade deep into one of the thing’s eyes. It howled and thrashed and jerked the blade out of his hand before collapsing in a heap on the littered rock-crete ground. Rhaine stared at the twisted thing on the ground, before he finally realised that he couldn’t hear gunfire anymore.

He turned slowly hoping that he wasn’t about to be gutted by some knucking creature. Surprisingly all he saw was the woman staring with interest at him. She had lost her coat and stood there in bone white, though now splattered with crimson, armour. Her pistol sat on her left hip, while the hilt of a sword poked up from the right. Bedlam’s gaze moved slowly across her form and his eyes gradually drifted towards a rosette that rested at the base of her neck. The image nearly made Bedlam soil himself.

“Oh, I am so frigged” he thought to himself and he dropped to his knees. “No wonder no-one touched you!” he said

She stepped forward and stared Rhaine hard in the eyes. “Normally, when someone attempts to murder a member of the Holy Inquisition, their life is forfeit.”

Rhaine couldn’t help but gulp.

“However, “ she added “you handled yourself well against those warp-twisted beasts. Most people would have tried to flee and been ripped apart quickly. You…..you merely kicked it in the groin and drove a knife into its brain. I like your style. What is your name?”

“My n, n, name.” stammered Rhaine.

“Yes. Your name”

“Bedlam. Mamzel, Bedlam Rhaine.”

She laughed, “I ain’t no mamzel, Bedlam Rhaine. However, I will make you an offer. You join me and I’ll forgive your little indiscretion here.”

“But. But you’re the Inquisition!” said Rhaine.

“Inquisitor Solitaire Kale of the Ordos Malleus at your service.” She even gave a little curtsy as she said this.  “The Inquisition is free to acquire agents to help them undertake missions on behalf of humanity. You have skills that I, and my team, are lacking and they are skills that I need.”

She squatted down next to Rhaine. “I can only offer you the same as the rest of my retinue – a warm bunk, good food, and a monthly stipend for you to do with as you please…within reason.” She stood up and walked over to one of the creatures and tapped it with her boot. “What say you, Bedlam Rhaine?”

Bedlam looked up at the Inquisitor and stared into her eyes. He knew he really only had one choice…