Here we go with another chapter!
I'm a week late, but here it is. This chapter was pretty fun to write, while I had some difficulty in describing the hospitallers training facility, I did the best I could.
A new beta reader is helping me alongside my other friend that wishes to remain anonymous.
This new beta reader is G. H. "zerohundert" Araújo;
Also want to say thanks to my other anonymous friend, that helps me a lot and motivates me to keep writing.
Without further ado, let the curtains be pulled, and the show continue:
The Calling Part IX
Six cycles to the rebellion on deck 44:
Erick worked his entire shift with his legs sore from all the lashes from the previous night. Since his punishment ended he and Silviya didn't talk. When he woke up she was already kneeled on the ground in front of him praying in silence with her eyes closed.
So he just got up, picked up his belt from the ground alongside his pouches and put the accessories back, and went away to his next working duty without uttering a single word to the sister.
Still pissed off with the beating he took from the crazy Sororita and that was pretty much what happened until now.
Wiping the floor with a broom in the administrative hub alongside Rookie. In silence, both kept mopping, different from the kitchen this area is far more crowded and spacious. Servo skulls are hovering about, while people walk around doing their chores.
One commissar is watching their job closely, so for that reason that he and Rookie must stay in silence since differently from the chef from the kitchen the punishments that can be delivered if the officer doesn't like something are far more brutal.
It can even end in their extermination if they do something that the commissar sees that fits this punishment. So both soldiers must be very careful while working under the supervision of one of the commissariat.
Erick wipes the sweat that is starting to travel down his forehead, stopping to take a breather as he looks around the hub. There are still lines of people in front of the assignment booths, guardsmen, and other personnel waiting their turn.
He can only thank the Emperor in his mind to not have to go through such a line again. Turning his gaze to the ground again, the soldier resumes his work.
Some time passes as he feels a hulking presence behind him. Turning his body he sees that the presence is a Space Marine with the same armor as the ones from yesterday. This one is wearing his helmet and in his hands a bolter gun.
The Astartes is looking right at him, his burning stare fixated on him. Feeling a little intimidated by the huge soldier, he uncomfortably asks.
"Can I help you with something sir?"
The man answer with a deep voice, a little distorted by the helmet.
"Yes. I'm on duty patrol and then I saw you, and I thought to drop by to say hello."
That is strange. Why would a Space Marine go out of his way to just say hello to a common soldier like him? The interaction from yesterday being strange enough, but this one is far stranger, his voice is familiar too. Wait...
"Do I know you?"
"We had lunch together on the last cycle."
Well, that confirms his suspicions about the identity of the marine. But that doesn't explain why he still is being friendly towards him and Rookie.
"Pardon my question. But why are you still being so kind to us?"
At that, the marine froze. An awkward silence fell between both men before the hulking soldier suddenly started laughing loudly. His shoulders shooking with his booming laughter. After the sudden outburst, the super-soldier turned to Erick and with an amused voice answered.
"And why wouldn't I be? You are a servant of the Imperium just like I am."
"Well, you are an Astartes, a holy angel of the Emperor, a perfect soldier."
The Space Marine shook his head side to side, a small laugh leaving his mouth.
"Not gonna deny boyo, but still my worth is the same as yours. Everyone has a different purpose on his plan for humanity."
The contrast between this man's behavior and the previous Astartes he encountered is unrecognizable. He would be lucky if an average Space Marine even looked in the direction of the imperial guard.
"I don't think that all of your brothers agree with that."
The Space Marine lets out a small hum before adding.
"Indeed. But I don't, and that's all that matters."
The Astartes then shrugs his shoulders.
"Anyway, I'll have lunch in three hours from now at the same time you finish your work duty. If you and the boy over there want both of you can have lunch with me and my brothers."
This guy is pretty strange. He never in his entire career imagined that he was going to be invited to have lunch alongside the Astartes. Most of his interactions with the super-soldiers were indifferent at best.
Most Space Marines that he encountered on the battlefield couldn't give two fucks about the imperial guard. One time he even witnessed a Space Marine ran down a wounded guardsman on the ground, instantly killing the poor guy. The poor guy was squished alive, by an ally nonetheless.
The disturbing thing is that the marine didn't even react to the fact he just killed a human being, he just went on firing his bolter as if nothing had happened. And these episodes are not rare, in fact almost all guardsmen who encountered the Emperor's angels tell tales of incredible feats as well as countless cruelties.
So like most members of the guard, he is a little wary of these individuals. But now one of them is not only being civil as well as being friendly is completely unexpected by the guardsman.
"We accept. After we've done here we will meet you at the cafeteria."
The Astartes nodded at him and gave a small wave to Rookie before leaving to another direction on the administrative hub. Soon after his leave, Rookie approaches Erick.
"Are you certain about that?"
Erick turns his gaze to the floor and resumes his work as he whispers.
"Yes, I am."
The younger soldier nods reluctantly before resuming his moping. To their luck the officer in charge of looking out for their work was not present at the moment, leaving shortly before the Space Marine arrived. But is not long as he appears once again on his peripheral vision some meters away from them as he maintains his watchful gaze on their work.
Silviya is kneeling on the ground, awaiting for 661 to leave the room for his working duty. As soon as he leaves she opens her eyes to stare at the bed in front of her.
The night before was still vivid in her memory. The transgressions of her leader, the libertinism between him and the annoying redhead. But that isn't the only thing bothering her right now.
Something else is troubling her, to be more precise a smell...His smell. Silviya fell asleep beside him, but through the night she ends up turning her body to his side of the bed. Her face near his shoulders, the sister had awakened with a familiar fragrance from her slumber. The strange yet... alluring musky odor assaulting her nostrils and making that strange heat come forth once more on her chest.
She immediately turned to the other side and started to fervently pray while clenching her eyes hard. Trying to purge this weird feeling from her mind. Eventually, she ends up falling asleep once again, only awakening up with the movement of the guardsmen on the quarters, walking around, and getting ready for their next shift.
She slowly manages to get out of bed without touching 661. Kneeling right next to the mattress where she can pray, and wait for his leave. Silviya didn't forget her duties, after all, she must stalk the guardsman and report anything strange back to the canoness.
Deciding on a small prayer she hopes to finish it before he awakes. Some time passes as she concludes her prayer time, the sister then stays on position waiting for the soldiers awakening.
Time slowly passes as he finally starts to stir from his deep slumber. Feeling his body leaving the mattress she keeps her eyes closed in hopes of fooling him. Silviya can hear the guardsman fixing his belt, as soon as he finishes she can hear the start of his footsteps. The sound of his leather boots against the metal ground getting fainter as he leaves her.
Good. The coast is clear, the sister opens her eyes and looks around, there are some guardsmen still in the room getting ready for their work duty, others are still resting. She quickly got up and grabs the cruth that is leaning on the bed frame.
The sister of battle uses the crutch to quickly limp out of the room right after the guardsman. But as soon as she crosses the bar gates of deck 45 she stops using the crutch and tries to support her leg on the ground. Silviya steps on the ground, testing her leg muscles, still feeling a subtle pain when she puts too much pressure on her left leg.
Limping through her first steps, she soon manages to push away the faint pain away, to start walking normally. Deciding to leave the crutch in a crack in one of the support metal bins in the corridor, so it won't get too much attention.
Her eyes are set on 661 that is a few meters away from her going to what she supposes is the administrative hub (at least according to the paper given by Brisedes).
With his back turned to her he keeps moving quickly towards his destination. There is a crowd of people going in the same direction as them, putting a good amount of people between her and him. They walk some minutes before the soldier turns right descending a flight of stairs, she waits for a little before proceeding to follow him.
Once ending her climb down the stairs she sees him going somewhere within this maze of buildings and towers. Brushing some people aside she keeps her hot pursuit on the soldier.
He goes inside an alley not so far from her. Silviya goes towards it stopping in the wall near the entrance where she can hide. Peeking inside the sister sees 661 knocking on a big grey metal door. Soon the door opens revealing a soldier that says something before closing the door once again.
661 leans on the wall near him where he awaits something, soon the door opens again with the same soldier carrying a broom and a piece of paper. The guardsman picks both from the other soldier's hands and starts to go out of the alley.
Silviya quickly runs out of the area not even looking back, hiding behind one ivory pillar near there. Her leg hurts with the quick run but she manages to bear the pain fairly easily. Peeking her head to look the sister sees the soldier leaving the alley and going back from where they came, whistling a tune the guardsman carelessly walks with a broom in hand.
Changing sides on the pillar so he can't see her. Silviya waits for the opportunity to leave. As soon as his whistling gets faint enough to be drone out by the sound of the crowd of people buzzing around she leaves her hiding place to continue her pursuit.
661 is now back in the main hub area where he is talking to a commissar. Silviya leans on a wall in a position not so far away from them, observing their interactions. As soon as 661 ends his talk with the officer he goes beside another guardsman where he starts to wipe the floor with his broom.
Now she must observe and report anything strange...
Five hours later, Silviya is sitting cross-legged on the ground beside a trashcan her eyes open as she keeps praying in a low voice, staring at the monotonous work done by her squad leader.
Nothing out of the ordinary so far, just work. The sister can only hope that stays that way until they arrive on the next system. It would be a shame to have to report something that further piques Hannira's interest in him.
She closes her eyes deciding on deep meditation for the time being. If he has already gone through so much time only doing this what could possibly happen now that would be out of the ordinary.
Some time passes as the sister drones out in deep meditation. Praying in her mind, she is now shut off by the world lost in her thoughts.
Opening her eyes again she is completely shocked by what's happening right in front of her face. A Space Wolf is talking with 661, she can't hear what he is talking about, but the mere fact that out of the blue, one of the mutants approached a normal regular guardsman completely boggles her mind.
Silviya quickly gets up, using the coming crowd of people to get next to them so she can hear their conversation. Blending in amidst a group of guardsmen she slowly passes next to them. What the sister hears is even stranger, the Space Marine is laughing.
She doesn't have the context for such a laugh, but she never imagined seeing one of the Astartes making such a sound. Most of the time that she had to work with the Emperor's angels they were almost robots. Not giving a single shred of emotion besides anger and raw determination.
Seeing one not only interacting as well as laughing with an imperial guardsman is almost unbelievable. Still following the crowd of soldiers passing next to them, she tries her best to hear anything about their conversation.
Unfortunately, the surrounding noise proves to be too much to actually hear what they are talking about. Silviya ends up on the other side of the administrative hub, breaking apart from the crowd of people so she can reposition herself.
Seeing a big metal bench where a lot of soldiers sitting, she decides to do the same and blend in with these people. Sitting between two different groups of guardsmen engaged in conversation.
The Space Wolf is leaving 661. Going in her direction, at a quick pace, he is going to the path of the corridor in her right. But when he gets some meters away from her he turns his head towards the sister. The Astartes stops, looking directly at her.
She cant explain since the soldier is using a helmet but it looks like the mutant is analyzing her. Silviya returns his stare, not backing down. Some seconds pass as both stare each other down, before the Space Wolf resumes his walking, turning his gaze away from her.
Silviya keeps her stare on where he was, before finally returning her gaze to her target who is currently wiping the floor again. Perfect, everything was going so well, it had to happen something didn't it?
How she will explain to Hannira a sudden interest in a Space Wolf on a regular guardsman? Better yet how does she will tell what just happened without raising even more red flags around 661?
If things keep happening in such a way it won't be long before Hannira herself decides to throw everything away to personally inspect him. Silviya can only hope that in the next hour's everything goes according to the plan.
Three hours later, It's the end of Erick and Rookies' working shift. They just gave back their cleaning equipment in the warehouse, and both of them are now going to the cafeteria so they can have a well-deserved meal alongside the Astartes.
As they reach cafeteria grounds, the place is buzzing with life as a multitude of Space Marines are going around with metal trays in hand. Many are already seated eating large chunks of meat, alongside the same tomato soup.
Erick and Rookie wander around searching for the kind bald marine, some Astartes take notice of them and start to either stare at them with indifference or disdain. Looking around for the man is proving to be a difficult task as everyone is pretty similar in appearance.
But they are once again surprised by the presence of a hulking figure behind them. Erick turns with a small smile towards the now helmetless marine.
"For an 8 feet soldier, you are very good at sneaking."
The taller man lets out a belly laugh before answering:
"That, or you aren't as perceptive as you think."
The Space Marine then points towards a more empty table beside them. Both guardsmen proceed to sit down on the table, soon after the Astartes sits down on Ericks right.
"Well before we eat let me introduce you to my squad."
Now Erick notices two similar men right in front of them. One of them has long blond hair braided strangely and savagely, the other has very short reddish hair with a big beard similar to the bald man beside him.
"The one with long hair is Olvik, and the one with the beard is Svyrll."
Both men curtly nodded at the guardsmen.
"And mine..."
He paused pointing to himself.
"Is Gottrim."
Erick nodded his head in acknowledgment, pointing a finger to himself he states:
"I am Erick Clarke."
Now pointing his finger to the other guardsman beside him adds:
"And this is Julius Rakov or like everyone usually calls him: Rookie."
All the Astartes nod in acknowledgment. Soon after Gottrim raise himself from the table signaling for the one called Olvik, making the other Space Marine get up as well.
"With that out of the way, we will get food for us all. Wait here, and behave."
Both men went away with heavy steps towards the cafeteria window, leaving both soldiers alone with the Astartes called Svyrll. The man has a deep penetrating gaze, his light brown eyes looking between him and Rookie.
Erick uncomfortably scratches the back of his neck, looking around trying to not look into the deep penetrating eyes of the Space Marine.
"So Svryll, how is life going?"
The man simply shrugs before answering curtly.
"Normally, besides the fact that we lost Cadia and many brothers as well."
The guardsman could only hum in response since the matter of Cadia still is a huge sore spot for many people aboard this ship. Even him at the mere remembrance of their defeat can only look dejectedly at the table. The grave and raspy voice of Svryll shook him out of his temporary sadness.
"So what do you guys do?"
Erick quickly snaps out of his funk giving a straight and formal answer towards the man.
"Leader of Gamma squad of the 38th regiment."
Rookie answers beside him with an unsure voice.
"Infantryman of the 38th regiment under captain-commissar Kraven's command."
"And you Svryll?"
"I am a grey hunter of the bloodied fang."
"What is a grey hunter, and what is the bloodied fang?"
"It means I'm a fully-fledged Space Marine and that I survived my trials. Bloodied fang is my order within my chapter."
Svryll lets out a short hum in response, an awkward silence fell on the table, as both guardsmen looked around and at the Astartes. But the awkward moment is cut short as both Astartes returned with four metal trays in their hands.
Gottrim dropped a metal tray with a huge chunk of meat and a bowl of tomato soup in front of them. Both guardsmen looked at each other before looking once again towards the delicious piece of meat in front of them.
They flung themselves on the food, tearing pieces with their own hands, and shoving down as fast as they could. The imperial guard didn't have a lot of opportunities to eat such protein-rich food. Most of the time they would have what they call "mysterious meat", which is from an unknown source of second-hand meat.
And let me tell you, that meat doesn't even come close to what they are having right now. Both guardsmen are enjoying something that only a few from the imperial guard could enjoy.
Erick can only think about how much of a barbarian both of them must look like since they are ravaging the piece of meat like a pack of hungry hyenas. The liquid from the meat trailing down the corners of his mouth as he bites another chunk of the food.
He stops to take a look around him, to see the reactions of the Space Marines at their ravenous eating. But they were doing the exact same thing as them, eating with vigorous bites.
At least at that, they weren't so different from an average human. Erick smiles to himself before shrugging off any worry about his feeding behavior.
It's been three hours after the Space Wolf left, she is now following 661 going back to that alley alongside another guardsman with who he is happily chatting with. Both of them give back their cleaning tools.
Silviya hides on the same pillar as before waiting for both men to pass. As soon as they cross her hiding place, she waits a few seconds to start once again following them.
They leave the administrative hub, with the sister some few meters away from them. Both guardsmen are going in the direction of the...Cafeteria?
Why would they go to the cafeteria now? They were supposed to already have eaten at lunchtime five hours ago. Descending the stairs right after them she is shocked to see the people that are in the cafeteria right now.
Space wolfs, as soon as her brain registers this information she backpedals as quickly as her legs allowed before she could have been spotted by one of them.
No way she can enter the cafeteria without being noticed by the super soldiers. The instant they see her hair and the tattoo on her cheek they will know that she is a sister of battle, and that would probably blow her cover, so she must proceed with caution on her next actions.
And that's when she has an idea. Silviya goes back towards the administrative hub searching for a patrolling servo skull, she walks a little before finding one hovering near the hub entrance.
Silviya signals for the floating skull to get near her. The cranium complying with her request.
"Servo the Sororitas demand your assistance."
The skull doesn't answer vocally since he probably doesn't have a vox speaker to speak with her, but instead, he bobs up in down in acknowledgment.
"I need you to discretely float around in the cafeteria searching for two guardsmen. Once you find them observe what they are doing and return to me. I'll be waiting here."
Soon as she ended her request the skull went away in the direction of the cafeteria. Now she just needs to wait for the pict recording servo to return.
Erick needs to admit that the Space Marines aren't so bad. At first, the group was in silence, the only noise being the surrounding one and the munching of meat and slurping of soup.
But as soon as Gottrim started to engage in conversation with the two guardsmen, his squadmates got used to the situation. Going as farther as actually interacting with both of them.
The bald Astartes was now explaining how he missed Fenris since there had a beverage that they (space wolves) actually could get drunk with.
"I'm telling ya, boy, Mjød is the best drink in all the imperium. It can get anything drunk!"
At that, Erick could only smile skeptically, believing it to be an exaggeration for the part of Gottrim.
"Even a Tyranid?"
Gottrim dropped an enthusiastic fist on the table, making the entire table tremble, letting a booming laugh out
"Even a Tyranid!"
Erick shook his head side to side, and with a very teasing tone responded.
"I would only believe in such thing if I saw if my own two eyes."
All three Astartes started to laugh as if his teasing comment was actually a joke. Svryll then turned to him and with a teasing smile.
"Your luck is that we don't have the two, or you would see it."
This time the entire table let out a small laugh. But once everyone has calmed down, Erick decided to make a question that he and Rookie are very curious to know the answer off.
"So Gottrim, why did you invited us to lunch?"
The Space Marine raised an eyebrow at the guardsman's question.
"I've already told ya, didn't I? "
"Actually no. You answered why you were being kind to us. Not the why you are being specifically gentle with us."
Gottrim froze looking at the table deep in thought. Svryll and Olvik looked at their brother with uncertainty. And with a hesitant tone he answered:
"You two remember someone very dear to me."
Both guardsmen trade looks, unsure of what to make of the statement of the Space Marine, but they are obviously flattered to remember someone dear to such a figure as Gottrim.
Erick with the best smile he could put on his face answered the giant soldier.
"We are honored, in reminiscing such an important figure to you."
Gottrim snaps out of his daze before letting a small mile adorn his lips.
"Thank you, lads."
The Astartes then enthusiastically turns towards the two of them.
"So what amazing tales the two of you have to share with us?"
Both guardsmen once again look at each other unsure of what to say, then Rookie answers:
"Nothing compared to yours, since we saw and encountered are minuscule compared to what you guys actually fought "
Rookie said casually, but that triggered something on Gottrim as he let his hand hit the table hard, causing a dent in it, starling both soldiers.
"DO NOT TALK SO LITTLE ABOUT YOUR WORK FOR THE IMPERIUM!"
The bald astarts pointed at the two, his pale cheeks getting red with the amount of strength he is putting on his screams.
"IF IT WEREN'T FOR THE IMPERIAL GUARD THE WHOLE IMPERIUM OF MAN WOULD'VE ALREADY FALLEN."
At that, the entire table fell in silence in shock with the reaction of the bald marine. Noticing the soldiers in front of him as well as the other Astartes around him in shock at his outburst made Gottrim shrink in shame back into his seat.
Svryll trying to ease the tension said calmly:
"What about this, share your tales and we share ours?"
Both men nodded still too shocked with the outburst of the Astartes. Erick signed with his had telling Rookie to go first so he started:
"Well while I'm not so experienced as you guys. I have a good one..."
The man changed his posture trying to get more comfortable to start telling his tale.
"It was some time ago, I was on night patrol duty on the far east of the Cadian line..."
Cadia one month before the fall:
Julius is inside the dug-out trenches walking from side to side for some time now. The only distinct sounds he hears are the sound of his boots stepping on the mud and the distant sound of fighting.
It's a quiet and chill night on the Cadian line, his side of the trenches hasn't been attacked for two days now. So against what most people would think, the fact that there isn't an attack for two days now is more worrying than a relief.
If they are not being rushed by mad cultists or Khornate marines you can bet your ass that the enemy is plotting something, is waiting for them to be relaxed to get them by surprise. This possibility alone is the cause for such a tense mood in these trenches.
Taking a look at his imperial wristwatch seeing that his night duty will be over in four hours, confirming his fear of four more hours of never-ending tension and boredom.
But his reverie is cut short as he sees a strange hulking figure walking casually through the line. As he gets close he notices that the figure in question is a Space Marine, to be more precise one of the space wolves that once in a while shows up to help on the Cadian line.
Not thinking much of it, Rookie just salutes the figure and continues walking, the hulking soldier just nods back while still proceeding to walk in the opposite direction of him.
He keeps walking to the end of his trench, turning to go back, but he freezes as he remembers something.
"Wait...didn't Space Wolfs left six hours ago to resupply?"
Realizing that something isn't right. He instantly went running after the Astartes, as fast as he could Julius runs towards the direction of this suspicious marine. As soon as he gets near the entrance for the Earthshaker Cannons bunker he sees something that quickly worries him. The two guardsmen guarding the door are missing, and the steel door is open.
Shit. Something is definitively not right in here, pointing his lasgun before entering, Rookie reluctantly walked inside turning on the flashlight in his lasgun to shine the dark bunker.
Inside is moist and quiet in this artillery fortification, he can hear the sound of dripping water hitting the concrete ground as he keeps advancing inside the structure, and that's when he sees it.
In the far corner behind some crates containing ammunition for the cannons is a limp bloodied hand. As he carefully approaches the crates he slowly goes around the crates to see what is behind the boxes, and what he discovers horrified him.
The bodies of the guards alongside the entirety of the artillery unit lay sprawled on the floor, most with their throats mangled with what appears to be a dull blade. Others have their tongue completely ripped out of their mouths, but the most shocking of the wall is a weird round onyx object with a beeping red light glued to one of the ammunition crates...wait is that a bomb?
As soon as his brain registered what the object is he runs out of the complex as fast as he can screaming at the top of his lungs
"ENEMIES BEHIND THE LINES!"
His screams startled the near guardsmen out of their short slumber, the soldiers picking up their guns and starting to run out of their improvised resting places.
But before they could reach Julius a huge explosion sound rang far out on the other side of the trench, each and every artillery bunker along the line started to blow up, a huge cloud of black smoke and debris coming out from the exploded fortifications.
He only has time to take a last look at the concrete structure behind him, before uttering a single word.
"Shit."
Not even finishing uttering these words a huge ball of fire climbed out of the bunker, the shockwave from the explosion sending Rookie to the ground. In Rookie's mind, the scene is in slow motion as he sees debris flying around, some high above in the sky while others almost hit him.
All comes back to normal as his back hits the ground, taking the air out from his lungs for a moment. A very annoying ringing sound can be heard in his ears, the guardsman is completely lost in the dizziness settling on his brain.
Crawling in all fours searching for his lasgun Julius tries to focus on finding his gun that was sent flying away in the explosion. The ringing is subsiding as he looks around on the ground, managing to find some meters away from him a plasma gun on the ground.
Well is not his gun but it works, still crawling he manages to reach the weapon, but as soon as he touches the grip of the weapon he feels someone turning him on the ground, and the sight that met him will be always etched on his mind.
Above him is certainly an Astartes. But this one is the strangest he has ever seen, the soldier doesn't recollect any loyalist chapter with this aesthetic.
The armor of the hulking figure is a purplish-blue, a green hydra on his chest piece and shoulder pads, in his helmet two big ivory horns raise from the sides of the headpiece. On one hand, is a sword emanating an emerald glow and on the other is a bolter pistol.
But what makes Rookie reacts is the distinct chaos symbol on the loincloth adorning the hulking soldier's armored hips. Not thinking twice he squeezed the trigger shooting a plasma charge at the hulking figure.
The boy closes his eyes at the intense light leaving the gun, but as soon as he opens his eyes again the figure is gone. Only the guardsman and a pile of corpses remain.
"After that, I learned with Commissar Kraven that the report of the incident and scene recorded by the pict servo skulls proved that a single Astartes managed to sabotage the entire far east line."
Rookie paused before adding:
"I realized that the funny thing is that it took like five minutes between me realizing the ploy and the chaos marine to plant the explosives. That is what boggles my mind to this day."
All people on the table had a mortified look of horror on their faces. Olvik was the first to ask.
"You do realize you encountered a member of the alpha legion right?"
Rookie turned a confused look towards the Space Wolf.
"Alpha legion?"
That further shocked all men on the table.
"The alpha legion is one of the worst chaos legions. They are specialists in infiltration and sabotage. "
Olvik hit the table in anger.
"They fight like cowards, always acting on the shadows. You usually only know when you are dealing with them when it's too late."
Svryll added to Olvik's statement.
"It's a surprise that you are alive actually. Most people who have dealt with them either disappeared or are dead."
At that Rookie flinched, his mind wandering at his luck from even being here right now, the danger of the situation finally dawning on him. Gottrim then congratulated the young soldier.
"Managing to survive such encounter is a great feat lad, your ancestors must be proud of ya. Now, can you share one of your tales Erick?"
Erick can only hope to compete with this single tale, encountering one of the "hydras" as the guardsmen on his unit used to call it is a rare event, and one laced with death and paranoia.
The older guardsman nodded, as he started sharing one of his many operations alongside Gamma Squad.
The servo skull returned and quickly hovered back in front of her. A small beep sound comes from the cranium as it floated next to the wall that Silviya was leaned on.
A small white beam of light started on the wall, showing although not in high quality the cafeteria. In it, the skull is floating around almost touching the roof of the cafeteria, looking at the sea of white armors. Until its eyes notice two greenish spots in a more secluded table in the cafeteria.
The servo started to slowly float towards the table recording all the way until it ended up just above what now is clearly Erick alongside the unknown soldier, talking to the Astartes.
Unfortunately this model of servo cant record audio so she doesn't know what they are talking about, but whatever it is, Silviya is very uncomfortable at the scene right in front of her.
They are all laughing and behaving as if all of them were the oldest of friends and she...She can't stand it!
Her squad leader interacting with these mutants isn't something she appreciates, not one bit. If she could she would storm that cafeteria and drag 661 out of there by his hair...But unfortunately, that would blow her cover.
So the only thing she can do now is to wait until she can finally drop this stupid charade pretending to still be injured. Her annoyance turns to anger as she sees the Space Marines laugh at some comment done by her leader.
The anger burns hot in her chest, so much so that she unconsciously grab the servo skull from both sides before squishing it with her bare hands, making a sickly cracking noise. Her gaze now fixated on the grey metal wall.
There is only one thing that can calm her now, it's been some time, but now is the best time to start training again.
Silviya leaves this area in search of a secluded spot where she can train without interference or getting attention. But the sister remembers that she can use the hospitallers facility to train, and while there she can deliver her report to the canoness.
So deciding to kill a bird with two stones, she goes towards the hospitaller headquarters to unwind her rising temper.
The lunch with Gottrim and his squad was pretty good. Erick is glad to have such an awesome interaction with the Emperor's angel, he can only be glad to share a pleasant meal and conversation with the Astartes.
Returning to his living quarters Erick is surprised to find Sarah waiting beside the bar gate door. A look of nervousness in her eyes as she notices him.
He decides to approach his female companion.
"Hey, Sarah..."
She meekly while avoiding his eyes respond.
"Hey..."
Erick scratches the back of his head clearly discomforted by the situation since their last interaction was a delicate subject that got rudely interrupted by Silviya.
"So...how was working duty?"
"Fine..."
She quickly answered without looking at his eyes.
Is clear that both he and Sarah are tense after yesterday, so deciding to do the sensible thing, Erick decides to address the unfinished conversation.
"Sarah..."
However, he is quickly cut out as the redhead finally settles her gaze on his eyes, shutting him up. With determination in her eyes she states:
"Erick we need to talk."
"Sure..."
Well, that cut out all the necessary effort in approaching this sensitive topic.
"Before we were interrupted the last cycle I asked you what were we, and I want an answer..."
He opens his mouth to answer but is cut off once again by the redhead.
"But before you answer it. I must apologize, for what happened. I don't regret what we have done that night, however, I know that I brought a lot of trouble for you due to your leading position."
She paused before continuing.
"And now I know the impact of such relationship can have, even if most people wouldn't care, there are people that would actually care, such as Silviya."
She grabbed his left prosthetic hook arm and looked tenderly at him.
"I want you to know that I get it why this could mean trouble for you. But I can't lie and say that I don't feel attracted to you, that my feelings don't go beyond just "friends" because they do."
Sarah sighs as she distances herself from him.
"What I mean with all of what I said is. Whatever is your decision I'll respect it, and you won't hear me nagging your ass off for what you have chosen. However I want an answer, a proper one, so I'll ask again..."
There is a pause, a cloud of tension surfaces as Sarah maintains her gaze on the soldier.
"What are we, Erick?"
This is the seventh training servitor that Silviya managed to break with the training sword. She is right now at the training facility of the hospitallers, this room appears to be a huge basketball court. The difference being in the fact that instead of a basketball field there is only a huge metal floor with various white painted rectangles, these works are area delimitations for sparing.
Silviya stares down the writhing servitor on the ground, little bolts of electricity leaving his neck where she struck with the sparing weapon. Feeling pity at the training humanoid, she raises her sword high above her head before delivering the finishing blow.
With a sicking mix of cracking of bones and twisting metal sound the servitor ceases his movements.
The sister wipes the sweat off her forehead with her forearm, before hearing the familiar voice of Brisedes behind her.
"We usually only destroy them in presentations. We don't have an infinite supply of them you know?"
Silviya scoffed without looking at Brisedes.
"It's not my fault that they are this fragile.
"Why destroy them though?"
"I can't stop until the target is down."
"Even if it just a training servitor?"
"Yes. We mustn't develop the bad habit of hesitating, in every strife, we must continue until our enemy is utterly defeated, even if it is only training."
Silviya replied as if she was reading a book, with mechanical precision and diligence. The hospitaller only hums in response to Silviya's statement.
"By the way, The canoness asked me to fetch you. So put away the training sword and let's go."
The sister of battle without saying a word now turns towards Brisedes proceeding to follow her at the exit of the training grounds, setting the training sword leaned on the wall next to the door. Leaving the facility they go through some corridors until stopping at the huge flight of stairs that leads to Hannira's office.
As they start climbing, Brisedes lowly says:
"How is the guardsman doing?"
"Fine."
Silviya curtly answered with her eyes set on the metal door a few steps away from them.
"Did something strange happen?"
Only shaking her head quickly side to side as a response, both sisters climbed the stairs, and just before arriving at the door, Brisedes stops Silviya with her hand.
"Are you sure nothing strange happened? It's best if you tell me first before entering in there since if you say something wrong it could mean very well his death."
Silviya pondered on the other sister's words, talking about the last developments in 661 life, which can backfire immensely if not done correctly, the last thing she wants now is to Hannira to request that the guardsman be brought to her.
She stays in silence looking between the door and the hospitaller before finally deciding in shaking her head side to side in a clear sign of "no". Is not that she doesn't trust Brisedes, is the fact that what she discovered yesterday, could prove to be too much even for a sister such as Brisedes.
Hell if she wasn't under an oath of repentance in protecting his life, she would've already reported his improper behavior to the first commissar that she lends her eye on. But since she is obliged in protecting him, Silviya doesn't have a choice, in bearing responsibility for his actions until she fulfills her oath.
"No. You don't need to worry, I take it from here."
Brisedes looks side to side before carefully stating:
"She has her eyes on you. Don't lie."
Silviya's eyes widen at her words, doing a short nod as an acknowledgment of the hospitaller words. Brisedes nods back at her, nervously awaiting for the sister of battle to enter The room in question, then proceeds to open the door inside the familiar canoness office.
Closing the metal door behind her Silivya steps forth into the middle of the room before kneeling on the ground, holding a clenched fist with her other hand.
Hannira sat on a big velvet chair behind an ivory table containing all sorts of trophies and religious objects. With her standard canoness outfit, she lay there with her arms crossed, one hand tapping impatiently on her right elbow.
"Rise, sister."
Doing as she is told Silviya raises herself from the ground, her hands behind her back, starting her formal Sororitas greeting.
"Ave Domine Imperatus, Canonissa Hannira of the order of the hospitallers."
"Ave Domine Imperatus, sister of the Order of Our Martyred Lady."
Hannira got up from her chair as she walked around the table stopping right in front of Silviya.
"So how is it going with our subject?"
"Fine Canoness Hannira."
"Good...so start with your report."
Silviya crossed her hands behind her back and with a passive voice started retelling the events of this cycle:
"I had woken before 661, I waited for him to wake up. The guardsman got ready for his working duty before leaving to the administrative hub where he spent five hours before..."
"Before?"
"Before a Space Wolf approached him."
At that Hannira's face scrunch up in disgust at the mention of the Astartes.
"And what those... "dogs" wanted with him?"
Silviya shook her head side to side.
"No idea my Lady, I only could observe their interactions from afar."
The canoness hummed, while slowly circling the sister of battle.
"Continue..."
"I kept a close watch on him for three more hours, before he went to the storage warehouse to leave his cleaning equipment. After that, he left for the cafeteria."
Silviya paused looking at Hannira that now stopped right in front of her.
"And then?"
Now is where things get complicated, if she tells this bad wrongly, all her plans will go to waste. Her next words must be well calculated and thought out.
"He went to the cafeteria alongside an unknown guardsman, to eat lunch."
Hannira's expression goes from serious to curious, the canoness once again starts circling around Silviya, as if measuring her.
"There is something else isn't it?"
The sister heard the canoness voice behind her, laced with curiosity but with an unsaid threat behind it. Silviya is getting nervous, even more so, as it appears that Hannira is actually observing the guardsman and probably her as well.
She opens her mouth to deny such a question, in hopes of fooling her, but she remembers what Brisedes warned her: "Don't lie".
"Yes my Lady, he lunched with Space Wolfs. Apparently, the Astartes that came to talk to him invited him for lunch."
At that Hannira once again stopped in front of Silviya, this time her expression is one of satisfaction, very similar to how her own canoness reaction was when appreciating something that she did.
"Do you know what they were talking about?"
"No my lady."
"And why?"
"It was the Space Wolves' lunchtime, the entire cafeteria was full of them. If I went inside they would instantly know what I am and that would get my cover blown."
A small approving smile adorned the older Sororita's face.
"Good."
Resuming her serious posture as a passive expression returned to her face, Hannira added:
''Perfect, continue with your duties. Maintain your cover for more than six cycles. At the end of each cycle return to me and report."
Silviya bowed, awaiting her dismissal.
"May the Emperor guide you on your task. Dismissed."
The sister of battle raised her head and left for the door, leaving the office, for deck 45, since 661 could return at any time.
"What are we, Erick?"
Sarah's face was one of the same determination as to the last cycle, waiting patiently for his answer. He owns her an answer, while this makes him uncomfortable, it is time to finally put an end to this drama.
Taking a deep breath and with the best calm voice he can muster he replies:
"We are friends."
The instant that she understood the meaning of his words her face immediately scrunch up in sorrow. Seeing Sarah in such a state makes Erick's heart feel awfully tight in his chest.
"But that doesn't change what I feel for you. Sarah, you are still the most important person in my life..."
The guardsman grabs her left hand trying to bring some comfort to his dear partner.
"I love you, however, my duty comes first. As a leader I can't be with you, and while I wear this..."
Erick holds his squad leader insignia in his left breast right above the patch with his full name.
"My duty comes first. Maybe when this is all over, or some Emperor knows circumstance allow it, I promise you that we will be together."
Looking at the ground the female sniper stays in silence. These few seconds of silence look like an eternity as he waits for some kind of reaction from her.
Sarah takes a deep breath before finally looking at his face, surprisingly her expression isn't one of sadness, neither one of happiness. Her entire face is showing relief as if his words had lifted a burden from his shoulders.
"I understand and thank you for being honest. However one last thing..."
The redhead slowly approaches him getting on her tiptoes as she delivers a small chaste kiss on his lips. The moment her lips touch his, Erick's stomach starts to do flip flops, a nervous yet all familiar emotion comes forth, and as soon as she goes back to her previous position, the absence of her sweet lips making him crave more.
But his train of thought comes to a halt as he hears a loud "ahem" some meters away from them. To his left, an very annoyed Silviya stands with the aid of her crutch. Limping slowly towards them Erick's heart sinks knowing full well what could happen after this.
She stops beside him, looking between him and Sarah.
"I see that I can't take my eyes off you..."
Erick instantly puts distance between him and Sarah, putting his hands in the air, he starts sweating tensely turning towards the sister.
"Look I can explain..."
He is interrupted as Silviya raises a hand signaling for him to shut up. Then she turns to the redhead while still maintaining her hand on the air.
"I was looking for you too..."
But before finishing what she was saying to the female sniper, the crazy Sororita turns to him.
"Go wait in the room, I'll meet you there."
Without hesitation, he followed her order with a quick and nervous pace.
Seeing the guardsman fleeing back to their living quarters, Silviya waits for him to be far away from them before turning her head back to the redhead.
"Do you truly care for him?"
Without batting an eye Sarah replies:
"Yes."
"So stop putting him at risk. This infatuation of yours will be his downfall."
Silviya paused putting a finger on the redhead's chest and poking with each sentence.
"Are you aware of the punishment that could come forth of this improper behavior?"
Sarah only nodded her gaze now fixed on the ground not daring to look at the sister.
"So if you are aware, why do you keep doing this!?"
The guardsman in front of her replied with a meek tone:
"You don't need to worry, this is the last time that I will ever do such a thing under these circumstances."
Sarah finally took her eyes off the ground to look at the Sororitas, this time fiercely.
"We settled the matter and is best that we put our duty first. I promise you this is the last "improper" behavior you will see on my part."
Silviya didn't felt any lie or subterfuge on the guardsman's words, Sarah is being honest. Giving her a small smile the sister turns to limp back to their room, but before really going away she turns one last time towards the female sniper:
"I appreciate your maturity on the matter. We have the same objective you know? Both of us want to protect him, so keep helping me do that."
The sister turns her gaze away, but the loud voice of Sarah draws her eyes once again.
"Silviya!"
The Sororita stops staring at the female soldier awaiting for her to continue.
"Also be more considerating of Erick's state of mind and well-being. Not trying to defend any "misdeeds" but try not to be too harsh or humiliating with whatever you are doing to him please?"
Sarah took a deep breath before finishing:
"I don't know what you did to him the last cycle but he seems pretty jumpy when it concerns you. You don't want him to fear you, trust me. We are a team, and we got each other back...always. If you want to protect him, he must be comfortable around you, or else he will just run from you."
Turning her gaze away from the redhead she resumes her walk back towards the bar gate while letting out a loud:
"Emperor protects Guardswoman."
And behind her she hears a determined reply:
"Emperor protects Sister."
Thanks for reading until here!
The next chapter will be the finale of the first Act - The Calling, after which we will enter in our next Act - The Refusal.
Probably gonna release the next chapter on Monday, but won't promise since I'm having a lot of work so that could compromise the release.
I wish you all a good week, God bless and stay safe out there!