So here we are with the ending of the first arc "The Calling", this one was pretty hard to write and quite lengthy too, I almost cut it into two parts due to the sheer size. I wrote approximately 70 pages only in this chapter, I'm surprised that I managed to do so.
Thanks once again to all of you who read it until here, and for the ones asking the next arc will be more focused on the romance between Erick and Silviya so expect to see more of it in the next arc.
Many thanks to my beta reader G. H. "zerohundert" Araújo;
Also for my other anonymous friend that gave me support and inspiration!
Now without further ado here it is...Let the show begin!
The Calling Part X(Finale)
Five cycles to the rebellion on deck 44:
Erick's chest and arms muscles were a little tired from the pushups he had to do in the last cycle. As soon as the sister entered their living quarters she only mumbled for him to do twenty push-ups, and proceeded to observe him do it.
She was in deep thought while staring at him, and strangely enough, he expected her to punish him, but this was far different from what the soldier expected. Erick complied and did as she requested, the sister had obviously gone light on his punishment.
Silviya was a confusing person, he really didn't know how to predict her actions or her thoughts. The punishment with the belt was something that cemented her as a crazy cold-hearted warrior, just like Kraven told him.
But now she is being considerate of him, at least is what appears to be. And that surprises Erick, "it must have to be something that Sarah said", he thought.
Going now to the cargo bay area, the soldier arrives in front of a big rectangular metal door, beside it was a single servitor with a multitude of arms and augmentations. Approaching the lobotomized being the guardsman says:
"Erick Clarke, unit: 661 here for cleaning duty."
Staring him with glassy eyes it turned towards a panel behind it without uttering a word, where he used his tendrils to type something. Soon after the door opened with a distinct hiss, showing a huge area filled to the brim with ships, crates, tanks, and vehicles of all kinds.
Entering the area, the door behind him closes as soon as he passes the threshold. He feels lost in this massive area, with few people scattered here and there.
The cargo bay is a huge place; its ground is made out of grey, rusted metal, pillars with strange sharp points sticking out of it that goes from the ground to the roof, easily surpassing an imperial apartment.
Erick wanders around searching for Rookie and their appointed supervisor. He eventually finds them, the younger guardsman alongside a group of other soldiers scrubbing the hull of one rhino tank.
Approaching the commissar overseeing the group Erick presents himself for his working shift. Soon after ending the formalities, he joins the other soldiers in scrubbing the heavily armored vehicle.
Silviya started following 661 as soon as he left for work. Now her leg is as good as new, not one semblance of pain left, meaning that she is combat-ready.
She missed having this independence and freedom to train and continue with her daily routines without difficulty, the only problem now is the fact that she must keep the act of still being injured at least for five more cycles.
Stopping behind a pillar where she can observe 661 without being seen, the sister sees the guardsman talking with a servitor before the huge metal door started opening as the soldier went inside.
As soon as he passed the threshold of the door, it closed behind him. Now that the coast was clear she went to the lobotomized servitor. As soon as Silviya got in front of it, she said with a very authoritative and stoic voice:
"I'm here on behalf of the Order of Our Martyred Lady, and I demand access to the cargo bay so I can accomplish my duty."
The glassy eyes of the servitor stared back at her, as a very monotone and robotic voice questioned:
"Name, unit I.D, and your working station."
"Silviya, EVA-727, here on behalf of canoness Hannira to observe the soldier known as Erick Clarke."
The being in front of her started to emit clicking and random electronic noises before addressing her again.
"I'm going to have to confirm with the Canoness about the nature of your duty since the same isn't registered on our working schedule."
Shit, here we go with the bureaucratic bullshit. She just wants to do her job and here it is this servitor not letting her cause her duty isn't written on some random piece of paper.
"Requesting a servo skull to confirm, wait here please."
Silviya only rolls her eyes, crossing her arms impatiently while waiting for this issue to be solved, so she can start stalking 661 already.
Erick finished polishing the front of the fourth rhino tank, proceeding to now polish the back of it. Carrying the metal bucket with water in it with his right hand while holding awkwardly the sponge between his hooks he circles around the big vehicle until he joins the other two guardsmen already cleaning this side of the tank.
Settling the bucket on the ground and now passing the dirty sponge to his other hand, Erick dips it on the liquid inside the metal container as he once again starts to wipe the dirt off the vehicle.
Some time passes as he and the other two men focus on the work at hand, but a distant noise caught his attention. A very distant sound of metal being dragged on the ground, that is being drowned out by the sound of heavy machinery and cranes.
He looks to the two soldiers beside them, trying to see if they noticed the strange noise as well, but unfortunately, it doesn't seem so. As they are completely focused on their own tasks. Erick can thank his father for his keen senses since from a very young age his father made sure that he learned to always be aware of his surroundings.
Taking a look at the commissar he sees that the officer too stopped shouting to the guardsmen who were not working at an acceptable pace, to only look at the direction of the noise. It appears that he too noticed it.
Unfortunately, the officer looked at him, realizing that he stopped scrubbing, and with an angry scowl marched towards him.
"Why did you stop guardsman? Did I gave you the order to?"
Erick automatically saluted the commissar as he answered formally.
"No sir you did not!"
The man was now right in front of him with his finger pointing to Erick's face.
"So why did you stopped then?"
"I heard a strange noise, sir!"
At that the man for one second stopped, his expression turning to one of surprise, looking at the guardsman as if analyzing something. Before his face contorted in a scowl again.
"Go evaluate what this strange noise is then, and if you take too long I will send your ass to the brig do you understand?"
"Sir yes sir!"
"NOW GO YOU FILTHY VERMIN!"
Without even taking a second glance towards his superior he just ran in the direction of the noise. Trying to pinpoint the exact location from where he heard the noise.
Stopping somewhere on the cargo bay area he stood in silence waiting for the out-of-place sound. Some time passes as he hears the noise again somewhere in the direction of the supply depot where metal crates of all sizes lay.
Going towards the dragging sound, Erick slithers through the shadows of the crates in hopes of maintaining his presence unknown, since he doesn't know what is the source of such noise.
Stopping behind a large group of stacked crates that are big enough for covering him, he waits as the sound comes closer to him. The guardsman waits as the sound appears to be some feet away from him, peering through one of the cracks. And what he sees surprises him.
An ogryn is dragging a big metal crate through the ground towards somewhere. The out-of-place thing about this is that in the cargo bay they use cranes to move these crates, they don't need the help of the mutated giant humans.
This furthers Erick's suspicion, why is there an ogryn down here? Worse yet, why he is specifically dragging this crate away?
Following the hulking mutant, Erick stops behind a rectangular crate, kneeling behind it, observing, as the ogryn stopped in front of a metal wall. At first, he didn't get why he stopped there. But with its giant hand, the mutant knocked on the wall as if it were a door, and soon after the wall moved aside revealing what appears to be a hidden shaft.
The dragging sound resumed as the ogryn went inside the hidden shaft, just as he passed the threshold the "wall" started moving closing behind him.
What he just stumbled upon? A hidden shaft here in the cargo bay? He must report this immediately to the commissar. Running as fast he can back to the vehicle storage area Erick breathless stops in front of the expecting officer with scrutinizing eyes.
"So guardsman what did you found?"
With his hands on his knees, taking a breather Erick salutes the officer before reporting what he saw back on the supply depot.
"Sir, in the supply depot and ogryn was dragging a metal crate towards a hidden shaft on the northern wall."
The commissar's eyes widened with the revelation done by the soldier, but still, some doubt lingered on his eyes as he gave his next order.
"You two cleaning the thunder hawk come with me."
Two soldiers behind him who were cleaning the windows of the craft turned and left all behind in a hurry to salute the officer. The commissar then turned towards Erick and with a low voice ordered:
"Lead the way guardsman."
Erick started guiding the group to where he had seen the hidden passage, once arriving in front of the aforementioned he started inspecting the wall touching it for any ways to open it. Behind him one of the soldiers said in an annoyed tone:
"Why are you moving your hands all over this wall? Are you high or something?"
The commissar shushed him before getting beside Erick and with a hand gesture the officer orders that he stopped touching the wall. The guardsman complied as he back off.
Putting his ear on it, the commissar closed his eyes focusing on the noise behind it. Moving his arm, and body along the wall following something, as he stopped some feet away from where Erick was, taking his leather gloves off the officer put his hands on this particular part of it.
"There is an air current here."
The officer mumbled, as one of the Soldiers beside Erick said annoyingly:
"And that means?"
As soon as he uttered those words, the officer turned with a furious face before replying as lowly as his anger allowed.
"It means that this is a shaft behind this wall, you imbecile!"
The idiotic man shut up after letting out a small "Oh". Turning away from the wall and addressing the group of soldiers the commissar explained:
"We won't be able to open this door, it can clearly only open from the inside, so I'll send a message to the captain commissar to send a scout team down here with low charge explosives so we can investigate what is happening."
Taking a deep breath before continuing, the officer said in an authoritative tone:
"While I don't get back here with reinforcements, you three hide yourselves and observe for any more strange developments. Am I clear?"
The saluting three-man said in unison:
"Sir, yes sir!"
Then the officer went away to fetch a guardsman group that could explode the entrance of the secret shaft. All three soldiers hide behind the metal crates, waiting for his return.
Silviya was impatiently leaned on the wall beside the immobile servitor. Softly banging her head impatiently. The sister is waiting for Emperor's knows how long just so she can enter the cargo bay. Whose idea was to bureaucratize the process of entering a door?
Her internal rant against the terrible bureaucracy of the Emperium is cut short as the door opens and one commissar steps out of it. Thinking fast Silviya runs as fast as she can, entering in a flash before the door could close. Managing to cross it by a millimeter, if she was one second too slow the door could literally rip her in half.
Once inside she looks around in awe with the sheer size of the cargo bay, at the same time noticing that there aren't too many people in this area. Most of them are guardsmen, probably on their working duties, so finding 661 in these conditions can be a pretty difficult task.
But first things first she needs to find a group of soldiers on cleaning duty since it is the type of work assigned to her leader. Once finding said group is just a matter of finding 661 amongst them. And How difficult that must be?
ONE HOUR LATER:
Okay, it is pretty difficult. The sister already found three different cleaning groups and none of them contained her aforementioned target. Silviya is starting to get very annoyed at her current situation, strongly considering to just give up and wait beside the door, but then just a few meters from where she is currently standing, the sister spots the guardsman who is always beside 661, cleaning a thunder hawk, alongside other soldiers.
Carefully approaching the group Silviya uses the hulking vehicles as cover to get closer to the group. Going behind a rhino, taking a deep breath, she peeks around the transport tank, scanning the group for 661.
Once having a clear view of the entire group, she does not spot 661, unfortunately, he is nowhere in sight. Her only option now is to get closer and try to eavesdrop on the group to try to have some clue of his whereabouts.
Hearing the faint conversation of the soldiers Silviya focuses as hard as she can on the sound, to try to gather some information regarding 661.
Some time passes as they are talking of random things before one of the men stated:
"It's taking a..."
"Yeah, they should've...return by now."
"But what...happened?"
Unfortunately, not everything that the guardsmen were saying is understandable from where she is hiding, so trying to get closer, the sororita lays down and crawls to a concrete barrier beside them where she can more clearly hear what they are talking about.
The friend of 661 says with a dismissive voice
"Don't worry, it's probably nothing. Erick must have found some problem in the supply depot."
A raspy and mature voice, probably belonging to an older guardsman spoke:
"I don't know it's taking too much time, Brian and Kars haven't returned either...Maybe we should go after them?"
A feminine bubbly voice spoke next:
"Are you out of your mind! If we leave our work station without express authorization from the commissar we most certainly will be sent to the brig!"
The young voice of the unknown friend of 661 stated:
"Alexia is right. They are fine, we must focus on our job, and whatever they are doing on the supply depot they are solving it. So just let's focus on our work before we get fucked."
Having the answer to her question Silviya starts to crawl back away from the group, and hopefully go to the supply depot to find the soldier. But the sister notices a faint sound o heavy steps from somewhere she was moments before, thinking fast she rolls to the right under a Thunderhawk.
As soon as the woman gets under the craft the sound enters the corridor where moments before she was, heavy footsteps approach, as she notices the grey armored boot of an Astartes armor "space Wolves" is what Silviya thought to herself.
The servitor must have warned the guard duty of her intrusion, and they sent a group of space marines to chase her out. How convenient for them to appear just now, that she knows where 661 is.
The heavy footsteps go slowly, each step doing a thundering sound on the metal ground. Stopping right in front of her, the chattering of the soldiers stopped as they took notice of the super-soldier.
The mechanized voice coming from the space marine addressed the guardsmen:
"Did any of you saw a white-haired woman, wearing black tank tops and black cargo pants going through here?"
One of the men comes forth with nervousness in his voice:
"No sir, we didn't! ...But if any of us spot her we will warn you, sir!"
The Astartes only hummed before turning away from the group, and before continuing with his patrol, stated loudly:
"Please do guardsmen."
The sound of heavy footsteps started once again, the metal grey boots going away along with its sound. Silviya only dared to crawl out from under the craft when she couldn't hear it anymore. The sister discreetly raised herself from the ground and slowly got away from the area, very carefully to not alert anyone of her presence.
Who thought that stalking a guardsman could be this difficult? Going back to the main area of the cargo bay, Silviya now looked around trying to find the supply depot. Then she notices to her right a place filled with metal crates and heavy lifting cranes.
"That must be it!" The sororitas thought to herself as she proceeds with her search for 661. Slithering in the shadows created by the crates, the sister went from box to box, slowly trying her best to not make a sound or to be exposed from possible patrols.
Stopping behind a big metal crate with the Aquilla symbol on it, Silviya peers through the left side of it, and what she sees causes instant relief. Not so far from where the sister is hiding, 661 is sitting on the ground with his back leaning on the crate behind him.
Now that she found him, two questions appear on her mind. First: Why is he here, as if waiting for something? And second: Why is he hiding behind these crates?
Whatever it is, Silviya must be careful, she doesn't know what she stumbled upon. But the best course of action is to wait for further developments. If unfortunately, 661 ends up in a sticky situation the sister will have to step in and risk blowing her cover-up.
To be honest, though she is starting to wish for that. Having to lie, and also fake her conditions isn't something that the sister likes. One of the most valuable virtues for sororitas although it doesn't seem like it is honesty. "Be truthful with your actions, just as Saint Dominica was when confronting the false prophet Vandire.", this was what her veterans used to quote when teaching the initiates about the confessionary practice.
But regrettably, that isn't always the case, sometimes a sister must sully their hands so her duty to the Emperor can be done. And that is her case right now, lying to 661 is necessary, at least for now. Maybe sometime in the future after they are far away from this mess she can spill the beans.
Silviya's reverie is cut short as she hears a noise coming from somewhere behind her and instantly climbs a big metal box beside her, in the process doing some noise as her leather boots hit the crate. "Hope no one heard that." the sororitas thinks to herself before laying down above the container.
A group of approaching guardsmen with lasguns and carrying a green canvas handbag being led by a young commissar, who guides them through the maze of boxes.
Keeping her position above the containers, Silviya laid down, trying to maintain her silhouette as discreet as possible as the group passed from her position. However, the commissar stopped right on her corridor, signaling for the soldiers to continue to where 661 probably is. The man looked around where she once stood, taking careful steps inside, sniffing the air as if a dog trying to smell the scent of its prey.
"Dammit!" Silviya thought to herself. A commissar is normally a very keen individual, so he probably heard her mishap. While the sister didn't attend the Schola Progenium differently than most of her kin. She knows very well what happens inside those walls, and this guy has probably gone through all of that and more to be what he is. Some sisters that were from outside of Cadia said that their training was almost as ruthless as the ones devised by the Cadian Superior Arch Convent*. And that is saying something.
The man kneeled on the ground, using his hand to scrape it. What the officer is trying to do is unknown to her but when he starts to look towards the crate she climbed, her heart freezes.
"How perceptive is this man!?" Silviya thinks to herself, taking her eyes off him so the commissar doesn't see her, peeking through the ledge of the box.
She hears his approaching footsteps, as the officer stops just below her, the sound of his hand passing through the metal container gives her chills.
For a moment the sister believed that her cover was going to be blown, but an unknown voice rang from below:
"Commissar the preparations are ready! We are just awaiting your orders."
The hand stopped moving as soon as the unknown newcomer spoke. The unsure yet slightly annoyed voice of the commissar answered the soldier:
"Okay...Let's finish this."
Soon after Silviya heard two sets of feet going away as both men went somewhere else. With Her heart still beating fast, the sister takes a deep breath to regain her focus, before proceeding with her task.
/ /
Cadian Superior Arch Convent* - This is the main convent on the planet Cadia, being one of the most organized and fortified in the entire galaxy. Different than most convents, this is the only official one with the authorization and capability of recruiting and forming their own sisters without the need of the Schola.
Due to the extremely high death rate on the planet, the Sororitas order decided to create such a localized organization to supply the sisters needed for defending humanity against the Eye of Terror.
The recruiting and training process is fairly similar to the ones in the Schola Progenium. The only difference is that from a young age the training is delivered directly by the Order of Our Martyr Lady.
Erick was with his laspistol drawn ready for any danger that may be behind this door. The five newcomers had installed high thermal breaching explosives on it and now were beside him, kneeled behind a metal crate, alongside his other two companions of the cleaning duty.
The two men were with las pistols in hand just like him, unfortunately, due to their previous work, they hadn't the need to bring their lasguns with them.
The commissar arrives stopping in the middle of them, before nodding towards the guardsman with the detonator in hand. The soldier raised his hand showing three fingers.
One of his fingers goes down...
Then the next...
Then as soon as his last finger went down he pulls the trigger on the detonator, sending a high thermal explosion sending fragments of the heavy door flying in all directions.
They duck to avoid any debris hitting one of them, as soon as the sound of parts falling on the ground they slowly raise their heads to peek at the now gaping hole on the wall of the cargo bay.
With a cloud of black dust due to the explosion, the group can't see what is awaiting them, so they wait for it to settle, guns were drawn pointing towards it.
Some seconds pass as the dust settles to reveal a dark long corridor with red lights on the walls. The guardsmen with lasguns turn on their flashlights to better brighten it.
It appears to be empty, the soldiers get out from their cover to approach the corridor. All pointing their guns at it, they keep going forward.
In V formation they move, the officer being the tip of the arrow while Erick stands at the end of the right side. The commissar is the first to enter, followed by the men with lasguns. Erick is the last one of the group, providing cover for the rear of the formation alongside another laspistol-bearing guardsman.
While they slowly advance in this dark corridor, Erick takes time to recon what they are getting into it. The place is obviously part of the ship and is not a crude dug-up hole. The Aquilla symbols spread in each wall, shows further confirms that, but three questions come forth from this revelation:
Why is there a hidden corridor on the cargo bay?
Second who knows about this corridor?
And three what they are using this for?
So many questions, but soon enough they will find the answers. Emperor always knows what happens in the dark, and reveals it. This won't be different.
The commissar raises his closed fist in a clear sign to halt. All the group complies, as he slowly kneels on the ground taking a look at something. The man clenches his hands around something before being brought up to his face, signaling for someone to shine a light on it.
A green shirt button. Someone must have to tear it out accidentally or something like that, the funny thing however is that it almost looks like the ones used on the uniforms of the imperial guard.
The commissar puts away in his pocket as he raises himself from the ground again and resumes their advance.
The corridor is quiet, only the sound of their boots on the metal ground can be heard as they quietly advance until reaching a dead end. The group halt once again as the officer goes forward towards the wall, every flashlight is now focused on it.
The man starts to do the same thing before on the previous door as if trying to find another...
"Flow of air."
The commissar whispers as he now enthusiastically searches for something, and on cue, he pulls a lever making the heavy hidden door move, revealing a corridor that looks more like an alley. The group follows the officer outside as he goes in the direction of another corridor at the end of this one.
This corridor that they now stand is the same one outside the cargo bay but the group is now in a portion very far from the entrance, only barely managing to see the silhouette of the servitor standing immobile beside it.
Looking side to side the officer turned towards the group giving a deep sigh before addressing them with a booming voice:
"Patrol duty 088 go report our findings to Captain commissar Luthevica and request further investigation. Her jurisdiction has been compromised."
The five-man squad saluted before hurriedly running in the opposite direction of the cargo bay corridor. The commissar then turned towards the remaining soldiers:
"You lot with me. We have a job to get back to."
The group started going back on the hidden corridor, to get back at their original duties. And leave the investigation to the higher-ups, their part on this is done, now they must let the professionals do their job.
Silviya observes from behind the crates as the group leaves the hole in the wall once again, whatever is happening this doesn't look good, but at least she found her target. 661 is in the middle of the group, all of them in stoic silence as they leave the supply depot.
Divided between investigating the hole that the soldiers just left or following 661, she opts for the latter as the sister starts to slither between the boxes to stalk the group but what she sees stops her dead on her tracks.
While the group of Guardsmen is leaving another group is entering the maze of boxes. "Oh by the Emperor...", just a few meters from her a group of three Space Wolves enters the space weapons drawn. The footsteps are heavy and thundering on the metal ground.
Going in her direction the three-man start to look in every nook and cranny of the crates, even opening them, their search is slow, but if she keeps still behind this crate she will be inevitably be found by them, the shadows will do nothing against their night vision eyes.
Having an idea, she looks around for anything that can be thrown that would make a noise considerable enough to shift their attention away from her. Managing to find a stray nail, Silviya takes the sharp metal object in her hands before preparing herself for the almighty throw.
The Sororita prays before throwing the object with all her strength towards her right side, the object managing to do a huge *Clang* sound. It probably hit one of the more empty metal crates and consequentially done a booming sound.
That was enough for the group of Astartes to shift their attention towards the middle of the Supply Depot, the three-man squad started to furiously run towards it.
That's her leave, Silviya takes this opportunity to slowly back away, after taking some distance she starts to run at full speed towards where the Guardsmen group went.
Finding the cleaning group to be on the exact same spot from where she last saw them, Silviya doesn't waste time getting under the thunder hawk once again, this time to be sure that she won't be at risk of being spotted by someone.
And there the sister laid trying to observe and hear everything, that the group was doing.
After they got back to cleaning, time passed quickly as Erick scrubbed the mud out of one very dirty rhino. Probably used in the last battle for Cadia, is kind of sad taking the dirt off the vehicle.
This mud was from Cadia's ground, the very ground that he and many others fought for, now reduced to filth in an armored vehicle. How many had died over the years defending their planet?
Erick doesn't know, but he remembers very well the friends that got killed while defending it, Emeritus and Sigilus being the most recent losses from him.
A solitaire tear travels down his cheek as he remembers his friends, not only the mechanicus and the strong Guardsman but all the others that died in the name of the Emperor.
He shakes his head quickly side to side as to snap from his daze. "This line of thought is dangerous, I must focus on my duty..." Erick thought somberly but managing to reign his thoughts once again.
The sound of a loud whistle can be heard, as the commissar loudly announced:
"Lunchtime! All of you get your shit and go to the cafeteria."
And just like that Erick put away his cleaning tools to enter the now forming line of soldiers waiting for the commissar to guide them to the cafeteria.
As she hears the loud whistle, the commissar screams for the Guardsmen to go to the cafeteria. Silviya sees the group of soldiers departing the area to go for their lunchtime.
She waits as the footsteps of the group of soldiers get more and more distant, as soon as the coast is clear the Sororitas crawl out from under the Thunderhawk. Patting her dirty clothes Silviya looks around just to confirm that no one actually spotted her.
The vehicle depot appears to be devoid of life, so all the soldiers must have left to lunch. The sister tries to devise a plan to leave the cargo bay since the entrance is being monitored and watched by the Servitors. Maybe the hole in the wall that was found by 661? No, is too risky to go to a place where she doesn't know what lies in it.
Her train of thought is cut short as a loud and slightly distorted "Ahem" comes from behind her. Turning quickly towards the sound of what the Sister sees immediately makes her widen her eyes in shock.
"How?"
Silviya spluttered too shocked with the Space Wolf, getting out of his hiding place behind the huge rhino some meters in front of her. The heavy steps come in her direction as the Marine gets closer, Boltgun in hands.
"I've seen you following the guardsmen group when they left the supply depot."
The Sororita started to slowly back away from the hulking soldier.
"No, I mean how did you move so quietly? You are an eight feet monstrosity of muscle and metal how didn't I hear you?"
Silviya stops as her back hits something cold, turning her head towards whatever she hit, and to further her shock and annoyance another Space wolf is looking down at her. Turning her gaze back to the other Marine that is now right in front of her, he lets a booming laugh before answering in a teasing manner:
"Maybe you aren't as perceptive as you think...Sister."
The hulking man behind her shoves Silviya lightly making her stumble away in the direction of the approaching Astartes.
"Now you come with us, you entered this area without permission. And according to the guidelines: "Any personnel entering restricted areas without proper permission will be sent to their respective superiors, so the proper punishment can be delivered, failure to do so can end in one termination"."
She could see the murderous intent behind the red lenses of the Space wolf helmet. He is daring her to resist, to do something against him, so he can have the perfect excuse to end her life. However, he is going to be disappointed since her discipline is far greater than one of these "mutants'. The distorted voice continued:
"And you just broke that, so let me ask you who your superior is?"
Silviya looks around a little trying to find some kind of exit, but she finds none, so the sister decides to play along:
"Lady canoness Hannira of the Hospitallers."
The Space Marine in front of her hums before turning his back to her and moving away. Silviya stays still, but not for long as the Astartes behind her shoves her once again in a clear sign for the woman to move.
Grinding her teeth in pure seething rage Silviya complies and lets it be escorted out of the cargo bay.
The two Astartes escorted her all the way from the cargo bay to the hospitallers installation. Being in the middle of the two Silviya stoically walks at the same pace as them, they push the front door of the infirmary.
As soon as the trio entered the reception every Hospitaller turns their gazes towards them. When their eyes settle on both men on each side of Silviya, their gazes turn from shock to disgust.
She can hear a low growl coming from the Astartes on her right, however, the other one in her right lowly shush his companion. They proceed to the counter, stopping right in front of the receptionist, the man on her right stated with a booming distorted voice:
"This sister was caught meddling on the cargo bay without permission. We come here to deliver her to canoness Hannira, for proper punishment."
The woman behind the counter stares angrily at him, and reluctantly picking up a vox caster:
"Lady Hannira, a group of Astartes has come to deliver one sister who was caught in a restricted area without permission. May allow entrance?"
A vox box on the counter comes to life with the familiar voice of the canoness:
"Yes, they may enter."
The Hospitaller puts away the vox caster as she signals with her head to the corridor on the right.
"At the end of the corridor is a big flight of stairs. Just climb it and you will be there."
The Astartes on her right nodded before walking in the direction of the stairs. Not having many options left Silviya just keeps following the man as he climbs the long flight of stairs to the canoness office, the other Marine just behind her.
Arriving in front of the big wooden door the Space Wolf knocks on it loudly, the noise raging through all the stairs area. Soon the sound of boots on the metal ground starts in their direction, the door opening and on it, Hannira appears in her casual sister attire.
The canoness looks at the Astartes first in clear annoyance before her eyes settled on her.
"What is the meaning of this Silviya?"
Before she could respond to her superior inquiries one of the hulking Marines started:
"She was found on the cargo bay area without the proper permission, trespassing Captain Commissar Luthevica jurisdiction."
Hannira looked at her with clear disappointment on her expression, and Silviya can already guess why. Adepta Sororitas codex chapter 5 verse 22: "We mustn't work on the dark unless our duty to The Emperor calls for it. However such acts should stay in the dark where they belong since if it comes to the light, even at His service, you are sullying His holy mission with your incompetence on maintaining what is from the dark in the dark and repentance is due."
"Silviya come inside."
She proceeds to do what she was told, but one of the mutants stops her with his hands.
"I would like to ask why this sister is stalking a guardsman?"
The frown in Hannira's face came with a vengeance, her expression of seething anger, as the Hospitaller takes deep and controlled breaths before simply saying:
"None of your concern Marine, now I take it from here."
Silviya shrugs off the hand of the Astartes before proceeding to enter Hannira's office, the canoness was going to close the door in the face of the two Space Wolves, however, one of them put their armored hands in the way, stopping her from doing such.
Then with a low warning tone, the mutant promised:
"I don't know what you overzealous fanatics are plotting, but be warned..."
Getting millimeters from the Hospitaller, the Astartes concluded:
"If I find her doing something "strange" again, I won't be so merciful."
He took his arm off the door and started descending the flight of stairs alongside his companion. Both sisters stood still sill looking at the Space Marines descending the stairs. Hannira is the first to snap out of her daze and close the door, leaving her and Silviya completely alone.
Without turning to look at her, the Canoness took a deep breath.
"What is the meaning of this Silviya?"
Silviya's mouth got dry, the tension on the canoness posture evident. She instantly went to the ground on the proper penance position, forehead on the ground.
"Lady Hannira..."
She is cut short by the Hospitaller who now turns to look at her angrily:
"You were supposed to stalk the guardsman, without being spotted. Now the "dogs" are suspicious of us!"
Well shit here it goes, she will probably be punished very roughly by her failure. Silviya doesn't blame anybody, only herself, if she were more aware of her surroundings she wouldn't be here now.
So whatever it happens know the sister will gladly embrace it.
"You have to be more careful! Now they will probably have an interest in the soldier too, and that could prove detrimental to our cause."
Hannira started marching in the direction of her desk, sitting very roughly on her chair, making a loud noise as the chair wheels scratched the metal ground.
With her fingers on the bridge of her nose, in a clear sign of annoyance, the Canoneness states:
"Continue with your duty. Keep a close watch on him, however, abstain from doing so on the next cargo bay working day. If the "dogs" get wind that you are stalking him again, it could further complicate your mission."
She turned her head to look at Silviya, her expression serious and determined.
"Fake your wound for five cycles more, at the end of it, start walking normally again and say that your faith healed you, they'll believe."
Hannira stood up as she signals for Silviya to stand up alongside her.
"I'll request commissar Kraven that you do work duty alongside him, this way they will stop bothering us. It will be the perfect excuse, you won't need to stalk the guardsman anymore."
Circling the desk and stopping right in front of her, the Hospitaller assumed a formal posture as her stance became more relaxed now.
"Now to business start with your report."
Getting her bearings once again, Silviya put her hand behinds her back, assuming a formal position. Looking stoically at the high-ranking Sororitas in front of her.
"He woke up normally, went to work at the cargo bay. I got stuck outside his working area since the servitor wouldn't let me in..."
"After which, I proceed to wait for one hour, before someone passed the door. Then I took the opportunity to enter as the other person left the area."
Hannira stood, attentively listening to the narrative being told by the sister, including the part of the hidden passage on the cargo bay. Apparently, this so-called passage was found by 661, which further surprised the Hospitaller.
After ending her report The canoness stood in silence contemplating the information divulged by the other Sororita.
"That is all?"
"Yes, lady Hannira."
She hummed as once again the veteran Sister circled around her desk, before plopping herself on the chair, deep in thought.
"You are dismissed. Keep your eyes open and keep me updated."
Silviya bowed in classic Sororita's fashion, signaling her understatement and respect for the canoness.
"Yes, Lady Hannira!"
Seeing herself out Silviya leaves the office behind with a very thoughtful Hannira inside.
Opening interview log...
Interrogatory #1 SECOND CUT
Subject: Silviya, Imperial Number: 83284123124534566756873233-EVA-727;
Interrogator: Inquisitor Albus Eburnus, Imperial Number: 2321244453567775680098890-UAI-671;
Year: 1001.M41;
Terran Month: November;
Terran Day: 11;
System: [REDACTED];
Sub-Sector: [REDACTED];
Location: Interrogation chamber 8.
"Okay, so this was the first sign of it, a hidden passage on the cargo bay of the battleship?"
"Yes."
"Look these passages are very common for high-value areas in a battleship, normally they are used for an emergency evacuation and cargo handling of high-value assets. What would characterize this as a first signal of rebellion?"
[A sigh can be heard coming out of Silviya's mouth]
"Apparently it was Erick that discovered, after seeing an ogryn using it for moving some suspicious crates."
"And why would that be strange in any way?"
"The cargo bay of the Duty Eternal didn't make use of Ogryns for their work, it was mostly done by heavy lifting cranes installed on the roof of it. Also, no Ogryns were registered to go through the door which indicates that they knew of the passage and used to get inside the cargo area, without proper clearance."
[Scribbling sounds can be heard]
"Question: How do you know any of that?"
"I got briefed of the investigations happening around the two cycles after it occurred."
"Who briefed you?"
"Hannira herself did."
[Scribbling continuous as Albus turns the page]
"What transpired between this briefing and the fifth cycle before it happened?"
"The two cycles between them were irrelevant, nothing out of the ordinary happened."
"There is no such thing as irrelevant in my job Sister. What happened in these two cycles?"
"Erick continued with his cleaning duty, I kept observing him. He lunched with his fellow guardsmen, then returned to work. The other cycle was the same, the only difference being that he lunched with the Wolfes in this one."
"There it is. The anomaly, why did he lunched with the Space Marine on the second cycle?"
"I believe they were bonding. Apparently, the Space Wolf known as Gottrim had taken a liking for him."
"That's it?"
[An annoyed sigh can be heard]
"Yes, it is. At least that I know of."
"Alright, we going to come back to that. But did anything more happened?"
"No, like I said it was uneventful."
"Okay, so what happened on the cycle that you got briefed?"
"It started, as usual, I woke before Erick, then waited for him to leave, so I could follow him."
[Silence as the Inquisitor waits for Silviya to continue]
"The day went normal, nothing strange happened, so one hour before the end of his shift I went back to the canoness to deliver my report of the cycle..."
Another cycle is over, two cycles more and she will be freed from this farse. Silviya cant see the hour where she will be freed from such a deceitful task.
The guardsman had been very diligent with his duties, always being one of the first to present himself for work. In a sense, she is proud of her leader, while 661 isn't a pinnacle of morality, he is a very hard-working guy.
Little by little he is changing her views on the imperial guard. While the Sororitas organization didn't hate the common soldiery, they were very judgmental of them.
The Sisters usually saw the organization as very valuable and reliable in completing what is required of them, however individually speaking the guardsmen were seen as mere cannon fodder by the Daughters of the Emperor.
They wouldn't hesitate in giving up their lives for the soldiers if they needed to, but they weren't keen on interacting with them nor actually befriended them.
Some of her Sisters from the Order of Our Martyr Lady had strong opinions of the Guard. They usually talked about how uncompromised and roguish the Guardsmen were, more preoccupied with earthly pleasures and survival them with the task at hand.
"Lazy pigs" some of them would playfully say. But Silviya never had a formed opinion about them, she usually saw them similar to how her former Canoness described: "Valuable yet dispensable, just like us. The only difference between the two being in purpose."
Yet seeing him work with such dedication and focus makes her wonder how much of what her sister said was wrong. Cause they definitely were very different from what her sisters usually described, 661 time and time again has proven his worth, while not perfect, he is a dedicated soldier, very different from a "lazy pig".
These last cycles inside the ship had been proving to be very eye-opening to her. Who could have thought that she would be in the same squad as an average soldier? Not only that but being one of his subordinates, and that said soldier saved her life.
Well, the Emperor does work in mysterious ways, however, is time to go back to Hannira's office, is time to give her a report before the guardsman arrives at the living quarters.
Arriving in the infirmary she presents herself at the front desk to announce her presence to the Canoness and wait for her permission to be able to climb to the office.
Receiving the positive nod from the receptionist behind the counter Silviya starts climbing the flight of stairs to it. Arriving there she knocks on the door, hearing Hannira answer her knock with a loud "Come in".
Entering the all-familiar room, Silviya bows down in respect, as the veteran Sister signals for her to step forth and start with her report.
Silviya starts retelling the work done by the Guardsman, Hannira listens attentively, at the end of the retelling of events, the Older Sororita stood up.
"Perfect, however, did you see something strange sister?"
Silviya simply shook her head side to side.
"No Lady Hannira, It was all perfectly calm."
The Canoness clicked her tongue.
"Perfect. Sister, I have grave news to share with you, and this will change your mission."
What change her mission? What does she mean by that?
"Is about the incident two cycles ago. They called me alongside the other leaders present on the Duty Eternal. And what I'll tell you must stay a secret at all costs."
"We have a conspiracy inside this ship. The secret passages discovered on the cargo bay are usually used for cargo handling of high-value assets and emergency evacuation in case of fire or depressurization. Only the responsible for the said area alongside key people know about these corridors."
Hannira took a glass of water that was just above her table and guided the cup to her mouth, gulping down the clear liquid in it.
"The Ogryn spotted by 661 shouldn't be there. The ship has heavy-lift cranes to do most of the cargo lifting, so the bloated mutants aren't used as much in this endeavor. Not only that but not one single Ogryn was registered to enter the Cargo Bay at that cycle."
Well, it appears that 661 managed to find something big. Silviya can't lie she is surprised, never once she imagined that a Guardsman would headstart an investigation on a possible conspiracy inside the Battleship.
"The Inquisitor despatched to investigate the situation found something disturbed amongst the walls."
Hannira settled the now empty glass on the desk, proceeding to pick up a yellow paged book. With it in hands, the Canoness steps forth turning the book so Silviya could read the words written on it.
On the page is a symbol that appears to be a scythe, but she recognizes it. While it isn't a popular symbol to be used by the said group is a very prominent one in cultists' hideouts.
"A Prince of Pleasure summon rune?"
"Yes, and it is on that same corridor. Whoever draws them is plotting on summoning Daemons on this Ship."
Hannira turned the book towards her once again flipping some pages mindlessly as she circled the desk and once again sit on her wooden chair with wheels.
"The higher-ups sent more Inquisitors to investigate around the ship. They didn't finish their investigations but it is clear that someone in here is plotting something. We erased the mark in the hidden corridor, so for now that area is clear. But now that you know this, comes your next duty..."
The older Sororita closed the book as she kept her eyes locked with Silviya's.
"You will remain to stalk 661 but you won't do it disarmed. You will take this Power Sword with you."
Taking what appears to be a Gladius from under her desk Hannira settled the weapon above it. Is a short power sword for sure, but Silviya is not one to doubt the lethality and capabilities of such a weapon. Normally it would be a canoness that would use such a fine blade, but some sisters managed to get one once in a while.
Stepping forth she takes the sword in her hands, and it is heavier than it appears to be, the pommel of the weapons is a silvery color with golden details, where the blade is almost the size of her entire arm is made of adamantium a very resistant and sharp blade.
Admiring it Silviya takes her time looking at the fine piece of cutlery in front of her. Hearing a little giggle coming from the Canoness, the sister turns to look at Hannira.
"I know I had the same reaction when I got my first one."
Wait...
"You got more than one!?"
That made the Hospitaller laughing loudly.
"Of course! While I'm not so present on the battlefields I've already had my share of battles. Many things get lost or broken on it, swords being one of them."
Wow...normally average Sisters rarely got new equipment, only having theirs repaired. Once you got your armor and weapons, that's it. You will be stuck with them until is unrepairable. And to request for a new one would be such a hassle, that many times sisters would say fuck it and use what they had left.
"Now get the blade and use it wisely. Do not rise suspicions with it. I'm giving you this honor so you can protect the soldier, so use only for that. Okay?"
Silviya nods while strapping the sword on her standard belt.
"Your new mission is to protect the soldier, if it needed be, break your cover and protect him. You are dismissed, Sister."
The Sister of Battle bows down respectfully.
"Ave Domine Imperatus Lady Hannira of the Hospitallers."
"Ave Domine Imperatus Sister Silviya of the Order of Our Martyr Lady."
Turning around Silviya walks out of the office, going out of the infirmary in the direction of the living quarters. She will probably hide the blade somewhere 661 cant see and then take a hot bath.
Interrogation chamber 7:
"So Erick what happened on the third cycle before the rebellion?"
[Tired breathing can be heard coming from Erick]
"Not much. Spent my day cleaning dishes in the kitchen."
"After work, what did you do?"
"I took a bath in the washrooms, and then I went to sleep."
"Nothing else?"
"I believe not."
"Okay...so in the next cycle what did you do?"
"Cleaning duty in the Administrative Hub."
[Scribling can be heard]
"At this particular time...much time was left for the rebellion to break out?"
[Silence as Erick thinks about the answer]
"Two cycles I believe."
"In this particular cycle that you were working on the administrative hub, did you see something strange?"
[Dread is clear in Erick's voice]
"Not during work."
"So where did you saw it? And what did you saw?"
Erick was returning from one more exhausting day of cleaning duty. The only thing he wishes for now is a hot and relaxing bath in the washrooms.
While he is very tired from all the manual labor he doesn't complain or find it to be bad, Erick actually likes when their work is more mundane than exploding cultist's heads with the lasgun.
When they are designated to do such tasks it means that they are at peace, at least for the time being, and that is the case right here. The Soldier appreciates these moments where he can do normal work, and just relax as he focuses on scrubbing the filth from something, which is a very refreshing experience.
Having warm baths at end of such endeavors only makes it better, being able to scrub the filth out of his body, and go to a warm bed to take eight hours of good rest. In the trenches such things do not exist, you don't take warm baths nor eight hours of good rest, the only thing you have is your gun to give you comfort and the mud ground to cover yourself from exploding shells and heretical lasgun fire.
You would be lucky if you managed to sleep two hours in these conditions.
Arriving in Deck 45 where Gamma Squad's living quarters are located, Erick spots something out of place that got his attention.
"Andre Sotos squad?"
The group of seven were leaned on a wall talking, they exchanged booming laughs while looking at the door of his living quarter. The group didn't saw him so he is an advantage here. stepping back to the corridor Erick tries to hear anything that the group might say. But unfortunately, he is too distant to hear what they are talking about, peeking around the wall he is hiding behind Erick sees something that worries him.
Silviya is coming from the washrooms, limping without her crutch. Her platinum hair is wet, probably just finished taking a bath. Looking at the group of Guardsmen they leave their position on the wall to approach the Sister.
They make a circle around her, noticing the possible danger, Erick runs from behind his cover towards the group.
"Hey, Back off!"
Erick screams as he approaches the group, the seven-man squad now turns towards him. The man in the middle steps forth, the guy is lean, he is using the green cadian helmet, so he can only see his eyes and devilish smirk directed towards him.
"Back off sucker. We just want to have a little chat with your sister-friend here."
They are between him and her, whatever these guys are planning it mustn't be something good.
"You back off! Fox squad is under the 35th regiment. Your living quarters are on Deck 44, so go back to it!"
The man walked one more step, and surprising Erick, he pushes him. Not expecting any type of conflict the soldier falls on his ass, the man above him laughing.
But what this scumbag doesn't know is that Erick knows how to defend himself, looking at the other man's leg, the leader of Gamma Squad delivers a sweeping kick on his legs making the guy fall on his butt too.
There is a moment of silence before the man on the ground lunges at Erick. The two rolls on the ground, both fightings to be on top, the other seven just stares not sure what to do. The scumbag manages to climb atop of him, he readies his fist to deliver a mighty punch on Erick's face, but what happens next shocks everyone.
Seeing the fist coming to his face Erick closes his eyes expecting the blow, however, he only feels the dislocating air of the said blow hitting his nose. The Guardsman slowly opens his eyes to see the fist millimeters from his face, seeing a hand holding the attacker's arms.
Looking at who defended him, Erick is further surprised to see Silviya holding the man's arm, not only that but soon after without even blinking she bends his arms backward, the crack of bones is heard as the scumbag arm is broken.
The man howls in pain as Silviya calmly releases her hold on him. The soldier falls with a dry thud on the ground rolling in agonizing pain. Erick immediately stood up beside the Sister, taking his lasgun out of his holster.
The other six immediately made a circle around them, some of them taking shivs and knives from outside their pockets, however, the tallest of the group takes out a laspistol pointing towards Silviya.
In return, Erick points his gun towards the man.
"Back off, or I'll ruin her pretty face."
The sound of the safety being turn off from Erick's laspistol can be heard.
"You back off, or I'll ruin your pretty face."
Silviya is coming back from her sweet hot shower, while she won't admit it loudly she enjoys this pretty much. Her hair is still wet, going back to her living quarters the sister is in deep thought.
Yesterday the information divulged by Hannira has been worrying, to say the least. There are heretics on this ship and they are probably from the Astra Militarum ranks, which means that 661 is in danger.
Any Guardsmen present on this deck can be the enemy. The council of the ship decided to not divulge any information around the investigations being conducted in hopes of not making it obvious that they know that there are heretics amongst them.
She must be certain that no danger comes close to 661, otherwise, Silviya would have failed her duty a second time. The Sororita was so lost in thought that she didn't notice the group of Guardsmen ogling her.
When in front of the door Silviya hears one of the men screaming:
"Hey doll face."
Whomever just said that is dead, and she sincerely doesn't care if she will need to do two-hundred push-ups for breaking this guy's face. Turning around angrily Silviya is surprised to see a group of seven Guardsmen walking in her direction. As if a cheetah ambushing a mouse the group closes around her. Predatory eyes on their faces, probably imagining the most perverted things imaginable, and this utterly disgusts Silviya.
The man in the middle of the group steps forth, smirk in his face and all.
"Well, well if it isn't the bitch who screwed with our boss?"
Silviya couldn't help but roll her eyes at the group, these bunch of amateurs really think that they can threaten her? She just needs to wait for one of them to do something so she can teach them a lesson in the Sororitas style.
However the voice she hears next freezes her.
"Hey, Back off!"
Oh no, it can't be him, right? For Emperor's sake, she must have heard it wrong. Seeing past the man circling her is the indistinguishable chestnut hair man running at full speed towards them.
Great, she could easily beat these guys to a bloody pulp, with her now fully healed leg Silviya is practically unstoppable against a bunch of normal soldiers. But with 661 here the sister must hold herself in order of maintaining the ruse of her injury.
661 screams as he approaches the group, the seven-man squad now turns towards her leader. The man in the middle steps forth.
"Back off sucker. We just want to have a little chat with your sister-friend here."
They are between him and her, their backs turned towards Silviya. Are these guys stupid? Do they not know who she is, and what she can do? They are now leaving their entire backs open for an attack, not for a normal person but to a Sister of Battle one of the most ruthless combatants of the Imperium.
"You back off! Fox squad is under the 35th regiment. Your living quarters are on Deck 44, so go back to it!"
The man walked one more step, and taking 661 by surprise, pushes him. Her leader falls on his backside, as the soon-to-be-dead man above him laughs.
Before Silviya could punch the attacker's face in, the leader of the Gamma Squad delivers a sweeping kick on his legs making the man fall. 661 kick could be worked upon but was a surprising yet quick attack.
There is a moment of silence before the man on the ground lunges at 661. The two rolls on the ground, both fightings to be on top, the other seven just stares not sure what to do. The aggressor manages to win climbing atop of her leader, he readies his fist to deliver a mighty punch on 661's face, but Silviya reacts quicker.
Without even blinking the Sister quickly runs towards both men and then grabs the Guardsman's forearm, stopping the fist millimeters from 661's face.
With a blank expression without even looking at the soldier who is attacking her leader, Silviya ironically remembers an old Sororitas saying: "If a branch from a tree is ill, tear it with all your might before it corrupts the rest of the tree. Such is the job of the gardener in maintaining his garden pure." just before bending the man's arm in such a way that his elbow is in the opposite angle it should be.
With a sickening crack of bones, the man howls in pain as Silviya calmly releases her hold on him. The soldier falls with a dry thud on the ground rolling in agonizing pain. 661 immediately stood up beside her, taking his lasgun out of his holster.
The other six immediately made a circle around them, some of them taking shivs and knives from outside their pockets, however, the tallest of the group takes out a laspistol pointing towards her.
In return, Erick points his gun towards the man.
"Back off, or I'll ruin her pretty face."
The sound of the safety being turn off from Erick's laspistol can be heard.
"You back off, or I'll ruin your pretty face."
The man pointing the gun at her is a fool for believing that he will get out of this unscathed. No imperial can point a gun to a daughter of the Emperor and not feel the sweet correction of the blade. The soldier is close to her in two movements she can steal the gun from his hands and used it to kill all of his friends, it should be easy.
While Silviya doesn't doubt 661 skill, is better that he stay where he is and let her do what must be done. Before she could actually act the voice of Sarah rang in the air as the sound of a charging lasgun.
"Hands in the air you bastards or I'll blow your heads off before any of you can say "ah"."
Some meters from them near the barred gates there she was the annoying redhead holding her signature lasgun sniper pointing it at the Guardsman with the pistol.
The six men circling them turn shocked to see Sarah, instantly backing off from them, hands high in the air. Fear clear in their faces...wait why are they afraid of her but no Silviya?
She is a fricking Sister of Battle, one of the most impetuous and fierce fighters of the imperium, why they would be so scared of common Guardsmen and not her?
The group of men grabbed the shoulders of their still screaming friend, dragging him away as they leave the are fear in their eyes. And as quick as the conflict has started it ended with the coming with the Guardswoman, she followed the group the entire aiming her sniper at them and kept doing so as they passed the bar gate and disappeared on the corridor, probably retreating back to their quarters.
661 sighs as he puts away his gun back on his holster.
"Thank the Emperor you came! You saved our asses."
Sarah quickly used the bandoleer to put her gun away. Rushing towards them the Guardswoman quickly embraced 661.
"You're fine! Thank the Emperor you're fine."
She started to fumble around with her hands, searching for injuries on 661's body.
...Okay, this enough is time to get her back to reality.
Silviya crosses her arms while letting out an "Ahem" that instantly gets the Guardswoman's attention. She quickly untangles herself from the other soldier and with a small tinge of red on her cheeks stands beside him with an apologetic smile.
"Now that the danger is gone we must report this to your superiors."
Silviya stated matter of factly, the rush of adrenaline slowly leaving her body. Limping back to their shared quarters, the sister grabs her crutch and goes back to the other two soldiers waiting for her next to the door.
Having to fake a little discomfort while walking, at least now the Sororita can be more honest with her situation since her leg is supposed to be fully healed in two cycles, so she started to fake her fast recovery, to be more convincing when she drops this charade.
Now as a trio they go together to the administrative hub to have a meeting with Commissar Kraven to report the incident.
Walking side by side, they move into the administrative hub in complete silence. The tense moments that some minutes ago transpired are still in their minds.
Erick is in deep thought trying to rationalize the situation, trying to understand what may be happening. He isn't a man to believe in coincidence, and this is the second time that they have a problem and these two instances have something in common: Andre Soto.
The leader of the Fox squad is an infamous man as everyone from the 30th to the 50th battalion knew. Accused of many misdeeds at the same time of having incredible feats on the battlefield, which guarantees that he didn't face the ultimate consequence for some of his transgressions.
In the Imperial Guard, your worth is based on your feats, many times even more than your rank. People that stood up for incredible actions of bravery and strength were more often than not treated differently than the majority, independent of rank.
He is an example of that, for his impeccable military record and his many contributions inside Gamma Squad he was awarded the title of squad leader even still having the rank of Corporal, and some of his fallen companions being higher ranking individuals than himself.
The soldiers who stood out normally were held in a different regard than the average Guardsmen, which in theory is good since efficient and well-trained soldiers are rarer compared to the average guy. But in practice created situations such as with Soto, that knew which kind of transgression could get him killed, and others that wouldn't.
If the transgression was something that the Commissar could freely decide, Andre wouldn't fear doing so, since it's improbable that the officer would execute him, since if the officer did actually pop one cap on his head, his superiors could literally do the same with him. But the ones that leave no room for discussion, and the only viable punishment is penal execution, Soto refrained from doing so, knowing full well what would happen.
The bastard was smart Erick would give him that. They arrive at the reception of the tall building, where the floating Servo skull is:
"Name, unity ID, and reason for being here."
Each one of them answered the floating cranium, as it registered each answer with a beep. After ending their presentation the Skull simply gives them a paper authorizing their entrance.
They proceed to climb the stairs to the third floor. Once again, the group sees two small metal panels with an arrow to the right and the left.
Turning to the left Erick and Sarah guide Silviya through the maze of corridors and rooms, before arriving in front of office 33. There is a small line, stopping at the end of it the squad waits for their turn.
Thirty minutes pass before it's finally they turn, entering the room they are greeted by the familiar presence of a very tired Kraven.
"Erick boy?"
The man exclaims, straightening himself out, the fatigue on his face receding a little to give space to a serious one.
"What are you all..."
He pauses after seeing Silviya with them, a small expression of disdain comes to his face, but refraining from commenting something, turns his attention to the Guardsman.
"...Doing here?"
Erick and Sarah salute the officer while Silviya gives a small respectful bow. The Squad leader steps forth to start retelling the events that happened with them just moments ago
"Sir! We've come to inform you that Fox squad were present in deck 45 where our living quarters are situated, and they tried to attack Silviya, and if it weren't for our arrival they could have attacked or injured her."
The Captain Commissar leaned forward on his chair, patiently waiting for more information.
"However is not the first time we had a problem with them, their leader is Andre Soto the man who harassed Silviya in the cafeteria."
"The scumbag I sent to the brig?"
Erick nods with his head, while Silviya steps forth, and with the best passive voice reports:
"We are led to believe that Fox squad is plotting something against Gamma Squad."
Kraven turned his head towards the sister, a pensive expression adorning his mature face.
"Actually it appears that they are plotting something specifically against you Sister."
Raising himself from his chair The Captain Commissar started circling around his desk.
"In the two instances, their target was you. The first time it happened Andre harassed Silviya and not any other member of Gamma Squad."
He stops in front of the trio, a somber expression on his face.
"The second time they try to ambush her in front of your quarters, and if it weren't for Erick and Sarah, maybe you wouldn't be here."
At that, the Sister rolls her eyes, in reaction to the Commissar's last statement. And he continues appearing to not acknowledge her disrespectful behavior.
"I'm gonna request your quarter's transference to deck 35. There it will be easier to protect..."
Slight annoyed Kraven raises his finger pointing at the Sister.
"...Her from danger."
Lowering his hand again the older man takes a cigar out of his maroon trenchcoat pocket. Taking a lighter from his desk behind him as he lights it, letting a huge puff of smoke leave his lips.
"It will take around two cycles to formalize the switch, but it will be done. In the meantime, I'll speak with Captain Commissar Arcus to leave a squad to guard deck 45 for any possible dangers."
Turning around the Officer starts to look for something above his messy desk filled with papers and parchments. Once he finds what he was looking for he takes an ink pen, writes something on it. Taking a seal of the commissariat and applying the red wax sigil on it.
Turning around once more with the paper in his hands he places the document on Erick's palm.
"This is a supply requisition for the arsenal. Take it there and give her..."
He pauses before looking with certain distrust towards the sister.
"...a gun."
The officer then dismisses them, letting them go away to continue with their day. They quietly leave his room going back all the way to the stairs, in silence they start to go back to the reception, however, the silence is cut short as Silviya imitates what the Commissar had said before:
"...and if it weren't for Erick and Sarah, maybe you wouldn't be here."
Both Guardsmen turn shockingly towards the sister, did she just made a very annoyed mockery of the Commissar?
The sister notices their staring and with anger in her eyes exclaims:
"What are you two looking at?"
Erick scaredly turns his face forward, in fear of furthering the Sister's wrath.
This commissar is infuriating, how can someone so disrespectful and demeaning be a Captain Commissar of the Holy Imperium?
She has known penitents with more decor than this officer. However, her thoughts are cut short as she sees both guardsmen looking at her as if she had grown a second head.
"What are you two looking at?"
661 instantly turns his head forward, resuming in quick pace climbing down the stairs, however before Silviya could follow the Guardsman, she hears a small and discreet "Ahem" coming from the Guardswoman. Turning to look at Sarah the sister instantly notices the annoyed expression of her squadmate. It takes a moment for her to get why Sarah was looking at her like that.
"She wants me to be more considerate of his emotional wellbeing..." Silviya thought while remembering their talk. The annoying redhead does have a point, if she wishes to efficiently protect the Soldier she must have his trust, otherwise, he will just avoid her and her help.
Silviya quickly limps after 661 before in an awkward yet apologetic tone says:
"Sorry. That was out of line, I was just angry at the complete disrespect that the Commissar has towards me. I can't even believe how the Schola Progenium could have produced such a disrespectful officer."
661 turns to her with a small reassuring smile.
"It's okay, I understand..."
Silviya continues limping trying to keep with his pace while faking her injury. They arrive at the reception, the trio now proceeding towards the exit. Once outside in the Administrative Hub, 661 starts to go in another direction, opposite of the exit, boggled by this the Sister just follows his lead.
Walking for some time, they arrive at a small booth, with a small line in front of it. There is a huge neon sign above it written Armory 119, for one more time they enter in a line, waiting for their turn, this time it takes a little longer than waiting for the Commissar.
Once their turn 661 approaches the booth.
"I'm here to get a gun."
A bearded bald man with bored eyes answered with disinterest:
"Everyone that comes here is. First, where is the supply requisition? Not gonna give you shit without showing them."
661 takes the paper out of his pocket and gives it to the man. Taking a look at it, he climbs down from his metal stool going to somewhere else inside the station. Silviya can hear as the man inside fumbles with something.
Soon the man is back at the counter with a laspistol and some battery packs.
"Sign here, and here."
He points at some lines in the document before taking it from 661 hands and shooing them away. They stop beside the booth, the Sister leaning at the wall staring at the weapon in her hands.
"A laspistol? I'm really starting to think that this "Commissar" has something against me."
Sarah then looked at her puzzled.
"What gives you this impression?"
The Sororita turns a very annoyed expression towards the Guardswoman, considering to not give her an answer. She does not have enough patience to stand any of her "playful" behavior, but opting to be honest with her Squad Silviya replies:
"First: In the cafeteria, he singled me out, and his power display was clearly directed at me, not Erick."
Raising a second finger she continues:
"Second: He is clearly not comforted with my presence, all of his body language screams that if he could run from me, or shoot me he would do it."
661 eyes widen as he tries to reassure her:
"Look this is going too far Commissar Kraven wouldn't shoot you..."
Silviya looked at the Guardsman with determination, denoting her certainty of the matter.
"Yes he would, he was reeking with fear. You don't need to be an inquisitor to perceive that he was scared of my presence."
Now raising a third finger Silviya concludes:
"Third: He knows very well that the standard gun that the Sororitas use are bolt ammunition ones. And he gives me this..."
She angrily raises the Las-weapon inadvertently flagging some people who are passing by. 661 instantly puts her arm down making her point the gun at it.
"Be careful, this is still a gun, and can still kill people."
Silviya clenched her eyes, looking at the Soldier with annoyance.
"I know very well what this is 661, and it's unloaded so no reason to worry."
Putting the gun away in the waistband of her cargo pants, the Sister is very annoyed at her current situation, while she appreciates having one more way of defending her squad leader, this weapon makes her feel even more pathetic than she was already feeling with her current situation.
"Its initiation all over again," Silviya thought dejectedly as she started walking back to her quarters. Is as if her life is going backward, from the moment she was saved by 661, it feels almost like a punishment for not dying beside her sisters.
The other two soldiers start to follow her quietly, the journey back to their room, a quiet one as each individual is in complete silence, drowned in their own thoughts. Once arriving back in front of their quarters Sarah stops then.
"Well, guys I still have four hours of guard duty. The good side is that I am in deck patrol, and one of them is this so if both of you need me...I'll be around."
The Guardswoman waves at them before quickly walking away from deck 45.
Now it's only him and Silviya, an awkward silence fell between the two.
"So I'm going to go to take a bath."
The sister nodded before quickly looking at him.
"And I'm going to pray, so please don't disturb me."
For one second he fears Silviya from the hostility in her words, but seeing her facial expression and not noticing an ounce of hostility makes him realize that the Sister is like that, not too polished with her words. Unsurprisingly so, due to the fact that she, as an elite warrior of the ecclesiarch, expected to kill and maim every enemy of the Imperium, and whilst important diplomacy probably isn't their main focus.
So, doing as he said, he would be left to the washrooms to take a hot bath and wash his dirty clothes. It takes some time, but soon Erick is getting back to their quarters, passing the multiple rooms he arrives in front of their shared room.
Entering the room he proceeds to circle around the maze made out of beds before arriving at their bunk. Silviya still kneels on the ground praying, her eyes closed and her lips quickly whispering prayers. Quietly he takes his combat boots off, before sitting on the other side of the bed tucking himself beneath the thin sheets.
Staring at the top bunk his head swirling in thoughts Erick recounts all the happenings of the day, before finally stopping in Silviya. The sister had been different for some time, she was still the same aggressive hot-headed person that he knows, but for some days now she was almost as if kind to him.
Not really kind, since nothing she ever said or told could resemble what a normal person would say when being kind, but it was Silviya's way of being kind. She appeared to take it easy with him, an example was when she said she was sorry early that cycle, the sister had already done it before however, this time was different, is as if she was trying to not scare him off.
And that was nice...Maybe Sarah said something that made her change her attitude a little. His thoughts are cut short as he feels the bed shifting as Silviya sits on the bed, supporting herself in her arms she stops, her back turned to him.
"Can I ask you something?"
Erick hummed in response, signaling that she could shoot her question.
"What can I do to raise the Commissar opinions about me?"
Oh, that question he wasn't expecting.
"Obey? I guess..."
"Okay, I could do that, that is if he does not order me to do something against my codex. Even if he is a totally unprofessional and crude officer."
At that Erick let out a small laugh, making the Sister turn towards him.
"What is so funny about what I said?"
The soldier let out another small laugh making the woman turn an angry stare at him.
"It is nothing. Is that all of them are like this."
"What do you mean by that?"
The squad leader opted to sit on the bed supporting his back on the wooden frame of the bunk.
"Well is their job to be like that. They are trained to demand the best from their units at all times. And that makes them look like assholes with pointy shiny black hats."
A very small smile appeared on Silviya's lips.
"Who calls them that?"
"Funnily enough it was my dad. He said that to me when he explained why most Guardsmen hated the Commissar, but still looked up to them when shit hit the fan."
The smile on the Sister's face just got a little bigger.
"Well while we Sororitas have our superiors in high regards, I get it what your father meant. If our Canoness and Sisters Superior were just 1% like Kraven I would tear my hair out."
At that, Erick raised an eyebrow.
"They don't act similar to a Commissar?"
At that, for the first time, Erick saw Silviya let out a small discreet laugh.
"Oh they are authoritative and loud alright, but there is a level of respect they give us average sisters, that I don't see the Commissars giving."
"There are officers who respect and value their soldiers."
Silviya raised an inquisitive eyebrow.
"So why then he doesn't respect me? It should be an honor to have a Daughter of the Emperor under your wing."
Scratching the back of his head the Soldier could only apologetically shrug.
"In your particular case is complicated..."
She crossed her arms, her inquisitive stare turning to a frown.
"What do you mean by complicated?"
"Let's say that he has a bad history with the Sisters."
Her frown just got bigger.
"What bad history?"
Should he tell her? After all, she is a Sister of Battle and what he tells her can get Commissar Kraven in trouble. While he isn't fond of the man, Erick knows best then to put his superior to walk on the plank.
But Silviya does something that surprises him, with a very annoyed expression and with a resigned tone the sister simply states:
"That is if you can tell me."
Wow, something is very wrong with Silviya she is being unnervingly kind, a weird intimidating aggressive kind but still kind. This crumbles his previous determination with ease.
"Some time ago a platoon destroyed a convent in a firefight against cultists. They received orders from their officers to raise the building controlled by them. The soldiers followed as it was ordered, but soon a squad of sisters arrived and then...they killed every last one of them, and the commissar witnessed all."
Her expression turned from annoyed to thoughtful, she hummed as she took her eyes off him.
In the end, Sarah was right, being softer with the Guardsman is doing wonders to their communication, he even trusted her enough to tell her why Kraven hated her so much, but this brings a problem to the forefront.
What the Commissar has witnessed is entirely justified by her own codex, they probably destroyed the building without proper clearance from a canoness. Destroying any building from the Sororitas without their authorization will end in their immediate elimination of all involved in its destruction.
"They destroyed the building without proper clearance from the Sisterhood. So it shouldn't surprise that they got purged."
661 frowned at her statement.
"They were loyal imperial soldiers, it's probably their superior's fault that didn't contact your order in the first place, they didn't deserve to be purged."
Silviya tuns analyzing gaze towards the Soldier, she is not oblivious that their standards are different. What she may consider okay he doesn't, and vice versa.
"In our codex, we have defined this way cause in our convents we have relics, memoirs, documents, custom-made weapons that are hard to be replaced, and the remains of many other sisters are buried on it."
The sister now turns a more serious glance at 661.
"Destroying it without our consent means destroying all of it. And that is a huge deal for us."
Silviya does have a point, however, punishing the soldiers that were only following orders is unfair. You are purging lives that are loyal to the Imperium, without a proper reason, if these soldiers didn't follow the orders they would get killed by their commissars.
"The Guardsmen were just following orders, it's their superior's fault for not trying to reach your order asking for permission."
Silviya scoffed, her expression turned from analytical to annoyed.
"So what? Yes, it is the superior's fault, but the ones who actually blew the convent were the Guardsmen, so punishment must come for them as well."
For Emperor's sake how she can be so okay with this? He didn't expect much sympathy from the Sister, but supporting what the Sororitas did that day is a little too much for Erick.
"They didn't know that destroying the building could get them killed, and the ones who needed to know the consequences of doing so let it happen anyway."
"It doesn't matter the convent is holy ground, would you mortar or blow this place? And I hope your answer no or I'll punch your face."
"No of course not! But they didn't have a choice, disobeying our superiors literally get you killed. So was either do what they were told or die."
Silviya's frown softened a little.
"Everyone dies 661, doing right things, stupid things or wrong things. Their superiors were stupid alright, but the Guardsmen in that mission were unknowingly already dead. Whatever they chose would end up in their deaths."
While this is a complete and surprisingly rational approach, is completely cold and uncaring for the lives of loyal soldiers. He could be one of those men, would be then fair for him to be killed by a bunch of sisters for basically doing his job?
"Would be fair then for me to die if I were there?"
"Would be fair then for me to die if I were there?"
Silviya froze with the soldier's statement, a weird feeling creeping around her heart. She cant point out exactly what she is feeling, but one thing is certain, it isn't nice.
However even if it is 661, the right is still right, her codex is absolute.
"It would be a waste, but still they destroyed holy ground. Punishment is due, doesn't matter who does it."
Her Squad Leader stays in silence staring at her, analyzing every inch of her face.
"Okay. Well if you excuse me I'm going to rest."
The man turned on his side, back towards her. She clearly said something that bothered the Soldier. But Silviya's answer is still absolute, he liking or not.
"Right...Emperor protects and guards your dreams, Guardsman."
He doesn't answer, not having more options, the Sister lies beside him, and fumbles around until finding a comfortable position to sleep. The talk didn't go as well as she wanted to but was better than any interactions they had so far.
Interrogation chamber 8:
"Okay, so from the third cycle to the one where the rebellion broke out did something else happened?"
"No...actually yes."
"So what happened?"
"It did not exactly happen something, no it was actually pretty calm around the battleship through those two cycles. But the strange part was exactly that, the entire battleship was on an eerie and stale silence, similar to how you would usually feel when fighting on the trenches."
[Scribbling can be heard]
"Like if you were expecting something to happen, a bomb, a shot, something that could lift the stale and monotonous air."
"Did you noticed any strange behavior?"
"Yes, the soldiers on Deck 44 were quieter than the others, and that is never a good sign."
"Did you suspect something from the people on that deck? Did you investigate?"
"Yes. Saw them when I was following Erick towards the cafeteria. There were a bunch of people from deck 44 alongside Andre Soto's squad."
"Did you report your suspicions to someone?"
"Just Lady Hannira."
[Scribbling gets more intense as the Inquisitor writes]
"So tell me what happened in the cycle of the rebellion."
There is a tense and eerie air around the ship, Silviya doesn't know why, but everyone seems restless as if expecting something. A familiar feeling of evil creeps around her mind, as she prays in silence kneeled before the bed.
She had come early from her task of stalking 661 and already had reported to Hannira. The Sister was preparing her alibi for her rapid healing and miraculous recovery, today was the last day that she would have to fake her condition.
However while praying she can't escape her suspicions, the last two days the 44th and the 45th were awfully quiet. The former being the battalion of Fox squad, the infamous group who was strangely interested in her. But the funny thing is that Silviya isn't the only one feeling this weird energy.
661 had commented with her yesterday before sleeping that some soldiers on guard duty had disappeared while guarding the supply depot. The entire situation was bizarre since no one, not even the Space Wolves in the same guard duty knew where the missing guardsmen were. Since then, these men were AWOL completely of the radar.
Not one single surveillance servo or servitor got the image or spotted the group, an entire squad of eight had disappeared as if they were made of thin air. Hannira had enigmatically asked her to redouble her cautions as if the older woman knew something that she herself was unaware of.
Whatever was happening it wasn't good, and she couldn't help but feel the familiar tinge of chaos floating around the ship. If she didn't risk blowing her cover-up, Silviya would already storm the living quarters of the 44th and 45th quarters to investigate and purge any heretic that was dealing with the ruinous powers.
Just for precaution Silviya hide the power sword under the bedsheets of the bed she was leaned on. And as if the universe itself had heard her suspicions a familiar voice broke the silence.
"So ready to figure it out if what I heard about your lot is true?"
Erick was in the cafeteria for lunchtime, most people from the imperial guard were there. There have been two cycles like this, where a tense atmosphere settled around the soldiers. An entire squad had gone missing while on patrol.
The higher-ups were already investigating, but nothing was found, at least not that he knows about. This foreboding feeling that something was wrong could be seen in the eyes of the people in the cafeteria, while some were chatting and talking, as usual, the absence of deafening laughter and energetic discussions could be felt.
The 44th and the 45th battalions were almost entirely missing, he could only guess why their superiors didn't question that, the soldiers from that group were awfully suspicious as of late. However, the reason for the weird tingling on at his core that made every hair of his body stand up didn't lie. Something was wrong in this battleship.
The soldier tried to talk with his other female companion on guard duty trying to know some piece of information about the investigations being conducted around the latest incidents, but unfortunately, Erick didn't have a chance to talk to Sarah, since her double shift just got extended. Everyone on guard duty has been drafted for obligatory patrols around the ship, to try to find out any lead on what is happening inside these metal walls.
Rookie that was eating beside him was awfully quiet as well, the boy was like this since the incident about the group that has gone missing. Apparently, he was a friend of someone from said squad.
Everything was quiet until a deafening sound rang from the cafeteria. Just some rows of tables in front of them a white ball of flame and plasma tore out from one of the walls instantly engulfing the tables near it in white light.
The wave of the explosion sent some tables flying around Erick grabbed the shoulder of Rookie by reflex throwing himself in the ground dragging the younger soldier alongside, as a table hurled above them.
The soldiers that survived were all under their tables waiting for the dust to settle, however, they didn't have time to recompose themselves, as a dozen of Guardsmen armed with lasguns arrived at each entrance of the cafeteria.
Stoically looking at the scene in front of them, one of the people under the table gets up and runs towards one of the groups of soldiers screaming:
"Report this to the responsible commissar now! We are under attack!"
However his warnings were cut short as one of the men blast his head with a lasgun rifle, the undistinguishable sound of the laser shot rang as the soldier fell on the ground with a dry thud. The smell of burned flesh permeated the air now, Erick couldn't even recognize the smell of fire coming from the other side of the Cafeteria.
One of the Guardsmen from the group holding the main entrance came forth and with a booming voice screamed:
"We have come here to give you all weaklings a chance for survival. At this very instance, we have the cafeteria, the upper and lower decks wired with white phosphor bombs. If you all agree to maintain your mouths shut and join our side you all get to live..."
Fuck they had closed up every possible exit, most people from guard duty having lunch alongside them were seated on the tables where raging flames were devouring the bodies and metal from the tables. Making him and some other few soldiers armed.
Only having his trusty laspistol with only one clip of ammunition, Erick must hatch a plan to effectively use the weapon against the dozen heretics branding lasguns.
Crawling on the ground the Leader of Gamma Squad looks around trying to count how many close to him survived, he had already counted thirty, at least five of them having some kind of weapon. He stops dead on his tracks as he hears the booming voice once again:
"Make a line in front of me whoever wants to join our cause. The ones who won't comply are going to be shot on the spot."
Perfect, Erick now has a plan. He just needs an opening to make the clear shot. Discreetly taking his laspistol out of his holster, the Soldier holds the gun under his trench coat away from prying eyes.
He looks at Rookie who is closely observing his movements, Erick then looks down towards where his gun is being hidden. The younger soldier seems to understand what he meant to do.
A group of five people raises themselves from the ground as they cowardly run towards the attackers.
"Hm...is that all? I'll give five more seconds for all of you to decide."
"5"
Erick turns the safety off.
"4"
He looks towards Rookie raising three fingers.
"3"
One finger down.
"2"
two fingers down
"1..."
Erick lowers the last finger nodding at the younger soldier, is time to strike. 10 more people raise to join the line, the man beckoning them to join the group of five. But all of this is cut short as Erick takes aim and shoots a precise beam of laser on the leader's head.
The man falls with a thud, soon all hell broke loose as the heretics opened fire against the people in the cafeteria. In the process they end up killing the soldiers who have opted to join them, some shots came close to hitting the Leader of Gamma Squad, but Erick manages to take cover beside a table, Rookie quickly crawls towards a group closer to them who is taking cover under another table.
The sizzling sound of energy shots zooms above his head as Erick waits for the other Guardsmen at the tables beside him starts shooting back, soon enough a few shots start to go towards the heretics blocking the exits.
Peeking through the chair he sees the group taking fire at some other guardsmen to his left, but that doesn't take long as a laser shot almost hits his head, making him duck below the metal table.
If this keeps up they won't last long, these traitors are better armed than the ones in the cafeteria, not only that but the loyalists that were firing against them are stopping, indicating that either they are taking cover or dead.
However, before the dread of the situation could settle a new sound broke the air.
"Behind us!"
Soon enough the deafening sound of laser shots could be heard as one by one the heretics fell to the ground. Erick stood still watching from the opening between the big chair and the table.
Reinforcements came as a group of 5 Guardsmen rushing in, still trading shots with the others traitors soldiers on the other exit far away from his position. Erick slid out from under the table taking cover behind the next one to his left, kneeling behind the chair, the constant volley of laser shots ever-present traveling just above his head.
Someone slid to his side startling him, quickly turning his head towards the said person, but what Erick sees surprises him.
"Sarah?"
There the redhead was, in each hand a laspistol.
"Yup."
She quickly raised herself and with both guns started shooting against the attackers, following suit Erick raised himself risking some shots against the enemy.
Both lower themselves again Erick to reload and Sarah to take a breather. With difficulty, the Guardsman manages to take a new energy clip from his pouch with his hook arm.
"How did you get yourself on this mess?"
Erick screamed while trying to insert the new magazine onto his gun.
"We were on guard patrol near here when..."
Sarah was interrupted by a sizzling bullet passing just above her head, managing to burn some strands of her ponytail. Feeling the terrible smell of burnt hair, the Guardswoman gets up in anger for the "damage" done to that small lock of hair and delivers a storm of laser shots towards the offending heretics.
Even in a brief moment of rage, the sniper of Gamma Squad manages to kill four enemies before her pistol ran out of ammo. Kneeling again to reload their guns, Erick stares at her with a small smirk waiting for Sarah to continue.
"...When we heard the explosion coming from the cafeteria."
Erick cocked his pistol raising himself from the position shooting against the now retreating enemies, managing to kill one and wounding the other as they ran after the group that was now climbing the stairs out of the cafeteria.
The redhead finished reloading and turned towards her companions in guard duty.
"We have to secure the perimeter, did anyone used one of the vox channels to inform of the breach?"
One of the tallest of the group using an olive tank top, black hair, and dark eyes stepped forth.
"No, communications on this side of the ship are down, they probably sabotaged it before starting the attack."
"Fuck."
Sarah replied annoyingly, while quickly thoughtfully looking to the ground.
Rookie and all the other Guardsmen raised themselves from out of their improvised covers, at least a dozen men had survived the attack. The younger soldier came running towards Erick.
"Erick!"
"Julius is everything okay?"
The panting soldier raised his thumb affirming that in fact, he was okay, the surviving group approached. Erick then with a loud voice screamed:
"Is there any commissar or high officer here?"
The crowd shook their head in unison signaling the absence of an officer amongst them.
"Okay...I am the leader of a specialized squad so that puts me a rank higher than all of you. So until we managed to reunite ourselves with an officer, I'm calling the shots!"
The crowd nodded in acknowledgment at Erick statement, however, soon the moment is broken as Rookie screams:
"One of the traitors is still alive!"
Looking towards where the younger soldier, he sees a man crawling away from them, dragging his wounded body to the ground. Erick jolts running in the direction of the man.
As soon as he reaches the wounded heretic he jumps on his back, the man resists trying to take Erick out of him. However, his efforts are worthless as the Loyal Guardsman held him firmly on the ground.
"Who are you, and what are your plans!?"
Erick screamed while pointing his Laspitol to the back of the heretics head. The man under him gurgled a little on his own saliva and blood before finally letting out a mocking laugh.
"I'll never tell you! Or any of you loyalist pigs!"
The man looked at the crowd around him, his mocking laugh turning to maniacal, tired of the heretic's antics Erick simply aims the pistol to the other side of the cafeteria delivering five consecutive shots, making the barrel of the gun go to an orange hue, due to the high temperature of it, after which, Erick plunges the still hot barrel on the men's neck.
The man lets a howl of pain as the sound of burning skin can be heard.
"I'll ask again...Who are you and what are you lot planning?"
"Turn me around and I'll gladly tell you..."
The man said in a very suspicious tone which manage to put Erick on edge, however, the squad leader decided to comply.
"Turn him around."
Erick raised himself from the men's back all the while pointing his gun at the heretic, two people from the crowd came forward to turn the traitor around. With his back now to the ground, the heretic stared at Erick with crazed eyes. His face was sunken, deep dark circles around the eyes as if the man hadn't had any sleep in days.
It almost made Erick feel pity towards the former Guardsman, it appear to be more a cadaver than a man. It reminded him of what his father warned about what messing with the ruinous powers could do to you.
Aiming the gun at his face the Leader of Gamma Squad with an intimidating voice spoke:
"Now who are you and what your fellow traitors are planning?"
The crazed-eyed man beckons Erick to come closer with his finger.
"Come closer and I'll tell you..."
Reluctantly the Guardsman lowered himself to the man's level all the while pointing his Laspistol to his face.
"Closer..."
Erick stopped centimeters from the heretics face before in a swift motion he spits on the loyal soldier's face, in a burst of demeaning maniacal laughter the nasty man laughed hysterically.
Enough is enough, as quickly as the man had spit on him, Erick grabbed the vile scum cheeks holding with his hooks, the sharp points of them piercing his skin. The man trashed in pain, as Erick once again shot five times at the ceiling before pointing the hot metal towards his right eye.
"Last chance..."
The laughter came back louder.
"Three..."
It continued, while the heretic stared at him.
"Two..."
His laughter as well as his mocking smile was faltering.
"One..."
Erick slowly approached the man's right eye globe before the same started panicking, the two soldiers that were holding him, were now holding the trashing man.
Just as the flaming hot barrel was millimeters from his eyes the heretic screamed:
"Fine fine I tell you just don't torture me!"
The one now with a mocking smile was Erick, he had dealt with this ilk before, and one thing was certain they were always selfish. And people like that usually break very easily under the right pressure.
Still holding his gun in the same place Erick asked calmly, in an almost gentle tone:
"Who are you and what are the heretics planning?"
The wide-eyed stare of the traitor looking at the gun asked nervously:
"Take the gun out from my face then I tell you!"
Okay if he needed further incentive, he got the barrel a strand of hair away from his eye.
"Fine fine I tell you!"
"My name is Santoro Rodriguez, I'm part of the 44th regiment."
Erick asked with more impatience now:
"What are your plans?"
"We were sent to cause a diversion."
Diversion? So all of this shit show is just a distraction? Why would they need such a ploy?
"Why?"
"The main group was going to retrieve the last piece of the summoning ritual!"
Summoning ritual!? Are these people mad? They are trying to summon a demon inside this ship? This could be disastrous, they must warn their superiors as quickly as possible of their true intentions.
"What is the last piece of the summoning ritual?"
"A Sister, they need a sister..."
They are after a sister? This could be any of the hospitallers it could be even...wait...
"Any sister would do or it should be a specific one?"
"He told us that should be one forged in the fire of battle, in the raging passion of slaughter and all the while having an innocence of a dove."
Oh no, he could be wrong but this description fits very well with Silviya. The attention she was receiving from the people of the 45th, more specifically Andre Soto squad could fit very well on their true intentions. They were probably analyzing her this entire time, and at their latest try approaching her on their deck, could be a more discreet way of taking her away for this summoning Ritual.
Just to be sure he must confirm his suspicions with a simple question:
"Where are they heading?"
"Deck 45."
Shit, their true target is in fact Silviya.
Thanks for reading this small book of a chapter!
Hahahaha, anyway hope to see you all soon, may take a while to post another chapter due to work and my schedule which is a little hectic right now, but I'll try my best to attain with my "two chapters per month" planning.
God bless and have a nice week you all, until next time!