Throughout the halls of the Wrath of Man, a peculiar noise resonates
CLANG, CLANG, CLANG
Yet no one pays it any mind whatsoever
CLANG, CLANG
Those who do follow the sounds down the corridors and through nearby bulkheads
CLANG, CLANG, CLANG
As they near the source of the noise, they notice black templars lining the walls on the way there
CLANG
Standing vigil or approaching the source of the noise as well
CLANG, CLANG, CLANG
At last they reach an opening, they see a large area with templars milling about, some stand around with their fellow battle brothers, others are on patrol or just on their way out. However towards the center of this large space, two figures are seen within, duking it between one another.
Come on Luci, dodge left I think, as I watch her make maneuver after maneuver against the neophyte she is sparring with. The neophyte swings his sword to bear but narrowly misses as Luci ducks underneath and manages a kick to the abdomen to no effect, the neophyte may be as fresh as any neophyte would, but he already is leagues ahead in terms of strength and speed when compared to a normal human, still there is the hope of Luci's triumph over the neophyte.
Their swords come to blow once more with another resounding CLANG, Luci continues to leverage her small frame by continually dodging before finally ending up behind the neophyte, "RAAGHH!" she screamed as she exerted her strength into a single blow, the neophyte took notice and brought his sword up to guard, but too little too late as once their swords connected the focused forced easily overpowered the unprepared neophyte, forcing him on the ground, and before he could get up the sword was pointed at his neck, Luci drenched in sweat with a determined look in her eyes stared, "Yield" she stated plainly, the neophyte did so with a sigh.
Around them the cheers from the onlookers resounded, Luci then extended her hand to help the neophyte up, "That was some swordsmanship, sister. I'm quite impressed" the neophyte said as he took her hand to help him up, "I have a good teacher" she says as she looks over to me with a smile, I nod in response "Well then, I wish you the best of luck in your future duels, sister" the neophyte responds before returning to the watch of his initiate. Luci gleefully approaches me and asks "Did you see how well I've learned, father?" It was a bit of an adjustment being referred to as 'father' as opposed to 'brother', but it stuck eventually, "Yes, Luci. You performed well despite the imbalance, we'll make a warrior out of you yet" I replied
Luci, with an even wider smile asked "So, do we have anything else today except for our litanies and prayers?" I paused for a moment before remembering "Indeed we do, we must visit Brother Erik before he returns to his slumber", at the mention of Erik Luci looking wide eyed said "He's awake now!? Then we must go!" She raced off towards the dreadnought bay while I simply followed at a walking pace.
Many things had happened since we took Luci in, about four years after Erik suffered a cataclysmic wound when an explosive strapped squig charged our squad, he valiantly intercepted the squig before the rest of the squad was injured. Luci was only ten when the accident happened and has not spoken to Erik since, now she is fifteen and is eager as ever to retell my former mentor about her exploits in her training regimen.
As I entered the bay I could hear the whirring and sounds of different machinery alike as the tech marines worked tirelessly to maintain the other dreadnoughts, amongst the noise I could hear Luci valiantly retelling the tale to Erik, "And then I swung around and knocked the neophyte on his back!" she says while making sword noises, Erik chuckles from within his dreadnought "It seems Adelhard's decision to bring you along wasn't completely unfounded then, given your most recent exploits" as I approach, Luci takes notice "Father, you're here! I just finished retelling uncle Erik all about my duel earlier" I removed my helmet before saying "I see, and what do you think of it, Erik?" Erik chuckled a little more before saying "You have trained her well, I am both impressed and proud of both for accomplishing this feat" Luci beamed with happiness and I nodded solemnly at his comment.
"Tell me then" Erik boomed, "what has happened since my internment, Adelhard?" I glance at Luci before starting "Luci has grown a fair bit since then, I have been tirelessly training her and solidifying her belief in the God Emperor" Luci answered in return "I also got to meet a member of the Adepta Sororitas, she was very kind and even offered to train me alongside her battle sisters, though father insisted on me staying here", Erik chuckled "So it seems that Adelhard has a heart after all, Emperor bless you brother for your deep heart" he chuckles once more, "To me it only seemed logical that I continue her training here" I answer "That and it may be much to learn again considering she has adopted our way of life much more than say the sisters" Luci beamed a grin "Yup! I've been keeping up with my prayers and I also pray with father and the other techmarines over his weapons just before he deploys into a battle", Erik responded "It is good to see your conviction and faith in the Emperor is as strong as ever, I pray that it will only become stronger and never falter, little sister", Luci giggled at this "Hehe, of course uncle!"
Then a techmarine approached us, nodded and said "Brother, sister. You will need to leave, brother Erik will need to return to his slumber as his vitals and systems were checked and approved to return to his rest" I nodded to the techmarine, "Well old friend, until you wake once more" I said as I put a hand on the hull of the dreadnought. Luci appeared sad and looked downwards, noticing this, Erik said "I will not be asleep for long, sister. God Emperor willing, another glorious battle will be upon us and I may even see you in action on the battlefield" Luci managed a small smile at this and said in return "Thank you, uncle. Enjoy your rest" with that we left the bay and headed for our quarters.
We enter our quarters, it is unusual that we were provided our own separate quarters, but as I had agreed to raise Luci, and given her difference between any usual neophyte, special arrangements were made by the marshal, Luci lays on her hammock bed, made from a few spare robes from the chapter, while I watch over her as she drifts off to sleep.
"Father?" Luci asks, I get on one knee and get down to her level as she lay on her bed "Yes, Luci?" "The God Emperor watches over and protects us, right?" she asked. "Well of course, Luci," I responded, "he is always watching over us and all of mankind and ensures our victory over whatever force stands in the way of mankind", "Yeah well..." Luci says "If he did, then how come uncle Erik is stuck in the dreadnought, wouldn't he have saved him before he was put there?" I let her words sink in before I sighed and said "Well, the Emperor works in ways beyond what we can understand" I place my hand on her head and gently stroke her hair "but what I think is he did it so he could make Erik stronger, that's why he survived instead of dying, so that he could fight even harder for him". Luci looked slightly better after hearing this "You think so?" she asked, "Of course, Erik is one of the most loyal astartes I know, the Emperor would never abandon his faithful. You of all people should know that, Luci" I say as I tuck her in. "Now go to bed, you'll need sleep for tomorrow's training and prayer sessions", with that Luci smiles one last time as she says "Goodnight, father!" and leans in for a kiss on my forehead, I stroke her hair as she slowly falls asleep before standing up and leaving the room.
As I leave the room, a neophyte approaches me "Brother Adelhard?" he asks, "Yes? What is it, neophyte?", the neophyte stills himself and says "Castellan Grüber would like a word, brother" The Castellan? I think, why would he need to see me? I nod at the neophyte "Thank you, brother. I will see him right away" he nods in return and scurries off. I start walking towards the bridge where I assume Grüber is waiting for me, on the way I pass by neophytes and their initiates in charge, they're still training despite the minimal sleep, nostalgic I think to myself just like old times. I continue until I reach the bridge where Grüber was waiting for me, though I notice someone else is here.
"Good to see you, Adelhard" says Karl. In the time since Luci's induction to the crusade, Karl has climbed the ranks and has become one of our crusade's chaplains, in charge of keeping the faith amongst our brothers and those serving upon our ships. "I take it this is not a simple courtesy call, am I correct?" I ask "Indeed it is not" says Grüber "How goes Luci's training?", "It is going well" I say "At the rate I am training her she will be combat ready and proficient in both sword and bolt pistol in a few more years, we may even be able to deploy her on our surface missions", Karl puts a hand on my shoulder "Brother, you know as well as a I do that no matter how well she is trained, if she will be wearing the same flak armor the guard does she'll be dead instantly", Grüber stated "If that's the case I see no real reason to keep training her then, putting her in charge of the ship as an officer would be a much better choice". My heart sank, I knew she could not possibly survive combat with her current gear, but she was looking forward to it for her whole life only for it to be taken away before she even had a taste. I was about to give up before Karl interjected "Perhaps not, Grüber. We could give her power armor instead of flak armor", confused I asked "We have no armor the size of a normal, Karl. How will we give Luci armor?"
Karl grinned and said "I'm glad you asked, on our previous campaign I got to know a sororitas canoness from the order of the argent shroud, I'm sure she can put in a good word for a set of sororitas power armor" Karl sheepishly added "it may take a while to get the message through however, and she'll need to be a certain age, likely around eighteen or nineteen, so it will still be a while", Grüber sighed "Are you both still adamant about keeping Luci as a pseudo templar? I may not have been there when you made the decision with brother Erik but certainly you see how foolish it is to fold a non-astartes into an astartes crusader squad" I replied "That's true, but with the power armor she will be able to keep up with us to some extent at least, besides I'm sure you've already heard of her exploits just earlier today". Karl let out a hearty laugh "Emperor knows I did! I heard she outperformed one of Gratz' neophytes, did she not? Surely this talent is worth keeping"
Grüber relented "I suppose so, but how long would she be separated from us in order to obtain her armor", we pondered for a moment before I answered "I suppose if it's anything like obtaining our armor, she will need to be implanted with the armor ports and heal from the surgery, the actual armoring process must be similar if not the same as ours, minus a few armoring prayers and rituals" Grüber and Karl agreed, "Likely, if that's the case I will contact the canoness and make a request, hopefully her superiors agree" said Karl, "Very well, I suppose this meeting is adjourned" Grüber declared as we all went our separate ways.
I arrive back at my quarters, as I enter I see Luci still sleeping soundly, I had already had my armor removed and now donned a robe as I lay on my stone bed, I glance once more at Luci before I close my eyes. Soon I think to myself soon she will prove herself to the crusade and any naysayers who doubt her capability, I exhale deeply but for now, all she needs to do is grow. I drift off into a dreamless sleep praying silently for our crusade, and for her.