A/N – Opening of another arc, Harry's training and Baal Campaign against the Hive Fleet, while at the same time the Inquisition and the Wolfblades play their own game.
o-0-o
Harry groaned as his eyes fluttered open, he didn't know where he was, but he knew that it was uncomfortable as hell and that the bed on which he was sleeping was too hard to be in the Aett or in the spire belonging to the House of Belisarius. He sat up and looked around the room in which he was, it was spartan in decor. Walls were bare, simple small window was placed in one of the walls, there was also a basic desk, a chair, a chest for personal belongings and a weapon stand on which he saw his axe and several other pieces of gear.
He get out of the bed and slipped the gear into its proper positions and grasped the handle of the door, he pulled it and they opened with a loud, screeching groan, as if they weren't oiled properly for last few decades. He stepped outside and almost immediately came face to face with a Grey Knight that watched him keenly.
"Since I'm not dead, I guess that I'm pure?" Harry asked.
"That's for the Grand Master to tell, not me," the Grey Knight said and added after a brief pause. "Follow me."
Harry nodded and together they walked down winding halls of the Citadel, high gothic stained glass windows providing some light, yet due to the great distance from the Sun everything was bathed in shadows. On the walls he noticed hundreds, if not thousands of banner hang, some of them so old that the letters and signs were almost impossible to see, yet some were bright new.
"You will learn about some of them in due time," the Grey Knight said.
Harry wanted to ask questions, yet he could tell that his guide wasn't the most talkative one so he kept his mouth shut and kept the pace of the Grey Knight. They walked for something that felt to Harry like eternity, when finally they stopped in front of some doors he let out a small sigh of relief.
"Behave with respect and don't show any of your Fenrisian ferocity and crude behavior," the Grey Knight said and Harry's fangs flashed. "You are in our monastery and we don't have much love for you and your chapter, so behave or I will terminate you."
Harry controlled a blood curling howl from leaving his mouth as his wolf spirit howled in fury and anger at the insults. He swallowed and nodded to the Grey Knight.
"Then enter and hope that you survive the meeting," the Knight said, opening the door and letting him pass through.
The room behind was a large hall filled to the brim with shelves, desks, artifacts in stasis fields and data terminals. In the air was detectable a faint scent of incense and old, even ancient books and paper. He passed between the shelves for few moments before he found the Grand Master Voldus waiting for him.
"I see that you woke up from your coma," Voldus said as they approached each other. "I apologize for the way we did it, but as you probably know you cannot be too careful with Chaos and it's servants."
"I know," Harry said and winced. "At least it is better than Trial of Morkai I needed to pass before my training. Also that Knight that brought me here, told me that you have things to tell me."
Voldus gave him a look and nodded. "You are as pure as it can be, also you are powerful, extremely powerful. I don't know how, but given time you can be as powerful as some of the Knights are, which speaks volumes about your talents."
"So what exactly does it mean?" Harry asked. "My former teacher never told me how powerful I was or could be, he taught me much, but never mentioned the topic."
"Because he wasn't sure of it," Voldus said and Harry looked at him. "What I mean is that while Njal the Stormcaller is someone who has my respect, he and the Rune Priests of your chapter have a rather interesting approach to the Warp and its powers. So they also tend to ignore most of the classifications accepted by the scholars of the wider Imperium and while normally it brings your chapter incredible benefits, now it hurts."
"What do you mean?"
"That the Imperium has something called the Assignment, a scale to measure the power of psykers and how powerful they can be. Normal humans cannot be born with the rating higher than Gamma as our evolution isn't advanced enough. However the Marines can as the gene seeds advances our evolution beyond that of a human being, so those laws don't matter to us. Most of the Librarians and Rune Priests is around Eta or Zeta range, the Grey Knights are usually in Epsilon or Delta range and some from among our ranks are Gamma. You are in the upper reaches of Delta and possibly can become a fully fledged Gamma, so not many foes will be of danger to you. It also means that not many can provide you with the knowledge, lore and training necessary to harness the powers you have."
Harry nodded and looked around the room. "I guess that my training starts here and now."
"Indeed," Voldus said and motioned for Harry to follow him. "Those books are the finest collection of lore on psychic powers and dangers of the Warp in the whole Imperium. During your training you will become familiar with a great many of them, however that's for later, now it's time for something else, yet equally important."
"What's that?"
"A single book," Voldus said and picked up a book from a table in front of him. "Liber Daemonica, I expect you to read it front to back and memorize data about daemons and the ways to fight them."
Harry took the book and almost immediately he felt it tickle his psychic senses. "What's going on?"
"A powerful talisman against Warp. A thigh bone of a martyred saint and pages inlaid with the purest silver in existence," Voldus explained looking at the book. "It's the only way we could make the lore not burn the pages and stay on them."
Harry nodded and gently holding the book opened it, as his fingers slipped over the paper he could feel the tickling get stronger.
"But that's not all you need to do or have," Voldus said and indicated the axe Harry had in a holster. "A standard power axe?"
"Yes."
"That won't do. You are a psyker and there are weapons designed to be augmented by the powers we possess. Once I'm done with this part of your training I will take you to the forges so that they can begin forging you a new weapon, one able to channel psychic powers. However, that's for later, now studying."
Harry groaned as he itched for an opportunity to fight and stretch his muscle and studying seemed like a boring thing. Voldus ignored his unhappiness and walked towards a cleared part of the chamber and sat down on the floor.
"Strength of a mind is more important to us than strength of a body," he said and added after a moment. "Also, you're not the most patient, are you?"
"My Wolf Lord and his Berserker Rages rubbed onto me," Harry said with a slight blush as he sat down facing Voldus.
Voldus nodded and simply sat there, not moving, not talking, just being like a sculpture, static and not showing a hint of movement. Harry looked at him, unsure what to do and just mimicked the older Marine, trying to remain calm and not move. He could tell that even if Voldus was completely still, he was watching him and his behavior.
It made Harry realize that the point of the exercise was patience and serenity of the mind, so he focused on the exercises to calm himself and went through a couple of them in an attempt to bring peace to his mind.
o-0-o
Torin stood on the bridge of a freighter belonging to the House of Belisarius and smiled when a ship belonging to some pirate scums hailed them. He looked at the captain and nodded. "Behave as if we weren't here and surrender the ship. Once you stop talking, tell us where will they land and I and my brothers will wait for them and greet them very warmly."
"Understood, m'lord," the captain said and Torin nodded before walking out of the bridge.
"They caught the bait?" Valkoth asked.
"Looks like it," Torin said and took from Valkoth a power sword. "The captain will let us know in which bay we can expect them and we can later board them from with the Thunderhawk we managed to obtain. Though I still don't know how did you manage to obtain it."
Valkoth nodded and two of them walked to a place where the rest of their brothers awaited them. When they entered the room they saw that all of them were busy checking their gear and preparing for combat. Torin leaned against the wall and waited for his vox to activate.
Vox crackled and they heard the captain speaking. "Pirates inbound, they will land in the first bay. Once they are out of their vessel I will activate the jammers and disable gravity for that part of the ship."
Torin clicked his vox in acknowledgement and looked at Valkoth.
"I'm just here to stretch my muscles, you're in command," Valkoth said with a shrug. "You choose."
Torin nodded and looked at the team assembled for the mission. "Long Fangs, take your toys and go to the gallery overlooking the bay. I want you to disable the ship and then attack pirates. The rest will be with me and we will attack the pirates once they're out of the vessel."
They walked towards the bay and once inside of it took place behind crates of goods that were conveniently placed there ahead of time. Torin darted a quick look onto the gallery circling the bay and nodded when he saw four Marines with heavy weapons place themselves there. Two had laser canons and two had heavy bolters, a standard mix for such operation. Normally he wouldn't mind a plasma canon, but he was also aware of its risks and he preferred something stabler.
Once they took positions it was a matter of waiting and letting their prey come to them, when he saw the craft carrying pirates approach the ship and prepare for landing he placed on his head his helmet and sealed it. "Be ready, brothers," he said into the vox.
Moments later the craft landed and the landing ramp lowered, letting out several dozens of pirates. He waited for them to get comfortable inside of the bay and then he tapped his vox. "Jammers and gravity, now," he whispered and quickly changed the channel. "Brothers, For Russ!"
He stepped from behind the crate, magnetic locks in his boots activated and he opened fire at the stunned pirates that tried to comprehend what was going on when the gravitation was disabled and they lost their footing. At which Torin just smiled, cutting them down became an even easier task than before, in fact they didn't even manage to use their swords, cutting down the whole group with withering bolter fire.
"All dead and the ship is ours," Valkoth said as he looked around the craft used by pirated to get here.
"To the Thunderhawk," Torin said as he started to run out of the bay and to one housing the Thunderhawk. "Quickly, before they notice something is wrong."
o-0-o
Harry wanted to shout and yell at the Grand Master, for last few hours he just sat there, not moving an inch and remaining perfectly still for the whole time. "Patience is a virtue, as is calm mind," Voldus finally said. "You need both to fully understand and comprehend the art you will be taught here. Also it is beneficial for normal combat, I won't teach you anything more powerful until you can meditate for hours. But I suppose I can test your existing knowledge of psychic powers." With those words Voldus stood up. "Come with me."
Harry nodded and followed his teacher to a large round arena that was open to the sky and seemed like a perfect place to unleash psychic powers. He looked around it and then at Voldus. "What am I supposed to do?"
"Beat me," Voldus said and disabled storm bolter mounted on the arm of his armor. "Just blades and psychic powers, nothing else."
Harry nodded and ejected the magazines from his storm bolter before looking at Voldus and summoning his favorite part of his arsenal, lightning. Bolts of energy crackled between the fingers of his right hand and he pointed it towards the Grey Knight.
"Interesting," Voldus muttered. "No conduit and can manifest those things."
Harry just smiled and thrust his hand forward, sending bolts of energy towards the Grey Knight who didn't even bother moving or doing anything else. He just stood there as the energy charged towards him and then slammed into his armor, dancing on the surface of it, yet not getting past it.
"How?" Harry asked, his jaw hanging wide open. "That thing should have killed over a dozen of Marines, yet you stand here and seem alive."
"If you had asked you would have learned that all of the Grey Knights receive purity wards from the purest silver under their skin and that our armor is designed to protect us from the eldritch powers that can be called upon by the creatures of the Warp."
"I see," Harry said and looked at Voldus. "So how can I beat you?"
"That's for you to discover and I won't make it an easy thing for you."
Harry nodded and moments later felt a sudden spike in the temperature, he jumped to the side and he did it in a perfect moment to watch a pillar of flames hit the spot he just occupied. He looked in the direction of the Grey Knight and saw a faint trail of smoke in the air.
"Fire is the main weapon of my chapter," Voldus said. "It cleanses and burn the corruption, and let us banish creatures of the Warp back into their foul realm. And we show that in powers we use."
Harry nodded and charged at Voldus, his axe grasped in his hands, channeling psychic powers into his limbs to give them more strength and endurance he jumped into the air a feral howl leaving his mouth before bringing down his axe. Voldus didn't even move from his spot, he just shifted the halberd he was holding and blocked Harry's strike with it. Then the blade of the weapon handled by the Grey Knight glowed with an unearthly light and cleaved right through Harry's axe.
"Lesson number two, Nemesis weapons can cleave through normal weapons," Voldus said and kicked away Harry before advancing towards his laying form. "So you don't duel us in a contest of strength as we will always win." He sent a vicious kick towards Harry's form.
Harry rolled away, barely avoiding the kick and got up from the ground, pieces of an axe with which he trained for several months laying behind Voldus. He crouched on the sand of the arena and bared his fangs as a feral howl left his mouth, then he pounced onto the Grey Knight and somehow managed to surprise him. Voldus tripped and Harry landed on his form, pushing the Knight into the arena's floor. "Do you surrender?"
"No," Voldus said and sent a powerful punch towards Harry's crotch. "I don't surrender easily and you didn't even disarm me."
Harry felt the fist connect with the ceramite plate and the plate cracked, before more could happen he jumped away and landed on all fours. He didn't want to see what would happen if he let the fist cause more damage, but he knew that he wanted to keep his balls whole and intact, and getting treated with a punch from a Grey Knight wouldn't be a good thing for them.
"Don't assume that your enemy is defeated until you are sure," Voldus said and charged towards Harry. "Idea was sound, but if you did it with some daemon they would gut you out and eat your insides."
Harry nodded and braced for impact, hoping to survive the duel with the Grand Master. He managed to slow down the Grey Knight, but an exchange of blows that followed ended with Harry ending sprawled on the floor of the arena, his armor sporting several new cracks and dents.
"You're not bad," Voldus said, helping him to get up. "But that is for someone that's eighteen years old, I'm over three centuries old and fought enemies far more fearsome than you and most of your chapter."
Harry nodded, a scowl on his face as he walked to the place where remains of his axe were. "How am I supposed to train if you cleaved in half my weapon of choice?"
"I'll take you to the forges and you will explain to our artificers what do you expect from them," Voldus said and closed his eyes for a moment. "If they start working on it today they should be done with it in a week time and until that point I think we can aquire a basic axe for you. Not that you would use it much."
Harry nodded and followed Voldus through a maze of corridors that quickly descended below the ground, deep beneath the fortress and with each step they made he felt the temperature rise around them and soon even with the cooling systems of the armor he felt an uncomfortable warmth.
"We're getting close," Voldus explained.
After two more turns and few hundred steps they entered a large cavern in which dozens of artificers, Chapter serfs, Techmarines and Tech-Priests worked tirelessly forging new weapons of war and repairing old ones. In their unending tasks they were aided by hundreds of servitors. However when Voldus entered accompanied by Harry all of them ceased their work and the oldest one approached them.
"How may we serve the chapter and its warriors?" He asked and then shot a glance at the markings on the pauldrons of Harry's armor. "And what is he doing here?"
"He was allowed into the Citadel by a decision of Grand Masters and he will stay here for as long as it is necessary for his training and education to be completed. However that's not the reason why we are here, he needs a new weapon forged as the one he normally used was destroyed during a spar."
"Of course," the artificer nodded and switched his gaze to Harry. "What kind of a weapon that was?"
"A power axe forged on Fenris," Harry said.
"An axe, that will be a rather interesting challenge," the artificer said and looked at Voldus. "Should we make it the same way we do chapter's gear?"
"Yes," Voldus said. "He is as potent of a psyker as I am and if he doesn't receive the best, the Great Wolf might come knocking."
The artificer nodded, humming quietly. "In a week, maybe two you will have a new weapon, one that's a much better one than anything they could have forged in the forges of your chapter."
Harry wanted to scowl at those words, but a quick look from Voldus and the shift in his posture told Harry to stay calm and ignore it. "Of course, I understand and thank you for your willingness to forge a weapon that's not for the member of the chapter."
The artificer just huffed and walked away, getting back to his work. Harry wanted to ask questions, but Voldus didn't let him and simply walked out of the chamber, expecting Harry to follow him. Doubtlessly planning another part of the training for him.
o-0-o
Torin cleaned the blade of his power sword and looked around, the pirate ship was their, its occupants not expecting the fact that they managed to catch a ship with Space Marines. So once the Thunderhawk dropped them on the hull of the ship the whole fight was over before it truly begun. They blasted holes in the outer skin of the ship and dropped inside, starting to slaughter every pirate they came across and leaving in their tracks a trail of mutilated and torn bodies.
"That's too easy," he said.
"I also feel it was off," Valkoth said. "But that's for us to worry later, let's set up a beacon for a patrol of the Navy to show up and drag the trash to one of their bases. Our job is done and we can return onto the freighter."
Torin nodded and gathering his gear he checked that a beacon was installed and putting his helmet back onto his head they started return trip to the Thunderhawk that waited to take them to the freighter. If this trip was going that eventful he wondered what else they would catch as so far three times pirates tried boarding and three times they were slaughtered to the last man with their ships left for the Navy to collect.
o-0-o
A/N – Harry's axe and Nemesis weapons, he will get an axe similar in shape to one used by the Great Wolf, but a much deadlier one for the forces of Chaos and its worshippers.