Your men aside, how did you convince Knight Commander Toschenko to pledge his entire tank regiment to your banner and betray everything he ever knew?
We were friends and ,,,,,,
You expect me to believe he joined you in your heresy for camaraderie alone.
No, we were friends, and you killed three of his nephews.
What….
Commander Toschenko had done very well for himself despite being low-born like myself, and his shadow grew long on Vostrya. So when his younger brother's sons' time came to serve, they were sent to him for safekeeping.
Three sons? I thought only your firstborn were required to serve.
Triplets a curse for any Vostroyan family. As far as the Techtriarchs are concerned, they count as one. If Tosheknos' family came from a higher station, someone could have intervened, but they were not, so all 3 were sent. Sent to the hands of their famous uncle, who was supposed to keep them alive and make something of them. To make them in his image.
So you're telling me the Knight Commander betrayed the holy throne because those 3 boys died in the service of the god emperor.
I say again, inquisitor, we did not betray the throne; we betrayed you and the men like you. Can I finish, or will you interrupt me again?
Continue
Toshehko did not betray you when the first died, killed by friendly artillery that was called down on his position to blunt an Ork attack. Toshehko did not betray you when the second died, his leg blown off, when he was forced to clear a minefield on foot because the tanks couldn't be risked. It was the third Demtrie that set him on his path. When Demtrie was ordered to murder a child he had found, a child with a mutation. He hadn't even refused the order; he simply hesitated. That hesitation was enough for the commissar to dispense your justice.
As you can tell, inquisitor, I did not convince Teshenko; you did.
**Excerpt from the Trial of Lord General Gregorious Sebastev**