Tiny feet pit patted through the blood, tears silently running down the girls dirty face. The blood was cold between her toes, more a jelly than liquid as she stepped in the crimson pool. Below her, chunks of meat that had once been her father were strewn around the ruined and desecrated remains of her mother. She tensed, a crunch of gravel outside alerting her to the presence of another. Quietly, carefully, the girl moved away from her parents bodies and hid in the space beneath the sink she had been huddled in for almost three days. The sound from outside stopped as she lowered the false bottom of the storage space back into position and she suppressed a gasp, realising the unknown figure may have heard the final clunk as the plasteel plate dropped into place. She clamped her hand over her mouth, desperately hoping the sound of her breathing would not give her away.
The door into the devastated hab could be heard dragging across the floor, long since removed violently from it's frame and now resting across the entryway to the ruined home. Furniture splintered and crunched under boots she could have slept in and more tears dropped from her eyes as they came slowly closer, step by step drawing nearer to her hiding place. She was shaking now, the thrum of powered armour was all she could hear beside the rasp of air drawn in through the vox-grill in the giant's helm, steady and menacing.
She yelped as an armoured fist punched through the thin plasteel sheet above her head, grabbing her by the scruff of her neck before pulling her clear of the hole she had been in. An armoured fist held her up, paint scratched and battered on the armoured fingers that closed around her neck as the arm pulled her closer in, skull faced helm leering at her.
"I can smell your fear..." He growled at her, thin smoke rasping from between the yellowed and blackened teeth of the mask. "I can hear your heartbeat, little bird. Quick and quiet, but I hear you..."
Her fingers grasped his forearm, broken nails scraping against his armour as his other arm reached up and took hold of the helmet, fingers grasping the death mask to pull it up and away. Beneath, two black eyes looked at her with disinterest.
"I must admit, I expected bigger prey." A voice like grinding granite rumbled at her. Scars crisscrossed his face, where lips once were lay a bubbled scar that covered his entire chin and lower face. A ragged strip had been torn long ago from one side of his head, narrowly missing an eye and the pale skin twitched and pulsed as the two looked at each other. His eyes narrowed as the girl lowered a shaking hand behind her and pulled out a tiny sliver of metal, ruby drips hanging from the tip.
"Use it. If you can. Even one such as you can fight if you want to live." Still his unblinking stare held her, eyes without depth holding her so intensely even the shaking of her limbs had stopped. She broke first, tears blurring her vision until she was forced to blink them away. When she opened them, a glint caught her attention before his terrible eyes could enrapture her again and she focused on the metal shard gripped in her fingers. She had felt it break the skin of her back when he had pulled her through the lid of her hiding place but he had squeezed her too hard at first and her agonised scream had been little more than wheezing air. She had no idea how she had pulled it from her back, and even less of one as to why she was still holding it, but his words rang in her head as she looked back to the monster holding her captive.
If he was honest, and Dezzik Kinslayer never was, he hadn't expected the girl to even look at the tiny dagger let alone use it, so when her arm lashed out like a pale whip and he felt his eye burst like an egg, the fluid of it splashing down over his face and chestplate, it was a complete surprise. His ears rang with silence, both hearts thundering as they flooded his body with a deadly cocktail of poisons and his time appeared to slow, perception distorted as the combat stimms accelerated his mind to near superhuman levels. He could see her, with his other eye, dropping through the air as both his gauntlets reached towards his face and he was shocked when he saw her expression. There was no fear there, only fury as her arm drew back even as she fell, intent on delivering another blow before he stole her life from her, and he tried to do so, servo-accelerated muscles tensing as he snapped his fist towards her torso.
But the blow never fell. He could feel his arm tensed, the first curled on the end of his wrist, the rotation in his shoulder as he swung the arm in a tight arc, but all that hit the child was his blood, hot and stinking, steaming as it began to burn the upper layers of her skin. She hit the ground first, another scream already escaping her as she crouched, ignoring the flesh boiling beneath his corrupted blood and she thrust the knife up toward his face once more, her aim driven by sheer instinct. She could reach no higher than his waist, her stature totally and utterly dwarfed by his, but he was falling and his bulk tipped towards her as her arms lunged forward. The knife plunged into his skin, tearing an ugly wound under his chin and up into his mouth. Still falling almost on top of her, he reached out with an arm he still didn't realise he no longer had to arrest his fall but slammed into the ground instead and knocked her aside.
Blood gargled out of the wound as he tried to breath around the liquid rushing down his throat and he reached up, yanking the tiny sliver from his skin with a spray of blood and clamping his remaining hand over the wound. It proved a futile gesture scant seconds later when a blade appeared between his fingers and his eyes widened in surprise. Spinning as he fell Dezzik saw his killer, a masked woman with flowing white hair and clad in a pitch dark bodysuit, a gleaming sword in her hand as he slid from the vitae coated point. His corpse smashed the floor tiles as it fell, his dead weight pulverising the ceramic tiles that coated what had been the floor of the kitchen. The girl whimpered as he fell, her barely conscious form curling up as the pain from the wounds she had received fought off the adrenaline.
"Medic! We have a survivor!" A voice rang out, feminine yet strong and clear. Another armoured figure stepped into the remains of the building and strained to rollthe dead heretic away from the girl, a beeping auspex pointed at her.
"She could be corrupted, to have survived so long here..." Came from the medic, his pouch out and rested on armoured knee as he prepared a dose of anaesthetic to administer to the girl.
"No. Her soul is pure. I have seen the fury of the God-Emperor's will shine through her with my own eyes. Get her onto the lander. I will oversee her myself if necessary."Spoke the masked woman, her sword slipping without sound into its scabbard at her hip. The medic nodded and picked the girl up in his arms. He turned and began to walk back towards friendly lines when the child in his arms reached out to touch the masked figure.
"Th.. thank you..." Her eyes were flickering as the drugs took effect and numbed her body, making the world feel warm and far away.
"Thank you child, you distracted him long enough for me to end his life. One day we will fight together again. What is your name little one?" The woman replied, touching the girls dirt covered cheek gently with a finger.
"Ser... Sera." she breathed, the ivory haired woman leaning close to hear the word.
"You fought well Sera. Do not give up now and I promise you will have vengeance on his kind like you would never have dreamed."
Another tear rolled down Sera's face as she slipped into the dreamless sleep of the drugs and the medic carrying her made to move away again when he was stopped by the grip of the other woman. She pulled off her mask and looked the man in the eye, her face set and serious.
"See? I told you she was special."Her hand moved to the girls throat and shoulder, where the vile blood of the dead marine had landed on her and seared her flesh minutes before. The woman's gloved hand wiped the crusted blood away and beneath the girls skin was smooth, clean and unblemished.
"If she had been tainted by the accursed heretics in this place, surely the God-Emperor would not have saved her from this? I have seen such things kill grown men if left too long. She is special, mark my words. HE will ask much of her now, and it will be up to us to ensure she is prepared for the task."
One Week Later *
Beneath a single glaring bulb, Sera stood stock still and waited. Cleaned of her families blood and days of the filth of a battle field, her short black hair no longer matted, pale skin smooth and clean. The masked woman stood behind her, stiletto heeled boots click across the tiny mosaic tiles as she moves around the girl.
"What is your full name?"
"Sera Veritas Fullar."
"How old are you?"
"Nine Terran Standard. On Hedra I was twelve cycles."
"Veritas? How did you come by that name?" The woman frowned in slight surprise at the unusual name.
"My Gramma gave it to me when I was born, she said it was the name of a girl she used to nurse for."
"Do you know what it means?"
"No." The girl looked down now, expecting punishment. When none came she looked up at the woman, eyes wide.
"It means Truth. It is a fine name."Her blue met the girls green ones and she saw a hint of the fire from when she had found the girl. "Do you know who I am?"
"No. I asked." Another downward glance. "But nobody would tell me."
"That's because I told them not to. My name is Magda La'Hevrig. I am a member of the Order of the Martyred Lady. I am a Sister of Battle, hardened and forged in the fires of war to bring the light of the Emperor to all mankind. I slay all who would encroach on his domain with bolter, blade and fire. I am his wrath, his mailed fist and his deliverer of judgement. All those who stray from his light fear my blade in the darkness. I will teach you the six hundred ways to kill, and I will show you how to extract the truth from the lips of the most hardened heretic. When we have finished, you will take vengeance against those that would do that which was done to you. You will be His weapon, as I am His weapon."She paused for a second to let the girl absorb the information. It was a lot to take in, especially so soon after the trauma she had been through but the girl seemed to be taking it well. Her green eyes were clear and focused as she stared straight ahead into the darkness. Magda's mouth twitched at the edge, curling up into the smallest of smiles.
"I am currently working with a member of the Holy Inquisition, an Inquisitor. If you prove able to survive my training, you will remain with me in his service until I return to my Convent. Do you accept?"The girl nodded, face solemn, eyebrows set in a scowl as she glared up at her new master.
One Year Later *
Sera slipped her hand into the soft leather gauntlet, pulling it taught over her knuckles and closing the push stud at her wrist. Crouched in the corner of the room, she stood quietly to prevent her bodysuit from shifting and creating any sound and crept slowly forward. She wrapped her fingers around the knife handle at the small of her back and gently pressed the other to the opening stud on the door in front of her. It opened with a hiss, light pouring in from the corridor ahead and she quickly glanced in each direction before slipping out to the right and moving silently along the wall of the hallway.
Ahead was another bulkhead, this one much heavier and lit from above by a red glowbulb. She crept closer, slipping a data-spike connected to a dataslate out of a pouch beneath her knife before ramming the point into the connection port in the keypad beside the bulkhead. The screen flashed up a confirmation and the door opened with a squeak.
Inside the room she could see little, and hear less, so she crept slowly forward into the cavernous storage area and slipped like fluid up the side of some crates onto the top of the stacked shelves. She began to hear voices ahead and pausing to listen and picking out three voices. She smiled, picking them from her memory of the hundreds of crew she had met aboard the ship, slipping closer until she was almost directly over their heads.
They were playing cards under one of the ceiling mounted stablights and she could see a small pile of plasteel chips between them. Standing and drawing the dagger from it's sheath she pinched two fingers around the base of her throat to deepen her voice, and in what was a fair impression of her master she called out to the men.
"But they that will be rich fall into temptation and will be snared by many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and corruption, they shall fall into the grasp of the unclean and they shalt be purged, burnt in body and soul so they may be purified in His eyes and He may see fit to lay judgement on them!"
As the startled men rose and began looking around in fear they had been discovered by Mistress La'Hevrig she leapt from the shelf she was stood atop and landed with a crash on the table they had been playing cards on. Cards and chips flew everywhere and she lashed out with a foot, catching a man in overalls behind the ear to send his careering into another stack of shelves. The other two reacted and lunged for her but she was too quick for both and rolled backwards over the one behind her to slide down his back.
Backstepping quickly, she drew her dagger across her chest and raised both hands up in a guard position. They glanced at her as they recovered, sharing a quick glance before going on the offensive again. They rushed her together and she kicked off the ground and backflipped away, landing on her feet without touching the floor, using their pause to lunge forward and draw the biting edge of her blade against the bigger of the two's forearm. He slapped a hand to the wound as she slipped backwards once more, all three circling each other but it only took a few seconds for the neuro-toxin from the envenomed blade to kick in and the large tattooed ex-ganger teetered for a few seconds before collapsing in a heap on the floor. The last man ignored his fallen comrade and moved towards her, ducking and redirecting her blade each time she swung or thrust. He grabbed her wrist as she over extended and pulled her forward as he brought his knee up into her chest. The powerful blow forced the air out of her chest as she fell dazed to the ground. He picked the girl up by the back of her bodysuit and picked up the table they had been playing cards on seconds ago. He put her down as she gasped for air and unclipped a small hand-vox from his belt to speak into it.
"Baranoth here, I'm in Hold 8-C with Marius, Gavin and Sera. Can somebody please tell Mistress La'Hevrig where she is and ask her to come down and collect her young prodigy please. Oh, and will someone get a couple of medics from the medicae deck and have them come collect Gavin and Marius, she did a fair number on the two of them." He sat back and looked at the girl, who was glaring at him from the table as she gasped on the table. "You needn't look at me like that, you almost had me until I realised who it was. You tried the same move last month when you ambushed me in the mess hall and it almost got me then too. Good idea taking Marius out with a toxin though, he's surprisingly quick for such a big fellow isn't he?"
Two Years Later *
Blade-Master Gazaan was one of the most sought after men in the sector. His decades of experience had left him endowed with monstrous skill and a fierce temper, and a reputation as a most excellent educator in the ways of killing. He had crossed steel with some of the greatest names the Askellon Sector and it came as no surprise to Magda La'Hevrig that her young apprentice had surprised him with her abilities.
Tall and whip-thin, Gazaan was by no stretch of the imagination an attractive man, his shaven head so closely cropped that his scalp shone in direct light. Steel grey eyes looked out over his crooked nose and his cruel mouth spat orders and disdainful comments on the enactment of those orders as the girl danced before him. His blade rang as he deflected her blow and knocked her aside with a shoulder charge, yet more spiteful words issuing from the man.
"Faster! Tighter! You overreach too much!" Sliding inside her guard, he knocked the two foot length of sharpened steel from her hand as he rested the edge of his own weapon against her throat.
"Pathetic. And now you are dead. Again!"
Anger glimmered in Sera's eyes, frustration leaking out while she had desperately tried to land a single blow on the man, as she had been attempting to do in the last six months of her training, and she stooped to pick up her fallen blade. Raising the point towards him, she dove forwards once more in attack and he lazily flicked his weapon round to redirect hers, the ageing swordsman not even bothering to raise his guard.
"NO! You are getting angry and lazy! Both will get you killed in the field of battle!" He slapped her sword away with the flat of his own and used his other hand to slap her hard across the face. Tears fell this time, rolling over her raw, stinging cheek to fall to the cold floor of the training room.
"Enough. Return tomorrow when you have adjusted your attitude."
She rose in silence, a sullen hatred for the man plain to see as she stiffly bowed before stalking to the weapon rack and slamming her weapon home. He watched her leave the repurposed cargo hold and moved to stand beside Magda.
"She is as skilled as any I have seen, better by far than most but her temper betrays her. Would that she could master her impulses, then she would truly be a fearful enemy."
"She is improving though?"
"Only in losing her temper. She was born to the blade as only few are, her gifts extend far beyond my own and she would have bested me long ago if only she could stop thinking about the sword and started feeling it."
Magda nodded, walking with him toward the entrance Sera had left by.
"You have my thanks for working with her, when I realised she could defeat me given enough time I realised she needed a true master to instruct her and the God-Emperor could not have provided a more suitable man for the role."
He bowed low as they exited and locked the room, his almost comically shiny head glinting under the lumin-strips illuminating the hallway.
"You honour me fair Sister. I am beyond glad to serve those that serve the Throne. The retainer the honourable Inquisitor offered is nothing to sniff at, either."
She smiled back at him and bade him farewell, the two heading to in separate directions as she moved towards Sera's quarters and he moved to his own. Finding her protégé was easy, the girl not having changed rooms since she had been brought onboard. She pressed the panel beside the bulkhead to open the portal and stepped inside.
Sera was kneeling before her panelled shrine, the cramped quarters providing no room for anything bigger. Each of the three panels bore an image, Holy Terra on the left, an impression of the God-Emperor in the middle, and the icon of the Martyred Lady on the right hand panel. The girl was whispering beneath her breath, a prayer ribbon between her fingers as she knelt before the shrine. Small candles had been scattered around the room and she had forsaken the use of the lumin-bulbs in favour of them, small clusters of candles and incense casting flickering shadows across the close walls. Magda took a seat on the foot of her apprentice's bed and waited for her to finish, smoothing the creases from her robes as she sat in silence.
"What is it you require of me Mistress?" Sera asked when she was done, not looking at the woman, instead folding the shrine away and beginning to extinguish her candles.
"Nothing, it is what you require of me that brings me here." The young girl turned at this, confusion plain in her look.
"You let your feelings get the better of you. Do you hate Master Gazaan?"
"Yes."
"Wrong. You hate yourself for disappointing the both of you. But you can use that. Anger is a wild, flailing thing, useless and ineffectual. You must temper it, forge it into a blade all it's own."She looked at her apprentice, gladdened to see that the girl was listening intently.
"That blade is your truest weapon, but it is also one your enemies can wield. It's edge will cut you more deeply than any power blade, it's shape as fluid as the smoke you see before you and it can never be broken. But if you use it without caution, it will kill you as surely as any Bolter. Trust Master Gavaan and I, together we will help you hone your skills such that no enemy will be able to stand before you."
Sera nodded, contrite and quiet after her most recent lesson. She moved quickly towards the door, pressing the opening stud as her Mistress had done minutes before.
"Where are you going?" Magda asked, surprised at the girls sudden move towards the door.
"To train Mistress, and to apologise to Master Gavaan for my behaviour." And then she was gone, leaving Magda sat alone in her room surrounded by smoke. The Sister of Battle smiled, reminded of her own wilful years and left for her own chambers and the bath waiting for her there.
Four Years Later *
Sera was sweating inside her armour, the close fitting bodysuit protecting her from the flames but not the heat. She moved through the ruined building, smashed masonry and rubble littering the dusty floor. Flames licked up the walls, hungrily reaching for the remains of the wooden beams that once held the roof. A broken gargoyle leered up at her from the ground, sending a shiver through the girl as her memory flashed back to that hazy, distant day. Her microbead crackled and shocked her out of the past.
"Sera, you are falling behind. Catch up and meet me at the chapel in the eastern square."
"Yes Mistress."
Shaking herself and slapping the side of her head to clear her thoughts, the girl moved further out the ruin, leaving the burning building and corpses behind her.
The Flamer was heavy in her arms as she jogged over the uneven ground, sloshing fuel tanks strapped to her combat webbing slowed her only a little as the rigorous training had strengthened her mind and body. Throughout the city she could hear all the sounds of fighting, explosions and gunfire echoed through the empty streets even as her feet carrier her along.
Minutes later she passed within a dozen meters of a skirmish between the Militarum forces and the heretical forces that had threatened Imperial rule in the system, perhaps a dozen heretics had blockaded the road with the destroyed carcasses of a pair of Chimera tanks and were engaged in a firefight with a squad of Militarum troopers. The battle seemed to have reached a stalemate, the troopers unable to advance due to the lack of cover or overwhelming firepower, and the heretics unwilling to give up the blockade to counter-attack.
Sneaking up into one of the buildings overlooking the street, she found she was over looking the battle itself, heretics just to her left and the troopers perhaps a hundred yards in the other direction. She looked around, using the stealth training she had been given to observe the situation without being observed herself. A door beside her gently rattled in its frame as a breeze blew through the broken windows all around and she opened it, moving beyond into the next room.
Moving over to the window once again, she found herself directly overlooking the heretic position, the men below her squatting behind the tank as they traded las-bolts and solid rounds with their counterparts further up the road. Stepping back from the window, she checked the load on her Flamer to find three-quarters of a tank still remained.
"I am his weapon as he is my shield, I am the deliverer of righteous judgement to those who would oppose him and he is the light that guides me through the darkness. All in his domain shall be purified by the holy flame and the unworthy will be burned away to nothing. Ave Imperator."
She changed the grip on her weapon into one hand, wrapping the strap around her arm as she drew the short sword resting against her back in the other hand, moving away from the window. Turning back to the shattered portal, she sprinted back toward it, leaping through at the last moment, flipping gracefully through the air to land silently on soft soled boots amongst the filth that stained the soul of humanity. Swinging the weapon up to chest height she pulled the trigger, white hot promethium gushing forth and pouring over the nearest of them even as she lunged forward, spearing another of the men through the throat with her blade.
A shout from behind her made her spin to see the squad leader rushing towards her with his sword drawn and laspistol in hand. She stooped low under his swing and erupted like a geyser underneath him to drive her blade through his sternum. Lasbolts whipped past her, lending the air a metallic tang while she took hold of the dying man and turned them both to face where her back had been. More rounds peppered the corpse, punching steaming holes into his armour as she weathered the onslaught and began to step towards the assailants. Tucking the Flamer under his arm and pointing it at the men beyond, she triggered it again to catch them in the arc of burning death. Pulling the sword free of the sergeant's chest she ran forward, leaping the screaming bodies of the shooters she had burned and landed in a roll. Rising to her feet, she saw the last remaining renegade stand to attack when a solitary las round flattened one side of his head and he collapsed like a puppet with his strings cut.
"HOLD! STAY WHERE YOU ARE!" The Militarum troopers had advanced along the street during her attack, taking advantage of the confusion to assault the position. Three of them had half-surrounded her, weapons aimed squarely at her chest even as their commander approached.
"Who are you? Never seen a... girl fight like that." Brown stubble coated his chin, the beginnings of a moustache decorated his upper lip and she suddenly realised he probably wasn't that much older than herself. A glance at the others showed they were similarly young, though each had the glint of experience in his eye, that hardened suspicious look veterans often wear.
"You don't need my name, just know that I am a friend. I have business further into the city, and I cannot delay." She gave him her most serious look, though it was somewhat lost on the men who realising she was not a threat had started to look at her in an entirely different manner. The bodyglove she wore was armoured, though the feminine figure developing beneath was evident when she stayed still for long enough for anyone to get a proper look, and she turned slightly, embarrassed by the stares.
"You're a gift from the Emperor is what you are. We've been trying to take this junction all day, then you come in and do it single handed! We'll not stop you Miss." Slightly surprised at his reaction, Sera turned away and gave him one last look over her shoulder.
"The Emperor is a guiding light in the darkness, remember that while you serve him and have faith. He is always watching." She cast a meaningful look away from the men and up, where a statue of Him stood watching over his flock from the chapel she was headed for. The men all followed her gaze and looked at the statue, magnificent even through the damage it had suffered during the ongoing war and when they looked back she was gone, only a swirl in the smoke to mark her passage.
She hurried through the city, eyes searching the skyline until the chapel rose above the buildings surrounding her and Sera got a clear look at her objective for the first time through the smoke laden battlefield the city had become. Her mouth fell open in awe as she saw that the building appeared to be glowing with righteous indignation at the mockery the Chaos forces were making of it's surroundings. Reality soon asserted itself as she realised that the glow was the burning of the eastern quarter behind the chapel but the rush of adrenaline and the feeling of pride that had swelled in her chest when she had thought that perhaps He was watching her personally did not fade even as she reached the building itself and pushed open the large wooden doors before her. Immediately several hands reached out from the darkness within the chapel and dragged her inside before slamming the doors shut again behind her even as she rolled forward and drew her weapons.
"Sera! You are among allies." Came a voice from the shadows to her left and she looked over in time to see Magda step into the light of a single bulb that had been activated by the men who had dragged her inside. Sheathing the weapons again, Sera turned to her Mistress before bowing.
"Yes Mistress, apologies."
"Do not apologise for being alert and prepared for trouble child, especially when we face the agents of the Arch-Enemy on the battlefield. Keep your wits as sharp as the sword you carry, you will need them many times more before our task here is completed."
Turning away from her ward, Magda headed through into the main chapel area through another door and through it Sera could see that there were Militarum forces that had appropriated the space within for use as a forward command centre and rudimentary medicae space. Wounded men lay on the floor with blood stained medics attempting to staunch bleeding or stabilise critical wounds and among them she saw Baranoth near elbow deep in the torso of an unmoving soldier who Sera would have long given up on as lost. The man flashed a grin to her from beneath his spattered moustache before continuing on with his work and she moved to join her teacher in front of the twin headed eagle pulpit usually occupied by the chapels head Ecclesiarch during the daily ceremonies. A long wooden table had been moved into the space, Imperial officers standing around the table were issueing commands to a team of vox operators who were speaking quickly into their headsets as they flicked between squad channels and issued fresh orders with each second.
Sera had seen combat before but had never worked in such close proximity with any kind of command staff, and the efficiency of the great Imperial Machine stunned her. More than fifty thousand soldiers were taking part in the battle to liberate the city from the traitorous invaders that had attacked a little over a week before and the team of commanders she could see before her seemed to be directing the battles across the entire city without breaking a sweat. Almost. One of the officers had a bloody bandage wrapped around his torso and he had a hand pressed firmly to the crimson patch that seemed to be slowly growing even as he worked.
"Impressive is it not? Faith can push a man beyond his limits far better than any other motivator. These men fight not only for the fate of the city but for the fate of the entire planet, perhaps the sub-sector itself. Perhaps more importantly, they fight for those homes."
Sera nodded in silence as the men continued thier work and turned to follow her Mistress as the white haired woman moved away and took a seat in one of the pews that had been pushed aside to make room for the men to work in. Gesturing to Sera to join her, the woman reached for a compact data-slate stowed in one of the belt pouches strapped to the outside of her body suit before activating the device. Flicking through the data contained within she handed over the slate when she reached what she wanted Sera to read. The hazy green display showed an image of a soldier, his face twisted by scars and the marks that had been carved into his skin and she suppressed a shudder as the symbols seemed to squirm and writhe even though the image was a static shot taken on a distant battlefield.
"His name is Thrane, he was the commander of a PDF regiment on Derinor VII and has led a revolt across the other six planets in the system before arriving here on Derinor Prime. The Lord Inquisitor has... requested that we personally take care of him and I mean to oblige. Should we succeed, we will be joining my sisters at the Convent on Perlia III as soon as the Warp allows us passage there. I will rejoin my sisters in righteous battle against the foes of humanity and you will be inducted into the order, trained in our ways and will one day wear a suit of battle plate and weild the Holy Bolter. You have made me proud over these long years Sera."
Sera looked up at Magda quickly, her eyes wide as she imagined the future that lay before her and a smile began to appear on her face. It had been her dream ever since her rescue to truly join the Order beside Magda, to bring justice down on the heads of the unworthy beside her sisters and for those that fight in the name of the Great Enemy to quake at the very mention of her name. With those dreams growing nearer and nearer she found she could barely contain herself, the child-like excitement that she had for so long denied herself building to a fever-pitch within.
Outside the battle could be heard increasing in volume, a counter-attack from the Chaos forces having gained them significant ground of the battle could be heard through the thick stone walls of the chapel that surrounded them. Looking from her master to the stained arma-glass panels shaking in thier frames, Sera stood on shaking legs and began to mutter a litany of calming beneath her breath. All around the men forming the command staff of the battle were rushing here and there, men pulled from guarding the streets outside were setting up barricades and fire-lanes to cover all the entrances to the building and even as she watched, one of the men who had been marked out for the attention of the Medicae's dragged himself over to lean against the back of one of the pews the men had moved and began to painfully stack lasgun clips and grenades in easy reach of his comrades. Noticing the way Sera was staring at the man, Magda gently touched the girl's shoulder and spoke.
"Do you see? How duty and hope can push a man beyond limits that would kill any other? Where others would give up the planet, the continent or even the city as lost, these men fight to protect thier homes, thier families. Everything they love. And they do it in the name of something greater than themselves, as does the Emperor on his throne. Never forget that to serve is to suffer, and we often suffer for what we love."
Around her the activity seemed to halt as the men finished their tasks and waited for news of the enemies retreat or for the men themsleves to come barrelling into the chapel. She could feel the tension in the air as every man waited with baited breath for the inevitable and she found herself not looking at them but at the beautific face of the statue of the Emperor far above them, the stone of the statue so well disguised that He seemed to be forming himself out of the rock to look down upon the small congregation. An explosion nearby shook the building, a small patter of dust falling from the ceiling and passing through the light that was coming in through small holes in the roof. Sera watched as the dust fell between her and the face of the father of Humanity and she feel oddly at ease, as if the battle was far away and none of her concern. A hand on her shoulder shook her from the reverie and she turned to look directly into her teachers eyes.
"We must go Sera, the men here have this well in hand and our time is running short. If Thrane believes the battle won then he will be away and out of our grasp once more."
Nodding in response, Sera quickly checked her gear before following her mistress to one of the small side doors leading to the south side of the church, a pair of sweating guardsmen nervously opening the door for them before slamming it closed again in thier wake. Out here the sounds of battle were so much louder, she could hear the crack of las weapons and the rolling thunder of battle tank cannons all around and for a few seconds she could feel the cold grip of fear tightening around her gut. A deep breath calmed her as she thumbed the prayer ribbon she carried with her and as her master took of at a run towards the rear of the church, she followed.
They passed four battles, her mistress sprinting past without a second glance. Sera could see that each time the men fighting could so desperately use their help, and she couldn't help but wonder, how many of them would die because the two of them simply slipped past. She was slipping again, the focus she had spent so long to refine worn thin by the hours already fought in the city, and ran on autopilot, checking corners and covering her mistress by muscle memory as they journeyed through the ash choked, burning city. That was why she cut Marius, arms swinging around to sever his hands and disarm before he could fire, sparks and lightning crashing around them as his armour deflected her blade.
"Watch yourself little sister, next time I might not be so lucky." He grinned as she stared up at him in shock and fear at what she had almost done. Magda has guided them to meet up with their teammate without Sera even noticing, and she felt shame rock her body. She had relaxed too much in the safety of the chapel and she fell into the rites and prayers she had been taught to reinforce her mind.
"I'm sorry M, today.. it's really something else out here." She mumbled, unable to meet his smile as she lowered her blade, glancing over to see if her Mistress had seen. Of course she had. Marius just laughed and rest his giants paw on her shoulder.
"It's nothing like the stories little sister, don't worry, I won't it against you."
He shrugged, checking the wristmounted screen on his armour and sighed. The display had been destroyed by her blade, and he turned towards Magda to hide the thin dribble of blood leaking from beneath the plates at his wrist from the girl. Thank the Golden Throne her blade was not envenomed as she had been known to do.
"He took Mordecai north in an aircar ten minutes ago, said I was to meet up with you and throw a surprise party for Thrane. Word is he's headed this way to link up with an armour column we have pinned on the main eastern highway."
As he spoke, he pulled a cylinder from his belt pouches and raised it to his mouth, thumbing the button once he had finished speaking to Magda.
"Operative Noctus summoning support, activation protocol sigma zero gamma nine" he stepped back, placing the beacon on the ground and waiting for a moment. A thunderous boom sounded, an explosion of light and sound where he had been stood moments before and suddenly everything tasted of o-zone and iron. The air crackled, flicks of electricity arcing to ground amid the crater left as the floor had been flash melted into glass, a large gunmetal container suddenly where Marius had stood seconds before.
He stepped forward again and pressed his palm to the device, gene-printing unlocked the device and it opened black impact foam contained within, protecting his most prized possession.
Marius cut an impressive figure in any situation, though the acid-green mohawk and vivid gang-electoos painted across his torso marked him as underhive scum forever more. Gene-bulked, trained and sold by a fleshtrader, Marius could easily be mistaken for a diminutive Astartes, and the effect was no less stricking as he equipped his freshly delivered weaponry. He already wore light power armour, his hulking frame was more muscle than anything else, so when he hefted the multi-barrelled autocannon out of the case and began to sling spare ammo rigs on a suspension belt, Sera could well believe such comparisons had been drawn.
"Let's get to it. I'll setup above the cross road at the end of the next block, you and Sera bait and switch him?"