The reunion between the four Sisters of Silence was heartwarming and a bit strange to watch. No one said anything, but there were small tears and smiles and lots of fast hand movement.
When the crew of the Cadamara saw Hestia, Kaelen and Liora, they were surprised, but not as much as they were when a Custodian walked on board in Allarus Pattern Terminator Armour.
The presence of Lencillus had made all of the mortals bow to him right away. They had never seen a Custodian with their own eyes, and being in the presence of one of them was enough to bring them to tears and lift their spirits. Most don't even know they exist.
"Great lord, we hadn't... we didn't... it's an honour... to see one of the..."
Captain Erefan stuttered as he knelt and tried to catch his bearings. He was a skilled and stern man, otherwise capable of controlling himself in the presence of Aleya, who was a Blank and not even the Astartes would have him in such a state.
But the Custodes were different. They were the best of humanity as a whole.
The Primarchs were not really humans, as they were demigods. But the Custodes were the best, the perfection humanity could reach. Under normal circumstances, at least. Gerhard was just built differently.
"At ease, Captain."
The atmosphere on the bridge of the Cadamara was thick with a layered tension. On one side, the awe-inspiring golden light of Lencillus seemed to physically brighten the room; on the other, the chilling, soul-sucking void of Aleya and her Sisters created a pocket of absolute silence that made the mortal crew's skin crawl.
But then there was Gerhard.
As the mortal crew scrambled to find their feet under the towering gaze of the Custodian, Gerhard stepped onto the bridge. To the regular crew, he looked like a capable man, perhaps a high-functioning lieutenant, officer or a gifted specialist of some kind. They felt no instinctive revulsion from him, nor did they feel the holy weight of a Saint. He was, to their senses, just a man.
Lencillus, however, stopped mid-stride. The giant in the golden plate turned his head just a fraction of a second too fast for a mere coincidence, his red eye-lenses focusing on Gerhard.
In the silent language of the Custodes, using simple gestures and posture shifts, as well as nonverbal communication, Lencillus did something extraordinary. He didn't acknowledge Gerhard or introduce him; he stepped aside, subtly opening a path for the "mortal" to stand at the centre of the tactical bridge of the Cadamara.
It was a minute shift, a silent testament of respect from a warrior who answered only to the Emperor. To Aleya, it was a glaring anomaly. She watched the way the Custodian's stance shifted to a defensive offset, as if he were guarding Gerhard's flank.
She was a master of nonverbal communication after all, so it was natural that she would notice this.
"This is Gerhard."
Lencillus's voice was warm, and with steady resolve, cutting through Captain Erefan's stammering.
"He is the reason we are here. He is the reason we managed to find you and to reach this place."
The Captain blinked, looking from the Golden Giant to the unremarkable man in the integrated sensor rig.
"He... he piloted a ship through the Warp in two days?" he asked.
"Not really. Time works differently in the Warp, so what was ... never mind," Gerhard said, but then stopped.
Aleya looked at her sisters, her fingers flying in a blur of Thoughtmark. Telling them what she had experienced, how she found the citadel on Arraissa destroyed and everyone dead.
'We were prepared to jump. We are heading to Terra. The message from the Astropath Lokk... it was clear. He calls His daughters Home. The Throneworld is the only logical conclusion.'
Slovo, the psyker who had been cowering in the corner from the presence of the Blanks, looked at the group and then at Gerhard. He felt a strange, shifting pressure from the man, a rhythmic pulsing of something marvellous and then nothing.
Gerhard walked to the centre of the deck, his mind processing the strategic data.
"Terra is most likely the correct destination," he said flatly. "However, we won't go there."
"What? What do you mean? Where are you going?" Captain Erefan asked.
Gerharn pointed a finger at the Ultramar sector on a holo-map he produced. He had integrated a small portable computer into a vambrace.
"Macragge. That's where the pivot is. The galaxy is about to experience the worst thing since Old Night, and if we aren't there when the next channel opens, the Archenemy will enact a heavy price. The future of the Imperium lies on Macragge."
Aleya's eyes narrowed. She didn't trust the Warp or psykers, and even less would she trust Gerhard, whom she didn't know. But she looked at Lencillus. The Custodian remained silent for a heartbeat, his gaze fixed on Gerhard. And then she looked at Hestia, her leader and the one who usually made the decisions.
"Why Macragge?" Lencillus asked. "If the daughters are called home, shouldn't they go home?"
"Yes, they should, but they must first ensure there is a home to return to. I have seen the tides. Something terrible is coming, and the longer we wait, the worse it's going to get. We may not make it in time. Trust me, the best way to help the Imperium and Terra is to go to Macragge as fast as possible."
Lencillus turned to Captain Erefan. Hestia nodded to Aleya, promising to explain everything later when they were alone. Captain Erefan looked at Slovo and at Aleya. But he naturally knew that Hestia had the last say in the matter, and if even the Custodian said so, who was he to dare say anything but 'As you wish.'?
"The Cadamara will not jump for Terra. Adjust your calculations for Macragge."
Aleya looked at Gerhard, her hand resting on the hilt of her executioner blade. Her instinct told her that he was dangerous, but she couldn't explain why.
And so, they took the Cadamara to travel from then on. Gerhard didn't want to, but He couldn't just leave everyone on board to their own devices. They were humans, and he wanted to help them. His compassion towards humanity as a whole had increased over the past months.
It wasn't something that bothered him, or would stop him from making hard decisions, but it was there, and it seemed new. He dismantled his voidship and placed each piece into his inventory, which the crew observed with open mouths.
Then, they were off, travelling towards Macragge, the heart of the Ultramarines Chapter—the main stage in the next plot of the galactic story.
.
.
[Danger Sense]
BOOOM---
Everyone on board, staggered. Something had just hit the ship hard. At that moment, they were about to jump out of the Warp fully when something hit the ship and broke the jump, forcing them to crash back in.
Though it was thought to be impossible, Lencillus and Gerhard knew it was untrue. A loud alert rang through the ship, klaxons, warning lights went on, and the ship entered an emergency mode.
H: > Mas... lock... ... ... in....
"Repeat! What was that?"
BOOOM---
They were hit once more, this time far harder than the first time. Gerhard and Captain Erefan looked at the screens and saw the amount of damage they had just sustained.
In the distance, Gerhard heard screams.
Booms shuddered down the powerful structure of the Cadamara. In the chambers of Aleya, the four Pariahs had been conversing among themselves, explaining their respective situations, when the attacks occurred.
They were all in their wargear already, as was everyone. Warp travel had become so perilous that everyone always wore their wargear, ready for such situations.
Though, as they would find out, no one was ready for what was going on right now.
Aleya led her sisters through the ship, closing in on Slovo's sanctum, high up in the spine of the ship. The Navigator held an important position, but as they approached, they heard screams from the chambers.
The chambers were entirely sealed off from the main structure during Warp travels to better insulate him during the dangerous and hard process of navigating the Warp currents.
Aleya reached the heavy doors first, followed by the others. She quickly entered the access codes hurriedly, while the structure shuddered and further booms could be heard. And they were getting louder.
The doors finally heaved open, releasing the stale air of the sanctum's interior as it washed over the four. Hestia took point, as she usually did, and Aleya was all the happier for it. She had missed this structure and her only family.
The lumens were erratic, blinking across dirty bulkheads. They didn't think about it and moved inside.
"AAAHHHHhhhhh..."
"NNNNhhaaaaaaa..."
A pair of acolytes held their temples and wept blood. They cried in pain, which assaulted their minds and souls. It was painful for them, so much so that they were literally dying. They were menials from House Rehata, ungifted with the eye that the mutant Navigators had.
POPPP--PPPOOOPPP---!
As the four Sisters walked past them, their heads literally exploded in a shower, drenching the four with brain matter and blood. But the sight, which would have been gut-wrenching, wasn't acknowledged by them.
With swift movements, they swung their Executioner Greatblades through the air, cutting the strangely wiggling corpses in several parts. To be certain, Liora unleashed her new Witchseeker Flamer and burned the different pieces to ash.
Hestia and Aleya, meanwhile, had already moved further into the sanctum, where the stench was increasing terribly.
"AAAAAAHHHHHHH--!!"
They heard Slovo crying out from further inside. The chambers were low-roofed and braced with heavy bands of adamantium. The whole place looked like a military bunker as it was supposed to be unbreachable. Quite literally.
But that wasn't really working right now.
It was very much breaking.
Cracks appeared on the walls. Those powerful adamantium walls were beginning to crack, and energy flickered inside. Something powerful was forcing its way in.
Hestia and Aleya, followed by Kaelen and Liora, ran through the unnecessary maze of Slovo's inner sanctum. Right at that moment, the three Sisters of Silence agreed that they missed Gerhard's functionality and order. The simplicity, functionality, and utter reliance of everything Gerhard created were what made his technology so superior to anything they could see in there.
As they crossed, they could see more breaches, popping with red and blue lightning that crackled through the air and crawled along the metallic walls. They hurried, and just as they reached Slovo's position, the portal, which had slowly appeared and cracked the wall, blew open fully.
A cloud of noxious gas boiled out, and Slovo staggered into view. His skin was wet from the nutrient tank he had been in, and cables still trailed from intravenous catheters in his arms. Safety measures every Navigator used, but which were now like a poison to his soul.
"Get us... out!!" he gasped.
His eyes were bloodshot, moving from side to side, and his nose was bleeding profusely. His third eye in the middle of his forehead hadn't been wrapped up and was bleeding as well.
Hestia acted quickly, covering the Seeing Eye, as it was called, up. He pushed her away, flailing his arms wildly, but a punch to his stomach dropped him, and she managed to do it.
"Get... us out!!!" he croaked again.
Aleya punched the runes on her vambrace to connect to Erefan and command that they crashed out of the Warp, only not to be able to reach him.
'What is going on?' they signed.
"They... They're... GETTING IN!!", he hissed, drooling and bleeding. "The field's breaking down!! GET US OUT!!"
Hestia turned to Aleya and the others.
'Aleya, get to the bridge, tell Gerhard what is happening and get them to crash us out of the Warp immediately. Kaelen, Liora, you two get a move on, check the ship and keep any shedim out. I will stay here and make sure this one's put down if he's possessed!'
Everyone nodded and got to work, rushing out of the sanctum. Another boom shuddered the ship and caused the walls to groan heavily.
Looking over his shoulder, Hestia could see the Navigator's sphere in a terrible state. The nutrient tank, where Slovo had been, had changed colour to a disgusting red and deep blue, leaking on the ground and slowly filling the room.
Sparks of electricity crawled along the hanging cables throughout the interior, damaging every piece of equipment in sight. Her senses warned her that something wasn't right.
Something moved in the corner of her eye. More lights shattered, plunging the space into darkness. It looked as if the walls were turning into a viscous liquid and slowly dripped to the floor.
The ship's metal was turning into molten steel.
~Kekekekeke~
~Anathema psykana~