Knights of Hellsing

Prologue:

"Mad they said, bordering on heresy they babbled, unstable they squeaked but who's laughing now !?!"

Zelkus Zaphyr, former professor of Quantum wave flux dynamics and Electro-magnetic conjunction
studies at the first university of Tellus Major laughed as he said these words.

Zelkus was an ungainly scarecrow of a man with his long jangly limbs, disheveled clothing and a large
head capped with an unruly mane of straggly black hair that framed chlorophyll green eyes. A vein
twitched and spasmed just above his shaggy black left eyebrow while spittle flew out his mouth as he
ranted to his unseen audience.

He checked that the pict-drone was recording properly then continued with his speech.

"The Adeptus Mechanicus tech-priests had me dis-barred from the university, humiliated and fired for
daring to speculate and invent my ingenious device"
As he said this he stroked a silver coloured contraption that looked like a cross between a Las-rifle, a
tuning fork and giant prongs topped with a long spike resembling a bayonet on its tip.

"This device, the [b]Extractek[/b] will allow me to 'extract' the latent or active energy in any medium of
matter or even in plasma or "air" and to store it for future use and conversion.
Imagine, this could replace the need for ammunition or could even function as the ultimate shield,
stopping attacks as if it were the blessing of the divine emperor and returning the effect multiplied ten-
fold, striking like the wrath of the blessed God-Emperor himself, [i] may he preserve us in his mercy
[/i]". I shall know demonstrate the Extractek in action in my laboratory".

He heaved the device onto his shoulder and walked into an adjoining room, the Pict-drone hovering
after him as he did so.

"I shall begin with short range demonstrations" said Zelkus before sticking the longest protruding spike
of the Extractek into a small archaic gas-light fireplace. The fire wavered then went from blue to orange
before disappearing leaving only a thin stream of gas behind (That Zelkus hurriedly shut off).

Next he waddled over to a giant globe of plasti-glass within which super-heated plasma globs of
Promethium played and upon whose surface thick flashing bolts of electricity flashed.

The hairs on his head and skin stood up from the static electricity in the ionized air as He touched the
electrically charged surface of the globe, causing the streams of lightning to "flow" into its tip until even
the pale illumination from the wall-lights began to dim, but undaunted he pressed harder against the
plasti-glass bubble until somehow, impossible cracks appeared on its surface, a jagged lattice of lines
that spread until the Extractek's tip entered the interior of the globe.

The flowing whorls of purple, red, white and blue plasma wavered and sunk, their vibrancy lost, leaving
them as nothing more than stark, discoloured immobile "dead" matter.

Zelkus grinned at the Pict-drone.

"As you can plainly see, the Extractek functions with ease across the Entire Electro-magnetic spectrum
as well as (In theory) the Entire Electro-weak spectrum, a postulated theory that I shall now test via
"absorbing" gravity's effect on a falling object in a vacuum sealed "clean" environment"

He placed the Extractek (Now seeming almost imperceptibly larger) onto a tripod with its tip protruding
through a small hole into a cube shaped chamber.
He pressed a red button, expelling all air & foreign matter from the room save a small metal ball on the
floor.
 +-ROOM GAS CONTENT: 0%. NO FOREIGN PARTICLES DETECTED. CLEANSING & STERILIZATION
COMPLETE-+

Zelkus Zaphyr then activated the Extractek while simultaneously flipping a switch, causing to the
chamber to rotate and the ball to begin to fall only to halt in mid-air (before beginning to drift sideways
in tune with the planet's turning movement).

Zelkus laughed. "It works! Ha Ha, of [i]Course[/i] it works".

He jumped around in giddy exuberance, his long hands waving & flailing until they accidentally brushed
the small panel bearing the motif "Gravity Neutralization".
He began to float in the air, his expression at first bemused, amused then apprehensive then fearful.

"No! Without anything to drain, who knows what will happen to the Extractek? Wait, this isn't possible,
it's still draining [i/something[/i] but..."
But the chambers interior was somehow [i][b]Warp[/b]ing[/i] horribly, everything inside it & touching it
(Including the Extractek) twisting, stretching, melting & inverting simultaneously.

++ At this point the Pict-Drones motor engines malfunction leaving it floating upside down & sideways
so that visual contact is lost, leaving only the audio feed++

Voice Identified as Zelkus: "What... Whats happening? It's so, so [i]beautiful[/i] but I have to stop it,
there's a rip in the chamber and the Extractek, the Extractek is - I [b]Have[/b] to disable it, I'll just
activate then fail-sa- AAAAAAAAAAGH, GWAAARGH, NO,NO,NOOOOO YAAAGH NO,NOnononono
YEEEAAAARGH PLEASE, N-"
Noise ends.

Time passes.

++Local timekeeping of Pict-drone is suspect due to detected anomalies with galactic time, relativistic,
warp or Chronal effects suspected++

Voice Identified as Zelkus: "It... The Extractek drew energy from something else, a 5th state of matter,
I had no idea... But whatever it drew on [i] "bit" & drew back[/i], and [i]something[/i] came threw, and
now the Extractek is somehow bonded to me. It should be impossible and painful but it's glorious &
beautiful as it grows and fuses with me. I just need fuel for u-me, I just feel so hungry..."

Second Voice of a young adolescent human female: "Father, Are you in there? It's so dark and I can't
see anything, we haven't seen you for two whole days, I know that you said not to be disturbed but - "

-Rustling noise-
Second voice: "Father? Is that you?"

Third voice unidentified: "Your father's in here but I can't have you disturbing him while he grows
towards his apotheosis. He does need you though little human-thing, he's gotten very hungry you see".

-Screams from second voice. Noise ends-

-----------------------------------

Chapter 1

"Lord <Ah> Inquisitor Trelayne?"

Trelayne did not need to turn around in order to "see" the man addressing him, as his mind examined
& dissected the wretch, flaying apart levels of consciousness from the ego & ID to the Super-ego to
reveal a low ranking toady in the employ of the planetary governor Lukas Alexander.
It seemed that he was here to inform Trelayne that his predecessor & fellow member of the Ordeus
Malleus Inquisitorium - Fordus Perfect had been confirmed as MIA along with his entourage without
nary a trace left of them save the dismembered body parts of the 16 Adeptus Arbites who had
accompanied them in their hunt for the heretic-traitor Zelkus scattered across half the plaza where they
were last seen.

"Thank you for the report, squire" Said Trelayne wearily, drudging up the ridiculous honorifics used for
the bureaucrats & second rank officials of the planet Tellus major.

The fat little man blinked. "But I haven't sa-".

Trelayne ignored the interruption. "You are dismissed".

"But-"

"[i][b]Dismissed[/b][/i]"

The toady ran out of the room as if the very devils of Catachan were belching at his heels.

Trelayne sighed in exasperation, to think that the day had come when he would use his talents in a fit of
rage on such a snivelling worm...
"How the mighty have fallen" He mused to himself, feeling at that moment every day of his 180 years.

He found it almost impossible to believe that whatever Warp thing the fool Zelkus had "Let in" could
have been of sufficient power (even without a pre-prepared host!) to have killed or even captured as
able & dedicated an Inquisitor as his old student & comrade, especially with his entourage.

He called up the data-file tracking all the disappearances related to the case, which included: The
Zaphyr family, 26 Guards & 11 technicians in a half dozen power-stations, The entire population of an
illegal hot-bath and the new heads of Quantum wave flux dynamics and Electro-magnetic conjunction at
the first Tellus university.
A considerable list, but one that could have been impossible to create on a more chaotic planet. "Thank
the Emperor that this is not a Hive world at least" he mused to himself as he scanned forensic report
after report after unexplained disappearance in the vicinity of the Capital of Tellus major.

With its population of a mere 10 billion Tellus Major was a relatively minor minor planet in the grand
scheme of the Imperium of a million worlds.
It was a new addition to the fold of Humanity having been found, cleansed from its mutated ab-human
inhabitants and re-colonized just a few centuries ago, just in time for it to benefit from the shift in
trade-routes caused by the destruction left by the end of the Great war against the Tyranid hive fleet
Behemoth, while remaining just out of reach of the WAAAGH of the (now deceased) Ork Warboss
Pazagh Gut-Gorger.
Its manufacturing industry was small but thriving, efficient & rapidly expanding despite its minute scale
compared to even the smallest of the Forge-worlds (Let alone one of the great manufacturing planets
such as Armageddon). This was derived in part from the traditions of well crafted and high quality
craftsmanship in Tellus culture and from the discovery of ancient STC designs for a remarkable wiring
system that allowed zero energy loss transfer, allowing the creation of compact & efficient generators
(Best used in Las-Guns, Leman Russ tanks & Hell-guns) that were the envy of the sector.
In all it was a rare jewel of a world, though more a stone than a quarry, but still one well worth
preserving and fortifying against even the slightest threat of heresy or deviation (Though in this it was
hardly different from other worlds in the bosom of the divine God-Emperor), but its vitality, vigour &
size made it well worth to remove any taint or corruption with a scalpel and surgical sterilization rather
than crude mass executions or bombardment.

Trelayne closed his eyes in thought. The need here was for a surgical strike to remove the rot before it
could spread, raising Chaos cults or worse while attempting to remove but a kilo of flesh rather than the
heart, brain & arms. But here even a Scalpel with a diamond tipped head, that of an Inquisitor had
failed.

Trelayne Carefully opened a thumb locked cabinet and out of it extracted a small digital card deck - The
Imperial tarot.
Focusing his thoughts on the Blessings of the Emperor he pressed the shuffle dot three times twice over
revealing:

The Warped Renegade - showing a man covered in silver streaming out of his eyes & mouth, screaming
in pain while shouting unspeakable heresies.
The Hammer of Faith - A representation of the Ordeus Malleus and its servants
The Spaceship (Reversed).

The Star - Showing blessed Sol orbited by its planets & gas giants.
The Warrior - Showing a Space marine bearing the Crux Terminatus.
The Knight of Mandatio - Representing wealth & stability.

Trelayne examined the cards again for a last time, but the omens were clear and supported his initial
decision.
When a scalpel of tempered Steel failed even with its diamond tip then it was time to invoke a laser to
burn and cauterize away the tainted, seeping wound of heresy & Chaos - [b]The Grey Knights[/b].

-------

Chapter 2
The Milky Way Galaxy.
The Imperium of Man.
The Solar Segmentum.
The Solar System of Holy Terra.
The Gas giant Jupiter.
The Moon of Titan.
The 17th Monastery of the Adeptus Arbites 666th chapter designated: "The Grey Knights".