Not for the first time I stepped into the Inquisitorial gunship Flameraven, but I had never used its side door before.
Upon entering the familiar gunship with Thaberus, Niandra closed the door behind us as I was instantly connected to the gunship’s machine spirit.
<++ Authority level administrator connected. ++>
<++ Fully operational and ready to serve, Authority. ++>
On my right I was greeted by the sight of Alicya standing in her full plate, her face visible thanks to the helmet’s visor being pulled up. Our eyes met and she looked surprised, which was confirmed a split second later from what I glimpsed from the palatine and her sisters’ minds.
Lady Syrine is joining the mission?
Throne be praised, she is with us on this.
The Holy Daughter is here!
Behind Alicya were two full rows of seated battle sisters, their dull silver armour glinting in the darkened gunship’s interior. There was that familiar low humming sound from all the active power backpacks, singing in unison with the low howling of the gunship’s engine.
‘Sororitas, salute!’ Alicya suddenly called out, and all the sisters formed the sign of Aquila with such synchrony I surely would have flinched as a mortal, it was an impressive display of martial discipline. Thaberus merely nodded and started to speak.
‘Sisters! The heretics are assaulting an imperial installation in broad daylight as we speak. This open challenge will not go unanswered. We have little time to prepare but the mission is simple, purge all heretics at the Scholastica! Once we are airborne it will take about ten minutes to reach the site. In the meantime familiarise yourself with the layout of the mission area as much as you can. That is all!’ He then turned to me. ‘To the cockpit.’
We went through the hatched door and came face to face with the lady pilot Tahsya, who was looking back from her seat. She was as I remembered, looking chill and sporting her cool shades.
‘Lady Syrine, it has been a while,’ Tahsya greeted me.
‘Hello Tahsya, long time no see,’ I returned her greetings and went to my designated seat from last time. As I was properly strapping myself in, Tahsya’s thought came through: Gosh, she still behaves like a model citizen, I better thank her for saving my life with my chance now.
Saving her life? When was…
I was startled for a heartbeat before remembering the trick I pulled to avoid Flameraven being crushed by a giant boulder thrown by that huge daemon in that fateful fight.
Why are such details always escaping my mind?
‘Let’s go.’ Thaberus dropped his order before Tahsya could say her thanks. The pilot nodded and took her attention off me, then Flameraven lifted before roaring into the purple sky with its mighty engines. Despite having done this multiple times already, the geek inside me was still awed by its sheer awesomeness.
Once the gunship levelled again, Thaberus turned and passed something small to me. ‘This is made for you, a microbead with built-in Inquisitorial level access. You know how to use it?’ He asked.
I accepted the small unassuming-looking earpiece and was surprised to find it gene-locked to me. Reacting to my touch the earpiece activated. Unlike a standard user who had to go through the learning curve, the technological marvel that resided in my physiology seamlessly connected myself to all its functions.
Looks like I don’t need a manual with this cheat.
‘Yes, I know how to use it.’ I replied.
‘Good, Keep it on for the duration of the mission,’ Thaberus said while handing me a data-slate. ‘Here’s the layout of the Scholastica.’
I accepted the device and went through the data within it, finding the location of the Scholastica within the city and a detailed three dimensional map of the place but nothing else.
Suddenly there was a familiar buzz, Thaberus looked at me and pointed to his ear before saying. ‘Join in. Yes Herlindya, go ahead.’ I got what he meant and tuned in with my new earpiece.
Due to the lack of seats and the need of an Inquisitorial coordinator for all the imperial forces mobilising for the mission, Herlindya had stayed behind. From my high-end earpiece the throne agent’s voice came through clear via the vox network. ‘Sir, reports are coming in. The outer perimeter of the Scholastica is guarded by multiple squads of heretics. The whole attack force is possibly in company strength, and they have heavy weapons. They even have a few heavy weapon teams positioned on top of the building overlooking the whole place.’
‘Any idea if they are proficient with those heavy weapons?’ Thaberus asked.
‘Hold on… we just lost an Arbites rhino carrier at the gate to rocket launchers. Yes it appears they are proficient.’ Herlindya replied.
‘Darn. We might be heading for a hot drop.’ Thaberus cursed.
The professional cultists are at it again by being one step ahead. Now it is up to who shoots first unless… I suddenly had an idea.
Closing my eyes, I forced myself into a trance. While initially I was not sure if this could be pulled off under duress, a moment later my consciousness successfully slipped out from my body. Unbounded by any physical barrier, my projection dashed towards the Scholastica with astonishing speed, way faster than the gunship.
Below me the cityscape zoomed past in a blur, and I soon reached the huge building that was our destination. Like every serious imperial installation, the Scholastica looked like a small fortress with a perimeter wall surrounding its main building. At the main entrance was a burning vehicle, while a fierce shootout was happening between the cultists guarding the facility and imperials who were trying to get in, matching what Herlindya had reported.
I approached the flat roof of the imposing building and saw teams of armed men with various heavy weapons, raining down hell onto the imperials below. After locking in their locations I recalled my consciousness and instantly found myself back in my chair.
I released a long breath before saying out loud, ‘I saw them and their positions, four weapon teams on the roof. If we can drop from height and approach without them knowing, I should be able to take them out with our heavy bolter sponsons before they notice.’
Thaberus, Niandra and Tahsya all turned and looked at me, but no one commented. It was Tahsya who broke the silence a moment later. ‘We are reaching soon, if we are doing that it has to be done now. Sir?’
‘Do as she says.’ Thaberus consented.
‘Affirmative.’ Tahsya replied before speaking into the intercom. ‘Sisters be advised, hold on tight. We are going in for an attack run.’
The Flameraven turned and climbed continuously before diving down like a giant raptor on the hunt. I ignored the sudden increase of G-forces and mentally took over the controls of the heavy bolter turrets as individual targeting screens appeared in my vision.
‘I am taking over the turrets, please maintain our approach,’ I said as the hunting started for the enemy teams on the roof.
As we dropped towards the building, the crosshairs before me zoomed in rapidly until all four fire teams on the roof were located and marked as tiny pixels on the same spots I saw earlier. Confident of the firing solution appearing in my mind, I triggered the firing mechanism of the heavy bolters and sent streams of mass reactive shells towards the unsuspecting targets. The cultists didn’t even know what hit them, all were blasted into smithereens and ended up as ugly patches of pixels on my vision in mere seconds.
‘Rooftop cleared of hostiles,’ I reported and disconnected myself from the targeting system.
‘Roger that.’ Tahsya replied and engaged the hovering system, bringing the gunship from a dive into horizontal approach for a swift landing on the roof.
Going in hot, the side and back doors of Flameraven opened up even before we fully landed. As soon as the gunship touched down, the battle sisters stormed out and secured the landing zone. Following Thaberus and Niandra, I exited the gunship right behind Alicya who was waiting on the side door. We stepped onto the roof and were instantly greeted by the smell of blood and a scene of utter carnage.
Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
Hitting humans with heavy bolters that fired solid-fuel rocket propellant and mass-reactive fuse rounds the size of small cans generated extremely messy results, as evidenced by the chunky organic remains and destroyed wargear that splattered across the whole roof.
As soon as everyone got out from the gunship, Flameraven pulled away with a roar and dove towards the outer perimeter wall of the Scholastica. There the gunship unloaded another salvo of carnage onto the entrenched enemies before speeding away to pick up reinforcements, not giving the heretics any chance of retaliation.
After watching the awesome display of firepower of Flameraven and it speeding away, I charged up my power and fired a huge [Auspex] sensor wave, spreading it wide to cover the whole building.
Except for the areas shielded by unknown materials, I saw everything. What I did not anticipate was the presence of so many psykers. In the brief moment when my powers were activated to blast out the wave, a few dozen souls with psychic resonance lit up, registering like heat signatures on a thermal sensor. They were all hiding and cowering from the cultists.
I saw all of them and in turn… all of them saw me. In an instance I tasted all their desperation, their fear, and their awe of my power.
Compared to me, they were like tiny embers looking at a blazing bonfire. A lot of them flinched, most of them were stunned. Some were faster than others and realised I might be their salvation. They turned to me in slow motion but before they could ask for help, my connection with the psychic world was abruptly cut off.
Still, the experience startled me.
Wait, wait, wait, wait… I can’t help everyone immediately.
I steadied myself and went through on what I saw. Mixed within the influx of psychic emotions was the solid information I glimpsed from inside the building. I saw dead bodies littered throughout the place, the main entrance on the ground floor was guarded by a few teams of armed cultists, while the majority of them were congregating in the lowest levels of the building where a fierce firefight was raging.
That was when I realised my total newness to all these things. So much information, such urgency, and so little time to explain. Leading a counter terrorism close quarter assault mission? What the hell was I thinking by coming here?
I looked at Alicya, she returned my gaze with hot anticipation. I suddenly felt the weight of responsibility on my shoulders.
Oh throne, what should I do?
Without thinking I raised my right hand, before belatedly realising no one would answer my many immediate questions. Thinking fast, an idea came to me and I reached over to the waiting palatine.
‘Your hand please.’ I said.
Alicya did as ordered and extended her gloved hand. I rested my palm on it, sensing her total open acceptance. Through manipulation of my powers, I attempted my best effort to imprint what I saw onto her mind while hoping feverishly this would work, otherwise we would be in for an awkward session of briefing.
The process took but a heartbeat. Alicya fidgeted slightly and her eyes lost focus, and my hearts jumped at that.
Did I screw up again?
Fortunately a renewed focus soon returned to Alicya’s eyes. She steadied herself and a single thought solidified in her mind: This needs to be brought onto the field command’s tactical interface.
I immediately understood what she meant and fired up thought acceleration for the work. In the span of another heartbeat I connected with the field command system that was built into her helmet. With the built-in access I had over most imperial systems, I set myself up as admin and marked the known location of every cultist on the tactical interface. This felt like that time with the podium of cables I used in the last battle against the rebel army, but on a much smaller scale.
Alicya gasped in surprise as she witnessed the locations of enemies popped up over the tactical display of her helmet. That was as far as an amateur like me could give in terms of giving solid support for now, it was time to leave the rest of it to the professionals.
‘Please commence the operation.’ I said.
Alicya bowed deeply. ‘Acknowledged, Holy Daughter.’ She then turned to the inquisitor. ‘Lord Thaberus, kindly look after Lady Syrine while we do the Emperor’s work.’
After receiving a nod from Thaberus, the palatine spoke to her sisters through the vox. ‘The Holy Daughter has revealed the enemies’ location to us! Most of the heretics are at the lower levels, with a small number of them guarding the ground entrance. Double speed to the ground floor entrance and hold position. Move out!’
Amidst the acknowledgements the battle sisters moved as one, their armoured boots echoing sharply as they charged full speed down the stairs with all their gear, having total faith on what was revealed.
Quick and precise to the point. Watch and learn, watch and learn. I mumbled to myself upon seeing the example set by Alicya and hurried after the sisters.
Thaberus appeared beside me, keeping his pace easily despite being a man of his age, with Niandra shadowing a pace behind him. While running, the inquisitor took a look at his data-slate which was updated with the position of the enemies since it was connected to the field command system.
‘What did you do just now?’ He asked.
‘I…’ Quick and precise to the point. ‘I scouted the area with my ability and mentally transferred what I saw to the tactical system.’
‘Now that’s convenient. So the heretics are concentrated on the lower levels?’ Thaberus asked.
‘That is what I saw, why?’ I replied while we chased after the mass of armoured women running in front.
‘There is a plasma power generator beneath the building for self usage in case of power cuts.’ Thaberus remarked grimly.
‘Then we better hurry up.’ I answered, the unspoken implication of it added to the urgency of the situation.
We soon reached the end of the staircase on the ground floor where the sisters were holding their position. Mirroring the information I glimpsed, no one was around here except for a few fallen victims nearby.
‘It is as you predicted.’ Thaberus remarked with a hint of being impressed before dropping a crucial question. ‘While highly unlikely, do you sense any powerful individual nearby?’
I was startled for a moment before realising the inquisitor was referring to the arch-heretic, the supposed cult leader who most probably was a potent warp craft user. I quickly checked my memory and concluded there was no presence of that sort in my brief glimpse of the psychic world.
‘Nothing. I will keep an eye for it.’ I said.
‘Please do. So, how do we proceed from here?’ Thaberus replied.
Hey, you are the pro here -
I almost snapped at him before noticing the subtle look on his face. The bugger is testing me. Well, all primarchs were known to be natural born generals, so maybe he was expecting the same from me despite being a discounted version?
Still, he has a point as the sisters would naturally look to me for leadership. Between an inquisitor and a semi-sanctioned living saint, it was kind of obvious who bore the greater command authority for the Sororitas.
Luckily for me, with thought acceleration I had a lot of time to slow down and take stock of the situation, essentially turning a real time strategy game into a turn-based command phase.
I checked the sisters in the strike force closely and for the first time had a proper look at them. With my connection to the tactical interface, I became aware that virtual name tags could be summoned at will to display each sister’s name over their heads like a typical first person shooter game.
There were the two Dominion squads of five women each led by Sister Superiors Serais and Miriah, all armed with their massive storm bolters that was the standard armament for space marine terminators. I remembered this as a typical power gaming setup in one of the many editions of the table game, so to see it in person was a bit both nostalgic and horrifying at the same time. No human will fancy being on the receiving end of their barrage.
Then there was a four-women squad of elite Celestians led by Sister Superior Lethica, acting as a command squad for Alicya. These ladies were armed with all types of lethal weapons, sporting a few combi-weapons and a heavy bolter carried by a bulky looking Sister Lysandra. Let the big girl carry the big gun.
Lastly a five-women squad of standard battle sisters led by Sister Veryan with one of them carrying the other heavy bolter. After having a good look at our people and the current tactical situation, my gamer sense kicked in.
‘The enemies outnumber us, but they are split up between the lower levels and outer perimeter while we have the advantage of surprise and fire power. We should move forward to stop whatever they are up to while leaving a squad to cover our back, in case the other half of the enemies on the outside fall back and get us pincered.’ I offered.
Both Alicya and Thaberus nodded, giving my gamer instinct a passing grade. ‘Squad Veryan, hold this choke point while we move forward. Fall back to us if you are overwhelmed.’ Alicya ordered, putting her least lethal squad on covering duty.
Suddenly Herlindya’s voice cut in from my ear piece, this time she sounded choppy from a weak connection. ‘Sir, Sororitas convoy reports ETA in roughly twenty minutes.’
‘Roger that. We are about to make contact and should soon lose connection with you. Thaberus out.’ The inquisitor said.
‘Why the sudden loss of connection?’ I asked.
Thaberus looked at me with amusement before saying, ‘comm beads range is only good for about ten kilometres. We had been boosted by Flameraven’s on board systems that allowed direct communication with Herlindya back at the monastery. With the gunship getting further away and interference from inside this building, she won’t even be able to reach us just now if not for our cutting-edge gear.’
Oh, my noobness is showing again.
Thaberus then looked to Niandra and dropped his own directive. ‘Locate and eliminate the commanders of the outer group, then aid our reinforcements in.’
The assassin nodded and dashed away like a ghost, producing little to no sound as she disappeared down the corridor. Wordlessly Thaberus took out an ornamental looking bolt pistol from one of his holsters. I noted the huge inquisitorial emblem on the side of what must be a master-crafted weapon. He then squatted down to pull up another small arm from one of his boots and passed its handle to me. I recognised the weapon to be a shredder autopistol.
Tempted as I was to pick up and use the cool looking gun, there was the problem that I had never used a firearm before in my life.
‘I… currently have no idea of how to use a gun,’ I reported truthfully. Thaberus had a “for real?” look on his face for a fraction of a second before seemingly coming to the conclusion that a single autopistol would not make much difference in terms of our current firepower.
The inquisitor nodded, put back the weapon and stood up. Turning off the safety of his bolt pistol, he exuded the air of a man who was about to do a routine which he had done thousands of times before and asked casually, ‘ready?’
It was finally time to fight the cultists head on.