Gallek was not a great dreamer, as a child he often dreamed nothing at night. he was the inhabitant of a small farming village where nothing ever happened. stimuli were lacking and as a result those few dreams he did have were on major themes:

Travel and war.

longed to see new places, to escape that world of comforting boredom and see the galaxy, at the same time he wanted to fight for his own species and his emperor. Throughout his childhood his mother and older siblings told him stories about the xeno races and how they threatened the very existence of them.

-Remember Gallek, the Xeno are the scourge of this galaxy- this phrase and many others of the same type were very common in his family and in the village. He had never questioned these phrases, indeed.

knew deep down that there was a deeper motivation for this racism in the family, but it was obviously impossible to delve into it without being punished.

At the age of majority he first joined the Astra Militarum and then was moved to the Navis imperialis in later life. Once he became a soldier of the imperium such convictions increased exponentially, and the few questions he had disappeared. he had seen too much suffering and dead comrades to even wonder if what they were doing was right.

After all, he was a soldier; he had to obey the will of his emperor. for humanity and imperium.

He felt pain all over. an excruciating pain well distributed especially in the lower part of his body, not helped by the plastic position he had taken to enter the capsule.

He was confused and dazed, and his blurred vision was not helped by the pitch blackness he was in. the only light on came from the small screen placed in front of him in the capsule.

the screen was chipped, marred by the impact and with small debris chipped inside. the screen was on, but it worked weakly and simply displayed the writing:

-Emergency landing completed-

With other miscellaneous statistics about the impact. He had been trained in this kind of situation before officially joining the Navis imperialis, and the first thing he had to do was to figure out precisely where he was.

The capsule was a good 70 percent intact, but the main door had split in half on impact, at least that is what the lifeboat screen reported. the glass was obviously broken, and most of the debris had lodged on the screen above.

Gallek also noticed glass shards embedded in his own legs, specifically in the area between his knees and calves. the shards were medium-sized, probably having left just after the impact, preventing them from decreasing in size further.

The capsule was equipped with a first aid medical kit, but he would surely struggle to run or dodge for a few days.

-Shit...- hissed the soldier as he started to grab the medical kit from under his own seat in the capsule. the kit was medium size, and contained the minimum to be able to bandage and medicate himself just enough to be able to walk (and in case) return to combat.

Gallek began by gently extracting the glass shards to make sure he did not lose too much blood, and he removed the dust on the wounds caused by the impact. the wounds were not particularly deep, but enough to damage the muscle by debilitating it.

made a small, stifled cry as he began to dress the wounds: the medicating fluids in the imperium were not supposed to be pleasant but effective, so they burned particularly. he next squeezed the bandages tightly, so tightly that hardly any blood passed through but helpful in stopping the blood coming out of the wounds.

he took a few deep breaths, his heart was pounding, but he still tried to calm down and remain lucid. he had to hope he was on a planet in the imperium, because if he wasn't, he would have to deal with Xenos, and in most cases that meant certain death.

took a few moments of calm he turned to the screen and began through a few keystrokes to check the data collected by the capsule more thoroughly. His worst fears had turned out to be reality.

He was on the planet Haxis, the one to which they were heading and which logically was the closest as the crow flies. Fortunately for him, the air was breathable and he appeared to have crashed in a flat area just above the planet's equator.

-Lack of plants and water...great...- said the soldier pessimistically to himself. Gallek turned again in the capsule this time looking for the laser gun included in the emergency ship.

He pulled it out and began to analyze it for a moment, trying to figure out any damage.

-Perfect...it's broken- he said to himself, in an angry tone but mostly concerned about the situation he was in. the barrel of the gun had been damaged by the impact, twisting upward, making it inaccurate and unusable in practice. The human immediately, however, took the ammunition inside it, planning to use it in the future if he could find a replacement weapon. after which he stowed the damaged weapon in its opposite lodging in the capsule.

He began to look in front of him, his view was obstructed by the two detached pieces of the capsule's entry door. it did not take him long to push open the capsule's door with his foot and dislodge the remnants by dropping them out.

He calmly got up from the capsule and finally took his first step out into the unknown planet.

Haxis was a rocky planet, with a low presence of plants and water, and the fauna was unknown from the imperium. although the air was breathable, it was not very fresh and indeed one could quite smell the odors of the planet's various natural gases, and this obviously did not help to calm the sprightly Armsman.

Gallek leaned against the remains of the space lifeboat as he looked around for "something" that might be useful to him, with obvious little result. The lifeboat on impact had not caused a large crater but only a slight down from the ground of a handful of inches.

The soldier picked up one of the pieces of the exit hatch from the ground, using it as a sort of improvised walking stick, and began walking weakly to climb back up from the small down.

He stood in a rocky plain: the sky was cloudy, and only rarely did the system's big sun show through the clouds, illuminating the rocky valley. Rarely in the ground sprouted small bushes of a plant unknown to him and particularly dry, and whenever he heard animal noises he snapped into a defensive position as best he could, each time feeling a stabbing pain in his legs.

the ground at Haxis was a soft electric blue while the sky was a dull yellow color, the few dry plants had a coloring tending toward straw yellow, and the few reptilian critters that occasionally popped up from the ground had a dull blue scale to blend in better with the ground.

in short, an environment unfamiliar to the old Armsman, who was more accustomed to civilized planets or at best dull battlefields.

The armsman tried to walk northward, directions in which the pod door had opened, hoping to see the outline of some building or even just shelter useful for regrouping a little.

After about half an hour of walking, he finally began to notice buildings about 1 kilometer away. they looked like housing complexes that had been abandoned for at least a few centuries, but surely they could have served as shelter for the coming night and perhaps useful for finding some weapons for self defense.

It took him another ten minutes or so to get to the complexes because of his injuries, but when he arrived he began to get a better look at the building:

The building looked like a housing complex probably used for agriculture, the various inscriptions now ruined and readable for only a few pieces seemed to be in human language, and so far there were no noises or smells from inside that might indicate the presence of other people inside the ruined buildings.

Gallek took a deep sigh, his heart was pounding and he was really worried about this desperate situation but he also knew that he had to take these feelings and suppress them, as a good soldier knew how to do.

Carefully he pushed open the ruined door ajar of the building and began to push it open, always ready in case to use his own improvised stick as a weapon.

The building was in ruins, the roof of most of the rooms had collapsed, and the various doors in the structure were often destroyed or on the verge of giving way. Most of the furniture was gone, and what few remnants of people who had lived there were often superfluous or useless items, such as photos, cutlery, and other rusted utensils.

As he went deeper into the various corridors he tried to pay more and more attention to the sounds and smells around him, ready in case to defend himself from "unwanted guests."

His heart was beating wildly and his fear was gradually getting stronger and stronger, so much so that involuntary tremors started from time to time, which he tried to restrain as best he could. About forty minutes of exploration passed, when all of a sudden, before opening a door Gallek heard a sound of footsteps coming from the corridor, south of where he was standing.

His blood froze and he was almost petrified.

-Shit...I can't handle a fight now...- hissed the veteran soldier between his teeth as he shakily drew his own improvised stick like a club. leaning against the wall he began to approach the source of the footsteps as stealthily as possible.

He arrived at a corridor intersection and leaning against the side of the wall began to look from left to right at the crisscrossed corridor. footsteps came from the corridor to the right and became louder and louder as he passed.

-How many is...one?- the increasingly frightened human began to whisper to himself, but further smaller footsteps now came from above, probably from the roof above himself.

There were several holes in the ceiling that allowed him a decent view, but he did not notice any suspicious shapes. his fear grew.

the steps on the roof seemed much lighter than those in the hallway, but in compensation they seemed many more.

-How many the hell are they?! maybe a pack...?- he continued to wonder to himself, the human now petrified with fear. by now the heavy footsteps were close and the small footsteps were moving over the man's head.

there were a few moments of calm, moments that for Gallek seemed like centuries, centuries of fear and terror. until from one of the holes from the roof four creatures jumped out sprouting in front of the human, encircling him.

They were ape-shaped creatures, however, with a reptilian head with blue scales, their bodies were distorted and unbalanced, with obvious muscular hypertrophy, Gallek might have thought that even they were creatures of Chaos but that was obviously impossible-at least that is what the human hoped.

The creatures drooled as they looked at him, and within seconds they started charging, attacking from the two sides where they had encircled him. The armsman fended off one of the creatures that was about to bite him on the right side by means of his own improvised staff, managing forcefully to throw it over the wall of the cross corridor. but from the left side one of the creatures attacked him by jumping and aiming at his arm.

The soldier was unable to dodge because of his leg wounds and suffered the full brunt of the bite. the beast devoured through the bite a piece of skin and muscle, which was now beginning to bleed profusely. The human was already wounded and this further damage did not help him: he was tired, stressed and wounded the conclusions of this were obvious. his vision was beginning to blur again and his strength was beginning to fade.

He tried to continue to parry himself with his stick, but within seconds he was slumped on the wall with his eyes open with difficulty. the beasts after checking on their comrade who had crashed into the wall began to approach the man's slumped body hungrily, ready to feast on his carcass.

The blood flowed and his attempts to stop it were in vain. this time he was sure he was finished. dead alone, like the coward he may have always been.

After all, perhaps he wished like everyone else to die a hero's death, in the arms of his loyal comrades on a xeno battlefield, remembered as a strong warrior. instead, fate seemed to have reserved a pathetic death for him, devoured by fearsome beasts on an unknown planet.

was tired.

His eyes began to close, his hearing faded, and the beasts were now close to him. he was ready.

but suddenly, almost like a mirage a large creature came and began to fight the beasts. his vision was blurred and he could only notice the huge size of the rescuing creature. he had heard war stories of space marines of that size, but immediately this idea disappeared from his confused head, he was alone no human companion would save him.

perhaps the divine emperor? no it was impossible, why save an ordinary soldier like him. then who was this figure?.

The rescuer attacked the beasts with his bare hands, who, after a few moments of skirmishing, scurried away following the killing of one of their "animal" companions. the being took a few breaths and then turned toward the human, taking him in his large arms.

Gallek was sure that the being was speaking to him, but he was too tired to understand, his ears ringing comprehending every sound. he only managed to stammer a few disconnected words before losing consciousness in the creature's arms.

When Gallek left to become a soldier his family was proud of him. he would fight for their race, save their people, and perhaps be remembered as a hero.

-Gallek sweety wait...- said his dear mother, before the still young human walked through the door of their small home. The woman went to her own bedroom for a moment and after fiddling a bit among the drawers and closets returned to her confused son.

The woman returned with a whitish shirt, slightly worn and stained by time. Gallek looked at her confused but the woman clutching it a moment longer before giving it to her beloved son said

-Gallek this jersey is...- said the woman almost in tears -This jersey is what we have left of father...keep it as if it were a treasure...- continued the woman -And every time you kill one of those evil xenos...remember that your father is proud of you- concluded the woman handing the jersey to her son.

The young man was confused, he couldn't remember what he thought or said that day perhaps it was too painful to remember, but he took the shirt gently and put it in his bag. he hugged his beloved mother for the last time and turned away on his way out of that house, forever.

He jolted awake. it took him a few seconds to realize what had happened to him, and more importantly to realize where he was. The first thing he noticed was his being shirtless, his beloved shirt had been removed and his torso was exposed. he also noticed that his uniform pants were pulled up to just above the knee leaving the bandages on his legs exposed.

He was bandaged in several places on his body tightly but roughly, as if the hand of the person who medicated him was strong but not very precise. he also noticed that he was lying on a fairly tattered cot created from various spare parts such as wood, rock, and other rough materials.

Turning around he noticed that he was in a hut of rough wood and native metal as far as he could tell from the bluish colors of the planet, much more like a shack than an actual "house" of some kind. the floor of the "house" was made of bluish rammed dirt and there were still the very obvious step marks, of a very large foot-sized "somebody."

The hut did not have much: another cot placed against the wall opposite the one where the human was standing, upright and next to it a crude desk made of wood and metal. scattered around the room were remnants of mechanical parts that were very much present especially on the desk. There were also, huddled in a corner of the hut, the bone remnants of several small animals probably eaten by the owner.

The soldier was concerned enough about the situation he was in, but he thought that if this "being" had not directly killed him perhaps he was a surviving human from the ship like himself. or perhaps he was a mercenary who would sell him into slavery or use him for degrading labor, a scenario perhaps worse than death.

He moved for a moment in the cot, he was still sore but incredibly less than when he had landed-perhaps rest? or perhaps his "savior" had medicated him better than the tight bandages showed?

he managed to get himself into a sitting position on the cot and looked around better, looking for his makeshift stick and his beloved shirt. he did not find them, but on the other hand he noticed strangely several books on the hut desk, some even open.

The books were in pretty bad shape, but they still seemed readable. he decided to get up and limp his way calmly to his desk, trying not to strain his tired body too much.

As he arrived in front of the desk he could read the open books more closely, and to his strange amazement he noticed that most of them were human: some of the more worn ones were human mechanics books dating back at least 3 centuries, and some of the "newer" ones were human medical books that explicated the anatomy of a human body and basic medicatures measures. The books were scrawled with black lettering, probably done in natural ink, and were various notes in a very narrow and crude language, understandable by him in part but quite confusing.

he checked the book more closely, flipping through its pages to the end, and when he read the last sentence at the end of the book he blanched with fear, now recognizing better the "language" of the notes

-Dis iz 'da book uv garkrull dont steal- Gallek dropped the book without even paying attention to the noise made, the fear that had left his body as he woke up resumed and his heart was beating wildly.

He was confused, scared and disoriented. -Maybe it's a nightmare and I just need to wake up!- the human said to himself as he began pinching himself to wake up from the hypothetical dream. -Maybe...maybe it's just a person misspelling!- he think as he look for reassurance and logic to the situation.

his stream of thought, however, was interrupted by increasingly loud footsteps directed toward the doorway into the hut. Gallek was petrified with terror: he wanted to hide but there were no possible hiding places. he wanted to fight but had no weapons, he was wounded and still tired. -I am finished...- thought the human as the footsteps grew louder and louder.

After a few seconds the door swung open in front of the petrified Gallek. A huge ork was stationed in front of him: big, muscular, and especially green. The two exchanged glances for a few seconds (which for Gallek seemed like centuries), and finally the massive ork spoke in a hoarse, deep voice, but well audible thanks to his relatively high tone of voice

-Yer woke up finally 'umie, wot are look'n at?-