A servant of Slannesh

After carrying out all of the Inquisitor's orders, Admiral Venessa took a little time to understand it all. She had served under this man for over 150 years. She had grown up as part of the Imperial Fleet and was born on this ship. What had led the Admiral to launch this kind of attack? The Inquisitor was right. Why had he only fired those Cyclone torpedoes. Normally these weapons were intended for an Exterminatus. Had he really intended to destroy Terra?

The Servitor, which was firmly anchored in the wall of her private room, raised his half-rotten hand and handed her a cool drink while she looked out the window. One of the continents below was still burning brightly. Even if it had been only a few torpedoes, the explosive power had been enough to turn the continent into a hell of fire and brimstone. Fascinated, she looked at the sphere below her and tilted her head. The planet did not remind her in any way of the sacred Terra. She could see blue and green everywhere, none of which existed in her time.

She had been sent to Terra once decades ago on a promotion. That was the only time she had ever seen this planet, the home of humanity and the seat of the Emperor. It was a dirty, desiccated desert, full of macropolises and the massive Imperial Palace. She had barely been able to see anything through the Imperial Fists fortress and the starships. Had Terra once looked so beautiful? What had happened to turn such a beautiful world into such an inhospitable landscape? If she had understood everything correctly, they were even in the time before the great fire. A time about which no one knew anything, except the Emperor.

All records had been destroyed in the Great Fire and what little might have survived had been destroyed in the Horus-Hersey.

I wonder if they were responsible for that. They had already destroyed one continent, and the ship had more than enough firepower to turn 30 planets that size into uninhabitable piles of ash. But it couldn't possibly do that. It was as the Inquisitor had said. If they killed the Emperor now, he would never be able to become a god.

Suddenly she frowned.

"What does she mean...kill him?" she asked herself abruptly. How could a simple warship manage to kill a god. A being who had watched over Terra and humanity since the dawn of time. Even the wrath of Horus and the 4 Chaos Gods could not harm it. It might be true that the Emperor had been sitting on the Golden Throne for ten thousand years, recovering from the wounds Horus had inflicted on him, but no one on this ship was as powerful as Horus.

"How could we kill a god?" she asked herself again, then nodded. "Unless.... He's not a god!"

Startled by this heretical thought, she widened her eyes and shook them. It was wrong to doubt the Emperor's power. Surely she was only excited. A night of rest would surely help her think clearly again.

While the new commander of the ship slowly got out of his uniform and lay in bed, she did not notice how the eyes of the servitor followed her. As soon as she slept, a shadow detached itself from the wall and slowly took shape again. It was a creature, half man and half woman, with 4 long arms, 2 of which ended in long scissors. A long tongue hissed snakelike in front of it.

"As usual, the mindless beings of Khorne were good at distracting these mortals." Thought the succubi of Slannesh. It had been easy to plant in the Admiral's mind the desire for a crushing blow, but the Inquisitor had not yet noticed her presence. But now it was this woman's turn. Soon she would understand the merits of Slannesh.