“Love yourself to spite the world” -Unknown

Katla bound across the icy landscape. She looked back every once in a while to make sure that the Hunter was still at her heels.

He always was. And so she kept running. Because hounds who go AWOL are put down. The fresh blood of Prospero¹Prospero: the former home planet of the Thousand Sons Space Marine Legion. (The Vlka Fenryka (aka the Space Wolves) destroyed it, that's why it says former) which matted her fur was proof enough of that.

After a long while, Katla came upon a clearing. Within; a tree; a raven stood victorious on a tree branch high above the corpse of its fellow.

A familiar scene. it reminded her so much of that moment on Prospero.

The raven was an ally. And the clearing was Volk.

Katla thought if only she could-

M31.005 06:44 Ship time/in Warp transit/Aboard 'The Sorceress' Maw'

Katla slowly awoke from her medically induced slumber to see the face of Lucshein.

"You're awake" The Tech-Priest stated.

Katla immediately tried to stand but was forestalled by the Tech-Priest, "You're not that awake yet. Let me help you." he activated some mechanism in the table upon which Katla was laid, allowing her to sit up.

"Thank you-" Katla began, but stopped, surprised by her voice. It was different. It was still just as loud as before, but it was soft and feminine as if the rough edges had been sanded off. It was a little on the lower side though, but Katla decided that she quite liked that.

The Tech-Priest bore a warm smile, something which was rather rare to see on someone of his profession. Katla didn't mind, as she was too busy taking in the rest of her body.

Katla decided that she loved that too. She was still clad in enough muscle to allow her to bench press an ogryn without her armour, but that wasn't the main thing she was focusing on. No, what she was focusing on were the growths upon her chest.

Katla let out a laugh as she grabbed one, "With this, you have made my corporeal container the exact antithesis of my home world."

The Tech-Priest gave her an odd look, "I apologize, I do not follow."

"Fenris is cold, flat, rock-solid ice. I am anything but flat, and I bear two soft and warm mounds." Katla replied, only half joking. The look of bafflement on the Tech-Priest's face caused her to bark with laughter.

"I am glad to see you so... approving of my work," The Tech-Priest said, "Other than that though, how do you feel?"

“Like I could fight the Emperor and win,” Katla said.

“I meant mentally. Emotionally as well.” Lucshein corrected.

Katla paused for a moment, Space Marines aren’t, or rather: weren’t, supposed to feel most emotions. “Mentally, I feel as if I have been trapped under a boulder all my life, and now my mind may finally run free.”

“Good.” The Tech-Priest wrote something down on a dataslate, “And Emotionally?”

Kayla thought for a moment, “Like something, akin to pride but... not exactly, is welling up inside me for every second I sit here.”

“Hmm…” Lucshein grabbed a monitoring device near the table with one of his mechadendrites and studied it for a moment before continuing, “I believe, and this is just a hypothesis, that this emotion you are feeling is joy. Dopamine and serotonin are flooding your neural receptors at a rate which I don’t think your brain has processed in over a century. I could get one of my acolytes who specialize in neuroscience to verify, but-“

Katla holds up a hand to stall the rambling Tech-Priest, “I will be ok Magos.”

“If you insist,” Lucshein says. “Now, if you’d stand, I’d like to make sure that you are in top shape.”

Katla follows Luschien to a side room, a smaller, more private training space, but just as well-equipped as the larger facilities aboard Katla’s Ship.

For two hours, Lucshein guided Katla through every test she could imagine (and a few she couldn’t) until the Tech-Priest was finally satisfied.

“Here,” Lucshein gestures with a mechadendrite at a pair of bondsmen²The Space Wolves Legion refer to their mortal accompaniers as 'bondsmen' rather than the less pleasant 'serfs' that other legions use. who are carrying a massive piece of cloth, “A robe fitted to your new proportions.”

“Thank you,” Katla says to the Tech-Priest and the pair of bondsmen who help her dress.

“You are very welcome,” Lucshein responds as Katla leaves the Tech-Preist’s workshop.

As Katla walks through the halls of her ship, past her brothers and sisters, past a few of Luschien’s acolytes, and an uncountable number of bondsmen, not a single one fails to glue their eyes to her as she walks.

Because for the first time since she was young, Katla is beaming with joy.

* * *

M31.005 12:11 Ship time/in Warp transit/Aboard 'The Sorceress' Maw'

"Sorceress!" The voice of Ship-Mistress³The equivalent of a ship's Captain in the Armada Imperialis or other naval bodies, but changed for Space Marine vessels due to 'Captain' already being a Space Marine rank, which would far outweigh a Ship-Master (or Mistress) in the chain of command. Olity rang through the vox-speakers on the bridge, "I was worried we'd have to kill that damned coggie⁴Cog or Coggie: a mildly derogatory term used by many in the Imperium's mortal armed forces for members of the Cult Mechanicus. for botching your surgery, but you look wonderful!"

"I am displeased that you have so little trust in our ally, Ship-Mistress," Katla said, with a slight smile.

"Well, to us, it seems as if you've been replaced with a different person after two nights in a dark room with that mad cog," Olity said, sitting upon her command throne.

Katla laughed before unsubtly trying to steer the conversation in the direction she wanted, "Do you have a firm estimate of when we will reach Volk?"

"Why are you asking me this? You should be asking the Lady Arien." Olity said.

"Yes, but I had deigned myself to hope that you'd know," Katla responded, "It'd be so much easier."

"Is the great Sorceress Katla scared of a simple navigator?" Olity managed to project an incredible amount of smugness in her voice.

"No." Katla states, her voice going flat before returning to its slightly cheerier state, "It's just that she's... well, you know..."

"Positively balmy? Insane? Crazy?"

"No more crazy than you or I. She's just a massive pain in the ass." Katla sighs exasperatedly.

"And? You're a massive pain in the ass to me, and you don't see me complain about it while you're standing right behind me."

"What?" Katla asks, confusion suffusing her voice, before her nose twitches, and her well-honed combat instincts kick in as snaps in a complete 180-degree turn with her bolt pistol drawn, nearly shooting the navigator who is standing a couple of metres behind her.

Even since Katla gained her psychic abilities, Navigator Arien has regularly been able to sneak up on her, often without even trying⁵This is an incredible feat, as those who bear the gene-seed of Leman Russ possess senses (sight, smell, hearing, etc.) greater than even their other Astartes..

"You never responded to her statement about you being replaced," The Navigator said, clearly unperturbed by the alerted Space Marine.

"It was too stupid to respond reasonably to." Katla makes sure that her voice does not falter as she holsters her bolt pistol with the best facade of casualness she can muster.

"To you, sure. But you invited a random renegade Tech-Preist and his fellows to join us with little to no explanation of who he is and why you brought him here, and then, after two nights of him 'operating' on you, the infamously asocial and gloomy Sorceress is suddenly out and about, chatting up bondsmen and wearing the most ludacris smile," Navigator Arien explains to the Sorceress, "Also, you seem to have gained quite an impressive rack in no time at all."

It's true, between finishing Lucshien's checkup and coming up to the bridge Katla spent nearly an hour in her chambers observing her breasts in all manners of their function. During the checkup, Lucshien had told her that they served as a backup nutrient store her body could live off of during long deployments and missions. Despite their secondary function, they still seemed to act and feel how Katla thought boobs should after rigorous testing and study.

Katla simply shrugged, having no replies to Navigator Arien's inquiries, "Then simply have trust that it is still me."

"If you have been replaced, It's probably better for all of us." Ship-Mistress Olity added with a laugh.

Katla laughed with her. Was this what it was like to have friends?

"Oh, Arien, when are we getting to Volk?" Olity asked.

The Navigator simply shrugged in response, "Three, four months maybe? We get there when we get there."

"Let us hope we are in time," Kalta said soberly.

"Would you mind telling us what we're hoping to be in time for?" Olity asked.

For the first time, Katla told someone (or rather, two someones) about her various fears and worries, as well as her, admittedly half-baked, plan.

* * *

M31.005 00:01/Volk, the Volk System/the Commerce District, Vrantanius

The Cerastus Knight's Shock Lance narrowly misses Baroness Sylina Lambert-Harrowheart-Melafurr's cockpit and hits her shoulder instead.

Sylina grunts out in pain⁶Knight Armours (see following footnote), utilize a cybernetic control interface which directly connects to the pilot's mind, causing them to feel their war machine as an extension of their body, in the same fashion as the Captain (or Ship-Master) of Human Naval vessels connects to their ship (see previous footnote), it's not debilitating and, more importantly, it didn't damage her arm.

It's clear to her that, while the Cerastus Knight is nimble, its pilot has overextended their Armour⁷To avoid confusion when members of the Questoris Familia are getting 'down and dirty' it is most proper to refer to the war machine itself (which is alternatively called an 'Imperial Knight,' or referred to by the name of its pattern e.g: 'Questoris Knight') as an 'Armour,' and to call the pilot of the Armour a 'Knight.'. It's exactly the opening the Baroness needs; she grabs the Shock Lance arm with her Thunderstrike Gauntlet and yanks the entire thing free.

In her mind's eye, Sylina imagines the Knight in the cockpit shrieking with agony and grins. She wheels around, brings the Thermal Cannon to bear, and evaporates one of the legs of the Cerastus Knight with three shots in rapid succession. She hopes the enemy knight hasn't died from the pain as the Armour collapses to the ground on one knee.

Baroness Sylina kicks the enemy knight right in the cockpit. Her vengeance is had. She opens up a vox-link with the battlefield commander, Captain Maximus Alfondus Xafer, "'Milord, This is Baroness Sylina Lambet-Harrowheart-Melafurr reporting."

"Baroness," Captian Maximus responds in his odd accent, "Report."

"Both enemy Knight Cerastuses have been felled sir, however, t'was at the cost of the lives of Barons Hubert and Guy," Sylina reports solemnly.

A brief pause passes over the vox-link for the exact amount of time it would have taken Captain Maximus to list off a string of swears. Finally, he responds, "It's good that you've accomplished yer task. Got somthin' to ask 'v yeh, this order comes from the Princess herself." Sylina's heart beams with pride as the Captain continues, "She's personally spotted the Colossus Jewel. As all 'v our artillery and air support's tied up, you'n your Armigers are the only ones who're 'vailible. Take down the Colossus Jewel."

"Copied M'Lord." Sylina cuts the vox-link with the Captain after he lists the coordinates of the Colossus Jewel and opens a new one with the Armigers she's in charge of, "Lairds Agnes, Bernard, and Raoul, report!"

She gets a "M'Lady!" from Agnes, and a "Baroness!" from Bernard and Raoul each.

Sylina relays Captain Max's orders to her three charges, who give cheers at the news, "Sending the coordinates now. Make haste!"

The Colossus Jewel is an Acastus Knight Porphyrion, it's a heavily armed and armoured gun platform sporting four Magna-lascannons.

It will be the third of the six knights Sylina and her Armigers will destroy before the battle ends. The four of them will set a record for the young House Verity and earn them all the Sheild of Volk.

Seven months later, they will break it again. And a month after that they will break that record.