The Revelation

[Xantcha]

Chapter 1

She sat with her palms on the ground staring down the barrel of the boltgun.  She wasn't afraid, she knew that the Emperors loving embrace was waiting for her, that all she had accomplished up until this point had made the Imperium a better place.  The gun was steady, as was the marine holding it.  She couldn't see his face behind his crimson helmet, etched with years of use, but she was sure he was as calm as she.  Her breath came in slow, reflecting the seemingly endless time that she had been staring into the instrument of her deliverance.  She slumped slightly, and a sigh escaped her lips as she closed her eyes.  There was a click, then her world exploded for a brief second.  She felt her body stiffen up and her head hit the ferrocrete.  Her eyes fluttered and she could barely make out the boots of the Space Marine walking away from her, each footstep heavy and loud.  She spit blood in an attempt to curse him with her last breath.  Her eyes hazed over and she felt very tired, like the weight of the Imperium was solely on her.  The darkness came slow, but unyeilding and absolute, and she felt nothing at all.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

    A year earlier.

    Sister Kelesia listened to the dull droning of the priests as she had been for the last few hours.  These prayers were important, but she couldn't keep from fidgeting.  It was almost an offence to her senses, not like the choir of St.Augustine.  The voices of that choir could guilt the most ruthless of traitors, send a hereitic to his own confession and kill the spirit of any xenos.  Or so they say.  But she had witnessed it and it was indeed the most pure and uplifting thing she had ever seen.  She put her helmet back on and cut out the vox.  The silence felt good and she could concentrate on her own prayers.  Her eyes closed and she could feel herself getting lighter as each prayer to the Emperor sent her spirit soaring.  In her mind she was in the great cathedral of St.Augustine once again, standing high above the marble floors watching parishioners and pious citizens bow and scrape, as they rightly should, before a massive gold statue of the Emperor himself.  

    She was jostled out of her daydream by a hand landing heavy on her pauldron.  She flipped the vox back on and turned slightly.  Her face lit up under her helmet.  The man looked to be in his late twenties, but she knew better.  Rejuvenat drugs, she pondered.  His eyes were covered by a bandana and his waist length hair flowed around his black leather clothes.  hanging from his belt were several curios and a rosette hung from a simple leather cord around his neck.  She placed her hand on his and bowed her head slightly.

    "Inquisitor Lord Melphane.  You honor me with your presence," She greeted him as she removed her helmet.

    He waved it off. "Must we be so formal, Shivani.  The sisterhood is allowed to make friends you know."  He winked over her shoulder at two Dialogus sisters watching them.  They quickly turned away.

    "What brings you here, Inquisitor Melph...I mean Maraxis?"

    "Ah." He smiled and placed his hands behind his back, rocking up on his heels. "Ever straight to the point, my dear.  Well if you must know, I am here to relieve you of your boredom.  It seems the Imperium, indeed it's most feared servants, need your help."

    "The Adeptus Astartes?" She barely managed to reply.

    The old Inquisitor chuckled. "Ok, second most feared then."  He pointed down to his seal.

    She nodded, still smiling.  "The Canoness..."

    "I already spoke with her this morning." He interupted.  "Seems that she agrees that you have become too restless here.  War does that to a person.   Does it still bother you?"  Melphane motioned towards the massive entrance door and began walking towards it.

    "All the time."  Sister Kelesia responded quietly as she walked beside him, "All the time."

    Melphane nodded and spoke no more.  They exited the front of the monastery, her armoured boots clicking on the marble stairs in contrast to the silent footsteps of Melphane's leather boots..  The Antillan sky was bright and the loak birds were singing beautifully.  Kelesia saw or heard none of it.  Citizens of all kinds bowed and clasped their hands together as she passed, some even tried to simply touch her armour like she was some sort of saint.  She ignored them.  Kelesia's mind was reliving a battle that had scarred her soul less than eight years ago.  Her dreams were still haunted by him, and sometimes she felt as though he was watching.  

    It had rained the day before and the air was still muggy; holding the pollution down and making it hard to breathe.  Most of the citizens of Antilla were used to the heavy air, but Sister Kelesia still felt it stifling.  Melphane walked beside her with an amused look on his face.  The woman would rather suffer than risk an insult by wearing her helmet.  He grinned, she was perfect for the mission ahead.  They rounded a corner about fifteen minutes of silent walking after leaving the white halls of the monastery.  Melphane stopped and put a hand in front of Kelesia.

    "Someone's following us."  He whispered.  

    Kelesia wasn't wearing any weapons but she clenched her gauntlets.  Good enough she thought.  Melphane had stopped and was perfectly still, his mind reaching out to locate the offender.  He let go of a breath suddenly and looks around.  Kelesia was finishing putting her helmet on.  The allyway was empty, save a servitor sweeping the dust of the curb at the other end.  No trash cans, no cover of any kind.  Just drab grey walls and a ferrocrete floor.

    "Moving too fast..."
   
    "Not for me."  Her auto senses flare and she punched straight through the wall of the hab, her power armor assisted strength tearing a hole through the structure.  The window to her left shattered and a leather clad figure rolls to her feet.  Kelesia wasted no time on eying up her opponent.  She stepped forward and feinted low before striking at the woman's face with right.  Her arm crossed her vision as she swung and she almost staggered off balance when she missed completely.  She was gone.  Sister Kelesia spun around hoping to guard against an attack from the rear.  What she saw froze her mind.

    Melphane laughed at her surprise.  He removed his hand from the waist of the woman in leather and tossed her a small plastic bag containing a red liquid.  The woman attached it to a small apparatus on her belt which fed it, via small tubes, straight to her mouth.  The woman's eyes rolled up as she got her first taste.

   "This is Mistress Xantcha of the Moritat. Xantcha, this is Sister Shivani Kelesia of the Order of the Black Rose."

    The women eye each other up now, each taking stock of on another.  Kelesia was taller, even outside her armor she was six feet, but Xantcha was built solid.  Even under her leather her corded muscles could be seen and the twin, cruel looking daggers on her hips with well worn handles suggested that the woman was not someone you messed with.  Kelesia furrowed her brow.  A Reaper on top of that.  If Xantcha was impressed in anyway she didn't show it.  Her calm eyes stared at the mountain of armor that was the Adeptus Sororita, unblinking and dull.

    "Well, shall we then?" Melphane interjected the awkward silence.  "The other will be waiting for us."
 
    "A test, Lord Melphane?"

    He broke into a grin, "And a remarkable passing grade as well, my dear Sister."

    Kelesia and Xantcha walked, in silence, on opposite sides of the aging Inquisitor, his crooked smile still on his face.  

    His grin hadn't faded when they reached Thaedron's Landing.  It was a huge disc-like platform that jutted unceremoniously out from the side of the hive, the only major landing port on this side of the planet.  Ships and transport craft of all kinds graced the deck, occasionally taking off after the vox call of the portmaster echoing loudly over the ferrocrete.  Crew from various systems and even sectors scrambled at the call of their officer and the whips of the rogue traders.  It was busy, crowded, and obnoxiously loud.  But, Kelesia thought, this was what the Imperium was made of.  She liked it here, and she made a mental note to visit here more often.  

    A tug on her robe disrupted her thoughts.  They had stopped in front of the junkiest looking Aquila lander she had ever seen.  The Imperial symbols had been removed from the sides and it had been obviously and shoddily painted over.  Standing beside it was a group of misfits, most of them dressed in rough leathers and patchwork clothing.  Melphane shook hands with the woman, who being the only decently dressed one, Kelesia assumed to be the leader.  

    "Sister Kelesia," Inquisitor Melphane waved her over. "I want you to meet my crew.  You'll be working together so take some time and get to know each other.  This is Captain Lyrith Black of the Purgatus Est..."

    The lithe woman stepped forward and swept her wide brimmed hat low, the red plumage sweeping the ground as she did so.  Kelesia put her hand on the woman's shoulder.

    "It is an honor to serve with such a devout servant of the Emperor." Captain Black said with a calm quiet voice.  She winked as she stood up and put her hand on the Sororita's.  Kelesia didn't know why but she blushed.

    "...And this is Kinraid Greymalkin..." Melphane continued.

    The man was wearing a long leather trench coat, one side pulled back to show off his dual revolvers.   The handles looked well polished, Kelesia noted right away.  A killer with little conscience, and his emotionless eyes betrayed a hint of something much darker.  Sister Shivani Kelesia already hated the man and he hadn't even spoken.  She nodded to him politely before turning to the cowled figure hanging to the back.

    "And this is...well, Maedra."  His voice changed to a hint of regret and he seemed to be searching Kelesia's face for a reaction.  

    The cowled figure stepped foreward and produced a thin, dainty hand from underneath her long cloak and wordlessly held it out.  Her shake was surprisingly strong and the woman had strange tattoos on her hand and forearm.  Reminded her of a spider.  Maedra turned to Melphane, Kelesia followed her gaze.  The aging man nodded his head slowly with that famous grin once again on his face.  She shrugged and turned back to the woman revealing herself for the first time.   Her eyes locked with the woman's thin, dark eyes and her face went white.