Present, von Valancius Flagship, Rykad system
The Cenobium had indeed proven to be the hiding place of Aurora, the cult leader of Rykad Minoris. Aurora had been dealt with, and, upon Abelard's proposal, her corpse taken to the capital in order to be exhibited. Rykard's governor intended to organize a triumph in honor of the Rogue Trader, and the capital city had undertaken the necessary preparations.
Elena had quickly ventured back on her ship. She always felt better in space than on the ground. The unceasing whirring of the machines, the closed environment, the crowd on the decks were all elements that soothed her mind. She had grown used to open skies, but still found it vaguely irritating.
Well, there was still time before the Triumph, and there was work to do aboard the ship.
She went to check on Pasqal first, as he had agreed to become her new Chief Enginseer. The Magos was taking care of Abel Haneuman, a Tech-priest Elena had saved in the Cenobium. The Rogue Trader listened to their stories dutifully and patiently, though in truth Pasqal's manner of speaking read like a maze to her. However, she found his presence soothing and agreeable, and she trusted him with whatever things Enginseers were doing most of their time. For reason unknown, Abel took a liking to her, enough to dedicate her an aria of his own making. Elena had never before received such a thoughtful gift, and had duly thanked the Priest, even if his poetic techna-lingua was beyond her comprehension.
She had seen to it that one of the best residentials rooms be given to van Calox, but somehow the man always seemed to be on the officer bridge, close by, ever-watching. He had thanked her for her hospitality and her help in eliminating Aurora, and offered his own assistance while waiting for transport to Footfall. Their conversation had remained polite and superficial, and Heinrix had courteously not gone back upon the matter of Idira.
Ever since the terrible vision in the Cenobium, Elena had suffered a horrible headache. Shortly after checking up on the well-being of her newfound companions, she dashed to her personnel chamber, to lay down in Theodora's bed.
My bed , she corrected, burying her forehead into the satin silk cushions. It still felt odd, too big, as one could fit dozens of Elena into the bed and there would still be enough space to snore around freely. The damn bed managed to make her feel small - she, the voidborn who had to be careful about bowing her head down when crossing doors.
Why wouldn't this headache go away ?
Now that the Interrogator wasn't around, she could maybe try to recall the vision, to bring its essence forth again. There was no one to witness her strange behavior after all.
Elena sat on the bed, massaging her forehead with a wince, and focused on her breathing. Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale. Inner peace. Intuitively, her eyes darted to Theodora's book of prayers for guidance. There. She could feel the pull once more, the weight of this unlocked remembrance. Why would she have no memory of this event before ? She was cursed with precognition and eidetic memory. She never forgot a thing, to her great dismay. So strange that something so seemingly important eluded her mind…as a hunter trailing a prey, she trained her thoughts to get in order. Stop messing around. Get to the point. The Final Dawn. The…warp creature - the daemon. What did it whisper in your head ?
**** Glimpses of the past
– Past. Von Valancius Flagship. Before the translation to the Rykad system. –
Helmsman Ravor gestures for her to take Theodora's seat, and Abelard encourages her to do this. Elena Martyr winces in pain, from blood loss, and staggers forward, unwilling to let down her Seneschal and Helmsman.
She sits on Theodora's throne. Something wicked, evil, twisted looms besides her shoulders. Its maleficence encompasses her whole vision, and a kaleidoscope of colors flashes in front of her eyes. The creature speaks, each word devious, unfathomable.
It is impossible to remember exactly what was said. She understands that the vision was implemented in the fabric of her soul but largely exceeds her abilities. The fact that she vaguely recalls this hallucination at all is already too much to bear. But there is something the deep, vile thing wishes her to know : '
I am the will of the Weaver of Destinies, and today, I will weave a new thread of elusive possibilities and fickle chances. The thread that will lead you out of the maw of irreversibility.'
This as far as her prescience can go. This is already too much….no wonder her mind had suppressed the thought. It is unholy ! ****
Present
Elena awakened, lying on the floor of her chamber, in a state of acute panic. The vox skulls were flying around her :
" Illustrious Rogue Trader. Shall we call forth your servants ?"
" No !" she hissed, shivering miserably. Absent-mindedly, she wiped the blood that dropped out of her nose and ears. It was cold in the room, to the point there was ice upon the furniture. " Abstain yourselves from doing that. I wish to be alone. Go away", she continued, more sternly and calmly. The vox skulls silently flew back to the main reception room.
It took Elena a few minutes to calm down and shake the feeling of panic away from her mind. She was glad she confronted this vision alone. It was too powerful for her, she felt it. Crushingly so. She had only seen whatever the creature wished for her to recall. And it had already proven a troublesome feat.
The realization dawned upon her that her unlikely survival and successful translation to realspace was not the God-Emperor's miracle, nor the consequences of her own actions, but the decisive action of this…daemon. This was terrible. Awful. Insulting. Heretical. She groaned in despair, putting her palms to her eyes. Why would this happen to her ?
Of course, many things could happen in the warp…but crossing fate with a daemon was bound to lead her to corruption. The fact that she did not engage consciously in this did not diminish the gravity of it.
She had to come forward, to abandon her title as an heir, and to ask for a merciful execution while she still could. This would be the end of the dynasty, and accomplish Voigtvir's plan in a twisted way. But that was what a good psyker would do : ask the commissar for a quick way out. She had to ! Sister Argenta would certainly gave her this mercy if she asked for it, without too much ado and discussion. Abelard would never let the dynasty die, so it would have to be done far away from his eyes. And the others could probably manage just fine on their own, waiting for another ship to pass by to get on with their duties. Idira could go mad, obviously…but she had to do this.
Do I, really ?
I am a Rogue Trader now.
Things can be different. I can be different. I can be who I truly wish to be.
No one has to know about this.
The mere idea of this was still difficult to grasp. The freedom of the Holy Warrant would give her powers and liberties she'd never even dreamt of for her whole life. She could not fathom it. But she already felt she would get used to this.
If you say anything to anyone, you doom the whole ship.
Thousands of lives had been touched by this change of fate. And for what purpose ?
Do I wish for their deaths ? All those lives that were imparted to me ? That are now under my responsibility ?
Or am I only making up excuses and false pretenses to delay the inevitable ? Would it not be best to stop this now, beginning at tearing up the root, including myself ? But then, who could pretend to face that if not someone like me ? I foiled Voigtvir's plan after all.
Elena groaned once more. She had no answer to this dilemma.
I need to know more before doing anything rash, she thought. I must know what this thing wants with me, why it brought me here ; I must go to the bottom of this. She had a feeling she would not come up with any more answers looking around in the near-future. The past may still have some secrets to pry upon, but the only way to knowledge was forward.
She went over to her bathroom, and slipped into the pool of warm water, to cleanse herself from the blood and the headache. After a while, the pain subsided, and only fatigue remained. She plunged into the pool, surprised of the depth of it. She'd never seen such infamous luxury aboard a ship before. By the Throne, she'd never even been on upper-decks in her whole life. That so much space would be used to store a pool was hard to grasp - and that it was all for her even more. Swimming around provided her with so much pleasure though... The water was the closest thing to zero gravity after all, and her body missed the feeling of floating badly. You could become a Rogue Trader, but still your voidborn flesh would never let you forget where you came from.
Her vox suddenly crackled. " Lord Captain ?"
That was Argenta's voice. Frowning, Elena swam to her pile of clothes besides the pool. " Copying. What is it ?" she asked.
" I am sorry to interrupt, Lord Captain." Argenta paused. Hesitancy was not usual in the Sister's behavior ; Elena inferred that this communication was meaningful to her. " I have a personnel request to make. When you have time, of course."
" I have time. I'll join you shortly."
"Thank you, Lord Captain", replied Argenta gratefully.
The vox stopped crackling, and Elena put it down. She got out of the pool and, without calling her servants to help, put back her equipment. A quick look in the mirror informed her that all traces of blood were gone from her face. If anything, she looked tired, but that would not make anyone bat an eye.
Once equipped, she headed to the main bridge. She nodded to Abelard as she went past by the command center. The Seneschal saluted her with his usual, devoted but stiff attitude.
" I trust all is well ?" she asked.
" Everything is in order", he confirmed.
" Set course for the prison planetoid," she ordered. " I wish to take a look at it before the Triumph."
" Of course, Lord Captain."
Elena continued her way to the battery, where Argenta was usually found. She noticed the presence of Cassia nearby, who was admiring the stars from the viewpoint behind the Rogue Trader's throne.
" Sister Argenta," she greeted. The woman turned back to her. She looked tired, disheveled. On edge. Oddly, Elena's eyes were driven to her belt, where Argenta stored her second set of weapon. It was empty. Her diviner senses reeled in, ominous as ever. It occurred to her that she needed to remember something important about Argenta's belt, which was…strange. Why ? She frowned, concentrating on the impulse…
*** Glimpse of the past
— von Valancius flagship, Theodora's room, during the mutiny —
Elena Martyr enters the personnel chamber of the Rogue Trader, Abelard, Idira and Argenta trailing besides her.
Theodora's body is sprawled on the large, blood-drenched desk. The Arch Militant's corpse is still clutching his weapon, lying on the floor besides her. Idira hows out in pain, her scream echoing to the walls. Abelard heavily leans over the desk, shaken, stunned.
" Who would even dare…unless…that rat Voigtvir…"
Elena examines the body. What ended the Rogue Trader's life was an autopistol shot, an extraordinarily accurate one at that. A look of surprise lays upon Theodora's face. Elena wonders how someone who looked so imperious, so dangerous merely an hour ago can now look so vulnerable. Even a mighty Rogue Trader can fall in the blink of an eye. It was humbling. ****
" Elena ? Are you all right ?"
Argenta's voice brought Elena's consciousness back. She tilted her head to the side.
" Of course. I'm perfectly fine." She wondered what put this memory to mind, but the anticipation in Argenta's eyes called for her attention. The Rogue Trader straightened, focusing on the present : " So, Argenta. You wanted to ask me something ?"
The Sister nodded. " The accursed servants of Chaos who assaulted this ship took the lives of your loyal crew members. And they orphaned many children - including the progeny of the brave officers who defended their posts until the bitter end. Perhaps the Rogue Trader could meet with the orphans ?"
Elena stared back at the Sister, surprised, and slightly uneasy. She had not even given thought about this. About the men that died during the mutiny…and certainly not about their children. She felt a pang of remorse at this. Why had she not thought about it before ?
" Of course, Sister Argenta, you're right. Thank you for bringing this matter to me," she said. " I will meet with them. No formalities required."
" Then follow me", the Sister replied, a discreet, genuine smile on her face.
Elena let Argenta led the way, a bit perplexed by the situation. Witnessing their departure from the deck, Abelard joined them. Argenta went into the elevator, and they descended upon residential deck-18, in the reception hall. There, they were greeted with a group of children and adolescents. As Elena came into the hall, they all gazed upon her, as if she was a creature straight from a fairy tale.
The Rogue Trader stopped in her tracks, her dark eyes surveying the room grimly.
*** Glimpses of the past
—- Imperial Guard - mission on planet 41b - young adult —
The young psyker shook her head. Her short, fuzzy, ashy hair flew around her head, revealing the six gruesome scars on the back of her head. Her unusually big, dark eyes gleamed with anticipation, though her features remained air crackled around her, as her right arm buzzed with controlled fury and sparks of fire.
" Sergeant, you cannot ask that of me !" she said in disbelief.
" Oh, but I can, Martyr," the man facing her said, his face contorted in cold anger. " Stand. Down !"
The young woman glared daggers at the guardsman, looking torn. Finally, she gave a sigh and the air stopped crackling, her arm returning to normal.
" This is a mistake, Sergeant," said Elena Martyr reproachfully.
" They're children. Just children. What good would it do to kill them ? They need our help, not our flamers."
" The order was clear. We're to eliminate everyone that took part in the rebellion."
" By the Throne, Martyr, you're a diviner. I know you can incinerate them in the blink of an eye, but before burning everyone to crisp, could you just…look and see if they're guilty of anything ? "
Elena surveyed the kids coldly. " They are not. But still…"
" You tell me they're not rebels. Why kill them then ? Like you said, the orders are clear : we're taking down the rebels. Not every living person we meet on the way." The sergeant re-adjusted his rifle. " Otherwise, we're no better than them."
The young woman hesitated. Deep down, she felt shame, embarrassment. After all, very few people had ever treated her kindly before in her life, and Sergeant Orlon was one of them. He was also exemplary, brave, smart, competent, and the list of his qualities could go on and on. Unfortunately, his heroism made the man difficult to be around for her. She felt perplexed by the way he opposed her, perplexed but appealed as well, as the mere idea of disappointing one of the only people to have shown her any form of benevolence rattled her heart. But she also was not in the habit of questioning her orders. Kids, not kids - it didn't matter in the end. The Emperor would recognize His own. All that mattered was going through the mission that she was assigned. Still, going against the sergeant's authority, if it was within her reach, would prove troublesome…and the thought of disappointing him in any way troubled her heart.
" Fine", she said, ungratefully.
Orlon ignored her, and went to gather the frightened children. " Let's go", he said, not looking back at the psyker as he brushed by.
The young woman ruminated his choice, as she trailed besides him. She should tell the commissar about this, if only to clear her consciousness. She should. But what would happen to the kids next ? And to Orlon ? To herself ? She had thought that leaving the Scholastia Psykana was the dawn of a new life for her, but she regretted now the utter certainty that she had experimented in within its strict walls, proving her worth with devotion and unwavering mind, to the point she could kill anyone, anything, anywhere if she was ordered to. She'd been a good weapon, but now, she had to think for herself and this proved an horrid task.
The Sergeant and the squad made things difficult. They thought about things. They had ideas. Convictions. Relationships. Hopes for the future. They were different. They made her feel different.
Orlon was a seed of doubt in her heart. She should not allow it to grow.
She barely looked at the children's faces as they kept far away from her.
She doubted the commissar would like this. ***
The Rogue Trader tensed slightly.
" Our indefatigable sister has been keeping her eye on these pups", commented Abelard. " It is hardly the Schola Progenium in here, but we have provided the orphans on our ship with adequate care and instructions."
Argenta walked to stand at the side of the youngest members of the group. She gave them looks of encouragement. It was…strange…to witness the Sister of Battle showed humanity in this empathetic and nearly maternal way. Elena had came to think of her as a kind of super-zealous bolter in the flesh. Obviously there was much more going on than that, and she felt a fool for not taking notice of that before. Argenta certainly had nuances, like everyone else. She just was humble enough to keep them to herself.
" Brave ones", said Argenta, her voice clear and loud. " The master of this ship has appeared before you, the one who guides it through darkness by the Emperor's will. Greet your Lord Captain, the Rogue Trader of House von Valancius !"
Said Rogue Trader felt slightly dumb-founded. She cleared her throat.
Anyone who'd been in Elena's retinue more than a few hours would have noticed by now that she was not the face of the party. She knew how to lead a fight, surely, and could coerce her way through sufficiently well. She could frowned all right, and was good at making people feel uneasy. Most of the time, she was calm, quiet, ever watchful but not really the talkative type.
Comforting and empathetic were not the first words that would come to mind to describe her.
But she was not going to let herself be intimidated by a group of scared children, was she not ? And if she was to endorse the mantle of Rogue Trader, she was going to have to get out of her habits and learn how to talk to a crowd.
" Children of the brave servants of House von Valancius, I, the Rogue Trader and Lord Captain of the Ship, speak to you now ! Your parents gave their lives for a just cause and brought honor to the von Valancius's banners and those of the Imperium. I am proud of them, and I believe you will become their worthy heirs", she said solemnly.
She tried to think back about her own father's death. Would those have been the words she wished to hear then ? Probably not. But no matter how she put it in her head, she simply did not have the words for the situation. Deep down, she started to vaguely resent her decision to follow Argenta here. On the outside, she remained still, blank.
Amongst the group, some of the children started smiling, some of them straightening their shoulders with a gleam of pride. But most of them remained sullen, unimpressed. There was even one to question her authority :
" So what ?" said an adolescent. " Why should we care ? Our friends and parents died in dozens for you noble lot, and you just…give speeches."
Elena remained still, though she felt a pang of guilt at the accusation. If only you knew how much I sympathize with that, she thought to herself.
*** Glimpse of the past
— Martyr ship, childhood—
" What did you do, Elena !" her father voice ran with panic, as he scrambled through the cabin to find his gun.
" I told them they would die, so that they would not."
" I've told you ! I've told you not to say anything to anyone ! Nothing ! Why couldn't you just keep your mouth shut ?!"
The child had never seen her father in such a state, so angry, menacing. She felt tears watering her eyes, fear creeping inside her heart. She didn't like being afraid. It made bad things happen.
" But I wanted to save them…"
" Save them. Ah !" her dad snorted out, and laughed, cruelly. " Oh, we're gonna be saved all right. They're coming as we speak. The Arbites and the wardens. They're gonna kill us all now. To cleanse the lower deck. The whole clan is gonna be killed now ! Just because you…just because I wasn't strong enough to…" he stopped. " There's nowhere to run ! It would be best to end this now… " He held the gun now, and glanced at her. His eyes were frightening. Mad.
Elena was scared now, very scared. Her beating heart in her chest was loud, deafening her ears. The air crackled around her.
" My child, I know you won't understand. But believe me, I've always strived to give you as good a life as can be. I truly loved you, and I have made mistakes. I had hoped to hide you…it was senseless. But now, they know. It is a kindness…to end this now. Trust me. "
But the child didn't understand. She knew only fear, and she screamed. ***
Elena made a huge effort to soften up, blinking slightly at the accusation. There was a time when she had felt the same. A long time ago. " If you have things to say - say them without fear", she said, her dark eyes glancing at the adolescent. " I will listen."
The boy smiled grimly, not at all like a child. " It doesn't matter what we say. It won't bring our parents back. And it won't change our fates either. We'll keep on slaving away on this ship and die like our folks. Or worse."
I'll wager on worse, she thought pessimistically.
" I understand your grief and dismay. Your parents died", she said bluntly, all solemnity gone now. " But they gave their lives for the good of the ship, for you, for the Imperium. Do not speak of their fates with disdain."
" You heard the Rogue Trader", concurred Argenta. " Her words carry the wisdom of the Imperium."
And then it was over. The chaperons started gathering the children, to bring them back to the orphanage. The boy that accused her remained inscrutable - though he gave an awkward bow. Elena wasn't convinced she managed to sway his mind, but at least the outburst was over. Argenta stood there until the end, smiling at the younger children, encouraging them.
" Sister Argenta", said Elena, " I thank you for your prevenance in organizing this meeting. I shall leave you to your work here."
" Of course, Lord Captain. Thank you, for making time for me. ."
There was something off, pensive, about Argenta. Elena decided to leave her at her affairs and headed to the elevator, headed by Abelard.
" Does she come here often ?" she asked to her Seneschal.
Abelard sighed. " Sister Argenta is truly blessed with a charitable soul. She often comes to the orphanage, indeed. She's been known to visit dispensaries as well, and goes to masses in lower decks areas. Our crew members say they are inspired by her presence."
Well, it's not everyday you see a Sister in the flesh besides you, she thought.
" Interesting", she commented.
" You know", said the Seneschal as the doors of the elevator closed behind them, " you don't have to handle all these…I dare not diminish the Sister's charity…but let's say petty matters personally. I am here to do that for you."
Was this a hint of reproach in his voice ?
Elena crossed her arms. "Duly noted. But this was important."
" Of course it was", agreed Abelard. " Still. Rogue Trader have plenty on their mind. Don't let yourself be bothered in vain. They're just kids after all. We have more important things to think about. "