Editing Story:Love Can Bloom (section)

===Chapter Thirteen===
A smoking pile of metal hurtled across the sky. Inside, stuttering alarms blared, lights dim through a haze of smoke. Sparks flew out of the wall, and the failing computer registered new damage.

“We’ve lost,” LIIVI coughed out, “We’ve lost our port engine.”

“What does it matter now? We have failed,” Taldeer said bitterly, “What hope do we have now to escape?”

“Survive now. Escape later. I have a plan,” LIIVI said, his flat voice betraying no hint of fear. He had likely been in many situations far more dangerous in his career, Taldeer reasoned.

“Can you land the shuttle?”

“Landing is not an option, Taldeer. I may be able to slow the crash, but the damage is extensive.”

“I may be able to slow the shuttle.”

“Trying to stop the shuttle could harm you.”

“I am a powerful seer of my people, and I do not see that we have a choice.”

Trees zipped past the cracked windows of the shuttle as it neared the ground. Thrusters intermittently fired, making no visible difference in speed. The Farseer closed her eyes and reached out with her mind.


----


Skullbeata turned from his salvage to look in the direction of a loud roar.

“Wot’s that there?” he said to himself.

A glowing object was falling from the sky. Although partially obscured by the smoke pouring from it, the light coming from it mesmerized the Ork. It grew larger, and came closer to the ground. Dazed, the Ork stood still, fixated upon the rapidly approaching mass of metal.

“Uh oh,” the Ork said, snapping back to reality.


----


Even cushioned by Taldeer’s abilities, the force of the collision was teeth jarring. The shuttle’s hull, already severely weakened, was shredded as the craft skidded across the ground. As the shuttle finally slid to a stop, having carved a long trench pitted with shards of its hull and engines behind it. The twisted door at the rear of the shuttle, one of the few intact parts left to it, fell open, spilling out a coughing Eldar and Vindicare assassin, surrounded by a volume of thick, black smoke. Despite the racket of the crash, or perhaps because of it, there were no signs of life - no Orks stalked the plains, no guardsmen scurried across it; even wildlife were absent. Though the ground was wet and the heat mild, there was not even the faintest sign of plant life.

“Where is this?” Taldeer asked, not expecting any answer.

“Based on incomplete data from the Pavonis computer system, this is the Pavonian Heartland, bordering the Thur’Abis Plateau.”

The Farseer turned pale. “The… the Thur’Abis plateau? Are you sure?”

“I do not believe that I can verify the current position.”

A disruption in the ocean. Something was coming. Out of the corner of her eye, the Eldar saw the glint of the sun on cold, grey metal. The implacable, silent, soulless army, Taldeer’s original mission on Kronus, slowly lurched towards the ruined shuttle. From their gauss weapons, held firmly at waist height, came a sickly green glow.

“I count at least twenty, possibly thirty Necron warriors,” LIIVI’s voice crackled through his helmet, “Moving slowly towards our position. We are exposed.”

“Then we must flee. Again.”

The ground before the two cracked. Taldeer gripped her wraithbone spear as the first Necron pulled itself from the ground. LIIVI’s pistol discharged its round into the skeletal head, and it slumped into the ground.

“Run.”


----


“The Necrons?” Lukas Alexander asked incredulously, still brooding in Victory Bay over the loss of Pavonis, “Why are they moving against us now?”

“We don’t know, sir. All of our attempts to scout the Necrons’ territory have failed. Our closest outposts have already fallen.”

With a grim look on his face, the Governor-Militant commanded, “Relay a fall back order to our outposts in those territories. Redirect our forces to key positions around Kronus,” adding, as an afterthought, “Have reinforcements arrived yet?”

“Gebbett is overseeing their arrival now.”

“Very well. Now, there is an… issue that we must discuss.” Alexander motioned Ardrin to close the door.

“We shall eliminate the Vindicare traitor and the Farseer.”

“Sir, the Necrons and Space Marines are assaulting our fortifications around Kronus. Key facilities are liable to fall at any instant.”

“I know. The men need a clear victory to revitalize them. What better than the execution of a traitor, and that Eldar witch?”

“They disappeared, sir, we cannot locate them in any case,” Ardrin offered, hoping to redirect the Governor-Militant to the defense of his forces on Kronus.

“I need you to - discreetly - contact the Inquisition. We need information about this Vindicare. Where he was trained, who was ultimately responsible for his supervision. Keep this from our Inquisitor ‘friend’. He’s hiding something, and I will find out what.”

Ardrin, disturbed by his commander’s seeming fixation, turned to go.

“Ardrin, we will overcome. Kronus shall once more belong to the Imperium.”

“Yes, sir.”


----


Vindicare assassins are trained to stay silent, still, and concealed for weeks at a time in the pursuit of a target. Even if movement is required, stealth is valued over raw speed. Despite this, their enhanced musculature and training grant them incredible stamina. Eldar, despite being in many ways physically superior to the mon-keigh, lack the raw endurance of such enhanced humans. LIIVI, his legs burning and breath short, the injury in his side burning like a wildfire, half carried Taldeer, her breath coming in ragged gasps, skin covered in a sheen of sweat. The group of Necron warriors pursuing the two had been left behind in thickets of bushes and gullies through which they fled. They could not say how far they had gone, though the thin forest in which they found themselves was a far cry from , and could not know if their enemies had indeed been lost behind them, but Taldeer finally had enough. She stumbled and fell to her knees, head spinning, and dropped her spear at her side. Before she could collapse to the ground, LIIVI caught her in his arms.

“We can,” LIIVI whispered, catching his breath, “Rest here for now.”

	Taldeer faintly mumbled something in approval, too spent to even sit. LIIVI pulled off his helmet, gulping in fresh air. Placing an arm under her legs, he gently lifted her up and carried her to a tree, against which she could sit.
 
	“Are we still pursued?” Taldeer, her voice hoarse and lungs aching, whispered.

	Tentatively, LIIVI took her hand. Leaning close, he quietly told her, “You are safe. If anything attempts to harm you, I shall eliminate it.”
	Every muscle sore, the Eldar pushed herself into a sitting up position. She forced open her eye, heavy with exhaustion, to look into LIIVI’s face. 

“Why,” she asked, a strange note in her voice, “Why did you give up everything for me?”

	She felt, almost on the very edge of psychic perception, confusion from his mind. “You are my primary objective. All of my available resources are to be devoted to the primary objective.” He paused. “Everything, for you.”

	Their faces were only inches apart. The two leaned in together, only to reflexively flinch back as a roll of thunder ripped through the sky.
	“We...” LIIVI looked away, embarrassed, “Must find cover.”

	“Agreed,” muttered an exhausted Taldeer, struggling to stand up again.

Taking up their weapons once again, the Farseer and assassin wearily slipped into the dark of the woods.


----


	“So,” began Inquisitor Madek, the gleeful, gloating tone in his voice clear, “Now that your forces have been utterly crushed at your ever so important battle, you wish to willingly help me find your traitorous Vindicare?”

	Lukas Alexander’s face remained completely placid, though something in his gaze betrayed his disdain. “I will help you eliminate the Vindicare traitor. The Farseer’s death will be my pleasure.”

	Madek made a grand gesture, showcasing Alexander’s luxurious office. ”And why, pray tell, do you not direct your men? Your crippling defeats have surely left you with a more important job to do, have they not?”

	The Inquisitor was trying to work him up, make him take a move, commit a heresy. “I have questions for you, Inquisitor Madek, concerning the hunt for him.”

	“You should know, I have taken some actions of my own to hunt down the traitor, governor. It is you, furthermore,” Madek growled, “Not I, who should be answering the questions. You have failed to explain how one of my Vindicare assassins has fallen to chaos.”

	“You are so certain that he has fallen?”

	“What other explanation can there be? He has forsaken the Imperium, the God-Emperor, for service to… to a ''xenos''!”

	“I have… contacts in the Inquisition, Madek. Friends of friends, one might say.” Lukas might have savored his words if not for the precarious position in which it put him. “There have been other assassins whose training was ultimately supervised by one Inquisitor Madek.”

	The Inquisitor’s face turned pale. “You-”

	“You have been hiding some… embarrassments from me. A Vindicare who could not make a shot on an Eldar warlock from a scant hundred meters. An assassin who let himself,” as Lukas’ voice took on a derisive edge, “Be captured by the Tau. Shall I go on?”

	The gauntleted hand of the Inquisitor slammed down on the governor’s desk. “Do you suppose to accuse an Inquisitor of being responsible for the failure of a few? Do you really think to pin the guilt, for ''your failures'', on ''me''?” His voice rising, anger undisguised, Madek continued, “Going behind the back of an Inquisitor is dangerous, Alexander, more dangerous than you know. You could be ended with a single word, fighting against the Space Marines as you are.”

	“I fight in the name of the Imperium, Inquisitor, and of the Emperor. You may accuse me of heresy, but I know that I am pure in His sight.” Resignedly, Lukas added, “Whatever measure you have taken to eliminate the traitor, keep it away from the citizens of the Imperium.”

	The Inquisitor turned to walk out, but stopped, and slowly returned to the governor’s desk. Leaning close, he whispered, “To deny an Inquisitor, governor, is to deny the Inquisition. To deny the Inquisition is to deny the Emperor. And to deny the Emperor is heresy. Do not act against me again.”

	Lieutenant Ardrin, clearly troubled by the Inquisitor’s abrupt departure, entered the room.

	“More bad news, Ardrin?”

	“Not as such, sir. Merely… news.”

	“Then get on with it,” Alexander grumbled, “I have had enough to deal with in the past few days.”

	“A scout squad we sent out to survey the area around one of our outputs discovered a squad of Necrons. Rather, its remains.”

	“Remains?”

	“We have no idea how it happened, but the Necrons were… completely dismembered. A pile of shredded metal, almost unrecognizable.”

	“What could have...” Lukas began, and trailed off. “One of those,” he whispered, “The Inquisitor’s solution.”

	“Sir?”

	“Madek said that he took actions to hunt down the Vindicare. The way to hunt down an assassin is with another assassin.”

	“You mean that he has deployed an Evers-”

	“I suspect so. There is little left in that thing which is a sane man. Pray to the Emperor that it quickly completes its mission, and does not deviate from it.”

	“If the Inquisitor even can exert any control over it at this time, then we may be in more danger than you realize, governor.”

	“What do you mean?”

	“Your contacts at the Inquisition took note of our… inquiries. They have decided to investigate the actions of Madek. If they find nothing, and inform the Inquisitor, I suspect that the war effort will not deter him from exercising ‘discipline’ on you.”

	“You have performed your job well, lieutenant. Whatever happens, know that the Imperium appreciates your loyalty.”

	“It is my duty, sir, nothing more.”


----


	Taldeer, soaked to the skin through her robe, stumbled into an abandoned house. Surprisingly, furniture in the house was still intact; rough chairs, a wooden desk, even a bed hidden in a corner. LIIVI helped her to a chair, as she eyed the scar visible through his torn suit with worry. He pulled out his Exitus pistol, checking it for functionality.

	“I may be tired, mon-keigh, but I sense no beast of chaos here.”

“I cannot permit any such risk, Taldeer.” The Vindicare, even as tired as the Farseer, sat guard in a chair next to the door, watching for anything that could harm her.

The sky outside a shattered window flashed as lightning smote the ground, and a rolling crash of thunder filled the house.

“There is little that could track us in this storm, LIIVI,” said Taldeer gently. Looking down at her scarred and dirty wraithbone armor, the Farseer frowned. Just how damaged had it become? Undoing the armor’s bindings, she removed the chestplate, lighter than her soaked robes. A tear in the robes drew her attention. It had not been so long since her army had been crushed, and she fled, pursued by an assassin. How much the circumstances were different, yet the same. Thinking of the man devotedly protecting her, she allowed herself a smile. What spark of happiness was left to her drained when she turned her chestplate over. Something was missing - her last spirit stone. Taldeer cried out in disbelief, and LIIVI lept up and rushed over.

“What is wrong?” he asked, scanning the room for any signs of life, “What happened?”

“My, my final spirit stone! It is gone!”

“Spirit stone?”

“The repository of an Eldar’s soul, should he die, that he not be devoured by the Great Enemy.”

“You shall not die.”

“How can you prevent it?” she cried out, “We have failed to escape already! Pavonis is in the hands of the Space Marines! What vehicle we did have has been shot down, and likely annihilated by the Necrons! What hope do we have left?”

LIIVI remained silent for a moment, then reached into an ammo pouch, pulling out an Imperial data storage device. “Pavonis was not the only place where the Imperial Guard had aircraft, and flight data to penetrate the Imperial blockade was… surprisingly available.”

“You cannot mean...”

“Victory Bay.”

“The city is crawling with the mon-keigh soldiers! You would be shot on sight!”

“My life is secondary to the mission. Primary objective: protect you. Secondary objective: Taldeer must escape Kronus.”

The Eldar looked up at LIIVI, her eyes moist, and seized his forearm. “Your life is not secondary to me.”

Slowly, the Eldar and Human drifted together, lips brushing, then pushed together. Arms wrapped around each other, the dangers of Kronus and the storm forgotten, Taldeer and LIIVI sank to the floor.