The Lost and the Fallen will never be forgotten!
40372 brothers had fallen while they sat and watched their cousins of the Thousand Sons disrupt the cultists ritual. 92 of their brothers were Lost. This was the darkest day the Legion had ever faced. Hopefully the darkest they ever would. Their gene-father, their Primarch had ordered them to Senas at all speed, and while they were travelling, locked himself in his room, to continue his new tradition of etching the names of his fallen and Lost sons into his equipment. It was a pain that all in the Legion shared, and now Scout Leandros would do his part to show his support for his father, and share in that pain, as well as the promise inherent to the list of the fallen, that those that survive would do better, ensure that their sacrifice would not be in vain.
He stood in front of a workbench within the legions armory, and proceeded to painstakingly start the process of etching his Lost brothers names into his combat knife. He wrote them as small as he could, in recognition that in time the number of those Lost were likely to grow, though hopefully never at such numbers as this. As he worked his Scout-Sergeant, Orean, walked through the armory, and noticing him walked over.
"What are you working on Leandros?" he asked, curious and cautious of a relative neophyte working on his weapon alone.
"Our Father wears the names of the Lost and the dead on his arms and armor, Sergeant. I thought to share in his grief and determination. To never forget those that have come before, and to fight the deamon with the names of the Lost in mind, the memory of their corruption a bulwark of the mind, and the conviction not to add another name to the List another weapon against the enemy. The roll call of our Brothers that have fallen in service to the Eternal Sovereign a benediction against cowardice and failure. Their names to lend strength to my determination to hold up to their sacrifice." Leandros responded, fire in his eyes, his face grim with resolve.
Orean looks him in the eye as he listens, and nods as he finishes. Taking a long look at the combat knife already etched with a dozen names, small, precise and powerful in their meaning, he turns back to Leandros, "A fine idea Brother, one that I think I will join you in." So saying, he goes to another workbench, and starts to ready the tools necessary for the task. As he does however, he thinks through what he's doing and decides the rest of his Scouts, should share in this task, in remembrance of the Lost, and the fallen. So thinking, he turns on his Vox, and he puts out a call on his squads frequency "All brothers of the 13th Scout Squad, report to Armory 5-Alpha for new equipment maintenance tasks." He would explain more once they arrived, but this would bring them to the armory quickly and with their full gear. So he returned to the task at hand, beginning with his armor so that he would have examples to show to his squad of both aspects of the task ahead.
Leandros heard the call and smiles with renewed certainty as to the wisdom of his decision. Their entire Squad would remember and live on. As he continued to work, the rest of squad quickly arrived from across the ship, some sweaty from melee training, others smelling of fire from the Volkite ranges, all with their full gear, he would tell them of the work he had set to. To honor their Brothers, and their Fathers chosen way of remembering those that had been Lost.
As the battle brothers filled the Armory, all working on their own equipment, a Tech-Priest looked into this unscheduled action, that did not appear to resemble any rites of maintenance he was aware of. She walked up to the Sergeant, "Scout Sergeant Orean, what is the purpose behind this unscheduled action? Are your arms not operating at peak efficiency?"
The Scout Sergeant looks up from his work, "No Enginseer, we are following in our Father's footsteps, etching the names of the Lost and the Fallen into our weapons and armor."
"So you are entreating their Machine-Spirits with the names of those who have served to stoke their rage and their resolve. An interesting idea Scout Sergeant, I will endeavor to ensure that your efforts meet with as much success as possible Scout Sergeant Orean."
Orean looks at him for a moment, as that wasn't exactly what he'd intended, but if the Enginseer thinks it could help... "Of course Enginseer, you have my thanks for helping my Brothers and I with this task."
And so the squad and the Enginseer worked together, the Astartes doing the actual etching, but the locations, the tools, and the like informed by the Enginseer, to ensure the Machine-Spirits of their equipment understood why they were not being marred from their original machined perfection, but instead being given renewed reason to fight the enemies of Man, and personalized attention from those meant to use them in Battle.
After many hours, the squad finished with their task, and went back to their barracks for rest. Along the way other Battle Brothers saw what they had done, and some asked after their intent. Many of them were moved by this effort, and decided to adorn their own wargear with the names. Soon Enginseers in charge of armories all over the ship found their domains filled with Astartes warriors looking to honor the fallen, and remember the Lost. Even as the Primarch of the Legion painstakingly and slowly continued etching the names of his Lost and fallen sons, the practice spread through the fleet. Eventually the Fleet Master himself heard of it, and found the idea worthwhile. While talking with the Magos in charge of the Armory for those of Captain rank and above, about the best ways to entreat the Machine-Spirits to take the markings as intended, he mentioned idly the though of doing something similar for the Ships systems. This Magos had seen the Primarchs weapons and armor first-hand, and recognized the machine-spirits had responded well to the previous batch. He brought up the idea with the other Magos of the fleet, and shared the results of the Primarch's actions as well as those of the standard battle-brothers that had finished the etching. It was not yet something that seemed to have a large effect, and yet the Machine-Spirits did seem just those few percentage points more responsive, more resilient. So it was decided that they would test this rite of remembrance, and see if the far more powerful Machine-Spirits of a ship would respond as well to this rite.
So it was that by the time the Kesar stepped from his room, ready to command his sons in their battle to take the DAoT station, his armor and weapons newly etched with the full list of names, he saw his sons with their own work, not as precise as his own, but still done by hand across the entire legion. He saw this, and smiled in pride at his Sons. He heard of how many wished to do something similar with their other equipment, their tanks and fliers. About how even the Magos were seeing that such markings had a positive effect on the Machine-Spirits of the legion, and were looking into ways to implement them across all the varied wargear of the Legion.
None shall forgot the fallen of the Eternal Wardens, and every daemon will feel the bite of the Legions sorrow for the Lost.
So, first omake. Hope it reads well, and makes sense.
