Inquisitor Cicerus encounters the Tau

+++ COMMUNICATO INQUISITORI EXTREMIS
+++ORIGINATOR: Inquistor Lord Cicerus
ROUTE TO: Inquisitor-Consul Lord Metellus
PRIORITY CODE: Delta
SECURE REF: P9876SDAFFSD76429852IODNSD
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: Innocence proves nothing

My Lord, I beg to report on recent military action and discoveries in the Vastrid subsector.

As ordered, my initial priority was to locate and verify the faith of General Fillion. The same warp disturbance that caused my own ship to be effected by time dilation effects had also hindered the progress of the fleet carrying the General's troops. General Natoro Fillion is therefore declared innocent of heresy, and has joined my retinue. Admiral Hoson Fox, Navigator Inway Daniels, Navigator Stefanos Roskov, and Naval Commissar Lutro Vasius expired as I questioned them regarding their roles in allowing Imperial shipping to be impeded. As their souls were cleansed by my extortiators, they have passed into the Emperor's light, and I have instructed the naval authorities to award them their earned decorations posthumously.

Interpreting our most holy Emperor's divine will, I have ordered the General to aid in my investigations in the region, and to fulfill his original mission by defeating any threats to Imperial worlds and resources in the subsector. To this end, I commandeered an expeditionary force and made landfall on Minos, as xenos activity had been reported on this world. I encountered Tau forces in the desert regions around the planet's equator, and engaged them. In achieving victory over the aliens, many men and vehicles were lost and I was forced to destroy a grav tank in single combat before it could depart the field. In allowing heavy losses of His Holy Emperor's troops and equipment, Lieutenant Michal Forne is guilty of incompetence in imperial office, and I have sentenced him to one week's excrutiation and death by firing squad.

I am hopeful that interrogation of Tau prisoners captured in this action will yield information regarding the appointed officials in the region and any contact they may have had with nonhumans. It is currently unclear whether the Tau's presence on Minos is the result of incompetence or collusion on the part of the planet's governor, and my investigations continue.

The Emperor protects.

+++ TERMINUS +++