Editing Trip Into Hell (Warhammer High) (section)

===Terran Interlude===
Johor Tull peered up nervously at the façade of the Manus residence. He had been here many times before, but always he had this reaction to the brooding building made of Medusan Granite. He had spent much of that void between graduation and his imminent return to Xenobia here, and he should have known better by now. Trying his best to ignore the tracking Auto-Turrets, he unsteadily walked up to the immense front door and banged on it as heavily as he dared.

The door flew open with a speed unusual for its size, and Farah Manus all but dragged him in. Johor immediately noticed that she was fidgety, even more so than usual, and her normally bright eyes were overcast. A frown split her face, and she appeared more like her stone hearted father than he had ever seen her, and this scared Johor, deep down.
 
She wheeled him into the living room, and he sat down before the holovid. Farah flipped it on, where news anchors were debating over what could happen if Seadelant were lost for good, and the Orks able to establish a foothold along the Terra-Ultramar road, cutting the Imperium in two.

“When did you hear the news?” She asked, adjusting her bandana. She only did that if she was fidgety, or nervous.

“It was leaked this morning. As you can see, the Press are having a field day. The single most important link between Terra and Ultramar severed? The Chartists are bitching like mad, and there are already reports an entire trade fleet has been lost in the Warp. Let me guess, you’ve known about this for some time.”

Farah hung her head. “Grandpa told us not to tell anyone. He’s been busy night and day dealing with this crisis.”

“How is the Imperium going to respond to all this? The Interex would have sent a fleet out right away to liberate the planet, and yet twenty-eight days later, you have done nothing!”

“''We'' have not done nothing.” Farah huffed in that cute way of hers, though she half-smiled at the howl of his aria. “All these Ork attacks on the trade routes have already caused disruptions, and now this. The Legions are stretched thin covering every inch of Imperial space against Ork, Hrud, Dark Eldar and Warp Beasts, sometimes things slip through the cracks. This was one of those times. This is as bad as when Jake got stabbed on Nocturne, you remember that right…”

“Yeah, I remember.” Jake had occupied her thoughts for several days until Johor, despite liking the Hiver immensely, was almost sick to death of hearing his name. Farah had a habit of babbling on when she was fidgety or upset, which Johor found endearing, up to a point. Now he would have to go through all of that again, but with a different person.

“Julius. That rumour’s everywhere, that he was on that planet when the Orks invaded. Can you tell me anything? Is he dead, or what?” the aria wailed under his voice, a mournful, plaintive wail. Julius had been one of the few to take Johor in, to show the strange Interexan kindness and teach him about Imperial culture. The rumours that he was on Seadelant when the Orks invaded, that he might be among the dead filled him with woe.

“Nothing. Nothing at all, even Uncle Magnus can’t penetrate the aetheric interference to find out what’s going on. We know he was there when the Hulk came down; we know that for a certainty. Venus received that message just hours before the news of the Invasion reached Nocturne. Isis hides it well, but she has been having sleepless nights, and Angela’s been spending a lot of time with her. I think she fears he may be dead. We can’t know for certain until the liberation fleet arrives. We’ve been forced to gather ships and troops from everywhere, and cobble it together into the Liberation fleet. From what I hear representatives from all of the Legions will be present. I wish they would have a large contingent of Iron Hands, we know a trick or two about dealing with Orks. I’ve seen all the maps of Seadelant, and the capital Port Huron, and I know how the Hands would liberate the city. They would…”

“Farah, we’ll be here all day if you continue.”

Farah blushed. “You know me well Johor, much better than most.” The two of them had never been anything like a couple, Farah had her own boyfriend, but the two damn well did almost everything else together. They went to films, studied and hung out together. In fact, they had spent so much time together many wagging tongues and fellow friends considered them together. Farah was the only one who totally accepted Johor for what he was, a diverged human from the Interex.

“We shouldn’t panic. You Imperials may be uncouth and borderline barbaric, but you get shit done, you really do. Julius will be fine; he’s the only one of us who could survive an Ork invasion, look at his father.”

A short pause, before Johor added. “I have nowhere to go. You mind if I stay with you here?”

“You know you don’t have to ask Johor.” Her smile was back again, the frown burned away like morning mist. He had that effect on her. “You’re my best friend, and I can do with the company. Come on, there’s an episode of MST40k on the other channel.”