LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 11: Fortress Belator and Horan
Day four: It has been some days since my new wolf had "Joined" me, at first, outside of Hannah it was met with a mix of confusion and fear and I suspect as the System was that this wolf isn't local what so ever...
It turns out that Marina and Mary have no idea what the fuck my wolf was and don't even know of the canines tree of animals...
On other notes, my training with the added sensory abilities of the wolf has come in handy as he/I was able to both smell and hear a group of bandits that had planed a ambush of anyone that was going to cross their path... unfortunately a combined Imperial and Machanicus, with Hannah's forces playing unaware and mine walking through the wood work, I was rather surprised that they allowed Hannah's forces to pass with the word being "Fuck that shit, no idea what those weapons are."
Well that didn't save the lives of the bandits as, I mounted on my wolf and Felica with one hand on my collar and her other holding her Lasgun, right behind me moving low was the section of rookie guardsmen and the Commissar and Juliana the Medicae.
(Flashback)
Glancing over at the Guardsmen, with a nod drawing my Chainsword raising it high. The men slowly stand up and fix bayonets.
"FOR THE IMPERIUM!" I shout as I bring my sword down and the wolf entering something akin to a gallop with Felica hold on for dear life.
"URRAA!" The Guard shout and follow me.
In three bounds of the wolf, I found about a two dozen bandits. All armed with swords or maces, and a few bows.
They looked at me stunned, right until four red beams streak pass over my shoulder from the barrel sitting on it.
Said Las-shots tore apart another that had good or decent looking armor, after that Felica rolled over the wolf's back and got to cover firing more red bolts of death.
With a command silent the wolf bolts forward aiming right into the largest grouping. Slash down to the right cutting a man in two, stab left entering the collar bone of the enemy.
The wolf opens it's maw and grabs a man by the arm and throws him around like a rag doll, before sending the now armless man into fellow bandits and bites down on another. I could taste the blood.
Those that look at me and attempt to figure out a way to fight me, get slammed by more las-shots as the rest of my men start seeing targets thought they are still far and are also firing through trees.
"FOR THE MACHANICUS!" Shouted a female voice from the road, and with that Galvanic rifles joining the chorus of las fire.
It became very brief as the bandits started surrendering... We had captured 8 of the 26.
(End Flashback)
So now with our prisoners we had to take a detour to a Fortress' that we were expecting to see, but no go to... whatever. This detour wall take us a day since we can't take prisoners straight to the city rules and what not...
The Fortress I can see is called "Belator" and is one of four great Fortress with each one on the cardinal directions of north, west, south and east. With these Fortress' being akin to mini Cadia's onto themselves (According to Marina herself and my interpretation), with them holding about 7 thousand men at a "Skeleton crew" levels and nearly 20 too 25 at full, but the Fortresses have yet to be armed to that scale (Again according to Marina).
Finishing writing todays journal entry, I look up at the by this worlds standards impressive walls and gates, well even by the wide Imperium this would be impressive as a hard point before a greater fort, which in this case would be the city of Horan itself.
The walls were about 20 meters tall with the gatehouse being another 5 meter taller, but the oddity was the jet black color.
The guards from the gatehouse blow some kind of horn and the number of heads increase from just a few to a few dozen.
"HALT!" A voice shouts from the top of the gate as we enter short range, by bow standards. We stop, "IDENTIFY YOURSELVES!"
I look over to the Heiress from my mount, the wolf happily panting away. While behind me the Guard and Hannah's forces were getting the prisoners nice and ready for captivity.
"We will need to walk from here." Marina says and gets off the wagon, dismounting from my mount I give him a scratch behind his ear, which was both oddly satisfying and enjoyable. Looking at the prisoners and grin evilly while still scratching the wolf...
Hannah came also side my and following, and than we followed the Heiress... through my wolf's eyes the Guard and Machanicus were setting discreet firing lines and taking aim. With most failing outside my Command team and Hannah's lead bodyguard.
"WE SAID IDENTIFY YOURSELVES! OR WE WILL FIRE!" The voice shouts again, but this time several men pop out with bows, crossbows, early looking bolt-actions and some robed men holding staffs high.
"My name is Marina. Heiress to Duke Robert." She says, though she spoke, and yet her words were carried to the men on the walls.
Day five: We were forced by request of the Fort-Commander we stayed the night...
I ain't gonna lie, when I saw the Fort-Commander. I felt small, I am about five-nine and rather skinny while that man was like six-eight or nine, and bulky... plus he was charming.
It didn't help he tried to hit on Hannah, who didn't even entertained him... but he pushed and the force that pushed him back with both mine and Hannah's overly protective guards.
Long story very short... he challenged me to a dual and I tossed him around with telekinesis, this was my first time with it, but he seemed able and after a few minutes I dropped him leaving his, not broken but badly bruised... it didn't help I had an impassive face, akin to boredom though inside, I was being toyed with by the Daemons... some had found the right strings but found it harder to pull on than they had wanted.
Note; I am easily made jealous. End note.
Note 2: find out what the Fortress's walls are made of. End note.
After that we were no longer really welcome by the soldiers of the base, but couldn't do anything to us, since it was a dual and it was his own fault for not knowing I was a Psyker... sadly I couldn't kill him, on request from the Heiress.
...
Whatever. We are coming up to Horan itself and the city doesn't allow wagons through unless you have X and X, and unfortunately we have neither...
I was still on my wolf with Hannah scratching the area behind the ear she had found. It annoys me and she finds it amusing...
Marina and Mary walk back to us with a, not displeased but they weren't happy... "So?" I asked.
"No wagons allowed, and they don't think that you're a Prince of jack shit." Mary explains...
"I already told you that no one would believe that a 'traveling Prince' wanted to escort you home... whatever, is old mate allowed." I asked gesturing my wolf.
"Old mate?" Mary shook her head, "They said tamed beasts are fine, but you would be held responsible if anything happened. But seeing how trained it is well."
"Got it." I tell them and turn to my men, "Alright, dismount we walk from here on out!"
The Guardsmen with the Commissar's good graces were allowed to use their "Grumble Allowance" they had collected from being good behavior during the trip to the city. Though I too dismounted...
Hannah's men on the other hand were getting their recording equipment ready. Since something about a Feudal World not genociding Psykers and they being held in high regards was... not rare but not to common just not relatively heard of. Just very unlikely. The Explorers apart of her men seemed unsure while the Skitarii were more concerned since they were entering a city with on the Omnissiah knows numbers of enemies...
My men on the other hand? Some of the men were interested to "Taste the local dishes" and the women were interested in the local "Sausages" and everything in-between... fucken horndogs...
"You know I am right here!" I shouted at them. They straightened up, "Commissar, make sure that they may not... par take in the local 'delicacies'." Marcus snapped out a salute. "Remember! We are here on official business."
"Fall in line! Marching order!" Felica ordered, with her order the Guard got into two neat rows with Felica and Juliana at the front with the rest following, and Marcus at the back...
I pull the Vox caster we had out of the line and asked him to patch me with HQ, within short order I was connected. "This is Prince to HQ over." I say.
"This is HQ. Read you loud and clear. My Prince. Over." The voice was female, I think it was the woman who I scared the shit out off on her first day.
"Anything to report. We have just reached Horan. Over."
"Nothing thus far my Prince. As you had ordered the surplus food that was going to expire was given to the Villagers. Over."
"And how did that go. Over."
"It went well. Morale among the Villagers is higher than it has been since their first Ork battle..." She trailed off.
"Something wrong? Over." I asked.
"Y-yes. We have had men enter the Village looking for both the Heiress and some Baron. They didn't give a name on the Baron, but his own heir apparent was there, he also came here at the HQ to try to figure out who we were. We did as you ordered and when into lockdown. Over."
"Was he a Psyker? Over." I asked.
"Negative. He did have one with him, said Psyker tried to speak to us telepathically but we fired warning shots at him from the roof. Over"
"And where did he end up? Over." I asked.
"The Psyker was able to... from what we believe managed to gleam something from us, as he at one point suddenly said: They are heading to Horan. Number of possible contacts is seven with one confirmed Psyker, the rest sword and shields. Over."
"Roger that. Anything else? Over."
"Negative my Prince. Over."
"Roger. This is Prince over and out." I end the call.
"Confirmed. This is HQ over and out." She ends on the other side.
Hannah, rubbed her chin at the new info... "Baron? Could it be the same Baron that we killed?" She asked with a shudder... a shiver goes down my own back...
"Maybe... but not now." I tell her. "Just keep petting old mate." She did as asked and her breathing that was slowly increasing began to slow again.
Once she steadied herself, she returned to my side... "We ready?" She asked.
With a nod, and a order the Guard start marching.
Marina and Mary had already dealt with the wagons, unsure how but they were waiting for us and started walking with me, and Hannah as we passed them.
.
As we walked several things made us very interesting to look at. One clearly not the massive wolf. Two the very heavily armed men that could put any local soldiers to shame. Third the Machanicus in general with the way they look. Fourth we didn't look like some band of armed men, and I could see the light of "Of shit those are actual soldiers!" From anyone that has seen soldiers before and not the city guard.
And finally people were able to recognized the Heiress and Mary I think? But mostly the Heiress with several people noting that she seems different if they knew about her...
The main thing seems to be that, well she is missing her staff and everyone most likely knew that she was a Mage so where is it? Next thing is those that can spot it had noticed that she was suffering from something... it seems in safety and or a familiar place what happened to the Village was getting to her.
Placing a hand on Marina's shoulder I ask, "Are you alright?"
"Just had time to think... what were those things after?" She asked with a tear forming, "To see my future subject to die like that... just."
With a grimace I answer, "They were most likely looking for a good fight. Orks are simple like that... brutally simple."
"Really? Really? They just wanted to have a fight!" She asked, her voice filled with anger.
"Heiress Marina." I start with use of her name and title catches her off guard, "As a Prince to you, I need to tell you that more of my subjects are dying as we speak... and yet do you see me crying over each new grave that was dug? No. I move forward, as it is only the future is where people will look back at you."
Her face turns dark at my words but it turns thoughtful, I continue. "It is only in the future is when your own Heirs and Heiress will look back to you for guidance, and it will be you and you alone that will be at the helm of the ship known as being the head of state... I know my words may seem harsh I need you to know that you can't cry over the death of what amounts to less than a fifty villagers... you simply can't look at the small number of people... once you become a Duchess you will have to care about more people. And if you own subjects see you crying over some village that was destroyed by bandits they will not understand, while your enemies will use it as ammunition to destroy you and your soon to be Dukedom."
She slowly nods, but she doesn't like what I said... removing my hand from her shoulder my pace slows till I am next to Hannah.
"Deep from a man who haven't been the Prince of the Imperium for more than a few weeks." Hannah tells me, keeping her voice low so that I may only hear her.
I nodded along, and I move onto Marcus.
"Commissar."
"My God-Prince." He replies.
"How are the local recruits, I am aware of the limited time but how are they."
"Hmm. Well thus far I have been going through first year studies at the Schola... but with the need to keep planet identity intact? Well... I an't gonna lie, I think the unit will have a large Psyker presence, well more so that just the Psyker given to normal units."
"So what would you say?" I asked.
"Well lets say it like this, if a normal unit has one Psyker per one hundred men. This local one would be closer to one Psyker per ten men since from what those recruits have told me... but they didn't know much."
I nod, I thought as much... but for him to suggest that, this would make the unit highly dangerous to other units but very weak to daemons.
"Sir." Marcus asked.
"Yes?"
"I would recommend that... if I may be bold to say, make the unit two tenths Psyker. From what I can tell, Psykers seem abundant, if I am assuming all the staffs are force weapons..." He gestures at the fact that a fair number of people with robes and staffs.
"They are Psykers..." I say, as the carvings glow upon my sight, with a shake of my head the voices they seem to emit goes away. "But pray tell, why would you say two per unit? And what size is this unit?"
"Well, two per squad?"
That peaked my interest, a Squad is 12 men, that would mean 1 in 6 would be a Psyker per squad... "And what would be the make up of said squad? Because what you have suggested flies in the face of Imperial Guard doctrine in regards to Psykers."
"Well." He then explained it.
- Squad leader.
- The Second-in-Command.
- Medic.
- Psyker with Seniority.
- Psyker in the Junior or Disciple/Training.
- Normal Guardsmen.
- Normal Guardsmen.
- Normal Guardsmen.
- Normal Guardsmen.
- Squad support Gunner.
- Squad Gunner Assistant.
- Normal Guardsmen but is effectively a Commissar Cadet incase something happens to the Psykers.
"I assume that this would be only in the local unit?"
"Yes, other wise it would be too dangerous, the locals are already use to the idea that Psykers are common place, other units will find it hard to deal with that..."
"Good work, I will think about it... but while I have no issue with having a pair of Psykers within the Squad I recommend that both would be given some combat training with a Lasgun or a Pistol." I give him a nod and walk back to Hannah.
.
Hannah and I talk some more, it was mundane things mostly about the city, but slowly it turned into a discussion about the Imperium...
"But what can we do?" I asked, "I do want to save it... but..."
"The issue is why should we? Though I have to save the Machanicus which is just as hard..."
"We can't abandon the Imperium... but nor can we save it without what amounts to a civil war and that would only weaken the Imperium for only he would know long. Only if we could save the Imperium without destroying the very foundation of it's defense..."
"Hmm, the faith they hold..." She agrees, "That is trouble some. Have you..."
Cutting her off, "Yes I have... the Imperial Truth..." I shake my head.
"Not that." She cuts me off, "Something new, something that would be unknown even to those Primarchs that still live."
"Go on."
"You are human born by a mother, just like everyone else... you are just human, maybe more now. But what if you base it around the idea that if you work for something you can get it..." She trails off.
"Yeah that will work after I was chosen for this..."
"Yes but what if it was anyone else?" I nodded.
"Yes, but the God part of my title and his?"
"Why should we be compared to the Ruinous Powers? We maybe successors to two Gods or what these people think as Gods..."
I pick up, "I see it now. Turn the believes and faith from a God into something else... instead of the God-Emperor maybe the Imperium or Humanity... I see it..." My smile grows wide, "But you?" I asked.
She shrugs, "That is harder, but having a foundation for the Imperium would be safer than none at all." I nodded again.
This whole discussion we were having was in English so that no one could understand us, as we still needed to finalize everything.
"Heiress Marina, do you know how long till we reach your father?" I asked.
"Just onl-!" My scream and jolting left holding my side, along with my wolf's yelp of pain made it painfully clear what happened.
Tuning out the wolf's pain as I took aim my Las-pistol firing three shots.
First shot destroyed the sword in my wolf's side, the second blow apart the staff held by someone else and the last shot was into the foot of the guy who stabbed me.
"CAPTURE THEM!" Felica ordered as she tackled the man who lost his foot.
"HANDS IN THE AIR!" "HAND UP OR DIE!"
Several Guardsmen shout orders and move to detain the people with who attacked me...
"Motherfuckers." I bitch and mental order it to lay down.
"Your you alright?" The Medicae asked me.
"No, it was the wolf." I grimace as I can still feel the pain somewhat. I turn on the six idiots, "Who the fuck are you all!?"
"Why the fuck should we tell you?" The mage looking man asked.
"This." I pull the remaining blade out of the wolf and start healing him. I also form a fireball and throw it at him which he barely manages to protect himself against. "You are the weakest fucking Psyker I have ever seen." I growl since that attack was the weakest I have ever used.
Hannah takes over as I started concentrating on the healing but I could still hear what they were talking about.
Her voice was fill with a fire and tone that a Commissar would have to obey, "Set the fucker up for a firing Squad! Secure the rest!"