#ooc: surely her knowing of the Emperor's divinity won't be a recurring theme or metaphor of any sort

[tlatia-the-radiant]

Her name was Kalli Asto. That was all the publicly available information on her. Age, rank, status, homeworld, and even her gender were all hidden by the power of His Emperor's Most Holy Inquisition and changed whenever she had a new assignment or objective.

She'd been on this particular assignment for quite a while; the infiltration of the Dawn Legion's flagship. By the Emperor's divine will, she'd been on Teltros when the Dawn Legion had arrived and begun evacuating non-combatant citizens from the world and waging war against the forces of Slaanesh, and disguising herself as yet another serf was child's play in the bedlam. Nobody had given her a second glance as she crowded onto the transport.

Now she was on her way to one of the Dawn Legion's vessels, packed like cattle alongside over a hundred other refugees in a space built for maybe a third their number.

Something in the transport shifted. The sound of the engines died down just slightly; they were about to land, Kalli guessed. A light tremor running the length of the transport proved her right.

The hatch opened. Next would come the shouts to disembark, Kalli knew; she'd watched enough prison ships operate to know the process like the back of her hand.

A Space Marine appeared at the front of the group. Kalli didn't know if they'd always been there, or if they'd just arrived.

"People of Kaidale," they announced, making several stunned refugees drop to their knees out of reverence. "I am Apozanolotl, of the Dawn Legion. I understand that there's a lot going on right now, but trust me when I say that you are now safe and under the protection of the Lady of the Dawn. Please, follow me; we have food and warm beds waiting for you."

...odd.

Kalli followed the mob of refugees forwards, and much like the mob of refugees cast undisguised glances at the hangar around her. Unlike most of the refugees, however, she wasn't simply marvelling at the sheer power on display. The rows of transports and fightercraft were utterly unimpressive to her trained eye. Instead, she was silently cataloging the Dawn Legion's firepower; noting down the makes and models of troop transports, the numbers and patterns of fightercraft, and how well maintained they appeared to be.

It was certainly a powerful array of gear. Befitting of a Space Marine Legion. That made Kalli... concerned.

A rogue, heretofore unknown Space Marine Legion galavanting around, working alongside Traitor Legions while achieving apparently Loyalist aims? Something is wrong with this picture.

Inquisitor Kalli was familiar with human behaviour. She knew that kindness was a lie; everything offered to you had a price and if you didn't know the price it was far higher than you were willing to pay.

Silently, she followed the Astartes and the wave of refugees and made herself a promise: she would discover the price that these refugees were paying. The Emperor's justice would account in all balance. This she knew, as surely as the Emperor's divinity.