Reclamation

Reviews and criticism are welcome.

Disclaimer: I don't own 40k.

Here, have this.


He had come a long way since his days of fighting for the corpse emperor. He was a sergeant now, and the campaigns were a lot less brutal. It was a lot easier to fight for the winning side more often than not. Even then, Jaren had to admit to a small part of himself, when his thoughts were his own, that he felt no different than before. Just that it was like having a commisar in his head, instead of prowling out and about looking for inane scrop to kill a man over. It didn't matter anymore. Jeran had fragged the commissar himself. He had seen the truth and the path he walked was inescapable.

One of the cultists approached, the annoying little frakkers dressed in poorly fitted flak armor from the look of it. He said he saw something. That meant Jeran and his fellow squadmates had to go and look.

It could be a band of insurgents. The City had fallen easily. Expected for a city on the fringes of Imperium Space. However the insurgency was a lot more coordinated than most he had seen. While it was never said openly, the Astartes that helped during the invasion seemed to have left a lot of problems behind. The Undercity Gangers who were driven to the surface were folded into the PDF. This gave the remnants of the Imperial forces scouts and guides to slip around half-hive sewers and attack in all sorts of places. It was a damn tedious affair. Many forces were tied up and left to secure this world properly in order to have a good staging area for more raids into the bulk of the Imperium. With the bulk of the main force gone, the forces here were on their own.

He kept silent as he marched through much of the rubble. His squad behind him. It was probably another trap. They moved cautiously. Then some debris was disturbed by a loud clunk. The wine of servos made him pause. It would be one of those Imperial Cog Boy War Servitors. He signaled the corporal scout ahead. Another disgruntled veteran from the Old days. He didn't get far before making a hand signal in the clear.

There had to be something out there, but it could have been falling debris hitting a garbage bin. Still the cultists had seen a figure roaming about. The Cultist looked about nervously. Jaren rolled his eyes. He would have to be thorough enough to not be punished by the Honorable Halax. The Disciple of Uriel would not be pleased that Jaren let the Imperial Resistance run amok. If it was the resistance they could be scouting for a plan of attacking the public executions in the city square. That would not stand.

The insurgents had a few rallying heroes among them. One Sororitas in particular stood out. She had apparently survived the scouring of the Abbey. How? Jeran did not know. He saw her once or twice. The golden armed warrior chewing through his fellows with that damn power sword. He knew many of the sharpshooters were annoyed she wasn't the type of sister to go helmetless. That would have saved time.

One of his men pointed at a building. Jeran saw the movement too. He signaled them to check it out. They made their way through the hab block. Stair by stair and room by room. It was slow but he hoped the Imp scout was in too much of a hurry to set traps. He heard a movement down a hallway with flickering lights and got down one knee. They posted up at the far end.

Then he saw her. A Sororitas in all black armor. This wasn't the same sister he had seen among the Imperial resistance. For one, this sister wielded a double-bearded power ax in place of a power sword. A lantern hung from her belt where her mark of rank should have been. In it, a golden fire burned. It stung his eyes to look at, much like the god's symbols used to do before his revelation.

The armor seemed to suck light from the air around her. It was wrong. So wrong. One of his men visibly shook. The shaking had him fire his lasgun before the signal. The shot went wide. It scored the wall next to the sister. The Black Armored Sister's head turned and zeroed in on where the shot came from. Jeran wanted to chew out the man. It was too late as the sister raised her bolt pistol and fired. The bolter round hit the man square in the face, taking his entire head off in an explosion of gore. She calmly started forward toward them to get in ax range.

"Frak! Open Fire, For the Chaos Gods!" he leaned out and fired. His lasgun shots did nothing to the armor. He primed a frag grenade and threw down the hall. He had been out of Krak for some time, as they had been confiscated for use in bunker busting operations. Hopefully, she would think it was a krak and halt her slow advance down the hall. She batted it aside into one of the empty rooms without much effort not breaking her stride. It exploded harmlessly within. With a leap, she launched herself at him.

"Fall bac-" was the last thing he said before a power field took his head from his shoulders and she tore into the rest of his squad

The cultist who had followed Jeran's squad ran away ranting to whoever would listen. The news would soon spread. A specter of the Corpse-Emperor's Daughters wandered the city. The Dread Sister was seeking revenge for the slaughter of her fellows.


I have no idea what I am doing, I thought to myself. I closed the shutter of the Lantern. It somehow bumped open when I was in that hab block. Then those traitor guardsmen showed up. It wouldn't have been long until I saw more Chaos forces. So I got out of there. I didn't want to be trapped and gunned down. Dying once was more than enough for me.

I feared using the undercity tunnels as I would no doubt get lost. Bell's helm, my helm now I guess, still had the map, but it was outdated. Perhaps if I had no choice, but cites change over time. Hell, New York city had tunnels and sewer lines dating back to the American Civil War in my time. Merican Civil War. I corrected it in my mind, though with a chuckle at that particular pronunciation. I had to change my thinking over to the current year's historical terminology. It was annoying, but getting punished for misspelling words in Low and High Gothic was not something I enjoyed while growing up in Schola. They were strict, and didn't tolerate insubordination, but for the most part the teachers let the teenagers they were guiding be teenagers once in a while. It wasn't very often, but the Schola I grew up in wasn't as bad as I pictured it. Part of me had hoped I would live long enough to teach there myself. Then I died and got saddled with a mission from the Emps.

I reached up and rested my hand on the gorget above where my throat had been slit. I took a calming breath. "Let's not make this a habit." I said to myself before I moved on.

I trudged on. I was careful to hide out of view when possible. My Goal was simple: To find any resistance and join up with them. It was really the only plan I could think of. Unless I wanted to roam the halls of my sisters' tomb and scare chaotic locals who dare enter for all time.

So I walked on. Even if only half a hive, it was still a massive city. I ran into similar patrols. I didn't use my bolt pistol for those. Bolt rounds were not easy to come by. So I kept to my ax when I could. Luckily you could close the distance rather easily, and quickly in power armor.

I seemed to be stirring up the hive with my antics. With the chaos loonies trying to find me, I hoped any Imperial resistance would make contact at some point. Then again I wasn't so sure. Perhaps it was best to play the ghostly apparition for now. Stalking the chaos followers and instilling fear. It might just work if no traitor astartes were there to buck up morale. I found when I stepped into the shadows they couldn't see me. Which was odd considering, the armor I wore was so black it sucked in light. Even in shadow it should have stood out. I wasn't going to complain. Killing Chaos patrols was getting tedious at this point.

I came across two more patrols before I noticed I had a tail. It was a young child, keeping movement hidden through the shadows. He was very good. He might have been shadowing me for some time before I noticed him. The reason I only noticed him was because I saw his silhouette after beheading another cultist for a brief second after said cultist's head fell off. It was a brief moment and he was gone. It was an odd game I started to play, turning my head slowly and quickly back tracking on the reverse. My Auspex should have picked up on him, but it didn't.

I stopped briefly to let a patrol wander by while I stood in the shadows. They seemed to be on edge, and allowed me time to stand still, so my movement didn't attract their gaze. I was close to the fires now. The smell of rotten flesh hung in the air. I would have gaged had I not already woken in a pile of corpses this morning. That set the bar pretty high for my stomach. Speaking of stomachs, when was the last time I ate? I dismissed the idea for now. I was too busy.

I decided to climb into a nearby building to get a better view. The stairwell was damaged but I studied it enough to determine its strength. After a couple steps of not crashing through the floor I deemed it good enough. I climbed and found a balcony to survey the battle below. What I found was far from a battlefield. It was a massive crowd of imperials. Surrounded by Chaos Soldier corralling them in with their lasguns. On the upraised stage just adjacent to the building I was in, was a burning of Imperial Faithful. One by one a Chaos preacher of sorts was going down a line and burning Imperials in a twist of roles.

I zoomed in. I was surprisingly close. This was a shotgun conversion from the looks of it. While normally such things didn't work, with Chaos, willingness was irrelevant. The platform was adjacent to the building I was in. He approached the next stake after lighting a poor hab worker alight. His screams filled the air for a time, yet the woman strapped to it was standing proud with an irreverent expression, despite her situation. It was Tella. She looked battered and bruised. Her once proud mohawk hung limply to the side of her head.

I heard the preacher, "This witch has even after all her suffering under the corpse-emperor's follower's still trods after their heels like lobotomized grox!" he called to the crowd. Part of the front rows cheered in agreement. I noted some scratched out aquila on PDF armor and gear. Of course there were deserters and traitors. They must have been willing converts and parts of the forces that already arrived. Possibly placed strategically in the crowd to influence mob mentality. Usually were. I did note an unusually large amount that weren't cheering. The faith was always strong on Aalyana. That gave me hope.

Tella's reaction was typical of our brief encounter. "I did suffer, but what I saw of your kind was so much worse. You claim things are better now, but I only see more of the same if not worse. You put little Arbities in a man's head, and he can't run or hide from that." The preacher backhanded her. Tella smirked and said. "If you are going to burn me, then get on with it."

The preacher nodded to the masked soldier carrying the torch. The soldier offered it to the Chaos Preacher. He took it and placed it down near the pire's base.

Just as the flame was about to touch the wood, I reacted and shot my bolt pistol. I didn't expect to hit the torch from this distance. Nonetheless it was sent flying out the Chaos Acolyte's hand. I just wanted hit close enough to draw attention away from the burning. I'll take credit.

Sets of eyes in pairs of ones, twos, and even some threes turned my direction only to widen in horror. There was an eerie silence. Then the damn shutters on the lantern were blown open by a gust of wind. It was as if the little flame wanted to be seen. I didn't say anything. I brought my gaze down on the Preacher and pointed my ax in his direction. He flinched away from the black visored eyes. Tella had her head turned, and stared up at me in awe.

"K-Kill the Corpse-Emperor's She-Devil! Expunge the Flame!" The Chaos Looney shouted. To his soldier's credit they opened fire right away. Of course one had a damn rocket launcher. He missed me, but this building was by no means as stable as I thought. The floor beneath me crumbled. I fell several stories before I hit whatever floor I was on.

I groaned. I stood up. I looked around, only seeing dust and debris in the air. Did the whole building crumble? I turned to see half of it and fell exposing a grid pattern of apartments. As I took a few steps a Mutated Soldier bumped into me. Before he could scream I had already grabbed and snapped his neck. I hefted my ax and stalked on. It would be best to get out of here. I stopped briefly to check the Lantern. The shudders were closed. That was good for the moment.

As I made my way through the rubble. Ugh this was so annoying. I kept tripping. I got sick of it and jumped up in the air, propelling myself up into the air and landed squarely in a squad of five Chaos Soldiers. I ended up crushing one guard in my landing and with a few swipes of my ax the other four had died quickly. I was covered in blood and gore. There was a brief golden flashfire and my armor burned off the bloody material.

It was a minute before I found the dust and debris to be clear enough to see for a few meters in front of my face.

In all fairness I should have expected this. I again saw the crowd. They were coughing but sat patiently as the Chaos preacher spoke.

"... you see the Corpse-Emperor's flame has been expunged!" He called out. His back was turned to me. I was on the stage. I guess it was time a for a show.

He leaned over to Tella. How does it feel to watch the Corpse-Emperor's servants fall? The little light left has been extinguished." He chuckled. "You can still repent."

"Frak you." Tella said, though her voice was content.

I took that moment to reach down and open the shutters on the Lantern. The crowd gasped in shock as I walked out of the dust. My armor looked completely unharmed.

The Chaos Priest jumped from Tella once again. He screeched as I walked slowly, and intimidatingly toward him. He backed up a step reaching and pulling up an amulet with the eight pointed star of Chaos Undivided and brandished it toward me.

A brief thought passed through my head. This was some beautiful irony. I chuckled as I approached. I reached out and grabbed the amulet. He stumbled forward as I ripped it off his neck. He fell with the motion and I turned to face the crowd. I turned my helmet to the Chaos Preacher on the ground and crushed the idol. It folded impotently in my hand. My armored hand flared with fire and burned the idol to ash for good measure. I let the ashes fall to the ground between my fingers. I saw genuine fear in his eyes.

"Impossib-" he didn't finish. I raised my bolt pistol and blew his head off. With that pandemonium broke out among the crowd. I calmly walked over to an awestruck Tella and moved behind her to cut her free with a quick swing of my ax. She collapsed to the ground as she struggled to regain control of her legs.

Las shots impacted futilely off my armor. I turned to see the Preacher's bodyguards had gotten over their shock and charged. I fired my bolt pistol, killing three before I had to resort to my ax to finish them.

I was going to help Tella up when three warriors leapt up on the stage, blades drawn. They charged me. I was faster, but they kept me occupied enough to not see Tella getting taken away by robed figures. I turned back as I managed to slay the last of these warriors.

Tella was in a fireman's carry on the shoulder's of a bulky cloaked figure. I was going to follow when I saw the figure turn. I saw a golden armored gauntlet pitted with scratches poking through the sleeve where Tella was held. Was there another survivor from the monastery? Well I wasn't certain I qualified entirely as a survivor. Tella and the bulky figure disappeared into the confusion and I was forced to battle more Chaos soldiers.

I used my armor to leap from the stage over onto a nearby pile of rubble, and made a mad dash in the opposite direction of Tella and her fellows. I seemed to be the major focus of the Chaos forces, so I took advantage to lure them away from the Tella. I rounded a corner only to see a wall of guns pointed in my direction.

Yet none of them fired at me. I saw some of the soldiers visually shaking in nervousness. I was going to examine them but the mob following me rounded the corner behind me. I had just distinguished an undesecrated Aquilla on the pauldron of one of the soldiers when they opened fire. Not a single bullet or las round hit me. The cultists behind me were massacred. Before I could move to join the ranks of the PDF, they were beset by some Chaos Guardmen on their flanks. I was soon stuck in a warzone. The Lantern flared brightly. The Imperial resolve seemed to boost, and shouts of "Ave Imperator!" reverberated throughout this part of the city.

I found myself forced into another hab block. I had seen some elite Chaos soldiers show up and they pressed in my direction. Their shots were precise and snapped loudly. I saw they were stormtroopers seeing the hotshot las rounds explode permacrete in molten blobs around me. I needed the cover to make the playing field more even or their rounds would chew through my armor. I looked down at my belt. I noted a couple of black frag grenades there and one krak. Holstering my pistol, I took one of the frag grenades.

I heard them enter the building behind me. Dim lights filled the corridor making the shadows week. I ran for a couple meters and I looked up, seeing the next level above me through a hole in the floor. I leapt up easily to the second floor. I landed hard, but the floor under my feet didn't collapse. I took a careful step back and waited in the shadows of the dark upper level.

"Come out, come out, little Sister." The call must have been from the leader of the group. "We'll send you to your corpse of a god. You would like that wouldn't you." There seemed to be a pause. Was he expecting me to charge from the shadows in righteous fury and be mowed down in hellgun fire? I mean if I was any other sister that would most likely be the case. The voices came closer and I waited. I dared not to move as a shift in weight might cause the floor under me to creak and reveal my position. Power armor wasn't exactly light.

"You are a sly one aren't you. Or maybe when your sisters died around the Enlightened Angels you didn't stand and fight? Perhaps you ran?" I had to give him credit because he knew what he was doing. He really knew how to press a sister's buttons. I did run, but only because there were five astartes standing there and I just used all my luck killing the one so… yeah it was a tactical move. When they reached the hole in the floor they did a brief check upwards as they went. Professional. One soldier paused and stared up, as if trying to pick me out of the shadows before moving on.

"Perhaps she kept running, sir?" one of the others said.

"No, she is here." I heard him say in a low growl. "Aren't you?!" he called out.

I was going to say something witty, but I figured a different reply was more appropriate.

I primed the grenade. I tossed it down the hole, in the squad leader's direction. Frak you, I thought as I gave him my response. Killing Chaos worshippers would go a long way to making me feel better. There were shouts of alarm followed by an explosion as the frag grenade went off. Hopping down to take advantage of the confusion, my ax struck out, killing two of the stormtroopers before they could stand from where they took cover. One had been caught in the blast and two remained. They both lit up the hall and with hellgun fire. I didn't see a doorway to duck into, so I made my own. I shouldered through the wall to my right. It gave way easily enough. I turned toward the direction of the stormtroopers and ran full board into the next room busting open the wall. I hoped I could outflank them. They were too smart and fell back keeping distance between me and them.

Leaned out and shot my bolt pistol at them. I managed to hit one in the knee. It scattered the carapace knee guard, but the force of the round caused it to snap his knee back and bend it back the wrong way. The other trooper growled as he fell. The squad leader grabbed a grenade. So I took aim and shot the grenade in his hand. I didn't train for years to become a mid tier shooter after all. Both soldiers exploded and I took cover briefly. I walked out after a moment.

I felt pretty good killing a whole squad of those scropheads. Then cracks began to spread along the entire wall down the hall at an astonishing rate. I remembered the walls I had broken through and the explosions I just caused, combined with the current battle damage. I heard the whole building creak and began to crumble.

"Frak!" I said to myself as I began to run futilely in order to get out of the building. I got close to the exit before the damn building fell on me.


The briefing room was silent for a long time as Captain Karr, the commander of the Aalyanan PDF, proceeded to go over the after action briefing. He looked around the makeshift CAC with annoyance. I wished he didn't have to hide in the sewers. In truth, he was a Captain who gained command by default as the Brass above him died in the initial invasion.

He managed to pull the PDF into something resembling a resistance. However if it wasn't for the underhive scouts and the Arbities his force would have been devastated. Among the scouts, the young Tella was the rising star. Her attitude was what he most admired about her. She would have made a fine squad sergeant in another life.

Her help was something he needed. The underhive was a maze only her people could navigate. The Fallen Astartes accidentally did Aaylana a favor when they scared the underhivers to the surface.

He looked over at another young man. He was the Planetary Governor's grandson. Ren wasn't the most well liked of the lordly class. He was a bit of a party animal from what he heard, but so far he wasn't trying to get in the military's way. He allowed Karr to preside over the reclamation campaign as the Captain saw fit. The kid was obviously out of his element, but he mostly just walked around keeping a disinterested demeanor, as a way of signaling to the troops the planet well on their way to being liberated.

For an inexperienced youth, he did his best. Karr did note that he and Tella were an item from the rumors. Ren, for his silver spoon fed background, cut an impressive physique and Karr saw why the pawpress and the prince were drawn to each other. Karr, while slightly jealous of the lad, saw it as a boon, keeping the prince from breaking down, knowing his girl was watching him speak and fight. If there was one martial skill the man had, it was dueling. Most likely why the young man had kept in shape.

Either way, the last person attending the briefing was Sister Tanya. She was the only survivor from the Abbey massacre until recently it seemed. She never elaborated as to why she survived. Karr could see guilt in her eyes, but not deserters' guilt, but that of sole survivor. He wasn't sure how he knew the difference. It was in how she carried herself. She didn't get too defensive like she was hiding something. Tella wasn't one to not voice her opinion. The underhiver even let up after the Sister didn't beat her to a pulp. It was her lack of insecure action that spoke volumes.

Despite that she served well and was an inspiration to the troops. Her armor and power sword were welcome in the raids on the invaders.

They all watched the Hololith. It flickered and Tella had to hit it once to get the picture to focus. He was glad the Magos was busy and didn't see her do that.

Karr noted the Chaos Priest talking to Tella and his burning of the captured gangsters. Then it started, when the sister showed up. He had them rewind it three times, before he believed it. When he was done, he turned to look at the Sister in their midst.

"Do you know which of your sister's that is?" he asked.

"I cannot be certain. That is Sister Bell's armor, but she wields Sister Superior Rylanor's power ax. It wasn't blackened like the armor when I last saw Rylanor." Tanya said. "She is a Saint. There is no doubt. She appeared to save one of the leaders our forces rallies behind and carried the Flame of Aalyana in her lantern."

"She disappeared in the battle. No one saw where she went." Ren said. The lording was mystified.

"Perhaps. But I know she is real. I saw her myself before I grabbed Tella." Tanya said with a reserved reverence.

"What does the Confessor say about this?" Karr asked.

"He believes as I do," she responded. "This Revenant Of Sacred Fire as he calls her is inspiring."

Karr knew the ecclesiarchy had a flair for the dramatic. Revenant of Sacred Fire? Fancy name, but he preferred what the troopers were calling her. The Flamekeeper.


I awoke after I don't know how long. I had been tossed and jostled about the permacrete pressing down on me. I had to see what was going on. My vision was full of dust and rubble.

However it felt much lighter. I ventured moving my arm and the rubble moved. I decided to push my way out. There was darkness. My armor flash cleaned again and I stood up shakily. The pile of rubble I was in the midst of a giant clean up. I was joustled my a nearby payloader. I saw another crowd gathered not to far off upwind of the dust. A confessor stood giving a homily to the masses below. The loud speaker blared, and heard something about the faith and resolve of Aalyanan people and the great reclamation of their world from the ruinous powers.

I was glad to hear that, but I felt a pull from my hip. The Lantern was egging me on, the brazier's image flashed in my head again. So I walked in the direction I felt the tug. It was long before I found a deserted alley. I walked only to turn a corner and find a small boy. He was caked in dirt, but his eyes held a curious look. I stopped before him and looked down.

I didn't know what to do. He pointed at the lantern. I lifted up the shutters. He stared at the flame, transfixed. I wasn't sure if there was something else he wanted. I noted a candelabra sticking out of the rubble. A single half burnt candle was left in it. I walked over and grabbed it. I took the candle, popping it out of the holder, and held it to the ever burning flame. The wick lit and I handed the candle to him. He stared at it before looking suddenly behind me.

"Sister?" I turned as I heard the word.

I saw Tanya in her armor. She had her helmet clipped to her belt. I was uncertain of what to say so I simply nodded.

"Sister." I said.

That seemed to stir something in Tanya. She fell to her knees.

"Forgive me for not being able to help. I tried and tried, but they just kept laughing." I held up a hand. She stopped.

"What happened?" I asked.

She took a breath. "I was knocked down into the hole in which the Traitor Astartes entered. I fell so far. When landed I started climbing back up. I was almost to the surface again when one of those monster's kicked me back down. I could hear his laugh as I fell. I tried to climb back up again and again, but he would just stand there laughing as he kicked me back down. On my last attempt he tossed a grenade down after me. I was injured in the blast and I… gave up." Tears welled in her eyes.

That sounded humiliating. I had to handle this carefully.

"There is nothing to forgive." I whispered. "Your resolve was unwavering, and your loyalty to your sister even possibly after we perished is heartwarming."

"But I gave-"

"Shush," I admonished, "Look where we stand." I gestured around me. "On a reclaimed Imperial world, scrubbed free of the Chaos. Something that never would have happened without you. Now stand, quell the guilt in your soul, and rebuild like the rest of this world is doing. The God-Emperor spared you and you alone."

"Sister, were you not a survivor?" she asked. I shook my head in the negative.

"He on Terra brought me back to fulfill a purpose and I have a long journey to embark on. The Flame needs a new home. It is my job to find it." I turned to leave. Walking past the young boy still holding the candle I gave him. "Goodbye Tanya," I said. She stood back up and watched me turn down an alley.

The darkness revealed a barely lit hallway. I stepped into it. I looked back one more time to see if they both still stood there and all I saw was more of the same hallway. I turned back. The hallway showed no signs of battle damage. I walked until the light of the window showed a starkly different sight. I was no longer on Aaylana. For one, there were five moons and a gas giant in the sky, and two the massive spires of Mechanicus factories stood above me. I sure as warp wasn't in Space Kansas anymore.


A/N: Work will be picking up again. More so than usual. Harvest time. While Luminous is my main focus I do like taking breaks to work on other fics like this. Keeps me from getting burnt out on a particular fic. I have entertained rewriting some of my older work but then I couldn't work on my current ones. Quite the dilemma.