~Four Future Queens~
~799. M30~
~Segmentum Ultima~
~Bucephelus~
~Three, Seven, Sixteen~
Ma and Pa had never tried to hide it from her. When she was old enough to understand, they told her that she came from the stars, and revealed a flowing stream when she landed. It was a source of idle wonder for her, but nothing much more. Being distracted at the job was a quick way to lose a finger to hungry machinery, so she had to focus then.
She worked in the kids sections for most of her life. Easy stuff, that wasn't too dangerous and wasn't too difficult. Mostly carrying stuff around for the adults. Handing tools off to people underneath machines. Fitting into crawl spaces and telling others what they saw inside. Cleaning and oiling parts. Simple tasks that let her learn the names of all the tools and machinery around her. It was only recently that she became big enough to do other things, like assembling components, sorting boxes, and a little bit of wiring.
Most people were too tired to do much more than eat and sleep when they got home, but not her. It took days of work to get her tired enough to fall asleep, which left her with time in the late hours before her next shift. She usually busied herself with more learning, reading the instruction manuals for various parts and machines, but that wasn't always enough to hold her attention.
Sometimes she just laid in bed and thought about things. Mostly about where she came from and why she was different from everyone around her. It was lonely, but she tried not to let that keep her down.
Pa's advice was always 'if you're too tired to think, you can't get down about it.', the problem with that being that Fulgrim took a lot longer to get tired, longer than her shifts were. Ma's advice was always 'find a cute boy to squeeze, and you won't be thinking about that soon enough.' The problem being the boys her age were all… little kids. Certainly not 'main squeeze' material as Ma would tiredly joke with a cup of caff in hand.
Pa always gave Ma a glare when she joked like that in front of her.
She had imagined all sorts of answers for where she came from. Maybe she came from a secret lab, programmed by men in white coats and energy measurements in hand. Maybe she came from a distant world, sent here to save her from some great calamity. Maybe she was summoned by some sorcerer, crafting in a ritual using blood and whatnot. Maybe she was the princess of a distant world, where things were colorful and people had time to do something other than work.
It had been half a year or about that since she had found out, and she still wasn't used to it all.
There were fifty people in the chamber, many of which constantly sent glances her way, making her reach for a hat that wasn't on her head. Her white hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and she was dressed in a robe that seemed fit for a company-commander more than a weird laborer girl like her. Seated upon a slab of golden metal that likely cost as much as a city on Chemos did, she felt precariously high.
Seated on the other leg, utterly unbothered by the stares, was her sister. Danu, who was younger than her, had confidence that Fulgrim couldn't muster. She was sitting with eyes open and curious, looking at the hologram being projected in front of them.
And of course, upon the words of the giant that they were sitting on the legs of. Her sorcerer-king father from a distant world, who ritually programmed her in a techno-sorcerous laboratory. Apparently her being sent away was the calamity, so she got that wrong at least.
As Ma often said, Life was funny that way.
By my hand, thy spirits and flesh was shaped. Know beyond peradventure this is truth.
It was difficult to describe his voice. It rolled like distant thunder. It rose and fell like chemical reservoirs. The vocabulary was hard to parse at times, old fashioned and archaic. It was gentle in the way a grand machine was gentle, by deliberate and precise control over its own mechanisms. An engine of massively restrained power.
"Mother?" Danu questioned bluntly, letting the voice wash over her without particular interest in its timbre. She was focused on the image before her, of their apparent true homeworld, a distant place named Terra. War-torn, but recovering. Massive structures built across its surface and mountains being carved out into new constructions. It looked like a much brighter place than Chemos.
The giant shifted slightly, letting the hologram linger. Fulgrim knew better than to worry about his displeasure now, but it was a near and instinctive thing. To have him pause in evaluation made her feel small and subject to great judgment. Danu, of course, was utterly unafraid of making errors, something she strived to emulate. It was hard to get better at something if you hesitated to practice for fear of failure. The only way she'd improve is if she was willing to make errors.
Manifold servants were at my disposal, aiding to monitor thy creation. However, they did not fulfill the roles of a human mother. None did. Thy mother-wombs were ones of artifice. Chambers of plasteel, brimming with primordial waters.
She wasn't particularly surprised to learn that she was apparently made in a vat, most people on Chemos were already. Being pregnant simply took too long when there was work to do.
She was glad she at least had this in common with Pa and Ma.
The giant rumbled for a moment, before raising a finger.
It is time for your lessons, my daughters.
Taking note of the time displayed on the hologram, she blinked before sliding off his massive leg. Raising her arms up, Danu slid down into them, and was then deposited onto the ground. They were all getting taller, much faster than humans would, but it didn't feel fast enough. Danu still wasn't quite tall enough to slide down like she could.
"Goodbye father. I will return."
Fulgrim gave her best smile. Ma always said it was ladylike to smile, and she promised Ma and Pa that she would do her best to be a proper lady. It's why she carried around tox-spray for grabby adults instead of beating them with her wrench, not ladylike to bludgeon folks black and blue.
Of course, if they wanted her to be a proper lady, they should've given her a lady-like name, frak it!
"See you again, Father." She bowed properly.
Fare ye well, my daughters. Father rumbled, his voice giving off the impression of warmth. It was hard to make out his face behind that near-constant glow of his eyes, a side-effect of using his psychic-powers he had once explained.
Grabbing Danu's hand to stop her from climbing down the front of the pyramid, Fulgrim walked around the side to go down the stairs actually meant for people.
…Honestly, why was their father a giant? He didn't explain that last time Danu asked. Ignoring that question just like she ignored the other, smaller giants clad in gold that walked with them, and all the stares of the people on them as they circled around to leave the helm, she thought about what to do.
Behind her, she could distantly hear the weird-looking woman with an unnerving stare call out to Father. "Lord Emperor, we will be arriving at Baal shortly."
"Danu, let's visit Madonna." Their newest-found sister was dramatic, loud, boastful, and from what Fulgrim could tell, trying her best to impress them. Danu was silent for a long time, her sister was far from impulsive, and tried her best to consider things before taking a course of action.
It was a very cute habit.
"Lessons." She spoke. Fulgrim turned towards one of the golden giants that was escorting them and spoke with her best smile.
"May we visit our sister before our lessons?"
Staring down at her for a time, the giant eventually nodded. Turning back to look at Danu, she waited for her sister to consider the topic again.
"Okay." Danu eventually declared.
—
Red sister was loud and said many unimportant things.
"Ohohoh! You see how your defenses crumble before my artifice?! Tremble in despair at what I have wrought!" Red sister boasted loudly as her small construct rampaged around in Danu Dorn's representation-fields. Danu Dorn had not adequately defended that section of her construct-settlement, and now it would be damaged for some time.
To encourage and develop their technical and strategic skills, father had given them a game he claimed was a gift to them from his friend. Each player held control over a holographic territory, their goal was to expand their territory and dominate their competitors, whether through alliances and diplomacy, or conquest and war.
Many variables could be controlled in the game, including the designs of the tiny virtual robots that acted as citizens and warriors for each territory. The game was turn-based, allowing each player time to alter these variables and enact them, while ensuring each player received a fair allotment of time.
It was her favorite game. Tallest sister preferred sparring and development. Taller sister liked to play, but also preferred practicing physical skills and practical engineering. Danu Dorn liked both of those things very much as well.
Red sister liked reading books, practicing dramatic declarations, showing off her psychic powers, and this game. She played much like Danu Dorn imagined a man who was slowly, methodically being fed to a great ice-shark would play like.
Taking her turn, Danu ignored the boasting of red sister and typed in the various commands on her interface-console.
Recognizing the fields as lost without significant investment of manpower, she turned all of her artillery upon the area. This would ensure her representation-grain would be lost entirely, but also ensure the destruction of red sisters' large new war construct. Then, she commanded her flying military force to fly above the reach of red-sisters' laser towers and drop their payloads upon her factories.
Pressing the confirmation button, Danu Dorn watched blankly as red-sister started to panic and then writhe in almost-agony as the holographic bombshells began to rain.
"No, no, no! No wait! That isn't fair! You're destroying your own fields, what are you doing! No! My king-hydra! Please don't die! No, wait! Grand annihilators hit the drone-drakes! They're right there! NO! NOO! MY WORKSHOPS!"
Red-sister collapsed against the console-interface, shaking with despair as her tactical errors were demonstrated again. Now that she knew where her errors were, she could improve upon them, and not make as many errors later. Grandpa Dorn had taught her that, and he was smart, so she would listen to him.
Red-sister recovered, throwing herself up to point a finger at her, she began to loudly declare. "YOU! You know that this means war?! For the death of my beloved king-hydra, I can do nothing more than destroy you! He will have vengeance!"
Danu looked down to the title inscribed on the chest-box that the game came stored within, 'Little War : a game for boys from twelve years of age to one hundred and fifty and for that more intelligent sort of girl who likes boys' games and books' inscribed in Terran script and dated to 913.M21. The date on the game meant that it was very old. Looking back at red-sister, she replied.
"Yes." It was indeed War.
Behind her, taller-sister sighed. Before her, red-sister's hands twitched in frustration. It would not be her turn for at least two more turns, and now it was time for their lessons.
Walking around the table, she grabbed her sister's hand and began to pull her away from the table.
"Gah! Unhand me you brute!" Red-sister tried to tug away, but she didn't exercise enough.
"Lesson time." She explained, not bothering to let go. "I am not a brute." She corrected.
"Wait! I need my scepter!"
A custodian was already behind red-sister, scepter in hand and extended to her. Danu let go of her hand, and red-sister took her scepter sheepishly before spinning around and raising it high. "Let us be off! My sorcerous sight tells me that new knowledge awaits us!"
"We are not in the auditorium. You cannot see the presentation through walls." Danu Dorn pointed out as they began to walk. She reached up to grab taller-sister's hand. It was warm.
"Kuekuekue. You have much to learn about the dark arts, young foolish sister!" Red-sister's hand was grabbed by taller-sister, and although she did not offer it initially, she did not pull away. Was Danu Dorn's hand cold?
"Yes." That was correct, she did have much to learn about dark arts. She would ask father about them during their next warpcraft lesson. She was curious what effect illumination had on psychic effects.
Taller-sister exhaled again. She was holding her breath by mistake, most likely.
—
She was taller and stronger than all but the largest and most brutish of the chem-junkies on Cthonia. The ones that were already brutal giants, and had injected themselves with a lethal cocktail of enhancers all for a final hurrah of monstrous power. Those gangers could shatter stone with their fists and kick through iron bars, even as their bones broke and organs melted.
She was stronger than any one short of that on Cthonia. It was upon leaving that she realized just how weak that actually was.
The open palm slammed into her chest, sending her flying back to crash against the wall of the sparring chamber, dozens of feet crossed in an instant and stunning her for a brief moment. Ignoring the stars in her eyes, she gave the wall a harsh elbow, shaking the bones in her arm but sending her away. Rolling along the wall to the side, she avoided the second palm-strike that impacted the wall like a cannon.
The air shook with the impact. The bald bronze-skinned man pushed off to recover, and she followed. Hesitation was defeat, and bruises could be accepted in exchange for decisive victory.
Not that she's won yet.
She swiped out with a kick, aiming for his legs to knock him off balance. The bronze-skinned man gave a tiny hop. Her leg passed through air. She threw her weight with it.
His foot rocketed forwards. Having thrown her weight the moment before, she had spun just enough to avoid the foot. Said foot was accompanied by a rush of air intense enough to make her hair wave wildly about.
She was facing the ground now, propelled by the rotation of her kick. Hands braced against the metal floor. Her body coiled up like a great spring. He couldn't avoid this attack, suspended in the air like he was. A three-stage set-up.
And then all at once, she uncoiled, snapping out into a double-footed mule kick behind her.
Her feet impacted hard flesh.
Like lightning, the bronze-skinned man shot away, crashing against the wall of the chamber himself. She could hear his impact, a heavy and weighty boom as he met the metal walls of the sparring room.
She quickly moved to recover…
Your efforts are bearing fruit. A great voice rumbled out from the door of the sparring room. It was weighty and massive, like the steps of the giant war machines that the machine priests operated. She hastened her efforts to stand up, turning and…
Boom, a foot smashed down next to her hand, the warrior attached to it stopping himself immediately with a great effort, muscles tensed with exertion.
The bronze-skinned man was right behind her, open palm stopped moments from slamming her back into the floor from his position. Her eyes widened as she staggered back slightly, taking in the situation again.
She had kicked him into the… wall. Damnit. Too close to the ceiling, he had pushed off from the top to recover quicker, then kicking off the wall once he was next to the ground to ready an attack before she was ready. Were it not for her father's interruption, she'd be suffering yet another defeat.
She had been one of the meanest girls on the southern-side turf back on Cthonia. Up in the stars she was still small-fry. She grimaced as she rose, watching her tutor fall into a proper bow towards the giant that had entered the room.
Custodian Aristocles was one of their tutors, teaching them history, rhetoric, and politics. It just so happened that he was also one of the premiere unarmed combatants among the Custodians. When it came to general combat, he was declared as being 'average among the golden host'.
Average. She had yet to earn a single victory over him in any form of combat. The difference between a street brawler and a professional warrior she supposed.
Grunting, she stopped complaining to herself and focused on the giant in the room.
The gang called her stargirl, because she crashed from the stars above. Makes sense that she had a family out there, but she never really bothered considering it before then. She was busy trying to get slick enough to do jobs, and eventually earn a kill-name. No point in dwelling on what might be out there, because she sure as shit wasn't going up there anytime soon.
She was wrong, as it turned out. She was apparently some kind of artificial superhuman murder-princess, made to kick ass and take worlds for her creator.
Really though, she wondered why the hell he needed her when he had a few hundred of these Custodians lying around back on Terra. One of these guys could smear every ganger on Cthonia if they had enough time. What the frak was so special about her?
Her father was smiling at her, through that ever-present glow in his eyes, she could tell. She huffed out to rid herself of the whining, and smiled back, walking over to speak to him easier. "I'd say so, yeah. Pretty soon I'll be giving you lessons."
The custodian was too polite to smile, but her father gave a weighty chuckle at that. I anticipate that day. Turning to the custodian, he spoke again. Custodian Aristocles. You are required among my forces upon Baal. With fire and war it must be cleansed. Gather thy wargear, go to the field-commander, and muster according to his orders.
She frowned slightly at that, worried. The custodian bowed again and left promptly, and she waited until he was gone to question. "I thought Baal is where our next sister would be found, why does it need to be cleansed?"
Her father gave a small exhale in frustration, a massive thing that made her hair fall back. Apparently he had eaten something like spiced grox recently. We have arrived too early. She has not landed yet.
She nodded, understanding where this was going. "So we're clearing out everything that might endanger her when she arrives, and setting up an outpost to send word when she does." Gangers did similar things, usually for getting first servings of shipments from automated production facilities.
He nodded. Indeed. A shield-host of my Custodians and a hundred ships will remain in this place, to found a stronghold and city ready for her arrival.
A hundred? That was more than he left at any other world so far. She frowned lightly, considering something.
"Father. How do you know where each of us will arrive? Scouts or some psychic thing we haven't gotten to yet?"
Her father was silent for a time, considering the question. She raised her brow as she saw how deeply he was thinking about the topic. This was serious then, and that brought her a small amount of worry.
Eventually, rumbling and deliberate, her father spoke again.
I know by the scouting-efforts of I Kill Evil. Your older brother.
She blinked, feeling slightly stunned by the revelation. "We have a brother?"
...Wait, what was his name?
Her father nodded. You have two brothers. I Kill Evil, and I Bring Light. I Bring Light busies himself with slumber in the lower chambers of the ship when not at war. He will be aiding the purgation of Baal. I Kill Evil is in a distant territory, busy with conquest. You will be allowed to meet both in time, if you desire.
Furrowing her brow, she deliberately ignored their names for a moment, and focused on another factor. "Why did you not tell us we had brothers before?"
Her father looked at her, and raised an imperious brow. The topic did not arise.
"...Ah." That made sense, she supposed.