It was a tiny thing, so small that it was utterly commonplace.
The Counter-Boarding Force was constantly training raw recruits.
One muddleheaded recruit fell asleep while standing guard.
The veterans were furious. These soldiers recruited from the Solar Sanctum were far too lax. After removing the Crimson Tide Warriors, they had replaced them with garrison troops from the Segmentum Solar, attached to the Adeptus Mechanicus shipyards on Jupiter. Sometimes, the Tech-Priests recruited and trained crew members together with the Departmento Munitorum.
Every ship operated differently, after all.
The recruits were a mixture of newcomers and experienced personnel. Some came from the Planetary Defense Force, some from Astra Militarum stragglers whose Main Force had been wiped out, and some were fresh recruits taken straight from Hive Worlds.
The man on guard duty today was a new recruit. While he slept at his post, the veterans quietly slipped away with his issued weapon.
Once he woke up, they could give him a perfectly justified dressing-down. How dare he fall asleep? Someone had even stolen his gun! Luckily, they were on his side. If they had been enemies, his laziness would have gotten everyone aboard killed!
This was commonplace. The problem was that Chaos had its eyes fixed on this ship.
The two Inquisitors had only taken control of the key bridge personnel. They lacked the ability to control everyone aboard, so most of the crew believed they were carrying out an ordinary mission.
That was what made it terrifying!
The recruit woke up and looked around. Shit, my gun's gone! Under "normal" circumstances like these, Imperial law prescribed execution for losing a weapon. If he was lucky, he might get sent to a penal legion.
No, that won't do. I've got to think of something.
The ship was decelerating. The Inquisitor's smile