Armorum Fidei Chapter 36
Justini looked upon the device before her and worried if she was capable of handling it. That the choice was right was inarguable, the God-Emperor had led her steps through the carnage of war without taking a single blow. That this action was ordained was beyond doubt, yet Justini was not sure she was up to the task. She had trained with these machines, honed her skills but never taken one into battle. This would be her making or breaking.
Looming over her a Paragon warsuit waited, lurking in a shrine alcove, as terrifying as it was potent. Humanoid in form, with two arms and two legs, attached to a bulky chest. Four clamshell panels were peeled back to reveal a pilot's cavity, with input ports for power armour. Over the head was a grilled cowl, fitted with a pair of twin-linked bolters and crowned by a leering gargoyle, with small wings and a trident tail, to embody the Machine's belligerence. One arm ended with a bulky Heavy Flamer and the other an axe as broad as Justini's chest, etched with images of winged saints in battle-aspect, bloody and fierce as they fell from on high.
The War Machine brooded darkly, unwelcoming and surly but Justini walked with the God-Emperor's grace and stepped forth to meet it. She disengaged her backpack generator, removing it from her armour and setting it aside. Before the power faded she placed one foot on its knee and boosted herself high. She twisted to slide into the cavity and slotted into the hollow. The Machine Spirit responded by snaking mechandrites into interface ports, connecting armour to war machine and making them one. Justini reached up and grabbed a helm dangling from interface cables and fitted it over her head, seeing a blizzard of targeting runes, damage feeds and auspex readings swirl in the air. It took a moment to orientate herself then she grabbed two handles and squeezed hard.
Responding to the controls the Paragon Suit's chest whined closed, four panels fitting snugly over her chest as if they were one. Her legs were embraced by closing panels over the thighs, locking her limbs rigid as her feet barely reached its knees. She knew walking would be hard, she could only move her hips in this tight embrace, but the Machine Spirit would compensate, leaving her free to worry about fighting. The suit's reactor purred in eagerness but Justini held firm as she recited the litany of Belligerence, "Horns of war sound and the flames of ruin spread unchecked. Awaken proud Machine to give battle to the foe, let slip your fury and wroth. Awaken and bring destruction to the enemies of Man!"
The Paragon Suit roared as she tensed her leg, its long limbs responded by taking a step that tore it from the walls and sent it forth. Justini lurched to the side as the unnatural gait pulled but the Machine Spirit compensated, taking her forward in a steady stride. The trick was to not think about one's legs, to walk as if the machine was a mere extension of her body. It was a partnership, woman and machine, becoming one being with power unmatched, towering and invulnerable, able to deal death with every blow. Was this what it felt like to be a Space Marine, Justini wondered, no wonder they were legendarily proud.
She let her legs take her out of the shrine and into Currens Ecclesia proper. She turned right and headed up a steep ramp, ascending a path that would lead her to daylight. As she walked she swung the right handle and the mechanical arm responded, raising and dropping the axe like a pendulum. Hardly as swift or elegant as a sword but far more fitting for her style. The left arm copied her motion, and the pilot light of the Heavy Flamer lit, set to spew death with a mere squeeze of her grip. The bolters tracked her helm's movements, panning left and right as her head turned, ready to fire with a double-blink of her eyes. She was prepared for war, all she needed now was a target.
Justini's stride took her higher and the din of battle resounded ever louder. Her breath caught in excitement as she crested the ramp and emerged into wan daylight, seeing blood and carnage everywhere. Atop Currens Ecclesia fighting raged, squads of Sisters and Fraters trading shots from behind overturned guns and piles of rubble. The bells of the towers chimed in distress as shrieking Haemonculus looked down upon the killing fields and hissed their disapproval. Bodies lay strewn everywhere, violated by terrible wounds but Justini ignored them, trying to discern embattled loyalists from corrupted turncoats.
Her dilemma was swiftly resolved as a knot of tainted Fraters charged her, firing pistols wildly. Bullets pinged from her plates, scoring the War Machine's surface but doing no damage to her person. Responding on instinct Justini turned to face them and double-blinked her eyes. The bolters by either side of her head barked thrice, spitting mass-reactives at the point she was looking at. Her senses were buffeted by noise and light, the barrels scant inches from her head, but the helm's autosenses compensated, making it merely loud instead of ear-splitting. The Fraters however were caught by hurtling bolt-rounds and came apart, insides dashed across the flagstones as they were torn apart.
Justini left them to rot as she stepped forward, only to be confronted by a deadlier threat. A pair of subverted Sisters rose from cover and let rip with rapid-fire. They were fiendishly good, aiming for her head instead of the ablative plates over her chest. Even helmed a direct hit could spell her doom and rounds pinged off the high gorget, perilously close to her face. Justini diced with death but was not afraid, the God-Emperor had not brought her this far only to fall to a stray round. She scorned danger and raced forward, charging into the onslaught without hesitation. Rounds hammered her frontage but she came through alive, then her axe swept about. The first turncoat came apart shoulder to hip, bisected by the massive axe. The other stumbled back, trying to get a clear shot but Justini's arm rose and fell, bringing the axe down upon her skull and cleaving her right to the groin.
She cast her eyes out for more foes and found a gun nest raining fire upon a pinned squad of Battle Sisters. Relentlessly the Fraters shot an Autocannon at a fallen buttress they were using for cover, blowing chunks of it away. Justini paused as she tried to deduce whose side they were on, but then she saw an alien tail whip about, one of those vile alien beasts, waiting to spread its taint even further.
Instantly she sprang into a charge, metal feet ringing loud. The gunners saw her coming and frantically swung their barrel about, trying to shoot her but Justini lifted her arm and squeezed the trigger. The Heavy Flamer roared as it exhaled plumes of incandescent Promethium. The men were doused in a fiery conflagration, coated head to toe to become living bonfires. The pain overcame alien subversion and they flailed wildly, screaming like the damned as they thrashed about and collapsed into heaps of roasting flesh. The gun turned a cherry red colour in the inferno, then its ammo cooked off and it exploded.
Justini staggered as the impact rocked her machine, peppering its front with shrapnel. Her ears rang and her balance tottered and that was when the alien struck. From the inferno the scaly thing emerged, trailing flames from its waxy hide. It was scorched and blackened, but alive and dewclaws gleamed sharply as it tried to latch on. Justini was reeling, too stunned to bring her arms to bear, but instinctively she double-blinked and the Paragon Suit responded.
Twin-linked bolters roared, spitting rounds at point-blank range. The alien was caught by the salvo and had its guts blown out of its back, rounds passing through it and out the other side before they even had a chance to detonate. A wet impact squelched on her frontage, then the alien slithered down the belly armour and flopped to the deck, oozing blood of a vile inhuman hue.
Justini breathed out in relief at the close call, giving silent thanks to the God-Emperor for her survival. Justini lifted her head, only to hear the sound of cheering. From behind a broken buttress emerged a dozen Sisters, battered and scored, but alive. They did not attack, so were not corrupted, instead they came near, punching the air to see a Paragon had joined their fight. Justini was astonished to see Praxi, Resita and Heleyna amongst them and she called, "My Sisters, you live?!"
"Justini?!" Praxi started, "Is that you in there?!"
"Hold on," Heleyna spat, "We saw you get hit, the aliens took you for their own!"
"I was, but I was saved by His grace!" Justini proclaimed, "The God-Emperor provided a miracle and purified my being!"
Shocked whispers arose at the declaration and Resita gasped, "Many have fallen and not one has returned. What makes you so deserving of His grace?!"
Justini looked down at her Sisters and uttered, "We face an enemy who fights not in the realm physical, but in our minds and souls. Against such a foe walls and shields and armour are worthless. Look not to guns or swords to save you, place your trust in faith alone! Our adoration of Him is the greatest weapon we own, sharper than any sword. Belief is our shield, unbreakable and unyielding. Put on your spiritual armour and you may stand against the aliens and their wiles!"
Cheers arose again and Resita lifted her voice in song. An ancient battle-hymnal of the Adepta Sororitas, praising the God-Emperor. Her words were taken up by all, High Gothic cantrips spilling off every tongue as they returned to battle. Justini was at the fore, loping ahead in her towering armour. As she marched she sang aloud, voice amplified by voxhailers built into the cowling of her Machine so it carried over the din of fighting.
Into the fires of battle they strode and Justini sang, "Laudáte Imperatoris! Post eum in omnia saecula!" Behind her the Sisters marched proudly, as they sang praises aloud. No more did they seek cover, for they walked with the conviction of the righteous, sure and certain that nothing could stand against them. From the shadows emerged turncoats and subverted, slinking forth to deny the advance of the righteous. They were cut apart by bursts of bolter fire from Sisters who sang, "Imperatoris Excelsior!" False friars were shot down as soon as they showed their faces, killed before they could even open fire. A Frater's ambush in the flank was defeated by concentrated bolter fire and dug in corrupted rooted out with hurled phosphor grenades.
Justini was at the head of this march and she met every threat with her doughty weapons. Where there was resistance she crushed it, where the enemy stood their ground, she tore it out from under them. Never had the righteousness of their cause been more evident, the physical manifestation of their faith made plain for all to see. Nothing could stand against them; no man or woman could deny their advance. They walked with His divine aegis upon them and laid waste to the tainted with shining zeal.
With bolt, flame and axe Justini laid low the enemy and all the while she sang, "Imperator ambulat mecum!" The Paragon suit was too much for the scattered and leaderless subverted, their will faltering before the pure of heart. Justini never stopped singing as she killed, driving on the assault until the enemy teetered on the brink of the Walking Church's rim, "Iram parit victoriam!"
Two-score turncoats gathered together to face their doom. She raised her Heavy Flamer to greet them but as she did so something changed. The sight of victorious Sororitas stirred cold hearts, holy words stoking dying embers of faith back to life. The corrupted Sisters staggered, hands clasping at throats as they fell to their knees. Helms were ripped free so lips could spew blackened bile, mouths rejecting smoking wyrms that curled up and died. A few Friars were with them, gagging and retching as they regurgitated the invaders from their bodies.
"Behold!" Justini yelled, "His power protects the faithful!"
Praxi lifted her Storm Bolter and growled, "What of the rest?"
Mercilessly Justini spat, "Their faith proves weak, brittle when put to the anvil. He has rejected their meagre conviction, there is only one fate for such doubters."
Immediately bolters fired and those yet standing were blown off their feet, corpses falling over the side of the Walking Church. Those who remained lay weeping and retching, clutching their guts but when they lifted their heads their eyes shone with the unyielding faith of the redeemed. Justini shared their conviction, she knew they had seen the God-Emperor as she had and would be burning to serve His will. She only had to show them the way.
Justini lifted her axe high and cried, "He saves the righteous and lays low the wicked! Come my sisters, come my brothers, we walk in His light and shall share this revelation with every last soul we find. By His will, we shall cleanse this den of inequity once and for all!"
