Katiya considered it for a long moment. Her teachers at the scholam would have said that she had an admission of guilt and she ought to make a judgment on the spot. Of course that was easy for the Drill Abotts to say as they would probably never find themselves on a hostile world surrounded by troopers who were both scared and heavily armed.

"Well I suppose, if it were reported, I would have to have you flogged," she said, a slight smile tugging at her lips.

"Of course I would also have to have the sergeant shot for impeding an order of the Commissariat, so it is probably better if the incident is never reported to me," she concluded. Gripping the dashboard of the ground car as a heavy delivery truck roared passed them in a cloud of promethium fumes.  Katiya scowled at the vehicle as it pulled away, where were the praetors when you needed them. Ahead of them the Adeptus Arbities Sanctum rose into view, it was a five story tapered spire, faced with the traditional black granite to demonstrate the implacability of Imperial Judgment. Positions in the Arbities were sought after in the scholams, safer than the Commissariat or the Stormtroopers but still promising action and glory in His name. Katiya hadn't been tempted, having viewed even the Commissariat as a consolation for not being assigned to the Navy. The Emperor of Mankind had his reasons she was sure, and she would serve Him in whatever capacity.

Low buildings, administrative complexes and habs, surrounded the citadel like the roots of a great plant. Stalls and kiosks lined the road, hawking cheap goods and food of various quality. A preacher stood atop one of them, screaming about the end times and the emperors coming, unfavorable judgment. Ahead of them the delivery truck swerved suddenly disappearing down a ramp below the spire. There was a sudden crash and spatter of gunfire before the scream of rending metal. A moment later there was  tremendous flash and a concussion that hit the ground car and flipped it like a tiddly wink. Katiya's word was a callidiscope of confused images and colors as she was whipped against her restraints and a vast cloud of dust rushed out to obscure the sky. With a crash that was barely audible after the roar of the explosion the roof of the ground car hit the pavement, the blast of the explosion diving them several more meters in a shower of sparks before they came to a stop.

Katiya could taste blood in her mouth as she blinked the dust from her eyes, suspended by her seat belt upside down. The peaked hat had fallen to the floor and her long blond hair, gathered into a tight braid hung downwards. Dust chocked her mouth and eyes and she struggled to breath as her weight pressed down against the belts. It was probably only the flak armor she wore beneath her great coat that had prevented her from breaking her ribs. Outside in the swirling dust came the familiar crack, crack of stubber fire and she tried to order her thoughts. Someone had set off a bomb in the basement of the Arbities citadel. Instinctively she thumbed her palm in the Valhallan gesture of a half-aquilla. A moment later there was a screaming sound of disintegrating masonry as the tower itself, cloaked in the dust, collapsed into the void created by the blast below it. Shouts of victory and stubber fire increased, close enough now that Katiya could see the orange star of the muzzle flash. A figure in miners coveralls resolved out of the fog, holding a stubber in one hand and shouting in triumph.

"Death to the Oppressors!" he howled, oblivious to overturned car and its passengers. Katiya pulled her bolt pistol from its holster and fired. The round detonated in the joint between leg and pelvis and the bursting bolt flung the rebel aside in a gout of blood. He howeled in pain for a few seconts before the massive bloodloss quieted him. Another figure emerged beside the first and triggered a burst of stubber fire at the car, it raked the top section in a spray of sparks before Katiya's bolt struck him in the throat, decapitating him neatly. More figures began to converge on the firing, clearly the rebels had been in position to sweep up any surviving Arbities. Katiya's pulse thundered in her head as she dropped another of the rebels. This wasn't going to end well.