"Not talking about it." I mutter, poring over the disassembled bolt pistol on the table in front of me. Half empty bottle of amasec resting on the corner of the table. Vail snatched said bottle and settled into the chair across from me.
"You'll talk as much as I need you to, Foothill." Vail snarked at me, taking a long pull from the bottle as I scrubbed at her bolt with a brass brush. "We just had an experience that the Ecclesiarchy would declare us Saints over. We have to talk about it."
"Big E himself stopping by, giving orders to you, practically declaring me the court jester of the 41st millenium. If the Harlequins ever find out I'll have to deal with those assholes. And I don't want to deal with 'Cegorach's Rose.' that's one flower I don't want to smell. Nuh uh." I shake my head, beginning to reassemble the bolt pistol bit by bit. I wasn't much of a drinker, and alcohol plus firearms is always a bad idea, but even so I needed the liquid courage after that debacle.
"David, the Emperor gave you orders. It is your duty, as a human being, to see them through." Vail persists, gesturing at me with her bottle. "Do you have any idea how many people have killed and died to be in your position?"
"Yes. Doesn't mean I have to like it. 'Sides, we got a whole year to prep before Cain stumbles onto a Necron tomb world whilst battling Orks. Oh yeah, Simia Oricalcae is a tomb world. Probably a good thing to know." I mumble, cursing slightly under my breath as I futz with the final pin on Vail's bolt pistol, getting it into place with an Audible 'click'. "Look, I'm willing to do what I can to keep more folks alive but I know how this game goes. I do anything too big, one of the big bad Four takes notice and then we have real problems. You and yours should know the advantages of flying under the radar, Inquisitor."
"Is that how you want to play this? Throw the whole thing under the rug and let the stones fall where they may? Maybe change a thing or two along the way?" Vail has a hint of disdain in her voice which has me snapping my head up from my work and glaring at her.
"I'm saying that if we can keep this under wraps to the three of us, yes Iseeyou, Rakel! We can slip beneath the notice of beings that could kill us by looking at us. I am an unmodified human man. A single human man that's not even trained as much as the average guardsman. Cain is a master Duelist who will eventually take out a Khornate space marine in melee combat. You have lord knows how many years of experience. Rakel's a psyker. Orelius, the asshole, Is a Rogue Trader with a whole ass ship. I am not prepared to fight a war in the 41st Millenium, Inquisitor!" I snarl out, slamming a fist onto the table with enough force to make the bolt pistol bounce on the table. "If I want to be able to actually change sh*t I have to make use of this relatively quiet year to get up to snuff. Which means training, learning how things have changed or stayed the same in thirty-eight thousand years…and hitting the goddamn gym." I let my forehead hit the table with a groan.
"David, you have information I can use now, why not tell me more?" Vail asks, I turn my head to look at her with one eye.
"You have to understand that I only have a passing knowledge of a few things, I didn't pour over every book looking for every detail. Yes I had an interest and I know a bit about the setting that we're in. But years, details, names. These are forty years of lore and development that's been retconned, evolved, resurrected and so forth. I can tell you that in 68 years, Cadia will fall. In 68 years, Lord Commander Guilliman will return. Yet none of that makes a difference as to the situation we're in now. So I ask you this: You can black box me. Have me sitting in a room with Rakel tearing my brain apart to draw out what I know. Or would you rather have an asset that you can actually use for more practical purposes.?" I explain, staring her down. She remained stone-faced. I knew she wouldn't hesitate to do just that, have me sent to some room with a pen and paper, writing out reports of what I knew, what little I knew, and I could still be there until the end of my days.
"If I were to black box you, David, I would have to deal with the consequences of violating orders given to me by theEmperor Himself!" Vail responds, throwing her hands up in frustration. "'He must remain in your retinue!' 'The young man has a purpose here.' I swear there's likely already an Aquilan Shield en route to us!" my head snapped back up straight, glaring at the inquisitor.
"Don't you put that evil on us! If we have to deal with a ten foot tall genetically modified warrior noble, I'm going to find a way to make you regret it!"
"I already am." Vail accentuated her last statement with a long pull from the bottle of Amasec.
After a few weeks, a routine came about. I would spend a few hours a day performing maintenance on the retinue's weapons; we had left Orelius' Ship to Amberley's ownExternus Exterminatus.The yacht was larger than the term would suggest, and it was here where I had my first involvement with the Adeptus Mechanicus. Yanbel, Tech Priest of Vail's Retinue, honestly I was expecting him to try and drill a hole in my head.
"Are you certain you do not wish to make the pilgrimage to Mars?" He had asked, I could see Mott lurking by the bulkhead we had entered through.
"I like my hands flesh, Yanbel, while I can admit there are advantages to augmetics, I would prefer to be able to feel things. The recoil, the impact of a fight, a woman. I can't do that with steel." I replied, shrugging my shoulders.
"There are many tech priestesses within the Mechanicum that would dispute that." Yanbel shot back, I shook my head with a chuckle.
"Not the point, Yanbel."
"You are a repository of knowledge that the Imperium and Mechanicum can actively use to improve our war efforts and munitions, it is my duty as a priest of mars to at the very least attempt to acquire you into our ranks." Yanbel continued as we walked through the ship, I could see Vail rolling her eyes as she passed by my workstation.
"Cease trying to poach my Quartermaster, Tech-Priest." She quipped as she passed, causing Yanbel to snap his mechadendrites in her direction agitatedly. I was currently finishing up the last of the routine maintenance before reporting for PT.
"I got to get going, man.Vaya con Dios." I said, looking over the exterior of a recently reassembled lasgun before returning it to the rack, grime had accumulated in the connectors that would transfer power from the power pack to the rifle itself, had to clean them with isopropyl alcohol.
"The Omnissiah knows all, David."
"GET OFF YOUR ARSE, FOOTHILL! MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!"'Flicker' Pelton shouted, as I was running laps around the gymnasium section of the yacht. "I ain't never seen such an embarrassing recruit in my life. What are you, some cushy noble?!" The verbal abuse isn't anything new. I had been dealing with it for over six weeks at this point, I was on a strict diet, a stricter training regime, and even stimulants to promote muscle growth. I had objected to those initially, but Vail pulled the Inquisitor card and made it an order.
(Note from Inquisitor Amberley Vail: Shut up and take the damn pills David.)
((Note from Legios Repentia David James Foothill: Winners don't do drugs!))
-5 Years added to sentence of Legios Repentia David James Foothill, Charge: Insubordination, see Incident Report D4U6S-
"I don't know what you did to get yourself on this ship, and I don't much care! The Inquisitor told me to get you into Astra Militarum shape, and by the Emperor I'm going to do so!FASTER!"Pelton continued, I growled as I sped up my pace. While I was slow to build muscle, a problem I'd always had throughout my life, I had toned up quickly. The muscles on my arms became more defined, and I had abs again, which was a pleasure to see. I was lucky to have the opposite problem of most people that hail from the 956, instead of being agorditoI wasuna flacito, a buddy of mine once told me I could eat like an Ogryn and not gain a pound. Heh I could remember my first time in the mess watching Vail's eyes widen as she watched me pack away the double rations quickly.
(Note from Inquisitor Amberley Vail: It was the first time I had seen a regular human as much food as a Ratling. The reaction was warranted.)
"Sir, yes, Sir!" I called, ducking under a swing from a baton. I had to be fast enough to avoid incoming fire, dive into cover while never stepping back. Retreat was not allowed in Pelton's boot camp.
"That's enough for now, Flicker." The voice of Vail called out from the entrance of the gym, causing Pelton to snap to attention, I would follow suit as well, ignoring Pelton's muttered 'slow'. "Foothill. It's time to see what else you can do other than throw a few punches." She spoke, and I felt a sparkle glint in my eye. One thing that had irked me for the initial period on the yacht, was that outside of maintenance, I had been forbidden from practicing any kind of shooting. (Note from Inquisitor Amberley Vail: Inquisitorial Regulations prohibit Legios Repentia from practicing marksmanship for a probationary period unless circ*mstances require otherwise. Personally, David needed to squirm a bit for all the trouble.)
A deck lower and another bulkhead allowed us entry into the practice range. 800 meters of adamantine reinforced hull, pocked with scorch marks, dents, and what looks to be the remnants of grenades going off. There were benches, firing lines, and distance markers throughout. One of the benches had been prepped with an array of weaponry, ranging from lasguns of various patterns, such as the long barreled Lucius Pattern, favored by the Death Korps of Krieg, and even the Accatran pattern bullpups. On the other side of the table was a selection of projectile weapons. My stub revolver was present, as well as a few autopistols, and even Vail's bolt pistol. I raised an eyebrow at the Inquisitor.
"You're gonna let me shoot your gun?" I asked.
"Maybe. We're going to be testing your 'operational envelope' I believe you called it. I've seen you work with your archeotech pistol, but I need you to be able to use whatever I put in your hands. So here we are. Pick up the lasgun on the far left of the bench, Quartermaster, and wait for my instruction to fire." Vail spoke, moving to the side of the bench and directing me to a firing lane. I followed the order, picking up the Lucius pattern lasgun I had observed earlier. I nabbed a munitorum standard power pack before entering the marked firing lane.
"Shooter Ready, Inquisitor."
"Charge and fire at the target at one hundred and fifty meters." She ordered. I moved quickly, slamming the power pack into place and pulling the charging handle, reminiscent of a bolt action rifle's bolt handle. I lined up the sights, keeping the front sight level with the rear, I cut the target in half with the front post and squeezed the trigger.
"You're slow, David. Faster. You're not hunting, you're trying to kill him before he kills you. Faster! Three hundred meters!" Vail Shouted, I snapped the sights to the designated target, letting three shots off, they weren't all in the same hole, as my trigger pull isn't perfect, but the non-existent recoil kept the lasers on the target. Or so I thought.
"You pulled your last shot high. You're compensating for drop that isn't there. It's a laser, David. It'slight." Vail criticized, and I felt my pride sting, but I nodded with a sigh. Habits are hard to break. "Next weapon, Center of the table. Use the crimson coloured shells."
The next weapon was an Adeptus Arbites Lawbringer shotgun, a semi-automatic ten gauge shotgun that I found fairly easy to quad load.
"Hundred meters to ten, descending order, FIRE!" This was more familiar territory, even if I had preferred Twelve Gauge, Ten was more powerful, and the overengineered bulk of the lawbringer helped tame that infamous recoil. At one hundred meters the buckshot barely peppered the target, I could see a cloud of dust rise out the ground where pellets had spread, but as I shifted to closer and closer ranges I could see the spread tighten and tighten. Within twenty-five meters I had to be sure to brace harder, as each buckshot round was punching a hole roughly the size of my fist in the targets. At the last target I had to chamber load a round, ignoring the instinct to flinch as Vail fired her bolt pistol into the burm. I blew the head off of the target a split-second later, placed the shotgun on the bench, and looked at her with a raised eyebrow.
"If you can't perform with a little noise, I've no use for you on the battlefield." She explained curtly, I nodded, before gesturing at the shotgun.
"I like this one."
"I noticed."
