Here, have this.

Reviews and criticism are welcome. Again if the lore feels off, then don't be afraid to let me know.

Disclaimer. I don't own 40k.


I found myself waking with a start and I was in the med bay. My thoughts tumbled out sporadically. I rubbed my temples as I sorted them out. My head pounded as if a tiny space marine was running around inside there with a thunder hammer while screaming loud obscenities. I remembered getting flattened by those black armored stormtroopers, and knocked out by a Callidus assassin. Tandem had to be Inquisition or a very well connected Rogue Trader. Possibly both. If that was even his real name. Just great.

I looked around the medicare seeing the sterile white room with all the usual fixings of such a place. It looked like the medicae wing of the monastery. A hospitaller, with half a face covered in burn scars, and the otherside just starting to get age lines and crow's feet approached me. She looked about age with the Canoness.

"Nice to see you're awake. You have a minor concussion, so don't try to stand without assistance." She went over and shined a light in my eye.

"You'll be fine, but you'll need a few days rest. That is an order. Not even the Canoness can overrule me on this." She grabbed my cheeks and pulled my face close to her face like I was a small child. "Now if the next words to come out of your mouth are "but, Sister Hospitaller Fraye…" I will sedate you for the duration of the time I set down for you to rest. Are we clear?"

I did my best to nod while I had my cheeks pinched.

"Glad we understand each other. Now that you are conscious." She injected me with something and I was surprised to feel the pain subside almost instantly. The Hospiltaller held up her hand to her vox bead.

"Canoness, the Sister Superior is awake. Do you wish for me to take her report? Understood." She let her hand fall down to her side.

"What about my team?" I asked.

"Sisters Helena and Delilah are fine. They woke up before you. I ordered some bedrest, but they are fine. Sister Cally is missing." I almost leapt off the bed. Only to be held back by the servo arm that extended from the Hospitaller's backpack.

"Cally is missing!" I shouted as I tried to sit up. then grabbed my head as it lulled to the side. I proceeded to throw up. How hard did that callidus assassin hit me? The mechanical arm on the sister's backpack full of churirugeon's tools held up a tin for me to puke up stomach acid into. I was able to sit up after that.

"They never listen." Fraye muttered.

I heard the whine of power armor as the Canoness entered the room.

"Fraye, I see your bedside manner is as tender as ever." The Canoness quipped ruefully.

"These krakbrained toy warriors you train often need a stern hand to keep them from charging off again, Lena." There was a hint of comradery in Fraye's voice. They must have known each other well if they called each other by their first names.

"Well, it is the warriors way to want to jump from one battle to the next." She approached me.

"Tell me what happened." she said. So I told her everything, Tandem not being a Cardinal, The Tech priest, the black armored warriors, and the Callidus assassin.

"You are lucky she didn't punch clean through your skull. From what I heard about the assassins, you are very lucky." The Canoness remarked. "As for Cally, if the Inquisition has her, there isn't much we can do at this time. Despite what the Bishop thinks. He was ranting so hard the Canoness Commander had to practically shove him on the shuttle." There was an edge in her voice of restrained rage at the prospect of one of her sisters being abducted. She wasn't the only one. I wanted to pulp Tandem's skull like that psyker in the last raid.

I wanted to rage and storm out of the medicae and chase down Tandem, but I would just fall over. Thanks "Sister Elina." I decided to focus on what I could at the moment.

"Did he say what he was looking for? We found an excavation site near the chapel where they left your squad and the thunderhawk." The Canoness said. "We found one of the pilots tied up in her room. She was alive, but had been sedated and nearly dehydrated."

"You would know better than I would. Only thing that I can think of is something connected to Vulkan and the Emperor's visit." I said thinking back to the conversation Cally and Tandem had before entering the fire.

"That fits, when he first arrived, he requested a whole slew of information. He said he wanted to know about this world. I saw no reason to disallow him from entering the archives. His arrival caused quite a stir. I should have seen something in him." She said with a hint of guilt. I felt much the same. I should have done more.

"Open," I heard the medicae's voice. I looked over to the Hospiltaller, seeing her hold up a thermometer.

"Is that really necessary?" I said.

"I could always stick it up the other end." she said seriously.

I compiled without issue, not wanting to see if the threat was genuine. I opened my mouth and she stuck it in. The thermometer clicked after a moment and the Hospiltaller moved away again.

"Do you mind Fraye?" The Canoness said irritably.

"You are in my domain, Canoness," Fraye said with a haughty attitude. "Maybe you are due a check up yourself?"

"Just let the girl finish her debriefing, so I could get back to work." the Canoness sighed.

"You know," The hospitaller said as she went by me once again and set down a clean puke tray next to me. "She has always been like this. Always all business. Even before we were married." the Hospiltaller said. Birds of a feather- wait what?

"Wait," I said, holding up my hands. My arms still felt heavy, but I managed to convey my point. "So we, the Sororitas, can get married?"

The Canoness and the Head Hospiltaller both shared an amused glance.

"Let's get back on track shall we?" the Canoness said with a latent bit of mirth.

"Right," I said, trying to think more about the battle near the chapel. It could barely be called a skirmish really. "He had some warriors with him. Dressed in all black. One way visors, and a really nice looking trench coat. He called them the "Quadruplets.""

The Canoness thought for a moment. "Fraye," She looked over to see the Hospitaller organizing a work station. "Are you thinking what I am thinking?"

"Yes, it sounds like them." Fraye said. Then she briefly muttered about one of her novitiates not placing tools back in the right order on the med station.

"Who?" I said.

"Lucifer Blacks. We came across them once out by Flavia 7, was it?" The Canoness put a hand to her chin in thought.

"Hadria," Fraye corrected.

The Canoness nodded, "That was it. They are more or less some of the best soldiers in the Imperium. Seen it first hand too. They were on some mission for the High Lords. They were something else."

I remembered them now, they were those guys from the Legion book that managed to get a hit in on a frakking primarch. I shivered knowing full well I would have been dead if they weren't holding back.

"I see," I said, sounding a bit better about getting my ass kicked. I mean Lucifer Blacks would charge a Custodes if ordered and would at least die well enough to earn the Custodes respect. Which was saying something.

"This also means that we can't move against Tandem to get Cally back. If he had the pull to get Lucifer Blacks then he is too powerful. The point is moot as whatever he was looking for he seems to have found it. The Rogue Trader vessel that arrived earlier that day, picked him up and departed recently. They are heading for the Straights to find whatever madness he dug up here." One of the Cannoness' hands balled into a fist at the thought of one of her sister's being abducted. I realized I had been grasping the gurney rail with the same fury. Even worse was the fact we couldn't storm the ship to get her back. It would be long gone by the time we were voidbound.

I nodded. Lucifer Blacks guarded the Imperial Place on Terra. If Tandem could get them to work for him, I might never see Cally again.

"Has the Palatine found anything yet?" I asked, remembering the situation in the sewers.

"She was last seen entering the sewers not long after you were reassigned. Were constantly monitoring the vox, but they went out of range a day ago. The Palatine knows what she is doing. She'll dispatch a runner if necessary."

That begged another question. I looked at the Hospitaller, "How long have I been out, Sister?"

Fraye was still rearranging a novitiate's workspace. "18 hours, give or take."

"I'll give the Palatine six more hours to get back before I go down there by myself." The Canoness said. I saw Fraye nearly drop a bottle of antiseptic, at the proclamation. "Now," she looked at me sternly. Get some rest."

"I am not sure I can. Not with Cally gone or what is going on in the sewers." I felt something sting my arm briefly. "What the…?" I began to feel tired all of sudden. I fell back on the bed, feeling the hospitaller's hand press against my back to slow me as I laid down.

I then saw Fraye walk up to the Canoness, and pull the armored warrior into a passionate kiss. I heard the Head Hospitallers say something to the Canoness who just nodded seriously, but I couldn't make it out as I had already drifted back into a deep slumber.


1 Day Later.

After two squads of my sisters were flayed alive and had their skin displayed on buildings outside the courthouse, my worst fears were realized. It was the Night Lords. Luckily for me, the Canoness managed to convince Fraye to let me go a day early considering my concussion was all but gone now. Strange, but I wasn't going to question it. She did time it on her chrono down to the last second of course.

Now that the assailants were known the Order or the Sacred Flame, the Arbities, and the Gang Alliance got the PDF to get off their asses. To be fair the PDF had been waiting for confirmation. They didn't want to scratch themselves thin. The Navy had been reporting that their Navigators had seen flares of increased activity in the warp. Word was sent to the Imperial Guard on the fortress world of Aurelia.

The Bishop left the system while I was out, leaving only the Canoness Commander behind. She took up some of the Canoness' duties around the monastery and the abbey. The Bishop was incensed and was going to the Elceisarch himself on Terra about the matter of an Inquisitor impersonating a Cardinal.

There was an undercurrent of relief that all the battle sisters here currently were blooded. Though we were due to get more novices from the Schola, I was glad they weren't here quite yet. Then again transhuman dread was still on the table. I wasn't sure how I would react. I dreaded the fact my first encounter with Astartes would be against the Traitor variety.

The Dialogus were even roused from their tower, to help analyze data. I had seen them around the abbey every once in a while, but they kept to themselves. No idea why. Cally who was somehow friends with everyone said it is because they preferred books and scrolls over people. In other words they were a bunch of nerds. Not untrained ones though they were good shots if their range scores were any indication.

Now my job was to help prepare the defenses with what was left of my squad. Since we were down two, we were still technically operationally effective, but the Palatine was heading back to the monastery. So sending us out was pointless.

I was in the middle of that when the vox was littered with traffic. The Warp unleashed a massive fleet. Around the same size as the Imperium force. Problem was the Imperium's force was halved by the patrols who were scouting the Straights. I had just gotten my armor back from the tech priests. They given the job of repairing it to a younger priest. She seemed nervous that she wasn't able to repair it well enough in the time she had with it. I told her it would have to be enough.

I charged out of the room.

Del and Hel were on my heels as soon as they saw me, having followed me there. I tapped into the vox. I heard chatter that Palatine had just arrived. It sounded like we might deploy to other parts of the planet. I didn't catch much more as I neared the command and control center.

I all but slid into the room. A power armored hand stopped me. I looked to see a fully clad Seraphim holding me up.

"Just what are you doing, Sister Superior?" She said, I recognized the voice.

"Celestian Sarah. Nice wargear. I wanted to know what was going on." I said.

"Promoted up one rung, and already she thinks she can bother Canoness with trifles." Sarah sounded dismissive, and a bit amused especially when she saw the look of realization on my face. I didn't want to be seen as that kind of person, but my worries and impatience got the better of me.

"Apologies," I said bowing my head in shame, "I got caught up in the moment when I heard the vox."

"Understandable, you and your squad do, while blooded, still have a bit to learn."

Sarah put a hand to her vox. She listened, "Looks like the fleet in orbit is doing their best hold while they wait for the scout fleets to trickle in. We will have to hold out in the meantime as many dropships are breaking the atmosphere to land in the city and the surrounding countryside. The PDF is holding for now, but the attacks on the city by the traitor astartes has begun in earnest. People are panicking."

That seemed like the Night Lords profile.

"Are we going into the city to quell unrest? I asked.

"No, with Arbities strength so diminished it is all they can do to just hold out. And the PDF is spread even thinner." Sarah listened. I would have too but vox was acting funky. Maybe the young tech was right about needing a little time. I gave it a light tap. Anymore and my armor would destroy it. It helped. The vox traffic filtered in better. It wasn't good. The fleet of Chaos vessels was double the size with a couple traitor astartes vessels mixed in. With so many ships on patrol it wasn't looking good.

"Go see what the Palatine needs from you. She just entered the vehicle bay with her force." The Seraphim waved me along. I did so.

It was a stupid move, but I was hoping to see the layout of the upcoming battle. We broke into a light jog, weaving through the familiar halls with ease. We met the Palatine as she crossed through one of the gardens.

"Palatine," I stood at attention. "The Abbey defenses are set and ready to repel any who renounced the God-Emperor's light." I said.

"Good," she bid me to follow. "Where is Sister Calamity?" She said, noticing I was short a squad member.

"Cardinal Tandem showed himself to be a spy, and an Inquisitor. I was unable to prevent him from escaping." I said, failing not to bite down my anger. "He abducted Cally."

The Palatine nodded, and thought for a moment. "Sister Tanya, and Sister Ventra." They marched up.

"Yes, Palatine," she echoed.

"I am assigning you both to Sister Superior Rylanor's squad." she said and looked back to me, "I want you to check in with the Dialogus, and escort any remaining in the tower to the Furnace Hall. Then find me afterwards." I nodded.

"Some of them are good shots, they might be useful." I suggested.

"No, none have been truly trained for combat. They would be a hindrance to order about even if their aim is true." That was a fair point.

I didn't question further, and we set off, stopping at the nearest armory, to allow Tanya and Ventra stock up on ammo and promethium flasks.

"The rest of your squad," I said.

"Dead," Tanya said. That was the end of discussion on the matter.

I approached the tower the Dialogus called their home. It was a gothic tower that would have fit more on middle earth than on an agriworld, but the crazy paper pushers loved it from what I am told. I mean us battle sisters never really bothered them so I guess that it worked out.

I knocked on the hard steel door. It wasn't long before a sister about a head and half shorter than me opened it. She had brown hair and grey eyes. She gave me a sour look as if I just interrupted a good part in a novel she was reading. She was skinny, but looked like she worked out some. The other orders were known to keep in shape when we weren't using the track or equipment on their own time.

"The Palatine sent us to check on you, and escort you to the Furnace Hall." I said, trying not to make it sound like an order.

She reached over and grabbed a lasgun from behind the doorway, and turned back. She cupped one hand and shouted up into the tower. "Iona! We got to move! The Bolter B- Battle Sisters, are here to take us to the Great hall." I raised my eyebrow. I didn't have much experience dealing with the Dialogus. As far as I know there was no animosity between us. Then again, we battle sisters could get pretty haughty at times so assume the unceremonious nickname would get tossed around enough.

"I have to organize these documents, The Cardinal didn't organize them properly before he returned them!" A voice shouted back. I saw no reason to tell of the "Cardinal's" deception at the moment. The vox was chattered about a force of Cultists heading this way.

"There are only two of you here?" I asked.

The small red robed sister turned and nodded. "Yeah, the rest of us are helping analyze in the CC." She turned back and shouted. "We don't have all day! Throw them in the safe and organize them later!" A taller dialogus ran down the stairs. She was waif slim and had a mop of ginger hair.

"Fine." I noted she had a laspistol on her hip.

"You both know how to use those?" Tanya spoke up.

"Yeah don't you see us at the range?" The short Dialogus said. Tanya shook her head.

"Let's walk and talk." I gestured for them to get moving.

"Right, anyway I guess you Battle Sisters only practice at a set time. We have to get some free time to practice." The short dialogus continued.

The tall one spoke up. "Sister Mel has the record for accuracy." Tanya raised an eyebrow.

"Only with my lasrifle, Iona." Mel conceded. "Bolters are a different animal."

"No less deadly," I conceded. Mel nodded.

It didn't take long for us to reach the great hall. Several of the other non-combatants were already here.

I looked at Mel, "Keep an eye out."

"We will be fine. You just do what you do best." Mel said. I nodded. Only to be stopped by the Pontifex. He had a power maul on his hip and electro whip on the other side of his belt. I noted the bulk of carapace armor under his robes.

"Ah, Sister Superior Rylanor." I wondered how he recognized me. Then again, I spent a few days as his bodyguard recently and he must have known my voice at this point.

Mel slapped a hand to her mouth. "I am so sorry for nearly calling you a-. You know what, never mind." She just sort of awkwardly left.

I will be honest I had almost forgotten the miracle I was apart in recent memory. I wasn't sure how to deal with the attention other than by hiding under a helm most of the time.

"Yes Pontifex?" I asked.

"Would you escort me to the Palatine's side? I wish to be at the front." It was phrased as a question, but it was an order.

I nodded, "I would be honored."

He smiled. "Let us bring the God-Emperor's wrath down upon the foul invaders!"

There wasn't much to be said upon our return to the main gate. The Palatine was issuing orders and noted our arrival.

"Pontifex, it is an honor," The Palatine said. She didn't sound annoyed so I guess the Priest could handle himself in the field.

"There is only so much I can do in Furnace Hall. I-" The Pontifex was interrupted as the vox and the city's defense lit up before he could finish with the news that enemy drop ships were touching down. The PDF was swamped. The battle was upon us. With the civilians in a panic, I knew it was going to be bad. This Agriworld on the frontier was used to raids, but not the full on invasion that was about to drop in their heads. Combined with the terror tactics of the Night Lords.

"Alright!" Palatine shouted. "The traitor astartes will most likely direct the attack at the abbey. We are one of the larger threats in this world after all."

I thought to myself that the Night Lords didn't really operate that way. They were a dark mirror of the Raven guard after all. Marching up with a bunch of cultists wasn't their style.

"Are we certain they will be among the enemy charge? Do we know what traitor legion they hail from? I may not have been in the sewers but these traitor astartes seemed to be going out their way to sow fear and remained in the shadows." I asked. I was nervous. I couldn't just blurt out information on an enemy I had no experience fighting.

Thankfully, Palatine to her credit mulled over the idea.

"Most Traitor Marines would be herding the cultists our way when the battle reachs us." Her organic eyes seemed to raise what she realized I had a good point. Why would the Traitors change tactics now?

The defenses on the walls opened up as the gunners mowed down cultists.

Palatine voxxed the gunners. "Gunners are there any signs of Astartes among the enemy?"

My damn vox was being funky again, but I assumed they answered in the negative.

"Be prepared for anything. We were caught unawares in the sewer and will not be again!" The Palatine called out.

As if on cue, the ground shook and quaked under our feet before a melta bomb went off nearby turning stones carefully and tediously places thousands of years ago into molten rock. We all had our weapons out and pointed it at a newly formed hole as a hulking giant leapt out of it. The Night Lord landed with a flourish. The dark blue armor and red winged helmet stared down at us through glowing red eye lenses. From his armor hung a tabard of freshy sewed together, skin of his recent kills flowed with the movement.

His helmet's eyes looked at us. "I highly doubt that."

I found myself freezing, memories of books and artworks, and descriptions of what these bastards could do combined with the fact the massive inhuman bulk had me frozen in place. The tabard made of human flesh didn't help much. It was a brief moment of sheer terror, that was thankfully broken by the Palatine unleashing a torrent of bolter fire. I joined in with my own pistol.

"Aim for the joints!" The Palatine called out.

The Night Lord didn't stand around and let himself be shot. He launched off on a single leg. Leaping toward his first victim. He laughed maniacally all the while. Palatine drew her chainblade and leapt to the side. The Pontifex leapt the opposite direction shouting curses at the astartes all the while drawing his power maul. The old man could move.

I did my best to aim for the knee joints, switching to my power ax. Thumbing the activation rune, I charged. I got about half a step when another Astartes jumped out of the hole and landed next to me. He laughed aloud before Ventra doused him in flames. He growled and leveled under bolter in her direction. I hoped he was distracted enough. I charged in and brought my ax down on the more immediate astartes knee joint. The power ax's energy field cut through the ceramite like paper. An explosion of red gore told me it bit into flesh.

Unfortunately I was backhanded and sent reeling sliding along the tiles. My armor growled as I barely had time to stand up. I noted Tanya was aiding the Palatine dividing the power weapons between us. I heard a voice from behind me. Ventra doused the Night Lord with more flames. The gun emplacements were firing nonstop up as a battle was taking place outside the walls.

"Greetings," An inhuman undertone spoke from behind me.

I turned around to see a third Night Lord behind me. He looked down at me for a moment.

"Now, what will your entrails show me?" he said in an intrigued tone.

His lightning claw swung toward me. I parried the blow and had to duck as the other arm swung in and nicked my shoulder pad.

"It will be just a quick peek, then you can go back to dying. It won't take but a minute." he said it in an almost pleading tone. Which was all the more frightening.

"No, thank you," I said in a cooler manner than I felt.

"Ah, I see. Well I will just have to insist." I ducked another swing and my back hit the wall. The distraction was all Traitor Astartes needed to grab my helmet. He lifted me up into the air, my ax caught on the stone and tore from my grip, clattering on the ground below me. I managed to grab my bolt pistol and fire point blank into the Space Marine's general bulk. It was a useless gesture. Through the screen of my helm I saw him bring his claw back and aim for my torso.

While I dangled and tried to pry his fingers off my helm, the seal holding my helmet snapped and tore off. The young cog girl's worries about her work proving to be true. I fell down to ground just as the Night Lord buried his claw into the wall where I had been dangling a moment before. I immediately snatched up my fallen ax and buried it into the Night Lords knee. This time the axe bit into the knee joint a lot better. I damn near cleaved the whole thing off. The Night Lord didn't topple like a tree, but immediately shifted his weight to the other leg and swung it at me using the power claw still buried in the wall for extra leverage.

I ducked. I stepped into this guard. With a war cry I swept up my ax and buried it into Night Lords armpit. With a shower of sparks and blood I cut through. While not enough to sever the arm entirely, the rest tore off under its own weight. I didn't have time to yell in triumph. The Marine growled in annoyance. It pulled his other claw from the wall in an explosion of dust and rock and slashed at me in one desperate gambit.

I barely hopped out the way as he fell upon me. The Lightning claw's power field was a fraction away from scraping me. This action left a small opening. So I took it and cut into the neck seams on his helm. His body went limp as the ax buried itself deep, severing the spinal column and the astartes fell on the ground limp.

I stood back, in shock. The fight replayed in my mind, that I just managed to solo a God-Emperor damned astartes and… win. I could help but smile. I didn't have the time to dwell more as I heard a dead silence around me. Even the guns had stopped firing. I turned, expecting, no, hoping to still see the battle still raging behind me.

Instead I saw the bodies of my sisters strewn about, at the feet of not just the two I last saw, but five traitor astartes. One moved forward, I could see he wore no helmet. His coal black eyes glinted with glee. His sharklike smile was unnatural, framed by a mop of greasy black hair. I froze. The dread felt earlier returning and messing with my psyche without an outlet for me to ignore it.

"My, My," he said softly. "Were you expecting to be hailed as a hero among your peers? It is quite an accomplishment to bring down an astartes by oneself after all. Even for an armored human. So forgive us for robbing you of your audience." He looked at his brothers. "Brothers, we should clap in her sisters' stead."

As one they clanked their hands together in a mockery of applause before he cut them off.

"Now, the first one to tear her asunder, gets that fancy power claw I took from that foolish Iron Hand Captain."

They all stepped forward as one. But the leader stopped them.

"Hold up, let's add some sport to this competition." He looked at me again. "I will give you a five second head start." I didn't know what to do. I barely heard what he said. I was too distracted looking at the dead bodies of my sisters. Ventra was a smoking husk on the ground as it looked like her flamer shot in the flask, Del and Hel were so sliced up that I couldn't tell whose body parts belonged to who. The Palatine's head was on a pike sticking out behind the one of the Night Lords warrior's power pack. The pontifex was just all over the place. Tanya's body was nowhere to be found. Seeing such carnage, I found that I was having a hard time breathing.

"One," he said with a flourish and made a shooing gesture. I broke from my trance as understanding dawned. They were going to hunt me.

"Two," he shook his head. Then the doors behind them burst open and human warriors of chaos bum rushed in the abbey screaming to their gods. The Horde seemed to take the Night Lords as enemies and attacked them. I took off while they were distracted trying to reign in their bloodaddled allies. I threw a random grenade hanging from off my belt. I care to see what kind. It wouldn't slow them down, but it felt right.

I made my way through the halls. I found that to my horror that wasn't the only squad of Night Lords that had invaded the keep. Many of my fellow sisters were lying dead or dying. I ran past a hall seeing a Night Lord tear into the power armor of one of my sisters. He was digging into her entrails and pulling out various organs. She screamed in pain. I grabbed my bolt pistol and brought it up and delivered the Emperor's Peace.

Then the bastard Astartes looked up and right at me. He growled in an animalistic tone and stood up.

"Shit!" I cursed in english and resumed my mad dash along the halls. I was heading toward where the last batch of resistance would be in the monastery.

I could hear the long strides of the marine who's kill I denied. He was uncomfortably close and unnerving quiet. I was close to the Furnace Hall, just one more corner.

Then I heard a loud crack and my armor's knee joint as well as my knee exploded in a fountain gore and ceramite. I fell and slid around the corner. I screamed in pain, but through some sheer combined force of shock and will. I flipped over and raised my bolt-pistol and emptied the clip. I found each shot hit the traitor marines helmet and exploded harmlessly. On the last round in the clip the bolt sailed into an eye slit and detonated. The marine roared as part of his face was no doubt not there anymore. His lighting claw lashed out and stabbed downwards.

I felt heavy and realized I was losing a lot of blood. I could only watch as the claw sailed down at me. Then there was a bright white hot flash of heat and a good chunk of the marines arm and torso was blown away. I still had floaters in my vision and smelled charred flash when I heard a voice.

"Get her back to the Hospiltaller's now!" It was the Canoness' voice.

I was dragged into the hall. I was propped sitting against the wall. I saw many scared and frightened faces. Then Fraye's burnt face appeared over me. She went to work to staunch the bleeding immediately.

I felt cold as she shined a light in my eye. She muttered something and injected me with something. I felt myself perk up. I tried to stand up.

"Stay down." Fraye said.

Then the Canoness standing above me. "I assume the Palatine and Pontifex are dead."

I managed a nod.

"They are coming," I did my best to spit out the words. "The Traitor Astartes and an army of cultists. They are everywhere."

"I know."

She squatted down next to me. "How did you get away?" she asked. Her voice was surprisingly soft.

"I ran." I whispered. "We had just got set up the door when the floor exploded and then somehow one got behind us. I got lucky and brought one down." She raised an eyebrow.

"It was luck." I reiterated. It really was. If my helmet seals hadn't broken... "When I turned to look back, the battle was over and they were standing there. Five of them. They had torn my sisters apart. I couldn't see where Tanya went. They told me to run. They started chasing me." Tears were sliding down my face. I felt like shit.

The Canoness nodded, "You did all you could, and they would have found their way here quickly enough. They had several methods of entry."

"I should have charged them and tried to avenge my sisters but I froze." I said.

"We all have our limits." Fraye said. The Canoness looked at Fraye. A look passed between them.

I didn't know what it meant. Perhaps they were judging me, I don't know. I didn't have time to really consider it as shouts and bolter fire could be heard.

Fraye pointed at two familiar Dialogus.

"You two, make sure the Sister Superior doesn't bleed out." She got up and joined the Canoness outside the hall. No doubt to directly aid any wounded in the hallway outside. That or she simply wanted to be next to her wife when the time came. The Monastery should have held out longer. Had we been facing a more direct threat like the World Eaters than we might have. But the Night Lords out maneuvered us.

Mel and Iona moved over next to me. They had blood on their robes, no doubt from helping the Hospiltallers.

"How did that happen?" Mel said. She pointed to my leg stump. It was an annoying question, but it might have just been a distraction to keep me conscious.

I looked down, "Astartes Bolter Round. They pack a bit more punch than our weapons." I said. I felt so tired.

Then I heard the sound of a cane tapping on tiles. I saw the Canoness Commander approach.

"Hello Dear."

"Canoness Commander," I bowed my head.

"It seems things are flowing together." She said with a wistful yet pained expression on her aged face.

"What do you mean?" I asked. The Commander nodded the two Dialogus away. They complied.

She moved and slowly knelt down next to me. She reached and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. "I saw this day many years ago. The fall of the Monastery. The darkness snuffing out the furnace. I was distraught. But the vision also showed me a warrior, clad in black, bringing the God-Emperor's light wherever she went." She smiled. "I thought myself a mad old hag until a young student at schola went out of her way to help an old woman plant flowers."

"This black armored warrior wasn't hopping about on one leg was she?" I said with more sarcastic venom than I anticipated. The Commander only gave a light snort.

"No, she was not. The Emperor Protects and Restores." She got up shakily, using her cane to pull herself up, "Embrace it or deny it, destiny cares little for your opinion on the matter." She picked up my ax. She walked and stood next to the Furnace and tossed her cane to the side. She stood as straight as she could and held my ax up against her chest. She took one last calm breath and walked into the furnace. I couldn't see what was happening as the flames burned too bright to see through the blazing inferno. Mel and Iona moved back over.

"What was that about?" Mel said, still looking at the flames.

I shook my head, Not wanting to get into it. It turned out I wouldn't have to answer her anyway.

My fellow battle sisters entered in facing toward the entrance, firing back through the door. I will admit it was an interesting sight. Especially when the Night Lord burst through the door, ripping into one of the last three. The two Dialogus fired their las weapons at him, but they did little to help. I sat back dumb founded. One of my sisters fired her mulitmelta. Bringing down the traitor astartes. Two more Astartes charged in and took down multimelta wielding sister and skewering the other one. The Canoness was the only one left standing after that. Then some human cultists entered behind the Traitor Astartes.

These weren't no rabble either, they were traitor guardsmen from the look of it, precisely picking off any minor resistance with well aimed las shots. Mel and Iona proved their own claims about their marksmanship true, taking down a few but they were picked off after the Guardsman turned to them. Their death was messy, and I ended up splattered in blood.

None of the shots landed near me, but those that fought back and even those didn't, died. I saw the Canoness make her last stand in front of the furnace. The unhelmeted Night Lord from the courtyard was chuckling softly. Seeing that terrible smile, I fired my bolt pistol at his head. A single round went off the Night Lord's shoulder pad, My slide caught on an empty mag. It seemed I found my edge again. Better late than never.

I crawled over Mels Corpse and primed a frag grenade from my belt, and tossed it at the traitor guardsman. Then Another Astartes entered shortly after it went off. I reloaded and fired again on the Night Lord Leader's head. He raised a gauntlet to stop the rounds from possibly hitting his head. It took some heat off the Canoness. Stopped when I gun ran dry. I noticed the other Astartes not doing anything. They simply waited.

They wouldn't interfere, if their boss couldn't handle this then he wouldn't be worth following. The Canoness was moving with all the energy she had. It was like the power armor was a part of her. She leapt up and over a lightning strike at some point. Her Chainsword scored across the Night Lord Leader's neck guard. She would have had the bastard if she was an inch higher. I looked around. I did my best to stand up for better shot. Then a massively armored foot slammed down on my other leg.

I looked up. One of the Night Lords laughed as he stared down at me. "Here let me help you up." He reached down and pulled. I felt more bones and tendons in my leg snap. I screamed in pain as he dug into my leg with the motion. "It seems I should really mind where I step." he chuckled.

"That's enough," The Night lord dropped me back down. I growled and nearly wretched in pain this time.

The unhelmeted Night Lord was standing there. I saw more Traitor Guardsmen going around dead checking. I saw the Canoness' body impaled on the Furnace itself.

I looked back into the Jet Black eyes of the Traitor Marine. He smiled and bent down to one knee.

"Do you know why I saved you for last?" He grinned.

"Because you like leaving one to spread the word of what happens to the place you impart your talents upon." I rasped. I felt even more light headed, and heavy at the same time.

"Oh, my dear, who do you take us for? The Word Bearers?" I heard chuckles from the other marine. "Not that you even know who they are. Simply put, I left you alive because that look on your face was so bright after you slew my brother. The way you turned to look if any of your sisters saw the mighty deed." He reached out and grabbed my throat. "I found myself offended that even for a moment that a human could feel such triumph. So I decided to sour that triumph. I wouldn't let you die until you saw everyone in your little monastery die before you." He pulled out a knife and reached down to cut a long strand of silver hair from my head. "A memento. You should be honored, This is the first one I have ever taken." I found the strength to raise an eyebrow at the skulls and flesh cloak.

Shame as I wanted to say something clever, but I could only manage a lame insult. "Your Legion was a mistake. Even your Primarch chose death over you. In Midnight Clad, The 8th is so pathetic and sad." I took a small amount of pride in the look on his face. I don't think I was supposed to know that little motto of theirs. Many of the details about the Heresy are not known to the general public. I must have smirked. He was so angry he slashed my throat open with the blade he cut my hair with. At least that prevented him from taking his time with my death. I mused as I died.


I woke to a terrible smelling and suffocating place. I thrashed and tried to wiggle free. It felt like I was surrounded by cold dead flesh. It wasn't until I found a hand in the press of death, that I realized it was in fact dead bodies. I found myself hyperventilating as did my damndest to push and pull body parts out of the way. I nearly suffocated at points. I finally broke free when I felt the fresh air outside of the pile. I crawled out and ended up sliding down the pile. I landed on some raw rockcrete and felt it scratch my bare naked skin.

After that I took a moment to simply breathe some fresh air. Outside the pile didn't smell or feel any better.

I stood covered in gore and viscera. I looked back at the pile and immediately threw up, dry heaving stomach acid. The body parts in question had been my sisters once. I had to turn away from the carnage. I looked down, seeing I was completely naked.

Then the moment of my death flitted back across my eyes. I grabbed my throat, expecting to find some trace or mark. I didn't feel a thing out of place. I should have been headless or nearly so.

I took a few shaky steps in a direction before I had to figure out where I was. It was dark and I could only see a fraction of light, but I looked like I was in the cellar. I wondered why the Cultists bothered to clean up at all.

I moved toward the only light I could see. I did my best to ignore the grimy and squishy feeling under my feet. I tripped and banged my shin on the first step. I found myself cursing.

"Groxshit." I said.

I climbed up the stairs more carefully after that. The cellar doors weren't locked. I just sort of pushed them and they creaked open. The light of the Typhoon Straights drifted in, giving some illumination. I looked upon the hallway. It was a mess. As I walked I found every single aquila or holy symbol had been defaced. There were chaos markings and I immediately averted my gaze. They really did hurt the eyes when you looked.

I just kept walking and surveyed the damage best I could. Hard to tell in the dark, but part of me was glad I could not see the full extent of the damage. I crossed the courtyard and the pile of power armor and weapons melted together in some sort of grotesque pile of malformed armor. Why would they burn good weapons? The armor I could understand as it most likely had too much, holy sister sweat and blood seeped into it over the centuries I guess. The guns and other weapons though?

My feet kept me moving since I had only one destination in mind. I rounded the last bend and the doors to the Furnace Hall were open as they were before I… died. I was surprised My body didn't end up hanging from some pole sans my skin. Then again the Night Lords preferred to flay living targets.

No light shined from inside. I cautiously stepped into the room to see what I feared and expected. I noted the lack of bodies once again. Why go through all the trouble I wondered? There was battle damage like the rest of the monastery, but the darkness was so Alien to this room. I found myself walking over to the rubble and melted stone that littered the area. The Furnace was blown out and collapsed in a heap on the floor. I could see the night sky from the hole left in the wall and ceiling after the chimney was collapsed.

The only thing left was the base. I wondered how they managed to destroy it. Was the furnace stonework really holding the flames or were the flames strengthening the stone?

I found myself collapsing on my knees. The broken stonework scraped at my flesh, but I found I just didn't care about something so small. I blinked as tears began to fall. The events of the day or however long before played out again in my head. I broke down and balled my eyes out. I should have been dead. I should have been able to rest at the Emperor's side now. Why was I still here? Was I a perpetual? Accursed to walk the galaxy and see it all fall apart around me?

I let out a scream of anguish and continued weeping for I don't know how long. I just noted the rays of the sun began to filter in and found I didn't have the energy to continue. When I looked upon the shredded and broken furnace again I saw some sort of dark shape poking out of the ash and stone. It looked familiar. It was the haft of my power ax.

The image of the old Canoness Commander walking into the flames with the ax flashed in my memory again. I grasped and pulled at the weapon. It was stuck. It braced and pulled as hard as I could. It would not budge. I needed Power Armor to move the stones trapping it under the rubble.

There was most likely one set left in the entire abbey if the cultist had been thorough at least. I sighed and made my way to the Reliquary. To my shock, it hadn't been opened. Only the scratches that marred the Imperial Icons were there. I would have thought these doors would have bashed down. The Astartes would have found the somewhat hidden entrance easily. Then again, the Night Lords most likely didn't care like the another Chaos Warband would have. So with only human cultists around they just went about their business and didn't really notice. That was my theory anyway.

I opened the door. It opened with a whoosh of stale air. I pushed inside. I noted all the relics were still where they had been left. I suppose after destroying the Anathoma's Furnace find and destroying some Sororitas' chapter relics would have been less exciting after that.

I walked past the documents and even some choice weapons, though I didn't know the codes for their stasis fields. I only knew one. I approached the armored case. It hadn't changed. I saw my reflection for the first time. I was a mess. My hair was messy matted with gore and my skin had dried blood all over it in patches. I tried to scrape some off but gave up. While I was doing that, I noticed a white line along my neck. My breathing halted as I prodded the line. It felt no different from the rest of the flesh around it. I traced it briefly and I nearly felt the Night Lord's blade slice through my neck a second time. I shivered. So I quickly typed in the code and the case opened with a hiss before I could dwell on it more.

I began the process of donning the armor. It took time as there was a way to do so without a servitor. It was part of training, but it wasn't easy. As soon as I clipped the helm on there was some sort of heat flash along my skin. I had no idea what it was, but I felt cleaner somehow. I don't know. I took note of the HUD's crisp picture. and everything was in perfect order. I took one step cautiously as the power pack hummed to life. It felt good to be armored up again. I grabbed Bell's bolt pistol and the spare mags as well. The Bolt pistol had the same dark look about it. To be expected.

And now for the reason I went through the trouble. After Sealing the Reliquary back up, I found myself in the Furnace Hall once again. This time the ax gave way and I pulled it from the rubble with ease. I looked over the blackened blade. All the gold filigree was gone and the only real color was on the blade's edge where it gleamed almost obsidian color.

I looked over the furnace. Lamenting such a loss to this world and the Imperium. I found myself looking over the devastation once more. The Flames would never burn here again. I thought of the battle and how hard we all defended it. The Canoness fought to the end very end on this spot. A thought entered my mind and I remembered that at least Cally was alive. That brought a smile to my face. While thinking about Cally, I remembered that little lantern. There might have been hope yet.

I holstered my ax and ran full board to my room. The door was broken open and I feared the worst. It seemed many of the rooms were similarly broken. I entered the room, and looked around. The beds were overturned, and I went about flipping them over and searching. I found the lantern tipped over on its side in the corner near Cally's side of the room. The shutters were down. I carefully picked it up and opened the shutters. Inside, the bright little flame still burnt. I smiled. It seemed to flare brightly in response to my presence. I smiled. Not all was lost, it seemed. I brought the lantern to the Furnace Hall. I don't know what I expected, but I tried to light the ashes or something. The damage must have been done.

It would be about noon before I gave up. The Furnace was done. I found some ration bars and ate. I stared into the little flame while I did so. I was going to have to find a new place to take the flame. I just didn't know where to take it. The flame brightened as if in response to my query. I saw a vision of an unlit brazier somewhere on a distant world far far away from here. I wasn't sure how I knew it was distant, but it was better than staying in this defiled tomb.

I stood and walked out of the Furnace room for the last time. I would have turned to look back once more, but I didn't really want to remember rubble. I felt it was best to remember it before the battle. So I tread toward the ramparts of the main gate to survey the damage to the city. Fire blazed and sirens still blared. A new plume of smoke rose from the city. Was there still fighting? Perhaps the Imperials were engaged in an insurgency of sorts. I looked back at the temple one last time before looking back to the Half-hive, I took a step and dropped off the ramparts. Landing gracefully for the most part, walked toward the new plume of smoke.


A/N: I will be taking a break from this story for a little bit to work on another. This story is coming together nicely. This chapter was a bit longer as I didn't want to leave things on too much of a cliffhanger.