Brightmark scanned the rubble, his optical relay flashing as each object was assessed for potential threats. The rubble still smoked from the fires raging across the remains of a broken city. Plumes of deep black smoke blocked visibility, slowing his scans and costing precious time.
Somewhere amongst the rubble hid an assassin. The damage had already been done. An Ethereal was dead. Killed a single shot of a suspected Exitus rifle and the surrounding area levelled by carefully laid explosives that rang out in a deafening cacophony. The Imperium had long taken issue with the local Gue’la’s acceptance of the Greater Good but this escalation had not been anticipated by the council. The Fire Caste would not allow the insult to go unpunished.
Brightmarks optical relay finally flashed green and beeped twice. The hunt was on. A subtle trace of disturbed rubble on the amphitheatre floor tracked off to the east. He sent his location to Oneshot, his linked Sniper Team Shas’vre and carefully began to move on his target. The smoke worked both ways, each step obscured by the thick smog clinging to amphitheatre. Brightmarks focus sharpened as hunt took hold, his pulse increasing at the certainty of the kill and the justice it would bring the Greater Good. He followed the rubble-strewn trail as it led away from the amphitheatre to the east. There wasn’t much out that beyond the space port. The assassin was fleeing the planet.
He picked up his pace, footsteps echoing as he jogged, determined not to be lose his quarry. Reaching a broken white wall diving the city sections, he used the debris to climb higher. From here he could see ahead and for the briefest moment his optical scanner bleeped, alerting him to alien presence in the distance, before clearing again. His eyes had been too slow to catch it, but the technology of the Greater Good did not fail him. He was close.
He pushed ahead, running now to close the gap. He reached the geo-coordinates where the assassin had been registered but as expected, it was gone. Brightmark climbed a broken wall to get a better vantage looking east. They were close enough to the space port that he knew this was the endgame. He had to find the assassin soon or the chase would go off-world and may never end. He paused, signalling his latest telemetry to Oneshot while his optical processed the full area, the main thoroughfare and Earth Caste buildings lined the roads, but they found nothing more than smoke and destruction. The absence felt wrong. The assassin had been careful, but signs of their passing had remained. Realisation hit him. The assassin wasn’t racing to the port, it was luring him forward into a twisted Imperium version of the Kauyon, the Patient Hunter. If they weren’t ahead, they could only be behind.
Brightmark pivoted, scanning west as his optical sensor flared red, target acquired and a loud crack tore through the air. His arm hit the ground with a violent spray of blue blood as he fell backwards to the floor with a heavy thud. The shock drove the air from his lungs and he gasped, each breath a stabbing pain deep in his chest. He knew he was moments from blacking out, if he woke up again at all. With his last moments of consciousness, he flicked his eyes to trigger the kill order.
Not far away, Oneshot moved with purpose, locking in the targeting data. Within moments, three sniper drones had silently moved into position, triangulating for a perfect shot. The Longshot pulse rifle cracked as it fired, a blue-white arc of plasma lancing across the broken city. Longshots screen flashed affirmative, hit confirmed, but immediately followed warnings – target lost. The drones scanned their sectors, finding a trail heading west. The hunt would continue but Oneshot would need another Pathfinder first. For now, Brightmark needed help.
Black Tomes 