DessertFoxo
Totally not a FV 214 Conqueror in a Fox costume.
- Location
- The United Kingdom
- Pronouns
- Them/They
So your a totally loyalist, don't look at us too hard player?
Space marine or Primarus space marrine?
SYRINE - Into the Grim Darkness of the Far future (Warhammer 40,000/Isekai)
- Thread starter Wong40k
- Start date
- Sci-Fi Action
So your a totally loyalist, don't look at us too hard player?
Space marine or Primarus space marrine?
CHAPTER 6 GETTING ACQUAINTED
CHAPTER 6 GETTING ACQUAINTED
So we were to split up after that, Kryptorer would join sister Alicya to make haste to the front line and there they would link up with the other battle sisters and the governor's forces to hopefully put a stop to the uprising. Whereas I would follow Thaberus' party to the location where the last astropath on the planet was kept secure.
<Please take care of yourself, I will leave some units to secure this site and will be sending your belongings over once I have received the arrangement from the inquisitor.> Kryptorer told me in binary canticle. Not knowing what to say and deathly afraid of blowing my own cover I merely nodded.
Seemingly satisfied with my response, the arch dominus then turned to Thaberus. 'Inquisitor Thorn, I will now leave Lady Syrine's wellbeing in your capable hands. Please see to it that no harm would come to her while she is in your care. Fail to do so and I guarantee you will receive more than just a formal protest from me and my order.'
Now he just sounds like a nagging old dad … wait, did he just threaten an inquisitor?
'I will do that and meanwhile await your good news within the next seventy-two hours, Arch Dominus.' Thaberus simply replied.
With that, we parted leaving a whole chamber of burned bodies and wounded behind. I followed Thaberus' group down the route where the gunmen came from and walked through a seemingly endless amount of corridors and strange indoor interiors.
We were a party of six, the inquisitor Thaberus himself was leading at the front, right behind him was interrogator Amael, followed by acolyte Herlindya, then me and Rantor and finally the fear-inducing assassin Niandra guarding our back.
Rantor Crane was a rough-looking man who looked to be in his late thirties, he was what you would expect of stereotypical inquisitorial henchmen with a massive amount of wargear hung around his carapace armour while carrying a large hot-shot volley gun as if it was the easiest thing to do in this world.
Amael Frieden the interrogator was quiet and reserved, he seemed to be in his late twenties, had dark blonde hair and could be considered quite handsome; if this was a story about the rise of a promising imperial agent he would fit right in as the protagonist.
Herlindya Winsen, the female acolyte was a nice looking brunette with shoulder-length hair who also seemed to be in her late twenties, she too was reserved in her mannerism but seemed friendly enough.
I had to emphasise the part of "seemed to be" for their respective ages, from my understanding of the lore of this universe being agents of the inquisition meant that these individuals would have access to life-prolonging rejuvenat treatments, coupled that with faster than light warp travel between star systems making accurate age guessing a much messier process than I was accustomed to.
Then there was Niandra who was behind my back, no doubt to keep an eye on me. I knew she was there, but no footsteps could be heard from behind. Every time I remembered she was behind me the memory of her dragging the limbless marine with a massive amount of blood dripping everywhere would resurface.
She was just horrifying. Speaking of the amputated marine, Thaberus had decided he was to be temporarily left to the sisters to be imprisoned inside their monastery nearby.
Rantor was the most talkative individual among the retinue members after we got acquainted, thanking me openly once he had the chance. 'Hey, back then it was you who warned us of that flamer right? Amael and I would have been toast if it wasn't for your heads-up, that was much appreciated and I owe you one for it.' The large man then laughed heartily and continued, 'Usually, it is my job to hurt people and get thanks for it but I had my hands full just trying not to get shot back there.' Both Amael and Herlindya remained distantly neutral after their brief self-introduction. As far as I could tell Thaberus neither encouraged nor forbade his retinue from interacting with me.
The inquisitor himself was always leading in the front and never once looked back since we left that chamber, ever marching purposefully forward. We walked and walked, finally exiting from a seemingly impossibly huge complex to the outdoors. The sky was a weird dirty purple instead of the classic blue. Just nearby was a landing pad with a huge black and dark-red coloured gunship of unknown pattern resting on top of it.
My old hobbyist self kicked in as I gawked at the unfamiliar black and dark red armoured bulk and pointed at it. 'What pattern is that gunship? That looks too long for a stormraven but too tall for a fire raptor.'
'Wow, someone knows her gunship patterns.' Remarked Rantor with a chuckle while the rest of the group stayed quiet.
The gunship was much larger at close-up inspection than I imagined and definitely looked like a hybrid variant between a stormraven and a fire raptor. A huge stylised "I" was prominently displayed on the side of the gunship and I could just envision the folks excelling at kitbashing going to town to create this beautiful machine.
The pilot must have known we were coming as the rear hatch opened up without prompting and we entered the gunship through it. Cool, temperature-controlled air greeted us, and some of the retinue members sighed with relief. The interior of the gunship was more spacious than I imagined, probably due to the initial schematics which was meant for armoured space marines that could reach eight feet in height. They even had a washing closet installed inside the gunship.
It was then I remembered the Stormraven gunship of the space marines could serve as an orbital dropship, which probably meant this thing could break orbit and link up with any starships orbiting the planet, thus the presence of such a facility for long transits.
After settling down on my assigned seat, I was hit by a massive wave of mental fatigue, so I dutifully strapped on my safety harness even as I longed to doze off immediately. Just as I finished fastening the centrepiece of the harness that straps to my chest, I felt the sensation of solid material pressing against my skin. Puzzled, I dug beneath my collar and pulled out a necklace with an Aquila pendant attached to an exquisite piece of metallic string chain of unknown material.
The Aquila pendant itself was shaped into an old school symbol of Imperium, a stylised double-headed eagle with circular curve wings. Both the string chain and pendant had a glorious golden finishing that was just screaming "I am exorbitantly expensive" from its appearance. Curious but on the verge of dozing off, before I realised it [Analytica] was run on the pendant.
I am just so tired. I wanted to laugh out loud at myself for running the ability on an object… then a line of words appeared.
Imperial Authority Rosette, gene-locked to: Syrine.
My sight froze on the words. Didn't Kryptorer mention something about needing my authority? So this is no mere jewellery? It looks gorgeous, I turned in my hand, marvelling at how it reflected all the lights from the interior of the gunship. While I was drowning in thoughts the gunship started moving. Soon the motion with the monotonous ambient sound inside the gunship combined with mental fatigue hit me like a rock and I felt myself drifting off while holding on to the pendant.
…
……
<++ ACCESSING… One (1) responding machine spirit within the vicinity. Connect? YES/NO ++>
<…Yes?>
<++ Connecting… connection established.++>
<++ Accessing machine spirit via ethernet link ++>
<++ Authority confirmed and accepted. We are ready to serve.++>
<++Welcome onboard Inquisitorial gunship 'Flameraven' #machineID ********-*******-*********. Glory to Omnissiah and him on Earth. We await your command, Authority. ++>
<… Command? Show me.>
<++/List show [1] Ship status [2] Weapon status [3] Auspex reading [4] Ship log [5] ..... ++>
<Weapons, hmmm. Show me your weapons.>
<++/List Weapons
++[1] Front-mounted twin multi melta … system functional++
++[2] Left sponson twin heavy bolter … system functional++
++[3] Right sponson twin heavy bolter … system functional++
++[4] Left underwing twin lascannon … system functional++
++[5] Right underwing twin lascannon … system functional++
++[6] Chaff-Flare launcher … system functional++ >
In my dreamy state I selected the twin multi melta listing, suddenly a video feed popped up in my vision and it was showing the front view of the gunship where the weapon was aiming. The moment I focused on the video feed, another mental prompt popped up.
<++Manual override?++>
Huh, why not? <Yes.>
Additional interfaces appeared on the video feed, showing the estimated projectile path and the guns were obeying my command pointing in the direction I wanted.
Huh, this definitely feels like a certain battlefield game I played.
Since all I could see were clouds on a dirty purple sky, I soon got bored and exited the weapon video feed. Next, I tried the auspex section. Immediately a 3-dimensional image of the gunship's surroundings materialised inside my mind.
Wow, so high tech! Upon closer inspection, I could zoom in and out, pan the auspex reading around inside my head. When the view was zoomed out to the furthest setting, I could even see the details of terrain passing beneath us in real-time.
This is nice, but I am so tired.
…
……
………
<++Priority Alert: Auspex ERROR++>
<++Priority Alert: Weapons Locked-On Warning… ERROR++>
<++Priority Alert: Weapons Locked-On Warning… ERROR++>
<++Priority Alert: Weapons Locked-On Warning… ERROR++>
<++Priority Alert: Weapons Locked-On Warning… ERROR++>
…!
Something was not right, I broke from my trance-like light sleep and found myself still strapped to the chair with the pendant in my hand on a flying gunship. The air was still nice and cold but a sense of unspeakable dread started to well up. While securing the pendant back inside my robe I looked around and noticed only Niandra was still up and alert sitting in a corner. Thaberus was nowhere to be seen but if I recall correctly he went forward to the cockpit the moment we boarded, whereas the trio of henchmen were fast asleep just across my seat.
After a moment of hesitation, I signalled for Niandra to come over, this was no time for subtlety. The assassin was slightly puzzled at first but quickly came to my side.
'Yes?' She asked with a mixture of curiosity and annoyance.
'Is the name of this ship Flameraven?'
She slowly nodded, somehow her pretty cold face got colder. Being a quick one, she might have deduced something was up since no one had told me the name of the gunship until now. But the shock I received was no less than hers. That she all but confirmed the name of Flameraven meant the weird communion I had just now was not some fluke, a connection did happen between me and the ship.
If this is a lucid dream, it just keeps getting better and better. Putting up a tone as serious as I could, I delivered my warning. 'In this case, I am afraid we might be under attack. There may be at least four weapon systems locking on to this ship and the ship's auspex is probably being jammed.'
'How do you know that?'
Right, how? Thinking quickly, I told her the story in a way people in this world could understand.
'The machine spirit told me, it called itself Flameraven.'
To put a long story short, the basic understanding of technology had regressed so much in the grimdark universe the common explanation of machines having spirits, thus 'machine spirit' was widely accepted for how advanced machinery works around here, I was just going with the flow to put my point across.
Niandra looked straight at me for a moment before putting her hand on her ear to put a vox through, probably to Thaberus.
'Sir? Our guest warns of imminent attacks on the Flameraven. Apparently, the machine spirit told her so.' She then listened for a little while before suddenly started unfastening my harness with haste.
'Niandra?' Startled by her action, I inquired hastily.
She gave me this long look before answering, 'we are going to the cockpit, the attack you mentioned is coming.'
So we were to split up after that, Kryptorer would join sister Alicya to make haste to the front line and there they would link up with the other battle sisters and the governor's forces to hopefully put a stop to the uprising. Whereas I would follow Thaberus' party to the location where the last astropath on the planet was kept secure.
<Please take care of yourself, I will leave some units to secure this site and will be sending your belongings over once I have received the arrangement from the inquisitor.> Kryptorer told me in binary canticle. Not knowing what to say and deathly afraid of blowing my own cover I merely nodded.
Seemingly satisfied with my response, the arch dominus then turned to Thaberus. 'Inquisitor Thorn, I will now leave Lady Syrine's wellbeing in your capable hands. Please see to it that no harm would come to her while she is in your care. Fail to do so and I guarantee you will receive more than just a formal protest from me and my order.'
Now he just sounds like a nagging old dad … wait, did he just threaten an inquisitor?
'I will do that and meanwhile await your good news within the next seventy-two hours, Arch Dominus.' Thaberus simply replied.
With that, we parted leaving a whole chamber of burned bodies and wounded behind. I followed Thaberus' group down the route where the gunmen came from and walked through a seemingly endless amount of corridors and strange indoor interiors.
We were a party of six, the inquisitor Thaberus himself was leading at the front, right behind him was interrogator Amael, followed by acolyte Herlindya, then me and Rantor and finally the fear-inducing assassin Niandra guarding our back.
Rantor Crane was a rough-looking man who looked to be in his late thirties, he was what you would expect of stereotypical inquisitorial henchmen with a massive amount of wargear hung around his carapace armour while carrying a large hot-shot volley gun as if it was the easiest thing to do in this world.
Amael Frieden the interrogator was quiet and reserved, he seemed to be in his late twenties, had dark blonde hair and could be considered quite handsome; if this was a story about the rise of a promising imperial agent he would fit right in as the protagonist.
Herlindya Winsen, the female acolyte was a nice looking brunette with shoulder-length hair who also seemed to be in her late twenties, she too was reserved in her mannerism but seemed friendly enough.
I had to emphasise the part of "seemed to be" for their respective ages, from my understanding of the lore of this universe being agents of the inquisition meant that these individuals would have access to life-prolonging rejuvenat treatments, coupled that with faster than light warp travel between star systems making accurate age guessing a much messier process than I was accustomed to.
Then there was Niandra who was behind my back, no doubt to keep an eye on me. I knew she was there, but no footsteps could be heard from behind. Every time I remembered she was behind me the memory of her dragging the limbless marine with a massive amount of blood dripping everywhere would resurface.
She was just horrifying. Speaking of the amputated marine, Thaberus had decided he was to be temporarily left to the sisters to be imprisoned inside their monastery nearby.
Rantor was the most talkative individual among the retinue members after we got acquainted, thanking me openly once he had the chance. 'Hey, back then it was you who warned us of that flamer right? Amael and I would have been toast if it wasn't for your heads-up, that was much appreciated and I owe you one for it.' The large man then laughed heartily and continued, 'Usually, it is my job to hurt people and get thanks for it but I had my hands full just trying not to get shot back there.' Both Amael and Herlindya remained distantly neutral after their brief self-introduction. As far as I could tell Thaberus neither encouraged nor forbade his retinue from interacting with me.
The inquisitor himself was always leading in the front and never once looked back since we left that chamber, ever marching purposefully forward. We walked and walked, finally exiting from a seemingly impossibly huge complex to the outdoors. The sky was a weird dirty purple instead of the classic blue. Just nearby was a landing pad with a huge black and dark-red coloured gunship of unknown pattern resting on top of it.
My old hobbyist self kicked in as I gawked at the unfamiliar black and dark red armoured bulk and pointed at it. 'What pattern is that gunship? That looks too long for a stormraven but too tall for a fire raptor.'
'Wow, someone knows her gunship patterns.' Remarked Rantor with a chuckle while the rest of the group stayed quiet.
The gunship was much larger at close-up inspection than I imagined and definitely looked like a hybrid variant between a stormraven and a fire raptor. A huge stylised "I" was prominently displayed on the side of the gunship and I could just envision the folks excelling at kitbashing going to town to create this beautiful machine.
The pilot must have known we were coming as the rear hatch opened up without prompting and we entered the gunship through it. Cool, temperature-controlled air greeted us, and some of the retinue members sighed with relief. The interior of the gunship was more spacious than I imagined, probably due to the initial schematics which was meant for armoured space marines that could reach eight feet in height. They even had a washing closet installed inside the gunship.
It was then I remembered the Stormraven gunship of the space marines could serve as an orbital dropship, which probably meant this thing could break orbit and link up with any starships orbiting the planet, thus the presence of such a facility for long transits.
After settling down on my assigned seat, I was hit by a massive wave of mental fatigue, so I dutifully strapped on my safety harness even as I longed to doze off immediately. Just as I finished fastening the centrepiece of the harness that straps to my chest, I felt the sensation of solid material pressing against my skin. Puzzled, I dug beneath my collar and pulled out a necklace with an Aquila pendant attached to an exquisite piece of metallic string chain of unknown material.
The Aquila pendant itself was shaped into an old school symbol of Imperium, a stylised double-headed eagle with circular curve wings. Both the string chain and pendant had a glorious golden finishing that was just screaming "I am exorbitantly expensive" from its appearance. Curious but on the verge of dozing off, before I realised it [Analytica] was run on the pendant.
I am just so tired. I wanted to laugh out loud at myself for running the ability on an object… then a line of words appeared.
Imperial Authority Rosette, gene-locked to: Syrine.
My sight froze on the words. Didn't Kryptorer mention something about needing my authority? So this is no mere jewellery? It looks gorgeous, I turned in my hand, marvelling at how it reflected all the lights from the interior of the gunship. While I was drowning in thoughts the gunship started moving. Soon the motion with the monotonous ambient sound inside the gunship combined with mental fatigue hit me like a rock and I felt myself drifting off while holding on to the pendant.
* * *
…
……
<++ ACCESSING… One (1) responding machine spirit within the vicinity. Connect? YES/NO ++>
<…Yes?>
<++ Connecting… connection established.++>
<++ Accessing machine spirit via ethernet link ++>
<++ Authority confirmed and accepted. We are ready to serve.++>
<++Welcome onboard Inquisitorial gunship 'Flameraven' #machineID ********-*******-*********. Glory to Omnissiah and him on Earth. We await your command, Authority. ++>
<… Command? Show me.>
<++/List show [1] Ship status [2] Weapon status [3] Auspex reading [4] Ship log [5] ..... ++>
<Weapons, hmmm. Show me your weapons.>
<++/List Weapons
++[1] Front-mounted twin multi melta … system functional++
++[2] Left sponson twin heavy bolter … system functional++
++[3] Right sponson twin heavy bolter … system functional++
++[4] Left underwing twin lascannon … system functional++
++[5] Right underwing twin lascannon … system functional++
++[6] Chaff-Flare launcher … system functional++ >
In my dreamy state I selected the twin multi melta listing, suddenly a video feed popped up in my vision and it was showing the front view of the gunship where the weapon was aiming. The moment I focused on the video feed, another mental prompt popped up.
<++Manual override?++>
Huh, why not? <Yes.>
Additional interfaces appeared on the video feed, showing the estimated projectile path and the guns were obeying my command pointing in the direction I wanted.
Huh, this definitely feels like a certain battlefield game I played.
Since all I could see were clouds on a dirty purple sky, I soon got bored and exited the weapon video feed. Next, I tried the auspex section. Immediately a 3-dimensional image of the gunship's surroundings materialised inside my mind.
Wow, so high tech! Upon closer inspection, I could zoom in and out, pan the auspex reading around inside my head. When the view was zoomed out to the furthest setting, I could even see the details of terrain passing beneath us in real-time.
This is nice, but I am so tired.
…
……
………
<++Priority Alert: Auspex ERROR++>
<++Priority Alert: Weapons Locked-On Warning… ERROR++>
<++Priority Alert: Weapons Locked-On Warning… ERROR++>
<++Priority Alert: Weapons Locked-On Warning… ERROR++>
<++Priority Alert: Weapons Locked-On Warning… ERROR++>
…!
* * *
Something was not right, I broke from my trance-like light sleep and found myself still strapped to the chair with the pendant in my hand on a flying gunship. The air was still nice and cold but a sense of unspeakable dread started to well up. While securing the pendant back inside my robe I looked around and noticed only Niandra was still up and alert sitting in a corner. Thaberus was nowhere to be seen but if I recall correctly he went forward to the cockpit the moment we boarded, whereas the trio of henchmen were fast asleep just across my seat.
After a moment of hesitation, I signalled for Niandra to come over, this was no time for subtlety. The assassin was slightly puzzled at first but quickly came to my side.
'Yes?' She asked with a mixture of curiosity and annoyance.
'Is the name of this ship Flameraven?'
She slowly nodded, somehow her pretty cold face got colder. Being a quick one, she might have deduced something was up since no one had told me the name of the gunship until now. But the shock I received was no less than hers. That she all but confirmed the name of Flameraven meant the weird communion I had just now was not some fluke, a connection did happen between me and the ship.
If this is a lucid dream, it just keeps getting better and better. Putting up a tone as serious as I could, I delivered my warning. 'In this case, I am afraid we might be under attack. There may be at least four weapon systems locking on to this ship and the ship's auspex is probably being jammed.'
'How do you know that?'
Right, how? Thinking quickly, I told her the story in a way people in this world could understand.
'The machine spirit told me, it called itself Flameraven.'
To put a long story short, the basic understanding of technology had regressed so much in the grimdark universe the common explanation of machines having spirits, thus 'machine spirit' was widely accepted for how advanced machinery works around here, I was just going with the flow to put my point across.
Niandra looked straight at me for a moment before putting her hand on her ear to put a vox through, probably to Thaberus.
'Sir? Our guest warns of imminent attacks on the Flameraven. Apparently, the machine spirit told her so.' She then listened for a little while before suddenly started unfastening my harness with haste.
'Niandra?' Startled by her action, I inquired hastily.
She gave me this long look before answering, 'we are going to the cockpit, the attack you mentioned is coming.'
Oh, Hi again first commenter.
You are not directly requesting a spoiler here, are you?
Anyway, are you guys enjoying the stories so far?
- Location
- Phiadelphia P.A
I'n not , I like to guess also I liking it so far, not a op phyker or crazy faith power sister is a good change
Yes! It's really well written and it's been genuinely enjoyable to read!
Thanks for the comments.
While I can't really promise the MC won't become technically OP later, I will never pull a Rey Skywalker and fall for the Wanda pitfall, as I really like to work with reference points to keep stuff grounded and interesting.
Oh, cool, Technopath MC. I approve.
CHAPTER 7 UNFRIENDLY SKY
CHAPTER 7 UNFRIENDLY SKY
Niandra was leading the way towards the cockpit when the interior of the gunship dimmed down and its interior lighting changed to a tactical setting, switching light energy sources from the main circuit to independent units, and a low siren began to ring out as the air tensed up.
Following Niandra, I crossed a door hatch. Since this was a void capable ship meant for space marines, the cockpit compartment was spacious enough for four people.
There were two pilot seats at the front of the cockpit, inquisitor Thaberus occupied one of it without his signature fedora hat, beside him was a lady in a smart, blue imperial navy uniform with a pair of cool shades. A constant chime of warnings could be heard coming from the instruments and the panel lights were reflecting off nicely on the lady pilot's shade.
'We might be in trouble,' Thaberus cut to the chase and looked at me. 'Niandra mentioned the machine spirit was telling you something, can you elaborate?'
I quickly tried to recall the message log I saw, amazingly it came back to me with absolute clarity. 'About sixty seconds ago we were hit by severe system jamming followed by four suspected readings of unknown weapon systems locking on to us.' I quickly summarised.
'Well, that certainly explained why our auspex had gone haywire.' The pilot lady pointed to a radar looking screen, on it was a jumbled up looking mess of readings.
I got a really bad feeling about this… my feeling of unease rose exponentially as I threw out my next question. 'Are we flying over hostile territory?'
'No, we were going through the green zone held by the forces of the governor. We deliberately chose the safest flight path to our destination.' Thaberus replied. Somehow, his answer only added to my feeling of foreboding.
We needed answers and fast! Thankfully, I got this cheat ability right here and... [Cogitatio Acceleratio] activated. The world slowed down again around me. First, I took a closer look at the panel of instruments and immediately gave up, too much to learn and not enough time. I then ran [Analytica] on the lady pilot and nothing came back suspicious, looks like my only weapon here was thinking.
Something about this scenario felt amiss, flying through a friendly area and getting the auspex system jammed before being attacked? Why would the enemy go through that trouble unless...
'Are there any notable supposedly friendly anti-air assets situated around here that could take down Flameraven?' I immediately asked. There was a slight pause before Thaberus realised the purpose of my question. The Flameraven was a huge gunship of Astartes usage origin in design, nothing short of some serious firepower could threaten it from the sky. That meant the enemy knew the only way to take us down was that we did not know what was coming.
'Tahsya?' He turned to the pilot, urgency in his voice.
'Already on it, sir.' The pilot lady accessed a touch screen data panel and quickly found the information she was looking for.
'Records showed four operational Manticore anti-air platforms nearby, about 60 kilometres away.' Manticore? Those things with the dreaded storm eagle rockets? Just the mention of the term Manticore conjured up memories of mass devastation during my tabletop gaming days. These weapon platforms carry the notorious storm eagle rockets that can absolutely wreck their intended targets from an extreme distance and the anti-air version of it existed.
'That meant…' I said before my mind was suddenly flooded with all the relevant information about the weapon in question.
Manticore anti-air platforms were usually armed with the sky eagle rocket variants which were heat-seeking warheads that targeted enemy aircraft's power signatures and engine exhaust. The standard rocket is divided into five sections: a fuse, the control and guidance equipment, the electrical unit, an explosive warhead and a propellant container for the two-stage solid-fuel rocket with a top speed of 1080 kph.
'... by calculating the speed of the rockets and distance of roughly sixty kilometres, assuming the weapons were deployed at the time of jamming, the estimated time for rocket impact on Flameraven is about thirty seconds. Since each platform can have up to four rockets, up to sixteen rockets could be heading our way right now.' I heard a calm and soothing female voice conveying the information before realising it was my own.
I looked up and saw Thaberus staring straight at me. As our eyes met, a split second later his face somehow turned grimmer than usual as the implications of my words hit him.
'Throne's blood,' he whispered.
Niandra sprang into action, pushing me into a back seat on the wall of the cockpit and securing my harness with inhuman speed before doing the same for herself.
'Be advised, we are going on a full evasive manoeuvre!' Tahsya announced on the intercom. The onboard alarm went into full blare as the Flameraven picked up speed. I was pushed back onto my seat by the sudden increase of g-force.
What is with this endless amount of action film like events? This is still the same lucid dream session, right? I couldn't help but think to myself, wondering if this must be some overcompensation for my decades of mundane life, but the warning blares in the cockpit and g-force felt real enough. I felt the gunship climbing as it continued to pick up speed.
'Inbound rockets confirmed on auspex!' Tahsya's voice came through on the intercom. Apparently, the rockets were so close now even the jammed auspex could pick them up.
'Hold on!' Tahsya said before commanding the Flameraven to go from a climb to a steep banking dive, for a second there I felt gravity leaving me, then suddenly the g-force came back with a vengeance, pinning me to the back of my seat. Then a series of updates popped into my head.
<++Chaff-Flare discharged++>
<++Chaff-Flare discharged++>
<++Chaff-Flare discharged++>
<++Chaff-Flare discharged++>
<++Chaff-Flare discharged++>
<++Chaff-Flare discharged++>
<++Chaff-Flare discharged++>
<++Chaff-Flare discharged++>
<++Chaff-Flare discharged++>
<++Chaff-Flare discharged++>
<++Chaff-Flare discharged++>
<++Chaff-Flare discharged++>
...
Chaff and flare are countermeasures used by military aircraft to help evade missile attacks, but why was I receiving these messages? Am I still connected to the gunship's machine spirit? Pinned and unable to do anything, I tried calling it.
<Flameraven?>
<++ Received and ready to serve, Authority. ++>
It replied. Seemed like I don't need to be in a trance state to communicate with it.
<Show me real-time auspex readings.>
<++ Complying. ++>
A 3-dimensional image of the gunship surroundings materialised inside of my mind, and I could see the gunship was being chased by multiple flickering icons of incoming projectiles while dropping countermeasures. A second later, I understood that while Tahsya was doing a great job getting the rockets off our tail, there might be too many of them for us to have a clean getaway.
A huge explosion sounded from somewhere, coinciding with my auspex readout of a rocket detonating on one of the chaff. The whole gunship shook and amidst the chaos, I could even hear Herlindya's cries of horror from way behind in the fuselage.
A feeling of unsuppressed terror started to assail me. Can you die in your dreams? They say if you die in your dream you might die in real life too, right? Wait, how could they know that if they died in their dreams and never woke up to tell anyone?
The Flameraven shook violently as more explosions were happening nearby, waking me from my silly stupor and this time I could even hear Amael and Rantor joining Herlindya with their outcry of cursings. I could have sworn I was screaming too but instead, a familiar message appeared in my vision.
[Regalis] Action override-
Wait, what? This message again? Whatever, I don't want to die.
I put my attention back to the auspex readings again. To my utter horror, I soon came to the dreaded realisation that if the events continued to unfold as the auspex was showing, we would be cornered by the mass of rockets in the next eight seconds.
No no no no! I immediately activated my thought acceleration and studied the readings, staring at the impending death sentence. We were already doing a steep banking dive at maximum speed with full chaff-flare discharge and were out of cards to play.
Hold on, this gunship has two fully rotatable twin heavy bolter sponsons right? I closed my eyes and tried to communicate with the machine spirit of the gunship again while in the state of thought acceleration.
<Flameraven, calculate intercepting firing solution for incoming rockets with left and right twin heavy bolter sponsons>
…
Was that too complicated?
……
<++Unable to comply, auspex ERROR++>
That darn jamming again.
<Manual override, give me the control for both twin heavy bolter sponsons.>
<++Complying.++>
Two video feeds popped up inside my vision, directly showing me where the twin heavy bolters were aiming. Everything happened in a painfully slow manner while my thought acceleration was active except for those darned incoming rocket icons, they were fast approaching.
I immediately rotated the guns to point at the rough direction for intercepting fire while consulting the flickering auspex readings.
These… These inaccurate readings won't work. I wanted to cry as despair was setting in, then it hit me; I had my own auspex, just that it might not have enough range. Still worth a try rather than being dead though.
I concentrated inwards on that feeling again and a moment later, activated [Auspex] as hard as I could, a massive sensor net burst forth from me towards the swarm of approaching rockets and registered their true locations to me in real-time. I got you now you bastards!
A brief moment after I consulted my auspex reading, a transcendent level of calculation took place inside my head in slow motion as the ideal path of intercepting fire appeared in my mind. Putting my faith in what was revealed to me, I adjusted both the left and right sponsons to the exact position and mentally triggered the firing mechanism.
Four streams of mass reactive rounds burst forth from Flameraven, hitting some of the incoming rockets at the last second and the resulting chain explosions pushed the gunship just enough to escape the massive impact zone from the rockets' crossfire. Even protected by the solid hull of the gunship I felt the huge shockwave.
The massive gunship groaned, spun and tumbled uncontrollably for a while in the air before the advanced avionics stabilised itself, the pandemonium ended abruptly and we continued on our journey as if nothing ever happened. I gasped and looked around, confirming we were all still alive as evident from the screaming still coming from the passenger section.
<Flameraven, thank you!> I sent.
<++Unknown command, unable to comply.++> it sent back.
I wanted to laugh out loud, only to be stopped by a message appearing in my vision: [Regalis] Action override-
Utterly flustered, I resigned myself to the fate of sitting quietly on my chair. We continued our flight in silence until Tahsya spoke up. 'It seems like Flameraven took out a few rockets with the heavy bolters at the very last second. But this is weird, I had been trying to engage the ballistic interception protocol but it would not boot up probably due to the heavy jamming, and here the system records indicate those guns were on manual control at the moment it fired.'
I might as well come clean again before incurring any unwanted misunderstandings in the future, so I raised my hand like a dutiful citizen and declared. 'It was me, Flameraven didn't want to die either so we cooperated to get out of that tight spot.'
Everyone in the cockpit turned and looked at me. 'Just who are you again, Lady Syrine?' Thaberus finally asked. Seemed like the inquisitor was showing me some respect.
But… Lady? Lady, lady, lady... it was so cringy being called that my skin started to crawl. My male soul cried out in protest.
'I… don't remember but please, just call me Syrine.' Thaberus did not reply and his face was unreadable. 'I insist on it,' I said, surprising even myself.
The rest of the short trip was uneventful other than the trio at the back of the gunship finally crammed into the cockpit asking what just happened. By then I had closed my eyes and tried to get some rest but found it impossible to sleep again. It continued to be so right up until we reached our destination to meet the astropath.
Niandra was leading the way towards the cockpit when the interior of the gunship dimmed down and its interior lighting changed to a tactical setting, switching light energy sources from the main circuit to independent units, and a low siren began to ring out as the air tensed up.
Following Niandra, I crossed a door hatch. Since this was a void capable ship meant for space marines, the cockpit compartment was spacious enough for four people.
There were two pilot seats at the front of the cockpit, inquisitor Thaberus occupied one of it without his signature fedora hat, beside him was a lady in a smart, blue imperial navy uniform with a pair of cool shades. A constant chime of warnings could be heard coming from the instruments and the panel lights were reflecting off nicely on the lady pilot's shade.
'We might be in trouble,' Thaberus cut to the chase and looked at me. 'Niandra mentioned the machine spirit was telling you something, can you elaborate?'
I quickly tried to recall the message log I saw, amazingly it came back to me with absolute clarity. 'About sixty seconds ago we were hit by severe system jamming followed by four suspected readings of unknown weapon systems locking on to us.' I quickly summarised.
'Well, that certainly explained why our auspex had gone haywire.' The pilot lady pointed to a radar looking screen, on it was a jumbled up looking mess of readings.
I got a really bad feeling about this… my feeling of unease rose exponentially as I threw out my next question. 'Are we flying over hostile territory?'
'No, we were going through the green zone held by the forces of the governor. We deliberately chose the safest flight path to our destination.' Thaberus replied. Somehow, his answer only added to my feeling of foreboding.
We needed answers and fast! Thankfully, I got this cheat ability right here and... [Cogitatio Acceleratio] activated. The world slowed down again around me. First, I took a closer look at the panel of instruments and immediately gave up, too much to learn and not enough time. I then ran [Analytica] on the lady pilot and nothing came back suspicious, looks like my only weapon here was thinking.
Something about this scenario felt amiss, flying through a friendly area and getting the auspex system jammed before being attacked? Why would the enemy go through that trouble unless...
'Are there any notable supposedly friendly anti-air assets situated around here that could take down Flameraven?' I immediately asked. There was a slight pause before Thaberus realised the purpose of my question. The Flameraven was a huge gunship of Astartes usage origin in design, nothing short of some serious firepower could threaten it from the sky. That meant the enemy knew the only way to take us down was that we did not know what was coming.
'Tahsya?' He turned to the pilot, urgency in his voice.
'Already on it, sir.' The pilot lady accessed a touch screen data panel and quickly found the information she was looking for.
'Records showed four operational Manticore anti-air platforms nearby, about 60 kilometres away.' Manticore? Those things with the dreaded storm eagle rockets? Just the mention of the term Manticore conjured up memories of mass devastation during my tabletop gaming days. These weapon platforms carry the notorious storm eagle rockets that can absolutely wreck their intended targets from an extreme distance and the anti-air version of it existed.
'That meant…' I said before my mind was suddenly flooded with all the relevant information about the weapon in question.
Manticore anti-air platforms were usually armed with the sky eagle rocket variants which were heat-seeking warheads that targeted enemy aircraft's power signatures and engine exhaust. The standard rocket is divided into five sections: a fuse, the control and guidance equipment, the electrical unit, an explosive warhead and a propellant container for the two-stage solid-fuel rocket with a top speed of 1080 kph.
'... by calculating the speed of the rockets and distance of roughly sixty kilometres, assuming the weapons were deployed at the time of jamming, the estimated time for rocket impact on Flameraven is about thirty seconds. Since each platform can have up to four rockets, up to sixteen rockets could be heading our way right now.' I heard a calm and soothing female voice conveying the information before realising it was my own.
I looked up and saw Thaberus staring straight at me. As our eyes met, a split second later his face somehow turned grimmer than usual as the implications of my words hit him.
'Throne's blood,' he whispered.
Niandra sprang into action, pushing me into a back seat on the wall of the cockpit and securing my harness with inhuman speed before doing the same for herself.
'Be advised, we are going on a full evasive manoeuvre!' Tahsya announced on the intercom. The onboard alarm went into full blare as the Flameraven picked up speed. I was pushed back onto my seat by the sudden increase of g-force.
What is with this endless amount of action film like events? This is still the same lucid dream session, right? I couldn't help but think to myself, wondering if this must be some overcompensation for my decades of mundane life, but the warning blares in the cockpit and g-force felt real enough. I felt the gunship climbing as it continued to pick up speed.
'Inbound rockets confirmed on auspex!' Tahsya's voice came through on the intercom. Apparently, the rockets were so close now even the jammed auspex could pick them up.
'Hold on!' Tahsya said before commanding the Flameraven to go from a climb to a steep banking dive, for a second there I felt gravity leaving me, then suddenly the g-force came back with a vengeance, pinning me to the back of my seat. Then a series of updates popped into my head.
<++Chaff-Flare discharged++>
<++Chaff-Flare discharged++>
<++Chaff-Flare discharged++>
<++Chaff-Flare discharged++>
<++Chaff-Flare discharged++>
<++Chaff-Flare discharged++>
<++Chaff-Flare discharged++>
<++Chaff-Flare discharged++>
<++Chaff-Flare discharged++>
<++Chaff-Flare discharged++>
<++Chaff-Flare discharged++>
<++Chaff-Flare discharged++>
...
Chaff and flare are countermeasures used by military aircraft to help evade missile attacks, but why was I receiving these messages? Am I still connected to the gunship's machine spirit? Pinned and unable to do anything, I tried calling it.
<Flameraven?>
<++ Received and ready to serve, Authority. ++>
It replied. Seemed like I don't need to be in a trance state to communicate with it.
<Show me real-time auspex readings.>
<++ Complying. ++>
A 3-dimensional image of the gunship surroundings materialised inside of my mind, and I could see the gunship was being chased by multiple flickering icons of incoming projectiles while dropping countermeasures. A second later, I understood that while Tahsya was doing a great job getting the rockets off our tail, there might be too many of them for us to have a clean getaway.
A huge explosion sounded from somewhere, coinciding with my auspex readout of a rocket detonating on one of the chaff. The whole gunship shook and amidst the chaos, I could even hear Herlindya's cries of horror from way behind in the fuselage.
A feeling of unsuppressed terror started to assail me. Can you die in your dreams? They say if you die in your dream you might die in real life too, right? Wait, how could they know that if they died in their dreams and never woke up to tell anyone?
The Flameraven shook violently as more explosions were happening nearby, waking me from my silly stupor and this time I could even hear Amael and Rantor joining Herlindya with their outcry of cursings. I could have sworn I was screaming too but instead, a familiar message appeared in my vision.
[Regalis] Action override-
Wait, what? This message again? Whatever, I don't want to die.
I put my attention back to the auspex readings again. To my utter horror, I soon came to the dreaded realisation that if the events continued to unfold as the auspex was showing, we would be cornered by the mass of rockets in the next eight seconds.
No no no no! I immediately activated my thought acceleration and studied the readings, staring at the impending death sentence. We were already doing a steep banking dive at maximum speed with full chaff-flare discharge and were out of cards to play.
Hold on, this gunship has two fully rotatable twin heavy bolter sponsons right? I closed my eyes and tried to communicate with the machine spirit of the gunship again while in the state of thought acceleration.
<Flameraven, calculate intercepting firing solution for incoming rockets with left and right twin heavy bolter sponsons>
…
Was that too complicated?
……
<++Unable to comply, auspex ERROR++>
That darn jamming again.
<Manual override, give me the control for both twin heavy bolter sponsons.>
<++Complying.++>
Two video feeds popped up inside my vision, directly showing me where the twin heavy bolters were aiming. Everything happened in a painfully slow manner while my thought acceleration was active except for those darned incoming rocket icons, they were fast approaching.
I immediately rotated the guns to point at the rough direction for intercepting fire while consulting the flickering auspex readings.
These… These inaccurate readings won't work. I wanted to cry as despair was setting in, then it hit me; I had my own auspex, just that it might not have enough range. Still worth a try rather than being dead though.
I concentrated inwards on that feeling again and a moment later, activated [Auspex] as hard as I could, a massive sensor net burst forth from me towards the swarm of approaching rockets and registered their true locations to me in real-time. I got you now you bastards!
A brief moment after I consulted my auspex reading, a transcendent level of calculation took place inside my head in slow motion as the ideal path of intercepting fire appeared in my mind. Putting my faith in what was revealed to me, I adjusted both the left and right sponsons to the exact position and mentally triggered the firing mechanism.
Four streams of mass reactive rounds burst forth from Flameraven, hitting some of the incoming rockets at the last second and the resulting chain explosions pushed the gunship just enough to escape the massive impact zone from the rockets' crossfire. Even protected by the solid hull of the gunship I felt the huge shockwave.
The massive gunship groaned, spun and tumbled uncontrollably for a while in the air before the advanced avionics stabilised itself, the pandemonium ended abruptly and we continued on our journey as if nothing ever happened. I gasped and looked around, confirming we were all still alive as evident from the screaming still coming from the passenger section.
<Flameraven, thank you!> I sent.
<++Unknown command, unable to comply.++> it sent back.
I wanted to laugh out loud, only to be stopped by a message appearing in my vision: [Regalis] Action override-
Utterly flustered, I resigned myself to the fate of sitting quietly on my chair. We continued our flight in silence until Tahsya spoke up. 'It seems like Flameraven took out a few rockets with the heavy bolters at the very last second. But this is weird, I had been trying to engage the ballistic interception protocol but it would not boot up probably due to the heavy jamming, and here the system records indicate those guns were on manual control at the moment it fired.'
I might as well come clean again before incurring any unwanted misunderstandings in the future, so I raised my hand like a dutiful citizen and declared. 'It was me, Flameraven didn't want to die either so we cooperated to get out of that tight spot.'
Everyone in the cockpit turned and looked at me. 'Just who are you again, Lady Syrine?' Thaberus finally asked. Seemed like the inquisitor was showing me some respect.
But… Lady? Lady, lady, lady... it was so cringy being called that my skin started to crawl. My male soul cried out in protest.
'I… don't remember but please, just call me Syrine.' Thaberus did not reply and his face was unreadable. 'I insist on it,' I said, surprising even myself.
The rest of the short trip was uneventful other than the trio at the back of the gunship finally crammed into the cockpit asking what just happened. By then I had closed my eyes and tried to get some rest but found it impossible to sleep again. It continued to be so right up until we reached our destination to meet the astropath.
- Location
- England
I was thinking "Wonder Twin Powers Activate! Form of heavy bolters".
C4d
Has approximate knowledge of many things.
- Location
- Germany
She is probably still a psyker, technopathy is a psychic discipline even if its a rather unknown one. And if she really is somehow connected to the Emperor she might have gotten it from him since he was among many other things a monstrously powerful technopath to a degree that he could tell a walker with a broken knee joint "Machine heal thyself" and it did just that.
This technopathy was also one of the bigger reasons that Mars so readily accepted his rule since that made him in their eyes a living manifestation of the Omnissiah.
If Syrine has anything like that she is far more powerful than it seems since a lot of the more arcane tech the Imperium, and especially the Mechanicus and some Inquisitors(hinthint), uses is far more capable than it appears simply because nobody really knows anymore how to get it to function at 100% efficiency.
And if anything from the Dark Age of Technology comes up? Hoo boy is she going to have field day because DAoT Humanity was fucking bullshit on a level not unlike the Culture.
Glad you guys are having fun.
For the record, I am currently working on chapter 10+ while polishing the upcoming chapters and the contents for the first arc has been roughly decided.
So while I do love reading the comments and learn a new thing to two from time to time, the general story did not change from my initial planning.
For the record, I am currently working on chapter 10+ while polishing the upcoming chapters and the contents for the first arc has been roughly decided.
So while I do love reading the comments and learn a new thing to two from time to time, the general story did not change from my initial planning.
CHAPTER 8 THE ASTROPATH
CHAPTER 8 THE ASTROPATH
'Approaching landing pad.' Tahsya's voice, which was dripping with the professionalism of a military pilot, broke the serenity inside the gunship's cockpit.
'Where are we?' I asked absentmindedly.
'Why not try asking your machine spirit friend?' Niandra replied flatly from beside me. That caught me by surprise on two fronts. First, this was the first time the assassin had actively talked to me. Second, is this supposed to be a test or friendly banter?
I shot her a side glance before trying my luck checking the active flight log with the machine spirit. There mixed within all the updates was the Identification, Friend or Foe exchanges with air traffic control. After a brief moment, it concluded we were friendly and held off multiple anti-air turrets from shooting us just minutes ago. I checked the details on the IFF exchanges and read the digital signature of the air traffic control.
'Hmm… Fortress Endurance Sigma?' I read it out loud.
'By the throne, you really can speak to the machine spirit!' gasped Tahsya while the rest of the crew looked at me like witnessing a ghost.
'Not a word of this to the outside!' Thaberus dropped his warning, thus everyone refrained from further commenting and we finally got to see the last astropath on the planet.
What surprised me more about the astropath was not the astropath himself. I've read about them as a hobbyist and had this mental image of what a stereotypical astropath looks like: blind, pale skin, balding hair, wielding a staff with a stylized eye on it, wearing a stylish eyeshade, and probably has a few random wires sticking out of their head.
Arradus Rein the astropath was all that but with some crucial missing details from the lore I read. He also enjoyed a level of security, health care and comfortable living standards rivalling that of the planetary governor.
The layers of security checkpoints I went through reminded me of what was depicted in some of the superhero movies on how they kept really dangerous supervillains on lockdown. We passed through multiple blast doors and checkpoints manned by stormtroopers with hot-shot lasguns ready, and even heavier guns like heavy bolters and plasma cannons mounted on gun-servitors were ever-present on all strategic locations in the building.
It was clear they were not taking any chances on the security. As usual, Thaberus' inquisitorial rosette opened all doors and we made a steady pace towards the innermost sanctum.
In a way it made sense. To put it bluntly, even the planetary governor can be easily replaced in leadership capacity if the unthinkable happens, but there was no immediate replacement for an astropath should Arradus be slain by the enemy. With the scheduled starship arrival on indefinite delay, he was literally the last link between the planet and the wider Imperium, the VVIP of the planet.
It was no exaggeration to say his very wellbeing affected the fate of the billions of souls residing here, hence the around-the-clock security measures and extreme precautions taken on his health management. Arradus for his part had an air of awkwardness about him like he did not know whether to stand or sit in our presence.
Then again it was in no way mundane for an Ordo Hereticus inquisitor in full battle gear, armoured fedora hat with a greatcoat, inferno pistol on the belt and more to come visit you in your quarters.
It was, however, plain for me to see that Arradus and Thaberus were acquainted. As expected of an inquisitor worthy of his salt, Thaberus had apparently double-checked the integrity of the sole surviving astropath on the planet.
'Arradus, this is Syrine.' As always Thaberus cut straight to the point and I was glad he did remember to cut off the lady title when addressing me. 'Work with her to see if you can establish contact with any nearby imperial world and send out a message requesting reinforcements citing renegade Astartes.' Then Thaberus turned to me. 'Please see to it no harm comes to him in the process, his… talent is sorely needed in this challenging time.'
Finally, he gathered his retinue. 'Niandra, you stay here with them. The rest of you, with me.' Niandra turned her head but before she could say a word Thaberus made his point. 'Both of them are, as of now, of absolute strategic value for this world.'
'Surely you are as indispensable?' I asked.
'No, I am not.' He answered matter-of-factly. 'If I am taken out of the equation, either Amael or Niandra will take over command and proceed with a more defensive approach on what to do next.'
I looked at him, finding it interesting that an individual can nonchalantly mention the possibility of self-demise, but he totally ignored my gaze.
'Inquisitor, you are leaving?' Arradus asked.
'Yes, Mister Rein. Unfortunately, heretics tend not to purge themselves. May the Emperor guide you on your work,' Thaberus replied. With that said he left the room, his retinue fell in behind him to their undoubtedly bloody inquisitorial business, their boots echoing down the hallway foreshadowing the violence to come. Niandra saw them off and then melted into the shadows.
That left me and Arradus. I ran [Analytica] on the astropath. His readings came back as expected.
Name: Arradus Rein, human, psyker, astropath.
'Hello.' I said, greeting the psyker.
'That ... was such an unusual way of greeting, you aren't from around here are you?' Oops, guess I did it by doing greetings in English instead of Low Gothic. Hello in English just felt so natural after decades of usage, it completely slipped through my lips.
'You are a sharp one, astropath.' I jested in my awkward attempt to cover my slip up.
'Please, Lady Syrine, just call me by my name.' He actually looked kind of embarrassed. But… he called me that and it hit me hard. If there was one thing I might never get used to it would be being called a lady.
'Fine.' I said, 'in return, please drop the lady when addressing me in private, let us treat each other as peers.'
He paused slightly before asking, 'so how do we go about this? Pardon me but I am at a loss on what is going on around here.'
I thought for a moment and decided to just get straight into it. 'Please brief me on how you do your work and we will see what we can do from there.'
Everything considered we went off with a good start. Arradus began his lengthy crash course with me on the art of Astro-telepathy while I paid full attention to him with ceaseless usage of [Cogitatio Acceleratio] between his lectures.
With this incredible body that housed my amazingly sharp mind it felt like cheating; the moment he finished making a statement and describing a concept I would speed up my thought process with [Cogitatio Acceleratio], conjured mental notes and diagram to fully grasp whatever he said, pausing the process to ask important questions, rinsing and repeating until satisfied.
After about two hours or so, I was beginning to have a good understanding of the whole process, though it must be mentioned with thought acceleration constantly in effect. From my point of view, it felt like I had been working on it for a full day.
As for Arradus, he seemed to be getting more animated as the lecture went on, my crucial questions only added to his enthusiastic energy as the session dragged on. He must have found lecturing to be a very refreshing experience as evidently there was little to no chance to discuss his work if ever in his line of service.
Even with all that enthusiasm pushing him I could see Arradus was reaching his limits, so after telling him to take a break and politely declining his invitation for a quick dinner, I continued the work alone. For unknown reasons hunger and thirst never seemed to cross my mind, I wondered about it for a moment before deciding to leave it at that, there were just too many unknowns in this new existence.
With the freshly learned techniques, I went into a meditative state, re-running the lessons with thought acceleration in the back of my head for the final wrap up. The process continued until a feeling of sufficient understanding hit my mind and I knew it was time for a small trial run of what I have learned.
This feels so trippy. I felt my senses expand into the next realm. The world went weird for a brief moment as I attempted to send out a psychic message. +Hello?+
Arradus who was having his belated dinner nearby jolted and apparently tipped over his drink on the dining table. I could hear the mess he was creating across the hallway.
+Was... was that you? Lady Syrine?+ He sent back.
+Astropath, what did we just agree on?+ I returned. More sounds could be heard from across the hallway, the type of sound eating utensils made when dropped to the marble floor.
A slight pause later. +Could you please turn it down a little? The intensity you are sending the message hurt my head.+
I gasped at the reply, after focusing on adjusting thought intensity as best I could by making it as light as possible and sent another message. +Sorry, how is it now?+
+Much better, thank you...+
Suddenly I felt his presence had a dramatic change, the best way to describe it was a great sense of fear started to flood from his direction across the hallway.
Having just survived multiple attacks earlier in the day my sense of alarm was cranked up to the maximum level in an instance. Standing up, my [Cogitatio Acceleratio] kicked in as I activated [Auspex] for an instant mind sweep around the area. In an almost painful slowness within my accelerated mind, my surroundings were revealed to me as information dripped in pace with my sensor net as it expanded outwards.
There were 3 maids, 2 medics, 2 servitors, 18 armed guards with hot-shot lasguns and 12 gun servitors with heavy bolters within 100 meters outside his living quarters. Also in the detection net were dozens of active security cameras, none inside Arradus' living space. Niandra was in another nearby room checking on security details. Arradus had a laspistol on him, a very typical setup. Glaringly missing was any kind of threat that would have spooked Arradus.
+Arradus?+ I asked, being very careful with my intensity this time. Another slight pause later he answered.
+Wha...+ He was practically trembling on his psychic message, +WHAT ARE YOU?!+
+Arradus, what are you even talking about?+ Concerned and confused, I asked while walking towards the astropath. What I saw stopped me in my tracks, Arradus had his pistol drawn and the gun was pointing in my direction, I could see my own reflection on the stylish eyeshade that covered his blind eyes. The blatant hostility that was emanating from him was more of a mixture of fear than intent to kill, he was simply terrified.
'Arradus, what is wrong?'
'Stop right there, don't get any closer!' He aimed his pistol in a threatening manner, the intensity of his emotion made me wince. 'How did you do that when you are not even a psyker? Are you even human?' He demanded, his voice was starting to break due to the amount of duress he was experiencing.
Caught by this unexpected turn of events, I was totally dumbstruck by his revelation.
'Approaching landing pad.' Tahsya's voice, which was dripping with the professionalism of a military pilot, broke the serenity inside the gunship's cockpit.
'Where are we?' I asked absentmindedly.
'Why not try asking your machine spirit friend?' Niandra replied flatly from beside me. That caught me by surprise on two fronts. First, this was the first time the assassin had actively talked to me. Second, is this supposed to be a test or friendly banter?
I shot her a side glance before trying my luck checking the active flight log with the machine spirit. There mixed within all the updates was the Identification, Friend or Foe exchanges with air traffic control. After a brief moment, it concluded we were friendly and held off multiple anti-air turrets from shooting us just minutes ago. I checked the details on the IFF exchanges and read the digital signature of the air traffic control.
'Hmm… Fortress Endurance Sigma?' I read it out loud.
'By the throne, you really can speak to the machine spirit!' gasped Tahsya while the rest of the crew looked at me like witnessing a ghost.
'Not a word of this to the outside!' Thaberus dropped his warning, thus everyone refrained from further commenting and we finally got to see the last astropath on the planet.
What surprised me more about the astropath was not the astropath himself. I've read about them as a hobbyist and had this mental image of what a stereotypical astropath looks like: blind, pale skin, balding hair, wielding a staff with a stylized eye on it, wearing a stylish eyeshade, and probably has a few random wires sticking out of their head.
Arradus Rein the astropath was all that but with some crucial missing details from the lore I read. He also enjoyed a level of security, health care and comfortable living standards rivalling that of the planetary governor.
The layers of security checkpoints I went through reminded me of what was depicted in some of the superhero movies on how they kept really dangerous supervillains on lockdown. We passed through multiple blast doors and checkpoints manned by stormtroopers with hot-shot lasguns ready, and even heavier guns like heavy bolters and plasma cannons mounted on gun-servitors were ever-present on all strategic locations in the building.
It was clear they were not taking any chances on the security. As usual, Thaberus' inquisitorial rosette opened all doors and we made a steady pace towards the innermost sanctum.
In a way it made sense. To put it bluntly, even the planetary governor can be easily replaced in leadership capacity if the unthinkable happens, but there was no immediate replacement for an astropath should Arradus be slain by the enemy. With the scheduled starship arrival on indefinite delay, he was literally the last link between the planet and the wider Imperium, the VVIP of the planet.
It was no exaggeration to say his very wellbeing affected the fate of the billions of souls residing here, hence the around-the-clock security measures and extreme precautions taken on his health management. Arradus for his part had an air of awkwardness about him like he did not know whether to stand or sit in our presence.
Then again it was in no way mundane for an Ordo Hereticus inquisitor in full battle gear, armoured fedora hat with a greatcoat, inferno pistol on the belt and more to come visit you in your quarters.
It was, however, plain for me to see that Arradus and Thaberus were acquainted. As expected of an inquisitor worthy of his salt, Thaberus had apparently double-checked the integrity of the sole surviving astropath on the planet.
'Arradus, this is Syrine.' As always Thaberus cut straight to the point and I was glad he did remember to cut off the lady title when addressing me. 'Work with her to see if you can establish contact with any nearby imperial world and send out a message requesting reinforcements citing renegade Astartes.' Then Thaberus turned to me. 'Please see to it no harm comes to him in the process, his… talent is sorely needed in this challenging time.'
Finally, he gathered his retinue. 'Niandra, you stay here with them. The rest of you, with me.' Niandra turned her head but before she could say a word Thaberus made his point. 'Both of them are, as of now, of absolute strategic value for this world.'
'Surely you are as indispensable?' I asked.
'No, I am not.' He answered matter-of-factly. 'If I am taken out of the equation, either Amael or Niandra will take over command and proceed with a more defensive approach on what to do next.'
I looked at him, finding it interesting that an individual can nonchalantly mention the possibility of self-demise, but he totally ignored my gaze.
'Inquisitor, you are leaving?' Arradus asked.
'Yes, Mister Rein. Unfortunately, heretics tend not to purge themselves. May the Emperor guide you on your work,' Thaberus replied. With that said he left the room, his retinue fell in behind him to their undoubtedly bloody inquisitorial business, their boots echoing down the hallway foreshadowing the violence to come. Niandra saw them off and then melted into the shadows.
That left me and Arradus. I ran [Analytica] on the astropath. His readings came back as expected.
Name: Arradus Rein, human, psyker, astropath.
'Hello.' I said, greeting the psyker.
'That ... was such an unusual way of greeting, you aren't from around here are you?' Oops, guess I did it by doing greetings in English instead of Low Gothic. Hello in English just felt so natural after decades of usage, it completely slipped through my lips.
'You are a sharp one, astropath.' I jested in my awkward attempt to cover my slip up.
'Please, Lady Syrine, just call me by my name.' He actually looked kind of embarrassed. But… he called me that and it hit me hard. If there was one thing I might never get used to it would be being called a lady.
'Fine.' I said, 'in return, please drop the lady when addressing me in private, let us treat each other as peers.'
He paused slightly before asking, 'so how do we go about this? Pardon me but I am at a loss on what is going on around here.'
I thought for a moment and decided to just get straight into it. 'Please brief me on how you do your work and we will see what we can do from there.'
Everything considered we went off with a good start. Arradus began his lengthy crash course with me on the art of Astro-telepathy while I paid full attention to him with ceaseless usage of [Cogitatio Acceleratio] between his lectures.
With this incredible body that housed my amazingly sharp mind it felt like cheating; the moment he finished making a statement and describing a concept I would speed up my thought process with [Cogitatio Acceleratio], conjured mental notes and diagram to fully grasp whatever he said, pausing the process to ask important questions, rinsing and repeating until satisfied.
After about two hours or so, I was beginning to have a good understanding of the whole process, though it must be mentioned with thought acceleration constantly in effect. From my point of view, it felt like I had been working on it for a full day.
As for Arradus, he seemed to be getting more animated as the lecture went on, my crucial questions only added to his enthusiastic energy as the session dragged on. He must have found lecturing to be a very refreshing experience as evidently there was little to no chance to discuss his work if ever in his line of service.
Even with all that enthusiasm pushing him I could see Arradus was reaching his limits, so after telling him to take a break and politely declining his invitation for a quick dinner, I continued the work alone. For unknown reasons hunger and thirst never seemed to cross my mind, I wondered about it for a moment before deciding to leave it at that, there were just too many unknowns in this new existence.
With the freshly learned techniques, I went into a meditative state, re-running the lessons with thought acceleration in the back of my head for the final wrap up. The process continued until a feeling of sufficient understanding hit my mind and I knew it was time for a small trial run of what I have learned.
This feels so trippy. I felt my senses expand into the next realm. The world went weird for a brief moment as I attempted to send out a psychic message. +Hello?+
Arradus who was having his belated dinner nearby jolted and apparently tipped over his drink on the dining table. I could hear the mess he was creating across the hallway.
+Was... was that you? Lady Syrine?+ He sent back.
+Astropath, what did we just agree on?+ I returned. More sounds could be heard from across the hallway, the type of sound eating utensils made when dropped to the marble floor.
A slight pause later. +Could you please turn it down a little? The intensity you are sending the message hurt my head.+
I gasped at the reply, after focusing on adjusting thought intensity as best I could by making it as light as possible and sent another message. +Sorry, how is it now?+
+Much better, thank you...+
Suddenly I felt his presence had a dramatic change, the best way to describe it was a great sense of fear started to flood from his direction across the hallway.
Having just survived multiple attacks earlier in the day my sense of alarm was cranked up to the maximum level in an instance. Standing up, my [Cogitatio Acceleratio] kicked in as I activated [Auspex] for an instant mind sweep around the area. In an almost painful slowness within my accelerated mind, my surroundings were revealed to me as information dripped in pace with my sensor net as it expanded outwards.
There were 3 maids, 2 medics, 2 servitors, 18 armed guards with hot-shot lasguns and 12 gun servitors with heavy bolters within 100 meters outside his living quarters. Also in the detection net were dozens of active security cameras, none inside Arradus' living space. Niandra was in another nearby room checking on security details. Arradus had a laspistol on him, a very typical setup. Glaringly missing was any kind of threat that would have spooked Arradus.
+Arradus?+ I asked, being very careful with my intensity this time. Another slight pause later he answered.
+Wha...+ He was practically trembling on his psychic message, +WHAT ARE YOU?!+
+Arradus, what are you even talking about?+ Concerned and confused, I asked while walking towards the astropath. What I saw stopped me in my tracks, Arradus had his pistol drawn and the gun was pointing in my direction, I could see my own reflection on the stylish eyeshade that covered his blind eyes. The blatant hostility that was emanating from him was more of a mixture of fear than intent to kill, he was simply terrified.
'Arradus, what is wrong?'
'Stop right there, don't get any closer!' He aimed his pistol in a threatening manner, the intensity of his emotion made me wince. 'How did you do that when you are not even a psyker? Are you even human?' He demanded, his voice was starting to break due to the amount of duress he was experiencing.
Caught by this unexpected turn of events, I was totally dumbstruck by his revelation.
C4d
Has approximate knowledge of many things.
- Location
- Germany
I can imagine how its pretty distressing when the unassuming if seemingly incredibly intelligent girl you just met suddenly pulled psychic powers out of her ass, despite very clearly not having any when you met her, after you explained it to her for a while.
People don't just suddenly turn into psykers and Astropaths are extremely sensitive to psychic presences through the very nature of their primary purpose in life so he absolutely would have noticed her potential even if it was extremely minimal.
People don't just suddenly turn into psykers and Astropaths are extremely sensitive to psychic presences through the very nature of their primary purpose in life so he absolutely would have noticed her potential even if it was extremely minimal.
Wait, what?
At which point was she introduced as the AdMech girl?Anyway, until recently I used to play a lot of 40k games. I blame the original Dawn of War PC game for my entrance to the grimdark universe.
Eventually, it escalated to the tabletop game, when I started I was so underfunded my rhinos were made of paper cardboard, they were eventually relieved from frontline duties but until today I still have a fleet of them.
Wait, what?
Never. But given what the astropath knows
1) she's been placed as more important than the inquisitor
2) she isn't a psycher
3) she can somehow help him contact off planet support.
Given all that, is it really surprising that he assumes shes admech? And don't forget that the highest levels of the admech can choose to replace 99% of their bodies with metal bits that looks human... granted, it's not common, but it isn't unheard of.
Wait, what?
Anyway, until recently I used to play a lot of 40k games. I blame the original Dawn of War PC game for my entrance to the grimdark universe.
Eventually, it escalated to the tabletop game, when I started I was so underfunded my rhinos were made of paper cardboard, they were eventually relieved from frontline duties but until today I still have a fleet of them.
Sorry, I'm not exactly peak humanity at 5 AM and completely missed that
I was in the odd, though fairly common I guess, position of collecting but never really playing games except on... 3 occasions. Love the universe though so I read a lot of Black Library books. Had Tau and High Elves armies. RIP Warhammer Fantasy.
Yeah, from my experience actually that is pretty common.
A lot more people ended up buying a few minis here and there since the minis are nice but seldom or never play the game since it involves a lot of work and got a lot worse since 9th edition. We joked about keeping updated with the game has become a full-time job, navigating the FAQs being more complicated than tax code.
CHAPTER 9 PSYKANA ACTIVA
CHAPTER 9 PSYKANA ACTIVA
From the lore material I knew, psykers in this universe can easily distinguish their kin apart from the mundane masses with their psychic senses. Arradus had made it plain with his actions that I did not register as a psyker to his senses.
Unfortunately, that could not explain my abilities nor my success in communicating with him via psychic means. It had spooked him so much he was prepared to shoot me with his laspistol. Being a civilian all my life I was at a loss of what to do in this tense situation.
Just as things were about to turn from bad to worse, Niandra appeared out of nowhere and took control of the situation. The imperial assassin disarmed Arradus in the blink of an eye and sat him down back on his dining chair, her frigid face had the slightest hint of exasperation as she was eyeing me the whole time while performing the incredible feat with a flawless motion. I could read her mind without even trying. In modern layman terms, it would be the equivalent of asking "What the hell are you doing? You newb!".
'Master Rein.' Niandra calmly addressed the distraught astropath, 'do not be alarmed, I can assure you Syrine is not an enemy of the Throne.' After hearing those words Arradus took his senses off me and turned to Niandra to validate how much he can trust her on that statement. It was at this moment someone opened the main door.
A squad of stormtroopers stepped in, a grizzled man leading at the front as the sound of their military boots echoed in the living quarter. The squad's outfit and wardrobe was a match from the old kasrkin box when one used to be able to get a squad of ten metal miniatures in the package, carapace armour drabbed over body glove and hot-shot lasguns at the ready.
The sergeant was a man who had the look of special forces written all over him, his squarish jaw and the way he walked simply screamed elite militarism. Repeating one of the biggest cliches of the grimdark universe, the man was the only one in the squad who was not wearing a helmet.
'Is everything all right?' the sergeant asked, his tone of voice firm and respectful but unwavering. He was the only one who was not holding a weapon though his right hand hovered just above the hot-shot laspistol holstered on his belt, the rest of the stormtroopers fanned out behind him in well trained tactical spacing.
'Master Rein, please explain the misunderstanding,' Niandra said while stepping back from the astropath in her attempt to de-escalate the situation. Though from my understanding of her capabilities, a distance of a few meters might as well be face to face contact for the imperial assassin. Arradus started talking with the sergeant but my mind was fast drifting with the latest revelation.
How was it possible I didn't register as a psyker from the astropath's point of view? All the abilities I used seemed psychic in nature. Dumbfounded, I raised my left palm and looked into it and found I couldn't help myself from marvelling at the flawless porcelain skin. Just as I was thinking of what I won't do to get a girlfriend with such fine skin in my previous life, an idea crept into my head... wait, can I analyse myself?
The sudden realisation of such a potential struck me like lightning, with a staggering mind, I used [Analytica] on myself. The world seemed to freeze for a while before words started forming in my vision. Name: Syrine, primarch minoris, psyker-passive, abnormal existence. Looking at the words and their implication I felt like my body wanted to tremble, except it could not. As if rejecting an order from a lower authority this body refused to convulse. The sensation of such incongruity triggered my instinct to vomit but again, the action did not happen.
Primarch minoris!? My mind went wild on that revelation. The primarchs were genetically engineered transhuman "sons" of the Emperor of Mankind, they are a huge part of the lore of the grimdark universe. 20 were known to be created, these beings were intended to be the immortal and superhuman generals who commanded the space marine legions for Emperor's Great Crusade to reunite the scattered Human race beneath his leadership.
A memory surfaced into my mind as I struggled to organise my thoughts, it was from that shocking moment when sister Alicya suddenly knelt in front of me, 'You must be the prophesied true daughter of the Emperor that He on Holy Terra has sent to lead us...' the palatine had said, so Syrine was really a true bonafide daughter of the fricking Emperor level of existence?
But there was never any mention of any primarch minoris in the lore I knew, let alone a female primarch who was normal human size in stature. Since most primarchs were basically super-transhuman beings towering over the "normal" transhuman space marines averaging seven feet in height, that would render her looking like a doll in front of her brothers.
Recalling all the information I had on the subject matter, the only loyalist primarch that was still alive, active and kicking at the end of the 41st millennium in the grimdark universe was none other than Roboute Guilliman of the Ultramarines, affectionately known in my gaming circle with funny nicknames such as Girly Man or Ultra Papa Smurf, the latter being a reference of his legion heraldry colour being an unfortunate match with a bunch of tiny blue creatures from a happier universe.
Guilliman himself had actually been kept in a stasis field for 10,000 years after being fatally wounded in a battle and was recently resurrected to continue the plot, but that was a long story too convoluted to be told here.
That said, having faced Guilliman himself multiple times on the tabletop game myself one thing was very obvious to me, written clearly on the primarch's datasheet was "MONSTER". That would indirectly mean whatever this primarch minoris status entailed, I might not even come close to being a human despite this ideal female appearance on the outside.
If this world was indeed the same grimdark universe that I knew well, it would be an understatement to say I was in a whole world of dire troubles. Syrine's status as a primarch minoris should be an imperial state secret of the highest order and any wrong move going forward might seal my own worse than death scenario that comes in thousands of different flavours available here.
The world seemed to spin as I pondered on my predicament and my vision rested upon the second line of my enquiry result: psyker-passive. As if answering my unspoken question, a new line of words popped up into my vision.
[Activate Psykana Activa? YES / NO]
With my limited knowledge of Latin, this seemed to roughly translate to active psyker mode. What would happen if I went active? What about the perils of the warp? Apart of me wanted to recoil just by thinking what could go wrong but… I was really curious and since all my abilities activation thus far seemed to serve me well I guess there was only one way to find out.
It was then I noticed the stormtroopers finally left, it seemed like Arradus got that matter sorted. No time better than now, this is still a dream, right? I held my breath and selected yes from the prompt.
At first, nothing happened. Then, the surroundings went weird like some hidden locks were switched off and an unworldly quality took over. I felt my senses grow and my… "feel of view" for the lack of proper words extended. It felt paradoxical like being very trippy while maintaining your mental clarity at the same time, the sense of connection to the world kept expanding and a feeling of many unseen windows were opened beyond the senses. My mind struggled with these new sensations and there then I realised there was this strong resonance nearby, so very close.
Like a submarine that just turned on its active sonar and received a huge ping reading, I turned to the source of resonance and saw it was Arradus. He was facing me with his jaw dropped. The astropath's existence took on an extra-dimensional quality from my current point of view, rendering him more "real" than the surroundings, and I could easily pinpoint his exact position even with my eyes closed. So this is how psykers could tell each other apart, there is no hiding from this.
Indescribable energy swirled around and inside me, it was gaining strength and seemed to obey my will, at least for now. Mindful of all the horror stories about the warp, I tried my best to keep it under tight control. When I finally got it stabilised, Arradus was still in his stupor gaping at me. 'That light…' he murmured.
'Light?' I asked. No reply.
Was he looking at me or behind me? While I understood Arradus was technically blind I now knew his psychic sense more than made up for his sight so I turned around and saw what he meant. Even when visually blocked by many layers of walls a huge psychic beam could be "seen" shining from beyond the horizon shooting into the heavens, its psychic brightness transcending the material plane when one was psychically attuned.
The huge silvery golden beam was so beautiful and for some unknown reasons felt familiar. Wait, is that the massive activated psychic beacon they were all talking about? Instinctively I raised my hand trying to touch and feel it, but that was silly since it was so, so far away. Just as I was about to laugh at my own silliness I felt an odd sensation of a connection established with the psychic light.
Huh? Not knowing what just happened and with my hand still raised, I slowly turned my palm. Responding to my action, the massive pillar of psychic light actually changed its intensity.
Oi oi oi this is bad right? What have I done?
Panicking, I adjusted the pillar of light back to its original intensity as best I could and tried to sever the weird connection. Luckily it seemed like mental intent was all it took to get things to work with the psychic stuff, I felt the connection disappeared.
I… I hope no one saw that. Wait, Arradus is here. Crap.
Not knowing what to do, I turned to face the astropath. Only to see him on his knees calling to the Emperor and apologising to me in a semi-coherent flurry of speech. Dumbfounded again, I stood still as Arradus pressed his forehead down touching the floor, with tears flowing down cheeks as he begged for forgiveness in his whimpering voice.
Eagerly wanting to avoid the stormtroopers barging in again I turned to Niandra for help, the assassin was there looking at me with a complex expression but she got the hint. She moved in and put her hand on his back.
'Master Rein. No one is going to hurt you as long as I am here. As I said, Syrine is not an enemy nor will she do anything to you.' Her cold, authoritative voice and powerful presence did the trick and Arradus calmed down a lot after that.
Maybe my psychic active mode has something to do with his hysteria? Thinking about that I tried deactivating [Psykana Activa], the power responded to my will and shut itself off. The world went back to normal, which was a huge relief.
Looking at the sheer absurdity surrounding me, suddenly I had an epiphany. That was it! Though very rare, this must be one of the extended lucid dream sessions I had read before on the internet. Thinking back, ever since I started role-playing as Syrine, I never had any food nor drinks and had never gone to the toilet. Dream theory confirmed! Now that this was understood, I just had to let this session ran its course and get back to my life.
Finally feeling relieved, I knelt to face the weeping astropath at eye level. While he did look kind of pathetic, thinking back on my own experience so far, if it was not for [Regalis] I might have embarrassed myself with openly screaming and weeping a few times just today alone.
So, I did my best to join Niandra in comforting him, a good thing my current voice was so calm and soothing. 'Arradus, please. To tell you the truth, I recently just lost most of my memories and need your help. This planet and its people need your help too. Let's work together.' He stopped weeping but remained silent.
Does he still need an extra push for encouragement? He was calling to the Emperor, right? Sigh, people of this world. I lamented internally and pushed forth with my final sales pitch. 'Come on, astropath, if not for this world, for the Emperor.'
'Yes.' He finally responded by turning to me, suddenly the frail astropath seemed invigorated with a new lease of purpose and he said his next statement with a calm conviction.
'For the Emperor.'
From the lore material I knew, psykers in this universe can easily distinguish their kin apart from the mundane masses with their psychic senses. Arradus had made it plain with his actions that I did not register as a psyker to his senses.
Unfortunately, that could not explain my abilities nor my success in communicating with him via psychic means. It had spooked him so much he was prepared to shoot me with his laspistol. Being a civilian all my life I was at a loss of what to do in this tense situation.
Just as things were about to turn from bad to worse, Niandra appeared out of nowhere and took control of the situation. The imperial assassin disarmed Arradus in the blink of an eye and sat him down back on his dining chair, her frigid face had the slightest hint of exasperation as she was eyeing me the whole time while performing the incredible feat with a flawless motion. I could read her mind without even trying. In modern layman terms, it would be the equivalent of asking "What the hell are you doing? You newb!".
'Master Rein.' Niandra calmly addressed the distraught astropath, 'do not be alarmed, I can assure you Syrine is not an enemy of the Throne.' After hearing those words Arradus took his senses off me and turned to Niandra to validate how much he can trust her on that statement. It was at this moment someone opened the main door.
A squad of stormtroopers stepped in, a grizzled man leading at the front as the sound of their military boots echoed in the living quarter. The squad's outfit and wardrobe was a match from the old kasrkin box when one used to be able to get a squad of ten metal miniatures in the package, carapace armour drabbed over body glove and hot-shot lasguns at the ready.
The sergeant was a man who had the look of special forces written all over him, his squarish jaw and the way he walked simply screamed elite militarism. Repeating one of the biggest cliches of the grimdark universe, the man was the only one in the squad who was not wearing a helmet.
'Is everything all right?' the sergeant asked, his tone of voice firm and respectful but unwavering. He was the only one who was not holding a weapon though his right hand hovered just above the hot-shot laspistol holstered on his belt, the rest of the stormtroopers fanned out behind him in well trained tactical spacing.
'Master Rein, please explain the misunderstanding,' Niandra said while stepping back from the astropath in her attempt to de-escalate the situation. Though from my understanding of her capabilities, a distance of a few meters might as well be face to face contact for the imperial assassin. Arradus started talking with the sergeant but my mind was fast drifting with the latest revelation.
How was it possible I didn't register as a psyker from the astropath's point of view? All the abilities I used seemed psychic in nature. Dumbfounded, I raised my left palm and looked into it and found I couldn't help myself from marvelling at the flawless porcelain skin. Just as I was thinking of what I won't do to get a girlfriend with such fine skin in my previous life, an idea crept into my head... wait, can I analyse myself?
The sudden realisation of such a potential struck me like lightning, with a staggering mind, I used [Analytica] on myself. The world seemed to freeze for a while before words started forming in my vision. Name: Syrine, primarch minoris, psyker-passive, abnormal existence. Looking at the words and their implication I felt like my body wanted to tremble, except it could not. As if rejecting an order from a lower authority this body refused to convulse. The sensation of such incongruity triggered my instinct to vomit but again, the action did not happen.
Primarch minoris!? My mind went wild on that revelation. The primarchs were genetically engineered transhuman "sons" of the Emperor of Mankind, they are a huge part of the lore of the grimdark universe. 20 were known to be created, these beings were intended to be the immortal and superhuman generals who commanded the space marine legions for Emperor's Great Crusade to reunite the scattered Human race beneath his leadership.
A memory surfaced into my mind as I struggled to organise my thoughts, it was from that shocking moment when sister Alicya suddenly knelt in front of me, 'You must be the prophesied true daughter of the Emperor that He on Holy Terra has sent to lead us...' the palatine had said, so Syrine was really a true bonafide daughter of the fricking Emperor level of existence?
But there was never any mention of any primarch minoris in the lore I knew, let alone a female primarch who was normal human size in stature. Since most primarchs were basically super-transhuman beings towering over the "normal" transhuman space marines averaging seven feet in height, that would render her looking like a doll in front of her brothers.
Recalling all the information I had on the subject matter, the only loyalist primarch that was still alive, active and kicking at the end of the 41st millennium in the grimdark universe was none other than Roboute Guilliman of the Ultramarines, affectionately known in my gaming circle with funny nicknames such as Girly Man or Ultra Papa Smurf, the latter being a reference of his legion heraldry colour being an unfortunate match with a bunch of tiny blue creatures from a happier universe.
Guilliman himself had actually been kept in a stasis field for 10,000 years after being fatally wounded in a battle and was recently resurrected to continue the plot, but that was a long story too convoluted to be told here.
That said, having faced Guilliman himself multiple times on the tabletop game myself one thing was very obvious to me, written clearly on the primarch's datasheet was "MONSTER". That would indirectly mean whatever this primarch minoris status entailed, I might not even come close to being a human despite this ideal female appearance on the outside.
If this world was indeed the same grimdark universe that I knew well, it would be an understatement to say I was in a whole world of dire troubles. Syrine's status as a primarch minoris should be an imperial state secret of the highest order and any wrong move going forward might seal my own worse than death scenario that comes in thousands of different flavours available here.
The world seemed to spin as I pondered on my predicament and my vision rested upon the second line of my enquiry result: psyker-passive. As if answering my unspoken question, a new line of words popped up into my vision.
[Activate Psykana Activa? YES / NO]
With my limited knowledge of Latin, this seemed to roughly translate to active psyker mode. What would happen if I went active? What about the perils of the warp? Apart of me wanted to recoil just by thinking what could go wrong but… I was really curious and since all my abilities activation thus far seemed to serve me well I guess there was only one way to find out.
It was then I noticed the stormtroopers finally left, it seemed like Arradus got that matter sorted. No time better than now, this is still a dream, right? I held my breath and selected yes from the prompt.
At first, nothing happened. Then, the surroundings went weird like some hidden locks were switched off and an unworldly quality took over. I felt my senses grow and my… "feel of view" for the lack of proper words extended. It felt paradoxical like being very trippy while maintaining your mental clarity at the same time, the sense of connection to the world kept expanding and a feeling of many unseen windows were opened beyond the senses. My mind struggled with these new sensations and there then I realised there was this strong resonance nearby, so very close.
Like a submarine that just turned on its active sonar and received a huge ping reading, I turned to the source of resonance and saw it was Arradus. He was facing me with his jaw dropped. The astropath's existence took on an extra-dimensional quality from my current point of view, rendering him more "real" than the surroundings, and I could easily pinpoint his exact position even with my eyes closed. So this is how psykers could tell each other apart, there is no hiding from this.
Indescribable energy swirled around and inside me, it was gaining strength and seemed to obey my will, at least for now. Mindful of all the horror stories about the warp, I tried my best to keep it under tight control. When I finally got it stabilised, Arradus was still in his stupor gaping at me. 'That light…' he murmured.
'Light?' I asked. No reply.
Was he looking at me or behind me? While I understood Arradus was technically blind I now knew his psychic sense more than made up for his sight so I turned around and saw what he meant. Even when visually blocked by many layers of walls a huge psychic beam could be "seen" shining from beyond the horizon shooting into the heavens, its psychic brightness transcending the material plane when one was psychically attuned.
The huge silvery golden beam was so beautiful and for some unknown reasons felt familiar. Wait, is that the massive activated psychic beacon they were all talking about? Instinctively I raised my hand trying to touch and feel it, but that was silly since it was so, so far away. Just as I was about to laugh at my own silliness I felt an odd sensation of a connection established with the psychic light.
Huh? Not knowing what just happened and with my hand still raised, I slowly turned my palm. Responding to my action, the massive pillar of psychic light actually changed its intensity.
Oi oi oi this is bad right? What have I done?
Panicking, I adjusted the pillar of light back to its original intensity as best I could and tried to sever the weird connection. Luckily it seemed like mental intent was all it took to get things to work with the psychic stuff, I felt the connection disappeared.
I… I hope no one saw that. Wait, Arradus is here. Crap.
Not knowing what to do, I turned to face the astropath. Only to see him on his knees calling to the Emperor and apologising to me in a semi-coherent flurry of speech. Dumbfounded again, I stood still as Arradus pressed his forehead down touching the floor, with tears flowing down cheeks as he begged for forgiveness in his whimpering voice.
Eagerly wanting to avoid the stormtroopers barging in again I turned to Niandra for help, the assassin was there looking at me with a complex expression but she got the hint. She moved in and put her hand on his back.
'Master Rein. No one is going to hurt you as long as I am here. As I said, Syrine is not an enemy nor will she do anything to you.' Her cold, authoritative voice and powerful presence did the trick and Arradus calmed down a lot after that.
Maybe my psychic active mode has something to do with his hysteria? Thinking about that I tried deactivating [Psykana Activa], the power responded to my will and shut itself off. The world went back to normal, which was a huge relief.
Looking at the sheer absurdity surrounding me, suddenly I had an epiphany. That was it! Though very rare, this must be one of the extended lucid dream sessions I had read before on the internet. Thinking back, ever since I started role-playing as Syrine, I never had any food nor drinks and had never gone to the toilet. Dream theory confirmed! Now that this was understood, I just had to let this session ran its course and get back to my life.
Finally feeling relieved, I knelt to face the weeping astropath at eye level. While he did look kind of pathetic, thinking back on my own experience so far, if it was not for [Regalis] I might have embarrassed myself with openly screaming and weeping a few times just today alone.
So, I did my best to join Niandra in comforting him, a good thing my current voice was so calm and soothing. 'Arradus, please. To tell you the truth, I recently just lost most of my memories and need your help. This planet and its people need your help too. Let's work together.' He stopped weeping but remained silent.
Does he still need an extra push for encouragement? He was calling to the Emperor, right? Sigh, people of this world. I lamented internally and pushed forth with my final sales pitch. 'Come on, astropath, if not for this world, for the Emperor.'
'Yes.' He finally responded by turning to me, suddenly the frail astropath seemed invigorated with a new lease of purpose and he said his next statement with a calm conviction.
'For the Emperor.'
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Oh dear. That's mildly concerning for everyone involved.
Syrine is a toggle on/off psyker, associated with the mechanicus, and has psyker power that is
VOID DRAGON CONFIRMED!!!!
Syrine is a toggle on/off psyker, associated with the mechanicus, and has psyker power that is
VOID DRAGON CONFIRMED!!!!