Ugly
Inquisitor Ricardo didn't even try to hide his skepticism with the entire situation when Georgia stopped speaking.
"And you all just lived happily ever after?" Ricardo asked snidely. "As sisters?"
"No." Kay was staring off into space, her face pensive. "Alicia was a hard woman. She was a good friend, but a hard woman. Her experiences had molded her into a weapon that the Imperium needed so badly after the Age of Apostasy." Her gaze turned to he floor. "She accepted me for who and what I was even though I knew it cost her when she discovered I couldn't die. She accepted that I was human and fallible, just as she was. Even if I wasn't born the same way she was, I served the Emperor with every breath and that was enough for her."
"But not for everyone." The Inquisitor's words were not a question.
"No." Kay shook her head. "There are many who would call me abomination or mutant even knowing that the Emperor made me." She sighed. "Maybe even more so knowing."
"Are you the only one?" Ricardo asked.
"As far as I have been able to determine, yes." Kay looked at Georgia who frowned. "Georgia here was tasked with finding out if there were any more references to people like me in sister records as penance for trying to drug me and sample my blood. She didn't find anything in the three years that took her."
"I am not perfect, Sister Kay." Georgia demurred. Kay made a sour noise and the Hospitallar nodded. "None of the data searched I did found anything but our records are not complete." Ricardo looked at her but Kay shook her head.
"No, Inquisitor." Kay said firmly. "She doesn't deserve to be dragged into your darkness." That was a firm rebuke and Ricardo looked at her. "We do need you, but leave her alone." There was an implicit 'or else' in that phrase.
"You.. need me?" Ricardo asked slowly. "Why?" He shook his head. "If you can subvert technology as easily as you seem to be able to..." He paused. "The Mechanicus don't like you, do they?"
"Define 'like'." Kay groaned halfheartedly. "Some of them seem to want to drag me to Mars in physical bondage to work for them. Others want to dissect me. Again." She grimaced. Georgia made a face too. Karne stepped forward and laid the hand that was not holding her sword on Kay's shoulder. Kay smiled at the veteran sister and nodded as Karne stepped back to the wall.
"Again?" Ricardo wasn't sure he wanted to know. What little he knew of the Tech-Priests of Mars did not endear him to them or vice versa.
"The Tech-priests were surprised by the tank I showed up in." Kay said quietly. "It had a number of technologies in it that they had never seen before. They reacted as they usually do with such. With greed although they don't acknowledge such base human emotions. They confiscated it and demanded me. Alicia told them to go pound sand. They insisted, she shot a couple of them." Kay shook her head. "They um… They kidnapped me and she led a recovery team. Said team was not gentle about breakage when they blew their way into the Mechanicus facility where I was being 'examined'. I had been torn to pieces by then and I died in Alicia's arms. She was justifiably upset and none of the tech priests survived her wrath. She was even more upset when I came back a few minutes later. It was the first time and I was just as shocked as she was. Other sisters called it a miracle, but I think Alicia came within a hair's breath of killing me that day. I know I nearly blew my own brains out a day later after a lot of thought and prayer." She slumped. "Not that it would have done any good."
"They dissected you alive?" Ricardo asked softly. That was totally in character for tech-priests he knew. He simply wanted confirmation.
"Alive. Aware. Screaming." Kay's voice was flat. "And that wasn't the last time. They have caught me three times since then and done it all three times. The last time, another tech priest was arguing with the one dissecting me, saying they couldn't detect anything. That I should go to Mars instead. When I reintegrated, I ran like hell and didn't look back."
"I can't blame you for that." Ricardo gave an involuntary shiver. He had seen horrors first hand and knew very well the pain of injuries and near death. But to actually die over and over? Ouch.
"That wasn't the worst." Kay was grim now. "I spent a long time with the Sisters. I changed Orders every time I died. Sometimes I simply hid as a regular battle sister, sometimes I worked for them in various other capacities. I used to tell every Canoness who I was. Until the Sacred Rose." She shivered and Georgia moved to stand beside her again, offering silent support.
"Do I want to know?" Ricardo asked.
"I did as I usually did, went to the Canoness in charge as soon as I arrived at the convent and identified myself. The Canoness demanded that I prove my faith by submitting to fire. Not the first time. Unpleasant as hell, but needed on occasion to prove my identity. I stepped into the fire willingly." Kay sighed. "I did and came back. She ordered it again. She had sisters ready to hold me in place while she burned me with an Inferno pistol. I never flinched, moved or cried out as she burned me alive. I proved my faith again and again and it didn't matter to her. She wanted me gone and I wouldn't stay gone. When she tried to do it the fourth time, I fled and have never gone back to any of their convents."
"Hard to blame you." Ricardo allowed. "But...why?"
"She saw Kay as a threat to her political power." Karne said with a growl. "Sisters are supposed to be above such petty things. She wasn't. Kay fled to our Order on the fringe of the Imperium a hundred and twenty years ago. She spent a great deal of time with us, teaching, training, helping those of us with crisis of faith. None of us knew who she was, just that she was rock in an insane universe and we all loved her for it. We all knew she was old, but none of us had a real clue about her except the Canoness who suspected, but didn't know."
"Which is why I had to leave, Karne." Kay said with a sigh. "I am no leader. When you lot put my name down as a Canoness candidate to replace Carmen when she started talking retirement? I knew I had to leave."
"She disappeared and we have been looking for her ever since." Karne explained when the Inquisitor looked at her. "The Emperor guided us here to Georgia's convent just as your message requesting and requiring Sororitas involvement came in. We offered our aid and since the Order of Serenity is non-militant, they accepted our aid."
"The Emperor or something darker." Kay said with a growl. She gave herself a shake. "That is neither here nor there. I have a duty to the Emperor and I came to Caligari to fulfill that duty. I taught Georgia and many others to have something to do while I searched."
"Do tell." Ricardo did not move. That wouldn't be wise with the sisters so keyed up. He did feel a tinge of anticipation.
"I may be the only one of my kind." Kay was quiet, reflective for a moment. "But the Emperor was always a planner. He planned on there being more like me. He planned on using us as weapons in his war to reunite humanity. He never quibbled about that when he explained to me what my purpose was."
For some reason, it wasn't ludicrous to hear Kay talking about the Emperor in such a way. It felt right as odd as that was. Ricardo started a self diagnostic just in case he was being manipulated.
"So… You are a literal Daughter of the Emperor. That explains the Sisters' devotion." Ricardo said slowly. All of the sisters nodded. Kay just looked at him. "And you were attacked by Eldar...why?"
"I made a serious mistake once." Kay sighed deeply. "I was ambushed and cornered by a Mechanicus team. A force of Eldar were in the trap with me and didn't see me. They thought the Mechanicus trap was for them. They fought hard and well. I didn't think I could do it, but desperate times and all that. My ability with tech is not limited to Imperial tech." Ricardo felt his eyes widen and he fought to control them as Kay frowned. "The Eldar were just as shocked as I was when I hopped into one of their Falcons and flew away in it. Some of them must have escaped the Mechanicus because I have been dodging Eldar strike forces every since. Sometimes, I am not fast enough and we get messes like what sent me to that medical facility."
"Can you control other xenos tech?" Ricardo asked, curious despite himself.
"I haven't tried." Kay admitted. "The Eldar tech felt odd. Not right. I haven't dared anything else. Xenotech is forbidden by the Emperor. I did three years of penance for using that Eldar vehicle for ten minutes and I still feel soiled to this day." The look on her face was pure disgust.
"Well, that is good." Ricardo mused. "But what is your duty then?"
"There is a tank configured like the one I was found in buried on a planet in this sector." Kay said quietly. "That is nothing new. People bury military stores all the time. This however, is different. I received a message sent in a way that no one else could detect, that the depot where the tank is hidden is being slowly looted. By who and for what? I have no idea. But the last thing we need is some chaos cult getting their hands on something like a Baneblade that can be operated by one person." Ricardo stared at her in horror and she nodded. "I don't know what kind of tank it is, but I doubt it is a Chimera. The Emperor didn't go for small gestures."
"No." The Inquisitor mused. "We cannot assume anything but the worst. What would you want from me and what would you offer?" Karne and her sisters immediately tensed, but Kay held up a hand. "Hypothetically of course."
Anyone else, he would simply demand the information and take it if not offered immediately, using whatever force was needed. Now? That would be a very bad idea.
"Hypothetically of course..." Kay had a small smile on her face now. "I am one woman. Unarmed and alone in a warzone I wouldn't last very long at all. I would need an escort to the depot and a means of excavating the tank. As for what I can offer? The tank is the Emperor's and I cannot give away his materials. Anything else in the depot would be fair game and the one I woke up in had all kinds of stuff in it. Some of which the Imperial Guard nearly swooned over." Ricardo just sat and waited. Kay smiled. "Including a set of intact STC fragments."
At that, Ricardo sat up straight. A Standard Template Construct (STC) system was an advanced, artificially intelligent computer created during the Dark Age of Technology and said to have contained the sum total of human scientific and technological knowledge. Wars had been fought over such fragments because they usually provided invaluable pieces of easy to build technology. The Land Crawler used by farmers across the Imperium and the Land Raider made famous by the Adeptus Astartes had both had their designs relearned from hidden STC fragments. They were the main focus of Adeptus Mechanicus explorator teams as well as countless Rogue Trader expeditions into the unknown. One could literally make more wealth than could be spent in even an enhanced human's lifetime if such ready to make and easy to use designs were found again.
"That would interest any number of people." Ricardo admitted. "I have my duty or it might interest me as well."
"Oh, come on." Kay waved a negligent hand his way. "Tell me your bosses give you everything you need when you need it and you never have to back channel stuff or buy it from dubious sources and I will laugh in your face." At that, Ricardo snorted. It might be a bad idea, but he found he sort of liked Kay. He didn't trust her, but he might be starting to like her.
"All right." Ricardo said slowly. "I am not immune to such a lure. Just the thought of having such funds to prosecute my own investigations would appeal to me. But mainly, keeping such weapons out of the hands of the Ruinous Powers appeals to me more."
"Agreed." Kay blew out a deep breath. "Now, as for what we will need…? I know the planet and generally where, but we need to find out more about the location and then we will need to both secure it and hold it against all comers until we can extract the tank."
"And then what?" Ricardo asked. "You cannot drive it off planet, can you?"
"No." Kay looked sad. "I don't want to leave it in your hands either, but better yours than the Ruinous Powers." Karne stepped forward and Kay shook her head. "Karne, the Sisters have no organic means of carrying heavy armor like that and lots of people will object very strongly if I hand such over to someone like Canoness Lily." Ricardo looked blank again and Karne snarled.
"The Canoness of the Sacred Rose won't touch you again!" Karne said savagely.
"I will not be the cause of strife between sisters, Karne." Kay said in a very quiet, but very firm voice. "Not now, not ever." Her quiet should have been over-matched by the armored sister's anger. It wasn't.
"Gah!" Karne stepped back, bowing her head. "We will ward you."
"I have no doubt that you will do your best." Kay smiled to reassure the discomfited sister and Karne relaxed a little. Just a little. "But where we are going, we need more than five weapons, no matter how well trained and motivated. The planet is a warzone."
"Which planet?" Ricardo asked, pulling up a map of the sector on a screen nearby.
"Lacaon VI." Kay replied instantly. Ricardo stared at her and she nodded. "And yes, I know."
"The entire Lacaon system is a hellhole." Ricardo said softly. "The Ruinous Powers have mounted major offensives across the entire area."
"They do nor want to give up the lands they stole when the systems were cut off." Kay said with a sigh. "It won't change anything in the end except the body counts. They will not hold those systems."
"Lacaon VI is a mess and a half." Ricardo was shaking his head as he perused the data on the screen. "Three Imperial regiments were corrupted and the responding orbital strikes decimated the world's remaining population."
"While the Dark Gods laugh in glee." Kay said quietly. "The Emperor's light will reach down to those worlds. It just may take some time." She blew out a deep breath, "But the last thing we need is for any of the traitors to find such a treasure trove."
"What would they do?" Georgia asked. Everyone looked at her and she flushed. "I am new to war zones."
"The military hardware, they would use." Kay said quietly. "The tech? They would use it if they can or destroy it to keep it out of Imperial hands if they cannot." Georgia looked horrified and Kay nodded. "I would sooner see the entire area destroyed than any of it in the hands of Chaos filth but orbital bombardment won't even scratch such a depot as the one I slept in. The Emperor built deep. Even if we kill all the ones on the surface, more will survive in the tunnels. We need to go clean them out of there."
"If there were Astartes available, I would send them." Ricardo said with a nod. "They could do the job."
"They would also preserve the tech." Kay allowed. "None are available?"
"No." Ricardo said sourly. "All the Space Marines in the Lacoan system are deployed elsewhere. I could ask for a priority redirect, but I would have to give a concrete reason." He looked a question at Kay who slowly shook her head.
"They don't know about me." Kay said softly. "It is probably better if they don't. I don't know how they would react and I would rather not find out." Karne nodded fervently and Kay shook her head. "The Emperor warned me against hubris. I may be his daughter, but I am not him. I am not his equal in skill or power. I have no desire to rule anyone but myself and he will always be my Lord."
Georgia smiled at Kay as both she and the seated sister did the same religious movement in unison.
"Admirable." Ricardo was focused on his screen, his fingers flying over barely seen controls. "But without Space Marines, this gets much more difficult."
"I can call for more sisters." Karne said with a savage smile. "You know we would fight for you, Kay."
"Did you hear a word I just said, Karne?" Kay demanded angrily. Karne paused, looking shocked. "I am no leader! I am certainly not the Emperor."
"None of us are claiming you are." Karne said with a look at her compatriots who all shook their heads. "You are an honored elder Sister and you offer the Imperium and Emperor your body and soul. We respect for that, no more."
"Karne, I cannot lead." Kay said softly. "Even if I wanted to, I cannot. The Inquisitor certainly wouldn't follow me."
"No." Ricardo allowed.
"But I know a bunch of people who would follow me."