I'm happy to announce Dark Omega, my first novel in my Warhammer 40,000 trilogy (it's around 140k words/500 pages). The trilogy is influenced by way the Imperium and the Inquisition are portrayed in Dan Abnett’s Eisenhorn/Ravenor series and the Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay game lines (the bulk of the action actually takes place in and around the official Calixis sector setting). Although the trilogy focuses on Inquisition-affiliated characters, there are plenty of other elements from the 40k setting in there, ranging from Space Marines, via Rogue Trader and Guardsmen, to foul Chaos heretics.

Hope you enjoy it!

B.

DIRECT DOWNLOAD (.pdf format)

Development blog

Read it on Wattpad.com (handy for mobile devices)

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In the grim darkness of the far future there is only war. Beset on all side by multitudes of malefic enemies, Mankind tethers on the brink of destruction. Only the guiding light of the immortal God-Emperor, and the selfless sacrifices made in his name, keeps the horrors of the final night at bay. You are Marcus Aurelian, prodigal Interrogator of the Holy Orders of the Inquisition. Your master wields the absolute and inviolable authority of an Inquisitor. You are his sworn servant and trusted confidante. Recruited for your skills as an investigator and prowess as a warrior, it is your fate to stand on the front lines of a great and secret war. It is a conflict that has raged unabated for more than ten thousand years, beginning when Warmaster Horus raised his banners in rebellion against his Father and Emperor. It is your solemn duty is to root out the foul stench of heresy, hunt down the vile alien, and expunge the twisted influence of Chaos. You will tread where others fear go: You will venture to distant worlds filled with xenos abominations, you will walk through ancient space hulks best left undisturbed, and you will savour both the cruel depths of the under-hive and the wicked world of the high-born in their spire-top mansions. You will face enemies that would steal the courage from lesser men, you will see things that will scar your mind and soul forever, and you will come to face you own dark desires. You will never know fame nor reward, yet if you stand resolute, you will die knowing that you did so serving a higher purpose, and that your name and deeds will be carried to Holy Terra in darkness and silence, there to be whispered to the God-Emperor himself, who will know and remember for all eternity...

Teaser from the book (this is from one of the most 'Deathwatch-esque' parts of the novel):

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The Pro Patria -class sprint freighter Virginis Golgenna – the Maiden of Golgenna in Low Gothic – rested at high anchor above the war-torn world of Protasia. The venerable voidship’s Master and Commander, the Honourable Rogue Trader Corben of the House of Orvar, sat alone in the great observation spire that soared over the rest of the Maiden’s superstructure. A retractable obelisk of adamantium, two hundred meters tall, crowned by an impenetrable sphere of crystal whose origin the Adeptus Mechanicus could not ascertain. The spire was not an original feature of the Pro Patria class, but an addition made by the founder of House Orvar, Lord Orvar of Merov, in preparation for his second great expedition into the Koronus Expanse.

If there was a place on board where Corben felt at home, it was here. It was the only place when he could find both solitude and escape the oppressive claustrophobia the rest of the ship invoked in him. No one was allowed up here while he was present, not even servitors. And with the viewing ports open, he could pretend he was soaring through the void alone, unburdened by the millions of tonnes of metal that make up the two-kilometre leviathan beneath his feet.

The Rogue Trader touched some of the control studs worked into the armrest of the control throne. The majestic murals of ancient Terra that soared above him faded, to be replaced by a crystal-clear image of the cold void outside. He played with another set of control worked into the other armrest; mighty thruster banks began to fire sequentially, slowly turning the Maiden of Golgenna so that her armoured prow pointed directly down towards the planet his ship was orbiting. At a distance of more than forty thousand kilometres the great bulk of the planet was reduced to a wide blue-white orb.

Protasia . Or maybe he should call it Akakios, like it said on the old star chart he had retrieved from the astrographicum.

Captain Corben rose from his throne to stand beside a majestic desk of worked hardwoods procured from a dozen different death worlds. He looked down at the old chart again, smiling. He might not belong on a voidship, but was quite knowledgeable about all aspects of astrography and commerce. His father, the later Rogue Trader Simenon, had seen to it that his education was second to none. Corben knew he could have done a great job running the family business. If only the old man hadn’t insisted upon him taking personal command of the Maiden. If only he could have appointed a proxy to run the vessel in his stead. Many Rogue Trader dynasties did this. He could have stayed on Quaddis and pulled the strings. Avoided all this void and warp travel. But no, the late Captain Simenon had made a provision in his will – his son Corben must command the Maiden, or forfeit his inheritance.

Tick, tick, tick.

He heard it more clearly this time. It was the same sound he thought he’d heard earlier. It was very faint, but it was undeniably there. It reminded him slightly of the sound Spectorian lobsters made when thrown into the boiling pan; the scratching of chitin on metal, muted by the roiling water and a sealed pressure lid. He tried listening more intently, but the noise was gone. Strange. The observation sphere was kept in pristine shape, blessedly free of any vermin or the general decay that threatened to overtake the below-decks.

Corben shook his head and returned his attention to the beautiful, hand-drawn chart. A specialised servitor pattern had made it, guided like an oversized auto-quill by one of the most renowned chart-savants Archaos had ever produced. Astrography. That was one field of lore he took particular interest in. As a child his father had filled his head with stories of distant worlds and exotic places. How he had longed to see those sights; to wander upon alien worlds, with strange suns burning down from the skies above.

When he grew old enough to travel, his father had taken him along on his journeys across the Calixis sector and beyond. It didn’t take Corben long to realize he really, really didn’t like to travel. What a disappointment it had been. It was the actual journey that pained him; the cold trek through the void, and worst of all, the nightmare journeys through the Immaterium. He had tired, he really had, but there was nothing he could do. He simply wasn’t cut out to be a voidfarer.

He’d tried explaining this to his father, but the old man wouldn’t listen. He was hell-bent on making Corben a copy of himself. No amount of reasoning, sulking, or screaming could change that. Mercifully, his father had eventually given up and left Corben at home. Marooned him in the family palace on Quaddis, attended by the scores of servants and hordes of servitors that ran the place.

The great Captain Simenon probably though his son didn’t like to go places, but that wasn’t strictly true. Corben still dreamed of the far-away places he had wanted to visit all his life. He just hated the going there.

To compensate for his inability to travel Corben had begun collecting all the lore he could find about the Calixis sector and all the regions that bordered it: The Margin Storms, the Maw, the Koronus Expanse, the Fydae Great Cloud (not his favourite piece of real estate), and all the other border regions. He had even looked into the neighbouring sectors; Scarus, Ixaniad – and eventually also Finial.

His father’s estate had been a good starting point. Generations of Rogue Traders had amassed quite the throve of ancient star charts and planetary ledgers. When that was no longer enough, he had asked his father to bring home more. The old man had happily obliged. In fact, he spent a small fortune on it. He probably hoped it would lead Corben to grow a pair of balls and go out into the void again.

It didn’t. It had, however, given Corben an unusual degree of insight into the worlds and system that made up the sector his dynasty – if a father and his only son deserved such a lofty label – called home. The Protasian system he knew of, without ever having come here. Actually few Rogue Traders did, for the Protasians kept their own council and their Merchant Marine was large and long-ranging, thanks to the privileged Charters they carried.

Akakios, however, was unknown to him. And the unknown always piqued his interest. It had taken him a while, but eventually he had pieced things together. Akakios was the old name for Protasia, predating Unity. The name that had fallen out of use shortly after the Angevin Crusade, after Protasia willingly had joined the Imperium.

That wasn’t the real mystery, however. The real mystery was why the Imperials had chosen a non-Imperial name for the world. Why had they named Protasia the First Colony in the tongue of the ancient Akakians? It had taken even longer, but eventually he figured out that too. Protasia was the Malfian name for Protasia, had been since time immemorial. Protasia wasn’t just the First Colony; it was the First Colony of Malfi . It also neatly explained why Malfi and Protasia shared the same linguistic roots – they had been one and the same at a distant point in the past.

This trip to the Protasian system had proven moderately successful. On the way here he had looted a Protasian hulk they had found adrift in the outer system. The salvage had been pretty good, and he’d taken on a long dozen of able hands his boarding crews had found stranded inside the dead spaceship. Given their plight – and the heretical nature of their rebellion – they had been overeager to swear allegiance to the Maiden and its master.

The Imperial Navy had tried to chase him away when he arrived in orbit, but they had no authority over a man that carried a Warrant of Trade. They had insisted on boarding him to verify his Warrant. Like always the Navy officers were all hot airs and condescending attitudes. The Flag Lieutenant they had sent over with the boarding party had been a particularly despicable specimen. He had pranced around like he owned the place, and offered Corben no more respect than he would a simple Chartist captain.

It was not without a growing sense of glee Corben had paraded him through the gilded memorium halls of the Maiden, discreetly watching the junior officer deflate as cruel reality crushed down upon him: This really was a Rogue Trader’s vessel, filled with the pillage and trade goods of a hundred worlds, and he was nothing more than a bug trespassing on holy ground.

The Lieutenant had wanted to scurry away into a dark corner to hide, but Corben was having none of that. He had marched the poor fellow to the Commander’s suite and allowed him to gaze upon the Warrant of Trade – the man had looked absolutely stricken when he saw the name of the sole signatory: Sebastian Thor , the holiest man in a millennial empire of holy men. That signature was worth more than the signatures of all the High Lords combined. Only the signature of the God-Emperor could outdo it – and Corben didn’t think he had actually signed any Warrants.

After the Imperium had been dealt with, Corben had descended down to the surface to deal with whoever had the wealth to purchase what his cavernous holds held. He found that the Imperium held firmly on to the cities that hadn’t been completely destroyed. He also found that there were still quite a few insurgents chipping away at the Imperial occupation forces.

Even as he sold his wares to the new Imperial powers-that-be, he had men out to establish connections with the locals. Some of them had taken to calling themselves Akakians in an effort to distance themselves from the Imperial tyrants. Corben had found them to be courageous and tenacious, but he really didn’t think they could outlast the Imperium of Mankind. He didn’t think they believed it either. But they would nevertheless continue to fight, probably to the last man.

There was potentially good money to be made here. He would return, laden with stuff the newly appointed leaders of Protasia would require if they were going to restore the planet to working order. Which they must, lest they fail to meet the Imperial Tithe that would one day be levied against them. He would also fill some of the holds with weapons and other war-gear. Equipment the insurgents would pay well for.

Protasia had been a rich world for millennia; both the Imperials and the Akakians would hold a piece of that wealth, and Corben was more than willing to take it off their hands.

Tick, tick, tick.

That lobster sound again. What could be the source? He was completely alone up here, wasn’t he? His contemplative mood soured, he strode purposefully towards the gilded elevator waiting for him. The Seneschal would answer for this interruption, and by the Widower those answers had better be good!

Now also available on wattpad.com (much easier to read on mobile devices than the usual .pdf format).

Read it!

Long story made short:

I'm doing a revised edition of Dark Omega, using a more traditional storytelling technique (no 2nd person POV for example). I kind of liked how my experiemntal use of techniques turned out, but overall the feedback was negative.

The plot is largely the same, but there are numerous additions, alterations, etc. Overall a more gripping story, with several more interesting characters and secens added.

Currently this is WIP and only found here: http://www.wattpad.com/story/32263185-dark-omega-revised-ed

Could be I post it to https://www.fanfiction.net/ as well, time permitting.

Once I have the revised ed done it will go up on my blog as a pdf download, but that is some time into the future.

Just downloaded the original version. I'll tell you what I think once I'm done.

Thanks

Very good so far! Where's the rest of it?

Very good so far! Where's the rest of it?

Either follow the link in my signature for the pdf download or click my wattpad profile to find the old edition.

I'm hoping to have the revised edition dine in about two months.

Cool, thanks for sharing!!