916.M41

Lunar Class Cruiser, The Emperor's Grace

THOUGHT OF THE DAY

"To punish the traitor is a reward in itself."


Louise regretted letting Ciaphas talk her into this. At the time, she hadn't seen the harm in it, though she had let him have a piece of her mind on the hypocrisy he had displayed. But now that they were both delving into the dark, and extremely cold maintenance tunnels she was starting to have second thoughts. She didn't understand how Ciaphas seemed right at home in this environment, and when she'd asked he had simply stated he'd always been comfortable in tunnels and the underground. Madness was more like it, at least if you asked her.

Opening her mouth to say something, Louise ends up thinking better of it. She was admittedly quite curious and she did trust Ciaphas enough that she knew he wouldn't willingly drag her into something excessively life threatening. Though did it have to be so... unsanitary.

'This had better be good...' she internally grumbles. Wincing as she places as foot forwards and a wet squelch emits from where she just steps. In the end she decided not to look down, feeing it would be better for her sanity to not worry about what she possibly could've just stepped in. Ciaphas at least didn't seem worried about it, but she had learned he was extremely proficient at covering up his emotions, so gauging his reactions was not always a simple affair.

The duo continued to trek through the tunnels for around half an hour more, at least that was Louise's estimate. She had actually just been about to start complaining, (quite justifiably in her opinion) when Ciaphas stopped and said, "We're here."

Louise thought it would be nice to know exactly where 'here' was, but Ciaphas's form was currently blocking her view. Though as Ciaphas resumed moving and slipped off to the side, she noticed he had entered into a quite spacious room, that she suspected had at least at some point been used for storage of some kind or another. There were massive stacks of various bits of metal and miscellaneous garbage strewn anoint there corners of the room, though towards the center is was more clean. A makeshift firing range seemed to have been set up, and Cain already seemed to be waiting for her by it.

Louise remained on the outskirts of the room for a few more moments, before stepping in and heading towards her friend. She wasn't exactly sure why, but for some reason the room made her feel uneasy.

'Must just be imagining things, been having a lot of nightmares recently.' she thinks to herself, shuddering involuntarily as she was reminded of the horrid dreams that had been plaguing her sleep since the ship had entered into the warp. She had considered mentioning it to Ciaphas, or someone else, but had eventually thought better of it. Imperials were extremely paranoid about those types of things, and that was on a good day.

Shaking her head she refocuses her attention to the makeshift firing range, which she had arrived to. Walking up to Cain, crossing her arms and shooting him a skeptical look she asks, "So, you just want me to cast a few spells?"

He nods in response, turning towards the range and gesturing towards the first target. A ramshackle thing made up of various slabs of metal and bits and pieces of various junk "That indeed, if it isn't witchcraft - which you seemed so intent on bludgeoning into my head" - he shoots her a mild glare as she opens her mouth to respond, before continuing - "Then it could be an extremely valuable advantage for use in battle. So, I'm going to stand over here - and I want you to hit they first target with whatever it is you can." he finishes, Louise noticing 'over here' happened to be behind a large slab of easily hidden behind metal.

"I - right. Of course, just one spell. It can't be that hard." she says, though at the end she was more mumbling to herself than talking. She had managed to nearly forget about her humiliating lack of magical prowess, somewhere in the back of her mind hoping to be able to put it in her past, and earn respect based off her own merit, since her title seemed to be worth less than dirt among the stars. Turning towards the target she squares her jaw and withdraws her wand from the inside of her coat. It seemed smaller than she remembered, and had clearly been tampered with - a small Imperial Aquila engraved onto the handle being the most immediate thing she could see.

Turning towards the target, Louise puts her left foot in front of her, lowering her shoulders somewhat as she prepares the incantation. Taking a moment to remember the proper steps, she takes a deep breath and then thrusts her wand forward, shouting out, "Fireball!"

For several seconds nothing happened, leaving Louise with a growing feeling of dread, and then... with a glow of light and a loud crack the target exploded, Louise quickly ducking as shards of shrapnel and debris went flying in all directions. Her eyes drown to one prominent chunk of metal that ended up lodged in one of the walls of the ship. Turning back towards the range she saw not only was the target she aimed for completely vaporized, but so were the ones next to it.

Frowning, Louise lowered her wand clenching her jaw and fists as the frown morphed into a full on scowl. The only thoughts that ran through her head, even as she tried to suppress them were, 'Still a Zero...'

The sound of an impressed whistle pulled her out of her self pity, her head whipping around to see an extremely enthused Ciaphas Cain.

"That... heheh well, now that was impressive. By the Emperor you didn't tell me you could chuck explosions the size of a blast from an earth shaker!" he says, almost vibrating with excitement.

"Well, I - " she tries to speak, before being cut off by him continuing as if she hadn't spoken in the first place.

"We may just stand a chance, a chance indeed. Hahah this is excellent!" he yells, before turning and excitedly muttering to himself.

"But I didn't even mean to do it!" Louise shouts, catching his attention as he turns towards the other cadet, who as he now noticed seemed to be on the verge of either breaking down in tears, or throwing one of those massive explosions his way.

"It is the only thing I can do! My mother is the most powerful wind made of her generation, both of my sisters while not as strong are capable mages in their own right, a-and here I am - I cannot even properly cast a fireball. I'm tired of my worth being measured just by how capable I am of throwing a spell, I had thought that with the Imperium I might even have a second chance, to prove myself based off of my own merit, my own talents!" she blurts out, speaking so rapidly Ciaphas barely manages to understand everything she'd said.

After he outburst both of them stand in silence, Cain contemplating and Louise trying to catch her breath. Eventually Cain delivers his response, his tone rather calculating and his face neutral.

"I won't pretend to understand the intricacies of your homeworld's politics, or of your 'magic', maybe being able to do fancy things like light a candle - or whatever else you were expected to do was important there. However, here?" he spreads his arms out to the sides and looks her dead in the eyes.

"The one thing I would've thought you'd have learned in our time together is that the Imperium only respects strength. And what you can do? It's certainly one frak of a step up from anything I could." he continues, carefully watching her reaction.

He needed to get her spirits raised, whatever it was about her witchcraft, (which he was still fairly certain it was, if safer than the average timebomb) seemed to upset her greatly. He honestly couldn't see the issue, the ability to create explosions the size of an artillery shell with none of the drawbacks like ones head exploding seemed to be a net positive to him, though still not something he'd personally desire. However, she seemed to believe differently, and now that he knew just what she was capable of he found it an even more top priority to keep her alive, and close enough at all times to either keep from being the one that gets shot, or causing whatever was doing the shooting to stop existing.

She seemed to be staring at him slightly curiously, her eyes still narrowed though and he could see her fists were still clenched though at least she was listening. So he continued again,

"Louise, I don't think you understand. You've studied for a year, sure. You've trained and you've improved. But out there? The ability to do that is more valuable than any kind of knowledge on which planet produces more grain, or the other drivel they try to push on us. While you can't let yourself be directly witnessed doing it, just the fact that you can should make you feel confident. With the things that lurk in the stars, and I sure hope you don't believe the drivel they try to push down our throats in our 'study of the enemy', because just talking to a guardsman for five minutes makes one realize it's all lies. Out there, it's us - or them. Humanity, or the enemy - and an ability like that? With none of the drawbacks from usual witchcraft? It's invaluable." he says, not entirely certain on the last part, but she didn't need to know that. To be perfectly honest, he'd rather not have any kind of strange powers himself, thank you very much, he was quite happy being regular old boring Ciaphas Cain.

"I - do you really think so?" she says, her voice barely a whisper.

"Of course!" Ciaphas lies, nodding his head and gesturing to the ruins of the training dummies.

"Just look at that! I doubt any of your old peers could have accomplished that, now could they have?" he asks, mildly curious on if he was wrong or right.

Louise also turns back to the ruined firing range, and a small smile covers her face, her fists starting to unclench.

"I - I suppose not..." she says, her voice starting to fill up with her usual confidence once more.

"Now!" Ciaphas exclaims, clapping her on her back. "How about instead of trying to figure out how to prevent the explosions, you try to figure out how to control them?"

Turning around back towards him, and seeing the absolute confidence in her that seemed to be on display, her smile broadened and she nodded.

And so, the both of them in the ruins of the original firing range began to practice. Louise focusing on trying to control the explosions, and Ciaphas shouting out possible alternatives, conveniently from behind the best cover he could find.

And the best part for Louise?

It was working.

Not perfectly, mind you. But she found with each call of 'explosion' and with her putting focus on things such as size and effectiveness she was able to somewhat gain control over the blasts. And with Ciaphas yelling out encouragement, and found her cheeks heating up on more than one occasion.

Many piles of junk lost their lives that day.


That night, Louise slept peacefully. Her rest uninterrupted by nightmares, or abrupt awakenings. She dreamed of home, and of being around family once more. In her dream she had managed to summon a familiar, though she couldn't remember exactly what it was. She remembered feeling so proud, and even her mother giving her a rare smile and a congratulations. She had received one of Cattelya's patented hugs and felt so safe.

So of course it was ruined, a loud alarm blaring and sending her leaping out of bed, panicking slightly and looking around her. After a few seconds she calms down, swearing quietly under her breath as her heart rate settles.

"Return to real space beginning. Be prepared for immediate contact, all crew to preparatory stations." an obnoxiously loud voice blares out, one she recognizes as belonging to the ships captain.

Scowling, Louise strips out of her nighttime small clothes, swiftly donning her uniform. For a few seconds she stares at the shattered remnants of her medallion in the floor, before she huffs and using a foot shoves them under her bed. Opening the door to her room and stepping out, she almost immediately jumps back as a squad of fully armed and armored naval armsmen thunder past her down the hallway, their sergeant bellowing orders. Tentatively peering out of her room again, she sighs in relief at a lack of further annoyances before stepping out.

Getting a better look at her immediate surroundings she notices the other room doors slowly open, one by one and other equally as annoyed looking cadets - Junior Commissars she reminds herself - stepping out of their rooms.

Their lead Commissar eventually turns up as well, looking over them all with a slight smirk, Louise was almost instantly annoyed at the fact his spirits seemed so high. He spends a few more seconds looking over them all before he shouts, "Fall in! Junior Commissar Vallière, you will take the lead of the column!"

Ten pairs of feet rapidly scramble to assemble into formation, Louise winding up at the very front as instructed. Commissar Delearas taking position right next to her as he instructed her on where to march.

For nearly fifteen minutes the squad traveled, stopping by the nearby armory to pick up their assigned kit. Each one being handed a lasgun and several power packs, though quite noticeably no armor. Commissar Delearas seemed completely unconcerned with the latter aspect and simply ordered them back into marching formation.

As it turned out their final destination happened to be the ships hanger, their squad arriving just in time to see the full might of the 914th Cadian pouring in. To Louise it sounded like an earth quake, over six thousand pairs of boots moving as one as the regiment dispersed throughout the hanger bay. Every man dressed in tough looking flak armor and armed with a variety of different weapons, from the humble lasgun to mightier armaments such as heavy bolsters and lascannons being dragged along by their operators. She even saw a few vehicles whose name she was unaware of, loading themselves up into large and bulky looking transport ships.

Her squad fell into line among them, and Louise couldn't help but feel out of place. The Guardsmen nearby looking at them with a mixture of curiosity and disdain. Eventually it was their turn to load up into one of the landers, Louise managing to secure a spot next to Ciaphas who helped her strap herself into the seat after watching her struggle for a few moments in mild amusement.

For several hours after that they remained idle, Louise grumbling quietly to Ciaphas who seemed quite content with the situation. His face the utmost projection of serene confidence, as per usual. Louise honestly found it relieving, she herself was terrified. Everything had happened so suddenly, and now that she sat there - on the edge of a real battle she couldn't help but wonder what the future may hold.

Eventually the massive lander started to lift off, the massive engines letting out mighty bellows as the ship achieved propulsion. The whole thing rattled for several seconds as it got off the ground, sending another spike of anxiety though Louise. And as the lander exited the ship, Louise looked through the small viewport and let out a small gasp. Outside, she got her first glance at another planet, a large sphere that was a mixture of vibrant greens and blues as she spotted out various continents and ocean.

Around the planet she could see various other ships, and shockingly she could even see some firing at each other, though it seemed so far away. Her eyes drifted toward the gutted remains of some sort of smaller combat craft, drifting off aimlessly onto the void. She hoped there was no one left on it, she found the idea of being on a lost hulk to be absolutely terrifying.

Looking over to Ciaphas she saw him frowning somewhat, she almost opened her mouth to speak to him, but stopped herself. She doubted he'd her hear her over the noise of the landing ship anyways.

Eventually she settled on squaring her jaw and facing her head forwards. No matter what happened, she'd face it as best as she could - with the dignity of a noble.

'Rule of Steel.'


I have returned. To be quite honest, I'm honestly very happy with this one, I think it came out quite well. Feeling a lot better to, so that's nice.

Now in address to afew questions I've been asked. In response to who pm'd me (you know who you are) I have to say this.

Louise hasn't been acting 'bitchy', overly arrogant or trying to flex her title because quite frankly, she isn't stupid. I can tell you in the first week of the Schola it was quite literally beaten out of her, the Abbots having neither the time or patience to deal with a pissy attitude. Now that's not to say she's going to completely roll over persay, it's just that she understands that compared to the Imperium, Halkeginia is nothing. And no one cares about a primitive feudal worlder's 'noble title'. Especially as in their view she was basically sold off by her familyto the Commissariat.

Also with the mention of ships, I honesty just don't know. It doesn't necessarily feel like it fits into character, I guess I'll think on it though.

Anyways, that's all for now.

As always don't forget to leave a review and let me know your thoughts!

See you next timefor the start of Louise's Trial by Fire.