After capturing the doppelganger, Howard Fender handed him over to 3rd Company Captain Michal for interrogation and proceeded to the city proper to handle other matters.
Michał brought the amber-encased creature aboard a heavy transport and found a compartment.
The "Judge" raised his hand. Spiritual energy surged, covering the compartment. He commanded authoritatively in Dunnic:
"Seal!"
Layers of viscous liquid rapidly spread within the compartment, forming invisible walls, layer after layer.
The "Judge" then raised his hand, aimed at the amber, and shouted: "Release 'Imprisonment'!"
The amber rapidly dissolved. The doppelganger's frozen eyes twitched.
Its patchwork body stirred.
As if awakening from a long dream, its eyes moved blankly until the black-armored giant came into view.
The doppelganger jerked. Its body rapidly shifted between the forms of a native Perditan, a bizarre bird-like creature, and several other beings.
Confirming its shapeshifting ability was restored, it drew a short blade from its ribs.
It sprayed intestinal acid at the black-armored giant while sliding like a snake, swinging the blade.
The Shadows of Order sidestepped the moment the doppelganger opened its mouth.
ZZZAAAP!
The acid splattered against the invisible "prison." The rippling waves felt strangely familiar.
Before it could process this, it saw golden light flare in the black-armored giant's eyes.
The doppelganger let out a bird-like shriek. It felt its mind, its very being, pierced.
The full-fledged "Interrogator" felled the doppelganger with "Mind Pierce," then spoke in a low voice.
"Xeno, tell me. Where are your kind gathered?"
"Never." The doppelganger staggered upright. Its shifting between forms slowed, like stretched images.
It settled on the form of a burly man with fierce features, tattoos on his neck and elsewhere.
Calluses on its thumb and fingers betrayed its use of a blade. It deftly flicked the short knife.
Its body suddenly became a spherical creature, rolling rapidly away.
Michal punched the flying blade aside, watching calmly as the doppelganger slammed into the invisible prison.
It reverted to the burly gangster form and punched the wall.
As invisible ripples spread, it became a bird-like creature, stabbing with its beak.
After several attempts, it finally realized it was trapped.
It turned in shock, staring at the black-armored giant. How had he done this?
It remembered: the previous black-armored giant had spoken a word, and it had reverted to its original form, then been bound.
"Tell me. Where are your kind gathered?" The "Interrogator's" eyes flashed gold.
The doppelganger felt electricity course through its mind. The agony lashing its soul was both painful and numbing.
It trembled, its knees buckling.
Three standard hours later, Hasik Noyan-Khan, having received his orders from Lord Nareth, assembled the three hundred members of his brotherhood.
Since being sent by Jaghatai to study under Nareth, he had been serving the Primarch aboard the Shadow's Sovereignty.
Now, he would finally fight alongside the Shadows of Order for the first time.
Fighting together was the best way to understand them.
He watched Pat approach. Pat held a unique Truth Stave, adorned with golden wings.
He knew this Master of Chaplains was rising rapidly within the Eleventh Chapter, a high-ranking member of Shadow of Order, close to the Chapter Master.
"Our target is the nobles' palace," Pat's voice was low and firm. "The targeting runes have been sent to the shared tactical network."
Hasik glanced at the rune flashing in his helmet, then started his engine.
'Quick to act. Almost eager.' Pat habitually observed Hasik as he boarded a Land Speeder.
White jetbikes roared into the city's bustling district.
Hasik, amidst cries of alarm, nimbly maneuvered his bike through the silent streets.
He saw citizens watching from windows, their faces fearful.
The news of the giant's arrival, of shape-shifting monsters among the crowd, had spread rapidly.
Unless necessary, no one ventured outside.
Berghau was the oldest and most powerful of the six Stormseers in Hasik's brotherhood. He had trained under Targutai Yesugei before his augmentation.
He gripped his staff tightly. His psychic hood grew hot, its hooks digging into his flesh, sweat pouring down his forehead.
He felt his consciousness drifting, his vision blurring, but he continued to channel power, energy flowing through him like a river.
Sweat soaked him. Then, he saw an image: A cloud-like form twisting, compressing into human shape.
Berghau turned his staff. His psychic hood lifted.
"Khan, I have confirmed xenos presence in the target building."
"I cannot determine their exact number. I can only identify five."
Hasik glanced at his helmet display. The distance to the target rune: two hundred meters.
He twisted the throttle to its limit, raising his glaive. "Accelerate. Move. Attack!"
Engines roared together. The white tide howled, like ten thousand horses galloping.
"We are nobles! We welcome Shadows of Order!"
"Xenos, die!" Hasik raised his glaive. Berghau had confirmed Shadows of Order's intelligence.
Lord Nareth had mentioned at the pre-battle briefing that the xenos could shapeshift.
The White Scars, in unison, tapped and released their throttles. Their screaming engines propelled three hundred bikes, leaping, crashing into the "crowd."
The jetbike formation mercilessly ground flesh to pulp.
Hasik's glaive flashed. Vertical strikes. Horizontal slashes. Diagonal cuts...
He killed over a dozen xenos, observing the splattered flesh and blood.
Each was human. Nothing abnormal.
Even in death, they retained human form.
He accelerated. His bike, like a battering ram, smashed through a wall.
Before him, more people. Endless.
"Faster!"
He shattered one 'person' after another. His bike slowed. Bone and blood coated the white vehicle.
The dense buildings formed natural barriers. Flesh was a gear reducer, forcing the White Scars to slow. More 'people' poured from all sides.
They raised automatic weapons, firing barrages.
CRASH!
A White Scar slammed into a building. A dozen 'people' piled onto him.
His curved blade spun. Four were cut in two.
As blood sprayed, two barbed tentacles shot out.
One tore through his fragile helmet lens, into his eye.
The other wrapped around the join of his helmet and armor, ripping his throat.
Two 'people' twisted, their flesh expanding like balloons. In moments, they transformed from ordinary 'people' into giants.
The one who had torn the White Scar's throat flexed its arms, feeling the power within. It let out an excited, bird-like shriek.
More doppelgangers, drawn by the sound, extended their barbed tongues, eagerly lapping blood from the White Scar.
Their tongues tore out chunks of flesh, swallowing them.
One, having eaten an eyeball, twisted into a serpentine form, slithering into the blood-soaked power armor.
It donned the helmet. It became a White Scar.
Evil light glinted in its eyes. Its enhanced sight and hearing immediately locked onto new targets.
New White Scars were rapidly born. In moments, there were a hundred unarmored recruits and four armored warriors.
Pat, slower than the charging White Scars, reached the nobles' estate. He was about to join the fight when his eyes narrowed.
The "Hypnotist," with his exceptional vision, took in the entire battlefield. He immediately noticed too many men of unusual build.
He switched comm channels, sending a message to Hasik.
"Hasik, the doppelgangers have taken the form of White Scars."
"What?"
The "Hypnotist" heard shock and anger in Hasik's voice. He ended the call and ordered the Shadows of Order.
"Attack. Targets: Astartes-sized figures, warriors without power armor."
The "Hypnotist's" black eyes paled, narrowing as he scrutinized the white-armored warriors.
Thirty-six seconds later, Hasik Noyan-Khan assembled his participating brotherhood before a building.
Three hundred. All accounted for.
He looked at Berghau. The Stormseer, sweat streaming, shook his head slightly.
Hasik frowned, turning to Pat. "Can you confirm there are doppelgangers in my brotherhood?"
"I can."
Pat's confidence and certainty were impossible to ignore.
"For Chogoris!" Hasik stared at his brothers, shouting in Chogorian. "State your name, something that proves you are Chogorian."
"Berghau," the Stormseer was first. "Swift as the wind, swift to victory."
"Xu Han," the second-ranking Stormseer followed. "Strike where the enemy is unprepared. Move before the enemy moves."
"..."
Pat watched the White Scars rapidly speak in a language he only partially understood. He grasped Hasik's method of identifying doppelgangers.
He frowned slightly. Doppelgangers infiltrating human society likely had strong learning abilities. The cleverest among them might have learned Chogorian.
More importantly, their method was too slow. The doppelgangers gathered here might escape.
Pat recalled the Black Emperor's description of doppelganger characteristics. An idea came to him.
He walked to Hasik. "I have a way to identify the doppelgangers immediately."
"What?"
"Allow me to demonstrate." Seeing Hasik nod, Pat approached the White Scar formation.
As a full-fledged "Telepathist," he read obvious hostility in the white-armored warriors' defensive postures.
His black eyes paled, narrowing. Invisible waves surged forward.
All the White Scars flinched, as if struck by a heavy blow.
But they quickly steadied. None would show weakness before allies.
They were warriors of Chogoris.
In the formation, a white figure ran. Two spun in place. One trembled.
After releasing "Awe," Pat said to Hasik and the White Scars: "Doppelgangers can change their form, but they cannot possess the Strong Will of White Scars."
Even the White Scars, steeped in culture and poetry, tempered their will through daily practice.
Doppelgangers gained physical abilities by drinking blood, but their will did not change.
"Seize them," Hasik ordered, then looked at Pat in astonishment.
He had identified doppelgangers disguised as White Scars so easily.
Berghau and Xu Han could not exert such willpower.
'Lord Nareth's sons possess a variety of abilities the Stormseers lack. Truly admirable.'
'Lord Nareth knows the doppelgangers well. He came straight to the sixth planet after arriving at Perditus.'
'Within six hours of reaching orbit, he had found the doppelganger stronghold, even locating those disguised as Astartes.'
.....
If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 30 chapters ahead.
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