Surrounded by Ork forces and abandoned by those in command of the failing defense of the planet. The fate of Hadrian Secundus was already sealed; but the once great hive city simply did not yet know it was already doomed.<br/><br/>In the four days that had passed since the Orks surrounded the outskirts of Hadrian Secundus the greenskins had managed to breach the hive city’s outer ring of defenses within a single hour. Throughout the remainder of the first three days the underhive had played host to several vicious battles as Hadrian Secundus’s defenders tried desperately to halt the Ork advance. But despite these valiant efforts the invaders had already fought their way through nearly all of the underhive’s defenders, the green tide having washed away any who stood in its path. By sunrise of the fourth day all but the smallest pockets of bitter resistance had fallen and the underhive was undeniably Ork territory.<br/><br/>One such pocket of resistance which still stood by midday was an arbites precinct courthouse in the western portion of the underhive, just on the border between the underhive and the hive proper. During the initial stages of the conflict for Hadrian Secundus the courthouse had served as a command and control headquarters for a large portion of the underhive’s western defensive zone. But as the defense began to crumble the fact that the courthouse was already heavily fortified, and was home to one of the few lifts still capable of ferrying people and cargo from the underhive to  upper levels of the hive city caused it to become a rallying point for the retreating imperial forces.<br/><br/>Despite being surrounded and having no hope of holding out against the multitude of greenskins besieging the courthouse, the forces within had been given orders that they were to hold the building at all costs. And so, those within the courthouse were now forced to prepare its interior for what was sure to be a fight to the death as soon as the courthouse itself was breached.<br/><br/><hr/><br/>As Inquisitor Marcus Praxis quickly made his way down one of the precinct house’s many halls, he could hear  what, for lack of a better descriptor, sounded like a soft yet constant roar coming from the very walls and ceiling of the building itself. It sounded almost akin to an extremely heavy rain striking a thin roof, but it was in fact the reports of the many gun servitors that studded the precinct’s outer walls as they fired a constant stream of rounds at the Orks outside the building. As of yet the practical wall of firepower that the guns provided had proven enough to hold back the greenskins. But a quick visit to the precinct’s control room had told Marcus that the ammunition for the servitors’ weapons was already running low and would soon be exhausted. It was an enescapable fact that the building would fall before day’s end.<br/><br/>His business in the precinct was almost complete and his final movements through its halls had revealed many scenes of those others within it grimly resisting their already sealed fates. In the armory Adeptus Arbites officers could be seen issuing weapons to the very hive gangers who had been their sworn enemies just a week before. Squads of Imperial Guardsmen could be seen erecting sandbags and assembling heavy bolter emplacements as  priestd preached the word of The Emperor in order to rally their spirits and a cold eyed commissars insured they did not waver from their tasks. Citizens begged and bargained at the precinct’s lift station in the hopes of being allowed to escape to higher levels of the hive, and a scant few members of the Adepta Sororitas who had found their way to the precinct house intoned their final prayers before what was surely to be their deaths.<br/><br/><hr/>Within the armory Jacky found himself standing opposite an old and scarred arbites judge who was in the process of handing out weapons to any hive ganger, thief, or murderer who could carry them. There had been no formal ceremony, no agreeing between chiefs and officers. Instead there was only the unspoken but still ever present knowledge that they were all human and would now be forced to stand side by side as such.<br/><br/>As the judge passed Jacky a Lawbringer shotgun he quickly uttered the same phrase he had said to every non-arbites member who had thus far received a weapon. “In the name of The Emperor I deputize you, go forth and destroy his enemies.”  No sooner had the word’s left the man’s lips than did his attention pass form Jacky and to the next recipient of a weapon.<br/><br/>Seconds later a frantic looking man in a tattered Imperial Guard uniform with Sergeant’s stripes on his sleeve burst into the room “We need armed men in the main courtroom now! If you’ve got a weapon move it there on the double! Find 3rd squad, they’re the ones you’ll be with!”<br/><br/><hr/><br/>The courtroom itself was a large circular room which reached as high as the precinct house itself. Every hall way within the building eventually led to the large courtroom. In times of peace it had been the place where court was held. Now, with its commanding view of the building’s entrance hallway, it was the anchor of the Imperial forces’ defenses. Against the portion of the circular wall opposite the main entrance doorway sat the judges’ benches, where those reviewing a trial would have sat. These benches were raised higher than any other portion of the room so as to give a further appearance of authority to those seated in them during trial. The walls to the left and the right of this wall were comprised of large rows of gently rising seats which gave the hall the appearance of a miniature stadium. The seats ended exactly half way around the circle in either direction from the judges’ benches. The center of the room, had once been host to several tables where the accused, and those prosecuting them would be made to sit. While the edge of the circular room opposite the judges benches opened into the precinct’s main entry way, which under normal circumstances would be the path that any accused citizen would be forced to walk when approaching their trial. The hallway itself was studded with ornate marble sculptures of various imperial saints.<br/><br/>The now looked very different from how it once had. The tables within the room’s center had been cleared away and replaced by sandbag walls and deployable barricades which were to be used as cover by the defenders. Heavy bolter emplacements now occupied the rows of seats that had been used for public observers of the courtroom’s trials, and a single lascannon had been erected upon the judge’s bench.<br/><br/>As it was, the courtroom had become a scene of both ordered preparation and near total panic at the same time. In the time since the precinct had become one of the few remaining safe havens within the underhive it had witnessed a massive influx of refugees attempting to escape the Orks. The majority of these citizens had managed to escape using the precinct’s lift, but many still remained when the order to stop lift movements had been given.  Many of these refugees were now attempting to make their way to whatever portions of the precinct house they felt would bring them safety or comfort. And their paths all invariably forced them to pass through the courtroom. This caused them to be slowed in their movements by the guardsmen, arbites, and other Imperial warriors who were erecting defenses.<br/><br/>It was from within one of these groups of refugees within the main hall that Prax, quite by coincidence, caught the attention of Marcus. He caught a quick glimpse of the woman beneath the disguise she wore and immediately knew she was just what he needed for later in his mission. A psyker, corrupted and unsanctioned but a psyker none the less. “That woman, there!” he said firmly to a passing commissar “bring her to me, no matter how tainted she appears do not kill her. By order of The Emperor’s Inquisition”, With Marcus’s badge of office clearly displayed man found himself with little choice to obey without question, as the commissar’s extensive training had taught him to.<br/><br/>As the commissar walked towards the Prax he passed by 3rd squad, the improvised group of soldiers and deputized citizens who were tasked with building one of the many barricades. As fate would have it this was the squad that Gunney Halleck and Jacky had been sequestered to. Pointing at both men the commissar gave a firm order, his bolt pistol in hand making it evident that there would be no bargaining. “You two, go grab that woman and bring her to the Inquisitor” he then pointed at Prax and then at Marcus to insure that his order was clear “Now!” he said firmly.