Sometimes, the world made more sense seen through the bottom of a glass.

This was not one of those times. Inquisitor Susanna Kustermann sighed and swirled the remains of her amasec around in the bottom of her glass, then placed it down on her desk with a faint clink. Before her lay a piece of paper and her autoquill. Behind her, she could feel the calm, unblinking eyes of her guest on her back as she vacillated, trying to put off the inevitable. 

"Three billion human souls." She said. She needed to say it - to understand the gravity of what she was about to do. "I sign this, and those three billion people die."

"They are already dead, lady Inquisitor." Her guest replied. His voice was soft, and not without pity. "This has been foreseen. If you do not act, one of your peers will. Inquisitor Luichtmere already lobbies for Exterminatus, and his masters are of a mind to grant his request."

"Bringing about a three percent drop in productivity for the sector." Susanna grimaced. "You've said. And that three percent is the difference between victory and the defeat when the Hive Fleet arrives?"

"Yes. This tendril of Starving Dragon can be halted, but victory hangs by the thinnest of threads. Failure will have dire consequences for both our people. Thus, I have come to you." Came the reply. Susanna turned and gave him a weary look. The Eldar matched it calmly, a thin smile flashing across his impossibly beautiful face.

"I know, Aellithiel. It's just..." She sighed again and looked back to the paper. Normally the Eldar didn't require such formal declarations of alliance, but today, Ailen was acting as a go-between for a people far more given to paranoia and betrayal. Susanna brushed a lock of auburn hair away from her face and picked up her autoquill, letting the tip hover above the parchment. "I wish your people had the manpower to do this. I hate having to deal with the Commorites, even by proxy." She said.

Even as the words left her mouth, the Inquisitor knew that even if the Eldar had been willing to commit, their highly attuned minds would leave them too vulnerable to the mind-plague that was sweeping through the population of Tanati IX. But the Dark Eldar, with their deadened psychic senses and rapacious hunger for slaves, could sweep across the planet like a swarm of locusts, ferreting out every last living creature, and leaving the world's infrastructure intact for the next wave of colonists.

Susanna replaced her autoquill and took up her glass, staring into the amber liquid swilling around the bottom as if it could provide an answer to her problem. She knew what had to be done. She knew what would happen if she failed to act. So, why did she hesitate? Why was she so unwilling to do what was necessary, when her peers would sign an Exterminatus order with barely a second thought?

She barely noticed Aellithiel's hands upon her shoulders until the Eldar spoke. 

"You hesitate because you remain whole. Luichtmere, Halistra, Gunther...they have abandoned part of themselves." The Eldar said. His voice was soft, and he began to massage her shoulders, rubbing out the tightness that had gathered in her muscles. Susanna tensed for a moment, then allowed herself to relax, releasing a long breath and slumping back in her seat. 

"They are slaves to their fears, their paranoia, their blind zealotry and rage." Aellithiel continued. Susanna closed her eyes and let her head roll back, letting the Eldar's strange, lilting accent drift through her. "But you understand. You see that the Imperium cannot endure as it is. Our people may never be friends, but our enemies are so much greater."

It was true. A dozen times upon a dozen worlds, she had seen the fruits of the Imperium's rampant, directionless hate. At times she felt like the only sane person in the Ordos, a lone voice screaming into a thunderstorm, desperate for someone - anyone - to hear and understand. But she was a radical, a xenophile, and there were few among her peers who would tolerate her.

"You carry a great burden, my Lady." The Eldar's breath whispered over her ear, and she let out a low groan as he worked another of her protesting muscles into submission. "And while I cannot take it from you, perhaps I can make the bearing of it easier."

Susanna opened her eyes, looking up at the Eldar. He had loosened his robes, and she let her gaze wander up the smooth expanse of his chest. She chewed at her lip as he stared down at her, amusement glittering in his violet eyes. The Inquisitor opened her mouth to speak, but Aellithiel cut her off.

"In once-times, I walked the Path of the Consort. I would share the skills I learned then with you now, if you wish it."

It took a few moments for the Inquisitor to reply. Eventually, she croaked out "...yes. That'd, uh, that'd be nice."

The Eldar stepped back and gestured for her to follow him to the cot-bed in the corner. Susanna rose, awkwardly tugging her hair free of it's tight bun and pulling at the clasps of her armour. Aellithiel had already shed his robe and she almost stumbled getting her boots off at the sight. Even from behind, the Eldar's body was gorgeous; his tall, lithe frame bound with narrow ropes of muscle, like a dancer, or one of the Death Cultists she'd had in her retinue once. She could already feel a wet heat building between her legs at the thought of getting her hands on him. Shedding the last of her clothes, she passed by the Eldar and sat on the bed, not even trying to hide the way her gaze met the long, stiff rod of his cock. She reached for it, but  let out a small moan of disappointment as Aellithiel gently pushed her down onto her back.

"In time, my lady, in time." He said, with a small, melodic laugh. He began to run his hands across her body, tracing the lines and contours with delicate fingers, at times dancing ever so close to her wetness or the curve of her breasts, but always gliding away at the last moment. Susanna groaned and writhed atop the sheets, squirming closer every time a finger teased along the edge of her labia. At the back of her mind, part of her wondered if this was a trick, or a trap, or some devious act of manipulation. The rest of her didn't care. It had been so long since she'd been with a man, and Aellithiel's touches were like lightning flaring across her skin. By the time he eased her legs open, her body was thrumming like a charged rod; she came almost as soon as he dipped his tongue into her dripping pussy, but despite her lusty howl of release, the Eldar didn't relent; probing, lapping, sucking and kissing at her, drawing her orgasm out for as long as he could before she flopped back down.

For a moment, all Susanna saw were stars. It was the Eldar's murmured voice that brought her back to her senses.

"That was a long time coming, I feel." Aellithiel said. He still idly drew a hand up and down her flank, his fingers leaving a trail of her wetness on her skin and leaving her shivering.

"You have no idea." Susanna replied. Pushing herself upright, she took the Eldar by his narrow shoulders and insistently guided him down onto the sweat-soaked sheets he had so recently positioned her upon. She leaned in and kissed his skin, tasting the strange, alien sweetness of his sweat, then began to lick her way up his chest, devouring every inch of it, then worked her way back down to his cock. It was longer than that of a humans, with a narrower, more pointed head, and she slipped it into her mouth with an indulgent moan, bobbing her head up and down and relishing in the feel of him twitching and pulsing within her mouth. Aellithiel gasped, and she pulled back before he could come, letting his wet cock slither out of her mouth and slap against his tight belly.

"Throne, I want this in me." She muttered. Shuffling forwards, the Inquisitor pulled herself up onto her knees and grasped Aellithiel's cock, lifting it up and positioning it at the entrance to her pussy. She squirmed back and forth, getting into position, then eased herself down, savoring the slow penetration as her dripping cunt devoured every inch of his cock. She could feel him inside her, and he filled her beautifully; the heat-on-heat of his hardness and her wetness threatened to tip her into a second orgasm there and then. Susanna began to grind her hips back and forth, her moans rising into the occasional girlish squeal as the Eldar bucked up deeper into her. It had been so long, so damn long - after three years of joyless masturbation, she didn't care that her partner was an alien, that all the whispers accusing her of xenophilia might not have been too far from the truth after all - all the Inquisitor cared about was the beautiful body beneath her and the glorious feeling of him inside her as she rocked back and forth on his dick. Aellithiel's hands groped at her breasts, kneading the soft mounds and twisting her nipples, sending bursts of pleasure through her body. With a laugh that was almost a growl, Susanna planted one hand on the Eldar's sculpted chest and pushed him back down into the sheets, leaning over him and sucking the tip of his pointed ear into her mouth. Grinning at the way the Eldar gasped and tensed, she bit and nibbled at the sensitive end, then cried out herself as his thumb found her clit and he bucked up into her with increasing frequency.

The stimulation of her cunt, clit, and nipples was too much. Susanna released the Eldar's ear and threw her head back, screaming out as she came again. Her orgasm crashing through her body like a tidal wave, setting every nerve in her body jangling; a moment later, she heard Aellithiel jerk below her and reach his own peak, flooding her body with his seed. Susanna slumped forwards, collaping atop her partner, breathing heavily. She could feel herself relaxing, all the stress and tension flooding out of her in the haze of their afterglow.

Aellithiel shifted, pulling himself into a position where they could look at one another. Even after their lovemaking, the Eldar still managed to look perfectly poised; his disorganised plume of white hair somehow perfectly framing his narrow, beautiful face. 

"A very long time coming." He repeated, laughing softly. "This was...most pleasurable. More so than I thought it would be."

Susanna sat up and stretched, deciding to take that as a compliment. "Most pleasurable, yes." She said. Untangling herself from her lover, she walked back to her desk, picked up her autoquill and signed the parchment without a second thought. Then she turned and leaned against the desk, letting the feathered end of the quill play across one of her nipples.

"There. It's done." She said. Amazingly, the Eldar still seemed to be hard. "But, I wonder, how should we celebrate? I have wine, but..."  She caught his expression and gave him a sly grin, nodding towards his sticky erection. "Given the Eldar are assisting me with one problem, it seems only fair that I assist the Eldar with one of theirs..."