>>12922182
The next three weeks were probably the toughest three weeks Carolina had ever experienced. Thankfully some of the more tedious rituals: contacting the family, being disowned by the family, having to go through the adminstratum to sever your ties from the family, having to spend a week as a social outcast on a planet that didn't take too kindly to Cyclists, open humiliation on the planet by the decalration; all of that was skipped due to Inquisitor Dell executing most of Carolina's family and that she was now on Krieg, where Cyclists were more tolerated.

However, that meant that she had to put in double effort on her other tasks, and the Trio weren't making it easy on her. Gone were the peaceful days of repairing and building musical instruments. Now she dug trenches, fortified buildings, spend hours sorting through trash and slurry with her waist deep in Emperor-Knew-What, trained in basic Laspistol shooting, hand to hand training and sparring with that little psyker girl (Who consistently beat her, but Carolina got lucky one day and broke the little brat's nose), vehicle repair, and just so much more work. He body ached, her hands were covered with the scars of a thousand small cuts, her feet had several blisters, and there just was no end to it. Complaints were not tolerated, nor were excuses. If she fell to the ground, someone helped her up, but that was it. Every day there was either something new to learn, something back-breaking to do, or some other form of work or struggle.

All her old things, her good clothes, her toys and trinkets and little things that she felt she could never do without were all gone. Repurposed for some other need, or sold to get more useful things. She wore plain, grey clothes, well made (By her own hand none the less) and heavy. She did insist on wearing the necklace she and Odette had made when they were very young, but no one protested.

>>12922202
She asked Saul one day, as she learned how to do simple repair of an APC, as to when all this piecemeal, and distressingly expansive, learning would stop.

"It doesn't. You're expected to keep on improving your skills even after you're confirmed." Saul replied as he unscrewed the tire nuts. "You never know what you'll need to know in order to hold, anyway..." He got the last nut off and lifted the tire away with a grunt. "Specialization is for insects and xenos."

She didn't have any nightmares. Her brain and body were worked to exhaustion, so that when sleep was allowed, she just collapsed.

Finally, it was over. On the 20th day Chris woke her up to say that she had qualified for Confirmation and that her Ceremony would be tomorrow. Also, she could spend the day to herself, doing whatever she felt was useful.

She did her now routine morning exercises, ate a quick MRE beakfast, and went to repairing the musical instruments. On her way there to that workshop, she caught a look at herself in the mirror.

She was a mess, her black hair no longer styled, just cut short in what Kadja called a 'page boy' style. It was popular with the Sisters of battle and it was the only allowed style that Carolina thought even slightly stylish. A body that was lean and hard from effort and a lean diet had replaced the coddled baby-fat form that she had, and her eyes...calm and still. She touched the mirror for a moment, just to make sure that she was looking at herself.

>>12922222
The next day Kadja had her dress in a special robe. Again, that same thick grey material, only the right shoulder was cut out, leaving it bare. Kadja explained that it wasn't for ceremonial purposes, but medical ones. "It makes the Confirmation Tag implanting go easier, and it keeps blood from getting on your good clothes. Now, come on. We actually managed to get one of the Chapels today. Usually we just do it in the apothecary wing, but Anne and Noah said you might like a little pomp and circumstance."

Carolina followed, a little apprehensive at the terms 'blood' and 'apothecary.' Kadja led her to one of the smaller chapels on Krieg. Chris, Saul, the two Psykers she was familiar with, and an Apothecary were there. There was a small gurney at the end of the aisle, and someone had lit the candles. The room was quiet, but there wasn't an oppressive sense in the air, just a low level of excitement.

"There's no words or ceremony for this part." Saul said as he helped Carolina onto the gurney. "Even though this is your final step of Confirmation, the only important thing you need to know is to never try and take this thing out, or Dell will hunt you down."

The Apothecary held up a small rectangular piece of metal, it had what looked like a large amount of litanies, carved in small type on one side, and the Double Circles of the Cycle of Terranis on the other. The man handed it to the two Psykers, who examined it for a wile, and then nodded, handing it back to her.

"Now, some people choose to stay awake during this procedure, but SOME people." Saul shot a look at Chris. "Feel that they need to be put under. It is a little painful, I'll admit. Unlike OTHERS who should act like men,"

"Screw you."

"I think you might want to be asleep for this."

Carolina nodded, and Kadja placed a mask over her face. She breathed deeply, and drifted off to sleep.

>>12922244
She was on the ground, covered in mud. The sound of gunfire everywhere. She was wearing her uniform and gasmask, but...where was she? Carolina looked around. It was a trench. A lasrifle was on her back, and someone was helping her to her feet.

It was another Krieg. They motioned for her to ready her rifle and she did so. They stepped up onto the firing step and took position next to the others. There was an empty slot in the line. Carolina stepped up and took her position...and was glad she had her gas mask on. That way, the others couldn't hear her scream.

They were endless. So many of them together that they had formed an actual ocean of flesh, but Carolina could still pick them out, and for some reason she knew all of their names. Orks, Eldar, Dark Eldar, Tyranids, Chaos cultists, Deamons, Necrons, and then there were the faces of men as well. Soldiers, Sisters, Marines, there were people charging at her that she had been taught since birth that had been her protectors...now they were charging at her, screaming for her death.

>>12922265
She felt like fainting, or screaming, or dropping her gun and running. But before she could so much as move, the mass of...Everything was upon her. Ripping her apart, shooting her, tearing at her, doing every horrible thing possible to her body...and she didn't feel it.

She stood on the top of the trench and watched as her body died. It was...odd. Frightening, and confusing, but...odd as well. She watched as the awful hordes ripped that form apart. The corpse dumped onto the ground, blood mixing with the mud. One of her own eyes looked back up at her through a cracked lens. So, she was dead...

She blinked and there she was again, lying on the ground, in the same trench. A gun with her, and a line of soldiers readying for the next charge. She took up her position and saw them, all of them, again. Once more the horde charged, and once more her line shot and fought, and killed as many as they could, but as always they spilled into her trench and killed her.

And again, she watched from above the trench.

She blinked and again, the trench, the fight, the death. It happened countless times, and it would happen countless times more. Then she realized that she was rising and fighting, while she was watching. She turned around to see what was behind her, and saw just a faint glow far far off in the distance, and an endless line of trenches, one in front of the other.

And she understood.

She opened her eyes. She was in her room, her original room. She sat up and saw Kadja sitting in the corner, reading a book. She smiled. "Good morning." She said. "Congratulations. You're now a Confirmed member of the Cycle of Terranis." She pointed at Carolina's right shoulder. She looked and saw that there was a scar there, in the shape of the Double Circle. It gave her an odd sense of accomplishment.

"Anyway, pack your things. We just got word from Dell." Kadja said as she got up. "You're going back home."

>>12922265
>Es ist Ficken
>Eingeschaltet
>Jetzt, Bursche

That's probably a reason that image is named Kreig, isn't it?

>>12922288
I just named the image that when I saved it so that it'd be easier to find. I'd have to check back through the archive to find when it was first posted for the actual file name.

>>12922287
"Noah. Anna." Inquisitor Dell said calmly as the two psykers entered the man's quarters. The Inquisitor's eyes were locked on the map of the city and the battle reports.

There was no doubt in his mind now what was happening. Someone on Val Domineaux had gone into a contract with a Keeper of Secrets. Apparently an especially powerful one at that, if the sword happy idiots from Malleus were to be believed. They hadn't wished for victory, or dominance, or pleasure, or any of the usual things that you expect someone seduced by the Ruinous Powers to desire. They had only wished for a conflict. A long lasting, evenly balanced, well orchestrated conflict.

It explained why the Astartes were doing so well in some areas, and poorly in others. How deamons fell back in one area, and surged forward in the other. If you looked at the whole scenario from above, you could see a neat, orderly line where the conflict zones were, and watch as the forces would charge and be pushed back, again and again, with regularity and symmetry.

It was a feint, and such a good one that even to those who spotted it as being what it was, had little clue as to what the whole point of it was. Originally he thought that the purposes of the battle was the battle...but these weren't Khorne worshippers. The only major clue he had, and was leaning towards, was the vault that the Ordo Xenos had mentioned. But that area was far away from the battle line, and there hadn't been any push towards that area.

Of course, that only made Dell even more suspicious.

>>12922315
I was just
>implying
that Kreig is probably not the worst tag for the horrible rape of the German language on that picture.

>>12922346
He knew that obviously what the Xenos wanted what was in the vault and, seeing as she apparently had a brain in her body, didn't feel the need to share any information on it.

It was a trap. It had to be. The fighting was just a distraction to withdraw troops. The Vault had the prize, and once the door was opened that Inquisitor from Xenos would find herself locked within whatever snare the daemon...and the person controlling the daemon, had come up with. Clever, elegant, and simple enough to work.

It had to be an Inquisitor. Either from Malleus, or (and he was loathe to even acknowledge this, or the fact that it was quite likely) Hereticus. No one makes deals with the Chaos gods that involved minimizing civilian casualties. Someone had been killing wolves with a snake, and now they wanted a toy that would help them kill more wolves, not realizing that the snake was just about to bite his 'master.'

Well, the joke was on them. They had their plans, and their schemes, and their secrets, and all the other things that people and creatures like that lived on. Dell lived by simple facts and simpler actions. One of the core facts was this...He had the key to the Vault, and more importantly, the Key was now a Confirmed Cyclist. Which meant that Dell had a few extra cards to play...not the least were all the Valkyries landing around the Masion Prima Val Domineaux, where he had made his base.

By the end of the day the area would be properly fortified, and he would have a reliable armed force at his call to fall back on. That would be important.

The other Inquisitors, the Traitor as well, always made the mistake of trusting their own men, their own forces, their own people.

>>12922350
Oh, okay.

>>12922370
Dell never trusted anyone, save the Emperor. Trust, he felt, was for those people who weren't capable of proper data management. Trust meant you put your faith in unknowns, and hoped. Dell simply knew. Dell knew his brother, Anna, and the Krieg as well as the Cyclists he had brought to Val Domineaux. He knew their motivations, their hopes, desires, dreams, etc. He had every fact about these people. That way, there would be no need for him to 'trust' that they would provide him with the support he needed. They simply would.

Tomorrow he would take Carolina and crack open the vault. Then the Warp would probably break loose...but he was ready. The only question he had was which one of the Inquisitors was the traitor. That he did not know...now.

>>12922400
Inquisitors Norani (Xenos), Soil (Malleus, pronounced Swaugh), and Allenroy (Hereticus) nodded at the small processional that entered the antechamber to the Val Domineaux vault. It was Dell's three lackeys and the girl. They were all dressed in the usual full Kreig gear, gas masks and great coats.

"Where's Dell?" Norani asked.

"Called to deal with another matter." One of he three soldiers said through a vox. "Gives condolences, but he trusts that Allenroy and Soil are more than competent enough for this errand."

Norani's face was impassive, and the other two Inquisitors just smiled. "Is the girl prepared?"

"She had a light panic attack on the approach. We fear she may be under assault mentally from the Ruinous Powers." The other soldier said. "She's been sedated a little. All we need is her presence and blood, yes?"

"Yes. Well, let's go shall we?" Soil said and lead the party down into the catacombs. Norani taking up the rear.

"So, Allenroy." Soil said in a low voice. "What's in this thing? Norani's played it closer to the chest than normal."

"Why don't you tell me?" Soil answered back. "I know Dell has his intelligence network."

"Pfft, the Glacier doesn't tell me anything. Anyway, our Order has a good idea of what it could be."

"Ours as well."

"Well?"

"The Dominine Des Etoile." Soil said. "One of the fist Great Ships constructed. Blessed by the Emperor himself."

Allenroy shook his head. "Pipe dream. the Etoile's scrap. No, we believe that the Vox Populi Domini is here."

"The mass subjugation tool? That's nothing more than a cogboy wet dream." Allenroy snorted. "Anyway, we'll see soon enough."

"Agreed."

>>12922430
They continued in silence until they reached the vault door. The young girl stepped up to the control panel and placed their hands upon it. A needle slipped out from the silvery surface and jabbed into the girl's arm...there was a pause, then a beep. Then, with the screetch of ages, the great doors of the vault started to open.

Instantly Soil and Allenroy had their guns on each other. "Sorry, it's part of the deal." They both said at the same time.

They blinked and looked at each other. "No," Allenroy whispered. "He promised that if this planet was given to them, then I would be able to claim the Dominine Des Etoile for the Emperor!"

"She said that I would get the Vox Pupuli Domni..." Allenroy said as his eyes widened. "Yoou made a deal with the Ruinous Powers? TRAITOR!"

"I could say the same to you Heretic! How COULD you?" Soil snapped back. "everything I've done is for the good of the Imperium!"

"My actions as well! One measly little planet? To get my hands on such power? It was a small sacrifice to make!" Allenroy said.

"They lied to you! It...She...wait..." Soil held up his hand. "Where's Norani?"

The Inquisitor from Ordos Xenos was nowhere to be seen. Allenroy looked at the three guards and the girl, and a cold feeling wrapped around his chest. "Why do Dell's servants have all of their arms?"

He ripped off one of the men's gas masks to reveal the face of a cultist, his lips sewn shut and the veins of his temple protruding and bleeding...some psyker was using him as a puppet!

Soil checked the 'girl' and found it to be a young boy, heavily sedated, with blood packs strapped to his wrists. Then he saw what was strapped to the boy's chest, and Allenroy opened the coats of the other 'helpers' to see that they had similar blocks of white strapped to their chests.

>>12922451
It wasn't a big explosion, but enough to kill the pair, and bury the tunnel in a good amount of rubble.

Norani came panting out of the catacombs to see Dell standing at the entrance. A smug smile on his face, a retinue of Cyclists behind him, all heavily armed, and his psyker brother and that little girl he had picked up, both looking very tired.

"Oh, you survived...Noah you owe me five thrones. I told you she would get the hint."

OMG IT HAS RETURNED, We kept those threads alive for what 3 weeks?

>>12922470
"So, I don't know if it's two daemons, or just one who played both of them at the same time." Norani said as she sat in Dell's quarters and enjoyed a bowl of his stew. "Either way...that thing is going to be pissed."

"Oh, it is." Dell said as he received a report from the excavation team for the vault. "The leader of the Blood Angels has informed me that the cultists have broken ranks and are now pulling back to refocus on a singular target, rather than continue on with the little charade."

Norani frowned and sighed. "What did you do? Because they obviously aren't coming here, even though the prize is here."

Dell took a sip of amasec and refilled the bowls of Noah and his 'protégé' before scraping the rest of the pot and putting it in his own bowl. "I did. It's just a matter of knowing the facts, knowing people, and knowing how the nobility just adores to be the center of attention."

The Keeper of Secrets, surrounded by cultists and daemons of all kinds, looked at the vid-broadcast.

"Message Repeats: Hear me, enemies of mankind, salves to the Ruinous Powers, I am Carolina Deuxine. I am the last Noble of Val Domineaux...I AM Val Domineaux. You will not triumph here! We will root you out! We will run you down! And we WILL TRIUMPH! You think you can corrupt my planet? Corrupt MY soul?" The woman adjusted her dress to reveal the mark of a Cyclist, clear on her shoulder. "You know what this is, and you know that it means that you will NEVER have me, and NEVER have Val Domineaux. Like my bretheren before me, we will withstand your onslaught, and you WILL fall. The Emperor Protects, Terranis Holds, VAL DOMINEAUX TRIUMPHS!" She shrieked, and the message repeated again.

>>12922505
The Keeper let out a massive roar that was echoed by its followers. Forget the Inquisitor fools, the Vault could wait...that Girl...that Girl who was SUPPOSED to go to His Gloriousness was now snatched away by those vile little PISSANT Cyclists...and now they holed up in their mansion...ohhh the enjoyment of making SO many Cyclists writhe in torment for MONTHS was enough to almost cut through the sheer rage that filled the monster's mind. Almost.

Kadja, Saul, and Chris let out a small smattering of applause as Carolina finished her speech and changed into combat gear.

"This is it." Saul said. "If they get you...they wont let it end quickly."

"I know, but I have to do everything I can." Carolina said. "Isn't that the way?"

Chris sighed. "You two are buying BOTH our drinks when we go Home."

Kadja snorted. "I like Val Domineaux, and Saul and I are going to have our honeymoon on the beach here, next month!"

Carolina nodded. "Come on, we've got trenches to man."

>OP
>And that is where the last of EchoGarotte's stuff ends. There's still more by PhilDraws4Food set earlier.

>>12922472
I started reading them around August 20th - 21st and the last thread died Sept 11th. I know from the other archives that it had been going since well before that. It sure was crazy.
CRAZY AWESOME.

-CHAPTER 10-
the pestilent witch cackled so hard black bile sprayed from her lips. Things were just going so smashingly! The invasion had managed to create just the right amount of ambient chaos, a surplus even! The blood shed in the streets dripped clear to the infrastructure of the city, and then, drawn by Papa Nurgle and Uncle K's powers, pooled here. The planet was rich with fresh bodies, souls, power, and an inordinate number of suitable sacrifices! The children alone had provided a full third of what they'd expected from the planet, and they still had a portion of them left over for later! The advent of Murahi might even come ahead of schedule!

Doctor Muradi curbed her enthusiasm. No, things were planned, the pace and course were meticulously plotted. She had to adhere to that, as much as she hated admitting any of those old wizard fuddy-duddies were right.

She turned her gaze back to the Heart. It was glorious, luminous with the Chaos Gods' vested powers, pulsing softly as it drank deep the life of this world. She twirled her fingers through her inky black hair and chuckled softly to herself. This would truly be glorious. She scratched at a boil on the back of her neck and shuddered with the pleasure as it ruptured and oozed down the back of her neck and down the length of her spine. She paused to wonder what color it'd been this time? Orange and chunky? White and gooey? Yellow and runny? Sometimes she wished she had eyes in the back of her head. Maybe Papa Nurgle would see fit to bless her with that after she succeeded in giving him a truly immortal army...

>>12922590
Unable to contain herself any longer, Dr. Muradi began to sing her praise to her beloved Papa and dance about the great chamber, cajoling and pirouetting gleefully. Her staff paused only momentarily to glance at her before returning to their tasks at the various consoles and gauges around the chamber measuring the Heart's progress. She was always like that.

“Uh... Doctor Muradi... uh ..Ma'am...” one chaos cultist doctor interjected into her revery.

“YEEE-eeeehhh-sssssss?!~” she replied, in the middle of a back-bending pose, her face meeting his upside-down. “What is it, my dear?”

“the uh... the energies the Heart is able to collect on this planet are beginning to plateau, just as the Wizards calculated they would. We suspect, by these readings, that we should be able to depart a week in advance, Ma'am.”

“No, dearie. We'll stay the course and leave as scheduled...” Dr. Muradi hated hearing the Old Buzzard's words coming out of her mouth, but she knew what was at stake. She smiled at her assistant and said, almost as though to answer his quizzical look “... Murahi Holds, friend.”

-END CHAPTER 10-

>>12922605
-CHAPTER 11-
We spent probably 2 weeks confined in that bunker while the Inquisitor and the administratum decided what to do with us. The first week they'd forgotten to send down some rations to us, I ended up begging the guards out front to see that something was done about it. The kriegs seemed content to suffer in silence.

The second week, Inquisitor Dell visited us pretty regularly, asking questions. A few of the unit were split up for “psychological reasons” I was told. I never saw them again. A handful more on a long list of folks I've met in this galaxy.

I kept having weird dreams after that. Not the nightmares from before, just things I always woke up from never remembering in detail, just sensations and ideas. But then when Dell would come, I'd be finishing his sentences for him, or answering questions before he asked. The first few times I did it by accident, and it seemed to anger him. Eventually though, it seemed like it was just something he was used to. He told me I reminded him too much of his brother at that age.

>>12922610
Then, suddenly, we were told we were now a permanent fixture of Dell's “retinue.” furthermore, we received news that the chaos ships were in full withdrawal, and that we'd be tagging along in the pursuit. We were loaded up into a Valkyrie, the first time I'd seen the sky for almost 3 weeks, just to get stuffed into a starship along with a whole regiment of krieg It turned out a lot of kriegs were eager to get the opportunity that'd been saddled on a then-9-year-old girl. Turned out a few other civilians had been “drafted” by Dell, but I rarely saw them. He kept them busy.

I spent what time I could learning things from Gotz or the others, or talking with them. It was hard to get them to let me work with them. the ships' tight quarters made it a lot more dangerous for a kid to be under their feet, I guess.

The “Heavy” Sisters, as I started calling them, elected themselves my personal overseers, trying to kick-start my education again. Little did they know, I was already thoroughly ruined. I cared more about trenches and razor wire than imperial or planetary history, more about lasguns and my entrenching tool than science and math. Even when I cooperated, it was easy to see the answers they were looking for on their faces when they quizzed me.

when they'd get fed up with me (or I with them) I'd retreat to Gotz's bunk, to wait for him. Between his shifts working on the ship with the other kriegs, drilling, fortifying, or planning for the battle to come, he was teaching me the handwriting lessons and mathematics I'd have been learning in school, if it hadn't been blown up.

>>12922628
Sometimes I remembered those places. My home, my parents, my mothers arms. The school, my friends, the mural on the side of the building, and Clunks, the Dreadnaught sculpture that held up the swingset. I cried a lot when I thought of those places. Other times I'd remember the blood, and the monsters, and the horrible things I'd seen, real or in my dreams, and I'd cry even harder. I felt like I'd lost something, some part of me that was irreplaceable. Only then, on that space voyage, with only the din of the workers and the thrum of the engines to listen to, did I realize how thoroughly my heart had been shredded.

On one such occasion, Gotz found me, curled up in my bunk, sobbing into my pillow. He sat on the bed beside me and layed a hand on my shoulder. After a long while, I just started screaming at him. I told him about everything. About how I was alone, a lone orphan amongst the infinite and uncaring stars (literally and figuratively, at that particular time), my parents and everyone I ever loved dead, everything I'd known destroyed, and now I was on a ship to an alien world chasing after the same monsters that already destroyed my life once. And thats when I told him how scared I was that he'd go the same way, that he and the others I'd come to know would be destroyed, and I would be powerless to stop it, and I would be alone again...

Gottfried listened to all of it, as I cried and sobbed and soaked my little pillow and bedsheets with tears and snot and sorrow. And then, he took off his mask. It was only maybe the third time I'd seen it off, only the second time he'd looked at me with those intense eyes, not since the first night he saved me from being deamon chow now almost 8 months before. His eyes were moist, and his jaw clenched. He told me to come with him. Then he replaced his mask.

He led me by my hand through the halls of the ship until we reached the ships library. He called up a historical text on a dataslate, and connected it to a holo-projector, calling up a star chart, and removed his mask. As he bagan to read it to me, a song began to play. A song of such terrible beauty and sorrow that it moved me to tears, even before I understood why.

Gotz read me the history of Krieg, and the holo-projector followed along with images. The song lilted when he spoke of the planets beauty, and swelled when he spoke of its proud people. It dithered when the rebellion against the emperor broke out, and came to a terrible crescendo at the rain of atomic fire. I was speechless, and my heart ached, but he was not done. As the song faded, drowning in its own sorrow, he spoke of the radioactive sludge that fell from the sky, that still rains to this day, 500 years later. He spoke of devotion, of loyalty, of pride, of honor, of things intangible and yet somehow perceivable, to both he and I, as we sat in that dark library together. It wasn't until he was through that I realized his face was almost as tear-streaked as my own by then.

And then the song changed to one of hope. Not cheery, nor upbeat, but strong, hopeful, and with purpose. He brought up the star chart again, and zoomed to a place in the galaxy concealed by warp storms. There, he told me, was Terranis. There Terranis was, there it had held. There it is, and there it holds. As the song propelled itself forward, lifting my heart and my eyes, Gottfried spoke of a place of simple beauty, quiet rest, of brotherhood, of dutiful readiness and introspective contemplation, love of the emperor and of your family and friends. He told me how there, everyone holds together, no one holds alone. How anywhere, no one can hold alone, but with the emperor, your faith in him and your comrades, you're never alone. Even when the foes are infinite and victory impossible, you don't need to win....

Just Hold.

>>12922686
I couldn't put it into words what I felt that night. I still have trouble articulating it. A profound discovery. I'd lost something valuable in those months, but along the way I'd discovered something even more valuable, and it was something that could never be taken from me. I'd discovered my faith, reinforced the faith I'd had, been taught, and it brought me a measure of peace.

The Emperor Protects.

Terranis Holds.

I stayed there with Gottfried for a long time, until the early hours of the next activity cycle on board the ship. I laid against him as he talked, his voice deep and soothing, listening to his speech and the quirks of his accent. Eventually I fell asleep. There I had no dreams, no nightmares. I didn't even remember walking back to my bunk. When I awoke there the next morning, though, Inquisitor Dell and his odd brother, the man wearing the slippers and leash, Noah, were standing over me.

“Hello, Anna” he said to me, in that weirdly cheerful-yet-ominous tone he often had, “Have you ever played a game called 'Hives & Heretics?'”

-END CHAPTER 11-

Relevant discussion between EchoGarotte and an anon.

>So I have a question about the reincarnation part: when a Cyclist comes back, do they spring wholly grown somewhere, phasing into existence, or is it like the gholas from Dune, where they grow up normally but must then be given some kind of shock to restore their inherited memories.

They get reborn and they don't recall anything, often when they learn about the Cyclists they might have a desire to join, and a properly trained psyker can see if they've been reincarnated before, so they get Confirmed faster.

Other than that get get bupkiss. No special knowledge, no past memories, no recollection of tactics or skills, nada. Just a few vague memories of Terranis. Even after Confirmation they don't get any knowledge or skill, just vision similar to Carolina's, which boils down to 'You can't win. The Universe is against you. But if you keep stepping up and fighting, you will be able to Hold.'

Confirmed Cyclists just get a morale boost. That's it. -EchoGarotte

>terranisholdem2.jpg

Commissar Lane had meant to get to know the troops better, but not like this! she had been doing so well, she had even won one krieger's mask, Johann, a handsome man with dark hair and stormy eyes. her friends in the administratum had told her if she ever got a hold of a krieger's mask, hold on to it, and something good will happen. when she asked what, they just smiled.

but now she was cornered. "c'mon, Commishar, dem's the rules, and you agree'd t'play..." the krieger they called Linde was drunk, and hadn't even seemed to be trying to win. she had brought Vahallan Beer she'd "won" on another night of R&R, and it had her teetering dangerously in her chair.

"Yeah, Miss Commissar!~" chimed in Ada. she was a whip of a girl, long, slender, tough as leather judging by the scars on her. "it's either the hat, the panties, the bra, or the mask!"

the look on Ada's face made Commissar Lane wonder if she was teasing her or genuinely excited to see her topless. one was insubordinate, and the other borderline heretical, but they'd all had some drinks. she'd decided to play by their rules tonight.

>>12922836
with a sigh of resignation, Lane huffed out "The Bra..." with a titter of glee from Ada and a hoot from Linde, Ada had unhinged the lacy non-standard undergarment and was sliding it off her superior officer's shoulders in a blink.

Lane was wondering what to make of the permenat pokerfaces in the masks around the table as she was exposed. the only face she could see other than the girls was Johanns', and he was hiding behind his cards.

"she want's the mask 'cause she know's what'll happen!~" teased Linde.

"she think's Johann's sexy!~" chided Ada.

"I-I-I I do n-not!" lane stammered in defense, trying to look away from Johann's muscled arms and chest. her eyes landed on Ada, who'd long since lost all but her underpants, a non-standard thong with a purity seal printed on the front.

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"hey, Commissar, if ya think his ARMS are big..." started Ada.

"... Like a warp-damned basalisk! all the weight's out front! it's like a siege weapon!" laughed Linde.

Lane decided the purity seal on Ada's thong must be Ironic. flustered, she reached for her sidearm, ready to execute the chatty guardswomen for their lewd remarks, only to remember she'd lost that piece to Johann earlier. "I've had about enough of this!" she proclaimed, slamming a hand down on the table.

silently everyone looked at her. "but ma'am, you can't win back your clothes if you quit now. you'll have to walk back to your quarters mostly naked!" Ada shot a sly wink at Johann.

"well... I don't think I've had quite enough to drink yet to allow that..." Lane said, as she poured herself a messy shot of Johnny Fuklaw Imperial Whiskey. after throwing it back and shuddering with the burn as it slid down her throat (much to the table's gawking amusement), she smiled and said "you know, you Kriegs are alright. Deal me another hand! Hey! Johann deals this time!"

Ada feigned a pout as she set the deck back down, smiling inside, knowing Johann was even better at counting cards than she was.

Linde finished her beer with a gulp and hooted again. "another wild night playin' Terranis Hold'Em!"