Due to a series of unforeseen circumstances, a child psyker was about to be killed right in front of me.
Not if I can help it.
In a split second I decided on my actions. Still experiencing time dilation with my thought acceleration, I labelled the boy as an ally in the field command system; that should mark the boy as a friendly fire hazard sign for all the sisters to see on their helmets’ targeting sight.
I then prepared myself, calling out just as time flowed back to normal from my perspective, infusing power into my words.
‘STOP! DON’T SHOOT!’
Miraculously, the battle sisters managed to stop themselves from pulling their triggers by a hair’s breadth. The boy however flinched at the sight of my halo and the many guns pointing at him, and he slipped with a helpless yelp, falling to the ground.
By sheer momentum the kid skidded a few more feet and ended a small distance away from my position. The four black armoured pursuers however showed no intention of stopping their attack, they moved onto the fallen boy with weapons raised to kill.
Reacting with a swiftness surprising even myself, I leveraged the shoulders of Alicya and another Celestian sister to propel myself over. The sisters gasped in surprise as I passed over them with a quick somersault.
I landed right beside the boy, just in time to parry away two spear strikes that were aimed at him with my bare hands. I felt odd sensations from my brief contact with those black spears.
These are... anti psyker weapons?
Even facing me with my halo up close, these black armoured individuals showed no signs of being intimidated nor were their movements impeded. I could neither sense any emotion nor read their minds, though a quick use of [Analytica] on one of them did yield a result.
Human, augmented, black sentinel.
They must be some sort of special anti-psyker units of the Scholastica Psykana. Luckily, while they seemed to be above human average in speed and strength, they weren’t transhuman nor exceptionally strong. By now the sisters were rushing over and cursing the sentinels for their continuous attack despite my direct intervention.
A third spear strike came, again aimed at the boy. I snatched him away from certain death while parrying the spear away, my mind already tracking a fourth attack coming for me from an odd angle.
In truth I had been restraining myself to avoid injuring anyone. Just as I was contemplating on applying more strength to control the situation, a gunshot sounded with a very precise hit that deflected the final spear away.
‘Cease your insolence! I will kill all of you if you dare to strike at the saint candidate again!’ It was Thaberus, looking furious with a familiar auto-pistol in his hand. The inquisitor had fired a warning shot with the weapon he had offered me not long ago, the bolt pistol would have been overkill.
‘Sentinels, stand down!’ Kael added his voice at the same time to defuse the situation. With that the black sentinels finally stopped their attacks and I was immediately surrounded by sisters of battle with raised weapons.
The semi-relaxed atmosphere carefully cultivated by Kael was completely gone by now, replaced by something high-strung and dead serious. That lady with the noble attire, now revealed to be a psyker with her resonance, was even visibly shaking with fear.
Wait, why fear?
I looked around and found every visible face on the scholastica crowd was one of either utter shock or abject horror.
Why is everyone looking like their life is on the line?
I wondered for a moment before remembering my halo was still blasting in full intimidation mode, bathing the whole area with what must have been a suffocating pressure for normal people.
After mentally facepalming myself, I turned my halo off and spoke up to de-escalate the situation. ‘Sisters, lower your weapons. It was a misunderstanding.’
With that the tension in the air finally subsided and we moved away from the edge of starting another fight. Thaberus came over with an apprehensive-looking Zaki right behind him. The inquisitor took a look at the whimpering boy who was clinging onto me and asked, ‘what was that all about? Is he…?’
‘I sensed no taint in him,’ I said, ‘he risked his life to approach me and was asking for help.’
Kael also tried to approach but stopped when two sisters pointed their bolters at him. He quickly raised his hands and spoke in an apologetic tone. ‘My lady, I am so sorry about what just occurred…’
Thaberus waved him to stop and asked me, ‘do you need a moment?’
I nodded. The inquisitor turned to Kael, taking the man away to ask his own questions.
While they were walking away, Niandra voxed in to reveal she had located the other enemy commander in the mess outside. Currently the assassin was waiting for the Sororitas convoy to arrive before striking her quarry for maximum disruption.
Meanwhile, the rescued boy was still embracing one of my legs with all his might like a drowning person on life saving driftwood.
‘You are safe now, please let go,’ I asked nicely. The boy complied and stood back before staring at me with his puppy-like eyes.
‘So, why were you asking for help?’ I asked.
The boy started whimpering again but at the same time he communicated telepathically. +You… you must be that saint Cassey said everyone was talking about! Help me, I wanna go home!+
From my point of view he was both crying and talking at the same time, the experience was jarring.
I knelt down, pulled him closer while communicating back with his preferred method. +Calm down, what is your name? Tell me what is going on.+ While we conversed via telepathy, to an outsider it would look like I was just comforting a crying boy.
+I am Gideyn, six standard years old. You can read minds, right? Like Cassey you can see memories? Read my mind. You need to see everything, everything!+ The boy said and tried to guide my hand to his forehead, but it would not work without cooperation from my end.
I had no idea who this Cassey was and never met anyone so willing to share their mind, it felt like the boy was just trying to dump his life on me. Somehow I got a bad feeling about this, his sheer eagerness to share was unnerving.
Just what is he trying to show me?
+Calm down, Gideyn. Why do you need me to see your memories?+ I asked.
+They erased it before, but I got them back!+ He exclaimed with streams of tears running down his cheek. +You need to see where my home is to send me back. Will you help?+
While the kid was not making perfect sense, something about his story was sounding scarier by the moment, making me reluctant.
+See it! See it please!+ He insisted.
+Alright, I will take a quick peek.+
I touched the boy’s forehead apprehensively, allowing the process to take place - then I quickly recoiled and severed the connection. Apart from the boy’s mundane life, what I saw briefly cast a new light on this place and sent shivers down my spine.
This place was no school, it never was. The Scholastica Psykana was an institutional madhouse where untrained psykers were gathered to either go through the system, die trying or worse.
Suddenly sensing more eyes on me, I looked up at the far end and saw for the first time a host of minor psykers peeking over. The sorry bunch were being guarded by more black sentinels, some were so skinny their thin necks were showing up like sticks. Metallic collars could clearly be seen on some of them.
I looked down at Gideyn again and for the first time properly noticed just below his orange suit was the same metallic collar around his neck. I touched the device and realised it was a combination of location tracker and vital signs monitor, with an empty slot for explosives.
What about his mentioning of erased memories?
I checked on the boy again and found a tiny lump of anomalous energy on his head, looking like what could only be described as patches of faintly glowing strings from my otherworldly perspective. I studied the anomaly carefully and my instinct told me that this was put in place to disrupt certain functions of his mind.
Looking closer at the “seal”, I found it compromised with a few places subtly breached from the inside out. An understanding came to me: the boy must have overcome it with his power.
Now that I think about it, for a young boy of his age, he should be considered ridiculously powerful to exhibit a level of raw power close to that of a sanctioned battle psyker like Fulton.
Then everything clicked for me.
From what I remembered, the great warp storm Cicatrix Maledictum happening in this period brought forth many grave problems for the Imperium, one of which was the outbreak of new psykers and the sudden increase in power for many existing ones.
Gideyn must have experienced a sudden abnormal power growth that broke his mental seal, which explained how he regained his previously suppressed memories.
From what I saw from his memories, I knew the boy was terrified of this development and what would happen if people found out. His understanding was that psykers were like untamed monsters, which was the reason why they were treated as such. Another event that had shaken him recently was Zaki’s arrival. From Gideyn’s point of view, the null boy was a walking and talking “void person”, one of the most terrifying things he saw in his life.
Ironically, it was only after Gideyn saw me embracing Zaki did he wager everything to come forward. For his childish logic, someone who would befriend a monster surely would not mind helping another, and he just really wanted to go home. As I was contemplating on the influx of information, Gideyn interrupted my thoughts.
+So, can you get me home?+
I met the boy’s expecting gaze, a dozen of scenarios went through my mind but none could fulfil his wish. The only acceptable solution then came to my mind, and it was a disturbing one. I eyed the boy again and found myself unable to look at him directly.
But… this needs to be done.
+So you just want to go back to your parents?+ I asked.
Gideyn nodded eagerly with the fire of hope burning in his eyes.
+Close your eyes. I can bring you home.+
The boy had a puzzled look on his face but did as ordered. Using the same technique I used on Welminah, I used thought acceleration to quickly construct a virtual world with what was seen in his memories. That done, I guided his synapse into the fabricated reality.
He was eager, so the process was easy.
+We have arrived, look around.+
Gideyn gingerly opened his eyes and his jaw dropped upon witnessing his surroundings, it was the living quarter of his old home, the place looking exactly as he remembered.
Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.
+This is…?+ Trembling with disbelief, he looked to me for confirmation.
+See over there.+ I pointed to a corner of the living quarter where the boy’s parents were smiling warmly to him.
‘Mum! Dad!’ Gideyn called up and was just about to run over to his folks but stopped himself sharply. He turned to me again and asked for permission, ‘may I go?’
I smiled and nodded, he exploded with pure joy and ran to his parents, being either too excited or young to question everything. As Gideyn embraced his simulated parents, I gently overloaded his mind, putting him to sleep in the dreamscape. The boy slumped over, still hugging both psychic simulacrums.
Exiting the psychic simulation, I found myself holding the smiling but unconscious boy. I picked him up, somehow finding the boy heavier than the heavy stubber gun from earlier.
I am sorry, kid.
Silently I started walking towards Thaberus and Kael with the battle sisters maintaining their protective circle around me. The two men stopped their discussion when they saw me approaching.
‘The primary objective of their attack indeed seems to be capturing as many psykers as possible. The only ones they did not manage to get their hands on are the very young ones and recent arrivals.’ Thaberus informed me before turning his attention to the boy sleeping in my arms.
He asked with a tilt of his head. ‘What happened here?’
I thought for a moment before explaining the situation in layman’s terms. ‘His power had outgrown the mental seal placed on him. He remembered his life before here and wanted to go home…’
‘Regained memories?’ The lady who was standing a few steps behind Kael exclaimed in surprise, earning herself a look from everyone. She gulped at being the sudden centre of attention, bowed and expressed her regret. ‘Deepest apology for my sudden outburst, lords and ladies.’
While the scene was mortifyingly serious on the surface, it was low-key hilarious from my point of view. Here was a regal looking lady who was clearly in charge of a lot of things, her attire screamed nobility, her psyker augmetics at the back of her scalp were tastefully concealed, she dwarfed my boss from my past life in both air of authority and status, wielded significantly more power, yet at the moment she was bowing like a junior subordinate who had committed some fundamental mistakes.
It was however not my style to let people hang high and dry, so I quickly dropped some help. ‘Well met. I believe we haven’t been properly introduced yet, why don’t we start with that?’
Counterfeit Sir Sean Connery went first, he put a fist on his chest and introduced himself. ‘I am Kael Saigonn, inquisitorial overseer recently assigned to this installation. It is an honour.’
Alicya volunteered next, she formed the sign of Aquila smartly before removing her helmet and tucking it under arm. ‘Alicya Sabatith, probationary palatine of the Adepta Sororitas.’
Then it was the lady’s turn, she straightened up as if to regain some composure and did a quick curtsy before introducing herself. ‘I am Dracinah Creed, vice prefector.’
‘Where is the lord prefector?’ Thaberus asked, straight to the point as per his usual style.
‘No idea, we haven’t been able to contact him since the attack began.’ Kael said.
‘I am also unable to sense his presence.’ Dracinah remarked.
‘Is he a psyker?’ I asked, my mind already processing information of the place, trying to locate the man’s office.
‘Yes, Lord Prefector Arkansor specialised in divination with tarot cards.’ Dracinah replied.
‘It is a shame he did not foresee this attack coming.’ Thaberus remarked coldly.
Dracinah’s face flushed with anger for a microsecond before responding. ‘Regrettably, Lord Arkansor has expressed frustration in having difficulties with the art lately.’
‘That huge oval-shaped room situated on the fifth floor in the middle of the building, is that the lord prefector’s office?’ I asked after digging my memory for the details of the place.
‘That sounds like it.’ Kael said.
Silently I activated [Auspex] and sent a wide range detection wave in the direction of that room. Dracinah was startled upon witnessing my powers, I ignored her reaction. Then the readings came back, my spine chilled upon witnessing the content inside the office.
‘Does Lord Arkansor have a pair of mechanical legs and usually wears a hooded robe?’ I asked.
‘Yes… that sounds like a proper description of his lordship.’ Dracinah answered hesitantly, unsure of where I was going.
‘In that room is a corpse fitting that description, I believe Lord Arkansor is dead,’ I declared after double checking my readings. Dracinah gasped in horror, covering her mouth with a hand while Kael just silently nodded with a solemn expression.
‘Unfortunate, but we still have many issues on hand. Vice Prefector Dracinah, please explain your surprise from earlier.’ Thaberus said, eager to get things moving.
‘Of course.’ Dracinah gave a light bow again before explaining. ‘I am in charge of and have personally inspected the result of every such procedure that was performed here, and I can assure you with the dignity of my family that everything was done with the highest levels of standard and care. So I beg the pardon from you and the revered saint candidate here when I say her statement earlier on the boy being… unfortunately highly unlikely.’
Now that was a really roundabout way of saying I was wrong on the subject matter.
Thaberus being a non-psyker was totally out of depth on the subject and did not comment, but I got the boy right here. I approached Dracinah with the sleeping Gideyn. ‘While your frankness is appreciated, why not just look at him?’
With that Dracinah reluctantly inspected Gideyn and her expression soon changed from stoicness to one of surprise. ‘This… this can’t be…’ she muttered, eyes widened in shock.
As she began to panic, I found myself able to read her mind easily. From the lady vice prefector’s point of view, being proven wrong in front of an inquisitor and a saint candidate right after dropping boastful words was as close as it gets for a career suicide, with the honour of her family tagging along for the ride.
‘This unique situation is no fault of yours,’ I said, trying to give some assurance to Dracinah while receiving a side-eye from Thaberus. I could almost read the inquisitor’s mind: Stop simply helping people all the time!
Ignoring the hint, I asked Dracinah. ‘Can this be fixed?’
‘Well, no. We will have to apply the procedure again…’ The lady started to talk, her concerns were leaking as I caught glimpses of a few similar cases like this that ended badly with complications.
Wait, is the boy fated with a bad ending?
‘Let’s get back to the situation at hand,’ Thaberus diverted the subject and turned to me. ‘You mentioned the heretics arrived via tunnels, any idea where they are?’
I checked on my readings before replying. ‘They should be located at the northern section of this building, lower level three near the laundry area. There are also a few remnant cultists cowering throughout the building. I am updating their positions on the system.’
Thaberus nodded and announced his next course of action. ‘While the captured psykers should be long gone, I am taking the Dominions to check out the tunnels.’
The inquisitor then tapped on his data-slate as he gave orders. ‘Kael, I am sending you the coordinates. Take your people to apprehend the remaining cultists in these locations. Capturing them alive is preferred but not necessary.’
He turned back to me again. ‘The Sororitas convoy should be here soon enough. Don’t do anything rash.’ With that he led the Dominions and went looking for the tunnels while Kael led his armed men the other way, leaving me accompanied by Zaki, Alicya and her Celestians with the scholastica crowd.
More violence was coming, a stark contrast to the boy who was sleeping peacefully in my arms. Looking at him, I suddenly felt responsible over Gideyn. It was already beyond me to rescue him from his life, but I will be damned if I could at least give him a hand.
‘Back to the issue of this boy, rather than risking complications with multiple procedures, is it possible to just repair it?’ I asked Dracinah.
Dracinah was flinching a little as she replied. ‘While theoretically possible, it has never been performed. Such a feat requires a level of intense and precise application of psychic power that is beyond our capability.’ The lady was growing increasingly uncomfortable with the subject, both her expression and surface thoughts were silently begging me to let the issue slide.
‘Mind if I try?’ I persisted, determined to give the kid a better chance.
‘We… will be honoured with your assistance in this matter,’ Dracinah said but I could tell in her mind she had already written off Gideyn for whatever happened next.
I studied the “seal” again, and my gut feeling told me what I was about to attempt was doable. While I had no prior experience at all on this, it was easy for me to guess what an intact seal was supposed to be like. Manipulating my powers, I started repairing the broken seal by gently pushing all the tiny protruding pieces back to their original places. It took some effort, but it didn’t take long before everything was put back into place.
Satisfied with the result, it was time to show it to an expert.
‘Does this look right to you?’ I asked Dracinah, who looked at my work with disbelief before slowly nodding. After receiving confirmation, I reinforced the seal with my power, securing it in place.
‘That should do it, I am entrusting his care to you,’ I said while handing Gideyn to Dracinah. The lady vice prefector hesitated for a second before gingerly receiving the kid.
I looked at the crowd at the far end again and recognised Cassey this time, a skinny girl about the same age as Gideyn, his secret friend in this place. Our eyes met, I read her fear and trepidation as she quickly looked away, a far cry from the mischievous girl shown in the boy’s memory.
I then noticed the two Mechanicus tech-priests seemed to be doing something peculiar, it felt like they were discussing and looking at things unseen even by my psychic senses. Is that…?
[Noospheric Connection] activated-
I opened myself to the network and sure enough, there was an information node here. I logged into the network with my universal administrative credential and started browsing.
It was the database of the scholastica, containing everything from the mundane stuff to the classified. I was still glancing at the massive amount of information when my mind registered Flameraven’s return, this time well aware of the gunship’s vox boosting capability.
By dipping my consciousness into the vox network, I could even eavesdrop into the various communications between imperial forces within its coverage.
I was soon listening to a vox call between Alicya and a Sister Superior Lucia who had arrived with Welminah, Maylin and three squads of Retributors. I was reminded of the pending battle for the outer perimeter. While there was little I could do for the psykers here, I could probably cut down our casualties for the incoming fight.
Save those I can save.
Deciding on my action, I logged off from the noospheric network and noticed the two tech-priests were looking straight at me. Both of them were motionless, still as statues.
Well, don’t mind me.
‘Lady Dracinah,’ I addressed the vice prefector to announce my intention. ‘It was nice meeting you, I am heading to the ground floor.’
After receiving a hasty nod from the lady, I turned to my little friend. ‘Zaki, I got to go.’
‘You are as busy as Master Thaberus,’ Zaki said and posed for a hug, a luxury for him. I obliged the little fella with a light hug and bid him farewell, ‘take care.’
With that done I turned to Alicya. ‘Let’s get back.’
‘As you command,’ the palatine replied reverently.
Turning my back on the scholastica crowd, I started walking. The truth was I simply wanted to leave this suffocating and sorry place as soon as possible.
‘Sisters, I am going to pick up my pace, please keep up.’ I increased my speed, my mind already working with many possible stratagems to be used in the upcoming fight. There were many things I could do to increase our advantage.
I could deploy the Retributors to form a kill zone before imitating Makitarr to issue a hasty order of retreat, luring all the cultists into a death trap.
I could coordinate with Niandra, making sure her target would scream and broadcast that moment to all the cultists as she struck. I could also just simulate Makitarr’s death scream and broadcast it to the cultists’ general vox channel, which would be mighty disruptive.
Or I could do all three.
Imagine hearing the death screams of both your highest ranking commanders as you retreat into a hail of heavy bolter fire with ranks of battle sisters sandwiching from the back.
In fact at this point I was pretty confident about just going in on my own, grabbing a gun and ending all of them personally, Matrix style.
They are just …humans with autoguns, they have no chance.
* * *
After conducting a strafing run to clear off some cultists on the scholastica rooftop, Flameraven again landed with a new strike force.
Stepping off from the gunship, Welminah was reminded of the fact she was no frontliner and almost gagged at the sight and smell of the place. While she could tell Maylin was as uncomfortable as herself when confronted with messy human remains resulting from heavy bolter attacks, the same could not be said of Sister Superior Liana who was the leader of the new forward teams.
Sister Liana did not even flinch at the bloody scene as she quickly made contact with Palatine Alicya. After receiving her orders, Liana and her three squads of Retributors simply stepped over the mess and went straight downstairs, leaving the scholar and the preacher to catch up to the heavily armed battle sisters.
Upon reaching the ground floor, Welminah was surprised to see a squad of battle sisters led by a Sister Veryan guarding a choke point. After a quick discussion, Squad Veryan was relieved to escort Welminah and Maylin to the palatine’s position.
So the group went deeper into the building and came across many deceased cultists with bolter wounds. Welminah was relieved to never come across a martyred sister, while Maylin praised the holy work done in the name of righteous retribution.
Halfway through, the group suddenly received a vox from the Holy Daughter herself. ‘Sister Veryan, Welminah, Maylin. Be advised, we are heading towards your position.’
As the battle sisters held their position and weapons in check, Syrine appeared from the gloomy corridor and approached with astonishing speed. Behind her came Palatine Alicya and her Celestians, struggling to keep pace despite having the aid of motion amplifying power armour.
Stopping before the astonished group like she wasn’t dashing at a speed of more than fifty kilometres per hour just a moment ago, Syrine casually said, ‘we are done here, there are other cultists to deal with outside. Let’s go.’
While the Holy Daughter had looked and acted no different than usual, Welminah thought she detected a strange hint of melancholy from her mistress. That notion however was quickly forgotten by the scholar as she realised she would soon witness Syrine personally taking command of a battle for the first time to crush the heretics.
The news of the Chaos cult’s audacious attack would later send shockwaves through the capital city, but what stunned the citizens even more was the remarkable speed with which the large-scale assault was quelled by the authorities.
The decisive counter-strike operation was widely rumoured to be led by none other than the saint candidate herself and the Sororitas suffered not a single casualty that day.