886.M41, Isphyda I

Orion sat in his cell in the fortress-monastery of the Power Marines chapter. This small, empty chamber of rock served as his sleeping quarters and where he spent most of his free time. He sat cross-legged on the floor contemplating his life. As he sat, he was interrupted from his thoughts by a loud knock on the door.

"What?" He called irritably. The door slid open and a chapter serf entered, a slim girl of 10. The child looked nervous as she addressed Orion.

"Mi'lord, I've been instructed by your sergeant to come and get you. You see, it's time to recruit new aspirants and your squad..." She said, trailing off.

"Where is Crau?" Orion asked.

"In the armoury, lord." The girl said nervously.

"Thank you, that will be all." Orion said. He had no patience for the chapter serfs and only spoke to them when necessary. He rose to his feet as the girl ducked out of the room. He walked over to the door and closed it behind him as he headed for the armoury. When he arrived, he found Crau, Yariel and the rest of the tactical squad waiting for him.

"We're to take a transport and head for a nearby village." Crau explained. "One of us gets to fight a bunch of teenage boys. Sounds like good fun."

"I'll leave that to you, Crau. I imagine any who can overcome a face like yours is worthy of being an Astartes." Orion said, smirking. Crau winced, rubbing the steel plates that made up most of the left side of his face. It had been almost a decade and still Orion was unused to that red glass ball encased in steel where once a sparkling brown eye had been, let alone the metal replacing much of Crau's face.

"Given how some of the serfs look at me, I think you're right." He said unhappily. "Shall we go, brothers?"


One Hour Later

The stormraven transport touched down outside the village. When the ramp lowered and Orion exited the craft, several civilians were crowded around the transport. As the rest of the squad exited the aircraft, Orion looked at Crau.

"I'll let you take care of this." Crau said. "Since I'm the sergeant now, I get to do that."

"Whatever." Orion said, frowning as he looked at the civilians.

"We are the Adeptus Astartes of the Power Marines chapter. The time has come for us to recruit some of you into our ranks. All males between the age of twelve and fourteen are required to take part in the Challenge Trial." Orion declared. A collective murmur swept across the crowd. "Now would be preferable." He added irritably. The crowd cleared away, parents heading to their homes to fetch their sons and teenage boys headed to get their friends.

"We still haven't sorted out who's going to be fighting them. How the hell do they even do the Challenge Trial on this planet?" Yariel asked. "I'd heard that it's not the same as on Isphyda III."

"We take them into the forest, give them a machete and see who can sneak up on us." Orion told him. "Less noble than where we came from, but we don't get our recruits from this world for their honour."

"And if they stumble on feral orks while hiding in those forests?" Yariel said.

"Then we have no further need for their corpses. Orks don't stray this close to the Fortress-Monastery, Yariel." Orion pointed out. As they spoke, gradually aspirants began to approach them. Once the last arrived, a total of sixteen boys stood assembled. They all had machetes and some pieces of equipment for camouflage and forest-exploration.

"Come on, then." Crau called. "Let's go walking, you all know what you're supposed to do. Sneak up on this guy in the forest and draw blood, that's all you have to do." He told them, pointing at Orion. Orion noticed Crau's faint smile. Orion was the sharpest of the squad and the hardest to sneak up on. It was unlikely any of these recruits would get the drop on him but then, that wasn't what they looked for in the Challenge Trial. Aspirants weren't expected to succeed and were instead measured by the magnitude of their failure, as Orion remembered from when he took the Trial some forty-six years prior. The trial was different here, but it was the same principle.

The squad and the aspirants set off, headed for the lush green forest near the village. To get there, they trekked across sweeping green fields, the morning dew of the long grass coating their feet as they moved. After half an hour of walking, they came to the edge of the forest, gnarled old trees clustered densely ahead of them. The group stopped and looked at the forest.

"Well, off you go." Crau said when nobody started moving. The aspirants slowly headed into the forest and once they entered, it did not take long for them to disappear from view. There was a long silence before Orion spoke.

"When do I go in?" Orion asked.

"Give them a little while. We want thinks to be fair, those were our instructions. We lost a lot of marines on Agora, we need to replace them sooner rather than later." Crau told him.

"Right. Do I get any weaponry?"

"Fuck-all. You'll be fine, those little things the aspirants are carrying couldn't hurt a grot." Crau said, grinning. The grin was twisted as half of Crau's lips were burned and scarred from the hit he had taken at Hypatia. Since that day, Crau had started to shave his head as it no longer grew on the left side of his scalp and it looked very lopsided when almost half of his scalp was burned and partially metal while the other half had hair. Now, Crau's face was quite gaunt, his right cheek having hollowed out somewhat since the disfigurement. His left ear was completely gone now and had been replaced with a square steel receiver to serve the same function.

"I'm sure there are a handful of grots who thought that." Yariel said, smirking. "Green pricks are tiny." At this, Orion took a moment to examine the face of his other friend. It had been a long time since he had taken a good look at Yariel and now he took one. Sea-green eyes, pale skin, high-cheekbones and a hooked nose, a strong jaw and chin with close-cropped black hair. Orion looked away.

"How long is a little while?" Orion said, scratching his beard.

"Ten minutes. I thought you were meant to be the patient one, Orion." Crau said.

"Not patient when it comes to waiting for teenagers to hide in the woods." Orion responded.

"Deal with it, mate." Crau told him and that ended the conversation. After ten minutes, Orion stretched his arms.

"Alright, I'm going in." Orion said.

"Good luck to you." Crau told him. "Try not to kill the Aspirants."

"No promises. I feel like snapping a spine over my knee." Orion told him, setting off. He went into the trees and almost immediately the light dimmed to incredibly low levels, the dense undergrowth obscuring the sun's rays. Fortunately, his Occulobe implant compensated for the darkness and he saw as clearly as if in broad daylight. The aspirants had no such advantage and would have to strain their eyes to locate him. As he walked through the trees, taking care to not twist his ankle on a root or bang his head on a low-hanging branch, he heard a twig snapping behind him. He turned around and saw a young boy charging at him brandishing a machete. The boy yelled a wordless cry as he approached Orion recklessly. Orion did not move and watched with disapproval as the boy tripped over a tree root and landed flat on his face, shattering his nose and several teeth on another root.

"You failed. Go home." Orion said, turning around and continuing the way he had been going. He continued walking, heading around in circles and in random directions to try and find some more of the aspirants. A few more tried ambushing him. Some actually came close to succeeding, but he always saw them coming and always came out of the encounter without a scratch. As he sidestepped yet another surprise charge and kicked the feet out from under the aspirant, he picked up the boy by his shirt and lifted him up to eye level.

"With tactics like that, you're suitable for the Imperial Guard, not the Adeptus Astartes. Charging blindly at an enemy your weapon isn't going to do anything is the way of the Guard, not the Space Marines. Get lost, kid." Orion said to this boy and threw him away, ignoring the sickening crunch as the boy landed on his back on a root. He took a step and then his shoulder exploded with pain as a red beam from the trees shot through his right shoulder. He gasped in pain and looked up, seeing a small boy hanging from the branches by his feet and one hand while he held a laspistol in his left hand. From the barrel, smoke unfurled.

"Did that count as a pass?" The boy called, waving the gun around to dispel the smoke.

"Where did you get a fucking laspistol?" Orion demanded, rubbing the wound in his shoulder.

"I smuggled it in my camo kit." The boy responded.

"That's cheating!" Orion said.

"It's only cheating if you get caught. I didn't, I shot you."

"Again, where did you even get that?"

"I like guns. My dad has a lot. I swiped it before the trial." The boy responded, beginning to climb down the tree. Orion scowled as scar tissue began to form around his wound, but then he chuckled. This boy had one thing the rest lacked, that was for certain: ingenuity.

"What's your name, boy?" Orion asked.

"Tragun. Tragun Vorlornce. Yourself?" He replied.

"That's not... Orion. I'm Orion. You pass, go back to the squad outside the forest." Orion said. Tragun nodded and carefully began picking his way through the forest. Orion chuckled as the boy disappeared from view and kept walking.


Two Weeks Later

After the Challenge Trial, only Tragun had passed. He and a few hundred other boys from around the planet were gathered up and were made to do the next trial: the Hunting Trial. Each one was given some weapons and sent into forests across the world where feral Orks had been sighted and tasked with bringing back an Ork head to the waiting Space Marines. At the same time, the trials on other planets took place. After the aspirants were all gathered and performing their respective trials, the Hunting Trial was complete, with a dozen boys returning with Ork heads, Tragun among them. Thirty returned empty-handed and the rest did not return.

Once again, Orion sat in his cell in the Fortress-Monastery, this time pondering the trials. At this stage, only the Exposure Trial on Isphyda III was still taking place. He recalled his own experience with the Exposure Trial, the blistering heat, the thirst, the fear of snakes and other animals at every turn. It was a dangerous trial, one of the most dangerous that recruits for the Power Marines were made to take, with only the Hunting Trial on Isphyda I having a higher death-toll. He felt sympathy for the poor souls out in the desert, but he was glad that he had undertaken the trial long ago and would never have to return to that barren landscape.

Then, his thoughts wandered to recent reports. In the space around Agora, several worlds had gone dark and the Imperial ships sent to investigate had never returned to their dispatch points. Agora was not terribly close to Isphyda, but it was close enough to cause worry in the Power Marines chapter and he had heard many of his brothers discussing it in hushed tones over the past few months. Orion sighed and rose to his feet. It was time to leave his thoughts behind. He left his chambers and headed for the practice cages, deep within the bowels of the fortress-monastery. When he reached the cages, he found many battle-brothers sparring with one-another or with practice servitors. Not far in the massive room, Yariel stood in a cage, dueling with a servitor with a gladius. Orion watched the duel with interest.

Yariel took a step forward and thrust his gladius at the servitor's torso, the servitor parried with its own gladius. Yariel withdrew as the servitor counterattacked and parried the strike. He took another step forward and hacked at the servitor's side. As the servitor moved its sword to parry, Yariel withdrew the blade and swung it at the servitor's upper body. Orion applauded and Yariel jumped, looking at Orion and forgetting about his swing, accidentally beheading the servitor. Yariel cursed as the servitor crumpled to the ground and its head rolled around on the floor of the cage. The blank eyes stared at Orion and Yariel as if to try and make them feel guilty as a pool of blood collected around the severed head.

"Thanks for that, Orion." Yariel said. "The techmarine is going to go to Crau about that. Crau's going to be fucking pissed."

"It's just a servitor, they're not hard to come by." Orion said, entering the practice cage. Orion picked up the servitor's sword. "Shall we?" He asked.

"Sure, since you made me kill my partner." Yariel said, kicking the headless corpse to the side and nudging the head with his foot, sending it rolling after the body.

"You must not have been focusing very much if applause made you lose your focus and cut his head off." Orion pointed out.

"Piss off. There's a lot to take my mind away from a fight." Yariel told him. "With the trials, for example."

"Sure. Try not to cut my head off." Orion responded. He took the gladius in both hands and slowly approached Yariel. Yariel took a defensive stance, his own gladius thrust ahead of him and the blade making his chest appear like a cross from Orion's perspective. Orion jabbed at Yariel, who took a step back. Orion darted backwards and then shot forwards again, slashing at Yariel's leg. Yariel parried and thrust the point of his sword at Orion's gut. Orion sidestepped and slashed his sword across Yariel's back, cutting through his robes and opening a thin line across Yariel's back, the skin parting like thin lips as bright red blood seeped out. Yariel cursed and stumbled. He regained his balance after a moment and the blood clotted, scar tissue beginning to form at the site of the wound.

"You're very distracted." Orion pointed out. "You've usually caused me the injury by this stage." He said. Yariel nodded. "I'm the better fighter, yes. But that doesn't matter, I was distracted. I'd be dead if it were a real fight. Let's try again." Yariel told him. Orion nodded and they were at it again.

This time Yariel won quickly, thrusting at Orion's leg and grazing it before Orion could do anything more than move to the side a little. They waited for the wound to heal and then sparred a third time, Yariel winning after exchanging blows a couple times and then a fourth spar, which Orion won when Yariel forgot about the dead servitor, backing into the pool of blood where the head had been earlier and slipping, allowing Orion a chance to strike him.

They kept sparring for two hours before eventually giving up, both dripping with sweat. They had a roughly even number of victories, which was rather unusual. As they exited the cage, they walked together through the halls of the fortress-monastery, discussing recent events.


Three Weeks Later

Orion stood with Crau, Yariel and the rest of their tactical squad, all in full armour with weaponry and standing in perfect formation. Alongside them, the entirety of the 2nd company stood assembled in armour and in formation. In front of them stood a mass of teenage boys from all across the Isphyda System. Just under three hundred in number, they all looked tired and scared. They had just finished the third trial, the Knowledge of Self Trial, where the chapter's librarians gazed into their minds and judged their purity whilst planting nightmarish images in there to test their resolve. Many had been driven mad.

But now, these few hundred had passed. It was the greatest number of aspirants to pass all three trials since the very first group, over a hundred years ago. Now, they stood. Orion noticed Tragun near the front and smiled behind his helmet. Then, Captain Anatoly removed his helmet and addressed the crowd.

"You few hundred have passed the trials. Soon, you will begin your training to become space marines. Your bodies will be conditioned, you will be fed a strict diet and gradually over the next few years, your gene-seed will be implanted. Many of you will die. But those who survive will be space marines and will do the chapter proud. Chapter Master Maximilian is on his way here now to congratulate you all." Anatoly declared.

"Orion," Yariel said privately to Orion through the vox. "I thought the chapter master was off in another system, fighting?"

"The strike force returned twenty minutes ago. They're coming to the surface n-" As Orion spoke, the doors that led into the massive hall in which they all stood burst open. A space marine wearing a white helmet and bearing the markings of the 1st company stormed in. Orion examined it and realized that the armour belonged to Ivan. His eyes widened.

"What is it, brother?" Anatoly asked impatiently. Ivan removed his helmet. His face looked gaunt and tired.

"Maximilian is dead." Ivan said flatly. He was not loud, but his voice carried and there was silence.

"What?" Anatoly demanded. "What do you mean, your force just returned, did it not?" Anatoly demanded.

"We couldn't get the message sooner, our vox was destroyed. On Zevis, we fought Eldar. They butchered us. Maximilian was killed and we were forced to retreat." Ivan said. Anatoly cursed and then looked at the confused aspirants.

"Out! All of you! Go and see Captain Mogue, just get out!" Anatoly roared. There was mass confusion but the aspirants began to stream out of the hall. "Ivan, I want to talk to you about this. Come with me. Brothers, you are dismissed." Anatoly said. The marines waited for the aspirants to all leave before breaking ranks.

Orion left the hall, confused. He made for the armoury to get his armour removed and Yariel followed him.

"What do you think will happen now?" Yariel asked. Orion shrugged.

"We won't be going to war any time soon. I imagine Captain Ruwan will be the new chapter master." Orion said. "We knew this would happen at some time. Even if we accumulated enough high-ranking Astartes to replace the Ultramarines who made up our initial commanders, I don't think Maximilian could have gone from being a chapter master for centuries back to a first company veteran of the Ultramarines. He was going to stay until his death, one way or another. Now it's happened. That's the last of the Ultramarines in our chapter." Orion told him.

"Who cares? He was still our leader and we're Ultramarine successors. Maximilian will be missed." Yariel pointed out.

"It doesn't matter. Let's just get our armour off." Orion said. As he said this, they reached the armour and found that there were dozens of 2nd company space marines who had had the same idea.

"Damn. Always a line." Yariel said. Orion spared him a glance and shrugged.

"Could be worse. I've heard tales that some orders of the Sororitas maintain discipline in their ranks by only having one toilet. Besides, you know what Anatoly always says." Orion told him.

"Yes, yes. Standing around in full armour doing nothing builds character. We've been space marines for decades, I don't think we need to build any more." Yariel complained.


952.M41, battle barge Armageddon

Orion sat in the armoury of the Armageddon with Yariel and Crau, talking. Many years had passed since Maximilian's death. Since then, Chapter Master Ruwan had also died in battle and for the last ten years, Ivan had been the chapter master. Crau was now captain of the 1st company, Yariel was captain of the 2nd and Orion had returned to the 10th company to help oversee the training of Initiates. It was said that upon the death of Captain Mogue, Orion would succeed him ahead of sergeant Valion of the command squad. Now, they sat talking about the war to come as the ship sped through the Warp for their destination, the Vypris system. They had received an urgent distress signal from this system after conquering a world held by Orks, requesting aid from Eldar attackers before the system went dark. Now, the Power Marines sped for the Vypris system at top speed through the Immaterium.

As they spoke, their vox receivers activated as they received a message from the Bridge.

"Brothers, we are coming out of the Warp now in orbit of Vypris III, please prepare for battle." The voice of Ivan said. Crau stood and sighed.

"Yariel, we'd better head for the Bridge before we come out of the Warp. Orion, you should prepare the Initiates." Crau said. Orion nodded and stood.

"Try and stop Ivan from starting the fighting before I can join." Orion said. Crau chuckled.

"You know Ivan. No promises." Crau said. "Yariel, let's go."

"Right, brother." Yariel said. The two captains strode out of the armoury and Orion walked over and grabbed a sniper rifle. He slung it over his shoulder and left the armoury, heading for the Practice Cages where he knew that many of the scout marines who were aboard would be.


Author's Note:
Hey, everybody, here's the latest chapter. No big action scenes like the last two, sorry, but chapter 10 is going to be a fucking huge one with multiple big fights, so that's something to look forward to. Chapter 10 is also going to feature a couple tie-ins to stuff that is completely unrelated to this story so sorry if you have no idea what the fuck some of it is all about. More details about what I'm tying into in the AN of the next chapter.

Also, sorry for going back to the boring Trials again, I know nobody liked those and they took up too much time earlier in the story, but I needed to introduce a character who's going to be somewhat important later on. I promise that I'm never revisiting the trials again.

Be sure to leave a review, thanks for reading.