Path of exile part 3: the fists of Oblivion

by menofwarhide

Alistravia rescues survivors from a black ship on the way to assist rogal dorn in bringing compliance to a lost colony of humanity but finds her self caught between her dislike of imperial law and her need to protect Estrellan citizens.

Prologue

Alistravia was sat reading a book on the decking of her private quarters. It was early morning and the sun light was warm as it shone through the ocean and on to the city. She heard the door open but didn't turn her because she knew who it was. The winged shadow gave it away.

"Good morning Sanguinius"

Silence for a while as Alistravia turned the next page in her book.

"what are you planning to tell the counsel?" The angel said not moving

Alistravia didn't turn her head, she just kept reading as she responded.

"do you know I've read this book almost a thousand times and it never bores me?" She spoke as the angel walked past her obscuring the sunlight for a moment "and each time I feel I pick up more of a feel for how the author was feeling"

At first Sanguinius looked as if he would swat the book from her hand in anger of her not answering his question but instead he leaned back against the balustrade fencing off the decking.

"I assume you have some philosophical point to make, or are you just avoiding the question?"

She didn't look up from the book.

"this book was preserved in the Estrellan vaults ever since they left Terra so long ago, it is about two brothers who belong to a rich family and are very close. One works hard in the fields toiling in labor but the other goes off into the world and loses everything..."

She stopped to take a sip of her drink that rested on the nearby table, Sanguinius remained quiet as she continued.

"when he returns his father welcomes him home and showers him in riches while the other son becomes angry with his father and asks why... why does he get such rewards when has not worked and instead gambled his life away to which his father reply's, can't you see how it fills me with joy to have your brother here again. He has seen the folly of his ways and has repented... Of course the other brother is still angry which leads to hate..."

"And then murder?" Sanguinius asked

Alistravia shrugged.

"the story simply ends there, from the look of this book it was originally part of a larger collection of stories but it does go to show how little it takes to separate brothers"

Sanguinius stood up from his position at the balustrade.

"we have evolved beyond such petty jealousies Alistravia"

"Have we?"

Silence once again as the tension grew.

"You can not tell anyo..."

"What? That inside your gene seed that resides in all of your sons there is a flaw that causes them to crave blood? That one of your sons killed three of mine and was found by me consuming their flesh? Is that what you don't want me to tell the counsel?" Alistravia said putting the book down on the table and standing "Relax brother, I gave my word and I won't tell anyone about that incident, but as I told you once before. Sooner or later someone else will find out"

Sanguinius stretched his wings out as if warming them through in the sunlight.

"you think someone would use it against me? One of our own brothers?"

"I think you should of let me or father help you instead of keeping this a secret but if all goes well I will gone soon and..."

"you can't go" Sanguinius said interrupting her

"Why?" she responded

"The imperium needs you, as do I"

Alistravia sighed.

"have you ever wondered who you will fight when the galaxy is ours?"

"Horus posed the same question once" Sanguinius responded

"do you really think you can all get along in such a small galaxy? I am leaving because I worry for the imperium's future" Alistravia said

"then stay and help keep us in line"

"Sanguinius, there are a lot of disputes I can help with but nineteen all powerful brothers with vast armies at there command, that is a ticking time bomb and I don't want to be around when it goes off"

"you make it sound like sound like one of us is going to revolt" The angel responded as he walked around the porch

"you never know could be anyone even you or Horus"

"Horus is the best of us even you agree on that much!" Sanguinius exclaimed in response and denial

"my point is that brother has fought brother since the dawn of time, it would be foolish to think just because of what we are that we are above that" Alistravia responded as the chime sounded for assembly in the counsel hall "we can Finnish this discussion later brother but right now we should make haste or we will be late"

Disagreements

The counsel had been assembled quickly this morning and a few of the Lords were yawning as they came in. It took them a few minutes to get settled before the counsel could begin.

Alistravia was studying her brothers carefully to see which one would bite next. She thought Sanguinius might be a perfect target for her next attempt but his visit this morning was an awkward one and she did not want to be arguing semantics while trying to paint a picture of events.

No. she needed someone to stand up and challenge her on something and for that she needed to create some discomfort.

"Brothers" she started as she stood up to the podium "I want you all to understand. I do not ask for exile because of anything you have done, no in fact it Is the opposite. I ask because it is I and my society and what we do with our advancing technology that is at fault"

The light over Rogal's podium lit up and Alistravia smiled inside. Rogal had been quiet up until now and she knew the self recrimination would force him to stand and speak up, well either him or Ferrus.

She and Rogal had exchanged cross words many times and their were plenty of examples of this but she had one in mind in particular the moment he stood. Her brothers had heard the tale somewhat but never the full story and now she had chance to tell it.

"That is because you choose to interpret imperial law in your own way" Rogal said from atop his podium

"No Rogal I simply know that one can not enforce law from one perspective as you do" Alistravia responded leaning forward to bait the praetorian more

"I take all things into account when making a judgment but you refuse to even accept any law that does not conform to your standards!" Rogal spoke with his voice raised

"Why would laws for a less technological society apply to me?" Alistravia responded keeping her temper restrained, she knew to make this work she couldn't just have an argument with Rogal

She had to let him do the damage to himself before she could apply a killing blow.

Roboute's light came on as he stood.

"This exchange is getting us no where Alistravia. If you have a point I suggest you make it through one of these tales but I do some what side with Rogal, you can play fast and loose with imperial law when it suits you"

Alistravia nodded as she laughed inside. This had gone better than she thought and she had just the tale in mind.

"If you insist. Many of you are aware that during a heated argument Rogal struck me..."

"I have apologized Alistravia, I thought we were past it" Rogal interrupted

"We are Rogal, but for the purposes of this discussion I must explain exactly what happened"

Rogal looked as if he would snap the podium in half with the grip he had on it but eventually he nodded and sat.

Salaam: Main Palace

The blow had come unexpectedly and Alistravia felt her armor scrape along the ground with the force of the hit. Rogal was looking at his own hands and seamed to be confused at the action he had just taken...

Counsel

"Hold on a second Alistravia" Horus said "this appears to be closer to the end of the tale than the beginning, Start there please, and not the beginning of the argument, the whole campaign if necessary otherwise context is lost in translation"

"I will have to go back to before I even arrived in the Salaam system" Alistravia countered and the arbiter spoke

"If that is what is necessary to complete this tale then start there please Lady Alistravia"

"very well Lord arbiter... it all began when I first received communication from Rogal regarding my support as Supreme Ambassador"

Ahab's Rage

The holo image of Rogal stood as tall and proud as the real thing and he spoke just as noble and stoic.

"The system is made up of four colonized worlds under one leader, they have a high number of psyker's and have dabbled in combining machines with gene forged monsters for the bulk of their army"

The Praetorian was stood on the bridge of the phalanx in his golden armor, sword at his side ever the warrior. He continued.

"If a war starts it will be a long and grueling one with high casualties on both sides, I would like to try and avoid that"

"understandable, send me what information you have on their societal makeup and..."

The image of Admiral Marten appeared next to Rogal.

"forgiveness for the interruption my lady but we are receiving a distress call from an imperial vessel"

"legion?" Alistravia asked hiding her annoyance at the admirals interruption

"no it appears to be one of the black ships"

"The sisters could prove useful against so many psyker's, you must attended to them" Rogal stated

"agreed, we will set course immediately" Alistravia responded giving the admiral an angry look

His image was about to dissipate when Rogal turned to him.

"never interrupt us again!" Rogal growled and the image of the admiral left them

"You know I have to work with him right?" Alistravia said

"He is your subordinate, not your friend sister"

"don't you start. I have enough with Sanguinius and Roboute going on about this issue"

"they are not wrong to point it out Alistravia" Rogal said with a growing distaste in his voice

Alistravia held her hand up.

"Lets not sully this moment with an argument brother, I will see you in a few days"

The image of Rogal simply nodded then dissipated.

Uncharted segmentum

The fleet emerged from the wormhole and instantly felt the effects of what had probably caused the distress call from the black ship.

A dying star, a blue dwarf to be exact, was in the middle of it's collapse.

The fleet was on the edge of the gravitational wake but could still feel the pull from the dying sun. They located the black ship approximately sixty thousand kilometers inside the pull of the star and the longer it stayed the closer it was pulled towards the dangerous gravitational anomaly's that would rip the ship apart.

"I am getting no response on any vox channel" the admiral reported

Alistravia was sat in her command throne looking at streams of data as the advanced scanners of the ship fed back any and all relevant data.

"If anybody has an idea better say it fast because in twenty minutes that ship will be ripped in two"

"we could allow ourselves to be pulled in enough for teleport ranging then..." Kyros started but was interrupted by Gigas

"we are a thousand times the size of the black ship brother we would be pulled in faster and not be able to escape, a tractor beam would work better"

"It won't be strong enough to pass through the gravity disruptions" Sankara stated

There was the sound of a door opening as Rebus came on to the bridge. Like all Estrellan's even those of the legion he explored the sciences and his particular field was particle astrophysics. He climbed the stairs to the command throne and looked out of the great windows that looked out upon space. In the distance a blue star was slowly turning, it's surface almost motionless as the last fires of it's nuclear heart died. Space around it was distorted and bent at close proximity, it became less fractured as the distance increased but the dying stars collapse had begun the formation of a black hole and it's pull on the surrounding space was obvious as fragments of asteroids hurtled towards it. Not far from the Ahab's rage was a small black frigate, it's engines blazing as it tried to work against the stars pull.

"Now that is a beautiful sight one only witnesses once in a life time" he spoke as he watched the dying star and the data regarding it

"I didn't call you here to observe Captain, this is your field of expertise and we need to rescue that ship" Alistravia responded by highlighting the distressed black ship

Rebus stood and examined the data. He looked back and forth between the view screen and the data several times.

"tractor beam"

"we already discussed that and it won't work" Kyros said

"did you also discuss firing an inverted halcyon pulse seconds before!" he said rounding on the first captain

"remember who your speaking to captain!" Alistravia exclaimed

Rebus bowed his head to both Alistravia and Kyros.

"Forgiveness brother captain, mother"

"continue" Alistravia said

"If we fire a halcyon pulse seconds before we start a tractor beam it will clear the distortions out long enough for us to pull the ship close enough to transport their crew to us but I would suggest we leave quickly after lest the star go nova and we are caught in it's wake"

Alistravia nodded and turned to Admiral Marten.

"do it"

The admiral nodded and began relaying commands to the rest of the bridge crew.

"rebus?" Sankara started

"yes brother"

"how long until it goes nova"

Rebus glanced at the data streams again then turned back to the Librarian.

"Given it's rate of decay, five minutes give or take a few seconds"

"ready with the pulse" the admiral said

"fire" Alistravia responded

"mother I recommend the rest of the fleet begins to move away and form a wormhole" Rebus spoke with some reverence towards his primarch

"Admiral issue the orders"

"at once"

"tractor beam attached" came a call from the operations officer

"as soon as the ship is within range transport all the crew to the medical bays and then get us out of here"

"mother I do not like the idea of bringing the soulless ones aboard, it will be uncomfortable, we should confine them to a cargo bay" Sankara stated as the black ship was pulled closer

"their not prisoners Sankara... but your point is made, refit a cargo bay for crew housing and place most of them there but allow the officers more private quarters. I assume we have no unlicensed psyker's aboard?"

Sankara hesitated for a moment before Alistravia shot him a look.

"forgiveness mother but I have not had time to screen the newest crew members"

"Then go start now. If you find any have them isolated and confined to quarters"

Sankara nodded and left the bridge.

"crew transport complete, we got all remaining crew members" the admiral spoke as the ship began to turn away from the collapsing star

"How many?" Alistravia asked

"eight hundred" was the response

"what was their crew compliment?" asked Kyros

"two thousand" The admiral responded remorsefully

"if only we had been a few minutes earlier" Rebus said with just as much remorse

Alistravia nodded and stood from the command throne.

"We can't get upset about things out of our control, get us on course to meet with my brother once we are clear of the star. I will be in my quarters until then"

Lesa

Lesa had worked hard to get here. Years of research and study seamed endless as she waited for her application to the primarchs fleet to be accepted. When she had received notification of her acceptance and posting she had felt their was a mistake and went straight to the legion warrior in charge.

"There is no mistake, you are to take you place as a bio medical assistant to the chief apothecary on board the Ahab's rage"

It had been difficult at first. Not leaving the comforts of Estrella or the fact she may not see her family for many years, this was all something she had prepared for but the gravity change, that made her sick at first.

That was two months ago. The Chief apothecary said she would adapt to it and she had finally just a few weeks ago stopped feeling sick every time she woke up, there was still the odd stomach churn when the ship entered a wormhole but according to her bunk mate Simian who had been on the ship for several years, that feeling never went away.

Lesa had been in the main bio-labs when the ship rescued the soulless ones as many of the space marines called them, she had no reason to assist directly with helping the apothecary's heal the wounded but several blood samples had been sent to the lab for screening for contaminates and the head of her department had asked her to take the results to the Chief apothecary.

Nev was in his office examining some data slates. Most of the sisters had been discharged but a few remained including their commander, an oblivion knight named Sadira, she was sat with a small child whose cuts were being treated by a human doctor and a third much older sister with large red plume lay unconscious on a table monitored by several drones.

When Lesa had first come aboard she had been so formal in approaching the astartes believing only those that stood guard on Estrella were uncaring about formality but this had not been the case. The chief apothecary himself had to tell her several times to call him by either his title or his name but never Lord so when she approached him now she always referred mostly to his title.

"I have some results for you Chief apothecary"

"thank you Lesa" he responded as he took the slate from her

Lesa waited while Nev examined the slate, she decided to take a peek at the oblivion knight and looked through the window.

The knight had plume of red hair coming from a top knot like her unconscious kin. Her silver and white armor was scratched in places but it was hard to say if that was from battle or the accident that had befallen the ship, her mouth was covered in a metal plate that must of prevented her from speaking so how she communicated was a mystery.

The little girl looked strangely mature for her age and seamed to be wearing something similar to her older counterpart except she had no plate over her mouth. Then in what seamed like a movement that would snap ones neck the girl locked eyes with her. Lesa couldn't pull her gaze away and she suddenly felt like her heart was being pulled into a void of nothing, she struggled to breathe as the girl starred deeper into her own eyes as if looking into her own soul, if such a thing existed.

A tap on her shoulder made her turn around breaking the gaze, Nev looked down upon her with concern.

"Are you ok Lesa?"

"I am fine my lo... Chief apothecary, just hungry" she responded not knowing what to say to him

Nev nodded.

"then as soon as you return this data slate you have my permission to break for food. I don't need crew members starving" He smiled down upon her and she smiled back

She nodded remembering a bow would be considered too formal, as she left she took one last glance at the girl who was whispering something to her commander.

Alistravia's quarters

Alistravia was studying information sent by Rogal when Sankara came in. He waited until she turned to him before speaking and glanced around her quarters as he stood.

Her quarters was more like one large open room than several small ones such was the simplicity of Estrellan design that demanded an open structure rather than a separation of people and things. In homes across the ocean world houses were two or three floors with each floor open. Rooms were not divided by walls but by an individual persons take on their area. Alistravia had followed that design here keeping everything open. The room was framed by several large fish tanks in which aquatic creatures from several worlds resided, the tanks glowed blue creating a soft soothing feel. Her main room consisted of a lavishly carpeted pit like structure where her seating area and dining table were placed. Her bedroom sat elevated above and you would have to pass through the pit to reach it. To the right of the pit was a library with thousands of books and to left an ornate bath with golden taps and rails. As always a warrior of the maidens shield stood sentinel, a hold over from the Kappa war that had become a tradition.

"We have managed to screen most of the new crew members but a few are still working at their relevant positions" Sankara said

Alistravia looked annoyed by his update.

"This isn't good enough Sankara"

"I realize I should of done this when they first came aboard but we haven't had to deal with this situation before" Sankara responded

"Don't make excuses It's your job to..."

"ENOUGH ALISTRAVIA" Sankara shouted interrupting her

There was a long silence. No one spoke for several minutes.

"You haven't call me by my real name in centuries..." Alistravia said "...and the tone reminds me of when my father would use my full name when I was in trouble, so what is it I have done"

"I apologize but lately you have been..."

"been what?" Alistravia asked

"You have been someone else. The incident on the bridge for example, you did not need to speak to Rebus in such a harsh tone"

"he spoke out of turn... but I get you point" Alistravia said moving to sit down the extravagant couch Sankara sat down beside her.

"And just now, did you forget we were friends, or are we now just primarch and chief librarian?"

Alistravia looked at him as if he had just killed a pet she owned.

"No... no, no, no. Sankara you will always be my friend just as Kyros and Gigas are it's just with Roboute, Sanguinius and Rogal... they all want me to be more authoritative and less casual with my command"

Sankara laughed.

"they are simply jealous... but they do have a point"

"you agree with them?" Ali responded slightly confused

Sankara smiled and placed his hand on hers.

In most legions touching your primarch could be considered a cardinal sin. Primarchs were immortal legendary beings and they deserved reverence only the emperor himself could exceed so to make contact with them even for a legionary could mean death but here between Alistravia and Sankara it did not, their friendship exceeded the primarchs position and the warrior of maidens shield paid no heed to Sankara as contact continued.

"you do not have to be your brothers but many new legionary's and crew members have joined us since the founding and they need to see you as a leader first and a friend second"

"what would I ever do without you" Alistravia said leaning in against him

"I am sure you would survive" he smiled then looked up and turned his head towards the door "those soulless things are here" he said getting up

"there called the sisters of silence" Alistravia responded also rising from her position

"if you don't mind I will take my leave"

Alistravia nodded with an understanding of the psyker's discomfort around the sisters. The door opened and Sankara left giving Sadira and her soulless child a wide berth. The oblivion knight gave a curt nod as Sankara passed but he did not return the greeting and simply left letting the door close behind him.

"apologies for my Equerry"

"No need we are used to it" replied the little girl as she and her commander knelt before Alistravia before continuing

"Honored Primarch we thank you for our rescue and our allegiance is yours until we find transport home"

Alistravia gestured them to stand.

"I appreciate your commitment and I may require your assistance shortly"

The two stood but kept to attention.

"we hear you are meeting Lord Dorn"

"we are currently on our way to meet him. He informs me this society has a high number of psyker's and should diplomacy fail we will require your services"

Sadira looked at the terminator stood silent in the background and signed something to the primarch.

"yes he is always here"

Sadira made another few signs while the girl stood quiet.

"Yes even when I bathe"

Sadira made some more signs.

"It's an old tradition and we have a couple of days before we reach our destination, I will happily explain if you return tomorrow but for now I must study the data Rogal sent me. Please feel free to use the facility's on board the ship"

"once again our thanks honored Lady" the girl said

Lesa

Lesa had gone straight from the bio-labs up to the closest mess hall. Out of worry she might see the sisters again she stayed close to any crew, astartes or human that were close by. Relieved she had seen no sign of any sisters she made her way into the mess hall and accessed the holo menu.

There were thousands if not millions of choices but Lesa longed for something familiar and she used the three dimensional navigator to take to the Estrellan dish's where she found exactly what she wanted.

She waited as the auto chef began to cook and she could smell the fish almost taking her back to her mothers kitchen as they sat around the table and waited to eat. Her father would be holding a holo pad writing out equations while her brothers debated some now theory about their quantum vortex hypothesis. The sound of the auto chef finishing brought her back and it slid out a plate with a long bottled nose fish lightly baked, stuffed with potato kelp and a small species of brine.

After taking the plate to a table she sat down and took her time smelling the dish. Her mother had always taught her to appreciate her food, she would tell her without it your research will become stagnant and to an Estrellan child it was a scary thought. So she always took her time to admire her meal, it's smells and textures before beginning it's consumption. Simian had once watched her do this and told her she should just eat and enjoy instead of waiting, she had just shrugged and told him it was a family tradition.

The mess hall on this deck was fairly quiet, a few human crew sat looking at holo pads or talking about their current research but mostly it was empty and the drones that would detach from the ceiling to clean up plates and other messes sat silent as their services were not required.

As she finished one of the squid like drones floated down wrapping it's tentacles around her cutlery and plate before lifting them and dragging them up into the ceiling where it would break each item down and consume them so the material would be recycled and used again when someone next came into the hall.

Since her experience with the sister she was feeling light headed and was was struggling to keep herself motivated, she felt tired and old like the sister had sucked her youth from her so she made the decision to return to her quarters, she would send her apologies to her department head stating she was feeling unwell. Her quarters were on the sixteenth deck where many of the human crew resided. The astartes called it the family deck as many family's had been raised their and some crew even some astartes had been born on the ship. It was like being back home on Estrella, everyone knew everyone and people would greet you at all times. Kids would be playing four dimensional research games along the main concourse and debates over correct insertion procedures for material samples would sometimes be heard from parents arguing. The space marines patrolled this area as they did with every part of the vessel but they were always mindful of the children and would often join in debates if it was about their field of study, Lesa had heard on other legion ships humans were treated as servants and not looked after as they were here. She hoped it was just a silly rumor but she knew other legions and the worlds they came from had vastly different makeups so perhaps it was in some ways true.

The lift opened and she entered, it was empty but given that most of the astartes would be on duty and a lot of the human crew were as well it was understandable. She stumbled as she turned to access the holo controls, she suddenly felt extremely sick and vomited up a portion of her meal. A drone detached it's self from the side and began to clean it up as she grabbed onto the safety railing, the holo panel looked like it was a hundred miles away not right next to her and she took a swipe at only knowing she had connected when lift began to move. In her mind she saw her life flash before her, family friends and people she had know all past in the blink of an eye. She saw a thousand worlds at once, each with billions of minds upon them and then each of those minds opened up revealing a trillion thoughts. It was excruciating and she cried out in pain as her mind was overloaded with extrasensory information.

When the lift doors opened to a sergeant from the fifth it took him a minute to notice the slumped unconscious figure of Lesa but he reacted quickly once he did opening the vox.

"medical emergency!"

Lesa opened her eyes to the chief apothecary standing over her. He was feeling her belly with his large astartes hands, he stopped when she looked at him.

"You are not pregnant"

"Of course not!" she exclaimed

"My apologies Lesa but I had to check, being hungry does not cause you to collapse after you have just eaten" Nev responded glancing at her vitals "what happened?"

"I don't know how to explain it"

"try" The chief apothecary said as the light from the holo scanners lit up the gray in his beard

"I saw loads of things like my family but then other worlds and thoughts and the..." She said feeling herself get worked up

"start from beginning, when did you first feel ill"

"when I came to see you with the results" Lesa responded

"You had no contact with anything in the lab that could of made you sick?" Nev asked examining a data slate

"No I was fine until that little girl looked at me"

Nev stopped looking at the pad and turned his head slowly towards her.

"the sister?"

Lesa nodded

Nev put the pad down and activated the vox system.

"Sankara come to the medical bay now"

"on my way" came the response

He walked back over to Lesa and gave her a stern look.

"think carefully Lesa, have you truly never had an incident like this before?"

She shook her head.

"when Sankara gets here you need to tell him everything about what happened from when the sister saw you and the incident in the elevator"

It took a few minutes for the Chief Librarian to arrive and he strode in with a powerful presence. Lesa could feel it in her mind, it was like a hot needle between her eyes getting hotter as he stopped and spoke with Nev. Lesa watched the two of them, she had seen the chief apothecary many times his gray and black beard giving him a distinguished look that he carried with pride. He had told her once he had a younger brother who was a captain and she imagined he looked very alike the chief apothecary.

Sankara was vastly different, clean shaven with some stubble on his neck, his armor was of a different design to Nev's and he was a foot taller than him too. He had a strange hood that covered a partially bald head. Every so often she saw him glance in her direction as Nev spoke. Then he gave one final nod and approached her.

"I am Sankara qualm, Chief librarian and equerry to the primarch" he bowed his head slightly as he spoke "I need you to tell me what happened when you were first here... when the girl saw you"

"I was frozen... it felt like my heart was being pulled from me and I was drowning like the first time you step out of the city and the ocean hits you"

Sankara smiled.

"I remember my father taking me out and being so scared I would be washed away or some sea creature would eat me" as he said that it made her feel safe and she felt better than she had all day "What happened in the elevator?"

"I saw all the people I have ever known but then whole other worlds and their thoughts"

"What do you mean by that?" Sankara asked as Nev approached her from the other side of the bed "Could you hear them?"

She had to think, think back to what she saw and then as she thought back she remembered she could hear them. All those thoughts and feelings, their fears and goals washing into her mind like a she was a receiving satellite for some vast communication station.

"yes"

Sankara nodded at Nev who sighed. Lesa was confused.

"what does it ….mean?"

"Lesa there's a strong possibility your a psyker" Sankara responded

"But I was tested when I was young"

"It's easy to miss it if your mind hasn't awakened yet, my guess is the sister detected the dormant power inside you and when her powers attempted to oppress it the opposite occurred and it flared up which was too much for your inexperienced mind to handle causing your collapse"

"So what do I do now"

"I am going to take you to the librarious where I can probe your mind myself but with the sisters already aware of your presence we may have some difficult decisions to make" The chief librarian responded

"Might not be a good idea to poke around her mind after it made he so ill last time" Nev spoke looking over at the other astartes

"I appreciate your advice brother but she will not be in any danger with me" Sankara said is response

Nev seamed to accept this, Lesa wasn't sure who out ranked who and stayed quiet.

"mother" Sankara voxed

"yes?" Alistravia responded

Lesa had never heard the primarchs voice for real before. She had listened to her lectures on quantum space folding and sub-spacial rifts but those were just recordings.

"Can you meet me in the librarious please?"

"on my way"

It took them a short lift ride and walk to reach the librarious. It was on one of the top decks and only crew with the highest clearance were allowed to access them. Unlike the lower floors this area was patrolled not just by space marines but war-automatons that dwarfed the astartes themselves. Every corridor was guarded and every room watched, it wasn't that the lower decks were ignored but these were the command decks of the ship and thus needed the extra protection.

Sankara had guided her to a chair and sat her down.

"Lesa I am going to try and access your mind. It will be uncomfortable and it is not without it's dangers but I must see if you truly are a psyker or if this was simply a reaction to the sisters power. Do you understand"

Lesa nodded.

The Chief Librarian starred at her and then she felt like the body that was locking eyes with her was empty and she was sharing her own with someone else. With the Librarian.

She felt odd as if someone was walking along her mind like it was desert and he was an explorer looking for treasure and then it was over and she snapped back to reality. It seamed as if hours had passed but only minutes had truly gone by.

The chief Librarian smiled at her warmly as the door to the librarious opened and the primarch walked in.

In her mind Sankara had been like burning needle but Alistravia's presence was a raging fire. Her emerald green dress danced around her body like a whirlpool and yet it was so perfect. Her black hair was like jet and it dangled down her back like some defiant snake unwilling to accept any control. She was a beauty that put all other women to shame and Lesa threw herself on the floor in reverence.

"mother this is Lesa" Sankara said urging her to stand

She did reluctantly trying not to look directly at the primarch or her two escorts.

"You found one then" Alistravia spoke in response

"no mother, her psy abilities were dormant and might never of awoken but she had an encounter with the sisters and it forced them to awaken"

"So the sisters know about her? This could be an issue" Alistravia continued

"I am aware of that but was unsure about what to do" Sankara responded

Alistravia looked directly at her. It was like being looked at by hungry shark but that shark was thing of legend and eating you would be a waste of it's time.

"Lesa" She was surprised when she heard the primarch called her name "Had we of found you earlier we could of hidden you from the sisters but as it stands they know of you and that makes things difficult because they will expect me to hand you over to them, such is imperial law"

"will you?" she asked not even sure if she was allowed to respond

Alistravia looked to be in deep thought and bit her bottom lip slightly.

"I am bound by certain rules and regulations as we all are. Being who I am does not allow me to escape them... but I will speak with them and see, for now you should stay here as the sisters will not enter" she responded "Sankara walk with me" She said gesturing to the chief Librarian

Sankara entered the lift with Alistravia. They stood at the front as the two maiden shield warriors stood at the back. The lift began moving but after a minute Alistravia hit the stop rune and Sankara turned to her.

"You may not want to hear this but our conversation before about being their friend second and a leader first is relevant here"

"I know but until three hours ago she had no idea what she was. If only the sister had not seen her" Alistravia responded

"we are lucky as a legion and a people. Estrella is untouched by imperial hands and no Mechanicum have ever set foot on it's surface, we are privileged. Much of the rule that the rest of the legions and imperial worlds have to abide by our high technology allows us to go around but this is one where that high technology can not assist us" Sankara spoke the words with some grief

Alistravia took a deep breath and resumed the lift.

"I invited the oblivion knight back tomorrow, I will speak with her then"

Alistravia's quarters

The oblivion knight and her little child returned the next day. Alistravia had laid out some tea and sandwiches out of habit of welcoming guests but after an hour of conversation only Alistravia herself had drunk any of the tea and eaten any of the sandwiches. So far neither Sadira or Alistravia had mentioned Lesa but Alistravia knew at some point she would have to bring it up and as the conversation was winding down from discussions on how the legion operated the opportunity arose.

"so you have never been alone in your own quarters?!" the little girl asked despite what Alistravia had explained.

She had explained her brothers guard usually stayed out side their quarters but when they were still fighting the Kappa, an assassin had attempted to kill her while she slept. She had woken before he could strike and killed him but Kyros insisted a guard remain in her quarters at all times. After the war and this went from being a precaution to a tradition and now a battle brother would always stand watch.
The battle brother would be sworn to silence, not to speak or move unless duty required it. It was considered a great honor.
Choice of this son came through the captains of all but two of the twenty five company's. Each would nominate one warrior who excelled in battle and then these twenty three sons would face off in a duel, fighting to best the others.
Her son that guarded her now was from the 21st. He had fought a grueling battle against a warrior from the 18th who was the favorite to win but despite his stamina could not out last the warrior from the 21st.
The tournaments happened every ten years so warriors in every company, Except the 23rd which was the small scout company and the 24th who were a specialized Tech-marine only company, Had time to prove themselves so that the captain would nominate them.
When it started Alistravia had been worried that the competition would be so brutal that when trying to get nominated warriors would purposely sabotage each other but this had not been the case and rules had been set in place to prevent this.

She also explained that no apothecary, Tech-marine or psyker could be considered due to the limited number of psyker's and the fact that the chapter and the company's were so small their roles was too vital to be lost. Captains were also not allowed to compete though three previous guardians were now captains.
There was also a rule stating once a brother had been guardian he could not compete again but his amour would be marked with a symbol showing his accomplishment.

"No I have never been alone in my own quarters" she responded

"this has been most enlightening" the girl then said in response

"I hope if you find yourselves with other legions you can compare...now there's something we need to discuss" Alistravia leaned forward in her chair as she spoke "you encountered and unregistered psyker aboard this ship"

Sadira and the little girl seamed caught out by Alistravia, they looked at each other for a moment before turning back to the primarch and Sadira signed something to Alistravia.

"you are right her powers had not yet surfaced, it was your encounter with her that forced them to awaken"

Sadira signed again.

"she is in the librarious at the moment, as you can imagine she is scared about her new found abilities and I am sure you can imagine there's the safety of other crew to take into account"

Sadira signed something again but this time it was slower with more inflection.

"She will be" Alistravia said reluctantly "I was hoping since you have no ship yet that she can have time to speak with her family on Estrella, they are not used to this kind of change are Estrellans and it scares them"

Sadira signed a long and complex response.

"I am simply saying that while you have no ship with which to travel there is no reason to turn her over, once you have a ship or we return you ourselves to Terra then we will hand Lesa over although I do not agree with it"

"why" responded the girl who received an angry look from Sadira

"you are no better than the Mechanicum, you take away an individuals right to be and force them to do the bidding of others with out any rest" Alistravia responded standing up

Before the girl could respond again Sadira signed something to the primarch then stood and bowed urging the child to do the same.

"I am glad this is acceptable to you" Alistravia said returning the bow

Sadira signed one more thing.

"Not at first no, when primarchs first meet we prefer to speak alone. Think of it as siblings catching up with each other"

Phalanx

The imperial fists fleet was sat at the edge of the system where they had arranged themselves into some vast formation with the Phalanx at it's heart. Alistravia's fleet pulled along side them sending messages too and fro before the primarchs personal storm bird departed from the Ahab's rage.

Alistravia watched as they approached the Phalanx, she hated it's design. It was a massive fortress monastery in space with massive spires and towers bristling with guns and sensor devices. The ship acted as the imperial fists home away from Terra but it was an ugly inelegant looking fortress with no thought put to comfort or efficiency.

The seconds ships were designed after the large whales that inhabited Estella's endless ocean which gave them a sleek design and a less aggressive appearance but the Phalanx was just ugly. Rogal had told her once that beauty was something a warrior did not concern himself with but the existence of Fulgrim did some what undermine that theory.

She landed to a gathering of thousands of imperial fists who all saluted at once as she stepped onto the deck. The landing bay was full of other ships as well as two war hound titans that were undergoing repair from robed Mechanicum adepts. Rogal stood at the other end of the bay in golden yellow armor and the wings of the imperial eagle behind his white haired face. He stood with his first captain Sigismund whose bald head glowed from the many lights, while Rogal's bodyguard the huscarls stood silently by his side. Rogal kept his stoic stone faced look as Alistravia stopped in front of him, her green dress still as perfect as it always.

"As always it's a pleasure to see you brother"

"Like wise sister" Rogal responded "we should head to my personal quarters to talk"

"of course, lead on" Alistravia said although she had been here enough times to know the layout such was the gift of a primarchs memory

The ride up was filled with sporadic conversation about their other brothers. It was only when they entered Rogal's room and the doors were sealed did anything worth talking about begin.

"The sisters, how many did you rescue"

"less than I would of liked to but it's better than them all dying" Alistravia responded as she wandered around the room

Like Rogal it was very straight forward and organized. Each item seamed to resent being moved even a slight nudge and the shelves were littered with books on military strategy. Most of the room was given over to weapon racks and armor stands with little thought given to the comfort of guests.

"you are ever the humanitarian sister" Rogal spoke watching the fleet move about through his view port

"it's a good job no imperial ships tried to rescue them or there would have been greater losses" Alistravia spoke as she examined some of the weapons

"I apologize for before. I did not mean to try and start a fight"

"No you and the others are right, sometimes I need to act more like a leader than a friend" Alistravia said wandering from weapon rack to weapon rack

"that is good to hear sister, you could grow into a fine leader with the right coaching" Rogal gave a slight smirk as he spoke

"and would you be the one to do that?" Alistravia responded smiling

"Roboute might be more appropriate, you have a better relationship with him than me"

"if that's the determining factor then surely Horus would be a better teacher?" Alistravia queried as she ran her fingers along the edge of a sword

"you only say that because he is your favorite!" Rogal stated

"that's not true, I just feel Horus is more forward thinking. Don't take this the wrong way Rogal but some of you are too set in your ways" Alistravia responded with a dismissive tone "what's your plan for meeting the leader of this little empire"

"they call it a caliphate Alistravia, they have set out some... requests"

"I take it by that tone I am not going to like them?" Alistravia said

"only two guards and you have to wear something that covers you up... completely"

"So I just wear my combat armor? No big deal"

Rogal shook his head and handed her a data slate. Alistravia's eyes grew wide as she read the requests.

"NOT A CHANCE!" she exclaimed "I am not covering my face up with some veil"

"They were quite adamant that any female must completely cover themselves" Rogal responded "I believe it to be a religious thing"

Alistravia threw the pad on a near by desk and sighed.

"I realize your trying to avoid war here brother but given the very nature of their requests I am not sure we can, who are my escorts?"

"I have chosen Alexis Polux to represent me, it is up to you to choose a second escort but I suggest one of the sisters" Rogal said as he took a sword from one of the racks

"That would make sense, you have a way to signal these people?" Alistravia asked and Rogal nodded "good, we shouldn't waste anytime. I am sure you have a plan if things go poorly so lets get a command briefing arranged so everyone knows their objectives no matter the outcome"

"agreed"

The great emperor

The storm bird descended through a clear blue sky towards a palace with three spires that looked like upside down onions painted a metallic gold. The central palace was a grand white building trimmed with gold and jewels. A grand garden was laid out in front of it with a landing pad at it's center where a group of twelve guards with short swords at their waists and a buckler on their arm waited, they also looked to have some kind of rifle slung over their backs. They wore little armor and seamed to be helm-less, A large robotic creature stood further away, it's guns moving back and forth ever watchful.

The storm bird touched down on the pad and Alexis stepped out first his bright yellow armor reflecting the heat, he carried a chain sword and bolter. He took a long look before he walked to the bottom of the ramp and took his place on the left. Sadira came next, the plate on her face already acting as a veil. Her silver shone in the sunlight as she took her place on the right, a long sword slung over her back and an inferno pistol at her side.

Alistravia stepped down from the storm bird, she had chosen to wear a golden dress that was covered in jewels. It was heavy and she hated wearing it but it had a golden hood that covered the bottom of her face slightly and this way she could adhere to the requests set out by the salaam humans ruler. After further communication it was agreed Alistravia only had to wear the veil until she reached the throne room. Rogal had not been surprised she managed to get the concession knowing Alistravia was very persuasive.

Within the dress she concealed several weapons in case of an emergency including a broken down rifle, her pistols and a sword given to her by Ferrus. She wasn't a fan of swords as she preferred ranged weapons and mostly spear like weapons for melee.

A man in an extravagant suit with a tall hat approached and bowed.

"greetings I am vizier Yusif and servant of his holiness the great emperor"

Alistravia along with her group bowed back.

"if you will follow me" Yusif said

They followed the vizier along the path through the gardens and into the palace. Alexis stayed to her left and Sadira to her right as they marched followed by the guards.

The palace was grand and was lavishly decorated with great portraits and religious symbols. Alistravia tried to hide her distaste for it all by focusing on the portraits. Guards stood at every juncture, some were the standard human warriors but others were hulking gene forged brutes with large hammers or blades and then there were the robots that appeared to be the gene monsters that needed the machine parts to function adequately.

Alistravia knew Rogal would be right, this would be a tough campaign if it came to war and she thought back to the briefing.

"I will personally lead the strike on the palace if anything goes wrong" Rogal said

"their fleet is on the other side of the planet so we should move to prevent them from providing any support if there is to be a battle" Admiral marten said, Rogal's only fleet admiral nodded in agreement.

Lord commissar Cantor Hiram had been at Rogal's side for many years and his imperial guard were mostly veterans of long campaigns.

"My forces will move to secure any space ports should we need to"

"both legions are ready to be deployed at a moments notice" Rogal said "however your priority is to secure the palace and protect Alistravia"

It had been a short briefing just as Rogal liked them.

They were finally escorted into a throne room. Guards stood at regular intervals and two of the big gene forged brutes encased in their robotic armor stood at either side of the throne which was a large chair awash with cushions of different colors.

A gong sounded and the vizier stood by the right of the chair and looked towards the group, the guards dispersed to the side and knelt. Alistravia removed her hood and the veil part along with it being careful not to offend the vizier who watched her with curious eyes. She let her black hair tumble down the back of her dress and stretched her neck a little.

"May I present his holiness, emperor Bashir 'Al' Assad" as the Vizier said this horns blew a triumphant sound that mirrored the grand entrance of their emperor.

He came in from behind the throne in a puffy purple shirt with his chest showing, a few faded scars were visible and he wore a purple sash with a curved sword at his side. He was muscular and clearly strong. His face bore a long mustache and well kept beard, broad cheeks and a mouth full of gold teeth shone when he smiled and his eyes were bright green and almost pushing free from their sockets.

Alistravia Bowed followed by Sadira and Alexis and the emperor sat down.

"So you are emissary's from another empire? What is your business here?" Bashir said pretending to sound uninterested

Alistravia decided to overlook the fact she had not been introduced or even asked her name.

"as grand ambassador to the imperium of man it is my pleasure to offer your world the chance to join us on reuniting mankind's lost brothers and sisters throughout the galaxy and establish our dominion over it"

Bashir seamed to be studying Alistravia top toe as she spoke and he straightened himself up a little as he looked upon her face.

"Tell me, why should I join your imperium? Who rules it, you?" Bashir asking two question seamed like some form of diplomatic strategy, force the person questioned to answer both, one or none

"My father, the emperor of mankind himself rules the imperium and to join would bring great prosperity to your worlds along with new technologies and greater space travel" Alistravia responded taking care to answer both questions

Bashir studied her again.

"my empire is the greatest known to man and was given to us by God. Your fathers would pail in significance"

Alistravia smiled stretched her hands out in front of her before bringing them back in.

"the imperium of man consists of thousands of worlds with billions of people, your empire consists of four worlds and while impressive" Alistravia said to be diplomatic "it is small and easy prey for numerous xenos species that could attack you"

Bashir just grunted and then laughed.

"Only man and god exists in this universe, there are no other species but tell me what God does your imperium worship?"

"I assure you both my escorts and myself can attain to our many encounters with different races and we worship no God, my father is the only ruler we need"

Bashir stood up as if angry.

"So he believes he is mightier than god? I am an emissary of our Deity and he blessed me with the right to rule over all mankind not your father"

Alistravia bit her tongue.

"My father is the master of mankind, he needed no God to bless him because it was he who reunited us all and saved us from extinction"

Bashir stepped forward now angrier.

"And yet he lets a woman speak for him? Why does he not send a warrior to speak with a warrior?" Bashir acted as if disgusted by Alistravia's presence in his throne room

"I speak for my father because he wills it to be and I can assure you I am more than a diplomat" Alistravia hid the frustration in her voice and a side wards glance saw Alexis grip the hilt of his sword. Rogal like all her brothers took it personally when Alistravia was insulted and their sons were no different.

"it seams like your father insults me by sending you and not someone who could handle me in battle, perhaps though we could come to a different arrangement which ensures peace between our empires?"

Alistravia thought for a moment. She could draw her weapons and kill this wretched child before could take one more breath but that would be too easy and it was always best to let the other person make the fist move.

"and what arrangement would that be?"

Bashir walked up closer to Alistravia, he was just slightly taller than her but not by much.

"I need another wife to satisfy me, if your father were to give me your hand in marriage I will look to peace with your imperium"

Alistravia swallowed the urge to rip his head off here and now, she looked at him with disgust now. He was a pig and likely a danger to the imperium rather than a potential ally.

"I am afraid that is not acceptable, we do not ally ourselves with other empires. They either join us or..."

"YOU THREATAN ME?" Bashir shouted and slapped Alistravia across the face

In an automatic move Alexis drew his sword and thumbed the activation switch. Sadira did the same drawing her sword and activating it's power field. The guards behind them drew their weapons and the two gene mechs stomped forward as Bashir retreated behind his throne shouting at his guards to kill them.

"well that could of gone better" Alistravia said as she drew her pistols "you two handle the guards I'll take the mechs"

Alexis barreled into the guards along with Sadira, they were no match for the two of them but more guards came in from the rear door as the alarm sounded. Alistravia retreated slightly from the mechs drawing her pistols, she pulled the triggers and sent laser blasts into the helm of the left mech. It's head snapped back and part of it's face plate fell away revealing a mass of muscles not covered by skin of any kind. It seamed to be stunned by Alistravia's attack and stopped as if assessing it's damage. The second one on the right swing at her with a spiked arm, she ducked and and drew the sword Ferrus had given her. He had called it "Tide Splitter". Alistravia swung up severing it's arm and a mucky oil like substance spilled from it as it stepped back and began to spin up it's shoulder cannon. The first was no longer stunned and stomped forward again attempting to box Alistravia in. She slid underneath the left ones legs as the cannon went of, the loud thuds of shells ripping into the marble floor blowing out vast chunks. The left one began to turn to follow her but she jumped and drove "Tide Splitter" down into it's head. The second opened fire again but Alistravia dropped away pulling the sword free as the shells ripped into the left mech that was now spewing oil and blood from it's skull which was blown apart by the cannon fire.

The second ran out of ammunition and now charged at her knocking the dead mech out of it's way, Alistravia side stepped it and hacked at the armored hydraulic pistons moving it's legs. They were cut apart easily and the mech fell forward crashing to the ground. Alistravia cut it's head free from it's body and watched the blood and oil spill forth.

The mechs had herded her to a section of the throne room where she could see the escape route, the door mechanism was mechanical and was about to close and lock. She took a glance back at Alexis and Sadira who were cutting down the guards with little trouble, Rogal wouldn't like it but Alistravia did not want Bashir to get away and dived through the narrow space as the doors closed.

Alexis heard a loud bang and then a locking sound. He had a guard in his grip and swung around flinging him in the direction of the now destroyed mechs. He looked around for Alistravia but she was gone, a large door now sealed an immovable without a melta blocked his access to follow the water maiden knowing she had likely pursued the false emperor. His father would not be happy as his job was to keep an eye on Alistravia to make sure she did nothing that could endanger her but he had failed and now would likely face a scolding.

Pain shot through his skull and he turned away from the door to see a man in similar clothing to the vizier holding a wooden staff chanting in some unknown language. Far to the right of him Sadira was tearing apart a squad of guards who had tried to box her into a corner. They likely thought they had her trapped but it was she who had trapped them and she cut through their closing net, inferno pistol in one hand and sword in the other.

The psyker turned his attention to her as she stepped over the dead guards towards him. He chanted louder and the pain inside Alexis's skull grew more sever but to Sadira it was nothing and the psyker was confused as she fired her inferno pistol setting him ablaze filling the hall with his screams. The pain stopped and Alexis regained his composure as the smoldering body fell over.

The doors opened again this time huscarls marched in followed by Rogal Dorn who asked the most obvious question after looking around at the carnage.

"where is Alistravia?"

Pursuit

It did not surprise Alistravia the tunnel was furnished in the finest of cloths and jewels, it stank of a incense that possibly echoed a flower or other fauna scent found on one of the four worlds. It was lit with great chandeliers and the walls had paintings of Bashir's ancestors or accomplishments. The portraits could be accurate, Alistravia couldn't be sure that they weren't but the paintings of him leading the charge against massive armies wielding just a sword and wearing no armor were clear exaggerations of a man who obviously preferred to led from the back away from any real fight as his quick exit from the battle in the throne room showed.

A lavish purple and gold carpet let off into the distance and she followed it until the tunnel started to descend. Down below her Primarch enhanced hearing could hear whispers and she pulled the broken down rifle from it's concealed location beneath her dress. Estrellan technology allowed each piece to be altered physically so it could be hidden and remain undetected and she carefully reassembled it inserting it's fusion core last. It was only short rifle designed for close quarters fire with no sight not that Alistravia needed any kind of fabricated aim to help her shoot accurately.

The path down wasn't a long one and she soon found herself in a hall full of large marble columns and behind them she could hear the faint sound of short controlled breathing, she smiled and looked across the hall to the doors on the far side.

At least one hundred columns filled the hall and that meant at least one hundred soldiers ready to attack her the moment she stepped down from the final step.

Alistravia moved fast pushing towards the first column on her right, multiple guards appeared sending bullets streaming in her direction but they were not fast enough, not to hit a primarch and Alistravia wasn't anywhere near as fast as Konrad. She shot back taking out two of the guards as several others tried to shoot at her from a flanking position but Alistravia kept moving and killing at times moving so quickly the guards hit each other as gunfire filled the hall tearing at the once perfect columns ripping huge chunks out of their once pristine surface.

One of the guards tried to loop round a column and catch her from behind but as he aimed his weapon she spun round into a crouch and shot multiple shots into his chest as more of the guards moved up trying to box her in but that was what Alistravia wanted. She had barley made it a quarter of the way across the hall and she had forced the guards to make the mistake of leaving their positions so as they thought they were tightening a noose around her she was allowing them to show themselves so she could eliminate them, she swung her gun right and left squeezing the trigger taking down guard after guard while constantly moving drawing more of them to her. A grenade was thrown towards her and she used her rifle as a bat knocking it into a group of guards approaching from behind one of the columns. The explosion killed all four of them and now fear of her was starting to take effect as the guards retreated panicking as they fired.

The last few guards had retreated right to the end of the hall, firing stopped and all fell silent apart from the marble pieces still breaking and falling from the columns. Alistravia stood behind one of the columns, from what she could hear only six guards remained and they were arguing between themselves about what to do.

Alistravia didn't waste any time and slid round the columns opening fire cutting down five of the guards, the sixth guard returned fire and in perhaps a stroke of luck or just Alistravia's miss timed steps several shots hit Alistravia. Most were deflected by the inlay of armor in the dress but two drew blood, one was a simple graze and clotted immediately the other found it's way through her fore arm.

Alistravia cursed in Estrellan, threw the gun aside and drew Tide Splitter, the guard backed him self up against the wall, he screamed curses and then begged but it was white noise to a wounded primarch and Alistravia drove the sword through his chest.

The hall was silent now, even the pillars had stopped crumbling. Alistravia could hear the distant sounds of artillery most likely basilisks, it took a moment for her to regain any composure, the wound had clotted and was healing but Nev wouldn't be happy and Rogal would likely give her a lecture on pursuing a foe without an escort,

The door that led out of the room was not sealed and as she stepped through the archway a thousand vox signals hailed her. The corridor in front of her had changed and was now rather militaristic in nature unlike the previous tunnel made for the emperors comfort. She set off running, the sounds of war getting louder as she ran.

"Admiral where am I" she voxed

"you appear to be in an interconnecting tunnel that leads between the palace and a landing pad, imperial guard units are assaulting the area as we speak"

"Do you have him Alistravia" Rogal growled over the vox

"I am close, Admiral get me the imperial guard officer in charge"

"Stand by"

There was a few clicks and a buzz before posh accented soldier came on the line.

"this is lieutenant varis, How may I assist you my Lady?"

"How close are you to taking the landing field?"

"heavy resistance my lady and a ship in the pad closest to the palace appears to be powering it's engines"

"do what you can to prevent that ship from taking off"

"yes mam"

The vox cut off as Alistravia smashed through the last doors into the hanger, Bashir was just ascending the ramp escorted by several of his guards and was shocked to see her.

"you are quite the warrior for a woman, perhaps an alliance would be beneficial"

"It's too late for that, when you struck me you ended any hope of a peaceful ending" Alistravia responded

"you would kill millions simply because I hit you?" Bashir laughed "how typical of a woman to overreact, I would stay and see you dead but I have to prepare a victory speech for when we defeat you and your imperium"

Alistravia smiled an evil smile, the kind that sent chills through the hearts of mortal men, the guards reacted by stepping back and Bashir even hesitated on what to say next.

"you have no idea what your dealing with my dear Bashir, step down and face me one on one if you are so sure of your victory"

Bashir snarled and again hesitated as the engines of his little vessel powered up. For a moment he look as if he would step down and actually fight but a shout from inside the ship made him remove the hand from the hilt of his sword.

"Perhaps another time but for now I have places to be" He said then turned and walked up into the craft as the ramp shut fast and tight

The ships engines began to push it forward out of the hanger at speed and Alistravia ran after it down the runway as it continued to accelerate.

"Lieutenant stop that ship" she yelled across the vox

There was no response and the ship started to ascend and she was about to give up when to her right a Valkyrie hovered, a young man with officers pips beckoned her inside. She jumped in and the door behind her was slid shut creating a darkness lit only by a red light, around her she could make out at least ten guardsmen in black armor with hotshot las rifles.

"Forgiveness but I had limited anti aircraft support and Lord Dorn suggested you might prefer a more direct approach" The lieutenant said as the gathered storm troopers locked their weapons

Alistravia smiled as the craft accelerated, the Valkyrie would be faster than the little personal hopper Bashir was using.

"Were ahead of the craft sir but we will reach the outer atmosphere in a few minutes, it's now or never" the pilot said as turbulence hit the drop ship hard

The lieutenant pulled open the door and the storm troopers lined up, just below them was the hopper, the pilot had brought them as close to the bridge as possible but soon the Valkyrie would have to peel off or face the cold dark of space. Magnetic zip lines short out and then drilled into the hull of the hopper before the storm troopers swung out down the line and onto it's hull. Alistravia grabbed a las rifle and attached her own grip to the zip line.

"Have the Valkyrie stay on point just in case" she yelled over the rush of air to the lieutenant

"Good hunting" he responded saluting

Alistravia shot down the zip line and on to the hull, a storm trooper with a cutting tool was just finishing opening a panel and the group dropped down into a corridor that seamed clear of any hostiles. Alistravia had the hull resealed in case they reached orbit before they could turn the ship around.

"let's get to the bridge"

The storm troopers followed her without question not because it was their order to do so but because the woman leading them was not just another captain or lieutenant but a primarch and a thing of legend. None of them had ever seen one of the emperors children up close before and perhaps lesser men would have been overcome with fear or joy but they were highly trained soldiers designed to follow orders no matter whose they were.

The ship was small enough that they found the bridge quickly breaking through the doors and launching a quick assault to take it. Alistravia barley fired a shot such was the skill of the storm troopers who made sure all resistance was gone before she entered. The actual size of the bridge was too small for all ten troopers to fit inside and several kept watch on the corridors. Alistravia located Bashir in a private quarters, he appeared to be on his knees talking to someone on a screen but she could not make it out not that it mattered.

She took only a small squad of guards and broke through the doors to Bashir's quarters who was still on his knees, he had no time to stand as his guards were killed.

"Father save me" he shouted at the screen but the figure dressed in purple and gold plate just laughed before looking over at Alistravia

"You may kill my son, his usefulness is at an end"

"And you are?" Alistravia asked as Bashir was dragged out and she felt the ship change direction

"The real Bashir Al Assad, that was my son and decoy Ramier. He was a coward so thank you for ridding me of him but I suggest you take your armies and leave or myself and the rest of my sons will make you suffer for attacking servants of God"

Alistravia smiled in response

"Oh I am afraid I can't let a backwards superstitious outpost of humanity continue to exist but I will bring enlightenment to your people after you are gone and before you say it, no it's not a threat, it's a promise"

Ahab's Rage

Alistravia had been back on the ship for a few hours. The little hopper had been secured for examination and was being broken down by drones to look for anything or any science that might be salvageable. Ramier had said nothing since being captured apart from a few whimpers as he was dragged down to the brig for interrogation not that she expected him to say much, he may be a coward but he was likely a loyal one. Nev had come to see her the moment he had heard she had been wounded, he was not happy and grumbled as he examined the wounds.

"It's a good job your a primarch or this arm would have to be severed off"

Sankara was stood by Alistravia's holo computer examining information from the captured ship along with Velar who was locked in on the history and culture of the salaam system and it's people.

"I am surprised your not angrier with me" Alistravia responded to the apothecary

"given some of your injuries in the past this is a minor annoyance but still you should be more careful, you of all know primarchs can die" Nev said and then locked eyes with his primarch "...I am sorry mother I meant that..."

"I know what you meant Nev, I may be a child of the emperor but I am still human and mortal"

Nev nodded and looked down expressing sigh of relief, he expected Alistravia to scold him but she hadn't. The doors opened to her private quarters and Rogal Dorn strode in, the other astartes along with Nev bowed.

"So not too injured despite your irresponsible behavior"

"I had to try and get him before he left the planet" Alistravia responded not looking at the praetorian who made his way round to face her

"Any one of your ships could of intercepted and captured that hopper but you let your personal honor get in the way and endangered yourself!" Rogal exclaimed

"Oh don't act all high and mighty Rogal you would of done the same and you know it, besides in doing so we forced the true Bashir to reveal himself" Alistravia almost shouted her response

Nev had already retreated away from the exchange and was now stood next to Sankara and Velar. Getting in the way of two primarchs during cross words was never a good idea, it didn't happen all that often but when it did it was best to keep your distance until the conversation became less heated but that was thing about primarchs, they were generals, each with their own ideas and doctrines. Most of the time they worked together in perfect harmony but on occasion one primarch would do something that would annoy another and arguments would follow, perhaps this was a result of them being siblings or just being individuals, no one could truly say.

Alistravia had had found her brothers over-protectiveness an annoyance and it had driven her to sometimes do her own thing just to show she wasn't always in need of their help.

"Has he revealed any useful information?"

And there is was, from full blown argument to being generals. It was always like this though, one minute primarchs could be almost killing each other to the next where they were sharing a drink and laughing, only Angron was different but that wasn't his fault.

"no and I doubt torture will have any effect, how goes the battle on the ground?" Alistravia responded

"The planet is ours but a larger fleet has been detected around the capital world and forces have been mobilized to defend all three remaining planets, as I feared this will be a difficult campaign with many casualties" Rogal spoke as he and Alistravia strode over to the holo computer

"perhaps but I doubt peace could ever of been achieved her without war"

"Explain" Rogal said in response

Alistravia gestured to Velar.

"My Lord the religion these people follow is a splinter of an old Terran religion called Islam, what information I have found points towards a very devout strict religion with beliefs many other Terran religions did away with as humanity advanced"

"such as?" the praetorian asked

"Such as the need for a woman to always be covered up or that they are inferior to the men and thus can not fight or do manual labor, this particular splinter sees their emperor as an undying king blessed by God to lead them to victory against all opponents" Velar continued "they are extremely zealous"

"as you can see brother this caliphate is the antithesis of the imperium, it is likely they would never of gone down without a fight"

Rogal nodded.

"In that case we should ignore the other two worlds and strike directly at their false emperor, once he is dead we can remove his sons and put an end to this backwards ideology"

"Backwards or not they have civilians who did not choose this fight, I agree with striking the main planet first but we need to plan this carefully" Alistravia responded

"Agreed but I would like a word in private first" Rogal said looking at the three astartes who bowed and left

There was silence for a moment before Rogal spoke.

"Do not get me wrong Alistravia I know I and the others can be overbearing at times but you are supreme ambassador for the imperium as well as a primarch, your position is too valuable to lose"

"you sound like Perturabo" Alistravia said as she looked over to her ever present guardian who she knew would of disabled his visual and audio feeds the moment the word private had been used

"Then I and the iron lord share a common ideal, is it not enough that you have no care for the Mechanicum or that you allow your sons to continue research that could be dangerous" Rogal responded

"Fulgrim's sons still do their little art projects!" Alistravia stated almost cutting him off

"but they still work with the Mechanicum and other imperial factions, they don't alienate themselves because they feel superior" Rogal spoke as he paced around the room

"It's not that I feel superior Rogal but the technology which I use is, would you use an allies weapon if it was weaker or would you trust the one you forged because you know how it works" Alistravia had taken a seat on the couch and was watching the praetorian pace about

"you need to slow down sister, your constant advancing technological prowess is vilifying you in the eyes of many including the Mechanicum. They have not been quiet in voicing their concerns to our father and we, your brothers are only looking out for you"

"I know exactly what the Mechanicum have been saying to father but he has said nothing to me and I doubt he will" Alistravia said sighing as she watched her brother stop but not sit down "what was the point of this Rogal? To see if I would apologize?"

"perhaps it is difficult for your point of view to understand sister but this is my way of showing concern for your safety" Alistravia looked at him with surprise as his comment

"really!?... Rogal it is not that I do not appreciate the protection of you or any of the others but you have to realize I am not a child and I may not be as tall as you but I am still capable no matter how different I am"

Rogal just nodded.

"I understand, perhaps we have much to learn about each other... Sadira told me of the psyker"

"I told the oblivion knight I will give Lesa to her when she has a ship or we return her to Terra and not before" Alistravia responded

"I am aware of that but you should know I am giving the sisters a small cruiser and when they have assisted us here I trust they will be leaving with your crewman"

"they will be even if I don't agree with what they do"

"Ours is not to question the emperor, only obey" Rogal said in response

Alistravia nodded.

"once this campaign is complete I will hand Lesa over despite my misgivings on the matter but not before then, is that acceptable with you brother?"

"I agree and it is good that you are acting as you should sister, I suggest we host the meeting aboard the phalanx. I will send you a time once preparations are complete"

Rachel

Sadira was issuing orders to a few of her subordinates when Rachel walked in. The older knight had been in a coma for several days since being rescued, a scar and a burn across her face told the story of how close she had been to a console when it exploded as their craft had been ripped from the warp.

The older oblivion knight was taller and had a larger plume of red hair, she glanced around at the other sisters.

"get out" she signed

The sisters and Sadira's child who spoke for her needed no second order and they left the quarters quickly.Rachel glared at Sadira who bowed and signed a greeting to her.

"I am glad to see you are well sister your injuries were quite severe"

"This legions medics have a greater skill than others and have recovered me to a satisfactory level" Rachel signed

"It will be good to have your assistance in the coming battle, we have encountered many psyker's on the surface and are likely to encounter more on the capitol world" Sadira responded

"yet you have not taken in to custody the psyker aboard this ship...why?"

Sadira wasn't surprised that Rachel knew of Lesa. It was likely the moment she awoke another sister told her, such was the order they were bound by, like a coven they all shared their knowledge.

"the primarch has agreed to hand her over once we have moved to the ship lord Dorn is providing us with"

"and you agreed to this!?" Rachel exclaimed "that girl should have been handed over to us the instant she was located, the primarch has no right to deny us our quarry when the emperor himself gives us orders"

"She had already been taken to the librarious before we could capture her, the primarch saved us from being destroyed so it seamed reasonable to allow such a simple request" Sadira signed back

"you should of ordered the primarch to hand her over!" Rachel signed with force

"in doing so we would of made an enemy of the legion who rescued us, I am not willing to bite the hand that feeds me" Sadira signed back with anger

"then I have no choice but to relive you of your command, I will order the primarch to hand over the girl and then when we return to Terra I will inform the others you are not fit to command"

Rachel stormed out leaving Sadira alone with her thoughts. Rachel was right and Lesa should be in their custody but challenging Alistravia was dangerous and Sadira had taken the path of least resistance to avoid a conflict that was rapidly becoming unavoidable.

Outside Alistravia's quarters

The entrance to Alistravia's quarters were at the end of a long well lit hall. Rachel strode with speed down it towards the door sparing a quick glance at the automatons that stood silent in the alcoves that resided at each side of the corridor. They were a strange build of a round saucer body shape with eyes on short stalks poking out at the top. The body stood on six legs that looked like they were not strong enough to hold the saucer shaped body. Arms on either side bristled with weapons of a type she had never seen before or would again. The robots remained quiet not paying her any attention as she approached the five terminators that stood in front of the door to the primarchs quarters. They each carried a harpoon except the sergeant at the center who carried a trident and stepped forward as she approached.

"State your business" came the robotic sound of a voxed voice

"I demand to see your primarch now!" Rachel signed

The terminator sergeant stood silent for a moment and then responded.

"why?"

"that is nothing to do with you, now allow me to enter" Rachel signed back in frustration

Again the sergeant was quiet as if he was using his internal vox to speak to someone. Eventually after several minutes he spoke.

"the primarch does not wish to be disturbed right now"

"I will not leave until I have spoken to her" Rachel signed back in frustration

"yes you will" The sergeant responded

From behind her the sound of legs scuttling along the floor could be heard, then a low hum as weapons were charged. One of the crab automatons had moved from it's alcove and was now aiming it's weapons at her. The other terminators also stepped forward with aggression. Rachel looked round at the closing net and signed something to the terminator sergeant.

"Tell the primarch she is to hand over the psyker or face the consequences"

Then she left giving the robot a wide berth.

Eventually Rachel caught up with Alistravia in the main hanger as she was escorted by her gold and green maiden shield terminators and Gigas. Rachel stood in front of the storm bird with two other sisters, weapons sheathed for now.

Gigas stormed up to the Oblivion knight and glared down at her fragile frame.

"Move sister lest you be moved"

"I will not!" She signed in response "not until the girl is in our custody"

Gigas growled, his vox speakers echoing the noise across the hanger.

"I'll handle this Gigas" the voice from behind him came

Gigas stepped aside to reveal Alistravia flanked on either side by her guard who had already charged their weapons.

Alistravia stepped forward as Gigas stepped aside, his gaze never left the sister as Alistravia moved closer.

"I made a deal with Sadira that will be fulfilled once this campaign is over and she gave me her word that this was acceptable, her patience and agreement to this was appreciated just as I would appreciate yours"

Alistravia was polite and diplomatic as she spoke.

"I am sure you would not want the sisters to be seen as someone who go back on their word" Alistravia smiled at Rachel who kept her stoic expression

"Sadira is no longer in command and this deal is not acceptable so you will hand over the girl now or their will be consequences, I doubt the emperor would be happy at the obstruction of my duties" Rachel signed with anger

"My dear sister you speak of obstructing duty but yet here you stand obstructing a primarch from theirs, I believe my authority out ranks yours and if my word is not good enough perhaps lord Dorn's acceptance of this deal should be enough"

Again the politeness and diplomacy Alistravia was known for shone through but Gigas had known his mother long enough, he could hear the threats behind the words. All the sister had to do was accept Alistravia's original deal and move aside, then this incident would be forgotten but he could also read the sisters body language and she was about to make a very serious mistake.

"No I do not accept this deal, you will hand over the girl!

Gigas imagined if the sister could speak she would of shouted that across the hanger. Alistravia turned her head towards him with a smile.

"Well I tried" she said

Then she rushed at the oblivion knight who had no time to react as Alistravia picked her up by the throat, before Alistravia had looked not much bigger than the oblivion knight but now holding her she looked like a Titan holding a small tank in it's grip. The other two sisters backed off, they knew to draw their weapons would be suicide against an upset primarch and her escort. Rachel kicked against Alistravia but even with all her strength she could not weaken the primarchs grip.

"You dare to demand things of me aboard my ship!" Alistravia yelled "Your orders mean nothing here child no matter what power they come from!"

The sister struggled to sign anything as she chocked from the grip Alistravia had around her throat, she had stopped kicking as it was futile and she hung limp as Alistravia squeezed her hand tighter.

"The cruiser "resolute gaze" has been assigned to you so I suggest you make plans to leave my ship soon or I will kill every last one of you and send your heads back to Terra" Then Alistravia threw the knight across the hanger and into the wall on the far side before turning back to Gigas

"Stay here and keep an eye on them"

Gigas nodded as Alistravia stepped aboard the storm bird.

Velar

He was waiting in her quarters during the recess exactly where he stood the first time she had met him.

The council meeting with the emperor had gone very well and the council had unanimously agreed that joining the imperium would be beneficial for Estrella and her people as it would provide trade and protection. The emperor said that as a legion home world it would be well defended and well supplied however Alistravia and the council had stressed their concern about Mechanicum interference with Estrellan science projects and the emperor said he would think on the issue and come up with a workable plan.

Alistravia had stood down the fleet and recalled the stealth frigate which confirmed her brothers ships were now moving towards Estrella but were not in an attacking formation. The emperor had offered her ships, hundreds of them but she found herself laughing at their design and inelegance.

"I am sorry father" she said still unused to the word "But my own fleet is superior and I do not wish to travel in vessels that use the warp to get around" she had started calling it that after seeing some of her fathers vessels be sent away and the way the subspace appeared to warp their ships as it pulled them in. Her father assured her that with the Geller fields she would be safe but she shook her head and said no and he accepted this to her surprise. She had kept hidden the fact that Estrella was really a ship until now however the emperor was curious as to why the planet had no limit on natural resources but Alistravia decided the truth was better than a complicated lie.

"Estrella is a ship, it's a long story, but once the engines are repaired I can travel anywhere in the galaxy"

He had looked at her curiously and she expected him to probe deeper but instead he just accepted the explanation although Alistravia suspected he knew she wasn't giving him the full story.

She had just put Carin to bed when the knock came at her door. She was expecting her guest but had hoped Carin would have been settled for longer first.

"Come in" She said walking back into the main room

An astartes walked in. Polished silver armor with gold trims covered his body except his head and the marine carried his helm in his hands. On his left pauldron was the II symbol stating he belonged to the second legion and on his right was the emblem of a fist holding a scroll. He had quite the gallant face and a rounded chin and angled jaw with lips that were big and flat. His eyes were a bright orange like the sun up close with a head of bright yellow hair almost golden like Kyros. He got down on one knee and bowed his head.

"It is an honor to meet you finally" he said not looking at her

"You can stand" She said and the marine stood up

Her father had told her of the genetic changes he had made to make his astartes but she did not realize how big they would be. Most of the genetic alterations to her army were small things simply to improve their ability in combat like heightened vision and hearing. She never thought about increasing their overall size as she worried it may make them more frighting to civilians but she looked upon this man and realized how much of an advantage he must have over even her best lancer regiment and yet he was still as human as everyone else in so many ways. Even his voice was pleasant.

"What is your name?" she asked as she walked around him examining his armor and it's design.

For something crafted by the Mechanicum it wasn't half bad although she was sure she could improve upon it after she had time to study its design.

"I am captain Velar Breton of your emissaries, first company" he said in a very formal way

"My emissaries?" Alistravia said continuing to look him over

"Yes mother we are yours to command"

"Mother!" she said shocked at the casual use of the word

"Yes, we bare your imprint and were designed for you" Velar said as she looked up at him

"Why do they call your... my legion the emissaries?" She already knew the answer but wanted to hear it from him

"We carry the enlightenment of the emperor and the imperial truth to reunite all humans by acting as ambassadors of a sort to lost human colonies and where necessary we bring them to heel with our cousins in the other legions" He responded again in a very formal and neat way. Something Alistravia was not used too. He continued "With you mother we will bring more worlds into compliance and free them from their misguided ideals and non existent gods"

The last part made Alistravia smile. She hated religion or any form of cult so the idea of waking people to the truth and clarity that science offered appealed to her but she had told her father that was not what she wanted to be, she did not want to be just an ambassador. No. If her brothers got to fight then she should too and he had conceded stating that she had proven herself capable of being a general and an ambassador.

"Would you like a drink captain?" she asked taking the wine bottle left unfinished from her conversation with the emperor and Malcador.

She poured some of it into two glasses and handed one to the captain who took it with out question.

"Thank you" he said before taking a sip

"First things first Velar don't be so formal. I appreciate the gestures but I was raised by a man who used to just put on whatever he pulled first out of his closet. I lost count at the amount of times my mother had to tell him to change so do not overexert yourself on being so diplomatic" She said and the captain seamed to relax little "We also need to discus some changes to the legion like for a start I need to arrange moving you all to my fleet"

"I understand that there are things you may wish to change and we will accept whatever you say" He replied as he finished the wine

"Good. Well as I am sure you know many of my own will be converted to astartes and I have need to of them to be my leaders as I know them well but I need you as part of that command team as you are more familiar with imperial ideals and I will need someone to help me and the others acclimatize to these new ways" Alistravia watched carefully as he nodded "I also need to know I can trust you"

"That would never be in any doubt. We will never disobey you" He said as if offended by the suggestion

"You misunderstand captain. I know I can trust you to obey my orders but there are things about Estrella that must be kept secret for it's protection. Even in the imperium there are people who would use it for their own evil desires and it's my duty to prevent that, do you understand" She said glancing over at the pistol she kept hidden by the fireplace

"Does the emperor know of these secrets?" he asked

"He knows that there are things I do not wish to share because of the previous incident with the Mechanicum and he has respectfully not pushed any further on those subjects" Alistravia responded

"If you tell me something and order me not to divulge it then I will accept that as will my brothers" Velar responded "But if you wish not to reveal all at first I will accept that also"

Alistravia felt some relief. She was concerned that the Terran born marines would see the idea of hiding Estrella's true function differently and then it would be harder to shift them to her way of thinking.

"May I ask a question?" He asked as he placed the empty glass down on the nearest table

Alistravia filled the glass back up and handed him it back.

"Please do"

"Why do you dislike the Mechanicum so much. Is it because of their attack on the colony?" He asked taking a long sip of the wine

"Well that is a good reason to dislike them but it is not the main one" She said taking a sip of her own glass of wine "Have you read about the history of this world?"

"Not yet mother but I am aware that you battled an invasion of sorts" Velar said

"Well the Kappa tried to forcibly remove our humanity from us and failed. The Mechanicum willingly give theirs up and remove their humanity one piece at a time. That is a horrifying thought do you not think? To replace ones limb when injured with a cybernetic replacement is understandable but to replace your whole mind is just wrong" Alistravia said before she finished her drink

"I see and I understand. To remove ones whole mind and body is to remove who you are" Velar said as Carin started crying and Alistravia went to retrieve him

Velar was surprised just as her previous guests had been.

"I didn't mean to walk away captain but I have another son who needs a bit more attention than you" Alistravia said as she rocked Carin gently then sat down on the couch

"How do you protect him when your not around?" Velar asked

Alistravia looked puzzled.

"Well there are the two auto-matron out front and the auto-nanny in his room is capable of combat plus normally I have a guard on duty in here but he has recently lost a family member so he is away at the moment"

"That is not good enough, he should be protected by one of his brothers and I volunteer" Velar said looking down on Carin "I hope that will allow you to see we can be trusted as much as your homegrown sons can be"

Alistravia was surprised at the suggestion but found herself liking the idea and he was right. If he could be trusted to protect Carin at all times then he could be trusted with other information.

"Very well then as my first official act I make you Carin's guardian your duties being to protect him at all costs even if that means your life"

"It will be my honor mother" Velar said

"Something the matter Velar?" Alistravia asked

He was much older now and his golden hair had become thin and wispy, the youthful face had grown old but not tired. A small faded scar rand down his cheek from the early days when he would lead from the front but as he had spent time studying each culture as the legion conquered he had become more useful for his wisdom though Alistravia doubted little that the veteran would still be a formidable force in battle.

"Perhaps it would be unwise to leave the imperium, we stand a better chance of preventing revolt if we stay and try to keep peace between the other primarchs" He said as Alistravia poured a glass of water

"funny, Sanguinius said the same this morning"

"He may be right, without us Lorgar could be left to do who knows what and how long before they turn on the night haunter" Velar responded

Alistravia sighed and walked over to the great window that framed the end of her quarters.

"Lorgar is a concern yes but I have to agree with Ahzek, we can't just assume they will be instigators and Konrad can handle himself just fine"

Velar stepped forward to stand beside her.

"So you will not even consider it?"

Alistravia turned and looked at the marine. He was as gallant as ever and turned to look at her as she looked over him.

"I won't lie Velar I have thought about rescinding my request but I can not get what the Eldar witch told me out of my head, a storm is coming and we need to seek shelter away from it"

"and if the vote doesn't go our way?"

"If the vote does not go our way then we will watch and wait, hopefully we can quiet this storm before it starts"

Velar simply nodded as the chime sounded for them to reassemble in the counsel hall.

Phalanx briefing

Everyone relevant had assembled, Kyros and other sea devil officers stood next to Sigismund and other captains of Rogal's imperial fists. Unlike the the Ahab's rage briefing room there were no chairs such was the design methodology of Rogal's legion. To the left and right of the astartes stood the other non astartes officers. Lord commissar Hiram and his senior officers stood with neat uniforms, arms behind their backs and stone faced while Admiral Marten and Rogal's fleet Admiral stood next to them with their own senior officers. Sadira had been sent to represent the sisters but was clearly distracted and was doing her best to avoid locking eyes with Alistravia. The only other person of note in the room was a Mechanicum magus whose three arms hung limply at his side as he canted binary across the noosphere.

Rogal strode into the room and everyone except Alistravia bowed their heads. He wasted no time in getting down to business.

"Our true enemy has revealed himself and now we will end this with one assault rather than planet hopping until we have conquered all, our inelegance shows Bashir's two remaining sons are here. One is in command of their fleet and the other their forces on the ground, Alistravia tells me their fleet is of little concern"

Alistravia nodded.

"My scout vessels have assessed the fleet as inferior, we outnumber them ten to one and have superior firepower and troops. However it would be wrong of us to ignore any potential threat no matter how little it poses so with the help of the fleet admirals I have put together a battle plan that will make short work of the enemy's ships"

The hololith lit up showing the two fleets. The imperial fleet dwarfed the enemy in ship numbers and vessel size as well as overall fire power. Alistravia continued.

"We have concluded that a small fleet made up of combined second and seventh assets will be enough to wipe them out with little struggle, Admiral Elam will have the honor of commanding this attack" Alistravia said indicating Rogal's fleet admiral

The hololith changed to show cruisers from the second and seventh breaking off and moving to engage the enemy fleet.

"It will be my pleasure to do battle with our enemy" he responded very formally before Alistravia continued

"while the enemy fleet is occupied the rest of the force will begin an assault on the planets surface...Rogal" She said nodding to her brother

The map shifted to an overhead view of a great city with a massive golden palace at it's center.

"we will make planet-fall here on the plains at the outskirts of the city, the enemy has concentrated it's forces to defend there and will without a doubt have greater knowledge of the city and it's districts thus we will attack on four flanks"

The map focused in more and showed images of landing zones and key strategical points.

"The imperial guard supported by the Mechanicum titans will assault from the west, their objective is to neutralize the enemy's artillery and vehicle reinforcements"

The image on the hololith showed key buildings and enemy artillery positions before shifting again.

"My sons will attack from the north and south positions while the sea devils push in from the east cutting off all possible retreats. There are many anti aircraft guns scattered around the city and these must be eliminated so that once their fleet is destroyed we can bring in reinforcements"

"will you be leading us in to battle sir" Sigismund asked

Rogal nodded and adjusted the hololith.

"Both the north and east flanks are closest to the palace so both I and Alistravia will lead our respective legions there to eliminate Bashir and any remaining resistance"

"what will be our role my Lord" Sadira signed

"Have yourselves organize in to squads and spread yourselves out among all four attack groups, I realize there not many of you but we will have to make do"

Sadira didn't respond and instead simply nodded.

"Then you have your assignments, we will begin the attack in six hours. Dismissed"

Everyone filed out except Alistravia and Rogal who stood in the glowing light of the hololith.

"The sister seamed distracted, is something going on?" Rogal said as he looked over his battle plan

"Sadira has been relived of her command by another Knight who is demanding I hand over Lesa" Alistravia responded

"I see, do you wish me to step in and speak to this new commander. Perhaps my word will have some effect"

"She's stubborn and won't stop till she gets her own way"

Rogal turned to face her.

"She sounds like someone I know"

Alistravia smiled.

"Oh I admire her tenacity but she needs to learn her place and yes, I realize the irony in what I just said"

"Alis, do not do anything in response to her aggression. She is likely unaware that she is the an immovable object and you are an unstoppable force"

Alistravia nodded, laughing a little at her brothers analogy.

"don't worry brother I doubt shes stupid enough to test my patience any further"

Sadira's quarters

"This is insanity, your going to get us killed" Sadira signed with obvious rage on her face

She had returned to find Rachel in her quarters, she had a massive bruise around her throat where Alistravia had held her and she walked now with a slight limp because when she had impacted the wall her leg had shattered and had to be reset.

"If you had been more forceful and done your job inn the beginning this action would not be necessary" Rachel signed back

"I don't think you understand what you are asking of us, it's not just the legion who patrol those decks and is it really worth upsetting the water maiden again. Look what happened last time, bruising and a shattered leg bone will seam like a minor inconvenience compared to what the primarch will do if you upset her again" Sadira signed emphasizing the previous encounter with Alistravia

Your objections are noted sister but you are no longer in command" Rachel signed with frustration "now you will organize the squads needed for the attack on the surface and distribute them accordingly. I will personally lead them while you take fifty of our best and recover the psyker from the librarious, if you are successful then I will support you continued command assignments"

Sadira had never wanted command until she had it, now it was ripped away from her and she would never do it again. Not unless she went back on her word. Rachel starred at her waiting for an answer.

"very well, I will do as you ask"

Tunnels and traps

Planet fall had been simple, only a few enemy frigates and corvettes had remained in orbit and they were swept aside by the vast second and seventh fleet that had been assigned to the assault.

The sea devils had advanced about seventy miles into the city so far but was meeting stiff resistance.

Alistravia stood in the glow of the hololith watching the battle raging across the city, terminators stood around her along with Gigas and Sankara. Kyros was outside leading the first company into battle.

A dull thud signaled the sound of an enemy tank shell harmlessly pinging off of Alistravia's personal tanks armor, a loud boom signaled it's return fire.

The tank had been designed by the famous Techno-archaeologist Arkam Land. He had begged Alistravia to allow him to visit Estrella and witness the wonders there and in return he would build her a devastating tank from which to command her legion from and she had agreed. The first few designs were rejected as they appeared to similar to the great shadow-sword battle tanks or were simply a land raider with Estrellan technology but the final design had made Alistravia smile.

On many beaches on old Terra, on worlds throughout the galaxy and under the great sea of Estrella a sea creature lived that had no shell so to protect it's self and have a home it would claim a shell that was unoccupied and walk around with it and that was what Arkam had designed.

Pulling it's self forward with massive pincer arms the tank was a leviathan of legend. The front was a mass of turrets and cannons that unleashed every kind of destruction, it also housed the crew compartment. The shell on the back rested on armored tracks, at the top lay several rotating cannons, each made for a different purpose. One was designated to knock out enemy tanks and other vehicles, the one above it fired anti aircraft shells and the bottom one focused on infantry and other lighter targets.

The tank could carry up to twenty terminators in it's hold along with Alistravia, this hold sat bellow the cannon tower and was incredibly well armored but it was covered by two predators to watch it's flanks, after all it contained a primarch which as cargo was considered incredibly valuable. Another boom signaled another shot as Alistravia watched the hololith.

"Order the forth to watch the counter attack forming north of them and have Gerik and the sixth to push south to secure higher ground"

Sankara nodded and voxed the orders as they watched the hololith.

The scouts had identified a tunnel that would allow the main force to by pass the the upper city, which would be taken by other sea devils companies. The main force could then get closer to the palace to begin the final assault. However as the road dipped to descend towards the tunnel entrance the tank halted.

"Mother you should come outside, we have an obstruction" Kyros voxed

The hatch dropped open and several of the terminators stepped out first scanning the area carefully. It was likely no enemy's remained in this area as the sea devils had been running a strict cleanse and control stratagem but it would not of been the first time an enemy sniper had doubled back after retreating in order to take a shot at Alistravia. Scans came back negative and the terminators pushed forward but keeping a tight formation as Alistravia, Gigas and Sankara walked down towards the tunnel where Kyros stood at the edge.

The tunnel had been flooded and Gigas chuckled.

"you realize we specialize in underwater assaults or did you bang your head and forget"

"Your not funny brother and I did not forget but the tunnel has also been collapsed in and is not wide enough for the tanks" Kyros responded

"Then we proceed on foot" Alistravia said as a bleep went off in Sankara's vox bead

"Yes Admiral" Sankara said as the others began to activate the seals on their armor

"we appear to have fifty or so guests who instead of leaving are attempting to access the higher decks, specifically the deck the librarious resides on"

"have you tried to vox them?" Alistravia said

"yes my lady and we have received no answer, shall I alert the legionaries on anti boarding duties?"

"no Admiral, Sankara will return to orbit and deal with it personally. Do not engage them unless it's necessary"

"affirmative" came the response

No one spoke for a moment, the three warriors of her triumvirate command team knew she was likely pushing down the urge to kill the group of sister who were stood a few hundred feet away rearming.

After a few minutes she spoke.

"San, try to talk them down"

"and if I can't?"

"then destroy them and I will deal with their commander later" Alistravia responded

"yes mother" the psyker responded before moving away and voxing a storm bird

Alistravia turned to Kyros who was sealed in his armor.

"are we ready" she said as her helm shut around her face sealing tight

"Yes mother"

"then lead on"

Kyros took point followed by the first company, Alistravia, Gigas and the maidens shield stayed in the middle as they advanced into the dark water filled tunnel.

Ahab's rage

It was impossible Sadira thought as she and the fifty sisters stood in the elevator. They had gained access easy enough but the lift would not allow them to access the higher decks. One sister was attempting to break the code but no non Estrellan could ever understand how the three dimensional hexagrid worked. It was like someone who is not a member of the Mechanicum trying to work the noosphere. Sadira was about to call it quits when the hexagrid flashed green and the lift doors shut as it began ascending.

"I have a bad feeling about this" Sadira signed

"we have allowed the lift to move as you requested Sankara" the admiral said as the psyker walked over to view the map of the ship

The x-ray map showed the sisters in the lift as it ascended towards the librarious deck.

"Good, I will organize a force to deal with them but for now have all units move out of sight and pass activation control of the automatons to me"

"are you sure this is wise, we could just divert the lift back down to the hanger and have a transport waiting for them, you know. As a message to say get off our ship"

Sankara smiled.

"it is an interesting idea but it would not resolve the larger issue, I will speak to them"

"and if they choose to fight" The admiral said in response

"Then then they have chosen a good day to die"

Surface

The sea devils emerged from the other side of the tunnel to the ruins of several city blocks. They had been collapsed to create a blockade to stop the advancing legion just as the flooded tunnel had been a similar attempt. Each tower block had been purposely collapsed at the same time so as to collide with each other, fires were still clearly raging in parts but in the distance against the haze of smoke and dust from the battle a tower of the palace could be seen.

The sea devils halted at the edge of the blockade, a drone flew from Kyros's shoulder guards and into the mass of collapsed buildings. It's scans sent back images of unassailable terrain and raging infernos.

"Mother we can not get through this way" he voxed

Alistravia's helm slid back and she looked around at her sons.

"find me another way"

They instantly responded fanning out looking for any possible route, a few minutes past before a sergeant from the second company shouted.

"mother!, first captain!, over here"

The sergeant had found a small path that descended down under the buildings into what must have been a series of underground storage units linked together by a vast catacomb of tunnels. Kyros's drone shot down the path sending return scans.

"it looks clear of debris, a few small fires but nothing dangerous... but it could be a trap, why else would they leave it unblocked"

"well of course it's a trap" Alistravia responded "but the best way to disarm a trap is to purposely spring it"

"It's narrow down there and fighting will be close quarters, we should switch to melee weapons until we are out" Kyros said pulling "tide Splitter" from it's sheath

Alistravia often gave Kyros the sword as she preferred her trident which she drew from her back and powered up, the rest of the terminators and warriors of the first and second drew theirs, chain swords revved and power fields sparked to life. Alistravia turned to the sergeant who discovered the path.

"lead the way sergeant"

A normal human might of hesitated at the dark tunnel and the possibility of a trap but the sergeant stomped ahead with speed and the rest followed.

Ahab's rage

Sadira was more concerned now than she had been when the lift began ascending. They had exited on the deck containing the librarious ready to fight but the deck was empty and now Sadira's bad feeling had turned into gut wrenching fear. There should have been patrols of astartes and the war auto-matron, especially while the ship was at battle-stations but instead empty corridors had greeted them.

The fifty sisters rounded the corner to face the grand doors of the librarious, again no guards or auto-matron were visible and Sadira stopped the group. One of the other sisters signed to her.

"why do you stop, we are so close"

Sadira turned round and signed back.

"this has been too easy sister, something is not right"

"We must retrieve the psyker or we will be failures in the eyes of our comrades"

Sadira gritted her teeth, she knew this was wrong and was beginning to realize it wasn't the primarch she should of stood up to but Rachel and her misguided orders. She was about to issue the order to fall back but several of the sisters advanced with one of the them signing to her.

"Rachel was right you are not fit for command"

"sisters stop" she signed in panic as more of them moved past her into the crossroads just before the entrance and that's when Sadira saw the trap and ran forward ahead of them turning to face her comrades and halting them but it was too late.

The librarious doors opened to Sankara and two other psyker's of the legion, then from the rear several crab like drones dropped from the ceiling while a larger bipedal one stomped around the corner and blocked their retreat towards the lift. Two tactical units of space marines formed up on the left and the right. Bolters aimed at the sisters who apart from Sadira all drew their weapons.

Surface

They had almost reached the end of the catacombs when the trap was sprung. Explosive charges hidden behind crates went off with concussive blasts and while it shook a few of the legion warriors only one was gravely injured. The enemy came out of their hiding spots which were large containers, shooting and stabbing but with little effect and Kyros cut down two or three with every swing of "tide Splitter".

Alistravia cut down the few who made it past the maidens shield to engage her but she barley acknowledged them as she swung "Neptune's might" around and gutted the enemy soldiers.

While the battle was in close quarters and the enemy flooded the passage that ascended up the legion warriors were pushing forward. From atop the tunnel a heavy gun with an armored front opened fire, Gigas charged forward with the shells barley scratching his armor and smashed the gun and crew to pieces with his power fists and then the battle was over. He pushed the wreckage of the gun platform out of the way and the legionnaires found themselves in a court yard clearing just inside the outer walls of the palace.

It was quiet apart from the sound of gunfire and artillery that echoed in the distance, the legion force formed up around it's primarch as she consulted the map and her brother.

"Rogal we are inside the walls, whats you position?"

"we have reached a large northern gate and are attempting to breach it but we are encountering heavy resistance, the sisters have found a back route in and are attempting to open the way"

"understood, We will push in from here and attempt to neutralize Bashir" Alistravia said as a flash from a nuclear detonation shone on the horizon

"try not to get yourself injured again" he responded before cutting the vox

The group approached the large gates into the main section of the palace on two fronts, the terminators marched alongside Alistravia straight at the door while the second flanked round to assail a wall that had partially collapsed. The terminators and Alistravia came under fire almost immediately, missiles combined with heavy and light arms shot down from gun ports and the parapet at the top. The legion returned fire instantly and began tearing to shreds the gun ports and the stone work around them, the second company was assailing the wall and the enemy soldiers did not notice them until captain Sullen himself began tearing into their lines. One by one the gun ports fell silent as the they were either torn apart by first company or their crew was killed by captain Sullen and the second who stood waiting as they opened the gates for Alistravia.

"the palace awaits mother" the veteran responded

"Good work Wilhelm" She turned to address the gathering of warriors "Kyros take the first, find the northern gate house and assist in getting it open. Wilhelm take the second and cleanse the palace of all resistance" She then opened up the vox "all legion assets begin final assault, converge on the palace and secure all exits" A round of "affirmative" echoed back from the vox network before she turned back to warriors accompanying her.

"Gigas and the maidens shield will accompany me to get Bashir. Good hunting"

Ahab's rage

Sankara held his arms up and took a step forward staying just outside the reach of the sisters powers.

"Turn around, leave now and this does not have to go any further"

The sister who had defied Sadira stepped forward and signed back to the psyker.

"we have our orders to take the girl so hand her over"

"A deal was struck and will be kept so long as you leave this deck now! I will not ask again"

"that deal is no longer in place so you..." Sadira stepped in front of the sister before she could Finnish and signed to her.

"Sister we can not win this fight, we should leave as he asks"

"I will not let you make us look any weaker than you already have" the sister whipped out her inferno pistol and shot one of the astartes to her right, in response the other sisters opened fire along with the remaining astartes and the drones. Sadira jumped on the sister who had taken the first shot and drove a knife deep into her heart but at the same time the sister pulled the trigger once more on her inferno pistol and set Sadira and her self ablaze, bolter rounds to the head silenced their screams.

Sankara surveyed the scene, stepping over the sisters bodies taking only a casual look at Sadira's corpse. Two astartes were dead, one lightly injured and the automatons were untouched. They had powered down but had remained on station and would until Sankara ordered them to go back to standby mode. A sergeant approached.

"There are no other sisters aboard sir, shall I inform mother?"

"no" Sankara said "I will tell her myself, clean up this...mess then return to normal operations"

The sergeant Saluted and moved off.

Surface

The throne room was heavily guarded, enemy psyker's and mechanical warriors in large numbers came at Alistravia and her escort. Gigas smashed his mighty fists into the mechanical monsters, their power fields ripping through the warriors armor and crushing what remained of their flesh below. Alistravia cut down several of the beasts herself while the maidens shield hacked into the rest of the defenders.

Gigas was tearing the head off the last mech when Kyros voxed.

"mother we have opened the front gate and Lord Dorn is advancing"

"affirmative" Alistravia responded

They breached the throne room quickly as the barricaded door was no match for the terminators. Bashir stood in his gold and purple plate sword at the ready, his son ran straight at Alistravia who shot him before he could even raise his weapon.

"So you kill without thought" Bashir said pointing his sword at Alistravia

"Oh no my dear Bashir I put a lot of thought into pulling the trigger, perhaps I will put more thought into your execution"

Bashir chuckled.

"A true warrior would face me one on one to the death but then you are a woman and no warrior" He smiled an evil grin and showed his golden teeth

Alistravia drew her Trident and pointed it back at Bashir.

"Are you so sure" she said as the maiden shield stepped back creating space as Bashir stepped forward from his Golden throne

Bashir was cleaver, he did not run towards Alistravia and kept just enough distance to be away from the tridents deadly reach. He stepped just inside her guard and thrust forward aiming at her face and she pulled her head to the side so that the sword only hit air, then she instantly swung the blade end of the trident around in an attempt to catch him off guard but Bashir spun round parrying the attack in time. He then tried to spin inside Alistravia's guard but she spun the opposite way moving out of range of his sword spinning the trident around her body before shooting it off like a spear thrust. Bashir was only just able to parry the attack and move back creating some space between himself and Alistravia.

He was trying to hide the fact that the strength of deflecting Alistravia's attacks had winded him.

"you are stronger than I anticipated but I have greater skill" he teased

Alistravia stretched her neck a little and rolled her shoulders.

"I can kill you at any moment I choose"

"I think you have that the wrong way round, I will cleave your weapon in two then do the same to yourself" he responded

"well then" Alistravia said holding out her trident "show me"

Bashir charged at her sword raised above his head, he brought it down towards the central haft of the trident but as he was about to connect Alis thumbed a switch and the trident split in to two. Bashir's sword hit the floor and Alistravia spun around behind him before inserting the blade and head end of the trident through his back piercing his chest. As blood poured from Bashir's mouth and in the moment before he died Alistravia leaned forward and spoke.

"I told you, any moment I choose"

She pulled both half's out of the body letting it fall to the ground before reattaching them. A bleep in her ear went off and she listened as Sankara told her what had occurred about the ship. Gigas could tell by her face it was not good and stepped away from her as the oblivion knight entered the throne room.

Alistravia went straight for her like missile, other sisters tried get in her way but were killed as Alistravia simply swatted them aside.

This was a primarch unleashed and a normal human no matter their skill was no match for them as the oblivion knight was smashed into the nearby column snapping her spine. A few of the other sisters reacted and attempted to open fire on Alistravia but she was among them like a cat fish in a shoal of minnows. She tore them apart piece by piece until none of them were left. Her sons had moved back, even Gigas did not want to be caught up. He had seen the monster Angron in a rage before and knew just what a primarch was capable of in this state.

Alistravia stood among the bodies of the sisters, her green and gold armor covered in their blood, she was staring into space and stood like that for several minutes before looking in the direction of the crippled oblivion knight who was attempting to crawl to her dropped inferno pistol.

Alistravia kicked it out of the way as Rogal walked in.

"what is going on here!" he shouted as the huscarls and he looked around the room at the carnage

"whats going on is that this filth ordered her comrades to attack my librarious" Alistravia said looking down at the sister who was staring up at her "two of my sons are dead because she was impatient, well now you will not have Lesa at all"

Alistravia went to kick her but Rogal moved in front to block her.

"get out of my way Rogal!"

"Alis she is crippled and will be made to face disgrace at the hands of her superiors, you do not need to take her life to have your revenge" The praetorian stated

"Her life became forfeit when she attempted to enforce her orders by attacking my sons"

Alistravia took a step forward and Rogal placed his hand in front of her. It was tense, already the maidens shield and huscarls were eyeing each other up, judging each others offensive capability.

"Walk away brother, do not witness this act and you can remain oblivious"

"I cannot because I have already seen enough!" He shouted

Alistravia was done at that and took another step forward only this time the praetorian did not just stand in her way.

The blow had come unexpectedly and Alistravia felt her armor scrape along the ground with the force of the hit. Rogal was looking at his own hands and seamed to be confused at the action he had just taken. Instantly weapons were in hand and power fields flared as the maidens shield and the huscarls switched into an attack posture. Gigas stomped forward towards Rogal, power fists ablaze with energy.

"Gigas no!" Alistravia yelled as she pushed herself to her feet using the trident "all of you stand down"

"Mother he!..."

"GIGAS!" she shouted "we are leaving, Rogal can Finnish this compliance on his own"

Gigas and the maiden shield stood down and moved back to follow Alistravia out of the throne room.

"Alis wait!" Rogal shouted but she kept walking

He turned around to see the oblivion knight signing to him.

"thank you for protec..."

Rogal hauled her up so she was eye to eye with him.

"know this soulless one, I did not do this to protect your life. You are nothing to me and have made me commit an act of violence against my own kin. I would kill you myself if I were truly interested"

He dropped her to the floor and turned to one of the huscarls "get her out of my sight"

Ahab's rage

Alistravia stormed on to the bridge and straight to the command throne. Admiral marten approached her cautiously.

"We have recovered most of the legion and we have firing solution's on all imperial fist vessels"

"were leaving, set a course to the edge of the system and get us out of here once all units are recovered" she responded

"To where?"

Alistravia was quiet for a moment before answering.

"Prospero"

"my lady we have no idea if the crimson king is there and..."

Alistravia gave him a look that silenced any further objections.

"as you wish"

"Admiral a ship is approaching, it's the Resolute Gaze and their weapons are charged" An officer shouted

"they think to threaten us with a light cruiser?"

"they are hailing us"

"do not respond" Alistravia said

Resolute gaze

Rachel had had to be enthroned in a cage, the imperial fist apothecary told her she would never walk again so her only option was a wired cage that took signals from her brain allowing her some movement. Her little vessel was powering towards the Ahab's rage with weapons ready and teleporter charged, they had not yet raised shields so she would teleport to librarious and take the girl.

"sister two other ships are heading towards us" a sister signed

"sea devils?"

"no imperial fists and we are being hailed by Lord Dorn" she responded

"Put him through"

The grainy image of Rogal appeared with an angry look.

"I suggest you stand down sister"

"my Lord I have orders and will see them completed"

Rogal leaned forward so much the image on the hololith broke up slightly.

"I will protect Alistravia no matter the cost even if it means defying imperial law, now stand down!"

"I will not" Rachel said before cutting the vox

Ahab's rage

"the two imperial fist ships have charged weapons" another crewman shouted

"Of all the cheek, good job I had those firing solutions. Raise shields" the admiral said

"Sir their not targeting us"

From the deck the crew and Alistravia watched as the imperial fists cruisers opened fire on the Resolute Gaze. Large shells slammed into it's bridge while las guns tore the armor plating from it's main hull. With in minutes it was a burning wreck.

Alistravia stood from the throne.

"I shall be in my quarters, continue on to Prospero"

librarious

Lesa was trying to concentrate son the spinning cube but she couldn't and it once again dropped to the table.

"your distracted" Sankara said

"No just tired"

"Lesa I can sense your thoughts, I know your lying so tell me whats going on"

She sighed and lent back in the chair.

"A lot of people died over me, I feel like it's my fault"

"It is not, had the sisters simply been patient they would not of been killed" Sankara responded

"Is the primarch upset with me?"

"why would she be? Sankara questioned

"I caused a fight between her and Lord Dorn, she must hate me"

Sankara shook his head.

"That fight was not your doing and mother and Rogal have never seen eye to eye over many things. She does not hate you... you have a question I can sense it"

Lesa nodded.

"Why does the emperor have the sisters collect psyker's?"

"we don't fully know the reason although mother has a few theory's but the master of mankind has many secrets and I doubt we will never know the answer to the reason behind many of his actions"

"where are we going now, home?"

"no we are going to Prospero home-world of the thousand suns and Lord Magnus, mother and he are close so I believe she is seeking counsel. He is quite wise"

"Whats going to happen to me"

Sankara said nothing and just picked up the cube.

"try again"

Counsel

"Alis this situation speaks more to the poor thinking of one oblivion knight than it does to your own mistakes" Horus said "and furthermore I would of done the same"

Alistravia sighed.

"The point my dear Horus was that my own civilization does not fit with imperial edicts. I have tried to conform where necessary but the more my technology and people grow the further away from imperial law we get"

"Alistravia you did nothing wrong in this instance from what I can see" Lorgar said

"You are correct about that brother, I did nothing wrong from some peoples point of view but to others" she shrugged

The arbiter banged his hammer before anyone else could speak.

"I believe that is enough for today's session, we will reconvene tomorrow"

Before he could bang his hammer the Emperor spoke.

"lord arbiter I would speak with you and my daughter in the morning"

Alistravia and the arbiter nodded and then the hammer was banged.

Epilogue

Sandor Wrexam stood waiting outside the primarchs door, she had been summoned unexpectedly and had rushed to quarters to change not wanting to appear a mess before the Primarch.
The doors opened and a marine in terminator Armour ushered her in to the entrance way. The door to the primarchs inner sanctum was open which meant she could approach with out being questioned by the two warriors guarding the way in.
No matter how many times she stepped into the primarchs main chamber it astounded her. Tanks of sea water with fish from many oceans across the galaxy were placed around the room, each emitting a peaceful blue light.
The roof had been painted in the classic Estrellan style. Waves of blue, green yellow and amber were woven together, then the image had then been molded into an ocean of pure calm.
The floor was carpeted with the finest of materials and was woven to give the appearance of a cobbled beach laden with sea shells. The walls were full of books and drawings, some from before the founding of the legion and some were from the emperors library back on Terra
Near one of the walls was a glass cabinet containing one book. An ancient Terran tale of revenge against a beast that roamed the world when it was called earth and still had oceans. The title was missing as was the name of the writer but the first page displayed the strange ancient dialect of old earth, it's primitive words not readable for any non enhanced human in the current time but Sandor would have loved to of been able to understand it. To be able to see how her ancestors lived before the imperium.
The room was furnished with the finest items. Every seat was embroidered carefully to form the image of a great ship on an ocean or a sea beast from Terra's past.
There was another warrior of the maidens shield stood in the corner of the room, his green lenses the only sign he existed. He did not move or say anything as she moved across the room to examine some of the books.
She ran her finger across the edge of one of the shelves to a great book. It was old and the materiel on it's spine had blotches of of brown like it had been exposed to the elements for many centuries.
"You may borrow it if you like"
The primarchs voice made her jump and she bowed twice in a hurried fashion.
"My lady I did not hear you approach, you honor me with your request to meet"
Alistravia laughed and smiled
"Every time I have to tell you not to be so formal. You should relax a little, now do you wish to borrow the book?"
Sandor looked over Alistravia, she was a vision of perfection. Every part of her figure was perfect and were she a normal woman born on any imperial world she would of had many men cloying for her attention but she was not normal and no man would likely ever get close to her.
In a previous meeting the Primarch had said how she wanted to experience the joy of being a parent she had seen in the faces of Estrellan mothers and a year before the emperors arrival impregnated herself and gave birth to her son, Carin.
The sound of a bubbling from one of the fish tanks broke her train of thought and she looked over at the book.
"What is it about?" Sandor asked
Alistravia pulled the book from it's shelf. The cover was a picture of a tall handsome man stood at the front of a boat as it plowed through the ocean waves of ancient Terra, his left arm was extended forward with a curved sword pointing forwards.
"It is about a sailor named Sindbad and his adventures, to reveal anymore would remove the enjoyment of reading it for yourself"
Alistravia held out the book to her
"Here take it, consider it a gift"
Alistravia pushed the book into Sandor's hands.
She was stunned, for the Primarch to part with one of her books was something she imagined was an impossibility.
"How will I read it. I can not speak the old language" she asked
"I have a translation matrix I use. I will send you it's access codes later" the Primarch pointed to the couch embroidered with a beast she referred to as the kraken.
"Shall we sit"
They sat on the couch facing each other, an old ornamental tea pot and two gold cups were placed on the table in front of the couch.
Alistravia poured the flavored hot water into each cup and offered one to Sandor who took it politely.
"So what would you like to discuss today?" The Primarch asked taking a sip from her cup
Sandor took a small sip, as always it tasted of a sweet nectar that no other drink could replicate.
"Well you have mentioned the Kappa before and I was hoping to learn more about them"
The Primarch nodded and placed the cup on the table as Sandor activated her pic and recording device.
"Well the Kappa once lived on an oceanic world like Estrella now believed to be destroyed. We found out during our war against them that a virus had been killing their species and had destroyed all the females, the last few hundred male survivors were those that landed on Estrella."
The primarchs voice was like no other, beautiful and elegant. Sandor imagined only the emperors voice would be greater.
"They appeared on Estrella ten years before I arrived and began their insidious plan"
"They invaded?" Sandor queried
"Yes" came the reply "But not through force of military, it was done through religion"
Sandor looked puzzled.
"My lady you told me once Estrella was world of science so how would something so unscientific as religious belief work against them"
Alistravia poured more tea into both their cups
"Let me ask you a question. Do you believe in the emperors grand vision?"
"Of course I do" Sandor responded
"So you believe that my father will deliver us the galaxy and create a paradise for all humans"
"Not just the emperor but you and your brothers, we believe in you. We trust you"
Alistravia smiled and took Sandor's hands in her own.
"So you believe and trust us, even though we are only human. my father is just a man albeit a powerful one but he is still just a man and you say you believe in and trust him as well as us that are his children without doubt?"
"Yes" Sandor replied passionately
"So you have faith in us?"
Sandor opened her mouth to respond but no words came out and the Primarch chuckled and released her hands
"You don't need gods to form a religion. An ideology will serve just as well like that of the imperium's except while we do all work together towards a common goal we are all individuals and individuality is something religion looks to eliminate. See the Estrellan's were naive, they believed themselves so superior that allowing these Kappa to live on the world was there responsibility as they felt they had been burdened with the privilege of a planet that could replenish it's exploitable resources"
"That would mean and infinite supply of resources?" Sandor queried "How is that possible?"
Alistravia just shook her head a little as she spoke.
"I am afraid that is secret only a few including the emperor know the answer to and he has been good enough not to pursue the issue"
There was a moment of quiet, Sandor really wanted to pursue this new development but the look on the primarchs face said she should drop it. So she did and moved back to the first topic.
"So when you arrived this religion had already taken route"
Alistravia nodded.
"By the time I was old enough to understand it was everywhere but there is another word for religion that fits better, cult"
"But what did they want. You said that only a few hundred arrived so what was the purpose of this cult?" Sandor asked enthralled by the story
"To revive their species, you see they were masters of genetic engineering and could alter a human over many years and turn them into a Kappa. But they could not just start doing it. Despite being stronger than a human they were out numbered so the cult was their way of recruiting people and as they gained more power and rights on Estrella through feigning victimization the more their plan gained momentum"
"You once told me your Estrellan mother and father were abducted, was that something to do with the Kappa" Sandor said
"Yes because they spoke out against the Kappa and the cultists that followed them and because the Kappa had gained so much power speaking out against them was a crime so they were taken"
A sadness appeared in the primarchs eyes and for a moment Sandor could swear she saw a tear forming.
Sandor let the quiet moment last for a minute before asking another question.
"So what happened next?"
"I knew they were evil but I could not just out right attack them so I joined their cult, it was a way in. There were many Estrellan's who wanted to fight back but now with the strength and support they had the Kappa could not be challenged"
"So you infiltrated their cult and found out their secrets?" Sandor asked taking another sip of her drink
"Yes, after a few months I discovered the genetic engineering lab under their temple in my home city. I stole all the information I could when realized this technology could help me strengthen those who were willing to fight them. I destroyed their lab and the temple and so began the war"
"Were many people willing to fight?" Sandor responded on the edge of her seat
"At first only a small group, many were afraid of what would happen if they tried to fight but as the truth about the Kappa was reveled and their image of being a peaceful cult or religion as it were was shattered more joined and soon we pushed the Kappa out of the city"
"You said that speaking out against the Kappa was a crime so to fight them must of been a capitol offense"
Alistravia nodded.
"At first we battled our own soldiers and the half changed Estrella's but as we won more battles the government of the city changed it's stance and stood along side us, but the other Estrellan cities had been over thrown and the Kappa had an army of millions of humans and changed humans and it was another twenty years before Estrella was free"
"And many of those who stood beside you then stand beside you now as astartes" Sandor said smiling
"Yes, we have come along way from those days"
Sandor turned off the devices and ended the recording
"Thank you for sharing this My lady, it will be of great interest, I shouldn't tell you this but many of my fellow Remembermancer`s are very jealous of this posting"
Alistravia laughed
"And so they should be, most of my brothers were not welcoming of the idea of having to carry Remembermancer`s. I doubt they have as much time for you as I do"
"Well it is appreciated My lady, I hope after this next campaign we can talk again? Sandor said
"I will make sure we do" The Primarch said as she stood "Now if you will excuse me I have some work to do before we arrive"
"Of course" Sandor said as she stood and bowed

To be continued in part 4: The siege of Khartoum