Part 1: Urchin
The streets were crowded this time again, the mass of humanity flowing through the narrow, broken cobble-stone streets like a filthy river. The sun beat down on the morass of people, baking their stench so that it wafted as a vile perfume where the people went, and that was everywhere. It seemed every square inch was taken up by someone, either walking, running, sleeping, selling, buying, or hiding. There was no quiet, there was no calm, there was no way to get away from the crowds, especially during this most august holiday.
Discovery Day, that was the holiday that had drawn nearly the entire population of the world to the capitol city during the hot mid-summer month. This was the day to celebrate when the planet had been brought back into the fold of humanity ten thousand years before by the Great Crusade of the Emperor of Mankind. Ten thousand years ago, the Adeptus Astartes, the Space Marines, had landed and declared the planet part of the Imperium of Man after being isolated and alone during the terrors of Old Night. Spinning around a hot star to the galactic south, Riga was part of Segmentum Ultima, and a distant world at that. It was sitting on a major trade artery through the sector though, which made it a well-traveled world for it's remoteness.
On this day, the world had come to a standstill in observance of Discovery Day, the population making pilgrimages to the capitol, to be there for the official ceremony. The capitol was over-stuffed with humanity at the best of times, now it was simply unbearable. The flags bearing the Aquila hung everywhere, blowing in the foul-smelling air that wafted through the streets above the river of people. Everywhere there was someone, everywhere there was money to be made, money to lose, lives to lose, and vices to indulge in. The streets had been packed for days now, and with the official ceremony only a day away, it was as bad as ever.
It was through this impenetrable mass of flesh and machinery that a little tuft of chestnut hair darted. Sandals that were more not there than there clung to dirt-crusted feet as the small figure weaved through the crowd with expertise. Slipping in between two plodding Mechanicum servitors, the young one gained a few more feet down the road. Her tattered, dark red tunic hung loose on her emaciated body, barely enough fabric left to call it modest by any means.
"Get back here gutter trash!"
A shouting behind her let her know that her pursuer was close. Daring a glance behind her, she could see a huge burly brute of a man, half a skull made of metal, barreling through the slow moving crowd after her. Letting out a string of curses that would make even the most experienced Naval officer blush, the man fixed his real and cybernetic eye on hers of blue and sped up; it was only his sheer brute size and strength that afforded him any forward movement at all.
Turning again forward, the young girl saw her goal: a loose grate on the side of an old building just a dozen or so more yards up the clogged road. The man chasing her wasn't entirely wrong, she was gutter trash and she knew it. Alone, unwanted, scavenging to survive, that's all she could be. Her parents had been killed by a local gang lord over her father's gambling debt, and she had been made the crime lord's pet. Eight years of age, she was a trophy to the vile man that had killed her family. When a rival gang raided the crime lord's base of operations, she had managed to escape in the firefight, using the confusion to slip into the duct system and get out of there; now ten years old, she had been on her own ever since. She had learned how to hide, how to move about in the crowded city, filled with no one that cared about her. The man chasing her was a shop owner, she had stolen a piece of three-day-old bread which would be her meals for the next several days if she was careful. Normally, she would not have been caught, but the customer the shop-keep was dealing with had dropped some coins, and he had turned to grab them, that's when they saw her.
Emelia had learned how to steal and pick-pocket like the best of them, her education being practical and on the street. The size of her hands were to her advantage, her small hands slipping into pockets and retrieving valuables from them; many member of the local Administratum or some wealthy business had discovered their pockets lighter when next they inspected them.
Using her smaller size to get around a rather fat, flashy-dressing merchant, she lifted the grating on the hole on the wall and dove in. Leading to a crawlspace underneath the building that would be to small for any full-size person, she crawled back into the darkness, the screams and curses of the shop keeper she had robbed clanging through the grate he had no hope of even getting his head through.
Crawling until she saw light again, she emerged in a small space between two ancient buildings, closed off at both ends save for the grate she had just emerged from. This was a space of her own world, a place just for her. Inaccessible to everyone and out of sight of everyone, here she was home. A dirty blanket and empty food cans littered the ground, the sum total of her possessions. Chest heaving, she leaned against the wall and let herself sink down, coming to a sitting position on crossed legs.
Carefully breaking the stale bread apart, she stashed several pieces underneath a wooden boxes, nibbling on the one she kept in her hand. She was hoping with all the bustle and distraction of the festival, she'd be able to score some more bread, maybe even some sweets if she was lucky. She knew that the holiday was about the Imperium finding Riga, everyone including street urchins knew the stories of that day. She knew about the Emperor on the Throne and might of His forces, but none of that mattered to her. She wasn't a heretic or pious, it just didn't matter to her. Not getting caught by bad men and and finding food were what she cared about. With the festivities, well-to-do travelers would also be about in the city, they definitely would have something worse stealing.
She was biting down on the stale bread when a shadow fell across her. Only having a second to look up, she saw someone falling from the sky right towards her! No, not falling, landing. The stranger hit the ground and did a roll to slow and cushion their speed, coming to a crouching stop right next to the young girl. This stranger, this person who suddenly fell from the sky, was clad in a black body suit with hair pulled back into a ponytail. A female, the young scared girl huddled up against the side of the wall figured this stranger was probably mid to late twenties, and she looked very deadly. The young girl had developed a sense for these things, this woman now before her had a aura of death about her. As she came to a full stop, legs bent and one hand on the ground, the young girl saw her quickly tuck some kind of red pendant back into the collar of her skin-tight bodysuit.
The woman slowly turned her head, her eyes obscured by a reflective black visor. It ran across her eyes and connected with some kind of cybernetic implant on either side of her head just before her ears. The young girl trembled, nowhere to run or hide, no way to defend herself so close to this deadly new arrival.
"Hello," the woman said.
"Um... he... hello," the girls' voice was barely a squeak.
The woman nearly smiled, then continued, "the Church of His Benevolence"
"E... excuse me?" the girl was still sure she was about to be attacked, her hands shaking as they gripped her legs.
"The Church, on Finelli Street. Which way is the street?"
It was more of a demand than a question.
Raising a trembling hand, the young girl pointed in the direction of Finelli Street.
"Thank you," the deadly woman nodded, looking that direction; it looked like she was about to jump or run again when she turned back to the little girl.
"Name?"
"..." the girl's mouth stammered.
The woman didn't seem to have a lot of time, "your name. What's your name?"
It had been a long time since anyone had called her by her name, the girl had to dig for the memory of the word for a moment.
"Emelia"
She nodded, "thank you Emelia"
The woman suddenly tensed her muscles and jumped up off the ground. She jumped so high she cleared the nine-foot wall and disappeared out of sight!
Emelia just sat there for a few minutes, looking at the empty air where the woman had suddenly jumped away into. She had never seen anyone move like that, it was amazing! Her fight-or-flight instincts finally calmed and Emelia was alone once more, an unexpected moment of excitement punctuating the day.
She sighed: back to her terrible daily life. As night fell, the noise of the crowd didn't fall with it; Emelia pulled the hole-filled blanket over her and went to sleep on the hard dirt ground, knowing that the next day would probably be just a horrible as every day preceding it. She had no idea that the next day, as ordinary as she expected it to be, would change her life forever.