Guardsman
Chapter 02- Armory, Arena, Anarchy
Ramblings: I'm BACK! Well, A recap. Johan has awoken to find himself a slave of Mathradar, a slave trader. Johan and the team he was assigned to are going to the armory, to prepare for the gladiatorial games on the planet surface.
PS: Everyone salute N. Kage, as he was my first review!
-N. Kage, you win the Honorifica Imperialis
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Huffing and puffing, the 5 men make it to an admantium-reinforced door labeled "Armory". A camera pops out from a slot next to the door, directs it's glassy gaze at Kenthric, and asks
"Access Code?"
"Kentric Ramdalla, Gladiator Number AA-19105, squad leader of Squad K-146, Squad Members Urolnic Thryne, Gladiator Number AA-19016, "Zebra" McAllen, Gladiator Number AA-19017, Urk, Gladiator Number AAO-1763, and a new recruit, requesting entry to the armory!"
A female voice responded through a speaker built into the camera
"Ha ha ok Ken, ya'll can enter, just tell the newbie to watch what he touches…some of this stuff's quite dangerous."
Zebra said
"Hear that newbie, don' touch nuthin' till Henrietta tell us to!"
With that, the 5 men entered a vast, dark room, which reeked of cordite, battery acid, and ozone. Suddenly, halogen lights flew on, and Johan was able to view the room in all it's fullness. The room was about the size of a library, with high ceilings, and a number of markings, signs, and warnings plastered on its grey-black walls. He could see rack upon rack of weapons, arranged much like books, with sections labeled Plasma Weapons, Las weapons, Bolt weapons, Auto Weapons, Melta Weapons, Close Combat Weapons, and then two areas marked off with large FORBIDDEN signs on their doors: Xenos Weapons, and Psychic Weapons. Johan couldn't, for the life of him, figure out what drew him to the two most heretical sections in the room, but he was compelled to be excited by their presence. Noting the direction of his gaze, Henrietta said
"Oh no no no newbie, not for you yet. You've got to prove yourself. You four know the drill, get suited up, and get into the simulators. It's time to test your new recruit.
With this, the four men went off to get their usual gear. When Johan turned to follow them, Henrietta grabbed him by the arm and dragged him to a different room, with a device that looked like a bed with a computer connection. Henrietta said
"Get undressed, and lie down on the bed. We have to do some physical and mental checks to make sure you're fit for duty and aren't going to go rogue psyker or something like that on us. Ok then, snap to it."
Johan, showing his embarrassment about getting undressed before a lady, turned to look at Henrietta with a questioning look, as if asking why she wasn't leaving. Henrietta was a woman of around 35 years, just beginning to show miniscule signs of aging. She had hair died pink, and had green eyes. If it weren't for the fact that he was a slave about to take a physical to see if he was good to fight, he would have been excited. She was hot. He knew that, and tried to hide it. He failed, and she snickered. Looking Johan over, she snickered and said, slightly seductively
"Would you like me to leave the room? Because if I don't, at this rate, you'll never get undressed. Or will I have to do something drastic to get your clothes off? She started pulling the tank top she had on off. Johan, snapping back from fantasyland, stuttered out
"No I can get undressed by myself, so can you please stop that!"
She snickered, and pulled her tank top back down. Johan got undressed, and lay on the table. Henrietta came over and put down a visor-like thing over Johan's eyes. She started off with some basic questions, to ascertain exactly where Johan came from.
"Name?"
"Johan von Feldbruch"
"Age?"
"23"
"Place of Birth?"
"I don't know"
Henrietta dropped her pencil when she heard his response. She said in a stern voice
"No jokes Johan, I need your information. Or would you like to be thrown out an airlock?"
"I'm not joking. I've been wandering for a long time, I just don't remember where I was born. In fact, I have no memories of what happened before Mathradar found me in the underhive. Frankly, he probably saved my life."
"Ok, but if you're lying, you're dead meat"
Henrietta typed "Unknown" in her laptop. The next question always made her nervous, because if the answer was yes, she was to administer a lethal shock of electricity. She steeled herself for the worst
"Have you ever come into contact with a Xenos?"
For a second, a scene flashed through Johan's mind. He saw a small child, beaten, and left on the street, clutching a cross. Then he saw a robed figure carrying the child. He saw a girl, with blond hair. He then heard two words go through his head
"Mon-kreigh"
Johan, knowing full well what would happen if he said yes, weighed his options, and thinking that the figure in the robes couldn't be xenos, because he saved a human child, he answered
"No"
With a sigh of relief, Henrietta went on to the next question
"Have you ever come into contact with, or been a part of a chaos-worshipping cult?"
"No"
The moment he said this, his mind went elsewhere again. He saw a spear flash, a candle cut in two. He saw two glowing red eyes, and an ethereal flame. He then saw a psychic vortex, and a creature being sucked into it. He couldn't make sense of these visions, so he pushed them out of his mind.
Henrietta saw something odd when she had asked the last two questions. She could have sworn that she saw his eyes flash brigheter than usual when she mentioned cults and xenos. Oh well, she thought, it doesn't look likes he's a chaos cultist or a Xenophile, so its ok. Now came Henrietta's favorite question
"Are you a virgin?"
Johan caught unawares, pondering his recent visions, could only stutter out a "Y-yes"
"Ok then, I'm going to have to perform a physical exam on you, so don't flinch or get weird thoughts. Ok, so does this hurt? No, ok how bout this? Good…this went on for 5 more minutes, and after everything had been checked, Henrietta handed him a black uniform lined with red trim, and said
"You've passed the physical, so lets head to the training room. Once you put on your clothes, that is."
Johan looked down, and realizing he was still in his birthday suit, flew into his clothes. When he was finished, he was lead to a room with a seat connected to a large computer mainframe. Around the seat were four other seats, his squad members already sitting in them. He noted they were all dressed like he was. Henrietta ordered him to sit down, then she put a helmet down on his head. Henrietta said
"This is a mental imaging helmet. This way we can see how you fare without pitting you up against real bullets. Be warned, however, you will feel the pain of whatever you do in the computer. And, if you "die", the sensation might overload your mind, and you might fall into a coma. So don't do stupid things."
She left, and clamps slammed shut over his hands and feet. The goggles then displayed a pattern of shapes and colors, then the goggles displayed an image of an obstacle course. There were wooden boxes, ropes, and various other obstacles. Soon, the other 4 members of squad K-146 materialized next to him. When this happened, he was aware of the fact that he was wearing Carapace Armor, and was equipped with an Auto pistol and a long combat knife. Without hesitation, Kenthric and the squad started forward, and Johan followed. Without missing a stride, Kenthric said to Johan
"Just follow our lead, and you'll make it through this course easy. This is the beginner course, and before your stay with us is over, you will know this course quite well. It is a course of 5 obstacles, and then at the end theres a small fight that we have to do. Ok first obstacle! Jump and roll, men, jump and roll!"
The first obstacle was a thigh-high wall, which was followed by strands of barbed wire, about 3 feet behind, and at the same height, as the wall. Johan did as he was told, lunging over the wall, but was not fast enough in his rolling, and gashed his arm on the barbed wire. Ignoring the wound, Johan crawled on. As they were approaching a 15 foot high wall, Kenthric said
"Second obstacle! Urk go first, everyone just up on Urk's feet! Then Urk, you're going to climb up!"
Everyone, even the ogryn, understood the order. Johan was amazed at how the dumb brute could understand the commands, but then he realized that they must have been training together for years, and that Urk must know this course by heart. Urk ran up to the wall, put his back against it, and threaded his fingers together. All the men, one at a time, jumped onto Urk's hands, and then were thrown over by the ogryn. When his turn came, Johan was hesitant to jump. When the ogryn saw the hesitation, he grabbed Johan under the arms with his left hand, and climbed the wall. He then put Johan down on the other side. When he was dropped down to the other side, Kenthric stepped up, and punched him in the stomach. He roared
"NEWBIE! YOU DO NOT HESITATE IN COMBAT! HESITATION GETS US ALL KILLED! IF WE WERE IN COMBAT, YOU WOULD'VE JUST KILLED YOURSELF AND URK, AND WE WOULD HAVE BEEN TARGETED! DO IT AGAIN, AND IT WON'T BE A FIST HITTING YOUR STOMACH!"
Johan weakly managed to nod, and was dragged to his feet by Urolnic. Without a moment's hesitation, Kenthric said
"Alright men, you know the way this works, the next three drills are connected. First, we have to crawl under laser detection systems across a 200 yd field, each connected to a bolter…don't raise your head. Second, we have to dive into the trench on the other side, and kill the dummies, and third, we have to advance through the trenches, killing any dummies along the way, and disable the mock basilisk on the other side. Remember that the basilisk is usually guarded by a 'live' enemy, so be on your guard! Squad K-146, ADVANCE!"
And thus started the crawl across the field. Much to Johan's disgust, the field was covered in organs that looked to have been part of a grox once. The field was also covered in little hills that would've put the squad into vision of the bolters, and so had to maneuver around. The crawl, though it only took about 5 minutes, took hours in Johan's mind. When they got to the edge of the trench, he saw the members of the squad their respective weapons, and pull out grenades. Johan did the same. When Kenthric said 'go' they all pulled the pins and threw. Except, Johan didn't know how to do so. So the squad had to waste precious seconds after the grenade explosions while Kenthric demonstrated how to use a grenade. When all was good, Johan threw his also, and they jumped into the trench. Johan was told to stay in the middle, Kenthric took point, and Urk took the rear. They all checked their auto pistols, and proceeded forward. Suddenly, there was the popping of auto pistols, as Kenthric and Zebra, the first two in the squad, saw dummies and shot them. Johan, noticing a dummy hiding behind some crates, leveled his pistol and shot at it. The shot hit the dummy in the jaw, and the dummy vanished. The squad continued advancing, and Johan managed to polish off 2 more dummies until they reached a corner that lead into a large clearing. Soon Johan heard something slide into position, and then heard an earthshaking 'BOOM', as the cannon on the basilisk fired. Kenthric turned to his squad and said in a quiet voice
"Alright men, there is going to be a live target in the next room. More than likely it will be a human, but with the newbie with us, we might get lucky and have a grot facing us. Whatever it is, you all know how to fight. Newbie, for this fight, I want you to stand back and watch us work. Your task will be disabling the basilisk. To do this, all you need to do is take 3 krak grenades, they're the red ones on your belt, pull the pins, and drop the grenades down the barrel. Alright, everyone, get new clips, and then count off when ready. A flurry of clip release noises were heard, followed by slamming of new clips and
"1"
"2"
Johan said "3"
"4"
"Urk"
"Alright, K-146, lets roll!"
The squad advanced into the clearing, guard up and Johan at the rear of the formation. There it was, the basilisk…except it wasn't normal. It had large grimacing maws on it, and many Orkish glyphs inscribed on it. There were 3 grots on the firing platform, and a slave driver on the ground below them, whipping them if they didn't work. In front of the squad stood a massive greenskin, easily dwarfing Urk, equipped with a massive axe, and something that looked like a beaten up heavy stubber. The ork said
"'Ey, lookises! Da 'umies are 'ere! I'm gun' kill me sum 'umies!"
For some reason, Johan was unfazed by this massive creature standing before him. As the squad prepared to attack the Ork, Johan started going off to the side. When Kenthric yelled 'FOR THE EMPEROR!' Johan knew it was his time to move. While the slave driver was looking at the melee, Johan snuck around behind him. When Johan accidentally crunched some rubble, the slave driver turned around, and in one fluid motion, swung the electro-whip he held in his right hand at Johan's head. Caught unawares by the large creature's quick reactions, Johan had no time to block, and could only watch in horror as the whip slowly approached his neck. Suddenly, the world went black, and Johan's body was shocked by a sudden cold. Johan wondered aloud
"Is this death?"
"No, Johan, it is not." replied a female voice
"But then where am I?"
"You are in the embrace of Khaine. Let me take this battle from here."
Johan could only watch in amazement, as he was able to see the battle unfold from above himself. He saw his body duck the blow, and then bring the pistol up to the ork's neck and shoot three times. The greenskin's head flew clean off, and the grots were too shocked to respond. With amazing grace and agility, Johan's body flipped over the safety rail on the Basilisk, and decapitated 2 of the grots in a single stroke. The third, grot, fumbling with the chains that bound him to the machine, never saw the pistol butt as it connected with his cranium. Johan gagged when he saw bits of brain and skull go flying everywhere. The three grot bodies fell lifeless to the platform. Johan's body then took 3 krak grenades, pulled the pins and shoved them in the breech of the gun. He then jumped off the platform, and the breech of the tank exploded. The Ork nob, noticing the destruction of his precious 'umie armor, turned around, and this gave Urk enough time to shove a brass-knuckled fist through the ork's neck. Johan's body then collapsed, and Johan was sucked back into it. The last words he heard before being reconnected with his corporeal form were
"I miss you Johan"
And then he woke up.
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After the battle, the members of squad K-146 were debriefing, while using the recording of their simulation as information. Everything went as normal, except for a few chuckles and some berating, when the moments of Johan's ineptitude popped up. Then they reached the battle scene. They watched it through once, and then, dismissing Johan from the room and telling him to check up with Henrietta, they proceeded to re-watch the battle, except this time focusing on Johan. They were shocked by what they saw. As Johan was sneaking up on the slaver, he was too noisy, and the slaver turned to strike him. Right as the electro-whip was about to connect, they saw something, and Urolnic said
"What happened there? It looked like he went limp for a second. Then he comes back and fights like a demon? Is this an example of possession? I didn't think it could happen in a computer program!"
"That was no possession. The computer is programmed so that none of that happens. And plus, if he were possessed, then he would have killed us all as well, and would still be possessed. No, that wasn't possession, but I have seen it before." Kenthric said, and then he noticed something
"Replay the 2 seconds right before the whip would've struck. There it is, the flash in his eyes…shit this isn't good"
"What is it, man?" said Zebra
"Men, this is a tried and true Eldar fighting style. He allows his soul to be possessed by Khaine, and then fights. Look at those attacks, that's not human fighting style there…its too agile. Men, we have drawn a wild card…do not reveal this to Johan, as he may be a willing pawn of this Xenos. We'll tell Henrietta, and then we're going to have a little talk with Johan." They all then walked out of the briefing room.
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Five minutes later, Johan was sitting in the preparatory room, contemplating what had occurred. He was shocked out of his reverie, when the other members of his squad entered, weapons drawn and trained on him. Johan began to stutter, but Kenthric cut him off
"Johan, how do you know how to fight like that?"
"Fight like what?"
"Like the Xenos Eldar. You used a tried and true dire avenger, nay, farseer, fighting style. Answer truthfully, because I don't want to have to kill you unnecessarily. Do you, or do you not, have connections with Xenos beings, especially those of the Eldar race?"
Johan said "I don't know. I have no memories of the times before Mathradar picked me up in the underhive. The only reason I knew my date of birth was because I had my Imperial ID on me. But I will tell you, right before that 'incident' happened, my soul was wrenched from my body, and a female's voice said that she'd 'take it from there'…I felt as though I knew her, but I didn't know that humans could do that. That's all I know."
Kenthric, shocked by what he heard, could only grunt in frustration as he cocked his auto pistol. He said
"Answer this final question, and if you're telling the truth, I will not kill you. Don't try lying, because I can tell when someone's lying. Did you invite possession, and is the after-image of the 'other' affecting your perception of reality?"
"No and no. I am still quite alive, and still quite sane."
Kenthric, after pausing for a few seconds to see if he was telling the truth said
"Alright then, but be warned…there are those out there that would have put a bullet through your head the moment you got off the simulator. We want you to fight like that, as it is a powerful fighting style, but just make sure you don't do it in front of the wrong people. Oh, and because of your performance today, you have been granted access to the xenos armory, and leave until the ship docks. Go get yourself some food, and meet back here in three hours, with the gear that you with to use…if you wish, I can show you to the mess hall."
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On the way to the mess hall, something was bothering Johan. He knew who that girl was, but couldn't put his finger on it. Because it was troubling him so, Johan turned to the Ecclesiarchy missionary and asked
"Kenthric, something's bothering me…when I was possessed by that woman, she knew me by name, and her voice sounded familiar. And the part that scares me the most is that when she was leaving my body, she said 'I miss you, Johan'. I feel as though I miss her too, but I don't even know her right now. Does the Emperor have any guidance when these situations occur?"
"I'm glad you asked, Johan. I saw that your eyes were tearing up as she left you, and I had a divine vision. My vision was of a thread. The thread had a large J on it, and was weaving through many wars on many planets. The vision then switched to a battle scene, with 4 people alive on it, 2 humans, what looked like an angel, and an Eldar. This is where my vision stops. So I believe this meeting was just a the beginning of something much, much larger than me. That is why I did not kill you…I believe the Emperor himself has laid out a great path for you. Rocky though it may be, it should be followed, as says the will of Him on Earth."
Johan said thank you, and feeling as though a great burden had been lifted from his shoulders. So he would actually meet her! This might turn out well, thought Johan as he entered the food line.
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3 hours later, they were all in the prep room with their preferred weaponry. Johan looked around at what people were using. Kenthric carried an ornate bolt pistol, and a large chain-axe, humming with power, swung over his back. They were all wearing carapace armor. Zebra had a heavy flamer swung over his shoulder, and had three tanks of promethium belted to his back, along with a machete. Urolnic had a simple Imperial officer's power sword, and a bolter-grenade launcher combi-weapon. Urk had a huge gun that was reminiscent of a grenade launcher. Johan had grabbed himself a shotgun and an Eldar power sword. When Mathradar walked into the room, they all stood at attention, and he briefed them
"You fellas have been bought as the personal gladiators of Inquisitor Ramovi Kazantaslya. I don't know what he wants you up against, but I didn't ask, because it's better not to question an Inquisitor. As always, you will be teleported into the arena, and you will fight until death. Men, I have 3 more words for you and then you are dismissed: Moritori te salutamus!"
With this, Mathradar left the prep room, and the men marched to the teleport room. Ancient tech-priests hovered over arcane panels covered in runes, while tech-apprentices went around and anointed all the machinery with sacred oils and unguents, and offered prayers to the machine god as they did so. The air stank of ozone. The men went and stood in the pulsating pentagram in the center of the room, and once the lead Tech-priest had made the symbol of the Great Engine over his breast, he thumbed an activation rune, and the men were hurled through space, to their destination. Johan opened his eyes to the blinding sun. The air was hot and dry, and the sand crunched beneath his feet. The audience was there, cheering on the 5 gladiators as they arrived. With a few muttered curses about fighting in a desert, the squad started prepping for combat…except their enemy was nowhere in sight. Kenthric sensed something very bad, and yelled
"EVERYONE, GET DOWN"
Right as he said this, a blur flew over them. When it landed, the audience fell silent. Across from the 5 men, stood a creation so hideous, so against the laws of nature, that only chaos could've created it. Yet, it had sigils of the Emperor's Holy Inquisition emblazoned all over the chains and bindings that restrained the horribly mutated thing that once was probably a human body. Kenthric, the only one having ever seen anything remotely like it before said
"Guys, we're fucked. That's a daemonhost, a physical vessel utilized by Radical Inquisitors to fight the Inquisition's wars. The only bad part is that they corrupt the Inquisitor's mind. So we're facing a corrupt Inquisitor and his daemonic pet. Gentlemen, we have a fight ahead of us!"
Loosing all their weapons simultaneously, they only managed to inflict minor damage to the daemon…and within seconds, the wound left by the grenade off Urolnic's gun had fully healed. When Urk saw the abysmal results of their shooting, he charged the daemonhost. Almost instantly, the daemonhost charged him back. The meeting of the two was astounding, with so much dust blown up that no one could see what had happened. When the dust cleared, the men of K-146 were horrified. There were body parts strewn everywhere, and the daemonhost sat in the middle of the carnage, and laughed
"HA! Is that all you puny mortals can do? Even though I am confined to this mortal body by that damn Inquisitor, this will be an easy day to offer up souls to the 4 powers! Soon, you shall all feel the wrath of Ishmael!"
The men didn't have time to react, because the creature was unnaturally fast. It first went for Urolnic, and with one swat of his hand, sent him flying across the arena, and into the wall. A loud snapping was heard, and his head went limp. Next, he went for Zebra. Zebra, having more time to prepare, was able to shoot a gaut of flame at the daemon. The daemon, writhing in pain, shook, and then the fire went out. His body was charred and blackened, but he was still alive
"Good job, human…better than the last two anyways…but not good enough!"
He then, flew straight at Zebra. Zebra put up the flamer's body to protect himself from the blow. But instead of the blow stopping, it went right through the flamer, and spilled promethium all over Zebra. When one of the sparks from the shredded electric circuits touched him, Zebra screamed, and then ran off in a conflagration, falling over and twitching about 100 feet from Urolnic's body. It then turned its eyes towards the 2 survivors
"Damn…I only have two more playthings? Oh well, I thank you for letting me have so much fun, but I believe I should end this now!"
He charged at Kenthric and Johan, and tried to attack them. However, he was stopped in his tracks when Kenthric started chanting in High Gothic
"What? An Ecclesiarch? Ha, you had an ace up your sleeve…it doesn't matter though, that merely makes me angrier, as I am already bound to this plane!"
He then teleported right to Kenthric and smacked him on the side of the head. Kenthric fell over, not dead, but completely unconscious. Ishmael then laughed, and looked at Johan
"Hmmmm…I see in you something that the others did not possess…what are you hiding, young one?"
Johan, scared enough to die at that moment, suddenly felt a searing cold, as his soul was ripped away from his body. Johan, quite confused as to what was going on, merely looked as a robed figure emerged from the blackness he was in. It said
"Iohanne, let me be your guide!"
Johan, not feeling in a position to deny help, accepted, and was returned to his body. When he woke up, he felt a great power surge through his body. He looked Ishmael straight in the eye, and spoke
"Daemon-kin of the Ether, prepare to be banished back to your plane!"
Ishmael was aghast. How could a mortal say such things? Moreover, how could he have gained so much power. He started a chant to conjure power from the warp, when the human said, in two voices
"You shall not have the chance…feel the might of a Farseer!"
And a pulsating light appeared in Johan's right hand.
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A/N: OOH! CLIFFHANGERS! Well, as you can see, chapter 2 is out. I hope you all enjoy it. And to answer it before it becomes an issue, the Imperial Guard will play a MAJOR part in this fic. I just hafta set up Johan's character background first. Well, reviews are always appreciated, and if you leave something that you want to happen in a review, I'll see if I can fit it in
A/A/N: If anyone has a 40k character of their own making, put it in a comment and I'll try to work it in if ya want me to. (No promises)
Chapter 03: Farseer- What will happen to Johan? Who is this "Farseer"? Why am I writing crappy descriptions? Stay tuned till 3
Thought for the Day: A moment of laxity spans a lifetime of heresy.
Never forget. Never forgive!