I do not collect the Warhammer 40k figures myself, but I did read quite a few of the books set in the Universe and I always had the feeling that fighter pilots and women did not find enough proper recognition in the stories. When I heard from a friend (a huge Warhammer 40k geek), that there were only 18 of the 20 Primarks mentioned, I had an idea: If the Emperor is really super-intelligent, couldn´t it be that he managed to reduplicate his DNA as female, meaning two X chromosomes instead of an XY set. That easy as hell. In single cell stadium that is already (technically) possible deemed it possible, so I wrote this as a nice combination of my two points of criticism. Right now, it´s just the first chapter, but I might want to continue this, if it works out. I don´t believe in writer´s block, so hit me with suggestions.
Marius had turned 24 on the day received his orders for the fifth deployment. It would take the young Commander of a Regiment of irregular assault bombers to a small planet named Elysiarum 5.
It consisted of men and women from a migrant fleet. They had lost their homes to various unpleasant factors, including Tyrranids, Dark Eldar and Orks. Marius himself had descended from a line of successful surgeons. He completed his studies at the schola of his planet with many different trainings in different areas of expertise. He aspired to be a surgeon as well, but did not achieve this goal, when Dark Eldar came to ransack the system he grew up in.
Luckily, he was on another world, mourning the death of his mother. When he heard of the fights he signed up for combat. In the mania and insecurity of the battlefield he was promoted to a high rank in the medical units.
In the last minutes of the war, he lost his eyesight to shrapnel tearing through his face, cutting his hopes for his own future down. He was augmented and received a pair of Lord-General Gaunt eyes, named after one of the heroes of the Sabbath Worlds Crusade. Then Marius signed up for the 125th Migrant Legion. Being short on proper officers the Departmento stuck him into the commanding position of three fighter wings. He was in command of a small group of Lightning Migrants, a special assault –bomber hybrid. The fighters were specialized for use in the vacuum of space and enlarged to fullfill the role of both a bomber and a fighter plane. The assault plane schemes were transferred to the factory ships of the migrant fleet and production for the advanced models began only two years after the fall of the Segmentum Utopium. The fighter was a regular space and void fighter, equipped with three guided rockets, a mini-rocket projector as well as additional ports for further more specialized equipment. For void combat there is a twin-linked Melter installed into the nose. For atmosphere combat it is supported by a twin-linked heavy bolter. The rear defence is a four barrelled lasturret, operated by a targeting servitor, given out by the Mechanicum. These beasts of void combat where a necessary construction, as the migrant fleet needed the functionality and striking force of both a bomber and an assault plane at the same time, lacking proper pilots and the time to train them.
His new eyes make him more suitable than most other pilots to fly the modified planes, as he has better night vision and tactical computers in them, than the helmets of the Migrant fleet can offer. The port, drilled into his left temple offers a perfect connection between pilot and interface.
He completed his first forty tours over the Atalanta Planetary siege and receiving three promotions connected to a few medals on his uniform. He never was able to find good friends in any environment. He once came in as a close second in drinking game against two inquisitors, a Battle Sister and two Space Wolves, losing to the Chapter master of the Space Wolves. That was the closest thing to fun he ever had, until he woke up in a power-armour-powered, rib crushing hug by a wasted Space Wolf. After that encounter, he decided to stay clear of the Adaptus Sororitas and the Space Wolves, worried about their uncontrollable rage, something most migrants view as useless waste of oxygen.
The deployment on Elysiarum 5 was domed from the beginning. The small world had been given to a small group of Eldar civilians, according to several contracts it wasn´t even supposed to be returned to the Imperium, having no real value. Some Administratum idiot found out and managed to get the Departmento Munitiorum to send out a small "liberation force". (He was promptly promoted.)
Marius unit was part of the deployment. In orbit of the small world the forces of the imperium encountered a band of Dark Eldars and a battle barge of an unknown space marine chapter. When Marius saw through the window of his small space fighter, what was going on, he for the first time is generally concerned about the Emperor's protection. Never before had he seen this much debris in space, making manoeuvring with the small lightly armoured fighters nearly impossible. The Lord Admiral had a different opinion about what the small fighters were supposed to do in this situation. So, he ordered to attack the Dark Eldars, as the battle barge had no human skin and blood attached to its armour, no huge and menacing warp signature emitting from its core or any obscenities drawn or welded to its sides. Oh, and it didn´t yell its name at a mind-numbing volume, so it was no threat at all, at least no directly. When approaching the barge through a safe flight corridor, Marius could briefly see its name tag, reading "Preying Mantis", followed by an XI, indicating the 11. Legion.
The void around the Dark Eldar is full of assault planes, void fighters and void bombers. The Dark Eldar do not use a lot of them and the Imperials Navy can only deploy 3 void bombers and 16 Stricker Migrants. But the Battle Barge unleashes a surprising amount of Space Marine void crafts including at least two dozen Thunderhawks, almost one hundred different gunships and landing crafts.
The Imperial Guard Fighter Wings are told to engage the support fleet of the eldar Dreadnoughts and the Capital Ship, while the frigates of the Imperial Navy and the Space Marine Battle Barge would take care of the Dreadnought and the Capital Ship.
(Change of the PoV)
Marius breathes heavily. Right now, he is pulling his seventh assault run on a light cruiser of the Dark Eldar. His light antimatter torpedos are depleted. All he has now are the front-mounted laser cannons and two heavy plasma bombs in special non-standard links on the lower side of his void craft. In the first three strafing runs he had an entire unit of Migrants. Now he is alone with his attack. He knows instinctively, that he will die sooner than later. Usually some other pilot would be saying something nice now, but them being dead, it is only Marius and his curses. For his planned assault Marius flies down a small path in the point-blank defence of the Dark Eldar ship. His flight path enables him to drop his bombs onto a structural weakness between the engines in the rear. He takes a straight run towards the Space Marine battle barge ahead of him, as the Plasma bombs gravitate towards the warp signature of the ships´ engine bay. His computer gives the information that the detonation was successful. The explosion of the light cruiser drives a shock into the bones of the young commander. On the rear view he can see the cruiser dying. When he focuses to the front again, he can feel a tugging in his gut. Something is going wrong. Horribly wrong. Then the final implosion of the light cruiser almost knocks Marius out. He manages to stay awake, when the discharge of the warp crystals aboard the Dark Eldar ship tear through his mind and knock him out for good. His last sight is a void engine of his own Migrant accelerating past him
When he wakes up, he can see a Thunderhawk crossing above him. Quickly marius checks his SOS beacon, which the Migrant fleet refused to integrate into the long range vox systems. It is sending. The face in the other fighter is totally different from most of the other Space Marines he ever saw.
Which doesn´t mean much, because he only ever encountered Space Wolves and a small group of Salamanders.
A magnetic field pulls the Lightning Migrant towards the Thunderhawk, apparently equipped for search and rescue. Marius drifts away again.
At least the eyes didn´t fail me this time.
Actually, the new mechanical Gaunt eyes, as he calls them, never failed him before and are even more reliable than the original eyes, he just keeps saying that to soothe his own mind from being scared or messing up a mission. Fifteen fighters of the migrant fleet lost, fifteen pilots dead, Marius could be number 16 soon and five frigates one transporter and a cruiser were destroyed, before the Vox antenna of Marius´ Migrant was hit by a Psion beam, supercharging and breaking the capacitors for the long-range equipment. But a Dark Eldar invasion force felt the Emperor's wrath. "Some fegging idiot is going to get a promotion in the near future for the designing of an ingenious battle plan. I hope I get to punch him, when he reaches the Emperor's Embrace.", Marius grumbles.
He looks down and sees that an integral part of his joystick is lodged in his stomach and the blood is frozen on the flight suit and the joystick. At least the intestines are still there where they belong.
He drifts away again, when the Migrant docks into the designated gear. In the vox of his helmet a young female sounding voice appearing on the close-range hailer, telling him that everything would be okay.