“Volk’s relationship with religion is a long and storied affair which is shrouded in as much mythos as the true texts of the Nor Mythol itself. However, the most reliable accounts generally go something like this: nearly 30,000 years ago human shamans and priests on Terra began passing down stories through an oral tradition, creating the original stories that would become the Nor Mythol. By the time Humanity colonized Volk for the first time much of humanity’s religion had been all but erased, but even so, one colonist brought with them the first copy of the Nor Mythol.” -Saris Lovelace, The History Of Volk Chapter 3, Part 1, written M32,004
M31.004 11:38/Volk, The Volk System/FOB Tyr
“Frankly Son, if we were to follow either the word or the spirit of the regulations, yeh'd be shot for whatever the fuck that was,” Max said to me in an incredibly serious tone.
I had only woken up around 20 minutes earlier, and I was still lying in the infirmary when Max had come to give me what I assumed would be the worst dressing down of my life. Lucky for me a medicae orderly gave me some painkillers once I woke up, I could only hope they would dull my senses enough to stop me from saying something stupid.
"Luckily for yeh, the Princess and I were able to convince Colonel Rikbiel that you were acting out of bravery and patriotic fervour rather than stupidity and incompetence." He gave me a second to process the fact that I wasn't going to be executed. "In fact, The Princess has chosen yeh as the first person to receive the Sheild Of Volk1The Sheild Of Volk: A medal given to service members of the Volk Armed Forces for extraordinary acts of bravery or dedication. It is known to most as the highest honour a soldier can be given. since the secession." I processed that. Me? Was I the best choice to receive the Sheild Of Volk? How dire were our straights that I was worthy of this honour?
"That being said," Max leaned in forcing me to pay attention to his words, "If you try something like that again, I will shoot you, Princess be damned." I hastily nodded to convey my understanding. He sighed, “Alright, I think that’s all I needed to say to yeh- oh! One more thing, the coggies wanna see yeh, didn’t tell me why though. If they wanna kill yeh for the poor state ya left your armour in, I wouldn’t be able to stop 'em.” That was great! Just kidding. If Hendrik has taught me anything then it was that if the coggies want something from you, there's not a whole lot anyone can do to stop them. My only hope was they didn't steal the volkite pistol I found, that would suck.
And with that, Max left me. Soon after a medicae orderly came and dismissed me, and without any more excuses I made my way to our base's shrine to Omnissiah.
The shrine was not a welcoming place, it was designed for the Engineseers2Engineseer: a Tech-Preist specializing in the care of vehicles. and the other Tech-Priests who maintained it. What that meant was there were cables and exposed wires everywhere to the point where it wasn’t only a tripping hazard, but an electrocution hazard as well. As soon as I walked through the doors I was detained by an Enginseer. She was mostly un-augmented and I once again felt a pang of… I’m not sure what, somewhere between envy and longing, I was sure it was nothing.
“Ah, Sargent Nathaniel Steven Miles,” she said my full name and I flinched a bit, “follow me.” I complied without a word, still mildly uncomfortable from the use of my given name.
She led me through at least four different side halls and workshops before ending with a door that seemed unassuming.
“Her Majesty is inside,” The meek Enginseer said before hurrying off with a worrying pace, with all the cables for tripping on. I still had enough painkillers in my bloodstream to forget about the Enginseer's comment. And so, I pushed the door wide open.
the room behind the door was a workshop. And immediately instead of focusing on the armour stand in the center of the room or the iron mass which had to have been the Tech-Preist, no my gaze was drawn to The Princess.
Her skin was silken and clear, her high cheekbones giving her an air of authority and regality. Her slightly unkempt dark auburn hair showed cracks in her facade of reality as it cascaded down past her shoulders. Her eyes were a dark, stormy, blue, clearly focusing on the Tech-Preist. She was wearing grey infantry fatigues, which were so messy that they may have entirely dropped her regal facade if not for her gorgeous violet officer's coat. You could have told me she was The Freya, the Goddess of Beauty and Love, and I would've believed you.
I was downright envious. of everything. I was envious of the way she held herself, while I habitually hunched over (a habit boot camp couldn’t drill out of me). I was envious of the sound of her voice as she joyfully discussed some matter with the Tech-Preist. I was envious of the way her beautiful face lit up the room. And truly, I was envious of her femininity, how even in unkempt fatigues she was still an icon of beauty. I wished I could be like her, I just wished I could-
"Ah! Sargeant," She turned to me, interrupting my train of thought. "I wasn't informed that you'd been freed from the medicae."
"Oh, I only left like, ten minutes ago," I told her, still recoiling from her rude interruption of my thought process.
"Ah," She furrowed her eyebrows, "Um... your dedication is... commendable." She said with a tone that told me she didn't mean it.
"No matter." The Tech-Preist interrupted, "Sargeant Nathaniel, we are here to discuss the matter of your new armour." A mechadendrite drifted out from his robe and gestured towards the armour stand in the center of the room.
At first glance, the armour on the stand seemed to be a suit of re-coloured Volk-Pattern Storm Carapace, with the plates, which were usually polished silver, being painted a matte black. However, as I moved around I identified many modifications, one of the most notable being a pair of what seemed to be claws on the right-hand side of the backpack. The Tech-Priest saw what I was looking at and walked behind a partition coming back with my standard.
"Observe," he droned, as he brought the standard into the grasp of the the claws I had noticed. Once the banner touched the claws they snapped closed holding the banner in place on the back of the armour. I stared wide-eyed.
"That's intended to prevent you from shirking your duties again." The Princess told me with a sly smile.
"Why's the armour painted black?" I asked her, genuinely confused, "And come to think of it what's this symbol for?" I pointed to a symbol that was embossed in the center of the chest piece. The symbol consisted of a simplified lasrifle and a similarly simplified power axe crossed over each other with a sword on top.
"That symbol is the Milidis Cordis, and both it and the black armour are symbols of your new position," she told me, that damned smile still beaming on her beautiful face.
”I’m getting promoted as well?” Shock and confusion mixed in my voice.
“Well, not exactly,-“ she began a long-winded explanation, which I wasn’t exactly in the mood for. So, in respect, I let the pain medication in my system overtake me as the world around me grew hazy and unfocused.
Around five minutes later I was snapped back to reality by the Tech-Priest who said, “Your Highness, I believe Sargent Nathaniel stopped listening a few minutes ago.”
“Ah,” The Princess blushed deeply, but quickly regained her regality, “I apologize, I tend to get over-excited when discussing my projects, I’ll have a data slate sent to you containing all the necessary details.”
“Much obliged,” I told her, still mildly loopy.
“Excuse my rudeness Sargeant, but you said that you left the medicae station around fifteen minutes ago, did you perchance ingest any opiate pain relievers before leaving?.” The Tech-Priest droned.
“Uh, yeah, the doc gave me some pain meds around… I’m not sure how long ago.” I told him, suddenly feeling nauseous.
The Tech-Priest turned to the Princess, “Sargeant Nathaniel seems to be having a negative reaction to his pain medication. You should take him back to the medicae.”
“Yes, right away,” she said. a small amount of worry entered her voice and I had the inkling that had something to do with the long-winded explanation she tried to give me. “C’mon now, don’t want you throwing up anywhere,” she wrapped her arm around me, causing a series of quick emotions to run through my stomach. Or maybe that was just the nausea again.
As I took a single step I realized how incredibly dizzy I was. But despite my dizziness (and vomiting a few times), we made it to the medicae, where I promptly passed out.
***
M31.004 5:34 Ship time/the Muitpat System/Aboard Barge #25783
She bounded forward towards the Skittarii Captain. Her ceramite boots stirred a thunderstorm as they impacted the deck plates of the ship.
She threw her massive astartes-sized axe at one of the Skittarii Captain’s bodyguards, pinning them to the wall, as she leaped forward and grappled the Captain. Behind her, chainswords roared as her comrades met the troopers clad in the rust-red robes of the Cult Mechanicus.
She rose from the ground. The Skittarii Captain shaking in her ceramite-plated gauntlets. She didn’t know if the Cyborg was shaking from fear or an attempt to escape, either way, she didn’t care. She raised the Skittarii Captain high in the air and then brought him to her armour-clad knee, breaking his frail mechanical spine instantly.
Then, the roar of chainswords died down to a low grumble. The intersection of the ship hallways was covered in blood and gore.
“Vilkas, Farkas, are your squads en route?” She asked over her helmet's Vox link. She flinched a little at the sound of her voice. She hated it. Hopefully-
“Yes, Ma’am,” Vilkas and Farkas affirmed, interrupting her train of thought.
“Good,” she said, before cutting the vox link. She then turned to her squad, “Come, we’ve got to meet our contact.” Hopefully, he would be able to help her.
She held out her hand and sang. Not out loud, not with her voice, which was gravelly and deep, no. She sang to the warp, daring it to empower her. Suddenly her force axe flew back to her hand. She began walking down the starship's corridors, forcing the warp to guide her to her destination.
Eventually, the arterial corridor she was headed down ended at a double door bearing half of the Mechanicus' symbol on either door. She lashed at it with psychic bolts to no use. In defeat, she gestured from one of her comrades to the door.
"Yri, you know what to do." the Space Marine complied in an instant, retrieving two Melta bombs from her belt and affixing them to the door. Once she was done she stepped back and looked to the Sorceress for her signal. The Sorceress looked back behind her and paused, the advanced sensors in her Mark VI helmet had picked up something.
"Gunfire," said Farkas, who was suddenly behind her, "probably galvanic rifles, it seems your friend has been found out."
She panicked internally for a moment before regaining her calm, "Let us hope it is not too late." Several marines behind her nodded but gave no verbal signal of agreement.
"Yri, now." The explosion happened a split second before the Sorceress was finished talking, the superhuman reaction times of the Astartes combined with Yri's entirely selfish worry for the Sorceress' contact's safety. Without waiting for the dust to clear, the Space Marines rushed through the now-opened doorway. The Space Marines' martial supremacy compounded by the red-robed Skittarii Rangers' inability to change targets led to a quick victory for the armoured superhumans. what was left after the carnage was finished was a knot of 15 Skittarii Rangers and a Tech-Preist, distinguished from their former comrades by their black and blue robes.
"Rune Preistess Katla. Your arrival was quite well-timed." The Tech-Preist said in that monotone drone common to those of his calling.
"It is Sorceress Katla now. I am a daughter of Fenris no longer." She stated in her guttural accent which was common to those children of Leman Russ.
"I understand. I am Magos Biologus Luschien of the Necris Mechanicus." Stated the Tech-Preist, "Though you already knew that. Tell me, Sorceress, do you remember how I told you that I may grant you many boons, not just that which you sought me out for?" Katla nodded. "Well then, consider this my first gift," Suddenly luminators turned on, revealing a Reaver Battle Titan. "There are eight Titans aboard this barge, and they are yours to command."
Katla stared, letting her helmet hide her shock. There wasn't much she couldn't do with eight Titans.
