The Calling Part V
A younger version of Silviya was praying, with her eyes closed, kneeled between Jessita and Emilia. It was the moment of prayer in the chapel of the convent, all of the acolytes and sisters were kneeled down beside one another.
The chapel is huge having, large pillars in all the corners, the walls are filled with skulls, paintings, and candles. The roof is a great dome, filled with paintings of past glories. A huge painting of the golden throne adorns the center of the structure, in both sides of the throne, are the two most holy figures of her ordos Saint Katherine and Saint Celestine, both in a guard position, as if they were guarding the Holy Throne.
Through the entire space, the voices in unison of the sisters sing the hymn of the faithful. The beautiful melody tells the story of Saint Celestine and her reward for being faithful to the Emperor.
Brigith goes around the chanting sisters with an incense burner, singing along while letting the sweet smell permeate the environment.
Silviya likes this time of the day, only relaxing to the sound of the melodic voices of her sisters, the sweet fragrance of the incense, in this moment there are no problems, no wounds, no sadness, nor sorrows. There is only the presence of the Holy Emperor.
She opens her eyes, and she takes a look at the sisters all around her, all of them are in the same position, heads hung low while singing. She feels the stare of Jessita to her right in a whispered voice she turns to the other sister.
"Jessita not now if the canoness catches us talking we will be punished!"
As Silviya turns to look at her best friend what she sees terrifies her to her very core, the entire face of the other sister is a mangled mess of flesh bone, and metal, the only feature she can recognize is a huge demonic smile on her face "Join us, sister!" the sickly sweet voice of Jessita came trough the demonic smile.
Silviya gets up, takes the rosarius out of her neck before branding it against the demon using her friend's skin.
"Begone demon, get away from this devout servant of the holy Emperor!"
The unholy creature starts to mockingly laugh, Silviya screams for the help of her other sisters to purge the wretched abomination in front of her. But they don't move, none of the sister's move is as if they weren't hearing her. With a single sickening crack, one of the sisters at the front row starts to rotate her head in the direction of Silviya.
The sister with her head turned starts to laugh mockingly as well, just like the demonic Jessita, soon enough more cracks can be heard as other demonic sisters join in the mockingly laugh. It doesn't take long as the entire chapel is filled with said laughs as the choral of demonic sisters stares right at her.
Silviya then screams with all her might for Brigith, while pointing the Rosarius to the heretic crowd gathering around her. They are all staring and laughing, she looks around for her canoness, she spots her, but...
Brigith, or what used to be her, has very bright purple skin, with jet black eyes, using a very skimpy version of her uniform as a canoness, a huge Slaanesh tattoo on her left exposed tight.
"Come child, I missed you so much, join me. Free yourself from such earthly bounds."
Silviya angrily screams still holding the rosarius at the demonic crowd while spitting on the ground.
"NEVER...I MUCH PREFER DYING A THOUSAND DEATHS BEFORE JOINING ANY OF YOU FILTHY HERETICS!"
"Even if I, your beloved Brigith was part of this magnificent realm?"
"Never, even if Saint Celestine was part of it. My only devotion is with the Emperor!" The sosoritas screams while brandishing her rosarius, a bright light starts to emanate from the holy symbol, as the light spreads through the entire chapel. Demonic screeches and screams can be heard all around her.
All the while the demonic Brigith only stares at her with a smirk, before the light consumes her, she makes a promise "We will see each other again...Just you wait."
Erick spent a good amount of time only thinking before dozing off. He woke startled by a ringing sound. He looks around searching for the source, only to find a Servitor Skull doing the sound. People start to leave the rooms, following the floating cranium. He approaches one of the guardsmen exiting the rooms.
"What is happening? Where are all these people going to?"
The soldier, that he can't quite get the features since he is using the standard cadian helmet with visor answers "The cafeteria, it's lunchtime. we guardsman have one meal time per day. If I were you I would go now. There are not enough tables for all of us, so be quick."
The kind soldier then proceeds to follow the crowd. Erick proceeds to room 12 to wake his squadmates. The room is almost empty, as a lot of people have already gotten out of the room to the cafeteria. When he gets next to the bunk bed of the aforementioned, the scene right in front of him leaves him confused.
Silviya is covering Sarah's mouth with both of her hands. The redhead has a smug face, and the battle sister has a very angry and flustered face.
"What is happening in here?"
Sarah muffles something, as the battle sisters quickly interject looking at him with nervous eyes.
"Nothing! Nothing at all. She was just making an unfaithful comment, so I prevented her from uttering such doubtful words. It was for her own good you see...Since if she continued I would be forced TO PUNCH HER FACE IN!"
She said the last part in a warning tone while looking at the redhead with murder in her eyes. Sarah is only laughing behind the sister's hand.
"Any way you two are lunchtime. Let's go before there are no more tables for us."
Soon they are off to the cafeteria, they turn right after exiting Deck 45, they follow behind the going crowd. At the end of this corridor, there is a stair that goes down. Once they arrive at the top of the stairs they see the number of steps they will have to descend, which is at least two stories high.
Erick looks to the limping sister "Come on I give you a ride." He says while he kneels preparing to pick her up in the piggyback style.
"No FUCKING WAY. I won't let you do such a shameful thing. I can manage on my own, You two can go on." Silviya said crossing her arms, angrily staring at the guardsman.
"Nope, I will take you down these stairs you liking it or not! The time you will take to climb down these stairs will take the entire lunchtime."
"It's okay. I can manage, I've been through many compulsive fastings before, I'm no stranger to hunger." Silviya tried to reason with him with a defusing smile.
Erick thinks a little before his eyes widen with realization. A smug grin splattered on his face as he simply states:
"I'm your squad leader, and you will obey. Or did you forget it?"
Her dark eyes widen with panic and fury, every muscle on her body tenses, she limps getting closer to him, she readies her fist for a punch, while angrily screaming:
"YOU INSUFFERABLE..."
But then she pauses, closes her eyes, takes a deep breath before adding:
"No, even if you were my canoness I will not heed such out-of-line order."
Erick is getting tired of this, at this rate all the tables will already be taken. He ponders a little, he comes up with a new solution, is a low blow but it will work.
"If you don't heed my order, I will simply say to canoness Hannira that you are refusing to obey your squad leader and to send a more disciplined sister in your place."
Once again her eyes widen but this time not with fury or panic but with pure terror in her eyes, she then nervously screams.
"NO! DON'T DO THAT!"
Erick shrugs his shoulders while having a huge smirk on his face.
"Oh but I will, you don't leave a choice for me. How can I have a team member that does not know how to obey orders?"
He's feeling a little guilty for the foul play right now, but she must learn to trust him if she wants to be part of their squad.
Silviya throws her arms above her head in exasperation, which causes the crutch to fall to the ground. Her face looks a mixture of fear and pure wrath, her light skin has a light reddish tint to it, maybe she is flustered, pissed? Or both.
"OKAY FINE! HAVE IT YOUR WAY!"
Silviya then angrily limps to his position, she leaves the crutch on the ground. Sarah then picks up the object as the battle sister climbs on his back.
She's heavier than he expected but manages to position her firmly and stably, even without his left hand. In classic piggyback fashion, he climbs down the stair with a very flushed sister on his back.
The climb down was difficult for Erick since his legs didn't recover one hundred percent, but he manages to go downstairs with the heavy sister on his back, Sarah close behind them.
When they arrive down there they see a huge room where certainly is the cafeteria. There are a plethora of guardsmen walking around with aluminum trays.
Enormous steel tables, that are full of people, various guardsmen waiting in lines in front of kitchen windows, where the food was delivered to the next on the line.
Erick settles the sister on the ground, Sarah then gives the crutch back to the annoyed and ashamed Silviya. He then turns to them "Okay I will go to the line to pick up our food, you two find a table for us."
They exchange nods before each going on their own way. The guardsman proceeds to go to a near-line to fetch some lunch for them.
Silviya woke up screaming in prayer. She is sweating bullets, the mattress under her is drenched with sweat, wait...
Mattress? She was not in a bed when she slept. Silviya looks to her side to see Sarah looking worriedly at her.
Silviya looks back at the other guardsman of the team with annoyance. The sosoritas crossing her arms with an inquisitive tone starts to interrogate the redhead.
"Why am I in the bed? I wasn't clear enough when I said that I wanted to sleep on the ground?"
"Is everything okay?" Asked the girl named Sarah.
"Yes, don't fret. I was only doing a matinal prayer, but then I got too much into it and ended up screaming." Silviya with a fake smile lied.
Sarah only scoffed before saying matter of factly "Bullshit! You were having a nightmare. Did your order not teach you how to lie? You're terrible at it"
"SILENCE! And no it's not a lie! Why would my order teach something like that?" Silviya asked irritated.
"For moments like this. Since I don't buy what you are saying." The redhead pauses before adding "Let's be real, you had a nightmare. Is not a great deal, everyone has them sometimes."
Silviya is getting angry now but she speaks lowly, so only the person in front of her can hear "It is a great deal! The faithful don't have such frivolous things as nightmares. We sisters don't fear anything, so we don't have these nightly terrors that are so common for you, normal people."
Sarah then sighs before responding "Look even if what you said is true, you are still human, sometimes you will feel scared as well as brave. We humans have emotions, and this very concept of not having fears to me sounds alien. The problem is not the fear you feel, is what you do with this fear that is the problem."
Wow, that was pretty wise for an average guardsman to say. But still, she mustn't show weakness, she must be an example of faith and devotion. Having nightmares, fears are not virtues of someone faithful and devout. She must pay penance for this transgression. When her gear gets transferred to their quarters she will lash herself, twenty times must be enough.
Sarah looks around and proceeds to smugly states "I know that it's not the only reason you won't admit you had a nightmare."
What is the meaning of this? Why is she with such a smug look? Silviya is getting nervous. Does this redhead know something?
"You don't want Erick to know that you had a nightmare too. Since well...You said he was unfaithful and that was the reason he had nightmares." Sarah said with a creepy smug face, she adds "I wonder what he would think of this."
"NO, YOU SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTH! HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT!?" Silviya takes her collar in one hand and the other she readies to deliver a strong punch on her smug face.
"He told me after he came back from the infirmary. I would love to see his reaction after I tell him...oh look he is coming." She pauses before adding loudly "Hey Erick want to hear something fun..."
Sarah is cut off by the sororitas muffling her mouth with both hands.
Erick approaches them curiously asking "What is happening in here?"
An excuse she must have an excuse ASAP, think Silviya, THINK...
The redhead muffles something on her hand, as Silviya quickly interjects "Nothing! Nothing at all. She was just making an unfaithful comment, so I prevented her from uttering such doubtful words. It was for her own good you see...Since if she continued I would be forced TO PUNCH HER FACE IN!"
She threatens the insufferable redhead, but still, the smug look won't leave her face. Why is she laughing?
"Any way you two are lunchtime. Let's go before there are no more tables for us." Erick ordered.
She gathers her crutch and limps angrily behind the guardsman, she looks back at the still smug redhead. She gives her best murder stare before following the squad leader.
Soon they are off to the cafeteria, they turn left after exiting Deck 45, they follow behind the going crowd. At the end of this corridor, there is a stair that goes down. Once they arrive at the top of the stairs they see the number of steps they will have to descend, which is at least two stories high.
Erick looks at her "Come on I give you a ride." He says while he kneels preparing to pick her up in the piggyback style.
No way...there is no way in the warp she will do this. She is a battle sister for Emperor's sake, not some hurt child. Terra will be torn asunder before she allows such humiliation upon her.
"No FUCKING WAY. I won't let you do such a shameful thing. I can manage on my own, You two can go on." Silviya said in an annoyed tone.
"Nope, I will take you down these stairs you liking it or not! The time you will take to climb down these stairs will take the entire lunchtime." 661 said exasperatedly.
She much prefers to die of hunger than letting this embarrassing act happen.
"It's okay. I can manage, I've been through many compulsive fastings before, I'm no stranger to hunger."
"I'm your squad leader, and you will obey. Or did you forget it?"
Oh, he just not did pull rank on her? Does he have a death wish? He should be grateful that someone of her caliber is in this dysfunctional squad.
"YOU INSUFFERABLE..."She pauses while taking a deep breath to calm herself before adding "No, even if you were my canoness I will not heed such out-of-line order."
661 is thinking something and by the looks of it is not good.
"If you don't heed my order, I will simply say to canoness Hannira that you are refusing to obey your squad leader and to send a more disciplined sister in your place."
WHAT!? If he goes to the canoness she will want to inspect him and will conclude that he is not an Emperors chosen. And before she can even try to complete her duty he will be executed by a bunch of very pissed hospitallers.
Silviya stares at the fool with widened eyes before nervously pleading "NO! DON'T DO THAT!"
"Oh but I will, you don't leave a choice for me. How can I have a team member that does not know how to obey orders?" 661 asks smugly.
The third part just got more difficult, and they are not even in their first mission. This man is walking into death's door without knowing it, It's her fault sure, but he should be smarter than this!
"OKAY FINE! HAVE IT YOUR WAY!"
Silviya then angrily limps to his position, she leaves the crutch on the ground. Sarah then picks up the object as the battle sister climbs on his back.
She does a leg lock around his waist, so he can properly hold her since he's missing his left arm. She focuses her mind on her duty, her cheeks are still blushed tough, some guardsmen around them are looking with interest at their debacle.
They climb down the stairs when they arrive down there they see a huge room where certainly is the cafeteria. There are a plethora of guardsmen walking around with aluminum trays.
Enormous steel tables, that are full of people, various guardsmen waiting in lines in front of kitchen windows, where the food was delivered to the next on the line.
661 settles her on the ground, Sarah then gives the crutch back to her, she can feel her cheeks still burning. He then turns to them "Okay I will go to the line to pick up our food, you two find a table for us."
They exchange nods before going on their way. Silviya and Sarah wander through the cafeteria before finding a place at the end of the table. With some difficulty, the sister manages to sit down on the long steel bench.
The redhead sits at her left, there is a guardsman on her right with a nervous expression on his face, slowly distances himself from her. Strange, why this soldier is so nervous around her?
She then turns to the fearful guardsman "Fellow imperial, why are you distancing yourself from me?"
He nervously stutters "No-thing, just*gulp*gi-ving yo-u s-s-s-space."
The sororitas only scoffs before answering "I don't need more space, I have enough for myself. You can sit here, don't worry."
The nervous guardsman slowly slides back to where he was sitting next to the sororitas. She tries to smile reassuringly at the fearful guardsman.
Good, the common soldiery must respect, but not fear her. She is a beacon of hope and faith, and an example of devotion and faithfulness first and foremost.
She looks proudly to the redhead on her side "See they respect me, differently than you. They even wanted to give me some "space".
"If by respect you mean scared shitless then yes, they certainly respect you!" Sarah teased the sister.
"YOU..." Silviya angrily shouts, before noticing the soldiers around them staring nervously at their exchange. She then quietly adds "We battle sisters sacrificed everything so they could live! Why would they fear me!?"
The redhead's expression changes from playful to serious in an instant.
"Well they certainly are grateful for the many sacrifices done by your order, the mere fact that they didn't scatter as soon as they saw you proves that." Sarah adds "But we guardsman are cannon fodder. Compared to you and the "big guys" we are nothing, we are disposable. If you decided that one of us was looking at you in the wrong way and decided to blast his head off, no one would bat an eye. No explanations would be needed."
Wow...she didn't know that. Silviya always knew the purpose of the imperial guard was to be cannon fodder, but never before she considered their point of view. It must be intimidating for them to be in the presence of people like her or the Astartes.
The sister loses herself in thoughts before her reveries are cut short by the guardsman's arrival. 661 arrived with an aluminum tray containing three metal bowls on top of it. He sets the tray on the table before serving with his right hand, Silviya, Sarah then himself, before setting the aluminum tray aside.
The food on the bowl looks similar to the one at the infirmary so she doesn't have any problem devouring the food. In silence, Gamma Squad eats. They are almost finishing their meal as Silviya feels a presence behind her, when looking at the face of 661 she can confirm that there is someone behind her.
Oh no...Erick knows this guy. Andres de Soto, tall, pale skin, blue eyes, jet black hair, and one huge scar on his right blind eye. One of the most troublesome and lecherous members of the 22nd segment.
He's the leader of another specialized unity called Fox Squad. His presence means trouble, he only had glimpses of him and his squad on the battlefield, but the rumors surrounding him are not good.
One rumor was that he sexually assaulted another guardsman, but the commissar arrived before he could do the act. The only reason he wasn't executed on the spot, its because his leadership skills proved to be very efficient on the battlefield to be wasted.
"Oh my...look what we got here! If not a member of the famous battle sisters." Said the dark-haired man behind Silviya, he added " I saw you the moment you entered the cafeteria, and I thought to myself that you could help us solve a mystery. Since well it is not every day that you see such an important figure down here with us!"
Erick clenches his fist around the fork that he's holding, waiting for a sign of trouble. If he tries anything he will end this bastard's life. Sarah is tense too, he noticed her hand getting white with the amount of strength she's putting in holding the knife. If a fight brokes, they will attack him from more than one side.
"Me and the boys heard a rumor that got us thinking..."
He pauses lowering himself above Silviyas head:
"Is it true that battle sisters are the freakiest motherfuckers in bed?" He asked with a mocking laugh.
Andres's squad that was right behind him proceeded to laugh along at his offensive question.
Silviya is not reacting, she is just eating her food as if nothing was happening. Erick is surprised with her self-control, if it were with him he would be already breaking this guy's jaw, but enough of this bullshit.
As he starts to get up he sees Silviya making a discreet halt signal with her hand. He is uncertain to follow her command, but he decides to trust in her.
"You won't answer me doll face?" Andres asks while getting a sniff at Silviyas hair.
Still, no reaction at all the sister must have nerves of steel! Her expression is of solemn contempt, she doesn't even frown with the provocation of the disgusting guardsman.
"Your hair stinks, but don't you worry if you want I can help you clean it."
Still no reaction from Silviyas part, her expression didn't change.
The perverted soldier puts his hands on both shoulders of the sororitas while slowly approaching her ears where he whispers "But firsts be kind to your fellow soldier and enlighten me on my question, bolter bitch?"
The moment these words left the guardsman's mouth Erick knew that something would happen. Even if Silviya doesn't do anything, he (Erick) most certainly WILL do something, but what happens now surprises him...
Silviya slowly gets up with the same contempt written in her features. She then slowly turns to Andres. She gives her best sweet smile, before putting her hands on his shoulders, her head starts to get closer to his.
Her face is getting too close to his, it is looking like they will kiss. Andres's expression starts as one of confusion but soon enough the bastard closes his eyes and licks his lips in anticipation of what appears to be a kiss from the crazy sororitas.
What is happening for Emperor's sake!? It's the only thing that the guardsman can think of at this very moment.
Then in an instant, before any of them could react, her hands tighten on his shoulders holding him in place, while she prepares her head for the strike.
A deafening crack could be heard as her forehead met his nose. The head-butt was so strong that his nose was crushed by the impact, becoming unrecognizable both by the blow and by the amount of blood coming out of his nostrils. Anders falls on the ground immediately, knocked out cold.
The cafeteria is in complete silence, the drop of a pin could be heard in the silence that ensued after the blow. The stillness is cut short as his squad stumbles trying to drag him away from the battle sister. All the while she stares them down as if promising a world of pain to the next person who dared to open their mouth.
They drag their perverted leader as quickly as they can. In Erick's mind, they look like a bunch of cockroaches scurrying away.
Erick looks at her in disbelief at what has just happened, especially the way Silviya does not show any kind of reaction to the whole situation. She slowly sits down and starts to eat again.
Sarah then pokes her to draw her attention to the huge bloodstain on her forehead. The battle sister then with her forearm tries to rub the blood out from her forehead, which ends up only worsening the situation, spreading it more across her face and arm.
She gives up and starts eating again as if nothing had happened, with her forehead and now arm still covered with blood. Erick can't say that he is not happy for Andres getting what he deserves, but the nonchalant way that Silviya made the situation out to be was pretty disturbing.
They resume their meal in silence, refusing to talk about what just has transpired right in front of them. While they are eating Erick notices that all guardsmen around them are dead silent, with a mixture of relief and fear written in their features. They take discreet glances at them, mostly directed to the battle sister.
The poor guy right beside Silviya is shaking uncontrollably, he is frozen in place, staring at the table, she takes notice of this. Silviya is turning to talk to him. When she opens her mouth to say something the fearful guardsman stands up and goes running as fast as he can far away from the trio.
Silviya only stares shockingly at the soldier's reaction her hand in the air to touch the poor man before he left. She recoils her hand back and proceeds to quietly eat again.
"Don't worry Silviya they will get used to you. Just give them time, is not always that we have the presence of people like you, so have patience." He tries to cheer her up with a reassuring smile.
She only shrugs, as she proceeds to take a bite at the mysterious beef on her bowl. The tension slowly decreases as people start to chatter around them again.
Erick gulps the food in his mouth before starting a conversation with the battle sister.
"So Silviya...you clearly know a lot about me, but I don't know anything about you, and as your squad leader I must know more about the people I'm leading."
She briefly glances at him before resuming eating mashed potatoes with rice.
"What's your name?"
Without looking at him, and obviously paying more attention to the plate of food in front of her than what he is asking, she answers "Silviya."
"Hm... I already know your first name, what's your last name?"
"Don't have any." She answers curtly still showing no interest in his questions.
"You don't have a last name? Why?"
"Yes and I'm an orphan, never met my parents and no one knows who they are."
That wasn't nice, he may be touched a delicate subject. He nervously scratches the back of his head.
"Oh...I'm sorry."
"Don't be. I don't care anyways, my family since a young age has always been the order, and it's the only family that I need."
She takes the last bite of her food before setting the metal bowl aside. Stretching her arms she positions herself more comfortably, resting her arms on the table, with one hand supporting her head.
"How old are you?"
"Twenty-five years old."
"My hunch was correct then." Erick closes his eyes and smiles victoriously.
Silviya just shrugs her shoulders while bobbing her head side to side, as if to say "good, but who cares".
"Where are you from?"
"Cadia Primus..."
"What is your order exactly?"
"The Order of Our Martyred Lady."
"What is it like...being a battle sister?"
At that Silviya frowned. Her posture became more erect, she probably wasn't expecting such a question.
"What do you mean exactly?"
"You know..."what you did there?" or "how was your routine?" that kind of thing."
Her expression changes from seriousness to thoughtful, before changing to one of mild distrust.
"What happens in the order stays in the order."
"What? Why?"
The sororitas look Erick deep in the eye, staring at his very soul, before answering in a matter-of-fact tone.
"We are not allowed to tell about the secrets of our order, and by the Emperor, I will honor that."
Erick sighs exasperatedly while returning the stare.
"I don't want to know the secrets of the sororitas I just want to know more about your routine, your role inside your group."
Once again her features change from mild distrust to uncertainty, before finally an "okay, fine face". With a heavy sigh, she starts explaining.
"I was the squad leader of the Celestine Fury, our role was of support. We usually got jobs of rescue or to hold something, be it an artillery position or an apothecary facility."
"Oh, it's kinda like what we do actually...Gamma Squad's purpose is to defend fortified positions making use of heavy ordnance and guerilla tactics."
Silviya only hums in response to Erick's remark. She then with a more cautious tone responds.
"And to your other question, I can't say what my routine used to be, since a lot of stuff is only relevant to me and my order. But that's what you can and need to know. First: I always start and end my day with a session of prayers, it can take from two minutes to half an hour. So if you find me at this moment, wait for me to finish. If you disrupt it I will punch your face so hard, that your front teeth will become bone dust."
Erick nods understandably while waiting for her to continue.
"Second: Every day I must train. And sometimes I need help with it. So a piece of advice, you two start exercising these meek things you call bodies since the training I do is far more brutal than that of an imperial guard."
Sarah and Erick's exchange worried looks. He wasn't prepared for this part, he didn't even figure out yet how he will be able to do his duty as a guardsman without his left arm. Now imagine how he will do hardcore elite training?
"Silviya we would be glad to help, but Sarah is a sniper, her role on the battlefield is far different than ours. And I'm missing my left arm."
There is a pause.
"I'm afraid that I'm not going to be able to help you with that"
Silviya's mouth forms a very cocky smile, with determination in her eyes, she makes a promise.
"Don't you worry. Once I'm better and I have my gear back, we will solve this."
She cackles loudly as if she was laughing at some type of very funny inside joke. Erick and Sarah can only look worriedly at each other as the sororita laughs alone. Silviya suddenly stops and proceeds to stare at Erick with seriousness.
"Third and last: I will honor your leadership, but within my limits as a sister. I won't obey an order that I see as against my creed. Every plan you do you must fill me in, failure to do so, will get my complete lack of cooperation to it, and to be clear I'm first and foremost a battle sister. So treat me like one, I'm not one of you, so remember that."
As she ends her speech, that sounded more like a thinly veiled threat. Erick takes mental note of her statements since he needs to know what he can do, or can't do with her.
Never before he worked with a battle sister, having these ground rules set out by Silviya eases the process a lot. If he could summarize the three points she made it would be to respect her pray time, help her to train, and consider her role as a sororitas when in action/planning.
Everything is going fine, that is until he notices a smug grin forming on Sarah's face. Being the teasing type, she probably has something to say, he just hopes it isn't directed to the sororitas.
"To ease the tension a little bit...Erick did you know that Silviya..."
She can't finish as the battle sister grabs her collar violently. With murder in her eyes, Silviya threatens the redhead.
"Don't even dare finish your sentence or ill split your face in two."
After a pause, the redhead grin became even bigger.
"That she..."
Silviya is staring intensely at the redhead, her fist clenching at her side. Erick doesn't know what to do if a fight broke out between the two
"That she farts while she sleeps?"
Silviya is staring with the intensity of a thousand suns in hopes of stopping the guardsman from uttering about such a shameful act.
"That she farts while she sleeps?"
Say what now? Silviya releases the collar of the guardsman, before crossing her arms, and with a frown, she simply answers.:
"No, I do not."
With a Chesire grin, the redhead once again teases her.
"Yes, you dooooo!"
Silviya's frown is getting deeper, and her patience is running thin with the teasing guardsman.
"I do NOT! Stop these childish games!"
"Nope. And you still fart when you sleep!"
Silviya's light skin is getting red with anger.
"SHUT UP!"
"No, you shut up!"
For an unknown reason that set off her temper. She lunged into the annoying guardsman, pinning her by the throat on the bench under them. Silviya starts to choke her insufferable team member as a distinct whistle sound could be heard through all their area.
As she turns to look at the source of the sound she sees a very, VERY pissed commissar coming in their direction. The man has an average height, he has a scruffed beard, his cap covers a great portion of his face, so the only features that she can clearly see are his mouth and cheeks.
Apparently, he's not so young, since his beard has grey spots in it.
With a booming voice the commissar questions.
"WHAT IS HAPPENING IN MY CAFETERIA? AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO THAT GUARDSMAN?"
Before Silviya could even reply the redhead untangled herself from her and with a very playful tone says.
"Oh nothing we were just playing, right Silviya?"
Silviya looks at her team member, seeing her reassuring eyes, she understands what Sarah is trying to do.
"Yes, we were playing."
The commissar approaches the battle sister, and with his gloved finger, he runs it over the almost dry bloodstain in her forehead.
"And this I suppose is another "play" of yours, I'm a right?"
Sarah looks nervously at the battle sister. Explaining the situation just got worse, since she forgot about the blood on her. But at least he doesn't know about...
Her thoughts are cut short as the commissar questions her in a warning tone
"The broken nose of that guardsman was a "play" too?"
"It's not what it looks like..." 661 and Sarah tries to defend her.
"Shut it! I want to hear from her. Hurting my men is a "play" for you?"
Silviya takes a deep breath and stands up with the help of the crutch, she stands right in front of the officer in question. She ponders a little on what to say, so decides to say the truth.
"The guardsman in question was nagging me, if not borderline sexually harassing me. So I taught him a lesson."
The commissar hums with her version of the story, so he turns to the other guardsman around them and asks with the same authority in his voice.
"Is this true?"
They stay in silence for a while before one of them stands up and nods his head. Soon more soldiers joined, it wasn't long to all the people sitting around them were on their feet nodding confirming her story.
The officer clicks his tongue and in a disciplinary way, orders everyone to sit down. The moment the order leave his mouth, everyone was already sitting.
"Okay I believe your story, he will be sent to the Brigg for the rest of the trip."
Silviya slowly stops holding the air that she didn't know she was holding. With relief, she proceeds to sit again, but his voice breaks the air again.
"But you will be punished too, just because he started doesn't mean it's okay to raise your arms against another imperial. So I want twenty pushups here and now!"
Silviya would give a proper response to the obvious idiotic commissar since he appears to not know who is he talking to, but she is cut off by 661 interjections.
"She's wounded she can't do that."
The commissar turns his inquisitive stare to the guardsman in question.
"And who are you?"
"Erick Clarke, squad leader of Gamma Squad, served on the 41st, 22nd regiment, sir!"
"Hm...tell me why do you defend this battle sister?"
"She's under my command, Silviya is part of Gamma Squad, sir!"
"Erick, it doesn't matter that she's wounded or not, I gave an express order to her, so stand aside and let me do my job."
Silviya just stands between the two as she confronts the angry officer.
"I don't think you know who are you talking to. But I'm a battle sister and not some common soldier that you can push around. I answer to the Adeptus Ministorum, not the Astra Militarum. So if you want to punish me, you have first to request to them my punishment by then get an answer."
There is a pause.
"And let me tell you something it will take years before you get the authorization and when it comes, it will be no. So just drop it, I won't trouble your man any longer, in exchange I expect you to not bother me."
She's proud of herself, her entire speech shut his mouth. Well done Silviya, now he will leave her team alone, and they can now focus on their mission. So why is it that Erick and Sarah have a mortified face?
"Oh...yeah your right sister, I'm sorry that won't happen again. You don't need to do the push-ups..."
Now see that what she calls a win, just like she thought it would be.
"Since your squad members will have to do it for you, and it's not twenty, oh no that's too little. They will be doing Fifty push-ups! You two on the ground NOW!"
The commissar screams the last part as loud as he can, and picking up his whistle from his pocket, he starts to loudly blow on it. Sarah and Erick clumsily throw themselves on the floor to do the push-ups. Both of them with very fearful expressions written on their faces.
"That's ridiculous commissar. They have nothing to do with my transgression is improper to punish them for my actions."
The officer smiles an ironic laugh while looking at her with ironic eyes.
"Oh...really? Do you think is improper? So you will do what I told you to do?"
"No of course not, I'm out of your jurisdiction."
"Ooooh...did I heard sixty push-ups?"
Erick and Sarah are huffing and puffing at the amount of effort in doing their exercise, they are having difficulty in finishing the tenth pushup, imagine doing more than fifty. Erick even more so since he's doing it with only one arm.
"That's non-sense, leave then be. You should be ashamed to call yourself a commissar with such petulant attitude!"
"Did I heard seventy!?"
Erick in the mid of a push up screams with desperation and rage in his voice.
"Silviya please just shut up!"